Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Ethiopians suffer under government corruption (Fremontneb)
“Once I was waving down a taxi using the same two fingers to let the taxi know there was two of us,” says David, “a federal policeman saw me, ran over and started beating me. I had a hard time explaining I was just trying to wave down a taxi.”...click here to read more..
Monday, July 30, 2007
Sunday, July 29, 2007
Saturday, July 28, 2007
Friday, July 27, 2007
Ethiopia turns its critics into untouchables (The Globe and Mail)
...But civil-society groups and supporters of the opposition throughout Ethiopia describe the country's parliament as little more than a Potemkin village. Prime Minister Meles Zenawi's ruling EPRDF party puts on a show of democracy for international donors, while enacting a brutal crackdown on supporters of the opposition outside of the capital....
...The government's true face, people say, is shown in places like Dembi Dollo, a two-day journey from the capital along more than 480 kilometres of dusty, dilapidated roads. Few foreigners visit, and little news emerges from the area.....click here to read more ..
...The government's true face, people say, is shown in places like Dembi Dollo, a two-day journey from the capital along more than 480 kilometres of dusty, dilapidated roads. Few foreigners visit, and little news emerges from the area.....click here to read more ..
Thursday, July 26, 2007
Freed Ethiopian opposition condemn govt "propaganda" ( Reuter)
...."It is also our belief that the people understand the true nature of the intensive propaganda campaign that the government is waging through the mass media after the conclusion of the agreement," the opposition Coalition for Unity and Democracy (CUD) said in a statement.
"We are also fully confident that the propaganda barrage will not, in any way, reduce the strong support that the people have for CUD."..click here to read more..
"We are also fully confident that the propaganda barrage will not, in any way, reduce the strong support that the people have for CUD."..click here to read more..
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Bipartisan Duo of Ex-Congressional Heavyweights Blocking Action Against Ethiopia (harpers)
..two congressmen-turned-lobbyists–former House Majority Leaders Richard Armey, the Republican from Texas, and Missouri Democrat Richard Gephardt–are working hard to block full congressional action against the Zenawi regime. The duo work with the firm of DLA Piper, which federal disclosure records show is being paid at least $50,000 per month by the Ethiopian government for “strategic advice and counsel.”...read more..
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Ethiopian diaspora keeps pressure on U.S. Congress (The Hill)
The House Foreign Affairs Africa and Global Health subcommittee, which Payne chairs, passed the bill last week. The full committee is expected to mark up the bill on Tuesday.
Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said the decision to pardon the prisoners was unrelated to efforts in Congress to pressure his government.
“The Ethiopian government isn’t willing and is unable to be run like a banana republic from Capitol Hill,” he said. His government has worked closely with the Bush administration on counter-terrorism efforts in the region....more...
Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said the decision to pardon the prisoners was unrelated to efforts in Congress to pressure his government.
“The Ethiopian government isn’t willing and is unable to be run like a banana republic from Capitol Hill,” he said. His government has worked closely with the Bush administration on counter-terrorism efforts in the region....more...
The moral hazards of dealing with Ethiopia's Meles Zenawi (Washington Post)
...Yesterday 38 opposition politicians and activists walked out of jail in Addis Ababa, where they had been held for almost two years. That is good news, but they never should have been there in the first place...click here to read more..
Monday, July 23, 2007
Ethiopia Atrocities a Challenge to the State Joining the EAC ( All Africa)
...Unknown to the rest of the world, Zenawi was anxious to deflect the attention his regime has been getting from Congress and House of Representatives. It appeared that Ethiopia's involvement in the Somali conflict would trigger a wider, bloodier conflict in East Africa...click here to read more..
Saturday, July 21, 2007
EU welcomes pardon of Ethiopian opposition figures (EUBusiness)
"The EU hopes that all those who have been charged with similar offences and who have chosen to defend themselves will likewise be released or acquitted soon," The 27-country bloc's Portuguese presidency...click to read more..
Friday, July 20, 2007
Ethiopia Releases 38 Opposition Leaders (Washinton Post)
...While Meles accused the opposition leaders of inciting violent protests following the elections, a government report later found that the protesters were unarmed and that Ethiopian security authorities had used excessive force, spraying crowds with bullets, targeting protesters with sharpshooters and hunting others down in their homes....click here to read more..
Ethiopia Pardons 38 Opposition Members (voanews)
..."Speaking from the humanitarian side, for the people who were in prison, that they are released I think very good, but politically we have been saying that imprisonment shouldn't have taken place. Because they were acting politically and we were demanding that they come out," he said. "This is a political condition and you cannot solve political problems with legal or administrative or by force. You have to solve political problems politically. The government refused." former Ethiopian President Negasso Gidada....click here to read more..
Thursday, July 19, 2007
Africa: Democratic Developments in Sub-Saharan Africa: Moving Forwards or Backwards? ( AllAfrica )
The Ethiopian military has been responsible for crimes against humanity in Gambella region and is committing serious abuses in neighboring Somalia and its own Somali region. Security forces routinely subject suspected government opponents to harassment, arbitrary detention, torture and in some cases, extrajudicial execution. Local officials, especially in rural areas, subject Ethiopians to surveillance and impose a climate of fear and intimidation that discourages free speech of any kind, much less active participation in politics. Neither the Administration nor any other foreign partner of Ethiopia has engaged robustly with those issues in the years since the current government came to power. ...click here to read more
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
US Legislation on Ethiopia Democracy Moves Forward, voanews
...The United States, along with European governments and human rights groups, has condemned the sentencing of opposition leaders, and urged political reconciliation in Ethiopia....click here to read more...
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
Human Rights in Ethiopia: Another Casualty of the "War on Terror"? (Huffington post)
...Where is the U.S. State Department in all of this? Absent without leave. It seems that since Ethiopia is doing the State Department's bidding in Somalia, the U.S. is turning a blind eye to the Ethiopian government's crackdown on dissent. That's what some of the relatives of the prisoners believe...click here to read more
Monday, July 16, 2007
Ethiopia life jail terms attacked, ( BBC)
"[Their] only crime was to express their opinions freely in elections, which were supposed to be democratic," ..click here for the full text...
Ethiopian: Prisoners of conscience jailed for life, ( Amnesty International)
..."On the basis of the information we have, most -- if not all -- of those sentenced today are prisoners of conscience imprisoned on account of their opinions, who have not used or advocated violence and should therefore be immediately and unconditionally released," said Erwin van der Borght, Director of Amnesty International's Africa Programme...click here to read more..
Ethiopian court sentences 35 to life imprisonment, 8 others to lower sentences,
...Those facing life imprisonment include the leader of the Coalition for Unity and Democracy, Hailu Shawel; Berhanu Nega, who was elected mayor of Addis Ababa; former Harvard scholar Mesfin Woldemariam; and former U.N. special envoy and former Norfolk (Va.) State University professor, Yacob Hailemariam...click here to read more..
Sunday, July 15, 2007
Commentary on Siye Abraha's post-release interview1 (Ethiomidia)
......Seye's story may be one of self-redemption through suffering. During 6 years of imprisonment, he seems to have come to a different realization of the realities in Ethiopia. His public statements reaffirm our basic faith that all of us have the capacity to change and do good, even though we may have been wayward at some point in our lives...click here to read more...
By Prof. Alemayehu G. Mariam
July 15, 2007
By Prof. Alemayehu G. Mariam
July 15, 2007
Saturday, July 14, 2007
Ethiopia: Not the time to threaten the death Penalty! ( Sudane Tribune)
...It is simply wicked to threaten prisoners of conscience who have committed no crime for standing firm in their position of having either never intended or done nothing to warrant even putting them one second in prison or another second in court with a death penalty...click here to read more...
Friday, July 13, 2007
Crushing dissent in Ethiopia
....The repression continued and the initial 100 or so dissenters were held for nearly two years without due process. The main explanation that is given for the fact that the authoritarian regime can do as it pleases is that the international pressure on the Ethiopian authorities is lukewarm at best. The West, in particular the US, sees the Ethiopian regime as a Christian partner in a sea of “dangerous and threatening” Islam...click here to read more..
Thursday, July 12, 2007
Off with their heads, maybe
The Economist
....So it was a real shock this week when the state prosecutor called for all 38 to be put to death. Those facing the firing squad include Hailu Shawel, the elderly head of the Coalition for Unity and Democracy (CUD), the main opposition party, and Berhanu Nega, the elected mayor of the capital, Addis Ababa... click here to read more...
Posted by: Ethiopian politics (ETP)
....So it was a real shock this week when the state prosecutor called for all 38 to be put to death. Those facing the firing squad include Hailu Shawel, the elderly head of the Coalition for Unity and Democracy (CUD), the main opposition party, and Berhanu Nega, the elected mayor of the capital, Addis Ababa... click here to read more...
Posted by: Ethiopian politics (ETP)
Ethiopia: Whose Prime Minister?
The ugliest part of this kind of brutal minority rule is that it pushed the people to the desperation that there is no possibility of power shifts through democratic means as the government is determined to foil such possibilities as demonstrated by the aftermath of the May 2005 elections....read more..
Siye Abreha is out of jail
"I've seen and learn a lot about the supremacy of the law and judicial independence in this country," Siye told Fortune. "Better than any time before, I've come to learn that these are important milestones for a country whether you are in business or politics."... more..
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Threatened Execution of Ethiopian Opposition Should be Opposed
“Any government that suggests sentencing its opposition leaders to death in response to legitimate demonstrations of dissent cannot, by any stretch of the imagination, call itself a democracy,” said Paula Schriefer, director of advocacy of Freedom House. “Ethiopia, the seat of the African Union, must demonstrate respect for the rule of law by allowing full freedom of expression and association for members of the political opposition, as well as other citizens.”.. more..
IFJ Says Ethiopian Court Must Reject Death Penalty Demand for Journalists
“We condemn this cruel and unreasonable demand by the prosecution who wants journalists sentenced to death merely for doing their job,” said Gabriel Baglo Director of the IFJ Africa office. “We call on the Court of Kaliti to reject this demand and drop all the charges against the journalists and all the other prisoners of conscience jailed in Ethiopia.” ..more..
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
Ethiopia, Zimbabwe and the "Politics of Naming"
The politics of naming isn’t limited to the question of which slaughters are named genocide and which aren’t. It applies too to the question of which regimes are called dictatorial, repressive and brutal (and so must be changed), and which are not (and so should be left in peace.).. read more..
Ethiopia death call surprises US, BBC
The United States has said it is "surprised" at the call by an Ethiopian prosecutor for the death penalty for 38 opposition leaders...Read more..
Ethiopia's democracy on trial, BBC
As they turned up in court, expecting to hear their fate, Ethiopia's 38 detained opposition leaders put on a show of ..read more
Monday, July 9, 2007
Friday, July 6, 2007
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)