Ethiopia to double earnings from livestock exports

Medeshi March 20, 2009

By Tsegaye Tadesse

Ethiopia to double earnings from livestock exports
ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - Ethiopia plans to more than double earnings from livestock exports to $85 million in 2009 by curbing illegal trade and opening new marketing centres, a government official said on Friday.
The Horn of Africa country sold 297,662 heads of livestock for $40 million in 2008 but hopes to raise this by exporting 429,244 livestock for $85 million this year, according to Berhe Igziabher, head of the Animal and Plant Health Regulatory Body.
"The country plans to transform the old and backward type of animal husbandry into a modern ranching system and export processed meat, hides and skin and other leather goods rather than live animals," Berhe said.
Ethiopia has an estimated 41 million cattle, 25 million sheep, 23 million goats and 150,000 camels, but poor husbandry and contraband trade with neighbouring countries have kept the industry underdeveloped.
The country has also started programmes to check smuggling of animals through neighbouring Djibouti and Somalia.
"We know that Djibouti, a Red Sea state where animals could not thrive due to the country's climatic conditions, has become a livestock exporter and we also know that 60 percent of livestock being exported by Somalia are those taken from Ethiopia through contraband trade," Berhe said.
To curb the black market trade, the government has established markets in remote areas to cater for pastoralists in far flung areas such as Afar and Somali.
Berhe said the main thrust of Ethiopia's livestock development policy would not centre on live animal exports alone.
The government has established a new institution -- Ethiopian Meat and Dairy Technology Institute -- whose mandate is to enhance modern dairy farming and improve the stock and quality of cattle in the country, he said.
The body will also help pastoralists protect their livestock against the vagaries of climate change by providing feeds and water and veterinary medicine in each districts, he said.
The country's leather sector earned $103 million last year and plans to take $190 million from leather exports in 2009, according to the Ethiopian Leather Industries Association.

US Navy Submarine And Ship Crash Near Iran

Medeshi

US Navy Submarine And Ship Crash Near Iran
Friday, March 20

Sky News
A US Navy submarine and an American amphibious ship have collided in the Strait of Hormuz.
The stretch of water is between Iran and the Arabian peninsula.
According to the navy's Bahrain-based 5th Fleet, the USS Hartford submarine was submerged before the crash.
Fifteen soldiers aboard the Hartford were slightly injured but able to return to duty.
No injuries were reported on the amphibious ship, the USS New Orleans.
But the ship suffered a ruptured fuel tank, which resulted in an oil spill of approximately 25,000 gallons of diesel.
The damage to both vessels is still being evaluated.
Both ships are currently operating under their own power. The crash is currently under investigation.
The Navy said both ships were on regularly scheduled deployments to the region and conducting security operations.
Officials said the collision happened about 1am local time.

Greece says pirates seize cargo ship off Somalia

Medeshi
Greece says pirates seize cargo ship off Somalia
Thu Mar 19, 2009 ATHENS, March 19 (Reuters) - Pirates seized a Greek-owned cargo ship off the coast of Somalia late on Thursday, the third such incident in the past two months, Greece's merchant marine ministry said.
"The Saint-Vincent-flagged cargo vessel Titan with 24 crew was sailing from the Black Sea to Korea when it was attacked by pirates," a ministry official who declined to be named said. "We have informed the anti-piracy centres in the region."
Three of the crew were Greeks, police said.
Piracy off Somalia, one of the world's busiest shipping areas, and other coasts of Africa has increased sharply over the past year, earning the pirates millions of dollars of ransom payments and pushing up maritime insurance rates.
Last month, pirates seized a Greek-owned cargo ship, with 22 crew off Somalia. In January, pirates seized another Greek vessel off the coast of Cameroon and killed its Greek captain.
EU forces foiled a pirate attack on a Greek-flagged crude oil tanker off the coast of Somalia in the same month. (Reporting by Renee Maltezou; Writing by Angeliki Koutantou; Editing by Richard Balmforth)

Peace Pipes & Smoking Guns

Medeshi March 20, 2009

Peace Pipes & Smoking Guns: Southern Ethiopia’s Struggle for Water

Water may be declared a human right, but such declarations do little for those living in the southern lowlands of Ethiopia where the resource remains preciously limited. Violent episodes break out when rain fails to fall. Instead of precipitation, villagers find their families and livestock fleeing from a storm of bullets.
Recently 70,000 people were displaced from their homes due to a water war over a newly installed borehole, the BBC reports. Conflicts occur near the border between two ethnic states. With an ambiguous and hence contentious border, schemes for water increasingly provoke anger and retaliation.
Local emergency-response officer Mohamed Nur told the BBC the recent violence “affected a huge number of people from both sides. In past conflicts, communities would fight, but they wouldn’t destroy government property, like the drilling rig.”
While the southern part of Ethiopia continues to struggle over water, the northern highlands seldom face such extreme scarcity. “Water conflicts rarely occur where I grew up,” Elyas Gebrehiwot, a human ecologist from the north, told Circle of Blue.
“I am from the highlands and water conflicts are common in the lowlands. Most lowlanders are pastoralists or nomads; because water and grazing land is so scarce in their region, they have to compete for it.”

Read more here.

A special three-section contribution: Distance still matters?

Medeshi March 20, 2009

A special three-section contribution: Distance still matters?
Yoshia Morishita
Section 1: Distance lost its significance?

(Photo: aerial view of Sapporo city where Yoshia lives)
In the age of globalisation when we can travel in the way that was totally unimaginable to our grandparents and even parents, we tend to think that geographical distance has lost its significance. Is this true? Yes, this is true in many ways.
Let’s go back in time to the 1950s. In those days, Japanese people, after the bitter experiences during WWII, were determined to re-construct the country through economic growth and development, which resulted in a miraculous success, as you have probably heard somewhere.

During the course of Japan’s rapid economic growth, there were three things which Japanese people wanted to purchase as soon as they saved enough money for them: a monochrome television, a washing machine and a fridge. As these items became widespread by the 1960s, they continued to work hard so they could afford another three items, that is, a Colour TV, a Car and a Cooler (in fact this refers to an air conditioner). These items are mentioned as ‘the three Cs’ in the modern history textbooks used in Japanese schools. What a contrast this is to our life today, which, I would say, is full of high-tech products at home! In the past, everyone was concerned with the household and did not even dream of travelling beyond the national borders. By the way, be reminded that Japan does not share any land borders with any other country.

Today we live in a totally different world. I am typing this article over a cup of lukewarm green tea using this little SONY laptop. And where does this article go once it is written up? To the UK. To the web master M, a long-term friend of mine. How does it go? Via e-mail. How long does it take? A few seconds. How does it work? A single click on the SEND button that appears in a web-based free e-mail account of mine. Impossible in the past. Possible now. Distance is nothing. Is that so? Maybe… In the next section, I will consider the significance of geographical distance in relation to Japan and Somalia/land. (End of Section 1).

About the writer:(Mr) Yoshia MORISHITA is a Japanese national who studied and worked in the UK, as well as Turkey and Eritrea. He has visited around 25 countries of the world and developed his international perspectives. He has a Master’s degree in International Development from UCL, University of London and worked as a research associate at a British NGO. Currently he is living in Japan running a small business in the area of various international programmes and businesses facilitation and co-ordination, while reading sociology at Hokkaido University.

Obama lacks interest in Africa

Medeshi March 19, 2009
Obama lacks interest in Africa
The first tip-off as to where Africa ranks in importance in the new Obama Administration was Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s remarks at her confirmation. Of the 5,000 words, two paragraphs — a little over 100 words — were devoted to Africa. As an American who gave to Obama until it hurt, that brush-off was disappointing.
But as a Kenyan resident who would like to see this country both safe and democratic, what concerned me even more was Clinton’s assertion that the top US priority in Africa was “security”, which she described as “combating al-Qaida’s efforts to seek safe havens in failed states in the Horn of Africa”.
In short, America isn’t going to think about Africa much, but when it does, it will be to continue the Bush-era habit of worrying that there is an al-Qaida militant under every bed.
It didn’t take long to see where such thinking leads. On February 7, the New York Times reported that Africom — the Pentagon’s new military command for the continent — had worked closely with Ugandan officers on a pre-Christmas mission against the LRA that had gone horribly awry, resulting in the LRA massacre of up to 900 civilians.
The Times said that the operation — for which the US provided satellite phones, intelligence, and $1 million in fuel — “was poorly planned and poorly executed.”
We’ve heard that one before. Somalia, for example, where the US sent in proxy Ethiopian troops in 2006 and conducted bombing raids that killed dozens of civilians in an effort to topple the Islamic Courts. Result? Rising militancy within Somalia, the presence of 250,000 Somali refugees in northern Kenya, and threats of retribution against those, including Kenya, seen as aiding Washington.
“SOMALIA REMAINS A FAILED STATE, in large part because of misguided US counter terrorist initiatives’” writes Africa specialist Stephen A. Emerson in the Winter 2008/2009 World Policy Journal.
Yet if Obama’s hawkish new national security advisor has his way, American military involvement in Kenya’s neighbourhood is likely to grow. James L. Jones, as Supreme Allied Commander in Europe, sought increased engagement of US and Nato forces in Africa and supported the creation of Africom, calling Africa “a continent of growing strategic importance”, according to the US Nation.
Similarly alarming should be the Obama Administration’s support for continuing the CIA’s “renditioning” of prisoners to other countries without legal rights and its indefinite detention of terror suspects.
The New York Times, on February 18, noted that Obama’s new CIA director said at his confirmation hearing that if approved interrogation techniques were not sufficient to get detainees to talk, he would ask for “additional authority” — a chilling reminder of the torture that Kenyans “renditioned” to Ethiopia have claimed were used on them.
We all want to believe that Obama stands for change, but the reality is that we must be prepared for a continuation — or even an acceleration — of America’s Bush-era focus on military solutions.
I wish now that I’d pushed for some straight talk about Africa from the Obama campaign officials who kept filling my inbox with requests for money. There’s still time for course corrections before the Obama Administration. But I’m beginning to feel like the victim of a bait-and-switch campaign, and my reservoir of hope is moving in the same direction as my bank account.
Ms Rothmyer, a veteran journalist, teaches at the University of Nairobi

RCA (Abu Dhabi) to rehabilitate Hargeisa Hospital

Medeshi
RCA delegation heads for Somaliland on Friday
Abu Dhabi, Mar. 19, 2009 (WAM) -- A delegation from the Red Crescent Authority (RCA) will leave here Friday for Somaliland on humanitarian mission to deliver medical equipment, including dialysis equipment, in support of the health situation in that war-torn Horn of Africa country.
The mission of the delegation, which also include rehabilitating the Hargeisa Hospital to boost its capacity to offer health care delivery services for the people, is in line with the directives of RCA Chairman, H.H. Sheikh Hamdan bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who is also the UAE Deputy Prime Minister.
According to RCA Secretary General, Ahmed Yusuf Gaith Al-Suwaidi, the humanitarian assistance was part of humanitarian programme of the RCA in Somalia, and is in line with the directives of H.H. Sheikh Hamdan bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who is closely following up development in Somalia. He said Sheikh Hamdan attaches great importance to the situation in Somalia and has given the directives for extending all forms of assistance to the people to alleviate their sufferings and improve their living condition, adding that the RCA had intensified its relief operations in that country to help the needy and the poor out of their current dire situation.
WAM/SA

Israeli soldiers admit 'murdering' Gazans

Medeshi March 19, 2009
Israeli soldiers admit 'murdering' Gazans
Israeli soldiers have confessed to wanton killing of Palestinian civilians and behaving immorally during the Operation Cast Lead in Gaza.
The soldiers who fought in the Gaza war told a post-operation conference that they had killed Palestinian civilians and intentionally destroyed their property under permissive rules of engagement.
"When we entered a house, we were supposed to bust down the door and start shooting inside and just go up story by story... I call that murder. Each story, if we identify a person, we shoot them. I asked myself - how is this reasonable?", an Israeli soldier said.
The testimonies includes killing of a Palestinian mother and her two children by an Israeli sharpshooter and the case of an elderly Palestinian woman who was killed as she was walking 100 meters (yards) from her home.
"We had taken over the house" and the family was released and told to go right. A mother and two children got confused and went left. "The sniper on the roof wasn't told that this was okay and that he shouldn't shoot", a soldier said.
"I don't know whether she was suspicious, not suspicious, I don't know her story. . . I do know that my officer sent people to the roof in order to take her out" It was cold-blooded murder."
Their testimony contradicts the Israel Defense Forces' claims that its troops had
"observed a high level of moral behavior during the operation".
Tel Aviv launched Operation Cast Lead on the Gaza Strip on December 27. Three weeks of ensuing airstrikes and a ground incursion killed around 1,350 Palestinians and injured nearly 5,450 people - mostly civilians.
The carnage also inflicted more than $1.6 billion in damages on the Gazan economy.
Press TV

The lead is cast
By Haaretz Editorial
Operation Cast Lead ended two months ago in a show of arrogance by Israeli leaders: Hamas had been dealt a crushing defeat that would deter it from firing rockets, and if it continued to smuggle weapons into Gaza the entire international community, from Washington to Cairo, would rally together to intercept them.
The price paid by Gaza's civilian population - hundreds killed, in addition to the hundreds of armed men from Hamas and other organizations - was presented as an unfortunate, but necessary, result of the combat methods required to protect soldiers of the Israel Defense Forces.
With disappointment growing as the operation's declared achievements dissipate, a second wave of evidence and revelations is being heard from the soldiers who were there, who saw what was happening and are sometimes even describing what they themselves did.
Amos Harel reports in Haaretz today and tomorrow about a discussion held a month ago among the graduates of the pre-army program at Oranim, who took part in the Gaza fighting as combat soldiers and junior officers.
This is a modern version of "The Seventh Day," the book published after the Six-Day War that highlighted the soul-searching of the generation that fought a justified defensive war, but found itself dragged afterward into acts that contradicted the moral values it prided itself on. The grandchildren of this same Six-Day War group are now teaching in their testimony that the situation is even more worrying than in 1967.
The soldiers describe the killing of innocent civilians, pointless destruction, expulsions of families from homes seized as temporary outposts, disregard for human life and a tendency toward brutalization. This scandalous behavior did not stem from the policy of the senior commanders. It resulted from the disconnect between the battalion commanders and higher officers, versus their subordinates in the companies, platoons and houses where the soldiers waited for fighting to resume after Hamas retreated from the crowded urban battlefield. When the soldiers had no one to fight, they fought what was there.
The IDF's internal investigations, which are moving ahead very slowly, are not enough. The army is absorbing more and more religious extremism from the teachings of the IDF's rabbinate. It would be appropriate to investigate the problems from outside the IDF and root them out before the rot destroys the IDF and Israeli society.
Haartz.com

Somali Woman Deported from U.S into the hands of Al Shabaab

Medeshi March 19, 2009

Somali Woman Deported from U.S into the hands of Al Shabbab

Washington, DC (HOL) - After living in the U.S. for 16 years and migrating from a country that was recently categorized to top the most dangerous countries in the world - even more dangerous than Iraq and Afghanistan - Muna Absiya would still have to be deported to Somalia despite evidences showing apparent prosecutions.
Ms. Absiya arrived in Los Angles, California in November 1993 at the age of six and with her family as refugees. Soon, the family moved to Seattle, Washington where they would readjust and establish life in the new country. But as immigrants know from experiences, challenges in the new country are often more insurmountable than those at home.
The painful trauma of war in Somalia as a backdrop, her older sister’s death, Safiya; and that of her father passing away in 2002 implicated Ms. Absiye’s mental equilibrium, clearing the way for minor infractions that would play out into the grounds for a deportation after losing her immigration status in April 2007.
Her family, [mother name], had done everything to rehab the 23-year old until she fully recovered. With the existing deportation order from an immigration judge, Ms. Absiya has been out for Supervised Release Program that required her to report to a deportation officer, as a routine monitoring for twice a month.
On Thursday February 26, as part of undergoing her scheduled interviews with SRP, the deportation officer requested her to come back in five days, for another appointment before the regular dates, which precisely was the Monday of March 2nd, and surely incognizant of what awaits her in there.
Farhia Absiya, an older sister, works for the Voice of America as a journalist. She recalls talking to her sister in the morning before she embarked to the immigration. “I told her to take a Cab and to call me when she is done,” Farhia says as last word before parting her sister.
“She called me at 6pm in that Monday evening; crying and told me she is being deported to Somalia right now.”
In a letter obtained by HOL, dated March 3rd, from Ms. Absiya’s attorney, through family, states that she could face death in deporting her to Somalia. “We were shocked, because Ms. Absiya had informed her deportation officer that she feared torture and or murder if she were returned to Somalia at this time.”
It added that under the Geneva agreements of U.N. Convention Against Torture, in which the U.S. is a signatory to it, no one “should be returned to a country where he/she would face imminent torture.”
However, her saga did not end with the deportation. Ms. Absiya was initially landed in Kenya to transfer her onto flights bound to Mogadishu, according to her attorney.
“The airline staff at the airport were so concerned about this young woman’s life that they decided not to let her off in Mogadishu,” attorney details her ordeal, as she spent a whole week with swirling flights between four Airports everyday, from Nairobi to Mogadishu and to Hargeysa and Djibouti and back to Nairobi where each airport had to detain her temporarily until next flights –presumably to nowhere- without granting her an official entry to the country.
Like other families whose members face similar trials, Farhia asks questions that probe for humane answers, fearing for her sister’s fate, which, according to her, could be dumped out any day from the detentions of Djibouti and Kenya to the detriment that lay in Somalia.
“Why would the United States of America, the so called Human Rights leader, put a young westernized woman’s life at risk and try to deliver her to Al-Shabaab, wearing prohibited attire like pants and shirt with no headscarf? Why?” asks Farhia, whose fury was perplexed by the lack of response from authority to address the safety concerns they harbor in which her sister was consequently exposed to by deportation.
“My sister is endangered when they throw her away like that. She speaks no Somali, and knows nothing about the culture there.”

Source: HOL

Do not leave Africa in a scramble

Medeshi
Do not leave Africa in a scramble
Published: March 16 2009
To many minds, Africa is a picture of hopeless misery: afflicted by poverty, scarred by corruption and ravaged by Aids and war. These facts are true, but they tell only half the story. In many sub-Saharan African countries output briskly outpaced population growth during the last decade, leading to sustained growth in income per capita and promising a lasting escape from poverty.
Behind the success lies many African leaders’ willingness to adopt solid macroeconomic policies and move towards more transparency and less red tape. Economic integration with the world deepened and trading relations diversified. Record-breaking prices boosted commodity exporters’ incomes. The private sector’s success, for example in telecommunications, showed that Africa does not lack good business opportunities. Before the crisis, countries such as Ghana were on course to escaping aid dependence by entering global capital markets.
But Africa is now slipping. Foreign direct investment has shrivelled. Capital markets have seized up as funds flee to the safety of rich-country sovereign bonds – with which the market is flooded. The price of trade credit has soared, sharply halting trade flows, with commodity exporters suffering additionally from the drop in prices.
As tax revenues fall and demands on public services rise, governments without large savings are in a squeeze. African leaders warn of a popular backlash: if the public suffers undeserved pain after governments followed what rich countries told them to do in the 1990s, economic growth and democratic stability are at risk. Already coups and riots are on the rise.
The world’s leading countries must act to end the global crisis as soon as possible. In the meantime, Africa should not be a casualty of other priorities. African governments that have shown a commitment to sound policies must be helped to fill temporary funding gaps. And rich countries should quickly prop up trade finance: it would do much good and cost little.
Development aid can do ill as well as good; the long-term goal must be to get rid of it. But that is no argument against short-term crisis assistance, which has been provided – quickly – to small and relatively rich European countries; many African countries need the same. Moreover, rich countries made aid promises at the Gleneagles summit that they have yet to fulfil.
The potential cost of the crisis in Africa is not just unemployment; it is starvation, civil war and the closing of an escape route from poverty. That is a price the world cannot afford to pay.
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2009

Topple Somali leader - Bin Laden

Medeshi March 19, 2009
Topple Somali leader - Bin Laden
Osama Bin Laden has called for the overthrow of Somalia's moderate Islamist president in an audio recording published on the internet.
Bin Laden said President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed had "changed to partner up with the infidel".
Mr Ahmed was inaugurated in January after UN-brokered reconciliation talks and has promised to introduce Sharia law to the strongly Muslim country.
But al-Shabab insurgents allied to al-Qaeda have continued to fight him.
Correspondents say the voice on the recording could not be immediately verified but it resembles that of Bin Laden and was published on known militant websites.
'Enemies' pay'
The 12-minute tape - entitled "Fight on, champions of Somalia" - carried an often-seen image of Bin Laden with a map of Somalia in the background.
The Somali leader's election had been "induced by the American envoy in Kenya", the tape said.
“ This Sheikh Sharif... must be fought and toppled ” Bin Laden tape
It accused Mr Ahmed of having "changed and turned back on his heels... to partner up with the infidel" in a national unity government.
"This Sheikh Sharif... must be fought and toppled," the tape said, before comparing the Somali leader to "the [Arab] presidents who are in the pay of our enemies".
It added: "How can intelligent people believe that yesterday's enemies on the basis of religion can become today's friends?"
Mr Ahmed was a leader of the Union of Islamic Courts which controlled Mogadishu in 2006 before being ousted by Ethiopian forces, backing the previous Somali president.
Somalia, a nation of about eight million people, has not had a functioning national government since warlords overthrew Siad Barre in 1991 and then turned on each other.
As part of a UN-brokered deal to reconcile moderate Islamists and dissident lawmakers in a unity government, Ethiopian troops withdrew in January.
President Ahmed has the support of several Islamist groups but al-Shabab has continued to fight the Somali government and the African Union peacekeepers in Mogadishu.
The hardline Islamist guerrillas now control much of southern and central Somalia.
Earlier this month the Somali cabinet backed President Ahmed's plan to introduce Sharia law, a move analysts say is designed to drain support for al-Shabab.
But the hardline Islamists rejected the move, saying it would not be a strict enough version of Islamic law.
On Saturday, a tape purportedly from Bin Laden urged holy war to liberate the Palestinian territories.
A similar message was issued in January in another a tape - just days before US President Barack Obama took office - which was the first recording in eight months attributed to Bin Laden.
Story from BBC NEWS:

Canada to act on Bashir Makhtal's case

Medeshi March 17, 2009
Canada to act on Bashir Makhtal's case
OTTAWA — Days before a Canadian businessman is to appear in an Ethiopian court to face terrorism charges, the government officials are sending "strong signals" that they are watching to see whether Bashir Makhtal has any hope of a fair trial — and if he doesn't, they'll be taking steps to bring the former Toronto businessman home.
"Thursday is going to be a very important day," said Transport Minister John Baird on Tuesday. "What is required is that after two years of holding Mr. Makhtal with no charge, they now put up the evidence."
Baird said he will be speaking to embassy officials Wednesday to ask that the Canadian ambassador attend Makhtal's hearing in Addis Ababa, to underscore to Ethiopian authorities that "the government of Canada at senior levels will be watching this very closely."
Baird took on the Makhtal case last year at the urging of Ottawa's Somali community. Born in the Ogaden region of Ethiopia, Makhtal is an ethnic Somali who immigrated to Canada in 1991.
The 40-year-old trader was arrested crossing the border between Somalia and Kenya in late 2006. He is accused of being an Islamic extremist. A month later, he was illegally deported to Ethiopia, where he was held for two years in solitary confinement with no access to a lawyer or to Canadian embassy officials.
Makhtal's case was recently transferred to civilian court, where he finally heard the charges against him. The Ethiopian government alleges that he was a leader of the Ogaden National Liberation Front from 2003 until his arrest in 2006. As the head of a military and political training centre, he is alleged to have led 800 fighters into Somalia on a "terrorist mission."
The ONLF is fighting for Ogadeni independence from Ethiopia, which considers the group a terrorist organization (the Canadian government does not). Makhtal has repeatedly denied any active involvement in the ONLF, and said he is being persecuted because his grandfather, Makhtal Dahir, helped found the ONLF decades ago.
The evidence listed on the charges includes the names of six witnesses, all of whom Makhtal's lawyer and family believe were coerced into making statements against him. It also includes three pieces of documentary evidence, one of which is an ONLF news release claiming responsibility for an April 2007 attack on an Ethiopian oilfield.
The news release makes no mention of Makhtal, who had already been in solitary confinement for four months by the time of the attack.
Another piece of documentary evidence listed is the case number of an Ethiopian military court decision from the fall of 2008. Makhtal was brought before a secret military tribunal half a dozen times last year. He was blindfolded, the proceedings were in Amharic — a language he barely understands — and he was not allowed to have a lawyer present.
The evidence "underscores the fact that trials in Ethiopia, particularly in a political context and certainly when ONLF suspects are involved, generally fall far, far short of international standards," said Alex Neve, secretary-general of Amnesty International Canada, adding that political trials in Ethiopia are "quite unpredictable."
"I can't say there's a good chance a judge will look at the flimsy evidence and laugh it out of court and Mr. Makhtal will be a free man, because this could very well stretch out for many more sittings of the court," Neve said.
Baird has previously said he would consider going to Ethiopia to press for Makhtal's release, and members of the Makhtal family say they have been told that the minister plans to go in April.
"I'm hoping to welcome Mr. Makhtal home before then," Baird said Tuesday. "But I've had good discussions with Lawrence Cannon, the minister of foreign affairs (about going to Ethiopia) . . . I'll be speaking to that issue after I see what goes on Thursday."
Baird met Tuesday with Makhtal's cousin and main advocate, Said Maktal, to deliver the same message.
"At least now, after two years, I feel like the case is getting some attention from senior levels of government," said Said Maktal. "I think it's clear my cousin is never going to get a fair trial."
Said Maktal said he asked the minister to make sure that, if he does travel to Ethiopia, he goes armed with a letter from Prime Minister Stephen Harper to Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi.
"Meles Zenawi will not give it the attention it deserves unless it comes from the Canadian prime minster," he said.

Cheney's Legacy of Deception

Medeshi March 17, 2009

Cheney's Legacy of Deception
By Robert Scheer

(Note: this article was published earlier in the Nation in Dec 30, 2008)
In the end, the shame of Vice President Dick Cheney was total: unmitigated by any notion of a graceful departure, let alone the slightest obligation of honest accounting. Although firmly ensconced, even in the popular imagination, as an example of evil incarnate--nearly a quarter of those polled in this week's CNN poll rated him the worst vice president in US history, and 41 percent as "poor"--Cheney exudes the confidence of one fully convinced that he will get away with it all.
And why not? Nothing, not his suspect role in the Enron debacle, which foretold the economic meltdown, or his office's fabrication of the false reasons for invading Iraq, has ever been seriously investigated, because of White House stonewalling. Nor will the new president, committed as he is to nonpartisanship, be likely to open up Cheney's can of worms.
Cheney has even had a pass on torture, the "enhanced interrogation" policy that he initiated in his first months in office. "Was it torture? I don't believe it was torture," he told The Washington Times on Monday, a week after the release of a unanimous Senate report concluding that the policies Cheney initiated indeed were responsible for torture. In fact, the Senate committee concluded that the model for the Cheney-Bush interrogation policy was the torture practices of the Chinese communists during the Korean War. But it's not torture when the US president does it, according to the legal judgments that Cheney's chief counsel, David Addington, pushed through the administration.
Fortunately, Cheney's view of the unquestioned unitary power of the presidency was scorned by Vice President-elect Joe Biden: "His notion of a unitary executive" Biden said, "meaning that, in time of war, essentially all power, you know, goes to the executive I think is dead wrong."
With Biden occupying Cheney's old office and presumably his secret bunkers as well, maybe we will, at last, learn a bit more of the nefarious truth about the man. One place to start is with the statement of retired US Army Col. Larry Wilkerson, who was Colin Powell's chief of staff and who stated unequivocally that Cheney was the primary author of the torture policy: "There's no question in my mind where the philosophical guidance and the flexibility in order to do so originated--in the vice president of the United States' office."
That lame-duck Cheney was bellowing his claim of innocence in a series of friendly interviews should have been expected. For he, like the president he served, can use the self-proclaimed "global war on terror" as a convenient cover for eight years of treachery on all fronts: "If you think about what Abraham Lincoln did during the Civil War, what FDR did during World War II; they went far beyond anything we've done in a global war on terror."
Actually, neither of those presidents authorized the waterboarding of prisoners or the other explicit acts of torture approved by this administration largely under the vice president's direction. But the true absurdity of Cheney's self-defense is in placing the nebulous war on terror at the same level of threat as the civil war that tore apart this country or the Nazi military machine that rumbled unstoppable across most of Europe, augmented by the military might of Japan.
The invocation of a "global war on terror" is a big-lie propaganda device that has no grounding in reality. The proof that "terrorism" does not exist as an enemy identifiable by commonality of structure, purpose and leadership comparable to the World War II Axis or the Confederacy can be found in its use as a target to justify the invasion of Iraq. An invasion billed as a response to the 9/11 attacks, which had nothing to do with Iraq.

The Bush administration, with Cheney in the lead, did not so much fight the danger of terrorism as exploit it for partisan political purpose. The record is quite clear that the administration was asleep at the switch before 9/11, blithely ignoring stark warnings of an impending attack. But the hoary warmongering after 9/11 afforded a convenient distraction from the economic problems at home. As I asked in a column on June 26, 2002: "Has the war on terrorism become the modern equivalent of the Roman circus, drawing the people's attention away from the failures of those who rule them? Corporate America is a shambles because deregulation, the mantra of our president and his party, has proved to be a license to steal."
That is the true legacy of Dick Cheney and the president he ill-served.
About Robert Scheer
Robert Scheer, a contributing editor to The Nation, is editor of Truthdig.com and author of The Pornography of Power: How Defense Hawks Hijacked 9/11 and Weakened America (Twelve) and Playing President (Akashic Books). He is author, with Christopher Scheer and Lakshmi Chaudhry, of The Five Biggest Lies Bush Told Us About Iraq (Akashic Books and Seven Stories Press.) His weekly column, distributed by Creators Syndicate, appears in the San Francisco Chronicle. more...

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Khat use spreads to British youth

Medeshi March 17, 2009
Khat use spreads to British youth
By Anna Holligan BBC World Service
'Khat' is a popular stimulant chewed across east Africa. Now it is crossing cultural divides and becoming a drug of choice for an increasing number of young people in the UK.
The khat plant, Catha edulis , has been chewed by east Africans for hundreds of years and plays a large part in the social lives of both men and women.
It is banned across America, Canada and most of Europe, but remains legal in Britain.
Khat user Steve [not his real name] is a philosophy student. He is one of an increasing number of students who are taking up the habit.
Steve, who is 22, comes from a good middle-class family and in a slightly apologetic tone he tells me he was drawn to the leaves because they looked harmless.
"They looked really natural, not like a normal drug and they were all wrapped up in this really shiny banana leaf."
Crossing divides
Chewing khat according to those who do it, gives them a mellow high. Some describe it as a cross between cannabis and cocaine.
“ Young people have no idea about the dangers, they think because it's legal it must be ok, but it's not ” Dr Eleni Palezido, Psychiatrist
"You're really alert," says Steve, "but at the same time you have a bit of the feeling you have on cannabis... not hallucinations but going that sort of way."
In Somalia, khat is popular among taxi drivers and farm workers - people who have to stay alert while the rest of us are tucked up in bed.
In the UK, some students are using it for the same reasons, saying it helps them stay up all night studying.
It is relatively easy to get, and it's cheap too - your average bundle costs about £3 ($.4.20).
When I went in search of some for this piece, I was pointed in the direction of an Ethiopian butchers in north London.
They had sold out, but assured me they were expecting a fresh batch to be delivered in a couple of days.
The woman behind the counter suggested I try down the road.
Next stop and sure enough there it was, nestled innocently between the cucumbers and courgettes.
"Aren't you worried about selling it," I ask.
"No, why should I be?" The store owner asks, with a slightly bemused look on his face.
"Its legal, we pay taxes and people want to buy it, so I sell it."
Controversial status
But there growing concern that khat houses are trying to appeal more to younger users.
And that according to Asha, a teenager we meet at a community centre in east London, is setting a dangerous precedent.
"I see so many kids who...start because they just want to try it, but then they end up going there 24/7," he says.
"I know [people who] have ended up dropping out of college because they've been up chewing all night and can't get out of bed. Plus you get people selling other harder drugs in there."
But it's not just the impact on academic results critics are concerned about.
KHAT FACTS
Heavy use can lead to insomnia, high blood pressure, heart problems and impotence
Longer-term risk of developing mouth cancers
Can create feelings of anxiety and aggression, and cause paranoid and psychotic reactions
Can make pre-existing mental health problems worse

Source: www.talktofrank.com
Psychiatrist Dr Eleni Palezido reckons that khat can be a catalyst for mental health problems.
"When you stop taking khat all the dopamine (a chemical associated with feelings of pleasure in the brain) leaves your system, so people get depressed, they can get paranoid, hear voices and it can lead to a full blown psychotic state."
Cathinone and cathine are the main ingredients of the plant. Both are class C drugs in the UK, but the plant khat itself is not classified and can be bought openly in shops.
Cathinone is almost identical to amphetamines and it is this that creates a high. It's known to cause mental health problems like psychosis and depression.
And that is one of the reasons why some in the medical profession, like Dr Palezido, are worried.
"Young people have no idea about the dangers, they think because it's legal it must be ok, but it's not."
So far, the Government has been reluctant to introduce a ban on khat.
KHAT: LEGAL STATUS
Banned in the US and Canada
Banned in many European countries - Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, France, Germany, Switzerland - but not the UK
Although, the Home Office told us they were "continuing to monitor the situation."
Around seven tonnes of khat arrives at Heathrow every week from Ethiopia, Kenya and Yemen.
The fact that it is legal here has meant the UK has become something of an international hub for illicit trade in khat to other countries where it is banned.
There are no official figures on how many young British people are using khat, but Asha reckons the politicians should act now before it's too late.
"The government should be doing something about it. They think it's just Somalis who are doing it but it's not....everyone's now getting involved."

Types of Khat
There are two main types of khat - miraa and hereri
Miraa is grown mainly in Kenya
Hereri comes from Ethiopia
A bundle of khat costs about £3 ($6) in Britain
Khat is illegal in the US and a bundle there sells for between $50 (£28) and $80 (£41)
BBC

African leaders tell G20 crisis threatens 'chaos'

Medeshi March 17 ,2009

African leaders tell G20 crisis threatens 'chaos'
LONDON (AFP) — Some African countries could "go under" if they are not helped through the global downturn, threatening "total chaos and violence", Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi warned the G20 on Monday.
At a meeting of African leaders in London ahead of next month's summit of the Group of 20 rich and emerging countries, presidents and prime ministers from across the continent warned of the costs of ignoring Africa.

(Photo: M.Zenawi)
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown was meeting African leaders to hear their concerns about the world economic downturn in the G20 build-up.
"They should care about Africa because it is in their interests," Meles, who will attend the G20 as the chair of the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD), told reporters.
"Any stimulus money spent in developed countries is going to have less global impact than if the same amount of money were to be spent in Africa.
"Some countries could go under and that would mean total chaos and violence. In the end the cost of violence is going to be much higher than the cost of supporting Africa.
"We are talking about the range of money that is being spent on the mid-sized banks. Consider Africa as one of those banks."
Meles said specific amounts were not discussed in London.
Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf added: "The cost of sustainability in reform and recovery is much, much less than the cost of peacekeeping were the crisis to engender a return to conflict."
African countries are expected to be hit by falls in prices for commodities such as oil, gold, zinc and cooper, as well as drops in tourism, aid and money being sent home by workers in the developed world.
Brown told the meeting that the global economic crisis should be used as an opportunity to move more quickly towards building a fairer and more equal world order.
South Africa is the only African country in the G20, though NEPAD chairman Meles will attend the April summit, as will the AU Commission chairman.
Meles said the African leaders believed they had won Brown's agreement on the fundamental issues of providing the continent with additional aid and greater ease of access to funds.
Among those attending Monday's gathering were Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete, Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga, plus the finance ministers from South Africa, Nigeria, Egypt, Cameroon, Cape Verde and Rwanda. Eleven countries in total were represented.
Central bank chiefs plus delegates from pan-African bodies, including the African Union, also attended.
Kikwete warned: "This is a very unprecedented problem. Africa is a victim. We are not responsible for its genesis but all of us are suffering."
Odinga added: "When there are problems in Africa, Africans will vote with their feet by coming to Europe.
"We want to retain those people in Africa by making conditions in Africa more attractive because otherwise they become a burden to Europeans."