Dr. Berhanu Nega with Sisay Agena of ESAT, on the current Ethiopian politics

Dr. Berhanu Nega, Chairman of “Ginbot 7 Movement for Justice Freedom and Democracy” on the current Ethiopian politics with Sisay Agena of ESAT.

Ethiopia: Regime tries to break morale of jailed female journalist

Addis Ababa — The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has expressed concern about the safety of Reeyot Alemu, a jailed Ethiopian journalist and teacher. 

In a protest letter to Birhan Hailu, Ethiopia's justice minister, Joel Simon, CPJ's Executive Director asked that Alemu, whose health has reportedly deteriorated since being held on terrorism charges, to withdraw the threat of placing her in solitary confinement.

"Prison authorities have threatened Reeyot with solitary confinement for two months as punishment for alleged bad behavior toward them and threatening to publicize human rights violations by prison guards" said CPJ's letter, which was published on its website.
Despite pledges to the contrary Ethiopia's Ministry of Justice has failed to ensure that Reeyot's full human rights have not been violated during her detention, which began in June 2011.
"We urge you to fulfill Ethiopia's promise to build a humane and democratic state by withdrawing the threat of solitary confinement against Reeyot and ensuring her access to adequate medical care" CPJ said.
"No journalists should face detention or imprisonment in the exercise of their duty"
Reeyot, a columnist for the now-defunct independent weekly Feteh, is being held of the basis of accusation that she was involved in a vague terrorism plot.
In January 2012 she was sentenced her to 14 years in prison under the country's anti-terrorism law however an appeals court later in August, reduced the initial sentence to five years after the court dropped most of the terrorism charges pressed against the journalist, who is known for writing columns critical of the government.
CPJ has also expressed grave concern over the deteriorating health conditions of Reeyot saying she has been denied of access to adequate medical treatment after she was diagnosed with a tumor in her breast.
Reeyot is a 2012 winner of the International Women's Media Foundation Courage Award.
International human right groups accuse Ethiopia of using the country's broadly defined anti-terrorism law to punish critical journalists and opposition members, an allegation Addis Ababa denies.
In 2011 the United Nations special rapporteur on torture, Juan E. Méndez, urged the prohibition of "the imposition of solitary confinement as punishment - either as part of a judicially imposed sentence or a disciplinary measure."
In the report the special rapporteur urged Ethiopia to fulfill its obligation as signatory to the United Nations Convention against torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

Source: sudan Tribune

The Silent Genocide on the Amhara Documentary

Ethiopia: Right in Prison, Wrong on the Throne

By Alemayehu G Mariam
April 8, 2013

Last April, I wrote a “Special Tribute to My Personal Hero Eskinder Nega”.  In that tribute, I groped for words as I tried to describe this common Ethiopian man of uncommon valor, an ordinary journalist of extraordinary integrity and audacity. Frankly, what could be said of a simple man of humility possessed of indomitable dignity? Eskinder Nega is a man who stood up to brutality with his gentle humanity. What could I really say of a gentleman of the utmost civility, nobility and authenticity who was jailed 8 times for loving liberty?  What could I say of a man and his wife who defiantly defended press freedom in Ethiopia, even when they were both locked up in Meles Zenawi Prison just outside of the capital in Kality for 17 months! What could anybody say of a man, a woman and their child who sacrificed their liberties, their peace of mind, their futures and earthly possessions so that their countrymen, women and children could be free!?   

Ethiopian journalist Eskinder Nega is a special kind of hero who fights with nothing more than ideas and the truth. He slays falsehoods with the sword of truth. He chases bad ideas with good ones. Armed only with a pen, Eskinder fights despair with hope; fear with courage; anger with reason; arrogance with humility; ignorance with knowledge; intolerance with forbearance; oppression with perseverance; doubt with trust and cruelty with compassion. Above all, Eskinder speaks truth to power and to those who abuse, misuse, overuse and are corrupted by power.   

Now almost a year since I wrote my tribute, I remember my great friend and brother Eskinder Nega as he languishes in Meles Zenawi Prison.  But I do not remember him in sadness or with heartache.  No! No! I remember Eskinder in the hopeful, faith-filled and resolute words of American poet James Russell Lowell (“The Present Crisis”): “When a deed is done for Freedom, through the broad earth’s aching breast…/ Once to every man and nation comes the moment to decide…/ In the strife of Truth with Falsehood, for the good or evil side... For Humanity sweeps onward: where to-day the martyr stands…/ Truth forever on the scaffold, wrong forever on the throne…/   

Eskinder and his wife Serkalem did the right deed to defend the right of press freedom in Ethiopia. They spoke truth to falsehood in their newspapers and never backed down. They spoke right to wrong in kangaroo court. The man who tried for 20 years to right the wrongs of tyranny, today, like Lowell’s Truth, hangs on the scaffold in the belly of Meles Zenawi Prison, a place of  “wrath and tears where the horror of the shade looms”, with his head bloodied but UNBOWED!     

Last week, Birtukan Mideksa wrote an opinion piece for Al Jazeera urging the release of Eskinder Nega and  other journalists including Reeyot Alemu (winner of the International Women’s Media Foundation 2012 Courage in Journalism Award) and Woubshet Taye (2012 Hellman/Hammett Grant Award) and all political prisoners in Ethiopia. Birtukan is the first female political party (Unity for Democracy and Justice) leader in Ethiopian history. Birtukan, like Eskinder, was the personal political prisoner of the late dictator Meles Zenawi.   Meles personally ordered Birtukan’s arrest and on December 29, 2008, a year and half after he “pardoned” and released her from prison, he threw her back in jail without even the usual song and dance of kangaroo court.  On January 9, 2010, Meles sent chills down the spines of reporters when he declared sadistically that “there will never be an agreement with anybody to release Birtukan. Ever. Full stop. That’s a dead issue.” On January 15, 2010, the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention adopted an opinion finding that Birtukan Midekksa is a political prisoner.  

It is heartwarming to read Birtukan’s moving and robustly principled defense of Eskinder Nega and the other Ethiopian journalists and political prisoners. It is also ironic that Eskinder should replace Birtukan as the foremost political prisoner in Ethiopia today.   

Few can speak more authoritatively on the plight of Eskinder and all Ethiopian political prisoners than my great sister Birtukan who also spent years in in the belly of Meles Zenawi Prison, a substantial part of it in solitary confinement. In her Al Jazeera commentary she wrote:  

My journey to become a political prisoner in Ethiopia began as a federal judge fighting to uphold the rule of law. Despite institutional challenges and even death threats, I hoped to use constitutional principles to ensure respect for basic rights… [Ethiopian] authorities have detained my friend Eskinder Nega eight times over his 20-year career as a journalist and publisher. After the 2005 elections, Eskinder and his wife – Serkalem Fasil – spent 17 months in prison. Pregnant at the time, Serkalem gave birth to a son despite her confinement and almost no pre-natal care. Banned from publishing after his release in 2007, Eskinder continued to write online. In early 2011, he began focusing particularly on the protest movements then sweeping North Africa and the Middle East. Eskinder, who does not belong to any political party because of a commitment to maintain his independence, offered a unique and incisive take on what those movements meant for the future of Ethiopia. Committed to the principle of non-violence, Eskinder repeatedly emphasised that any similar movements in Ethiopia would have to remain peaceful. Despite this, police briefly detained him and warned him that his writings had crossed the line and he could face prosecution. Then in September [14], 2011, the government made good on that threat. Authorities arrested Eskinder just days after he publicly criticised the use of anti-terror laws to stifle dissent. They held him without charge or access to an attorney for nearly two months. The government eventually charged Eskinder with terrorism and treason, sentencing him to 18 years in prison after a political trial. Unfortunately, Eskinder is not alone; independent journalists Woubshet Taye and Reeyot Alemu also face long prison terms on terrorism charges.  

Eskinder is a hero to the world but a villain to Meles Zenawi and his disciples  

Who really is Eskinder Nega? In Meles Zenawi’s kangaroo court, Eskinder has been judged a “terrorist”, a “public enemy”. In the court of world public opinion, Eskinder is celebrated as the undisputed champion and defender of press freedom.  

When speaking of my brother Eskinder, I could be accused of exaggerating his virtues, hyperbolizing his singular contributions to press freedom in Ethiopia and overstating his importance to the cause of free expression throughout the world. Perhaps I am biased because I hold this great man in such high respect, honor and admiration. If I am guilty of bias, it is because seemingly in Ethiopia they have stopped making genuine heroes like Eskinder Nega, Woubeshet Taye, Anudalem Aragie, Temesgen Desalegn… and heroines like Birtukan Midekssa, Serkalem Fasil, Reeyot Alemu….   

Let others more qualified and more eloquent than I speak of Eskinder Nega’s heroism, courage, fortitude, audacity and tenacity in the defense of press freedom.   

On December 3, 2012, when Carl Bernstein (one of the two investigative journalists who exposed the Watergate scandal leading to the resignation of President Richard Nixon) read at a public forum Eskinder’s last blog before he was arrested, he said:  

… No honor can be greater than to read Eskinder Nega’s words. He is more than a symbol. He is the embodiment of the greatness of truth, of writing and reporting real truth, of persisting in truth and resisting the oppression of untruth… So let us marvel at and  celebrate Eskinder Nega. For who among us could write what I am about to read [a blog of Eskinder’s] spirit unbound, faith in freedom and the power of the word untrammeled…   

When Eskinder was named as the recipient of the prestigious 2012 PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award, Peter Godwin, president of PEN American Center said, “The Ethiopian writer Eskinder Nega is that bravest and most admirable of writers, one who picked up his pen to write things that he knew would surely put him at grave risk…”   

Larry Siems, director of PEN Freedom to Write Award, at the award ceremonies groped for words trying to describe Eskinder Nega. “…[This year] one [journalist] really stood out, and that is Eskinder Nega. So tonight we recognize one of the world’s most courageous, most intrepid, most creative advocates of press freedom that I have ever seen…”   

In awarding its prestigious Hellman/Hammett Award for 2012,  Human Rights Watch described Eskinder and the other journalists as “exemplifying  the courage and dire situation of independent journalism in Ethiopia today. Their ordeals illustrate the price of speaking freely in a country where free speech is no longer tolerated.”   

The Committee to Protect Journalists declared, “The charges against Eskinder are baseless and politically motivated in reprisal for his writings. His conviction reiterates that Ethiopia will not hesitate to punish a probing press by imprisoning journalists or pushing them into exile in misusing the law to silence critical and independent reporting.”   

Charlayne Hunter-Gault, the American civil rights heroine and former CNN Johannesburg bureau chief defended Eskinder and travelled to Ethiopia to plead for his release:  

The specific charge against Eskinder was that he conspired with a banned opposition party called Ginbot 7 to overthrow the government. At his trial, government prosecutors showed as evidence a fuzzy video, available on YouTube, of Eskinder at a public town-hall meeting, discussing the potential of an Arab Spring-type uprising in Ethiopia. State television labeled Eskinder and the other journalists as “spies for foreign forces.” There were also allegations that he had accepted a terrorist mission—what the mission involved was never specified.   

United States Senator Patrick Leahy read a lenghty statement into the Congressional Record informing his colleagues that “7,000 miles from Washington, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia… a journalist named Eskinder Nega stands accused of supporting terrorism simply for refusing to remain silent about the Ethiopian government’s increasingly authoritarian drift…”  

The U.S. State Department has condemned the imprisonment of Eskinder and the other journalists:      

   

The United States remains deeply concerned about the trial, conviction, and sentencing of Ethiopian journalist Eskinder Nega, as well as seven political opposition figures, under the country’s Anti-Terrorism Proclamation. The sentences handed down today, including 18 years for Eskinder and life imprisonment for the opposition leader Andualem Arage, are extremely harsh and reinforce our serious questions about the politicized use of Ethiopia’s anti-terrorism law in this and other cases.  

Eskinder is a hero to the heroes of international journalism. In April 2012,  twenty international journalists who have been recognised as “World Press Freedom Heroes” by the Vienna-based International Press Institute (IPI) stood by Eskinder’s side, condemned his unjust imprisonment on trumped up terrorism charges and demanded his release and the release of other journalists. These press freedom heroes minced no words in telling Meles Zenawi of their “extremely strong condemnation of the Ethiopian government’s decision to jail journalist Eskinder Nega on terrorism charges.”     

On November 21, 2012, the U.N. Human Rights Council Working Group on Arbitrary Detention issued a 9-page legal Opinion concluding: 

“The deprivation of liberty of Eskinder Nega is arbitrary in violation of articles 9, 10, 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and articles 9, 14, and 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights… The Working Group requests the Government to take the necessary steps to remedy the situation, which include the         immediate release of Mr. Nega and adequate reparation to him.”   

In December 2012, 16 member of the European parliament demanded the release of Eskinder Nega and journalists Reeyot Alemu and Woubshet Taye.     

Who is (are) the real terrorist(s) in Ethiopia?   

Meles said Eskinder and all of the journalists he jailed are “terrorists”.  If Eskinder Nega is a terrorist, then speaking truth to power is an act of terrorism. If Eskinder Nega is a terrorist, then advocacy of peaceful change is terrorism; thinking is terrorism; dissent is terrorism; having a conscience is terrorism; refusing to sell out one’s soul is terrorism; standing up for democracy and human rights is terrorism; defending the rule of law is terrorism and peaceful resistance of state terrorism is terrorism. If Eskinder Nega is a terrorist today, then Nelson Mandela was a terrorist then. The same goes for all of the other jailed journalists and opposition leaders jailed by Meles Zenawi.   

But the real terrorists know who they are. When Meles and his horde of guerilla fighters challenged military dictator Mengistu Hailemariam, they were officially branded as terrorists, bandits, mercenaries, criminals, thugs, murderers, marauders, public enemies, subversives, rebels, assassins, malcontents, invaders, traitors, saboteurs and other names.  Were they?    

Let the evidence speak for itself. In an interview Meles Zenawi gave to an Eritrean magazine called Hiwot (which was translated into Amharic and published by Etiop newspaper, (Vol. 5 Issue No. 52), he presented himself as the Willie Sutton of Tigray pulling bank jobs all over the palce. Meles spoke proudly of the banks he and his comrade-in-arms robbed or attempted to rob to finance their guerilla war. Meles boasted of his “victorious” robberies in Shire and Adwa while regretting botched jobs in Axum. Today they own the banks!   

The current ruling party, “Tigrayan Peoples Liberation Movement” (TPLF), is listed today in the Global Terrorism Database as a terrorist organization.  Documented acts of terrorism by the TPLF include armed robberies, assaults, hostage taking and kidnapping of foreign nationals and journalists and local leaders, hijacking of truck convoys, extortion of business owners and merchants, nongovernmental organizations, local leaders and private citizens and intimidation of religious leaders and journalists.   

An official Inquiry Commission established by Meles Zenawi to investigate the deaths that occurred in the post-2005 election period determined that security forces under the personal control and command of Meles Zenawi  massacred 193 unarmed protesters in the streets and severely wounded another 763. The Commission concluded the “shots fired by government forces were intended not to disperse the crowd of protesters but to kill by targeting the head and chest of the protesters.” On November 1, 2005, security forces in the Meles Zenawi Prison in Kality gunned down 65 inmates while confined in their cells. No one has ever been brought to justice for these crimes against humanity.  

In September 2011, the world learned that “Ethiopian security forces (had) planted 3 bombs that went off in the Ethiopian capital on September 16, 2006 and then blamed Eritrea and the Oromo resistance for the blasts in a case that raised serious questions about the claims made about the bombing attempt against the African Union summit earlier this year in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.” Following its own investigation and “clandestine reporting”, the U.S. Embassy in Addis Ababa fingered “GoE (Government of Ethiopia) security forces” for this criminal act. If all other acts of state terrorism committed against Ethiopian civilians were to be included, the body count would be in the hundreds of thousands.     

Who are the real terrorists and criminals in Ethiopia today?   

Tale of the Good Wolf and Evil Wolf   

The late Meles Zenawi and his apostles remind me of an old Cherokee (Native American) tale of two wolves:  A grandfather tells his young grandson that everyone has a Good Wolf and an Evil Wolf inside of them fighting with each other every day. The Good Wolf thrives on peace, love, truth, generosity, humility and kindness. The Evil Wolf feeds on hatred, anger, greed, lies and arrogance. “Which wolf will win, grandfather?” asked the boy. “Whichever one you feed,” replied the grandfather.  

Meles and his disciples have been feeding the Evil Wolf for decades, and now the Evil Wolf sits triumphantly crowned on the Throne of Hatred and Falsehood. They have fattened the Evil Wolf with a lavish diet of inhumanity, barbarity, brutality, ignobility, immorality, depravity, duplicity, incivility, criminality, ethnocentricity, mediocrity, corruptibility and pomposity. 

Eskinder, Reeyot, Woubshet, Andualem. Temesgen and the rest have managed to tame the Good Wolf and have followed the path of peace, love and truth. Their wolf thrives on a simple diet of humanity, unity, integrity, authenticity, civility, morality, incorruptibility, dignity, affability, humility, nobility, creativity, intellectuality and audacity.  

It is hard for the reasonable mind to fathom why Meles and his disciples chose to embrace and follow the path of the Evil Wolf. Indeed, the Evil Wolf has been very good to them. The Evil Wolf has made it possible for them to accumulate great wealth and amass enormous power. They have unleashed the Evil Wolf to divide and rule the country along ethnic, religious, linguistic and regional lines. They have used the Evil Wolf to destroy not only the lives and futures of young professionals like Eskinder, Birtukan,  Reeyot, Woubshet, Temesgen and  Andualem but also the future of the younger generation. They have used the Evil Wolf to sell off the country’s most fertile lands for pennies and plunder its natural resources. They have used the Evil Wolf to convict the innocent in kangaroo courts. They have used the Evil Wolf to strike fear and loathing in the hearts and minds or ordinary citizens.  

They have given new meaning to the ancient Roman playwright Paluatus’ aphorism homo homini lupus est  (“man is a wolf to his fellow man”).  They have used the Evil Wolf to create war from peace; strife from harmony;  wrong from right; vice from virtue; division from unity;  shame from honor;  immorality from decency; poverty from wealth; hatred from love; ignorance from knowledge; corruption from blessing; bondage from freedom and dictatorship from democracy.  In 21 years, Meles and his disciples have managed to jam a whole nation between the jaws of a snarling, gnarling and howling Evil Wolf.   

How long before the Good Wolf wins over the Evil Wolf?  

The great Nelson Mandela wondered when Apartheid would end. He told those who had unleashed the Evil Wolf of Apartheid,  “You may succeed in delaying, but never in preventing the transition of South Africa to a democracy.”

My friend Eskinder Nega warned the overlords of the Evil Wolf in Ethiopia, “Freedom is partial to no race. Freedom has no religion. Freedom favors no ethnicity. Freedom discriminates not between rich and poor countries.  Inevitably freedom will overwhelm Ethiopia.”   

But how long before freedom overwhelms Ethiopia? How long before Ethiopia transitions to democracy? How long before “truth crushed to earth rises again” in Ethiopia? How long before all Ethiopian political prisoners are set free? Before Eskinder is released and joins his wife Sekalem and their son Nafkot? How long before Reeyot, Woubshet, Andualem… rejoin their families? How long before the Good Wolf wins over the Evil Wolf? 

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. agonized over similar questions during the darkest days of the struggle for civil rights in America. His answer to the question, “How long?” was “Not long!”. 

I know you are asking today, “How long will it take?”  Somebody’s asking, “How long will prejudice blind the visions of men…?”  

Somebody’s asking, “When will wounded justice, lying prostrate on the streets of Selma and Birmingham… be lifted from this dust of shame…? … How long will justice be crucified, and truth bear it?”

I come to say to you this afternoon, however difficult the moment, however frustrating the hour, it will not be long, because “truth crushed to earth will rise again.”

How long? Not long, because “no lie can live forever.”

How long? Not long, because “you shall reap what you sow.” 

How long before the Good Wolf wins over the Evil Wolf? Not long, because “once to every man and nation comes the moment” to decide between Good and Evil. 

How long before wounded justice, lying prostrate on the streets of Addis Ababa, Mekele, Adama, Gondar, Awassa, Jimma… is lifted from the dust of shame? Not long, “because the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.”

How long before truth and right crushed to earth rise up again in Ethiopia? Not long, because truth and right will not remain forever on the scaffold nor wrong and falsehood nest forever on the throne! 

I have no greater honor than to stand up, speak up and defend my friends, brothers and sisters Eskinder Nega, Serkalem Fasil, Reeyot Alemu, Woubshet Taye, Temesgen Desalegn, Andualem Aragie and all political prisoners held in Meles Zenawi Prison! 

Professor Alemayehu G. Mariam teaches political science at California State University, San Bernardino and is a practicing defense lawyer.

Confrontation with Meles Zenawi on Amhara Ethnic Cleansing:14 years ago

Ethiopians are dying here and there. It's becoming worse and worst. Amhara, Oromo, Gambella, Anuak, Christian, Muslim and everybody.

The tplf regime is killing, torturing, prisoning Ethiopians. Its time to all Ethiopians to stand together and fight this ethnic based dictatorial regime. 

Ethiopians have been deported from their own land, from their own village, just because of they are amharas, just because of the regime wants to sell their land .

This is crime against humanity, 

Somebody have to pay back.

Gedion

Top 20 Richest Ethiopians

The following is a list of 20 richest Ethiopians in 2011. The list is compiled by Ethiopian Review Intelligence Unit. Except for a few of the individuals in the list, most of them, particularly the TPLF members

(The net worth amount is in U.S. dollar)

1.Mohammed Al Amoudi, owner of Midroc Corporation, estimated net worth: $10 billion.
2. Meles Zenawi, self-declared prime minister of Ethiopia, head of the terrorist group Tigrean People Liberation Front (TPLF), estimated net worth: $3 billion.
3. Azeb Mesfin, wife of Meles Zenawi, member of the TPLF politburo, head of the $40-billion Endowment Fund for the Relief of Tigray (EFFORT), partner in several large businesses in Ethiopia, widely known as “the Mother of Corruption,” estimated net worth: $3 billion.
4. Sebhat Nega, former chairman of TPLF, ex-TPLF politburo member, former head of EFFORT, current chairman of Wugagan Bank, owns several buildings and luxury villas in Ethiopia and the U.S., net worth: $2.5 billion

5.Berhane Gebrekristos, TPLF central committee members, personal investor for Meles Zenawi, paid his wife $4 million in divorce settlement and hush-up money in Washington DC when he was an ambassador, currently deputy foreign minister, uses his diplomatic immunity to smuggle gold and precious stones for Meles, Azeb and himself, estimated net worth: $2 billion.

6. Samuel Tafesse, owner of Sunshine Construction, partner with Azeb Mesfin, estimated networth: $1.5 billion

7. Sioum Mesfin, former TPLF regime foreign affairs minister, currently ambassador to China, smuggles marijuana and other types of illicit drugs to Thailand, China and other Asian countries using his diplomatic immunity, estimated net worth: $1 billion.

8. Omer Ali Shifaw, Owner of Nejat International, until TPLF’s Guna Corporation took over, the largest coffee exporting company in Ethiopia, currently threatened by TPLF’s Guna Corporation, estimated net worth: $800 million

9.Aba Gebremedhin (formerly Aba Paulos), self-installed patriarch of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, part-time priest, full time businessman and gun-totting TPLF cadre, the only “religious” leader in Ethiopia who built a statue for himself, owns shares in several companies, estimated net worth: $600 million

10. Abadi Zemo, TPLF politburo member, former head of EFFORT, currenly ambassador to Sudan, net worth: $500 million.

11. Eyob Mamo, CEO and Chairman of Capitol Petroleum Group, Washington DC, estimated worth: $500 million.

12. Ketema Kebede, KK Trading, 12.Alsam Real Estate, Addis Ababa, estimated networth: $400 million.

13. Minwuyelet Atnafu, Owner and major share holder of Star Business Group, Tana Transport, Mina Trading, estimated net worth: $400 million.

14. Girma Birru, former TPLF Trade and Industry minister, currently ambassador to Washington DC, owns shares in several large companies, including Dembel Business Center in Addis Ababa, owns several real estate properties, estimated net worth: $300 million

15. Tadesse Haile, long-time state minister of Trade and Industry, invests in several large projects that he himself authorizes, owns shares in construction and trading companies, estimated net worth: $250 million.

16. Tewodros Hagos, TPLF politburo member, owns shares in several of EFFORT companies, estimated net worth: $200 million.

17. Abdullah Bagersh, General Manager of Bagersh International, a leading coffee exporter, currently struggling to survive after Guna entered the coffee exporting business, estimated net worth: $150 million.

18.Debre-Tsion Gebre-Michael, TPLF politburo member and information technology minister, tasked with jamming radio, TV and and web sites, travels regularly to the U.S. and Europe to invest his loot, owns shares in companies that work on projects for his minstry, has several real estate properties in Arizona, estimated net worth: $100 million.

19. Bereket Simon, TPLF propaganda chief, owns real estate properties, estimated worth: $100 million.

20. Yemiru Nega, owner of Dembel City Center, partner with Azeb Mesfin, Girma Biru and Tadesse haile, estimated net worth: $100 million.

Elias Kifle | December 12th, 2011

Ethiopia jails a student for a Facebook post

Ethiopian authorities have last Thursday arrested a University student for a ”corruption critical Facebook post”, the Amharic Service of Germany’s international broadcaster, Deutsche Welle (DW) reported today (April 1, 2013). 

Manyazewal Eshetu, 21, a first year Information Technology student in Addis Abeba, was last Thursday captured  by police from Campus and is now imprisoned in Arba Minch, South Ethiopia , the Radio reported.

The suspect’s guardian, Daniel Shibeshi said ” I was told the reason for his arrest was  his Facebook post that allegedly stated that there is a corruption in Arba Minch City Administration, Arba Minch University and in Gamo Gofa Town.”

Daniel also said that he spoke to Dr. Tarekgne, the President of Arba Minch University and was told that the reason for the student’s arrest was same.

The guardian said in his discussion with the University’s President, the student’s popularity and his great literary skills often appearing on State Tv, ETV was also raised.

Commander Taye Cherga, Head of the Gamo Gofa Police Station, told the Radio reporter in Ethiopia that the student was arrested for posting an “imbalanced, defamatory and unconfirmed information that dishonoured individuals by naming them “thieves”.

“In addition to that, his arrest is for posting articles that defamed the University and the City Administrators on Facebook” the Commander added.

The Commander also stated that the suspect had appeared in Court on Friday and Police sought additional time for further investigation. The student is still imprisoned.

The Radio reporter said that he was not able to find the articles on the student’s Facebook page.

sourse: Deutsche Welle| April 3, 2013

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ESAT Ye Ehud Weg March 31 2013 Ethiopia

EPRDF, no identity and no vision

FOR  IMMEDIATE  RELEASE

For the past twenty one years, the Tigray People Liberation Front (TPLF) that has no mandate to rule Ethiopia has actually ruled Ethiopia with iron fist dashing on the  Trojan horse,  the  EPRDF ( Ethiopian People Revolutionary Democratic Front).  The EPRDF, a political front; composed of a hodgepodge of ethnically assembled organizations, is a hollow group of ethnic demagogues created by its late leader to materialize his lifelong dream of dividing Ethiopia along ethnic lines. Ironically, the EPRDF that blatantly boasts to have averted the disintegration of Ethiopia, firmly stood up to the dreams of its creator and augmented the fragmentation of Ethiopia, the very country it calls home.

On Saturday March 23, 2013, the EPRDF started its 9^th and possibly what could be its last congress with an embarrassing; and to the vast majority of Ethiopians with a pointless theme of – “The Thoughts of Meles”.  In fact, if there is one good cause served by the 9^th EPRDF congress, it should be that, the Trojan horse EPRDF proved to the Ethiopian people that it is a party in existence with a borrowed identity that rules over a nation of ninety million people with a dead vision of a deceased man. The EPRDF is a party that lives in the past, failed to cease the moment and has no vision for the future.

The four-day congress that ended on Tuesday came to an end with exactly the same hollowness that it started. To the surprise of its own members and diehard supporters, the four -day congress looked like much of a eulogy of a man (dead for seven months) than an occasion to map a vision for Ethiopia’s future.  Despite all indications of the nation’s chronic problems of ethnic conflict, poverty, human rights abuse, deteriorating living conditions, and alarming outflow of skilled manpower, the EPRDF vowed to extend its grip on power and carry on the same old failed policies of the past. All in all, the handmade toy, the EPRDF, shamelessly told the Ethiopian people that it has no vision of its own and nothing new on its plate.

Ginbot 7, Movement for Justice, Freedom and Democracy not only invalidates the resolution of the 9^th congress of the EPRDF, but it also extends its call to the Ethiopian people inside and outside Ethiopia to come together and fight in unison to stop the implementation of a policy that has a hard to reverse  detrimental effect on our nation. Ginbot 7 reiterates its perennial message to the Ethiopian people and to the international community at large that there are much better alternatives to the tested and failed policies of the EPRDF that benefit the interest of the Ethiopian people, the Horn of Africa and all other parties’ involved. The international community, donor nations and most importantly, the EU, United Kingdom and the United States must come to their senses and acknowledge that freedom; justice and democracy are God given human values that the people of Ethiopia thirst for just like the British and the American people.

Ginbot7, Movement for Justice Freedom and Democracy

Public Relation

www.ginbot7.org/           pr@ginbot7.org    | +44 208 133 5670

Press release in pdf format

ሜዳውም አህያውም የነሱ

መቼም ኢትዮጵያ በአሁኑ ሰአት በቀን የተለያዩ ሰበር ዜናዎች ከሚለቀቁባቸው አገሮች ውስጥ አንደኛ እንደምትሆን እርግጠኛ ስለሆንኩ ማንም ሊከራከረኝ አይችልም፥፥ በአሁኑ ሰአት ወያኔ ወንጀለኛ ናችው እያለ የሚያስራቸው፣የሚገድላቸው፥ የሚያፈናቅላቸው፥ የሚያሰድዳቸው ብቻ ምን አለፋችው ይደክማል፥፥

በአሁኑ ሰአት ኢትዮጵያ ውስጥ ወያኔ መሆን ብቻ ነው ወንጀለኛ የማያስብለው፥ ከዛ ውጭ አርፈህ መቀመጥ ግድ ይልሃል፥ ወይም ደሞ ወደፈረደበት ስደት መንገድ አቅንቶ በየበረሃው መሞት አልያም ደሞ እድል ከቀና መናገር የሚቻልበት አገር መቶ እንደፈረደብን መጮህ፥፥

እኔ እንደገመገምኩት ከሆነ ወያኔ ጨካኝ ውሸታም ገዳይ የሆነ መንግስት ነው፥ የዚህ ውጤቱ ደሞ የራስን ሞት ማጣደፍ ሊባል ይችላል፥፥

ሰሞኑን አንድ የገረመኝና የከነከነኝ ነገር ቢኖር የወያኔ ዘጠነኛ ጉባዔ ላይ በተደረገው የአመራር ለውጥ የድርጅቱ ዋና ዋና ቀንደኛ የኢትዮጵያ ጠላት የተባሉትን እንዲሁም የወያኔ አውራዎች ከስልጣናቸው መነሳታቸው ምናልባት እንደነ ታምራት ላይኔ እና ስዬ አብርሃ እንደፈለጉ ሃገራችንን ሲገድሉ ቆይተው አሁን ደሞ እንደለመዱት ወደውጭ ሃገር ለስራ በመምጣት ተመሳስለው ለመኖር ፈለጉ እንዴ ብዬ አሰብኩ፥፥ለነገሩ እንተዋወቅ የለ የኢትዮጰያ ህዝብ የዋህ ይቅር ባይ አይደል፣ ምን ችግር አለ፥

አሁን እኮ ወያኔዎች እንኳን የኢትዮጵያ ህዝብ አደለም እርስ በርሳቸውም እንደተሰለቻቹ እያወቁት መተዋል፥ መሰለቻቸት ከመጣ ደሞ አቤት ለሊቱም አይነጋ፥ ለሊቱ አልነጋም ማለት ደሞ፥

ወየውልሽ አዳሜ

From Gedion

Civicus celebrates adoption of UN resolution on protecting human rights defenders

Johannesburg -- Global civil society alliance, CIVICUS welcomes the landmark adoption of UN Human Rights Council Resolution A/HRC/22/L.13, “Protecting Human Rights Defenders”, as a vital step in creating a safe and enabling environment in which human rights defenders and civil society organizations (CSOs) can operate free from unwarranted restrictions.

The resolution, spearheaded by the government of Norway, was adopted at the 22nd Session of the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva on 21 March 2013 with broad cross-regional support from 70 UN Member States. CIVICUS highlights the following provisions of the resolution codifying a number of essential protections for human rights defenders:

• The Council has called on UN Member States to guarantee that national regulations and legislation affecting human rights defenders are clearly defined, non-retroactive and consistent with international human rights law. To this end, the Council urges UN member states to immediately amend national anti-terrorism legislation to protect against the criminalisation or stigmatisation of human rights defenders including the use of arbitrary detention and detention without due process guarantees.
• Moreover, the resolution takes unprecedented steps in stipulating specific measures governments should take to foster an enabling operating environment for civil society at the national level. Specifically, the council calls on states to ensure that registration requirements for civil society are non-discriminatory, expeditious and inexpensive and allow for the possibility of appeal. The council further calls on governments to ensure that reporting requirements for CSOs “do not inhibit functional autonomy,” while ensuring that civil society groups, especially those working on human rights, are not subjected to discriminatory restrictions on access to national and international funding.
• In response to the ongoing global crackdown on nonviolent protest movements, the council urges states to ensure that “human rights defenders can perform their important role in the context of peaceful protests” consistent with the Charter of the United Nations and international human rights law. The resolution further calls on governments to refrain from acts of reprisals including subjecting peaceful demonstrators to excessive or indiscriminate use of force, arbitrary arrest or detention, torture or other cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment or punishment, enforced disappearance and abuse of criminal and civil proceedings.

The resolution comes in the wake of growing criminalisation of the activities of human rights defenders across the globe through the adoption and discriminatory invocation of restrictive legislation.
In Ethiopia, CIVICUS has documented the devastating impact of the 2009 Charities and Societies Proclamation which prevents human rights groups from receiving more than 10% of their funding from international sources.
In Russia, the government has introduced a spate of restrictive regulations, including amendments to the Law on Public Rallies which drastically increases fines for participating in unsanctioned demonstrations, aimed at preventing human rights defenders from carrying out their legitimate work. In Turkey, thousands of human rights defenders, journalists, students and civil society activists remain in prison under vague and overly broad provisions of the country’s anti-terrorism laws.
While the adoption of the Resolution A/HRC/22/L.13 represents a necessary step in protecting the rights of human rights defenders, it is imperative that the resolution is met with adequate support and engagement at the national level. Accordingly, CIVICUS calls on all UN Member States to engage with national civil society to give immediate effect to recommendations made in the resolution to bring national legislation impacting the work of human rights defenders in line with international human rights law.
Renate Bloem, CIVICUS’ Head Representative to the United Nations in Geneva said: “By adopting specific recommendations aimed at creating an enabling environment for human rights defenders, the Council has shown laudable leadership in addressing the escalating campaign to delegitimise and suppress the work of human rights defenders. The resolution marks a tremendous victory for global civil society.”

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CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation is a global alliance of civil society. Founded in 1993 and headquartered in Johannesburg, CIVICUS is dedicated to strengthening citizen action and civil society throughout the world, especially in areas where participatory democracy and citizens’ freedom of association are challenged. For more information, go to www.civicus.org

Ethiopia delays appeal of jailed blogger

ADDIS ABABA — An Ethiopian court on Wednesday delayed again the appeal of blogger Eskinder Nega and opposition leader Andualem Arage, who were jailed last year for terror-related offences.

Eskinder and Andualem were among 24 people jailed in July 2012 on terror-related charges.

Both men are accused of having links to the outlawed opposition group Ginbot 7.

Andualem's lawyer Debribew Temesgen said the judges said they needed more time to examine the evidence, and had set a new date for a ruling of April 8.

Eskinder was jailed for 18 years, while Andualem was sentenced to life.

Neither appeared in court on Wednesday.

Rights groups have called Ethiopia's anti-terrorism legislation vague and accuse the government of using the law to stifle peaceful dissent.

AFP

Ethiopia, the same regime another Genocide?

G7 Press Release – January 10, 2013

On December 13, 2003, members of the special unit of the Ethiopian military entered the town of Gambella in south western Ethiopia, and over the course of the next three days, the special force unit tortured and killed 424 ethnic Anuaks and burned their houses to ashes. The Ethiopian Human Rights Council and Dr. Gregory H. Stanton, founder and President of Genocide Watch, alerted the international community about the Gambella genocide. The world gave a deaf ear to the horror in Gambella, and as a result, the Ethiopian military continued its crime against humanity killing more than 2000 ethnic Anuaks and causing over 50,000 to flee their ancestral home land.

On December 10, 2013, exactly 10 years after the Gambella genocide, the Ethiopian military strikes again, this time in Southern Ethiopia killing more than 150 men, women, and children. According to an eye witness account, the Ethiopian army surrounded the village of ethnic Suris in South Ethiopia, tied the villagers into a group of two, and massacred them execution style. Ginbot 7, Movement for Justice, Freedom and Democracy strongly condemns the barbaric action of the TPLF security forces against the Suri community and calls on all civilized nations of the world to hold the Ethiopian regime accountable for its actions and bring the perpetrators of this heinous crime to justice.

The continued silence of the international community, especially donor nations such as the U.S, U.K., and members of the European Union has emboldened the Ethiopian regime to continue committing crimes against defenseless people in different parts of the country.

Ginbot 7 is deeply disturbed by the acquiescence of the international community and the quiet support provided to a rogue regime that repeatedly commits crimes against humanity.

Ginbot 7 urges the international community to reconsider its hypocritical policy and use its leverage to rein the TPLF regime to stop the mass killing in Ethiopia.

Ginbot 7 and the Ethiopian people understand the importance of the global war on terror. However, membership in the international military campaign against terror must not allow the criminal regime in Ethiopia to terrorize its own people. The US, the UK and the EU cannot fight terrorism in Somalia while enabling a terrorist regime to commit genocide in Ethiopia. This misguided foreign policy is morally reprehensible and a danger to the long term stability of Ethiopia.

World Bank told to investigate links to Ethiopia ‘villagisation’ project

William Lloyd George in Addis Ababa, guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 19 March 2013

An independent panel has called for an investigation into a World Bank-funded project in Ethiopia following accusations from refugees that the bank is funding a programme that forced people off their land.

In a report, seen by the Guardian, the inspection panel – the World Bank’s independent accountability mechanism – calls for an investigation into complaints made by refugees from the Anuak indigenous group from Gambella, western Ethiopia, in relation to the bank’s policies and procedures.

The refugees claim the Protection of Basic Services (PBS) programme funded by the bank and the UK Department for International Development (DfID), is contributing directly to the Ethiopian government’s “villagisation” programme, introduced in 2010. The programme seeks to move people to new villages, but residents say this is done with little consultation or compensation, and that these sites lack adequate facilities.

In a letter sent to the panel in September, the refugees say some people have been forcibly relocated from their land, which is now being leased to foreign investors.

“These mass evictions have been carried out under the pretext of providing better services and improving the livelihoods of the communities,” says the letter. “However, once they moved to the new sites, they found not only infertile land, but also no schools, clinics, wells or other basic services.”

It says the government forced them to abandon their crops just before harvest, and they were not given any food assistance during the move. “Those farmers who refused to implement the programme … have been targeted with arrest, beating, torture and killing,” the letter says.

The refugees say they “have all been severely harmed by the World Bank-financed [project], which is contributing directly to the Ethiopian government’s villagisation programme in Gambella region”.

The letter says Ethiopian government workers, whose salaries are paid for through the PBS programme, have been forced to implement villagisation.

DfID has been criticised for failing to address abuse allegations in the South Omo region of Ethiopia, where residents told DfID and USAid officials of their experiences.

DfID is also embroiled in a legal action over its links to the villagisation programme. An Ethiopian farmer claims he was forcibly evicted from his farm. His lawyers, Leigh Day & Co, say DfID money is linked to these abuses through PBS funding in Gambella. DfID has said it is responding to the legal concerns and reviewing the allegations of rights abuses in Ethiopia.

In its report, the panel says that although the World Bank management denies links between villagisation and the PBS programme, the two are attempting to achieve the same things. “[Villagisation] is a programme that aims at fundamentally restructuring settlement patterns, service infrastructure and livelihoods, including farming systems, in the Gambella region, and as such constitutes a significant context in which PBS operates. In this sense from a development perspective, the two programmes depend on each other, and may mutually influence the results of the other,” says the panel report.

The panel says there are “conflicting assertions and differing views” on links between PBS and villagisation, the complaints by the refugees and the bank’s adherence to its policies and procedures, which could adequately be addressed through an investigation.

In a response to the refugees’ letter, the World Bank denied all links between the PBS and villagisation. It said it had not encountered any evidence of human rights abuses. It did admit the new sites “were not desirable”, but said the Ethiopian government had asked for assistance to improve them.

According to David Pred, founder of Inclusive Development Internationalwho helped the Anuak file their complaint, the PBS is funding the majority of government departments responsible for implementing the villagisation programme. “It provides both the means and the justification for villagisation,” said Pred.

The World Bank has been supporting the PBS programme since May 2006 with a commitment of more than $2bn. The bank’s board was scheduled to meet on Tuesday to discuss the panel’s report, but the meeting was postponed.

Human Rights Watch says many of the communities affected by villagisation have not been properly consulted about resettlement. It has interviewed several refugees from the region who reported that government officials have responded with violence and arbitrary detention when people have not agreed to relocate.

“The World Bank’s president and board need to let the inspection panel do its job and answer the critical questions that have been raised by Ethiopians affected by this project,” said Jessica Evans, senior international financial institutions advocate at Human Rights Watch. “If the World Bank doesn’t support this investigation, its Ethiopia programme will continue to be shadowed by controversy.”

The chairman of the UK parliament’s international development committee, Sir Malcolm Bruce, said the allegations against villagisation are unsubstantiated. Bruce, who visited Ethiopia last week, said the UK programme “is delivering a very good result”.

• This article was amended on 20 March 2013. Gambella is in western Ethiopia, not eastern as we originally said