(Bizjournal) — Some timely lobbying seems to be sparing a Washington DC gasoline {www:mogul} from a drive to dismantle his empire.

Aggressive lobbying efforts on behalf of the Ethiopian-born Joe Mamo — whose company Capitol Petroleum Group owns, operates or supplies 164 stations in the Washington area — appears to have staved off legislation by the D.C. Council to loosen his grip on the local gasoline market, The Washington Post reported.

Councilwoman Mary Cheh’s antitrust legislation, which banned wholesalers from also owning retail service stations, was approved by the council’s Committee on Government Operations and the Environment in July but has not generated majority support, according to The Washington Post, due to an {www:onslaught} of support for Mamo from politicians and organizations.

Councilman Vincent Orange has received $1,500 from Mamo, and the Keep Hope Alive Political Action Committee, which is affiliated with the Rev. Jesse Jackson’s Rainbow Push Coalition, has received $25,000. Both Orange and Jackson have urged defeat of Cheh’s bill, The Post reported.

Joe Mamo is the son of famed Ethiopian businessman Mamo Kacha who dominated the Ethiopian transportation business in the 1970s and 80s.

Distinguished professor and a great friend of Ethiopia Prof. Theodore M. Vestal will discuss his new book, The Lion of Judah in the New Word: Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia and the Shaping of Americans’ Attitudes Toward Africa, at a book signing event in Washington DC area on September 25, 2011.

Sunday, Sept 25, at 3:00 PM
Place: Howard University, Locke Hall, Room 105, 2400 6th Street NW, Washington DC

Monday, Sept 26, at 6:30 PM
Place: Edgar Allen Poe Room, 3rd Floor, Enoch Pratt Free Library Central Branch
400 Cathedral Street, Baltimore, Maryland

For directions call 410-396-5494
For more information: [email protected]

Listen to Prof. Vestal’s recent interview on PBS:
[podcast]http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/kwgs/local-kwgs-964842.mp3[/podcast]

We are shocked and deeply saddened to learn the news about the sudden passing away of Washington DC area prominent Ethiopian physician Dr Fisseha Tekle-Wold this week.

Dr Fisseha went to Ethiopia a few days ago to visit her family and had suddenly fallen ill and died, according to family members.

Dr Fisseha is a much-loved and respected figure in the Ethiopian community.

The Ethiopian Review team extends its condolences to the family of the beloved doctor.

BBC follows up on its investigative report that exposes torture, including the burning of women, the use of food aid as a weapon of oppression and other crimes against humanity by the U.S.-financed apartheid brutal dictatorship in Ethiopia. In the report, British aid official Andrew Mitchell tries shamelessly to coverup the Woyanne crime. Watch the report below.

By Paul Fauvet

(IOL) – The 15 Ethiopian athletes who disappeared from the Games Village last week at the All-Africa Games in Maputo, Mozambique, have been found in South Africa, according to the Mozambican police.

The spokesman for the General Command of the police, Pedro Cossa, told reporters that all the fugitive athletes are currently in South Africa, and that a Mozambican, whom he named only as Jorge, has confessed to helping them cross the border in exchange for $300 to $400 per athlete.

Cossa said the police suspect that this man, who is trained in international relations, has a long track record of trafficking people over the border into South Africa. He claimed that Jorge had been in contact with an individual inside South Africa (whom he did not name) who made arrangements to receive the Ethiopians. The disappearance of the Ethiopians was announced on September 14 by the games organising committee (COJA).

The head of the Ethiopian mission himself had informed COJA that 15 of the athletes had vanished from the village, but no names were released. COJA informed the police and immigration authorities, but by this time it was likely that the Ethiopians were already in South Africa.

Ninety-six Ethiopian athletes attended the games, and between them they won 28 medals (six gold, 10 silver and 12 bronze). – Independent Foreign Service