OLF is implicated in brutal killings near Dre Dawa. Ethiopian television reported that OLF supporters killed and severely injured several innocent civilians from the towns of Bedeno and Belange by throwing them off from a mountain cliff alive. The victims were also reportedly brutalized by beatings and stabbing. According to the reports, 95 Amarhas, 66 Oromos, 7 Gurages and 6 Tigres listed as victims of this violence.

Shortly after the signing of the Mekele ceasefire agreement, Ethiopian Radio reported renewed conflicts between OLF and EPRDF forces in some parts of Southern Ethiopia.

The Ethiopian News Agency (ENA) on April 19 quoted Hayalom Araya, the southern commander of the EPRDF, as saying that the OLF had launched a surprise attack in two areas in Sidamo province.

According to Hayelom, 126 OLF fighters were killed, 10 wounded and 15 captured during attacks on the towns of Mechara and Michita in Sidamo province some 250 km south of Addis Abeba. EPRDF casualties were officially reported as two dead and two injured.

The OLF has vigorously denied reports that its units had launched the attacks on the EPRDF. “The incidents … were in fact touched off by the EPRDF as a camouflage for its own intrigues,” the OLF said in a statement carried by ENA.

The well-known British author Graham Hancock has been actively researching what happened to the Ark of the Covenant containing the Ten Commandments. While Hancock does not fully accept the traditional account of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, he is nevertheless convinced that the Ark was in fact taken to Aksum and argues this point at length in a new book published in London entitled The Sign and the Seal.

Commenting on the recent Ethiopian appeal for the return of the Aksum obelisk taken to Rome on Mussolini’s personal orders in 1937, Hancock says that its removal was “an act of theft and vandalism that has few parallels in recent history.” The obelisk, he adds, is “part of Ethiopia’s priceless architectural and cultural heritage,” and “rightfully belongs to the Ethiopian people.” He urged the Italian Government “to ensure that the obelisk is returned immediately so that it can at least be re-erected in its proper place: Aksum.”

In a related development, the well-known Ethiopian scholar Ephrem Isaac, Director of the Institute of Semitic Studies in New Jersey, and the Ethiopian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Seyoum Mesfin, extended their support to the drive to bring the obelisk back to Ethiopia. Professor Ephrem said: “I commend the initiative of Professor Richard Pankhurst and others to obtain the restitution of the Aksum Obelisk presently in Rome.” Ato Seyoum assured that the government will lend its full support to the effort.

In a bid to encourage leaders in the Horn of Africa who have been meeting on humanitarian issues in Addis Abeba, the U.S. Congress this week approved new legislation designed to alleviate hunger in the region.

The Horn of Africa Food Security and Recovery Act marks an important development in U.S. foreign policy in the region, according to Sharon Pauling, Africa policy analyst with Bread for the World, a major non- governmental supporter of the legislation.

Pauling said that the new law “sets a course that is based on the expressed needs of the people of the Horn, rather than primarily on U.S. short-term political interests.” The bill, expected to be signed by President George Bush, is intended to move U.S. policy toward providing long-term solutions to the recurring famines which have plagued the region.

The law specifically targets development and reconstruction assistance to grassroots groups and operations and prohibits aid to governments until sufficient progress is made towards democratic rule and the observance of human rights. It also calls on Washington to significantly increase support for United Nations efforts in peace negotiations and relief operations.

The U.N World Food Program currently estimates that 23 million people are at risk of starvation in the region.

This week’s action by the U.S. Congress also includes provisions removing certain legal obstacles to providing U.S. development aid allowing the release of $80 million in development aid to Ethiopia and Somalia. The law bans the provision of any military aid or training to Ethiopia, Somalia or Sudan.

Over a million people are facing severe famine in Southern Ethiopia. At least 7,000 people have already died and more are dying everyday. The famine has been caused by two years of failed rains and widespread civil strife mainly in the provinces of southern Shoa and Sidamo.

In one southern area bordering Kenya, 5,000 people have died in the last five months and at least 10 people are reportedly dying each day.

The first Horn of Africa Summit meeting was held in Addis Abeba on April 9. The heads of state of Sudan, Kenya, Ethiopia, Djibouti and the leader of the provisional administration of Eritrea attended the meeting.

An agreement was reached to allow emergency food aid to reach millions of victims in numerous conflict ravaged areas. More than 2,000 refugees a day are pouring into Kenya from the fighting in Somalia, Sudan and Southern Ethiopia, stretching that country’s meager resources.

President Meles said the summit had charged him with the task of organizing a peace conference to bring together Somalia’s warring factions. In a news conference, Ato Meles said that the region will cooperate in the search for peace in Somalia.