Unity for Democracy and Justice Party (Andinet) held two meetings today to decide on its next move after the Woyanne-controlled Electoral Board of Ethiopia on Friday refused to issue the necessary letter allowing the party to start collecting 1,500 signatures that are required for registration. Read more by zikkir News Serivce
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AP) — A British teacher who was convicted of defamation after a report she made exposed sexual abuse at a children’s charity in Ethiopia will not serve time in jail, a court ruled Friday.
Jill Campbell and her husband, Gary, compiled evidence in 1999 that helped convict the director of an Ethiopian orphanage that the Swiss charity Terre Des Hommes-Lausanne used to run.
The charity acknowledged the abuse took place, but brought a successful defamation case against the Campbells for their claims that the charity’s senior staff covered up the scandal.
The Swiss charity asked the court not to sentence Jill Campbell because her husband, Gary, had made a public apology last month, said Seleshi Ketsela, a lawyer who represented her in the case.
“The case is closed. … They said one (apology) is enough,” Seleshi told The Associated Press.
Jill Campbell was convicted Wednesday and had faced up to six months in prison. She said that she was relieved by the outcome, but was unhappy that the charity had not formally apologized to the victims or financially compensated them.
“I regret nothing and I apologize for nothing as well because we did nothing wrong,” she told journalists.
Gary Campbell issued a public apology for the comments last month, then said he did so only because nobody would be able to care for the couple’s children if they both went to jail.
Friday’s court session — closed to the media — took only about five minutes. As soon as the Campbells emerged from the court there was jubilation from their foreign and Ethiopian friends who had gathered outside the courthouse. A number of them hugged each other on receiving the news of the court’s decision.
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The Campbells, who have lived in Ethiopia for more than a decade, have drawn wide support.
Their report on sexual abuse, which was sparked by stories they had heard from local friends, prompted the charity to apologize and leave Ethiopia. In 2003, an Ethiopian court sentenced orphanage director David Christie to nine years of hard labor for abusing several young boys.
The report included testimony from several young boys at the orphanage, including one who said he had been at the orphanage run by TdH in the northeastern town of Jari.
“I thought I was lucky to have been chosen to sleep with this man, I was a vulnerable young boy with no knowledge of the world that existed outside Jari,” the boy, who went by the initial G, says in the report. “I trusted white men who had, on the surface, appeared to make Jari a good place to live in.”
በቀጣዩ ወር በመላው አገሪቱ የሚካሄደውን የአከባቢና የማሟያ ምርጫ ከፍተኛ የመብት ጥሰትና ወከባ በመፍጠር የወያኔ ካድሬዎች በነጻ ምርጫ ስም በህዝቡ ላይ ተጨማሪ የጭቆና ዘመን ከመፍጠር ባለፈ ተቃዋሚዎች አንዳችም ወንበር የማያገኙበት በመሆኑ ከምርጫው ለመውጣት ጥምረታዊ ውይይት በማካሄድ ላይ መሆናቸውን ማንነታቸው እንዲገለጽ ያልፈለጉ ታማኝ ምንጮቻችን ገለጹ፡፡
በኢትዮጵያ የምርጫ ታሪክ ታይቶ በማይታወቅ ሁኔታ ከፍተኛ አሃዝ ያለው የእጩዎች ስብስብ በግዳጅና በተለያዩ መደለያዎች ያዘጋጀው ወያኔ በቀጣዩ ምርጫ የተወሰኑ መቀመጫዎችን ራሱ ላዘጋጃቸው ተቃዋሚ ተብዬዎች ከመልቀቅ ባለፈ ህዝቡ የሚደግፋቸውን ተቃዋሚዎች የመምረጥ እድሉ ሙሉ ለሙሉ በአደጋ ስለተከበበ በምርጫው መሳተፍ ሳይጀመር መጨረሻው የታወቀውን ምርጫ ህጋዊ ካባ ማላበስ ነው ሲሉ ፓርቲያቸውን በመወከል በጉዳዩ ዙርያ ከሌሎች ተቃዋሚ ፓርቲዎች በመወያየት ላይ ያሉት ምንጫችን እምነታቸውን ገልጸዋል፡፡ ህዝቡ ቅድመ ዝግጅት እንዲያደርግ ለምን ይፋዊ መግለጫ አትሰጡም በማለት ከዜና አገልግሎቱ ለቀረበላቸው ጥያቄ ሲመልሱም ያንን ማድረጋችን አይቀርም ሆኖም በአሁኑ ሰአት መግለጫውን መስጠቱ በእጩዎች ላይ እንግልት የሚፈጥር ከመሆኑም በላይ ውይይቱ ስላልተቋጨ የተወሰኑ ጊዜያት ያስፈልጋሉ በሚል እምነት መሆኑን አስታውሰዋል፡፡
በትግል ውስጥ ረዥም ዘመን በማሳለፍ የሚታወቁት እኒህ የፖለቲካ ሰው ጨምረው እንደገለጹት አብዛኞቹ ተቃዋሚ ፓርቲዎች ለአላማው ያሳዩት አዎንታዊ ምላሽ ከፍተኛ መሆኑን በመግለጽ ይህ ዴሞክራሲያዊ መብትን የመጠቀም እርምጃ ከዴሞክራሲ ጋር እስከወዲያኛው የተጣሉትን ወያኔዎችን አስቆጥቶ ወደ ሃይል እርምጃ ሊከታቸው ወይም በምርጫ 97 እንደሆነው ‹‹የአመጽ አማራጭ›› ተብሎ መስዋእትነት ሊያስከፍል ቢችልም አብዛኞቹ ተቃዋሚ ፓርቲዎች መንፈሳዊ ዝግጅት ማድረጋቸውን ገልጸዋል፡፡
ውሳኔው ይፋ በሚደረግበት ወቅት ሊደርሱ የሚችሉ የመብት ጥሰቶችን አስመልክቶ በአገር ውስጥ ያሉም ሆኑ በውጭ የሚገኙ ኢትዮጵያውያን ከጎናቸው በመቆም የተለመደ ድጋፋቸውን እንደሚያሳዩዋቸው ያላቸውን እምነትም ገልጸዋል፡፡
በተቀዳሚ ፕሬዝዳንት ወ/ሪት ብርቱካን የሚመራው የአንድነት ለዴሞክራሲና ለፍትህ ፓርቲ በዛሬው እለት ጠዋትና ከሰአት በኋላ ሁለት የተለያዩ ውጤታማ ስብሰባዎችን አካሄደ፡፡
የመጀመርያውና እስከ እኩለ ቀን የቆየው ስብሰባ በወ/ሪት ብርቱካን ሚደቅሳና በዶ/ር ኃይሉ አርአያ የተመራ ሲሆን የቀድሞ የቅንጅት ታዋቂና ብቃት ያላቸው አባላትን ያሰባሰበ ነበር፡፡ በዚህ 42 የአስተባባሪነት ብቃት ያላቸውን የቀድሞ አባላት ባሰባሰበ የውይይት መድረክ ላይ በርካታ ሃሳቦች ተነስተው የተንሸራሸሩ ሲሆን በቀጣዩ የትግል ሂደት ላይ መከናወን ያለባቸው አበይት ጉዳዮች ተነስተው ገንቢ ውሳኔዎች ተላልፈዋል፡፡
አባላቱ ቀደም ባሉት ቀናት በአቶ አባይነህ የሚመራውን ስብስብ በማነጋገር ወደ ትግሉ ለመመለስ ጊዜው እንዳልመሸበት ቢያሳስቡም ቡድኑ በአፍራሽ እንቅስቃሴው እንደቀጠለበት በስብሰባው ላይ ተጠቁሟል፡፡ በመጨረሻም ለትግሉ ፍሬያማነት ከምንጊዜውም በበለጠ መስራት እንዳለባቸው በመወሰን የመስራች አባላት ፊርማ የማሰባሰቡን ሂደት በሃላፊነት እንደሚረከቡ አረጋግጠዋል፡፡
ከሰአት በኋላ በተካሄደው ስብሰባ ላይ ደግሞ በ1997 ቅንጅትን በመወከል የአዲስ አበባ የቅንጅት የክልል ም/ቤት ተመራጮች የነበሩ አባላት በፓርቲው ጽ/ቤት ባደረጉት ስብሰባ ቀጣዩን የትግል ስልት አስመልክቶ የመከሩ ሲሆን ፓርቲው የሚጠናከርባቸውንና ከህዝቡ ጋር የሚኖረው ግንኙነት ከምንጊዜውም በበለጠ እንዲሻሻል ለማድረግ በየተመረጡባቸው ክ/ከተሞች ሰፊ ስራ እንደሚሰሩ በመስማማት ተጠናቋል፡፡ በስብሰባው ላይ ዶ/ር ኃይሉ የተገኙ ሲሆን በአጠቃላይ 25 ተመራጮች ተሳታፊ ሆነዋል፡፡
By EDMUND SANDERS
Los Angeles Times
NAIROBI, Kenya | The teenager awoke under a pile of corpses to a pricking sensation on her face. Ants were biting her eyelids and the inside of her mouth.
The pain, however, brought relief to the 17-year-old. “I thought, I’m alive,’ ” Ridwan Hassan Sahid remembers. She felt blood oozing from rope burns around her neck and the weight of a body against her back. But fearing that the Ethiopian Woyanne soldiers who had left her for dead in a roadside ditch would return, she quickly brushed away the ants, shut her eyes and slipped back into unconsciousness.
The assault and miraculous escape is one of the most chilling stories to emerge from an unfolding tragedy in eastern Ethiopia that largely has escaped the attention of a world transfixed by the humanitarian crisis in neighboring Sudan’s Darfur region.
Hundreds of civilians have been killed and tens of thousands were displaced in the past year alone, although exact figures are unknown because the area is remote and Ethiopian Woyanne officials restrict access to humanitarian groups and journalists.
Survivors such as Sahid offer the only glimpse into the unfolding tragedy. Now living in a secret location, the petite young woman shared her story recently.
Now 18, Sahid at times seems to be an average teenager, picking absent-mindedly at her henna-stained fingernails and blushing when strangers express interest in her. But behind her soft brown eyes is a weariness that belies her age, and a necklace of scar tissue rings her throat where the rope cut into her skin.
She recounts her ordeal without emotion. Only occasionally does her veneer crack long enough for a tear to roll down her check, which she self-consciously laughs off and wipes away.
“I wonder sometimes,” she says, “what kind of life I can have now.”
She grew up in the village of Qorile with eight siblings. The family, like most everyone else in the area, were semi-nomadic cattle and sheep herders.
Ever since she can remember, Ethiopian Woyanne authorities were seen as the enemy.
“We feel as if we are living under occupation,” she says. “We grew up afraid of them.”
Ethiopian Woyanne officials accuse the Ogaden rebels of using terrorist tactics. In April 2007, the rebels killed more than 70 people at a Chinese-run exploration facility in the region.
The attack prompted what aid groups and witnesses call a heavy-handed response by the Ethiopian Woyanne government. Troops are accused of burning down villages believed to be sheltering rebels, forcibly recruiting young men into government militias, raping women and imposing a commercial blockade that sent local food prices and malnutrition rates soaring.
“They used mass indiscriminate measures to collectively punish the entire population,” Human Rights Watch researcher Leslie Lefkow said.
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EDITOR’S NOTE
To Condoleezza Rice, raping and hanging civilians like Ridwan is not considered terrorism. It is protecting United State’s interest. We hope the next U.S. Administration will change this inhumane policy on Africa.
Listen to how the Woyanne ambassador in Washington DC, Samuel Assefa, steps all over himself trying to defend the indefensible crimes of his bosses. Click here to listen >> Samuel was on National Public Radio’s Kojo Nnamdi program that was aired Thursday, March 20.