Hiber Radio Presents Professor Alemayehu G Mariam

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The Union of the Oromo Gadaa Councils said it was “alarmed” by the unrest in Oromiya and is “deeply disturbed” that many lives were lost and properties damaged in connection with the ongoing #Oromoprotest, which is deep into its fourth month.

In a statement released on February 24, 2016 and was sent to Addis Standard, the Union emphasized “the need to find solutions to the causes of the disturbances”. The statement was issued after representatives from all Gadaa Councils deliberated on the matter in Addis Abeba on the 23rd and the 24th of February.

The Union further urged various measures to be taken including the immediate cessation of the ongoing conflicts; the payment of financial compensation for loss of lives in accordance with the Gadaa tradition; and the releasing of all those imprisoned without any charge.

It also requested the government in Ethiopia to address the demands of the people immediately, and the public to continue to present their demands peacefully. Additionally it demanded “an immediate halt” to the practice of evicting farmers from their land without their consent and without adequate compensation. “We call upon the government to look into the damage created by past mistakes and ensure that the victims are made whole.” The Union expressed its readiness “to discuss and seek solutions to the crisis that has now disrupted the peace of our country,”

In a similar statement the Union announced that it has decided to celebrate the upcoming Irreecha festivals (Thanksgiving holiday of the Oromo people) in “the City of Finfinnee”(Addis Abeba).

The Union also vowed “to create an independent source of income for the Councils in order to strengthen the Gadaa system” and “strengthen Waaqeffanaa, the Oromo traditional religion, in accordance with the Gadaa System, the religion’s original tenets and the Oromo moral system of safuu.”

The statement calls upon people with no affiliation with the Gadaa councils, “who are now interfering in Gadaa affairs” to refrain from engaging in Gadaa-related acts for which they “have no representation”.

The ongoing Oromo protests, which started on Nov. 12th last year, against a government’s plan to expand the capital Addis Abeba into the heartland of the surrounding towns and villages under the Oromiya regional state, is believed to have claimed the lives of more than 300 civilians in the hands of government security apparatus .

Source – Addis Standard

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Lost Generation – Interview about the history of AdwaLost Generation – Interview about the history of Adwa

The battle of Adwa documentary film

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I heard Professor Mesfin Woldemariam once say, “We hate oppressors but not oppression”. It was not a questionable generalization like that of our athlete, Haile Gebreselassie who surprised the whole world with his 2/11/16 comment on BBC, “As an African citizen Democracy is a Luxury thing…for us the most important thing is a good governor”. While I am unware of any confluence between athletics and politics or how Haile envisioned good governance without democracy/accountability, Professor Mesfin’s expression, though, was a satire on hypocrisy of our politicians who promise anything when they are ‘the oppressed’, but turn their back on the people once they have political power.

Although we may be hopeful that today’s opposition would not turn in to tomorrow’s oppressor, we need to reckon that no matter what, our hope will be wishful thinking if we don’t realize that ethnic political parties are an exception. The reckoning is, we don’t need time to speak with confidence that no opposition, that is an ethnic party, is capable of delivering democracy and equal opportunity to all Ethiopians. Ethnic political parties stand for the interest of one ethnic group at the expense of other ethnicities. Ethnic parties are reincarnations of those who hate other oppressors but love oppression of their own making. This is to argue that, if our dream is for a stable democratic political climate that is free from oppression and ethnic polarization of Ethiopians, it is high time that there is a consensus to do away with ethnic parties, phasing out their existence in favor of non ethnic parties that recognize our unity in diversity.

Ethnic parties are those which stand for one or more ethnic group at the exclusion of other(s), based on differences that emanate from the act of God. There are no universal criteria in defining what makes an ethnic group. In India for example, ethnic identity and ethnic politics is primarily about Sub cast, Cast and Religion in the order of their importance in Indian politics. The Casts from top to bottom are Priests, Warriors, Farmers & Traders, and laborers. India has 29 states and 7 union territories. A sub cast, Cast or Religion one finds in a state is also found in all other states in India. There is a sense of brotherhood among the three ethnic elements that exist all over India. Hence ethnic politics is not as divisive or as polarizing on State boundary lines as it is in Ethiopia, where ethnicity is only dependent on languages that have a demarcated administrative boundaries called Regional States.

In India Cast and Sub cast may indirectly reflect the economic or social status of an ethnic group, and as a result, Indian ethnic parties may be seen to some degree as class based. When one says my father is a Goldsmith, it is sufficient clue for a fellow Indian to determine the respective cast of that individual, and so is, if one says he/she is a Blacksmith, a Goldsmith, a Carpenter, a Trader, a Farmer, a Landowner, a Laborer, and a Priest etc. The other facet we see in India, countering polarization on state boundary lines, is the existence of interstate multi ethnic parties which I believe are, in a relative sense, better than the most divisive single ethnic parties. It is a no brainer to imagine what it would be like if we had Oromo-Amhara Party, Tigray-Amhara Party, and Somali-Afar Party etc. Above all, the 42^nd amendment of Indian Constitution equates cessation with anti-national activity, making it illegal.

According to the web listing of National Election Board of Ethiopia, there are 77 political parties that are actively participating in election. Per my own analysis, there are 23 National parties, 3 Regional parties (multi ethnic but all in SNNPR) and 51 single ethnic parties. Political theory dictates that some of the 23 National parties could in fact be ethnic parties. Because, although a party has a name that has no reference to any ethnic group, it may still in essence be an ethnic party if, either its message is directed towards favoring a particular ethnicity or its political platform targets a particular ethnic group as its support base.  Also, considering the level of determination of the 51 ethnic parties in defending ethno politics in Ethiopia, it may be logical to classify them in to four categories. Category A are the Pioneers of the present ethnic system and Category B are the Followers, which followed only after the politico ethnic course was set by the Pioneers. This is remindful of the Ethiopian saying on a Dog’s behavior to copycat a Hyena. In category C are Opportunists, which are least concerned about ethnic issues, but pretend with the hope of scavenging whatever comes their way. Category D are the Pragmatic ethnic parties of quick or realist Ethiopians like Professor Asrat Woldeyes (who opposed the Charter), Professor Merara Gudina (ex AESM) and Ato Asegede Gebreselassie (ex TPLF). I know that we can debate about the three personalities until the cows come home, but it is my opinion.

In an environment where there is no democratic space for voicing concerns including rights of ethnic in nature, it may be natural for members of a particular ethnic group to join hands and fight for their common cause, to ensure that their question is addressed properly. Hence, we should not ridicule ethnic political organizations, asserting why they come in to existence in the first place. In a political climate where people cannot express their desire by show of hands or through a secret ballot, forming ethnic parties and resorting even to an armed struggle, is a reality no one can avoid. The question is, should ethnic parties have permanent existence? And here comes the need for categorical analysis of the parties which helps to determine the root cause of their genesis as well as the specific ethnic parties that would present the most challenge or resistance to the de-ethinization of Ethiopian political frame. The category will help in engaging ethnic parties commensurate with their classification.

What is the ethnic question in Ethiopia? The present constitution places greater significance to ethnic questions. The preamble of the constitution reads “respect of individual and people’s of fundamental freedoms and rights, to live together on the basis of equality and without any sexual, religious or cultural discrimination”. What are then people’s rights?  The best thing I have come about, as answers to the question are the various references to certain terms in the constitution that indirectly hint how the ethnic question is understood by the ethnic parties that played a pioneering role, in the design, as a solution to the ethnic question. The articles are: Art 5 Languages; Art 25 Discrimination on basis of Nation, nationality; Art 31 Freedom of Association ;Art 32 Sec 1-5 Freedom of Movement ;Art 39 Right of Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples; Art 41 Sec 9 Economic ,Social and Cultural Rights; Art  46 State of the Federation ;Art 47 Member States of the Federal Democratic Republic; Art 48 State Boarder Changes ;Art 49 Capital City ;Art 50 Structure of the Organs of State; Art 51 Powers and Functions of the Federal Government ;Art 52 Powers and Functions of States ;Art 61 Members of the House of the Federation; Art 62 Powers and Functions of the House of the Federation ;Art 87 Principles of National Defense ;Art 88 Political Objectives, and Art 91 Cultural Objectives.

Per my understanding of the constitution, it could have placed Ethiopians in a much better position had Section 1 of Article 39 not included the phrase, ‘including the right to secession’. See, semantics aside, if the section was, Every Nation, Nationality and People in Ethiopia has an unconditional right to self-administration, it would be reconciliatory to most political groups. The problem comes with the ‘including the right to secession’ phrase that is seen at the end of the sentence, and which is unfathomable to most Ethiopians. It is this critical phrase which polarized the whole political climate of Ethiopia throwing us back for at least two thousand years into the past. This is the phrase in the constitution that has caused lots of mistrust, division and polarization amongst Ethiopians, and a further strategic problem in the design and practice of democracy in Ethiopia. Most Ethiopians even consider referring to ‘the Ethiopian constitution’ as a taboo, let alone demanding its full implementation since it could also mean the disintegration of the country in to Ethnic Nations.

The phrase “…including the right to secession” is the nexus between the constitution and the ethnic political parties in Ethiopia. Secession demands prevalence of a vanguard ethnic party(s) that take(s) ownership and leadership of the constitutional process, when the ethnic party(s) decide(s) to secede the region from Ethiopia. Hence it would be senseless to talk about abolition of ethnic political parties without the simultaneous amendment of the constitution removing the phrase, ‘including the right to secession’. Sec I Art 39 and Ethnic Political parties are two sides of the same coin. We cannot deal with one without dealing with the other. Without the secession clause in the Article, ethnic political parties become superfluous and of little relevance or significance.

Art 25 of Ethiopian constitution prohibits Discrimination on basis of Nation and nationality. However paradoxically, there are ethnic political parties which by definition favor one ethnic group from another(s). Speaking of discrimination, there can be no group or organization that could institutionalize or implement discrimination of the highest magnitude, with perfection, than ethnic political parties. This reminds me of an Iranian proverb “a camel does not drink with a spoon”. In terms of scale and magnitude, the only thing that comes close to discrimination by ethnic parties would be if there were religious political parties. For an ethnic party to be free from discrimination on the basis of ethnic identity, is like a camel walking through an eye of a needle.

In a country like Ethiopia, discrimination is manifested through appointments in public offices, government positions, land resource allocation, access to banking and finance, tax and tariff, government contracts, general business opportunity, due process of law, hires, promotions, access to public officials etc. It occurs both at the Federal and Regional levels. The discrimination and favoritism in opportunities creates hostility, mistrust, and division among Ethiopians. In addition to the day to day reality of inequality in opportunity, the ethnic parties and the various institutions including schools continually and actively disseminate divisive propaganda/education/practice undermining Ethiopian Nationalism or at times, openly declaring one or more ethnic groups as enemy(s). The people of Ethiopia are divided amongst fifty one ethnic political parties not to mention the sixteen national parties, weakening the voice of the people, and thereby creating a fertile ground for manipulation and dictatorship. The mistrust, division and hostility that we see in our day to day lives amongst Ethiopians is not spontaneous and it is by design, the engines being the ethnic parties.

When it is an established fact that ethnic parties are discriminatory, what is the meaning of one ethnic party opposing another ethnic party just because the ‘another’ is a ruling ethnic party? Unless the opposition ethnic party accepts only to be a temporary vehicle in creating a democratic climate where open debate & secret ballot would be the norm, unless the opposition ethnic party is committed to phase itself away upon fulfillment of conditions leaving the day to day politics to non-ethnic parties, if the goal of the ethnic party is a mere change of one ethnic party by another, it is equivalent to crying ‘my discrimination and oppression would be better than yours’. The most logical end game of any struggle by ethnic parties should be to bring about a constitutional solution to the problem, permanently settling ethnic questions legally, so that ethnic issues do not become a day to day contention or play toy of ethnic parties that thrive by indefinitely lingering division, sectarianism, exclusion, discrimination, favoritism, animosity and instability.

There needs to be a considerable effort to create awareness and consensus among ethnic parties on the danger they pose on the peaceful coexistence of ethnicities in Ethiopia. The dire socio economic realities of Ethiopia and the need for political stability in fighting poverty, inequality and continuing ethnic conflicts demand a sacrifice by ethnic parties, paving way for non-ethnic parties that uphold democracy based on respect for individual rights. It is of paramount importance that ethnic parties come to their senses, and put a limit/deadline on their time table with a clear commitment to phase out their existence, on the fulfillment of a clearly defined and measurable criteria. Preference for one ethnic party over another will only mean substituting one oppressor by another, and that way we are doomed to division, hostility, disintegration, civil war, ethnic cleansing and everlasting poverty.

At this point, I am urged to share the following Statement of Objects and Reasons in the 42^nd amendment of the Indian Constitution that sent a clear and resonating message about why outlaw cessation in India declaring it to be anti-national and hence illegal.

“A Constitution to be living must be growing. If the Impediments to the growth of the Constitution are not removed, the Constitution will suffer a virtual atrophy. The question of amending the Constitution for removing the difficulties which have arisen in achieving the objective of socio-economic revolution, which would end poverty and ignorance and disease and inequality of opportunity, has been engaging the active attention of Government and Public for some Years Now…”

In conclusion, the common DNA of ethnic parties in Ethiopia is a strong belief for their constituency’s right to self-administration with local languages as medium of communication. Ethiopianism that is based on unity in diversity is able to accommodate that. Enforcement of the right to self administration, once instituted democratically, is not any different from enforcement of other bills of legislatures, and hence it does not require an ethnic political party as its baby sitter. The most delicate matter is striking a correct balance between Ethiopian Nationalism and ethnic identity.  Ethiopian Nationalism should be at the core of our institutions since our history, interethnic relationships developed over thousands of years, the geopolitics, economics and common sense demand just that. Past this point, the day to day political affair at Federal, Regional or Local level should be left to non-ethnic parties which at least, would be free from ethnic prejudice, bigotry, discrimination and oppression, based on differences that emanate from the act of God i.e. ethnicity.  Ethnic parties need to perform a kind of soul searching and reconcile with the fact that hate for oppressors is not good enough. By definition, ethnic parties are meant to exclude others, and switching between ethnic parties would only put us in a vicious cycle of Exclusions & Oppressions.  This leads us to the only conclusion that upon satisfaction of specific conditions, we need to dissolve ethnic parties. In a true democracy ethnicity will be impertinent since people gather around ideologies and public policies that maximize their needs for Democracy, Justice, Security, Education, Food, Clean drinking water, Irrigation, Health services, Jobs, Electricity, Transportation, etc. These are universal to all ethnicities in Ethiopia. This is what political parties in Ethiopia should be about, and then we will be in communion with the 21^st century.

Melaku G Woldeselassie CPA

Atlanta, Georgia, email Melakug1@hotmail.com

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ESAT Daily News Amsterdam March 04, 2016ESAT Daily News Amsterdam March 04, 2016

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By Tesfa-Alem Tekle

March 4, 2016 (ADDIS ABABA) – Eritrean government has released dozens of Ethiopians who were recently abducted by a group of armed men from Eritrea, sources told Sudan Tribune on Friday.

Ethiopian gold miniers (Photo Ethiopian Ministry of Mining)

The kidnapped Ethiopians were freed only a few days after Addis Ababa warned to take retaliatory measures in response to the cross-border kidnappings that were carried out in the northern Tigray region bordering Eritrea.

Recently, a group of armed men dressed in the Eritrean army uniform crossed borders to Ethiopia and forcibly kidnapped over 80 Ethiopian miners who were searching Gold near the Eritrean border.

The kidnappers took the hostages to Eritrea on foot and killed two of them who tried to escape.

A government source on Friday told Sudan Tribune that Sudan, which has excellent ties with Eritrea, had played an important role in freeing the Ethiopians captives.

It said the kidnapped Ethiopians were released following Khartoum’s mounting pressure exerted on President, Isaias Afeworki, and his government.

According to the source, the group of the Ethiopians returned home via Sudan. Motives behind the kidnappings are not yet clear but people who spoke to Sudan Tribune are demanding answers from the Ethiopian government on whether the government will be committed in future to protect the gold miners and others working near the shared border.

This is not the first time such a kidnapping incident happened in the area. In 2012, Eritrean soldiers similarly crossed border into Ethiopia and kidnapped over 100 miners in the region.

Ethiopia has routinely accused arch-rival Eritrea of orchestrating a number of cross-border attacks carried out in its soil, an accusation Asmara has been denying.

The horn of African nation had previously carried out attacks on targets inside Eritrea to what Addis Ababa said was a proportional measures to Eritrea’s continued aggression including the cross-border kidnappings targeting foreign tourists.

In 1998, the two neighbours fought a two-year long war over their disputed border which has claimed the lives of at least 70,000 people.

The dispute over their border remains unresolved and forces of both sides regularly engage in lower-scale skirmishes.

Eritrea split from Ethiopia in a referendum conducted in 1993 after decades of civil war.

(ST)

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Yonas Mebrahtu /Germany

Thomas Jefferson once remarked that ‘The dignity and stability of government in all its branches, the morals of the people and every blessing of society depend so much upon an upright and skillful administration of justice, that the judicial power ought to be distinct from both the legislative and executive and independent upon both…’.That implies that the functional and administrational independence guarantees   public confidence and governmental legitimacy. On this premises, despite remarkable rhetoric commitments in different regimes, bestowing de facto and genuine judicial independence in Ethiopia had been as horrifying as opening the Pandora box.

Nonchalant to its precursors, one of the first measures of the ERPDF thugs in 1991 – when they took power ­– was to dismiss well experienced and qualified judges throughout the country for the mere fact that they were part of the previous regime-Derg. Soon after EPRDF took power, reports from the then Ethiopian Human Rights Council revealed, more than 100 judges were automatically dismissed across the country. In 1996, nearly one hundred (100) judges – whom regretfully more than half of them were LLB holders- from Addis Ababa and Dire Dawa were purged under the guise of structural adjustment despite the clear constitutional provision of Security of Tenure. Similarly, high number of judges in Amhara and 275 from Oromya were victims of the summary dismissal during this time. Alas, almost all of them, save as some Addis Ababa University graduates joined the judiciary, were replaced by three to six months trainee janissaries and former EPRDF army members certified from the Cadre school –Civil Service College. This was how the justice house began to completely fall under the absolute control of TPLF and its henchmen and finally maimed functionally. This was the beginning of politicization of the judiciary.

Even after that, the Government used various strategies to ensure the strong executive presence in the judiciary more importantly in politically motivated cases. To say few, from automatic dismissal of judges to direct appointment of selected judges in important political cases, surveillances on judges, direct and indirect forms of pressures are some of the government interference mechanisms. Accordingly, a sizeable number of judges –with high caliber and who objects the unleashed interference of the government, were laid off. Judge Nuru Seid, for instance, an experienced and a man of uncompromised ethics who served as judge in the red terror trial, has been dismissed against the clear constitutional provision for the mere fact that he released the alleged terrorist suspects from Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) on bail, in fact not to mention the dismissal of the gallantry judge Birtukan Medekisa.

As modern interference approach, the Ethiopian Government specifically appoints similar faces (judges) for political-oriented cases. As of 1992 G.c, one can hardly miss the arrogant Judge Leul Gebremariam in almost all political and terrorism cases including  a bundle of Oromo cases(i.e OLF (Oromo Liberation Front)) and of the famous and controversial  Tewdros Kassahun (Tedy Afro) case. Looking at his track record of ruthless conviction rate of politicians and journalists, I daresay, he is equally as criminal as his TPLF masters. True enough, this approach completely destroys one of the hub principles of criminal litigation- unpredictability of judgments.

Having this interference history of the TPLF, I was not in fact surprised when I heard the approval of the Ethiopian parliament on the recommendation submitted to it by the judicial administrative council for the dismissal of Judge Gizachew Mitiku on 8 February 2016. Rather what intrigues me, as it did to everyone, is the justification for dismissal –lack of loyalty to the constitution or sometime referred it ‘don’t believe in Constitution’ as if this political document is God-written religious book. As person, I know Gizachew since his time as a student in Haromaya University in 1997, and I have learned later on that his solid and uncompromised principle and his revered character challenges the EPRDF smooth manipulation process of the judiciary branch, which eventually appears to be the main reason for dismissal. Though the dismissal was expected from the very moment of his suspension perhaps a year ago, I wonder how this numb parliament approve the allegations of constitutional loyalty even without slightly modifying the reason, in which from the very outset it shouldn’t have been an accusation at all. Surprisingly enough, Judge Gizachew Mitiku was a chairman of Judges Committee – established for the interests of judges- which aptly indicate that he was an honored and dauntless judge even before his colleagues.

Regarding the other reason for the dismissal of the Judge- Ethiopia’s failure to sign   Rome statute for the establishment of International criminal Court (ICC) –, it is public fact that Ethiopia fails to sign Rome statute not only, as he stated, to avoid prosecution before the Hague, but also Ethiopia has already opted to sign US bilateral immunity agreement –which imposes an obligation on Ethiopia not to submit any American citizen or national of other country who works for America before the Jurisdiction of ICC. In return, the Ethiopian Government would avoid sanction and enjoy economic and military support so that its power base would be protected.

Paradoxically, on that same day, the rubber stamp parliament has approved the nomination of Judge Berihu Tewoldebirhan as vice president of the Federal High Court –which by any parameter, from what I know about him; he is not qualified for that post. In impersonal observation, from his early student time in Haromaya University and throughout his professional carrier as public prosecutor and judge, he is well known for his talebearer personality and his tendency to manipulate his Tigrean ethnic belongingness. Not surprisingly that this nomination is a reward granted by his TPLF masters for his immense contribution of convicting prominent journalists and opposition members as a public prosecutor. I am of the opinion that the resignation of Tegene Getaneh from his presidency of the Supreme Court might have something to do with this process if not the only.

But still the daunting question is how the state can ensure developed Constitutional jurisprudences and constitutionality, if judges are absolutely nixed from critics of the Constitution-which is the natural function of judges. How can judicial independence be guaranteed without Security of Tenure?

Generally, this is simply an epitome of covert and overt manipulation process of the Judiciary by TPLF government for the last 25 years. Painfully to see, how these morally bankrupt judges would able to convicts brave journalists and opposition political members such as Eskinder Nega,Andualem Arage, Reyout Alemu Wubishet Taye,Bekele Gerba, and others.

reachyonas@gmail.com

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Dana Part 18 | Season 4  | Ethiopian Drama

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In America, they call it “Three-Strikes Law”. Criminals who commit three violent or serious crimes are given 25 years to life.

The T-TPLF has declared war on Ethiopian taxi drivers!

In Ethiopia, the T-TPLF (Thugtatorship of the Tigrean Peoples Liberation Front) is implementing (allegedly suspended for 3 months) what is the economic equivalent of  three-strikes-and-you-are-out-of-the-taxi-business law on the country’s struggling and hand-to-mouth-surviving taxi drivers. Taxi drivers who accumulate 20 or more points for traffic infractions are permanently banned from ever driving taxis.

According to the online Addis Standard, the T-TPLF’s “new Traffic Control Regulation has six categories that begin from deducting two points for light traffic law offenses such as improper parking and commuting extra passengers beyond the carrying capacity of the taxis. The Regulation stipulates a six month suspension of driving licenses and additional driving lessons for drivers who lost 14 -16 points due to previous offenses. A driver who has 17 -19 points deducted from his/her records will get his/her driving license suspended for a year; and any driver who gets 20 and above points deducted will have his/her driving license permanently revoked and can only re-apply for a fresh driving lessons after a gap of two years.”

The T-TPLF announced implementation of its “new traffic control regulation” by telling some 500 plus taxi drivers that they will follow the “new law” or else!

The “or else” was made clear by a T-TPLF lackey named Asefa Mezgebu who told a gathering of taxi drivers that the T-TPLF is going to shove the “new law” down their throats whether they like it or not. Straight up! He made no apologies about it.

Mezgebu’s declaration of war on the taxi drivers became an instant flashpoint. The taxi drivers were enraged. They went on strike on February 22. The city’s transportation was completely paralyzed.  Addis Ababans were hoofing it everywhere. The T-TPLF announced the “new law” is suspended for 90 days. The following day the taxi drivers returned to work.

According to one report, Addis Ababa has “7,500 blue and white painted minibus taxis, 800 operational buses managed by the T-TPLF-owned Anbessa City Bus Service Enterprise, 500 Higer midi buses, 25 privately owned Alliance Transport S.C. buses, supported by 4,000 white minibuses and 400 cross-country buses.”

An outraged taxi driver in an interview  explained:

The reason for the strike is number one, even though the immediate reason is the new traffic law, on repeated occasions taxi drivers have been victims of legally erroneous official actions [abuse of power]. That’s why the society came out to support our strike. The society knows there is a serious problem in the country. There is a justice deficit. There is a problem of good governance. Today any TPLF member can do as he wishes; he can arrest and jail a taxi driver. He can order him [taxi driver] any way he wants. This is [strike] a movement in which taxi drivers are trying to assert their rights. The TPLF and EPRDF (the front organization used by the TPLF to hide its true identity) have tried to foil the strike by threatening taxi drivers. [In the new law] one offense could fetch 7 points and if a driver has 20 points, he is completely out of a livelihood. They [T-TPLF] have tried to intimidate them by threatening to take away their driver’s licenses, unscrew and remove their license plates and even impound their vehicles. But 99.9 percent of the taxi drivers joined the strike without fear…

This is not the first time the T-TPLF has been squeezing the private transport sector.

In August 2014, the T-TPLF slapped a heavy tax on car importers and dealers (T-TPLF cronies exempted, of course).

A car dealer who was paying 134,000Br in sundry taxes for the preceding five years was required to pay 380,000Br in 2014 for the same transaction as a result of “a suddenly implemented Customs law”, just like the suddenly implemented traffic regulation.  The dealer complained about paying multiple taxes to the T-TPLF including  “35% customs tax, 10%  surtax, 100%  excise tax, 15% VAT (value added tax) and 3% withholding tax.”

The T-TPLF has gone hog-wild in an extortion scheme which it calls a “tax”.

What exactly is the T-TPLF’s three-strikes-and-you-are-out-of-the-taxi-business law all about?

The T-TPLF’s three-strikes-and-kiss-your-taxi-business-good-bye law is one of the “finest” scams I have seen the T-TPLF do in quite some time.

A couple of weeks ago, the T-TPLF tried to palm off its plan for sex tourism as “medical tourism”.

Yes, the T-TPLF actually tried to sneak right under our noses a deal with a Qatari developer for a huge sex tourism resort in Ethiopia for Middle Eastern sex fiends and degenerates as “medical tourism”.

The TPLF thugs believed they could pull the wool over our eyes; but they failed. We figured it out.

I have always said that at the core group of thugs running the T-TPLF machine are of a small group of the most cunning, conniving, wily, scheming, evil, vicious, diabolical, wicked, shadowy  and Machiavellian political operators to be found anywhere on the planet. They are the crookedest hombres in all of Africa.

I believe the T-TPLF crooks have once again tried to outwit, outfox, outsmart, outmaneuver, out-tricked and out-finesse their adversaries. This time struggling taxi drivers!

I hate to say it but it seems to me many of the striking taxi drivers are not seeing the forest for the individual trees.

They are just not seeing the big picture.

They are being distracted by the T-TPLF’s dog and pony show called the “new traffic regulation”.

The taxi drivers are falling for the T-TPLF’s old smoke and mirrors games.

The taxi drivers are being scammed and conned and they don’t even see it. What a pity!!!

Just a few weeks ago, the T-TPLF tried to scam farmers in the areas surrounding Addis Ababa by imposing something they called the “Addis Ababa Master Plan”.

As I have demonstrated in my recent commentary, that was the “T-TPLF’s Master Plan”.

The T-TPLF disguised their voracious and insatiable appetite for land grabbing by calling it “Addis Ababa Master Plan.”  The T-TPLF, after grabbing every inch of the capital, tried to do the same on the outskirts.

But they were stopped by courageous Ethiopians who told the T-TPLF con artists to get the hell out and stay out. The T-TPLF cowered and said there was no such plan; it was just an idea they were thinking about. Yeah, right!

Now the T-TPLF is pulling a similar rip-off  scam to victimize taxi drivers. But they were stopped by courageous Ethiopian taxi drivers who told the T-TPLF con artists to get the hell. The T-TPLF backed down for 90 days. But don’t be fooled. The T-TPLF will be back like the plague after going silent for a while.

My information suggests that the T-TPLF’s so-called new traffic law is not about improving traffic conditions.

It is not about reducing congestion.

It is not about transportation improvements.

My analysis based on evidence and information I have analyzed is that the new law is a Trojan Horse. In ancient times, the Greeks built a huge wooden horse and hid soldiers inside and pretended to sail away. The unsuspecting Trojans brought the horse into their city only to find out at night they had been fooled. The Greek soldiers came out of the belly of the horse and attacked and let in waiting soldiers from the outside. Troy fell. Hence the expression, “Beware of Greeks bearing gifts”.

The T-TPLF is presenting the “new traffic regulation” as “gift” to the people of the City of Addis Ababa and other urban areas. Inside the “new law” are elite “soldiers” ready, willing and able to destroy the economic viability and political solidarity of taxi drivers and completely control the mobility of urban dwellers.

I believe the T-TPLF’s “new law” has four purposes:

First, the “new traffic law” is a powerful political weapon in the hands of the T-TPLF.

The central aim of the “law” is to neutralize Ethiopian taxi drivers as potential political and economic threats to the T-TPLF. This may not be self-evident to the taxi drivers.

The T-TPLF knows taxi drivers as a cohesive economic group could wield considerable political power.  They have their fingers on the pulse of the millions of people they transport every day. They have substantial potential political power. This fact may not be self-evident to many taxi drivers. By “potential political power” I mean the same kind of potential energy (power) that is stored in a bow which is activated only when pulled to release an arrow hundreds of feet away to a target.

The T-TPLF knows the potential political power of taxi drivers theoretically, practically and historically.

In 1973 when oil prices increased fourfold and Ethiopia was in the grips of a “biblical famine”, taxi drivers went on strike to protest high gasoline prices and became decisive catalysts in the revolution against the imperial government. They set the example for teachers, rail workers and dockworkers who also went on strike demanding higher wages. Students mobilized against the famine and the military hijacked the popular movement and established a military dictatorship.

Nonetheless, there is no question that the taxi drivers strike was catalyst in the 1973 popular uprising.

On February 22, 2016, the taxi drivers showed the T-TPLF the kind of devastating organizational power they have and can exercise effectively to the T-TPLF when they went on strike.

The T-TPLF “strategists” have long known the political potential of taxi drivers and the potential role they could play in the event of any popular uprising against them.  Thus, the systematic weakening and disassembly of taxi drivers as a cohesive political and economic force is the guiding principle in the T-TPLF’s “new traffic law”.

The T-TPLF knows that taxi drivers are the hemoglobin of the Ethiopian urban economy and transportation system. They have the power to use their cohesive economic power to bring both the economy and the transportation system to its knees, which is exactly what they did on February 22.

The T-TPLF has destroyed all of its political opposition and political parties.  There are officially 79 political parties and only one (the T-TPLF wolf in EPRDF sheep clothing) won 100 percent of the seats in a monkey (kangaroo) parliament.

There is little doubt in my mind that the T-TPLF’s “new traffic law” is aimed at the dissolution of the economic and political power of taxi drivers perceived by the T-TPLF to be an existential threat.

Second, I believe the T-TPLF to achieve its political objective of dismantling taxi drivers as a threat is using the “new traffic law” to systematically depopulate (cleanse) the ranks of taxi drivers and repopulate them with taxi drivers who are T-TPLF cronies, supporters, friends, lackeys and others loyalists who could monopolize the taxi business.

One can see this strategy by analyzing the penalty structure of the “new law”. The 20 point system to strike out a taxi driver for the taxi business is manifestly designed to eliminate as many current taxi drivers as possible in the shortest possible time. For instance, a taxi driver could accumulate traffic offenses amounting to 7 points in a single day, e.g. negligent driving, equipment failure, violations due to inadequate traffic control devices, accidents, peak hour offenses, etc. Within days or weeks, a taxi driver could accumulate 20 plus points and be banned from the taxi business permanently.

As existing taxi drivers are forced to leave the profession by the point system, the T-TPLF will gladly hand out some of the licenses of the disqualified taxi drivers to its cronies, supporters, friends and lackeys as patronage (free gift to its hard core supporters). The T-TPLF will no doubt sell the taxi licenses to others at exorbitant prices. Gradually, T-TPLF supporters, cronies and bootlickers will dominate the taxi business and serve the interests of the T-TPLF. They may even serve as “party spies” for the T-TPLF reporting on the public mood and sentiment.

I will predict with a high degree of certainty that if the T-TPLF’s “new law” goes into effect, within two years on the outside, 80-85 percent of taxi drivers will be out of the taxi driving business and they will have been replaced by T-TPLF supporters and cronies. If they are lucky, a few may get their licenses back by becoming “EPRDF” members. Other than that, they will have to find a different profession or hit the streets with a bowl in hand. (I believe I have a very good record of making predictions that have come true.) This is a bitter fact the Ethiopian taxi drivers must face.

The T-TPLF’s corruption in licensing, “government” contracts, reduction of owed taxes and changing legal outcomes have been documented extensively in the massive 2012 World Bank Corruption Study in Ethiopia.

The fact that the T-TPLF will use the “new traffic law” to control and make subservient an entire segment of the urban economy can be answered by answering the following questions:

Can anyone in Ethiopia today reasonably expect to get employment in the public sector without being a member of the “EPRDF”?

Can anyone remain in public employment without showing loyalty and subservience to the EPRDF?

Can anyone in Ethiopia today reasonably expect to attend the better higher educational institutions without being an EPRDF member?

Or even receive international food aid?  One need only review the evidence in Human Rights Watch’s 105-page report, “Development without Freedom: How Aid Underwrites Repression in Ethiopia,” to understand how the T-TPLF has used donor-supported resources and aid as a tool to consolidate its power.

If the T-TPLF can squeeze starving peasants to their knees, is it any wonder that it can bleed taxi drivers dry?

The fact of the matter is that the T-TPLF control freaks must control everything to feel secure.

Taxi drivers make them insecure as hell. The T-TPLF must control the taxi drivers by any means necessary.

Third, the T-TPLF “new traffic law” imposes a hidden taxi tax wrapped in an extortion scam: FOLLOW THE MONEY

It is an open secret that the T-TPLF is desperate for cash. The T-TPLF is desperate for cash as a vampire is desperate for blood to suck.

The T-TPLF has tried everything to generate cash flow: grab and sell land, historic books from the country’s oldest library, archaeological relics and anything else  in sight.

The T-TPLF has even resorted to sell women’s bodies for cash by calling its sex tourism business “medical tourism”.

Ethiopia’s “foreign currency exchange services is grossly mismanaged” leading to a mushrooming of a foreign currency black market.

The T-TPLF is scrounging for greenbacks and Euros to move offshore into their private accounts.

Just last month, “A high level panel delegated by the African Union (AU) and chaired by Thabo Mbeki, the former president of South Africa, has found Ethiopia to be among the top African nations in terms of being a source of illicit financial flows (IFFs), most of which makes ways to the developed world.”

Global Financial Integrity in 2011 reported, “The people of Ethiopia are being bled dry. No matter how hard they try to fight their way out of absolute destitution and poverty, they will be swimming upstream against the current of illicit capital leakage.” (Emphasis added.)

The T-TPLF “new traffic law” is calculated to bleed dry Ethiopian taxi drivers!!!

The taxi driving business is the only business that can even be called marginally independent, not under the total monopoly of the T-TPLF.

There is no income generating business  in Ethiopia that is not owned, controlled, managed or that somehow has escaped T-TPLF’s clutches. NONE!

Can anyone deny the fact that the T-TPLF will snap any business that seems profitable and growing? Any business! If they are unable to take it over, does not disappear overnight?

Doesn’t the T-TPLF completely control the economy, the military, the politics, civil institutions, etc.? By what percentage did the T-TPLF win the last election? Anyone have any idea?

The T-TPLF “new traffic law” imposes a huge hidden tax dressed as a traffic fine on taxi drivers managed through a high tech scam scheme.

On February 22, 2016, a business entity which calls itself “Lehulu” announced:

As of today (Monday February 22, 2015) all drivers who violate traffic rules in Addis Ababa will be paying their penalties at   “Lehulu”. Lehulu will be the sole place for traffic penalty payment processing in Addis Ababa.

The whole idea of paying traffic penalties through a “private company” stinks of corruption to the high heavens, as far as I am concerned.

The bagman in the T-TPLF taxi driver extortion scam is a shadowy entity called “Kifiya Financial Technology” which operates a payment system called “Lehulu”.

Sniff, sniff…

I smell a big, fat, bulging-eyes rat in the “Lehulu” deal with the T-TPLF.

I could smell that rat from 10 thousand miles away. (Sniff, sniff… PEE-YEW…)

But what is “Kifiya Financial Technology”? What is “Lehulu”?

****After we started investigating “Kifiya Financial Technology”, its website was taken down.**** When the relevant link is clicked on, the message states, “This Account Is Unavailable.”

Thanks to Google archives, the evidence is still available.  See link (1)HERE, (2) HERE (3) HERE.

According to newbusinessethiopia.com, “‘LEHULU’ [is] a Private Public Partnership (PPP) between the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology & Kifiya Financial Technology PLC in collaboration with the Federal Transport Authority and Addis Ababa Roads Transport Authority.”

Kifiya Financial Technology claims its “VISION is to make a contribution to improving the lives of people by making transactions simple, affordable, and within reach.” Its “MISSION is to create an integrated, scalable service that enables access to financial and non-financial services by building sustainable technology and distribution infrastructure.”

Kifiya Financial Technology’s public partners include the “Ministry of Communication and Information Technology, Ethio telecom, Ethiopian Electric Power Corporation and Addis Ababa Water and Sewage Authority.”

But who are the partners (with real names, that is) with the T-TPLF at Kifiya Financial Technology?

Who owns Kifiya Financial Technology?

Who is behind Kifiya Financial Technology?

On its “About” webpage, Kifiya Financial Technology states the company was “established in February 2010 by the founders of a company with more than two decades of experience in Information Communication Technology (ICT) in Ethiopia.” (Emphasis added.)

Nowhere on Kifiya Financial Technology’s website or other public domain sources is any information available on the identities of the owners, co-owners, partners or other stakeholders in the company.

The identity of the Kifiya Financial Technology owners is intentionally and completely shrouded in layers of mystery.

Why?

Inquiry with certain individuals in the private and public sectors who are very familiar with the Ethiopian “IT sector” (such as is is) drew only blank stares.

It is not clear even to those in the Ethiopian “IT sector” who the owners, stakeholders, partners, etc., of Kifiya Financial Technology are!

On its website, Kifiya Financial Technology brags about its dozens of “Lehulu centers”;  but its lists no headquarters.

On the Kifiya Financial Technology PLC website “Contact” page, Kifiya lists no address for its headquarters, which is extraordinary for an organization that claims to have so many clients and brags about its partnership with the “government”. It lists a postal address and an info@email address as a contact point.  (Sniff… sniff…)

It is mind-boggling that a company that supposedly generates billion 1.92Br can be contacted only through info@email address.

Kifiya Financial Technology claims to handle “2.1 million transactions each month” with “1.1 million bill paying customers.” It claims to “employ 450+ people” and operates  “31 Lehulu centers with 26 more centers coming soon.” The company expects to generate  over 1.92 billion birr revenue by “the end of the project”.

Kifiya Financial Technology PLC brags on its website that its owners are IT experts with decades-long experience?

Who are the alleged experts who own Kifiya Financial Technology PLC? Do they have names? Perhaps nicknames? How about pseudonyms? Anything? Do they really exist?

There is nothing known about the alleged IT experts owners with alleged decades-long experience! If they hide their identities on their fine website, is it because they have something to hide?

Obviously, despite intensive investigation to discover the identities of the owners of Kifiya Financial Technology over the past days, it has not been possible to ascertain or establish the owners or individual(s) behind that company. Even those who are in a position to know,  know nothing about the owners, partners and stakeholder of Kifiya Financial Technology.

Hold on a moment!  I know what you are thinking!

You are probably saying that because of the thick fog of secrecy and total mystery over the identities of the owners, partners and stakeholders Kifiya Financial Technology that I am suggesting there is monkey business going on.

Please don’t put words in my keyboard!

Let me make it crystal clear!

I am not saying that Kifiya Financial Technology is owned, operated and managed in whole or in part by members, supporters and cronies of the T-TPLF.

I am not saying T-TPLF bosses actually own Kifiya Financial Technology and are using the company as a front just like they are using the EPRDF party as a front for the T-TPLF.

I am not saying T-TPLF bosses are the silent partners in Kifiya Financial Technology.

I am not saying the owners of Kifiya Financial Technology (whoever they are)  paid a kickback to the T-TPLF to snag the lucrative deal or made under the table deals with the T-TPLF to snag such a cash cow or a mint to print money off the backs of taxi drivers and others.

I am not saying that the secrecy and mystery surrounding the owners, partners and stakeholders of Kifiya Financial Technology necessarily means anyone with eyes can see the fingerprints and footprints of the T-TPLF are all over Kifiya Financial Technology.

I am not saying that the T-TPLF has previously used dozens of front organizations such as EFFORT to run all sorts of businesses and scams and now it is using  Kifiya Financial Technology in the usual fashion.

I am not saying any of the above. So don’t put words in my mouth, or more accurately into my keyboard.

I am not as cynical as y’all are!

All I am saying is something very simple: It is incredible and unimaginable to me that a mega financial institution with the capacity to generate 1.2 billion birr in revenue has made a deliberate decision to completely conceal and hide the identities of its owners, partners and stakeholders who are riding the gravy train.

The only thing I can tell the Ethiopian taxi drivers is: FOLLOW THE MONEY!

When you find out who own Kifiya Financial Technology PLC, you will find out how you have been made a bottomless cash pit, cash cows, better yet, the geese that lay the golden eggs for the T-TPLF.

Fight back in T-TPLF monkey (kangaroo) court to find out secret T-TPLF holdings in Kifiya Financial Technology PLC.

Sweat the monkeys in monkey court even if you are sure to lose.  

Fourth, the T-TPLF’s “new traffic law” is a windfall to T-TPLF traffic police, manna from heaven.

The new law is nothing short of a shakedown license for the T-TPLF’s corrupt traffic police. T-TPLF police are licking their chops and rubbing their paws like laughing hyenas. They just can’t wait to pounce of the taxi drivers.  The “new law” marks the opening of traffic police hunting season on taxi drivers.

Consider the evidence from the World Bank on T-TPLF police corruption in Ethiopia.

The 2012 World Bank corruption study on Ethiopia (“Diagnosing Corruption in Ethiopia”, see pp. 214-215)  lists the corrupt practices of the T-TPLF police.

The report lists a whole set of corrupt practices T-TPLF police are involved in.

Among the dozens of corrupt practices documented in the World Bank report include:

• Bribe taking by traffic police
• Abuse of power or excessive use of force—not always corruption, although in some cases it may involve threats of false arrest or falsification of evidence
• Taking of bribes to alter evidence
• Taking of bribes to harass witnesses, or in the case of legal actions against police, doing it to help out a colleague
• Theft of evidence when it has some value
• Taking of bribes to not make or to delay an arrest—it was mentioned that some suspects ask to delay the arrest until a Monday, thus avoiding a weekend in jail and avoiding jail entirely by paying bail
• Taking of bribes to (a) not find the defendant so that he or she does not appear for the charging hearing, or (b) not bring witnesses for the prosecution.

T-TPLF police might as well be renamed as extortion rackets mafia style. They are the equivalent of “soldiers” in a mafia family (the enforcers, the muscle, the grunts who do the T-TPLF’s dirty jobs).

I have personally seen personal phone videos of Ethiopian motorists paying bribes to T-TPLF traffic after being openly solicited. I have dozens of anecdotal stories of T-TPLF police soliciting bribes in all sorts of circumstances. In one somewhat humorous circumstance, a motorist visiting Addis Ababa paid 500Br to a traffic policewoman just to avoid missing a flight. That motorist later became a laughing stock among friends because the motorist was taken for a ride and them to the cleaners. It was said that he could have slipped 50Br and taken care of the problem. The motorist vowed never to return to Ethiopia because of the humiliation in the blatant police shakedown.  I am sure the traffic policewoman must have done the watusi after snagging the 500 Br. From the unsuspecting motorist. (Go girl, it’s your birthday…?)

According to Global Integrity, “The Ethiopian Roads Authority (Ye-Ethiopia Menged Transport Balesiltan) is ranked one of the most corrupt public institutions in the country, due to impropriety in the issuance of driver’s licenses and annual vehicle inspections, according to FEACC reports. The Federal Transport Authority (FTA) also has been exposed for employing extensive corrupt operating procedures.”

A January 2014 study on foreign companies that invest in Ethiopia revealed T-TPLF traffic police as “requesting the most bribe than any of the employees in the other institutions.”

The “new traffic law” is an out-and-out extortion scheme to rip off taxi drivers. It is tax on taxi drivers dressed up as a traffic regulation.

It is a pay to play scam.

If taxi drivers in Ethiopia want to play the T-TPLF taxi driving game, they have to pay extortion money to the T-TPLF by way of traffic police in the streets who pass on the proceeds to their bosses.

If the taxi drives don’t want to pay to play, they are toast.

Taxi drivers gotta pay the T-TPLF to play the taxi driving game.

What does all this mean to taxi drivers?

The T-TPLF traffic police literally hold life and death powers over Ethiopia taxi drivers.

If a corrupt T-TPLF policeman wants to incapacitate any taxi driver, he, coordinating with his corrupt confederates and bosses, could issue citations over a matter of days and permanently put the taxi driver out of the taxi driving business. The is what the “new law” will do when (not if) it is implemented.

The T-TPLF’s “new traffic law” makes traffic police “gods” over struggling taxi drivers.

That is an undeniable fact!

The “federal transport bureau” announced on the day of the strike that the implementation date for the new regulation has been postponed by three months. Yeah, right!

The “federal” whatever-it-is-called also said the “Addis Ababa Master Plan” is dead. Actually, it never existed. But even if it never existed, it is dead.

That is the problem with the T-TPLF. Those thugs think they are so smart and everybody so dumb that they think they can pull their dumb crap and expect everyone will believe it.

The T-TPLF will be back with the “new old taxi law” after 90 days, 180 days or 2 years (if they last that long).

The T-TPLF will be back with the “new old Addis Ababa Master Plan”  after 90 days, 180 days or 2 years (if they last that long).

What must the taxi driver do?

The T-TPLF is a juggernaut that must destroy everything in its path to survive.

Taxi driving is the only “independent” economically organized small business in Ethiopia.

The T-TPLF will do everything to destroy the taxi driving business as we know it today.

I am sure the T-TPLF right now is reviewing its list of leaders and activists in the taxi drivers strike to neutralize.

The T-TPLF will  try to divide and rule the taxi drivers. They will try to buy off the strike leaders. They will intimidate the strike leaders and individual taxi drivers. They will try to create dissension and division among taxi drivers. They will try to divide them by ethnicity and religion. They will jail them as terror suspects. They will threaten to prosecute them as terrorists. They will try to recruit them to work as spies and informant on their colleagues. They will do whatever it takes to destroy the will, determination and fighting spirit of the taxi drivers.

Regardless, I will predict the T-TPLF will fail, fail, fail…

But Ethiopian taxi drivers should not be lulled into a false security. They must not give any attention to the so-called 90-day suspension of the law. They must never, never, and never again take the T-TPLF at its word. They must know the LF in TPLF stands for “Lie Factory”.

above all, Ethiopian taxi drivers must know that the price of their economic survival is eternal vigilance.

The T-TPLF will “make” another “traffic law”, give it a nice sounding title and come back at them once more, and as many times as necessary. That is as sure as the sun will rise tomorrow.

Ethiopian taxi drivers must know and be convinced that the T-TPLF is a vampiric organization.

It needs to suck the economic blood from everything around it to survive. Including the blood of struggling taxi drivers.

EFFORT is the heart and soul of the T-TPLF Empire of Vampires.

Ethiopian taxi drivers should heed the words of one of the Founders of the American Republic just before he signed the Declaration of Independence in 1776. Benjamin Franklin said, “We must, indeed, all hang together, or most assuredly we shall all hang separately.”

A year later in Paris Franklin wrote, “It is a common observation here that our cause is the cause of all mankind, and that we are fighting for their liberty in defending our own.”

Ethiopian taxi drivers should know that they must hang together, form and maintain an unbreakable bond, commit heart, mind and soul to stay together through thick and thin in defending their common interests against a tyrannical thugtatorship or that tyrannical thugtatorship will hang each one of them separately.

Ethiopian taxi drivers should also know that their cause is not only theirs alone; it is the cause of all Ethiopians. In fighting for their liberties, they are fighting for the liberties of all Ethiopians!

If Ethiopian taxi drivers fail to remain strong and united, they should know the BIG BAD T-TPLF WOLF IS WAITING FOR THEM AT EVERY STREET CORNER LICKING HIS CHOPS READY TO PICK THEM OFF ONE A TIME.

Ethiopian taxi drivers: Unity is strength. Where there is unity, there is always victory!

Ethiopian taxi drivers united can never be defeated!

The post The T-TPLF’s War on Ethiopian Taxi Drivers (Alemayehu G. Mariam) appeared first on Satenaw.

The corporate division of Bank Hapoalim (TASE: POLI) has led a deal of over $200 million for the Ethiopian government’s

Netafim will provide an end-to-end irrigation solution for a plantation by the Ethiopian government sugar company.

The corporate division of Bank Hapoalim (TASE: POLI) has led a deal of over $200 million for the Ethiopian government’s sugar company to finance a huge irrigation project by Israeli company Netafim Ltd.. The project covers 7,000 hectares (17,500 acres).

The finance will be provided as buyers’ credit, fully guaranteed by the government of Ethiopia, in tranches against milestones in the project, and will be transferred directly to Netafim as payment for exports. The government sugar company will repay the credit over 9.5 years, and the repayment risk is insured by a consortium of insurance companies that ilcudes Ashra Israel Export Insurance Corp. Ltd. and international insurance companies with high credit ratings.

Netafim is a world leading company in smart irrigation solutions for sustainable agriculture. It has 28 subsidiaries, 17 factories, and some 4,300 employees around the world. It supplies to over 110 countries. The company is managed by Ran Maidan and is controlled by European private equity firm Permira and Kibbutz Hazerim.

In the current project, Netafim will supply an end-to-end solution from engineering design to the supply of infrastructure for drawing and transporting water, advanced irrigation systems, and control systems, and including agronomic and engineering consulting by the company’s experts from Israel and elsewhere. The sugar cane will be irrigated using advanced subsurface drip irrigation, which has been proven to boost crop yields substantially while saving water and other inputs. The work will start immediately and will be spread over this year and next.

Netafim CEO Ran Maidan said, “This is a large international agricultural project, and a strategic project that strengthens Netafim’s business in Africa in general and in Ethiopia in particular. Netafim was selected to lead the project because of its proven ability to supply advanced end-to-end solutions for large and complex projects, while advising the customers at all stages. Netafim will lead the project together with Baran Group and Global Africa Industries Group, led by Itai Terner. We thank Bank Hapoalim with which we worled and which haleped us greatly in creating an overall solution to enable the project to go ahead. We are sure that this project will be a success, like similar projects that Netafim has carried out in India, South Africa, Brazil, and Peru.”

These heart-wrenching photos of the people of Omo valley region of Ethiopia make me feel numb and irritable. It reminds me of the 17th and 18th-century slavery.how unfair life really is in Ethiopia under ethnic apartheid regime of the TPLF/EPRDF and how the ethnic cleansing and the systematic racist apartheid regime is in Ethiopia. These heartbreaking images resonate, reminding us of the absolute physical and emotional devastation that has been committed to the people of Ethiopia.
The people of Ethiopia must stand together and expose the unspeakable crimes against humanity and condemned the racism against the the people of Omo valley.

IT IS THE RESPONSIBILITY of all Ethiopian people to speak the truth in exposing crimes against humanity and Institutional racism and lies. Only the truth can set Ethiopia free.
We have long been taught that the truth will set us free, and that seeking the truth is a worthy goal for the betterment of all our precious people and survival of our beautiful country.
In the case of Ethiopia, donor foreign policymakers have been reluctant to confront the unjust ethnic apartheid system of government in the country for fear of creating instability; however, ignoring its basic nature is actually going to also backfire; and when it does, the poor people will be the victims.

We call on the US, the UK, the EU and others donor countries to publicly make a statement condemning the killing of the innocent people and to use your leverage to press for a dialogue leading to democratic change.
We call on the donor countries to openly condemn the repression and violence and for the donor countries to use their leverage as a means to bring about a dialogue leading towards a meaningful and sustainable solution in the best interests of all the people.
The people of Ethiopia are already working to find a way to collaborate together in building a better future for all the people. Once this is achieved and it becomes a nationwide effort; the TPLF regime will be done. This is a time to side with the people instead of with a dying regime. Support for an autocratic regime, while speaking the rhetoric about caring about Ethiopian’s democratic and economic development, must change.

The post Israel Bank Hapoalim has led a deal of over $200 million for the TPLF govt’s Suger Project in Omo Vally. appeared first on Satenaw.

Unity for Human Rights and Democracy is a volunteer based, not for profit community organization, striving to empower Ethiopian-Canadians to advocate for Human Rights,Democracy and Good Governance in Ethiopia.

Berhan TV 106 – Unity for Human Rights and Democracy Toronto
Berhan TV 106 አንድነት ለሰብዓዊ መብት እና ለዲሞክራሲ

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From Da’amat to EPRDF- Emperor Haile Selassie I – SBS Amharic

From Da’amat to EPRDF- Emperor Haile Selassie I

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Former Ethiopian dictator Mengistu Hailemariam’s selected speeches

The post Video – Former Ethiopian dictator Mengistu Hailemariam’s selected speeches appeared first on Satenaw.

The Hill

Bernie Sanders won a huge upset in Michigan on Tuesday night, giving his campaign a jolt of momentum even as Donald Trump tightened his grip on the Republican nomination by scoring victories in Michigan, Mississippi and Hawaii.

Entering Tuesday, not one public poll had shown Sanders leading in Michigan, and most had him down by double-digits, creating expectations that Hillary Clinton would cruise to victory.

But Sanders took the lead from the moment polls closed in the state and never let go. News networks projected him the winner just before midnight, with the Vermont senator leading 50 to 48 percent.

Sanders called an impromptu press conference while votes were still being counted to thank voters, who he said had “repudiated the polls” and “repudiated the pundits.”

“We started this campaign 10 months ago, we were 60 or 70 points down in the polls,” Sanders said. “But we’ve seen in poll after poll and state after state, we’ve created the kind of momentum that we need to win. This has been a fantastic night in Michigan.”

Sanders has now won four of the last six contests in the Democratic presidential race, and is vowing to fight all the way to the Democratic convention.

Clinton is likely to end the night having modestly added to her lead in pledged delegates, however.

Clinton cleaned up in Mississippi, winning 83 percent of the vote, according to The Associated Press. Sanders finished with just 16 percent, one percentage point above the threshold to win delegates. That gave Clinton an estimated 28 delegates compared to just one for Sanders by the AP’s count, with 7 more unaccounted for at midnight.

The tight margin in Michigan will likely prevent Sanders from narrowing the gap despite his win there. The AP projected Sanders the winner with 50 percent of the vote to Clinton’s 48 percent. That will give him at least 63 pledged delegates to Clinton’s 52, the AP reports, with another 15 left outstanding.

On the Republican side of the race, it was another good night for Trump, who won convincingly in Michigan, Mississippi and Hawaii despite facing a sustained onslaught of attack ads from groups determined to deny him the nomination.

As he did after his victories in last week’s Super Tuesday contests, Trump exhorted the GOP to get behind his candidacy.

 “Let’s come together, folks. We’re going to win,” Trump said during a press conference in Jupiter, Fla.

“We’re way up with millions of people. So what I say to the Republicans is embrace it. We will win the election easily.”

Trump’s victories are likely to quiet talk that his bid for the White House is losing steam amid a bombardment from establishment figures like Mitt Romney.

A Center for Public Integrity analysis of data provided by Kantar Media/CMAG found that 76 percent of all attacks ads in the presidential race over the last week have targeted Trump, an astonishing figure for a clear-frontrunner at this stage of the race.

“I don’t think I’ve ever had so many horrible things said about me in one week,” Trump said at his press conference. “It shows you how brilliant the public is because they knew they were lies.”

“I want to thank special interests and the lobbyists because they obviously did something to drive these numbers.”

Trump’s biggest remaining rival, Ted Cruz, scored a victory in the Idaho caucuses Tuesday night, bolstering his argument that he is the only remaining Republican with enough support and delegates to defeat the businessman.

Cruz will likely split the delegates in Idaho, which awards 32 delegates on a proportional basis.

The other remaining Republican candidates, Marco Rubio and John Kasich, saw disappointing results on Tuesday.

While Kasich had hopes of a late surge in Michigan, he was more than 12 points behind Trump with 99 percent of precincts reporting and risked finishing third behind Cruz.

Rubio had an even worse night, as he was poised to be shut out of delegates in at least Mississippi and Michigan after poor performances, and potentially Idaho as well.

Those states have a 15 percent threshold for candidates to meet before delegates are awarded both statewide and at the congressional level, and Rubio fell well short of their mark.

Both Kasich and Rubio are now pinning their hopes on their home states — Ohio and Florida, respectively — to revive their chances next week. Both primaries are winner-take-all for Republicans, so if Trump wins them, his march to the nomination might become unstoppable.

Both parties will also hold primaries next week in Illinois, North Carolina and Missouri.

The Clinton campaign likely hopes her defeat in Michigan is just a bump in the road, with polls showing her with big leads in the five delegate-rich states that will vote next Tuesday.

At a brief rally on Tuesday night in Cleveland, Clinton declined to even acknowledge her victory in Mississippi or the close race in Michigan, instead keeping her focus squarely on Trump.

“Running for president should be about delivering insults, it should be about delivering results for the American people,” Clinton said. “That’s what I’m doing.”

Clinton said the U.S. can do “better than what we’ve been offered by the Republicans,” and repeated her riff on Trump’s campaign slogan, saying she will “make America whole again.”

With her win Mississippi, Clinton continued her sweep of the Deep South, where Sanders has been unable to attract significant support from black voters. Some exit polls estimated that 6 in 10 voters in the state were African-American, with Clinton winning 89 percent of them.

But it was a different story in Michigan, where Clinton’s margin of victory among blacks was not enough to overcome Sanders’s strength with other parts of the Democratic base.

The result is likely to fuel the argument from the Sanders campaign that Clinton increasingly looks like a regional candidate who has trouble winning outside the South — an area likely to be a GOP stronghold in the general election.

Clinton’s wins in Iowa, Nevada and Massachusetts, however, challenge that argument, though a win in Michigan gives the Sanders campaign more ammunition.

Sanders had gone hard after Clinton in Michigan, assailing her past support of trade agreements, including the Trans-Pacific Partnership that was negotiated by the Obama administration.

Clinton now opposes that pact, but Sanders says her opposition was too late — an argument tailor-made for Michigan voters, many of whom have chafed at trade policies backed by both parties.

The post Sanders scores Michigan upset; Trump tightens grip with wins appeared first on Satenaw.

Robert Kagan, a well-known neocon, recently argued “Trump is the GOP’s Frankenstein monster. Now he’s strong enough to destroy the party.”

Kagan reamed establishment Republicans: “Trump is no fluke. Nor is he hijacking the Republican Party or the conservative movement. He is [the] party’s  Frankenstein’s monster, brought to life by the party, fed by the party and now made strong enough to destroy its maker.”

Ouch! Ouch! Ouch!

In 2016, the Grand Old Party brought forth a monster in a political experiment that went awfully wrong.

Behold the Birth of Trumpenstein!

Ecce Trumpenstein stampeding the GOP!

In Mary Shelley’s 1823 book Frankenstein (The Modern Prometheus) , the nameless monster is brought to life by his creator in a grotesque medical experiment.  The monster is ugly and without feeling and sympathy. The monster learned to hate and be angry at everyone. In his hateful rage, the monster killed.

If Kagan is to be believed, the GOP’s Trumpenstein is not much better.

Kagan says Trumpenstein gestated in the GOP’s womb of “wild obstructionism,  persistent calls for nullification of Supreme Court decisions, insistence that compromise was betrayal, internal coups against party leaders” and thrived in an ideological amniotic sac in which “government, institutions, political traditions, party leadership and even parties themselves were things to be overthrown, evaded, ignored, insulted and laughed at.”

Trumpenstein, like Frankenstein, is ugly and without feeling and sympathy.

Trumpenstein also learned to hate and be angry at everyone just like Frankenstein.

In his hateful rage, the GOP monster kills, at least he thinks he can with impunity.

In January Trump said, “I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn’t lose any voters.”

Trumpenstein would do more if elected president. He would “beat China all the time. All the time.”  He will “force Mexico” to build a wall along the 2000-mile U.S.-Mexican border. He would ban all Muslims from entering the US but would gladly get rid of them. He would wipe out the family of anyone suspected of terrorism. He said, “The other thing with the terrorists is you have to take out their families, when you get these terrorists, you have to take out their families.” He sounds just like African thugtators.

America’s international partners say Trump reminds them of the  proverbial “ugly American” (the loud, arrogant, demeaning, thoughtless and ignorant American travelling abroad insulting his hosts).

Trump says, “The beauty of me is that I’m very rich.”

For my taste, Donald Trump impresses me as the “Tar-Baby”  and the GOP as Br’er Rabbit in the Uncle Remus stories.

The “Tar-Baby” is a doll made of tar and turpentine used to entrap Br’er Rabbit (a trickster who succeeds by his wits rather than by brawn.)  The more that Br’er Rabbit fights the Tar-Baby, the more entangled he becomes.

John McWhorter, an African American linguistic professor and “Black neocon (?)” and contributing editor at the new New Republic (not the old New Republic of liberal commentary) wrote, “[T]hey will hold the President responsible. Now, I don’t even want to be associated with him, it’s like touching a, a tar baby and you get it … you know you’re stuck and you’re part of the problem and you can’t get away. [emphasis original]

Trumpenstein as the GOP “tar baby”?  Poetic justice in the form of paronomasia (word play).

Trump is not president yet but the GOP, at this rather late date, does not even want to be associated with him, let alone publicly support him. But they are stuck to Trumpenstein and can’t get away no matter how hard they try.

That is, the GOP can’t get away from the Trump-aryans — Trump’s KKK supporters including  KKK grand wizard David Duke, The Daily Stormer  (the media outlet for American Neo-Nazis), The Savage Nation (radio for rabid rightists), WhiteGenocideTM, American Renaissance, League of the South and the rest of the white supremacists.

Well,  Br’er Rabbit is tangled up and come convention time the Tar-Baby is going to be all over Br’er Rabbit.

What choice does Br’er Rabbit have?

Tweedle Dee (Ted Cruz)?

Tweddle Dum (Marco Rubio)?  (I have a lot of respect for Marco Rubio, though I don’t agree with his political agenda. A few days before President Obama went to Ethiopia in July 2015, Senator Rubio sent Obama a Letter (dated July 22, 2015) expressing “concerns regarding ongoing human rights abuses by the Ethiopian government against its own people.)

Obama went to Ethiopia and declared Ethiopia is a “democracy” after the ruling Thugtatorship of the Tigrean Peoples Liberation Front declared  winning the May 2015 election by 100 percent.

When the defining moment came, Marco Rubio defined the moment. He stood with Ethiopians and demanded their human rights be respected.

When the defining moment came, Barack Obama was defined by the moment. Obama threw Ethiopians to the T-TPLF wolves.

I have to tell the truth even when it is not politically correct.

Br’er Rabbit is in a pickle, a hot sticky mess.

The coming constitutional crises circus (CCCC)

When is Trumpenstein’s other shoe gonna drop?

Last month Trump in a tweet  said, “If [Ted Cruz] doesn’t clean up his act, stop cheating, & doing negative ads, I have standing to sue him for not being a natural born citizen.”

In January, Trump said, “I’m not bringing a lawsuit. I promise. But the Democrats are going to bring a lawsuit” trying to disqualify Cruz if he becomes the Republican nominee.

That did not stop Trumps trumpeteers from filing a federal lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of Cruz’s presidential run.

Trumpenstein may not “bring a lawsuit against Cruz”.

But will he bring a lawsuit against Hillary?

Does Trump believe a woman can constitutionally become President of the United States?

The answer is obvious, of course, to Donald Trump or his circus Trumpeteers.

There ain’t no way, there is no how a woman can become President of the United States.

Check out Art. II of the Constitution. It is right there in black and white.

The President of the United States gotta be a man!

What exactly does the U.S. Constitution say about a woman being president.

It doesn’t.

In Article II (which creates the Executive branch of national government), the pronoun “he”, “his” is used  16 times. There is no reference to a “she” anywhere in the Constitution. No woman signed the Declaration of Independence or the U.S. Constitution.

The word “person” is used 8 times in Art. II.

Article II section 1 states:

The executive power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America. He shall hold his office during the term of four years…

Each state shall appoint… a number of electors… but no Senator… or person  holding an office…

…  The electors shall meet… and vote … for two persons…

There shall be electors who “shall make a list of all the persons voted for…

… The person having the greatest number of votes shall be the President…

…  and if no person have a majority… the House shall in like manner choose the President…

In every case, after the choice of the President, the person having the greatest number of votes of the electors shall be the Vice President…

… No person except a natural born citizen…  shall be eligible to the office of President; neither shall any person be eligible to that office who shall not have attained to the age of thirty five years…

… The President shall… receive for his services, a compensation…

… Before he enter on the execution of his office, he shall take the following oath or affirmation…

… he shall not receive within that period any other emolument from the United States,

… In case of the removal of the President’s… or his death…

… Before he enter on the execution of his office, he shall take the following oath

Article II section 2 states:

The President shall be commander in chief…   he may require the opinion, in writing, of the principal officer in each of the executive departments…

… he shall have power, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, to make treaties…

Article II section 3 states:

… he shall from time to time give to the Congress information…

…  he may, on extraordinary occasions, convene both Houses…

…  he may adjourn them to such time as he shall think proper;

… he shall receive ambassadors and other public ministers;

… he shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed…

… He shall have power, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, to make treaties…

… He shall nominate, and by and with the advice and consent of the Senate…

There is no reference to a “she”, “her” or woman.

The “BIG CONSTITUTIONAL” Problem

When Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia sat on the court, such issues presented no real problems.  They were as easy as ABC.

Justice Scalia filtered all constitutional questions through his antiquarian lens of original intent. He said, “Examining what the Founders meant when writing the Constitution is the best method for judging cases.”

In other words, the Constitution is written in a stone tablet and only the late neolithic oracle can divine and fix the meaning of the inscriptions.

Put another way, if you want to know what anything in the Constitution means, time travel to the Eighteenth century, circa 1787, and do an imaginary interview with the dead people who wrote the Constitution. Then voila! The secrets of the Constitution will be revealed to you. (I did not say interview the ghosts of the long and grateful dead framers of the U.S. Constitution.)

Justice Scalia took ancestor worship to a whole new level. The spirits of the dead constitutional ancestors have the power to inform us in the 21st century how to live our lives. Sounds like necromancy.

But talking about the dead and living, in January 2013,  Justice Antonin G. Scalia  declared the U.S. Constitution “is not a living document. It’s dead, dead, dead.”

Justice Scalia made the remark at Southern Methodist University law school indicating his exasperation with school children coming to visit the Supreme Court and describing the Constitution as a “living document”.

It must have been totally terrifying for the school children to hear their “living Constitution” declared dead three times over.

Is their Easter Bunny dead too?  Their Tooth Fairy? Is Santa Claus dead?

The Grinch is dead!

But could a woman become President of the United States in the eyes of  a “dead, dead, dead” Constitution?

When the Founders wrote Art. II, and used the pronoun “he”, “his” 16 times, did they mean “she”, “her”?

When the Founders wrote Art. II, and used the noun “person” 9 times, did they mean a “person” to include a woman?

Did the Founders even consider in the abstract the possibility of a woman becoming President of the United States?

What was John Adams’s reply when his wife Abigail wrote to remind him to “remember the ladies” when drafting a new “code of laws” for the new republic?

When Abigail threatened the ladies “are  determined to foment a rebellion and will not hold ourselves bound by any laws in which we have no voice, or Representation,” Adams said men were not really the “masters” of women but were “subject to the despotism of the petticoat.”

What Adams meant was that women have the “power of their womanhood”, and because of that they didn’t need to have the power of suffrage and equality.

If women can’t vote or have equality before the law at the inception of the Republic, as was manifestly “intended” in the 1787 Constitution, how could they even dream about becoming President of the United States?

In 1968, Bobby Kennedy said, “There’s no question about it. In the next 40 years a Negro can achieve the same position that my brother has.” In 2008, Barack Obama became president.

That’s different. The Fourteenth Amendment says, “All persons born or naturalized in the United States…. are citizens of the United States and of the state…” Of course, “All persons” includes the former slaves.

But Justice Scalia did not believe “women” are part of “All persons.”

In Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission (2010), Justice Scalia joined the majority in elevating the corporation to the highest level of democratic citizenship and endowed it the right to free speech under the First Amendment on the same level as human beings.

In a concurring opinion Scalia wrote, “Modern corporations…  would probably have been favored by most of our enterprising Founders—excluding, perhaps, Thomas Jefferson and others…” In other words, the Founders would have fully endowed “modern corporations” full free speech rights just like live citizens.

In an interview following the Citizens United decision, Scalia said the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution does not protect women against discrimination. “Certainly the Constitution does not require discrimination on the basis of sex. The only issue is whether it prohibits it. It doesn’t,” opined Scalia.

Rather confusing. Corporations were intended to be “persons” at the inception of the Republic in 1787 but women were not?

The  equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment ratified in 1868 commands, “No state shall… deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”

In other words, no state shall discriminate (subject a “person” to unequal treatment before the law)  against a “person” living in the state in the way it administers its laws.

In antediluvian “Scalialogical” analysis, it is manifest that women are neither “he”, “him” nor “persons” within the “original meaning” of  Art II or under the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

So, absent a quick constitutional amendment, is Hillary Clinton constitutionally fit to occupy the office of President of the United States?

The Donald Republican Brothers Circus is getting weirder and more entertaining by the day.

I feel “sorry” for the Republicans.

It is indeed humiliating to have a dunce, buffoon and dork rolled into one as the party’s standard bearer.

But fair is fair. Trump is beating the establishment nominees fair and square at their own game.

There is all kind of talk about sabotaging Trump’s nomination. There is even crazy talk about blowing up the GOP to stop Trump.

I believe in fair play even for those I despise.

I do despise Trump. I would even borrow a couple of lines from Shakespeare’s Macbeth to express the depth of my feeling towards him. “Ay, in the catalogue ye go for men,/…Now, if you have a station in the file/Not i’ the worst rank of manhood, say ‘t.” ( Yes, you’re part of the species called men… Now, if you occupy some place in the list of men that isn’t down at the very bottom, tell me./)

But it is what it is and fair is fair.

If Trump wins the nomination, he wins the nomination. What a hard lesson divinely foretold: “For whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.”

I just can’t wait for the Donald Constitutional Circus Court to begin, not to be confused with the Donald presidential primary circus.

Of course, all bets are off if Bernie Sanders is the Democrats’ nominee.

P.T. Barnum of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus allegedly said, “There’s a sucker born every minute.”

Obviously, he must have said it anticipating the dingbat supporters of Donald the Trumpet of self-promotion.

The GOP calculated Trump would eventually be relegated to the freak show section of their circus.

Now, Donald le freak is c’est Chic and winning.

Grand Old Republicans are freaking out!

Chill, Republicans!

Le Freak, c’est Chic!

The post Trumpenstein Goes to Circus Court: Trump’s Trump Card Against Hillary (Alemayehu G. Mariam) appeared first on Satenaw.

US troops took part in a raid on the Islamist al-Shabab group alongside Somali troops, American officials say.

Al-Shabab earlier said it had “fought off” an attack by foreign forces but US officials said several militants were killed in the raid early on Wednesday.

Several countries have been supporting Somali officials in their efforts to combat al-Shabab’s insurgency.

The assault comes after the US said it conducted air strikes on Saturday on an al-Shabab training camp.

Al-Shabab said one of its fighters died in the battle, while a Somali official put the number of militants killed at 15.

A Somali intelligence official told the Associated Press news agency that Wednesday’s raid had targeted a particular “high-profile” individual, who had died in the attack.

The African Union mission in Somalia has not commented on the latest raid.

A more aggressive effort – Tara McKelvey, BBC White House reporter

For some, a US special forces raid in Somalia is a sign the US is carrying out a more aggressive campaign against militants – while others say it’s just business as usual, at least for the US.

However you see the latest operation, one thing is clear. US forces are hitting militant groups in Somalia hard. The US carried out an air strike on Saturday, reportedly killing more than 150 al-Shabab fighters.

I asked White House spokesman Josh Earnest if the air strike, a massive one by any measure, meant the US was pursuing a different strategy. He didn’t confirm anything about Somalia. But he did say the situation was fluid.

“The threat has changed,” he said, describing “different kinds of terrorist groups operating in different parts of the world”.

So there’s no official word about a change in strategy. But a more aggressive effort towards militants in Somalia seems under way.

The operation targeted an al-Shabab base near the town of Awdhegele, about 50km (30 miles) south of the capital Mogadishu.

“They were masked and spoke foreign languages which our fighters could not understand,” al-Shabab spokesman Sheikh Abdiasis Abu Musab told Reuters news agency.

He said the helicopters landed on the banks of the River Shabelle and commandos from the aircraft advanced on the base.

They carried rocket launchers and M16 rifles, he told Reuters, citing a weapon used by US forces.

Awdhegle District Commissioner Mohamed Aweis told the BBC that the “helicopters were giving air support to an infantry special forces”.

Residents said there had been a gun battle, and that the group had sealed the area so it was not possible to confirm if there were any casualties.

Al-Shabab is battling the Western-backed Somali government to establish Islamic rule in the country. Local forces fighting the group have been backed by an African Union mission made up of forces from several African nations.

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Mogachoch Part 62

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