CHICAGO — Adamasu Gebre, inventor and owner of various United States patents directed toward navigation and real time traffic technology, announced that he has entered into a licensing and technology agreement with Thales Navigation, Inc. relating to its manufacturing and distribution of navigation products incorporating real time traffic features such as the Magellan Roadmate 760 and 860T.
“I am glad that we were able to come to terms with one of the major players in the United States navigation market” said Gebre. “We have now come to terms with Thales Navigation. Since license negotiations are ongoing with other navigation market participants, we anticipate announcing other similar arrangements in the near term.”
In 2005, Gebre filed a lawsuit in the federal district court in Chicago against NAVTEQ and Motorola alleging infringement of U.S. Patent Nos. 5,247,439 and 5,297,049. [Civil No. 05-C-6895] Gebre alleged that NAVTEQ’s NavTraffic product and Motorola’s vehicle navigation systems infringe the ‘049 and ‘439 patents. Despite the settlement with Thales, Gebre’s litigation against NAVTEQ and Motorola continues.
“We are encouraged by Mr. Gebre’s ability to successfully enforce his patent rights” said David Wright of the Salt Lake City based law firm Workman Nydegger. “We are pleased that we have been able to facilitate business arrangements between Mr. Gebre and one of the major players in navigation, and remain confident that other similar arrangements will be forthcoming” Workman Nydegger recently made news in the patent world by obtaining a $115 million dollar verdict against DirecTV [Civil No. 1:05-CV-264 (E.D. Texas)]. The verdict ranks among the higher jury verdict judgments ever obtained in the United States for a patent dispute.
Providing routing information to a vehicle, including real time traffic information, and incorporating such information into a vehicle’s navigation system has been the focus of Adamasu Gebre’s research since the late 1970’s. Over the past twenty years, Mr. Gebre has secured patents in the United States and Europe directed to his research and developments. Mr. Gebre is the inventor and owner of U.S. Patent Nos. 5,126,941, 5,247,439,5,297,049, 5,504,683 and 6,314,368. In addition to his ownership of navigation company, NAVCOM Antillean N.V., Mr. Gebre is president and CEO of NAVCOM, PLC. NAVCOM, PLC is an Ethiopian based energy company focused on assisting rural communities in developing critical water and electrical infrastructure through use of wind and hydroelectric generation units.
Representatives of Kinijit support committees through out the United States will come to Washington DC for a conference this coming weekend, August 18-19, 2006. The meeting was called by the chairman of the Kinijit North America Support Committee (KNASC) at the urging of some local support committee representatives who are opposing the newly formed Kinijit International Political Leadership. The majority of the executive committee members had objected to holding the conference, arguing that the International Leadership (IL) must first get itself organized and become fully functional. But the KNASC chairman decided to call a conference, brushing off the majority’s concern.
The purpose of the conference was to reject the IL, if possible, or to make the KNASC independent of the political leadership so that its officials can continue to do what ever they choose to do without any accountability. Most of these local representatives have either appointed themselves or were appointed by some of the KNASC officials. Many of them have no formal structure. They are a one-man show. Not surprisingly, most of the problems inside the KNASC are caused by these unelected so-called “representatives.” Because their loyalty is to the individuals inside the KNASC who appointed them, not the Kinijit members in their local areas. They feel accountable to no one. Those local committees that have duly elected their representatives, such as Washington DC, Boston, Atlanta, and a few others, are the most active and problem-free. Even though this weekend’s conference was called with the intention of sabotaging the IL, it is a good opportunity for the IL to take decisive measures in asserting its leadership over these unruly elements. If it cannot do that, it will be the start of its undoing.
The Kinijit IL finally moving forward
After receiving a great deal of criticism for lack of action, finally this week the IL has started to take some decisive actions through a democratic decision-making process. First, the IL has finally decided to disassociate the party from its hijacked web site (kinijit.org), after attempts failed to persuade the hijackers to return the site to the public relations committee. On Tuesday, the IL released a timely and important message directed at the armed forces in Ethiopia. The IL has also been able to finally focus on securing the release of the jailed Kinijit leaders. This has been a very productive week for the IL indeed. While the power-mongers are busy conspiring against it, the IL was attending to the business of the party, at the same time taking actions against those who have paralyzed Kinijit for the past several months.
Necessary measures
One of the proposed solutions to bring order back to Kinijit is to disband the current KNASC and replace it with a body that is composed of elected representatives from local committees. Those representatives who are not democratically elected by their local committees must be given a short deadline to conduct elections in their respective localities. The IL has the mandate and authority to take such measures.
Another important step is to separate the IL and the KNASC’s new leadership and strictly limit the KNASC’s role to mobilizing financial and material support for the party.
The IL should be the original six
The Kinijit leaders in jail appointed only six individuals to the international leadership for a good reason. First, they wanted the leadership to be small enough to meet often and make decisions without delays. Second, the individuals selected were believed by the leaders to have political skills. Six more individuals were added under coercion and blackmail, not in consideration of what is best for the party. Many of the six new individuals who were added to the IL do not have any political skill. One of them, in fact, is politically extremely damaging to Kinijit. He is single-handedly responsible for the U.S. State Department’s negative views towards Kinijit, not to mention the numerous supporters who left the party because of his uncivil behavior. For the IL to be effective, it needs to be organized according to the jailed leaders’ design.
Protect Kinijit’s image
Kinijit, a party that advocates justice, peace, love, and tolerance is currently attracting some of the thuggish elements in our society. These self-proclaimed “Kinijit supporters” are similar in their character to Woyanne supporters–uncivil, intolerant, and ignorant. They claim to be Kinijit supporters, giving a false impression that most Kinijitians are like them. There is no doubt that some of them are Woyanne agent-provocateurs.
ETHIOPIA’S prime minister, Meles Zenawi, now spends most of his time heading off his enemies. In the capital, Addis Ababa, the government’s response to its defeat in last year’s contested general election was to shoot scores of opposition protesters and imprison the city’s elected mayor. This led to the suspension of aid from his previously loyal Western backers.
To the south, in the Ogaden desert, he has been fighting with the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF), a rebel group that seeks autonomy for south-eastern Ethiopia. On August 11th Ethiopia reported having shot dead 13 ONLF fighters slipping across the desert from Somalia. Ethiopia’s recent military incursion into Somalia in defence of the Transitional Government in Baidoa threatens imminent conflict there against Islamist militias based in the capital, Mogadishu.
On top of this comes the distinct possibility of a conflict with Ethiopia’s arch-enemy Eritrea in the north, where perhaps as many as half of Eritrea’s young men are massed under arms on its side of the disputed border.
Eritrea’s increasingly totalitarian regime has become a regional menace; its foreign policy now appears to comprise nothing more than to support any enemy of Ethiopia’s, no matter the cost. On August 8th Eritrea announced its biggest coup to date; a brigadier-general heading the 18th division of the Ethiopian army defected to Eritrea with several ranking officers, hundreds of soldiers, and plenty of weapons.
The general, Kemal Gelchu, was an ethnic Oromo. Probably as many as half of Ethiopians are Oromo, a good number of them Muslim. According to the government’s system of ethnic federalism, the Oromos are meant to have a large stake in power. In reality, they are weak and neglected, just as they have always been. A few support the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF)—another rebel group seeking a “fairer” Ethiopia, meaning a shift of power from Mr Zenawi and his fellow Tigrayans, who account for, at most, 7% of the population, but who have dominated the government and the economy since taking power in 1991.
Mr Gelchu’s defection puts a face to the deep unhappiness in the non-Tigrayan bits of Ethiopia. He and his men will now undoubtedly join the OLF and fight the Ethiopian government. Force is the only language the government understands, Mr Gelchu says. Alas, force may be exactly what Mr Zenawi is going to get, and on many fronts.
Kinijit International Political Leadership Committee on behalf of the Kinijit leadership is actively pursuing the realization of the objectives of Kinijit and mobilizing the Ethiopian community for the struggle for freedom and democracy. The release of our leaders is the prime objective of our activity. Maximizing the utilization of various media outlets including those that are its own as an instrument for the struggle.
It is to be noted that several concerns have been raised with regard to the website (www.kinijit.org) which has been an official outlet of the party. Recently, the Kinijit International Political Leadership has been closely looking at the issues raised, including ownership, management and performance of the website. After carefully discussing the issues in three consecutive meetings and exhausting all the possible rectifications, it was found difficult to continue using Kinijit.org as the official website of Kinijit. The website has not been under the supervision of any authorized body of Kinijit. In such a situation, the leadership is left with no choice but announce its disclaimer to the public.
Therefore, we hereby announce that KINIJIT.ORG has ceased to be the official website of KINIJIT. An alternative website will be announced soon.
Kinijit as a party and Kinijit International Political Leadership as an authorized and mandated body to represent our leaders in prison are not responsible for any posting on the website. This is also to kindly request those people who do have access to the control of the website to refrain from portraying the site as the official website of Kinijit.
Any communication with respect to this issue can be made through the e-mail address:[email protected]
Kinijit International Political Leadership.
August 15, 2006
Ethiopian Review conducted an interview with former Kinijit Vice President Lidetu Ayalew on Saturday, August 12. The interview, which is 2 hr and 38 min. long, covers Ato Lidetu’s political activities before the formation of the Coalition for Unity & Democracy (CUD/Kinijit), preparations for the May elections, disagreements within Kinijit before and after the elections, his decision to enter the parliament, current activities, and his future political outlook.
ER will withhold its comments on the interview until readers have the chance to listen and comment on it.
Shaleka Yoseph Yazew
Chairman, Kinijit North America Support Committee
Washington DC
Dear Shaleka Yoseph:
We, concerned Kinijit chapter officers, chapter members and supporters, would like to lodge our serious concern and formal complaint on the purpose and intent of the Extraordinary General Assembly Meeting (EOGAM), called for August 19-20, 2006.
We will proceed into why we believe the initiative to call the meeting was illegal, undemocratic and conspiratorial. Further, we would venture to bring to your attention how the EOGAM, if allowed to proceed in its questionable form, will damage the credibility of the entire Kinijit operation and put serious dent on the struggle. We strongly and unequivocally believe that Kinijit and all related operations should be run in the spirit of the Kinijit Manifesto and in the format charted by our courageous leaders in Kaliti prison.
1.There is enough evidence to prove that the call for EOGAM is the brainchild of Ato
Moges Bruk, Chairperson of the Los Angeles Kinijit Support Chapter.
2.Ato Moges initiated the call for EOGAM and lobbied the support chapters without consulting and obtaining the approval of the LA Board of Directors. Therefore, the initial petition by Ato Moges and the subsequent measures taken by KNA office to call the EOGAM is illegal, dictatorial and devoid of normally accepted democratic practices.
3.Ato Moges never solicited with a clearly defined written petition and therefore was never able to justify the need for EOGAM, one that could not be delayed until the next GA meeting. The problems and challenges we face today are no different from the ones we faced during the May and July GA meetings.
4.That Ato Moges launched his vigilante campaign driven by his staunch opposition to the establishment of Kinijit International Leadership (KIL), which was sanctioned by our leaders in Kaliti prison, is an open secret. His recorded statement at the July GA meeting in Los Angeles and his email statement broadcast over the internet are sufficient proofs.
5.There is evidence to prove that Shaleka Yoseph assisted Ato Moges’s campaign to convene an EOGAM by lobbying chapters that are considered soft and vulnerable. An email communication from Dr. Gashu also reveals the level of coercion used to get chapters to support the meeting.
6.The KNA chapters are summoned to the August 19 Washington DC meeting without being provided a petition document which specifies the agenda and argues the emergency nature of the agenda items. Without such a document and without valid signatures of the parties supporting the petition, KNA should never have called the meeting. As a result, the meeting is null and void and the KNA officers who endorsed the costly meeting should be held accountable.
7.We do not know how many chapters subscribed to the EOGAM after being convinced of the need for such a meeting or how many were lured into supporting it. We do not also know how many chairpersons sought the approval of their respective boards before committing to the meeting. Even if the petition was done with good intent, it should be remembered that a call for EOGAM is not valid unless it is supported by a large majority of members, usually 66-75%.
8.That the call for EOGAM was made by Dr. Gashu, circumventing the secretariat and the Secretary General of KNA, proves the shoddy nature of the plot.
No, we are not EPRDF surrogates. No, we are not a group of anarchists bent on disrupting Kinijit. No, we are not power mongers. Indeed, we are individuals who like millions of other Ethiopians, are dedicated to the cause of democracy, justice and the rule of law. Even more importantly, we are committed to see to it that Kinijit support leadership functions observing democratic tenets, in full transparency and accountable to its constituency. This is the vision set by Kinijit the party and the example set by our leaders.
We earnestly hope we have presented a compelling case to let you appreciate the gross misconduct and consequently, the undesirable precedence which ensues if this EOGAM continues without serious and honest intervention. Here are our recommendations that hopefully mitigate the situation.
1. We request that the KNA Executive Committee make a formal apology realizing it has allowed itself to be manipulated by an individual who is sworn to “Kill KIL”.
2. We request that KNA officers who knowingly collaborated with Ato Moges be dismissed or receive stern disciplinary action.
3. We suggest the meeting be postponed even if participants sustain financial cost. They will still be in a position to salvage valuable time and some cost associated with hotels.
4. In the event the meeting cannot be cancelled or postponed, we suggest the GA use the time to streamline its operation after an open discussion on the many shortcomings of KNA which has virtually paralyzed operation and forced the community into a withdrawal syndrome from which it is difficult to extract.
5. We suggest that KNA establish a “Kaliti Commission” whose main purpose will be to focus attention on the plight and release of our elected leaders upon which Ethiopia hinged its hopes.
Sincerely,
Note: The signatories to this petition have agreed to email you this three-page document as an attachment to their individual notes, thus making it a legal and acceptable communication.
CC:
KNA Executive committee members
KNA Support Committee Chapter Board members (Individually)
Kinijit International Leadership
