The Ethiopia of Meles Zenawi is not the dictatorship of former president Mengistu, who was overthrown in 1991 and who held the country in a Stalinist grip. Privately-owned newspapers do their best to enliven the intellectual life of the capital, Addis Ababa but the climate is hostile. Heavy prison sentences are always inflicted on those who an easily influenced court system considers guilty of “defamation” or “publishing false news”. Self-censorship is constant. Foreign correspondents based in Ethiopia have to take care not to embarrass the government, which is facing a raft of military problems in the provinces and the region, and which reacts with extreme harshness towards journalists it views as dangerous.
Relative relaxation
The year 2007 experienced a relative relaxation with the acquittal of detainees facing heavy jail sentences. The international community had been watching for two years as the leadership of the main opposition coalition and newspaper bosses who supported them awaited trial in jail on charges which could mean the death penalty. But while they were being held in atrocious conditions and treated with contempt by the government, the federal high court in April acquitted 25 of the accused in a major political trial being held in Addis Ababa for a year. They had been charged with “genocide”, “high treason” and “attempted overthrow of the constitutional order” and had been held in prison since November 2005, after being arrested in the round-ups by Ethiopian police cracking down after protest rallies organised by the chief opposition grouping, the Coalition for Unity and Democracy (CUD, Kinijit in Amharic). Eight of the 25 people who were freed were journalists. The court ruled that the prosecutor had not presented sufficiently convincing evidence of their guilt. A first step appeared to have been taken to resolve a crisis that had been poisoning Ethiopian political life.
But there was a spectacular reversal on 16 July when it was learned with astonishment that six journalists were among 43 opposition figures sentenced, in an identical case, to prison terms ranging from 18 months to life imprisonment. Most of them were found guilty of “attempting to overturn the constitutional order”. Four of them were however released on the 20 July after benefiting from an amnesty, the last two, who were in exile abroad, having been tried in their absence. One month later the last three journalists detained since November 2005 were freed as a result of a presidential pardon. The crisis, which had lasted for 22 months, thus came to a final conclusion.
However even for ordinary press cases, the Ethiopian government has a harsh legislative arsenal at its disposal and is prepared to use it to get rid of awkward journalists and it has become commonplace for it to dig up old cases. The Supreme Court in January rejected an appeal from Abraham Reta, journalist on the privately-owned weekly Addis Admas, against his one-year sentence imposed for “defamation” in May 2006 for an article published in 2002, when he was editor of the weekly Ruh, in which he named without proof three top officials allegedly implicated in a corruption case. He was first arrested in April 2006 and served a three-month jail sentence before being released on bail while awaiting the outcome of his appeal. After several hearings at which Abraham Reta pleaded not guilty and was forced to reveal the source of his article, he was sent back to prison to serve the last nine months of his sentence. Between December 2005 and December 2006, Reporters Without Borders recorded four cases of journalists being sent to prison for long periods (between eight and 18 month) for four year old cases. All have since been released, but they do not look like being able to resume their work as journalists.
Hostages taken in Somalia
A cautious relaxation by the Ethiopian government at the end of the year, with the creation of a private independent radio and reform of the press law, cannot mask the fact that Ethiopia is a country in which the free exercise of journalism rapidly comes up against the jumpiness of the part of the authorities.
Any deterioration in the political climate systematically works through to the press. The sending of the Ethiopian army into Somalia in support of transitional government forces at the end of December 2006 was a source of additional tension. And the political and military support by neighbouring Eritrea for Somalia’s Union of the Islamic Courts exacerbated the situation to the extent that two journalists working for public media in Asmara were taken hostage by Ethiopian forces as they tried to flee the combat zone.
Saleh Idris Gama, journalist on Eritrean state-run Eri-TV, and cameraman Tesfalidet Kidane Tesfazghi disappeared in Mogadishu at the end of 2006. Reporters Without Borders, supplied their names to the Somali government at the end of February 2007 in a bid to find out if they were being detained or had been identified as casualties of the fighting. No reply had yet been given to this request when, at the start of April, the Eritrean foreign minister publicly announced the arrest of several of its nationals in Somalia, confirming that the team from Eri-TV were still alive. Several days previously, having obtained similar information, Reporters Without Borders had contacted Somali intelligence seeking news of the Eritrean journalists, providing their identity and asking for the right to make telephone contact with them. This request had been rejected.
A few days later, video footage of Saleh Idris Gama and Tesfalidet Kidane Tesfazghi were placed on a pro-governmental Ethiopian website, subtitles to the interview called them “shabia soldiers” (shabia meaning “popular”, the nickname for the Eritrean regime). Since then the two men have been held by the intelligence services somewhere in Ethiopia and the Addis Ababa government refuses to provide any information about them.
They are not the only journalists imprisoned in Ethiopia about whom very little information is available. Shiferraw Insermu, a journalist on the Oromo service of state-run ETV suspected of being an informer for the separatist Oromo Liberation Front (OLF), is still languishing in prison after he and his colleague Dhabassa Wakjira were arrested for the first time at their homes in Addis Ababa, on 22 April 2004. The federal high court ordered their release on bail on the following 9 August, but only Shiferraw Insermu was set free. The journalist was rearrested on 17 August and released on order of the federal high court in mid-October. ETV refused to allow him to resume his job and he was trying to find other work when he was arrested for a third time, on 11 January 2005. He has remained in custody since that date, most likely at the central prison known as “Kerchiele”. Dhabassa Wakjira was held without interruption until 2006, as the prison authorities failed to comply with various court orders to release him on bail. He was finally released and has since fled Ethiopia and sought asylum abroad.
(Press TV) – General Gabre Heard, who is in charge of Woyanne occupation forces in Somalia, has slapped Somalia’s interim President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed twice on the face, officials say.
The row between President Yusuf Ahmed and Gen. Gabre started after the president accused the army general of disobeying the orders given by the Somali government, a Somali official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told the Press TV correspondent in Mogadishu.
Irked by the Somali President’s remarks, who accused the Ethiopian Woyanne troops of firing artillery at the Presidential Palace and the government bases, the army general slapped the Somali president on the face.
The angry general then swore that he would kill the president and left the room.
Following the quarrel, the president called AMISON peace keeping troops for security.
There is speculation that a conflict could arise between the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISON) and Ethiopian Woyanne troops.
Gen. Gabre has his supporters in the government, including Mogadishu Mayor Mohamed Omar Habeeb and head of the security agency Mohamed Warsamme Darwiish.
Nairobi (DPA) – The African Union (AU) said Friday it remains engaged in the border crisis between Eritrea and Ethiopia but said the two parties lack goodwill to bring an end to the dispute.
A United Nations mission monitoring the disputed frontier since the end of a 1998-2000 border war fought between the neighbouring foes began relocating to the Eritrean capital Asmara last week after their fuel and food supplies were cut by Eritrea.
“We are still there. The two parties are failing to arrive to a solution in spite of what we are doing,” said newly-elected AU chairman Jean Ping. “There is lack of goodwill to work toward a resolution.”
Tiny Eritrea gained independence from Ethiopia in 1993, but the disputed border town of Badme remained under contention and sparked the war that killed some 70,000 people.
A border demarcation commission dissolved itself last year because the two Horn of Africa countries were unable to find a solution.
The frontier remains tense and with the withdrawal of the several thousand UN troops, observers fear a new war may break out.
Statement by the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF)
Humanitarian aid distribution to the people of Ogaden continues to be severely restricted by armed forces of the Tigray Peoples Liberation Front (TPLF) led regime in Ethiopia. The small amounts of aid reaching our people is escorted by heavily armed TPLF troops who appear to be making the decision on what aid is distributed and to whom. These decisions are motivated by political considerations instead of humanitarian need. The regimes military control of international humanitarian assistance in Ogaden is taking place in plain view employees of international agencies including the United Nations and is unacceptable. In Some cases TPLF Regime troops are selling food aid on the black market for personal gain.
The Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) calls on the UN to immediately reclaim control of humanitarian aid shipments to Ogaden in order to prevent the continued use of humanitarian aid for political purposes. We further call upon the United Nations to follow through on the recommendations of its previous humanitarian assessment team mission to Ogaden which called for an independent investigation into human rights abuses in Ogaden.
It is morally repugnant for the TPLF regime to use humanitarian assistance as a political tool against our people.
For the past few months, the Stimely family’s four daughters have been throwing nightly dance parties in their living room to the tunes of Disney’s wildly popular “High School Musical.”
It’d be a nightly scene like any other, except that two of the girls are brand new to both American people and pop culture. The Stimelys adopted Masene, 5, and Safiya, 3, from Ethiopia in November. Their mother, Carol Bittner, said the dance parties have brought the girls closer to their new American sisters, Ruth, 7, and Lillian, 3.
“It feels good to have two new people in the family,” Ruth said. “We just play and have fun.”
The Stimelys are among a growing number of people adopting from Ethiopia. China and Russia have been the major hubs for adoption, but Ethiopia’s star is rising, Ms. Bittner said.
A combination of the country’s relatively easy adoption paperwork and large number of children orphaned by the AIDS epidemic has drawn an increasing number of adoption agencies over the past few years, said Merrily Ripley, director of Adoption Advocates International, the agency that helped the Stimelys adopt Masene and Safiya.
About 3,500 Ethiopian children have been adopted by American families since 1990, and of those, about 1,250 children were adopted in 2007 alone, said Hermela Kebede, director of the Ethiopian Community Center in Washington. Government officials have estimated that 4,000 will be adopted in 2008, she said.
“That’s how much it’s growing,” Ms. Kebede said.
Wait times for adopting Ethiopian children are longer than they’ve ever been, said Ms. Ripley, as agencies realize that Ethiopia’s clear adoption procedures make it a good country for international adoption.
Also, because of new drugs that reduce the risk of spreading HIV, American families can now adopt HIV-positive children, Ms. Ripley said. Adoption Advocates placed about 30 HIV-positive children from Ethiopia last year, she said.
“That’s something we never thought we’d be able to do 5 to 10 years ago,” she said.
American families are aware that HIV, malaria, yellow fever and poverty have left many children orphaned.
“I think because they’re aware of the need there, the orphans, a lot of folks are motivated by wanting to adopt a child,” Ms. Ripley said.
That was one reason why the Stimelys decided to adopt from Ethiopia.
Ross Stimely, a teacher at Broadneck High School, and Ms. Bittner, who is an attorney for the federal court in Baltimore, had talked about adopting for years. It would be a way to make a difference and also grow their family, Mr. Stimely said.
They decided to work through Adoption Advocates because unlike agencies that focus on babies, Adoption Advocates works with older children and tries to keep siblings together, Ms. Bittner said. The agency has placed as many as five siblings together, Ms. Ripley said.
They applied and in May were told the agency had found two little girls who needed a family. But summer is the rainy season in east Africa, and the Stimelys had to wait until November to make the trip.
They passed the months by writing to Masene and Safiya, sending them photos of their new house, their new sisters. The trip they finally took in November with Ruth and Lillian was the furthest they had ever traveled, Mr. Stimely said.
He and Ms. Bittner met their new daughters on Nov. 19 – a date that also happened to be their 13th wedding anniversary.
Masene and Safiya are from a rural part of southern Ethiopia, where people raise sheep and goats and have neither electricity nor running water, Ms. Bittner said. The girls were apprehensive when they first arrived in the United States.
To help them adjust, the Stimelys have been cooking traditional Ethiopian food, like potato stew and injera, a sort of pancake that’s a staple of the Ethiopian diet, Mr. Stimely said. Ruth and Lillian have been taking Ethiopian food to school in their packed lunches. And they’re trying to learn Amharic, the regional Ethiopian language.
Lillian and Ruth have already picked up some Amharic, he said, just as Masene and Safiya have picked up the words to High School Musical. Lillian, at 3 years old, has already forgotten what it’s like not to have adopted sisters, Ms. Bittner said.
“For her, it’s completely normal,” Ms. Bittner said. “Like, doesn’t everyone have a sister from Ethiopia?”
The Stimelys hope their story will inspire more people to adopt one of the many Ethiopian children who need families. If their family can do it, anyone can, Ms. Bittner said.
“We are completely normal, regular people, except we saw a problem and acted on it,” she said. “We’re just raising our kids. It’s just life, and you can do it and it can be great.”
Researchers from the University of Arizona (UA) have received a three-year, $200,000 grant to aid in Ethiopia’s famine disaster.
The UA has teamed with Bahir Dar University to build a center of excellence and create a new master’s curriculum in disaster risk management in Ethiopia. The program received the $200,000 grant from the U.S Agency for International Development in 2007 and is for the entire three-years.
The program will train 15 students through distance learning and give them skills for disaster management as well as earn masters with Bahir Dar University. Four of the 15 students are UA professors and three are Ph.D. candidates.
The center will offer short courses on disaster management and offer certificates of completion to participants.
The program aims to strengthen Ethiopia’s infrastructure and make Bahir Dar a leader in disaster prevention and risk management.
Ethiopia is a highly populated country in Africa with a large drought and famine problem. Because most Ethiopians live off of the land, and depend on farming, droughts lead to famine.
The curriculum is four semesters with a 30 credit hour graduate program.
“The students will use an online portal and do their learning on the web. The project team will be in Arizona most of the time. We will go to Ethiopia once a year,” said John Magistro, project coordinator.
He also said during the students’ third year in the program they will spend 60 days here in Arizona doing intensive program preparation.
Tim Finan and John Magistro from the Bureau of Applied Research in Anthropology, Muluneh Yitayew from the agriculture and biosystems engineering department, Lezlie Moriniere from the Office of Arid Lands Studies, along with two private sector partners make up the team for this program.
Muluneh Yitayew, co-principal investigator for the program and a professor in the agriculture and biosystems engineering department, is helping to develop the curriculum on disaster risk management and sustainable development.
“I think the program is something very worthwhile for the country because you see a lot of famine and disaster there in Ethiopia,” Yitayew said.
TANGO International, a consulting firm in Tucson that works with non-governmental organizations, and Ferguson Lynch, a consulting firm in New Mexico has joined the UA to help with the project.
The UA will be working with the Disaster Risk Management and Sustainable Development Center at BDU.
Tim Frankenberger, president of TANGO International, worked in the Office of Arid Land Studies at the UA and has a lot of contacts in Ethiopia.
“My job is to help develop some of the training modules,” Frankenberger said.
As for the success of the project, “it is just getting off of the ground, it is too early to tell,” Frankenberger said.
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Didn’t the University of Arizona hear that there is an abundant supply of food, livestock, flower, etc. in Ethiopia under the Woyanne regime?
