Above: Visitors looking at displays of the famous female
hominid at the “Lucy’s Legacy” exhibit at Seattle’s Pacific
Science Center.

Tadias Magazine
Tadias Staff

Updated: Saturday, June 6, 2009

New York (Tadias) – After a disappointing West Coast appearance, which failed to draw crowds at Seattle’s Pacific Science Center, the world’s most famous fossil is coming to New York, organizers announced.

“We are very excited about the opportunity to introduce “Lucy” to the people of New York City because she evokes a strong response from everyone who sees her, and as such, she is the ultimate goodwill ambassador for Ethiopia,” Joel A. Bartsch, president of the Houston Museum of Natural Science said in a press release.. “Lucy not only validates Ethiopia’s claim as the Cradle of Mankind, she also introduces viewers to the rich cultural heritage that has flourished in Ethiopia over the course of the last 3,000 years, and to the vibrant country that Ethiopia is today.”

The 3.2 million-year-old Lucy, the oldest and most complete adult human ancestor fully retrieved from African soil, was secretly flown out of Ethiopia in August of 2007 for a 6-year controversial tour of the United States. The Smithsonian Institution had warned that experts don’t believe the fragile remains should travel.

Lucy will be on display at the Discovery Times Square Exposition in New York City. The new state-of-the-art exhibition space is located in the former printing presses building of The New York Times (226 West 44th Street).

Learn more at www.hmns.org

Related Video: Lucy’s Baby
Paleoanthropologist Zeresenay Alemseged looks for the
roots of humanity in Ethiopia’s badlands. Here he talks
about finding the oldest skeleteon of a humanoid child —
and how Africa holds the clues to our humanity.

Above: Wolfgang Puck, 59, Restaurateur, and his second
wife Ethiopian-born Gelila Assefa Puck, 39, High-End Clothier,
share the distinction of being one of several power couples
featured on the Forbes Magazine’s list of ‘Married Celebrity
Entrepreneurs.’

‘Could you imagine if I didn’t work and just sat and home and waited for him once my kids went to bed?’ asks Gelila Assafa Puck, second wife of celebrity chef Wolfgang Puck. Ethiopian-born Assefa Puck owned her own Los Angeles couture store from 1998 through 2001. In 2006, she launched a line of high-end handbags, manufactured in South Africa, that sell for $7,000 to $30,000. (She says she hopes to return to fashion design when her 2- and 4-year-old sons are old enough for school.) If that weren’t enough, she also operates a non-profit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, that sponsors secondary schooling for about 400 children.

See more Married Celebrity Entrepreneurs at Forbes.com.

New York Daily News
BY James Gordon Meek

Tuesday, June 2nd 2009, 4:00 AM

WASHINGTON – CIA clandestine operative Gregg Wenzel’s official cover was lifted Monday, when it was revealed that the New Yorker killed in 2003 was a spy – not a diplomat, as claimed.

Read more.
—
Join the conversation on Twitter and Facebook.

Above: Ethiopia’s Deriba Merga, pictured here in IAAF photo
at the Delhi Half Marathon 2008, won the USD 155,000
Sunfeast World 10K Bangalore 2009 event in the elite
men’s section clocking 28:13 seconds. Read more at
Deccan Herald.

The Times of India
By Biju Babu Cyriac
1 Jun 2009

BANGALORE: Deriba Merga and Aselefech Mergia, the Ethiopians who kept a low profile in the lead-up to the race day, emerged victorious in contrasting styles in the 2nd Sunfeast World 10k Bangalore on Sunday. Read more.

Related: Merga victorious but misses World 10km record

Above: “From the 16th to the middle of the 19th centuries,
virtually the whole of the Middle East was under the suzerainty
of the Ottoman Empire. When one of the Zagwe kings in Ethiopia,
King Lalibela (1190-1225), had trouble maintaining unhampered
contacts with the [Ethiopian] monks in Jerusalem, he decided to
build a new Jerusalem in his land. In the process he left behind one
of the true architectural wonders known as the Rock-hewn Churches
of Lalibela.” (From Tadias archives: History of Ethiopian Church
Presence in Jerusalem).

AFP
By Emmanuel Goujon –

LALIBELA, Ethiopia (AFP) — The ancient mystery shrouding Lalibela, Ethiopia’s revered medieval rock-hewn churches, could be lifted by a group of French researchers given the go-ahead for the first comprehensive study of this world heritage site legend says was “built by angels”. The team will have full access to the network of 10 Orthodox chapels chiseled out of volcanic rock — some standing 15 metres (42 feet) high — in the mountainous heart of Ethiopia. Read more.

Press Release via PRWeb Newswire
May 29, 2009

Sacramento, CA (PRWEB) — Ardent Energy Group (AEG) Inc, a full service biodiesel company focused on the cultivation and refining of high quality biodiesel from non-edible biological feedstock, announced today an agreement with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MOARD) of Ethiopia to transfer 15,000 hectares, approximately 37,000 acres, to AEG for the purpose of cultivating jatropha and castor. The resultant crop will be refined into usable biodiesel fuel.

“We started with the idea that in order to make biodiesel cost-effective we had to control the source of the oil and that became our “farm to fuel” strategy that begins with the securing of land for cultivation,” said Y. Daniel Gezahegne, founder and CEO of Ardent Energy Group. “By growing our crop in Ethiopia and distributing our fuel throughout the world, we are able to create jobs while creating a business that helps wean the world from petroleum-based fuels.”

The 15,000 hectares outlined in the memorandum of understanding (MOU) is in the Metekel Zone, Gublak District within Benshangul Gumuz in western Ethiopia. The MOU establishes a 50-year lease on the land for AEG, and includes permission to operate an oil crushing plant and biodiesel processing facility.

Jatropha and castor were selected as the first source of oil by AEG due to the resiliency of the plant, its ability to grow in marginal soil conditions and the extremely high-yield of oil to hectare as compared to other crops such as soybean. The ability of jatropha to thrive in harsh climates is also favorable, as the plant will not be competing with land that could otherwise be used for food production.

Ardent Energy Group is committed to creating sustainable, safe, reliable fuel from non-feedstock sources. More information is available at http://www.ardentenergygroup.com.

About Ardent Energy Group

Ardent Energy Group Inc. is a US.
Corporation registered in the
State of Nevada. The business
development office is located in
Elk Grove, California. AEG is a
full service biodiesel company
focused on the cultivation and
refining of high quality biodiesel
from non-edible biological
feedstock.

Above: Double Olympic champion Tirunesh Dibaba, pictured
here at the 3rd Annual Reebok Grand Prix two years ago, will
compete at this year’s event in New York. The Reebok Grand
Prix is the fourth stop of USA Track & Field’s Visa Championship
Series and will begin at 3:00pm on May 30th at Icahn Stadium
on Randall’s Island. (Photo: Tadias Magazine).

Tadias photos from the 2007 Reebok Grand Prix in New York

Dibaba, Powell, Campbell-Brown set for New York
(Athletics Weekly)
May 27th 2009
Dibaba, Powell, Campbell-Brown set for New York
DOUBLE Olympic champion Tirunesh Dibaba from Ethiopia will make her season’s debut over 5000m at the Reebok Grand Prix, May 30, after injury forced her to miss the World Cross Country Championships. The two-time world 10000m champion and world 5000m record-holder’s shape is not known but the US all-comers’ record of 14:24.53, held by archrival Meseret Defar, could be under threat. Read more

Above: Ethiopian store owner Hagos Admasu Gebreagziabher
was killed in front of his wife in Jacksonville, Florida.

JACKSONVILLE, FL –Jacksonville Sheriff’s Officers are looking
for two men they believe shot a man to death. The victim was
found late Monday night in front of a neighborhood store on
W. 13th Street near Canal. He’s been identified as 41-year-old
Hagos Admasu Gebreagziabher. Read more.

HuffingtonPost.com

Jim Luce
Posted: May 25, 2009 03:33 PM

Fasil Amdetsion is an attorney from Ethiopia who speaks in riddles. With an undergraduate degree from Yale in both history and international studies, and a law degree from Harvard, he is a thinker.

Working with prestigious New York law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, he is also a do-er.

One of the things Fasil has done recently is analyzed the legal, geopolitical, and historical dimensions of the longstanding dispute over the Nile. He has followed the course of this river from an early age, growing up in the Nile River basin. Read more at Huffingtonpost.com.

Above: “Despite his best efforts the 28 year old Merga fell
short running a course record of 27:23.9 in an incredible
solo effort. He earned himself USUS$5,000 “gender bonus”
for closing down the four minute twelve seconds head start
given to the women elite racers as well as US$2,000 for a
new course record.” – IAAF (Photo -Victah Sailer).

IAAF
Ottawa, Canada – Could Ethiopia’s Deriba Merga break the World 10k record just a month after winning the 2009 Boston Marathon? “That’s the $100,000 question,” said his agent Hussein Makke referring to the bonus money on offer for beating Micah Kogo’s pending record time of 27:01 at the MDS Nordion 10km in Ottawa. Ottawa, Canada – Could Ethiopia’s Deriba Merga break the World 10k record just a month after winning the 2009 Boston Marathon? “That’s the $100,000 question,” said his agent Hussein Makke referring to the bonus money on offer for beating Micah Kogo’s pending record time of 27:01 at the MDS Nordion 10km in Ottawa. The event – an IAAF Silver Label Road Race – started at 6:30 p.m. with large crowds turning out in sunny 20 degree temperatures to learn the answer. Read more.

Related: Congratulations Deriba Merga from Ethiopian Airlines Journeys
Source: Ethiopian Airlines Journeys

Washington, D.C. – April 20, 2009 — Ethiopian Airlines Journeys would like to be the first to congratulate Deriba Merga on winning the Boston Marathon.

Ethiopian Olympian, Deriba Merga, won his first Boston Marathon with a time of 2 hours, 8 minutes, and 42 seconds. The Ethiopian finished almost a minute ahead of Kenyan Daniel Rono.

Merga, who finished in 4th place in the Beijing Olympics, finished first among the more than 26,000 participants in Boston. Regarded as the third-fastest Ethiopian marathoner of all time, Merga now joins the famous list of Ethiopians that have won the Boston Marathon including Hailu Negussie and Abebe Mekonnen.

Merga was born in Nekemt and trains with the Ethiopian squad in Addis Ababa. Merga’s mentor is world record holder and beloved Ethiopian runner, Haile Gebrselassie.

Fellow native Ethiopian runner and former Boston Marathon champion, Dire Tune, finished second in the closest Women’s final ever. Her time of 2 hours, 32 minutes, and 17 seconds fell one second short of Kenyan, Salina Kosgei.

“Ethiopia takes great pride in their marathon runners,” said Marian Wargo, Director of Sales for Ethiopian Airlines Journeys and a native New Englander. “The athleticism and training commitment of these runners is truly amazing.”

Americans who wish to visit the fascinating homeland of these world-famous runners need look no further than Ethiopian Airlines Journeys. Whether it’s visiting the captivating history of the Northern route or experiencing the indigenous tribal cultures of the Southern route, Ethiopian Airlines Journeys crafts customized vacations to meet all needs. This month’s featured package is an Archaeological Adventure of Ethiopia with a chance to discover “The Ark of the Covenant.”

About Ethiopian Airlines Journeys
The finest vacation experiences in Ethiopia and East Africa begin with Ethiopian Airlines Journeys. Ethiopian Airlines Journeys is a single-source solution to plan and realize a truly authentic vacation in one of the most exciting and historical regions of Africa. The company provides the very best service, from friendly expert guides to comfortable accommodations to delightful meals to the most fascinating African experiences. This is all provided with total customization, built around each traveler’s preferences and interests. Call toll-free 1-866-599-3797 or visit www.seeyouinethiopia.com for more information.

About Ethiopian Airlines
Ethiopian Airlines is one of the largest airlines in Africa serving 53 destinations around the globe. As the winner of the 2007 African Business of the Year and Best African Airline Award for 2006, its service and quality are unparalleled among African airlines. Featuring five flights weekly from Washington D.C.’s Dulles International Airport, the airline offers both morning and evening departures, with the morning departure allowing seamless connections to 32 African destinations. The airline’s web site provides excellent information on additional flights, services and special web fares. For more information about Ethiopian Airlines, visit www.ethiopianairlines.com.

Above: Those arrested reportedly belong to a group headed
by former opposition party leader Berhanu Nega, an Ethiopian-
American economics professor at Bucknell University, who was
elected mayor of Addis Ababa in 2005. He has been accused of
masterminding a plot to assassinate officials.

Source: Reuters
* ‘Coup plotters’ remanded without charge

* Prosecutors tell court investigations completed

By Barry Malone

ADDIS ABABA, May 25 (Reuters) – A group accused of plotting to overthrow the Ethiopian government were remanded in custody on Monday again after spending more than one month in prison without any charges or visitation rights, relatives said. Read more.

Related: A year to election, Ethiopia opposition cries foul
May 14, 2009
10 hours ago

ADDIS ABABA (AFP) — Ethiopia’s opposition accuses the regime of pulling out all the stops to prevent change in next year’s elections, using a familiar arsenal of arbitrary arrests and trumped-up coup charges. Read more.

Related: VOA: Potential For Violence Shadows Ethiopia’s 2010 Election
By Peter Heinlein
Addis Ababa
06 May 2009
Ethiopia’s next national election is a year away, but tensions are already increasing. At least two opposition politicians have recently been jailed, both possibly facing life in prison, and security forces have arrested dozens of others, accusing them of plotting against the government. Both government and opposition leaders are expressing concern about the potential for election-related violence. Read more.

Ethiopia: Opposition Says Anti-govt Plot Invented (Reuters)

Above: Bulcha Demeksa, leader of one of the largest opposition
parties in Ethiopia.

By Barry Malone

ADDIS ABABA, May 5 (Reuters) – An Ethiopian opposition
leader said on Tuesday an anti-government plot had been
invented as an excuse to arrest potential candidates ahead
of national elections next year. Read more.

Ethiopia Denies Coup Plot, Calls 40 Detainees ‘Desperadoes’

Above: Berhanu Nega, an Ethiopian-American economics
professor at Bucknell University, who was elected mayor of
Addis Ababa in 2005, celebrates at his parents’ Addis Ababa
home after his pardon and release from prison, Friday, July 20,
2007. All arrested are members of an opposition group based
outside Ethiopia and led by the professor. (Photo: AP).

VOA
By Peter Heinlein
Addis Ababa
02 May 2009
Ethiopian officials say 40 people arrested over the past week had been plotting a campaign of assassinations and strategic bombings aimed at disrupting public order. Most of the suspects are said to be current or former army officers. Ethiopia’s communications minister Bereket Simon Friday attempted to reverse earlier claims that the government had foiled an attempted coup led by an exiled political leader living in the United States. Read more.

Related: Ethiopia Says It Arrested ‘coup plotters
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The Ethiopian government has arrested 35 people suspected of a coup attempt allegedly backed by an Ethiopian-American economist now teaching at a Pennsylvania university, an Ethiopian government spokesman said Saturday. Read more.

By Elizabeth Blunt
BBC News, Addis Ababa

Ethiopia’s authorities say they have arrested 35 people who were allegedly plotting to overthrow the government. All are said to be members of Ginbot 7 (May the 15th), an opposition group based outside Ethiopia and led by the self-exiled politician Berhanu Nega. The Ethiopian government say the people arrested in Friday’s raids fall into two groups: some were soldiers and others civil servants. A government spokesman said they would be charged in court early next week. Read more.

Related: Bucknell University Faculty Stories

Berhanu Nega

Just over a year ago, Berhanu Nega was locked
in an Ethiopian jail. Now he teaches at Bucknell’s
economics department. Read more.

Tadias Magazine
By Tadias Staff

Published: Wednesday, May 20, 2009

New York (Tadias) – 19-year-old Bewunetwa Abebe, who participated in the recently completed 2009 International Beauty and Model festival in China, has won the title of Model of Africa.

She was the second teenage Ethiopian model from the Ethiopian Millennium pageant to represent Ethiopia at an international beauty competition, which took place in Kunming, the capital of southwest China’s Yunnan province, a primarily agricultural province of 45 million.

The 3-weeks event from April 22 to May 7 gave the
participants an opportunity to display their country’s
attire as well as their posing skills.

Above: Yehune and Tutu Belay take a seat in their new
restaurant, which is decorated with imported arts and
crafts. (Photos By Lois Raimondo — The Washington Post)

WaPo
By Tom Sietsema
Wednesday, May 20, 2009

The co-owner of the Ethiopian Yellow Pages of the Washington area estimates there are more than 45 dining rooms serving doro wot and injera. So how does Yehune Belay, who just added the title of restaurateur to his résumé, hope to distinguish his place in Shaw from the pack? By re-creating the atmosphere of an Ethiopian home, he says. Read more.

Related from Tadias archives: Little Ethiopia in LA: How it happened

Tadias Magazine
By Azeb Tadesse & Meron Ahadu
A perspective from the people behind the idea

Los Angeles (Tadias) – By now, most people have heard of Little Ethiopia in Los Angeles, a place named for its unique ability to put forward a serving of Ethiopia. Along with the news, there have been many speculations on how this event came about and what it took to visibly acknowledge the essence of the area. As with most things in this world, Little Ethiopia began as a notion. Over a 10-year period, a number of Ethiopian restaurants and specialty store businesses slowly began to relocate to a strip on Fairfax Avenue. The neighborhood was soon transformed from an abandoned boarded up drive-by strip into a hub for community life, buzzing with colors, aroma, and affability of Ethiopian’s ancestral home. As years passed, Ethiopians and Angelinos began to label the area as “Little Addis”, “Little Ethiopia”, and “Ethiopian Restaurant Row”.

The notion began to take hold after PBS aired a segment of Huell Howeser’s popular “Our Neighborhood” show entitled “Little Ethiopia”. Meron Ahadu, co-author of this article, was the tour guide for that segment and the show got its title from the fact that the strip offered visitors a slice of Ethiopia.

The chain of events that led to the fruition of Little Ethiopia began when Meron Ahadu and Tirsit Asrat organized a fundraising for Congressman Mervyn Dymally, who played a key role in the mid 80’s in helping Ethiopians get amnesty. At the time, he was running for a seat in the California State Assembly. Unfortunately, the turnout by the Ethiopian community was disappointing. Nonetheless, it was at this event that the idea of Little Ethiopia was put forth and the Congressman pledged his support.

Five women came together to plan another benefit for the Congressman with a goal to get better participation from the Ethiopian community. It was at this time that the need became apparent to form a non-partisan organization that stood for an increased involvement of the Ethiopian community in the U.S. democratic process. Hence, the Ethiopian-American Advocacy Group (EAAG) was established. In addition to raising funds for Congressman Dymally, the function held on July 26, 2002 was the launching ceremony of EAAG. Various city and state officials attended this highly successful event. One of the short- term projects presented at this occasion was Little Ethiopia and it won the support of Herb Wesson, Speaker of the House for the California State Assembly, and Councilman Nate Holden of District 10, where Little Ethiopia was proposed to be located.

On August 7, 2002, the motion to name Little Ethiopia was presented to the Los Angeles City Council. Consequently, as a result of aggressive lobbying of several political personalities by EAAG members, the City Council voted unanimously to designate the area on Fairfax Avenue, between Olympic and Pico, as Little Ethiopia. The enormous support and candid enthusiasm of the City Council members and the larger Ethiopian community came as a pleasant surprise to many, even to those who worked on the project. A highly successful street festival organized by the community followed on November 24, 2002, to inaugurate the area as Little Ethiopia. A one-block stretch of Fairfax was closed to through traffic for a street festival featuring children’s village, cultural dance and music, fashion show and contemporary Ethiopian music. Approximately 5,000 people attended the festival from all walks of life and congratulations were received from around the globe. City officials and community leaders unveiled the sign designating the place as Little Ethiopia and thus the area was renamed bearing Ethiopia’s name.

This event was truly significant in many respects; firstly, this was the first time in the entire history of the United States that a city has recognized an African country by naming an area after it. Secondly, Little Ethiopia is the only place outside of Ethiopia that bears the name of the motherland. As one drives through the area, it is difficult to ignore the official sign designating the area. In that respect, it indicates that Ethiopians have arrived, are here to stay, and have stood up to be counted as vibrant members of the City of Los Angeles. Finally, yet importantly, this is a legacy for the next generation of Ethiopian-Americans. They will not be burdened with the task of establishing their identity but will have a footnote in the history books to refer to as they strengthen and build their presence in the U.S. and aboard.

It is quite overwhelming to realize that a deed at the local level should have such a universal significance. However, this only bears witness to the importance of engaging one’s surrounding, and begs the question: what can be accomplished if we focus on our commonality by setting aside our differences? What could the 65,000 Ethiopians in Southern California do if they join forces? How about the more than 500,000 Ethiopians in the U.S.? Better yet, what could a coalition of a couple of million African immigrants accomplish? EAAG hopes we will find out in our lifetime.

Related from Tadias Magazine: In Pictures: The Street Named
Little Ethiopia in L.A.

Above: Evander Holyfield (a.k.a. ‘The Real Deal’) and Ethiopian
American boxer Sammy Retta.

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

New York (Tadias) Evander Holyfield and Ethiopian American boxer Sammy Retta have arrived in Addis Ababa to prepare for an exhibition match on July 26 to help raise funds for AIDS victims, Ethiopian Television reports.

The event will mark Holyfield’s first boxing gig since his controversial loss to Nikolai Valuev.

The 46-year-old former undisputed heavyweight champion will face off in July the less known Sammy Retta, whom according to AFP, “is a 35-year-old with a record of 18 wins and three losses in super-middleweight bouts” and “at 230 pounds, he now outweighs his more illustrious rival.”

The upcoming fight has been described by AFP “as one of the highest-profile all-American boxing bouts on African soil since the legendary 1974 ‘Rumble in the Jungle’ that pitted Muhammad Ali against Joe Frazier in the former Zaire.”

Related: Holyfield targets September world title fight (AFP)

VIDEO: The Rumble In The Jungle: Muhammad Ali defeats
George Foreman (October 30, 1974 in Kinshasa, Zaire)

Video: Holyfield Beats Mike Tyson

Above: “Gov. Martin O’Malley has created a new commission
to help business and community development interests of
African immigrants who have come to Maryland.” (AP)

Tadias Magazine
By Tadias Staff

Published: Sunday, May 17, 2009

New York (Tadias) – An Ethiopian American has been appointed to serve on Maryland’s newly established commission to assist “the business and community development interests” of the state’s growing African immigrant population.

Governor Martin O’Malley signed an executive order establishing the Commission last week and swore in 21 members of the body, including Ethiopian American Yonnas K. Kefle, an adjunct professor of economics at Frederick Community College.

The primary objective of the commission is to increase Maryland’s outreach to its residents who have immigrated from African countries, similar to the state’s other commissions handling the affairs of Hispanic, Asian, and Middle Eastern communities.

Since 1990, the African population has more than tripled in places such as greater Washington, including its Maryland suburbs. According to U.S. Census Bureau statistics there are close to one million African immigrants in the United States, with the largest communities residing in U.S. urban cities including New York, Los Angeles, Washington D.C., Atlanta, Seattle, Minneapolis, and in the suburbs of Maryland and Virginia. More than half of the African-born population came to the United States between 1990 and 2000. According to the Brookings Institution, estimates of the African-born population has soared past 130,000 in each city, with recent census data showing forty three percent of Africans in the U.S. as having college degrees. Ethiopian Americans, as a segment of the new immigrant population, comprise the top three African populations in America.

Valentina Ukwuoma, the head of the Bureau of Solid Waste for the Baltimore City Department of Public Works, has been named chair of the commission.

Above: Those arrested reportedly belong to a group headed
by former opposition party leader Berhanu Nega, an Ethiopian-
American economics professor at Bucknell University, who was
elected mayor of Addis Ababa in 2005. He has been accused of
masterminding a plot to assassinate officials.

May 14, 2009
10 hours ago

ADDIS ABABA (AFP) — Ethiopia’s opposition accuses the regime of pulling out all the stops to prevent change in next year’s elections, using a familiar arsenal of arbitrary arrests and trumped-up coup charges. Read more.

Related: VOA: Potential For Violence Shadows Ethiopia’s 2010 Election
By Peter Heinlein
Addis Ababa
06 May 2009
Ethiopia’s next national election is a year away, but tensions are already increasing. At least two opposition politicians have recently been jailed, both possibly facing life in prison, and security forces have arrested dozens of others, accusing them of plotting against the government. Both government and opposition leaders are expressing concern about the potential for election-related violence. Read more.

Ethiopia: Opposition Says Anti-govt Plot Invented (Reuters)

Above: Bulcha Demeksa, leader of one of the largest opposition
parties in Ethiopia.

By Barry Malone

ADDIS ABABA, May 5 (Reuters) – An Ethiopian opposition
leader said on Tuesday an anti-government plot had been
invented as an excuse to arrest potential candidates ahead
of national elections next year. Read more.

Ethiopia Denies Coup Plot, Calls 40 Detainees ‘Desperadoes’

Above: Berhanu Nega, an Ethiopian-American economics
professor at Bucknell University, who was elected mayor of
Addis Ababa in 2005, celebrates at his parents’ Addis Ababa
home after his pardon and release from prison, Friday, July 20,
2007. All arrested are members of an opposition group based
outside Ethiopia and led by the professor. (Photo: AP).

VOA
By Peter Heinlein
Addis Ababa
02 May 2009
Ethiopian officials say 40 people arrested over the past week had been plotting a campaign of assassinations and strategic bombings aimed at disrupting public order. Most of the suspects are said to be current or former army officers. Ethiopia’s communications minister Bereket Simon Friday attempted to reverse earlier claims that the government had foiled an attempted coup led by an exiled political leader living in the United States. Read more.

Related: Ethiopia Says It Arrested ‘coup plotters
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The Ethiopian government has arrested 35 people suspected of a coup attempt allegedly backed by an Ethiopian-American economist now teaching at a Pennsylvania university, an Ethiopian government spokesman said Saturday. Read more.

By Elizabeth Blunt
BBC News, Addis Ababa

Ethiopia’s authorities say they have arrested 35 people who were allegedly plotting to overthrow the government. All are said to be members of Ginbot 7 (May the 15th), an opposition group based outside Ethiopia and led by the self-exiled politician Berhanu Nega. The Ethiopian government say the people arrested in Friday’s raids fall into two groups: some were soldiers and others civil servants. A government spokesman said they would be charged in court early next week. Read more.

Related: Bucknell University Faculty Stories

Berhanu Nega

Just over a year ago, Berhanu Nega was locked
in an Ethiopian jail. Now he teaches at Bucknell’s
economics department. Read more.

Tadias Magazine
Tadias Staff

Published: Thursday, May 14, 2009

New York (Tadias) – Speaking to a diverse crowd of more than 60,000 people at Arizona State University, President Barack Obama used his first commencement address as president to urge young graduates to get involved in their communities and to avoid measuring personal success only on the basis of material wealth. Watch the video here. You can also read the full text of Obama’s prepared remarks below.

Part 1:

Part 2:

Part 3:

Below is the text of President Obama’s remarks at the Arizona
State University Commencement, as prepared for delivery.

Thank you, President Crow, for that generous introduction, and for your inspired leadership here at ASU. And I want to thank the entire ASU community for the honor of attaching my name to a scholarship program that will help open the doors of higher education to students from every background. That is the core mission of this school; it is a core mission of my presidency; and I hope this program will serve as a model for universities across this country.

Now, before I begin, I’d like to clear the air about that little controversy everyone was talking about a few weeks back. I have to tell you, I really thought it was much ado about nothing, although I think we all learned an important lesson. I learned to never again pick another team over the Sun Devils in my NCAA bracket. And your university President and Board of Regents will soon learn all about being audited by the IRS.

In all seriousness, I come here not to dispute the suggestion that I haven’t yet achieved enough in my life. I come to embrace it; to heartily concur; to affirm that one’s title, even a title like President, says very little about how well one’s life has been led – and that no matter how much you’ve done, or how successful you’ve been, there’s always more to do, more to learn, more to achieve.

And I want to say to you today, graduates, that despite having achieved a remarkable milestone, one that you and your families are rightfully proud of, you too cannot rest on your laurels. Your body of work is yet to come.

Now, some graduating classes have marched into this stadium in easy times – times of peace and stability when we call on our graduates to simply keep things going, and not screw it up. Other classes have received their diplomas in times of trial and upheaval, when the very foundations of our lives have been shaken, the old ideas and institutions have crumbled, and a new generation is called on to remake the world.

It should be clear by now the category into which all of you fall. For we gather here tonight in times of extraordinary difficulty, for the nation and the world. The economy remains in the midst of a historic recession, the result, in part, of greed and irresponsibility that rippled out from Wall Street and Washington, as we spent beyond our means and failed to make hard choices. We are engaged in two wars and a struggle against terrorism. The threats of climate change, nuclear proliferation, and pandemic defy national boundaries and easy solutions.

For many of you, these challenges are felt in more personal terms. Perhaps you’re still looking for a job – or struggling to figure out what career path makes sense in this economy. Maybe you’ve got student loans, or credit card debts, and are wondering how you’ll ever pay them off. Maybe you’ve got a family to raise, and are wondering how you’ll ensure that your kids have the same opportunities you’ve had to get an education and pursue their dreams.

In the face of these challenges, it may be tempting to fall back on the formulas for success that have dominated these recent years. Many of you have been taught to chase after the usual brass rings: being on this “who’s who” list or that top 100 list; how much money you make and how big your corner office is; whether you have a fancy enough title or a nice enough car.

You can take that road – and it may work for some of you. But at this difficult time, let me suggest that such an approach won’t get you where you want to go; that in fact, the elevation of appearance over substance, celebrity over character, short-term gain over lasting achievement is precisely what your generation needs to help end.

I want to highlight two main problems with that old approach. First, it distracts you from what is truly important, and may lead you to compromise your values, principles and commitments. Think about it. It’s in chasing titles and status – in worrying about the next election rather than the national interest and the interests of those they represent – that politicians so often lose their way in Washington. It was in pursuit of gaudy short-term profits, and the bonuses that come with them, that so many folks lost their way on Wall Street.

The leaders we revere, the businesses that last – they are not the result of narrow pursuit of popularity or personal advancement, but of devotion to some bigger purpose – the preservation of the Union or the determination to lift a country out of depression; the creation of a quality product or a commitment to your customers, your workers, your shareholders and your community.

The trappings of success may be a by-product of this larger mission, but they can’t be the central thing. Just ask Bernie Madoff.

The second problem with the old approach is that a relentless focus on the outward markers of success all too often leads to complacency. We too often let them serve as indications that we’re doing well, even though something inside us tells us that we’re not doing our best; that we are shrinking from, rather than rising to, the challenges of the age. And the thing is, in this new, hyper-competitive age, you cannot afford to be complacent.

That is true in whatever profession you choose. Professors might earn the distinction of tenure, but that doesn’t guarantee that they’ll keep putting in the long hours and late nights – and have the passion and drive – to be great educators. It’s true in your personal life as well. Being a parent isn’t just a matter of paying the bills and doing the bare minimum – it’s not bringing a child into the world that matters, but the acts of love and sacrifice it takes to raise that child. It can happen to presidents too: Abraham Lincoln and Millard Fillmore had the very same title, but their tenure in office – and their legacy – could not be more different.

And that’s not just true for individuals – it is also true for this nation. In recent years, in many ways, we’ve become enamored with our own success – lulled into complacency by our own achievements.

We’ve become accustomed to the title of “military super-power,” forgetting the qualities that earned us that title – not just a build-up of arms, or accumulation of victories, but the Marshall Plan, the Peace Corps, our commitment to working with other nations to pursue the ideals of opportunity, equality and freedom that have made us who we are.

We’ve become accustomed to our economic dominance in the world, forgetting that it wasn’t reckless deals and get-rich-quick schemes that got us there; but hard work and smart ideas -quality products and wise investments. So we started taking shortcuts. We started living on credit, instead of building up savings. We saw businesses focus more on rebranding and repackaging than innovating and developing new ideas and products that improve our lives.

All the while, the rest of the world has grown hungrier and more restless – in constant motion to build and discover – not content with where they are right now, determined to strive for more.

So graduates, it is now abundantly clear that we need to start doing things a little differently. In your own lives, you’ll need to continuously adapt to a continuously changing economy: to have more than one job or career over the course of your life; to keep gaining new skills – possibly even new degrees; and to keep taking risks as new opportunities arise.

And as a nation, we’ll need a fundamental change of perspective and attitude. It is clear that we need to build a new foundation – a stronger foundation – for our economy and our prosperity, rethinking how we educate our children, and care for our sick, and treat our environment.

Many of our current challenges are unprecedented. There are no standard remedies, or go-to fixes this time around.

That is why we are going to need your help. We’ll need young people like you to step up. We need your daring and your enthusiasm and your energy.

And let me be clear, when I say “young,” I’m not just referring to the date on your birth certificate. I’m talking about an approach to life – a quality of mind and heart.

A willingness to follow your passions, regardless of whether they lead to fortune and fame. A willingness to question conventional wisdom and rethink the old dogmas. A lack of regard for all the traditional markers of status and prestige – and a commitment instead to doing what is meaningful to you, what helps others, what makes a difference in this world.

That’s the spirit that led a band of patriots not much older than you to take on an empire. It’s what drove young pioneers west, and young women to reach for the ballot; what inspired a 30 year-old escaped slave to run an underground railroad to freedom, and a 26 year-old preacher to lead a bus boycott for justice. It’s what led firefighters and police officers in the prime of their lives up the stairs of those burning towers; and young people across this country to drop what they were doing and come to the aid of a flooded New Orleans. It’s what led two guys in a garage – named Hewlett and Packard – to form a company that would change the way we live and work; and what led scientists in laboratories, and novelists in coffee shops to labor in obscurity until they finally succeeded in changing the way we see the world.

That is the great American story: young people just like you, following their passions, determined to meet the times on their own terms. They weren’t doing it for the money. Their titles weren’t fancy – ex-slave, minister, student, citizen. But they changed the course of history – and so can you.

With a degree from this university, you have everything you need to get started. Did you study business? Why not help our struggling non-profits find better, more effective ways to serve folks in need. Nursing? Understaffed clinics and hospitals across this country are desperate for your help. Education? Teach in a high-need school; give a chance to kids we can’t afford to give up on – prepare them to compete for any job anywhere in the world. Engineering? Help us lead a green revolution, developing new sources of clean energy that will power our economy and preserve our planet.

Or you can make your mark in smaller, more individual ways. That’s what so many of you have already done during your time here at ASU – tutoring children; registering voters; doing your own small part to fight hunger and homelessness, AIDS and cancer. I think one student said it best when she spoke about her senior engineering project building medical devices for people with disabilities in a village in Africa. Her professor showed a video of the folks they’d be helping, and she said, “When we saw the people on the videos, we began to feel a connection to them. It made us want to be successful for them.”

That’s a good motto for all of us – find someone to be successful for. Rise to their hopes and their needs. As you think about life after graduation, as you look in the mirror tonight, you may see somebody with no idea what to do with their life. But a troubled child might look at you and see a mentor. A homebound senior citizen might see a lifeline. The folks at your local homeless shelter might see a friend. None of them care how much money is in your bank account, or whether you’re important at work, or famous around town – they just know that you’re someone who cares, someone who makes a difference in their lives.

That is what building a body of work is all about – it’s about the daily labor, the many individual acts, the choices large and small that add up to a lasting legacy. It’s about not being satisfied with the latest achievement, the latest gold star – because one thing I know about a body of work is that it’s never finished. It’s cumulative; it deepens and expands with each day that you give your best, and give back, and contribute to the life of this nation. You may have set-backs, and you may have failures, but you’re not done – not by a longshot.

Just look to history. Thomas Paine was a failed corset maker, a failed teacher, and a failed tax collector before he made his mark on history with a little book called Common Sense that helped ignite a revolution. Julia Child didn’t publish her first cookbook until she was almost fifty, and Colonel Sanders didn’t open up his first Kentucky Fried Chicken until he was in his sixties. Winston Churchill was dismissed as little more than a has-been, who enjoyed scotch just a bit too much, before he took over as Prime Minister and saw Great Britain through its finest hour. And no one thought a former football player stocking shelves at the local supermarket would return to the game he loved, become a Super Bowl MVP, and then come here to Arizona and lead your Cardinals to their first Super Bowl.

Each of them, at one point in their life, didn’t have any title or much status to speak of. But they had a passion, a commitment to following that passion wherever it would lead, and to working hard every step along the way.

And that’s not just how you’ll ensure that your own life is well-lived. It’s how you’ll make a difference in the life of this nation. I talked earlier about the selfishness and irresponsibility on Wall Street and Washington that rippled out and led to the problems we face today. I talked about the focus on outward markers of success that can lead us astray.

But here’s the thing, graduates: it works the other way around too. Acts of sacrifice and decency without regard to what’s in it for you – those also create ripple effects – ones that lift up families and communities; that spread opportunity and boost our economy; that reach folks in the forgotten corners of the world who, in committed young people like you, see the true face of America: our strength, our goodness, the enduring power of our ideals.

I know starting your careers in troubled times is a challenge. But it is also a privilege.

Because it is moments like these that force us to try harder, to dig deeper, to discover gifts we never knew we had – to find the greatness that lies within each of us. So don’t ever shy away from that endeavor. Don’t ever stop adding to your body of work. I can promise that you will be the better for that continued effort, as will this nation that we all love.

Congratulations on your graduation, and Godspeed on the road ahead.

Tadias Magazine
Tadias Staff

New York (Tadias) – One of the most anticipated music shows in London next week is Ethio-jazz inventor Mulatu Astatke’s collaboration with the Heliocentrics collective. “Even if the evening doesn’t live up to expectations, the Ethiopian bandleader’s new album is sure to make it onto my end-of-year-list of the best releases,” writes culture commentator Clive Davis on his Spectator blog.

Mulatu collaborates with Heliocentrics collective (VIDEO)

On his blog, Mr Davis also points out the amazing soundtrack of Jim
Jarmusch’s 2005 movie “Broken Flowers”, which featured Mulatu’s
music. Here is the video:

The Denver Post
By George Plaven

Denver police announced Wednesday evening they have arrested a man in connection with last Saturday’s fatal shooting of a 7-Eleven store clerk. Dale Wayne Baylis, 46, was taken into custody without incident outside his home at 1308 S. Logan Street. He is suspected of killing Natnael Mulugeta, a 28-year-old Ethiopian immigrant.

Dale Baylis (Denver Police Department)
Read more at The Denver Post.

Man Held in killing of Natnael Mulugeta

Friends, Family Remember Slain 7-Eleven Clerk

Authorities ID Denver Store Clerk Shot to Death
Examiner.com
DENVER (Map, News) –
May 4, 2009

Authorities have released the name of a Denver convenience store clerk who was shot and killed over the weekend. The Denver Office of the Medical Examiner says 27-year-old Natnael Mulugeta died of a perforating rifle wound to the chest. His death was ruled a homicide. Read more.

The Denver Post: Ethiopian Immigrant Shot Inside a 7-Eleven

Related: Denver officer cleared in shooting of Ethiopian man
holding cross

Above: An image of the crime scene on Dec. 29.

The Denver Post
By Kirk Mitchell
01/23/2009

The Denver District Attorney’s Office has said an officer who shot a man who charged him with what appeared to be a knife but was a cross was justified in firing his gun. Prosecutors decided not to file criminal charges against officer Gregory Ceccacci, who shot Samson Ferde at 4 a.m. during a Dec. 29, 2008, domestic violence call. Read more.

Above: Liya Kebede holds a baby while on a visit to Africa for
the World Health Organization. (Courtesy of WHO).

NBC News
Liya Kebede: Supermodel on a mission
Wed., May 6, 2009
Each month, we highlight a celebrity’s work on behalf of a specific cause. This month we speak with supermodel, actress, WHO ambassador and mother, Liya Kebede, about her work on health issues related to childbirth. You may recognize Kebede as the former face of Estee Lauder or from the cover of magazines including Vogue’s May 2009 issue. Kebede, who is Ethiopian, founded her own organization to reduce mortality among mothers, newborns and young children and well as to help mothers and children stay healthy. Read more.

Related: J. Crew Partners with Ethiopian-born Supermodel

J. Crew Partners with Liya Kebede to Carry her Handmade
Children’s Collection, Lemlem

(NEW YORK) – When J. Crew creative director Jenna Lyons and team met supermodel, mother of two, and International Goodwill Ambassador Liya Kebede, a relationship was born. Lyons approached Kebede to appear in the April catalog, but both quickly realized their relationship needn’t end there. Read More.

Above: Those arrested reportedly belong to a group headed
by former opposition party leader Berhanu Nega, an Ethiopian-
American economics professor at Bucknell University, who was
elected mayor of Addis Ababa in 2005.

AFP
ADDIS ABABA (AFP) — A prominent Ethiopian opposition leader rejected on Thursday accusations by the regime that he was the mastermind of a plot to assassinate top officials, calling the charges a fabrication. Read more.

Ethiopia Asked to Name ‘plotters’ (BBC)
Wednesday, 6 May 2009
The Ethiopian government has been asked by rights group Amnesty International to disclose the identity of 35 people arrested more than 10 days ago. They were accused of plotting to overthrow the government. The group says more people have been detained since, including an 80-year-old man in need of medical attention. The government says those arrested were all members of the opposition group Ginbot Seven, founded by the exiled mayor of Addis Abba, Berhanu Nega. The BBC’s Elizabeth Blunt in the capital, Addis Ababa, says he was one of the most charismatic opposition figures at the time of the last elections in Ethiopia in 2005. Read more at BBC.

VOA: Potential For Violence Shadows Ethiopia’s 2010 Election
By Peter Heinlein
Addis Ababa
06 May 2009
Ethiopia’s next national election is a year away, but tensions are already increasing. At least two opposition politicians have recently been jailed, both possibly facing life in prison, and security forces have arrested dozens of others, accusing them of plotting against the government. Both government and opposition leaders are expressing concern about the potential for election-related violence. Read more.

Ethiopia: Opposition Says Anti-govt Plot Invented (Reuters)

Above: Bulcha Demeksa, leader of one of the largest opposition
parties in Ethiopia.

By Barry Malone

ADDIS ABABA, May 5 (Reuters) – An Ethiopian opposition
leader said on Tuesday an anti-government plot had been
invented as an excuse to arrest potential candidates ahead
of national elections next year. Read more.

Ethiopia Denies Coup Plot, Calls 40 Detainees ‘Desperadoes’

Above: Berhanu Nega, an Ethiopian-American economics
professor at Bucknell University, who was elected mayor of
Addis Ababa in 2005, celebrates at his parents’ Addis Ababa
home after his pardon and release from prison, Friday, July 20,
2007. All arrested are members of an opposition group based
outside Ethiopia and led by the professor. (Photo: AP).

VOA
By Peter Heinlein
Addis Ababa
02 May 2009
Ethiopian officials say 40 people arrested over the past week had been plotting a campaign of assassinations and strategic bombings aimed at disrupting public order. Most of the suspects are said to be current or former army officers. Ethiopia’s communications minister Bereket Simon Friday attempted to reverse earlier claims that the government had foiled an attempted coup led by an exiled political leader living in the United States. Read more.

Related: Ethiopia Says It Arrested ‘coup plotters
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The Ethiopian government has arrested 35 people suspected of a coup attempt allegedly backed by an Ethiopian-American economist now teaching at a Pennsylvania university, an Ethiopian government spokesman said Saturday. Read more.

By Elizabeth Blunt
BBC News, Addis Ababa

Ethiopia’s authorities say they have arrested 35 people who were allegedly plotting to overthrow the government. All are said to be members of Ginbot 7 (May the 15th), an opposition group based outside Ethiopia and led by the self-exiled politician Berhanu Nega. The Ethiopian government say the people arrested in Friday’s raids fall into two groups: some were soldiers and others civil servants. A government spokesman said they would be charged in court early next week. Read more.

Related: Bucknell University Faculty Stories

Berhanu Nega

Just over a year ago, Berhanu Nega was locked in an Ethiopian jail. Now he is returning to Bucknell to re-join the economics department.

Nega was an economics professor at Bucknell from 1990 until 1994, when he returned to his native Ethiopia to join the Department of Economics at Addis Ababa University. He established and directed the Ethiopian Economic Policy Research Organization, the first such independent research institute in Ethiopia.

He eventually became a leader in the democratic opposition in Ethiopia, serving as deputy chairman for the Coalition for Unity and Democracy. In 2005, he became the first elected mayor in Ethiopia’s history after winning more than 75 percent of the vote for mayor of Addis Ababa.

The ruling party, however, declared victory in races throughout the country and arrested Nega and other opposition leaders on charges of treason.

“Thus ended the Ethiopian democratic experiment that had started with such high hopes, leaving the country in the darkness of totalitarian rule,” Nega said, in a talk on campus in February.

Among Nega’s supporters during his imprisonment were several Bucknell faculty members and President Brian C. Mitchell, who wrote letters calling for his release.

After 20 months in jail, Nega was released in July 2007. He returned to Bucknell as a visiting international scholar in economics in Spring 2008.

Since his release, Nega has urged the United States and other Western nations to back democratic movements in Ethiopia and other African countries by withdrawing support given to dictators in the name of stability.

“The principle of freedom and liberty that you believe in are the natural rights of every human being, wherever they are,” Nega said. “This is the principle that the average American shares with the forces in Ethiopia who have struggled with their sweat and blood to establish political order in their country.”

Courthouse News Service
Wednesday, May 06, 2009

The 7th Circuit reinstated an Ethiopian woman’s petition for asylum, ruling that the immigration judge failed to fully analyze her family ties. She allegedly belongs to a tribe linked to the former military regime whose members are now in exile. Antchineche Tsegaw Ayele is an ethnic Amhara, a tribe associated with the Mengistu regime which ruled Ethiopia before its overthrow by the Ethiopian Peoples’ Revolutionary Democratic Front. Read more.

CNN Video

CNN’s Barbara Starr visits a school in Ethiopia, where U.S.
troops give children a chance at a real education.

Above: A microbiologist tests samples for Influenza
A (H1N1), also called swine flu, at the Dallas Department of
Health and Human Services laboratory in Dallas on May 1,
2009. (Reuters).

msnbc.com staff and news service reports
MAY 5, 2009

Texas state health officials have confirmed the first death of a Texas resident with swine flu. Few details have been released, but officials say the woman was in her 30s and lived in Cameron County, along the U.S.-Mexico border, and had other, chronic health conditions. The Texas Department of State Health Services said she died earlier this week. Read more.

Above: Bulcha Demeksa, leader of one of the largest opposition
parties in Ethiopia.

By Barry Malone

ADDIS ABABA, May 5 (Reuters) – An Ethiopian opposition
leader said on Tuesday an anti-government plot had been
invented as an excuse to arrest potential candidates ahead
of national elections next year. Read more.

Ethiopia Denies Coup Plot, Calls 40 Detainees ‘Desperadoes’

Above: Berhanu Nega, an Ethiopian-American economics
professor at Bucknell University, who was elected mayor of
Addis Ababa in 2005, celebrates at his parents’ Addis Ababa
home after his pardon and release from prison, Friday, July 20,
2007. All arrested are members of an opposition group based
outside Ethiopia and led by the professor. (Photo: AP).

VOA
By Peter Heinlein
Addis Ababa
02 May 2009
Ethiopian officials say 40 people arrested over the past week had been plotting a campaign of assassinations and strategic bombings aimed at disrupting public order. Most of the suspects are said to be current or former army officers. Ethiopia’s communications minister Bereket Simon Friday attempted to reverse earlier claims that the government had foiled an attempted coup led by an exiled political leader living in the United States. Read more.

Related: Ethiopia Says It Arrested ‘coup plotters
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The Ethiopian government has arrested 35 people suspected of a coup attempt allegedly backed by an Ethiopian-American economist now teaching at a Pennsylvania university, an Ethiopian government spokesman said Saturday. Read more.

By Elizabeth Blunt
BBC News, Addis Ababa

Ethiopia’s authorities say they have arrested 35 people who were allegedly plotting to overthrow the government. All are said to be members of Ginbot 7 (May the 15th), an opposition group based outside Ethiopia and led by the self-exiled politician Berhanu Nega. The Ethiopian government say the people arrested in Friday’s raids fall into two groups: some were soldiers and others civil servants. A government spokesman said they would be charged in court early next week. Read more.

Related: Bucknell University Faculty Stories

Berhanu Nega

Just over a year ago, Berhanu Nega was locked in an Ethiopian jail. Now he is returning to Bucknell to re-join the economics department.

Nega was an economics professor at Bucknell from 1990 until 1994, when he returned to his native Ethiopia to join the Department of Economics at Addis Ababa University. He established and directed the Ethiopian Economic Policy Research Organization, the first such independent research institute in Ethiopia.

He eventually became a leader in the democratic opposition in Ethiopia, serving as deputy chairman for the Coalition for Unity and Democracy. In 2005, he became the first elected mayor in Ethiopia’s history after winning more than 75 percent of the vote for mayor of Addis Ababa.

The ruling party, however, declared victory in races throughout the country and arrested Nega and other opposition leaders on charges of treason.

“Thus ended the Ethiopian democratic experiment that had started with such high hopes, leaving the country in the darkness of totalitarian rule,” Nega said, in a talk on campus in February.

Among Nega’s supporters during his imprisonment were several Bucknell faculty members and President Brian C. Mitchell, who wrote letters calling for his release.

After 20 months in jail, Nega was released in July 2007. He returned to Bucknell as a visiting international scholar in economics in Spring 2008.

Since his release, Nega has urged the United States and other Western nations to back democratic movements in Ethiopia and other African countries by withdrawing support given to dictators in the name of stability.

“The principle of freedom and liberty that you believe in are the natural rights of every human being, wherever they are,” Nega said. “This is the principle that the average American shares with the forces in Ethiopia who have struggled with their sweat and blood to establish political order in their country.”

Above: Kassahun Kabiso, 23, is from Awassa, a lakeshore
town about 130 miles south of Addis Ababa. He left behind 16
brothers and sisters in 2002, and eventually ended up at the
“Mecca for African runners in New York: the Westchester Track
Club.”

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
By Karen Price and Matthew Santoni
Monday, May 4, 2009

Ethiopian native triumphs; local grad women’s No. 1
in Pittsburgh marathon

They kept pace through the South Side, up Forbes Hill to Oakland, through Shadyside, Homewood and into East Liberty. Even at mile 25 of the 26.2-mile Dick’s Sporting Goods Pittsburgh Marathon, Ethiopian native Kassahun Kabiso and Jim Jurcevich of Columbus, Ohio, were still side-by-side, running at a blistering pace of 5:27 minutes per mile past thousands of spectators. With just under a mile left, Kabiso widened a gap to beat Jurcevich by just three seconds with a time of 2:22:51 in the 20th running of the marathon and first since 2003. Read more.

Related from Tadias Archives:
Ethio New Yorkers eye NYC Marathon
Tadias Magazine
By Tadias Staff
Last Updated on May 4, 2009

New York – Kassahun Kabiso (above), the top New Yorker to finish the race in 2003, 2004, and 2006, participated in the 38th ING New York City Marathon on November 4, 2007.

The race through New York’s five boroughs (Staten Island, Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx, and Manhattan), unites dozens of culturally and ethnically diverse neighborhoods, passing over five bridges, and finishing up at Tavern on the Green in Central Park.

Kabiso, 23, who was profiled by the New York Times four years ago, is from Awassa, a lakeshore town about 130 miles south of Addis Ababa. He left behind 16 brothers and sisters in 2002, and eventually ended up at the “Mecca for African runners in New York: the Westchester Track Club.” His fellow Ethio-New Yorkers and running mates from the Bronx include, Worku Beyi, 20, and Demesse Tefera, 24.

“The Africans come, they arrive, they fall from the sky,” Coach Mike Barnow, founder of the club, told the New York Times.

“Who knows how these runners get here, but they get here.”

Tadias Magazine
By Tadias Staff

Published: Friday, May 1, 2009

New York (Tadias) – The Ruler of Dubai has been honored with an award by US Doctors for Africa (USDFA) in recognition of his global humanitarian efforts in Africa, the media office for UAE Vice President and Prime Minister announced.

The award was given last week in Los Angeles at the successful first-ever U.S.-based health summit for African First Ladies hosted by USDFA, a California based non-profit organization, founded by Ethiopian-born social entrepreneur Ted Alemayuhu.

“Accepting the award on behalf of Sheikh Mohammed, Omar Obaid Al Shamsi, Charge d’ Affairs at the UAE Embassy in Washington, delivered a special message from His Highness, reaffirming his commitment to supporting the developing world, with special focus on access to health care and education in Africa,” noted the statement from United Arab Emirates.

The UAE media office announced that “the award is a testament to Sheikh Mohammed’s charitable contributions, and drew attention to Dubai Cares, a humanitarian initiative that seeks to provide education to children in impoverished parts of the world, and Noor Dubai, which aims to provide treatment for eye diseases and blindness for over one million people around the world.”

The event, which included a performance by Natalie Cole and a luncheon hosted by California First Lady Maria Shriver, was attended by several African First Ladies and Sarah Brown, wife of UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown, as well as CEOs of international corporations and Hollywood stars.

—
USDFA Hosts Health Summit for African First Ladies

Above: First Ladies of African countries pose for photo,
Monday, April 20, 2009, at the African First Ladies Health
Summit in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Nick Ut).

Tadias Magazine
By Tadias Staff

Published: Wednesday, April 22, 2009

New York (Tadias) – First Ladies from several African countries assembled for a successful first-ever U.S.-based health summit on Monday, April 20, 2009 in Los Angeles. Read more.

The Jewish Week

By Carolyn Slutsky

By the time she was 7, Beejhy Barhany had fled her native Ethiopia, walking with her family and 300 villagers to Sudan, where they started a new life. After a few years they left again, this time taking a Jeep through the jungles of Kenya, on to Uganda, France and finally to Israel, which even at that young age she remembers was “like fulfilling a dream after exile.”

She quickly made the transition into Israeli life, and at 22 visited New York, where she also felt at home. But when she moved here, she searched for agencies to help Ethiopian Jews making the transition and found nothing. So in 2003 she founded Beta Israel of North America (BINA), a cultural organization for Ethiopian Jews.

36 Under 36 2009: Beejhy Barhany, 33

Read more »
—
Related:
The 6th Sheba Film Festival

Join the conversation on Twitter and Facebook.

NYT Editorial
One Hundred

Published: April 28, 2009

Crises, not days, is the first word that comes to mind when we think about the number 100 and Barack Obama’s presidency…In his first 14 weeks plus two days, President Obama has made a strong start at addressing many of the most critical ones. Read more.

HuffingtonPost.com
Has it been only 100 days since Barack Obama took the oath of office? Actually, it’s only been 98, but sometimes 100 days feels like more than 100 days. This is one of those times. Obama’s first 100 days have been among the most eventful in history. Read more.

Behind The Scenes: 300 Photos From Obama’s First 100 Days

From File: The Obama Presidency & Ethiopia

President Barack Obama (center) and Prime Minister
Meles Zenawi (top right) at the Group of 20 summit
meeting in London.

Tadias Magazine
Time for Fresh Thought
By Donald N. Levine
Published: Monday, March 23, 2009

New York (Tadias) – Throughout 2008 I published articles on links between Ethiopia’s needs and the promises of an Obama presidency. Now that President Obama is in office, what might we project? What, that is, might it mean to reconsider U.S. relations with Ethiopia in ways that align them with the orientations of an Obama presidency?

Eyeing policies the Obama administration has already implemented and earlier statements suggests at least half a dozen aims: 1) employ state-of-the art technologies to advance human welfare; 2) develop energy sources to replace fossil fuels, and in other ways conserve natural environments; 3) link upgraded education and health services with a strengthened economy; 4) avoid sharp polarities of pronouncement and of conduct; 5) curtail terrorist tactics, but in smart ways; and 6) restore moral direction for a market economy and public service from the citizenry. In what follows I explore implications of those principles and priorities for U.S. relations with Ethiopia. Read more.

Above: Quarantine officials at the Narita, Japan, airport go
Wednesday to meet planes arriving from Mexico.

Above: Antonia Blumberg, 18, center, enjoys the music at
Virgin Mary Ethiopian Orthodox Church on Compton Avenue.
She’s participating in a USC program called Souljourn that
takes students to different churches around the city to
experience different cultures and beliefs. (Liz O. Baylen /
Los Angeles Times).

Field trip of world religions doesn’t go far

USC’s extracurricular ‘Souljourn’ program lets students study
firsthand how world religions are ‘lived,’ by visiting the dozens
of churches that sit within blocks of campus.

By Joe Mozingo
April 27, 2009

In his quest to have students experience firsthand how people around the world worship, Varun Soni, the dean of religious life at USC, did not start up some expensive study-abroad program. He just ventured a few blocks from campus. Read more.

Related from Tadias Archives:
History of Ethiopian Church Presence in Jerusalem

Above photo: Ethiopian monks on the roof of Christianity’s
holiest shrine in Jerusalem (Creative Commons Attribution).

Tadias Magazine
Editor’s Note:
Updated: Tuesday, April 28, 2009

New York (Tadias) – The following piece was first published on the print issue of Tadias Magazine in the context of the July 2002 brawl that erupted on the roof of Christianity’s most holy place between Ethiopian and Egyptian monks.

“Eleven monks were treated in hospital after a fight broke out for control of the roof of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, the traditional site of Jesus’s crucifixion, burial and resurrection”, wrote Alan Philps, a Jerusalem based reporter for the Daily Telegraph.

“The fracas involved monks from the Ethiopian Orthodox church and the Coptic church of Egypt, who have been vying for control of the rooftop for centuries.”

We have republished here part of the original article from our archives with a hope that it may generate a healthy discussion on the subject.

Deir Sultan, Ethiopia and the Black World
By Negussay Ayele for Tadias Magazine

Above: Main entrance to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre (27/03/2005),
Easter Sunday. This image is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution.

Unknown by much of the world, monks and nuns of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, have for centuries quietly maintained the only presence by black people in one of Christianity’s holiest sites—the Church of the Holy Sepulchre of Jesus Christ in Jerusalem.

Through the vagaries and vicissitudes of millennial history and landlord changes in Jerusalem and the Middle East region, Ethiopian monks have retained their monastic convent in what has come to be known as Deir Sultan or the Monastery of the Sultan for more than a thousand years.

Likewise, others that have their respective presences in the area at different periods include Armenian, Russian, Syrian, Egyptian and Greek Orthodox/Coptic Churches as well as the Holy See.

As one writer put it recently, “For more than 1500 years, the Church of Ethiopia survived in Jerusalem. Its survival has not, in the last resort, been dependent on politics, but on the faith of individual monks that we should look for the vindication of the Church’s presence in Jerusalem…. They are attracted in Jerusalem not by a hope for material gain or comfort, but by faith.”

It is hoped that public discussion on this all-important subject will be joined by individuals and groups from all over the world. We hope that others with more detailed and/or first hand knowledge about the subject will join in the discussion.

Above: Painting on the wall of the Ethiopian part of the church of the Holy
Sepulcher. Photo by Iweze Davidson.

Accounts of Ethiopian presence in Jerusalem invoke the Bible to establish the origin of Ethiopian presence in Jerusalem.

Accordingly, some Ethiopians refer to the story of the encounter in Jerusalem between Queen of Sheba–believed to have been a ruler in Ethiopia and environs–and King Solomon, cited, for instance, in I Kings 10: 1-13.

According to this version, Ethiopia’s presence in the region was already established about 1000 B.C. possibly through land grant to the visiting Queen, and that later transformation into Ethiopian Orthodox Christian monastery is an extension of that same property.

Others refer to the New Testament account of Acts 8: 26-40 which relates the conversion to Christianity of the envoy of Ethiopia’s Queen Candace (Hendeke) to Jerusalem in the first century A.D., thereby signaling the early phase of Ethiopia’s adoption of Christianity. This event may have led to the probable establishment of a center of worship in Jerusalem for Ethiopian pilgrims, priests, monks and nuns.

Keeping these renditions as a backdrop, what can be said for certain is the following: Ethiopian monastic activities in Jerusalem were observed and reported by contemporary residents and sojourners during the early years of the Christian era.

By the time of the Muslim conquest of Jerusalem and the region (634-644 A.D.) khalif Omar is said to have confirmed Ethiopian physical presence in Jerusalem’s Christian holy places, including the Church of St. Helena, which encompasses the Holy Sepulchre of the Lord Jesus Christ.

His firman or directive of 636 declared “the Iberian and Abyssinian communities remain there” while also recognizing the rights of other Christian communities to make pilgrimages in the Christian holy places of Jerusalem.

Because Jerusalem and the region around it, has been subjected to frequent invasions and changing landlords, stakes in the holy places were often part of the political whims of respective powers that be.

Subsequently, upon their conquest of Jerusalem in 1099, the Crusaders had kicked out Orthodox/Coptic monks from the monasteries and installed Augustine monks instead. However, when in 1187 Salaheddin wrested Jerusalem from the Crusaders, he restored the presence of the Ethiopian and other Orthodox/Coptic monks in the holy places.

When political powers were not playing havoc with their claims to the holy places, the different Christian sects would often carry on their own internecine conflicts among themselves, at times with violent results.

Contemporary records and reports indicate that the Ethiopian presence in the holy places in Jerusalem was rather much more substantial throughout much of the period up to the 18th and 19th centuries.

For example, an Italian pilgrim, Barbore Morsini, is cited as having written in 1614 that “the Chapels of St. Mary of Golgotha and of St. Paul…the grotto of David on Mount Sion and an altar at Bethlehem…” among others were in the possession of the Ethiopians.

From the 16th to the middle of the 19th centuries, virtually the whole of the Middle East was under the suzerainty of the Ottoman Empire. When one of the Zagwe kings in Ethiopia, King Lalibela (1190-1225), had trouble maintaining unhampered contacts with the monks in Jerusalem, he decided to build a new Jerusalem in his land. In the process he left behind one of the true architectural wonders known as the Rock-hewn Churches of Lalibela.

Above: Lalibela. This image is licensed under
Creative Commons Attribution.

Above: Lalibela. This image is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution.

Above: Lalibela. This image is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution.

The Ottomans also controlled Egypt and much of the Red Sea littoral and thereby circumscribed Christian Ethiopia’s communication with the outside world, including Jerusalem.

Besides, they had also tried but failed to subdue Ethiopia altogether. Though Ethiopia’s independent existence was continuously under duress not only from the Ottomans but also their colonial surrogate, Egypt as well as from the dervishes in the Sudan, the Ethiopian monastery somehow survived during this period. Whenever they could, Ethiopian rulers and other personages as well as church establishments sent subsidies and even bought plots of land where in time churches and residential buildings for Ethiopian pilgrims were built in and around Jerusalem. Church leaders in Jerusalem often represented the Ethiopian Orthodox Church in ecumenical councils and meetings in Florence and other fora.

During the 16th and 17th centuries the Ottoman rulers of the region including Palestine and, of course, Jerusalem, tried to stabilize the continuing clamor and bickering among the Christian sects claiming sites in the Christian holy places. To that effect, Ottoman rulers including Sultan Selim I (1512-1520) and Suleiman “the Magnificent” (1520-1566) as well as later ones in the 19th century, issued edicts or firmans regulating and detailing by name which group of monks would be housed where and the protocol governing their respective religious ceremonies. These edicts are called firmans of the Status Quo for all Christian claimants in Jerusalem’s holy places including the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, which came to be called Deir Sultan or the monastery (place) of the Sultan.

Ethiopians referred to it endearingly as Debre Sultan. Most observers of the scene in the latter part of the 19th Century as well as honest spokesmen for some of the sects attest to the fact that from time immemorial the Ethiopian monks had pride of place in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre (Deir Sultan). Despite their meager existence and pressures from fellow monks from other countries, the Ethiopian monks survived through the difficult periods their country was going through such as the period of feudal autarchy (1769-1855).

Still, in every document or reference since the opening of the Christian era, Ethiopia and Ethiopian monks have been mentioned in connection with Christian holy places in Jerusalem, by all alternating landlords and powers that be in the region.

As surrogates of the weakening Ottomans, the Egyptians were temporarily in control of Jerusalem (1831-1840). It was at this time, in 1838, that a plague is said to have occurred in the holy places, which in some mysterious ways of Byzantine proportions, claimed the lives of all Ethiopian monks.

The Ethiopians at this time were ensconced in a chapel of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre (Deir Sultan) as well as in other locales nearby. Immediately thereafter, the Egyptian authorities gave the keys of the Church to the Egyptian Coptic monks.

The Egyptian ruler, Ibrahim Pasha, then ordered that all thousands of very precious Ethiopian holy books and documents, including historical and ecclesiastical materials related to property deeds and rights, be burned—alleging conveniently that the plague was spawned by the Ethiopian parchments.

Monasteries are traditionally important hubs of learning and, given its location and its opportunity for interaction with the wider family of Christendom, the Ethiopian monastery in Jerusalem was even more so than others. That is how Ethiopians lost their choice possession in Deir Sultan.

By the time other monks arrived in Jerusalem, the Copts claimed their squatter’s rights, the new Ethiopian arrivals were eventually pushed off onto the open rooftop of the church, thanks largely to the machinations of the Egyptian Coptic church.

Above: The roof of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in
Jerusalem, where Ethiopians maintain the only presence
by black people in Christianity’s holiest shrine. This image
is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution.

Although efforts on behalf of Ethiopian monks in Jerusalem started in mid-19th Century with Ras Ali and Dejach Wube, it was the rise of Emperor Tewodros in 1855 in Ethiopia that put the Jerusalem monastery issue back onto international focus.

When Ethiopian monks numbering a hundred or so congregated in Jerusalem at the time, the Armenians had assumed superiority in the holy places. The Anglican bishop in Jerusalem then, Bishop Samuel Gobat witnessed the unholy attitude and behavior of the Armenians and the Copts towards their fellow Christian Ethiopians who were trying to reclaim their rights to the holy places in Jerusalem.

He wrote that the Ethiopian monks, nuns and pilgrims “were both intelligent and respectable, yet they were treated like slaves, or rather like beasts by the Copts and the Armenians combined…(the Ethiopians) could never enter their own chapel but when it pleased the Armenians to open it. …On one occasion, they could not get their chapel opened to perform funeral service for one of their members. The key to their convent being in the hands of their oppressors, they were locked up in their convent in the evening until it pleased their Coptic jailer to open it in the morning, so that in any severe attacks of illness, which are frequent there, they had no means of going out to call a physician.’’

It was awareness of such indignities suffered by Ethiopian monks in Jerusalem that is said to have impelled Emperor Tewodros to have visions of clearing the path between his domain and Jerusalem from Turkish/Egyptian control, and establishing something more than monastic presence there. In the event, one of the issues that contributed to the clash with British colonialists that consumed his life 1868, was the quest for adequate protection of the Ethiopian monks and their monastery in Jerusalem.

Emperor Yohannes IV (1872-1889), the priestly warrior king, used his relatively cordial relations with the British who were holding sway in the region then, to make representations on behalf of the Ethiopian monastery in Jerusalem.

He carried on regular pen-pal communications with the monks even before he became Emperor. He sent them money, he counseled them and he always asked them to pray for him and the country, saying, “For the prayers of the righteous help and serve in all matters. By the prayers of the righteous a country is saved.”

He used some war booty from his battles with Ottomans and their Egyptian surrogates, to buy land and started to build a church in Jerusalem. As he died fighting Sudanese/Dervish expansionists in 1889, his successor, Emperor Menelik completed the construction of the Church named Debre Gennet located on what was called “Ethiopian Street.”

During this period more monasteries, churches and residences were also built by Empresses Tayitu, Zewditu, Menen as well as by several other personages including Afe Negus Nessibu, Dejazmach Balcha, Woizeros Amarech Walelu, Beyenech Gebru, Altayeworq.

As of the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th Century the numbers of Ethiopian monks and nuns increased and so did overall Ethiopian pilgrimage and presence in Jerusalem.

In 1903, Emperor Menelik put $200, 000 thalers in a (Credileone) Bank in the region and ordained that interests from that savings be used exclusively as subsidy for the sustenance of the Ethiopian monks and nuns and the upkeep of Deir Sultan. Emperor Menelik’s 6-point edict also ordained that no one be allowed to draw from the capital in whole or in part.

Land was also purchased at various localities and a number of personalities including Empress Tayitu, and later Empress Menen, built churches there. British authorities supported a study on the history of the issue since at least the time of kalifa (Calif) Omar ((636) and correspondences and firmans and reaffirmations of Ethiopian rights in 1852, in an effort to resolve the chronic problems of conflicting claims to the holy sites in Jerusalem.

The 1925 study concluded that ”the Abyssinian (Ethiopian ) community in Palestine ought to be considered the only possessor of the convent Deir Es Sultan at Jerusalem with the Chapels which are there and the free and exclusive use of the doors which give entrance to the convent, the free use of the keys being understood.”

Until the Fascist invasion of Ethiopia in the 1930’s when Mussolini confiscated Ethiopian accounts and possessions everywhere, including in Jerusalem, the Ethiopian presence in Jerusalem had shown some semblance of stability and security, despite continuing intrigues by Copts, Armenians and their overlords in the region.

This was a most difficult and trying time for the Ethiopian monks in Jerusalem who were confronted with a situation never experienced in the country’s history, namely its occupation by a foreign power. And, just like some of their compatriots including Church leaders at home, some paid allegiance to the Fascist rulers albeit for the brief (1936-1941) interregnum.

Emperor Haile Sellassie was also a notable patron of the monastery cause, and the only monarch to have made several trips to Jerusalem, including en route to his self-exile to London in May, 1936.

Since at least the 1950s there was an Ethiopian Association for Jerusalem in Addis Ababa that coordinated annual Easter pilgrimages to Jerusalem. Hundreds of Ethiopians and other persons from Ethiopia and the Diaspora took advantage of its good offices to go there for absolution, supplication or felicitation, and the practice continues today.

Against all odds, historical, ecclesiastical and cultural bonding between Ethiopia and Jerusalem waxed over the years. The Ethiopian presence expanded beyond Deir Sultan including also numerous Ethiopian Churches, chapels, convents and properties. This condition required that the Patriarchate of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church designate Jerusalem as a major diocese to be administered under its own Archbishop.

Above: Timket (epiphany) celebration by the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo
Church on the Jordan River, considered to be the place where Jesus was
baptized. Jan. 1999. Photo by Iweze Davidson.

Ethiopia and Black Heritage In Jerusalem

For hundreds of years, the name or concept of Ethiopia has been a beacon for black/African identity liberty and dignity throughout the diaspora. The Biblical (Psalm 68:31) verse , “…Ethiopia shall soon stretch forth her hands unto God” has been universally taken to mean African people, black people at large, stretch out their hands to God (and only to God) in supplication, in felicitation or in absolution.

As Daniel Thwaite put it, for the Black man Ethiopia was always “…an incarnation of African independence.”

And today, Ethiopian monastic presence in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre or Deir Sultan in Jerusalem, is the only Black presence in the holiest place on earth for Christians. For much of its history, Ethiopian Christianity was largely hemmed in by alternating powers in the region. Likewise, Ethiopia used its own indigenous Ethiopic languages for liturgical and other purposes within its own territorial confines, instead of colonial or other lingua franca used in extended geographical spaces of the globe.

For these and other reasons, Ethiopia was not able to communicate effectively with the wider Black world in the past. Given the fact that until recently, most of the Black world within Africa and in the diaspora was also under colonial tutelage or under slavery, it was not easy to appreciate the significance of Ethiopian presence in Jerusalem. Consequently, even though Ethiopian/Black presence in Jerusalem has been maintained through untold sacrifices for centuries, the rest of the Black world outside of Ethiopia has not taken part in its blessings through pilgrimages to the holy sites and thereby develop concomitant bonding with the Ethiopian monastery in Jerusalem.

For nearly two millennia now, the Ethiopian Church and its adherent monks and priests have miraculously maintained custodianship of Deir Sultan, suffering through and surviving all the struggles we have glanced at in these pages. In fact, the survival of Ethiopian/Black presence in Christianity’s holy places in Jerusalem is matched only by the “Survival Ethiopian Independence” itself.

Indeed, Ethiopian presence in Deir Sultan represents not just Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity but all African/black Christians of all denominations who value the sacred legacy that the holy places of Jerusalem represent for Christians everywhere. It represents also the affirmation of the fact that Jerusalem is the birthplace of Christianity, just as adherents of Judaism and Islam claim it also.

The Ethiopian foothold at the rooftop of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre is the only form of Black presence in Christianity’s holy places of Jerusalem. It ought to be secure, hallowed and sanctified ground by and for all Black folks everywhere who value it. The saga of Deir Sultan also represents part of Ethiopian history and culture. And that too is part of African/black history and culture regardless of religious orientation.

When a few years ago, an Ethiopian monk was asked by a writer why he had come to Jerusalem to face all the daily vicissitudes and indignities, he answered, “because it is Jerusalem.”

—
About the Author:
Dr. Negussay Ayele is a noted Ethiopian scholar. He is the author of the book Ethiopia and the United States, Volume I, the Season of Courtship, among many other publications. He lives in Los Angeles, California.

Above photo by Jeffrey Phipps for Tadias Magazine

Examiner.com.
April 25

What do you get when you cross a donkey and a book? A mobile library! Yes, thanks to Liberian Johannes Gebregeorgis, tens of thousands of Ethiopian children have learned to read.

Gebregeorgis, an Ethiopian native, was taught to read by Peace Corps volunteers in his village. He was inspired to create the program Ethiopia reads while working as a children’s librarian in the San Francisco Public Library. Read more.

Related from Tadias TV:CNN Hero Meets Supporters in New York
Here is an updated video of Yohannes Gebregeorgis, one of the
Top Ten CNN Heroes of 2008, at Cafe Addis in Harlem, NYC.
The event took place on Saturday, December 13, 2008.

Above: Berhanu Nega, an Ethiopian-American economics
professor at Bucknell University, who was elected mayor of
Addis Ababa in 2005, celebrates at his parents’ Addis Ababa
home after his pardon and release from prison, Friday, July 20,
2007. All arrested are members of an opposition group based
outside Ethiopia and led by the professor. (Photo: AP).

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The Ethiopian government has arrested 35 people suspected of a coup attempt allegedly backed by an Ethiopian-American economist now teaching at a Pennsylvania university, an Ethiopian government spokesman said Saturday. Read more.

By Elizabeth Blunt
BBC News, Addis Ababa

Ethiopia’s authorities say they have arrested 35 people who were allegedly plotting to overthrow the government. All are said to be members of Ginbot 7 (May the 15th), an opposition group based outside Ethiopia and led by the self-exiled politician Berhanu Nega. The Ethiopian government say the people arrested in Friday’s raids fall into two groups: some were soldiers and others civil servants. A government spokesman said they would be charged in court early next week. Read more.

Related: Bucknell University Faculty Stories

Berhanu Nega

Just over a year ago, Berhanu Nega was locked in an Ethiopian jail. Now he is returning to Bucknell to re-join the economics department.

Nega was an economics professor at Bucknell from 1990 until 1994, when he returned to his native Ethiopia to join the Department of Economics at Addis Ababa University. He established and directed the Ethiopian Economic Policy Research Organization, the first such independent research institute in Ethiopia.

He eventually became a leader in the democratic opposition in Ethiopia, serving as deputy chairman for the Coalition for Unity and Democracy. In 2005, he became the first elected mayor in Ethiopia’s history after winning more than 75 percent of the vote for mayor of Addis Ababa.

The ruling party, however, declared victory in races throughout the country and arrested Nega and other opposition leaders on charges of treason.

“Thus ended the Ethiopian democratic experiment that had started with such high hopes, leaving the country in the darkness of totalitarian rule,” Nega said, in a talk on campus in February.

Among Nega’s supporters during his imprisonment were several Bucknell faculty members and President Brian C. Mitchell, who wrote letters calling for his release.

After 20 months in jail, Nega was released in July 2007. He returned to Bucknell as a visiting international scholar in economics in Spring 2008.

Since his release, Nega has urged the United States and other Western nations to back democratic movements in Ethiopia and other African countries by withdrawing support given to dictators in the name of stability.

“The principle of freedom and liberty that you believe in are the natural rights of every human being, wherever they are,” Nega said. “This is the principle that the average American shares with the forces in Ethiopia who have struggled with their sweat and blood to establish political order in their country.”

Above: A tree now named Acacia fumosa covers thousands
of square kilometers of the limestone hills in Ethiopia’s
Ogaden region. Yet botanists had never named the tree
until 2008. The new species bears pink flowers in the dry
season, unlike most acacias, which produce yellow or cream
blooms in the wet season.Credit: Thulin (ScienceNews).

By Alister Doyle, Environment Correspondent

OSLO, April 23 (Reuters) – A tree that covers a large area of eastern Ethiopia but has only recently been categorised by botanists raises hope for finding new species elsewhere, experts said. The acacia fumosa tree, which grows in an area the size of the island of Crete, was not “found” for scientific purposes until 2006-7, mostly likely because its main habitat is a war zone. Read More.

Above: First Ladies of African countries pose for photo,
Monday, April 20, 2009, at the African First Ladies Health
Summit in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Nick Ut).

Tadias Magazine
By Tadias Staff

Published: Wednesday, April 22, 2009

New York (Tadias) – First Ladies from several African countries assembled for a successful first-ever U.S.-based health summit on Monday, April 20, 2009 in Los Angeles.

They were hosted by USDFA, a California based non-profit organization, founded by Ethiopian-born social entrepreneur Ted Alemayuhu.

“Empowering Africa’s First Ladies is an innovative approach to bettering the lives of millions of Africans,” Mr. Alemayhu said in a statement.

The event, which included a performance by Natalie Cole and a luncheon hosted by California first lady Maria Shriver, engaged the First Ladies in identifying top priorities for the coming year related to maternal and child health, HIV/AIDS and Education.

“First ladies have a unique role. They exist outside the political realm to some degree but have a very powerful role in their communities as role models to everyday Africans,” Cora Neumann, an organizer for USDFA told the Associated Press. “There’s never been a summit focused exclusively on them.”

First Ladies of countries throughout Africa pose for a photo Monday, April 20, 2009,
at the African First Ladies Health Summit in Los Angeles. Seated from left are: Adelcia
Barreto Pires of Cape Verde, Chantal Biya of Cameroon, Ana Paula Dos Santos of Angola
and Queen Inkhosikati LaMbikiza of Swaziland. (AP Photo/Nick Ut)

Actors Christine Lahti, left, and Joely Fisher pose at the African First Ladies Health
Summit in Los Angeles on Monday, April 20, 2009. (AP Photo/Nick Ut)

Dignitaries hailed from member countries of African Synergy, a health initiative alliance comprising of twenty two African First Ladies. African Synergy was established in 2002.

Participating first ladies included: Ida Odinga wife of Kenyan prime minister; Hadjia Laraba Tandja of Niger; Penehupifo Pohamba of Namibia; Thandiwe Banda of Zambia; Maria da Luz Dai Guebuza of Mozambique; Mathato Sarah Mosisili of Lesotho; Sia Nyama Koroma of Sierra Leone; Adelcia Barreto Pires of Cape Verde; Chantal Biya of Cameroon; Ana Paula Dos Santos of Angola; Queen Inkhosikati LaMbikiza of Swaziland and Dr. Turai Umaru Yar’Adua of Nigeria.

Above: This photo, which was taken by Chester Higgins,
appeared on page A27 in the New York Times on Monday, 20
April. It shows the Easter Services at the Holy Trinity Ethiopian
Orthodox Church in Morris Heights section of the South Bronx on
176th Street, two blocks west of University Avenue.

Related: Did you know? Ethiopia’s Belated Easter Celebration (Time)
Ethiopian Orthodox Christians celebrate Easter anywhere from a week to two weeks after the western Church (sometimes, they occur at the same time, due to the vagaries of the Eastern Orthodox calendar, which Ethiopians follows). Fasika (Easter) follows eight weeks of fasting from meat and dairy. On Easter Eve, Ethiopian Christians participate in an hours-long church service that ends around 3 a.m., after which they break their fast and celebrate the risen Christ. Read more.

Related: Ethiopian community celebrates Easter
The holiday, called Fasika, is celebrated in Orthodox churches throughout the country. Preceded by an intense 56-day period of fasting, the religious ceremony is celebrated through music and dance, followed by symbolic animal sacrifices and food and drink. Read more.

Above: A supporter of Ethiopia’s Unity for Democracy and
Justice party (UDJ) shouts slogans during a demonstration in
the capital Addis Ababa, April 16, 2009. Ethiopians marched on
Thursday to demand the release of a jailed opposition leader in
the first political protests since a disputed 2005 election ended
in street violence that killed 199 people. (REUTERS)

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia, April 16 (UPI) — The mother of a jailed Ethiopian opposition leader says she hopes to have her daughter home in time for this weekend’s Ethiopian Orthodox Easter holiday. Almaz GebreEgziabher took part in a protest march in Addis Ababa Thursday demanding the release of Birtukan Medeska, who had been granted a pardon that was repealed. Read more.

By Barry Malone

ADDIS ABABA, April 16 (Reuters) – Ethiopians marched on Thursday to demand the release of a jailed opposition leader in the first political protests since a disputed 2005 election ended in street violence that killed 199 people. Birtukan Mideksa, the 34-year-old leader of the Unity for Democracy and Justice party (UDJ), was first jailed with other opposition leaders after the 2005 poll. She was pardoned in 2007 but then re-arrested last year. The former judge has been in solitary confinement since December and went on hunger strike for 13 days in January. “We are marching today to tell the government that the imprisonment of our leader is illegal,” said Debebe Eshetu, a senior UDJ official who was also jailed in 2005. Read more.

Related: Birtukan Mideksa – The Judge Who Refused to Say Sorry
The Independent, U.K.
By Daniel Howden

Birtukan Mideksa has been sentenced to life in prison. She spends her days and nights in solitary confinement in a two-metre by two-metre cell. She cannot leave it to see daylight or even to receive visitors. Previous inmates say the prison is often unbearably hot.

Her crime: refusing to say sorry. The judge, aged 34, is the head of Ethiopia’s most popular political party, the only female leader of a main opposition party in Africa.

The government in Addis Ababa had her arrested on 28 December, claiming she had violated the terms of an earlier pardon.

Her previous release in 2007, which came after serving two years in prison, was conditional on her signing an apology for taking part in protests against fixed elections.

In November, the woman who is becoming a democratic icon in Ethiopia told an audience in Sweden that she had not asked for a pardon. On returning to Ethiopia it was demanded that she sign further apologies and, when she refused, she was re-arrested. The Ministry of Justice then issued a statement reimposing her life sentence. Read more.

By ANDRIA SIMMONS
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Tedla Lemma came to this country seeking a better life and political asylum from the former communist government in Ethiopia.

But for Lemma at least, America was not a land of safety or opportunity. It was a country where he would toil as a cashier for up to 17 hours a day. He saved nearly every penny, only to fall prey three times to violent robbers and die at their hands on March 25, 2008.

That was testimony given on Tuesday by Lemma’s brother, Sirak Lemma, in the Gwinnett County trial for one of the alleged killers, Quincy Marcel Jackson.

Jackson, 27, of Riverdale, and four other suspects are accused of committing three home invasion robberies between late 2007 and early 2008. Read More.

Couple faces murder charges (The Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

Slain man’s family relieved

By ANDRIA SIMMONS
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Published on: 07/17/08

Relatives have been visiting Tedla Lemma’s grave almost daily since he was killed in a home invasion four months ago.

His sister-in-law, Rosemary Lemma, returned there Wednesday with newfound peace after learning police had captured the alleged killers.

“I know he is laughing, saying ‘You thought you would get away with it,’ ” Rosemary Lemma said. “I just can’t believe it’s finally coming to a close.”

Quincy Marcel Jackson, 27, of Riverdale, and Lorna Zemedu Araya, 25, of Atlanta, are being held without bond at the Gwinnett jail on murder charges related to the slaying of Lemma.

Araya was arrested on Monday. Jackson was taken into custody Tuesday night, Gwinnett Police spokeswoman Cpl. Illana Spellman said.

Quincy Marcel Jackson

Read More.

By Carly Lagrotteria and Eric Roper
Hatchet Staff Writers

An Ethiopian man has pleaded guilty to the murder of 2007 alumnus Brian Adkins, a Foreign Service officer found dead in his Ethiopia home this February, according to Adkins’ family. Read More.

Related from the : THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
By Theodore Decker
Friday, February 6, 2009

He’d watched the Eiffel Tower’s light show from the top of the Arc de Triomphe and ridden a burro in Africa.

For Brian Adkins, 25, the world’s treasures were as simple and marvelous as a hyena strolling down the road.

That was among the last stories the fledgling U.S. diplomat from Franklin County shared with his family, just a few weeks before his death last weekend in Ethiopia.

Adkins gleefully told his family that the hyena was one of the ugliest creatures he’d ever seen. But it was much more than that to him, and his excitement was contagious.

“It was Africa,” his brother, Mike Adkins, said yesterday. “That’s pretty much what he was telling you.”

The death of a young man with such a passion for life and other cultures has left relatives devastated.

“He will probably be the most positive person we’ll ever know in our lives,” said his mother, Christine Adkins, who lives on the South Side.

Adkins, a foreign-service officer for the State Department in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa, was found dead in his home by security officials checking on him. Read More.

Above: President Obama delivers a kiss to First Lady Michelle
Obama before making a speech in Prague on Sunday.
( Monsivais/AP)

New York Daily News
By Mike Lupica
Monday, April 6th 2009

DETROIT – This is the country we all want Barack Obama to fix now, on E. Jefferson in Detroit, a city that has been hit as hard as any we have…It is also this: Once again being a President we can send out to the world without embarrassment, or fear. That is why this past week mattered so much in Europe. Having him be the face and voice of this country mattered, last week and next week and for a long time, as he restores this country’s good name the way he tries to restore its confidence. Read more.

From File: The Obama Presidency & Ethiopia

President Barack Obama (center) and Prime Minister
Meles Zenawi (top right) at the Group of 20 summit
meeting in London.

Tadias Magazine
Time for Fresh Thought
By Donald N. Levine
Published: Monday, March 23, 2009

New York (Tadias) – Throughout 2008 I published articles on links between Ethiopia’s needs and the promises of an Obama presidency. Now that President Obama is in office, what might we project? What, that is, might it mean to reconsider U.S. relations with Ethiopia in ways that align them with the orientations of an Obama presidency?

Eyeing policies the Obama administration has already implemented and earlier statements suggests at least half a dozen aims: 1) employ state-of-the art technologies to advance human welfare; 2) develop energy sources to replace fossil fuels, and in other ways conserve natural environments; 3) link upgraded education and health services with a strengthened economy; 4) avoid sharp polarities of pronouncement and of conduct; 5) curtail terrorist tactics, but in smart ways; and 6) restore moral direction for a market economy and public service from the citizenry. In what follows I explore implications of those principles and priorities for U.S. relations with Ethiopia.

Leapfrogging over industrial society technologies
America’s vast aid program to Ethiopia encompasses commitments of a billion dollars in FY 2008. This assistance goes to about a dozen areas: food aid linked to rural works ($301.6 million); agricultural
development ($4.6m); maternal-child and reproductive health ($31.6m); malaria control ($20m); water and sanitation ($2.3); basic education ($15m); democratic capacity-building in legislative, judicial, and civil society branches ($2.7m); security sector reform ($1.5m); trade and enterprise expansion ($6.3m); ecotourism and habitat protection ($1.5m); programs to combat HIV/AIDS ($349m); and humanitarian emergency assistance, including early warning systems ($291.5m).

Management of this program constitutes a daunting challenge that has been met by a devoted crew of American aid professionals. They have accomplished an enormous amount in many areas, work that rarely gets the kind of recognition in Ethiopia or in the United States it deserves. Even so, much of their mission remains defined in terms of conventional visions and methods.

It is a truism in development thinking that Latecomers have special advantages over Earlybirds, in that they have an opportunity to bypass errors and traumas of the countries that modernized first and to exploit ideas and inventions not available when the latter transformed. One need not be Trotsky to appreciate the insights contained in his Law of Uneven and Combined Development. Hitherto this dynamic has meant applying what advanced technologies are already in place for having worked well in American and other modernized systems.

Suppose that aid work were animated by a vision of reaching out for technologies that are just beyond prevailing practices. Suppose that a hard look at the unintended consequences and negative byproducts of current approaches were combined with imaginative forays into new possibilities. Suppose, for example, that Ethiopia acquired an Information Technology Park that started right off with 21st-century hardware and software, rather than hand-me-downs from outmoded systems. Suppose that medical records in Ethiopia were rationalized in ways that U.S. hospitals have yet to achieve. Suppose that educational reforms were based on teaching methods created from the emerging neuroscience of learning. Why not try?

Promoting energy independence, resource management, and environmental restoration
President Obama mentioned energy independence as the highest priority of his administration. In Ethiopia, leapfrogging over costly, wasteful, and environmentally harmful practices of the industrial age can be realized right now through green technologies. The U.S. is at the edge of efforts to rethink its ways of procuring energy, efforts necessitated by a combination of security, environmental, and economic exigencies. Available new technologies, with other innovations in tow, would create stunning socioeconomic results in Ethiopia.

By taking advantage of recent discoveries and inventions, USAID could help Ethiopia lead the movement towards the emerging clean tech, carbon-free age. Such initiatives might include Low-cost Organic Roads, 30-40% cheaper than asphalt with up to 85% less maintenance; more efficient Municipal Waste Management, through digesters, gasifiers, and plasma systems–top sources for biofuel and bioenergy; low-cost, quickly implemented micro-wind and solar parabolic systems–ideal for distributed energy production; improved hydroelectric turbine technology for dams, rivers, and geothermal systems; mini-gasification for animal and agricultural waste; and Power Playgrounds, which use playtime energy to create power and to pump purified water for villages.

The move to green technologies, already pursued actively by the Ethiopian government, preserves the environment as well as boosts the economy. It helps save trees from the survival-driven practice of converting them to charcoal and can energize a reforestation process. It could fortify a growing environmental awareness in Ethiopia, which hopes to avoid mistakes like environmentally destructive dams like those in Egypt and China–but has already suffered the destruction of beautiful Lake Koka. What is more, low-cost organic roads could attract new ecotourism and generate additional revenues.

Linking health, education, and economy
The Obama administration has already taken action in two areas prominent in the campaign statements: health and education. It clothes these initiatives not only in a rhetoric of social justice but also in a discourse about equipping new generations of Americans to be competitive in the global economy.

In the Ethiopian setting, other issues get triggered when improvements in health and education are supported by USAID programs. Improving the quantity and quality of education for girls may be a core item in this complex. It is not just that educating females will add a large number of qualified persons to the work force. By keeping girls in school, it spares them the degradation and health impairment of early marriage. It keeps them from becoming part of the growing army of prostitutes who contribute heavily to the HIV/AIDS epidemic. It leads to smaller families, a crucial response to Ethiopia’s dilemma of increasing population at the expense of realistic capacities to feed them.

The Obama emphasis also leads to the idea of restoring the effective program of deploying Peace Corps Volunteers as secondary school and college teachers. During the Kennedy years, American teachers imparted quality instruction in mathematics, physics, biology, geography, and English. On the last desideratum I cite words of one accomplished beneficiary: “Ethiopians need to use English language from an early age as I did growing up in a poor rural school in Arsi. This will make Ethiopia globally competitive. This will also produce good students for the rapidly growing universities and possibly reverse the damage of requiring them to learn local mother tongues only and so denying them the opportunity to learn in Amharic and thus participate effectively in the national economy and politics. This view is based on my conversations with my ancestors who speak both Amharic and Oromiffa with equal fluency and are teaching their children Amharic and Oromiffa, and encouraging them to learn English at an early age as I did growing up.”

Open communication without confrontational gestures
Building on shifts in security thinking of the last year or so, the Obama administration rejects attempts to impose the American political-economic system on other countries in a domineering way. In keeping with the President’s own predilection for dialogue in place of combat, a stance followed by Secretary of State Hilary Clinton, the U.S. Government has sought more to listen to what leaders and citizens of other countries are saying and what their own deepest needs and aspirations are, not with the idea of accepting all they say but in order to take their statements seriously into account. We are ready to extend a hand, his inaugural affirmed, if the oligarchs of the world unclench their fists.

This position requires an approach to dealing with problematic features of the EPRDF regime that is more nuanced than moralizing statements from members of Congress. U.S. officials need to recognize the deep roots of Ethiopia’s aversion to being subordinated to any outside power. A millennial history as “Ethiopia, proud and free” reaches to the core of Ethiopian identity, and why she was for so long looked up to as a symbol of freedom during the long struggles for African independence. Among the most appreciated attributes of Emperor Haile Selassie were his determination and skill in balancing the aid from other countries so that no single nation could secure a quasi-colonial monopoly of influence. Even the worst ruler in Ethiopian history, Mengistu Haile Mariam, showed this pride when, reacting to a Newsweek report of his effort to imitate the Red Terror of Soviet Communism, he snorted: “We don’t need to copy what the Russians did. We can invent a Terror of our own!” How could a self-respecting regime in Ethiopia not take umbrage at critiques from officials of the powerful U.S. Government? – especially when her halting but averred efforts to democratize stand in contrast to other, more repressive African governments who remain unrebuked.

At the same time, an Obama-style rhetoric represents American concerns for human rights and freedom of press as expressions not of a partisan outlook but of what have become globally accepted standards. That could remind us all of how important has been Ethiopia’s wish to be treated in accord with those standards. After all, it was the failure of the League of Nations to live up to those standards that made Ethiopia an icon for the principle of collective security. Indeed, it was the Ethiopian Government’s wish to abide by those standards that induced her to decree an end to the Slave Trade as in 1923, and to follow that with an imperial proclamation outlawing slavery in 1942.

To the extent that Ethiopia’s government can reject allegations that those standards have been violated, America’s should listen to those claims and evaluate the evidence impartially. This in turn requires verification through the work of professional agencies monitoring such issues. The expressed commitment of Ethiopian authorities to their constitution and to the rule of law should be respected and fortified. That is why I have advocated a more energized approach to helping Ethiopians in their determination to build capacities for a more effective judiciary and other institutions of democratic
governance.

This might well include more public information about the significant contributions already made by USAID in the areas of legislation and institution building, justice and human rights, and conflict mitigation. And the fact that the Obama administration has taken steps to require agencies to open up more sources of information might inspire Ethiopians to move toward greater transparency and clarity, lack of which, I have argued, contributed to a half century of missed opportunities in Ethiopia.

Countering terrorism through Smart Power
The bitter lessons from Iraq should have been more widely anticipated before the U.S. launched its hapless adventure there, as then State Senator Obama and many others warned. Those lessons were apparently not held in mind when the U.S. supported Ethiopia’s incursion into Somalia. From Obama’s early warnings and subsequent statements, three points are conspicuous.

Thinking of terrorist criminals as war combatants sets the stage for counterproductive martial actions. Except for identified posts of key terrorist agents, aerial attacks on presumed terrorist lairs tend to backfire. Counterterrorist interventions need to follow, not drive, diplomatic and developmental approaches. Insofar as the Ethiopian Government pursues a scorched-earth policy in the Ogaden region and wanton attacks on presumed OLF- and OPDM-sympathizers, it may be drawing encouragement from bad examples that the U.S. wrongly provided.

Relatedly, unilateralism needs to yield to multilateral diplomacy. To collaborate effectively with other countries having interests in the region enhances, not weakens, U.S. objectives. Acting Assistant Secretary for Africa Phillip Carter already manifested this in statements made on return from an international gathering on the Somali crisis in Brussels. Developing the point at House Subcommittee hearings on March 12, former Ambassador David Shinn observed how essential it is to work with the countries in the region and with traditional donor countries, including members of the European Union, Norway, Canada, Australia, and Japan; with China and Russia; with India, Turkey, and Brazil; and with the United Nations and a number of international agencies. He further agreed with Secretary Carter’s observation that primary responsibility for solving political and economic problems in Northeast Africa lies with Africans themselves.

Finally, a fresh articulation of America’s purposes abroad may counter the widespread belief that U.S. programs in Ethiopia are driven solely from her value as an ally in the global “war” on terrorism. Facts like the quantity of pre-Qaeda Aid delivered and the current array of humane programs like maternal and child health care, legal training for judges, and human rights education among police and the courts have little traction once such perceptions gain currency. It is not the least of the reforms of President Barack Obama and his colleagues to have put terrorist tactics in their place as a social ill that must be addressed, to relate to moderate citizens in all regions who yearn for peace and civility, and to have proclaimed an era of optimism and hope to replace one of fear and dread. I hope that the ugly bunkers now girding the U.S. fortress embassy in Addis Ababa will be demolished in the spirit of this new perspective, and that Ethiopia’s parliament might similarly be moved by a spirit of openness to expand the space for freedom of press and for the work of advocacy groups and charitable organizations.

Restoring moral direction for a market economy and public service from a citizenry
The Obama approach to political economy exhibits a return to ideas of the classic theorist of commercial society, Adam Smith, who lauded social virtues and advocated the use of government to regulate markets and finance public works. Such views dominated American ideology from the late 19th century through the New Deal, which valued the creation of governmental resources to regulate commerce and provide public initiatives to promote social welfare. David Ciepley’s Liberalism in the Shadow of Totalitarianism shows that the rise of totalitarianisms in Eurasia in the 1930s began to turn American opinion leaders against such interventions. Even so, strong government remained alive and well during the presidencies of Eisenhower through Carter. And then, Paul Krugman goes on to relate (in The Conscience of a Liberal), radical rejection of government as a bulwark of social welfare began under President Reagan and continued non-stop into the present.

The casualties of the Cold War, especially in its last two decades, included the eclipse of the middle road. This resulted in a polarization of ideologies, such that the collapse of Soviet communism was hailed widely as a vindication of unregulated free-market capitalism. Applying this view to the developing countries of Africa makes no sense. As many social scientists have explained for a long time–including the late Talcott Parsons already in 1960–in the developing countries, government needs to play a proactive role. At the same time, one of its functions must be to provide a nurturing environment for a vast field of local initiatives–supporting small loans, local roads, local radio communications, and the like.

Beyond valorizing a significant role for governments, the Obama perspective returns us to community service and civic virtues. The well-governed modern society includes a cultivation of the virtues of a modern work ethic–punctuality, integrity, self-discipline, professionalism–and of voluntary efforts to assist others in need and contribute to communal projects. The Obama and Biden families publicized these civic virtues just before inauguration by honoring the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Day of Service–as envisioned in its legislation fathered by then Senator Harris Wofford (who, incidentally, was the first director of the Peace Corps in Ethiopia under President Kennedy).

Traditions of the diverse peoples of Ethiopia include customs of communal service and civic engagement, as noted in my talk “The Promise of Ethiopia.” In the course of modernization and nation-building, these customs have begun to erode and have not been replaced by modern moral visions. The Obama vision may inspire Ethiopian leaders–in religious, in schools, in government, and in civic organizations–to temper the mindless drives toward material consumption and narrow self-interest imitated from modernized societies with new forms of conscience and civic virtue. If something on that order happens, the name Ethiopia may come to symbolize once again–as it did for ancient Greeks, the writers of the Old and New Testaments, and of the Islamic Sira– a land of people who manifest exceptional justice, righteousness, and virtue.

About the Author:

Donald N. Levine is the Peter B. Ritzma Professor Emeritus of Sociology at the University of Chicago. He is the author of Wax and Gold: Tradition and Innovation in Ethiopian Culture (1965), Greater Ethiopia: The Evolution of a Multiethnic Society (1974), Visions of the Sociological Tradition (1995) and Powers of the Mind: The Reinvention of Liberal Learning(2007). Professor Levine’s research and teaching interests focus on classical social theory, modernization theory, Ethiopian studies, conflict theory and aikido, and philosophies of liberal education.

Above: Bekana Daba of Ethiopia takes the Carlsbad 5000
with a time of 13 minutes, 19 seconds. (Crissy Pascual /
Union-Tribune) –

Source: Union-Tribune
Late kick by Daba wins Carlsbad 5000
By Don Norcross, Union-Tribune Staff Writer
April 6, 2009

CARLSBAD – Matt Turnbull, who recruits the professional field for the Carlsbad 5000, received a call about 10 days ago from Mark Wetmore, one of running’s most influential agents.

The conversation played out something like this.

Wetmore: “I’ve got a young Ethiopian. He’s run some good races indoors this winter. I know you’re full at Carlsbad, but if adidas paid part of his airfare and I kick in the rest, can we get him in?”

Turnbull: “I’d be more than happy to give him a spot.”

A bit after high noon yesterday, on a sunny, postcard afternoon, 20-year-old Bekana Daba turned the corner onto Carlsbad Village Drive, running virtually side by side with fellow Ethiopian Abreham Cherkos. Read more.

Above: Ethiopia’s Grum Siyoum (R) fights for the
ball with Morocco’s Benjalloun Abdessalam (C) during their 2010
World Cup qualifying soccer match in Casablanca May 31, 2008.
REUTERS/Rafael Marchante(MOROCCO)

Source: The Reporter (Ethiopia)
FIFA’s road map to be put into effect

After a stand-off that lasted for over two years, pitting Ashebir Woldegiorgis on one hand and the existing general assembly of the Ethiopian Football Federation (EFF), on the other the latter yesterday accepted for the first time, the road map proposed by the international football governing body, FIFA.

FIFA could possibly retract its decision to ban the country from international competitions following a unanimous vote by the general assembly supporting its proposal and the outcomes of what is to proceed. Read more.

Ethiopia Booted Out of World Cup

Source: FIFA

Friday 12 September 2008

The Bureau of the Organising Committee for the FIFA World Cup™ has decided to exclude the Ethiopian Football Federation (EFF) from the preliminary competition with immediate effect.

All four matches played by Ethiopia to date in African zone Group 8, as well as the results of these matches, are now cancelled. This group now comprises three teams: Morocco, Mauritania and Rwanda.

The FIFA Emergency Committee suspended the EFF on 29 July 2008 due to the non-compliance of the EFF with the roadmap agreed in February 2008 by FIFA, CAF and the EFF in order to normalise the situation of the federation.

Ethiopia kicked out of World Cup (BBC)

Above: Hostages left a building near the American
Civic Association in Binghamton, N.Y., on Friday.
Rebecca Catlett/Press & Sun-Bulletin

NYT
By ROBERT D. McFADDEN
Published: April 3, 2009

A gunman invaded an immigration services center in downtown Binghamton, N.Y., during citizenship classes on Friday and shot 13 people to death and critically wounded 4 others before killing himself in a paroxysm of violence that turned a quiet civic setting into scenes of carnage and chaos. Read more.

J. Crew Partners with Liya Kebede to Carry her Handmade
Children’s Collection, Lemlem

(NEW YORK) – When J. Crew creative director Jenna Lyons and team met supermodel, mother of two, and International Goodwill Ambassador Liya Kebede, a relationship was born. Lyons approached Kebede to appear in the April catalog, but both quickly realized their relationship needn’t end there.

The product of their partnership? Not only will Kebede be the first model to be the exclusive face of a J. Crew catalog, but J. Crew’s Crewcuts line will pick up pieces from the model’s handmade children’s clothing line, Lemlem. Lemlem (the name means “to bloom”) was launched by Kebede in 2007, with all of the pieces made by hand from natural cotton in her native Ethiopia. The line will be available at Crewcuts store locations and at jcrew.com beginning in April. Read More.

From Tadias file (2007): WWO honores Liya Kebede & Silda W. Spitzer

Tadias Magazine
By Tseday Alehegn

New York (Tadias) – The Worldwide Orphans Foundation, dedicated to transforming the lives of orphans around the world (with work in eight countries, including Ethiopia), held it’s 10-year anniversary gala at Cipriani Wall Street on Monday evening.

Co-Chairs Janet Kagan and Mary Knobler announced that the organization had raised approximatley 1.4 million dollars.

Dr. Aronson and Mary-Louise Parker

Tony award-winning actress Mary Louise Parker presented the Honorary Orphan Ranger Award to Supermodel Liya Kebede for her work in promoting maternal health in developing nations, while ABC news co-anchor Cynthia McFadden presented another Honorary Orphan Ranger Award to Silda Wall Spitzer, First Lady of New York and founding chair of the non-profit Children for Children.

Liya Kebede after being presented the Honorary Orphan Ranger
award by Mary-Louise Parker.

Silda Wall Spitzer also received the Honorary Orphan Ranger
Award

Cynthia McFadden presented the Honorary Orphan Ranger Award
to Silda Wall Spitzer

Katie Couric, anchor and managing editor of the CBS Evening News, introduced Jane
Aronson, founder of Worldwide Orphans Foundation.

Katie Couric, anchor and managing editor of the CBS Evening News

Aronson said she was proud to announce the opening of the WWO Academy in Addis Ababa, the same day as the gala in New York. The kindergarten offers schooling for children with HIV.

The gala program was interspersed with vignettes showcasing previous orphan rangers, who are medical students, health professionals and therapists who gave their time to working with orphanages in Asia, Eastern Europe, and Africa.

The event included entertainment by Tony-award winning Broadway stars Christine Ebersole and Donna Murphy, and the cast of Grease on Broadway.

The cast of Grease on Broadway.

Tony-award winning Broadway stars Christine Ebersole and Donna Murphy.

Liya Kebede with Dr. Aronson’s son Desalegn. She received the Honorary Orphan Ranger Award

A fun and educational time was had by all.

More at: wwo.org

By Jason McLure

March 19 (Bloomberg) — Ethiopia should liberalize its protected banking and telecom sectors as a step toward joining the World Trade Organization, a U.S. trade official said.

“For a country like Ethiopia, this is extremely important in establishing the competitiveness of its economy,” Peter Allgeier, the U.S. representative to the WTO, said at a press conference in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa. “Our expectation would be there are some movements in these areas.” Read More.

Source: TransAfrica Forum

TransAfrica Forum, afrikafé and AFI Silver are proud to present the fifth annual New African Films Festival. The vibrancy of African filmmaking from all corners of the continent will be on display. This year also includes a selection of classic African films recently restored by the World Cinema Foundation.

If you go:
The festival takes place at AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center, 8633 Colesville Road, Silver Spring, MD 20910. AFI Member passes will be accepted at all films in the 2009 New African Films Festival, except the opening night film.

OPENING NIGHT:
13 MONTHS OF SUNSHINE

Thur, Mar 19, 7:30 PM

First-time director Yehdego Abeselom demonstrates a light touch in this drama that explores the tensions between traditional values, cultural identity and the pursuit of one’s dreams. In Los Angeles, Soloman and Hanna enter a marriage of convenience that becomes complicated with intimacy, love, jealousy and a clash of cultural values. A uniquely Ethiopian experience of the American dream. (Note courtesy of British Film Institute) DIR/SCR/PROD Yehdego Abeselom; PROD Jeremiah Lewis. US, 2007, color, 98 min. In Amharic, English and French with English subtitles. NOT RATED

SHOOT THE MESSENGER

Thur, Mar 19, 9:45
& Sat, Mar 21, 7:45 PM

A bold, funny and controversial film directed by the politically explosive Nigerian-Brit filmmaker Ngozi Onwurah. The film’s opening line,”…everything bad that has ever happened to me has involved a black person,” rouses and prepares us for a critically insightful and intellectually charged confrontation of ideological and cultural perspectives that is candidly rendered in this remarkably thought-provoking film. (Note courtesy of AFI 20/20) DIR Ngozi Onwurah; SCR Sharon Foster; PROD Anne Pivcevic. UK, 2006, color, 90 min. NOT RATED

Tickets for SHOOT THE MESSENGER $10 General Admission / $9 Seniors, Students (with valid ID),
and Military Personnel/ $8.50 AFI Members/ $6.00 Children (12 and
Under). For ticket information visit www.afi.com/silver.

Reception at 6:30, screening at 7:30. Tickets $15 General Admission / $12 AFI Members. No passes accepted.

Cocktail reception catered by Abol Ethiopian Cuisine www.abolethiopiancuisine.com and Ethiopian coffee provided by Highland Origin Coffee www.highlandorigincoffee.com.

Read more.

Tadias Magazine

By Tadias Staff

Published: Thursday, March 12, 2009

New York (TADIAS) – Ethiopian-born businessman Mohammed Al Amoudi, 63, who is now a Saudi citizen and resident of Jeddah, ranks 43 among the world’s richest people, Forbes Magazine announced.

The self-made businessman, whose net worth is estimated at 9 billion, amassed his wealth in construction and real estate in Saudi Arabia before investing on energy. He is one of Sweden’s biggest foreign investors with ownership of Svenska Petroleum and Swedish refinery Preem.

According to Forbes, the net worth of the world’s billionaires fell from $4.4 trillion last year to $2.4 trillion in 2009, while the number of billionaires was down to 793 from 1,125. “Billionaires don’t have to worry about their next meal, but if their wealth is declining and you’re not creating numerous new billionaires, it means the rest of the world is not doing very well,” Chief executive of Forbes Magazines Steve Forbes told reporters. “The typical billionaire is down at least one third on their net worth.”

Al Amoudi, who has donated more than $1 million to the Clinton Foundation, has so far invested more than $2 billion in Ethiopia. His landmark project in the country, the Sheraton Addis, with 293 rooms – including 33 suites, 5 restaurants, 5 bars, 1 nightclub, and a private bar, is considered one of the most luxuries hotels in the world. It is the most luxurious in Africa. He also operates a gold mine in the Oromo region of Ethiopia, currently producing 6 tons of gold annually and expected to double production by 2010.

Sheraton Addis. (Wikimedia)

Globally, New York City booted Moscow as home to the most billionaires, claiming 55. From the top 20 richest people, New York’s Mayor Michael Bloomberg was the only Billionaire who made money. Forbes reports Bloomberg’s net worth grew from $11.5 to $16 billion following a revaluation of his media company, Bloomberg LP. He is also the richest person in New York. In this economic downturn, Russia is the biggest loser, with the number of billionaires down to 32 from 87.

—-
Join the conversation on Twitter and Facebook.

Fairfax Avenue seems to have crossed oceans when it reaches this flavorful and colorful stretch of stores.

LA Times
By Rachel Levin
March 10, 2009

L.A.’s Fairfax Avenue has long been a meeting place for diverse cultures.

It became an artery for the Jewish community in the 1950s, and the original Farmers Market has been a central gathering ground for Angelenos of every stripe since 1934.

The most recent arrivals to claim a slice of Fairfax as home are Ethiopians, who in the 1990s began forming a critical mass of restaurants, markets and service shops between Olympic Boulevard and Whitworth Drive.

In 2002, the city officially recognized this enclave as Little Ethiopia, and today the buzz of commerce — and coffee — transports visitors to Addis Ababa. Read More.

Related from Tadias Archives: Little Ethiopia: How it happened

Tadias Magazine
By Azeb Tadesse & Meron Ahadu
A perspective from the people behind the idea

Los Angeles (Tadias) – By now, most people have heard of Little Ethiopia in Los Angeles, a place named for its unique ability to put forward a serving of Ethiopia. Along with the news, there have been many speculations on how this event came about and what it took to visibly acknowledge the essence of the area. As with most things in this world, Little Ethiopia began as a notion. Over a 10-year period, a number of Ethiopian restaurants and specialty store businesses slowly began to relocate to a strip on Fairfax Avenue. The neighborhood was soon transformed from an abandoned boarded up drive-by strip into a hub for community life, buzzing with colors, aroma, and affability of Ethiopian’s ancestral home. As years passed, Ethiopians and Angelinos began to label the area as “Little Addis”, “Little Ethiopia”, and “Ethiopian Restaurant Row”.

The notion began to take hold after PBS aired a segment of Huell Howeser’s popular “Our Neighborhood” show entitled “Little Ethiopia”. Meron Ahadu, co-author of this article, was the tour guide for that segment and the show got its title from the fact that the strip offered visitors a slice of Ethiopia.

The chain of events that led to the fruition of Little Ethiopia began when Meron Ahadu and Tirsit Asrat organized a fundraising for Congressman Mervyn Dymally, who played a key role in the mid 80’s in helping Ethiopians get amnesty. At the time, he was running for a seat in the California State Assembly. Unfortunately, the turnout by the Ethiopian community was disappointing. Nonetheless, it was at this event that the idea of Little Ethiopia was put forth and the Congressman pledged his support.

Five women came together to plan another benefit for the Congressman with a goal to get better participation from the Ethiopian community. It was at this time that the need became apparent to form a non-partisan organization that stood for an increased involvement of the Ethiopian community in the U.S. democratic process. Hence, the Ethiopian-American Advocacy Group (EAAG) was established. In addition to raising funds for Congressman Dymally, the function held on July 26, 2002 was the launching ceremony of EAAG. Various city and state officials attended this highly successful event. One of the short- term projects presented at this occasion was Little Ethiopia and it won the support of Herb Wesson, Speaker of the House for the California State Assembly, and Councilman Nate Holden of District 10, where Little Ethiopia was proposed to be located.

On August 7, 2002, the motion to name Little Ethiopia was presented to the Los Angeles City Council. Consequently, as a result of aggressive lobbying of several political personalities by EAAG members, the City Council voted unanimously to designate the area on Fairfax Avenue, between Olympic and Pico, as Little Ethiopia. The enormous support and candid enthusiasm of the City Council members and the larger Ethiopian community came as a pleasant surprise to many, even to those who worked on the project. A highly successful street festival organized by the community followed on November 24, 2002, to inaugurate the area as Little Ethiopia. A one-block stretch of Fairfax was closed to through traffic for a street festival featuring children’s village, cultural dance and music, fashion show and contemporary Ethiopian music. Approximately 5,000 people attended the festival from all walks of life and congratulations were received from around the globe. City officials and community leaders unveiled the sign designating the place as Little Ethiopia and thus the area was renamed bearing Ethiopia’s name.

This event was truly significant in many respects; firstly, this was the first time in the entire history of the United States that a city has recognized an African country by naming an area after it. Secondly, Little Ethiopia is the only place outside of Ethiopia that bears the name of the motherland. As one drives through the area, it is difficult to ignore the official sign designating the area. In that respect, it indicates that Ethiopians have arrived, are here to stay, and have stood up to be counted as vibrant members of the City of Los Angeles. Finally, yet importantly, this is a legacy for the next generation of Ethiopian-Americans. They will not be burdened with the task of establishing their identity but will have a footnote in the history books to refer to as they strengthen and build their presence in the U.S. and aboard.

It is quite overwhelming to realize that a deed at the local level should have such a universal significance. However, this only bears witness to the importance of engaging one’s surrounding, and begs the question: what can be accomplished if we focus on our commonality by setting aside our differences? What could the 65,000 Ethiopians in Southern California do if they join forces? How about the more than 500,000 Ethiopians in the U.S.? Better yet, what could a coalition of a couple of million African immigrants accomplish? EAAG hopes we will find out in our lifetime.

Related from Tadias Magazine: In Pictures: The Street Named Little Ethiopia in L.A.

Source: Marketwire via MSNBC

TORONTO, ONTARIO – Allana Resources Inc. (TSX VENTURE: AAA) (“Allana” or the “Company”), is pleased to announce Mr. Nejib Abba Biya has joined the Company as Senior Vice President, Business Development. Mr. Abba Biya has been involved in the mining industry focused in Ethiopia and most recently held the position of Senior Vice President, Business Development for Avion Resources Corp. (“Avion”).

Mr. Abba Biya is a graduate of the University of Toronto and holds a Bachelor of Commerce in Finance. In addition to his recent work in the resource sector, Mr. Abba Biya founded and operated several technology companies in Canada. Mr. Abba Biya was born in Ethiopia and has over 20 years of management experience including senior positions with multinational companies. Mr. Abba Biya has been very involved in the African community in Canada and co-founded the Canadian African New Comers organization and was Chairman of the African Training and Employment Center, a non-profit organization that provided training to new Canadians.

In 2007, Mr. Abba Biya was instrumental in Avion’s acquisition of gold and base metal properties in Ethiopia. Through his work in Ethiopia in the business and resource sector, Mr. Abba Biya has developed strong support in the government for the mining industry and maintains strong relations with the federal government.

Related: Allana’s New VP Will Lead Potash Exploration Program in Ethiopia

Allana Resources Inc. (TSX VENTURE: AAA) (“Allana”), is pleased to announce Dr. Peter MacLean has joined the Company as Senior Vice President, Exploration.

Dr. MacLean will lead Allana’s potash exploration program in Ethiopia. He has visited Allana’s Potash Project in Ethiopia in 2008 and most recently in January 2009.

The Ethiopia Potash Project is comprised of three mineral concessions in Ethiopia’s northeastern Danakil Depression totaling approximately 150 square kilometers. The project area is approximately 100 km from the Red Sea coast and the sea port of Mersa Fatma, Eritrea and 600 km via road from the deep water port of Djibouti. Allana’s concessions have an inferred resource estimate of 105,200,000 tonnes of potash mineralization (Sylvite and Kainite) with a composite grade of 20.8 % KCl (see News Release Sept. 17, 2008) that is open along strike and to depth. Potash deposits of the Danakil Depression are unique due to their shallow depth and may be amenable to open pit or solution mining. Read more.

The Chicago Tribune
By Bill Daley
March 4, 2009

Ethiopians have for centuries made a honey wine known as tej. You can sometimes find this meadlike beverage for sale at some Ethiopian restaurants. Or, you could try a mead made domestically.

For most diners looking for that Ethiopian meal out at a restaurant or for takeout, the drink of choice most likely will be beer or a grape-based wine.

The question is: What sort of wine to pour with Ethiopia’s highly seasoned meat and vegetable dishes, most of which are served on rounds of injera, the tart Ethiopian flat bread made from teff flour. Read More.

Related: A friend to remember – Ernie of Sheba Tej

By Liben Eabisa & Tseday Alehegn

New York (Tadias) – Ernest McCaleb, founder and CEO of Sheba, Inc., the company that produced the Ethiopian honey wine Sheba Tej, died last year after a long struggle with cancer.

The African American entrepreneur initiated a joint collaboration with Cesar Baeza, an internationally-renowned Chilean winemaster and the owner of Brotherhood Winery, a national historic landmark and America’s oldest winery (established in 1837 in Washingtonville, New York), to produce an Ethiopian wine called Tej , made from pure organic honey.

Eventually the new dessert wine became part of the winery’s premium wine list.

McCaleb (Ernie – as he is known by his friends), enjoyed telling audiences during his fun tasting sessions that his unique wine recipe contains no sulfites nor grapes, just pure honey.

His eyes would light up when he told the legend that Tej was one of the many gifts carried by Makeda, the Queen of Sheba, to Jerusalem’s King Solomon.

During an interview with Tadias Magazine in 2005, he talked about his passion for his business and the history and culture behind it.

“Since I’ve begun doing this,” McCaleb said, “I’ve learned more about this rich history, and as I give tasting sessions I have become even more inspired. This is beyond the commercial success. It’s about pride and heritage…”

Ernest McCaleb, Founder & CEO of
Sheba, Inc.

Ernie was a friend to the Ethiopian-American community and a great spirit.

A memorial for McCaleb was held at The Ethiopian Restaurant. The Upper East Side eatry is one of Sheba Tej’s several Ethiopian customers in the city.

It is also the location where Ernie introduced us to his dear friend Bobbi Humphrey (“First Lady of Flute”), the first female signed to Blue Note Records.

As she noted in her latest post on the Tadias blog: “Rest in Peace, my dear Ernie. You sweetened the times with your smile, and your Honey wine.”

Click here to read more: Sheba Tej: America’s Favorite Ethiopian Honey Wine (Tadias)

Above: Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir. An international
warrant has been issued for his arrest. (Photo in Rome, Sept.
14, 2007)

BBC

Wednesday, 4 March 2009

The International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant for Sudan’s president on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur.

But the ICC in The Hague stopped short of accusing Omar al-Bashir of genocide. He denies the charges and has dismissed any ruling by the court as worthless.

Thousands of protesters took to the streets of the capital, Khartoum, after the announcement, amid fears of unrest.

The UN estimates 300,000 people have died in Darfur’s six-year conflict.

Millions more have been displaced.

Court spokeswoman Laurence Blairon announced the ruling by a panel of judges on the charges presented by ICC prosecutors.

She said Mr Bashir was suspected of being criminally responsible for “intentionally directing attacks against an important part of the civilian population of Darfur, Sudan, murdering, exterminating, raping, torturing and forcibly transferring large numbers of civilians and pillaging their property”.

Ms Blairon said the violence in Darfur was the result of a common plan organised at the highest level of the Sudanese government, but there was no evidence of genocide.

The court would transmit a request for Mr Bashir’s arrest and surrender as soon as possible to the Sudanese government, she added.

It is the first warrant issued by The Hague-based UN court against a sitting head of state.

ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo made the request for the warrant in July 2008. Read More.

Source: CPJ
By Mohamed Keita/Africa Research Associate

New York – Journalists in Ethiopia informed CPJ over the weekend that our Web site, which was blocked to Internet users in the capital, Addis Ababa, since August, was accessible again.

Independent Ethiopian online news forums and blogs based outside the country also reported that sites discussing political dissent and human rights were also suddenly accessible. The editors of the sites linked the development to the February 25 release of the U.S. State Department’s “2008 Human Rights Report” on Ethiopia. The report accused the government of restricting Internet access to its citizens and of “blocking opposition Web sites.”

Ethiopian authorities have consistently denied the accusation despite documented evidence gathered by OpenNet Initiative, an academic partnership that studies Internet censorship.

There has not been any public reaction from the government about this development, according to local journalists. However, a local editor who spoke to me on Tuesday on condition of anonymity told me that a temporary lifting of Internet filtering has been a common occurrence in recent years.

Following a brutal crackdown on free media and political dissent in 2005, Internet users attempting to access sites and blogs critical of the government on the network of the state-controlled national provider Ethiopian Telecommunications Corporation have seen “the page cannot be displayed” messages. In February, when CPJ launched its 2008 report on worldwide press freedom, which included a critical analysis of conditions in Ethiopia, local journalists reported that they could not access our Web site. In recent months, some local journalists have also reported their inability to send e-mails to a CPJ e-mail address.

We’ll have to wait and see whether, as international attention turns away from Ethiopia, the sites yet again disappear from view.

Above: President Barack Obama presents Stevie Wonder
with the Library of Congress Gershwin Award during Stevie
Wonder In Performance at the White House: The Library of
Congress Gershwin Prize in the East Room of the White House
in Washington, Wednesday, Feb. 25. (Gerald Herbert / AP)

Obama thanked singer for creating ‘a style that’s uniquely American’

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama on Wednesday thanked musician Stevie Wonder for creating “a style that’s uniquely American” as he presented the singer-songwriter the nation’s highest award for pop music.

Obama, who called Wonder the soundtrack of his youth, gave the star the Library of Congress’ Gershwin Prize for Popular Song during an East Room tribute that featured Tony Bennett, Martina McBride and Wonder himself. The president joked that the group was “the most accomplished Stevie Wonder cover band in history.” Read more.

President Obama greets Stevie Wonder on Wednesday night during a concert in the
East Room of the White House held to celebrate the musician being awarded the Library
of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song (Photo credit: SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images)

Above: President Obama told Congress, “Now is the time to
act boldly
(Doug Mills/The New York Times)

NYT
By JEFF ZELENY
Published: February 24, 2009

WASHINGTON — President Obama urged the nation on Tuesday to see the economic crisis as reason to raise its ambitions, calling for expensive new efforts to address energy, health care and education even as he warned that government bailouts have not come to an end.

n his first address to a joint session of Congress, Mr. Obama mixed an acknowledgment of the depth of the economic problems with a Reaganesque exhortation to American resilience. He offered an expansive agenda followed by a pledge to begin paring an ever-climbing budget deficit.

“While our economy may be weakened and our confidence shaken, though we are living through difficult and uncertain times, tonight I want every American to know this,” Mr. Obama said. “We will rebuild, we will recover, and the United States of America will emerge stronger than before.” Read More.

Related: Survey Reveals Broad Support for President
NYT
By JEFF ZELENY and MEGAN THEE-BRENAN
Published: February 23, 2009

President Obama is benefiting from remarkably high levels of optimism and confidence among Americans about his leadership, providing him with substantial political clout as he confronts the nation’s economic challenges and opposition from nearly all Republicans in Congress, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll.

majority of people surveyed in both parties said Mr. Obama was striving to work in a bipartisan way, but most faulted Republicans for their response to the president, saying the party had objected to the $787 billion economic stimulus plan for political reasons. Most said Mr. Obama should pursue the priorities he campaigned on, the poll found, rather than seek middle ground with Republicans. Read More.

Above: An airliner approaches an airport in Rome, Italy,
September 25, 2008. (REUTERS/Max Rossi)

ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) – Ethiopian Airlines said on Monday it was cutting flights to the United States and China as the global financial crisis hit passenger numbers.

Girma Wake, chief executive officer of the airline — one of Africa’s leading carriers — said they had seen a fall in the number of incoming passengers coming from the two countries.

“Ethiopian Airlines began to feel passenger and cargo contraction in November 2008, but December 2008 was when the changes became noticeable,” he said in a statement. Read More.

By Caroline Alexander

Feb. 23 (Bloomberg) — Former Guantanamo Bay detainee Binyam Mohamed will return to the U.K. today, Sky News reported, citing his lawyer.

Mohamed, a 30-year-old Ethiopian who studied engineering in London, is on a flight from the U.S. to Britain, Sky said. Further information wasn’t immediately available. Read More.

GROUNDED For the first parents, juggling play dates and
politics is a priority. (Photo: Jae C. Hong/AP)

First Chores? You Bet
NYT
By RACHEL L. SWARNS
Published: February 21, 2009
WASHINGTON

CONSIDER the perils of parenting in the White House.

There is a movie theater, a bowling alley, a horseshoe pit, a swimming pool, five full-time chefs and dozens of household staff members ready to dish up ice cream at all hours. There are trips to foreign lands, dinners with kings and celebrities, swarming paparazzi and blaring motorcades, all with the potential to transform sweet little children into bossy, self-important ones. (Or lonely, dysfunctional ones.)

FAMILY TIES Preserving normalcy for children is
hard in the White House. (Photo: Kevin Lamarque/Reuters)

What are presidential parents to do? Read More.

Above: Ethiopian soldiers on a truck following a farewell
ceremony which took place in the presidential palace,
Mogadishu, Somalia, Tuesday, January 13, 2009.
(Farah Abdi Warsameh / AP)

VOA
By Adanech Fessehaye
Washington
20/02/2009

Sheikh Sharif’s moderate position and inclusive strategies as Somali’s new president is to be commended, said Dr. Ayele Bekerie, an assistant professor in Cornell University’s African studies program. Ayele was interviewed by Adanech of the Amharic service on Friday.

Ayele said the new president’s conciliatory role at the Africa Union meeting is good news for the region and that he sounds willing to work with Ethiopia. Ethiopia should reciprocate by helping Somalia and by putting investments in the country.

Ayele also talked about remarks made by the new AU chairmen, Mummer Qaddafi, regarding efforts to promote a pan-African policies.He cautioned such a movement should be approached with care. He also noted the irony of Qaddafi’s desire to be known as “king of kings” after his own successful efforts many years ago to overthrow a Libyan monarch. Read more Horn of Africa News at VOA.

About Dr. Ayele Bekerie:

Ayele Bekerie, an Assistant Professor at the Africana Studies and Research Center of Cornell University, is the author of the award-winning book “Ethiopic, An African Writing System: Its History and Principles” (The Red Sea Press, 1997). Bekerie’s papers have been published in scholarly journals, such as ANKH: Journal of Egyptology and African Civilizations, Journal of the Horn of Africa, Journal of Black Studies, the International Journal of Africana Studies, and the International Journal of Ethiopian Studies. Bekerie is also the creator of the African Writing System web site and a contributing author in the highly acclaimed book, “ONE HOUSE: The Battle of Adwa 1896-100 Years.” Bekerie’s most recent published work includes “The Idea of Ethiopia: Ancient Roots, Modern African Diaspora Thoughts,” in Power and Nationalism in Modern Africa, published by Carolina Academic Press in 2008 and “The Ancient African Past and Africana Studies” in the Journal of Black Studies in 2007. Bekerie appears frequently on the Amharic Service of Voice of America and Radio Germany. He is a regular contributor to Tadias Magazine and other Ethiopian American electronic publications. His current book project is on the “Idea of Ethiopia.”

Above: The Citibank building in New York City. [AFP].
Prosecutors allege Amos and others caused Citibank
NA, a unit of Citigroup Inc. (C), to make about 24
wire transfers from the National Bank of Ethiopia’s
account in Manhattan to accounts controlled by
Amos and others around the world last October,
totaling nearly $27.2 million.

Click Here to Read: Press Release by The U.S. Department of Justice
ARREST IN $27 MILLION FRAUDULENT TAKEOVER OF NATIONAL
BANK OF ETHIOPIA’S CITIBANK ACCOUNT

CNN

By Chad Bray

Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES

NEW YORK -(Dow Jones)- A Nigerian citizen pleaded not guilty Friday to a criminal charge in an alleged scheme to steal more than $27 million from a bank account held by the National Bank of Ethiopia in New York.

Paul Gabriel Amos, 37 years old, entered a plea of not guilty to a single count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud and wire fraud at a hearing before U.S. Magistrate Judge Andrew J. Peck in Manhattan. He faces up to 30 years in prison on the charge if convicted.

The magistrate judge ordered Amos be temporarily detained at the hearing. Amos was arrested in Los Angeles last month when he attempted to enter the U.S.

Sabrina Shroff, his court-appointed lawyer, said at the hearing that Amos, a one-time resident of Singapore, was involved in plea discussions with the government.

National Bank of Ethiopia

A hearing is scheduled in the case for March 6.

Prosecutors allege Amos and others caused Citibank NA, a unit of Citigroup Inc. (C), to make about 24 wire transfers from the National Bank of Ethiopia’s account in Manhattan to accounts controlled by Amos and others around the world last October, totaling nearly $27.2 million. Read More.

Reuters

By David Ljunggren

OTTAWA (Reuters) – Declaring “I love this country” and waving to ecstatic Canadian crowds, U.S. President Barack Obama helped reignite on Thursday a close binational friendship that had waned during the administration of his predecessor George W. Bush.

Obama revived a tradition whereby new U.S. presidents make their first foreign trip to Canada, which is one of America’s most important trading partners.

Bush made his initial visit to Mexico after winning the 2000 election and subsequently grew ever more unpopular among Canadians, in particular over his decision to invade Iraq.

The new U.S. leader, on the other hand, was treated like a rock star by the thousands of people who gathered in freezing temperatures to welcome him on Parliament Hill in Ottawa. Read More.

F.B.I. Locates Texas Financier in Virginia
NYT
By ERIC LICHTBLAU
Published: February 19, 2009

WASHINGTON — Two days after he was accused of running an $8 billion financial fraud, Texas financier Robert Allen Stanford was found by federal agents Thursday and served with civil papers in a multibillion-dollar fraud case.

Mr. Stanford is not facing criminal charges, and he was not taken into custody after agents with the Federal Bureau of Investigation found him in Fredericksburg, Va., officials said. The FBI did not say how its agents located Mr. Stanford.

His whereabouts had been unknown since the Securities and Exchange Commission brought a civil lawsuit against him on Tuesday charging that he and his company, the Stanford Group, had engaged in widespread fraud in the sale of high-yield certificates of deposit held in the company’s bank in Antigua. Read More.

Texas Town Holds Roots of Empire
NYT
By GRETEL C. KOVACH
Published: February 19, 2009

MEXIA, Tex. — When Robert Allen Stanford began planting the seeds of his multibillion-dollar financial empire decades ago, he turned to a family friend here in his hometown, population 6,600, to fill a seat on the board.

Today, Oliver Goswick — a small-time car dealer with a high school education — oversees investments for the board of Stanford International Bank, according to the company’s most recent annual report.

But, Mr. Goswick’s son says, his father is not in a position to provide much oversight. “My father had a stroke in 2000 and has been unable to talk or communicate much for a multiple of years,” said Dick Goswick, explaining that be believes his father has been kept in a post normally considered pivotal to any bank’s operations out of respect for his long ties to the Stanford family.

For a global financial business based in Antigua, Stanford International in some ways has a surprisingly parochial flavor. Mr. Stanford, the Texas financier whom regulators this week accused of running an $8 billion fraud, left his hometown years ago, but his roots run deep here. Read More.

Source: BBC

Wednesday, 18 February 2009

Ethiopia’s most famous pop singer, Teddy Afro, has had his sentence for manslaughter reduced on appeal.

He was jailed for causing the death of a young homeless man through dangerous driving and failing to stop at the scene of the accident.

The sentence was reduced from six years to two years, which means that – allowing for time already served – he could be free very shortly.

The singer has always denied committing the crime.

As news of the decision rippled out across Addis Ababa, groups of young people gathered in the streets, cheering and hugging each other at the news that their favourite singer would soon be free. Read More.
—
Related from BBC:

Friday, 5 December 2008

Ethiopian pop star Teddy Afro has been sentenced to six years in jail for the manslaughter of a homeless man.

The singer was found guilty of running the man down in his car and driving away without reporting the incident in Addis Ababa in 2006.

Ethiopia’s best-known pop star was also convicted of driving without a licence.

His music became an anthem for opposition protests in 2005 and many fans believe the charges were politically motivated.

But the Ethiopian authorities have denied this. As he passed sentence, the judge said the prosecution was not in any way a vendetta.

There had been some confusion about which night the homeless man had died.

On the first date the singer – whose real name is Tewodros Kassahun – had an alibi: He was out of the country.

On the second possible date, Teddy said he had been out with friends. But the judge was not convinced and found him guilty on all charges.

As he was led away from the courtroom by police, Teddy said: “I feel free.”

Photos from Tadias archives:

Above: Teddy’s fans at the Rosewater Hall in San Jose, California
on January 20th, 2007. (Photos by D.J. Fitsum).
Click to see hot shots.

Above: Teddy Afro performing at the Rosewater Hall in
San Jose, California on January 20th, 2007.
(Photos by D.J. Fitsum)
Click here to see hot shots.

Above: The only other airline operating domestic scheduled
flights is national airline Ethiopian Airlines.

Source: ClickAfrique.com

A new domestic airline is to be launched in Ethiopia later this month. Air Ethiopia was set up last year to provide a variety of services including scheduled passenger flights, air ambulance facilities, cargo and private charter flights from Addis Ababa to regional towns and country areas.

The airline will soon commence operations and the destinations that Air Ethiopia may serve include Mekelle, Bahir Dar, Axum, Gondar and Dire Dawa.

It is hoped the airlines network will expand as more aircraft are purchased, but initial operations will start off with a Beech 1900 which it acquired from a US based company on a lease basis.

The Beech can seat up to 19 passengers and has a maximum cruising altitude of up 33.000 feet.

The airline is the brainchild of a former Ethiopian airlines pilot, Captain Abera Lemi.

The only other airline operating domestic scheduled flights is national airline Ethiopian Airlines.

Above: Brian Adkins, 25, was found dead in his home in
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, but details remain sketchy.

Ethiopia: Update on the Death of FSO in Addis Ababa
U.S. Department of State
Public Affairs
Office of the Spokesman
Washington, DC

Question Taken at the February 9, 2009 Daily Press Briefing
February 9, 2009

Question: Any update on the investigation into the death of the Foreign Service Officer in Ethiopia?

Answer: We can confirm that Brian Adkins, a 25-year-old FSO, died in Addis Ababa. The death is under investigation by the Bureau of Diplomatic Security and we are coordinating closely with the Government of Ethiopia. We will provide details as they become available.

Question: Has the Accountability Review Board been convened as of yet?

Answer: The investigation into the death of Mr. Adkins has not yet been completed. The facts of that investigation will determine whether there will be the need to recommend that the Secretary convenes an Accountability Review Board.

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
By Theodore Decker
Friday, February 6, 2009

He’d watched the Eiffel Tower’s light show from the top of the Arc de Triomphe and ridden a burro in Africa.

For Brian Adkins, 25, the world’s treasures were as simple and marvelous as a hyena strolling down the road.

That was among the last stories the fledgling U.S. diplomat from Franklin County shared with his family, just a few weeks before his death last weekend in Ethiopia.

Adkins gleefully told his family that the hyena was one of the ugliest creatures he’d ever seen. But it was much more than that to him, and his excitement was contagious.

“It was Africa,” his brother, Mike Adkins, said yesterday. “That’s pretty much what he was telling you.”

The death of a young man with such a passion for life and other cultures has left relatives devastated.

“He will probably be the most positive person we’ll ever know in our lives,” said his mother, Christine Adkins, who lives on the South Side.

Adkins, a foreign-service officer for the State Department in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa, was found dead in his home by security officials checking on him.

Ethiopian and U.S. officials have released few details about his death but said it appears to be a homicide. He likely was killed on Saturday.

His family was told of his death Monday, what would have been his 26th birthday, but they remain in the dark on most of the details. They don’t think his death was related to his job, Mrs. Adkins said. But they don’t know how he was killed, given the security provided to all diplomats.

“How did someone get in his house, and what happened in his house?” his mother asked.

Those answers might be weeks away. Adkins’ body remains in Ethiopia and likely won’t be returned to the United States until this weekend, when a government autopsy will occur. His family understands that the investigation is tangled amid international red tape, and they know from Brian that patience is a diplomatic virtue.

Adkins grew up in Whitehall. He graduated from Whitehall-Yearling High School, where his love for language, political science and world affairs took hold. He was a devout Catholic and fourth-degree Knight of Columbus.

He received undergraduate and graduate degrees from George Washington University in Washington, D.C., and had traveled extensively long before taking his two-year State Department post in Addis Ababa last summer.

Since his death, e-mails from people he knew around the world have found their way to the Adkins family.

“Every country he’s visited, he gained a friend,” Mike Adkins said.

Adkins worked in the consular section of the embassy, handling passports and paperwork while hoping to move up to big-picture issues such as U.S. economic diplomacy.

The weekend of his death, he was to report to the embassy in Rwanda for six weeks.

Adkins had been looking forward to the trip. Though he was excited about the work, he’d told his family about a jungle preserve for gorillas. It would cost him $1,000 to see them, he’d said.

Another country, another experience. To him, it was worth every penny.

“He was like a sponge,” said his mother. “He was infectious.”
———-

From News Services

Friday, February 06, 2009

A young American diplomat has been found dead at his house in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, and foul play is suspected, U.S. and Ethiopian officials said Thursday. The U.S. State Department said the body of Brian Adkins was discovered Saturday. Adkins would have turned 26 on Tuesday, according to his father, Dan Adkins of Columbus, Ohio. (AJC)

Above: Wayna (pictured above) and Kenna are the two
Ethiopian Americans who earned their seats as
Nominees at the 51st annual Grammy Awards ceremony
at Staples Center in Los Angeles on Sunday night.

NYT
By BEN SISARIO
Published: February 8, 2009

LOS ANGELES — At the 51st annual Grammy Awards ceremony, at Staples Center here on Sunday night, three disparate acts were in a close race, with hard-core rap, rock and an album of lush Americana vying for the top award.

But it was Robert Plant and Alison Krauss who won album of the year — for a total of five awards — for “Raising Sand” (Rounder), their album of luxuriant renditions of old rockabilly and country songs as well as original material. Lil Wayne, the bawdy and gifted New Orleans rapper, had a total of three, including one for a four-way collaboration. The British rock band Coldplay also had three awards. Read More.

Neo-soul singer from Bowie traded the West Wing for Grammys glory
Wayna’s “Lovin You (Music)” is nominated for a Grammy for best urban/alternative performance.
baltimoresun.com

Wayna: A Soulful Diva in the Making
By Tseday Alehegn
Tadias Staff Writer

New York (Tadias) – Friends and family may know Woyneab Miraf Wondwossen (Wayna) as the young University of Maryland alumna who double majored in English and Speech Communications, and went on to serve as one of the first Ethiopian American researchers at the White House under Former President Bill Clinton.

Recently, however, Wayna has waded into new waters and is beginning to make a name for herself among America’s favorite musicians. She’s nominated for a Grammy.

Wayna’s sophomore album Higher Ground, which propelled her to the prestigious nomination, was released in 2008. The new album, just like her debut CD Moments of Clarity, is an infectious blend of original songs that fuses soul, world, and hip hop sounds accompanied by lyrics on love, loss, faith and courage.

“I’ve poured some of the hardest lessons I’ve had to learn into these songs,” Wayna divulges. Music has always been one of Wayna’s deep-seated passions, and her most recent tunes echo her personal struggles, hopes and victories through her own unique and passionate voice. Asked how she views herself and her work, she replies, “I would define myself as an artist who is constantly growing and searching for new ways to express myself vocally, lyrically, and musically. I search for the feeling of losing myself in a song, to create timeless music that speaks to people’s hearts and conveys important messages.”

Born in Ethiopia, Wayna immigrated with her family to the United States when she was just a toddler. As a young girl, she chased after her love of music by starring in popular musical theater productions like Annie, The Boyfriend, and Damn Yankees, as well as by touring with the children’s musical revue company Songs, Inc. Her college years continued to be a time of musical experimentation as she taught herself to play piano on the old Steinway in her dormitory. After being crowned Miss Black Unity of the University of Maryland and earning a one-year tuition scholarship, she went on to start a gospel quartet. The successful and talented quartet performed at the world renowned Apollo Theater in Harlem, New York, where they placed as finalist in the Amateur Night competition.

Wayna soon received several opportunities to travel as a soloist with the gospel choir all the while unearthing her talent in singing. But it was after being invited to perform at her university’s annual tradition, A Tribute to African Women, that Wayna ended up writing the ballad that became her first original piece performed for an audience.

“On that day,” she recalls, “music became more than a form of entertainment or a source of comfort to me. I began to see it as a tool to heal and inspire people, including myself.”

Asked to identify her role models in the music world, Wayna chooses the colorful sounds of Chaka Khan, Donnie Hathaway, Billy Holiday, Stevie Wonder and the ’70s soul singer Minnie Riperton. She also enjoys listening to contemporary artists ranging from the soulful voices of D’Angelo and Jill Scott to emerging spoken word performer W. Ellington Felton.

For her personal role models, Wayna selects her mom Tidenkialesh Emagnu and her late aunt Yeshi Immebet Imagnu.

“It wasn’t always easy growing up as an Ethiopian-American, especially at the time I was coming of age,” she confesses. “Because there were far fewer of us here — far different from the experience Ethiopian teenagers have today.”

Remembering the strength and encouragement her family gave her, Wayna recounts lessons she learned at a young age:

“My aunt Yeshie Imagnu made it a point to teach me elements of our history and culture that weren’t obvious just by living in an Ethiopian home. And my mom, though she has resided in the U.S. for 25 years, is one of the truest representations of our culture that I’ve ever encountered,” she says with pride.

Now that she is older, she says she wears her Ethiopian-ness like a badge of honor.

“In fact, I’ve promised myself I will not go on stage unless I’m wearing at least one article of Ethiopian clothing or jewelry,” she adds. “It’s a symbol of who I am.”

In the end, what Wayna teaches us all is far deeper than her lifelong love of song; she teaches us to excel in every aspect of our lives.

“I would encourage Tadias readers to explore all their interests and talents — not just the ones that are validated by our community,” she says.

“What do you wake up thinking about in the middle of the night? What did you love doing for hours on end as a child? Those things are our passions, and we owe it to ourselves and our creator to develop and share them with the world.”

In short, she says, “There’s absolutely nothing we can’t do.”

Tadias Magazine congratulates Wayna on her nomination.

VIDEO: Watch Wayna’s debut video, “My Love”:

You can purchase her new CD at Amazon.com