Archive for January, 2012

Kenyan judge formally issues provisional arrest warrant for Sudanese president

Sudan Tribune (Jan. 26) A Kenyan judge on Monday formally issued a provisional arrest warrant for the Sudanese president Omar Hassan al-Bashir in line with a ruling he made late last year saying that Nairobi had an obligation to apprehend him. Read more…

EFJA Calls for Concerted Global Efforts to Stop Abuses

IFEX (Jan. 25) The Ethiopian Free Press Association (EFJA) strongly condemns the use of Ethiopia’s controversial anti-terrorism law to persecute, muzzle and silence critics and journalists. EFJA also calls upon press freedom advocates, human rights organizations and freedom-loving individuals around the world to make concerted international efforts to stop widespread violations of human rights that are being routinely committed by the TPLF-led government. Read more…

Ethiopia: Forum Asked Government to Conduct Referendum on Urban Land Ownership

Negadras – Amharic weekly (January 27) – Forum criticized proclamation endorsed on Urban Land Ownership. The Forum said the law violates rights of citizens to own, use, sale and exchange property and calls government to conduct referendum on the issue. At the press conference held yesterday Forum leaders accuses EPRDF saying that it endorsed the law to arrange favorable condition for its cadres to own land. Forum leaders said that in Addis and other cities EPRDF cadres were involved in illegal land ownership transfer for personal gains. Forum will ask government to revise articles of the constitution that requires amendment the leaders said. Read more…

How relevant is the African Union?

As the continent continues to experience social, political and economic upheaval, we ask if African unity is achievable.

Jan 31, 2012 (Aljazeera) – The 18th African Union (AU) summit ends on Monday in Ethiopia with 40 heads of state and government representatives in attendance.

New leaders from Tunisia, Libya and South Sudan are among the delegates at the first annual summit after the so-called ‘Arab Spring’. Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary-general, and Chinese officials also attended.

The summit is being held at a time of worsening crises across the African continent. Read more…

Ethiopia: City Trade Bureau to Cut out Cattle Market Fat

An ox is now sold for as high as 20,000 Brr.  

Typical Borana bulls in Yabello, Borana Zone of Oromia

January 31, 2012 (Addis Fortune) – Breeders and traders of cattle in Addis Abeba will soon be restricted from trading without licenses issued from the Addis Abeba Trade & Industry Bureau, sources disclosed to Fortune. Neither will butcheries across the city continue to receive supplies from those distributing meat without first securing permits from city authorities.

City officials are writing directives that they argue will put a check on sudden surges in the prices of meat, putting middlemen out of business and helping to enforce a proclamation issued by the Ministry of Trade (MoT) last year. Read more…

Ethiopia Opens New Front against Somalia’s al-Shabab

January 30, 2012 (VOA News) – Witnesses in Somalia say columns of Ethiopian troops have crossed into the country and are marching toward key al-Shabab strongholds, apparently opening a new military front against the Islamist militant group.

A government official, who wished to remain anonymous, confirmed the reports to VOA on Monday, saying the soldiers had reached the town of Luq in the southwest Gedo region.

Al-Shabab is facing pressure inside Somalia from Ethiopian forces already there, Kenyan troops who entered the country in October, and African Union troops in the capital, Mogadishu. Read more…

Somalia: ‘Somaliland has no relations with int’l community’ – Opposition

HARGEYSA, Somalia Jan 30, 2012 (Garowe Online) – A prominent opposition party leader in the Somaliland government Faisal Ali Warabe who spoke to reporters said that Somaliland does not have good relations with the international community and the Somaliland government needed to adjust to the new Somalia, Radio Garowe reports.

Faisal Ali Warabe chairman of the Justice and Welfare Party of Somaliland (UCID) who spoke to reporters said that Somaliland government needed to adjust to the changing political outlook of Somalia. “We have to adjust to the changes in politics around us so Somaliland does not collapse politically,” said Mr. Warabe.

When asked about the international relations Somaliland has the opposition leader responded Somaliland has no real international relations with the international community.

Mr. Warabe spoke about the upcoming meeting in UK, where different autonomous regions in Somalia and the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) of Somalia are invited to meet in London on the 23 of February. Mr. Warabe stated that if Somaliland attends the conference or not, is not important what is important that Somalia comes out of the meeting with a unified policy. Read more…

14 of 29 captured Chinese workers in Sudan have been freed

January 30, 2012 (Shanghaiist) – Perhaps due to the special relationship between the governments of Sudan and China, 14 of the 29 workers held by rebel militants in the southern region of Sudan (not to be confused with South Sudan, the world’s newest country) were rescued by the Sudanese Army only two days after their capture by militant rebels.

The 29 road construction laborers were captured on Saturday from a remote worksite in Abbasiya, a small town in South Kordofan province, by the northern branch of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement. Rescue efforts coordinated by the Sudanese army and the Chinese Embassy in Khartoum began on Sunday.

The Associated Press reports:

The Chinese workers were “liberated” by Sudanese troops and were evacuated to the town of El Obeid, Omdurman Radio quoted South Kordofan province’s governor Ahmed Haroun on Monday as saying. He said that they were in good health.

The SPLM is a guerilla organization turned political party with a long history of opposition against the official Sudanese government. From 1983 to 2005, the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (the military wing of the SPLM) fought in the Second Sudanese Civil War against the official Sudanese government, a protracted conflict which claimed between 1 to 2 million casualties of war. Read more…

AU Summit Highlights Africa’s Tilt Toward the East

African leaders pose for a group photograph with U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon during the 18th African Union (AU) summit in Ethiopia's capital Addis Ababa, January 29, 2012.

China is the honored guest at this summit, and the opening session was filled expressions of gratitude for Beijing’s gift of a new $200-million AU headquarters.

Speakers referred to China’s rising influence in Africa, and to the continent’s growing resentment at what is widely perceived as Western interference in African affairs.

AU Commission Chairman Jean Ping described 2011 as a year of trials and hardship, as Western institutions imposed solutions to crises in Libya and Ivory Coast, rejecting or ignoring African proposals.

“The events of 2011 have greatly strained some of our instruments and consequently our capacity to anticipate,” he said.”Sometimes they tested the strength of our unity and our ability to have our views prevail in some issues of vital interest to the continent.” Read more…

Frenetic pace of Ethiopia’s khat boomtown

January 2012, AWADAY — The global trade in khat is worth hundreds of millions of dollars a year and in one Ethiopian town daily life centres almost entirely around the drug.

Drive along any road between Ethiopia, Djibouti and Somalia and you are likely to see pick-up trucks, piled high with bundles of fresh green leaves, hurtling past you at terrific speed, horns blaring, lights flashing.

A bit like ambulances. Or fire engines.

Land at any airport and you will see planes stuffed with the same green leaves, being unloaded at a frenzied pace.

Whether there is war, drought or famine, the leaves get through. The khat industry booms.

I used to wonder where all this khat was coming from. Now I know. Read more…

Oromia: SEIF NABALBAL RADIO FUNDRAISING

January 29, 2012

The SEIF radio is working to expand it’s service to the horn of African countries through audio and web based networks.  It is planing to coordinate a fund raising drive to support this radio program that works to find the truth and tell the truth.  The goal is to feed other radio station with its programs through a satellite and make it available to a wide range of listeners.  SEIF’s news, interviews and multi faceted radio programs range from the best audio moments such as classical Oromo songs including Shaggoyyee, Dhichisaa, Tirrii, Hiyyaasee, Ragaa and Ragadaa programs and messages from its on-air staff.  Hence, if you value SEIF radio, please donate funds that it will use to buy audio supplies, pay for other radio stations fees, to buy computers etc. that our radio program needs.   SEIF is also working on obtaining domain name for the website where it will make scripts and audios available to you,  its listeners.  Read more…

ETHIOPIA: Kenenisa Bekele inquired about changing nationality

January 29, 2012 BRUSSELS (News Wire) — The suspension of Olympic champion Kenenisa Bekele and 34 others was lifted Tuesday, clearing the way for the Ethiopian great to run at the London Games.

“We have agreed to discuss all the matters concerning their problems,” Ethiopian Athletics Federation president Bisrat Gashawten Tirfe told The Associated Press.

The athletes were suspended last week for not reporting for an early pre-Olympic camp to improve performance and competition.

Bekele won the 5,000 and 10,000 meters at the Beijing Olympics and holds the world record in both events. He was suspended along with Tirunesh Dibaba, winner of the two women’s long-distance titles in Beijing. The suspension would have prevented them from running at this year’s Olympics. Read more…

April 15: Oromo Martrys Day

(Oromocentre,Melbourne, 29 January 2012) The Southeastern Region Melbourne Oromo Community Association in Victoria, Australia would like to host this year’s Oromo Martyrs Day in Victoria, Australia and we proudly invite all Oromos in Melbourne, Victoria to attend this historical day with your family on April 15, 2012.

April 15^th is Oromo Martyrs Day also known as Guyyaa Gootota Oromo. This commemorative day was first started by Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) following the execution of its prominent leader’s on diplomatic mission enrouted to Somalia on April 15, 1980.

Since then this day was observed as Oromo Martyrs Day by Oromo nationals around the world to honor those who have sacrificed their lives to free Oromia and to renew a commitment to the cause for which they have died.

The event will be held on April 15th 2012 at Venue-PADDY O’DONOGHUE CENTRE (HALL) 18-34 BUCKLEY STREET, NOBLE PARK VIC 3174 from 4:00-11:00 Pm.

–Oromo Community Centre, Southeastern Region Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Kwame Nkrumah’s Statue Unveiled In Addis Ababa

January 29, 2012 (Peace FM Online) – President John Evans Atta Mills at the weekend unveiled the statue of Dr Kwame Nkrumah, Ghana’s first President at the forecourt of the new African Union (AU) building in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

He was assisted by President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, out-going Chairman of the AU, and Dr Jean Ping, Chairman of the African Union Commission, moments after the building was inaugurated.

The building stands at the former site of Ethiopia’smaximum security prisons.

President Mills was the Guest of Honour at the ceremony, which was performed in the presence of a number of African leaders attending the 18th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the AU. Read more…

Civil Disobedience Continued in Several Parts of Oromia

Qeerroo Report from Finfinne, January 28, 2012

The Arab Spring style uprising which was formally launched in Oromia on January 22, 2012 has continued this week in the entire Oromian different places taking various forms and styles. Below is a summary of some of the activities in the form of civil disobedience in various parts of Oromia.

Finfinne (Addis Ababa), Jan. 23 – 28

Leaflets and Qeerros declaration and call for civil disobedience have been distributed and posted in the entire city at public places. Among them are different campuses of Finfinne (Addis Ababa) University, African Union Campus, and different Hotels. Pictures of some of these leaflets are shown below.

Ambo, Jan. 23.

Leaflets of Qeerroo calling the Oromo public was widely distributed in the Ambo town, Western Shoa zone. Panicked by the call and fearing that an uprising may suddenly occur, the TPLF regime ordered the university administration to close the university and asked all the students to leave the campus and go to their families. Read more…