Two Shot Inside Adams Morgan Restaurant, One Dies

Two people were shot, one of them fatally, inside a popular Adams Morgan restaurant late last night. A few hours earlier, two other men were shot and seriously wounded not far away in a separate incident in a part of Northwest where gunfire also seemed unexpected.

The second of the two incidents occurred about 11 p.m. after what police said was an argument inside Meskerem Ethiopian Restaurant, in the 2400 block of 18th Street NW. The block that is at the heart of one of the city’s major dining and entertainment areas.

In that incident, according to initial police accounts, one of the two men shot the other, and then turned the gun on himself.

An employee of the restaurant said she heard a man with what appeared to be a small silver-colored handgun say “everybody don’t worry” after the initial shots.

“I was scared maybe he would kill me,” the employee said.

The man with the gun was pronounced dead at 11:38 p.m. at Washington Hospital Center, authorities said.

The man he shot was also taken to the hospital center. Details of his condition were not available early today, but authorities said he was still breathing.

The subject of the argument could not be learned immediately.

When ambulances and other emergency vehicles arrived on 18th Street late last night, among those who tried to find out what was happening was the manager of another restaurant.

Suleyman Gunes of the Left Bank said he saw people who apparently had been inside Meskerem standing silently outside. They “looked shocked” and sad, he said.

Elissa Bernal, of Silver Spring, who was visiting Adams Morgan with a friend said, “I don’t think I’m coming here again.”

Earlier yesterday, two men were shot and severely wounded near 14th and T streets NW, in a gentrifying section of the city where such incidents have long been rare.

The gunfire occurred about 4:20 p.m. in an alley near the intersection, authorities said.

One man was taken to a hospital with a chest wound. Despite being hit in the head, the other apparently drove himself to Howard University Hospital in a car with bullet holes in the windshield, said D.C. police Inspector Jacob Kishter.

Details were not available last night. Kishter said police knew of no motive: “We’re trying to figure that out.”

The site, in an area that is becoming increasingly known for dining, entertainment and upscale housing, struck many as surprising.

“It’s pretty unusual,” Kishter said.

Ramon Estrada, who lives in the 1400 block of T Street and is an advisory neighborhood commissioner, also described the shooting as a “very unusual” event on a pleasant autumn afternoon.

It’s a “great neighborhood,” he said. “We were all surprised.”

Another resident said lesser crime, including car theft, is not rare there. But a serious shooting was, she said.

One former T Street resident now living in the Chevy Chase section of upper Northwest said, “I am as amazed that it would happen there as I would be here.”

Ethiopia rebels deny behind hotel blast

Ethiopia’s Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) rebels denied on Monday they were behind a weekend explosion that killed four people at a hotel.

“ONLF firmly believes that the Ethiopian security forces or its cronies in the region are behind such an act which is intended to tarnish the legitimate national liberation struggle of the Ogaden people,” the rebels said in a statement.

Police blamed Sunday’s blast on “terrorists” and said they suspected the ONLF. An injured victim had died in hospital, police said, taking the death toll to four after the blast in Ethiopia’s southeastern Somali region.

The explosion was the latest violence in Ethiopia’s restive, outlying regions where various groups are fighting against the government. The government says they are sponsored by its enemies, principally Eritrea.

Since the middle of last year, the Ethiopian military has been waging an offensive against the separatist ONLF in the Somali region of the Horn of Africa nation.

Sunday’s explosion took place in Jijiga, capital of the arid region that borders lawless Somalia.

The ONLF was formed in 1984. Its aims have varied between full scale independence to joining a “Greater Somalia” to more autonomy within Ethiopia

Ethiopian troops come under roadside explosion in Mogadishu

A platoon of Ethiopian troops which has abandoned a temporary base of a company of Ethiopian troops at the former labour house, and heading towards the Somali presidential palace has on Monday morning came under roadside explosion as they were crossing a certain junction in the area.

This powerful explosion which was heard in the entire neighborhood was to be a remote control landmine.

“Immediately after the explosion the passing Ethiopian troops opened fire in the four directions I took cover in one of the buildings in the area for my safety, and what I saw was that the Ethiopian soldiers were boarding some of their fellow soldiers who wounded in the blast into their military truck” said a resident in the area who does not want to be disclosed.

The hospital sources confirm for Somaliweyn radio that they have admitted 7 people who were wounded in that very blast which was targeted at the Ethiopian troops.

A unit of the Somali government police which have a police station in the area instantly reached at the area and cordoned off the Street till the targeted Ethiopian troops resumed their journey towards the presidential palace.

The entire activities including the movements of public transportation halted after the explosion thought everything returned to normal once again.

This will not be the first explosion targeted at Ethiopian troops traveling along the Maka-Almukaram Street which is the only Street where the Somali officials use.

Ethiopian Airline Abandons 185 Passengers at MMIA

About 185 passengers scheduled to travel on Ethiopian Airline flight ET900 to Addis Ababa from the Murtala Muhammed International Airport , Lagos with connecting flights to Dubai and New Delhi  were abandoned at the weekend.
There was no indication, as at yesterday evening,  that the passengers would be departing Lagos to the Ethiopian capital. One of the passengers, Linda, who spoke to THISDAY, said that the passengers boarded the flight billed to depart by 1.45 pm Nigerian time on Saturday, but when the aircraft took off it was discovered that the cooling system was faulty which prompted the pilot to abort the flight and return to base.
“When we took off,  we discovered that there was no air in the aircraft (it was not pressurized). The pilot announced to us that he was returning to the airport and assured that they would repair the aircraft and we would depart but when he landed we spent another two hours in the aircraft before we disembarked, ” she said.
According to her, Saturday ended with the aircraft still on the ground without any hope that  the passengers would be departing, adding that  later that evening “the Ethiopian Airlines officials took the passengers to a cheap hotel called Mel Hotels where we were quartered three and four each in one room.”
THISDAY gathered that by 8.00 am on Sunday morning,  the passengers who were now dissipated and frustrated with the attitude of the airline, were returned to the airport for another long wait and by 6.00 pm the airline was yet to notify the passengers when they would be departing to Addis Ababa.
“Since that Saturday, they have been repairing the aircraft and as at this moment (5.00 pm ) they are yet to complete maintenance work. We are so disappointed and frustrated with the airline whose attitude is unfriendly and even hostile because we demanded that we won’t travel in that aircraft but they insisted they won’t get us another aircraft, ” Linda disclosed further.
Lamenting further, Linda stated: “They provided us biscuits and Coke shortly after our arrival from the hotel and that was what we have taken since morning. Everybody is sad. Many of us are wearing the same clothes since yesterday. I am going to New Delhi in India and there are those who are going to Dubai , so this delay has shattered our travel schedule. This is a very bad experience for us.”

A drama  however ensued when THISDAY called at the Ethiopian Airline’s office at the airport  for further enquiries . An official of the airline  who was at the door rushed in and quickly locked the door on sighting this reporter and not even several knocks would  make them open the door.Customers who were also being attended to were also locked in and two expatriates customers  were only allowed to go out after  several minutes  while a tall, huge looking man who looked like bouncer stood at the door and shut  it thereafter.Spokesman of the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) that operates the Consumer Protection Unit (CPU) told THISDAY that he would notify concerned authorities about the incident.

Ethiopia’s Gebrselassie Breaks World Marathon Record in Berlin

Ethiopia’s Haile Gebrselassie broke his own world record for the marathon in Berlin as he became the first man to finish in under 2 hours, 4 minutes.

The 35-year-old clocked 2 hours, 3 minutes and 59 seconds today, shaving 27 seconds off the record he set in the German capital in 2007.

Gebrselassie, who also won the city’s marathon in 2006, didn’t run in last month’s Olympic Games in Beijing because of concerns over pollution.

“Everything was perfect,” Gebrselassie was cited as saying by the British Broadcasting Corp. “The weather was perfect, the race was perfect and the crowd was perfect.”

Kenya’s James Kwambai was second in 2:05:36, with his compatriot Charles Kamathi third, more than two minutes further back.

Germany’s Irina Mikitenko, winner of the London Marathon in April, won the women’s race, with Askale Tafa of Ethiopia second and Kenya’s Helena Kiprop in third.

Suspected terror blast in Ethiopia kills four: police chief

ADDIS ABABA (AFP) — An explosion in Ethiopia’s eastern Somali province, which local authorities believe was a terrorist attack, killed at least four people Sunday, police said.

“There are now four dead and 22 wounded,” Ethiopian federal police spokesman Demsash Hailu told AFP.

“I suspect it is a terrorist action because we have some problems in this area. But there is an investigation opened. We’ll look into the matter to confirm if it is a terrorist action or an accidental explosion,” Demsash added.

“It definitely was a terrorist attack, a bomb was planted in the area,” said Yusuf Mahmud Mussai, the police chief of the Somali province.

The blast occurred near a hotel in Jijiga, police said.

The Somali province includes the region of Ogaden, which has been hit by a series of attacks attributed to separatist rebels in recent years.

The Ethiopian military launched in May 2007 an operation against the Ogaden Nation Liberation Front (ONLF), which is seeking autonomy for the remote region bordering Somalia.

In a report released in June, the New York-based organisation Human Rights Watch (HRW) accused the Ethiopian army of executing, torturing and raping civilians in the Ogaden.

The military launched an offensive against the ONLF rebels after they attacked a Chinese-run oil venture in Ogaden in April 2007, killing 74 people.

Formed in 1984, the ONLF is fighting for the independence of ethnic Somalis in Ethiopia’s oil-rich Ogaden, whom they say have been marginalised by Addis Ababa.

The Marxist roots of Ethiopia’s suffering

.

Once again, the twin spectres of drought and starvation stalk the land of Ethiopia. UN sources suggest that four million Ethiopians now need what they call “emergency assistance,” while another eight million need what is more vaguely described as “food relief.”

Already, thousands of people are dying. The first to expire are the very young and the very old. In some areas of the country, people are dying of starvation and malnutrition while their goats and sheep get fat eating crops that will not be harvested until late September.

Few saw this coming. Two years ago, Ethiopian officials boasted that food surpluses would allow their country to sell corn to neighbouring Sudan. The government has been investing more than a sixth of its budget in agricultural development, far above the average in other African countries. Child mortality has been reduced by 40%, and the agricultural sector has been growing by 10% annually over the last few years.

But in this part of the world, as Prime Minister Meles Zenawi has said, “one unexpected weather event can push us over the precipice.” Only 1% of Ethiopia is irrigated, meaning that a lack of rainfall can produce catastrophic results for the five-out-of-six Ethiopians who eke out a living through subsistence agriculture.

Famine-relief food distribution is never a straightforward affair in an African country. Those (mostly southern) regions where voters did not support the regime in recent elections typically complain that they are cheated of food aid at the expense of more “loyal’ parts of the country in the north.

Inter-regional friction is no stranger to Ethiopia. Five hundred years ago, Cushitic-speaking Muslim tribesmen from the desert plains of (what is now) southeastern Ethiopia and the borderlands of Somalia declared a jihad and attacked the Semitic-speaking Christian highland kingdoms whose emperors claimed descent from Solomon and Sheba. With the timely help of Portuguese musketeers under the leadership of the son of Vasco da Gama, the southerners were repelled. The next 400 years of Ethiopian history led to a gradual domination and conquest of these southern tribes, who were vanquished once and for all by the last Emperor of Ethiopia, Hailie Selassie.

Selassie himself was overthrown by a group of Marxist revolutionaries, who plunged Ethiopia into a brutal civil war. Then came the famous drought of 1984, which brought us We Are the World.

One of the reasons so many people starved in Ethiopia during that time was that the ruling regime would not let food from food-rich areas go to food-poor areas — because the latter were dominated by opponents of the government. Nor would they allow people to migrate from food-poor to food-rich districts. “Starve or submit” became the watchword of this new regime.

The Derg, as this new regime called itself, was then ousted by a coalition of central and northern Semitic-speaking Ethiopians who considered themselves Marxists. But when they came to power, the Berlin wall had fallen already — so they made peace with the West, joined the war on terror, and started taking baby steps toward liberal democracy and the liberalization of their economy Nevertheless, the country remains riven by old conflicts. The governing elites are suspicious of the southerners, especially their newfound interest in radical Islam.

It comes as no surprise that, in the current crisis, some of the worst-affected and most neglected areas are in the southeast corner of the country, where Muslim peasants have been in open rebellion for over a decade.

According to “Radio Freedom” — operated by the rebel Ogaden National Liberation Army — on July 4, 2008, at least 13 Ethiopian government soldiers were killed; 15 others were reportedly killed in an attack in the Galalshe district. The Ethiopian government claims these rebels get support from sympathetic Arabs, and has accused Qatar of meddling in Ethiopia’s internal affairs. (Qatar, for its own reasons, supports the neighbouring Red Sea state of Eritrea, which just a few years ago fought a border war with Ethiopia and expresses support for Ethiopian rebels of Somali ethnicity in the southeast of the country.)

Ethiopia has neither confirmed nor denied that such attacks have taken place on its soldiers. But either way, it is understandable that Ethiopian government employees may be less than enthusiastic about personally overseeing food aid in the southern parts of the country.

Exacerbating these regional frictions, and this year’s extreme weather events, are what may be considered the two root causes of the famine: population growth and land tenure.

In 1984, during the height of the drought and civil war, Ethiopia had just under 34 million inhabitants. The population now stands at 77 million: In just more than one generation, the population of the country has doubled. Despite the government’s investment in agriculture, overall investment in education has gone down, which stifles the possibility of rural innovation. And, although overall food production has increased, the World Bank has noted that per capita production has declined. That is to say, each peasant produces less food than he once did. Even during good years, 6% of the rural peasantry is supported by government-and donor-delivered food relief.

After the murder of Hailie Selassie by the Derg in the early ’80s, the government revolutionized the land-tenure system by giving peasants enough land to till according to the number of children they then had. This simplistic tenure system has been kept intact by the present government. Peasants do not have title to their own plots, and there is an incentive to get more land by having more children to till it. But there is little incentive to make that land more productive: Farmers are fearful that if they invest in any aspect of land improvement they could lose their plots to local elites with political connections.

As peasants do not own their own land, they cannot use it as collateral to get loans they need to buy seed or fertilizer, which could in turn be used to create a food surplus to be used in case of drought. They also are denied the right to sell their land and move somewhere else– to a more fertile region or to the city to try their luck in urban occupations.

More food aid will help prevent mass starvation in Ethiopia in the short term. But in the long-run, it needs something else: a peasantry with the same right to own and control their land that most farmers in the world take for granted. Freed from government shackles, they will unleash a green revolution that will feed their families.

gwclarfield@yahoo.com-Geoffrey Clarfield is a Toronto-based writer.

Two foreign workers kidnapped in Ethiopia, held in Somalia: official

MOGADISHU (AFP) — Gunmen have kidnapped two foreign aid workers from an eastern Ethiopia region and taken them to central Somalia, officials and the Paris-based Medecins du Monde said Tuesday.

The pair, both employees of the French aid agency, were seized from Fadhigaradle village where they were visiting drought-hit areas Monday, said Hareri Hassan Barre, the commissioner for the Balanbale district in central Somalia.

“The two foreign aid workers — a male and a female — were kidnapped (Monday) … in Ethiopia and were taken to central Somalia,” Barre told AFP.

Local Somali authorities sent security officials to seek the hostages’ freedom from the unidentified abductors.

“We have sent security forces to search for the aid workers, who were brought to the region late yesterday,” said Ali Sheikh Hashi, another local official.

Medecins du Monde confirmed the abductions, but did not give the nationality of its employees.

“The organisation is in permanent contact with the authorities, its team on the ground as well as other actors in the field,” it said in a statement.

Armed Somali gangs have carried out scores of kidnappings in recent months, often targeting foreigners or Somalis working with international organisations to demand ransoms.

On Monday, Somali gunmen freed a German national and his Somali wife who had been abducted over the weekend in the northern Somali breakaway state of Puntland, where kidnapping is endemic.

Kidnappers have also been holding three journalists — a Canadian, an Australian and a Somali — since August 23 and are reportedly demanding 2.5 million dollars (1.7 million euros) for their release.

Somalia has been torn by 17 years of almost uninterrupted civil conflict since the 1991 ouster of former president Mohamed Siad Barre. Numerous UN-backed initiatives have failed to restore stability in the country.

Since last year, thousands of civilians have died and hundreds of thousands displaced in the guerilla war pitting invading Ethiopian troops against Islamist insurgents, accused of ties to Al-Qaeda.

The kidnappings and violence have disrupted aid operations in Somalia, where at least 3.2 million people are facing food shortages and several thousand need medical treatment for battle wounds and other ailments.

Hundreds of Somalis aboard trucks and others on foot filed out of the capital Mogadishu, a day after fighting between Islamists and Somali forces, backed by Ethiopian and African Union troops, killed at least 29 civilians.

“I believe staying in Mogadishu is… taking a risk because many civilians died yesterday and warring sides are still sharpening their swords for fresh attacks,” said Shamso Mohamed Ali, a mother of two.

Several residents expressed similar fears that have dogged Somalis for nearly two decades.

Islamist militants, known as the Shebab, also vowed to intensify attacks against African peacekeepers, whom they blame for the latest civilian deaths.

“We are going to double our attacks against the African Union forces. The only option they have is to leave our country,” Shebab spokesman Sheikh Muktar Robow told AFP.

The Shebab last week warned that all flights should cease as of September 16, arguing the airport was an instrument of Ethiopia’s military occupation of Somalia.

“It should remain closed, if not, we will take tough steps against any plane that violates the ban we have imposed,” Robow said.

Hunger levels soar in East Africa

[BBC]

Nearly 17 million people in the Horn of Africa are in urgent need of food and other aid – almost twice as many as earlier this year, the UN has said.

Some $700m (£382m) in emergency aid is needed to prevent the region descending into full-scale famine, it said.

Top UN humanitarian official John Holmes said food stocks were critically low in parts of Ethiopia, Somalia, Eritrea, northern Kenya and Uganda.

The area has suffered from drought, conflict and rocketing food prices.

The number of those at risk could rise still further “as the drought deepens and the hunger season continues”, Mr Holmes said.

“What we need essentially is more funds, and more funds now, otherwise the situation is going to become even more catastrophic than it is today.”

The estimated total for the rest of this year for those in need is $1.4bn. Almost half of that has been raised, Mr Holmes said, but there remains a shortfall of $716m.

“We may need significant funds after that period – this is not the end of the story,” he said.

The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation blames worldwide rises in food prices for helping to push 75 million more people into the ranks of the world’s hungry last year – bringing the total to 925 million.

Ethiopia shuts down Oromo TV, fires, arrests several journalists and staff

Qeerransoo Biyyaa

September 19, 2008

Amidst the already rampant gross violations against media and media workers,

Ethiopia selectively removed the only Oromo language television broadcast off air on September 12, 2008. Sources from Finfinne (Addis Ababa), speaking on conditions of anonymity for fear of reprisal, said that police barred several dozens of journalists and staff from entering

the premises of Ethiopian Television and then took them into custody. The exact number

of journalists and staff under arrest is still unknown. However, one source said their number

can be 40 to 50, while another source said the number of those arrested and put under surveillance could reach 60. These journalists and staff were immediately told they were fired.

The government´s order to close down the 1 hour daily television program is said to have come as a verbal order from the prime minster himself. Ethiopia Television (ETV), a state-owned media, used to broadcast in Amharic, Afaan Oromoo, and Tigrigna languages before the Oromo program was just selectively targeted and removed off air on September 12.

Sources say the government expressed its disappointment with Oromo language educational and entertainment programs, all of which it believed will heighten the political consciousness of the Oromo people, if allowed to continue unchecked. “Dhangaa” (a weekend drama about the social and economic lives of the Oromos) and “Quba Qabduu” (Do you know this?) are some of the most popular TV programs in Afaan Oromoo. Ethiopia also believed that it is politically ´dangerous´ if the Oromo people are allowed the right to use television images in their language to showcase their culture and language to the outside world.

Some Oromo organizations and individuals have condemned this as saying that the action of the government represents its “apartheid” nature and views that the Oromo people are not part of Ethiopia yet or still are second class citizens. The systematic exclusion and segregation of Oromos on the basis of ethnicity and dissidence still continues unabated under the current regime.

The target audience for the program is the Oromo people. The Oromos constitute 40% of the country´s population. The media system in Ethiopia reflects the linguistic and cultural domination of the country´s tyrannical, minority ruling groups.