Ethiopian man threatens action over UK ‘link to abuse’
September 6, 2012 (BBC) – An Ethiopian farmer could sue the UK government after claiming a project that received funding from Britain led to human rights abuses.
The man – known as Mr O – told his British lawyers he was evicted from his farm, beaten and witnessed rapes as part of a “villagisation” scheme.
Mr O’s lawyers say the programme receives funding from the UK Department for International Development (Dfid).
Dfid said it does not fund “any commune projects” in the country.
Ethiopia is among the biggest recipients of UK aid and in July 2011 received £38m ($61m) during the country’s worse drought in a decade.
The UK government is also one of the main partners in Ethiopia’s Protection of Basic Services programme, money from which lawyers for Mr O claim is helping to finance forced resettlement. Read more…
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Ethiopia’s Opportunity: A New Day Beckons – OpEd
By: Graham Peebles
September 5, 2012 (Eurasia) The death of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, announced on 22nd August after his mysterious two-month disappearance, presents a tremendous opportunity to Ethiopia. Let a new day dawn for the people, one filled with hope and fundamental change, where human rights and justice are respected, where freedom is encouraged and cultivated in all areas and where fear is banished to the past.
Meles rose to power as a revolutionary to overthrow a dictatorship. Ironically he too fell under the spell of power, and the freedom fighter became the dictator, the greatest obstacle to freedom and liberty. He had been in power since 1991, when the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) lead a coalition of armed opposition groups in overturning the rule of Mengistu Haile Mariam. Read more…
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VOA Afaan Oromoo: Jawar Mohammed interviews on current leadership crisis in Ethiopia
http://archive.org/download/JawarMohammedInterviewsOnCurrentEthiopianLeadershipCrisis/VOA_Jawar.mp3
Will OPDO be divided again? Listen to Jawar – language: Afaan Oromoo.
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