According to a Ethiopian Newspaper the Addis Fortune, the Bush Administration is concerned about the “narrowing” of Democracy in Ethiopia. The report indicates that there are two pieces of Legislation at the Heart of the Concern of the US Government.
In a joint press briefing that was held in Addis Ababa on July 24th the US Undersecretary for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor David J Kramer was joined by the Current Ambassador Donald Yamanoto to discuss the Concerns. On this particular trip Ethiopia was the only stop made in Africa by Ambassador Kramer. He spent a total of 48 hours in the East African Country.
During his Visit the Ambassador met with Ethiopian Prime Minister Zenawi and other Members of the ruling EPRDF (Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front. The Ambassador stated that the US has vibrant relations with the Ethiopian Government. Two Areas that were prominently mentioned were Security and Humanitarian Issues.
However there are two major areas of concern for this Administration in its last few months. First is the New Ethiopian Media Law. In the eyes of some experts this law makes it easier for the Government to Launch new efforts of Repression. One Chilling Chapter can allow for Defamtion Cases to be filed by the Government even if the person that was injured decides not to file charges.
This comes on the heels of the “reforms” last year of the Ministry of Information. The Government now has power to use licensing and registration as a Punishment of Dissent. Another Feature gives the Government Power to stop the Distribution of a Newspaper if the Attorney General deems a news item to be a criminal act.
The Actions against NGOs is a Major concern as some of them have been targeted for their work in the Ogaden Region. Once again Ethiopia has suffered from drought conditions and the country is heavily involved in neighboring Somalia. Some NGOs have been targeted for their work since the Controversial 2005 Elections that had a violent aftermath.
The US Congress has introduced a Piece of Legislation HR 2003 The Ethiopian Democracy and Accountability Act. It passed the House of Representatives without dissent but is currently stalled in the US Senate. This was introduced to raise the concerns of the Legislative Body after the violence plagued 2005 elections. A better way to raise US Concerns would be to pass this legislation as well as contacts with the current leadership in Addis Ababa.
For what its worth Ethiopia is a hingepin for a successful US Policy in the Horn of Africa. It has been active in Somalia on behalf of US Interests for a couple of years now. It has a long running feud with Eritrea that could erupt into warfare as well. So Whatever action Ethiopia takes probably has the blessing of this Administration. But what of the next one?
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The writer can be reached at [email protected]
(Capital) ADDIS ABABA – A project for a multi- billion dollar bridge that would span the Red Sea at an 18-mile-wide strait, connecting the southern tip of Yemen with Djibouti, was launched on Monday, July 28, in Djibouti with the initial stage of the project scheduled to start next October.
The venture is part of a 200 billion dollar, Al Noor Cities Project, to be developed by Al Noor Holding Investment Co. (Al Noor), a United Arab Emirates based company owned by Sheik Tarek M. bin Laden and his two sons, Bandar and Amr, the former being the brother of Osama bin Laden, founder of al-Qaeda.
The ‘Bridge of the Horns’ will have a six-lane highway with four light rail lines as well as water and oil pipelines. Connecting East Africa and the Middle East, the project involves the development of two new cities that would eventually be connected by a 28.5 km road and rail bridge between Yemen and Djibouti. It will also comprise suspension bridge structures, with the suspension portion to become the longest in the world. Moreover, to allow large vessels to pass underneath, the bridge would have two main suspension spans, each about 2.7kilometers long.
Speaking at the launching, CEO of Al Noor Mohammed Ahmed Al Ahmed said, “It is a new city and it is happening. Africa is the center of the world with a population of close to 1 billion, while the Middle East North Africa region has a population of 400 million. We have all the ingredients to make this project a reality.”
More than 50 top companies in the world, many of them from the US, are closely associated with the project, which has an estimated price tag ranging from 10 to 20 billion USD and was conceptualized by Sheikh Tarek bin Laden. bin Laden’s company, Al Noor Holding Investment, will be responsible for the projects execution in phases to be spread out across 12 to 15 years.
Mesfin Asfaw, representative of Middle East Development LLC Tarek and Elias Taha, Coordinating Committee of the project both based in Ethiopia, jointly told Capital that Al Noor Alliance, which has already been formed as a group of 50 world class companies, will be responsible for the management of the project.
“The Alliance Program Management Office has been established by the alliance and will staff, develop and manage this program through its entire life cycle,” Mesfin said, “There will be no constraint of funding”.
Present at the launch announcement were Prime Minister of Djibouti, Mohammed Dileita, Shiek Tarik bin Laden and his two sons, Bandar and Amr, several Djiboutian officials and some 200 journalists from nearly 80 countries.
Tarek bin Laden is an elder brother of the world’s most famous terrorist.
The bin Laden family, from Saudi Arabia, has operated a construction empire for decades. In the mid-1990s, the clan cut its financial ties with Osama bin Laden, founder of al-Qaeda, around the time he declared war on the United States and called for the overthrow of the Saudi ruling family.
Since then, the rest of the bin Ladens — Osama has 24 half brothers and 29 half sisters — have quietly gone on with their business. The bridge would be their most ambitious project to date, overshadowing their renovations of Islamic holy sites in the Saudi cities of Mecca and Medina.
Mulunesh Musse stands with her husband and their four sons in front of the new insecticide-treated bednet that they received from health extension workers.
By Indrias Getachew
SHEBEDINO, Ethiopia, 5 August 2008 – The rainy season is well underway in much of Ethiopia, but while the rains bring hope to rural communities, they also create ideal breeding conditions for malaria-carrying mosquitoes.
Over twenty million insecticide-treated nets (ITNs) have been distributed to more than ten million households in malaria-prone areas of Ethiopia since 2005. The nets have only a three-year lifespan, however, so those that were distributed early in the campaign now need replacement.
Mulunesh Musse shares one such treated bednet with her four children in Shebedino District. The bednet is now ripped along one side and has a gaping hole in front, so it no longer fully protects her and her family from malaria.
Female health workers
Medhanit Tilahun and Bezunesh Bekele are two of more than 24,000 female Health Extension Workers deployed at the village level to bring preventative health care to rural communities.
Villagers from outlying parts of Sedeka Village in Shebedino District, line up to receive insecticide-treated nets at the village health post.
They are part of a major pillar in Ethiopia’s strategy to control and eradicate malaria. The workers go door-to-door, inspecting protective bed-nets and educating the community.
Ms. Tilahun and Ms. Bekele help Ms. Musse take down the ragged net hanging over the bed she shares with her four children. They replace it with a brand new one.
“When I started working, a lot of people in this community were sick with malaria,” said Ms. Tilahun. “You would find two or three members of the same family sick at the same time. There were times when we buried two or three persons who had died from malaria in one day.”
The female health workers form the core of the ambitious Health Extension Programme launched in 2005 by the Federal Ministry of Health and supported by UNICEF.
“I am very happy with what we have accomplished,” said Ms. Tilahun. “First, I have protected myself from getting sick. I use myself as an example to teach others to transform their lives.”
Preventing a lethal combination
Drought-related malnutrition can leave a weak immune system open to attack from malaria. It can also worsen the effects of existing malnutrition through diarrhoea and anaemia.
“If a malnourished child catches malaria it is prone to complications and has a higher risk of dying,” says UNICEF Ehtiopia’s Health Project Officer Dr. Tersit Assefa. “We are distributing insecticide-treated bednets there because there are a large number of children who are malnourished.”
To prevent the lethal combination of malaria and malnutrition,140,000 ITNs, purchased with funds donated to UNICEF by the Government of Japan, are being distributed in drought-affected districts. There have been no major outbreaks of epidemic malaria since the campaign began.
The campaign is supported by UNICEF, the Global Fund, World Bank, donors like CIDA and the Government of Japan.
New York (Tadias) — Among some of the most exciting out-door music events scheduled in New York this summer, is a concert on August 20th, featuring Ethiopia’s most noted musical artists: Mahmoud Ahmed, Alemayehu Eshete and the legendary saxophonist Getatchew Mekurya.
The artists burst forth into the Ethiopian music scence in the 1960s, during a time of prolific music recording in Addis Ababa, where the nightlife and club scene was buzzing with live Afro-pop, Swing and Blues riviling those in Paris and New York… Read more >>
(CPJ) – NEW YORK — Ethiopian police in the capital, Addis Ababa, threatened on Monday to block distribution of an independently owned newspaper if it continues its leading coverage of a new political opposition movement, according to local journalists.
The Amharic-language weekly Awramba Times reported today that it had received two separate phone warnings from top police officials to stop any coverage of “anti-constitutional organizations,” Editor Dawit Kebede told CPJ. The warning referred to the paper’s extensive coverage of the activities of the Netherlands-based Ginbot 7 movement.
Named after the May 15 date in the Ethiopian calendar (the date recalls election day in the 2005 disputed general elections), the movement headed by leading opposition figure Berhanu Nega calls for “all kinds and means of struggle” to challenge the government, according to CPJ research. In its July 29 edition, Awramba Times reported Ginbot 7’s launch of a radio program broadcasting into Ethiopia via satellite and the Internet, according to Kebede.
“In a country that claims to embrace democratic ideals, police have no business telling newspaper editors what political coverage they can and cannot run,” said CPJ Africa Program Coordinator Tom Rhodes. “The authorities must stop these crude attempts at intimidation and censorship and allow Awramba Times to publish the news it wants.”
Local journalists said Awramba Times was preparing to issue a special edition this week celebrating its first six months since obtaining a publishing license as one of the first independently owned political publications since the government banned more than a dozen critical newspapers in a brutal 2005 crackdown on the press and political dissidents. Kebede spent 21 months in prison and was released only last year on conditional pardon. Kebede was imprisoned with Nega, who was one of dozens of political dissidents jailed during the crackdown.
CPJ recently protested a pending media bill in Ethiopia that would, among other things, allow prosecutors to summarily impound any print publication deemed a threat to public order or national security. In 2007, the Committee to Protect Journalists named Ethiopia the world’s worst backslider on press freedom.
CPJ is a New York-based, independent, nonprofit organization that works to safeguard press freedom worldwide. For more information, visit www.cpj.org.
Despite what has been reported by some media, it seems the current split in the leadership of the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) has been caused by disagreements over how fast to bring change in the organization… As things stand now, if the revolutionaries, who have the full backing of the Eritrean government, solidify their control of the organization, OLF can be a leading force in bringing an end to the Woyanne rule in Ethiopia within a short time… more details later
