↧
Interview with B/G Hailu Gonfa – SBS Radio
↧
58 Somali nationals were Detained before Obama’s trip to Ethiopia
BY WARKA · AUGUST 15, 2015
The Ethiopian security agency arrested 58 Somali nationals a day before the arrival of President Obama in Addis Ababa.
These Somalis were detained in Addis Ababa central jail for a month before they were eventually deported to Hargeisa Somaliland.
“I have valid documents which will allow me to stay in Addis Ababa, and I was illegally kept under detention for a month” says Ali Ahmed one of the deportees speaking to the English department of Radio Dalsan over the phone in Hargiesa.
The head of the migration department of Somaliland Mr.
Mohamed Ali Yusuf says that they will soon return each and every one of the deported Somalis to their respective locations in the country. Mohamed Omar Hussein shiinetown@hotmail.com
Source– http://www.mareeg.com
↧
↧
The Obama Kenya speech that should have been repeated in Ethiopia
When all is said and done, President Obama’s speech to the Kenyan people delivered at the Safaricom Arena on July 26th(Obama’s Nairobi speech), was perhaps the highlight of his historic trip to Kenya and Ethiopia, the two East African countries he visited back-to-back last month. Obama’s Kenya visit will be particularly long remembered, after the hype and hoopla of the historic state visit subsides in people’s memory, for two reasons: the ease with which he directly connected with his audience and appealed to their sense of dignity and humanity (classic Obama speaking from the heart) and the lucidity of the profound message he delivered to Kenyans, and by extension, to all Africans.
As the son of a Kenyan father who rose to the most powerful office on the planet and a former community organizer, the president perhaps felt a special responsibility to call a spade a spade and engage in frank discussion with Kenyans. He juxtaposed his aspirations for a united, prosperous, and democratic Kenya with his deep-seated fear of the latent tribal and ethnic tremor that rears its ugly head every now and then and implored Kenyans to eschew tribalism and ethnic-based politics. He urged them to instead coalesce around proven universal values of individual freedom and liberty. In that historic speech, Obama warned that Kenya is at a crossroads “Old tribal divisions and ethnic divisions can still be stirred up. I want to be very clear here — a politics that’s based solely on tribe and ethnicity is a politics that’s doomed to tear a country apart. It is a failure — a failure of imagination.” (Bold and italics mine).
That same speech, had it been made with a slight tweak in Ethiopia, it would not only have been timely but would have also deeply-resonated with the people of Ethiopia, the next stop in the president’s two-legged visit to East Africa. In fact, if you compare the risks of ethnic politics faced by the two nations, one could easily argue that Ethiopia is at a much more heightened stage of peril than Kenya, for the simple reason that, strange as it may seem, ethnic politics is enshrined in the constitution of Ethiopia, is the official policy of the government, and is trumpeted by its leaders as a panacea for retroactively correcting “misdeeds” of past generations. The results of this misguided policy are the many fissures manifest in the social and political fabric of today’s Ethiopia — apartheid-like ethnic enclaves where you are treated as a second class citizen if you come from the “wrong” ethnic group, unabashed economic and political domination by a few elites in the name of a minority ethnic group, and blatant ethnic persecution and displacements. Add to these the total closure of peaceful avenues for citizens to air their grievances and propose alternative governance models — the evisceration of the opposition and the recent laughable declaration of 100 percent election victory by the ruling party, religious persecution, and the shutdown of independent media and civil society — the picture becomes dire and calls for an urgent and bold intervention to stop the fissures and start the repair.
Think for a moment the history of our own Ethiopia where our forefathers courageously fought and defeated all kinds of outside invaders, while at the same time engaging in incessant fraternal infighting. According to Obama, such historical facts should be acknowledged but should not be exploited to divide and shackle people in perpetual fear, hatred, and conflict. Obama invoked a famous proverb in his speech that “we have not inherited this land from our forebears, we have borrowed it from our children” to make his point about each generation’s responsibility to strengthen ties across ethnic, tribal, and or religious divides and to pass to future generations a more tolerant, united, prosperous, and stronger nation.
Obama continued in his speech that “… the daily limitations – and sometimes humiliations — of colonialism – that’s recent history. The corruption and cronyism and tribalism that sometimes confront young nations – that’s recent history. ” You can draw parallels between the injustice past and present generations of Kenyans and Ethiopians have endured due to manipulation by their respective dominant ethnic elites. In Ethiopia’s case, Amhara elites in the past and Tigres at present. We should acknowledge this fact and draw lessons from it to build a more-just and equitable system for all, and not to divide and pit people against each other.
In his speech, Obama revealed the fear he harboured during the flare-up of Kenya’s election-related ethnic violence in 2009 “that it [Kenya] might split apart across those lines of tribe and ethnicity.” To everyone’s relief, Kenyans chose to stick together, because “the people of Kenya chose not to be defined by the hatred of the past.” Think of Meles’ insidious speech to his supporters invoking the loaded word “Interahamwe” during the 2005 contested elections, and think at the same time the reaction of the Ethiopian people, who in their infinite wisdom, chose to ignore that depraved call. Ethiopians share Obama’s fear of ethnic conflict in their own country every five years the country undergoes a pre-determined election exercise.
Given all this and the two countries rulers’ proclivity to pulling out the ethnic card to diffuse challenges to their power, it is baffling why Obama chose not to make that same speech in Ethiopia. Perhaps he made those same points to the leaders of Ethiopia behind closed doors. That we might never know. But considering the danger both countries face and the fact the president conducted back-to-back visits to the two countries, one hopes the irony of double standard is not lost on the president and his advisors. The double standard notwithstanding, President Obama’s articulation that “politics that’s based solely on tribe and ethnicity is a politics that’s doomed to tear a country apart” is a significant pronouncement with the potential to directly shape U.S. foreign policy engagement with Ethiopia and other countries afflicted by ethnic/tribal politics moving forward.
We should use every opportunity to point to President Obama’s double standard when it comes to addressing ethnic politics in Kenya and Ethiopia and never cease to remind the U.S. Government of its obligation to openly call for an end to ethnic-based politics in Ethiopia, since the ultimate consequence of such a policy, as Mr. Obama articulated, is assured conflict, fragmentation, and instability — outcomes not in the interest of anyone. Opposition groups and civil society and human rights organizations, should invoke this principled presidential stand to encourage the development and execution of a more pragmatic and appropriate approach by partner countries toward Ethiopia. Ethiopians of all stripes should remain united and continue to strive and forge a peaceful path through reconciliation and harmony. As President Obama noted, pursuing ethnic/tribal politics is a vision devoid ofimagination, and one might add of creativity. It should be totally rejected to the dustbins of history.
↧
Hilton Hotel for President Obama’s Ethiopia 2 days Visit Cost $412K (8mil. birr)
BY JERYL BIER
President Obama visited Kenya and Ethiopia during his recent trip to Africa, and the hotel bill for the president and his entourage totaled approximately $412,390.86 for the Ethiopia stay alone. A contract with the Hilton in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa was posted online recently:
The president arrived in Addis Ababa on Sunday, July 26 and departed on July 28. The government also spent $7,540 for cell phones for the president’s Ethiopia visit. The White House did not respond to a request for an explanation.
Source: https://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/hotel-president-obamas-ethiopia-visit-cost-412k_1011357.html
↧
What is art’s worth in Ethiopia? – BY TIBEBESELASSIE TIGABU
Though there are no auction rooms like the renowned Christie’s of New York City, art galleries are playing their part in satisfying Ethiopian art collectors’ needs, writes Tibebeselassie Tigabu.
Art intellectuals describe the French artist Paul Cezanne as an iconic figure of the post-impressionist age; an artist who was able to bridge the divide between 19th century impressionism and the early 20th century art movement—Cubism. This type of art form is believed to have been inspired by one of Cezanne’s late works where a three-dimensional form is represented. In Cubism objects are analyzed, broken up and reassembled in an abstracted form: instead of depicting objects from one viewpoint, the artist depicts the subject from a multitude of viewpoints to represent the subject in a greater context.
Today Cezanne’s name is larger than most artists for the simplification of naturally-occurring forms to their geometric essentials such treating nature by the cylinder, the sphere, the cone and other shapes that it takes. As the saying goes, a prophet is not without honor save in his own country initially this artist’s work was not well received among the petty bourgeois of Paris and the art community in general where his first exhibition has to be held in the “Salon des Refusés” — French for “exhibition of the rejects”. His radical artistic endeavor was taken as “dishonoring art” at his time.
Unappreciated in his own time, who would have guessed Cezanne’s artwork would be the most expensive piece ever sold. To-date has fetched the highest price ever paid for an artwork. His master art piece entitled “The Card Players” depicting French peasants playing cards was bought by a Qatari royal family for 250 million dollars (an Ethiopian equivalent of five billion birr) three years ago.
Renowned western media institutions reported that the royal family beat two of the world’s top art dealers to win this masterwork. This phenomenon was dubbed “ridiculous” not for those who are detached from the art sale scene, but for those who are familiar with the art world. The Daily Mail describes the deal in the following words “in a single stroke he sets the highest price ever paid for an artwork and upends the modern market.”
However, the recent auction (last May) price attached to another European painter Pablo Picasso at Christie’s New York auction room has also caused a bit of a stir in the art industry. The cubist-style “Women of Algiers (Version O)” is a 1955 Picasso painting which is part of the series of 15 paintings dubbed the “Women of Algiers”. After a fierce bidding which included phone bidders from around the world, the piece was finally sold for 179 million dollars by an anonymous buyer. The record price also drew attention to the lofty sum that the auction house retained, which is 12 percent of the sales price.
With news of multimillion dollars being spent on notable artworks, one can’t help but wonder how much the Ethiopian art market offers to artworks and artists. When it comes to Ethiopia, the highest price ever paid to an artwork done by an Ethiopian-based artist seems to vary depending on the source of the information.
Quite a sizable number of people in the art community seem to believe that it is the mural of Skunder Bughossian, an Ethiopian painter who lived and worked in the US, and who holds the record for art sells in Ethiopia at a price of 250 thousand dollars.
This, however, is controversial since other sources indicate another US-based contemporary artist Julie Meheretu, 45, the Ethiopian abstract painter who lives and works in New York. Actually Julie ranks No.5 in the “top ten most expensive women artist,” a list advertised Art-Net, earning the spot when her 2001 work “Retopistics: A Renegade Excavation” sold for 4.6 million dollar at Christie’s in 2013. According to the website, Julie is the only black artist in the select group. Few Ethiopian artists were able to compete in the international art arena.
Artists such as the late Skunder Boghossian, Gebrekirstos Desta and also the living Wosene Worke Korsof, Elias Sime have art pieces priced at more than hundreds of thousands of birr. Skunder Boghossian is the best know African artist, according to art commentators. His permanent collection is featured in world renowned art venues that include: The Museum of Modern Art, New York; Musee d’Art Moderne, Paris; The Studio Museum in Harlem and the National Museum of African Art, Washington. His formal training at the School of Paris influenced his skill but never touched his heart or imagination. The National Museum of African Art in Washington owns several of his paintings. A few of them are included in the group exhibition ”Ethiopian Passages: Dialogues in the Diaspora,”
Renowned for his Amharic alphabet calligraphy works, Wosene’s masterpieces “color of words”, “Mind of the healer” and “where it all begins” is sold at 75 thousand dollars each at the Gallery of African Art. The price at domestic markets is also not that far. For instance, one of Wosene’s works was sold for 30 thousand dollars a couple of years back at the Ethiopian National Museum.
At the other end of the equation, like many countries in the world, there are struggling artists such as Yemisrach Negash, a street painter around piazza, who sells her art work for only 30 birr. There are also even younger and high profile artists such as Fikru Gebremariam, who sold his art piece for the price of EUR 30 thousand.
For the renowned sculptor and associate professor at Addis Ababa University’s Ale School of Fine Arts and Design, Bekele Mekonnen, the recent art pricing system in Ethiopia is wild at best. According to Bekele in other countries there are standards and regulations when prices are set; but that is not the case in Ethiopia. In other countries many stakeholders involve in the financial valuation of the artwork which includes auction houses, private and corporate collectors, curators, art dealers, gallery owners, experienced consultants and specialized market analysts.
A number of things are taken into consideration when determining the current value of an artwork. These include the portfolio of the artist, the cultural value of the artwork, past and predicted future monetary value of the work, season and the like. Unlike the case in Ethiopia, there is no arbitrary determination of prices, Bekele says. Furthermore, the artist also tried to add value by hiring curators, critics, publishing books, among other things. One thing important in setting the price according to Bekele is the artist’s background: that is their art portfolio.
According to Bekele, governments also regulate the art market through various methods and how the price is determined. In Ethiopia, such an infrastructure does not exist, he argues. Only a number of galleries exist. There is shortage of critics, art dealers, consultants or market analysts. Generally, institutions which help in setting the right price are non-existent, according to Bekele. “It is arbitrary,” he says.
“The market is not consistent; artists with a similar quality of work, painting style might fetch different prices in the market. A recent graduate might give a price of 200 thousand birr for their work at times on a par with more than what established artists charge for their artwork,” Bekele says.
Since there is no measurement to regulate the price in today’s contemporary scene of Ethiopia, artists decide their own price. In the galleries of Addis, the average price for a piece of art is 20 thousand birr, while it can sometimes go as high as 50 thousand birr. Nevertheless, one might also find an artwork for a price as low as three thousand birr in the same galleries.
In special art venues like the annual Art of Ethiopia art fair, which is held in Sheraton Addis, prices can go as high as 500 thousand birr. Bekele says that artists who sell their artwork with less money in their studios double or triple the price without adding any values in such venues. It is not only with the annual art fair, Bekele says, but the artists add price arbitrarily monthly or annually. Looking at this trend he questions why one artist does add a price without adding value.
“Artists do not try to build themselves and also the market does not do anything to build value of artworks. It all depends on the goodwill of the artist and that is not healthy,” Bekele says. With this irregularity of the market there are international traders who come to Ethiopia to purchase the art with a little money and sell it to the international market. Especially, artists showing their work in such venues like the Gebrekirstos Desta Center sell their work for thousands of dollars, he explains.
Bekele says that in many countries how much one profit from selling one’s artwork is regulated; but in Ethiopian there is no such mechanism. Within these irregularities, one thing Bekele appreciate is the artists. He argues that the artists are benefiting from this and also Ethiopian collectors are growing in number. Even as an artist, Bekele says that he has been paid as much as one million birr for his work; he remembers that one of his paintings was sold for 10 thousand dollars recently to decorate the new U.S. Embassy building in Addis Ababa.
“Nowadays, Ethiopian collectors do not even hesitate to buy millions of birr worth of paintings,” Bekele says.
However, this has not been the case always. In previous times, church painters were paid with food and/or services. This tradition has continued and has impacted even artists such as Maitre-artist Afework Tekle. According to Bekle, Afework Tekle sold one of his paintings at a price of 250 birr to Tadele Bitul (Eng.), an art collector, though it was expensive during that time (imperial time). Starting from a couple of hundreds, the world0-renowned artist Afework gradually saw his artwork increase in value. For instance, his artwork “Mother Ethiopia” was priced at 500 million birr by Afework Tekele.
Selamawit Alene, shareholder of St. George Gallery, says Afework was fixated on this 500 million birr price. She says it was in fact his way of saying he is not willing to sell “Mother Ethiopia”.
St. George Gallery is one of the pioneer galleries in Ethiopia, which was established some 24 years ago. The founder, Saba Alene, had her own label of furniture design that she puts on display and later started putting other artists’ work for display. When the gallery started work, they presented artworks of Zerihun Yetmigeta, which is intertwined with the ancient Ethiopian Orthodox touch. Teshome Bekele, Wosene Korsof, Leulseged Reta, Mezgebu were also some of the artists whose artwork were on display.
The gallery works with a commission, taking 35 percent of the art price. The gallery does not determine the artwork’s price: rather the artist comes up with the price. Though quite a number of artists complain about the strict criteria, Selamawit says that their door is open to artists.
One of the criteria the gallery has is to make sure that the art work is original, not copied. Since they have been in the business for quite sometimes now, they know which style is which, which technique and color usage is unique to the artist. Excluding the permanent collection, the gallery has artworks sold up to 70 thousand birr. Selamawit says that from the feedbacks she is getting from international clients the price is medium. She admits though that there is no standard for prices determination in the Ethiopia art market; except of course bargaining.
According to Selamwit, one of the big artists, Gebrekirstos Desta had a habit of giving away his artworks as a gift; now his works are sold at more than 15 thousand dollars. She says artists who have international exposure command good prices in the market. For instance, she mentions that Afework Tekle’s work is fetching up to 25 thousand dollars at her gallery.
Artists approach them with their artworks and also clients ask for the artist they want and they order. Apart from that, Selamawit herself is a collector with her valuable collection featuring Wosene Korsof, Mezgebu, Teshome Bekele and others.
She bought Wosene Korsof’s art work for a price of 14,000 birr years before, only to realize its price have escalated to 30 thousand dollar a few years down the road. Though the number of Ethiopian art buyers is increasing in number, Selamawit says that it still is not a lucrative business. She says many galleries are actually engaged in other side businesses including restaurants. This might not be entirely true for the galleries such as Makush. This gallery serves Italian-style cuisine apart from the art sells. However, according to recent reports, Makush’s revenue from the gallery is way more than what it makes from the restaurant.
Apart from Makush, the annual festival Art of Ethiopia is also successful in marketing a number of artworks. During this exhibition, however, one face is common—Mulugeta Tesfakiros, CEO of Muller Real Estate and co-owner of Awash Winery SC. He is one of the prominent art collectors in Ethiopian. Even at this year’s edition of the fair, he bought 21 art works. He started collecting 12 years ago and currently owns 400 priceless pieces.
His first collection was Leulseged Reta’s work with 30 thousand birr. Now he has around 30 works of Leulseged. After sometimes he says that he started exploring Ethiopia’s art scene and now he know who is who in the art. Apart from the invitation to different exhibitions he says a lot of artists actually come with their works. “As much as I can, I want to support Ethiopian art,” Mulugeta says.
All in all, Muller told The Reporter that Bekele Haile, Daniel Taye, Gebrekirstos as well as Leulseged Reta and from the younger generation Yared Oliveli are parts of artists whose works are featured in his collection.
Though the number of art collectors in Ethiopia is increasing, still artists have to work hard to sell their artworks. One of those artists, Seifu Abebe, Ethiopian Visual Art Aassociation Secretary, says it needs a strategy to sell artworks.
Spending more than a decade in the art, he still strives for sponsors. In his recent exhibition entitled “The Return” at Taitu Hotel, out of the 37 pieces he presented he was able to sell only 20 ranging in price from seven to 20 thousand birr. “You just don’t sell your art. Rather it needs promotion, networking and strategy,” Seifu says.
He says that he was lucky in securing that since there are situations where it could be difficult to sell even one painting. “Although a few galleries in town do ok with their foreign clientele, for the most part it is a big deal if they even sell three paintings within a month,” Seifu argues.
The main buyers in the local art market are the diaspora returnees, according to Seifu. It seems that, now-a-days, seeing hotels and houses being decorated with paintings as interior designers consider paintings (artworks) as the main part of their work Artists like Seifu can now hope—hope that they will receive better price for their creativity.
↧
↧
US newlyweds tried to join Islamic State militants
A young Mississippi couple have been charged with attempting to join the Islamic State militant group.
Twenty-year-old Jaelyn Delshaun Young and 22-year-old Muhammad “Mo” Dakhlalla were arrested at the airport just before boarding a flight with tickets bound for Istanbul.
A judge in Oxford, Mississippi, refused them bail, even though the pair had never been in trouble with the law before and have relatives willing to oversee their home confinement.
Video journalist: Andrew Webb
>
↧
African Union says Burundi crisis a ‘catastrophic’ risk for region
Violence erupted in April, when President Nkurunziza launched his now successful but controversial bid for a third term [AP]
ADDIS ABABA | BY AARON MAASHO
Reuters
The crisis in strife-torn Burundi risks spiraling into a “catastrophe’ for the country and the wider region, the African Union warned on Sunday, after the killing of a senior military official amid escalating unrest.
Unidentified gunmen killed Colonel Jean Bikomagu, a former chief of staff, outside his home in Bujumbura on Saturday. It was the second high-profile assassination this month as the fallout from the re-election of President Pierre Nkurunziza worsened in the central African nation.
Nkurunziza was declared winner of elections held in July, for a third term that both opponents and Western powers said violated the constitution and provisions of a peace deal which ended a 1993-2005 civil war between the Hutu majority and Tutsi minority.
Neighboring Rwanda, which shares a similar ethnic population and where a 1994 genocide killed 800,000 people, has also expressed its concern over the unrest.
In a statement, AU Commission chairwoman Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma condemned Bikomagu’s killing.
Zuma “underlines that this ignoble act and many other violent acts in Burundi these last few months illustrate the gravity of the situation and the real risk of further deterioration with catastrophic consequences for the country and the whole region,” the statement said.
Bikomagu was army chief during the civil war that started in 1993 when the Tutsi-dominated army was fighting Nkurunziza’s CNDD-FDD Hutu rebels.
The election-related violence has been especially frequent in the capital Bujumbura, where the sound of gunfire is regularly heard at night.
The Geneva office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights said last week that at least 96 people had been killed since the start of election-related unrest in April and urged leaders to renounce violence and resume their political dialogue.
Zuma “insists once again on the imperative of dialogue and consensus to work for a peaceful and durable solution to the crisis and to preserve the important points in the 2000 Arusha Accord,” the statement said.
Burundi’s security council, headed by Nkurunziza, said late on Saturday that it has asked for rapid investigations and the arrest and trial of the perpetrators behind the recent killings.
(Editing by George Obulutsa and Digby Lidstone)
↧
A MISTAKE WITH A RISK OF DISASTROUS OUTCOMES
By a patriotic Ethiopian
By what even other names they may be called, Woyanne (TPLF) and Shabia (EPLF) are now at the helm of power in Ethiopia and Eritrea, respectively. Both groups originated from the same tribal stalk marinated with European colonial and Arab petro-dollar influences, with startling similarities in a number of aspects before and after holding power. The administrative “games” they implement in the name of government in their respective countries are basically the same as those they followed when they were rebel guerrilla fighters against Ethiopia. As they were in their guerrilla years, they are still tribal, crude, harsh and backward in every aspect of their attitudes and activities. After having been in power for about a quarter of a century, there is no any sign of genuine change in these attributes in both cases. Although the two groups seem to disagree with each other in some instances, these factors, together with ethnic and political commonalities, bind them together more tightly to look out for each other’s interest when needed,
After Ethiopia and Eritrea fall in the hands of TPLF and EPLF, both countries were in wars with each other on several occasions. Both have encountered significant human and material loses due to these wars. Experts link the wars primarily to economic and/or simply “egoistic” reasons on the part of the leaderships. The issue of the border town of Badem has currently become a major excuse for finger pointing at each other and ranting. Although the UN Boundary Commission has decided in favor of Eritrea regarding Badem, TPLF has not been willing to accept the decision for political expediency. This action of TPLF has turned Shabia’s Issays furious, forcing him to consider taking revenge against the TPLF regime. Coinciding with the interests of some Ethiopian opposition groups against TPLF, political parties like G7 have started working with Shabia to fight TPLF, with the ultimate goal of removing it from power. However, many well-intentioned Ethiopians have questioned the merits and possible outcomes of such a collaborative effort between the anti-Ethiopia organization, Shabia, and G7, and I am one of those Ethiopians. I believe that it is not only impossible to bring about positive changes in Ethiopia by working with Shabia, but the country will also be burdened with additional problems that will it harder to overcome.
Shabia has accepted that the exploitation of Ethiopia is key to the survival and development of Eritrea. Since Eritrea is a much smaller country, the organization believes Ethiopia should remain weak in order to be malleable for manipulation and exploitation. To accomplish this objective, Shabia has been serving as a shelter and a source of resources for different liberation fronts that are bent to destroy Ethiopia. These libration fronts include OLF and ONLF. In the face of this ongoing anti-Ethiopia effort, how come one expects to get genuine support from Shabia that can help the Ethiopian people in the long run? Is this the intended goal of G7 and its other Ethiopian allies?
There are reports that Shabia is engaged in the day-to-day control of the activities of patriotic Ethiopian fighters stationed in Eritrea to fight the TPLF regime with arms. This action of Shabia is partly reflected by the lack of expected progress in the fight against TPLF and the disappearances of some key leaders of the fighters. In addition, previously Shabia was involved in the dismantling of once the strongest Ethiopian opposition party, Kinejit, by creating a fake organization known as AFD.
Available evidence further indicates that high-positioned Eritreans working in Ethiopia (including military personnel) are in the service of Eritrea at the expense Ethiopia. This loyalty towards Eritrea is in contrast to the widely claimed antagonistic attitude of the TPLF regime agonist the nation. In fact, many believe that the seemingly hostile attitude of TPLF towards Eritrea is a made-up lie created by the very TPLF only for public consumption, primarily by nationalist Tigre.
If Shabia has a concern about the well-being of Ethiopia and its people, it should also be expected to be concerned, at least equally, about its own people, the Eritreans. It has been well witnessed by the entire world that Shabia is one of the most repressive and brutal regimes in the world, and Eritreans, under shabia, are among the most suffering people. How do we expect this cruel organization to be helpful for Ethiopians? Clearly, it is wrong and immoral to collaborate with such a terrorist organization for any purpose. With this relationship, there is also a possibility of “guilty by association” with likelihood of unpleasant consequences.
With all the dishonesty, crimes and immorality associated with Shabia and the TPLF, what can be expected to happen next concerning Ethiopians who are working with Shabia against the TPLF regime? A likely long-term scenario could be that after Shabia becomes comfortable of controlling as many opposition Ethiopians as possible, a fake negotiation will be instituted between the two regimes to exchange anti-TPLF Ethiopians from Eritrea for something Shabia wants from TPLF, possibly the abdication of Badem. In this way, all Ethiopians in Eritrea opposing TPLF will be transferred to Ethiopia and forced to fall in the hands of TPLF. It is not rocket science to predict what will happen to them and to the struggle, following this. On the other hand, it will be a win-win situation for the two criminal organizations, once again benefiting big time from our weakness.
What can possibly be done to prevent this gloomy possibility? Obviously, the first action is to stop collaborating with the confirmed historical enemy of Ethiopia, Shabia, as it has not made a change of mind in its destructive policy against Ethiopia and the Ethiopian people, irrespective of its status of power and influence. Instead, these Ethiopian opposition groups should strive to create a stronger bond with other like-minded Ethiopians as much as possible to work together against the TPLF regime and for the well being the Ethiopian people. Their efforts should include actions in all fronts including winning new friends and supports from reliable sources outside Ethiopia and mobilizing and actively supporting the Ethiopian people for a better fight against their home-grown enemy. There are many examples of success stories in many places based on these approaches of struggle against tyranny and exploitation. What is needed in Ethiopia’s case is also to show the willingness and determination to do it. There is no need to go far away in search of a very risky adventure.
↧
Ethiopia: Emergency Assistance Demand Rises to 4.5m People
By Dawit Endeshaw
A new report released by United Nation Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) shows that the number of relief food beneficiaries in Ethiopia has increased to 4.5 million in August 2015.
This has come after a mid year review on Humanitarian Requirement-2015 which was just released today on the presence of donors and representatives from Ethiopian government.
The report has also disclosed that the funding requirement for food and non-food items is up by 10.6 pc to 386 million dollars from January’s forecast, of which 158 million dollar is the net mid year requirement.
The report attributed the increased humanitarian requirement in the second half of 2015 to the failed rains and partly to delays in relief food and targeted supplementary feeding response during the first half of the year.
↧
↧
How Ethiopia’s Two Tier System Is Destroying The Country
By M. T. Gebre
The Ethiopian government is in a fantasy world when it comes to its economic growth predication. From making an inflated premature milestone celebration when it comes to the social safety nets of its population, in particular the health care sector, to being a country content on being an equity loving government among its diverse population – the government is a mouth piece for a nation that is manipulating the world with the belief that it is becoming a more human society.
One area, the world, in particular Yale University has congratulated Ethiopia on is its health care system. Yet, that system is one that is influenced by corruption, incompetence and political intervention. Heavily controlled and influenced by partisan cadres rather than health care professionals, it is still a system lacking direction. Those that continue to speak up against its shortcomings, are either imprisoned, sent abroad as refuges or become mere observers, as their status and positons are compromised.
My experience in the Somali region of Ethiopia, as a health care professional, has given me a glimpse of where Ethiopia’s health care system is and is headed.
A region, largely undeveloped and with a system that is discriminatory of women, the corruption rate in this region has truly been neglected. Even the government of Ethiopia has often recognized these shortcomings but looked elsewhere, since the development of this area is not in their political interest. Lack of resources and almost no health care professionals has produced a crises and the region still has difficulty keeping those working in the area and attracting prospective health care workers.
As a result, poorly trained professionals, such as a nurse trained for a mere six month serves as a medical director, not based on her or his qualification but because of their political affiliation. They often serve the government’s political interest rather than the publics. Often time, health care is not available to the public unless based on their political status and privilege. Most health care workers are lax with their availability, often choosing to chew “khat” – a stimulating flowering plant native to the Horn of Africa and the Arabian Peninsula – rather than be available to those in need.
This can be dangerous because access to medical attention shouldn’t be hindered by the time the help is needed. Access should be a constant and accessible at all hours, especially when it is urgent and time sensitive. The corrupt system that is in place has caused many preventable citizens lose their lives for lack of basic attention.
As a result of the aforementioned harmful practices, I have witnessed widespread severe complications such as urinary and reproductive tract infections, death by severe bleeding, abscess formation, and increased susceptibility to many blood borne diseases. In addition to effective over-night solutions being hard to come by, the government is not doing enough prevention and information campaigns that may help the population to smoothly transition into healthier cultural practices.
The gross mistreatment of women in the Somali region of Ethiopia can be illustrated by many things such as female genital mutilation, early marriages, and ultimately the environment in which women are forced to give birth. The lives of the women in the Somali region are perhaps some the worst in the world. Harmful and illegal practices are the norm in this region. Unfortunately the government does not even take minimal action to prevent this mistreatment.
The most horrific cultural practice is sewing a woman’s genitals after performing female genital mutilation (FGM) — a fourth degree FGM. This practice is so common that even healthcare professionals have had to accept it and live with it. I haven’t seen any one openly opposing this situation during my work in the region, probably because it is dangerous to do so. Other harmful practices like early marriage and having too many children that the family cannot afford to raise is just as ordinary. It seems that the federal government either does not know what is happening in the region or it does not give attention to the problems.
The age at which women in the Somali region get married is low, perhaps, the lowest in Ethiopia. On average a Somali region woman is married by the age of 15. Further, on average a man can have 2-3 wives and there are usually 8-10 children per mother. Moreover, giving birth without a skilled attendant is widespread and dangerous. To make matters worse, the majority of women give birth both in an unsafe environment and with an unskilled birth attendant. Thus, high maternal morbidity and mortality characterizes the region. The consequences affect not only the mothers but the children as well. As the children also have significantly high morbidity rate and death rate.
One of the causes of morbidity in child health that is encountered most often is malnutrition. Malnutrition has become a major health sector burden in the Somali region. A physically and mentally adequate generation in the future is not plausible should these practices continue. The fact is that these horrible practices target women, and as women will bear and raise the next generation, they deserve proper education.
Ultimately they can pass on this education to their children, both male and female, ensuring the well-being of the next generation. Since this has yet to occur, two generations of women remain helpless. The women are victims of this corrupt system, and the female children they have brought into this world are destined for the same fate.
The government has turned a blind-eye to all of these problems, yet they boast that the inclusive health sector in Ethiopia is booming and that we will achieve the health status of middle income countries by 2020. The government of Ethiopia needs to be true to itself and to the world. That is unrealistic and a claim made for the purpose of sheer propaganda. More effort and attention in changing the bureaucratic system and harmful cultural practices through education on reproductive health and family planning may lower maternal and child mortality and can save the generation. Educating and empowering women by breaking social norms and reducing discrimination against the female gender must have taken place a long time ago. Perhaps, the political cadres of the region are too busy fabricating false data about the booming health sector to tell the world and the Ethiopian populace instead of doing something tangible to actually help improve it.
This is deeply saddening because corruption and mistreatment should not be instilled within a health care system. Rather, they should be meeting the health needs of all people in the country whether they are rich, poor, Somali or Tigray.
I hope, the upcoming Ethiopian New Year gives the people of Ethiopia the wisdom needed to bring systemic change in the country. I hope those who can truly change the country, the government officials, will do their part.
The author of this article, M. T. Gebre is a graduate of Jimma Medical School and served as a Medical Doctor in Deghabour Hospital, in the Somali Region of Ethiopia. The article is based on her reflection of her time at the hospital. She currently resides in Toronto, Canada.
August, 2015.
↧
Panel Discussion with Professor Mamo Muchie – Toronto
↧
Why resist the Addis Abeba Master Plan? – A constitutional legal exploration
Tsegaye R. Ararssa
When,in mid April 2014, the government in Ethiopia announced its readiness to implement what it called the “Addis Abeba Integrated Regional Development Plan” (the “Master Plan” for short), which proposes to annex most of the city’s surrounding areas belonging to the National Regional State of Oromia, it provoked an immediate reaction from university students across the state of Oromia. But through the instrumentality of its security forces (such as the Federal and State Police, the Army, and the Special Forces), the government responded with brutal repression of the protests.
Fuelled by anger triggered by the reckless words and utter disdain expressed in the course of a televised discussion between the Addis Abeba City Administration and the mayors and other executives from the surrounding towns over the Master Plan, and informed by a history of killing, mutilation, dispossession, and political marginalization (all of which continue unabated), the protests were more a spontaneous reaction than a planned resistance. In a series of campus-based and street protests that barely lasted for two weeks, countless innocent Oromos were killed and jailed.
Although unfounded claims that some of these students were released on July 9th in the wake of President Barak Obama’s visit to Ethiopia, many of them remain jailed and are appearing in a court of law charged with the country’s infamous anti-terrorism proclamation.
In this piece, I seek to make a close reading of the constitutional-legal frame within which to situate the Master Plan. Accordingly, first, I seek to explore the constitutional-legal context within which the Master Plan should be considered and analyzed. Next, I will present a summary of four major constitutional-legal arguments against the Master Plan.
Constitutional context
The point of departure is the assumption that – the important debate about legitimacy aside – the constitution is ‘the supreme law of the land’ against which the validity of all laws, decisions, and practices is measured. According to the constitution, the Ethiopian state is federal in structure (arts 1 and 50-52). Ethiopia is a ‘nation of nations’ that can be considered a multinational federation. In the language of the constitution, ‘Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples’ are the locus of sovereignty (art 8) and have the right to self-determination (art-39). As sovereign entities, they are the ‘building blocks’ that have a co-equal share in the founding of the contemporary Ethiopian polity. As subjects with the right to self-determination, they have, inter alia, the right to a ‘full measure of self-government’ (art 39(3)). Accordingly, most of these ‘nations,’ based on the four-fold criteria: settlement pattern, language, identity, and consent of the people concerned’ (art 46(1)), have established the nine states that constitute federal Ethiopia (art. 47), one of which is the state of Oromia.
Addis Abeba (which Oromos call Finfinne) is designated as the “capital city of the federal” government (art 49(1)) whose ethnically diverse people have a right to self-government (art 49(2)) that is ultimately responsible to the federal government (art 49(3)). Being an Oromo city (albeit the constitution talks only about its ‘location’ in Oromia), it is also the capital city of the state of Oromia. This was stated in both the old and revised constitutions of Oromia (Art 6 of the 1995 constitution and Art 6 of the revised 2001 Constitution as amended in 2005). Owing to its being an Oromo city, the constitution clearly recognizes Oromia’s ‘special interest in Addis Abeba’ particularly in relation to social services, natural resources, and joint administrative matters (art 49(5)).
The articulation of the content of this special interest has been a matter of quiet controversy between the Oromia government and the federal government. The law envisaged to come to effect in order to articulate it was never made. Oromia’s request for the law fell on deaf ears; and its formal request for interpretation from the constitutional interpreter (the House of Federation cum Council of Constitutional Inquiry) was rejected by the latter on the ground that they do not give ‘advisory opinion’ in the absence of ‘case and controversy’. In the meantime, the formal and informal land-grabbing continued to spread into the neighboring towns and districts. There being no formal institution that regulates inter-governmental relations –and the federal government being indifferent to the concerns of Oromia and the city government virtually absent from the scene since 2005 – the matter became increasingly irritating to the Oromia officials. Frustrated, in 2009, the legislature of Oromia, the Caffee, established a ‘Special Zone’ of towns and districts that surround the city of Addis Abeba. This, they hoped, would give them a focused mode of operation in relation to the specific problems of these towns that are hard hit by the spillover effect of Addis Abeba’s problems (such as wanton destruction of the forest, environmental pollution due to emissions from factories and flower farms, illegal constructions and settlements, all of which was buttressed by absence of governance and corruption).
The boundary of the city was long agreed to be the boundary of the city as circumscribed in 1992 (as per Proclamation No.7/1992 which identified the city as one of the 14 Regions). According to the constitution, the boundaries of states is subject to review either through referendum organized in relation to self-determination (art 39), or through a formal constitutional amendment process (art 105(2)). To date, no such referendum was heldnor was there any attempt to amend the constitution.
Four legal arguments against the Master Plan:
The whole thrust of this piece is to argue that the Master Plan is legally indefensible. Contrary to what government lawyers claim (arguing that the plan is part of constitutional mandate to create one ‘economic’ and ‘political’ community),the plan violates the letter and the spirit of the constitution on many levels. In this section, I present four arguments that indicate that the plan is unconstitutional. As I do so, I will touch upon the content, process, and consequence of the plan and its political implications.
Argument from federalism
The plan violates the principle of federalism. In particular, it violates the principle of comity and mutual respect (art 50(8)) and the proper mode of managing intergovernmental relations pertaining to cities. This seems to emanate from a fundamental misunderstanding of federalism. In an unending turn of irony, the government is blaming the Oromo public for misunderstanding the ‘true goal’ of federalism. This misunderstanding is also compounded by the belief held among many that Addis Abeba belongs to the federal government. It also stems from mistaking the federation for a decentralized unitary system. Nothing typifies this more than the heavy reliance on the Master Plans of cities in a unitary country, namely Paris and Lyon of France.
As indicated above, the Master Plan also wrongly conceives Addis Abeba as a federal territory when what it actually is, is the seat of the federal government. In other words, it is wrongly thought that Addis Abeba is the territory of the federal government. In reality, Addis Abeba is not a federal capital territory. It is an Oromo city which serves as the capital city of both the federal government and the government of Oromia.That this has not been clearly spelt out in the constitution has caused an immense sense of insecurity and agitation among Oromos for a long time. The fact that the constitution speaks about it in terms of its ‘location in Oromia’ makes the issue of ownership ambiguous thereby reinforcing the sense of insecurity among Oromos. The ambiguity has also caused the confusion as to who the host is and who the guest is.
As a self-governing city ultimately accountable to the federal government, Addis Abeba is governed through its own city charter and its own Master Plan (which, legally, is expected to be revised every ten years). The city’s charter defines the powers and responsibilities of the different organs of the city government (the council, the Mayor and the Executive (the Cabinet/the Bureau Heads, and the General Managers), and the Municipality Court. It also defines the powers and responsibilities of the sub-cities (aliasKifle-Ketema) and districts (Kebeles). The city’s territorial limit is defined and the competence/jurisdiction of the city government has been clearly established. The boundary of the city ends at the outer limits of the ten Kifle-Ketemas.
As one of the nine constituent states of the Ethiopian federation, Oromia has its own jurisdiction over its own bounded territory, with its own government that operates (ideally) in accordance with its own constitution. The powers of the states (exclusive and shared as concurrent) are clearly defined in the federal constitution (arts 51-52). The Constitution of Oromia is the supreme law of the territory of Oromia (art 9). Caffee Oromia is the legislature and the supreme political organ in the parliamentary system of government that the state has adopted for itself (art. 50(3) of FDRE and art 46 of the Oromia Constitution). As such, the Caffee is responsible for making any decision (legislative, financial, and political) over matters in its territory within its jurisdictional competence. Needless to say, it does not involve in the administration of the city of Addis Abeba—although one expression of its special interest is its involvement in joint administration of the city.
Imposing a Master Plan designed by the Federal Government(using the City Council as a proxy) on the towns of Oromia and incorporating these towns into Addis Abeba violates the principle of federalism. Ideally, if the city seeks to coordinate its development with the adjacent territories and townships, then it initiates a formal intergovernmental coordination of city development. It can invite the government of the State of Oromia to make a similar effort to raise the level of development of the surrounding cities so that necessary linkages are created in accordance with agreed terms of reference and agreed set of logistical and financial responsibilities. A joint inter-governmental body that oversees the legality, political propriety, financial efficiency, and administrative effectiveness of the project is established. This body could be an ad hoc bilateral inter-governmental relations (IGR) body or it could be a permanent and multilateral body that manages the intergovernmental relations under a pre-existing set of principles and rules. In Ethiopia, the latter framework does not exist. The Master Plan under discussion now is prepared entirely by the Addis Abeba City government (under the patronage of the Federal Government, especially, the Ministry of Federal Affairs), to be run by a project team of the city overseen by a Board of senior officials of the two governments. That it is the city officials that train the Oromia officials about the implementation of the plan betrays the truth about who is in charge of the plan. The fact that some of the Oromia mayors raised questions about the need to consult the government and people of Oromia regarding the matter, even at this late stage, is another indication of how the task is an exclusively Addis Abeba business that is conducted at the expense of the excluded Oromia.
The fact that the plan speaks of incorporating 36 towns and 17 Woredas of Oromia to make them part of the Greater Addis Abeba territory is also a blatant attempt at modifying the territory of the state of Oromia unilaterally. This act of altering boundaries cannot normally happen without a formal constitutional amendment or through the self-determination act that is overseen by the house of federation under article 39(1) & (4) cum arts 62 of the Federal Constitution. Moreover, by subsuming these towns andWoredas of Oromia under Addis Abeba administration, the plan submerges and liquidates the long-demanded special interest of Oromia in the city. Instead of answering the question, this plan now makes the special interest irrelevant by further peripheralizing the state of Oromia from matters concerning the city or the wider country.
In short, the Master Plan is constitutionally indefensible because it: violates the principle of federal comity (mutual respect of the different orders of government); usurps the power/jurisdiction of the state of Oromia; alters the boundary of Oromia by incorporating 36 towns and 17 Woredasof the regional state of Oromia into Addis Abeba and subordinating their jurisdiction under the city government; and eliminates the special interest of Oromia and makes the question irrelevant.
The Master Plan violates the procedure for constitutional amendment
In altering the boundaries of the state of Oromia and the city administration of Addis Abeba, the plan delves into measures that necessitate constitutional amendment. According to the constitution (arts 46-47), states are formed on the basis of settlement pattern, language, identity, and consent of the people concerned. In theory, this act of carving the constituent units is completed when the constitution was adopted in 1995. Presumably, it is based on these criteria that the units were established. The imperative of self-determination allows the possibility of forming a new unit in the federation and/or a separate state (outside of the federation). But when that happens, that effects a constitutional amendment. In order to change the boundaries of existing states, like the one that the Master Plan is forcing upon the State of Oromia, however, one needs to initiate a constitutional amendment in which one either changes the criteria of unit formation or just injects a clause that takes note of the boundaries of the concerned states in article 46-47. To do so without such an amendment or through an act of self-determination will challenge the integrity of the constitution. This Master Plan, by incorporating the new towns and woredas into Addis Abeba, alters too much without a formal constitutional amendment and as such is unconstitutional. This by passing of procedures of amendment will ultimately affect the integrity of the constitution and the order thereof. But in an ‘authoritarian constitutional system’ in which the text of the constitution is invoked more to legitimize sinister political goals than to advance just ideals, subverting the constitutional ideals through other laws and/or policies does not come as a surprise.
The Master Plan violates human rights
More importantly, the Master Plan leads to the violation of individual rights of Oromo farmers, the collective rights of Oromos qua Oromos, and the rights of the State of Oromia. To begin with, the Master Plan violates the rights of Oromo farmers to socio-economic benefits. Accordingly, the Oromo farmers’ “right to obtain land without payment and the protection against eviction from their possession” (under art 40(6)) will be violated by the evictions that this Master Plan entails. Similarly, their right to livelihood, adequate living standard, chosen work, or generally, access to economic facilities (e.g. land) and social opportunities (including mother-tongue education) will be at risk in the event that this Master Plan is implemented. All these rights, one notes, are elaborately stated in art 41 of the FDRE constitution. The right of these farmers to participate in the design of development plans (arts 89(6)), is also affected by the Master Plan. Moreover, the cultural rights of Oromos under art 41(9) such as preservation of historical and cultural legacies will be compromised in a city that has historically neglected and/or actively denigrated the Oromo culture and identity. Depending on the aim and content of the Master Plan (which is not clear so far in spite of the insistence of the officials to the contrary), the right of Oromo farmers to a “clean and healthy environment” (under art 44(1) cum art 92(1)) may be adversely affected. The right of displaced persons or those “whose livelihoods have been adversely affected as a result of programs” to “commensurate monetary or alternative means of compensation, including relocation with adequate state assistance” will be violated. This is because past experience shows that the state neither paid compensation nor provided relocation funds. The token of ‘compensation’ investors paid was neither adequate nor voluntary. If experience is something to go by, there is hardly a reason for anyone to expect that the displacements that come about because of the implementation of this plan will be any different. The fact that the “right to administrative justice” and the right to remedies is not explicitly recognized in the constitution compounds the problems that might arise in the event that the Master Plan is implemented.
The second category of rights that the Master Plan violates pertains to the collective right of Oromos. If land is jointly owned by the “Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples” and the State (as per art. 40(3) cum 40(6)), the Master Plan defies the right of the Oromos as Oromos to their land. In addition, the right of Oromo communities to development (art 43) and environment (art 44) in their own state will be violated. Moreover, as a matter of state policy objectives, the constitution also considers ‘peoples’ right to participation in policy formulation (art 90(6)) and to “consultation and expression of views” (art 92(3)) as important. The fact that the process so far lacked participation of the public makes it evident that these rights of the Oromo are already violated and/or are exposed to violation. The Master Plan also continues the decades-long neglect of the special interest of the State of Oromia. In fact, it renders it irrelevant.
The principle of direct democracy in art 8 (3) suggests that citizens not only engage in consultation but also protest government policies when they disagree with them. The students’ and the peoples’ protest should not have been met with killings, shootings, and arrests and detentions. The junior Oromo officials’ objection to the Master Plan in the training sessions shouldn’t have been met with reprisals. That the protest to resist the implementation of the Master Plan has led to arbitrary killings, injuries, arrests, and detentions implicates it not only in a blatant defiance of peoples’ voices but also in a gross violation of human rights of Oromo citizens.
The Master Plan ignores state duty to ensure good governance
Transparency and accountability are the epitome of good governance. Officials of the government in Ethiopia make a frequent use of these terms to justify almost any measure they take. In fact, most of their policies are justified in the name of enhancing development and ensuring good governance.Constitutionally speaking, the state has the obligation to conduct its affairs in a transparent and accountable manner. Thus, according to article 12 of (both the FDRE and Oromia) constitution, “the conduct of government shall be transparent (1). Any public official or an elected representative is accountable for any failure in official duties (2).” That is to say that, first, the conduct of government (i.e., its deliberation, decision, or action) is done openly before a watching public. Policies, laws, programs, and measures adopted by state are expected to be made available to the public. To ensure accountability, the officials are expected to listen to the peoples’ views, be responsive to the public’s demands, and take responsibility for such policies, laws, programs, and measures (especially if they have adverse consequences for the people).
The Master Plan’s design is shrouded in secrecy. To date, despite all efforts, I could not trace the authoritative version of the Master Plan document that also explains the goals and objectives, the rationales, and the enabling/disabling legal environment among others.
To date, the government did not assume responsibility for the adverse consequences that flew from the Master Plan. After brutal repression of the protest by the security forces, the officials have been trying to persuade the public about the “supreme importance” of the plan and to demand that people should not listen to the distraction by “some external forces seeking to make political gains” and forces that want to disrupt “our development”. The government officials repeatedly suggested that the Oromo public are misinformed and agitated by ‘others’. They have thus conducted a series of meetings “to correct the public’s misunderstanding of the matter.” No measure is taken to bring to justice the security forces that went on a rampage of shooting. Not even a commission of inquiry is instituted. No government official expressed regret or apology for the death of innocent students, children and other protestors.Some of the students who were jailed more than a year ago are still in jail without charges and those charged by prosecutors, namely: BilisummaDammana, LenjisaAlemayehu, AbebeUrgessa, AdugnaKesso, TeshaleBekele and MagarsaWarqu will be reappearing at a court in Addis Abeba on August 6th. No government official came out to make any statement showing a willingness to rethink the Master Plan. This refusal to take responsibility and to be accountable to the public may exacerbate the tension impacting negatively on the peace and stability of the country in general. While that does not come as a surprise to people constantly living in an overly securitized state, to legal professionals, the absence of any gesture in the direction of ensuring accountability suggests the need for us to consider international tribunals before which the officials should be held accountable personally as individuals and collectively as a government.
Conclusion
By showing how the plan is against the principle of federal comityand by demonstrating its incompatibility with the federal structure of the contemporary state; by showing how the Plan destabilizes the integrity of the constitutional order by neglecting the procedural rules for constitutional amendment; through identifying the human rights (individual and collective) that the Master Plan will put at risk; and by discussing how the design and implementation of the plan is shrouded in secrecy and the consequent defiance of the constitutional principle of transparency and accountability, I have attempted to present an argument that the plan is constitutionally-legally indefensible. It is important to note that the invocation of development as an overarching goal does not justify the inappropriateness of the plan or the massive violation of the rights of the displaced farmers and of the protestors that held demonstrations to resist the implementation of the Master Plan. In a ‘constitutional’ order that supposedly recognizes the importance of the voice and votes of the peoples of Ethiopia (let alone in one where they are sovereign), to protest a policy would be a mere exercise of a right, one that helps to overcome the democratic deficits of a representative government, not a condition that will render a citizen an enemy to be eliminated by all means necessary (including murder and torture by Special Forces of the Ethiopian army).
The announcement of the Master Plan has led to another round of killing and arrests of the Oromo youth. Ethiopian jails are beefed up yet more. Oromia is subjected to a continued state terror. Ethiopia is fast becoming a concentration camp of Oromos. But Oromo national resistance is also taking a national scale and continuing to haunt Ethiopia once more. Coming back in resilience, Oromo nationalism refuses to die, defies the repression, and returns to the Ethiopian scene once more.
As ever, in its response to the protests, Ethiopia demonstrated that it did not know how to handle peoples’ demand politically. Of course it does know how to handle it militarily. But then, one needs to ask: when will these men in the uniform (the soldiers) face and bow to the men in robes (the judges)? When will the men in suits (the politicians) face and bow to the men in robes (the judges)? When will the law (with all its limitations and its embeddedness in politics) take precedence over politics as policing? Only time will tell.
ED’s Note: Tsegaye R. Ararssa is a PhD Candidate at The University of Melbourne Law School, and can be reached at: tsegayer@gmail.com
↧
Egypt looks to import Ethiopian meat at discounted prices
CAIRO: Minister of Supply and Trade Khaled Hanafi is researching the import of Ethiopian meat at discounted prices for citizens through meetings with Egyptian ambassador in Ethiopia Abu Bakr Al-Hanafi and Egyptian ambassador in the State of Togo Mohammad Karim Sharif, the ministry announced Wednesday.
During one of the meetings, they discussed how to import Ethiopian meat at discounted prices to place it in the branches for the citizens from the products of the Holding Company for Food Industries to West Africa markets across the State of Togo.
No statements have been issued about the new prices, but currently, market prices for meat range between 75 and 90 EGP ($9.58 and $11.1) per kilo.
In March, President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi Ethiopian PM Hailemariam Desalegn listened to remarks by businessmen to enhance economic and trade relations between the countries, according to Egyptian State Information Systems (SIS). The businessmen requested the establishment of an industrial zone, or other means to find cheaper transportation to reduce expenses and enhance Ethiopian industry, SIS stated.
↧
↧
Five, charged under the file of Zelalem, acquitted, released
Four individuals, charged under the file of our co-blogger, Zelalem Workagegnehu, have been today released after being detained for over one year. The court stated that sufficient evidences were not presented against them. Abraha Desta, Habtamu Ayalew, Abraham Solomon, Daniel Shibeshi & Yeshiwas Assefa are to be released soon. Abraha Desta, has been an online activist and the official of the opposition, Arena Party, Habtamu Ayalew and Daniel Shibeshi were the leaders of the the de funct UDJ party, and Abraham Solomon, charged for activities with our co-blogger Zelalem, is not a member of any party.
The Court decided that Zelalem Workagegnehu, Yonatan Woldie, Solomon Girma, Bahiru Degu & Tesfaye Teferi should defend their case and the Court adjourned their case to November 7-9, 2015. According to the publication of the opposition Blue Party, Negere Ethiopia, most of their charges have been changed and the detainees are now charged under Article 7/1 of Ethiopia’s Anti-Terror Proclamation, which relates to recruitment of members “punishable with rigorous imprisonment from 5 to 10 years.”
Five of the individuals acquitted today, were charged under most articles of the same Proclamation. The Court today decided little evidence has been presented by the Prosecutor.
The Amharic version of the report follows
ዛሬ ነሃሴ 14/2007 ዓ.ም የልደታ ፍርድ ቤት 19ኛ ወንጀል ችሎት በዘላለም ወርቃገኘሁ የክስ መዝገብ የተከሰሱትን 2ኛ ተከሳሽ ሀምታሙ አያሌው፣ 3ኛ ተከሳሽ ዳኤል ሽበሽ፣ 4ኛ ተከሳሽ አብርሃ ደስታና 5ኛ ተከሳሽ የሸዋስ አሰፋ እንዲሁም 7ኛ ተከሳሽ አብሃም ሰለሞን በነፃ እንዲለቀቁ ወስኗል፡፡
በአንፃሩ አንደኛ ተከሳሽ ዘላለም ወርቃገኘሁ ከአሁን ቀደም ተከሶበት በነበረውና ከ15 አመት በላይ እንደሚያሳስር የሚታወቀው የፀረ ሽብር ህጉ አንቀፅ አራት ‹‹ማሴር፣ ማቀድ ተግባረት›› ላይ መረጃ ስላልተገኘበት አንቀፁ ወደ 7/1 ላይ በተመለከተው ላይ ተቀይሮ እንዲከላከል ተበይኖበታል፡፡ በዚህ አንቀፅ ለግንቦት ሰባት በመመልመል ተግባር ተሰማርቷል በሚል እንደተከሰሰም ተገልጾአል፡፡ በተመሳሳይ 6ኛ፣ 8ኛ፣ 9ኛ ፣10ኛ ተከሳሾች ከአንደኛ ተከሳሽ ጋር እንዲከላከሉ ተብለዋል፡፡ ፍርድ ቤቱ አራቱ ፖለቲከኞች ሲታሰሩ በኢግዚቢት የተያዘባቸው ተለቆላቸው እንዲፈቱ ሲወንስ እንዲከላከሉ ያላቸው የመከላከያ ምስክር እንያስመዘግቡ በይኗል፡፡
Source:: Debirhan
↧
Ethiopian Government In Exile: From Idea to Reality
The idea of forming the Government of Ethiopia in Exile (GEE) has been discussed and debated for the past two decades, and particularly since January 2006 when the TPLF regime stole the May 2005 elections at the barrel of the gun. Different organizations and individuals took various routes to restore the will of the people that was expressed through the ballot box in 2005. Some argued for and chose to raise arms. Others dug in and tried to give electoral politics further try. What has not been tried yet in the struggle to remove the apartheid dictatorship in Ethiopia and replace it with an all-inclusive transitional government is setting aside party politics and bringing all stakeholders under an all-inclusive government in exile.
To take the idea to the next level, in July 2012, several Ethiopians had gathered in Dallas, Texas, and formed Ethiopian National Transitional Council (ENTC). For the past 3 years, ENTC has held numerous town hall meetings and consultative conferences to refine the idea and reach a consensus among various stakeholders.
Last month, July 2015, ENTC and Ethiopian National Youth Movement (ENYM) have decided to take the idea to the next level after a two-day consultation with various stakeholders. They have agreed to create the Government of Ethiopia in Exile Organizing Committee (GEEOC).
Currently, the GEEOC is in the process of being formed. The initial structure has been set up. Its primary tasks include: 1) create public awareness for the need to form Ethiopian government in exile, 2) gather the necessary public, political, diplomatic, financial and material support, and 3) build the the foundation.
Creating the government in exile has multiple phases. The organizers understand that it is a complicated process that requires careful planning and hard work in order for it to gain the support of the Ethiopian people. In the coming days and weeks, GEEOC will make detailed plans available to the public and carry out various activities.
The GEE’s ultimate goal is to ensure that there will be a smooth and peaceful transition to genuine democracy in Ethiopia. We have witnessed the devastating effects of unplanned changes of regime. We should look no further than our own country. Let’s also observe what is currently going on in Syria and Libya. Change is inevitable in Ethiopia because people anywhere rise up against tyranny sooner or later. We want that change to take place in a peaceful manner as much as possible, thus averting another Red Terror, another transition to an apartheid system, and a further threat to the well-being of Ethiopia.
Join us. Take part in the effort to bring a planned, organized and peaceful change in Ethiopia.
Contact info:
ENTC: contact@etntc.org
EYNM: ethioyouthmov@gmail.com
↧
Djibouti boots US from military base, gives it to China: report
BY WARKA · AUGUST 23, 2015
China is about to take over a military base from the United States in the small East African nation of Djibouti, according to the website of China’s nationalistic tabloid the Global Times.
Djibouti reportedly ordered the US to vacate the Obock military base so that it can be turned over the People’s Liberation Army. According to US-based magazine CounterPunch, the announcement was made in May, a day after US secretary of state John Kerry visited the country.
The move is said to be “deeply worrying” for Washington as it comes amid a wave of Chinese investment in Djibouti that includes a US$3 billion rail project to connect the country with the capital of neighboring Ethiopi, Addis Ababa, and US$400 million in investments to modernize the country’s undersized port.
The deals have had Djibouti’s president Ismail Omar Guelleh “openly talking about the importance of his new friends from Asia,” the CounterPunch article said.
Djibouti is currently home to Camp Lemmonnier, the largest permanent US military installation in Africa, which houses 4,000 troops and a fleet of drones. The US Defense Department pays Djibouti nearly US$63 million per year for use of the base.
Though the US is losing only a secondary military installation in Obock, Washington is likely more concerned with what the base will provide China, which is strategic positioning in the Horn of Africa at a key entry point from the Indian Ocean to the Red Sea and a gateway to the Suez Canal.
http://www.mareeg.com/djibouti-boots-us-from-military-base-gives-it-to-china-report/
↧
Aman disqualified for obstructing Kupers and forfeited his place in the final
ምንጭ:-Ethio-Kickoff
Two fastest athletes in the history of the event, David Rudisha and Nijel Amos, by the will of the draw, had to meet in the semi-finals. After Sunday’s race, one of them continues his run for IAAF World Championships, Beijing 2015 medals, while the other had to wrap up his campaign.
In the first of three semi-finals, all the athletes seemed inclined to run fast, but no one wanted to lead.
Poland’s Adam Kszczot had to take on this responsibility 200 metres into the race. He remained in pole position all the way, immediately reacting to every threat. Being at the front also saved him from involvement in a slight collision between Thimjen Kupers and the defending champion Mohammed Aman with about 200 metres to go.
Kszczot looked like a clear winner while he was powerfully charging down the home stretch while his closest pursuer, Kenya’s Alfred Kipketer, was struggling and losing his form.
However, with 50 metres to go, the Pole started to run out of stream and the race ended with a blanket finish of four me.
The photo finish showed that Kszczot still came out on top with a time of 1:44.97 and the 18-year-old Kipketer, the youngest man in the field and a former world youth champion over two laps of the track, was the runner up, just 0.02 behind, the pair capturing the two automatic qualifying spots.
Aman and the Frenchman Pierre-Ambroise Bosse, two other participants of the blanket finish, set themselves up for a possible qualification by time by posting 1:45.01 and 1:45.02, respectively.
However, Aman was eventually disqualified for obstructing Kupers and forfeited his place in the final.
The participants of the second semi-final didn’t seem to learn the danger of allowing Rudisha to lead in a preliminary round from yesterday’s heats and this race ended by producing one of the biggest upsets of the night.
Rudisha set a moderate pace right from the start, taking the field through in a gentle 54.04, almost two seconds slower than in the first semi-final. As his rivals didn’t seem in the mood to make a move, the London 2012 Olympic Games champion saved his energy for the home stretch and his finishing spurt was impossible to match, coming home the clear winner in 1:47.70.
Behind the Kenyan, there was a fierce battle for the second automatic qualification spot between Amos and the Qatar’s Musaeb Balla.
Balla came up on the inside close to the curb, with Amos out in lane two. and stuck his chest out on the line to clinch the runner-up spot in 1:47.93.
The Botswanan was a mere 0.03 behind but with this semi-final being so slow, it was quickly known that no one else would progress to the final other than the first two and last year’s Diamond Race winner was out.
In the last and the fastest semi-final, the world leader Amel Tuka once again chased the initial race leader, Ferguson Rotich, down from the back of the field and edged him out on the line, clocking 1:44.84.
Rotich, who was just 0.01 behind the much-improved Bosnian, made it three for three for Kenya as far as 900m finalists were concerned.
Morocco’s 21-year-old Nader Belhanbel, the third-place finisher in the last semi-final with 1:45.28 went through with Bosse from the first heat to the final on Tuesday night as non-automatic qualifiers.
Elena Dyachkova for the IAAF
↧
↧
Number of Ethiopians needing food aid surges to 4.5 million after failed rains
Reuters
ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) – The number of Ethiopians who will need food aid by the end of this year has surged by more than 1.5 million from earlier estimates due to failed rains, United Nations agencies said on Monday.
Ethiopia needs an extra $230 million from donors to secure aid for a total of 4.5 million people now projected to require assistance this year, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA), the World Food Programme (WFP) and the U.N. children’s agency UNICEF said in a statement.
The country of 96 million people is one of Africa’s fastest-growing economies, but failed rains have devastating consequences for food supplies.
“The belg rains were much worse than the National Meteorology Agency predicted at the beginning of the year. Food insecurity increased and malnutrition rose as a result,” said David Del Conte, UNOCHA’s acting head of office in Ethiopia, referring to the short, seasonal rainy season that stretched from February to April.
Areas normally producing surplus food in the Horn of Africa country’s central Oromia region were also affected by shortages, the statement said, adding lack of water had decreased livestock production and caused livestock deaths in other pastoralist areas.
Meteorologists have warned that the El Nino weather phenomenon, marked by a warming of sea-surface temperatures in the Pacific Ocean, is now well established and continues to strengthen. Models indicate that sea-surface temperature anomalies in the central Pacific Ocean are set to climb to the highest in 19 years.
The El Nino can lead to scorching weather across Asia and east Africa but heavy rains and floods in South America.
The United Nations cautioned that the anomaly could further affect Ethiopia’s “kiremt” rains that stretch from June to September.
“A failed belg followed by a poor kiremt season means that challenges could continue into next year,” said John Aylieff, WFP’s Ethiopia representative.
(Reporting by Aaron Maasho; Editing by George Obulutsa and Jan Lopatka)
↧
From the archive, 24 August 1974: Ethiopia’s fallen aristocrats
Students protest in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, September 17, 1974, against the military committee that seized political power last week. Photograph: AP
From the Guardian archive
David Ottaway/ Monday 24 August 2015
Addis Ababa, August 23
They are crowded into three long army barracks, sleeping on simple army cots, their heads shaven as if they are condemned men, their food brought to them three times daily by wives already dressed in black for mourning.
These were once the high and mighty of Ethiopia – princes, imperial courtiers, provincial nobility, aristocratic landlords, blue-blooded ministers, and much decorated generals. They ruled entire provinces, owned enormous estates, and commanded private armies and could boast of belonging to royal families tracing their ancestry 2,000 years to the founding of the Ethiopian monarchy.
Today they are the humbled captives of young and unknown military officers, members of a mysterious Armed Forces Committee that has set out to bring revolution to this ancient mountain kingdom of feudal lords and a once all-powerful Emperor.
Officially these prisoners of the revolution number only around 150, but it is said the total number of those arrested is about 350.
The fallen aristocrats are being kept in rundown buildings near the city centre that serve as the Fourth Army Division’s headquarters. Three times a day the road outside the compound is the scene of traffic jams as families come with food and messages (the army will not feed the prisoners).
Their crimes, according to the military, include corruption, abuse of power, maladministration and misappropriation of State funds and lands, a cover-up of the disastrous drought afflicting the country, and, above all, obstruction of badly-needed reforms.
Their fate is uncertain. Theoretically, the prisoners are awaiting the outcome of an investigation by a 15-man committee of inquiry into the alleged misdeeds of the old regime, a process expected to take two years.
But relatives of the prisoners feel they have become hostages of the military committee and that they will be the first to die if any attempt is made by Emperor Haile Selassie to overthrow the reform movement.
It is rumoured that the radicals among the reformers, still in a minority, are pressing for a French Revolution-style solution – a mass execution of the aristocracy. The military committee, however, is dominated for the moment by relatively moderate men who have committed themselves to a revolution “without any bloodshed.”
To Ethiopians all too aware of the violence and civil wars that have periodically marked the history of the kingdom, it is a miracle that the ruling aristocracy has fallen without putting up a fight and practically without a gun having been fired.
Some of the most powerful aristocrats like Ras (prince) Asrate Kassa and Ras Mesfin Sileshi were said to have private armies numbering thousands ready to die for them but these reports have turned out to be part of Western and even Ethiopian mythology about Ethiopia.
Asrate was arrested at his home on a hillside overlooking Addis Ababa without putting up a fight, and Mesfin gave himself up when the military threatened to expropriate all his lands and personal property.
“These people were absentee landlords and rulers out of touch with their own people,” one Western diplomat said. “Nobody was ready to fight for them.”
Indeed, few tears are being shed for Ethiopia’s fallen aristocrats and there is a widespread feeling among Ethiopians that justice has at long last prevailed. This feeling is being strengthened by the horrifying testimony of the old regime’s political prisoners who are now being freed, some of them after nearly 25 years in gaol.
One journalist, Negede Gebrab, who had been in prison 17 years for advocating a Socialist people’s republic, said he had spent 36 months in solitary confinement living on dried peas and 50 grams of water a day. He said he was repeatedly whipped, bound up much of the time in 30lb of chains, and periodically dragged naked across the rough gravel of the prison compound.
Another prisoner, a farmer named Bariso Odda, said an army general had taken his 48-acre farm, raped his wife, and thrown him into prison for being involved in an uprising against local landlords last spring. In prison, Bariso said, he was hanged upside down, had a red hot sickle shoved into his mouth, and was further tortured when he could not answer questions put to him by the police because he was so badly burned.
If the aristocracy is doomed as a ruling class in Ethiopia, many individual members of noble families are none the less still faring well under the new regime. The most striking example is the Prime Minister, Michael Imru, who is the son of a ras, although one famous for his radical views and acts (Prince Imru gave away all his land years ago).
↧
Despite Promises, No Budget for Plan to Advance Israel’s Ethiopian Community
According to informed sources, none of the plans prepared by the government were anchored in the recently approved state budget.
Or Kashti / Haaretz
Aug 25, 2015
Israeli ‘Kessim’ or religious leaders of the Ethiopian Jewish community pray during the Sigd holiday, November 2014.AFP
Like other reforms, Netanyahu is burying plan to help Ethiopians integrate
Changing the Israeli narrative — the one about the Ethiopian community
Ethiopian Israelis earn 35% less than average, but the gap is shrinking
After about a year-and-a half of internal discussions with professionals and activists, government ministries have begun publicizing their plans for the advancement of the Ethiopian community in Israel.
Despite several positive recommendations – such as doubling the number of teachers from the community, making health services more accessible and promoting urban renewal – and the declarations of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who promised to promote a government program to solve the problems of the Ethiopians, the expectation of change is apparently premature.
Ethiopian-Israeli children in school.Tal Cohen
According to informed sources, none of the plans prepared by the various ministries was anchored in the state budget recently approved by the government, and the Finance Ministry has refrained committing funds for implementing them. In any case, the anticipated budget has been significantly reduced: At first, according to several sources, they were talking about approximately 800 million shekels; later the sum plummetted to 120 million, over four years.
In the past two weeks the budgetary problems have filtered down to Ethiopian social activists. Confidence in the government, which was limited in any case, is gradually deteriorating.
“It’s possible that they’re trying to pull the wool over our eyes, promising nice programs but ‘forgetting’ to budget them,” said one of them. He continued, “If the crisis is not solved soon, we’ll return to the streets. Apparently that’s the only language they understand in the government.” Off the record, senior officials in several ministries are saying the same thing.
Ethiopian Israelis protesting in Tel Aviv, Mon., May 3, 2015.Tomer Appelbaum
Treasury sources say that the ministry is “in the midst of the budgeting process” and that part of the earmarked sum has already been set aside. But precise details about this partial sum are unclear. On the other hand, sources in the Education Ministry and the Social Affairs Ministry maintain that they still don’t know which parts of the programs will receive the necessary funding.
In addition: While the treasury is asking for more time, the Prime Minister’s Office, which is leading the process, is saying that the discussions are already over, and that “the professional teams in the social services ministries, the treasury’s budget department and the PMO have decided on the sums needed” for the various programs.
“We are certain that the programs will receive all the funding necessary by the time they are brought for cabinet approval,” the PMO added.
The new policy was formulated in a comprehensive process initiated by the Absorption Ministry early in 2014. In December of that year, the ministries presented their detailed plans, but the early election halted the process.
The discussions were renewed when the new government was formed in May, several days after two mass demonstrations by Ethiopian Jews in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. The protest revealed, not for the first time, the anger, disappointment and frustration of so many Ethiopians at the government and its direct representatives – from teachers in the schools to policemen in the streets.
Israeli police uses water cannon during heavy clashes, to disperse Ethiopian Israelis demonstrating in central Tel Aviv against police brutality and institutionalised discrimination.AFP
Momentarily it seemed that change really was around the corner. “We’ll bring a comprehensive plan to the cabinet, to help you in every way possible,” said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the time.
The promised plan is in fact comprehensive, but Netanyahu decided not to present and approve it in toto, but rather in stages. Supporters of the decision say that this will enable a focus on the objectives of each ministry separately; others say that it promises “industrial quiet” for the prime minister.
To date only the programs of the education and health ministries have been publicized. In the coming days Social Affairs Ministry program is expected to be publicized, while the plans of other ministries, including defense and internal security, will be published only later. The Education Ministry plan includes decreasing and even closing separate programs catering to Ethiopian children only; special enrichment courses for schools with a high percentage of Ethiopians; additional learning reinforcement for all age groups; expanded investment in finding and encouraging gifted children; and a doubling of the number of Ethiopian teachers from 300 to 600.
The Health Ministry plan includes a doubling of the number of “cultural intermediaries” and anchoring their work in uniform job slots; conducting 20 reviews to examine “linguistic and cultural access”; a special effort to prevent diabetes (according to ministry figures, Ethiopians are 2.4 times more at risk of contracting the disease than the veteran Jewish population), and a promise to handle any complaint about incidents of racism in the health system within 48 hours.
A Housing and Construction Ministry paper from last December stated that “The 5-year housing plan did not achieve its objectives,” and only 12 percent out of 1,000 families made use of the assistance they were offered to purchase an apartment. “The plan lacks in-depth attention to a population with housing in deprived neighborhoods, which constitutes a barrier to integration into society,” according to senior officials.
According to several sources, despite a broad consensus on the solution among professionals, promotion of the plan has encountered difficulties. One of the reasons may be the relatively large budget required for its implementation, which is estimated at about 200 million shekels.
The government’s conduct on the housing issue seems to be part of a regular pattern: scattering declarations about a change in social policy, recruiting experts and activists to draw up recommendations – and in the end an insufficient to nonexistent budget. The War on Poverty committee suffered a similar fate – its recommendations were published about a year ago, only to be shelved within a short time.
According to government sources, the treasury was firmly opposed to anchoring the plans of the various ministries in the state budget. The coalition agreements, on the other hand, were included in it. “[Finance Minister Moshe] Kahlon said that he doesn’t have the necessary funds,” said one of them. “
read more: http://www.haaretz.com/news/israel/.premium-1.672807
↧