Sources inside the regime of Tigrean People Liberation Front (TPLF) in Ethiopia have disclosed that a secret military court has passed a death sentence on four air force pilots who sought political asylum in 2006 while on a training mission in Israel.
According to the sources, a TPLF-appointed court at the Air Force has passed a “guilty” verdict and a death sentence in absentia on Capt. Samuel Getachew, Lt. Himanot Gebre Mariam, Lt. Fikresleasie Feleke, and Lt. Yitabrek Takele.
The TPLF regime’s military is currently plagued with a series of defections. During the past few years, senior officers, including generals and colonels, as well as scores of junior officers and privates have defected to other countries seeking asylum.
It is also to be recalled that a few weeks following the May 2005 fraudulent elections, Lt. Behailu Gebre and Lt. Abiyot Manguday fled to Djibouti flying a military helicopter. Ethiopians around the world made a vigorous effort to rescue those officers from being handed over to Meles Zenawi’s regime while they remained in Djibouti. Reversing the initial promise it gave to provide them with protection, the Government of President Omar Gulleh sent them back to Ethiopia, to certain torture and death, in flagrant violation of international conventions and protocols that accord protection for political refugees. After their forcible return to Ethiopia, Lts. Behailu and Abiyot have disappeared without a trace. It’s believed that they have been executed.
Other Air force pilots who fled the country, including veterans such as Captain Teshome Tenkolu and eight pilots who were on a training mission in Belarus, have managed to resettle in European countries where they are protected and far away from the sad and cruel fate befallen Lts. Behilu and Abiyot.
Withing the past year, General Alemshet Degefe, head of the Air force, and his deputies were summarily dismissed after a fall out with officials of the ruling party, TPLF, and replaced with party loyalists from Tigray region, including, General Molla Hailemariam, head of the air force; General Tadesse Worede, head of Military Staff School; General Seyoum Hagos, chief for eastern command; and General Yohannes Gebremeskel, chief of central command. General Samora Yunus, a TPLF Central Committee member, remains Chief of Staff.
The TPLF regime’s military continues to face serious discontent and low morale, in part, due to lack of a merit-based system and professionalism. The crisis facing the military is compounded by the quagmire in Somalia.
APA-Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) Some 13 journalist serving in government and private media in Somalia are seeking asylum in Ethiopia after crossing the border to Ethiopia fleeing “intimidations and persecutions” from the Al-Shabab group, APA learned here on Saturday.
The journalists who entered the country told Ethiopian radio that Al-Shabab has currently been murdering journalists working with concerned bodies striving to bring peace and order in that country.
Mohamed Nor Mo’alim, a journalist serving in the government radio station was qouted as saying that he was repeatedly threatened to death for reporting the efforts of the Transitional Government towards ensuring peace in Somalia.
Kadar Shardi Ahmed from Radio Somali Weyn on his part expressed that his father and brother were murdered by Al-Shabab group for producing programs of immense importance to the country’s peace and stability.
Fardowsa Mohammed, Universal Television journalist, who left Somalia along with her four children told the radio that she lost her brother and was repeatedly threatened by the terrorist group as she became famous for producing programs featuring the reality on the ground.
The journalists said that Al-Shabab threatens even their families through telephone and other means.
The journalists also appealed for the international community to halt the “ill acts” of the Al-Shabaab,which is fighting the TFG of Somalia backed by Ethiopian forces since December 2006.
There are also journalists from state owned media like, Horn Afrik, Darban Radio, Banadir Radio Afrikada Bari, Universal TV, GBC, among others.
(African Press Agency) — The current power crisis in Ethiopia prompts surge of the sale of generators, mainly in Addis Ababa where many businesses and international organizations are operating. Owing to poor performance of seasonal rains, there is a short supply of electric power in Addis Ababa where each district receives power five days a week.
According to the Ethiopian Electric and Power Corporation (EEPC), the blackout which started in March 2008 will continue until the rainy season in June 2008.
However, big businesses are purchasing DC generators in an apparent attempt to prevent any impact on their profit making due to power cuts.
Hotels, hospitals, internet cafés, private businesses both small and big ones are the ones being affected by the power cuts in the city, home to around five million people and housing the African Union (AU) headquarters.
“Small generators with 2.0 horsepower have been sold much more than ever before. People who run the business are obliged to increase their supply considering the demand,” Tesema Zelalem, a salesman at a generator shop told APA.
He said that many people are still asking for generators since the government announced a week ago that the power cuts will continue until June 2008.
Private companies such as publishers, printers, and service giving institutions have expressed more interest to generator sellers, Zelalem continued.
“We found it necessary to buy this small generator to run my business. Losing power twice a week for 14 hours a day is too much, especially for the business community,” Meaza Mengistu who owns a cafe and was buying a generator.
The small generators are on sale for US$ 400 and US$ 500 depending on the brand and the guarantee.
“We are forced to buy generators even if the cost of diesel is increasingly on the rise,” Mengistu added.
The EEPC announced the need of power rationing to cope with the 80 megawatts shortfall.
According to economists, the current power crisis can cost the business community around US$ 100 million during the period (March to June 2008).
In 2007, EEPC signed an agreement with Djibouti, Sudan and Kenya to supply them electricity in the coming year, and a multi million-dollar hydroelectric power dam is being constructed in the country.
MOGADISHU (AFP) — Somali insurgents on Saturday seized a southern Somali town after clashes with government troops that claimed at least three lives, elders said.
Their fighters attacked Jilib township, some 400 kilometres (250 miles) south of the capital, touching off deadly clashes with government forces and allied militia.
“Clan militias in the town exchanged fire with the Islamists and three militiamen were killed,” said Mohamed Hassan Warsame, an elder.
“Local authorities emptied the town this morning after heavily-armed Islamist fighters took control of it.”
Abdullahi Mohamed, a local government official said they fled the town, leaving it in the hands of the Islamists.
“We escaped the town early this morning after heavily-armed Islamist militias attacked us. We have been told three militias were killed inside the town.”
(REUTERS) ADDIS ABABA — Ethiopian Airlines net profits for the first nine months of 2007/08 reached 484 million birr ($55.67 million), the airline said in a statement.
The state-owned carrier posted net profits of 129 million birr in 2006/07. The statement predicted that, based on the first nine months of 2007/08, the airline would achieve a record net profits and revenues. Expenses for the same period rose by 21 percent, the brunt of which Chief Executive Girma Wake said was spent on fuel.
“Fuel price remains of concern to the industry as a whole and Ethiopian Airlines believes that costs will continue to escalate into the next quarter given the present trend in price of fuel,” Wake said. Revenues for the period rose 29 percent to 6.6 million birr, he said.
The airline transported 1.9 million passengers, a 19 percent increase on last year. Wake said the improvements in revenue and traffic were due to increased frequency of flights, the introduction of new routes and an increase in cargo revenue
Endrias Eshete, who is known as the butcher of Addis Ababa University, has arrived at Dulles Airport in Washington DC today. He was taken to a van provided by the Woyanne embassy in a wheelchair. The tutor of Meles Zenawi’s daughter, Samuel Assefa, who also acts as an ambassador of Ethiopian in Washington DC, was at the air port to greet him.
Meles Zenawi appointed Endrias Eshete as head of the Addis Ababa University to stamp out any criticism of the Woyanne regime by the university’s faculty and students. Endrias allowed, and often invited, Meles’s death squads, the Agazi special forces, and the notorious Federal police to enter the AAU campus and attack the students. Under Endrias’s watch thousands of AAU students have been savagely attacked, tortured, imprisoned and killed.
Endrias Eshete and Ambassador Samuel Assefa are old time drinking buddies and close friends of Meles Zenawi’s family. Samuel is a personal tutor and chaperon of Meles’s older daughter. When she was admitted to Georgetown University in Washington DC about two years ago, Meles removed the previous ambassador, Kassahun Chekol, and sent Samuel Assefa, who has no diplomatic experience, to DC as an ambassador. Samuel’s main job, however, is not diplomacy. He is a personal servant to the dictator’s daughter.
Meles Zenawi appointed Endrias Eshete as head of the Addis Ababa University to stamp out any criticism of the Woyanne regime by the university’s faculty and students. Endrias allowed, and often invited, Meles’s death squads, the Agazi special forces, and the notorious Federal police to enter the AAU campus and attack the students. Under Endrias’s watch thousands of AAU students have been savagely attacked, tortured, imprisoned and killed.