ESAT Radio confirms the death of Meles Zenawi citing International Crisis Group
July 30, 2012 (ESAT) – just reported in its tonight news that Ethiopian Prime Minsiter Meles Zenawi has died at 57. The Radio cited its sources from an international organisation and the diplomatic community. Ayyaantuu.com reported on July 22, 2012 under the title The dead body of Meles Zenawi will be aired by the regime in the coming days, that Meles was gone long time ago, but the Ethiopian government still maintains his existence.
Meles’ puppet Ambassador to USA, Ato Girma Birru, in his interview on Sunday tried to convince his audience that Meles would be returned to his office as soon as possible, but the news coming from general public in Ethiopia indicates that Meles is governing the country from his coffin as his predecessor, Emperor Menilik. Ato Birru said that he personally paid a visit to Meles Zenawi at his hospital with members of the Ethiopian Embassy in Brussels last week. They did not say whether he was alive or dead.
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30,000 Enter Kenya to Escape Ethiopian Ethnic Clash
By Mohammed Yusuf
July 30, 2012, NAIROBI (VOA News) — The Kenyan Red Cross says more than 30,000 refugees have entered the country from Ethiopia in the past few days to escape fighting in their own country, though the ethnic battles now seem to have been contained and the exodus has turned to a trickle.
The Kenyan Red Cross says the fighting was triggered by a dispute over land between the Garri and Borana ethnic communities in southern Ethiopia, about 1.5 kilometers from the Kenyan border.The clashes, which started four days ago, have killed dozens and displaced tens of thousands to temporary camps in the town of Moyale on the Kenyan side of the border.
Nelly Muluka, Kenya Red Cross communication manager in Moyale, said the flow of refugees has slowed.
“We are not really receiving many people at the moment, but according to the Kenya Red Cross registration in the two camps, we have a figure of 33,000 people who have crossed from Ethiopia following the conflict,” said Muluka. Read more…
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Ethiopian Government is Behind Ethnic clashes that kill 18 Ethiopians, displace thousands
By Katy Migiro
Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies workers and displaced people at the Kenya’s border with Ethiopia.
NAIROBI, July 30 (Reuters) – At least 18 people have been killed in fierce fighting between two communities over land in southern Ethiopia and 20,000 refugees have fled to Kenya, the Kenya Red Cross Society (KRCS) said on Monday.
Fighting broke out last Thursday because of a dispute over the Ethiopian government’s decision to settle the Garri community on land which the Borana claim to own, KRCS said in a statement on its website.
Thousands of refugees, segregated by ethnicity, are camped out in schools and a mosque around the Kenyan town of Moyale. Others are being given refuge by local Kenyan residents.
“Most of the families are in the open cold with their children for lack of shelter,” KRCS said. Read more…
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The Oromo Struggle in Ethiopia: causes of the conundrum and towards a covenant
By Firew Kebede Tiba, PhD
July 30, 2012 (Opride) – This Op-Ed is an outgrowth of my brief response, on a social media, to Magarsa Muhktar’s “Ethiopia’s Beleaguered Opposition: Fighting Goliath”, which appeared on OPride.com on 28 July 2012. Magarsa makes an apt observation of the state of resistance to political repression.
I salute Magarsa for his thoughtful opinion and for kick-starting this very important discussion. The tenet of this opinion is to add to this discussion by highlighting the causes of the conundrum and to put forward a concrete suggestion on how to forge alliance or at least understanding between Oromo groups. Other oppositions representing different interests could replicate the same.
One might ask, why Oromos while Magarsa’s opinion is about Ethiopia’s beleaguered opposition? This is for the simple reason that one cannot generalise about the whole without understanding the state of its discrete parts, in particular when that part happens to be a critical piece in the jigsaw puzzle. It is imperative that no democratic Ethiopia could ever be built without the full participation of Oromos. Needless to say, had Oromo political parties been strong enough and played their leadership role in the opposition camp, TPLF’s dictatorship would not have lasted this long. Read more…
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