Ethiopia signs $3.2 bln deals for new railway line
By Aaron Maasho
ADDIS ABABA, June 28 (Reuters) - 
Ethiopia has signed two deals worth $3.2 billion with Chinese and Turkish companies to construct a railway to link the land-locked Horn of Africa nation to Djibouti's Tadjourah port to export potash, officials said. Ethiopia, which has seen high economic growth over the past five years, hopes to exploit growing business ties with China, India and Turkey to boost its expanding economy. Under a five-year development plan launched in 2010, the government aims to pursue power projects and boost infrastructure, including building several new railways.

Turkey Inc muscles in on China in Africa
By Peter Vanham
June 28, 2012
Financial Times
What will 1,500 Turks be doing this year in the desolate space between Weldiya and Awash in Ethiopia? The answer is “building a railroad” following an announcement on Thursday by Turkish construction company Yapi Merkezi.
The contract is part of ambitious plans by the Ethiopian government to build a 5,000 km railway network – and a sign that Chinese companies increasingly face competition from other EM companies in the battle for Africa’s infrastructure.

Ethiopia: An ancient faith in Africa

LALIBELA, Ethiopia On the roads through Ethiopia’s highlands, traffic raises a brick-red haze that coats your clothes, powders your skin and starts a creaking in your lungs.Despite the dust, people wear white. At churches and shrines white is the pilgrim’s color. I wear it too, protectively: long-sleeved white shirt, tennis cap, Neutrogena sun block A pilgrim? Why not?I’m here for something I’ve longed to see, Ethiopia’s holy cities: Aksum, the spiritual home of this east African country’s Orthodox Christian faith and, especially, the mountain town of Lalibela, with its cluster of 13th-century churches some 200 miles south.

Group says Land grabbing by pension funds and other financial institutions must be stopped
Source: globalresearch.ca
Friends of the Earth, ActionAid, War on Want, Gaia Foundation, Global Witness, The Land is Ours, Biofuelwatch, Re:Common, Reclaim the Fields UK Protestors say London summit pushing global land grabs and hunger ‘Do you realise what your pension funds?’ they ask public A coalition of environmental, development and farming groups have criticised the Agricultural Investment summit in London for spearheading a global land grab.The protestors say that City investors and pension funds are taking land from countries and vulnerable communities who need it to grow food.

The Tigrai Community Association of Seattle held its first graduation party for the class of 2012 who live in the Seattle and surrounding areas. 
Heartfelt speeches were given by former Stanford University graduate, a parent, and the association representatives. The core messages were strong and relevant:
1) Graduates were commended for admirable achievements and for beating the drop out odds as the Washington state dropout rate escalate above 33%. Even sadly the graduation rates for African American and Latinos is lower than 50%. Kudos to the graduates. Your hard work will pay off in many ways.
2) Parents played a vital role in helping and guiding the graduates financially and more importantly with moral support. Many parents set aside their needs to support their children achieve their goals and ambitions.
3) As you begin your adult life, we are excited to pass the torch to you to lead the community center and manage it as you see it fit.
Abel

Ethiopia exchange eyes food aid in expanded trade
By Aaron Maasho   Thu Jun 21, 2012
ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - Ethiopia's commodity exchange wants to increase trade in maize and wheat by including some of its imported food aid and to offer additional items such as sugar, its chief executive said on Thursday."We are currently in discussions with the government about how to take on a much bigger way maize and wheat trading in the country, including monetisation of imported food aid into the country through the exchange," Eleni Gabre-Madhin told reporters.
Eleni did not elaborate on how this might work when asked for details, but a system to allow the government to sell surplus food aid would permit it to raise funds for initiatives such as drilling boreholes for water or improving the country's electricity supply.

Ethiopians Report Dire Conditions in Saudi Jails 
VOA News
Ethiopians in Saudi Arabia say about 1,700 of their countrymen are being held in dire conditions at prisons in the Saudi city of Jazan. VOA's Horn of Africa Service spoke by phone to four of the prisoners this week. The prisoners said they lack sufficient food, water and medical treatment, and that eight Ethiopian inmates have died from malaria and other causes. Jazan is located in southwestern Saudi Arabia, near the border with Yemen. The Ethiopians being held are migrants who attempted to enter Saudi Arabia without visas.

Ethiopia: DNA clues to Queen of Sheba tale
By Helen Briggs
Source: BBC News
Clues to the origins of the Queen of Sheba legend are written in the DNA of some Africans, according to scientists. Genetic research suggests Ethiopians mixed with Egyptian, Israeli or Syrian populations about 3,000 years ago.
This is the time the queen, mentioned in great religious works, is said to have ruled the kingdom of Sheba.The research, published in The American Journal of Human Genetics, also sheds light on human migration out of Africa 60,000 years ago.

Africa's middle class: Fact or fiction?

By James Melik
Reporter, Business Daily, BBC World Service
Africa's billion-plus population is increasingly being investigated by foreign and local companies alike for signs of a burgeoning middle class. Potentially, it represents one of the biggest markets in the world - people with a disposable income which companies can turn into profit. As part of its focus on emerging markets, the drinks giant Diageo has bought one of Ethiopia's previously state-owned breweries. Order a drink in one of the increasingly numerous bars in Addis Ababa, the country's capital, and alongside Diageo's premium brands such as Johnny Walker and Smirnoff sits the more humble locally brewed Meta beer.

IMF raises Ethiopia 2012/2013 growth forecast
By Aaron Maasho
ADDIS ABABA, June 14 (Reuters) - Ethiopia's economy is expected to maintain a growth rate of 7 percent in 2012/2013, the International Monetary Fund said, raising its earlier forecast of 5.5 percent owing to slowing inflation.
The Washington-based body's growth projection is below official estimates of 11.4 percent. A visiting IMF team said tight monetary and fiscal policies have contributed to declining inflation, through the termination of central bank financing of the budget and significant sales of foreign exchange.

Queen Sheba Schools Alumni Association & Friends -International
A container filled with various educational books approximately 50,000 – 75,000 pieces were acquired by Aite Tsegay Teklu Gebru & Ato Hailu Shiferaw from Piccolo Bookstores in Los Angeles. It shipped on June 1st from the Long Beach Harbor. QSSAAF-I thanks these three people:-

Ato Tsegay Teklu and Mr. Piccolo at the Piccolo Bookstore in Howard Hughes Center

Mr. Piccolo Lewis and Ato Hailu Shiferaw at the Piccolo Bookstore

Statement Of Senator Leahy On The Assault On Freedom Of The Press In Ethiopia
Source: Senator Leahy
Mr. President, later this month, I and other Members of Congress will be watching what happens in a courtroom 7,000 miles from Washington, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. That is where a journalist named Eskinder Nega stands accused of supporting terrorism simply for refusing to remain silent about the Ethiopian government’s increasingly authoritarian drift. The trial is finished, and a verdict is expected on June 21.

Could Africa be world's next manufacturing hub?
By Hinh T. Dinh, Special to CNN
Washington D.C. (CNN) -- With domestic labor costs rising, many Asian manufacturing producers are now looking to relocate their factories in other regions of the world. Could Africa replace Asia and/or China as the world's next manufacturing hub?
To be sure, Africa has a number of manufacturing advantages that it has yet to realize. Besides low labor costs and abundant resources, these include duty-free and quota-free access to U.S. and EU markets for light manufactures under the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act and the Cotonou Agreement.

Queen Sheba Schools Alumni Association & Friends International
A container full of educational and textbooks, approximately 50,000 – 75,000 pieces were acquired by Aite Tsegay Teklu Gebru and Ato Hailu Shiferaw from Piccolo Bookstores in Los Angeles. The container shipped on June 1st from the Long Beach Harbor.

Using Geo information Science to Reveal the Impact of the Eritrea-Ethiopian Boundary Commission Decision on Irobland and People
By Alema Tesfaye, Washington DC, USA
 Part I    Part II  Part III

Ethiopia's Konso cling to tradition, earning UN recognition
By Jenny Vaughan (AFP) 
KONSO, Ethiopia — The booming drums and lusty singing of Ethiopia's Konso tribe, celebrating their hometown joining the UN's list of World Heritage Sites, echoed down the road that winds through lush green hills.When the revellers came into sight, there was an explosion of colou-- women in bright orange skirts and men in striped neon yellow and red shorts, heads topped with decorative feathers and cowhide masks. Under the blazing midday sun, Konso residents brandishing animal skin shields chanted as they streamed through the streets, followed by a full marching band.

What Language Should Ethiopians Speak?
Ghelawdewos Araia  June 4, 2012
This essay attempts to resolve the age-old controversy of the use of one language in Ethiopia as a lingua franca or a working language, and will discuss the anatomy of language, not only in its narrow definition related to the mechanical facilitation of communication but also in its broader conception of expressing and embodying culture in the micro and macro senses.

The Air Up There: A Look Into Ethiopia’s Distance Running Legacy
By Michael Crawley
Coffee and long distance runners are two of Ethiopia’s most valuable exports, and when one steps outside at five thirty in the morning it is to the sight of women 

preparing coffee on charcoal stoves and weary runners sleepily making their way toward the forest. Most of my days in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia’s capital city, started this way: with a five-minute walk to wake up and a run of at least an hour. Ethiopians, who alongside their East African rivals from Kenya account for a high percentage of the top long-distance runners in the world, do a lot of their running at quite an easy pace, weaving in and out of Eucalyptus trees in the forests to shouts of encouragement from people walking to work. ‘Iso ambessa’ was my favorite of these phrases, – meaning ‘keep going, lion’. Unlike in my native Britain, the shouts that runners receive in Ethiopia are exclusively positive.

Activating the Ivory Towers in Mekelle City

to Revitalize the Atse Yohannes Secondary School

Desta, Asayehgn, Ph.D.

Atse Yohannes IV secondary school, started in 1957 with about 70 students, has expanded the intellectual and productive capacity of its students for decades (for a detailed historical analysis of Atse Yohannes, please see Kiros, 2012). As a result of acquiring the necessary educational foundation given at the Atse Yohannes Secondary School, nowadays we find a number of its graduates have achieved very prominent positions and are significantly contributing to the engaged through their involvement. Moreover, the school teachers lack opportunities for advancement and they are not motivated to effectively overcome the challenges they face daily. 

Muslims accuse Ethiopian government of meddling in mosques
Ethiopia's Muslims have been protesting 'state interference' in their affairs for the past six months. Could government accusations of Muslim extremism risk greater tension?
By William Davison, Christian Science Monitor Addis Ababa, Ethiopia  Protests at mosques in religiously-diverse Ethiopia have stretched into their sixth month as Muslims object to what they see as unconstitutional government interference in their affairs.

Ethiopia Faces Increased Hunger After Late Rains Damaged Crops 
Source: Bloomberg News
Ethiopia faces more hunger after late rains caused crop damage in the south, the United Nations said. The harvest is “below normal to near total failure,” the UN’s World Food Programme and the Famine Early Warning System Network said in a joint statement e-mailed today. About 3.2 million Ethiopians are in need of food assistance, the government and donors said in January.

World longest laugh record holder Belachew Girma brings laughter to Ethiopians
Source: SABC
World longest laugh record holder is teaching Ethiopians how to laugh away their sorrows. Belachew Girma is the World Laughter Master. He gained his title after laughing for three hours and six minutes and thereby setting an unofficial world record.
Today, he runs a laughter academy for those who would like to learn to laugh as heartily as he does.

Roses bring industry, jobs to Ethiopia 
A rose is a rose is a rose, unless it's from the Federated Democratic Republic of Ethiopia. That's according to growers of the flower from that country, whom I had an opportunity to meet at a reception and dinner at the Ethiopian Embassy in Washington in March. Throughout the large reception room at the embassy, there were literally hundreds of roses of all colors and hues — bright yellow, brilliant red, deep orange, hot pink — lining the walls and placed on pedestals. They had been shipped in for the event, and the growers proudly talked about the numerous varieties that can be found on their farms that were in the room.

Food Democracy:  An Alternative Development Strategy for Africa

Desta, Asayehgn (Ph.D.)

The theoretical and practical links between democracy (freedom) and economic development (food prosperity) has preoccupied academics and policymakers alike for several decades. Lipset (1959) argues economic growth first, democracy later. In line with the argument that economic development comes first and then democracy later, the Indonesian government has come to the conclusion that “... economic and political stability with little freedom is much better than starving and being frustrated with full freedom" (Yamin, Aug 3, 2001). 

WHY THE MAJORITY AFRICAN POOR REMAIN POOR.

Elamu Denis Ejulu

Many scholars, academics, business class including those who exercise executive power (politicians) in the so called third world have always been dogged by the predicament of their people who live in grubby slums and almost trapped in total abject poverty, with no answers but only handing over the fate of their economies to the international finance institutions in World Bank and IMF. For at least today half of the global poverty in the world is more predominant in Africa yet both Asia and Latin American economies are slowly getting away from this ugly spectacle of living on one dollar a day.

An Open Appeal to the Prime Minister of Ethiopia
May 14, 2012
His Excellency Mr. Melles Zenawi
Prime Minister
Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia
P. O. Box 1031, Addis Ababa- Ethiopia
Your Excellency:
The Irob Rights Advocacy Association (hereafter IRAA) is writing this open letter to draw attention to problems related to the Ethio-Eritrean war of 1998-2000 and its aftermath. This letter will address the impact of the Algiers agreement and the Hague decision on the Irob and other border area Ethiopian citizens; the plight of Ethiopians abducted by the Eritrean rouge regime; and the perplexed migration of the Irob youth and the heinous crimes being committed against them by the unscrupulous human traffickers.

Saudi Billionaire's Ethiopia Gold Mine Has 128 Tons Ready

National Mining Corp., a closely held company majority-owned by Saudi billionaire Mohammed al-Amoudi, said it has 128 tons of gold ready to be mined at its Okote project in south Ethiopia. “With very little exploration work and by undertaking a definitive feasibility study the reserve could be turned into a big mine,” the Addis Ababa-based company said in a statement e- mailed today.

Ethiopia: Catching Ethiopians Before They Fall
By Kelly Ramundo

Despite one of the region’s worst droughts, no famine struck rural Ethiopia last year. The drought’s impact was lessened by a food-and-cash-for-public-works program USAID supports and helped design. Today, one of Africa’s largest social safety nets does not just protect against chronic food insecurity, it helps communities weather the future.

Ethiopia: How Meles Rules The Country
By Richard Dowden, 21 May 2012  Source AllAfrica
analysis
Meles Zenawi is the cleverest and most engaging president in Africa - at least when he talks to visiting outsiders. When he speaks to his fellow Ethiopians, he is severe and dogmatic. But he entertains western visitors with humour and irony, deploying a diffident, self-deprecating style which cleverly conceals an absolute determination to control his country and its destiny, free of outside interference.  He was one of four African presidents to be invited to the Camp David G8 meeting last weekend. The aid donors love Meles. He is well-informed, highly numerate and focused. And he delivers. Ethiopia will get closer to the Millennium Development Goals than most African countries.

Investing in Ethiopia: Frontier mentality
Source: The Economist
A new fund attests to the country’s allure—and to the value of connections
LONG benighted, Ethiopia is attracting attention for a better reason. It has become Africa’s fastest-growing non-energy economy (see chart). Investors have noticed. South Africa’s largest consumer-foods firm, Tiger Brands, expanded into Ethiopia last year with a big acquisition. Diageo and Heineken recently paid nearly $400m combined to acquire state breweries in the country.

Ethiopia's Meles Blames African Corruption on Foreign Investor
Peter Heinlein | Addis Ababa 
VOA News
What is the poison that corrupts many African leaders, no matter how honorable their intentions when they take office? That was the question put to a panel of that included heads of state and government at the World Economic Forum on Africa on Thursday. The question received a surprisingly candid answer. It was promoted as a conversation on Africa's leadership. Among those on stage were the leaders of Africa's two most populous nations - Nigeria's President Goodluck Jonathan and Ethiopia's Prime Minister Meles Zenawi.

Geldof urges more tolerance for Ethiopia civil society
(AFP) –
ADDIS ABABA — Aid activist and Irish pop star Bob Geldof on Friday urged Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi to be more inclusive and tolerant of civil society groups.
"If they keep saying 'you can't write anything critical,' they're in trouble," Geldof told AFP. "Have them participate, allow the pressure valve to come off," he added.
He said Ethiopia must follow the example of Western nations, which developed only with greater freedom of expression. Unless Ethiopia becomes more tolerant, he cautioned, it could reverse recent economic and social progress.

On the knife's edge in Ethiopia
A vortex of climate change and rising population threatens Ethiopia’s gains in feeding itself
Source: Ottawa Citizen
SHASHEMENE, Ethiopia — Abdala Wahilo finds relief from the midday sun under the corrugated metal roof of a warehouse in Shashemene, a town not far from the farm where he tries to support a family of 12 on a single hectare of land. Here, at this emergency food aid distribution centre, he also finds some relief from the hunger that his family has faced in the last few years as repeated droughts have ravaged this region in southern Ethiopia.

Ethiopia Makes 4 Million Hectares of Land Available to Investors
Ethiopia has made more than 4 million hectares (9.9 million acres) of “fertile and unutilized” land available for agriculture companies that meet government requirements, Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said. About 300,000 hectares has been leased for commercial farming so far, he said at an Ethiopian investment forum today in the capital, Addis Ababa.“There has been a significant flow into large-scale state- type commercial farming in our country and we seek even more in the future,”

The Hostile Leader and his Destructive Policies

Bereket Kiros

It is probably way past due to examine and investigate the motives of PM Meles and Co. In every action he took and continues to baffle many Ethiopians. By now it has become clear to, whether to continue with wonderment; the stakes are too high for us to stand aloof.  We have to stop and see what went on and what is awaiting the Ethiopian people. We have been apparently sleeping and bickering for irrelevant issues in the face of this rising threat. We are nearing the end point of his destructive tasks that being the end of Ethiopia in as far as his missions make it clear. 

Comments address to  my personal mail Box

Rastafarians face hardship in Ethiopian 'promised land'
By Jenny Vaughan (AFP) 
SHASHEMENE, Ethiopia — A ceremonial fire burns as dreadlocked Rastafarians sway to drum beats, chanting "Haile I! Selassie I!" in praise of the former Ethiopian emperor whom they uphold as God incarnate. Marijuana smoke rises from the crowd, decked out in their trademark red, gold and green -- also the colours as the Ethiopian flag -- as they celebrate the 46th anniversary this month of Haile Selassie's visit to Jamaica

Six African countries to ratify new 'Nile Treaty'
By XINHUA Saturday, April 28 2012 
Share EAC to call up new Egypt regime over Nile water
Six African countries including Rwanda have agreed on the ratification of a new treaty on the use of the waters of the Nile river, an official source revealed here on Friday. According to Kenyan minister of Water and Irrigation Charity Ngilu, the commission whose mission is to supervise the equitable sharing of the waters of the Nile has been operational since 1999 following an accord signed in Nairobi, Kenya, by the 10 riparian states of the Nile Basin. 

Eritrean President Isaias Afewerki IS not DEAD Interview 4 - 28 - 2012

Eritrea’s dictator Isaias Afwerki reappears on state TV on April 28, 2012 to respond to rumors that he is critically sick or on verge of dying. On his 30 minute interview, he said, he did not pay much attention to the rumors about his health in the  internet. When the interviewer asked him why he cannot explain about his health, and make appearance to quash the rumors Isaias explained it is no need to appear on TV whenever the wind of lies and misinformation fabricated. He is appearing on TV, because the rumors about his health were continual and that he felt he has an obligation, “respect for Eritrean people.”

China 'picking up the pieces' in Africa - Ethiopian PM Meles Zenawi
Source: China Daily

Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi insists China is now coming to the rescue of Africa after a failed Western ideology of the past three decades has let the continent down. He said the so-called Washington Consensus that aimed to liberalize the economies of developing countries had demonstrably failed and the Chinese were now picking up the pieces. "The official doctrine among the international financial institutions which in the past determined policy in Africa was that infrastructure would be taken care of by the private sector. Well, we have waited 30 years and nothing much has happened," he said.

Detentions display UN's impotence in Ethiopia
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Ethiopia's government, a favored and oft-praised Western partner, 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. The detentions are a stark indicator of the UN's predicament in the illiberal Horn of Africa nation. The 27 UN agencies in Ethiopia largely work harmoniously with the government in areas such as funding HIV/AIDS programs, helping care for a quarter of a million refugees, or supporting female education campaigns. UN cash, for example, has helped provide antiretroviral therapy to 249,000 HIV-sufferers from 743 facilities – there were only 3 clinics offering the treatment in 2005.

Ethiopia’s giant dam muddies the waters downstream in Egypt: Fig-leaf for Cairo’s souring or ‘Mubarak-ites’ poking old wound?
BY BRADLEY HOPE
ASWAN, EGYPT // About 1,287 kilometers south of this Egyptian city where the Nile river pours into Egypt, construction has begun on a massive dam being built in Ethiopia that could destabilize Egypt in a way that would make the last year of political upheaval look minuscule, analysts say. If constructed at specifications revealed last year, the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam would result in cuts in electricity, a reduction in agricultural lands and water shortages across major cities in Egypt, new studies say.

Atse Yohannes’ IV Legacy Part 2

Bereket Kiros 

If Martin Luther King Jr. is right that the arc of history is long, but it bends towards justice. Our generation should not disdain like its predecessors pushed to the side the courage bravery, sacrifices that was made to preserve Ethiopian independence by the 

King of Kings, Yohannes IV, Emperor of Ethiopia. Our denial is not merely an inconvenient fact but it is a major stumbling block to our consciousness and understanding historical truth. This article isn’t about digging up malice and resentment among the past leaders of Ethiopia. It’s about examining the deliberate attempt to denial parochial critiques and reexamines the evidences, by anchoring historical truth on the right track.  

Chinese companies bring jobs to Africa
(Xinhua, Washington). A major Chinese shoe manufacturer, Hua Jian, started a factory in Ethiopia just a few months ago, with a plan to invest $2 billion and create 100,000 local jobs over the next decade."We want Ethiopian employees who came from poor backgrounds to use the company as a platform to fulfill their dreams and to help them out of poverty," said Helen Hai, vice-president of Hua Jian Industrial Holdings, during a panel discussion in Washington on Saturday at the Spring Meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank.

Ethiopia: Bedrock of Art and Faith
ON the roads through Ethiopia’s highlands traffic raises a brick-red haze that coats your clothes, powders your skin and starts a creaking in your lungs. Despite the dust people wear white. Farmers wrap themselves in bleached cotton. Village funerals look like fields of snow. At churches and shrines white is the pilgrim’s color.

Ethiopian demonstrators claim double standard on right to protest outside Netanyahu's home
The authorities say Ethiopian Israelis' protest camp near the Prime Minister's Residence is disturbing the neighbors. Funny, they never said that about other demonstrations.  For nearly two years now the sidewalk outside attorney David Hagoel's home in Jerusalem has been blocked. As someone who lives on the corner of Ramban Street opposite the Prime Minister's Residence, Hagoel is used to protesters pitching their tents nearby. It doesn't bother him anymore

Ethiopia: Meles Zenawi accuses Eritrea of kidnappings
By Aaron Maasho
ADDIS ABABA, April 17 (Reuters) - Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi accused Eritrea on Tuesday of abducting dozens of Ethiopian miners from the country's northwest, in a potential escalation of tension between the arch-enemies. Ethiopian troops crossed into the Red Sea state last month and attacked what they said were military bases used by rebels to stage raids, including a January attack that killed five Western tourists in Ethiopia's remote Afar region.

Africa’s Free Press Problem
AS Africa’s economies grow, an insidious attack on press freedom is under way. Independent African journalists covering the continent’s development are now frequently persecuted for critical reporting on the misuse of public finances, corruption and the activities of foreign investors.  Why this disturbing trend? In the West, cynicism about African democracy has led governments to narrow their development priorities to poverty reduction and stability; individual liberties like press freedom have dropped off the agenda, making it easier for authoritarian rulers to go after journalists more aggressively.

Ex Ethiopian leader's future uncertain in Zimbabwe .
By Janet Shoko The Africa Report
Former Ethiopian dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam, who oversaw the murder of several thousands of his countrymen during the "Red Terror" campaign could be living on the edge in Zimbabwe as his future after the demise of his friend President Mugabe is uncertain. civic society has a firm view on Mengistu, they want him out of Zimbabwe dead or alive.

 "The nature of his departure, whether dead or alive is not critical. He should just leave Zimbabwe" Albertina Moyo said. He added that apart from liberation history, little is known of the two countries in terms of bilateral trade

Samrawit-graduation

The ‘depth’ of President Isaias’ leadership 
April 13th, 2012 

It isn’t only diehard supporters of President Isaias who are complicit in his collapse into the depths of totalitarian debauchery. Some in the opposition seem to believe, perhaps sincerely, that there is still be some saving grace to be found. They laboriously try to find a few redeeming qualities even in an accomplished despot who kills his people without qualms.

When suicide is the only escape
A revolution is needed to push the Lebanese government's hand to make the requisite reforms to its labour laws
By Khaled A Beydoun 
Washington, DC - For Alem Dechesa, death was the only way out. For thousands of 

voiceless Ethiopian domestic workers working in Lebanon, suicide is the only avenue for escaping a nihilistic existence.  I witnessed the range of human rights abuses endured by Ethiopian maids - from both the perspective of a Lebanese insider and a human rights attorney - and found that Dechesa's death was anything but a horrific aberration, but a common consequence of the modern-day slavery industry in Lebanon. 

THANK YOU MR. SECRETARY-GENERAL FOR YOUR DECISION TO INVESTIGATE ALEM DECHASA DESISA’S DEATH IN LEBANON. 

TIGRIAN ALLIANCE FOR NATIONAL DEMOCRACY

Housemaid's suicide rattles Lebanon's conscience

Chicago Tribune
BEIRUT (Reuters) - Tragic tales of domestic worker abuse in Lebanon are common, but a film showing an Ethiopian maid dragged along a street in Beirut just days before she was found hanged from her bed sheets has rattled Lebanon's conscience.
The domestic worker industry in Lebanon is vast - foreign maids account for more than five percent of the population - and the sector is plagued by archaic labor laws, inhumane practices and dire wages.

Ethiopia resettlement plan falls short on development
By Jenny Vaughan (AFP) – 
GAMBELLA, Ethiopia — 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. "The food is not enough," said Thwol, 35, sitting by his thatched hut, barefoot and in tattered shorts with an open shirt exposing his bony chest.

Ethiopia: Promoting Economic Growth
Source: World bank
Overview
The International Development Association (IDA) is Ethiopia’s largest provider of official development assistance: it has committed over US$7 billion to more than 60 projects in Ethiopia since 1991, most notably for the protection of basic services, productive safety nets, energy and roads projects. IDA has worked to promote economic growth and address systemic poverty challenges across many sectors. Important results include a near two-fold increase in the number of children in primary school between 2001 and 2010, a reduction in child mortality from 204 in 1990 to 109 in 2010, increased rural access to safe water to 65.8 percent in 2010, from only 19 percent in 1990, all the while building local government capacity for service delivery and increased accountability

Ethiopia: UN urges Lebanon to investigate the death of Ethiopian woman
Source: Al Jazeera
Alem Dechasa, an Ethiopian national working as a housemaid in Lebanon, committed suicide after being beaten in Beirut. UN human rights experts urged the Lebanese government to investigate the death of an Ethiopian housemaid who commited suicide a few days after she was beaten by a man in Beirut. Alem Dechasa, 34, hung herself with a bed sheet on March 14 at a psychiatric hospital east of Beirut, where she had been taken by police after the February beating that was aired on Lebanese television. "Like many people around the world I watched the video of the physical abuse of Alem Dechasa," said Gulnara Shahinian, the UN expert on contemporary forms of slavery, in a statement on Tuesday.

Africa Rising: China steps up production in Ethiopia with drill instructors, 

By Science Monitor

investors Shoemaker Huajian is one of the latest Chinese companies to invest in Ethiopia, which the World Bank believes has the potential to produce clothes and footwear for the world. Huajian is one of the latest Chinese companies to move into Ethiopia. While the government has long leaned on Western support to feed the needy and provide social services, it is increasingly attracting Asian finance and investment for industry and infrastructure. "China's presence in Ethiopia is filling a huge gap," says Deborah Brautigam, an expert on the Asian giant's presence on the continent at American University. "The West sees Ethiopia as a country that needs to be saved. The Chinese see multiple business opportunities and a way to 'do well by doing good.' 

 Fekadu  Bekele

Grab the Land

By Huffington Post
It's a global trend, and not a good one.
It's called land grabbing, and it's happening on a massive scale -- especially in Africa. For millions of indigenous villagers and pastoralists it means forced relocation, loss of livelihoods, and a death blow to their ancient cultures. Ethiopia is a sad example of the worst of these outcomes. "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. 

Road to Ethiopia
Arab News.com
By ROBERTA FEDELE & JET VAN EEGHEN | ARAB NEWS
Apr 1, 2012 
We wanted to find out more about Islam’s underestimated but distinctive contribution to the formation of Ethiopia’s identity. We were willing to follow an exciting and less traditional journey of discovery through the history of Islamic civilization. Therefore, we decided to start our vacation with a one-day trip to Negash, a village in the northern Tigray region, which is the earliest Muslim settlement in Africa.

As separatists in Ethiopia disarm, a new chapter for D.C.’s Oromo community

Washington Post
History has not been kind to the Oromo people, whose complaints of subjugation date back to the last quarter of the 19th century, when they were colonized by the armies of Ethio­pian emperor Menelik II, said John Harbeson, an African studies lecturer at Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies. 

CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY IN LEBANON 
March 28, 2012

Araya Wolde-Giorgis, Ph.D., Chairman,
AN OPEN LETTER TO THE U.N. SECRETARY- GENERAL REGARDING THE BEATING AND DEATH OF AN ETHIOPIAN WOMAN, TORTURE, KILLINGS AND PRACTICES OF FORCED LABOR IN LEBANON.

Ethiopia sells off seven state firms, to offer more
By Aaron Maasho
ADDIS ABABA, March 29 (Reuters) - Ethiopia has accepted bids worth 2.1 billion birr ($121 million) for seven state-owned firms, part of a plan to privatise dozens of corporations in the next three years, it said on Thursday.
The Horn of Africa nation, whose state-dominated economy ranks among the fastest growing in the world, aims to sell around 40 enterprises, including several large farms, a winery and a big hotel.

Ethiopian Terrorism Trial Hears Journalist Defendant
Peter Heinlein | Addis Ababa
VOA News
A dissident Ethiopian journalist on trial for terrorism has categorically denied the charges and warned the court that history would judge its verdict. 
A three-judge panel listened Wednesday as journalist Eskinder Nega described himself as a prisoner of conscience and rejected accusations that he had conspired to overthrow the government through violence.

Ethiopia fossils foot bones suggest mystery walker
By JONATHAN AMOS for the BBC 
Thursday, March 29 2012 
Scientists have obtained a fascinating new insight into the evolution of humans and 

our ability to walk. It comes from the fossilised bones of a foot that were discovered in Ethiopia and dated to be 3.4 million years old. The researchers say they do not have enough remains to identify the species of hominin, or human ancestor, from which the right foot came.  But they tell Nature journal that just the shape of the bones shows the creature could walk upright at times. The fossil haul consists of eight elements from the forefoot - bones such as metatarsals and phalanges. The specimens were pulled from clay sediments at Burtele in the central Afar region, about 520km north-east of the capital Addis Ababa.

War Over a One-Horse Town
By FRANK JACOBS March 27, 2012, New York Times 
In a region steeped in history, Eritrea’s “newness” is used as an inculpatory 

argument — proof of its artificiality. Eritrea was a European imperialist creation, the Ethiopian line of reasoning goes, snatched from a united Ethiopian Empire by Italy’s imposition of the Treaty of Wuchale in 1889. The deceptive Article 17 of that treaty [4] led to the First Italo-Ethiopian War, from 1895 to 1896 — and a win for Ethiopia, the only victory of a native African state over a modern European one in modern history.

Eritrea - President Isaias Afwerki interview 25-03-2012

Eritrean President Isaias Afewerki accused the United States of plotting cross-border raids by Ethiopian troops, saying the two allies were out to divert attention from a festering border spat in the volatile Horn of Africa.

The upside down world: Ex-fighters becoming victims of their insurrection
By Awalom Gebru

I for one do not agree with their innuendos and their incessant harangues, knowing their background and share in the formation of the TPLF. The TPLF whether we like it or not was a grassroots’ movement of the Tigrian masses, which paid an enormous sacrifice for the emancipation of the Ethiopian masses from the atrocities and massacres of the fascist derg. It would not be possible to recount the mass killings, terror and the oppressive measures of the derg in this short notice to rebut their flimsy and inconceivable attacks in two consecutive articles (February 2012 and March 2012), entitled “Ethiopia: 37 years of the TPLF and the footprints of Meles Zenawi,” that appeared in Ethiopian Observer.

Ethiopia to Accelerate Land Commercialization Amid Opposition
By William Davison on March 23, 2012 
Ethiopia’s government said it plans to clear land and provide infrastructure for investors to accelerate a commercial farming drive in the west of the country, amid opposition to the plans that left 19 people dead.  More than 100,000 hectares (247,105 acres) of land in the Gambella and Benishangul-Gumuz states on the border with Sudan will be targeted in a process managed by the Agriculture Ministry’s Agricultural Investment Support Directorate, its director, Esayas Kebede, said in an interview on March 21. “The government is taking that responsibility to clear the land and to develop the land and then after to transfer the land with a value addition,” he said in the capital, Addis Ababa. The government will provide infrastructure including irrigation, electricity, telephones and drinking water, he said. 

Why Ethiopian Inflation Could Hurt the Rest of the World
Brian Weidy
Ethiopia’s month over month inflation rose from 32% in January to 36.3% in February, according to their latest economic report. As the global economy sits in a state of disarray, with the potential collapse of the Greek economy and the domino effect it could cause throughout the world, the latest news out of Ethiopia spells trouble for the developing world. 

Are Ethiopia and Eritrea heading back to war?
By Martin Plaut Africa editor, BBC World Service 
Could Ethiopia's attack on alleged rebel bases over the border inside Eritrea herald the start of a new war in the Horn of Africa? Ethiopia says it carried out a raid on three camps belonging to a rebel group last Thursday.

37 years of the TPLF and the footprints of Meles Zenawi,

By Kahsay Berhe and Tesfay Atsbeha
Part two March 2012

Proxy War Stokes Tension Between Ethiopia, Eritrea 
Peter Heinlein | Addis Ababa
VOA News   
Ethiopia's military strike against targets in Eritrea last week has opened a new phase on the proxy war the Horn of Africa neighbors have been waging for more than a decade. Attention is focused on a little-known rebel group that is alleged to have been involved in cross-border attacks. Tension along the Eritrea-Ethiopia border rose late last week when Ethiopian forces struck what they said were military camps inside Eritrea.

Eritrea is an easy target for Ethiopia
The isolated, friendless regime of Isaias Afwerki will find few international protectors against Ethiopia's military incursions
Simon Tisdall 
guardian.co.uk, Monday 19 March 2012 
Ethiopia's military incursion into neighboring Eritrea, reinforced by weekend follow-up attacks, has received remarkably little international attention – and no outright condemnation, in the west at least. Britain said it was "deeply concerned" but declined to censure Addis Ababa. The US piously urged "restraint". Eritrea's demand that the UN security council punish Ethiopia has been met by deafening silence.

Why Geez matters
Godofai Tgiorgis  Tgiorgis12@yahoo.com 

March 16, 2012 

Many people have raised several issues as to why Geez should not become an official language. Regardless of the adequacy, I have tried, in response, to reason out as to why it should. This one too is a follow up to the ongoing debate whether or not Geez deserves consideration. The objection suggests that bigger political and economic issues have to be solved before even people think about Geez if Ethiopia is to eradicate inter-ethnic contradiction. The following is the spirit of their argument summarized:  

ያለ ጠቅላይ ሚኒስተሩ  ቆራጥ  አመራር  ኢህአዴግ  ሊኖር  አይችልም  ኢትዮጰያ  ትበተናለች  እየተባለ  እየሰማን  ነው

Ethiopian domestic worker beaten on camera commits suicide 
March 14, 2012  By Annie Slemrod
The Daily Star
BEIRUT: The Ethiopian domestic worker whose beating outside her country's consulate was widely publicized on video committed suicide Wednesday morning, Ethiopia’s consul general in Lebanon confirmed to The Daily Star.
Alem Dechasa, 33, hanged herself using her bed sheets between 5 a.m. and 6 a.m., Ethiopian General Consul Asaminew Debelie Bonssa said doctors told him. He spoke to The Daily Star while returning from the hospital Psychiatrique de la Croix Hospital, known as Deir al-Salib. Police took her to the hospital after the incident.

Good Growth and Governance in Africa: 
Implementing Rather than Re-thinking Development Strategies
Asayehgn Desta, Sarlo Distinguished Professor of Sustainable Economic Development Dominican University of California

African economies were ill-prepared to face the “free trade imperialism” of the 1850s. What is astonishing now is that Africa seems to be unprepared to survive in the global economic order. For example, Africa implemented the “two-sector growth model,” or “Industrialization by Imitation,” strategy of Arthur Lewis, which was endorsed by the United Nations.

Ethiopia's Magnetic Stripes Hold Clues to Ocean Formation
Crystal Gammon, Our Amazing Planet Contributor - Mar 12

geophysicists from Missouri flew to the eastern edge of Africa, strapped on bulky backpacks and began walking. They were looking for a set of huge stripes in the Tendaho Graben, a place within the Afar Depression of Ethiopia, where Africa's continental crust is stretching thin and a new ocean will eventually form. But the stripes they sought — and eventually found — aren't visible to the naked eye. They're magnetic stripes, similar to the ones lining the ocean floor at mid-ocean ridges. David Bridges, a geophysicist from the Missouri University of Science and Technology, and his colleagues sniffed them out using a bit of geological detective work, lots of walking and the hulking magnetometers strapped to their backpacks.

Thorny Business: Ethiopian Rose Exports To Europe
Pratap Chatterjee on March 5th, 2012 
Delivering Ethiopian roses to European consumers on Valentine’s day has earned an Indian businessman the title of honorary consul for the East African country. Sai Ram Karuturi of Karuturi Global was appointed to his post last week at a formal ceremony conducted by Muktar Kedir, the Ethiopian cabinet affairs minister in Bangalore. The “villagization” program of the Ethiopian government gives farmers displaced by these land deals access to replacement land and also claims to provide them with better access to clean education, health and water.

Greetings!

Tomorrow is International Women's Day and who better to celebrate this with than Sylvia Pankhurst, whose campaigns and politics exemplify the original spirit of the day. Originally organized as a day of international solidarity for women and men demanding freedom and equality for all, it is a day with a history worth revisiting. On International Women's Day (March 8, 1914), having been expelled from the Women's Social and Political Union, by her mother, Emmeline and sister Christabel for her support for Irish freedom, opposition to the war and belief in a working class campaign for the vote, Sylvia launched her paper the Women's Dreadnought.  

World's first illustrated Christian bible discovered at Ethiopian monastery
By Daily Mail Reporter
The world's earliest illustrated Christian book has been saved by a British charity which located it at a remote Ethiopian monastery. The incredible Garima Gospels are named after a monk who arrived in the African country in the fifth century and is said to have copied them out in just one day.

Somalia conflict: Visiting al-Shabab fallen stronghold
March 4, 2012 
The Ethiopian army - along with Somali pro-government troops - has recently captured the key al-Shabab stronghold of Baidoa. The BBC's East Africa correspondent Will Ross was  one of the first journalists to visit the town since its seizure from the Islamist militants. The dark red berets of the Ethiopian army are back in Baidoa. At the airstrip, there was plenty of military might on display: hulking tanks, heavy artillery and dozens of alert troops. We are told Somali pro-government soldiers were backed by the Ethiopians as they seized the town from al-Shabab but it is clear who is the dominant partner in this relationship. 

A racist Moldova?

By Nichita Gurcov, Amnesty International Moldova
Fleeing the civil war in his native Sierra Leone 13 years ago, John Onoje hoped for a better lot in his newly-adopted home – Moldov.
Last Sunday John Onoje was beaten up in a toilet in an underpass in the country’s capital Chisinau. He tried to call the police, but the three who bundled him into the toilet just grinned at him: “Don’t bother, we are the police.”  The day before Moldova’s ex-President Vladimir Voronin told his supporters who had gathered for a rally in the centre of the capital: “They [the ruling parties] brought here a Negro, who’d just climbed down from a tree, and now he’s doing politics for them.”

Migrants facing unlawful arrests in South Africa
By IRIN Posted Sunday, March 4, 2012
On a recent Friday, three cells at Musina Police Station contained 106 migrants, of which 102 were men held in just two cells. Among them were Zimbabweans, Ethiopians, Somalis, Bangladeshis, Congolese and one Tanzanian, Cassim Mustapha, who had attempted to enter the country via the Beitbridge border post. "I'm claiming asylum because of my sexuality," he told IRIN. "I had a paper from the UN but they just said, 'Where is your passport?' and when I didn't have it, they arrested me."

Ethiopian immigrants earning 30%-40% less than Arabs
Ethiopian immigrants without work experience are worst-paid group, unseating Arab Israelis, a new study finds.
By Hila Weisberg 
Ethiopian immigrants without work experience have unseated Arab Israelis for the title of the lowest-earning group in Israeli society, a new study has found.
The research, conducted by Dr. Erez Siniver, chairman of the School of Economics at the College of Management, Academic Studies and Prof. Gil Epstein of Bar-Ilan University, is based on Central Bureau of Statistics data from 2010. It compares earnings data for people with 12 years of schooling or less. 

Your Land is My Land: Relocating 1.5 Million in Ethiopia
by Ellyn Schwaiger March 1, 2012
By Nickolas Johnson, The Oakland Institute
More than 1.5 million residents of Ethiopia have begun or will begin relocating away from their ancestral lands in a program called villagization. Ethiopia has a long and controversial history with resettlement, as it was a major element of the Derg’s socialist agricultural policies. By 1989, Derg’s villagization program had resettled more than 13 million people; international disapproval, degrading security and dwindling of resources caused the program to slow down.

The Integration of Technical and Vocational Education and Training with Sustainable Development Education: A Review of African Case Studies

 Desta, Asayehgn, Ph.D.

Sarlo Distinguished Professor of Sustainable International Economic Development

Dominican University of California

Abstract

With the emancipation of the Rio Conference of 1992 and the Johannesburg Conference of 2002, Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) has been regarded as the key component of implementing sustainable development.  In particular, the Technical and Vocational Education Training (TVET) for entrepreneurs has been identified as a vehicle for the implementation of education for sustainable development.  To assess the effective integration of ESD in TVET, four of the six case studies undertaken by UNESCO in 2009 in Eastern and Southern Africa  (i.e., Botswana, Kenya, Malawi, and Mauritius) were reviewed by the author to solicit information as to whether the objectives of ESD have been achieved by the TVET programs. 

TRANSCRIPT:
Rahmato: There is no provision in any of the contracts signed by the government and investors ­– there is no provision for food security, local food security, at all. And if there are people starving there, it’s not their concern.ct is generating a lot of income. It can really bring a kind of revolution in food production, as well as uplifting the social conditions of the people around.

Reporter: But Ethiopians don’t typically eat rice, and many question the move to grow crops for export when Ethiopia and the Horn of Africa have a long history of periodic hunger caused by war and weather problems.

Danish navy frees hostages off Somalia, 2 killed
Tue Feb 28, 2012
COPENHAGEN (Reuters) - Two people held hostage by suspected Somali pirates were killed during a rescue operation by the Danish navy that succeeded in freeing 16 other captives off the horn of Africa, the navy said on Tuesday. The Absalon, a Danish warship serving in NATO's counter-piracy mission Ocean Shield, fired on the suspect boat, a traditional dhow, after it disobeyed orders to stop, the navy said. Seventeen suspected pirates were arrested."Two hostages were found seriously wounded, and even with speedy assistance from the Absalon's doctor, their lives could not be saved," the navy command said in a statement.

Saudi Billionaire to Invest $3.4 Billion in Ethiopia in 5 Years
By William Davison
Feb. 27 (Bloomberg) -- Derba Group, an amalgam of three Ethiopian companies owned by Saudi billionaire Mohammed al- Amoudi, said it plans to invest 59 billion birr ($3.4 billion) in seven industrial projects over the next five years.
The company, formed last month, has already invested 12 billion birr of a planned 71 billion birr in agriculture and cement in the Horn of Africa country, Chief Executive Officer Haile Assegide said today by phone from Derba Midroc Cement Plc’s plant near Chancho, about 70 kilometers (44 miles) northwest of Addis Ababa, the capital. Ethiopian-born al-Amoudi is ranked by Forbes magazine as the world’s 63rd-richest person and was worth $12.3 billion in March. The 66-year-old is close to the Saudi royal family and his construction company, Midroc, built the $30 billion underground oil storage facility in the kingdom in the late 1980s, according to the magazine.

OPINION
WHY LANCASTER IS NOT THE SOLUTION TO SOMALIA.
Following the just concluded resolutions at Lancaster, London at which the major western powers together with their former colonies in Uganda, Ethiopia and others sat, trying out many a solution to Somalia's instability. The question that rings hard in my mind is the history of the venue, going by history that it is this very venue where former colonies of Britain met with their then chief executives to demand and debate the question of independence and constitutional governance. It is not by coincidence that the same venue has hosted this time African countries involved in efforts to pacify Somalia with the big Capitalist countries in Britain and the US , who had for long neglected the Somalia but due to trans-Atlantic route that links the West to the horn and great lakes countries in Africa being unsafe due to piracy and out of the very neglect. There was no way the West was going to run away from the Somalia and not even her neighbors were safe.

European Court censures Italy over African migrants
The European Court of Human Rights has ruled that Italy violated the rights of Eritrean and Somali migrants by sending them back to Libya. The 13 Eritreans and 11 Somalis were among a group of about 200 people who left Libya on three boats in 2009. Two of the 24 have since The court ordered Italy to pay each migrant in the case 15,000 euros (£13,000; $20,000) in damages. Last year Italy suspended a 2008 deal with Libya on sending migrants back.

2012 Black Engineer of the Year Award Winners and Special Recognition Honorees
By USBE&IT Magazine
Black Engineer Magazine honors Ethiopian Engineer Negus Adefris Ethiopian engineer Negus Adefris has been recognized by Black Engineer magazine as one of its 2012 Black Engineer Award winners. The Ethiopian engineer was recognozed for his work at 3M that led to the invention of Cubitron II abrasive belts used in cylindrical grinders and anywhere else you need an abrasive belt or sanding equipment to take on tough materials. Below is the profile by Black Engineer magazine.Negus Adefris, Ph.D. Senior Product Development Specialist 3M Meet the face behind a 3M invention: Negus Adefris, Ph.D is helping to shape the future. He developed a key component in the new Cubitron II abrasive belts used in cylindrical grinders and anywhere else you need an abrasive belt or sanding equipment to take on tough materials. Thanks to the breakthrough technology, belts average faster cutting on hard-to-grind metals, cut cooler, and last up to four times as long as conventional ceramic aluminum. 

Ethiopia's Ashegoda Wind Farm starts generating 30 MW in testing phase

Ethiopia's Ashegoda Wind Farm starts generating 30 MW in test 
Ethiopia's Ashegoda Wind Farm Technology starts generating 30 MW in a test mode. The farm, located about 760km north of Addis Abeba in Tigray Regional State, is set to have a total electricity generation capacity of 120MW.

Foreign jihadists sighted sailing from southern Somalia port
By ABDULKADIR KHALIF in MogadishuPosted Friday, February 24 2012 
Reports from Kismayu, 500km south of Mogadishu, indicated that upto eight boats docked at the port in the last 48 hours.  The boats are reportedly on a mission to transport foreign fighters, known locally as Al-Mujahedeen Al-Muhajereen (migrant jihadists) to other destinations. The foreigners are said to have been in Somalia to fight alongside Al-Shabaab militant, against the forces of the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) and its allies such as Amisom peacekeepers, and Kenyan and Ethiopian troops. Sources following the events in Kismayu suspect that a number of boats sailed with at least 100 jihadists to Yemen, across the Gulf of Aden.

Hamas ditches Assad, backs Syrian revolt
By Omar Fahmy and Nidal al-Mughrabi
CAIRO/GAZA | Fri Feb 24, 2012 12:56pm EST 
CAIRO/GAZA Feb 24 (Reuters) - Leaders of the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas turned publicly against their long-time ally President Bashar al-Assad of Syria on Friday, endorsing the revolt aimed at overthrowing his dynastic rule. The policy shift deprives Assad of one of his few remaining Sunni Muslim supporters in the Arab world and deepens his international isolation. It was announced in Hamas speeches at Friday prayers in Cairo and a rally in the Gaza Strip. Hamas went public after nearly a year of equivocating as Assad's army, largely led by fellow members of the president's Alawite sect, has crushed mainly Sunni protesters and rebels.

Ethiopian American Forum
By Staff Reporter   February 22, 2012 

“I recently read on the Net about the difficulty of returning the Axum obelisk from Rome to Ethiopia because of lack of Italian funds and American airplanes. If these are the only issues holding up the return of the obelisk to Ethiopia, is it not possible 

to cut the pieces to smaller parts and flow them back in smaller airplanes? If this is a viable option, it may be possible to raise the money on the Net. I am thus writing this e-mail to get your input before I set up an Internet site to raise the money on the WWW to cover the cost. I would also appreciate it if you let me know how much this heritage move would cost and where to send the money.” [8] It did not take long for the Italians to figure out where the Ethiopian-American was going and a secretary at the embassy responded by writing that the Italian government has decided to pay for the transportation and he is thus advised to raise money to feed the starving Ethiopians instead of using it to carry pieces of stones. This letter was followed up by a conciliatory one from the Ambassador assuring the Ethiopian-American that preparation for the return of the obelisk would soon start. 

Nervously, world powers eye greater Somalia action
By Peter Apps, Political Risk Correspondent
LONDON Feb 24 (Reuters) - Somalia might still be described as the "world's worst failed state", but international enthusiasm for involvement there is ticking up to levels not seen since the 1994 withdrawal of international peacekeepers. Following the October 1993 "Blackhawk Down" debacle in which 18 US servicemen and well over a thousand Somalis died in a botched Mogadishu battle, world powers have largely left Somalia to anarchy, chaos and conflict. Some estimates suggest more than a million people may have died since Somalia's last government collapsed in 1991.

An African Victory, A Powerful Woman, A Racial Truth Ethiopian Victory Affects the World.

The world learned at least three lessons from the Battle of Adwa. One, that it was possible for a united African nation such as Ethiopia to defeat a large, European colonial power. Two, women such as Taitu could lead in diplomacy and lead in battle just as could men. Long before women could even vote in Western nations, the soldiers and citizens of Ethiopia accepted Taitu's leadership. Three, the notion of white racial superiority had been taken down a notch or two and this had great influence on societies around the globe, especially in America where the notion of racial equality was just starting to bubble up through the culture.

11 found dead in Ethiopian container At least 11 people were found dead in a container trucker in Ethiopia on Sunday and are s suspected to be victims of human trafficking. The container was reportedly on its way to Djibouti but police suspect Saudi Arabia was the final destination. According to police, the truck driver was part of a syndicate of human traffickers.

Ethiopia: 37 years of the TPLF and the footprints of Meles
By Tesfay Atsbeha and Kahsay Berhe February 2012
Part one

As we are writing this article in connection with the 37th anniversary of the TPLF, we will make a short review of the footprints of the TPLF in the course of 37 years and thereby concentrate ourselves on the less known aspects of the history of the organization. We hope readers can compare and contrast our presentation with what they know about the regime and make their own judgment about our characterization of the TPLF. 

Let the Nkrumah Statue Stand and Let Other Statues Flank and Accompany It   Ghelawdewos Araia PhD.

February 18, 2012  

All of the pan-African leaders were inspired by Ethiopia because they were all aware 

that Ethiopia triumphed over the Italian invading forces at Adwa in 1896 and managed to preserve its independence. When Italy, for the second time attempted to take over Ethiopia in the 1930s and in fact occupied the country between 1936 and 1941, Marcus Garvey and George Padmore were at the forefront against the Italian aggression. In West Africa, major newspapers like The Sierra Leone Weekly, the Nigerian Daily Times, Vox Populi of Gold Coast, The Gold Coast Spectator, and the West African Pilot all expressed the fury of the African people against Italian attack on Ethiopia. Jomo Kenyatta, who served as honorary chair of the International African Friends of Abyssinia, wrote “Hands off Abyssinia” in Labour Monthly of 1935.   

Ethiopians give lacklustre welcome to Kwame Nkrumah statue 
Daniel Howden Tuesday 14 February 2012 
The arrival of Ghanaian great Kwame Nkrumah in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa
40 years after his death has been met with notable local resistance.
Ethiopians are signing a petition demanding that a statue of the pan-Africanist leader which was recently unveiled outside the new African Union headquarters be joined by one of the late emperor Haile Selassie or removed. As well as the signatures, a group of Ethiopian elders, opposition politicians and scholars have written to the AU Commission voicing their disappointment at its decision to "ignore" the deposed emperor.

Ethiopia's tribes cry for help 
Dominic Brown is an independent filmmaker, writer and human rights campaigner. 
A drive to become a world leading sugar producer threatens the livelihoods of thousands of people in rural areas. Addis Ababa, Ethiopia - The Lower Omo Valley in south-western Ethiopia is a vast and rugged region of mountains and valleys, inhabited largely by nomadic agro-pastorals tribes numbering some 200,000 people. Many live a simple existence, living in straw thatched huts and have little contact with the outside world. But the Ethiopian government's new found appetite for large-scale sugar production threatens the very existence of many of these tribes. 

Ethiopia: Atse Haile Selassie and Osagyefo Kwame Nkrumah
By Msmaku Asrat
I was reluctant to write on this subject since many have written about it exhaustively. I am writing this from a personal perspective which makes it slightly different from what has been written before . 

According to Nkrumah the first encounter he had with Ethiopia was while walking the streets of London and seeing the headline of a newspaper “MUSSOLINI INVADES ETHIOPIA. “ In his Autobiography he writes about this moment where he says that he felt that a spear has just pierced his heart. He felt dizzy, sad and dejected. He also doubled his resolve to fight the scrooge of Colonialism which has now encroached the only independent Black Country in the world which has given pride to the entire black race when Menelik the Great scored brilliant victory over the White Race (the same Italians) at the famous battle of Adwa.

Archaeologists strike gold in quest to find Queen of Sheba's wealth
Dalya Alberge 
The Observer, Saturday 11 February 2012
A British excavation has struck archaeological gold with a discovery that may solve 

the mystery of where the Queen of Sheba derived her fabled treasures
A British excavation has struck archaeological gold with a discovery that may solve the mystery of where the Queen of Sheba of biblical legend derived her fabled treasures. Almost 3,000 years ago, the ruler of Sheba, which spanned modern-day Ethiopia and Yemen, arrived in Jerusalem with vast quantities of gold to give to King Solomon. Now an enormous ancient goldmine, together with the ruins of a temple and the site of a battlefield, have been discovered in her former territory. Louise Schofield, an archaeologist and former British Museum curator, who headed the excavation on the high Gheralta plateau in northern Ethiopia, said: "One of the things I've always loved about archaeology is the way it can tie up with legends and myths. The fact that we might have the Queen of Sheba's mines is extraordinary."

Dudley Thompson: A fighter for socialism and African unity
Horace Campbell
February 8, 2012
On 20 January 2012 Dudley Joseph Thompson, the indefatigable fighter for African Unity, reparative justice and socialism joined the ancestors. Born in Panama, raised in Jamaica and serving as a frontline activist for African Liberation, Thompson spent the past 70 years of his life working to end domination and exploitation of the African people at home and abroad. He was 95 years old. After graduating from Oxford University, Thompson moved to East Africa (Tanzania) and from there worked tirelessly for the liberation struggles in that region, acting as one of the coordinators of the defense team for Jomo Kenyatta and other leaders of the Kenyan independence struggles

Business and investment missing from the agenda of the London Conference on Somalia
January 28, 2012 in News
To say that Somalia gets a bad press is an understatement, and yet those who know the region well are aware that considerable commercial activity is taking place. Whilst no one should underestimate the challenges of doing business in the region HABA recognizes the significant role that stimulating entrepreneurial and business activity can play in providing employment, economic security and hope. It is therefore regrettable, but hardly surprising that the forthcoming London Conference on Somalia  (http://www.fco.gov.uk/en/news/somalia-conference/) has omitted business and investment from its agenda. The security and aid fixation of the FCO, DFID etc is causing a myopia with regards to Somalia and the Horn of Africa in general that HABA fears will ensure that few tangible benefits result from this conference. An opportunity sadly missed.

Access Capital adds its own to the on-going debate on Ethiopia’s economic performance
By Keffyalew Gebremedhin
Access’s view of two pillars of development

Access Capital just published its third Ethiopia: Macroeconomic Handbook 2011-2012, to sell its views and ideas on prospects and problems of Ethiopia’s economy. The handbook contains several useful data on activities of the different sectors of the national economy, accompanied by analyses from a business perspective that Access Capital truly represents with lots of hunger and drive.

Curbing the baser tendencies of Ethiopia's strong man: editorial
Source Cleveland.com  February 01, 2012
The United States, Ethiopia's biggest donor, needs to pressure Prime Minister 

Meles Zenawi's government to improve its lousy human rights record.  The prime minister deserves high marks for improving the nation's health indicators, economy and agriculture. Targeted U.S. aid helped achieve these outcomes, reducing Ethiopia's long-term dependence on outside help. But human rights organizations say Meles' government is also turning parts of the country into prison camps, jailing, torturing or hounding into exile journalists and dissidents. The United States provides a significant share of the $3 billion Ethiopia receives annually in long-term development aid, mostly through a multilateral donor partnership. It and other donors need to convince Meles that it pays to have a civil society and to ensure that allegations of government misconduct can be independently investigated. 

Located in Addis Ababa, capital of Ethiopia, the African Union's new headquarters is China's largest aid project to Africa since the construction of the Zambia-Tanzania railway in the 1970s. Ding Haitao / Xinhua
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia - On a typical Saturday afternoon, Johan Strijdom stands by the side of a fountain, basking in sunshine in the spacious square where a landmark 20-story office tower overlooking a pearl-shaped conference center shapes the skyline of the Ethiopian capital. During the last three years, Strijdom, who works with the African Union Commission (AUC), has watched the buildings rise from his office on the 6th floor of the African Union's old building, 50 meters from the square.

Sustainable Local Development:
The Revitalization of the town of Adwa (Ethiopia) through
Community-based Endogenous Projects
Desta, Asayehgn, Ph.D. 

Abstract
Over the years, either self-initiated or by funding from development agencies, a number of developing countries have implemented various programs to tackle poverty. This case study was inspired by the One Village One Product (OVOP) movement initiated in the Oita Prefecture region of Japan and successfully transferred to other developed or developing countries through the initiative of local talents, the emancipation of local wisdom, the participation of local people, the rediscovering of indigenous products (services or history), and viable entrepreneurship. As a result, local communities were able to create job opportunities and generate income to improve the livelihoods of the poor segments of their population. Given the positive aspects of the OVOP movement, some possible community-based endogenous projects have been suggested to revitalize the town of Adwa, Tigrai, Ethiopia. 

December 29 program on The German Amharic program. Interview starts at 24:30 minutes with Dr. Aberra founder of Ethiopian Computer Software.

Editor's Note: Behind the facade that the Ethiopian PM presents to the outside world, there is a darker and harsher reality of his past.  Ato Gebremedhin, on his latest interview on ESAT, is a chilling reminder of the Orwellian type of leadership that existed. The manner in which George Orwell addressed the state of humans possessing power was amazing, and it drew great attention to his concern with the use of power. In order to illustrate the issue, George Orwell had pigs take power, distort all the laws they made, and force everything to work for their desires without caring about the animals that worked painstakingly to fulfill their orders. "In dealing with power, George Orwell tried to have the leaders become aware of how they ruled because he believed that the leaders should have been capable of ruling with more equality". No other political movement has come to symbolize both nepotism and secrecy than TPLF.  

Still echoing loudly in our minds are those who have perished questioning the Orwellian style of leadership for justice. However, individuals who are part of the political game are trying hard to carve, distort and fabricate the true history in their own version. For now the truth never rang to their ears. Pressure has been mounting increasingly since Ato Gebremedhin, Ato Aram Maru and other concerned citizens unveiled the dark side of past legacy. It is important to establish the truth. Gebremedhin's word isn’t the last, but only a very important step helping to come to terms with TPLF past. For those who think it is a closed chapter, the end is still far from the future. We have to go deeper and find closure until full justice is done.

Ethiopia's partnership with China
By Deborah Bräutigam
Source: The Guardian
China sees Ethiopia as a land of business opportunities, but the African country remains in charge of any deals 
In late November, Habros Seguar, an Ethiopian industry ministry official, told me how the ministry had just landed a major Chinese investment. During his August trip to China, Prime Minister Meles Zenawi had visited the Pearl River Delta, where higher costs are driving manufacturers offshore.

Editorials
Reporting Is Not Terrorism VOA
Two Swedish journalists face up to 11 years in prison after a court in Ethiopia convicted them of supporting terrorism. The United States is concerned about the court’s ruling. The journalists conceded that they had entered Ethiopia illegally. We recognize the authority of the Ethiopian judicial process, the legitimate concerns about terrorism, and the government’s need to protect the country’s national security. 

In famine-stricken Ethiopia, a Saudi company leases land to grow and export rice  PRI Public Radio
In famine-stricken Ethiopia, a Saudi company leases land to grow and export rice Famine has swept through much of Ethiopia in the past year, but a new project will see a Saudi Arabian country convert one of the most fertile areas to produce rice for export. The idea is it's better to have people employed and making money.

The Achievement Gap That Isn’t Racial: Ethiopian Students in Seattle Public Schools
Disparities Found Among Black Students
New data from Seattle Public Schools show that the district’s black students whose first language is English fare significantly worse academically than black students from immigrant or refugee households. Black students who speak Amharic (Ethiopia’s official language) at home posted the most impressive scores: 62% passed a state math test, while 74% passed the reading test. By contrast, African-Americans passed at rates of 36% for math and 56% for reading.

Ambassador Vicki Huddleston comments on Ethiopia, Horn of Africa: ESAT

Tigray Announces Acquisition of the 795 Square Kilometre Harvest North Properties in Ethiopia
Press Release: Tigray Resources Inc. – Mon, Dec 19, 2011 
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwire -12/19/11)- Tigray Resources Inc. (TSX-V: TIG.V - News) ("Tigray" or the "Company") is pleased to announce it has entered into a non-binding agreement with respect to a three-year option to acquire up to an 80% interest in the Harvest North properties from an arm's length party. The Harvest North properties cover 795 square kilometres immediately adjacent north and west of Tigray's existing Harvest project in Ethiopia. 

A Man in Tunisia, a Movement on Wall Street, and the Soldier Who Ignited the Fuse ...a letter from Michael Moore

Saturday, December 17th, 2011

One year ago today (December 17th), Mohamed Bouazizi, a man who had a simple produce stand in Tunisia, set himself on fire to protest his government's repression. His singular sacrifice ignited a revolution that toppled Tunisia's dictator and launched revolts in regimes across the Middle East.

Deal draws Kenya closer to tapping Ethiopia power 
Kenya has inched closer to clinching a deal to tap electricity from Ethiopia following a pact between the two governments. Daily Nation
By ZEDDY SAMBU  Friday, December 16 2011 
Kenya has inched closer to clinching a deal to tap electricity from Ethiopia following a pact between the two governments. Energy minister Kiraitu Murungi and his Ethiopian counterpart Alemayehu Tegenu reached a power purchasing deal and instructed bosses of power transmission firms Kenya Electricity Transmission Company (Ketraco) and Ethiopia Electricity Power Company (EEPCO) to inter-connect the national power grids so that Kenya can tap from the line by 2016.

Opposition Leader Labels Ethiopian Government 'Dictatorship'
Peter Heinlein | Addis Ababa
VOA News
The newly elected leader of Ethiopia's largest opposition group says his party faces a 

monumental task in trying to unseat what he calls "dictators" bent on silencing dissent. The party held leadership elections even as some of its top officials are being tried on terrorism charges. Hundreds of regional party leaders clapped in approval as former Ethiopian president Negasso Gidada was elected head of Unity for Democracy and Justice, the largest faction of the Medrek (Forum) opposition coalition. The election was the first since former UDJ leader Birtukan Mideksa fled into exile earlier this year after being freed from prison, where she had been serving a life sentence.

For Some Arab Revolutionaries, A Serbian Tutor
by Deborah Amos
Srdja Popovic, who runs the Center for Applied Nonviolent Action and Strategies, speaks in Belgrade in February. He played a prominent role in ousting Serbia's dictator in 2000, and has worked with Arabs involved in uprisings in their countries during the past year
December 13, 2011
Srdja Popovic, a lanky biologist from Belgrade, helped overthrow a dictator in Serbia a decade ago. Since then, he's been teaching others what he learned, and his proteges include a host of Arab activists who have played key roles in ousting Arab autocrats over the past year. "This is a bad year for bad guys," Popovic says with a broad grin in a New York cafe. The Arab uprisings, which began when a frustrated Tunisian fruit seller, Mohamed Bouazizi, set himself on fire last December, caught the world by surprise. Yet young would-be Arab revolutionaries had been beating a path to Belgrade since 2005, learning Popovic's tactics of peaceful revolt and waiting for the moment when they could apply them.

Wind farm fuels Ethiopia's green power ambitions
ASHEGODA, Ethiopia — Villagers in Ethiopia's arid north live as they have for centuries surrounded by cattle and donkeys; only the rows of towering white wind turbines look out of place. It is not the first place one might expect to find the sleek new structures. The unpaved roads around the site are lined with donkey-drawn carts lugging firewood and bushels of wheat.

Ethiopia: Intimidation or imprisonment by 'democratic instruments'
By Mesfin Negash/CPJ Guest Blogger
Source: CPJ  Thus, the public suspicion is aimed at sensitizing the public, or at least ruling party members, about the legal action the government is going to take using "democratic instruments." It is often based on fabricated or half-baked conspiracy plots. Some of the allegations against independent newspapers and journalists in Ethiopia paint them as dangerous elements posing a threat to the country: the agents of foreign forces or enemy states; operatives of the CIA; members or supporters of opposition or extremist groups; advocates of anti-ethnic or religious groups; advocates of anti-state ideas, and more

The journalist as terrorist: an Ethiopian story
Abiye Teklemariam Megenta, 7 December 2011 source: Open Democracy
Meles Zenawi’s greatest trick has been to convince a lot of people in the west that he is an intelligent and prudent leader. The basis for such an image is ever-shifting. In the 1990s, it was based on his ability to stabilise a war-ravaged country. When the Ethiopia-Eritrea war undermined his claim to be a peacemaker, he adopted the guise of a pro-western and pro-democracy reformer, advising Tony Blair on how to nurture civil society and free media in Africa and using Bushisms such as "enemy of freedom" to attack "jihadists".

PRESS RELEASE
Durban climate talks ending: Polluters won, people lost (Greenpeace Africa)

DURBAN, South-Africa, December 11, 2011/African Press Organization (APO)/ -- On the closing of the latest round of UN climate talks in Durban Greenpeace today declared that it was clear that our Governments this past two weeks listened to the carbon-intensive polluting corporations instead of listening to the people who want an end to our dependence on fossil fuels and real and immediate action on climate change.

As winter begins, an African Spring heats up
Dec 8, 2011 By John Lloyd
The opinions expressed are his own. 
The Arab Spring’s effects continue to ripple outward. As Tahrir Square fills once more, it gains new momentum. For months now, the autocrats of Africa have feared it would move south, infecting their youth in often-unemployed, restless areas.“The self immolation of Yenesew Gebre is an extraordinary thing,” he said. “The more so since it’s absolutely not in the tradition of Ethiopia to take one’s own life like this. It is an expression of how far people are prepared to go, how frustrated they are. That fear has come to the ancient civilization of Ethiopia, the second-most populous state (after Nigeria) in Africa. There, since June, the government of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi has cracked down hard on dissidents, opposition groups and, above all, journalists, imprisoning some and forcing others into exile.

The Death of a Prominent Rwandan Journalist in Kampala and what it means to Media Freedom in Great Lakes Region.
Last week, Ugandan news Papers reported information about the Death of a prominent Rwandan Journalist, Charles Igabire by gun shots in one of the Suburbs in Kampala. Igabire was president Kagame’s critic especially on policies and human rights abuse, it’s also believed that Igabire had touched a very sensitive issue of power transition in Rwanda in his publications; in fact it’s alleged that Kagame is using moderate Hutu’s in Rwanda to push for constitutional amendment so as to, lift the term limits and when Mr. Igabire raised some of these sensitive issues, Kagame started hunting for him to an extent that Rwandan government wanted him dead for his criticisms.

Illicit Financial Outflows from Ethiopia Nearly Doubled in 2009 to US$3.26 Bln, Says New GFI Report 
African Nation Lost US$11.7 Billion in Illegal Capital Flight from 2000 through 2009, Writes GFI Economist Ms. Freitas wrote: An upcoming report by Global Financial Integrity finds that Ethiopia, which has a per-capita GDP of just US$365, lost US$11.7 billion to illicit financial outflows between 2000 and 2009. More worrying is that the study shows Ethiopia’s losses due to illicit capital flows are on the rise. In 2009, illicit money leaving the economy totaled US$3.26 billion, which is double the amount in each of the two previous years.The full article can be read here.

Ark of Covenant 'to be revealed' after leaking roof in Ethiopian Church - Daily Mail
A very British problem of a leaky church roof could be about to give the world the chance 

to glimpse the legendary Ark of the Covenant. That's because the claimed home of the iconic relic - a small chapel in Ethiopia - has sprung a leak and so the Ark could now be on the move. The Ark - which The Bible says holds God's Ten Commandments given to Moses on Mount Sinai - is said to have been kept in Aksum, in the Chapel of the Tablet, adjacent to St Mary of Zion Church, since the 1960s.He believes the moving of the Ark could be one of the best ways to discover if there's any truth in the claims of the East African state. Tim said: 'During my most recent visit to the church, I was surprised to see some ground adjacent to the ''Chapel of the Tablet'' being cleared and levelled by workmen, and some quantities of building stone being assembled nearby.

The Economist regrets calling Africa a 'Hopeless Continent' a decade ago

In May 2000, the front page of The Economist magazine ran the words “hopeless 

continent” above an image of an anonymous black man holding a weapon cropped in the shape of African map. More than a decade later, the December 3rd issue of the Economist magazine has a front cover page titled "Africa rising". The paper talks about the achievement of many of Africa's economies in the past 10 years including that of Ethiopia. It talks about Ethiopia getting its economic development right despite becoming politically noxious and autocratic. Ethiopia is expected to grow by 7.5% this year, without a drop of oil to export. Once a byword for famine, it is now the world's tenth-largest producer of livestock. The paper said, Ethiopia's wealth is not monopolized by a well-connected clique. 

Security Council expands sanctions on Eritrea over support for armed groups
5 December 2011 – 
The Security Council today placed additional sanctions on Eritrea for continuing to provide support to armed groups seeking to destabilize Somalia and other parts of the Horn of Africa, building on the arms and travel embargoes it imposed exactly two years ago. The new measures are contained in a resolution which received the support of 13 of the Council’s 15 members. China and Russia abstained. It follows an earlier meeting today at which the Council heard a briefing from the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD).

I’ve been through so much. My daughter’s made life complete 
Says famine survivor Birhan Woldu 
By OLIVER HARVEY, Chief Feature Writer 
Dec 03, 2011
HER face lit up by a huge smile, Birhan Woldu proudly shows off her tiny daughter. It marks the start of a new chapter in what is a remarkable story of the tenacity of the human spirit and survival against the odds.  For aged three, Birhan's ghostly image was seen staring from the TV screen at the 1985 Live Aid concert as her life ebbed away. The starving toddler became one of the heartbreaking symbols of the Ethiopian famine.  But miraculously, she pulled through — and this week, at the age of 30, gave birth to her first child.On a crackly phone line from her neat home in Mekele, high in the Tigray mountains in northern Ethiopia, Birhan said last night: "I wept tears of joy when she was born.

UN Council refuses to delay Eritrea sanctions vote
AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE on December 3, 2011
UNITED NATIONS, Dec 2 – The UN Security Council on Friday refused to delay a vote next week on taking sanctions against Eritrea so the isolated country’s head of state can make his case, diplomats said.  The vote is set for Monday but President Issaias Afeworki does not have enough time to get to New York, according to the UN envoy for the impoverished nation, which is accused of plotting an attack on an African Union summit this year

Ethiopia's Anti Al-Shabab Push Sparks Concerns of a Backlash
Nico Colombant 
U.S. officials recently acknowledged they are sending drone aircraft from Ethiopia to conduct surveillance in Somalia, and there have also been reported U.S. drone strikes against al-Qaida linked al-Shabab targets.  A former U.S. ambassador to Ethiopia, Tibor Nagy, currently working as a provost at Texas Tech University, says he would like to see more support coming from the United States for the anti al-Shabab operations to quickly succeed.

Africa’s doctor brain drain a home-made problem
By MUNIINI K. MULERAPosted Wednesday, November 30 2011 
Dear Tingasiga: “Doctor brain drain costs Africa $2 billion.” This headline, supplied by Reuters News Agency last Thursday, hopefully raised an alarm to the rulers of Africa and to the leaders and other policy makers of developed countries that enjoy the services of expatriate African doctors. 

The violation of the Constitution and the boundless dictatorship is growing and worsening
A press statement issued by Unity for Democracy and Justice (UDJ)

What is saddening above all is that Prime Minister Meles Zenawi who, under oath, has taken the responsibility of protecting and respecting the Constitution, said in a speech in Parliament on October 20, 2011, that there was no one among the accused against whom hard evidence had not been obtained. He went further to emphasize, with his usual arrogance and disdain and in a manner that could make him criminally liable, that it was because all of the accused were found to be criminals according to adequate and guaranteed evidence that they were arrested. 

Eritrean diplomat defects to Canada
Stewart Bell Nov 21, 2011 
The Immigration & Refugee Board rejected his refugee claim because he had been a member of the Eritrean People’s Liberation Front (EPLF), a rebel group it said had committed terrorism and crimes against humanity.

The Egyptian Military Must Yield to Civilian Democratic Rule in Egypt

IDEA Editorial

Ghelawdewos Araia       November 23, 2011

Now, in retrospect, the phrases “we may not figure out the definite trajectory of the movements,” and “we must be cautiously optimistic,” could be argued, they were statements in anticipation of the second gathering of the Egyptian people at Tahrir Square in the last week of November of 2011 to demand democratic civilian rule in Egypt. 

Choke point Bab el-Mandeb; Understanding the Strategically Critical Horn of Africa
by Thomas C. Mountain
November 19, 2011
The Horn of Africa is one of the most strategically critical regions in the world with the narrow passage where the Red Sea joins the Indian Ocean, the Bab el-Mandeb, being a potential choke point for much of the worlds commerce

Dawit Kebede Intreview VOA

President Obama Honors Outstanding Science, Math, and Engineering Mentors
WASHINGTON, DC - President Obama today named nine individuals and eight organizations recipients of the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Mentoring. The mentors will receive their awards at a White House ceremony later this year.
Solomon Bililign, North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University, NC

WHY THE WEST SHOULD GO SLOW ON SYRIA.
Elamu Denis.
With the fall of strong men like Ben Ali, Hosni Mubarak who was propped up by the West due to strategic interests like for Egypt, her power and historical ties with Israel in the Middle East made her a strategic ally of the USA. On the Syrian question, the fact that the west is still stuck with what to do on Syria with her strategic location and influence in the Middle East growing over time, Damascus is not Libya.

Dawit Kebede joins Ethiopia's exiled journalists
New York, November 21, 2011--Dawit Kebede, managing editor of Awramba Times, one of Ethiopia's two remaining independent Amharic-language newspapers offering critical analysis of local politics, announced today that he was forced to leave the country after he received a tip last week about alleged government plans to re-imprison him. Kebede also said that the paper was unlikely to continue publishing.

The African Union Must Devise A Long-Term Somalia Redemption Project
IDEA Editorial November 20, 2011
The troubled Horn of Africa Region, epitomized by the torn-apart Somali nation, whose people seem to have opted for an intriguing and paradoxical decision to dismember their own country. For all practical purposes, at this juncture of history, the Republic of Somalia that prevailed as an independent nation on the political map between 1960 and 1991 does not exist now. Sadly, now we have three Somali nations, namely Somaliland, Puntland, and Mogadishu (the beleaguered Somali proper), and soon we may witness a fourth Somali nation: Jubaland.

The Mystery Behind the Meles-Isaais Covenant: What Ethiopians and Eritreans did not Know and Must Know
By Kaleb Gebremeskel

The hidden agenda was to become operational when the TPLF ostensibly called upon Ethiopian progressive forces in the so-called Addis Ababa Charter in 1991, where Isaais was also present. Isaais’ presence in the conference was not merely symbolic or a sign of solidarity; it was in fact meant to help and encourage Meles and the TPLF stay the course in Addis Ababa, because both of them were not sure whether the Ethiopian people would accept or reject the TPLF.

The Conference of Political Leaders of the Ethiopian People’s Forum at Seattle 
By Bereket Kiros ethiopianobserver staff
The Seattle Forum like the other ongoing efforts here in North America and Europe has accurately envisaged the right direction and put its efforts on the noble mission to pave the road for the formation of a unified force containing all Opposition Parties and the Ethiopians in the Diaspora which are part and parcel of the giant movements in the homeland.

Ethiopia: BBC picks up the story about the self-immolation of Yenesew Gebre

The news about the self-immolation of a 29-year old Ethiopian man is spreading despite the media blackout by the regime in Ethiopia. BBC's World Service which has millions of listeners around the world is the latest to report the news. BBC - A teacher in Ethiopia has died after setting fire to himself

Thousands protest in Egypt's Tahrir against army rule
Fri Nov 18, 2011
By Marwa Awad
CAIRO (Reuters) - About 50,000 mainly Islamist protesters flocked to Cairo's Tahrir Square on Friday to press Egypt's military rulers to transfer power to elected civilians after the cabinet launched a move to exempt the army from parliamentary oversight.
The protesters chanted Islamic songs before Friday prayers while others handed out flyers demanding the withdrawal of the constitutional proposal and that presidential elections be held no later than April 2012, instead of at year end or in 2013.

Dr.Aregawi  called upon the Ethiopian people, regardless of their ethnic background, to strive for the rights that were denied under the repressive Ethiopian governments and set up a state where lasting peace, democracy and unity based on equality could regenerate, rather than opt to secede and head towards yet another cycle of wretched living where the damage will turn out to be irreparable and the country will disintegrate. Countries that fall into the hands of tyrants pay a price. It is already apparent what our choice will be.

Ethiopian man sets himself on fire in protest against government
By ARGAW ASHINE Thursday, November 17
An Ethiopian man has died from his injuries after he set himself on fire in a protest against the government following mass arrests of youths from his local area."I want to show to all that death is preferable than a life without justice and liberty," he is reported to have said before setting himself alight.

Ethiopian Journalists Flee as Others Tried for Terror
Peter Heinlein | Addis Ababa
Two newspaper columnists known for sharp criticisms of Ethiopia's government are reported to have fled into exile, just as other journalists being tried on charges of treason and espionage.

Frustrated Eritrean soldiers are defecting in their droves to Ethiopia through the Afar region, it was learnt. Eyewitnesses told The Reporter that the young soldiers, who are poorly fed, cross the border into the Afar region. Some 30 km inside the Ethiopian border there is a small Afar village called Hamedela hear Dallol where there is an Ethiopian military post. The Eritrean soldiers and young civilians who had travelled long distances in the desert fell down from exhaustion right after crossing the border. Some of them who are too weak to cross the border had left behind their bare belongings.

Landgrabbing In Ethiopia: Legal Lease Or Stolen Soil?
by Philipp Hedemann* - IPS/Street News Service (Addis Ababa)
Saturday, November 12, 2011 Inter Press Service
Kneeling in the middle of a sugar cane field in blistering 40 degree heat, a young boy is digging up weeds while an Indian worker stands over him to make sure he does not miss any. Red is eight years old and earns 73 pence for one day’s work - less than the cost of using pesticides.

An Accidental Monument to African Ambivalence
By ALEX DE WAAL
The New York Times

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia — The African Union is now putting the finishing touches on its shiny new home — a calabash-domed conference hall and a curving blade of a tower — right on the site of the city’s former central prison. Known to Ethiopians as Alem Bekagn, or “farewell to the world,” this plot of land has been a symbol of human rights abuses for three generations.

Ethiopia inflation slows to 39.8 pct in October
ADDIS ABABA Nov 11 (Reuters) - Ethiopia's year-on-year inflation rate slowed to 39.8 percent in October from 40.1 percent a month before, though food prices rose, driven by cereals, the statistics office said on Friday."The total price index of cereals ... has increased by 63.1 percent as compared to similar month last year which significantly contributed to the rise in the indices of food and the general consumer price index," the agency said in a statement.

Ethiopia: The rise and rise of Azeb Mesfin
The Indian Ocean Newsletter 

Abadi Zemo, the CEO of the Endowment Fund for the Rehabilitation of Tigray (EFFORT), a consortium of companies linked to the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF, hard core of the governing Ethiopian coalition) has been appointed his country’s ambassador to Khartoum, leaving his number two in control.

Ethiopia Charges Opposition Figures, Reporter With Terrorism
Peter Heinlein | Addis Ababa, Ethiopia 
VOA News
Ethiopia has formally charged 24 people, including senior opposition politicians and an outspoken Internet journalist, with plotting terrorist acts to create public chaos. Eight of the defendants appeared in court to hear the charges, while the others are to be tried in absentia.

PAN AFRICAN MOVEMENT-GLOBAL INSTITUTIONS CHAPTER (PAM-GIC)
OPINION
AFRICA NEEDS AN AL-JAZEERA OF ITS OWN.

PAN AFRICAN MOVEMENT-GLOBAL INSTITUTIONS CHAPTER (PAM-GIC)
OPINION
IF USA’S MILITARY OPERATIONS ARE BACK IN SOMALIA, ARE THEY READY
TO HANDLE SOME OF THESE OLD AND NEW FACTS?

PANAFRICAN MOVEMENT-GLOBAL INSTITUTIONS CHAPTER (PAM-GIC)
OPINION
THE RESOURCE CURSE AND AFRICA’S PARADOX OF PLENTY.
Many times Africans have always wondered, why they sit on gold and wealth yet they cannot fully take advantage of their resources instead of being a blessing it has turned out to be a curse due to simple issues of management.

THE INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS JOURNAL OF GEORGE MASON UNIVERSITY
Fom Tahrir to the Banks of the River Nile
By Fasil Amdetsion
The 1929 and 1959 agreements are also inapplicable to former British colonies, on whose behalf the British signed the agreements. Under international law, it is generally accepted that upon independence, new states do not inherit treaties other than those dealing with boundaries [12]. A favorite strategy was support for disgruntled Ethiopian aristocrats who could foment disorder along Ethiopia’s frontiers. Thus, the Egyptians provided money, arms and a Turkish title to Dejazmach Walde Mikael of the Hamasien district in Eritrea after his desertion on the eve of the battle of Gura. 

Ethnic Groups in African Countries
Source: Afribiz
Africa is a very diverse continent with a rich tapestry of ethnic groups, both indigenous and through migration. The following table highlights some of the ethnic groups found in each African country.

A project of the Stiftung Solarenergie Solar Energy Foundation

Inequality
Of the 1%, by the 1%, for the 1% 
ByJoseph E. Stiglitz
Americans have been watching protests against oppressive regimes that concentrate massive wealth in the hands of an elite few. Yet in our own democracy, 1 percent of the people take nearly a quarter of the nation’s income—an inequality even the wealthy will come to regret.

Eritrea: Portrait of a Failed State At Odds With Neighbours
Murithi Mutiga 5 November 2011 Daily Nation
Young Eritreans are fleeing their country in droves, the economy appears to be in a death spiral, Eritrea’s prisons are overflowing, and the country’s unhinged dictator remains cruel and defiant. Is the country ‘on the brink of disaster’  This is how one woman, Habtu Zere Maram, summed up her reasons for fleeing Eritrea in a BBC interview in a camp in eastern Sudan: "I realise there are political problems everywhere, but in Eritrea it is unique. It's like the Middle Ages. Now we are in the 21st century; how can we live like this? You can't speak, there is no freedom, you cannot say whatever you want to say. I dreamt of leaving, because I want to live free. Most of the Eritrean people think the same thing."

Eritrea raising money in Canada, financing terrorists to attack Canada
Stewart Bell Nov 5, 2011 National Post
The government of Eritrea, which the United Nations accuses of supplying a long list of armed groups including the al-Qaeda affiliate Al-Shabab, has been raising money in Canada by taxing Eritrean-Canadians, interviews and documents show.

US diplomatic cable on Eritreans being harassed for not paying 2% tax

UN Monitoring Group report on Eritrea

Kenya raises concerns Eritrea arming Somali rebels

Bill Moyers: Our Politicians Are Money Launderers Not Too Different from Tony Soprano
Americans have learned the hard way that when rich organizations and wealthy individuals shower Washington with millions in campaign contributions, they get what they want.  November 2, 2011 

PAN AFRICAN MOVEMENT-GLOBAL INSTITUTIONS CHAPTER  (PAM-GIC)   

OPINION

SATA’S WIN WHAT, IT MEANS FOR AFRICA’S OPPOSITION.

For starters the just concluded elections in Zambia, in which another opposition leader took over the reigns of power, Michael Sata’s Patriotic Front’s win over President Rupiah Banda’s, Movement for Multi party Democracy (MMD) in the elections that exhibited a lesson to the opposition in Africa.

PRESS RELEASE
A global conference in Uganda set to explore issues of children deprived of their liberty within the justice systems in Africa 

Is Ethiopian strongman Meles Zenawi shooting in the dark? 
By ARGAW ASHINEPosted Tuesday, November 1 
Is Meles Zenawi becoming paranoid? Or is he laying the ground for a new round of crackdowns on his government's favourite targets--the media and the opposition? Ethiopia observers were left groping for answers after the country's prime minister recently launched into a tirade against perceived enemies, leaving no doubt that something had unhinged him. The October 20 outburst seemed to have been inspired by the capture of Col Muammar Gaddafi just an hour before the Ethiopian premier was scheduled to address parliament. 

Economy - Ranked 104th
Ethiopia’s economy faces severe challenges. Inflation runs at over 8% and the gross domestic savings rate is only 4% of GDP, comfortably placing Ethiopia in the bottom 30 of the Index on the latter variable. The unemployment rate is almost 21%, which is the sixth highest rate, globally**. Ethiopia places 69th* in terms of affordability of food and shelter, and only four out of 10 people* are satisfied with their standard of living, which places the country 91st in the Index on this variable.

Eritrea arming Al Shabaab
By Standard Team and Agencies
The possible role of Eritrea in supporting Al Shabaab insurgents has come into sharp focus after the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) confirmed that two aircraft landed in Baidoa with a consignment of arms for the rebels. Although KDF did not name the origin of the aircraft, chatter on many Somali Internet sites, quoting Al Shabaab, said they were Eritrean. 

TPLF buried Secrets Part II
By Aram Maru  November 1, 2011
If reconstruction of history is to fail, one of the preconditions is to muzzle and discourage all those who are living testimonies and by discrediting and linking them as terrorists than admitting ones own guilt. By now it has become clear the missing links and vivid illustration of the abuse of human rights and the subversion of the interests of Ethiopia and Ethiopians. Bob Marley’s lyric "you can fool some people sometimes, but you can't fool all the people all the time" is the right expression for the present and past history of the elite sitting at the helm of power.

New Ways to Beat High Blood Pressure, Pt 1.

Dr. Oz reveals the foods, supplements and his #1 method for lowering your blood pressure.Dr. Oz wants you to know your numbers.Click here to learn about your 5 lifesaving numbers.

View Video

Grabbing Gambela from EJOLT on Vimeo.Grabbing Gambela is a short video documentary about a massive takeover of agricultural lands in the Gambela Region of Ethiopia. Since 2008, the Ethiopian government has signed deals with investors from India, Saudi Arabia, China and other countries for large-scale agricultural projects in the region. The deals give foreign investors control of half of Gambela’s arable land. In this documentary, local people affected by the land deals speak about their experiences. Grabbing Gambela is produced by the Anywaa Survival Organisation, EJOLT, and GRAIN.

Analyzing the capacity of modern warfare tactic “civil disobedience” on solving dictatorship in Africa and the world.

By: Patrick M Kasagama

IT started with MAHHAMED BOA AZZIZ a Tunisian graduate, frustrated on the streets of Tunis trying to make life through the hard policies of a three decade dictatorial Ben Ali regime which is seen today as the genesis of this new wonderful modern warfare. The people who were in a hard mood to move we ignited by the appropriate necessary measure of the young man in an Arabic world that doesn’t believe in the values of democracy which are characterized with the west and Christianity finally saw the long serving leader flee the country.

Saudi Star Settles Debt Before Hearing 
The contract was to clear the 4,000ht plot which was covered with juniper trees of medium density and other indigenous trees. Despite Saudi Star, formed by Mohamed Ali Al-Amoudi to grow food in Ethiopia for Saudi Arabia, admitted that it owed the money... 

  Courtesy of Addis Voice

Prof.(Pseudo) Bisrat Amare: The man who tortured history

By Abebe Gellaw
Thursday, October 27, 2011  Source: Addis Voice
According to Bisrat’s Hawaraya story, Meles Zenawi is a power-hungry pathological liar and deceiver who can never be trusted. Bisrat says that Meles took control of the TPLF after he set up the Marxist Leninist League of Tigray (MLLT), an anti-democratic and cultic dictatorial group that has committed untold atrocities against innocent civilians and TPLF fighters. One of the enablers of Meles that betrayed the original leaders of the ethnic front, according to Bisrat, was Abaye Tsehaye, whom he describes as someone who goes with the wind of the day. Another enabler of Meles, Bisrat claimed, was Sibehat Nega.

A Review of Messay Kebede, Ideology and Elite Conflicts: Autopsy of the
Ethiopian Revolution
Professor Theodore M. Vestal

Ethiopia steps up terrorism allegations against journalists
Tuesday, October 25, 2011  Addis Voice
"Zenawi’s remarks to parliament came one day after state-run daily Addis Zemen (“New Era”) published a scathing attack against independent weekly Awramba Times in what appears to be part of prolonged smear campaign against the paper and its chief editor, Dawit Kebede. The Amharic-language daily published an opinion piece entitled “How long shall we tolerate violence-mongers,” that urged security forces to “take action” against Kebede, according to a translation of the article commissioned by CPJ."

በሊዝ አዋጁና በሕንፃ ግንባታ መመርያ ዙሪያ ሕዝብ ተደናግሯልና አብራሩ! አስረዱ! አወያዩ!

የአረና አመራር አባል ፍርድ ቤት ሳይቀርቡ ከእስር ተፈቱ

አንድነት ፓርቲ ለሰብዓዊ መብት ኮሚሽን አቤት አለ

Source Reporter

Ethiopia's Hydroelectric Program - Boon or Folly?
Written by John Daly  Oilprice.com
Monday, 24 October 2011 
Zenawi in Cairo and agreed to set up a technical team to study the impact of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam while Zernawi, on an obvious charm offensive to secure international financial backing, agreed to host Egyptian and Sudanese officials to prove that the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam will not be used to irrigate any of the large corporate farms the Ethiopian government has leased to foreign investors in recent years, but instead be used solely to generate electricity, adding that his government will delay ratifying the 2010 Entebbe Agreement.

WHAT NEXT FOR LIBYA AFTER GADDAFI’S BRUTAL EXIT.

Elamu Denis

Many African leaders will learn from his fall in two ways either they carry out internal reforms or they learn to play their cards well because the cold war is back in one way or the other with the crisis of global capitalism, soon those who are smart will survive the threats and take advantage of the changing patterns of the war on terror.

WOLLO: Microcosm Ethiopia and Exemplar of Ethiopian Unity
Ghelawdewos Araia, Ph.D.
October 22, 2011
Literally and figuratively speaking, Wollo is the central locus and the heart of Ethiopia. By virtue of its geographical location, Wollo, both in the distant past and the annals of contemporary Ethiopia, served as the rendezvous point for major Ethiopian nationalities, and by way of reflecting on this reality, on November 2, 2005, in a brief Amharic article entitled ‘The Question of Nationalities and Ethiopian Unity’

My Motherland Ethiopia is a Proud Nation with Integrity

   Mekonnen G Michael:  10/23/2011

The so called embedded journalism is nothing more than one sided reporting. Only a fool can believe that journalists embedded in military operation would report about human rights abuse committed by the group in which they are embedded.

Beseferut Qunna Messefer, We Reap What We Sow

Tesafye Habisso  10/22/2011

 It is always, I repeat always, better to listen to the needs, choices and aspirations of the common people on time and address them with all justice, fairness and equity than to postpone them with impunity and later regret that we were mistaken when the time is already past the eleventh hour. Let us always not lose cognizance of the stark reality of political life that "Power Corrupts, and Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely", whether Lord Acton said it or not. This lesson should be learnt by each one of us, wherever and at whatever echelons of power we may be at present. Those who do not learn from the mistakes of others are doomed to repeat them, as the old saying goes.

African land grab: what Indian companies do in Ethiopia is what they are not allowed to do in Inida  posted 10/21/2011
By Keffyalew Gebremedhin
The question of land grab in Ethiopia and indeed in other developing countries would remain a topic of national and international conversations. The Ethiopian government is fully aware of this and has been fighting to influence its direction, although unsuccessfully to date. What it is doing is to deny traction to the criticisms against its policy of doling out Ethiopian lands to foreign investors.

አዲሱ የሊዝ አዋጅ ነባር ይዞታ በሚሸጥበት ወቅት ወደ ሊዝ ሥርዓት ይለወጣል 

የሕዝብ ተወካዮች ምክር ቤት ባለፈው ሳምንት ድንገት ሳይጠበቅ ያፀደቀው የከተማ ቦታን በሊዝ ስለመያዝ የሚደነግገው አዋጅ ጥያቄ እያስነሳ ነው፡፡ በተለይ አዋጁ ነባር ይዞታ በሚሸጥበት ወቅት ወደ ሊዝ ሥርዓት ይለወጣል ማለቱ አግባብ አለመሆኑን የተለያዩ የኅብረተሰብ ክፍሎች እየገለጹ ነው፡፡ ይህ አዋጅ ለፓርላማው የሚመለከተው ቋሚ ኮሚቴ ያልተመራ ከመሆኑም በላይ፣ ሰፊ ጉዳዮችን እንደማንሳቱ በቂ ውይይት እንዳልተደረገበት እየተተቸ ነው፡፡ በሕዝብ ተወካዮች ምክር ቤት ብቸኛው የተቃዋሚ ፓርቲ አባል የሆኑት አቶ ግርማ ሰይፉ አዋጁ እንዲፀድቅ የተደረገበትን አካሄድ ተችተዋል፡፡‹‹ደርግ የወረሰው የግለሰቦችን ትርፍ ይዞታ ነው፡፡ ኢሕአዴግ ከዚህ የባሰ የዜጎችን ይዞታ የመውረስ አሠራር ነው ተግባራዊ እያደረገ የሚገኘው፤›› ሲሉ በአዋጁ ፅንሰ ሐሳብ እንደማይስማሙ ገልጸዋል፡፡ከዚህ በተጨማሪም በይዞታ ሽያጭ ወቅት መንግሥት ተጨማሪ የሊዝ ክፍያ የሚያገኝበት አግባብ በመኖሩ፣ ግብይቱ የዋጋ ንረት እንደሚፈጥር ያነጋገርናቸው ባለይዞታዎች ስጋታቸውን እየገለጹ ነው፡፡ደንብ ሲወጣ አዲስ የይዞታ ልኬት የሚካሄድ ሲሆን፣ በልኬቱ ከ500 ካሬ ሜትር በላይ ይዞታ የያዘ ይቀነስበታል፡፡ እንደ አካባቢው ሁኔታ በፕላኑ መሠረት ያነሰ ይዞታ ያለው እንዲጨመርለት ከተፈለገ በክፍያ ይጨምርለታል፡፡ ‹‹የሚቀነስ ይዞታ በሕጉ መሠረት ተመጣጣኝ ካሳ ይከፈልበታል፡፡ ያነሰው ደግሞ በሊዝ ክፍያ ይጨመርለታል፤›› ሲሉ የሚኒስቴሩ አንድ ከፍተኛ ባለሥልጣን ገልጸዋል፡

AFRICANS MUST ACCEPT THEIR ETHNIC IDENTITY CONSCIOUSNESS.

By:  Oola Samuel Olara   10/21/2011

It’s worth noting that the dilemmas and nuances of Africa’s political and social strife are deeply inherent in the colonial rut and dilapidation. This scenario did not only distort the social cohesion and coherence of the African population, but it laid the foundation for protracted conflicts and violence based on social stratification. The colonial policy of Divide and rule was used by the colonial authorities to penetrate their vested interests in the African communities. This policy had the effect of invoking Tribal and ethnic animosity. To date, Post-African conflicts and wars have been perpetuated along historical colonial divides.

We believe the important of free speech and press; however Addis Zemen editors became human parrots regurgitating what the regime cadres have written to them.  It sank to the bottom and lost its code of professional responsibility if they have one. Addis Zemen duty is to keep informed its readers on issue that touches the people and the nation. It has been a while the decline of the news paper its traditional role.  “I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.” Voltaire As a news paper Awramba Times has been on the radar screen of the regime, opportunist and apologist can’t stand it. You judge for yourself, after reading the inflammatory article published in Addis Zemen.

A Wakeup Call for All Ethiopians Diaspora Community

The Divisive Trends of Some Opposition Ethiopian Diaspora, OLF, ONLF, Shabia & Al-Shabab    By Tezera Asegu  London_England

Ethiopia: Return of the African Lion
JSL-TIMES
With a GDP of $32.3bn, Ethiopia is currently Africa’s fourth-largest economy, having surpassed Kenya to become the largest economy in East Africa. The country’s spectacular growth over the past six years has been driven largely by services sector, which has seen substantial investment by government and the private sector. The new Growth and Transformation Plan (2011-2015) anticipates that industry will grow at an average of 20%, while agriculture and services continue to register growth. Some analysts project GDP rising to $472bn in 15 years and per capita income rising to $4000 over the next decade making Ethiopia one of the three most powerful economies in Africa.

Kenya's move into Somalia is brave 
Simon Tisdall The Hindu
The West is at a collective loss over dealing with the Islamist militia, so Nairobi's bid to tackle this African problem should be applauded.

UN draft resolution would hit Eritrea mining
Tue Oct 18, 2011 
* Draft would ban minerals investment, imports
* Eritrea denies it supports Somali Islamists
* Opposition in Security Council could dilute resolution
By Patrick Worsnip Reuters
UNITED NATIONS, Oct 18 (Reuters) - Mining companies would be banned from investing in Eritrea's potentially booming minerals sector under a draft U.N. resolution that Security Council members are due to start negotiating on Tuesday.

Former Addis Ababa Security Head to face criminal charges in USA
Bisrat-Amare-Former Addis Ababa Security Head
Former Head of Security force in Addis Ababa, Bisrat Amare seems to face criminal charge in USA, according to the Atlanta based Mahdere Ansdnet radio.OHIO IN SEARCH OF JUSTICE_INTERVIEW WITH DEMISSIE BELACHEW

LAND TO INVESTORS: Large-Scale Land Transfer in Ethiopia
Dessalegn Rahmato
Forum for Social Studies
The catch-phrase, “global land grab”, refers to the rush for commercial land in Africa and
elsewhere by private and sovereign investors for the production and export of food crops as well as bio-fuels, in which the land deals involved stand to benefit the investors at the expense of host countries and their populations. The phenomenon has attracted international activist organizations and the world media since much of the land transferred is in poor and food insecure countries that have long been dependent on Western financed food aid and other support programs.

Comment: While forgiving former Derg officials, why is Meles treating Seye Abraha, a person who spent most of his life and energy for the development and growth of the TPLF, in such cheap and childish manner? It is very difficult to understand those Tigrayans that support an Eritrean culprit called Meles who is mistreating our heroes and other indigenous Tigrayans while Eritreans are given red carpet reception all over Ethiopia. 

TPLF Buried Secrets

By Aram Maru

We Tigreans, the price of not speaking up have been huge against TPLF leaders. Many innocent lives are lost and huge sacrifices are paid. The struggle for accountability has been replaced by fear, reprisal and loyalty to muzzle the untold brutality. Ato Gebremedhin emboldened to tell his personal knowledge, unburdening himself of his horror by sharing his memory to whoever will listen. His story is likely to stay in our collective memory and affirms our previous suspicions. As for the TPLF's buried secrets, nearly 27 years or more had gone by in silence. Who is responsible? A bedrock of facts is pouring about who did what to how many. Crucial facts will not fade or be concealed even for many years. 

Ethiopia’s ‘Distorted’ Monetary Plan Needs Reform, IMF Says
October 13, 2011
Oct. 13 (Bloomberg) -- Ethiopia’s “highly distorted” monetary policy requires urgent reorganization because it is stunting growth and undermining macroeconomic stability, the International Monetary Fund said. The Horn of Africa country’s five-year economic-development plan that starts in the fiscal year beginning July 8, 2010, and targets annual growth of 11.2 percent is “very ambitious,” the Washington-based lender said. The IMF projects output for the period will range from 6 percent to 8 percent a year.

Is China a currency manipulator? 
Oct 11th 2011 The Economist online 
The yuan/dollar exchange rate and America's trade deficit with China
President Obama's administration has already passed on two opportunities to label China a currency manipulator, out of a well-founded fear of sparking a trade war. Senators should do the same (while hoping that China responds to their sabre-rattling by letting the yuan rise a little more, as happened the last time the Senate came close to passing a similar measure, in 2005).

World Terrorism Database

Finote Nesanet Issue September 30, 2004 edition (Amharic)

Thank you but thank you not for your divisive ethnic ploy 

Mebrahtu Lemma

One can ask how many of our compatriots did disappear this way without someone telling their pain and suffering. I think those who were involved, should tell the true story so that those responsible for crimes are brought to the court of justice. Ethiopia and especially Tigray also need a truth and reconciliation commission to handle issues of the numerous cruel acts of the state-bearing party, namely the elites within the EPRDF and primarily the prime minister of the country. What I wanted to say to Gebremedhin is that, I appreciate his bold step in this open book exposé of the deeds of the leaders and cadres. But his attempt to wedge a clear distinction between Ethiopians using ethnic differences by aligning one against each other is totally pointless.Please refer: Bisrat Amare, Sebhat Nega's special agent in the Diaspora.

Arrests of journalists show Ethiopia's sterner side
From the arrest of more than 100 Ethiopian opposition activists, journalists, and columnists, to the arrest of two Swedish journalists, Ethiopia's government is showing its intolerance of dissent.  By William Davison, Correspondent / October 4, 2011 

Ato Girmay T.Giorgis eloquently articulated about Afar and Seaport on his recent article titled “Circumstances Hindering Ethiopian Stability and Peace”. Many distinguish scholars and writers have expressed their view on question of Afar people and have been ridiculed by the mouth pieces of the regime. EPRDF absolute political leader imposed his twisted version of history to deny Ethiopia’s right access to the sea and the salvation of the Afar people quest to unite with motherland. Yet such cruel betrayal towards the powerless in not fundamentally different from colonial attitude to reject what is ours. In deed we have to keep the memory of our access to the sea alive the time will come when there would be a far-sighted and responsible government.

Commentary:

By Afera Gebru, July 6, 2000

Since it was from Eritrea that Italy has launched its main invasion in 1935, consideration of national security must be dominant in Ethiopia's quest for the return of Assab. But this argument may be insufficient by them to convince the EPRDF. The problem with Eritrea can not be solved in a round table, without addressing the question of security concerns more than anything else. Ethiopia as the victor should set the conditions and dictate her own terms on Eritrea (as the defeated nation), as has been the case in all wars that has been won. Eritrea must not be the exception. In the long run Ethiopia may lose more than what could possibly hope to gain by feigning to ignore the security concern of her survival as an outlet to the sea.

Commentary:

The Misleading Metaphor of Assab

By Afera Gebru; July 22, 2000

The problem of Eritrea once again became the main issue like a rash that never goes away. Eritrea has been a security treat to Ethiopia's survival ever since its inception. The initiative to give autonomy to Eritrea was basically the main issue for lasting peace in the region according to EPRDF's political doctrine. But the unfair political stance for not securing Ethiopia's interest has persistently frustrated many concerned Ethiopians. The war is producing growing discomfort due to the lack of securing Ethiopia's vital interest in an outlet to the sea. So many lives are lost during the war; dissent is being voiced far more openly than it was eight years ago. The main obstacle to restore is still some EPRDF official for not wanting to hammer the illusive past agreement on the interest of Ethiopia's geographical disadvantage that our country can face if it is land locked.

Circumstances Hindering Ethiopian Stability and Peace
By Girmay T.Giorgis October, 2011
The question of sea access should stay high on the agenda of Ethiopian political parties. And, in my opinion, the question of Assab should not be seen separated from Afar people and their land. Concerns for all citizens and for all parts of the nation should be reflected in the political parties strategy and public expressions. Advancing national agenda where every Ethiopian would feel included is absolutely necessary. All leaders and citizens must have a collective consciousness of nationhood. Localized ventures will not get us anywhere.

Editors Note

I applauded Ayte Gebremedhin Araya for coming forward to share his memoir. People who care deeply about justice should come forward and exposed the atrocity committed in the name of political squabble to seize power. For those who have been contemplating to write the time has come to back up, the facts and data. It is my hope Ayte Gebremedhin article will empower and allow many ex-fighters to speak truth with greater conviction, credibility and courage. Our brothers and sisters you are not forgotten to quote Martin Luther King Jr. is right that the arc of history is long, but it bends towards justice, and a new era has come to keep up with the past deeds.

Bisrat Amare, Sebhat Nega's special agent in the Diaspora

Table Talk
Benefits of flaxseed touted at new spot in downtown Columbus
By Gary Seman 
ThisWeek Community Newspapers
A new beverage-and-snack spot catering to flaxseed devotees has opened in downtown Columbus. Flaxella Cafe & Deli, 89 E. Long St., puts the ground seed in everything from fruit drinks to espresso. With more and more people espousing healthy lifestyles and diets, it made sense to introduce Flaxella to the local market, owner Godofai Tgiorgis said. “I think it’s about time,” Tgiorgis said. The place will start out with a beverage menu of five or six different styles of coffee per day, including a house blend. Most of the coffees are supplied by Café Brioso. The coffees will not have flaxseed added, but the seed will be added in the other beverages, including fresh-fruit smoothies and fruit drinks, plus espresso, latte and cappuccino. All are in the $2.99 to $3.99 range

Derg officials released from jail .
Reporter
Wednesday, 05 October 2011 By ZEKARIAS SINTAYEHU 
Among the 23 Derg higher officials, who were convicted for crime against humanity and put into jail from life imprisonment to death penalty, 16 of them was released yesterday from Kaliti penitentiary Facility. Those 16 Derg higher officials convicted of crime 

againsthumanity and jailed for the past 20 years was freed on parole Of the freed higher officials, the former Derg Prime Minister, Major Fikire Sillasie Wegderes, Vice President, Colonel Fiseha Desta, Major Legese Asfaw, Colonel Endale Tesema, Major General Wubshet Desei, Lieutenant Colonel Nadew Zekarias, Sergeant Petros Gebre, Sergeant Sileshi Menesha, Captain Dejene Wondimagegnew, Eshetu Shenkute, Lisanu Mola, Brigadier General Legese Belayneh, Gesgis Gebre Meskel, Abebe Eshetu, Berihun Mamo and Major Desalegn Belay. The Reporter has learnt that the rest of the officials will be released when they serve 20 years of jail service.

Andrew M. Manis Asks ‘When Are WE (White People) Going to Get Over It?’
For much of the last forty years, ever since America “fixed” its race problem in the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts, we white people have been impatient with African Americans who continued to blame race for their difficulties. Often we have heard whites ask, “When are African Americans finally going to get over it? We white people have controlled political life in the disunited colonies and United States for some 400 years on this continent. Conservative whites have been in power 28 of the last 40 years. Even during the eight Clinton years, conservatives in Congress blocked most of his agenda and pulled him to the right. Yet never in that period did I read any headlines suggesting that anyone was calling for the assassinations of presidents Nixon, Ford, Reagan, or either of the Bushes. Criticize them, yes. Call for their impeachment, perhaps.

DUPONT APPLAUDS ETHIOPIAN GOVERNMENT PLANS TO IMPROVE ITS ROAD INFRASTRUCTURE
05 October 2011: The Ethiopian Government has been lauded following the announcement of a five year Growth and Transformation Plan (GTP) to improve its national road infrastructure in aid of fostering economic growth in the country. Ethiopia’s current GDP is set to grow 7.5% in 2011 and is ranked among the top 10 fastest growing economies in the world. Ntombela says that the country’s current road infrastructure is not sustainable in supporting the landlocked country’s needs.

Press Release

Date for the Holding of the National Conference Finalized
It is to be remembered that the ENCDC has during its 2^nd regular meeting agreed that the National Conference be held at the end of the month of October 2011. Based on this and taking into consideration the time for the overall preparation and groundwork, the Executive Office of the ENCDC, would like to announce to all who aspire for democratic change that the decision has been taken that the long-awaited Conference shall take place 22-31 October 2011 in Ethiopia. 

Egypt's New Democrats Ready to Defend Nile VOA
If Egypt and Sudan join the Nile water partnership, the decisions the basin makes will be difficult, and will require new relationships among those who feed Lake Nasser and those who take from it. Ethiopia recently agreed to host officials from Egypt and Sudan to prove that the dam, now called the Renaissance Dam, will not be used to irrigate any of the large corporate farms the Ethiopian government has leased to foreign investors in recent years. Though Ethiopia’s funding of the dam’s construction is uncertain, Egypt remains concerned and suspicious. “What we have been assured is that this dam is for hydro-electric and that it has no irrigation schemes in it,” said Abu-Zeid. “On the other hand, we have heard about irrigation schemes in Ethiopia and we’re not sure if any of them are in the Nile Basin.”

Ethiopia uses anti-terror laws to silence critical journalists
The Guardian
The Ethiopian government is using sweeping anti-terror laws to crack down on journalists critical of the regime. In the last three months, six journalists have been imprisoned, according to the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).
Many publications were shut down and 13 editors imprisoned. Today, most of the media in Ethiopia is state-owned. Even the international media are not immune to political interference.

Amharic on Adroid cell phones 

ሳይንስ/ቴክኒክ በእጅ ስልክ ፤ ጽሑፍ ፣ ንባብና መረጃ የማግኛ ዘዴ፣

The Ethiopian Observer staff morns the bus accident that took the lives of beloved gallant fighters and artists near Kobo in the morning of 9/26/2011. According to reliable resources the injured bodies were evacuated from the area by helicopter. Tigray Culture and Tourism Bureau confirmed , all of them were members of the Tigray Cultural Squad who played outstanding roles in the bitter struggle educating the mass about the bitter struggle in home and abroad. They are Berhane Gebremeskel (Gano), Berhane Gebrehiwot (handebet), Berhane Andey (Kunama), Letemeskel Gbrehiwot (Agew), Tekie Tesfamariam, Haile Gerlasie, Berhane Gebremichael, Ashenafi Mengistu and Habtome. May their soul rest in peace. 

Press freedom in Ethiopia
A tightening noose 
Sep 27th 2011, 6:42 by J.L. | NAIROBI 
BAOBAB recently penned a piece on the decline of the importance given to human rights. It ended with a call for greater resolve: "when anybody feels strongly enough about a cause to make a sacrifice, that compels a certain respect. Lofty, cost-free moral lectures count for less and less." This is particularly true of press freedom in Africa. According to the African Federation of Journalists, many African countries have accelerated their abuse and imprisonment of journalists. Eastern Africa is the worst affected, with the assassination of journalists in Somalia and the disappearance and torture of journalists in Eritrea. Indeed, in the Eritrean case the mistreatment is evidence of the brutality and paranoia of the regime

Kenyan heroine Wangari Maathai dies in hospital
September 26, 2011
NAIROBI, Kenya Sep 26 – Kenyan environmentalist and the 2004 Nobel Peace prize winner Wangari Muta Maathai has died while undergoing treatment at the Nairobi Hospital. Her Personal Assistant Lucy Wanjohi said Maathai succumbed to ovarian cancer, for which she was being treated. She was diagnosed with the cancer last year. “She passed on at 11 pm last night after a long battle with cancer. She has been in and out of hospital several times now. It is very sad that she has left us,” Wanjohi told Capital News on telephone on Monday morning.

Triggering revolt: Impoverished Eritrea financing, arming African militants
Stewart Bell Sep 25, 2011 
The United Nations imposed an arms embargo on Somalia in 1992 but weapons continue to flow to groups like Al-Shabab, al-Qaeda-linked militants who recently awarded AK-47s to the winners of a children’s Koran competition.Where the guns come from is no great mystery. The UN committee that monitors violations of the arms embargo has repeatedly blamed nearby Eritrea, one of the world’s most backward and repressive states. In its latest report on violations of the arms embargo, released July 18, the UN monitoring group said Eritrea was training, financing and arming an array of African militant groups, including Al-Shabab.

Zambia - One of the few democratic nations in Africa.
LUSAKA (AFP) - Populist opposition leader Michael Sata was named Zambia's new president Friday, after a campaign promising to help the nation's poor majority enjoy the country's recent economic growth. "Speaking for myself and my party, we will accept the results. We are a democratic party and we know no other way," Banda said in his farewell speech at State House. "I have no ill feelings in my heart, there is no malice in my words. I wish him well in his years as president. I pray his policies will bear fruit," Banda said.

Journalist Ashine’s fate exposes Ethiopia's tyranny
By KIFLU HUSSAIN 
There is no need to introduce to Ugandan men of letters who Mr John Nagenda is. Yet, since this publication is also read by non-Ugandans, a word or two about the gentleman is appropriate.  Nagenda is known more as a regular columnist in one of the Ugandan dailies, Saturday Vision. It is through his column that I also got to know him or rather about him. Apparently, Mr Nagenda juggles as a regular columnist with his other important job: he is a Senior Adviser on Media and Public Relations to President Yoweri Museveni. 

US building secret drone base in Ethiopia - Washington Post

The United States is building a series of secret drone bases in the Horn of Africa and the Arabian Peninsula to launch an aggressive campaign against al-Qaida-linked groups in Somalia and Yemen, the Washington Post reported Tuesday night. One of the bases for the Drones will be based in Ethiopia according to the report. 

Ethiopia Police Deny Using Anti-Terror Law to Stifle Dissent
Peter Heinlein | Addis Ababa
VOA News
Ethiopian police have rejected accusations that the recent detentions of several high-profile government critics were politically motivated. The arrests are coming under increasing criticism from opposition parties and international rights groups.

Ethiopia and Egypt agree on new chapter in relations
Source: Al Ahram
Egypt's Prime Minister Essam Sharaf and his Ethiopian counterpart Meles Zenawi agrees to start from scratch in regards to the Nile basin file after an era of strained relations 
Egypt and Ethiopia have agreed to open a new chapter in relations that were strained under the regime of ousted Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak over disputes on Nile water sharing.

Human rights
The compass fails
Loss of moral authority, competition and distraction weaken Western clout in promoting human rights. Fighting corruption (see article) is another story
ACCORDING to a cable leaked last month, the European Union’s man in Ethiopia told his masters that “basic human-rights abuses are being committed by the government on a daily basis” and “the EU must respond firmly and resolutely.” That was in 2005. Neither the EU nor any other Western donor has done anything of the kind.

Ethiopia reporter flees, other opposition arrested
By ANITA POWELL, Associated Press
JOHANNESBURG (AP) — An Ethiopian reporter has fled the East African nation after being named in a WikiLeaks cable, a journalists' rights group said, in what they said was the first instance of a leaked cable causing direct repercussions for a journalist.

Democracy, irresponsibility and dictatorship 
By Kirubeal Bekele | September 14, 2011 

We don’t have to tolerate the intolerable but we should tolerate others even if we don’t agree with them. We should be able to disagree with them without being nasty and disagreeable. If we don’t, we are, deliberately or unconsciously, sabotaging our efforts to build a democracy. That is why irresponsible people can never attain or build a democracy. 

Egypt and Ethiopia to review Nile river dam 
Egypt says Ethiopia's planned Nile project "could be source of benefit" as two countries open new chapter in relations.  Ethiopia and Egypt have agreed to review the impact of a planned $4.8bn Nile river dam, which Addis Ababa announced in March, in a bid to open a "new chapter" in once-strained relations. Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi and his Egyptian counterpart, Essam Sharaf, made the announcement at a joint news conference following talks in Cairo on Saturday.

አንድነት ለዴሞክራሲና ለፍትሕ ፓርቲ (አንድነት)

UNITY FOR DEMOCRACY AND JUSTICE PARTY (UDJ)

All those who terrorize people are themselves in constant fear and terror

A press statement issued by Unity for Democracy and Justice (UDJ)

Starving for Coverage
Unlike the 1980s, journalists pay little attention to famine ravaging the Horn of Africa
By James Fahn
What a difference a generation makes. Back in 1984-85, groundbreaking media coverage of the terrible drought and famine that affected around eight million people in Ethiopia spurred an outpouring of Western relief efforts. A harrowing report by BBC broadcaster Michael Buerk is often cited as the spark that led to Band Aid, a supergroup of British and Irish musicians who recorded a pop album for charity, and eventually Live Aid, a group of American pop stars who performed likewise.

Ethiopia inflation jumps to 40.6 pct in August
Tue Sep 13, 2011 
Ethiopia's year-on-year inflation jumped to 40.6 percent in August
ADDIS ABABA, Sept 13 (Reuters) - Ethiopia's year-on-year inflation jumped to 40.6 percent in August from 39.2 percent a month before as food prices rose, especially for cereals, the statistics office said on Tuesday.
Food prices account for 57 percent of the consumer price index."The total price index of cereals in August 2011 has increased by 52.3 percent as compared to the similar month last year which significantly contributed to the rise in the indices of food and the general consumer price index," the statistics office said in a statement. "Relative rises were observed in the indices of most of the components of food.

Ethiopia says plans to build more Nile dams
By Aaron Maasho
ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - Ethiopia has announced plans to construct two dams along its share of the Nile, six months after embarking on a 5,250 MW power plant that rankled Egypt over concerns it might affect the flow of the river. The Horn of Africa nation aims to produce 20,000 megawatts (MW) of power within the next 10 years, part of a plan to spend $12 billion over 25 years to raise power generating capability.Officials estimate the hydropower potential of the nation -- blessed with cascading rivers flowing through rugged mountains -- is around 45,000 MW.

UNITY FOR DEMOCRACY AND JUSTICE PARTY (UDJ)

A NEW YEAR’S CALL

THE ETHIOPIAN PEOPLE STAND UP TOGETHER TO REGAIN THEIR STOLEN FREEDOM!

A press statement issued by Unity for Democracy and Justice (UDJ)

Fight the TPLF/EPRDF if you have issues not the people of Tigray

Betrayal or selling off the country or its borders stands out in every article and story they narrate. This blame starts with the reign of Emperor Yohanes IV and continues to this day. The extremists allege that the Italian occupation of Eritrea and Tigray is the result of an alliance of Tigreans with the invaders. The giveaway of Eritrea is attributed as the fault of Tigreans and Eritreans jointly. 

Martin Luther King would be elated, but not completely satisfied
Ghelawdewos Araia    September 7, 2011

“King weeps from his grave,” says Cornel West, and tells us further that MLK “never confused substance with symbolism.” I agree with the latter statement and West is right that we must indeed be careful not to settle down with symbolism only, but we must also be careful not to make simplistic dichotomies as if substance and symbolism could not be expressed in tandem. In this context, thus, I argue that MLK would have been elated but not completely satisfied if he was still alive and be able to witness the progress African Americans have made since his departure in 1968.

Wikileaks - Meles Adviser Gilkes confirms Meles gave "LARGE CHUNK OF TERRITORY" to Sudan 
Seeye suggested that the dissenters may be frustrated by the pre-eminence of the TPLF in the Ethiopian Government (GoE) and EPRDF without giving the ANDM a larger share of the pie. He also argued that on-going tensions between Ethiopia and Sudan, which has cost the Amhara region a large chunk of territory, combined with the GoE's response of sweeping the issue under the rug may be another aggravating factor driving the dissenters. Gilkes confirmed this information to Pol/Econ Chief on December 18.

Wikileaks: Ethiopia - Seeye Opens up about EFFORT & control over resources by super-rich Meles and Azeb
Upon taking power in 1991, the ruling Tigrayan People's Liberation Front (TPLF) liquidated non-military assets held by the movement to found a series of companies whose profits would be used as venture capital to rehabilitate the war-torn Tigray region's economy.Sebhat Nega's removal from the TPLF Central Committee in 2006, his removal as CEO of EFFORT in late 2008 likely reflects tensions between Sebhat and Prime Minister Meles' wife Azeb Mesfin. While former regional Vice President of Tigray Abadi Zemo has taken over the CEO position at EFFORT, Seeye argued that Azeb's ascendance to the EFFORT Vice Chairmanship reflects an increasing consolidation of influence within the party and control over resources by Meles and Azeb.

WikiLeaks: Ethiopia - Meles tells US to "remove the Bashir regime." 
Meles offered that if he were the United States, he  would look at two options. First, which he clearly conveyed  as the preferred choice, would be to "remove the Bashir  regime." Acknowledging that such an option was unlikely,  Meles advocated for making a clear representation to the GoS  that the United States is not/not "out to get them" and  laying out clear benchmarks of actions expected of the GoS on  both Darfur and South Sudan that would be necessary to "avoid  continued challenges" with the U.S. Meles concluded the  discussion by highlighting that "they don't trust the Obama  Administration," and "they trust the Obama Administration  less than the Bush Administration," and with a clear  reference to U.S. Ambassador to the UN Susan Rice and former  Senior NSC Director for Africa Gayle Smith "...especially  some friends of mine."

Archives

Embassy Cable: EUROPEANS TRACK U.S. ON EAST AFRICA BUT REMAIN RELUCTANT TO SANCTION ERITREA Wikileaks

Germany reported addressing Ethiopia’s economic situation, namely hard currency and the poor investment climate, with Meles directly and being struck by what they described as Meles’ poor understanding of economics. The French (Gompertz had served there as Ambassador recently) challenged the German assessment, clarifying that Meles actually had a good understanding of economics, but claiming it was hampered by his ideological beliefs, especially regarding privatization.

PM Meles Zenawi’s responses to Ethiopia’s economic malaise are getting funnier
By Genet Mersha, 5 February 2011

At present, the

 under-reported level of inflation and the pain this has caused for ordinary people for this so long, especially after the introduction of devaluation and price controls recently, have deeply worried the government. It is trying to do everything within its powers, although even the solutions they try have turned out to be more grievous than the pain of living on little or nothing. An expert from the Ethiopian Commercial Bank recently rightly observed, “The most recent devaluation tended to function opposite to expectations and even caused grotesque developments in the economy.

ANOTHER MASSIVE LAND REQUEST FROM INDIA
January 29, 2011 Reporter, Ethiopia
Hayal Alemayehu
Chadha Agro Plc set to receive 100,000 ha land
Chadha Agro Plc, one of India’s giant operators in agro business, is set to get hold of land twice the size of Addis Ababa to invest in what has already become a popular field for foreign investors and a priority area for the government of Ethiopia. The company has requested a 100,000 ha land to invest in sugar development project while the Ministry of Agriculture has provided it with 22,000 ha land in Guji Zone in Oromia Regional State, according to information gathered from the Oromia investment Commission.

Ethiopia offers India farmland, 40 percent the size of Punjab
Asialite, UK site for “British-Asian Families”
February 2, 2011
Gyanendra Kumar Keshri 
Ethiopia has offered to Indian investors 1.8 million hectares of farmland, equalling nearly 40 percent the total area of principal grain-growing state of Punjab, in what could give a big push to the country`s food security. “So far, we have transferred 307,000 hectares of land to foreign and domestic investors. Some 79 percent of this land has been transferred to Indian companies. This land is on 70-year lease,” said visiting Ethiopian Agriculture Minister Tefera Derbew.

US Embassy cable: FOREIGN INVESTORS GRAB UP MORE LAND IN ETHIOPIA
Cable Viewer
January 28, 2011
Date of Cable: February 8, 2010

The Egyptian Prime Minister, Dr. Ahmed Nazif, led the latest charge of foreign agricultural investment during a January visit to Ethiopia. Nazif, alongside his delegation of several cabinet ministers and 26 agricultural companies, announced that the state-owned National Bank of Egypt plans to invest USD 40 million in the lease of 49,400 acres of land in the Afar region to grow cereals. Press reports stated that these cereals would be exported to Egypt despite the GoE’s 2007 “temporary” export ban on all cereals that has never been formally lifted. 

The Financial Times
Be careful what you wish for in Arab world 
By Anthony Cordesman 
Published: January 27, 2011 

The unrest in Egypt, Tunisia and Yemen and indeed, the governing turmoil in Iraq – highlight a critical problem in how the west deals with fractured and failing states.  To date, there has been too much focus on demonstrations and too little on the fact that changes in regimes that do not deal with the underlying causes of the protests are simply going to substitute one form of failed regime for another. 

African leaders in Ethiopia land grabJanuary 29, 2011 – 8:57 am
afrol News January 28, 2011 © Mekelle Univ/afrol News Land management course in Ethiopia afrol News, 28 January – Several African leaders have bought lands in Ethiopia to develop agricultural projects or tourism resorts. They are let to bypass a 2007 ban on export of cereals, still in place for other investors. The US Ambassador also discussed the criticism against the land grab in Ethiopia, with several claiming it would further jeopardise the critical food security situation in the country. He however agrees with Ethiopian authorities that a commercialisation of the agricultural sector and foreign investment were necessary.

afrol News, 29 January - With the police defeated and the army split between officers and privates, the protesters again gathering have an easier day today. President 

Mubarak's speech, not followed by action, was a flop.Central Cairo's Tahrir Square, housing both government buildings and the Egyptian Museum, is filling up with protesters again. Many admire the leftovers from yesterday's complete victory over the much-hated police. Burned-out armoured police vehicles are a perfect background for a photo documenting the hard-earned victory.

Ethiopia says thwarted Eritrea-planned “terrorist’’ attack
Sudan Tribune
January 22, 2011 Tesfa-Alem Tekle
Ethiopia said it has foiled a terrorist attack sponsored by its neighbor Eritrea, state-run Ethiopian Television has reported. According to the report seven militants allegedly trained and armed by the Eritrean government have been taken to custody with their weapons by security forces in the Afar region, bordering Eritrea. The militants are said to have departed from Eritrea’s Asab city and then travelled across the border into Ethiopia, planning to carry out massive attacks.

Price Controls Cause Chaos in Ethiopian Markets
Peter Heinlein | Addis Ababa January 25, 2011 VOA
Price controls on many staple food items ordered by Ethiopia's government early this month have reduced grocery bills for many low-income families. But now shopkeepers are upset and some basic items are disappearing from store shelves. Economists are concerned about the long-term effect of the government's price-fixing strategy.
Confusion has been the order of the day at shops and markets across the Ethiopian capital this month. The government surprised businesses on January 6, the Ethiopian Christmas Eve, by announcing price caps on such items as meat, bread, rice, sugar, powdered milk and cooking oil.

Seattle volunteers to bring lifesaving equipment to Ethiopian hospital

By Jack Broom
More than two dozen volunteers — doctors, nurses, technicians and more — from the nonprofit group Seattle Anesthesia Outreach (SAO) will travel to Black Lion Hospital in Ethiopia this month to install anesthesia machines, monitoring devices and dozens of other pieces of equipment they hope will save lives and improve patient care, especially during and after surgery. More than $500,000 worth of equipment and supplies for the mission has been donated by Swedish Medical Center and its suppliers, including eight anesthesia machines, 17 patient monitors and six electrical-surgical units.

High-Speed Geology
Violent Seismic Activity Tearing Africa in Two
By Axel Bojanowski 

The fissures began appearing years ago. But in recent months, seismic activity has accelerated in northeastern Africa as the continent breaks apart in slow motion. Researchers say that lava in the region is consistent with magma normally seen on the sea floor -- and that water will ultimately cover the desert. Cynthia Ebinger, a geologist from the University of Rochester in New York, could hardly believe what the caller from the deserts of Ethiopia was saying. It was an employee at a mineralogy company -- and he reported that the famous Erta Ale volcano in northeastern Ethiopia was erupting. Ebinger, who has studied the volcano for years, was taken aback. The volcano's crater had always been filled with a bubbling soup of silver-black lava, but it had been decades since its last eruption.

Congo, Burundi Are Set to Sign Nile River Water Accord Rejected by Egypt
January 20, 2011Bloomberg
William Davison
The Democratic Republic of Congo and Burundi may soon sign an accord on water usage from the Nile River, paving the way for ratification of a pact that strips Egypt of its rights to the flow from the world’s longest river.  The leaders of the two nations are set to adopt the so- called Comprehensive Framework Agreement once they “fully understand” the issues, Ethiopian Deputy Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn said in an interview in Addis Ababa, the capital, on Jan. 15. One of the stipulations of the CFA is that it should be signed by Aug. 1. 

An ambassador who makes waves
Indian Ocean Newsletter, France
January 22, 2011
The Eritrean opposition is displeased that Ethiopia has accepted the appointment of Girma Asmerom as Ambassador of Eritrea to the AU in Addis Ababa.
The former ambassador to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) in Addis Ababa, who was declared persona non grata by the Ethiopian authorities in 1999, is back in the Ethiopian capital. Girma Asmerom Tesfay presented his letters of accreditation there to the President of the African Union (AU) Jean Ping, on 17 January, as the new Eritrean permanent representative to the AU. Given his personality, this appointment is not to the liking of the Ethiopia-based Eritrean oppostion, which is annoyed with Prime Minister Meles Zenawi for not opposing it. Girma Asmerom Tesfay was a member of the Ethiopian national football team in the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico City and so is accustomed to stating privately that he is “more Ethiopian than Meles Zenawi ”. For his part, the Ethiopian Prime Minister holds him responsible for the degradation of his relations with the Eritrean Head of State, Issayas Afeworki, after Eritrea achieved independence in 1993. Girma Asmerom Tesfay knows Ethiopians and Addis Ababa well, which raises concern among the Eritrean opposition that he might form a pro-Eritrean network of influence in the Ethiopian capital.

The Role of the Diaspora in the Quest for Democratization in Ethiopia

Ghelawdewos Araia, Ph.D.

Paper presented at the SOCEPP Canada Conference, January 15, 2011

In order for democracy to consolidate and flourish, a culture of tolerance or toleration is a vital and necessary ingredient. According to the Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy, “toleration requires people to co-exist peacefully with others who have fundamentally different beliefs or values. Arguments for tolerance include the fallibility of our beliefs, the impossibility of coercing genuine religious beliefs, respect for autonomy, the danger of civil strife, and the value of diversity.”    

Ethiopia: Devalutation and speedy growth breed economic chaos?
Afrik January 18, 2011
Desalegn Sisay
Ethiopian Government and entrepreneurs seem to have found a common ground to find a solution to a recalcitrant double digit inflation after the former was forced to revise a price cap it recently imposed on basic consumer items following commodity shortages in Addis Ababa, the capital, as a result. Some argue that a speedy growth coupled with a 16.7 percent devaluation of the local currency last September are to blame.

Poll: Does South Sudan secession benefit Ethiopia?
Jimma Times, US
January 15, 2011
Both past Ethiopian leaders Emperor Haile Selassie and Colonel Mengistu Hailemariam 

supported the separatist Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) against the central government of Sudan. Now decades later, the SPLM is in full control of southern Sudan and its people are voting in a referendum for independence. There are some positives and negatives for Ethiopia in regards to the Southern Sudan situation. An independent Southern Sudan could give Ethiopia a new economic partner, a friendly neighbor and a better future alternative for a source of energy (oil). Southern Sudan is also likely to support Ethiopia in its case for a bigger share of the Nile river against Egypt. However, South Sudan’s secession can open up new sources of border dispute for Ethiopia as well. Several anti-government groups can also find a new home in Juba, the capital city of Southern Sudan. If current and future Ethiopian governments can not balance their relations between Juba and Khartoum, rebels could use the new country as a base. 

Could other Arab countries follow Tunisia's example?By Roger Hardy
Middle East analyst, Woodrow Wilson Center, Washington DC
Arabs everywhere identified with Mohamed Bouazizi.

When the 26-year-old Tunisian graduate - despairing of getting a decent job and abused by the police - set fire to himself in a public square, his story resonated far beyond his provincial town.When he later died of his injuries, he became both a symbol and a martyr.Now the unrest sparked by his self-immolation has led to the downfall of one of the region's longest-serving autocrats. Unable to quell the unrest, despite making a string of televised concessions to the protesters, the 74-year-old President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali simply vanished from the scene.

THE ECONOMIST - LONDON 
A more hopeful continent 
The lion kings?
Africa is now one of the world’s fastest-growing regions 
January 6th, 2011

Over the past decade sub-Saharan Africa’s real GDP growth rate jumped to an annual average of 5.7%, up from only 2.4% over the previous two decades. That beat Latin America’s 3.3%, but not emerging Asia’s 7.9%. Asia’s stunning performance largely reflects the vast weight of China and India; most economies saw much slower growth, such as 4% in South Korea and Taiwan.

Ethiopia inflation rises to 14.5 pct in December
Reuters
January 14, 2011
ADDIS ABABA – Ethiopia’s annual inflation jumped to 14.5 percent last month from 10.2 percent in November after a steep rise in food and non-food prices caused in part by two currency devaluations in less than 12 months. The Central Statistics Agency (CSA) said non-food inflation in Africa’s most populous nation after Nigeria rose to 22.9 percent last month from 16.7 percent the month before. Food prices rose 8.9 percent from 5.8 percent previously.

My recollection and testimony at Bole International Airport
By Abebe Amaha 

Normally and without any doubt, especially at this age of ours, airports should have rigorous scrutiny of those travelers destined to several countries. I think all passengers do accept that such measures are for their best protection and safety. However, what happened during this special day was that a “security police” in civil clothes together with an armed man with his Kalashnikov stops selectively this man among other travelers and orders him to open his suitcases twenty meters away from the main terminal building.

Potential for Ethiopia to Produce and Export Renewable Energy
Energy Pulse, US

Harry Valentine January 11, 2011
Some of the highest mountains across sub-Sahara Africa occur in Ethiopia with elevations exceeding 7000-ft above sea level. Summer humidity reaches 100% across Ethiopia as prevailing summer winds blow across the Seychelles region of the Indian Ocean and pick up moisture that is then carried over the Ethiopian Highlands. There are numerous technologies that promise to increase the rate of condensation at higher elevations in humid regions.

End Human Rights Abuses against Copts in Egypt 
To: The UN Secretary, U.S.Congress, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights 
WE THE UNDERSIGNED wish to bring to the attention of the World Community the continuing plight of Coptic Christian Citizens living in the sovereign Nation of Egypt: 
1.Coptic Christian Citizens of the Sovereign Nation of Egypt have been continually persecuted in Egypt. More than forty cold-blooded massacres have been committed against Coptic Christians in recent years, resulting in the injury and murder of men, women, and children, and untold loss of businesses and property. 

Sudan Independence Referendum Draws Large Refugee Turnout in Ethiopia
VOA January 9, 2011
Southern Sudanese refugees in neighboring Ethiopia are turning out in big numbers at referendum voting stations to express their feeling that independence is the road to a 

new life in their homeland.  At a voting center here the celebration has already begun. The voting will go on for several more days, but the outcome is a foregone conclusion for the hundreds of southern Sudanese who waited as this polling station opened Sunday morning. Many waiting for their turn to cast a ballot were born in refugee camps. They have never seen their homeland.

Ethiopia denies pilot error caused Flight 409 to crash
Examiner, US
January 6, 2011
False charges, speculation, rumors, and words continued to be hurled as ammunition in the batter for truth to determine why Ethiopian Airlines (ET) Flight 409, a Boeing 737-800, crashed into the Mediterranean Sea just minutes after takeoff from Beirut Rafic Hairiri International Airport (BEY), in Beirut, Lebanon on January 25, 2010 at about 2:35 a.m. local time.

Tucson ...Notes via Twitter from Michael Moore

Sunday, January 9th, 2011

"Arizona the mecca for biogtry and prejudice" "a constituent at a previous angry town hall meeting of Gabrielle Giffords dropped a gun on the floor, what?" " A suspicious package at her political… Dem Rep Giffords shot in head in Az. Sarah Palin had put CROSSHAIRS/ BULLSEYE on Giffords on her website! OUTRAGE! http://mmflint.me/fcHmJf  When Rep Giffords voted in favor of health care bill, her office in Tucson was attacked & 

vandalized. http://mmflint.me/hKYtR7 Palin "set gun sights on 20 Dems (including Giffords)." http://mmflint.me/fcHmJf Palin site now seems 2 b 2 taking down crosshairs map! In 2009, another gun nut showed up where Rep Giffords was speaking (at another Safeway) & dropped his gun http://mmflint.me/gPnApk Giffords opponent held June event 2 "Shoot a Fully Automatic M16" to "Get on Target" & "Remove Gabrielle Giffords" http://mmflint.me/hF1BN5. When Palin put crosshairs on a map w/ Rep. Giffords & 19 other Dem congressmen/women, she urged followers to "reload" & "aim" for Democrats.

U.S. Controlled IMF installs one of its own as leader of Ivory Coast
http://presscore.ca/2011/?p=676
Tensions in the African country Ivory Coast are escalating and many countries are advising their people to leave the country. The U.S. and Canadian media are blaming the tensions on the refusal of its leader, Laurent Gbagbo, to concede defeat in an election that was plagued with vote tampering and outright fraud. The U.S., Canada, the IMF, the UN and other states and international organization all recogize the UN declared winner Alassane Dramane Ouattara. Europe and the US is now working to strangle Laurent Gbagbo financially to force him to quit as Côte d’Ivoire’s president after an election they claim was won by his rival Alassane Ouattara. On December 2, 2010, after a series of delays, the Independent Electoral Commission of Côte d’Ivoire (CEI) declared Alassane Ouattara winner of the second round of the country’s presidential elections without presenting the results to the Constitutional Council for confirmation and validation. The CEI claimed without providing any proof that Alassane Ouattara was the new leader of Ivory Coast.

Federalism in Ethiopia helps maintain unity
Friday, Jan 7, 2011 1:40pm GMT
By Aaron Maasho

Two decades on, Ethiopia remains one nation. Meles, now prime minister, says the country's "balkanisation" was only averted by an ethnicity-based federal system, although analysts say political authoritarianism and poverty still pose risks.
The model has drawn plaudits from Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir who hailed it as an "example" for Africa at a time his own country, plagued by civil wars since independence, may split after the south votes in a referendum on secession on Sunday.

Ethiopia: The politics of imagined genocide

By Eskinder Nega | January 7, 2011

Frew rightly points out “the essence of the law against genocide is not about numbers” but more of intentions. True. And he goes on to say, “the Derg has tried to eliminate parts of political groups standing in opposition to its revolution.” Again, true. But does this make the Derg an anomaly of its time, as genociders would be under normal circumstances? All opposition groups intended the same for the Derg. Opposition groups also intended the same against each other. The TPLF, for example, murdered the entire leadership of the TLF, its competitor in Tigray.

Worries over Nile waters
Concern over water resources rumbled on throughout 2010 and will spill over into 2011, reports Reem Leila 
The River Nile has increasingly become the focus of bitter debate and, many predict, potential conflict. The picture is further complicated by the likely secession of the south of Sudan, which will force Egypt to factor yet another component into an already complex equation. Egypt's future water strategy includes upgrading water resources and nurturing closer ties with all Nile Basin countries -- Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Ethiopia, which provides 85 per cent of Egypt's 55.5 billion cubic metres of water, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda -- while prioritising stability in its southern neighbour Sudan, something that is viewed as an essential component of national security. 

Don't We Really Yearn to Hear an Ethiopian Success Story?
A Christmas Call to All Ethiopians in the Diaspora 
By Tesfaye Habisso, January 04, 2011

Whatever they earn stays right here at home and as such we must support and celebrate such Ethiopian business leaders and their success stories. Mind you, today there are more than 2,000 Ethiopians from amongst the Diaspora who made their patriotic decision to return to their country of origin and who have now made huge investments in the areas of real estate, hospitals, clinics, universities, restaurants, hotels, construction, and so forth. This is quite promising and worth all the commendation that these patriotic Ethiopians rightly deserve. 

Ethiopia – Firm Hands on the tiller
December 2010Africa Report/Nazret, France
As anticipated, the May 2010 elections greatly strengthened the hold on power of the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF). The party now controls all but two parliamentary seats after an election that devastated and shocked the opposition. The coming year will see the EPRDF settle in for a much-vaunted five-year Growth and Transformation Plan (GTP) for the economy and bring about some internal restructuring.

Hamas torturing 250 Eritreans in Egypt: Report 
Thursday, 30 December 2010 00:25 
Approximately 250 Eritrean refugees have been held captive and tortured for the past month by Hamas in northern Sinai, human rights organization EveryOne reported.
The Italian-based organization sent an urgent plea to the Egyptian government last Thursday, claiming that the refugees, who were making their way to Israel to seek asylum, were captured by human traffickers. The issue of illegal refugees infiltrating through the Egyptian border has been dominating the news in Israel in recent months, but it appears that many meet a dreadful fate even before reaching the Jewish state.

Sanction/Cut of Diplomatic Ties can’t work in an ethnic/regional fractured Ivory Coast.
Mazi Patrick   January 4, 2011 
Until a Proper National Ethnic Conference under aegis of UN as to formulate the best co-existing Constitutions and to work out general ethnic agreement on its framework on how vast African minerals and agricultural products with its abundant manpower could be harnessed and distributed for equitable development and Peace. African Election shall be used as point of ethnic challenge, source of pouring out bottled Anger/mistrusted Aggravation or Political Ethnic Contest for State Power Control as any ethnic group that had Political Power’s advantage, always use it for its ethnic Political Power’s advantage.

PUBLIC DISCUSSION ON ETHIOPIA

SOCEPP Canada cordially invites you and your family to a public discussion exploring major issues affecting current day Ethiopia and their implications for democratization and Human Rights. We are fortunate to bring you a team of distinguished and remarkable scholars from the US and Canada , to inform you and engage you on a number of important topics.

Date & Time: Saturday, January 15, 2011, at 4:00PM

Place:      Bronson Centre, 211 Bronson Ave, Ottawa, ON

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Of Devine Warning: Reading Disaster in The Modern Age
Jane Anna Gordon and Lewis R. Gordon
Paradigm Publishers, Boulder & London 2009
Reviewed by Ghelawdewos Araia, Ph.D.
January 4, 2011

Throughout, the book is enriched by etymologies that I warmly like to label ‘organic additives’ rather than ‘artificial flavors’, because, in the micro sense the book deals with pending disasters; but in the macro sense, the authors in fact discuss five concentric circles of ontology, cosmology, phenomenology, axiology, and epistemology. And in the final analysis, these organic additives make the book a gorgeous smorgasbord, which potentially can be utilized as praxis and eventually optimize theory and practice and help [us] understand our surroundings (monsters, disasters etc).

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About Asgede Gebre Selassie’s Gahdi I and the TPLF

By Messay Kebede

January 3, 2011

Though I reserve a more complete and detailed review of the book for a later date, I could not postpone the crucial importance of Tecola’s puzzlement, as it throws into relief the great question of Ethiopians about the nature of the TPLF. My claim is that Asgede’s book goes a long way in delivering the essence of the TPLF, provided that one reads it, not as an accurate account of events, but as a sloppy attempt at self-exoneration. 

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Irish Finance News
Global growth to slow says Economist Intelligence Unit; Eritrea to be 2011 growth leader
By Finfacts Team

Eleven out of the 20 fastest-growing economies will be in Sub-Saharan Africa, but growth in the region will continue to be driven by exploitation of natural resources. 20 fastest-growing countries 
Eritrea 17.0 
Qatar 15.8 
Ghana 14.0 
Ethiopia 9.0 

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Ethiopian ethnic federalism: grooming regions for independent statehood or a genuine coming together? 
Firew Kebede Tiba, PhD

The real strength of any system of government is to be judged based on the system surviving its partisan creators and enforcers. Can we say with certainty that this will be the case- come free and fair election which sees this coalition lose power? Some might even ask the ominous question whether Ethiopia itself, as we know it today, will survive the demise of the TPLF/EPRDF Coalition. The latter is a very difficult question to which no one without crystal balls can give a definitive answer.

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On the brawl over the Nile waters 
By Professor Seid Hassan | January 1, 2011 

The whole affair used to be broadcast live on TV as a staple recitation of Egyptian religious leaders during the Holy Friday Prayers. The constant rancor was being recited by the religious leaders irrespective of the fact that Ethiopia was the country chosen by Prophet Mohammed (peace be upon him) when his companions needed protection and freedom from oppression and persecution. Never mind that, in recognition of the kindness that the Ethiopian king who saved his followers, the Prophet had offered the first funeral prayer in absentia for a Christian. 

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The Clemency Power on Trial?

By Tesfaye Habisso, December 30, 2010

While the Ethiopian Government has not made any public reactions so far to the proposal made by the religious leaders, debate rages on concerning its content and scope. It appears that this document, composed with the intention of forgiveness, reconciliation, reunification, and healing the long persisting wounds and national divisions, has in many ways highlighted and accentuated the continued fragmentation of Ethiopian society. The heated public dialogue and fiery controversy has in many ways emboldened the nation’s societal cracks, and revealed an unfortunate fact: Ethiopia still remains a country deeply divided.

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Silly Hair Splitting:  No Pardon for Genocidal Criminals : The Crime of Genocide vs. the Crime of Politicide

By Tecola W. Hagos December 30, 2010

It is quite ridiculous to think of such excuses. There is no “international” criminal code, but regimes of principles either customary or treaty based that may have some limited bearing on some criminal activities. As a matter of fact, the Genocide Convention is considered by some as the first international “criminal code” and yet a document with limited application as indicated above. Now, does it follow from such situation no nations would legitimately outlaw certain acts and punish criminals thereof?

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Ethiopia: Crouching lions, hidden dragon
December 28, 2010 The National, UAE 
Faisal al Yafai
Listen to the words of Julius Ole Sunkuli, Kenya’s ambassador to China, as repeated by leaked diplomatic cables: “Africans [are] frustrated by western insistence on capacity building, which translated… into conferences and seminars. They instead preferred China’s focus on infrastructure and tangible projects.”

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I too am aggrieved by DPM & FM Haile Mariam Desaleng’s interview on the nifty 

ITMNBy Genet Mersha, 29 December 2010

This observation would not be complete without mentioning the fact that usually heads of state and government prefer poorly-equipped lieutenants to deputise them. It is an established fact a person without confidence, the requisite abilities and vision is incapable of outshining them. This has often been the same situation again and again, including in the past two decades. I am inclined to believe that the choice is deliberate.

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Allan Nairn: As U.S. Loses Its Global Economic Edge, Its "One Clear Comparative Advantage is in Killing, and It’s Using It" EXCERPT FROM THE INTERVIEW

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On the Interview: Hailemariam Desalegn on India's ITMN TV 

By Ephrem Madebo | December 28, 2010 

Look Mr. Deputy PM, the Ethiopian people and the entire Diaspora understand that large-scale operation of mechanized farming is necessary for internalizing gains from investment in infrastructure needed for opening vast tracts of unused lands. However, this operation must not be embarked-on at the expense of millions of small farmers. Empirical studies around the world show that communities of family farms are equally or more efficient producers of export crops using low costs family labor. In fact, this advantage of family farms rose as population density increased and rural infrastructure improved.

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Bashir vows to aid brotherly south after referendum
By SIMON MARTELLI 
Posted Wednesday, December 29 2010 
Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir has pledged to help build a secure, stable and brotherly state in the south if it votes for independence in a referendum less than two weeks away. "We will not deny our southern brothers their decision, and we will help them to build their state, because we want a secure and stable state ... if there are troubles, these troubles will come to us," Mr Bashir said in a live speech on state television. Speaking to thousands of supporters in Gezira state, Sudan's bread basket southeast of Khartoum, Mr Bashir said he would be "the first to recognise the south" if it chooses secession in a free and fair vote on January 9. "The ball is in your court and the decision is yours. If you say unity, welcome. And if you say secession, also welcome, and welcome to a new brotherly state."

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For Egypt, new Sudan state threat to Nile
CAIRO (UPI) -- The expected emergence of a new state in southern Sudan following a January independence referendum is causing alarm in Cairo because the signs are the infant state will join other African countries battling Egypt for a greater share of the Nile River's waters.  The southern Sudan leader, Salva Kiir, recently visited President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda, one of the upstream states opposed to Egypt's control of the Nile waters, to discuss building hydroelectric power stations to enhance development of the infant state. 

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US and Swiss researchers develop reactor to make fuel from sunlight
24/12/2010
Researchers have created a simply reactor that mimics plants by turning sunlight into fuel. The process, which has been demonstrated in the laboratory, boosts hopes for a 

 large-scale renewable source of liquid fuel. The findings appear in the most recent edition of the journal Science. The prototype mechanism developed by a team comprised of researchers from the California Institute of Technology in the US, and the Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule and Paul Scherrer Institute I Switzerland, captures the Sun's rays and concentrates it with a quartz window, focusing it onto a metal oxide known as cerium oxide, or ceria.

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The Editorial Offices
Ethiopian Observer
Dear Editor:
I just read a report by the Institute for the Horn of Africa Studies and Affairs (IHASA) entitled "Ethiopia in Transition: War and Peace and the U.S. Role" in your online publication. The report makes erroneous reference to a paper that I presented at the African Studies Association (ASA) at its annual meeting last November in San Francisco on ethnic federalism. When this report appeared in IHASA's own website, I wrote to the editor requesting corrections of the erroneous statements attributed to me. IHASA has still to respond to my request. 

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Hello country number 193- Introducing South Sudan 
The Economist:
In January 2011, if all goes to plan, the citizens of the autonomous southern part of Sudan will vote on whether South Sudan should become an independent country. Despite an astonishing lack of preparation for the referendum, the vote will be a chaotic but resounding “yes” for independence. And that is when the trouble will start. Or rather, restart. 

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Ethiopian Christ icon found 500 years on
An 15th century Ethiopian icon of the infant Christ child sitting on his mother's knee was discovered after it was cleaned by a British charity. The central panel of the triptych had 

over the centuries become blackened with the sprinkling of perfume that the monks use as they worship.  The hugely important and stunning painted wood panel is now visible in its original coloured glory, showing a pale-faced Jesus with black curly hair and rosy cheeks. 

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THE MISREADING OF THE CONCEPT OF PARDON AND FORGIVENESS

By Tecola W. Hagos [December 25, 2010]

If we assume, for argument sake, that to forgive a criminal or an organization (community) that had committed some harm to an individual, a family, or a community is an ethical act and may even be considered as a courageous religious/spiritual behavior, there are certain conclusions that flow logically from such assumptions that we may not endorse. The obvious question that comes to mind is why the victims and their families should bear the burden of a difficult moral judgment to benefit the rest of society, especially when such society had failed to protect them from atrocities to begin with. There is no point referring to events or ideas from any historic time.

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Sudan: ' deal improbable, war possible.'
By Medhane Tadesse
Dec. 22, 2010 

The best interest of both the north and the south lies in peaceful transition, dialogue and political and economic cooperation. The stakes are high; both have every reason to 

avoid complications. They need each other. However, years of talk about wealth sharing and post-referendum issues, have only generated a mystique of mistrust that chills doubt and freezes confidence. Many tend not to believe anymore in the notion of a new war between north and south. They cannot seem to get enough of the nuances and intentions of the NCP.But it would be silly to pretend that war could be avoided altogether.

 

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Unity or Ethnic Federalism: A brief response to Professor Andreas Eshete’s The uses and Abuses of Cultural Diversity: African Past and Ethiopian Present.
By Teodros Kiros

Andreas is right that the African past and the Ethiopian present have sought to address the cultural moment, but he is silent about the abuses of the second moment in order to accommodate the second crucial cultural moment. The examples of flagrant abuses of cultural diversity that Andreas cites are Apartheid and institutionalized racism in the USA.

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A Practicable Advocacy or Trading in Illusions?
A View Point
Tesfaye Habisso, December 23, 2010

If we break the Constitution for the sake of expediency or any other populist and popular reason that cannot be defended by the provisions of the Constitution, then we would be opening a Pandora box which would be nothing else but a recipe for the demise of a constitutional order and the beginning of a dictatorship and thus a national disaster, which should be avoided at all costs. 

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Who was Professor Carlo Rosselli? Part 1
Professor Carlo Rosselli, an early 20th century Italian political and social thinker, is today largely forgotten, but was in his day one of the most important - and committed - Anti-Fascists whom Europe produced. As such he and his movement Giustizia e Libertà ("Justice and Liberty") deserve an honored place in the history of Ethiopia's struggle for independence.

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AU Panel urges new approach to settle Ethiopia-Eritrea border dispute
Sudan Tribune, France
December 17, 2010 Tesfa-Alem Tekle
The African Union’s Panel of the Wise, at its 9th assembly in Algiers, Algeria, has urged a launch for a new and binding peace process to resolve the long-standing border rowbetween Ethiopia and Eritrea, an AU press release says. The boundaries of Ethiopia and Eritrea follow a frontier defined by the Ethiopian-Italian Treaty of 1902, while Italy ruled Eritrea as a colony. However, the frontier near Badme was poorly defined in the treaty, and since Eritrea declared independence from Ethiopia in 1993 both nations have disputed where the boundary actually lies.

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Ethiopia: Development Assistance Group Should Address Human Rights in Ethiopia
Human Rights Watch, US
December 17, 2010
Letter to Kenichi Ohashi, Ethiopia Country Director for the World Bank
Dear Mr. Ohashi, 
I am writing to respond to the October 21, 2010 statement of the Development Assistance Group (DAG) in Addis Ababa regarding Human Rights Watch’s recent report, Development without Freedom: How Aid Underwrites Repression in Ethiopia. 
Our report presented serious allegations about the misuse of donor-supported programs for repressive purposes by the government of Ethiopia and recommended that Ethiopia’s donor partners insist on a credible, independent and international investigation into the abuses. 

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Ethiopia's plan to lease tracts of land meets opposition
By BBC , December 19 2010 at 17:03
A controversial new farms policy has led to a political clampdown in a remote lowland 

region of Ethiopia, the BBC has been told.Opposition activists claim that a number of arrests and the killings of 10 local farmers are as a direct result of the new policy."You cannot speak freely about the land issue now," one local man says, speaking on condition of anonymity. "You can be arrested or even killed for this."This is a dark period for all indigenous people living in the south-west of the country."The government of Meles Zenawi is pioneering the lease of some three million hectares of land over the next five years, an area the size of Belgium.

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Awramba this week, a periodical from Addis Ababa

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Viewing cable 07ASMARA850, ASMARA ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT: MORE DETAILS EMERGE

LONDON, PARIS FOR AFRICA WATCHERS 
Classified By: CDA Jennifer A. McIntyre, for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). (S) Summary: As the investigation into the shooting of National Security Agency Deputy Colonel Simon Ghebredenghil  continues, an Eritrean businessman believed to be involved in the assassination attempt was shot and killed by Government of the State of Eritrea (GSE) officials near the Ethiopian border. The GSE allegedly has arrested over 500 individuals in connection with the shooting, which may include the arrest of General Gerezgheri "Wuchu" Andemariam on October 24.

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Eritrean leader fears US plans to kill him: cable
By Aaron Maasho  Dec 18, 2010 Reuters

ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - Eritrean President Isaias Afewerki fears the United States will try to kill him by firing a missile into his residence, according to a leaked cable from the U.S. embassy in Eritrea. In the cable released on December 15 on WikiLeaks, former U.S. ambassador Ronald McMullen wrote that Isaias also believed Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi tried to have him killed 14 years ago. "Isaias thinks the United States will attempt to kill him by missile strike on his residence in the city of Massawa," the cable said, quoting a U.N. official. Eritrea is one of the world's most secretive nations and has has border disputes with Ethiopia and Djibouti.

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Sudan leader Bashir diverted $9bn oil funds to Britain, says WikiLeaks 
LONDON, Saturday Daily Nation Dec 18, 2010

Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir siphoned off $9 billion (Sh720 billion) of oil money into British bank accounts, according to US diplomatic cables revealed by WikiLeaks yesterday. The document quotes the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court as saying that US officials should go public with the allegations about al-Bashir in order to turn Sudanese public opinion against him. It said prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo told US officials that the figure allegedly put away by al-Bashir was possibly $9 billion and “would change Sudanese public opinion from him being a ‘crusader’ to that of a thief.” 

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Electronic Pickpocketing

Thieves now have the capabilities to steal your credit card information without laying a hand on your wallet. It's new technology being used in credit and debit cards, and it's already leaving nearly 140 million people at-risk for electronic pickpocketing. It all centers around radio frequency identification technology, or RFID.You'll find it in everything from your passports to credit and debit cards.

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Researcher Identifies Second-Oldest Ethiopian Manuscript in Existence in HMML’s Archives  Source: Hill Museum
Ted Erho, a doctoral student at Durham University in England, recently spent six weeks at HMML studying Ge'ez (classical Ethiopic) manuscripts. HMML’s microfilm and digital collections are the richest resource for the study of Ethiopian manuscripts in the world. Supported by one of HMML’s Heckman scholarships, Erho made stunning discoveries for both Ethiopian and biblical studies during his time at HMML.Working with previously-uncataloged manuscripts from HMML’s Ethiopian Manuscript Microfilm Library, Erho has identified the second oldest Ethiopic manuscript in existence (the oldest is the famous Abba Garima Gospels), which also contains the oldest known copies of books from the Old Testament. This manuscript, EMML 6977, dates prior to the Solomonic Era in Ethiopia, which began in 1270 CE and contains the books of Job and Daniel, as well as two homilies.

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Power Engineering names Projects of the Year
 By Lindsay Morris  Dec 14, 2010

Tuesday night at the Valencia Ballroom of the Orange County Convention Center, Power Engineering magazine recognized the 2010 Projects of the Year Award finalists and announced the winners. This year’s Projects of the Year Award winners and honorable mentions produced facilities and/or technologies that ushered in breakthrough solutions in four categories: coal-fired, gas-fired, nuclear and renewable/sustainable.

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Where Judaism, Christianity, and Islam Meet in Africa - An Offering 
By Eliza Griswold
ABUNA YEMATA GUH—Ten feet above me on the 600-foot cliff face, the barefoot, buck-toothed monk beckons and grins. He's another one who looks to be nearing 80, but the sun is so strong and feels so close to us that he is probably no older than 50. Anyway, he doesn't know his age. A blue-eyed, black-skinned Ichabod Crane shambling up sheer rock, his limbs are swaddled in white rags. He carries a pared branch as a staff, which he waves around casually as if he is not dangling above a 50-story free fall.

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Abuses and Uses of Cultural Diversity:African Past, Ethiopian Present
by Professor Andreas Eshete
Fifth International Conference on Federalism, 14 December 2010

As you can tell from my lamentably sketchy account, Ethiopian federalism is still an unfolding work in progress. I hope and trust that you - - champions, friends, and students - - of federalism, with far richer experiences of federalism, will help us see how best to go forward. We can surely benefit from wise counsel, because we are embarking on uncharted terrain in an unusual historical context. Today, more than ever, many are persuaded that particular cultures are fated to vanish or fade with the advent of modernity. Some are resigned to this fate, others defy it by means that are sharply different: first, to cordon off culture as best one can; second, to repudiate modernity.

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The Horn of Africa Peace Conference
Ghelawdewos Araia, Ph.D  December 14, 2010

The Horn of Africa Peace Conference was at once an intellectual discourse and a social gathering in which Horn of Africa Africans and non-Africans alike were able to networking and exchanging ideas and experiences that I personally have enjoyed. The Horn of Africa Peace Conference was unique because this is the first time that I have witnessed Africans gather for the sole purpose of finding solutions to the conflict-ridden Horn of Africa region. Otherwise, annual Horn of Africa conferences, scholarly in nature and in which I participated several times as a panel and floor discussant, were held for an entire decade from 1982 to 1993 at the New School and mostly at the City College of the City University of New York.

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Land grab fears for Ethiopian rural communitiesBy Ed Butler
Reporter, Business Daily, BBC World Service, Ethiopia
Source BBC December 15,2010
The government of Meles Zenawi is pioneering the lease of some three million hectares 

There are four million pastoral farmers in Ethiopia who may be affected by foreign land lease plans

of land over the next five years, an area the size of Belgium.  The policy is targeting massive lowland areas mostly in the west and south-west of the country.  These are regions populated by smaller minority ethnic groups.  The government denies conducting any repression, and says instead that its policy is aimed at lifting local people out of poverty.  Foreign investors in Gambella include Chinese, Indian and Saudi firms. The Saudis alone say they are hoping to produce as much as a million tonnes of rice per year, most of it for their own domestic market.

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Under Pressure, Ethiopia Plans Crackdown on Baby Business
Source VOA
Ethiopia is planning to shut down dozens of orphanages and withdraw accreditation from several foreign adoption agencies, in an effort to halt what critics say is a thriving baby business.  The Bright Hope transition center in Addis Ababa is a showcase child care facility, financed by a faith-based Texas charity. Twenty abandoned children, ranging in age from several months to four years, play in a carefully supervised environment as they wait to be placed in adoptive homes.  Bright Hope Director Getahun Nesibu Tesema says most of these orphans will be taken in by extended family members in Ethiopia.
"Our main focus is to help the children here in Ethiopia," Getahun said. "Adoption, international adoption especially, is our last resort." But Bright Hope is an exception among foreign adoption agencies, in that it tries to place children within Ethiopia. This year, foreigners will take away about 5,000 Ethiopian orphans, often paying between $20,000 and $35,000 each for the privilege. 

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Federalism in an Era of Globalization:  Reflections on Ethiopia

Professor Desta, Asayehgn, Ph.D  December 12, 2010

 If Ethiopia can effectively implement at the local level a working democracy that empowers local citizens, the relevance of the alien Article 39 of the Ethiopian constitution seems to be unnecessary.  In fact, the writer is of the opinion that if Article 39 of the constitution is eliminated by the Ethiopian Parliament, the invigorating federal system suggested above will most likely be the basis for enticing the silent majority at home as well as rallying a number of disgruntled Ethiopians in diaspora to be designers and vibrant actors in the global economic order.    

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Ethiopia’s Internal Cohesion Key to Advancing Nile Interest
Jawar Mohammed December 10, 2010

Since Egypt has developed many more water resource projects than Ethiopia, obviously Ethiopia would have to reject this principle as discriminatory. Nevertheless, Egypt can use the principle to drag Ethiopia through the international legal system and forestall its ability to undertake any project in a timely manner. Ethiopia must continue to insist on new negotiation that allocates fair and equitable quota among all Nile riparian countries. If Egypt does not come to terms, Ethiopia can exercise its right unilaterally.

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A NEW BOOK AND MOVIE DVD BY DR. FIKRE TOLOSSA

Dr. Fikre Tolossa has released his book, The Hidden and Untold History of the Jewish People and Ethiopians, and his feature film, Multicolored Flowers, both in print and electronically. Did you know that Melchizedek, builder and King of Jerusalem, the father of Ethiop, the forefather of Ethiopians, and Abraham, the forefather of the Jews, were friends as far back as 4000 years ago? Did you know that Abraham and kings in Palestine bowed to Melchizedek, the High Priest and King of the Most High God, and paid him tithes in return for his blessings?  Did you know that in the veins of the Lord Jesus Christ did flow Ethiopian blood because he descends from King David whose mother, Adoli called by us Hable’, and whose great grandmother, Ruth, were Ethiopians? To watch its preview, click on:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V0ptJm-qypY

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Ethiopia challenges Egypt over Nile water
December 8, 2010 Source UPI.com
CAIRO — The simmering dispute over the Nile River between Egypt and upstream African states is heating up with Addis Ababa alleging Cairo supports insurgents fighting the government of Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi. The expected breakup of Sudan, Egypt’s southern neighbor and its ally in the Nile dispute, next January following a referendum on southern independence will further complicate an already complex quarrel over a dwindling resource.

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WikiLeaks cables: Eritrean poverty and patriotism under 'unhinged dictator'US ambassador portrays Isaias Afwerki as part menace, part weirdo – and tastes 'aptly named' sewa at lunch with minister

guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 8 December 2010
In a secret diplomatic cable written last year, the then US ambassador to Eritrea, Ronald McMullen, appears determined to impress upon his private Washington readership just how awful the situation really is. Weird, dysfunctional Asmara, reminiscent of an Evelyn Waugh novel, is notorious among western diplomats as a hardship posting. McMullen seems to be feeling the strain.Outbreak of Liver Disease in Ethiopia Tigrai Region

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Outbreak of Liver Disease in Ethiopia:December 8, 2010 It has been over ten years since the Outbreak of Liver Disease in Northern Ethiopia Shire district. It claimed over two hundredrd lives according goverenmental officials and thousands have the disease. It is rapidly spreading like a wild fire. Six sub districts are affected by this unknown catastrophic liver that have been affected by the disease. People are hopelessly dying due to lack of attention and neglect by regional authorities.  We appeal to the international and humanitarian organizations on behalf of those innocent people. We have confirmed from reliable sources a native of the region who lost close relatives Ato Asgede that all patients were suffering from an unknown disease of the liver.

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Egypt bribes Burundi officials for Nile support over Ethiopia and Africa 
Wednesday, 08 December 2010         Egypt is bribing officials of the East African country of Burundi in order to gain support in the Nile issue, according to Burundi media sources. After seven upstream countries, including Burundi, agreed to open the Agreement on the Nile River Basin Cooperative Framework (CFA) on April 13, 2010, five of the seven signed the document on May 14th. These Five nations are Kenya, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Rwanda and Uganda. D.R. Congo and Burundi were expected to sign the new Nile treaty by the May 2011 deadline however Egyptian leaders are putting pressure on Burundi and Congo not to sign the document, including by bribing Burundi and Congo officials according to sources.

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The Moral and Sentimental Value of Federalism: A Southerner's View

By Tesfaye Habisso, December 06, 2010

The lessons of federalism show that federations combining self-rule and shared-rule do provide a practical way of combining the benefits of both unity and diversity through representative institutions. Secondly, the degree to which there has been a wide degree of public acceptance of the need to respect constitutional norms and structures and the rule of law has a great role for the success of a federation. Thirdly, the development of mutual faith and trust among the different groups within a federation and an emphasis upon the spirit of tolerance and compromise are imperative for a federation to become sustainable.

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Unlocking TPLF’s secrecy: A historical memoir

 Ethiopian observer staff December 5, 2010

I had the opportunity to attend a meeting organized to have the author Asgede Gebre Selassie Michael, a founding member of TPLF, address Ethiopians from the Seattle area on December 4, 2010.  Thus, my report is that of an observer.The fact that impressed me the most was his confidence and detail accounts of specifics events as if such events happened yesterday. The EPLF leadership bravado was totally confined to digging trenches in its desperate defense of its Sahel base during the Derg's 1982 Red Star Campaign. The EPLF total number of fighters of less than 7000 thousand including wounded fighters. They were to be saved by the fearless gallant fighters of TPLF of 65,000 thousand fighters at different times from being totally annihilated by the Derg. TPLF lost 15,800 thousand fighters and in thousands wounded defending EPLF from total destruction. Truth should be told and the bravery of our sisters/ brothers martyrdom should be known. They should not be thrown like a rag to elevate the empty ego of a rogue regime in Asmara and the misguided leaders of the TPLF.

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Ethnicity and Power in Ethiopia
Sarah Vaughan PhD
The University of Edinburgh 2003
Abstract
This thesis explores why ethnicity was introduced as the basis for the reconstitution
of the Ethiopian state in 1991, examining the politicisation of ethnic identity before
and after the federation of the country’s ‘nations, nationalities and peoples’ was
instituted. The establishment of the modern Ethiopian empire state in the nineteenth
century, and the processes of centralisation and bureaucratisation which consolidated
it in the mid twentieth, provide a backdrop to an emerging concern with
‘regionalism’ amongst political circles in the 1960s and 1970s.

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BRIEFING
THE ETHIOPIAN 2010 FEDERAL AND REGIONAL ELECTIONS: RE-ESTABLISHING
THE ONE-PARTY STATE
KJETILTRONVOLL*
ETHIOPIA CONDUCTED ITS FOURTH FEDERAL and regional election on 23 May 2010. Considering the widespread pre-election interest and excitement the 2005 election attracted, and the vigorous role played by the opposition both during the campaign and in the post-election turmoil, the 2010 process was a huge let-down. The general impression among Ethiopians was that the outcome was a foregone conclusion, so the electorate was rather passively, or perhaps reluctantly, following the campaign and election discourse.

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The curse of the Nile
Guardian December 5, 2010
Tony Craddock/Corbis
The great river is creating tension between Ethiopia and Egypt, which is blocking changes to quotas. Don’t rule out a water war Zenawi accused Egypt of backing anti-government rebels in his country and warned that Egypt would be defeated if it tried to invade Ethiopia. “Nobody who has tried that has lived to tell the story,” he boasted, rather inaccurately. But why would Zenawi, a presumably seasoned politician who has led his country for almost two decades, make such wild allegations without supplying a shred of evidence to back them up, and why now?

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Who was the Good Lady Meux?
by Professor Richard Pankhurst
Ethiopian ecclesiastical manuscripts, dear reader, have long exercised an immense fascination in the West. Many Europeans were much taken by the strength of the Ethiopian parchment, the pure jet black of the Ge’ez writing and the beauty of the Byzantine-style illustrations, as well as by the manuscripts’ well-executed wooden covers and their attractively tooled brown leather bindings.
Interest in such manuscripts and their illustrations and bindings increased greatly as a result of the British looting of Emperor Tewodros’s mountain fortress of Maqdala, in 1868, when that Emperor’s Palace, Treasury and Church of Medhane Alam were virtually all stripped of the entirety of their possessions. Tewodros had built up a collection, of around one thousand manuscript volumes. Almost half of these were taken to Britain, while the remainder were doled out to churches or individuals the British wished to favour.

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Over troubled waters: Egypt and the other Nile Basin states
Doaa El-Bey December 2, 2010 AL-AHRAM
More bridges need to be built between Egypt and the other Nile Basin states. 
Ethiopia’s recent allegations that Egypt supports rebel groups is a clear sign that tension is growing between the two countries and that the latest Egyptian efforts to improve relations with Ethiopia and all other Nile Basin states are still not enough to help resolve the issue of sharing the Nile water among them. The allegations of Egyptian support for outlawed Ethiopian groups was first made by Prime Minister Meles Zenawi in an interview with Reuters two days earlier. He accused Egypt of aiding unspecified rebel movements for the purpose of destabilising the Horn of Africa nation. He also said that Egypt could not win a war with Ethiopia over the River Nile.

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Genocide Watch or Agitation for an Ethnic Cleansing and/or Genocide?
By Tesfaye Habisso, December 1, 2010

How could any person of Dr. Santon’s caliber and leadership status wish an ethnic cleansing and possible genocide of any group, religious or social, let alone the heroic Tigrean people? Isn’t it outright ethnic hatred, crime against humanity and racism to target a people in whole or in part? Is there as such crime by association? Isn’t crime personal? How on earth would one target an entire ethnic group for an alleged crime perpetrated by a single member of the ethnic group? What sort of law is that? Even the law of the jungle singles out the concerned culprits. Whether Dr. Sandton & Co. agitate for this evil event to happen amongst the Tigreans, let this be known to all friends and foes alike that the doomsday wishes of the agitators will never, ever occur in this land of ours. 

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Arab League moves to avert Nile crisis following Ethiopia's war remarks 
Khalifa Gab Allah 
The Arab League plans to use its good relations with Nile Basin states to mediate between them on the one hand and Egypt and Sudan on the other in an effort to resolve longstanding differences over Nile water distribution, according to an Arab League source. The source also noted the league's "grave concerns" over recent statements by Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, who said last week that war could break out between Ethiopia and Egypt over coveted Nile water. Hani Raslan, head of the Sudan and Nile Basin desk at the Cairo-based Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies, said Zenawi’s statements reflected Ethiopia's failure to convince Burundi and Congo to join a new water-sharing agreement signed in Uganda earlier this year.

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Ethiopia to Egypt: We've evidence on your sabotage
By ARGAW ASHINE in Addis Ababa 
Friday, November 26 2010 
Ethiopia has maintained that it had evidence about Egypt's support to rebels against the Addis government in order to secure the River Nile waters. Egypt has denied the accusation. Ethiopian Prime Minister was early this week quoted by Reuters news agency as saying that Egypt could not win a war with Ethiopia, hence Cairo's strategy to support rebel groups to destabilise the neighbouring state. Mr Meles termed the alleged move unfortunate as there were efforts to ensure equitable sharing of the Nile waters. Ethiopian Government spokesman Shimeles Kemal told the Africa Review that Addis had concrete evidence on Egyptian covert support to armed rebel groups. We will give the details at the right time, Mr Shimeles said.

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Thanksgiving: Thank You “The Good Old USA ”

By Tecola Worq Hagos  Nov 24, 2010

In thanking America at this Thanksgiving celebration, what I am thanking is not some abstraction, but my neighbors, my colleagues at work, my students, the many drivers of my connecting busses, the friendly officers who say hello as I pass by, the impeccably polite school kids who ask me directions to the Mall, on a chance meeting et cetera. I thank them all for their vitality, for their gentleness, for their benevolence, and for their generosity in sharing what is uniquely American—hope and liberty. I am glad that I am writing this note in my maturing years. I cannot imagine writing this even a few years back being filled up to the brim with my own ambition and frustration for I had forgotten that I was an immigrant after all and should have been a lot circumspect in my expectations and with no room for reflection and appreciation for my fellow Americans. Just for today, let me shade my Ethiopianess and be immersed in the moment as part of this great people and nation.

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Ethiopian PM warns Egypt off Nile war
Tue Nov 23, 2010 3:28pm GMT REUTERS
By Barry Malone
ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - Egypt could not win a war with Ethiopia over the River Nile and is also supporting rebel groups in an attempt to destabilise the Horn of Africa nation, Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said in an interview. Egypt, Ethiopia and seven other countries through which the river passes have been locked in more than a decade of contentious talks driven by anger over the perceived injustice of a previous Nile water treaty signed in 1929. "I am not worried that the Egyptians will suddenly invade Ethiopia," Meles told Reuters in an interview. "Nobody who has tried that has lived to tell the story. I don't think the Egyptians will be any different and I think they know that."

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THE ROLE OF PHILOSOPHY IN ENLIGHTENING

THE ONTOLOGICAL MORAL GROUND OF AFRICANS’ QUEST FOR CLIMATE JUSTICE

(THE CASE OF THE DECEMBER 2009 COPENHAGEN CLIMATE SUMMIT )

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Extremism Begets Extremism

By Daniel Gizaw  November 20, 2010
In the mean time, we have to stop that melodramatic play of an extremism hate mongering. It didn’t work for the Cubans. It didn’t work for the Iranians. It certainly will not work for the Ethiopians for as long as we continue to demonize, abominate and execrate Mr. Meles and his government. I will quote Montesquieu here. “Man is quite insane. He wouldn’t know how to create a maggot, but he creates gods by the dozen.” At least in Montesquieu we have gods, but in extremism we could beget monsters. When we Ethiopians vehemently demanded Emperor Haile Selassie for change for the betterment of Ethiopia, it was perfectly legitimate, but we have gone too far on the continuum of extremism as we brought a monster by the name Derg. 

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Ethiopian observer Editorial

An Image of Ethiopia: Racism in Santon's dark heart

November 18, 2010

At a time when the world is suffering a serious human rights disaster your organization could play a positive role regrettably we are afraid the latest shameful speech of Dr. Gregory is another act of disgraceful attempt to incite ethnic hatred to innocent lives. We hereby advise your organization to draw lessons from the history, put itself in a correct position, and strive to improve human rights violations.  Many Third World countries will regard your organization as an international browbeat, an organization motivated more by power and greed than altruism and a sincere commitment to human rights and democracy. 

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400MW wind park for Ethiopia 
Wind park ‒ a new  project planned for Ethiopia 
Adis Ababa, Ethiopia --- ESI-AFRICA.COM --- 17 November 2010 - The Ethiopian Electric Power Corporation (EEPCo) has signed a memorandum of understanding with Terra Energy Developers for the engineering, procurement and construction of an estimated 400MW wind park project in Debre Berhan, 130 km north of the capital. The memorandum states that Terra Energy ‒ based in Nevada in the United States ‒ will set up a wind turbine assembly plant in Ethiopia and arrange the required financing. It was decided that Terra Energy ‒ a joint venture between Princeton Energy Group, Global Enterprise Engineering Solutions and Pacific Renewable Energy Consulting ‒ will also handle the technology transfer and manage the plant.

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Africa seen as a growing market for Boeing jets 
by Glenn Farley - KING 5 News Aviation Specialist 
KING5.com
Posted on November 17, 2010 at 6:46 PM
EVERETT, WA. -- Outside of Boeing's gigantic factory, the company reached a milestone Wednesday. Boeing delivered its 900th 777 airliner. The buyer of the 900th 777 (and four other 777-200LR's) is Ethiopian Airlines. The east African country is the link that connects Africa to the rest of the world. The LR in 777-200LR stands for "long range," and the planes Ethiopian Airlines bought should do the job, for example, connecting Washington, D.C. direct to Addis Ababa, the airline's hub

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Haile Gebreselassie Upset by the NewYork times Report Video by Ethiopian News www.diretube.co
Haile Upset by the NewYork times ReportClick Here to Find NYTiems Repo...

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Date: Tue, 1875-11-16 
On this date in 1875, Ethiopia won the Battle of Gundet over Egypt. This conflict was carefully observed in Black America due to a growing black Nationalist idealism and the views of people such as Edward Blyden and Martin Delany. Egypt emerged as a powerful force in Africa during the latter stages of the decline of the Ottoman (Turkish) Empire. In the second half of the 19th century, an ambitious and energetic new ruler, Khedive, negotiated with the Ottomans to take control of Egypt. He intended to create an Egyptian African empire by swallowing up Sudan and Ethiopia. For this purpose he recruited a large army staffed with European officers and Confederate officers from the American Civil War, which had ended 10 years earlier. In December 1874, a force of 1,200 Egyptian troops from Kassala, under the command of a hired Swiss adventurer, Munzinger, occupied Keren. After withdrawing, a small defense force was left for the protection of the Roman Catholic mission. 

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IMF gives Ethiopia $62.7 mln, final tranche of package
Tue Nov 16, 2010 12:09pm GMT REuters Report
ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - The International Monetary Fund (IMF) will give Ethiopia $62.7 million from its Exogenous Shock Facility, the final tranche of a $240.2 million package.
The lender said in a statement late on Monday that Ethiopia had successfully implemented good macroeconomic policies, such as bringing soaring inflation down and building international reserves to about 2.1 months of import cover. "Inflation has continued to decline, reflecting monetary restraint and aided by favorable weather conditions," the IMF said in the statement on its website.
"The mild impact of the global recession on the Ethiopian economy has allowed for better performance on the external targets."

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The Fate of Ethiopia Must be Decided by Ethiopians
A commentary on Gregory Stanton’s Speech Ghelawdewos Araia, Ph.D. 
November 15, 2010 IDEA Viewpoint 

Ethiopia belongs to all Ethiopians and I strongly believe that all Ethiopians, without ethnic distinction, must reside in all Ethiopia without any restriction. If Ethiopians can extend hospitality to non-Ethiopian refugees and accommodate them in their midst, why should it be difficult for them to embrace their own brethren? Ethiopians must interact within themselves in terms of much richer and varied spectrum of opportunities that can actually enable Ethiopia to emerge as a vibrant and strong nation. If, on the contrary, Ethiopians are engaged in finger pointing at one another and unleash ethnic cleansing against their respective communities, it is highly probable that a bloodletting civil war could ensue and this could be a first encounter in the history of their country. All of us who love our country and our people should not permit such a curse to happen under our watch.

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Editorial Observer

Call for pogrom-the verifiable attack of Tigreans by Dr. Gregory Stanton, President of Genocide Watch,

Tigreans could pay the price for Meles crimes – Gregory Stanton

November 12, 2010 

It defies any rationale to justify why Tigreans have to pay the price for the type of government existing in Ethiopia . EPRDF is a coalition composed of many nationalities federated by common interest. It is simply an Ethiopian government recognized by all the world bodies and not as he contemptibly described as a “Tigrean regime”. We don’t understand why Tigreans have to be targeted for such assault campaign and propaganda by this heinous man. This is an archetype and irresponsible person who would like to see and enjoy the killing fields of yet another failed state in the sub region of the Horn of Africa. His scorn and anti-Ethiopian stand cannot lead him anywhere and his call for pogrom of Tigreans is unfortunately not going to be heeded by all our Ethiopian compatriots.

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Ethiopia Aiming to License 50 Mineral Projects Every Year, Boost Exports
Bloomberg  November 12, 2010 William Davison
Business ExchangeBuzz up!DiggPrint Email .Ethiopia’s government is aiming to license 50 mineral-exploration projects every year and more than double exports from the industry to $1 billion in five years, said an official at the Mines Ministry. 
Investment in the mining industry has surged from less than $100 million in 2003 to an accumulated $1.3 billion, said Gebre Egziabher Mekonen, head of the mineral operations department at the ministry. 

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Nile Politics: Egypt’s Kiss Of Death
By Burhan Ali, November 9, 2010 Source: Awate.com

The flimsy logic of Heidi Farooq depends entirely on confusing and equating conquest with ownership. Egypt conquered parts of Eritrea, Uganda and other areas. “Wherever the Egyptian soldier set foot during the conquest is Egyptian and Egyptian owned” is what she seem maintaining. This, however, is a self-defeating logic for any Egyptian to hold, since if it is applied to Ms. Farooq’s country, that country will end up becoming a British ownership. Haven’t the British occupied and stayed occupying Egypt as long as, or even, longer than Egypt Occupied Massawa and Bogos? But wait, Egypt was a Roman occupied back water province for centuries-long once, according to Farooq’s logic, Italy should claim and own Egypt now. The unwise and voluntary involvement of Eritrea may be a gift in a golden platter for Egypt, but for Eritrea it is a serious and unnecessary gamble with the future and existence of the nation. Egypt’s kiss for Eritrea at this time is a kiss of death.

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Book Review and Commentary

Asgede Gebre Selassie, GAHDI 1, Signature Book Printing, 2007. Pages 240. $20.00

By Tecola Worq Hagos [November 10, 2010]

More than any ethnic group of Ethiopians, the people of Tigray have paid with their lives dearly during the violent reign of terror of Mengistu Hailemariam for over fifteen years. The Derg military operations in the northerner half of the nation and the devastation of natural disaster, which truly never was under control since 1974, took its toll resulting in the death of hundreds of thousands of Tigrayans in Tigray and also in Eritrea, Gondar, and North Wollo. Mengistu's brutal Government unleashed a wave of genocidal massacre in Tigray.

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ETHIOPIAN COMPANY SELECTED AS FINALIST IN 2010 AFRICA AWARDS FOR ENTREPRENEURSHIP 
Sigma Electric PLC competes for US $350,000 in prize funds to be awarded to Africa’s most innovative and inspiring entrepreneurs. 10 finalists from Botswana, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, South Africa and Uganda selected from more than 2,700 entries.  Temesgen Dilebo, CEO of Sigma, said, “The Africa Awards for Entrepreneurship is a prestigious competition and we are delighted to be chosen as a finalist, which reflects not only on the strength of our business but also the visionary leadership of the Management and the commitment of our employees”. 

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European Union Election Observation Mission to Ethiopia 2010 House of Peoples’ Representatives and State Council Elections November 8, 2010 
European Union November 8, 2010 Fact Sheet of Findings – Excerpt The electoral process fell short of international commitments for elections regarding the transparency of the process and the lack of a level playing field for all contesting parties The electoral process was constrained, as was the full, non-discriminatory enjoyment of fundamental rights. 

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Africa: Continent Makes Major Gains in Improving People's Lives, Says UN Report
Melissa Britz  4 November 2010
Cape Town — Ethiopia has emerged as Africa's top performer in improving its people's lives over the past 40 years, says a major United Nations report published today. But while most African countries have made major gains, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Zambia and Zimbabwe are the only three countries in the world in which people's situation has worsened over the period.
The 2010 Human Development Report, published by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and entitled "The Real Wealth of Nations: Pathways to Human Development," examines progress in health, education and income, as measured by a "human development index" (HDI) which ranks 135 countries for which comparable data are available. Ethiopia ranks at number 11 in the world for improving human development since 1970, the report said. Botswana, at 14th place, Benin at 18th and Burkina Faso at 21st place, are among what the UNDP calls the world's "25 top movers" over the last four decades.

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Economist blog on Bashir and Meles
Economist blog: Baobabm November 5, 2010
A difficult pair 
JUST as a meeting of east African heads of states was delayed due to difficulties accommodating Omar al-Bashir, Sudan’s pariah president, two new reports have cast still more unfavourable light on the governments of Sudan and Ethiopia. The long-anticipated referendum on independence for southern Sudan, scheduled for January 9th 2011 is the focus of “Race Against Time”, by the Rift Valley Institute, a non-profit research organisation operating in the region. With optimism that the vote would proceed smoothly already waning in the face of overwhelming secessionist sentiment in the south, and equally overwhelming denial of such sentiment in the north, Aly Verjee, the author, goes a step further. Delays and disputes in planning for the vote, and their likely effect on the credibility of the process could, he says, end up reigniting the civil war that had become Africa’s longest when it ended it 2005, with 2.5m people killed and many more displaced over two decades.

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Foreign Aid for Scoundrels
NY Review of Books November 25, 2010 
William Easterly 
Professor of Economics at New York University, Co-Director of NYU’s Development Research Institute, and Co-Editor of the Journal of Development Economics.
Cameroon’s President Paul Biya, center, with his wife Chantal Biya at a Bastille Day parade on the Champs Elysées, Paris, July 14, 2010 I was in a New York bar recently with a group of African intellectuals. To my surprise, I was sitting next to a democratic opposition leader whom I have long admired. He had been elected to a major office in his home country, but then the country’s leader sentenced him to life in prison. He eventually got out and left Africa, but he is still so fearful of the security forces of the autocrat that he asked me not to use his name or even his country’s name.

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In defense of “National Reconciliation and National Development in Ethiopia”

Bereket Kiros November 7, 2010

I am not going to belittle his intelligence understanding the content of the article but I will assume he is probably blinded and misguided to know in depth the suggestions put forward by the author that it was to commence a dialog. I have to respond and condemn the racial bias sentiment towards Tigreans.   It is the persistent bashing stand taken by the chauvinist who claimed to be in opposition camp manifested their ugly venom towards Tigreans is a subject that should be talked about. Who defines who, is the question that we ought to answer. Why Tigreans decent have to prove their allegiance based on their ethnic origin? The dilemma for most Tigrean intellectuals is, they are always characterized by their ethnic origin rather than the ideology or philosophy they adhere. 

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Options for Growth and Transformation:Ethiopian Origin Identity Cards or Dual Citizenship for the Ethiopian Diaspora?
Asayehgn Desta, Ph.D. Sarlo Distinguished Professor of Sustainable Economic Development: Dominican University of California.

The problem of the ‘brain drain’ has affected Africa more severely than any other region.  As Mohamoud narrates it, the problem is now a matter of especially great concern  “…because Africa is losing the research and innovative capacity needed to participate in the development and exploitation of global knowledge –knowledge required to find solutions to the eradication of hunger and abject  poverty and degradation of the natural environment” (2005).  Similarly, the World Bank reported that some 70,000 highly qualified African professionals, experts, scholars and managers with internationally marketable skills leave the continent every year (World Bank, 2002). 

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BBC apologises to Geldof for aid-for-weapons story
Reuters November 4, 2010 Mike Collett-White
* BBC apologises to Bob Geldof charity for weapons reports
* Geldof calls coverage “misleading and unfair”
* BBC says “main thrust” of reporting found to be sound
LONDON – The BBC apologised on Thursday for reports this year which gave the impression that millions of pounds raised for Ethiopian famine relief by the Band Aid music charity were used by rebel groups to buy weapons. Irish singer Bob Geldof complained bitterly about the March reports, which originated from “Assignment” on the public-funded broadcaster’s World Service radio programme. He challenged the BBC to substantiate its stories. At the time the World Service said it stood by its report.

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Chauvinist Intransigence And The Spectre Of Secession
By Mohammed Ahmed, October 31, 2010 source: Awate

As the old say goes "chickens come home to roost" please read this interesting scenario and well articulated articles, what awaits Eritera as a ticking time bomb. If Martin Luther King Jr. is right that the arc of history is long,but it bends towards justice, a new movement wiil arise; hopefull the new generation will be led with greater vision and courage and determination than the old guard. Time will tale.
“If it wasn’t for my bad luck,” said the old blues singer, “I would have said I have no luck at all”. Talk about Eritrea’s bad luck or having no luck – whichever is worse. As if suffering under PFDJ’s tyranny wasn’t bad enough of a curse, the poor people are faced with yet another deadly calamity – the ugly spectre of a fast approaching break-up of the country. Last week, the brilliant politician, RSADO’s chairman Ibrahim Haroun gave us a taste of what it would feel like to come face to face with the stark reality of one of the most important regions of the country breaking away from the rest of the nation.

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Multiethnic (Multinational) Federalism in Plural Societies: Does It Make a Difference?
by Tesfaye Habisso, November 04, 2010

Lastly, let us not forget that Ethiopia is a multi-ethnic, multi-lingual, multi-cultural and multi-religious national state. Under these circumstances, ethnicity and ethnic identity as well as cultural and religious diversity cannot be wished away; instead, these could serve us as “organizing principles”, and such diversities could be managed through internal self-determination. It is worth noting the late Samora Machel of Mozambique who, at a stage, decided to try the policy “for the sake of the nation, the tribe must die,” but found out his mistake in due time. Let us not fall into the trap of making that same mistake ever.

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IN DEFENCE OF EIRTREA:
QUARANTING THE INTERNATIONAL CRISIS GROUP’S
POLITICAL HOAX
Eritrean Center for Strategic Studies (ECSS),
Asmara, 30 September 2010
The above ”interesting” PDF article, which was considered to be a rebuttal to the International Crisis Group report that came out in September 2010. The Eritrean center for strategic studies (ECSS), maybe hastily organized by the regime to respond to this report making an ass of itself and as a lightweight by claiming to be a highly sophisticated research center without having the knowledge base and depth in dealing with the intricacies of a resourceful and internationally renowned organ. Though the full paper was not known to the public, one can say that we are indebted to ECSS for this highly sensitive and revealing paper. One does not need to refute the failure of this “highly researched” reply but laugh. Enjoy reading the lies, innuendos, martyrdom, magniloquence, wisdom of the EPLF and Eritrea’s greatest President, the man who rules with the iron grip in this tiny country.

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VOA NEWS 
Rights Report on Ethiopia Sparks Fierce Debate 
Peter Heinlein | Addis Ababa 03 November 2010 
A U.S.-based human rights group has raised an uproar with a report arguing 
that development assistance to Ethiopia may be doing more harm than good by 
strengthening a repressive government. The report has sparked condemnation 
in some quarters, praise in others.The Human Rights Watch report issued last month accuses Ethiopia's government of using development aid to suppress political dissent. The  105-page document alleges that much of the $3 billion a year contributed by foreign donors is used to consolidate the power of the ruling Ethiopian Peoples' Revolutionary Democratic Front. 

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Ethiopia's ECX trades $6.7 Billion of commodities 
Published 11/02/2010 - 3:47 a.m. GMT 
•The total trade transactions at the Ethiopian Commodity Exchange (ECX) hit 6.7 billion birr during the concluded budget year, an amount 142 percent higher than that of the previous. The Exchange traded some 221.9 tonnes of commodities during the reported year, 99 percent of which turned out to be coffee destined for export and local market, according to the CEO. Traders transacted about 6.7 billion birr worth of commodities under the Ethiopian Commodity Exchange (ECX) trading system in the past budget year. The main trading product has been coffee (220,000 tons). The rest of the trading volume was sesame, maize and wheat. 

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DIPLOMATIC ROUND
Reporter, Ethiopia
October 30, 2010
The recent cabinet reshufflement by Prime Minister Meles Zenawi has caught many political commentators completely off guard.
From assigning one individual to assume the key cabinet positions of Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs to incorporating a non party member in the cabinet, Meles has managed to make the jaws of pundits and the public at large to drop in surprise. And in the middle of the week the Office of the Prime Minister released the names of 36 individuals who will represent the country on the global arena. The list includes long serving ministers like Seyoum Mesfin and Girma Birru and state ministers like Tekeda Alemu (PhD). Though the old hands were appointed as Ambassadors Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, there is a perception within the public that the appointment is actually is a demotion for some. Also the ones who would fill the crucial vacant posts like Washington DC, New York and Brussels have left political commentators anticipating who would end up where.

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Ethiopia: Power sector faces uncertainty
Afrik  October 28, 2010
Desalegn Sisay 

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Lull Mengesha interview on King 5 New Day Northwest
We know it is a matter of fact that we have it in ourselves as Ethiopians to change our lives. We must in action say there is no obstacle big enough to stop us to be somebody and Lull sets the stage it is doable to excel with hard work.  Lull put the basis as a challenge despite being disadvantage in every direction there is a room to grow.  Lull involved not only exploration of new thoughts but also challenges us nothing can stop us now to pursue limitless opportunities this country can offer. I am indeed proud of his achievement and salute him in his endeavor. Bereket Kiros

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Book Review and Commentary  

Aklog Birara Ph.D., WAVES: ETHIOPIA’S ENDEMIC POVERTY THAT GLOBALIZATION WON’T TACKLE, BUT ETHIOPIANS CAN, Signature Books, 2010, pages 497. $25.00.

By Tecola Worq Hagos [October 28, 2010]

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Ethiopia economy to rise at 8%
Posted on Tuesday 26 October 2010 
Muhyadin Ahmed Roble, AfricaNews reporter in Nairobi, Kenya

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WHAT IS THE LIFESPAN OF “EFFORT?” FOREVER?!
Wardoffa Banti

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Welcome to Nationalism: Where Our Nations Finds Hope, Where Wings Take Dream
By Ivan Simic

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The myth of Ethiopia’s “natural” disasters
Development Research Institute, New York University
October 25, 2010 Laura Freschi

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The Huffington Post 
World Bank Feeding Repression in Ethiopia 
Ben Rawlence   October 22, 2010 02:12 PM 

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AFRICAN UNION
UNION AFRICAINE
UNIÃO AFRICANA
Addis Ababa, ETHIOPIA P. O. Box: 3243 Tel.: (251‐11) 551 38 22/ ext. 615 Fax: (251‐11) 551 93 21/ 5514227
Email: situationroom@africa‐union.org
Statement by Ambassador Ramtane Lamamra, Commissioner for Peace and
Security of the African Union, at the UN Security Council debate on the
Report of the Secretary‐General on UN Support to AU Peacekeeping
operations authorized by the Security Council,

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Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) 
Underwriting repression: The case for tougher monitoring when we give aid 
Last Updated: Wednesday, October 20, 2010 | 12:57 PM ET.
By Jennifer Clibbon, CBC News 

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Press Freedom Index for Africa "a joke"
Map of the situation of press freedom in 2010, according to RSF
© RSF/afrol News 

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Ethiopia offers unique travel experience
October 20,2010  MSNBC/AP, US
Jenny Barchfield / AP

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Nile River Dispute Heats Up
October 20 2010 VOA

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National Reconciliation and National Development in Ethiopia

Ghelawdewos Araia, PhD.

October 22, 2010

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Asia no hotbed of press freedom
Canada.com
October 20, 2010
Aileen McCabe  Complete list of rankings 
Horn of Africa nations rankings:
Djibouti: 110
Ethiopia: 139
Somalia: 161
Eritrea: 178
Although it works harder at it and spends more money on it than anyone, China is not the world’s worst offender when it comes to media oppression.
That dubious honour goes to Eritrea, according to a report issued Wednesday by Reporters Without Borders. China was seven places better, at No. 171.
The report says Asia’s four Communist states, China, North Korea, Vietnam and Laos, are, however, all “among the 15 lowest ranked countries” on its Press Freedom Index.

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Press Release  October 19, 2010
Ethiopian Community are fighting for justice at the savage Murder of Ali Mohammed in Washington, DC 
By Advocacy for Ethiopia, Ethiopian-American Civic Advocacy (For further i

Copts in Egypt "intimidated" by Muslim majority 
Pope Shenuda III of the Egyptian Coptic Orthodox Church
© White House/afrol News 

The Question of the "Westminster Abbey" Tabot;  an Urgent Call for Restitution
by Professor Richard Pankhurst

 "Bullying China a threat to Africa"
Opening of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in Egypt in 2009
© World Bank/afrol News 

   From readers forum

Egypt, which has been gobling up all the waters of the Nile forever, is complaining that Ethiopia wants to build hydro-electirc dams, that will not reduce the flow of water, and claims to fight for its "historic rights. When it comes to "Right" in sharing any resources in this world, right only means might. If you want a comparison, look at the Colorado River and the Rio Grnde which flow from the US to Mexico, where Mexico gets only a small percentage of the water. Please read it here:-
http://www.kumeyaay.info/cocopah.html?http%3A//www.kumeyaay.info/cocopah/cucapa_el_mayor.html

But Mexico cannot fight against the US. So what does it do about it? Nothing! If Ethiopia was as powerful as USA, there is nothing Egypt can do about it, no matter how much of the water we keep to ourself for irrigation, let alone for hydro-electricity...

Africa sees successes fighting hunger Food aid delivered in Darfur
© afrol News / WFP 
afrol News, 12 October - 

PFDJ’s Eritrea: Klashnikov Diplomacy
By Awate Team, October 11, 2010

Ethiopian leader doubts usefulness of climate conference 
By Olu Jacob
October 14, 2010 03:02AM

Africa's food security is less threatened than many fear
Food security is a concern in Africa, but Africans are better able to adapt their agricultural methods to the threat than many are acknowledging.
By G. Pascal Zachary, Correspondent / October 13, 2010 

Ethiopia: Rebel group to become legal political party
Thursday 14 October 2010.
By Tesfa-Alem Tekle
October 13, 2010 (ADDIS ABABA) – The Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) who 

Review of HOW TO READ THE AIR, a novel by Dinaw Mengestu
October 8, 2010  New York Times
Book Review by Miguel Syjuco 

South Sudan refutes Gaddafi’s claim that Africa will disintegrate if south becomes independent
By Ngor Arol Garang  Tuesday 12 October 2010.
Source Sudan Tribune
October 11, 2010 (JUBA) - A minister in the regional government of southern Sudan on Monday refuted claims by Libyan leader Muammar Al-Gaddafi that secession of south 

   Barnaba Marial Benjamin (ST

Fourth batch of Chadian rebels leave Darfur to Ndjamena 
Tuesday 12 October 2010.  Source Sudan Tribune
October 11, 2010 (KHARTOUM) — The fourth batch of Chadian rebels left Darfur heading 

Famine and Foreigners: Ethiopia Since Live Aid
The New Republic, US
October 6, 2010 (To be published in the October 28, 2010 issue)
Book Review by David Rieff 
Famine and Foreigners: Ethiopia Since Live Aid 
By Peter Gill (Oxford University Press, 280 pp.)

Green Revolution for Africa’s Sustainable Development: Renewed Interest or Paradigm Shift?
Ghelawdewos Araia
October 4, 2010

The Politics of One-Party Dominance: Why the EPRDF
Will Stay in Power
by Tesfaye Habisso, October 01, 2010

Ethiopian PM seeks to stop policy requirements from donor countries
Afrik
October 4, 2010

Ethiopia to receive 100m dollar aid from Korea
Reporter, Ethiopia
October 2, 2010
Merga Yonas

Thirsty Egypt Clings Tight To The Nile
NPR
October 3, 2010
Gwen Thompkins
Last of three parts
Part I: Ethiopia Claims High Ground In Right-To-Nile Debate Sep. 26, 2010
Part II: Mystery On The Nile: Just Whose River Is It? Sep. 19, 2010
And yet despite competing efforts to claim the river, the Nile manages to slip free of everyone. It has never failed to flow to Egypt. But then it has never failed to flow away from Egypt. And the same can be said of every other nation the river touches.
http://www.dvlottery.state.gov/

Plans to boost Africa's energy production
afrol News / SANF, 28 September - Africa could experience a major boost in its renewable  

President Girma W/Ghiorghis, Can You Feel the Family's Pain?
Revisiting Birtukan Mideksa's Re-incarceration Case: A Viewpoint 
By Tesfaye Habisso

Sylvia Pankhurst More than a memorial

"The delimitation (ድንበር መተለም) and demarcation (ድንበር መትከል) of the Borders of Ethiopia : The subtlety or illusions of international law and international relations, with focus on the Western Borders of Ethiopia with the Sudan , and the question of Badme and Port Assab."

By Tecola Worq Hagos [September 26, 2010 

Egypt and Thirsty Neighbors Are at Odds Over Nile
NY Times
September 25, 2010

Ethiopian PM takes to the podium
by Amber Tunnell, Saturday 25 September 2010  

Tackling Poverty by Ethiopians or Globalization Wave: A Book Review
Desta, Asayehgn, Ph.D.

2010 Index of Economic Freedom: Ethiopia
Heritage Foundation, US

African-led Interventions in Human Security: Genesis, Endowment, Capacity and Good Practices for
Shaping a new Paradigm  BT Costantinos, PhD
Chair, African Union Board on the Convention to Prevent and Combat Corruption and School of Post Graduate Studies, AAU

Allana Potash May Begin Extracting Mineral From Ethiopian Deposit in 2013
Bloomberg
September 23, 2010 William Davison 

Eritrea "heading towards failed state"
Eritrean President Isaias Afewerki still has totalitarian powers in the country

Ethiopian PM Zenawi snubs West hails China and India
Monday 20 September 2010 / by Desalegn Sisay
They don’t give a dam about development
Spiked.on-line, a conservative UK opinion website

15 September 2010  

 Ethiopia 'kills 123' ONLF rebels and surrounds 90 more 

On the Nile, Egypt cuts water use as Ethiopia dams for power 
Sunday, 12 September 2010 11:10 
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-nile-battle-20100912,0,6388207,full.story

Is Eritrean policy shift just “tactical”?
Reuters Blog

Shame on You Senators Feingold and Leahy [Draft Bill S. 3757]

By Tecola W. Hagos

September 5, 2010

A Young Ethiopian Reconnecting with Her Roots in the Motherland

September 4, 2010

Ghelawdewos Araia, Ph.D.

Arundhati Roy on Obama’s Wars, India and Why Democracy Is "The Biggest Scam in the World"
Click the link below to watch the video:http://www.democracynow.org/2010/3/22/arundhati_roy_on_obamas_wars_india
ANJALI KAMAT: 

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Ethiopia devaluates its currency
Posted on Wednesday 1 September 2010 - 11:30
YohanesProfileHomepage207 messages

Energy and Security Issues in the Red Sea Transforming as the Age of Gas Begins in Earnest 
Written by Gregory R. Copley 

Ethiopia rejects dam criticism, targets 10,000 MW
Reuters           September 2, 2010
Barry Malone

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