(AP) ADDIS ABABA — Ethiopian women swept the 10,000-metre race on Saturday at the African Athletics Championships in a repeat of the men’s team success.
Tirunesh Dibaba edged out her older sister Ejegayehu Dibaba by one second to finish in 32 minutes, 49 seconds. Ayalew Wude of Ethiopia was third, five seconds behind the winner.
”We are very proud,” Ejegayehu Dibaba said. ”I’m happy to get the silver medal while my sister gets gold.”
On Wednesday, Gebregziabher Gebremariam, Ibrahim Jeylan and Eshetu Wondimu took gold, silver and bronze for Ethiopia in the men’s race.
Angeline Nyiransabimana of Rwanda initially led the three Ethiopian runners and Lucy Kabuu of Kenya in a five-strong group. But after leading for half of the race, Nyiransabimana unexpectedly walked off the track. Kabuu fell behind with about a third of the race left and the three Ethiopian runners stayed in a tight pack through the finish line.
Tirunesh Dibaba was one of the few top Ethiopian runners to participate in the five-day championships, after men’s 10,000-meter Olympic champion Kenenisa Bekele dropped out, citing insufficient training time. Marathoner Haile Gebrselassie did not enter the championships.
Dibaba’s rival, Meseret Defar, took silver in Friday’s 5,000-meter race after being upset by Meselech Melkamu.
The championships feature more than 800 competitors from 41 African nations. Ethiopia, with 140 athletes, has the most participants.
South Africa led the medal count Saturday evening with 17 medals including nine golds.
BELETWEIN, Somalia May 3 (Garowe Online) – The Ethiopian Woyanne army is collecting taxes in frontier districts along the country’s shared border with Somalia, a former district official has said.
Abdirahman Buruki, a former deputy mayor in Beletwein, the capital of Hiran region, told journalists Saturday that Ethiopian Woyanne soldiers along the Kala-Beyr border crossing are causing “a lot of problems” for civilian and commercial traffic traveling between Somalia and Ethiopia.
Mr. Buruki, who resigned from his post a month ago, indicated that the Ethiopian Woyanne soldiers are accompanied by former Hiran regional government officials.
He stated that tens of trucks are filed in a line near the Kala-Beyr crossing, adding that the Kala-Beyr mayor informed him personally that the soldiers are collecting “illegal” taxes while accusing the Ethiopian Woyanne soldiers of “torture” in some cases.
According to Mr. Buruki, former Hiran Governor Yusuf Daboged is “no longer a government official,” although he is in Kala-Beyr alongside the Ethiopian Woyanne army commanders running the illegal operation.
Somali Prime Minister Nur “Adde” Hassan Hussein has recently appointed a new administration for Hiran region, but many of the newly appointed officials have publicly rejected their posts.
PM Hassan Grilled in Parliament
The interim Prime Minister of Somalia, Nur “Adde” Hassan Hussein, was grilled with questions on the parliament floor Thursday, where he tried to defend the credibility of his administration.
Prime Minister Nur Adde, who returned to the south-central city of Baidoa yesterday, told lawmakers that his four-month-old administration is continuing to pursue national reconciliation to end Somalia’s 18-year civil war.
“My administration is trying hard to stop all the raging conflicts, to help Somalis understand each other and to establish a consensus government,” Prime Minister Nur Adde said.
He admitted that there is general insecurity across the country, citing the lack of resources as a primary factor crippling the transitional government’s ability to secure the country.
“After research, we have found that the security forces are not paid and do not receive food [on the regular],” the Prime Minister said, adding that the government will train security forces with a national character to help restore order in Somalia.
The Prime Minister was asked several questions by the MPs, but his responses were concise and at times vague, according to parliamentary insiders.
It was later decided that the parliament would continue questioning Prime Minister Nur Adde at a later date.
Officials reject government posts
Yesterday, a decree issued from the Office of the Prime Minister appointed a new administration for the central Hiran region after former Governor Yusuf Daboged was chased out of the provincial capital Beletwein by Islamist guerrillas last month.
Prime Minister Nur Adde appointed 15 officials to hold various government posts in Hiran, including the governor, the mayor of Beletwein, and commanders of the military and police.
But at least seven officials named by the Prime Minister for Hiran region have publicly rejected their posts.
The two deputy governors, three deputy district commissioners and the regional military commander have all refused to accept their posts.
Col. Ahmed Elmi Guute told Garowe Online that he is “not ready” to hold the post of Hiran regional army commander, especially in light of the recent assassination of the last man to hold the post.
Beletwein has lacked an effective regional government for the past two weeks.
SHARJAH, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES — Sharjah police have started investigations into the death of an Ethiopian housemaid who was found hanging in the house of her employer in Umm Khanoor area on Thursday.
The 23-year-old maid, identified as Fatihia A.M. was found hanging with a piece of cloth in her room.
The police said that the maid died in her employer’s hands when he tried to save her by removing the cloth which she used to stangle herself.
The maid’s employer told the police that she committed suicide after talking on the phone with her sister who is abroad.
The maid had been working at her employer’s house for one year.
She was normal and nothing odd had been observed in her behaviour.
Captain Abdullah Rashid, duty officer at Al Haira police station, is investigating the case.
(Press TV) — Somali Deputy Prime Minister Ahmed Abdi has said Mogadishu’s mayor will soon be ousted from his position due to his failed administration.
According to Press TV correspondent, two weeks of conflict between the Prime Minister Nur Hassan Hossein and Mayor Mohamed Omar Habeeb led to a decision to oust the mayor and determine a new administration for the Banaadir region, a resolution well received by the people, dissatisfied with the way the city was being run.
Only a week ago Mayor Mohamed Omar Habeeb, a warlord fast losing power, was disarmed by his supposed allies, the Ethiopian Woyanne forces, after failing to pay up the usual sum his administration regularly doled out to the Ethiopian Woyanne army.
EDITOR’S NOTE: The celebration over Kenenisa Bekele’s win in the 5k turned into a protest by the 35,000 sport fans inside the Addis Ababa Stadium who chanted “Free Teddy! Free Teddy!” The live broadcast by state-controlled TV immediately switched to sport commentators when the protest started. Shortly after that, the notorious Federal Police entered the stadium and the event ended without further incident.
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(AP) — World record holder Kenenisa Bekele held on to win the 5,000 meters in Ethiopia on Sunday at the African Athletics Championships.
The Ethiopian, who pulled out of Wednesday’s 10,000, won the shorter race in 13 minutes, 49.67 seconds. Isaac Songok of Kenya finished a close second 13:49.91, and Ali Abdush of Ethiopia was third.
Bekele’s younger brother, Tariku, traded places with Kenenisa Bekele throughout the race but finished fourth. The elder Bekele, who also holds the world record in the 10,000, pulled out of that event because he said he didn’t have enough time to recover from winning his sixth world cross-country title in Scotland in March.
Bekele said he had also planned to skip the 5,000, but eventually succumbed to pressure to compete before a home crowd.
“I had to change my decision to run because many people were asking about me, ‘Why didn’t Kenenisa run in front of his own country?”‘ Bekele said.
Songok took an early lead Sunday, but the Bekele brothers soon took over and led a five-man pack for the rest of the race. Songok, however, surged ahead in the last lap to take silver.
The 5,000 drew a mixed crowd of long-distance hopefuls, including barefoot runner Matjeane Masilo of Lesotho, who finished 11th in the 20-man race, and Abdinasir Sa’id Ibrahim of Somalia, who finished 17th.
“My practice is very hard because my country is in a war,” Sa’id Ibrahim said between gulps of air and swigs from a bottle of water.
“Sometimes I can’t make training because there is fighting.”
Bekele’s win confirmed Ethiopia’s domination of the distance events as the championships. The host country swept the men’s and women’s 10 000, and Ethiopians got two medals in each of the 5 000 races.
Ethiopian women also took gold and silver in the 3 000 steeplechase.
Zemzem Ahmed won in 9:44, and Mekdes Bekele – who is not related to the Bekele brothers – finished ahead of third-place Ruth Bosibori of Kenya.
South Africa won the most medals at the five-day event, taking 12 gold and 22 overall. Nigeria was next with 19 medals, including seven gold.
Ethiopia finished third in the medals table with 15 overall, including six gold, while Kenya had 16 with five gold.
ADDIS ABABA — About 10,000 copies of a non-political monthly magazine, Enku, has been impounded by the police and its publisher and deputy editor, Alemayehu Mahtemework, imprisoned.
The magazine was impounded last night just before it was set to hit the market early today, Saturday.
Along with the publisher, three other persons in no way connected to the Magazine but who were in the van carrying the magazine out of the printing press were also imprisoned.
The magazine’s cover story is about the imprisonment of Ethiopia’s pop icon and critic of the government, Tewdros Kasahun, which is stirring political passions in the country.
The imprisoned are due to appear before court on Tuesday.
