FRANKFURT, GERMANY – The newly reorganized Ethiopian People Patriotic Front’s (EPPF) International Committee has officially launched its campaign to organize Ethiopians in the Diaspora by holding its first council meeting Saturday, Nov. 14.
At the opening of the meeting, the Committee’s head of public relations and former chairman, Ato Zewdalem Kebede, welcomed the members and introduced the new chairman Ato Leul Qeskis and the other officials.
The 20-member council’s first meeting focused on discussing its mission and objectives. The members, who came from several cities in Europe and North America, also introduced each other and shared their ideas on how to rally Ethiopians in the Diaspora around the organization and mobilize humanitarian support to the families of EPPF fighters, according to the Committee’s Head of the Press Office Ato Demis Belete.
Ato Leul Qeskis, on his part, briefed the members about EPPF’s latest activities in the field, including recent military actions against the Woyanne junta in Ethiopia.
The chairman, Ato Leul, and Ato Assefa Haile, head of political affairs, had spent over three months in the field with the EPPF fighters before the leadership sent them to Europe recently to reorganize and lead the International Committee.
Both Ato Leul and Ato Assefa are elected members of parliament from Gondar and Wollo regions of northern Ethiopia. They joined EPPF after witnessing the barbaric killing of unarmed civilians and mass detention of pro-democracy protesters by the Meles regime following the May 2005 elections. Before being elected to the parliament, Ato Leul had served as head of the Coalition for Unity and Democracy Party (Kinijit) in Gondar. Ato Assefa was a Kinijit organizer in Wollo.
Ethiopian Review will interview Ato Leul on Sunday, Nov. 16, about EPPF’s current activities and future plans, particularly its effort to organize Ethiopians in the Diaspora.
Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed has said Islamist insurgents now control most of the country, and have advanced to the edge of Mogadishu.
Mr Yusuf said there was no effective government in Somalia, and that insurgents were now able to carry out attacks in the capital at will.
The president was speaking to Somali parliamentarians in Kenya, a day after talks on forming a new cabinet failed.
Last month, regional grouping Igad set a deadline of 12 November for a deal.
The mandate of the Transitional Government of Somalia (TFG), formed in late 2004, is set to expire in August 2009.
Call for unity
President Yusuf was at his gloomiest on Saturday, addressing Somali MPs in neighbouring Kenya.
The government controls Mogadishu and Baidoa and people are killed there every day
Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed
He said the Islamist insurgency, which looked as though it had been crushed two years ago following intervention by the Ethiopian army, was now as strong as ever.
Members of the al-Shabab group now controlled most of the country and had advanced to the suburbs of Mogadishu, as well as Baidoa, the home town of the parliament, he said.
“The government controls Mogadishu and Baidoa and people are killed there every day,” Mr Yusuf told the meeting in Nairobi.
“Islamists have taken over everywhere else, so if I ask you parliamentarians: do you know the situation we face? Who causes all these problems? We are to blame.”
Members of al-Shabab at a training camp outside Mogadishu (4 November 2008)
Mr Yusuf said the al-Shabab group now controlled most of the country
President Yusuf lamented that at this vital time when unity is needed, talks on forming a new transitional government had ended in failure.
He and Prime Minister Nur Hassan Hussein have been unable to agree on the make-up of a new cabinet, missing a deadline issued by the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (Igad) last month.
In the meantime members of al-Shabab, which the US believes to be linked to al-Qaeda, have consolidated their hold on southern Somalia, meting out punishments on the population based on their interpretation of Islamic law.
They whipped 25 women and seven men for holding a traditional dance, which they said was forbidden.
In October, a girl was stoned to death in a crowded stadium in the port city of Kismayo. Aged just 13, she had been convicted of adultery after complaining she had been raped.
The Secret Service is tasked with protecting the President of the United States from assailants; and given that President-elect Obama has already been the target of assassination plots they may have their work cut out after January. But they have more than earpiece radios and armored limos to help them; the Secret Service can call on the very latest technology. Documents from a recent court case indicate that they have advanced directed-energy devices which are highly classified.
You may remember Donald Friedman, who claims that government agencies are misusing non-lethal directed-energy weapons. It’s easy to dismiss him as a crank. But his obsessive digging has turned up valuable information. For instance, one of his Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests unearthed a 1998 U.S. Army program looking at a microwave device to beam sound directly into the target’s skull which the rest of us had missed. (The same technology underlies the Medusa non-lethal weapon.)
Now he’s found something else. Friedman’s current court case involves attempts to extract information about any directed-energy weapons such as lasers and microwaves used by the Secret Service. Do they really have anything of the kind? A “Motion for an Enlargement of Time” (in other words, a request for a few more weeks) by the Secret Service’s attorney indicates that they have something, and it’s pretty secret:
“Plaintiff’s FOIA request is for document [sic] concerning directed energy technology that is very sensitive. Some of this documents [sic] pertain to research conducted by divisions within defendant agency that is used to carry out its mandate to protect very high government officials. In fact, in one case, the documents… could not be mailed but had to be hand carried interstate.”
So what is this “sensitive” technology? We don’t know for sure, naturally. But we can sure speculate…
Now, we’ve talked before about the Secret Service’s interest in laser dazzlers as a means of protecting the White House against suicide attacks by light aircraft, dating back to 1998. We don’t know if dazzlers have ever been deployed, but that would certainly explain some of the secrecy.
Portable dazzlers would also be a good way of dealing with potential snipers without the risk of harming bystanders. Other agencies also have an interest in covert dazzlers. Ex MI6 agent David Tomlinson claims a laser strobe was proposed for an assassination attempt on Slobodan Milosevic in 1992 by dazzling his chauffeur at a crucial point and causing him to crash. (Conspiracy theorists claim that a laser dazzler was used to assassinate Diana, Princess of Wales — but any bright flashes more likely came from photographer’s flashguns.)
A portable version of the truck-mounted Active Denial System — the Pentagon’s “pain ray” — might be used to similar effect. It could cause an assailant to flinch for a vital second, giving agents an opportunity to get the President out of the line of fire, without having to shoot into a crowd. Raytheon has been working on a rifle-sized version of the Active Denial System for some years, but nothing has been heard of it recently.
Another likely candidate is a directed-energy device to neutralize suspected improvised explosive devices, or IEDs — something that produces an intense, narrow beam of microwaves to fry the electronics. Tomlinson also claimed that MI6 has “sophisticated radio transmitters that would knock out the electronics of the limo at the press of a button, causing the airbags to inflate.”
Presidential protection is likely to include a range of jammers to stop remote bomb detonation, and possibly remote-controlled aircraft attacks. With all this jamming, interference can occur and make radio communication impossible — if you leave any frequency clear, the bad guys might use it to send a detonation signal. So perhaps the Secret Service may have a microwave voice-transmission system as an emergency backup when radio communication is impossible. This would allow them to beam instructions to agents at a distance. At a pinch it could also be used to distract a would-be assassin — having a voice suddenly booming inside your head should put off most snipers (though they might have a few voices in there already).
We know that the Air Force has looked at microwave sound as a non-lethal weapon, and long-range acoustic systems like LRAD are already in use by the military and others. So a Secret Service microwave sound system is not totally, completely out of the question.
Donald Friedman may yet manage to get more information about secret directed-energy weapons. All we know so far is that they exist… Unless anyone out there can tell us more?
CAIRO, EGYPT – The Egyptian government warned Sudan that its stance on the International Criminal Court (ICC) is “weak” and will not protect president Omer Hassan Al-Bashir from prosecution.
“I thoroughly examined the ICC Statute to look for something that could aid Sudan’s position. Even though Sudan is not a state party this will not prevent the ICC jurisdiction in these cases and dropping all immunities” the Egyptian State minister for Legal and parliamentary affairs Mufid Shihab said during a forum at the Saudi Embassy in Cairo.
The Egyptian official stressed that the only way out for Sudan and its president is to take “concrete and concise steps” and that there is no point of taking extreme positions on rejecting the ICC.
The ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo Ocampo announced in mid-July that he requested an arrest warrant for Al-Bashir on 10 counts of war crimes and genocide. In early October ICC judges have officially started reviewing the case in a process that could possibly drag on to next year.
The statements by Shihab mark a radical shift in Egypt’s position which has backed Sudan in position against the ICC.
The Egyptian minister, who is an international lawyer expert, has previously said in August that Khartoum is not bound by the ICC since it is not a member of the court and emphasized that Al-Bashir enjoys immunity as a head of state.
Shihab’s remarks come days after the Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak paid a surprise and brief visit to Khartoum where he held private talks with Al-Bashir believed to have mainly focused on the ICC row.
Cairo backed an Arab League resolution last July which described the ICC’s prosecutor position as “unbalanced”.
The Arab League’s 22 foreign ministers decided in a resolution adopted on Saturday to show “solidarity with the Republic of Sudan in the face of any schemes aimed at undermining its sovereignty, unity and stability and not to accept the unbalanced position of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court at the request contained in a case submitted to the ICC (pre-trial Chamber)”.
The Arab minister further said they adopt this position to emphasis on their rejection to any “attempts meaning to politicize the principles of international justice or to use it to erode State sovereignty, unity, security, stability and national symbols”.
The Arab League devised a plan containing a series of steps to help Sudan avoid Bashir’s prosecution which included conducting internal trials for Darfur war crimes suspects. Following its implementation the UN Security (UNSC) could be requested to suspend the ICC move by invoking Article 16 for a period of 12 months that can be renewed indefinitely.
But the Sudanese presidential adviser Mustafa Ismail was quoted by the daily Al-Hayat newspaper at the time as telling reporters in Cairo after meeting with Arab League Secretary general Amr Moussa “that there are some parts of the plan that need more discussions”.
Ismail also insisted that the Sudanese judiciary is capable of looking into the Darfur war crimes and noted the recent appointment of a special prosecutor for Darfur by Sudan’s justice minister.
Shihab downplayed the Arab efforts on the ICC issue describing them as “rhetorical and emotional”.
“This will not avert the disaster” the leading figure in Egypt ruling National Party cautioned.
The French-Libyan born counsel Dr. Hadi Shalluf commenting on Shihab statements said that Cairo position on ICC “are contradictory”.
“The Egyptians do not have a fixed legal opinion. One time they say the ICC has no jurisdiction and then later they say no they do” Shallluf told Sudan Tribune by phone from Paris.
“This is the nature of the Arab politics. Legal opinions are variable depending on political positions. Arab justice ministers are politicians They don’t understand in law. They are simply policemen” he added.
Sudan has not ratified the Rome Statute, but the UN Security Council (UNSC) triggered the provisions under the Statute that enables it to refer situations in non-State parties to the world court if it deems that it is a threat to international peace and security.
ADDIS ABABA – Dr. Worku Zewde and his wife, Zinash, came back to Ethiopia ten years ago after spending 21 years in the United States, where they had become American citizens.
“Going to the United States was not a shock for me,” Zewde recalls. “It was coming back to Ethiopia that was difficult.”
The Zewde’s had come home hoping to invest money they had earned while living in the United States.
“The policy for investing was so prohibitive—especially for foreigners,” he said. “There was a cap. You had to bring in half a million dollars if you wanted to invest. Nobody would risk investing that much money in Ethiopia at that time.”
After two years, and an effort by the Ethiopian government with the assistance of the World Bank funded Public Sector Capacity Building Project (PSCAP) to reform the investment sector, the Zewde’s were able to start a business — Knit to Finish, PLC. They have been a success story ever since. The company exports quality garments to the United States where they are sold at sporting goods stores. The garments are manufactured by over 350 employees, mostly women, just outside Addis Ababa, Ethiopia’s capital.
Easing the process of doing business
Ethiopia’s Federal Investment Agency, the agency responsible for monitoring finances and investment, has dramatically improved its service delivery times and customer service, providing a more conducive environment for foreign investment. Ten years ago, it took an average 225 days to get a business license. Now it only takes half a day.
“There is definitely a sizeable difference in this country, which is keeping us going every day,” Zewde said. “We see the light at the end of the tunnel.”
This sense of great improvement in the business environment is shared by Ryiaz Shamji, a native of Uganda, who moved to Ethiopia ten years ago looking for investment opportunities.
Today, his family business, Golden Rose Agrofarms, exports 2.5 million roses per month. It also produces drinking water and a variety of consumer goods. When they got started, however, it wasn’t so easy.
“The whole idea of investment promotion was on a very different level,” said Shamji, whose company employs 830 people. “It wasn’t a question of incentivizing investors.
This is no longer the case, according to Shamji.
Government reforms
Efforts to reform the Federal Investment Agency began in February 1994 when a directive issued by the Council of Ministers mandated “one-stop shopping.” Previously, foreign investors had to visit many institutions, and the process was cumbersome. To accommodate this mandate, all of the varying processes from different ministries were brought into a single building. Even then, the burdensome and sometimes redundant processes remained the same.
A comprehensive study was commissioned in 2002 to look back at the previous 10 years. All stakeholders participated in the study which helped to generate recommendations. Government officials welcomed the recommendations, and in turn issued an even more comprehensive and radical transformation. The Federal Investment Agency was given the power to make decisions, and as a result redundancies were eliminated, processes were consolidated, and unnecessary procedures were abolished.
The Agency also embraced a culture of excellence, striving to do even more. The processing time for business licenses was reduced from 225 days to six hours in 2004, and then again to 3 ½ hours in 2006. The improvements in service delivery spread throughout the country to the regional trade and industry bureaus and city administrations.
Gaining investor trust
Understanding the value of the customer, the Agency now solicits customer feedback. Comments are systematically collected and analyzed on a weekly basis. Feedback, whether positive or negative, is shared with the relevant frontline staff, department or agency. This has led to a host of improvements.
Seifu Biratu, head of the Civil Service Reform Office for the Federal Investment Agency, collects the comment forms on a weekly basis.
“It has had a great effect on our frontline,” he said. “They know we are reading the comments so they are more conscientious in providing good customer service.”
Biratu’s colleague also heralds the improvements.
“What we have come to realize,” said Alemayehu Gebeta, head of the Licensing and Registration Department, “is that investors have become our diplomats. When they have a good experience, they tell others. They help us to attract other foreign investors.”
The numbers support Alemayehu’s claim. In 2003, 23 investment permits were issued. By 2006, that number had jumped to 1,000 permits issued.
Perhaps one of the most amazing feats of this success is that everything is still done manually. The agency is looking forward to achieving even greater efficiency once automation is introduced through the assistance of future PSCAP funding.
ADDIS ABABA (AFP) — Talks on forming a new government in Somalia in a bid to end nearly two decades of bloodletting have failed, Ethiopia’s Woyanne foreign ministry announced on Saturday.
Somalia’s President Abdullah Yusuf Ahmed and Prime Minister Nur Hassan Hussein “still fail to agree over a cabinet,” the ministry said in a communique.
At a summit last month in the Kenyan capital Nairobi the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD), which Ethiopia currently chairs, set a deadline of November 12 for the feuding sides to agree on a new transitional government.
The Somali president and prime minister arrived in Addis Ababa on Thursday for a 24-hour working visit to discuss how to implement the Nairobi declaration with Ethiopian Foreign Minister Seyoum Mesfin.
“The talks centred specifically on the formation of the cabinet,” the ministry communique said.
“According to the timelines agreed at Nairobi, these should have been finalised on Wednesday this week. However no agreement has yet been reached on the membership of the cabinet,” it said.
It noted that the prime minister had presented a list to President Yusuf in London last week but he found the names “unacceptable”.
It warned that under the Nairobi declaration, “if any of the parties defaulted on the timelines for any of the agreed decisions,” IGAD would have to call a new summit.
Ethiopian {www:Woyanne} troops entered Somalia in late 2006 and helped oust Islamist militants who had taken control of much of the country.
Since then, the insurgents have waged a guerilla war, saying they would only meet the government for peace talks after Ethiopian Woyanne troops pull out of the country.
Founded in 1986, IGAD has six active members: Ethiopia, Djibouti, Kenya, Somalia, Sudan and Uganda.
