By Simon Wroe, Camden News

AN art student with a history of mental illness killed himself less than a week after doctors discharged him as a low-risk patient with a “sunny disposition”, an inquest heard.

Henock Legesse Eshete, 32, was discovered hanged at his home in the Burmarsh estate on Marsden Street, Queen’s Crescent, last October.

A suicide note ending with the words “Nobody will find me OK” was found near his body.

Staff from the Grove Centre, near the Royal Free Hospital, managed by the Camden and Islington Mental Health and Social Care Trust, told St Pancras Coroner’s Court on Thursday that Mr Eshete’s mental state had “considerably improved” in the months before his death and that the student, who fled civil unrest in Ethiopia in 1993, had been “optimistic”.

But during the inquest a picture emerged of an intensely private man, disturbed by a diagnosis of mental illness.

Yared Eshete, his brother, said being taken away from home had been a “big issue” and Henock had felt stigmatised by neighbours because he was “in and out of hospital” so frequently.

An argument with neighbours about the volume of Mr Eshete’s music, culminating in an alleged stabbing, led to him being sectioned under the Mental Health Act in July, the court heard.
Mr Eshete had been on the centre’s books since an attempted overdose 10 years earlier.

Despite known suicidal tendencies, psychiatrist Dr Philip Harrison Reid told the inquest that concerns surrounding his release were “focused on the protection of others” and that the patient had showed no signs of suicidal thoughts during the two months in his care.

He said: “When I saw him he was occasionally angry about his psychiatric illness, but most of the time his disposition was sunny.”

Lucy Keating, a psychiatric nurse at the centre, said: “He was quite chaotic in his behaviour.”
Yared added: “I’ve never known Henock to harm anybody. He did not want to affect others with his problems.”

Doctors were in the process of carrying out a full risk assessment when Mr Eshete died.
He was last seen eating in the ward the day following his discharge. The alarm was raised four days later when he failed to keep a psychiatric appointment.

Returning a verdict of suicide, Coroner Dr Andrew Reid said: “It was his intention to take his own life. This was in the context of enduring mental illness.”

NEW YORK (tadias.com) — A federal judge in New Jersey has declined to stop the new immigration rule that extends the optional practical training duration from 12 to 29 months for students with F-1 visas.

This is good news for foreign students. Opponents of the new rule had argued that extending the duration of the optional practical training (OPT), the period in which international students are allowed to work in the U.S., was another tactic to give foreign workers entry into the United States.

Annually more than 560,000 international students enroll in U.S. universities and about 40,000 are from sub-Saharan Africa. Ethiopia ranks sixth from the continent with 1,129 F-1 visas issued to Ethiopian students up until 2005… Read more >>

Bekoji is a small and modest town perched on top of an Ethiopian plateau but when it comes to its Olympic Games record, it boasts more trophies than several developed nations. The entire town had gathered around four television screens set up in cafes to watch Tirunesh Dibaba win the 10,000 metres final in Beijing, confident that the town’s latest prodigy would add her name to a growing hall of fame.

“It didn’t come as a surprise, I never doubted her victory in the first place,” said Sintayehu Eshetu, a veteran coach who once trained Tirunesh in Bekoji as part of the town’s youth programme.

After calmly staying in silver medallist Elvan Abeylegesse’s slipstream for most of the race, Tirunesh switched on the turbo in the last lap and breezed to her first Olympic victory.

“There was enough competition nonetheless,” adds Sintayehu, proudly looking at his former protege posing for photographs on the cafe’s TV screen as locals chant and cheer.

ADDIS ABABA (Sudan Tribune) – Sudanese defence minister, Abdel-Rahim Hussein met on Thursday with the Ethiopian Prime Minister dictator Meles Zenawi to discuss a number of bilateral and regional issues.

According to the official SUNA, the talks focused on bilateral cooperation in security issue. The talks dealt with the development of border trade and ways to revitalize the security military and economic bilateral cooperation.

Abdel Rahim told reporter in Khartoum that the meeting covered several important issues, and briefed Zenawi on the latest developments on the Sudanese arena, especially the peace process in Darfur region in addition to the activities carried out by the team supervisor of the implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement in Sudan.

He also discussed the indictment of the Sudanese president by the International criminal Court prosecutor who charged Omer al-Bashir of genocide, crimes against humanity and was crimes.

Meles has pledged to participate with the biggest military contingent, 5000 troops, in the peacekeeping operation in Darfur. The advance batch is expected over the weekend in El-Fasher.

EJEGAYEHOU Dibaba Ethiopia (5000m/10,000m/cross country)

Born 21 March 1982, Chefe, near Bekoji (home of Derartu Tulu and Kenenisa Bekele), Arsi, Ethiopia.
Lives in Addis Ababa

Manager: Mark Wetmore

Coach: Dr. Woldemeskel Kostre Club: Oromiya Prisons

Third of six children in a running family, including younger sisters Tirunesh and Genzebe. Tirunesh is reigning 10,000m World Champion, 5000m indoor and outdoor World record holder, and 5000m Olympic bronze medallist. Genzebe is the 2008 World Cross Country junior champion. Their cousin Derartu Tulu is a two-time Olympic 10,000m champion. Another athletic cousin, Bekelu Dibaba, also inspired Ejegayehou and Tirunesh, and they encourage younger brother Dejene (b. 1989), who shows promise.

As a 10-year old in Bekoji, Ejegayehou watched on TV as her cousin Derartu became the first Black African woman to win Olympic gold. But she continued to concentrate on her studies at the Bekoji elementary school (the same school attended by Derartu) until early in 1998, when a physical education teacher spotted her in one of his classes and urged her to run in the inter-school championships. Though she had hardly trained, she won easily and was selected for the Arsi Province team for the 1998 Oromiya Regional Championships. There she won the 8km junior race and caught the eye of selectors from the Oromiya Prisons Sports Club. She joined the club in May 1998.

By August 1999, she had moved to Addis Ababa to live with cousin Bekelu and continue her schooling, which she had stopped after sixth year, but running quickly took over. Less than a year after moving to Addis, she placed 4th at 10,000m in the Ethiopian Championships and attracted the interest of manager Wetmore. The following year, 2001, she ran cross country in Spain and Portugal and road races in North America, seldom finishing out of the top 5, and she represented Ethiopia at the Goodwill Games in Brisbane (6th at 10,000 in 32:24.20).

2002 saw more North American road races with few distinguished results, but a bronze at 5000m (15:56.02) in the African Championships in Tunisia. In 2003 her running moved up a level. She earned a spot on the Ethiopian World Cross team and finished 9th at 4 km in Lausanne. She then clocked an impressive 31:02.72 in the Palo Alto GP for 2nd behind Werknesh Kidane and took 3rdin the Ethiopian Championships 10,000m, earning another World Championships berth. In Paris, however, her PB 31:01.07 was only good for 9th in the greatest women’s 10,000m ever run (finishers 2 through 16 earned best-ever times for place), and family honors went to little sister Tirunesh, who sprinted to gold in the 5000m.

Ejegayehou assuaged her disappointment in the autumn with three gold medals in quick succession: first at the 8th All Africa Games in Abuja, Nigeria, where she won the 10,000m (32:34.54), beating teammate Eyerusalem Kuma; next at the 1st Afro Asian Games in India, where she also won the 10,000m (33:01.12), and then in Japan where she was part of Ethiopia’s winning team in the Chiba Ekiden road relay. She and her sister ended the year with a family 1-2 in the Great Ethiopian Run, Tirunesh crossing the line two seconds in front.

Ejegayehou began her 2004 cross country season with two wins in Spain and was named to both the short- and long-course teams for the World Cross in Bussels. She came away with a 2nd in the long race on the first day behind Australia’s Benita Johnson and an exhausted 10th in the short race the second day. Her track season was focused on Athens, but along the way she lowered her PBs at 5000 and 10,000m to such impressive marks (14:32.74 and 30:43.39) that she was initially selected for both events (though as a reserve in the 10,000m).

As it turned out, when Berhane Adere was dropped from the squad shortly before the Games, Ejegayehou was drafted into the 10,000m and Meseret Defar took her place in the 5000m. The new lineup worked well for Ethiopia as Meseret won gold in the 5000m (Tirunesh taking bronze), while Ejegayehou recorded a new PB (30:24.98) for silver in the 10,000m. She was disappointed not to have won, having shared the lead with her Ethiopian teammates Werknesh and Derartu over the last several laps, but she admits she was caught unawares by the finishing burst of gold medallist Xing Huina of China.

Ejegayehou’ closed out 2004 with a 3rd over 5000m at the IAAF World Athletics Final in Monaco and a share of yet another team title in the Chiba Ekiden.

Her form in 2005 was less than dazzling. In mid-January, she could do no better than 7th in the Edinburgh International cross country, and two weeks later she trailed in 25 seconds behind Tirunesh’s world indoor 5000m record in Boston. She took 3rd in the 4 km at the Ethiopian World Cross trials but only managed 14th at the St. Etienne/St. Galmier World Cross.

Ejegayehu’s best performances over the next few seasons came behind her sister Tirunesh. The sisters ran a 10,000m in Sollentuna, Sweden in June 2005 that turned out to be critical. It convinced Tirunesh, who ran a World leading 30:15.67 for her debut over the distance to contest it at the Helsinki Worlds, and gave Ejegayehou what remains her personal best to this day, 30:18.39 for 2nd place. Tirunesh went on win both events in Helsinki while, overshadowed by that historic accomplishment, but quite a feat in itself, was Ejegayehu’s haul of two bronzes, as part of a clean medal sweep by Ethiopia.

In several top three finishes behind Tirunesh in 2006, she ran a 3000m personal best 8:35.94 in London and season bests of 14:33.52 for 5000m at the Oslo GL and 8:49.59 for 3000m indoors in Birmingham. She qualified for the 2007 World Championships with a 10,000m win in Barakaldo, Spain, but in Osaka, Tirunesh was the only Ethiopian to medal and Ejegayehu finished seventh.

She appears to be back in top form in 2008, starting the year with a 3000m indoor PB of 8:36.59 in Boston in January, and kicking off the outdoor season as part of the Ethiopian 10,000m podium sweep at the African Championships in Addis Ababa before running 31:04.05 in Ostrava in June, placing second behind Tirunesh each time. Tirunesh’s world record 5000m run in Oslo on 6 June gave Ejegayehu a 14:36.78 2008 best in 3rd behind Kenyan Lucy Wangui Kabuu.

In Beijing, Kabuu and her compatriots will look to challenge the Dibaba sisters and Mestawet Tufa, who will work as a team hoping for one or both of the minor medals behind the overwhelming favourite Tirunesh.

Personal Bests

5000m: 14:32.74 (2004)
10,000m: 30:18.29 (2005)

Yearly Progression:
5000/10,000: 2001 – 15:32.31/ 32:24.20; 2002 – 15:56.02/-; 2003 – 14:41.67/ 31:01.07; 2004 – 14:32.74/ 30:24.98; 2005 – 14:37.34/30:18.29; 2006 – 14:33.52/- ; 2007 – 14:45.22/31:18.97; 2008 – 14:36.48/31:04.05.

Career Highlights

2008 2nd African Championships, 10,000m
2005 3rd World Championships in Athletics, 5,000m
2005 3rd World Championships in Athletics, 10,000m
2004 2nd Olympic Games, 10,000m
2004 2nd World Cross Country Championships, 8K
2003 1st All-Africa Games, 10,000m
2002 3rd African Championships, 10,000m

A note on Ethiopian names: Ethiopians are customarily referred to by first name or first and second name together, the second name being the father’s first name.

Prepared by Elshadai Negash and Sabrina Yohannes for the IAAF “Focus on Africans” Project

EDITOR’S NOTE: The people of Ethiopia have no role in this war crime against Somalis. It is Meles Zenawi, his generals, and their puppet master Jendayi Frazier at the U.S. State Department who are feasting in Somali blood. Unless Reuters and other news agencies stop referring to Zenawi’s mercenary soldiers as “Ethiopian troops,” may be we Ethiopians around the world need sue them for defamation.

MOGADISHU (Reuters) – Almost 50 people were killed in Somalia after separate roadside bombs targeting allied Ethiopian Woyanne and government troops went off and led to retaliatory attacks, residents said on Friday.

In one clash on Friday afternoon, Ethiopian Woyanne troops opened fire on civilians on a road out of Mogadishu when an explosion occurred in the middle of their convoy.

“I heard a big explosion and a vehicle in an Ethiopian Woyanne convoy exploded,” said Abdirahman Adan, who lives alongside the road out of the capital to the southern town of Afgooye.

“Ethiopian Woyanne soldiers in the convoy started to shoot indiscriminately. I ran away, but when I came back half an hour later, I saw 38 people had died and 16 injured.”

Adan said some of the dead had been passengers on buses that travel the route.

Another local resident, Hawa Abdi, said a relative was wounded during the incident. She saw five people that had died from the attack and 20 others who were hurt.

“We wanted to reach Mogadishu’s big hospital but we are unable to pass the streets because the road is closed,” she said.

In a separate attack, about five people were killed when a roadside bomb exploded as government troops checked out a street ahead of a presidential motorcade.

President Abdullahi Yusuf, his estranged Prime Minister Nur Hassan Hussein and parliamentary speaker were heading for Addis Ababa in Ethiopia for talks over a growing rift between the two leaders. They later managed to leave the country, officials said.

Yusuf’s fragile interim government is struggling to assert its authority in the face of a 20-month Iraqi-style insurgency. Somalia has witnessed unending violence since former strongman Mohamed Siad Barre was ousted in 1991.

The attacks came a day before a separate U.N.-brokered peace talks begun in neighbouring Djibouti.

The violence in Somalia has already claimed the lives of more than 8,000 civilians and driven 1 million from their homes since January 2007.

(Writing by Helen nyambura-Mwaura, Editing by Matthew Jones)