Why and How is the Mosque in Lafto (Nefas Silk - Addis Ababa) Demolished

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Negashi OJ brought to its readers the news about the demolition of a Mosque in Lafto woreda (Nefas Silk) in the capital. Our sources by then were vague and self contradictory as to how and why the Mosque was demolished. Radio Negashi which carried detailed reporting on the case (on its 23.08.09 broadcast), has gone again a lenght in search of comprehensive answers. Just play the 30 August 2009 broadcast to find out what it has brought to us.

Radio Negashi Broadcast August 30, 2009

At a Minnesota market, tales of a hidden Ethiopian war

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Ridwan Hassan Sahid, 17-years-old, shows scars on her neck caused by near death-by-strangulation by Ethiopian soldiers in July, 2007. Photo by Doug McGill.


By Doug McGill, TC Daily Planet


August 31, 2009

The first time I heard Fatima tell her story, I answered in the natural way.



“They killed my husband,” she said.



“I’m sorry for your loss,” I said.



“And they killed my son,” she said.



“Oh, I’m so sorry for your losses,” I said.
“And they killed my brothers and some of my brothers’ children,” she said, staring at me with eyes that seemed quite without hope and yet that also seemed to ask me, with astonishing tenacity, ‘Are you really listening, do you really understand?’”
I didn’t know what to say to Fatima at this point, as my repeated condolences seemed pointless. So instead I stood up a bit straighter, I took a deep breath, and felt my feet on the ground. I looked back at Fatima with eyes that said that I was willing to stand there and to listen for as long as she wanted.
“And they have killed many of my uncles,” Fatima said.
The Ogaden War
At the Village Market in Minneapolis, the major social hub for Somali-speaking Ethiopian refugees living in the Twin Cities, endless stories like Fatima’s are being urgently swapped every day. They are tales of evil that is so profound it would be unkind of me to suddenly start describing those crimes in detail right now.
You might well not believe the stories anyway. And even if you believed them, you might not believe that such unimaginable crimes could be happening in the world right now, in a little-known corner of Africa called the Ogaden of Ethiopia.
Where are the TV news teams parachuting into refugee camps? Where is the definitive account of the Ethiopian government’s mass destruction of the people and culture of the Ogaden?
Bare Feet
Here is more of Fatima’s story (she like the other witnesses in this story offered only their first names, fearing reprisal against their relatives in Ethiopia if they are identified):
“One day the soldiers came and started shooting, they killed my husband in front of me. Then they tortured and beat me in the same place they killed my husband. On that same day the soldiers also confiscated my home and all of my property and all of my money, leaving me homeless and destitute.”

Fatima is a devout Muslim woman who wears a veil and will not shake a man’s hand except through the cloth of her robe. But after telling me this story she stretched out her legs and took off her shoes, to show me her bare feet which are twisted and deformed, from the beatings she said. Today, she limps with a cane.
We in Minnesota have a special role in telling about the Ogaden crisis, because Minnesota is home to the largest diaspora population of Ogaden refugees in the world. Some 5,000 Somali Ethiopians have fled to Minnesota in recent years, fleeing precisely the crimes against humanity that Fatima and others describe.
Matching Details
Last week, I walked through the Village Market and spoke with a dozen Somali-speaking immigrants from the Ogaden region. This is what is happening in the Ogaden today, they said:
• People are thrown alive into bonfires by Ethiopian soldiers;

• Men and women are strangled to death by soldiers who wrap a wire around their necks and pull the wire on either side;
• Innocent goat herders are rounded up by Ethiopian soldiers and lynched from trees;
• Young girls are snatched from their homes by Ethiopian soldiers, put in prisons and gang-raped day after day, their dead bodies finally tossed like garbage on the street.

One Ogadeni Minnesotan said to me: “We could tell you stories like this all day and night for a week, and at the end we still would not have told you all the stories of all the killing and suffering that is happening in the Ogaden today.”
A single crazy person, or a small group of organized zealots, could orchestrate lies and propaganda about such horrors being committed on a genocidal scale. But how could it happen that the first 12 people that you meet at the Village Mall all tell the same types of stories over and over, with the details matching perfectly?
An American Ally
All of these horrific crimes and tortures are, the Minnesota Ogadenis say, committed by uniformed Ethiopian soldiers. Ethiopia is an official ally of the U.S. and receives millions of dollars in U.S. tax-funded military aid every year.
The Ogaden is a Texas-sized patch of land in Ethiopia that is inhabited by some four million Muslim, Somali-speaking citizens, most of them nomadic pastoralists.

The sparse grassland and shrubland of the Ogaden has been a battlefield for years between Ethiopia and Somalia, with each of those two nations often acting as proxies for global superpowers including Britain, the U.S. and the Soviet Union.
In 1956, when Britain left the Horn of Africa, it set up decades of conflict by handing over the Ogaden, which is populated by ethnic Somalis who are Muslims, to Ethiopia which is mainly ethnic Amhara and Christian. A war was fought over control of the Ogaden between Ethiopia and Somalia in 1977-1978.
In 1984, a separatist militia, the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF), was formed to pursue autonomy or independence for the Ogaden by violence if necessary. In 2007, the ONLF attacked a Chinese-run oil facility in the Ogaden, killing Ethiopian soldiers as well as more than 70 Chinese and Ethiopian civilians.
Sealed Off
In response, Meles Zenawi, the Ethiopian Prime Minister, launched a brutal counter-insurgency against the “terrorist” ONLF in the Ogaden. The recent atrocities against ethnic Somalis in the Ogaden have been a part of that campaign, with entire villages being wiped out on the mere suspicion of harboring ONLF fighters. Families and friends of ONLF soldiers are often killed or terrorized and family members tortured to give up information on their relatives.
Here is the testimony of a man named Hassan at the Village Market:
“I was in my home. One night Ethiopian soldiers broke down the door and took me to a military camp in Dhagahbur and beat me. I didn’t commit any crime and none of my family members are in the ONLF. They used the butt of their guns to hit me anywhere on my body where they thought it would hurt the most. I was put in jail just like this on three different occasions and placed in a tiny, dirty cell. I spent ten months in prison without ever being charged, without any explanation. Every day I was beaten and I suffered many cuts, sores and infections, but there was no hospital and I got no care.”
There has been virtually no major media coverage of the Ogaden crisis, and the U.S. and other governments have taken virtually no action. This is partly because the Ogaden has been sealed off to journalists and aid organizations, with the Red Cross and Doctors Without Borders forced to abandon operations there in 2007.
But the Internet is teeming with detailed accounts of specific atrocities much like those described at the Village Market, and many YouTube videos graphically show the results of beatings, torture, killings, looting and rape.
"Still in Prison"
Based on interviews with refugees, thousands of whom have gathered in camps in northern Kenya, and other sources, some human rights groups have also been warning about the Ogaden crisis for several years. In 2008, Human Rights Watch published a 139-page report called “Collective Punishment” that documented “widespread and systematic atrocities” and “war crimes and crimes against humanity” committed by the Ethiopian military against Ogadeni citizens.
The report detailed “routine mass detentions,” “extrajudicial executions,” “rape of women in military custody,” and documented the destruction (sometimes by satellite photographs) of at least a dozen Ogaden villages. Yet the scale of village burnings and other crimes described in the report “is believed to be significantly larger” than those officially documented in the report, its authors warned.
Here is the testimony of a man named Abdulrahman at the Village Market:
“We talk to our friends and family back home, but we never feel safe, because we know that they could be captured, tortured or killed just for talking to us on the telephone. It is a kind of psychological torture we all still suffer in Minnesota. Also there are Ethiopian government collaborators who live here in Minneapolis, who tell the Ethiopian army if we criticize the government, and our family and friends in Ethiopia could be jailed or killed as a result. America is a free country but in this way we are not psychologically free. It is as if we were suffocating and still in prison.”
The atrocities in the Ogaden have even reached the U.S. Congress where Rep. Donald Payne (D-New Jersey), the chairman of the House Subcommitte on Africa, has repeatedly criticized Ethiopia for “deliberating targeting civilians” with “routine raping and hanging” innocent citizens in the Ogaden region. He says the Ogaden crisis is “by far one of the worst” human rights tragedies he has witnessed in his life.
New Intelligence
In October last year, Britain balked at committing foreign aid to Ethiopia after Douglas Alexander, the British international development secretary, discovered on a visit to the Ogaden that the crisis was far more severe than he had thought.
In the U.S., various think tanks and social justice groups have called for the U.S. government to similarly pressure Ethiopia. But the U.S., which regards Ethiopia as an ally in the Horn of Africa which helps to rout Islamist terrorists in neighboring Sudan and Somalia, has so far ignored these warnings and calls to action.
The Minnesota Ogadenis, through their constant cell phone conversations with relatives back home, are unearthing troves of new intelligence about the nature and extent of the Ogaden crisis. For example they report:
• A network of political prisons throughout the Ogaden. An enormous prison in the Ogaden capital city, Jijiga, has been known for years to house thousands of innocent civilians rounded up by the Ethiopian military on suspicion of knowing or harboring ONLF fighters. But the Minnesota Ogadenis say that prison quarters are attached to every military garrison throughout the occupied territory of Ogaden including in the cities of Dhagahbur, Aware, Kabridahar, Fiiq, Wardere, Gode, and Garbo. Many Minnesota Ogadenis have spent months or years in these prisons, or have relatives currently suffering there. They offer details about conditions in the prisons, the crimes routinely committed by the authorities against the prisoners, and the names of those who run the prisons.
• Burning people alive in Garbo, Ethiopia. The torture and killing methods used by the Ethiopian military against the Ogadenis changes over time, with new methods evolving that are ever-more cruel and perverse. For a time, strangling people with rope or wire, with two soldiers pulling on either side, was widely reported. Burying children alive has been reported, as has the sodomization of young boys. Sources in the Ogaden told the Minnesota Ogadenis that this past July, Ethiopian soldiers killed six Ogadenis by throwing them alive into a bonfire.
• Attacking nomads outside of town markets. Most Ogadeni towns have markets where nomads bring their livestock to sell, after which they buy food and clothing before returning to their grazing lands. According to Minnesota Ogadenis, these nomads frequently are attacked by Ethiopian soldiers who lie in wait for them outside of town where they steal their food, clothing and provisions and often kill the nomads while doing so.
Comfort Enough
At one point during my day at the Village Market, a few of us gathered in an office space at the market. Fatima was there along with four other women in veils, and a half-dozen Ogadeni men as well who told me their stories.
We sat on chairs in a circle. As I was listening to another person in the group, I saw Fatima suddenly cover her face with her hands and put her head down towards her lap. Everyone stopped talking.
No one in the group made a move towards Fatima to comfort her. Rather, they allowed her the dignity of her own suffering. Anyway the comfort was simply the supportive presence of the group itself, and everyone knew that was enough.
If was not enough, it was in any case all the comfort there was.
Within a few seconds, Fatima straightened up, daubed her eyes, and everyone continued telling their inconceivable, impossible, true stories of the Ogaden.
Douglas McGill has reported for the New York Times and Bloomberg News--and now the Daily Planet. To reach Doug McGill: doug@mcgillreport.org. And visit The McGill Report at www.mcgillreport.org.
Copyright: ©2009 Doug McGill

Thousands Felled by Diarrhea Outbreak in Ethiopian Capital

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Health officials in Ethiopia's capital, Addis Ababa are battling a severe outbreak of Acute Watery Diarrhea. As many as 1,000 cases a day have been reported in the past week, and several people have died. Hospitals are erecting tents to handle the huge increase in patients turning up for treatment.


People have been lining up at hospitals around Addis Ababa for more than a week to get help. Ethiopia's health ministry says 4,000 Acute Watery Diarrhea cases have been confirmed in the past 10 days, 300 in the most recent 24-hour reporting period.

Tent compounds have sprung up on the grounds of at least five hospitals in the capital to treat the unusually high case load.

The U.N. Humanitarian Affairs office issued a bulletin expressing extreme concern that some residents, particularly children, might be especially vulnerable to infection because of malnutrition.

Nationwide, estimates of people in need of emergency food aid have risen steadily in recent months to 6.2 million. The U.N. children's agency reports it has dispatched 47 metric tons of ready-to-use therapeutic formula in a targeted feeding program in recent weeks, and more is on the way.

The U.S. embassy issued a warning to Americans in Addis Ababa last week of the increased risk of acute diarrheal illnesses, including Salmonella, Shigella and Cholera.

Dr. Daddi Jima, deputy director general of the Ethiopian Health and Nutrition Research Institute says the outbreak has been diagnosed as AWD, not cholera.

"We usually report it as Acute Watery Diarrhea. We have never fully confirmed for any etiologic agents," said Dr. Daddi Jima. "Because we more focus on managing the cases, because the management of Acute Watery Diarrhea is similar. So we are focusing on managing the cases we have rather than going into the details of the specific causative agents."

Dr. Daddi says Ethiopian health agencies have a sufficient supply of the antibiotic doxycyclIne, which is effective against AWD. But he cautions that the heavy rains that are normal in Addis Ababa this time of year play havoc with the public water system.

"AWD is endemic because of poor hygienic situation due to lack of enough water resource distribution, and low coverage of latrine use and the existence of the latrine is low, so because of this AWD happens every year in this country," he said.

The latest U.N. humanitarian bulletin says the government and partner agencies have set up a central command center to scale up efforts to contain the AWD outbreak. Partner groups, including many health agencies are meeting twice daily to coordinate a response wherever a flare-up may occur.

Aid agencies also say critical water shortages are affecting other regions of Ethiopia. U.N. officials say a drought in the Somali region is being compounded by the migration of unusually large herds of livestock from other drought-hit areas in neighboring Somalia and Kenya.

Ethiopia Has Suspected Outbreak of Cholera; At Least 34 Dead

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By Jason McLure


Aug. 31 (Bloomberg) -- At least 34 people died in Ethiopia following a suspected cholera outbreak, with more than 4,000 sickened in the capital, Addis Ababa, in the past two weeks.

The disease has infected as many as 1,000 people a day in the past week, Dadi Jima, deputy director of the state-owned Ethiopian Health and Nutrition Research Institute, said in an interview today. He declined to say the disease is cholera.

The government has not “fully confirmed” the type of illness, Dadi said. “We usually report it as acute watery diarrhea.” The spread of the disease has been exacerbated by heavy rains in the Horn of Africa country, he said.

Cholera, mainly spread through contaminated water and food and poor sanitation, causes acute diarrhea and vomiting that can lead to death. The illness is considered to be endemic in “many countries” and the pathogen that causes the disease can’t currently be eliminated from the environment, according to the Web site of the World Health Organization.

The United Nations humanitarian agency said six cholera- treatment centers capable of treating 180 people a day have been dispatched to the country. The UN has also sent drugs for the treatment of more than 1,500 severe cases and 600 mild cases of acute water diarrhea, as well as water-purification tablets, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said in an e-mailed statement.

Of the 34 who have died in Ethiopia, seven fatalities were in Addis Ababa, Dadi said. He didn’t provide figures for the number of people affected nationwide, adding only that the disease had been reported in 31 districts.
If untreated, cholera can kill a healthy adult in as little as five hours, according to the WHO.

To contact the reporter on this story: Jason McLure in Addis Ababa via Johannesburg at pmrichardson@bloomberg.net

U.S. must address Somalia crisis

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By Farah Abdi, Ridwa Abdi,


and Jeremy Prestholdt

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's recent meeting with Somali President Sharif Ahmed was a reminder of his country's importance to American foreign policy and a step in the right direction. Yet it will take much more to address Somalia's desperate situation. A surge in piracy, a humanitarian crisis, and an increasing number of foreign fighters in the country all demand sustained attention.

Mention of Somalia conjures images from the film Black Hawk Down or media coverage of pirate attacks. These points of reference, as disturbing as they may be, limit our understanding of Somalia. They obscure the fact that since the country's civil war began in 1991, average Somalis - not outsiders - have paid the highest price. Intolerable conditions created by nearly two decades of conflict and ill-advised international interventions have pushed civilians to take ever more extreme measures, from piracy to militancy to perilous ocean crossings, to escape the war.
In 1991, the family to which two of us belong fled the fighting in Somalia on a boat filled well beyond capacity. We were fortunate enough to find refuge in Kenya. Most have not been so lucky.

Those still trapped in Somalia's shifting war zones have suffered unthinkable depredations and deepening despair. Contrary to prevailing American public opinion, these conditions are not entirely of Somalia's making. International intervention has played a significant role.

Perhaps the most notable such event was the 2006 Ethiopian invasion. That year, the Islamic Courts Union took power from a largely ineffectual Transitional Federal Government, bringing fleeting stability to the country. Soon thereafter, Ethiopia, acting on suspicions that the Islamic Courts Union had links to al-Qaeda, and with the tacit approval of the United States, invaded Somalia and removed the group from power.

Instead of securing a greater peace, the Ethiopian invasion pitched the country into chaos. It added fuel to the flames of a Somali nationalism long fed by conflict with Ethiopia over claims to the Ogaden border region. American air strikes and the later presence of African Union forces in Somalia further stoked nationalist sentiments and brought more recruits to the Islamic Courts' hard-line fringe, al-Shabaab.

In the past year, al-Shabaab has enjoyed considerable military success and faced international condemnation for its links to al-Qaeda and institution of strict Islamic law. This combination of military success and Western condemnation has led the group to rebuke the international community by denying the legitimacy of the recently elected president, Ahmed. It has also given al-Shabaab incentive to develop a closer alliance with al-Qaeda.

The fighting in Somalia over the last year has contributed to a situation that Oxfam's humanitarian coordinator in Somalia, Hassan Noor, recently summed up as "the worst kind of humanitarian situation." Hundreds of thousands have fled the fighting, raising the estimated number of internally displaced people to 1.3 million. Many have no reliable source of water or food, and most have no way to earn a living.

This worsening humanitarian situation has only compounded Somalia's other crises, and it is directly related to the rise in pirate attacks. Facing desperate conditions in displacement camps and few opportunities beyond joining a military faction, young men have increasingly sought their fortunes in piracy. The surge in piracy illustrates the desperation of Somalis, but it also demonstrates how the conditions of the war and a weak central government reverberate far beyond the country's borders.

It seems we can no longer ignore the situation in Somalia. Yet the responses often suggested - policing the country's waters, undertaking short-term military interventions, or supplying the government with weapons - will not solve Somalia's problems.

Piracy, jihadist influence, and the humanitarian catastrophe all stem from one central issue: the war. The conflict is too complex for a quick solution. But without a lasting peace and a national government acceptable to the majority, Somalia's situation will only worsen.

America and the international community must commit to lasting political engagement with Somalia, and we must be determined to bring all parties in the conflict to the negotiating table. That kind of intervention drew neighboring Kenya back from the brink. Like Kenya, Somalia needs to know the world is concerned about its plight.

What might give us the determination to sustain this kind of engagement? The dividends of peace would be greater than ever. The war in Somalia once may have seemed irrelevant to the rest of the world. But now peace in Somalia promises not only to end mass starvation and bring stability to the Horn of Africa, but also to curb piracy and limit the global influence of al-Qaeda.
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Farah Abdi and Ridwa Abdi are former Somali refugees who recently graduated from the University of California, San Diego, and are working on a research project on the health needs of refugee women in San Diego County. Jeremy Prestholdt is an Africa specialist and associate professor of history at UCSD. They can be contacted at fabdi@ucsd.edu, rabdi@ucsd.edu, and jprestholdt@ucsd

Ethiopian political parties to debate electoral code of conduct

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Addis Ababa, August 30, 2009 -- The ruling Ethiopian Peoples Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) and opposition political parties which have seats in the House of Peoples' Representatives are to discuss an electoral code of conduct on Monday. Opposition political parties have confirmed that they are willing to attend the debate.


The debate was organized by the EPRDF.
However, opposition parties are saying that although the EPRDF took the initiative, they had been advocating a debate on an electoral code of conduct for the past four years.

Muktar Kedir, head of the Office of the EPRDF, said that the discussion would center on rules of engagement to be followed by contestant parties during the election. The EPRDF strongly believed that the discussion would significantly contribute to make the upcoming national elections fair, democratic and peaceful, he said.

Professor. Beyene Petros, executive vice-chairman of the United Ethiopian Democratic Front (UEDF), said that his party would take part in the discussion.

“We have received the invitation of the EPRDF to discuss an electoral code of conduct though our party has been asking the EPRDF for more than four years to organize such a session. This discussion is too late with the next election fast approaching,” Prof. Beyene said.
Bulcha Demeksa, chairperson of the Oromo Federalist Democratic Movement (OFDM), on his part said that he accepted the invitation to discuss an electoral code of conduct that enables both the EPRDF and opposition parties to formulate a document on a joint code of conduct for the upcoming elections.

“I hope that we will discuss all challenges and problems in this country related to elections and, by doing so, come up with a joint code of conduct,” he said, adding that this kind of discussion, though belated, was very important to solve election-related problems.

Prof. Beyene indicated his party was prepared to raise issues on constitutional rights, the rule of law and how to conduct the next elections in a fair manner during the discussion. He said that his party’s intention was not only to discuss what is happening within the political space in Ethiopia also but also in the country as a whole where no trust exists between political parties. He emphasized that the elections should be observed and monitored by international organizations.

“We need to discuss an electoral code of conduct and we need the elections to be observed and monitored. This is the very basic issue for the next elections,” he added.

The EPRDF has acknowledged that the discussions held with opposition parties had demonstrated that there was a forum for political parties that are campaigning in a peaceful manner.

It said that it had been offering constructive suggestions for a relevant discussion on the financing of parties organized by the National Electoral Board of Ethiopia (NEBE). Accordingly, it is undertaking various activities to hold similar discussions.
Source: Reporter

Ethiopian troops enter Somalia, breaking deal

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Ethiopian troops in heavily armoured vehicles crossed into central Somalia and took control of Baladwayne town, breaking international deal, witnesses said.

Ethiopian troops in heavily armoured vehicles crossed into central Somalia on Saturday and took control of Baladwayne town, breaking international deal, witnesses said.

The overnight incursion into the strategically important town of Belet Weyne is the first time Ethiopian troops have seized control of a town in war-ravaged Somalia since leaving the country in January as part of a peace deal.

Main armed opposition group of Somalia, al Shabaab, vows to fight against Ethiopian Christian troops on Somali soil.

Ethiopian soldiers are unpopular with the majority of Somalis, because human rights groups say they committed a string of rights abuses during their two-year occupation of the country.

Battles have been raging across central and southern Somalia in recent weeks as pro-government militia try to seize territory back from al Shabaab and another group, Hizbul Islam.

Residents said gunfire broke out in Baladwayne on Saturday as Ethiopian troops arrived alongside Somali government forces.
"At about dawn, hundreds of Ethiopian troops entered the town from different directions and we heard sporadic gunshots," resident Hassan Farah told Reuters by telephone.

After sunrise we saw soldiers patrolling the main streets." Locals said al Shabaab fighters had withdrawn in the face of the Ethiopian advance: "Al Shabaab militia pulled out of our village before dawn. We were woken by the sound of their battle wagons," resident Halima Hassan told Reuters.

"Now a large number of government soldiers and Ethiopian forces are everywhere in the west of Baladwayne. They seem to be establishing a new base."
Routinely denial
Officials in Addis Ababa routinely deny that Ethiopian soldiers are on Somali soil, although they say they are providing security advice and training for Somalia's forces.

The Somali government military commander in the region, General Muqtar Hassan Afrah, denied the Ethiopians were in town and said only Somali troops were in Belet Weyne.

Ethiopian officials could not be reached Saturday morning for comment.

Ethiopia occupied its Horn of Africa neighbour under U.S. support at the end of 2006 to oust an Islamist ruling that was running the capital Mogadishu and much of the south.

Shabaab vows to fight against foreign forces that it see as occupiers.

The Ethiopian military officially withdrew in January, and Somali government leaders declined to comment on reports of their return. Local residents in Baladwayne said Ethiopian forces had been camped a few kilometres (miles) away for months.

The international community wants to bolster the U.N.-backed government of President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed, which is fighting insurgents controlling most central and southern regions.

Violence has killed more than 18,000 Somalis since the start of 2007 and driven another 1.4 million from their homes.

That has triggered one of the world's worst aid emergencies, with the number of people needing help leaping 17.5 percent in a year to 3.76 million, or half the population.
Agencies

Millions facing famine in Ethiopia as rains fail

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Estimates of the number of people who need emergency food aid have risen steadily this year from 4.9 million in January to 5.3 million in May and 6.2 million in June. Another 7.5 million are getting aid in return for work on community projects, as part of the National Productive Safety Net Program for people whose food supplies are chronically insecure, bringing the total being fed to 13.7 million.

Donor countries provided sustenance to 12 million Ethiopians last year, more than half of it through the UN's World Food Programme (WFP). Having passed that total only eight months into this year, and with the main harvest already in doubt, aid agencies fear the worst is still to come. "We're extremely worried," said Howard Taylor, who heads the Department for International Development's office in Ethiopia. DfID has given £54m in aid to the country this year, and Britain has also contributed through the EU. "This is exactly the time when we shouldn't turn away from the people in need," he said.

"Critical water shortages" were reported in some areas by the UN's Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs last week with water-borne diseases such as acute diarrhoea spreading as communities resort to drinking from insanitary wells and ponds. Unicef said that the outbreaks are putting extra pressure on its Out-Patient Therapeutic Programme, which provides healthcare in some of the most needy areas.

In Somali, the hardest hit region with a third of the humanitarian caseload and complications caused by a low-intensity insurgency, the mortality rate for infants has risen above two per 10,000 per day according to a regional nutrition survey, which gives newborns roughly a one-third chance of dying before their fifth birthdays. While there is no clear definition, one widely used threshold for famine is four infant deaths per 10,000 per day.

Declaring a famine is a political decision. While it can galvanise public opinion and bring millions into aid programmes, it is widely seen as a political failure. President George Bush challenged his officials to avoid the word, a policy known as "No famine on my watch". Ethiopia's Disaster Prevention and Preparedness Commission is charged with preventing famines of the 1984-85 type, the sort that bring down governments, argued Tufts University academics Sue Lautze and Angela Raven-Roberts in a 2004 paper.

Dismissing the warning signals, Ethiopia's Prime Minister, Meles Zenawi, said earlier this month that there was no danger of famine this year. And Berhanu Kebede, Ethiopia's ambassador to Britain, said at the weekend: "We are addressing the problem. Food is in the pipeline."
The main practical difference between a food crisis and a famine is whether enough aid arrives to keep the starving alive. So while the scope of the problem can be measured in the number of hungry people, the severity depends on the generosity of those in the rich world. And this year they have been miserly. Despite the promise of G8 leaders at their summit in L'Aquila, Italy, last month to provide $20bn (£12bn) to improve food security in poor countries, contributions have slumped dramatically this year as donor states have shifted priorities to supporting banks and stimulating their own economies. "The international community is not living up to its promise to the World Food Programme," Mr Kebede said.

The WFP had little trouble raising its $6bn budget last year, but in 2009 it has collected less than half of that. Its Ethiopian operation, which had $500m in 2008, is short $127m this year, equivalent to 167,000 tonnes of food. The Famine Early Warning Network forecast this month that the shortfall would reach 300,000 tonnes by December. Rations for the 6.2 million people receiving emergency food aid have, as a result, been slashed by a third from a meagre 15kg of cereals, beans and oil a month to just 10kg. Even if the shortfall were made up today, it would take three months for supplies to be loaded on to ships bound for Djibouti, then transferred to trucks for the arduous overland journey to land-locked Ethiopia.

Aid agencies are worried about the main harvest this autumn, arguing that the time for action is now, not when the food runs out in November ? usually the driest month ? let alone when starving children with distended bellies capture the attention of the West's television viewing public. Despite its good intentions, Bob Geldof's Live Aid came towards the end of the 1984-85 famine, which killed more than a million people. Since then, Ethiopia's population has doubled to 80 million.

Mr Zenawi's government has set up a strategic food reserve which has at times reached 500,000 tonnes ? though it is currently thought to be just 200,000 tonnes ? which it uses to speed up delivery. As soon as they get funds, aid agencies can borrow food from this reserve, replacing it with supplies from abroad when they arrive. Although the government could release this food without promises of replenishment, it would soon run out; after covering the WFP's 167,000 tonne shortfall, the stockpile would be barely enough to feed a million people for three months.

The underlying problem for Ethiopia is the erratic behaviour of the country's climate, or rather its regional micro-climates. Moisture-bearing clouds scudding in from the Indian Ocean can pass over the parched eastern lowlands to dump generous amounts of rain on the fertile western highlands. The famine of 1984-85, revealed by BBC reporter Michael Buerk, was actually two separate famines, one in Tigray, in the north, the other in Somali, in the south-east.

Two main rains sustain the people of Ethiopia, the belg in spring and the kiremt, which usually start in July. Both are influenced by variations in sea-surface temperature. The El Niño phenomena in the eastern Pacific usually bring droughts to Ethiopia, and America's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration predicts that the current El Niño will strengthen over the next six months. The belg has failed for two years running now, while the kiremt started three weeks late this summer and the amount of rainfall when they did come was below normal. Aid agencies fear that the season could end early, or, equally bad, produce delayed downpours just when farmers need dry weather for the harvest. Even if the kiremt ends on time in October, some crops may not reach maturity because of the late planting.

Ethiopia is overwhelmingly dependent on agriculture, and some 90 per cent of its crops are watered by nature rather than by man-made irrigation systems. During droughts, farmers and nomadic herders tend to sell off their assets to buy food, leaving them with nothing when the next growing season begins. It can take three to five years for pastoral tribes to rebuild their herds.

Although Ethiopia is particularly hard hit, drought has also affected neighbouring countries. Resources in Somali are under additional strain because nomadic tribesmen from Somalia and Kenya have driven unusually large numbers of cattle across the border in search of water and pasture. Estimates of the number of cattle coming into the country range from 95,000 to 200,000.

The spike in global food prices in 2008 exacerbated a worsening situation, hitting the urban poor particularly hard. While they have fallen back this year, the price for grains in the markets of Adis Ababa are still some 50 per cent higher than their average in the four years to 2007.

The Ethiopian government is acutely aware of the danger of famine, not least to itself. Emperor Haile Selassie was deposed a year after the 1973 famine and the Derg military junta led by Lt Col Mengistu Haile Mariam was overthrown in 1991 after a civil war driven in part by the 1984-85 famine. While most other countries with food shortages allow charities to distribute food, Ethiopia's government insists that the bulk of food aid must pass through its hands.

The irony is that the Zenawi regime has done a reasonable job of boosting food production, achieving self-sufficiency in the late 1990s. One agency described it as the "bread basket" of Africa, harvesting more grain in a good year than South Africa. The government promotes best practices and distributes fertiliser to farmers. It also has an ambitious scheme to relocate 2.2 million people to more fertile areas. But even it can't control the rains.
Many Africans blame climate change for the erratic weather patterns and resulting food shortages. Jean Ping, the chairman of the African Union, said last week in Adis Ababa: "Although Africa is least responsible for global warming, it suffers most from a problem it didn't create."
The BBC R4 Reunion series, at 11.15am today, examines the 1984 Ethiopian famine. Guests include Michael Buerk

Ethiopian authorities detain US reporter

www.nazrett.com Home of Ethiopian News and Blog Breaking News

Ethiopian authorities briefly detained a reporter for the Washington Post newspaper this week, before a top government official said she was free to go.

Stephanie McCrummen was held for 13 hours after arriving at Bole International Airport in Addis Ababa Sunday.
The sources say McCrummen was detained because she attempted to embark on a reporting assignment without permission from the Ethiopian government.
McCrummen was released after calling and talking to Ethiopia’s minister for communications, Bereket Simon, who wrote a letter to airport authorities.
The journalists say McCrummen has remained in Ethiopia and is now working with the proper authorization.
Ethiopia requires foreign journalists to obtain licenses before reporting from the country.

nazrett.com Ethiopian News and Blog: Ethiopian Airlines partners with Redskins Radio Network

nazrett.com Ethiopian News and Blog: Ethiopian Airlines partners with Redskins Radio Network

www.nazrett.com Home of Ethiopian News and Blog Breaking News

Ethiopian Airlines partners with Redskins Radio Network

www.nazrett.com Home of Ethiopian News and Blog Breaking News

August 28, 2009 - Ethiopian Airlines announced that it has partnered with ESPN980/Redskins Radio Network in an effort to showcase Ethiopian Airlines service from Washington Dulles International Airport and promote the positive tourism attributes of East Africa. After several days of planning, the partnering companies are set to launch an integrated promotions platform that will include a trip giveaway sweepstakes for two, in-stadium, online and radio promotions, joint public and media relations, and database marketing. Ethiopian Airlines plans to utilize the power and audience of ESPN980 to reach avid international travelers. According to the network, some 201,064 Redskins Radio listeners say that they’ve used Washington Dulles International Airport as a point of departure, and 33.9% of these say they plan on making three or more foreign trips over the next year. For this reason, Ethiopian Airlines believes their newest partnership represents an outstanding opportunity to both positively influence public perception regarding East African travel and generate fresh interest in Ethiopia among consumers.

On August 28, 2009, representatives from Ethiopian Airlines will be on-hand at Fed-Ex Field to engage football enthusiasts and ESPN980 listeners one-on-one at a specially designed booth. Before, during and after the game, visitors can stop by to learn about all that Ethiopia has to offer and enter to win a 5-day getaway for two to Ethiopia that includes a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the winner to join ESPN980 talent as an on-air guest upon their return. As a major event sponsor, Ethiopian Airlines will be prominently displayed on the opening and closing billboards during the Pre and Post Game Shows and will be featured on ESPN980.com and in several custom produced, local and network radio commercials.

Source: Travel Daily News

Ethiopian Intelligence Agency and the security force carries out its crucial acts on American citizens

www.nazrett.com Home of Ethiopian News and Blog Breaking News
Ethiopian Intelligence Agency and the security force carries out its crucial acts on American citizens
This time it is not on an Ethiopian Americans, while their/the ETIA/ESF crucial act is going out of control, they start practicing their 3rd world rules on free people like Americans, this is not the first incident against American citizens in Ethiopia.
The 25-year-old diplomat, Brian Adkins, was found dead in his home in Addis Ababa, Adkins was a foreign service officer who worked in the consular section of the embassy. A graduate of George Washington University in Washington, Ethiopia was his first foreign assignment for the State Department.
Many hidden cases we will release after classification is cleared/declassified, the Melese Zenawi Junta should learn some lesson at this time before it will become the ex-junta Haylemariyam the Marxist, The US State Department must act in process of protecting American citizens in this particular geographic area where no peace or democracy is forbidden to be seen in near future.
It is a major goal for EPRDF to create mentally and physically weak and incapable generation in order to save the Axumite kingdom of the 20th century, that could be the only reason why the Ethiopian security services are targeting education institution, in late 1990s Ethiopia lost almost 30% of the Addis Ababa University professors while the UNDP, UNICEF and UNHCR enjoyed cheap labor of these scholars left their positions of higher institutions in Ethiopia.

An American volunteer speaks out
A strong hand planted stiffly on my shoulder and sent shivers through my body, freezing every muscle as I stood on my host family’s front lawn in Ethiopia. I slowly turned as my eyes traveled up a large arm and over to the other arm, which was grasping an AK-47. I looked up at his face as he glanced back at two other armed men and his lips parted into a grin.

At this point I was halfway through a two-month summer trip to teach English in Haramaya, Ethiopia, through Learning Enterprises, a nonprofit student-run organization. Fourteen volunteers and a student program coordinator were staying with host families in eastern Ethiopia.

Capture

I was on my way to school with two other volunteers July 9 when I was stopped by the three armed men on my lawn. We later learned they worked for the Ethiopian National Intelligence Agency.

“You need to come with me to the police station for questioning, all of you,” the man who stopped me said.

“Why?” I demanded.

No response. Oh, right, I thought, authorities in Ethiopia don’t respond to that question. I learned it was dangerous to question their government. Any time I tried to discuss politics in a public place I was quickly hushed. As an American citizen on Ethiopian soil, I had no more rights than the Ethiopian people. A couple minutes after my foolish “why” question, we were flailing and yelling for help while the men shoved us into the back of a car.

Not knowing who was taking me or where I was going, the tears came abruptly like a kid in a grocery store who suddenly looks up to find she has lost her mother. My remaining dignity left with the breath stuttering out through my quivering mouth. I cried tears heavy with the universal fear felt by humans deprived of basic human rights. At that moment I felt perhaps the greatest connection with the Ethiopian people as I was forced to face what they struggle against every day.

In the next town over, we pulled into the police station where more volunteers from our program were waiting. We sat in the police office where we were watched fidgeting for hours before they told us that we were missing “a document” required for teaching in Ethiopia—a document to be discussed with officials in the capital 10 hours west, Addis Ababa. Commanded to pack all of our things for the trip to Addis, we concluded we probably wouldn’t be coming back to the town we had grown to call home.

Back at my host family’s house, trying to keep my eyes dry enough to pack my bags, I avoided looking anyone in the eyes. My efforts became futile when I opened the front pocket of my pack and found all the gifts I had planned to give my host family.

“Why are you crying?” the men asked me, laughing from behind their AK-47s.

“This is my family,” I whispered. “You are taking me from my family.”

Giving words to my emotions solidified them into a burning anger that replaced my fear and sadness. I thought of my students who waited hours on end for the chance to get into 50 minutes of class, before going home to help their family scrape up a living. They were certainly waiting at school for us now. And here was their government, ignorant and self-important, carting away free teachers and guarding us with 10 armed men in case we tried anything.

Detention

We drove all day toward Addis Ababa. In the morning we began requests for lunch that went unsatisfied, and in the afternoon we tried for dinner. Finally they gave in and we pulled over to a roadside shop. An official went to the shop and came back with a small pack of crackers for us all to split.

We kept driving into the night until we stopped at a hotel, still hours out of Addis. We were in a malaria zone. We asked to get our bug nets but were denied access to our bags. You’re not supposed to take malaria medication on an empty stomach, but I was getting bitten. I took my pill and just minutes later was keeling over. I spent the night without sleep, weak and dehydrated in the sticky lowland heat, dry-heaving over a hole in the ground overflowing with sewage, guarded by armed men with unknown objectives. The next morning we made it to the capital.

In Addis they took us straight to immigration. Again we were kept hungry, though this time we were advised to enjoy the “mental food” offered by the view from our holding room. Despite our waning energy, we kept our spirits up with songs, games and stories. Immigration officials interviewed us each individually. The officials gave each of us a different reason about what we were doing wrong in the country. My favorite was that we were “overknowledging” our students by challenging them in the classroom.

While we waited as a group during the interviews, we decided that no matter what happened, our primary goals were to stick together and to contact the U.S. embassy. We wrote the embassy’s number on skin covered by clothes and on small pieces of paper that we hoped we would be able to pass off to someone.

By the last few interviews, the officials became consistent in telling us that we had the wrong type of visa. Although airport staff told us to get tourist visas, these officials thought we needed business visas. That night they told us we had to leave the country the following day. If we had the cash on us to change our flights, we could do so; otherwise it was Ethiopian jail until our original flights left, which was a month later for me. We did not believe we had enough cash for all of us, but our goal to stick together remained intact.

Rescue

We spent that night under tight guard at a government hotel where we were still unable to contact the embassy, and the next day they drove us to the airport where we were held in a back room. After waiting all day, later that evening my blank stare at the wall was interrupted when a team of men entered the room and stated, “We are from the U.S. embassy. We are here to help you.” I bolted from my chair and smothered them in hugs and tears. The next hour was a flurry of phone calls home, information release forms and random expressions of glee.

A few hours later we were all on flights home, lessons learned. When traveling abroad it is important to be knowledgeable about the country and its government. While we were never given an official reason for our deportation, many of us believe it had to do with the ethnicity of the students we were teaching: Oromo.

Every Oromo person I talked to felt that the government actively oppresses the Oromo ethnic group as a means of maintaining power. The ruling party of Ethiopia, the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front Tigrean People Liberation Front (Woyanne), has proven it will go to great lengths to protect its power. After the 2005 national elections threatened the party’s majority in parliament, Ethiopians accused the party of intimidation at the polls and forging ballots. Hundreds were injured, killed or arrested.

In a country with such a paranoid and forceful government, we could have foreseen some trouble with serving the Oromo people without any sort of clearance from higher up. We also should have gone to the U.S. embassy as a group for information about risks and instruction on safety.

When you go to another country, you don’t take your rights with you. As romantic and adventurous as it sounds to spontaneously pack up and travel the globe, when you don’t do your homework, reality can be harsh.


The people of Ethiopia need to look in to this issue and save their next generation from illiteracy by straggling for common wealth.

An Introduction to Ethiopian Coffee

www.nazrett.com Home of Ethiopian News and Blog Breaking News

An Introduction to Ethiopian Coffee
By Kainoa Louis

Article Word Count: 523 [View Summary] Comments (0)

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www.dreamcoastroast.comIf you have ever wondered where coffee first came from you can look to the Kaffa region of Ethiopia. It is here that the plants grew wild and where the "bun" or beans of the plants were frequently chewed by the natives. Many people believe that the "Kaffa Buns" is where today's modern phrase "coffee beans" comes from, but there has been no authoritative proof that such is the case.

It is known, however, that coffee as a beverage to be brewed from the fruit of the plants did first come from this area of Africa, and so it is fairly obvious why Ethiopian coffees are among the most sought after in the world. In fact, coffee exports are the country's largest income source and provides roughly sixty percent of the nation's earnings. Of course not all of the coffee is exported, because a majority of Ethiopians enjoy a coffee ritual three times each day. Of the two hundred thousand tons of beans produced each year, it is estimated that half is purchased directly by native Ethiopians.

Like many other food products, Ethiopian coffee beans come in a few different varieties with each earning its particular name from the region in which it is grown. The primary cultivar, however, is Arabica which is the most popular choice of coffee drinkers around the globe.

The most well-known varieties of the Ethiopian industry are the Harrar, Ghimbi, and Sidamo beans/regions. There are very distinctive differences between the varieties, with the Harrar most often serving as an espresso bean, the Ghimbi as a darker roast, and the Sidamo as the most widely used for its mild and aromatic properties.

Today, the growers of the beans process them in two different ways. They can use the wet or the dry method, with the wet method being preferred by larger commercial producers. This requires the berries to be harvested, submerged in water for two days to eliminate some of the natural sugars, and then dried completely before being bagged and sold. There are some now focused on "green" and organic growing techniques due to outside interest from some larger international markets. The expanding interest in "Fair Trade" products has also helped the Ethiopian coffee industry grow as well.

Interestingly, the ECEE (Ethiopian Coffee Export Enterprise) is a for-profit organization that manages and controls around half of the coffee sales in the country. It is estimated that this group is responsible for the employment of roughly twelve million people. The remainder of the industry is independently managed or under the direction of other global corporations.

The Ethiopian coffee trade is unique because there are huge corporations, smaller companies, cooperatives, and even independent growers who do all of the work by hand and sell directly to their fellow Ethiopians in local markets. The country's primary international markets include Japan, France, Germany, the United States and the Middle East.

As interest in the many blends of coffees around the world continues to increase the Ethiopian coffee industry will also continue to grow. This is especially true because it is considered to be the birthplace of this unique and popular beverage.

Easy-Coffee-Recipes.com is your one stop resource for everything coffee. From espresso to coffee cake, we have everything you need to know about drinking, serving and the perfect cake recipes to compliment your favorite Cup of Joe.

IMF extends $240.6 million loan to Ethiopia

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The International Monetary Fund on Wednesday approved a loan of about $240.6 million to help buffer Ethiopia from the impact of the global recession.A disbursement of about $115 million would be made immediately, the IMF said in a statement.

Ethiopia has faced a turbulent external economic environment in the past two years stemming from sharp movements in import prices and then the global slowdown.
One of the world's poorest nations with an roughly $8 billion economy, Ethiopia has adopted an appropriate program to address the strains on the balance of payments and to keep inflation low, the IMF said.
The program calls for a continued tight fiscal stance, a slowing of the pace of monetary growth, and gradual real exchange rate adjustment, aided by a step depreciation of the birr on July 10, 2009, the IMF said.
"Prudent implementation of this program, accompanied by planned reform measures, will provide a sound macroeconomic environment for economic growth," the IMF said.

Killed all anti-Ethiopian bill in Washington

Killed all anti-Ethiopian bills in Washington
In June 2006, the Ethiopia Freedom, Democracy and Human Rights Advancement Act was introduced by Rep. Christopher Smith (Republican, New Jersey) proposing to put limits on military aid to Ethiopia — with the exception of peacekeeping and anti-terrorism programs — until the government released all political prisoners and provided fair and speedy trials to other prisoners held without charges. Most of these political prisoners had been arrested during the 2005 post election protests following the re-election of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, which also left more than 500 people dead.
The bill swiftly passed the House International Relations Committee with bipartisan support with the Ethiopian diaspora in America launching letter and e-mail campaigns to push the legislation in Congress. To counter this effort, the Ethiopian government hired a well-established law and lobbying firm, DLA Piper, to protect its interests in Washington at a cost of $2.3million.
The lobby shop in a memo argued that the bill compromised “the national security interests of both the United States and Ethiopia.” They also raised concerns about Somalia that Addis Ababa and the United States shared. Through numerous meetings and lobbying, eventually the bill never made it to the House floor. It has been argued that lobbying is undesirable because it allows people with particular interests and who represent a minority to gain special access to law-makers and through contributions and favours have controversial relationships with representatives. This is a danger to Africa’s democracy including settling its internal conflicts. A case in point is of Western Sahara which has been fighting for independence from Morocco — and has been the subject of over 34 UN Security Council resolutions since 1999.
In late 2007 and 2008, the desert region was a top priority for Morocco’s hired lobbyists who sought the support of the Congress in the territorial dispute. In 1991, the United Nations had brokered a cease-fire agreement between Morocco and the Polisario Front, a group fighting for Western Sahara’s independence. Part of the terms of that deal included holding a referendum to determine the territory’s final status.

In 2007, Morocco issued a proposal to grant Western Sahara autonomy within sovereign Morocco. The US initially welcomed the proposal, and direct talks began between Morocco and the Polisario with the involvement of Algeria, which supports self-determination for the Sahrawi tribes from the area.

Behind the scenes was the work of lobbyists for both parties. By the end of negotiations according to records released by Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), the Algerian government’s lobbyists had 36 contacts with members of Congress and staff promoting self-determination for the people of Western Sahara.

The Algerians paid a modest $416,000 (Sh31.6 million) in lobbying fees. By comparison, lobbyists for the government of Morocco had 305 contacts with members of Congress and their staff. Morocco paid $3.4 million (Sh258 million) in lobbying expenses — putting it among the top foreign government spenders for FARA filings in the period.

The intense campaign resulted in a bipartisan group of some 173 House members signing on to a statement supporting Morocco’s offer of autonomy for the region without formal independence. President Bush also expressed support for Morocco’s plan, a decision that has since been reversed by President Obama who backs a Western Sahara State
Obama reining in lobbyists
It is due to this power to influence that President Obama made lobbying a key target of his ethics policies, sharply limiting their access to the administration and forbidding appointment of former lobbyists in the government without special waivers. The moves angered many lobbying groups but it is doubtful if it has made any impact on the booming business on K Street.
It is not only in America where the lobbyists are based. There are currently around 15,000 lobbyists in Brussels, the headquarters of European Union, seeking to influence its legislative process. In Britain, the lobbying industry has been steadily growing in recent years and was estimated by the Hansard Society in 2007 to be worth £1.9 billion (Sh234 billion) and employs 14,000 people. The House of Commons Public Administration Select Committee held an investigation into lobbying, and its 2009 report called for “a statutory register of lobbying activity to bring greater transparency to the dealings between Whitehall decision makers and outside interests.”
It is thus clear that lobbyists have gained considerable influence in Washington and their work is affecting how different Africa countries run their affairs. Whereas there are some lobbyists who carry out harmless and good work, others continue to be used by African leaders to stifle the continent’s democracy.
For the growth of the continent and stronger foreign policy ties, Washington needs to assist fragile democracies reform and strengthen their institutions instead of bowing to pressure from lobbyists working for the interests of the political elite.
At the same time, Africans need to elect strong capable leaders who view success as delivering development and reducing poverty rather than siphoning public resources and buying support or rigging elections. This will be an easier route to take than the power of lobby groups which is a short term gain mostly for the minority.
Africa Insight is an initiative of the Nation Media Group’s Africa Media Network Project

After the Semenya controversy, enter cross-country (Jelousy action by Europeans, if you can not make it to where Ethiopians and Kenyans are yes they have to come and change your diapers and clean your tears like new born baby)

Ethiopians and kenyans get ready to baby sit European Athlets

By Mwangi Ngamate

 mwangi@caymannetnews.

Following the controversy of whether South Africa’s new 800-metre world champion Caster Semenya is male or female, Africa is receiving another blow by other countries refusing to participate in cross-country races since they are dominated by either Kenya or Ethiopia.

 

European countries are now boycotting the cross-country race on the grounds that the winners of the races are predetermined and therefore no competition was needed since the opposition was insurmountable.

 

 According to press reports, the International Association of Athletics Federations ruled that the World Cross Country Championships will now be held once every two years rather than annually.  

The IAAF council members argued that this would allow the continents to organize continental championships on the alternate years.

 

But what is now emerging is the shift of goal posts; Africa, as a powerhouse in cross-country, will have to watch helplessly as this happens.

 

Despite Brazil and Germany having dominated the World Cup since 1950, the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) should not argue to postpone the World Cup to ten years to allow other continents “to organize continental championships”, since it is almost predetermined that only 4 countries make it to the semi-finals. 

 Brazil has made it 5 times as champions; Italy has taken the title 4 times while Germany 3 times, yet the continent of Africa has always sent representatives to the competitions. Out of 18 tournaments Brazil has always been a factor in 10. Italy has been in the last four for 8 times and Germany also 8 times. No one would be justified in saying that Uruguay, England, Argentina and France are outcasts since they are the only countries that have tainted this record.

Press reports noted that Gianni Merlo, the Italian president of the International Sports Press Association, agreed with the IAAF supreme, saying European countries were no longer interested in competing for the minor positions at the World Cross Country Championships.

 

“The problem is also that the teams are too large. It would have been better to, perhaps, have three runners in each team, but with as much as six runners per country per race, Ethiopia and Kenya will automatically take the first 12 places and the rest will compete from the 13th place,” Merlo, an editor with leading Italian daily sports newspaper La Gazzetta dello Sport, said.

 

“European broadcasters are no longer interested in covering these championships and some European federations are no longer interested in sending athletes to these competitions. Why should they invest to fight for 13th place?” wrote Elias Makori.

 

When Chidi Imo of Nigeria broke the 100 m world record 22 years in the All-African Games, the race was dismissed as a wind-assisted race despite the devices used then saying otherwise.  

What would happen to the 100m if Jamaica and other Caribbean countries wrest the race from the grip of the Americans?

Kenyan and Ethiopian runners made their mark in the world through cross-country debut in Madrid in 1981 when Kenya finished third overall.  

Spain’s Pierre Casacuberta was the last man from outside East Africa to win the junior men’s race in 1984, while John Ngugi became the first Kenyan to win the senior men’s title in 1986 in Neuchatel, Switzerland, the first of his five global titles. Bekele Debele of Ethiopia, 20, became the youngest World Cross champion, with Kenyan Some Muge taking the bronze.

  

Kenya’s Paul Tergat has also won the World Cross title five times while Ethiopia’s Kenenisa Bekele won his seventh 5,000m world title at the Berlin Olympic Stadium on Sunday. 

 

Whether it is Semenya having testetorone that is three times that of females or Ethiopia and Kenya dominating the race for 28 years, goal posts should remain unchanged because an outcast would spoil it for them; that is what sports should

 Cross-country should be a race that allows people to admire the scenic beauty of the country as they run; it should not change because more and more people will be having a chance to exercise, which is the advantage of these races.

 

Any human being who can walk can say, ‘I enrolled in the cross-country race and am happy that despite the fact I did not win, I competed with the world’s best’. Such was a good feeling when Kemar Hyman of the Cayman Islands competed against Tyson Gay in the just-concluded Berlin IAAF Championship games.

Against Ethiopian and Kenyan dominance in Athletics: IAAF and Europe to take radical step?

Criticisms have been labelled at the International Association of Athletics Federation (IAAF) Council for recommending that the World Cross Country Championships be held biennially because East African athletes from Ethiopia and Kenya are dominating the game.


The IAAF’s cross-country athletic championship which is held annually could, if the IAAF Congress accepts, be held every two years because “Ethiopia and Kenya are killing the sports.”
Europe has expressed concern over the large dominance of East African athletes and see no reason why it should field its athletes every year if they end up coming home empty-handed. “In 1973, 85 per cent of the competitors were from Europe. This year the figure had dropped to 29 per cent and there were no teams in Edinburgh from France or Germany,” Pierre Weiss, IAAF general secretary, quoted in April during the Edinburgh World Championships.

Paula Radcliffe and Sonia O’Sullivan from Britain and Republic of Ireland are the only two European athletes who have won the competition in recent years.

Since 1981, East African athletes have maintained dominance in the sports and after the Edinburgh championship that saw Ethiopia’s Kenenisa Bekele and Tirunesh Dibaba won all four individual gold medals and two of the team titles, where only two Europeans are in the top 50, the IAAF Council had had enough.
Not only African but...
At the Berlin meeting last week, the IAAF council recommended that the events be held biennial so the alternate year can be used for African championships. "The World Cross Country championships have become not only an African affair but an East African affair, and these days you don’t even get athletes from West Africa competing," IAAF President Lamine Diack quoted by Kenyan Daily Nation at the Berlin Intercontinental Hotel. "Even the Kenyan delegates at our meeting agreed that East Africa’s dominance was killing the sport," said Diack.
"The problem is also that the teams are too large. It would have been better to, perhaps, have three runners in each team, but with as much as six runners per country per race, Ethiopia and Kenya will automatically take the first 12 places and the rest will compete from the 13th place. European broadcasters are no longer interested in covering these championships and some European federations are no longer interested in sending athletes to these competitions. Why should they invest to fight for 13th place?" said Merlo, an editor with leading Italian daily sports newspaper La Gazzetta dello Sport.
Will Nadal or Federer be treated the same?
Africans are outraged at the IAAF recommendation. Selemy Yohannes said: “I am ashamed of the one who initiate this idea. The mere fact that European countries are unable to compete in the world cross country championship made the IAAF council suggest that an annual event be held bi-annually? This is nothing but illicit continuation of the garbage idea of apartheid. I will be surprised if the world cup could be changed to every eight years because Brazil is a dominant force. Or can someone question Roger Federer and Raphael Nadal’s dominance in the Tennis championships. It will be a shame on the Kenyan representative if they accept the recommendation.”
Haile Abi writing from Ethiopia said: “They can’t invest anymore in an annual sports event because they are not dominant but they can invest in their media portraying our mothers and children as starving people and happy to send us false fertiliser.”
Richard from the United States also said: “This is actually laughable!! How can someone be penalized for being good at what he does? “
Meanwhile, Two Kenya officials, Isaiah Kiplagat and David Okeyo who sit at the IAAF council and cross country committee respectively are yet to make any comment.

100 Ethiopians to arrive in Turkey for Izmir int'l fair

An Ethiopian delegation of 100 officials will arrive in the western province of Izmir for the 78th Izmir International Fair


An Ethiopian delegation of 100 officials will arrive in the western province of Izmir for the 78th Izmir International Fair (IEF).


Ethiopia will be the guest of honor of the IEF which will take place between August 28 and September 6.

The delegation will introduce Ethiopia's investment opportunities, tourism potential, geographic richness and cultural diversity during the fair.

Ethiopian Trade & Industry Minister Girma Birru and State Minister for Culture & Tourism Tadelech Dalacho will also be in the delegation.
The theme of this year's fair is "Communication Technologies & Telecommunication". Companies from 15 different product groups from 52 countries will attend the fair. Turkish northwestern province of Canakkale will be honorary guest city of this year's IEF.
Izmir International Fair is Turkey's first international fair.

Ethiopian athletes missing in Scotland (TPLF Agents)

4 Ethiopian athletes missing in Scotland


(AP)

FALKIRK, Scotland — Two runners and two hurdlers from Ethiopia were reported missing Tuesday after leaving their hotel before a track and field meet in Scotland.
The four are Betelhem Shewatatek (women's 200 meters), Feleke Bekele (women's 400 hurdles), Hagos Tadesse (men's 400) and Tirehas Haileselassie (men's hurdles).
Scottish Athletics chief executive Geoff Wightman said his organization reported their disappearance to the police.
The Ethiopians were to compete Wednesday in the Falkirk Cup, a meet also featuring England, Ireland and Scotland. The four athletes are not regulars at major meets.
"My colleague actually tried to restrain two of them but they ran off," said Dagmawit Amare, who is part of Ethiopia's team management in Scotland and has been working with Scottish Athletics. "This is such a sad thing to happen for my country and the sport."

Missing Ethiopian athletes seek asylum

Four Ethiopian athletes who were due to compete at an international meeting in Scotland today were missing last night after fleeing from their hotel in London.

A statement from scottishathletics said the athletes were seeking asylum.
The sports organisation confirmed the four team members "fled from their hotel" yesterday at lunchtime and failed to make their connecting flight to Edinburgh.
300 x 250 They had been due to take part in the Falkirk Cup athletics event at Grangemouth Stadium.
Geoff Wightman, scottishathletics' chief executive, was forced to report the athletes to police as missing persons.
He said their disappearance could have consequences for his organisation with the UK Borders Agency.
Under rules introduced last year, sponsors of visiting sportsmen "have a duty to ensure that their visitors leave before their visa runs out," according to the Home Office. "If sponsors fail in their duties, they face a ban on bringing anyone else over, penalties of up to £5000 or a jail sentence."

Mr Wightman said: "It was our invitation that brought them here. It is a contract between us and the Ethiopian Federation. The athletes would have been paid a per diem allowance in lieu of prize money. It's very disappointing. There's coach-loads of supporters from Manchester and Glasgow, and I feel sorry for them."
Scotland will compete against England, Ethiopia, Ireland and a Bank of Scotland Development Team in the event.
Dagmawit Amare, a member of the Ethiopian management who has been working on a placement at the governing body's Edinburgh headquarters, said a colleague in London had tried to restrain two of them but they ran off.
Mr Amare said: "This is such a sad thing to happen for my country and the sport."
Last year, several members of the Eritrean cross-country team successfully sought political asylum after the World Championships in Edinburgh. They are now members of Shettleston Harriers in Glasgow.

East Africa: 'Kenya and Ethiopia Have Killed Cross Country' Europeans couldn't make it to what it takes to be where Ethiopians and Kenyans went so, they have to cutt of the the game)

Europeans should get off their butt and run like Ethiopians and Kenyans rather than wining and complaining. This is not a magic or a gift but duty neither status, after getting embraced for centuries by East Africans, Europeans and other racists are just taking another step forward troth their regional target, Africa and Africans are no more needed, transition from being dependant to independent is on it way African countries are showing significant developments and getting economically united, that is a back pain for those whom thought Africa will stay their milking cow forever, whatever you can not do is illegal. It is Ethiopians and Kenyans fault that you couldn't run and win.

Elias Makori

23 August 2009
Berlin — It is now emerging that the domination of cross country running by Kenya and Ethiopia is ultimately killing the sport.
At their council meeting held on the fringes of the World Championships in Athletics here, the International Association of Athletics Federations ruled that the World Cross Country Championships will now be held once every two years rather than annually.
The IAAF council members argued that this would allow the continents to organise continental championships on the alternate years.
But the Daily Nation established on Sunday that Kenya and Ethiopia have dominated the discipline so much that European television interest in the sport has taken a nosedive.
"The World Cross Country championships have become not only an African affair but an East African affair, and these days you don't even get athletes from West Africa competing," IAAF president Lamine Diack said when confronted by the Daily Nation at the Berlin Intercontinental Hotel. "Even the Kenyan delegates at our meeting agreed that East Africa's dominance was killing the sport."
Athletics Kenya chairman Isaiah Kiplagat sits on the IAAF Council while AK secretary, David Okeyo, is in the IAAF's cross country commission.
Gianni Merlo, the Italian president of the International Sports Press Association, agreed with the IAAF supreme, saying European countries were no longer interested in competing for the minor positions at the World Cross Country Championships.
Teams too large
"The problem is also that the teams are too large. It would have been better to, perhaps, have three runners in each team, but with as much as six runners per country per race, Ethiopia and Kenya will automatically take the first 12 places and the rest will compete from the 13th place," Merlo, an editor with leading Italian daily sports newspaper La Gazzetta dello Sport, said.
"European broadcasters are no longer interested in covering these championships and some European federations are no longer interested in sending athletes to these competitions. Why should they invest to fight for 13th place?"Relevant

But the decision to have biannual global cross country championships have not gone down well with some Kenyan officials who see cross country running as the best way for athletes to launch preparations for their track season.
Kenyan and Ethiopian runners made their world cross country debut in Madrid in 1981 when Kenya finished third overall. Bekele Debele of Ethiopia, 20, became the youngest World Cross champion, with Kenyan Some Muge taking the bronze.
Spain's Pierre Casacuberta was the last man from outside East Africa to win the junior men's race in 1984 while John Ngugi became the first Kenyan to win the senior men's title in 1986 in Neuchatel, Switzerland, the first of his five global titles.
Kenya's Paul Tergat has also won the World Cross title five times while Ethiopia's Kenenisa Bekele won his seventh 5,000m world title at the Berlin Olympic Stadium on Sunday.

4(Four) Ethiopian athletes go missing on trip to Britain

Four Ethiopian athletes have gone missing during a visit to Britain for a major athletics event.
Published: 6:11PM BST 25 Aug 2009
Scottish Athletics confirmed that the four ''fled from their hotel'' in London and failed to make their connecting flight to Edinburgh.
They had been due to take part in the Falkirk Cup athletics event tomorrow night at Grangemouth Stadium.
Geoff Wightman, chief executive of Scottish Athletics, said: ''We invited them, so it's our duty to report it to the authorities.''
Dagmawit Amare, part of the Ethiopian management in Scotland, who has completed a four week placement at Scottish Athletics, said: ''My colleague actually tried to restrain two of them but they ran off.
''This is such a sad thing to happen for my country and the sport.''
The missing athletes are said to be women's 200m runner Betelhem Shewatatek, Feleke Bekele (women's 400m hurdles), Hagos Tadesse (men's 400m) and Tirehas Haileselassie, (men's 400m hurdles).
Scotland will compete against England, Ethiopia, Ireland and a Bank of Scotland Development Team in the event.
Ross Cunningham, the event's manager, said: ''It blows a hole in the Ethiopian team's prospects and it represents our worst scenario in inviting them.
''We will see how Scotland does against England and Ireland and support those Ethiopians who have made the trip and their anticipated 100 supporters from Manchester and Glasgow.

Somali militants use many tactics to woo Americans

By AMY FORLITI (AP) – 3 hours ago
MINNEAPOLIS — One young man attended secret meetings in Minneapolis. Another got a phone call, urging him to leave Minnesota and go to Somalia to fight. Terrorist training videos featuring English speakers pepper YouTube, calling others to the cause.
Details are emerging about how terrorists in Somalia have lured young American men — including as many as 20 from Minnesota — back to their homeland to join their jihad. At least three have died, including one who authorities believe is the first American suicide bomber. Three others have pleaded guilty in the U.S. to terror-related charges.
Court proceedings and interviews with community members, attorneys and terror experts indicate the Somali-based terror group, al-Shabab, uses widespread recruitment tactics including a vast Web-based network.
"Al-Shabab 10 years ago would be a two-bit, paramilitary group that no one would've cared about ... sitting in a basement somewhere stockpiling rocket-propelled grenades and bullets for AK-47s," said Bruce Hoffman, a terrorism specialist at Georgetown University. "Now, we see them reaching into the United States."
Like many terror groups, al-Shabab uses Internet videos to draw disenfranchised young men into its fold. Many feature typical militant scenes: men with covered faces firing automatic weapons, marching or practicing martial arts. Some show close-up footage of dead bodies and religious documents.
But al-Shabab's propaganda sets it apart.
"I would say they were among the most explicit, the most violent, and the most enthusiastic videos of any jihadi organization out there," said Evan Kohlmann, a terror consultant.
The group, which the U.S. government says has ties to al-Qaida, also uniquely targets Americans and English speakers, Kohlmann said.
Some videos show English-speaking suicide bombers reciting last wills. Others showcase a man with shoulder-length brown hair who calls himself Abu Mansour the American commanding fighters and glorifying jihadists killed in Somalia.
Al-Shabab's online propaganda proliferated in recent years after messages from Osama bin Laden appeared on jihadist forums encouraging followers to go to Somalia. The country of 7 million has not had a functioning government since 1991.
Earlier this month, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Washington was concerned al-Shabab uses foreign fighters and there was no doubt the group wants to take control of Somalia and "launch attacks against countries far and near."
Experts say Western recruits' passports and cultural awareness make them valuable.
"You can't take someone from the slums of Mogadishu and take them on some suicide mission to Rome, Paris, New York," Hoffman said. American deaths also bring more attention to al-Shabab's cause, he said.
In Minneapolis, home to the largest population of Somali immigrants in the U.S., a federal investigation into the missing men is illuminating the recruiting.
Salah Osman Ahmed, 26, of New Brighton, told a judge last month that he attended "secret meetings" in Minneapolis starting in October 2007. There, he said, a group of "guys" talked about returning to Somalia to fight Ethiopians. At the time, the Ethiopian army, which many Somalis viewed as abusive, occupied parts of Somalia.
When Ahmed got to Somalia, his attorney said, he realized what al-Shabab really was.
Hoffman said the underground meetings fit a pattern.
"The conspiratorial air is part of this group bonding," Hoffman said. "That kind of atmosphere makes these young men think that what they are doing is all the more important."
Hoffman also said terror groups use a network of friends, many of whom act like persuasive salesmen, to help recruit.
One man who filled that role in Minneapolis, by one account, was Zakaria Maruf.
Stephen Smith, an attorney who represents several young Somalis questioned by authorities, said his clients describe Maruf as someone with a bravado that appealed to younger men he met on the basketball court or at mosques.
Smith said one of his 18-year-old clients got a phone call from Maruf, in Somalia, asking him to join the fight. Maruf and the teenager also exchanged e-mails and had a brief conversation in a chat room, Smith said.
Smith said the teen didn't go but felt uncomfortable turning down someone he looked up to.
Maruf's whereabouts aren't known. Some family members say they believe he was killed in Somalia last month, but federal officials could not confirm that.
Many young Somalis in Minneapolis say friends who left have stayed in touch through Facebook or phone calls. In those conversations, friends said, the men talked about life in Somalia being harder than expected, and of missing American food and Starbucks.
The Facebook accounts are private. While the FBI said it can't comment on specific communications, spokesman E.K. Wilson said the agency continues to investigate "who or what motivated" the young men to go to Somalia.
In Minnesota, imams are trying to counter al-Shabab's message by speaking out against violence and radicalism, reminding the faithful that Islam is peaceful.
Farhan Hurre, the executive director of Minneapolis' Abubakar As-Saddique Islamic Center, which has rejected suspicions it played a part in recruiting, said mosque leaders also are advising parents to keep their eyes open.
"If you have computers, if you have Internet, you have to know the sites that your boys are visiting and what they are listening to," Hurre said.

Ethiopia seeks to lead Africa over climate talks

For the first time, 53 African nations have come under one umbrella to speak in one voice on the upcoming climate change negotiations in Copenhagen.
Africa took a strong stand on some critical points and identified the continent's common interest, and prepared a document, African Common Position on Climate Change, which is now in the hands of an African delegation.
It was not yet clear who would lead the delegation, but the Ethiopian government has openly requested for the position in the upcoming climate change talks in Copenhagen, Denmark.
Ethiopia presented the request at the closed door session of 10 African environment ministers and government representatives meeting in Addis Ababa African Union headquarters on Monday.
Sources told the Nation that Ethiopia presented the request with a list of strong arguments and demanded its Prime Minister Meles Zenawi to lead the African delegation to Copenhagen in December.
Ethiopian Prime Minister’s Special adviser minister Dr Neway Gebreab confirmed Ethiopia’s request and emphasised that his government wanted to play a role in the climate change agenda.
Ethiopian climate change negotiator Mr Desalegn Mesfin on his part said the African ministers' conference welcomed the Ethiopian request and the final decision would be made by African head of states special session next week in Libya's capital Tripoli.
Mr Mesfin pointed out that Meles Zenawi is the one who proposed African common position on climate change and campaigns for huge cash compensation to Africa.
“We are confident on his commitment and knowledge” Mesfin said.
Current NEPAD chairman and Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi has represented Africa in G8 and G20 summits and has gained considerable acceptance in the international arena.
Sudanese deputy ambassador in the United Nations in New York and chief negotiator of Group 77 and China in the Climate talk Mr Lumumba Di-Aping noted that nomination of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi seemed “unquestionable”. “He [Zenawi] proofed his efficiency and knowledge on the Climate Change issue” Di-Aping added.
So far, there is no objection from the African climate change delegation team. However, this nomination will be endorsed by African head of states meeting next week in Libya.

New front opens in Somalia as Ethiopian fighter jets strike (1st Update)

Mogadishu/Addis Ababa
- Fighting between Somalia's Union of Islamic Courts (UIC) and troops loyal to the government erupted on a new front on Sunday, as Ethiopia acknowledged for the first time to fighting against troops loyal to the UIC.
Forces loyal to the UIC and the government have been clashing for five days on several fronts near the government's base in the western town of Baidoa, some 250 kilometres west of the capital Mogadishu.
Ethiopian jet fighters allegedly struck Baladweyne, 320 kilometres north of Baidoa, killing at least 50 UIC troops, witnesses and officials said.
'I saw two fighter jets bombing the outskirts of Baladweyne. They killed two people in a displaced camp for the flood-affected people,' said Abdurahman Sheikh Omar, a witness in Baladweyne. 'They also targeted a UIC recruitment center but no casualties can be confirmed.'
Fighting continued on several fronts on Sunday, as fear of a regional war continued to mount, after Ethiopia admitted it sent fighters to the country.
'The Ethiopian National Defence Forces on Sunday started taking measures to foil the attack launched against Ethiopia by fundamentalist forces gathered in Somalia,' a Defence Ministry spokesman said.
Addis Ababa had previously said it sent several hundred military trainers to prop up the transitional government, but witnesses near the front lines said earlier this week they saw Ethiopian tanks and helicopters involved in the conflict.
The Defence Ministry also said its forces took 'decisive measures' against 'terrorist forces that attempted to infiltrate into Ethiopia to launch attacks.'
The UIC have vowed to wage jihad (holy war) on any Ethiopian troops in the country. Ethiopia, the greatest military power in the Horn of Africa, has long branded the UIC terrorists.
On Thursday, UIC leader Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys said the group was not fighting the government, but rather the Ethiopian troops said to be in the country training the government forces. The Somali transitional government has also denied that Ethiopian troops are fighting alongside its forces.
The first clashes erupted overnight Tuesday in Idale, 60 kilometres south-west of Baidoa, a day after an EU envoy had successfully pushed the warring sides to agree to attend peace talks. Tuesday also marked a one-week deadline given to Ethiopia by the UIC to remove its troops or face attacks.
As of Sunday, a stretch of about 700 kilometres was embroiled in the fighting with both sides reporting heavy casualties.
In the capital Mogadishu, street protests against Ethiopia raged on Sunday, with angry residents burning tires and urging anyone over 15 to head to the front lines.
'We are taking our guns to fight against Ethiopia. We will commit all tactics including suicide attacks if they don't stop the occupation,' said 14-year-old Hussen Hirre Abdi at a Mogadishu protest.
The UIC dramatically rose to power this year, taking the capital Mogadishu in June and a series of other southern and central Somali towns afterwards. They seek to establish a religious state based on Islamic Sharia law, drawing in ethnic-Somali regions of Kenya and Ethiopia as part of a 'united Somalia.'
The weak transitional government, divided and limited to its base in Baidoa, is the 14th attempt at establishing central rule in the country.
Somalia has been without a strong government since the 1991 ouster of dictator Mohammed Siad Barre by warlords plunged the country into lawlessness