VOA reports on the killing of Ethiopians in Kenya (Ethiopian review)

VOA report about the recent kidnappings and killings of Ethiopians in Kenya by Woyanne gunmen. Click here to listen

10 Ethiopian students killed, 4 journalists attacked in Kenya(Ethiomedia)

A recent report in Abyotawi Democracy, an Amharic-language organ of the ruling party of Mr. Zenawi, informs its readers that the most organized opposition forces tainting the “good image" of the government in Addis are the powerful Ethiopian Diaspora in North America and Europe, the US-based Ethiopian-American group campaigning for HR 2003 (i.e. a human rights and democracy bill pending US Senate approval), and exiled journalists and other Ethiopians based in Kenya....more

Clan elder accuses Ethiopia soldiers of killing 3 civilians (Garoweonline)

Mohamed Hassan Haad, leader of an anti-Ethiopia Hawiye elders' council, said the dead bodies of the three civilians were found today near Stadium Mogadishu, a major base for Ethiopian forces.

One of the dead victims was an old man who worked as a security guard for the independent HornAfrik radio...full history

Ethiopia rebels say killed 270 more troops (Reuter)

In its latest "military communique", the ONLF said "large numbers" of its fighters had engaged government troops in five places between Oct 26-Nov 1 due to "summary executions, detentions of nomads and senseless shooting of livestock". ...more

Coming of Age in America: Ethiopia in the Diaspora (The Ethiopian American)

By Alemayehu G. Mariam

Scattered by the Winds of Oppression

Perhaps with the exception of those Ethiopians who arrived in the U.S. in the early 1970s, most who came to the U.S. over the past three decades partly did so for political reasons. Whether it is the militarized terror of the Derg or the wanton violence of the current regime, politics remains a principal cause of Ethiopian refugees throughout the world. For obvious reasons, the U.S. remains a preferred destination for the majority of Ethiopian refugees, as it was the preferred educational venue for the earlier arrivals....Ful Text

Eritrea accuses Ethiopia of invasion plans again(Reyter

Ethiopia has threatened to pull out of the peace agreement ending the 1998-2000 war based on what it says were repeated violations by Eritrea. Asmara, in turn, accuses Addis Ababa of violating the pact...more

Dr. Berhanu Nega on Chicago Public Radio (Host: Jerome McDonnell) (KinijitEthiopia)

My encounter with Berhanu Nega - Elias Kifle( Ethiopian review)

A brittle Western ally in the Horn of Africa (The Economist)

The reasons for this economic crawl are not hard to find. Beyond the government-directed state, funded substantially by foreign aid, there is—almost uniquely in Africa—virtually no private-sector business at all. The IMF estimates that in 2005-06 the share of private investment in the country was just 11%, nearly unchanged since Mr Zenawi took over in the early 1990s. That is partly a reflection of the fact that, despite some privatisation since the centralised Marxist days of the Derg, large areas of the economy remain government monopolies, closed off to private business.

...This is where Ethiopia misses out badly. Take telecoms. While the rest of Africa has been virtually transformed in just a few years by a revolution in mobile telephony, Ethiopia stumbles along with its inept and useless government-run services. Everywhere else, a plethora of South African, home-grown and European providers has leapt into the market to provide Africans with an extraordinary array of cheaper and more efficient services, now used even by the poorest of farmers, for instance, to check spot prices for agricultural goods in markets miles away. And the mobile-phone revolution has created thousands of new livelihoods; at times it seems as if every boy on a street corner is hawking a top-up card. Not in Ethiopia.

...The Ethiopian government's efforts at political control are supported by a wide network of informers and secret police. Critics say it is exploiting the jihadist terror threat to link many legitimate opposition campaigners and supporters with terrorist groups and take them off the streets. The threats from Eritrea, where a new border war could erupt at any time, and the Islamists in Somalia are real. But at this rate, argues Mr Demeksa, “the ethnic groups are on a collision course.”...Click here to read more

Those who Came Divided Abroad Must Return Home United! Forward with the Democratic movement in Ethiopia! Ethiomedia)

With the TPLF/EPDRF is it now a case for the opposition a case of total mistrust because it is the case of once smitten twice shy? It is very difficult to take at face value the democratic credentials of the ruling TPLF/EPDRF coalition given the way the great achievements of May 2005 were derailed. They have to do a miracle to change the reality, perception people hold and remember: It is the TPLF/EPDRF that unleashed repression on the people they seemed willing to allow to vote in the first place. How would we know they will not do the same: invite the people to vote and repress when the result goes against their expectations to persons who are in the various opposition parties? What real risk can the opposition take given that the TPLF/EPDRF can behave in such contradictory fashion with carrots and sticks again and again? Can the opposition take a risk? Will the TPLF/EPDRF change and abandon the stick of reprisal and repression for the carrot of democracy? Whilst in principle there is no reason why the TPLF/EPDRF cannot change, the onus of proof lies in the TPLF/EPDRF to show that it is prepared to behave democratically and not militaristically. Until this demonstration the opposition would be always taking a risk unless it plays by the rules set by the ruling coalition! Click here to read more in PDF file

Bertukan Mideksa's Oct. 28 speech - a must listen (Ethiopian Review)

Kinijit leaders will arrive in Toronto on Nov. 1 (Ethipian Review)

Calling Our Ethiopian Ally to Account for Abuses (The Jewish Daily)

A farmer from Ogaden told a reporter that Ethiopian soldiers had strangled his wife to death with a rope; the wife had been nursing the couple’s one-year-old son when she was killed. A 25-year-old woman told The New York Times that Ethiopian soldiers visited her village each night and picked a new girl to be gang-raped. A staff member of Doctors Without Borders said she saw Ethiopian soldiers chasing women and children away from water-wells.....more

Birtukan-Mania is spreading fast in Ethiopia (Blog) (Jimma Times)

Anyway, Birtukan is capturing the hearts of many people. Those who used to say Birtukan Medeksa is Oromo only in her name are now praising her because of her plans for an all-inclusiveness of her CUD party. Until now, some Oromo and other southern people were supporting her CUD party just because they hate the ruling party. But if Birtukan manages to change the one-ethnic face of CUD, her party will unquestionably win any election in Ethiopia. Her party’s Amharic name "Kinijit" meaning Unity has been seen as a unity between Amhara and Gurage ethnicities, but now it can become a unity among all ethnicities. At least that is what most people hope....more

Clerk shot, killed at East Dallas gas station (DalasNews)

Two men armed with handguns entered the Fina Food Mart No. 1 in the 11400 block of Garland Road shortly before 11 p.m. Saturday, Dallas police said. Both men fired their weapons at Abate Z. Hailu, 43, who was pronounced dead at the scene, police said....more

Kinijit - the democratic armada - to sail back home from US (Ethiomrdia)

Once respected as the charismatic leader of the opposition party, Hailu Shawel fell from grace when he turned down frequent invitations from the Bertukan-headed delegation to join them, and instead aligned himself with Kinijit International Council (KIC), a group he single-handedly created while he was in prison but lacks recognition by the rest of the Kinijit leadership, and from bad to worse, is largely seen as a corrupt group alleged to have squandered Kinijit funds....more

Ethiopia denies plot to attack Eritrea (Reuter)

"The Ethiopian government denies the allegation of a plot to invade Eritrea in November," Wahade Belay, spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, told Reuters....more

Rep. Smith Speaks Out for Human Rights in Ethiopia (Ephoc Times

Human rights abuses in Ethiopia, including the injuring and killing of hundreds of peaceful protesters and the detention of thousands, are well documented. Amnesty International reported that the government has subjected opposition party members to beatings, detention on trumped up charges, harassment and disappearances, according to 2007 report of Freedom House. Journalists and editors of the independent press routinely face harassment and prosecution for alleged violations of strict press laws in Ethiopia, according to the "findings" section in the bill HR2003.....more

Journalists Say Press Freedoms Lacking in Ethiopia (VOA)

CPJ says that eight newspapers were banned, two foreign journalists were expelled, and a number of websites were blocked last year. Websites critical of the government are still being blocked.

Observers say Ethiopians now have little choice on the quantity and quality of information they are able to get from the media....more

Analyst Sees Ethiopian, US Pressure Behind Somali Prime Minister Resignation (VOA)

“This was a long time in coming and what finally prompted the resignation was unquestionably Ethiopian pressure. This was Ethiopia’s game. They were making the decision as to who would stay and who would go in the TFG. They were trying to manage the long running split between President Abdullahi Yusef and Prime Minister Gedi. And in the end I think they came to understand that Gedi had to be replaced,” he says....more