Ethiopia: Private Press

May 23, 2008

Weekly Negadras (circulation 5,000) disclosed that the chairman of the Oromo Federalist Democratic Movement (OFDM), Ato Bulcha Demeksa, and the representative of the CUD Parliamentary Group, Ato Temesgen Zewdie, have been barred from their membership in the Parliamentary Advisory Group. Ato Temesgen told Negadras said the action was taken to replace the two of them with supporters of the ruling party. He said they have a right to be members of the committee in accordance with Article 181 of the  parliament’s statute.  Ato Bulcha said his party was told that OFDM had lost two of the ten seats it had in parliament in the recent by-elections and so could not be represented as a party in accordance with the parliament’s internal regulations, and hence the barring.

The number of people killed in the mini-bus taxi blast last Tuesday has reached nine. One of them is an American professor, J. Shoshani, a biologist by profession. The minibus driver was seriously injured. One of the dead people was Tigist Kassaye, a fifth year student in the Civil Engineering Department at Amst Kilo University who was graduating this year. ETV had reported that three people were killed, two seriously injured and three lightly injured in the blast.

Amharic weekly Enbilta (circulation 2,800) put the number of people killed in the mini-bus taxi blast at six -- five men and one man. Three dead bodies were found the same day, one body was discovered the next day in the nearby park, two seriously injured people whose bodies were ripped died after arriving in hospital. One of the dead was Israeli-born American, Professor Shoshani of Addis Ababa University.

Fifty people were killed and an unspecified number of people were wounded in  clashes between two ethnic groups in Oromia State, according to farmers in Nekempte town  who fled the area. Oromia police have said the incident is being investigated while Gambela police said nothing has happened. The incident occurred on May 17, 2008 when members of two ethnic groups suddenly attacked the farmers in the Anger farmland. People were killed, property was destroyed and looting ensued. Five wounded people were taken to a hospital in Nekempte and 50 dead people were buried.

Another private weekly Goggle (circulation 4,000) described the same incident as clashes between Benishangul Gumz people who had settled on the Nekempte-Bure road and Oromos because of land dispute. The number of people killed in the clashes has reached 120. Several people wounded in the clashes have been admitted to Nekempte Hospital. According to sources, a bus travelling with passengers from Assossa to Nekempte was set fire to and destroyed at a place called Menge. Most of the passengers have died. The regional administrator, Ato Abdula Gemeda, has gone to Menge town. 
  
Bi-lingual ABBI Weekly (circulation 3,000) quoted an IPP report indicating that 362 Ethiopians and Somalis have been arrested in Tanzania between April 1 and May 8, 2008 for illegally crossing into Tanzania in violation of Tanzania’s immigration law. Out of the 128 detained prisoners in the rural town of Kibaha, 120 are Ethiopians, according to Tanzanian immigration officer, Omar Kipande. 90 Ethiopians charged and found guilty were fined 50,000 Tanzanian shillings each but were sentenced to six months imprisonment as they were unable to pay the fine, according to the report.