Government of the Republic of Namibia v Getachew (SA 21/2006) [2008] NASC 4; (15 April 2008): The appeal followed a High Court case in which an immigration officer committed perjury during his testimony in court resulted in N$65 000 being awarded to an Ethiopian resident of Namibia for the three months that he had spent in illegal detention in 2004 and 2005. The summons was instituted by Dereje Getachew who sued the Namibian Government for wrongful and unlawful arrest and consequential detention. The court unreservedly held that the trial judge erred when he determined that the respondent’s arrest was unlawful: ‘The arrest was justified on the basis of a clearly proved reasonable suspicion on the part of the arresting immigration officer that the respondent’s presence in Namibia was probably unlawful.’ The court decided the detention was lawful for the first period of 28 days, but was unlawful from 15 October 2004 to 27 January 2005.
By Mutwiri Mutuota, The Standard –The national team to the 16th Africa Championships in Athletics left for Addis Ababa with a promise to get the job done at the home of their fiercest rivals.
“So far, we have trained well and have no injuries to report. Everyone is ready to go to war and we have an experienced team that will go there to fight,” team captain and 2001, 1500m World Youth Champion, Isaac Songok, said at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport on Sunday.
The 40-strong team accompanied by 13 officials left aboard an Ethiopian Airlines flight for Addis Ababa.
“We hope to return in glory because our discipline has been very high and we are all motivated,” Songok, who will be the major medal hope in 5000m said.
The athlete who missed the national team to the World Cross Country Championships in Edinburgh last month after he was dropped from the preliminary squad, promised to atone for the disappointment at the continental event.
“It will be my first African Championship and being an Olympic year, I am aiming to do well so that I qualify for Beijing,” said the athlete who has also appeared in two World Championships (Paris and Helsinki).
Team head coach, Julius Kirwa, remained optimistic that the team, considered to be the country’s B side, would compete favourably with the hosts who have all their big guns waiting to pounce.
“We are ready and the athletes are very determined. I have a team that has runners from 100m to the javelin and I expect medals in all events,” he said.
The send-off accorded to the team was lacklustre considering. The Government minister who handed them the Kenyan flag was not even expected in the first place.
Transport minister, Chirau Ali Mwakwere, was enroute somewhere else but chanced on the team, smartly decked in black suits and promptly assumed the role of officially seeing it off.
“I am happy to hear that you have prepared well and I believe that you are the best athletes in the world. Ethiopia is located in high altitude, but conditions are similar to Nairobi so you should cope well,” Mwakwere said.
By Steve Nearman, The Washington Times – Ethiopians Worku Beyi and Bizunesh Deba were married three years ago. They train together in the Bronx borough of New York City, where they live with other competitive Ethiopian runners. The couple frequently races together, too, for the Westchester Track Club.
Yesterday over 10 misting miles between Mount Vernon and Old Town Alexandria, Beyi and Deba put on dominating solo performances to sweep the George Washington Parkway Classic.
The 21-year-old Beyi shed eventual runner-up Steven Crane of Silver Spring after two miles and ended in 48:26, more than four minutes ahead of Crane.
The 21-year-old Deba shed her competition in the first two steps, darting ahead of eventual runner-up Erin Moore of Woodbridge by nearly a minute in the first mile. Deba, back in training for the past year after suffering an ankle injury, hit the finish line in front of Robinson Terminal in 58:52. Moore was far back in 1:05:52.
With a weak men’s field up front, Deba was able to place fifth overall with the slowest winning women’s time in five years.
Beyi and Deba, who each earned $500, became just the second couple in the race’s 24-year history to sweep the top prize. Steve and Lori Taylor did it in 1994, when the Parkway Classic was a 15-kilometer distance.
Beyi struggled last year against former housemate Demis Tefera, who decided this year to run the Pike’s Peek 10K in Rockville. Last year, the two staged a sprint for the finish, with Beyi losing by one second in 47:31. There was no such drama in this year’s race, but it was still not easy.
“This year was hard,” said Beyi, who ran fairly even halves with an opening 24:10 five-mile split. “Since nine months ago, my hamstring on both legs are hurting. After four, five miles, I was hurting. My right one is better, but the left one is not good. I was taking it easier this year because I have Bloomsday [12-kilometer race in Spokane, Wash.,] next weekend.”
A record 3,027 runners started the race and more than 900 toed the line in the accompanying 5K, which was won by Bert Rodriguez of Arlington (15:34) and Robyn Ellerbrock (19:34).
Pike’s Peek 10K
Training partners Joel Melly and Reuben Chebii, Kenyans living in West Chester, Pa., and Demis Tefera, an Ethiopian residing in Takoma Park, crested the hill near the finish of the Pike’s Peek 10K.
In a repeat of last weekend’s Dismal Swamp Stomp Half Marathon, Melly had the better of Chebii at Pike’s Peek, crossing the finish line first in 29:00. Chebii was right behind in 29:02, and Tefera was a second off Chebii in third.
It was a different race for the women. Genet Gebregiorgis, an Ethiopian living in Silver Spring, broke the field and won in 33:57. Hirut Mandefro (34:23) of Takoma Park, Alemgena Desta (34:32) of Silver Spring, Laura Turner (36:09) of the District and Christine Ramsey (36:19) of Baltimore followed.
The 33-year-old Gebregiorgis was sixth in the 5,000 meters in the 1997 IAAF World Championships in Athletics and was a part of five silver-medal-winning teams in the short course event at the IAAF World Cross Country Championships (1998 to 2002).
This same shameless diplomat did not utter a word of condemnation when her friend Meles Zenawi unleashd his death squads on unarmed civilians following the May 2005 elections.
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(BBC) – The top US diplomat for Africa, Jendayi Frazer, has said the UN Security Council should consider sanctions on Zimbabwe over the post-election crisis.
She told the BBC that if the situation did not change “we should contemplate multilateral sanctions through the UN”.
Ms Frazer, who is touring the region, urged African leaders to speak “very loudly” against post-poll violence.
Opposition and human rights groups allege a government campaign of abuses in the wake of last month’s vote.
Four weeks after the elections, results from the presidential race remain unreleased.
The opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), which overturned President Mugabe’s parliamentary majority for the first time in 28 years, says its candidate Morgan Tsvangirai won the presidency outright.
Independent monitors have also said he got the most votes, but may not have gained the absolute majority necessary to avoid a run-off poll.
‘Youth militia’
Ms Frazer said the US Embassy in Zimbabwe had received documented evidence of more than 450 people who had been beaten since the vote, one death and about 1,000 people who had been displaced.
The MDC says 15 of its supporters have been killed.
The US envoy has been touring southern Africa, seeking to push regional leaders towards more open criticism of Mr Mugabe.
“The region needs to speak very, very loudly and very clearly to President Mugabe and his government to say that the violence must come to an end immediately,” she said.
“It’s unacceptable to beat people just because they’ve decided to go out and vote.”
HAVE YOUR SAY The UN should impose sanctions on Zimbabwe but a military intervention would be more helpful Tafara Shoko, Johannesburg, South Africa
South Africa’s President Thabo Mbeki has been mediating between the two sides, but correspondents say the long-time Mugabe ally’s policy of “quiet diplomacy” has been widely derided.
Ms Frazer’s comments came a day after a partial recount of votes in the presidential election failed to reverse Mr Mugabe’s lost parliamentary majority.
“We believe the whole recount exercise is just an exercise in delay… in allowing Robert Mugabe to intimidate the population, to create the machinery so that he can rig [a potential run-off] vote if necessary,” she told the BBC.
‘Pattern of violence’
Zimbabwe’s Electoral Commission has said that the recounts in 23 constituencies should be completed by Monday, after which party representatives will be invited to a “verification” process, leading to the release of the long-awaited presidential results.
Sunday saw fresh condemnations over mounting evidence of a government-sponsored campaign of intimidation against opposition supporters.
The Archbishop of York, leading a day of prayer for Zimbabwe, urged members of the army and police not to “terrorise the ordinary citizens” and warned them “not to prop up a government” that “lacks legitimacy”.
And UN Commissioner for Human Rights, Louise Arbour, said she was “particularly concerned about reports of threats, intimidation, abuse and violence directed against NGOs, election monitors, human rights defenders and other representatives of civil society”.
She said reports suggested “an emerging pattern of political violence inflicted mainly, but not exclusively, on rural supporters of the opposition MDC party” although there were “some reports of MDC supporters resorting to violence and intimidation”.
In Harare, lawyers continued to seek access to about 200 opposition supporters arrested during a police raid on MDC offices on Friday.
The government says they are suspected of involvement in political violence, although the MDC say many of them were taking shelter after fleeing intimidation in rural areas.
All these far flung concept, country, system and a celebrity have one thing in common. The current Ethiopian regime is the unifying factor here. It is a well-planned and calculated move by the princess of darkness from Arat Kilo. They are a ploy to put too much up on the screen, too many things all at once and it is very difficult to focus. We are inundated with too much information. It is difficult to hit a moving object.
When there is too much noise from the regime, you know something is up. You have to be alert to separate the chaff from the grain. They just throw everything at you. This time their main aim was to deflect attention from the sham ‘election’ they were orchestrating. It was considered to be a non-event by everybody except the regime.
All the reports by major media and internationally respected organizations concluded that the government was running UN opposed. It was systematically preventing any opposition participating in a meaningful way. The so-called election was an utter failure with everybody ‘ including the ‘loyal opposition’ dropping out the last minute.
It is good enough for begging, borrowing, ‘close your eyes and let me fool you’ purpose, but nothing else. Only Woyane thinks it was a good idea. They hope in time the world will forget and it will be fait acompli. In the eyes of the world players Ethiopia will be considered another ‘failed state’. In the international arena, legitimacy is a powerful calling card. Ethiopia lost that in the aftermath of the 2005 elections. Now it is sinking deeper into the realm of Jean Bidel Bokassa and Mobutu Sese Seko.
Remember during the Kenyan election fiasco, they always mentioned the stolen Ethiopian election and the aftermath. When they are discussing Zimbabwe they always bring out the 2005 election. It has become a landmark for stealing and killing to stay in power. The Ethiopian government does not have legitimacy to utter a word regarding these major incidents in our continent. Instead of being a respected and neutral go between the warring parties we are shamed into sitting in the background and keeping quiet. It is because the power of those in charge does not emanate from the people rather it comes ‘out of the barrel of the gun’ directed against the people. We are being held as a good example of ‘poverty stricken and botched elections’ with the government accused of killing hundreds of civilians in cold blood. Another ‘banana republic’.
Nothing like diversion to change the subject.
Qatar was thrown into the mix to involve the foreign media. Instead of reporting about the failed elections, the inflation, and the famine they gave the ferenjis something they could report. They reported it dutifully. ‘Ethiopia severs ties with Qatar’ was everywhere. It was a non-news but Woyane made it news. Qatar does not give a damn regarding the so-called ‘diplomatic relations’ with Ethiopia. Ethiopia needs Qatar not the other way around. Thus trying to give a finger to a 700-pound gorilla is not a good idea. It is fortunate the gorilla found it amusing and shrugged it off. If they were hot headed like Woyane over twelve thousand needy Ethiopians will be sent home. Hey they are indifferent to seventy million Ethiopians, a few thousand in Qatar is nothing to loose your sleep about.
Next was the story of the famous ‘Ethiopian Commodity Exchange’ (ECX). Only TPLF will come up with something like this. Who needs comedians with Woyane around? You can trust them to pretend the most absurd is the most rational. Let us see, the concept of a ‘Commodity Exchange’ in Ethiopia will be as out of place as a ‘water park’ in the Sahara, a ‘monastery’ in Las Vegas or a ‘Hitler’ museum in Tel Aviv. It just doesn’t flow.
Commodity exchange is one of those purely capitalist enterprises, which has basic requirement of its own to succeed. The first is ‘Democracy’ where ideas and wealth is exchanged openly. Then we need open and transparent system where the information presented should have credibility with the consumer. Independent institutions not beholden to any government or outside forces are a must. Faith in the fairness of the system is the most critical aspect of the capitalist system.
Today’s Ethiopia doesn’t even come close to any of the above. The economy is controlled by the government or its subsidiaries, the Central Bank does not know the difference between Gold and Lead and the communication system is still rooted in the last century. Most of all there is no such thing as ‘private confidential’ information in Ethiopia. The Police State knows everything. The much-ballyhooed opening of the so-called ECX is nothing but another scam on the ferengis and a smoke screen to divert our attention from the election fiasco. The girls of Mitmita blog have a hilarious take on this unique institution.
At last the minority regime was forced to use what is has been holding in reserve for the last year and a half. Throw our beloved Teddy Afro into Kaliti. TPLF planned this a long time back. Teddy has been a thorn on their side for too long. The young man has the nerve to come up with lyrics and songs that stirred our inner soul and increased our pride on being Ethiopian. What the Woyane was destroying, Teddy was building. What the Woyane was insulting Teddy was praising. One Teddy was greater than the sum of all Woyane.
Teddy’s imprisonment was a two-pronged attack. The first is to divert attention till they finished seating their minions as the new sheriff in all of Ethiopia. The second was intended to show that Woyane is in charge. Nothing like a high premium prisoner to show who the boss is. Another attempt to emasculate us and break our will to challenge them. Not to worry, all their loud statements end up biting them back. Woyane is the same old confused, disoriented ‘keystone cops’ that can’t shoot straight even if their life depended on it.
As their imprisonment of Kinijit leaders ended up galvanizing the country against them, as their unprovoked invasion of Somalia is uniting the Somali against them, so will the imprisonment of our favorite son make us angry and end up making us see the real nature of Woyane. We have three thousand years of built up ‘Ethiopianess’ DNA interwoven in our very essence. Believe me Woyane is a shooting star here now gone in a second phenomena. We will still be here. Just keep your eyes on the prize. Melkam Fasika my beautiful brothers and sisters. May the Ethiopian God give Teddy the strength in this time of hardship!
