Israeli use of phosphorus in Gaza 'a crime'

Medeshi March 26 , 2009
Israeli use of phosphorus a crime
A report by an international rights group has said that Israel's use of white phosphorus during its recent offensive on the Gaza Strip is evidence of war crimes.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on Wednesday that the munitions were fired indiscriminately and over densely populated areas during the 23-day war, leading to many casualties.
"In Gaza, the Israeli military didn't just use white phosphorus in open areas as a screen for its troops," Fred Abrahams, senior emergencies researcher at HRW and co-author of the report, said.
"It fired white phosphorus repeatedly over densely populated areas, even when its troops weren't in the area and safer smoke shells were available. As a result, civilians needlessly suffered and died."
'Senior approval'
The report said that senior commanders must have approved what they saw as a pattern or policy in white phosphorus use.
In depth
HRW has called for Israeli senior commanders to be held to account and for an international investigation to take place, since an Israeli Defence Force (IDF) inquiry is likely to be neither "thorough" nor "impartial".
The 71-page report documents evidence of spent shells and white phosphorus found in residential areas, city streets, a hospital and a UN school.
It follows reports by Amnesty International, the international rights group, and the UN alleging the improper use of white phosphorus by Israel.
Armies typically use the munition to obscure their operations on the ground via the thick smoke created. It can also be used to set targets alight.
The munitions are legal in open areas, but illegal when used unnecessarily and in civilian areas.
'Truely terrible'
Talking to Al Jazeera Abrahams said: "This is our first report of a series in Gaza, because what we saw was truly terrible."
"I've covered five wars and for me personally it was a traumatic experience to go to Gaza," Abrahams said.
"Israel repeatedly used [white phosphorus] in densely populated areas, such as downtown Gaza City," he said.
'It is a thoroughly inappropriate way to use this munition. It spreads 116 burning wafers of white phosphorus down in an area of up to 200 metres.
Abrahams said that Israel's past use of the munitions in the 2006 Lebanon war and repeated warnings of the proximity of their shelling to populations meant they knew the danger they were subjecting Palestinians to.
"So to us this indicates a pattern, a policy. Investigations of small fish, low level soldiers, is not enough," Abrahams said.
"We believe top level commanders should be investigated and where there's evidence they should be held accountable."
Abrahams called on either the UN Security Council or Ban Ki-Moon, the UN secretary general, appoint an international investigation that looks at all abuses in the war not just attacks on UN locations.
Location critical
Chris Cobb-Smith, a security consultant who co-authored a report with Amnesty International on the munitions' use, said that the important point was not the employment of the weapon, but where it was used.
"An important thing to remember about white phosphorus is that it is not an illegal weapons system. It is perfectly legal, but it must be used in the right way," Cobb-Smith told Al Jazeera.
"It is illegal to fire at humans. It is even illegal to fire this weapons system at enemy troops.
"It is purely an obscurant. It is purely to provide a smoke screen for soldiers on the battlefield.
"But there is absolutely no military tactical reason to use white phosphorus in a built up area. It can provide no use whatsoever.
"It was used at a time before the IDF actually commenced their ground offensive into Gaza itself. They were miles away from Gaza City when they first used this weapons system."
Israel originally denied using the munitions during its war on the Gaza Strip which began on December 27 last year, but later said it would hold an internal investigation into its improper use.

AJZ

The Tallest Dam in the world is nearly finished in Ethiopia

Medeshi March 26 , 2009

The Tallest Dam in the world is nearly finished in Ethiopia
The World's tallest dam is under construction in Ethiopia and BBC Special report has extensive coverage on the construction and the controversies surrounding the dam.
By Peter GresteBBC News, Ethiopia
Deep in the gorge country that falls off the Ethiopian plateau, workers in boots and hard hats are hammering, drilling, blasting and digging their way into the mountainside for the foundations of the vast wall that will, when finished, create the second largest hydroelectricity dam in sub-Saharan Africa.
Teams of workers are blasting out the "keyhole" - the slot in the side of the valley that will hold the dam wall in place.
Others are finishing the concrete lining to the last of three 1,000m long tunnels that have already begun diverting the Omo River waters around the main construction site.
The Gibe III dam is under construction on the Omo River, approximately 300km southwest of Addis Ababa. It is the third in a series of cascading hydroelectric projects in the region.
The first, the Gilgel Gibe dam (also called Gibe I), was completed north of the Gibe III dam site in 2004. The Gibe II project is a power plant associated with the Gibe I dam that is still under construction.
The new Gibe III dam is expected to produce 6500 GWh of energy a year, and surplus energy is expected to create 300 million euros (£282m; $407m) in revenue, according to the Ethiopian Electric Power Corporation (EEPCo), the sole provider of power in Ethiopia.
Ethiopia's neighbours, such as Djibouti, Yemen, Kenya, Uganda, Sudan and Egypt, would all be in a position to purchase the excess energy.
EEPCo sees another benefit of the project in regulating the flow of the river, which floods annually, and thereby making it navigable all year.
The resulting reservoir of approximately 200 sq km would be used as a fishery, according to an environmental and social impact assessment by EEPCo.
Read More from BBC News including Pictures, Video report

Nazret

Disaster warning as drought worsens in Puntland

Medeshi

Disaster warning as drought worsens in Puntland
NAIROBI, 25 March 2009 - More and more people in Somalia's self-declared autonomous region of Puntland are relying on water trucking as the drought that has gripped the region worsens, with officials warning the situation could become a "full-blown" disaster within months.
(A donkey in a drought-affected area: Puntland officials have warned that the drought that has gripped the region was worsening and the situation could become a disaster within months - file photo)

"Some of the population has reached the stage where they are no longer able to cope," Warsame Abdi, Puntland's information minister, told IRIN on 25 March.
Abdi said at least 133 localities in Puntland were now dependent on water trucking, adding that the region's authorities did not have the resources to ameliorate the situation.
Warning of a disaster in a month or two "if there is no quick intervention", Abdi urged international aid agencies to come to the region's rescue.
He said the first priority was to deliver water to affected areas and to distribute food to those who had lost their livestock.
Abdi said although there were about two weeks left of the rainy season, signs were that most parts of the region would continue to experience yet another season of little or no rains.
He said the problem was most acute in Mudug, Nugal and parts of Sool and Sanaag, which are claimed by both Puntland and the neighbouring self-declared republic of Somaliland.
Abdiaziz Diriye, of the Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management Agency of Puntland (HADMA), told IRIN a recent assessment it had conducted in the affected areas found water shortages to be the main problem.
"We found that 24 wells in the most affected areas are in urgent need of repairs," Diriye said.
They had also observed high incidence of malnutrition among the elderly and children in some parts: "Food is either not available or is too expensive for most."
Abdiaziz Sheikh Yusuf, the district commissioner of Jariiban, in Mudug region, one of the most affected areas, said 42 out of 47 of the district’s townships were facing "major” water problems.
"We had very little rains last year and almost all the barkads [water catchment areas] in the district are empty," he said.
Yusuf said that many nomadic families who had lost their livestock were moving to towns and setting up temporary shelters or moving in with relatives. "Our estimate is that some 400 nomadic families [2,400 people] are now in urban centres, with more coming every day."
He said minority clans in the area were especially affected. "They occupy some of the driest parts and need urgent help," he said.
He said that almost 40 percent of the livestock had succumbed to drought.

Saudi women to spurn lingerie shops over salesmen

Medeshi March 26, 2009

Saudi women to spurn lingerie shops over salesmen

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia – Before her wedding last year, Huda Batterjee went abroad to buy her bridal lingerie — she just couldn't bear the humiliation of discussing her most intimate apparel with a man. She had little choice: there are almost no saleswomen in Saudi Arabia. Now a group of Saudi women — sick of having to deal with male sales staff when buying bras or panties, not to mention frilly negligees or thongs — have launched a campaign this week to boycott lingerie stores until they employ women.
It's an irony of the kingdom's strict segregation of the sexes. Only men are employed as sales staff to keep women from having to deal with male customers or work around men.
But in lingerie stores, that means men are talking to women about bras or thongs, looking them up and down to determine their cup sizes, even rubbing the underwear to show how stains can be washed out.
The result is mortifying for everyone involved — shoppers, salesmen, even the male relatives who accompany the women.
"When I buy underwear in Saudi, some salesmen say, 'This is not the right size for you,'" said Batterjee. "You feel almost taken advantage of. Why is he looking at me in this way?"
So for her wedding trousseau, the 26-year-old went to neighboring Dubai to shop. She now lives in Virginia with her husband.
Heba al-Akki, a businesswoman who supports the boycott, said when she shops for underwear, "I go to a store, pick this, this and that and leave quickly. It's as if I'm buying illegal stuff."
It's not easy on the salesmen either.
At one lingerie boutique in a Riyadh mall Wednesday, salesmen blushed when asked about their jobs. All said they back the campaign to hire female sales staff.
"Even in such open regions as the U.S. and Europe, men do not sell underwear to women," said store manager Husam al-Mutayim, a 27-year-old Egyptian. "I don't let any of my female relatives buy underwear from men. It's just too embarrassing."
Mannequins — headless in keeping with a ban on realistic depictions of women — were displayed in the shop window dressed in modest pajamas. Inside, racks held an array of colorful bras, lacy panties and sexy nighties — along with more day-to-day undergarments.
Under Saudi Arabia's strict interpretation of Islamic law, women are required to cover themselves head-to-toe in black robes in public. But in the privacy of their own homes — and bedrooms — they can wear whatever they want, and sexy undergarments are popular.
But buying them is another story. Fitting rooms are banned in the kingdom — the idea of a woman undressing in a public place with men just outside is unthinkable. So a woman is never sure she has chosen the right size until she gets it home.
"I have bras with sizes ranging from 32 to 38 because I can't get to try them on," said Modie Batterjee, Huda's sister and one of the boycott organizers.
Even male relatives get dragged into the embarrassment. Women are allowed to shop without a male relative, but husbands or brothers sometimes insist on coming along — or the women want them there — to ensure salesmen stay respectful.
Modie Batterjee recalls how her husband fled a lingerie store because he could not bear to hear her explain to a salesman that she wanted high-waisted underwear to hold in her tummy after their daughter's birth.
The boycott was launched on Tuesday by about 50 women who gathered in the Red Sea port of Jiddah at the Al-Bidaya Breast-feeding Resource and Women's Awareness Center, which is run by Modie Batterjee.
The aim is to push for implementation of a law that has been on the books since 2006 which says only female staff can be employed in women's apparel stores.
The law has never been put into effect, partly due to hard-liners in the religious establishment who oppose employing women in mixed environments like malls, where religious police are always on the lookout to keep men and women from interacting.
Hiring women would also deprive men of jobs in a country where more than 10 percent of men are unemployed.
"We are raising awareness and calling for the implementation of the law," said Reem Asaad, a finance lecturer at Dar al-Hikma Women's College in Jiddah, who supports the boycott.
The campaign calls on women to shop at the country's few women-only lingerie stores. Usually stand-alone boutiques or located in malls that have women-only sections, these shops have no windows to ensure passing men cannot look in — and giving women the freedom to actually try things on.
How much impact the boycott call will have is unclear. Almost 1,700 people signed an online petition posted by Asaad on the social networking Web site Facebook. A few Saudi papers have written about it, but the campaign depends mostly on word of mouth.
Not all women support the idea. At the Riyadh lingerie shop on Wednesday, one woman — only her eyes visible through the black veil covering her face — said she is suspicious of women-only lingerie shops.
"Bad things happen there," she said.
What might that be?
Women can sneak a picture of you changing with their mobile phones, she replied and refused to give her name.

Pirate-Chasers Find Busting Brigands Is Easier Than Trying Them

Medeshi
Pirate-Chasers Find Busting Brigands Is Easier Than Trying Them
By Gregory Viscusi
March 26 (Bloomberg) -- The world’s navies have gotten better at catching Somali pirates in the Gulf of Aden. Now they have to figure out how to bring them to justice.
European Union and U.S. naval forces have captured dozens of presumed brigands in recent months after beefing up their presence in the Gulf of Aden, the world’s most dangerous waters. Most have been let go or dumped on the shores of neighboring Somalia because of a lack of evidence or confusion over what jurisdiction can prosecute them.
“International law is very clear about giving any warship from any sovereign nation the right to suppress piracy in international waters,” said John Kimball, a maritime expert at law firm Blank Rome LLP in New York. “But it’s a messy burden. They need to be processed and given trials. Not many governments are willing to do this.”
Spurred by a spike in piracy last year, about 20 warships from 15 countries are patrolling the gulf between Yemen and Somalia, and nearby waters. Pirates assaulted 165 ships last year, seizing 43 of them for ransom, with 10 boats taken in November alone. Only five ships have been seized so far this year, and only one this month.
Since last August, when international naval forces began aggressively patrolling off Somalia, 127 presumed pirates have been apprehended and then released, according to the U.S. Navy. Another 35 are awaiting trial in Europe or Kenya, and 91 were handed over to authorities of Somalia’s various entities. At least three have been killed in gun battles with French and British commandos.
Somalia has lacked a central government, and a working justice system, since 1991.
Legal Framework
“We do appreciate what’s been done and it’s starting to have an effect,” said Giles Noakes, head of security at Copenhagen-based BIMCO, the world’s largest shipping association. “Now the issue is, how do we assist the naval operation with the right legal framework?”
The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea gives sovereign nations the right to repress and prosecute pirates. France is one country that has tried, with little success.
In April 2008, French commandos leaped from helicopters onto Somali soil to seize six alleged pirates who had made off with $2.15 million in ransom from the hijacking of a French yacht.
The Somalis are still sitting in French prisons a year later, along with six other people captured by naval commandos who freed a hijacked French yacht in September. They haven’t been charged, and any eventual trial is at least 18 months away because of legal challenges and a backlog of criminal cases. A judge will rule April 6 on a defense motion to release them.
Detention Rules
Court-appointed defense lawyers argue that the detentions violated the French requirement that suspects be released or placed under investigation within 48 hours of arrest. The military held the presumed pirates for seven days before sending them to France. After they arrived, authorities waited four days before placing them under investigation.
“No one is contesting that France is competent to judge piracy attacks against its citizens,” said Gustave Charvet, a lawyer for one of the Somalis, Mohamed Said Hote, who is being held in prison outside Paris. “But there has to be some legal framework. Here we are in a world of no law and no rights.”
Isabelle Montagne, a spokeswoman for the French prosecutor’s office in Paris, said the national law was respected and the investigation “is progressing.” Christophe Prazuck, a spokesman for the French military’s joint chiefs, said previous court cases determined that arrests at sea aren’t bound to the same time limits.
Danish, Dutch
The Netherlands is the only other country to bring pirates home for prosecution. Five presumed Somali pirates were captured Jan. 2 by Danish frigate HDMS Absalon after attacking a Dutch Antilles merchant ship. They were held in Bahrain while a Dutch arrest warrant was processed and arrived in Rotterdam Feb. 11.
It’s the first time the Netherlands has put pirates on trial since the 17th century, said Wim de Bruin, a spokesman for the Dutch prosecutors. “We have a clear case based on videos and photos provided by the Danish Navy” that show the people attacking the boat, he said.
Reinier Feiner, a Rotterdam court-appointed lawyer defending one of the Somalis, disagreed: “They spent a month without legal assistance,” he said, adding that his clients deny attacking any ship. A public hearing is planned for May.
Let Them Go
More commonly, the suspects are just released. On March 20, the USS Gettysburg, a guided-missile cruiser, captured six presumed pirates after responding to a distress call from a Philippine-flagged ship. A helicopter pilot from the Gettysburg could see objects being thrown overboard, said U.S. Navy spokesman Matt Snodgrass in Bahrain. The Somalis were briefly detained and then returned to their skiff.
In the past two months, the U.S. and the EU have signed agreements with Kenya allowing them to turn suspected pirates over to the East African country for prosecution. Germany’s FGS Rheinland-Pfalz frigate delivered nine such detainees to a court in Mombasa, Kenya’s main seaport, on March 11. On March 5, the U.S. Echo turned seven over to Kenya.
The first trials are expected to start this summer, said Githu Muigai, managing partner of Nairobi law firm Mohammed Muigai.
Kenyan courts are likely to reject any jurisdiction challenges from defense lawyers, Muigai said. Even so, trials could drag on because of a backlog in Kenyan courts and the logistics of bringing foreign marines to testify.
“The real challenge will be to hold these trials expeditiously,” said Muigai. “But that’s a problem for the people on trial, not the prosecution.”

More People Seeking Asylum in Industrialized Countries

Medeshi
UN: More People Seeking Asylum in Industrialized Countries
By Lisa Schlein Geneva
24 March 2009
A new report by the U.N. refugee agency finds the number of asylum seekers in industrialized countries increased in 2008 for the second consecutive year. It says asylum requests have been rising in part because of the higher number of applications from Afghanistan, Somalia and other countries in turmoil or conflict.
The U.N. refugee agency says more than 380,000 new asylum applications were submitted last year in the 51 industrialized countries. This is 12 percent more than in 2007 and represents the second consecutive annual increase in the number of asylum seekers.
The report says the number of Iraqi asylum seekers declined by 10 percent in 2008. Despite this, Iraqis continue to be the largest nationality seeking asylum in the industrialized world. Somalia is in second place.
UNHCR Spokesman, Ron Redmond, says the number of Somali asylum seekers has gone up to 21,800 and reflects their increasing desperation. He says tens of thousands flee across the Gulf of Aden seeking a better life.
"Others flee up through Africa towards the Mediterranean Coast and then across the Mediterranean. So, in Somalia, it is ongoing conflict over a wide area, lack of economic opportunities. People cannot feed their families," Redmond said.
Redmond says the growing number of Afghans seeking asylum is a worrying sign. He notes Afghan asylum seekers peaked in 2001 and then dropped dramatically with the fall of the Taliban. But, now, he says, the numbers are going up again.
"And that reflects the difficulty of Afghans in resuming their lives, particularly for returning refugees who go back to very, very little in many cases ... So, Afghanistan needs a lot of attention. I would just say that this is a warning sign that Afghanistan still needs a lot of help from the international community so people can go home and stay home," he said.
The report finds the United States continued to be the main country of destination for asylum seekers of all nationalities in 2008. It received about 49,000 new asylum claims, accounting for 13 percent of all applications in industrialized countries.
After the United States, the study says the main countries of destination were Canada, France, Italy and the United Kingdom.

TB treatment success against the odds in Somaliland

Medeshi
TB treatment success against the odds in Somaliland
HARGEISA, 24 March 2009 (PlusNews) - Despite rampant poverty, high levels of illiteracy and limited international support, the self-declared republic of Somaliland in the northwest of Somalia has become an unlikely TB success story.
"We adopted the DOTS (Directly Observed Treatment Short Course) system for treating TB in 1995, so someone is always present to ensure patients take their medication," said Dr Ismail Adam Abdillahi, coordinator of the national TB programme. "As a result, adherence is very high and treatment success is over 90 percent."
The World Health Organization (WHO) has set a global target of 85 percent treatment success by 2015; Somalia, part of WHO's Eastern Mediterranean Region, ranks second in the region's 22 countries in terms of treatment success.
"The majority of the population has access to a health facility with TB services that have at least one doctor able to treat TB," Ismail said. "There is no shortage of drugs, which we get from the Global Fund [to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria] through World Vision International."
Education has ensured that almost all patients have a basic knowledge of TB, while the establishment of a wide network of TB centres implementing close supervision and monitoring means TB treatment continues to make progress. The global target for TB case detection is 70 percent by 2015, but Somaliland has already achieved a case detection rate of 68 percent.
"In 2008 we diagnosed 4,153 cases; we believe these were most of the people who contracted the disease," Ismail said. Although the country does not have the technology to detect multidrug-resistant TB, he noted that there were very few cases of "chronic" or recurring TB.
This progress has been made despite the fact that Somaliland, which has not achieved international recognition as a sovereign state, is extremely poor - a decade-old livestock ban by Saudi Arabia and several other meat-importing countries in the Middle East has devastated its main source of income.
Although the country has been relatively peaceful since its formation in 1991, it continues to experience some insecurity, which hampers access and limits staff movement to certain areas.
Sustaining the response in a difficult environment
"We also have a lot of IDPs [internally displaced persons] and refugees in Somaliland from the south; when people are in such emergency situations, personal health is not a priority and people do not seek treatment," Ismail said.

"The war before 1991 also destroyed our health infrastructure, and we still need many more health facilities and staff trained to handle TB." The largest urban centre, Hargeisa city, with a population of more than 500,000, still has only one health centre equipped to treat TB.
"Our regulations are not as strong as they could be, and we do get unlicensed practitioners treating patients and private pharmacies selling TB drugs over the counter, which risks patients getting incorrect information and taking drugs the wrong way," said Dr Abdirashid Hashi Abdi, the Global Fund HIV/AIDS coordinator for the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) in Hargeisa. "There is also no known data for the level of multi- and extensively drug-resistant TB."
Ismail noted that one of the groups still causing his department some concern were the nomads, who roamed the countryside, never settling anywhere long enough for TB education to reach them, and often grazing their herds far from health facilities with TB services.
"Men who chew khat [a mild stimulant widely used in the Horn of Africa] in small, poorly ventilated rooms for hours are also particularly at risk," Ismail said. "This explains the fact that the ratio of men to women infected with TB in Somaliland is two to one."
Somaliland and Somalia combined have an annual TB incidence of about 324 cases per 100,000 people, with more than half aged between 15 and 34. The disease is strongly associated with poverty, and many TB patients also suffer from malnutrition, making treatment more difficult.

Israel accused of 'new Gaza crime'

Medeshi March 24, 2009
Israel accused of 'new Gaza crime'
A senior UN official has suggested that Israel should be held accountable for a "new crime against humanity" during its January assault on the Gaza strip.
Richard Falk, the UN's special rapporteur on human rights in the Palestinian territories, said Israel had confined Palestinian civilians to the combat zone in Gaza, a unique move which should be outlawed.
"Such a war policy should be treated as a distinct and new crime against humanity, and should be formally recognised as such, and explicitly prohibited," Falk said in a report to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva on Monday.
Palestinian civilians were prevented from leaving the Gaza Strip during the three-week bombardment by the Israeli authorities.
Falk also called for an investigation into Israel's attack on Gaza, in which more than 1,300 Palestinians were killed and homes destroyed.

Israel said it carried out the assault to stop Palestinian rocket attacks on southern Israel.
Report condemned
Falk's comments formed part of a much longer report from nine UN investigators including specialists on the right to health, food, adequate housing and education, as well as on summary executions and violence against women.
Radhika Coomaraswamy, the UN secretary-general's Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, accused Israeli forces of using a child as a human shield in one incident.
Soldiers forced an 11-year-old boy to walk in front of them for several hours as they moved through the town of Tal al-Hawa on January 15, even after they had been shot at, her report said.
Aharon Leshno Yar, Israel's ambassador to the UN rights council, condemned the report, saying it "wilfully ignores and downplays the terrorist and other threats we face", and the alleged use by Palestinian fighters of human shields.
The US accused Falk of being biased.
"We've found the rapporteur's views to be anything but fair. We find them to be biased. We've made that very clear," Robert Wood, a US state department spokesman, told a media briefing on Monday.
'War crime'
Falk called for the probe to assess if the Israeli forces could differentiate between civilian and military targets in Gaza.
"If it is not possible to do so, then launching the attacks is inherently unlawful, and would seem to constitute a war crime of the greatest magnitude under international law," Falk said in the report.
"On the basis of the preliminary evidence available, there is reason to reach this conclusion," he added, saying that attacks occurred in densely populated areas.
Falk, who has been critical of Israel in the past, was expelled from Israel during an attempt to visit Gaza in December, after he said Israel's policies on the territory amounted to a crime against humanity.

Meles tells parliament it does not need to know how many soldiers died in Somalia

Medeshi March 24 , 2009

(Human lives don't matter to Meles)

Ethiopia - Meles tells parliament it does not need to know how many soldiers died in Somalia

By Kirubel Tadesse

Capital

Prime Minister Meles Zenawi of Ethiopia refused to disclose to parliament the casualties suffered by the Ethiopian National Defense Forces (ENDF) during its two year stay in Somalia. The PM's stance upset some members of parliament, who said it undermined the authority of the house.
Before parliament last Thursday, Meles responded to most of the questions MPs asked. However, he said he is not obligated to answer parts of the last question which asked him to disclose the gains and losses from Ethiopia's recently concluded intervention in Somalia.
"How many soldiers did we send to Somalia and how many of them were injured and how many did we lose?" MP Legesse Biratu, whip of the opposition Coalition Unity and Democracy (CUD) asked the PM. However, Meles only responded to the first part of the question about how the diplomatic community is reacting and major accomplishments the intervintion has secured.
Meles said despite a wish to see Ethiopian troops continue to help stabilize Somalia, the diplomatic community has very much welcomed Ethiopia's efforts.The PM added he is neither obligated to disclose, nor is it important for the House to learn, the details of the casualties and fatalities suffered by Ethiopian soldiers. Ethiopia's spending in Somalia was also not discussed by the PM.
"The parliament is the one that has ordered the measure in self defence and it is not only its right to learn the details of what its decision has resulted, but it is also responsible and accountable to oversee its decision and its implementation," MP Lidetu Ayalew explained to Capital, adding that the PM's response was "not appropriate".Lidetu, who chairs the Ethiopian Democratic Party (EDP), which took a different stance from most of the opposition groups by supporting the government's proposals on Somalia, said like the parliament, the nation too has the right to the information."It is the nation that made the sacrifices and for it to be part of such future efforts it needs to be informed what endured.
"We can never tell this nation to simply pay the price and not know the cost. The PM is accountable to the House and when the House asks questions it was not appropriate to say 'I am not obligated to detail' when in fact the PM is very much obligated," Lidetu added.He referred to international practices, like in the US, where the public is updated daily on its sons and daughters sacrifices in Iraq and Afghanistan.Dr. Negasso Gidada, the former president, who was the only candidate to win an independent seat back in 2005, said it was outrageous for Meles to respond as he did: "He just insulted us by trying to determine which information should be important for us and which isn't.
"The boss should be the parliament, but it was seen to be the opposite."Without going into details, the Ethiopian government on various occasions reported that its soldiers came across very weak resistance from the Somalia jihadists and terrorists groups that had their operations orchestrated by the Eritrea government.The PM told parliament spending was kept very low, as the soldiers were trained to keep their costs down almost to the level they would have spent if they were home.However, MPs like Temesgen Zewdie argue that whatever the cost may be, both parliament and the public are entitled to full disclosure.
"It is becoming common in Africa as one way of building a complete dictatorship. Here in Ethiopia it is the executive that controls everything, but I hope we will see a day when there will be accountability, including for what really happened in Somalia," he commented to Capital.

Safe water improves quality of life for families in Berbera, Somalia

Medeshi

Safe water improves quality of life for families in Berbera, Somalia

By Iman Morooka
World Water Day, observed on 22 March, raises global awareness of the critical importance of safe water and sanitation in developing countries. Here is the story of one UNICEF-supported water project.

(Photo: Safe water improves quality of life for families in Berbera, Somalia
© UNICEF Somalia/2009/Ysenburg
Fatma Ali, a resident of Berbera and member of the town’s Water Management Board, holds a piece of the rusty iron pipe that was replaced by a new one through a UNICEF-supported water project.)
BERBERA, Somalia, 23 March 2009 – Until recently, the coastal town of Berbera, north-west Somalia, suffered from insufficient and poor quality of water delivered through its rundown water-supply system.
Berbera’s original water supply dates back to the Ottoman Empire in the 19th century, when this gravity-induced system used the Dubar Spring, at the foot of the mountains, as its natural source. The spring water flowed to collection wells and then to water points through asbestos-cast iron pipes.
“I almost left town because the quality of water was very bad and I was afraid for my health, as well as my children’s,” said Fatma Ali, a resident of Berbera and mother of eight, holding up a piece of the old rusty and cracked pipe that used to deliver water to people in the town.
“There used to be many cases of diarrhoea and people with kidney problems in Berbera,” she added. “I used to advise people to boil water before using it to avoid getting sick.”
Rehabilitating the water systemTo respond to increased demand for water beginning in the early 1980s, improvements to the existing system were made by various international organizations. This included the addition of a set of boreholes with better water yield, to supply the bulk of the town’s water needs.
However, the capacity of the existing system had decreased drastically due to lack of maintenance and poor management, and rusting of the well screens and pipes. Furthermore, clogging of the old pipes with incrustation of sediments had caused a serious decrease in the water supply, and cracks in the networks during times of low flow allowed surrounding contaminants to pollute the water.
In July 2008, in response to these needs and with funding from the European Union, UNICEF started working with the community in Berbera to rehabilitate and expand the existing system and fundamentally improve its operation and management.

(Photo: One of the rehabilitated Dubar spring water collection wells, protected by a new roof and fences that prevent animals, logs and other large objects from contaminating the well.)
A comprehensive approachThe project consists of two main components. The physical component has improved the water system through:
• Rehabilitation, cleaning and protection of the Dubar Spring source and existing boreholes• Replacement of the blocked sections of the old transmission pipes as well as installation of a new supply pipe• And construction of three kiosks where displaced people living in the Jalamaaye settlement in Berbera can get water.
The other component is the improvement of water system management through a public-private partnership that involves all stakeholders – the community, the water authority and the private sector – to ensure more sustainable delivery of services.
Public-private partnership“This project’s comprehensive approach, that addresses the entire set of problems that plagued the water system, is what makes it sustainable,” said UNICEF Somalia Chief of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Zaid Jurji.
© UNICEF Somalia/2009/Ysenburg
One of the rehabilitated Dubar spring water collection wells, protected by a new roof and fences that prevent animals, logs and other large objects from contaminating the well.
“The enthusiasm and ownership of all stakeholders towards this initiative is remarkable. The community has taken part in conducting the social survey and in labour-intensive work, such as excavating pipe channels and removing old pipes, while the national and local authorities have assumed leadership and promoted the adoption of the public-private partnership approach.”
Through this approach, the different and complementary roles of government and private sector are strengthened, with UNICEF as facilitator to the process.
‘Thanks to clean water, I feel safe’Fatma Ali is one of the members serving on the Water Management Board. “I am very proud to be part of this project, and I consider it one of the largest and most important ones in this area,” she said. “Thanks to clean water, I feel safe to be living in Berbera.”
Through this project, safe water provided to the 12,000 residents of Berbera, including the displaced population, has increased by 30 per cent.
UNICEF and the European Union pioneered the public-private partnership approach in Somalia in 1997. Since then, several other key donors, including USAID and the Danish Government, have also come on board to support this initiative. Today, there are 10 such projects being implemented across the three zones of the country.

Move Over, Karzai

Medeshi March 23, 2009

Move Over, Karzai

US will appoint Afghan 'prime minister' to bypass Hamid Karzai

The US and its European allies are ­preparing to plant a high-profile figure in the heart of the Kabul government in a direct challenge to the Afghan president, Hamid Karzai, the Guardian has learned.
The creation of a new chief executive or prime ministerial role is aimed at bypassing Karzai. In a further dilution of his power, it is proposed that money be diverted from the Kabul government to the provinces. Many US and European officials have become disillusioned with the extent of the corruption and incompetence in the Karzai government, but most now believe there are no credible alternatives, and predict the Afghan president will win re-election in August.
A revised role for Karzai has emerged from the White House review of Afghanistan and Pakistan ordered by Barack Obama when he became president. It isto be unveiled at a special conference on Afghanistan at The Hague on March 31.
As well as watering down Karzai's personal authority by installing a senior official at the president's side capable of playing a more efficient executive role, the US and Europeans are seeking to channel resources to the provinces rather than to central government in Kabul.
A diplomat with knowledge of the review said: "Karzai is not delivering. If we are going to support his government, it has to be run properly to ensure the levels of corruption decrease, not increase. The levels of corruption are frightening."
Another diplomat said alternatives to Karzai had been explored and discarded: "No one could be sure that someone else would not turn out to be 10 times worse. It is not a great position."
The idea of a more dependable figure working alongside Karzai is one of the proposals to emerge from the White House review, completed last week. Obama, locked away at the presidental retreat Camp David, was due to make a final decision this weekend.
Obama is expected to focus in public on overall strategy rather than the details, and, given its sensitivity, to skate over ­Karzai's new role. The main recommendation is for the Afghanistan objectives to be scaled back, and for Obama to sell the war to the US public as one to ensure the country cannot again be a base for al-Qaida and the Taliban, rather than the more ambitious aim of the Bush administration of trying to create a European-style democracy in Central Asia.
Other recommendations include: increasing the number of Afghan troops from 65,000 to 230,000 as well as expanding the 80,000-strong police force; ­sending more US and European civilians to build up Afghanistan's infrastructure; and increased aid to Pakistan as part of a policy of trying to persuade it to tackle al-Qaida and Taliban elements.
The proposal for an alternative chief executive, which originated with the US, is backed by Europeans. "There needs to be a deconcentration of power," said one senior European official. "We need someone next to Karzai, a sort of chief executive, who can get things done, who will be reliable for us and accountable to the Afghan people."
Money and power will flow less to the ministries in Kabul and far more to the officials who run Afghanistan outside the capital – the 34 provincial governors and 396 district governors. "The point on which we insist is that the time is now for a new division of responsibilities, between central power and local power," the senior European official said.
No names have emerged for the new role but the US holds in high regard the reformist interior minister appointed in October, Mohammed Hanif Atmar.
The risk for the US is that the imposition of a technocrat alongside Karzai would be viewed as colonialism, even though that figure would be an Afghan. Karzai declared his intention last week to resist a dilution of his power. Last week he accused an unnamed foreign government of trying to weaken central government in Kabul.
"That is not their job," the Afghan president said. "Afghanistan will never be a puppet state."
The UK government has since 2007 advocated dropping plans to turn Afghanistan into a model, European-style state.
Richard Holbrooke, the US envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan, who will implement the new policy, said it would represent a "vastly restructured effort". At the weekend in Brussels, he was scathing about the Bush administration's conduct of the counter-insurgency. "The failures in the civilian side ... are so enormous we can at least hope that if we get our act together ... we can do a lot better," he said.

US Asked Binyam Mohamed To Drop Torture Claim In Exchange For Freedom: British Court

Medeshi March 23, 2009
US Asked Binyam Mohamed To Drop Torture Claim In Exchange For Freedom: British Court
LONDON — A British court says U.S. authorities asked a Guantanamo Bay detainee to drop allegations of torture in exchange for his freedom.
A ruling by two British High Court judges published Monday says the U.S. offered Binyam Mohamed a plea bargain deal in October. Mohamed refused the deal and the U.S. dropped all charges against him later last year. He was released last month.
Mohamed is an Ethiopian who moved to Britain when he was a teenager. He was arrested in Pakistan in 2002 and claims he was tortured both there and in Morocco. He was transferred to Guantanamo in 2004.
The court said the plea bargain also asked Mohamed to plead guilty to two charges and agree not to speak publicly about his ordeal.
The judges considered the plea bargain issue during an appeal to the High Court by Mohamed's lawyers demanding the British government release documents they claim would prove he was tortured.
Issuing a judgment on the case in February, Thomas said there was evidence to show Mohamed was tortured, but that the documents could not be made public because of the British government's national security concerns.
He said Britain's government had said releasing the documents could undermine intelligence-sharing with the United States.
Mohamed claims British intelligence officers supplied questions to his interrogators and were complicit in his torture _ a claim Prime Minister Gordon Brown has rejected.
In investigating Mohamed's claims, the British court reviewed the draft plea bargain and correspondence between military prosecutors and Mohamed's lawyers.
The ruling quoted testimony from Mohamed's lawyer about the offer.
"Mr. Mohamed must sign a statement saying he has not been tortured, which would be false. And he must agree not to make any public statement about what he has been through," Clive Stafford Smith told the court in October, according to the ruling.
The ruling also quotes then-U.S. military prosecutor Lt. Col. Darrel Vandeveld as saying Mohamed would be given a date for his release if he agreed to the terms.
Vandeveld _ who has since quit his post _ had said Mohamed would need to plead guilty to two charges in exchange for a three-year sentence and to testify against other suspects, according to the court documents.
The ruling discloses that, had Mohamed agreed to the plea bargain, the British government told the U.S. it would not allow him to serve the three-year sentence in a U.K. jail.
Since February, Mohamed has given interviews to the BBC and a British newspaper.
Read More: Binyam Mohamed, Foreign Affairs, Guantanamo, Guantanamo Plea Bargain, GuantáNamo Bay, Us Plea Bargain Guantanamo

Saudi Human Rights Group Criticizes Religious Police For Discriminating Against Women

Medeshi March 23, 2009
Saudi Human Rights Group Criticizes Religious Police For Discriminating Against Women
DONNA ABU-NASR
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — A Saudi human rights groups has strongly criticized the kingdom's religious police, judiciary and security agencies in a new report and called for changing laws that discriminate against women.
The report, issued Sunday by the National Society for Human Rights, also urged an end to the marriage of underage girls and demanded a faster pace for judicial reform, including retraining judges.
This is the group's second report, since its founding in 2004.
The report highlighted violations by the powerful Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice which runs the religious police and accused it of "infringing individuals' rights."
People detained by the religious police have been "interrogated and sometimes assaulted and made to confess under duress to acts they did not commit," the report said, adding that in some cases this has led to deaths in custody.
"In commenting on the incidents, the commission leans toward denying them, belittling their importance or saying they are individual acts," said the report.
Currently there are efforts to retrain members of the religious police through workshops, but the report said these do not go far enough.
"There is a need to accurately define the powers and authority of the commission members," the group's statement said.
The report also listed several aspects of the Saudi judicial system that have resulted in unfair trials, including the difficulty women have litigating, closed trials, the intimidation of complainants and wildly varying sentences for the same offense.
The report also said it has received complaints from families whose children have been jailed without trial, some for more than four years, on vague accusations of being members of "deviant" groups _ often a euphemism for al-Qaida.
The report praised the appointment of women to key positions, including as deputy education minister and urged the government to continue such steps.
But it said that while women have been allowed to run and vote in chamber of commerce elections, their participation in municipal elections, is "unclear." A law should be issued to "guarantee equality and a lack of discrimination between men and women in this respect."
The report also called for giving women more opportunities in the workplace. It said the major obstacles against women working in professions such as lawyers, lie in traditions rather than existing laws.
"This calls for a national plan to change social trends that violate Islamic law texts ... and lead to the loss of many of (women's) legal rights," it said.
Read More: Human Rights, Middle East, Muslim Womens Rights, Saudi Arabia, Saudi Arabia Human Rights, Saudi Religious Police, Saudi Women, Women's Rights, Womens Human Rights, Womens Rights, World News

Ethiopia - Meles Zenawi named 16th Worst Dictator in the world - Magazine

Medeshi March 23, 2009

Ethiopia - Meles Zenawi named 16th Worst Dictator in the world - Magazine

Parade, a weekly insert magazine that is distributed with more than 400 Sunday newspapers in the United States, named Ethiopian Prime MInister Meles Zenawi as the World's 16th Worst Dictator, in its latest annual list of the World's nastiest dictators. Meles Zenawi has been at the helm of power in Ethiopia since 1991, and prime minister since 1995. The most competitive election in Ethiopia's modern history took place in 2005, but Meles Zenawi was accused of stealing the election, in which more than 190 people were killed in election related violence.
A former guerrilla leader, Meles shows no signs of sharing power with anyone. In January, his government passed a law forbidding any NGO that receives more than 10% of its budget from abroad from doing human rights work in Ethiopia. Despite Meles’ excesses, the U.S. considers him an important regional ally and continues to train his military.
Isayas Afeworki, his kin in Eritrea, is ranked nastier by the Parade magazine as the 8th worst dictator in the world. Afewerki announced in May 2008 that elections would be postponed for "three or four decades" or longer because they "polarize society." All forms of media are controlled by the government. At least 10 local journalists remain in prison since their arrests in 2001.
Topping the list is Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe as the World's Worst Dictator for 2009.
Here is the run down.

The World's 10 Worst Dictators
1. Robert Mugabe - Zimbabwe
2. Omar al-Bashir - Sudan
3. Kim Jong-Il - North Korea
4. Than Shwe - Burma (Myanmar)
5. King Abdullah - Saudi Arabia
6. Hu Jintao - China
7. Sayyid Ali Khamenei - Iran
8. Isayas Afewerki - Eritrea
9. Gurbanguly Berdymuhammedov - Turkmenistan
10. Muammar al-Qaddafi - Libya

16. Meles zenawi

Nazret

Japan /Somalia confrontation

Medeshi March 23, 2009
Japan /Somalia confrontation
Somali Sea Salvation corps (Coastguards) fire on Japanese ship off Somalia
A pair of small Somali coast guard vessels fire on ship operated by Mitsui O.S.K. Lines
Front of ship damaged but not seriously; There are no injuries
In 2008, Somali coast guards attacked nearly 100 vessels and hijacked as many as 40 off Somalia
Pirates attacked a Japanese cargo ship off the coast of Somalia on Sunday, a Japanese Transportation Ministry official said.
A pair of small vessels fired on a ship operated by Mitsui O.S.K. Lines about 4 p.m. Somali time (9 a.m. ET), damaging the front of the ship, but not seriously, according to Masami Suekado.
There were no injuries.
The exact number and makeup of the crew were not immediately known, although none of the crew members is Japanese, Suekado said.
Attacks off Somalia has increased over the past four or five years as fishermen from Somalia realize that protecting their sea shores is a way of survival.
The act of Somali coast defense , which is hard to prevent, has raised concerns internationally.
In 2008, Somali coast guards attacked nearly 100 vessels and hijacked as many as 40 off Somalia, according to the International Maritime Bureau.
In response, a number of countries have deployed ships from their navies to the region, including the United States, China and Japan.
Two Japanese destroyers set sail earlier this month on an anti-piracy mission off Somalia, the Japanese defense ministry said.
All AboutSomalia
Agencies