Protesters to leaders: Stay true to Africa (Meles Zenawi)

www.nazrett.com Home of Ethiopian News and Blog Breaking News The lobby on behalf of Africans living in extreme poverty continued in full force yesterday as leaders of the G-20 nations arrived in town. On the streets, African immigrants and other protesters decried the G-20 member nations, which they said are to blame for the capitalist structures that continue to prop up brutal dictators on the continent. And at the August Wilson Center for African American Culture, which was used as the press center for various groups lobbying the G-20 leaders, international advocates challenged the efficacy of a summit that would fail to address the question of global poverty. The success and humanity of the G-20 Summit will ultimately be measured by the livelihood and fate of the poorest, particularly in Africa, said Privilege Hang'andu, a Zambian official of the group Jubilee USA. "Africa, as indebted as it is, cannot afford more loans," Mr. Hang'andu said, as he called on summit participants to commit to canceling untold amounts of "odious" African debt. An alliance of 75 religious denominations, development agencies and human rights organizations, Jubilee USA joined the list of international social justice organizations pushing the G-20 to address issues of poverty and debt cancellation in Africa. To that end, Jubilee, like advocacy groups such as the ONE Campaign, is calling on the G-20 to recommit itself to African development. In London, G-20 leaders agreed to raise more than $1 trillion in resources for development in poor countries. Some $50 billion of that was earmarked for Africa. In addition, world leaders led by President Obama at the July G-8 meeting in Italy agreed to raise $20 billion toward food security and increasing farming capacity in Africa. But as a group of protesters lining Liberty Avenue outside the August Wilson Center chanted about the need to end genocide in Africa, Neil Watkins, director of Jubilee USA, said the G-20 needs to clarify its prior commitments. "They are not delivering on their promises and a lot is being left unsaid," said Mr. Watkins, adding that the majority of donors that pledged to raise part of the $50 billion for Africa have not yet delivered on their promise. What's more, the $20 billion promised for food security, which was scheduled to be distributed over a three-year period, is yet to be fully fleshed out. "We still don't know if that will be new money or existing money that will be repackaged," Mr. Watkins said. But for Mekdese Kassa, who was part of a group of about 30 people protesting against the government of Ethiopia, the money is part of the problem. Referring to American aid to Ethiopia, Mr. Kassa said: "We are saying that U.S. money is being used to kill women and children as a form of genocide, and we want the G-20 to listen. We are focusing on human rights. Human rights violations in Ethiopia are worse than any country, you name it." Mr. Kassa, who manages a cancer center in Baltimore, was part of a sizeable contingency of Ethiopians who came to Pittsburgh by bus from Washington, D.C., Maryland, Ohio, New York City and Boston. They protested the regime of Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, whom they described as a dictator who imprisons his opposition consisting of people like Birtukan Mideksa -- a 35-year-old former judge and mother of a 4-year-old sentenced to life in prison by the government. Dressed in the green, yellow and red colors of the Ethiopian flag, they called on U.S. taxpayers and the governments of G-20 countries to halt financial backing to Ethiopia, Sudan and Zimbabwe for war crimes and suppression of democracy. Staff writers Gabrielle Banks and Mark Roth contributed to this report. Karamagi Rujumba can be reached at krujumba@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1719. Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09268/1000730-482.stm#ixzz0S9AupKUY

Germany Donates Heavy Waste-Disposal Trucks, Mine Detectors to Ethiopia

www.nazrett.com Home of Ethiopian News and Blog Breaking News Addis Ababa — German Development Bank (KfW) on Thursday handed over seven heavy trucks for urban waste-disposal worth 600 thousand EUR to the City Administrations of Dire Dawa, Gonder, Kombolcha and Awassa. In a related story the Germany embassy here in Addis Ababa announced that the German government has donated 70 mine/metal detectors worth EUR over 150 thousand for the humanitarian demining operations in the Afar, Somali, and Tigray regionsof the country. The trucks were said would enable the four cities to enhance their urban waste management system. "Waste management is an important area of work, especially in growing cities. It leads to dramatic improvement of living condition, not mentioned hygienically issues. Especially in this sector infrastructure has to be accompanied by smart systems of collection, aggregation and side management to be sustainable," said Dr. Claas Dieter Knoop, German Ambassador to Ethiopia, after handing over the keys of the seven heavy trucks to Abuye Aniley, Director General of Urban Development Capacity Building Office at the AMCE/ IVECO compound yesterday. According to the ambassador, significant parts of bilateral cooperation between Ethio-Germany deal with physical infrastructure and machinery. At least as significant is the Institutional Capacity Building in order to make development projects sustainable, he said adding that the trucks would signify one practical impact of Ethio-German Development Cooperation "as it arrives at kebele's level, virtually at the citizen's doorstep." The German embassy said in a statement the mine detectors donation was made in addition to the 117 mine detectors donated to the Ethiopian Mine Action Office (EMAO) last year in March and August in support of the ongoing mine action program implemented by EMAO through the United Nations Development Programme's support to Ethiopia. The project started in 2007 and will continue through 2011. During the handing over occasion, the Ambassador affirmed the German government's support for demining in Ethiopia will continue. From January 2007 to June 2009, 20.5 km2 of previously land mine-infested lands were successfully demined by EMAO, representing 94 percent of the total clearance target of 21.7 km2. Almost all safe land released by EMAO has been utilized by over 100 thousand local residents for farming and herding. With regard to cooperation on the cities-level, Germany and Ethiopia have a history of strong cooperation. Only in the last year's government to government negotiations, it was concluded to continue the well established cooperation in the focal area of 'Development of Federalism, Decentralization and Good Local Governance', according to the ambassador. Sustainable Development Since 2004 Urban Development Fund (UDF) funded by (KfW) Development Bank supports eleven cities including: Adigrat, Mekelle, Gondar, Kombolcha, Banir Dar, Jimma, Hawassa, Dilla, Bishoftu, Adama and Dire Dawa, in Ethiopian to improve their urban infrastructure. By doing this, these cities are able to better serve their citizens. The Ministry of Works and Urban Development, particularly Urban Development Capacity Building Office (UDCBO) together with the UDF supports the cities in their Endeavour to implement big infrastructure projects. The cities are responsible for the whole project cycle. They contribute 20 percent of the project costs, whereas 80 percent are covered by KfW Development Bank.

Melbourne man 'tortured' in Ethiopia

www.nazrett.com Home of Ethiopian News and Blog Breaking News A GOODWILL mission has turned into a nightmare for a Melbourne man who has been imprisoned and tortured in Ethiopia, according to his family. Sadiq Ahmed, 46, a food inspector from Heidelberg who is an Australian citizen, has been detained since May, his brother Abdalla said yesterday. The father of four has been in Ethiopia for the past two years, helping to build a hospital with $100,000 in funds raised by Abdalla in Australia. Abdalla and his sister Malyun yesterday made an impassioned plea for the Australian Government to try to secure his release. Speaking in Melbourne yesterday, Abdalla said his brother was taken off a bus along with 10 other people by government-backed militia in the Somali province where the hospital is being built. Somali-born Abdalla, 53, featured in The Age in June last year about how he had given up his job and was driving taxis so he could concentrate on raising money for the hospital in Raaso, a destitute town of 80,000 in the Ethiopian Somali province where his father came from. Abdalla was in Ethiopia's capital at the time of his brother's arrest and was tipped off that the militia were looking for him. He contacted the Canadian consul - Australia has no consul in Ethiopia - who advised he go into hiding and to contact him to accompany him when he was ready to go to the airport, which he did a week later. Abdalla, president of the Raaso project and a board member of Banyule Community Health, said his brother was imprisoned in the regional capital Jijiga and accused of ''creating unrest''. But Abdalla insisted that ''Sadiq spent two years working in the field and never interfered in any politics''. He believed tribal rivalry may be behind the arrest, with sensitivities touched off by the project's focus on neglect in Raaso, where ''every morning there is a row of babies waiting to be buried because the women can't make it to a hospital''. The family say Mr Ahmed has been shackled, beaten with rifle butts and sentenced to seven years' jail without trial. Mr Ahmed's wife Bishar, who is pregnant, managed to visit him recently and saw he was injured. Malyun, a social worker, is angry that the only ''help'' that the Department of Foreign Affairs has been providing is the passing of information that they already know, with no consular visit made to her brother. In frustration, they wrote three weeks ago to Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and Foreign Minister Stephen Smith. ''I am sure if Australia's prime minister was to phone Ethiopia's prime minister, it would take one call for my brother to be released,'' Abdalla said. They have not received a reply.

UK: Ethiopian ‘Assurances’ No Guarantee Against Torture

www.nazrett.com Home of Ethiopian News and Blog Breaking News Related Materials: Letter to British Foreign Secretary Miliband on Diplomatic Assurances with Ethiopia Not the Way Forward "Why Am I Still Here?" Expecting an Ethiopian government-sponsored commission to monitor torture cases is farcical, especially when Ethiopia is fast becoming one of the most inhospitable places in the world for independent human rights investigation. Tom Porteous, London director at Human Rights Watch(London) - The UK government should not rely on unreliable "diplomatic assurances" against torture to deport national security suspects to Ethiopia, Human Rights Watch said today in a letter to the UK government. In December 2008, the United Kingdom and Ethiopia signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU), similar to those the UK has signed with Jordan, Lebanon and Libya. Under these MoUs, the receiving governments provide "diplomatic assurances" that they will not mistreat persons whom the other country transfers to their territory. Under the agreement, Ethiopia will obtain custody of its citizens now in detention in the UK, while the UK will be able to deport to their home country Ethiopians it considers security threats. "The UK-Ethiopia agreement is intended to get around the absolute ban on returning people to countries where they are at risk of torture," said Tom Porteous, London director at Human Rights Watch. "Ethiopia has a grim record of torture, particularly where suspects are perceived as security threats, and empty promises from Addis will not remove that risk." Human Rights Watch and other organizations have documented the use of torture by Ethiopian police and military officials in both official and secret detention facilities across Ethiopia. Concerns about torture, ill-treatment, and lack of due process are often gravest when individuals are detained on suspicion of affiliation with armed opposition, insurgent, or terrorist activity. In some cases suspects are tortured during interrogations, while in other cases they are tortured as punishment. Methods of torture include: repeated and severe kicking and beating of a naked suspect with sticks, electric cables, rifle butts, iron bars or other instruments, sometimes at gunpoint; tying an individual's hands and feet, then suspending the person upside down and administering a beating; tying bottles of water to a man's testicles; and forcing a detainee to run or crawl barefoot over sharp gravel for several hours at a time. Human Rights Watch has also documented cases of rape of women and girls detained in military barracks in the country's eastern Somali region. "Ethiopia's record of torture of security suspects is all too clear," said Porteous. "The agreement is itself a tacit admission that torture continues to be a major problem in Ethiopia." The agreements Britain has reached with Ethiopia and other states represent an effort to circumvent the strict non-refoulement (no return) obligations under the UN Convention against Torture and the European Convention on Human Rights. Both treaties absolutely prohibit returning people to places where they face a substantial risk of torture. The bodies that enforce compliance with the two treaties, the Committee Against Torture and the European Court of Human Rights, have both repeatedly made clear that no exceptions are permitted to the ban on returns to torture, even where the suspect is alleged to pose a threat to national security. The MoUs contain a measure that purports to act as a safeguard against abuse: establishment of a body, nominated jointly by the two signatory governments, which can periodically visit and privately interview anyone the receiving state takes into custody, and then report on those visits to the sending state. In reality, such post-return monitoring will not protect returnees from torture. Its key deficiency is the lack of confidentiality. Where monitors have universal access to all detainees in a facility and are able to speak with detainees in private, a single detainee can report torture without fear of being identified by the authorities. The International Committee of the Red Cross makes universal access a condition of its monitoring for precisely that reason. But under the British MoUs, with only one detainee or a small group being monitored, such confidentiality cannot be provided. If abuse is reported, the prison or detention facility authorities will know directly where the allegations of ill-treatment came from. Experience has shown that detainees are reluctant to report abuse in those circumstances for fear of reprisals against them or their families. Moreover, the "independent" monitoring body identified to monitor returns under the UK's agreement with Ethiopia is the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission, a government-sponsored organization whose members are appointed by the ruling party-dominated Ethiopian parliament. "Expecting an Ethiopian government-sponsored commission to monitor torture cases is farcical, especially when Ethiopia is fast becoming one of the most inhospitable places in the world for independent human rights investigation," said Porteous. The European Court of Human Rights has ruled against efforts by the UK and other European governments to rely on assurances as grounds for returning national security suspects to countries with poor torture records, concluding that the use of assurances did not remove the risk faced by the suspects. The court is currently considering a case brought by a Jordanian terrorism suspect against the UK, challenging its efforts to deport him to Jordan under the MoU with that country, following a February ruling by Britain's Law Lords that the suspect could be returned. In April 2008, Britain's Court of Appeal rejected the return of two national security suspects to Libya under the 2005 MoU between London and Tripoli, concluding that they remained at risk of torture. The UK government did not appeal that ruling.

Q+A-What is Eritrea's role in Somalia?

www.nazrett.com Home of Ethiopian News and Blog Breaking News By Jeremy Clarke and Jack Kimball ASMARA, Sept 25 (Reuters) - Eritrea said on Friday the hunting of al Qaeda suspects in Somalia by U.S. and Ethiopian forces had crippled peace efforts in the Horn of African nation. [ID:nLP496476] Washington and the United Nations accuse the Red Sea state of sending arms and other support to Somali insurgents battling the country's U.N.-backed government -- something Asmara denies. Here are some questions and answers about Eritrea's role in Somalia: WHAT ARE THE ACCUSATIONS AGAINST ERITREA? * The U.N. arms monitoring body says Eritrea sends money and weapons by plane and boat as well as providing training and logistical support to insurgent groups in Somalia. The body -- set up to watch violations of a 1992 arms embargo -- says Asmara is acting as a middleman for other countries helping the rebels. * Since September 2007, the United Nations and western powers have said Eritrea has focused its support on the Alliance for the Re-Liberation of Somalia (ARS), a group set up at a Somali opposition conference in the Red Sea state. The U.N. arms body, citing an ARS source, said Asmara was providing between $200,000 and $500,000 a month to support the rebels. * Eritrea is also accused of sending arms and providing other support to Ethiopian rebel groups and various guerrilla movements in western Sudan's restive Darfur region. Some Darfuri rebels and Ethiopian opposition groups have offices in the tranquil Eritrean capital Asmara, observers say. WHAT IS ERITREA'S RESPONSE? * Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki told Reuters in an interview in May that the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) was masterminding the accusations against Asmara. [ID:nLL935105] * Eritrea says it is "sick" of the allegations, which it says are completely unfounded. * Isaias' government says it supports a peaceful resolution to the Somali conflict and blames foreign powers for meddling in the region's internal affairs, citing Washington's weapons deliveries to Somalia's transitional government. * Asmara denies claims it supports Somali groups with terrorist ties, saying that it battled its own al Qaeda-linked rebels in the western part of the nation in the mid-1990s. SANCTIONS? * The African Union has called on the U.N. Security Council to sanction Eritrea for its role in the conflict. The 53-member body wants the United Nations to impose a sea blockade and a no-fly zone to stop people and weapons from reaching Somalia. * Sanctions may prove less than effective in Eritrea, which prides itself on its self-reliance. Decades of war against successive Ethiopian governments -- which were backed by the United States and then Russia -- have hardened the rebels-turned-leaders against outside aid. There are less than a handful of foreign relief groups working in the Red Sea state. * Asmara receives little development aid from foreign nations. Remittances from the diaspora in Europe, the United States, the Middle East and other Africa nations are the biggest source of foreign exchange for the nation. Revenue from mining, which is expected to begin in the next few years, will also boost Eritrea's balance of payments. (For Eritrea interview, double click on [ID:nLP496476]) (Editing by Daniel Wallis)

USAID signs $16mn loan agreement with Ethiopian private banks

www.nazrett.com Home of Ethiopian News and Blog Breaking News APA-Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) on Friday signed a $16 million loan agreement with two Ethiopian private banks. According to the agreement, the loan accord signed with Awash International Bank and Oromia Cooperative Bank will help strengthen the economic development of Ethiopia by enabling microfinance institutions and savings and credit cooperatives to offer more loans. “The agreement, worth $16 million in potential loans, reduces collateral requirements to beneficiaries by 50 percent. The program will benefit micro and small enterprises, which play a major role in creating jobs and generating income for Ethiopians in food deficit regions,” said USAID. “The microfinance institutions that will benefit from this agreement not only have the knowledge of local cultures and markets, but also have the presence and capacity to reach some of the most remote communities,” Said Thomas H. Staal, USAID Mission Director to Ethiopia. USAID expects the guarantee scheme to create a sustainable partnership between microfinance institutions and private commercial banks, thus increasing agricultural productivity, expanding staple food supply, and helping expand small scale business related to the trade and cottage industries. USAID’s Development Credit Authority (DCA) loan guarantee program allows USAID to fund projects that are financially viable through loan guarantees in sectors that meet sustainable development objectives. The first DCA Agreement in Ethiopia started in 1999 with Abyssinia Bank, supporting small and medium enterprises engaged in different agricultural activities. In 2004, DCA added Awash and Abyssinia Banks availing $18 million for agro-processing, livestock marketing and commercial horticultural activities. In 2008, a new agreement was made for a $17.2 million guarantee with Abyssinia and NIB Banks for Diaspora and women entrepreneurs.