Egypt’s Potential Presidential Candidate Threatens to Use Force Against Ethiopia’s Dam

An Egyptian potential presidential candidate hopeful announced today that he will order the use of military force against Ethiopia if the latter does not suspend the construction of the Grand Renaissance dam.

In announcing his presidential bid at a press conference on Sunday, lawyer Mortada Mansour said that “water for Egypt is Egypt’s life”.

“There are signed international conventions… .There are two agreements, one in 1929 and the other in 1959 to regulate water usage between Egypt and Sudan,” Mansour added.

“There are international organizations that failed [to mediate] and Ethiopia stuck to its position. Just like they threatened to use their army, Egypt has an army.

Saving the ICC: A Proposal for a Witness Protection Program

April 7, 2014

by Alemayehu G. Mariam

Justice delayed, again?

In late January of this year, I wrote a commentary entitled, “Kenyatta at the ICC: Is Justice Deferred, Justice Denied?” In that commentary I openly expressed my angst over the endless delays, postponements and backpedalling talk about “false evidence” and “lying witnesses” surrounding the Uhuru Kenyatta trial at The Hague. I felt  there was perhaps some monkey business going on.  “I don’t want to say I smell a rat but I feel like I am getting a whiff. Is the stage being set to let Kenyatta off the ICC hook?”, I rhetorically asked. I am even more jittery now that Kenyatta’s trial is postponed once again.

How Ethiopia Spies on Its Diaspora Abroad (Wall Street Journal‎)

Wall Street Journal ‎- By FELIX HORNE, 

March 31, 2014 - Many Europeans are upset over revelations that the United States government spies on them. But European companies are selling surveillance tools and know-how to other governments, allowing them to spy abroad. Their customers include some of the world’s most abusive governments and at least one of them—Ethiopia—is targeting its diaspora population in Europe. The results extend beyond outrage over privacy violations: They put people in danger.The global trade in this powerful “spyware” is virtually unregulated and that needs to change. Using digital technology to monitor the Ethiopian diaspora in Europe, the regime in Addis Ababa has brought its abuses right into Europe’s midst. The EU needs to regulate the sale of such technology, at least to governments with such questionable human-rights records.

Ethiopian American Council (EAC) Endorses Isiah “Ike” Leggett for Re-Election

Isiah “Ike” Leggett

April 2, 2014

Ethiopian-American Community in Maryland Montgomery County Executive Isiah “Ike” Leggett Upcoming Montgomery County Elections

“I am an Ethiopian.”

Those were the opening words from Montgomery County Executive Isiah “Ike” Leggett as he delivered the keynote speech at the Ethiopian Battle of Adwa Commemoration Ceremony held recently, for a standing-room-only audience, in Silver Spring, Maryland. The ceremony was sponsored and organized by the Ethiopian-Heritage Society in North America (EHSNA).

“Nineteen Eighty-Four” in 2014 Ethiopiana

March 31, 2014

by Alemayehu G. Mariam

“Big Brother is Watching You!” secretly: The snooping thug state in 2014 Ethiopiana

The secrecy-obsessed regime in Ethiopia has a huge creepy dragnet of secret electronic surveillance programs to sniff out the deeply-buried secrets of the people of Ethiopia. They spend sleepless nights interrogating  themselves about what the people could do to them. Who do they talk to secretly? What do they secretly say about them? Do the people secretly despise them as much as they think they do? (That’s an open secret.) Are the people secretly

Ethiopian gets legal aid from UK – to sue us for giving aid to Ethiopia – Dailymail

• The farmer claims aid is funding a despotic one-party state in his country
• Alleges regime is forcing thousands from their land using murder and rape
• Prime Minister David Cameron says donations are a mark of compassion
• If farmer is successful, Ministers might have to review overseas donations

By IAN BIRRELL, 30 March 2014 |

An Ethiopian farmer has been given legal aid in the UK to sue Britain – because he claims millions of pounds sent by the UK to his country is supporting a brutal regime that has ruined his life.

He says UK taxpayers’ money –  £1.3 billion over the five years of the coalition Government – is funding a despotic one-party state in his country that is forcing thousands of villagers such as him from their land using murder, torture and rape.

The landmark case is highly embarrassing for the Government, which has poured vast amounts of extra cash into foreign aid despite belt-tightening austerity measures at home.