A brother and sister from Ethiopia found a home with Sask. parents desperate for their own family (Canada)

One of the oldest countries in the world - Ethiopian dynastic history is traced back to 1,000 BC - it's also one of the most destitute. More than 80 per cent of the population lives on less than $2 US a day. Nearly two million people have either HIV or AIDS. The life expectancy is just 49.23 years, 194th out of 217 countries and barely ahead of Afghanistan, Rwanda and Sierra Leone....more..

Ethiopia's Election Panel, Opposition Trade Accusations (VOA)

"Our hopes and aspirations for democracy have been dashed, and at this moment we appeal to our members, supporters and the people of Ethiopia in general to support us in our peaceful struggle against this emerging absolutism and disregard for the supremacy of the law," said Bulcha Demeksa...more..

Ethiopia: Gov’t blames rebels backed by Eritrea for deadly city blasts (Somainet)l

The ONLF has got nothing to do with this at all," spokesman Abdirahman Mahdi said by telephone from London. "These attacks happened in Addis, far from our area of operations. And besides, it is not our policy to harm civilians....more..

Ethiopians see consolidated Stalinism in latest elections (Ethipmedia)

When Stephen Sacker of the BBC's Hardtalk questioned the impartiality of the National Electoral Board following the deadliest 2005 elections, Meles Zenawi said he had no influence on Board members who were elected by a certain president about 10 years ago.

The journalist followed up his question with: "who was the president a decade ago?" "I was," came the surprise response, which prompted Sacker to stare Meles in the eye, and said, "You have been in power for 14 years?"..read more for the answer.

Another Ethiopia opposition party pulls out of polls (Reuters)

OFDM election observers were callously mistreated. They were refused entry to polling stations. Our observers were pushed like they were intruders," Bulcha told reporters. "Under these circumstances, the OFDM has decided to withdraw from the local election of April 20, 2008.... more..

Power Politics Trumps Democracy in U.S.-backed Ethiopia (The indypendent )

“I was in an isolation cell at that time. They came for me in the middle of the night,” Nega recalls, calmly explaining how one night he was blindfolded and dragged by his armpits into another room he can only refer to as the “torture chamber.”

“They flip you over onto your back with your feet in the air, and then hit you on the bottom of your feet, and everywhere with an electrical cord. I couldn’t move for weeks afterward.”

Nega’s story echoes accounts of intimidation, arrests and beatings recounted by journalists in many parts of the world. Alarmingly, these accounts of iron-fisted censorship emerge not only from the notoriously repressive regimes that often make the news such as North Korea, Burma or Iran. Just as often they come from the political darlings of the United States’ foreign policy; places like Pakistan, Egypt and more recently Ethiopia....more..

Ethiopia: The one hundred years homework (africanpath)

Here is where the "Fire and Straw/Esatina Chid" that worried Meles Zenawi and made him speak in animated mode in his parliament. He knows that coming together of all political groups without preconditions is going to shorten the one hundred years homework we were given by Isayas by many years...more

Ethiopia opposition alleges intimidation at polls (Herald Tribune)

This week, a report on the current polls by U.S.-based Human Rights Watch said its researchers noted "systemic patterns of repression and abuse that have rendered the elections meaningless in many areas". More..

Unrest simmers in Ethiopia's Ogaden (Aljazeera)

Human Rights Watch says that civilians have borne the brunt of the military response, with whole villages razed to the ground as well as public executions, rapes and torture...more..

UNICEF urges birth registration as kids' right in Ethiopia( afriquenligne)

.."These children are deprived of their basic rights, and with no documentary evidence to prove how old they are or even who they are, they are likely to join the millions facing discrimination and the lack of access to basic services such as health and education," said UNICEF Country Representative Bjorn Ljungqvist...More..

Rights group says it is 'too late to salvage' upcoming Ethiopian elections (iht)

..."It is too late to salvage these elections, which will simply be a rubber stamp on the (the ruling party's) near-monopoly on power at the local level," said Georgette Gagnon, Africa director at Human Rights Watch. "Still, officials must at least allow the voters to decide how and whether to cast their ballots without intimidation."...More...

Second Opposition Faction Preparing Boycott of Ethiopia Vote (VOA)

"We went in for the sake of peace and stability in our country," said Bulcha Demeksa. "We did not want to be the cause of any crisis. But when the government shows no willingness to cooperate, and wants to be the only party which governs ethiopia, then we have no hope. We cannot work with this kind of party. We have to quit and show the world we are not able to work with them."..More..

Land clashes kill 18 in Ethiopia(Reuter)

ADDIS ABABA, April 9 (Reuters) - Clashes over grazing and farm land killed 18 people last week near the southern Ethiopian town of Wondo-Genet, police said....more...

Ethiopia's Inflation Accelerates to 22.4% in February on Food (Bloonburg)

..Inflation expanded from 19.4 percent in January, the Addis Ababa-based agency said in a report today. Food prices climbed 30.2 percent on an annual basis, from 28 percent in January, according to the report...More..

Ending Ethiopia's U.S.-Backed Somalia Occupation (black star news)

Many Human Rights groups have also documented the impunity with which Ethiopian troops have operated in Somalia in the past year. In August 2007, Human Rights Watch released a major report titled Shell-Shocked: Civilians under Siege in Mogadishu documenting the crimes against civilians committed by all the warring factions during March and April of 2007.
The report specifically documented the deliberate shelling by Ethiopian troops of densely populated areas including hospitals, the looting of private property and the mass arrests and detentions of civilians. ..more..

Who is Birtukan? (Ethiopolitics)

By Addis Admass Magazine - Amharic interview ...Click here to read more

Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 2007( US.Department of State)

rregularities, including intimidation of voters and election observers, marred polling in many areas. The government and EPRDF also announced the "final" election results before the NEB released them. Observers reported killings, disappearances, voter intimidation and harassment, and unlawful detentions of opposition party supporters, particularly in the Amhara, Oromiya, and Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples regions. The Carter Center expressed concern over reports of improper vote counting and tabulation, stating that its observer teams had "found evidence that ballot boxes have been moved improperly, were improperly secured, or that party agents were barred from polling stations or were not allowed to observe the entire count." It also reported "election day and postelection intimidation and harassment." The head of the European Union's Electoral Observation Mission issued a preliminary report stating that the postelection complaint review process "did not live up to international standards," citing irregularities in key areas. In spite of these criticisms, international observers noted that the elections, and particularly the preelection campaign season, were an important step forward in the country's democratization efforts.....Full text

Meseret Defer breaks record in Stuttgart (Eurosport)

The Ethiopian 5,000 metres Olympic gold medalist blitzed the field with a world best time of 8 minutes 27.93 seconds, having set the world's fastest time of 8 mins 23.72 seconds over the same distance at the same venue the year before....more

Ethiopia: "Mum, Were We Meant to Suffer All Our Lives?"(Allafrica)

Nadifo Gababa fled to Kenya from her home in Ethiopia in 2005. The Ethiopian authorities claimed that she was financially supporting the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) -- an organization formed in 1973 to fight for the rights of the Oromo people of Ethiopia. OLF accuse the Ethiopian government of decades of human rights abuses against the Oromo. Gababa feared arrest....read more

West 'embraces sham democracies'(BBC)

HRW said the West was often unwilling to criticise the autocrats for fear of losing access to resources or commercial opportunities, or because of the perceived requirements of fighting terrorism. Read more