May 29, 2007

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Tue May 29, 2007
By Guled Mohamed

MOGADISHU, May 29 (Reuters) – Gunmen killed a court official in Mogadishu in the latest rebel attack targeting authorities in the chaotic Somali capital, witnesses said on Tuesday.

Sheikh Mohamed Muse Duale, the head of a court in the central town of Baladwayne, was shot dead as he waited for a bus late on Monday at Mogadishu’s Bakara Market.

“Someone shot him twice in the head,” resident Omar Rageh, who witnessed the shooting, told Reuters by telephone. “This was definitely an assassination since he was not robbed.”

Insurgents from an ousted militant Islamist movement have increasingly adopted the tactics of Iraqi guerrillas since the interim Somali government and its Ethiopian allies forced them out of the seaside capital in December after a brief war.

At least two people died on Monday when attackers hurled grenades and opened fire on Ethiopian troops in the city.

The rebels have struck government buildings, convoys and Ugandan peacekeepers patrolling under an African Union mandate.

President Abdullahi Yusuf’s government is struggling to impose central rule on the Horn of Africa nation, in anarchy since warlords kicked out dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991.

“This must be the work of the former Islamist movement,” one government soldier, Mohamed Said, said of Duale’s killing.

“They want to paint a bad picture of Mogadishu in order to frustrate the government’s efforts in taming anarchy,” he said.

http://www.reuters.com/article/homepageCrisis/idUSL29579254._CH_.2400

Feeling right at home
Foreign-born physicians filling a need in Delaware
By LULADEY B. TADESSE, The News Journal
Tuesday, May 29, 2007

Dr. Isaias Irgau, who fled his native Ethiopia at the age of 16, received his medical training in the United Kingdom and completed his surgical residency at Christiana Care. After working in Middletown for three years on a special government program, he opened a specialized surgical practice in Newark with three colleagues.

Dr. Bhavin Dave, a gastroenterologist, consults with patient Robert Murphy last week at Dave’s office, LLC Consultants, in Dover.”

Dr. Bhavin Dave, a gastroenterologist, consults with patient Robert Murphy last week at Dave’s office, LLC Consultants, in Dover.

Dr. Bhavin Dave, of Dover, said he experienced a little resistance from patients at first. “

Dr. Bhavin Dave, of Dover, said he experienced a little resistance from patients at first. “The way I feel in the long run is that if you have talent and patience, things do work out,” he said.

Dr. Isaias Irgau, who specializes in minimally invasive bariatric surgery to help patients lose weight, said starting a practice can be difficult for a foreign-born doctor. He would like to be part of a medical mission to Ethiopia.”

Dr. Isaias Irgau, who specializes in minimally invasive bariatric surgery to help patients lose weight, said starting a practice can be difficult for a foreign-born doctor. He would like to be part of a medical mission to Ethiopia.

Dr. Isaias Irgau fled Ethiopia at the age of 16, soon after the government shot and killed his father in front of his home.

His father was a victim of the civil war in northern Ethiopia, which lasted more than 20 years.

To save himself, Irgau became a refugee, escaping to Sudan, then Egypt, Italy and, finally, to the United Kingdom. But the challenges he faced never deterred him from pursuing a long-cherished dream — to become a doctor and one day return to a peaceful Ethiopia.

Lots of hard work and determination landed Irgau at Bristol University Medical School. He became a fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh. And in 1991, he applied and was accepted into a surgical residency in the United States, which placed him at Christiana Care Health System in Delaware.

“I actually had no idea where Delaware was, to tell you the truth,” said Irgau, 46. “You have to apply to a central system and they give you a place. I happened to match with Delaware.”

Like many foreign medical school graduates who come to the United States for their residency, Irgau came on a special visa called a J1. Typically, after completion of the residency program, foreign doctors have to return to their home countries for a period of two years before they can practice in this country.

But a shortage of physicians in Delaware, and the rest of the country, is making it easier for foreign-born doctors to postpone their return home. A federal program, which has been in existence since 1994, currently allows states to recommend 30 physicians a year for a J1 visa waiver. It permits them to stay in this country immediately following their residency.

In exchange, the doctors must work in medically underserved communities for a minimum of three years. The physicians may apply for a position at a medical practice or hospital that has been unable to fill a position with an American doctor for at least six months.

“The physicians that have come here have contributed to our community significantly by providing much-needed health care to our community,” said Marilyn Hill, director of physician services, including recruitment, at Beebe Medical Center, a community-based nonprofit medical center based in Lewes.

Providing opportunities

This program has opened up opportunities for doctors to come to Delaware from all over the world, including Canada, the Philippines, Ghana, Korea, China, Peru, Cuba, India and Pakistan. There are currently 65 to 70 doctors in Delaware partaking in the J1 visa waiver program, state health officials said.

“The whole goal of the program is to improve access to care for Delawareans in underserved areas of the state,” said Judith A. Chaconas, director of the Bureau of Health Planning and Resources Management at the state Division of Public Health. “Our goal is that they stay here past their three-year obligation. … Some of them do stay and that’s a good thing — they become members of the community.”

Irgau, who specializes in weight-loss surgery, completed his residency at Christiana Care and worked in Middletown for three years. He and three colleagues later opened a medical practice, Christiana Institute of Advanced Surgery, in Newark.

Last year, Irgau was selected Delaware’s Young Surgeon of the Year by the Delaware chapter of the American College of Surgeons.

But not all doctors from abroad who come to Delaware settle here. And the state continues to face challenges attracting enough doctors, foreign or American, to meet its needs. The number of doctors in the state is not keeping pace with its expanding population, particularly downstate.

“Everybody is concerned about a physician shortage,” said Dr. Brian Little, vice president for academic affairs and research at Christiana Care. “Within 10 to 15 years, we will have a very severe shortage and there will be a lot more competition in all areas.”

Looking for help

There are several reasons for the shortage of physicians in Delaware.

Health-care recruiters say one of the key disadvantages to luring doctors here is the state’s rural environment. The biggest need for physicians is in remote parts of Sussex and Kent counties. Doctors whose spouses are professionals also have to consider employment opportunities for them.

“Physicians typically train in medical schools and training programs that are in urban and suburban locations,” said Paula Roy, executive director of the Delaware Health Care Commission, a state health policy agency. “Unless they happen to have grown up in a rural environment, it’s not even an unconscious decision. They tend to stay in an urban environment.”

Even if a foreign doctor is enticed to live downstate in hope of gaining permanent residency, living in Delaware presents challenges.

“The first six years, I was so busy I could have been anywhere in the U.S. It was hospital-home-hospital,” said Irgau of his early days as a resident at Christiana Care.
The challenge came after he completed his three years in Middletown. He wanted to establish his own practice.

“Building a practice is not easy for anybody. It is a little bit more difficult for somebody who is coming from outside,” Irgau said.

But because he possessed highly specialized skills — he is a bariatric surgeon who uses minimally invasive methods — starting his practice was not as difficult as it could have been.

Plus, he didn’t have to sacrifice too much in terms of his lifestyle. His practice is in Newark, which is closer to larger metropolitan areas, where there are more Ethiopians.

Other foreign-born doctors have opened practices downstate.

“The opportunities are definitely present in lower Delaware,” said Dr. Bhavin Dave, a gastroenterologist in Dover who also worked in Milford. Dave didn’t come to the United States on a J1 visa, but his experience is similar to other immigrant doctors.

Regardless of how international doctors end up in Delaware, they are faced with working in parts of the state where there is not a lot of diversity.

“There are certain people who are less receptive to foreigners,” Dave said. “It is difficult in the beginning. The way I feel in the long run is that if you have talent and patience, things do work out. You just have to constantly do a good job.”

While Irgau is proud of his achievements in Delaware, he and many other doctors from developing countries are concerned and somewhat saddened that they are practicing medicine away from their home countries. Their dreams of returning and giving back to their countries of origin — where there is an even greater shortage of health care workers — are deferred.

“The thought of going to Ethiopia is there, but it’s not as strong as it was when I was young,” Irgau said.

His life is different now. Delaware is home, he is married and has four children, ranging in age from 2 to 7.

One day, Irgau hopes to be part of a medical mission to Ethiopia. He also wants his children, all of whom were born in Delaware, to learn about their culture.

“I am waiting for them to be a little older to take them back,” he said.

Contact Luladey B. Tadesse at 324-2789 or [email protected].

Tuesday May 29, 2007 7:46 PM
By ANITA POWELL
Associated Press Writer

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AP) – Ethiopia began counting its population Tuesday, a daunting task in a country where asking personal questions is considered socially taboo but where the government and international donors sorely need more information to plan economic and social programs.

More than 100,000 census takers, most of them schoolteachers, fanned out across Africa’s second most populous country as part of a 10-day program to find out from every household details such as how many of them there are, their ethnicity, religion, and the languages they speak.

One out of five homes will also be asked questions about their education and even the condition of their homes.

“In some cases, some people do not like to be asked such questions,” said English teacher Tsedale Endale, 32, a census worker who allowed a reporter from The Associated Press to accompany her. The problem is most prevalent in rural areas, where most Ethiopians live, she said.

“They think that if they count their children, one of them will die soon,” Tsedale said, referring to a popular African superstition.

The last census was in 1994 when officials found out there were 54 million Ethiopians in the country. Preliminary results of the 2007 population count will be released in five months, and final results in 1 years.

“It is a huge activity especially in this country, where the majority of the population is not literate, where transportation is not adequate, and so many people live in rural areas,” said Mekonnen Tesfaye, a census official and statistician.

The difficulty of conducting a census in Ethiopia is compounded by the nation’s nearly 90 different ethnic groups and as many languages.

The terrain and weather also make it difficult, delaying the count in some areas such as the remote Afar and Somali regions. The largely nomadic population in those regions disperse over a wide area during the rainy season, which has begun. They will be counted in November when they return to more accessible areas.

That count will be in addition to the 10-day one that began Tuesday.

Taking population counts in African countries has long been difficult. In Nigeria, for example, four censuses have been aborted since independence from Britain in 1960 because of logistical problems and allegations that ethnic and religious groups had sought to inflate their numbers.

The U.N. Population Fund’s 2006 report estimates Ethiopia has 79.3 million people, ahead of Egypt with 75.4 million people. The most populous country in Africa is Nigeria, with 134.4 million people.

Because most of the officials doing the population count in Ethiopia are teachers, schools closed three weeks early this year to allow them to prepare for the census.

On Tuesday, Tsedale and geography teacher Zemeny Ali, 32, wound their way through the Ethiopian capital’s serpentine neighborhoods to reach a large apartment project where they worked through 40 apartments in four hours.

Residents were for the most part cooperative, many offering tea and food to the census takers. But many also complained that the numbers they cared about were not addressed by the census.

“Life is becoming very expensive,” said 33-year-old Merkineh Mohammed, who fixes fire hydrants for the fire department. But he added, “I don’t expect anything from the government, because the government is also living on aid.”

As much as a third of Ethiopia’s budget is funded by Western aid.

Others complained about the census itself.

“The process is too long,” said Mekonnen Alemu, 29, of the 47-question form, which took him half an hour to complete. “We’re asked too many questions.”

The census takers, who are being paid $6 a day, also found the process tedious, but persevered because they believe the exercise is important.

“I think it’s actually a little boring,” Zemeny said after asking two dozen people the same set of questions.

But, Tsedale added, “We do it because we love our country.”

ADDIS ABABA, 29 May 2007 (IRIN) – Ethiopia began a nine-day national census on 29 May to determine demographic trends in the country, but the exercise was delayed in Afar and Somali, officials said.

“Due to the mobility of their populations, the census does not include the Somali and Afar regional state,” Gebeyehu Abelti, acting deputy director-general of Demographic and Social Statistics Sector at the Central Statistics Agency said. “The census will be carried out [in the two regions] in October.”

The northern Afar region is a remote, hot and arid area, while the eastern Somali region, which hosts a large nomadic Somali population, is far away from the capital of Addis Ababa. In 2005, it experienced flooding after the Shebelle River burst its banks, leaving up to 100 people dead.

The census, which began after a two-day delay, will be conducted in seven regional states and two city administrations (Addis Ababa and Dire Dawa) by 81,024 enumerators, plus thousands of primary school teachers.

Ethiopia conducted its first census in 1984 and the second 10 years later. The third national census is costing US$45.7 million, but an additional $13.1 million is needed for the Afar and Somali regional state.

“The findings will be released to the public after the October census in Afar and Somali,” said Yehualashet Mekonnen, technical officer for the Addis Ababa census commission.

According to government statistics, Ethiopia has an estimated population of 77.1 people, of whom 64 million live in rural areas.

The Associated Press
Published: May 28, 2007

MOGADISHU, Somalia: Two explosions and a prolonged gunbattle shook northern Mogadishu overnight, leaving two people dead, officials and witnesses said Monday, while police killed two other men suspected of robbing civilians.

Government officials declined to comment on the overnight explosions and gunfire in the Somali capital, but witnesses said at least one blast had come from suspected insurgents throwing an explosive device at a police station in the Huriwaa district. No police officers were reported injured.

Another explosion occurred near an Ethiopian army base, prompting an hours-long gunbattle, but it was not clear who was fighting whom.

It was near the Ethiopian base where the two bodies in civilian clothes were seen, with gunshots in the back and in the chest, area resident Abdi Hashi Nour said. It was not clear if the bodies were civilians or suspected insurgents. Nour said they were removed by police, who cordoned off the area.

“The fighting is not over in our district,” said another resident, Abdulkadir Shidane Ali. “There are bomb attacks every night on the bases of either government soldiers or the Ethiopians by unknown men, and we pay the price because a curfew has been imposed. We face arbitrary arrests and are caught up in gunbattles.”
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Government spokesman Abdi Haji Gobdon and the police commander of Huriwaa district, Col. Abdi Hassan, declined to comment.

Separately, government forces killed two men dressed in army uniforms in a gunbattle on Sunday night, after finding the men attempting to rob people of mobile phones and money in northern Mogadishu, local government official Abdullahi Mohamed Roble said. Four others in the gang were arrested, Roble said.

The bodies of the two dead men, showing no visible wounds but with their feet bound, were displayed outside a government building Monday as “an example” for anyone who thought of similar crimes, Roble said.

Ethiopia reopened its embassy in Mogadishu on Sunday for the first time since the countries fought a war 30 years ago, strengthening the nations’ ties as Somalia tries to stave off an Islamic insurgency.

Somalia’s government has struggled to survive since forming with backing from the United Nations in 2004, and was sidelined by a radical Islamic group until Ethiopia’s military intervened Dec. 24 and turned the tide.

But insurgents linked to the Islamic group, known as the Council of Islamic Courts, have launched an Iraq-style guerrilla war, saying the government is allowing Ethiopia to “occupy” the country. The U.S. has long accused the group of having ties to al-Qaida, which the council denies.

Last month, the government declared victory over the insurgents, who want Somalia to become an Islamic state. Battles killed at least 1,670 people between March 12 and April 26. Months of violence drove about a fifth of Mogadishu’s 2 million residents to flee for safety since February.

The Council of Islamic Courts ruled much of southern Somalia for six quiet months in 2006 before being driven from power by Somali troops and their Ethiopian allies.