ADDIS ABABA (Bloomberg) — Ethiopia’s ruling party said the country’s largest opposition grouping, the Forum for Democratic Dialogue (Medrek), would try to foment violence after elections scheduled for May in an effort to spur foreign governments to intervene.
“They are ready to create violence after the elections,” Hailemariam Desalegn, the parliamentary whip for the ruling Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front [a cover for Tigrean People’s Liberation Front (Woyanne)], said in a phone interview this week. “Their ultimate objection is not free and fair elections but to get power-sharing like in Zimbabwe and Kenya. I think this is very dangerous and they should be properly told this.”
He said opposition allegations that elections scheduled for May 23 would not be free and fair were designed to fuel popular discontent that would lead to street clashes as happened following the country’s disputed 2005 poll.
The warning came as the opposition Unity for Democracy and Justice (UDJ), the largest political party in the Forum, accused the U.S., Britain and other Western aid donors of silence over the jailing of UDJ leader Birtukan Mideksa and other human rights abuses.
The U.S. and U.K. “are following the old way of doing business,” said Andualem Aragie, UDJ’s secretary general. “They are partners in development with the Ethiopian government but I don’t think they are partners in freedom and democracy.”
Following disputed presidential elections in Zimbabwe in 2008 and Kenya in 2007, international mediators brokered agreements that allowed opposition parties to share power with Presidents Robert Mugabe and Mwai Kibaki.
The opposition has sought to raise pressure on the U.S., U.K., and other donors who supply more than $2 billion in aid annually to Ethiopia, saying their silence is tantamount to political support for Prime Minister Meles Zenawi.
The U.K. government has a “frank and full dialogue with the government of Ethiopia on human rights and democracy including Birtukan,” said Gavin Cook, a spokesman for the British embassy in Addis Ababa. “Our development assistance, regardless to who is in power, has helped benefit millions of Ethiopians.”
Michael Gonzales, a spokesman for the U.S. embassy in Addis Ababa, declined comment.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Grow tobacco while the people don’t have enough food to eat. Stupid.
CAIRO (Reuters) – Egypt’s cigarette monopoly Eastern Company (EAST.CA) is negotiating with the Ethiopian government ruling tribal junta in Ethiopia to buy 10-20 hectares of land for growing tobacco, the daily al-Mal quoted its chairman as saying.
Egypt, the Arab world’s most populous state, has been looking to expand its agricultural investments in east Africa. Last month the prime minister sent a committee to investigate growing wheat in Uganda.
Eastern Company will buy the land and seek the expertise of international companies to cultivate the crop. Among companies it is considering partnerships with are Universal Corp (UVV.N), Alliance One International (AOI.N) and a British group.
“Eastern Company will enter into an equal partnership with one of these companies, once an agreement is made, to begin benefitting from its expertise in the field of tobacco cultivation,” al-Mal quoted Nabil Abdel Aziz as saying.
Procedures for receiving the land and agreeing with a company could take up to a year, the paper cited Abdel Aziz as saying.
Eastern Company was not immediately available for comment.
Shares in Eastern Company were up 1.3 percent at 129 Egyptian pounds by 1032 GMT. (Writing by Shaimaa Fayed; Editing by David Holmes) ($1=5.471 Egyptian Pound)
The Washington Metro Chapter of Ethiopian People’s Patriotic Front (EPPF) is organizing a town hall meeting to be held on February 20 in preparation for EPPF’s upcoming general assembly.
On January 24, a similar meeting was held in London by the U.K. Chapter of EPPF.
The DC town hall meeting is intended to rally Ethiopians in support of EPPF, as well as allow those who cannot attend the general assembly in the field to send a message of solidarity to the freedom fighters, according to Ato Demis Belete, EPPF spokesperson in Washington.
Members of the Eritrean community in the Washington DC area and representatives of Ethiopian political and civic organizations are being invited to attend the meeting.
Guest speakers will be announced shortly.
Date: Saturday, Feb. 20, 2010
Time: 3:00 PM
Place: Unification Church, 1610 Columbia Road NW, Washington DC
ADDIS ABABA (APA) — The 14th African Union Summit on Tuesday unanimously re-elected Ethiopian Prime Minister genocidal dictator Meles Zenawi to represent Africa in future consecutive global climate conferences. [In Africa, failure and betrayal are rewarded. That is why the continent is a land of misery.]
The Summit commended the leading and coordinating role of Meles at the tough negotiations at the Copenhagen Climate Conference. [The fact of the matter is that Meles betrayed Africa in Copenhagen, as reported here.]
The leaders expressed their satisfaction with Meles “who strives to secure the benefits and interest of Africa.” [Thieves standing up for each other at the expense of Africa they claim to represent. Read about Meles Zenawi’s role in Copenhagen here.]
Meles was elected last year to lead the African Union delegation of thieves to the world climate conference at the AU assembly in Libya .
Tanzanian president, Jakaya Kikwete lauded Meles’s efforts at the Copenhagen climate conference where he took into consideration Africa’s interest. [Liar]
The world climate conference in Copenhagen was a forum where the international community, including the developed countries promised to give Africa tens of billion dollars in the coming three years and another $ 100 billion by 2010.
The money will be utilized for climate change adaptation and mitigation programs in Africa , which severely affected by the climate change. [The money goes into the pockets of these looters who are being propped up by neo-colonialists.]
PHOENIX — Dozens of friends gathered Monday at the Laveen home of an Arizona State University student killed in a traffic collision caused by a suspected red-light runner.
Abel Abebe, 27, an immigrant from Ethiopia, died from injuries he suffered when a 2008 Hyundai coupe broadsided his Honda Civic on Baseline Road as he drove to work in Chandler. Investigators said the Hyundai’s driver ran a red light on southbound 19th Avenue as a police helicopter followed overhead.
“He wasn’t sick or anything,” said Fitsum Sima, 25, a friend and fellow Ethiopian immigrant who attended St. Mary’s Orthodox Tewahedo Church in south Phoenix with Abebe.
“It just happened on his way to work,” Sima said. “It wasn’t his fault.”
Phoenix police patrol officers spotted the Hyundai about 12:30 a.m. Monday after watching a female driver switch seats with a male passenger at an intersection near a store where police said the man stole beer moments earlier. After taking the wheel, the man sped away from an attempted traffic stop near McDowell Road and 55th Avenue, police said.
Abebe, an ASU pharmacy student, worked a graveyard shift as caregiver with mentally-challenged adults before he would head to ASU’s main campus in Tempe for class. He tutored students in math and physics.
Dawit Tessema, 23, said he spent nearly every day of the past four years at Abebe’s side between work, church and pickup soccer games.
“One day he’s here talking to me, the next day he’s gone,” Tessema said. “He was a guy you could count on. The more I think about it, the more I wonder, ‘Why him?’ ”
Phoenix Officer James Holmes, a department spokesman, said the 47-year-old driver of the Hyundai could face charges of felony flight from police and possibly vehicular homicide or manslaughter. The female passenger, 30, is not considered a suspect at this time, he said.
