Wednesday, February 28, 2007

Afghanistan: The Case for Withdrawal

"It is much better for regime-change to come from below even if this means a long wait as in South Africa, Indonesia or Chile. Occupations disrupt the possibilities of organic change and create a much bigger mess than existed before. Afghanistan is but one example."

The Khyber Impasse: The Case for Withdrawal from Afghanistan


February 27, 2007
By TARIQ ALI

It is Year 6 of the UN-backed NATO occupation of Afghanistan, a joint US/EU mission. On 26 February there was an attempted assassination of Dick Cheney by Taliban suicide bombers while he was visiting the ‘secure’ US air base at Bagram (once an equally secure Soviet air base during an earlier conflict). Two US soldiers and a mercenary (‘contractor’) died in the attack, as did twenty other people working at the base. This episode alone should have concentrated the US Vice-President’s mind on the scale of the Afghan debacle. In 2006 the casualty rates rose substantially and NATO troops lost forty-six soldiers in clashes with the Islamic resistance or shot-down helicopters.

The insurgents now control at least twenty districts in the Kandahar, Helmand, Uruzgan provinces where NATO troops have replaced US soldiers. And it is hardly a secret that many officials in these zones are closet supporters of the guerrilla fighters. The situation is out of control. At the beginning of this war Mrs Bush and Mrs Blair appeared on numerous TV and radio shows claiming that the aim of the war was to liberate Afghan women. Try repeating that today and the women will spit in your face.

Who is responsible for this disaster? Why is the country still subjugated? What are Washington’s strategic goals in the region? What is the function of NATO? And how long can any country remain occupied against the will of a majority of its people?

Few tears were shed in Afghanistan and elsewhere when the Taliban fell, the hopes aroused by Western demagogy did not last too long. It soon became clear that the new transplanted elite would cream off a bulk of the foreign aid and create its own criminal networks of graft and patronage. The people suffered. A mud cottage with a thatched roof to house a family of homeless refugees costs fewer than five thousand dollars. How many have been built? Hardly any. There are reports each year of hundreds of shelter-less Afghans freezing to death each winter.

Instead a quick-fix election was organised at high cost by Western PR firms and essentially for the benefit of Western public opinion. The results failed to bolster support for NATO inside the country. Hamid Karzai the puppet President, symbolised his own isolation and instinct for self-preservation by refusing to be guarded by a security detail from his own ethnic Pashtun base. He wanted tough, Terminator look-alike US marines and was granted them.

Might Afghanistan been made more secure by a limited Marshall-Plan style intervention? It is, of course, possible that the construction of free schools and hospitals, subsidised homes for the poor and the rebuilding of the social infrastructure that was destroyed after the withdrawal of Soviet troops in 1989 could have stabilised the country. It would also have needed state help to agriculture and cottage industries to reduce the dependence on poppy farming. 90 percent of the world’s opium production is based in Afghanistan. UN estimates suggest that heroin accounts for 52 percent of the impoverished country’s gross domestic product and the opium sector of agriculture continues to grow apace. All this would have required a strong state and a different world order. Only a slightly crazed utopian could have expected NATO countries, busy privatising and deregulating their own countries, to embark on enlightened social experiments abroad.

And so elite corruption grew like an untreated tumour. Western funds designed to aid some reconstruction were siphoned off to build fancy homes for their native enforcers.. In Year 2 of the Occupation there was a gigantic housing scandal. Cabinet ministers awarded themselves and favoured cronies prime real estate in Kabul where land prices reached a high point after the Occupation since the occupiers and their camp followers had to live in the style to which they had become accustomed. Karzai’s colleagues built their large villas, protected by NATO troops and in full view of the poor.

Add to this that Karzai’s younger brother, Ahmad Wali Karzai, has become one of the largest drug barons in the country. At a recent meeting with Pakistan’s President, when Karzai was bleating on about Pakistan’s inability to stop cross-border smuggling, General Musharraf suggested that perhaps Karzai should set an example by bringing his sibling under control.

While economic conditions failed to improve, NATO military strikes often targeted innocent civilians leading to violent anti-American protests in the Afghan capital last year. What was initially viewed by some locals as a necessary police action against al-Qaeda following the 9/11 attacks is now perceived by a growing majority in the entire region as a fully-fledged imperial occupation. The Taliban is growing and creating new alliances not because its sectarian religious practices have become popular, but because it is the only available umbrella for national liberation. As the British and Russians discovered to their cost in the preceding two centuries, Afghans never liked being occupied.

There is no way NATO can win this war now. Sending more troops will lead to more deaths. And full-scale battles will destabilise neighbouring Pakistan. Musharraf has already taken the rap for an air raid on a Muslim school in Pakistan. Dozens of children were killed and the Islamists in Pakistan organised mass street protests. Insiders suggest that the ‘pre-emptive’ raid was, in fact, carried out by US war planes who were supposedly targeting a terrorist base, but the Pakistan government thought it better they took the responsibility to avoid an explosion of anti-American anger.

NATO’s failure cannot be blamed on the Pakistani government. If anything, the war in Afghanistan has created a critical situation in two Pakistani provinces. The Pashtun majority in Afghanistan has always had close links to its fellow Pashtuns in Pakistan. The border was an imposition by the British Empire and it has always been porous. Attired in Pashtun clothes I crossed it myself in 1973 without any restrictions. It is virtually impossible to build a Texan fence or an Israeli wall across the mountainous and largely unmarked 2500 kilometre border that separates the two countries. The solution is political, not military.

Washington’s strategic aims in Afghanistan appear to be non-existent unless they need the conflict to discipline European allies who betrayed them on Iraq. True, the al-Qaeda leaders are still at large, but their capture will be the result of effective police work, not war and occupation. What will be the result of a NATO withdrawal? Here Iran, Pakistan and the Central Asian states will be vital in guaranteeing a confederal constitution that respects ethnic and religious diversity. The NATO occupation has not made this task easy. Its failure has revived the Taliban and increasingly the Pashtuns are uniting behind it.

The lesson here, as in Iraq, is a basic one. It is much better for regime-change to come from below even if this means a long wait as in South Africa, Indonesia or Chile. Occupations disrupt the possibilities of organic change and create a much bigger mess than existed before. Afghanistan is but one example.

Tariq Ali’s new book, Pirates of the Caribbean, is published by Verso. He can be reached at: tariq.ali3@btinternet.com

This article originally appeared in Counterpunch.

Via New Socialist
More excellent analysis at James Laxer's Blog

New Studies Show How Violence Against Women Can Be Stopped

A new United Nations Population Fund report released today in New York does more than simply chronicle the extent of worldwide violence against women. It offers 10 case studies that show how carefully targeted and planned interventions can successfully reduce gender-based violence. Check out the cool online exhibition.

"We tried to form pressure groups within the community to discourage violence. Not only that, we also created opportunities for the community to plan their own programmes, and in that way the community began to own the project."
- National Programme Officer, UNFPA-Bangladesh

The UNFP Handbook Ending Violence Against Women, which is based on the report, summarizes specific "good practices" from the case studies. It includes points like:

  • Understand the local context, and recognize that culture is dynamic and people are willing to change. Identify and build upon positive cultural values.
  • Gather evidence and solicit expert opinion. Evidence is the most powerful tool to convince people that a change is needed.
  • Adopt a rights-based approach, empowering women to claim their rights. Also target men (especially men who have influence in the community), whose participation is key.
  • Allow space for community involvement, especially when tackling culturally sensitive issues. Involve people at a personal level. Tap the strength of community organizations. Engage local power structures, including faith based organizations.
  • Separate the values underlying a harmful practice from the practice itself. This is important because it means respecting the function of traditions that may be harmful and remembering traditions can evolve. Encourage change from within.
  • Work on legislative action, but follow up with advocacy to ensure enforcement. Use the health sector as one entry point. Build institutional capacity and forge alliances across sectors - for example, linking health services with legal services.
  • Expand women's options overall - for example economic self-sufficiency is important
  • Reach young people through education, in order to prevent the violence among the next generation
  • Caring for women and girls in need means considering the whole person, preserving confidentiality and establishing trust, and also protecting service providers
  • Be creative in raising awareness. They suggest using popular culture, like local celebrities as spokespeople, and trying to educate the media.

All of these points are supported with examples from the case studies. Via AllAfrica.com.

What is conspicuously absent is a recommendation for forcing women (against their will) to change their style of dress. Or bombing a country to liberate its women.

Open letter from... Accused number 44 under the Case File Engineer Hailu Shawel

Check back with ETP for more news throughout the day

Also in the news:
[March 5 court news, Addis Abeba (satire)] - [Gossip column on Tamrat Layne ] - [Foreign suspect detained in Ethiopia Protests his innocence ]

International:
[Sudanese ICC suspect says inspired by Saddam ] - [In shift, US to join Iran, Syria in talks about Iraq ] - [Castro makes first live comments since illness ] - [China Stock Markets Bounce Back] - [Picasso paintings stolen in Paris ] and more of today's top stories!

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March 2 - worldwide candlelight vigil for prisoners of Conscience in Ethiopia

March 4 - Candlelight vigil in front of the White House

100,000 letters-in-ten-days campaign

Surely, by now you have heard of the 100,000 letters-in-10-days campaign, but have you participated yet? (More...)_____________________________________________________

Open letter from... Accused number 44 under the Case File Engineer Hailu Shawel

(Ato Berhane Mewa)

(More...)

(Audio)Letter narrated by Berhane Mewa
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[The following is not real news – it was sent to us by a reader who found the whole courtroom drama comedic. It’s a satirical piece that demonstrates the absurdity of the current Ethiopian judiciary]

March 5 court news, Addis Abeba (satire)

Ethiopian News Agency (ENA)

The federal high court of Ethiopia today, once again, adjourned the trial of human rights activists, journalists, and opposition party leaders till April 22, 2009. The court asserted that the documents provided by the election board and speech of CUD Chairman Hailu Shawl - recently translated to Amharic, should also be translated into Geeze --Ethiopia’s oldest language.

The court acknowledged the importance of the Geeze language and added this decision should be seen as a clear Support for Ethiopia’s historical past.

In the spirit of global unity and solidarity, federal high court judge, judge Adil - also added the election board documents and CUD chairman Hailu Shawel’s speech at the NPC should be translated into Swahili, Ndebele, Arabic, pashtune, Dutch, French and Japanese.

"We are part of the global community" Judge Adil said, "no one should be left out".

Commenting on the court’s ruling, Prime Minister Meles Zenawi of Ethiopia said he was inspired by the court’s deep sense of history and commitment to the global community.

Mr. Zenawi also suggested one more name to add to the list, the recently discovered tribes of the Amazon, the Matis Indians.

"They too are part of the global community" added the prime minister, "we should not discriminate against anyone".

In addition to the above mentioned languages, footnotes to the rulings also disclose the documents will be translated into all the eighty-two ethnic languages of Ethiopia.

Inside sources confirm there is talk of translating the documents into “the braille system”, a system of raised letters used by People who are legally blind to read by touching with fingers.

Fortune's Gossip column on Tamrat Layne

(Fortune)

Time flies, wondered gossip corridor. The saga that was unfolding before the nation when Tamrat Layne, once second in charge in the camp of the Revolutionary Democrats, was confessing guilt on a live televised parliamentary showdown feels like it was just happened couple of years ago.

Negussie Hailu, one of the convicted people in the charge, was out only last year, after serving a sentence of 12 years. Of course, he had stayed in prison for not more than eight years, enjoying the four years deduction on probation.

Gossip was abuzz last week with the news of release of yet another prominent personality of this case: prison doors were open to Shadia Nadim on Tuesday afternoon, February 20, who had served a sentence of 14 years: she must have stayed in jail for 10 years; she too was given probation of four years.

It is now Tamrat Layne that is left behind bars, still serving a sentence of 16 years, found guilty by the Supreme Court of grand corruption. He will probably stay for another two years, depending on the results of the ongoing trail he was charged as accomplice in the Seyee Abraha et el vs. the Federal Ethics and Anticorruption Commission.

According to gossip corridor, Shadia has left the country the following day to Djibouti. It is a country where a disputed 2.5 million dollars had been kept, in the accounts of Ramis International Plc, at the Indo-Swiss Mearuge.

Although it license was revoked back in the 1990s, this was a company originally formed with shares held between Hussein Kassim, Shadia’s son, and Bezualem Melaku, a mother of Tamrat. Bezualem later on left the company after transferring her shares to Wissam Abdella Kassim, another son of Shadia, who had been managing the company since 1995. He now lives outside of the country.

This was in fact an amount claimed by Sheik Mohammed Ali Al-Amoudi three years ago, in his charges filed at the Federal High Court. It was an attempt to recover 16 million dollars the Supreme Court ruled in 1998 that Shadia and Nugussie should pay Al-Amoudi. In this charge, Al-Amoudi had claimed Shadia’s admittance before the Federal Police, during investigation in 1996, that she had deposited 2.5 million dollars in Indo-Swiss.

Gossip wondered whether this case is still pending.

Foreign suspect detained in Ethiopia Protests his innocence

BBC

A man on trial over his alleged involvement in the 21 July terror plot protested his innocence after he was detained in Ethiopia, a jury has heard.

Adel Yahya, 24, told police who flew out to quiz him that he knew the other people held over the alleged failed attack on the London transport network.

But he said he "should not be found guilty by association", Woolwich Crown Court heard. Mr Yahya and five other men deny conspiracy to murder. They also have pleaded not guilty to conspiracy to cause explosions.(More...)

Sudanese ICC suspect says inspired by Saddam

(Reuters) - A Sudanese official named as a possible Darfur war criminal said he drew inspiration from the example of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein at his execution in Baghdad in December.

On Tuesday the International Criminal Court named the official, minister of state for humanitarian affairs Ahmed Mohammed Haroun, and the Sudanese newspaper Akhbar al-Youm published the interview with him on Wednesday.

Asked how he felt about the case, Haroun said: "I don't know why I recall the footage of Saddam's execution when the whole world saw him take strong confident steps towards the gallows.

"The late Saddam on that day was more steadfast than his executioners. God willing, we are capable of taking such steadfast attitudes, which will shake the Muslim and Arab world."(More...)

Index on Censorship nominates Yalemzewd Bekele for her outstanding defence of freedom of expression

ETP - Index on Censorship annually presents its award to courageous journalists, writers, lawyers, campaigners, filmmakers and whistleblowers from around the world who have made a significant contribution to free expression over the past year.

This year, Ethiopian Human rights activist Yalemzewd Bekele is nominated for her “outstanding defense of freedom of expression” and is in contention to win The Bindman’s Law and Campaigns Award 2007. This award will be presented to campaigning human rights organisations or individual lawyers.(More...)

Today's Top Stories

-Liberia's ex-leader 'stole $1m' (Liberia's ex-President Gyude Bryant has been charged with embezzling more than $1m while in office)
-In shift, US to join Iran, Syria in talks about Iraq
-Human Rights Watch lists 39 secret CIA detainees
-War-weary Afghans fear spring offensive by Taliban
-Canada's Parliament scraps 2 anti-terror measures
-China Stock Markets Bounce Back
-Castro makes first live comments since illness
-Picasso paintings stolen in Paris (At least two Picasso paintings with a combined value of 50 million euros (£33.7m) have been stolen from his granddaughter's home in Paris)






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Tuesday, February 27, 2007

Adopt an MP and help prevent Clean Air Act Disaster

From the Climate Action Network: Adopt a Bill C-30 Committee member and help prevent CLEAN AIR ACT DISASTER.

1. Choose an MP from the Adoption Board (aw, but they all look so cute)


2. Congratulations. Now, as an adoptive parent, you will email your adopted member telling him what you think about the plan to increase emissions. He (yes, they are all men) will need your parental guidance and advice. But don’t worry. You won’t be alone. The Climate Action Network will help by sending you updates and action alerts so you know when and what to do.

3. Unlike real parenting, how much time you spend on your MP is totally up to you.

Help these boys amend Canada’s "Clean Air Act" (Bill C-30). More information at adoptanmp.ca

Index on Censorship nominates Yalemzewd Bekele for Award

Check back with ETP for more news throughout the day

Also in the news:
[UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs humanitarian news and analysis] - [ETHIOPIA-ISRAEL: Waiting Falash Mura languish in squalor] - [Lewit: AP Reporter sacked by VOA ] - [Ship hijackers caught in Somalia]

International:
[Cheney Targeted in Assassination Attempt ] - [Chinese stock prices plunge, Ripple Effect Spreads Across Asia ] - [4th French victim dies after Saudi attack ] - [Killer Bus Collision in Central Sweden] - [EU citizens are officially happy: poll ] and more of today's top stories!


(SUDAN) A displaced Sudanese girl carries her sister at the Otach camp in Nyala, Feb. 22. The International Criminal Court's prosecutor Today named a former Sudanese junior minister and a militia leader as suspects in war crimes and crimes against humanity in the country's Darfur region (More on this below)


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March 2 - worldwide candlelight vigil for prisoners of Conscience in Ethiopia

March 4 - Candlelight vigil in front of the White House

100,000 letters-in-ten-days campaign

Surely, by now you have heard of the 100,000 letters-in-10-days campaign, but have you participated yet? (More...)_____________________________________________________


Index on Censorship nominates Yalemzewd Bekele for her outstanding defence of freedom of expression

ETP - Index on Censorship annually presents its award to courageous journalists, writers, lawyers, campaigners, filmmakers and whistleblowers from around the world who have made a significant contribution to free expression over the past year.

This year, Ethiopian Human rights activist Yalemzewd Bekele is nominated for her “outstanding defense of freedom of expression” and is in contention to win The Bindman’s Law and Campaigns Award 2007. This award will be presented to campaigning human rights organisations or individual lawyers.

Yalemzewd Bekele is a prominent human rights lawyer whose projects focus on civil society and women’s issues.

Ethiopian authorities held Bekele for eight days in October. Amnesty International believed her to be at high risk of torture and mistreatment.

The 7th annual Index on Censorship Freedom of Expression awards will be presented at LSO St Luke's, London, on 14 March 2007.

Index on Censorship was founded in 1972 by a group of writers, journalists and artists, who were inspired to take to the page in defence of the basic human right of freedom of expression.

Initially, Index on Censorship focused on censorship in the former Soviet Union. Since the demise of communism in the 1990's, the magazine has sought to shed light on other challenges facing free expression, including religious extremism, the rise of nationalism, and Internet censorship. [see list of Nominees]

UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs humanitarian news and analysis

the aftermath of Ethiopia’s landmark May 2005 parliamentary elections laid bare the deeply entrenched patterns of political repression, human-rights abuse and impunity that characterise the day-to-day reality of governance in much of the country.

Media

The media in Ethiopia is not free, with frequent government crackdowns on the independent press.

After the contested 2005 elections, authorities detained more than a dozen journalists, issued a wanted list of editors and publishers, and threatened to charge journalists with treason, an offence punishable by death in Ethiopia. The media were accused of acting as "mouthpieces" for the opposition.

State-owned media, which include most of Ethiopia's radio and television stations, reflect government policy although the number of private newspapers has grown.

Human rights

Ethiopia’s human-rights record deteriorated after the May 2005 elections when many Ethiopians experienced heavy-handed government efforts to suppress and punish any form of political dissent, according to Human Rights Watch (HRW).

The aftermath of the May elections was marred by controversy and displays of government brutality that threatened to reverse the gains yielded by the electoral process. These tensions exploded in early June and November when protests broke out in Addis Ababa.

Police and military forces responded with excessive force, killing at least 82 unarmed civilians and arresting thousands of opposition supporters throughout the country.

Authorities in the vast Oromia region have used exaggerated concerns about armed insurgency and ‘terrorism’ to justify the torture, imprisonment and sustained harassment of their critics and even ordinary citizens, according to HRW. In addition, there are restrictions on press freedom, judicial delay, and arrests of human-rights defenders.(See full report)

Lewit: AP Reporter sacked by VOA

According to sources, Ethiopia’s AP reporter Les Nehaus has been sacked by Voice of America, following inflammatory comments recently made public on Ethiopian Review.

As one of two foreign correspondents permanently stationed in Ethiopa (following the expulsion of his predecessor Anthony Mitchell) he has been often criticized here for evading such great responsibility by failing to accurately report the current political landscape and escalating EPRDF brutality.

However, thanks to his charming opinions on the Somalian invasion and factions of the diaspora (as “the sons and daughters of the Derg officials who now live comfortably in Georgetown”) his critics now include his former employer and many abroad.(More...)

ETHIOPIA-ISRAEL: Waiting Falash Mura languish in squalor

TEL AVIV, 27 February 2007 (IRIN) - Thousands of Ethiopian former Jews have been waiting more than 10 years in disease-ridden camps in Ethiopia for the Israeli government to take them to Israel, NGOs say.

About 16,000 of the Falash Mura – Jews who converted to Christianity, and some who reverted back - live in squalid conditions in immigration compounds in the capital, Addis Ababa, the city of Gondar in north-western Ethiopia, and in villages.

In these compounds, tuberculosis and hepatitis are rife and children routinely die of preventable diseases such as measles, according to Falash Mura who have made it to Israel and specialists who have visited them.(More...)

Ship hijackers caught in Somalia

Four pirates who are part of the gang that have hijacked a United Nations-chartered cargo ship in Somali have been arrested, aid officials say.

The UN said the authorities in Puntland arrested the gunmen when they went to purchase supplies in Bargal port

The hijacked ship, MV Rozen, had just delivered food aid to north-eastern Somalia when pirates seized it.(More...)


Today's Top Stories

-ICC names first war crimes suspects in Darfur (The International Criminal Court prosecutors named the first two suspects accused of committing war crimes in Sudan's Darfur)
-Cheney Targeted in Assassination Attempt
-4th French victim dies after Saudi attack
-Bus Collision Kills 6 in Central Sweden
-Chinese stock prices plunge, Ripple Effect Spreads Across Asia
-European research goes for gold (Europe has a new flagship agency to fund the brightest ideas in science)
-Mother coached children to fake retardation
-EU citizens are officially happy: poll





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Monday, February 26, 2007

what did you do while the earth was unraveling?

hieroglyphic stairway
- Drew Dillinger

it's 3:23 in the morning
and I'm awake
because my great great grandchildren
won't let me sleep
my great great grandchildren
ask me in dreams
what did you do while the planet was plundered?
what did you do when the earth was unraveling?

surely you did something
when the seasons started failing?

as the mammals, reptiles, birds were all dying?
did you fill the streets with protest
when democracy was stolen?

what did you do
once
you
knew?

I'm riding home on the Colma train
I've got the voice of the milky way in my dreams

I have teams of scientists
feeding me data daily
and pleading I immediately
turn it into poetry

I want just this consciousness reached
by people in range of secret frequencies
contained in my speech

I am the desirous earth
equidistant to the underworld
and the flesh of the stars

I am everything already lost

the moment the universe turns transparent
and all the light shoots through the cosmos

I use words to instigate silence

I'm a hieroglyphic stairway
in a buried Mayan city
suddenly exposed by a hurricane

a satellite circling earth
finding dinosaur bones
in the Gobi desert
I am telescopes that see back in time

I am the precession of the equinoxes,
the magnetism of the spiraling sea

I'm riding home on the Colma train
with the voice of the milky way in my dreams

I am myths where violets blossom from blood
like dying and rising gods

I'm the boundary of time
soul encountering soul
and tongues of fire

it's 3:23 in the morning
and I can't sleep
because my great great grandchildren
ask me in dreams
what did you do while the earth was unraveling?

I want just this consciousness reached
by people in range of secret frequencies
contained in my speech

Read it out loud. Listen to those delicious words. I also love the rhythm of the total thrust is global justice from love letter to the milky way

Poets for Global Justice is a collective of artists using poetry and spoken word to tell truths, empower youth, inspire imagination, and support movements for justice and ecology.

U.S. silence worries Ethiopians

Check back with ETP for more news throughout the day

Also in the news:
[Hundreds Hospitalized in Somali Unrest] - [Ugandan troops in Somalia this week: Somali president] - [US warship tackles Somali pirates] - [Activists' trial halted again] - [Ethiopia second lowest in World chubbiness survey]

International:
[Senegal's president ahead as results trickle in] - [Iraqi Vice President wounded in bombing] - [Reporter: U.S. planning Iran bombs] - [How The Nazis Conned The World] - [Oscar glory goes to Scorsese and The Departed] and more of today's top stories!

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March 2 - worldwide candlelight vigil for prisoners of Conscience in Ethiopia

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100,000 letters-in-ten-days campaign

Surely, by now you have heard of the 100,000 letters-in-10-days campaign, but have you participated yet? (More...)
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U.S. silence worries Ethiopians

Ethiopians fear that the Bush administration's pursuit of alleged terrorists in the Horn of Africa is diverting attention from a human rights crackdown by their prime minister

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia - Journalists here don't criticize the government much anymore, perhaps because doing so has landed at least 15 of them in prison on treason charges.

Since a bloody crackdown after elections in 2005, Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi also has tried dozens of opposition leaders on treason charges, blocked antigovernment websites and attempted to muzzle an independent inquiry into the postelection violence, which found that government security forces had killed 193 civilians.(More...)

Activists' trial halted again

Legalbrief Africa

The Federal High Court in Ethiopia has once again adjourned the trial of 111 opposition activists and journalists, including more than 70 defendants who have been held in custody since November 2005 on charges of instigating unrest to overthrow the government.

Federal High Court Judge Adil Ahmed adjourned the trial until March 5, according to a report from Irin, saying a speech allegedly made in the US Congress by one of the defendants - the leader of the main opposition party, the Coalition for Unity and Democracy (CUD), Hailu Shawl before his arrest - needed to be translated from English into Amharic. (More...)

Hundreds Hospitalized in Somali Unrest

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) -- Hundreds of civilians have been wounded in recent fighting in the Somali capital between Ethiopian-backed government forces and Islamic insurgents, the International Committee of the Red Cross said on Saturday.

AP Television filmed a number of people being brought to Mogadishu's Madina hospital, though it was not clear how they were injured.

The capital of 2 (m) million people remained tense on Saturday as families continued to flee to safer areas outside the coastal city.(More...)

Ugandan troops in Somalia this week: Somali president

ADDIS ABABA (AFP) - Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed on Monday said a deployment of Ugandan troops to Somalia, the first members of an 8,000-strong African Union peacekeeping force, should begin this week.

"The African Union is coming, the Ugandans are coming. My estimation is that they should be in Somalia for the first week of next month (which begins Thursday)," he said at the fifth Sanaa Forum for cooperation, a gathering of leaders from Yemen, Ethiopia, Sudan and Somalia.(More...)

US warship tackles Somali pirates

A US warship is heading towards the Somali coast where a United Nations-chartered cargo ship was hijacked by pirates, say aid officials. UN staff say the hijacked ship, the MV Rozen, is at anchor after delivering food aid in north-eastern Somalia.

There have been no reports of demands from the pirates who boarded the ship armed with AK-47s. It is not known if any of the 12 crew have been injured. Piracy was rampant in Somalia, but stopped during recent Islamist rule.(More...)

Senegalese vote in one of Africa’s most stable democracies

DAKAR, Senegal - The president of one of Africa’s most stable democracies sought another five-year term Sunday, jostling with 14 contenders in a race that may hinge on the votes of young people hungry for jobs.

Early results reported by Senegalese Press indicated President Abdoulaye Wade was in the lead but did not say by how much. It was not known how many votes had been counted, but they included polling stations in key cities including the capital Dakar and Thies, the agency said.

The first official results are not expected to be released by the electoral commission until Monday night, Election Commissioner Issa Sall told The Associated Press.(More...)

Ethiopia second lowest in World chubbiness survey

In a list of the countries with the greatest percentage of overweight people, Nauru tops a list with an alarming 94.5% of its adult population (ages 15+) classified as such, based on the most recent estimates by the World Health Organization (WHO).

According to Forbes Magazine, Ethiopia and Eritrea rank as the lowest countries with fat people. 5.6 % of its adult population over ages 15+ in Ethiopia is overweight and Eritrea is declared as a country where the lowest percentage of overweight people live in, as only 4.4 % of the population are overweight.

There are currently 1.6 billion overweight adults in the world. In just 10 years, the WHO projects that number will grow by 40%.(More...)

Today's Top Stories

-Iraqi Vice President wounded, 12 killed in bombing at ministry
-Bush To Musharraf: Deal Or No Deal?
-Ill Iraqi President in Jordan for Tests
-Israeli forces raid Nablus
-Reporter: U.S. planning Iran bombs
-Political problems mount for Ahmadinejad
-Serbia cleared of responsibility for genocide
-How The Nazis Conned The World (Used A Children's Opera To Deceive International Observers)
-Farewell appearance for Farrakhan
-Oscar glory goes to Scorsese and The Departed
-Retarded mice get smarter with drug





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Saturday, February 24, 2007

Canadian Mining Giant Goldcorp and Corporate Social Responsibility

Dangerous levels of lead and arsenic have been found in the blood of Honduran villagers living downstream from a controversial gold and silver mine owned by Canada's Goldcorp Inc., the world's third largest gold mining firm.

..............................

Nearly 60 percent of the mining and exploration companies in the world are Canadian. They generate more than 40 billion dollars annually, representing about four percent of Canada's gross domestic product (GDP).

"Canadians are appalled when they find out what some Canadian companies are up to in the South," but few Canadians know what is going on at mine projects in South America or elsewhere due to limited media coverage, says Karyn Keenan, programme officer with the Halifax Initiative, a coalition of Canadian environmental and human rights NGOs.

But little by little, media attention has grown, especially recently, when people from Latin America affected by mines appeared in 2006 at a series of public forums about the corporate social responsibility of Canada's mining, oil and gas sectors.

..............................

An official report on regulating the sector's out-of-country operations will go before the Canadian government shortly. The report is "unprecedented in Canadian history," says Keenan, because it represents a consensus between NGOs, mining industry and government officials.

"Industry doesn't want strong, binding Canadian laws on their operations overseas, but there are some who know they need to do more than publish codes of ethics on their websites," she added.

Although the content of the report remains secret, it is expected to recommend that an independent dispute mechanism and ombudsman office be established to investigate complaints and conduct audits of Canadian mining, oil and gas operations abroad.

Whether the current conservative Canadian government will act on the report's recommendations remains to be seen.

Excerpted from IPS News

Friday, February 23, 2007

On Fear

I just finished reading Barry Glassner's The Culture of Fear. Why Americans are Afraid of the Wrong Things: Crime, Drugs, Minorities, Teen Moms, Killer Kids, Mutant Microbes, Plane Crashes, Road Rage, & so much more. It's a good read, although being published in 1999 it is now sort of out of date. After all, fear has seen quite an upswing since 2001.

Basically he runs through all of those fears listed above and debunks them one by one. He makes pretty good arguments overall, and I tend to agree with him. I find him a bit patronizing, though. He quickly dismisses people's fears because the causes so often do not merit the reactions. But although the reasons for fear might often be irrational, the emotion is very real. A book which I think treated people's fears with more respect is False Alarm: The Truth About the Epidemic of Fear by Marc Siegel.

Ze Frank shows how trying to curing fear with facts can backfire.

The Week in Review

Look for the 'The Week in Review' segment below

Weekend news: [Meles Zenawi: African dictator or hope for democracy?] - [Thousands flee Mogadishu fighting]

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March 2 - worldwide candlelight vigil for prisoners of Conscience in Ethiopia

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A picture released 17 January 2007 by the US Air Force (USAF) shows Ethiopians from the nearby village of Bilate sitting near an Air Force C-130 Hercules deployed to Ethiopia. The US military remained silent on a press report Friday that US ground troops used Ethiopian bases to fight Al-Qaeda in Somalia, but said it would help regional allies fight terrorists. Bereket Simon denied the report by the New York times calling it a fabrication.(AFP/USAF-HO/File)


100,000 letters-in-ten-days campaign

Surely, by now you have heard of the 100,000 letters-in-10-days campaign, but have you participated yet? (More...)

Meles Zenawi: African dictator or hope for democracy?

These days in Addis Ababa, a have-and-have-not capital in which elegant piazzas abut ramshackle slums, there's a climate of thickening fear and suspicion.

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia - Journalists here don't criticize the government much anymore, perhaps because doing so has landed at least 15 of them in prison on treason charges.

Since a bloody crackdown after elections in 2005, Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi also has tried dozens of opposition leaders on treason charges, blocked antigovernment Web sites, and tried to muzzle an independent inquiry into the postelection violence, which found that government security forces had killed 193 civilians.(More...)

Thousands flee Mogadishu fighting

Thousands of civilians have fled the Somali capital, Mogadishu, after heavy fighting between Ethiopian troops and armed groups on Friday and Saturday left at least 10 people dead.

The exodus came as the International Committee for the Red Cross, ICRC, asked the warring parties on Saturday to protect civilians caught up in the conflict there. The ICRC said that since the beginning of the year, more than 430 civilians had been admitted to two of the city's three hospitals suffering from violence related injuries.

The precise death toll, which is estimated at several dozens, cannot be confirmed, the ICRC said.(More...)

The Week in Review

  • Monday - February 19, 2007

  • [Court postpones verdict - new date, March 5th]

  • Tuesday - February 20, 2007

  • [100,000 LETTERS IN TEN DAYS, CAMPAIGN TO STOP HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS IN ETHIOPIA] - [CARTER HOPEFUL CUD TRIAL WILL END IN THE COMING WEEKS] - [Hunt for al-Qaida overshadows repression in Ethiopia, some fear] - [AFP: Heavy fighting rocks Mogadishu as thousands flee] - [ETHIOPIA: Trial of opposition activists adjourned] - [New Somalia govt restricts radio coverage of violence and refugees]

  • Wednesday, February 21, 2007

  • [EZ: Ambassador Yamamoto genuinely interested in finding a solution to Ethiopia’s political crises] - [100,000 LETTERS IN TEN DAYS campaign gaining momentum] - [ION: More Ethiopian diplomats defect] - [Somalia's hopes for peace fade] - [680 dead in Ethiopia in suspected cholera outbreak]

  • Thursday - February 22, 2007

  • [Deputy Mayor Elect of Addis Abeba Flees Country with Wife] - [100,000 letters-in-ten-days campaign update] - [Ethiopian Millennium to be Celebrated by Ethiopians in Los Angeles] - [Somalia: Artillery Kills 10, Wounds 50] - [Poverty and cultural customs contribute to obstetric fistula] - [UN Security Council approves Somalia peacekeepers]

  • Friday - February 23, 2007

  • [The Economist: Should the West go on helping a repressive govt. in Ethiopia?] - [Report: U.S. used airstrip in Ethiopia to mount strikes against ICU, Ethiopian Govt. says not true] - [Ethiopian court upholds death sentences over terror] - [AFP: Fierce fighting b/n Ethiopian forces and unidentified gunmen erupts in Somali capital] - [Uganda to start deploying soldiers in Somalia within two weeks] - [Surviving forced marriage in Ethiopia]





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Humanitarian War in Afghanistan?

Readers of this blog know I do not buy the official justification for the invasion of Afghanistan. I don't believe for a second the Harper Government (or the Bush Administration) has altruistic motives.

However, many kind and caring Canadians, even some progressives, support the war in Afghanistan. They are motivated by the pathos of seeing burka-clad women, starving children, and terrified old men in desert-like landscapes. Their line of reasoning goes something like this: if our army can supply security and help the Afghans rebuild, why shouldn't we support it?

Leaving the ethics of invading and occupying another country (even to supposedly help that country), let's address this pragmatically. If we assume our motives are "pure" why are so many Afghan people against our continued occupation?

I think the simplest answer is that we have failed in convincing them we are on their side. (Again I'll reiterate: our government's motives are anything but pure, but many regular people support the war for altruistic reasons.)

To growing numbers of Afghans, the NATO-led forces are an enemy similar to the Russians who tore this country apart in the 1980s. People even blame suicide attacks directly or indirectly on the soldiers. (RAWA)

The Soviets used the same sort of rhetoric as does NATO, trying to gain popular support among the Afghan people. They said their invasion was defensive. They said they were providing aid and security, and a better political and economic system (Soviet Communism). We say we are responding to Al-Qaeda's 9/11 attack (i.e. our invasion was defensive). We say we are providing aid and security, and a better political and economic system (Democracy and Capitalism).

What the Afghan people saw was the Soviets' illegitimate intervention in their own internal affairs, lack of respect for their culture and customs, and "brutal and clumsy attempts to introduce radical changes in control over agricultural land holding and credit, rural social relations, marriage and family arrangements, and education" which "led to scattered protests and uprisings among all major communities in the Afghan countryside." (Wikipedia)

The parallels are actually quite striking. How can we expect war-weary Afghans to trust us, when we are committing so many of the same mistakes? This is why we cannot "win" this war by military means.

The occupation needs to end, so people have the opportunity to heal their country, but this can't even begin until there is some goal of peace on Afghan terms. We'll need to find a way to provide security and aid - under the direction of the Afghan people themselves, in a format they themselves are comfortable with. We need to really understand what the Afghan people want, and stop pretending we are doing what's best for them.

Listen to an interview with a former Soviet army soldier who fought in Afghanistan, as he compares and contrast Canada's involvement in Afghanistan with that of the Soviet Union.

The Economist: Should the West go on helping a repressive govt. in Ethiopia?

Check back with ETP for more news throughout the day

-(New)EZ: The Meles adminstration plans Information offensive against Amnesty International

-(New)EZ: Team of lawyers to write decisions for judges in political trials

Also in the news: [Report: U.S. used airstrip in Ethiopia to mount strikes against ICU, Ethiopian Govt. says not true] - [Ethiopian court upholds death sentences over terror] - [AFP: Fierce fighting b/n Ethiopian forces and unidentified gunmen erupts in Somali capital] - [Uganda to start deploying soldiers in Somalia within two weeks] - [Surviving forced marriage in Ethiopia]

International: [Head of the UN's nuclear watchdog invited to North Korea] - [Prime Minister Tony Blair on Britain's foreign policy, BBC interview] - [Prodi poised to return as PM next week] - [Chimps in Africa seen making deadly spears] and more of today's top stories!

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100,000 letters-in-ten-days campaign

Surely, by now you have heard of the 100,000 letters-in-10-days campaign, but have you participated yet?

Professor Alemayehu G. Mariam in association with the Coalition for HR5680 has called on Ethiopian Americans and Ethiopians throughout the world, regardless of party affiliation, to deliver 100,000 letters to the White House asking for support for human rights reforms in Ethiopia.

Everyone who wishes to see human rights and democracy flourish in Ethiopia is encouraged to participate in this campaign. You can send your own letter to the White House, or endorse any of the letters provided on the website with your signature and send.

- [See LETTER]

- Also Visit: 100,000 LETTERS IN TEN DAYS Campaign site
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Fierce fighting b/n Ethiopian forces and unidentified gunmen erupts in Somali capital

Agence France-Presse

MOGADISHU - Fierce fighting between Ethiopian forces and unidentified gunmen erupted Friday in Mogadishu after an attack on Ethiopian troops based in the south of the Somali capital, an AFP correspondent said.

"Some gunmen have attacked an Ethiopian base in the former ministry of defence building. They fired mortar shells and machine guns and the Ethiopians responded heavily with anti-aircraft weapons," witness Ali Nur Said told AFP.

"A mortar shell landed in a house that was near mine," said witness Ahmed Gobe. "It killed one person and wounded two children."

"There were many stray bullets flying around. I cannot confirm other casualties because I cannot get out of the house."(More...)

Dilemma in the Horn: Should the West go on helping a repressive govt. in Ethiopia?



THE second most populous country in Africa and one of the poorest, Ethiopia is a test case for the West in its efforts to eradicate extreme poverty on the continent.

But its government's undemocratic leanings have presented donor countries with a dilemma. Should they continue to funnel their taxpayers' money to a country that routinely jails and tortures its critics or should they turn off the tap and thereby hurt the blameless poor?

Most donors are keeping up or even increasing their giving. Britain, with qualms, is upping its aid from $180m last year to $260m this year. Some donors have harmonised and even pooled their support.

Many have signed up to schemes to promote transparency and hold the government to account. Whether the nastier bits of Ethiopia's government will co-operate fully is moot.

In any event, Meles Zenawi's government is finding it hard to run the show. Some 80% of the people in Addis Ababa probably back opposition parties. In response, the government has become harsher, muzzling free speech and forcing independent newspapers to close.

Many journalists are in jail on trumped-up charges. Dissidents have been disappearing, along with critical websites. Telephones are often tapped. For more than a year, text messaging on the country's small number of mobile phones has been hampered by “technical difficulties”.(More...)

CBS: U.S. used airstrip in Ethiopia to mount strikes against UIC, Ethiopian Govt. says not true

An Ethiopian official denied Friday a report in The New York Times that U.S. troops used Ethiopia as a staging ground for attacks against al Qaeda leaders in Somalia last month. "This is simply a total fabrication," Bereket Simon, special adviser to Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, told The Associated Press.

The Times report, published Friday, cited unnamed American sources officials from several U.S. agencies with a hand in Somalia policy as saying the U.S. soldiers used an airstrip in Ethiopia to mount strikes against Islamic militants in Somalia. (More...)

Surviving forced marriage

23 February (IRIN) - Standing at the front of her classroom, Mulu Melka reads out of her English book in a shy voice like any other 13-year-old schoolgirl; betraying nothing of the fact that twice within two years, she has been abducted and forced into marriage.

A target of the traditional practice, known locally as "marriage by abduction", Mulu managed to escape on both occasions. "The first time I was 11," she recounts. "I was going to the mill, when a group of men grabbed me from behind. They took me by surprise. I fell on the ground, and when I woke up again I was in the house of my abductor. I stayed there three days."

In the meantime, her parents held a meeting with the abductor's parents, mediated by village elders. In exchange for a cow and two sheep, her parents agreed to her marriage with the abductor. But, Mulu ran away one night. "I escaped from the abductor's house while he and his friends were drinking and dancing. I went to the toilet and then I escaped through a fence and ran away." (More...)

Ethiopian court upholds death sentences over terror

ADDIS ABABA, Feb 23 (Reuters ) - The Ethiopian supreme court has upheld death sentences on five people convicted of attacks that killed 29 people and wounded 18 others during the past 11 years, state television reported late on Thursday.

"The criminal bench of the Federal Supreme Court upheld death sentence on Mohamed Mahamoud Farah, Mohammed Hassan Mahmoud, Ibrahim Hussein Nalaye, Mohammed Almi Liben and Mohammed Ibrahim," the television report said.

"(They) were convicted of terrorist attacks at various times and places in Addis Ababa and Dire Dawa since 1996." (More...)

Chimps in Africa seen making deadly spears


Chimpanzees in Senegal have been observed making and using wooden spears to hunt other primates, according to a study in the journal Current Biology.


Researchers documented 22 cases of chimps fashioning tools to jab at smaller primates sheltering in cavities of hollow branches or tree trunks.

The report's authors, Jill Pruetz and Paco Bertolani, said the finding could have implications for human evolution. Chimps had not been previously observed hunting other animals with tools.

Pruetz and Bertolani made the discovery at their research site in Fongoli, Senegal, between March 2005 and July 2006.(More...)


Today's Top Stories

-Uganda to start deploying soldiers in Somalia within two weeks
-UK-US in talks on missile defence, "star wars"
-Analysis: Clinton-Obama tussle reveals some real issues
-Head of the UN's nuclear watchdog invited to North Korea for talks
-[Audio, BBC interview] Prime Minister Tony Blair on Britain's foreign policy
-Prodi poised to return as PM next week
-Former Mujahedeen Stage Rally in Kabul Supporting Amnesty for War Crimes
-Medieval Muslims made stunning math breakthrough
-Emotion robots learn from people




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Thursday, February 22, 2007

A Virtual Demo of A New Urbanist Community


Cool interactive tool from National Geographic lets you explore a community based on New Urbanist design principles. There's medium density, mixed-use zoning, light rail transport, corner stores, walkable streets, subsidized housing, public squares and lots of trees!

Related Article on Urban Sprawl

via Grist

Dense cities are environmentally friendly and they can have immense social benefits too, compared to sprawling suburbs and gated communities connected by vast highways. For example, cities help regulate fear.

This is a good opportunity to plug a great book Carfree Cities by J.H. Crawford. You don't have to buy the book, though, as most of the info is available for free on the Carfree Cities website.

Deputy Mayor Elect of Addis Abeba Flees Country with Wife

Check back with ETP for more news throughout the day

Also in the news: [100,000 letters-in-ten-days campaign update] - [Ethiopian Millennium to be Celebrated by Ethiopians in Los Angeles] - [Somalia: Artillery Kills 10, Wounds 50] - [Poverty and cultural customs contribute to obstetric fistula] - [UN Security Council approves Somalia peacekeepers]

International: [Egypt blogger jailed for 'insult'] - [Italian Premier Prodi resigns] - [Toxic gas latest insurgent weapon in Iraq] - [Real Sea Monster Caught In Antarctica] - and more of today's top stories!

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One of the earliest Europeans to see the churches of Lalibela, Portuguese priest Francisco Álvares (1465 - 1540) - astounded by their beauty, describes what he had seen in considerable detail and ends by saying , "I weary of writing more about these buildings, because it seems to me that I shall not be believed if I write more ... I swear by God, in Whose power I am, that all I have written is the truth". Now, these magnificent churches are in danger of collapse, BBC reports. (More...)
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100,000 letters-in-ten-days campaign update

Coalition for H.R. 5680

As part of the worldwide 100,000 letters-in-ten-days campaign, H.R. 5680 has been overwhelmed by enormous responses in support of the campaign, and requests for a shortened version of Prof. Al Mariam’s letter to President Bush.

The Coalition has prepared the following shortened two-page version of Prof. Al’s letter for all supporters of freedom, democracy and human rights in Ethiopia. All who wish to write President Bush a letter may use this letter in its present form, or by modifying it to express their personal views.

The Coalition thanks the thousands of Ethiopians and others who have contacted it over the past couple of days regarding the 100,000 letters campaign.

The Coalition pledges to respond to each and every email message over the next few days, and apologizes in advance for any delays.

- [See shortened LETTER]

- Also Visit: 100,000 LETTERS IN TEN DAYS Campaign site
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Deputy mayor elect of Addis Abeba flees country with wife

Ethiopian Review

Dr Admasu Gebeyehu, former chairman of UEDP-Medhin and Deputy mayor elect of Addis Ababa, is now in Sweden seeking political asylum. Dr Admasu went into exile with his wife, Dr Mulualem Tarekegn, a member of parliament representing Woreda 12/13 of Addis ababa.

Dr Mulualem had split with Kinijit's leadership over the question of boycotting parliament. She entered the rubber-stamp parliament with Ato Lidetu Ayalew and others. She now regrets her decision, saying that the opposition has no voice.

Soon after he was elected as vice-mayor of Addis Ababa, Dr Admasu became sick and has been inactive since. As a result, he escaped imprisonment when his colleague, the mayor of Addis Ababa, Dr Berhanu Nega, along with all the other top leadership of the Coalition for Unity & Democracy Party (CUDP) were thrown in jail.(More...)

Also see:
-EMF: MP joins the Diaspora struggle

Ethiopian Millennium to be Celebrated by Ethiopians in Los Angeles
Ethiopian Millennium Coordinating Committee of Los Angeles

February 21, 2007
For Immediate Release

Ethiopians all over the world will celebrate our own millennium in September 2007. To date, Millennium events are planned in grand fashion in Washington DC , London and Australia .

The Ethiopian Millennium Coordinating Committee of Los Angeles was established by interested individuals to have a millennium celebration for all Ethiopians and friends of Ethiopia in the West Coast.

The Coordinating Committee has held regular meetings to lay the ground work for this event to take place in Los Angeles around the first weekend in September. Our vision is to make the Los Angeles Millennium event a regional event in which Ethiopians and friends of Ethiopia from California , State of Washington , Oregon , Nevada etc join us for a three day event that will include symposium, art, music, cultural fashion show, youth program and poetry reading to celebrate Ethiopia ’s uniqueness.

Our objectives include introducing Ethiopia 's diverse culture to others and to recognize remarkable Ethiopians and friends of Ethiopia who have made contributions to the betterment of Ethiopia and its people.

The Los Angeles Coordinating Committee held its first public meeting on Sunday, February 18, 2007 to announce its plans to invited community members. The Coordinating Committee is in the process of putting together a Millennium Celebration Committee(MCC) that will include Ethiopians from all walks of lives.

We would like to invite interested individuals, businesses, non profit organizations and all faith based establishments to join us for this once in a life time event. We believe this will give our community an opportunity to introduce the rich history of Ethiopia to other communities and be part of the legacy that the coming generation will be proud of.

For further information contact: fayami@aol.com

Somalia: Artillery Kills 10, Wounds 50

Deadly attacks, incessant gunfire and rocket exchanges between unknown gunmen and Somalia government-Ethiopia troops in Somali capital, Mogdishu, have left 10 dead, 50 seriously wounded and forced thousands to flee the country.

The largest number of civilian population fled Mogadishu on Tuesday morning, heading to Merca in Lower Shabelle province, 100 km south of the capital. Meanwhile hospital sources say that more wounded people could not be rushed to hospitals last night as artillery fires were continuing and people could not reach the hospital. Doctors in Medina hospital said most of the wounded were admitted to the hospital yesterday. They said some of the wounded bled to death after hours of lack of medical care.(More...)

Poverty and cultural customs contribute to obstetric fistula, a condition virtually unknown in the West

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia | Kumbe Seboka, nine months pregnant, sat quietly in the hospital parking lot. She clutched her medical information card in one hand and cradled her swollen belly with the other, as if to keep her unborn child from escaping.

Her first pregnancy, two years ago, had ended in heartbreak: three days of excruciating labor, then a stillbirth, and finally a ruptured bladder that for three months issued a steady trickle of urine that ran down her legs and wet her clothes, bed, everything.

The injury is called obstetric fistula, a tear in the tissue between the vagina and adjoining organs, caused by prolonged labor in small, undernourished women.(More...)

Human Rights Watch: Letter to Ethiopian Ministers on Human Rights Violations Against Students

Human Rights Watch wishes to draw your attention to several incidents of human rights violations allegedly committed by federal police officers against students in the towns of Dembi Dollo and Ghimbi in western Oromiya State in the past weeks.

In sum, we have learned that one student, and perhaps two, died as a direct result of police beatings and that other students were severely injured and hospitalized in Dembi Dollo. Between 30 and 50 have been detained and remain detained without charge in the central Dembi Dollo jail and in two district police stations. In Ghimbi, local police and militia members deputized by local officials are reported to have shot and killed two high school students—cousins—in January.(More...)

UN Security Council approves Somalia peacekeepers

The UN Security Council authorised an African Union (AU) peacekeeping mission for Somalia for six months yesterday as mortar attacks pounded the capital and the northeast African country spiralled further into chaos.(More...)


The Rabbit and the Elephant

by Wondimu Mekonnen

A running rabbit passed the lion and the gorilla!
Off into the Desert of Gambella
She ran and ran to cross into The Sudan
But blocked by an elephant,
The gentle African giant.
"Rabbit Bunny! Rabbit Bunny!
Just spare me a minute, honey!
Why such in a hurry? Why are you running?
(More...)


Today's Top Stories

-Egypt blogger jailed for 'insult'
-Another US Helicopter Down, British Bases Bombed
-Prince Harry Looking Forward to Proving Himself in Military
-Italian Premier Prodi resigns
-Toxic gas latest insurgent weapon in Iraq
-World Powers Await IAEA Report on Iran
-Real Sea Monster Caught In Antarctica
-Colombian clowns gunned down in front of kids
-Sex attacks blamed on bat demon (Men in parts of Tanzania's main city, Dar es Salaam, are living in fear of a night-time attacker)





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Wednesday, February 21, 2007

Human Rights Watch: Letter to Ethiopian Ministers on Human Rights Violations Against Students

Check back with ETP for more news throughout the day

Also in the news: [EZ: Ambassador Yamamoto genuinely interested in finding a solution to Ethiopia’s political crises]

[100,000 LETTERS IN TEN DAYS campaign gaining momentum] - [ION: More Ethiopian diplomats defect] - [Somalia's hopes for peace fade] - [680 dead in Ethiopia in suspected cholera outbreak]


International: [Gambian President Says Green Paste, A Bitter Drink, And Banana Can Cure AIDS] - [Protest ban in Zimbabwe capital] - [Obama, '08 candidates head to California] - [Britain, Denmark announce withdrawal of its troops from Iraq] and more of today's top stories!

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[THE SECOND BATTLE OF AMBAALAGI, THE LAST ITALIAN STRONGHOLD IN THE NORTH. RAS SEYOUM SEEN HERE ADDRESSING HIS RESISTANCE FIGHTERS BEFORE THEY WENT INTO ACTION, MAY 1941]

Feb. 19 (Last Monday) was Martyrs' Day in Ethiopia. After the attempt on the life of Italian Viceroy Rodolfo Graziani (19 February 1937), there followed the Addis Ababa massacre in which thousands were killed. The massacre motivated many to join the resistance movement. How did it start? The story of Abraha Deboch, Moges Asgedom and Simeon Adefres.(More...)
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100,000 LETTERS IN TEN DAYS Campaign Gaining Momentum

In a press release to major Ethiopian news media groups, Kinijit International has officially endorsed the 100,000 LETTERS campaign.

KIL stated this effort should remain non-partisan and promised the participation of Kinijit support groups all around the world in making the campaign a success. KIL has provided different sample letters Ethiopians can employ in this endeavor.

Yesterday Prof. Alemayehu G. Mariam in association with the coalition for HR5680 called on Ethiopian Americans and Ethiopians throughout the world to begin a campaign to deliver 100,000 letters in the next 10 days to the White House.

The campaign aims to promote human rights in Ethiopia. Those who would like to participate can send their own letters, sample letter from Kinijit’s website or endorse Prof. Alemayehu’s letter with their signature and send. Visit: 100,000 LETTERS IN TEN DAYS Campaign site

Human Rights Watch: Letter to Ethiopian Ministers on Human Rights Violations Against Students

Human Rights Watch wishes to draw your attention to several incidents of human rights violations allegedly committed by federal police officers against students in the towns of Dembi Dollo and Ghimbi in western Oromiya State in the past weeks.

In sum, we have learned that one student, and perhaps two, died as a direct result of police beatings and that other students were severely injured and hospitalized in Dembi Dollo. Between 30 and 50 have been detained and remain detained without charge in the central Dembi Dollo jail and in two district police stations. In Ghimbi, local police and militia members deputized by local officials are reported to have shot and killed two high school students—cousins—in January.

We urge you to investigate these incidents promptly and to prosecute police officers and others responsible for these serious crimes. At the same time, we strongly urge you immediately to release students detained without charge in Dembi Dollo. If there is substantial evidence that any student has committed a serious crime, they should be promptly charged, brought to court, and released pending trial.(More...)

EZ: Ambassador Yamamoto genuinely interested in finding a solution to Ethiopia’s political crises

On the topic of the current meeting between CUD family members and Ambassador Yamamoto, Ethio-Zagol writes

“...According to the sources, neither Ambassador Yamomoto nor the two Ethiopian mediators acted on bad-faith. "There was an urge and want to help. Yamomoto did not comment a lot. He listened. Haile and ambassador Bekele also talked about saving the country and reconciliation," one source said.

Ambassador Yamomoto has thrown himself on solving the current political crisis right from the first date of his arrival. American embassy staff said his attitude and approach has been quite contrasting with the former charge d'affaires, Vicki Huddelstone who was acting as Meles's messenger”
{read EZ’s report}

ION: More Ethiopian diplomats defect
Indian Ocean Newsletter N° 1208 17/02/2007

More Ethiopian diplomats have defected, bringing the total that has decided to leave the diplomatic service to seventy three.

The latest to ditch the government of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi and ask for political asylum in the United States is Ambassador Tayework Tilahun, who was his country’s consular attaché in Kuwait.

Recently a staff member of the Ethiopian embassy in Ottawa (Canada), Dereje Ejigu, decided to do likewise. Several employees of embassies in London, Geneva, Stockholm and Paris, have defected the last few years.

Somalia's hopes for peace fade

Mogadishu - Clutching a handful of possessions, Yonis Nor fled the Somali capital with his eight children and hundreds of other families, seeking safety from the daily onslaught of mortar and rocket attacks that have left dozens dead.

Somali government forces and Ethiopian troops exchanged heavy fire overnight with insurgents, leaving 15 dead and another 45 injured in the heaviest fighting so far this year in Mogadishu.

Among those killed in the clashes on Tuesday were a four-year-old boy and a pregnant woman. A 12-year-old girl lost both her legs in a blast, doctors said. (More...)

680 dead in Ethiopia in suspected cholera outbreak, say aid groups

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AP) - More than 680 people in Ethiopia have died in a suspected cholera outbreak that has also affected neighbouring countries, officials said Wednesday.

Some 60,000 people have been infected, but the country's Health Ministry is resisting pressure to declare an emergency despite a UN warning that the disease is an epidemic.

"The fact that it is spreading to new areas in the country is cause for serious concern," said Paul Hebert, head of the UN's Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Ethiopia. "The full extent of this needs to be addressed."

The UN has not officially declared the outbreak, which began nearly a year ago, to be cholera. But UN officials speaking privately because of the sensitivity of the issue are saying it is cholera, something local officials continue to deny. (More...)

Somali insurgents warn against peacekeeping deployment
Associated Press

MOGADISHU, Somalia - Somali insurgents warned Wednesday against the impending deployment of African peacekeepers in the war-ravaged country, as families began burying their dead after some of the heaviest violence to hit the capital city.

Just hours after the U.N. Security Council voted unanimously to authorize an African Union force to help stabilize Somalia, one insurgent leader said they will fight any foreign troops who are sent into the country.

”The U.N. should keep its hand off our country because the Islamic forces are ready to fight any foreign troops whether they are blue helmet or black helmet,” said one insurgent leader identified only as Osman.(More...)

Gambia's AIDS 'Cure' Claim Causes Alarm
Gambian President Says Green Paste, A Bitter Drink, And Banana Can Cure AIDS

From the pockets of his billowing white robe, Gambia's president pulls out a plastic container, closes his eyes in prayer and rubs a green herbal paste onto the ribcage of the patient — a concoction he claims is a cure for AIDS.

He then orders the thin man to swallow a bitter yellow drink, followed by two bananas.

"Whatever you do, there are bound to be skeptics, but I can tell you my method is foolproof," President Yahya Jammeh told an Associated Press reporter, surrounded by bodyguards in his presidential compound. "Mine is not an argument, mine is a proof. It's a declaration. I can cure AIDS and I will." (More...)

Today's Top Stories

-Protest ban in Zimbabwe capital
-Obama, '08 candidates head to California
-Britain announces withdrawal of its troops from Iraq
-Denmark to withdraw from Iraq
-Italian Patients Given Organs With HIV
-Fighting surgeons leave patient in the lurch






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