MOGADISHU, Somalia Feb 8 (Garowe Online) – A member of parliament from Somalia’s southern regions announced his resignation during a Friday radio interview, after accusing the country’s leaders of “taking orders” from Ethiopian Prime Minister dictator Meles Zenawi, the butcher of Addis Ababa.
MP Abdulaziz Ibrahim Osman spoke to Mogadishu-based HornAfrik Radio from his residence in London, United Kingdom.
“I will not become a member of those who allow the massacre of Somali civilians and I declare that there is no Somali government,” Osman said, adding: “I have resigned from the parliament.”
He accused fellow lawmakers, based in the inland town of Baidoa, of “chewing khat in a prison” and dismissed President Abdullahi Yusuf and Prime Minister Nur “Adde” Hassan Hussein as “puppets” for the Ethiopian government of Prime Minister Zenawi Woyanne regime.
Osman has become the first Somali lawmaker to resign from parliament since it was formed in 2004.
A group of more than 20 MPs were expelled from parliament in 2007 after they refused to set foot in Somalia until Ethiopian Woyanne troops withdraw from the country.
That group of parliamentarians, who renamed themselves as the ‘Free Parliament’, joined forces with the ousted Islamic Courts leaders and are now based in Asmara, Eritrea.
Osman said he would join the Eritrea-based opposition alliance to push for the removal of Ethiopian Woyanne forces from Somali soil.
Ethiopian Woyanne troops deployed in Somalia in late 2006 to dislodge Islamist rulers from Mogadishu.
But more than a year after their arrival, the Ethiopian Woyanne army and its Somali government partners have remained unable to control the volatile situation in the capital, where shootouts, roadside bombings and assassinations have become a daily part of life.
Hillary Clinton is losing this thing. It’s not one big primary, it’s a rolling loss, a daily one, an inch-by-inch deflation. The trends and indices are not in her favor. She is having trouble raising big money, she’s funding her campaign with her own wealth, her moral standing within her own party and among her own followers has been dragged down, and the legacy of Clintonism tarnished by what Bill Clinton did in South Carolina. Unfavorable primaries lie ahead. She doesn’t have the excitement, the great whoosh of feeling that accompanies a winning campaign. The guy from Chicago who was unknown a year ago continues to gain purchase, to move forward. For a soft little innocent, he’s played a tough and knowing inside/outside game… Continue reading >>
Kenya’s ruling party and opposition have agreed to form a joint government in an effort to end weeks of bloodshed that have engulfed the country since the disputed presidential election, an opposition lawmaker said Friday.
The two sides still were discussing who would lead the government and what roles each party would play, said William Rutto, a lawmaker from the opposition Orange Democractic Movement.
“We have finally agreed there is a problem in the country and neither side can proceed on its own,” Rutto told The Associated Press. “We have agreed to form a joint government. Details of that government, its time and how to share it are under discussions.”
There was no immediate comment from the government or President Mwai Kibaki’s Party of National Unity. But former U.N. chief Kofi Annan, who is heading talks aimed at resolving the crisis, was expected to make a statement later Friday.
Word of the power-sharing government came hours after Kibaki said he was “committed” to the negotiations.
Speaking at a prayer meeting in Nairobi, Kibaki said he was “encouraged” by progress in talks and reiterated “my personal support and that of my entire government to this process.”
More than 1,000 people have been killed and 300,000 driven from their homes in fighting since the Dec. 27 election that has often pitted many of the East African country’s myriad ethnic groups against one another.
Hours before news of the power-sharing agreement broke, around 5,000 people fled a makeshift camp for those displaced by the violence in the western town Kericho, fearing violence ahead of Saturday’s funeral for an opposition lawmaker slain last week. Only about 1,000 people were left in the camp, said Red Cross official Susan Onyango.
Kericho’s main street, meanwhile, was packed with families hastily piling furniture onto government lorries provided to take them to areas where their ethnic group was predominant.
The slain legislator was killed in what the opposition described as a political assassination, but which police said was a crime of passion by a traffic policeman who believed his girlfriend was involved with the politician. The killing had sparked attacks on the policeman’s ethnic group, the Kisii.
International and domestic observers have heavily criticized the vote tallying process and the head of the electoral commission has publicly said he does not know who won the election.
On Thursday, the U.S. added to the international pressure by threatening to bar Kenyan politicians and businessmen alleged to have played a role in the bloodshed from visiting the United States, a move that “hit a nerve,” the U.S. ambassador said.
Politicians and businessmen are among those accused of financing or backing the violence.
“People are paying 4,000 shillings ($60) to burn down a house,” U.S. Ambassador Michael Ranneberger said in an interview.
Washington sent letters to 10 politicians and businessmen suspected of supporting or inciting violence, Ranneberger said. U.S. State Department spokesman Tom Casey said the letters were sent to eight people. The discrepancy could not immediately be explained. Both declined to name the targets but Ranneberger said the review also would affect the immediate families of those affected.
Casey said the visa reviews probably would take place over the next few days and were directed at “more regional figures” than top officials from both major political movements. Rannenberger said the U.S. could target top officials if the violence that has devastated the economy and undermined Kenya’s democratic credentials continued.
Both Kibaki’s government and the opposition welcomed the U.S. decision and insisted they had nothing to do with the violence. But Kenyan human rights groups, foreign observers and diplomats say there is ample evidence that both parties helped incite and orchestrate attacks.
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Associated Press writers Katy Pownall in Kericho, and Matthew Rosenberg and Malkhadir M. Muhumed in Nairobi contributed to this report.
Shlomo Mula begins nearly all his speeches with the same sentence: “I walked 800 kilometers from Ethiopia to Sudan.” On Monday, Mula will take one more journey, as he is sworn in to the Knesset [Israeli Parliament] as the second Ethiopian MK in Israel’s history. Mula is replacing Avigdor Yitzhaki (Kadima), who officially tendered his resignation Thursday due to “serious doubts over [Prime Minister] Ehud Olmert’s ability to lead the government in the wake of the Winograd Report.”
Mula’s politics are relatively untested, though he is entering the Knesset at a particularly volatile time. With Olmert barely weathering the results of the report, MKs from across the spectrum are planning for yet another possible inquiry into his leadership during the war.
But Mula is not interested in commenting on the report. “I plan to focus on the Ethiopian community, which has been long-neglected by the political establishment,” said Mula. “I come from them and I understand them in a way which allows me to advance their concerns in the best possible way.”
Mula, who will leave his job as the director of the Jewish Agency’s Department for the Absorption of Ethiopian Immigrants, already knows what his first piece of legislation will be. “I plan to propose a bill for rental assistance and housing subsidies for low-income Ethiopian couples,” he said. “I think this is the most important issue for Ethiopians today, to give them opportunities to develop beyond the communities that many of them are currently trapped in.”
Mula has been vocal about the issue of “Ethiopian ghettos,” which he says many new immigrants are trapped in.
“These are Ethiopian ghettos, like Harlem,” said Mula. “There are few opportunities to advance beyond the low-rent immigrant housing that they are segregated into.”
These communities, combined with an educational system that often separates Ethiopian students from other classmates, have stunted the ability of new immigrants to join Israeli society.
Some Ethiopian youths have adopted the African-American identity as they see it on television, a culture Mula called “very distant” from their native, mostly rural, background. “I know we can join this society and be active, contributing members,” said Mula. However, he adds that clear “racist” elements in Israeli society must change first.
Mula has long been considered one of the leading representatives of the Ethiopian community – both Israel Beiteinu and Kadima tried to recruit him before the last elections. Mula eventually chose Kadima, after holding a meeting with former prime minister Ariel Sharon. “I knew that I wanted to be in politics to change things from within,” said Mula.
Thousands of Ethiopian Jews were evacuated to Israel in Israeli airlifts in 1984 and 1991. Of the 80,000 Ethiopians in Israel, only a small percentage have fully integrated into society, according to various polls conducted by Ethiopian NGOs.
Some 5,000 have graduated college, and another 2,000 are in university or college. Another 10 percent of Ethiopian teenagers are taking exams used for placement in the army and university admissions.
According to the Jewish Agency, however, some 20,000 Ethiopian teenagers aged 13-20 have dropped out of school without plans to join the army or go to university.
“It’s not enough to rescue people dramatically,” said Mula, who arrived in Israel at the age of 17 via Operation Moses, a 1984-1985 mission that brought 7,500-18,000 Ethiopian Jews to Israel, according to different estimates.
Mula, who first walked from Ethiopia to Sudan, was airlifted from the Sudanese capital of Khartoum when a severe famine hit the region. The operation was a secret cooperative effort between the IDF, the CIA, US officials and Sudanese mercenaries.
“The beautiful thing about this country’s democracy is that whoever wants change can fight for it… and truly make a difference,” said Mula.
Opening Statement by Congressman Donald M. Payne
The U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on Foreign Affairs
The Political Crisis in Kenya: A Call for Justice and Peaceful Resolution
February 6, 2008
Good morning, and welcome to the Subcommittee on Africa and Global Health’s first hearing of the second session of the 110th Congress. Today, we will examine the unfortunate and still unfolding political crisis in Kenya, a country that many considered a safe place to live, including the hundreds of thousands of refugees from Somalia, the Ogaden, and Sudan.
Just a few weeks ago, at the height of the crisis, I went to Kenya to assess the situation and to encourage political, religious, community, and civil society leaders to find a peaceful resolution. I visited thousands of displaced children in JAMHURI [JAM – WHO- REE] SHOWGROUND and met with volunteers from diverse backgrounds. It was remarkable and encouraging to see Kenyans coming together to help their fellow citizens.
Indeed, witnessing the violence and meeting the young victims was deeply troubling. Yet, I am confident that Kenyans will come out of this crisis united. Kenyans of different religious, ethnic, and economic backgrounds lived together peacefully in a region long marred by civil wars and political chaos. Unfortunately, like the millions of Kenyans, the more than 170,000 refugees from the Ogaden and Somalia in Kenya will also be affected, as will the lives of so many others in the region.
It was not long ago that the people of Kenya demonstrated that democracy works in Africa. The 2002 multi-party elections had a positive impact not just in Kenya, but also in Africa. The people of Kenya proved beyond doubt that the power of incumbency and the entrenched clout of a ruling party will not stop them from bring change peacefully.
On December 27, 2007, the people of Kenya voted in a hotly contested election, despite the logistical challenges and the long lines. More than 14 million Kenyans registered to vote, that is 82% of the eligible voters. An estimated 2,547 Parliamentary candidates were qualified to run the in 210 constituencies, a clear indication of the desire and determination of Kenyans to participate and to be part of the political process.
Incumbent president, Mwai Kibaki, was hastily declared the winner by the Electoral Commission of Kenya, after a series of highly irregular events which cast significant doubt on his so called victory. Let me be blunt. The election results announced by the ECK do not reflect the wishes of the Kenyan people. The people of Kenya voted for change. What they were given was the status quo.
International and domestic election observers reported serious irregularities, especially in vote tallying by the ECK. In one district, a stronghold of the president, the election result showed 115% turnout, but changed by the Chairman of the Commission to 85% without any explanation. Election results were declared even when documents were not returned or signed by officers. While the vote proceeded in an orderly fashion, the aftermath was a text book example of how to steal an election. National and international election monitors were barred from observing the vote tally in some places. Returning officers became mysteriously difficult to get in touch with before reporting the vote tally from their constituencies.
ODM candidate, Raila Odinga’s, lead, which had been reported to be nearly 376,000 votes, suddenly diminished to 38,000. The ODM won 99 seats in parliament compared to the president’s PNU 43 seats. Not only the opposition won the majority seats in parliament, but the president’s Vice President and over a dozen of his ministers were defeated in the parliamentary elections.
The E.U. observer mission declared that “the 2007 General Elections have fallen short of key international and regional standards for democratic elections. Most significantly, they were marred by a lack of transparency in the processing and tallying of presidential results, which raises concerns about the accuracy of the final results of this election.” Other observers also raised serious questions about the credibility of the electoral process.
In reaction, Kenyans went to the streets to express their frustration and anger. The protests soon turned violent and it is still unfolding. More than a thousand people have been killed, and over 300,000 displaced as a result of the unrest, including an estimated 80,000 children under the age of five. Millions more have been adversely affected. Two members of parliament from the opposition ODM were killed in January.
The instability in Kenya continues to threaten and affect the economies of neighboring countries and poses a serious threat to regional stability. The Kenyan economy has been hit hard and recovery may take a long time.
It is important to point out that while the ECK and the Kibaki government mishandled the 2007 elections, the State Department’s response in the wake of the elections was at best confused and at worst completely inappropriate to the circumstances. A number of statements issued by the State Department not only missed the point, but the actions of some U.S. officials were counter-productive and one-sided. To my knowledge no one else in the international community made such a gaffe.
The State Department should have waited on the outcome to determine how to respond effectively. Our diplomatic efforts in the wake of the elections have not been stellar. Indeed, the response to the Kenya election crisis proves beyond doubt that some in the Administration are quick to embrace a government that engages in electoral abuses and overlook rather than condemn its electoral and human rights abuses.
Remember the 2005 elections in Ethiopia? Did we condemn the abuses and killings of innocent civilians in Ethiopia after the elections? And where are those elected members of parliament and the mayor of the capital? Not in parliament. They were imprisoned for two years. The thinking may be: if Prime Minister Meles can get away with a stolen election and still remain a friend of Washington, why not Kibaki?
What are the lessons learned? Very few. Dr. Frazer’s statement on January 31 about ethnic cleansing played right into the hands of the Kibaki camp, allowing them to portray themselves as victims of an ethnic conflict. The violence is unlikely to end without a mechanism in place to resolve the election dispute.
What is happening in Kenya is not—I repeat not an ethnic conflict. It is a political conflict with ethnic overtones. However if political leaders in Kenya do not make a serious effort to stop the violence now, and address the systemic problems that exist in their political structures, the violence we are seeing could certainly reach a point of no return. Once that happens, it will be very difficult to stop.
It is critical that a transitional, coalition government is established, with a clear mandate to implement necessary reforms such as a new constitution, a new electoral law, a new electoral commission, address the root causes of the crisis, and prepare the country for transparent presidential elections within two years.
A new conflict could break out between Eritrea and Ethiopia Woyanne, the UN says, as it prepares to withdraw its troops.
The UN gave a Wednesday deadline for Eritrea to restore fuel supplies to the peacekeepers on its side of the border, or it said they would have to withdraw.
A UN spokesman told the BBC on Thursday that UN personnel had not yet begun relocating from Eritrea though fuel supplies were still not being allowed.
Tens of thousands of people died in the two countries’ 1998-2000 border war.
“Clearly the signs point towards a resumption of the conflict,” UN spokesman Yves Sorokobi told the BBC.
“We know that troops are being amassed in the Temporary Security Zone between Eritrea and Ethiopia,” said Mr Sorokobi, UN chief Ban Ki-moon’s spokesman.
“We know the rhetoric has been warlike and increasingly so. All this bodes ill for peace in the region,” he told the BBC’s Network Africa programme.
‘Regrettable’
But the BBC’s Elizabeth Blunt in the Ethiopia capital, Addis Ababa, says that senior UN officials there are convinced that neither side really wants war.
Some 1,400 UN troops and 200 military observers are in the region to monitor a peace deal signed in 2000.
Eritrea wants the international community to put pressure on Ethiopia Woyanne to withdraw from the town of Badme, which the Boundary Commission set up after the war awarded to Eritrea.
But Mr Sorokobi said the peacekeepers were not there to impose a settlement on the two sides – only to monitor them.
He said it was not possible for the peacekeepers to work without fuel.
“It is most regrettable that… peacekeepers cannot be allowed to maintain peace.”
He noted the peacekeeping operations were only being hampered by the Eritreans, not the Ethiopias Woyannes.
They have had to reduce their patrols, there have been problems with supplies and communications, and they have only been able to run generators for a short time each day.
Our correspondent says that if they do pull out, it would have to be by road, since Eritrea has banned the use of UN helicopters in its airspace.
From many locations the easiest way out would be across the border into northern Ethiopia, but it is not clear whether the border would be opened to allow them to leave.
He accused fellow lawmakers, based in the inland town of Baidoa, of “chewing khat in a prison” and dismissed President Abdullahi Yusuf and Prime Minister Nur “Adde” Hassan Hussein as “puppets” for the 
Mula’s politics are relatively untested, though he is entering the Knesset at a particularly volatile time. With Olmert barely weathering the results of the report, MKs from across the spectrum are planning for yet another possible inquiry into his leadership during the war.