After more than two decades on the books, a little-known yet strictly enforced federal law barring foreigners with HIV or AIDS from entering the country is on its way out.
Tucked in a bill pledging $48 billion to combat the disease, signed into law by President Bush last week, was language stripping the provision from federal immigration law.
But that change didn’t fully lift the entry ban on visitors with HIV or AIDS, which applies whether they’re on tourist jaunts or seeking longer stays. The secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services still needs to delete HIV from the agency’s list of “communicable diseases of public health significance,” which includes tuberculosis, gonorrhea and leprosy.
An HHS spokeswoman declined to comment, noting administrators are still reviewing the new law. An April report from the Congressional Budget Office said that, based on information from HHS’ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, HIV will be dropped from the list and new regulations will be in place in two years.
Both immigrant and HIV awareness advocates, however, say the toughest hurdle has been cleared, that the lifting of the immigration provision has been a long time coming — politics finally catching up with medical knowledge.
“Today everyone knows that you can’t get AIDS from sitting next to someone on an airplane or sharing a bathroom — American policy should reflect this,” said Victoria Neilson, legal director of Immigration Equality, a New York-based advocacy group that has led a years-long campaign against the ban.
In San Antonio, people in the HIV/AIDS community welcomed the new law, but noted that plenty of people here had already circumvented the travel ban, since the area has been a long-standing destination for unauthorized immigrants.
Jan Patterson, an infectious disease specialist in San Antonio, agreed that the ban has no scientific underpinning.
When HIV first surfaced, researchers didn’t know how it was transmitted, but it has long been widely known that HIV is not easily contracted and that even people with full-blown AIDS can live for a long time, said Patterson, who has taught for 15 years at the University of Texas Health Science Center.
In a speech before signing the law, President Bush emphasized that “HIV’s deadly stigma” is still a societal obstacle because patients still don’t receive mainstream acceptance.
Congressional support for lifting the travel ban was bipartisan and strong, but not unanimous. Leading the opposition was U.S. Rep. Lamar Smith of San Antonio, the top Republican in the House Judiciary Committee. He sent a missive to his colleagues titled “The bill threatens the health and lives of Americans.”
The e-mail cited the CBO’s April report predicting that revoking the travel ban would allow an estimated 4,300 immigrants with HIV to enter the country in 2013, increasing to 5,600 by 2018. Smith’s message left out the report’s estimate of the public cost of treating these immigrants and their children between 2010 and 2018: $83 million.
Smith warned the disease has killed more than 500,000 Americans despite improved treatment and that allowing infected foreigners in would increase public risk.
The Family Focused AIDS Clinical Treatment and Services, a 2,000-patient clinic in San Antonio, offers services to anyone diagnosed with HIV whether they’re in the country legally or not, said its director, Tracy Talley.
So immigrants, particularly from Mexico, have made their way across the border for years just to get treatment unavailable back home, Talley said.
Many of them are referred to the clinic through a nonprofit aid group in San Antonio, Mujeres Unidas Contra el SIDA or United Women Against AIDS. The group’s director, Yolanda Rodríguez-Escobar, concurred with Talley that most HIV immigrants here are border-crossers who might never have heard of the travel exclusion.
They’d prefer to enter the country legally for treatment if given the option, said one of them. But in Mexico, the stigma of the disease is so great, those infected have always simply assumed their only immigration option is to go underground, he said.
“Everybody in Mexico knows that if you’ve got HIV, you might as well forget trying to get papers,” said Antonio, 41, an unauthorized immigrant with HIV in San Antoni.
Howard Wallen of New York tried to get papers to bring his wife into the country from Ethiopia, where he met her in 2002, later marrying her and having a daughter. They soon found out Abeba’s HIV status prevented her from coming to the United States with him.
She eventually died from AIDS — an outcome that might have been different had she received therapy in the United States, Wallen said.
“She deserved the dignity of that chance,” he said.
The HIV prohibition issue stretches beyond U.S. borders. The 11,000-member International AIDS Society counts 67 countries restricting the entry or stay of HIV patients.
Political objective and leadership devoid of public support shall never be victorious
Various international sources including the leadership of the self-proclaimed Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) are expressing that the leadership of the anti-peace and terrorist group has crumbled due to internal differences. It is obvious that the group would sooner or later suffer such catastrophe for its anti-people and anti-democratic policies and objectives.
In view of the destructive activities the OLF is bent on, its objectives and organization, the front can never appeal any public support. Moreover, the inhumane killings and terrifying crimes the group is committing against the very people it claims to struggle for, clearly show its anti-people stance. Apart from joining international terrorist groups and benefiting from their all rounded support, OLF has been disrupting peace and stability in Ethiopia and the Horn of Africa, at various times.
The front has been persistently attempting to take direct military actions against Ethiopia. However, with the concerted efforts and the coordinated struggle of the public and the defense forces, the anti-people position of the front has remained naked since its inception. Through organizing and coordinating its infamous agents, the front has caused the death and ruthless injury to innocent civilians in its grenade attacks throughout Addis Ababa and some towns and cities in the regional states. Most of these anti-peace elements were destroyed and many others put under legal custody by the close collaboration of the public and the Ethiopian security forces.
OLF is an anti-people and anti-democratic group, which isolated itself from the public, refused and left its involvement in the peaceful and democratic political arena and set out against national and public interest.
Because of its anti-peace, anti-people and anti-democratic position as well as its persistent political failure, the leadership has been suffering internal and external divisions and conflicts. The selfish OLF leaders have no sense of responsibility in using the innocent members of the front for their own cynical motives. The whole leadership and a few of its supporters are political gamblers who live peaceful and luxurious lives abroad, running businesses in the name of the people.
Senior OLF leaderships who are running their business and making efforts for political asylum in the name of political struggle, have now encountered the crises of internal split. In this regard, even ordinary members of the group have condemned the leadership and are leaving the front. This clearly shows that OLF is totally lacking mass base.
The front has lost the trust of most of its members for exposing them to lots of trouble, and for committing inhuman crimes against them by deceiving, kidnapping and forcing them to leave their country. Various bodies including its own senior leaders are now publicizing these inhuman acts.
The division among the senior leadership of the front demonstrates OLF’s anti-democratic and anti-people nature. It is on this ground that the public as well as the peace-loving international community have been condemning its evil agenda.
The Oromo Liberation Front (OLF), which once walked away from the peaceful and democratic opportunities to join terrorist groups, can never attain its objectives. However, the struggle of democratic forces will always triumph.
Oyez! Oyez! Oyez! Republican Oklahoma Senator James Inhofe, defender and self-described “brother” and “friend” of dictator Zenawi and arch nemesis of H.R. 2003 in the U.S. Senate, is a champion of human rights! Don’t laugh. It is true. I think. Oyez! Oyez! Oyez! Republican Oklahoma Senator James Inhofe is a coddler of thugs, criminals, human rights violators and war criminals! Is he? I am pretty sure of it. Then again, may be not. Will the real James Inhofe, please stand up!?
In June, 2008, Inhofe co-sponsored Senate Resolution 611 (so-called “sense of the Senate” resolution) in “support of the people of Zimbabwe,” and “in condemnation of the Mugabe regime for its manipulation of the country’s electoral process”. In April, 2008, Inhofe co-signed a letter hammering Chinese President Hu Jintao for “not respecting the basic rights of the people of Tibet” and clamping down on the press. In October, 2007, Inhofe furiously condemned and vowed to oppose H.R. 2003 (“Ethiopia Democracy and Accountability Act of 2007”) as a piece of legislation that “enflames tensions already present in the Horn of Africa, threatening regional stability and long term U.S. national security.”
Zimbabwe, China and Ethiopia: Two Dictatorships and One Democracy?
On June 26, 2008, Sen. Inhofe made the following pontificating speech in the U.S. Senate:
I rise today to call to attention to a place that has been lost in the sea of many other conflicts and crises plaguing our world. Zimbabwe… has faced and continues to face difficult challenges and untold sufferings, caused primarily by an authoritarian and corrupt leader, Robert Mugabe… In the 1990s, the country continued to weaken under the self-centered leadership of Mugabe. As the book of Proverbs tells us, “Where there is no vision, the people perish…” (Proverbs 29:18) Robert Mugabe failed to provide a vision for his country, focusing solely upon himself and his ability to remain in power…. Foreign Policy magazine ranks Zimbabwe 4th on the scale of failed states… Throughout almost 30 years of Mugabe’s rule, he has worked to tighten his reign over the nation by intimidation, violence, and oppression… On March 29, 2008, Zimbabwe held presidential elections… [which] was tainted by intimidation of voters and violence against the opposition party and supporters of the opposition; political rallies were banned; the opposition party’s secretary general was jailed, denied bail, tried with treason, and may face the death penalty. There are also reports that the regime is restricting access to food in opposition areas, threatening already hungry people to either vote for Mugabe or starve.
Inhofe concluded:
While Mugabe leads Zimbabwe away from reaching its full potential, there are other leaders on the continent that have chosen a vision of democracy, freedom and progress for their countries. While not perfect, each of them is making improvements and taking strides to improve democratic practices and exercise free political will. It is time for Mugabe to allow his people to decide the next phase and direction of their country. I call on African leaders, many of whom are my friends and brothers, and leaders all over the world to do what they can to help the people of Zimbabwe. (Italics added.)
On April 2, 2008, Inhofe co-signed a letter with other senators calling on Chinese President Hu Jintao to end the crisis in Tibet. The letter stated:
We write today to respectfully urge you, in the strongest possible terms, to take all necessary steps to bring about a peaceful resolution to the current crisis in Tibet and to respect the human rights of the Tibetan people.
First and foremost, we ask that the Chinese government remove its restrictions on the media and communications, and allow independent monitors and the foreign press unfettered access to the region… We also ask that the government release those detained for peaceful protest and demonstrate respect for the internationally-recognized right to peaceful assembly and expression of political opinion.
The protests seem to reflect long-simmering Tibetan resentment toward Chinese policies and laws that have failed to respect the basic rights of the people of Tibet. In any such dialogue, it is vitally important that the Chinese set forth a timeline and framework for evaluation of substantive progress… (Italics added.)
On October 17, 2007, Inhofe slammed “The Ethiopia Democracy and Accountability Act of 2007” (H.R. 2003) after it passed in the U.S. House of Representatives. He condemned the legislation for its focus on “shortcomings while blatantly ignoring the unprecedented progress the country has made.” Inhofe expounded:
The language contained in H.R. 2003 enflames tensions already present in the Horn of Africa, threatening regional stability and long term U.S. national security. The growing instability in Somalia and the Ogaden region, combined with the unresolved border dispute between Ethiopia and Eritrea in the north, has created major challenges for Ethiopia. While I agree that the violence and intimidation that took place in the country after the 2005 election was an unnecessary use of excessive force, the Government of Ethiopia has taken significant steps to regain a democratic process that is fair and respectful of human rights… During my recent trip to Africa in April, I witnessed first-hand Ethiopia’s democratic progress and commitment in fighting terrorism.
Although I appreciate the increased attention being given to Africa and particularly Ethiopia, I believe the bill takes the wrong approach by placing demands on a friend and ally that has made obvious advancements in democracy and human rights. (Italics added.)
On Planet Inhofe…
Inhofe lives on a loony planet that he shares only with his “brothers” and “friends”. As the ranking member of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, he has described global warming as “the second greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people after the separation of church and state.” He has proposed that the “global warming hoax” might be perpetrated by the Weather Channel: “We all know the Weather Channel would like to have people afraid all the time.” He has compared environmentalists to Nazis (“they remind me of the Third Reich”) and described the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as “a Gestapo bureaucracy”. During a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on the mistreatment of detainees at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, Inhofe justified the use of torture by reminding his fellow senators that the detainee suspects are actually bad hombres: “You know, they’re not there for traffic violations…. [The detainees] are murderers, they’re terrorists, they’re insurgents.” In light of Inhofe’s numerous goofy and preposterous statements, Professor Bruce Jackson, Distinguished Professor and Samuel P. Capen Professor of American Culture at the State University of New York, Bufffalo, has described him as “may be the dumbest U.S. Senator of them all.”
Of course, none of us should be surprised by Inhofe’s dogmatic opposition to H.R. 2003, and his blind support for Zenawi. On Planet Inhofe, wrong is right if it is politically expedient. Right is wrong if the objective facts offend Inhofe’s sensibilities. Personal friendships trump everything, including principles, morality, ethics, and especially the cold, hard facts. Planet Inhofe is ultimately a fanciful Manichaean world of good and evil. Mugabe is evil, Zenawi is good. Mugabe is “self-centered”, has “no vision”, and “solely” concerned about “his ability to remain in power”. But Zenawi is a man of vision so unconcerned with remaining in power that he has banned all opposition parties, jailed their leaders, decimated the free press and rules solely by intimidation and violence. Mugabe is single handedly responsible for making Zimbabwe a “failed state” (no. 3 on the Failed State Index, 2008), but Zenawi is an illustrious leader for doing the same thing to Ethiopia (no. 16 on the Index). Mugabe is a “corrupt dictator” for putting Zimbawe at the rank of 150 out of 179 countries on the Corruption Index (2007), but Zenawi is a conscientious and respectable leader for putting Ethiopia at the rank of 138th out of 179 countries on the same Index.
On Planet Inhofe, Mugabe is an “authoritarian” leader by conducting elections that are “tainted by intimidation of voters and violence against the opposition party and their supporters”, but Zenawi is a benevolent leader who has “taken significant steps to regain a democratic process that is fair and respectful of human rights” by jailing opposition leaders, human rights advocates and journalists, and thousands of ordinary citizens suspected of disloyalty to his regime. Mugabe is a heartless and ruthless despot for “threatening already hungry people to either vote for Mugabe or starve”, but Zenawi is an enlightened leader for weaponizing famine against civilians, creating the second largest refugee population (after Darfur) in Africa, and condemning 13 million Ethiopians to avoidable famine. “It is time for Mugabe to allow his people to decide the next phase and direction of their country,” but it is NOT time for Zenawi to do the same in Ethiopia.
Similarly, Hu Jintao is a villainous oppressor for not “respecting the human rights of the Tibetan people”, and for refusing to “remove restrictions on the media and communications”, but Zenawi is a “great African leader” for trampling on the human rights of Ethiopians and making Ethiopia in 2007 the country “where press freedom has deteriorated the most over the past five years” (Committee to Protect Journalists). It is necessary to “release peaceful protesters” in Tibet, but it is perfectly acceptable to warehouse hundreds of thousands of Ethiopians in Oromiya region. It is vitally important” for Jintao “to set a timeline for substantive progress in Tibet,” but it is not time for Zenawi to do the same in Ethiopia.
The bottom line is that Inhofe is a man completely lost on a desolate planet of ethical and political relativism and moral nihilism. For Inhofe, there is really no right and wrong. It is all about political expediency and opportunism. If a guy is a maniacal human rights violator and certified war criminal but is useful in fighting terrorism, then the guy’s egregious crimes can be overlooked, excused and justified. In fact, the criminal is to be lionized as a “Hero of the War on Terrorism”. For Inhofe, all crimes, immorality and wickedness are justifiable. Such is life on the wacky planet of James Inhofe!
H.R. 2003: “Inhofed” and Tag-teamed, But Very Much Alive!
Inhofe is the quarterback on Team D.L.A. Piper lined up against H.R. 2003 in the Senate. He “calls the plays in the (Senate) huddle.” Inhofe’s strategy is to use Senate procedures to delay and/or prevent action on the bill in committee; and to keep it away from the floor by making a veiled threat of a filibuster. This partly explains the apparent lack of visible legislative activity on H.R. 2003 in the Senate, which has led some people to believe the bill is “dead”. Zenawi certainly hopes that we could be duped into believing that, but lamentations for H.R. 2003 may be somewhat premature, and its demise greatly exaggerated. To understand the current status of H.R. 2003 in the Senate, one must appreciate the peculiarities of that institution, which regrettably can not be fully explained in this piece. Suffice it to say that many bills, far more “important” bills than our H.R. 2003, have been stymied, but certainly not dead, in the Senate over the past year, including measures seeking immigration and health care financing reform, consumer protection, energy policy and regulation of green house emissions.
Readers unfamiliar with the Senate legislative process may find it useful to know that the process that resulted in passage of H.R. 2003 in the House is very different from the one in the Senate. With only 100 members (compared to 435 members in the House), the Senate has its own unique institutional and interactive dynamics. There are two distinctive aspects of the Senate process which Inhofe could exploit to undermine H.R. 2003: 1) the relative informality of the Senate legislative process, and 2) the unlimited opportunities for each Senator to be heard and offer as many amendments, relevant or otherwise, to any legislation under consideration.
Senate rules and practices promote full deliberation on issues presented to the body. But in the deliberative process, greater emphasis is placed on the rights of individual Senators, often at the expense of the interests of the majority. Much of the Senate’s business is conducted by way of “unanimous consent”, a process by which agreements between individual Senators are brokered and worked out in advance of floor consideration. But a single Senator can block a unanimous consent request on an issue of special interest to him/her. Often by objecting to a unanimous consent request to take up a measure, the individual Senator is implicitly threatening to filibuster (or unlimited debate), which could effectively tie up Senate business for a significant period of time.
The purpose of a filibuster is to delay progress on a piece of legislation or prevent a final Senate floor vote on it. A filibuster allows an individual Senator to speak against a bill (or talk about anything else s/he wishes) at indefinite length (the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was filibustered by teams of Senators for 57 days and nights), or delay action on a measure by offering numerous (relevant and irrelevant) amendments and motions. A filibuster could be ended by 1) changing the bill as desired by the filibustering Senator, 2) withdrawing it from consideration, or 3) “cloture” (closure) which requires a petition signed by 16 Senators and a vote of 60 Senators to end debate, and vote on the measure. With the U.S. Senate evenly divided across party lines (presently there are 49 democrats and 49 republicans in the Senate, with two “independents”), it would not be easy to end a filibuster by cloture, which means a filibustered bill will likely be withdrawn from consideration and no floor vote taken. Moreover, an individual Senator can also place a “hold” (requests by Senators to be consulted personally before a matter is brought up for consideration) on a bill. Usually, the majority leader (leader of the party controlling the Senate) will not even consider bringing a measure to the floor and request unanimous consent to consider it if there is an outstanding hold placed by a Senator.
In short, Inhofe and Team D.L.A. Piper have potent weapons in Senate procedures and practices to keep H.R. 2003 from coming to the floor for consideration. He can put a “hold” on the bill, decline to give unanimous consent and refuse to waive the rules, or filibuster it if it should somehow get to the floor. But that does not mean H.R. 2003 is “dead”. Not by a long shot. For now, let’s just say that as “there are more ways than one to skin a cat,” so there are more ways than one to get H.R. 2003 as part of American law and foreign policy. Of course, Zenawi would like to have us believe that the bill is “dead” and all our efforts have been in vain. Our psychological defeat and collective demoralization means more to him and gives him infinitely greater satisfaction than passage of the bill itself. But we should always remember that if H.R. 2003 is defeated on the Senate floor today, we can have it reintroduced next year or the year after that and try to get it passed again. But if we allow Zenawi or anyone else to use the fact of delayed action or lack of Senate floor consideration of H.R. 2003 the first time around to break our fighting spirit and shatter our collective resolve to promote and defend human rights in Ethiopia, then we would have delivered to him his greatest victory; and if we should let this happen, we are not worthy of being called defenders of human rights and liberty!
Let us draw inspiration from Winston Churchill, who under the mighty Nazi war machine felt “many countries had closed the account” on his homeland: “Never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never– in nothing, great or small, large or petty — never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy.” NEVER!
Never Give In, But Always Have Faith
Never give in, but ALWAYS have FAITH that the forces of GOOD will win over the forces of EVIL. Have FAITH that the bells of liberty will ring from Badme in the north to Moyale in the south, and from Malwal to the west to Domo on the east because God is on our side; and as William Cowper set to verse:
“God moves in a mysterious way his wonders to perform
He plants his footsteps in the sea
and rides upon the storm. …
You fearful saints, fresh courage take;
the clouds you so much dread
Are big with mercy and shall break
in blessings on your head…”
Lying Tongue, and Hands…
Senator Inhofe cited Proverbs 29:18 to teach Mugabe that “Where there is no vision, the people perish…” We wonder if Mr. Inhofe has learned anything from Proverbs 6:17 about the things that are an abomination to the Lord: “A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood.”
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The writer, Alemayehu G. Mariam, is a professor of political science at California State University, San Bernardino, and an attorney based in Los Angeles. For comments, he can be reached at [email protected]
In an effort to remain competitive, Ethiopian Airlines has signed code share flight agreements with Lufthansa, the German airline to further strengthen its position in the European Union (EU) markets.
The airline also signed a memorandum of understanding on strategic partnership and investment with Asky, a newly established airline based in Lome, Togo in a bid to serve the West African grid. The agreements are expected to strengthen the carriers in areas of marketing, operations and efficient services to customers.
This means that Ugandan and other passengers in the region traveling to Germany and other EU states on Ethiopian, will fly up to Addis Ababa and join Lufthansa airlines to their various final destinations. Ethiopian Airlines Country Manager Ms Regassa Ermejachew, said on August 7 that the business arrangement s will increase Ethiopian’s traffic volumes and bring business growth.
“Ethiopian can’t be an island in the aviation industry. Airlines are forming different forms of cooperation and Ethiopian airlines has been very cautious to assess its own weaknesses and strengths,” Ms Regassa said.
“We have been studying and doing consultations and we have reached a time when we want to make special arrangements for code share”. The Secretary General of African Airlines Association Mr Christian Folly-Kossi witnessed the signing of the Asky’s MoU, a detailed roadmap for Asky to start its operations by December.
While signing the code share agreement in Vancouver, Canada recently, the Ethiopian Airlines Chief Executive Officer Mr Girma Wake, and Chairman and CEO Lufthansa German Airlines, Mr Wolfgang Mayhuber, also signed various operational agreements to facilitate the implementation of the code share agreement.
“The new code share agreement will further strengthen Ethiopian’s position in Germany and other European markets by creating additional possibilities to access traffic through the extensive Lufthansa’s network,” said Mr Wake is a statement from Ethiopian headquarters in Addis Ababa.
In code share flight arrangements, airlines make their schedules compatible with one another. Code sharing and going into partnerships has been seen a viable way for airlines to continue being in the skies.
International Air Transport Association (IATA), a body that oversees, an aviation body representing some 230 airlines, in its international traffic data for June, showed a continued slowing of demand growth for air transport, said in its latest report that global passenger growth has hit a five-year low as freight volumes continue to contract amidst falling demand and rising costs, which are re-shaping the industry.
“The airline sector is in trouble. Losses this year could reach $6.1 billion, more than wiping out the $5.6 billion that airlines made in 2007. Falling demand and rising costs are re-shaping the industry,” said IATA CEO, Mr Giovanni Bisignani in a statement.
“To survive the crisis, urgent action is needed. Airports and air navigation service providers must come to the table with efficiencies that deliver cost savings. Labour must understand that efficiency is the only path to job security, ” he added.
We have, on several occasions, stated how it is becoming increasingly difficult for international aid organizations to work in the Ogaden, and as a result they are opting to create partnerships with grass-roots, local non-governmental organizations (NGOs) who have long and better experience in reaching out the intended beneficiaries. On the other hand, we noted how the TPLF led regime has been busy in implementing policies hostile to NGOs in the past years. As, similar to other nationalities, Ogaden people continue to suffer at the hands of brutal Woyyane oppression, TPLF and its stooges are committed to harass NGOs operating in this part of the world. On August 07, 2008 the so called Regional President Abdullahi Hassan better known as Lugbuur has through a letter commanded the suspension of two local NGOs´ licenses.
The two NGOs, Alnejah Relief, Rehabilitation and Development Organization (ARRDO) and Hope for the Horn (HFH) are among the first and few in the region with some community projects in various areas in the Ogaden. I am not writing this article to defend any wrong-doing by these NGOs like the claimed corruption, unethical conduct, attitudinal problems, mismanagement etc. They can commit errors but it is outrageous and shameful the way their license is suspended.
First of all, according to current constitution, it is the mandate of Ministry of Justice to grant NGOs with licenses and only this ministry can revoke or suspend these licenses. As a matter of decentralization, the ministry also gives directives to the Disaster Preparedness, and Prevention Agency (DPPA) on how to deal with some issues regarding local organizations. Apparently, the action of Lugbuur is violating the current regime´s own constitution and instead of warning Lugbuur, Deputy Prime Minister, Addisu Leggese who was touring Jigjiga last week with other ministers has applauded for criminals like Lugbuur for massacring the Ogaden people.
Before suspending any NGOs license there must be a clear legal procedure beginning with investigation of allegations. Only with solid evidence can action be taken by either the DPPA, the Ministry, or generally by the Federal Ethics and Anti Corruption Commission all of which are Institutions used by TPLF as they wish. Even after this investigation it does not imply NGO´s license is automatically suspended if found guilty or culpable. Rather their Code of Conduct states other options such as issuing a warning, or targeting the person responsible for the wrong-doing depending on the scale of the breach.
Lugbuur´s move is not the first of its kind. He is just doing the dirty job of TPLF. Whenever they want to play such games they order him to pretend as if he is the ruler of the region while he is not more than a puppet. Otherwise it is not he; rather it is the TPLF cadre sitting next to him that dictates the daily affairs. It is the same history when he ordered several International NGOs like ICRC and MSF-Swiss to cease operations in the Ogaden. At that time, in an interview with the media, he denied any federal interference, while he later confessed to one of his relatives that he was given orders to expel the ICRC and he did so without knowing the reason behind.
Sarcastically, one wonders how Lugbuur and his fellow stooges can accuse others of corruption while they have stolen hundreds of millions of public money during their three and half years in the puppet administration. Where did really all these money go? Where did all those ambitious projects designed over qat-chewing cessions end up? We –the people- do not know, far worse we cannot seek answers. Right now the people bother neither about transparency nor accountability, checks and controls. Only if we were left alone for our lives!!!
This latest development comes as the people are in one of their most critical time to survive. The two affected NGOs have been working in partnership with many international donor organizations such as United Nations (UNICEF, WFP, WHO), OXFAM, ICCO, Muslim Aid, Christian Aid, MSF, Save the Children, Muslim Hands etc and with this threat of terminating ongoing projects as well as future ones, many beneficiaries whose only hope of survival was these NGOs will definitely be left out to a grim fate, not to mention the hundreds of employees and their families who suddenly face income insecurity.
Our people are made powerless and voiceless and it is not ironic to turn to the international community for help for they can influence TPLF´s policies when they if they really want to. Nevertheless, it only makes us more heartbroken to see the international community´s response to this crisis not being on par with the gravity of the problem.
Fans say the reggae star was framed because his music was seen as anti-government. ‘You don’t know where the line is — until you’ve crossed it,’ says one Ethiopian.
ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA — Sequestered in a dank prison cell here, Ethiopia’s biggest reggae star awaits trial in a deadly hit-and-run case that has galvanized the nation.
Federal prosecutors say Tewodros Kassahun, dubbed the Bob Marley of Ethiopia, fled after striking a homeless boy with his BMW. They call it a case of celebrity bad behavior.
Fans say the singer, also known as Teddy Afro, is being framed because of his music’s perceived anti-government message. In one song, he accuses Ethiopia’s leaders of promising change, but bringing only “a new king.”
Fans also ask why Kassahun was not charged until April, though the boy was killed in 2006.
Kassahun’s controversial incarceration has spurred small protests, a rarity in this tightly controlled Horn of Africa country, and is fast becoming a national symbol of what some call Ethiopia’s latest democratic backsliding.
After a 2005 post-election crackdown, Ethiopia’s government tried to ease tensions last fall by pardoning thousands of jailed opposition supporters and allowing some independent newspapers to reopen.
“We’d hoped that was the beginning of an opening in the democratic space,” said Hailu Araaya, deputy chairman of the recently formed Unity for Democracy and Justice party. He spent 20 months in jail before his release in July 2007. “But the political space is contracting again. It’s clear the ruling party is determined to stay in power by any means.”
Government critics point to a string of new laws targeting political parties, journalists and humanitarian agencies.
Under one new law, political parties can no longer accept foreign donations and must disclose the names of domestic contributors. Opposition groups say that restriction has dried up their financial support because potential contributors fear government retaliation.
A draft bill would ban private aid agencies and civic groups from “political” activities, such as advocating human rights, if they receive more than 10% of their funding from foreigners.
A new media law permits government censorship and jail terms for journalists.
Prime Minister Dictator Meles Zenawi said the reforms were an attempt to bring Ethiopia’s laws up to international standards, noting that U.S. rules also ban foreign campaign contributions.
“We are institutionalizing democracy and getting the law right,” he said. “I don’t think the political space is in any way being constrained.”
But critics said restrictions on foreign funding and political activism were particularly galling considering that nearly 40% of Ethiopia’s government budget comes from international donors and that the ruling party has hired a Washington lobbyist to attack U.S. legislation seeking to tie aid to Ethiopia’s human rights record.
“This is a nationalist charade,” Human Rights Watch attorney Reed Brody said. Opposition leaders and some Western diplomats say the new laws appear to be an attempt to consolidate power before the 2010 presidential election.
Ethiopia is eager to avoid a repetition of the 2005 election, when opposition parties won in many cities, including Addis Ababa, the capital. Postelection wrangling led to the government crackdown in which nearly 200 people were killed and more than 30,000 opposition candidates and supporters were imprisoned.
In local elections this spring, the ruling coalition won handily in most locations. Opposition parties boycotted the poll after complaining that the government prevented them from fielding candidates in many districts.
Negasso Gidada, a former president who quit the ruling coalition in 2001, blamed its members’ roots as former Marxist rebels for the government’s heavy-handed approach.
“They don’t claim they want a socialist state, but the ideology is still there,” he said. “They don’t tolerate other ideologies.”
Meles dismissed as “hogwash” claims that his government is ideologically driven.
His government is under heavy pressure from Western donors to improve Ethiopia’s democratic record.
Over the last two years, Ethiopian soldiers have been accused of killing, torturing and raping civilians in their battle against an insurgency in the restive Ogaden region and of similar abuses in neighboring Somalia, where thousands of Ethiopian troops are propping up Somalia’s weak transitional government.
Meles denied any systematic rights abuses in either region.
Opposition parties and rights groups are calling upon Western nations, including the United States, to use their leverage to push harder for reforms. The Bush administration, which sees Ethiopia as a key anti-terrorism partner in Africa, has dramatically increased aid to the country in the last two years.
“The international community espouses ideas about good governance, transparency and human rights, but then they help a regime that flouts and violates those fundamental rights,” said Araaya, the opposition official.
U.S. Ambassador to Ethiopia Donald Yamamoto defended Washington’s support, noting that most of the $800 million in Ethiopian aid this year is for emergency food and AIDS drugs. About $13 million is budgeted for military assistance.
“I don’t think the American people or the Congress are going to accept decreasing food when there are photographs from Ethiopia of starving children,” he said. “They are going to ask, ‘Why aren’t you helping these starving kids?’ ”
On the streets of Addis Ababa, some Ethiopians say they’ve noticed political improvements. But fear of government intimidation remains strong and many have interpreted the arrest of Kassahun as a warning against speaking out. Two Ethiopian journalists have been arrested for writing sympathetically about the singer’s case.
“Before, when we were operating in a full-fledged dictatorship, you knew what you could and couldn’t do,” said one Ethiopian, who was afraid to be identified. “Now there is more openness, but you don’t know where the line is — until you’ve crossed it.”
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The writer can be reached at [email protected]
