UNITED NATIONS – Information about the Horn of Africa flowed Wednesday in the half-light outside the UN Security Council, after an uneventful session about Sudan and Guinea-Bissau. Unprompted, the representative of Saudi Arabia denied that his country has shipped arms into Somalia, while Sudan accepted a benign spin of Ethiopian shipments into South Sudan.
Inner City Press began by asking Sudan’s Ambassador, on the record, about reports of Ethiopian arms shipments to Juba and South Sudan, and that the tanks hijacked by pirates off the coast of Somalia were also headed for South Sudan. He said quickly that the tanks’ destination s being investigated and Ethiopia has provided clarification, ostensibly the weapons are meant for some exhibition in Juba, leaving Sudan’s relations with Ethiopia positive. The connection between this and positions on suspending the International Criminal Court’s proceedings against Sudanese President Omar Al Bashir remain to be reported, on the record.
Earlier in the week, Inner City Press asked Ban Ki-moon’s spokesperson Michele Montas for any UN response to reports that Sudan has arrested one of the two current Sudanese ICC indictees, Ali Kushayb. The first day, she said those were only reports. Then on Wednesday she said, “I’ve been asked about reports indicating that the Government of Sudan has detained Ali Khushayb for crimes committed in Darfur, which the Secretary-General has noted.If confirmed, this is a welcome step towards the vital need to end impunity and bring to justice those responsible for crimes in Darfur.” Video here.
Inner City Press asked Sudan’s Ambassador later on Wednesday to respond to this UN quote. “Who is she to comment on that?” he asked. “What business is it of hers?”
On Thursday, Inner City Press asked Ms. Montas if she, Ban or joint UN-African Union envoy Bassole had any comment on President Al-Bashir’s so-called “people’s initiative” convened in Darfur, without involvement of armed rebels.Ms. Montas said that Bassole is attending, and that any comment would be made only after the initiative is over. Video here. Sudan’s Ambassador’s review of Mr. Bassole was given, but on an off the record basis.
Just then coming down the second story hallway of the UN was Saudi Arabia’s representative / charge d’affaires, Abdullatif Sallam.“Ask him something,” it was suggested to Inner City Press. As a softball, Inner City Press asked, “What about Saudi Arabia’s role in the Somalia negotiations” — a process that like that in Darfur excludes the armed insurgents, but which has nonetheless been repeatedly praised by the UN.“It is not good,” the Saudi said enigmatically.
Moments later he doubled back and whispered in the Sudanese Ambassador’s ear.“Saudi Arabia denied it has been providing weapons in Somalia,” was the statement that emerged. Thou dost protest too much?
Footnote: the UN’s own press release about Wednesday’s Security Council resolution on Sudan says that 400,000 people have been killed in Darfur. Since many knowledgeable sources use the figure of 200,000 and controversy obtained to the UN’s John Holmes raising the figure to 300,000, one wonders where this 400,000 comes from — inflation?
The Woyanne regime in Ethiopia has made an agreement with a retired British colonel to study better ways of training Woyanne thugs (death squads) to control riots. The study was done by Colonel Michael Dewar, who is a former Deputy Director of the International Institute for Strategic Studies and defense expert.
The colonel’s riot control expertise comes from his several tours of duty in Northern Ireland where the British had long experience in suppressing the civilian population by crackdowns on public meetings, parades, home searches, street harassment and detentions of IRA suspects for prolonged periods.
Dewar’s report says that the riot control troops in the country “at present spend most of their time waiting for riots to happen.” Colonel Dewar organized a think tank that met regularly at the Ethiopian Embassy in London. See Teferra Waluwa’s letter and Col. Dewar’s report here.
The chairperson of Union for Democracy and Justice (UDJ), Wzr. Birtukan Mideksa, held a press conference on Sunday, Oct. 12. In the press conference, Birtukan explained her party’s current and future programs. She talked about participating in the 2010 elections and a budget proposal of 7.3 million birr that will be used to carry out party activities. Birtukan said the money for the proposed budget will be raised from membership fees and other means.
Asked to explain the difference between UDJ and Dr Beyene Petros’ fake opposition party, United Ethiopian Democratic Forces (UEDF), Birtukan said the difference is that Dr. Beyene’s party is organized along ethnic lines.
To the question that UDJ never speaks about the fate of millions of Ethiopians who are facing starvation, Birtukan said that starvation to Ethiopia is not new and that it has become one of those things that Ethiopia is identified with. However, she said, that her party will do a study and present solutions.
Regarding the implementation of the Kinjit 8-Point proposal for participating in future elections, Birtukan answered that as a party that chose to wage peaceful methods of struggle, participating in elections is one of UDJ’s main activities.
Sunday’s press conference has affirmed that UDJ will take part in the 2010 fake elections that will be used only to fool the international community into legitimizing Woyanne as an elected Ethiopian government. Woyanne will then turn around and beg for hundreds of millions of dollars from the international community on behalf of Ethiopia. The donated money will be used by Woyanne to continue pillaging and plundering Ethiopia.
With help from the likes of UDJ the Woyanne tribal junta will get more foreign aid to buy more weapons and continue to commit atrocities against our brothers and sisters in Gambela, Gojam, Gonder, Ogaden, Oromia, Shewa, Sidama, Somalia and other parts of Ethiopia and the Horn of Africa. Woyanne will increase the salary of its mercenary army to keep the killers loyal and brutal. A large portion of the money will be siphoned off by the corrupt Woyanne officials.
Thousands have lost their lives, so many have made enormous sacrifices for the principles Kinjit had advocated. By dropping Kinijit’s 8-point Proposal, thus joining the ranks of Dr Beyene Petros and Lidetu Ayalew, UDJ has betrayed the people of Ethiopia.
Kinjit’s 8-Point Proposal states the following:
1. The Restructuring of the Election Board into an Independent body.
2. Freedom of and access to All Media
3. Independent legal system (free from Woyanne party control)
4. An Independent Commission to investigate the killings of innocent Ethiopians following the May 2005 elections
5. Non-involvement of armed forces in political affairs
6. Reinstatement of parliamentary procedures and governance of Addis Ababa in accordance with the verdict of the people
7. Release of all political prisoners
8. Independent commission or body to adjudicate the above.
It is not possible to form a new political party and take part in an election without the implementation of these preconditions. Most of these preconditions are not only true for Ethiopia, but also for countries that are continuously working to build their democracy. They are the foundations for fair and free elections, as well as representative governments.
UDJ’s activities are also nothing but fraudulent. After dropping the 8-Points, UDJ has called itself the former Kinjit and taken funds that were raised for Kinjit in the U.S. and EU. Ethiopians in the Diaspora had made contributions believing that the Kinijit leaders will continue to struggle for the principles they advocated, not to create a new party that surrenders the people’s vote to the Woyanne dictatorship.
Senior UDJ leader Prof. Mesfin WoldeMariam had traveled to the U.S. last July and asked Ethiopians to follow the teachings and practices of the Tibetan Dalai Lama, instead of the teachings of our own Atse Tewodros, Atse Menelik, Dejazmach Balcha and other Ethiopian leaders who kept our country united and respected for thousands of years. It seems like the professor doesn’t know that his hero, the Dalai Lama, currently lives in exile. Does the professor know that there is no such country called Tibet today and if we follow the Dalai Lama teachings, we may lose our country, too?
To add insults to injury, UDJ leaders such as Wz. Birtukan and Prof. Mesfin, have called freedom fighters that are sacrificing their lives for freedom and democracy “primitive” and “neftenoch” — the same word Woyanne uses to demonize the Amhara ethnic group.
As Woyanne currently starves millions of Ethiopians, the UDJ leadership remains mute. When international human right groups raise alarms about the war crimes in Ogaden and Somalia, the UDJ leadership is mute. When U.S. senators work on a bill to stop aid to Woyanne, the UDJ leadership is mute. When Meles admitted to giving Ethiopian territory to Sudan, the UDJ leadership is mute. When the brave EPPF army chased away the occupying Sudanese army, the UDJ leadership called the method used by the brave fighters “backward.”
Enough Is Enough! Ethiopia has seen so many of her own children betray her. Today’s generation of Ethiopians must take the responsibility to confront and expose UDJ and all the other fake ‘opposition’ groups that are helping the Woyanne vampire regime prolong its destructive rule over our country.
LISTEN THE PRESS CONFERENCE HERE
PART 1 [podcast]http://www.kinijitla.org/Audio/Birtukan_Oct_12_08_Part_1.mp3[/podcast]
PART 2 [podcast]http://www.kinijitla.org/Audio/Birtukan_Oct_12_08_Part_2.mp3[/podcast]
MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA – As of last month, it takes Haile Gebrselassie two hours three minutes 59 seconds to run a marathon. “Kenny” Bekele whips through a 10-kilometre in a little over 26 minutes. On the women’s side, Tirunesh Dibaba punches out a five-kilometre in around 14 minutes.
It’s nice to report that some things take a little longer, even for the all-conquering Ethiopian distance runners. For example, it has taken them 52 years to win a marathon on the MCG, a feat accomplished yesterday by Asnake Fikadu when he won the Melbourne marathon.
Fikadu is one of an Ethiopian national squad of no fewer than 40 marathoners. They train at Etoto, just outside Addis Ababa, at 2800 metres above sea level.
Fikadu dominated yesterday’s race virtually from the start, breaking away after 10 kilometres and steadily increasing his lead. Only the northerly wind, which blew stronger as the morning progressed, caused him any problems, slowing the winning time to two hours 17 minutes 46 seconds. In better conditions, Fikadu may well have threatened Bill Rodgers’ race record 2:11:08 set in 1982.
Such did not appear to worry Fikadu, who has a best time of 2:10:26. He had history on his mind, not records. In halting English he explained he was pleased to come to Melbourne because it was here, in 1956, that Ethiopia first competed in an Olympic Games.
Not with the distinction we have come to expect now as routine, but Ethiopian Olympic history began in Melbourne. Mamo Wolde, a future Olympic marathon champion, competed in the 4 x 400 metres relay and the heats of the 800 and 1500 metres. In the marathon, Gebre Birkay finished 32nd of 33 finishers. Like the others, though, he was there.
“Melbourne is special for me,” said the winner. “I came here because of Ethiopia’s history with the MCG. It was our first time for the Olympic Games. The race is good, the people are good, but it is very windy.”
The wind aside, about his only other problem was that he had to finish twice. Not everyone caught his first run through the finish tape, so he obligingly re-staged it for those who had not been paying attention. He looked as if he could have done the 42.195 kilometres again had anyone asked.
Joshphat Mwangi of Kenya was second in 2:21:20. Like Collingwood, he is compiling an unenviable record of runner-up places on the MCG. He was second last year as well, when the race first finished on Melbourne’s most famous sporting venue. Yared Mekonnen of Ethiopia was third in 2:25:12.
The first Australian finisher was David Criniti of NSW in fifth place in 2:29:08. Magnus Michelsson, a former winner, was first Victorian in sixth place and Dean Cavuoto of the ACT, a former Australian world cross-country representative who has overcome a cancerous tumour in his right shoulder, was 12th in 2:38:14.
Just two seconds behind came Mai Tagami of Japan who, like Fikadu, had a runaway win in the women’s race. A 2:29:43 runner, she was a red-hot favourite and won in a manner justifying the tag. Like Fikadu, Tagami faces an uphill battle to win national representation. Japanese women’s marathoning is probably the country’s strongest event and Japan has provided two of the past three Olympic marathon gold medallists.
Michelle Bleakley finished second, and first Victorian, in 2:49:02, with Jenny Wikham of NSW next in 2:50:17.
Bleakley led last year’s women’s race for a long way before failing to finish with gastric problems. Soon after that, a mammogram revealed areas of “bad tissue” and, given a close family history of breast cancer, she decided to have a double mastectomy.
Shane Nankervis and Cassie Fien won the men’s and women’s half-marathons, in 65:58 and 75:14, respectively. Ballarat’s Nankervis won from Scott McTaggart and Rowan Walker, both representing the ACT. Fien beat Victoria’s Nikki Chapple and Bilinda Schipp of NSW.
The races were national championships with the ACT winning the men’s teams title and Victoria the women’s.
This story was found at: http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2008/10/12/1223749846892.html
A convey of Ethiopian military troops Woyanne henchmen which has left the Somali capital Mogadishu, and heading towards Afgoi district which is some 30KM from the Somali capital Mogadishu came under a remote control landmine explosion just some 18KM before reaching the actual destination on Sunday morning.
The explosion was an earsplitting one, and its sound was heard almost in the entire neighborhood.
“The Ethiopian troops TPLF thugs were traveling in 14 military trucks and immediately after the explosion they have alighted from the trucks and opened heavy fire in all the directions, they have also cordoned off the road for a brief time and later reopened it, I have seen them from very far collecting the bodies of 3 of their soldiers but what I can verify is that 1 of their military trucks was burnt to ashes” said Hassan Kassim a resident in the area.
It is the same, same place where Ethiopian military soldiers TPLF mercilessly butchered more than 80 innocent Somali civilians traveling along the road which links Mogadishu and Afgoi district.
Since the arrival of the Ethiopian troops TPLF in Somali particularly in the capital Mogadishu backing the Somali transitional government they have encountered uncountable attacks and roadside bombs.
Somali has not had effective central government for nearly two decades since late Mohamed Siyad Bare was overthrown from power in 1991.
Aid agencies are warning that Ethiopian authorities are under-estimating the scale of the country’s drought.
Official estimates of the number of people facing hunger and hardship stand at 4.6m but agencies warn the real figure could be more than 8m.
There is also confusion over the amount of money needed to meet the crisis, with the Oxfam agency estimating it at about $500m.
However, the United Nations reports that $772m has already been pledged.
Proud people
Ethiopia is in the grip of severe food shortages after rains failed across a large swathe of the east and south of the country.
But attempts to deal with the crisis have been hindered by disputes over the number of people affected.
In April the first government appeal spoke of more than 2m in need of food aid. By June that figure had risen to well over 4m.
Aid agencies now say the official estimate has reached 6.4m – but has not yet been released.
But, say the agencies, even this underestimates the scale of the problem.
Ethiopians are a proud people, who hate the image of their country forever extending a begging bowl. And they are suspicious of the motives of the aid community.
In an interview with Time magazine in August, Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said there were pockets of severe malnutrition but that the situation was manageable.
He questioned the way some agencies operated, saying they tended to use “hyperbole” to get the aid they needed.
“That can convey the message that the situation is hopeless when in fact it is not,” said the prime minister.
Yet if the 8m figure is correct, and if this is added to the approximately 7m who are chronically short of food, then as many as 20% of all Ethiopians could need food aid this year.
Oxfam has just released a fresh appeal. It says the aid required is $260m short of its target.
But figures produced by the United Nations office for the co-ordination of humanitarian affairs show that $772m has already been pledged, the vast majority from the US, which has nearly trebled its aid to Ethiopia this year.
The current crisis in Ethiopia is being lost in a swirling mist of competing figures.
