EDITOR’S NOTE: There is no doubt that the Meles regime itself is behind the bombings.
ADDIS ABABA (Xinhua) — Suspects of terrorist bombings have been seized over the past months at a few places in Ethiopia’s capital Addis Ababa, said the Federal Police (Meles Zenawi’s private death squad) on Saturday.
Police said in a statement that they put under control some of the suspects while activities to track down on the others continued.
A mini-bus exploded on May 20 in central Addis Ababa, in which six passengers were killed and five injured, police said.
Police said they have managed now to identify the remaining suspects. Meanwhile, they said suspects of bombing at two filling stations in the capital city on May 14 have been seized.
One of the seized ones who goes by the name of Yisak Gute is the most notorious terrorist who coordinated terrorists acts, solicited money, faked documents, among other things, said the police statement.
Yadessa Serbessa Bonsa, who had received training outside Ethiopia, coordinated both bombings, police said.
EDITOR’S NOTE: African Union (AU) is a corrupt organization that is created to protect the interests of African vampires like Meles and al-Bashir, not the interest of Africans.
ADDIS ABABA (AFP) — The African Union said Saturday that plans by the International Criminal Court to prosecute Sudanese government officials for alleged warcrimes could jeopardize peace efforts in Darfur.
In a statement released after a meeting in the Ethiopian capital, the body’s Peace and Security Council “expressed its strong conviction that the search for justice should be pursued in a way that does not impede or jeopardize efforts aimed at promoting lasting peace…”
The statement follows reports that prosecutors of the international court may seek the arrest of President Omar al-Beshir for warcrimes committed by his forces in the western province of Darfur.
The Council said it had been briefed on the ICC’s plans on Friday by the court’s deputy prosecutor, and “reiterated the AU’s concern with the misuse of indictments against African leaders.”
It said the UN Security Council itself, in a March 2005 resolution, had “emphasized the need to promote healing and reconciliation” in the region.
ICC chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo announced on Thursday that he would unveil a new case on Darfur and name suspects next Monday.
US State Department spokesman Sean McCormack on Friday confirmed newspaper reports that ICC prosecutors would seek an arrest warrant for Beshir.
It would mark the first-ever bid by the ICC, based in The Hague, to charge a sitting head of state.
His Excellency Girma Woldegiorgis President, Federal Republic of Ethiopia Woyanne
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Via Facsimile: (251) 11 551 8656
Dear Mr. President Hey Girma,
The Committee to Protect Journalists is concerned that the pending Mass Media and Freedom of Information Proclamation, passed by the Ethiopian House of Peoples’ Representatives on July 1, does not fully incorporate public input, including that of local journalists and legal experts. The bill is flawed as a result, and we urge you to reject it and send it back to lawmakers for revision.
The bill was intended to reform the existing 1992 press law in line with international standards on press freedom, according to local journalists. In April, Prime Minister Meles Zenawi told Newsweek the government hoped the new press law would be “on par with the best in the world.”
In principle, the bill upholds constitutional protections against censorship, prohibits pretrial detention of journalists, and recognizes the rights of journalists to form professional associations. However, we are concerned that a number of its provisions allow the government to restrict the independent media, while leaving intact existing repressive statutes that fall well short of international standards.
In particular, the bill allows prosecutors to summarily impound any print publication deemed a threat to public order or national security. The bill also increases fines for defamation to 100,000 birrs (approximately US$10,000). Defamation and libel remain criminal offenses under Ethiopia’s penal code punishable by heavy prison sentences, according to CPJ research.
While the bill recognizes the government’s obligation to provide information of public interest, its mechanisms render the provision toothless. The bill grants information officials in government agencies the exclusive discretion to withhold information deemed sensitive while providing the public and the press no avenue for judicial review, according to legal experts.
The measure does not alter or address repressive elements in the existing press law that grant the government’s Ministry of Information absolute authority over media regulation, according to CPJ research. They include provisions empowering the ministry to “register and issue certificates of competence” to the press, to monitor the activities of the media, and to control the publicly owned Ethiopian News Agency. We believe the ministry’s official function as “the main source of government information” with a duty to “promote government policies and image building” compromises its mandate to “facilitate conditions for the expansion of the country’s media both in variety and members.”
This year, the Ministry of Information denied licenses without explanation to three independent newspaper editors known for their critical coverage of the disputed 2005 elections, according to CPJ research. Editors Serkalem Fasil, Eskinder Nega, and Sisay Agena remain blocked from securing necessary commercial licenses to launch their new publications.
The Mass Media and Freedom of Information Proclamation was adopted without full public consultation and was opposed by most opposition party lawmakers in the House, according to local media reports. As an independent, nonprofit organization upholding the principles of press freedom worldwide, we urge you to reject this bill and call for its revision in consultation with journalists and legal experts.
Thank you for your attention to this matter.
Joel Simon
Executive Director
The Committee to Protect Journalists|
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court is likely to seek the arrest of Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir in a new war crimes case he will open on Darfur on Monday, a senior European diplomat said on Friday.
The prosecution said on Thursday Luis Moreno-Ocampo would submit to judges “evidence on crimes committed in the whole of Darfur over the last five years” and seek to charge an individual or individuals, but gave no details.
Sudan has said any such move could undermine the peace process in Darfur and aid officials fear a potential backlash. The Darfur investigation also could embarrass China, Sudan’s close ally, weeks before the start of the Beijing Olympics.
“We don’t know anything for definite, but we know that Bashir is one of the people Moreno-Ocampo is looking at,” the senior envoy to the United Nations told Reuters.
“I would expect Bashir to be among those named by Moreno-Ocampo,” the envoy said, asking not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the matter.
The Washington Post reported that the prosecutor of the Hague-based ICC would seek an arrest warrant for Bashir, charging him with genocide and crimes against humanity, citing U.N. officials and diplomats.
In Washington, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack, asked by reporters about a possible move against Bashir, said, “That is what we have heard,” but declined specific comment.
Publicly, the United Nations has remained tight-lipped over an issue that could pit the demands of the U.N.-backed ICC against U.N. interests in deploying a peace force in Darfur.
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon declined on Thursday to say who would be named or how the move might affect the struggling U.N.-African Union force. Seven soldiers of the force were killed in an attack by unidentified militia on Tuesday.
“Peace without justice cannot be sustainable,” he told reporters at the United Nations. “I will have to assess all the situations when there will be an announcement by the ICC.”
STATE APPARATUS
French U.N. Ambassador Jean-Maurice Ripert also said he would wait until Monday, but told reporters: “If the procedure is going the way it seems it’s going to go, of course we have to be aware of the effects it could have on the ground, and we are inclined to take some contingency planning measures for the safety of everybody and I think the U.N. has to do the same.”
ICC deputy prosecutor Fatou Bensouda, visiting Addis Ababa, said no details on indictments would be revealed until Monday.
Moreno-Ocampo said last month that Sudan’s “entire state apparatus” was involved in an organized campaign to attack civilians in Darfur and said he would present judges with evidence implicating senior Sudanese officials in July.
Asked by journalists how Khartoum might respond, Sudan’s U.N. Ambassador, Abdalmahmoud Abdalhaleem, said, “Any action has its reaction and all options are open for us.”
ICC judges issued arrest warrants for two Sudanese suspects last year — government minister Ahmad Harun and militia commander Ali Kushayb. Khartoum has refused to hand them over.
International experts say at least 200,000 people have died in Darfur and 2.5 million have been displaced since a rebellion erupted in 2003. Khartoum says 10,000 people have been killed.
Only about 9,000 troops and police out of a planned 26,000 U.N.-African Union peacekeeping force have so far been deployed in Darfur.
Moreno-Ocampo’s office says he will hold a news conference on Monday when he will “summarize the evidence, the crimes and name individual(s) charged.”
Judges probably will take several weeks or months to rule on the likely application for new arrest warrants.
One option before the Security Council is to use Article 16 of the court’s statute to suspend a prosecution for a year, but the European envoy was skeptical the council would do that.
“China is reflecting on Article 16, but I think the position of most Western countries will be to support the court,” he said.
China has advised Sudan to cooperate with U.N. efforts to resolve the Darfur crisis, but has faced Western criticism as Khartoum’s biggest arms supplier and for not using its oil and investment stakes to press harder for an end to the conflict. (Additional reporting by Sue Pleming in Washington and Tsegaye Tadesse in Addis Ababa)
ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) – Dubai will invest about $100 million in several Ethiopian economic sectors beginning in October, a visiting group of financiers said.
Sultan Ahmed Ben Sulayem, head of the Dubai World delegation, said the Dubai government firm would invest in mining, trade, agriculture, real estate and catering.
“A team of experts from Dubai is in the process of finalising agreements with the government,” he told state-run Ethiopian television late on Thursday.
Ethiopia has forecast economic growth in 2008 of 10.8 percent, boosted by agriculture and services, but the country of 81 million people remains one of the world’s poorest.
Sovereign wealth funds like Dubai World have been enriched by record oil and commodity prices, and are looking to emerging markets, as well as the richer economies, for new opportunities.
Dubai World is spending more than $50 million renovating a luxury hotel in Comoros.
Dubai Group — another part of Dubai Holding owned by the emirate’s ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum — unveiled plans in March to invest $250 million in finance, real estate and tourism sectors of Mauritius.
(ICC) – International Criminal Court (ICC) Deputy Prosecutor Mrs. Fatou Bensouda is invited to brief the Peace and Security Council of the African Union on 11 July on case related issues including Darfur, as ICC Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo prepares to present to ICC Judges in The Hague his second case in the Darfur situation, scheduled to take place on July 14.
In Ethiopia, Deputy Prosecutor Bensouda will also meet with the Chairperson of the African Union Commission H.E. Jean Ping.
Prior to traveling to African Union Headquarters in Ethiopia, Mrs. Bensouda attended the African Union Summit in Sharm-El-Sheikh, Egypt, from 30 June – 1 July.
The International Criminal Court is an independent, permanent court that investigates and prosecutes persons accused of the most serious crimes of international concern, namely genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.
