Ethiopia plays down civilian killings in Somalia
August 19 2008 Tesfalem Tekle  Sudan Tribune

The Ethiopian government denied today reports about the killing of Somali civilians saying these allegation are fabricated by the Somali opposition. "It is shame that international media organizations irresponsibly took fabricated reports first released" from the opposition Al-Shabab website for granted. Said the Ethiopian foreign ministry in a statement released on Monday. FULL ARTICLE

Obama And US Foreign Policy
August 14 2008   by Fahamu All Africa

But let's not delude ourselves, Barack Obama is not Africa's prodigal son, he is an American politician running for the presidency of the United States of America. His family ties to Africa (Kenya to be exact) have, however, given him a greater personal connection to the continent and its people than any other American presidential candidate before him. As far as I am aware he also has the most cosmopolitan upbringing of any presidential candidate to date. FULL ARTICLE

African drought linked to Indian Ocean
August 6 2008 Afrique en ligne

A study co-funded by the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has linked less eastern and southern African rainfall with a warming Indian Ocean. NASA said in a statement, made available to the PANA here Wednesday, as saying that, ``rainfall in eastern Africa during the rainy season from March through May has declined to about 15 per cent since the 1980s''. FULL ARTICLE

World Holds Breath as Eritrea, Djibouti Eye War
August 4 2008 by Daniel Ooko MediaLine

The Horn of Africa nations Eritrea and Djibouti overlook one of the world’s most important waterways and the international community fears a potential war between the two could impact on supertankers making their way west from the Gulf. The country’s borders meet at Bab al-Mandab the narrow strait that separates the Gulf of Aden from the Red Sea route to the Suez Canal and the massive markets of Europe and North America. FULL ARTICLE

Oromos – A Time for Thought
August 2 2008  Dr. Megalommatis American Chronicles

African Night 2007 Cultural Dance

Exposed in the Western World, where many Oromo refugees found a better life, prosperity, and a peace of mind, the Oromos could not have imagined that this world, which looks so much better than the Abyssinian cholera, is still a world in advanced decadence and a world – threat for the preservation of Oromoness. FULL ARTICLE

Will Sudan President’s ICC prosecution solve any Sudan wars’ problems?
July 2 2008  Paitath Hoth Anyuak Media

Many politicians, national/international legal experts and human rights activities are appealing to the international community and world leaders not to make the pressure easier on the Sudan government from organizing reform in Darfur region. According to the United Nation, about 300,000 people have died so far and more than three million have been displaced in the region. FULL REPORT

Eritrea "Has Become One Big Jail," Activist Says
July 31 2008 By Jane Morse News Blaze

Eritrea "has become one big jail," says an activist whose sister and brother-in-law have been imprisoned for speaking out against the current regime.  In remarks to an audience of more than 120 diplomats, representatives of nongovernmental organizations and journalists, many of the people who fought so hard in the decades-long battle for Eritrea's independence from Ethiopia now find themselves in jail with no recourse and no contact with the outside world FULL REPORT

A democratic Africa could feed world
July 30 2008 Independent Ireland

Africa needs democracy and development not polemic lectures from armchair experts. The fact is, Africa has only one-fifth the population density of Europe and has an unexploited food-raising potential that could feed twice the present population of the world, according to Roger Revelle of Harvard. FULL REPORT

How terror suspects were flown out of Kenya
July 29 2008 The Standard

Amir Mohamed Meshal was arrested at Somalia’s border with Kenya. Photo: NYT

According to a report by a presidential committee exclusively obtained by The Standard, the case of one detainee, Amir Mohamed, stands out as an example how foreign agents could easily access and remove suspects from police custody in various stations. When contacted, Government Spokesman Alfred Mutua asked: "What is the report saying?" FULL REPORT

RUN FOR OROMIA 5K and 10K OFFERS
July 29 2008 American Chronicle

The Oliqaa Foundation is proud to sponsor the first, Run for Oromia Tournament. Many Oromian athletes have become world renowned for their achievements in running, including Abebe Bikila (1974 Olympic Gold Medalist in the Marathon), Darartu Tullu (1994 Olympic Gold Medalist in the 10,000 meter race), and Fatuma Roba (1994 Olympic Gold Medalist in the Marathon). Several veteran Oromo athletes will be present at the race on August 2. FULL ARTICLE

Turkey joins the race for Africa’s resources
July 28 2008 Allan Odhiambo Business Daily

Turkey has become the latest emerging economy to join the scramble for Africa’s fortunes with a continent-wide investment conference to be held in Istanbul. The move, mainly seen as driven by the increasing pressure to find resources the country needs to power its fast growing economy, also promises additional investment and trade inflows for Africa.   FULL ARTICLE

Seyoum Hameso Unveils Evil Projects of Cultural Genocide in ´Ethiopia´
July 27 2008 Dr. Megalommatis American Chronicle

Seyoum Hameso

Contributing to a very informative book on ´Arrested Development in Ethiopia´ that he edited along with Mohammed Hassen, Seyoum Hameso analyzed – within a part dedicated to ´Nationalism, democracy and Self-determination´ – a critical topic, namely ´Languages, Nations and National Self-determination in Ethiopia´. FULL ARTICLE

Indian Investment in Africa: In the Shadows of China
July 23 2008 Benin Mwangi African Path

Although India is an economic powerhouse in its own right, in the West we don't hear that much about India's recent economic progress because so much of this growth has taken place in the shadow of China's advances. Even when we begin to steer this conversation towards India's African investments, India again seems to be playing "catch up" with China. FULL ARTICLE

Eastleigh: Where wealth and trade thrive with filth
July 23 2008 The Standard

Some banks and forex bureaux operating in Eastleigh are not found in many parts of the city. Some of them are Dubai Bank, Gulf African Bank, Chase Bank among others. The area, the chief warns, is in danger of being taken over by Somalis arguing that they now own everything. FULL ARTICLE

Key to feeding Africa is better farms, not food aid
July 21 2008  THOnline

Yet it's not that Ethiopia is incapable of growing food, as this experimental farm 100 miles southwest of Addis Ababa demonstrates. It just needs the right tools. The farm, part of a government-run research center, beats the drought with smart irrigation systems, higher-yielding seeds, and fertilizer and pesticides correctly applied. FULL ARTICLE

Ugandan coffee could soon disappear - Oxfam
July 22 2008  Grace Matsiko Daily Monitor

Changing weather patterns in Uganda may lead to the extinction of the country’s key export, coffee, in coming decades, a report by Oxfam, said. Oxfam, a British charity, in a report released on Thursday, said: “If temperatures rise too far, Uganda’s coffee crop is in danger of extinction.” FULL ARTICLE

Who’s To Blame For  Zimbabwe’s Tragedy?
July 22 2008 Ghali Hassan Counter Currents

After independence, the Mugabe’s Government embarked on a program of land reform aimed at redistributing land to black Zimbabweans. Britain under Margaret Thatcher agreed to compensate (‘its kith and kin’) white farmers, but in 1997 the British government (under the war criminal Tony Blair) reneged on its promises to provide compensations. The main aim is to destabilise Zimbabwe and incite Zimbabweans against each other.  FULL  ARTICLE

Ogaden: a self-imposed isolation
July 9 2008 By Ismail Ahmed Jimma Times

The Lighter Side
July 8 2008  iAfrica.com

PHOTO: Reuters/Howard Burditt

The South African government has refused to agree to sanctions against Zimbabwe, and has instead urged the UN to send Robert Mugabe a Hallmark greeting card featuring a tearful clown. Meanwhile, Thabo Mbeki, asked how the ANC would have reacted had Zimbabwe opposed sanctions against apartheid South Africa, said, "That's totally different." FULL ARTICLE

Eritreans on the run
July 4 2008 Al Ahram

Church Times

Emerging unsteadily from the Cairo-based AMERA,a legal Eritrean refugee lamented that he did not know the whereabouts of his brother and cousin, who are seeking asylum. "I haven't a clue." He was one of thousands of Horn of Africa asylum- seekers in Egypt trying to find out more about the fate of friends and family members thought to be caught up in the latest round of forced deportations of African refugees in the country. FULL ARTICLE

Uncovering Djibouti
July 4 2008 By Amanuel Biedemariam  African Path

Eritrea and Djibouti are located in one of the best strategic geographic locations on earth making them attractive to major powers. The French have managed to curve a country for themselves in one of the most important shipping and security lines of the world. France colonized Djibouti until 1977 openly until open colonization of Africa went out of fashion and replaced it by the neo-colonial period. They support minority ruler(s) too weak to govern effectively and dependent entirely for security and survival. FULL ARTICLE

Who is crazy: Mugabe, Tsvangirai, you or me?
July 2 2008 Bhekinkosi Moyo Mail & Guardian

African political elites are redefining the meaning and role of elections. Definitely for worse: Wither Africa? It is going down the drain. Ethiopia has lost its mind and is closing the public space for civil society; Zimbabwe is spiraling further into limbo; and Egypt has gone nuts... FULL ARTICLE

Ten Commandments for East Africa's rapid growth
July 2 2008 By Linus Gitahi    Kenya Today

I must confess that I first got the idea of “Commandments” for East Africa from President Yoweri Museveni during his address in the just concluded East African Investment Conference in Kigali, Rwanda.

1.  Thou shalt have cheap and abundant energy.

2. Thou shalt have the best and widest rail and road network

3.Thou shalt be seen and heard all over the world effortlessly

4. Thou shalt give unto Caesar what is his but shalt not bite the hand that produces...  FULL ARTILCE

AFRICOM open to working with China
June 30 2008 Stars and Stripes

Energy-hungry China and the United States, the world’s two greatest oil consumers, are jockeying for influence over Africa’s vast economic potential. But as the two rivals sink their business hooks into the continent, soldiers from the two nations have also rubbed elbows there. FULL REPORT

"No!" Africa says to AFRICOM People's Weeks

"We will someday find a location in Africa" George Bush

"It takes two weeks to get a simple answer to a simple question..." Robert Fisk

Where the Security Council Fears to Tread
June 24 2008 David Bosco Foreign Policy

A hapless shell of a government. A nasty Islamist insurgency. A looming humanitarian disaster. Somalia is the most dangerous failed state on the planet, and even international troubleshooters are keeping their distance. FULL STORY

Pastoralists turn to crop farming
June 23 2008 The Standard

Why don’t we use this river to feed our families and transform our squalid lives?" Hassan recalls Aliow suggesting. On that searing day in February the two embarked on an ambitious venture and became the latest herdsmen to abandon livestock rearing for farming. FULL STORY

Ethinic segregation and spiraling crises inside Ethiopia's classrooms
June 23 2008  Qeerransoo Biyyaa

AFP

Aside from famine, disease, war and all other evils we are seeing under this regime, it should worry us when ‘the thinking organs of a society’- students- are systematically crippled. FULL ARTICLE

HRW Report on Ogaden Reveals the Evilness of the ´Ethiopian´ Tyranny
June 22 2008  Dr. Megalommatis  American Chronicle

The government has retained the administrative structures established under Mengistu's Derg government to ensure tight control over the population... enhanced by security committees, called timmir committees, which exist at every administrative level. FULL STORY

Survivors of an Ethiopian massace 20 years ago revisited
June 21 2008 TEDDY JAMIESON The Herald    (Then & Now)

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PHOTO: The Herald (Watch the whole Album)

Watch Gerry's Ethiopian photo essay here
Besides, I was in an area where most people lived under the same sentence of death. The next day I set off for Hausien with a handful of fighters. I reckoned this was the best insurance. I was with the best irregular special forces mob in Africa. Each carried a Kalashnikov AK-47 assault rifle, spare magazines and several grenades. They wore khaki and sandals. READ MORE

Beyond the Fragile Peace between Ethiopia and Eritrea: Averting New War
June 18 2008 International Crisis Group

“The basic goals remain to get Ethiopia to accept the border, Eritrea to accept the need for dialogue and the international community to provide the real carrots and sticks needed to press the parties”, says Daniela Kroslak, Africa Program Deputy Director. READ MORE

Would Obama have won if he vied in Africa?
June 16 2008 Tajudeen Abdul-Raheem  Business Daily

CBC

The excitement is such that one would be forgiven for thinking that Obama was about to be sworn in. The enthusiasm ignores the fact that he is yet to be formally adopted and still has an election to fight against the Republicans. Nowhere is this excitement more infectious than in Kenya, the homeland of Obama’s father. READ MORE

Jendayi E. Frazer's Deceptions, Evasions and Lies at the University of Washington
June 14 2008 Sofia Tesfamariam American Chronicle

Blatant lies, deceptions and evasions. The biggest glaring evasion was Ethiopia. Whilst she talked about the "setbacks" encountered in the Kenyan and Zimbabwean elections, she neglected to mention the rigged 2005 May elections in Ethiopia, where post election violence resulted in the deaths of over 200 people.  READ MORE

Oromos Appeal to the HRW, Revealing Flagrant Aspects of the Ethiopian Genocide
June 13 2008 Dr. Megalommatis American Chronicle
Ethiopia is Home to the 21st Century´s Most Appalling Genocide.

Mass murdering of children, burning of villages and forests, genocide, and looting of properties have been the Neo-Nazi acts practiced in the Horn of Africa by Meles regime´s TPLF (Tigray People´s Liberation Front) to systematically eliminate the Oromo and other groups of nations and nationalities in Ethiopia. READ MORE

Living in a Globalized World
June 12 2008  David Eagle Christianity

Photo: Christianity.ca

What we do in North America affects the lives of villagers in countries in other parts of the world. Ethiopia faces many significant challenges from poverty, disease, inter-religious conflict, war with its neighbours, and an often corrupt and ineffective government. Learning about these challenges from my students, I was shocked at how our everyday lives as North Americans affect those of ordinary Ethiopians. Let me give you a few examples. READ MORE

Potentially devastating wheat rust spreads
June 11 2008 David Bennett Farm Press

Wheat Rust first appeared in Uganda in 1999 and spread to Kenya and Ethiopia during the next few years.  “At that point, many international scientists said, ‘This is something we need to check because this new race can overcome many of the effective resistances,’” said David Marshall, research leader with the USDA-ARS in North Carolina last spring.  READ MORE

Eritrean rebels not welcome: Ottawa
June 10 2008 Stewart Bell National Post

Members of the obscure east African guerrilla group have been arriving and requesting asylum, but federal immigration authorities have told them they cannot stay. During Eritrea's 30-year fight for independence, the ELF hijacked an Ethiopian airliner, kidnapped British and U.S. civilians and killed a Dutch missionary nurse. That makes them terrorists, according to the Canada Border Services Agency, which has been fighting in court to ensure the former guerrillas do not resettle in this country. READ MORE

Oromo Kushitic Continuity – Waaqeffannaa, Ancient Egyptian and Kushitic Religions
June 8 2008 Dr. Megalommatis American Chronicle

According to the prescriptions of Waaqeffannaa, the Gadaa Rule of Law, may be promulgated and declared by the Oromos´ Supreme Legislative Organ, but it is blessed by Waaqa, the Only God of the Oromos. This implies that the Oromos have preserved the ancient Kushitic concept of holy world, holy society, and holy life. It is an inherent belief of the Waaqeffannaa that the entire nature, and the human beings who are part of it, cannot exist without an interconnection with the World of the Divine. Consequently, the social organization is conceived as blessed by God. READ MORE

What Obama Could Teach Africa
June 7 2008  Njoroge Wachai  Washington Post

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Sen. Obama’s campaign has all along been about hope, a scarce commodity in Africa where selfishness and greed are what define virtually every African leader. African leaders don’t hold town hall meetings to listen to their citizens’ concerns. They’re condescending and arrogant when it comes to dealing with ordinary people.  READ MORE

More Africans returning to homeland in reverse brain drain
June 7 2008  Lola Dada  Medill

Already a small, but not yet quantifiable population of young professional Africans now residing in the U.S. have returned or are planning to return to Africa to work and invest.  More than ever, these millions of Africans in the Diaspora are capitalizing on the fact that they have economic opportunities that transcend borders. READ MORE

Obama leads queue of modest world leaders
June 6 2008 Onyango Obbo Nation Media

Obama might bear that in mind if he wins the presidency and visits Ethiopia. Again, as a story in Nation will reveal, in Ethiopian towns every fourth or so woman’s fantasy is to marry Obama. READ MORE

MSF Expands Nutritional Programs in Southern Ethiopia
June 5 2008 Doctors w/out Borders

Jalalo is worried. His wife has brought their one-year-old twins to the Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) inpatient therapeutic feeding center in Shashemene, in the Oromiya region of southern Ethiopia, to be treated for malnutrition, but his ten other children are at home with no food. READ MORE

Stalemate Takes Toll on Eritreans and Ethiopians of Eritrean Origin
June 5 2008 Maureen Lynch & Katherine Southwick Reuters

Despite strong historic and ethnic ties, relations between Eritrea and Ethiopia have rarely been smooth. As a result, and particularly over the past decade, nationality rights of residents of both countries have been at risk. READ MORE

Face to face conflict that threatens the sea lanes
June 1 2008  Jeffrey Gettleman   ScotsMan

THE distance between the rival armies is shorter than the barrel of a gun. Hundreds of troops are lined up on the border, staring each other down, from just inches away.  On one side are the Djiboutians, On the other side are skinny Eritrean soldiers, covered in dust and wearing plastic sandals. READ MORE

AU can strengthen regional blocs
June 2 2008 Speech by Yoweri Museveni

We need to strengthen the regional economic blocs, our continent’s building blocks, to regional and federal integration. We should do this through providing adequate financial and human resource as well as rationalisation and harmonisation of the blocs. READ MORE

"China, Water & Africa" CHINA'S APPROACH TO THE AFRICAN WATER CRISIS
June 2 2008  D. Gordon Feller  Eco World

Chinese firms are building dams and water treatment plants across Africa, guided more by revenue and diplomatic influence than environmental or human rights concerns. READ MORE

'Nova' visits with Ethiopian women at the fistula hospital
May 30 2008  Maureen Ryan  Chicago Tribune



A Walk to Beautiful may be the most moving documentary of the year. I spent parts of this hourlong Nova installment wiping away tears, contemplating the suffering and resilience of the young Ethiopian women profiled. READ MORE

What's the Zoo to do with its wild ass problem?
May 30 2008  Jeffrey Bonner  STL Today



Fewer than 1,000 Somali wild asses — and maybe as few as 700 — remain in their native range states of Eritrea, Somalia and Ethiopia, in the Horn of Africa. READ MORE

Government to Set Up Shelters for the Displaced
May 30 2008  All Africa


Ethiopian Refugee in South Africa
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The South African government decided on 29 May to establish small, temporary shelters for foreigners displaced by the recent xenophobic violence, rather than larger, more permanent refugee camps. The plan calls for the provinces affected by the violence to be declared disaster areas, in order to release funds in terms of the Disaster Management Act. READ MORE
Woyanne offers to evacuate Ethiopians from South Africa Ethiopian Review
South Africa denies plan to set up refugee camps Swiss Info

Deadly crossing kills thousands of desperate refugees
May 29 2008  The Earth Times



On a beach in Bosaso, North-East Somalia, near the tip of the Horn of Africa, dozens of Somali and Ethiopian refugees perch on rocks or squat in the sand, peering across the Gulf of Aden to the promised land.  READ MORE

Zimbabwe: Battleground for Absolute African Liberation
May 26 2008 Mathaba



THE presidential election run-off in Zimbabwe should not be viewed as a simple election but the last battle between Western imperialism and absolute African liberation.

President Mugabe has become the epicentre of resistance against the express exploitation of Africa's rich resources by the West.

On the other hand, the West supports Tsvangirai because they see him as a man they can easily manipulate to gain access to Africa's life-saving resources. There are many Tsvangirais that have been created in Africa and have paved way for exploitation of their people and resources for the powerful dollar. READ MORE

A Red Sea Conflict’s Buffer Zone: Rocks, and Inches
May 25 2008  JEFFREY GETTLEMAN New York Times

PHOTO: NYT

ON THE DJIBOUTIAN-ERITREAN BORDER — The distance between the rival armies is shorter than the barrel of a gun. Hundreds of opposing troops are lined up on the border, staring each other down, from just inches away.On one side are the Djiboutians, a relatively well-equipped African military with combat boots, CamelBak strap-on water bottles and the occasional buttery croissant in the field. READ MORE

Benishangul – Gumuz devastated by Neo-Nazi ´Ethiopian´ Atrocities and Tyranny
May 24 2008 Dr. Megalommatis American Chronicle



Recently, the TPLF forces invaded the town of Oda where they burned their crops, shops, and houses and finally detained over seventy peaceful civilians. Similarly in the town of Salama, they imprisoned 150 people among whom seventy-five got tortured, and beaten and their heads were full of blood when they were taken to Asossa main prison. In the same way, the people of Menge, Abiro towns were faced the same torture and imprisonment.

The Beni-shangoul – Gumuz people urge Human Rights advocates to intervene to preserve the life of the arrested people. We demand the international community to exercise pressure on this brutal government, as the detained people have been severely beaten. According to information from witnesses who saw Ms Sabil, Mr. Zaruqe, and Mr. Al Sadiqe, they all have been bleeding from torture, when they last have been seen. READ MORE

The crisis of ethnic identity and democracy in Ethiopia
May 23 2008 Deng Yiech Bachech Sudan Tribune



Rediscover your ethnicity…. You are an important ethnic group in the larger Bantu grouping. The nation is artificial, but ethnicity is natural.

After the fall of Mengistu’s Derg regime in May 1991, people of Ethiopia had great hopes that the peace will ultimately prevail. The bloody and torturous days experienced by the people of Ethiopia in the hands of Mengistu and his cronies were now gone; and the new government had to solve political, economic and social crises created by past regimes. In essence, the new regime had to come up with a new form of democratic political system that would accommodate the conflicting needs and interests of the people of Ethiopia in general. In doing so, the ruling party, the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), embraced “Ethnic federalism” as a viable political experiment to accommodate ethnic differences. READ MORE

Ethiopian troops arrive in Sudan

Somalia accuses general of taking bribes

Ethiopian forces kill Somali civilians, witnesses say

Egypt arrests 11 African migrants at Israel border

30 dead as Ethiopian troops fire on Somali buses

Restoring Ethiopia's great obelisk BBC