By Keffyalew Gebremedhin The Ethiopia Observatory (TEO)

Eight medical doctors have served the World Health Organization (WHO) as its directors-general, through it the international community, in the post-war world from 1948 to the present, beginning with Dr. B.Chisholm of Canada, and now the incumbent another Canadian Dr. Margaret Chan, with dual citizenship (Chinese, Hong Kong).

The only exception in the making now for her successor is a non-medical doctor candidate from Ethiopia, its present foreign minister Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who also happens to be in top leadership position as an executive committee member of the ruling Tigrai People’s Liberation Front (TPLF).

By training, Dr. Tedros Adhanom has qualifications in: Biology (BSc.) from Asmara University (1986); Immunology of Infectious Diseases (MSc.) from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine in 2000, and Community Health from Nottingham University (PhD) in later years.

The question of whether he is qualified to the post, for that matter he should aim to break the WHO mold of medical doctors running it, may be academic, which eventually may render the conversation parochial with no productive exit at the end of it.

Which candidate for WHO DG? What qualifications?

For me, the question of which person adequately fills the director-general post is best defined by WHO’s fifth Director-General Dr. Gro Harlem Brundtland (MD), formerly Norway’s prime minister. In her acceptance speech on May 13, 1998, she iterated to the WHO Assembly the following position of principles:

“What is our Key mission? I see WHO’s role as being the moral voice and the technical leader in improving health of the people of the world. Ready and able to give advice on the key issues that can unleash development and alleviate suffering. I see our purpose to be combating disease and ill-health – promoting sustainable and equitable health systems in all countries”.

This filters out into something useful as to the requisite quality of the person and the commitment entailed in that person assuming WHO’s leadership; it has hugely appealed to me as educated and experienced person in international life, both as a diplomat and international civil servant, who at present is viewing things with rear view mirror from a retiree’s vantage point.

Therefore, the following pages, I believe, can deliver my reaction to the candidature of a fellow Ethiopian – Foreign Minister Tedros Adhanom, who has been nominated as Africa’s candidate in January 2016. I am actually prompted to react by his April 14, 2016 sort of self promotional as WHO candidate, appearing on the Huff Post, to which I would return in a moment.

In terms of qualifications, as stated above, I may not be the right person to assess whether he is qualified for the job. However, to the extent I get a hearing, I would be so doing with a superficial remark.

Let me say that I would agree his core education comports with the requirements of the job, if he is selected. It also means that I am hesitantly saying he may be able to run WHO, for that matter which since becoming operational in 1948, has transited across seven decades as health issues arm of the United Nations and sole inheritor from the League of Nations of the Office International d’Hygiène Publique and the old Health Organization that to this day medical doctor-directors-general have kept under their firm grips.

Needless to state that no one in his right mind would miss the implication of stating that, i.e., the WHO is not a corporation where mere technical skills should be relied upon; nor would it be safe sail for it to exclusively be pushed into the hands of business like management akin to a modern ‘firm’, thereby risking the danger of its moral responsibilities to the people of the world being adulterated by investor and bottom line concerns.

Having made that point, I should hasten to open up a little bit and add here that my countryman’s qualification might give rise to some legitimate concerns; no doubt about it. The nagging question in his candidacy would be his lack of any management training. It could bother some extremely as severe handicap in these trying times for the international community, where the prevalence of dangerous diseases in future may demand a combination of technical competence and management skills in the same pair of hands; there can be no luxury of overlooking this.

There is also wisdom to be uncovered in looking to the incumbent on the post at present. We are all aware that Dr. Margaret Chan, who is a medical doctor, as well is holder of degrees in public health (MSC), home economics (BA) and management training at Harvard Business School –something sorely lacking amongst my fellow countryman’s qualifications.

Inadequacies of Dr. Tedros Adhanom’s candidacy

Not only the lack of formal education in management is hurting Dr. Tedros Adhanom. He has also hardly shown that he is a gifted manager either because of his innate capacities or temperament. Unfortunately, if one is to track the footprints he has left in the offices he ran/or is running in the past and in his current position as foreign minister, there are grievous lapses of judgment, some might see as diminution of the moral dimensions in his leadership.

Such discomfort is likely to heavily reside in those that have intimate knowledge of the Charter of the United Nations, especially its subtly crafted Preamble and the lofty objectives thereon as well as WHO’s Basic Documents, especially its Constitution that outlines its principles that govern the specialized agency’s raison d’être and modus operandi.

Indeed by choosing to ignore many unpleasant details that have facilitated corruption in Ethiopia’s ministry of health, when Dr. Tedros Adhanom was the minister (2005-2012) – monies coming in aid from governments and philanthropists, for instance, have been lost in several millions from those that needed treatments for HIV/aids in a country that has claimed hugely its toll in lives.

It is to be recalled that the media reported that this resulted in79 percent cut in United States assistance. All this became public knowledge when the candidate was at the health ministry, and the investigation continued, the same year he had left office.

In other words, some had estimated at the time, “Aid to Ethiopia’s health sector would, according to the US government-run web portal ForeignAssistance.gov fall to US$171 million in 2013 from $390.6 million in 2012. A major cut would be felt in HIV/AIDS programmes, which would receive only $54.1 million, a dramatic cut from the $254.1 million allocated in 2012.”

It is the severity of the US cuts that made Amanda Glassman, Director at Global Health Policy and a senior fellow at the Center for Global Development, to lament writing on PlusNews on January 9, 2013, “There’s an AIDS spending cliff in Ethiopia, and the government is already in free fall. Next year, Ethiopia will experience a 79 percent reduction in US HIV financing from PEPFAR [the US President’s Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief]”.

Let it be clear that I am not in any form or shape accusing the minister of corruption. Nor has the US Government at the time publicly mentioned the word “corruption.” Nonetheless, there was visible movement about preparations in the United Statesalready in February 2012 about the establishment of independent panel “to investigate the Global Fund’s fiduciary controls and oversight mechanisms after allegations of grant fraud in several recipient countries.”

The HIV/aids cut also coincided with similar action by four European nations (Denmark, Ireland, Norway and UK) cutting aid from Uganda on charges of official corruption in Kampala that has frayed many nerves in those donor countries.

In the case of Ethiopia, there were also widespread complaints by health officials , which included allegations“about unfair hiring practices, nepotism and preferential treatment to well-connected individuals.”

Lower level corruptions in Ethiopia, when Dr. Tedros Adhanom was minister in the health sector included:

(a) construction and rehabilitation of health institutions;

(b) purchase of equipment, supplies and drugs resulting in bribes, kickbacks;

(c) and political considerations influence specifications and winners of bids, bid rigging during procurement, lack of incentives to choose low cost and high-quality suppliers; and

(d) education of health professionals: bribes to gain place in medical school or other pre-service training, bribes to obtain passing grades, and political influence, nepotism in selection of candidates for training opportunities

Moreover, the reporting by the Center for Global Development in 2006 touched upon malaria prevention and treatment with funds made available by international donors being exposed to abuses. The concrete problems included the sale of unauthorized medicaments, whose consequences were not either felt at the time or least anticipated due to the high financial flows from donors into the country when the candidate was minister of health.

In addition, monies were secretly siphoned off by the ruling party’s cadres to build the propaganda infrastructures of the TPLF, such as Walta Information Center (WIC) and Fana Broadcast, while weakening state institutions. These were and even more so today are the giants in Ethiopia’s tortuous and blood-tainted politics, partly built with health funds that flowed under Dr. Tedros Adhanom’s tenure as minister of health.

I cannot say whether he had knowledge of it or if he thought it was for the good of his party. In any form, these are egregious deficiencies that occurred under his leadership, which under normal circumstances should neither be ignored or tolerated anywhere else, much less at the WHO.

Further, if Dr.Tedros Adhanom is to be appointed WHO director-general, there is validity in about the ugly tradition of political nepotism his party, the TPLF; he may bring his local political traits, rampant in Ethiopian into his international assignment to turn WHO as sort of and the ruling party’s ethnic fortress through hirings and promotions. This fear is well-founded since that habit has followed him into the Ethiopian foreign ministry. For the TPLF, the purpose of such nepotism is to kill prospects of an emerging civil service system in a poor developing country for fear that the margin between political neutrality and independence being thin and thus the civil service going out of its control.

In 2006, I recall distinctly that the World Bank counseled against politicization of the civil service in its Interim Country Assistance Strategy. Included in there was proffering privileges on party members bringing with it opportunities for promotion or further education. Of course, the World Bank would not have said this today, since it has become political and a builder of tyrannical systems around the world.

In sum, the above is indication of weak financial and staff administration system. Perhaps the minister with little influence could have done little, although in all these cases, Dr.Tedros has been going with the political wave to protect his position in power. This should not give the impression that a company with an executive with good managerial skills is likely to succeed in eliminating corruption. Still better, a qualified executive in management would have better ears and feel for things than the non-management trained executive.

WHO standards and the qualification requirements

No doubt Dr Tedros Adhanom is affable as a human being, who easily strikes friendship and sympathy of others to his views; but the politician he has proved to be with his double-talk and misrepresentation is hardly a recipe for good management.

That said, let me add here that WHO has its own standards for the nomination of its director-general, which came into existence in 1996, after years of negotiations within thedifferent regional groups. The whole point of their negotiations and the efforts thereon was a struggle to see the discontinuation in WHO of the practice that WHO is exclusively run by professionals from the northern hemisphere, instead of regional rotation of the top leadership post given due regard and fair consideration.

The agreed upon document, prepared as a report by the WHO Secretariat, following years of intense negotiations is titled Election of the Director-General of the World Health Organization. It consists of criteria for nomination of an individual to the post of director-general, which, according to its paragraph 9 (EB128/27), the following are the requisite qualities and backgrounds acceptable in the candidates:

(1) a strong technical and public health background and extensive experience in international

health;

(2) competency in organizational management;

(3) proven historical evidence for public health leadership;

(4) sensitiveness to cultural, social and political differences;

(5) a strong commitment to the work of WHO;

(6) the good physical condition required of all staff members of the Organization; and

(7) sufficient skill in at least one of the official and working languages of the Executive
Board and Health Assembly.

As discussed above, and some to come hereafter show that the cards are stuck against the Ethiopian (African) candidate. The only reason he may not be held back is through pressure by donors, as he has been known as ‘the donor darling minister’, favored by philanthropists such as Bill Gates, Harvard medics, NGOs with interests in the health sector across Africa.

In organizational management, in addition to the above problems of corruption, there was an article on The Ethiopian Herald days ago titled, Don’t Touch Any Client Without Understanding the Ethics Proclamation! Basically, what it reveals is that Ethiopia has expanded health services through health extension workers and the construction of many health centers.

In a very strange way, The Herald is pointing out that is not the case. It argues that since the TPLF regime seized political power in 1991, it has built 16,251 health posts, of which only 3,335 were functional in 2014. For me, this has not come across as competency in organizational management, nor proven historical evidence for public health leadership.
Presenting Dr. Tedros Adhanom’s candidature to the African Union

The TPLF regime presented the name of Dr. Tedros Adhanom to the African Union (AU) at its 26th summit in Addis Abeba in January 2016 toward his nomination as Africa’s candidate to run the WHO, one of the relatively better organized United Nations agencies.

Note that WHO is also an organization the centrality of whose global role has been reaffirmed by a resolution of the United Nations Security Council in September 2014 at the height of the Ebola crisis, notwithstanding media criticisms of its initial handling of the pandemic. The question is whether nations of the world have to collaborate with those that diminish such an important international institution.

The African Union foreign ministers (Executive Committee) that are typical in their love of pomp and any and all forms of delicacies were thus exceptionally treated to luxury at the expense of poor Ethiopians from January 24-26th – not in Addis Abeba, where the AU has its headquarters – but the regional capital of Tigrai in Mekelle, also home of the minority group ruing Ethiopia – the Tigrai People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) and the foreign minister’s too.

Not surprisingly, until then, the TPLF media hardly talked openly about Dr. Tedros Adhanom’s WHO candidacy or his prospects, until the AU Executive Committee did what it was asked to deliver – nominate the man as Africa’s candidate – which some say was already secured in Mekelle.

Of this, the AU announced in its press release Mekelle to host Ministerial Retreat of the Executive Council about the Ethiopian foreign minister hosting them, along with the region’s top officials.

Does Dr.Tedros Adhanom possess the moral capacity, I mentioned at the beginning? Perhaps this could be looked at from a different angle. Recall that Dr.Tedros Adhanom’s nomination was taking place at the start of the New Year, the AU has also declared the year, among others, #YearofHumanRights. Already two months before that the TPLF unleashed its killing machine against Ethiopian Oromos, protesting its land grab; the foreign minister has been part of the killing team within the TPLF. The same tragedy has also been happening in Gondar, South Omo Valley, Afar, etc.

Readers should judge whether Tedros Adhanom’s candidature is consistent with the requirements inscribed inAU Constitutive Act or the United Nations Charter, both of which unwaveringly rebuke and condemn human rights violations, killings of citizens and impunity of all forms!

Dr.Tedros has been part of the ruling party’s top decision-making body. Unfortunately, all his statements speak of his support for repressive policies in the name of development, such as the land grab and the killings of citizens by tyrannical regime.

The worst part of it is that in the second five-year plan (2016-2020), the TPLF is prepared to seize over 750,000 hectares of prime lands in different parts of the country, dislocating citizens, and not paying them compensation, just throwing them into the streets. This has pushed so many Ethiopians into poverty, when the members of the ruling party, minority as they are have enriched themselves and in these 25 years have been leading first world life-styles surrounded by a sea of poverty and inequality. The foreign minister attachment to his personal success and comforts, in a man aspiring the highest job in WHO indicates lack of principles and moral courage.

Notwithstanding the moral and political dilemma of assigning such a person, the AU, which in October 2015 had voted for Burundi to become a member of the United Nations Human Rights Council, while the Security Council and the UN Human Rights Commissioner were seized with the situation in that country, in the same manner they continued in their business as usual attitude in the case of this candidature that was approved in the face of deaths and massacres of Oromos and others in Ethiopia, which still is taking place, without any rebuke of the actors.

Recall that the while the world had already reacted to it in the strongest terms possible, including the regime’s bankrollers, i.e, the European Union Parliament (EU) ‘strongly condemning it, while the United States expressing concerns.

Surely, after the retreat to Mekelle, the AU ministers did what they are supposed to do without much ado; they affixed to Tedros Adhanom’s name the imprimatur contained in executive decision EX.CL/949(XXIV), with no reference to the hundreds of executions already by then hundreds of schoolchildren belonging to the Oromo ethnic group, constituting about 40 percent of the Ethiopian population and contributing over 60 percent of the nation’s gross domestic product (GDP)

Frankly, I found the decision revolting; most apparent to me was the extent of self-interest on all sides – Africans and Africa’s development partners – colluding in such an undertaking that had me gasp with a terrible disappointment.
Conclusion

It is inevitable that some out of goodness, and still others to their own peril, may thus take Dr.Tedros Adhanom as Ethiopia and Africa’s candidate to the WHO director-general post, as the 26th AU summit had peoples across the region made believe.

Did the Ethiopian people, as consumers of the poor health service in the country whose availability is no different from its non-existence, have any say in his candidacy? Not at all!

In fact, Dr. Tedros Adhanom’s friendship with donor nations has benefitted him more than the poor people of Ethiopia. The country has become all the more dependent, and the ethnic elites, led by the TPLF, rendering it a country of unequals, for a population, by UNFPA calculation, this year would surpass the 100 million mark.

Does the international community have any say in Dr.Tedros Adhanom’s candidacy? Certainly, yes! But if nations act with their better judgements and better interests at heart the outcome would be different.

I am actually provoked to write this piece by Dr. Tedros Adhanom jabbering on the Huff post of April 14, 2016 with his WHO promotional under the title: Peace, Prosperity and Global Health Security. It has come to me as a vain attempt to magnify the link between health and all other securities, when it has been already long done by better thinkers.

After his first two paragraphs, therefore, he did not succeed doing what he set out to do. His third paragraph simply jumps to state “Prior to joining the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, I was the Minister of Health of Ethiopia for seven years.” Unless that is his message, instead of reinventing the wheel, he could have simply borrowed the language of the UN Security Council, wherein its Resolution 2177 of September 2014 has exceptionally described, for instance, “the Ebola outbreak in Africa [as] a threat to international peace and security.”

What else is there then to jabber-walk about this?

As donors’ darling, the man actually is a candidate very well embraced and supported by wealthy philanthropists well-looped into market control; he is connected to the pharmaceutical industries through their principal investors. I could boldly say that the Gates Foundation is his primary promoter.

The Melinda and Bill Gates Foundation has been experimenting a number of things in Ethiopia. With their philanthropic generosity as a tool, they have had business interests in the country, their operations in Ethiopia have expanded; all that was seeded at a time when Dr. Tedros Adhanom was minister of health.

In Africa, the Foundation got name, with Ethiopia as its stepping stone for their bold and generous contributions to saving the under-five children. However, this did not restrain them from promoting genetically modified foods and seeds (GMOs), as Mr. Gates is one of the largest investors in them. It did not compel them to stop and think when people are pushed into poverty, farmers are pushed off their lands and the ruling party’s cadres and military officers become the owners of those lands. Mr. Gates has never uttered a word against the danger of land grab in Ethiopia.

An yet he defends the regime’s policies, records and rhetorics, especially in the fields of agricultural development. His 2014 tweet is about Ethiopia’s economic growth, which he said is growing faster than China’s, when in reality Ethiopia has remained a hungry nation. The United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization in May 2015 produced a report, which described 32 percent of Ethiopians undernourished, meaning chronically hungry.

I have listened to his Stanford University presentation of April4, 2012 again and again. At that time, Mr Gates vowed that Ethiopia would attain status of food secure nation status by 2015 and become a good example for other developing nations.

I had written six-part articles, Bill Gates vows to defeat hunger & diseases in Ethiopia: Could entrenched political interests allow him?, hoping that would come true for the people of Ethiopia. Unfortunately, Ethiopia to this day is still a hungry nation, if not a hungrier nation.

Tedros Adhanom attained professionalism as Ethiopia’s minister of health (2005-2012), liked by several citizens; he attained positive name. This was not a matter of his contribution to the poor nation’s health or development; it was merely because of his approachability, charm good demeanor – unlike almost all TPLF leaders, whom Ethiopians see as robbers, schooled in violence and killings as members of the Tigrai People’s Liberation Front.

Unfortunately, Dr. Tedros Adhanom is not any different from anyone of them. This puts to doubt his commitment to the goals of WHO and its principles, if he is selected.

I recall with shock his sense of cruelty, when he told Ethiopians (through the Voice of America – VOA) that Andrgachew Tsige, Secretary-General of Ginbot 7, who was kidnapped from Sanaa Airport in Yemen, nearly two years ago, was well and has gained weight busy writing a book, visiting development activities. The foreign minister lied to the Ethiopian people even on a matter such as this.

If what he said indeed is true, the question then is why does the British government complain about its citizen’s condition in prison? Is it merely because the British were under pressure from human rights activists? Even then, why do international human rights activists campaign against his imprisonment in isolation? It is unlikely that Dr.Tedros can answer to these questions?

Why the lie? There have been many such instances that we have documented! They worry us, if the outside world unawares is led to putting him onto the leadership of WHO, as I said before, one of the few better organized and run United Nations specialized agencies!
*Updated.

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Witnesses say boat carrying 400-500 people sank on Monday.

20 Apr 2016 08:38 GMT

The United Nations has sent a team to Greece to investigate reports that hundreds of people may have drowned in the Mediterranean when a boat capsized.

Witnesses and survivors told Al Jazeera that a vessel carrying refugees and economic migrants sank on Monday, describing how they watched its passengers being swallowed by the sea.

Several unconfirmed reports and witness statements said that the number of dead could be 400 to 500.

The probe was announced by Ariane Rummery, UN refugee agency (UNHCR) spokeswoman, late on Tuesday. No government, navy, NGO or UN agency has been able to corroborate the witness accounts.

One of the survivors, Somali refugee Muhidin Ali Waash, said that the ship’s passengers rushed to one side of the vessel and “it lost balance”.

Asad Mohamed Othman, also from Somalia, recalled the incident.

“I can’t do anything because I am in danger, I am in the sea,” he told Al Jazeera in Kalamata, a Greek coastal city.

“My wife and my child are gone,” said Muaz Mahmoud Aymo, who left Ethiopia hoping to reach Europe.

Muaz said his wife, baby and brother-in-law all drowned.

“My family … three people in this boat … all dead,” he told Al Jazeera.

The UNHCR team was sent to Kalamata, where the local port authority has confirmed the rescue of 41 people from a wooden boat.

Rummery said, though, that there was no official confirmation of a link between the survivors and an incident such as the one described.

“We cannot confirm anything until we have a direct testimony or something from official authorities,” Flavio Di Giacomo, spokesman for the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), said.

Di Giacomo said that, according to some unconfirmed reports, a boat left Egypt and met a smaller boat that had sailed from Libya.

Passengers from the Libyan boat were then reported to have been moved to the Egyptian boat at sea.

If a vessel had capsized and hundreds of people had drowned, bodies may start washing ashore in Libya in the coming hours, Di Giacomo told the DPA news agency.

Somali government sources said that there could be up to 200 Somalis among those feared dead.

Officials from the Horn of Africa nation were trying to gather information through their embassies in Italy and Egypt, Foreign Minister Abdisalam Omar Hadliye said on Tuesday.

More than 700 people have died so far this year as they tried to cross the Mediterranean to reach southern Europe, according to the IOM.

Source: Al Jazeera

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Why did a group of South Sudanese people cross the border into western Ethiopia and start shooting mothers and abducting their children?

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On a warm evening last month, Tariku Debela was walking home from dinner in the immigrant enclave of Eastleigh, Nairobi, when he was jumped by four men who took his phone and more than $200 in cash. Getting mugged is bad enough, but what happened next is seared in Debela’s memory.

Debela is an Oromo political leader residing in Kenya as a refugee. The men who robbed Debela delivered a message in Amharic—a verbal threat from across the border—”side with the Ethiopian government or only death awaits you.”

When Debela decided to flee Ethiopia, after years of brutal political persecution, including torture and imprisonment, he expected to be protected as a refugee in Kenya. Indeed, under international law he is. But, Debela and thousands of other Ethiopian refugees who enter neighboring countries have found themselves still within reach of the Ethiopian state, resulting in mistreatment from local governments and neglect from the international organizations ostensibly meant to protect them.

Amnesty International confirmed from sources on the ground that in early January 2016, Kenyan security forces deported 25 Ethiopian refugees from Kenya. This is disputed by Stanley Mwango, spokesperson for the Kenyan government’s Department of Refugee Affairs, who denies the deportations, telling Okayafrica that “Kenya is not sending away anyone who is legally seeking asylum.”

But Amnesty’s account corresponds to reports from Oromo community leaders in Nairobi that Ethiopian refugees are routinely subject to surveillance, harassment, violence and deportation from Kenyan police and border authorities, who they say work in close collaboration with the Ethiopian government.

The border crossing between Kenya and Ethiopia’s Oromiya region. Creative Commons photo courtesy of Andrew Heavens.

The outgoing Oromo community leader in Nairobi, Shaga Arado, 38, says most of the Oromos forcibly returned to Ethiopia are detained in military barracks near the border where they are interrogated and in some cases tortured. There are also incidents of Oromo refugees in Kenya disappearing—such as the case of Dabassa Guyo Saffaro, a well known Oromo oral historical and cultural leader who vanished off Nairobi’s streets in late September 2015. He has not been heard from since.

Although Ethiopians have consistently sought asylum for years on the basis of political persecution—UNHCR estimates there were 160,427 Ethiopian refugees in 2015—human rights organizations say they expect the number to grow in light of the ongoing Ethiopian government violence against Oromo protesters.

Peaceful protests began in November 2015 after the Ethiopian government announced plans to expand the municipality of Addis Ababa into the bordering Oromia region. The government has since abandoned the plan, but Human Rights Watch reports that over the past five months, Ethiopian security forces are suspected of killing over 200 protesters and detaining thousands without cause. Oromos, the largest ethnic group in Ethiopia, have consistently faced persecution and discrimination from the rulingEthiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) party, which has been in power since 1991. The Ethiopian government did not respond to a request for comment.

Debela nostalgically shows off a photo of him with the OFC party leader—Merera Gudina at a past function.

Debela, 33, is a member of the Oromo Federalist Congress, a political party that is constantly monitored and harassed by the Ethiopian government. In 2005, following Ethiopia’s disputed national elections, Debela was arrested and accused of inciting violence against the government. He spent nine months in prison. Debela was later released on conditions that he should support the government, withdraw his support for the opposition party and refrain from any political activities. But for Debela, abandoning his political activism wasn’t a choice.

“It was hard for me to wrench my mind away from the reality,” he says. “Seeing the Oromos being dispossessed and systematically impoverished while their land is stolen and dished out to politically correct individuals from the ruling class was what made me speak my mind.”

Debela continued his political organizing, and in February 2009 he was arrested and taken to Maikelawi prison. Debela’s second prison sentence was much worse than the first. In Maikelawi, Debela says he was regularly beaten and tortured. After some of the beatings, often with electrical wires, the prison guards poured ice-cold water over his bleeding body. The pain reverberated in his bones; he slept naked on his cell floor in the water. At times he was interrogated at gunpoint, blindfolded and threatened with execution. Other times bottles were tied on his penis and testicles. Debela lost track of his location, and of time.

Left: Debela showing some of the scars he acquired in Ethiopian detention. Right: Some of the documents and photos he carried with him. Photo Ebba Abbamurti

Human Rights Watch has documented political prisoners being taken to Maikelawi and tortured to try and coerce confessions. Since the recent Oromo protests, the Human Rights League of the Horn of Africa issued a brief that Oromo activists arrested and imprisoned in Addis Ababa’s Kalitti Jail have also experienced torture that lasted over ten hours and resulted in life-threatening injuries.

Debela was released in July 2009; he would later be again arrested and imprisoned three times. In October 2015, Debela decided he could no longer stay in Ethiopia and expect to survive—he was receiving death threats. In November 2015, Debela traveled from Mandi, Oromia to Addis and then onward to the border towns of Moyale and Hiddi Lola. He then crossed into Kenya and passed through Marsabit and Isiolo before reaching Nairobi.

Arado says other refugees who crossed into Kenya since the beginning of 2016 report paying smugglers to help them evade border guards and make it to Nairobi safely. But their safety is not guaranteed—at least two Ethiopian women refugees who recently arrived in Nairobi via smugglers said they were raped on the journey.

Debela is now registered with the UN Refugee Agency; he was given an appointment for a refugee status determination interview in November 2017. Although Debela has yet to make his case for asylum in Kenya, there are indications that many Ethiopians do not receive fair asylum hearings in other countries, making it more difficult for them to receive legal protection and putting them at risk. The United Oromo Refugees Association in Egypt staged a sit-in this month in front of UNHCR’s office in Cairo to protest the low rate of asylum granted to Oromo refugees.

UNHCR, which normally produces guidance for decision-makers who are assessing asylum claims, has not issued guidance for Ethiopian asylum-seekers. As a result, countries may rely more heavily on information from their own sources, which experts say are often flawed. UNHCR’s Kenya office did not respond to a request to comment.

“The biggest problem is that countries do not follow an asylum policy for Ethiopia based on reality,” said Victor Nyamore, Amnesty International’s Refugee Officer in Nairobi. “They prefer to believe the success stories of the Ethiopian government about development and human rights in the country.”

In 2015, Ethiopia received $3 billion in development and aid funding, the majority from the U.S. and Europe, despite that some of its development programs have been documented violating the human rights of local communities. Despite these abuses, donors have not changed their levels of funding. Ethiopia remains a key Western ally in the region on counter-terrorism efforts, including against Al-Shaabab.

Transitional housing for Somali refugees in Dolo Ado, Ethiopia. Creative Commons Photo courtesy of UNICEF Ethiopia.

Ethiopia is also one of the largest refugee hosting nations in the world for over 700,000 Eritrean, Somali and South Sudanese refugees—which may explain why some governments and international organizations are hesitant to speak out on behalf of the plight of Ethiopian refugees for fear of jeopardizing their existing programming in Ethiopia.

For now, Debela must find a way to survive the waiting period until his case is reviewed. He says he cannot receive any social services for refugees, and he is afraid to call or visit friends in case it compromises their safety. In the meantime, Debela lives alone like a fugitive, skirting shadows on the street and watching for the Ethiopian security forces he believes are still watching him.

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By Kaleab Tessema

Since 1991, the people of Welkait Tsegeday and Humera have been murdered and demonized by the Tigray People Liberation Front, TPLF to extend their borders to the Sudan by annexing the arable lands of Gondar to create the ‘greater Tigray.’  The TPLF’s goal was not covert for most of Ethiopians; it was in their manifesto that they would take the portion of Gondar, and Wollo including port of Assab enable them to secede from Ethiopia.  Furthermore, the TPLF’s main aim was after it secured the independent ‘Republic of greater Tigray,’ it would expand its border all the way down to Gambella to obtain agricultural resources to establish a sustainable economy. There is sufficient evidence that the recent infantile and ridiculous map posted on Ethiopians social media where people could not even believe how these block-headed people disdain and undermine the intelligences of the Ethiopian people.  No wonder, the late tyrant Prime Minister had a purpose in building the Hedase Dam between the border of Benishangul and Sudan, because the ‘greater Tigray’ would have an access for hydroelectric power.

Of course, according to the new map, Benishangul and Gambella regions are incorporated to ‘greater Tigray,’ but I am all agog to see when this silly dream comes true. For that matter, Benishangul was part of Gojam; and this is obviously the TPLF’s big scheme to engulf the Amhara by the anti-Amhara where the chances are high for the Amhara to become a minority and economically scrounger of the new ‘greater Tigray.’  This is a deliberate action of the TPLF to eliminate the Amhara populations. This is a shallow far-fetched and unrealistic wishful-thinking and hopscotching of the TPLF.

Right now, the TPLF is clandestinely murdering and torturing the people of Welkait for being an Amhara and evicted by force from their ancestral lands.  Hence, the Woyanne Tigre is trying to achieve its goal by killing and mass incarcerations on the Welkait Tsegeday, and Humera people but these heinous crimes on innocent civilians, will quickly cause the demise of the TPLF’s power.  Of course, at this point the brutal regime got an army who clings tightly to the people of Gondar, and its force engages in the systematic murder of as many as thousands of civilians, whom are Amharas.  This vampire regime should learn from Adolph Hitler, how he massively executed the innocent Jewish civilians for not being Aryan race, but killing six million Jewish people, it did not save him from the crimes he committed. The same is true that Woyanne Tigre cannot avoid accountability of the crime they committed to the Welkait Tsegeday people.

In spite of the aforementioned above, the Tigray People Liberation Front (TPLF) formed 1976 to liberate Tigray from Ethiopia supporting by the Eritrean People Liberation Front (EPLF) receiving money and weapons.  The EPLF supported the TPLF because the latter formed a buffer between Ethiopian army and Shabia.  At the same time, the TPLF accepted that the “Eritrean question is a question of colony” which was helpful for the TPLF to survive during its early years.  On the same token, the time was very favorable for the TPLF because the Soviet Union had fallen apart and the Ethiopian government could not get military aid.  Primarily, the Woyanne was fighting for the independence of Tigray, and they had no intention to control the whole country, it was just a serendipitously coincided for the TPLF to climb to power. Otherwise, it would be hard for Woyanne Tigre to win the war before the Soviet Union succumbed.

To come to the point, the TPLF’s savagery action on the Amhara people, will have a grave repercussion for the TPLF and its   supporters.  As history tells, the Oromo, Amhara, and the Tigre people who peacefully lived side by side for thousand and thousand years, for which they fought the foreign invasion. One example is King Yohanes who died fighting with the enemy in Metema which ceded to Sudan by the TPLF.  And now the TPLF reversed the history by implementing language based federalism where delineated a boundary between the ethnic groups which creates animosity among the people of Ethiopia to prolong its power.

I do remember during the Derg epoch, there were many Tigres who lived in Gondar and Dessie who were successful in businesses and in many other areas.  Certainly during that time, I did not see any Gondare or Wolloye who had an enmity towards to those affluent Tigres. Now, my sense tells me that the Amhara’s affinity towards any Tigres might not be there any more, because the Woyanne regime armed its own ethnicity to trigger the gun on the Amhara ethnicity to silence and live in fear.  It is true that the TPLF has been playing a docile role in order to stay long in power by training the Tigre ethnicity to spy other ethnicities.  Right now, the Woyanne Tigre is cruelly killing and throwing in jail the innocent people of the Welkait Tsegeday, Humera, Tselemit, and Armacho for being an Amhara. Thanks to Messay Mekonnen and Kasshun Yilma, the ESAT journalists who are indefatigably exposing and updating what TPLF is doing every day to an unarmed people of Welkait.

At this point, for the people of Welkait, it is beyond an identity; the Woyanne Tigre is aiming the Welkait-Amhara people to wipe out from their ancestral domain to replace its own ethnicity. This is a systematic ethnic cleanse and genocide to the people of Welkait, and this has to be strongly condemned by the international human rights.

Nevertheless, the TPLF, whatever excruciating pain does to people of Welkait Tsegeday, there is no way around the brutal regime will confiscate by force the land of Gondar. Arresting, torturing, and killing the people of Welkait, it will make the Amharas united and stronger than ever before to defend their identity.  As Malcolm X stated out  “Any time you beg another man to set you free, you will never be free. Freedom is something that you have to do for yourselves.”   It is true, otherwise the fate of the Amhara is to be a servitor for the TPLF oligarchy.

I call for the Tigryan communities staunchly and unequivocally to denounce such injustice, sadistic and irresponsible act on the Welkait Tsegeday, and Humera people. The TPLF’s venture is a foolish mistake to make the Tigre and the Amhara turn against each other to advance its own advantages. As being said, people must not forget one thing that the present regime is not lifeless or extant, they will die like everybody else sooner or later, and the people of Tigray should not be aiding and abetting the TPLF to kill the people of Welkait Tsegeday.

I read an interview given by Ghelawdewos Araia which is a frivolous and falsified story. This does not surprise me ; this shallow individual has an identity crisis.  As I heard from a true Tigryans, he and his parents were Eritrean born, and he does not know much about Tigryans. I assume that he has to try hard to prove more concern about Tigryan matters by giving a preposterous information than native Tigryan.

He reminds me during the Derg, Ethiopian born Eritreans were more devoted in supporting the Shabia than the native born Eritreans, especially, half Amhara and half Eritrean, half Oromo and half Eritrean were anti Amhara, and this was fact. Now after they realized what is going on in Eritrea, they are the number one Ethiopians.

I have had friends whom I coalesced with and at one time said to me that they are not Ethiopian, they are Ethiopian by force. Look at Tesfaye Gebreab, what he did and what is doing now.  After TPLF expelled him from the country, he tried to become an OLF to kill the Amhara. Tesfaye even has no consanguineous of Oromo blood. I do not want to waste time about him and his role is in the record.  I just brought for the information how their attitudes was towards the Amhara. So, the adjunct professor’s interview was not telling the facts; it was completely a fabulist history he gave to VOA.  However, at this point his distorting information is irrelevant to Gondare.

Look at Getachew Reda and Gebremedhin Araia are the true Tigryans and Ethiopians who are principled and stand for the truth. I have a great respect for them being consistent in what they believe.

I hate to say that and it is very disturbing to me when the Amhara elites choose to stay silent while the people of Welkait are murdering by the expansionist TPLF regime.  Look at the Oromo elites came out from where they are to voice their voices for the voiceless Oromos.  As it is known, Amhara is one of the largest ethnic groups in the country, and there are many educated Amharas around the world who are reluctant and uninterested regarding the Amhara issues which is very sad. There are a few Amhara elites who are concerned, but it is not as expected. That is why The TPLF bullying on Amhara by calling them  “donkey Amhara.”

To this end, this is how the ethnocentric regime and their cronies succeeded by using a wonted deception, and to dehumanize the innocent Amhara in Gondar.  This is a barbarous act of the TPLF regime which is unforgettable and will go down in history.  Now, TPLF came to power by force, but whether they likes or not, they will go by force even if it takes time, and this is an inevitable!

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11 U.S. Senators Condemn Ethiopia’s Crackdown on Civil Society

U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, introduced a resolution with 11 other Senators today condemning the lethal violence used by the government of Ethiopia against protestors, journalists, and others in civil society for exercising their rights under Ethiopia’s constitution.

The resolution calls for the Secretary of State to conduct a review of U.S. security assistance to Ethiopia in light of allegations that Ethiopian security forces have killed civilians. It also calls upon the government of Ethiopia to halt violent crackdowns, conduct a credible investigation into the killing of protesters, and hold perpetrators of such violence accountable.

“I am shocked by the brutal actions of the Ethiopian security forces, and offer condolences to the families of those who have been killed. The Ethiopian constitution affords its citizens the right to peaceful assembly and such actions by Ethiopian government forces are unacceptable,” Senator Cardin said. “The government’s heavy-handed tactics against journalists and use of the 2009 Anti-Terrorism and Charities and Societies Proclamations to stifle freespeech and legitimate political dissent demonstrate a troubling lack of respect for democratic freedoms and human rights.”

“Peaceful protestors and activists have been arrested, tortured and killed in Ethiopia for simply exercising their basic rights,” Senator Rubio said. “I condemn these abuses and the Ethiopian government’s stunning disregard for the fundamental rights of the Ethiopian people. I urge the Obama Administration to prioritize respect for human rights and political reforms in the U.S. relationship with Ethiopia.”

Joining Cardin and Rubio as cosponsors of the resolution are Senators Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Christopher Coons (D-Del.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Al Franken (D-Minn.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), Patty Murray (D-Wash.), and Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio).

The United States works closely with Ethiopia on signature Administration initiatives including Feed the Future and the African Peacekeeping Rapid Response Partnership. It also provides funding for Ethiopia’s participation in the African Union Mission in Somalia.

“Given the challenges posed by the devastating drought and border insecurity, it is more important than ever that the government take actions to unify rather than alienate its people. It is critical that the government of Ethiopia respect fundamental human rights if it is to meet those challenges,” Cardin added. –— Read more —-

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BBC News‎

Ethiopia’s army has surrounded the area in neighbouring South Sudan where it believes more than 100 abducted Ethiopian children are being held, local media report.

The children were taken in a cross-border raid in the Gambella region last Friday, in which 208 people died.

The government has said members of the Murle community were responsible.

Flags have been flying at half mast in Ethiopia as the country mourns those who were killed.

A government official in Gambella said that the abducted children would soon be rescued, the government-affiliated Fana Broadcasting Corporate reports.

Gambella lies on the border with South Sudan and ethnic communities in the two countries have often clashed over land and cattle, the BBC’s Emmanuel Igunza reports from the capital, Addis Ababa.

A mother whose husband was killed and three of her children abducted by the attackers earlier told the BBC that she had no hope of seeing her children again.

“I don’t know if they were killed during the crossfire,” Chol Malual said. “The fighting was intense and if they survived, they will be probably be killed by the Murles.”

Meanwhile, additional medical personnel have been sent from Addis Ababa to help treat dozens of people who were injured during the attack.

“We have treated 82 patients,” a medic in the Gambella region told the BBC, “most suffering from bullet wounds to the chest, abdomen or head.

“We feel insecure here and would like the government to deploy security guards in the more dangerous areas.”

The targets of the raid were members of the Nuer ethnic group who live in both South Sudan and Ethiopia, the AFP news agency reports.

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Ethiopian army engaging marauder murley tribe within s.sudan territory

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አቶ መኮንን ዘለለው፤ ስለ የትግራይ ትብብር ለብሔራዊ ዲሞክራሲ ፖለቲካዊ እንቅስቃሴዎች፤ የወልቃይትና ጠገዴ ሕዝብ የማንንነት ጥያቄ ጉዳይ ይናገራሉ።
“ወልቃይት ከመጀመሪያው ጀምሮ ትግሪኛ ተናጋሪ ነበር፤ ወደ ወልቃይት የመጣው አማርኛ እንጂ ትግሪኛ አይደለም።” – መኮንን ዘለለው

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Sudan Tribune‎

April 21, 2016 (ST, JUBA) – A senior army general in South Sudan’s government has accused Boma state government of being behind the recent massacre of over 200 ethnic Nuer citizens in Ethiopia when ethnic Murle militia group crossed the borders and attacked villages inside Ethiopia.

Lt. General David Yau Yau, also a member of the Murle ethnic group which carried out the brutal attack, revealed that the attackers are an organized group armed by the current governor of the Boma state, Baba Medan.

Yau Yau, a former administrator of the area, and former chairman of a Murle rebel force, the South Sudan Democratic Movement/Army (SSDM/A), in a statement he signed on Wednesday said he has credible information that the attack was carried out by his tribesmen organized the current South Sudan’s governor of the Murle area.

“The information we are gathering from the ground is that those who made attacks were people from Lekangole County, the current Governor’s home County,” said Lt. General David Yau Yau in a statement he released from Juba.

He named the areas from where the attacks were organized before crossing into Ethiopia last Friday, saying they were directly armed by the South Sudanese state governor.

“The people who made these deadly attacks undeniably come from the bomas of Lekuangole such [as] Nyergeny, Manythaka, Wungony, Toltol, Manyathind. The governor had supplied his own people with some weapons and ammunitions when he planned to force his way into Pibor town and the same weapons and ammunitions, which are now used against the Nuer civilians in Ethiopia,” he said.

He denied involvement of his SSDM/A Cobra Faction of another Murle group, saying his forces have been integrated into the South Sudanese army (SPLA) and do no longer operate separately.

“We urge the governor to be frank to the public that the attacks were made by his own community of Lekuangole…He must at best talk to the chiefs of his area to collect all the abducted children and cattle to be returned to the rightful owners rather than making unfounded accusations.”

Earlier, Boma state governor, Medan, also a Murle, said he suspected that the other ethnic Murle forces commanded by General Yau Yau could have been responsible for the deadly cross-border attacks.

Ethiopia said it has already crossed into South Sudan territories and launched the military offensive into the Murle areas to free over 100 abducted children.
They said they have identified the areas where the children are being kept and surrounded it.

Governor of Gambella region, Gatluak Tut Khot, under which jurisdiction the attacks took place, confirmed that the Ethiopian forces had entered into South Sudan for the operations.

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An Ethiopian and a Somali man say they were on two boats heading to Italy from Libya when one of the vessels sank. The UN refugee agency says up to 500 people may have drowned in the tragedy.

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Seife Nebelbal Radio Weekly Program, April 22, 2016

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Mariama Sow
The Brookings Institution

IMF suspends lending to Mozambique, and Moody’s downgrades its rating

This week, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) announced it has suspended lending to Mozambiqueafter the country failed to disclose it received $1 billion in loans from other parties, such as Credit Suisse Group AG and VTB Group of Russia. Last October, the IMF approved a $283 million loan for Mozambique, and one of the conditions was the disclosure of all borrowings. In December, the IMF disbursed $117.9 million to Mozambique, but now will be suspending the remaining $165 million. With a widening fiscal deficit and a weakening currency, Mozambique currentlydepends on external donors to fund a quarter of its budget. Antoinette Sayeh, director of the Africa Department at the IMF, stated that in order to assess the next steps in the fund’s loaning relationship with Mozambique, they will have to hear from Mozambican officials about the nature and the use of the loans. Mozambique’s prime minister is currently visiting Washington, D.C., where he will meet IMF officials in order to discuss the status of IMF lending to Mozambique.

In addition, credit rating agency Moody’s downgraded Mozambique’s rating from B3 to Caa1.The rating agency states that the downgrade is driven by the recent handling of the EMATUM—Mozambique’s Tune Company—bonds. In 2013, an $850 million bond was sold to investorsunder the pretense of buying a tuna fishing fleet. The funds were, however, redirected towards purchasing ships for the army. Last month, Mozambique proposed a restructuring of the debt, asking investors to exchange the EMATUM bonds, which would mature in 2020 for sovereign bonds due to mature in January 2023. While the sovereign bond has a higher interest rate—the investor would receive higher returns, albeit it will be over a longer period of time. Moody’s sees the debt exchange as equivalent to a default.

Ethiopia mourns murdered civilians after attack in the Gabella region

Last Friday, April 15, cattle raiders from South Sudan entered the Gambella region of Ethiopia, killing 208 people of the Neur ethnic group and abducting over 100 children. Witnesses have stated that the attackers were well-organized, dressed in military or green uniforms, and armed with machine guns. They also took 2000 livestock. On Wednesday, Addis Ababa declared two days of national mourning for the victims.

The government has stated that the attackers, who raided 13 villages in the region, were Murle tribesman. According to Al-Jazeera, the Murle “often stage raids to steal cattle and abduct children but very rarely on such a large or deadly scale.” Indeed, witnesses have noted that this raid seemed greatly unusual, noting that the attacks didn’t stop once all the livestock were taken.  However, the attackers are not believed to be involved in the South Sudan civil war, which began in 2013, though the war has significantly impacted its eastern neighbor. Ethiopia’s Gambella region itself hosts 284,000 South Sudanese refugees from the war.

On Thursday, the Ethiopian government, which quickly crossed South Sudan’s border with its permission and cooperation, announced that its troops have surrounded the area where it believes the abducted children are held. As of this writing, no further updates have been announced.

For more on security in Ethiopia and its ramifications for the region, you can attend the upcoming Brookings Africa Security Initiative event, The security situation in Ethiopia and how it relates to the broader region, on Monday, April 25 at 10am.

On Earth Day, Africa takes additional climate mitigation and adaptation measures

In recognition of International Mother Earth Day, more than 150 countries met today, April 22, at the United Nations to sign into effect the landmark Paris climate agreement, which aims to limit the rise in global average temperatures to within 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) of pre-industrial levels. As 2015 marked the world’s hottest year in recorded history—and Africa specifically experienced extreme drought across parts of the continentdue to an intense El Niño phenomenon—many African countries are among the signatories who agree that reducing greenhouse gas emissions and adopting clean energy technologies is a priority for the continent.

Efforts to cut carbon emissions and promote clean energy projects are already under wayacross the continent. For example, the New Development Bank—formerly known as the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) Development Bank due to its membership—announced this week that it will provide $811 million in a first round of loans for clean energy projects, including $180 million to South Africa’s public power firm Eskom to link renewable energy sources to the national power grid. Other multilateral lenders, including the African Development Bank and World Bank have also recently provided funds to assist in a shift toward renewable energy in several African countries and to bolster climate resilience among the coastal regions of West Africa.

For more analysis on Africa’s plans to mitigate and adapt to climate change, please see Amadou Sy’s brief: Africa: Financing Adaptation and Mitigation in the World’s Most Vulnerable Region.

Mariama Sow

Research Assistant, Africa Growth Initiative

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A week after deadly attacks in the Ethiopian border region of Gambela, state forces have entered neighboring South Sudan in an attempt to surround the attackers and rescue more than 100 kidnapped children.

Parents in Gambela are still waiting for news of their children after more than 100 boys and girls in the western province disappeared last week. They were kidnapped by militias who had crossed into Ethiopia from neighboring South Sudan. Armed men attacked more than a dozen villages on Friday, April 15. They massacred cattle herds and killed more than 200 people before leaving with around 2000 cattle – and the children.

Scepticism over speedy rescue

The attackers’ identity remains unclear. The Ethiopian government has blamed armed militias from the Murle ethnic group, based mainly in the eastern Jonglei region of South Sudan, for the attacks. The Ethiopian government sent troops across the border into South Sudan in pursuit of the assailants, then claiming its soldiers had surrounded the area where the children were being held. A government spokesperson told state television that the kidnapped children would soon be freed.

Cattle raids and attacks on farmers are common in the border region

But many Ethiopians are sceptical. “The government is incapable of protecting its citizens,” an Ethiopian Facebook user commented on DW’s page. “The government ordered the people in Gambela to disarm – soon afterwards we suffered this tragedy,” another Ethiopian added.

What is behind the violence?

Ethiopia and South Sudan share a long, porous border. Cattle raids are not uncommon in the region, but this latest attack was unusually violent. “If you look at the number of people who were killed in the attack, and the number of children abducted, it is unprecedented,” says Hallelujah Lulie, an analyst at the Institute for Security Studies (ISS) in Addis Ababa. The attackers’ motive is still unclear. “In the past, cattle raids had nothing to do with politics, it was mostly a cultural thing. But there has been a criminalization of these activities because of the involvement of some business people in the cattle raiding,” Lulie told DW.

Meanwhile South Sudan is struggling with civil war. Since December 2013, the world’s newest country has been embroiled in a power struggle between supporters of President Salva Kiir, who belongs to the Dinka ethnic group, and his long term rival Riek Machar, a member of the Nuer tribe. Since the conflict started, more than 50,000 people have been killed and more than 2.5 million displaced from their homes. The chaos also contributes to attacks in the border region, says Lulie. “The civil war has increased the movement and distribution of small arms and light weapons in the area,” he told DW. Lawlessness on the South Sudanese side of the border has also increased, he said.

Until now, Ethiopia has been a strong player in the peace negotiations between Kiir and Machar – a role it sees as a chance to gain regional and international influence. But South Sudan’s ceasefire agreement is extremely fragile. Machar is currently residing in Ethiopia. This week marked the third delay to his return to South Sudan’s capital, Juba, a key part of the peace agreement.

A contagious war?

Fears are growing in Ethiopia that the violence and instability in South Sudan could spill across the border. Hundreds of thousands of South Sudanese, mainly Nuer, have already fled to Gambela in an attempt to escape the conflict. As more refugees arrive from South Sudan, the Ethiopian government is concerned that regional conflict could intensify. Various ethnic groups, particularly Ethiopian Nuer and Anuak, already vie for power and influence in the region.

Hundreds of thousands of South Sudanese have fled accross the border into Ethiopia’s Gambela region

Before the war broke out in South Sudan, both countries worked together to curb violence along the border. Their two governments now say they will cooperate in dealing with the latest attacks and freeing the kidnapped children.

The Ethiopian government says it asked its South Sudanese counterpart for permission a week ago to cross the border in pursuit of the attackers. Preparations are already underway for a joint rescue mission, South Sudan’s foreign minister Peter Bashir Gbandi told the Sudan Tribune newspaper. Gbandi added that the head of the South Sudanese Army would travel to the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa as soon as possible in order to coordinate with Ethiopian authorities.

But news agency AP quotes Gbandi as saying he did not want Ethiopian troops to go deeper into South Sudan.

It is still unclear how many soldiers have been deployed and how heavily they are armed. Many parents in Gambela have taken to the streets calling for a quick response from the Ethiopian government. Their children have already been gone for too long – they are believed to be somewhere in the South Sudanese jungle.

Mantegaftot Sileshi contributed to this report

DW

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UNITED KINGDOM

Boris Johnson, who wants the UK to leave the EU, says the “part-Kenyan” US leader may have an ancestral dislike of Britain. He was quickly accused of “dog-whistle racism.”

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On April 20, 2016, Senators Ben Cardin (D-Maryland), Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Patty Murry (D-WA), Ed Markey (D-MA), Chris Coons (D-DE), Bob Menendez (D-NJ), Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Al Franken (D-MN), Dick Durbin (D-IL), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Marco Rubio (R-FL)  sponsored a  Resolution condemning the crimes against humanity being committed by the  T-TPLF in Ethiopia today.Well, they did not exactly use the phrase “crimes against humanity.” But that was exactly what they meant in their Resolution.

Senator Cardin  commenting on his introduction of the  Supporting Respect for Human Rights and Encouraging Inclusive Governance in Ethiopia said:

I am shocked by the brutal actions of the Ethiopian security forces, and offer condolences to the families of those who have been killed.  The Ethiopian constitution affords its citizens the right to peaceful assembly and such actions by Ethiopian government forces are unacceptable. The government’s heavy-handed tactics against journalists and use of the 2009 Anti-Terrorism and Charities and Societies Proclamations to stifle free speech and legitimate political dissent demonstrate a troubling lack of respect for democratic freedoms and human rights. Given the challenges posed by the devastating drought and border insecurity, it is more important than ever that the government take actions to unify rather than alienate its people. It is critical that the government of Ethiopia respect fundamental human rights if it is to meet those challenges.

Senator Rubio echoed the same sentiment:

Peaceful protestors and activists have been arrested, tortured and killed in Ethiopia for simply exercising their basic rights. I condemn these abuses and the Ethiopian government’s stunning disregard for the fundamental rights of the Ethiopian people. I urge the Obama Administration to prioritize respect for human rights and political reforms in the U.S. relationship with Ethiopia.

Obama turned a deaf ear to Senator Rubio’s plea. To add insult to injury, Obama stood up in Addis Ababa and shamelessly declared the T-TPLF is a “democratic government”.

It is to be recalled that Senator Rubio wrote a letter to Obama a few days before Obama visited Ethiopia in July 2015 “highlighting” his “concerns regarding ongoing human rights abuses by the Ethiopian government against its own people.” Senator Rubio warned in his letter:

Although the United States and Ethiopia share an interest in fighting terrorism and securing stability through the region, it is essential that the U.S. does not turn a blind eye to Ethiopia’s human rights abuses. By shutting down avenues to express dissent through the political process, civil society, or media, Ethiopia’s government may fuel further instability in the country.

Brutality by government forces is a crime against humanity.

U.N. Security  Ban Ki-Moon said, “The acts of brutality [by the Syrian government] that are being reported may constitute crimes against humanity or war crimes. Such acts must be investigated and the perpetrators held to account.”

That is exactly what the U.S. Senators are saying and calling for in their Resolution.

The Senate Resolution states in plain words that crimes against humanity have been committed in Ethiopia under T-TPLF rule and there must be “a full, credible, and transparent investigation into the killings and instances of excessive use of force that took place as a result of protests in the Oromia region and  hold security forces accountable for wrongdoing through public proceedings.”

But the Resolution goes well beyond a simple statement of disapproval and criticism.

I believe the  Resolution represents the senators’ sentiments, views and positions on four distinct issues. The Resolution 1)  totally condemns T-TPLF’s crimes against humanity, 2) expresses impatience and dissatisfaction with the Obama Administration’s  do-nothing about human rights approach in Ethiopia, 3) demands direct policy action by the U.S. Secretary of State to secure  improvements in the human rights situation in Ethiopia or to review use of US aid as leverage, and 4) serves clear notice to USAID to undertake programs and activities that could help improve human rights and democratization in Ethiopia.

The catalog of  T-TPLF crimes against humanity in the Resolution

I believe the first part of the Resolution, for all intents and purposes represents, amounts to a legislative  “indictment” against the T-TPLF for crimes against humanity.

The Senate Resolution declares that T-TPLF has:

Engaged in “serious human rights violations, including arbitrary arrests, killings, and torture committed by security forces as well as restrictions on freedom of expression and freedom of association, politically motivated trials, harassment, and intimidation of opposition members and journalists.”

Engaged in “state sponsored violence against those exercising their rights to peaceful assembly in Oromia and elsewhere in the country, and the abuse of laws to stifle journalistic freedoms, stand in direct contrast to democratic principles and in violation of Ethiopia’s constitution”.

Caused “democratic space in Ethiopia [to] steadily diminish since the general elections of 2005”.

Rigged elections and claimed to have won “100 percent of parliamentary seats”.

Abused a so-called  “Anti-Terrorism Proclamation to limit press freedom, silence independent journalists, and persecute members of the political opposition.”

Restricted and virtually stamped out “civil society and nongovernmental organizations, particularly those investigating alleged violations of human rights by governmental authorities”.

Persecuted and prosecuted journalists and bloggers and created a climate of fear and “coercive environment” for the press.

Killed “at least 200 peaceful protesters in the Oromia region, and that number is likely higher.”

Condemnation of the T-TPLF regime in the Resolution

The Senate Resolution without reservation

Condemns (A) killings of peaceful protesters and excessive use of force by [T-TPLF] security  forces; (B) [T-TPLF] arrest and detention of journalists, students, activists and political leaders who exercise their constitutional rights to freedom of assembly and expression through peaceful protests; and (C) [T-TPLF] abuse of the Anti-Terrorism Proclamation to stifle political and civil dissent and journalistic freedoms.

Call for T-TPLF Action in the Resolution

The Senate Resolution makes specific demands on the T-TPLF:

• Halt the use of excessive force by security forces;
• Conduct a full, credible, and transparent investigation into the killings and instances of excessive use of force that took place as a result of protests in the Oromia region and hold security forces accountable for wrongdoing through public proceedings;
• Release dissidents, activists, and 13 journalists who have been jailed, including those 14 arrested for reporting about the protests, for exercising constitutional rights;
• Respect the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and guarantee freedom of the 18 press and mass media in keeping with Articles 19, 30 and 29 of the Ethiopian constitution;
• Engage in open and transparent consultations relative to its development strategy, especially those strategies that could result in people’s displacement from land;
• Repeal proclamations that can be used as a political tool to harass or prohibit funding for civil society organizations that investigate human rights violations, engage in peaceful political dissent, or advocate for greater political freedoms;
• Repeal proclamations that prohibit or otherwise limit those displaced from their land from seeking remedy or redress in courts, or that do not provide a transparent, accessible means to access justice for those displaced.

“Step up”: The Obama Administration’s must abandon its do-nothing policy to improve human rights in Ethiopia 

The Resolution diplomatically intimates that the Obama Administration has done little or nothing to help improve the human rights situation in Ethiopia.

Stripped off the diplomatic euphemism, the Resolution asserts the Obama administration has been talking the human rights talk in Ethiopia but unwilling to walk the human rights talk.

The Resolution declares that Obama got T-TPLF leaders to “commit” to “deepen the democratic process and work towards the respect of human rights and improving governance” in July 2015, but the outcome since has been massacres and more repression.

The Resolution calls on the Obama Administration to “review of security assistance to Ethiopia in light of recent developments and to improve transparency with respect to the purposes of such assistance to the people of Ethiopia”.

The Resolution further “calls on the Secretary of State [and] the Administrator of the United States  Agency for International Development, to improve oversight and accountability of United States assistance to Ethiopia.

Senate Affirmation of  Respect for Human Rights in Ethiopia

The Senate Resolution affirms that the U.S. Senate “stands by the people of Ethiopia, and supports their peaceful efforts to increase democratic space and to exercise the rights guaranteed by the Ethiopian constitution.”

What Does the Resolution Really Mean?

It is important to note that the Senate Resolution (“simple resolution) is a legislative act intended to signify the Senate’s “sense” of what is happening in Ethiopia and what needs to be done. (See Senate Rule 30, adopted 2/4/15.)

When the Senate seeks to state its  views, opinions and position, make a point or send a warning on an issue of importance, it employs a simple resolution to get its message across. The Senate Resolution on Ethiopia aims to express the opinion of a majority of Senators.

It is also important to understand simple resolutions, unlike regular “bills” and “resolutions” do not have the force or effect of law nor do they require presidential signature.

So, a reasonable question is why bother to pass a “simple resolution”?

Though simple resolution do not have the binding effect of law, they serve some important purposes. They are used by either house of Congress to:

• Go on record and take a position on a particular issue and express support or opposition for a particular action, policy, proposal, idea, plan, program, etc.
• Generate preliminary support or opposition among members for an intended or anticipated action and build momentum;
• Serve notice to the President that the Senate or House are contemplating imminent action on a particular issue and urge executive corrective action obviating the need for more formal legislative action.
• Notify U.S. departments and agencies and foreign governments that the U.S. Congress is watching a specific issue with special attention and concern.
• Communicate a specific message in foreign affairs (to foreign leaders) that a certain state of affairs in a particular country or region is unacceptable to the people of the United States and that legislative actions could follow if the circumstances persist;
• Apply subtle pressure on foreign governments to make changes in policy.
• Signify a change in policy or possible forthcoming legislation.
• Signify the possibility of public hearings.

The bottom line is that Senate resolutions are taken very seriously by most foreign governments and agencies and department of the U.S. Government. It is not unreasonable to suppose that the T-TPLF ignoramuses will chafe and ignore it.

Faced with a similar legislative situation in 2007, Meles Zenawi, the late leader of the T-TPLF, angrily and sarcastically lashed out at Congress  at the U.S. Congress: “The Ethiopian government isn’t willing and is unable to be run like a banana republic from Capitol Hill or anywhere else.”

In 2009, I demonstrated that Meles’ government was quite willing to be treated like a “barley republic from Jeddah or any of the other Gulf states.” At the time, Zenawi was handing out millions of acres of Ethiopian land to so-called Saudi and Gulf “investors”.

In the Ethiopia Senate Resolution, there is little doubt that the T-TPLF will pay special attention. I do not doubt that the T-TPLF is consulting its Big Bucks lobbyist on what to do to nip the resolution in the bud. The T-TPLF has learned from the past (RememberH.R. 2003) that if it pays its lobbyists USD $50,000 a month it could stop cold any legislation in the U.S. Congress.

Demand for USAID Accountability in the Senate Resolution

My readers will recall my letter to USAID Administrator Gayle E. Smith dated March 16, 2016, in which I demanded accountability and transparency in USAID administration of American aid in Ethiopia. I asked Ms. Smith:

What safeguards, if any, are in place to ensure the ruling regime will not put any of the $500 million to political purposes?

What accountability processes are in place to ensure the prevention of corruption in the administration of the aforementioned assistance in Ethiopia? How much of the $500 million is provided to the ruling regime in Ethiopia in the form of discretionary or non-discretionary expenditures?

I am glad to see the April 20, 2016 Senate Resolution makes a similar demand by

call[ing] on the Secretary of State, in conjunction with the Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development, to improve  oversight and accountability of United States assistance to Ethiopia pursuant to expectations established in the President’s 2012 Strategy Toward Sub-Saharan Africa.

Unanswered Questions

There are many who ask myriad questions about the Senate Resolution. Why now? Where have they been all these years? Does the resolution mean the Senate has something “up its sleeve”? Is it just rhetoric? What is going to happen next? Is the Senate really serious about human rights violations in Ethiopia? Should Ethiopians be hopeful the resolution will produce immediate improvements in the human rights situation in Ethiopia? Will the Senate resolution end up being just talk and no action? And on and on.

It is hard to give definitive answers to these questions.

The U.S. legislative process is very complex requiring bicameral action to enact legislation subject to presidential veto. The American legislative system is structurally designed to function in a slow and deliberate process subject to constitutional and internal legislative rules.

We have learned firsthand how a bill to promote human rights and democracy could be subjected to massive lobbying efforts to defeat it when we worked to pass H.R. 2003 (Ethiopia Democracy and Accountability Act).

Regardless, I am not concerned.

I wholeheartedly agree with Thomas Payne, one of the Founding Fathers of the United States,  who said in a speech on December 23, 1776:

Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives everything its value… I love the man that can smile in trouble, that can gather strength from distress, and grow brave by reflection.

I am smiling!   

 

The post U.S. Senators Speak Loud and Clear: Human Rights Violations in Ethiopia Must Stop! (Al Mariam) appeared first on Satenaw.

By Alemayehu G. Mariam

We remember our brother Eskinder Nega

There is nothing more the T-TPLF (Thugtatorship of the Tigrean People’s Liberation Front) would like to see than the memory of the great Eskinder Nega erased and obliterated from public memory and consciousness. The T-TPLF wants the world to forget Eskinder Nega. They want his memory to fade away into oblivion. If he must be remembered, they want the world to remember him as a “terrorist”.

That was exactly what the white minority apartheid regime of South Africa thought would happen to Nelson Mandela when they gave him a life sentence in 1964 for allgedly committing “terrorism” and shipped him off to Robben Island. Mandela emerged from apartheid prison after 27 years and saved South Africa.

The minority apartheid South African regime did not succeed in consigning Mandela to oblivion. Neither will the T-TPLF succeed with Eskinder Nega. Eskinder will also walk out of prison and those who imprisoned him will soon take his place.

Eskinder Nega’s image, writings and other commentaries on his work and sacrifices are all over social media and various websites including some of the most respected international press and human rights organizations. Hardly does a week go by without some international organization calling attention to his illegal incarceration and plight in T-TPLF prison or demanding his immediate release.

I have Eskinder’s image on the masthead on my Facebook page. Hardly a day passes by without someone asking me if I am aware that there is a picture of someone who does not look like me on my Facebook page. (https://www.facebook.com/al.mariam).  I tell them not to worry, “That is the picture of my brother Eskinder Nega!”

I ask my readers a few small favors.

Before reading this commentary, I ask that they read Eskinder’s handwritten letter from T-TPLF “gulag” (prison) as he calls it. (To read the letter, Click HERE .)

(** We have not word processed Eskinder’s handwritten letter out of respect for the extraordinary effort it took to write it under the constant watch of T-TPLF prison guards and spies and to convey the raw power of the ideas he expressed.**)

I also ask my readers to watch a moving video tribute to Eskinder Nega by Carl Bernstein of   the Washington Post, (the journalist who busted wide open the Watergate scandal leading to the resignation   of President Richard Nixon in August 1974) and Liev Schreiber, (the 2016 Oscar Best Picture winner and celebrated director, screenwriter).  (To watch video, Click HERE. Would Carl Bernstein and Liev Schreiber deliver passionate speeches in defense of a “terrorist”? )

Most of all, I ask my readers to watch a heart-wrenching 3-minute video (with English subtitles) on Eskinder Nega by his wife Sekalem Fasil (herself a distinguished and award-winning Ethiopian journalist in her own right and once imprisoned with her husband for defending press freedom in Ethiopia.)  (To watch video Click HERE.)

Serkalem gave birth to their son Nafqot in T-TPLF prison in 2007.

I am proud to call Eskinder my brother and Serkalem my sister. I am humbled by their sacrifices, awed by their courage, tenacity and  unimpeachable integrity and  inspired by their personal example.

Eskinder and Serkalem are just symbols of Ethiopia’s best and brightest journalists, dissidents, political and civic leaders and human rights advocates who have languished and continue to languish in T-TPLF official and secret prisons. When I think of Eskinder Nega, I also think of Bekele Gerba, Ahmedin Jebel, Woubshet Taye, Temesgen Desalegn, Andualem Aragie, Andargachew Tsgie, Emawayish Alemu, Deldessa Waqo Jarso,  Akello Akoy Uchula, Zone 9 bloggers and thousands of other political prisoners.

When we remember Eskinder Nega, we remember them all!

The trials and tribulations of Eskinder Nega

Eskinder Nega is an extraordinary Ethiopian journalist and an unapologetic defender of press freedom in Ethiopia. He has been a fearless critic of the T-TPLF since 1993. Over the past two decades, Eskinder and his wife Serkalem launched a number of newspapers that were shuttered by the T-TPLF including Ethiopis, Asqual, Satenaw and Menelik. Until his arrest by the T-TPLF in September 2011, Eskinder was a tireless blogger who had a wide readership in the Ethiopian Diaspora. He called out the T-TPLF, and particularly its late leader Meles Zeanwi, on issues of abuse of power, corruption and maladministration. The T-TPLF has jailed Eskinder on bogus criminal charges so many times, it is hard to keep count.

The T-TPLF jailed Eskinder in September 2011 on trumped up charges of “terrorism”.  His “crime” was 1) criticizing the T-TPLF for its repression of press freedom, 2) wholesale arrest and detention of journalists and 3) discussing the implications of the “Arab Spring” for Ethiopia. The T-TPLF organized a campaign of smear and fear against Eskinder in a futile attempt to portray him as a member of a “terrorist group”, a “spy for foreign forces” and as a “facilitator of  terrorist attacks in Ethiopia.

There is credible evidence from well-placed sources that Meles Zenawi personally harbored extreme hatred for Eskinder. Meles could not stand Eskinder’s audacity to speak to him the way Eskinder did.

Eskinder showed little fear of Meles Zenawi. Eskinder spoke out against Meles come what may.

Meles hated Eskinder because he feared him. Meles feared Eskinder’s pen because Eskinder’s pen oozed out the unvarnished raw truth about Meles Zenawi.

Meles Zenawi can handle a lot of things. But he could not handle the truth.

In September 2010, Eskinder and Serkalem wrote a letter to Columbia University president Lee Bollinger and told the TRUTH about Meles. In that letter Eskidner and Serkalem enumerated the crimes Meles Zenawi had committed against them personally and against press freedom. They urged Meles Zenawi be disinvited: “It is incongruous that a leader who is actively suppressing freedom of expression in his country should now be eagerly awaiting the privilege of expressing his thoughts on the august premises of Columbia University.”

In an “Open Letter to PM Meles Zenawi” in March 2011, Eskinder told Meles the TRUTH. Meles might as well change his name to “Meles Judas Iscariot” and prophesied correctly that Meles will suffer  Judas’ fate for his treachery and betrayal of so many who fought and died for the T-TPLF cause:

None of these leaders [referring to H.I.M. Haile Selassie and military strongman Mengistu Hailemariam and other American presidents], however, whether Ethiopian or American, had to wrestle with the emotional anguish of a bitter break between irreplaceable friends the way Meles Zenawi had to. The lost friendships between Meles and Seye Abraha et al were forged over three decades under the most difficult circumstances. New friends could not possibly fill the void created by their loss. A descent to the emotional wilderness, where it is undoubtedly lonesome, is the least that could have happened to Meles.

I can imagine how the TRUTH in that paragraph could have shredded Meles’ inner core. It is said Meles knew and agonized over what he had done to his closest friends and comrades in arms. (I don’t believe Meles had a conscience to suffer pangs of remorse.)  But if he did, I wonder if he pondered Shakespeare’s Sonnet 29 in the depth of his depressions: “…/And look upon myself, and curse my fate, /Wishing me like to one more rich in hope, /Featur’d like him, like him with friends possess’d,/…” Meles had no friends, only enemies.

In the same Letter, Eskinder told Meles to quit the power game while he is ahead:

Ato Meles Zenawi: the people want — no, need — you to leave office. The people are closely watching events in North Africa as I write this letter. They are debating the implications for Africa, including Ethiopia. And they have been inspired by the heroism of ordinary Libyans. Listen to them before it’s too late.

In July 2011, Eskinder told Meles’ tyrannical rule is destined to the dustbin of history,  and democracy  shall rise in Ethiopia from the ashes of T-TPLF rule.

Democracy is humanity’s common destiny. There is no avoiding it whether you are an Eskimo or a Zulu; a Christian or a Muslim; white or black; developed or developing. It is truly universal. And after a long journey, Ethiopia’s encounter with destiny is right around the corner. We are almost there. We shall be free!

In August 2011, Eskinder warned warned  Meles that if things continue the way they are, Meles should expect to meet Gadhafi’s ghastly fate.

Ethiopia’s Meles Zenawi, who now leads Africa’s largest dictatorship, and who many suspect is calculating as Gaddafi did at first, should take serious note… And as Egypt, the Arab world’s biggest dictatorship during Mubarak’s reign, was the Arab Spring’s golden prize, so will Ethiopia, sub-Sahara’s biggest dictatorship, be the golden prize for an African Spring. There couldn’t have been an Arab Spring without Egypt. There will be no African Spring without Ethiopia.

Eskinder counselled  Meles Zenawi on September 2, 2011 not to resist demands for peaceful change:

In the event of prolonged absence of peaceful action, an implosion, perhaps violent and no doubt dangerous, is unavoidable. Needless to say, the status-quo is increasingly untenable. The time to call for peaceful and legal action has arrived in Ethiopia. History cannot be postponed indefinitely.

On September 14, 2011, Eskinder was arrested.

On July 13, 2012, Eskinder was sentenced to 18 years in prison by a T-TPLF kangaroo (monkey) court.

The T-TPLF’s evidence of terrorism against Eskinder consisted of poorly recorded audio of Eskinder talking at a town hall meeting potential implications of the Arab Spring in Ethiopia.

On August 20, 2012, Meles Zenawi officially died.

Ethiopian Satellite Television reported on July 20, 2012 (Ethiopian calendar Hamle 13, 2004), Meles died.

Scripture says God works in “mysterious ways”.

My information suggests Meles Zenawi hated Eskinder not only for his audacity, fearlessness and courage, but also because Meles envied Eskinder’s intellect.

As I have said many times over the past ten years, Meles was a clever charlatan who managed to convince international diplomats of his intellectual prowess and command of subject matter. Meles was little more than a phrase-mongering mountebank with a gift for gab. Meles made a patsy of former U.S. Ambassador to Ethiopia Donald Yamamoto who said in a Wikileaks release, “On numerous occasions we have observed Meles run circles around visitors who note general concerns by throwing out detailed responses.”  “Running circles” and setting up easily-duped Western diplomats for demolition was Meles best kept secrets. Those who know Meles know him to be a con artist. Eskinder knew that too. I always believed Meles was a frilled dragon. He will huff, puff and frill his membrane, but he would never engage his opponents in open public debate and discussion.

Who is Eskinder Nega?

It is easy and very difficult to describe Eskinder Nega. He is Ethiopia’s foremost journalist and political prisoner.

In June 2013, Amnesty International declared  Eskinder “prisoner of conscience.” The Committee for the Protection of Journalists has similarly recognized that Eskinder is a prisoner of conscience.  Other international human rights and press organizations have issued similar statements.

Eskinder is also the winner of several international press awards for courage, conviction and defense of press freedom.

Eskinder is all of the above and also much more.

Eskinder Nega is a special hero for me not because of the numerous publications he started, his fearless defense of press freedom or the  international accolades he has received, which he eminently deserved.

Eskinder is a special hero to me because he is a freedom fighter of the first order. No he does not use guns, knives and terror  to fight.

His weapon of choice is a pencil or a ball point pen.  His pen spits devastating rounds of truths that paralyze and discombobulate  the T-TPLF. His ideas are a force of nature.

Eskinder uses the truth as a sword to slay falsehoods, corruption, abuse of power and lawlessness.

Armed only with a pen, Eskinder fights despair with hope; fear with courage; anger with reason; arrogance with humility; ignorance with knowledge; intolerance with forbearance; oppression with perseverance; doubt with trust and cruelty with compassion.

But Eskinder is much more than a fighter with a pen.

Eskinder is also a man of supreme courage. Eskinder looked straight into the vengeful eyes of the T-TPLF Beast and said:

You can arrest and jail me for the eight time. You can beat, torture and throw me into solitary confinement. You can persecute and prosecute me. You can starve and deny me medical care in your stinking prison. You can scandalize my name and defame my character. You can even persecute and humiliate my wife and laugh at my child as he cries his eyes out when your goons manhandle me. You can harass, intimidate and make life hell on earth for me and my family. But I will never, never, never bow down to your tyrannical rule, your corruption, your brutality, your sadistic cruelty and abysmal barbarity! For I am Eskinder Nega. I am the master of my fate and captain of my soul!

There are few human beings I respect, appreciate and admire more than Eskinder Nega and his wife Serkalem Fasil.  I have written many tributes in their honor. Eskinder, Serkalem and their son Nafqot (who was born in prison prematurely and denied a life-saving incubator by Meles Zenawi’s “incomprehensible vindictiveness”.)

If I had my way, I would have a law passed declaring them “official Ethiopian national treasures” to make sure no other country or institution could claim them as their own.  They would be given no choice in the matter!

I do not need to speak for Eskinder’s heroism as a defender of press freedom in Ethiopia. There are many who could speak on his behalf more eloquently than I.

Eskinder is the hero of all heroes of press freedom throughout the world.

The world’s most famous dissent journalists have spoken for him and demanded his immediate release, including, among many others, Kenneth Best, Liberia;   Lydia Cacho, Mexico;  Juan Pablo Cardenas, Chile; May Chidiac, Lebanon; Sir Harold Evans, United Kingdom; Akbar Ganji, Iran;Amira Hass, Israel;  Daoud Kuttab, Jordan; Gwen Lister, Namibia;  Raymond Louw, South Africa;  Veran Matić, Serbia;Adam Michnik, Poland; Fred M’membe, Zambia; Nizar Nayouf, Syria;  Pap Saine, The Gambia; Faraj Sarkohi, Iran;   Nedim Şener, Turkey; Arun Shourie, India; Ricardo Uceda, Peru;  Jose Ruben Zamora, Guatemala. Other human rights and press leaders including Mark Hamrick, President, National Press Club, Washington, D.C., Aryeh Neier, President, Open Society Foundations; Kenneth Roth, Executive Director, Human Rights Watch, Joel Simon, Executive Director, Committee to Protect Journalists, William Easterly, Professor of Economics, New York University.

Eskinder Nega: YOU ARE NOT ALONE!

I want Eskinder Nega to know that he is not forgotten. I want Serkalem and Nafqot to know Eskinder will NEVER be forgotten. How can we forget a man who has given us back so much of our dignity by standing up to the T-TPLF?

I want the world to remember Eskinder Nega and all  political prisoners in Ethiopia today.

We remember Eskinder,  ALWAYS. We admire, respect and above all LOVE Eskinder for the wonderful and loving husband and father he is.

Above all, we honor, celebrate and REMEMBER Eskinder Nega as the proud son of Mother Ethiopia.

I thought Michael Jackson’s lyrics with slight paraphrasing would describe how we, the brothers and sisters of Eskinder Nega, really feel:

…

But you are not alone
We are here with you
Though we’re far apart
You’re always in our hearts
But you are not alone, not alone, not alone…
[We will always be with you.]

I am Eskinder Nega!

Eskinder Invictus!

FREE ESKINDER NEGA AND ALL POLITICAL PRISONERS IN ETHIOPIA!!!

A sampling of my previous commentaries on Eskinder Nega:

http://almariam.com/2013/07/15/thus-spoke-eskinder-the-drum-major-for-ethiopian-democracy/

http://almariam.com/2013/04/08/ethiopia-right-in-prison-wrong-on-the-throne/

http://almariam.com/2012/04/30/ethiopia-a-special-tribute-to-my-hero-eskinder-nega/

http://almariam.com/2014/06/08/who-is-afraid-of-the-ethiopian-bloggers/

The post My Brother, Eskinder (“Invictus”) Nega: You Are Not Alone and We Love You! (By AL Mariam) appeared first on Satenaw.

By MAGGIE MICHAEL AND BRIAN ROHAN, ASSOCIATED PRESS

CAIRO — Apr 25, 2016

Police fired tear gas and birdshot on Monday to disperse hundreds of demonstrators calling on President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi to step down over his government’s decision to surrender control over two strategic Red Sea islands to Saudi Arabia.

The clash in Mesaha square in Cairo’s Dokki district took place as thousands of police and soldiers were deployed Monday across the Egyptian capital ahead of the planned demonstrations over the islands, a thorny issue which has already sparked the largest protests since el-Sissi assumed power nearly two years ago.

Following the arrest of dozens of activists and journalists in recent days, riot police backed by armored vehicles on Monday took up positions in Cairo’s Tahrir Square, the epicenter of Egypt’s 2011 uprising, They also deployed on the ring road, downtown and at a square where hundreds of Islamist protesters were killed when security forces broke up their sit-in in August 2013.

Many of the protest organizers’ gathering points were sealed off by police, including the doctors’ and journalists’ unions in central Cairo. Pedestrians near the Press Syndicate were stopped by police, who asked for IDs and about their destination before turning many of them away. Minivans loaded with plainclothes policemen were also deployed in the likely flashpoints.

In the poor district of Nahya, in Cairo’s twin city of Giza, the sheer number of deployed policemen and fear of arrest prevented protesters from even gathering — forcing them to trickle out of the area in small groups in the hope of assembling elsewhere, according to protesters speaking to an Associated Press reporter in the area. The protesters spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.

A group of some 500 protesters led by prominent activists managed to gather at the mostly residential Mesaha square. Their chants of “leave, leave” directed at el-Sissi, echoed across the square, along with “bread, freedom, the islands are Egyptian.” Police in full riot gear arrived 10 minutes later and immediately fired tear gas and birshot. The protesters fled and regrouped in smaller groups at nearby streets.

From their apartments’ balconies, the square’s pro-el-Sissi residents shouted “traitors” at the protesters below and pelted them with water.

Later, plainclothes policemen were seen by the AP reporter kicking and slapping protesters they arrested.

“Giving up our land is the final straw,” said one protester, 16-year-old Youssef el-Agouza. “He (el-Sissi) has crossed all lines.”

The military said in a video released late Sunday that troops were deployed to protect “vital and important installations” and deal with anyone who tries to “harm the people’s interests or attempt to ruin their happiness” on Sinai Liberation Day, a national holiday marking the completion of Israel’s withdrawal from the peninsula in 1982.

Egyptian warplanes roared over Cairo to mark Monday’s anniversary, but the military kept a low profile on the ground except for areas near military headquarters and the presidential palace. The Interior Ministry said police were out in force to protect “peaceful” citizens who wish to celebrate. Several dozen people waving Egyptian flags celebrated with music and dancing in the upscale district of Mohandiseen.

El-Sissi on Sunday urged citizens to defend the state and its institutions from the “forces of evil,” an apparent reference to the planned protests.

Monday’s demonstrations are the second wave of protests this month against the decision to give up control of the islands at the mouth of the Gulf of Aqaba. On April 15, about 2,000 people protested in downtown Cairo over the islands.

That protest was the largest against el-Sissi since he assumed office in 2014, nearly a year after leading the military ouster of the Islamist Mohammed Morsi, Egypt’s first freely elected leader. Chants of “leave,” and “the people want to bring down the regime” rang out in the downtown area on that day, harkening back to the 2011 uprising that forced autocrat Hosni Mubarak to step down after nearly 30 years in power.

As was the case for the April 15 demonstrations, the Muslim Brotherhood, the Islamist group from which Morsi hails, has called on its supporters to take part in Monday’s demonstrations. The group has been banned and is declared a terror group by authorities and the participation of its followers on Monday will increase the potential for violence.

Authorities have detained dozens of activists in recent days, with the arrests continuing until just hours before the planned demonstrations. Freedom for the Brave, an activist group, says nearly 100 people have been arrested since last week. On Monday, at least three journalists were arrested downtown, according to Khaled el-Balshy, a member of the Press Syndicate’s board. Two of the three journalists were released several hours later.

Egypt says the islands of Tiran and Sanafir, off the southern coast of the Sinai Peninsula, belong to Saudi Arabia, which placed them under Cairo’s protection in 1950 because it feared Israel might attack them.

The announcement came during a visit to Egypt this month by the Saudi monarch, King Salman, as the kingdom announced a multi-billion-dollar package of aid and investment to Egypt, fueling charges that the islands were sold off.

“Egypt needs the truth revealed to its people: Through dialogue, not suppression, with documents, evidence and maps, not security raids and random detentions,” prominent columnist Abdullah el-Sinnawy wrote in Monday’s edition of the Al-Shorouk daily.

“It’s difficult to resolve a crisis like this one with the fist of security, no matter how tough it is.”

El-Sissi insists that Egypt has not surrendered an “inch” of its territory and has demanded that people stop talking about the issue.

But the Egyptian leader has also faced mounting criticism about other issues, including the ailing economy and the abduction, torture and killing of an Italian graduate student in Cairo earlier this year. That incident has poisoned relations with Italy, one of el-Sissi’s staunchest EU supporters and Egypt’s biggest European trade partner.

Egyptian authorities have denied any involvement in the student’s killing.

———

Associated Press writer Sam Magdy contributed to this report.

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• An African Union vehicle was bombed by ISIS, the terror group has claimed
• If true, it would be the group’s first attack within the east African country
• Somalia has previously been dominated by the Al-Qaeda allied al-Shabaab
• However, in recent months ISIS has attempted to recruit its fighters
• For more of the latest Islamic State news visit www.dailymail.co.uk/isis

By COREY CHARLTON FOR MAILONLINE

ISIS claims to have bombed an African Union vehicle on the outskirts of Mogadishu, Somalia, marking what would be its first attack in the country.

Reports of the bombing – which if proven genuine would be the first attack by ISIS’s newly developed cell in an area previously dominated by Al-Qaeda – emerged online today.

The vehicle was hit by an improvised explosive device in the Taridish area on the outskirts of the city, according to SITE Intelligence Group.

Somalia has long been dominated by the al-Shabaab military group (pictured), which is now domestic competition from ISIS

It was not clear if there were casualties or how many people may have been injured in the attack.

However, it comes only a few months after several high profile defections from Al-Qaeda to ISIS’s burgeoning Somalia wing.

The group has released several propaganda videos recently imploring al-Shabaab fighters – who have been aligned to Al-Qaeda for several years – to break ranks and join them.

The African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) was created as a peacekeeping forces designed to quell the al-Shabaab insurgency and help establish a transitional government within the country.

ISIS has also used propaganda videos to try and tempt al-Shabaab officers and soldiers to leave the Al-Shabaab.

Speaking fluently in English, one of the fighters, most likely of Somali origin, urges people in his homeland to turn against al-Shabaab and join a small number of ISIS fighters who have rebelled against al-Shabaab and are now fighting for ISIS.

The video is titled ‘A message to our brothers in Somalia’, with the scripted speech relayed by both an English fighter and another Somali speaker.

An Engish speaking fighter then says: ‘To the mujahideens in al-Shabaab, we call upon you to put aside your pride and arrogance and your blind following of your leaders who lack wisdom.

He then threatens al-Shabaab fighters, asking them what they will say on the day of judgement when questioned by Allah.

‘Fear Allah in dealing with the Muslims. Fear Allah for spilling the blood of the Muslims who have given Bayah (allegiance).

‘Remember that fathers fought against the Crusaders. You are in the same ranks as the Crusaders, killing mujahideen who have given bayah. Fear Allah for spilling the blood of Muslims for it is the greatest injustice,’ he claims.

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