BBC News

A British Airways plane bound for London has caught fire at Las Vegas airport, forcing the evacuation of 172 people on board on emergency slides.

Airport officials said at least 14 people were taken to hospital with minor injuries.

US Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Ian Gregor said the left engine of the Boeing 777-200 caught fire before take-off.

The plane was seen engulfed in flames and smoke. The fire was later put out.

In a statement, British Airways said the aircraft “experienced a technical issue as it was preparing for take-off”.

In a distress call the plane’s captain asked for the airport’s emergency services: “Speedbird Mayday Mayday. Speedbird 2276 request fire services.”

“Speedbird 2276 heavy, we are evacuating on the runway. We have a fire, repeat, we are evacuating,” he adds.

The pilot later told passengers that the accident was the result of a “catastrophic failure of the engine”, reports the Guardian’s Jacob Steinberg, who was on board the plane.

“We looked out the window and for the first time saw smoke near the wing. We could smell it. It was like burning rubber – bitter and deeply unpleasant – and it was time to panic,” Steinberg writes.

Image copyrightJordan Masters

Image copyrightJacob Steinberg/The Guardian

Analysis: Richard Westcott, BBC Transport correspondent

Most pilots will go through their whole career without having to deal with an emergency like this, but it’s always on their minds.

During every inch of a take-off, they are constantly thinking, “if something happens, what would we do?”. They’ll have discussed it before each flight too, talking through each possible emergency scenario and how they would handle it.

And they’ll have practised it every six months or so in the simulator, aborting take-offs.

Above 180mph (290km/h), they would be forced to take off in this kind of plane, no matter what the problem was, because there is not enough runway to stop. Below that speed they have to make split second decisions, how bad is it? Do we throw on the brakes? Do we evacuate?

This flight was travelling at around 89mph when they decided to abort.

One experienced airline pilot told me that this BA crew seems to have reacted in a “text-book” fashion, getting everyone off quickly and safely.

Eyewitnesses speak of giant flames

Image copyrightLynn Alexander

Image copyrightAP

Image copyrightAP

Flight 2276 was bound for London’s Gatwick airport.

There were 159 passengers and 13 crew members on board.

A spokesman for Rolls Royce told Reuters news agency the engine was not made by the company, British Airways uses engines made by either Rolls Royce or General Electric, the agency adds.

The airport tweeted: “Received first call at 4:13 PM (23:13 GMT); flames were spotted at 4:14, and by 4:14 response was underway.”

It added: “@LASairport had the fire out and all passengers off BA flight by 4:18 PM – excellent work by our ARFF team.”

Airport officials said passengers were taken to the city’s Sunrise hospital, most of them with injuries sustained while sliding down inflatable chutes during the evacuation.

Image copyrightDavid Somers via AP

Image copyrightAFP

Some of those on board said there was smoke in the cabin as one exit was opened and immediately declared unsafe.

Eyewitness Reggie Bugmuncher said she was waiting at a gate for her flight when she heard people saying: “Oh, my God.”

She said looked out the window and could see “bursts of flames coming out of the middle of the plane”, the Associated Press news agency reports.

An investigation into the blaze is now under way after what was clearly a lucky escape, the BBC’s James Cook in Los Angeles reports.

The incident shut one of the airport’s four runways for several hours.

McCarran is a major airport in the US, handling more than 40 million passengers last year.

When he was a child in Ethiopia, Asmelash Zerefu dreamt he would one day fly a plane. Jonathan Wells talks to the prospective pilot about the struggle to get his plans off the ground

By Jonathan Wells

The Telegraph

Tilahun Gizaw, the popular student leader was speeking at Addis Ababa University

Tilahun Gizaw, the popular student leader was speeking at Addis Ababa University

Tilahun Gizaw, the popular student leader was speeking at Addis Ababa University

1960s and 70s Ethiopian Student movement ፋኖ ተሰማራ …..

List of the hottest Ethiopian women in the World

British citizen Andargachew Tsege, facing a death sentence in Ethiopia for spurious terrorism charges, has been moved from a secret detention centre in Ethiopia to a notorious federal prison in the African nation’s capital, VICE News can exclusively reveal.

Longtime democracy campaigner Tsege has now been captive for more than a year without access to lawyers, family or consular assistance, after being kidnapped at a Yemen airport by Ethiopian officials.

The 60-year-old father of three fled Ethiopia’s military regime as a student activist in 1979 and became a political refugee in the UK. He later founded opposition group Ginbot 7 in 2005, which was classified by the Ethiopian government as a terrorist organization.

In 2009 the government accused Ginbot 7 of organizing a failed coup and sentenced Tsege to death in absentia, in a trial “lacking in basic elements of due process,” according to American diplomatic observers.

Last year, Ethiopian agents seized Tsege at Sanaa Airport in Yemen. He has remained in solitary confinement since then, in an unknown location until the recent move. The legal charity Reprieve, based in London, has taken up his case.

The democracy activist’s family believe that the UK’s close strategic alliance with Ethiopia means that an innocent man could end up being sacrificed on the geo-political altar.

Related: Controversial New Video Fuels Anger over British Activist Stuck on Death Row in Ethiopia

Despite criticizing Ethiopia for its human rights violations and its lack of civil liberties and democratic processes — the ruling EPRDF party won all 546 parliamentary seats in a May national elections criticized for alleged fraud — Western governments enjoy close security cooperation with Ethiopia, particularly regarding the “War on Terror,” where its troops are fighting al Shabaab Islamist militants in Somalia.

Maya Foa, the director of Reprieve’s death penalty team, picked up on this political alliance when she told VICE News that, although Tsege is a British citizen who was kidnapped unlawfully and who has been subjected to probable torture, the British government has “not made a single request to the Ethiopian authorities to have Andy returned home to his family in the United Kingdom” — though it has lobbied for him to be afforded his basic rights.

“The British government is definitely not championing him and that is heart-breaking for us,” Tsege’s partner Yemi Hailemariam told VICE News.

This disappointment in the British government was heightened recently when Yemi discovered that Tobias Ellwood, an FCO minister, had been in Ethiopia on 16 and 17 August for talks on South Sudan but had failed to raise Tsege’s case with any of his Ethiopian counterparts.

Image via Free Andargachew/Flickr

In a letter to Yemi, Ellwood said that he was “not able to meet Ethiopian Government representatives and so did not have an opportunity to raise Andargachew’s continued detention.” In a separate letter to Reprieve, Ellwood did not even mention that he has just got back from Ethiopia.

Officials at the UK’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) know they are treading a fine line. On the one hand, they must lobby for better treatment for a British citizen. On the other hand, they do not want to jeopardize an alliance deemed strategically important.

“The UK and Ethiopia have a deep and long-standing bilateral relationship covering many areas of shared concern, so it’s important that further progress is made on this issue so those ties aren’t affected,” an FCO spokesman told VICE News.

There are signs, though, that Tsege’s continued illegal detention is causing a fraying of the Anglo-Ethiopian relationship. “The Foreign Secretary has raised this case on 17 separate occasions, most recently on August 8. We will continue to lobby at all levels for regular access to Mr Tsege, and for his family in the UK to be able to visit him”, the FCO spokesman said.

In June, a frustration with the progress that was being made on the case and the intransigence of Ethiopian government officials prompted the foreign secretary, Philip Hammond, to issue the British government’s strongest statement on Andy Tsege’s case.

“I spoke to Foreign Minister Tedros this afternoon and made clear that Ethiopia’s failure to grant our repeated and basic requests is not acceptable. I informed Dr. Tedros that the lack of progress risks undermining the UK’s much valued bilateral relationship with Ethiopia”, Hammond said.

Related: Ethiopians Aren’t Optimistic That Obama Can Help End Country’s Human Rights Abuses

Yemi said she welcomed the statement but that Tobias Ellwood’s recent failure to lobby on her partner’s behalf had left her feeling “really, really disappointed — particularly as he had met us personally.”

When asked about her partner’s situation, Yemi says, “nothing has changed.” She is terrified that, even if he is ever released, “Andy will have been too traumatized by his time in prison.”

Following a recent meeting, the UK ambassador to Ethiopia noted that Yemi’s partner had “no spare weight on him.”

Tsege told the ambassador that he still has no idea what charges he’s facing, if any.

The FCO told VICE News that Tsege’s move to the Kality federal prison in Addis Adaba was a “welcome development”, but whether it really represents an improvement is debatable.

Amnesty International has referred to Kality as a “gulag,” while the Swedish journalists Martin Schibbye and Johan Persson, who were imprisoned there for trying to report on the conflict in the Ethiopian region of Ogaden, said that conditions reminded a number of their fellow prisoners of paintings of the cramped bowels of 18th century slave ships.

Kality is also, as Schibbye and Persson reported in their book 438 Days, a hotbed of government spying in which inmates feel unable to say anything for fear they will be taken away.

For Maya Foa of Reprieve, the situation Andy Tsege is facing and the British government’s refusal to demand for his release is a “stain on Britain’s reputation and a travesty of justice. The British government must change its position and take immediate steps to bring Andy back before it’s too late.”

Sitting in Kality prison, Tsege is a reminder that the fate of individuals falls victim to the strategies of nation states. Yemi, who feels as though she has been banging her head against a brick wall trying to secure the release of her partner, has begun to feel “more and more like a conspiracy theorist, more and more like an anarchist”, as she tries to navigate the world of international politics.

Her daughter, Helawit Hailemariam, just won a Liberty award for co-developing a play about her father’s incarceration. “I wish I didn’t have to receive this,” she told her mother.

Follow Oscar Rickett on Twitter: @oscarrickettnow

Image via Flickr

Source – https://news.vice.com/

By Sudan Tribune

KHARTOUM – A well placed Sudanese source revealed on Saturday that a dissident Ethiopian opposition leader fled to Sudan on Friday evening along with his soldiers after clashes with the Eritrean army.

The source who spoke to the Turkey-based Anadolu news agency on condition of anonymity said that Mola Asgedom who heads the Tigray People’s Democratic Movement (TPDM) that is based in Eritrea, arrived at the Sudanese town of Hamdait at the border triangle between Eritrea, Ethiopia and Sudan.

He explained that Asgedom escaped to Sudan after armed clashes broke out with the Eritrean army at the outskirts of the Eritrean city of Omhajer on Friday morning.

The source went on to say that Asgedom and 683 of his forces handed over their weapons to the Sudanese authorities.

He explained that Khartoum succeeded in preventing the escalation of clashes between Asgedom’s forces and the Eritrean army and evacuated the soldiers to Wad al-Hilu town in Kassala State while their leaders were transferred to unspecified areas inside Sudan.

He added that 7 of the Ethiopian opposition forces were killed during the pursuit by Eritrean troops to its western border with Ethiopia and Sudan.

Eyewitnesses in the border areas said they heard gunfire during the clashes, noting that the entrance of Ethiopian opposition forces to Hamdait created a state of confusion among the population.

A pro-Ethiopian opposition TV confirmed that Asgedom turned himself in to the Sudan, without giving details.

The Eritrea-based Ethiopian opposition coalition consider TPDM to be the military wing while the Ginbot 7 of Berhanu Nega lead the political forefront.

Ethiopia also backs Eritrean opposition groups in the context of proxy wars between the two longtime foes.

FILE – A Somali soldier stands guard, in Mogadishu, Somalia, June 2015.

September 14, 2015

The Al-Shabab militant group has beheaded two brothers accused of spying for the Somali government and for having dealings with Ethiopian troops, relatives said.

They say the beheaded bodies of the two men, said to be 20 and 25 years old, were found Sunday in Raaso village, 60 kilometers south of Bulo Barde town in the central Somali region of Hiran. The headless body of a third unidentified man was found nearby.

The two brothers were arrested by al-Shabab militants in Buqaqable town last week, hours after Ethiopian and Somali government troops suddenly vacated the town.

Villagers told VOA Somali the men were in Buqaqable when the Ethiopian troops and Somali government forces seized it from al-Shabab on August 10.

Al-Shabab accused them of having dealings with the Ethiopian troops and spying for the Somali government, according to the locals.

Relatives who requested to remain anonymous say one of the men was a recent graduate of high school, while the other was unemployed.

On Saturday, Somali authorities said al-Shabab militants seized two towns in southern Somalia from retreating African Union forces, El Salindi and Kunturwarey.

Separately on Saturday, an AMISOM convoy was targeted with a car bomb outside the nearby town of Janaale.

Militants said they killed several soldiers in the attack, a claim that VOA could not verify.

AMISOM soldiers have been fighting al-Shabab in Somalia since 2007. AMISOM forces and Somali troops have recaptured large parts of Somalia from the al-Qaida-linked militants in recent years, but attacks have continued.

Botswana’s  have lined up an International Friendly against Ethiopia Walia Ibex Soka25east.com can exclusively reveal.

Botswana will be celebrating their Independence Day on September 30th 2015 and the friendly with Ethiopia has been lined up as part of the fanfare and celebrations in the capital city Gaborone.

“Yes we can confirm we have invited Ethiopia Walia Ibex for a friendly match on September 30 to be played in Gaborone and we are happy they have acknowledged the invite for the International friendly that will be part of the Independence Day celebrations”

“Ethiopia is a very formidable side and we chose them to grace the great occasion to commemorate an important day in our National calendar” A close source at the Botswana football federation told Soka25east.com

Ethiopia will use the game to prepare for their World Cup 2018 Qualifier against São Tomé e Principe while Botswana will play Ethiopia’s neighbours Eritrea.

Source: Soka25east.com

Ethiopica Link

In May 2015, I wrote a commentary entitled, “Why Is the T-TPLF Afraid of Its Own Shadow?”

Prof.Alemayehu G. Mariam

In that commentary,  I expressed puzzlement over the fact that  supporters  of  the Thugtatorship of the Tigrean People’s Liberation Front (T-TPLF) were telling me that T-TPLF leaders were scared _ _ _ _less in the run up to the “2015 Elektion”. I openly wondered:

Why they would tell me intimate details about fear and loathing in the T-TPLF camp is a mystery to me. Perhaps disinformation, I remind myself. But “they” know I am too damn jaded to be a sucker for disinformation. Why then would they “confide” in me? Frankly, I don’t know and don’t care to know.

It seems there is now a glint of the real sturm und drang  (turmoil and anxiety) in the T-TPLF camp.

Addis Fortune, touted to be the “largest English-language weekly” in Ethiopia, posted a curious piece in its September 7 “Column”.

I have followed Addis Fortune (AF) on line from time to time. I have found its analysis and op ed pieces uncannily well-informed despite attributions to enigmatic sources deep in the belly of the T-TPLF.  AF analyses are often cogently presented and their tone ranges from the from the openly censorious to the caviling. When it comes to the intrigues and monkey business of the T-TPLF, AF seems to be on the money most of the time.

I was prompted (more accurately impelled) to write this commentary by the last sentence in AF’s  September 7 “Column”:

There is nothing less than action from the EPRDFites under the chairmanship of Hailemariam Desalegn which can redeem the party’s old glory in the eyes of its core supporters – who appear to be drifting away from the Revolutionary Democrats but who have lost their way for sheer lack of better alternatives – and restore their faith, claims gossip. (Emphasis added.)

The essence of the AF “column”, based on an anonymous informant called “Gossip” (not clear if it is Mr. or Ms. Gossip), is that the EPRDF is in deep doodoo (poopoo).

(The EPDRF is the stage name/ nom de politique  of the Tigrean People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), a brand the TPLF uses  to project a bogus image of a political coalition.  Imagine a coalition of hyenas with lambs.)

According to Mr./Ms. Gossip:

There is much that needed to be fixed in the world of Revolutionary Democrats, judging from what has transpired in their recent convention held in Meqelle. EPRDFites, from a farmer cadre up to the most senior veteran leader, and from those in the youngest to the most senior party in the coalition have spoken their minds in unison; the ruling EPRDF is deep in the woods and the menace to its very survival is more unnerving than it has ever been in the two decades of its existence, according to gossip.

Many were outspoken about the dangers to which the party has succumbed, while some bluntly said the leadership is shaped to preserve power at any the cost. Others spoke about the path they believe the party is taking into degeneration. Even the report endorsed by the leadership and presented to the convention was unusually candid about the fears and threats of such imminent degeneration.

[I]ts veterans and long serving leaders from Abay Tsehaye to Addisu Legesse, seemed to be sidelined…

But none has looked as discontented and outspoken on the menace of the party as Bereket Simon, the founding and veteran leader of ANDM-EPRDF… He has left his role as a leader of both platforms after 30 years, putting his concerns off his chest in Bahir Dar, where the ANDM had its recent meeting. He was critical of the path the party is taking… [He did not] travel to Meqelle to attend the EPRDF convention, for the first time since its creation in the late 1980s…  It was a scene which broke the hearts of many of the rank and file of the ANDM…

At the heart of the political debate is the party’s failure to deliver on its promises of good governance, rule of law and shared prosperity… If there is any source of legitimacy the Revolutionary Democrats are left with to rule, it is in the growth in the economic front and their ability to maintain the nation stable and secure…

It is ironic for those in the gossip corridors to see a leadership whose obsession with seeing its political adversaries down on their knees seeking forgiveness and showing repentance, now agreeing to do the same to members of the public. Very soon, the executive committee of the EPRDF will meet in Addis Abeba to digest and eternalise the public’s outrage and frustration channelled through its rank and file at the convention, gossip disclosed.

Oddly enough, even their strongest supporters appear to have given up on ending acknowledgement of wrongs to the public and promises for the better, gossip observed. There is nothing less than action from the EPRDFites under the chairmanship of Hailemariam Desalegn which can redeem the party’s old glory in the eyes of its core supporters – who appear to be drifting away from the Revolutionary Democrats but who have lost their way for sheer lack of better alternatives – and restore their faith, claims gossip. (Emphasis added.)

I congratulate AF for its “gossip”.

Jonathan Swift (of “Gulliver’s Travels”) used to say, “I heard the little bird say so.” But Mr./Ms. Gossip will do just as well.

But AF knows how to use little birds and “expert gossipers who know how much to leave out of a conversation.”

The point is there is much to have a conversation about with the AF  gossip “column”.

Truth be told, the question of a “better alternative” to the T-TPLF has been gnawing away at mind since the day I decided to join the Ethiopian human rights struggle following the Meles Massacres in 2005.

My readers will recall that I was resolutely propelled to oppose  the T-TPLF and its late leader Meles Zenawi after I secured evidence beyond a shadow of doubt that Meles Zenawi had personally directed and authorized the murder of some 200 unarmed demonstrators and shooting with-intent-to-murder of another 800 plus demonstrators.

A certified list of the 237 killers who  participated in the Meles Massacres are readily available.

We also know of the identities of all of the individual officials, including security and police, in the chain of command during the Meles Massacres.

The question of “sheer lack of better alternatives”

What does it mean to have “better alternatives”?

The AF little bird says “EPRDF’s core supporters appear to be drifting away” and “lost their way”.

Are EPRDF’s “core supporters” looking for “better alternatives”, but not finding one?

What an extraordinary observation!!

Does “the lack of better alternatives” mean the EPRDF emperor has no clothes?

With no clothes, is the EPRDF emperor actually King TPLF? (I did not say King Kong.)

I am not sure exactly what AF’s little bird has in mind talking about “better alternatives”.

But a lot of questions pop in my mind thinking about “better alternatives” to the T-TPLF:

Are we talking about a better alternative to a gang of bush thugs who have maintained  themselves in power by massacring not only unarmed demonstrators in the streets but also systematically killing their opponents?

Are we talking about a better alternative to a gang of bush thugs who have robbed Ethiopia blind? In 2011, Global Financial Integrity reported, “Ethiopia lost $11.7 billion to outflows of ill-gotten gains between 2000 and 2009.”

Are we talking about a better alternative to a gang of bush thugs who have transformed Ethiopia into a vast kleptocracy.  The World Bank issued a 417-page on Ethiopia entitled, “Diagnosing Corruption in Ethiopia”.  The World Bank has not done such a comprehensive evaluation of corruption for any other country!!!

Are we talking about a better alternative to a gang of bush thugs who claimed to have “won” 99.6 percent of the parliamentary seats in 2010 and in May 2015claimed “winning” 100 percent of the same seats?

Of course, there are much better alternatives to a gang of bush thugs raping a country.

It’s pretty simple.

I would, for instance, nominate the following distinguished luminaries from the motion picture industry as “better alternatives” to the collective leadership of the T-TPLF:

Wile E. Coyote (to replace the late Meles Zenawi in memoriam); Mickey Mouse (to replace Hailemariam Desalegn);  Oil Can Harry (Debrertsion Gebre-Michael); Pinochio (Bereket Simon (a/k/a Lying “Chemical (Comical) Ali [Iraq]”);  King Louie (Sebhat Nega); Tewodros Adhanom (Patrick Star from Spongebob Squarepants); Abay Woldu (Yosemite Sam); Doofus Drake (Demeke Mekonnen), Cruella de Vil (Azeb Mesfin), Baloo (Mulatu Teshome), Arkebe Oqubay (Don Karnage); Abay Tsehaye  (Sylvester the Cat); Foghorn Leghorn (Samora Yunis ); Goofy (Abadula Gemeda); Porky Pig (Girma Wold Giorgis); Addisu Legese (Elmer T. Fudd);  Seyoum Mesfin (Bugs Bunny); Redwan Hussien (Speedy Gonzalez); Droppy (Abadi Zemo); Tsegay Berhe (Pepe Le Pew) and so on.

But if the AF little bird is talking about better are more  practical political alternatives, that would require deeper analysis.

Do we mean a practical political alternative to the “developmental state”?

Do we mean better political alternatives as in a political party with a program for democratic governance in Ethiopia?

Do we mean better political alternatives as in a coalition of opposition elements forming a united front for the “salvation” of Ethiopia?

Do we mean better political alternatives as in a government with non-ethnic-based parties?

Do we mean better political alternatives to a “Baksheesh (beggar) State” in Ethiopia?

Do we mean better political alternatives as in a government based on the rule of law, accountability and transparency?

Do we mean better political alternatives as in a government-in-exile?

Developmental state: What is that? Is it a state run by the developmentally disabled for the developmentally disabled?

It is manifest that T-TPLF leaders  suffer from certain mental impairments such as hate, distorted perception of reality, hallucinations (they call it “vision”), delusions, anger management issues, bipolar disorder, etc.

Meles Zenawi, the architect of the “developmental state” in Ethiopia in his intellectually pretentious, rambling, doctrinaire and pompously  pedantic  51-page monograph   (with a warning not to quote from it) argued, “Development is a political process first and economic and social process later. It is the creation of a political set-up that is conducive to accelerated development that sets the ball of development rolling. Only when there is a state that has the characteristics of a developmental state can one meaningfully discuss the elimination of rentseeking.”

Whatever that mumbo jumbo means, the “developmental state” argument is an elaborate subterfuge to justify  following  the “China Model”, which has become the ultimate smokescreen for African Dictators, Inc.

The T-TPLF “developmental state” is a justification for circumventing transparent and accountable governance, competitive, free and fair elections and suppression of free speech and the press. It is a huge hoax perpetrated on the people with the aim of imposing absolute control and exacting total political obedience while justifying brutal suppression of all dissent and maximizing  T-TPLF’s kleptocratic monopoly over the economy.

A multiparty state is an excellent alternative to a state run by the developmentally disabled.

Political parties based on a well-defined political ideology and program:There are a number of party programs available. I have read the Kinijt Manifesto. I have read the Blue Party Program. I have read the Andinet Party Programme. I have also read the EPDRF Program, as well as others.

Broad declarations of intent, promises of good governance and pledges to respect human rights are great but do they address the real questions.

For instance, how would the parties tackle the “ethnic federalism devil”?

I say, do a collective exorcism and banish the demon of ethnic federalism from the blessed land of Ethiopia forever!

The T-TPLF (excuse me, EPRDF) has come to the realization that its creation, Ethnic Federalism Frankenstein, is about to swallow it.

A few days ago,  Hailemariam Desalegn, the marionette (puppet) prime minister of the T-TPLF, was bleating for help.

He was sending out an S.O.S.  I asked with astonishment, “Is the T-TPLF Ship of Hate Sinking… S.O.S.?”

Coalition of opposition parties: Now that is an idea whose time had come and gone, it needs to come back again.

Party coalition-building  has proven to be a success. In May 2005, Kinijit (a coalition of four political parties) thumped the T-TPLF into the ground.  Kinijit won 137 of the 138 seats in the capital Addis Ababa.

The late Meles Zenawi wanted to teach the Kinijit leaders a lesson. He jailed them all. That ended that coalition.

Why can’t opposition parties form coalitions today?

The T-TPLF wised up after it got its rear end kicked in 2005.

The T-TPLF has been toiling day and night to prevent another party coalition from forming.  They will try to co-opt potential coalition makers. If that does not work, they will harass them, intimidate them, prosecute and jail them. The T-TPLF will never allow a coalition to form under its watch.

There is no question a coalition of opposition parties is an excellent alternative.

Despite T-TPLF shenanigans, is it still possible to form coalitions among opposition parties?

United front opposition pro-democracy elements: In a number of countries, diverse pro-democracy elements have  formed a united front against a tyrannical state.

It should be possible to develop a common purpose among all opposition elements, not only political ones, and reach a general agreement to merge their forces to oppose the T-TPLF.

A united front opposition forum could discuss in earnest the possibility of a transitional government.

As a historical reminder, the T-TPLF set up its bogus shell organization, the EPRDF,  as a “united front” under the leadership of the TPLF to replace the military junta in power in 1991. They proposed a cease fire and formation of a transitional government representing all political forces in Ethiopia.

Of course, the TPLF scammed, duped and flimflammed everybody and consolidated power.  They have been in power since 1991.

A united front opposition forum is an excellent alternative to the thug state.

“Baksheesh (beggar) State” in Ethiopia: A year ago, I coined the concept of the “baksheesh state” to analyze regimes and states that sustain themselves primarily through international alms (aid + loans) and engage in aid/loan racketeering  (use of legitimate organizations for illegal purposes) through a variety of corrupt practices.

Just as I have previously argued that the highest stage of African dictatorship is “thugtatorship”, I argued that the “baksheesh state” (beggar state) is a predictable mutation of the garden variety African “kleptocracy” where political power is a means for public officials and elite members of the ruling class to accumulate personal wealth by effectively privatizing  and siphoning the public treasury and resources at the expense of the broader  population.

There are myriad alternatives to the Baksheesh State.

A couple of weeks ago, the U.N. reported:

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 T-TPLF will be making a beeline to the donors’ doors with a brand new panhandle in hand. “Baksheesh, please!”

Government-in-exile: There are those trying to organize for the eventual establishment of a government-in-exile as a better alternative to the T-TPLF “government”.  There are myriad examples of governments-in-exile and they are recognized under interntional law.  The question is how such efforts could be organized to meet the legal stnadads inder international law.  A government-in-exile is certainly a path to a better alternative.

Rule of law or rule of ignoramuses: Talking about the rule of law to T-TPLF leaders is like preaching Scripture to Heathen, or pouring water on a slab of granite. It is an exercise in total futility.

The T-TPLF has a constitution but they ignore it; they talk about it only when they want to charge someone with their laughable anti-terrorism law.

In terms of the flagrant disregard for the constitutional and human rights of the suspects, one cannot be unimpressed by the abysmal depth of ignorance and depraved indifference of the T-TPLF leaders to their own constitution.

Art. 20 (3) of the T-TPLF constitution provides: “During proceedings accused persons have the right to be presumed innocent.” The Zone 9 bloggers, young men and women using Facebook, have been dragged to the T-TPLF kangaroo/monkey court since April 2014. Recently, I wrote a commentary entitled, “Ethiopian Bloggers in Kangaroo (Monkey) Kourt” documenting their plight.

Article 19 (5) of the T-TPLF constitution provides that  the accused “shall not be compelled to make confessions or admissions which could be used in evidence or against them. Any evidence obtained under coercion shall not be admissible.” Suspects hailed in T-TPLF monkey court on trumped up charges are tortured into making a confessions, according to Human Rights Watch.

Article 21(2)  of the T-TPLF constitution provides “Accused persons have the right to be represented by legal counsel… and communicate with their legal counsel.”  Yeah, right!

In October 2013, I wote a commentary entitled “Confessions of a Police State” documenting the flagrant violations of of procedural rights suffered by Ethiopians.

There are much better alternatives to the rule of ignoramuses.

Doomsday scenarios: The T-TPLF says without the T-TPLF Ethiopia will be no more. They say Ethiopia will disintegrate into pieces like shards of glass. (Of course, the T-TPLF historians are unaware that Ethiopia has survived for thousands of year. They believe Ethiopia was created one hundred years ago.)  In November 2014, I wrote a commentary entitled, “The de-Ethiopianization of Ethiopia” expounding on the delusions of the T-TPLF.

The T-TPLF says without the T-TPLF Ethiopia’s development will collapse and Ethiopia return to poverty.

(For the record, the T-TPLF never, ever mention the fact that Ethiopia has beenranked as the “second poorest nation in the world” as late as 2014!)

The T-TPLF says without T-TPLF holding the sky over the Horn of Africa, the sky will come tumbling down and sweep all of East Africa right into the Indian Ocean.

Simply put, entrusting the future of Ethiopia to the T-TPLF thugs is like entrusting a hand (bunch) of bananas to a congress (bunch) of monkeys (not the ones in monkey court).

To be continued…

by Dan Reed   •   September 14, 2015

Historically, the DC area’s Ethiopian diaspora has centered on Adams Morgan and Shaw. But as the community has grown, it’s mostly moved out of the District. Today, the region actually has two “Little Ethiopias”: one in Silver Spring and one in Alexandria.

Where the region’s Ethiopian population lives. Map by the author.

Ethiopians have a lot of roots in the DC area

Ethiopians first began moving to the United States in the 1970s, fleeing a military dictatorship. The DC area has the nation’s largest Ethiopian community, but just how big it is up for debate.

The 2013 American Community Survey found about 40,000 people of Ethiopian ancestry in the region, while the Arlington-based Ethiopian Community Development Center says there are 100,000 Ethiopians living in the area.

There’s also a large population from Eritrea, which broke off from Ethiopia in 1991. The Census doesn’t break out ancestry data for Eritreans for local areas. But in 2005, but the Population Reference Bureau estimated that about 2% of African-born blacks in the region, or about 2,300 people, came from Eritrea.

Today, Ethiopians are the largest African immigrant group in the region, making up one-fifth of the region’s African diaspora. There are about 1200 Ethiopian-owned businesses in the region, according to the ECDC, as well as the Ethiopian community’s own Yellow Pages. Famous Ethiopian entertainers have settled in the area, and major events serving the diaspora are held here, like this sports and live music festival that was at the University of Maryland this summer.

Two “Little Ethiopias” emerge

When the diaspora began, Ethiopians arriving in DC settled in Adams Morgan, then along 9th Street NW in Shaw, occasionally called “Little Ethiopia.” Since 2000, DC’s Ethiopian population has more than doubled, from 2134 to 4807 in 2013, though it’s shifted north towards Petworth and Brightwood.

But like many immigrants in the region, many Ethiopians moved to Maryland and Virginia, and today most of the community lives outside the District. Montgomery County has the region’s largest cluster of Ethiopians, with nearly 13,000 residents claiming Ethiopian ancestry, three times as many as in 2000. Fairfax County and the city of Alexandria have the region’s second- and third-largest Ethiopian populations.

Ethiopian nightlife in Silver Spring. Photo by Reemberto Rodriguez.

Today, there are two “Little Ethiopias.” One sits in Silver Spring and Takoma Park, and reaches into far northwest DC. Another is in Alexandria and extends west towards the Skyline area of Fairfax County.

Both areas are home to several thousand people of Ethiopian descent. Ethiopians make up 29% of one Census tract next to downtown Silver Spring, while one census tract in Alexandria, consisting of a large apartment complex called Southern Towers, is 40% Ethiopian.

The most Ethiopian places

The most prominent sign of the region’s “Little Ethiopias” is food. Downtown Silver Spring has dozens of Ethiopian eateries, and with those numbers come specialization: there are white-tablecloth places, sports bars, an “Ethiopian Chipotle,” and of course,many different coffee shops. Meanwhile, chef and TV personality Anthony Bourdain visited an Ethiopian market in Skyline on the DC episode of his show No Reservations.

Montgomery County’s annual Ethiopian Festival in Silver Spring. Photo by Alan Bowser on Flickr.

These communities are also gathering and economic hubs not only for Ethiopians, but the wider African diaspora living in the DC area. Silver Spring is home to I/O Spaces, acoworking space geared to the African community. Montgomery County, which hosts an annual Ethiopian Festival in Silver Spring, is also the first jurisdiction in the nation to name September African Heritage Month.

Will “Little Ethiopia” continue to move farther out?

Why did Little Ethiopia, like so many other immigrant enclaves in the DC area, leave the District? Gentrification and displacement may be one cause. Though it’s also likely that people moved to Maryland and Virginia for cheaper housing, better schools, or to be close to friends and family.

It’ll be interesting to see if the region’s Ethiopian population continue to move further out. There are already large concentrations of Ethiopians extending far from both Little Ethiopias: the one in Silver Spring stretches north towards Burtonsville, while the one in Alexandria continues south along I-95 towards Lorton.

Addis Ababa — The Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa and headquarters of the African Union, has been shown to have the most expensive hotel room charges on the continent.

Addis will host the upcoming Africa Hotel Investment Forum (AHIF), taking place at the end of September. Research firm STR Global, recently carried out a comparative survey on room charges for one night across Africa, with the result that Johannesburg in South Africa offered the some of lowest charges.

The average rate in US dollars for a hotel room in the first six months of this year in Addis Ababa was $231.78/ night.

This compares with $215.75 for a room in Lagos, $144.76 in Nairobi, $122.30 in Cape Town, $105.73 in Casablanca, $103.54 in Cairo, $72.90 in Johannesburg and $70.70 in Sharm El Sheikh. Sharm El Sheikh is in the Sinai Peninsula of Egypt.

The survey reads in part, ‘When one notes that the price of a hotel room in Nairobi is almost double that in Jo’burg and the room rate in Addis is 60% more expensive than Nairobi, one is tempted to ask how prices can be so different.’

Thomas Emanuel, Director of Business Development, STR Global, said last week, “A great deal of the reason for the difference in rates across major African cities is simply supply and demand.”

He said Addis Ababa has a shortage of top quality hotels. “However, with the Ethiopian economy growing at a rapid rate of more than 10% per annum for the whole of the last decade,” he said.

The survey states that with more conferences coming to the city by virtue of its status as the seat of the African Union and with Ethiopian Airways on a similar growth trajectory to the country, and thanks to new routes and increased passenger numbers, there is a high demand for premium hotel rooms,

By comparison, Johannesburg is a long-established, sophisticated international city, with a large number of 5-star hotels and a competitive market for accommodation.

However according to STR Global, hotel prices have changed over the past year (between June 2014 and 2015).

There have been substantial rate rises in Sharm El Sheikh, up 42.5%, Addis Ababa, up 14.9%, Johannesburg, up 11.0% Cape Town, up 10.8% and Cairo, up 10.6%. Even though there has been a recovery in Lagos up 5.8%, in Nairobi it is broadly the same but Casablanca has suffered a 4% decline.

The increases in Sharm El Sheikh and Cairo can be explained as a recovery in tourism to Egypt, following several years of political unrest.

Cape Town’s improvement is due predominantly to increased demand and no recent increases in supply since the 2010 World Cup.

In the face of the recent terrorism incidents in Kenya, Nairobi’s hoteliers have chosen to maintain rates, but they have suffered with lower occupancy.

he rise in room rates in Lagos is simply due to supply and demand because there has been a combination of factors that would normally be expected to exert a downward pressure on price.

First, there is a hotel development boom in Lagos with 3,611 new hotel rooms in the pipeline, according to W Hospitality Group.

Second, there has been a collapse in the oil price, which is damaging Nigeria’s heavily oil-dependent economy and third, occupancy has fallen below 50%.

The rate decline in Casablanca is due in part to economic weakness in France, its major source market and in part to currency fluctuations.

Source- busiweek.com

BBC

Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe has read out the wrong speech at the opening of parliament.

He gave the same one during his state-of-the-nation address on 25 August, when he was heckled by opposition MPs.

His spokesman told the state-run Herald paper the error was because of a mix-up in the president’s secretarial office.

The BBC’s Brian Hungwe in Harare says tensions were high ahead of the speech and the state broadcaster cancelled its live feed fearing further disruptions.

At least six MPs from the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) received a text message from a sender called “Death” warning them to behave.

“Warning: Immunity ends in parliament… act wisely by not disturbing the proceedings of parliament,” the message on opposition MP Nelson Chamisa’s phone said.

Before the 91-year-old president spoke, the parliamentary speaker also warned against disrupting proceedings.

After Mr Mugabe began speaking, it was not long before it dawned on those present that they had heard it all before, our reporter says.

But during the speech, the MDC members sat quietly, while ruling Zanu-PF party supporters clapped at regular intervals, Reuters news agency reports.

The president made reference to the country amending labour laws to protect workers from arbitrary termination of employment, efforts being made to stimulate investment and the country registering modest growth in tourism and agriculture, our correspondent says.

The first time Mr Mugabe read the speech opposition MPs sang protest songs against his 10-point plan to solve the country’s economic crisis.

Presidential spokesman George Charamba said the error in delivering the wrong speech was “sincerely regretted”.

He added that the president would read the correct speech later at a hotel in the capital Harare, Reuters reports.

Twenty years old Solome Gulelat is shot to death in what observers say is a very shocking manner.

Based on citizen’s report on social media, the killer is member of the ruling party’s special force and was dressed in police uniform while carrying out what looks like a premeditated killing. The name of the killer is not identified at this point in time.

The killer attempted suicide after killing Solome Gulelat and reportedly shot himself in the head. The unidentified killer in hospital and it is not indicated whether the killer’s situation is life threatening or not.

Police did not share any information regarding the killer and it is not clear if police undertook preliminary investigation in the hospital.

What really happened?

Citizen’s report in social media from Addis Ababa cited the friend of the victim,who was at the scene during the incident and who declined to disclose her name, in their depiction of what unfolded inside the washroom of a bar in Addis Ababa.

Solome and her friend wanted to use washroom before they leave the bar. When they open one of the washrooms, a special police in uniform, and apparently armed, was inside and they had to say “sorry”. Solome and her friend went in soon after the police left one of the washrooms. When Solome and her friend came out from the washroom, the police was hanging out there and locked the main door to the washrooms.

That is when the police is said to have approached Solome and asked her why she didn’t want to talk to him and slapped her. Solome was down on the ground and her friend run back to the one of the washrooms and locked from inside and then she heard gunshots. When Solome’s friend came out she saw Solome and the policeman on the ground. Solome was still breathing and someone else rushed to help. Then police arrived and Solome was taken to nearby health clinic where she was pronounced dead. Solome is laid to rest in Addis Ababa yesterday.

The suspect was reportedly with someone in the bar who is said to have known Solome before and made unsuccessful “romantic” encroachments.

In November 2013, the case of Hanan Lalongo who was gang-raped by six teenagers shocked Ethiopia and there was outrage for a few weeks.

Now the crime is committed by member of the security force. Clearly, there is a missing detail and the situation sounds very suspicious is perhaps more than a case of sexual assault.

Stories like these recurring in recent years in different forms and they undoubtedly traumatize the generation, and has undesirable psychological impact on the country.

If you happen to have more details on this matter, or a different account or share your views, please do send it to info@borkena.com

borkena -http://www.borkena.com/2015/09/16/ethiopia-a-girl-shockingly-shot-to-death-in-a-bar-by-member-of-ethiopian-security-force-in-the-capital/

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The opposition has called for people to resist the coup

BBC News

Presidential guard officers in Burkina Faso have seized power in a coup, with reports of more than 10 deaths amid protests in the capital, Ouagadougou.

A close ally of former President Blaise Compaore has been named the country’s new leader, state television reports.

The US, France and African Union (AU) condemned the coup in the former French colony.

Those killed were shot dead by presidential guard forces in the capital, a civil society group said.

The claim by the influential Balai Citoyen group could not be independently verified.

A medical source in the city’s main hospital said three people had been killed.

An unknown number of protesters have been detained.

‘Rise up’

The coup leaders have imposed a night-time curfew across the West African state, and have ordered the closure of land and air borders, AFP news agency reports.

The headquarters of Mr Compaore’s Congress for Democracy and Progress (CDP) party were ransacked in Ouagadougou as news of the coup spread, it adds.

The AU and regional body Ecowas, the Economic Community of West African States, called for the immediate release of “hostages”, referring to interim President Michel Kafando and Prime Minister Isaac Zida, who were detained at a cabinet meeting in the president palace on Wednesday.

Their transitional authority was due to hand power to a new government after elections on 11 October.

Seven things about Burkina Faso:

Image copyrightAFP

• It is one of the world’s poorest countries – its main export is cotton
• A former French colony, it gained independence as Upper Volta in 1960
• Capt Thomas Sankara seized power in 1983 and adopted radical left-wing policies – he is often referred to as “Africa’s Che Guevara”
• The anti-imperialist revolutionary renamed the country Burkina Faso, which translates as “land of honest men”
• Mr Compaore took power in the coup that killed Mr Sankara, and ruled for 27 years, until he was ousted last year following street protests
• People in Burkina Faso, known as Burkinabes, love riding motor scooters
• It is renowned for its pan-African film festival, Fespaco, held every two years in Ouagadougou

Mr Compaore was ousted in a popular uprising, partly organised by Balai Citoyen, in 2014 after 27 years in power, and is currently in exile.

He was accused of committing widespread abuses, and trying to change the constitution to extend his term in office.

Some of his key allies had been barred from contesting the election.

Image copyrightAP

Image copyrightAFP

Image copyrightAP

A statement issued by the coup leaders said the West African state would be led by Gen Gilbert Diendere, Mr Compaore’s former chief-of-staff.

In media interviews, he said he had no contact with Mr Compaore and would do everything to “avoid violence that could plunge the country into chaos”.

An earlier announcement on state television said wide-ranging talks would be held to form a new interim government that would organise “peaceful and inclusive elections”.

Transitional parliamentary speaker Cheriff Sy called for people to “immediately rise up” against the coup, and declared himself the leader of the West African state.

“We are in a resistance situation against adversity,” Mr Sy added.

Image copyrightAFP

The US State Department said it was deeply concerned about the events unfolding in Burkina Faso.

French President Francois Hollande said he strongly condemned the coup “because an electoral process was under way”.

However, France would not intervene militarily, he said.

The US said it was deeply concerned about events in Burkina Faso, and it condemned the seizure of power through unconstitutional means.

Burkina Faso is a key ally of the US and France in the campaign against militant Islamists in the region.

Analysis: Thomas Fessy, BBC West Africa correspondent

Image copyrightAFP

The elite presidential guard has been trained, in part, by the US. It is the most powerful armed group in Burkina Faso and often disrupted the activities of the transitional government as it tried to cling to the privileges it enjoyed under Mr Compaore’s rule.

It is seen to be close to him, and is not popular on the streets. So its seizure of power could be a recipe for serious violence.

The transitional government might have made two mistakes – preventing politicians loyal to Mr Compaore from running in next month’s elections and allowing the Reconciliation Commission, formed to heal wounds after the end of his authoritarian rule, to release a report calling for the presidential guard to be disbanded.

Some argue that a newly elected president would have had greater legitimacy to take such action.

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September 17, 2015 (JUBA) – Over 100 people are feared dead after a fuel tanker exploded in Sudan’s Western Equatoria state county of Maridi Thursday, authorities said.

The map of Western Equatoria in red

The incident occurred about 20 kilometres from Maridi town. Several other people were reportedly injured during the huge explosion.

The government of Western Equatoria state has declared three days of mourning to remember victims of the blast, amid fears the death toll could rise further.

The executive director of Maridi county, John Ezkia said nearly 1,000 people had gathered to collect fuel leaking from the overturned tanker.

Other sources told Sudan Tribunethe death toll could exceed 100, with dozens wounded.

The state caretaker governor, Patrick Zamoya appealed for assistance to aid the victims.

“We have declared three days of mourning and call upon the UN, the international red cross and the national government to send any help as soon as possible,” said Zamoya.

The fuel tanker was moving from the South Sudanese capital, Juba to Yambio town.

The United Nations Mission in the country (UNMISS) conveyed its heartfelt condolences to the government, people of South Sudan and the families of those who lost their lives.

The mission said it dispatched an emergency patrol to the site to assess the situation, adding, “A special flight carrying a medical assessment team arrived there a few hours ago”.

(ST)

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