Christian Akraris of the Ethiopian Orthodox in the Diaspora

August 24, 2013

by Tedla Asfaw

Ethiopia is known around the world as “YeNestanet Deset”. It got this name by huge sacrifice it paid to defend itself from foreign aggressors. Both Christians and Muslims died for Ethiopia.There were traitors from both in our history and also brave fighters. We have plenty in our time here in the Diaspora.

In our recent history, relationship between Emperor Haile Selassie and Bitweded Sultan Ali Mirah is well described in a book “YeSultan Ali Mirah YeHiwet Tizitawoche” by Aramis Humed Lule Amharic translation by Ahmed Hasen from French Ethiopian Study Center in 2011. Like today “EthiopiaYeChristian Deset” T Shirt wearers then

Drama in Addis Ababa as police discovered two “hand grenades” at busy market place

It was business as usual for the people while police removes
 “dangerousexplosives” in Addis Ababa on 22
 August 2013. (Pic by minilik Salsawi)

The Horn Times Breaking News August 22, 2013

by Getahune Bekele-South Africa

According to eye witnesses whom the Horn Times spoke to, this pictured police officer first picked the two harmless bombs but a colleague shouted at him to place them back under an Isuzu van reg. number, code 3-73189.

And there began the live show of shame after ETV cameras and TPLF journalists rushed to the scene along with anti-terror squad members and federal police bomb disposal unit members.

Amid laughter and mockery by hundreds of onlookers at one of Addis Ababa’s busiest terminals known as American Gibi, near Ras Seyoum hotel, on Wednesday morning 22 August 2013, two police bomb disposal unit members crawled to the “dangerous explosives” and removed them while a camera man film their every move from very close range. However, the drama did not end there.

Telecoms in Ethiopia: Out of Reach...... The Economist

ETHIOPIA has Africa’s last big telecoms monopoly. The absence of competition has seen a country of more than 80m lag badly behind the rest of the continent in an industry that has generally burgeoned alongside economic growth. Mobile-phone penetration, which averages 70% of the population elsewhere in Africa, is closer to 25% in Ethiopia. A paltry 2.5% of Ethiopians have access to the internet, compared with 40% in neighbouring Kenya.

A deal in 2010 between France Telecom and Ethio Telecom was seen in some quarters as a step towards privatisation and competition. It drove down calling costs but appears to have faltered with the recent departure of Bruno Duthoit, the French chief executive. Little further improvement is likely now, says Markos Lemma, a local entrepreneur.Ethiopia’s authoritarian leaders are as keen as any on the economic benefits of modern telecoms but fear the political ramifications; pesky dissidents become even more irritating when wired. That explains a $1.6 billion agreement with China’s two leading telecoms-equipment companies to upgrade its network. The deal with Huawei and ZTE will preserve Ethiopia’s state dominance and further put off the opening up of one of Africa’s largest economies.

Some marched for freedom but some gathered for condominium

August 20, 2013

by Sadik Ahmed

Ethiopians and Ethiopian Americans held a joint rally in front of US state department today. Amid government’s massive propaganda to divide the nation, the participants were adamant to uphold their mutual values not as people who share a land but as a people who have shared blood.

The demonstrators have uncovered what they call it a plot to occupy the diaspora airwaves through corruption and cadres; however, they have stated clearly, those who collaborate with this dictatorial regime will be isolated and held accountable before each and every community.

Sheik Khalid Omer is an Imam for an Ethiopian Muslims prominent organization called First Hijrah; on his motivational speech during the demonstration “we chose peaceful struggle not because of our fear for Ethiopian government, but due to its effectiveness on this generation, we will protest peacefully till the dictatorial regime replied for our demands” the Imam declared adamantly.

Is America Disinventing Human Rights?

by Alemayehu G. Mariam

In his 1981 farewell speech, President Jimmy Carter said, “America did not invent human rights. In a very real sense, it is the other way round. Human rights invented America.”

In a New York Times op-ed piece in June 2012, Carter cautioned, “At a time when popular revolutions are sweeping the globe, the United States should be strengthening, not weakening, basic rules of law and principles of justice enumerated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. But instead of making the world safer, America’s violation of international human rights abets our enemies and alienates our friends.”