(Gulf Times) — Members of the Ethiopian community in Qatar yesterday said they hoped that political relations between Doha and Addis Ababa Woyanne would improve and ties return to normal as early as possible.
“We are here to earn our livelihood and were shocked to hear the announcement of Ethiopia Woyanne severing diplomatic ties with Qatar. Most of us learnt of it from the Ethiopian TV channel and it came as a big surprise to us,” they said.
Ethiopia’s government Woyanne had cited Qatar’s “strong ties” with Eritrea for the move. It also accused Doha of meddling in the affairs of the Horn of Africa region.
Qatar has termed Ethiopian Woyanne allegations as frivolous and baseless.
In Doha, a Qatari official dismissed Ethiopia’s Woyanne’s charges, saying it had always done its utmost to combat terrorism. “The Ethiopian charges do not deserve a reaction from us. Qatar’s foreign policy is clear. Qatar underlines the importance of peaceful settlement of all disputes between nations.”
There are an estimated 12,000 Ethiopian nationals in Qatar. Most of them are housemaids while the majority of the men are employed in private companies in different positions, ranging from drivers to technicians and executives. There is a big demand for Ethiopian housemaids in Qatar.
Some of them said they were worried about the turn of events. Joseph, who works in a premium Doha store said he was only interested in his job and not bothered about international or domestic politics. “Some of my friends called to ask about the latest news and the possible consequences of the Ethiopian government’s Woyanne’s decision. Everybody seemed to be worried,” he said.
The absence of an embassy in Doha has added to the confusion and worry. “In such situations, people generally turn to their diplomatic missions for guidance but we don’t know what is happening. I tried to contact our embassy in Kuwait (which looks after Qatar), but the number on their website turned out to be wrong,” a community member said.
“In the absence of a direct air link between Qatar and Ethiopia, we mostly depend on Emirates which operates direct flights between Dubai and Addis Ababa. We hope Qatar Airways begins a flight to our capital soon,” one of them said.
About half of the people of Ethiopia, a country located in the Horn of Africa, are Muslims, the remaining being Christians and animists. All the Ethiopians Gulf Times spoke to said there was absolute communal harmony in their country and Christians and Muslims lived in perfect peace.
The Horn of Africa is a peninsula of East Africa that juts for hundreds of kilometres into the Arabian Sea, and lies along the southern side of the Gulf of Aden. It is the easternmost projection of the African continent. The term also refers to the greater region containing the countries of Eritrea, Djibouti, Ethiopia and Somalia.
An Ethiopian expatriate who has been working at a power project said the recent row was between two governments and not between the peoples. “It is a political development and we have nothing to do with it. We only want to focus on our jobs and make the best out of our stay in Qatar,” he said.
Nebiyou Gezhagne, a community leader, said Ethiopians were happy in Qatar and they wanted to live and work in this country. He said he came to know about the “development” from Gulf Times and later received some calls from community members who wanted to know the “consequences” of the Ethiopian decision.
While most of the Ethiopians in Qatar have been here for less than four years, Nebiyou is a veteran, having completed 10 years in this country. He said he had no clue as to what led his government to take such a decision nor about its consequences on Ethiopians living in Qatar. “This country is home to people from almost all countries in the world. Foreign workers are treated well here. Qatar has been very kind and considerate to expatriates. We hope the present difficult phase will pass and bilateral relations will bloom. We hope Ethiopians will continue to be welcome here,” Nebiyou, who works for a trading company said.
Meanwhile, a spokesman for the Eritrean embassy termed the Ethiopian Woyanne action a bilateral issue between Qatar and Ethiopia. The deputy head of the Eritrean mission told Gulf Times that he would not like to comment. The US embassy also declined comment.
(BBC) Addis Ababa — Ethiopia’s most popular pop singer, Teddy Afro, has pleaded not guilty to causing the death of a young man in a hit and run incident 18 months ago.
Thousands of young people mounted an impromptu protest after the High Court hearing, running through the streets, shouting, “Teddy is innocent”.
Unauthorised demonstrations are almost unheard of in Ethiopia and there was a heavy paramilitary police presence.
At a previous hearing, the noise of his fans almost drowned out proceedings.
This time the case was moved to a building at the back of the court area, well away from the crowd.
The singer appeared under close police guard, dressed in a pink t-shirt and looking subdued.
He spoke only to plead not guilty to negligent driving, driving without a licence, and failing to stop at the scene of an accident.
The incident in question took place in November 2006 and since then the singer, whose real name is Tewodros Kassahun, has been free on bail.
It is not clear why he was rearrested last week and has now been charged.
He was remanded in custody until next Tuesday.
As the news spread in the street that Teddy was going back to jail, the crowd erupted and a large group of youths started jogging past waving and shouting that the singer was not guilty.
The police chased them with batons until they finally dispersed into the surrounding streets.
This kind of demonstration has not been seen in Addis Ababa since the period after the elections in 2005 when Teddy Afro’s songs were playing everywhere and his music was the anthem of the anti-government protesters.
(AFP) – A transatlantic flight from Germany to the United States was diverted to Ireland after a two-year-old girl died on board, police said late on Tuesday.
The Lufthansa flight was en route from Frankfurt to JFK airport in New York when it declared a medical emergency and landed at Shannon Airport in the southwest of the country.
The passengers were taken off the plane to be interviewed by Gardai (Irish police) in an effort to establish how the child died.
A police spokesman said the flight had originated in Addis Ababa and had arrived in Ireland via Germany but he refused to comment on reports that the child was Ethiopian.
“We always have to make the necessary inquiries to ensure there was nothing suspicious about the death. We are still trying to establish what the circumstances are,” the spokesman said.
(Yemeni Times) — Yemeni-Ethiopian relations date back to ancient times. References such as wall inscriptions confirm that the kingdom of Saba extended throughout Yemen to Ethiopia, known at that time as the kingdom of Axum, which later ruled Ethiopia (also called Abyssinia) and the southern Arabian Peninsula.
The Axumite kingdom’s rule continued until Himyarite King Saif Bin Dhi Yazan drove the Axumites out of southern Arabia. However, despite this upheaval, some relations remained between the two kingdoms.
Because of the two civilizations’ integration over the years, intermarriage resulted in Yemeni and Ethiopian mixed blood.
Yemen and Ethiopia enjoyed extensive trade relations during medieval times. Yemeni merchants exported incense, luban (natural frankincense), gemstones and animal skins to Ethiopia, while Ethiopians exported clothing, farm equipment, weapons, spices and cattle to Yemen. Trade relations between Yemen and the African Horn at that time were stronger than those between Yemen and other Gulf countries.
In times of crisis, Yemen provided a safe haven for Ethiopian refugees and Ethiopia in turn accepted Yemeni immigrants during times of political upheaval.
Dr. Hussein Fouly, an Ethiopian researcher specializing in Yemeni-Ethiopian relations, noted at a lecture this past February in Sana’a that there is a rich but under-explored history between the two countries.
Because he had a difficult time obtaining information about Yemeni-Ethiopian relations, Fouly did his own research based on a few fragments of information and much personal effort.
He explained that Yemenis and Ethiopians intermixed for two main reasons: first, because of Yemenis’ ability to integrate and second, because of the Ethiopian civilization’s welcoming attitude toward foreigners in their land throughout the 20th century.
Yemenis became the largest Arab community in Ethiopia, boasting the most speakers of Ethiopian languages such as Amharic. Yemenis rooted themselves in the country during the 1920s by becoming shopkeepers, sweet sellers, launderers and butchers. Additionally, the Yemeni community founded Arab schools that graduated scholars like Sheikh Abdullah Taher, who later was appointed governor of Jijiga and eventually led a military coup in eastern Ethiopia in the 1930s.
Fouly also mentioned those Yemenis who had a role in spreading Islam in Ethiopia, like Abdulrahman Ba-Wazir, who financed building Addis Ababa’s oldest mosque, Al-Noor Mosque.
During Italy’s 1936 invasion of Ethiopia, the Italians brought in numerous Yemenis to work as builders. Yemenis became rich through trade during this time. One of them, Sheikh Hussein Al-Amoudi, was the first to bring the qat trade to Ethiopia.
Yemeni people’s departure from Ethiopia is attributable to two specific incidents, the first of which occurred in 1969 when a bomb was discovered on an Ethiopian plane, which had been placed there by Ethiopian liberation forces in Syria. Arab communities were blamed for the bomb, which led to a wave of anti-Arab sentiment.
The second incident was the 1974 Ethiopian revolution, which implemented a program of nationalization that seized private assets and companies, turning them into state-owned enterprises. Because of this, Yemenis were forced to exit the country, leaving their possessions to the Ethiopian regime.
Despite this, Yemeni immigrants who have returned from Ethiopia still have positive memories of the nation where they were treated as citizens.
Sana’a University history professor Abdullah Fadhl says the Yemeni community was forced out of Ethiopia in the 1970s for political reasons because they were spreading Islam among the Ethiopians against the wishes of the new regime.
However, these Yemeni-Ethiopian mixed peoples who returned to Yemen face discrimination, either because of their Arabic or their skin color, and locals of both countries treat them as outsiders. For example, Yemenis call them Ahbush, the plural of the Arabic word Habashi or Ethiopian, while they are called Arabco, or Arabs, in Ethiopia.
These mixed Yemeni-Ethiopians sometimes are denied identity cards because of their darker skin and imperfect Arabic, a matter that causes them many problems.
Because Yemen’s history is intertwined with that of Ethiopia’s, these so-called Yemeni-Ethiopian ‘newcomers’ actually aren’t new at all; rather, they share our lineage and they deserve to be recognized as such.
NAIROBI (Reuters) – Ethiopian rebels denied on Tuesday government allegations that Qatar was supporting them, after Addis Ababa Woyanne cut diplomatic ties with the Gulf State and accused it of backing terrorism and destabilising the region.
Ethiopia Woyanne, a U.S. ally and the biggest military power in the Horn of Africa, said on Monday it had earlier expressed concern in private about Qatar’s “hostile behaviour” several times.
It said Qatar was backing its arch-foe Eritrea, as well as helping Islamist insurgents in Somalia and Ethiopian freedom fighters like the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF).
But the ONLF said that the charges were designed only to divert attention from what it called an “unfolding African genocide” by government forces in its remote eastern region.
“Qatar has played a constructive role in Africa , the Arab world in general and the Horn of Africa in particular,” the rebel group said in a statement.
“If there has been a destabilising factor in the Horn of Africa, it has been the regime currently in power in Ethiopia.”
The statement from Addis Ababa on Monday said Qatar’s hostile behaviour “included the output of its media outlets”, a presumed reference to the Al Jazeera Arab satellite TV network.
Al Jazeera has in recent days been broadcasting reports on the conflict in the Ogaden region that have been critical of the military’s role against local rebels.
Qatar, a member of the OPEC group of major oil producers and the world’s biggest exporter of liquefied natural gas, is also an important American ally and hosts a large U.S. military base.
On Monday, a Qatari government official in Doha dismissed the Ethiopian Woyanne accusations as “frivolous and irresponsible” and said the emirate had always done its utmost to fight terrorism.
———————- ER expresses heartfelt appreciation and gratitude to the government of Qatar for standing with the oppressed people of Ethiopia.
More from AFP >>
Ethiopia Woyanne announced Monday it was severing diplomatic ties with Qatar, accusing the Gulf Arab state of supporting armed opposition groups across the Horn of Africa region.
It cited Qatar’s “strong ties” with Ethiopia’s Woyanne’s arch-foe Eritrea, and alleged Qatari support to armed opposition groups within Ethiopia as well as to Islamist insurgents in Somalia, where Addis Ababa Woyanne sent troops in 2006 to prop up a weak government.
“The Government of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia Woyanne has decided to break diplomatic relations with the State of Qatar,” said a government statement received by AFP.
“Ethiopia has displayed considerable patience towards Qatar’s attempts to destabilise our sub-region and, in particular, its hostile behaviour towards Ethiopia,” the statement said.
“Qatar has now, however, become a major source of instability in the Horn of Africa and more widely,” it added.
“All those who are prepared to foment instability in Ethiopia and undermine the country’s security have been given support and encouragement by Qatar.”
It went on: “This has gone beyond Qatar’s strong ties with Eritrea. It has indeed provided direct and indirect assistance to terrorist organisations in Somalia and other areas.”
“Whether in Somalia and in other parts of the Horn of Africa — including within Ethiopia — Qatar has been one of the most important supporters of terrorism and extremism in our sub-region.”
The statement also accused Qatar of using its “media outlets” to undermine Ethiopia.
On April 11, the Ethiopian Woyanne foreign ministry had already sharply criticised the Qatar-based news network Al-Jazeera for airing a series of TV reports on Ethiopia’s restive Ogaden region.
The Ethiopian Woyanne authorities have imposed a news blackout on the vast area populated by Somali-ethnic Muslims and slapped touch restrictions on humanitarian work.
The foreign ministry had been particularly upset by a report on the activities of the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF).
“Al-Jazeera is using inaccurate and misleading information, fabricated by opposition elements backed by a state which makes no secret of its efforts to destabilise not only Ethiopia but also the entire sub region,” it had said.
“It is hard to ignore the fact that Al-Jazeera broadcasts out of Doha, the capital of Qatar. Qatar is a close ally of Eritrea. It would be totally unrealistic to imagine that any Al-Jazeera program on Ethiopia could be anything other than seriously biased.”
This may be a satire, but it is also a wish of every Ethiopian. The day will come when the butcher of East Africa Meles Zenawi will be dragged to justice like this.
