By Berhan Tsehai, Tsehainy.com Staff
Close to a thousand individuals were on hand to view the first screening in New York City of the documentary titled ‘Man of the Millennium’-An historical account of the life and times of Emperor Haile Selassie I. The Ethiopian and Rastafarian community filled the Oberia Dempsey Center on West 127th Street in Harlem, NY this past Saturday night. Produced by 28 year old filmmaker Tikher Teferra, this documentary aims to search and tell the story of the Last Emperor of Ethiopia. Teferra was inspired to tell this story because he felt “We, the new generation don’t know our history, even worse we are being told false history just for the sake of political propaganda.” Despite the obstacles Teferra faced in making the film, ‘Man of the Millennium’ is a must see, especially for the younger generation.
The documentary begins with earlier accounts that goes back to Biblical times and sets the stage to tell the story of Haile Selassie I from his childhood days. There are several video footages of the Emperor, and detail historical accounts by several individuals including Professor Merid Wolde Aragay from Addis Ababa University… Continue reading >>
An American’a Water Shortage
By Sarah Stuteville
Addis Ababa, ETHIOPIA —The water in our new house in Addis has been turned off for days and my back is so sore I’ve been squirming around on our dirty couches all evening begging for a position that doesn’t hurt.
Daily water collection in Ethiopia.
Photo by Alex Stonehill
It’s shameful how annoyed I am by the conjunction of these inconveniences given why I’m in Ethiopia at all. I’m here to research and write on water scarcity issues. In the past three days I’ve interviewed a woman whose son died of typhoid and a man who held four of his children as diarrhea from waterborne dysentery drained the life from their small bodies. I watched an old woman fall to her knees and kiss the ground in thanks of water.
I’m annoyed by the sputtering and empty pipes in my rented house because I haven’t showered in four days.
My back hurts because, as an experience, I volunteered along with other Seattleites here to witness water development programs, to help build the concrete platform for a community water spigot in impoverished rural Oromia.
In total, I spent maybe, maybe 3 hours hauling concrete and water in busted, leaking buckets on my back. As a result my spine feels permanently compacted. I’m convinced in my self-pity that I can actually feel the vertebrae rubbing against each other somewhere in the curve of my back.
Yesterday, I watched—taking notes and directing a cameraman—as a middle-aged rural Ethiopian villager secured three plastic buckets of dirty water onto her small frame, preparing to haul them kilometers back to her hut, where if it isn’t boiled properly it may poison her family… Continue reading >>
By Peter Heinlein, VOA
Jijiga, Ethiopia
Ethiopian officials say a Somali-born American citizen is being detained as an enemy combatant in the East African nation’s restive Ogaden region. The acknowledgment counters earlier government claims that many westerners have been detained as combatants. VOA’s Peter Heinlein reports from the southeastern Ethiopian city of Jijiga.
The security chief in Ethiopia’s Somali region, commonly known as the Ogaden, says one U.S. citizen has been jailed for more than a year at Jijiga, the regional capital. Security director Abdi Mohamed Omar identified the suspect as Mohamed Farah Hassan, an ethnic Somali born in the town of Kebridehar, 350 kilometers southeast of Jijiga.
Last Friday, the regional president, Abdullahi Hassan, told a group of visiting journalists ‘many’ U.S. and European passport holders were being detained as enemy combatants. But when pressed for details, security chief Abdi said Mohamed Farah Hassan is the only one he knows of.
Speaking to VOA through a translator, Abdi described the detainee as a terrorist ‘mastermind’ of the rebel Ogaden National Liberation Front, which is fighting for independence for the mostly-Muslim region of predominantly Christian Ethiopia.
“There is one person that they call Mohammmed Farah Hassan, originally he is [from] Ogaden, born in Kebridehar, he left from Somalia, went as a refugee Somali (Somali refugee), he lied so he could get American citizenship,” said Abdi. “He was one of the top executives for the ONLF group. When he came here, we caught him in the act. He was deliberately setting up, to blow up different kind of places. That was the reason we caught him.”
Abdi says the suspect has not seen American consular officials, but has been provided a lawyer and will be tried on terrorism charges.
Darragh Paradiso, spokesperson for the U.S. Embassy in Addis Ababa, says diplomats had seen earlier news reports that Americans were being detained, and are looking into the issue.
The conflict in the Ogaden region captured international media attention last April, when ONLF fighters overran a Chinese-run oil exploration facility east of Jijiga. More than 70 people were killed in the attack.
The government and the ONLF accuse each other of serious human rights abuses. Visiting journalists found a traumatized population caught between rebels staging hit-and-run attacks and government troops conducting a brutal counterinsurgency campaign.
Security chief Abdi Mohammed Omar told VOA the rebels had killed 200 civilians over the past two months. Journalists also heard numerous credible reports of young men being picked up by security forces and their bodies being handed over to relatives the following day.
In a related development, international aid agencies have been monitoring reports of a growing humanitarian crisis in the Ogaden. United Nations emergency aid chief John Holmes said after a visit in November that the fighting had created ‘potentially serious’ humanitarian conditions. Ethiopian officials admit security concerns have delayed the movement of food to remote areas, but say there is no crisis.
In a statement sent to news agencies last Friday, the rebels accused the U.N. and international donors of allowing Ethiopia to manipulate food aid to further its objectives. The statement said Ethiopia is hoarding the food in military camps and using it to buy loyalty from the local population. Regional officials call the ONLF charges ‘ridiculous’, and have accused several international aid agencies of providing assistance to the rebels.
Last month, Ethiopia expelled an Australian and a Briton working for the charity Save the Children U.K. Several aid organizations, including the International Committee of the Red Cross and Doctors Without Borders, were expelled from the region last July after Ethiopia accused them of providing communications and transportation facilities to the rebels. The agencies staunchly denied the allegations.
A senior leader of Ethiopia’s major opposition party, the Coaliiton for Unity and Democracy Party (Kinijit), Ato Gizachew Shiferraw, receives messages of support from Timket celebration participants at the Bole MedhaneAlem Church in Addis Ababa… Read more by zikkir News Service.
በደቡብ ብሄር ብሄረሰቦችና ህዝቦች ክልል የጎፋ ዞን ሳውላ ከተማ የቅንጅት ተወካይ የሆኑት አቶ እንድርያስ ኤሮ በዛሬው እለት የከተማዋ የፌዴራል የደህንነት ቢሮ ሃላፊ በሆኑት በአቶ ሚካኤል ዘሪሁንና የወያኔ/ኢህአዴግ ተወካይ በሆኑት በአቶ ታደለ ያዕቆብ ከቢሯቸው ታፍነው ከተወሰዱ በኋላ በህዝብ ግፊት መለቀቃቸውን የደቡብ ኢትዮጵያ ሪፖርተራችን ዘገበ፡፡
በአከባቢው ከፍተኛ የህዝብ ድጋፍ ያላቸው የቅንጅቱ ተወካይ ከቢሯቸው ታፍነው ወደ ከተማዋ ማዘጋጃ ቤት ሲወሰዱ ህዝቡ ማዘጋጃ ቤቱን በመክበብ በፈጠረው ጫና አባሉ ሊለቀቁ ችለዋል፡፡
አቶ እንድርያስ በጽ/ቤቱ ውስጥ ለሰአታት የቆየ ምርመራ የተደረገባቸው ሲሆን ህገ ወጥ ስብሰባ እንዲካሄድ አስተባብረዋል፤ ህዝቡ ለቅንጅት ድጋፉን እንዲሰጥ ቀስቅሰዋል፤ ህጋዊ ላልሆነ አመራር ድጋፍ አሰባስበዋል፤ እንዲሁም ይህንኑ ሁኔታ በተለያዩ የአገር ውስጥና የውጭ ሜዲያዎች አስተዋውቀዋል የሚል ክስ ቀርቦባቸው እንደነበር ዘጋቢያችን ያነጋገራቸው ምንጮች ገልጸዋል፡፡
የቅንጅቱ ተወካይ ጽ/ቤቱ እንዲዘጋ የተሰጣቸውን ማስጠንቀቂያ አስመልክቶ ትእዛዙ በጽሁፍ ይድረሰኝና ከህዝባችን ጋር እመክርበታለሁ ያሉ ሲሆን በአስቸኳይ ባይለቀቁ ኖሮ ማዘጋጃ ቤቱን ከቦ የነበረው ህዝብ ወዳልታሰበ የሃይል እርምጃ ሊገባ ይችላል ተብሎ ተሰግቶ እንደነበር ዘገባው ያመለክታል፡፡
