Dam! White Elephants in Ethiopia?

April 21, 2014

by Alemayehu G. Mariam

Last week, in a bizarre display of faux outrage and indignation, the regime in Ethiopia unleashed its big “experts” to go after International Rivers, an organization that has been leading the global struggle to protect rivers and the rights of indigenous communities that depend on them for nearly three decades. International Rivers, headquartered in Berkeley, CA.,  is committed to promoting sustainable use of water and rivers throughout the world. The organization has done extraordinary work in Africa, Asia and Latin America to “prevent destructive dam development, promote effective flood management practices,

Gunmen kill nine in western Ethiopia bus attack: state media

ADDIS ABABA Wed Apr 16, 2014 4:40am EDT

(Reuters) – Gunmen ambushed a bus carrying dozens of people in western Ethiopia near the Sudanese border, killing nine and wounding six others, state-run media said on Wednesday.

There was no claim of responsibility and no group was blamed for the attack, but Ethiopia says it has thwarted several plots in recent years by Ethiopian insurgents as well as Somali al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab Islamist militants.

A handful of rebel groups are waging low-level separatist insurgencies in Ethiopia, while Ethiopian troops are part of an offensive against al Shabaab in neighboring Somalia.

The bus ambush on Tuesday evening – near the $4 billion-Grand Renaissance Dam – was the second attack on public transportation in the Benishangul Gumuz region in five months. Four people were killed by a bomb on a minibus in November.

The Long Shadow of Rwanda on (Central) Africa

by Alemayehu G. Mariam

Déjà vu 1994 Rwanda in 2014 Central African Republic

Last week, the people of Rwanda began a solemn week of official mourning to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Rwanda Genocide. On April 6, 1994, Hutu extremist leaders in government, their political supporters and organized militiamen coordinated a systematic killing spree, which lasted over 100 days and consumed the lives of more than 800,000 mostly ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus. In 1994, Rwanda had a population of  5.5 million, of which 14 percent were Tutsi. Today Rwanda has a population of 11.5 million, of which the Tutsi population is less than 10 percent.

Staff of international human rights organisation detained in Ethiopia

Ethiopian immigration officials detained a member of staff from ARTICLE 19’s East Africa office on 3 April for 29 hours without any access to legal advice or consular support. Fortunately, Patrick Mutahi, a trainer in protection, reacted according to strict ARTICLE 19 security protocols, notifying Ethiopian contacts of his detainment before his mobile phone was confiscated.

Following a rapid campaign for his release, Mutahi was deported back to Kenya on 4 April, and was warned that he would face jail if he returned.

ARTICLE 19 is one of the last remaining international human rights organisations working in Ethiopia and providing independent information to the UN Human Rights Council, and we are therefore concerned that the situation will only deteriorate further.

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.