PORT ELIZABETH, SOUTH AFRICA – Two Uitenhage men convicted of culpable homicide after the death of an immigrant from Ethiopia were each sentenced to 10 years‘ imprisonment by the Port Elizabeth High Court.
Dumisani Makuleni, 20, and Simphiwe January, 33, of KwaNobuhle, were also sentenced to 10 and 15 years respectively on a charge of robbery with aggravating circumstances.
Tafara Godabo Adure was attacked and robbed by an armed gang on December 5 last year.
His wife, Daselach Forsido Abamo, who had just arrived in the country, was also assaulted.
During his judgment, Judge Jean Nepgen said it had almost become a reality of life that one was not safe on the streets anymore. The couple were collecting money from customers on the day of the attack.
When they arrived at Gqaza Street in KwaNobuhle, Abure was attacked by two armed men as he was about to go to a house to collect money. A third suspect – still at large – pointed a gun at Abamo, who had been waiting for her husband in the car. The gang sped away in the car, but were arrested in the Gunguluza area later that day.
Talking on behalf of the Ethiopian community after the judgment, Abure‘s brother said they were happy with the sentence.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Woyannes are already withdrawing in defeat. This is just a face saving attempt.
By Alisha Ryu, VOA
Somalia’s Ethiopia-backed transitional government has agreed on a date for the withdrawal of Ethiopian Woyanne troops from two major Somali cities in a new cease-fire deal between the government and an opposition faction. But VOA Correspondent Alisha Ryu in our East Africa Bureau in Nairobi reports it is unclear if the opposition faction has the power to influence the many insurgent groups jockeying for power in Somalia.
Following three days of U.N. sponsored talks in Djibouti, Somalia’s transitional federal government made several key concessions to U.N.-led peace efforts, which began in June.
An Ethiopian A Woyanne soldier in Mogadishu stands in front of a tank and a cache of ammunition, 23 Apr. 2008
On Sunday, Somali government officials signed a document that calls for the relocation of Ethiopian Woyanne troops, starting on November 21st, from the capital Mogadishu and Beletweyn town in Hiran province near the Ethiopian border. A second phase of troop withdrawal is to be completed within 120 days.
The government further agreed to form a 10,000 member joint police force with opposition militia members to maintain security in Mogadishu and other parts of Somalia.
In turn, the opposition faction of the Alliance for the Re-liberation of Somalia, led by Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed, said it would observe a ceasefire in Somalia starting November 5th and to stop all hostilities.
A ceasefire agreement was initially signed in Djibouti in June, but the pact was rejected by the hard-line Asmara, Eritrea-based faction of the opposition alliance and by an al-Qaida-linked Islamist group called the Shabab.
Fighters loyal to these groups and others ignored the ceasefire call and have continued their relentless guerrilla war against Ethiopian Woyanne troops, who intervened in Somalia with U.S. support in late 2006 to oust the Islamic Courts Union from power and to install the interim government.
The Shabab and the hard-line faction of the alliance have refused to recognize the authority of Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed to speak on their behalf. Since the signing of the first agreement in June, the Islamist groups have made large territorial gains, and Somalis say they are unlikely to accept a deal that calls for cooperation with the Ethiopia Woyanne-backed interim government.
Islamist-led insurgents now control the majority of towns in central and southern parts of the country, leaving the government severely weakened and in charge of only a small area of the capital and the northwestern town of Baidoa, where the interim parliament is based.
The situation in Somalia has sparked fierce internal competition among Islamist insurgent groups and disputes between rival clans. U.S.-based Somali observer Michael Weinstein said in recent weeks, Somalia has lacked social cohesion and coherence that is unprecedented since the country descended into factional warfare in 1991.
He said, “There is [a] move toward consolidation. There are moves to separation going on simultaneously. I have never seen anything like this. And it has to do with the power vacuum opening up with the Ethiopian Woyanne withdrawal. They are continually repositioning themselves, all the factions in Somalia. They are breaking up into the smallest units possible and then recombining in shifting alliances that change from day-to-day. That to me could be a sign, not of further fragmentation, but the beginning of a kind of re-organization.”
Ethiopia Woyanne says it is reluctant to pull out all of its troops from Somalia until a sizeable international security force is in place to protect the government.
An African Union force in Somalia still lacks thousands of troops to secure the country and the United Nations says its peacekeeping force will not be deployed until the security situation in Somalia improves.
It’s been six months since Ginbot 7 Movement for Freedom and Democracy in Ethiopia was formed. In June 2007, EthiopianReview.com wrote (read here) that the new movement has less than 6 months to prove itself. Did it prove itself to be a viable opposition party? What did it accomplish so far and what is it currently doing?
Ethiopian Review had posed these and other straightforward questions to Ato Andargachew Tsege, a senior official of Ginbot 7, in an interview conducted Sunday, Oct. 26, 2008.
Ato Andargachew said, among other things, that another 2 or 3 years of rule by Woyanne will further devastate Ethiopia and that those in the opposition camp who are talking about the 2010 election are committing political suicide. He said another election under the Woyanne brutal regime is not an option.
Ato Andargachew also said that Ginbot 7 is preparing the ground work for a formidable anti-Woyanne alliance involving several organizations, including EPPF and OLF.
Click here to listen the interview: [podcast]http://www.ethiopianreview.info/audio/andargachew_tsege_interview_10262008.mp3[/podcast]
ISTANBUL, TURKY – Adilo Kasime Roba of Ethiopia won the men’s event at the 30th International Eurasia Marathon in İstanbul on Sunday. Roba finished with a time of 2:11:16.
Lishan Yigezu Fanta of Ethiopia came in second at 2:11:37, while Iaroslav Musinchi of Moldova was third with 2:11:43. In the women’s event, Nailya Yulamanova of Russia won at 2:30:17, another Russian, Yuliya Gromova, came in second in 2:31:36 and Mehtap Sızmaz of Turkey took third with 2:3:17.
Earlier, Selim Bayrak of Turkey won the men’s 15-kilometer event with a time of 43:59, Kiprotich Yegon of Ethiopia finished second at 44:01 and Bazu Worku of Ethiopia came in third at 44:14.
In the women’s 15-kilometer race, Luminita Talpos of Romania won with a time of 50:29, Lydia Njeri Mathathi of Kenya took second place with 50:43 and Kuma Eyerusalem of Ethiopia grabbed third with 52:03. Turkish news agencies earlier reported that Helen Southcott of Britain, a former Today’s Zaman editor, had won the women’s 15-kilometer race. The mistake was later corrected. Last year Kenyan athlete David Emanuel Cheruiyot set the new course record at 2:11:00, surpassing the previous course record set in 2006 by Lithuania’s Mindaugas Pukstas (2:12:52). In the women’s event, Russian athlete Madina Biktagirova set the 2:28:21 course record in 2006, improving on her previous record — set in 2005 — by almost six minutes.
Sunday’s races started on the Asian side, crossed the Bosporus and Golden Horn bridges, passed under the Valens Aqueduct on the way to the Marmara Sea beach and finished on the European side at the Hippodrome, one of the oldest racetracks in the world, situated in the historical district of Sultanahmet, abundant in ancient monuments and sites.
Last year Kenyan athlete David Emanuel Cheruiyot set the new course record at 2:11:00, surpassing the previous course record set in 2006 by Lithuania’s Mindaugas Pukstas (2:12:52). In the women’s event, Russian athlete Madina Biktagirova set the 2:28:21 course record in 2006, improving on her previous record — set in 2005 — by almost six minutes.
U.S. Congress Subcommittee on Africa Chairman Donald Payne calls Ogaden and Somalia “The Forgotten Tragedies”
Tenth District Representative Donald M. Payne, Chairman of the Foreign Affairs’ Subcommittee on Africa and Global Health, issued the following statement on Oct. 23, 2008
“Innocent civilians continue to suffer in the Ogaden region of Ethiopia. No one knows for sure how many people have died in the Ogaden in the past two years. Many have fled their homes in search of help or had no choice but to flee in the face of major atrocities being committed by government forces.
Ethiopian Woyanne security forces are deliberately targeting innocent civilians. The raping and hanging of civilians are being used routinely by Ethiopian Woyanne security to intimidate and to psychologically torture innocent civilians. I met many of these victims in a refugee camp in Kenya.
The suffering and abuses of the people of the Ogaden are well documented. Since when does starving a child or hanging a young woman publicly qualify as a counter-insurgency operation? I have witnessed many tragedies around the world, but the one unfolding in the Ogaden is by far one of the worst. I met a mother who wondered aloud how she would survive after she had been raped by men younger than her own sons.
What the Ethiopian Woyanne government is doing is planting the seeds of hatred that will last many generations. The people of the Ogaden may forgive, but I doubt theywill forget what happened to them under this regime. The Ashanti of Ghana say “There is no medicine to cure hatred.”
Meanwhile, next door in Somalia, another man-made tragedy is killing, maining, and displacing millions of Somalis. In the past year alone, an estimated 10,000 people have been killed by Somali and Ethiopian Woyanne security forces, and insurgent groups. Many of these victims are innocent civilians. In October, two United Naitons representatives were killed.
More than half of the Somali population, an estimated 3.4 million, is in need of humanitarian assistance. Hundreds of people have died while trying to flee the suffering in Somalia. As estimated 1 million people are internally displaced and many have fled to Kenya, Yemen, and Djibouti.
In January 2008, I met many of these refugees in Dabbab refugee camp in Kenya. Many of them were born in the refugee camp. United Nations are concerned that they cannot help many new comers since the camp is full. In January, I asked a number of young Somalis in the camp what is it they want badly that they do not have in the camps. They all replied that it was education they wanted most.
The people of Somalia have suffered for far too long. There is a famous African proverb: No matter how long the night, they day will come for sure. I am sure the suffering of the helpless will one day end. The question remains, when?
ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA – Haile GebreSelassie is an Ethiopian long distance track and road running athlete. Gebrselassie has achieved major competition wins at distances between 1500 metres and the marathon, moving from outdoor, indoor and cross country running to road running in the latter part of his career. He has broken 26 world records and won numerous Olympic and World Championship titles, and is widely considered one of the greatest distance runners in history. He is widely considered one of the best athletes ever because of his incredible speed, and the fact that he suffers from athletically induced Asthma which could kill him at any moment.
Gebrselassie was born as one of ten children in Asella, Arsi Province, Ethiopia. As a child growing up on a farm he used to run ten kilometres to school every morning, and the same back every evening. This led to a distinctive running posture, with his left arm crooked as if still holding his schoolbooks.
The Ethiopian legend recently broke his own world marathon record by running 2:03:59 in Berlin. His Gebrselassie_haile1eberlin07 next competition is the Great Australian Run in Melbourne, where he’ll try for a 15K world best on the roads. An enterprising Aussie journalist investigated what Gebrselassie’s life is like from “Gebrise” to “Gebset.” It begins early with a customary 20K run in the Entoto Mountains outside Addis Ababa. He’s in an office by 9:00 to begin dealing with his vast business endeavors, and, well…. click on more to read more of the crowded itinerary of this extraordinary man who is a devout Christian and, yes, a pioneering feminist in Ethiopia.
HAILE Gebrselassie, the greatest long-distance runner in history, is Melbourne-bound — for the Great Australian Run, a 15-kilometre road race around the streets of Melbourne on November 30 — and with him, he will bring some food for thought for all those elite Australian sportsmen who reckon they do it tough to achieve success. To find out just what makes him tick, we did some research about the Ethiopian runner, who this month became the first man to break two hours four minutes for the marathon (and, in all, has broken 27 world records). This is what we found out:
■ Gebrselassie rises every day at 6am, drives 25 minutes to the Entoto Mountains, where he usually runs 20 kilometres with other Ethiopian athletes. (He goes to the mountains because the air is clean, there is no traffic and it is slightly cooler than in the city of Addis Ababa.)
■ He then returns home to change and grab a quick breakfast.
■ At 9am, he is in his office, personally supervising his business empire that includes being:
CHAIRMAN of the Great Ethiopian Run, a public fun run that has been a huge success in Ethiopia with 32,000 entries; and
BOSS of a construction company that builds cinemas, convention centres, petrol stations, schools, sports stores, cafes and fitness centres.
■ He fInishes work at 4pm and heads to more training, either back to the mountains for some hard running or to the national stadium for a session on the track.
■ He is home just after 6pm for time with his family or to prepare for any evening engagements, where he is in great demand.
ALL THIS by a bloke who:
■ Is a devoted Orthodox Christian and presented his first Olympic gold medal to his local church as a token of thanksgiving for his special talent.
■ As an employer, has given half of the jobs in his businesses to women in a part of the world where equal opportunity was once never heard of.
Not your regular superstar is our Haile.
Gebrselassie will be competing against Australian elite distance runners including Craig Mottram in the November 30 race, which is open to the general public, from local joggers to fitness fanatics. What an opportunity for them! – runnersworld.com
It’s been six months since Ginbot 7 Movement for Freedom and Democracy in Ethiopia was formed. In June 2007, EthiopianReview.com wrote (read 
ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA – Haile GebreSelassie is an Ethiopian long distance track and road running athlete. Gebrselassie has achieved major competition wins at distances between 1500 metres and the marathon, moving from outdoor, indoor and cross country running to road running in the latter part of his career. He has broken 26 world records and won numerous Olympic and World Championship titles, and is widely considered one of the greatest distance runners in history. He is widely considered one of the best athletes ever because of his incredible speed, and the fact that he suffers from athletically induced Asthma which could kill him at any moment.