Ethiopian Television Network interviews Ethiopian Review publisher Elias Kifle. This is Part 2 of a 4-part video. Click here for Part I. The rest of the interview is available at ETN, or will be posted here shortly.
John McCain’s campaign sent out a fundraising e-mail a few hours ago, soliciting supporters to drop $250 for a personalized McCain logo banner. The subject of the e-mail, Frank Donatelli, says he and his wife have “been proud to work for and support” John McCain since his first presidential bid, and are proud to publicly showcase their support for the presumptive GOP nominee.
Frank Donatelli, however, is a longtime lobbyist:
McCain Tapped Lobbyist Frank Donatelli To Run His Efforts At RNC. McCain tapped lobbyist Frank Donatelli to become deputy chairman of the Republican National Committee. The New York Times reported Donatelli will “act as the main liaison between the committee and the McCain campaign.” Donatelli is a lobbyist at McGuire Woods and previously served as a lobbyist at Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld. His clients have included AT&T, Exxon Mobil, PhRMA, Blue Cross Blue Shield and Verizon. [New York Times, 3/7/08; McGuire Woods, accessed 5/12/08; Senate Lobbying Disclosure Records, accessed 5/12/08]
Donatelli Enlisted to Improve Ethiopia’s Relationship with U.S. In a September 2005 letter sent to Ambassador Kassahun Ayele of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, Donatelli set forth his obligations under their contract, namely to provide “government relations and related public communications services to assist and work with Ethiopia in Washington, D.C., in promoting and strengthening Ethiopia’s relations with the United States and, in general, providing such other appropriate advice and assistance as will serve to achieve these purposes.” [FARA Database, accessed 3/18/08, Letter signed by Frank Donatelli on 9/6/05]
Human Rights Watch:
“The Ethiopian Government’s Human Rights Record Remains Poor.” According to Human Rights Watch’s World Report 2008, “The Ethiopian government’s human rights record remains poor, both within the country and in neighboring Somalia, where since early 2007 thousands of Ethiopian troops have been fighting an insurgency alongside the Transitional Federal Government of Somalia. Government forces committed serious human rights violations, including rape, torture, and village burnings, during a campaign against Ethiopian rebels in eastern Somalia Region (Region 5). Abuses took place in other parts of the country, notably in Oromia State where local officials carried out mass arrests, extra-judicial killings and economic sanctions.” [Human Rights Watch, accessed 5/12/08, emphasis added]
You would think John McCain could find at least one supporter who isn’t a lobbyist, right?
For all those lobbyists staffing John McCain’s campaign, here’s a banner for all of them to share. In fact, I won’t even charge $250 for it.
Source: democrats.org
Security forces of Meles Zenawi’s dictatorship have forced vendors and shopkeepers to close down their stores in Merkato, Bole and through out Addis Ababa today to celebrate Woyanne’s 17th anniversary in power. Most shopkeepers ignored the regime’s orders and opened their stores for business on their regular schedules, but Kuma Demeksa (Taye Teklemikael), Meles Zenawi’s donkey who is now in charge of Ethiopia’s capital, sent the city’s police officers, backed by the federal police, to roam around and force each store closed. Restaurants, coffee shops, and private offices were exempted.
Later in the evening, ER has learned that Addis Ababa University students had clashed with the police. The source of the disturbance is not clear yet. ER is gathering more information.
BAHRAIN — FIFTY-SIX women suspected of working as prostitutes have been arrested in two hotel raids. Most of the women are housemaids trying to earn extra cash, Criminal Investigation Directorate (CID) acting director general Brigadier Tariq bin Daina said. The women are of different nationalities and many are in the country illegally, he added.
“After investigation, the police concluded that most of the arrested women work as housemaids,” said Brig bin Daina, who is also acting director general of Crime Detection and Forensic Science.
“Many are illegal with expired visas and some are runaways.
“We will now investigate who is behind the racket and those who assist in the illegal activity.”
The GULF DAILY NEWS (GDN) has confirmed that one of the hotels raided was the Concorde International Hotel in Gudaibiya.
Forty-two women were arrested in that hotel alone on Friday night.
A spokesman for Future Hotel Management, which runs the hotel, confirmed that Labour Ministry and Interior Ministry officials raided its premises.
However, he denied there was prostitution taking place inside the hotel.
“Six Ethiopian waitresses who work at our coffee bar were taken into custody, despite their legal status and all papers being in order,” he said.
“These women, who are new to Bahrain, were scared when they saw the police and tried to run.
“We can’t blame them for it.
“They were caught and the officials told us that even though they have proper papers they will have to be taken.
“We were told that the women will be released in a couple of days.”
The hotel has sublet most of its services and claimed it was not responsible for activities inside outlets managed by other companies.
“We have sublet all of the hotel’s outlets except room-service and a coffee bar,” said the spokesman.
“So we are not aware and don’t have any control over what happens in the other outlets.”
He also said an Indian woman who was visiting the hotel with her husband was also arrested during the raid, despite protests by a hotel official.
“There is no logic to this raid,” claimed the spokesman.
“Not every woman who enters a hotel is a prostitute.
“The police also took with them a female guest who was at the coffee bar with her husband.
“When the hotel’s public relations officer objected to this and explained the woman was not even a staff member, but a customer, the police said that she will have to be taken anyway for being there.
“The helpless husband could do nothing but watch his wife being taken away.
“We are trying to change and renovate the hotel and it is not fair for authorities to do this.
“What upsets us most is that these women who were taken away are legal residents with all their papers in order.”
The case has now been referred to the Public Prosecution.
By BEGENA P PRADEEP, Gulf Daily News
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ADDIS ABABA (AFP) — Bombs have exploded in two hotels in a southern Ethiopian town, killing three people and wounding five, security and government officials said Wednesday.
“Two bombs blew up in two hotels last night. The second blast occured just three minutes after the first,” said Tamrat Abera, police chief for the town of Negelle Borena.
Information ministry spokesman Zemedkum Tekle had earlier mentioned only one blast taking place on Wednesday and gave a casualty toll of three killed and five wounded.
Negelle Borena is a small town located 595 kilometres (320 miles) south of the capital Addis Ababa, in the Oromo region, where rebels have fought for years over claims of marginalisation by the government.
“Some had their legs blown off. There was also serious damage to private and public property,” Tamrat told AFP. “We are undertaking a massive manhunt as we have been given details of what the bomber looked like.”
He said that the first bomb went off in a hotel called Kidane Mihret and the second in Shuferoch hotel, just a few yards away.
No armed group has yet claimed responsibility for the bombings.
The twin bomb attack came as the regime of Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi celebrated Wednesday the 17th anniversary of former president Mengistu Haile Mariam’s ouster.
On May 20, a bomb went off on a minibus near the foreign ministry in Addis Ababa, killing six people, including a US national.
The authorities, who made several arrests, blamed last week’s explosion on Eritrea and the Oromo Liberation Front.
Three people were also killed and 18 wounded in bomb blasts at petrol stations in Addis Ababa on April 14.
JEDDAH — Officials of the Passport Department rounded up more than 50 violators of residence and labor regulations in late-night operations in two working class neighborhoods of Jeddah yesterday.
The arrested included those who forged iqamas (residence permits), health cards and other official documents. The officials also arrested Filipino, Syrian and Chadian nationals who were living in the Kingdom legally but were employing or sheltering illegal residents. Housemaids that had run away from their sponsors were among those arrested.
Immigration officials carried out the operations in the Nuzlah and Faisaliah districts after midnight because most of the violators preferred to work in the night for fear of detection during the daytime.
The officials raided a number of illegally run car workshops, electronic repair shops, CD copying shops, beauty salons and tailoring houses. Ethiopian women peddlers of medicated oils and incenses were also arrested.
The officials also arrested illegally staying laborers hiding in some old buildings. While a few of them disappeared in the darkness, several of them were found hiding under beds and inside shelves. Some women were seen pleading for mercy from the officials saying that they were not committing a crime but earning the money to feed their children back home.
Brig. Muhammad Al-Asmari, director of the Passports Department for the Makkah province, supervised the operations.
By Ali Al-Amri, Arab News
