Fox Atlanta

Aungelique Proctor
edited by: Jacqueline Gulledge

DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. – A suspect is in police custody following a fatal shooting at a DeKalb County beauty shop. The 23-year-old owner of the beauty shop was shot and killed at Ermy’s Hair Salon on Buford Highway Thursday night.

Authorities arrested Rodas Teklu in connection with the shooting and said Teklu is an acquaintance of the victim, Gebeyehu “Erimias” Awoke. Awoke’s family said he will be buried in his native country, Ethiopia.

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

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: An education charity in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Source: Telegraph

By: Alice Klein
Feb 6, 2009

Recent news that the Ethiopian government has cracked down on charities which receive funding from overseas should be a major cause for concern.

The Charities and Societies Act states that any organisation receiving more than 10% of its funding from abroad is a “foreign NGO” (non-governmental organisation).

In Ethiopia, a country where approximately a quarter of the population live on a dollar a day, charities inevitably struggle to raise funds domestically and subsequently look overseas.

According to the Guardian, organisations like the Ethiopian Human Rights Council and the Ethiopian Women Lawyers Association depend on foreign money by up to 90%.

But criminalising charity work appears to be the latest in a string of efforts to crack down on any form of dissent in the East African country.

Censorship of media is already rife. Last summer saw the Mass Media and Freedom of Information Proclamation passed in the House of Peoples’ Representatives, drafted without consultation from journalists or legal experts.

Some say the changes are in nervous preparation for next year’s election but regardless of intention, it is drawing worrying parallels with heavily censored countries such as Zimbabwe where Zanu PF passed the Access to Information and Protect of Privacy Act in 2002.

The law saw foreign news organisations banned and many domestic publications shut down including The Zimbabwean, which is now edited by the charismatic Wilf Mbanga in England and printed in the UK and South Africa.

The few journalists that remain must be licensed, registered and pay a huge fee only to have every cough and spit heavily monitored.

If Ethiopia’s conflict with Somalia continues, it is vital that independent media be able to report on it (unlike in Zimbabwe) and that humanitarian charities remain active…even if their funding comes from western donors.

VOA
By Jackson Mvunganyi
Washington D.C
05 February 2009

Take care of yourself…and then accept yourself. That’s the message of Sehin Belew (pictured above), a former Miss Ethiopia who has been living in the United States for the past couple of decades. She works as an image consultant, giving advice on beauty, health and fashion. Her new book, Fabulous for Less, is about her philosophy on fashion and health.

Sehin encourages women to make the most of what they have. “Health is very important,” she says adding, “People should be mindful of their bodies and take time to exercise.” She warns that beauty does not mean that you are thin but rather that you “have the right attitude.” She also says people should be “savvy” in the way they care for their skin. Read more.

Related: Miss Ethiopia 2009 hails from Gambella
ENA

A 22-year-old university student from Gambella won the title of Miss Ethiopia beauty competition held here on Saturday.

The winner, Chuna Okok, a sophomore at the faculty of business and economics, Addis Ababa University, outranks all of her 20 competitors.

She won Miss Ethiopia 2009 contest and received an award of diamond ring worth 60,000 Birr, according to competition organizer Ethiopian Village Adventure Playground.

The 1963 Miss Ethiopia winner Ejigayehu Beyene has put the crown for this year’s Miss Ethiopia winner, Chuna Okok.

After being named Miss Ethiopia of 2009, Chuna said that she was excited to win the title as it would leave a message that Ethiopia is a home for beautiful people in its all regions.

huna is to take part in Miss World Cultural Heritage of 2009 due to be held in Namibia this year, according to the organizer.

She would have great contribution in promoting her homeland Ethiopia, the organizer said.

Winner of the title of Miss Ethiopia 2009 Chuna
Okaka (R) wears the cordon during the Miss Ethiopia
2009 Beauty Pageant in Addis Ababa, capital of
Ethiopia, Jan. 18, 2009.(Xinhua Photo)

Girls attend the finals of the Miss Ethiopia 2009 Beauty Pageant in Addis
Ababa, capital of Ethiopia, Jan. 18, 2009. Chuna Okaka won the title of Miss
Ethiopia 2009. (Xinhua Photo)

World Aeronautical Press Agency
Occurrences
05:50 pm – Tuesday

Rome, Italy – The occurrence happened this morning at Rome-Fiumicino’s airport (WAPA) – The Provincial leadership of Firemen in Rome unveiled that nine rescue means are intervened this morning at Fiumicino’s airport due to an emergency landing made by pilot of a B-757 airplane of Ethiopian Airlines with 147 passengers on board and nine crew members.

The airplane’s pilot, remarked shortly after taking off from Rome’s airport of the damage to an engine, has come back landing again on it: the manoeuvre made perfectly, from which all people on board are safe. (Avionews)

Ethiopian Airlines Offers Obama Special, Buy One Get One Free
Source: San Jose Mercury News

Free flight to Ethiopia. Companions fly free on Ethiopian Airlines, under the airline’s celebration of Barack Obama’s inauguration. Buy one ticket at regular fare from Washington, D.C. (the airline’s only U.S. stop) to any of 32 African destinations and get a companion fare free. Must complete your travel by March 30; trips of up to 21 days are allowed. (800) 445-2733, www.ethiopianairlines.com.

Related: Ethiopian Airlines Explains Recent Emergency Landing in Malta
January 13, 2009

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia – Ethiopian Airlines flight ET -710 departed from Addis Ababa on January 11, 2009 at 0049 local time.

The B757-200 was scheduled to fly to Rome Fiumicino International Airport.

When low oil pressure light of the right engine was displayed in the cockpit panel, the flying crew immediately decided to take an emergency measure and safely landed the aircraft at a near by Malta International Airport, which is a planned enroute alternate airport. All the passengers were safely disembarked per the normal procedure.

Ethiopian Airlines’ technical experts were soon dispatched from Rome, the nearest location to Malta. They performed the necessary technical maintenance on the engine and the aircraft flew back to Addis Ababa and continued its scheduled services.

Related: Ethiopian Airlines Jet makes emergency landing in Malta
Times of Malta
Sunday, 11th January 2009

An Ethiopian Boeing 757 airliner made an emergency landing at Malta International Airport this morning after one of its two engines failed, sources said.

The Boeing 757 was on a flight from Addis Ababa to Rome Fiumicino when it declared an emergency and diverted to Malta.

The Health Department was immediately informed and an emergency plan was put in place. Two ambulances were sent on site and all the doctors and nurses at the Emergency Department at Mater Dei Hospital as well as those at the four main health centres and at St Vincent De Paul, were prepared to handle any possible injuries.

The plane landed safely at 4.30 a.m.

Related: Ethiopian Airlines jet ditching in 1996 yielded survival lessons for NYC crash
CNN

Lessons learned from previous successful airliner ditchings helped pilot C.B. “Sully” Sullenberger save 155 lives when he put his US Airways A320 jetliner down in the Hudson River, a fellow pilot told CNN.

Twenty-three people died when an Overseas National Airways DC-9 ditched off the Caribbean island of St. Croix in 1970, and 123 were killed in the crash of an Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 767 off the Comoro Islands near Africa in 1996.

But Emilio Corsetti, an Airbus 320 pilot and aviation author, said those ditchings were actually successful “because people were able to get out” — 40 in the 1970 crash and 52 in the 1996 incident. Read more at CNN.

Above: The “Treat every child as your own” campaign was
launched by the Organization of African First Ladies against
HIV/AIDS on 15 September, during the 2005 World Summit.
(Standing, left to right) First Lady of Kenya, Mrs Lucy Kibaki;
Mrs Edith Lucie Bongo Ondimba, First Lady of Gabon; Dr Peter
Piot, UNAIDS Executive Director; Mrs Jeannette Kagame, First
Lady of the Republic of Rwanda, Mrs Maureen Mwanawasa,
First Lady of Zambia; Mrs Toure Lobbo Traore, First Lady of Mali;
(seated, left to right) Madame Denise Nkurunziza, First Lady of
Burundi; Mrs Viviane Wade, First Lady of Senegal; and UNICEF
Deputy Executive Director Rima Salah. (Photo credit: UNAIDS/
Peter Serling).

Source: Kenya Broadcasting Corporation

The Organization of African First Ladies against HIV/AIDS (OAFLA) conference opened Sunday in Addis Ababa with a call for improved internal control of the resources of OAFLA and the adoption of broad strategies to fight HIV AIDS.

Speaking during the technical advisors meeting, Professor Elizabeth Ngugi, who is representing the First Lady Mrs. Lucy Kibaki, said the OAFLA Kenya Chapter has had a positive impact in the fight against HIV/AIDS and the promotion of the welfare of the girl child and women in general.

Citing the ‘Treat Every Child as your Own’ initiative that was speared headed by First Lady Lucy Kibaki, Professor Ngugi noted that OAFLA Kenya had contributed substantially to the improvement of the welfare of children in Kenya ranging from a reduction in child labour, girl child prostitution, female genital mutilation and the mother-to-child transmission of HIV/AIDS.

Professor Ngugi further noted that OAFLA Kenya has been instrumental in the success of various legislative measures as well as affirmative actions that have been taken to promote the well being of women in the country.

During the meeting, the revised OAFLA Finance Policies and Procedures manual was presented to the technical advisors committee by Ernst & Young consultants.

According to Professor Ngugi, the manual is intended to provide guidance in the internal financial control of the resources of OAFLA and facilitate application of internationally accepted best practices in the formulation and implementation of OAFLA interventions in fighting HIV/AIDS. Read more.

Source: Lincoln Center
January 29, 2009

New York – Throughout February, Lincoln Center will host an array of concerts, discussions, exhibitions, and free events to celebrate the achievements of African-American artists. Highlights include two performances from Lincoln Center’s popular American Songbook series: Soul Deep: An Anthology of Black Music (February 4), a celebration of the musical contributions by Black artists to American popular song featuring Broadway singers and stars, and Lizz Wright (February 6) whose unique sound embraces elements of folk, soul, jazz, and rock.

The Film Society of Lincoln Center will also host an all day tribute (February 1) to the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, including film programs, performances, and a free poster exhibition, which will be on display throughout February.

In addition, distinguished performers take the stage for a series of spectacular concerts at Jazz at Lincoln Center and New York City Opera presents a three-part collaboration with the Schomburg Center.

For the 5th year, Lincoln Center will partner with the York College (CUNY) Performing Arts Center to present an exciting free concert by the internationally acclaimed Hypnotic Brass Ensemble (February 22), formed as a street ensemble in Chicago by eight horn playing sons of Sun Ra Arkestra trumpeter Kelan Phil Cohran. The ensemble has toured with Mos Def, played the North Sea Jazz Festival, and recorded with Erykah Badu and Maxwell.

Click here for more information and the complete line up of Black History Month
events at Lincoln Center.

GlobalPost.com
Tristan McConnell
January 26, 2009

ACCRA, Ghana — West Africa is an unlikely center for the international cocaine trade. It is not a producer of the drug nor is it a consumer, as the vast majority of its people are very poor.

Yet a startling 50 tons of cocaine is transported through West Africa each year, according to the latest United Nations estimates. The value of this illicit trade dwarfs entire economies and has the potential to corrupt the region’s fragile states, which are just pulling out of decades of bitter civil wars.

In the past Africa has been a treasure trove looted by covetous colonialists, voracious rebels and kleptocratic rulers — over the last 300 years think slaves, ivory, gold, diamonds, tin and coltan. Now it is a transit point and storeroom for the cocaine trade.

“Drug money is perverting the weak economies in the region,” says Antonio Maria Costa, executive director of the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime. The wholesale value in European streets of cocaine passing through West Africa is $2 billion, he says.

South American cartels used to transport cocaine to the big U.S. market via the Caribbean. But dwindling American consumption, stricter control of the West Indies drugs route, growing cocaine use in Europe and weak law enforcement in West Africa have conspired to bring the drug to the region. It is the path of least resistance.

Grown and processed in South America, the refined cocaine is transported by boat or plane across the Atlantic: The shortest line of latitude brings the cargo straight to West Africa. From there the cartels move the drugs onwards to Europe, along the way paying off West African officials in order to be able to operate freely.

The cocaine consignments can also be moved by corrupt officials in the army, customs and police forces. The packages are split up and distributed by criminal gangs who use boats, trucks, planes or human mules to transport the drugs to Europe, which is in the throes of a cocaine boom reminiscent of the U.S. in the 1980s.

Several West African countries risk becoming narco-states — undermined by drug money their nascent institutions are stillborn. This is a global concern because this part of Africa provides resources that the world depends on, including oil. The U.S. gets almost one-fifth of its crude from Africa.

“Already we have seen how the impact of drugs has affected the judiciary, the police, customs and political parties,” says Kwesi Aning at the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre in Accra. He says Ghana and Guinea-Bissau are the two main cocaine hubs in West Africa. Aning says the drug trade is a threat to Ghana, which currently is an oasis of political and economic stability in a volatile region.

Individual shipments of hundreds of kilos of cocaine have been found in recent years in Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Senegal, Sierra Leone and elsewhere. But the seizures are more the product of luck than design, and prosecutions rarely follow.

Traffickers are frequently released for lack of evidence or jump bail, while hauls of cocaine locked in secure storage rooms disappear and senior officials implicated in the trade hold onto their jobs and buy flashy new SUVs to navigate their capitals’ potholed streets.

The U.N. reckons that the traffickers might make $450 million each year, which would mean that the criminals have more financial resources than the states in which they operate. A policeman earning less than $50 a month is easily bribed, so is a customs official, a security agent or even a government minister.

At the other extreme is the example of Sierra Leone, where millions of dollars earned from the sale of “blood diamonds” — another illegal trade — helped prolong a civil war, leaving the country in bloody ruin when the fighting stopped in 2003.

The death of Guinea’s elderly president, Lansana Conte, in late December sent shivers down the spines of drugs experts who fear a large failed state in the region will only encourage the cartels.

The threat is growing, but observers say it is not too late for concerted international action.

“We can break the back of this crisis, but we don’t have much time,” warns Aning. “We need to do this within the next two years otherwise …” And with that he shakes his head.

More news at GlobalPost.com.

The Guardian
Mark Tran
Monday 26 January 2009

Human rights activists have accused the Ethiopian government of tightening its grip on power through a new law on charity funding that they claim will criminalise human rights work and clamp down on political debate ahead of next year’s elections.

At the core of the charities and societies proclamation (CSO law) that came into force this month, is a provision stating that any organisation receiving over 10% of its funding from abroad is a “foreign NGO”.

Once designated as “foreign”, an organisation is not allowed to engage in activities concerning democratic and human rights, conflict resolution or criminal justice.

Ostensibly, the law is designed to ensure those who engage in Ethiopian politics should be Ethiopian nationals. However, not even the largest human rights groups in Ethiopia can raise enough money domestically in what is one of the world’s poorest countries.

Ethiopian officials say the law is simply in line with the constitution, which forbids foreigners from taking part in domestic political activities. But human rights groups and Ethiopians abroad view the law as a draconian act by an increasingly authoritarian government, especially since the contested elections of 2005. Read more.

US warns Ethiopia new law could curtail aid
AFP

ADDIS ABABA (AFP) — The United States, Ethiopia’s main donor, warned Friday that a new law adopted by Addis Ababa restricting foreign-funded aid groups may curtail its assistance.

Under the new law, any group that draws more than 10 percent of its funding from abroad will be classified as foreign, and thus banned from working on issues related to ethnicity, gender, children’s rights and conflict resolution. “We recognise the importance of effective oversight of civil society organisations… However we are concerned this law may restrict US government assistance to Ethiopia,” a State Department statement said.

Despite criticism, Ethiopia’s parliament on Tuesday overwhelmingly passed the bill, which the government argues is solely to safeguard citizens’ rights. Read More.
————————

Malamalama:
The magazine of the University of Hawaiʻi

The candidacy and election of President Barack Obama drew international eyes to the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, where his parents met. But among some at the university, it is Obama’s late mother who stirs strong emotions of memory and hope.

Stanley Ann Dunham took an unconventional approach to life on both personal and professional levels. Her son’s book portrays her as an innocent, kind and generous; academics who knew her and reporters who have discovered her describe the idealism and optimism of her worldview and work ethic.

In her work, she was not a romantic, rather appreciating the artistic while dealing with the realistic, one contemporary observes.

Dunham was born in Kansas and attended high school in Washington State. Moving to Hawaiʻi with her parents, she entered UH in 1960. In Russian class, she met the first African student to attend UH, charismatic Barack Obama Sr., who moved in politically liberal, intellectual student circles that included future Congressman Neil Abercrombie. They married and had Barack Obama Jr. in 1961.

Obama Sr. left his family for Harvard and then Kenya. Dunham returned to UH, earning a math degree. She pursued graduate work, married another international student, Lolo Soetoro, and returned with him to Indonesia. There she began extensive research and fieldwork and welcomed the birth of daughter Maya Kassandra Soetoro, nine years Barack’s junior.

Although eventually divorced a second time, Dunham is credited with encouraging her children’s appreciation of their ethnic heritages. Read more.

Above: A man sits outside a cafe named after the 44th
President of the United States Barack Obama in the streets of
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. (Reuters Irada Humbatova)

National (UAE)
January 21. 2009

BAHIR DAR, ETHIOPIA // Alelegn Abebaw was expecting 500 people to pack into his Obama Restaurant, Bar and Cafe yesterday.

The 30-year-old businessman said he believes his was the first Obama cafe in the world to open, having launched in May when the new president was still battling Hillary Clinton for the Democratic Party nomination.

Mr Abebaw insists that even if Mr Obama had failed to secure the presidency his cafe’s name would have stayed, such is the pride the former Illinois senator generates in Africans.

The waiters and waitresses wear Obama T-shirts and there are pictures of Mr Obama, whose father came from neighbouring Kenya, on the walls. Read more.

Source: Xinhua

Many newlyweds have their wedding ceremonies held in
January or February known as the wedding season for its
pleasant climate.

People sing and dance at a park during a wedding ceremony in central Addis
Ababa, capital of Ethiopia, on Jan. 24, 2009.

Staff members of a wedding company dressed in religious costumes sing a
song while beating the drum during a wedding ceremony at a park in central
Addis Ababa, capital of Ethiopia, on Jan. 24, 2009.

Newlyweds (C, Upper) and a master of ceremonies join in chorus during a
wedding ceremony at a park in central Addis Ababa, capital of Ethiopia, on
Jan. 24, 2009.

Newlyweds pose for photographs after their wedding ceremony at a park in
central Addis Ababa, capital of Ethiopia, on Jan. 24, 2009.

A wedding ceremony is seen at a park in central Addis Ababa, capital of
Ethiopia, on Jan. 24, 2009.

Flower girls walk in front of a couple of newlyweds
during a wedding ceremony at a park in central Addis
Ababa, capital of Ethiopia, on Jan. 24, 2009.

A musician plays the saxophone during a wedding ceremony at a park in
central Addis Ababa, capital of Ethiopia, on Jan. 24, 2009.

A flower girl and a ring bearer walk in front of a
couple of newlyweds during a wedding ceremony at
a park in central Addis Ababa, capital of Ethiopia,
on Jan. 24, 2009.

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.

Police responding to the call on the 5100 block of North Fontana Court were told he was threatening to kill his sister and her family.

Ceccacci and another officer were confronted by Ferde, who was covered with blood after stabbing himself with a knife.

Ferde had lost his job as a cab driver five months earlier and had rarely gone out of his brother’s home since then, according to a police report.

He had gone to a religious meeting at the Pepsi Center, where a preacher picked him out of the crowd and said God had a plan for him. Relatives told detectives his mental health had declined since then. He said he could see things others couldn’t.

He called his sister and told her he was coming to save them on the night of the confrontation with police. He had cut himself and had blood all over himself.

When they saw him, officers ordered Ferde to kneel. He did so, but then got up, turned around and ran at officers with an object in his hand, according to the police statement.

“He had a look in his eye that scared the hell out of me,” Ceccacci was quoted as saying in the police report.

Ferde was within 11 feet of Ceccacci when he began firing at Ferde. He fired three shots.

“The attack occurred in an instant, forcing officer Ceccacci to make a split-second decision to defend himself,” said a letter from District Attorney Mitch Morrissey’s office to Police Chief Gerry Whitman.

Less lethal weapons were not available under the circumstances, the letter says.

The object in Ferde’s hand turned out to be a 3-by-5-inch cross.

In Ferde’s truck, investigators found the 12-inch blood- stained knife he presumably had cut himself with earlier.

Above: Ethiopian marathon runner Berhane Adere poses for
photographers in front of Tower Bridge in London on
Thursday, April 10, 2008.

The Standard

Top Ethiopian female athlete Berhane Adere will grace today’s Safaricom Sportspersons of The Year Award (SOYA) Gala Night at the Kenyatta International Conference Centre.

The Ethiopian wondergirl will be the star guest at the function, replacing Mozambique middle distance runner, Maria Mutola, who can not make it due to personal commitments.

The former world and Olympic 800m champion, who was expected to arrive yesterday called the Soya chairman, Paul Tergat to apologise for the last minute pullout.

Adere joins a list of star guests who have graced this premier sports event. Others are her compatriot Haile Gebrselassie, Ramaala Henrick of South Africa and Nigeria’s Daniel Amokachi.

Top stars

“I would have really liked to be with you during this occasion to fete your top stars, but something has cropped up at the last minute,” she said in a note to Tergat.

“I received a call from Mutola that she cannot make it to the function due to unavoidable circumstances. I believe she has good reasons for her move and we respect it. Everything else is up and running and we are looking forward to the function,” said Tergat.

Adere’s career spans more than a decade. She was the African champion in the 1993 10,000m, and competed in the IAAF World Championships in 1995.

At the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games and the 2000 Athens Olympics she was 18th and 12th in the 10,000m respectively.

In 1998 she was the African Champion and third at the IAAF World Cup.

Among the top favourites for the awards are Olympic champions Samwel Wanjiru (marathon), Wilfred Bungei (800m), Pamela Jelimo (800m), Nancy Jebet (1,500m), silver medallist Janeth Jepkosgei, Harambee Stars and Rugby 7s team.

Branding Kenya

Meanwhile, Brand Kenya Board joined the Soya sponsors’ stable yesterday with a Sh500,000 donation.

CEO Mary Kimonye said her body, which is tasked with selling Kenya’s image abroad, will partner with sportspeople by branding them as a way of boosting Kenya’s image.

Primary source: PRWEB

According to Ezega.com, a web portal that lists new jobs in Ethiopia, the sectors that registered the most new jobs were in the following broad categories: Engineering, Accounting and IT Ethiopian jobs.

1. Engineering – This category attracted the most vacancy ads during this time. Roughly 20% of all jobs posted at Ezega.com were engineering jobs. In this category, Civil Engineering took the lion’s share of new jobs, distantly followed by Electrical Engineering and Mechanical Engineering.

2. Accounting and Finance – The next largest number of jobs were in Accounting & Finance. This area accounted for about 14% of all jobs posted at Ezega.com. Accounting jobs were the single largest group in this category, followed by Finance, Auditing and the like.

3. Information Technology – IT jobs made up the third largest jobs group in Ezega jobs database. It accounted for about 10% of all jobs posted at Ezega.com. Software Engineers and Networking professionals seem to be in equal demand in this category, followed by the rest of Computer Engineering jobs.

As one might expect, salaries vary widely from company to company, job to job, and region to region. Most companies do not advertise what they will pay ahead of time. Typically, in Ethiopian vacancy ads, salaries are posted as negotiable and/or dependent on experience. However, based on interviews we conducted with some job hunters, in the private sector, graduates in IT and Engineering with 2-3 years of experience may expect, on average, 3000-4000 ETB per month. Workers with longer experience and/or higher degrees may command a lot more money.

Although Ethiopia’s economy did well in last few years and the job market improved, some employers we contacted do not appear to be happy with the pool of talent they are getting. The most common complaint appears to be shortage experienced and disciplined workforce. And even if they get such employees, they seem to be frustrated by the fact that these workers change jobs so frequently and, in some cases, with little or no advance notice at all.

“I had an employee who quit on me on the spot the other day”, said one contractor. “To add insult to injury, this fellow came back a few days later to ask for a letter of recommendation, totally oblivious to the disruption he created.” This problem was also voiced by other investors who, in a survey conducted for World Economic Forum, ranked “poor work ethic in national labor force” among the top five biggest problems in doing business in Ethiopia.

Due to global economic slowdown, the jobs market in Ethiopia appears to be cooling of late. However, the long-term prospect looks good. The trend in outsourcing and the move towards low cost labor and resources should favor countries like Ethiopia. But this will also depend on whether the country can provide the necessary infrastructure and good business climate to support growth. Although much has been done and achieved in recent years, there is a lot more to be desired in this regard.

Internet service remains very poor and expensive in Ethiopia. One line dialup internet service that works intermittently can cost a company as much as 1,500 ETB per month. And if you can withstand ETC (Ethiopian Telecommunication Corporation) bureaucracy, 128Kbs broadband internet service will cost you 7,500 ETB for installation and 3,140 ETB per month thereafter. 2Mbps broadband costs 103,400 ETB to install and 41,500 ETB per month for service, roughly 200 times what it would cost in the USA. Sadly, the government has been unable to provide a decent service so far and unwilling to cede control in this area, depriving the country the incredible power of this new medium.

Note: Ezega.com advertises on Tadias Magazine.

Source: Walta

Wednesday, 21 January 2009

Washington – Embassy of the Federal Republic of Ethiopia in the United States in conjunction with the Foreign Diplomats Inaugural Ball committee hosted a pre-inauguration ball celebrating the inauguration of President Barack Obama last Sunday.

The pre-inaugural ball was held at the historic James Monroe Mansion. In his welcoming remarks at the ball, Ethiopian Ambassador to the U.S, Dr. Samuel Assefa said ” Those of us hosting this event are Africans and we are celebrating the rise of a son of Africa to the most powerful position on the planet, President of the United States of America.” The election of Barack Obama is momentous on so many levels. For the United States of America it is perhaps most profoundly a definitive statement about a young nation’s remarkable capacity for self-reform, for renewal of fundamental values, for immovable optimism and boundless energy in the pursuit of a more perfect union, he said. “The election of Senator Barack Obama was truly a remarkable event in the history of the United States and demonstrates once again the greatness of this nation,” Ambassador Dr. Samuel was quoted as having said during the preparation of the ball. “Of course, this election has a special meaning for the people of Africa. One of our own sons was elected President of the United States. This will even further strengthen the ties between the people of Africa and the people of the United States.”

Members of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations and the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, and all ambassadors and staff of all embassies in the United States had been invited to attend.

VOA
By James Butty
Washington, DC
20 January 2009

A senior Ethiopian official says his government has a responsibility to maintain law and order and would not be swayed by outside criticism. The official, Bereket Simon, an advisor to Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, was responding to a letter from four influential U.S. senators to the Ethiopian prime minister.

In their letter, the four senators, including Russell Feingold, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on Africa, warned that U.S.-Ethiopian relations could become more difficult because of the Ethiopian government’s actions against its opposition.

The senators said they were concerned about the re-arrest of opposition leader Birtukan Midekssa and the passage of a law restricting civil society groups.

Bereket Simon, advisor to the Ethiopian prime minister told VOA the U.S. senators’ criticism and accusations are unwarranted.

“If anyone is breaking the law, it’s their problem and not our problem. Ethiopian government believes government has a mandate and an obligation to ensure the rule of law in Ethiopia. So it’s an unwarranted accusation and criticism,” he said. Read More.

BBC News

By Karen Allen
Kogelo, Kenya
Tuesday, 20 January 2009

People here in western Kenya are celebrating the birth of a new era.

Kogelo, the hometown of the father of US President-elect Barack Obama, is normally a sleepy village of 5,000, but has become a riot of colour and sound.

The festivities have already begun, as they count down the hours before “their son” becomes the 44th president of the most powerful country in the world.

There are women in brightly coloured “kangas”, the Kenyan sarongs which are so popular here. Some have the image of Mr Obama on the cloth, worn mischievously around their waists so that when they dance, he appears to be dancing too.

It is like one enormous wake, but for the fact that no one has died.

Many men are also sporting traditional dress. One wears an elaborate feathered head dress and dances with a traditional spear or ratung. It is not dissimilar to the ceremonial one Sarah Onyango Obama – the president-elect’s grandmother – was hoping to take with her as a gift to him.

In her 80s, she and many of the Obama family are in Washington to witness Kenya’s most famous son being sworn in.

Tourist draw

Since his victory back in November, electricity has been supplied to parts of the village, there is also more water to quench the thirsty soil where millet and sugar cane grow.

As one man said to me, Barack Obama has shamed the Kenyan government into giving us something, now that the world’s eyes are upon us. It is often the way progress happens.

Incongruous in all the partying we found the first Obama tourists – Canadians drawn to Kogelo at the news of the celebrations.

“These are such spirited people, who have been so inspired by the Obama win,” remarked Stephanie Livingstone, who postponed her trip to Uganda to savour some Kogelo fun.

She and her gang of travellers are welcomed warmly as children giggle at their strange presence here.

The pupils of Senator Obama primary and high school have been given a few days off to join in this little piece of history – their school yard has become the focus of celebrations.

“I feel like I’m living a dream,” smiled Mary Atieno Otieno, a retired schoolteacher who used to work here.

“I hope the children watch the inaugural speech to realise that if they work hard, they can achieve so much.”

‘True democracy’

The Luo community – from where Mr Obama’s family comes – are known for their strong traditions, sense of identity and pride in their Nilotic roots. But many here are hoping that Barack Obama will be able to blend the old with the new.

fair few now accept that his presidency will not see a rush of investors scrambling to put new money in western Kenya. But they are hoping for a wholesale change in the way African politics is done.

“In my view the Obama presidency is going to change the political system in Africa,” beams Vitalis Akech Ogombe, one of the organisers of the Kogelo festivities.

“He has taught us that we should practise true democracy. I hope he will tell dictators to practise democracy”.

All eyes will be on Mr Obama as he deals with issues like Zimbabwe and Darfur in Sudan, and whether the domestic political agenda, with the crisis in the economy, will dominate.

When Mr Obama addressed students at Nairobi university a little over two years ago, his stern words against corruption and tribalism resonated among many here.

Cynical about their own leaders, Kenyans’ hopes are being transferred to a man who, though an American citizen, is an inspiring figure with “Kenyan values”.

Many hope his administration will be a turning point for this vast continent so often saddled with bad leaders.

Managing expectations will be one of his biggest tasks.

Above: Ethiopian immigrant Sonya Damtew features injera
and sweet potato pie at her Killingsworth cafe. Damtew says
the African American and African communities are one and
that she considers her own child — who was born here —
to be African American. (Benjamin Brink/The Oregonian)

The Oregonian

By Nikole Hannah-Jones,
Sunday January 18, 2009,

In a stylish beauty salon on Killingsworth Street, Snoop Dogg thumps over the buzz of hair dryers and Barack Obama fliers are tacked to the mirrors. Salon owner Jestina Fasasi peeks through a plume of smoke rising from the hot curlers and gossips in a thick Sierra Leone accent with her African American client.

To the shop’s left, an Ethiopian cafe bustles with a lunchtime rush, and the Nigerian-owned African International Food Market displays a sign saying the owner will return in an hour. Tucked in the heart of Portland’s traditionally black neighborhoods, a little Africa is emerging.

On Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard from Sacramento to Killingsworth streets and west on Killingsworth to Michigan Avenue, about a dozen African-owned businesses share the streets with longtime soul food joints and black barbershops and the new feminist bookstores and posh cafes ushered in by gentrification.

The African grocers, restaurants and beauty shops create a sharp visual of how Portland’s black population is changing. As more African Americans move to the suburbs, an infusion of African immigrants is the only thing holding Portland’s small black population of 35,000 steady.

Nearly all of Sierra Leone immigrant Jestina Fasasi’s clients at Salon Radiance
are African American. Fasasi’s salon is one of a handful of African-owned businesses
on Killingsworth Street between Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Michigan Avenue.
(Benjamin Brink/The Oregonian)

Recent census estimates show Portland’s population of U.S.-born African Americans has declined slightly since 2000. But its African-born population increased nearly 90 percent from 2000 to 2007 and now makes up about 12 percent of the black population.

Just as President-elect Barack Obama’s heritage has spurred a conversation about African American identity — his father was a Kenyan immigrant who met his mother while attending school in Hawaii — the influx of African immigrants here is spurring a changing definition of Portland’s black community.

“We’ve been watching this evolve over a period of time,” says Avel Gordly, Oregon’s first black female state senator and a black studies professor at Portland State University. “It provides a rich and wonderful opportunity for African Americans to connect with their culture, to move past stereotypes that say Africans and African Americans don’t have anything in common.”

African immigrants first trickled into Oregon in the 1970s, mainly as students from West African countries. In the 1980s, resettlement agencies began to relocate refugees from war-torn nations such as Sudan, Eritrea and Ethiopia to the Portland area, and those numbers accelerated in the 1990s and this decade, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, with refugees coming from Somalia, Liberia, Chad and Togo.

Portland is 12th in the nation for refugee resettlement, according to a 2007 report by the Brookings Institution, bringing in 34,000 refugees from across the globe between 1984 and 2003. But it’s also one of the whitest cities in the country.

Ethiopian immigrant Sonya Damtew was 16 when she came to live with a white host family in Salem to attend school. The family didn’t know any black people, Damtew says. When she watched “Roots” she cried for a week and felt even more alienated. This was the history of her host family’s country, she says, and they didn’t know it.

“Before coming here, I understood class and gender,” says Damtew, 47. “Race I had to learn. I had to learn it the hard way.”

Damtew went on to work for an organization that assisted resettlement agencies with African refugees. These days, she runs a chic restaurant called E’Njoni Cafe on Killingsworth.

As a sweet aroma of cloves and ginger swirls along walls painted the color of red lentils and ocher, she explains how the resettlement agencies she worked with tried to ease the refugees’ transition by plopping them into African American neighborhoods.

But the African and African American communities didn’t always mesh well at first.

In trying to teach American history to the new immigrants, for example, the agencies showed documentaries with the footage of race riots and civil rights protesters being hosed down by police, she says. The images led some African immigrants to view African Americans as violent and morally broken, she says.

“For years, there was no connection,” Damtew says.

Resistance came from the African American side as well.

Fasasi, the salon owner, recalls taking courses at Portland Community College and asking an African American woman why she was always so unfriendly.

“She told me, ‘Africans sold us into slavery. You can come here today and then back home and have your culture, but all I have is this,'” Fasasi says. “I couldn’t believe it.”

Such friction between native-born and immigrant groups is common, says Portland State University black studies chair Dalton Miller-Jones. “We have very different histories. But in time, Africans begin to assimilate into African Americans.”
Through the years, Damtew says, she’s seen both communities open up to each other.

Older immigrants who fought to hold onto their cultural identities became more American through their children, who readily identified with African Americans. They attended African American churches and listened to African American music. African Americans who at first looked on their new neighbors with suspicion found friends who could connect them to a culture lost through slavery.

The groups realized their common threads. They ate some of the same foods: yams, black-eyed peas, collard greens. Their homes were often multigenerational. Their music carried a similar beat. Even their mannerisms at times echoed each other.

“It’s things like the universal head nod,” says McGodson Ben-Jumbo, a 23-year-old son of Nigerian immigrants and a Portland State student. “The cultures overlap.”

But more than anything, says Miller-Jones, the common American racial experience united them.

Fasasi puts her next African American client under the dryer, then says she considers the African community distinct from African Americans.

Yet she also notes that people often don’t see the difference. She points to the 1988 hate-crime murder of an Ethiopian immigrant in Portland and says no matter whether a person is African or African American, they are both black and will get treated the same.

After two decades in this country, she says, she has a good relationship with her African American clients — who account for most of her business. “They like me, and to me, I have taken on some American ways.” She grins. She enjoys black music and has adopted some slang.

Omar Hashi opened Hashi Halal Market on Killingsworth about six months ago.
The meat market is also a gathering spot for members of the Somali community.
(Benjamin Brink/The Oregonian)

Immigrants who’ve landed in Portland more recently have found a community that already has a place for them.

Yonnas Yilma arrived from Ethiopia nearly seven years ago. Portland’s black community felt like home, he says.

“When I first came here, (African Americans) clasped my hand and said, ‘Hey, brother,'” Yilma recalls from a table in Sengatera, the small Ethiopian eatery he opened seven months ago on MLK. “That touched my heart.”

He still prefers Ethiopian music — though he enjoys American gospel and old-school hip-hop –and he can’t adjust to eating anything other than food from his homeland. But it doesn’t matter.

“I don’t believe we’re separate.” He slaps his hand together. “We’re together. In my heart, black is black.”

For longtime Northeast Portland resident Kecia Parker, the Somali meat shop, Ethiopian restaurants and African markets are a welcome addition, in part because she’s glad to see more black businesses in a neighborhood that’s becoming less so and because they add new flavor to the black experience.

“They are part of the community but distinct,” Parker says. “Everyone doesn’t have to assimilate.”

The African American community has never been monolithic, Miller-Jones says. Groups from Africa, the Caribbean and Latin America have seasoned the culture.

Portland’s small African American community, he says, will feel the impact of the African influx more intensely. Last year, Portland saw a 26-year-old Liberian immigrant and Jefferson High grad become the nation’s youngest NAACP branch president.

Damtew sees America’s president-elect as the bridge between Africans and African Americans — and as a symbol to emulate.

Along with the Ethiopian kaffa (coffee) brewing in the traditional jebena, she stocks her dessert case with an African American favorite: sweet potato pie.

“African American is birth and tradition, but it’s also who people say you are,” she says. “It’s not enough to be African, because that’s just who you are by yourself. If you are African American, then you are part of a community.”

Above: Bruce Springsteen put on benefit concerts for Obama
during his campaign and has a new album set to drop at the
same time as the inauguration – it’s likely you’ll see him in D.C.
for the gala events.Credits: Brandon/AP

DAILY NEWS

BY PATRICK HUGUENIN

Sunday, January 18th 2009

Beyonce will sing ‘At Last’ for Barack and Michelle
Obama’s first dance at inauguration. (Credits: Weiss/ News)

D.C. set for three days of celeb-filled
bashes celebrating Obama

Gabrielle Union at the BET Honors during
the preparations for the inauguration of
President Barack Obama. Roca/News

Washington is gearing up for one heck of a party for Barack Obama.

The District has been transformed by an influx of gala-goers and celebs, all here to fete Obama’s entrance to the White House.

Three straight days of star-studded concerts and cocktail parties are the talk of the town (along with hope, change and Michelle Obama’s wardrobe).

Beyonce will perform her rendition of
‘At Last’ for the Obamas’ first dance at
Inauguration. (Micelotta/Getty)

The party circuit kicked off Sunday afternoon when Obama took to the steps of the Lincoln Memorial to host the “We Are One” inaugural concert, with a lineup that reads like the guest list to the Grammys.

Beyoncé, Mary J. Blige, Bono, Garth Brooks, Sheryl Crow, Josh Groban, John Legend, Usher, Shakira, Bruce Springsteen, James Taylor, will.i.am and Stevie Wonder will all wowed the crowd.

Look out for Tiger Woods, Denzel Washington, Jamie Foxx, Tom Hanks, Steve Carell and Queen Latifah. If you’re not in D.C., you can catch the action on HBO. Read more.

Here is the text of Obama’s speech at the Lincoln
Memorial on Sunday, January 18, as prepared for delivery:

The Obamas at the Lincoln Memorial for the star-studded
concert celebrating Tuesday’s inauguration.

I want to thank all the speakers and performers for reminding us, through song and through words, just what it is that we love about America. And I want to thank all of you for braving the cold and the crowds and traveling in some cases thousands of miles to join us here today. Welcome to Washington, and welcome to this celebration of American renewal.

In the course of our history, only a handful of generations have been asked to confront challenges as serious as the ones we face right now. Our nation is at war. Our economy is in crisis. Millions of Americans are losing their jobs and their homes; they’re worried about how they’ll afford college for their kids or pay the stack of bills on their kitchen table. And most of all, they are anxious and uncertain about the future – about whether this generation of Americans will be able to pass on what’s best about this country to our children and their children.

At the Lincoln Memorial

I won’t pretend that meeting any one of these challenges will be easy. It will take more than a month or a year, and it will likely take many. Along the way there will be setbacks and false starts and days that test our fundamental resolve as a nation. But despite all of this – despite the enormity of the task that lies ahead – I stand here today as hopeful as ever that the United States of America will endure – that the dream of our founders will live on in our time.

What gives me that hope is what I see when I look out across this mall. For in these monuments are chiseled those unlikely stories that affirm our unyielding faith – a faith that anything is possible in America. Rising before us stands a memorial to a man who led a small band of farmers and shopkeepers in revolution against the army of an Empire, all for the sake of an idea. On the ground below is a tribute to a generation that withstood war and depression – men and women like my grandparents who toiled on bomber assembly lines and marched across Europe to free the world from tyranny’s grasp. Directly in front of us is a pool that still reflects the dream of a King, and the glory of a people who marched and bled so that their children might be judged by their character’s content. And behind me, watching over the union he saved, sits the man who in so many ways made this day possible.

And yet, as I stand here tonight, what gives me the greatest hope of all is not the stone and marble that surrounds us today, but what fills the spaces in between. It is you – Americans of every race and region and station who came here because you believe in what this country can be and because you want to help us get there. It is the same thing that gave me hope from the day we began this campaign for the presidency nearly two years ago; a belief that if we could just recognize ourselves in one another and bring everyone together – Democrats, Republicans, and Independents; Latino, Asian, and Native American; black and white, gay and straight, disabled and not – then not only would we restore hope and opportunity in places that yearned for both, but maybe, just maybe, we might perfect our union in the process.This is what I believed, but you made this belief real. You proved once more that people who love this country can change it. And as I prepare to assume the presidency, yours are the voices I will take with me every day I walk into that Oval Office – the voices of men and women who have different stories but hold common hopes; who ask only for what was promised us as Americans – that we might make of our lives what we will and see our children climb higher than we did.

It is this thread that binds us together in common effort; that runs through every memorial on this mall; that connects us to all those who struggled and sacrificed and stood here before.

It is how this nation has overcome the greatest differences and the longest odds – because there is no obstacle that can stand in the way of millions of voices calling for change.

That is the belief with which we began this campaign, and that is how we will overcome what ails us now. There is no doubt that our road will be long. That our climb will be steep. But never forget that the true character of our nation is revealed not during times of comfort and ease, but by the right we do when the moment is hard. I ask you to help me reveal that character once more, and together, we can carry forward as one nation, and one people, the legacy of our forefathers that we celebrate today.

Above: Haile Gebrselassie from Ethiopia celebrates as he wins
the Dubai Marathon in Dubai, United Arab Emirates Friday,
Jan. 16, 2009. Gebrselassie finished in 2 hours, 5 minutes,
29 seconds. (AP)

From Times Online

Rick Broadbent
January 19, 2009

In his darkest moments last year, when it was difficult to breathe, Haile Gebrselassie’s family urged him to stop running. His response was a panoramic smile and pithy mantra. “If I stop I think maybe I’ll die,” he said. “Without running there is no life.” Now, having beaten famine, asthma and the best athletes in the world, he is planning to beat the taunt of time by winning gold at the London Olympics.

He will be 39 by 2012, but the Ethiopian is better than ever, becoming, by one second, the first man to run the marathon in under 2 hours and four minutes in Berlin last September. He predicts that his mark will be cut to a staggering 1hr 58min within 20 years. “There are no limits,” he said. “Believe me.” Many do, which is why they are predicting that there will be a sporting afterlife as his country’s President. Read more.

Sun-News

By Ashley Meeks

LAS CRUCES — New Mexico State University has chosen a new dean for the College of Health and Social Services, a spokes-man confirmed Wednesday.

Tilahun Adera, 60, a senior associate dean for public health and a professor of epidemiology and community health at Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine, will start July 1. His annual salary is $165,000.

Robert Rhodes will serve as interim dean until that time.

Four finalists were chosen for the position — Adera, two other outside candidates, and Luis Vazquez, associate dean of NMSU’s Graduate School. A dean was to have been picked by the end of fall semester, according to a news release from University Communications at the time.

Vazquez was chosen last spring to fill in for associate dean Larry Olsen, who was fired after e-mailing pornography to a professor, and department head James Robinson, who stepped down during the investigation and is now a professor of health science.

Adera earned a pharmacy degree from Addis Ababa University in his native Ethiopia, two master’s degrees — in environmental health from Oregon State University, and in public health at the University of Washington — and a doctorate in public health from Oregon State.

In a statement, Adera said he was honored to become dean.

“I am tremendously impressed by the breadth and depth of accomplishments at the university,” Adera said. “Working with partners to improve the health and well-being of all New Mexicans will be a major priority. In addition, we will continue to be committed to education, research and service excellence.”

Adera said he hopes to increase external funding, create more advanced degree programs and improve the quality of both students and faculty.

In addition to his current position at Virginia Commonwealth University, Adera was a professor of epidemiology at Oregon State University as well as at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, in Bethesda, Md.

Bob Moulton, interim executive vice president and provost praised Adera’s credentials, experience and work in public health.

“I am confident he will lead the College of Health and Social Services effectively and know he has the support of NMSU and our partners,” Moulton said in a prepared statement. “His knowledge and expertise across a range of disciplines will be extremely valuable as the college continues to grow and expand its educational, research and service programs.”

To see Tilahun Adera’s résumé, click here.

Houston Chronicle

Half marathon records safe for another year

By DALE ROBERTSON Copyright 2009 Houston Chronicle
Jan. 18, 2009

The loneliness of long-distance running got to Deriba Merga (pictured above) Sunday morning in his determined bid to make a bigger name for both himself and the Houston Chevron Marathon.

Running solo for the final nine miles, the bantamweight Merga had nobody to pace him or, perhaps worse, serve as a windbreak. His sizzling tempo inexorably slowed the closer he to downtown he came and he wound up having to “settle” for a winning time of 2:07:52.

Thousands of runners make their way down
White Oak Dr. in the Heights during the races.
(Johnny Hanson Chronicle)

That’s the fastest anybody has ever finished a marathon in Texas and it obliterated Richard Kaitany’s 20-year Houston course record, beating it by more than two minutes. Merga, a 28-year-old Olympian from Ethiopia also left the runner-up, Benson Cheruiyot of Kenya, nearly four minutes to the rear as he averaged 4:53 per mile to secure a $45,000 payday.

Nonetheless, Merga was melancholy afterwards.

“I am pleased to have the record,” he said. “But I wanted more.” Read more at Houston Chronicle.

Above: Runners, including Patricia Heithaus, left, struggle to
cross the finish line during the Naples Daily News Half
Marathon on Jan. 18, 2009. (Greg Kahn)

Naples Daily

By ADAM FISHER

NAPLES — Spectators and runners at Sunday’s Naples Daily News Half Marathon might have witnessed a power shift in the women’s race.

In an event controlled by Russian runners for more than a decade, a group of Ethiopian women dominated the field of the 21st race. Led by Belainesh Gebre’s victory, the Africans swept the top three spots and finished well ahead of anyone else.

Gebre won easily, finishing in one hour, 12 minutes and 14 seconds. She crossed the finish line more than a minute ahead of second-place Buzunesh Deba (13:24:87). Hirut Mandefro was third in 13:35:80.

“I’m happy for my first time,” said Gebre, 21, of her inaugural Half Marathon. “It’s a good course. It’s fast and flat.”

Before this year’s Half Marathon, Russians had won 10 of the past 13 races. With a fourth-place finish from Kenya’s Divina Jepkogei, Africa took the top four spots. Read More.

Addis Fortune

When Bezunesh Bekele won the 2009 Standard Chartered Dubai Marathon on January 9, 2009, chances are the average Ethiopian athletics fans will have never heard of her or the previous achievements she has under her belt. But, the diminutive runner is now a quarter of a million dollars richer subsequent to the huge prize money purse of the race. Elshadai Negash reports on Ethiopia’s virtually unknown runners who are reaping benefits for choosing careers on the road.

Bezunesh Bekele is quickly confused with the famous Ethiopian folk singer of the 1970s and 1980s; seldom does the image of a 1.46-metre diminutive runner come to mind. After all, she has only raced once in Ethiopian colours over distances 10Km and up – at the 2007 IAAF World Road Running Championships where she finished an obscure, but encouraging fourth in a new Ethiopian half marathon record.

The 26-year old from Addis Abeba finished second in the corresponding race last year in a personal best time of 2:23.07. This year she won the contest in 2:24.01 pocketing 250,000 dollars in prize money. Read more.

Above: Barack Obama and DC Mayor Adrian Fenty (right)
pick up their lunches at Ben’s Chili Bowl on January 10.
(Getty Images)

The Wall Street Journal

A Neighborhood to Explore
By JUNE KRONHOLZ
JANUARY 16, 2009

Before there was Harlem, there was U Street — the nerve center of Washington’s black community, alive with music, theater and African-American-owned businesses, churches and social institutions. Until Harlem surpassed it in the 1920s, U Street was the largest African-American community in the U.S. Dizzy Gillespie, Billie Holiday, Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald and especially Duke Ellington made regular stops.

Years of neglect and the 1968 riots undercut that rich history until U Street began its recovery a decade ago. Now, U Street’s Art Deco hotels have been converted into high-priced condos. A Metro stop delivers visitors to shopping and an emerging gallery scene. Busboys and Poets (A), a literary café named for Langston Hughes, who began his poetry career while busing tables nearby, is a favorite among visiting celebrities and locals alike.

Ben’s Chili Bowl (B), which continued to dish up its famed half-smoke sausages throughout the worst of the urban decline, now competes with Ethiopian diners like Dukem and upscale restaurants like Station 9, Crème and Tabaq Bistro. Read more at The Wall Street Journal.

The Malta Independent

By MICHAEL CARABOTT
Saturday, January 17, 2009

It must be one of the most chilling announcements to hear on an aircraft when the captain comes onto the public address system to announce an emergency landing.

On the night between 10 and 11 January, one of the engines of an Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 757 failed as it was heading to Rome. Sam Francis was heading to the UK on that flight and recounts his experience inside this issue of The Malta Independent.

Sam describes his worry, attempts at rational thoughts during the whole escapade and the ensuing anti-climax that followed the safe touch down in Malta. He says that in the half hour or so of drama that ensued, it was nothing like one would imagine.

“No screams, no panic, just people who were groggy trying to come to terms with the fact that we were heading for an emergency landing that could have ended without incident, or with the plane slamming into the ground and killing us all,” says Mr Francis.

The Malta International Airport was the closest place where the aircraft could set down and due contact was made, resulting in permission to do so with the aircraft touched down at about 4.30pm

Getting through an emergency landing

During the early hours of last Sunday, the Malta International Airport received a distress call from an Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 757 enroute to Rome. One of the engines on the aircraft had failed and the pilot requested to make an emergency landing in Malta. Permission was granted and with good fortune, the episode ended without incident. Michael Carabott asked SAM FRANCIS, who was on the flight, to recount his experience

The prelude

I would not like to call myself pessimistic but whenever I fly, I always assume that each journey could be my last so, provided I am in a position to see the aircraft I am boarding, I tend to give the aircraft a respectful look and hope that it will do its job and get me from point A to B without incident. So I did as I went up the staircase of a Boeing 757 at Bole International Airport, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia as we boarded Ethiopian Airlines Flight ET 710, bound for London Heathrow via Rome Fumicino.

At the check-in desk, I had tried to get a window seat, but neither window nor aisle was available as it was a full flight and as I had changed my departure from Friday night to Saturday night, I was not being afforded any priority as I was not exactly checking in very early. So I settled into Row 31, well to the rear of the plane. We took off at precisely 1am Ethiopian time. The take-off was uneventful and we disappeared into the night, Addis Ababa now turning into distant shimmering lights and disappearing from view after about 20 minutes.

Although not particularly hungry, I was very tired and planned to sleep immediately after the pre-packed and overheated meal, which seemed to take ages to come. As soon as I had eaten, I settled down for the long haul across the Sahara via Northern Ethiopia, Sudan, the Southwestern tip of Egypt and finally, overflying Benghazi in Libya before tackling the Mediterranean Sea to the 45-minute stopover in Rome at Fiumicino Airport. I must have been long asleep before we even reached Sudan and kept dosing on and off as I kept searching for comfort in economy class. What an irony, I thought.

Fast forward a few hours, five to be precise, and as I had not bothered changing my time back to Greenwich Meantime yet, it was 6am in Ethiopia, when something woke me up. It was either the cabin lights being switched on or the sound that accompanies the “Fasten Your Seat Belt” sign being switched on. It might even have been the captain’s voice coming over the public address system or a combination of all the above.

The announcement

As is customary on Ethiopian Airline flights the address is always first in Amharic, the official language of Ethiopia, then English. Although groggy from sleep, I quite clearly picked up the words that my average grasp of Amharic told me that there was some problem with the aircraft but, this was followed immediately by “mnm cheger yellem”, Amharic to say “there is not a problem.” The English version confirmed my initial understanding. To the best of my recollection this is what the captain said: “Ladies and gentleman we have had to shut down one of the engines as a precaution. This is normal procedure. We will now fly to Malta on one engine. This is not a problem. We will start our descent soon. Flight time will be 35 minutes.”

Well, there was no cause for alarm, was there really, if twin-engined aircraft like757s And 767s are equipped to fly on one engine and the captain had given us reassurance about the non-existence of a problem.

On reflection, it was like going to the doctor and being told “this won’t hurt,” before being given an injection. Smashing onto the ground at more than 200 kilometres per hour on landing sure would hurt; it might even kill most of the passengers and crew.

Something more serious than the captain had hinted at was obviously happening when I noticed one of the flight attendants frantically knocking on the two lavatory doors that were only three to four rows ahead of row 31, to get the occupants out. I thought to myself, “Since when have passengers being forced out of the toilets in this fashion? Perhaps the poor occupants have just gone in and are in the middle of something that might take them some time. Will they come out instantly or will they just assume that someone is being rude to them and continue taking their time?”

Nearly everyone else, I could see, was either waking up or struggling to stay awake. There was a visible effort on part of the cabin crew to ensure that every passenger was belted up.

So in our collective semi-comatose state we flew onward rather uneventfully, except for a bit of turbulence here and there. Having been asleep it was hard to say whether the aircraft sounded much quieter for the absence of one engine sound or not but no one appeared to panic. We were like lambs to the slaughter, I felt. Eventually, the inevitable arrived. We were now going to land in Malta as announced about half an hour earlier. It was 4.30 local time.

The landing

“Cabin crew take your seats for landing!” required no Amharic translation. We were now possibly within 50 feet of the ground. We were not asked to adopt or maintain any brace position for landing, which I thought strange, as this was no ordinary landing. So I had what I considered, one last look as the ground approached. Outwardly I was calm, but inwardly my mind was working 30 to the dozen – overtime, that is. My limited knowledge of aircraft informed me that in order to balance the thrust of the working engine, the pilots had to use the rudder by pitching it so that it would apply a force equal to that being applied by the working engine in order to enable the aircraft to fly in a straight line.

How about landing, ailerons, elevators, brakes… How would the whole thing work? Never mind, too late to figure that one out… Five, four, three, two, one I was counting down to touchdown trying to anticipate the landing gear or undercarriage coming into contact with the ground… Wheels! I thought, this was not a moment for complicated technical terms. Then we hit the runway fairly softly and if not for a slight swerve and what appeared to be a swerve to one side, followed by immediate correction, it could well have been a textbook landing.

This was followed by the unmistakable roar of the thrust reversers as they and the brakes struggled to bring the jumbo under control and slowly but surely the speed came down until we were going at about what appeared to be no more than 30 miles per hour.

Anti-climax

Now, for the uninitiated, it is customary for travellers to Addis Ababa, especially Ethiopians, to applaud any landing, especially if it is good one. But, good, bad or average, the cheering is more out of the joy of reaching one’s motherland safely. The eerie silence that greeted this particular landing was contrary to what would have been expected on this occasion. It should have been shattered by shouting, screams, leaps of joy and tears of relief. But neither in myself or in all the other passengers was this apparent. There was no palpable sense of relief. And then, as if to emphasise the gravity of the situation, the fire engines with their flashing blue lights came into view, all facing the runway we were using. And there were amber lights as well from the service vehicles.

As soon as the aircraft stopped on the hard stand, the emergency vehicles arrived. From within the aircraft, I observed concerned looks and frantic waving on the ground. The military and the police were there too.

Then without further ado, came the announcement that, due to a technical failure, all passengers were to alight with all their hand luggage. Further announcements would be made, we were promised, but that was to be the last announcement from Ethiopian Airlines. This was not your typical evacuation of panic and pandemonium, but an orderly quiet and measured exit. Then, we were bussed and shepherded to the departure lounge at Malta International Airport.

This orderly fashion of things belied the fact that we had just had an emergency landing and should have been, prior to making the successful landing, being saying our prayers and having any potential last thoughts.

Air Malta

It was to be another four hours before those of us that were London-bound were to be seated in the next available Air Malta flight to Heathrow. Problem is Ethiopian Airlines passed on the passenger manifest to Air Malta, but all it had was names and no onward destinations making it very difficult for Air Malta, who went beyond the extra mile, to accommodate a problem that was not really of their origin within their scheduled flights.

Attempting to cater for the rest of the now “ex-Ethiopian Airlines” passengers as we were now referred to was a nightmare. There were families with young children and people with medical conditions and business class travellers, and those who needed to connect from London Heathrow to the rest of the world, America, Europe who some by this time, had already missed their connections and had to be seen to before other passengers. It was apparent they had to throw the rule book out a few times.

We were allowed to go the wrong way up the immigration channels and it was so exasperating with an Air Malta Flight to London literally on hold for us, that at one point the lady who was helping us decided that she had to attend to another task elsewhere. When she left the check-in desk at Gate 14, we joked that she had gone to have a quiet nervous breakdown and take Valium tablets “by the handful” and we all burst out laughing.

It was quiet relief for tortured souls.
————————-
Ethiopian Airlines Explains Recent Emergency Landing in Malta
Source: Press Release from Ethiopian Airlines

Status of ET-710 ADD-ROM/11 January 2009

January 13, 2009

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia – Ethiopian Airlines flight ET -710 departed from Addis Ababa on January 11, 2009 at 0049 local time.

The B757-200 was scheduled to fly to Rome Fiumicino International Airport.

When low oil pressure light of the right engine was displayed in the cockpit panel, the flying crew immediately decided to take an emergency measure and safely landed the aircraft at a near by Malta International Airport, which is a planned enroute alternate airport. All the passengers were safely disembarked per the normal procedure.

Ethiopian Airlines’ technical experts were soon dispatched from Rome, the nearest location to Malta. They performed the necessary technical maintenance on the engine and the aircraft flew back to Addis Ababa and continued its scheduled services.
————————-

Related: Ethiopian Airlines Jet makes emergency landing in Malta
Times of Malta

Sunday, 11th January 2009

An Ethiopian Boeing 757 airliner made an emergency landing at Malta International Airport this morning after one of its two engines failed, sources said.

The Boeing 757 was on a flight from Addis Ababa to Rome Fiumicino when it declared an emergency and diverted to Malta.

The Health Department was immediately informed and an emergency plan was put in place. Two ambulances were sent on site and all the doctors and nurses at the Emergency Department at Mater Dei Hospital as well as those at the four main health centres and at St Vincent De Paul, were prepared to handle any possible injuries.

The plane landed safely at 4.30 a.m.

Above: Video of plane crash landing

BBC

Sunday, 18 January 2009

US air accident investigators have given details of the drama aboard an airliner just before it successfully ditched in a New York river.

“We’re going to be in the Hudson,” were the last words the captain said to air-traffic control soon after reporting engine damage from a bird strike.

Flight attendants said they had heard a loud thud and then complete silence after the engines failed.

The operation to raise the semi-submerged plane is continuing.

Investigators are trying to retrieve the Airbus’s flight recorders.

All 155 passengers and crew on US Airways Flight 1549 escaped relatively unharmed from the dramatic crash-landing on Thursday afternoon.

The captain, Chesley B “Sully” Sullenberger, stayed aboard the sinking plane to ensure everyone left safely and has been hailed as a hero. Read more at BBC.

Houston Chronicle

By DALE ROBERTSON

Jan. 16, 2009

When Chevron Houston Marathon officials invited Deriba Merga to this year’s race, they told him they’d very much like him to break the 20-year-old course record.

Merga, however, has something else in mind, something just a tad grander. If everything goes according to plan Sunday, he’ll leave town with the North American record. Asked by a reporter at Friday’s news conference what time he hopes to run, he replied, “Two-oh-five.”

To which the reporter, thinking he might not have understood the Ethiopian’s limited English correctly, replied, “Two-oh-five? Here? Sunday?”

“Yes, yes,” he said.

Merga, who clocked a personal best 2:06:38 in 2008 and finished fourth in the marathon at the 2008 Olympics, is without question the fastest runner ever to compete in the 37-year-old Houston race. But to hear that he’s gunning for 2:05 is extraordinary news, considering nobody has ever completed the 26.2-mile course in faster than the 2:10:04 Kenya’s Robert Kaitany posted in 1989. Read more at Houston Chronicle.

The Associated Press

NORRISTOWN, Pa.—A man accused of fatally shooting his aunt in the Philadelphia area has an unusual defense, insisting to a jury that the woman is still alive.

The suspect, 35-year-old Ethiopian immigrant Yeshtila Ameshe, lives in Adelphi, Md. He’s charged with first- and third-degree murder and other counts in the death of his 60-year-old aunt, Haregewene Bitew.

Authorities say she died June 27, 2000, after being shot in the head, neck and chest when the two were visiting relatives in Towamencin Township, 20 miles north of Philadelphia.

But Ameshe testified Thursday he didn’t know what he was doing in Montgomery County Court. He said through an interpreter that the purported victim is “definitely alive. She’s not dead.”

Defense attorney Scott Krieger is arguing insanity, while prosecutors imply Ameshe is faking insanity. Psychiatric testimony is expected as the trial continues.
———————-
Ethiopian suspect in aunt murder case felt ‘betrayed’
The Times Herald
By Carl Hessler Jr.

An Ethiopian immigrant felt “betrayed” by older relatives who tried to put an end to his romantic pursuit of a young woman several months before he fatally shot his aunt inside a Towamencin apartment, according to testimony.

“He felt like the family was against him. He felt betrayed by the family,” Tsedaye Bezabeh, a second cousin to accused killer Yeshtila Awoke Ameshe, testified Wednesday in Montgomery County Court.

Ameshe, 35, of Adelphi, Md., is charged with first- and third-degree murder, aggravated assault and possession of an instrument of crime in connection with the 8 p.m. June 27, 2000, fatal shooting of his aunt, Haregewene Bitew, a 60-year-old licensed nurse from Silver Spring, Md., who, along with Ameshe, was visiting the Dock Village apartment in Towamencin.

Bitew died after sustaining four gunshot wounds to her head, neck and chest inside the Community Drive apartment.

Through Bezabeh’s testimony, Deputy District Attorney Christopher Maloney implied Ameshe felt so betrayed by his family that he intentionally killed Bitew, one of several elder relatives in the Ethiopian community who tried to convince Ameshe to give up his pursuit of a young Maryland woman.

Bezabeh, who is Bitew’s daughter, testified relatives met with Ameshe four months before the murder to discuss problems he was having with the Maryland woman who did not want a relationship with Ameshe.

“It was an important issue we were discussing with Yeshtila,” said Bezabeh, recalling the family meeting.

Bezabeh testified Ameshe, who emigrated from Ethiopia to the U.S. in 1997, believed that

under traditional Ethiopian customs, his family should intervene on his behalf to keep the woman in his life.

In more rural areas of Ethiopia, a man’s wishes are respected and followed under traditional Ethiopian customs and women are expected to follow a man’s wishes, Bezabeh told the jury that is weighing Ameshe’s fate.

“I told him, ‘In this country it’s not the way it is done,'” Bezabeh testified, explaining she told Ameshe that in America he had to respect the wishes of the young woman who did not want a relationship with him. “The man’s wishes are respected in our society. That’s why he felt we were betraying him.”

About a month before the fatal shooting, Ameshe called Bezabeh and asked her to help him make “peace” with the family and continued to express his desire that the relationship with the young woman move forward, testimony revealed.

Bezabeh recalled she told Ameshe there was peace with the family.

“He said, ‘You betrayed me. You have not helped me get the girl back,'” Bezabeh recalled.

Maloney alleged Ameshe, with “malicious and evil intentions,” brought his anger to the Towamencin apartment and opened fire on his aunt with a 9mm Smith & Wesson handgun during a family gathering.

Maloney alleged Ameshe acted with a specific intent to kill, a legal requirement for a first-degree murder conviction, which is punishable of life imprisonment.

However, defense lawyer Scott H. Krieger is waging an insanity defense on behalf of Ameshe. With an insanity defense Ameshe claimed he could not have formed the intent to kill his aunt.

During his cross-examination of Bezabeh, Krieger implied that in Ameshe’s mind his relationship with the young woman was not over.

Under state law, a person is legally insane at the time of a crime if he was suffering a defect of reason or from disease of the mind that prevented him from knowing what is right or wrong or understanding the consequences of his actions.

A person found not guilty by reason of insanity would be committed to a mental institution where he would receive treatment.

Once he is deemed “cured” he would be released from the institution with no requirement to serve any prison time.

Ameshe is also charged with a lesser third-degree murder charge, a killing committed with malice, which is punishable of a maximum of 20 to 40 years in prison.

Above: Haile Gebrselassie from Ethiopia celebrates as he wins
the Dubai Marathon in Dubai, United Arab Emirates Friday,
Jan. 16, 2009. Gebrselassie finished in 2 hours, 5 minutes,
29 seconds. (AP)

The Assocaited Press

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – Haile Gebrselassie easily won the Dubai Marathon on Friday, but said steady rain throughout the race hampered his bid to claim the $1 million bonus on offer for breaking his own world record.

Gebrselassie finished in 2 hours, 5 minutes and 29 seconds – just 90 seconds off his record – to narrowly beat compatriots Deressa Edae Chimsa (2:07.54) and Wendimu Tsige (2:08.41).

The Ethiopians also dominated the women’s event, with Bezunesh Bekele Sertsu winning in 2:24:02 after pulling away from countrywoman Atsede Habtamu Besuye (2:25.17) in the final stretch. Kenya’s Helena Loshanyang Kirop was third (2:25.35).

“Everybody was expecting me to break the world record here, but I am very pleased with the time I ran today,” said the 35-year-old Gebrselassie. “This is my best time in wet weather. It could have been much worse, but I’m really happy with the time.”

Gebrselassie was on pace to challenge his world mark of 2:03:59 set last year in Berlin. But he struggled against the rain in the second half of the race, which began at dawn along Dubai’s Gulf coastline.

“I saw the clouds ahead and it looked like it was going to be difficult,” he said. “Sometimes it’s not just about defeating time, sometimes you defeat yourself. When I saw the rain coming, I defeated myself. But it (a new record) will happen. I will come back next year.”

Sertsu, who finished second last year in Dubai, said the rain forced her to set a slower pace, but she had plenty left in the final stages to build her lead.

“Today was definitely one of the best races I’ve run,” said the 25-year-old.

Gebrselassie said his next goal is to attempt to reclaim the half-marathon record in The Hague, Netherlands, in March. Then there’s the 2012 Olympics, when he’ll be about eight months short of his 40th birthday.

“There’s a lot to look forward to in the future. We have the Olympic games in three years’ time and before that the 2010 Dubai Marathon. If you think about stopping somewhere it’s no good. You’ve got to think about doing more,” he added.

“If you set a date to retire; if you say you’re going to retire in two years’ time, you actually end up retiring at that very moment. So, I haven’t put any time (on retirement).”

Dubai is the world’s richest marathon. The $1 million world record bonus was in addition to the $250,000 winner’s check.

Above: In this photo taken by a passenger on a ferry, airline
passengers egress a US Airways Airbus 320 jetliner that safely
ditched in the frigid waters of the Hudson River in New York,
Thursday Jan. 15, 2009 after a flock of birds knocked out both
its engines. All 155 people on board survived.
(AP Photo/Janis Krums)

Associated Press

By DAVID B. CARUSO and MARCUS FRANKLIN

NEW YORK – A cool-headed pilot maneuvered his crippled jetliner over New York City and ditched it in the frigid Hudson River on Thursday, and all 155 on board were pulled to safety as the plane slowly sank. It was, the governor said, “a miracle on the Hudson.” One victim suffered two broken legs, a paramedic said, but there were no other reports of serious injuries.

The US Airways Airbus A320 bound for Charlotte, N.C., struck a flock of birds just after takeoff minutes earlier at LaGuardia Airport, apparently disabling the engines.

The pilot, identified as Chesley B. “Sully” Sullenberger III of Danville, Calif., “was phenomenal,” passenger Joe Hart said. “He landed it — I tell you what — the impact wasn’t a whole lot more than a rear-end (collision). It threw you into the seat ahead of you. Read more.

Reuters

Thu Jan 15, 2009

ADDIS ABABA – An apparently accidental hand-grenade explosion wounded 33 people, nine seriously, on Thursday at the central bus station in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa, police said.

“This does not appear to be a terrorist attack. It seems a passenger was carrying the grenade in their luggage and it detonated accidentally,” federal police commander Demash Hailu told Reuters.

In the past, Ethiopia has accused arch-foe Eritrea of backing rebels who have bombed civilian targets in Addis Ababa.

Blasts at two petrol stations killed two people a day after local, regional and federal elections in April 2008, then a bomb tore through a minibus taxi a month later, killing six.

Reuters

By Ibrahim Mohamed and Abdi Guled

Jan 14

MOGADISHU – Somali Islamists fired mortars at the presidential palace and ambushed departing Ethiopian soldiers on Wednesday, starting battles that killed at least 21 people and wounded a further 48, witnesses said.

The violence underlined fears of an upsurge in bloodshed after Ethiopia’s military exit began in earnest this week. Witnesses said security forces including African Union (AU) peacekeepers guarding the hill-top palace compound in the coastal capital responded to the Islamist attack with volleys of artillery shells, shaking the city for several hours.

Suspected militants from the al Shabaab group also ambushed a convoy of departing Ethiopian soldiers on a street not far from the palace. The Ethiopians fought back with a tank. Read More.
——————-
Related: Ethiopia hands over security of Somalia

Above: Gabre Yohannes Abate, the Ethiopian troop
commander in Somalia watches during a farewell ceremony
which took place in the presidential palace Tuesday Jan. 13,
2009 .The commander of Ethiopian troops has formally handed
over security of Somalia to joint force of Somali government
security and militiamen from a faction of the country’s Islamists.
(AP Photo/Mohamed Sheikh Nor)

CNN International

By Mohamed Amiin Adow

January 13, 2009

NAIROBI, Kenya — Ethiopian forces propping up Somalia’s transitional government have begun their withdrawal from the country, pulling out of two key bases in Mogadishu, eyewitnesses and officials said Tuesday.

The Ethiopians withdrew late Monday from two former factories in the northeast part of the capital, the eyewitnesses and officials said.

Hundreds of jubilant residents poured into the abandoned bases Tuesday.

“We are so glad that they have left after two years of their presence in our neighborhood,” cried Asha Omar, a resident of the neighborhood where one of the factories is located.

Forces from the Islamic Courts Union, the largest Islamic group and one of those fighting against the presence of the Ethiopian forces, were immediately seen taking over the two bases vacated by the Ethiopians.

Ethiopia invaded Somalia in December 2006 to depose the Islamic government and install a U.N.-backed transitional government. The Islamists, whom the United States accuses of having ties to the al Qaeda terrorist network, responded with a guerrilla campaign that has crippled efforts to support a U.N.-backed transitional government. Read more at CNN.

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

After Ethiopia Exit, What Next for Somalia?
TIME
By Alex Perry
Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2009

The withdrawal of Ethiopian troops from Somalia is a gamble not unlike America’s planned drawdown from Iraq.

The Ethiopians, with U.S. assistance, invaded to topple an Islamist movement that controlled Mogadishu, and had been sheltering a handful of al-Qaeda operatives. Osama bin Laden’s movement killed more than 200 people when they attacked two U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998, and several small groups of U.S. special operations soldiers accompanied the Ethiopians in the hope that the invasion would flush local operatives out into the open. The Ethiopians drove out the Islamic Courts Union (ICU), but quickly became the target of the Islamist Shabaab insurgency that has raged ever since. Having gone in to provide a solution, the Ethiopian presence quickly became a new problem — and a coalition of clan warlords the Ethiopians were meant to install as a government is in disarray. By ending their occupation, the Ethiopians are hoping to deprive the insurgency of one of the grievances around which it rallies support, but it’s uncertain who will wield power in their wake. (See pictures of Ethiopia’s harvest of hunger.) Read More at TIME.com

Above: Gabre Yohannes Abate, the Ethiopian troop
commander in Somalia watches during a farewell ceremony
which took place in the presidential palace Tuesday Jan. 13,
2009 .The commander of Ethiopian troops has formally handed
over security of Somalia to joint force of Somali government
security and militiamen from a faction of the country’s Islamists.
(AP Photo/Mohamed Sheikh Nor)

CNN International

By Mohamed Amiin Adow

January 13, 2009

NAIROBI, Kenya — Ethiopian forces propping up Somalia’s transitional government have begun their withdrawal from the country, pulling out of two key bases in Mogadishu, eyewitnesses and officials said Tuesday.

The Ethiopians withdrew late Monday from two former factories in the northeast part of the capital, the eyewitnesses and officials said.

Hundreds of jubilant residents poured into the abandoned bases Tuesday.

“We are so glad that they have left after two years of their presence in our neighborhood,” cried Asha Omar, a resident of the neighborhood where one of the factories is located.

Forces from the Islamic Courts Union, the largest Islamic group and one of those fighting against the presence of the Ethiopian forces, were immediately seen taking over the two bases vacated by the Ethiopians.

Ethiopia invaded Somalia in December 2006 to depose the Islamic government and install a U.N.-backed transitional government. The Islamists, whom the United States accuses of having ties to the al Qaeda terrorist network, responded with a guerrilla campaign that has crippled efforts to support a U.N.-backed transitional government. Read more at CNN.

Source: Press Release from Ethiopian Airlines

Status of ET-710 ADD-ROM/11 January 2009

January 13, 2009

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia – Ethiopian Airlines flight ET -710 departed from Addis Ababa on January 11, 2009 at 0049 local time.

The B757-200 was scheduled to fly to Rome Fiumicino International Airport.

When low oil pressure light of the right engine was displayed in the cockpit panel, the flying crew immediately decided to take an emergency measure and safely landed the aircraft at a near by Malta International Airport, which is a planned enroute alternate airport. All the passengers were safely disembarked per the normal procedure.

Ethiopian Airlines’ technical experts were soon dispatched from Rome, the nearest location to Malta. They performed the necessary technical maintenance on the engine and the aircraft flew back to Addis Ababa and continued its scheduled services.
————————-

Related: Ethiopian Airlines Jet makes emergency landing in Malta
Times of Malta

Sunday, 11th January 2009

An Ethiopian Boeing 757 airliner made an emergency landing at Malta International Airport this morning after one of its two engines failed, sources said.

The Boeing 757 was on a flight from Addis Ababa to Rome Fiumicino when it declared an emergency and diverted to Malta.

The Health Department was immediately informed and an emergency plan was put in place. Two ambulances were sent on site and all the doctors and nurses at the Emergency Department at Mater Dei Hospital as well as those at the four main health centres and at St Vincent De Paul, were prepared to handle any possible injuries.

The plane landed safely at 4.30 a.m.

Above: The MV Sirius Star is observed at anchor by the
U.S. Navy on January 9, 2009 following an apparent payment
via a parachuted container to pirates holding the Sirius Star
near Somalia. (UPI Photo/David B. Hudson/US Navy).

UPI
Jan. 13

MOMBASA, Kenya — One of the Somali pirates who hijacked a Saudi oil supertanker says fears of being robbed by other pirates led to the drowning deaths of five of his crew.

Pirate Libaan Jaama, one of the hijackers who had held the Sirius Star and its cargo of 2 million barrels of crude oil hostage since Nov. 15, told CNN Tuesday that after a $3.5 million ransom was paid and the pirates were aboard an escape boat in the Gulf of Aden, they encountered rival pirates who began shooting into the air. Read More.
———————-
Related: Somali pirate’s body washes ashore with $153,000
The Associated Press

By MOHAMED OLAD HASSAN –

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — The body of a Somali pirate who drowned just after receiving a huge ransom washed onshore with $153,000 in cash, a resident said Sunday, as the spokesman for another group of pirates promised to soon free a Ukrainian arms ship.

Five pirates drowned Friday when their small boat capsized after they received a reported $3 million ransom for releasing a Saudi oil tanker. Local resident Omar Abdi Hassan said one of the bodies had been found on a beach near the coastal town of Haradhere and relatives were searching for the other four.

“One of them was discovered and they are still looking for the other ones. He had $153,000 in a plastic bag in his pocket,” he said Sunday.

The U.S. navy released photos of a parachute dropping a package onto the deck of the Sirius Star, and said the package was likely to be the ransom delivery.

But five of the dozens of pirates who had hijacked the tanker drowned when their small boat capsized as they returned to shore in rough weather. Three other pirates survived but also lost their share of the ransom. Read More.

Above: The idea for the Great Ethiopian Run came from the
organizers of the Great North Run in England and is led by
Haile Gebrselassie (pictured center)

Source: Great Ethiopian Run

Great Ethiopian Run launches 2nd edition of “Education for Girls”

Addis Ababa – Great Ethiopian Run, an Ethiopian NGO known for its annual international mass-participation road race in Addis Ababa, launched the 2nd edition of its “Education for Girls” series of community runs, a series of three events in Gambella, Assosa and Jijiga which promote messages about the education for girls in Ethiopia. The first run in the series took place in Gambella on Saturday 10th January 2009.

At the launch Haile Gebreselassie stressed the importance of giving more opportunities to girls by saying: “if a family has ten 10 children with 8 boys and 2 girls, it is better to help the two girls because the boys will always find a way of helping themselves”. Meseret Defar, also speaking at the launch, said that for girls in Ethiopia learning can help develop confidence and the feeling of being independent.

Haile and Meseret both appear in films which are being shown in schools at each of the race venues as well as at pre-race entertainment programs.

Great Ethiopian Run’s campaign to promote girls education comes at a time when the government of Ethiopia is trying to achieve 100% secondary school enrollment by 2012. Secondary school enrollment currently stands at just below 40%, but within this figure there is a big disparity between the number of girls enrolled compared to boys particularly in the regions of Ethiopia where the runs are being staged.

More than 4 years later, slain Dallas store owner’s
brother hopes killers will be caught

The Dallas Morning News

By SCOTT GOLDSTEIN
sgoldstein@dallasnews.com

Behind the cash register at Don’s Food store, a heavy-set 60-year-old convicted felon named James minded the shop on a recent afternoon, his mere presence capturing what slain shopkeeper Alemu “Alex” Abebe represented to this long-neglected neighborhood in Old East Dallas.

James served time for cheating and stealing. He sipped Thunderbird wine and smoked dope while living on the streets.

Yet Abebe and his brother, Daniel Takele, thought enough of the man to give him food, money, work and trust when no one else would.

“You see, I love these guys, I really do,” said James, who asked that his last name be withheld. “To have gotten the chance I got with all the marks against me ….”

It’s been more than four years since Abebe was fatally shot during a robbery at the store, and the case remains unsolved. With some help from James and others, Takele continues to run the store and, along with Abebe’s widow and two teenage sons, still yearns for justice. The family’s $10,000 reward for information in the case still stands.

“One of the things that made me stay here is I might … be able to help in the closure of the case,” said Takele, who emigrated from Ethiopia with his brother. “Because we’ve been in the neighborhood and we know different people, I was hoping some day, someone would say something if they know something or heard anything.”

So far, that critical tip has not come for Dallas police homicide Detective Mark Ahearn.

Shots heard on phone

Ahearn believes the events that led to Abebe’s killing happened quickly and involved three men.

About 11:15 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 17, 2004, two of the men walked into the store at 825 S. Carroll Ave., while one remained outside as a lookout. When the only customer in the store at the time left, the robbery began.

A store employee mopping in the back kitchen felt a gun in his back and heard someone say, “Don’t move” repeatedly, before being forced to the floor.

Confronted by the other robber, Abebe probably tried to defend himself, Ahearn said. Investigators found a gun holster on Abebe. The weapon was missing.

“Once [Abebe] made a decision that he’s going to defend himself, that’s when the suspect” panicked, he said. “There’s a lot of gunfire.”

Abebe was on the phone with his wife, who heard the gunshots. She has said she heard no argument beforehand.

The two robbers from inside the store were seen running away afterward by witnesses who could provide only vague descriptions: The shooter was a black man in his 20s, about 5 feet 5 inches tall, medium weight, medium complexion, with short hair and a small black gun. The one in the back of the store was described as a tall black man in his 20s, stocky and dark-skinned with a medium Afro hairstyle.

Community members turned out to express their affection for the friendly store owner they knew as Alex in the days and weeks after his death, adorning the store with cards, flowers and handwritten messages.

For Ahearn, who still hopes to find someone with key information about the killing, this case has taken a personal toll.

“Every person that’s murdered in Dallas is a victim,” said the 24-year veteran detective. “But this guy was truly an innocent victim doing his job at his business that he’s owned for 18 years.”

“This is a good man who has a family, who’s got two children who are growing up without a dad. It’s incredibly frustrating.”

Brothers fled Ethiopia

Abebe and his brother overcame long odds before becoming American business owners in 1987.

They were born in Ethiopia and joined the Ethiopian Peoples Revolutionary Party, a group critical of the government. The men fled and ultimately ended up in the U.S. in the early 1980s after successfully seeking political asylum.

The brothers generally worked opposite shifts so that they could each maximize their time with their families during their off-hours. Still, they remained close.

“It’s very difficult,” Takele said. “You really don’t know how close you are until people are no longer there.”

As Takele took time to gather himself before returning to the store after his brother’s death, James helped get things in order.

He cleaned Abebe’s blood from the floor and did various chores in the store. He also eventually installed a thick Plexiglas fortress that now surrounds the cashier area, which faces a monitor displaying security camera images.

He helped then and he continues to help now, he says, because of what Abebe and Takele have done for him.

“No matter how much determination you have, you need a helping hand,” he said. “That’s what this store represents, a helping hand.”

A $10,000 reward has been offered by Alemu Abebe’s family for information in this case. Call Detective Mark Ahearn at 214-671-3682 or e-mail homicide@dpd. dallascityhall.com.

N.O.-area men sentenced in child-porn convictions

The Advocate

Published: Jan 9, 2009

NEW ORLEANS — Two New Orleans-area men were sentenced this week to federal prison time on child pornography convictions in separate cases brought under a nationwide effort to combat child sexual exploitation, prosecutors said Thursday.

On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Mary Ann Vial Lemmon sentenced Agegnehu Tsega, 32, of Slidell, to 39 months in prison followed by a life term of supervised release, prosecutors said.

Tsega pleaded guilty Oct. 1 to possession of materials involving the sexual exploitation of minors.

Tsega had approximately 9,000 images and video depicting the sexual victimization of children, prosecutors said.

On Thursday, U.S. District Judge Lance M. Africk sentenced Terence Rhodes, 66, of Metairie, to 78 months in prison followed by a life term of supervised release, prosecutors said.

Africk ordered that Rhodes is not to have unsupervised contact with anyone under age 18, cannot use a computer or the Internet and must give a DNA sample, prosecutors said.

Rhodes pleaded guilty Oct. 2 to possession of materials involving the sexual exploitation of minors.

Rhodes was in possession of approximately 5,900 images depicting the sexual victimization of children at his home in Metairie, prosecutors said.

Tsega, who is from Ethiopia, will be deported from the United States once he is released from prison.

Project Safe Childhood combines the efforts of U.S. attorneys’ offices and other federal, state and local resources to catch people who exploit children via the Internet, prosecutors said in a statement Thursday.
———————————————————————————-
Factual Basis from the United States District Court Eastern District of Louisiana (PDF)
———————————————————————————-

Man gets 3 years in child porn case
The Times-Picayune
Thursday, January 08, 2009
By Benjamin Alexander-Bloch

A 32-year-old Slidell man was sentenced Wednesday in federal court to more than three years in prison for possessing 9,000 images and 50 videos depicting the sexual victimization of children, some younger than 12.

Agegnehu Tsega, who is from Ethiopia, received 39 months in prison. U.S. District Judge Mary Ann Vial Lemmon also ruled that the prison term be followed by a lifetime of supervised release. But according to the U.S. attorney’s office, U.S. immigration officials instead are planning to deport Tsega back to Ethiopia after he is released from prison.

Tsega pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography on Oct. 1. The charge carries up to 10 years in prison, a possible lifetime term of supervised release, a $250,000 fine and registration as a sex offender.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents received information that Tsega had purchased access to sexually explicit Web sites on at least three occasions, according to a statement he signed as part of a plea agreement.

On March 25, the agents went to Tsega’s Wellington Lane residence in Slidell and Tsega gave written consent to a search of his home, authorities said. Agents seized computers, DVDs and CDs, authorities said.

Computer records revealed Tsega had used various search terms — such as “kinderkutje,” “hard Lolitas,” “youngvideomodels” and tinymodel” — to find online sites where he could download the sexually explicit images.

Tsega told authorities that he had been downloading similar images since 2003. He said he was addicted to the images and would view them weekly, according to his statement.

The U.S. attorney’s office said the case was brought forward as part of Project Safe Childhood, a national program launched in May 2006 and run by the Department of Justice’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section.

The program uses federal, state and local resources to find, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and help victims.

Times of Malta

Sunday, 11th January 2009

An Ethiopian Boeing 757 airliner made an emergency landing at Malta International Airport this morning after one of its two engines failed, sources said.

The Boeing 757 was on a flight from Addis Ababa to Rome Fiumicino when it declared an emergency and diverted to Malta.

The Health Department was immediately informed and an emergency plan was put in place. Two ambulances were sent on site and all the doctors and nurses at the Emergency Department at Mater Dei Hospital as well as those at the four main health centres and at St Vincent De Paul, were prepared to handle any possible injuries.

The plane landed safely at 4.30 a.m.

Balancing Act (London)

By Russell Southwood

8 January 2009

London — The Ethiopian Government is best known for the tight control it has exerted over the political process of the country.

Therefore it comes of something of a surprise to learn that it has made the development of media a priority and with a certain amount of external prompting has liberalized the radio sector. Two new private radio stations have been launched (more will follow) and community radio stations have also started broadcasting. Well-informed sources say that there will be a new private free-to-air television channel within two years. Against this backdrop, the country is also sustaining a significant local film culture in Amharic.

Based on figures from the last census, there are probably between 1-2 million television sets and around 8 million radio sets in Ethiopia.

The Ethiopian Radio and TV Agency has overall responsibility for the state run channels but radio and TV have their own organisation and management. ETV is completely supported by Government money and advertising. There is no licence fee. Two channels: ETV1 which carries ads and ETV 2 which does not. ETV1 covers about 47% of the population whereas ETV2 covers only the capital Addis Ababa. The programming schedule is built around new bulletins throughout the day. Each channel shows around 16 hours programming a day.

The majority of programming is in Ethiopia’s most widely spoken language Amharic and the majority of programmes are made by ETV which has its own studios. A standard quality 20 minute programme would cost between 50-70,000 birr an hour. There is a small independent production sector but it has little chance of growing in current circumstances.

Advertising is very cheap at around 1,000 birr a minute. The main advertisers are cleaning products and government organisations like the Anti-Corruption Agency. As the country still has a monopoly phone company (ETC), there is not the volume of mobile phone advertising found in other African countries. That said, ETV has been able to buy some of the premium sports rights by attracting sponsors.

The transition to DTT is at an early stage as there is no plan from the Government specifying when and how it will happen. The Ethiopian Broadcasting Authority has done a study which has been submitted to the Government, which needs to create a Task Force to tackle the when, how and what technology issues. Given the overall approach of the Government in other fields, it is likely to opt for a planned approach. However, the issue of subsidy will require considerable resourcing.

ETV has made some progress in digitalising its production processes and parts of its archive. For although the Government has declared that the development of the media is a priority, there is a shortage of professional people and resources. Furthermore, ETV as state media is very clearly tasked by the Government to help promote its policies and the implementation of its strategies and that does not always make for interesting viewing.

There are two Pay TV companies – GTV and Multichoice – who between them probably have between 6-7,000 subscribers, 75-80% of whom are in the capital Addis Ababa.

Community radio development is being funded by a combination of the World Bank (US$18 m), the Ethiopian Government (US$5 million) and GTZ (US$3 million). The regulator, Ethiopian Broadcasting Authority, has two ways of defining community radio: either by geographic region (with a range of up to 25 kms) and/or addressing a particular community (young people, women or the disabled). 5 community radio licences have been issued by the regulator EBA.

One of the country’s universities runs a radio station in partnership with an international NGO with a 3 KW transmitter with an 80 mile radius. Makele University in Tigray is developing locally produced antennas and transmitters.

One of the conditions of World Bank funding was that the Government start offering private commercial licences. There are currently two private FM radio stations (Sheger FM on 107.3 and Zami on 90.7) and a third radio station focusing on English and French programming (Afro FM) will be launched next year. In addition, there are two Government radio stations and Radio Fana (see below). However, there is a considerable thirst to launch stations as there were over 45 applicants for the current round of licences. Critics of the liberalisation say that too few stations have been licensed and that they are all in the capital, Addis Ababa.

One of the most dynamic of the new private sector radio players is in fact an already existing station, Radio Fana. It came out of the military struggle against the Dergue and had its origins as a clandestine radio station in the bush. As a result, it has remained broadcasting after the current Government came to power. It broadcasts in Amharic, Afar, Oromo and Somali and is expanding its number of stations, launching new transmitters in Jimma in the south and Gonder in the north. It transits on FM in the urban area and on short wave in the rural areas. In the next two years it will have 10 stations with increased local programming. All together the company employs 254 people and before too long it will move from its current “hut-like” premises to a new multi-storey office block it is building next door to its current offices.

It is supported by three different kinds of advertising: conventional advertising, mainly on the FM stations (30% of revenue), programme sponsorships (15%) and programme partnerships where an organisation will fund a programme. The latter category includes Government Ministries and international donors like UNICEF and Save the Children. Programmes include community discussions on health and sanitation issues and talk shows in the urban areas.

Advertising rates vary between 10,000 birr for three spots in an hour for programme sponsorship to six thirty second spots for 690 birr for a more conventional national ad on a premium programme. There are reductions for the three non-Amharic languages. Advertising for non-commercial organisations goes as low as 35-40 birr a minute.

The losers in the struggle for radio advertising have been the Government radio stations. Whereas they used to have a 40%+ market share with Radio Fana taking the lion’s share, they are now down to 18-20%. Radio Fana has more or less kept its market share with Sheger taking 25%. Radio Fana takes a very bullish view of competition, believing that it helps them sharpen up the delivery of everything they do and grows the market.

Radio Fana would clearly be one of the contenders for a free-to-air TV licence as and when the Government puts one on the table. Well-informed sources told us that it’s “in the pipeline”. New elections are only 18 months away and the decision could be taken after the elections.

Ethiopia has a large and thriving film culture which is unusual given the history of cinema in the country. Emperor Menelik II was in conversation with Stevenin when the latter mentioned cinema and how he had abandoned importing a projector because of opposition from the country’s priests. The original cinema was opened by a Frenchman and was quickly dubbed Satan Bet’ (The devil’s house) by the public. The cinema went bankrupt and its projector passed to the Emperor who used it to watch films with a spiritual theme with his officials and priests in the Grand Palace. It was not until “talkies” came into being that cinema really took off in Ethiopia.

Addis Ababa has ten cinemas where many African capitals only support one or two venues. Of these, four are privately owned and the rest are Government-run venues. The smartest of these cinemas is in the Edina Mall and was built by a local millionaire a year ago. Outside of Addis Ababa, films get shown in big general-purpose halls. There is a strong audience for locally made films and almost all screenings are crowded, often requiring a police presence for crowd control. Interestingly, people pay a premium to see local films: 15 birr (US$1.53) for a locally made film as against 5 birr (US30 cents) for seeing two Hollywood movies.

The Ethiopian International Film Festival takes place in the country’s capital Addis Ababa at the end of November each year. In 2008 it showed 24 Ethiopian films and 28 African and international films: the Ethiopian films shown are all competition entries. Its director Yergity Teshome is promising that this year’s festival will be even bigger than last year’s and he wants to do a pre-festival training workshop for 10 people, 3 of whose short films (of between 5-7 minutes) will be shown at the Festival.

Last year 33 feature films were made in Ethiopia by independent filmmakers, all shot on Betacam HD and in country’s most widely spoken language Amharic. Because they are in Amharic, they tend only to be shown in Ethiopia or to the diaspora in Europe and North America. Ethiopians have their own popular music which is widely used in the films made but no-one really knows this music outside the country.

According to Teshome:”Our neighbours like Kenyans and Ugandans don’t know Ethiopian music and Ethiopians are not globalised in a cultural sense.” Recent entries to the film festival have been shown at the Amakula Film Festival in Kampala and at ZIFF in Zanzibar and on the international festival circuit but this has bought critical acclaim but not audiences.

Prize-winning entries to last year’s Ethiopian International Film Festival give some idea of the types of stories involved. Operation Agazi is an action movie that looks at a jailbreak mounted during the Dergue regime to release political prisoners. Best Man is a comedy about two couples: one male partner wants to marry, the other does not. The rise of the current film sector dates back to the end of the Dergue regime and probably one of the first films to be made was Aster. After the collapse of the regime, the film sector simply blossomed.

The budget needed to make films is raised from box office revenues or initial capital is loaned by the families of film-makers. Most of the film makers are very young and the industry is not, according to Teshome, either “institutionalised or industrialised.” But as he acknowledges for the sector to become more sustainable, a system needs to be built and one with its own institutions. The country has its own film stars but each needs to make several films at once to survive and they supplement their income with TV and radio ads.

In revenue terms, filmmakers rent cinemas (that range from 700-1,500 seats) for around 3,500 birr and sell tickets for 15 birr per person. On this basis, the filmmaker can get around 50,000 birr (US$5,100) or more revenue from a film. Some films are high budget and one has run to 3.5 million birr. The maker of this particular film was the person who launched one of Ethiopia’s first ad agencies and is a prolific film-maker. In terms of post-production, there are no facilities houses and each individual film-maker makes their own edit. However, the volume of films being made has seen camera hire go from 100 birr a day to 700 birr a day.

After the film has been shown at the cinema, it will then be distributed on VCD by local distributors but this raises very little money as copies are almost immediately pirated. However, what income does get made is split 50/50 between the distributor and the film-maker. Again renting local films commands a premium: it costs only 2 birr to rent a Hollywood movie for three days but 5 birr to rent a local movie for one day.

Films are not screened on television. The only explanation is that ETV is state-owned. For as Teshome sees it:”That’s our big problem. They don’t want to give air-time to a private person. ETV has its own dramas but they’re not very good.”

Some of the difficulties with the uncertain relationship between independent producers and ETV is illustrated by the recent changes in access to the channel.

Wizzkids Workshop is a small company supported by donor commissions. It produced four 7 minute animation features on childrens’ health, the environment and recycling water. ETV agreed to show them for 300 birr (US$30.64) a minute.

But buying airtime is now no longer possible because of two factors. Firstly, inspired by the Government’s anti-corruption approach ETV is now commissioning programmes one year ahead and not allowing programme makers to share advertising income. Secondly, there is a new bill covering CSOs which says that only local organisations can address issues of rights. To be an Ethiopian NGO defined as local you must get 90% of your funding from Ethiopian sources. Programme makers have to bid to make programmes and this means this type of programming may no longer be aired.

UNESCO has organised a film and development workshop as part of the Ethiopian International Film Festival looking at how development issues can be incorporated into films. Paul Hector of UNESCO says:”We’d like to do the equivalent of product placement where an issue becomes part of the plot.” He is also trying to organise an event this year involving the Ethiopian diaspora that would involve them in making productions.

There’s a film school at Addis Ababa University but according to one source it’s of a fairly low standard because many of those teaching the subject do not have a wide experience of film-making. In addition, there are three private film-making schools, one of which is a complex run by the company that owns Radio Fana.

Bloomberg

By Jason McLure

Jan. 8 (Bloomberg) — Ethiopia’s leading opposition politician is in her 10th day of a hunger strike after she was jailed for life on Dec. 29 following a dispute with the government, according to her mother.

Birtukan Mideksa, 34, has been taking only juice and water and is being held in solitary confinement in a windowless 3-meter by 4-meter (10-foot by 13-foot) cell in Ethiopia’s Kaliti prison, said her mother, Almaz Gebregziabhere, who visited her in prison yesterday.

“I didn’t recognize her because of how she’s changed,” said Gebregziabhere, 72, in an interview today at her home in Addis Ababa. “I begged her for the sake of her daughter to eat, but she didn’t.”

Prison officials have banned all visitors except Gebregziabhere and Mideksa’s 3-year-old daughter, Halle, from visiting her, Gebregziabhere said. Gebregziabhere, speaking in Amharic through a translator, said the family had been unable to hire a lawyer for Mideksa because those contacted on her behalf have turned her down as a client, fearing government reprisals.

Mideksa, a leader of the now-dissolved Coalition for Unity and Democracy party, was first jailed after Ethiopia’s 2005 elections, in which the CUD claimed victory. She and dozens of other opposition leaders were sentenced to life in prison, though they were released in 2007 after a pardon agreement with the government of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi.

She was re-arrested Dec. 29 after she rejected government demands that she make a public statement saying she had formally requested the original pardon.

‘Humane Condition’

Bereket Simon, an adviser to Zenawi, said he wasn’t aware of Mideksa’s fast.

“We have a prison system whereby we hold prisoners in a humane condition,” Simon said. “This is a case where she has said that she didn’t ask for pardon and the decision of the judiciary is being applied. At this point, I don’t think it requires intervention by lawyers.” Read more.
————–
US concern over Birtukan Midekssa’s arrest
AFP

ADDIS ABABA (AFP) — The US embassy in Addis Ababa on Wednesday voiced concern over the fate of an opposition leader who was jailed after her pardon from a life sentence was revoked.

Birtukan Midekssa, head of the Unity for Democracy Justice party, irked the regime when she reportedly claimed during a recent visit to Europe that she had never voiced remorse or acknowledged any mistake to obtain her pardon in 2007.

“The United States is concerned about the government of Ethiopia’s arrest of Unity for Democracy and Justice Party leader Birtukan Midekssa,” the embassy’s information officer Darragh Paradiso told AFP.

“We are particularly concerned by reports that Birtukan’s pardon has been revoked and she has begun a life sentence in prison.”

The 35-year-old woman, who was detained with dozens of opposition figures and supporters in the aftermath of disputed 2005 elections, was last week given a three-day ultimatum by the authorities to confirm or deny the reports. Read More.

—————
Bloomberg.com
Ethiopian Police Re-Arrest Opposition Leader Mideksa

By Jason McLure

(Corrects attribution in sixth paragraph.)

Dec. 29 — Ethiopian federal police re-arrested opposition leader Birtukan Mideksa a year after she was released on a pardon following her arrest during the country’s disputed 2005 elections.

Mideksa, a leader of the now-dissolved Coalition for Unity and Democracy, was taken into custody today, said Temesgen Zewde, a lawmaker, who is a member of Mideksa’s new party, Unity for Democracy and Justice.

“She has been arrested,” Zewde said in an interview in the capital, Addis Ababa. “No charges have been made public yet. We don’t know exactly where she is being held.”

Mideksa was arrested after refusing to acknowledge that she had requested a pardon that led to her release from jail in July 2007, said Bereket Simon, a spokesman for Prime Minister Meles Zenawi. She and dozens of other opposition leaders were initially jailed following the 2005 elections and sentenced to life in prison following a May 2007 trial on treason charges. Read More.

AFP

BOSTON, Massachusetts (AFP) — Ethiopian Tirunesh Dibaba, who claimed double Olympic gold at 5,000 and 10,000 meters at Beijing, will run at the Boston Indoor Games on February 7, organizers announced Thursday. Read more.

Above: Yosef Tadale (left) and Yohannes Surafel (right) were
arrested and charged with kidnapping, assault, and conspiracy
to commit armed robbery after police say they held a family
hostage.

DC Examiner
By Scott McCabe
Examiner Staff Writer
1/7/09

U.S. marshals continue to hunt for a college student accused of abducting a Prince George’s County family in a failed bank robbery scheme last month.

Authorities are asking for the public’s help in capturing Beruk Ayalneh, 24. Ayalneh was one of three men who allegedly broke into the home of an assistant bank manager last month and held the woman, her husband and two boys at gunpoint overnight. The other two suspects, Yosef Tadele, 23, of Silver Spring and Yohannes T. Surafel, 24, of the District remain behind bars on kidnapping, armed robbery and assault charges.

Beruk Ayalneh

Police say the trio’s plan was to keep the children, ages 8 and 11, as hostages and force the woman to take money from the SunTrust branch where she worked in Silver Spring. The father convinced the robbers to allow them to bring the children with them to the bank.

But on the way, the father, James Spruill, foiled the plot after he saw a Maryland state trooper. Spruill began driving erratically until the trooper flashed on his cruiser’s emergency lights. Only one of the kidnappers, Surafel, was in the vehicle, but his gun was trained on the 11-year-old boy.

When the trooper asked Spruill for his license, the father jumped at the gunman and pinned him down.

U.S. marshals hope Ayalneh, who is a student at Howard University and has no criminal history, will surrender. Surafel has already tried to kill himself in a holding cell in the College Park barracks, police said.

“[Ayalneh] is not a sophisticated criminal mastermind who’s well-schooled in running and hiding,” said Matthew Burke, supervisory inspector with the Capital Area Regional Fugitive Task Force. “We hope his inexperience will help us.”

Ayalneh, who is a U.S. citizen of Ethiopian descent, is from the Northern Virginia area and has ties to D.C. and the Maryland suburbs. He is 5-foot-8 and 170 pounds.

Anyone with information on Ayalneh’s whereabouts can call the U.S. Marshals Service at 301-489-1717 or 800-336-0102. Law enforcement authorities are offering a reward for information leading to Lee’s arrest.

The Capital Area Regional Fugitive Task Force, run by the U.S. Marshals Service, is composed of 28 federal, state and local agencies from Baltimore to Norfolk. The unit has captured 19,000 wanted fugitives since its creation in 2004.

CNN VIDEO
A bank robbery scheme was cut short by a quick-thinking family man. WJLA reports.

Police Think This May Have Been A Robbery But Are Still
Not Sure. Miami-Dade Crimestoppers (305) 471-TIPS

Lazaro Diaz

MIAMI (CBS4) ― By all accounts 39-year old Samuel Abate Balcha had no enemies. He was well loved by his friends & neighbors and was a hard worker. But on January 1st, 2009 his body was found inside his efficiency apartment. His killer has yet to be found.

Now close friend Lazaro Diaz is making a plea to the community for help in bringing Balcha’s killer to justice.

“He didn’t deserve this, for someone to take his life,” said Balcha.

Miami police detective Fernando Bosch told CBS4’s Liv Davalos they are baffled by Balcha’s murder and don’t really have a motive.

“It’s a mystery why anyone would take his life, he was pretty much loved by everybody,” said Bosch.

Detectives say Balcha was killed possibly on December 30th, his body found days later by a concerned neighbor, his apartment ransacked. Police say Balcha, who was born in Ethiopia and had lived in Miami for four years, was a civil engineer but was working as a truck driver for a delivery company while going to school at Miami-Dade College to learn English.

“Everybody we spoke to said he was a gentleman, a friend, a brother, there are a lot of people that are concerned,” said Bosch.

Anyone who can help police find Balcha’s killer is asked to call Miami-Dade Crimestoppers at (305) 471-TIPS.

By Sylvia Perez and Christine Tressel | ABC News

Rahel Taye has a smile as big as her appetite. But a year ago her life now would be hard to imagine.

The 26-year-old from Ethiopia had been battling mysterious, crippling pains in her abdomen for months.

“Really, really bad, bad pain,” said Taye.

She was in and out of hospitals. No one had an answer for her but her health kept deteriorating.

She finally ended up at the emergency room of a prominent Chicago hospital where she says doctors delivered the devastating news: that she probably had ovarian cancer.

“The doctor told me she had two months to live,” said Solomon Melesse, Taye’s husband.

She was advised to have surgery which meant she might never have children. Rahel and her husband were stunned and in disbelief.

“I know they are wrong. I feel it,” said Taye.

Rahel trusted her instincts and was recommended to Ermias Tilahun, a specialist in internal medicine at Swedish Covenant Hospital. It was April of 2007. By then, Rahel was in very bad shape.

“She was less than 80 pounds when I saw her,” said Dr. Tilahun.

Like Rahel, Dr. Tilahun wasn’t convinced it was cancer. He had a hunch as a result of working with other immigrants and being Ethiopian himself.

At the time, Rahel was only 26, a very young age for ovarian cancer.

He ran several tests and then he discovered some white looking nodules all over the inside of her abdomen. That led him to suspect something no one else had; tuberculosis.

“After listening to their story, she migrated from Ethopia,” said Dr. Tilahun. “The probability for TB goes up.”

Tuberculosis is an infectious disease caused by a bacterium. It primarily attacks the lungs but doctors say the disease can affect other organs and tissues. That’s apparently what happened to Rahel. She was diagnosed with peritoneal TB, an unusual infection that some doctors may not know can mimic ovarian cancer.

Rahel was started on anti-TB medications. Within two weeks, they say she was eating and smiling. Since then the couple hasn’t looked back.

“Now we can have a family and live to have a family and kids,” said Rahel.

Dr. Tilahun says Rahel’s case is a perfect example of why U.S. doctors need to start looking beyond America’s borders in diagnosing illnesses.

As more people travel, different forms of disease are making their way to this country. TB is just one of them. In this case, a late diagnosis almost cost Rahel her life.

“If we didn’t consider TB for her she would not be around,” said Dr. Tilahun.

Rahel is now going to school and planning to have a family.

And even though it’s been more than year and half, the gravity of her ordeal is still overwhelming.

Dr. Tilahun says Rahel’s form of TB was not highly contagious. He is not sure how she got it but suspects she may have picked up the bacterium after drinking raw milk.

He also says that if he had used the gold standard test for TB which takes about four weeks, Rahel probably would have been dead. Dr. Tilahun says instead he used a test not well know here in the U.S. which got him results within a couple days.

For more information:
Dr. Ermias Tilahun
Swedish Covenant Hospital, Internal Medicine
2740 W. Foster Ave., Chicago, IL
773-907-3550

Bloomberg

By Jason McLure

Jan. 6 (Bloomberg) — Ethiopia’s parliament ratified a law that critics say will prevent groups from promoting human rights and democracy in the Horn of Africa country, strengthening the government’s hand to crack down on dissent.

The so-called “Proclamation for the Registration and Regulation of Charities and Societies” was passed today by a vote of 327 to 79 in Ethiopia’s parliament. The 547-member legislative body is dominated by members of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi’s Ethiopian Peoples’ Revolutionary Democratic Front, which has 481 seats.

Zenawi’s party, which has ruled Ethiopia since 1991, backed the law even after Western donors, domestic civil society organizations and members of Ethiopian opposition parties objected. They argue the legislation aims to quash dissent.

“This law goes far beyond any normal effort to regulate civil society,” said Leslie Lefkow, a researcher in the Africa division of New York-based Human Rights Watch. “It’s really an instrument of repression.”

Under the new plan, any charity that promotes ethnic gender and religious equality; human rights; democracy; or conflict resolution and receives more than 10 percent of its funding from overseas, will be banned. Organizations that advocate rights for children and the disabled or promote “the efficiency of the justice and law enforcement services” will also be outlawed unless they source more than 90 percent of their revenue inside Ethiopia.

Blanket Ban

Since nearly all non-governmental organizations, or NGOs, that work in these areas rely on foreign funding, the law is tantamount to a blanket ban, political activists said.

“Ninety-five percent of these organizations will not survive under this legislation,” said Lidetu Ayalew, an opposition member of parliament, during a debate on the law on Dec. 24.

Ethiopia’s government says the new law is needed to regulate the country’s more than 3,800 NGOs. It also argues that it’s the role of the state, rather than foreign-backed organizations, to protect human and democratic rights.

“We need social development,” said Berhanu Adelu, chief of Zenawi’s Cabinet, in a forum on the new law on Dec. 24. “We invite NGOs to do this work, but it is not their role to protect the rights of citizens. That is the role of government. It’s an internal issue.”

The government also disputes claims that the law is intended to silence critics or that groups will close as a result.

‘Clearly Specified Duty’

“No NGOs will be closed as a result of this,” Justice Minister Berhanu Hailu said in an interview on the sidelines of the forum on Dec. 24. “They just have to raise funds locally. This is not a closing of political space. We are not undermining civil society in Ethiopia, but their duty area is clearly specified.”

The U.S. Embassy in Addis Ababa said the law “appears to restrict civil society activities and international partners’ ability to support Ethiopia’s own development efforts.”

“We are concerned that this law may restrict U.S. government assistance to Ethiopia, particularly on promoting democracy and good governance, civic and human rights, conflict resolution and advocacy for society’s most vulnerable groups,” the embassy said in an statement read to Bloomberg.

Amnesty International, the London-based human rights organization, said that while the government had provided assurances that the law was intended to regularize non- governmental activity, it appeared to have emerged out of state fears about political control.

‘Increased Repression’

Those fears “manifested as increased repression of civil society activity after the contested 2005 elections and continue to severely limit space for civil society as Ethiopia heads toward elections in 2010,” Amnesty said in an e-mail today.

Government opponents accused the state of rigging the May 2005 elections, sparking protests in Addis Ababa and other cities. A judicial inquiry after the election concluded that government security forces had killed 193 opposition supporters in the unrest.

In October and November of 2008, the government arrested 15 members of the Oromo Federalist Democratic Movement, an opposition party, on suspicion of belonging to a separatist group. Last month, Birtukan Mideksa, the country’s leading opposition politician, was arrested and jailed for life after a dispute with the government over a pardon agreement that had freed her in 2007.

Rights Monitor

Among the NGOs likely to be banned is the Ethiopian Human Rights Council, or EHRCO, a non-profit organization that has issued more than 140 reports detailing summary executions, disappearances and unlawful detentions of Ethiopians over the past 17 years.

More than a dozen of the group’s staff and members were arrested in the wake of Ethiopia’s disputed 2005 elections, during which EHRCO ran voter education programs, Yoseph Mulugeta, the group’s secretary-general, said in an interview

About 99 percent of the 1,500-member group’s 4 million birr ($400,000) annual budget comes from foreign sources, including the U.S. based National Endowment for Democracy, Canada’s overseas aid agency, and the embassies of European governments.

As a result of the law, many of the group’s 60 investigators and administrators across the country have been notified they’re likely to lose their jobs.

“Who watches when the government violates human rights?” Mulugeta said. “In many countries the government is the biggest violator of human rights. There needs to be independent watchers.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Jason McLure in Addis Ababa via Johannesburg at pmrichardson@bloomberg.net.
—————————–
Ethiopian Parliament Approves Law Criminalizing Many NGO Activities
VOA
By Peter Heinlein
Addis Ababa
06 January 2009

Ethiopia’s parliament has overwhelmingly approved a law that will sharply restrict the activities of most civil society groups. The law has been the target of scathing criticism from opposition parties, rights groups and many foreign governments, including the United States.

The ruling Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Party used its massive parliamentary majority to push through a law that gives the government broad powers over foreign funded non-governmental organizations.

The so-called Charities and Societies Proclamation prohibits any group receiving at least 10 percent of its funds from abroad from promoting democratic or human rights, the rights of children, or equality of gender or religion. Violators could face stiff fines and sentences of up to 15 years in prison.

Defending the bill in parliament, EPRDF whip Hailemariam Desalegn argued that any group advocating democracy and human rights should be run by Ethiopians, who should have control over the expenditure of funds.

Minister for cabinet affairs Berhanu Adelo, a top adviser to Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, said Ethiopia needs NGOs to help with social development. But he said it is not the job of NGOs to protect the rights of citizens. That, he said, is the government’s job.

Critics say the law effectively gives Ethiopia’s increasingly authoritarian government a large say in the affairs of as many as 3,000 charities and civil society groups with a combined budget of $1.5 billion a year, much of which goes to promote open society and multi-party democracy initiatives.

Opposition leaders were blistering in their criticism of the bill. Temesgen Zewde of the Unity for Democracy and Justice Party, whose party leader was imprisoned for life last week after a spat with the ruling party, called the bill part of a government effort to create a one-party state.

“This is really a domination agenda, a single party agenda, all the other stuff is simply window dressing. The agenda is to stifle these voluntary public movements that are known to assist the democratic process, the situation of human rights, and all other advocacies are vital and necessary,” he said. “They just don’t want to see this. The EPRDF cannot survive in that kind of environment.”

Another opposition leader, Dr. Beyene Petros, says the new law will effectively silence those capable of participating in the democratization of Ethiopia.

“It is totally consciously designed to undermine and restrict the role of civil society, because the ruling party is determined to advance the cause of revolutionary democracy and part of the Communist order that is going to be implemented in this country for the coming 30-40 years without anybody looking or criticizing or having any idea about what is going on. So the idea is to undermine the role of civil society,” he said.

The United States and other western governments have voiced deep concern about the effects of the new law. The Bush administration sent its top human rights and democracy official, assistant secretary of state David Kramer to Addis Ababa twice over the past six months to discuss the bill with top government officials.

A U.S. embassy spokesperson Tuesday said the Charities and Societies Proclamation appears to restrict civil society activities and the ability of international partners to support Ethiopia’s own development efforts.

The 44th President: A transition to Power
Above: Obama with Rahm Emanuel (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)

NYT
Published: January 6, 2009

The following is a rush transcript of President-Elect Barack Obama’s media availability as provided by the Obama team.

Obama: When the American people spoke last November, they were demanding change, change in policies that helped deliver the worst economic crisis that we’ve seen since the Great Depression, but they’re also looking for a change in the way that Washington does business. They were demanding that we restore a sense of responsibility and prudence to how we’d run our government.

One of the measures of irresponsibility that we’ve seen is the enormous federal debt that has accumulated, a number that has doubled in recent years. As we just discussed, my budget team filled me in on – Peter Orszag now forecasts that, at the current course and speed, a trillion-dollar deficit will be here before we even start the next budget, that we’ve already looked – we’re already looking at a trillion-dollar budget deficit or close to a trillion-dollar budget deficit, and that potentially we’ve got trillion-dollar deficits for years to come, even with the economic recovery that we are working on at this point.

So the reason I raise this is that we’re going to have to stop talking about budget reform. We’re going to have to totally embrace it. It’s an absolute necessity.

And it has to begin with the economic recovery and reinvestment plan that Congress will soon be considering, that we’re going to be investing an extraordinary amount of money to jump-start our economy, save or create 3 million new jobs, mostly in the private sector, and lay a solid foundation for future growth.

But we’re not going to be able to expect the American people to support this critical effort unless we take extraordinary steps to ensure that the investments are made wisely and managed well. And that’s why my recovery and reinvestment plan will have – will set a new higher standard of accountability, transparency, and oversight.

We are going to ban all earmarks, the process by which individual members insert pet projects without review. We will create an economic recovery oversight board made up of key administration officials and independent advisers to identify problems early and make sure we’re doing all that we can to solve it. We will put information about where money is being spent online so that the American people know exactly where their precious tax dollars are going and whether we are hitting our marks.

But we’re not going to be able to stop there. We’re going to have to bring significant reform not just to our recovery and reinvestment plan, but to the overall budget process, to address both the deficit of dollars and the deficit of trust. We’ll have to make tough choices, and we’re going to have to break old habits. We’re going to have to eliminate outmoded programs and make the ones that we do need work better.

That’s the challenge that I’ve handed to Peter, and Rob Nabors, and the rest of my budget team. That’s the challenge that the American people have handed me. They know that we’re at a perilous crossroad and that tinkering in the margins will not do.

I’m going to have more to say about this subject tomorrow, but today I wanted to lay out an early marker with those that I’ve entrusted to help bring the changes that the American people voted for. We are going to bring a long-overdue sense of responsibility and accountability to Washington. We are going to stop talking about government reform, and we’re actually going to start executing.

That’s the charge that I’ve given the members of the administration. That’s the charge that was given to me by the American people. And we are ready for the challenge.

So with that, I’m going to take some questions. And let’s start with you.

Question: Thank you, Mr. President-elect. Do you think that you’ll be submitting a budget larger than the $3.1 trillion that President Bush submitted for fiscal ’09? And, also, what are you doing to address concerns from other Democrats about deficit spending and increasing the deficit with the stimulus package? Read more at NYT.
———–
Who is Donating to Obama’s Inaugural Festivities? See the List
Obama raises $27 million for inaugural

The Associated Press

By SHARON THEIMER –

WASHINGTON (AP) — Despite the economic hard times, money keeps pouring in for President-elect Barack Obama’s inaugural festivities.

The inaugural committee has raised at least $27 million, donor information on its Web site Tuesday showed. Most of that has come in over the past three weeks.

If fundraising continues at that pace, Obama’s inaugural committee will have no problem reaching or exceeding the roughly $40 million raised for each of President George W. Bush’s two inaugural celebrations.

More than 2,000 donors are helping to finance Obama’s Jan. 20 swearing-in festivities. At least 378 gave the maximum $50,000.

Top donors include financier and major Democratic donor George Soros, actors Halle Berry, Jamie Foxx and Samuel L. Jackson, Hollywood producer Jeffrey Katzenberg, directors Ron Howard, George Lucas and Steven Spielberg and actor, singer and director Barbra Streisand.

The inaugural committee is releasing the names of those who give $200 or more. It is refusing money from labor unions, corporations, political action committees, foreigners and Washington lobbyists. Read More.

Click Here to See the List of Donors to the Presidential Inaugural Committee

Photo: Ethiopian soldier in Mogadishu (BBC)

Boomberg
By Jason McLure

Jan. 5 (Bloomberg) — Ethiopia declared its two-year occupation of Somalia a success as its forces began the last stage of withdrawal, leaving behind one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises and a government close to collapse.

“Mission accomplished,” the Foreign Ministry said in an e-mailed statement today in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa. “Our defense forces have carried out a successful mission to eliminate the clear and present danger that our country had faced two years ago.”

U.S.-backed Ethiopian soldiers invaded Somalia in December 2006, ousting the Islamic Courts Union, an Islamist alliance that had briefly controlled much of the country. Its attempt to reinstall the United Nations-backed transitional government in the capital, Mogadishu, was met with an Iraq-style insurgency by Islamist and clan-based militias.

More than 800,000 have been forced from their homes by the fighting, while an estimated 3.2 million people, more than 40 percent of the country’s population, are in need of humanitarian aid. The seas off Somalia have become the world’s most dangerous for commercial shippers as the anarchy has led to rapid growth of piracy and kidnappings.

As a result of the insurgency, the transitional government controls only parts of Mogadishu and the southern town of Baidoa, while Islamists from the al-Shabaab militia, a faction of the Islamic Courts Union, control much of southern Somalia. On Dec. 29, the president of the transitional government, Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed, resigned following a power struggle with Prime Minister Nur Hassan Hussein. Read More.
———————————-
Ethiopia Leaves Somalia With Many Questions Unanswered
VOA
By Joe DeCapua
Washington D.C
05 January 2009

Ethiopian soldiers in
Mogadishu, (file photo)

As Ethiopian troops withdraw from Somalia, the Ethiopian government has released a statement saying its mission in Somalia has been accomplished. It says Ethiopian forces, during their two year occupation, have eliminated a clear and present danger. However, Ethiopia leaves behind a country in turmoil and one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.George Washington University Professor David Shinn, a former US ambassador to Ethiopia, spoke to VOA English to Africa Service reporter Joe De Capua about whether Ethiopia can declare “mission accomplished.”

David Shinn

Read more at VOA.
————————————-

Four Ethiopian Soldiers Killed in Somalia
By VOA News
04 January 2009

Witnesses in Somalia say at least four Ethiopian soldiers were killed by a roadside bomb near Mogadishu.

The blast took place Saturday on a road west of the capital where troops were searching for explosive devices.

Several other soldiers were injured in the blast.

Ethiopia said Saturday that the withdrawal of its troops from Somalia will be completed “within days.”

A foreign ministry statement said military commanders are handing over their responsibilities to African Union peacekeepers and Somali transitional government troops.

A ministry spokesman, Wahde Belay told VOA that sufficient precautions have been made to prevent a power vacuum in Somalia after Ethiopian troops are gone.

About 3,200 soldiers from Burundi and Uganda make up the AU mission in the country. Burundi’s Defense Minister, General Germain Niyoyankana. said Sunday the two countries would consider withdrawing their forces unless more troops and supplies are sent to the country.

Islamist insurgents have taken control over many towns in recent weeks and moved to impose strict forms of sharia (Islamic) law.

Ethiopia sent troops to Somalia in late 2006 to help the government oust Islamists who had taken over Mogadishu and much of the country. The offensive was successful but sparked a bloody insurgency that has killed thousands of Somalis and displaced more than a million others.

Some information for this report was provided by AF and Reuters.
—————

Ethiopia to Complete Somalia Withdrawal ‘Within Days’

Ethiopian troops in Mogadishu.
(file photo)

VOA
By Peter Heinlein
Addis Ababa
03 January 2009

A spokesman says Ethiopian troops will complete their withdrawal from Somalia “within days,” and that sufficient precautions have been made to prevent a feared power vacuum when they are gone. Troop convoys have been seen pulling back to positions across the border in Ethiopia’s Somali region.

Ethiopia’s Foreign Ministry issued a statement saying military commanders have completed handing over their responsibilities in Somalia to African Union peacekeepers and soldiers of the country’s transitional government. Ministry spokesman Wahde Belay told VOA in a telephone interview all precautions have been taken to provide security for the AMISOM and TFG forces.

“We believe there will not be a vacuum. That is why we consulted with those forces, the AMISOM and TFG forces,” he said. “We made sure that we have not left a vacuum there. They are ready to take their responsibility in assuring calm in Somalia. This is all I can say for now.”

Wahde declined to elaborate on what measures have been taken, but the press statement noted that both Uganda and Burundi, the two troop contributors to AMISOM, had confirmed their willingness to boost the size of their forces. AMISOM currently has a strength of about 3,400 troops but they are ill-equipped and under-funded and have been unable to restore much stability in Somalia.

The TFG is also believed to have several thousand soldiers.

African Union officials are known to be actively trying to solicit more troops contributions.

Spokesman Wahde confirms that the Ethiopian withdrawal is well under way, and should be completed soon.

“We have specifically said it will take a few days in order to complete the withdrawal. I don’t want to comment on what will happen next,” he said.

Ethiopia had earlier said it would provide security for the AMISOM forces if they decided to join the pullout, but African Union officials have indicated they will continue their peacekeeping mission. African Union Commission Chairman Jean Ping last month told reporters, “a withdrawal from Somalia is something we cannot accept, not only the AU but also the rest of the world.”

Several western diplomats, who declined to be identified because they are not authorized to speak publicly, have expressed fear of a bloodbath unless the peacekeeping forces are substantially reinforced to replace the several thousand departing Ethiopian soldiers.

Reports from Somalia over the past few days have spoken of clashes between rival Islamist factions vying for control as Ethiopian convoys head back across the border. Both western and African analysts have voiced concern that extremist forces might overrun the AMISOM and TFG troops and capture the capital, Mogadishu.

Ethiopia sent troops to Somalia in December, 2006 to drive out an Islamic Courts Union that had imposed Sharia law over parts of the country. The Ethiopians installed a U.N.-backed but feeble transitional government, but were not able to provide stability in the lawless country that has been without an effective administration since 1991.
——————–
Somali police stations taken over

Ethiopian forces are leaving after two
years in Somalia

BBC
Sunday, 4 January 2009

Islamist militiamen have taken over a number of abandoned police stations in the Somali capital as Ethiopian troops continue to withdraw from the city.

The militiamen said they were moving in to prevent an explosion of violence.

They are thought to support a faction that has signed a peace deal with Somalia’s transitional government.

A more militant group, al-Shabab, is continuing the insurgency. Ethiopia has said it aims to ensure there is no security vacuum after it withdraws.

Separately, at least six people are reported to have died in fighting between rival Islamic factions further north.

Members of al-Shabab clashed with local supporters of a rival group – Ahlu Sunna Wal-jamaah – in Guriel, about 400km (250 miles) north of Mogadishu.

Ethiopian military forces began pulling out of Somalia on Friday after two years helping the transitional government fight insurgents.

Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi’s spokesman said the withdrawal would take several days.

About 3,400 Ugandan and Burundian peacekeepers from the African Union in Somalia are taking up positions vacated by the Ethiopians.

There are fears the withdrawal of the 3,000-strong Ethiopian force could lead to a power vacuum and that violence will continue despite a peace deal between Somalia’s transitional government and one of the main opposition factions.

However others say the pullout, together with the resignation of President Abdullahi Yusuf, could make it easier for a new government to be formed.
——————-

Ethiopian Army Begins Leaving Mogadishu
NYT

By MOHAMED IBRAHIM and JEFFREY GETTLEMAN
Published: January 2, 2009

MOGADISHU, Somalia — Ethiopian Army trucks, packed with soldiers, tents, mattresses and other gear, began to pull out of Mogadishu, Somalia’s battle-zone of a capital, on Friday in the first signs of the expected Ethiopian withdrawal.

Many Somalis in their path immediately fled, predicting that the departing Ethiopian troops would be attacked by mines and insurgents. Almost as soon as they began to move, the Ethiopians hit a roadside bomb. At lease nine civilians were killed, and an unknown number of Ethiopian soldiers.

Thousands of Ethiopian troops stormed into Mogadishu two years ago in an attempt to shore up Somalia’s weak transitional government and to wipe out an Islamist administration that the Ethiopians considered a terrorist threat.

But the Ethiopian occupation mostly failed. The Somali government is as divided and weak as ever. Islamist insurgents, many of them quite radical and violent, have seized control of much of Somalia. Thousands of civilians have been killed in relentless combat between Islamist militants and the Ethiopians, with European Union officials accusing the Ethiopians of war crimes. And millions of Somalis are now on the brink of famine, the victims of war, displacement, drought and disease.

The Ethiopians were never popular in Somalia. But as people in Mogadishu watched the first convoy of 18 heavily loaded trucks chug down the bullet-pocked streets and head toward the Ethiopian border on Friday, many said they feared what would happen next.

“If the Ethiopians leave, there is a possibility of war among the Islamist fighters,” said Jamal Ali, a student at Mogadishu University.

It is not clear whether the Ethiopian troops are leaving Somalia entirely or simply redeploying from Mogadishu to other areas of the country. Western diplomats estimate there are still several thousand Ethiopian troops inside Somalia, and many Somalia analysts have predicted that the Ethiopians will linger for some time inside the country or along the border as a buffer against Islamist militants.

“We have already started to implement our withdrawal plan, “ said Bereket Simon, a high-ranking Ethiopian official, according to Agence France-Presse. “It is a process and it will take some time.”

Around 3,000 African Union peacekeepers are still in Somalia, trying to protect the few fortified enclaves that Somalia’s transitional government controls. On Thursday, a little-known Islamist group called the Ras Kamboni Rebels attacked peacekeepers in two locations, though it was not clear how many people, if any, were killed.

Mohamed Ibrahim reported from Mogadishu, Somalia, and Jeffrey Gettleman from Nairobi, Kenya.

The 44th President: A transition to Power
Above: President-elect Barack Obama, right, listens as Commerce
Secretary-designate New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson speaks
during a news conference in Chicago on Dec. 3, 2008.
(Charles Dharapak/Associated Press)

Richardson Withdraws Name as Commerce Secretary-Designee

The Washington Post
By Michael D. Shear

New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson has withdrawn his name from consideration as commerce secretary for President-elect Barack Obama, citing an ongoing investigation about business dealings in his state.

Richardson, 61, who competed unsuccessfully for the Democratic presidential nomination, was secretary of energy and U.N. ambassador during Bill Clinton’s presidency, and also the first high-profile Latino named to Obama’s Cabinet.

But a grand jury in New Mexico is currently looking into charges of “pay-to-play” in the awarding of a state contract to a company that contributed to Richardson.

The importance of the inquiry was apparently dismissed when Richardson was first nominated. But it may have taken on more weight in light of the “pay-to-play” allegations involving Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich.

“It is with deep regret that I accept Governor Bill Richardson’s decision to withdraw his name for nomination as the next Secretary of Commerce,” the president-elect said in a statement released early this afternoon. “Governor Richardson is an outstanding public servant and would have brought to the job of Commerce Secretary and our economic team great insights accumulated through an extraordinary career in federal and state office.

“It is a measure of his willingness to put the nation first that he has removed himself as a candidate for the Cabinet in order to avoid any delay in filling this important economic post at this critical time.”

Obama added that he would “move quickly to fill the void left by Governor Richardson’s decision.”

Richardson said in a statement that: “Let me say unequivocally that I and my Administration have acted properly in all matters and that this investigation will bear out that fact. But I have concluded that the ongoing investigation also would have forced an untenable delay in the confirmation process. Given the gravity of the economic situation the nation is facing, I could not in good conscience ask the President-elect and his Administration to delay for one day the important work that needs to be done.” Read More.

Obama family moves to Washington

The Obama family spent the holiday
period in Hawaii

BBC

US President-elect Barack Obama and his family have arrived in Washington in preparation to take up residence at the White House later this month.

Mr Obama’s wife and their two daughters are staying at the Hay-Adams Hotel, which overlooks the White House. He is expected to join them later.

Malia, 10, and seven-year-old Sasha are due to start classes at the exclusive Sidwell Friends School on Monday.

The Obamas will move to the official presidential guest home on 15 January.

Blair House, which is located opposite the White House and has previously housed presidents-elect before their inauguration, is booked solidly until then, Bush administration officials said.

The Obamas arrived back at their home in Chicago early on Friday, following a 12-day family holiday in Hawaii, and began the move to Washington less than 48 hours later.

The Hay-Adams Hotel, built in 1928, stands across Lafayette Square from the White House, where the Obama family will take up residence following the inauguration ceremony on 20 January.

The Hay-Adams Hotel

Security has been tightened around the hotel, with parking restricted in nearby streets until 15 January, according to city officials.

The Obamas are expected to stay in one of the historic hotel’s luxury suites, which cost several thousand dollars a night, as their daughters start school.

Other children of prominent politicians to have attended the private Sidwell Friends School include Chelsea Clinton and the daughters of President Richard Nixon.

In the coming days, Mr Obama is expected to spend time with Congressional leaders, as they work on a multi-million dollar stimulus plan intended to aid the country’s embattled economy.

The president-elect has also been invited to lunch at the White House on Wednesday, along with former Presidents Bill Clinton, Jimmy Carter and George Bush Senior.

Blagojevich row

Meanwhile, a row continues over the appointment of Roland Burris to fill Mr Obama’s now-vacant Illinois Senate seat.

Mr Burris was picked by Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich, who is the subject of a criminal inquiry and has been charged with attempting to “sell” Mr Obama’s seat to the highest bidder.

The governor – who denies any wrongdoing – has defied pressure from party leaders to step down and last week chose Mr Burris, the state’s former attorney general, to fill the position.

Senate Democrats have said that while there are no questions about Mr Burris’s personal integrity, they will reject anyone appointed by Mr Blagojevich.

The president-elect has said he agrees the Senate “cannot accept” a new senator chosen by Mr Blagojevich, adding that Mr Blagojevich himself should resign.

New Senate members will be sworn in on Tuesday, as the new session of Congress opens.

Mr Burris said on Saturday he still planned to go to Washington on Monday to take up the Senate seat, the Associated Press news agency reported.

Above: Image from “Invisible Children”, a documentary
inspired by photojournalist Dan Eldon, who died in 1993
covering the violence in Somalia.
(courtesy of Invisible Children, Inc.)

Source: Ethiopia – Daily Monitor

By Fikremariam Tesfaye

2 January 2009

Addis Abeba — The National Photo Journalists Association (NPJA) said on Wednesday it was looking for ways to boost photo journalism as a profession in the country.

Photographers do exist in state as well as independent media, but the lack the know how and the skills to be photo journalists, required Binyam Mengesha, founder and director of NPJA said.

The photo journalists have the ability to document society and to preserve its history through images,” he said at a half day panel discussion organized at the Bole Dashen building hall..

“Professionals should also abide by the code of ethics.” Beniam explained that photo journalism was not just about taking photos, but it is beyond that.

“Being accurate and comprehensive in the representation of subjects; resisting manipulated by staged photo opportunities; avoiding stereotyping and individuals and group and treating all subjects with respect and dignity are among the most ethical code of conducts exercises by professionals,” he said.

On the other hand, most of the times don’t seen in most of photo journalists, he added.

According to Binyam, the association encourages and supports members to work together to make sure that the profession is developed in reference to its level of development worldwide for which he said “relentless” efforts would be required.

Relentless efforts will be exerted to make sure that the people in the profession get opportunities to exchange experiences among themselves in the country and with professionals and their associations abroad as well as benefit from short-term trainings.

NPJA has also plan to organize exhibitions annually and the best photo journalist could show their works and are duly credited. The professionals as well as reminded that they bear double responsibility as a citizen in promoting positive image of Ethiopia worldwide and support them to realize.

The NPJA was established by few professionals ten months ago who thinks that the professionals have to work under the umbrella of an association to develop the profession of photo journalism; to create strong links between the professionals and to facilitate experience sharing forums among the professionals and arrange trainings for them within and outside the country.

Beniam said the establishment of the association would play a pivotal role in propagating the standard of the profession.

He says however that for the moment, it is possible to say no ” there is no professional in photo journalism.”

Above: A photo of Yosef Tadele, taken from his Facebook page.

By Ruben Castaneda
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, December 31, 2008; Page B02

A judge ordered yesterday that two men accused of abducting a Prince George’s County family in a failed bank robbery scheme be held without bond, and Maryland State Police investigators searched for a third suspect.

Yosef Tadele, 23, of Silver Spring and Yohannes T. Surafel, 24, of the District are charged with multiple counts of kidnapping, attempted robbery and first- and second-degree assault. In charging documents, authorities identified the third suspect as Beruk Ayalneh.

Police allege that Tadele dropped off Surafel and Ayalneh Friday night in Clinton, where they forced their way into the home of an assistant bank manager and held her, her husband and two boys — ages 8 and 11 — overnight at gunpoint. Read More.

—————
CNN VIDEO
A bank robbery scheme was cut short by a quick-thinking family man. WJLA reports.

Read: 2 Arrested in Thwarted Bank Robbery Plot

AFP

ADDIS ABABA (AFP) — The US embassy in Addis Ababa on Wednesday voiced concern over the fate of an opposition leader who was jailed after her pardon from a life sentence was revoked.

Birtukan Midekssa, head of the Unity for Democracy Justice party, irked the regime when she reportedly claimed during a recent visit to Europe that she had never voiced remorse or acknowledged any mistake to obtain her pardon in 2007.

“The United States is concerned about the government of Ethiopia’s arrest of Unity for Democracy and Justice Party leader Birtukan Midekssa,” the embassy’s information officer Darragh Paradiso told AFP.

“We are particularly concerned by reports that Birtukan’s pardon has been revoked and she has begun a life sentence in prison.”

The 35-year-old woman, who was detained with dozens of opposition figures and supporters in the aftermath of disputed 2005 elections, was last week given a three-day ultimatum by the authorities to confirm or deny the reports. Read More.

—————
Bloomberg.com
Ethiopian Police Re-Arrest Opposition Leader Mideksa

By Jason McLure

(Corrects attribution in sixth paragraph.)

Dec. 29 — Ethiopian federal police re-arrested opposition leader Birtukan Mideksa a year after she was released on a pardon following her arrest during the country’s disputed 2005 elections.

Mideksa, a leader of the now-dissolved Coalition for Unity and Democracy, was taken into custody today, said Temesgen Zewde, a lawmaker, who is a member of Mideksa’s new party, Unity for Democracy and Justice.

“She has been arrested,” Zewde said in an interview in the capital, Addis Ababa. “No charges have been made public yet. We don’t know exactly where she is being held.”

Mideksa was arrested after refusing to acknowledge that she had requested a pardon that led to her release from jail in July 2007, said Bereket Simon, a spokesman for Prime Minister Meles Zenawi. She and dozens of other opposition leaders were initially jailed following the 2005 elections and sentenced to life in prison following a May 2007 trial on treason charges. Read More.

Above: President-elect Barack Obama appears on stage with his
daughters Sasha, center, and Malia, right, for his Election Night
victory speech in Chicago on Nov. 4, 2008.
(Emmanuel Dunand / AFP – Getty Images file).

The Associated Press via MSNBC

Dec. 27, 2008

NEW YORK – They’re only 10 and 7, and already designers are angling to dress them. They’ve been on the cover of People and Us Weekly. And there’s that standing invitation — unlikely though it is to be redeemed — to the set of “Hannah Montana.”

Malia and Sasha Obama are unquestionably the world’s most famous tweens, and they haven’t even moved into the White House yet. When they arrive, do they have even a chance at the normal existence their parents have often said they want for them?

A look at history suggests that the media, at least, will keep their distance. Chelsea Clinton, 13 when she entered the White House, was largely left alone at the request of her parents. Amy Carter, who came at age 9, was allowed to live a fairly normal life. And the much younger Kennedy kids were kept from the public glare by their mother, Jackie, who even set up a school for Caroline at the White House.

But this is a different world, one where photos and video can be snapped not just by mainstream photographers but anyone with a cell phone, and uploaded to the Web within minutes. It’s also a world where kids, now a powerful consumer force, eagerly devour news about celebrities closer to their own age: Miley Cyrus, for example, or the “High School Musical” bunch.

Are the Obama girls celebrities in their own right?

“If you’re talking about people who fascinate the public, then yes, absolutely,” says Larry Hackett, managing editor of People, which has featured the Obama family on its cover three times. “But if you mean celebrity in the sense that we can cover their every move, then no. These are kids.” Read More.

By Tadias Staff

Published: Friday, December 26, 2008

New York (Tadias) – Tadias Magazine will announced its first annual listing of the top ten websites on New Year’s Eve Wednesday, December 31, 2008. The listing will include Ethiopian American related websites (not all Ethiopian) in several categories including news, business, art, fashion, entertainment, music, internet radio and non-profit organizations. If you would like your website to be considered for inclusion or have ideas or suggestions to share, please contact us at info@tadias.com.

In the mean time, here are Alexa’s top sites in news and media under the following categories: Society, Ethnicity, African, and African-American. See if you can find Tadias.com.

Source: Alexa
All listings in the ‘News and Media’ category and its subcategories ordered by popularity.

1. Vibe Magazine

Covers hip hop/urban culture with a focus on music. Articles, interviews, and subscription information.
More site info for Vibe

2. EURWEB.com

Home of the Electronic Urban Report (EUR).
More site info for eurweb.com

3. DiversityInc

Daily website reporting on diversity and the bottom line, includes a career center with over 20,000 jobs from companies looking to recruit a diverse audience. Site info for diversityinc.com Site Info icon

4. AfricanAmerican News And Information

“The source for news,entertainment, sports,politics,education and other topics of interest to the AfricanAmerican community. Constantly updated. Includes large Black History section. More site info for tncn.con.

5. Sister 2 Sister magazine

Online version of the popular magazine covering the world of black entertainment. More site info for s2smagazine.com

6. Black Enterprise

Information regarding entrepreneurship, technology, personal finance and other minority business issues. More site info for blackenterprise.com.

7. TheSource.Com

The online version of the popular Hip-hop music magazine that provides news coverage of urban music, African American issues, youth culture and politics. More site info for thesource.com.

8. The Final Call Online

Companion site to the paper of the same name, published by Minister Louis Farrakhan. More site info for finalcall.com

9. Ebony Magazine Online

Ebony magazine is one of the oldest African American magaznes and most successful. It provides business, health, fashion, sports, entertainment and general news about African Americans. More site info for ebony.com.

10. Target Market News.com
Provides corporate marketing news that targets minorities, including African Americans. More site info for targetmarketnews.com.

11. Multiple Shades of You Online

msoy online is an e-comunnity for people of color. Search Engine, Black Teen Zine, clipart, forums, entrepreneur resources, blogs, everything and all things black is on msoy. More site info for msoyonline.com.

12.Tadias

Online magazine that is tailored towards the Ethiopian-American community. Topics covered include business, health, opinions, fashion, art,culture, history, reviews, parenting, diaspora, music and events. More site info for tadias.com.

13. Politopics

Centrist political commentary from an African-American perspective. More site info for politopics.com.

14. San Francisco Bay View

Weekly newspaper dedicated to the enlightenment and empowerment of the African American community with news and views not offered by traditional media. More site info for sfbayview.com.

15. Redding News Review

Providing up-to-the-minute black news updates. More site info for reddingnewsreview.com.

16. Mybrotha.COM – Online Magazine For Black Men

Online magazine dedicated to providing information, education and entertainment resources to Black men and the Black Community. Site info for mybrotha.com.

17. Upscale Magazine

Provides business and entertainment news, health, beauty, and lifestyle information for African Americans. More site info for upscalemagazine.com.

18. BlackPressUSA

The joint web presence of America’s Black community newspapers and the NNPA News Service – the last national Black Press news wire. The only national website featuring news exclusively from African-American journalists and Black community publications. More site info for blackpressusa.com.

19. MIMI Magazine

A lifestyle magazine for young African women, covering fashion, fitness, entertainment and cultural issues. More site info for mimimagazine.com.

20. BlackElectorate.com

Where culture, economics and politics meet. More site info for blackelectorate.com.

Related: Hot Blog | Top 10 Ethiopian Websites – 2008

Above: Dozens of community members rally outside Likud’s
Tel Aviv headquarters on Sunday in protest of party’s decision to
disqualify Ethiopian candidate chosen for one of immigrant slots
on its Knesset list. (Photo: Avi Cohen/Ynetnews)

The Jerusalem Post
By GIL HOFFMAN
Dec 23, 2008

The Likud’s internal court decided Monday to restore Ethiopian-born Aleli Admasu to the 28th slot on the party’s Knesset slate that is reserved for an immigrant, a week after the party’s election committee replaced him with Russian-born Vladimir Shklar.

The committee had decided that Admasu wasn’t eligible for the immigrant slot because he had made aliya in 1983, two years before the year established by the committee as the earliest date of immigration for a candidate to still be considered a new immigrant.

But the court ruled that Admasu had received the necessary permission before the December 8 primary to run for an immigrant slot and that he had not tried to evade the party’s rules by seeking the slot.

Admasu said he was pleased by the decision and that “justice had been done” for the Ethiopian community in Israel.

Shklar vowed to appeal to the Tel Aviv District Court, where “real judges” would rule on the matter.

Kadima MK Shlomo Mula, who was elected to the 19th position on his party’s list on Wednesday without needing a reserved slot, said the court’s decision did not change the statement he made last week about the Likud being “an Ashkenazi, elitist party.”

Mula said he was happy for Admasu and that he wanted to see as many Ethiopian immigrants as possible in the Knesset. But he said he doubted that very many of them would vote for Likud after Admasu’s ordeal. Read more at The Jerusalem Post.

———-
Israel: Ethiopians protest nixing of candidate from Likud roster
Ynetnews
By Amnon Meranda

Dozens of community members rally outside Likud’s Tel Aviv headquarters in protest of party’s decision to disqualify Ethiopian candidate chosen for one of immigrant slots on its Knesset list

Several dozen Ethiopian protesters rallies outside the Likud party’s Tel Aviv headquarters on Sunday, in protest of the party Election Committee’s decision to disqualify the Ethiopian candidate’s win of one of the slots reserved for immigrants on its Knesset roster.

The party has secured the 21st and 28th slots on it roster for representatives of the Russian and Ethiopian immigrant communities.

The petition against Alali Adamso’s election, filed by two candidates who lost to him in the party primaries held earlier in December, said that since the Likud Codex states that only those who came to Israel after 1985 can bid for the slots, and Adamso came to Israel in 1983, he was ineligible to bid in the first place.

The committee granted the petition saying that “this is a difficult case, since even though Mr. Adamso received a large number of votes, which may be lost if he is disqualified, accepting his bid would be a deviation from the party code.” Read More.

Above: Mugabe at the African Union summit in Addis Ababa,
Ethiopia on 31 January 2008. (Wikimedia Commons).

BBC

Sunday, 21 December 2008

The United States says the power-sharing deal in Zimbabwe will not work with Robert Mugabe as president.

The US would not reverse sanctions policy while Mr Mugabe remained in power as he had “lost touch with reality”, said its top envoy to Africa.

As well as suffering economic collapse, Zimbabwe is suffering from a cholera epidemic charities say is critical.

Talks on a power-sharing deal with the opposition following disputed elections in March have been stalled.

Progress has also stalled over should control key ministries.

The opposition MDC accuse Mr Mugabe of breaking the deal to form a coalition government and abducting its members.

The US had supported the deal that was signed in September and promised to lift sanctions if it was implemented.

Zimbabwe is mine, I am a Zimbabwean. Zimbabwe for Zimbabweans
Robert Mugabe

But US Assistant Secretary of State for Foreign Jendayi Fraser it could no longer fulfil either of those pledges, saying that Mr Mugabe had “reneged on the principle of power sharing”.

“We have lost confidence in the power-sharing deal being a success with Mugabe in power. He has lost touch with reality,” she said during a visit to South Africa.

“We were prepared to use the American influence to negotiate with the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund to clear the $1.2bn Zimbabwe debt, but now we are no longer prepared to do that.”

‘Mine’

Mr Mugabe has said he is not to blame for Zimbabwe’s situation and has rejected calls from African and Western leaders to stand down.

On Friday, he told delegates of his ruling Zanu-PF at their annual conference that he would “never, never, never surrender”.

“Zimbabwe is mine, I am a Zimbabwean. Zimbabwe for Zimbabweans,” he said.

Mr Mugabe has said that the cholera crisis is over and was being used by the West as an excuse to invade Zimbabwe.

However, aid agencies have warned that the disease, which has already claimed 1,123 lives, could infect more than 60,000 unless its spread it halted.

Ms Fraser called on African leaders to unite against Mr Mugabe, saying that if they were to “go to Mugabe and tell him to go, I do think he would go”.

Source: Mestewat.com

Society of Ethiopian Web Developers annual election of the Best Ethiopian Web site of the year is here.

Best Design and Look
1. Ethiopian Review
2. EthioTube.net
3. Abugidainfo.com

Originally News and Content
1. Ethiopian Review
2. Abugidainfo.com
3. Aiga forum

Read more at Mestewat.com

Above: Ethiopians brought two gold medals each in the
5,000m and 10,000m games in the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

The Angola Press Agency

Saturday, December 20, 2008 9:05

Luanda – Ethiopia is the seventh country to confirm its participation at the 53rd edition of the São Silvestre race, which shall be held on December 31, in Luanda, ANGOP learnt on Friday from a source of the Angolan Athletics Federation (FAA).

The director of the race, Domingos Castro, who did not reveal the names of the Ethiopians, guaranteed that the delegation will arrive with two athletes (males/ladies). To the official, the presence of runners from this country with a great tradition in long-distance races will give more value to the São Silvestre.

Other countries that have already confirmed their participation are Zambia, Cape Verde, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Kenya and Portugal.

With five runners, Kenya shall be the biggest foreign delegation, which will include the titleholders, Elijah Nuyabuti and Grace Momany, who shall be strengthened by the 2005 champion, Margareth Okoio.

These athletes will compete alongside Zimbabwe, with three runners, namely George Majaji Samukeliso Moyo and Sharon Paysnewa, Zambia (Tony Wamulwa and Lizzie Chansa), Cape Verde (Adilson Spencer, Eva Sanches), Mozambique (Joaquim Mateus and Albertina Paulo) and Portugal (Paulo Guerra).

Angola shall be represented by Avelino Dumbo and Ernestina Paulino.

Above: Hareg Messert of Chez Hareg bakery in Washington’s
Shaw neighborhood (By Dominic Bracco II For The Washington
Post)

Washington Post
By Joe Yonan
Wednesday, December 10, 2008; Page F10

A funny thing happens when people try two versions of the same cookie made by baker Hareg Messert: They often like the vegan one better. “They’ll start off saying, ‘Oh, not me. I’m not vegan.’ But then they taste it,” she says.

She thinks it’s the butter, or lack of it, that does the trick. Without dairy products, her cookies taste clearly of chocolate, ginger or pecans because, as she puts it, “the flavors have not been taken over by the butter.”

Whatever the reason, Messert, 39, may have found her niche. A year and a half after opening Chez Hareg bakery in Washington’s Shaw neighborhood, this former Ritz-Carlton pastry chef is widening her reach. She’s supplying several cafes, and she’s starting to sell her all-natural cookies (in both vegan and traditional versions) in a few area stores.

She credits her growth to the exposure from her debut this fall at the 14th and U and Bloomingdale farmers markets. At her booths, Messert gave out samples of her classic French cookies, biscotti, panettone and pound cake, a smart move for someone confident that nibbles would translate into sales. Between that and media attention, her customer base started to grow beyond the Ethiopian community near the bakery.

The Shaw neighbors have helped her build a following, especially among vegans or sometime-vegans. She and other members of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church avoid animal products on their many fasting holidays.

Ethiopia, which was never colonized, has no tradition of desserts beyond fruit and honey. But Messert also spent time as a girl in West Africa, where she was introduced to French-style pastries by cooks who worked for her family. She started baking, but it wasn’t until after she came to the United States at age 17 that she considered making a career of it. Messert, who graduated in 2000 with a culinary degree from Stratford University in Falls Church, worked at the Best Buns Bread Co. and Carlyle Grand Cafe in Shirlington and at the Ritz hotels in Pentagon City and the West End before striking out on her own. Read More.

NYT

Kennedy Is Said to Cast Her Eye on Senate Seat

By NICHOLAS CONFESSORE and DAVID M. HALBFINGER
Published: December 5, 2008

Caroline Kennedy, a daughter of America’s most storied political family who for many years fiercely guarded her privacy, is considering whether to pursue the Senate seat expected to be vacated by Hillary Rodham Clinton early next year, a family member said Friday.

“I believe that she is considering it,” said her cousin Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has spoken to Ms. Kennedy about the matter during the past week. “A lot of people the last couple of weeks have urged her to do it.”

Ms. Kennedy called Gov. David A. Paterson on Wednesday to discuss the position, Mr. Paterson confirmed Friday. The governor will choose a replacement for Mrs. Clinton upon her expected confirmation as secretary of state next month.

“The conversation was informational,” Mr. Paterson said. “She did not express an interest in the Senate, but we talked about the Senate, so I got that she was just trying to get some information to determine whether or not she would like to have an interest in it. And that was it.”

He added, “I haven’t offered the job to anyone.” Read More.