Interview with EPPF central committe members (video)
Interview with newly elected central committee members of the Ethiopian People’s Patriotic Front (EPPF) following the organizations General Assembly early this month:
Ethiopia
Woyanne admits jamming VOA (BBC)
(BBC) — Ethiopia’s ruling junta, Woyanne, has admitted it is jamming the Voice of America’s (VOA) broadcasts in Amharic, accusing the radio station of engaging in “destabilising propaganda”.
Prime Minister Warlord Meles Zenawi said Ethiopia his regime had been testing jamming equipment, although there had been no formal decision to bloc the US station.
The Amharic Service has experienced interference since late February.
Meles also compared the VOA’s transmissions to broadcasts in Rwanda in the mid-1990s that incited genocide.
‘Unfortunate’ comments
“We have for some time now been trying to beef up our capacity to deal with this, including… jamming,” Mr Meles said on Thursday.
In a statement, VOA director Danforth Austin said that any comparison of VOA programming to Rwandan broadcasts inciting genocide in the 1990s was “incorrect and unfortunate”.
“The VOA deplores jamming as a form of media censorship wherever it may occur,” he said, adding that the station’s Amharic Service was required by law to provide accurate and objective information.
The VOA and other foreign media organisations say broadcasts in Amharic – the country’s most widely spoken language – have been jammed around elections in the past.
The next polls in Ethiopia are in May and human rights groups say there has been a crackdown on the press.
The last elections saw opposition accusations of widespread rigging.
Thousands of opposition supporters were arrested after protests and some western countries reduced aid to Ethiopia.
Meles also rejected calls to free opposition leader Birtukan Medeksa from jail.
She was sentenced to life in prison in 2005 after the election protests, pardoned in 2007 and then re-imprisoned in 2008.
The prime minister dictator said she would remain in prison “permanently” and that diplomats and journalists could not visit her – the same rules as for other prisoners in Ethiopia.
Separately, Meles again denied claims in a recent BBC report that he had ordered the diversion of food aid money to buy arms to fight the government in the 1980s.
“We did not need to [do it]. We were not short of ammunition or arms. That was never our problem. Our main problem was that we were operating in an environmentally very fragile area unable to feed itself,” he said.
Ethiopia’s telecom monopoly signs undersea cable deal
The state-owned Ethiopian Telecommunications Corporation (ETC) has inked a deal with SEACOM for an international backhaul link via Djibouti, Computerworld reports. As a result of the deal ETC expects to lower the cost of bandwidth, and subsequently the cost to consumers for telecoms services. Commenting on the development, Amare Amsalu, ETC’s CEO, said: ‘SEACOM is ideally suited to provide international connectivity that will complement ETC’s extensive national initiative to link the country’s businesses and end-users with fibre broadband connectivity,’ adding, ‘The availability of high-quality broadband at lower prices will accelerate economic development and educational initiatives that will enhance lives and will also establish Ethiopia as an important commercial centre for Africa and as a regional transit point for other service providers.’
Under the terms of the deal it is understood that ETC will connect its domestic network to an undersea cable system that has been extended to the shores of the Red Sea. SEACOM has partnered with SEA-ME-WE 3, which operates a cable from South East Asia to Europe; TEAM, which has a Kenya to Dubai link; and the Eastern Africa Submarine Cable System (EASSy), which has landing points in six countries. Currently ETC provides its voice and data services via expensive satellite connectivity, operated by Hughes International, although it does also have a low capacity bandwidth connection via Port Sudan.
The agreement complements the ongoing Next Generation Network (NGN) project being undertaken by ETC, which aims to enhance and improve the country’s existing telecoms infrastructure nationwide. The USD1.5 billion project encompasses work on both fixed line and wireless networks, as well as the national fibre-optic backbone.
(Source: TeleGeography.com)
For Ethiopian Benyam Kinde an interest in science began early
(UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND) — As a child, he spent weekends with his father, a veterinarian and microbiologist, performing necropsies (animal autopsies) in a lab. When his mother, dean of mathematics at San Bernardino College, couldn’t find a babysitter – she brought him into the classroom, and he performed basic math problems in the back. These moments had a considerable amount of influence on his career choice, said Benyam Kinde, but his experience afterward – specifically with University of Maryland Baltimore County’s (UMBC) Meyerhoff Scholars Program – transformed his early fascination into a research career.
“Coming to UMBC was the best decision I could have made for a career as a reseacher,” said Kinde.
Born and raised in Southern California, Benyam Kinde learned about the Meyerhoff Program, which was established to increase diversity among future leaders in science, technology, engineering and related fields, from his brother Isaac Kinde ‘05, now a 5th year M.D./Ph.D. student at the Johns Hopkins University.
Since enrolling in the program, Benyam Kinde has been able to pursue research opportunities he hadn’t imagined – which are now leading him to Germany. This summer, he will attend the 60th Interdisciplinary Meeting of Nobel Laureates. Selected from a pool of more than 20,000, he’ll join 500 young researchers and network with leading scientists in the fields of medicine or physiology, physics and chemistry. Kinde was nominated to attend by Peter Agre, a medical doctor, professor and molecular biologist at Hopkins who was awarded the 2003 Nobel Prize in Chemistry and received an honorary degree from UMBC in 2009.
“I’m excited to have been selected for such intellectual fellowship. This honor is a testament of the research opportunities and academic preparation available for UMBC students,” he said.
Kinde’s experience with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) has provided a solid background for his research. Under the guidance of Michael Summers, HHMI investigator and professor of chemistry and biochemistry, Kinde is conducting leading research on HIV, developing protocols that allow for the elicitation (drawing out) from large RNAs (similar to DNA, a molecule called ribonucleic acid). This research provides insight into the life cycle of the virus and an understanding about where the virus spreads.
“Dr. Summers is more than just a powerhouse in the field of NMR spectroscopy; he also finds the time to be a fantastic mentor to his students with an office door that is essentially always open,” Kinde said.
In addition to his research at HHMI, Kinde performs research at the University of Maryland, Baltimore, where he studies neurophysiology and the importance of circadian rhythm – which allows us to wake and sleep. He will continue his work deciding between combined-degree M.D./Ph.D. programs and leaning toward Johns Hopkins. Kinde plans to specialize in neurology and continue to conduct research in the field of neuroscience.
Active on the UMBC campus, Kinde belongs to the Golden Key International Honor Society (serving as president), Minority Access to Research Careers Undergraduate Student Training in Academic Research (MARC U STAR) and Getting Everyone to Unleash Potential (GET UP! – founding member). He also volunteers, tutoring genetics in the Department of Biological Sciences, among other activities.
VOA responds to Meles Zenawi
By Jason McLure | Bloomberg
Voice of America said Ethiopian Prime Minister dictator Meles Zenawi’s comparison of its local-language news service with the Rwandan broadcaster accused of fomenting that country’s genocide in 1994 was “incorrect and unfortunate.”
Meles said yesterday the U.S. government-owned station’s Amharic-language broadcasts “copied the worst practices of radio stations such as Radio Mille Collines of Rwanda.” He accused VOA, which is overseen by the U.S. Broadcasting Board of Governors, of “wanton disregard for minimum ethics of journalism and engaging in destabilizing propaganda.”
Radio Television Libre des Mille Collines gained notoriety during 1994 for transmitting broadcasts inciting hardline Rwandan ethnic Hutus to carry out a genocide that left 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus dead.
“Any comparison of VOA programming to the genocidal broadcasts of Rwanda’s Radio Mille Collines is incorrect and unfortunate,” Danforth Austin, director of Washington-based VOA, said in an e-mailed statement yesterday.
On March 4, VOA reported that its Amharic-service broadcasts to Ethiopia were being jammed. Shimeles Kemal, a government spokesman, called the accusation “an outright lie” and said Ethiopia’s constitution forbids jamming of news broadcasts. Meles said yesterday that the government had been
trying to “beef up” its capacity to interfere with VOA’s signal.
Jamming Capacity
“If they assure me at some future date that they have the capacity to jam it then I will give them the clear guideline to jam it,” Meles said, adding that recent broadcasts may have been unintelligible because “they may have been testing the equipment that they have for jamming.”
VOA, along with Germany’s Deutsche Welle, are the only two foreign broadcasters that provide a news service in Ethiopia’s main language. The Ethiopian government owns the country’s only television broadcaster and domestic radio waves are dominated by government and ruling-party stations.
“VOA deplores jamming as a form of media censorship wherever it may occur,” Austin said in the statement.
Ethiopia has been a key ally of the U.S. in recent years. U.S.-backed Ethiopian troops invaded Somalia in December 2006, occupying Mogadishu for two years and assisting the U.S. in pursuit of suspected al-Qaeda members. The U.S. trains Ethiopia’s military and American aid to the country topped $850
million last year.
Political tensions in Ethiopia have been rising ahead of elections scheduled for May 23.
Violence
On March 2, an opposition candidate for parliament from Meles’s home region of Tigray was stabbed to death. Two other opposition candidates were beaten that week, and opposition leaders have accused the government of responsibility. The government has said the violence was not politically motivated.
In February a newspaper columnist was jailed for criticizing Meles and at least a dozen Ethiopian reporters fled the country in 2009 citing government harassment, according to a statement from the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists.
Ethiopia has “several hundred” political prisoners, according to a U.S. State Department report released earlier this month. They include opposition leader Birtukan Mideksa, who has been jailed under a life sentence since 2008 and whose “mental health had deteriorated significantly,” the State Department said.
Meles has called the State Department allegations “lies” and said the U.S. was opening itself to criticism by reporting false allegations of human rights abuses.
Meles Zenawi calls VOA ‘hate media’
WASHINGTON DC (VOA) — Ethiopia’s Prime Minister genocidal dictator Meles Zenawi says he is prepared to order jamming of VOA broadcasts in Amharic, the country’s main official language. Mr. Meles compared VOA Amharic to the hate media that incited the Rwanda genocide.
The Ethiopian leader dictator denies having authorized the interference VOA Amharic listeners have been experiencing since February 22. But speaking to reporters Thursday, he acknowledged ordering preparations for jamming, and said as soon as the equipment is working properly, he would give the go ahead.
“We have to know before we make the decision to jam, whether we have the capacity to do it,” said Meles Zenawi. “But I assure you if they assure me at some future date that they have the capacity to jam it, I will give them the clear guideline to jam it. But so far there has not been that formal decision to jam.”
Mr. Meles said what listeners may have been experiencing for the past four weeks is testing of the jamming equipment.
The prime minister dictator compared VOA’s Amharic Service to Radio Mille Collines, which broadcast hate messages blamed for inciting the 1994 genocide in Rwanda.
“We have been convinced for many years that in many respects, the VOA Amharic Service has copied the worst practices of radio stations such as Radio Mille Collines of Rwanda in its wanton disregard of minimum ethics of journalism and engaging in destabilizing propaganda,” he said.
Voice of America Director Danforth Austin issued a statement Thursday saying, “any comparison of VOA programming to the genocidal broadcasts of Rwanda’s Radio Mille Collines is incorrect and unfortunate.”
He added, “the VOA deplores jamming as a form of media censorship wherever it may occur.”
The statement said VOA’s Amharic Service is required by law to provide accurate, objective and comprehensive news and information and abide by the highest journalistic standards.
Austin also noted that “while VOA is always ready to address responsible complaints about programming, the Government of Ethiopia has not initiated any official communication in more than two years.”
VOA language service broadcasts to Ethiopia have been jammed in the past around election times. The next election for parliament is just over two months away. But in past instances, the government denied being responsible for the jamming.
Monitors say the recent jamming has only been aimed at Amharic broadcasts, but has not affected Afan Oromo and Tigrinya language service transmissions to Ethiopia. They are heard on the same frequencies before and after the Amharic broadcast.
The Voice of America is a multi-media international broadcasting service funded by the U.S. Government. VOA broadcasts more than 1500 hours of news and other programming every week in 45 languages to an audience of more than 125 million people.