SAINT-DENIS, France (AP) – Tirunesh Dibaba of Ethiopia cruised to an easy win in the 5,000 meters at the Gaz de France meet Friday in a slow time way off her personal best.
The 2005 world champion in both the 5,000 and 10,000 won in 15 minutes, 21.84 seconds, nearly a minute off her best.
Never under pressure, she surged to the front on the last lap at the Stade de France.
Florence Kiplagat of Kenya was second in 15:23.85, with Meselech Melkamu of Ethiopia third in 15:24.19. Ethiopian world record holder Meseret Defar, who set the mark of 14:16.63 in the opening Golden League meet in Oslo on June 15, did not race.
The Gaz de France is the second of six Golden League meets in Europe in 2007.
Later, Olympic champion and world record holder Liu Xiang from China was to race against 2005 world champion Ladji Doucoure of France in the 110-meter hurdles.
Olympic and world champion Yelena Isinbayeva was competing in the pole vault.
The men’s 100 meters was weakened by the withdrawal through injury of world record holder Asafa Powell.
NAIROBI, Kenya — At least 76 people who were captured while fleeing the war in Somalia in January are still being held in Ethiopia under a program of secret prisoner renditions backed by the United States, Kenya and Somalia, human rights activists said Friday.
The Muslim Human Rights Forum, a Kenyan advocacy group, said the prisoners — including 17 Kenyan citizens and 20 Ethiopians — were being held incommunicado and in violation of international prisoner conventions, and may be at risk of torture.
Most of the Ethiopians in custody are members of the minority Ogadeni and Oromo ethnic groups, which are waging separatist campaigns against Ethiopia. International human rights monitors have warned that Ethiopian security forces routinely abuse members of those groups, and the U.S. State Department has accused Ethiopia of torturing prisoners.
The Muslim group’s report, titled ”Horn of Terror,” provides the fullest accounting so far of the fates of 152 people from 21 countries who were arrested in a shadowy antiterrorism operation run by U.S. allies in the Horn of Africa that activists think had the backing of American officials.
The captives included at least three Americans, whom FBI agents questioned in Nairobi. They included Daniel Joseph Maldonado, who was deported to the United States to face federal terrorism charges, and Amir Mohamed Meshal, who was among about 80 prisoners transferred back to Somalia and later to Ethiopia. Ethiopian authorities released Meshal in May without charging him.
The whereabouts of the third American, whom the Muslim group identified as Abikar Abdullahi Osman, remain unknown, but it’s thought that he was released into U.S. custody in Kenya. His name didn’t appear on flight manifests that showed Meshal and others were transferred to Somalia.
Lawyers and human rights groups have questioned whether the renditions were part of a policy by the Bush administration — whose detention practices are under congressional scrutiny — to have other countries hold terrorism suspects.
U.S. officials have described Kenya and Ethiopia as partners against terrorism in the region, where al Qaeda cells have struck in the past, and the American military has coordinated with its allies at least three strikes on suspected terrorist targets in Somalia in recent months.
The DSK Mariam priests are currently facing angry members after reportedly announcing that they have placed the Church under the authority of Aba Gebremedhin (formerly known as Aba Paulos), who claims to be the patriarch of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church.
Aba Gebremedhin was a low ranking priest in Los Angeles before the Tigrean People Liberation Front (Woyanne) came to power in 1991. When the Woyanne overthrew the Derg regime, he went to Addis Ababa and had forcibly removed Patriarch Merkorios using the military powers of the Woyanne.
Abune Merkorios had escaped assassination attempts and managed to escape to Kenya, denying legitimacy to the Woyanne priest/cadre Aba Gebremedhin. The Ethiopian Orthodox Church has a long-established rule that a new patriarch cannot be appointed while the incumbent patriarch is alive. The Catholic Church has a similar rule.
The only qualification Aba Gebremedhin has to claim that he is the patriarch is that he is from the same ethnic group as members and leaders of the ruling party — the Woyanne tribal group.
Aba Gebremedhin, who travels with an army of bodyguards, is facing a stiff resistence at home. He is determed to rule the Church by brute force no matter the cost. This gun-totting, self-proclaimed “patriarch” had once ordered one of his bodyguards to gun down a dissident priest inside a church in Addis Ababa. He has also eliminated several church scholars from the Church’s administration for not showing loyalty to him and Woyanne rulers.
Because of these reasons and more, Ethiopians inside the country and around the world do not accept the authority of Aba Gebremedhin as the leader of the Orthodox Church.
Reportedly, a heated controversy arose inside the DSK Mariam Church in Washington DC recently after the priests informed the church-goers that they have accepted Aba Gebremedhin as their patriarch. This has casued a great deal of anger and outrage among the church members. Ethiopian Review’s role in this was simply posting the statements issued by the church members.
Instead of hiring a law firm at a great cost and threatening Ethiopian Review, the DSK Mariam priests could simple have issued a statement telling their side of the story, if they believe that their members have no reason to be angry about. The unintended result of the threatening letter from their law firm is that now Ethiopian Review believes that the priests may have some thing to hide. We will try to find out the truth and make it public. If the DSK Mariam priests have no association what so ever with Aba Gebremedhin and his Woyanne criminal friends, they have no reason for concern.
Read the threatening letter from the law firm below (click here for pdf)
FROM: Matthew Hertz, Esq.
RE: DSK Mariam Ethiopian Orthodox Church
DATE: July 6, 2007
My firm has been retained by the DSK Mariam Ethiopian Orthodox Church to address concerns they have regarding vicious lies being spread about them both in print and on the radio. It is my desire to address these statements in a civil and cooperative environment so more drastic, litigious measures need not be taken. There are very serious accusations being levied by yourself and others and these statements are not only false, but could cause serious damage to be inflicted on the Church, and it is this damage I am attempting to avoid.
It is my understanding that certain statements have been made, incorrectly, associating the Church with various political factions and political points of view which are absolutely erroneous. These statements have led to confontations between the church and a small handful of its members and has now led to this false information being disseminated on the Internet where there is no telling how many people may read this information and assume it to be correct.
As an attorney and a defender of the United States Constitution, I would in no manner attempt to hamper anyone’s freedom of speech. This is one of the basic tenets of our country and should be protected at nearly any cost. However, freedom of speech does not entitle you to make statements that are lies, inflammatory or could lead to or encourage violence upon another. This is in fact what you are either doing, or heading towards doing with your statements, and they will not be tolerated.
I have advised the Church that they have several options at this point, the least of which is this letter requesting that all statements of this nature against the Church cease immediately, as well as an immediate withdrawal of any statements on any web site regarding this matter. Should this not happen within the next seven (7) business days, the Church may avail themselves of other options including but not limited to a lawsuit for libel, slander, injunctions against future statements, a request for financial damages as well as attorney fees.
I do not need to explain to you the cost or time that will be wasted by all parties if this matter proceeds beyond this stage. It is not in your best interest, nor the Church’s to continue beyond this letter, but the Church is prepared to do whatever it has to in order to preserve its own reputation, the image and reputation of its Priestess and the valued name of the Congregation.
I implore you to consider your next steps carefully and decide if it is really worth continuing the propagation of blatant lies in light of the consequences that can befall you should these statements continue in any form whether that be spoken or published.
I also direct that you do not contact anyone from the Church regarding these matters and direct all future communications to myself, in witing.
I look forward to your full cooperation and the end of this unnecessary ordeal.
APA-Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) Ethiopia will send over 100 athletes, including its renowned stars, to the 9th All African games scheduled to be held in Algeria 11-23 July.
The head of the Ethiopian delegation to Algiers, Getahun Woldegiorgise, told journalists in Addis Ababa on Friday that the athletes have finalized all the necessary preparation to participate fully in the games.
“We have finalized all our preparation to attend the Algiers games. The athletes are physically, mentally and psychologically ready to get good results from the Algiers game,” he said.
He said the athletes have been preparing for the games since May while lodging in hotels.
The Ethiopian team will participate in 14 out of the 21 sports scheduled including athletics, badminton, boxing, football, kaekwondo and weightlifting.
The 200-strong delegation comprising 73 men and 64 women athletes, as well as supporting sport families, will travel to Algiers over the weekend.
Meseret Defar, the world 3,000 and 5,000 metres and two miles record holder, will be among the delegation.
With 23 gold, 29 silver and 34 bronze, Ethiopia ranks 9th since 1965 in the medal list of the All African Games.
The All-Africa Games, held every four years, are organized by the Association of National Olympic Committees of Africa.
The first All-Africa Games were held in 1965 in Brazzaville, Congo.
New York, NY (AHN) – A United Nations-backed operation is resettling ethnic Eritreans in the United States. About 700 ethnic Kunama refugees from Eritrea who spent years in exile in northern Ethiopia will begin a new life in the United Nations. The refugees were flown out of Ethiopia on Wednesday and are being resettled in several cities in Georgia, Florida, Washington and Nevada.
The Kunama refugees have been in Shimelba camp in Ethiopia. They were displaced in the 1998-2000 border war between Ethiopia and Eritrea. . They come from a primarily rural ethnic group of only about 100,000 people who live along the disputed border. They said they entered Ethiopia because they were being persecuted and harassed by the Eritrean government.
The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is giving assistance to the refugees until September. The refugees will be resettled in several U.S. cities including Atlanta, Orlando, Seattle and Las Vegas.
One refugee headed for Atlanta with his family of five explained why he was immigrating to the United States instead of trying to return to Eritrea. His youngest daughter is 7-years-old and was born at the Shimelba refugee camp, according to a U.N. statement.
“I opted to go further afield not because I do not like my country, but because I cannot return at this point,” said Nagasi Gorado Becho, 45, before boarding his flight in Ethiopia.
His wife said that they had friends who had resettled in the U.S. and appreciated their opportunities for work and learning there
The 700 refugees are also being resettled because the UNHCR says that they can’t return safely return home to Eritrea. It has arranged for extensive orientation programs to help the refugees adapt to life in America.
There are 1,300 Kunama refugees left in Ethiopia, but not all of them will be resettled in the United States. Many of them want to wait for a political solution that will allow them to return to Eritrea.
Tourism industry figures from more than 20 African countries, North America, Europe and Asia, recently met in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to examine new methods to brand Africa as a tourist destination at the Africa Travel Association’s (ATA) 32nd Congress.
The congress highlighted the need to reach out to the emerging Asian travel market and especially the biggest source market within that region, China.
Delegates also gave the ATA the mandate to lead a global campaign to raise awareness and the visibility of Africa as a travel destination.
SAINT-DENIS, France (AP) – Tirunesh Dibaba of Ethiopia cruised to an easy win in the 5,000 meters at the Gaz de France meet Friday in a slow time way off her personal best.