A truck emerged from the tracks in bushes and then dropped about 30 passengers at Kambi Garba near Isiolo town. Immediately after they disembarked, two taxis pulled up and immediately some of the passengers entered before the cars zoomed towards Isiolo Town.
The taxis later returned to pick the rest of the passengers. They took them to a lodging in town. At the lodging they met members of a cartel promising to arrange their travel to South Africa.
On the same day, more than 60 people were dropped by a truck and two new Land cruisers at Archers Post, Samburu East District.
Lucrative trade
Unfortunately, 14 of them were arrested while the rest managed to travel to Isiolo.
This is part of a lucrative human trafficking and smuggling business that has taken root along the Kenya-Ethiopia border. It involves desperate Ethiopians out to join their relatives who are refugees in Western Europe and North America or those looking for greener pastures in South Africa and Namibia.
In the first case, the truck driver, who managed to pass through more than 10 police barriers in Moyale, Marsabit and Samburu drops his human cargo at Kambi Garba, about 5km from the Isiolo town centre, to avoid the police barrier that is less than 3km ahead.
They avoid the police in Isiolo mainly for three reasons; because there is a feeling police here are more vigilant, their bribery charges are higher or the fear that the illegal activity has been leaked to the authorities.
In the second incident, the truck driver who brought his passengers from various illegal entries along the border avoids the Isiolo-Moyale highway at Turbi in North Horr and instead use cattle tracks to Merti in Isiolo District.
Many of those trafficked are women and children, who believe the cartel means well for them.
But things do not often work out.
The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) says many find themselves as slaves when they reach their destinations.
Kenya has been identified as a source, destination and a transit point for trafficked persons, a new form of modern slavery.
While admitting the existence of the trafficking cartels, Eastern Provincial Police Officer Marcus Ochola told CCI that they are so sophisticated that they use routes that are only known to locals.
Little attention
“The cartels use their knowledge of local language and terrain to bring in the Ethiopians. Every day they use a new route. We are shocked that the Ethiopians are now using Merti road to avoid the police barriers along the Isiolo-Moyale highway,’’ noted Ochola.
The police chief noted that while the Government was focusing on the Somalia-Kenya border, that of Kenya-Ethiopia had been given little attention thereby increasing the number of aliens getting into Kenya through the unmanned porous border.
Ochola said the police and immigration officers were on high alert, but admitted that they lack enough personnel and resources like vehicles to properly cover the vast, porous and remote borderline.
He said the cartel had outsmarted his officers due to their knowledge of local terrain and language adding that the brokers use different routes that are not designated as
roads.
“They (cartel) are now using the Merti road taking advantage of the unusual heavy traffic resulting from the oil exploration in the division. We are now looking at all the possible routes,’’ said the PPO.
CCI learnt that the vehicles ferrying the immigrants use the Merti-Lososia-Archers Post route and drop the Ethiopians at night at the junction of the Isiolo-Moyale highway and Archers Post-Merti road. Taxi drivers later pick them in groups and take them to hotels in Isiolo town.
They use illegal entries in Moyale, Wajir, North Horr and Turkana to enter Kenya before travelling to Nairobi and thereafter to their preferred destinations abroad.
On the Kenyan side, a trafficking cartel operates from Moyale but has branches in Marsabit and Isiolo to assist the Ethiopians to get to their destinations through Kenya.
Our month-long investigation revealed that an average of 100 Ethiopians get to Isiolo daily. An average of 30 of them are arrested by police and charged with being in Kenya illegally while the rest find their way to Nairobi.
Our findings, also confirmed by both the police and the Immigration Department in Moyale, show that most of the aliens enter through illegal border entries in Moyale’s Central and Sololo divisions, Forolle in North Horr and at entries bordering Moyale and Wajir districts through the assistance of the cartels.
The Ethiopians also use illegal entry points at the Kenya-Ethiopia and Kenya-Sudan-Ethiopia border at Lokichoggio (Turkana) and Illeret (North Horr).
From Lokichoggio, they board matatus to Nairobi while from Illeret, they use the Loyangalani-Baragoi-Maralal-Nyahururu route to get to Nairobi.
Sources said agents in Ethiopia connect those who can afford the trip with their counterparts in Kenya.
Those involved in the illegal trade speak Borana, Amharic and other Oromo languages while most of the victims hail from centres in southern Ethiopia.
To win their trust, the cartels assure the strangers of safely reaching Nairobi.
A source intimated that each person pays the agents an average of Sh50,000 for the journey between Moyale and Isiolo.
According to a member of the cartel operating in Isiolo who has since fallen out with his colleagues, Sh25,000 is meant for transport, Sh10,000 for the agents and Sh15,000 is to be used to bribe the police and the provincial administration officers along the route.
The trip is in two phases. The first phase is between Moyale and Isiolo and it is considered the most dangerous due to the high possibility of arrest by immigration
officials and police. The other phase is between Isiolo and Nairobi and is less risky.
After paying the required amount, the cartels load the Ethiopians on trucks bound for Nairobi.
But due to difficulties experienced at police barriers, the smugglers have come up with special vehicles to ferry the aliens up to Isiolo or Archers Post in Samburu East District.
Moyale border point deputy immigration officer Guyo Duba confirmed the work of the human traffickers saying they use illegal entries along the porous border to bring in the Ethiopians.
Duba said Ethiopians, mostly traders with valid travel documents, pass through the legal border point in Moyale town while the aliens with no papers seek the help of smugglers.
No resources
“Moyale border point was among the best manned last year. Only Ethiopians with valid passport pass through here but out there, we have problem with cartels aiding aliens to use illegal entries to get into Kenya,’’ said the officer.
Many victims of human trafficking believe those transporting them mean well for them. ‘I wanted to travel to Nairobi and thereafter see the possibility of travelling to America to join my big brother. I was connected to the Kenyan traffickers in Moyale by a friend in Ethiopia,’’ said a convicted Ethiopian alien who only gave his name as Haile. He said he hails from Dirre in southern Ethiopia.
He is now serving a three-month sentence at Isiolo GK Prison and faces repatriation afterwards.
Other victims interviewed said they had given all their money to the brokers. They lamented the agents had failed to protect them from the police adding that they were asked to bribe the police if they wanted to proceed with their journey.
“I gave out Sh50,000 to the agent in Moyale. I was told part of the money was to be given to the police but on arrival here (Isiolo) I was arrested along with my brothers. My agents were nowhere to protect us,’’ lamented Haile speaking in Amharic.
Duba lamented that his department lacks resources like vehicles to monitor the border. He said they often rely on police who sometimes work with the cartels to frustrate their efforts.
He, however, noted that most of the arrests are done on the strength of information forwarded to the police by immigration officers. He said they are working with the police to end the illegal trade.
The Ethiopian Ministry of Mines and Energy told Reuters early this month that the country earned $47 million from gold and tantalum in the first half of its financial year. This amount doesn’t include the gold taken out of Ethiopia from Legedembi Gold Mine that is loaded on Sheik Mohammed Al Amoudi’s private planes and guarded by Meles Zenawi’s personal security. Al Amoudi sells the gold in London and deposits Meles Zenawi’s share in secret bank accounts in Europe and Asia. The Shakiso Gold Mine alone generates more revenue than the official amount. The Ministry of Mines has no clue as to how much gold is being smuggled out of Ethiopia every month.
ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) — Ethiopia made $47 million from gold and tantalum exports in the first half of its financial year, the ministry for mines and energy told Reuters on Wednesday.
“Most of the money was made by Midroc Gold Co., which earned $40 million from exports,” spokesman for the ministry, Bacha Fuji, said.
Midroc is owned by Ethiopian-born Saudi business tycoon Sheik Mohammed Hussein Al Amoudi.
Tantalum exports by the state-owned Ethiopian Mines Development Share Association, earned more than $4 million, Bacha said. Tantalum is used in consumer electronic products.
The rest of the money was made by the country’s national bank from exporting gold found by artisan miners.
The Horn of Africa country is offering exploration licenses to foreign firms interested in mining unexploited gold reserves.
Mines and energy minister, Alemayehu Tegenu, told Reuters in November the country had signed agreements with Midroc and Britain’s Golden Prospecting Mining Co. to extract an estimated 43 tonnes of recoverable gold over the next 11 years.
The Ethiopian government says it has identified possible reserves of up to 500 tonnes in different regions.
The country made $105 million last year from gold exports, the ministry says.
Ethiopia has made $450.5 million from about 48 tonnes of gold exports in the last 10 years, according to the National Bank of Ethiopia.
EDITOR’S NOTE: It was a costly mistake for the U.S. to prop up the Woyanne thugocracy in Ethiopia with billions of dollars during the past 18 years while there are better and more reliable partners in the Horn of Africa region. Hopefully the U.S. Gov’t is finally waking up to the reality that Woyanne is a criminal gang that deserves to face justice, not receive financial and political support.
WASHINGTON (AFP) – The United States condemned Ethiopia’s blocking of Voice of America broadcasts, calling the country’s accusations of the US radio service “baseless and inflammatory.”
Ethiopian Prime Minister war criminal Meles Zenawi earlier admitted to jamming the US government-funded VOA broadcasts in Amharic, saying he was prepared to censor the broadcasts because of the service’s “destabilizing propaganda.”
He said Ethiopian authorities had been testing jamming equipment although there had been no formal decision to block the US radio station.
But Washington said Addis Ababa was already jamming VOA transmissions in Amharic, Ethiopia’s main language. The United States “opposes” the move, US State Department spokesman Gordon Duguid said in a statement.
The Ethiopian leader warlord also compared VOA to Radio Mille Collines of Rwanda, which incited the population to exterminate minority Tutsis during the Rwandan genocide.
Duguid condemned the comparison to the infamous Rwandan station.
“Comparing a respected and professional news service to a group that called for genocide in Rwanda is a baseless and inflammatory accusation that seeks only to deflect attention away from the core issue,” he said on Friday.
“The prime minister may disagree with news carried in Voice of America’s Amharic service broadcasts; however, a decision to jam VOA broadcasts contradicts the government of Ethiopia’s frequent public commitments to freedom of the press.”
He noted that the Ethiopian Constitutions upholds people’s right to freedom of expression “without any interference” and that freedom of the press includes “prohibition of any form of censorship.”
“We look to the government of Ethiopia to abide by its constitution,” Duguid said.
Addis Ababa often accuses VOA of bias toward the opposition and of attempting to foment chaos in the country.
The Horn of Africa nation holds elections on May 23, but human rights groups have accused Meles’s regime of instilling a climate of fear ahead of the polls.
The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has condemned Ethiopia for “maintaining hostilities.”
“Invoking the Rwandan genocide is an excuse to silence legitimate criticism and scrutiny. The Ethiopian government used this reasoning to crack down on the country’s once-vibrant Amharic press after the disputed 2005 elections,” said CPJ Africa Program Coordinator Tom Rhodes.
“As Prime Minister Meles Zenawi stands for re-election in May, we urge him to show leadership on constructive reforms to make press freedom, as guaranteed under Article 29 of the Ethiopian constitution, a reality.”
EDITOR’S NOTE: For Meles and gang dialogue is a tactic to be used as a trap, not a way to reach a mutually acceptable agreement. Every one who tried dialogue with Woyanne has been burned. OLF and Kinijit are good examples. Eritrean government knows this more than any one else. For peace to prevail in the Horn of Africa, Woyanne must be eliminated.
By Barry Malone
ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) — Ethiopian Prime Minister warlord Meles Zenawi said he is willing to meet Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki despite more than 10 years of bitter words and a bloody border war.
Eritrea last month accused Ethiopia of blocking its participation in African Union (AU) summits in Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa — seat of the 53-nation body.
Responding to questions, Meles denied the claims and said Isaias was welcome in Ethiopia.
“If the Eritrean government is eager to send any person, whether the president himself or any person, and participate in meetings they will be treated exactly like any other delegation,” Meles told reporters late on Thursday.
Meles said it was Addis Ababa’s obligation as AU headquarters.
The 1998-2000 war between two of the world’s poorest countries killed at least 70,000 people. An independent border commission in 2002 awarded the flashpoint town of Badme to Eritrea but Ethiopia still occupies the territory.
“I am prepared to talk to anybody on matters that help peace in the neighbourhood,” Meles said. “So as I have made it very clear on many occasions we are ready to talk to them at any level, at any time, any place.”
Meles did not say whether he was willing to discuss the border issue.
“I have no obligation to meet him at the airport,” Meles added.
In December, the U.N. Security Council imposed sanctions on Eritrea, accusing it of backing rebel groups in Somalia, where at least 21,000 people have been killed in violence since the beginning of 2007.
The sanctions, adopted in December and backed by 13 of the 15 members of the U.N. Security Council, include an arms embargo, travel restrictions and asset freezes for some of the country’s top officials.
Asmara says the Security Council is a proxy for the United States and says the multi-state body continues to ignore the fact that their territory is being occupied by Ethiopia, Washington’s strongest ally in the Horn of Africa.
New York (CPJ) — Ethiopia’s regime is preparing to jam the Amharic-language broadcasts of the U.S. government-funded Voice of America (VOA), Prime Minister dictator Meles Zenawi declared Thursday in a press briefing with international media correspondents based in the capital, Addis Ababa.
The prime minister dictator accused VOA’s Amharic service of “engaging in destabilizing propaganda,” comparing it to Radio Télévision Libre des Mille Collines, the Rwandan station whose inflammatory broadcasts helped stoke the 1994 genocide. In a statement, VOA rejected the comparison as “incorrect and unfortunate.”
The issue arose Thursday when a reporter asked Zenawi about interference that VOA listeners had experienced since late February. Zenawi said the government has been testing equipment that would allow it to block VOA broadcasts, according to news reports. He said a final decision on the jamming had not been made.
“We have to know before we make the decision to jam whether we have the capacity to do it,” Zenawi told reporters, according to news accounts. But he left little doubt he would authorize jamming once the government had the capability, saying “I can assure you” the plan will go forward once it is feasible.
Zenawi’s statements were the first acknowledgment of government interference with VOA broadcasts, which are beamed by satellite from Washington and received in Ethiopia via short-wave radio. Just two weeks earlier, Shemelis Kemal, a government spokesman, told CPJ that any suggestion of government involvement in the interference was an “absolute sham.” He said such practices were unconstitutional.
“Invoking the Rwandan genocide is an excuse to silence legitimate criticism and scrutiny. The Ethiopian government used this reasoning to crack down on the country’s once-vibrant Amharic press after the disputed 2005 elections,” said CPJ Africa Program Coordinator Tom Rhodes. “As Prime Minister Meles Zenawi stands for re-election in May, we urge him to show leadership on constructive reforms to make press freedom, as guaranteed under Article 29 of the Ethiopian constitution, a reality.” The Ethiopian government has taken draconian measures to limit independent coverage of the May elections, revising a media law to stiffen penalties for libel and adopting anti-terrorism legislation that requires journalists to disclose sources, according to CPJ research. This month, the National Electoral BoardofEthiopia issued a code of conduct for the media restricting the activities of journalists covering the polls, according to news reports. Meanwhile, the government has continued to jail and persecute its critics in the press.
I am sure you are familiar with all the big numbers thrown around when it comes to the number of Ethiopians in the US. Hundreds here thousands there add up to make an impressive amount. My travels the last few years have taken me to different parts of the Country. To tell you the truth I was not ready for DC metro area. The sheer number of Abeshas in all walks of life begs the question ‘who is left in Ethiopia?’
Why bother traveling to Addis when you can just drop by U Street. The smell of freshly brewed coffee with a whiff of caramelized onions and itan (እጣን) smoke was permeating the air. On U Street the mind plays tricks on you. One is virtually transported back to Ethiopia. A certain UN describable spirit takes over. It is Merkato tossed with Bole and a sprinkle of Piazza but cleaner. And a procession of never ending Ethiopians. This scenario is repeated in most metropolitan areas of the continent.
From Toronto to Vancouver BC, from New York to LA and from Seattle to Dallas there are Ethiopian enclaves mimicking life at home. Telegraph Avenue of Berkeley/Oakland is the same as Little Ethiopia in Los Angles. 12th. Street of Seattle resembles U Street of DC. It is all about Ethiopians working with Ethiopians making each other proud for being able to create such a vibrant community in exile. The Restaurant owner, the shop keeper, the lawyer, taxi driver, university professor, house wife, Beauty saloon operator, contractor, real estate agent etc. etc. mingling to help their community thrive.
Damn, I said to myself ‘there sure is plenty of us in exile.’ All available evidence points to a resourceful people that have managed to adapt to a new and strange environment. We have also managed to make our new home resemble the one we left behind. We can make any mother proud. But, there is always a ‘but’ isn’t there? That’s life. It is a shock to find out the appearance is what we are into. Just like Hollywood creates illusion to simulate the imagined event we have created our own façade to hide our indifference. We wave the flag to show our love while we feed the monster that devours the flag.
Our behavior is very perplexing. It is very unreasonable. It is just not like us. When did we change? That is what brought the memory of Ato Ketema into my head. The story of Ato Ketema was a ‘teachable moment’ in my life. It was a powerful lesson. It was an incident that was etched in my brain.
I was in my teens in a small town in southern Ethiopia. It was a time an organization called ‘From Alem Gena to Wollamo road building project.’ (ከአለም ገና አስከ ወላሞ የመንገድ ሥራ ድርጅት) was founded. As the name implies the idea was to build a highway between the two cities. They were going to issue stocks to build the road and recover their investment by running a bus system on the new highway. Thus the directors of the organization travel to all the major towns and meet town elders to assess the situation. Based on income they will levy an amount the individual or his family is expected to invest in the project.
So one summer they showed up in our little town. They went about their business of asking merchants for investment. I remember my family being exited about the shares they acquired. There is always one nay sayer in any gathering. Ato Ketema was one. Ato Ketema is a well to do shop keeper with a thriving business. In fact his store was so big that it has two doors. I believe the investment asked of him was not much. It was definitly something he can afford. For some odd reason Ato Keteka refused to buy shares and help his people. His friends, family and neighbors were sent to appeal to him. He refused. What do you think they did? They decided to punish his anti social behavior by utilizing the power of boycott. A gathering was called and his refusal to give back to the community that sustains him was condemned. People were instructed not to enter his store, associate with him and not even invite him to weedings and funerals. He was made a pariahs by the town.
It was not long before Ato Ketema was reduced into a shadow of his former self. His store was empty and his friends were avoiding him like the plague. Within a matter of weeks Ato Ketema was walking down the street talking to himself and dispalying strange behavior. Ato Ketema was finding out the cost of his one man stand against the many. Ato Ketema was forced to come infront of the elders accompanied by religious leaders and beg for forgivness. He was made to pay a fine and the social curse was lifted. No matter, Ato ketema never recovered from the humiliation.
As a young person I was impressed by the powerful show of force by the community. The good of the many can not be overriden by the benifit to the individual. I saw the effect of social sanction to modify a persons anti social behavior.
Imagine my surprise later in life when I found out what the people of my town did was duplicted both by Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King. Our town used the weapon to change the behavior of an individual while our two teachers used it to challange and change an unjust law.
In 1930 the British colonizers passed the Salt Tax. It made it illigal to collect salt from the coast, sell or produce salt. The British assumed monopoly on salt. Gandhi wrote to the viceroy and told him of his plan to march 248 miles to the coast in defiace. He said ‘I regard this tax to be the most iniquitous of all from the poor man’s standpoint. As the Independence movement is essentially for the poorest in the land, the beginning will be made with this evil.’ The Mahatma gathered seventy-eight of his pupils and made the jorney attracting many followes along the road. The salt march ushered in the struggle for independence that ultimately succeed and was able to create a stable democracy.
Martin Luther King led the boycott of Montegomery, Albama bus system to oppose the city’s policy of racial segrgation on its transit system. The boycott caused financial hardship on the transit system. The refusal of Mrs. Rosa parks to surrender her seat to a white person led the US supreme Court to rule segregation of the bus system to be unconstitutional.
Gandhi challanged the British law. Gandhi showed the Indian people that un just law does not have to be obyed. Disobdience comes with a price. Being shot at, thrown in jail or exiled is the price leaders pay. That is what is called the burden of leadership. Ask Gandhi, ask Mandella, ask MLK or ask Bertukan. They will tell you freedom by petition is not going to happen. Experience shows freedom is attained using a combination of bullets, boycots, marches and international awareness. That is what is called the stick and the carrott approach.
Martin Luther King took the route of boycott as a weapon of prefrence to challange the system. He was aware that the system will not tolerate killing. They can use water hose, tear gas, police dogs or police battons but not live bullets. He used that to the maximun.
In todays Ethiopia where the dictator has his own Agazi militia, Kilil dogs and the whole military under his command the picture is a little different. He shots to kill. He has been killing the last seventeen years. Whether we like it or not a force will emerge that will successfuly challange the clueless regime. Where there is repression there is resistance. That is the law of nature.
On the other hand one can’t just sit and wait for a redemer. When it comes to our self interest we seem to be action oriented. We walk/fly over oceans and mountains to get away and start a new life. That is why we are here. Because we wanted to do better. To be free. To thrive. How come that is not translated into helping those that were left behind. ‘Is it a case of I got my share the rest be damned?’ (እኔከሞትኩ ሰርዶ አይብቀል እኮ የአሀያ አስተሳሰብ ነው።) That is not going to work. That little voice inside of us can not be silenced.
We should do what we can to help. We should be very careful not to hurt. We should use everything in our power to uphold the sacredness of human life. We should work to shame those that abuse human beings and bring sadness and agony on their people. We are not against individuals. It is their lawless act we fight against. When we say no and deny them our support they will be forced to modify their destructive behavior. When we refrain from being part of their ponzi investment scheme, when we refuse to fly their private airlines, when we do not participate in their illigal land grabs they will be forced to listen to us. Money is their aphrodisiac. Without it they shrivel. My town people knew the power of not rewarding a destructive behavior. We should learn to use the power of “NO”!
