Canada pressured to cut foreign aid to Ethiopia

The Province
The Ogaden Human Rights Committee (OHRC), which calls itself independent, said Bashir was not a member of the ONLF and not involved in politics. ...Read more

Ethiopian government deported 15 U.S. students

By David Arnold Addis Ababa, Ethiopia 04/08/2009

The federal government of Ethiopia deported 15 American students who were teaching English in small, rural communities in eastern Hararghe region of Oromiya for several weeks.

They had been volunteering in several communities not far from the Ogaden and an off-limits region of Ethiopia where government forces are battling Ogaden National Liberation Front rebel forces. The trip was organized by Learning Enterprises International in Stanford, California. This was the third year the project had been in operation...read more

Source: VOA Horn of African News

A Critical Assessment of the Oromo Liberation Fron

Source: www.OromoIndex.com
Some may take this as an obituary (the end of an era); some others as a call for a new organizational approach. Like it or not; agree or disagree; here is Jawar Siraj Mohammed's self-review of the Oromo struggle under OLF: "Failure to Deliver: The Journey of the Oromo Liberation Front in the Last Two Decades"

PART-1 PART-2 PART-3 PART-4

Zenawi’s Government to Finance a Million Dollar Boxing Match As Millions Starve to Death

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that the government of Ethiopia has made the move to finance the bout between Evander Holyfield and Sammy Retta for publicity - an event that will cost millions with all the extravaganza that goes along with it. All this while 12,000,000 people require humanitarian food assistance as reported by the World Food Program. All this while 90% of the country’s budget comes from foreign aid as reported by Canada’s CBC. Zenawi’s regime has, in recent years, engaged in marketing blitz focused on covering up the real issues of the country with such wasteful events. In a country that lacks basic democracy and the rule of law and in a country plagued with corruption, a boxing match beamed at starving audience will not bring any change. Here’s the report from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.Full Story (the Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

Clinton to meet Somali President on Africa visit

PRESS TV - ‎Jul 29, 2009‎

The US secretary of state plans to hold talks with the Somali president in an attempt to embolden the Mogadishu government in the lawless Horn of Africa state....read more

Related news:

Clinton to meet Somali president Aljazeera.net

Clinton meets Kenyan and Somali leaders next week: ISI - Emerging Markets

HRLHA: Plight of Oromo Political Prisoners Under the Repressive Ethiopian Regime

We, Oromo nationals from all walks of life - farmers, students, teachers, business persons, entrepreneurs, government employees, engineers, medical doctors, youths, elderly, men, women, children etc brought from all over Oromia and accused of being either members or supporters Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) have been subjected to brutal tortures, ill treatments and very harsh prison situations the TPLF/EPRDF government of Ethiopia. read more
Gadaa.com

Woyane jails ex-official Benishangul Gumuz region

Addis Ababa - An Ethiopian court on Tuesday sentenced a former regional official to 20 years in jail for supporting rebel groups operating around the country's border with Sudan.

Sebil Albekhit, former vice-president of the Benishangul Gumuz region in western Ethiopia, was jailed along with 23 others by the high court.


President of Benishangul-Gumuz
regionYaregal Aysheshim
State-run Ethiopian Television said most of them were caught earlier this year while trying to flee to neighbouring Sudan.

The Horn of Africa country's porous frontier with Sudan was in the past home to several Ethiopian rebel groups, mainly in the eastern and southern part of the country, but recent crackdowns by the government have weakened them. - Sapa-AFP

OLA , WBO

An Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) rebel stands guard in their training camp in southern Ethiopia, near the border town of Moyale, July 17, 2009. ...
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Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) rebels from the front-line hold their weapons as they return to their training camp in southern Ethiopia, near the border town of ...
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Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) rebels walk from their training camp in southern Ethiopia, near the border town of Moyale, July 19, 2009. ...
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source: reuters.com

Wayane to import power to Kenya, Sudan

Daily Nation
By ARGAW ASHINE, NATION CorrespondentPosted Tuesday, July 21 2009 at 15:37 Sudan's national Electric agency is set to buy power from Ethiopia early next ...read more

An Interview with the Secretary General of the International Federation of Red Cross & Red Crescent

By jimluce
October 1978, inside the main police station in Addis Ababa.Bekele Geleta is hanging upside down, his feet being beaten bloody by interrogators. They insist he belongs to the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF); he insists he doesn’t. He is a civil servant, not a politician or an activist.

It does not matter. Bekele has been caught in another purge... of the socialist dictatorship... in an effort to eliminate the OLF. Many of his friends and relatives have been arrested.

"At that time there were roundups in the country, lots of killings left and right," says Bekele. "Anybody who was reported to be politically anti-government was rounded up and sent to prison."

Finally he is brought before a special investigator, who declares a sentence of five years in jail, no trial.

Bekele is transferred to the Central Prison in Addis Ababa, known informally as Karcheli prison. The inmate population numbers in the thousands, with as many as 1,500 political prisoners alone.

Pickpockets, activists, academics, businessmen, murderers, civil servants -- all are penned together behind the imposing walls and iron bars of the prison building in the city’s downtown, "right behind the offices of the Organization of African Unity," says Bekele.

When he first arrives, he is put into a cell with 200 inmates and two hole-in-the-floor toilets. There are no chairs, no tables, no beds except for some mattresses on the floor....(read more)

related news

1. Bekele Geleta: From Refugee To Red Cross Boss

2. Bekele Geleta Receives Honorary Doctorate

3. Bekele Geleta | Honorary graduations 2009 | Media | University
   

4. Introducing Bekele Geleta
   

Ethiopia: Woyane suspends 42 ngos as hunger worsens

Daily Nation

Daily Nation - Nairobi,Kenya
Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi speaks to the media at his office in Addis Ababa, April 13, 2009. Ethiopian authorities have suspended the....(read more

Ethiopia Volcanic Field Spews Lava

Earthweek - A Diary of the Planet

Earthweek - A Diary of the Planet - Dallas,TX,USA
Ethiopia's Manda Hararo volcanic field is said to currently be the world's most active volcanic area. A vast amount of lava has spewed since late June from ... (read more

Opinion: The question to be asked by Oromo at the Atlanta festival: an independent Oromia or a united Ethiopia

Some non-Oromo politicians try to create the “third way” like that of renegade “opposition leader” aka Mr. Lidetu Ayalew. These non-Oromos are neither for an independent Oromia nor for an autonomous Oromia in the Ethiopian context, but they do advocate for all Oromo people to be Ethiopians and live as such without demanding any sort of autonomy. Even some Oromo politicians seem to tell us that we are on a crossroad to choose between two Kaayyoos: an independent Oromia or a united Ethiopia.(Read More » » »)

Oromo’s End Goal (KAAYYOO) is Sovereign State of Oromia in a United State of Africa

By Fayyis Oromia
can be reached at fayyis@yahoo.de.
The modern and enlightened elites of Amharas, Tigarus, Ogadenis, Afars, Gurages, Welayitas, Hadiyas, Kambatas, Kafas, Sidamas, Oromos, Gambellas, Benishanguls, and so on can come together and transform the status quo of the empire through building United States of Ethiopia as a very good base for the United States of Africa.

When we want to look at Oromo’s history, we just need to consider and ask the question: “who wrote it?”. Is it the Abesha elites who used to tell us that we came out of River? Is it some Oromo nationalists who tell us that we are from Mada Walabu and we have been colonized by Abyssinians? Is it some “modern” historians like Prof. Shamsadin who do write that we are related to Meroe of north Sudan, and the name Ethiopia actually belongs to Oromos, not to Abeshas? and so on. Did Oromos “migrate” from south towards north or were we pushed from north (Meroe) towards south? I personally would like to leave history to historians.

But, I am not too naive not to recognize that we Oromos were and are the indigenous people in the Horn of Africa, and we were pushed by christian Europeans and Muslim Arabs as well Turks from different directions and squeezed to our present national area. Additionally, we, being originally Waaqeffataas, tried to resist the BIG religions, and we preserved ourselves as Oromos in our current geographical region. Let me raise certain questions: are the Christianized and Semetized Amharas and Tigarus biological Oromos or are they other Cushitic nations like Agew? Are the Islamized i.e Arabanized Afars and Somalis also biological Oromos? I do ask these questions for there are certain historians who do consider Oromo as a stem for almost all other Cushitic nations in the Horn...read more.
Gadaa.com

Ethiopian minister refuses to return home from US

ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA - Ethiopia's state minister for communication affairs has refused to return home from the United Sates after an official visit, a top government official told AFP Wednesday.

Ermias Legesse was issued with an 11-day visa and left for the US in the second week of June, but has not returned.

"He didn't report back, but there is nothing political in that," said the official who spoke on condition of anonymity.

"He has chosen to stay there. It seems he has dreamt about going to the US," he added. "Sometimes strange things happen."

Ermias, who is in his thirties, was appointed to the position earlier this year.

The US embassy in Addis Ababa declined to comment on the matter, but a diplomatic source said Ermias "has not been reachable for several days."

Ethiopian rebels, government claim gains in restive region

ADDIS ABABA (AFP) — Ethnic Somali rebels in Ethiopia's Ogaden region claimed Monday they killed 90 government troops in recent clashes, but the government denied any losses, claiming victory instead.

In a statement, the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) said it had "conducted a coordinated military operation" in Kebridehar, Degahabur and Jijiga, in response "to increased harassment and war crimes being committed by the Ethiopian Army".

The ONLF "conducted coordinated military operations ... killing 90 soldiers and wounding more than 100 others", the group said, before adding that six Ural military vehicles were destroyed and dozens of assault rifles captured...read more

Source: AFP

Guddaa Yaaduu <>Thinking big

Jal. Ibsaa Guutamaa

• Guddaa yaaduu

Qabamuu duuba addunyaan naannaa Oromoo jiru duudee ture. Kan qaawwaa dhiphoo bututi uume keessaan ilaaluu dandahan yartuu turani. Jarreen yaroo sana kan hanga ABO uumuun sochii malbulchaa walfudhate sochosuu dandahanitt tattaafataa turan. ABOn duuchaa sana cabsee saaqaa guddaa uumuun akka Oromummaan, humnni fedha of olchuu fi walabummaa Oromoo sossoosu, deebi’ee dhalatu taasise...read more

• Thinking big

After occupation the world around the Oromo was sealed. They were the few who were able to see through narrow hole created by wears and tears. They were those few that kept on moving until they founded the OLF and set in motion a concerted political movement for liberation. The OLF was able to break the seal wide open and effect the renaissance of Oromummaa, the moving force of Oromo spirit for survival and liberty...read more

US will urge Ethiopia to stay out of Somalia

By David Clarke

NAIROBI (Reuters) - The United States will encourage Ethiopia not to return to Somalia as it would be against the interests of both Horn of African nations, Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Johnnie Carson said on Saturday.

Ethiopia invaded Somalia in late 2006 to topple an Islamist movement in the capital Mogadishu. The intervention sparked an Islamist insurgency which is still raging despite the fact Ethiopian troops pulled out in January.

"The Ethiopian government continues to look very closely at developments in Somalia," Carson told Reuters in Kenya ahead of a visit to Ethiopia on Monday... full report

source: Reuters

Why I took up arms against Ethiopia'

2 July 2009 01:16
Ahmed, 35, is a member of the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF), one of a number of separatist groups fighting for the independence of the Somali-speaking Ogaden region in the east of Ethiopia.

The previous evening, he had participated in an attack against Ethiopian troops near the town of Babile.

"The assault lasted only a few minutes but we managed to kill nine government soldiers," he said.

"We are no match for direct combat, so we must rely on quick surprise attacks."

The armed resistance began in 1994 after the ONLF, then a political organisation, broached the idea of splitting from Ethiopia.

The central government responded by imprisoning Ogaden leaders and, according to academics and human rights groups, assassinating others.

'Point of no-return'

"In 1994, as a student in Dire Dawa, I was not allowed take the final examinations because I was an Ogadenian," said Ahmed.

"I was arrested two years later on false charges of belonging to the ONLF. They kept me there for four years and I was beaten repeatedly, sometimes even subjected to electric torture. While in detention, my father was killed by government soldiers."

On his release in 2001, he immediately joined the rebellion but his mother remains in jail in Jijiga.

Fearing for his family, Ahmed convinced his wife to flee with their two daughters.

"They are refugees in Kenya, I haven't seen them for three years.

"There comes a point of no-return when you know you don't belong in this country," he said... full report

Source BBC

Two shot at Ethiopia church site

Ethiopian police have shot and killed two people who were helping to build a Christian church at a site which is also claimed by Muslims, officials say.

Violence broke out when police tried to stop the construction in Dessie, 250km (155 miles) north-east of Addis Ababa.

The police say they were responding to an attack on them by the Christians, but campaign groups say the police ambushed the workers.

The population of Dessie is about two-thirds Christian, one-third Muslim.

Information Minister Bereket Simon told reporters that the Christians had "stormed the place" and tried to continue building the church "unlawfully".

"Unfortunately three lives have been claimed. Two of them were killed by bullets, one of them fell off a cliff," he said.

Several other people were also hurt in the violence. Source: BBC