ETHIOPIA: Sheepish Address to the UN General Assembly by the Foreign Minister

Medeshi 01 Oct, 2008

ETHIOPIA: Sheepish Address to the UN General Assembly by the Foreign Minister

Sophia Tesfamariam

(Photo : weeping Somali women and her children denied food by the Ethiopian regime)

The news headlines have focused on the US financial crisis and the corrupt business practices that are now going to cost the American taxpayers billion of dollars as the federal government contemplates bail outs for the various financial institutions that are on the verge of collapse and just this week, there were hearing on Capitol Hill about the corruption, mismanagement and waste of billions of our taxpayers monies in the war in Iraq. Unemployment is at its highest and Americans are loosing their homes to foreclosures, and the US economy is screeching to a halt, with no bail out agreement on hand. Sheela Baath reporting for the Wall Street journal wrote on 30 September 2008 that:
"…Wall Street will never forget Monday, September 29, when the lords of high finance were rudely reminded that it isn't easy to get away with imprudent investments, no matter which Ivy League degree they possess…The bailout plan was nixed not only because the figure of the financial assistance -- $700 billion -- was almost pulled out of thin air without solid basis, but also because the American taxpayer was supposed to fund it. The anger that bubbled over and poured onto the streets in the form of protests and demonstrations across the United States was one of the main reasons why the plan was vetoed…"
As if that were not enough pressure on the US economy, begging bowl in hand, Meles Zenawi, the street smart deceptive Prime Minister of Ethiopia and Seyoum Mesfin, the shameless Foreign Minister, are back in town, seeking to fleece US and European taxpayers. The duo is back and lining up, once again, for a bail out. Looks like the mercenary minority regime is stuck…stuck and can´t get out that is-from its self created quagmires in Ethiopia and Somalia. It is no secret that the two are in the US-as its "staunch ally on the US global war on terror" to "threaten to leave Somalia" with the hopes of getting more funds for their mercenary agenda and also kill the recently introduced Senate Bill which is critical of the regime´s human rights record. For today, I will concentrate on the UN general Assembly and Seyoum Mesfin´s sheepish address to that world body.
I listened as the ignominious Seyoum Mesfin as he addressed the UN General Assembly on 29 September 2008 and actually felt sorry for the man. After lying to the UN body for over 10 years on the Eritrea Ethiopia border issue, lying about how and why his regime invaded and occupied Somalia, lying about the gross human rights violations being committed by his regime´s forces in Ethiopia and in Somalia, lying about Ethiopia´s respect for international law and respecting the UN and African Union Charters, he actually had nothing substantive to say. After boasting about the "Ethiopian Millennium", and Ethiopia´s "growing economy, his speech turned to the art perfected by his regime-the art of beggary. Well, let me go through his speech and highlight the many ways he did that.
Neglecting the fact that his regime has contributed to the corruption that has mired Wall Street and this US Administration, forgetting that it is the duplicity and hypocrisy of the international community in upholding the rule of law and enforcing international agreements that has contributed to the lack of confidence in the international system, Seyoum Mesfin said:
"…We call on developed countries to honour their commitment to devote zero point seven per cent (0.7%) of their GDP to Overseas Development Assistance…"
Now ain´t that some ---t?
First of all, Seyoum Mesfin does not have the moral authority to lecture the UN General Assembly (UN GA) about honoring commitments. The UN GA knows that the minority regime in Ethiopia has reneged on its legal and moral obligations under the Algiers Agreements it willingly and consciously signed. The UN GA is well aware of Ethiopia´s numerous violations of the UN Charter and international law. Secondly, neither Seyoum Mesfin, nor the mercenary minority regime can claim neglect from the international community as being Ethiopia´s "development emergency" and Ethiopia´s inability to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
He ought to know that regardless of how much taxpayers in developing countries put up for Overseas Development Assistance (ODA), when it comes to Africa, almost all of it will inevitably be sent to Ethiopia, the proud recipient of 80% of all aid that comes to Africa. Unfortunately, the Ethiopian people have not benefited from over 100 years of aid to Ethiopia. But for the record, let us see how much the mercenary minority regime received in just 2007 from various donors.
On August 2007 the notice from the US Embassy in Addis Ababa said:
"…United States Ambassador Donald Yamamoto announced that the U.S. is providing US $18.7 million (169 million birr) in humanitarian assistance for needs in Ethiopia´s Somali Region…"
And again on 20 September 2007, the US Embassy in Addis Ababa announced:
"…In recognition of Ethiopia´s strategic importance to the United States, the U.S. Government, through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), is providing new funding totaling $96.71 million (874.26 million birr) to assist the Ethiopian people in four key areas: agricultural and private sector development, health care, primary education, and good governance…"
On 24 September 2008 the United States announced that it had:
"…pledged over $400 million to support Ethiopia´s development programs in education, health, economic growth, democracy and governance in the next five years…"
According to USAID, in U.S. fiscal year 2008, the United States´ total assistance to Ethiopia, through these grants and other programs, including PEPFAR and emergency humanitarian assistance, will total more than U.S. $900 million. In addition the UK´s Department for International Development (DFID) announced on 22 September 2008 that it was providing the TPLF regime with £20 million "to help the country cope with its worsening humanitarian crisis". Ireland provided €32 million in bilateral development assistance, and of course the IMF and World Bank have contributed generously to the regime´s war machinery. Grant and loan agreements between the WB and Ethiopia totaling 232.62 million US dollars were signed on 13 July 2007 but I am sure there is more.
Seyoum Mesfin told the UN General Assembly that:
"…Ethiopia´s priorities remain the eradication of poverty, sustainable development, and the ensuring of good governance, democracy, and respect for human rights. We have laid the foundations for continued growth and democratization, building democratic institutions from the grassroots, and providing the necessary political space for responsible democratization…"
I suppose looking at things from his regime´s vintage point, things must be hunky dory in Weyaneland, but let us take a look at Ethiopia from the perspective of others.
1. Tom Porteous, London Director, Human Rights Watch 30 January 2008:
"…If the west was better informed about the war crimes and human rights abuses committed by Meles' military forces in Somalia and Ogaden, western taxpayers might balk at the thought that their governments are providing Ethiopia with hundreds of millions of dollars of military and economic aid…And if western governments were more consistent and less selective in their reaction to human rights abuses around the world, they might be less inclined to turn a blind eye to Ethiopia's failure to abide by international norms in pursuit of its military objectives in Somalia and Ogaden…"
2. Senator Russ Feingold (D-WI), Chairman of the Subcommittee on African Affairs Statement on the Bill entitled "Support for Democracy and Human Rights in Ethiopia Act of 2008 delivered on 11 September 2008
"…As we turn a blind eye to the escalating political tensions, people are being thrown in jail without justification and non-government organizations are being restricted, while civilians are dying unnecessarily in the Ogaden region – just like so many before them in Oromiya, Amhara, and Gambella. Furthermore, the Ethiopian military has come under increasing scrutiny for its conduct in the Ogaden as well as Somalia, with credible reports from non-governmental organizations of torture, rape and indiscriminate attacks. By providing unconditioned security assistance we are also sowing the seeds of insecurity and creating new grievances both in Ethiopia and in its neighboring countries…"

3. Jonathan Rugman reporting for the Times on 18 September 2008
"…Ethiopia has been accused of deliberately underestimating the scale of a deadly drought facing millions of its people, some of whom are being deprived of emergency food aid by the country´s military…The humanitarian crisis, caused by three years of failed rains, currently affects about 4.6 million people, though the official number could jump to as high as 6.7 million this week…United Nations agencies say that the real number at risk is above 8 million, an estimate disputed hotly by Addis Ababa, which is insisting on publishing a much lower figure…"
4. The American Association for the Advancement of Science, "Triple A-S" (AAAS) in its 12 June 2008 report documenting the TPLF regime´s "scorched earth policies"
"…An analysis of high-resolution satellite imagery by AAAS has helped confirm evidence that the Ethiopian military has attacked civilians and burned towns and villages in eight locations across the remote Ogaden region of eastern Ethiopia… They [Meles Zenawi´s regime] can deny us access on the ground but they can't prevent us from still telling the truth about what is happening inside…"
5. Reuters report on May 2007
"…An Internet watchdog on Tuesday accused Ethiopia of blocking scores of anti-government Web sites and millions of Weblogs in one of sub-Saharan Africa's biggest cases of cyber-censorship. Web monitor, the OpenNet Initiative, said the Horn of Africa country was stopping citizens from viewing opposition-linked Web sites, and blogs hosted by Blogger, an online journal community owned by Internet search engine Google Inc…"
As for providing political space, he must mean jail space, for that is where all of the opposition leaders ended up after the May 2005 elections in which Ethiopians voted the TPLF regime out of office. The Commission that was set up to investigate the massacre of over 200 innocent civilians and the detentions of over 40,000 across Ethiopia found itself in exile and its reports discarded. So if the good Foreign Minister wants to stand up and lie to the UN GA about his deceptive regime´s dismal record on human rights, governance and the economy, it is not only his prerogative to do so, but it is also the only thing that the inveterate liar does best.
The funny chap that he is, he actually managed to put in a joke (Made in Weyaneland) in his speech. He said:
"…Our average of ten percent growth over the last five years is continuing despite the setbacks in recent months…For the first time in its history, Ethiopia is making real and meaningful economic progress. It is the fastest growing non-oil economy in Africa…"
That claim comes courtesy of the International Monetary Funds team that visited Ethiopia in May 2008. Under Article IV of the IMF´s Articles of Agreement, the IMF holds bilateral discussions with members annually. In the context of the 2008 Article IV consultation, it dispatched a team to Ethiopia and that statement about Ethiopia´s economy has been milked by the regime´s propaganda media and now Seyoum Mesfin has decided to use it in his hollow statement at the UN. I would advise the readers to read all the reports and the IMFs disclaimers (IMF Country Report No. 08/264). The Report was based on statistical data prepared and provided to its staff by the regime itself.
After telling the UN GA that Ethiopia had the "fastest growing non-oil economy in Africa", Seyoum Mesfin unabashedly told the UN GA that:
"…Ethiopia is both landlocked and one of the least developed countries. Accordingly, we attach great importance to the full implementation of both the Brussels and Almaty Programmes of Action…"
Again, forgetting his regime´s record of refusing to allow for the implementation of Agreements signed, after refusing to allow for the expeditious demarcation of the Eritrea Ethiopia border in accordance with the Eritrea Ethiopia Boundary Commission´s (EEBC) Final and Binding decision, after forcing the EEBC to close its offices and leave the area after waiting patiently for over 5 years to fulfill it sole mandate to delimit and demarcate the Eritrea Ethiopia border, after 5 years of deceptive gimmicks and tactics to reverse the Final and Binding decision, while still militarily occupying sovereign Eritrean territories including Badme, Seyoum Mesfin does not have the moral authority to lecture the UN GA about implementation of any agreements.
As for Ethiopia being landlocked-it has nothing to do with Ethiopia´s under development. It has everything to do with aggressive war mongering corrupt mercenary regimes and chronic dependency on foreign aid. I suggest that the Foreign Minister of Ethiopia read through the Almaty Programmes of Action, which unlike the Final and Binding decision of the EEBC, is not binding on its signatories. Everything depends "on the good will and intentions of the countries that are capable of influencing the situation in the economically backward regions of the world" and "cooperation must be promoted on the basis of the mutual interest of both landlocked and transit developing countries". As the Foreign Minister of Ethiopia knows, his mercenary regime is not known for its "goodwill" or "cooperation", nor does it understand the meaning of "mutual interests".
I suppose Seyoum Mesfin was not "wired" during his stay in the Big Apple or else he would not have made such an obvious blunder. At a time he was lauding the reconciliation talks held in Djibouti with the Transitional Federal Government (TNG) of Somalia, its leader Abdulahi Yusuf was stuck in Mogadishu, unable to attend the very UN session he was addressing because the town was under siege by Somalis who are fighting to evict the TPLF regime´s mercenary forces from sovereign Somali territories. Seyoum Mesfin also knows that the staged "talks" in Djibouti were a complete failure as they did not include the primary stakeholders and representatives of the Somali people.
Its scorched earth "surrender or starve" policies of genocides and destruction in the Ogaden region has claimed the lives of innocent men, women and children and famine is once again threatening millions all over Ethiopia. In Somalia, since it invaded and occupied Somalia in 2006, over 500000 Somalis have been displaced from their homes; tens of thousands have been killed and has created the worst humanitarian emergency in the history of Somalia. Its US-backed illegal intervention in Somalia to "prop up" the illegitimate Transitional National government of Somalia led by Ethiopia´s stooges, Abdulahi Yusuf and the runaway criminal Ali Mohammed Ghedi, have managed to destroy Somalia´s infrastructures and have caused the people of Somalia tremendous suffering, not to mention the international crimes that they have committed in order to effectuate US and Ethiopian policies in Somalia.
The Ethiopian Foreign Minister did not impress anyone with his platitudes about the UN System and "multilateral diplomacy" as his regime has been the benefactor of the duplicity and hypocrisy that defines the international system. The UN has failed to stand up for the values and principles enshrined in the UN Charter. It has refused to take appropriate punitive actions against the minority regime in Ethiopia as it invaded and occupied sovereign Somali territories. It has also remained silent as the regime militarily occupies sovereign Eritrean territories, including Badme. Seyoum Mesfin obviously does not understand what the UN principles are, if he had, he would have kept his mouth shut.
At a time when responsible governments in Africa are shying away from aid dependency, his country is begging for more, at a time when Africa is calling for respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of their nations, his regime is violating that of others. At a time when the entire world is calling for UN reform and equity at the Security Council, his country is content with the status quo. It comes as no surprise; his country´s rulers have always allied with those that have been responsible for Africa´s marginalization, occupation and plunder.
The rule of law must prevail over the law of the jungle.

Passport-Optional Travel to Somalia

Medeshi 01 Oct, 2008
Gray Areas

To get into most countries, I needed a passport. To get into Somalia, I needed a lift.
By Graeme Wood
Mohammed had a squirrelly look in his eyes, which together with his green-flecked teeth made me wonder whether to trust him. We had met that morning in Jijiga, Ethiopia, and he volunteered to show me — and then devour with me — the bleak town's one real attraction: qat bushes. Here, near the Somali border, Mohammed cultivated qat and then shipped it all over the world for Horn-of-Africa expatriates who, like him, were utterly addicted to the numbing buzz you get when you chew its leaves for a few hours. They tasted about as bitter as you'd expect a shrub to taste. We were well into our fifth hour of chewing, and the bits of leaf gave his pearlies an emerald cast — the qat equivalent of the grotesque orange teeth one gets after scarfing a whole bag of Cheetos.

Qat induces quiet, vigorous meditation in some and unhinged garrulity in others. Richard Burton chewed qat near Jijiga and observed in the locals "a manner of dreamy enjoyment, which, exaggerated by time and distance, may have given rise to that splendid myth" of the land of the Lotus-eaters in the Odyssey. In me it induced thirst and irritation. We sat in the shade all afternoon, and even in December, the heat had me sweating out fluids as fast as I could drink them. Mohammed and I had already sat talking for longer than I ever hoped to stay in Jijiga. I chewed with him because he knew the immigration officer — the one man in town who could make my trip to Somalia possible, and could prevent me from getting thrown in jail as an illegal immigrant if I tried to return to Ethiopia.

Then as now, Somalia had no real government, although it did have a number of groups that called themselves governments and on occasion even acted like governments. Anarchy reigned in the south after the failed American intervention in the early 1990s. Violence and factional fighting had led to an uneasy balance of terror, with multiple heavily-armed groups bickering over the spoils of a ruined country. Puntland, the middle, had the beginnings of a government. And in the north, where I intended to visit, the "Republic of Somaliland" functioned fairly smoothly — there had been no fighting for years, and the group in charge held elections, opened overseas offices, and even issued visas to tourists like me. No country's government recognized the visas as legitimate, but I picked one up anyway in Addis Ababa. The man who sold it to me ($30, cash) said no one would check for it at the Somali border, but he advised me to get the Ethiopian immigration officer in Jijiga to affix an exit stamp in my passport, so that if I came back to Ethiopia it wouldn't look as if I had left illegally.

When Mohammed took me to the office of the groggy immigration officer the next day, the man thumped the stamp into my passport hard enough to make his inkpad jump off the table, and to make me jump a little with it. I felt a sense of irrevocable departure, of being cut loose off the map, officially no longer in a country, and officially unwelcome (I had no return visa for Ethiopia) to turn back even if I wanted to. This feeling was why I was going to Somalia. Before this trip, in travels through dozens of countries, I had presented my documents to consular officers for visas and passport stamps. Somewhere along the way I realized that proffering a passport, and the coy ceremony of the consular officers' accepting it and returning it with a new stamp, was a form of deference that hadn't always existed, and might be distorting how I saw the world. Had Richard Burton, when he chewed his qat not much more than a century before, presented his passport to a man behind a glass window? Did Ulysses get a single-entry visa for Lotus-Land? In Somalia, there would be no consular officer to accept my passport, and no officials at the border to scrutinize me. It was as if I was traveling in time to when borders were just suggestions, and before the rules that govern travel today applied.

I left Mohammed behind — he waved goodbye and, while I was still in sight, turned and walked toward the qat market — and found a truck headed to Hartichek, the border post. After a while, the only structures we passed were shanties made of sticks and old flour sacks, some marked with the letters "UN" and others with the red-white-and-blue insignia of USAID.


From Hartichek, which consisted of barely more than a bus stop on the edge of nowhere, I hitched a lift in a rickety jalopy to the center of Hargeisa, a distance of 50 miles through territory where literally no government existed. By the time we neared Hargeisa, twilight had arrived, and the driver could navigate by the glow of the city lights against the black backdrop of a countryside lit only by campfires. The car deposited me at the Maweel Hotel, a friendly joint that charged a couple dollars a day for a room with a fan.

It was Ramadan. In the interest of not attracting dirty looks, I woke up before dawn to eat two oranges and gulp down all the water I could, so that I wouldn't have to eat or drink during the day. Hargeisa is in a gentle range of low mountains, and the heat was more bearable than in the Ethiopian flatlands. At a general store run by Indians, I swapped a $100 bill for Somaliland shillings. Each dollar bought me over 5,000 shillings, but since the largest denomination was a 500-shilling note, I walked away with enough bills to strain the stitching of my pockets, plus two fistfuls of cash and a couple of wads under my hat. I wondered at first whether having money literally flapping in the breeze out of my trousers made me a target for thieves, but as I walked down the street and saw others using carts to carry cash, I felt a little less rich, and more like the forlorn backpacker I in fact was.
The hotelkeeper suggested that I make an appearance at the "government" office that controlled the movement of foreigners, and out of curiosity I did so. It was a one-story building with three chairs and a desk. Two chairs belonged to two young men who spoke some English and worked part-time for the government and part-time for Radio Somaliland. They had a stamp of their own, which they said they would press into my passport for a few dollars. I was beginning to think of these handy little things like charms or royal scepters, symbols of authority that mattered only insofar as one allowed them to. It felt good to be in a position of not really needing the stamp, as there was no one around to ask to see it. One of the men twiddled the stamp around in his fingers, as if to tantalize. I was untantalized, till I saw that the stamp used the Somali word for entry — GELID — in big letters. I laughed out loud: "Gelid" was the last word that described that country. I disgorged a fistful of shillings from my pocket (at last, my pants fit again), and prepared to wander around a capital whose government seemed so far to consist entirely of men with rubber stamps.
The city wasn't much of a city. The markets were lively in the morning, filled with men selling junk in dirt alleys. After noon, once the hunger and thirst of Ramadan arrived, they cleared out to nap till sundown, and the city felt abandoned. I strolled to the center, the only area still active, and visited Hargeisa’s principal monument — a decommissioned fighter jet balanced precariously on a concrete pillar as a memorial to the civil war of the 1980s, when Somaliland started its push for autonomy. Tens of thousands had died in bombing by forces loyal to Somalia's dictator, Siad Barre. The plane looked precarious and likely to tip over and crush a passerby.

I took a bus up to the airport to check schedules and found it windswept, eerily silent, and nearly abandoned after the departure of the day’s last plane. Drowsy caretakers let me in to see a plaque on the wall that commemorated the facility's opening in 1954 by the Duke of Gloucester — an event that in the context of Somalia’s bleak disorder seemed remote and absurd. In the ghostly wind, could I hear an echo of the fanfare and posh accents? No, but not for want of trying. Near the plaque was a Somali telecom ad, a painting of a camel with a satellite dish on its back.

After a few hours of winding though back streets, a muezzin announced the evening prayer, which in a town of daytime fasting was as good as a dinner bell. I found a restaurant where patrons gathered around a television that picked up a snowy Al Jazeera signal, and I ate spaghetti splashed with a spicy goat stew. The Somalis had picked up a love of pasta from their Italian colonizers, but they were sensible enough not to adopt the custom of using a knife and fork. We ate with our hands, an experience all pasta lovers should try. (Tip: Order al dente.)

Back at the hotel that night, I found a short Frenchman at the front desk. He was a Basque, 40, and dressed in a dust-caked, billowy white shirt that made him look like a homeless Luke Skywalker. Jean-Marc Sein told me that he took a year off work every three years and traveled around Africa. He looked grizzled, like someone who had spent months in the sun, on the backs of trucks on roads dustier than mine; the grit was tattooed into his face. He had the thousand-yard stare of a traveler who had spent years seeking something, and who could not possibly be satisfied with normal places or normal jobs. But when I asked him what he did for a living in Bidart, in the French Basque region, he said, "Systems analyst."
Jean-Marc and I spent another day in Hargeisa before heading to Berbera, Somaliland's chief port. Along the way, we stopped for tea — Ramadan's rules for fasting permit moderate consumption on journeys — and talked about what had driven us to Somaliland. I had my Burton. He had Arthur Rimbaud (who spent time running guns and trading coffee in Harar, Ethiopia, and Aden, across the Gulf from Berbera), but also a more pressing and modern desire: the wish for a national homeland. He hoped for a Basque state in his lifetime. Coming to Somaliland, where a population was establishing its own state through sheer force of will, was a voyage of inspiration. Here was a stateless people who had made good. From then on, I looked at every building and every Somaliland citizen through his eyes, wondering what allowed this country to stand up through war and misery, and finally to have achieved something halfway to independence. Surely whatever Somaliland had, the Basques could have as well? That thousand-yard stare now had the look of confusion, and maybe also of pain.
In Berbera, we shared a room in a grubby hotel uphill from the waterfront, near a neighborhood of older buildings that still showed traces of Berbera's two centuries of Ottoman rule, ending in Burton's time. It was Eid al-Fitr, the final day of Ramadan, and most of the city was sleeping through the swelter in preparation for a feast that night. The seaside was beautiful, ruined only by the awful soupy humidity, which made the atmosphere feel hot enough to boil me alive and thick enough to let me swim through the air, over the harbor, and up to my second-story hotel room and its glorious old ceiling fan.
Rusted hulks of freighters lay far to the west. No one was out, not even fishermen, and when I let the water lap my ankles I found out why — it had the gooey consistency of warm spit. But it was one of the prettiest beaches I had ever seen, made prettier by the knowledge that I was there at the dispensation of no one in particular. I could stay, I could go: It was a form of travel-as-trespassing, with a vague thrill of transgression, a feeling that countless interactions with consular bureaucrats in embassies around the world had made me fear I missed experiencing by a century or two. I savored a sweet moment of reverie, then returned to Earth when I realized I would kill a man for a glass of lemonade.
Back in the town center, a Somali spotted me and (with typical Muslim hospitality) invited me to dinner at a restaurant in town with him at sundown. I brought along Jean-Marc, and the Somali brought a small boy, the youngest of his five sons. Jean-Marc and I ate pasta with fish — a surprisingly rare commodity for a seaside town — and he snacked on dried dates, goat-sauce spaghetti, and qat. The boy hid behind his father's bench, peering through the slats, for much of the meal. We were, said the man, the first white people he had seen. "He will go back to his brothers and say, 'I have seen something very interesting today!'"
Jean-Marc interrogated the man lightly about his government — how it had managed to rise to an impressive level of legitimacy despite near-universal discouragement from Somaliland's neighbors. The Arab League looked unkindly at Somaliland's insistence on independence, and the warring clans to the south would surely rise up to retake the north if ever they banded together. But the man waved off the concern, and said his country was safe, and that it didn't need recognition anyway. "Look around," he said. "We have what we need.” He held up a handful of spaghetti as if it were threads of gold, then ate it with sloppy gusto. "If they come back," he said, referring to the groups in the south, "we will defeat them again.” At this Jean-Marc looked dejected, perhaps imagining the French Air Force pounding his Basque village of Bidart the way Siad Barre's planes had pounded Hargeisa. Somaliland existed because of violence and the threat of more violence. This was a price of independence.
I never saw or communicated with Jean-Marc again, but I know he continued to travel in Africa — a strange choice for a person who loved his home as much as he said he did. Perhaps it was a natural, frustrated response for someone whose homeland was doomed to remain split in two, its independence stymied and its destiny unfulfilled. In any case, independence was a destiny Jean-Marc never lived to see. I wrote to a Basque newsletter in Bidart, which reported with regret that he had died of malaria in Bobo-Dioulasso, Burkina-Faso, in 2006. • 2 May

Pirates off Somalia deny reports of a bloody mutiny

Medeshi
Pirates off Somalia deny reports of a bloody mutiny
A spokesman aboard a hijacked Ukrainian ship says the pirates want $20 million. He calls it a tax on foreigners using Somalia's waters.
By Edmund Sanders, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
October 1, 2008
NAIROBI, KENYA -- Pirates who seized a weapons-laden Ukrainian cargo ship off Somalia did not engage in a shootout that left three of them dead, as was claimed by Kenyan maritime officials, a representative for the group said Tuesday.
There has been no dissension aboard the ship, said Sugale Ali Omar, who identified himself as a spokesman for the pirates and claimed to be aboard the hijacked vessel.

"There was no shooting and there is no fighting among us," Omar said in a telephone interview.
He also said the pirates had no plans to sell any of the 33 tanks or other weaponry aboard the ship as long as they received $20 million in ransom, which he likened to a tax on foreigners using Somalia's waters.
The Ukrainian vessel Faina was hijacked last week. It was carrying Soviet-designed T-72 tanks and other weapons reportedly purchased by the government of Kenya.

Many experts think the final destination of the tanks is the government of southern Sudan.
About 50 pirates are thought to be on the ship, with more in the area for support.
Omar said the pirates were acting alone and not on behalf of any of Somalia's warlords or Islamic groups, including those waging war against Somalia's fragile transitional government. Some Somali government officials have linked the pirates to Al Shabab, an Al Qaeda-affiliated insurgency group.
"We are an independent group," Omar said. "We are acting as Somali marines until we get a government that can control Somalia's waters."
A Kenyan maritime official suggested that three pirates had been shot late Monday during an internal squabble over whether they should surrender.
A U.S. destroyer and other ships have surrounded the hijacked boat and a Russian frigate is en route, raising fears that a confrontation may be imminent.
Officials for the U.S. Navy, which is monitoring the standoff from about a mile away as ransom negotiations continue, said they had no indication there had been gunfire.
"We are not aware of anything like that," said Lt. Nathan Christensen, spokesman for the U.S. Navy's Bahrain-based 5th Fleet. "It's been very minimal topside. It appears to be rather quiet."
Somalia has lacked a functioning central government since the collapse of the Mohamed Siad Barre regime in 1991.
Omar said the hijackings were a justified response to what he called foreign exploitation of Somalia's waters for the last 17 years.
"This is not a ransom," he said. "It is more like a tax. We are protecting our waters from pirates who illegally fish our seas and dump toxins, like uranium."
He said his group was prepared to destroy the ship's cargo and die along with the 20 crew members they were holding hostage in the event that U.S. or Russian commandos attempted to storm the boat.
But Omar said they had no plans to sell the weapons to any of Somalia's armed groups.
"We understand our country," he said. "We don't want to add more weapons into our land."

TGS To Make Tajikistan, Somaliland Well Log Data Available Online

Medeshi 1 Oct, 2008

HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Geological Products and Services division of TGS-NOPEC Geophysical Company (TGS) has signed an agreement with the Head Geological Department under the Government of the Republic of Tajikistan to build and market a databank of the country's well log data assets. Under the terms of the deal, TGS will have the exclusive right to license to third party exploration companies the several thousand logs that will be sourced from government archives beginning in late Q3 2008. During indexing, scanning and subsequent processing, the data will be subject to TGS' exacting quality control standards.
Tajikistan is considered a highly prospective hydrocarbon play, with existing discoveries and production but very little exploration investment to date.
In a separate agreement with the Ministry of Water and Mineral Resources of the Republic of Somaliland, TGS will also add curve data for the East African nation's wells to its collection.
The TGS well log database contains more than five million well logs from key exploration areas in 23 countries worldwide. All of this data is available to clients via the award winning LOG-LINE Plus!® database which features online access, search tools and immediate download capabilities.
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Deforestation in Somaliland and Somalia

Medeshi Sept 29, 2008
Deforestation in Somaliland and Somalia

* Somalis depend on sheep, goats and camels for their livelihood
* Somalis use charcoal or wood for all their cooking every day
* Deforestation for charcoal production has caused massive and nearly irreversible degradation of grazing land in Somalia Without trees, there is no life for animals or pastoralists in the fragile Somali landscape
Sun fire cooking in Somalia is the answer to stop this process and all local and international NGO's operating in Somaliland and Somalia are urged to bring the solar technology to the the masses in order the fight deforestation.
Solar cookers(like the one shown above) can save Somali households an average of $20 per month in charcoal costs. The solar cooker pays for itself in less than one year and should give twenty years of free solar cooking.
I, particularly, urge PENHA (Pastoral and Environmental Network in the Horn of Africa ) which I worked with in Somaliland from 2001 -2004 to continue the fight against deforestation and introduce cost effective solar equipment like the one shown above to replace the use of charcoal in the house holds and commercial places both in Somaliland and Somalia.

Medeshi

Fiction on Somalia wins award

Medeshi Sep 29, 2008

Fiction on Somalia wins award
Kent Mensah and Joseph Appiah-Dolphyne, AfricaNews editors in Accra, Ghana
A fiction on environmental and cultural devastation in Somalia - Charcoal Traffic - has won the Best Short Fiction award at the San Francisco, California (USA) VideoFest. It is a story of two brothers trapped in a murderous cycle of environmental and cultural devastation in Somalia.

Charcoal Traffic has been selected and screened at 19 film festivals around the world, a press statement to AfricaNews from Hot Sun Foundation on Monday said. Santa Mukabanah, Hot Sun Foundation Communications Officer, who signed the statement said: “Charcoal Traffic is especially close to our hearts considering that one of the co-founders of Hot Sun Foundation, Mr. Gordon Ojiambo co-produced the short film. He is a testament of the unique creativity available in the Kibera slum.”
It added: “Charcoal Traffic is the world's first short fictional film based on Somali pastoral culture. It was shot entirely on location in northern Somalia under very challenging conditions due to almost 20 years of civil war.”
What makes the movie unique, the statement said, is that it is made up of an entirely local Somali cast with no previous acting experience. It was acted in the Somali language but with English subtitles for international viewers.
Charcoal Traffic was directed by Nathan Collett, assisted by Godfrey Ojiambo, and co-produced by international award winning environmentalist, Fatima Jibrell with James Lindsay, co-founder of Sun Fire Cooking. Godfrey Ojiambo, resident of Kibera and trustee of Hot Sun Foundation, travelled with Nathan Collett to Somalia to film Charcoal Traffic.
The BEST SHORT FICTION AWARD would to be presented to Charcoal Traffic during the VideoFest in San Francisco, California, October 17-18, 2008. Charcoal Traffic was made possible because of an alliance between two unique east African organizations - Sun Fire Cooking and Hot Sun Films.

Military, maritime officials say hijacked Ukrainian arms destined to South Sudan

Medeshi

Military, maritime officials say hijacked Ukrainian arms destined to South Sudan
Monday 29 September 2008
September 28, 2008 (KHARTOUM) — A Sudanese military source said today that the weapons carried by the seized Ukrainian ship were destined for South Sudan and not Kenya. These allegations were confirmed by a Kenyan maritime official.

(Photo : USS George Washington off the coast of Somalia)
Somali pirates hijacked last Thursday a Belize-flagged ship “Faina” as it neared the Kenyan port of Mombasa carrying a cargo of 33 Soviet-type T-72 tanks, grenade launchers and ammunition.
The Somali pirates demand a ransom 20 USD million to release the cargo ship.
The Sudanese official asserted that the cargo was destined to southern Sudan army adding that it was the second cargo to Juba during this year. He further dismissed reports that these weapons are for Kenya saying all its military equipments are from the US and western countries.
In Nairobi, the government spokesperson, Alfred Mutua said Faina cargo ship was carrying an authorized Ukrainian government arms shipment for the Kenyan army
South Sudan government led by the former rebel SPLM, which signed a peace agreement in 2005 with the Khartoum government ending 21 years of war, is not allowed to buy weapons.
Andrew Mwangura, head of the East Africa Seafarers Assistance Program from the Kenyan capital, said the Somali pirates claim they captured confidential documents showing that the arms shipment destined to southern Sudan. They threat to divulgate it if they are not paid.
"The pirates are saying that if they are not going to be paid the ransom, they will spill the beans. Maybe they are going to say what is happening in this region because we understand South Sudan is under a United Nations arms embargo and why Kenya allowing the military equipment to pass through Kenyan waters is not known," Mwangura said.
The Kenyan maritime official further said that the hijacked ship was ferrying the fourth such consignment from Ukrainian to southern Sudan. "One of the cargo arrived at the port of Mombasa in October last year, two in February this year." He said.
Yesterday, Major General Byor Ajang from the SPLA said that the Government of Southern Sudan (GoSS) did not order any new weapons. “The SPLA did not have Russian weapons shipments that were on its way here through Kenya” Ajang said.
Piracy is rampant along the 1,880-mile Somali coast, the longest in Africa and located near key shipping routes connecting the Red Sea with the Indian Ocean. A Spanish trawler, a French yacht and several ships carrying humanitarian aid have been seized this year.
At least 55 boats have been attacked in the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean since January by Somali pirates, according to the International Maritime Office (IMB).
(ST)

Crewman dies in Somalia pirate drama: captain

Medeshi 29 Sept , 2008

Crewman dies in Somalia pirate drama: captain
PARIS (AFP) — One of the European crew on board a Ukrainian cargo ship hijacked by Somali pirates has died of an illness, his captain said Monday, in a telephone interview from the vessel.
Viktor Nikolski said the crewman had been suffering from high blood pressure prior to his death.

(Photo: Somali gunman)
"We have 21 members of crew on board, one of them dead. He's been put in the cold locker. He was sick," he said.
The pirates had announced the death of one of the sailors on Sunday -- without saying which nationality he was. Among the hostages are 17 Ukrainians, three Russians and one Lithuanian.
The MV Faina was boarded on Thursday by Somali pirates as it sailed towards Kenya with a shipment of tanks, grenade launchers and ammunition.
The attackers have demanded a 20-million-dollar (13.7-million-euro) ransom for the vessel, its cargo and crew, despite being shadowed at sea by three warships.
"Alongside my ship, at one nautical mile, there are warships observing us," Captain Nikolski said, in the interview with Radio France Internationale.
The United States has confirmed that one of its warships is in the flotilla monitoring the hijacked Faina, and Moscow has announced that it is sending a naval vessel to the region

Border Country | Rogue State

Medeshi Sept 29, 2008
Border Country Rogue State
This photo was taken during our drive down from Assab in Eritrea to Obock in Djibouti, in what seemed like the slowest Land Cruiser in Africa. The country is dry and rocky with some spectacular mountains rising from the plain. There are no roads and we followed a track through the desert.
Somehow, this area has been brought into the USA's War on Terror, as they have managed to manipulate a border dispute between Eritrea and Djibouti.
The USA has always been anti-Eritrea and pro-Ethiopia, with its ally Djibouti (where they ahve a massive military base). Eritrea has been labelled a haven for Islamist terrorists (especially since offering refuse for various Somaliis from the Islamic Courts).
Anyway, there is nothing really here apart from sand and rock, yet soldiers were set in and people were killed in order to promote the idea of Eritrea as a rogue state.
CharlesFred

Birth of an Ocean: The Evolution of Afar Depression

Medeshi
Scientific American Magazine - September 29, 2008
Birth of an Ocean: The Evolution of Afar Depression
Key Concepts:

*Africa is splitting apart at the seams—literally. From the southern tip of the Red Sea southward through Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania and Mozambique, the continent is coming un­­stitched along a zone called the East African Rift.

*Like a shirtsleeve tearing under a bulging bicep, the earth’s crust rips apart as molten rock from deep down pushes up on the solid surface and stretches it thin—sometimes to its breaking point. Each new slit widens as lava fills the gap from below.

*This spectacular geologic unraveling, already under way for millions of years, will be complete when saltwater from the Red Sea floods the massive gash. Ten million years from now the entire rift may be submerged.
Formation of an ocean is a rare event, one few scientists have ever witnessed. Yet this geophysical nativity is unfolding today in one of the hottest and most inhospitable corners of the globe. Visit the site in safety through this extraordinary photographic essay
By Eitan Haddok

In northeastern Ethiopia one of the earth’s driest deserts is making way for a new ocean. This region of the African continent, known to geologists as the Afar Depression, is pulling apart in two directions—a process that is gradually thinning the earth’s rocky outer skin. The continental crust under Afar is a mere 20 kilometers from top to bottom, less than half its original thickness, and parts of the area are over 100 meters below sea level. Low hills to the east are all that stops the Red Sea from encroaching.

Such proximity to the planet’s scorching interior has transformed the region into a dynamic landscape of earthquakes, volcanoes and hydrothermal fields—making Afar a veritable paradise for people, like me, eager to understand those processes. Yet few outsiders, scientists included, have ever set foot in Afar. Daytime temperatures soar to 48 degrees Celsius (118 degrees Fahrenheit) in the summer, and no rain falls for much of the year. But I knew I faced more than treacherous geology and climate. Nasty geopolitical struggles—namely, war between Ethiopia and neighboring Eritrea—combine with those natural hardships to make Afar utterly inhospitable.

Geologists predict another million years of the land stretching and sinking, combined with a massive deluge from the Red Sea, could put Afar at the bottom of a new ocean. For now, this incip­ient seabed is a desolate landscape where lava stifles vegetation, hellish heat makes acid boil, devilish formations emit toxic fumes, and the salty legacy of ancient Red Sea floods provides nomadic tribes of Afar with a precious export.

Click here to view this photo essay as a slide show
RISING ABOVE
The highest point in sunken Afar is Erta Ale, or “smoking mountain” in the language of the local people. Erta Ale is the northernmost volcano in a long chain that follows the so-called East African Rift.

This rift is the not yet submerged equivalent of mid-ocean ridges—chains of under­­sea volcanoes that produce new seafloor. Indeed, Erta Ale spews the same kind of basaltic lava that erupts at mid-ocean ridges; past expulsions have covered the surrounding plain with so much fresh basalt that vegetation struggles to take hold (1).

LAKE OF LAVAAtop Erta Ale is one of the earth’s few quasi-permanent lava lakes. The flux of heat from the earth’s interior is rarely sufficient to keep rock molten under the cooling effect of the atmosphere. Even on Erta Ale the heat sometimes slackens enough so that portions of the lake surface “freeze” into a black crust (2) . Typically, though, blocks of basalt float like icebergs on the fiery liquid rock, which reaches 1,200 degrees C (2,190 degrees F) (3). Most of the Afar people do not approach the volcano, because it is thought to harbor evil spirits. Seeing an Afar warrior on the volcano’s summit is unusual; this man, Ibrahim, was my guide (4). Lava emerging from cracks in the lake is particularly spectacular at night (5), when the sight evokes the phantoms of local lore.

HELLISH HEATOne hundred kilometers north of Erta Ale, near the Eritrea border, is the Dallol crater. There molten magma simmering below the surface fuels a vast plumbing network of superheated water. The result is a 1.6-kilometer-wide field of hydrothermal vents, geysers and hot springs (6) that call to mind the similar but more accessible environment in Yellowstone National Park in the western U.S. The mineral sulfur produces the lemon-yellow color in this earthly palette (7); blended with the signature red of oxidized iron, the sulfur stains turn orange (8). Only a few steps away from this vivid scene are drab, desiccated reminders of a hot spring’s ephemeral nature (9). When an earthquake or other natural process clogs a vent’s buried conduits, its minerals can lose their florid flush within a year.

LETHAL FUMESThe surreal landscape of the Dallol crater results as rain­water percolates deep underground, heats up as it contacts hot magma and rises to the surface through thick layers of salt, dissolving the salt as it travels. Recrystallization of the salt at ground level can sculpt massive structures (10) or formations as delicate as an eggshell (11) . But the beauty of the sculptures can be deceiving: toxic vapors emanating from these so-called aeration mouths are yet another contributorto Afar’s devilish reputation—and often require visitors to wear gas masks. More than once a surge of the ominous gas forced me to stop shooting photographs and don my mask for safety.

POISON OR ELIXIR?Near reddish pools of bubbling-hot, iron-rich water (12), the strong odor of hydrocarbon is a telltale sign of danger. Animals sometimes stop for a drink—not realizing it will be their last. I saw several ill-fated birds swirling in the scalding pools. But I was comforted by the irony that one organism’s poison is another’s elixir. The same emanations that can kill birds, insects and mammals also nourish complex communities of microbes, which thrive in many of Dallol’s acidic waters. Not surprisingly, these terrestrial hot-springs communities bear striking similarities to their counterparts along submerged mid-ocean ridges.

FATEFUL FLOODSThe salt sculptures on the opposite page and others that decorate Afar serve as a reminder that the birth of an ocean is not a singular event but rather an ongoing saga. During the 30 million years this region has been stretching thin, global sea level has fluctuated, at times filling Afar with seawater. Most recently, about 80,000 years ago, the waters of the Red Sea rose high enough to breech the low hills east of Afar, carving deep canyons (13) as they flooded the lowlands. When sea level dropped and Afar was once again cut off from the sea, the floodwaters evaporated. Wind and water sculpted the salty traces of these past inundations over the ensuing millennia, sometimes carving bizarre formations called salt mushrooms (14). In other areas, alternating layers of salt and reddish marine sediment are visible in eroded canyon walls (15).

SALT OF THE EARTHSalty traces of past deluges give the modern people of Afar a modest means to benefit from their baked and barren homeland. These nomadic herders collect the salt by hand, wielding wooden stakes and hatchets to break the thick layers into manageable blocks (16). The closest places to sell or exchange the salt are located in the Ethiopian highlands to the west—about a six days’ walk for the camel caravans used to transport this unlikely export (17).

MIRAGE OR HALLUCINATION?Most years the greatest concern for the Afar people is finding adequate water. But the rains were unusually heavy in late 2006, and many of the salt fields remained flooded throughout my visit in January 2007. This unusual environmental circumstance afforded one of the most lasting impressions of my visit to Afar: as the camel caravans waded through the floodwaters, they appeared from a distance as a surreal montage of the present and future of this ocean floor in the making (18).
Note: This article was originally printed with the title, "Birth of an Ocean"

Explosion kills 3 in Ethiopia, police blame rebels

Medeshi Sept 29 ,2008

Explosion kills 3 in Ethiopia, police blame rebels

(Photo : An Ethiopian policeman directs traffic at a busy intersection in Addis Ababa. File Photo AFP)

ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - An explosion at a hotel in Ethiopia's southeastern Somali region killed three people and wounded 20 on Sunday, and police said they suspected the rebel Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) was responsible.
Police spokesman Densash Hailu said an explosive device had been placed in a dustbin in front of the hotel frequented by businessmen, government officials and locals.
The front of the hotel collapsed and the rest of the building was damaged by the powerful explosion, Densash said. Adjacent buildings were also damaged.
"The terrorist act perpetrated at Andenet Hotel in Jijiga on Sunday is suspected to be the work of the ONLF rebels," Densash told Reuters.
"Some of the injuries are very serious and the death toll is expected to rise."
Jijiga is the capital of the arid, rocky ethnically Somali region that borders lawless Somalia. Ethiopia routinely accuses Horn of Africa rival Eritrea of supporting the ONLF.
The ONLF was formed in 1984. Its aims have varied between full scale independence to joining a "Greater Somalia" to more autonomy within Ethiopia.
ONLF officials were not immediately available for comment.
In June last year Ethiopia launched a military offensive in Ogaden, a province in the Somali region, after ONLF rebels killed 74 people at a Chinese-run oilfield.

Bomb explosions in Ethiopia in the past few years from the archives

Toll rises to six in Ethiopian blast (September 2008)
Ethiopia says arrests 8 bombers(July 2008)
Blasts Kill 3 at Ethiopian Gas Stations(April 2008)
Eight killed in Ethiopian landmine blast in Humera: state TV(March 2008)
Explosion at Commercial Bank Merkato Branch(March 2008)
Bombs defused in Addis Ababa(September 2007)
Explosion Kills One, Injures Three in Merkato(August 2007)
Three blasts in Jijiga have injured 42 people(May 2006)
Blasts kill six in Ethiopia (April 2006)
Blast in western Ethiopia kills 3, wounds 37(April 2006)
Another mysterious blast strikes Ethiopian capital(April 2006)
Bomb explosion in Ethiopia kills at least one(March 2006)
Three explosions hit Ethiopian capital - police(March 2006)

New Scramble in Africa: Foreigners Farm for Themselves

Medeshi September 28 , 2008
WAD RAWAH, SUDAN — Africa’s abundant natural resources have long invited foreign exploitation.
Over generations, foreign empires and companies stripped the continent of its gold and diamonds, then its oil. Rubber and ivory were plundered from Congo. Even Africa’s people were exploited: captured and sold into slavery abroad.
Now foreigners are enjoined in a new scramble in Africa. The latest craze? Food. Amid a global crisis that for a time this year doubled prices for wheat, corn, rice and other staples, some of the world’s richest nations are coming to Africa to farm, hoping to turn the global epicenter of malnutrition into a breadbasket for themselves.
Read the full story here.
Ethiopia, for example, is marketing its farmland to Saudi Arabia, yet the Horn of Africa nation has a history of famine and is currently combating serious drought. Under such circumstance, foreign growers planning to export food could face potential protests, even riots, from hungry locals, experts said. And even as it tries to lure the foreign investment, the government recently slapped a ban on all food exports in response to domestic shortages.
“It would be unimaginable for a foreign investor in Ethiopia now to simply ship out large amounts of grain,” Von Braun said.
But he stressed that the foreign partnerships should benefit everyone by increasing worldwide food production. “We should not look at this trend with alarm. The more capital that finds its way into agriculture, the [bigger] the total pie.”
Read More.

Ethiopia criticizes Donald Payne bias once again with Press Release

Medeshi
Ethiopia criticizes Donald Payne bias once again with Press Release
September 27, 2008

By
Behailu Damte
At the end of this blog article, i have posted the Press Release from the Ethiopian government published this week about US Congressman Donald Representative Donald Payne.
(Photo: Donald Payne)
As usual, the Ethiopian government criticizes Donald Payne and as usual they make a good point. In my opinion, one of the biggest reasons why the Ethiopian government is so stubborn and continues its wrong policies against Ethiopian opposition parties is because we have stupid Congressmen like Donald Payne who unreasonably choose
sides between these two rival countries. Understandably, the Ethiopian government is pissed off for having tried much more reforms than the Eritrean one-party regime as Donald Payne continues supporting the Eritrean regime. Just as important, Ethiopian regime is pissed off because Donald Payne is supporting Eritrea while Ethiopia continues to struggle fighting the Eritrea-armed and Eritrea-financed rebels in Ogaden region and other regions. The Ethiopian regime continues complaining and saying, why doesn't Donald criticize the Eritrean regime with HR 2003, just like he criticized Ethiopian regime. Well, ironically, everything the Ethiopian regime is saying about Donald Payne is accurate.

Anyway, as an Ethiopian myself who is extremely tired of Meles Zenawi's 17 years rule in Ethiopia, I hold Congressman Donald Payne (& the like) mainly responsible for using selective human rights criticism against the Ethiopian government while keeping a blind eye on Eritrea's more oppressive government. Such selective and irresponsible policy of Donald payne and the like will be the main reason why Meles Zenawi's regime will always be stubborn and inflexible. (especially since US plays vital roles in these countries with aid, etc) At this time, what Donald Payne needs to do, if he wants to become credible, is use equal measuring sticks and equivalent criticism of undemocratic nations around the world. The reality is, Donald Payne has already showed his stupidity showing up in support of the ONLF terrorists the same week the ONLF killed over 70 Ethiopians last year and then Donald declared himself a defender of human rights a few weeks later by shoving HR 2003 bill against the Ethiopian regime. Trully, that was the stupidest Donald Payne moment. A moment when many Ethiopians who used to support bills like HR 2003 started to suddenly oppose it. What America needs is smart, fair and knowledgeable Congressmen to direct their foreign policies intelligently. So far Donald Payne has showed he is not one of them.

Meanwhile, it does not seem like a democratic and free election will happen in Ethiopia in the year 2010. The election board in Ethiopia is dominated by folks hand picked by Meles Zenawi. I have often opposed the endless unsuccessful HRs and other U.S. bills placed against the Meles regime. Sadly, many of us were expecting that Meles Zenawi will make our country proud by allowing free elections, independent judiciary and other independent institutions without having to be pressured by foreign leaders and unintelligent politicians like Donald Payne. Unfortunately, Meles continues to disappoint Ethiopians like me who placed some hope on him. His government is now bringing new restrictive and crazy laws against NGOs, press and other institutions in Ethiopia. Many Ethiopians who support peaceful opposition parties like OFDM, UDJ and other continue to be killed, imprisoned etc. Many people are losing hope on Meles. Unless this Meles regime improves soon, external pressure might be the main method to democratize Ethiopia. Unfortunately, selective pressure from the likes of stupid congressmen like Donald Payne will NOT do it. Such moves will only make the rulers in Ethiopia more stubborn since more oppressive regimes like Eritrea are ignored by the likes of Donald Payne. Another bill recently started by Senator Russ Feingold in Minnesota will not work either. Actually, Donald will have better luck than Feingold because Mr. Feingold was pressured by the big pro-ONLF refugee residents in Minnesota who have been lobbying him for many years. This Feingold bill will be even more unsuccessful. (not to mention the bill appearing politically motivated since it seems Feingold initiated it to gain votes from his constituency that has separatist Somali political refugees ) Nonetheless, selective criticism of human rights will not work. In general, my hope is that there will be some smart congressmen out there who would criticise BOTH Ethiopia and Eritrea. Otherwise, it is the responsibility of pro-democracy Ethiopians and Eritreans and others in the Diaspora to work together because, whether we like it or not, only a broad-based horn of African initiative to democratize the region as whole will achieve meaningful results. Nothing else will. Certainly, not selective and idiotic tactics like those of Donald Payne.

Below is the copy of the press release from the Ethiopian regime in Addis Ababa.

http://www.mfa.gov.et/Press_Section/Week_Horn_Africa_September_26_2008.htm
Supporting Senator Obama shouldn't mean vilification of Ethiopia
"Last week, US Congressman, Representative Donald Payne (Democrat, New Jersey) addressed a gathering of Ethiopians in Washington, D.C. The apparent purpose was to urge the community to support the Democratic presidential candidate, Senator Barack Obama, in his bid to become the next President of the United States. We do not, of course, have any intent to be involved in the domestic politics of another state, even of a close friend. However, when a US Congressman uses a domestic political campaign event to vilify Ethiopia, it does raise some questions why he goes to such lengths to try to tarnish Ethiopia’s image and damage the good relations between Ethiopia and the United States.

In his address to the meeting, Representative Payne claimed he was particularly concerned by political and human rights conditions in Ethiopia. He cited a litany of unsubstantiated allegations of violations. Ethiopia, of course, does not claim to have a perfect record in its efforts to build a strong democratic society, but it is, nevertheless, a country that has regular free multi-party elections, a thriving free press, a constitution and mechanisms to address human rights issues including a Human Rights Commission and an Ombudsman's Office. Is there room for improvement? Certainly. That is why both government and people continue efforts to strengthen the judicial and political institutions necessary to achieve and sustain improved performances in all areas of democratization including the protection of human rights.

If Representative Payne is really genuine in his frequently stated concern for human rights and democracy, it is surprising that he has made so little of Eritrea, a country he visited early this year. Eritrea, after all, has no constitution, refuses to hold elections, only allows one political party, the ruling Peoples Front for Democracy and Justice, does not allow any independent media, has been designated as a country of particular concern for severe violations of religious freedom for the last four years,and has been roundly criticized by Reporters Without Borders and by all Eritrean Human Rights organizations, all of which are obliged to operate from exile. Mr. Payne is also no doubt aware of the eleven ministers and senior officials, and a number of journalists, rounded up by the Eritrean government on September 18, 2001. Held incommunicado, without charge or trial, for seven years, nothing has been heard of them. Thousands more are detained indefinitely, again without charge or trial, many for attempting to escape national conscription which for tens of thousands has lasted for more more than a decade. Representative Payne's reluctance to comment on Eritrea's appalling record on human rights while continuing to vilify Ethiopia, suggests he is driven less by any concern for human rights than by his own personal anti-Ethiopian agenda.

Representative Payne also told his audience that under an Obama administration, “we will not turn a blind eye to abuses just because some governments pretend to be allies in the war on terror.” This is obviously an allusion to Ethiopia which the United States certainly considers a friend. We have no knowledge whether Mr. Payne is accurate in his view of Senator Obama's possible policies. However, his effort to raise support for Senator Obama among members of the more extreme Ethiopian opposition elements in the Diaspora, by promising hostility to the present government of Ethiopia, is scarcely a friendly act. It is also perhaps unfair to the Presidential candidate himself who appears far too statesmanlike to associate himself with such disgraceful activity. We would recall that Representative Payne was the main architect of HR 2003, a much criticized bill which he claimed would support human rights and democracy in Ethiopia. The bill failed to materialize in part because it was seen as ill-conceived and hardly conducive to good US/Ethiopian relations, nor, we might add, to US/African relations either. In his speech last week, Representative Payne made clear his regret for the failure, claiming that the Government of Ethiopia had spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to kill it. The Government did not: it had no need to.

Meles Zenawi worried about the seizure of a Ukrainian ship off Somalia carrying military supplies

Medeshi

Meles Zenawi worried about the seizure of a Ukrainian ship off Somalia carrying military supplies
Sat 27 Sep 2008
NEW YORK, Sept 27 (Reuters) - Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said on Saturday he was concerned by the seizure of a Ukrainian ship off Somalia carrying military supplies and feared they would be used to further destabilize the region.
Speaking before a meeting in New York with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Meles said piracy off the coast of Somalia was a "very hard problem" and he hoped the international community would respond.
"We are very concerned about the level of piracy on the seas. It is related to the instability in Somalia," he told reporters.
Somali pirates have demanded a $35-million ransom for the Ukrainian ship they had seized which was carrying 33 tanks, grenade launchers, ammunition and other military supplies destined for Kenya.
"They could be used to destabilize the region and the whole situation on the high seas is a matter of great concern for all of us," Meles said.
"We very much hope the international community will respond."
Pirates have captured more than 30 vessels off Somalia this year, making its waters the most dangerous in the world and threatening a major international shipping lane between Europe and Asia. The gangs seek, and often receive, large ransoms.
An Islamist insurgence in the south of Somalia, which has not had a functioning government for 17 years, has made it difficult for the struggling interim government to police the waters. Russia said on Friday it was sending a warship to the region to protect Russian ships and citizens.
(Reporting by Sue Pleming, Editing by Sandra Maler)

Somaliland hopes for links with Ireland

Medeshi

Somaliland hopes for links with Ireland

28 September 2008
By Ian Kehoe
‘The British used to say that we were the Irish of Africa,” said Abdillahi M Duale, the foreign minister of Somaliland, a breakaway region that runs along Somalia’s north-western coast on the horn of Africa.

(Map of Ireland)
With a population roughly equivalent to that of Ireland and a history teeming with struggles for independence, the British may have had a point.
One difference, however, is that Somaliland, although autonomous, has yet to be recognised by the rest of the world. But if Duale and his government have their way, that could be about to change.
In recent months, Duale has been on an international mission to forge ties and set out the case for the recognition of Somaliland. He has visited London, Paris and Washington, where he was treated to full diplomatic protection, a rarity for a representative of an entity that has not been recognised.
Last week, he met a number of Irish academics and senior business people. ‘‘I want to build ties with Ireland and create links between our two countries,” he said.
‘‘There are a lot of parallels between Ireland and Somaliland. We have both had to overcome years of adversity and conflict and we have both achieved peace.”
Somaliland, which has an abundance of oil resources, has already started to create business links with Ireland. The territory recently signed a deal with oil company Enex, and the resulting joint venture partnership, Enex Somaliland, has its holding company incorporated in Ireland.
Duale now believes that there are opportunities for other link-ups between Somaliland and Ireland. ‘‘We are particularly interested in your educational model and the success of the Irish economy,” he said.
Somaliland has been one of the success stories of African democracy. In 1991, as Somalia’s government disintegrated and the country spiralled into war, Somaliland, traditionally one of the poorest parts of Somalia, declared its independence.
The area had previously been a British protectorate, while the rest of the Somalia was controlled by Italy. The former British area decided it wanted control of its own affairs, and went its separate way.
Its leaders have since established a democracy so secure that the United States is considering backing Somaliland ahead of the more volatile Somalia.
The territory has held three rounds of multi-party elections, demobilised thousands of young gunmen and moulded them into a functioning army.
‘‘We have a stable democracy. We have shown failed states in Africa that they too can achieve peace and democracy. We have three political parties and we have checks and balances on our political system. Our parliament is very nosey and that is a good thing,” said Duale.
‘‘We have a budget of just $55 million, but we have achieved a lot with it. We have built the institutions of state and we have developed infrastructure.”
Somaliland has designed a political system that minimises clan rivalries by carving out a special role for clan elders, the traditional pillars of Somali society. The country is predominantly Muslim, but operates on a largely secular model.
A big sticking point remains the refusal of the African Union formally to recognise Somaliland. Pending a change in that view, Duale will continue to create links with foreign countries, including Ireland, and to further his country’s cause.