Kinijit Vice President Bertukan Mideksa and Addis Ababa Mayor-Elect Berhanu Nega will testify at a hearing in the United States House of Representatives’ Subcommittee on Africa and Global Health on Oct. 2, 2007.
The hearing will be held in Rayburn House Office Building, Room 2172, next Tuesday starting at 10:00 AM. The hearing is open for the public, but seats are available on first come first serve basis.
Other guests who are invited to testify include U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Jendayi Frazer, Human Rights Watch representative Saman Zia-Zarifi, Ogaden Human Rights Committee representative Fowsia Abdulkadir, and James Madison University Professor J. Peter Pham.
Ethiopian Review has been informed from sources close to Hailu Shawel’s family that he is critically ill in a Minneapolis hospital.
Ato Hailu’s condition has gotten worse since Monday, forcing the doctors to allow access to close family members only.
Two different sources told Ethiopian Review that the doctors said he feels better today, and that his condition is being stablized.
Ato Hailu was planning to travel to Washington DC this coming Saturday for a meeting, but it is postponed for the following week due to his health, according to EPRP sources.
Kinijit leaders arrive in Helsinki, Finland: L. to R. Dr Yacob Haile-Mariam, Ato Abayneh Berhanu, Ato Aschalew Ketema, Ato Muluneh Eyuel
EMF – Kinijit leaders held a meeting with officials of the Government of Finland in Helsinki today.
The delegates — Secretary General Muluneh Eyoel, Ato Abayneh Berhanu, Dr. Yacob Haile-Mariam, Ato Kifle Tigneh and Ato Aschalew Ketema — discussed the current human rights situation in Ethiopia with members of parliament, Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials and journalists.
Finland’s major newspapers gave the delegation’s visit extensive coverage.
The Kinijit leaders also held a public meeting with Ethiopians in Finland.
They will return to Sweden by boat today.
Kinijit delegation in Finland meet with Dr. Kimmo Kiljuinen, Member of Parlament’s Human Right Committee
The U.S. House of Representatives’ Foreign Affairs Committee today passed H.R. 2003 with all members voting in favor.
Kinijit delegates Dr Hailu Araya, Ato Gizachew Shiferraw, and Ato Brook Kebede attended the committee meeting to show their full support for the bill.
Several members of the Kinijit DC Metro chapter, including the vice chair, Ato Alemayehu Abebe, prominent Ethiopians, including Artist Tamagne Beyene, Addis Dimts Radio host Abebe Belew, and representative of the International Ethiopian Women Association Dr Abeba Fekade were also at the meeting to urge members to support the bill.
High ranking members of the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) leadership were at the meeting in a show of solidarity.
This is a victory for people’s power over money power. Woyanne spent millions of dollars to kill this bill through high powered lobbyists.
Great job Prof. Alemayehu Gebre-Mariam, Ato Neway Mengistu, Wzt. Meron Ahadu and all members of the H.R. 2003 Coalition who labored hard to get this bill passed.
The United States House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee to mark-up H.R. 2003 on Wednesday, Sept. 26, 2007
The Coalition for H.R. 2003 is pleased to announce that HR 2003 (“Ethiopia Democracy and accountability Act of 2007”), introduced by Chairman Donald Payne of the Subcommittee on Africa on April 20, 2007, has been scheduled for a mark-up vote in the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Wednesday, September 26, 2007, at 10 A.M. http://foreignaffairs.house.gov/testimony.asp?committee=1
H.R. 2003 has 85 co-sponsors in the House of Representatives!
It is expected that the Committee will mark-up the bill and recommend it to the floor with a do-pass recommendation, the highest level of approval that can be given to a bill by a committee. The bill requires the ruling regime to:
● Release of ALL political prisoners and restore the democratic rights of the people.
● Institute democratic reforms with accountability.
● Provide protections for human rights advocates and civic society organization and ensure the existence of adequate monitoring and reporting processes.
● Set up an independent judicial system with proper monitoring processes to protect judges from political interference.
● Bring to justice all human rights abusers, including the killers of 193 innocent men, women and children and those who wounded 763 others in the post-2005 election period, and thousands of others.
● Improve election procedures and ensure fraud free elections.
● Remove press censorship and restrictive press laws and establish a program to strengthen private media in Ethiopia.
The bill also
● Offers training programs for democratic participation.
● Limits the use of U.S. security assistance to peacekeeping and counter-terrorism and NOT against the civilian population.
● Fosters economic development.
● Provides assistance to strengthen local, regional, and national parliaments and governments, political parties, and civil society groups.
● Strengthens training for political parties in the areas of organization building and campaign management.
● Provides training for civil society groups in election monitoring.
● Promotes dispute resolution by means of dialogue, negotiations and compromise, and
● Professionalizes the National Election Board to help it address certain issues, e.g. issues delimitation of constituencies, voter and candidate registration, political party registration, voting irregularities and challenges.
Members of the Kinijit Delegation touring the U.S. are expected to attend and observe the proceedings.
The Coalition will provide further updates as soon as they become available.
Coalition for H.R. 2003
http://www.hr2003.org
E-mail: [email protected]
Tel: 323-988-5688
Tensions between Ethiopia and Eritrea, the Horn of Africa’s most bitter enemies, are escalating after a boundary commission trying to broker a deal to demarcate their border all but conceded defeat.
According to a meeting transcript seen by the Financial Times, Sir Elihu Lauterpacht, president of the independent Eritrea-Ethiopia Boundary Commission, told the countries earlier this month that after a five-year stalemate: “Effectively, we can do no more.”
The failure to reach agreement will raise fears of renewed conflict between the two countries whose poisoned relations have exacerbated instability in the volatile Horn of Africa.
Ethiopia and Eritrea say they do not want renewed fighting along their 1,000km border – a 1998-2000 war killed at least 70,000 people – but both countries have massed thousands of troops along the heavily fortified border zone this year.
In July, the United Nations warned that “as the parties continue military preparations, there is a serious risk that a relatively minor incident could lead to a military confrontation”.
The commission “delimited” the border – set the boundary on the map – in April 2002 but both sides have prevented it being “demarcated” on the ground with boundary pillars.
Eritrea has accepted the commission’s decision without qualification, but has violated the 25km-wide temporary security zone along the border and imposed restrictions on the UN Mission, which is meant to be monitoring the zone.
Ethiopia has also accepted the ruling, but resisted moves towards implementation. It has said demarcation cannot be allowed where it cuts villages in two, and that it will not discuss demarcation while Eritrea engages in hostile acts in the region.
Before the commission meeting on September 6 and 7, Eritrea indicated a willingness to take steps to allow demarcation to begin.
According to the transcript, Sir Elihu, the commission president, said the commission “appreciates the implications of flexibility by Eritrea”. But Fisseha Yimer, Ethiopia’s representative, indicated his country’s position had not changed.
“We regret that we could not take our work through to its conclusion, but at least we leave you with a line that is operable,” Sir Elihu said. “It is up to you to work out how to implement it.”
Barring shifts in the positions of the two countries, the boundary will automatically stand as demarcated in November based on map co-ordinates set in 2002.
But Bereket Simon, an adviser to Meles Zenawi, Ethiopia’s prime minister, said: “The boundary cannot be official on the map. We don’t accept it. We accept demarcation on the ground.”
Kinijit leaders arrive in Helsinki, Finland: L. to R. Dr Yacob Haile-Mariam, Ato Abayneh Berhanu, Ato Aschalew Ketema, Ato Muluneh Eyuel 