Wz. Lishan Akuma’s court trial continued today until 2 PM in the District of Columbia Court. This morning 7 witnessed testified on behalf of Lishan. One other witness and she will take the witness stand this afternoon when the court resumes at 3:30 PM.
Lishan was arrested in front of the White House on July 12 along with two other Ethiopians while holding a protest rally to denounce the conviction by the Meles regime of Kinijit leaders in Ethiopia.
The protesters accused the Bush Administration of encouraging or giving a blind eye to the Woyanne dictatorship’s political repression against Ethiopians back home.
Ethiopian Review spoke with Lishan when the court adjourned for a lunch break. She said that the prosecutor produced video and tape records as evidence, but the video doesn’t show when she resisted arrest, which is the main charge she is facing.
The trial will resume at 3:30 PM and is expected to end by 5 PM. Ethiopian Review encourages those of you in Washington DC to go to the court and show solidarity with our brave sister.
Wz. Lishan Akuma’s court trial continued today until 2 PM in the District of Columbia Court. This morning 7 witnessed testified on behalf of Lishan. One other witness and she will take the witness stand this afternoon when the court resumes at 3:30 PM.
Lishan was arrested in front of the White House on July 12 along with two other Ethiopians while holding a protest rally to denounce the conviction by the Meles regime of Kinijit leaders in Ethiopia.
The protesters accused the Bush Administration of encouraging or giving a blind eye to the Woyanne dictatorship’s political repression against Ethiopians back home.
Ethiopian Review spoke with Lishan when the court adjourned for a lunch break. She said that the prosecutor produced video and tape records as evidence, but the video doesn’t show when she resisted arrest, which is the main charge she is facing.
The trial will resume at 3:30 PM and is expected to end by 5 PM. Ethiopian Review encourages those of you in Washington DC to go to the court and show solidarity with our brave sister.
ADDIS ABABA (AP) — Woyanne security forces have detained three Ethiopians linked to a top opposition politician, accusing them of trying to create a disturbance during the country’s millennium celebrations, a fourth man who was released said Friday.
Nebiyu Bazezew, a 28-year-old banker, said that three of his friends had been arrested in the capital on Tuesday night, when celebrations for Wednesday’s millennium began, and held without charge.
After attempting to see the men, Bazezew was held incommunicado for three hours of questioning on Friday, but was released without being told why he had been detained. He was informed by police that his friends were being investigated for trying to cause a disturbance at millennium celebrations, he said, but given no further information on the circumstances of their arrest. Ethiopia follows a Christian calendar seven years behind the one most of the rest of the world uses.
Authorities were not immediately available for comment due to the millennium holiday, which was extended over several days. The three men still in prison were scheduled to appear in court on Tuesday, Bazezew said.
“It was more than scary. Nobody knew I was there. In a country where we talk about civil rights, I wasn’t even registered, and I wasn’t told why I was there,” Bazezew said.
His three friends have not been charged. Under Ethiopian law, suspects must be charged within 48 hours, although the holiday may have delayed their case.
Bazezew said the only connection between the four men was fundraising efforts to buy a car for Bertukan Mideksa in August. Bertukan, a top opposition politician, was among 38 opposition members released from prison last July. They had been held for more than two years after security forces shot 193 civilians protesting electoral fraud. The trial attracted international condemnation and strong pressure from the United States to free the accused, who emerged from prison with strong support in many of their neighborhoods. Such support motivated a group in the neighborhood to buy Mideksa a car, Bazezew said.
Bazezew said his arrest was “obviously” political but could offer no further explanation.
Ethiopia has attracted growing criticism from human rights organizations as it cracks down on political dissidents and rebel groups. The east African nation is currently fighting an insurgency in the remote northern region, and rebels say the army is carrying out reprisals against a civilian population.
PRESS RELEASE
United States Congress
Representative Mike Honda
15th District – California
Washington, D.C. – Congressman Mike Honda (D-CA) will be celebrating the Ethiopian Millennium today and tomorrow at two major national events organized by the Ethiopian-American community.
Today, he will be a guest speaker at the Ethiopian New Year’s Eve event on the Mall and on Wednesday, Honda will participate in the opening ceremony of the March for Democracy, to commence on the West Steps of the Capitol.
“It is important, now more than ever, to celebrate the culture of democracy and understand that its values need to be cherished and nurtured, wherever its ideals are preached,” said Honda, chair of the Congressional Ethiopian-American Caucus. “This should be not just a celebration of traditions, but also a reminder that the future is being forged today.”
Recently, Honda introduced H.Res.550 congratulating the people of Ethiopia on the second Millennium of their country. The resolution was co-authored by Rep. Donald Payne (D-NJ). Honda hopes the attention surrounding the Millennium will highlight priority issues such as political reconciliation and international aid and development.
The celebrations will also underscore the importance of Ethiopia as a key nation in the birth of the Pan-African movement, and the original home to nearly one million people residing in the United States . Ethiopian-Americans make up the second largest African immigrant community in the United States . The African Union has already declared the Ethiopia Millennium as the African Millennium.
“In the wake of a tumultuous period in Ethiopian history, it was important for us to do more to increase the visibility of a country that has been a long-time friend of the United States ,” said Honda, emphasizing that the two countries have had relations since 1903. ¨We also wanted show our appreciation to the Ethiopian-American community for all their ongoing contributions to our society.¨
Ethiopia ’s calendar is based on the Orthodox Tewahedo Calendar, which is based on Ethiopia ’s ancient Coptic calendar – the West follows the Gregorian calendar.
Honda also announced an event, to be held October 10, which he will host in 1300 Longworth Agriculture Committee Room. The event seeks to highlight this legislation, and to generate support for development issues the Ethiopia Caucus is committed to solving, such as the battle over coffee trademarks between Ethiopia and the National Coffee Association.
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Contact: José Dante Parra: 202.225.3327 [email protected]
The following is a speech by Ato Guled Kassim representing the Ogaden Ethiopian community at a rally that was held on Sept. 12 in front of the U.S. Congress. The rally urged members of Congress to pass H.R. 2003.
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Thank you all for being here today.
As we stand here in front of the U.S. Congress petitioning our government to address our needs. I want to tell you that the Ogaden Community stands with you shoulder to shoulder in denouncing this regime.
Today, we are here to say that we can no longer allow the destructive regime of Melez Zenawi continue to stay in power.
• His regime violated the human rights of the people in Ethiopia
• Detained and tortured thousands
• Committed genocides in Ogaden, Gambela, Sidamo and many other regions
• Slaughtered civilians in the streets of Addis Ababa for exercising their right to vote.
• Has violated the sacred trust of the people of Ethiopia given to him by the Constitution
• Has Violated international law as it relates to open war fare on civilians
• Has destabilizing the entire Horn of Africa with his inhuman policies.
US State Department Human Rights report details that this regime has:
• Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life
• Disappearance
• Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment
• Arbitrary Arrest or Detention
• Prison and Detention center – below standards
• Police detention of journalists
• Denial of Fair Public Trial
• Arbitrary Interference with Privacy, Family, Home, or Correspondence
• Detention of the press – press not free to report
Since the press isn’t allowed to report, you here today are giving a voice to the many million that are voiceless. So give yourselves a big round of applause.
As American Tax payers – we ask our government not to allow the use of our tax dollars to kill, maim and abuse the lives of innocent civilians.
We have Con. Honda and Payne here today and we, as a community need to thank them for their leadership and continue to challenge and pressure them so that they will continue their good work.
To borrow a phrase from a great man — Dr. Martin Luther King — I would like you all here in attendance to repeat after me:
I have a dream – where one day I can go peacefully to the land of my father’s birth and walk the streets in peace.
I have a dream – where one day the Horn of Africa will be rid of this tyrant who has no respect for the Rights of Humans.
Thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak today.
At least seven people have been killed, including three police officers, in the Somali capital, following the formation of a new anti-government alliance.
Armed insurgents staged a hit-and-run attack on a government base in north-east Mogadishu, leaving six dead, a police spokesman said.
Elsewhere, a police captain was shot dead by three men with pistols.
The new alliance has reportedly named former Islamist leader Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed as its chairman.
Prime Minister Mohamed Ghedi has criticised the new Eritrea-based grouping as “trouble-makers and terrorists”.
“The government does not recognise the results of the so-called Asmara conference hosted by the Eritrean president, who is known to be the trouble-maker in the Horn of Africa,” he said, according to the AP news agency.
Two-track
The overnight Mogadishu attack was in Huriwa, seen as an insurgent stronghold.
“It was one of the heaviest attacks we have witnessed for months – they attacked us with a large number of fighters,” said Abdi Hashi Aden, a police officer in the attacked camp.
Local resident Sahra Shiekh Muse said she witnessed a number of government soldiers forced to run out of the camp.
Police spokesman Colonel Abdi Wahid Mohamed denied the claim.
The attacks came hours after a night-time curfew was relaxed for the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
The new Alliance for the Liberation of Somalia (ALS) groups together former Islamists and opposition figures.
It aims to remove the Ethiopian Woyanne-backed government by negotiation – or war.
“We have two-track options – first is the liberation of Somalia through military struggle, the second is through diplomatic efforts,” said Zakariya Mahamud Abdi, spokesman for the Somali Congress.
The spokesman had a stark warning for Ethiopian Woyanne troops, heavily deployed in Somalia since they rescued embattled transitional government forces last year.
“We warn Ethiopia Woyanne to withdraw immediately. It is now or never and in a few weeks they will not have a route to withdraw,” Abdi said.
Sheikh Ahmed was seen as a relative moderate in the Union of Islamic Courts, which took control of much of southern Somalia last year.
It is not yet clear whether Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, an architect of the Mogadishu insurgency and on the US list of terror suspects, will be a senior member of the alliance.
Boycott
The Islamists have resorted to guerrilla tactics, launching daily hit-and-run attacks on targets, mainly in Mogadishu.
The UN refugee agency says some 400,000 people have fled the fighting in the capital in the past four months as a result of the surge in violence.
The Islamists, along with other opposition leaders like Hussain Aideed, boycotted a reconciliation meeting sponsored by the transitional government last month.
Instead they chose to organise a meeting hosted by Ethiopia’s Woyanne’s arch-enemy, Eritrea.
Ethiopian Prime Minister dictator Meles Zenawi has said his troops will withdraw once an African Union peacekeeping force arrives in Mogadishu.
But pledges by AU nations to contribute troops to the planned 7,000-strong peacekeeping mission have yet to be honoured and so far only 1,600 Ugandan soldiers have been deployed.
