tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-55669151536029924562024-03-13T08:05:24.389-07:00ስደተኛው iREFUGEEእንኳን ወደ ስደተኞች ዓለም መጡ። ስደተኛነት ምርጫ አይደለም። Welcome to the world of REFUGEES!
NOBODY chooses to be a REFUGEE!!!iREFUGEE, Theodros Aregahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10588660292708998144noreply@blogger.comBlogger333125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5566915153602992456.post-80165732075639772602015-09-27T13:00:00.003-07:002015-09-27T13:14:46.026-07:00Francis Falceto & His 30-years Love-affair with Ethiopian Contemporary Music<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.tadias.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/Ethiopiques_cover.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://www.tadias.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/Ethiopiques_cover.png" height="209" width="320"></a></td></tr>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="background: transparent;">(Photo:
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span class="" id="result_box" lang="en"><span class="hps">Francis</span> <span class="hps">Falceto</span> <span class="hps">is a</span> <span class="hps">French</span> <span class="hps">musicologist</span> <span class="hps">and music producer</span>, specializing in <span class="hps">world music </span><span class="hps">especially</span> <span class="hps">of Ethiopian</span> <span class="hps">music and he</span> has been working to put it on global music map since<span class="hps"> 1986. Falceto's love-affair with the Ethiopian music just happened by accident in April-May 1984 when one of his music enthusiast friends who had been to Ethiopia and brought an LP entitled </span></span></span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span class="" id="result_box" lang="en"><span class="hps"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span class="" id="result_box" lang="en"><span class="hps"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>E</i></span></span></span></span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span class="" id="result_box" lang="en"><span class="hps"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span class="" id="result_box" lang="en"><span class="hps"><i>re <span style="font-family: inherit;">M</span>ela <span style="font-family: inherit;">M</span>ela</i></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span> by Mahmoud Ahmed. He and a group of his friends were organizing non-profit concerts out of boredom in small sleepy Western France village called <a href="https://www.google.se/maps/place/Poitiers,+France/@46.584634,0.3714695,13z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m2!3m1!1s0x47fdbe72439eb3ab:0x97de2319c5e09093">Poitier</a>. They used to listen music from other African countries, but <span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>E</i></span></span></span></span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span class="" id="result_box" lang="en"><span class="hps"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span class="" id="result_box" lang="en"><span class="hps"><i>re <span style="font-family: inherit;">M</span>ela <span style="font-family: inherit;">M</span>ela </i>was an absolute shock to their ears because of the uniqueness of Mahmoud's sound, the arrangement and the brass. He made some cassettes out of it and sent it to journalists and music reviewers; it was an absolute shock to them as well. T</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span class="" id="result_box" lang="en"><span class="hps"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span class="" id="result_box" lang="en"><span class="hps"><span style="font-family: inherit;">he next day, they all called him back, saying, “Francis, what’s
that? Where did you get this from? It’s great!” So, he immediately
understood that, if these people, who supposedly knowledgeable about music
by profession, if they don’t know this music, it must be a place to dig,
to try to find out if it’s an exception, or if it’s one among many.</span> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div>
<div style="background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span class="" id="result_box" lang="en"><span class="hps"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span class="" id="result_box" lang="en"><span class="hps">After having a few ''crush-course'' about Ethiopia, its culture, music and history by the owner of the only Ethiopian restaurant in Paris at that time<span style="font-family: inherit;">. </span>Falceto went naively to Ethiopia to ''bring'' Mahmoud Ahmed, Mulatu Astatqe <span style="font-family: inherit;">and</span> other<span style="font-family: inherit;"> generation<span style="font-family: inherit;">s of the Swinging<span style="font-family: inherit;">-Addis </span></span></span>for a music tour in France. He admitted, he failed not once but three times to accomplish his mission<span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span>due to </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br>
</div></div><a href="http://irefugee.blogspot.com/2015/09/francis-falceto-his-30-years-love.html#more">Read more »</a>iREFUGEE, Theodros Aregahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10588660292708998144noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5566915153602992456.post-66684276941975128522015-09-19T10:01:00.001-07:002021-01-29T13:26:30.924-08:00Teshome Birhanu, an Ethiopian Migrant who puts Stockholm as a European Cultural Capital<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: black; font-size: small;"><span style="background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%;"><span lang="en"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: black; font-size: small;"><span style="background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%;"></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%;">With
offices in Stockholm and Addis, and supported by several Swedish
organizations as well as the Nordic Culture Fond, <i><span style="text-decoration: none;">SELAM</span></i>
promotes festivals, concerts, tours, club nights and forums
presenting global music in professional venues, such as the Stockholm
Culture Festival. But, who is behind such big initiative which is </span></span>bringing thousands of music fans together every summer in Stockholm not to mention other other cultural event? </span></span><br>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%;"><span lang="en">Teshome,
a</span><span lang="en"> musician from the start,
trained in Russia, but born and raised in Ethiopia and came to Sweden
in 1990. Seven years later, he founded </span><span lang="en"><i><span style="text-decoration: none;">SELAM</span></i></span><span lang="en">,
which is a cultural organization which deals with music, organizing
festivals, concerts, club nights and tours throughout Sweden. </span><span lang="en"><i><span style="text-decoration: none;">SELAM</span></i></span><span lang="en">
focus mostly on music from Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean,
and invites international guests to Sweden and organizes events in
places like Konsterthuset, Södra teatern, Nalen etc. It also works with
international cultural exchanges between Sweden and Africa and
supports the Ethiopian cultural work with the skills, contacts,
organizing festivals and much more.</span></span></span></span></span></div>
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</span><span style="color: black;"><span lang="en"><span style="background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Teshome
Wondimu started playing with different bands at various locations in
the suburbs of Stockholm in the 1990s. But soon he realized why they
[ musicians with <span style="font-family: inherit;">foreign</span> background] were not allowed to play</span> </span></span></span></span></span></div>
</div><a href="http://irefugee.blogspot.com/2015/09/teshome-birhanu-ethiopian-migrant-who.html#more">Read more »</a>iREFUGEE, Theodros Aregahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10588660292708998144noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5566915153602992456.post-41000157764401736922015-09-13T11:10:00.000-07:002015-09-26T07:26:44.438-07:00Street-kid turnout Cultural Ambassador- an Ethiopian Success Story<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Melaku, the Street-ki<span style="font-family: inherit;">d!</span> </b></span></span><br>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Born around 1980 in Addis Ababa,
the capital city of Ethiopia, Melaku (which means the Angel in Amharic) Belay- the household name of
Ethiopian traditional music group of our time, has never imagined he
would be a cultural ambassador for a country which for some a synonym
with famine. The road to his success was not rosy.</span>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ndBtAxwoYJY/VdFu0_AwzzI/AAAAAAAACts/NGjsUVlwaMs/s1600/SelamFestival01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ndBtAxwoYJY/VdFu0_AwzzI/AAAAAAAACts/NGjsUVlwaMs/s320/SelamFestival01.jpg" width="320"></a></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Before all this fame and
stardom, before Melaku Belay has become the man he is today, he was
indeed a a street-kid. During the political conflicts of the 70s and
80 Ethiopia, all of his family fled to the Sudan.<br>Melaku was
alone: "<b>Life was difficult. Imagine Sleeping on the street,
going to school alone, living without family, without money, with
nothing.</b>" But he underscores that he has never regretted having
lived that life : It helped him to acquire the strength and
willingness to work more to earn a life and become the person he
wanted to be today. Melaku has a passion for dance since the age of 4
years. He started dancing at this age in ceremonies in Addis Ababa,
as the feast of <i>Timket</i> (Epiphany). The dance, which began as a
leisure, has turned into a professional career when an old woman, he
considered as his mother, told him</span></span></span><br>
</div></div><a href="http://irefugee.blogspot.com/2015/09/street-kid-turnout-cultural-ambassador.html#more">Read more »</a>iREFUGEE, Theodros Aregahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10588660292708998144noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5566915153602992456.post-50791883651692341512015-09-05T10:37:00.002-07:002015-09-26T07:30:00.828-07:00I'll Stop singing Romantic Songs: Legendary Ethiopian Singer Alemayehu Eshete<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTcg0HcvhuhRQdqEuKo4fPVHxfVnVXV-kYwvyuj6yC14dsIBnSrcw" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Image result for alemayehu eshete" border="0" class="rg_i" data-src="https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTcg0HcvhuhRQdqEuKo4fPVHxfVnVXV-kYwvyuj6yC14dsIBnSrcw" data-sz="f" name="sj38kqsCvuJaTM:" src="https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTcg0HcvhuhRQdqEuKo4fPVHxfVnVXV-kYwvyuj6yC14dsIBnSrcw" style="height: 188px; margin-top: 0px; width: 184px;"></a><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: black; font-size: small;"><span style="background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%;">Alemayehu
Eshete is one of the living legends of modern Ethiopian popular
culture and one of the outstanding Ethiopian vocalists who emerged
during the heyday of Ethiopian music in the turbulent
1960s. Alemayehu, </span></span><span style="color: black; font-size: small;"><span style="background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%;"><span id="ctl00_ContentPlaceHolder1_lblDescription">known by many as the
''<i>Ethiopian Elvis'</i>' or </span></span></span><span style="color: black; font-size: small;"><span style="background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%;"><span id="ctl00_ContentPlaceHolder1_lblDescription"><span style="color: black;"><span style="background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%;">"<i>the James Brown of Addis</i>", </span></span>was a pioneer to modernize Ethiopian music by combining R&B, Ethiopian groove, soul, rock n' roll, and
traditional Ethiopian music to create something truly unique.</span> </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: black; font-size: small;"><span style="background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%;">His parents </span>wanted and dreamed</span> their only child to be an engineer, a medical doctor or a lawyer and when they found out that Alemayehu was singing at the local night-clubs, their heart broken. Especially, Alemayehu's father, who did everything in his capacity to educate his son, took the news personally and wanted to shoot and kill Alemayehu. The aspiring artist wasn't in good terms with father for more many years. Understandably, singing had a very low status in Ethiopia during those days. </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: black; font-size: small;"><span style="background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%;">Alemayehu who was determined to realize his dreams, has dared to adopt elements from rock-n-roll and American
soul, including body movements, dance and hair styles, eventually
coming to be known as or "James Brown of Addis." Over the course of years Eshete released over 30 albums that became enormous
hits in Ethiopia and led various orchestras, including the famous
Police Orchestra and groups that he himself established.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: black; font-size: small;"><span style="background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%;">Colonel Retta Demeqe was the one who recognized Alemayehu</span></span>'s talent and</span></span></span></span></span><br>
</div></div><a href="http://irefugee.blogspot.com/2015/09/ill-stop-singing-romantic-songs.html#more">Read more »</a>iREFUGEE, Theodros Aregahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10588660292708998144noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5566915153602992456.post-4184711148925344512015-08-23T04:56:00.000-07:002015-09-26T07:30:54.494-07:00Mahmoud Ahmed's Journey From Shoe-Shine boy to An International Superstar <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Gw6W4RCrpwo/VdFv9YtLOoI/AAAAAAAACuE/8Gv5iWePNWI/s1600/SelamFestival04.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Gw6W4RCrpwo/VdFv9YtLOoI/AAAAAAAACuE/8Gv5iWePNWI/s320/SelamFestival04.jpg" width="320"></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="background: transparent;"></span></span></span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="background: transparent;">“</span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i><span style="background: transparent;">In
concert, his [Mahmoud's] enigmatic multi-octave voice seizes on a
note, brief or sustained, and makes its pitch tremble as it its
urgency could barely be contained</span></i></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="background: transparent;">”
</span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="background: transparent;">The
New York Times</span></span></span><i><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="background: transparent;"> </span></span></span></i><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="background: transparent;">
</span></span></span></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"></span>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"></span><br>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="background: transparent;">“</span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i><span style="background: transparent;">MAHMOUD
Ahmed has a rich, deep voice that oozes liquid chocolate down a phone
line crackling with static; what a pity I can't understand a word he
is saying.</span></i></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="background: transparent;">”
</span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-size: small;">Sydney
morning herald</span></span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="background: transparent;">75
years ago a baby named Mahmoud Ahmed brought to this world by an
Ethiopian working class parents at a place locally known as </span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i><span style="background: transparent;">Mercato</span></i></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="background: transparent;">
in the center of Addis Ababa. Neither his family nor himself had
imagined that this little boy one-day would be an internationally
acclaimed artist. Mahmoud coming from Ethiopia's well known
entrepreneurial and hard-working Gurage ethnic group, his first
profession like many of his fellow mates, was shining shoes on the
streets of Addis. He tried a series of other menial jobs before he
ended up as handy-man at the Arizona Club which was back then an
after-work hangout place for Emperor Haile Selassie I's Imperial Body
Guard Band. On a fateful night, one of the singers didn't show-up and
Mahmoud </span></span></span></span><br>
</div></div><a href="http://irefugee.blogspot.com/2015/08/mahmoud-ahmeds-journey-from-shoe-shine.html#more">Read more »</a>iREFUGEE, Theodros Aregahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10588660292708998144noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5566915153602992456.post-10328400766350596482015-08-17T03:22:00.000-07:002015-09-26T07:55:02.254-07:00Veteran & Young Ethiopian Artists Rock Stockholm<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ndBtAxwoYJY/VdFu0_AwzzI/AAAAAAAACts/NGjsUVlwaMs/s1600/SelamFestival01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ndBtAxwoYJY/VdFu0_AwzzI/AAAAAAAACts/NGjsUVlwaMs/s320/SelamFestival01.jpg" width="320"></a><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span id="yui_3_16_0_1_1439788065702_3873" style="font-size: small;">Internationally
acclaimed Ethiopian singers Mahmoud Ahmed and Alemayehu Eshete as well
as Ethiocolor, an Addis Ababa based folklore group, took the grand stage
at Stockholm Culture Festival on August 13, in an evening curated by <i>Selam</i> — a cultural organization based in Sweden. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span id="yui_3_16_0_1_1439788065702_3876" style="font-size: small;">Thousands
of music fans from Ethiopia and other countries were first entertained
by the eleven-strong Ethiocolor, which fuses music and dances using
traditional instruments that are arranged in a modern touch. The
musicians and dancers who comprise three different generations, are
recognized for their vibrant live shows with rhythmic dances of various
ethnic groups of Ethiopia.</span></span></div>
</div><a href="http://irefugee.blogspot.com/2015/08/veteran-young-ethiopian-artists-rock.html#more">Read more »</a>iREFUGEE, Theodros Aregahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10588660292708998144noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5566915153602992456.post-35804637456096342712015-07-29T14:11:00.000-07:002015-08-23T04:55:09.416-07:00#EthiopiansMessageToObama is storming the internet while the government and its supporters kept quiet<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Ib4Krt6VX2U/Vbk8ngit7zI/AAAAAAAACsE/hOGvfK2X-Kk/s1600/obamatwitter.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="166" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Ib4Krt6VX2U/Vbk8ngit7zI/AAAAAAAACsE/hOGvfK2X-Kk/s320/obamatwitter.jpg" width="320"></a></div>
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<span lang="sv-SE">The idea of this
hashtag was discussed as matter-of-</span><span lang="en-US">factly
by like-minded friends on Twitter, just a few days after the
Ethiopian government suddenly 'freed' some members of Zone 9 bloggers
and journalists at the beginning of July. One of them was suggesting
to exploit this opportunity to urge President Obama to press its
Ethiopian counterparts to release the prisoners of conscience and to
respect the rule of law. The other suggested this seemingly harsh
hashtag. </span>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">
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BTW shouldn't we start some hashtag to make voices heard while he's visiting, pls shoot one!</div>
— Faisal (@FtihLeEt) <a href="https://twitter.com/FtihLeEt/status/620321207402004480">July 12, 2015</a></blockquote>
<br>
<script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script><br>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br></div>
<div align="LEFT">
<span lang="en-US">This same guy posted on twitter
conversation in Amharic (Ethiopian official language) “</span><span lang="en-US"><i>The
hustle is getting harder, I wonder when exactly this guy [President
Obama] is coming.</i></span><span lang="en-US">” </span>
</div>
<div align="LEFT" lang="en-US">
<br></div>
<div align="LEFT">
<span lang="en-US">On July 20</span><sup><span lang="en-US">th</span></sup><span lang="en-US">
2015, an Ethiopian </span><span style="color: navy;"><span lang="zxx"><u><a href="https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=999686066749416">Muslim
activist Facebooker</a></u></span></span><span lang="en-US"> revealed
the plan inviting Ethiopians at home and abroad to use
#EthiopiansMessageToObama hashtag in the social media from July 21</span><sup><span lang="en-US">st</span></sup><span lang="en-US">
– July 24</span><sup><span lang="en-US">th</span></sup><span lang="en-US">
2015 between 9-10 GMT Ethiopian local time. In this the fifth of its
kind social-media campaign, thousands of tweets were flooded the internet from all corners of the world. </span>
</div>
<div align="LEFT">
<span lang="en-US">According to </span><span style="color: navy;"><span lang="zxx"><u><a href="http://www.vocativ.com/news/213947/ethiopians">Vocactiv</a></u></span></span><span lang="en-US">,
an online media, twitter users leveraged President Obama's final
appearance on Daily Show last Tuesday (July 21, 2015) to highlight
the injustices. Hundreds of tweets were posted with a hashtag
'#EthiopiansMessageToObama' before, during and after the broadcast to
draw attention to Ethiopia’s crackdown on dissent.</span></div>
<div align="LEFT">
<span lang="en-US">But, who are these twittering people
trending the hashtag #EthiopiansMessageToObama on the social media?
Many of them are Ethiopians who accuse their government </span><br>
</div></div><a href="http://irefugee.blogspot.com/2015/07/ethiopiansmessagetoobama-is-storming.html#more">Read more »</a>iREFUGEE, Theodros Aregahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10588660292708998144noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5566915153602992456.post-10845214888391774122015-07-29T13:43:00.000-07:002015-09-26T07:57:22.181-07:00As Wazema Radio turns one, its editor shares some thoughts<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-mq95qWWLZs0/Vbk5gVxLFEI/AAAAAAAACrw/_JMzNiMnyik/s1600/argawashine-01.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="237" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-mq95qWWLZs0/Vbk5gVxLFEI/AAAAAAAACrw/_JMzNiMnyik/s400/argawashine-01.png" width="400"></a></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="drop">A</span></span><span style="font-size: small;">rgaw Ashine has served as a journalist
for 18 years at different media organizations inside Ethiopia,
including governmental, private and foreign media outlets. He was also
in charge of various journalism unions in the country.</span></span>
</div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">Ashine was one of the people whose names were listed in a Wikileaks
report as a main source for the now defunct Addis-Neger Amharic
newspaper. He left Ethiopia on September 2011 after the Ethiopian
Federal Police gave him the ultimatum of either revealing his government
sources or fleeing the country. He now resides in the U.S. and works as
a researcher in media related issues. He also volunteers as the
editor-in-chief for Wazema Radio – a dissident podcast he established
together with other exiled Ethiopian journalists from Sweden and North
America.</span></span><br>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>iR<span style="font-family: inherit;">EFUGEE </span></b></span>talked to Ashine in an exclusive interview about his work at Wazema
Radio — which marked its first anniversary this past June — and also
discussed the release of jailed Ethiopian writers and other matters
related to the Ethiopian media.</span></span><br>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #58585b;"><b>How and by whom was Wazema Radio established?</b></span></span></span><br>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #404041;"><b>ASHINE</b>:</span> Wazema Radio was launched in June 2014 by four exiled journalists, namely the trio of the </span></span><br>
</div><a href="http://irefugee.blogspot.com/2015/07/as-wazema-radio-turns-one-its-editor.html#more">Read more »</a>iREFUGEE, Theodros Aregahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10588660292708998144noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5566915153602992456.post-2825159075418450632015-07-12T02:40:00.000-07:002015-07-12T02:41:48.201-07:00Abrupt release of Ethiopian bloggers and journalists, an '#ObamaEffect'?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-o2JvOKKm6hA/VaIUbYIJqOI/AAAAAAAACqM/svMZT9XVuZs/s1600/zone9ers36.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-o2JvOKKm6hA/VaIUbYIJqOI/AAAAAAAACqM/svMZT9XVuZs/s200/zone9ers36.jpg" width="112" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo by FissehaFantahun</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">On the same day
(July 8, 2015), and just few hours before this unexpected action
which stunned the defendants; their <span style="font-family: inherit;">attorney</span> and the whole world, a
story was running about jailed journalists Edom Kassaye under the
title "<i>An Ethiopian Journalist Jailed for Her Integrity</i>".
And a rumor surfaced on the social media around 7 o'clock <span style="font-family: inherit;">(Ethiopian local time) </span> in the
evening about the release of Edom Kassaye, Mahlet Fantahun, Asmamaw
Hailegiorgis and Tesfalem Woldyes. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"></span></span><br />
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">
<div dir="ltr" lang="am">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/%E1%8B%98%E1%88%8B%E1%88%88%E1%88%9D_%E1%8A%AD%E1%89%A5%E1%88%A8%E1%89%B5?src=hash">#ዘላለም_ክብረት</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/%E1%89%B0%E1%88%B5%E1%8D%8B%E1%88%88%E1%88%9D_%E1%8B%88%E1%88%8D%E1%8B%B0%E1%8B%A8%E1%88%B5?src=hash">#ተስፋለም_ወልደየስ</a> እና <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/%E1%8A%A0%E1%88%B5%E1%88%9B%E1%88%9B%E1%8B%8D_%E1%88%83%E1%8B%AD%E1%88%88%E1%8C%8A%E1%8B%AE%E1%88%AD%E1%8C%8A%E1%88%B5?src=hash">#አስማማው_ሃይለጊዮርጊስ</a> የክስ ፋይላቸው ተዘግቶ ተፈቱ የሚል መረጃ እየሰማሁ ነው። የቅርብ ወዳጆቻቸው ቢያረጋግጡት መልካም ነው። <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/FreeZone9Bloggers?src=hash">#FreeZone9Bloggers</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Ethiopia?src=hash">#Ethiopia</a></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">— abraham ab™ (@abrahamabr2) <a href="https://twitter.com/abrahamabr2/status/618808395454398464">July 8, 2015</a></span></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">
<br /><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script> </span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
The mood was mixed
among twitters: confusion, happiness, disbelief, suspicion just to
mention but a few. Around 8 o'clock, the news was broken by wazema,
an Ethiopian diaspora podcast in Sweden which is run by Mesfin Negash
et. al. who was an ex managing editor of AddisNeger and convicted by
Ethiopian government with terrorism charges.<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">
<div dir="ltr" lang="am">
[Wazema Alerts] ጦማሪ ዘላለም ክብረት፣ ጋዜጠኞቹ ተስፋለም ወልደየስ እና አስማማው ሃይለጊዮርጊስ ከእስር መፈታታቸው እየተሰማ ነው። "የክስ ፋይላችሁ ተዘግቷል፣ አሁኑኑ... <a href="http://t.co/Ufi35CzY3h">http://t.co/Ufi35CzY3h</a></div>
— Wazema Radio (@Wazemaradio) <a href="https://twitter.com/Wazemaradio/status/618804720048566273">July 8, 2015</a></blockquote>
<br />
<script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script><br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
However, there was
no word from the government media until the next day. The government
affiliated 'private' broadcaster <span style="color: navy;"><span lang="zxx"><u><a href="http://www.fanabc.com/english/index.php/news/item/3418-five-so-called-bloggers-in-the-soliana-shimelis-et-al-case-released-in-ethiopia"><i>Fana</i></a></u></span></span>
revealed that '<i>Five so-called bloggers in the Soliana Shimelis
et-al case released in Ethiopia</i>'.
</div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-74TZluHyNjI/VaIsWr2P77I/AAAAAAAACqc/I1AxRMMtrqU/s1600/zone9ers46.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-74TZluHyNjI/VaIsWr2P77I/AAAAAAAACqc/I1AxRMMtrqU/s320/zone9ers46.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo by FissehaFantahun</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Some were jubilant
while others were cautious and skeptics of Ethiopian government's<span style="font-size: small;">
abrupt move which happened after the court has finished hearing
evidences and was due to deliver a guilty-not-guilty verdict the
coming week. Some even considered it as an 'Obama effect' where
Ethiopian officials are in a preemptive charm-offensive ahead of US
President's official visit to the country. It is to be recalled that
a few days before this sudden action of the Ethiopian government,
thousands of expat Ethiopians in the US made a huge protest in front
of <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/social-issues/dc-area-ethiopians-say-obama-trip-will-send-wrong-signal-to-repressive-regime-in-homeland/2015/07/03/3c5db356-1f6f-11e5-84d5-eb37ee8eaa61_story.html">White-House demanding Barack Obama not visit Ethiopia</a>. </span>
</div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">
<div dir="ltr" lang="en">
<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/zone9bloggers?src=hash">#zone9bloggers</a> were not released randomly. They appealed to the Supreme Court against their charges and won. Now they can sue <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ethiopia?src=hash">#ethiopia</a> govt</div>
— Ember Tegadelay (@ember_tegadelay) <a href="https://twitter.com/ember_tegadelay/status/619105505395519488">July 9, 2015</a></blockquote>
<br />
<script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;">If one
dissects these various approaches, it appears that there are two main
camps: pro-government groups on one side and the rest on the other
side;the former is defending/justifying the Ethiopian government's
action while family members and friends of the released/jailed
bloggers and journalists; international media outlets; net-citizens
and international human-rights and freedom of expression watchdogs
who demand the government to release all Ethiopian prisoners of
conscience. Members of the net-citizens continue to include the
hash-tag #FreeZone9Bloggers in their social media posts and
recommended others to do the same until everybody is free.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"></span><br />
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">
<div dir="ltr" lang="en">
<span style="font-size: small;">FYI, the hash <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/FreeZone9Bloggers?src=hash">#FreeZone9Bloggers</a> is still in play, until all are out. Don't forget to use it while tweeting about today's releases.</span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">— Amanuel Tesfaye (@ethio_style) <a href="https://twitter.com/ethio_style/status/618850281078525952">July 8, 2015</a></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-size: small;">
<br /><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script> </span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;">As
result, #FreeZone9Bloggers, continued to be trending and has become
the second largest hash-tag mentioned on twitter, at least here in
Sweden. </span>
</div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;">In an
exclusive with VOA Amharic, the released bloggers and journalists as
well as father/attorney of columnist Reeyot Alemu expressed their
mixed and shocking feelings towards the abrupt government's action.
Zelalem Kibret a.k.a Zola said he has this survivor's guilt for being released because
his four colleagues who were accused with the same charges still
remain behind bars. A pro-government Facebooker replied to him in a
cruel manner. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-FDjoiYoJrPI/VaIvCbUaYAI/AAAAAAAACqo/Xl_waelEzUY/s1600/zz2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="76" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-FDjoiYoJrPI/VaIvCbUaYAI/AAAAAAAACqo/Xl_waelEzUY/s400/zz2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
“<span style="font-size: small;"><i>nobody
is holding you back to go back [to the prison]. The food, the drinks
and the rent are free. It's better for you there especially at this
time when life is very expensive in the country.</i></span><span style="font-size: small;">”
</span>
</div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-style: normal;">Meanwhile
</span></span><span style="color: navy;"><span lang="zxx"><u><a href="http://www.aigaforum.com/"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-style: normal;">aigaforum</span></span></a></u></span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-style: normal;">,
an Ethiopian diaspora pro-government media in the US made a complaint
against CPJ (Committee to Protect Journalists) for taking sides with
the groups which it alleges are terrorists not journalists.</span></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LifIP3PhA9Y/VaIvoeoenGI/AAAAAAAACqw/lswdqh8ka60/s1600/zz8.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="107" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LifIP3PhA9Y/VaIvoeoenGI/AAAAAAAACqw/lswdqh8ka60/s400/zz8.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
</div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-style: normal;">Well,
others are urging Mr. Obama to visit Ethiopia as often as possible so
that all Ethiopian prisoners of conscience could be released.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-style: normal;"></span></span><br />
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">
<div dir="ltr" lang="am">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-style: normal;">"ፕሬዝደንት ኦባማ - እባክህ ኢትዮጵያ ተመላለስና እስርቤቱን ባዶ አርግልን" :-)</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-style: normal;">— Fisseha Tegegn (@total_433) <a href="https://twitter.com/total_433/status/618846388902842368">July 8, 2015</a></span></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-style: normal;">
<br /><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-style: normal;">According <a href="https://cpj.org/2015/07/ethiopia-releases-five-journalists-drops-all-charg.php#more">CPJ</a>'s latest reports, Ethiopia ranks the second journalists' jailer in Africa after to Eritrea and is listed among the top ten censored countries in the world. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-style: normal;">Our message, nobody is free until everybody is free! Free Eskinder Nega, Woubshet Taye, Abel Wabela, Befqadu Hailu, Atenaf Berhane, Andualem Aragae, Zelalem Werqalemahu and thousands Ethiopian prisoners of conscience who are being incarcerated for exercising their constitutional and birth-rights. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"></span></span></div>
iREFUGEE, Theodros Aregahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10588660292708998144noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5566915153602992456.post-21160771753439297382015-05-03T10:26:00.000-07:002015-05-03T10:30:14.896-07:00እውነቱ ይውጣ! (ፕ/ር መስፍን ወልደ ማርያም) <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">ለመሆኑ ሊቃነ ጳጳሳት፣ ጳጳሳት፣ መነኮሳት፣ ቀሳውስት — ሼሆች፣ ሽማግሌዎች በአገሩ የለንም?</span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span></span></span></b><br>
<b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">መስፍን ወልደ ማርያም</span></span></b><br>
<a href="http://ecadforum.com/Amharic/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/216257_445454895543008_990049422_n-200x300.jpg?c58d68" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Prof. Mesfin Woldemariam" border="0" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-7699" src="http://ecadforum.com/Amharic/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/216257_445454895543008_990049422_n-200x300.jpg?c58d68" height="300" width="200"></a><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">ሴቶችን በወንዶች ፊት፣ ወንዶችን በሴቶች ፊት ልብስ እያስወለቁ የአካላቸውን ክፍሎች ሁሉ ለማየት የሚያስችል
አንቅስቃሴ አንዲሠሩ ማስገደድ በሽተኞችን ያስደስታል፤ የምርመራ ዘዴ ግን አይደለም፤ <b>ውርደት እንዲሰማቸው ከሆነ
በወራዶች ሰዎች ፊት የምን መዋረድ አለ? ወራዶች እነሱ ደረጃ ላይ ከእነሱ ጋር ያስተካክላሉ አንጂ አያዋርዱም፤
በሌላ አነጋገር ወራዶች አያዋርዱም</b>፤ ወራዶቹ ደንቆሮዎችም ሆነው ነው እንጂ ልብስ የሚያስወልቁ እነሱ ብቻ አይደሉም፤
<b>ሀኪሞችም ልብስ አስወልቀው፣ አጋድመው በጣታቸውም ሆነ በመሣሪያ የፈለጉትን የአካል ክፍል አንደፈለጉ ያደርጉታል፤
ወራዶቹና ደንቆሮዎቹ ከሚያደርጉት የሀኪሞቹ የሚለየው ሀኪሞቹ ሰዎችን ለማዳን ሲሉ ነው፤ ወራዶቹና ደንቆሮዎቹ ግን
የራሳቸውን ሱስ ለማርካት፣ የራሳቸውን ህመም ለማስታገስ ነው፤ ወራዶቹንና ደንቆሮዎቹን ከመለዮአቸው አራቁቻቸዋለሁ!</b>
ከነውር በቃላት ወደነውር በተግባር፣ ያውም በመሥሪያ ቤት! ዱሮ ዱሮ ከቀዳማዊ ኃይለ ሥላሴ ቲያትር ፊት ለፊት
የአንድ ኢጣልያዊ ቡና ቤት ነበር፤ እዚያ ውጭ ተቀምጠን ቡና ስንጠጣ አንዲት ውብ ሴት ወደጸጉር መሥሪያው ቤት
ስትመጣ የሁላችንም ዓይኖች እየዘለሉ እስዋ ላይ ዐረፉ፤ ከሦስታችን አንዱ ስለሴትዮዋ የወሲብ ችሎታ በዝርዝር መናገር
ሲጀምር ሁለታችን ተያየንና አፈርን፤ ጨዋታው የጣመለት መስሎት ሲቀጥል የሕግ ባለሙያ የሆነ ጓደኛዬ አቋረጠውና
‹‹ስማ! ይህን ጊዜ እናትህ </span></span><br>
</div><a href="http://irefugee.blogspot.com/2015/05/blog-post.html#more">Read more »</a>iREFUGEE, Theodros Aregahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10588660292708998144noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5566915153602992456.post-363905789111712252015-04-24T06:30:00.002-07:002015-05-03T10:21:21.216-07:00Jailed #FreeZone9Bloggers demands John Kerry to Stop Supporting Ethiopia <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">Natnael Feleke has been imprisoned for a year without trial. In a letter </span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">smuggled out of jail, he asks the US secretary of state to stop supporting the regime </span></span><br>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">Dear <a class=" u-underline" data-component="in-body-link" data-link-name="in body link" href="http://preview.gutools.co.uk/us-news/john-kerry">John Kerry</a>,</span></span><br>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><a href="http://i.guim.co.uk/static/w-380/h--/q-95/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2015/4/22/1429724724332/27deec9f-ae4b-4877-b136-5b8dc39e3fec-380x228.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Zone 9" border="0" class="gu-image" src="http://i.guim.co.uk/static/w-380/h--/q-95/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2015/4/22/1429724724332/27deec9f-ae4b-4877-b136-5b8dc39e3fec-380x228.jpeg" itemprop="contentUrl"></a><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">I first came to know about you back in 2004, during the US
presidential election, when you were running for office against George
Bush. At just 17 years old I knew little about US politics – or politics
in general – but I discussed the campaigns with my schoolmates.</span></span><br>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">A year later, the <a class=" u-underline" data-component="in-body-link" data-link-name="in body link" href="http://www.voanews.com/content/article-2005-ethiopian-election-a-look-back-93947294/159888.html">historic 2005 Ethiopian national election</a>
took place. This election differed from previous votes in that the lead
up to it was mostly democratic. This left many Ethiopians hoping they
would witness the first elected change of government in the country’s
history. But it was not to be.</span></span><br>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">After the ruling Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front
realised they couldn’t win the election without rigging the vote, the
true face of the regime emerged.</span></span><br>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">After polling day, we saw <a class=" u-underline" data-component="in-body-link" data-link-name="in body link" href="http://www.hrw.org/world-report-2006/ethiopia">civilian bloodshed</a>, and the arrest of thousands – including journalists and opposition leaders.</span></span><br>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">I was only young then, but the election gave me my first </span></span><br>
</div><a href="http://irefugee.blogspot.com/2015/04/jailed-freezone9bloggers-demands-john.html#more">Read more »</a>iREFUGEE, Theodros Aregahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10588660292708998144noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5566915153602992456.post-84992203891633352402015-04-21T10:55:00.001-07:002015-04-22T11:22:26.240-07:00IS shows purported executions in Libya of Ethiopia Christians<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<a href="https://s.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/_tdEejK4n5Vs58RAQnVNwg--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Y2g9NDEyO2NyPTE7Y3c9NzY4O2R4PTA7ZHk9MDtmaT11bGNyb3A7aD0zMzg7aWw9cGxhbmU7cT03NTt3PTYzMA--/http://media.zenfs.com/en_GB/News/AFP/1655390a0de0a95739aa662f2f51b09c21c30bd5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Image grab taken on April 19, 2015 from a video reportedly released by the Islamic State group purportedly shows men described as Ethiopian Christians captured in Libya kneeling in front of masked militants before their beheading on a beach in Libya" border="0" class="lightbox8cc411738fab1e767f36dfd0bfa02775" height="171" id="yui_3_9_1_1_1429638466301_797" src="https://s.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/_tdEejK4n5Vs58RAQnVNwg--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Y2g9NDEyO2NyPTE7Y3c9NzY4O2R4PTA7ZHk9MDtmaT11bGNyb3A7aD0zMzg7aWw9cGxhbmU7cT03NTt3PTYzMA--/http://media.zenfs.com/en_GB/News/AFP/1655390a0de0a95739aa662f2f51b09c21c30bd5.jpg" title="Image grab taken on April 19, 2015 from a video reportedly released by the Islamic State group purportedly shows men described as Ethiopian Christians captured in Libya kneeling in front of masked militants before their beheading on a beach in Libya" width="320" /></a>The Islamic State group on Sunday released a video purportedly showing
the execution of some 30 Ethiopian Christians captured in <a class="yom-entity-link" data-rapid_p="1" href="https://uk.news.yahoo.com/libya/">Libya</a>.<br />
<div id="yui_3_9_1_1_1429638466301_751">
The 29-minute IS video purports to
show militants holding two groups of captives, described in text
captions as "followers of the cross from the enemy Ethiopian Church".</div>
A masked fighter in black brandishing a pistol makes a statement threatening Christians if they do not convert to Islam.<br />
The video then switches between footage of one group of about 12 men
being beheaded by masked militants on a beach and another group of at
least 16 being shot in the head in a desert area.<br />
It was not immediately clear who the captives were or how many were killed.<br />
Before the killings, the video shows purported footage of Christians
in Syria, saying they had been given the choice of converting to Islam
or paying a special tax, and had decided to pay.<br />
The video bore the logo of the IS media arm and was similar to past
footage released by the jihadists, including of 21 Coptic Christians
beheaded on a Libyan beach in February.<br />
Feeding on the political chaos and unrest that has wracked Libya
since the 2011 uprising that toppled dictator Moamer Kadhafi, several
Libyan jihadist groups have pledged allegiance to IS.<br />
<div id="yui_3_9_1_1_1429638466301_795">
Almost two-thirds of Ethiopians
are Christians, mostly Orthodox Copts, who say they have been in the
Horn of Africa nation since the first century AD.</div>
There are also large numbers of protestants.<br />
Ethiopia is Africa's second largest nation in terms of population,
but large numbers of its more than 90 million people travel abroad to
work in menial jobs so they can send money home.<br />
Many go to Libya, using the North African nation as a stepping stone for the perilous crossing to Europe.<br />
<br />
Source: AFP</div>
iREFUGEE, Theodros Aregahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10588660292708998144noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5566915153602992456.post-12874346109562929812015-04-10T05:34:00.002-07:002015-04-24T06:28:30.207-07:00Evidence Against #FreeZone9Bloggers & Journalists Doesn’t Back Charges<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>By William Davison</b> </span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">(Bloomberg) -- <b>Ethiopian prosecutors have failed to present evidence</b>
relating to charges that a group </span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">of <b>bloggers and journalists support
terrorism</b>, a defense lawyer at the latest court hearing said.</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<a href="http://nazret.com/blog/media/blogs/pict/bloggers_13133.jpg?mtime=1428618965" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://nazret.com/blog/media/blogs/pict/bloggers_13133.jpg?mtime=1428618965" height="270" width="360" /></a><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">Six members of the Zone 9 blogging group and three freelance
journalists were charged in July at the Federal High Court in Ethiopia’s
capital, Addis Ababa, for working with banned organizations such as the
U.S.-based Ginbot 7, which the Horn of Africa nation categorizes as a
terrorist group. A witness on Wednesday testified that police last year
collected a political manifesto from a Health Ministry office, where one
of the defendants worked, lawyer Ameha Mekonnen said.</span></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
“<b>No witness is brought who has either direct or indirect knowledge of
the material element of the charge</b>,” Ameha said in an interview. “<b>The
witnesses are here to prove that there was no maltreatment or pressure
when the search was conducted</b>.”</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">The defendants are the latest government critics to be tried under
Ethiopia’s 2009 anti-terrorism law, which the U.S. has said is being
used to criminalize legitimate dissent.</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Ethiopian officials reject the accusation.</b></span></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
The manifesto collected was for a “peaceful” political party led by the
author Lencho Lata, a former head of the rebel Oromo Liberation Front,
Ameha said. All of the other evidence filed to the court by prosecutors
is of a similar public nature, he said. Prosecutors will get a final
chance to present witnesses when the trial resumes on May 26, Ameha
said.</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">Source: <a href="http://nazret.com/">Nazret.com</a> </span></span></div>
</div>
iREFUGEE, Theodros Aregahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10588660292708998144noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5566915153602992456.post-42518241829995772372015-04-07T12:00:00.001-07:002015-04-07T12:02:42.170-07:00Israel to deport Eritrean and Sudanese asylum seekers to third countries <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Authorities will give people 30 days to leave; those who refuse will face a hearing to determine their indefinite imprisonment. </b></span></span></div>
<div class="content__article-body from-content-api js-article__body" data-test-id="article-review-body" itemprop="articleBody" style="text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">Israel will begin deporting asylum seekers from <a class=" u-underline" data-component="auto-linked-tag" data-link-name="auto-linked-tag" href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/eritrea">Eritrea</a> and Sudan to unnamed third countries in Africa even if against their will, the immigration authority announced on Tuesday.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">The assumption is that the third countries are Rwanda and Uganda, although <a class=" u-underline" data-component="auto-linked-tag" data-link-name="auto-linked-tag" href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/israel">Israel</a> has not revealed details.</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<a href="http://i.guim.co.uk/static/w-620/h--/q-95/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2015/3/31/1427807174884/e6b23b48-9f0d-465a-bf97-2bc79403d473-620x372.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="African asylum seekers gather around a fire during protests outside the Holot detention centre in the Negev" border="0" class="maxed responsive-img" src="http://i.guim.co.uk/static/w-620/h--/q-95/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2015/3/31/1427807174884/e6b23b48-9f0d-465a-bf97-2bc79403d473-620x372.jpeg" height="192" itemprop="contentURL representativeOfPage" width="320"></a><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">According to the interior minister, Gilad Erdan, the move will
“encourage infiltrators to leave the borders of the state of Israel in
an honourable and safe way, and serve as an effective tool for
fulfilling our obligations towards Israeli citizens and restoring the
fabric of life to the residents of south Tel Aviv”.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span></span><br>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Until now, the state exerted pressure and provided a one-off monetary
incentive for asylum seekers to leave voluntarily, but only if they
signed written consent. Now the state will give them 30 days </span></div>
</div></div><a href="http://irefugee.blogspot.com/2015/04/israel-to-deport-eritrean-and-sudanese.html#more">Read more »</a>iREFUGEE, Theodros Aregahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10588660292708998144noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5566915153602992456.post-53886157249831065542015-03-10T11:26:00.000-07:002015-03-10T11:26:28.808-07:00Ethiopian Gov't Intensifies Digital Attacks: Human-Rights Watch <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="node-body" style="text-align: justify;">
<a href="http://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/imagecache/scale-300x/media/images/photographs/2010_ethiopia_telecom_presser.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/imagecache/scale-300x/media/images/photographs/2010_ethiopia_telecom_presser.jpg" /></a><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">(New York) – The Ethiopian government has
renewed efforts to silence independent voices abroad by using apparent
foreign spyware, Human Rights Watch said today. The Ethiopian
authorities should immediately cease digital attacks on journalists,
while foreign surveillance technology sellers should investigate alleged
abuses linked to their products.</span></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
Independent researchers at the Toronto-based research center Citizen Lab on March 9, 2015, <a href="https://citizenlab.org/2015/03/hacking-team-reloaded-us-based-ethiopian-journalists-targeted-spyware/">reported</a> new attempts by <a href="http://www.hrw.org/africa/ethiopia">Ethiopia</a>
to hack into computers and accounts of Ethiopian Satellite Television
(ESAT) employees based in the United States. The attacks bear
similarities to <a href="https://citizenlab.org/2014/02/hacking-team-targeting-ethiopian-journalists/">earlier attempts</a>
to target Ethiopian journalists outside Ethiopia dating back to
December 2013. ESAT is an independent, diaspora-run television and radio
station.</span></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
“Ethiopia’s government has over the past year intensified its assault on
media freedom by systematically trying to silence journalists,” said <a href="http://www.hrw.org/bios/cynthia-m-wong">Cynthia Wong</a>, senior <a href="http://www.hrw.org/topic/free-speech/internet-freedom">Internet</a>
researcher at Human Rights Watch. “These digital attacks threaten
journalists’ ability to protect the safety of their sources and to avoid
retaliation.”</span></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
The government has repressed independent media in Ethiopia <a href="http://www.hrw.org/news/2015/01/29/ethiopia-crackdown-dissent-intensifies">ahead</a>
of the general elections scheduled for May, Human Rights Watch said.
Many privately owned print publications heavily self-censor coverage of
politically sensitive issues or have shut down. In the last year, at
least 22 journalists, bloggers, and publishers have been <a href="http://www.hrw.org/news/2015/01/21/ethiopia-media-being-decimated">criminally charged</a>, at least six publications have closed amid a campaign of harassment, and many journalists have fled the country.</span></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
Many Ethiopians turn to ESAT and other foreign stations to obtain news
and analysis that is independent of the ruling Ethiopian People’s
Revolutionary Democratic Front. However, intrusive surveillance of these
news organizations undermines their ability to protect sources and
further restricts the media environment ahead of the elections.
Government authorities have repeatedly intimidated, harassed, and
arbitrarily <a href="http://www.hrw.org/news/2015/01/21/ethiopia-media-being-decimated">detained</a> sources providing information to ESAT and other foreign stations.</span></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
Citizen Lab’s analysis suggests the attacks were carried out with
spyware called Remote Control System (RCS) sold by the Italian firm
Hacking Team, which sells surveillance and hacking technology. This
spyware was allegedly used in previous attempts to infect computers of
ESAT employees in December 2013. If successfully installed on a target’s
computer, the spyware would allow a government controlling the software
access to activity on a computer or phone, including email, files,
passwords typed into the device, contact lists, and audio and video from
the device’s microphone and camera.</span></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-YnXdjVj7Rrw/UO-3FzHASgI/AAAAAAAABXw/GpTjnhyHnX4/s1600/RIPSKYPE.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-YnXdjVj7Rrw/UO-3FzHASgI/AAAAAAAABXw/GpTjnhyHnX4/s1600/RIPSKYPE.jpg" height="288" width="320" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">Citizen Lab also found that the spyware used in the attacks against ESAT
appeared to have been updated as recently as December 2014. On November
19, a security researcher, Claudio Guarnieri, along with several
nongovernmental organizations, publicly released a tool called <a href="https://resistsurveillance.org/">Detekt</a>,
which can be used to scan computers for Hacking Team RCS and other
spyware. Citizen Lab’s testing determined that Detekt was able to
successfully recognize the version of RCS used in a November attack, but
not the version used in a December attack. Citizen Lab concluded that
this may indicate that the software had been updated sometime between
the two attempts.</span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
These new findings, if accurate, raise serious concerns that Hacking Team has not addressed <a href="http://www.hrw.org/news/2014/03/25/ethiopia-telecom-surveillance-chills-rights">evidence of abuse</a>
of its product by the Ethiopian government and may be continuing to
facilitate that abuse through updates or other support, Human Rights
Watch said.</span></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
Hacking Team states that it sells exclusively to governments, particularly law enforcement and intelligence agencies. The firm <a href="http://www.hrw.org/node/123976/section/7">told</a>
Human Rights Watch in 2014 that “we expect our clients to behave
responsibly and within the law as it applies to them” and that the firm
will suspend support for its technology if it believes the customer has
used it “to facilitate gross human rights abuses” or “who refuse to
agree to or comply with provisions in [the company’s] contracts that
describe intended use of HT [Hacking Team] software.” <a href="http://www.hackingteam.i/">Hacking Team</a> has also stated that it has suspended support for their product in the past, in which case the “product soon becomes useless.”</span></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
Media reports and research by independent human rights organizations in
the past year have documented serious human rights violations by the
Ethiopian government that at times have been facilitated by misuse of
surveillance powers. Although spyware companies market their products as
“lawful intercept” solutions used to fight serious crime or
counterterrorism, the Ethiopian government has abused its
counterterrorism laws to prosecute bloggers and journalists who merely
report on public affairs or politically sensitive issues. Ethiopian laws
that authorize surveillance do not adequately protect the right to
privacy, due process, and other basic rights, and are inconsistent with
international human rights requirements.</span></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
Hacking Team previously <a href="http://www.hrw.org/node/123976/section/7">told</a> Human Rights Watch that “to maintain their confidentiality” the <a href="http://www.hrw.org/node/123976/section/12">firm</a>
does not “confirm or deny the existence of any individual customer or
their country location.” On February 25, 2015, Human Rights Watch <a href="http://www.hrw.org/news/2015/02/25/letter-hacking-team-re-update-sale-and-use-hacking-team-solutions-ethiopia">wrote</a>
to the firm to ask whether it has investigated possible abuse of its
products by the Ethiopian government to target independent media and
hack into ESAT computers. In response, on March 6 a representative of
the firm <a href="http://www.hrw.org/news/2015/03/07/response-hacking-team-re-update-sale-and-use-hacking-team-solutions-ethiopia">emailed</a>
Human Rights Watch that the company “take[s] precautions with every
client to assure that they do not abuse our systems, and, we investigate
when allegations of misuse arise” and that the firm is “attempting to
understand the circumstances in this case.” The company also stated that
“it can be quite difficult to get to actual facts particularly since we
do not operate surveillance systems in the field for our clients.”
Hacking Team raised unspecified questions about the evidence presented
to identify the spyware used in these attacks.</span></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VnRNUl6zCpI/URlEwtejLbI/AAAAAAAABcc/BknP2bhKc1s/s1600/INSA.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VnRNUl6zCpI/URlEwtejLbI/AAAAAAAABcc/BknP2bhKc1s/s1600/INSA.jpg" /></a></div>
Human Rights Watch also asked the company whether contractual provisions
to which governmental customers agree address governments’ obligations
under international human rights law to protect the right to privacy,
freedom of expression, and other human rights. In a separate March 7 <a href="http://www.hrw.org/news/2015/03/07/response-hacking-team-re-update-sale-and-use-hacking-team-solutions-ethiopia">response</a>
from the firm’s representative, Hacking Team told Human Rights Watch
that the use of its technology is “governed by the laws of the countries
of our clients,” and sales of its technology are regulated by the
Italian Economics Ministry under the Wassenaar Arrangement, a
multilateral export controls regime for dual-use technologies. The
company stated that it relies “on the International community to enforce
its standards for human rights protection.”</span></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
The firm has not reported on what, if any, investigation was undertaken
in response to the March 2014 Human Rights Watch report discussing how
spyware that appeared to be Hacking Team’s RCS was used to target ESAT
employees in 2013. In its March 7 response, the company told Human
Rights Watch that it will “take appropriate action depending on what we
can determine,” but they “do not report the results of our investigation
to the press or other groups, because we consider this to be an
internal business matter.”</span></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
Without more disclosure of how Hacking Team has addressed potential
abuses linked to its business, the strength of its human rights policy
will be in question, Human Rights Watch said. </span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">Sellers of surveillance systems have a responsibility to respect
human rights, which includes preventing, mitigating, and addressing
abuses linked to its business operations, regardless of whether
government customers adequately protect rights.</span></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
“Hacking Team should publicly disclose what steps it has taken to avoid
abuses of its product such as those alleged against the Ethiopian
government,” Wong said. “The company protects the confidentiality of its
customers, yet the Ethiopian government appears to use its spyware to
compromise the privacy and security of journalists and their sources.” </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">Source: <a href="http://www.hrw.org/news/2015/03/08/ethiopia-digital-attacks-intensify">Human Rights Watch</a> </span></span><br />
</div>
</div>
iREFUGEE, Theodros Aregahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10588660292708998144noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5566915153602992456.post-62304674185073411812015-02-21T09:15:00.001-08:002015-02-21T09:15:30.390-08:00Ethiopia's imprisoned #FreeZone9bloggers have not been forgotten : BBC<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% transparent; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% transparent; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: black; font-size: small;"><span style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% transparent;">In
April 2014 BBC Trending <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-trending-27212472">covered
the arrest</a> of six bloggers and three journalists in Ethiopia. The
bloggers are part of a group known as Zone 9, and are well known for
campaigning around censorship and human rights issues in Ethiopia.
Ten months on from their arrest, the hashtag #FreeZone9Bloggers
continues to be used in the country as the trials continue. </span></span></span>
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
<div style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% transparent; text-align: left;">
<a href="http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/81141000/jpg/_81141447_untitled2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="The Free Zone 9 Bloggers" border="0" height="179" src="http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/81141000/jpg/_81141447_untitled2.jpg" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: black; font-size: small;"><span style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% transparent;">That's
not typical - campaigning hashtags often tail off over time. This one
is being kept alive by activists both inside and out of Ethiopia who
are challenging the government's decision. The total number of tweets
is still only in the tens of thousands, but that is enough to be
noticed on the global map (Twitter does not produce an official
trending topics list for Ethiopia).</span></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
<div style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% transparent; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: black; font-size: small;"><span style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% transparent;">Why
are they so focussed on social media? It certainly isn't the best way
to reach the Ethiopian people: the internet is estimated to reach
just over 1% of the population there. But it does allow them to
network with the global blogging fraternity and the international
media. Recently a blog began in support of the nine prisoners, and to
<a href="http://trialtrackerblog.org/">report on the hearings</a>. A
campaign video has also been released in which complaints are raised
over the conditions of Kalinto prison and Kality prison, where the
bloggers are being held. </span></span></span>
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
<div style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% transparent; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: black; font-size: small;"><span style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% transparent;">These
complaints include torture, unlawful interrogation tactics and poor
living conditions. The Ethiopian Embassy in London told BBC Trending
that allegations of torture and unlawful interrogation tactics are
unfounded, and that they have taken a series of measures "in
collaboration with stakeholders, including civil society, to improve
the conditions of prisons". They say the nine individuals are
charged with "undermining the constitutional order, inciting
violence and advocating the use of force to overthrow the legitimate
government." They are also accused of working with an
organisation proscribed by the Ethiopian Parliament as a terrorist
organisation. However, activists in support of the group maintain
that Zone 9's actions were constitutional. </span></span></span>
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
<div style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% transparent; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><em><span style="color: black;"><span style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% transparent;">Blog
by India Rakusen</span></span></em></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
<div style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% transparent; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">Source: <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-trending-31552883">BBC</a></span></span>
</div>
</div>
iREFUGEE, Theodros Aregahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10588660292708998144noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5566915153602992456.post-19969998201154275182015-02-21T08:54:00.000-08:002015-04-10T05:26:54.978-07:00የዛሬ የቂሊንጦ አጭር ቆይታ አብርሃን መጠየቅ ከጀርባ ሰው ያስከትላል (ከኤልያስ ገብሩ ጎዳና )<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>‹‹ዕድሜያችንን መቼ ሰራንበት፣ ልደት ማክበርም ያስፈራኛል፡፡<br> እንኳን ተወለድክ ላላችሁኝ በሙሉ ከልብ አመሰግናለሁ››</b></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">ጦማሪ እና ጋዜጠኛ በፍቃዱ ኃይሉ</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">ከዛሬ
ከሰዓት በኋላ ከወዳጄ አቤል አለማየሁ ጋር ወደ ቂሊንጦ እስር ቤት አምርተን ነበር፡፡ አካሄዳችን በዞን ሁለት
የሚገኙትን አብርሃ ደስታን፣ ጦማሪ እና ጋዜጠኛ በፍቃዱ ኃይሉንና ጦማሪ አጥናፍ ብርሃንን ለመጠየቅ ነው፡፡</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">የቃሊቲ
እና የቂሊንጦ ጸሐይ ከረር ያለች ብትሆንም በቦታው ደርሰን ወደፖሊሶች ለምዝገባ ተጠጋን፡፡ ጠያቂና ተጠያቂ መዝጋቢ
የሆነችው ሴት ፖሊስ ‹‹ማንን ነው የምትጠይቀው?›› ብላ አቤልን ጠየቀችው፡፡ በፍቃዱን እና አጥናፍን መሆንኑ
ነገራት፡፡ መዘገበችውና ሂድ አለችው፡፡ ‹‹አንተስ ማንን ነው?›› ስትል ጠየቀችኝ፤ ‹‹አብርሃ ደስታን››
አልኳት፡፡ ቀና ብላ አየችኝና ‹‹ቆይ፣ ቁጭ በል›› የሚል መልስ መለሰች፡፡ ሌሎች ሰዎችን መመዝገቧን ቀጠለች፡፡
‹‹ሰዓት እየሄደ ነው፣ ችግር አለ ወይ?›› አልኳት፡፡ ‹‹አይ ችግር የለም›› ካለች ከተወሰኑ ደቂቃዎች በኋላ ሌላ
መዝገብ አምጥታ ፓስፖርቴን መዘገበችው፡፡ (መታወቂያዬ አልታደሰም) ከመዘገበች በኋላም ሌላ የፎርም መሙያ አውጥጣ
በድጋሚ መዘገበች፡፡ ይሄንን ስትመዘግብ እኔ እንዳይባት ስላልፈለገች</span></div>
</div><a href="http://irefugee.blogspot.com/2015/02/blog-post.html#more">Read more »</a>iREFUGEE, Theodros Aregahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10588660292708998144noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5566915153602992456.post-561048943166595192015-02-11T04:30:00.000-08:002015-02-11T04:30:56.253-08:00More Than 200 Migrants Feared Dead After Boats Sink in Mediterranean<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
By<a href="https://news.vice.com/contributor/vice-news"> VICE News</a>
<br />
February 11, 2015 | 1:16 pm
<br />
More than 200 migrants are missing in the Mediterranean sea after
the motorboats they were traveling in sank, the UN refugee agency
says.<br />
Nine people were saved after four days at sea, but a further
203 were "swallowed up," Carlotta Sami, the UNHCR
spokeswoman in Italy, said on Twitter.<br />
She called the incident a "horrible and enormous tragedy."<br />
The two boats departed from the Libyan coast on Saturday,
according to the International Organization for Migration.<br />
<a href="http://www.gannett-cdn.com/-mm-/254d25a20c842a27bc73697d4a730de625b46de6/c=2-0-1798-1350&r=x404&c=534x401/local/-/media/2015/02/11/USATODAY/USATODAY/635592302434823255-EPA-ITALY-MIGRANTS.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="EPA ITALY MIGRANTS POL MIGRATION ITA" border="0" class="expand-img-horiz" data-mycapture-src="http://www.gannett-cdn.com/media/2015/02/11/USATODAY/USATODAY/635592302434823255-EPA-ITALY-MIGRANTS.jpg" height="240" itemprop="url" src="http://www.gannett-cdn.com/-mm-/254d25a20c842a27bc73697d4a730de625b46de6/c=2-0-1798-1350&r=x404&c=534x401/local/-/media/2015/02/11/USATODAY/USATODAY/635592302434823255-EPA-ITALY-MIGRANTS.jpg" width="320" /></a>Lauren Jolles, UNHCR officer for Southern Europe, criticised
Operation Triton — Europe's Mediterranean border patrol — for
lacking a "core mandate" of saving human lives.<br />
"We are shocked by the news of the death of another 203
migrants and refugees," she said in a <a href="http://www.unhcr.it/news/dichiarazione-di-laurens-jolles-delegato-unhcr-per-il-sud-europa-sulla-nuova-tragedia-al-largo-delle-coste-di-lampedusa" target="_blank">statement</a>.<br />
She added: "The Operation Triton does not have as its
core mandate of saving human lives and therefore can not be the
answer of which is urgently needed."<br />
Triton was brought into replace Operation Mare Nostrum, the
Italian government's program of maritime patrols, which ended last
year to warnings from refugee experts that the death toll could soar.
The EU operation, run by the bloc's border agency Frontex, covers a
much reduced search area and is mandated with border surveillance
rather than search and rescue.<br />
Nils Muiznieks, human rights commissioner of the Council of
Europe, also denounced Triton's inadequacy, saying the loss of life
could have been avoided.<br />
The news comes just days after 29 migrants died after their
inflatable raft capsized near the Italian island of Lampedusa. 22 of
those died from hypothermia after being picked up by a rescue vessel.<br />
More
than 165,000 undocumented migrants tried to cross the Mediterranean to
Europe in the first nine months of 2014, accroding to the <a href="http://www.unhcr.org/542c07e39.html" style="background-color: initial;" target="_blank">UN refugee agency UNHCR</a>, compared with 60,000 for the whole of 2013. Almost half of the 2014 migrants were Syrians and Eritreans.<br />
At least 3,000 died or went missing at sea in 2014, according to UNCHR estimates, compared to over 600 in 2013.<br />
<em>Main image: Migrants are picked up by an Italian navy patrol in December. Image via the Italian navy.</em><br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
</div>
</div>
iREFUGEE, Theodros Aregahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10588660292708998144noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5566915153602992456.post-17974277509763934832015-02-09T10:47:00.000-08:002015-02-09T10:47:10.671-08:00C'est ENCORE en Lampedusa! Plus de 20 migrants morts de froid.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">Des gardes-côtes italiens ont retrouvé en mer Méditerranée plus de
vingt migrants morts de froid, lors du sauvetage d'une embarcation sur
laquelle se trouvaient plus d'une centaine de personnes.</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">Plus de vingt migrants sont morts de froid sur une
embarcation qui a été secourue dans la nuit de dimanche à lundi par des
gardes-côtes italiens, a annoncé, lundi 9 février, une source médicale à
l'AFP. Selon les médias italiens, le total des morts pourrait atteindre
25 à 27 personnes.</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">"Il y a beaucoup de morts, certainement plus de vingt", a déclaré un
médecin du centre des urgences de l'île italienne de Lampedusa, où ont
été transférés lundi après-midi une centaine de survivants, dont
certains hospitalisés pour hypothermie. "Nous avons dans le centre six
jeunes souffrant d'une forte hypothermie et on tente d'organiser leur
transport par hélicoptère" vers des hôpitaux mieux équipés, a ajouté le
médecin.</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">L'alerte avait été donnée dimanche après-midi par les migrants à l'aide
d'un téléphone satellitaire. Le centre opérationnel des gardes-côtes a
dépêché sur place deux navires marchands qui se trouvaient dans la zone,
ainsi que deux vedettes parties de Lampedusa, qui ont secouru les
migrants dimanche vers 21 h GMT.</span></span></div>
<br />
Source: <a href="http://www.france24.com/fr/20150209-italie-plus-20-migrants-morts-froid-bateau-mediterranee-lampedusa-immigration/?dlvrit=66054&utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=dlvr.it">France24 <em>Avec AFP</em></a> </div>
iREFUGEE, Theodros Aregahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10588660292708998144noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5566915153602992456.post-25593513413925935882015-01-16T09:42:00.000-08:002015-01-16T09:42:49.633-08:00Khaled Idris Bahray, The 20-year-old Eritrean Refugee, was allegedly killed by Racists in Germany<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div id="main-article-info" style="text-align: left;">
<br>
<div itemprop="name headline ">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">Killing of Eritrean refugee in Dresden exposes racial tensions in Germany</span></span></div>
<br>
<div class="stand-first-alone" data-component="Article:standfirst_cta" id="stand-first" itemprop="description">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2015/1/14/1421276986209/dresden-009.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="dresden" border="0" class="gu-image" src="http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2015/1/14/1421276986209/dresden-009.jpg" height="276" width="460"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>RIP, the late Khaled Idris Bahray 1995-2015</b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">Anti-immigration sentiment highlighted after 25,000 rally in support of far-right Pegida movement on night of murder. </span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">t was 8pm on Monday when Khaled Idris Bahray told his seven flatmates
he was popping out to buy some cigarettes from the Netto supermarket
about 100 metres away from his flat in a prefab high-rise in the south
of Dresden.
</span></span><br>
The 20-year-old Eritrean said he wouldn’t be long. But a few hours
later he still hadn’t returned. “We assumed he’d gone to stay with some
other friends nearby,” said his flatmate, Abdulrezak Suleman. “So we
weren’t really worried.”<br>
But around 7.40 the following morning, other residents in the
six-storey building found his body slumped in the inner courtyard of the
housing estate.<br>
According to his flatmates, in reports that the police will not
confirm, he was covered in blood, with at least one deep cut visible on
his body. Rigor mortis had already set in. “He was lying on his back,
and had blood coming out of his nose and mouth, with drops of blood
leading towards the door as if he’d tried to get in, but not made it,
and drops on the grass,” said Abdulatif, 23, a fellow Eritrean who lives
nearby but had spent that night in Bahray’s flat.<br>
<b>Hmm not surprisingly, Police say No Foul Play!</b> <br>
The police had first said there seemed to be no suspicious
circumstances surrounding the young Muslim’s death, saying in their
initial statement that on first appearance “there are no indications of
foul play”. But just hours later they confirmed the results of the
postmortem showed that Bahray had been unlawfully killed in what appears
to have been a vicious knife attack. <br>
“We now have evidence to confirm that a stab from a knife was the
cause of his injuries,” said Dieter Kroll, president of Dresden police.
“We can exclude the possibility that this was an accident. It is
murder.”<br>
Dresden police have launched a murder investigation in the east
German city that has been making headlines recently for its
anti-immigrant rallies, which, on the night of Bahray’s death, attracted
a record number of 25,000 supporters. Tensions in the city have been
high in the 12 weeks since the rallies began, with a reported increase
in racist attacks.<br>
<b>I want to earn some money and send to Mom, Bahray</b><br>
</div></div></div><a href="http://irefugee.blogspot.com/2015/01/khaled-idris-bahray-20-year-old.html#more">Read more »</a>iREFUGEE, Theodros Aregahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10588660292708998144noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5566915153602992456.post-80598535854052349022014-12-11T11:34:00.002-08:002014-12-11T11:34:50.992-08:00Nearly 3,500 Migrants reportedly died in 2014 alone while crossing the Mediterranean: UNHCR<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div>
<div class="bodytext">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">GENEVA (UNHCR) – The UN refugee agency on
Wednesday warned that the international community </span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">was losing its focus
on saving lives amid confusion among coastal nations and regional blocs
over how to respond to the growing number of people making risky sea
journeys in search of asylum or migration.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div>
<div class="bodytext">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.unhcr.org.uk/fileadmin/user_upload/images/news_images/December_2014/Sea_2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" height="267" src="http://www.unhcr.org.uk/fileadmin/user_upload/images/news_images/December_2014/Sea_2.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b><span class="photoCaption">Group risking their lives to reach Europe from North Africa</span></b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">With
preparations under way for the opening today in Geneva of UNHCR's 2014
High Commissioner's Dialogue – an informal policy discussion forum whose
focus this year is "Protection at Sea" – UN High Commissioner for
Refugees António Guterres said some governments were increasingly seeing
keeping foreigners out as being a higher priority than upholding
asylum.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div>
<div class="bodytext">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">"This is a mistake,
and precisely the wrong reaction for an era in which record numbers of
people are fleeing wars," Guterres said. "Security and immigration
management are concerns for any country, but policies must be designed
in a way that human lives do not end up becoming collateral damage."</span></span></div>
</div>
<div>
<div class="bodytext">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">The
clandestine nature of these sea crossings makes reliable comparisons
with previous years difficult, but available data points to 2014 being a
record high. According to estimates from coastal authorities and
information from confirmed interdictions and other monitoring, at least
348,000 people have risked such journeys worldwide since the start of
January. Historically, a principal driver has been migration, but this
year the number of asylum-seekers involved has grown.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div>
<div class="bodytext">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">Europe,
facing conflicts to its south (Libya), east (Ukraine) and south-east
(Syria/Iraq) is seeing the largest number of sea arrivals. Although not
all are people needing asylum, more than 207,000 people have crossed the
Mediterranean since the start of January – almost three times the
previous known high of about 70,000 in 2011, when the Libyan civil war
was in full swing. For the first time, people from refugee-producing
countries (mainly Syria and Eritrea) have in 2014 become a major
component in this tragic flow, accounting for almost 50 per cent of the
total.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div>
<div class="bodytext">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">In addition to the
Mediterranean, there are at least three other major sea routes in use
today both by migrants and people fleeing conflict or persecution. In
the Horn of Africa region 82,680 people crossed the Gulf of Aden and Red
Sea in the first 11 months of this year en route mainly from Ethiopia
and Somalia to Yemen or onwards to Saudi Arabia and the countries of the
Persian Gulf.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div>
<div class="bodytext">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">In Southeast
Asia, an estimated 54,000 people have undertaken sea crossings so far
in 2014, most of them departing from Bangladesh or Myanmar and heading
to Thailand, Malaysia or Indonesia. In the Caribbean, at least 4,775
people are known to have taken to boats in the first 11 months, hoping
to flee poverty or in search of asylum.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div>
<div class="bodytext">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">And
many die or fall victim to international organized crime in the process
of making these journeys. Worldwide, UNHCR has received information of
4,272 reported deaths this year. This includes 3,419 on the
Mediterranean – making it the deadliest route of all. In Southeast Asia,
an estimated 540 people have died in their attempts to cross the Bay of
Bengal.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div>
<div class="bodytext">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">In the Red Sea and
Gulf of Aden, at least 242 lives had been lost by December 8, while in
the Caribbean the reported number of dead or missing as of the start of
December was 71. People smuggling networks are meanwhile flourishing,
operating with impunity in areas of instability or conflict, and
profiting from human desperation.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div>
<div class="bodytext">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">Guterres
said that by focusing on isolated elements to a problem that by its
nature is multi-layered and transnational – often involving routes that
stretch across multiple borders and over thousands of kilometres –
governments were finding themselves unable to either stem the flow or
stop people dying along the journey.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div>
<div class="bodytext">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">"You
can't stop a person who is fleeing for their life by deterrence,
without escalating the dangers even more," said Guterres. "The real root
causes have to be addressed, and this means looking at why people are
fleeing, what prevents them from seeking asylum by safer means, and what
can be done to crack down on the criminal networks that prosper from
this, while at the same time protecting their victims. It also means
having proper systems to deal with arrivals and distinguish real
refugees from those who are not."</span></span></div>
</div>
<div>
<div class="bodytext">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">This
year's High Commissioner's Dialogue gathers representatives of
governments, non-governmental organisations, coast guard and, academics
as well as representatives from partner international organisations. It
is being held in Geneva's Palais des Nations over today and Thursday.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">Source: <a href="http://www.unhcr.org.uk/news-and-views/news-list/news-detail/article/unhcr-urges-focus-on-saving-lives-as-2014-boat-people-numbers-near-350000.html">UNHCR</a> </span></span></div>
</div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span></div>
iREFUGEE, Theodros Aregahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10588660292708998144noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5566915153602992456.post-20960717285240897012014-12-08T04:54:00.001-08:002015-04-22T11:21:43.405-07:00Yemen migrant boat carrying Ethiopians sinks killing 70 : BBC<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="introduction" id="story_continues_1" style="text-align: justify;">
<a href="http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/75350000/jpg/_75350095_107694068.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Migrants waiting to board a boat to Yemen in Djibouti" border="0" src="http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/75350000/jpg/_75350095_107694068.jpg" height="179" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">The irony is that these migrants are from one of the countries who boasts to score 'double-digit growth' consecutively over the last decade. Why would anybody risks her/his precious lives in such a tragic manner says volumes about the real desperation and frustration of these young people back home. This isn't an isolated incident; it becomes a norm now a days. Last month, <a href="http://irefugee.blogspot.se/2014/11/the-influx-of-migrants-from-ethiopia-to.html">UN</a> released a report about the ever increasing number of Ethiopian migrants who are crossing red-sea, </span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">knowing the risk,</span></span> to reach Yemen. Are there any explanation from the government and its apologists to clarify these contradictory realities, absolutely NOT! They will blame the desperate migrant who are victims of a system which forced them to make such desperate decisions. My thoughts goes to those who lost their lives and their bereaved families. </span></span></div>
<div class="introduction" id="story_continues_1" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">A boat carrying African migrants has sunk off Yemen's western coast, killing 70 people, Yemeni officials say.</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">The boat, carrying mostly Ethiopian migrants, sank off
Yemen's al-Makha port due to strong winds and rough waves, security
officials said.</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">Tens of thousands attempt to cross the Red Sea into Yemen
every year, often in rickety, overcrowded vessels. Hundreds have died
making the journey.</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">Yemen is viewed by many migrants as a gateway to the Middle East or Europe.</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">The latest sinking occurred on Saturday, with reports of the incident emerging on Sunday.</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">The Red Sea crossing between the Horn of Africa and Yemen is
one of the world's major migration routes, BBC Arab affairs editor Alan
Johnston says.</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<a href="http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/79573000/jpg/_79573791_76604103.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="File photo: Illegal Somali and Ethiopian migrants wait to embark on boats on a voyage to Yemen on Shinbivale beach, 17 kms, east of Bosasso, Somalia, 7 September 2007" border="0" src="http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/79573000/jpg/_79573791_76604103.jpg" height="179" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">Migrants dream of finding jobs and better lives in rich
places like Saudi Arabia - but they are in the hands of unscrupulous
people smugglers and, too often, never reach the Yemeni shore, our
correspondent adds.</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">In October, the <a href="http://www.unhcr.org/544103b06.html">UN refugee agency said</a> that more than 200 people had died at sea in 2014 while attempting to reach Yemen.</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">"There have been frequent reports of mistreatment, abuse,
rape and torture, and the increasingly cruel measures being adopted by
smuggling rings seem to account for the increase in deaths at sea," the
UN said at the time.</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"> Source: <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-30371917">BBC</a></span></span></div>
</div>
iREFUGEE, Theodros Aregahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10588660292708998144noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5566915153602992456.post-59748346789655352972014-11-22T09:04:00.000-08:002014-11-22T09:04:20.766-08:00We have no asylum-seekers in Ethiopia: Eritrea's U.N. Ambassador<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div id="ctl00_ctl00_cpAB_cp1_cbcContentBreak" style="text-align: justify;">
<div class="zoomMe" style="text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.unhcr.org/thumb1/4e27d2026.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" id="irc_mi" src="http://www.unhcr.org/thumb1/4e27d2026.jpg" style="margin-top: 0px;" width="320"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b><span class="irc_su" dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;">Unaccompanied Eritrean refugee children in Ethiopia</span></b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">Eritrea’s top diplomat to the United Nations says the U.N. High
Commissioner for Refugees has committed a “conceptual mistake” in a
report, which stated that in the past 37 days more than 6,000 Eritreans
had claimed asylum in neighboring Ethiopia.<br>
<br>
The U.N. refugee agency said Eritrea’s renewed conscription drive was to
blame for the sharp increase in the number of youths fleeing the
country.</span></span><br>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">But Eritrea's U.N. ambassador, Girma Asmerom, dismissed the report as
a calculated effort to undermine the government by creating
disaffection among its population. He said Eritrean citizens migrate
just like other nationals, which he said is a global phenomenon.</span></span><br>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">“The U.N. has to do its bit of homework, because there are no
asylum-seekers in Ethiopia,” said Asmerom. “We do not understand why
they are </span></span><br>
</div></div></div><a href="http://irefugee.blogspot.com/2014/11/we-have-no-asylum-seekers-in-ethiopia.html#more">Read more »</a>iREFUGEE, Theodros Aregahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10588660292708998144noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5566915153602992456.post-61571297181758427932014-11-20T10:29:00.000-08:002014-12-08T04:53:23.911-08:00The Influx of Migrants from Ethiopia to Yemen increased dramatically<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<a href="http://www.irinnews.org/photo/Download.aspx?Source=Report&Year=2013&ImageID=201306271419500138&Width=490" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.irinnews.org/photo/Download.aspx?Source=Report&Year=2013&ImageID=201306271419500138&Width=490"></a><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">"<i>In September - the most recent month for which statistics have been
released - the Nairobi-based Regional Mixed Migration Secretariat (RMMS)
reported <b>12,768 arrivals - predominantly from Ethiopia.</b> It was more
than double the figure for September 2013 and represented the single
largest monthly influx on record.</i>"</span></span>
</span></span><br>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">SANAA, 20 November 2014 (IRIN) - Yemen's security crisis is leading to a
rapid expansion in the people smuggling trade, with thousands of
migrants from the Horn of Africa desperate to use the country as a
gateway to Saudi Arabia.</span></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br>
On 21 September, Houthi rebels - a Zaydi Shiite Muslim group based in
the north of the country - seized control of the capital Sana'a after a
battle with the army and Sunni Islamists.</span></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br>
Three cabinet overhauls in less than two months and ongoing clashes in
many regions have thrown the country into a state of limbo. The UN
Security Council and the US also recently complicated matters by
imposing sanctions on former President Ali Abdullah Saleh and two senior
Houthi military commanders.</span></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br>
While most Yemenis bemoan the chaos, for people smugglers opportunity
knocks. Thousands more African migrants seeking to reach Saudi Arabia
</span></span><br>
</div><a href="http://irefugee.blogspot.com/2014/11/the-influx-of-migrants-from-ethiopia-to.html#more">Read more »</a>iREFUGEE, Theodros Aregahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10588660292708998144noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5566915153602992456.post-16224930302530937292014-11-20T06:08:00.000-08:002014-11-20T06:08:15.423-08:00The Late Ethiopian Literary Gaint Hailu Gemoraw 'Why I Write? The Basic Motive of My Literary Work'<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-afEvPxBOA80/VGzYLJ62ATI/AAAAAAAACoE/KGqnXejtM4I/s1600/gemoraw.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-afEvPxBOA80/VGzYLJ62ATI/AAAAAAAACoE/KGqnXejtM4I/s1600/gemoraw.jpg" height="311" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span>Hailu Gebereyohannes alias known as in his pen-name Hailu Gemoraw, a renown Ethiopian Poet; Writer; philosopher has passed away at the age of 71 here in Sweden on November 9, 2014. He spent almost of half of his life in exile; first he went to China on scholarship but he was evicted due to research proposal "how anarchism is affecting China's literature". He then sought asylum in Norway but he went to Sweden to finish his Doctoral Studies about China. Norway denied Gemoraw his residency and work permit for being away from the country for more than two years. As a result he was forced to seek asylum in Sweden where he suffered and finally died. It's an honor for me to brought up reading his books and it's very sad that his literary and humanistic contributions have never been recognized or valued. Thank you Gemoraw for opening up my eyes to literature world. I hope, your caring and clean soul finally will rest in peace after such a long long and long suffering. </span></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span>As
the old "Gibbon's" saying goes " …Encompassed on all sides by the
enemies of their religion; the Ethiopians slept near a thousand years,
forgetful of the world by whom they were forgotten ", the innocent
Ethiopians have been isolated for several centuries from the rest of the
world, just to face the brutals of harsh & bitter poverty at the
expense of their rich natural resources & the source of world
original history. Due to Her "Geo-political" position situated at the
most sensitive zone of the globe, <span class="IL_AD" id="IL_AD5">Ethiopia</span>
has suffered an immense mass of suppression by outside forces. As a
conscious Ethiopian, that is wounded & bleeded from the early age of
my Younghood, I don't have any available means to protect my Country
from such horrible atrocities except that crying on behalf of Ethiopia and its suffering people.</span></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">
The whole motive of my writings is based on trying to <span class="IL_AD" id="IL_AD7">express</span> their (i.e.Ethiopia & Her people) agony in a literary form. Therefore, the Amharic <span class="IL_AD" id="IL_AD8">Poem</span> below is embodied with an actual text that express <span class="IL_AD" id="IL_AD1">the soul</span> of my motive – "….to cry aloud the bitter conditions of their miserable life & express their deepest agony on their behalf, — to the whole world in general and to the conscious class of Our People (Ethiopians) <span class="IL_AD" id="IL_AD3">in particular</span> as well!!. Their non-stop brutal problems are still missing them now too!!! Thus, my cry through my "PEN" will <span class="IL_AD" id="IL_AD2">continue</span> too!! Thank You All!!!</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">Source: <a href="http://www.debteraw.com/gemoraw-on-gemoraw-why-i-write-the-basic-motive-of-my-literary-work/">Debteraw</a> </span></span></div>
</div>
iREFUGEE, Theodros Aregahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10588660292708998144noreply@blogger.com0