Ethiopian Democratic Action League (Tegbar) has received the news about the creation of the new alliance called ‘Unity of Ethiopians for Democratic Change’ (UEDC) with great interest.
We believe that UEDC can be a major force in the struggle to stop the Woyanne regime from continuing to terrorize Ethiopians and to stop its attack on the fabric of our society by dividing the people of Ethiopia along ethnic and religious lines.
The Woyanne regime is at war with the people of Ethiopia and neighboring countries. Woyanne warlords are causing the death and displacement of millions of people in Ethiopia, Somalia and the whole Horn of Africa region.
Tegbar believes that the only way Woyanne can be stopped and peace can prevail in Ethiopia when pro-unity and pro-peace forces such as UEDC enable the people of Ethiopia to defend themselves.
It is therefore with great enthusiasm that Tegbar sends a message of support to UEDC. Tegbar is ready to cooperate with UEDC in any way it can.
Tegbar also urges UEDC leaders to establish close ties, or join the Alliance for Freedom and Democracy (AFD).
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Ethiopian Democratic Action League (Tegbar)
Email: [email protected]
www.tegbar.org
MOGADISHU (AFP) — Insurgents fired a barrage of mortars into an Ethiopian Woyanne army camp in the Somali capital Mogadishu on Friday, triggering heavy fighting, residents said.
The clashes shattered a fortnight lull in the city after weeks of heavy fighting that had claimed dozens of lives, mainly of civilians, and displaced at least 200,000 people.
“About 10 mortar shells have landed in and around the pasta factory where the Ethiopian Woyanne forces are based,” said Hassan Abdullahi, a resident of northern Mogadishu Huriwa neighbourhood.
“This was followed by heavy gunfire between the rival sides.”
Another resident Mohamed Haji described the barrage as the heaviest mortar attack he had witnessed since the last round of heavy fighting almost a week ago.
There were no immediate reports of casualties.
Some 600,000 people have fled Mogadishu since February, bringing the total number of people displaced inside the country to a one million, according to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.
An estimated 200,000 people were living rough in squalid camps along the road to Afgooye, 30 kilometres (18 miles) west of Mogadishu — a 50 percent increase over the past two weeks, the UNHCR said.
Aid workers were delivering supplies in Afgooye, but complained that fighting was preventing them from accessing civilians trapped in Mogadishu, where the government is battling a deadly insurgency.
Islamist militants who were ousted from much of the country early this years have been carrying out attacks against Ethiopian Woyanne forces, African Union peacekeepers and government targets.
The transitional government, riven by in-fighting, has been unable to exert control across the nation and some regions have declared independence.
On Thursday, President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed named a veteran law-enforcement and aid official as his new prime minister and tasked him restoring stability in one of the most anarchic city in the world.
PRESS RELEASE Exiled Ethiopian Trade Union Leaders
Release Anti-poverty Campaigners
Once again the verdict in the case of Ethiopian anti-poverty campaigners Daniel Bekele and Netsanet Demissie, which was expected on Thursday, November 22, 2007, has been postponed because one of the judges all in a sudden became ill. Not only the Kangaroo court judge, but the whole system is also sick as the country is in a crisis after the May 2005 national election. By terrorizing its citizens, the state and the system run by world class criminal gangs is sick and beyond recovery.
It is very sad and disturbing to hear again and again the lame excuses given by the failed legal system to postpone the verdict, to Friday November 30, 2007 which was long overdue. It is also an irresponsible act and disregard for the rule of law and the suffering of the two innocent young men, working for their country. The failed system has once again demonstrated its disregard for the rule of law and human rights as the fiasco prime minister is still clinging to power by intimidating and killing its citizens.
It has been repeatedly documented by various human rights organizations that the regime of the self crowned Prime Minster, Meles Zenawi, is synonymous sheer lack of justice or absence of semblance of due process. The courts are private chambers of Meles, prosecutors as his mouth pieces and the judges serving as his loyal butlers. Once again we witness and prove to the Democratic world, what has been said and happening continuously in the country.
Currently in our country Ethiopia, it is not the rule of law being upheld, but instead the gun culture is ruling over reason and logic as secret executions and detentions are common. Due process is never to be seen and framed up charges are order of the day through out the country.
In the mean time, the Addis Ababa criminal regime security forces and their hired armed thugs are attacking human rights activists, journalists, opposition party members and prominent citizens. They continue to deny the public to any independent information, except to their monopolized one sided false propaganda to enforce their act of evil. This refusal to allow the public to the basic freedom of expression and information is aimed at drawing an impregnable veil over human rights abuses and the disregard of the rule of law in the country and the crime they are committing by the hour.
It is long over due for the regime in Addis Ababa to account for its crimes, return to the rule of law and demand all those supporting and giving aid to the regime to halt their actions until it ceases its human right violations and respects the rule of law. To remain silent is to allow the forces of evil to flourish by every minute where millions are denied their rights by very few.
As a result, we appeal and call on world leaders and human rights organization as well as peace loving people of the democratic world to demand the release of the anti-poverty campaigners Daniel Bekele and Natsanet Demissie, which is long over due. The anti-poverty campaigners are hostages of the failed system, while the regime is the hostage of its false and failed system and propaganda. The democratic world has a moral and international responsibility to exert pressure for the release of the anti-poverty campaigners who continue to be under unbearable conditions for almost two years.
Thank you for supporting those whose rights are denied.
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Exiled Ethiopian Trade Union Leaders
Email: [email protected]
ETHIOPIAN-AMERICANS and FRIENDS of ETHIOPIA in OKLAHOMA For H.R. 2003
Press Release
Oklahoma City, OK – On Tuesday, November 20, 2007, a delegation of the recently formed Ethiopian-Americans and Friends of Ethiopia in Oklahoma for H.R. 2003 organization delivered a letter to Senator Inhofe’s district office in Oklahoma asking him to meet with opposition leaders and victims of the families of the 2005 massacre by government troops. In the letter to the Senator, the protesters stated:
We have learned from your office that you will be traveling to Ethiopia in the near future. In your recent statements, you said that that you maintain a personal friendship with Mr. Meles Zenawi and his wife. You have also indicated that you oppose H.R. 2003 because it will undermine U.S. counter-terrorism efforts in the Horn and thwart democratic reforms currently underway.
We would like to make a special request that during your visit in Ethiopia, you make an effort to meet with opposition party leaders and family members of the victims of the 2005 massacre. We believe that it is only fair that you hear at least both sides of the story before you make up your mind whether to oppose or support H.R. 2003.
There are always two sides on any issue, often more. In this case, there are those who support and oppose H.R. 2003. You have given much attention and credibility to those who oppose the bill. You have not heard or communicated with those who support the bill, or could benefit from the bill. That is why we are asking that you meet opposition leaders and victims’ families. By having such meetings, you will gain several advantages. First, the meetings will enable you to reach a fair conclusion based on consideration of all sides of the issues. You could ask them questions and tell them why you have taken a particular position. Perhaps you could change their minds, and they could change yours. But all could be better informed and achieve greater understanding through communication.
Second, if you communicate with the opposition leaders and victims’ families, your decision to support or oppose H.R. 2003 will be based on a clear conscience. If you decide to oppose the bill, all will know that you have done it out of principle and not political expediency. If you decide to support it, the same will obtain. But it is unfair, fundamentally unfair, to oppose the bill based only on one side of the story.
Finally, by talking to the opposition leaders and victims’ families, you will know the truth. You will get a chance to learn first hand what happened to those individuals who were massacred, the suffering of their families, and the oppression of dissidents and opposition leaders in Ethiopia. And as John 8:32 says, “And you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.”
Please meet with opposition leaders and the victims’ families when you visit Ethiopia. Would you promise to give their side a fair hearing before you return from Ethiopia?
Thank you.
The District Office Manager, Ms. Jane Hightower, accepted the letter and supporting documents and assured the delegation that Senator Inhofe will receive the request for a fair hearing by his constituents before he departs for Africa on November 26, 2007.
State Senator Constance N. Johnson joined the peaceful demonstration and spoke to Senator Inhofe’s staffers concerning H.R. 2003. Senator Johnson stated:
“I think it is crucial that Senator Inhofe communicate with the Prime Minister of Ethiopia about the strength and feelings of his constituents in Oklahoma. In addition to listening to different perspectives on his visit to Ethiopia, Senator Inhofe should have a conversation with the Prime Minister about his practices that are leading to the deaths of innocent civilians simply because of their right to dissent. It is important to share with the Prime Minister the American sense, and notion of democracy that as a Prime Minister and as a leader he allow for diversity of opinion and actually respect those that have differing views. This is a point that has to be taken up with the Prime Minister. The fact that we are here for 2 weeks in a row shows what is open to us here in America, the right to assemble and express our opinion. I am here today in support of that, and I will give whatever help I can to my Ethiopian-American constituents.”
The protesters distributed thousands of flyers with the pictures of those massacred in June and November 2005, and asking Oklahomans to urge Senator Inhofe to meet with opposition leaders and victims’ families during his visit to Ethiopia. A copy of a letter written by Professor Ted Vestal, the distinguished longtime scholar on Ethiopian politics, was also distributed.
Local TV stations and print media covered the event.
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ETHIOPIAN-AMERICANS and FRIENDS of ETHIOPIA in OKLAHOMA For H.R. 2003
Contact Person: Mr. Muluneh Zeleke, Spokesperson
Phone: 405-314-4560
Protesters ask Senator Inhofe to be fair during Ethiopia visit
Malawi’s immigration authorities have reportedly deported 71 illegal aliens from Ethiopia who entered the country illegally using uncharted routes, APA learnt here Wednesday.
Northern Malawi’s Immigration Officer Selwin Simfukwe said police in Rumphi intercepted the Ethiopians after a tip-off from well-wishers in the rural district located in the north of the country.
«Most of the immigrants, who were divided in a group of four, came to Chikwawa Village to ask for some drinking water and this made the villagers to be suspicious and alerted the police,» he said.
Simfukwe added the Ethiopians were assisted by two Malawian traffickers, a driver of a three-tonne truck who was ferrying them and another Malani Mkandawire, the leading trafficker.
He said the police had arrested the two Malawians and charged with aiding illegal immigrants and will appear in court soon.
VIRGINIA BEACH – Yacob Hailemariam is thankful he is no longer a political prisoner, but he is far from satisfied.
Hailemariam, 63, spoke Wednesday night at an interfaith Thanksgiving service of about 100 people at Congregation Beth Chaverim and thanked the community for its support for him while he was behind bars.
The former Norfolk State University professor was freed in July after 21 months of imprisonment in Ethiopia after he advocated for democratic change and won a parliamentary seat there in 2005.
Hailemariam wants to return to his homeland and continue the push for democratic reforms.
“Ethiopia hasn’t moved an inch” toward democracy and human rights, he said. “The fight has to go on.”
He has said that the support he received from Norfolk State and the Hampton Roads community boosted his morale while he was in prison.
“I really don’t deserve such an outpouring of love,” he said. “It was really humbling what Hampton Roads did for me.”
Hailemariam and about three dozen other opposition leaders were convicted earlier this year of crimes against the government.
The human-rights group Amnesty International called the defendants “prisoners of conscience.” They were sentenced in July to life in prison, but the Ethiopian government pardoned them days later and released them.
Hailemariam taught business law for nearly 20 years at Norfolk State but retired to return to Ethiopia when the country announced it would hold democratic elections in 2005.
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Dave Forster, (757) 222-5563, [email protected]
