EDITOR’S NOTE: Ethiopia’s dictatorship needs stop buying weapons and use the money to buy food. The current official military budget is $400 million. This doesn’t include the secret budget that is allocated to the intelligence services and the death squads.
(BBC) — The UN has warned that it has run out of food to provide for nine million Ethiopians who rely on its assistance.
A UN spokesman told the BBC the port of Djibouti was seriously congested and there was little prospect of supplies arriving for the next five months.
Following a border war, Eritrea denied Ethiopia access to its ports, so the landlocked country relies on Djibouti.
[This is not true. BBC needs to get its facts straight. The Government of Eritrea had offered free access to Assab port for donated food to Ethiopia. It was the Meles regime that has declined the offer. BBC needs to also report that tonnes of donated food intended for Ethiopia are currently rotting in the Djibouti port because the Meles tribal junta is unwilling and unable to provide transportation, although the excuse they give is port congestion, according to a U.N. report. Read here.]
Correspondents say this time of year is known as “the hunger season”, three months before the next harvest.
The UN World Food Programme says breast-feeding mothers, children and refugees will be among those worst hit.
It warns after it hands out final rations this month there will be no further deliveries until September or October.
The agency says it has no option but to cut back on the food they provide, which has already been cut by a third since July 2008.
“We have a small refugee population here and their ration is being cut by half beginning this month. We run out of food and people will be very hungry,” WFP’s Barry Came told the BBC.
BBC Africa analyst Martin Plaut says in the jargon of the aid agencies, the food pipeline has ruptured.
The port of Djibouti is full to overflowing and the Ethiopian government has prioritized the delivery of fertilizer [to be distributed to poor farmers at high profit margin by Woyanne-owned companies], to try to increase the next harvest.
But even when the grain gets through the WFP says there is an acute shortage of trucks, with the Ethiopian authorities preventing the agency from bringing in its own fleet from Sudan.
The UN says the Ethiopian authorities have exacerbated the situation by refusing it permission to use a fleet of trucks to transport the grain from Djibouti.
ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA — The 32 defendants who are accused by Ethiopia’s tribal junta of plotting to assassinate government officials appeared at the Lideta district court in Addis Ababa, the same kangaroo courtroom where Teddy Afro’s sham trial was conducted.
General Asaminew Tsige, one of the accused, asked the judge why himself and four other people were held in solitary confinement in Kaliti.
He said that their human rights are being abused and asked the court to the measure. The judge said that it wasn’t a court matter but rather an administration matter.
Also apart from five defendants all the 27 others don’t have a legal representation. The court today agreed to have them represented by two lawyers, despite unwillingness from one of the three judges, and an aggressive opposition from the prosecution.
Once two of the three judge made the decision, 15 minutes were given for the lawyers to consult their clients.
Strangely enough, two cameras were rolling at the time close enough to record the voices of the defendants and their lawyers, clearly violating their privacy.
After less than five minutes of consultation between the lawyers and their clients, one police officer who was guarding the prisoners protested to the judges. He told the judges that there was no reason why the defendants needed to be allocated time to speak to the lawyers.
Surprised by the outburst from the officer, one of the judges told him off, telling him that it was the defendants’ constitutional right, then adding: “if you don’t allow this in court, what is it like in prison?”
The officer kept quiet, and the crowd cheered and clapped. To which the pro-government judged told off the crowd for showing its emotions. That is a kangaroo court in action.
The other interesting part in the hearing this morning is that the defense lawyer of Berhanu Nega’s cousin Getu Worku asked for a private doctor to inspect her client. She added that the report would be kept as evidence.
Reuters managed to speak to several family members who said their loved ones were tortured. One of them had to be hospitalized after an injury to his penis due to the torture. Col. Biraa might have performed her specialty on him. She is a sadistic Woyanne intelligence officer whom Meles assigns to get any information out of suspected military officers.
The judges denied access to a private doctor, saying that the prison doctor should be enough.
The lawyer for Ato Tsige Habtemariam, the 80-year-old father of Ginbot 7 Secretary General, tried to get bail for his client. It was not denied, as the judges admitted that the health of the man and his age made it a special case, despite strong opposition from the prosecution. The prosecutor said that once freed Ato Tsige could be in touch with Ginbot 7 (his son in particular).
Next hearing is Friday, June 26.
Out of the 32 who appeared in court today, 14 are military military officer.
Also today, representatives from the Germany and American embassies were present at the hearing.
Gen. Asaminew Tsige is one of the 46 suspects charged by Ethiopia’s tribal junta
ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) – A group of men accused of plotting to topple Ethiopia’s government were tortured in prison during lengthy interrogations, relatives said on Monday.
At a pre-trial hearing in Addis Ababa, a judge refused a request from a lawyer for one of the 32 men for a doctor chosen by the families to visit the detainees in prison to compile a report on any injuries.
The arrest of the group in the biggest such crackdown for several years has worried rights group, who say Prime Minister Meles Zenawi’s government has become increasingly authoritarian and tough on any critics in the Horn of Africa nation.
Officials say the group planned bombs and assassinations.
At Monday’s hearing, the judge said the group had access to a prison doctor, which was adequate. Some members of the group discussed with the judge how, with their meagre means, they should hire lawyers. A few threw waves and smiles at relatives.
After the hearing, three family members told Reuters suspects had spoken of mistreatment in jail.
“Some of them have been tortured and are injured,” one relative, who asked not to be named, said outside court. “They have been interrogated for up to nineteen hours. One man with injuries to his penis had to be treated in hospital.”
Lawyers said five of the group were being held in solitary confinement. The 32 accused were mainly former and current army personnel, including two generals.
“TERROR” ACCUSATIONS
A Government spokesman said the allegations were “baseless”.
“They have the right to relate any indignities they allege they have suffered openly in court,” Shimeles Kemal said. “If this had been the case, they would have, but they didn’t.”
The government has identified only two of the prisoners despite calls by rights groups to give all the names.
Another 14 people, some resident in the United States and Britain, have been charged in absentia.
The government says the accused, arrested more than a month ago, belonged to a “terror network” formed by Berhanu Nega, an opposition leader who teaches economics in the United States.
Berhanu denies the accusations.
Addis Ababa says the group had planned to kill senior government officials and blow up power and telecommunications facilities to provoke protesters who would then march on government buildings and attempt to topple the government.
Opposition parties have called the charges trumped-up.
Security forces killed about 200 protesters after elections in 2005 when the opposition disputed the government’s victory. The next national election is due in 2010.
Berhanu was elected mayor of the capital Addis Ababa in the 2005 ballot, but was arrested and accused of orchestrating the street protests. He was pardoned and released in 2007.
His “May 15th” organisation was named after the date of the 2005 poll. He has made statements in the United States saying it wants to overthrow Meles’ government.
The Ethiopian government says the plotters received money to buy weapons from Berhanu and other diaspora opposition members.
The accused will appear in court again on June 30th.
Two senior leaders of the Ethiopian People Revolutionary Party (EPRP), Ato Iyasu Alemayehu and Ato Mersha Yoseph, were guests on the Voice of America Amharic program Saturday. Mersha Yoseph is one of the leaders of the faction that split from EPRP and named itself EPRP-Democratic about two years ago.
In explaining the main reason why his faction left EPRP, Ato Mersha said that he and his comrades had opposed the dialogue that Iyasu Alemayehu initiated with the Government of Eritrea. He accused Ato Iyasu of taking it upon himself, without the leadership committee’s knowledge and approval, to establish contact with Eritrean officials. EPRP insiders argue otherwise, and are expressing outrage at Ato Mersha’s claim. They say that Ato Mersha was on board when the leadership committee decided to send Ato Iyasu Alemayehu and Ato Mohammed Ahmed (EPRP’s head of foreign affairs) to Asmara. On the second trip, Ato Tegegn Moges had joined them.
It seems that after some 40 years in politics, Ato Mersha has yet to learn the ABCs of politics: In politics there is no permanent enemy, only permanent interest. EPRP and EPLF (the current ruling party in Eritrea) were once enemies. But that was then. Today, these two forces have a common interest — the removal of Woyanne that is currently pillaging Ethiopia and preparing to invade Eritrea. The irony in Ato Mersha’s position is that he favors dialogue with Woyanne, which was and continues to be a deadly enemy of EPRP.
On the interview, Ato Mersha was incoherent, self-contradictory, and ideologically bankrupt. He opposes cooperating with Eritrea, but says that his party wants to work with those who cooperate with Eritrea. Ethiopian Review is not a big fan of Iyasu Alemayehu, but we need to give credit where it’s due. He explained himself well, he was articulate, consistent, and intelligent. Whereas Mersha exposed his weak stand toward Woyanne, Iyasu was clear about what he believes needs to be done. From what we heard on the VOA interview, the Mersha faction is more like EPRP-Hypocritic, not -Democratic. Click below to listen the interview:
TEHRAN (AFP) — Iran has rounded up at least 10 reformist leaders, a party member said, after President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s re-election in a deeply-disputed vote sparked riots across Tehran.
Ahmadinejad appeared on television on Saturday to declare his landslide victory over moderate challenger Mir Hossein Mousavi was “fair” after thousands of angry opposition supporters took to the streets in protest at alleged vote-rigging.
Iranian security forces have arrested at least 10 leaders of two reformist groups who backed ex-premier Mousavi in Friday’s vote, an official from one group told AFP.
“At least 10 members of the Islamic Iran Participation Front and the Islamic Revolution Mujahedeen Organisation were arrested yesterday,” said Rajab Ali Mazroei, a member of the front.
Thousands of Mousavi supporters swept through Tehran on Saturday shouting “Down with the Dictator” after final results showed the hardline incumbent Ahmadinejad winning almost 63 percent of the vote.
Baton-wielding riot police firing tear gas clashed with protestors who pelted security forces with stones and set rubbish bins and police vehicles ablaze in unrest not seen since student riots a decade ago.
“The election was completely free… and it is a great victory,” Ahmadinejad, 52, said in his television address, calling on his supporters to gather on Sunday in a Tehran square where many of the clashes occurred.
Mousavi cried foul over what he branded a “rigged” vote and a “charade” and said it could lead to tyranny in the Shiite-dominated nation, which has lived under clerical rule since the Islamic revolution three decades ago.
But he had called on his supporters to stay calm and show restraint after official results showed he had secured less than 34 percent of the vote despite some expections he would win enough to go through to a second-round runoff.
The election results dashed Western hopes of change after four years under the combative Ahmadinejad, who set the country on a collision course with the West over its nuclear drive and his anti-Israeli tirades.
Iran’s all-powerful supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei hailed Ahmadinejad’s victory and urged the country to unite behind him after the most heated election campaign since the Islamic revolution in 1979.
However the vote outcome appears to have galvanised a grass-roots movement for change in the Islamic republic, where 60 percent of the population was born after the revolution.
The international community reacted cautiously to the vote outcome and the allegations of vote irregularities.
“The United States has refrained from commenting on the election in Iran. We obviously hope that the outcome reflects the genuine will and desire of the Iranian people,” US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said.
The United States is “monitoring the situation as it unfolds in Iran,” she added.
New US President Barack Obama has called for dialogue with its arch-foe after three decades of severed ties, a major policy shift following his predecessor George W. Bush’s description of Iran as part of an “axis of evil.”
The European Union said it was “concerned about alleged irregularities during the election process and post-election violence.”
Israel voiced concern over the return of Ahmadinejad, who has caused international outrage by repeatedly describing the Holocaust as a myth and calling for the Jewish state to be wiped off the map.
“The results of the election show, now more than ever, how much stronger the Iranian threat has become,” Israeli deputy foreign minister Danny Ayalon said.
Mousavi had protested at what he described as “numerous and blatant irregularities” in the vote which officials said attracted a record turnout of around 85 percent of the 46 million electorate.
The election highlighted deep divisions in Iran after four years under Ahmadinejad, who had massive support in the rural heartland and among the poor, while in the big cities young men and women threw their weight behind Mousavi.
As the protests intensified on Saturday, Iran’s main cellular phone network was cut and social networking site Facebook was also blocked.
Police beefed up their presence in main streets and squares of the capital, especially in the area housing Mousavi’s campaign office, while dozens of men were seen handcuffed and detained in an interior ministry compound.
Members of Iran’s volunteer Basij militia were also deployed in some parts of the city while smouldering garbage cans were lying on pavements after being set ablaze by rioters.
ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA – The tribal junta regime in Ethiopia has ordered the Addis Ababa-based Sheger FM (102.1) private radio to stop all its re-broadcasts of Voice of America (VOA) programming effective immediately.
Sheger FM had been carrying some of the VOA Amharic programs, mostly music and entertainment, through a contractual arrangement.
The order followed the release of VOA Correspondent in Addis Ababa, Meleskachew Amaha, from jail after detaining him for being in possession of radio equipments.
A kangaroo court judge set Ato Meleskachew free yesterday after ordering him to post a 15,000-birr bail. He was detained for two weeks.
American Ambassador Donald Yamamoto had visited Meleskachew in prison and might have did some arm-twisting at the highest level to get him released.
The equipments in question were imported by ABC Broadcasting with a grant from the Government of Norway a few years ago, hoping that it will secure the license to operate a radio station.
Last month, the Woyanne regime shut down the company and accused Ato Meleskachew Amaha, Ato Abebe Workie and others of illegally owning broadcasting equipments. Both were shareholders in the company.
ABC Broadcasting’s principal shareholder was Dr Berhanu Nega, chairman of Ginbot 7 Movement.
