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Awate Four Winds: July 2008 The "haven't I read this before?" issue: BIN LADEN’S “BRIDGE OF THE CENTURY” (AND WE ARE ONLY 8% INTO THE CENTURY): Known as "the bridge of the century", the project will start in 2009. It would include a motorway and rail links, and two luxury cities would be built on either side of the Red Sea. Sheikh Tarek Mohammed bin Laden, 60, has so far won backing and pledges of land from the presidents of both countries after shuttling between the capitals in his private jet in recent weeks, outlining his plans. In an interview posted on the project's website, he talked of his vision, saying the city to be built on the Djibouti coast and called Madinat An Nor (City of Light) would create 100,000 jobs and stretch more than 970sqkm. Newsyemen - BETWEEN THE DEVIL AND THE DEEP BLUE (RED) SEA: "In the event of the collapse of the Djibouti agreement, and that is inevitable, Somalia will sink deep into the abyss of chaos, lawlessness and perpetual violence if all foreign forces do not withdraw [and allow the] local people to come up with their own indigenous solutions like they did before in Mogadishu, Puntland and Somaliland," Daud Ali, a Somali, told ISN Security Watch. "Tell them to leave us alone. We have suffered so much that we can now find our way out like we did before." ISN DAVID COPPERFIELD WAS HERE: Every year, the Heritage Foundation publishes its Index of Economic Freedom. The Index, using several factors, ranks the ease of doing business in a given country on a scale of 0 to 100. So what is Eritrea's score and its rank? We don't know because there is no data for Eritrea. Here's the rank; can you find Eritrea on the list? If we can't get the data, how are the pro-PFDJ Eritreans supposed to brag, and the anti-PFDJ Eritreans support to point to yet another evidence of PFDJ incompetence? -- FLOWER POWER: "Khadra Mohammed, First Lady of Djibouti, has received the 20 hectares of land in the Sebeta area for a flower farm…The First Lady received the plot on behalf of her son Ayinashe Omar Guelleh, whom it was learnt, plans to engage in the booming flower sector…" so reports Ethiopia's Capital. Last week, Reuters reported that Papa Guelleh received “10,000 square meters of lakeside land” as well as “7,000 hectares of land some 400 km (250 miles) south of Addis Ababa, where government officials say he will grow wheat.” The message of the two stories? (warning: Four Winds cannot resist bad puns.) FIRST IT WAS THE POPPY; NOW THE SON-FlOWER. -- -- SIAD BARRE: THE GIFT THAT KEEPS ON GIVING: Every time tyrants are on the ledge, ready to fall, the nail-biting begins. Recently, it happened with Zimbabwe. Now, it is Sudan’s turn: In the past few weeks, one sworn political enemy after another has closed ranks behind the Sudanese president, criticizing the looming arrest warrant from the international court as an obstacle to peace and an affront to Sudanese sovereignty. The result has been a swift and radical reordering of the fractious political universe in Sudan, driven in part by national pride but also by deep-seated fears that if Bashir were removed by outside interference, Sudan could easily tumble into Somalia-like chaos. New York Times - WHAT GOES UP, MUST COME DOWN: EVEN OBAMANIACS CAN APPRECIATE THIS SATIRE: And it came to pass, in the eighth year of the reign of the evil Bush the Younger (The Ignorant), when the whole land from the Arabian desert to the shores of the Great Lakes had been laid barren, that a Child appeared in the wilderness. The Child was blessed in looks and intellect. Scion of a simple family, offspring of a miraculous union, grandson of a typical white person and an African peasant. And yea, as he grew, the Child walked in the path of righteousness, with only the occasional detour into the odd weed and a little blow. Timesonline
HELP WHEN YOU CAN; HELP WHERE YOU CAN: "This is a catastrophe in the making. We have time to act to before it becomes a reality," said Oxfam's Rob McNeil, who recently returned from the region. Skyrocketing food prices are compounding long-term problems such as drought, conflict and poverty, said Oxfam, which estimates that between nine million and 13-million people are in urgent need of humanitarian assistance. Source. CRUELTY REQUIRES NO MOTIVE OUTSIDE ITSELF: At least 19 people have died in the fighting in Beledweyne, which broke out on Thursday and continued on Friday. “There is nowhere to take the injured people," local elder Ugas Hassan Ugas Yusuf Idiris told the BBC. "There is nowhere to bury the dead. Only God knows why this is happening. The worst thing at the moment is the shelling - it is killing people and destroying homes. No-one can walk on the streets and no-one can leave their houses," he said. BBC. AND HISTORY WITH ALL HER VOLUMES VAST, HATH BUT ONE PAGE. On December 27 1987 [Robert Mugabe] sat down with Joshua Nkomo, the leader of the Zimbabwe African People's Union (Zapu) and signed a unity accord. It followed seven years of sustained violence against Nkomo's party in which some 18,000 people died. The creation of a government of national unity made Nkomo vice-president. Three Zapu leaders were given cabinet posts. They might as well have been hamsters in a cage on Mugabe's desk. This is what Morgan Tsvangirai, the leader of the MDC, must remember as he sits down at the talks. Guardian.
WHAT IS IN A NAME? This is a familiar problem that organizations face when they split up. Whether it is PML (Pakistan), Kinjit (Ethiopia), EDA (Eritrea) or, now, ARS (Somalia.) There is a Djibouti-based Alliance for Re-liberation of Somalia and an Asmara based ARS. Will the real ARS please stand up? Dr. Weinstein has a solution: ARS-A and ARS-D, the suffix to designate its base. And he has a clear idea who has the upper hand: For all its trouble, the West has acquired a paper asset that has no redemption value. Whether the West seduced A.R.S.-D, intimidated it, or both, which is what closed sources say, A.R.S.-D is compromised. The West now faces an armed liberation movement led by a man who is on Washington's list of supporters of terrorism and has a decades-long history of political-military leadership - the "Old Fox," Sheikh Aweys. Garowe Online
-- THE PARTING HOUR IS COME AND, FAST, THY SOUL IS FLEETING… “Eritrea desires the Ethiopian troops to stay in Somalia because it fears that if the Ethiopian troops withdraw from Somalia they will invade Eritrea that is the main issue behind the interference of Eritrea” Sheikh Sharif said in a telephone interview with mareeg online. AU, ERITREA: SAME MESSAGE, DIFFERENT TONE: Both don’t like the ICC going after Sudan’s Bashir. They say so, each with its official language. The AU tries bureaucratese: “requests the United Nations Security Council, in accordance with the provisions of Article 16 of the Rome Statute of the ICC, to defer the process initiated by the ICC…” Isaias has his smart-alec language: “The drama that has unfolded in the past few days in the name of the ‘International Criminal Court’ has baffled many observers. This phenomenon, which can only be interpreted as an ‘insult’, is a manifestation of the harassment that has been accumulating. As such it must be rejected and challenged.”
MUGABE, ELECT OF GOD, SHAKES HAND OF TSVANGIRAI, MERE MORTAL: The African Union's chief executive, Jean Ping, and U.N. special envoy to Zimbabwe Haile Menkerios are part of a reference group established to support the talks, a major step toward moderating the MDC's hostility toward the mediator of the talks, South African President Thabo Mbeki. Source
"VIRTUE IS ITS OWN REWARD" AND OTHER BROMIDES TESTED HERE: Land-locked Ethiopia has given Djiboutian President Omar Ismail Guelleh large tracts of land for wheat farming and a lakeside holiday home, officials said on Tuesday....Ethiopia gave Guelleh 7,000 hectares of land some 400 km (250 miles) south of Addis Ababa, where government officials say he will grow wheat....[He] was also given 10,000 square metres of lakeside land some 45 km (30 miles) east of the capital on which to build a holiday home, the officials said. Source
R.I.P. ALS (BORN 9/07; DIED 7/08): "Now I Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys am the chairman of the executive committee as well as the general head," Sheikh Dahir Aweys, who is on the US and UN lists of Al-Qaeda associates, told Reuters by phone....Sheikh Ahmed, who was chairing the group's meeting in Djibouti, dismissed the move. "What they have said is null and void," his spokesman Suleiman Olad Roble told Agence France-Presse (AFP) (Islam On Line). But who are the people with guns loyal to?
ANGRY ARAB EXCLUSIVE: "The Palestinian ambassador residing in Djibouti, H.E Kamal Gazzaz (and dean of the diplomatic corps -he like very much that title!) made a speech today at the opening of the ARS congress in the name of the Arab League and he presented to Sheikh Sharif Sheik Ahmed, chairman of the ARS, a list of muslim country that may be ready to send troops to Somalia. He added that it is the responsability of the ARS to lobby the Arabs and Muslims countries if they went to reach a positive result in term of Peacekeeping troops from muslim countries. He even added to the insult that he can even give them advises on how to lobby Arabs and Muslims countries and that the ARS should learn from the late Yasser Arafat in terms of lobbying!! I saw a lot of the ARS members who were fulminating!!!" The Angry Arab Blogspot
A SINGLE DEATH IS TRAGEDY; MULTIPLE DEATHS ARE A STATISTIC: Such was the wisdom of Stalin, whose lessons have been internalized by all brutes, including our own Isaias Afwerki. Because every time we hear of a dead or tortured Eritrean, we just accept it as another statistic. "[Azeb] Simon’s death makes a total of five Christians whom Compass has confirmed have died in Eritrean prisons after being tortured for refusing to recant their faith. On September 5, 2007, Eritrean authorities at the Wi’a Military Training Center tortured Nigisti Haile, 33, to death for refusing to recant her faith. On February 15, 2007, Magos Solomon Semere also died under torture at the Adi-Nefase Military Confinement facility outside Assab. In 2006, two other Christians – Immanuel Andegergesh, 23, and Kibrom Firemichel, 30 – died from torture wounds in Eritrea on October 17." Compass Direct NONE SO BLIND AS THOSE WHO WILL NOT SEE: The 2008 Free Press award went to Seyhoum [Seyoum] Tsehaye of Eritrea, but his wife did him the honours because Seyhoum is in jail for daring to report that some journalists and politicians he previously met in jail were incarcerated without trial. In 2007, Reporters without Borders named Seyoum its “Journalist of the Year” Seyoum Tsehaye, a veteran reporter/photographer, has been in jail, without visitation rights, without a day in court, since September 21, 2001. His compatriots have not risen up to demand justice for this man who helped to bring about a free Eritrea because...LOOK, HAVE YOU SEEN THE SIZE OF THAT MICRODAM!! - THE 3RD NOT COUNTING THE 1ST: The first youth festival, “Eri Youth Festival” was held in July 2004. The one being held in July 2008 is called the “3rd National Youth Festival.” That is three annual festivals in four years. We are one festival short. The PFDJ is fond of whitewashing history. Which year did they erase and why? And why? IT AIN’T OVER TILL RED BEARD SINGS: Somalia's opposition coalition on Saturday endorsed a truce with the country's transitional government….a 106-strong majority of the 191 ARS central committee members "fully endorse the agreement."….Hardline Islamists who had rejected the peace deal -- led by Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, an influential cleric designated as a terrorist by Washington -- had yet to comment on Saturday's endorsement, which was part of talks that run until Thursday in Djibouti. A RIDDLE FROM SENAY AT AWATE FORUM: Question: What do the Shabait staff call an invitation extended to PIA for any event? Answer: Inspection visit. I dare you, try it. Invite PIA for dinner to your house. The next day, the headline will read "Kubur PIA conducted dinner inspection visit." The rest of the article will deal with how his presence made the food tasty and he gave them, of course, cooking tips and how to improve. More on The Guest-in-Chief...-
A PROBLEM SHARED IS A PROBLEM HALVED (SOMALI RECONCILIATION # 712): A weeks-long reconciliation process within the fractured Islamic Courts movement ended this week, with both sides announcing a new agreement that would end a public dispute among Somalia's Islamist leaders. The reconciliation meetings were held in Sana'a, Yemen, and attracted delegations from Eritrea and Djibouti, where exiled Islamists have lived since the Ethiopian intervention of late 2006. Garowe Online
A SHOTGUN MARRIAGE: Senegal's president, Abdoulaye Wade, has convinced his Sudanese counterpart Omar al-Bashir to reestablish diplomatic relations with Chad. The effort is Mr. Wade's latest attempt at diplomacy in the turbulent relationship between Sudan and its neighbor. VOA NUEYS BIGGEST NEWS SINCE 1998? On the ocassion of the 30th anniversary of National Union of Eritrean Youth & Students (NUEYS), Isaias Afwerki said, "the achievements our youth have scored in the past ten years –since 1998- or the improvements they have made cannot be summed up even if ones talks about them for weeks or months on end." Of course, the most newsworthy event that happened to NUEYS is this one, but since it wasn't reported in the State media, it never happened.
OBAMA, McCAIN & ISAIAS AFWERKI: An unauthorized campaign from JibJab. Sense of humor required.
VISA (BAN): IT’S EVERYWHERE YOU (DON’T) WANT TO BE: The idea now, one diplomat said, would be to add "around 40 people" to that list, some "from the security apparatus" of the regime identified as being involved in the election crackdown and business figures helping prop it up. As many as five companies could also be hit, the diplomats said. It would be the first time that business people and companies in Zimbabwe had been targetted by EU visa bans and an asset freeze. Africasia
DEAD EVEN, IN SOMALIA: At least five civilians, including a woman and her two children, were killed early on Thursday when Somali insurgents attacked an Ethiopian military camp in the Somali capital, witnesses said. A mother and her two offspring were killed when Ethiopian forces fired mortars in retaliation, said Mohamed Moalim Hassan, an elder. Source. NOT GUILTY (BY REASON OF POPULARITY): Addis Ababa police arrested Teddy after suspecting him of killing an 18 year old street boy named Degu Yibeltal, who died after he was hit by a car. A taxi driver at the time allegedly tipped off the police of the license number of Teddy’s BMW, which was later found in a ditch on the road towards the CMC residential area, where the singer lives. Source WATCH OUT FOR THE GREEN-EYED MONSTER UP NORTH: Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem, Chairman of Dubai World has signed a deal to construct a pipeline that would link Djibouti with Awash in Ethiopia and rehabilitate the over 100 year old railway line for a staggering two billion dollars. Source BASHIR BEATING THE RAP: THE CHINA ANGLE, CAUSE: Sudan has become the largest single source of China’s overseas oil imports. The China National Petroleum Corporation, which also trades as Petrochina, has invested about £8 billion in Sudan’s oil fields. This gave Mr Bashir about £3 billion of oil revenues last year. Without this windfall gain, Khartoum would have found it extremely difficult to sustain the war in Darfur. Telegraph BASHIR BEATING THE RAP: THE CHINA ANGLE, EFFECT: "Don't pour oil on fire," said a commentary in the paper, adding that Darfur is "at a sensitive and crucial time." "Alleviating this problem demands all sides exercise prudence, consult on an equal basis and strive to cooperate, not rashly push for sanctions, indictments, verdicts and even issuing arrest warrants." Reuters. BASHIR BEATING THE RAP: THE PANEL OF THE PENNY WISE: The genocide charges against Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir could "lead to a lot of danger," the chairman of an African Union panel said Thursday. He [President Ahmed Ben Bella] leads the "Panel of the Wise," which is tasked with promoting efforts to prevent conflict in Africa. AP PAY THE PIPER (OR PAY DLA PIPER): Sudanese officials have to pay for their deeds. Or, like Meles Zenawi did, they have to pay a lobbyist (DLA Piper) to get them off the hook. U.N. officials and diplomats said the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court will seek an arrest warrant Monday charging Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir with crimes against humanity and genocide in Darfur. The court based in The Hague, Netherlands, said the prosecutor will present evidence of the war crimes in Darfur to judges Monday and one or more new suspects will be named. But court officials refused Friday to identify any of the potential new suspects. AP BARRE’S GIFT TO AFRICAN DICTATORS: Zimbabwe warned on Thursday that a proposed U.N. resolution imposing sanctions on its leadership because of a violence-marred election could start a civil war and turn the country into another Somalia. REUTERS A draft resolution to impose sanctions on Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe and a number of his key allies has been vetoed at the UN Security Council. China and Russia both rejected the proposed measures, including a freeze on their financial assets and travel. BBC WING & A PRAYER 101: The World Health Organization reports more than 4.5 million people in Ethiopia are in urgent need of emergency food relief. And, it says that number is growing. It warns of a looming health crisis, made worse by the global food security crisis. It says the health risks also are compounded by the impact of drought on agricultural production and the country's weak health system. VOA. METHOD. MADNESS. Gunmen killed an aid worker in the Somali capital, the latest in a string of attacks against humanitarian staff in the conflict-torn African nation, a colleague said Friday. Mohamed Muhamoud Keyre, the deputy head of Mogadishu-based, German-funded Daryeel Bulsho Guud (DBG), died instantly after gunmen sprayed him with bullets in the south of the seaside capital. AFP. A CONTINENT OF MORAL RELATIVISIM: While Afewerki's despotism has provoked the ire of the U.S. government, he enjoys cordial relations with the EU....[Kassahun] Checole, who has a long history both of campaigning for Eritrean independence and of opposing apartheid in South Africa, complained about how Louis Michel, the European commissioner for development aid, visited Afewerki in Asmara last month for talks that took place behind closed doors. "We have no knowledge of what was discussed between the two of them," Checole said. Source
SAME STORY, DIFFERENT COUNTRY: “I fought for this country's independence and this is how they repay me. I sometimes I wish I had not lived this long, then I would not have to see this.” IRIN NO CLOSER TO PEACE: Somali insurgents killed at least two people in an overnight attack on an army base 15 miles northeast of the government headquarters in Baidoa, a village chairman said Thursday.The Islamist Al-Shabab militia claimed responsibility for the latest in a string of hit-and-run attacks on government targets and said its fighters beheaded several soldiers. The claims could not immediately be verified. AP "DOCTORS WITHOUT BORDERS" FACES AN INSURMOUNTABLE BORDER: Médecins Sans Frontières Switzerland (MSF-Swiss) has withdrawn from Fiiq, Somali region, saying repeated administrative hurdles and intimidation had prevented it from providing medical care to vulnerable populations. "Over the six months of our intervention, our medical teams could only work for 10 weeks in Fiiq town and five on the periphery of the town where the most important needs are," Hugues Robert, who heads the Ethiopia programme in Geneva, said in a statement. "It significantly reduces the medical impact of our action." A senior Ethiopian official, however, denied the claims. "They did not face any problem," the official, who requested anonymity, told IRIN in Addis Ababa. "They might have their own double agenda. Otherwise there was no intimidation or administrative hurdles from our side. IRIN
QATAR’s NAPOLEON COMPLEX: At times, Qatar’s multifaceted approach to the world has bordered on comedy. In March 2003, Qatar hosted a meeting of the Organization of the Islamic Conference aimed at forestalling the American invasion of Iraq, even as preparations for that invasion were taking place nearby at the American military base. As the final communiqués were being read, military cargo planes could be heard soaring overhead….The Qataris’ greatest success by far was the Lebanon agreement in May… Qatar, with its policy of favoring everyone and no one, was the obvious choice for a mediator when violence worsened in May. NYT AND MOVING THREE NOTCHES UP…. Last year, Parade magazine named Isaias Afwerki the world’s 13th worst dictator. This year, he cracked the top ten, appearing at number ten. Which begs this question: what is the difference between the 6th worst and the 3rd worst dictator? What is the criteria used? It is all relative. For example, the world’s number 1 dictator, North Korea’s Kim Jong-il, punishes three generations for the alleged crime of one family member. In Eritrea, Isaias only punishes two generations when, say, a young conscript is caught trying to escape. Congratulations to all the supporters of His Excellency President Isaias Afwerki for putting Eritrea on the map. PARANOIA WILL DESTROY YA: Why is Eritrean Airlines not allowed to land in Djibouti? What did President Isaias Afwerki tell Yemeni, Sudanese and Quatar officials when they asked what is going on with Eritrea and Djibouti? What does Djibouti's President, Ismail Omar Guelleh, think is the motive behind Isaias's manouvers? Addis Fortune interviewed him and has the answers. TROUBLESOME HORN: NOW IT IS SUDAN vs ETHIOPIA: "They hit a camp belonging to the central reserve police and they killed about 19 people," the Sudanese army spokesman said. He did not know how many people were injured.The central reserve police are a heavily armed military unit and are often deployed along border areas or to defend the capital Khartoum."This was an attack and we don't know the reason -- we have no problem with Ethiopia and there are no border disputes or tribal clashes in that area," the army spokesman said.Bereket Simon, special adviser to Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, told Reuters in Addis Ababa the problem was that the long frontier was not properly demarcated."Sometimes locals from both sides trespass and minor incidents do happen," he said, denying troops were involved. Reuters SAME NEWS, DIFFERENT DAY: Heavily armed Islamist rebels have attacked the presidential palace and key installations in the Somali government's Baidoa headquarters, killing at least four soldiers, officials said on Tuesday. Witnesses said mortar bombs fired by the insurgents late on Monday also hit the airport and a large refurbished warehouse that serves as the parliament of the Western-backed interim administration. "Several mortar shells landed on us, killing three troops," Ibrahim Ali Isak, a guard at Baidoa's high-walled presidential palace, said by telephone. Seven of his colleagues were injured and taken to hospital, where medical sources said one of them died. Reuters
BANI SHANGOL REBELS SUPPORTED BY....OF COURSE: The newspaper said that Khalifa was accused by the Ethiopian authorities of offering concessions to Sudan on border issues. Sudan has turned down a request by its Eastern neighbor to hand over Khalifa. The report quoting unidentified Sudanese officials said that Ethiopian forces have been chasing Bani Shangol armed opposition members inside Sudan near the towns of Kurmuk and Gaissan. But Atem Garang, a senior southern official and deputy national parliament speaker said that Bani Shangol opposition movements are supported by Eritrea and denied any involvement by the Government of Southern Sudan (GoSS). Sudan Tribune For a primer on the politics of Beni Shangul (sooner or later, you find out, everything is our business, so you better catch up) read an illuminating article in Nazret/Merkato.
ANOTHER ERITREAN, ANOTHER TRAGEDY: "Eritreans in Addis used to live in one neighborhood, but those houses are government houses now. Today Eritreans are dispersed in Addis and are rarely able to meet in groups. But in the last three or four years, we have been allowed to get citizenship. Now I have an Ethiopian passport, but both my passport and my identification card states that my origin is Eritrean. Many Eritrean people in Ethiopia have identification cards like mine, but if there was an accident or explosion, they might be arrested or detained." Source
SUDAN READIES FOR 2009 ELECTIONS: Eritrea, the only country in the Horn of Africa that has no elections, criticizes every nation in the horn for their flawed elections. Sudan presents another opportunity for criticism: Sudan's parliament passed a new election law on Monday, paving the way for the first free ballot in 23 years to go ahead on schedule next year in Africa's biggest state. But opposition parties and south Sudanese former rebels said they only accepted the new law to avoid delaying the election and feared it could give an unfair advantage to President Omar Hassan al-Bashir's ruling National Congress Party. Reuters
PERSPECTIVE. According to the Guardian newspaper on Friday (4 July), a leaked report from the World Bank suggests that of the rush for biofuels has pushed up food prices by 75% and yet the rich countries look set to go ahead with mandatory targets.The World Bank estimates that increases in prices of wheat, rice and maize cost developing countries $324bn last year alone – the equivalent of three years global aid spending. Food inflation has wiped out 10% of the GDP of Senegal, Haiti and Sierra Leone, and around 5% of GDP in Vanuatu, Mozambique and Eritrea, according to latest World Bank analysis. “Food inflation might cause pain in rich countries – but it is shattering entire economies and people’s lives in developing countries,” Heap said. Oxfam HOW TO TEACH YOUR CHILDREN TIGRIGNA. IMPRESSIVE IN A "WHERE DID THEY GET THE TIME" SORT OF WAY. Yes, it is a youtube video of Shrek in Tigrigna. Part 1 to part 9. Can't wait for The Matrix in Tigrigna. HELL. HANDBASKET. Gunmen opened fire on people leaving a mosque in Mogadishu on Sunday night, killing one of the country’s senior United Nations officials and wounding his son and another man, a witness and a family member said. New York Times USUALLY RELIABLE SOURCE: The Al-Shabab and Eritrean Security Secret Group in Somalia are operating underground, carrying out, in essence, guerrilla warfare. They have drawn up lists of Somali individuals targeted for liquidation and are working through those lists. The new tactics of ambush and guerrilla actions have been peculiar to the Al-Shabab from the start. geeskaafrica
HELL. HANDBASKET. Part 2. Ethiopian Security forces on Friday found Automatic weapons, remote devices and explosives in the Himora area, south of Tessenei, they believe were destined for the West Oromo zones and left from Eritrea, an Ethiopian security official told HAN today in Addis Ababa. geeskaafrica
- COERCE, INTIMIDATE, BEAT, DISPLACE: The Washington Post's most e-mailed/forwarded international news deals with Zimbabwe's election and how Mugabe retained power. Mugabe told the gathering he planned to give up power in a televised speech to the nation the next day…But Zimbabwe's military chief, Gen. Constantine Chiwenga, responded that the choice was not Mugabe's alone to make. Mugabe…agreed to remain in the race and rely on the army to ensure his victory….the plan was given a code name: CIBD. The acronym, which proved apt in the fevered campaign that unfolded over the following weeks, stood for: Coercion. Intimidation. Beating. Displacement. Washington Post ANOTHER CRACK IN THE HORN: A brutal insurgency rages in the northern highlands. Separatist discontent grows in the south. Al Qaeda is moving in, targeting oil facilities and foreigners as well as ordinary Yemenis. In the latest unrest, at least five people were killed Saturday in an explosion at a post office in the northern town of Sadah, one of numerous hot spots in this Arabian Peninsula country of 23 millionObservers fear that Yemen is descending into chaos -- a prediction made more dire by its proximity to a critical choke point through which one of every 25 barrels of the world's daily oil output passes en route to the United States and Europe. LA Times NEVER MIND GDP: MEASURE COKE SALES: Africans buy 36 billion bottles of Coke a year. Because the price is set so low — around 20-30 American cents, less than the price of the average newspaper — and because sales are so minutely analyzed by Coca-Cola, the Coke bottle may be one of the continent’s best trackers of stability and prosperity….Coca-Cola’s bottling plant in Eritrea hardly works because the country’s totalitarian government makes it impossible to import the needed syrup. From the Economist AFRICAN CONCOCTIONS TO AFRICAN PROBLEMS: For 40 years, the Organization of African Union (OAU) blamed, and sought solutions from, the West for all of Africa’s problems. This was unacceptable to Africa’s Great Leaders so they created the African Union (AU) in 2002 to rely on African solutions for Africa’s problems. And how is it doing? During Kenya's election crisis in December, what was striking was the ruling party's open contempt for Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Ghana's president, John Kufuor, two eminent Africans who flew in to mediate. It was only when the British and US governments told President Mwai Kibaki that travel bans had been drawn up and asset freezes were being prepared that it stepped back from the brink. Source The AU, like the OAU, is still the "dictators club", more receptive to Western threats than African appeals to reason. LET PIPER PAPER OVER YOUR SINS: Are you a poor African country with a bad human rights record image? For a minimum of $50,000 a month, DLA Piper lobbyists are urging Congress not to sanction the country for human rights violations. It's a bold move, given that Zenawi's violent crackdown on protesters following contested national elections in 2005 was strongly condemned by human rights advocates…. Interestingly, as The American Lawyer will be reporting in more detail, DLA Piper also is assisting Ethiopia on a pro bono basis with its law school in Addis Ababa. Working with a Northwestern University law professor, DLA sent several partners and associates this past spring to teach two-week courses in business negotiations, international corporate dealmaking and international arbitration. Source By the way, DLA Piper employs two former majority leaders, Armey and Gephardt. And guess what position is Gephardt in the short list for? WORTHLESS: SEE ALSO ZIMBABWE MONEY: THE printing presses which produce reams of worthless banknotes in Zimbabwe may soon fall silent after a German company stopped supplying paper….The highest value banknote is worth Z$50 billion - which is presently enough to buy one can of baked beans. At the TM supermarket in Harare’s northern suburb of Borrowdale, many shelves were bare yesterday….In one shop, a television was on sale, with a sign marked “1.7”. Asked if that meant trillions, the shopkeeper answered: “No, the next one. I don’t know what it’s called.” Telegraph GLUING ANOTHER FRACTURED ALLIANCE: Maybe the word "alliance" should always be preceded by the word "temporary." The Alliance for the Re-liberation of Somalia has split into two factions with one group, based in Djibouti, supporting the agreement with the Somali government and another, based in Asmara, opposed to the agreement. Representatives from the two sides are now in Sana’a. WORTHLESS: SEE ALSO SOMALI PEACE AGREEMENT: At least 53 people were killed in Somalia when Islamist insurgents clashed with Ethiopian troops and Ugandan peacekeepers in separate battles… Ahmed Sudan, chairman of the Mogadishu-based Elman Peace and Human Rights…said 11 civilians were killed when Islamists ambushed Ethiopian troops and Ugandan peacekeepers in the capital Mogadishu overnight, while dozens of others were wounded. Another 36 people, including civilians and insurgents, were killed when rebels struck an Ethiopian troop convoy in Mataban, 410 km (255 miles) north of the Somali capital Mogadishu. Among the dead on Tuesday were Moalim Farhan, commander of the militant group that attacked the convoy, and Abdullahi Ali Farah, also known as Sheikh Aspro, a spokesman for the insurgents told Reuters. Aspro is deputy to hardline Islamist Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, who is on U.S. and U.N. lists of al Qaeda associates. Reuters IT IS NOT IN SHABAIT, SO IT MUST BE UNTRUE: In Eritrea, the likelihood of drought this cropping season is high. The Bahri rains from October 2007 to February 2008 failed and as such most of the secondary crops which make for 20 percent of the country’s cereal needs. The Azmera rains from March to May 2008 have been below average except for the April rains. There is cautious optimism for good Kremiti seasonal rains from June to September. However, even in a good cropping season, the country’s domestic food production covers at most 60 percent of annual consumption. The combination of drought and the knock-on effect of global food price increases could affect a significant portion of the population. ReliefWeb AND ANOTHER TRUTH THAT WASN’T SERVED: "Some countries are at a tipping point," IMF managing director Dominique Strauss-Kahn said at the fund's headquarters in Washington. "If food prices rise further and oil prices stay the same, some governments will no longer be able to feed their people and at the same time maintain stability in their economies." IMF researchers identified more than a dozen countries that were likely to need external support. They included Benin, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Guinea, Liberia, Malawi and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Source -- CREEPIEST CLAIM SINCE SADDAM CALLED HIS HOSTAGES "GUESTS": Eritreans who were deported by Malta in 2002 were tortured by the Eritrean government. How do we know this? Because deportees who escaped Eritrea lived to tell about it. You can read that story here. We also know what happens to Eritreans who are caught when trying to cross the border. A reminder here. The whole world knows this and has appealed to Egypt to stop from deporting Eritreans to certain torture. Still, Egypt went ahead and deported them. So now we have a farce from the Eritrean government about how it has welcomed the deportees back to its warm bosom. Would it allow the free press and human rights organizations to interview them? DARFUR GETS A NEW ANGEL OF PEACE: Djibril Bassole (Burkina Faso's foreign minister.) Bassole, 51, will be based in El-Facher, the administrative centre in northern Darfur which is the headquarters of UNAMID, the joint United Nations and African Union (AU) peacekeeping force. The new joint United Nations and African Union mediator for Darfur said Wednesday he hoped to "strike a balance" in resolving the crisis in western Sudan. AFP UNITED WE STAND BUT FIRST WE HAVE TO BE SEATED: Initial reaction from both government and opposition to Tuesday’s African Union call for a unity government in Zimbabwe shows that there is little common ground between them. Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change insisted that the March 29 first round of elections which he won, must be the basis for any talks with President Robert Mugabe’s government. For the government, Sikhanyiso Ndlovu, still Information minister despite having been defeated in a by-election at the weekend, made clear that it is business as usual. Mr Mugabe would remain in the driving seat and would decide who was invited to multi-party talks. Source -- THE PROBLEM WITH FACT FINDERS? THEY FIND FACTS! Eritrea refused to accept an AU investigation team which visited Djibouti and it denies the accusation. "The Peace and Security Council (PSC) strongly condemns Eritrea for its military action against Djibouti and requests it to pull out from the occupied Djiboutian territory," a senior AU official told Reuters. The Arab League was already rejected. Next to be rejected a UNSC fact finding team. MUGABE MEETS A JURY OF HIS PEERS: Countries represented by Hosni Mubarek (in power 27 years), Gaddaffi (39 years), Bongo (41 years), Bashir (19 years) dos Santos (29 years), Nguema (29 years), Campaore (21 years), Conte (24 years), Biya (26 years), Isaias (17 years), Meles (17 years) attend an AU meeting. Agenda includes what to do about Mugabe (28 years.) Source Mugabe was very pleased by the support he received from Gabon (41) and Eritrea (17). Source. GLORY DAYS: RELIVING LIBERATION WAR: The violence that accompanied Mugabe's struggle to retain power echoed his past behavior, several observers said, and raised concerns about what is to come. "Every time Mugabe is cornered, he resorts to violence," said Oskar Wermter, a Catholic priest in Harare's crowded Mbare neighborhood. "It's a warlike atmosphere. [Mugabe] and his colleagues live in the past in the glory days of the liberation war in the 1970s. They're still in the trenches. They see themselves as in the same confrontation with the British and the whites." Source
THE PEOPLE OF ZIMBABWE MEND THEIR WAYS : In May 2008, when the people of Zimbabwe made the mistake of voting for Mugabe's opponent (what is his name, again?) they were warned by a Politburo member: “We’re giving the people of Zimbabwe another opportunity to mend their ways, to vote properly. This is their last chance.” If voters fail to return Mr. Mugabe to office, the Politburo member told a Zimbabwean journalist working with The New York Times, “Prepare to be a war correspondent.” NYT It looks like the people finally listened. |
