International Criminal Court Prosecutor throws in the towel
It is a dark and gloomy month on the “Dark Continent”! It is the worst of times in Africa when a man in the highest political office accused of egregious crimes against …
Blog Archives
Saving the ICC: A Proposal for a Witness Protection Program
Justice delayed, again?
In late January of this year, I wrote a commentary entitled, “Kenyatta at the ICC: Is Justice Deferred, Justice Denied?” In that commentary I openly expressed my angst over the endless delays, postponements and backpedalling …
Tagged with: afrian union mass treatycide, africa rome statute, alemayehu g mariam, bashir sundan icc, human rights equatorial guinea, human rights paul biya, human rights paul kagame of rwanda, human rights robert mugabe, human rights teodoro obiang nguema mbasogo, human rights yoweri museveni, icc chief prosecutor fatou bensouda kenyatta, icc germain katanga, icc international bar association international criminal court programme, icc mathieu ngudjolo chui, icc prosecutor kenyatta, icc race hunting, icc thomas lubanga dyilo, icc william ruto, icc witness protection, icc witness registry, icc witnesses protection, international criminal court kenyatta, kenya elections human rights, kenyatta munguki, omerta, organized crime control act of 1970, politics, president charles taylor icc, salvatore sammy bull gravano, saving icc, uhuru kenyatta trial hague, witsec witness
Posted in Ethiopia News
Posted in Ethiopia News
Power Africa? Empower Africans!
Power, power, power…
When President Obama recently visited Africa, he announced a “Power Africa” initiative. In his Cape Town University speech, he proclaimed, “I am proud to announce a new initiative. We’ve been dealing with agriculture. We’ve been dealing with …
Tagged with: abubekar ahmed, africa power $7 billion, africa power outages blackouts, ahmedin jebel, alemayehu g mariam, america sanctions zimbabwe, andualem aragie, bekele gerba, corruption africa, corruption ethiopia, eskinder nega new york times, ethiopia nile dam, Ethiopian Political Prisoners, imani ghanaian center for policy and education, obama africa visit, obama cape town speech, obama power africa, olbana lelisa, politics, power problem africa, reeyot alemu, washington fellowship for young african leaders, woubshet taye, young african leaders initiative
Posted in Ethiopia News
Posted in Ethiopia News
Land and Ethiopia’s Corruptocracy
The silence of Ethiopia’s “beautiful minds”
Professor A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, the renowned Indian scientist (“Missile Man of India”) and Eleventh President of India (2002-2007) said, “If a country is to be corruption free and become a nation of …
Tagged with: a. p. j. abdul kalam, alemayehu g mariam, anticorruption bangalore india, botswana directorate corruption economic crime, corruption botswana, corruption endowment fund for the rehabilitation of tigray, corruption ethiopia effort, corruption ethiopian telecommunications corporation, corruption tplf, eleventh president of india, ethiopia 13 months sunshine, ethiopia auditor general lema aregaw corruption, ethiopia corruption index, ethiopia corruptocracy, ethiopia corruptonomics, ethiopia feac, ethiopia federal ethics and anti-corruption commission, ethiopia illicit financial flows, ethiopia karuturi global, Ethiopia Kleptocracy, Ethiopia News, ethiopia president negasso gidada, ethiopia villagization, ethiopia world bank corruption, global financial integrity gfi ethiopia, ian kelley $850 million ethiopia investigation, india anticorruption, india central vigilance commission, india project vigeye, kalam corruption, kalam nation of beautiful minds, land corruption ethiopia, land grab benishangul-gumuz, land grab ethiopia, land grab gambella, meles zenawi famine oxford dictionary, missile man of india, peter eigen transparency international, politics, state ownership land ethiopia, tigrayan people’s liberation front corruption, world bank diagnosing corruption ethiopia
Posted in Ethiopia News
Posted in Ethiopia News
The Dragon Eating the Eagle’s Lunch in Africa?
Flight of the Eagle and pursuit of the Dragon
In June 2011, during her visit to Zambia U.S. Secretary of State Hilary Clinton pulled the alarm bell on a creeping “new colonialism” in Africa. While dismissing “China’s Model” of authoritarian
…
Tagged with: africa copycat, africa imf, africa investment incentive act 2006, africa kleptocracy, africa neoliberalism, africa praetorian klepto-capitalism, africa union hall, africa world bank, african growth and opportunity act, agoa, alemayehu g mariam, china africa neocolonialism, china africa strategic partnership, china africa union hall, china angola, china congo, china dragon africa, china international trust and investment corporation, china model, china noninterference policy, china zimbabwe, coons embracing africa economic potential, Ethiopia News, fifth ministerial conference of the forum china africa cooperation, ghana china projects, ghana constitution, ghana constitution article 55 (4), global financial integrity ethiopia, greedom, h.i.m. haile selassie father africa, haile selassie 1963 oau, hans morgenthau, hobbes, kwame nkrumah neo-colonialism, liu guijin china special representative african affairs, machiavelli, Meles Zenawi, New Breed African Leaders, paul kagame, politics, senator chris coons africa, teodoro obiang nguema, u.s. trade africa, youeri museveni, zeng huacheng chinese embassy ethiopia
Posted in Ethiopia News
Posted in Ethiopia News
Obama “Moonwalking” Human Rights in Africa?
The great American poet Walt Whitman said, “Either define the moment or the moment will define you.” Will the election of Uhuru Kenyatta as president of Kenya define President Barack Obama in Africa or will President Barack Obama use the …
Tagged with: alemayehu g mariam, arab spring, assistant attorney general lanny a. breuer, assistant secretary of state for african affairs johnnie carson kenya, corruption ethiopia, equatorial guinea, Ethiopia News, franklin d. roosevelt, global financial integrity ethiopia, icc charges kenyatta, jendayi frazer kenya, kenya election president 2013, kenya electoral commission, Meles Zenawi, michael jackson moonwalk, michael posner assistant secretary of state for democracy human rights labor, Mwai Kibaki, nicaragua anastasio somoza, Obama Ghana Speech, obama reinhold niebuhr, omar al-bashir icc, orange democratic movement, paul kagame, politics, raila odinga, robert mcinturff kenya election, robert mugabe frozen assets, secretary state john kerry kenya election, susan e. rice sudan genocide, teodoro obiang asset seizure, teodoro obiang nguema mbasogo, U.S. Human Rights Policy Africa, u.s. policy kenya, uhuru kenyatta international criminal court, uhuru kenyatta president elect, walt whitman, yuweri museveni
Posted in Ethiopia News
Posted in Ethiopia News
The Moral Equivalent of an Anti-Apartheid Movement in Ethiopia?
Ethiopian Muslims engaged in the moral equivalent of an anti-Apartheid movement?
In her recent commentary in the New York Review of Books, “Obama: Failing the African Spring?”, Dr. Helen Epstein questioned the Obama Administration for turning a blind
…
Tagged with: 1796 treaty of peace friendship united states america bey subjects tripoli barbary, 22 u.s.c. § 6445(a)(1)-(15), al-ahbash islamic sect, alemayehu g mariam, article 18 universal declaration of human rights, barack obama religion, benjamin franklin religion, bosco ntganda international criminal court, congo m23, country of particular concern, establishment clause, ethiopia islamic affairs supreme council, Ethiopia News, ethiopia obama administration, ethiopia religious freedom, ethiopian muslims, expediency u.s. foreign policy, first amendment u.s. constitution, free exercise clause, george washington religion, getanah metafriah, helen epstein ethiopia, interfaith council ethiopia, international religious freedom act of 1998 irfa, james madison religion, john adams religion, leonard leo chairman of the u.s. commission on international religious freedom commission, Meles Zenawi, new york times book review ethiopia, paul kagame, sharpeville massacre, thomas jefferson religion, u.s. religious freedom, youweri museveni
Posted in Ethiopia News
Posted in Ethiopia News
Ethiopia: The Prototype African Police State
The sights and sounds of an African police state
When Erin Burnett of CNN visited Ethiopia in July 2012, she came face-to-face with the ugly face of an African police state:
…We saw what an African police state looked like
Tagged with: 2011 u.s. state department country reports on human rights practices ethiopia, 2013 world report, alan paton cry beloved country, alemayehu g mariam, Andualem Arage, andualem ayalew, Article 12 Ethiopia constitution, article 17 ethiopian constitution, article 7 (e) (g) rome statute, article 9 1948 universal declaration of human rights, article 9 international covenant on civil and political rights, Birtukan Judge, Birtukan Midekssa, birtukan prison, congressman christopher smith ethiopia, erin burnett cnn ethiopia, Eskinder Nega, Ethiopia accountability, ethiopia african police state, Ethiopia Apartheid, ethiopia arbitrary arrest detention, Ethiopia Corruption, ethiopia european union election observer group, ethiopia federal police, ethiopia hadid shafi ousman, ethiopia massacre 193, ethiopia meles radio mille collines, Ethiopia News, ethiopia police state, ethiopia robocops, ethiopia thug state, ethiopia zemedkun police chief, ethiopian muslims illegal search homes, international criminal court fatou b. bensouda, ken ohashi ethiopia, kinfemichael debebe, meles mel-welliana, meles police state, mitiku damte, nathnael mekonnen, politics, reeyot alemu, solomon kifle voice of america, voice of america ethiopia, woubshet taye, yeshiwas yehunalem, yohannes terefe, zerihun gebre-egziabher
Posted in Ethiopia News
Posted in Ethiopia News
Ethiopia in BondAid?
Alemayehu G. Mariam
“Bondage” is the state of being bound by or subjected to some external power or control. When people are bound by debt, they are in “debt bondage”. When they are held in involuntary servitude, they are in …
Tagged with: alemayehu g mariam, andrew s. natsios usaid, audit of usaid/ethiopia, bondaid ethiopia, ethio, Ethiopia Dambissa Moyo, Ethiopia Development Assistance Group, Ethiopia Dictatorship, ethiopia growth and transformation plan, ethiopia lords of poverty, ethiopia lords of tyranny, Ethiopia News, graham hancock lords poverty, Meles Zenawi, politics, rajiv khan usaid, us aid ethiopia, usaid audit report no. 4-6663-10-003-p, usaid breaking cycle of food crises, usaid thomas staal, usaid/ethiopia’s performance plan usaid/ethiopia
Posted in Ethiopia News
Posted in Ethiopia News
The Dam and the Damned: Gibe III Ethiopia
Alemayehu G Mariam
Cry Me a River, Cry Me a Lake
Three years ago to the week, I wrote a weekly commentary entitled, “Cry Me a Lake: Crime Against Nature”. That commentary focused on the plight of tens
…
Tagged with: African Dictators, african white elephants, alemayehu g mariam, basilica of our lady of peace of yamoussoukro, bujagali dam uganda, china gibe iii, ethiopia charities and societies proclamation, ethiopia gibe, ethiopia oakland institute, ethiopia population 2050, geber egziabher ethiopia environmental protection authority, gibe african development bank, gibe african resources working group, gibe european investment bank, gibe iii sudan kenya, gibe italy, gibe lake turkana, gibe unesco, gibe world bank, inga dams congo, international rivers gibe, jean-bedel bokassa, lake koka ethiopia, lake koka pollution, mursi suri, omo gibe i, omo gibe ii, omo river basin, omo valley bodi, toxic ecology african dictatorships, turkana unesco world heritage site, zenawi neoliberals
Posted in Ethiopia News
Posted in Ethiopia News
Delivering on Donald Payne’s Human Rights Legacy
Alemayehu G Mariam
Donald Payne Was a Drum Major for Democracy and Human Rights
Grassroots Ethiopian human rights groups and activists have been stunned by the death last week of Donald Payne, our strongest ally and advocate in the U.S. …
Tagged with: alemayehu g mariam, and human rights advancement act of 2006, civil society law ethiopia, congressman christopher smith new jersey, democracy, donald payne hr 2003, donald payne human rights legacy, ethiopia consolidation act of 2005, ethiopia democracy accountability act, ethiopia donald payne, ethiopia freedom, hilary clinton human rights, hr 4423 ethiopia, hr 5680, maria otero undersecretary ethiopia, martin luther king drum major, Meles Zenawi Dictator, Obama Human Rights, politics, u.s. human rights policy
Posted in Ethiopia News
Posted in Ethiopia News
Political Prisoners Inside Ethiopia’s Gulags
Alemayehu G Mariam
The Plight of Andualem Aragie and Other Political Prisoners in Ethiopia
The “Gulag” prison system in the old Soviet Union was infamous for warehousing and persecuting dissidents and opponetns. The gulags were used effectively to weed out …
Tagged with: african [banjul] charter on human and peoples’ rights, alemayehu g mariam, andualem aragie, andualem aragie beaten, bekele gerba, Birtukan Midekssa Political Prisoner, convention against torture and other cruel, Ethiopia Constitution, ethiopia dewar report prison, ethiopia human rights report, Ethiopia Human Rights Watch, ethiopia international covenant on civil and political rights, ethiopia prisons, ethiopia u.n. committee against torture, ethiopia universal declaration of human rights, ethiopian gulags, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, maekelawi, Meles Zenawi, n.y. times nicholas kristoff, national endowment for democracy, Negasso Gidada, olbana lelisa, proclamation no.414/2004, reagan-fascell fellow, rome statute international criminal court, soviet gulags, swedish journalists ethiopia, tilahun fantahun, u.n. body of principles for the protection of all persons under any form of detention or imprisonment, u.n. declaration against torture, unity and democracy party, VOA amharic
Posted in Ethiopia News
Posted in Ethiopia News
Deutsche Welle: A Disgrace to Press Freedom?
Alemayehu G Mariam
In a memorandum sent to Deutsche Welle’s (DW) [Germany’s international broadcaster] “correspondents outside Ethiopia” in late 2010, Ludger Schadomsky, editor-in-chief of DW’s Amharic program, blasted “ethiomedia and similar sites by extension” as a “disgrace” to press freedom. …
Tagged with: alemayehu g mariam, art. 5 (1) basic law for the federal republic of germany, bereket simon, Berhanu Nega, code of ethics of the society of professional journalists, deutsche welle amharic, deutsche welle ethiopia, Eskinder Nega, ethiomedia, ethiopia disgrace to press freedom, ethiopia press freedom, fascist woyane regime, german federal constitutional court, girma seifu, hate speech ethiopia, ludger schadomsky deutsche welle, ludger schadomsky open letter, Meles Zenawi, politics, thilo hoppe
Posted in Ethiopia News
Posted in Ethiopia News
The Dragon’s Dance with Hyenas
Alemayehu G. Mariam
The Chinese Dragon is dancing the Watusi shuffle with African Hyenas. Things could not be better for the Dragon in Africa. In the middle of what once used to be the African Pride Land now stands a
Tagged with: African Dictators, african hyenas, african union building new, alemayehu g mariam, chairman of the national committee of the chinese people's political consultative conference, china in africa, china in ethiopia, china model, china model africa, china noninterference, china zambia, chinese dragon, economy, ghana constitution, global financial integrity ethiopia, inc., jia qinglin, Kwame Nkrumah, liu guijin china's special representative african affairs, Meles Zenawi, michael sata zambia china, new breed of african leaders, Paul Kagame Rwanda, Robert Mugabe Zimbabwe, teodoro obiang nguema, watusi shuffle, world bank ease of doing business index, world press freedom index, Yoweri Museveni Uganda
Posted in Ethiopia News
Posted in Ethiopia News
African Beggars Union Hall?
Alemayehu G Mariam
The new African Union (AU) headquarters was inaugurated last week. It was “China’s gift to Africa.” China picked the entire USD$200 million tab for the building, fixtures and furniture. The China State Construction …
Tagged with: africa basic statistics, africa panhandling, africa renaissance, africa rising, african charter on democracy, african union bashir sudan, african union burundi uganda somalia darfur, african union convention on preventing and combating corruption, african union gadhafi, african union international criminal court, african union mission in somalia, african union new headquarters, alemayehu g mariam, amisom, botswana ketumile masire ethiopia elections, china africa union building, china economic investment africa 150 billion, china gift africa, declaration on democracy, economic and corporate governance, elections and governance, equatorial guinea teodoro obiang nguema african union, ethiopia global financial integrity, George Ayittey, Meles Zenawi, meles zenawi africa union building, nepad, new partnership for africa's development, political, richard poplak african union building, teodorin obiang racketeering, world bank ethiopia $380
Posted in Ethiopia News
Posted in Ethiopia News
An “African Spring” in 2012?
Alemayehu G. Mariam
Waiting for the Dawn of “Africa’s Spring” in 2012? How about an “Ethiopian Tsedey” in 2012?
In 2011, we witnessed the “Winter of Arab” discontent made glorious by an “Arab Spring” followed by an increasingly hot
…
Tagged with: African Kleptocracies, african spring, albert camus the rebel, alemayehu g mariam, arab spring, briefcase bandits, Dictator Meles Zenawi, enough is enough, equatorial guinea teodoro obiang nguema, George Ayittey, Kwame Nkrumah, mit professor roger d. petersen, negasso gidada udj, petersen resistance, rebellion, thugtatorships, VOA amharic, yenesew gebre, yoweri museveni egyptian-like revolution, zimbabwe robert mugabe
Posted in Ethiopia News
Posted in Ethiopia News
Ethiopia: Land of Blood or Land of Corruption?
Alemayehu G. Mariam
Portrait of A Poor Country
Lately, the portrait of Ethiopia painted in the reports of Transparency International (Corruption Index) and Global Financial Integrity shows a “Land of Corruption”. That contrasts with an equally revolting portrait of Ethiopia …
Tagged with: Addis Ababa, alemayehu g mariam, ethio, ethiopia akeldama, ethiopia al qaeda al shabbab, ethiopia anti-terrorism law, ethiopia axum, ethiopia corruption index, ethiopia dictator meles zenawi’s, Ethiopia famine, ethiopia global financial integrity, Ethiopia Human Rights Violations, Ethiopia Inquiry Commission, ethiopia lalibela, ethiopia land of blood, ethiopia meles zenawi, Ethiopia News, ethiopia ogaden, ethiopia press freedom, ethiopia terrorism, ethiopia transparency international, politics
Posted in Ethiopia News
Posted in Ethiopia News
Why is Ethiopia Poor?
First, Why is Africa Poor?
George Ayittey, the renowned Ghanaian economist and president of the Free Africa Foundation swears that “Africa is poor because she is not free”. Like Ayittey, Robert Guest, business editor for The Economist, in his book …
Tagged with: africa colonialism, alemayehu g mariam, ethiopia 2010 legatum prosperity index, ethiopia bertelsmann political and economic transformation index, ethiopia central statistical agency, Ethiopia Corruption, Ethiopia Dictatorship, Ethiopia Economist Magazine, Ethiopia Education, ethiopia environmental performance index, ethiopia failed states index, ethiopia federal ethics and anti-corruption commission, ethiopia good governance, ethiopia growth and transformation plan, Ethiopia Health, ethiopia ibrahim index of african governance, ethiopia index of economic freedom, ethiopia international bank for reconstruction and development investment climate assessment, Ethiopia International Monetary Fund, ethiopia international organization for migration, ethiopia legatum institute, ethiopia oxford poverty and human development initiative multidimensional poverty index 2010, ethiopia poverty, Ethiopia Press, ethiopia rule of law, ethiopia transparency international corruption index, Ethiopia World Bank, free africa foundation, George Ayittey, hyena states, robert guest economist, shackled continent, Vampire States, VOA amharic, Western Aid Africa, zenawinomics
Posted in Ethiopia News
Posted in Ethiopia News
African Dictators: The People Don’t Love You!
Alemayehu G. Mariam
In February 2011, at the onset of the Libyan Revolution, Moamar Gadhaffi trumpeted to the world, “They love me. All my people with me, they love me. They will die to protect …
Tagged with: africa colonialism, African Dictators, alemayehu g mariam, ben ali and mengustu are doing just jean-bedel bokassa, benito mussolini, eman al-obeidy, Ethiopia Political Prisoners, gadhaffi rats and cockroaches, john kennedy, laurent gbagbo cote d’ivoire, libyan revolution, Meles Zenawi, Mengistu Hailemariam, mobutu sese seko, Omar Al-Bashir, pan am flight 103, politics, prime minister mahmoud jibril, Robert Mugabe, Saddam Hussien, Saif Al-Islam, Winston Churchill
Posted in Ethiopia News
Posted in Ethiopia News
What Should Starving Ethiopians do to Help Themselves?
Alemayehu G. Mariam
In 1987 when Time Magazine featured a famine-stricken Ethiopian mother on its cover page, it failed to ask the most important question of all: What should Ethiopians do and not do to help themselves?
It is the …
Tagged with: 2000 human rights country report on ethiopia, 2010 us. human rights country report ethiopia, Addis Ababa, aid dambissa moyo, alemayehu g mariam, article 55 (4) of the ghanaian constitution, bashir al-assad syria, Ben Ali Tunisia, Birtukan Midekssa, Dictator Meles Zenawi, donalad yamamoto ethiopia, ethio, ethiopia assistant secretary of treasury andy baukol, ethiopia business environment, ethiopia child malnutrition, Ethiopia Democracy, ethiopia domestic violence, Ethiopia Ethnic Politics, Ethiopia famine, ethiopia gender discrimination, Ethiopia Inflation, Ethiopia News, Ethiopia Starvation, ethiopia universal declaration of human rights, ethiopia urban youth, Ethiopia Wikileaks, ethiopia women rights, ethiopia youth unemployment, ethiopian diaspora, Ethiopian Youth, gandhi tyrants fall, hosni mubarak trial, imf ethiopia, martin l. king darkest hour, Moammar Gadhafi, Western Donors Ethiopia
Posted in Ethiopia News
Posted in Ethiopia News