News sources in Addis Ababa are reporting that legendary Ethiopian singer {www:Tilahun Gessesse} has passed away at midnight last night.
Tilahun, 69, had been receiving medical treatment in the U.S. for several months and returned to Ethiopia a few days ago to celebrate Easter (Fasika) with family and friends.
He was admitted to a hospital after complaining about heart problem. On Sunday, the VOA had planned to hold an interview with Tilahun, but the interview had to be canceled due to his deteriorating condition.
The following is a video of one of Tilahun’s popular songs:
Brief biography of Tilahun Gessesse
Tilahun Gessesse is a legendary Ethiopian singer whose singing career spans 5 dacades. He was born on September 29, 1940, in Addis Ababa and died on April 19, 2009.
Gessesse was born to Woizero Gete Gurmu, who was Oromo, and Ato Gessesse Negusse, who was Amhara. When he was fourteen years old, he was taken by his grandfather to Waliso where he began attending Ras Gobena Elementary School.
As time went by, his interest in music became increasingly clear, although his grandfather urged him to concentrate on his academic studies. The Ras Gobena School Principal Mr. Shedad (who was from Sudan), encouraged Gessesse’s interest in music and urged him to go to Sudan to pursue his music career. Although Gessesse did not go to Sudan, he took Mr. Shedad’s advice very seriously. When Woizro Negatwa Kelkai, Ato Eyoel Yohanes and others artists from the Hager Fikir Theatre came to his school to perform, Gessesse took the opportunity to discuss his interest in music with Ato Eyoel. He was told to go to Addis Ababa if he wanted to pursue a career in the field.
Gessesse left school to go to Addis Ababa, a journey he began on foot without his grandfather’s consent. When his grandfather realized that Tilahun was no longer in Woliso, he informed Gessesse’s great-aunt in Tulu Bolo. After Gessesse traveled fifteen kilometers on foot, he was caught in Tulu Bolo and stayed overnight with his great-aunt Woizero Temene Bantu. The next day, he was forced to return back to his grandfather in Woliso. Since his interest in music lay deep in his heart, Gessesse chose not to stay at his grandfather’s house in Woliso. After staying only one night at his grandfather’s house, he again began his journey to Addis Ababa, this time hiding himself in the back of a loaded truck.
In Addis Ababa, Gessesse was first hired by the Hager Fikir Association, which is now known as Hager Fikir Theater. After a few years at the Hager Fikir Theater, he joined the Imperial Bodyguard Band where he became a leading star singer. During his time with the band, Gessesse ran afoul of the government after the attempted coup d’état of December 1960 by the Imperial Bodyguard. He was arrested and put in prison for a time.
Gessesse moved to the National Theater where his success continued. He was so famous that he appeared three times in front of Emperor Haile Selassie I. During a visit, the Emperor advised him not to abuse his talent.
The majority of Gessesse’s recordings are in Amharic, though he has recorded a number of songs in Oromo.
He received an Honorary Doctorate Degree from Addis Ababa University, in appreciation of his contribution to Ethiopian music. He has also received an award for his lifetime achievements from the Ethiopian Fine Art and Mass Media Prize Trust.
Sources: Wikipedia
By Josh Green | Gwinnett Daily Post
LAWRENCEVILLE, GEORGIA – Quincy Jackson‘s murder trial will spill into a second week but could end as early as Monday, prosecutors said after a fourth day of testimony Friday.
First on the list of witnesses Monday should be the state’s star witness, Lorna Araya, an Ethiopian immigrant and the alleged mastermind behind three home-invasion robberies that culminated in the March 2008 death of Lilburn (a suburb of Atlanta) resident Tedla Lemma, 51 — also an immigrant from Ethiopia.
Police have said Araya has implicated all her co-defendants since her capture.
Jackson, 29, of Riverdale, is the first of four suspects to be tried who police believe played a role in Lemma’s killing. He faces 17 counts, including felony murder, burglary and kidnapping.
Prosecutors say Lemma’s wallet, Social Security card and other possessions were found in Jackson’s home. His defense team argues prosecutors lack direct evidence linking him to the crime scenes.
In testimony Friday, cell phone experts told jurors that a phone registered as Jackson’s was used near each of the three crime scenes within hours of the robberies.
Jackson’s attorney, Matthew Crosby, pointed out that such records track only when and where the phone was transmitting, not who was using it.
Christa Kirk, Assistant District Attorney, said the state plans to call three or four more witnesses, including investigators and the county’s chief medical examiner. Closing arguments by the state could come Monday afternoon.
Crosby said the defense has six witnesses subpoenaed and prepared to testify, but it remains to be seen how many of them, if any, he’ll call. Much is riding on Araya’s testimony, he said. “As of right now, we’re on the fence,” he said.
BEIRUT, LEBANON (IRIN) – Eighty Ethiopian women have been in Tripoli Women’s Prison in north Lebanon for over a year, accused of not having a passport which was either taken from them when they started as domestic workers, or which they never had in the first place. Most were arrested on the street after running away from their employers – usually because of abuses ranging from forced confinement and starvation to physical harm and rape. Some had fled after being accused of stealing.
Having broken their work contracts, which guarantee them a flight home on completion of two years work, and with no passports, the girls are in limbo.
“The reason these women continue to sit in detention is because the employer doesn’t want to pay for the girl’s ticket home, General Security [Lebanese intelligence agency] doesn’t have the money, and often their embassies are unaware of their detention,” said Roula Masri, coordinator for the Collective for Research and Training on Development Action, an NGO campaigning for workers’ rights.
Kholoud, from Sudan, has been in Lebanon for 18 years. She came with her husband and two children to escape conflict and unemployment. But when her husband was deported, she said, he took all the family’s official papers with him. “Now I can’t prove that I am Sudanese to obtain a new passport … so I am stuck here.”
She struggles to pay $110 a month for a one-room apartment with no kitchen, refrigerator or running water, and relies on donations from friends to pay for her children’s education.
Rights groups say an estimated 200,000 domestic workers in Lebanon – most of them women from the Philippines, Sri Lanka and Ethiopia – are not protected by labor laws.
Last month, after a two-year effort by rights groups working with the ministries of labor and justice as well as General Security, the authorities promised
to enact a new unified contract for migrant domestic workers that would improve their working conditions.
For the first time, workers will be able to read the same contract as their employer in their own language. Work terms have been extended from two to three years and the contract states the women should only work 10 hours a day for six days a week and are entitled to eight hours of continuous rest. Salaries, which Human Rights Watch (HRW) has reported can often be withheld as punishment, must now be paid and signed for each month.
The employer, however, will still have the right to break the contract for whatever reason, which means the worker is then responsible for paying for her ticket home or repaying any debts owed.
Workers will still not be guaranteed the right to retain their passports.
Despite this move, activists say a change in the law is needed to ensure the new contracts and the work of placement agencies are regulated.
“Experiences in other countries, such as Jordan, which already have a unified employment contract and a minimum salary for domestic workers, show that a contract is not sufficient in itself and that a law protecting these workers is needed,” said HRW senior researcher in Lebanon, Nadim Houry.
In February, eyewitnesses reported seeing a domestic worker fall from a sixth-floor balcony to her death in Beirut’s central Hamra district.
HRW says domestic workers are dying at the rate of more than one per week in Lebanon, most through suicide or in risky attempts to escape. – IRIN
EDITOR’S NOTE: The so-called “opposition” Unity for Democracy and Justice Party (UDJ) held a demonstration in Addis Ababa today in which 250 carefully screened individuals participated. The UDJ leaders said that the protest was held to demand the release of their “leader” Birtukan Mideksa, but what they actually did was give legitimacy to the illegitimate regime of Tigrean People Liberation Front (Woyanne) ahead of next year’s general elections. How much political benefit the Woyanne regime has gained by this fake little rally is reflected on the headlines of major international news organizations. Here are some of them:
VOA: “Ethiopia’s Opposition Holds First Rally Since 2005”
AFP: “Ethiopian opposition stages rare protest”
Reuters: “Ethiopians stage first protest since ’05 violence”
BBC: “Ethiopians rally in rare protest”
APA: “Ethiopian opposition demonstrate to demand release of their jailed leader”
CNN and others will no doubt echo the same story. The following is full text of the reports by VOA, BBC and others:
By Peter Heinlein | VOA
Supporters of imprisoned Ethiopian political leader Birtukan Mideksa have marched in the streets of Addis Ababa to demand her release. The march was the first officially sanctioned political demonstration since the violent protests of 2005.
A carefully controlled group of 250 people marched to the offices of Ethiopia’s president and prime minister Thursday to present petitions demanding freedom for opposition leader Birtukan Mideksa.
The 35-year-old former judge was first jailed after the disputed 2005 elections, in which her party claimed victory. She was among dozens of opposition leaders sentenced to life, but later released after a pardon agreement with the government.
Birtukan was re-arrested in December and ordered to serve out her life sentence after rejecting a government demand that she make a public statement acknowledging that she asked for the pardon.
Among those participating in Thursday’s demonstration was former Ethiopian president Negasso Gidada, who left office after a dispute with the ruling party in 2001. Negasso, who is a member of parliament says Birtukan should be freed because her re-arrest was illegal.
“If she was found guilty, she should have been brought in front of a court, they should have accused her and brought her to court and had her sentenced again, but they didn’t do that,” said Gidada. “They just picked her from the street and put her in prison. And that is not the way justice would do.”
Government officials have refused to budge in the face of strong pressure to release Birtukan, who is an unmarried mother of a four-year-old daughter. Communications Minister Bereket Simon told reporters last week the government has no intention of re-opening the case on humanitarian grounds.
“No. Not at all,” said Simon. “It’s a judicially resolved case and the government has no mandate to intervene in implementing the decision.”
A spokesman for the Unity for Democracy and Justice party, Hailu Araya, says opposition leaders plan to make Birtukan’s case a main issue in next year’s national elections. He calls her imprisonment an affront to the rule of law.
“There must be a way out. Just because government officials say there is no way out doesn’t mean there is no way out,” said Hailu. “We have to, through persistence, through pressure, we want the rule of law to be respected. If the rule of law is respected, there is a way of having her released.”
Unity for Democracy and Justice party officials say the permit allowing 250 people to march Thursday was the first of its kind granted by the government since the violent post-2005 election protests that led to Birtukan’s arrest. Those protests claimed the lives of nearly 200 opposition supporters killed in clashes with government forces.
Among those joining this latest demonstration was Birtukan’s 72-year-old mother, Almaz Gebregziabhere, who has been one of the few visitors allowed to see her daughter in prison.
Birtukan served seven years on the federal bench, one of Ethiopia’s youngest judges, before resigning in 2000 to run for parliament. She said at the time she was resigning her judgeship because of government interference in the judiciary.
Reuters: ADDIS ABABA, April 16 (Reuters) – Ethiopians marched on Thursday to demand the release of a jailed opposition leader in the first political protests since a disputed 2005 election ended in street violence that killed 199 people.
Birtukan Mideksa, the 34-year-old leader of the Unity for Democracy and Justice party (UDJ), was first jailed with other opposition leaders after the 2005 poll. She was pardoned in 2007 but then re-arrested last year.
The former judge has been in solitary confinement since December and went on hunger strike for 13 days in January.
“We are marching today to tell the government that the imprisonment of our leader is illegal,” said Debebe Eshetu, a senior UDJ official who was also jailed in 2005.
“She has been put in jail to weaken our party and to warn politicians who are outside the same thing may happen to us.”
Birtukan is seen by regional analysts as the country’s foremost opposition politician and critics of the government say she has been jailed because of the threat she could pose at next year’s parliamentary elections.
Experts expect Prime Minister Meles Zenawi’s government to win that poll since the opposition was weakened by the imprisonment of many its top figures in 2005.
Ethiopian opposition parties routinely accuse the government of harassment and say their candidates were intimidated when Ethiopians went to the polls last April for local elections.
The Meles government denies it.
Former Ethiopian President, Negaso Gidada, who is now an independent member of parliament, took part in Thursday’s march. He told Reuters there was no democracy in Ethiopia.
“I am convinced that our democratic rights and human rights are being abused,” he said as the demonstrators marched on the prime minister’s office and the palace of President Girma Woldegiorgis.
Guards barred them from entering the palace, but they were allowed to deliver a protest letter.
The demonstrators were given a letter in return that said Birtukan had broken the law and so could not be released.
The protest, which was approved by the authorities, was limited to 250 participants who all had to wear a government-issued identity badge. Security was low-key with only a small number of plainclothes police mingling with the crowd and almost no uniformed officers present.
Protesters waved placards, played music and shouted slogans but drew little visible support from passers-by.
“The government have killed people who protest so I would not shout like this,” one onlooker who declined to be named told Reuters. “These people are very brave.”
BBC: The main opposition parties in Ethiopia have held a march in Addis Ababa to call for the release of their imprisoned leader, Birtukan Medeksa.
The demonstrators handed in a petition to the authorities about Ms Birtukan.
She is serving a life sentence, after officials revoked a pardon which had previously seen her set free.
Ethiopia has very little tradition of public protest, the BBC’s Elizabeth Blunt in Addis Ababa says, and passers-by stopped and stared in amazement.
Almaz GebreEgziabher, Ms Birtukan’s mother, hopes the demonstration may help her daughter be released in time for the Ethiopian Easter this weekend.
“I am happy. I saw her last Saturday, and she is quite well. But I am praying that, with the help of God, she might be released tomorrow or the day after so that she can spend Easter with me and her daughter,” she said.
Ms Birtukan’s five-year-old daughter and mother are the only people who are being allowed to visit her in jail.
She was among more than 100 people jailed for political offences after Ethiopia’s election in 2005, most of whom have since been pardoned.
At the time of her re-arrest her colleague Berhanu Nega, who was also pardoned and now lives in exile, told the BBC it showed the government “was hell-bent on staying in power”.
Ms Birtukan is a former judge and was one of the younger and more charismatic leaders of the coalition which did well against the ruling party in the 2005 elections.
Our correspondent says that while in jail facing charges of treason, she became even more of a heroine, attracting widespread sympathy as a single mother separated from her baby daughter.
After the opposition leaders were pardoned and released last year, she emerged as the leader of a new coalition, the Union for Democracy and Justice (UDJ), painstakingly stitched together from various opposition groupings to contest elections in 2010.
The government news agency, quoting the ministry of justice, said her pardon had been revoked because she had denied requesting her pardon.
Ms Birtukan’s problems started when she spoke to journalists abroad about the way the opposition leaders were released, our correspondent says.
She talked about negotiations which had taken place between the opposition and government, with the help of a panel of elders, before their pardon was granted.
The government prefers to lay emphasis on a document signed by the prisoners, regretting any mistakes they had committed and asking for pardon.
This implies that their release was part of a normal judicial process, rather than in any way part of a negotiated political deal.
AFP: — Opposition protesters staged a rare demonstration in the Ethiopian capital Thursday, demanding the release of an official jailed for life in January.
Some 300 people massed outside the presidential palace and then marched towards Prime Minister Meles Zenawi’s office in Addis Ababa in the first such protests since 2005, when disputed poll results sparked violence.
The group called for the release of Birtukan Midekssa, an opposition leader sentenced to life in prison after she reportedly denied ever expressing remorse to obtain a pardon in 2007 for treason and outrage against the constitution among other offences.
Birtukan, the head of the Unity for Democracy Justice (UDJ) party, had been detained with dozens of opposition figures and supporters following the 2005 elections.
“Our aim is to publicise the illegality of her detention, and to demand her immediate release. We demand the restoration of her pardon,” Yacob Hailemariam, UDJ’s deputy chief, told AFP.
Birtukan was only granted visiting rights by an Ethiopian court on Wednesday, but her release now depends on a government pardon board, which in turn will submit its decision to President Girme Wolde Giorgis.
“It was one big step in the whole process to have her family and lawyer allowed to visit the prison. We will resume our struggle to reach the next stage, which is to have her released,” party spokesman Hailu Araya told AFP.
The UDJ made its most spectacular electoral gains ever in the 2005 polls but cried foul over reported fraud, claiming it was robbed of victory by Meles’ ruling party.
The United States, a staunch Ethiopian ally and the country’s top aid contributor, has expressed concern over the 36-year-old’s re-arrest and called for more political freedom in the Horn of Africa nation.
Ethiopia’s next general elections are to be held in June 2010.
Meles, whose security forces were blamed for using excessive force four years ago, has vowed to prepare law enforcement agencies to avoid bloodshed in time for next year.
