2013: The Year of Ethiopia’s Rising Cheetahs in Review

December 29, 2013

by Alemayehu G. Mariam*

In January 2013, I proclaimed, “2013 shall be the Year of Ethiopia’s Cheetah Generation.” I promised “to make my full contribution to uplift and support Ethiopia’s youth and to challenge them to rise up to newer heights.” They rose to greater heights. I pledged to “reach out to them, teach them and preach to them”. I feel proud that I was able to deliver on my promise. In December 2013, I was delighted and immensely gratified to stand with Yilikal Getnet, Chairman of Ethiopia’s Semayawi (Blue) Party in Arlington, VA and show my solidarity with Ethiopia’s Cheetah Generation (young people).

Global Poverty and Post-colonial “Development Agendas”: Ethiopia and the West

By Paul O’Keeffe - Global Research, December 09, 2013 –

When one thinks of the word ’agenda’ a few obvious  meanings may come to mind – a list of things to do, a plan for a meeting, a goal to achieve or perhaps even an ideology. In the context of international development aid an agenda often means something altogether very different  – a plan or goal that guides someone’s behaviour and is often not explicitly stated. Development aid agendas do not always reflect the needs and desires of the people they propose to serve. More often than not development agendas serve those who institute and organise them. Be it international development donors or governments who receive billions in aid subsidies, development aid and assistance is hardly ever free from condition or expectation on either the donor or receiver side.

The world of international aid is a multi-trillion dollar exercise with transactions affecting every country on earth. Some give, some receive, some give and receive, but all are involved in aid flows that are ultimately held up as virtuous considerations of man to fellow man.

The South Sudan blood bath and Kiir’s perfidious power consolidation act

President Salva Kiir

December 24, 2013

The Horn Times Newsletter

by Getahune Bekele, South Africa

Already castigated as another flop in tyranny prone Africa, the impenitent would-be-tyrant who is leading a corrupt and militarized autocracy, President of South Sudan Salva Kiir Mayardit is no longer sporting his trademark 10-gallon black cowboy hat he imports from the US state of Texas, some 7,000 miles away.

He first saw the hat in July 2006 when then President of the US, the peremptory George W Bush offered him one as gift at the White House during his first visit there. According to reports, Kirr wears the hat ever since in honor of President Bush who played an instrumental role in the 2005 comprehensive peace agreement, a measure that gave birth to the world’s youngest nation in 2011.

Witness for Ethiopia’s Semayawi (Blue) Party By Prof. Al Mariam

Why I support Semayawi party as a political party

In the days leading up to my speech at the first Semayawi (Blue) Party town hall meeting in Arlington, VA, just outside of Washington, D.C., on December 15, I was peppered with all sorts of questions. The one recurrent question revolved around my unreserved support for Semayawi Party after so many years of staying neutral and unaligned with any Ethiopian political party or group.

As I explained in my interview on ethiotube.com, my support for Semayawi Party should be viewed as an expression of my total confidence in the power of Ethiopia’s young people to change the destiny of their country and their readiness to struggle for peaceful change. The percentage of Ethiopia’s population under the age of 35 today is 70 percent. The vast majority of the victims of human rights violations in Ethiopia today are young people. The targets of political persecution and harassment, arbitrary arrests and detentions, torture, abuse and maltreatment in the prisons are largely young people. Young Ethiopians are disproportionately

‘Mandela was not trained by Israelis’

\December 21, 2013

by SAPA

Johannesburg – The Nelson Mandela foundation on Saturday quashed reports that the former president received training from Israeli agents in 1962.

“Media have picked up on a story alleging that in 1962 Nelson Mandela interacted with an Israeli operative in Ethiopia,” the foundation said in a statement.

“The Nelson Mandela Foundation can confirm that it has not located any evidence in Nelson Mandela’s private archive…..that he interacted with an Israeli operative during his tour of African countries in that year.”

Remembering December 13th: The Anuaks Massacre

December 14, 2013

Let us take this day of sorrow and make it a day of healing among all peace-loving Ethiopians

Anuak Justice Council

December 13, 2013 marks the ten-year anniversary of the brutal massacre of 424 disarmed Anuak in Gambella, Ethiopia by Ethiopian National Defense Forces armed with guns and militia groups armed with machetes. Not just the families of the victims, but all Anuak, will forever remember that dark day that brought so many pains, tears and suffering.

Even after ten years, some widows, some fathers, some mothers and children are still waiting to bury their loved ones properly. Some day their bodies, which were buried in mass graves, will be exhumed and buried with proper respect by

Explaining the Ethiopian outmigration: Incentives or Constraints? By Seid Hassan and Minga Negash[1]

In both theory and practice, pull and push factors drive migrants out of their own countries of origin. The factors are complex but they are in general categorized as: (a) demand-pull factors, represented by better economic opportunities and jobs in the host (new) country; (b) supply-push factors, represented by the lack of economic opportunities, jobs, and economic downturns, political oppressions, abuses of human rights by home country governments, religious intolerance (constraints), war, conflict and insecurity in the home country; (c) mediating factors that accelerate or constrain migration which may include the existence or prevalence of opportunities available to human smugglers, fly by night recruitment agencies, registered recruitment agencies operating within the legal system and government policies encouraging/incentivizing citizens to migrate; and (d) social network (pull) factors such as the existence of relatives, friends and acquaintances in host countries, available opportunities for family unifications in host countries, and success stories of diaspora migrants. The role played by each of these factors and their relative importance and dynamics depend on the economic, political, societal conditions and geographical proximity between the home, transit and destination countries.

Mandela’s Message to Ethiopia’s Youth: Never give up…! by Alemayehu G. Mariam*

December 16, 2013

by Alemayehu G. Mariam*

Africa’s Wise Lion and Ethiopia’s Restless Cheetahs—Never give up and keep on trying to build your Beloved Ethiopian Community!

December 15, 2013. It is the saddest day of the year for me. Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela was finally interred with state honors in Qunu, a small rural village in South Africa’s Eastern Cape Province. He spent the “happiest days” of his life there as a shepherd. He returned to Qunu after a long life, a long imprisonment and a long walk to freedom to join his  ancestors. The young shepherd of Qunu returned to his final resting place as the revered, loved and respected shepherd of his people. I bid him farewell. May he rest in eternal peace!

Saudi investors leave Ethiopia

An Ethiopian worker argues with a member of the Saudi security forces as he waits with his countrymen to be repatriated in Manfouha, southern Riyadh, Nov. 11, 2013. (photo by REUTERS/Faisal Al Nasser)

 Saudi agricultural investor has warned about the failure of Saudi agricultural investments in Ethiopia and the liquidation of businesses due to the conditions set by the [Saudi] Agricultural Development Fund (ADF) to support and lend to investors in Ethiopia.

Summary⎙ Print Following a recent crisis between Riyadh and Addis Ababa regarding the former’s crackdown on undocumented Ethiopian workers, many Saudi investors are pulling out of Ethiopia.

Author Saad al-AsmariPosted December 9, 2013

Translator(s)Sahar Ghoussoub

Original Article اقرا المقال الأصلي باللغة العربية

Nelson Mandela: Farewell, My African Prince!

The Sinner-Saint who never stopped trying

Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela finally finished his long walk to freedom in the last month of the Year 2013.

The sun cast its last rays on the man who lifted South Africa from the darkness of apartheid. Nelson Mandela’s shadow is all we have left. We must now look to that shadow to cast light on a world wrapped in hatred, beset by fear, racked by violence and numbed by indifference. We shall not fear. Mandela’s spirit is near.

I never met Nelson Mandela. How I wish I had! Not for the honor of meeting the most honored man in the world. Just for the opportunity to say “Thank you!” to the most humble man in the world who brought the highest dignity and honor to all Africans.

Nelson Mandela was a bridge builder. He built bridges across racial, ethnic and class divides. Nelson Mandela was a fireman. He saved the South African house by dousing the smoldering embers of racial and ethnic strife with truth and reconciliation. Nelson Mandela was a pathfinder.

Ethiopia approved more than 361 investment projects to Saudi Arabia

Editor’s note: despite a growing criticism against Saudi government’s brutal crackdown on Ethiopian migrants, the ruling party just signed an agreement to give more land to Saudi Arabia.

JEDDAH: ARAB NEWS — Saturday 7 December 2013

Ethiopian ambassador Mohammad Kabeera said his country has approved more than 361 investment projects to Saudi Arabia mainly in the agricultural sector.

The envoy said that Saudi Arabia comes at the forefront of the GCC countries investing in Ethiopia, one among several African nations that have been targeted by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Program for Agricultural Investment Abroad.

“We have issued licenses for 361 Saudi investment projects in Ethiopia, 125 of which have begun operations. These projects have created job opportunities for around 35,000 Ethiopians,” he said.

Ginbot 7’s Response to EPRDF’s Request for “Negotiation”

December 4, 2013

The authoritarian system that has been built by the Ethiopian Peoples Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) is in apparent crisis. It is now evident that panic and nervousness within EPRDF is increasing with the passing of each day, and there is ample evidence that indicates towards this major behavioural shift within the ruling EPRDF party. For example, the sudden death of its leader, the ever increasing popular resistance inside and outside the country, and the customary uneasiness of the regime as national elections approach are some of the main indicators. The long-standing political behaviour the EPRDF regime demonstrates that whenever EPRDF is cornered or finds itself in a crisis situation, it uses negotiation as a quick way out or crisis management tool. We believe EPRDF’s most recent call for “negotiation” is not different from its established political behaviour.

A Call for Action by All Ethiopian Groups around the World

December 3, 2013

For Immediate Release

The Global Alliance for the Rights of Ethiopians in Saudi Arabia (GAFRESA) has been formed recently in response to the killings, gang rape, torture and other forms of crimes being committed against Ethiopian migrants in Saudi Arabia.

GAFRESA was created at a time when Ethiopians across the globe have been expressing outrage on such criminality and savage thuggery that has affected the lives of tens of thousands of Ethiopians who have faced not only such an appalling and inhuman mistreatment in the hands of Saudi security forces and criminal vigilantes but also herded en masse in harsh concentration camps in the scorching desert where food, water and medical help is deliberately withheld and denied.

Teachable Moments for the Ethiopian Diaspora?

Alemayehu G. Mariam

 Stop the violence against Ethiopian migrant workers in Saudi Arabia now!

The ongoing human rights abuses of Ethiopian migrant workers in Saudi Arabia have triggered massive expressions of outrage against the regimes in Riyadh and Addis Ababa and unprecedented outpouring of concern and support in Diaspora Ethiopian communities. Over the past several weeks, enraged and brokenhearted by the shocking video clips of dehumanization of Ethiopians in Saudi Arabia, tens of thousands of Diaspora Ethiopians from Australia to the United States faced off cowering Saudi embassy and consular officials.  An estimated 6-7 thousand Ethiopians peacefully marched on the Saudi Embassy in Washington, D.C. to demand an immediate stop to the violence and

Saudi Arabia: Labor Crackdown Violence (Human Rights Watch)

November 30, 2013

Human Rights Watch

Ethiopian Workers Allege Attacks, Poor Detention Conditions

(Beirut) –  Ethiopian migrant workers have been the victims of physical assaults, some of them fatal, inSaudi Arabia following a government crackdown on foreign workers. Many workers seeking to return home are being held in makeshift detention centers without adequate food or shelter.

Human Rights Watch spoke to five Ethiopian migrant workers in Saudi Arabia. Four Ethiopians in Riyadh told Human Rights Watch that the attacks began after November 4, 2013, when authorities resumed a campaign to arrest foreign workers who they claim are violating labor laws.

Death and rape rife in Saudi Arabia as xenophobia against Ethiopians turns bloodier

November 29, 2013

The Horn Times Newsletter- November 29, 2013

by Getahune Bekele-South Africa

“Take the money and even my luggage but please don’t rape me and I implore you, don’t take my life…” an Ethiopian woman’s impassioned plea to a Saudi Arabian religious police commander at Amira Nura university near the capital Riyadh- Saudi Arabia.

Approximately 1400 years later, while the sepulchers of prophet Mohammad’s relatives who were the first refugees in the Christian kingdom of Ethiopia still standing near the northern Ethiopian town of Wukro as historic piece of evidence to the two nation’s centuries old close ties, no one expected the mass murder of the children of Bilal by Saudi citizens in Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Arabia is buying Western Medias

November 27, 2013

by Tedla Asfaw

I followed roundtable discussion among Adissu, Tizita and Henok regarding the Saudi humanitarian crisis Ethiopians facedonVOA’s this past Sunday program.The Western Media’s absence is not because of lack of the organizers reach to them. It is because of the “Saudi Arabia factor “.

The American medias downplayed the 9/11 Terrorist attack Saudi’s origin knowing that 18 out of 19 were Saudis citizens. This is because of the Saudi Arabia Huge Money in companies owning the major medias.

EU Member of Parliament Ana Gomes in Addis Ababa

Serious talk! EU Member of Parliament Ana Gomes, known for publicly criticising
 Ethiopia following the 2005 government crackdown, which
claimed over 200 lives, in a seemingly serious discussion during
lunch break with Ethiopian MP and Speaker of the House
Abadulla Gemeda in Addis Ababa, November 25, 2013.
 ANDUALEM SISAY | NATION MEDIA GROUP

November 26, 2013

The 26th European Union (EU) and African Caribbean Pacific (ACP) Joint Parliamentary Assembly (JPA) opened in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Monday morning.

The assembly is expected to debate several issues, ranging from use of natural resources to fiscal reform and redistribution of wealth and decentralised cooperation.

The gathering is also expected to discuss respect for the rule of law and the role of an impartial and independent judiciary and South-South and triangular cooperation.

The truth is the best propaganda: Ethiopian Embassy and Mouthpiece Teshaye Debalkew’s Photoshop Fails November 2

3, 2013

by Kassahubn Addis

The regime in Addis Ababa and its diplomatic missions around the globe spend more time bedeviling members of the Diaspora opposed to the lack of democracy in Ethiopia. While they should be working to promote the interest and safety of citizens abroad, they spend resources spying on individuals, dividing communities and fundraising. This is on top of unofficial import export business most embassy officials are engaged in.

This short piece is to put further light on how low these embassies go to achieve their goals.   A picture caption of a story published on Tigraionline.com by the Public Relation head, Tsehaye Debalkew, of the  Ethiopian Embassy ask “What evidence do you want more than a picture?” (See http://tigraionline.com/articles/extimist-diaspora-in-dc.html )

From the Ethiopian Fire Into the Saudi Arabian Frying Pan

November 24, 2013

by Alemayehu G. Mariam

Over the past decade, hundreds of thousands of Ethiopians have voted with their feet to escape one of the most ruthless and brutal dictatorships in Africa. According to Ethiopia’s “Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs”, approximately  200,000 women sought employment abroad in 2012, the vast majority of them in the Middle East.  Many of these workers believed they were jumping out of the fire of dictatorship in Ethiopia, but found  themselves smack in the  middle of the Saudi Arabian frying pan.

It is no exaggeration to say it is open season on Ethiopian migrant workers and others seeking refuge in Saudi Arabia. Every day this month,

In repressive Ethiopia, new ‘Blue Party’ struggles to offer a choice – The Christian Science Monitor

By William Davison, Correspondent / November 21, 2013 -

Yet Ethiopia’s ruling coalition seems intent on maintaining a tight grip on power until its project to transform Africa’s second-most populous nation into a middle-income country is complete.

That authoritarian control makes any opposition difficult – though of late a group called the Blue Party, made up of young Ethiopians who describe themselves as progressive, have attempted to move, if not shake, the nation’s politics in ways not seen here for a decade or more.

RECOMMENDED: Think you know Africa? Take our geography quiz.

Last week the Blue Party tried to organize a protest outside the Saudi Arabian embassy in Addis Ababa, feeding off widespread public outcry over the treatment of Ethiopian

Thousands protested at the Saudi Embassy in London

November 18, 2013

Prophet Muhammad told his followers to leave for Axum (ancient Ethiopia), where “a king rules without injustice, a land of truthfulness-until God leads us to a way out of our difficulty.” This happened at the early days of Islam, when the Quraysh intensified persecuting early converts of Islam in Mecca; this marked the first hijraah. Today Ethiopians who gave sanctuary to the followers of the Prophet Muhammad are being killed, raped, beaten, brutally abused and more than 25,000 are imprisoned in Saudi Arabia.

In protest to this brutality inflicted on innocent Ethiopians living and working in the Kingdom nearly 5 thousand Ethiopians living in the United Kingdom held a massive vigil outside the Embassy of Saudi Arabia on Curzon Street London W1. The huge turnout which has not been seen for years has stunned the police who were not prepared for it.

Wounded in Addis, finished off in Riyadh

November 17, 2013

by Ephrem Madebo, ebini23@yahoo.com

From China to Ethiopia and from Belarus to Saudi Arabia, there is no shortage of repressive regimes in the world. In general, repressive societies are defined as exerting pervasive state control over daily life, banning free speech and political opposition, and practicing severe human rights violations. All of these attributes describe the Ethiopian regime from head to toe, but the TPLF regime in Ethiopia has many more attributes that makes it the worst of the worst. Oppressive regimes do not hate their country, yet the Ethiopian regime does. Even though oppressive regimes kill their citizens for a variety of reasons, they don’t kill out of hatred. The TPLF regime in Ethiopia hunts and kills people that it really hates. Almost all countries of the world,

Police Beat, Detain Anti Saudi Brutality Protesters In Addis Abeba

Police Beat, Detain Anti Saudi Brutality Protesters In Addis Abeba
Nov. 15, 2013

Ethiopians, who protested outside the Saudi Arabian Embassy in Addis Abeba, opposing the ongoing brutality by Saudi Arabians against Ethiopian migrant workers residing there, have been beaten and detained by Ethiopian police this morning.
The protest has been called by opposition parties and associations mainly by Blue Party. It was joined by ordinary citizens who were outraged by what they saw happen to their compatriots in Saudi Arabia.
Police have detained the leaders of Blue Party and other members of civic associations who joined the peaceful protest. The Embassy is under heavy Ethiopian security guard currently.

Aiding and Abetting: UK and US Complicity in Ethiopia’s Mass Displacement

November 5, 2013

Members of the Nyangatom, one of the communities affected
by the project,
 loading donkeys by the river. Photograph by William Davison.

In the face of evidence, the UK and US continue to deny systematic human rights abuses are occurring in the Lower Omo as thousands are displaced for an irrigation scheme.

The US-based think tank, the Oakland Institute, recently accused the UK and US governments of aiding and abetting the eviction of thousands of people from their land in Ethiopia’s Lower Omo Valley.

The accusation was not new – it had been made before by Survival International and Human Rights Watch amongst others. What was new about this report was that it made use of transcripts of interviews conducted by officials from the UK Department for International Development (DfID) and the US Agency for International Development (USAID), during a field visit to the lower Omo in January 2012.

Mining Corruption in Ethiopia By Prof. Al Mariam

The Shame of a Nation

In my seventh commentary on corruption in Ethiopia this year, I focus on the mining sector. For other commentaries on the subject, visit my blog site at “Al Mariam’s Commentaries”.

I continue to offer commentaries on corruption in Ethiopia to keep public attention sharply focused on the structural nature of the issue. In the past few months, the ruling regime has been grandstanding its “anti-corruption” efforts by corralling a few officials of the “Revenue and Custom’s Authority” and businessmen on charges of corruption. The kangaroo court corruption drama for those suspects is an amusing political theater staged for the entertainment of international loaners and donors who have recently intensified their pressure on the regime to show greater transparency and public accountability. For the domestic crowd, the regime’s grandstanding has been a cynical ploy to underplay, trivialize and cleverly mask the deep-rooted nature of official corruption with high profile prosecutions.

Growth In Addis Ababa Paints The Urban Poor Into A Desperate Corner

By Jacey Fortin, November 01 2013 (International Business Times)

Traffic flows down a main street in Ethiopia’s capital Addis Ababa, where the city government aims to clear 200 hectares of slums and informally inhabited areas each year in order to make way for new construction.  Reuters/Thomas Mukoya

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia — For urban areas across the African continent, rapid development has become a double-edged sword.

As economies grow — the IMF projected this week that sub-Saharan Africa’s economic output will expand by five percent this year and six percent in 2014 — urban areas are developing at a breakneck pace. That means plenty of new construction, which creates employment opportunities and raises standards of living. But to make room for luxury hotels, sparkling shopping centers and towering residential centers in already-crowded urban areas, something has to give. And despite governmental efforts to make development work for everyone, the urban poor are increasingly paying the highest price for economic expansion.

Ethiopian opposition alleges killings, abuse

(Globalpost/GlobalPost)

A leading Ethiopian opposition party said in a report Thursday that scores of its members and supporters had been killed, abused or jailed over the past two years.

“The report has information on human rights violations on members of UDJ, on supporters and other political party members and leaders… in different parts of Ethiopia,” said Unity for Democratic Justice (UDJ) leader Negasso Gidada.

Negasso said seven party supporters had been killed in southern Ethiopia and around 150 supporters had faced intimidation, arrest without charge, abuse, abduction and confiscation of property by police and security forces across Ethiopia.

The Ethiopian government said it had not seen a copy of the report, but accused the party of routinely coming up with “concoctions and spurious accusations”, Information Minister Redwan Hussein told AFP.

Ethiopia: When an Economy Goes Wrong – Addis Fortune

ANALYSIS

BY GIRMA FEYISSA, 27 OCTOBER 2013 - The change in the rate of economic growth from one year to the next is approximated by the aggregate values of goods and services adjusted in their current prices. These figures are often understood to be figures representing the annual economic growth of a country.

But this expression of growth is a misnomer to many people who may be taking growth to mean the reduction in the cost of living. One can not blame such folks because they are not aware of what this economic growth concept really means when it translate into what or how much of goods and services they could buy with the money in their pockets.

International Commission of Jurists (ICJ): Ethiopian Leaders to Face a Trial for Genocide

By Betre Yacob

Ogaden2 – The International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) reported to have begun to work to bring Ethiopian authorities to justice for having committed a genocide in the Ogaden region. The International Commission of Jurists is a known international human rights organization composed of jurists (including senior judges, attorneys, and lawyers). The commission is known for its dedication to ensuring respect for international human rights standards through the law.

The report came right after different Swedish TV channels showed a movie smuggled out from Ogaden by an Ethiopian refugee, who had been a government official in the region. The 100 hours long movie is said to have many evidences of genocide committed by the Ethiopian government in the region.

Speaking to journalists, Stellan Diaphragm, the commissioner of the Commission, said that he would do everything necessary to bring the case to the International Criminal Court (ICC).