Tuesday, December 11, 2007

‘Ethiopia’ in Chaos as Oromo Leaders slam Zenawi’s Abysso-Fascism

Dr. Muhammad Shamsaddin Megalommatis

The tyrannical regime of the tribal dictator Meles Zenawi crosses its last moments; total political incapacity, brutal oppression, failed intervention in Somalia, paranoid plans to divide a United Nation like the Somalis and to enforce a fake unity among the disparate elements of fake ‘Ethiopia’, and a great number of similar racist projects have brought about vast political despair, extensive economic marasm, and social chaos in the colonial relic Abyssinia – fallaciously re-baptized ‘Ethiopia’.

The drama of Ogaden finds its equivalent in the collapse of the socioeconomic conditions in Oromia and the South; the last Abyssinian tyrannical regime of dying ‘Ethiopia’ finds no other way to survive except extrajudicial killings, indiscriminate rapes, carpet bombardments of villlages, wars, massive land expropriation, and selection of renegades among the tyrannized nations that aspire to National Independence and total secession from the Neo-Nazi Abyssinian Hell.

One major Oromo political formation, the Oromo Liberation Front issued a statement in the aftermath of its Executive Committee session; the text is revelatory of the diffusion of chaos and socioeconomic disorder from Ogaden to Oromia and the South. As this text generated vast discussions among Oromos, we will publish related commentary in a forthcoming article. Here, we will publish integrally the Statement of the Executive Committee of the OLF, advising for an attentive reading as there are hints in the text about a forthcoming War between Eritrea and the vanishing Neo-Nazi regime of relic Abyssinia.

Statement of the Executive Committee of the OLF

Man Accuses Army of Torture

Ali Abdi
Nairob

Army personnel involved in a military operation in Moyale allegedly tortured a father of two and other people.

Mr Jaldesa Duba Halake, 27, has recorded a statement at the Moyale police station and is seeking compensation for alleged torture.

On Sunday, hundreds of Moyale residents held a demonstration to petition local DC, Mr Victor Okioma, and asked him to take action against the army personnel.

Halake claimed he was tortured for two weeks by the military that was hunting down Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) rebels in an operation that President Kibaki has since suspended.

He alleged that he was taken to the police in Moyale and the Ethiopian military was called to ascertain whether he was an OLF accomplice.

He was, however, found innocent.

"'It was after they (Kenya army) realised they had detained me wrongfully that they treated me at their clinic. I demand justice," Halake said, on the telephone.

He claimed the army used metal rods and burned his buttocks, back and legs.

Outgoing Moyale MP, Mr Wario Malla, who was among the protesters, said the operation was ill timed and the Government must investigate the torture claims.

The DC asked those who alleged to have been tortured to record statements with the police.

Kibaki halted the operation on Saturday following an appeal by PNU politicians, saying the exercise had negatively affected their campaigns in the district. Three weeks ago, the Government sent the army to the border after armed OLF members fled into Kenya. The move was, however, criticised by local leaders who alleged that Kenyans in the region had been harassed and tortured.

Sunday, December 02, 2007

Open Letter to U.S Senators



Senators Biden and Lugar, Secretary Rice, and others:

I am writing to express my concern about the widespread violations of human rights which the Meles-led Ethiopian government is committing against its citizens, particularly those in the Oromia, Gambela, Ogaden and other regions. I graduated from high school in Addis Ababa and lived in Ethiopia for several years prior to that during the 1960s while my parents were there working. I know the Ethiopian people to be wonderful human beings and my heart goes out to them in their efforts to bring democracy and the rule of law to their beautiful country.

I recently learned of the Ethiopian government’s militaristic “carpet bombing” to “flush out rebels” in the Ogaden, acts which annihilate defenseless civilians while destroying their livestock, granaries, wells and shelter. Human rights advocacy organizations like the Empowerment Initiative are calling for our government to verify that our military trainers have in no way been complicit to these actions of the Ethiopian military and that the weaponry and ordinances being used against defenseless civilians are not being supplied by the United States.

The violence which the Meles-led government commits is not limited to Ethiopian citizens living within the country. Physical assaults and the assignation of Oromo refugees in Kenya have been reported in the media and documented by the Advocacy for the Fundamental Rights of Oromos and Others (AFRO-O), a human rights organization based in Maryland. These victims were living in a guarded camp in Nairobi and are believed to be registered with the United Nations High Commission for Refugees.

International human rights organizations, including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, are unanimous in their recognition and condemnation of the Ethiopian government’s extra-judicial imprisonment and torture of citizens who are believed to support opposition political parties and their leadership. The AFRO-O recently released the names of 148 Oromos currently being detained in this effort to suppress any opposition to the tyranny of Meles and his government.

Please help bring the fate of these victims to the attention of appropriate agencies and leaders and join with efforts to change the conditions under which Oromos and other Ethiopians suffer at the hands of the Meles-led Ethiopian government. I urge you to put the principles framed in our Constitution’s Bill of Rights and the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights into practice and act now to hold the Ethiopian government accountable for these crimes against humanity and, in particular, support HR 2003 (the Ethiopian Democracy and Accountability Act of 2007), a bipartisan bill authored by Representatives Payne and Smith which is now pending in the Senate.



Donald L Fischer, PhD

Psychologist and Professor

Missouri State University

Springfield, Missouri 65804

donaldfischer@missouristate.edu

Saturday, December 01, 2007

Ethiopian regime is engaged in massive preparations to invade Eritrea

Asmara, 30 November 2007 - In continuation of the seminars being conducted inside the country and abroad regarding the objective situation in the Homeland and the region, similar seminars took place in different Eritrean towns. Thousands of members of government institutions and the PFDJ attended the meetings.

The meetings took note of the fact that the aim of the TPLF regime’s war of aggression is to disintegrate and subjugate Eritrea and its people, and that as far as the TPLF is concerned, border demarcation means committing suicide. In this regard, the meeting outlined that the TPLF regime, with the encouragement and support of its collaborators, especially the US Administration, has been persistently rejecting border demarcation.

When The TPLF clique realized that its day dream of seeing “the Eritrean economy collapsing leading to political, economic and social turmoil” was nothing but a wild dream, and the ever aggravating internal crisis and popular opposition against the regime inside Ethiopia is gaining momentum, the regime is engaged in massive preparations to invade Eritrea, with the order and blessing of the US Administration.

In the meetings characterized with patriotic spirit, the participants lauded the impressive achievements Eritrea has registered in all domains amid continued external hostilities. They stressed the significance of the Eritrean people’s political resourcefulness to this end. The participants further underlined the need to keep intact and reinforce firm national unity, conviction, cherished values and principles.


Additional Information:

Ethiopia not prepared to engage in any dialogue with Eritrea regarding border demarcation, Special Advisor of TPLF regime’s Premier says

By Staff
Nov 28, 2007, 13:16

Asmara, 29 November 2007 – Bereket Simon, Special Advisor of the TPLF regime’s Premier, said today that Ethiopia is not prepared to engage in any dialogue with Eritrea regarding border demarcation. He made the statement in an interview with the Nairobi-based ISN Security Watch media outlet.

Commenting on remarks Meles Zenawi made yesterday to the country’s parliament stating that “we will not launch war against Eritrea,” and “we are just saying let’s hold dialogue as regards border,” as compared to the conflicting statement cited above stating that “Ethiopia is not prepared to engage in any dialogue,” an Eritrean intellectual recalled the following utterances made by the TPLF authorities:

‘TPLF means the party that at one time boasted it had secured both claimed and unclaimed territories”, and later on stated that “the Boundary Commission’s ruling is illegal;” “the war we would now launch will have no end,” and subsequently claiming “we don’t intend to launch war;” “we would withdraw from Somalia within three days” and then stay for one solid year.’

The Eritrean intellectual went on to underline that in view of the TPLF regime’s resort to lies after lies, and contradictory statements which the clique unashamedly considers an asset, nobody should be surprised at all.

Source: www.biddho.com


No Ethiopia-Eritrea border deal

BBC
Ethiopian troops along Eritrean border (file photo)
A demilitarised border is thick with troops and bristling with weapons
A deadline for long-time foes Ethiopia and Eritrea to demarcate their shared border has expired without agreement.

The date was set a year ago by the Ethiopia-Eritrea Border Commission, which was created following a bloody border war between the two countries.

The commission said it now considered the line it had drawn as the official border and its own mandate fulfilled.

Eritrea says its accepts the ruling, but Ethiopia has consistently refused to give up claims to the town of Badme.

Neither Ethiopia nor Eritrea has moved its troops to away from a buffer zone.

Some 80,000 people died during the 1998-2000 war.

The commission has now dissolved itself but a small United Nations peacekeeping force (UNMEE) of 1,700 troops will remain in the border area until early 2008.

A UNMEE spokesman told the BBC it would do as much as it could to prevent hostilities between Ethiopia and Eritrea but said it would be unable to intervene should a new war break out.

The BBC's Elizabeth Blunt in Ethiopia's capital, Addis Ababa, says the commission can hardly be said to have succeeded.

TENSE BORDER
Dec 2000: Peace agreement
Apr 2002: Border ruling
Mar 2003: Ethiopian complaint over Badme rejected
Sep 2003: Ethiopia asks for new ruling
Feb 2005: UN concern at military build-up
Oct 2005: Eritrea restricts peacekeepers' activities
Nov 2005: UN sanctions threat if no compliance with 2000 deal

Its imminent disappearance leaves the two armies glaring at each other across a still unresolved border.

What was meant to be a demilitarised border is now thick with troops and bristling with weapons and representatives of the commission have not been able to get in to set up border markers, our correspondent says.

The two sides will not talk to each other and there is no obvious way to move the issue towards a more satisfactory conclusion, she says.

In the past few weeks there has been talk of UN involvement and perhaps the appointment of a facilitator to work with the two sides.

But so far no such initiative has been announced.

Ogaden denial

The Ethiopian and Eritrean leaders, Meles Zenawi and Isaias Afewerki respectively, were allies until after Eritrea gained its independence from Ethiopia in 1993.

Their rebel movements had fought together to overthrow long-time Ethiopian ruler Mengistu Haile Mariam.

The 1998-2000 war was ostensibly fought over the dusty town of Badme, which was subsequently awarded to Eritrea by the border commission.

But to this day the settlement remains under Ethiopian administration.

Meanwhile, Mr Meles has denied accusations made by separatist rebels in the south-east of Ethiopia that his troops have committed massive human rights abuses against civilians.

The rebel Ogaden National Liberation Front accused government forces of executing local residents during counter-insurgency operations in the region.

Mr Meles said such violations would not take place because his government respected human rights.

He said that given his own experience as a former rebel leader he knew that harassing civilians was the gravest mistake a government fighting an insurgency could make.

map

Kenya arrests 12 suspected Ethiopian rebels

SIOLO, Kenya, Nov 30 (Reuters) - Kenyan police said on Friday they had arrested 12 suspected Ethiopian rebels and nine locals accused of helping them in a remote region on the border with Ethiopia.

Two of the suspected members of the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) rounded up this week have already been deported while the others are still being interrogated, said Rono Bunei, district police commander in the Kenyan border town of Moyale.

"The operation is still going on and we shall not allow any group to use our soil to fight a friendly government," he said. The rest will be deported if confirmed as OLF members.

One of several insurgent groups fighting Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi's government, the OLF seeks greater autonomy for ethnically Oromo areas of south Ethiopia.

The nine Kenyans were arrested for offering shelter to the 12, police said.

Some locals said innocent youths had been arrested.

"Most of the people arrested are Kenyans," local resident Barrack Mohammed told Reuters.

"We have lived with them and they can't do anything like that. The police are just picking on them." (Reporting by Noor Ali, Editing by Joseph Sudah and Robert Woodward)