The Obama campaign in Virginia is coordinating a statewide canvassing blitz for this Saturday through Monday, February 9-11. We will begin this earnest GOTV phase of the campaign with a high energy kick off event this Saturday morning, where volunteers from all around the region will come together, learn how to canvass, pick up your “walk pack” of campaign literature, and be assigned to neighborhoods for the day’s work.
There’s simply no substitute for face to face contact with voters, and Barack’s team has already proven in state after state that when voters hear about him, they will support him! So come join us to spread the word about the February 12 primary and share your excitement about Barack! See you there….
What: Canvass for Barack Kick Off Rally
When: Saturday, February 9, 2008, 9:30 a.m.
Where: Northern Virginia for Obama HQ, 400 N. Washington Street (Route 29), Falls Church, VA
Who: Any Obama supporter willing and able to walk for a few hours and talk to friendly voters who are already leaning our way. You don’t need to live in Fairfax County to canvass in Fairfax. In fact, we expect volunteers from all neighboring regions to gather together Saturday morning, then break up into teams and canvass all across the region.
[On Sunday and Monday, we will repeat the same exercise for different neighborhoods that weren’t covered on Saturday, but instead of starting at the Falls Church HQ, volunteers will begin the day at designated staging location.]
on Tuesday, Feb. 12, all are invited to Dukem Restaurant to view the results of the Potomac Primary. Come and be amongst friends as the results of the Virginia, DC, and Maryland primaries are broadcast.
Dukem Restaurant will extend Happy Hour until 9:30 PM and has a projection television and a premium sound system that will enable you to view the results from every corner of the restaurant.
Dukem Restaurant will also have available a talented Ethiopian singer to entertain the crowd until a predetermined time where all eyes and ears will be focused on the primary results.
Seating is limited, so come early to guarantee entrance. This is a proud moment for all Ethiopians and for all Americans, a time when we will get a chance to elect a man who espouses to bridge the partisan chasms that separate Americans and lead our nation united by a common purpose.
Vote for Obama on Tuesday February 7, 2008 then come and join us celebrate Obama’s victory as he sweeps all three states on his way to the White House.
Be a part of history in the making.
Date: February 12, 2008
Place: Dukem Restaurant
1114 – 1118 U Street (12th Street NW)
Washington D.C. 20009
Tel: 202-667-8735
Time: 7:00 PM -10:30
(IRIN) Ethiopia experienced a record harvest during the meher season that runs from June and October but pockets of poor food production across the country have still left millions of people needing food assistance, according to a food security update.
Citing the Somali region in particular, the update issued by the Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS Net) on 6 February stated that poor rains during the deyr season, from October to November, exacerbated extreme food insecurity in parts of the region.
This was when the dry season was in progress and the peak hunger season had set in. Various other factors, including restrictions on movement and trade, locust infestations and limited humanitarian access had exacerbated matters.
“Despite record meher-season production, about eight million chronically food insecure people and a significant number of acutely food insecure people … will require food or cash assistance in 2008,” the January report stated.
Production during the meher season is one of the most important determinants of food security in Ethiopia, especially in the crop-producing areas that cover most of the country, except the mainly pastoral Afar and Somali regions, and the lowlands of Oromiya region.
An assessment by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization and World Food Programme estimated the meher crop was about 45 percent higher than the past five-year average.
“This represents the fourth consecutive bumper meher harvest in Ethiopia,” the report noted. “Yet, despite good overall production, pockets of poor production have been identified across the country as a result of weather-related hazards.”
In the Somali region, the update noted, the deyr rains performed poorly across seven zones that depend on precipitation for regeneration of pasture, replenishment of water sources and crop production.
”Although the movement of commercial food into restricted zones continues especially in the main woreda towns, the supply of food is inadequate especially in rural areas and prices are beyond the purchasing power of most consumers”
“In Gode, Warder, Korahe, Degahabur and Fik the situation is worse because the 2007 main season, which occurs between March and May, performed poorly,” it noted, adding that poor water availability and abnormal livestock migrations had already been reported in several areas.
“In all these areas, pasture is scarce, milk production and livestock body conditions have also started to deteriorate,” the update said. “Reduced milk production will have a serious impact on child malnutrition.”
Citing a report issued by the Somali Region Disaster Prevention and Preparedness Bureau in December indicating that about 745,000 people in the region could meet their minimum food needs and thus faced a survival deficit, the update noted that these people will require immediate food assistance from January to June 2008.
Market access for agro-pastoralists had also been affected by restrictions on trade and movement in parts of Somali region that began in mid-June 2007.
“Although the movement of commercial food into restricted zones continues especially in the main woreda towns, the supply of food is inadequate especially in rural areas and prices are beyond the purchasing power of most consumers,” the update noted.
The restrictions on trade and movement had also affected income sources for poor households, including labour and the sale of charcoal and firewood, because demand had fallen.
NAIROBI, Kenya – The U.S. said Thursday it was barring 10 leading Kenyan politicians from both the president’s party and his rival’s, calling them “criminals” involved in postelection violence that has brought a country once considered among the most stable in Africa to the brink of collapse.
The U.S. announcement came as pressure mounted on negotiators from President Mwai Kibaki’s party and the main opposition to come to terms in peace talks mediated by former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan.
Opposition leaders say Kibaki stole a Dec. 27 vote and should step down. Kibaki has said his position as president is not negotiable, though foreign and local observers say there was election rigging. Clashes sparked by the dispute disintegrated into ethnic fighting pitting other tribes against Kibaki’s Kikuyu, and more than 1,000 have been killed and another 300,000 have fled their homes.
U.S. Embassy spokesman T.J. Dowling said legislators from both parties were advised in letters that they would not be allowed into the United States because they had been involved in or incited violence.
“We don’t give visas to criminals,” Dowling told The Associated Press. “Inciting violence is a criminal act.”
He declined to give names, but said they included legislators from both sides.
Kibaki’s Party of National Unity denied its politicians had incited violence or knew about the U.S. restrictions.
“I don’t know anything about this,” said Albert Muiruri, party secretary-general. “I can’t think of one PNU member of Parliament or top official who was involved in or incited violence.”
Members of opposition leader Raila Odinga’s party could not be reached for comment.
The U.N. Security Council deplored the violence and urged political leaders to resolve the crisis “through dialogue, negotiation and compromise.”
The council statement, issued in New York on Wednesday, expressed concern at the “dire humanitarian situation” in the country and gave strong backing to the Annan-led talks that began Jan. 29.
The European Union also expressed support for the talks.
Visiting EU Development Commissioner Louis Michel “had a very positive meeting with Kofi Annan in which he expressed the EU’s full commitment and support of the facilitation efforts,” EU spokesman John Clancy said in Brussels.
Later Thursday, Michel was to meet separately with Kibaki and Odinga.
Also, foreign ministers of IGAD, an east African bloc of countries, arrived to meet the peace negotiating team, including government and opposition members. But they canceled a planned foreign ministers’ meeting to which Odinga’s party had objected, saying holding such a meeting would have implicitly recognized Kibaki’s government.
Last week at a meeting in Ethiopia, IGAD decided it would send a delegation to Nairobi this week to show support for the peace process and would also hold a foreign minister’s meeting in Nairobi Thursday.
Heads of state from five East African countries also were expected in Nairobi to hold a special summit in an expression of support for Annan’s peace process.
A UN fact-finding mission arrived in Kenya on Wednesday to assess allegations of grave human rights violations during the fighting, which in many cases turned into ethnic clashes.
The three-week mission – sent by the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour – will gather information from the government and the opposition, along with victims and witnesses. The findings will be made public.
The top U.S. diplomat for Africa said last month she saw the violence as ethnic cleansing, but the State Department backed away from her statement, saying the U.S. had not yet concluded whether atrocities had been committed.
A top UN relief agency official was to arrive Friday to assess the humanitarian situation. John Holmes, from the humanitarian affairs and emergency relief department would also meet government and opposition leaders, the UN said.
Fighting has continued in western Kenya, scene of some of the worst postelection clashes. On Thursday, police said an officer accused of killing two demonstrators last month in Kisumu, western Kenya, will be charged with murder.
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Associated Press writers Malkhadir M. Muhumed in Nairobi and Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations, contributed to this report.
Forty members of parliament have signed an agreement with the executive committee of the Coalition for Unity and Democracy Party (Kinijit) on Monday to work under to the bylaws and manifesto of the party.
Though the name and symbol of Kinijit are illegally and unconstitutionally given to individuals by the EPRDF-controlled National Board of Election, the movement for democracy and equality that the CUD is for, is continuing. The tent is growing. The fractured groups are coming one by one to their mother organization.
Additionally, the Kinijit executive committee has selected 16 individuals to join the party’s supreme council in place of those who resigned or left. The names of the individuals who joined the council will be made public shortly.
The Woyanne regime in Ethiopia continues to arrest members and leaders of opposition leaders ahead of the April local elections. Read more by zikkir News Service
