Is Zenawi Running a Repressive Regime in Ethiopia? (1)

Lagos — Parts of southern Ethiopia resemble the scenery in a Tarzan movie. When I was there last fall, the green forested hills were blanketed in white mist and rain poured down on the small farms and homesteads. In the towns, slabs of meat hung in the butchers' shops and donkeys hauled huge sacks of coffee beans, Ethiopia's major export, along the stony dirt roads. So I was surprised to see the signs of hunger everywhere. There were babies with kwashiorkor, a disease caused by malnutrition, which I'd assumed occurred only in war zones. Many of the older children were clearly stunted and some women were so deficient in iodine they had goiters the size of cannonballs.

This East African nation, famous for its ancient rock-hewn churches, Solomonic emperors, and seemingly intractable poverty, has a long history of famine. But I had always assumed that food shortages were more common in the much drier north of the country than in the relatively fertile south. Although rainfall throughout Ethiopia had been erratic in 2008 and 2009, the stunting and goiter I saw were signs of chronic malnutrition, which had clearly existed for many years.

What was causing it? Ethiopia's long history of food crises is shrouded in myths and political intrigue. In 1984, famine killed hundreds of thousands of people and left millions destitute. At the time, the UN attributed the famine to drought. But most witnesses knew it had far more to do with a military campaign launched by Ethiopia's then-Soviet-backed dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam against a rebel group based in the northern province of Tigray, known as the Tigrayan People's Liberation Front (TPLF). Government forces isolated the peasantry, destroyed trade and markets, and diverted food aid to their own troops.

Read more

Jamming in Ethiopia Virtually Silences Free Voice, Experts SayJamming in Ethiopia Virtually Silences Free Voice, Experts Say

Technology experts in Washington, DC say the recent blocking of Voice of America radio and Internet broadcasts by the Ethiopian government is likely to have a negative long term impact.

The Ethiopian government recently began jamming VOA radio and Internet broadcasts in the lead up to the 23 May national elections."If the government wants to remain accountable to its people, it has to lift its hand from suppressing independent media outlets," said Getachew Gebretsadiq, a software engineer from Emerging Media Group.

The prime minster of Ethiopia, Meles Zenawi, accuses VOA of broadcasting destabilizing propaganda and he has said publicly he is seeking ways to completely block it.

Voice of America recently invited a panel of technology experts to discuss the jamming of VOA broadcasts. Tigrigna`s People to People program host Tewelde Weldegebriel asked them to explain how Internet blocking and radio jamming works.

"Nowadays, there are expensive softwares that can prevent internet blockage, but big organizations like VOA may not want to engage in such war games," said Semere Taezaz, a former private newspaper editor in Eritrea, now a senior IT technician in Washington DC area.

The panelists agreed jamming radio broadcasts by Ethiopian government is "a severe act of censorship" which can only serve to increase the outrage of people in that country.

Battle for mogadishu

The U.S., European Union and their African allies are training and equipping the security forces of Somalia’s Transitional Federal Government to try to take back the parts of Mogadishu now under the control of an Al-Qaeda affiliate. Large portions of the city, known to most Americans as the site of the 1993 ambush that prompted the withdrawal of U.S. forces from the country, is controlled by the al-Shabaab terrorist group. Should Al-Qaeda and its allies succeed in seizing Somalia, they will be able to resurrect the network they lost in Afghanistan and activate their Somali networks in the West to deadly effect. Recent incidents show the terrifying reach of al-Shabaab. An individual in Virginia named Anthony Joseph Tracy that admits having contact with the terrorist group is known to have smuggled 270 Somalis into the U.S., all of whom are believed to remain in the country and have proven extremely difficult to identify. It is improbable that al-Shabaab would use its resources to sneak random Somalis into the country. The odds are that these are their recruits and they are being used to establish sleeper cells in our midst. Considering that less than 20 terrorists were needed to execute 9/11, the number of nearly 300 could have catastrophic consequences. A law enforcement report reveals that 23 Somalis suspected of being connected to al-Shabaab were arrested in Mexico early in the year as they planned to enter the United States. The Mexican authorities released the group on January 21, despite the fact that only 16 had been identified. One of those arrested was Mohamed Osman Noor, a member of al-Shabaab. It is not clear why the Mexicans released them but it is more than likely that the Somalis made their trip to the U.S. as they intended, albeit a little later than they had hoped. Read here

Ethiopia - Djibouti: Row erupts over new port directive

A row has erupted between Ethiopia and the government of Djibouti over the latter’s promulgation of a new directive, issued last week, that will see Ethiopia lose millions of dollars in port operations.

The directive establishes a monopoly, in favor of Maersk Djibouti Freight Station, over operations involving the stuffing and unstuffing of containers at the Djibouti port.

The operation, which was hitherto handled by all forwarding companies, could cost Ethiopia some 9 million dollars per year.

Talking to a local newspaper, Fortune, Mekonnen Abera, director general of Ethiopian Port Affairs Authority said the directive violates a 2002 bilateral agreement between the two countries.

Under the agreement, Djibouti is expected to provide Ethiopia with a 60 day notification prior to price increments or actions that affect the port’s operations.

“It is a huge decision. We need to talk and want the case to remain pending in the meantime,” Mekonnen said ahead of a planned official visit to Djibouti, next week, to closely examine the issue with his Djibouti counterpart.

Ethiopian Freight Forwarders and Shipping Agents Association have also complained about the directive.

In a letter addressed to Aden Ahmed Dualeh, board chairman of Djibouti port authority, the association argues that third party handling in what concerns container stuffing and unstuffing operations could lead to a confusion over who should bear responsibility in case of damage, shortage or mixing of cargos.

In line with the directive, Maersk has already imposed a 100 dollar tariff per container that enters its premises for stuffing or unstuffing.

Ethiopia has an average of 100,000 in-bound containers unstuffed and an average of 30,00-40,000 out-bound containers stuffed at the Djibouti port per

Ethiopia accuses Egypt of delaying Nile treaty

ADDIS ABABA — Ethiopia said Tuesday that it would go ahead with a new deal with six other countries on sharing the waters of the Nile and accused Egypt of "dragging its feet" on a more equitable treaty.

The new agreement replaces a 1929 colonial-era treaty between Egypt and Britain, which gave Egypt veto power over upstream projects. The country also has access to most of the water from one of the world's longest rivers.

"Ethiopia and six other countries in east and central Africa will sign on May 14 a framework agreement on the equitable utilisation of the Nile river," Ethiopian government spokesman Shimelis Kemal told reporters.

"It's a deal based on international customary law, but Egypt is dragging its feet. All seven countries have rejected the previous agreement between Egypt and colonial Britain," he said.

Egyptian Water Resources Minister Mohammed Allam on Monday warned Nile basin countries against inking the deal which excluded his country.

Burundi, DR Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda agreed to the new deal on April 13, only to be shunned by both Egypt and Sudan -- the river's two largest consumers.

At the heart of the dispute is the 1929 agreement between Egypt and Britain, acting on behalf of its African colonies along the 5,584-kilometre (3,470-mile) river, which gave Egypt veto power over upstream projects.

An agreement between Egypt and Sudan in 1959 allowed Egypt 55.5 billion cubic metres of water each year -- 87 percent of the Nile's flow -- and Sudan 18.5 billion cubic metres.

Some of the Nile Basin countries say past treaties are unfair and they want an equitable water-sharing agreement that would allow for more irrigation and power projects.

Egypt, a mostly arid country that relies on the Nile for the majority of its water, argues up-stream countries could make better use of rainfall and have other sources of water.

ICG: Ethiopia: Ethnic Federalism and Its Discontents

This report from the International Crisis Group examines the potential for conflict in Ethiopia ahead of the June 2010 elections as ethnic tensions and dissent rises. The report urges the international community to encourage more meaningful democratic governance in the country.

The Ethiopian Peoples' Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), led by its chairman and prime minister, Meles Zenawi, has radically reformed Ethiopia's political system. The regime transformed the hitherto centralised state into the Federal Democratic Republic and also redefined
citizenship, politics and identity on ethnic grounds. The intent was to create a more prosperous, just and representative state for all its people. Yet, despite continued economic growth and promised democratisation, there is growing discontent with the EPRDF's ethnically defined state and rigid grip on power and fears of continued interethnic conflict. The international community should take Ethiopia's governance problems much more seriously and adopt a more principled position towards the government. Without genuine multi-party democracy, the tensions and pressures in Ethiopia's polities will only grow, greatly increasing the possibility of a violent eruption that would destabilise the country and region

Read here

How Iceland's volcano sears Kenya's crops

When the Iceland volcano with an unpronounceable name erupted last week, most Kenyans must have reacted in more or less the same way as they did when a massive earthquake hit Haiti in January. They viewed it as another sad phenomenon affecting a faraway land. Other than in pictures, most have never seen a volcano erupt anyway and, therefore, the Icelandic phenomenon was nothing more than a spectral enactment of one of nature's wonders.

Read here