Residents and community leaders in western Ethiopia say thousands of people in several border regions have been displaced by Sudanese troops in recent weeks, following what they describe as a secret, illegal deal between the governments in Addis Ababa and Khartoum. Critics say the secret deal to demarcate the border gives Sudan the right to occupy areas Ethiopians historically consider sacrosanct. VOA Correspondent Alisha Ryu has details from our East Africa Bureau in Nairobi.
A former regional official in the southwestern Gambella region, Omod Oman Obono, tells VOA that as many as 2,000 people have been displaced there in recent weeks in on-going clashes between residents and Sudanese soldiers.
Omod says troops from Sudan have built military camps in Gambella and in other areas north to protect territory handed over to Khartoum by the Ethiopian government sometime last year. He says Sudanese soldiers in Gambella are chasing away local people and inviting people on the Sudanese side of the border to settle in Ethiopian villages.
Last month in the Gondar region of western Ethiopia, the Sudanese army reportedly set fire to two dozen Ethiopian farms and imprisoned 34 people. Residents say 28 are still being held in Sudan.
The deal to demarcate the 1,600-kilometer-long border was not announced. But rumors that a deal had been struck began to spread early last month after high-level officials in Khartoum confirmed that farmers in eastern Sudan were reclaiming disputed lands from Ethiopia. On May 21, Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi publicly denied that any Ethiopian had been displaced as a result of what he termed the acquisition of a portion of Ethiopian land by Sudan.
The news of a boundary settlement shocked many Ethiopians, who consider the ceded Ethiopian land to be historically and culturally theirs. The existing border between the two countries was drawn up more than a century ago when Sudan was under British colonial rule.
A U.S.-based advocacy group called the Ethiopia and Sudan Border Issue Committee accuses Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi of illegally ceding territory without the consent of the Ethiopian people.
Ethiopia and Sudan Border Issue Committee chairman Fiseha Abebe tells VOA that his group will try to nullify the boundary settlement through the courts. He warns that Ethiopians will never accept what Mr. Meles has done.
“He did not even mention what he was doing until we exposed him,” said
Abebe. “In some places, they have given up about 50 miles inside Ethiopia and in other places, about 30 miles. There is going to be a big backlash. This is going to be impossible for any Ethiopian to accept this type of situation.”
The Ethiopian government has not said why it decided to demarcate the border with Sudan at this time.
Both governments in Ethiopia and Sudan are embroiled in complicated domestic and regional conflicts, stretching from Sudan’s western Darfur region to Somalia.
By Alisha Ryu, VOA
Listen the report here
Until he started making news as a possible contender for the US presidency, Barack Obama, who this week won the Democratic ticket in the White House race, was almost unknown in Ethiopia. Now, he has a huge fan club in the country, with one of his greatest fans being Ms Birtukan Mideksa, former deputy chair of Ethiopia’s opposition Coalition for Unity and Democracy (CUD) party.
Mideksa, who was jailed by the government of Meles Zenawi for two years for “treason and inciting genocide” said that George W. Bush’s administration backed the Zenawi government despite its “betrayal of Ethiopia’s democratisation effort in 2005”.
Mideksa is inspired by Obama’s promise of change and hopes that, if Obama becomes president, the US will be more willing to nudge Mr Zenawi in a more liberal political direction.
“Senator Obama is an agent of change. I am sure he would restore basic civil rights, which many are being denied in the name of war on terror all over the world,” she said. “I am highly impressed by his determination, courage and wisdom. He is my role model and I have fallen in love with his philosophy of change.”
She said she hoped African leaders would learn from Obama how to win the hearts of their people and also respect their rivals instead of fomenting hatred and confrontation.
Meanwhile, Abreham Kumela, a young NGO worker, has been nicknamed “Obama” because of his strong support for the Illinois senator.
“He is not a politician; he advocates tolerance. He teaches us all how to effect change,” Kumela said, explaining his admiration for Obama.
He pointed out that, although Ethiopians at home will not vote in the American elections, he is campaigning among the thousands of Ethiopians in the US, who are also raising funds for Obama, to vote for Obama.
“Obama is bigger than just an politician with African roots; he is a symbol of tolerance and multiculturalism,” Kumela said.
Equally hopeful, but on for different reasons, was Dr Costentinos Berhe, former UN adviser to Nigeria. He believes that, if elected president, Obama might just solve the complex situation in the Horn of Africa.
“The war on terror should not just be a military project,” said Berhe. “It should also address the cultural, social and political changes in this part of the world. “I hope that, because of his African heritage, Senator Obama realises that this change is necessary.”
Human rights
When Obama spent a day in Ethiopia during his African tour in 2006, many Ethiopians realised that he did not support the actions of the current Ethiopian regime. His support for the Bill accusing Ethiopia of having a poor human rights record and proposing serious sanctions, including aid cuts, helped strengthen that view.
Indeed, Dr Rewodros Kiros, an Ethiopian lecturer at Harvard University, US, argues that Obama’s victory might be disastrous for régimes like Ethiopia’s, which do not respect human rights.
Evne in Uganda, where the British Premier football league is a must-watch for many, Obama is as recognisable as the premiership superstars.
“I support Obama for ethnic reasons,” said a university lecturer. He is a black man doing something extraordinary.
In the capital, Kampala, Obama merchandise is highly visible, from locally made T-shirts bearing the senator’s picture and the words “Change you can believe in”, to bumper stickers.
Masaka town, 130 kilometres Kampala, has even named a road after the US Presidential candidate.
“Obama Boulevard”, though not a boulevard in the ordinary sense of the word, was the brainchild of a local businessman, Frank Gashumba, who together with his neighbours, decided to bestow the honour on the Illinois senator.
“Obama has shown us all that you can come from a humble background and give the entire world hope. He makes you proud [to be] black,” the businessman said.
Meteoric rise
Younger educated Ugandans have formed an Obama fan club. And their name, Ugandans for Obama, gives a notable ring to the senator’s meteoric rise in American politics. The founder, Bernard Sabiti, said he was inspired to form the group when he found people in a bar asking, “How is a Kenyan going to rule America?” The group mainly comprises university students with access to the Internet, where they campaign for him.
Another group, the Obama Support Group, says it admires Obama because of his oratorical skills and inspiration. Their aim is to lobby Ugandan-Americans as well as US citizens in Uganda to vote for Obama. Excitement about Obama’s candidature is also evident in neighbouring Tanzania, where many people view him as one of their own. After all, his father was a Luo from Kenya, but Luos are also found in Tanzania, some argue. The Obama-mania cuts across the different sectors of society, with many city commuter taxis now having the name “Obama” emblazoned on them.
As news of Obama’s victory in the Democratic party nomination spread in the Tanzanian capital, Dar es Salaam, a local fan, Ave-Maria given remarked: “At least America can have a president who is one of our own!”
Peter Tumaini-Mungu, a lecturer at the University of Dar es Salaam, gave a somewhat philosophical explanation for his support for Obama.
“Being a person of African origin might not be that important,” he said. “Obama’s policies towards Africa are ambitious, and he has a keen interest in the continent. That is something a person of any origin can have.”
The lecturer, who has attended several Obama campaign in the US, says Obama is a passionate and visionary whom the world needs to make it a better place.
“Obama articulates his policies in favour of the poor and the marginalised, something both Africa and Tanzania need,” he said.
And in West Africa, The Lagos State House of Assembly in Nigeria in April this year launched a website to popularise the Illinois senator and campaign for his White House bid.
During the launch, Lagos was turned into an “Obama state”, with taxis draped with banners bearing the senator’s pictures. Their Vote Obama Initiative website explains their stand thus: “Though without a voting right in the ongoing party primaries of the Democrats in the USA, like everybody around the world, we are very much involved because of the global implications the outcome of the elections would have on the world.
“We are particularly thrilled by Obama’s feat because, for the very first time in the history of the US, he has successfully broken the colour bar. We are even more thrilled that white voters can rally forcefully behind this charismatic black man in his quest to become the first black president in the most powerful nation on earth.
Like Martin Luther King Jr said, today he is no longer being judged by the colour of his skin, but by the content of his character, which has propelled him from near obscurity to international limelight.
In Barack Obama, the agitations of early black nationalists such as Booker T. Washington, W.E.B. Du Bois, Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, Marcus Garvey and so many others found concrete expressions as he attains leverage in the political calculation of the US that would no longer ignore Afro-Americans and their electoral strength. To us, this is a feat worthy of celebration as the dawn of a new era.”
Obama spell
So potent is the Obama spell that a group of militant youths in Nigeria’s Niger Delta were taken in by the tricks of a creative-minded security agent who, left with no answer to the fire power of the militiamen, decided to send them a message they could not ignore. He simply sent an e-mail purportedly from Obama, in which he asked that the militants stop the war in the area.
Surprisingly, the militants agreed and announced to the world that Obama had been requested to observe a ceasefire by a person they could not defy!
World oil prices were just starting to fall when the real Obama denied that he was the one who asked for a ceasefire. The young men of Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta returned to their trenches immediately.
Obama also enjoys huge support in Ghana, where Godwin Yaw Agboka, a columnist, tried to explain his appeal thus: “Obama appears to have a magic wand that appeals to the youth, independents, and liberals. For the first tim, in many decades, the expectations among voters, are reaching boiling point — call it a crescendo. Voters seem to want things to change in Washington. Obama represents the change they want. Forget about the fact that he is black. Obama has transcended race. He talks about hope, and believes that ‘there is nothing false about hope’. He knows how to say the right things at the right time”.
African initiative
With Obama now the Democratic Party’s presidential candidate, one can expect the African Initiative for Obama group to swing into action – selling posters, caps, and other merchandise, all to support him.
The group has affiliates across West Africa, and plans to spread throughout the continent.
On Tuesday, its chairman and continental coordinator, Elvis Agukwe, told Daily Nation in Abuja that in about a week, they will approach church leaders and Imams to ask their congregations to begin special prayers for God to guide Americans in their choice of president.
Beyond the buzz, however, Obama has clearly touched something profound among many Africans. As Patricia Jebbah Wesley, a Liberian poet, puts it, “It is a good thing that I am alive to see all of this, and it is a good thing that you are reading this ,and you too, are alive to record this for your children”.
By NationMedia.com, Kenya
Africa Insight is an initiative of the Nation Media Group’s Africa Media Network Project
The crisis that has sent food costs spiraling upward around the globe is causing Ethiopian Jews now living in Israel to give up something priceless: a piece of their culture.
Tens of thousands of the expatriates are being forced to abandon their traditional diets because of the skyrocketing cost of teff grain.
Teff, a nutritious and hardy cereal domesticated in Ethiopia thousands of years ago, is the primary ingredient in injera, a round flatbread that accompanies most Ethiopian meals.
A drastic shortage has caused the price of teff to jump by some 300 percent over the past year.
A 110-pound (50-kilogram) sack now runs at least 600 New Israeli shekels (about U.S. $179).
The price increases hit Israel’s Ethiopian community particularly hard, as it is a struggling group with about three-quarters living below the poverty line, according to official figures.
“It just seems foolish to me. It doesn’t seem logical to throw away so much money just to eat the same food that I ate in Ethiopia,” said Ayelet Inbaram, an Ethiopian living in Bat Yam.
“We can get along fine with bread, pitas, spaghetti, rice,” she said. “The preservation of our heritage is very important to me. I prepare injera and eat from one plate with my children.
“[But] I tell them how we lived, where we came from, how we walked to Israel … There are ways to remain connected without throwing money away.”
Drought and Trade
In the early 1980s, for a variety of social and religious reasons, tens of thousands of Ethiopian Jews began walking toward Israel. Up to half of them died or were killed during the months-long desert treks to refugee camps in Sudan.
The survivors were transported into Israel during covert operations by the Israeli military and intelligence agencies. Emigration continued, and some 100,000 now live in Israel, home to the world’s second-largest Ethiopian expatriate community after the United States.
These Ethiopian-Israelis adhere largely to a traditional diet of injera served with meat, chicken, fish, or vegetables. Teff is also used to produce beverages, and its straw is used to feed cattle and even for construction purposes.
But the Israeli climate is not suited to growing teff, so consumers are entirely dependent upon imports from Ethiopia—and these have shriveled away in recent months due to a variety of factors.
A drought year caused teff production to drop in the rain-dependent country, even as its population continued to increase. In response, Ethiopian officials have reduced exports to a bare minimum to keep most of the grain for domestic use.
In the absence of official trade ties between Israel and Ethiopia, merchants have been illegally transporting teff from Ethiopia via Djibouti and other laborious—and costly—routes.
In addition, the popularity of teff among non-Ethiopian Israelis seeking a healthier grain has driven up the cost, according to Shlomo Molla, the only Ethiopian member of Israel’s parliament.
Molla said he is working to secure an Israel-Ethiopia trade agreement that would allow regulated imports of teff.
“Unfortunately, I am the only one in the government confronting this situation,” Molla said. “Our Ministry of Industry and Trade also has to intervene and set fixed prices for teff.”
Almost Gone?
Meanwhile, many Ethiopian-Israelis can no longer afford to eat their traditional food, and others are actively refusing to buy teff to protest the high cost and the government policies that have contributed to the shortage.
Inbaram, the Bat Yam resident, said the Israeli government should regulate the price of teff, just as it does with other staples such as flour, bread, and dairy products. Meanwhile, she hopes a boycott will force teff merchants to lower prices.
But Ronen Sanbate, an Ethiopian-Israeli teff merchant from Rishon Letzion, said Ethiopian export restrictions have created a situation in which no new teff is arriving in Israel.
He and fellow merchants are now selling off their current stock and—unless the situation changes—Israel’s supply will run out.
“If Ethiopia doesn’t start to release teff, I will be out of work,” Sanbate said.
“We grew up on teff,” he added. “When it runs out, we’ll have no choice—we’ll have to get used to rice.”
By Mati Milstein in Bat Yam, Israel for National Geographic News
Secretary General of Ethiopia’s major opposition party, the Coalition for Unity and Democracy Party (Kinijit), has resigned this week saying that he is unable to carry out his responsibilities because of the worsening political climate in the country.
Ato Muluneh told ER sources that as of this week he is a private citizens and that he will not be involved in any type of political activity in Ethiopia until the political repression by the ruling Tigrean People Liberation Front (Woyanne) stops.
A few months ago, Woyanne has forced Kinijit to change its name in order to ‘legally’ operate in Ethiopia. Woyanne also gave the name “Kinijit” to an individual named Ayele Chamiso, a low-ranking former staff member of the party to humiliate the leaders and millions of Kinijit supporters. As a favor, the Meles regime, in collaboration with the American embassy, allowed all family members of Ayele Chamiso, including his wife, two children, a brother and others, to settle in Washington DC as political refugees, even though they have not been persecuted in Ethiopia. The American embassy in Addis Ababa may have thus violated the U.S. laws by knowingly collaborating in fabricating claims of persecution by Woyanne and Ayele Chamiso. Ethiopian Review has also gathered reliable information that Ayele Chamiso is asking and receiving thousands of dollars from Ethiopian families in the U.S. who want to bring their relatives to the U.S. claiming that he can help them get U.S. visa. Ethiopian Review is willing to share this information, including evidences of bank transactions, with the U.S. law enforcement officials.
Ayele Chamiso currently also receives a 4,000-birr monthly salary and is given a large house free of rent in Addis Ababa.
This is just one evidence of how the American embassy in Addis Ababa is an active player in the corruption of Ethiopian politics.
Back to Kinijit …
After the Kinijit leaders have complied with the demand by the Meles regime to change their party’s name, the election board, which is controlled by Meles, has continued to ignore their request for legal status, effectively blocking them from engaging in any type of political activity in the country.
The only thing for Kinijit, which is now named Unity for Democracy and Justice (UDJ), left to do is to stop all their political activities in the country after formally announcing that they are reclaiming their original name — Kinijit.
It is expected that other high-level officials of Kinijit-UDJ will follow Ato Muluneh’s lead and quit in protest in the next few days.
Meanwhile, Kinijit-UDJ leader Birtukan Mideksa has decided to travel to the U.S. next month to consult with her supporters in the Diaspora. It is not clear yet who among the top leadership will join her in the trip.
The Ethiopian community in northern Virginia is in shock today after learning about the killing of Metsihet Belete, a resident of Arlington, Virginia, who is originally from Ethiopia.