EDITOR’S NOTE: World Bank, for example, is the chief financier of Africa’s mass murderers. One hundred al Qaedas, or Talibans, or bin Ladens combined cannot do as much damage on a nation as the World Bank did to Ethiopia and eastern of Africa through its blood money that is fueling bin Zenawi’s terrorist regime. This year so far the World Bank rewarded the Butcher of East Africa with $635 million.
Billions of dollars raised for African famine relief by celebrities Bono and Bob Geldof have instead funded civil war across the continent, says terrorism expert Dr Loretta Napoleoni.
London-based Napoleoni, in Auckland to appear at the Writers & Readers Festival, has written two books, Terror Inc: Tracing the Money Behind Global Terrorism and Insurgent Iraq: Al-Zarqawi and the New Generation, on the economics of terrorism.
Her latest book, Rogue Economics, studies the destabilising effect of economic globalisation, focusing in part on why more than half a trillion dollars worth of aid sent to Africa since the 1960s failed to reach the intended destination – developing the nations’ economies.
That huge amount of aid, which includes money from the United Nations and donations generated by Live Aid for Ethiopia, organised by Geldof, and the Live 8 concert in 2005, organised by Bono, has instead “served as a rogue force, notably as an important form of terrorist financing” in countries such as Ethiopia, Somalia, Sudan, Zimbabwe, Tanzania and Kenya. Ethiopia, for example, received $1.8 billion in foreign aid between 1982-85, including a large contribution from Live Aid; $1.6 billion of that, she points out, was spent on buying military equipment.
“The money has ended up making Africa poorer and more violent because the money has been diverted towards warlords, weapons and armed invasions,” she says. “The problem of Africa is corruption.”
Napoleoni says there are parallels with Burma in the aftermath of the cyclone as aid organisations appeal for donations. “What is happening in Burma is a good example. You can have the best intentions but getting the money to the people in need is very hard because you have to go through the bureaucracy. The problem is the governance. You also need expertise. What the international relief organisations are saying is, you should send people from our team who know exactly what to do in these circumstances.”
The cult of celebrity means that people who are famous for nothing more than being pop or movie stars speak out on issues they don’t fully understand. “People like Bono and Bob Geldof are not ill-intentioned,” she says. “But the simple fact that being a celebrity puts you in a position above everybody else is unacceptable.
“These people don’t realise they are being manipulated by politicians and others. That is the case in the relationship between Bono and [American economist] Jeffrey Sachs, who is among the people who caused the chaos of the transition of the former communist countries into free-market economics. Sachs has been trying to relaunch himself as a sort of economist celebrity so he has been linking himself to Bono.
“Bono is repeating what he has been told about Africa. I am sure Bono hasn’t got a clue about economics.”
Napoleoni, who knows Geldof as a neighbour in the London suburb of Battersea, says he told her the first Live Aid was the “worse experience of his life because he found it very difficult to control where the money went. He suddenly realised it’s easy to put famous musicians together to make money but to bring the money to the people in need is another matter.”
Napoleoni adds that there is a certain amount of hypocrisy among stars linked to good causes. Nobel Peace Prize-nominated Bono and the other members of U2 were last year outed as tax-evaders for diverting their funds to the Netherlands, circumventing their democratic responsibilities to their home country of Ireland.
And Brad Pitt, Napoleoni points out, may drive a hybrid car, but he and Angelina Jolie use a private jet. Their trip to Namibia a couple of years ago, she notes, burned up enough fuel to take Pitt’s hybrid all the way to the moon.
We are Ethiopians who immigrated from our birth land and arrived in America in search of a dream. There are hundreds of thousands of us who live in this great country; working hard and sacrificing so that our children can have a better life than we did. The young generation of Ethiopians who either grew up in American or were born here have benefited from the labor of our parents and have worked hard and studied assiduously to realize the American dream. We have doctors, lawyers, entrepreneurs, engineers and accountants who have leveraged the sacrifice of their parents to seize the day. More amazing are the thousands upon thousands who work in stores, coffee shops, taxi cabs, and parking lots–Ethiopians whose dedication to their family is the quintessential story of the American dream.
We all have different stories on why we left Ethiopia, but we all have one thing in common as to why we arrived in America—hope. This wonderful country gives us the chance to live our lives freely and the possibility to accomplish anything if we work hard for it. We have the privilege of benefiting from the sacrifices of the many that came before us so that we can pave the way for the next generations’ ascendancy to heights we have yet to imagine. However, this privilege comes with responsibilities. We have a responsibility to be involved politically–to vote–and to take part in the political process that influences our lives here and the lives of millions throughout the world. So it is not only important that we vote, it is incumbent upon us to do so.
There are millions throughout the world that would abandon their earthly possessions to have an iota of the freedoms we take for granted here. Chief upon these is the freedom to elect the officials who work on our behalf. The ballot we cast in the booth has the power to influence the policies—domestically and internationally—that is enacted by our government. Voting is a sacred responsibility that we should all take seriously and take part in emphatically. “The vote is the most powerful instrument ever devised by man for breaking down injustice and destroying the terrible walls which imprison men because they are different from other men.” (Lyndon Baines Johnson)
So why vote? What’s in it for us? This question is asked every time and at every place. The answer—because change starts with us. Ethiopian who live in America are a dichotomy; we are everywhere while being no where at the same time. Ethiopians form one of the largest community of expatriates from Africa, yet there is no reliable data that shows the extent of our numbers in America . When it comes to politics, we are passionate; yet when it comes to voting, collectively we are ambivalent. We march by the thousands in cities around the world, yet the one apparatus that has the most power—the ballot—collects dust as we ignore its ability to deliver change. Senator Obama believes in building a movement from the bottom-up; a profound change is never implemented from the top-down, it metamorphosizes from the desires of the mass to change our circumstances.
So the question is not what can Obama do for us, it is what can we do for ourselves. Ethiopians–like all folks in every corner of the world–have more in common than the insignificant divides that separate us. We share a history that dates back centuries and common heritage that binds us as one. We are not condemned to eternal strife; we have the choice of throwing off the yolk of divisions based on ethnic, religious, or regional differences and coming together to work for the common good. We have the choice to change, we have the choice to unite.
We are presented with a unique opportunity to elect a man who values the value of unity. Barack Obama does not preach unity as a slogan, he lived it throughout his life. He is a man with a Kansan mother and a Kenyan father; a man who lived in almost every corner of the world and has a keen intellect that espouses dialogue on the basis of mutual understanding and respect. He bypassed the chance to earn a handsome living to become a community organizer in the streets of South Chicago making less than $30,000 after graduating from Harvard Law School . He worked with local churches to organize the neglected masses. Barack Obama knew of the importance of organizing people so that they could have a voice in the political process—we, too, should heed this lesson.
The importance of organizing politically extends beyond elections. Our ability to unite and quantify our voice has implications that impact issues concerning health and socio-economic matters. If there is a health issue that impact the Ethiopian community disproportionately, our ability to point to a reliable and quantifiable segment of the population will enable us to lobby congress in order to seek relief. Our ability to unite will enable us to bring light to issues of social and economical concerns that impact our communities. We live in a country that encourages and fosters communities of all stripes and backgrounds to organize and lobby congress to address issues of concern to communities everywhere. This is what is in it for us, the ability to move out of the periphery of relevancy into a posture of note. Our inability to organize will relegate us to the shadows of this great country; our voices muted while living as invisible citizens in the greatest country on earth.
This is a unique opportunity for Ethiopian-Americans to fully take part in the political process. There are many reasons why most in our community do not readily embrace the idea of being involved politically. Most immigrated to the United States to escape the clutches of politics. Most reflexively avoid politics, leery of being labeled one way or the other. For many, organizing politically was a foreboding topic that would only lead to trouble or worse. However, this is America , we are in a land that values a civic responsibility of those who are involved politically. The very fabric of this nation is interwoven with a sense of political participation. In this great nation, friction is resolved through dialogue and disagreements assuaged by discussion. We stand at the precipice of a new era where we see each other not with suspicion borne out of differences but with a purpose based on commonalities. This is what is in it for us, we can continue to squabble and pass on to our children a legacy of derision or we can embark on a new road where we value our differences and respect our viewpoints as we work together for the betterment of all. This is our choice, it is up to us to choose.
Please join Ethiopians for Obama at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ethiopiansforobama/
Sources inside the regime of Tigrean People Liberation Front (TPLF) in Ethiopia have disclosed that a secret military court has passed a death sentence on four air force pilots who sought political asylum in 2006 while on a training mission in Israel.
According to the sources, a TPLF-appointed court at the Air Force has passed a “guilty” verdict and a death sentence in absentia on Capt. Samuel Getachew, Lt. Himanot Gebre Mariam, Lt. Fikresleasie Feleke, and Lt. Yitabrek Takele.
The TPLF regime’s military is currently plagued with a series of defections. During the past few years, senior officers, including generals and colonels, as well as scores of junior officers and privates have defected to other countries seeking asylum.
It is also to be recalled that a few weeks following the May 2005 fraudulent elections, Lt. Behailu Gebre and Lt. Abiyot Manguday fled to Djibouti flying a military helicopter. Ethiopians around the world made a vigorous effort to rescue those officers from being handed over to Meles Zenawi’s regime while they remained in Djibouti. Reversing the initial promise it gave to provide them with protection, the Government of President Omar Gulleh sent them back to Ethiopia, to certain torture and death, in flagrant violation of international conventions and protocols that accord protection for political refugees. After their forcible return to Ethiopia, Lts. Behailu and Abiyot have disappeared without a trace. It’s believed that they have been executed.
Other Air force pilots who fled the country, including veterans such as Captain Teshome Tenkolu and eight pilots who were on a training mission in Belarus, have managed to resettle in European countries where they are protected and far away from the sad and cruel fate befallen Lts. Behilu and Abiyot.
Withing the past year, General Alemshet Degefe, head of the Air force, and his deputies were summarily dismissed after a fall out with officials of the ruling party, TPLF, and replaced with party loyalists from Tigray region, including, General Molla Hailemariam, head of the air force; General Tadesse Worede, head of Military Staff School; General Seyoum Hagos, chief for eastern command; and General Yohannes Gebremeskel, chief of central command. General Samora Yunus, a TPLF Central Committee member, remains Chief of Staff.
The TPLF regime’s military continues to face serious discontent and low morale, in part, due to lack of a merit-based system and professionalism. The crisis facing the military is compounded by the quagmire in Somalia.
Sources inside the regime of Tigrean People Liberation Front (TPLF) in Ethiopia have disclosed that a secret military court has passed death sentences on four air force pilots who sought political asylum in 2006 while on a training mission in Israel.
According to the sources, a TPLF-appointed court at the Air Force has passed a “guilty” verdict and a death sentence in absentia on Capt. Samuel Getachew, Lt. Himanot Gebre Mariam, Lt. Fikresleasie Feleke, and Lt. Yitabrek Takele.
The TPLF regime’s military is currently plagued with a series of defections. During the past few years, senior officers, including generals and colonels, as well as scores of junior officers and privates have defected to other countries seeking asylum.
It is also to be recalled that a few weeks following the May 2005 fraudulent elections, Lt. Behailu Gebre and Lt. Abiyot Manguday fled to Djibouti flying a military helicopter. Ethiopians around the world made a vigorous effort to rescue those officers from being handed over to Meles Zenawi’s regime while they remained in Djibouti. Reversing the initial promise it gave to provide them with protection, the Government of President Omar Gulleh sent them back to Ethiopia, to certain torture and death, in flagrant violation of international conventions and protocols that accord protection for political refugees. After their forcible return to Ethiopia, Lts. Behailu and Abiyot have disappeared without a trace. It’s believed that they have been executed.
Other Air force pilots who fled the country, including veterans such as Captain Teshome Tenkolu and eight pilots who were on a training mission in Belarus, have managed to resettle in European countries where they are protected and far away from the sad and cruel fate befallen Lts. Behilu and Abiyot.
Withing the past year, General Alemshet Degefe, head of the Air force, and his deputies were summarily dismissed after a fall out with officials of the ruling party, TPLF, and replaced with party loyalists from Tigray region, including, General Molla Hailemariam, head of the air force; General Tadesse Worede, head of Military Staff School; General Seyoum Hagos, chief for eastern command; and General Yohannes Gebremeskel, chief of central command. General Samora Yunus, a TPLF Central Committee member, remains Chief of Staff.
The TPLF regime’s military continues to face serious discontent and low morale, in part, due to lack of a merit-based system and professionalism. The crisis facing the military is compounded by the quagmire in Somalia.
MOGADISHU, Somalia May 17 (Garowe Online) – Heavy fighting erupted in Somalia’s capital Mogadishu on Saturday between insurgents and Ethiopian Woyanne soldiers, local sources told Garowe Online.
Four soldiers were killed when an Ethiopian a Woyanne army convoy transporting food to a major military base at the former pasta factory, in north Mogadishu, hit a roadside bomb.
A total of seven people were wounded during a brief skirmish immediately after the explosion, as insurgents opened gunfire and the Ethiopian Woyanne soldiers responded with a barrage of bullets.
Seven people –- four Ethiopian Woyanne soldiers and three Somali insurgents –- were wounded in the subsequent gunfire, witnesses said.
The insurgents escaped moments before Ethiopian Woyanne army reinforcements sealed off the area.
Several people were arrested by Ethiopian Woyanne troops, who entered surrounding neighborhoods in search of suspects.
Upwards of 7,000 people have been killed in Mogadishu clashes since January 2007, when Ethiopian Woyanne-backed Somali government forces expelled Islamist rulers from the capital.
EDITOR’S NOTE: The ‘opposition’ won only one seat in Addis Ababa, and the guy is not even alive, as reported by The Reporter. The election was a total joke.
——————
By Tsegaye Tadesse (Reuters)
ADDIS ABABA — Ethiopia’s ruling party swept local polls largely boycotted by opposition parties who accused the government of intimidating voters and blocking their candidates, results released on Sunday showed.
The National Election Board of Ethiopia (NEBE) declared Prime Minister Meles Zenawi’s Ethiopian Peoples Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) victor of the first vote in the Horn of Africa nation since 2005 elections ended in deadly violence.
Out of 623 districts, the EPRDF won 559 seats and won all but one of 39 parliament seats up for grabs in by-elections, the board said.
The largest opposition party in parliament, the United Ethiopian Democratic Forces, pulled out three days before the April 13 start of the polls. The Oromo Federalist Democratic Movement pulled out before a second round was held a week later.
“The election in which a total of over 3.5 million candidates from 30 political parties participated were conducted in a free and peaceful manner and in accordance with the law of the country’, the Election Board said.
It said out of a total over 26 million registered voters, 24.5 million or 93 percent voted.
EPRDF also won all major seats in the administration of the capital Addis Ababa.
It had been run by caretaker administrators after opposition politicians who won most of the seats there were jailed on charges of usurping the state after the 2005 polls.
They have since been pardoned after a genocide and treason trial that dragged for two years and drew widespread criticism from human rights and democracy watchdogs.
Two rounds of post-election violence saw more than 200 people killed in battles between security forces and opposition protesters. The violence and an ensuing crackdown on opposition leaders tarnished Meles’ once-sterling Democratic credentials.
But analysts say the courtroom pursuit of the opposition effectively splintered its cohesion, just after it had made its biggest-ever political gains at the ballot box.
