Professor Alemayehu Gebre-Mariam responds to a statements made by Ethiopian “government” lobbyists DLA Piper:
Mr. Gary Klein, Esq.
DLA Piper
Federal Affairs and Legislative Practice Group
1200 Nineteenth Street, NW Washington, DC 20036-2412
Dear Mr. Klein:
I write this letter to challenge recent statements that you have personally made in a radio interview, and other statements made by your firm on behalf of your client the “Government of Ethiopia.” In these statements you and your firm make certain factual assertions about political conditions in Ethiopia, and inaccurately characterize the legislative intent of H.R. 2003 (“Ethiopia Democracy and Accountability Act of 2007.” I believe a number of statements that you and your firm have made concerning political conditions in Ethiopia and H.R. 2003 are grossly inaccurate; and other statements reflect a reckless disregard for the truth… continue reading >>>
The Government of Japan on Monday donated US$1 Million to UNICEF for the prevention of infectious diseases among children in Ethiopia.
An estimated 344,000 children under five will die of preventable causes including malaria in Ethiopia this year.
“Children have the right to be protected nationally and internationally from any infectious disease,” said Kinichi Komano, Ambassador of Japan to Ethiopia. “Young children and pregnant women are most at risk from the severe effect of malaria including death. Thus, we believe that the fight against infectious diseases is the main health agenda of the time.”
The Japanese funds will be used to fight malaria which is prevalent in over 75 per cent of Ethiopia putting over 50 million people at risk.
“Japan has been a generous supporter of child survival interventions in Ethiopia contributing to the remarkable 40 per cent reduction in under five child mortality rates recorded since 1990,” said Bjorn Ljungqvist, UNICEF representative in Ethiopia. “This continuing support is critical to fight childhood killers like malaria that can be prevented.”
In view of the upcoming Ethiopian Millennium, which begins on 12 September 2007, Ethiopia is implementing a Millennium Anti-Malaria Campaign with a target distribution of 20 million anti-malaria nets free of charge in malaria prone areas.
To date, 18 million nets have been distributed providing protection for 9 million households in what is the largest campaign of its sort in Africa.
The campaign also includes mass anti-malaria treatments using the anti-malaria drug Coartem which, together with the expanded use of anti-malaria nets, is resulting in substantial declines in malaria and no malaria epidemics experienced during the past two years.
“No child need die of malaria and with the success of the Millennium Anti-Malaria Campaign we are on the verge of achieving a remarkable milestone for child survival in Ethiopia,” said Bjorn Ljungqvist, UNICEF Representative in Ethiopia.
“We must, however, maintain the momentum and ensure continued support for anti-malaria interventions in order to maintain sufficient quantities of new nets to replace those that wear out. Today’s contribution from Japan will go a long way in this regard.”
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Dr. Kerida Mcdonald, Chief, Communication Cluster, tel: 0115 44 44 00, 0115 51 51 55,
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Indrias Getachew, Communication Officer, Media and External Relations,
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On September 8th, 2007 the Christi Pits Park in Toronto is going to be decorated with hundreds of Ethiopian flag and thousands of Ethiopians and Ethio-Canadians to herald the Ethiopian Millennium celebration organized in the city of Toronto.
The Ethiopian Association in the Greater Toronto Area and surroundings has been working hard to make the celebration of the Ethiopian Millennium the most memorable one.
Dr. Busha Taa, the president of the Ethiopian Community Association and Ato Samson Tsegaye, Toronto’s Ethiopian Millennium Event Organizing Committee member, said that the Ethiopian millennium 2000 celebration around the world is a unique occasion which will bringing together Ethiopians to celebrate this once in life time event in unison.
The Toronto Ethiopian millennium 2000 event includes Ethiopian history exhibition, cultural and music festival, cultural food catered by different Ethiopian restaurants, a fashion show, athletics competition, children’s soccer game and adult soccer game where Toronto’s own Ethio Star Soccer Team will participate.
THE ETHIOPIAN ASSOCIATION GRATER TORONTO
2064 DANFORTH AVENUE
TORONTO,ONTARIO
POSTAL CODE M4C 1J6
TEL (416)694 1522
Tegbar League urges American music stars Beyonce Knowles, Janet Jackson and 50-Cent to stay away from Ethiopia during next month’s millennium festival in Addis Ababa organized by the Meles regime in Ethiopia. The says:
“… it was with great shock that we learned about your acceptance to perform at a grand party for the upcoming Ethiopian millennium in Addis Ababa. If for nothing else, for your own safety, please do not come to Ethiopia to party next month. Ethiopia currently is not a place for partying. It is a place where the people are being massacred, tortured, raped, and terrorized.”
Global efforts to combat terrorism and the pressure to implement democratic reforms have collided in Ethiopia in recent years. The contradictions and challenges in these objectives became even more apparent after the country ’s flawed 2005 elections and a violent crackdown by Ethiopian security forces. In addition, sizable Ethiopian diaspora communities in the United States and Europe have changed the dynamics of international engagement, both in the elections themselves and in post-election disputes. Domestic pressure groups, concerned governments, human rights organizations, and Ethiopians abroad exerted strong pressure on international donors to end or limit funding of the regime. Meanwhile the Ethiopian government exercised significant regional influence by invading Somalia in December 2006. At the same time it burnished its image as an important ally in Washington’s war on terrorism.
Prime Minister Meles Zenawi and his party, the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), have deftly manipulated internal and external threats. At various times regional involvements in Somalia and Eritrea have provided useful distraction from deteriorating domestic politics and human rights violations by state security. More than two years later, the contested election of May 2005 and the even more contentious post-election standoff between the ruling party and opposition parties remain pivotal to understanding both Ethiopia’s internal political situation and other important conflicts in the region, particularly in Somalia.
Approaching the third round of multiparty elections in spring 2005, analysts were guardedly optimistic that these elections would advance the democratic process the country had undertaken in the fifteen years since the Derg military dictatorship fell. Yet the election results caught political analysts and many Ethiopians off-guard, not only because of the surprisingly strong showing of opposition political parties, but also because of the rapid descent into violence and political division that followed a peaceful and well-attended voting day. Since then both domestic and regional politics have deteriorated, and regional conflict and authoritarian governance have increased.
The elections suggest that sharp divisions among political elites in Ethiopia and among the various ethnic and regional communities have been salient since at least 1991, when the Derg fell. Under the ruling party rural voters have made small but significant economic and sociocultural gains (such as autonomy for ethnic groups in language choice). Material improvements in social services and rural infrastructure have surpassed those of previous regimes in modern Ethiopian history. At the same time local government authorities and institutions have become increasingly repressive, particularly in the countryside.
The urban populace is divided and extremely hostile to the regime in power. Advances in the cities and towns, while impressive, have failed to keep pace with the expectations of a restive and politically engaged voting population. Finally, much of the sizable and politically active Ethiopian diaspora is extremely hostile to the prime minister and the EPRDF leadership. It aggressively seeks to undermine the regime through public rallies in western capitals and new technologies such as the Internet.
In many ways these three communities—urban, rural, and diaspora—have such divergent interests that no one political party could hope to appease them all. The EPRDF certainly has not managed to. Its primary base of support outside the Tigray region comes from rural areas, particularly those that have been historically excluded and least developed.
It has shown itself willing to use lethal force, belying the rhetoric of democracy that distinguished it from previous regimes. Since the disputed 2005 elections and a brutal crackdown by the ruling party ’s security forces, opposition political parties have fragmented, unable to maintain a coalition that might effectively challenge the EPRDF under current electoral and institutional structures. Some of the largest ethnic communities, particularly the Oromo and Somali, have little if any political representation and are subject to regular and violent human rights abuses. Finally, insecurity throughout the Horn of Africa, and Ethiopia’s role as both instigator of instability and regional enforcer, puts it at the center of a rapidly developing regional crisis… – continue reading [click here]
ORANGE – First lady Laura Bush turned down Tilahun “Michael” Belay. So did England’s Queen Elizabeth and Prince Charles. Bill Gates, too. Oprah didn’t even bother to respond to the Orange resident.
After Belay’s solicitation letters for his nonprofit organization were unsuccessful, the 52-year-old father of three sold his own house to build a school in the poor African nation of Ethiopia.
Belay won’t be disappointed today. Instead, 2,500 people will be present to honor Chapman University’s community service officer with the 23rd annual Albert Schweitzer Award of Excellence for public service. This is the fourth time the university has given the award to one of its own. Past recipients include renowned groups such as Habitat for Humanity.
“I am a believer in education – something I have dreamt for myself for my whole life,” Belay said. “My dream come true is for my own children to graduate, and my children in Ethiopia as well.”
Starting with a hut
The Tilahun Belay School in the village of Arusi began in 2000, when the Ethiopian native returned to his homeland for the first time in nearly 30 years.
Moved by the poverty he saw, Belay immediately withdrew his own money from the bank. He built a mud hut to house a school for 150 children. He ground charcoal to make blackboards.
“I promised them I would be back with supplies,” Belay said. “I promised them I would give them a school.”
With the help of colleagues at Chapman, Belay started the nonprofit Hands Across the Planet to Poor Youth. Colleagues donated what they could, but it wasn’t enough. So Belay made a life-changing decision.
Belay sacrificed his dream house in 2004: a three-bedroom home on a half-acre in Corona. He moved his family into a two-bedroom apartment in Orange.
“I had no choice,” he said. “These children have nothing. The people are suffering.”
Local philanthropists took notice. Orange developer Roger Hobbs donated 100 chairs to replace the wood platform that served as the school’s benches. Chapman University donated computers. University Trustee S. Paul Musco paid for the 20-foot container to ship more supplies.
Just last week, Jason Gallagher, manager of a Staples in Santa Ana, donated 240 folders filled with school supplies.
“Doesn’t it seem like the right thing to do?” Gallagher said. “He sold his own home to build this school. The least I can do is donate school supplies.”
Going full circle
Belay’s journey has been a long and dangerous one.
At the age of 7, he left his village and moved to Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa, after his father became a judge. Belay was forced into the army at 13.
When a civil war broke out, his father told him to leave. In 1975, the young man trekked by foot for three months until he reached Sudan.
A year later his father and 25 others were killed. Insurgents burned their bodies.
In 1981, Belay came to the United States as a political refugee. He settled in San Jose, where he worked in a convalescent home. Years later, he ran an Ethiopian restaurant in Orange County. Then he found a job at Chapman.
“When I went (back to) my birthplace, the city was destroyed by war. Everything was dust,” Belay said as he wiped away tears. “I remember it was a beautiful town. The children I found were barefoot and had nothing. But they were eager to learn even as they sat on the dirt under the shade of a tree.”
