Dutch agency stops adoption from Ethiopia pending investigation

www.nazrett.com Home of Ethiopian News and Blog Breaking News September 23rd, 2009 | Categories: Featured (UAI News) — A large adoption agency in the Netherlands, Wereldkinderen, has temporarily stopped adoptions from Ethiopia as a result recent reports about abuse of the system by the government in Ethiopia and local adoption agencies. Research done by the adoption agency, shows that the information about the children on file does not match with their actual back ground. In several cases the mothers of the children were still alive, while being listed as deceased. Last month Wereldkinderen’s executive director Ina Hut, resigned because of intimidation by the Dutch Ministry of Justice in relation to corrupt adoption practices in China. Euradopt partner Wereldkinderen was alerted of this news and started their own investigation, a task which the Dutch government should have done as member of the Hague Treaty for Adoption. The Dutch government said it has nothing to do with this situation. At least not before Wereldkinderen finalised their investigation regarding the adoptions from Ethiopia. This is a remarkable comment from the Dutch authorities since they prohibited the proposal for investigation in China recently, which is one of the reasons why former director of this agency decided to resign. It might be, that the interest for trade and diplomatic relationships with Ethiopia is less important for the Dutch government as with China. This weekend 3-5 couples where preparing to depart to Ethiopia but have been informed not to go.

Savage Egypt police shoot another Ethiopian refugee

www.nazrett.com Home of Ethiopian News and Blog Breaking News September 23rd, 2009 | EDITOR'S NOTE: Egypt must pay for this barbaric crime against helpless Ethiopians! (DPA) – Egyptian border guards shot and wounded a refugee from Ethiopia as he tried to cross illegally into Israel, police said Saturday. The 20-year-old was trying to cross the border with a group of other migrants from several African countries when [the blood thirsty] border guards ordered them to stop. When the group failed to do so, police said, a border guard shot the Ethiopian man in the foot. The man was taken to hospital in al-Arish, on Egypt's border with the Gaza Strip. The rest of the Ethiopian's party escaped into the Sinai desert, police said, adding that the wounded man had told them that he and the others in his group had paid $1,000 each to smugglers in exchange for help crossing the border into Israel. Residents of towns near Egypt's border with Israel, which stretches along 250 kilometers of desert, said they had noticed tighter security and heavier police presence along the border in recent days. The shootings on the border have repeatedly drawn condemnation from international human rights groups. "Attempted border crossings are not a capital offense," said Joe Stork, associate Mideast director at the New York-based rights group Human Rights Watch, after border guards killed four migrants on the border on September 9. The London-based watchdog Amnesty International says nearly 40 migrants have been killed trying to cross into Israel from Egypt since 2008. Israeli groups say thousands more have succeeded in crossing illegally.

It sounds a bit roundabout at first, but if Minnesotans truly want to know why Minnesota became a breeding ground for young Somalis who take up arms with Somalia’s extremist militias, we need to look first at Ethiopia.

www.nazrett.com Home of Ethiopian News and Blog Breaking News United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has pledged strong support for Somalia's Transitional Federal Government , while vowing to take action against Eritrea's "unacceptable" arms shipments to the militant group, al-Shabaab. "If al-Shabaab were to obtain a haven in Somalia which could then attract al-Qaida and other terrorist actors, it ...

When Ethiopia invades Somalia, Minnesota takes a hit

www.nazrett.com Home of Ethiopian News and Blog Breaking News It sounds a bit roundabout at first, but if Minnesotans truly want to know why Minnesota became a breeding ground for young Somalis who take up arms with Somalia’s extremist militias, we need to look first at Ethiopia. Specifically, we need to scrutinize U.S. foreign policy towards Ethiopia, which the U.S. has supported with millions of dollars in annual aid for many years. Connecting the dots is always hard in the Horn of Africa, and therefore also in Minnesota, which has one of the world’s largest diaspora populations from the Horn of Africa, including refugees from Ethiopia, Somalia, Eritrea, Sudan and Kenya. Fortunately, a new policy paper from the Council on Foreign Relations does an excellent job of connecting the dots by drawing a bright line connecting U.S. financial and military support for Ethiopia and the rise of Islamist militant groups in Somalia, of the type that recently attracted 20 Somalis living in Minnesota to join. Somali Militias Five of those young men have died in the fighting, and one of the largest domestic terrorism investigations ever in the U.S. is underway to determine how Somalis in Minnesota and other states are recruited to fight with Islamist Somali militias. The connection to Minnesota is implicit in the CFR paper but deeply compelling. It is so because the report clarifies how U.S. support for Ethiopia is a key component – possibly the most critical one – contributing to the radicalization of young Somalis living both inside Somalia and in the global Somali diaspora, such as in Minnesota. The paper’s very first sentences provide the context for that claim: “U.S. strategic interests in the Horn of Africa center on preventing Somalia from becoming a safe haven for al-Qaeda or other transformational jihadist groups. In pursuing its counter-terror strategy, the United States has found common cause with Ethiopia … But the Ethiopian government’s behavior in recent years, both domestically and in bordering states, poses mounting difficulties for the United States and its long-term goals in the region.” Ethnic Federalism For many years, a firm partnership with Ethiopia has been the cornerstone of America’s presence in the Horn of Africa. In a global neighborhood where several countries – Sudan, Somalia and Eritrea – have either harbored (in the case of Eritrea) or been led by Islamists, Ethiopia is the one country that has openly declared its steadfast opposition to such groups. In return, it has received substantial U.S. aid annually, much of which is spent to support and train the Ethiopian army. The present Ethiopian government, led by Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, came to power in 1991 by overthrowing the brutal regime of Mengistu Haile Mariam. Initially, hopes ran high in Ethiopia that under Meles the country would peacefully unite in a multi-party democracy based on “ethnic federalism,” with the country divided into nine ethnic-based regional states. Instead, throughout the 1990s, the Meles government increasingly showed its willingness to suppress dissent through social and economic discrimination and sometimes through extreme violence. The CFR paper cites numerous such examples, which since 2005 have become more frequent, overt and severe. That year, the Ethiopian army was deployed to violently put down protests of suspected fraud in Ethiopian national elections. Uniformed Ethiopian troops in Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital, met the election’s protesters in the streets, detaining thousands, arresting hundreds, and killing dozens. Counter-Terror Not holding Ethiopia accountable for massive human rights abuses in the ethnically-Somali Ogaden region of Ethiopia, where Human Rights Watch and other groups have documented widespread crimes against humanity, has also cost the U.S. dearly throughout the region by cementing anti-American sentiment and encouraging extremism, the CFR report says. The breakdown of legitimate rule in Ethiopia has progressed so far, the report says, that supporting Ethiopia may now be undermining America’s counter-terrorism goals in the Horn of Africa. That is especially true with American efforts to eradicate Somalia Islamist extremism. In 2006 and 2007, with significant U.S. financial and military support, the Ethiopian army invaded Somalia, ousting the country’s Islamist government and helping install a government that remains highly dependent on Ethiopian aid and direction. Replacing Somalia’s Islamist government, using the Ethiopian army as a proxy for American power, served U.S. counter-terror goals in the Horn of Africa. The Shabaab But that achievement may have come at too high a price, the CFR report says: “U.S. reliance on Ethiopian military might and intelligence has served to exacerbate instability in Somalia. Ethiopia’s invasion of Somalia, and the extended presence of Ethiopian troops in Mogadishu, instead of quelling conflict, has triggered a local backlash that has served as a rallying point for local extremists.” Which is precisely where the dots connect back to Minnesota: “It was the development of a complex insurgency against Ethiopian occupation that effectively catapulted a fringe jihadist youth militia, the Shabaab, to power in Somalia. International jihadists have now capitalized on the local insurgency, and on U.S. support of the Ethiopian invasion, as an opportunity to globalize Somalia’s conflict.” In other words, the anti-American backlash to the U.S.-supported Ethiopian invasion of Somalia was not only local within Somalia – it was global. It was Minnesotan. Several journalistic accounts have established that many of the Somali men who left Minnesota to join the Shabaab were actually becoming well-assimilated to American society, holding down jobs, attending college, and planning professional careers. It was only their outrage that their homeland had been invaded by U.S.-supported Ethiopia that stirred them to abandon Minnesota to fight halfway around the world. Ours is a world without borders to the flow of money, arms, soldiers and suffering. Our individual actions and collective policies should flow from that fact.

Ethiopia inks China deals to improve power network

www.nazrett.com Home of Ethiopian News and Blog Breaking News ADDIS ABABA — Ethiopia said on Wednesday its national electricity company has signed contracts with three Chinese firms to develop hydro-electric projects and made preliminary accords for wind power projects. The state Ethiopian News Agency (ENA) said at least six new dams would built as be part of a 12 billion-dollar plan over 25 years to improve the power network. The Ethiopian Electric Power Corporation (EEPCo) signed one accord with China Gezhouba Group Company (CGGC) for the Genale Dawa 3 hydropower project in the south of the country. EEPCo chief executive Mihret Debebe said this would cost 408 million dollars and would generate 254 megawatts of power, ENA reported. A 110 metre (330 feet) high dam will be built on the Genale River, which will increase the current capacity of 860MW by 27 percent, Mihret said. EEPCo also signed an accord with Sinohydro Corporation for the 555 million- dollar Chemoga Yeda hydropower project in Amhara state. Mihret said there would be five dams on five rivers, with the first phase to be ready in four years. Preliminary accords were signed with the HydroChina Company to build wind power projects in the Adama and Mesobo Harena areas. The financing will come from the Chinese government. Ethiopia suffers major power shortfalls as it cannot keep up with rising demand from homes and industry. Since the start of this year, Addis Ababa regularly has power cuts every two days. Copyright © 2009 AFP. All rights reserved. More »

Ethiopian rebels deny helping Somali Islamists

www.nazrett.com Home of Ethiopian News and Blog Breaking News An Ethiopian rebel group denied on Tuesday it is helping Islamist militants in neighbouring Somalia who are waging a violent rebellion against the country's U.N.-backed government. Al Shaabab, the main rebel group that Washington says is al Qaeda's proxy in Somalia, on Sunday seized control of Yeed town on the border with Ethiopia from Somali government forces in fighting that killed at least 14 people. A local governor said militiamen from the Ethiopian Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) helped al Shaabab drive out government forces in the attack. But the ONLF denied the reports of cooperation. "The Ogaden National Liberation Front has no relationship whatsoever with al Shaabab, which on several occasions has assassinated ONLF members," it said in a statement. "ONLF does not interfere in the internal affairs of Somalia and in fact has so far supported the new transitional government, although aware of the deep involvement of Ethiopia with some warlords working with the current government." Ethiopia entered Somalia in late 2006 to topple an Islamist movement in the capital Mogadishu. The intervention sparked an insurgency that is still raging despite the fact Ethiopian troops pulled out in January. ONLF said the report linking it with al Shaabab was a plot by Addis Ababa to discredit it. Regional analysts say the ONLF and al Shaabab gunmen have clashed on the border several times in recent years. Ethiopia denounces the ONLF -- which demands independence for the ethnic Somali eastern Ogaden region -- as a terrorist group supported by long-time archrival Eritrea. Ethiopia and Somalia have a long history of hostilities over Ogaden and fought a war over the region in the 1907s.

Ethiopian Airlines will introduce new flights to Conakry in the Republic of Guinea on October 25th.

www.nazrett.com Home of Ethiopian News and Blog Breaking News Conakry will be served by three weekly flights on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays from Addis Ababa, with return flights operating on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. The route is likely to be welcomed by Conakry business travellers, who will now have direct access to the airline's Addis Ababa hub, which accommodates onward flights to Dubai, Bangkok and Beijing among others. Ethiopian Airlines chief operating officer Tewolde GebreMariam confirmed that the Conakry service will connect Guinea to "major cities in Asia". "We are committed to strengthening our network in west Africa, and look forward to introducing Ethiopian hospitality to the people of Guinea," he said. Conakry is one of Africa's largest cities and has a population of 1.8 million, with Guinea a leading producer of diamonds, gold and bauxite.