Leslie Lefkow, senior researcher and Horn of Africa team leader for Human Rights Watch’s Africa Division, talks about a ‘strategy of operation’ that is adopted by Meles Zenawi’s regime in Ethiopia. Watch the video below:
The U.S.-backed genocidal regime in Ethiopia has expelled an American journalist on Thursday. The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) reports the following.
Heather Murdock had been reporting with the U.S. international broadcaster Voice of America (VOA) in the eastern region of Harar, near an area where there was reported skirmishes between the army and rebels of the separatist Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF), according to the same sources. The Ethiopian government has denied journalists independent access to the restive Ogaden province, which neighbors the Harar region, and attempted to censor an exclusive report on the rebels last year, according to CPJ research. Under Ethiopia’s draconian anti-terrorism law, journalists risk as many as 20 years in prison if authorities deem their reporting favorable to armed rebels and banned opposition groups.
VOA confirmed to CPJ that Murdock had left the country. Assistants to Ethiopian government spokesmen Bereket Simon and Shemelis Kemal told CPJ the officials were not available for comment. The Ethiopian government announced plans to officially jam VOA in March, after reports that there had been electronic jamming of the station’s Amharic-language shortwave broadcasts and that its Web site had been blocked in the country.
“We condemn the expulsion of Heather Murdock,” said CPJ Africa Advocacy Coordinator Mohamed Keita. “Ethiopian authorities have for years used the threat of expulsion to induce self-censorship among foreign journalists working in the country.”
Murdock arrived in Ethiopia last month after she was expelled from Yemen in April following a reporting trip to strongholds of Yemen’s armed separatist Southern Movement, according to news reports. In Ethiopia, she covered the country’s general election and its aftermath, among other topics.
Egyptian border guards arrested nine African migrants from Ethiopia attempting to enter Israel illegally, while another 10 managed to escaped, a security source said Friday.
Police said that border guards spotted a group of Africans as they were trying to cross into Israel early on Friday. Nine of the group surrendered after the guards fired warning shots into the air.
“The nine detainees said they are from Ethiopia, and that they were originally a group of 19 trying to cross into Israel to find work,” the source said.
The migrants, held in a prison in the nearby town of al-Arish, confessed to paying 1,000 US dollars each to human traffickers to smuggle them across the border.
Egyptian border guards frequently arrest African migrants trying to cross into Israel without papers, sometimes using lethal force.
The United Nations has sharply criticized Egypt’s use of lethal force along the border, and Israel announced plans to erect a wall along the boundary to prevent illegal migration.
– DPA
SEATTLE — An Ethiopian Orthodox Christian ceremony began with traditional chanting by religious leaders as a memorial service got under way Friday morning at Key Arena for the victims of last weekend’s fatal fire in Fremont.
A crowd of nearly 3,000 was expected to attend the event, many arriving by shuttle from Yesler Community Center, where the East African community has been gathering all week to grieve alongside the victims’ families, members of Seattle’s Ethiopian community.
Killed in the fire at Helen Gebregiorgis’ Fremont apartment were three of her children, Joseph Gebregiorgis, 13; Nisreen Shamam, 6; and Yaseen Shamam, 5; her sister, Yerusalem Gebregiorgis, 22; and a niece, 7-year-old Nyella Smith, daughter of a third sister, Yordanos Gebregiorgis.
The names of the dead were displayed on the electronic reader board above the gathering Key Arena crowd, many of them members of the area’s East African community and dressed in traditional attire, with women in flowing garments and white shawls known as netellas, which are worn at spiritual events.
Mayor Mike McGinn was expected to address the crowd, along with Maria Goodloe-Johnson, superintendent of Seattle Public Schools. Others expected to speak were local East African religious and community leaders, with a reading of a letter of condolence from the Ethiopian Consulate in Los Angeles.
A slideshow and musical presentation in honor of the dead was expected to conclude the event, which Daniel Gebregiorgis, brother of the Gebregiorgis sisters, said would mark the end of public mourning as the family turns its attention to helping Helen find a new home.
“We don’t know where Helen is going to go from here,” he said.
The Gebregiorgis siblings came to the U.S. n in 1989 along with their refugee parents, who had fled their war-torn native country.
The memorial, originally set for the center’s Exhibition Hall, was moved to Key Arena because of the large number of expected attendees. “We didn’t want to be in a position where people would have to be turned away,” said Seattle Center spokeswoman Deborah Daoust.
Some Seattle residents have questioned Mayor McGinn’s decision to provide the use of Key Arena for the service at taxpayer expense. Daoust said those costs — which she initially estimated at about $5,000 — were low because the arena was already configured for such a large-capacity stage event, having hosted several recent high-school graduation ceremonies.
– Marc Ramirez, Seattle Times
EDITOR’S NOTE: A smart and sound policy would be to make it suitable for the thousands of exiled Ethiopian physicians in the U.S. and Europe to return to their country and open clinics. Ethiopian doctors are fleeing their country because the genocidal regime made the country unlivable for most Ethiopians.
NEW DELHI (The Economic Times) — Ethiopia Woyanne wants private Indian hospitals to open branches in that country to provide specialized treatment to its citizens, an official said.
An Ethiopian A Woyanne regime delegation was in India this week with the twin aim of learning from India’s health sector and small and medium enterprises.
“We felt that it will mutually benefit Ethiopians and the Indian private sector if they come to Ethiopia, especially Addis Ababa, and open branches, so that they attract not only Ethiopians but also other Africans,” Redwan Hussien, head of the delegation said.
The delegation, which included the health minister of the Addis Ababa city administration, met representatives of private hospital chains, like Fortis Healthcare and Moolchand Healthcare.
“In the last seven-eight years, we have been growing at double digits and the middle class has been booming, so people can afford to go out of the country for medical treatment,” said Hussien, a senior official in the city administration.
Addis Ababa, a city of 3.3 million, is also home to a substantial number of foreigners. It is the headquarters of the African Union and other international institutions. “Since Ethiopian Airlines is a major African airways, Addis Ababa is also a major transit point for Africans from other countries,” said Hussien.
But there is no equivalent level of specialized medical treatment available inside the country. “Most people travel to South Africa, or Bangkok or come all the way to India,” he said.
After discussions with private health providers, Hussien said that “Fortis Bangalore were really interested in going to Addis Ababa.”
A memorandum of understanding is being drafted and may be signed soon.
Hussien said space will be given in an existing Ethiopian hospital to set up a specialized treatment unit. Also, Indian doctors will be teaching their Ethiopian counterparts as part of the transfer of technology.
On the small and medium enterprises sector, Ethiopia is also looking towards Indian trainers to come to Africa. “We want Indian experts to come and teach in about 4-5 areas that we have drawn up,” he said.
The delegation also met with the Mayor of Delhi Prithviraj Sawhney and invited him to visit Ethiopia.
BEIRUT (AFP) — An Ethiopian Airlines plane was forced to return to Lebanon after takeoff early on Thursday when crew noticed a door was rattling, a Beirut airport official said.
“The door had not been closed properly and some five minutes after takeoff, the pilot was able to return and land in Beirut safely and without having to signal an emergency,” the official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
The Boeing 737-800 — the same model as an Ethiopian Airlines jet which crashed off the Lebanese coast in January killing all 90 on board — took off at around 4:30 am (0130 GMT) bound for Addis Ababa.
“The flight was delayed another six hours before it was cleared for takeoff,” the official said.
On January 25, Ethiopian Airlines Flight 409 crashed only minutes after taking off from Beirut in bad weather, killing all 83 passengers and seven crew.
The preliminary report based on an analysis of black box data indicates a series of errors led to the fatal crash, including the two pilots’ inexperience with the jet, a source close to the investigation told AFP last month.