MELBOURNE – Peerless Ethiopian runner Haile Gebrselassie defied a serious case of jetlag to claim a commanding victory in the inaugural Great Australian Run on Sunday.
The two-time Olympic 10,000m champion and reigning marathon world record holder arrived in Melbourne from Addis Ababa on Friday morning and woke with a headache after only managing a couple of hours’ sleep before the 15km road race.
Kenyan Patrick Makau stayed on Gebrselassie’s shoulder for much of the race through Melbourne’s inner southern suburbs, before the Ethiopian made his move at the 11km mark, going on to win in 42 minutes and 40 seconds.
Makau was second in 43:15, while Collis Birmingham overtook fellow Australian Craig Mottram in the closing stages to claim third place in 43:35.
Mottram, racing for the first time since splitting with longtime coach Nic Bideau after the Beijing Olympics, was fourth in 44:08.
Disregarding his fall in the 1,500m at the Melbourne Commonwealth Games, it was the first time in up to six years that Mottram had been beaten home by another Australian.
Mottram was in a three-man breakaway with Gebrselassie for the first five kilometres – his preferred distance on the track – before the two Africans broke away.
“After 11Ks I decided to stop (Makau) there, otherwise it was just too dangerous if I brought him up to the last kilometre,” said the 35-year-old Gebrselassie.
“I expected to run a good time but when I woke up this morning I didn’t feel so good because of the lack of sleep.
“I should have come five or six days ago but I made a mistake because I only arrived on Friday morning.”
It was Gebrselassie’s first race in Australia since his dramatic victory over Kenyan Paul Tergat in the 10,000m at the Sydney Olympics.
“I expected (the jetlag) and I said to myself that I can handle it, but it was not easy when I came here,” said the Ethiopian, who was to fly straight back home on Sunday night.
“The next time I come to Australia I have to come early.”
Gebrselassie’s next race is the Dubai marathon in January, where he hopes to challenge his own world record of 2:03:59.
Kenyan marathon star Catherine Ndereba was a commanding winner of the women’s Great Australian Run on Sunday, running on her own for much of the way to clock a time of 50:43.
New Zealand’s Alice Mason was second in 51:27 and third-placed Lisa Weightman was the leading Australian in 51:31.
Her better-credentialled countrywoman Benita Johnson was fifth in 52:09, one place ahead of reigning Beijing marathon champion Constantina Dita of Romania.
Ndereba had finished second behind Dita in Beijing, but she always looked the likely winner in Sunday’s race.
“I was trying to just keep my pace,” said Ndereba.
“It’s four weeks since I ran my last marathon and I was looking to press myself.”
AFP never reports about murders, corruption and other crimes by the Woyane regime in Ethiopia for fear of being expelled from the country. So this major international news organization has relegated itself to reporting local stories such as wild animals attacking people. The following AFP story is about the killing of two Ethiopians by hyenas in eastern Ethiopia. On the very same day, Woyannes (the human hyenas) no doubt have committed another murder, another torture, another rape, another looting… throughout the Ethiopia that we are certain AFP knows about, but fails to report.
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (AFP) – Hyenas have killed two people in eastern Ethiopia, police said on Saturday.
A drunk man was mauled to death on Thursday while the remains of a university student were found three days after being reported missing.
Police said of the man that “only the front parts of his teeth, a portion of his skull and ripped cloth shreds were found the next day”.
Two female students were also attacked early this year and one of them killed.
An Ethiopian resident of the Marsa Open Centre was jailed for 10 months yesterday after he was found guilty of trafficking in and possessing cannabis resin and escaping from custody.
The court, presided over by magistrate Lawrence Quintano, heard how 25-year-old Yassin Mohammed was apprehended after police on patrol saw him throw an object from the car on which he was a passenger on 20 July in Paceville. The car {www:driver} also threw something out of the window.
The police later found cannabis resin, some joints and E200. The car driver had told the police that he threw away the joint Mohammed had given him.
The court said it was convinced that Mohammed dealt in drugs and, given the small {www:amount} of drugs found, it jailed him for 10 months and fined him E500.
Police Inspector Stephen J. Gatt prosecuted while Dr Mark Busuttil was defence counsel.
BBC – All Ethiopian Woyanne troops will leave Somalia by the end of the year, a foreign ministry spokesman has announced.
Ethiopia Woyanne sent thousands of soldiers into Somalia two years ago to help government forces oust Islamists from the capital, Mogadishu.
But their presence has been deeply unpopular with many Somalis.
Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf recently admitted that his forces only control parts of the capital and the central town of Baidoa.
Despite being forced from power in Mogadishu, Islamist forces have rallied and stage frequent attacks against Ethiopian Woyanne and government soldiers.
Hardline Islamists have refused to take part in peace talks until the Ethiopians Woyannes left Somali territory – the two countries have twice fought border wars.
The government is also deeply divided between President Yusuf and Prime Minister Nur Hassan Hussein.
‘Proud’
Ethiopian Woyanne foreign ministry spokesman Wahide Belay said that the deadline for the pull-out was in a letter sent to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and African Union Commission Chairman Jean Ping on Tuesday.
“We have done our job and we are proud of it, but the expectations that we had from the international community were never fulfilled. But that said, we will withdraw in a responsible manner,” he told the AFP news agency.
The US supported the Ethiopian Woyanne move into Somalia but calls for UN peacekeepers to be sent have never materialised.
This is not the first time the Ethiopians Woyannes have said they would withdraw but the BBC’s Elizabeth Blunt in Addis Ababa says what is new is the lack of conditions or provisos.
It has previously said it would not pull out in a way that would leave a vacuum or destabilise the situation.
There are believed to be about 2,000 Ethiopian Woyanne troops in Somalia – sharply down from the 12,000 who first intervened.
The Ethiopian Woyanne withdrawal was also part of a peace deal agreed recently between the government and moderate Islamists.
Some analysts fear fighting could increase after the Ethiopians Woyannes leave.
There is a small African Union peacekeeping force in Mogadishu but analysts say they are unlikely to fight off the advancing insurgents.
Vulnerable
The AU Commission Chairman warned that the AU force could also leave if government in-fighting continues.
“If the transitional government continues to quarrel, if those we came here to help can’t agree and the Ethiopians Woyannes pull out lock, stock and barrel… and African troops too decide to leave, then we have the worst possible scenario,” he said, reports the AFP news agency.
Horn of Africa analyst Roger Middleton, from the Royal Institute of International Affairs (RIIA), says morale is low in Ethiopia’s Woyanne’s army and troops are needed on the border with Eritrea.
But he said the situation may not improve and could become more complicated.
“It is possible that the government and ARS [moderate Islamists] form a broad-based government,” he said.
“But a more likely scenario is a proliferation of armed groups fighting each other.”
Rashid Abdi, a Somalia analyst at the International Crisis Group (ICG) think-tank, said the Ethiopians Woyannes may now use troops and air power against the Islamists, instead of having troops on the ground, who are vulnerable to attack.
“The Ethiopians Woyannes are at the end of their tether because of the squabbling in the interim government, which they have backed at such enormous human and financial cost,” he told Reuters news agency.
Some 10,000 civilians have been killed since 2007, Reuters reports.
Donors say that up to three million people – almost half the population – need food aid.
Ginbot 7 Movement for Freedom and Justice rejects the claim made by the regime in Ethiopia that no war crime took place in the Ogaden region.
On June 11 this year, the Human Rights Watch (HRW) had issued a report supported by satellite photos that accuses Meles Zenawi’s regime in Ethiopia of rampant war crimes, including the burning of villages, mass execution of civilians, rape, torture, and blockade of food in the Ogaden region.
To minimize the impact of the report, the Meles regime had setup a 7-member inquiry commission that would investigate the charges made by the HRW.
No one had any illusion that the ‘inquiry commission’ that was put together by the accused war criminals would find any crime against the regime, since its only purpose was to give political cover to the regime.
As expected, the so-called ‘inquiry commission’ has issued a report accusing HRW of fabricating stories of war crimes in Ogaden.
The ‘inquiry commission’ did not address charges made by the Red Cross, Amnesty International, the New York Times and others that are similar to what the HRW reported.
So who is to be believed? These international human rights and humanitarian groups, and the New York Times, or a commission set up by the accused?
Ginbot 7 takes this opportunity to appeal to the international community to take the necessary steps to bring officials of the Meles regime to justice for the horrific war crimes they continue to commit against our brothers and sisters in the Ogaden region and against all the people of Ethiopia.
Ginbot 7 Movement for Freedom and Justice rejects the claim made by the regime in Ethiopia that no war crime took place in the Ogaden region.