By Elias Kifle

I was invited to participate in a Horn of Africa panel discussion on Saturday, August 15, which was hosted by the Community of Eritreans in the San Francisco Bay Area. The discussion was held at Oakland Tech High School in Oakland, California, in conjunction with the Eritrean Festival Western USA – 2009. The guest speakers included Prof. Ahmed Samatar of Somalia, Dr. Awet Weldemichael of Eritrea, and myself.

I was asked to be the first speaker of the event. My 10-minute presentation evolved around the need to get rid of the Woyanne tribal junta in Ethiopia for peace to prevail in the Horn of Africa region:

As long as Woyanne, the cause and instigator of all of the conflicts in the region, remains in power, there can be no stability in the region. Woyanne’s extremely greedy nature doesn’t allow a win-win situation in any thing it does. It is all-or-nothing, zero-sum game.

For the first time ever, representatives of Ethiopian organizations are attending Eritrean events in the Diaspora. Eritreans are doing likewise. Such interaction and dialogue between Eritreans and Ethiopians could help build a potent alliance for peace and prosperity in the region. Because of the growing alliance with Eritrea, Ethiopian forces are now on the offensive for the first time.

I proposed the creation of a Horn of Africa Alliance that will be capable ending the chaos in the region:

The emerging Ethiopia-Eritrea alliance need to grow and involve the people of Somali and Djibouti. Such a Horn of Africa alliance can play a key role in removing the Woyanne cancer from the region and help bring about peace and stability. It seems that the process of establishing such an alliance has already started from the bottom up…

There is only one independent government in the Horn of Africa that has the vision and leadership quality to help bring such an idea to fruition. I explained as follows:

For this process to be fruitful, it needs a strong backing from the Government of Eritrea. Currently, it is the only government in the region that has the vision and the desire to create economic and political integration among the peoples of the Horn of Africa. As we all know, the junta that is ruling Ethiopia is working to implement its 1976 Greater Tigray Republic Manifesto after dismembering Ethiopia into several small satellite states that are to be ruled from Mekele by the Woyanne masters through puppets. Most of the steps for Woyanne to implement its Greater Tigray manifesto have already been taken. The only reason Woyanne has stopped short of fully implementing its plan so far is because of the Eritrean government’s opposition to such a plan. The government in Djibouti is a fake government. It’s leaders are puppets for Woyanne and France. In Somalia, there is no functioning government. It is therefore necessary for the Government of Eritrea to provide leadership in bringing together the people of the Horn of Africa to work for their mutual benefit, instead of working against each other.

I also talked about what I think should follow the removal of Woyanne:

After removing the Woyanne junta, the next step needs to be to establish a commonwealth of Ethiopia, Eritrea, Djibout and Somalia and integrate their economies — with their citizens having full rights to live, work and conduct businesses in any place they choose. The economic integration needs to also include common currency backed up by gold, common tax policy, and common working language (English). If we are able to put these ideas to work, our countries and region will be on the path of peace and prosperity.

My observation is that the mostly Eritrean audience was receptive of the ideas I presented.

The following speaker was Dr Awet. His presentation touched many areas, and he forcefully defended Eritrea’s government against the accusation by the U.S. Department of State and the Woyanne junta that Eritrea is arming Al Qaeda-linked groups in Somalia.

The last speaker was Prof. Samatar, who focused on the need to build civil societies in order for peace and stability to prevail in the region. He blamed the chaos in Somalia on the death of civic culture.

During the question and answer session, I was asked how Eritreans can trust future Ethiopian governments. I explained that Ethiopians express the same concern. The solution is for the people of Ethiopia and Eritrea to develop the kind of relation that cannot easily be broken apart by politicians. I gave the relation between people of Canada and the U.S. as an example. It is unimaginable for Canada and the U.S. to go to war. Ethiopia and Eritrea can join in some kind of arrangement, be it confederation or commonwealth, which will further guarantee that the two people will never go to war.

Before the discussion concluded, I implored Eritreans and Somalis to distinguish between Ethiopia and Woyanne. I explained that the Woyanne junta does not represent Ethiopia. It is the Woyanne tribal junta that invaded Somalia and slaughtered its people. It is the Woyanne junta that is in a state of war with Eritrea. The people of Ethiopia have no problem with Somalia and Eritrea. They just want to live in peace and freedom. The audience seemed to agree.

(The writer, who is the editor-in-chief of Ethiopian Review, can be reached at [email protected])

The Chicago Chapter of Ethiopian People’s Patriotic Front (EPPF) has been formed this week after holding a series of meetings. For more information visit EPPF’s official web site, eppfonline.org. Click here.

By Luke Phillips

BERLIN (AFP) — Ethiopian Kenenisa Bekele etched his name in distance running history at the world athletics championships here on Monday when he won his fourth consecutive world 10,000m title.

The 27-year-old Olympic champion ran 26min 46.31sec to add Berlin gold to his previous success in Paris 2003, Helsinki 2005 and Osaka two years ago, to match compatriot Haile Gebrselassie for the most world championship titles won.

“It’s great to win for the fourth time,” he said. “I had already planned to stay behind until the last lap and then kick.”

The victory also meant the five foot four (1.60 metres) running phenomenon from Ethiopia continued his 100 percent record over the 10,000m event.

Once again the Ethiopian relied on his last-lap kick, an incredible ability to change gears when the bell sounds and destroy his rivals in 50 quick, painful metres.

Eritrea’s Zersenay Tadese, who led for almost all the second-half of the 25-lap race, claimed silver in 26:50.12 with Kenyan Moses Masai of Kenya winning bronze in 26:57.39.

Qatar’s Nicolas Kemboi and Kenyan Bernard Kipyego kept up the early pace of the race at the Olympic Stadium with the Ethiopians quite happy to sit in the chasing pack.

Just before the halfway stage, Tadese kicked away, with Bekele in second and compatriot Gebre-egziabher Gebremariam in third at a pace that strung the field out.

Masai took up the lead from Tadese briefly before the Eritrean again picked up a punishing pace that saw the pack begin to lap other competitors with 10 laps to go.

A lap later, and a four-runner breakaway had formed, Bekele sitting on the heels of Masai, behind Tadese, with Kenyan Michah Kogo in fourth.

With four laps remaining, the two Kenyans had fallen off Tadese’s unrelenting pace and Bekele was left with a fight on his hands with his great rival from the world cross-country circuit.

Tadese’s hunched running style, shoulders jerking, was at odds with Bekele’s more upright stance, his body more fluid in the Eritrean’s slipstream.

As the bell rang for the final lap, Bekele made his move, seemingly effortless as he ruthlessly motored past Tadese.

When he rounded the bend for the final stretch he raised his finger in the knowledge he had matched his one-time master Haile Gebrselassie’s record.

Kenenisa Bekele’s gold here adds to an unbelievable medal haul from the Olympic Games, worlds and world cross-country championships.

He is also world record holder over both the 5000m and 10,000m, and will now move on to the 5000m in buoyant mood.

NAZRET, ETHIOPIA — A town hall meeting organized by the Union for Democracy and Justice Party (UDJ) on Saturday, August 15, was disrupted by Woyanne goons posing as “Oromo nationalists.”

Read more in Amharic here.

The disturbance occurred when the Woyanne thugs inside the meeting hall started to raise a “point of order” on how the meeting should be conducted. They protested against the use of Amharic language at the meeting since Adama (the new name Woyanne gave to Nazret) is inside Oromia Killil.

According to the Awramba Times reporter who was at the scene, the Woyanne goons then went on to push, shove and attack UDJ representatives and guests of honor who came from Addis Ababa for the meeting.

The guests of honors included former president Dr Negaso Gidada, Dr Beyene Petros, and former defense minister Ato Siye Abraha.

The thugs physically attacked Dr Negasso Gidada after accusing him of selling out to Amharas. Interestingly, no body touched or accosted Siye Abraha. The thugs moved out of the way as their former boss walked out of the meeting.

On August 29, 2009, His Holiness Abune Merkorios, Patriarch of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, will bless the opening of The Kidist Mariam Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Cathedral. The ceremony will be held at the brand new complex, located at 1152 South Stone Mountain Lithonia Rd., Lithonia, GA (a suburb of Atlanta)… [read more]

To assist foreign-born adults to improve their English language skills and advance their career, an ESL for Employment course will be offered in the fall at several campuses of Northern Virginia Community College (NOVA). Prospective candidates are encouraged to attend a two-hour information session about the course. Such information sessions will be presented on five August and September evenings, beginning August 6, each at a different NOVA campus. There is no charge for the Information Session. In fact, a $25 check towards course tuition will be awarded to people who register at least one week before the session of their choice… [read more]