ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA – The fake patriarch of Ethiopia’s Orthodox Tewahdo Church, Ato GebreMedhin (formerly Aba Paulos), for the first time since he was appointed by Meles Zenawi as the puppet head of the Church, spoke out against the Woyanne dictatorship through his synod.
The legitimate patriarch of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahdo Church, Abune Merkorios, is currently in exile.
Aba GebreMedhin’s synod on Saturday denounced Woyanne minister of Federal Affairs, Ato Abay Tsehay, who is also a member of the Woyanne politburo, for falsely accusing the Ethiopian Orthodox Church of promoting religious extremism.
More details by Awramba Times reporter (in Amharic):
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (Xinhua) — The 17th Ordinary Session of the Permanent Representatives Committee (PRC) of the African Union (AU) kicks off here on Monday, making preparation for a series of following AU meetings.
Jean Ping, Chairperson of the AU Commission, the executive body of the organization, said that the AU meetings will call for stepped-up infrastructure development on the African continent, stressing that improved infrastructure will facilitate the physical integration of Africa, and development plans will be carried out through specific projects.
He also urged African states to shore up cooperation and mutual respect, and advocated a spirit of exchange and comprehension, openness and transparency.
Jean Ping also reiterated the promise of improving AU’s human and financial resources, saying these resources will make the AU a credible and efficient international body.
According to the PRC Chairperson Mohammed Maundi, permanent representative of Tanzania, the meeting’s agenda covers six categories, including political, economic, financial, and administrative issues in Africa, in a bid to prepare documents for the following AU Executive Council meeting.
Maundi specifically mentioned the impact of the recent global financial crisis on Africa.
“Again, poverty and underdevelopment are posing a serious challenge, particularly in light of a recent global financial crisis,” he said. “The economic outlook of the continent for this year is therefore not as encouraging as we would like to be.”
“We are expecting declines in commodities prices, remittances, investments and inflow of international tourists,” he said.
Thus he called for unity and responsibility among African nations to “sail us through the distress and difficulties ahead”.
During the two-day meeting, African permanent representatives to the AU will discuss topics including the Draft Strategic Plan for 2009-2012, the Status of OAU (Organization of African Unity)/AU Treaties, the Afro-Arab Cooperation, the Africa-EU Dialogue, and the partnership for Africa’s development.
As a state, Somalia has racked up more failures than any other on the planet. So said Susan Rice, soon to be Barack Obama’s United Nations ambassador, in a Brookings Institution report she coauthored last year. Since then, Somalia’s troubles have only worsened: 1.3 million internally displaced people roam the country scavenging for food; the president quit last month; and hard-line Islamist militias, having already taken control of Somalia’s south and central regions, now stand poised to tighten their grip on the capital, Mogadishu. Some 10,000 innocent civilians have been killed since January 2007, pirates are terrorizing the coasts, and last month Somalia entered its 19th year without a functioning government. In many ways, Somalia is hardly a state at all.
But as a foreign-policy initiative, Somalia’s problems offer Obama a unique chance to sketch a bold path forward in the region. After the Bush administration backed the Ethiopian invasion in 2006, helping to overthrow the moderate Islamic Courts Union, Somalia descended into war, and the Bush policy radicalized an ever-larger portion of the population. But Obama, whose world view embraces the idea of talking to one’s enemies, could shift course on this policy failure and increase stability by re-engaging with the Islamists, and in particular with the young fighters who make up the ranks of al-Shabab, the Islamists who have been gaining strength over the last two years and continue to drag Somalia further into chaos.
The window of opportunity for Obama is small and fragile. But two things have happened in Somalia that could make the task easier. First, the hated Ethiopian occupation of Somalia that fueled the growth of al-Shabab is over. Second, Abdullah Yusuf resigned in December as president, paving the way for more moderate and inclusive figures to have greater say. Still, Obama’s policy prescriptions would have to be specific, but not overstated. He could temporarily suspend U.S military C-130 flights over Somalia, now a near-constant presence, thereby sending a message that a future policy will not have as its central piece a military component that alienates the very people America needs to bring to the table. Obama could also consider suspending al-Shabab from the terror list temporarily to prove that, as he said in his inaugural speech, America will hold out its hand if its enemies “unclench their fists.” A third path would be to open back-channel negotiations with as many hard-line factions as necessary to bring them into talks. Key to any strategy would be a quiet outreach effort to Sheik Hassan Dahir Aweys, considered the father of Somalia’s Islamist movement and likely sufficiently powerful to bring enough radicals to heel to make any diplomacy worthwhile. Finally, as Rice hinted in her confirmation hearings, America needs to begin to fashion a regional approach that would address the longstanding border dispute between Ethiopia and Eritrea as part of any move to end Somalia’s isolation.
<A TARGET=”_new” HREF=”http://ad.doubleclick.net/click%3Bh=v8/37c1/3/0/%2a/v%3B211331075%3B0-0%3B0%3B8600532%3B4307-300/250%3B30009754/30027631/1%3B%3B%7Eokv%3D%3Bdir%3Dintl%3Bad%3Dbb%3Bdel%3Djs%3Bajax%3Dn%3Bheavy%3Dy%3BpageId%3Dnewsweek-id-181313%3Bpoe%3Dyes%3Brs%3Dj10298%3Brs%3Dj10377%3Bfromrss%3Dn%3B%7Eaopt%3D6/1/ff/1%3B%7Esscs%3D%3fhttp%3a%2f%2froia.biz/im/n/yoy2FElVAAAmQEMAAAVNQQABij5CAABLpg-A/”><IMG SRC=”http://m1.2mdn.net/1848328/300x250_Testimonial_saveworld_1205.gif” BORDER=0></A>
It won’t be easy. Al-Shabab poses urgent security concerns to the United States and many of Somalia’s neighbors. Some of the group’s hard-line leaders have connections to Al Qaeda. More worryingly, Somalia has started to attract American jihadists, including several from Minnesota who traveled there recently to fight. An unknown number may still be training in Shabab training camps in the south, and it’s unclear whether their long-term goals lie in Somalia or back in Minnesota. Yet Obama, already beset by doubts about his Muslim heritage, isn’t likely to make conciliatory talks with Islamists in Africa his first move. “He would be walking into a trap if he did anything that could lead to charges of being soft on terror,” says Sally Healy, a Somalia expert at Chatham House.
But the potential rewards of such a strategy are tantalizing. The Bush administration made a policy out of talking to its enemies in Iraq, including many who had killed American soldiers, and as a result Iraq is calmer and more stable. With two wars already on his plate, Obama would do well to quell a rising storm in Africa’s Horn, and the sooner the radicals are tamed, the less likely it is that they’ll continue to splinter into the kinds of factions that could eventually return Somalia to the days when warlords ruled the streets. The alternative to engagement, says Rashid Abdi of the International Crisis Group’s Somalia team, is that “by the end of the year, we could be talking about over 100 armed groups in Somalia.” A further descent into warlordism is likely only to help the spread of radical Islam in the region. So while few doubt that a strategy of engaging with the Islamists could be risky, for Somalia and the rest of the Horn the riskiest option may also be the best.
ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA – On Tuesday this week, construction workers have accidentally discovered mass graves inside the notorious Central Investigation’s (Maekelawi) detention center that is located behind the Addis Ababa Police Commission.
The Addis Ababa Police Commission’s headquarters is being torn down and rebuilt.
Fresh bodies and old bones accidentally uncovered at Maekalawi, Ethiopia’s notorious prison that’s run by the U.S.-financed regime of the Tigrean People’s Liberation Front (Woyanne). In 2009, the U.S. Department of State asked Congress to authorize $472 million to be given to the Woyanne regime.
According to Ethiopian Review Intelligence Unit’s sources, the graves were discovered when the bulldozer that was leveling the ground accidentally damaged the foundation of the building where the mass graves are located. When the building came down, the construction workers and some passersby saw several fresh bodies, as well as skulls and bones in plastic bags.
The Federal Police prison guards immediately chased away every one and sealed off the area.
Maekelawi is run by the Federal Police under direct command of Ethiopia’s dictator Meles Zenawi.
Disappearances of the Meles regime’s critics, particularly less known ones, have been common occurrences in Ethiopia. It is not a big surprise such mass graves exist inside prisons. There are thought to be hundreds of them through out Ethiopia.
ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA – A senior Ethiopian {www:Woyanne} regime official says his government has a responsibility to maintain law and order and would not be swayed by outside criticism. The official, Bereket Simon, an advisor to Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, was responding to a letter from four influential U.S. senators to the Ethiopian prime minister dictator.
In their letter, the four senators, including Russell Feingold, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on Africa, warned that U.S.-Ethiopian relations could become more difficult because of the Ethiopian government’s actions against its opposition.
The senators said they were concerned about the re-arrest of opposition leader Birtukan Midekssa and the passage of a law restricting civil society groups.
Bereket Simon, advisor to the Ethiopian prime minister dictator told VOA the U.S. senators’ criticism and accusations are unwarranted.
“If anyone is breaking the law, it’s their problem and not our problem. Ethiopian government believes government has a mandate and an obligation to ensure the rule of law in {www:Ethiopia}. So it’s an unwarranted accusation and criticism,” he said.
The senators said in their letter that they were concerned about the re-arrest of opposition leader Birtukan Midekssa. Simon said the opposition leader broke the rules of her conditional pardon.
“First these opposition leaders had been tried and sentenced, and they asked for conditional pardon. Government granted them a conditional pardon which literally means if this person once again transgresses the law of the land, it would be a breach of the pardon, and that’s what she did. We don’t accept double standard here. We believe citizens who don’t have the backing of (U.S.) senators are equal to those who don’t have the backing of senators wherever. She has made mistakes and she has to account for it. Why should we be criticized by the senators?” Simon said.
The letter, dated January 16th, was signed by Senator Russell Feingold, chair of the Senate’s subcommittee on African Affairs. Other signatories are Senator Patrick Leahy, Richard Durbin, and Johnny Isakson.
The senators criticized Ethiopia’s recent law restricting civil society groups. Simon said foreigners do not have the same political rights as Ethiopian citizens to participate in Ethiopian affairs.
“The law differentiates between citizens and foreign-based NGO. Citizens have every right to participate in Ethiopian politics. In fact it is mandated by Ethiopian Constitution. So government cannot put a limit. On the other hand, those foreign-based NGOs who are here because of the privilege that is given to them by the government do not have the political rights to participate in Ethiopian affairs,” Simon said.
He said Ethiopia is not worried about the U.S. Senators’ criticism of the Meles Zenawi government, especially at a time when a new U.S. administration led by Barack Obama is about to take over the leadership of the U.S. government.
“No matter what the times might be, these Congressmen are telling us not to enact laws that are useful to Ethiopia. They are going to put pressure on us because we enacted our own laws. This Ethiopia; it’s a sovereign state. I don’t think any Congressman can tell us what to do,” Simon said.
President of Ethiopia’s Benishangul-Gumuz region, Ato Yaregal Aysheshum, has defected and joined the opposition camp earlier this month.
The Ethiopian Review Intelligence Unit has learned that Ato Yaregal had sought political asylum in an east African country, and when his safety was threatened, he was taken to a third country.
Although Ato Yaregal was the President of Benishangul-Gumuz, a region that is abundantly fertile and rich in natural resources, he had little say in how the region was administered. As in all the other regions of Ethiopia, all important decisions are being made by officials of the Tigrean People Liberation Front (Woyanne) from Mekelle and Addis Ababa.
Ato Yaregal was particularly disconcerted by Woyanne’s recent instigation of ethnic conflicts between Oromos and Benishangul, which finally led him to join the opposition Ginbot 7 Movement, according to ER sources.
After joining Ginbot 7, Ato Yaregal was successful in passing highly valuable information about the regime’s criminal activities. When the Woyanne intelligence was getting close to him, he managed to escape with the help of Ginbot 7 local operatives.
Woyanne agents are currently threatening him with confiscating all his properties in the country and hurting members of his family, while reporting that he is abroad getting medical attention, in order to lure him into returning.
Ginbot 7 officials declined to comment on Ato Yaregal’s case.
President of Ethiopia’s Benishangul-Gumuz region, Ato Yaregal Aysheshum, has defected and joined the opposition camp earlier this month.