Ethiopia arrests 480 opponents - coalition

Sudan Tribune - Sudan
Another member of the coalition Bulcha Demeksa-a leader of a party that represent Ethiopia's biggest ethnic group, Oromo, recently told reports that “they ...read more

Stop Olola on Oromo and Start Lola Against Weyane!

Fayyis Oromia

Now is the time to come to our sense. Our people are suffering under a yoke of Weyane. It is time to be effective and get rid of this fascist regime. We need to empower Oromo people against this brutal oppressor. One way of empowering Oromo liberation camp is by stopping the olola each of our organizations do against each other.....read more
oromiatimes.blogspot.com

TPLF racks up $100-million/year from adoptions of Oromia/South children

This is a video from Australia’s ABC - a documentary that reveals the exploitation of helpless children and their parents under the regime of Meles Zenawi. The TPLF government racks up $100-million per year from international adoptions (which some call ‘harvesting‘) of children, mostly from the Oromia and the South States.

ABC - Since Angelina Jolie adopted her daughter Zahara in 2005, the number of Americans adopting Ethiopian children has quadrupled.

A pop-media obsession with celebrities adopting children in Africa has resulted in a queue of adopting foreigners dealing with opportunistic adoption agents in operating in a regulatory vaccuum. In Ethiopia - and beyond - its creating a heartbreaking mess.

International adoptions may seem like an ideal solution to the dreadful deprivation among the young in Ethiopia and the often impossible circumstances confronting parents trying to feed and raise their children.

The reality though, is far from ideal READ MORE.

Major Cattle Disease Eradicated in Ethiopia

By Steve Baragona
Washington, DC
16 September 2009

VOA

Rinderpest is an ancient viral disease that used to kill massive numbers of cattle in Africa, Asia, and Europe. In the late 19th century, a rinderpest epidemic wiped out an estimated 90 percent of Ethiopia's cattle and, as a result, approximately one-third of the human population died.

A vaccine developed in the 1960s eliminated the disease from much of the world. But the vaccine had to be kept cold. Researchers at Tufts University developed a heat-stable version that went into use in the 1990s...read more

Weyane’s Article 39: hidden agenda

Simply put, Weyane’s Article 39 is ye Amhara masferariya (scare tactics) and ye Oromo mataleya (deception tool) as well as ye Tegaru dibiq-tesfa (hidden agenda).

By Fayyis Oromia*

It is clear that the main promoter of Article 39 in the current Ethiopian Constitution is Weyane. The TPLF regime just did put the Article in a Constitution as a guarantee for an option to push for the independence of Tigrai in case it loses power in Finfinne palace. It was not planned to secure the right of other nations for this would be practically hindered as long as Weyane stayed in power. A very good example is the revision of the decision made by Somali Regional Parliament for self-determination in 1995, which caused the main conflict between ONLF and Weyane. Ogadenis were denied the right to self-determination, which is theoretically guaranteed as a constitutional right. Since then, the ONLF has to fight for the same self-determination, which it could have achieved in a peaceful way. This shows why the Article has no value for other oppressed nations other than for Tegarus. read more

Ethiopia rebels warn oil firms from restive Ogaden

AFP
In a statement, the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) "strongly advises multinational corporations that Ogaden is a war zone"...read more

OLF as a Trinity (one and three at a time)

By Fayyis Oromia*

This short essay is just presented as a clarification for Oromo foes, who are nowadays delighting by “perceiving” a division of the Oromo liberation vanguard into “three.” For their information, OLF has got, from the very beginning, only one Kaayyoo (goal), which

Leaders of OLF factions (left to right):
Dawud Ibsa, Dhugasa Bakako and Kemal Gelchu

also at the same time can be interpreted as three Kaayyoos Kaayyoo is self-determination, the three interpretations of the Kaayyoo are: in a pocket, and it plays with the three cards based on the objective reality it is in, aka according to the “here and now” of the situations. Even though the only one

-independence without a union,
-referendum on the issue: independence without a union Vs. independence within a union, and
-independence within a union.

(Read More » » »)

Meles Zenawi: I am in the office until 2015

By ARGAW ASHINE, NMG correspondent in Addis Ababa Posted Wednesday, September 9 2009 at 10:08

In Summary

• The 54 year-old former guerrilla leader was convinced by party members to stay on.
• Ethiopia’s next general election is scheduled for June 2010.

Ethiopia Prime Minster Meles Zenawi will seek for a new five-year term, his ruling party announced on Tuesday.

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• Foreign states in race for Ethiopia's farmland
• Lobby warns of chaos in Ethiopia

The 54 year-old former guerrilla leader, who has been in power for 18 years, was convinced by party members to stay on.

The Ethiopian People Democratic Front (EPRDF) council underlined that the Ethiopian people and his party need Mr Zenawi for one more term at the end of a two day annual gathering.

“Meles is playing a key role in transforming Ethiopia....” EPRDF said in a statement.

In recent months, EPRDF’s chairman Zenawi has said he plans to go in 2010 if his party accept his resignation.

The council extensively debated on the issue and agreed to keep Mr Zenawi in office for one until 2015.

Ethiopia’s next general election is scheduled for June 2010.

The PM has increasingly become a champion of African in international forums.

However, at home he is accused of a poor human rights record and oppression against opposition politicians and the media.

Last week, Mr Zenawi was elected to represent Africa in the climate change talks in Denmark, Copenhagen.

Daily Nation

Ethiopian court sentences six to death for massacre

ADDIS ABABA, Sept 3 (Reuters ) - An Ethiopian court has sentenced six members of the Benishangule-Gumuz community to death and another 97 to prison terms for the massacre of Oromo villagers last year, a state agency reported on Thursday.

The 103 had been charged with genocide for killings that took place in May 2008. They gunned down or speared to death 93 members of the Oromo tribe, the state-run Ethiopian News Agency (ENA) reported.

The two groups have for centuries lived side by side in western Ethiopia.

"The court found guilty the 103 members of the Benishangule-Gumuz after examining documents, pictures and video tape evidence presented by the prosecution and after the accused failed to exercise their right to defence," ENA said.

Those that escaped the death sentence were handed prison terms ranging between six years to life imprisonment with hard labour. (Reporting by Tsegaye Tadesse, editing by Helen Nyambura-Mwaura)
Reuters

Bulcha Demeksa: OFDM is for Ethiopia, not Oromia

Oromo Opposition leader Bulcha Demeksa said most Oromos do not want secession from Ethiopia and his party has declared its opposition to the corresponding Article 39 of the current government's constitution. He told Voice of America (VOA) that his OFDM party, various Oromo and other Ethiopian opposition groups inside the new FDD coalition have put this policy as one of their several uniting causes.

Bulcha added that Article 39 was enforced into the constitution by Meles Zenawi’s TPLF in the early 1990s without the wish of Oromo people and the political groups active during the transition period. He said Oromo people want democracy, equality and self-governance.

Bulcha said Oromo people see the secession ideology as being detrimental as it fuels more conflicts and as being impractical for Oromo people which he symbolized as being the “stem” of Ethiopia, since they are the majority in population with the most economic resources.

Bulcha said, while Oromo opposition parties are closing gaps with other opposition leaders inside FDD, his OFDM party still supports regional autonomy and ethnic federalism. His FDD-Medrek opposition organization has been the target of increasing government harassment in recent months.

The OFDM chairman and economist Bulcha has previously suggested that the OLF organization might have also dropped its secession ideology. Unlike OLF, the Eritrea-armed ONLF rebels in the Ogaden region reportedly seek secession from Ethiopia to establish "Greater Somalia."

The battle between the ONLF and the government has led to massive humanitarian crisis in all corners of the Ogaden region, comparable to the Darfur crisis, with western human rights groups blaming the Meles administration for war crimes and alleged human rights abuses.

jimmatimes.com

ETHIOPIA:Ethiopia: Thousands affected by acute watery diarrhoea

Photo: Contributor/IRIN

The use of contaminated water has contributed to an acute watery diarrhoea outbreak in Ethiopia (file photo)

ADDIS ABABA, 1 September 2009 (IRIN) - Ethiopian health authorities have dedicated three hospitals in the capital Addis Ababa to patients suffering from acute watery diarrhoea (AWD), according to a health official.

Thousands of people have been infected and 34 killed by the outbreak, says the Health Ministry. Ahmed Imano, head of public relations in the ministry, said there were fears it could escalate with the rains.

"If the people do not take extra care, the number of patients will increase and the outbreak will escalate," Ahmed told IRIN on 1 September. "The public should treat water before use."

The hospitals - Zweditu, Ras Desta and Yekatit - have set up tents to accommodate patients. So far, about 5,700 cases have been reported across the country, including 4,200 in the capital, over the past two weeks.

Some 27 died in 31 woredas (districts) outside Addis Ababa. "The fatality rate in Addis Ababa is 0.2 percent," Ahmed added. read more