Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) One person was killed and three others injured when a mortar exploded in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa, APA learnt here on Friday.
Police said the mortar exploded in Merkato, one of the largest open markets in Africa.
“The four people were trying to use the mortar for another purpose unknowingly, and it immediately resulted in the death of one person while it injured the three people seriously,” police said.
The incident occurred in one place of Merkato mainly known for the sale of second hand and used metals and other materials.
Police are investigating how the mortar came into the hands of the people who are said to be used materials sellers.
Addis Ababa (Reuters) – About 50 000 Somalis have crossed into neighbouring Ethiopia in the past six months of instability in their homeland, and most are living without humanitarian aid, the United Nations said on Wednesday.
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said a majority of the would-be refugees were women and children fleeing fighting in Somalia where an Islamist movement took control of most of the south in June but fell over the New Year.
“Most of these people are being taken care of by family and clan members in Ethiopia, with no assistance from humanitarian agencies thus far,” the UNHCR statement said.
“UNHCR will need to conduct a screening and registration to be able to extend the necessary protection to identified refugees,” it added, without saying when that could take place.
UNHCR said the 50 000 new arrivals were on top of 17 000 Somali refugees already at the Kebribeyah camp near Jijiga in the northeast.
At the peak of the Somali influx into Ethiopia in 1997, there were 628 000 Somali refugees in the country, but most were repatriated back to Somalia, according to UNHCR.
Shimeles Gessesse (August 06, 1954 – July 23, 2007)
KEIZER, OREGON – Shimeles Gessesse (Shimmy) was born in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on August 6, 1954. He came to the United States in 1975 to attend Oregon College of Education (now WOU) in Monmouth, Oregon. He married his wife of 27 years, Juli Hinkley, on August 30, 1980, and they graduated from OCE in 1981. Shimmy played soccer of OCE and later coached the men’s soccer team, as well as helped to start a women’s soccer team.
While Shimmy worked for the Department of Corrections in Salem for 21 years, he also actively supported the growth of the Ethiopian/African community in Portland. He helped many refugees successfully rebuild their lives in America. He also established the Abyssinia Soccer Club, which he built to be an outstanding team that participates in a local Portland soccer league. He was also a founding member of the Ethiopian Sports Federation in North American (esfna.org), whose annual soccer tournament is a highlight of Abyssinia Soccer Club season.
Shimmy was greatly loved by countless people, whose lives were touched by his enduring kindness and generosity. Shimmy’s heart held an endless amount of compassion for friends and strangers, alike. He will be dearly missed by those of us he has left behind, as he takes his place with God in Heaven.
Shimmy was preceded in death by his father, Gessesse Shebeshi.
He is survived by his mother, Weynitu Yohannes; his wife, Juli; daughter, Abyssinia; son, Noah; and son, HaileGabriel. He is also survived by his brothers, Tedla, Adamassu, Tameru, Ayele, Ambacho, and Tewedros; and sisters, Kokebe and Mulumebet.
Services will be held at 11 a.m. Friday, August 3 at the Maranatha Church, 4222 NE 12th Ave., Portland.
The burial will follow at 1:30 p.m. at the Rose City Cemetery, 5625 NE Fremont, Portland.
Shimeles Gessesse (August 06, 1954 – July 23, 2007)
KEIZER, OREGON – Shimeles Gessesse (Shimmy) was born in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on August 6, 1954. He came to the United States in 1975 to attend Oregon College of Education (now WOU) in Monmouth, Oregon. He married his wife of 27 years, Juli Hinkley, on August 30, 1980, and they graduated from OCE in 1981. Shimmy played soccer of OCE and later coached the men’s soccer team, as well as helped to start a women’s soccer team.
While Shimmy worked for the Department of Corrections in Salem for 21 years, he also actively supported the growth of the Ethiopian/African community in Portland. He helped many refugees successfully rebuild their lives in America. He also established the Abyssinia Soccer Club, which he built to be an outstanding team that participates in a local Portland soccer league. He was also a founding member of the Ethiopian Sports Federation in North American (esfna.org), whose annual soccer tournament is a highlight of Abyssinia Soccer Club season.
Shimmy was greatly loved by countless people, whose lives were touched by his enduring kindness and generosity. Shimmy’s heart held an endless amount of compassion for friends and strangers, alike. He will be dearly missed by those of us he has left behind, as he takes his place with God in Heaven.
Shimmy was preceded in death by his father, Gessesse Shebeshi.
He is survived by his mother, Weynitu Yohannes; his wife, Juli; daughter, Abyssinia; son, Noah; and son, HaileGabriel. He is also survived by his brothers, Tedla, Adamassu, Tameru, Ayele, Ambacho, and Tewedros; and sisters, Kokebe and Mulumebet.
Services will be held at 11 a.m. Friday, August 3 at the Maranatha Church, 4222 NE 12th Ave., Portland.
The burial will follow at 1:30 p.m. at the Rose City Cemetery, 5625 NE Fremont, Portland.
GENEVA (Reuters) – The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has pulled out from Ethiopia’s restive Ogaden region following a government order, but still hopes to return, a spokeswoman said on Thursday.
Authorities in Ethiopia last week gave the Swiss-based humanitarian agency seven days’ notice to leave, accusing it of consorting with rebels, an accusation it has rejected.
“We have left the Somali region, our two offices there are closed,” ICRC spokeswoman Anna Schaaf said in Geneva.
Its 10 expatriate staff arrived in the capital Addis Ababa on Monday by road and remain on standby, she said.
“We are determined to have a good dialogue with authorities to see if we can return. We don’t know what will become of the people we were assisting, there will be a hole,” Schaaf said.
The expulsion shocked other humanitarian groups working in the desolate Ogaden area bordering Somalia, where a guerrilla group has accused the Ethiopian authorities of blockading food relief, choking commercial trade and risking “man-made famine”.
The ICRC, which has said it performed its aid work “impartially and on strictly humanitarian grounds”, carried out a variety of relief projects during its 12 years there.
Until the eviction, it provided medical supplies to hospitals and health care centres, trained livestock owners, carried out water and sanitation projects, and visited detention centres to evaluate conditions and treatment of prisoners.
On Wednesday, an Ethiopian rebel group, the separatist Ogaden National Liberation Front accused government troops of having killed two local aid workers in Ogaden on July 29.
The dry region, populated largely by nomadic camel herders, is effectively off-limits to most human rights workers and journalists.
Ethiopian Review and EMF conducted a press conference with Kinijit North America auditor, Ato Tesfaye Asmamaw. Ato Tesfaye, a senior accountant with the U.S. Federal Elections Commission, has also served as the auditor of Kinijit North America. Ato Tesfaye has informed us that he has finished preparing a comprehensive report to be presented to the Kinijit executive committee in Addis Ababa. The report exposes the rampant corruption that went on inside the Kinijit North America committee under the leadership of Shaleqa Yoseph Yazew, in collaboration with his long time friend since their EDU days, Ato Moges Brook of Los Angeles. Between these two individuals, according to the auditor, $700,000 – $1.2 million dollars have been stolen, wasted, or unaccounted for. This figure doesn’t include funds collected in cash that had nevere been deposited in a bank account. Some of the wasteful expenses include $4,000 for just one restaurant bill, $6,000 for unauthorized trip to Kenya, etc. Only $23,000 have been sent to Ethiopia to assist the families of the jailed leaders. But even this money was not given to those who needed it. The money was distributed to the shaleqa’s and Ato Moges Brook’s friends who didn’t need the money.
According to Ato Tesfaye, the Internal Revenue Service and the State of Virginia have now launched investigations in to the financial improprieties by the shaleqa and group of friends.
Shaleqa Yoseph and group have shamed themselves and the party they were put in charge of. They betrayed their party and the people of Ethiopia. What is more sad and telling about all of us is that these individuals are being tolerated and allowed to continue holding leadership positions inside the party. We are condemning the corrupt Woyanne regime, but at the same time, we are tolerating outright stealing of public funds inside Kinijit.
After learning all the hard facts about the corruption that went on inside Kinijit and yet the top leaders fail to take strong actions, then the problem will not be with the shaleqa and his cohorts alone. Kinijit’s name will be irreparably tarnished as a corrupt party.
Click here to listen the full interview with Ato Tesfaye Asmamaw.
KEIZER, OREGON – Shimeles Gessesse (Shimmy) was born in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on August 6, 1954. He came to the United States in 1975 to attend Oregon College of Education (now WOU) in Monmouth, Oregon. He married his wife of 27 years, Juli Hinkley, on August 30, 1980, and they graduated from OCE in 1981. Shimmy played soccer of OCE and later coached the men’s soccer team, as well as helped to start a women’s soccer team.