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.
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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.
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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.

Tadias Magazine

By Donald N. Levine

Published: Tuesday, October 21, 2008

New York (TADIAS) – Even if this is the most important American presidential election in the last half-century, why should Ethiopians burn with special interest in it? Considering what’s at stake for Ethiopian immigrants and their home country, the question warrants a fresh look. Let’s see how five central Obama commitments play out for Ethiopians in the U.S. and in ye-beyt agar (at home): 1) economic relief; 2) medical care; 3) energy development; 4) respect for law; and 5) dialogue with opponents.

U.S. Economy. Obama promises an all-out effort to address needs of middle- and lower-income families. This means tax cuts for those earning under $250,000 a year; broad infrastructural improvements; fiscal reform; and trade policies to benefit American workers and increase the export of American goods. Such targets address needs of struggling first- and second-generation immigrants. He plans also to modernize school systems, add resources for poor school districts; double federal support for after school programs; provide grants for students seeking credits at community colleges; and invest $1 billion over five years in transitional jobs and career pathway programs.

Ethiopia’s Economy. Aiding middle-class Americans financially helps Ethiopians find more funds to send home, a big source of revenues. Under Obama, Ethiopia will expectably receive more and smarter economic assistance, targeted toward development and not an endless blank check for food aid. His administration will commit to Millennium Development Goals, for cutting extreme poverty in half by 2015; and to strengthen the African Growth and Opportunity Act, to give African producers access the U.S. market and encourage American companies to invest on the Continent. Its approach encourages honest research on such issues, including whether or not collective land ownership benefits the poor.

U.S. Health Care. The campaigns highlighted a huge and growing number of Americans who lack health insurance and the crippling effect of medical costs on family budgets. Ethiopian Americans suffer from this along with other American families. The Obama-Biden platform continues Obama’s core commitment to provide affordable, accessible health care for all Americans. For details click here.

Health Care in Ethiopia. Apart from having so few trained health workers, Ethiopia has two vast areas of health care deficits: chronic food insecurity and epidemics. The first produces disease, stunted growth, and famine victims in the millions. The second concerns recurrent malaria, once thought wiped out; trachoma, now eliminable thanks to discoveries of a UCSF-based research team in Wolkite; and the ever-growing menace of AIDS. The economy is itself held back by so many undernourished and diseased workers.

HIV/AIDS and food insecurity form convergent miseries. To combat poverty the economy, Ethiopian economists urge immediate steps to curb the country’s exponential population growth. And yet, despite the Bush administration’s outstanding work to treat HIV/AIDS victims in Africa through the PEPFAR program, it worsened things by ordering USAID missions in six African countries to ensure that no U.S.-financed condoms, birth control pills, I.U.D.’s or other contraceptives are furnished to Marie Stopes International, which operates clinics in Ethiopia. (Senator Obama supports family planning; Senator McCain aligns with President Bush on this as on so many other matters.)

Energy in the U.S. Obama has long sought to rid U.S. of energy dependence on imported oil, for two reasons: security and environment. Instead he envisions a transformation brought by the utilizing free energy from wind, sun, water, and geothermal sources. This transforming initiative supports both goals above, by creating so many energy-related jobs and by reducing carbon emissions.

Energy in Ethiopia. The cost and scarcity of energy and water resources that Ethiopia needs means that sustainable solutions are essential. What did not work in the 1990’s, when the World Bank offered ineffective renewable energy to Ethiopia, can work now because new technologies are cheaper and more efficient. A plan developed by a research unit called Quantum Green Technology shows how Ethiopia could have energy independence by 2012, through policies that let rural populations deploy their own renewable power and sell it to the EEPCo, and that create a carbon-free economy based on renewable technologies and ecologically sound and efficient management of resources.

Rule of Law in the U.S. Setbacks under President Bush include dismissal of Justice employees for political reasons; illegal buying of News by Bush’s aides; illegal wiretapping; failures to enforce labor laws regarding minimum wage, overtime, child labor, and wage theft; and breaches both of the UN Charter and the US Constitution in the unilaterally invading Iraq. Obama has pledged to review all administrative directives issued by Bush in order to take action against any that violate the law. This manifests his statement that “I not only have read the Constitution, I have taught it, and I believe in it”–a statement readily endorsed by his many students over a dozen years at The University of Chicago Law School.

Rule of Law in Ethiopia. –However controversial its policy of ethnic federalism, the 1995 Constitution offers a set of sound principles for democratic procedure and human rights. Since its promulgation, however, the Ethiopian regime has been continuously faulted for illegal violation of human rights, political interference with the judiciary, and suppression of freedom of the press. Progressive changes were set back by reactions to the May 2005 election, and prison conditions remain abominable, but changes in the direction that the regime espouses have been registered by the NGO Justice For All. As he did forcefully in Darfur and Zimbabwe, Obama can be expected to pursue his commitment to expanding freedom, which, he maintains, “requires a society that is supported by the pillars of a sustainable democracy – a strong legislature, an independent judiciary, the rule of law, a vibrant civil society, a free press, and an honest police force. It requires building the capacity of the world’s weakest states.”

Militant Foreign Policy in U.S. It was not by luck that Obama issued those prescient words about the futility of invading Iraq the year before it happened. He understood the complexities of the world and rather agreed with JFK: “We should never fear to negotiate.” As Nicholas Kristof wrote in the NYTimes two months ago, “the United States is hugely overinvesting in military tools and underinvesting in diplomatic tools.” Everything about the Obama candidacy promises to redress this imbalance.

Militant Foreign Policy in Ethiopia. Ethiopia has not had a peaceful regime change for centuries. Although many of its local traditions manifest exemplary customs of civil discourse and mutual respect, and although traditions of shimgilena have been useful, for Emperor Haile Selassie and PM Meles Zenawi, who both effectively mediated conflicts between other countries, they could not prevail against historic dispositions to resort to arms to solve problems–first against Eritrea, then Somalia–or indeed so often against internal critics.

I pray that these thoughts encourage all readers to make an extra special effort to see that Senator Obama wins on November–and wins big. Le-beyt agar’na le-wutch-agar etyopiyawiyan saybeju ayqerem!!

—
About the Author:
Donald N. Levine served as the Peter B. Ritzma Professor of Sociology at the University of Chicago. His research and teaching interests focus on classical social theory, modernization theory, Ethiopian studies, conflict theory and aikido, and philosophies of liberal education. He is a colleague of Senator Barack Obama from their teaching days at the University of Chicago.

Cover Photo: A student holds a sign in support of Senator Barack Obama, Democratic presidential candidate, on the campus of Washington University in St. Louis before the vice presidential debate in St. Louis, Missouri, on Oct. 2, 2008. (Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg News)

Source: CPJ

Ethiopian journalists detained, charged over misidentification

New York, October 23, 2008—An Ethiopian editor is facing criminal charges today because she accidentally misidentified a judge in a high-profile trial, according to local journalists. Two other journalists have been in police custody since Monday because of the same story.

While covering this month’s resumption of the trial of Ethiopian pop musician Tewodros Kassahun, jailed since April over a fatal car accident in 2006, Enbilta’s October 3 edition mistakenly identified the judge overseeing the case as Judge Mohamed Amin Sani, Editor-in-Chief Tsion Girma told CPJ. The paper did not publish a correction, but used the right name in the subsequent edition, which is Judge Mohamed Umer, she said.

Launched in January 2008, Enbilta is one of a handful of independent media outlets authorities have allowed to operate in the country since a crackdown on critical media and political dissidents in the aftermath of disputed elections in 2005. That year, Kassahun’s popular song, “Jah Yasteseryal,” was a popular anthem of antigovernment protesters.

“This is nothing but a flimsy pretext to crack down on a critical paper,” said CPJ Africa Program Coordinator Tom Rhodes. “We call on Ethiopian authorities to release Habte Tadesse and Atenafu Alemayehu immediately and drop these bogus charges against Tsion Girma.”

Ethiopian Federal High Court Abraha Tetemke today charged Girma of Enbilta, an Amharic-language weekly, with “inciting the public through false rumors,” under Article 486 of Ethiopia’s penal code, she told CPJ. Girma, Deputy Editor Habte Tadesse, and editor Atenafu Alemayehu were arrested on Wednesday morning after reporting to police for questioning, according to local journalists. She was released today on bail of 2,000 birr (US$200) and ordered to court for trial on Monday. Tadesse and Alemayehu are still being held.

Girma was the second journalist to face criminal charges this year over coverage of the popular singer’s trial. Editor Mesfin Negash of the leading weekly Addis Neger was sentenced to a one-month suspended prison term for publishing an interview of the singer’s lawyer that was critical of the former judge overseeing the trial.

Ethiopian authorities routinely use police detentions, threats, and legal and administrative restraints to censor coverage of sensitive topics. In 2007, CPJ named Ethiopia the world’s worst backslider on press freedom.

—
CPJ is a New York-based, independent, nonprofit organization that works to safeguard press freedom worldwide. For more information, visit www.cpj.org.

THE AGE

By Len Johnson
Photo: Photo: Luis Enrique Ascui
October 13, 2008

MOST things happen at a rapid pace in Ethiopian distance running.

As of last month, it takes Haile Gebrselassie two hours three minutes 59 seconds to run a marathon. “Kenny” Bekele whips through a 10-kilometre in a little over 26 minutes. On the women’s side, Tirunesh Dibaba punches out a five-kilometre in around 14 minutes.

It’s nice to report that some things take a little longer, even for the all-conquering Ethiopian distance runners. For example, it has taken them 52 years to win a marathon on the MCG, a feat accomplished yesterday by Asnake Fikadu when he won the Melbourne marathon.

Fikadu is one of an Ethiopian national squad of no fewer than 40 marathoners. They train at Etoto, just outside Addis Ababa, at 2800 metres above sea level.

Fikadu dominated yesterday’s race virtually from the start, breaking away after 10 kilometres and steadily increasing his lead. Only the northerly wind, which blew stronger as the morning progressed, caused him any problems, slowing the winning time to two hours 17 minutes 46 seconds. In better conditions, Fikadu may well have threatened Bill Rodgers’ race record 2:11:08 set in 1982. Read More.

NYT
By JOHN LELAND
Published: October 8, 2008

Law enforcement officers in Chicago will no longer evict residents from foreclosed properties, Sheriff Thomas J. Dart of Cook County announced Wednesday.

The department was on pace to conduct 4,700 foreclosures this year, nearly triple the number from two years ago, Sheriff Dart said.

Housing advocates said that they thought the measure was the first of its kind, but that in recent years, several sheriffs and judges around the country had taken other steps to slow foreclosure proceedings, like requiring lenders to produce titles proving they owned the properties in question. In Philadelphia this year, Sheriff John D. Green temporarily suspended sales of foreclosed properties.

Sheriff Dart said he took the measure because an increasing number of the residents being evicted were renters who might have been dutifully paying their rent, and might have had no knowledge that the owner was behind on the mortgage. Read more.

Photo: Senators Barack Obama and John McCain during
Tuesday night’s debate at Belmont University in Nashville,
Tenn. (Stephen Crowley/The New York Times)

NYT
By ADAM NAGOURNEY
Published: October 7, 2008

Senators John McCain and Barack Obama debated for 90 minutes on Tuesday night before a nation in economic crisis, each promising anxious Americans that he had the better plan and vision to lead the country through what both men said was the most dire financial situation since the Great Depression.

The gravity of the moment and the somber setting — a town-hall-style meeting in front of 80 selected voters who, when not asking questions, watched in silence, not applauding or laughing — produced an often stifled encounter, largely absent of dramatic confrontations or the personal exchanges that dominated the campaign over the past several days. There was no indication that the debate did anything to change the course of a campaign that appeared to be moving in Mr. Obama’s direction.

Mr. McCain chose not to use the evening — the second of three scheduled debates — to attack Mr. Obama’s background or character. But in a moment that caught the attention of people in both parties, he appeared agitated in criticizing Mr. Obama for a Senate vote he cast, referring to his opponent only as “that one.” Read more.