GENEVA (Reuters) – The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is seeking clarifications from Yemen over a decision to bar Ethiopian and Eritrean refugees from entering the country, a spokesman said on Tuesday.
The UNHCR also said it was concerned about the fate of 112 Ethiopian refugees believed to have been detained in Yemen over the past two weeks.
Ethiopian refuge-seekers rest on a roadside near the
southern Yemeni village of al-Khabar after they arrived on
a smugglers’ boat from Somalia 29 Sep 2008 – Reuters
The UNHCR said the Yemeni Interior Ministry has announced that Ethiopians and Eritreans would be denied entry to the country, which still grants immediate refugee status to Somalis fleeing their war-torn homeland.
“While recognising the generosity already shown by Yemen to refugees and asylum seekers, we are seeking clarification from the government on any changes in policy,” UNHCR spokesman Ron Redmond told a news briefing in Geneva.
The agency also said that some 87 Ethiopians were known to have been detained in Yemen over the past two weeks, while Yemeni authorities removed a further 25 Ethiopians from a vehicle transporting them to the UNHCR reception centre of Ahwar on Monday.
“We don’t know where they are but fear they were arrested and are being detained somewhere,” UNHCR spokeswoman Astrid Van Genderen Stort told Reuters.
The UNHCR urged Yemen, a signatory of the 1951 Refugee Convention, to maintain access to asylum procedures for all those in need of international protection.
The poor Arab country is struggling to cope with an growing number of asylum seekers smuggled from the Horn of Africa in risk-filled voyages across the Gulf of Aden.
A total of 37,333 people have arrived in Yemen so far this year on smugglers’ boats, and 616 died or were reported missing, according to the UNHCR. The current total is already more than 50 percent higher than in 2007, when 23,000 made it to Yemen.
A Pentagon official overseeing the Guantanamo war crimes court dismissed all pending charges against five prisoners on Tuesday, including a British resident accused in a radioactive “dirty bomb” plot.
The Defense Department gave no reason for the action and said the charges had been dismissed without prejudice, meaning they could be refiled later.
But it came after the U.S. government declined to pursue the dirty bomb charges in a Washington court case challenging the detention of Ethiopian-born British resident Binyam Mohammed as an “enemy combatant.”
Mohammed had said repeatedly that he falsely confessed to the plot while he was tortured in a Moroccan prison.
The Pentagon appointee overseeing the Guantanamo tribunals, Susan Crawford, dropped all charges against Mohammed, Saudi Arabian captives Jabran al Qahtani and Ghassan al Sharbi, Algerian prisoner Sufyian Barhoumi, and Sudanese captive Noor Uthman Muhammed, the Defense Department said in a statement.
Qahtani, Sharbi and Barhoumi were accused of plotting to build remote-control detonators for car bombs to be used against U.S. forces in Afghanistan. Muhammed was alleged to have been an al Qaeda training camp instructor.
POUGHKEEPSIE, NEW YORK. – Marist High School senior Girma Segni (Bronx, N.Y.) was named the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Men’s Cross Country Co-Runner of the Week on Monday afternoon. This marks the second time Segni has been given the honor in the 2008 season.
Segni, a native of Ethiopia who immigrated to the U.S. 7 years ago, was the overall winner of the UAlbany Cross Country Invitational on Saturday, running past a field of 186 runners. The senior ran a course record 24:35.2 over the 8K course at the University at Albany, leading Marist to the team title. Marist compiled 23 points, beating Brandeis by 68 points. He shares the honor with Iona’s Andrew Ledwith. Segni also was named MAAC Runner of the Week on September 22 when he shared the award with Iona’s Mohamed Khadraoui.
The Marist men’s and women’s cross country teams will next compete at the 2008 MAAC Men’s and Women’s Cross Country Championships, which will be held on November 1st at Disney’s Wide World of Sports Complex in Lake Buena Vista, Florida.
Ethiopian Immigrant Dominates On The Track And In School
Girma Segni travels from his home in the Bronx to Brooklyn every day to attend a Brooklyn High School. But that journey is nothing compared to the one he made in 2001, when he and his three siblings emigrated to the United States from Ethiopia, escaping civil warfare and the political and financial hardships they once endured.
His parents are deceased, so an older brother is now supporting Girma and two other siblings.
“If I work hard I think, ÎI will make him happier because he paid the price for it,’” says Girma.
“To have come from where he’s come from and to have been through what he’s been through and to still succeed at such a high level and persevere, I mean, those are the utmost qualities for success in the future,” says internship advisor Daria Witt.
When Girma first moved to New York, he didn’t speak any English, but he was determined to excel in academics and sports. Today he has a 92.1 grade point average, and is a member of his high school’s track teams.
For the last two years, Girma has been ranked as the city’s fastest high school long distance runner.
“When you’re out there running those miles, your mind is wandering and you want to stop, but you never see that in him,” says track coach Marc Cinamon, “All you see in him is he wants to go further.”
Girma’s also gone far as a leader to his peers. He’s captain of his high school’s cross country team, and he co-founded the African Club.
Girma is also involved with student government, and is a member of the National Honor Society.
“He works harder than almost any student I’ve ever seen in my life,” says math teacher and cross country coach Jay Mellstron.
Girma hopes to become an international civil rights lawyer so he can someday help Ethiopians who are still suffering from political persecution, and he’s already on the right track. He’s interned at the Immigration Defense Fund and was a member of the City Hall Academy, where he acted as a liaison between Ethiopian immigrants and City Hall officials.
He also volunteers as a peer educator, where he helps to increase HIV and AIDS awareness.
“His commitment to the immigrant community and the Ethiopian and African community is very, very strong and apparent in everything he does,” says Witt.
Girma says no matter which college he attends, he knows he’ll achieve his dream of becoming a civil rights lawyer. And he’ll also do his best to achieve his other goal, representing the U.S. in the 2012 Olympics.
“I want to run for America because it’s a free county. It’s my country,” he says.
So, for persevering though personal hardships, going after his dreams, and giving back to his community in New York and Ethiopia, Girma Segni is our NY1/Health Plus Scholar Athlete of the Week. hey
GENEVA – Yemen may move to deny entry to people from Ethiopia and Eritrea, after having recently detained 87 Ethiopians who reached the country after a perilous journey across the Gulf of Aden, the United Nations (UN) said today.
“Our office in Yemen is seeking clarification from the government following recent statements by the Interior Ministry that Eritreans and Ethiopians will be denied entry to the country,” said Ron Redmond, spokesman of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
The refugee agency said that over the last two weeks, 87 Ethiopians including 10 women and two children had sought asylum but were detained.
“UNHCR has not had access to them, but we have received government assurances of access,” said Redmond.
In addition, the agency “understands that some 25 Ethiopians, including six women, were removed by authorities from a vehicle transporting new arrivals to the UNHCR reception centre of Ahwar.”
Yemen’s actions came amid a rise in the number of people smuggled across the Gulf of Aden. Most are Somalis, but Ethiopians and Eritreans make up a minority.
For the year up to October 17, some 37 333 people have arrived in Yemen, while 616 have been killed or reported missing.
In October alone, 3 737 people arrived while 95 are missing or feared dead.
Donkey vs. Elephant” “Democrat vs. Republicans” “Socialism vs. Capitalism” “Free Market vs. Big Government”
Free Market? The only time that ever came close to existence is probably during the early stage of this nation’s founder’s time. I mean, the whole basis for revolution was that, taxation without representation to the King, Monarch, Big-Bank, Big-Government, and Big-Corporation who wish to control their lives. They armed themselves to reserve their right to revolt again, if they have to. The citizens then were a lot more informed and aware of things than those of us today. Do we have true free market today? … absolutely not. The term is just passed around to conceal the fact that some are privileged with more access to wealth, influence and power than others. You can call them the “invisible government”.
Over the years, businessmen and corporations have been merging in one form or another, further monopolizing the global industry and eliminating their non-cooperating competitors. They have realized that they could work together to establish and maintain collective power, and that they could work with governments (or rally enough to overthrow governments that wouldn’t cooperate with them) to establish rules which would be mutually beneficial and allow both to share power over everyone else… Read More
WASHINGTON (AFP) — As millions of Americans gear to vote in the thrilling 2008 White House race, experts are warning that the expected huge turnout could strain the voting system, triggering an electoral meltdown.
With just over two weeks to go until election day on November 4, they don’t even have to go too far back in history to find some glaring examples.
The 2000 presidential elections swung on a few hundred votes in Florida and the winner — George W. Bush — was eventually decided in the Supreme Court.
Four years later a tight race in Ohio, where at least one overwhelmed polling station did not close until 4:00 am, plunged the battle into temporary chaos.
“Our elections are simply too important to risk another meltdown that further shakes the confidence of the American public in our democratic system,” election watchdogs warned in a joint report Friday.
A state-by-state breakdown in the report entitled “Is America Ready to Vote?” found that in at least 10 states, some of them key battlegrounds which could decide the outcome, the answer may be no.
Colorado, Delaware, Kentucky, Louisiana, New Jersey, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah and Virginia all rated inadequate or needs improvement in three out of four categories examining how prepared they are for a crisis.
Problems could arise if voting machines break down, if there are not enough machines to deal with huge queues, or if polling officials are quite simply overloaded with not enough emergency paper ballots as back-up.
So worried are non-partisan groups like the Women’s League of Voters and Rock the Vote that they are encouraging people to vote early or by absentee ballot to avoid the queues, and readying legal teams and millions of volunteers on the ground to provide advice and practical help.
“Any time you are thinking of such a large turnout the first concern that comes to your mind is, ‘oh my goodness the polls are going to be a little crowded on election day,'” said Mary Wilson, president of the League of Women Voters.
Having met officials in battleground and swing states, she told reporters that some places are projecting turnouts of around 80 to 85 percent.
If that is reflected nationally that would smash all records in a country with low voter participation of between 54 to 61 percent.
With Democrat Barack Obama bidding to be the first African-American president, and Republican rival John McCain running with the party’s first woman VP pick Sarah Palin, voters are rushing to be part of history.
“We think the potential to have problems in any state is possible, things can go wrong in any state,” said Mary Boyle, from Common Cause, one of the co-sponsors of the report.
Florida, a traditional Republican stronghold which has become a battleground this year, could emerge again as a problem, she said highlighting efforts to remove voters off the voting lists.
Confusing rules in Indiana about the need to present identity papers may see people wrongly turned away, and rural, traditionally conservative Virginia, also a battleground state for the first time in four decades, could pose a headache.
“They have registered a huge number of people and it’s another state we keeping our eyes on,” Boyle said.
She also slammed voter suppression tactics such as flyers going around in some places falsely saying “Republicans are voting Tuesday, Democrats should go to the polls on Wednesday.”
“Believe it or not that kind of stuff still happens,” she said.
Young people are also being bombarded with misleading information, agreed Heather Smith, executive director of Rock the Vote, which aims to boost youth participation and this year has registered some 2.5 million new voters.
Some students have been wrongly told that they could be arrested for unpaid parking tickets if they turn up to vote, while others in Virginia where told they could jeopardize their tax status if they register to vote at their colleges.
Rock the Vote is particularly worried about what will happen in this year’s key states Ohio, Colorado, Florida and Virginia.
“These are close states where new voters can make of break the election, and there’s a lot of young people who are very engaged and are prepared to go out and vote,” said Smith.
“And you can see a vote is critical if people are either trying to turn them out or supress them and we are seeing both in particular in these huge college towns.”
POUGHKEEPSIE, NEW YORK. –