NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Ethiopia’s government is committing war crimes in its military campaign against rebels in the Ogaden region, a rights group charged Thursday in a report that complained the U.S. and other Western governments have remained silent about abuses.
New York-based Human Rights Watch said Ethiopian troops are beating and strangling civilians, staging public executions and burning villages in Ogaden. It said the allegations were based on more than 100 eyewitness accounts.
An Ethiopian official denied the charges.
Washington looks to Ethiopia for help in the fight against Islamic extremists in East Africa, where al-Qaida has claimed responsibility for several attacks, including the 1998 bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania that killed 225 people. Ethiopia is helping the U.N.-backed government in neighboring Somalia against Muslim insurgents.
Ethnic Somalis have been fighting for more than a decade seeking greater autonomy in the desolate Ogaden, which is being explored for oil and gas. Ethiopian forces stepped up operations after rebels attacked a Chinese-run oil exploration field in April 2007, killing 74 people.
“The Ethiopian army’s answer to the rebels has been to viciously attack civilians in the Ogaden,” said Georgette Gagnon, Africa director for Human Rights Watch.
The group also said the rebel Ogaden National Liberation Front has violated humanitarian law by conducting the oil attack and by setting land mines along roads. Ethiopia accuses the rebels of being financed by its archenemy, Eritrea.
Bereket Simon, special adviser to Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, denied all allegations in the report.
“It’s not true,” he said. “It’s the same old fabrication.”
Asked whether an internal investigation was planned, he said: “How can we investigate lies and innuendoes? How can we try to disprove lies by investigating?”
Gagnon chided Ethiopia’s leading donors, including the United States, Britai and the European Union, accusing them of ignoring what is happening in Ogaden.
“These widespread and systematic atrocities amount to crimes against humanity,” she said. “Yet Ethiopia’s major donors, Washington, London and Brussels, seem to be maintaining a conspiracy of silence around the crimes.”
Gagnon said Western governments and institutions give at least $2 billion in aid to Ethiopia every year.
“Influential states use many excuses, such as lack of information and strategic priorities, to downplay the grave human rights concerns in Somali Region,” she said. “But crimes against humanity can’t be swept under the carpet.”
Ethiopian Review’s Intelligence Unit has learned that Ginbot 7 Movement for Justice and Democracy is currently holding high level talks with the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) that could result in a politico-military alliance.
According to ER sources in both Ginbot 7 and OLF, the talks have started several weeks ago and that they are progressing positively.
ER sources have not revealed whether other groups, such as the ONLF and EPPF are involved in the talks, but they are expected to be important partners in any possible alliance that will come out of the talks.
ER has recently recommended the creation of a joint military command under a new alliance involving Ginbot 7, OLF, ONLF, EPPF and TPDM. The army that would come under such a joint military command can assume the role of future Ethiopian National Defense Force.
The only reason the fast decaying Woyanne regime continues to plunder Ethiopia and terrorize our people is because there is no strong opposition party that can finish it off. If the leaders of these five organizations genuinely stand for the interest of their people, there is no reason in the world for not coming up with a common agenda that will enable them to quickly forge a formidable alliance that will end the Woyanne era of terror once and for all.
The common agenda that brings the organizations together should be democracy (one man, one vote). All outstanding political disagreements can be resolved through a genuinely democratic system.
ER sources in both Ginbot 7 and OLF are not ready to disclose where the secret talks are being held, but for maximum political effect, any agreement that they reach needs to be signed in Asmara. Any one who doubts the significant role the Eritrean government can play in destroying Woyanne is either politically ignorant, or a closet Woyanne sympathizer, or does not fully comprehend the severity of the crisis our country is facing. Woyannes understand the significance and are working day and night to minimize or eliminate the threat. Invading Somalia and giving away Ethiopia’s land to Sudan are some of the desperate measures Meles and Sebhat have recently taken.
Woyanne cannot easily be defeated in a conventional warfare. So the alliance should rely instead on the people of Ethiopia to rise up in a massive nation-wide civil disobedience and bring Meles and Sebhat to justice.
Once every thing is in place and targets are carefully identified, the alliance has to do only one thing to get rid of Woyanne. Tell the people of Ethiopia tenes on a specific day and week. Woyanne will be wiped out in a matter of days in a wave of uprisings — politically guided by the alliance so that no innocent civilian or foreign national would be harmed.
The list of targets should be at most a few hundred or thousand hard core Woyanne leaders and officers — along with Al Amoudi and cohorts. The rank and file members of Woyanne should be allowed to switch side and receive amnesty. Many of them in fact should be incorporated into the new national defense force after given orientation on how to be normal human beings who value human life and dignity.
First thing first: Let these organizations come up with an alliance all of us can support without unnecessary delay. Any sacrifice that is required should be paid to help the alliance succeed and go on to save our country and people from the Woyanne cancer.
Meanwhile, Ginbot 7 supporters around the world should get together, organize themselves and apply for membership to become part of the movement. Do not wait for a call from the leadership. ER has learned that already several Ethiopians are doing just that. Today, for example, the Kinijit Support Group in South Korea has decided to join Ginbot 7. A group of Ethipians in Dubai have gotten together and became a Ginbot 7 chapter this week. Others are following their example.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Tsehai Conferences announced its third Annual Conference, which will be held at George Washington School of Law in Washington, D.C., a city renown for its vibrant yet burgeoning Ethiopian community, from June 28 to July 3, 2008.
The conference theme, “Ethiopia’s Youth, Ethiopia’s Future,” will serve as a forum to discuss new developments in Ethiopia’s social and political landscape and provide participants with the opportunity to network with leaders in diverse sectors of the Ethiopian community from around the world.
Founder of Tsehai Conferences Elias Wondimu, an exiled journalist and now Publisher, said, “as Ethiopia passed its watershed millennium mark almost one year ago, it is important to remember that the youth have arrived to claim its future.” In this spirit, Tsehai Conferences proudly announces the first conference that focuses on the youth and about the future of the youth. “The youth are frequent subjects of conversation, but in spite of their significant role, very little space has been made for them,” Wondimu said. “Tsehai Conference 2008 will lead the effort in bridging this gap,” he added.
Most importantly, the conference will remain a neutral space to ensure that the conference continues to have the most thorough and deep conversations possible, Wondimu explained. “The conference is not ideological, rather it is a medium for the exchange of thought.” The Conference also aspires to help participants gain insight into the past by featuring leaders of the 1970’s student movements and the then political leaders, and also highlights today’s young professionals and community leaders to show their vision for tomorrow.
The conference will include a film festival featuring various documentaries as well as a feature film, lectures and numerous panel discussions. The panelists will address current issues that have been at the center of discussions, past legacies, current challenges and future prospects. While helping us understand various problems Ethiopians confront, panelists will also recommend strategies for solving problems and moving ahead forward.
“Bringing the youth into the center of our conversation allows us to learn from our past mistakes without recrimination, and frees us to look into the future with an open arms towards each other” Wondimu said. “It is important for us to accept that it is impossible to undo our past mistakes, but we can do the right things today, in order for the young generation to start fresh and build the future with a new vision.”
Tsehai Publishers widely known for its books conceives of the conference as an important supplement to its contribution to knowledge production. Indeed “to many of our authors, it is an opportunity to get out of one’s desk and interact with the public, a page simply is not enough for people to truly understand the humanity behind the dialogue,” Wondimu said.
Tsehai Conference panels will provide attendees perspectives from distinguished friends and Ethiopian scholars, researchers, politicians, artists, educators, historians, social scientists, journalists, and authors who will be addressing diverse issues of importance in a format that can engage its audience into fruitful discussions. Our distinguished panelists will include Messay Kebede, Alem Hailu, Damtew Taffesse, Ayele Bekerie, Davis Shinn, Sulyman Young, Yonas Kifle, Kay Shelemay, Tseday Abera, Terrence Lyons, Pietro Toggia, Muse Clark, Belachew Yemaneh, Winta Teferi, Ellias Fullmore, Nahom Beyene, Abezash Tamrat, and more. (check the website for updated list.)
The conference is sponsored by the George Washington University, School of Law; Loyola Marymount University; Katten Muchin Resenman LLP; Howard University’s African Studies Department; PEN USA; Antioch University, Los Angeles; and George Mason University’s Center for Global Studies. The conference is also a collaborative effort, including the Ethiopian Heritage Foundation, Tsehai Publishers and Distributors, Ethiopian Institute for Nonviolence Education and Peace Studies, AGM Enterprise and the African Tribune.
For more information regarding past conferences and details regarding Tsehai Conferences 2008, visit the website at http://www.tsehaiconferences.com, or contact us via email: [email protected].
Yesterday, in its silly attempt to divert attention from the secret deal that gave away tens of thousands of square kilometers of land to Sudan by the Meles dictatorship, the foreign minister, Seyoum Mesfin, declared ‘flag day’ and handed out 600,000 flags.
The Ethiopian Review Intelligence Unit today has obtained a recent photo of an Ethiopian flag in front of the Bole International Airport in Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa. As you see below, the flag is torn up and it seems that it has been there for a long time in total neglect. What a better way is there to show the contempt Woyanne has for Ethiopian flag than this one which is displayed at a highly visible place — an international airport?
EDITOR’S NOTE: The Djibouti government and military are filled with khat-addicted whores at the service of the Woyanne mafia. It is a joke that they are calling up retired army and police officers. The minute real fighting starts, they would run to the French military base for cover. Ethiopians will never forget what they did to the 8 helicopter pilots 2 years ago who sought political asylum in Djibouti.
(Reuters) – Djibouti called up retired police and soldiers on Wednesday after a clash with Eritrean troops killed at least two and wounded 21 others on their shared border over looking strategic Red Sea shipping lanes.
Eritrea, without confirming or denying the clashes, dismissed Djibouti’s statements as “anti-Eritrean”.
The first fighting since 1996 between two of Africa’s smallest states broke out on Tuesday, after a nearly two-month standoff. Djibouti hosts French and U.S. military bases and is the main route to the sea for Eritrea’s arch-foe Ethiopia.
Djibouti said the clash began after Eritrean soldiers deserted and the Eritreans fired on them, prompting return fire. A second outbreak followed when Eritrean soldiers demanded their deserters back.
Fighting continued on Wednesday in the Mount Gabla area of northern Djibouti, Djibouti’s Defence Ministry said.
Police officers and soldiers who retired from 2004 to 2008 were ordered to reintegrate with their units, a government statement said.
Mount Gabla, also known as Ras Doumeira, overlooks the strategic Bab al-Mandib straits, which are a major shipping route to and from Europe and the Middle East.
Eritrea’s Foreign Ministry said it would not “get involved in an invitation of squabbles and acts of hostility”.
“(Djibouti) has been making continued futile attempts to drag the government of Eritrea into its concocted animosity,” a statement said.
A Reuters witness at a French hospital in Djibouti said helicopters had ferried in dead and wounded soldiers.
“PICKING A FIGHT”
In mid-April, Djibouti accused Eritrea of digging trenches and building fortifications on the Djiboutian side of the frontier. Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki told Reuters in a recent interview that was a “fabrication”.
“It’s just another case of Eritrea picking a fight and finding itself in a position of hostility towards the main Western players in the region,” said Patrick Smith, editor of the Africa Confidential newsletter.
“Eritrea is sending out a warning to Djibouti in particular saying if it chooses to go with Ethiopia then it’s opening itself up to conflict with Asmara,” he said.
Djibouti’s army says nearly 75 percent of its 11,000 troops are now along its boundary with Eritrea, which is one of Africa’s most militarised states and has more than 200,000 soldiers as part of a mandatory conscription programme.
Djibouti and Eritrea are two of Africa’s smallest nations with populations of 820,000 and 4.7 million respectively.
Djibouti hosts two foreign military bases, including one of France’s biggest overseas contingents and a U.S. counter-terrorism task force of about 2,000 soldiers — many of them elite special forces who work with Ethiopian troops.
Former colonial power France signed a mutual defence pact with Djibouti after independence in 1977.
It is also a vital route for landlocked Ethiopia, which has vowed to protect its shipping access in Djibouti if necessary.
Ethiopia blamed Eritrea for the clash.
“Ethiopia firmly believes that such unwarranted action should be stopped immediately and peaceful and diplomatic solution must be sought for the problem,” Bereket Simon, special adviser to Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, told Reuters.
Djibouti has turned itself into a regional shipping hub after massive investment from Dubai.
By Omar Hassan
Additional reporting by Jack Kimball in Asmara, Tsegaye Tadesse in Addis Ababa; Editing by Bryson Hull and Matthew Tostevin.
(Bloomberg) — The bright green “On the Fly” food cart with a large decorative wing parked in Washington’s Chinatown seems to be in the wrong city.
Offering hummus, vegetarian tacos and organic teas, the cart and its menu are in stark contrast to the aging metal-box stands nearby that sell bags of cheese popcorn, candy bars and hot dogs. A street-food revolution is under way in Washington, which has long trailed cities like Philadelphia, famous for its street-cart cheese steaks, and New York, where vendors offer everything from kebabs to crepes.
While many vendors cling to the traditional products, such as the pork and beef sausages known as half-smokes, some have begun stretching their menus. Abebe Biasmir, an Ethiopian immigrant, whose cart at 15th Street and New York Avenue is in view of the White House, now sells half-smokes and Ethiopian food such as injera, a spongy bread; tibs, a grilled meat dish; and spiced lentils.
The end of a moratorium on new licenses is giving heartburn to longtime vendors, mostly immigrants, who have protested the changes and tried to thwart competition from newcomers by calling the police on even minor violations of vending rules.
“If somebody puts his cart in the corner beside me, I lose everything,” said Yehia Ramadan, an Egyptian immigrant who operates a cart a few blocks from the White House. “We’re against On the Fly.”
About 250 vendors set up each day in Washington’s central business zone, the area around the White House and the National Mall most popular with tourists. Several hundred more operate in the district’s other neighborhoods.
‘Scared of Street Carts’
Gabe Klein, 37, outfitted the On the Fly carts and recruited a chef trained at the Inn at Little Washington in Virginia — one of the nation’s most prestigious and pricey restaurants — to develop the cuisine. A transformation in the city’s dreary street-food landscape is inevitable, he said.
“People are scared of street carts,” Klein said. “I don’t think the hot dog business will get better.”
Jordan Lichman, a former sous chef at the Inn, where meals start at $148 per person, created $2 tacos for On the Fly.
“There’s no reason why you can’t have really great, simple food, fresh, prepared well, on the street,” Lichman said. “Everywhere else in the world does it.”
Klein’s efforts to appeal to office workers with organic foods sold from environmentally friendly electric-powered carts has some longtime vendors worried that his company will soon dominate the district.
“We’re afraid he’ll be pushing us to sell him our carts or join his business,” said Salah Awadalla, a 51-year-old Egyptian immigrant who parks his cart on the edge of Chinatown. “People don’t want to lose this job.”
A moratorium on new licenses from 1998 to 2006 may have contributed to a malaise among vendors. Without competition, vendors could afford to continue serving the same food they always had. The moratorium was lifted in 2006, and tensions have risen as 400 new vendors received licenses.
“There’s a lot of fear, a lot of concerns within that vending population,” said Samuel Williams, a street sales coordinator for the district. “We’re definitely seeing a great amount of pushback from some of the longstanding vendors.”
Street vendors take in about $40,000 per year, said Michael Rupert, a spokesman for the city.
Trung Chau, 20, a Vietnamese immigrant who operates a cart with his uncle near the National Mall, sees the influx of new vendors as “very, very difficult for our business.”
Chau said established vendors retaliate against the newcomers by trying to catch them violating rules, such as parking in the wrong spot or leaving unlicensed workers to mind carts, and then call the police.
“The police take them far away,” he said, smiling.
Jared Peterson, 35, who manages the On the Fly cart at 7th and F Streets, recalled witnessing a protest by traditional vendors about a month ago. They marched and waved signs, including one that said “Vendor Gentrification,” Peterson said.
Grandfathered Vendors
The lifting of the moratorium brought some benefits for the longtime vendors. At around the same time, city officials grandfathered all vendors into a system through which they can lease their street space from the District of Columbia.
Before that system was created, no vendor held claim to a particular spot, and many would hit the streets by 5 a.m. to secure the most desirable locations. Fistfights over territory were common and female vendors were intimidated by their male counterparts.
“There are volumes of police reports of people getting beaten up,” Williams said.
Akbar Nazary, whose wholesale company supplies about 40 Washington street vendors, said he will make whatever changes are necessary if the stands change their inventory to keep up.
“If more vendors are interested in selling fruit cups, we’ll somehow have to adjust to that,” he said. “Or fresh juices. Or shish kebab.”
Traditional vendors are more afraid of competition than they are of selling new fare, he said. “They are not opposing new food,” Nazary said. “Whatever the demand is, people sell.”
