Another Day, Another War: Prime Minister Meles Tuesday declared war on what he referred to as greedy business people, blaming them for sharp price increases that boosted Ethiopia's inflation rate to 20 percent. In a speech to parliament, he lashed out at what he called "fraudsters" who recently caused a five to 10 fold increase in the price of salt in a single day. VOA
Sudan-Chad Sign Peace Treaty: Hope Springs Eternal Deby said this deal is different from the others because it puts concrete implementation to earlier promises, and was witnessed by a host of high-level international diplomats and fellow African heads of state. "This one is the best," Deby said of the deal. "The guarantee is the belief in peace. The peace needs to be a peace in our hearts." TIME
Serving The Other Half Of The Truth: Habtom Yohannes writes at Asmarino: A Dutch Minister without department -The Dutch Minister for Development Cooperation resorts under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs- told Isaias Afwerki on his face that the Dutch Government is ending development cooperation with Eritrea due to the human rights violations in the country. Shabait.com omitted this truth deliberately. The Eritrean people has no right to know the truth except “Nihnan Shitaranan” of Isaias Afwerki. Oops. Knzareb
Centcom Loses Another Commander: Central to the abrupt resignation of Central Command leader, William Fallon, is the “inaccurate perception that he is at odds with the Bush administration over Iran,” according to CNN. The cause for this perception, accurate or otherwise, is an interview he gave Esquire magazine which has, so far, not been accused of inaccurate reporting. Read the illuminating interview here.
Serving Half The Truth, Half The Time: Whenever foreign dignitaries visit Eritrea, there are no joint appearances or press conference: Shabait kindly "summarizes" what the meeting was about. The impression that one gets is that there was no disagreement and the foreign dignitary had, like the Eritrean ministers, nothing to say: he was given the overflowing wisdom of Isaias Afwerki on "bilateral issues." The recent Shabait report on Bert Koenders, the Netherland's Development minister, followed this formula. Was his visit to Eritrea country-specific or part of a regional visit? Shabait won't say, but you can learn the answer here. What is the Netherland's position regarding Eritrea's human rights record and has this impacted Netherlands development aid to Eritrea? Shabait won't say; but the Dutch Embassy in Eritrea has a website, and it provides clues.
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BBC Reporters In Eritrea: A Built-In Expiration Date: There was Alex Last, then Jonah Fischer, then Peter Martell. Alex stayed the longest because his reports dealt with the Eritrea-Ethiopia war. Jonah and Peter had no war to report on: only the living condition of people ravaged by war and it was a matter of time before freedom of the press ran head-on with censorship. Jonah Fisher: 2003 – 2004: Dismissed for “racist, negative reporting.” Jonah was told that they “have been closely monitoring my phone calls, e-mails and activities.” Peter Martell: 2007 – 2008: Dismissed for refusing to disclose the names of Eritreans who, in his report, had expressed an opinion different from the happy-talk of I-support-my-government. "You will not work again, until you tell us the names of the people," he added. Given Eritrea's grim record for jailing its critics, I declined politely to reveal the names. I was then made to surrender my work permit.
Sudan asks EU for compensation: A French soldier crossing from Chad to Sudan was shot and killed by Sudanese officials. Four Sudanese civilians who found him were trying to move the dead Frenchman when his grenade exploded and killed them. Now the newsworthy part: Sudan's foreign ministry on Monday said officials had requested compensation from a European Union delegation which flew to Khartoum to collect the sergeant's body on Friday. The move is set to enrage public opinion in France which has already made an official complaint to Sudan over the shooting.
Dirty But Not Polluted: Forbes recently ranked Addis Abeba Ethiopia as the sixth dirtiest city in the world. But in 2006, the World Bank said that 16 of 20 most polluted cities in the world are found in China, home of the 2008 Olympics. Would an Ethiopian athlete who has braved living in one of the dirtiest cities in the world push his luck by going to one of the most polluted? Answer here.
Afro-Optimism: rare, this side of a miracle: After weeks of mediation led by Kofi Annan, the former UN secretary- general, Kibaki and Odinga agreed on February 28 to share power in a coalition government. Odinga's Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) won more seats than Kibaki's Party of National Unity (PNU) in the December vote, but fell short of an outright majority. Source
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Afro-pessimism: part 290 of 17,000: Cameroon’s President, Paul Biya, has been in power 25 years; the constitution allows only two 7 year terms—but he wants more. The familiar story continues: demonstration, arrest, limits on the private media. But nobody expects the opposition, which Biya calls “apprentice sorcerers in the shadows”, to break through: there are 200 political parties in Cameroon, a country of only 18 million people.
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Ask for it by name: “Barista, can I have a Sidamo or Yirgacheffee brew?” That is what Ethiopia hopes the Starbucks baristas will be asked by their patrons: The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has confirmed that Ethiopia is the sole owner of the Sidamo coffee trademark," the Ethiopian Intellectual Property Office (EIPO) said in a statement. Ethiopia has already secured trademark rights for Yirgacheffee coffee in the United States. Source.
“Collective Punishment”: They (Somalis) have made a number of mistakes ... They destroyed their country ... They have not been cooperative with the United Nations in the 1990s, but these are not reasons for collective punishment which I think the international community is doing by ignoring their plight," Ould-Abdallah told Reuters in an interview.
Not reconciled to reconciliation: The Somali President, the Somali Prime Minister and the Somali Speaker of the House have different understanding of what “reconciliation” means. The Ethiopian Foreign Minister paid a visit to have a closed-door discussion. Garowe
Live, from Addis, It’s EDA: The Eritrean opposition launched a satellite TV broadcast which is airing from Addis Abeba. It is a half-hour show, in Tigrigna and Arabic, airing four days a week. Reuters.
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