Yes, I wish was born white so I don't have to flee my 'home' country leaving behind my family, friends and everything I have to live in 'freedom' in a country where I wasn't welcome. Otherwise, I don't have any problem with my skin color; of course it often times asks for troubles and raises eyebrows at the doorsteps of fancy restaurants, bars and even just average food stores. I would discuss about skin color and its negative consequences sometime in the future. Tonight, I just want to provoke thoughts about the tales of the prisoners of two countries namely Sweden my 'host' country for 8yrs which's home is home to Johan Persson & Martin Schibbye and Ethiopia my 'homeland' and a prison for two of my Swedish colleagues.
እንኳን ወደ ስደተኞች ዓለም መጡ። ስደተኛነት ምርጫ አይደለም። Welcome to the world of REFUGEES! NOBODY chooses to be a REFUGEE!!!
Monday, January 30, 2012
Sunday, January 29, 2012
Norway a Land - Plagued by Double Standard Politicians!!!
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| Ethiopia's tyrant dines & wines in Norway |
The above sad and worrying news came a few days ago after Norwegian State Secretary of Ministry of Foreign Affairs Torgeir Larsen's recent business visit to Addis Ababa to get rid off Ethiopian refugees and asylum seekers who've lived, worked and payed tax from 2yrs-10yrs in his country. I still couldn't believe why the country's politicians and immigration authorities are spending large amount of their times, money, sleepless nights and on a mission to expel and risk the lives of hard working Ethiopian asylum seekers by sending them back where Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Reporters Without Borders and others are publishing disturbing reports about the regime's unprecedented gross human-rights violations, crackdown on the media and the dissent.
Thursday, December 22, 2011
Neither White nor Green Christmas for Johan & Martin, it's all GREY!!!
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| Notorious Kaliti Prison of Ethiopia |
I read the above title on Swedish Radio's website this morning and I try to visualize how Martin Schibbye, Johan Persson, Eskindeer Nega,Reeyot Alemu, Woubshet Taye, Saleh Idris Gama, Tesfalidet Tesfazgi and hundreds of other prisoners of conscience being held at the notorious Kaliti prison in Ethiopia, are going to celebrate (guess, celebrate is an overstatement) 2011's Christmas. Well, it can't and will never be white as Ethiopia doesn't have snow and it can't be Green Christmas either since they're all (over 250 people) cramped in one open, dirty, noisy, shack infested with fleas and rats covered with GRAY corrugated iron sheet.
Sunday, December 18, 2011
"የማስተዳድረው ቆንስላ ሳይሆን የአስከሬን ማቆያ ነው" በሊባኖስ የኢትዮጵያ ቆንስል
ይህንን ጽሁፍ በእንግሊዘኛ የራሴ በሆነች ብሎግ ላይ የጻፍኩት ከጥቂት ሳምንታት በፊት ቢሆንም ወደአማርኛ እንድተረጉመው ያነሳሳኝ በቅርቡ በፍትህ ጋዜጣ ላይ ""ኢትዮጵያዊ ዋጋው ስንት ነው?"" የሚለውን መጣጥፍ ካነበብኩ በኋላ ነው:: እኔ በበኩሌ የእኛ ኢትዮጵያውያን ዋጋ ተንኮታክቶ ወርዶ በዚህ ዘመን ከሌላው የሰው ዘር አይደለም ከምንም አይነት ግዑዝ ነገር በታች እንደሆነ ይሰማኛል:: ኢትዮጵያዊ መሆን አይደለም ለምን እዛች አገር ተፈጠርኩ የሚያሰኝበት ጊዜ ላይ በእርግጠኝነት ደርሰናል:: ዛሬም በገልፍ እና በሜዲትራንያንን ባህሮች ወገኖቻችን የሻርክ ሲሳይ እየሆኑ ነው: ዛሬም ወገኖቻችን በሲናይ በረሀ በበድዊን ጎሳ አባላት ለባርነት ለእስራት ለድብደባ ለአስገድዶ መድፈር እንዲሁም በአሰቃቂ ሁኔታ ህይወታቸው ሳያልፍ እንደ እንሰሳ እየታረዱ የውስጥና የውጭ አካል ክፍሎቻቸው እየተወሰደ ሬሳቸው በየቦታው በመጣል ላይ ይገኛል: ዛሬም እኛም ሆን መሪዎቻችን ይሄ በሰው ልጅ ታሪክ ተሰርቶ የማያውቅ ግፍ በወገኖቻችን ላይ ሲፈጸም ሰምቶ እንዳልሰማ አይቶ እንዳላየ በመሆን ጭንቅላታችንን አሸዋ ውስጥ ቀብረናል:: ከዚህ በላይ ሞት ውርደት ከየት ሊመጣ:: ለዚህ እንደማስረጃነት ደግሞ ሩቅ መሄድ አያሻም: ቦሌ አለማቀፍ አውሮፕላን ማረፊያ በየቀኑ
Friday, December 16, 2011
The 50thousand Invisible of Sweden
There's an estimated 50-100 thousand undocumented asylum seeker in Sweden who've no rights to live, work, health care & social services and to accommodations. And there're about more than 5-6 thousand of these people who locked up in various detention centers across the country to be sent back where their lives would be endangered. Kahled Khodeda - an Iraqi asylum seeker of a minority religious groups- was one of hundreds victims of unjust deportations to loose his life this year in Iraq regardless of his plea to be protected here in Sweden but to no avail. The Swedish migration board doesn't take responsibility for such killings after it deported its subjects to dangerous places like Iraq. Many of the undocumented asylum seekers live under despicable conditions, in the 6th richest country of the world in 2011, with the help of selfless and generous friends/family members who have little to share while those institutions with huge resources & dishonest commitments spend obscene amount of time, energy and money either on senseless symposiums or overseas travels in the name of these human beings or in worst case scenario hand over those under their custody to the police. There's a few exceptions among these morally corrupt institutions which stands out tall namely RS Haninge & Medicine du Monde Sweden which saved and continue to save many lives and at the forefront to defend the rights of the INVISIBLE of Sweden. There's no ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT, isn't true? Have a nice holiday and always remember at some point we were/are/will REFUGEES even in our home countries.
Thursday, December 15, 2011
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
''Silent Diplomacy is Frustrating'' - Linnea Schibbye, Martin's Wife.
This's the price many journalists and their loved ones have to pay in dictatorial countries like Ethiopia. Johan & Martin committed no crime but dared to be a voice to the voiceless; otherwise they would have chased celebrities and then live a very luxurious life with their families. We Ethiopians owe Martin & Johan for sharing our pain and being punished by one of horn Africa's ruthless tyrants for the crimes they didn't commit. As you all know, Ethiopian dictator intensifies his crackdown on Ethiopian press with the guise of its recently enacted infamous ''anti-terrorism" law to muzzle critical journalists/bloggers which includes Eskinder Nega, Reyoot Alemu, Woubshet Taye and the duo Swedes Martin Schibbye & Johan Persson.
Monday, November 21, 2011
Meles, is your Daughter part of the ''Somalia Picnic''?
Somalia: Militants Vow to Defeat Ethiopian Incursion: Somalia's Islamist Shebab rebels warned Ethiopia on Sunday they would "break the necks" of their troops inside Somalia, a day after several hundred soldiers crossed into the war-torn country.
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| Semehal-Meles Zenawi's daughter |
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
I'm running a Morgue, Ethiopia's Ambassador to Lebanon!!!
RIP sisters,
Unfortunately, you're one of the over thousands of Ethiopian victims of such barbaric killings by oil-rich citizens of middle-eastern countries. These crimes have been going on for decades and they seem to increase as neither supplying countries like Ethiopia nor the petrol-rich Arab nations couldn't care less about the lives and security of people like you. How many million poor & desperate girls/women should die before the world say ENOUGH to these countries by taking tough measures to stop the killings, sexual & physical abuses, exploitation of our sisters and daughters? It seems like our sisters/daughters are the most disposable creatures in this world and organized criminals at Addis Ababa are reaping millions of $$$ profits out of these desperate girls/women. The killings & ''suicides'' of our sisters came just a day after an ''Ethiopian Ambassador'' in Lebanon told CNN that ''I'm no longer running an Embassy, I'm running a morgue''. Ethiopia is a land many surprises, here we go, it assigns an undertaker as an ''Ambassador'', please quite your job and apply for some job which fits your merits; right now you don't qualify for this noble job. How much we can take to be disgraced and laughing stock to the world? Surprisingly, his master at Arat Kilo palace pledged to work with the Saudi business partners to boost modern slavery, after having a regular health check up last August in Saudi-Arabia. The atrocities against Shewaye Mollah by Muammer Qaddafi's daughter and these latest reports , expose the true colors of those allegations of the housemaids committing ''suicides'' in the middle east countries. Sadly, girls like these ones will keep on fleeing to their death row as they have neither hope nor opportunities nor good governance nor justice back home. This is a choice between lesser evil.
Kuwaiti held after Ethiopian maid beaten to death
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Breaking News: Ethiopia's ''Mohammed Bouazizi'' died yesterday
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| Ethiopia's '' Bouazizi'' set himself on fire on 11/11/11 |
His name is Yenesew Gebre, 29, Ethiopian elementary school teacher at a small village called Waka in Southern region of the country. He was fired and then imprisoned along with over 90 residents of the village last month by local officials for demanding the rule of law, good governance, and other human rights issues. He was released after the court couldn't find evidence against him while it kept the rest of the protesters including the elderly under police custody. Yenesew immolated himself on 11-11-11 in front of the local administration office in protest against the rulings of the court which still keep the rest of the prisoners. Unfortunately Yenesew died yesterday afternoon at a local hospital, called Terecha. Residents of Waka told VOA Amharic service yesterday that
Friday, November 11, 2011
Blame it on the UK, Ethiopia Charges Opposition Figures, Reporter With Terrorism!
Meles Zenawi already gave the verdict a month ago at his rubber-stamp Parliament; his kangaroo court is nothing but a circus to portray his legitimacy and the prevalence of the rule of law which is otherwise. These people have no shame, otherwise how on earth Ethiopia's best known sluggish judicial system all of sudden charge its ''defendants'' at speed of light. This shows the desperation of Zenawi & co to intimidate the remaining independent journalists, opposition members and above all he is signaling to the duo Swedes that he can do whatever he wants to do. Obviously, this's a preemptive tactic to contain the ever increasing pressure from inside and outside, which in some ways might buy him time but will never spare him from the fate of his fellow dictators. Thanks to Anti-Terrorism Law of England, which our country copied it ''word for word'', three prominent journalists including more than half a dozen opposition leaders and members are now behind bars. Neither English journalists nor opposition figures stopped functioning or the UK government has secret court hearings and prisons for offenders of its ''Anti-Terrorism'' law. The Arab Spring freed Libyans, Tunisians & Egyptians from decades old shackles and now it's time for Horn Africa's
Monday, November 7, 2011
Adius humanity, Africans' lives worth nothing
Refugees face organ theft in the Sinai
CNN's Fred Pleitgen investigates human organ trafficking in Egypt's Sinai
Bedouin smugglers involved in people trafficking are also believed to be stealing organs from Eritrean refugees who are unable to pay their demands for large amounts of cash to take them into Israel
I thought I saw the worst but this CNN clip proved me wrong. I still couldn't believe how human beings do such barbaric and inhumane things to others. It doesn't get worse than this, it seems like Africans' lives are the cheapest and the most disposable on the whole planet. Most of these victims are refugees who are fleeing from Ethiopia, Eritrea and the Sudan where extrajudicial killings & imprisonments, torture, rape, famine, diseases, corruption, lack of freedom of speech, expression and religion as well as the rule of law are rampant. Unfortunately, a few make their dreams come true while others are end up like this or are being tortured, raped, exploited, imprisoned and killed by Libyan and Egyptian gangs on daily basis. The few ''lucky ones'' who made it to Israel have no guarantee of protection; instead the Egyptian & Israeli authorities are still deporting them back to hell on earth. I still don't understand what kind of crimes we, Africans do/did, to be treated like sub humans by our owns as well as the rest of human race. US led NATO and some of its allies waged war to protect Libyan civilians from Gaddafi's killing machines while they ignored sub-Saharan Africans to be butchered by their Libyan allies or drowned in thousands on Mediterranean sea. I read a story about an Ethiopian dad's plea to save his daughter's life at Yemeni hospital after he lost his wife along hundreds of Ethiopian, Somalian & Sudanese refugees on a capsized boat while on board to the gulf of Aden. The indifference and the silence towards such tragic incidents are so shocking and it feels like this has become so ''normal'' to the wider public and African life worth nothing.
''One becomes a vegetable'' Martin Schibbye
''One becomes a vegetable'' Martin Schibbye- this is how the Swedish Journalist described his, his colleague Johan Persson and other Ethiopian prisoners' daily life- to his wife during her brief recent visit at Kaliti (the worst prison in the world) when she went to attend the Meles Zenawi's kangaroo court hearing last week. Well, that's the whole idea of Zenawi's brutal regime's prisons. Thanks Linnea Schibbye Steiner for sharing what your beloved husband and many other inmates have been through in my country where organized criminals are terrorizing the whole nation under psydo-democracy, sham election and kangaroo courts. This's not something new to us; he did this hundreds times over the last 20years; a case in point: Meles & his clones made sure Ethiopia's renown surgeon Prof. Asrat Woldyes to vegetate in their prison until he was sick fatally, they imprisoned opposition and civil society leaders, journalists, ordinary citizens, teachers, farmers etc just to satisfy his sadistic and megalomaniac misdemeanor. What makes Zenawi's brutality different from the rest of his partners in crimes including his predecessor-Mengistu Hailemariam-is that his viciousness as well as using kangaroo courts and cooked up evidences as guises to torture, humiliate, degrade and kill slowly his victims psychologically and physically by dragging the court hearings for ever with his remote control. He always plays safe especially with cause celebére (not to mention his exceptional killing sprees) to deceive about his legitimacy and the prevalence of independent judiciary which is otherwise. This's what Meles & co. are doing to millions of Ethiopians on daily basis with impunity and ironically the world is parading him at single senseless meetings and conferences as a reward.
Friday, November 4, 2011
If it was Zimbabwe...
This's so typical predictable and laughable behavior of TPLF, it's always the police who is their witness to corroborate the ''cooked up charges''. Meles Zenawi & his stooges used their self-serving kangaroo court to deceive the world about the independence of the judiciary and the rule of law which are otherwise. They've such a short memory and gullible arrogance that they apply the same trick over and over thinking the rest of the world would believe what they're saying/doing at face value. How on earth journalists with camera train guerrilla fighters? It doesn't matter how many times they make a fool of themselves; otherwise they charged leaders of opposition parties and civil societies, peaceful demonstrators including journalists with treason and genocide after they themselves rigged the 2005 election and then in its aftermath killed over 200 people. A year or two later they accused Ethiopian pop star Teddy Afro with ''hit & run'' charge by placing a corpse on a road he was driving home after arriving in Addis from a foreign tour. There're hundreds of such similar politically motivated cases unfortunately Johan Persson & Martin Schibbye are
Thursday, November 3, 2011
Land-grabbing vs Ethiopian Journalists - Conspiracy of Silence or Conflict of Interests?
''Instead of asking per Diem, journalists have been bargaining with urban mayors to grab plots of land. Some of the journalists have grabbed massive plots of lands in different towns. Some of them gained not one or two plots of land; they grabbed eight to nine plots.” (ERTA reporter, personal communication, 14 July 2010). (Birhanu Olana, 482, 2010)*
This is an excerpt that I read on Facebook group (which I created for Ex-ETV journalists) from a recently published research findings about new corrupt trends of Ethiopian journalists especially those who work for the government media. I'm still in shock and in disbelief (who wouldn't unless s/he is involved in such practices) that was actually an account from an Ethiopian TV (where I served myself as reporter/producer from 2000-2004) reporter. One plot of land, usually 200m2, would sell for 60,000 birr (about USD 5,000) on average. This means that a journalist who has grabbed nine plots of land could sell them for 540,000 birr (about USD 45,000) (Birhanu O., 482, 2010) which is unprecedented fortune for any ordinary Ethiopian journalist.
Even though the findings revealed the wide-spread of corruption practices among Ethiopian journalists of both private and government owned media institutions, according to the researchers- an ex ETV employee, Birhanu Olana (who's doing his PhD at University of Sydney, Australia) and his reviewer Terje S. Skjerdal (a Norwegian media researcher)- those who work for the government media were/are not only involved in land-grabbing practices but also use systematic methods to cover it up. Another research which was conducted
Saturday, October 29, 2011
The most Untouchables of the Horn of Africa
Many freedom and democracy loving people across the globe regardless of their- racial, religious, political, geographical creeds- cheered and applauded the courage, determination and sacrifices paid by revolutionaries of the Arab countries to make dictatorship a history even though it's too early to judge how event will turn out to be in due time. What's most striking and astonishing though is that peoples of these countries are much more better off socially, economically, politically than their counterparts in the horn of Africa namely The Sudan, Eritrea & my home country- Ethiopia. Regimes of all these 3 countries came by sword and run their respective countries with iron fist ever since they held power more than 2 decades ago. Genocide; human rights abuses; famine; disease; tortures; modern day slavery; extrajudicial killings and imprisonments, lack of the rule of law and freedom of expression are the hallmark of the trio nations and yet their power is as intact as before thanks to backings which are attached in different forms and shapes from China to USA from Russia to Quatar. What Gaddafi, Ben Ali and Mubarak did combined to their people is less than a quarter of what Al-Basher or Afewerki or Meles are doing each alone. Al-Bashir has been in killing spree ever since he held power, Afewerki take hostage of his ''liberated people'' after 30yrs of bloody war and Zenawi
Friday, October 28, 2011
Guess, who's Nobel Peace Prize winner of 2012?
Yesterday begun & ended with all bad news (blame it on my pessimism) and today it didn't get any better but I read some good news of lately on www.allafrica.com which says "Prime Minister Meles Zenawi has been playing and could play in the global effort to resolve the crises in Sudan'', wow the world doesn't get any better. Hmm, it's too late for 2011 but it smells like Nobel Peace Prize winner of 2012 would be...let the world be surprised. Hurray, face it you hate monger diaspora Ethiopians Africa is gonna make history by winning Noble Peace Prize two years in a row.
Regardless, such a testimony and praise would have been a surprise if it does come from a person other than Mehari Taddele Maru, a person who advocated indirectly against the indictment of Al-Bashir by the International Criminal Court and denied his close ties with our pacifist prime minister in 2009. Hmm, maybe Ato Mehari is too busy to observe when Zenwai ordered to massacre peaceful demonstrators in 2005, invaded Somalia to exacerbate the situation, mime, kill, torture, rape civilians in Ogaden, Gambella, Oromia and elsewhere in the country. It's no secret about the recent widespread imprisonments of Ethiopian & foreign journalists, opposition party leaders, members & their supporters and other civilians by our benevolent premier at Arat Kilo unless such local issues are too trivial for your taste, Mr. Mehari.
Just today the same on-line news provider published about the 2000 Southern Sudanese who are fleeing to Ethiopia, and one wonders how two conflicting reports are coming on the same day if Ethiopia's premier and his ''peace keeping'' armies are playing such a commendable role to resolve the conflict in that country. One wonders if our pacifist leader could play a role to resolve conflicts in neighboring countries and across the world, what makes it impossible to do it at home? Isn't charity begin at home?
''Justice means minding one's own business and not meddling with other men's concerns.'' Plato
I should go to bed and dream how we're gonna celebrate Africa's sorry Ethiopia's first ever Nobel Peace Prize in 2012. Good night/day
Ethiopia: Keeping Peace in Abyei - the Role and Contributions of State: Since February 2011, Abyei and South Kordofan, oil rich disputed border areas of South Sudan and Sudan, witnessed an intensive military clash between the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) forces and the military of the Government of Sudan (GoS). This reached a tipping point when the GoS forces took control of the town of Abyei in May 2011. Since then violent military confrontations have become the hallmark of the relationship between the North and South Sudan.
Thursday, October 27, 2011
Neo-Slavery in the making, Saudi style
My employer (which I don't have:)) tells me what to and not do with my wage? This world is not getting any funnier than never. What's more even surprising is that this news comes from one of oil-rich countries in the world- Saudi Arabia- greed has no limits; as if the existing exploitation of migrant workers is not enough, the country is planning to limit the remittances these poor people are sending back home either to pay their debt and/or support their poor families. When I read this news what came to my mind was the agreement which was recently signed between Saudi & Ethiopian officials to recruit more Ethiopian maids as the Philippines & Indonesian governments banned any agency from sending their citizens to that country. Well, our so called ''government'' doesn't care less about ''its citizens'' even though there're quite good number of well documented evidences that show migrant workers who are/were either underpaid or not paid at all because of various irregularities. Nevertheless, now the Saudi riches don't even have little mercy to allow these poor people to pay their debts or support their families with the little they have left with. Is it another form of Neo-slavery in the making? The Saudis literally own these poor migrant workers by holding their passport & travel documents but that's not enough so they devised a law which controls these poor people's financial privacy to tighten their control on them. They've zillions of money/gold/diamonds everything that money can buy and now they want more, from the last persons, anybody with sane mind can't even contemplate to do so. The day started with bad news and now ending with such heartless & greedy nature of human-being.I hope tomorrow would be a better day, with some good news Incha'allah
Saudi Limits Remittances:
Saudi Arabia announced recently that it will limit the income migrant workers are permitted to send home. The Labour Minister stated the new “Salary Protection Program” will prevent the ‘exodus’ of wealth leaving the nation in the form of remittances. He did not specify the percentage of income required to remain in Saudi, but it will be the majority. The new law represents another mechanism of control beyond the legal and social constraints already imposed onto foreign workers.
Saudi Arabia announced recently that it will limit the income migrant workers are permitted to send home. The Labour Minister stated the new “Salary Protection Program” will prevent the ‘exodus’ of wealth leaving the nation in the form of remittances. He did not specify the percentage of income required to remain in Saudi, but it will be the majority. The new law represents another mechanism of control beyond the legal and social constraints already imposed onto foreign workers.
Are you still there God?
I woke up today hoping it's gonna be a new and bright day but alas I was wrong the first news that I watched this morning was about court hearings of the homicide of 13years old Ethiopian girl named Hannah by her American adoptive ''parents'' which took place some months ago. I couldn't help myself but thinking how could someone has the courage to resist and dare to switch off such contagious smile from his/her ''daughter''? Some of the evidences show that she was tortured, starved to death before she died of hypothermia left in the cold outside in the field. The "mother" told 911 that her "rebellious daughter" killed herself and all this cruelty is done in the name of God and there's no better place than Ethiopia to execute such sadistic feat on an innocent, helpless and desperate child. The mafiosi @ Arat Kilo sell everything from that country including its ''citizens'' to the least bidder as long as it means $$$. I was like why is life so mean to our girls/women regardless of which continent they live, statistics show Ethiopian housemaids are the majority victims of sexual, physical and other abuses by their middle-eastern employers. Thousands of Adoption and recruitment agencies run by the thugs & co are busy exporting our girls/sisters to whomever without either doing background check or follow-ups about the human-beings they're trafficking. There're thousands of Hannahs all over the world who're doomed to be abused, enslaved, tortured, starved to death due to the greedy adoptions/recruitment agencies and their boss at the top who care about nothing but profit at the expense of desperate and helpless Ethiopians. Some of the children are not even orphans but their parents are being lured by these organized criminals promising them a better life and future for their kids in America and Europe. OK Suppose Hannah was orphan who had nowhere to live or was on the street but I'm sure her death wouldn't have been this tragic if she stayed back @ home or would have been still smiling if there was a responsible adoption agency tracked her updates on a regular base. I wonder what ''God" (if it exists) is doing when such grotesque crimes are being committed on daily basis on his/her children on his/her name. I hope Hannah's blood and others didn't shed in vain and let these criminals & their accomplices pay due prices.
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Developmental arrests, coming soon
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