We are sad to report that popular Ethiopian singer Yirga Dubale has passed away yesterday at the age of 81. The legendary musician has been entertaining Ethiopians for the past 6 decades. He is well known for his traditional and patriotic songs. The following is one of his most popular songs.
PRESS RELEASE
The Global Civic Movement for Change in Ethiopia welcomes the strike that has just been started by taxi drivers in Addis Ababa. We support it because it reflects the {www:grievance}s of the people of Ethiopia, and it is peaceful. It is part of the resistance against the minority regime that has been in power for 20 years through brute force and {www:fraudulent} elections.
In 1974 the Imperial regime was removed from power through the peaceful protest of all Ethiopians. During the election related crisis of 2005, taxi drivers supported the pro-democracy movement. Today, they are reminding us that change is possible. We, therefore, fully support the strike, the first of its kind since the brutal suppression of mass uprising in 2005 by Zenawi’s security forces. We call upon all Ethiopians to conquer their fear, stand together and support the demands of the taxi drivers. Their demands are as much political as they are economic.
The brutal regime has already started to suppress the peaceful protest. It has confiscated some taxis, and imprisoned drivers. We condemn this lawless act in the strongest possible terms. We call upon all sectors of Ethiopian society, –the youth, students, workers, merchants, civil servants, farmers — to stand in solidarity with the Taxi drivers, wage a sustained and all inclusive civil resistance and withdraw all forms of cooperation from the dictatorial regime of Meles Zenawi.
Freedom, Justice and Democracy for the people of Ethiopia!
Beka! Geye! Yiakel! Bass! Wetandem! Aloni, Diiteh! Gides!
Freedom, justice, equality for the People of Ethiopia! Victory to the people of Ethiopia!
For more information contact: [email protected]
PRESS RELEASE
The Ethiopian Youth Movement expresses its solidarity with Ethiopian taxi drivers who went out on strike on Monday to protest the unbearable working conditions that have been imposed on them by the regime in Ethiopia.
We believe that now is the time to bring about change and democracy to our country. We are fully aware that our destiny is in our hands. We are also inspired by our peers in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Syria, Yemen and elsewhere.
During the 1974 revolution, Ethiopian taxi drivers played a key role in pressuring the government and soon their protest spread to other sectors of the society. Paired with mass demonstrations and general expression of dissatisfaction by the people, the taxi strike helped the Ethiopian youth to overthrow the regime. Unfortunately, the revolution was then hijacked by power hungry dictators.
This time we can and we will change the faith of our country for the better. Strikes in various sectors of Ethiopia are a necessary tool for defeating the corrupt regime and propelling the movement forward.
This time the taxi drivers of Addis Ababa are taking the lead by withholding their crucial services in the city. The Ethiopian Youth Movement fully supports the taxi drivers’ strike in Addis Ababa and we have already asked all our members in Ethiopia to support it as well.
The first massive demonstration against Meles Zenawi’s regime will be taking place on May 28th (20th anniversary of Meles Zenawi’s dictatorial rule in Ethiopia) in Addis Ababa. It will be the largest demonstration that our country has yet seen. We also call upon all Ethiopians to support the taxi drivers’ strike and begin the cascade of strikes in other sectors of our society as well.
We call upon Ethiopian students, farmers, workers, civil servants, businessmen and women, professionals, political organizations, civic organizations, religious leaders, and men and women in uniform to join the youth movement to remove the dictatorship.
In unity we shall find freedom and a brighter future for our Ethiopia.
Ethiopian Youth Movement
E-mail: [email protected]
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=107472902664461
Special event in Washington DC
Date/Time: Saturday, July 2nd at 3:00 PM
Place: Washington Ethical Society
Address: 7750 16th Street NW, Washington DC 20012
This year, Ethiopian Review is celebrating its 20th year of service and commitment to the global Ethiopian community by organizing various informational, educational and fund-raising activities. The anniversary events will be launched at a special event to be held on Saturday, July 2, 2011, in Washington DC at 3 PM.
In its first decade of service, Ethiopian Review has been a source of information and critical analysis for all Ethiopians and provided a readily available print outlet for Ethiopian scholars and commentators. Over the past decade, Ethiopian Review has been the global cyber gathering place for all Ethiopians seeking critical analysis and investigative reporting.
Ethiopian Review is grateful for the financial and moral support it has received from all Ethiopians and others as it evolved to become a strong voice for human rights, democracy and accountability in Ethiopia. We are most grateful to our friends and supporters for making Ethiopian Review the foremost information source on Ethiopia for many years running.
Ethiopian Review has clear vision and sense of purpose. First and foremost, we recognize the struggle of the Ethiopian people for freedom is just and sacred. Ethiopian Review will continue to support the struggle in no uncertain terms, as we have done so for the last 20 years. We have come this far through the undying love and support of our readers and our dedicated staff who work day and night.
As we celebrate our 20th anniversary and achievements, we are also deeply mindful of the enormous tasks that face all Ethiopians in bringing about a democratic and just society based on the rule of law. We hope to renew and reaffirm our commitment to the struggle for democracy, freedom and accountability in Ethiopia and provide an open forum for all to join the debate and articulate competing ideas and perspectives towards those ends.
Ethiopian Review continues to believe that its contribution to the causes of political pluralism, civil liberties, fundamental human rights and the rule of law in our country depends on an organic link with the forces of democracy at home and others around the globe. Ethiopian Review will mobilize intellectual, technical, managerial, financial and material resources for this just and right cause.
We ask all friends and supporters of Ethiopian Review to join us at a special event launching our 20th anniversary on July 2, 2011.
Place: Washington Ethical Society
Address: 7750 16th Street NW, Washington DC 20012
Ticket: $50 (tickets can be purchased online. Please click on the button below, or click here.
Or send check or money order to:
ETHIOPIAN REVIEW
Finance Committee
PO Box 2786
Tucker GA 30085
USA
For those who are unable to attend the anniversary event in Washington D.C., we ask for your participation and support by purchasing one or more tickets. Ticket sales will be used to pay the costs of setting the anniversary events and support Ethiopian Review’s 2011 Expansion Plan.
Ethiopia’s capital Addis Ababa is hit with a work stoppage by taxi drivers today. Most taxi drivers have stayed home this morning, causing a massive transportation disruption in the city. Many residents are observed walking to work. The taxi drivers are protesting the unbearable cost of living and a recent regulation that limits them to certain areas of the city.
German Radio Amharic Service has this report (listen here – Amharic).
[Photo: Awramba Times]
Thousands of Ethiopian and Somali {www:asylum seekers} trying to make their way to South Africa have been {www:marooned} in overcrowded camps in northern Mozambique since the government introduced measures limiting their movements.
The Maratane Refugee Camp in Nampula Province, which normally accommodates around 5,500 long-term residents from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi and Rwanda, now has a population of over 10,000, while an additional 1,000 asylum seekers are staying at a temporary site in the coastal town of Palma, near the border with Tanzania.
“We did our best to expand facilities – building additional shelters, [drilling] boreholes, and by procuring food and non-food items, but given the sheer volume of the numbers, we’re obviously overwhelmed,” said Girma Gebre-Kristos, country representative of the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) in Mozambique.
A steady stream of Ethiopians and Somalis started arriving in Mozambique in 2010, mostly by boat, but as long as the number of new arrivals at the Maratane Camp roughly equalled the number of departures, authorities were able to cope, Gebre-Kristos told IRIN.
However, this changed unexpectedly at the beginning of 2011, when the number of new arrivals increased significantly and the government of Mozambique put in place strict measures controlling the movements of asylum seekers outside the camp.
Gebre-Kristos said groups of Somalis and Ethiopians making their way south towards the border with South Africa had been picked up by police and returned to Maratane.
Aderito Matangala, acting head of the National Institute for Refugee Assistance (INAR), the local government counterpart of UNHCR, explained that while the law in Mozambique allowed asylum seekers freedom of movement, they first had to complete a registration process at the camp, which took three months.
“The existing law gives [asylum seekers] freedom of movement even before being granted refugee status,” Matangala told IRIN, and many Somali and Ethiopian asylum seekers chose to come to Mozambique because of its reputation for treating refugees well.
“My personal view is that not all of them want to go to South Africa,” he said, noting that some of the new arrivals were economic migrants rather than genuine asylum seekers.
Reports in recent weeks that the local police commander in Palma had deported about 150 Somali and Ethiopian asylum seekers to Tanzania, and that four Somali asylum-seekers were shot dead by border police on 29 April in Cabo Delgado, Mozambique’s most northerly province, suggest that police and immigration officials are not always aware of their country’s obligations to asylum seekers. The government is investigating the shooting and the deportations.
UNHCR and INAR are appealing for help to deal with the food, shelter, water and sanitation needs of the new arrivals in Maratane and Palma. So far the World Food Programme and the Mozambique Red Cross have stepped in with contributions of tents and food.
However, the situation in Palma remains dire. The camp is located next to a swampy, mosquito-infested area with no potable water, but Gebre-Kristos said an alternative location had been identified and would be ready soon.
Besides a lack of infrastructure, the Maratane Camp is struggling to balance the needs of the new arrivals with those of more established residents from the Great Lakes region, many of whom are involved in self-reliance projects and no longer need food assistance.
By contrast, said Gebre-Kristos, the newer residents were often “frustrated and angry young men who think their journey to South Africa has been interrupted”.
(Source: IRIN)
