Graziani and the TPLF, an Ethiopian saga By Yilma Bekele

‘The Duce will have Ethiopia, with or without the Ethiopians’. Rodolfo Graziani

I am writing this as a proud Ethiopian because Graziani’s promise to the Fascist dictator was thwarted by my gallant ancestors. If it was not for the bravery and sacrifice of our grandparents, to day our country will be referred to as ex Italian Colony, we will be conversing in Italian, our national dish would be spaghetti and my name will probably be Mario. Please don’t knock it because my country being referred to as the only independent country in Africa, having my own national language, dining on Injera and answering to an original name is what defines me as unique member of the human race.

The Ethiopian and Italian entanglement goes very far back in history. The period known as ’the scramble for Africa’ from 1870 to 1914 is a good place to start. It was a time the European powers were invading, colonizing, occupying and abusing Africans all over the continent. After the scrooge of slavery this was another century where being black was not a desirable existence, not that it is any different now. To avoid warring each other the Europeans decided to sit around a table and carve out the continent into outright ownership of people and country and spheres of influence. Italy already had Libya and decided to include Ethiopia in its portfolio.

Unfortunate for the Italians the Ethiopians found the idea absurd to say the least. The battle of Adwa settled the matter and dealt the Europeans their one and only defeat in Africa. The victory at Adwa will forever define what it means to be an Ethiopian. Generations will use this colossal event to shape and mold their children to grow up with pride and determination to guard what is their own and not to covet what belongs to others.

Nine senior TPLF leaders left the organization

Nine veteran members of the TPLF, including  Seyoum Mesfin, Berhan G/Kirstos, Sebhat Nega, Arkebe Equbay and Zeray Asgedom have left the organization, according to sources from Addis ababa.

Concluding its ninth convention, the senior partner in the ruling coalition, TPLF has elevated for the first time since its formation, a woman to its political bureau, making two of the nine politbureau members women, Fortune learnt.

Tirfu Kidanemariam, who was vice chairperson of the Tigray Women Association (TWA) in 2008, has now joined Azeb Mesfin in the TPLF’s top political body. Azeb was elected to the political bureau in 2010, the first woman to ever make it that high in the TPLF. Tirfu is a spouse to the party’s chairman and chief of the regional administration, Abay Woldu. She is head of TPLF’s all too powerful organisational affairs bureau. She has been elected to the central committee of the TPLF since 1999, and has also served as head of the region’s justice bureau.

As expected by those following the region’s political development, Tsegaye Berhe, a former chief of the regional state and current chairman of the National Security Council; and Abadi Zemo, Ethiopia’s ambassador to Sudan, have left the political bureau, upon their request, according to sources. They are replaced by Alem G. Wahid and Gebrehawariya Woldu, both veteran political operatives of the regional administration, heading various administrations at zone levels, according to our sources.

"The Visionary Youth" (bale raey wetatoch), in Amharic and blue party members calling for protest against War criminal fascist Rodolfo Graziani's mausoleum in Affile, Italy. On the day of the protest Ethiopian government forces arrested more than 43 protest participants.

ስዩም መስፍን፣ ብርሃነ ገብረክርስቶስ፣ አርከበ ዕቁባይና ዘርዓይ አስገዶም ከሕወሓት ተባረሩ

by MINILIK SALSAWI » 49 minutes ago

The ruling junta in Ethiopia removed 4 senior members, Seyoum Mesfin, Arkebe Oqubay, Berhane Gebrekristos, and Zer'ay Asgedom from the central committee of Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), according to the state-controlled Fana Broadcasting. TPLF has been holding its conference in Mekele this past few days.

ከደደቢት በረሃ ጀምሮ ለዓመታት ሕወሓት ውስጥ በማዕከላዊ ኮሚቴ አባልነት ያገለገሉት አምባሳደር ስዩም መስፍን፣ አምባሳደር ብርሃነ ገብረክርስቶስ ፣ አቶ አርከበ ዕቁባይና አቶ ዘርዓይ አስገዶም ባቀረቡት ጥያቄና ፓርቲው እየተገበረ ባለው የመተካካት ሂደት በሚል ሽፋን መሰረት በአዲስ አባላት በመተካት አንጋፋ አባላቱን አባረራቸው::

Ethiopia ‘blocks’ Al Jazeera websites

Traffic to English and Arabic websites has plummeted since the network aired coverage of protests in August last year.

Last Modified: 18 Mar 2013 14:40

Traffic to English and Arabic websites has plummeted since the network aired coverage of protests in August last year.

Al Jazeera’s English and Arabic websites are reported to have been blocked in Ethiopia, raising fresh fears that the government is continuing its efforts to silence the media.

Though the authorities in Addis Ababa have refused to comment on the reported censorship, Google Analytics data accessed by Al Jazeera shows that traffic from Ethiopia to the English website had plummeted from 50,000 hits in July 2012 to just 114 in September.

Traffic data revealed a similar drop for the Arabic website, with visits to the site dropping to 2 in September from 5,371 in July.

A blogger, who cannot be identified for his own safety, said Ethiopian censors had been targeting Al Jazeera since the Qatar-based network began airing coverage of ongoing protests against the way in which spiritual leaders are elected in the Horn of African nation.

The steep decline in web traffic began on August 2 last year, the same day that Al Jazeera Mubasher aired a forumwith guests denouncing the government’s “interference” with Muslim religious affairs, and three days after Al Jazeera English published an article detailing deadly ethnic clashes between two of the country’s southern tribes.

World Bank: Investigate ‘Development’ Project Abuses

For Immediate Release

World Bank: Investigate ‘Development’ Project Abuses 
Rigorously Apply Social Safeguards in Ethiopia

(Washington, DC, March 18, 2013) – The World Bank’s board should support an internal investigation into allegations of abuse linked to a World Bank project in Ethiopia, Human Rights Watch said today.

The Inspection Panel, the World Bank’s independent accountability mechanism, has recommended an investigation into whether it has violated its policies in a project linked to the Ethiopian government’s resettlement program, known as “villagization.” Villagization involves the forced relocation of some 1.5 million Ethiopians, including indigenous and other marginalized peoples, and has been marred by violence. The board is scheduled to meet on March 19, 2013, to consider the Inspection Panel’s recommendation.

“The World Bank’s president and board need to let the Inspection Panel do its job and answer the critical questions that have been raised by Ethiopians affected by this project,” said Jessica Evans, senior international financial institutions advocate at Human Rights Watch. “If the World Bank doesn’t support this investigation, its Ethiopia program will continue to be shadowed by controversy.”

The selling of Ethiopia By Yilma Bekele

Actually that statement might not be true. We do know our country is being sold but we have no idea if the bidding has been open or closed. We have sold almost all of Gambella, we have leased half of Afar and Oromia has been parceled out bit by bit. Our Beer factories are under new owners, our gold mines belong to the fake Ethiopian sheik, Telephone is under the Chinese and our Airlines is looking for a suitor. Have we always looked for outsiders to own us?

Not really when you consider that we celebrated the victory at the battle of Adwa a few weeks back and that was the mother of all wars that made it clear this African country is not for sale.  We might not have contributed much to the industrial revolution but we did manage to rely on our own ingenuity to follow along and do things our own way. You might not believe this but there was a time when Ethiopians actually used to be involved in making stuff from scratch. You think I am making things up don’t you? I don’t blame you because today you cannot even come up with one name that stands out as an Ethiopian entrepreneur, go getter  or  someone that shines like the north star based solely on his own sweat and blood.

The things that were accomplished by earlier Ethiopians are all around us but we don’t see them.  All the things the current government brags about have their roots in the yester years they so much condemn and brush off. I don’t know where to start but here we go. Let us start with hospitals.  Bella Haile Selassie (Bella), Leelt Tshay (armed Forces),  Paulos, Haile Selassie Hospital (Yekati 12), Balcha, Ghandi, Tikur Anbessa, Ras Desta, Minilik etc.  The vast majority of the doctors were Ethiopians, the hospitals were clean, well equipped and you don’t even have to take your own sheets and blankets.

Obama “Moonwalking” Human Rights in Africa? By Prof. Al Mariam

 The great American poet Walt Whitman said, “Either define the moment or the moment will define you.” Will the election of Uhuru Kenyatta as president of Kenya define President Barack Obama in Africa or will President Barack Obama use the election of President Kenyatta to define his human rights policy in Africa?

Following the presidential election in late December 2007 and the Kenya Electoral Commission’s hurried declaration of incumbent President Mwai Kibaki as the winner, supporters of opposition presidential candidate Raila Odinga in the Orange Democratic Movement alleged widespread electoral fraud and irregularities. For nearly two months following that election, ethnic violence and strife in Kenya raged resulting in more than 1200 deaths, 3,500 injuries, and the displacement of over 350,000 persons and destruction of over 100,000 properties.

In March 2011, Uhuru Kenyatta was indicted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) on various counts of crimes against humanity arising from the post-election violence.  The details of the ICC charges against Kenyatta and other defendants are set forth in exhaustive detail in a 10-count indictment.Kenyatta allegedly conspired, planned, financed, and coordinated violence against the supporters of Odinga’s Orange Democratic Movement. He allegedly “controlled the Mungiki organization” and directed the commission of murders, deportations, rapes, persecutions, and other inhumane acts against civilians in the towns of Kibera, Kisumu, Naivasha, and Nakuru. Kenyatta’s trial is scheduled to start at The Hague on July 9. Kenyatta’s election running mate and vice president-elect William Ruto as well as other top Kenyan officials are part of  different ICC cases. Ruto’s trial has been postponed to May 28.

43 anti-Graziani statute protesters arrested in Addis Ababa

 http://www.ethiopianreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=50012&p=293119#p293119

 

ዛሬ መጋቢት ስምንት ቀን 2005 ዓ.ም. ከጠዋቱ 3 ሰዓት ለኢትዮጵያ ተቆርቋሪ የግል ተነሳሽነት ማህበር፤ ሰማያዊ ፓርቲ እና ባለራዕ ወጣቶች ማህበር በጋራ በመሆን “ለፋሽስቱ የጦር ወንጀለኛ ለማርሻል ግራዚያኒ ክብር መስጠት የአባቶቻችን መስዋዕትነት ማራከስ ነው” በሚል የተጠራውን ሰልፍ አምባገኑ የኢህአዴግ መንግስት በርካታ የፌደራል ፖሊስ፣ የደህንነት አባላትን እና የአዲስ አበባ ፖሊሶችን በማሰማራት ሲበትን፤ የተቋማቱን ከፍተኛ አመራሮች፤ ታዋቂ ግለሰቦች እና በርካታ ወጣቶች አስሯል የታሳሪዎች ቁጥር አሁንም በመጨመር ላይ ነው፡፡ እንዲሁም በትላንትናው እለት ለተቃውሞ ሰልፉ የቅስቀሳ ስራ ሲሰሩ ከነበሩት ውስጥ 2 የሰማያዊ ፓርቲ የስራ አስፈጻሚ አባላትን እንዲሁም የባለራዕይ ወጣቶች የስራ አስፈጻሚ አባላትን ጨምሮ 8 ሰዎችን አስረዋል፡፡

በአሁኑ ሰአት በእስር ላይ የሚገኙት እና ስማቸው የተገኘ
1. ዶ/ር ያዕቆብ ኃ/ማርያም
2. አቶ ታዲዎስ ታንቱ
3. አቶ ይልቃል ጌትነት (የሰማያዊ ሊቀመንበር)
4. ስለሺ ፈይሳ (የሰማያዊ ም/ሊቀመንበር)
5. ይድነቃቸው ከበደ (የሰማያዊ የህግ ጉዳይ ሀላፊ)