When the Italian occupation ended, Ethiopians kept their homeland and cherry-picked the best from Italian culture, from improved infrastructure for fast cars to al dente spaghetti in even the most traditional restaurants. Of course, fashion left its mark.
To wit: Taytu’s luxury leather bags, which demonstrate the skill and design of a chic Milan design house. Named for a legendary Ethiopian empress, the line is made by artisan producers in Addis Ababa.
The company promotes fair trade, empowering craftspeople to create fine goods with cool hippie appeal.
Haul your summer clothes in a boho-fab, sunshine-colored hobo or throw your makeup into a sleek burgundy pouch. The bags are lined in Ethiopian-print fabrics and adorned with colorful beads.
It’s style worth fighting for.
Available at Barneys Co-Op, 5471c Wisconsin Avenue, Chevy Chase (301-634-4061 or barneys.com). To see styles, go to taytu.com. Map It
– Daily Candy
MINNESOTA (Star Tribune) — A 24-year-old man, Guuci Mokonnen Beyena, could be charged today for allegedly killing his sister over the weekend by slashing her throat as she held her 8-month-old baby outside an {www:apartment} complex, Richfield police reported Monday.
The 22-year-old woman, whom authorities have not identified, had wounds on her hands, head and back, indicating she was probably trying to defend the baby from her attacker, said police Lt. Jay Henthorne.
The baby was not injured. Henthorne said the child was taken to Hennepin County Medical Center on Saturday night for a checkup and then released to his father.
The woman was killed around 9:30 p.m. Saturday in the parking lot of the Buena Vista Apartment Homes at 734 E. 78th St., where she lived. The Hennepin County medical examiner’s office is conducting an autopsy. The woman’s name will be released when the {www:autopsy} is complete, Henthorne said.
The brother, who was arrested in connection with the killing, might have lived in the apartment building, police said. Henthorne said police consider him homeless.
The suspect, who could be charged today by the Hennepin County attorney’s office, fled after the killing to the Mall of America, police said.
The man eventually called the Bloomington Police Department to turn himself in, saying he had been involved in an incident with his sister.
Henthorne said police are still looking into a {www:motive} for the killing. There are indications of past tensions between the brother and sister, he said.
CHICAGO, USA — A cab fatally struck a pedestrian Sunday morning in the North Side’s Edgewater community, police said.
A cab emerging from a driveway in the 5500 block of North Sheridan Road struck a pedestrian about 6:20 a.m., police said.
The 42-year-old pedestrian was taken to Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center where he was pronounced dead, police said.
The Cook County Medical Examiner’s office could not immediately confirm the death.
The cab remained on the scene and the driver, 29-year-old Desta Pawlos, an immigrant from Ethiopia, was ticketed for failure to stop when exiting a driveway.
Pawlos is scheduled to appear in traffic court at 2:30 p.m. June 22, police said.
Belmont Area detectives and the police Major Accident Investigation Unit are investigating.
Source: Sun-Times News
By Kirk Mitchell and Annette Espinoza | The Denver Post
Police are searching for a man who fatally shot an Ethiopian immigrant inside a 7-Eleven convenience store early Saturday morning.
The victim called police at 3:30 a.m. and told them that he had been shot inside the store at 567 E. Louisiana Ave. The store clerk was found in an alley near the store, said Sonny Jackson, Denver police spokesman.
It is not known why he was found outside, Jackson said.
Police have not released the name of the victim, but neighbors identified him as “Nathaniel.”
He was rushed to Denver Health Medical Center where he later was pronounced dead, Jackson said.
Police are searching for a white man, about 30, average height and weight, with shoulder-length, brown hair, Jackson said. He was wearing a green jacket and likely blue jeans.
Witnesses told police the gunman fled in a silver, four-door car, which looked to be about 5 to 8 years old.
The killer used a rifle, police said.
“What his motive is, we don’t know,” he said.
When asked whether anything was taken from the store, Jackson said he would not comment on evidence.
The clerk, who was 27, had worked at the 7-Eleven store for five years, said Margaret Chabris, spokeswoman for 7-Eleven.
“Last night, he worked alone, but I don’t know if he was alone in the store (at the time of the shooting),” Chabris said Saturday.
She said someone called police, but she doesn’t know if it was a customer. She said 7-Eleven clerks have been killed before but not necessarily during the shift between 11 p.m. and 7 a.m.
“These are random acts of violence,” Chabris said. “We’ve heard of incidents of violence in broad daylight.”
She said the clerk was a loyal, hardworking, good employee.
“It sounds like something that was unprovoked,” Chabris said. “It devastates all of us.”
The clerk had been a manager of the store before, under different ownership.
He has relatives locally and overseas, Chabris said. Police were having trouble reaching his mother, she said.
The store had camera surveillance equipment. The tapes will be turned over to police for their investigation, Chabris said.
Yellow crime tape surrounded the store Saturday. After police left, employees entered the store and began cleaning.
Staff writer Kieran Nicholson contributed to this report.
By FRED OLUOCH | The East African
Ethiopia will be holding elections next year, but all indications are that the ruling party, the Ethiopian Peoples Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) [a cover for the tribalist Tigrean People Liberation Front, commonly known as Woyanne] will win, and there could be a repeat of the 2005 post-election violence because of two factors.
One, the government has closed all democratic space and two, the opposition is hugely divided.
Back in 2005, the opposition under the umbrella of the Coalition for Unity and Democracy (CUD), formed only six months before the May elections, gained massive popularity, especially in Addis Ababa winning all the seats in the capital.
Today, a combination of a seriously splintered and weak opposition, and the perception of Zenawi by the US as an ally in the war against terror in the Horn of Africa, has given EPRDF a head start.
There is also a widespread feeling that the ruling party, has created conditions to ensure its win, resulting in a growing campaign for an election boycott by the opposition.
The government has closed all democratic space by monitoring and intimidating the media and civil society.
It has tightened its control on free speech, forcing observers to question whether it will be possible to hold a free and fair election under the prevailing circumstances.
Some radical opposition leaders are calling for an election boycott.
The government operates and controls mobile telephone and the short messaging service (SMS) can be disabled anytime.
Since the violence of 2005, the EPRDF has not left anything to chance.
The party has tacitly started campaigning, funding youth groups composing about six million members, farmers associations, women groups and any other groups that could vote against it.
Prime Minister Meles Zenawi has hinted that he might not run in 2010, but the majority of Ethiopians do not take this seriously.
The EastAfrican recently visited the capital, Addis Ababa, where the largely disillusioned populace have resigned to the fact that EPRDF will retain power. But there is simmering discontent.
“The people are withdrawn because they are angry that EPRDF is practising politics of exclusion and it is not ready to share power, despite the realization that a good number of Ethiopians do not support it but are afraid to speak out for fear of persecution. This could create a conducive ground for a repeat of the 2005 post-election violence,” said Mesfin Kebede, a former journalist, who had to abandon the profession due to an increasingly hostile operating environment.
In 2005, the results were delayed from May to September following widespread claims of fraud, which prompted various unrest in which hundreds of people were arrested and at least 200 killed by security forces.
CUD leaders and other prominent opposition politicians were arrested and jailed for life for inciting violence. However they were released after pressure from the international community. Many of them chose to leave the country rather than risk re-arrest.
This was what happened to Birtukan Mideksa, a fiery 34-year old lawyer-cum-politician, and leader of the Union for Democracy and Justice. She was detained after the government revoked her pardon on grounds that she violated the terms of her release.
However, six major Ethiopian opposition parties recently formed a new political alliance — the Forum for Democratic Dialogue in Ethiopia — to run for election and agitate for the release of jailed opposition leaders.
According to Sammy Fikre, a writer with The Sub-Saharan Informer, Meles is perceived as eloquent and brave. “Western donors believe that he understands them better than many African leaders, and that he has ideas for economic growth and reduction of poverty. But some of it is exaggerated,” he said.
In October 2007, the US House of Representatives passed the Ethiopia Democracy and Accountability Act, 2007, which proposed withdrawal of “non-essential” assistance to Ethiopia until the federal government meets human rights obligations outlined in the Act.
With the entry of the new US administration, and Obama’s tacit warning to dictators in Africa, Zenawi will be under pressure to allow greater democracy in the second most populous nation in Africa after Nigeria.
But even with the unity of opposition, the EPRDF is still too strong, given that Ethiopian opposition parties routinely accuse the government of harassment and intimidated during elections, as was the case in last April during elections for local authorities.
Even the once formidable CUD is a pale shadow of its former self.
CUD was mainly made of business community, civil society and those who had their education abroad and had never been part of the government.
It was popular and formed only six months before the May 2005 elections.
However, EPRDF was complacent and was taken by surprise by the CUD popularity, in which opposition took all the seats in the capital, Addis Ababa.
Now, EPRDF is aware of the type of opponent they are facing and are not leaving anything to chance.
The party has tacitly started campaigning, funding youth groups numbering about six million, farmers associations, women groups and any other groups that could vote against it.
As a result, there is a difference among the opposition whether to participate or boycott the elections.
Moderates are urging the opposition to participate to further entrench democracy in Ethiopia, but radicals within the opposition believe that participation will mean legitimizing the obvious, that EPRDF will win through manipulation and fear mongering.
Still, anything can happen, with the growing inflation and the continued repression of civil liberties.
The youth are resisting the reservation of some ministries to certain ethnic groups.
It is a practise that certain key ministries can only be held by one ethnic group irrespective of merit.
However, Ethiopians agree that he better than his predecessor, Mengistu Haile Mariam, even though he rules with an iron hand. Unlike the former regime—commonly referred to as the Derg—people are relatively free to speak their mind provided they dot directly challenge the government.
Secondly, EPRDF had provided opportunities for the growth of business under other activities, with Addis Ababa currently experiencing construction boom.
Indeed, some of Meles critics believe that Ethiopia’s invasion in Somalia in 2006 with support from the US was meant to divert attention from domestic problems and the some Western countries who had threatened to cut aid over lack of democracy and civil rights.
By Douglas Mpuga | VOA
Ethiopian authorities say the 40 people arrested over a week ago had been planning an insurrection and not a coup. All are said to be members of Ginbot 7 (May the 15th), an opposition pressure group based outside Ethiopia.
Andargachew Tsige is the secretary general of Ginbot 7. From London he told VOA’s English to Africa reporter Douglas Mpuga that it was difficult to tell who exactly was arrested. “The only person whose name is mentioned is an army general, and the other is an 80 year-old man who is my father. Other names are not listed so we cannot tell. Also, our operations in the country are {www:clandestine} we don’t even know the names of some of our members”.
He said his sources within Ethiopia say that the government had backed away from charging the arrested people with plotting a coup because it didn’t appear {www:beneficial} to the government politically. “So they turned it (the arrest) into some terrorist activity so that they (government) could get some diplomatic leverage”.
“Our objective is very simple. In fact, we are not, in a traditional sense, a political party that aspires to take political power. We are mainly interested in the political process. We want the Ethiopian political process to be democratic,” he said.
Tsige emphasized that Ginbot 7 wants democratic institutions to be put in place before any election so that there can be a democratic, free, and peaceful election.
He admitted that his organization has people within the country in all sectors of society, including within ‘the status quo’ and all its military and administrative structures. “We have very extended clandestine network covering the entire nation. We don’t even know all the names of our members, and that is alright because revealing their names would put them in danger”.
Tsige dismissed reports that the Ethiopian government was planning to {www:extradite} members of Ginbot 7 who are in exile. “I am not worried at all. I heard (Simon)
Bereket (the Communications Minister) says the government would consider asking for the extradition of Berhanu Nega and other exiled Ginbot 7 leaders. Doesn’t he know that Ethiopia has no extradition treaty with the United States”, he asked.
Tsige added that Nega was fighting for democracy and freedom which are values shared by western society and the Ethiopian people. “The American government knows the status quo is narrowing down the political space, it is accused of the crime of genocide.
They know they killed hundreds of {www:peaceful} protesters after the 2005 elections. It is these guys who are in power that are seen as criminals not those fighting for freedom”.
