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

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.

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.

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.

Developmental arrests, coming soon

I was watching ETV (Ethiopian Television) on-line last Sunday morning to relieve my homesickness and get "informed" about recent ''development'' & ''progress'' of my country, while baking Enjera (Ethiopia's traditional spongy bread). I was enjoying listening the music (major slot of ETV) and all of a sudden I heard this intro of the ''Parliament" program which I hate not only to watch but used to detest whenever I was assigned to report on its boring "proceedings" or produce a program about it back then when I was working @ ETV. Anyway, I let it go as I can't afford my Enjera get burned but then I heard this familiar angry voice bullying

A country founded by refugees, is deporting refugees.

Wow, what a day even Israel forgets its past and sending back Eritrean refugees to endanger their lives? The world never gets any better for the refugees. This is one of the worst ridiculous justifications I ever heard to deport refugees without even considering how  human rights records both countries are deteriorating every single day. It doesn't matter from which country they claimed they come from, it's a well documented fact that Ethiopia & Eritrea are led by war time partners turned out arch-foe nemesis dictators who came to power 20yrs ago. These duo tyrants are best known power mongers, human rights abusers, killers, jailers who're starving their own people and running their respective countries with iron grip where dissent and criticism of their brutal regimes are not only crimes but also an excuse to kill, jail, harass, torture, rape and starve. I thought Israel knows best what's going on in these two countries due to its proximity and is one of the safe haven to refugees; it proves me wrong. How could they send back Eritrean youths to one of prison-states in the world where there's indefinite forced military service, no freedom of expression nor religion, no constitution, modern slavery and deliberate food deprivation. I thought Israel, a country founded Jewish refugees across the globe, is the last country to deport refugees. History will judge you for every man/woman's life you put in danger. Don't forget what goes around, comes around.  Eritreans turned down for asylum after Ethiopia claims refugees as their own - Haaretz Daily Newspaper | Israel News

Bad News for Refugees/Migrant workers...

I logged in into my twitter after breakfast (my daily routine) this morning and I started to skim my updates well blame it on my attraction to negative news but I found out that it's yet another gloomy day for refugees/migrant workers which becomes normal these days because of the world's indifference towards fellow "human-beings". I just read on Guardian about the threat to deport Ethiopian and Somali asylum seekers by South African countries and then time chronicles daily horrific ordeals of Syrian refugees who're scared of being  kidnapped by by Assad's cronies on a broad-light from Turkey and then I read on migrant-right about certain housemaids from Africa (I suspect they're from my country as it's the main exporter of humans in that continent) who abscond to their Embassy in Kuwait due to abuse and some work related irregularities with their employers. The list can go on and on but our miseries is getting from bad to worse especially at a time of global economic crisis like this. We are forgotten and ignored as if we don't exist nor deserve to live a decent life like any human-being. How long shall we suffer/die/starved/abused/raped/tortured before the world say ENOUGH to dictators who subject us to such endless miseries? It's a shame fellow mankind become dehumanized at such extreme and show no empathy while others are being forced to flee their country by tyrants like Assad, Abdula Salah, etc and yet we can't even have safe haven and protection in those hosting countries. It seems things don't get to get better, but let's dream the dream, one day we'll be treated like any human-being and live with freedom, respect and dignity.        

Good luck Ali Talebs, but...

Ali Talebs, an Iraqi asylum seeker journalist who was about to be deported last week, got a decision that his case might be seen again by the Swedish immigration board. He sought asylum because of the death threats he received from some of Islamic factions in his home country Iraq some years ago but also followed him even to this country. But all this was not enough for the authorities, it's amazing. They took him to the detention center south of Sweden but due to the pressure from Sweden's branch office of Reporters sans Frontiers and others, they agreed to reopen his case.I hope this time his ordeal will end enjoy life freely.
When I read such news once in a while I can see a bit of light at the end of the tunnel; otherwise it's so gloomy and hopeless. I'm stuck where I was 6yrs ago and I don't even know where to start or to end. I lost my past and future, it's the price I'm paying every single day hoping to live in freedom and I know there're millions of people who are in the same or even worse situations. It feels like everyday is a bad nightmare which never ends, my hands are tied, my mouth is sealed, my eyes blindfolded and I was wondering how long should I bare this pain. Life is too short and I'm not any younger, is it time pack up and face the inevitable or die slowly longing for that freedom which I may never experience? Damn, you do it, damn you don't do it as the saying goes. I'm just tired...
Utvisningshotade journalisten Ali Taleb får ny chans
Den utvisningshotade irakiske journalisten och filmaren Ali Taleb får sitt ärende prövat igen. Det beskedet kom från Migrationsverket under fredagen.
– Det är mycket glädjande och nu hoppas att jag att Migrationsverket går igenom Alis fall ordentligt och inser att han har fullgoda skyddsskäl, säger Barbara Alhachami, Ali Talebs juridiska ombud.
Enligt Migrationsverkets beslut så skulle Ali Taleb ha skickats tillbaka till Bagdad tillsammans med flera andra irakier tidigt på onsdagsmorgonen i förra veckan. Men dagen innan fick Ali Taleb, som då tagits av polisen till förvar i södra Sverige, besked...

Ethiopian housemaids are treated much worse than anybody in middle-east.

Hi John Leonard
Thanks a lot for your dedicated and authentic reports about migrant workers in the middle-east which is almost forgotten/ignored by the mainstream media as well as recruiting and supplying countries. Unfortunately, there are not many journalists like who're fully committed to exposing such shameful and barbaric human right abuses which have been perpetrated on our sisters/daughters by the wealthy of mid-east countries for such a long time. What's even worse is that these poor illiterate, desperate girls/women were/are also ignored by staff members of their respective Embassies/consulates who're paid to protect/safeguard their right/lives in those countries. Even though it's very obvious that the situations are much even worse for Ethiopian housemaids than Filipinos in the middle-eastern countries; the government is aggressively exporting its citizens for modern slavery. Would you please also do some stories about Ethiopian housemaids who're languishing at the hands of their ''employers'' or/and prisons in the mid-east countries especially in Lebanon where there're mounting evidences that depict the miseries of our sisters/daughters?

30 Distressed Fililpino workers seek repatriation:
There are 30 plus distressed overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), all women, in Oman temporarily seeking refuge at the Philippine Embassy’s Filipino Workers Resource Center (FWRC), according to a Filipino migrants rights group providing assistance to distressed and abused OFWs.

Kudos Filipino workers!

This is one of the very reasons why the rich Saudis banned the recruitment of Filipino house-maids, you showed them that you don't take any nonsense and be treated like slaves-thumbs up once again. Unfortunately or fortunately, they're not short of supplies, recently the Saudis revealed their about their plans to import thousands of Ethiopian housemaids to satisfy the ever increasing demands and there's no other best place other than Ethiopia where the country is selling its children to the least bidders as if the sufferings/killings/maims/body mutilations of Ethiopian housemaids in the middle-eastern countries over several years were not enough. Sadly, most of our girls and women are poor, illiterate, desperate and innocent and that's why they were/are subjected to enormous amounts of such abuses by their "employers" for too long and I'm sure fellow expat workers from other countries follow your suits and fight for their rights, freedom, dignity. Endless physical & verbal abuses, tortures, rapes, imprisonments, exploitations, etc of expat workers by their middle-eastern ''employers'' on daily basis were/are given blind eye by the media because of the cursed petrodollar. Because most of expat workers especially domestic housemaids are uneducated, desperate, poor and vulnerable, they're the easiest preys of greedy ''agents'' and their clients in the middle-east. This should ring an alarm bell to the riches of mid-east countries that they will pay a heavy price for every single human-being they abused, mutilated, raped, starved, enslaved, disfigured, exploited without payments, etc sometime soon. The choice is theirs if they want to die ungracefully like their pariah Gaddafi.

‘Overseas Filipino workers joining ‘occupy’ movement abroad inevitable

Thus, said today by a Filipino migrants’ rights group in the Middle East as the ‘occupy’ movement around the world gains support from various groups and sectors denouncing ‘corporate greed’ by big businesses and establishments who got control most of a nation’s wealth.
“The birth of an ‘occupy’ movement in major cities of Third World countries including the Philippines, given the dire socio-economic condition of the workers who are exploited and oppressed, is almost expected,” Monterona ended. # # #
Written by:
John Leonard Monterona
Migrante-Middle East regional coordinator

Don't forget the Ethiopian Journalists jailed along with Johan & Martin!!!

Thanks for your detailed reportage about Ethiopia's infamous ''anti-terrorist law'' and one of its masterminds aka Berket Simon. I heard his partner in crimes-Meles Zenawi- this morning saying that Ethiopia's “anti-terrorist” is a direct copy of such laws of England and the USA but we've never seen these countries arresting their citizen journalists who're interviewing/interviewed leaders of terrorists organizations including Osama Bin Laden-the most wanted and recently killed terrorist in the world. These people are pathological lairs who say something in the morning and negate in the afternoon. It's not about breaking/respecting the law; it's rather how to flex their muscles to everybody including their allies in Europe and America and thereby give a lesson to everyone they're not to mess with. Having said, your report was below my expectations because I was expecting you would mention about other Ethiopian journalists such as Eskinder Nega, Reyoot Aelmu & Woubshet Taye who are jailed with the same charges of Johan & Martin; unless some follow-up stories sometimes ahead. Almost half of the airtime was given to the causes of ONLF which I don't have problem with but I was wondering if you are trying to execute what Johan & Martin were unable to do. I was so hopeful to listen about the chilling effects of this ridiculous law on Ethiopian journalists and the lack of freedom of speech in that country.Here's the link for the full reportage

The Silence of The Swedish Media, Is it conspiracy of silence or political correctness?

I've been (of course many Ethiopians across the globe) passionately following about the jailed Swedish journalists since day one not only because they're fellow journalists but also for the very same reason that they are human-beings whose lives are being endangered like hundreds of thousands of arbitrarily arrested Ethiopian prisoners. Many of us showed/continue our protests in different forms (petitions, demonstration, etc) at home and abroad through different mediums such as social networks & mainstream medias etc. Unfortunately, I see/saw neither empathy nor solidarity nor media coverage from our counterparts in Sweden. I tried to raise this issue by commenting on their websites and blogs but a few are interested even to publish my comments.

Astonishingly, I saw cry baby newstories on twitter these couple of days which complain that J & M court hearings were not covered by the local Ethiopian media. Doesn't that sound so egocentric? I was like seriously and I started to do my little research on Google. For a starter, Ethiopian journalists are living under dictatorship and secondly some of them even dared to publish/air about the hearing; didn't J & M's story get much coverage that's another story. Well, google search results show who's covering whose story as follows. I tried advanced search to minimize search errors and to limit to certain search locations (Ethiopia, Stockholm, Sweden) and languages but unfortunately Amharic- the official language of Ethiopia- is not listed on google's language lists so I chosen any language. Unfortunately, most of media outlets in Ethiopia don't have their own website and mainly use the local languages and for that reason google's result include aggregates from different websites/blogs across the globe even though I tried to limit the location to Addis Ababa. Let's start google's search results of J & M's story coverage in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Johan Persson's google advanced search result in Addis Ababa brings 525 hits

His colleague's result on the other hand gives around 511 hits

Here's google search results of Eskinder Nega, Reyoot Alemu & Woubshet Taye in Sweden since last month

surprise, Eskinder Nega the renown Ethiopian blogger/journalists gives 5 hits: Svd & arbetaren zenit were generous

Reyoot Alemu an English teacher/columnist of Fetih newspaper who was arrested on similar charges of J &M and her google search results in Sweden gives 1 hit

Meanwhile Woushet Taye of Awramba who was arrested along with Reyoot gets one hit from google search in Sweden.

Let's see J & M's google search result in their home country and do the math to compare with their counterparts results of Ethiopians

Guess what Johan's results is 400,000 hits and Martin's result isn't far less. Let's be fair the proportion of media coverages of Ethiopians v Swedes is 1 to 100K. On the other hand J & M score a swooping more than 500 google hit results in Ethiopia and as everybody see their Ethiopian counterparts hit results are nowhere in the Swedish media and yet these same media outlets which ignored and are/were indifferent about the miseries of Ethiopian journalists are waynning about the lack of coverages to their kins' case in the Ethiopian media. One can see how the Swedish media foregrounded and out-poured zillions of opinions, expertise, comments about J & M's imprisonment through various methods to earn local and international sympathy while deliberately sidelining/downplaying about the rest of Ethiopian journalists who have been charged with the same crimes. I wonder if it's a conspiracy of silence or political correctness not to anger the spoiled boy in Addis. It's not only untrue that there's a lack of coverage on J & M's case by Ethiopian media but also unfair and selfish to ask them (some of them which risked to do stories) to beat up their chest provided they're living in one of the countries listed as the worst enemy of journalists.

Wasn't ONLF Eliminated???

Meles & co. are a well known backstabbers. It was ok for journalists to even fight along with  them back then when they were guerrilla fighters and they enjoyed much publicity as much they wanted. Now, they are at the helm and it's forbidden to even talk to the descendants who have the very same questions they're raising which were raised by these thugs back in those days when they were in the jungle. The hasty anti-terrorist law enactment is not a coincidence with the arrest of many Ethiopian journalists including Johan & Martin; it was rather a preemptive plan to stage media circus based on  tips gathered through their hundreds of thousands of spies in Ethiopia as well as elsewhere in the world including Sweden. TPLFites  have a good track record (more than 20yrs) of setting up traps to their assumed/perceived/virtual enemies whom they think might be a threat: a case in point Teddy Afro, Birtukan Midekssa, Professor Asrat Woldeyes, leaders of opposition parties & trade unions, journalists, religious leaders, civil societies etc etc and  Martin & Johan's case is no different; otherwise how on earth a war could broke out on that particular day with ONLF which Meles claimed ''eliminated'' or ''made peace deal''  with a year before? They've the "law" and they decreed ONLF & other main opposition groups as terrorists just a few months before the arrests of Ethiopian and Swedish journalists, so the ball is in their field. This whole kangaroo court hearings would be nothing but a self-serving  PR to portray picture about their legality in handling the case. They would manipulate and take advantage of every incidence surrounding these issues because after all they've the backings from the USA & others as the best ally of ''war on terror''. Soon or later the Swedish journalists will be released after many tiresome negotiations and non-stop court wranglings and in the mean time the thugs will continue exhorting anyone who raises this issue. At the end, Martin & Johan will be granted ''gracious pardon'' from our ''benevolent Ethiopian leaders'' and that will be THE END but life goes on for the rest of Ethiopian journalist in and ''outside'' prison. 

Swedes plead 'not guilty' to terror crimes - The Local

Talk to them with the language they speak

I think the world in general and Swedes in particular were too busy to follow what Meles & co. were doing to Ethiopians ever since they came to power 20yrs ago. It seems everybody was caught by surprise when one of their owns are on the receiving end otherwise for us this's nothing new and we reached at a point where such kinds of carefully choreographed crimes become part and parcel of our lives. Just in case you don't know: everything in Ethiopia is a one man show, we've seen that in the past: Meles & co. are the masters of atrocious dramas, they explode bombs in middle of the town and then charge the ''terrorist groups'', they indiscriminately killed peaceful demonstrators and then accused opposition groups/journalist/civil societies the list can goes on and the world was indifferent or too scared to upset the devil it knows. When it comes to Johann & Martin, it's the like a jackpot scenario to accuse and charge them. If you think 4months are too long for Johan & Martin to be in the prison without charges, just make a quick google search about what this tyrant did and continued to do to the likes of Birtukan Mideksa -prominent opposition leader, Teddy Afro-famous pop singer who was accused of ''hit & run'' charges a few years ago and later ''pardoned'', the prominent medical surgeon Professor Asrat Woldeyes who was accused of false charges and later died in the prison, opposition members & leaders as well as civil societies who were imprisoned following its massacre of 2005 after rigging the election and very recently in September he charged the outspoken blogger Ekinder Nega who's been going back and forth to the prison several times over the last 10 years, Reeyot Alemu, Wubshet Taye, etc etc. The dictator will make sure the world learn a lesson from this recent scenario by dragging the court hearing with endless excuses & appointments until everybody bows to his demands. By then, nobody even their loved ones would recognize Martin & Johan-if they survive the worst prison in the world at all. They may look physically fit but Zenawi's cohorts are very experienced in making sure these fellows suffer emotionally, psychologically and mentally by depriving every little things we take for granted. In the mean time, the mafiosi would be busy exhorting everybody who approaches him for release of the two Swedes. Meles has the audacity to say so because he was emboldened by the ironic invitation of Norway & Denmark; while 2 Swedish and dozens of Ethiopian journalists are incarcerated in Ethiopian prisons by the same criminal they cordially hosted. There's no guarantee that Johan & Martin won't end up like Dawit Issak if European countries maintain their on-going soft diplomacy approach which didn't work and will never as far as persuading tyrants to respect the rule of law, human and civil rights as well as freedom of expression. It never worked with Issayas, Gadaffi, or whichever dictator in the world. It's time say it loud and clear that the era of tyranny and impunity is over. Talk to them with the language they speak, because tyrants equate diplomacy with cowardice. When the tough gets going, the going gets tough!!!
http://www.thelocal.se/36788/20111017/

Norway PM faces Ethiopia flak

It's shameful and unacceptable that Norway & Denmark invited the dictator to attend a conference to their respective countries knowing that this paranoid regime jailed two Swedish journalists with fabricated terrorism charges to which they might serve for life. Is this how these two countries show their solidarity to the sufferings of the two Swedish citizens and millions of Ethiopians who at this time are living in appalling and horrible situations? It's shocking and absolutely unjustifiable for Norway to commit such historic mistake just a few days after it awarded the Nobel Peace Prize to Tawaakul Karman the Yemeni Journalist/Activist. It's an insult to human rights, freedom of speech, the rule of law and all other civil and human rights charters which the two countries are reputed to be champions. By doing so you give a go ahead green signal to Meles & his cohorts to perpetrate whatever they were/have been doing for the last 20yrs with impunity. There's no guarantee Martin Schibbye and Johan Persson wouldn't have the same fate as Dwait Issak; if you continue the way do business with tyrants. Norway PM faces Ethiopia flak: Norway’s prime minister has defended the country’s collaboration with Ethiopia on climate-related energy initiatives in the face of protests over alleged human rights abuses by the leader of the...
More latest news @ www.ecadforum.com

Karuturi to outsource Ethiopian land to Indian farmers

This's just the beginning, our developmental democracy leaders were telling us they leased plots of land almost a size of Belgium in Gambella, South, Oromiya at dirt-price to Indians and others for 99yrs, in order to transfer technology, be food-self sufficient and above all create jobs to the locals who're evicted from the land they have lived on for generations. These poor and voiceless people have no rights whatsoever to reclaim their land or the rivers to their livestock because it was sold with 2pages contract to the latest bidder. Time will tell what's gonna happen when the Indians bring their fellow citizens to farm on the land they claimed ''to develop'' by employing locals. Such kind of shady behind the scene deal which was made by the two parties without consulting The locals will bring tremendous social, ecological, environmental and political chaos for a long time and the price the locals have to pay is huge. This is nothing but outright greed at the expense of poor Ethiopians who're sold out by the very government which is supposed to ''represent'' and ''safeguard'' their rights.

Karuturi to outsource Ethiopian land to Indian farmers: FarmLandGrab



Raghuvir Badrinath/Bangalore (Business Standard, 12 Oct, 2011)Karuturi Global, the city-based
publicly-held floriculture major and one of the world's largest exporter of
roses which is aggressively rolling out an agriculture business venture in
Ethiopia, is looking at outsourcing 20,000 hectares of farm land in the African
nation to Indian farmers on a revenue-sharing

Skandal att neka visum

Why would be this a surprise? IMO it would be a news, if the journalists were given visas; that's the reason why Martin Schibbye and Johan Persson forced to choose the other way round. This's a paranoid government which does everything to hide its gross human rights abuses it has been perpetrating against our citizens in Ogaden and elsewhere in the country. EU countries and America are as good culprits as the tyrant for ignoring our 20yrs of sufferings by siding with Meles. We paid the price and now the west is testing the taste of their medicines. Isn't it a shame that Norway & Denmark invited the dictator to attend a conference to their respective countries while 2 innocent citizens of a neighboring country are forced to suffer on daily basis by the same dictator who jailed them with a doctored crime? Where's the solidarity of NORDIC countries and their sympathy for human rights, freedom of speech and rule of law? If EU & the US don't stop soft diplomacy; there's no gurantee Martin Schibbye and Johan Persson wouldn't have the same fate as Dwait Issak because Meles & co. have no mercy towards anybody who they ''assume'' is against their way: Martin Schibbye and Johan Persson are their latest European victims.

Skandal att neka visum: Det visar sig nu att Etiopien fördröjer visumprocessen för de svenska journalister som vill resa för att bevaka rättegången mot Johan Persson och Martin Schibbye i Addis Abeba. Det är inget mindre än en skandal, men det visar ju i grunden vilken syn den etiopiska regimen har på press- och yttrandefrihet. I debatten kring åtalet mot Johan och Martin har företrädare för de etiopiska myndigheterna hävdat att utländska journalister visst får tilltträde till landet och att Johan och Martin alltså inte behövde ta hjälp av gerillan i Ogadenprovinsen. Det var en lögn redan från början, och nu vet vi alltså att de inte ens släpper in journalister för att bevaka en rättegång i huvudstaden.
Varför är detta en viktig fråga?
Det är mycket enkelt. Genom att vara på plats kan svenska journalister följa om rättegången går rätt till. Om domstolen, trots det orimliga åtalet, klarar av att ge dem en rättssäker behandling.
Det är drygt en vecka kvar till rättegången. Etiopien har tid att ändra sig.

Eritrea players' asylum bid fails

Either Tanzanian authorities are living in different continent which they're not or they're party members of Eritrean regimes otherwise everybody in the world knows what's going on in Eritrea. These kids are lucky to escape a modern day slavery from one of the brutal & ruthless dictators of Africa. Many of their fellow brothers, sisters, fathers, mothers are bonded for life and are being abused, tortured, starved, raped, imprisoned for the last 20yrs by the gov't who claims fought 30yrs bloody war to free them. There's no freedom of speech, rule of law, election WILL BE NO such things for the coming 50yrs according recent interview of Issayas Afewrik on aljazeera. It's beyond somebody's imagination why would the Tanzanian authorities think that these kids have no risks going back?

Eritrea players' asylum bid fails: Tanzania rejects an asylum request by 13 young Eritrean footballers who refused to return home after a regional tournament in July.

ምዕራባውያን በሁለት ቢላ መብላታችውን ያቁሙ!!!

2011 ለነፃነት እኩልነት እና ፍትህ ታጋዮች የድል ለሰብአዊ መብት ረጋጮች እና ለአምባ ገነን መሪዎች ደግሞ የሽንፈት አመት በመሆኑ እጅግ ልንደሰትና የጀመርነውን ትግል በይበልጥ ማጠናከር ይገባል ;; የአምባ ገነኖች ጎራ ተራ በተራ እየተፈረካከሰ ግብአተ መሬቱ እየተፋጠነ ታሪክ ለመሆን የቀሩት ጥቂት ወራት ግፋ ቢል ዓመታት ናቸው :: እነሆ  ባለፈው ሳምንት መጨረሻ ላይ የየመኑ አምባገነን ለ 33ዓመታት ጨምድዶ የያዘውን ስልጣን በቅርቡ እንደሚለቅ ማስታወቁን አልጀዚራ በሰበርዜናው ዘገቧል እንግዲህ ጥያቄው ማነህ ባለሳምንት ነው።ይህን ዜና ለየት የሚያደርገው ባሳለፍነው ሳምንት መጀመሪያ ላይ ኖርዌይ የሚገኘው የዓለምአቀፉ የሰላም ድርጅት ማለትም ኖቤል የመኗዊቷን ጋዜጠኛና የሰብአዊመብት ተሟጋች ታዋኩል ካራመን እና ሴራሊዮውያኑን ማለትም ፕሬዚደንት ኤለን ጆንሰን ሰርሊፍ እንዲሁም የሴቶች መብት ተሟጓቿን ሊይማህ ግብዌን በጥምረት የ 2011 የዓለም ሰላም ተሸላሚዎች ለመድረግ መወሰኑን ተከትሎ የመጣ በመሆኑ ነው :: ይህ ክስተት የሚያረጋግጥልን እያንዳንዱ አምባገነን መሪ እንቅልፍአልባ ለሊት እንደሚያሳልፍ ነው የኛዎቹን ጨምሮ :: በኔ ግምት የየመኑ አምባገነን ለዚህ ውሳኔ የበቃው ስልጣን በቅቶት ሳይሆን የጓደኞቹ ማለትም የቤን አሊ :የጋዳፊ እና ሙባረክ እጣ ሳይደርሰው በፊት በአቁዋራጭ ለማምለጥ የተደረገ ሙከራ ይመስላል :: ያም ሆነ ይህ የየመን ህዝብ ላለፉት 6ወራት ያለማንም ደጋፊ እልህ አስጨራሹን ሰላማዊ ትግል ረሃብ ጥማትእንግልት እስራት ግድያ ሳያግደው የከፈለው የመስዋእትነት ውጤት ነው ይህ ድል የየመናውያን ብቻ ሳይሆን የመላው ዓለም ህዝብም ጭምር ሲሆን በመላው ዓለም የአምባ ገነኖች ጭቆና ላንዴና ለመጨረሻ ለማስወገድ በመታገል እና በመሰዋት ላይ ላሉ ህዝቦች ትግላቸውን እግቡ እንዲያደርሱ የሚጋብዘና የሚያበረታታ ነው:: የዓለምአቀፉ የሰላም ድርጅት የዚህ ትግል አጋር በመሆኑ ሊመሰገን ይገባዋል :: የዘንድሮውን ሽልማት ለየት የሚያደርገው ተሸላሚዎቹ በሙሉ ሴቶች በመሆናቸው እና በድርጅቱ የ 101ዓመት ታሪክ መጀመሪያዋን አረባዊት በመሸለሙ ነው ::
አምባገነኑ የመለስ ዜናዊ መንግስት እነእስክንድርን:ረዕዮትን:ውብሽትን: ደበበን: አንዱአለምን: ደቲ ዳባን እና ሌሎች በሽህ የሚቆጠሩ ንጹሀን ኢትዮጵያውያንን እንዲሁም 2 ስዊድናውያን ጋዜጠኞችን ሳይቀር በቃሊቲ እና በሌሎች እስር ቤቶች አጉሮ በማን አለብኝነት በማስቃየት እና በማጉላላት ላይ እንደሚገኝ የአደባባይ ሚስጥር ሆኖ እያለ የኖርዌይ መንግስት ባደረገለት ጥሪ ትናንትና ባደረገለት ግብዣ ይህ አምባገነን ኦስሎ ተገኝቶ ሀይልን በተመለከተ ዐለማቀፍ ስብሰባ ላይ ንግግር ማድረጉና ኢትዮጵያውያኑም ድርጊቱን በመቃወም ሰላማዊ ሰልፍ በኦስሎ ከተማ ማድረጋቸው ይታወቃል:: ይህ በጣም የሚያሳዝንና የሚያስገርም ክስተት የአለማቀፉ የኖቤል የሰላም ድርጅትን አስደሳች ዜና ተከትሎ በቀናት ልዩነት መካሄዱ የኖርዌይ መንግስት ስለ ሰብዐዊ መብት መከበር ያለውን አመለካከት ጥያቄ ውስጥ የሚያስገባ ነው:: እንዲህ አይነቱ ተግባር መለስና ግብረአበር አምባገነኖችን የሚያበረታታና ድርጊታቸውን በይበልጥ እንዲገፉበት አይዟችሁ ከማለት አይተናነስም:: ምዕራባውያን መንግስታት ስለ ሰብዕዊ መብት መከበር ስለ ህግ የበላይነት ስለየመናገር እና መጻፍ ነጻነት ስለ መድበለፓርቲ የፈለገውን ቢለፍፉም በተግባር ግን እነ መለስን ከመሳሰሉ አምባገነን መሪዎች ጋር አብሮ በመስራት እነዚህን መሰረታዊ የሆኑ የማንኛውም የሰው ልጆች መብቶች እንደፈለጋቸው እንዲረግጡና እኛንም ለበለጠ ጭቆና:እስራት:እንግልት:እስር:ስደት:ረሀብ ወዘተ ለዘመናት እንድንማቅቅ ተፈርዶብናል:: የመለስ በዚህ ስብሰባ ላይ እንዲሳተፍ መጋበዝ የዚህ አንዱ አካል ሲሆን በአሁን ሰዐት በአገሪቱ በተለያዩ የአገራችን ቦታዎች እየታሰሩ: እየታፈኑ:እየተራቡ እና እየተገደሉ ባሉ ወገኖቻችን ላይ እንደመሳለቅ ይቆጠራል:: ምዕራባውያን በሁለት ቢላ መብላታቸውን ካላቆሙ የነመለስን የስልጣን ዘመን በማራዘምና እኛ የምናደርገውን በነጻነት በእኩልነት እና በመከባበር ለመኖር የምናደርገውን ጥረት በማሰናከል አንድ ቀን በታሪክ እንደሚጠየቁ ሊገነዘቡ ይገባል:: በሊቢያ:በቱኒዚያ:በግብጽ እና በሌሎች በአምባገነን በሚመሩ አገሮች ከሰሩት ስህተት ለመማር አሁንም ጊዜው አልረፈደም::   

Swedish journalists denied Ethiopia entry - The Local

Why would be this a surprise and IMO it would be a news, if the journalists were given visas and that's the reason why Martin Schibbye and Johan Persson forced to choose the other way around. This's a paranoid government which does everything to hide its gross human rights abuses it has been perpetrating against our citizens in Ogaden and elsewhere in the country. EU countries and America are as good culprits as the tyrant for ignoring our 20yrs of sufferings by siding with Meles. We paid the price and now the west will test the taste of their medicines. These ruthless people have no mercy towards anybody who they think is against their way and Martin Schibbye and Johan Persson are their latest European victims. Swedish journalists denied Ethiopia entry - The Local

Norway PM faces Ethiopia flak - Upstream Online

The west must learn from its mistakes in Libya, Egypt, Tunisia, Saudi-Arabia etc and stop supporting tyrants like Meles who plays ''war on terror'' card to abuse, torture, expel, imprison, kill his ''own'' fellow citizens.Isn't a time to stop double-standard and tell the dictators ENOUGH is ENOUGH? They did/kept doing it with impunity because of such kinds of go ahead supports from countries like Norway which preach about the rule of law, human-rights, justice, freedom & equality. You invited a guy who imprisons journalists including from Sweden, activists, and opposition leaders/members/supporters with doctored charges in broad light? this's a disgrace to humanity!!! where's your credibility, integrity and accountability? History will judge you one day. Norway PM faces Ethiopia flak - Upstream Online

Rwanda - UNHCR urged to review decision to withdraw refugee status from Rwandan refugees | Human Rights Observatory | Tolerance.ca

Shame on you UNHCR. It's ridiculous to hear such pathetic recommendations from one of the orgs. which is supposed to ''protect'' the rights of refugees. This shows UNHCR's lack of credibility and integrity towards us the ''refugees''. Isn't the number (93% ''votes'') tells what's going on in Rwanda? The same holds true in Ethiopia where the ruling party claimed to win 99% votes in 2009 election and yet everybody thinks that democracy is prevailing in our respective countries. These two dictators are shielding themselves under the term war on terror and abusing, harassing, starving, killing, imprisoning, raping, displacing their fellow ''citizens'' with impunity.Rwanda - UNHCR urged to review decision to withdraw refugee status from Rwandan refugees | Human Rights Observatory | Tolerance.ca

Fall

       

Yemeni Activist Tawakkul Karman, First Female Arab Nobel Peace Laureate: A Nod for Arab Spring

Thanks Nobel for opening up a new chapter in recognition of the unsung heroines who risk their lives to make a difference to our world. 2011's Nobel Peace Prize is a victory for freedom lovers/fighters and a big blow for tyrants across the globe. They're testimonies that our planet would be a better place to live with less testosterone.
Thank you all, you deserve this overdue prize for your tremendous efforts to bring peace, justice, freedom, equality and dignity to human race. My special gratitude goes to my fellow journalist Tawakkul Karman who devoted and continue risking her life since 2005 at one of the most dangerous place on earth right now to fight Abdel Salah's brutal regime in her home country Yemen. Your devotion and determination will embolden our fight against any form of injustice, human rights abuse, torture, extrajudicial killings & imprisonments perpetrated by tyrants & thugs everywhere in the world. The era of dictators is crumbling and Nobel's recognition of your fight is another red light heralding the era of freedom. Yes let's reclaim our birth-given rights to live in freedom, with dignity and respect by strengthening our fights against the dictators in every possible way. Let's say it loud and clear NO MORE: TYRANNY, INJUSTICE, HUMAN RIGHT's ABUSES, EXTRAJUDICIAL KILLINGS & IMPRISONMENT, TORTURE, SUPPRESSION OF FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION!!! Yemeni Activist Tawakkul Karman, First Female Arab Nobel Peace Laureate: A Nod for Arab Spring

Yes let's fight Tyranny from our PC!!!

wow, I'm impressed hahah I had some surprising visitors yesterday evening on my blog who're very passonate about our 'visionary' leader. Well, they did what they're trained for: intimidate, terrorise hahaha...guys why don't you learn from the demise of Gadhaffi, Mubarak, Ben Ali...your days are nummbered. It shows how scared you're, after seeing what happened to your buddies in the middle-east. You can jail, kill, intimidate, torture but that won't save your imminent demise and silence us from speaking out about your barberic crimes on daily basis in every square of our beloved land. What goes around will come around. Get prepared for M'akelawi!!!
Yes let's fight Tyranny from our PC!!!

See you @ ICC!!!

what??? These guys have neither shame nor decency what so ever like the rest of their partners in crimes elsewhere in the world. If he thinks this's some kind of desperate preparatory campaign to appease voters for the next ballot, either he's delusional (which he's) or he has the biggest guts in the world. These thugs killed, peaceful Ethiopian demonstrators indiscriminately at point blank who dared to demand their votes to be respected, and then accused others for their heinous crimes. Wake up and look around: Gadaffi is gone, Mubarak is gone, Ben Ali is gone and now it's your turn you like it or not. You're wasting the much needed and valuable taxpayer's money on some rubish tale tell which will never and ever absolve your crimes for the last 20yrs. Don't you know we're sick and tired of your lies, doctored crimes against innocent citizens, misguided policies, lootings, extrajudicial killings & imprisonments, injustices, instutionalized corruptions, nepotism, day light election robberies etc etc. What we need right now is not some kind gibberish of sucess stories but honest & genuine confession and appolgies for what you folks did/continued to do to us since you took power 20yrs. Soon or later we will reclaim our birth-right freedom to live a life with dignity and without fear. That chapter is still open and afresh in the minds of many Ethiopians who want a disclosure by bringing culprits like Berket, Meles, Shimeles, et. al. to justice. SEE YOU @ ICC sometime soon!!!e  

http://addisnegeronline.com/2011/10/bereket-simons-book-published-in-kenya/

Meles Zenawi & his hidden war: The profile of Mr. Deti Dhaba Ethiopian Justice Forum1 | Oct 2, 2011

This is one of the heartbreaking stories perpetuated daily in broad light in present day Ethiopia by one of the worst paranoid regimes which is scared of even its shadow. Things are getting from bad to worse as its paranoia is out of control after the Arab spring and the alarming food price in Ethiopia. All these futile efforts didn't save tyrants such as Mubarak, Gaddafi, Ben Aziz etc; it rather fastened their collapse one after another and this is inevitable to Meles & co. no matter how many innocent citizens like Legesse Deti Dhabas, Eskinder Negas, Woubshet Tayes Reeyot Alemus and many other millions continue to imprison. The days of tyranny are numbered and soon or later we'll reclaim our birth-rights: a free and dignified life without fear.Meles Zenawi & his hidden war: The profile of Mr. Deti Dhaba Ethiopian Justice Forum1 | Oct 2, 2011

CyberEthiopia - Ethiopian News from the Internet - መተሐራ ዉስጥ የተፈፀመዉ ግድያና ቅሬታ

I hope this isn't the kind of ethnic cleansing which was perpetrated back then across Ethiopia'z various towns & villages in the early 1990s. Hmm, but I wonder why the heads of the district's Police & Administration were not willing to comment on this very tragic incident which was happening over the last few months in their vicinity. Inhabitants and relatives of the deceased expressed their frustrations over the lack of cooperativeness and willingness of the police and the administration to investigate the case and bring the alleged suspects to justice; instead one of the suspects who was imprisoned was released and was even given a prize for being ''best farmer of the district''. All the victims are not only from a certain ethnic group but also self-made middle aged businessmen: this is the pattern of killings which reminds us the ones back in the 90s. The gov't as usual is just distancing itself claiming as a local issue that should be resolved locally; this is the result of its policy of polarizing ethnic division, which, if it's not resolved swiftly and in a peaceful manner, would then not only encourage copycats in other parts of the country but also engulf and swallow the gov't given the widespread corruption,food price hike,injustice etc etc.It's high time (if it has time at all) for EPRDF to draw lessons from Libya,Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen to make political, social, economical reforms ; otherwise...CyberEthiopia - Ethiopian News from the Internet - መተሐራ ዉስጥ የተፈፀመዉ ግድያና ቅሬታ

Local News | Murder charges for parents who left girl outside | Seattle Times Newspaper

Unfortunately there're many cases like Hanna all over the world. These sick people with twisted mind exploit desperate conditions in countries like Ethiopia to fullfil their sadistic fetish. What's even more saddening is that there're more than a dozen adoptions agnecies in Ethiopia whose main motive is making profits at the expense of children like Hanna. Some of them even got away with such hideous crimes and that's why incidents like this one are very frequent wherever these kids have been ''adopted'' and yet the gov't shows little effort to stop this alarming problem which put the lives of voiceless, innocent and helpless kids who need nothing but loving and caring parents. Local News | Murder charges for parents who left girl outside | Seattle Times Newspaper

Swedish reporters plan prison protest - The Local

Thumbs up to your effort but I'm afraid it will land on deaf ears because listening is foreign to tyrants especially the two arch-enemies aka Issayas & Meles. They suffering the worst grandoise superiorty complex syndrome like their desposed friends elsewhere in the middle-east and Africa. They would never compromise nor negotiate until their last days; not because they've too much testerones but due to their insecurity and cowardliness. Swedish reporters plan prison protest - The Local