OTTAWA, CANADA – The lawyer for a Canadian jailed in Ethiopia has gone to court trying to block foreign aid payments to the Ethiopian regime in protest over his client’s treatment.
Lorne Waldman filed papers in Federal Court on Thursday on behalf of Bashir Makhtal, who has been held in prison in Addis Ababa for two years.
Ethiopian authorities claim he is a member of an outlawed separatist group known as the Ogaden National Liberation Front, a charge he denies.
Two federal cabinet members, Immigration Minister Jason Kenney and Transport Minister John Baird, have expressed public support for Makhtal and vowed to work for his release and return to Canada.
Baird, who took an interest in the affair at the urging of constituents in his Ottawa riding, has said he’s ready to travel to Ethiopia to met with officials there.
“I hope to go in the coming weeks,” he repeated today.
“My role in this case has been to push due process and fairness. That is the message I want to take to the Ethiopian government”.
He voiced reservations, however, about the legal action taken by Waldman, saying he’s “not optimistic” that putting pressure on Ethiopia through the Canadian courts will further Makhtal’s interests.
The action filed by Waldman notes that Canada currently provides $89 million a year in aid to Ethiopia, some of which is earmarked to fund improvements to the country’s legal system.
The court documents contend that, given the treatment of Makhtal, the payments violate provisions in Canadian law that call for foreign aid to be “consistent with Canadian values” and with international human rights standards.
Waldman said in an interview he’s not interested in cutting off aid for clean water projects, agricultural development or other worthy goals. But he does want an end to aid for a legal system he characterizes as corrupt, lacking in transparency and subject to political interference.
“The purpose of this lawsuit is to prevent Canada from continuing to send aid to what we believe is an unfair legal system which is subjecting a Canadian citizen to an unfair process,” said Waldman.
The suit was filed as Makhtal appeared in court in Addis Ababa to hear a parade of prosecution witnesses offer evidence against him.
Cousin Said Maktal – a Hamilton, Ont. resident who spells the family name slightly differently – said he was told by relatives who attended the hearing that the witnesses offered mainly hearsay testimony rather than first-hand accounts of Bashir’s activities.
A spokesman for the Foreign Affairs Department said staff of the Canadian embassy also attended the proceedings but had yet to file a report to Ottawa. No judgment has been delivered and it’s unclear when the next hearing will be.
Although Waldman maintained his suit is based on sound legal principles, he frankly acknowledged it’s also intended to put political pressure on the Ethiopian government.
“The whole process in this case is political, it’s obvious, so the only solution is political,” said Waldman. “There’s no way Bashir Makhtal will ever get a fair trial in Ethiopia.”
He drew a parallel with the case of Maher Arar, whom he also represented and who was released by Syrian authorities only after then-prime minister Jean Chrétien intervened on his behalf.
A public inquiry later found Arar had been wrongly accused of terrorist links by the RCMP, but there have been no similar allegations against Makhtal by Canadian authorities and no suggestion that Ottawa played any role in his detention.
Makhtal, though born in Ethiopia, grew up in neighboring Somalia and came to Canada in 1991. He studied computer programming, became a Canadian citizen and held jobs at two banks over the next 10 years, before deciding to return to East Africa to start a used-clothing business.
He was in Somalia travelling on a Canadian passport when Ethiopian troops invaded in 2006, and was detained by Kenyan police in December of that year as he tried to cross the border into their country.
He was held at first in Nairobi, then transferred to Somalia and eventually to Ethiopia, apparently as part of a multi-country roundup of suspects linked to the U.S.-led war on terror.
NAIROBI — A Canadian citizen imprisoned in Ethiopia for more than two years has been brought before a court in Addis Ababa unannounced and presented with the testimony of six witnesses who prosecutors had previously been unable to produce.
Ethiopian-born Bashir Makhtal, who was scheduled to appear later this month, was hauled into a courtroom yesterday for the second consecutive day, where he heard the testimony of six witnesses, who failed to appear last month during a public session.
Mr. Makhtal’s Ethiopian lawyer, Gerebe Amiak Tekle, confirmed that six people testified regarding Mr. Makhtal’s alleged involvement in an Ethiopian separatist movement.
But according to Mr. Makhtal’s family, the judge expressed frustration with the strength of the witnesses’ testimonies.
Family members said – information that could not be corroborated – that the witnesses did not know Mr. Makhtal and may have been paid to appear in court.
Mr. Makhtal was arrested by Kenyan authorities in late 2006 while attempting to flee fighting in neighbouring Somalia.
He was later sent to Ethiopia, where he was held without charges and in solitary confinement for more than two years. For most of his detention, he was denied consular access.
Though Mr. Makhtal has recently been allowed consular access and his case has been brought before a civilian court, the trial has so far drawn criticism from legal and human-rights experts.
They believe he is unlikely to receive a fair trial under existing circumstances.
In an apparent indication that he was no longer receiving consular services, the judge cautioned prison wardens last month that Mr. Makhtal was entitled to them.
Meanwhile, Mr. Makhtal’s Toronto-based lawyer, Lorne Waldman, has filed a lawsuit in Canada challenging the provision of non-humanitarian Canadian aid to Ethiopia as inconsistent with the federal Accountability Act.
“I am just not optimistic that an attempt to pressure the Ethiopians in Canadian courts will benefit Bashir,” said Canadian Transport Minister John Baird, who has taken an interest in the case.
“His case is taking place in Ethiopia, and that needs to be where we focus our efforts.”
During his trip to the U.K. to participate in the G20 meeting, U.S. President Barack Obama took time out to assist the London police in apprehending Ethiopia’s genocidal dictator Meles Zenawi (Satire).
When they said “a picture speaks a thousand words” they could have been thinking about this one. The setting definitely is a reception. The people sitting around the table appear very important since there appear to be as many servers as guests. In addition to this we see many photographers documenting the event. It is difficult to determine if this is the beginning or the end of the event. Whatever it is, it is a very lavish and formal affair.
A person sitting right around the center is the only one wearing some kind of head covering, which would lead us to assume that he is from the Middle East. Further down you can see the lone woman. Other than that, it is a mainly a men’s affair. One can also assume that it is a formal event since the men are wearing dark suits. The majority of them seem to be white.
Let’s examine the person on the bottom left. He seems lonely, left out, or sad? He is definitely brooding about something. If you look around, you will notice that those in front of him as well as those on his right are engaged in deep conversation. The man on his left has given him his shoulder.
Who is he? What is he doing here? How come he is not engaged with anyone? Why is everyone ignoring him? If they did not want him there, why was he invited?
He definitely does not appear comfortable. You can tell that from his stiff shoulders and his general posture. His hands are clasped in a prayer position. He is probably not praying, but he is definitely in deep thought. It is difficult to tell how long he has been sitting ignored and isolated. Why didn’t the host find him a partner? He is not smiling, and his somber look conveys he is not enjoying the moment.
Why is he there if he is not comfortable; and why was he invited if he is not part of the group? Could there have been some mix up? Could he have been drafted at the last moment? Was he warned about the cold shoulder he might encounter? Did he send a scouting party to assess the situation? Did they lie to him to embarrass him? Was this calculated risk that blew up in his face? Could it be that he is not able to engage with the others as an equal?
It does not look like a good situation for our friend sitting at the bottom left. It can be considered a form of psychological torture to invite someone to such a dinner and ignore him. At the same time, it is not a good idea to crash a party where one is not welcome. Maybe our friend is praying for the party to be over. Maybe there is nothing here. Yeah right the picture is lying.
U.S. President Barack Obama scolded Ethiopia’s dictator Meles Zenawi during a brief one-to-one encounter at the G20 meeting in London on April 2. Obama reportedly told Meles that the human rights condition in Ethiopia is deplorable and unacceptable.
Following a meeting with Obama, Meles Zenawi, who was invited to represent New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD) at the G20 meeting, abruptly canceled a press conference he was about to give.
“His people gave no reasons for this. But insiders in the press center said Zenawi was worried about the kind of questions that were going to be put to him concerning human rights violations within Ethiopia and his dealing with his opponents and Ethiopia’s neighbors,” Henry Gombya of BSN reported.
“The African continent really wasn’t heard; South African President Motlanthe said he didn’t speak for the continent and Meles Zenawi cowered in the shadows,” Gombya writes.
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (UNHCR) – Over the past two decades, UNHCR has helped more than 600,000 Somali refugees in the eastern lowlands of Ethiopia. Providing them with enough water has always been a problem, with the UN refugee agency facing funding shortfalls, meager and difficult to access underground reserves, and competition from locals for the scarce resource.
That’s as true today as it was in 1991, when Somalia started disintegrating after the fall of the Siad Barre regime and people began fleeing. Most of the refugees eventually returned home, with just 16,000 remaining in Kebribeyah camp. But renewed conflict in Somalia has led to fresh influxes, prompting UNHCR to open the Aw Barre and Shedder camps in 2007 and 2008 respectively.
Under UNHCR’s emergency guidelines, a person needs at least seven liters a day to survive and 20 liters a day to ensure their well-being and good health. Currently, that minimum standard of 20 liters is not being met in any of the three camps, but UNHCR believes that projects now under way should ensure that this target is reached and that access to water outlets is improved.
To meet the needs of Kebribeyah, the former Hartisheik camp and local communities, UNHCR in 2004 opened a pipeline to transport water from the well watered Jarar Valley, some 20 kilometers away.
But, as UNHCR Representative in Ethiopia Moses Okello noted, “Even this huge project does not guarantee an adequate supply of water to every family in the camp. Technical problems, and the high cost of managing the system, mean occasional failure to meet the minimum daily standard of water.”
To resolve this problem, the UN refugee agency and the Ethiopian Electric Power Corporation have been working to connect the Jara Valley water supply system to the national electricity grid, which will make it cheaper to power the system than using fuel-guzzling generators. Okello believes this will solve many of the problems related to running the facility.
Meanwhile, to meet daily needs in the Aw Barre and Shedder camps, UNHCR had to truck large quantities of water from a nearby town, drill boreholes and construct a distribution network to ensure that refugees did not have to go far to get access to water.
Okello said that thanks to special funds made available for water and sanitation projects by UN High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres, “We have been drilling and interconnecting half a dozen boreholes in the two camps. So far we have managed to provide a daily average of 12 litres per person in the two camps.”
It is a work in progress. But Okello said he was optimistic that the minimum standard per person of 20 litres a day would be achieved in all three camps once the various water projects had been completed.
Somali refugee Rahma Mohammed Jamale, who fled to Ethiopia to escape conflict in Mogadishu, was one of the first residents of Shedder camp when it opened in May last year. She said it was initially tough finding enough water for herself and her six children.
“We had only two water points for a whole zone and that meant queuing up for hours to get a jerry can of water,” she said, adding that the situation was much better but more work was still needed to increase the water supply for the camp’s 6,600 refugees and Ethiopians living nearby.
Jamale said the improved water situation meant that children in the camp were spending more time in school and less time lining up for water. “But for this positive development to be sustained, it is up to us refugees to guard the system against misuse,” she added.
OTTAWA, CANADA – The lawyer for a Canadian jailed in Ethiopia has gone to court trying to block foreign aid payments to the Ethiopian regime in protest over his client’s treatment.
NAIROBI — A Canadian citizen imprisoned in Ethiopia for more than two years has been brought before a court in Addis Ababa unannounced and presented with the testimony of six witnesses who prosecutors had previously been unable to produce.
U.S. President Barack Obama scolded Ethiopia’s dictator Meles Zenawi during a brief one-to-one encounter at the G20 meeting in London on April 2. Obama reportedly told Meles that the human rights condition in Ethiopia is deplorable and unacceptable. 
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (UNHCR) – Over the past two decades, UNHCR has helped more than 600,000 Somali refugees in the eastern lowlands of Ethiopia. Providing them with enough water has always been a problem, with the UN refugee agency facing funding shortfalls, meager and difficult to access underground reserves, and competition from locals for the scarce resource.