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"ፍቅር ያሸንፋል" - በቴዲ አፍሮ Teddy's Afro New Single, "Love wins"
published on August 31st, 2010 at 10:57 AM

ዋሽቶ ለመኖር (አቤት)አልችልም ከቶ
ታምኖ ይኖራል እንጂ ያለውን በልቶ:
ደልቶኝ የሞላ ኑሮ መኖር ባልጠላም
ገንዘብ ለማግኝት ብዬ አላጣም ስላም:
እኔ አላጣም ሰላም::

ይህ ዓለም ንዋይ ጭኖ ወርቁን በሙዳይ
ማርኮ ከረታት ነፍሴን ከሰጣት ጉዳይ:
ህሊና ሲያጣ ሰላም ወርቅ አልማዝ ሞልቶ
ሳይተኙ ማደር ሊሆን ከራስ ተጣልቶ::
ከእዚህ ሁሉ ቅጣት ይሻላል ማጣት
አስኮንኛት ነፍሴን አልሞላም ኪሴን::

ነፍሴ- እጅ እንዳትሰጪው ለኪሴ
ታጣይኛለሽ ከእራሴ::
ስላሜ እረፍት ያለብሽ በጌታ
ታምነሽ አኑሪኝ ከጌታ::

(አንገት ከሚሰበር
ባይበላስ ቢቀር::
ያሉት ከሚጠፋ
የወለዱት ይጥፋ::
ይሉኝታ ከማጣ
ዛሬ ገንዘብ ልጣ::
አስገምቼው ራሴን
አልሞላውም ኪሴን)2
(አልሞላውም ኪሴን)2
(ባዶ ላርገው ኪሴን)2
አልሞላውም ኪሴን) - ባዶ

ዋሽቶ ለመኖር (አቤት) አልችልም ከቶ
ታምኖ ይኖራል እንጂ ያለውን በልቶ
ደልቶኝ የሞላ ኑሮ መኖር ባልጠላም
ይሄን ለማግኘት ብዬ አላጣም ስላም
እኔ (አላጣም ሰላም)2::

የዓመል ነው እንጂ ደሀ የገንዘብ የለም
ሰው ባይኖር እይዋት ራሷ ባዶ ናት ዓለም
ገንዘብ ብቻ ነው ያለ የእዚህ ዓለም ደስታ
ዳግም ይሸጣል ስምዖን ቢመለስ ጌታ::
ለሰላሣ ዲናር
ሊያጣ ነፍስ ይማር
አስኮንኛት ነፍሴን
አልሞላም ኪሴን
ነፍሴ... እጅ እንዳትሰጪው ለኪሴ
ታጣይኛለሽ ከእራሴ
ሰላሜ እረፍት ያለብሽ በጌታ
ታምነሽ አኑሪኝ ከጌታ

(አንገት ከሚሰበር
ባይበላስ ቢቀር::
ያሉት ከሚጠፋ
የወለዱት ይጥፋ::
ይሉኝታ ከማጣ
ዛሬ ገንዘብ ልጣ::
አስገምቼው ራሴን
አልሞላውም ኪሴን::)2

(አልሞላውም ኪሴን::)2
(ባዶ ላርገው ኪሴን)2
(አልሞላውም ኪሴን::)2

Policy Adrift As Administration Sides With Africa's Enemies--The Corrupt Leaders
published on July 28th, 2010 at 10:57 AM
Black Star editorial calls upon Obama Administration not to screw Africa and to redeem Africa policy

There comes a moment in a lifetime when one has an opportunity to break with the bad old ways in order to open a great new future.
That moment is still at hand for President Barack Obama with respect to U.S. relations with the African continent. His decisions could free millions of Africans from bondage -- the one imposed for decades now by African dictators often with Western collusion-- save millions of lives in avoided bloodshed, and help unleash the great reservoir wherein Africa's vast potential has been condemned.
President Obama started that journey last August in Accra, Ghana. He vowed he would help Africans discard the bad old ways. Yet today, the U.S. seems fully vested in that terrible type of past relationship with African countries--assisting and abetting genocidal regimes.
Rather than becoming a friend of Africans --the millions of ordinary Africans who yearn for democracy-- the U.S. is again acting like an enemy of Africa by embracing tyrannical regimes.
In Accra last August, Obama had said gone were the days of the African strongman. Yes, Africa's growth was stunted and there had never been a tradition of democratic governance due to colonial rule, Obama noted. True as these historical injustices had been, African countries could no longer use them as excuses, he added.
Not because they were not legitimate grievances; but because the world's compassion had dissipated and the approach would yield no fruits.
Now, Africans had to seize the day--the new generation of Africans; the young; the women; the entrepreneurs; the scientists; and, in other words, the next generation-- in order to create a new destiny.
The Big Men had had their days.
In a globalized economy, with investment choices, who --apart from the corrupt Western multi nationals that finance genocide in Congo, via Rwanda and Uganda-- would want to sink funds in environments dominated by corruption and embezzlement?
The true Africa --the Africa which remains merely "potential" -- could only be unleashed through regular and established transfer of political power; transparency; the rule of law; and, accountability. An American president was finally inviting the African continent to join the global community.
African countries --and the leadership-- would no longer be evaluated based on a lower standard. It was the end of paternalism and an end to coddling dictators who served U.S. interests while brutalizing their African countrywomen and men while spiriting billions of dollars of embezzled funds abroad.
And all of Africa --except the dictators and their acolytes-- welcomed President Obama's Accra, Ghana speech.
But the speech remains rosy words in the sky.
President Obama has the choice of either doing the right thing, or pulling another Bill Clinton on Africa. The former U.S. President, instead of conditioning U.S. financial and military assistance to African countries based on, to what extent the leadership embraced democratization and the rule of law, simply created,
out of thin air, "a new breed of African leaders."
Clinton knew the leaders --Paul Kagame in Rwanda, Yoweri Museveni in Uganda, and Meles Zenawi in Ethiopia-- represented the anti-thesis of democratization and the rule of law. Yet, Clinton simply coined a phrase that the imbecilic corporate media embraced and suddenly all was good.
Millions lost African lives later, these bad old leaders still run the show in these African countries, with U.S. financial and military assistance. Rwanda is on the verge of holding a bogus presidential "election" with the opposition political parties' leaders either exiled, under house arrest, or six feet under: And it seems that the U.S. is preparing to recognize the outcome of the "election."
This is abominable and harkens to the days when here in the United States, elections used to be held in the Southern States while Black voters were either barred from voting, being lynched, being "disappeared," or showered with water cannons.
Ethiopia has already held its sham elections that have been recognized by the United States. The Ethiopian regime has sold itself as a frontline state against expansion of Islamism in the Horn of Africa. Ethiopia's army was permitted to commit war crimes in Somalia during its U.S.-backed occupation.
Zenawi has a blank check -- business as usual.
In Uganda a genocidal dictator, General Museveni, who also happens to be a racist -- he once told The Atlantic Monthly Magazine that Black people who were captured into slavery were "stupid" -- has similarly prostituted his country's army to serve as policeman on behalf of the United States, in Somalia. Notwithstanding the fact that the same Uganda army had been found liable by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in 2005 for what amounts to war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The court awarded Congo $10 billion in compensation, of which a dime has yet to be paid.
So, an army that had committed terrorism in Congo was sent to keep the peace in Somalia? Even by the contemptuous double standards reserved only for Africa this was exceedingly obnoxious. No wonder most African countries refused to join this charade which has been disguised as an "African Union" force.
Now, lo and behold, Uganda's soldiers in Somalia are reportedly indiscriminately shelling civilian areas in Mogadishu, the Somali capital. Also look for General Museveni to use the recent terrorist bombings in Kampala, reportedly by al-Shabab, the Somali militants, as justification as he crushes domestic pressure from pro-democracy forces heading into the presidential election of 2011.
The United States once again --in its narrow quest to satisfy strictly U.S. interests-- is on the wrong side of history in Africa.
It's true that President Obama inherited the U.S. Africa policy --hypocrisy: aiding and abetting genocidal dictators while calling them "allies"-- from George W. Bush, who in turn inherited the policy from Bill Clinton.
But this is now Obama time.
The African continent -- victimized and brutalized by foreign powers and never allowed to fulfill its own destiny for centuries-- deserves better. What better way than to start this transformation under the watch of a leader who traces his lineage directly to central Africa.
So, will President Obama deliver on his own Accra Speech or will be pull another Bill Clinton against Africa?
President Obama still has time to answer this question.

"Speaking Truth To Empower."

Michael O'Leary reveals Ryanair may have owned Ethiopian Airlines jet which crashed, killing 90 people
published on January 26th, 2010 at 10:57 AM
The Boeing 737-800 jet - which was eight years old - had its last routine maintenance on December, 25, last year, according to Ethiopian Airlines
The Ethiopian Airlines jet that crashed off Lebanon was used by Ryanair until last April, its chief executive Michael O'Leary revealed yesterday.
He said the budget airline had sold the Boeing 737 - serial number 29935 - in April last year and it had previously been used on a number of its European routes.
The Irish Aviation Authority confirmed that the aircraft was a former Ryanair plane that had logged 17,750 flight hours in its seven years of service.
And planespotters came forward to say they had photographed the jet at British airports between 2002 and last year.
Mr O'Leary denied any liability in the accident, which saw 90 passengers killed, including Britons Afif Krisht, a 57-year-old businessman from Plymouth, and Kevin Grainger, 24.
'What happened we don't know,' he said.
'It's a bit like selling your car and 11 months later the person driving it has a crash. It had nothing to do with us.'
The accident happened on Monday after the plane had taken off from Beirut bound for Addis Ababa, Ethiopia's capital. Witnesses described seeing the plane crash into the sea and explode in a 'ball of fire'. Investigators said it had left the airport on the wrong route and flown straight into a storm.
It comes as Lebanon’s transport minister revealed the pilot on board the flight went in the opposite direction from the path recommended by the Beirut control tower.
Ghazi Aridi said he was told ‘to correct his path but he did a very fast and strange turn before disappearing completely from the radar’ after taking off from Beirut's Rafik Hariri International Airport.
All 90 people on board are feared dead - with so far 34 bodies pulled from the sea - after the plane went down in flames around at 2.30am during a night of lightning and thunderstorms.
Lebanese officials have ruled out terrorism or ‘sabotage’. The plane was headed to the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa.
Searchers are trying to locate the plane's black box and flight data recorder, which are key to determining the cause of the crash.
Today, rescue teams and equipment sent from the U.N. and countries including the U.S. and Cyprus are helping in the search.
Pieces of the plane and other debris have been washing ashore, and emergency crews have pulled a large, one-metre-long piece of the plane from the water.
An aviation analyst familiar with the investigation said Beirut air traffic control was guiding the Ethiopian flight through the thunderstorms for the first three minutes of its flight.
The official, who asked not to be identified, said this was standard procedure by Lebanese controllers to assist airliners departing from the airport in poor weather conditions.
It is unclear exactly what happened in the last two minutes of flight, the official added.
Patrick Smith, a U.S.-based airline pilot and aviation writer, said there were many possible causes for the crash.
‘Had the plane encountered extreme turbulence, or had it suffered a powerful lightning strike that knocked out instruments while penetrating strong turbulence, then structural failure or loss of control, followed by an in-flight breakup, are possible causes,’ he said.
Ethiopian Airlines said on Monday that the pilot had more than 20 years of experience.
It did not give the pilot's name or details of other aircraft the pilot had flown.
Ethiopian Airlines says the eight-year-old plane was leased from a division of U.S. financing company CIT Group and had its last routine maintenance on December, 25 last year.
It said the jet, a recent version of Boeing's best-selling model, left the U.S. factory in 2002.

An explosion in the sky – and Beirut's worst fears came true
published on January 25th, 2010 at 10:57 AM
Concerns about safety of planes taking off in storms confirmed by crash that killed 90 passengers and crew
By Robert Fisk, Middle East Correspondent

All weekend, it had been storming across Beirut, bringing the first snows to the mountains above the capital, a near tempest of lightning and thunder that blasted across the seafront Corniche and the runways of the city's international airport. The Lebanese often wondered just how safe it was to fly out of their country in these winter storms. And in the early hours of yesterday morning, their fears were given terrible expression when Ethiopian Airlines flight ET409 exploded in the sky scarcely two miles from Beirut, less that five minutes after take-off.
All day, while Lebanese army helicopters and European naval ships under the UN's command searched for bodies in the high seas, the pitiful detritus of the disaster – a baby's sandals, baggage, medicine bottles, airline seats and wires – were thrown up by the tremendous waves on Naameh beach, in sight of the airport from which the Boeing 737-800 jet had taken off.
There had been 90 passengers and crew aboard and by yesterday afternoon, there was no hope of finding any alive. Many saw the explosion that burst in the cloudy skies at 2.30am, a scar of sudden bright light on the horizon two miles out to sea. Within hours, Beirut airport became the inevitable scene of human desolation, one woman shrieking with grief in the terminal. Should the plane have taken off in such dreadful weather? And was this the fault of the flight deck crew, or of Beirut operations which had given the pilot clearance to take off?
In a world where suspicions of sabotage accompany any aircraft crash - in the "old world" pre-al Qa'ida days, a crash was assumed to be caused by technical faults or human error unless there was evidence to the contrary – it has to be said that there was no reason to suspect a criminal hand behind the tragedy. The Lebanese president, Michel Sleiman, said as much yesterday morning. There is a large expatriate community of Ethiopian workers in Beirut and, despite its repeated wars, Lebanon has had no political contact with African conflicts.
Of the 34 bodies – two of them children – recovered from the sea last night, many are so dismembered that they will need DNA examinations to be identified. There were two Britons among the 83 passengers, along with 54 Lebanese and 22 Ethiopians. The passenger manifest also included Canadians, French – including Marla Pieton the wife of the French ambassador to Lebanon, Iraqi, Syrian and Turkish nationals. From their relatives at the airport came awful tales; of the mother who pleaded with her son to delay travelling because of the weather, of parents who could not understand why a plane should take off into a thunderstorm in the middle of the night over a raging sea.
But taking off from Beirut in bad weather has always been an unsettling experience. The location of the airport, just south of the city, means that outbound airliners must fly out to sea immediately after leaving the ground. If they continued south, they would quickly be heading for the Israeli frontier. The usual take-off runway forces pilots to bank heavily to starboard and passengers can sea the ocean immediately below the right wing of the plane. In bad weather – and I write as a veteran Beirut airline passenger – the sight of massive waves and sea-spray under the starboard wing-tip is usually a little terrifying. It normally takes more than 10 minutes to rise above the turbulence and flight ET409 exploded when it was still in cloud, just five minutes after leaving the ground. Beirut has a first-class record in on-time takeoffs; the question must be asked if controllers allowed this to overcome any doubts about the weather. But planes had been taking off into the same storm and lightning for more than 12 hours before the disaster. Yesterday, the Lebanese Prime Minister, Saad Hariri, paid a painful visit to the airport to meet distraught relatives, some of whom would not accept that the jet had been lost.
The last crash at Beirut airport was more than 20 years ago when a Polish freight aircraft crashed in the hills to the south-east.
During the 1975-90 civil war, a Hungarian Malev airliner was accidentally hit by a stray shell while coming in to land. All aboard were killed. Shortly afterwards, a Lebanese MEA Boeing 707 exploded over Saudi Arabia when a bomb – put aboard, probably by a Palestinian group and timed to blow up when the flight had reached its destination – exploded prematurely.

2009 Human Rights Watch Report on Ethiopia
published on January 21st, 2010 at 10:57 AM
Ethiopia is on a deteriorating human rights trajectory as parliamentary elections approach in 2010. These will be the first national elections since 2005, when post-election protests resulted in the deaths of at least 200 protesters, many of them victims of excessive use of force by the police. Broad patterns of government repression have prevented the emergence of organized opposition in most of the country. In December 2008 the government re-imprisoned opposition leader Birtukan Midekssa for life after she made remarks that allegedly violated the terms of an earlier pardon.
In 2009 the government passed two pieces of legislation that codify some of the worst aspects of the slide towards deeper repression and political intolerance. A civil society law passed in January is one of the most restrictive of its kind, and its provisions will make most independent human rights work impossible. A new counterterrorism law passed in July permits the government and security forces to prosecute political protesters and non-violent expressions of dissent as acts of terrorism.
Political Repression and the 2010 Elections
As Ethiopia heads toward nationwide elections, the government continues to clamp down on the already limited space for dissent or independent political activity. Ordinary citizens who criticize government policies or officials frequently face arrest on trumped-up accusations of belonging to illegal "anti-peace" groups, including armed opposition movements. Officials sometimes bring criminal cases in a manner that appears to selectively target government critics, as when in June 2009 prominent human rights activist Abebe Worke was charged with illegal importation of radio equipment and ultimately fled the country. In the countryside government-supplied (and donor-funded) agricultural assistance and other resources are often used as leverage to punish and prevent dissent, or to compel individuals into joining the ruling party.
The opposition is in disarray, but the government has shown little willingness to tolerate potential challengers. In December 2008 the security forces re-arrested Birtukan Midekssa, leader of the Unity for Democracy and Justice Party, which had begun to build a grassroots following in the capital. The government announced that Birtukan would be jailed for life because she had made public remarks that violated the terms of an earlier pardon for alleged acts of treason surrounding the 2005 elections. The authorities stated that there was no need for a trial as the move was a mere legal technicality.
In July the Ethiopian government passed a new anti-terrorism law. The law provides broad powers to the police, and harsh criminal penalties can be applied to political protesters and others who engage in acts of nonviolent political dissent. Some of its provisions appear tailored less toward addressing terrorism and more toward allowing for a heavy-handed response to mass public unrest, like that which followed Ethiopia's 2005 elections.
Civil Society Activism and Media Freedom
The space for independent civil society activity in Ethiopia, already extremely narrow, shrank dramatically in 2009. In January the government passed a new civil society law whose provisions are among the most restrictive of any comparable law anywhere in the world. The law makes any work that touches on human rights or governance issues illegal if carried out by foreign non-governmental organizations, and labels any Ethiopian organization that receives more than 10 percent of its funding from sources outside of Ethiopia as "foreign." The law makes most independent human rights work virtually impossible, and human rights work deemed illegal under the law is punishable as a criminal offense.
Ethiopia passed a new media law in 2008 that improved upon several repressive aspects of the previous legal regime. The space for independent media activity in Ethiopia remains severely constrained, however. In August two journalists were jailed on charges derived partly from Ethiopia's old, and now defunct, press proclamation. Ethiopia's new anti-terror law contains provisions that will impact the media by making journalists and editors potential accomplices in acts of terrorism if they publish statements seen as encouraging or supporting terrorist acts, or even, simply, political protest.
Pretrial Detention and Torture
The Ethiopian government continues its longstanding practice of using lengthy periods of pretrial and pre-charge detention to punish critics and opposition activists, even where no criminal charges are ultimately pursued. Numerous prominent ethnic Oromo Ethiopians have been detained in recent years on charges of providing support to the outlawed Oromo Liberation Front (OLF); in almost none of these cases have charges been pursued, but the accused, including opposition activists, have remained in detention for long periods. Canadian national Bashir Makhtal was convicted on charges of supporting the rebel Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) in July, after a trial that was widely criticized as unfair; he was in detention for two-and-a-half years before his sentence was handed down, and he was unable to access legal counsel and consular representatives for much of that period.
Not only are periods of pretrial detention punitively long, but detainees and convicted prisoners alike face torture and other ill-treatment. Human Rights Watch and other organizations have documented consistent patterns of torture in police and military custody for many years. The Ethiopian government regularly responds that these abuses do not exist, but even the government's own Human Rights Commission acknowledged in its 2009 annual report that torture and other abuses had taken place in several detention facilities, including in Ambo and Nekemte.
Impunity for Military Abuses
The Ethiopian National Defense Force (ENDF) has committed serious abuses, in some cases amounting to war crimes or crimes against humanity, in several different conflicts in recent years. Human Rights Watch is not aware of any meaningful efforts to hold the officers or government officials most responsible for those abuses to account. The only government response to crimes against humanity and other serious abuses committed by the military during a brutal counterinsurgency campaign in Gambella in late 2003 and 2004 was an inquiry that prosecuted a handful of junior personnel for deliberate and widespread patterns of abuse. No one has been investigated or held to account for war crimes and other widespread violations of the laws of war during Ethiopia's bloody military intervention in neighboring Somalia from 2006 to 2008.
In August 2008 the Ethiopian government did purport to launch an inquiry into allegations of serious crimes in Somali Regional State, where the armed forces have been fighting a campaign against the rebel Ogaden National Liberation Front for many years. The inquiry was sponsored by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, lacked independence, and concluded that no serious abuses took place. To date the government continues to restrict access of independent investigators into the area.
Relations in the Horn of Africa
In August the Eritrea-Ethiopia Claims Commission issued its final rulings on monetary damages stemming from the bloody 1998-2000 border war between Ethiopia and Eritrea. Nonetheless the two countries remain locked in an intractable dispute about the demarcation of the heavily militarized frontier. Eritrea continues to play a destabilizing role throughout the Horn of Africa through its efforts to undermine and attack the government of Ethiopia wherever possible. The government of President Isayas Afewerki hosts and materially supports fighters from Ethiopian rebel movements, including the Oromo Liberation Front. Eritrea has also pursued a policy of supporting armed opposition groups in Somalia as a way of undermining Ethiopia's support for the country's weak Transitional Federal Government.
Key International Actors
Ethiopia is one of the most aid-dependant countries in the world and received more than US$2 billion in 2009, but its major donors have been unwilling to confront the government over its worsening human rights record. Even as the country slides deeper into repression, the Ethiopian government uses development aid funding as leverage against the donors who provide it-many donors fear that the government would discontinue or scale back their aid programs should they speak out on human rights concerns. This trend is perhaps best exemplified by the United Kingdom, whose government has consistently chosen to remain silent in order to protect its annual £130 million worth of bilateral aid and development programs.
Donors are also fearful of jeopardizing access for humanitarian organizations to respond to the drought and worsening food crisis. Millions of Ethiopians depend on food aid, and the government has sought to minimize the scale of the crisis and restrict access for independent surveys and response.
While Ethiopia's government puts in place measures to control the elections in 2010, many donors have ignored the larger trends and focused instead on negotiating with the government to allow them to send election observers.
A significant shift in donor policy toward Ethiopia would likely have to be led by the US government, Ethiopia's largest donor and most important political ally on the world stage. But President Barack Obama's administration has yet to depart from the policies of the Bush administration, which consistently refused to speak out against abuses in Ethiopia. While the reasons may be different-the current government is not as narrowly focused on security cooperation with Ethiopia as was the Bush administration- thus far the practical results have been the same. The events described above attracted little public protest from the US government in 2009.

Obama Follows Reagan-era Blueprint After Earthquake in Haiti
published on January 18th, 2010 at 10:57 AM
By Alexander Poster
Alexander Poster is Smith-Richardson Fellow at Yale and a graduate student at The Ohio State University. He will defend a dissertation on the history of disaster relief entitled “A Hierarchy of Survival: The United States and the Negotiation of International Disaster Relief” in 2010.
In response to the Haitian earthquake, one of the costliest natural disasters ever to strike the Caribbean, President Obama took immediate action. After promising an initial commitment of $100 million to earthquake relief, the President insisted that further U.S. action in Haiti would be necessary, stating “this investment will grow over the coming year”. Not surprisingly, right-wing pundit Rush Limbaugh voiced his disapproval of the President’s decision. “We've already donated to Haiti, it's called the U.S. income tax," grumbled Limbaugh, creating a firestorm of controversy that he most certainly welcomed.
While Mr. Limbaugh was likely aware of the inflammatory nature of his comments, he may not have known that the framework of American humanitarian relief policy was put in place by a man he frequently cites and admires– former President Ronald Reagan.
Faced with an ambitious slate of Cold War objectives, a war-weary American public skeptical of military intervention, and a flagging U.S. economy, Reagan officials turned to disaster relief in the early 1980s, not just as a humanitarian afterthought, but as part of a foreign policy strategy that pursued political and developmental goals. Beginning in 1984 with the Ethiopian famine, the Reagan administration made a major financial commitment to disaster relief, investing over $500 million as part of a plan that would both feed starving children and weaken Ethiopian leader Mengistu Haile Mariam’s socialist regime. Since the Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance had few people on the ground in Ethiopia and President Reagan was dubious about giving money directly to Mengistu, most of the $500 million was distributed in the form of grants to private aid agencies, such as the Red Cross. Reagan officials were thus able to exercise some degree of leverage in Ethiopia, albeit indirectly. Viewing their humanitarian and political objectives as interconnected, they temporarily discouraged Mengistu from resettling peasants onto collective farms.
The response to the Ethiopian famine comprised Washington’s first hundred-million dollar commitment to a foreign natural disaster, establishing a precedent that is still followed today. In 1986, Reagan officials provided El Salvador with $300 million in the months following an earthquake that threatened political and economic stability in the war-torn Central American nation. Not only did the funds provide President Jose Napoleon Duarte with money to stave off communist challenges (leftist guerrillas started providing Salvadorans with food and fresh water hours after the tremor), Washington’s response to the earthquake allowed Reagan officials a role in the reconstruction of San Salvador, lowering trade barriers and opening up channels for investment from American businesses. The recipients of American reconstruction grants included both aid agencies and private firms. Disaster relief not only represented an important plank in President Reagan’s Cold War strategy, it also served as a means to dictate neoliberal terms of development in catastrophe-stricken countries.
Both Democratic and Republican presidents followed Reagan’s blueprint. During the early 1990s, the Clinton administration funded humanitarian missions in Haiti, using feeding campaigns to weaken support for Lieutenant General Raoul Cedras, whose coup overthrew President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. When Republicans won control of Congress in 1994, The Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance was one of the few bureaucracies whose funding was not cut by conservative lawmakers. After the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, Bush officials spent $800 million, committing themselves to reconstructing communities in Indonesia. The Agency for International Development’s website boasts of reviving markets, pressing for women’s rights in Indonesian Islamic courts, and promoting democratic local elections. Although the Cold War had ended, the use of humanitarian policy to fulfill political and developmental objectives continued.
President Obama’s commitment to the rebuilding of Haiti thus fits into a larger pattern of American humanitarian policy established during the 1980s. The President’s actions are neither surprising nor partisan. In this instance, Mr. Limbaugh, an avowed conservative, may have been (albeit unwittingly) the voice advocating change.

2009 Person of the Year (video)
published on December 28th, 2009 at 10:57 AM

Minister won't return home
published on July 15th, 2009 at 10:57 AM
Addis Ababa - Ethiopia's state minister for communication affairs has refused to return home from the United Sates after an official visit, a top government official said on Wednesday.
Ermias Legesse was issued with an 11-day visa and left for the US in the second week of June, but has not returned.
"He didn't report back, but there is nothing political in that," said the official who spoke on condition of anonymity.
"He has chosen to stay there. It seems he has dreamt about going to the US," he added. "Sometimes strange things happen."
Ermias, who is in his thirties, was appointed to the position earlier this year.
The US embassy in Addis Ababa declined to comment on the matter, but a diplomatic source said Ermias "has not been reachable for several days".
- SAPA

HRW: Proposed TPLF's Counterterrorism Legislation Violates Human Rights
published on June 30th, 2009 at 10:57 AM
June 30, 2009
(Nairobi) - Ethiopia's draft counterterrorism law could punish political speech and peaceful protest as terrorist acts and encourage unfair trials if enacted, Human Rights Watch said today. The government and members of parliament should amend the draft law, which may otherwise be imminently passed as-is by parliament, to meet international human rights standards, Human Rights Watch said.
Human Rights Watch's detailed analysis of the draft Anti-Terrorism Proclamation concludes that the bill violates fundamental freedoms of speech and peaceful assembly, and strips defendants of important due-process protections. As drafted, the law could provide a new and potent tool for suppressing political opposition and independent criticism of government policy, Human Rights Watch said.
"Ethiopia may well need a fair and effective law to combat terrorism, but this is not it," said Joanne Mariner, Terrorism and Counterterrorism Program director at Human Rights Watch. "As drafted, this law could encourage serious abuses against political protesters and provide legal cover for repression of free speech and due-process rights."
The measure ignores well-established standards embedded in both international law and Ethiopia's own law, Human Rights Watch said.
The draft law's overly broad definition of terrorist acts could be used to prosecute peaceful political protesters and would in some circumstances impose lengthy prison terms and even the death penalty as a punishment for damaging property or disrupting public services.
Even those who merely express support for a peaceful political protest could be deemed terrorists under the law, as well as any member of the group who engaged in the protest. The law would even eliminate protections against the use of confessions obtained after torture.
Among the draft counterterrorism law's most worrying provisions are:
The definition of terrorist acts, which could be used to prosecute a very wide range of conduct - far beyond the limits of what can reasonably be considered terrorist activity. Besides violent acts and kidnapping, an act that "causes serious damage to property" or "disruption or interference of a public service" may be deemed terrorist under the law if carried out for a specified purpose. This definition is so broad that a nonviolent political protest that disrupts traffic might be labeled a "terrorist act." As the UN special rapporteur on human rights and counterterrorism has explained, the concept of terrorism should be limited to acts committed with the intention of causing death or serious bodily injury, or the taking of hostages, and not property crimes.
The expansion of police powers to search, arrest, and restrict movement of individuals and destroy property without judicial oversight, in many cases based solely on the belief that terrorist activity "will be" committed. The law also provides for "terrorist suspects" to be held for up to four months without charge.
The approval of using hearsay or "indirect evidences" in court without any limitation. Official intelligence reports would also be admissible, even if they do not disclose their source or how their information was gathered. By making intelligence reports admissible in this way, the law effectively would allow evidence obtained under torture - if defense counsel could not ascertain the methods by which intelligence was collected, they would not be able to show that it was collected in an abusive way.
The criminalization of speech "encouraging," "advancing," or "in support" of terrorist acts even if the speech is not directly inciting acts of terrorism. The law would even criminalize providing "moral support" to someone who is alleged to have engaged in a terrorist act. Coupled with the extremely broad definition of terrorist acts, this could result in a conviction for encouraging or giving moral support to participants in a nonviolent political protest that disrupts traffic or causes minor property damage.
The approval of imposing the death penalty for certain offenses that cannot be considered among the "most serious crimes," as required by international law. Human Rights Watch opposes the death penalty in all circumstances because it is inherently cruel and irrevocable.
Human Rights Watch urged the Ethiopian government to seek input from human rights experts and to ensure that civil society and the public are given a fair opportunity to review and comment on any draft counterterrorism legislation.
"If the government really wants to produce a solid piece of legislation that can help combat terrorism, then it should immediately seek input from civil society and international experts, and amend the law's worst provisions," Mariner said.
Several bombings and grenade attacks in Addis Ababa, Dire Dawa, and elsewhere have claimed Ethiopian civilian lives over the years, and the Ethiopian government has alleged that these attacks were carried out by armed opposition groups.
Most recently, in October 2008, the Ethiopian trade mission in Hargeisa, Somaliland, was one of the targets of multiple suicide bombings that killed at least 20 people; the attacks were blamed on al-Shabaab, a Somali armed group with alleged links to al-Qaeda.
Although Ethiopia has legitimate security concerns over terrorism, Human Rights Watch said that Ethiopia's increasing repression of political opposition and independent civil society since the controversial 2005 elections, when scores of individuals protesting the election results were killed and injured by security forces, raises special concerns.
Since 2005, government efforts to suppress criticism have increased, and Ethiopian officials consistently deny well-documented reports of systematic killings, arbitrary arrest and detention, and torture by members of the military and police forces in various regions of the country.

Ethiopia - Pragmatist versus Idealist Politics of Opposition Groups
published on May 16th, 2009 at 10:57 AM
by Alex Birhanu alexbirhanu@yahoo.com
Introduction:
Pragmatists are very passionate politicians that follow their instinct or their heart’s feelings and guts. Usually they dream of or believe in what they think as the absolute and unshakable truth. Opposed to principled idealist thinkers, pragmatists never entertain different views coming from various sources other than their astounding beliefs; and no matter the outcomes, they stead fistedly act bold, passionate and desperate when taking decisive actions. Pragmatists use whatever means is available at their disposal to secure what is in their vested interests. At times, they may become merciless in their executive actions especially when circumstances get tough. At such moments they act tougher and gain unwavering militaristic victory.
On the contrary, principle oriented politicians are idealist thinkers who bring about visionary thoughts; and are considered as principled people with good national visions. They are often blamed for being ‘paper-tigers”. But they never give up the principles they stand for in desperate times and in challenging and tough situations. Indeed unflinchingly they stand to the principles they adhere to and remain there till the end, no matter how badly circumstances may change for the worst. A case in point in the Ethiopian politics is the zealous EPRP-followers unwavering stand and efforts that adhere to EPRP’s initial political principles to this very day.
These two extreme categories of political traits at the extreme ends of an isle are at times referred to as the realistic traits versus the idealistic traits. In essence, however, power without principle is vicious; and yet principle without power is unproductive. That means, in real life, each perspective needs some combination of traits taken from one another in order to keep things in a balanced motion. Why is it so necessary to balance between these 2-well known ideological traits standing at extreme ends of the isle? The reason is clear. If our end goal is to bring about a more democratic sphere of functional change in Ethiopia, then we must draw the good bit of each trait to the center with which we can gather momentum for a huge take-off that eventually leads to democratic national building plans devised harmoniously. As each category represents the extreme political stand, each keeps on shaping up human history for good or for worse. Those who took the mid-way between these 2-extreme traits did forge democratic changes required by their nation; and brought about lasting peace. Much of what we observe in Western societies today is simply the result of such outcomes. The relationship between the pragmatist and the idealist political traits are not mutually exclusive; rather, the relationship between these two political traits is a symbiotic one. In either case, one of the traits may achieve its end results without forging something from the other. But such a move doesn’t arrive at any happy endings; in fact it arrives at disastrous results or that of maintaining the status quo without any forward moving progress. On the one hand, if the pragmatists are left with unbridled freedom to exercise their power, then they mess-up national systems and networks beyond repair. On the other hand, if the principled idealists are left all alone to do the most they can, and then they may waste so much time on a series of principal discussions and round-table decision making processes without achieving tangible results – i.e., such moves may leave the public to come to a point of despair.

Idealist Opposition:
Embarking on the prevailing Ethiopian political arena, the majority in the opposition camp both at home and in Diaspora seem to fall in the idealist category. We make lots of thinking, and come up with so many proposals, so many ideas, beautiful ideals etc., but still the key works to be done in concrete terms lack enough of the passion with which to bring about change. As opposition groups we remain vocal but action wise we are seriously mortal. Volumes of vocal opposition were produced thus far. But we achieved practically insignificant outcomes in concrete terms inside Ethiopia. Hence, Ethiopia remains artificially land-locked with no access or no retrieving made to regain Assab Seaport. Its people lack basic human rights to speak of; with Birtukan Mideksa still remaining jailed for unfounded reasons. Majority Ethiopian livelihoods still remain in abject poverty. And if we have to reverse TPLF’s anti-peace-policy standing in practical terms by a sustainable peace in the region, it is highly justifiable for the 80 million Ethiopian peoples represented by its solidified and united opposition front to eventually regain the legitimate Ethiopian rights to regain access to the sea through Assab Port. Likewise, by returning the port of Assab to Ethiopia willingly, Eritrea will remain in a better socio-economic and political networking position with Ethiopia and with the rest of its neighbors. It means none of the two countries are to worry about counter-fighting one another due to geographically unsettled demarcation issues that still remain pending under TPLF for nearly 2-decades in raw.

Pragmatist TPLF:
Most of the time, pragmatists are said to be good leaders in war times and in managing crisis moments. Soon after that, however, they become obsolete. This is a typical case of TPLF. Ever since they captured power from the DERG, the TPLF regime has decided to remain in power indefinitely. It declares its unflinching decisions never to kneel down for those coming through ballot boxes for what it paid in blood, tears and sweats under the barrel of the gun. It also means TPLF has already begun to eat-up its own glory of the early 1990s slowly. As pragmatists TPLF-leadership remains tough, stubborn and stuck into their own passionate militaristic glories of yesteryear even when things are getting tougher by the day. But this might have been acceptable in the hay days of the early 1990s, now nearly after two decades later; such stubbornness casts shadows of doubts associated with the pragmatist traits of the man on the driving sit in Ethiopia. When things are tough the PM remains pragmatic and takes critical measures regardless of their repercussions on TPLF’s political features. This might have served him well during those hay-days in the struggle against the DERG regime; but this time around, that same stubborn political stand is simply eating him up alive by each day that goes by; and by depraving him of all the dignity and glory that might be bestowed up on him as a good leader otherwise. Usually, the PM is known for taking swift and decisive actions no matter what these actions might ensue at the end of the day. A case in point is the expulsion of Eritrean persons from Ethiopia. And if such situations start to slide out of hand the TPLF-regime will deal with each, till such time it builds its own glory out of each case. The worst problem with TPLF is that it listens to no one, but to itself.

Lessons Learned From Past Mistakes:
Focusing on the current predicament of the idealist opposition camp, one can see that the number of Ethiopians opposing injustice is increasing by the day; not excluding those who are indifferent and those withdrawing their consent silently. However the leadership of the idealist opposition camps is not yet able to harness or channel this mass opposition inertia of pluralistic nature into a constructive unitary political entity. That means we need to learn from past mistakes and stop acting as vocal opposition only barking from Diaspora or from the Parliament House in Addis Ababa. We should go for winning the hearts, souls, and minds of the Ethiopian public at home and abroad; and bring about a fair and fraternal change without causing havoc or destruction; or without many losses of valuable human lives and property. This can be achieved only when the opposition groups at home and in Diaspora are ready to merge and do away with our die-hard differences for the sake of rescuing Ethiopia’s unity and national stability. We need to come to a workable consensus beyond crying foul on ethnic, religious or worldview differences among us. The idiomatic expression: ‘United, we win; divided we fail’ has been preached many thousands of times but in vain. It is easily said than done. In a serious note, we seem to remain stubborn, and go our own individualistic way to oblivion. When the quest for forging a firmly united opposition force remains at stake; and when the 2010 election is coming closer by each day that goes by, we seem still not fully prepared to deal with our heart-aching tasks properly beyond tones load of vocal opposition. How much of the homework expected of the opposition group is done in a systematic and structured manner compared to the vocal opposition and lip services we rendered thus far? The judgment is left for each reader to outweigh the gravity of our failures thus far.

Ernest Call for a Solidified United Opposition Front:
Transforming those who are in the opposition camp into change agents must be the priority of the opposition camp leading us eventually towards forging a solidified united opposition front. By converting ourselves beyond vocal opposition into fierce fighters and practically contributing partners we can enrich the struggle by the opposition’s united front to achieve results. There is no question regarding our vested will to bring about government change in Ethiopia. Both the overwhelming majority of the Ethiopian public and the well-trenched opposition party sympathizers and members dream of government change. But translating this existing political inertia and vested will into concrete actions require technical expertise, financial, human and material resources. That means both at an individual and group levels, the opposition camp must be more committed and more proficient in our collaborative efforts. I realize that Diaspora people do have other responsibilities. On top of our daily concerns for Ethiopia we remain providers not only to our family members in our immediate surrounding, but also to extended family members in Ethiopia. In order to draw more and more Diaspora groups into the opposition camp for the actual struggle, there is no other alternative than to devise more appropriate means which are compatible with or complimentary to our lifestyles here abroad. Provided that we are solidified as a united opposition front both at home and abroad, the Ethiopian people know well not only that the TPLF regime is on its way out from office, but also they know it will happen pretty soon. For that reason, it is our common task to create a favorable environment for Ethiopians of all walks of life to involve us in the struggle for victory by a solidified united opposition front both at home and abroad.
Finally, the opposition group has to be disciplined. It must learn its lessons from past emotional mistakes and act purposefully, swiftly and by rational reasoning means on the following 3-crucial factors outlined for further consideration:
Firstly, the opposition should act strategically on matters pertinent to foreign relations and seize opportunities to its advantage when they surface incidentally. It should try to hold the balance between political principles and passionate interests concerning foreign policy.
Secondly, the opposition should make a strong presence inside Ethiopia. As a united and firm standing body, the opposition group must be solidified, united, and well equipped to do the grass-roots concretization job at home inside Ethiopia with relative ease. Those groups with knowledge of the local background might do well in each ethnic region that they are familiar with. This will help the opposition executives to critically and rationally allocate organizational roles according to merits rather than emotions. Politics is about reality, and reality is created by perception or reasoning. So there has to be a will and a way the opposition group can compliment each other’s weaknesses and strengths. The opposition group should collectively draw strategic action plans on how to stay united, solid, and remain relevant for winning the struggle waged by the opposition camp. The opposition camp must forge viable semblance for national unity rather than going one’s own way single-handedly.
Thirdly, the opposition group must realize that time is a critical factor of essence. In that case, why is the process for unification taking such a long time? It is very shocking and saddening to watch each opposition group behaving as if it has all the time in the whole world to unit itself gradually with others in the distant future. This shows that time is taken by the opposition groups as luxury entity and opposing the TPLF-regime is taken as an easy job to be accomplished in the unforeseeable future. Let us not be mistaken. The road to freedom is a long and tiresome march. The opposition has to identify and manage its passionate desires and its idealist political principles in clear terms so that some compromise is forged for the good of unity; and for jointly achievable outcomes in a reasonable window of time. Meanwhile each opposition group should place a means of checks and balances that help the smooth working relationship between the two extremist traits. Actually, the opposition group needs to balance its politics between forging shrewdness and aggressiveness of pragmatists and considering its idealistic and current global political perspectives for brighter Ethiopian political governance.

Those who wish to contact the author can reach at his email address indicated at the beginning of the article.

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