Invisible Crisis !

Badessa” was a third-year engineering student in western Ethiopia in April 2014 when he and most of his classmates joined a protest over the potential displacement of ethnic Oromo farmers like his family because of the government’s plan to expand the capital, Addis Ababa, into the farmland.Women mourn during the funeral ceremony of Dinka Chala, a primary school teacher whom family members said was shot dead by military forces during a demonstration in Holonkomi town, Ethiopia on December 17, 2015 Reuters The night of the first protests he was arrested and taken to an unmarked detention center. Each night he heard his fellow students screaming in agony as one by one they were tortured by interrogators. “I still hear the screams,” he told me later. Eventually his turn came to be interrogated. “What kind of country is it when I voice concern that my family could lose their farm for a government project and I am arrested, tortured, and now living as a refugee?”Since mid-November, large-scale protests have again swept through Oromia, Ethiopia’s largest region, and the response from security forces has again been brutal. They have killed countless students and farmers, and arrested opposition politicians and countless others. On January 12, the government announced it was cancelling the master plan, but that hasn’t stopped the protests and the resultant crackdown.Although the protest was initially about the potential for displacement, it has become about so much more. Despite being the biggest ethnic group in Ethiopia, Oromos have often felt marginalized by successive governments and feel unable to voice concerns over government policy. Oromos who express dissent are often arrested and tortured or otherwise mistreated in detention, accused of belonging to the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF), a group that has long been mostly inactive and that the government designated a terrorist organization.The government is doing all it can to make sure that the news of these protests doesn’t circulate within the country or reach the rest of the world. Ethiopia’s allies, including governments in the region and the African Union, have largely stood by as Ethiopia has steadily strangled the ability of ordinary Ethiopians to access information and peacefully express their views, whether in print or in public demonstrations. But they should be worried about what is happening in Oromia right now, as Ethiopia — Africa’s second most-populous country and a key security ally of the US — grapples with this escalating crisis.This may prove to be the biggest political event to hit Ethiopia since the controversial 2005 elections   resulted in a crackdown on protesters in which security forces killed almost 200 people and arrested tens of thousands .Although the government focuses its efforts on economic development and on promoting a narrative of economic success, for many farmers in Oromia and elsewhere economic development comes at a devastating cost. As one Oromo student told me “All we hear about is development. The new foreign-owned farms and roads is what the world knows, but that just benefits the government. For us [Oromos] it means we lose our land and then we can’t sustain ourselves anymore.”It has become almost impossible for journalists and human rights monitors to get information about what is happening, especially in smaller towns and rural areas outside Addis Ababa. Ethiopia is one of the most restrictive environments for independent investigation, reporting, and access to information, earning the country a top-10 spot in the global ranking of jailers of journalists. For the past decade, the government has limited access to information by regularly threatening, imprisoning, and prosecuting individual activists, bloggers, and journalists and sending a clear public message that the media must self-censor and that dissent or criticism of government policy will not be tolerated.Independent media have dwindled—more than 70 journalists have fled the country since 2010 and five of the last independent publications closed down before the May elections. Meanwhile the state-run media parrot the government line, in this case claiming that the Oromo protesters are linked to “terrorist groups” and “anti-peace elements” who are “aiming to create havoc and chaos.”Very few international journalists are based in Ethiopia. Those who have attempted to cover events on the ground since the protests began have braved threats and arrest, but these are a few lone voices.Given restrictions on local and international media, you might think that ordinary citizens, local activists, and nongovernmental organizations would fill the gaps and document the events in Oromia. But Ethiopia’s human rights activists and independent groups have been crushed by draconian legislation and threats, and even ordinary people are often terrified to speak out. People who dare to speak to international media outlets or independent groups have been arrested. The government taps  phone lines and uses European med spyware to target journalists and opposition members outside the country.Since the protests began, the restrictions have become even harsher. Authorities have arrested people, including health workers, for posting photos and videos or messages of support on social media. The state-run telecom network has also been cut in some areas, making it much more difficult to get information out from hotspots.Radio and satellite television outlets based outside Ethiopia, including some diaspora stations, play a key role disseminating information about the protests within Oromia, as they also did in 2014 during the last round of protests. Last year numerous people were arrested in Oromia during the protests merely for watching the diaspora-run Oromia Media Network (OMN).The government has frequently jammed foreign stations in the past, violating international regulations in the process. When the government is unable to jam it puts pressure on the satellite companies themselves. Throughout the protests government agents have reportedly been destroying satellite dishes.Yet despite the clear efforts to muzzle voices, information is coming out. Some protesters are losing their fear of expressing dissent and are speaking openly about the challenges they are facing. Social media plays a key role in disseminating information as people share photos and videos of rallies, of bloodied protesters, and of expressions of peaceful resistance in the face of security forces using excessive force.In the coming days and weeks Ethiopia’s friends and partners should condemn the use of excessive force by security forces that is causing tragic and unnecessary deaths. But they should also be clear that Ethiopia needs to ensure access to information and stop disrupting telecommunications and targeting social media users. The world needs to know what is happening in Oromia—and Ethiopians have a right to know what is happening in their country !

 

 

በቡሬ ግንባር ከፍተኛ ቁጥር ያላቸው የህወሓት መራሹ መከላከያ ሰራዊት አባላት ከዱ፡፡

 

freedom !

 

ህወሓት በ1983 ዓ.ም መላ አገሪቱን በነፍጥ እንደተቆጣጠረ በሁለት ያለፉ የኢትዮጵያ መንግስታት ከፍተኛ የህዝብ ሀብት፣ ዕውቀትና ጉልበት ፈሶበት ለዘመናት በስንት ልፋትና ጥረት የተገነባውን የአገር መከላከያ ሰራዊት ባደረበት ጭፍን ጥላቻና ቂም ብቻ ተመስርቶ “የደርግ ነው” በሚል ሰበብ ባንድ ጀምበር ንዶ ማፈራረሱን አገር ያወቀው ፀሃይ የሞቀው ሀቅ ነው፡፡
ከበረሃ የመጡ ድኩማን ታጋዮቹን ለሙያው የሚመጥን ምንም አይነት ዘመናዊ ዕውቀት ሳይኖራቸው የጀነራልነት ማዕረግ በማሸከም በአየር ኃይሉና በምድር ኃይሉ ውስጥ በሚገኙ የአዛዥነት ቦታዎች ላይ እነሱን ብቻ አስቀምጦ ስልጣኑን ለመጠበቅ ብቻ እንዲተጉለት በማድረግ የአገራችንን ብሄራዊ ደህንነት አደጋ ላይ ጥሎት ይገኛል፡፡
ህወሓት የተባለው ዘረኛ ቡድን ውስጡ በቂምና በጥላቻ ብቻ ተሞልቶ ያፈራረሰውን የኢትዮጵያ መከላከያ ሰራዊት በኢትዮ-ኤርትራ ጦርነት ወቅት አደጋ ባንዣበበበት ጊዜ ጥሪ በማድረግ መልሶ ለመሰብሰብ የሞከረ ሲሆን ከጦርነቱ በኋላ ደግሞ አብዛኞቹን ከተጠቀመባቸው በኋላ እንደገና አባሯቸዋል፡፡
አሁን ደግሞ አርበኞች ግንቦት 7 ለአንድነትና ዴሞክራሲ ንቅናቄ እያፋፋመው ከሚገኘው የአርበኝነት ትግል ጋር በተያያዘ ከትግራይ ተወላጅ የህወሓት ተጋዮች ውጭ በሆኑ ወታደራዊ አዛዦች ላይ ዕምነት በማጣቱ የመከላከያ ኃይሉን የማጥራት የወቅቱ አንገብጋቢ ውሳኔውን የቀድሞ የኢትዮጵያ መከላከያ ሰራዊት አባላትን በማባረር ተግባራዊ ማድረግ ጀምሯል፡፡
ቂምና በቀሉ መቸም የማይበርድለት ህወሓት በተደጋጋሚ የደም ቁማር ሲቆምርባቸው ከኖሩት የተባረሩ የቀድሞው የኢትዮጵያ መከላከያ ሰራዊት አባላት አብዛኞቹ የአርበኝነት ትግሉን በመቀላቀል ላይ ናቸው፡፡

 

strangle !

 

over here the picuter that me ! when i miss my country freedom i have obligation to fight for freedom and democrasey in my home land ! today i have news for my blog flower ! when Secretary of State John F. Kerry traveled to Ethiopia last year, he met a young blogger named Natnael Feleke. When he returned a few months ago, Kerry found that Feleke, along with five other bloggers and three journalists, had been arrested — the latest in a long line of journalists the Ethiopian government has detained on the claim that they were trying to incite terrorism. Although Kerry addressed the arrests with officials he met, and President Obama has spoken forcefully on the importance of good governance in Africa, preoccupation with immediate security priorities — in particular counter-terrorism — trumps the fine words.

It is our hope that President Obama will use the summit of African leaders he is hosting this week to launch a new chapter in U.S.-African relationships — one in which support for good governance will guide U.S. policy, in deed as well as in word. If not, the result is likely to be more of the very violence and instability that counter-terrorism is supposed to curb.

In our country of Ethiopia, the government maintains a stranglehold on freedom of expression. Journalists or activists who question the ruling party or its actions face arbitrary arrests and repression. After his April visit, when Kerry made the long overdue comment that it was important for anti-terrorist mechanisms to avoid curbing the free exchange of ideas, Ethiopian democracy activists around the world were thrilled.

Yet at the same time, we know that words, even from a U.S. secretary of State, will not be sufficient to counter years of repression and disregard for human rights. The Ethiopian ruling regime — like many others in Africa — has ignored criticism from abroad; indeed, Feleke’s and the other journalists’ arrests came just days before Kerry’s visit to Ethiopia.

Shortly after his election in 2009, Obama delivered a speech in Accra, Ghana, sketching the elements of his policy toward Africa, which involved focusing on “good governance,” “the rule of law” and “civic participation.”
In spite of Ethiopia’s well-documented record of oppression and corruption, it has become the biggest recipient of U.S. foreign aid in sub-Saharan Africa.
Ethiopia, though projected by Washington as well as Addis Ababa as an important U.S. ally, violates these principles at every turn. The regime’s draconian Charities and Societies Proclamation Act in essence criminalizes civil society. Under the terms of its 2009 anti-terrorism law, security forces can enter any home and seize any person or belonging. Presumed sympathy to anyone suspected of “terrorism,” which is very broadly defined, is punishable by death. It was under this law that Natnael Feleke was arrested.

In spite of Ethiopia’s well-documented record of oppression and corruption, it has become the biggest recipient of U.S. foreign aid in sub-Saharan Africa, receiving more than $6 billion since 2011. And to date, the U.S. has failed to hold the leaders of Ethiopia accountable for its abusive governance. America’s silence in the face of egregious human rights violations and brutal oppression is perceived by Ethiopians as favoring the autocratic regime.

Such oppression, combined with systematic state corruption, have resulted in a narrow, monopolistic form of governance. Ethiopia’s much-touted economic growth has mainly benefited kleptocrats, while reducing standards of living for many. In rural Ethiopia, the government has opened vast tracts of land to foreign investors from Saudi Arabia, India and China, and has also allotted enormous tracts to government-owned sugar plantations — whose returns enrich regime insiders. Large dams have flooded indigenous lands, and are creating renewed conflict over land and water resources. Such tactics are not a recipe for stability — quite the reverse.

Yet, U.S. officials seem oblivious to how the Ethiopian regime exploits its role as a key ally in America’s war on terrorism to crush dissent and silence journalists and human rights activists.

Awareness of oppression in Ethiopia is growing. Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.) has been urging various administrations to reconsider support of the regime since the 2005 elections, when hundreds of peaceful protesters were killed. And in June 2013, Rep. Christopher H. Smith (R-N.J.) held a hearing called “The Future of Democracy and Human Rights” in Ethiopia.

We welcome this sort of pressure from the international community and specifically from the United States, and we believe that over the long term it can help bring about democratic change. President Obama, who is much admired in Ethiopia, should review U.S. policy and take a clear stand; his words must then be reinforced by the actions of his government.

Meron Ahadu and Lulit Mesfin are Ethiopian American democracy and human rights advocates.

 

 

ሊበራል ዲሞክራሲን !

 

ሊበራል ዲሞክራሲን ለምን ወያኔ ፈራው

ለመሆኑ ሊበራል ዲሞክራሲ ምንድነው?

ሊበራል ዲሞክራሲ ውልደትና እድገት በአውሮፓ በ18ኛ ክ/ዘመን መሆኑ ይነገራል፡፡ የሊበራል ዲሞክራሲ ዋና መገለጫው የሊበራሊዝም ፅንሰ-ሐሳቦች ማእከል ማድረጉ ሲሆን ይህም በዋናነት የግለሰብ ነፃነት ዋና እምብርቱ ነው፡፡ በመገለጫነትም ነፃ ፍትሓዊና አወዳዳሪ ምርጫዎችን ማስኬድ፣ የፖለቲካ ምህዳር ማስፋት፣ የሕግ የበላይነት፣ የዲሞክራሲና ነፃነት መብቶችን ማክበር፣ ፍትሕን ማስፈን ወ.ዘ.ተ ያጠቃልላል፡፡ ሊበራል ዲሞክራሲ በርካታ ዐይነት የመንግስትና የሕገመንግስት አወቃቀሮች ሊኖሩት ይችላሉ፡፡ ለአብነት፡ ሪፓብሊካዊ (እነ ፈረንሳይ፣ ጀርመን፣ ህንድ፣ ጣልያን ወ.ዘ.ተ)፤ ንጉሳዊ ሕገ-መንግስት (ጃፓን፣ ስፐይን፣ ሆላንድ፣ እንግሊዝ)፤ ፕሬዚደንታዊ (አሜሪካ፣ ብራዚል፣ ሜክሲኮ፣ አርጀንቲና)፤ ፓርላመንታዊ ስርዐት(አውስትራልያ፣ ህንድ፣ ፓኪስታን፣ ፖላንድ ወ.ዘ.ተ)፡፡

ከላይ እንደተገለፀው የሊበራል ዲሞክራሲ ዋና መገለጫ የግለሰብ ነፃነት ማክበር ነው፡፡ ሊበራል ዲሞክራሲ በአውሮፓ የነበሩ ጨቋኝ ንጉሳዊ አገዛዞችና ፈላጭ ቆራጮችን አደብ ለማስገዛት ነበር በጊዜው የነበሩ የአብርሆት ዘመን ምሁራን (enlightment intellectuals) የተመሰረተው፡፡ መሰረታዊ መርሁ ሰው ሁሉ እኩል ነው ብሎ የተነሳው እንቅስቃሴ የነአሜሪካና ፈረንሳይ አብዮቶችን አቀጣጠለ፣ ቀስ በቀስም ዐለምን ሁሉ አዳርሶ አብዛኛውን የዐለም ህዝብ የሚጠቀምበት ስርዐተ-ማሕበር ሊሆን ችሏል፡፡

ሊበራል ዲሞክራሲ የመንግስትን የፖለቲካ፣ ኢኮኖሚና ሞራላዊ ጣልቃ ገብነት በእጅጉ የሚቀንስና እጁ እንዲያነሳ የሚያስገድድ ነው፡፡ ይህም ኢኮኖሚው ለገበያው አሳልፎ እንዲሰጥና ገበያው እራሱን በራሱ እንዲያስተዳድር የሚያደርግ ነው፡፡

ከቀድሞዎቹ እነ ማርክስ፣ ሌኒን፣ አሁን ደግሞ እነ ናኦም ቾምስኪና ኤድዋርድ ሀርማንና መሰሎቻቸው ሊበራል ዲሞክራሲን የሐብታሞች መጨቆኛ መሳርያ ነው ብለው ቢከራከሩም ሊበራል ዲሞክራሲ ግን ግለኝነትና ስግብግብነት እየጨመረባት ባለችው ዐለም ውስጥ አሁንም ይሁን ለወደፊቱ ገዢ ሐሳብ ሆኖ መዝለቁ አይቀርም፡፡

ሊበራል ዲሞክራሲ የብዙዎቹ ያደጉና በፍጥነት እያደጉ ያሉ አብዛኛዎቹ የዐለም ሐገራት የሚመሩበት ነው፡፡ ዲሞክራሲያዊቷ ማሊ ደኽይታ ጨቋኛ ቻይና ስበለፀገች መሰል ቁንፅል አብነቶች እያመጡ ዲሞክራሲን ከልማት ጋር ነጣጥሎ ለማየት መሞከር የከፋ ስህተት ላይ ይጥላል፡፡ 90 % ሐቅ የሚያመለከተው ዲሞክራሲና ብልፅግና ለያይቶ ማየት እንደማይቻል ነው፡፡

ኢህአዴግ ሊበራል ዲሞክራሲ አብዝቶ የሚጠላበት ምክንያት ሊበራል ዲሞክራሲ ፈጣን እድገት ስለማያመጣ አይደለም፡፡ አፍሪካ ውስጥ በፍጥነት እያደጉ ያሉና የአብዛኛውን የህዝባቸው ጠጠቃሚነት ያረጋገጡ ብዙዎቹ ሀገራት በሊበራል ዲሞክራሲ የሚመሩ ናቸው፡፡ ለምሳሌ፡ ቦትስዋና፣ ጋና፣ ሞሪሸስና ሌሎች፡፡

ኢህአዴግ ሊበራል ዲሞክራሲን የሚጠላበት ምክንያት የመንግስት ተፅዕኖና ጡንቻ ስለሚገድብ ነው፡፡

1. ሊበራል ዲሞክራሲ አብዛኛውን የሐገራችን ወጣት የኢህአዴግ የኢኮኖሚ ጥገኛ እንዲሆን አያስችልም:
2. ሊበራል ዲሞክራሲ የኢህአዴግ መንግስት የኢኮኖሚውን አውታር ሁሉ በእጁ አስገብቶ ስራ ለመቀጠርና ማንኛውም የኢኮኖሚ ጥቅም እንድታገኝ አባልነትን እንደመስፈርት እንዲጠቀም አያስችለውም:
3. ሊበራል ዲሞክራሲ በነፃ ውድድርና በስራ እንጂ ኢህአዴግ የራሱን ባለሀብቶች እንዲፈበርክ አያስችለውም:
4. ጥቃቅንና አነስተኛ፣ ማሕበራት ምናምን እየተባሉ ወጣቱን በብድርና በሌላ መልክ ሁሉ ለመቆጣጠርና ህሊናውንና ኪሱን ለመግዛት ሊበራል ዲሞክራሲ ምቹ አይደለም፡፡

ሊበራል ዲሞክራሲ ከጎዳም የሚጎዳው መንግስታትን እንጂ ህዝቡን አይደለም፡፡

እስቲ አስቡት፡ አሁን ለምሳሌ መብራት ሐይል የግል ቢሆን ለ 5 ደቂቃም መብራት ቢቋረጥ ለደረሰብህ ጉዳትና ኪሳራ ካሳ ትጠይቃለህ፣ ሕግም ይፈቅድልሀል፡፡ በመንግስት እጅ ግን አንድ ዐመትም ቢጠፋብህ አልቅሰህ ዝም ማለት ነው- በተለይም በኛ ሐገር ባለው ነባራዊ ሁኔታ፡፡ ቴሌም እንዲሁ የግል ቢሆንና በርካታ ተወዳዳሪዎች ቢመጡ እንዲህ ይጫወትብን ነበር ባንኮችስ ቢሆኑ ሌሎች የመሰረተ ልማቶችም ቢሆኑ በተሻለ ጥራትና ፍጥነት ይሰሩ ነበር፡፡

ሀገር የምታድገው የሐገሪቷ ነዋሪዎች ገቢ ሲያድግ፣ ኢንተርፕረነሮች ሲበዙ፣ ኢንዳስትሪ ሲስፋፋ እንጂ በቢሮክራሲና በሙስና የተሸበበ መንግስት ህዝብን አራቁቶ ሀብቱን ሁሉ ሰብስቦ ዘላቂና እውነተኛ እድገት ያመጣል ብሎ ማሰብ የሚቻል አይመስለኝም፡፡

የኢህአዴግ በሊበራል ዲሞክራሲ ላይ ያለው የከረረ ጥላቻም ከራሱ ጥቅም አንፃር ብቻ ነው፡፡ ህዝቡን በተለይም ወጣቱን በተለያየ ዘዴ የመንግስቱ የኢኮኖሚ ጥገኛ በማድረግና ሌላ ነገር እዳያስብ ኪሱም አእምሮውንም መስለብ፡፡ በውጤቱም የኢህአዴግ ዕድሜ ማርዘም፡፡

ሊበራል ዲሞክራሲ የሚያስፈራው መንግስታትን በተለይም ጨቋኝ መንግስታትና ይሀንን ጭቆና ማራዘም የሚፈልጉትን እንጂ ህዝብን አይደለም፡፡

 

Numerous Human Rights Violations In Ethiopia !

 

From mr.Endalkachew guluma

In Ethiopia, EPRDF has set unconstitutional legislation to protect its own crime against the people and to prolong its life span on power. The new Press Law and the Controversial Anti – Terrorism laws are some of the mechanical devices the dictatorial government muzzles opposition voices and fundamental human rights. Those who dare to ask their right are left behind bars. These days two-third of the population is left to a complete destitution; and more than ever, a great deal of citizens are forced to leave the country as their security or livelihood is drastically under risk. The consistent prejudice and the day to day injustice committed against those who cry for impartiality are clear indications that authorities running the judicial system are not qualified rather handpicked to implement the interest of the governing party without questioning the judgment is unfair or just. The outcry and misery of Ethiopians are not limited only for those who are living inside the country, under the iron grip of EPRDF. Unprecedented number of refugees and immigrants living on foreign land all over the world, who are not partakers of the oppression, are also crying. The cry longing for the end of tribalism, despotism, racial segregation, and fascism that reigns in the country; and this cry is not merely out of their mouth but flaming out from their gut out of desperation. As the gruesome human right violations are getting worse, many Ethiopians are left with no other option than leaving the country, crossing borders in tears. In the process of this forced migration, many Ethiopians cry for being victims of illegal and inhuman organ trade (trafficking) in Sinai and other dessert s. Quite many cry falling in the fierce Jaw of beasts while crossing jungles. Others risk their life crossing dangerous sea and ocean waves on worn out boats under the shadow of death; and many of them cry while capsizing to be buried under sea bed or becoming live preys for sharks.

Our sisters living in Middle East and Arab countries are crying under the shackle of modern slavery; being denied their wage for the harsh labor work they are subjected for. Some become victim of boiled oil by their employers and cry bearing life threatening burns and scars on their face and bodies. As if these are not enough to bear on their weak shoulder, many of young girls are being raped without their consent and become hopeless to get any legal protection or justice. Some have lost their life being thrown off high building and those who are lucky to survive are crying being disabled. Still a lot are crying as they are being chased for having no residential permit or paper, locked in prison where they sustain inhuman corporal punishments. Currently, in Ethiopia the Anuak nation is crying as they become victims of genocide. The Amharas are also crying as they are being displaced from place to place and treated as unwanted citizens in their own country. The same fate is hunting Oromo people and they cry in solitary and mass confinement in shaggy prisons scattered all over the country. Scholars are crying as they are being sentenced to death for writing or telling the truth. Religious and sacred places have become war zones. Monks and nuns cry as they are being flogged and persecuted in Waldiba monastery. Who is not crying? The whole nation is crying; crying by the same cause: unlimited injustice and human right violations of EPRDF. Through different means of incarceration and even by systematic killing of oppositions, EPRDF has become the sole governing party of the country for the last two decades; yet it couldn’t win the heart  and mind of the people. There are times the party applies a fear-appeal management to make people submissive for its power; terrorizing people on racial and religious grounds. Sometimes, it threatens citizens to lose their work or other benefits unless they stay loyal to the party and keep silent to ask their right. At first, the party was playing racism as a winning card to stay in power and to win public trust; but that couldn’t yield any fruit. Knowing its failure, now, it has been a few years since EPRDF has started to play advocacy for some sentimental and nationally honored concepts which the party doesn’t really committed to or believe on. For instance, recently, the party invested a lot resource to celebrate The Ethiopia Millennium with the people as if it didn’t deny that and said the country has only a history of one century. Again, as if EPRDF didn’t degrade the honor of the country `s flag and called it” a piece of rug, ” now it has started to celebrate flag and culture days nationally. Not only these, EPRDF is currently using the Nile dam, Hidase as a hot cake to lure the appetite of the nation to get his back. However, the people are well aware of its motives and understood these acts of the party have no real essence to cheer beyond being instrumental to stay in power. If there is one thing the party doesn`t understand or still not will to admit is that EPRDF was not, is not and will not be  able to earn public trust and support.

 

 

Russia, Egypt meet to discuss $4B arms deal; Turkey and Egypt row over the Ethiopian dam

 

From  mr.Endalkachew guluma

February 13, 2014 (UPI) — Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and President Putin after the weapons purchase deal that was financed by Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirate, MOSCOW, Feb. 13 (UPI) – Egyptian Defense Minister Abdel Fattah al-Sisi met with Russian President Vladimir Putin, signaling strengthening ties, officials said. The purpose of al-Sisi’s visit Wednesday was to finalize an arms deal worth a possible $4 billion after the United States halted longstanding military aid and shipments of arms to Egypt, Ahram Online reported, citing anonymous Egyptian military sources. Egyptian Foreign Minister Nabil Fahmy, though, said Egypt is not looking to replace one international partner with another. “These … talks [between defense and foreign ministers] reflect how important Egypt is for Russia and how excellent relations are between us,” he said. Fahmy, who was also on hand for the meeting, said he had planned to discuss the Ethiopian Renaissance dam and counter-terrorism cooperation. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the talks emphasized Russia’s desire to “enhance bilateral relations that have continued alongside decades of mutual respect and cooperation.” Egypt minister slams turkey for role in Ethiopian dam . Egyptian Irrigation Minister Mohamed Abdel-Muttalib accused Turkey of offering expertise to Ethiopia over the proposed Nile dam project that will threaten Egypt’s water supply World Bulletin / News Desk | February 13, 2014 Egyptian Irrigation Minister Mohamed Abdel-Muttalib said Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu had visited Addis Ababa and offered Turkish expertise on Ethiopia’s controversial multi-billion dollar hydroelectric dam project. “Any side that doesn’t like Egypt could be in the scene,” Abdel-Muttalib said in televised statements late Tuesday. “The Turkish foreign minister visited Addis Ababa and offered them [Ethiopian officials] Turkish expertise,” he added. “What I want to say is that when Turkey built the Ataturk Dam, it made the Syrians and the Iraqis thirsty and ignored international agreements,” Abdel-Muttalib claimed. “I want to stress that Egypt is not Iraq or Syria, and Ethiopia is not Turkey,” he added.
The Turkish government is yet to respond to the Egyptian minister’s claims. Ethiopia is building a hydroelectric dam, called the Renaissance Dam, over the Blue Nile where most of Egypt’s Nile water revenues come. But the controversial project has raised alarms in Egypt, the most populous Arab country, about itswater share.Nile water distribution among the countries of the Nile basin used to rest on a colonial-era agreement giving Egypt and Sudan the lion’s share of Nile water. Citing development ambitions, Ethiopia insists it needs to build a series of dams to generate electricity both for local consumption and exporting. It maintains that the new dam can be of benefit for the two downstream states of Sudan and Egypt, which will be invited to purchase electricity generated by it. “Ethiopian officials say they do want to harm Egypt. But when we ask them to put that on paper they refuse,” said Abdel- Muttalib. The remarks came hours after his return from Addis Ababa where he held talks with officials there on the dam. He accused Ethiopian officials of turning down all proposals to narrow the gap between the two sides.“We are not naïve to continue dialogue without reaching a solution. There are other alternatives that we need to take,” the minister said without elaborating. Source: World Bulletin

From mr.Endalkachew guluma

 

Battle of the Nile:Egyypt and Ethiopia clash over mega-dam !

 

Today i am in ethiopia which it is going start nile river ! exactily i am ther right now !!!

The Picture is of river Nile, which actually begins in Ethiopia. A while back I resided there and therefore know the historic here is the history . Egypt and Ethiopia remain at loggerheads over Addis Ababa’s plan to build a $4.2 billion, 6,000-megawatt dam on a major tributary of the Nile River that Cairo says will greatly reduce the flow of water that is Egypt’s lifeline.Tension between the two African states rose sharply in January after Ethiopia rejected Egypt’s demand it suspend construction of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam on the Blue Nile, the main tributary of the 4,130-mile river, the world’s longest. Egypt has vowed to protect its “historical rights” to the Nile “at any cost” and says it could lose 20 percent of its water if the giant dam in northwestern Ethiopia, one of several hydroelectric projects planned by Addis Ababa, is completed. “It would be a disaster for Egypt,” Mohamed Nasr Allam, a former Egyptian water minister, lamented to the Guardian daily of London in 2013. “Large areas of the country will simply be taken out of production.” Despite Cairo’s tough declarations, and Addis Ababa’s insistence on pressing ahead with the massive dam — which it denies will damage Egypt to any critical extent — there’s little likelihood of the two states going to war, if only because the vast distance that separates them. But the dispute is swelling into a major diplomatic wrangle in Africa that could have consequences on other continents as the planet faces water shortages in the decades ahead. Ethiopia’s Chinese-backed dam program will, if completed, produce abundant supplies of electricity that could transform the economies of the regional states long mired in poverty. Egypt’s position has been seriously weakened by the December defection of Sudan, its southern neighbor and longtime ally, in the Nile dispute with Ethiopia and other upstream African states. That has left Egypt isolated in a long-running dispute with those states, which all want a greater share of the Nile water than they are accorded under British colonial era agreements that gave Egypt, and Sudan to a lesser extent, the lion’s share of the river’s flow. Despite political turmoil in both Egypt and China-backed Ethiopia in recent months — the July 2013 military coup in Cairo that ousted Egypt’s first democratically elected president, and the 2012 death of longtime Ethiopian strongman Prime Minister Meles Zenawi — both sides have dug in their heels over the Nile crisis. Egypt, with 82 million people, is the most populous and the most militarized state of the 11 riverine states along the Nile, which rises in the highlands of Ethiopia. But with Sudan now “so squarely in Ethiopia’s camp, Egypt could not stage a ground attack on the dam,” observed Hassen Hussein, a leader of Ethiopia’s largest ethnic group, the Oromo, in an analysis on al-Jazeera Thursday. An airstrike on the dam, 20 miles from Sudan’s southern border in the vast Blue Nile gorge, “is still possible, but fraught with risks. “To Egypt, water security equals national security,” Hussein noted. “To Ethiopia, the dam has become a matter of national pride. “An airstrike could turn the clock back on the dam. Although Ethiopia lacks the means to respond to such an attack in kind, Egypt risks earning the international community’s wrath and seeing its relationships with sub-Saharan Africa strained.” But these relations are already strained over Egypt’s claim that it has rights to 87 percent of the Nile’s waters that were guaranteed under British-inspired treaties in 1929 and 1959 that also gave Cairo veto power over dam-building by upstream states. Egypt was allocated 55.5 billion cubic meters a year of the Nile’s flow rate of 84 billion cubic meters. Sudan, then Egypt’s ally, got 18.5 billion cubic feet. The Blue Nile joined the White Nile at Khartoum, capital of Sudan, to flow northward to the Mediterranean. In 2010, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya signed an accord, the Cooperative Framework Agreement, to negotiate a more equitable water-sharing arrangement. They were later joined by Burundi , the Democratic Republic of Congo, Eritrea and South Sudan. These upstream African nations, former colonies of the 19th century European powers, all say they need greater access to the Nile’s flow to meet swelling demographic and industrial demands from a waterway that has sustained civilizations for millennia. Much depends on how the current dispute plays out. Right now, an estimated 238 million people depend on the Nile to some extent.

 

 

 

Ethiopia’s rights abuses ‘being ignored by US and UK aid agencies

from Ethiopoia Mr.Endalkachew guluam

The UK Department for International Development (DfID) and USAid, the American aid agency, have been accused of ignoring evidence of human rights abuses allegedly linked to their support for a multibillion-dollar social services programme in Ethiopia.A report published on Wednesday by the US-based thinktank the Oakland Institute details a long list of grievances presented to aid officials from the UK and US by communities in the Lower Omo Valley in southern Ethiopia. They claim they suffered intimidation, beatings, rape, forced evictions and other abuses as a result of the government’s controversial “villagisation” resettlement programme, which seeks to clear land to make way for commercial investments.”Donor agencies were given highly credible first-hand accounts of serious human rights violations during their field investigation, and they have chosen to steadfastly ignore these accounts,” says the report, written by Will Hurd, an NGO worker who served as a translator for a team of DfID and USAid officials on a visit to the region in January 2012.Transcripts of parts of these meetings, which have been made public alongside the report, show community members ignored aid officials’ questions about the state of education, development and health clinics, and repeatedly tried to bring the conversation back to the subject of abuse.According to the transcripts, one of the two DfID representatives present told community members: “[O]bviously we agree that it’s unacceptable – beatings and rapes and lack of consultation and proper compensation … [I] would raise very strongly with the government as the wrong way to do this. It just simply is wrong. It simply is wrong. Obviously, we totally agree and it’s worrying to hear about those things.”The allegations linking claims of abuse to aid funding centre around the relationship between Ethiopia’s Protection of Basic Services (PBS) programme and the government’s Voluntary Resettlement programme (villagisation).PBS, which has the support of several large international donors, is a multibillion-dollar social services project described as “expanding access and improving the quality of basic services in education, health, agriculture, water supply and sanitation”. Human rights campaigners have attacked donor support for PBS on the grounds that funds are also being used to plan and implement the villagisation programme as aid money is being spent on health, education and other services in the resettlement sites.”The problem is that these services will not be provided unless the people accept resettlement,” says the Oakland Institute report, which insists the two programmes are connected and cannot be neatly separated by donors who do not want their funding to appear tainted.Leigh Day & Co, the London-based law firm that last September took up the case of an Ethiopian farmer, “Mr O”, who claims he was forcibly evicted from his farm in Gambella, in the west of the country, argues that through its support for PBS, DfID helps finance the infrastructure and salaries required under villagisation.Another report, also published by the Oakland Institute on Wednesday, adds: “It is difficult not to conclude that DfID and USAid have decided to support the current policy of the Ethiopian government, their strategic ally in the Horn of Africa, despite the major human rights abuses this government is perpetrating in the Lower Omo Valley.”By doing so, they are willful accomplices and supporters of a development strategy that will have irreversible devastating impacts on the environment and natural resources and will destroy the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of indigenous people.”The UK spent £261.5m on aid to Ethiopia in 2012-13. In DfID’s annual report, it said: “Ethiopia has experienced impressive growth and development in recent years, but remains poor and vulnerable. The UK government continues to track and raise concerns about limitations on civil and political rights. The government of Ethiopia’s approach to political governance presents challenges.”Last November, the development secretary, Justine Greening, said DfID had not been able to substantiate allegations of human rights abuse received during its visit to Lower Omo in January 2012, and that it would return to the area to examine these further. This has yet to happen, though there are plans for a visit this year.A DfID spokesperson said on Wednesday: “It is completely wrong to suggest that British development money is used to force people from their homes. Our assistance has helped millions of people in Ethiopia, a country that has suffered famine and instability over many decades. We condemn all human rights abuses and, where we have evidence, we raise our concerns at the very highest level …”To suggest that agencies like DfID should never work on the ground with people whose governments have been accused of human rights abuses would be to deal those people a double blow.”Meanwhile, the World Bank has decided to undertake a full investigation into allegations that its support for the PBS programme has financed human rights abuses in Ethiopia.The bank has previously denied any connection between PBS and villagisation, but its internal watchdog, the Inspection Panel, argues that this is not a “tenable position”, saying: “The two programmes depend on each other, and may mutually influence the results of the other.”The panel had recommended an investigation earlier this year after receiving a complaint from indigenous communities in Gambella describing incidents of intimidation, beatings, arrest and torture.

From Ethiopia  mr.Endalkachew guluma