NEW YORK (Reuters) – Ethiopian Prime Minister dictator Meles Zenawi said on Saturday he was concerned by the seizure of a Ukrainian ship off Somalia carrying military supplies and feared they would be used to further destabilize the region.
Speaking before a meeting in New York with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Meles said piracy off the coast of Somalia was a “very hard problem” and he hoped the international community would respond.
“We are very concerned about the level of piracy on the seas. It is related to the instability in Somalia,” he told reporters.
Somali pirates have demanded a $35-million ransom for the Ukrainian ship they had seized which was carrying 33 tanks, grenade launchers, ammunition and other military supplies destined for Kenya.
“They could be used to destabilize the region and the whole situation on the high seas is a matter of great concern for all of us,” Meles said.
“We very much hope the international community will respond.”
Pirates have captured more than 30 vessels off Somalia this year, making its waters the most dangerous in the world and threatening a major international shipping lane between Europe and Asia. The gangs seek, and often receive, large ransoms.
An Islamist insurgence in the south of Somalia, which has not had a functioning government for 17 years, has made it difficult for the struggling interim government to police the waters. Russia said on Friday it was sending a warship to the region to protect Russian ships and citizens.
(Reporting by Sue Pleming, Editing by Sandra Maler)
He’s already the world record holder for the standard 42,195m marathon distance and has the two fastest times ever to his credit, but Haile Gebrselassie will be back at Berlin on Sunday hoping to shave yet another few seconds off of his world’s fastest time of 2:04:26 set on the same course one year ago.
But Gebrselassie admitted today that his preparations for Sunday’s real,- Berlin Marathon were not perfect. “I was in good shape until two weeks ago, when I started getting cramps,” he told race organizers at a press conference today. “But when you reach such a high level, you always get problems. I’m confident now, but I can’t predict a time.”
In Berlin last year, Gebrselassie still had four pacemakers with him as he passed 25 km in 1:14:05: Rodgers Rop, Andrew Limo, Philip Serem (all of Kenya) and Eshetu Wondimu of Ethiopia. Both Wondimu and Rop were able to hold on through 30 km (1:28:56), leaving Gebrselassie alone on the pavement to fight the clock. He sealed his record when ran ran the 5 km between 35 and 40 km in a blazing 14:30, a time good enough to win a typical collegiate 5000m race. He won by nearly two and one-half minutes over Kenyan Abel Kirui.
Gebrselassie, 35, has a special affection for the German capital, and said he might run the IAAF World Championships there next August. “Berlin is my lucky city,” he said. “I ran well in a junior Ekiden here years ago, and now I’m a marathon runner, I want to run in a world championships here.”
His nominal opponent on Sunday is Kenyan Charles Kamathi, the 2001 world 10,000m champion who ran a very solid 2:07:33 personal best in Rotterdam last April. But Kamathi knows that Haile will be running his own race.
“It’s a completely different event,” said Kamathi. “I won’t go with Haile and the pacemakers, I’ll go for a 2:06, 2:07 pace. But, if I see that there’s a chance to catch him, I’ll challenge.”
Top-10 Times Ever at the real,- Berlin Marathon (courtesy of Alltime-Athletics.com):
2:04:26 Haile Gebrselassie (ETH) 2007
2:04:55 Paul Tergat (KEN) 2003
2:04:56 Sammy Korir (KEN) 2003
2:05:56 Gebrselassie 2006
2:06:05 Ronaldo da Costa (BRA) 1998
2:06:15 Titus Munji (KEN) 2003
2:06:44 Josphat Kiprono (KEN) 1999
2:06:44 Felix Limo (KEN) 2004
2:06:47 Raymond Kipkoech Chemwelo (KEN) 2002
2:06:49 Simon Biwott (KEN) 2001
There will be a very important public meeting in Frankfurt, Germany, Saturday, September 27. The meeting is expected to revive mobilization of support for Ethiopian People’s Patriotic Front (EPPF) by launching the newly restructured EPPF International Council. The delegates, Ato Leuel Qeskis and Ato Assefa Hailu, both of whom sent by the EPPF leadership to Europe, after having spent several months with the fighters in the field, will discuss with Ethiopians in Germany — and those who are coming for the meeting from neighboring countries — about the need to rally around the EPPF fighters. The delegates will also disclose preparations made to strengthened the organization. Read more about the meeting below.
Exiled members of parliament, Ato Leul Qeskis and Ato Assefa Hailu, will hold a discussion with Ethiopians in Germany on Saturday, September 27, 2008.
The meeting will be broadcast live via Ethiopian Review Radio here.
Ato Leul Qeskis, a member of parliament from Gondar, and Ato Assefa Hailu, a member of parliament from Wollo, went into exile after the Meles dictatorship reversed the result of the 2005 elections and jailed the entire top leadership of the opposition Coalition for Unity and Democracy (Kinijit).
Instead of joining the rubber stamp parliament and give legitimacy to the Meles regime, the MPs left left their families behind and went into exile.
Both Ato Leul and Ato Assefa spent over 3 months in the field with fighters of Ethiopian People Patriotic Front (EPPF) as advisors before arriving in Asmara, Eritrea.
Currently, the exiled MPs are on a working visit in Europe on behalf of EPPF to discuss how Ethiopians can get involved in the struggle to bring an end to the terrorist regime in Ethiopia.
Frankfurt public meeting:
Place/Address: Frankfurt Am Main, Jugendherberger, Deutschherrnufer 12
Time/Date: Saturday, September 27, 2008, at 12:30 PM
More info: 01744115806 or 015776203683
The meeting will be broadcast live via Ethiopian Review Radio here.
Concerned Ethiopians in Seattle have forced the cancellation of an event at the Seattle University where Woyanne ambassador and full time drunkard Samuel Assafa was scheduled to speak. It was rumored dictator Meles Zenawi might also appear at the event.
The event, which was named “Understanding Ethiopia,” was scheduled to coincide with the exhibition of Lucy (Dinknesh).
The University has canceled the meeting after Dr Shakespear Feyissa, a prominent Ethiopian attorney in Seattle, demanded a meeting with the president and other high level officials of the university to lodge a complaint. Shakespear, on behalf of the Ethiopian community in Seattle, informed the university about the atrocities of the Woyanne regime and appealed that the prestigious Seattle University should not provide a forum to mass murderers.
The University agreed and has canceled the meeting as shows below.
– – – – – – – – – – – –
Source: World Affairs Council
Understanding Ethiopia Today – Cancelled!
His Excellency Dr. Samuel Assefa, Ethiopian Ambassador to the United States
This event has been cancelled.
What ties exist between the Northwest and Ethiopia and how are they changing? What role is Ethiopia playing in the War on Terror? What is the significance for Ethiopia of the exhibit “Lucy’s Legacy: Hidden Treasures of Ethiopia” on display at Pacific Science Center? In what ways are trade and investment between the Pacific Northwest and Ethiopia making us more connected?
The World Affairs Council presents His Excellency, Dr. Samuel Assefa, Ethiopian Ambassador to the United States. Dr. Samuel Assefa, a well-known academic and public figure in Ethiopia, was Vice-President of Addis Ababa University, the country’s leading institution of higher education, prior to his appointment as Ethiopian Ambassador to the United States on January 9, 2006.
Dr. Assefa pursued his undergraduate and graduate studies in the United States. He taught at Williams College and Rutgers University before returning to Ethiopia in 1994, where he held teaching and leadership positions at Addis Ababa University. In 1993, shortly after the fall of the military regime, he took a leave of absence from his teaching duties and returned to Ethiopia to work closely with the Chair of the Constitutional Commission in deliberations toward the framing of the new Ethiopian Constitution. In 1996, Dr. Assefa also helped found the African Institute for Democratic Deliberation and Action (AIDDA), a non-government organization dedicated to research and public deliberation on the problems and possibilities of transitional democracy in Africa.
A Private Members-only reception will be held at 6:00 pm. Location information will be sent to reception attendees prior to the event. Registration for the reception includes admission to the evening lecture.
Co-sponsored by Seattle University, Pacific Science Center, PATH.
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — After nearly 20 years of violent chaos, Islamic extremism and failed peace talks, impoverished Somalia might seem to have hit rock-bottom. But things are getting worse. The crisis is exceeding even the direst scenarios laid out nearly two years ago, when troops from neighboring Ethiopia arrived to oust a radical Islamic militia and support the Western-backed government.
The troops, whom many Somalis consider an occupying force, are seen by some as a catalyst for the violence rather than a cure.
“The nature of the crisis is much more dangerous now,” Ken Menkhaus, a Somalia expert at Davidson College in North Carolina, told The Associated Press. “The level of indiscriminate violence is worse than at any time.”
The Meles regime in Ethiopia says that it wants to withdraw, but its opponents say it has calculated that an open-ended occupation of Somalia is better than having an Islamist regime next door.
“The Ethiopians Woyanne will make it impossible for the Islamists,” said Daud Aweys, a Nairobi-based Somalia analyst. “The Ethiopians Woyannes are more powerful, and they have more weapons.”
Meanwhile, the result is a stalemate, seemingly impervious to U.N.-brokered peace talks, international pressure and even the daily carnage in Mogadishu, the capital. The Somali government would likely crumble without Ethiopia’s Woyanne’s muscle, but al-Shabab, a radical group at the heart of the insurgency, refuses to negotiate as long as the Ethiopians remain.
The United States worries that Somalia could be a terrorist breeding ground, particularly since Osama bin Laden declared his support for the Islamists. It accuses al-Shabab of harboring the al-Qaida-linked terrorists who allegedly blew up the U.S. Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998.
The U.S. sent a small number of special operations troops with the Ethiopian Woyanne forces in 2006 and in early 2007 conducted several airstrikes in an attempt to kill suspected al-Qaida members. But the fact that Ethiopia Woyanne is a key U.S. ally, and most Somalis loathe America, doesn’t help matters.
Al-Shabab, which means “the Youth,” mounts almost daily mortar attacks, suicide bombings and ambushes.
The result is civilians streaming out of Mogadishu, the capital, many of them gravely wounded, and sheltering on roadsides or fleeing the country. A local human rights group says the insurgency has killed more than 9,000 civilians to date.
The streets of Mogadishu, once a beautiful seaside city, are now bullet-scarred and stained with blood. On Monday 30 people were killed in fighting in the capital and at least 11 civilians died during an overnight attack on an African Union peacekeepers’ base in Mogadishu.
Al-Shabab has taken over the port town of Kismayo, Somalia’s third-largest city, and effectively closed Mogadishu’s airport by threatening to attack any plane using it.
Al-Shabab’s attacks look likely continue indefinitely, with the goal of simply crippling and humiliating the government. Reprisals by government and Ethiopian Woyanne forces are swift and heavy-handed, but have not eradicated the insurgency.
“If your principal interest is quelling the political violence, then an Ethiopian a Woyanne withdrawal will help,” Menkhaus said. “That will take away the principal grievance.”
The African Union has sent about 2,600 peacekeepers to Somalia. But their mandate is limited to protecting key sites such as the airport and seaport, and they generally are confined to the airport for their safety.
The U.N. has tried to push peace talks between the government and the opposition, but a recent deal with a more moderate faction of the Islamic group seems only to have worsened the violence.
“We have started building up our military strength because some of our fellow insurgents seem to have been corrupted by the enemy, like those who signed the so-called deal with the puppet government,” said Sheik Muhumed, an al-Shabab commander.
(Elizabeth Kennedy has covered East Africa since 2006.)
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – Judges at the International Criminal Court have summoned the chief prosecutor for a first hearing next week on his request to charge Sudan’s president with genocide in Darfur, the prosecutor said.
In July, ICC chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo accused Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir of launching a campaign in 2003 that has killed 35,000 people outright, at least another 100,000 through starvation and disease and forced 2.5 million from their homes. Sudan says 10,000 died.
The African Union, Arab League and other alliances have urged the U.N. Security Council to block moves to indict Bashir to avoid shattering the fragile peace process.
It is unclear when the judges will make a decision on Moreno-Ocampo’s application, which he said was the ICC’s biggest and most complex case to date. However, they invited him to an initial hearing to explain the case next Wednesday.
“They called us for the first hearing on Oct. 1,” Moreno-Ocampo told Reuters in an interview on Wednesday on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly. “Normally in the past they call for hearings to request clarifications, some other documents, to (ask) questions about the case.”
U.N. diplomats following the case have said the judges might not make a decision until November.
Earlier this week French President Nicolas Sarkozy suggested that Paris could support a suspension of the investigation if Khartoum ended the killings and removed a minister indicted by the ICC.
Moreno-Ocampo declined comment, saying his job was to uncover and present the facts.
Under Article 16 of the ICC statute, the U.N. Security Council can suspend investigations and indictments for up to one year at a time.
Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have issued strong statements against intervening in the Bashir probe, saying that doing so would give him impunity.
Although the bulk of the deaths in Darfur may have taken place years ago, the prosecutor said his investigation shows people are still being killed.
“It’s a more subtle genocide, but it’s ongoing. And because it’s more subtle, we are (accustomed) to being used to it,” he said. “The weapons of the genocide are not machetes, not gas chambers, but hunger and rape.”
“That’s what we have to stop,” he said.
A joint U.N.-African Union peacekeeping force has only some 10,000 of the 26,000 soldiers and police in Darfur that were promised in a Security Council resolution from July 2007.
Meanwhile, rebels accuse Sudanese government forces of stepping up attacks on civilians and villages. Khartoum says it is restoring law and order to rebel enclaves in Darfur.
