CPJ site blocked in Ethiopia

                                             

Reliable sources in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa have informed CPJ this week that our site was inaccessible on the servers of the Ethiopian Telecommunications Corporation, the country’s official Internet service provider. A handful of separate Internet users in the country have independently confirmed seeing “The page cannot be displayed” messages when attempting to access our site. The same sources have reported that e-mails they have tried to send to CPJ have not gone through.

Web sites, particularly foreign-based independent sites and blogs discussing political reform and human rights, have been blocked on a recurring basis in Ethiopia since the government cracked down on free media following disputed elections in 2005. In 2007, OpenNet said it has gathered “overwhelming evidence” that Ethiopia was among the nations worldwide restricting the Internet access of its citizens.

This time, the reports emerged over the weekend as CPJ was investigating the detention of newspaper editor Amare Aregawi in northern Ethiopia. Last year, sources in the country disclosed that the CPJ site was blocked on World Press Freedom Day, when CPJ named Ethiopia the world’s worst backslider on press freedom. The moves are part of the Ethiopian government’s pattern of restricting coverage of issues deemed sensitive such as the political activities of the foreign-based opposition, the high-profile trial of Ethiopian pop singer Teddy Afro, food shortage conditions, or the insurgency in the western Ogaden region.

 

Ethiopian journalists sent CPJ this screen shot of what they see when they try to access our site.

Authorities have repeatedly denied blocking Web sites, even casting doubt “if the problem really exists,” to quote Information Ministry Spokesman Zemedkun Tekle. 

This week, in a telephone interview with CPJ, Bereket Simon, a top senior advisor to Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, echoed the same position. “The government has no policy of blocking Web sites. Accessibility to any Web site is open,” he told me. He said he had not received any complaints from Ethiopians about blocked sites, and questioned whether such reports were credible. The government has no control over foreign-based sites, he said.

In July, Simon asserted that the mushrooming of private electronic media in Ethiopia was a sign that political dissent and free speech were not “shrinking.” Still, many foreign-based news and human rights sites besides ours–including the popular U.S.-based Nazret–remain inaccessible.

Ginbot 7 Dimits Radio will be on the air

[EMF]Ginbot 7 Dimits Radio, a radio broadcast of Ginbot 7 movement for Justice, Freedom and Democracy (G7) will start on Thursday, September 11, 2008 (Meskerem 1, 2001), the movement’s public relation said.

September 11, also known as Enqutatash is Ethiopia’s New Year and “It is a new-year-gift for freedom loving Ethiopian,” the source said.

The radio program will be transmitted at 21,555 KHZ on 13 meter band and 17,655 khz on 13 meter bandevery Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday between 8:00PM to 8:30PM (2:00 to 2:30 Ethiopian time).

The radio program will focus on the current Ethiopian situation and uses to mobilize people for the struggle for Justice, Freedom and Democracy, according to the movement.

Ginbot 7 Dimits Radio starts broadcasting in Amharic language but has also a plan to reach its larger audiences in other major languages of the country such as Afaan Oromo and Tigrenga very soon.

The broadcasting will have a signal strength of 500 KW and beamed to Ethiopia and its neighbours and will also be available on its web site ( www.ginbot7.org ) for the Diaspora listeners.

Ethiopia – Eritrea Relations: The Dying Voices of Capo Meles and his Bambinos

The purpose of this article is to show the propaganda games Capo Meles plays has reached its culmination point. It is ineffective and has reached maximum audience penetration it can influence. The message is depressing because it is based on stoking hate, fear and ethnic divide and rule system. There is no hope but human strife and destruction ala Somalia. His credibility is zero because he fails to deliver what he claims he can achieve.        For over ten years Meles Zenawi applied different propaganda strategies to attack Eritrea and her leaders vigorously and consistently. He attacks mercilessly never placing the feelings or views of the Eritrean people into account unless he intended to manipulate it. There is no attempt or desire to compromise, verify facts, or need to work with credible sources as he delivered constant blistering lies contrary to his consistent deceptive plea for a phony-dialogue.   The objectives remained the same while the audience outreach programs changed frequently with tremendous flexibility. Various mediums targeted Eritrean youth, The Diaspora and Eritrean public general. The international community at large remained the primary target in an effort to set opinion and frame the issues toward a larger aim. It is typical to see a think-tank throw an idea that seems factual, fair and genuine while it is laced with language or opinion that can derail the Algiers agreement.     However, every attempt failed because Eritreans learned how to spot deception and in effect killed every message rendering the PR and propaganda budgets a major waist.   Nothing in this article is new news to Eritrea. But at this stage, it is evident the only arsenal Meles Zenawi has left against Eritrea is, PROPOGANDA. Nothing more! Because if he has the power, he will do what he did in Somalia, destroy Eritrea. However, over the last year his voices are fading like a radio with dying batteries and for a good reason; he is loosing his talking points fast.   Meles Zenawi used religion, education, military, diplomacy, economy, history, and freedom of speech, stability, immigration, TERRORISM, OAU, UN, EU, IGAD, UNMEE, Arab League, Somalia, Oromo, Ogaden, State Department, US agents and UN envoys as talking points and propaganda tools. The idea is to throw any thing that sticks in the hopes that it will inflict a permanent damage. He enlisted PR firms and paid huge sums of money for worthless efforts from the mouth of hungry kids. He used think thanks to peddle opinions in order to help him rally international opinion against Eritrea. He hired Eritrean mercenaries to amplify his empty noise.   However, every attempt failed or is fading for good reason because; it failed the idea of “doing good for goodness sake!” It failed because it is not founded on sound principles that put people’s interests first. He is corrupt in ways reminiscent of the crime families of the Mafia and his primary intent is to inflict damage based on agendas inconsistent with needs of the people. It fails because it is based on lies. Time and again he is assured that he should never throw stones from with-in a glass house. It is beyond comprehension and a sure sign of desperation why he attempts to paint others in a bad light from with in deep-dark places as he frequently tries.   We can take many examples of his fading voices but for the sake of this paper and for simplicity, Democracy/Election and UNMEE will do. He used terrorism excessively but that is a subject-matter for a different day.   Democracy/Election   Prior to the sham election of 2005, undermining Ethiopian disdain for him and emboldened by the West; Capo Meles stepped out into the streets of Addis Ababa to show off. He waived his white baseball cap to his supporters as a victor. He smiled to the crowd and bragged a new wave of democracy in Africa. It worked for a while, the positive publicity looked promising. Some Eritreans were fooled into believing why not Eritrea, even if it is to temporarily appease the world into leaving Eritrea alone.   We all remember what followed. The freedom of speech disappeared overnight, the opposition was placed in jail, mass killings in the streets of Addis, and political openness in Ethiopia ended ending any hopes of a democratic future with Meles at the helm. Looking back, it is easy to conclude that Ethiopia was saved by the State Department; and in effect the American embassy in Ethiopia became a de-facto leader of the country. Ambassador Donald Yamamoto was the chief mediator, motivator and spokesperson while Dr. Jendayi Frazer acted as a TPLF lawyer in the US congressional offices by defending his every action while using Eritrea as a scapegoat. This was in total contradiction to the EU observer’s conclusion that the election was rigged. This ended Meles’ diplomatic upper hand.     Ethiopian unity with Meles against Eritrea faded and TPLF leaders became the object of ridicule every where they went. This is important because in the past Eritrea served as a scapegoat for every problem that ailed Ethiopia. Ethiopian anger turned on Meles, focused less on Eritrea and more on their pressing issues. As a result, Meles lost his secondary voice, the Ethiopian voice against Eritrea.   In addition, Ethiopian problems are becoming insurmountable by the minute, making it difficult to wage any propaganda campaign against Eritrea. It is actually sad to see tremendous victory of Ethiopian Olympiads in Beijing overshadowed by famine, inflation and conflict related news. Fighting negative publicity is making it difficult if not impossible to wage effective propaganda campaign against Eritrea, suffocating his voice slowly but surely.    UNMEE   The United Nations Mission in Eritrea and Ethiopia (UNMEE) served as a major propaganda tool. It also served as a major diplomatic tool against Eritrea by Ethiopia with the help of the US. Every statement made and steps taken by UNMEE were used as a diplomatic and PR traps against Eritrea. The onslaught was brilliantly conceived, methodical and relentless. Secretary General Kofi Annan helped by throwing every damaging statement and envoys he could send to side-step the Algiers Agreement. Even belligerent mistakes by Meles were used as propaganda tools and as stages for bargaining. After he rejected The Hague decision as “unjust and illegal,” the US convinced him to “accept it in principle” and later pressed the idea of “Dialogue.”   Eritrean people faced tremendous onslaught of propaganda directed at them in a daily basis. The barrage of propaganda that hailed over Eritrea would have brought down any nation. But everything thrown at Eritrea including the deportation of 75,000 Eritreans from Ethiopia was met with defiance. In Unisom, Eritreans in Diaspora echoed their brilliant leader’s views and voices while the leaders of Eritrea picked apart every trick in the book and exposed the underhanded approach. Eritrea stood firm based on principles that are farsighted and exemplary. Therefore, the departure of UNMEE from Eritrea represents a relief from propaganda.      What’s next for Capo Meles?   It must be frustrating for the TPLF propaganda people to try to compete in many fronts.      In one hand they need to convince/show the people of Tigray that they are ahead of Eritrea in all aspects of life. However, they must also try to avoid looking like they are doing too much for Tigray at the expense of Ethiopia. In the mean time; they have to try to provide equal time to the other ethnic groups while appearing engaged to meet the interests of Ethiopia as one nation. It is a fascinating dilemma and a no-win position no matter what. Because, Ethiopians are witnessing the looting of Ethiopia in bright day light and resent the double standards TPLF plays.   Moreover, it is by far the most magnificent perplexity one can fathom regarding the position Tigray is in vis-à-vis where it wanted to be and where it is. There is no Semi-Nation Nation category, there is no Want-be Nation category, there is no Nation I can be when I want to be Nation category, and there is no Nation that is ruled by one province. That is where the people of Tigray are; in the land of confusion. And this shakes the foundation of Ethiopian nationalism and puts the nation in a precarious and dangerous position. The question is what kind of future do the people of Tigray envision? Under Capo Meles they are or believe they are at the helm, but what about after his ouster?   Capo Meles put his own people in limbo with out direction and worse, he put his people at odds with the rest of Ethiopia! This does not put into account the roller-coaster ride and the blood spilled with Eritrea. This position denied the people of Tigray a unified voice thus choking Capo Meles’ voice tighter.     Throughout all these, Meles/TPLF remains seized with their big quest, Eritrea. They try to strong arm the handful Eritrean Bambinos to damage Eritrea by any means necessary but, that always meets the Eritrean walls of steel and concrete. Their vocal tentacles keep getting cut every time they try. As a result of repeated failures, Capo Meles and his Bambinos are relegated to reactionary propaganda from their cocoons. It is amusing to see them try to emulate every thing Eri.TV; if President Isayas visits Eritrean villages you are certain to see Capo Meles do the same almost instantaneously. Developmental achievements by Eritrea seen on Eri.TV will be countered in the same manner, in other words every thing Eritrea does will be replicated for sure.   Capo Meles failed in many ways, but thanks to the US and Western funds he lived a lot more than Nine-Lives. However, his inability bring stability and garner support for his diplomatic efforts in Somalia, his failures in Eritrea, his inability to infiltrate Eritrea using anti government elements abroad and his inability to fight hunger and starvation in Ethiopia makes Capo Meles vulnerable.   But, the most important reason why capo Meles is in trouble is because of his image and the outgoing failed Bush Policies. Meles Zenawi’s image is deliberately being trashed by Western media as a person who is letting millions starve, as someone who is giving a blind eye to starvation and economic woes of the country and by accusing him for turning Ethiopia into a ticking time bomb, a sign that he may have outlived his usefulness. In the past, these very media outlets propped-up Capo Meles by supporting his lies with out challenge and sold his false claims to turn Ethiopia into a middle-income nation in few years. They echoed his lies to the world with out facts to back it up. They touted his fabricated 10% economic growth rate. They buried reports of human growth index rates that put Ethiopia in the bottom.   This time however the stakes are much higher, because no matter how much financial, political and military might is brought to bare the Horn keeps moving in a different direction. This is troubling to his masters because the Horn of Africa is way too important to their geopolitical agenda; and it is clear that Capo Meles can not deliver and thus sealing his fate. That is the fact, and thanks to Warsay-Yikaalo the Center of Gravity shifted North-Bound!   As a result his Eritrean Bambinos will lose their crumb stipends and do what they did after they were kicked out of Sudan, CRY! That is a certain fate awaiting all. In the mean time, we must remain vigilant and not allow a dying snake to spew his last venom. Taking cues from our leaders will help a great deal.

Prayer for Teddy Afro

(

The Madness of Dr. Muhammad Shamsaddin Megalommatis

It’s good to know who is who!

The ongoing discussion among Oromos about their leadership´s possible perspectives and final choices has indeed only limited interest. Either a few Oromo renegades want to cooperate with the racist and criminal elements of Ginbot-7 and Kinijit or not, the choice will have little effect.

The provocative and dictatorial stance of Hitler´s Children in Africa, the gangsters of Ginbot-7 and Kinijit, against the liberation of the oppressed nations of the pseudo-state ´Ethiopia´ is also an insignificant issue.

What matters is that History has already issued its Verdict against this tragic-comical state with the false, usurped name ´Ethiopia´, which belongs to the ancestors of the modern Kushites who developed a millennia-long civilization in today´s Northern Sudan.

It is the job of historians to regulate the work of history, and the officially appointed Amhara and Tigray Abyssinian pseudo-professors – apologists of the irrelevant pseudo-theories of Amhara and Tigray Abyssinian political need – are not professors, intellectuals or academics. They are the world´s most disreputable trash that should be the first target of the tyrannized Oromos and the other subjugated nations of Abyssinia.

As filthy liars, the criminal Amhara and Tigray Abyssinian pseudo-professors must and will be forced to silence. Every historical lie they say and diffuse is the equivalent of the assassination of 1 million of ´Oromos.

The only true historians in the dysfunctional, anachronistic and tyrannical realm of Abyssinia (fake ´Ethiopia´) are the historians of the oppressed and terrorized, subjugated nations, the Sidamas, the Afars, the Ogadenis, the Oromos and the others.

And they have extensively denounced the fallacy ´Ethiopia´ in all its dimensions; the Oromo leadership has no chance to make a political decision that could eventually contradict or oppose positions and/or verdict stipulated by Oromo historians´ with respect to the evil Amhara nature and the impossibility of survival of the fake state ´Ethiopia´.

When leading Oromo historians and sociologists issued through their excellent and majestic works the verdict that Oromo and Amhara cannot by definition live within the same state, the entire Oromo leadership either follows or vanishes.

It is a mere attestation of inanity for the Amhara to imagine that they have a chance in the billion to maintain their fallacy of ´Ethiopia´ united.

The Oromo leaders must therefore read carefully the following article, and in their effort to establish a free and democratic Oromo society, they must fully comprehend the excellent words of Prof. J. – N. Jeanneney, a leading French scholar, that “it is not the place of lawmakers to regulate the work of history”.

During my postgraduate years in France, I had the chance to meet Prof . Jeanneney; he had accepted me in his seminar at the Institut d´ Etudes Politiques de Paris in September 1980, but I finally attended the sovietological seminar of Helene Carrere d´ Encausse. In the present article that I reproduce integrally, Prof. Jeanneney analyzes the civic responsibilities of the historians. They specify what History is and has been, and the statesmen and politicians adapt themselves to the verdicts of the historians.

Going through this text, if they have the necessary courage, the Amharas should reject the totality of their barbarism and mindset. Compiled to meet political needs, the Amharas´ ideas are not ideas, and their theories are not theories. Even worse, their academia and scholars are ignorant and quasi-analphabetic. Whatever they may say is the most unworthy lie in the world.

Ethiopia releases newspaper editor

NAIROBI (AFP) — Ethiopian authorities released a newspaper editor detained last week after his paper reported on a labour dispute at a local brewery, a media watchdog said Thursday.

Amare Aregawi was held for five days in a prison 750 kilometres (470 miles) north of Addis Ababa, Paris-based Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said in a statement.

He was released bail of 300-birr (around 31-dollars, 21-euros) on Wednesday.

RSF urged Ethiopian government to “amend the newly-adopted media law in order to eliminate prison sentences for press offences”.

Aregawi’s private Amharic language weekly Reporter published an article last month citing two former employees of the brewery as saying they were wrongfully dismissed.

The brewery company had sued the paper for libel.

Ethiopia was only removed from RSF’s blacklist of media offenders in May, having been labelled “an enemy of the Internet” along with Zimbabwe

Ethiopia signals shift as Somalian war drags on

By Barney Jopson

Ethiopia would be prepared to withdraw its troops from Somalia even if the interim government they were sent in to install 20 months ago were still not stable or functioning, the country’s prime minister has said.

Meles Zenawi told the Financial Times that Ethiopia was “not joined at the hip” with the Somali government as frustration in Addis Ababa grows over its perennial in-fighting and the financial cost of the occupation.

His comments mark a policy shift because Ethiopia had previously indicated it would stay in Somalia until the transitional federal government (TFG) was firmly established and in control.

If Ethiopia deserts it while Somalia remains lawless and violent, it could send the world’s most intractable failed state deeper into a crisis that aid agencies say has already left millions of people on the brink of a humanitarian disaster.

But while analysts in Addis Ababa say Ethiopia is closer to pulling out today than ever before, Mr Meles remains caught in a dilemma between wanting Somali leaders to take responsibility for stabilising their country, and needing to guarantee Ethiopia’s own security if they fail to do so.

Ethiopia invaded Somalia – which has not had a properly functioning central government since 1991 – with thousands of troops in the final week of 2006 to oust a group of Islamists that had taken control of the capital, Mogadishu, and which Addis Ababa believed represented a threat to its security.

But after reinstalling the interim government of President Abdullahi Yusuf in a matter of weeks, Ethiopia’s troops got bogged down as the regime struggled to establish a firm grip on power, intra-government quarrels escalated, and an insurgency led by Islamists and rival clans took hold.

Mr Meles said Ethiopia would do everything it could to help the interim government, whose power is limited to a few parts of Mogadishu, to become stronger and more effective. But he added “that is not necessarily a precondition for our withdrawal” and stressed that Ethiopia’s commitment was not open-ended.

“Our obligation towards peace in Somalia is only one aspect. There are also requirements of our own, including financial requirements,” he said. “The operation has been extremely expensive so we will have to balance the domestic pressures on the one hand and pressures in Somalia on the other and try to come up with a balanced solution.”

Ethiopia’s desire to curtail its military engagement in Somalia is driven to a large extent by its cost, which has been felt more acutely this year as the country is hit by a combination of soaring inflation and failed harvests caused by drought, which the United Nations says has left some 10m people in need of food aid.

Addis Ababa refuses to say how many troops it has in Somalia, but independent analysts estimate there are 4,000-6,000, deployed mainly to protect senior Somali officials, government buildings and critical infrastructure.

The Ethiopian government maintains that al-Shabaab, an Islamist insurgent group said by the US to be linked to al-Qaeda, has been critically weakened. But the pattern of violence suggests otherwise. Attacks on Ethiopian troops and the Somali security forces they are training have spiked in the past month and last Friday, Islamists took control of the southern port town of Kismayo. Civilians continue to be caught in the cross-fire: more than 50 died last week as a result of indiscriminate shelling” by Ethiopian and government troops after a roadside bomb attack on their convoy, according to a UN situation report. In total, 8,000 Somalis have been killed and 1m forced from their homes by fighting since the beginning of last year. Due to conflict, failed rains and inflation, the UN says that up to 3.5m Somalis – or nearly half the population – could need food aid later this year.

Asked where Ethiopia’s original plan to stay in Somalia for a short time had gone wrong, Mr Meles pointed the finger at the west. It has offered lukewarm political and financial support for an African Union peacekeeping force in Somalia, which has mustered barely one quarter of its envisaged 8,000 troops.

“We didn’t anticipate the international community would be happy riding the Ethiopian horse and flogging it at the same time for so long,” he said. “We had hoped and expected . . . that the international community would recognise that this was a unique opportunity for the stabilisation of Somalia and capitalise on it.”

One western diplomat in Addis Ababa said Ethiopia never expected to find itself in a guerrilla war and probably overestimated its ability to “work the clan dynamics”, the web of kin-based rivalries that divides Somali society.

Last week Ethiopia sequestered the president and Nur Hassan Hussein, the prime minister, in Addis Ababa for talks to make them address their differences. On Tuesday the two men signed a pledge to work together anew.

“Ethiopia remains apprehensive because the TFG is not viable, it’s not functional and it’s not helping them, and the insurgency is gaining a new edge,” said Medhane Tadesse of the Center for Policy Research and Dialogue, a think-tank in Addis Ababa.

For a full transcript of this interview go to

Well-known newspaper editor arrested for article questioning big brewery’s labour practices

Reporters Without Borders is dismayed to learn that Amare Aregawi, the editor of the big-circulation weekly Reporter, was arrested on 22 August in Addis Ababa and was then illegally transferred to a prison in Gondar, 750 km north of the capital, in connection with a libel case brought by the Gondar-based Dashen brewery.

“The Ethiopian government reminds the press about the law so often that it is hard to understand how it allows prosecutors to violate it so openly,” Reporters Without Borders said. “Amare’s unjustified arrest exposes the unfairness of legislation that allows journalists to be imprisoned for defamation. His newspaper dared to question a big company’s practices. Now he, like the reporter who wrote the offending article before him, are paying the price for having the courage to do their job properly and serve the public interest. He should be released at once.”

Police from the Amhara region arrested Amare on the afternoon of 22 August at his office in the Addis Ababa headquarters of Media and Communication Centre, a company that owns two well-known weeklies, the Amharic-language Reporter and the English-language The Reporter.

Journalists who were present at his arrest told Reporters Without Borders that the police were also looking for deputy editor Eshete Assefa and Teshome Neku, the young reporter who wrote the article last month quoting two former Dashen brewery employees as saying they were wrongfully dismissed. Neither Eshete nor Teshome were in the office at the time.

Amare, who ran Ethiopia’s public television after the fall of the Derg dictatorship in 1991, was initially taken to the headquarters of the Addis Ababa police. He was later transferred to Gondar where he appeared in court yesterday. A member of the newspaper’s staff told Reporters Without Borders that the prosecutor and judge offered to release Amare on bail in Gondar, but he refused on the grounds that it was illegal for him to have been taken there.

Under a new press law that was adopted last month, defamation cases are supposed to be tried in the place where the alleged offence took place. As Reporter’s registered headquarters is in Addis Ababa, the case should be heard in the capital and there were no grounds for taking Amare to such a remote location.

A few days after the article appeared, Teshome was arrested and taken to Gondar, where he was freed on bail after three days. The judge who ordered his release told the prosecutor that Teshome should be tried before a court in Addis Ababa because the newspaper was duly registered there.

A second story about the unfair dismissals at the brewery, published by Reporter on 20 July, quoted two representatives of the Confederation of Ethiopian Employee Associations (CEEA), who accused the brewery’s management of breaking up its union, firing its leader, setting up a new, company-controlled union and other illegal practices.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Reporters Without Borders defends imprisoned journalists and press freedom throughout the world. It has nine national sections (Austria, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland). It has representatives in Bangkok, London, New York, Tokyo and Washington. And it has more than 120 correspondents worldwide.

The Freedom of Comment!

 

How Beautful to comment on some ideas! Had we have this on Ethipia Who stay in Forign country?

EPRDF today is not just a party, they became the country itself…the only power in the poor country called Ethiopia. Any one talking about the country should ask their permission or at least inform them. They wish the voice of single EPDRF/TPLF to count more than that of the Ethiopian poeple: the Oromos, Amharas, Somalis etc. How one publish an artikle without asking the other side(the superpower TPLF)? Dave used a diplomatic word “information” instead of calling it “permission” as the publisher of the article is not in Ethiopia. This is the main aim of “Ethiopian press rule”, you should ask permission if you live in Ethiopia and you should include information from the great TPLF if you are outside. The superpowers will never go to prison, and will never ask asylym, and if they do for some kind of financial benefit they do that with the name of oppressed Ethiopians. Therefore I am not surprised by opinion of Dave about refugees/aslym. According to TPLF, if one is forced out of his beloved country he cannot comment about Ethiopia, and it was copied to Dave’s mussle mind. The dictionary in their mind say Ethiopia means TPLF, any body else has no power and can be: prisoned, killed or flee out. AND NOBODY SHOULD PUBLISH THIS IF NOT THE GREAT TPLF/EPDRF SAID IT IS TRUE! KKKKKKK.

Nowadays it is common to hear comments like you should ask information from our side EPDRF. I have no problem with that but is it the sole criteria for the neutrality of an article? The Newsweek do not ask comment from OLF when interviewing Meles Zenawi and OLF never said you should ask information from my side. One can clearly undersand that it is the view of Meles and it is important for anybody interested in politics of the Horn. According to Dave information cannot be balance without the comment from the ruling party(the superpowers in the region). The other thing I am concerned about is Dave’s oppinion for refugee’s. Anything they said should not be considered as true. Powerless poeple forcefully driven out of their beloved country cannot be trusted as powerful EPDRF. Dave! do not try so hard because the world know that Ethiopians should ask permission from the ruling party to write/say anything about thier country ( as the NEW PRESS RULE caim that) and it is understandable when you say information from our side to foriegn journalists.

We only knew Jeffery Gentleman of New York Times, and his outspokenness of crimes against humanity committed by America’s Alley (Ethiopia) in the war on terror – a government fighting against its own people with the help of US tax dollars.

Even those who would want to be brave enough to post you wonderful article on their websites will have to think twice before acting it – whether they live in US or Europe – as this may also backfire their families back in Ethiopia and the consequences of suffering would only create more life threatening treatment and as known to Males’s administration, more disappearances as this is practice known by Ethiopia’s government.

The saddest part of all of these atrocities committed by the Ethiopia’s government is that US tax payers (except those whose families suffered the consequences) are not aware that Bush’s admin has tripled the aid that it provides to Ethiopian government since Sept. 11, 2001 which sadly only proves to help much more suffering to Ethiopians and more crimes of humanity has been committed under this proxy war.

President Bush, US Senate, and these honest US Tax payers have little or no knowledge of the atrocities committed on a daily basis in Ethiopia. Unless the US aid to Ethiopia is “no strings attached to it” a responsible nation would want to know the military and humanitarian aid that is provided to Ethiopia to be used wisely and appropriately. Not to help government that slaughters its own people.

Below please find links from Human Rights Watch and what they had to say about the Human Rights abuses committed in Ethiopia in general and Ogaden in particular:

Please do not try to hide the true face of your brothers. It’s time to call a spade a spade!

What do you mean when you advise the author to double chech his sources of information before publishing it? Should he consult the so called “Debtera” or Amhara professors? Please get over and come to your senses. The issue of Oromo people and for that matter other oppressed Ethiopian nations can not any more be “shelved” or ignored by the chauvinists. Your time is over my brother!
If you want to save the so called “Ethiopia”, the time is now and only now. Admit the facts and let’s work out together. That country belongs to all its citizens.

The Professor you quoted- as far I know is a graduate of one of the well known universities in the US. Currently, he’s a PhD candidate at the University of Minnesota.

Ordinary people have extraordinary stories to tell. You do not need to go to a college to tell facts. Also I do not think there’s a second side of the story. They lived it. That’s fact.

None the people Doug talked to are asylees. It’s my assumption. A friend of you (Dave) call these people asylum beneficiaries. Rediculous!

This is what I call authentic reporting.

The Bush administration must be held accountable by the citizens of that country when it stands behind a regime that inflicts such egregious crime against our people all in the name of fighting against terrorism.

Mr McGill tells the truth as we know it and as it should be known to others particularly the American people.

In this connection,Ogaden is a microcosm of TPLF’s atrocity being perpetrated across the length and breadth of Ethiopia.

We must therefore resolutely fight against the the regime’s oppression and cruel treatment of our compatriots together with many of our natural allies,one of whom are the American people.They do care!

The American people need to help the ethiopian

National Electoral Board of Ethiopia has given its approval toUDJ

Addis Ababa, the National Electoral Board of Ethiopia has given its approval to the party registration application of the Unity for Democracy and Justice party.

The board has responded within the time frame allowed by law. UDJ officials and supporters are happy by this news and look forward to continue the peaceful struggle for freedom, democracy and national unity. UDJ has the approval of the NEBE while many ask about how peaceful struggle help the people of ethipia while Meles and his gangs close every doors that can help the people of Ethipia to  move towards Democracy.