Ethiovision

Ethiopia, Sudan extradition agreement condemned

admin — Thu, 17 May 2012 22:39:10 +0000

Ethiopia and Sudan on Wednesday signed an extradition agreement in Addis Ababa but there are fears that this may be a ploy to persecute Ethiopian opposition exiles in the neighboring country.

The agreement is a follow up to another one between the two countries in December 2011 in which it was agreed not to host opposition figures from their respective countries.

Thousands of Ethiopian opposition members sought refuge in Sudan following the 2005 election, which was characterised by violence, which claimed almost 200 lives.

At the beginning of 2012, the international community criticised Sudan after it deported hundreds of Ethiopian opposition figures.

The Berlin-based Solidarity Committee for Ethiopian Political Prisoners (SOCEPP) alleged in March 2012 that Sudanese police had raided houses and rounded up Ethiopians in Omdurman and many parts of the capital, Khartoum, for forcible deportation.

Following the crackdown, a truck carrying Ethiopian refugees, who were held for deportation, was involved in an accident that left 1,242 Ethiopians and two Sudanese police men dead, SOCEPP said.

The NGO the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) for failing to defend the rights of many Ethiopian refugees, who they say are still languishing in several detention facilities across Sudan as they await deportation.

The fresh agreement is meant to hand over what they call "criminals".

But the special arrangement between Addis Ababa and Khartoum is believed to be in violation of the Geneva Convention on Refugees and the UN Declaration of Human Rights.

Last year, SCOEPP similarly accused Sudanese authorities of deporting former Ethiopian opposition politician, Andualem Alemayo, in the central Kober prison in Khartoum after he entered the country from neighbouring Eritrea where he had been on radio and television programmes in Asmara.

In recent years, the Sudanese government has handed over to Ethiopia a number of political refugees, mainly those who are suspected of being members of Eritrea-backed Ethiopian resistance groups.

Source: The Africa Report

Ethiopia, Sudan extradition agreement condemned is a post from: Ethiovision

Fighting for Freedom of Speech in Ethiopia

admin — Tue, 15 May 2012 19:32:27 +0000

By Charlayne Hunter-Gault —

Crying onstage in front of a crowd is not my thing, but a few days ago, as I stood next to Serkalem Fasil, I couldn't hold back my tears. It was a bittersweet moment because Fasil had just received the prestigious PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award on behalf of her husband, Eskinder Nega.

He faces life in prison on charges of terrorism and incitement to violent revolt after writing an article discussing the implications of the Arab Spring uprising for democracy in Ethiopia. And Nega is not alone in being on the receiving end of an ongoing government crackdown on independent journalists in Ethiopia, many of whom are also being silenced by arrests and imprisonment. Many have fled the country to keep hope (and themselves) alive.

As the emcee for the evening, I was scheduled to make brief remarks and close the evening, but instead I was moved to ask the indulgence of the audience of some 500 writers, editors and publishers. Then I poured out my heart, so full, since this was the first time I had seen Fasil since 2007, when I visited her in Kality Prison, just outside of Addis Ababa.

Kality is where she and her husband, Nega, were then serving time for what the government called terrorism but which was, in fact, an instance in which independent journalists were doing their job reporting the news as honestly as they could. In this case they were reporting on the government's crackdown on opposition parties in the 2005 parliamentary election in which some 200 opposition supporters were killed, followed by mass arrests of journalists and others not aligned with the government.

Nega was not alone in his criticism of the Ethiopian government. The European Union accused the government of vote rigging, and the Carter Center (on whose board I serve) cited postelection irregularities. I had gone to Addis with two members of the Committee to Protect Journalists, on whose board I also serve, to encourage the government of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi not only to spare the journalists' lives — since the charge of terrorism carried the death penalty — but also to ask for their release altogether.

But in the short term, we wanted at least permission to visit them and take reading materials, which up to that point they had been denied. We got that permission, and when we arrived at the prison, we were escorted into a tiny, dusty room, where the guards soon produced several prisoners, including Nega and Fasil. A few years later, when I was asked to accept another press-freedom award from the International Women's Media Foundation on Fasil's behalf, I wrote about my first impressions of her that day in 2007:

She was such a tiny little thing, her head gracefully covered with a scarf, at that point her pregnancy barely showing because of the full, floor-length dress she was wearing. At first she seemed a little reserved, if not perplexed. At the same time, she had an air of calm about her and moved with a slow grace so at odds with her wretched surroundings.

But in no time, my two colleagues and I had established a rapport, and while Serkalem spoke mostly in Amharic, Ethiopia's native tongue, as her words came pouring out, the fragility disappeared and before my eyes, she was transformed into a woman determined to stand by her principles and to stand up for what she believed: that if she were guilty of anything, it was of standing for the freedom for her colleagues to speak truth to power. She didn't believe she belonged in prison, but she was prepared to stay and fight, as long as it took, as much as it might take out of her and her unborn child.

I wanted to see where Fasil was usually confined, but I was told by the guard that it was off-limits — a prohibition that I could not accept. I had no intention of coming that far and not seeing the conditions in which she, especially, was being kept. And so I just started walking alongside Fasil down a rocky, dusty path, talking to her in words that I knew she couldn't understand but that she pretended to, instinctively aware of what I was attempting.

Then Fasil saw Nega, whom she had not seen since their imprisonment, other than in the room where we had just met. And as I later recalled:

It was a moment too tender to describe as he reached for her tiny, but expanding tummy, and I quickly turned away to give them an all too fleeting moment, soon interrupted by a guard calling to Eskinder.

Serkalem was silent as we walked on, past children in rags playing on the enclosed dark and dusty prison yard in the women's area. Soon, we entered a long, dark rectangular room, sparse and stark, with rows of bunk beds and little else.

There were 60 women in the room, in addition to the rats that crawled over their beds at night.

Fasil walked slowly to the very end of the room where she introduced me to several of the prisoners. They promised me they would take care of her. That included sharing the cooked beans, rice and potatoes they had in pots under their bed — for who knows long — brought by family members to make up for the paltry meals served in the prison.

Despite the caring sentiments of the other prisoners, Fasil rarely had the kind of nutritious food she needed in her condition. Five months into her pregnancy, she had not seen a doctor, and later, her baby was born prematurely and severely underweight.

On this occasion, as I was leaving, I fought back the tears that five years later I would shed at the PEN dinner. But I determined to do all I could to get her and her husband and the others out of that prison.

They served a year and six months before they were released. But despite the ever-present threat of still another imprisonment, they continued to speak truth to power, insisting that, in Fasil's words last week, "to create the country we want, someone has to sacrifice."

And so it is that Nega is back in prison, his newspaper shut down since 2007, except for a presence online, and facing the death penalty. A newspaper editor who printed his verbatim statement in court, questioning the independence of the judiciary and fairness of the proceeding, was given a suspended four-month sentence and fined the equivalent of $113. And it has fallen to Fasil to use her words now to keep Nega's message and hope alive.

As a mother, I was keen to know about their son. Fasil told me through an interpreter that today he is strong. I asked his name, and she told me with the kind of smile that brings more moisture back to my eyes, "His name is Nafkot, which means 'longing.' "

It is time for me to return to Ethiopia and try to see the prime minister, to plead yet again for the journalists' freedom and for their right to free expression. And maybe, just maybe, in the interim, when Prime Minister Zenawi attends a G-8 Summit Food Security at Camp David on May 19, American officials can weigh in, too, on the importance not only of strategic partnerships but also of freedom of speech in a democracy.

Charlayne Hunter-Gault is the author of To the Mountaintop: My Journey Through the Civil Rights Movement, published by Roaring Brook Press and the New York Times Co.

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“I will NOT be standing for Premiership or ANY elective office in Ethiopia in 2015″ Meles Zenawi

admin — Sun, 13 May 2012 14:02:01 +0000

“I will NOT be standing for Premiership or ANY elective office in Ethiopia in 2015″ Meles Zenawi is a post from: Ethiovision

Meles Zenawi is a manipulative and ruthless tyrant

admin — Sun, 13 May 2012 14:08:15 +0000

By Graham Peebles | Eurasia Review

Arrested, jailed and beaten, tortured and imprisoned, this is the recipe for justice that the Ethiopian government serves up to dissenting voices. Men and women peacefully exercising their democratic right, demanding their human rights, crying out for their moral rights. The victimised are not only those living within Ethiopia who attempt to offer an alternative to the current dictatorship, who form and organise political opposition to the Meles regime, but journalists inside Ethiopia and abroad, who dare to speak out in criticism of the governments criminality, human rights violations and policies of indifference.

Amnesty International in its damning report of the Ethiopian government, Dismantling Dissent in Ethiopia (DDE);1 state that from March to November 2011 “at least 108 opposition party members and six journalists have been arrested for alleged involvement with various proscribed terrorist groups.” By November they were all charged with crimes under the internationally criticised Anti Terrorist Proclamation. In addition, Amnesty continues, “six journalists two opposition party members and one human rights defender, all living in exile, were charged in absentia.”

The ‘T’ word as former Secretary General of the UN Kofi Annan, called terrorism, is the umbrella term used by the Ethiopian government (amongst others) to justify the unjust, the dishonest and the criminal. If there is a terrorist organisation flourishing in Ethiopia, committing crimes against humanity and violating the human rights of the people it is State terrorism delivered by the EPRDF government, under the leadership of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, as this UN definition of terrorism makes clear. “Criminal acts intended or calculated to provoke a state of terror in the general public, a group of persons or particular persons for political purposes are in any circumstance unjustifiable.”2 Fear of the government, fear of reprisal, of violence and [false] imprisonment casts a deep shadow across the people of Ethiopia, whose human rights are being ignored by the Meles regime, that seized power twenty years ago and has brutalised and systematically restricted the peoples freedom and human rights ever since.

Lawless lawmakers

In 2009 the Ethiopian government passed legislation on the highly controversial Anti Terrorism Proclamation. Human Rights Watch (HRW)3 that year looked closely at what was then the proposed law and amongst other recommendations held high within their fury and despair, said, “if implemented this law could provide the Ethiopian government with a potent instrument to crack down on political dissent, including peaceful political demonstrations and public criticisms of government policy” and “It would permit long-term imprisonment and even the death penalty for “crimes” that bear no resemblance, under any credible definition, to terrorism. It would in certain cases deprive defendants of the right to be presumed innocent, and of protections against use of evidence obtained through torture.” Needles to say, the law was passed almost entirely as drafted, duly implemented and has since been used solely to silence dissent. Amnesty in its report found “the prolonged series of arrests and prosecutions indicates a systematic use of the law and the pretext of counter-terrorism by the Ethiopian government to silence people who criticise or question their actions and policies, especially opposition politicians and the independent media.”

It is the utilisation and enforcement of this unlawful law that is enabling the Ethiopian government to quash opposition and free speech within the country and intimidate those voices for fairness, justice and common sense abroad. The legislation allows the government to ban free association and to arrest and imprison anyone who has the courage to speak out against the government and their many human rights violations. The police, who were already commonly acting outside of the law, with little or no knowledge of human rights, were given new and unlawful powers. HRW in its analysis states, “The draft Proclamation grants the police the power to make arrests without a warrant, so long as the officer “reasonably suspects” that the person is committing or has committed a terrorist act. The Ethiopian constitution requires that a person taken into custody must be brought before a court within 48 hours and informed of the reasons for their arrest-a protection that is already systematically violated.” This constitutional requirement as with many articles of decency and good intention is dutifully ignored. Arrested under the Anti Terrorist Proclamation individuals are held in confinement for weeks, sometimes months without charge and denied legal support. Even before this draconian legislation was enforced HRW states “Ethiopian police routinely detain people without charge for months, and sometimes ignore judicial orders for release.”

Five from many

In January five more innocent people were convicted in the Ethiopian Federal High Court, of conspiracy to commit terrorist acts, and money laundering. Evidence against the three journalists an opposition leader and a woman, Hirut Kifle Woldeyesus, was made up primarily of online criticism of the government and plans to stage peaceful political protest. None of which constitute acts of terrorism. This is common as Amnesty found in the 114 cases they investigated in their detailed report, “much of the evidence against those charged involves items that do not appear to amount to terrorism or criminal wrongdoing. Rather many items of evidence cited appear to be illustrations of individuals exercising their right to freedom of expression, acting peacefully and legitimately.”

Two of the journalists tried in January were sentenced to 14 years imprisonment while Elias Kifle (tried in absentia), editor of the web-based journal Ethiopian Review, received his second life sentence [emphasis mine]. These cases are simply the most recent in a long line of miscarriages of ‘justice’, where the outlaw government has exercised an abuse of power and in the name of justice imprisoned the innocent. A further 24 journalists and opposition party members are awaiting trial, many of whom could face the death penalty, for trumped up charges which amount to nothing more than journalists exercising their constitutional and moral right to freedom of speech. The UN Special Rapporteur on human rights defenders, Margaret Sekaggya stated in a meeting of UN human rights investigators in February “journalists, bloggers and others advocating for increased respect for human rights should not be subject to pressure for the mere fact that their views are not in alignment with those of the Government.”4 Indeed. Journalists must be free to speak out against the government, to criticise policies of persecution, to highlight the suffering of the people and to draw attention to the multiple human rights abuses taking place within Ethiopia. UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of expression, Frank La Rue, “Journalists play a crucial role in promoting accountability of public officials by investigating and informing the public about human rights violations, they should not face criminal proceedings for carrying out their legitimate work, let alone be severely punished.” However all those speaking out in anguish and rage at the EPRDF’s criminality and repression are subject not simply to ‘pressure’, or ‘criminal proceedings’, but violent arrest, torture and false imprisonment, or indeed death.

Free the innocent

These five innocent men and women, who were mistreated in custody, falsely imprisoned and like others, including the celebrated writer Eskinder Nega (imprisoned for life in September for writing an on-line blog), denied their liberty, must be released immediately and an independent enquiry instigated to investigate their cases, their treatment whilst in jail and their hollow convictions. During their three-month imprisonment at the Maikelawi detention center before the trial and in violation of Ethiopian and international law, the defendants were denied access to legal counsel and family members, and claim they were beaten and tortured. This is the experience of a great many whilst held in Maikelawi, Amnesty reveals in its report, “many of the [114] detainees were forced to sign confessions and to acknowledge ownership or association by signing items of seemingly incriminating evidence.” The Ethiopian courts have not investigated any of these claims, they are it seems nothing more than servants of the Government, and are as HRW states “complicit in this political witch hunt.” This collusion of the courts contravenes the Ethiopian constitution that states in Article 78/1. “An independent judiciary is established by this Constitution. Article 79/1. “Judicial Powers, both at Federal and State levels, are vested in the courts,” furthermore, 3. “Judges shall exercise their functions in full independence and shall be directed solely by the law.” The UN Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers, Gabriela Knaul “deplored the reported failure to ensure the defendants’ right to a fair trial.” Reports the UN News Centre.

The Ethiopian government cannot be believed or trusted; the international bodies supporting the country should impose independent observers of the judicial system. Amnesty International in its report calls “on the representatives of the international community in Addis Ababa to take up the role of monitoring trials.” This would be an important initial act in placing the EPRDF under international scrutiny and accountability. It is time the international community acting through the UN undertook its responsibility and role as advocate for justice, self-determination, “the suppression of acts of aggression” (article 1) and freedom for the people of the world, in accordance with its charter.

A blind eye to torture

In addition to the suppression of free speech, the use of the death penalty and withdrawing the legal right of presumption of innocence, torture is allowed under the Anti Terrorism Proclamation and information gathered whilst under such duress is admissible in court. HRW again, “The draft Proclamation deems confessions admissible without a restriction on the use of statements made under torture”. This is illegal under international law, The Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment does not allow the use of any statements made in a court of law, that where elicited under torture. The use of such information is also prohibited under the Ethiopian Constitution. Article 19 states, “Persons arrested shall not be compelled to make confessions or admissions which could be used in evidence against them. Any evidence obtained under coercion shall not be admissible.” The much-trumpeted constitution in colours green red and yellow, no doubt framed and hung neatly upon a wall of indifference and conceit, unenforced; it means little or nothing to the people and even less to the EPRDF who ignore its charter.

Known unknowables

It is an acknowledged fact within the corridors of the UN and Ethiopia’s donor countries that human rights abuses are occurring daily within the country under the increasingly paranoid gaze of Prime Minister Meles and his ministerial menagerie. How do we as a world community, responsible and alert to the needs of our brothers and sisters, respond to such men, to such injustice and tyranny? Fight fire with fire many would advocate and in the face of such cruelty many of us would perhaps gladly fuel a furnace, however as Mahatma Ghandi said “I cannot teach you violence, as I do not myself believe in it. I can teach you not to bow your heads before anyone even at the cost of your life.” To be silent in the sight of injustice and persecution is to allow tyrants like Meles to maintain their stranglehold over the innocent. It is time intense political pressure from those providing and delivering the much-needed financial and developmental aid, was applied to put an end to the current regimes human rights violations and abuse of the people, including freezing of personal assets and targeted sanctions. The British government give £315 million a year to Ethiopia, a spokesperson from The Department for International Development (DFID) told the Guardian (3/02/2012) “The prime minister, the foreign secretary and the secretary of state for international development have all raised concerns with Prime Minister Meles over the recent arrests of opposition leaders and journalists.”5 ‘Concern’ is all well and good, but all too easy for the arrogant to shrug off, outrage and horror a more apt response from Westminster and more in keeping with the offences being committed. Criticism alone however will not bring change within the abysmal regime and justice to the long-suffering people.

Repeal and release

Prime Minister Meles Zenawi presides over a brutal manipulative dictatorship that restricts all freedom of expression, freedom of association and freedom of the media in Ethiopia. Peaceful dissent is met with violence and false imprisonment. Intimidation and fear are the key tools in such repression, this must end and we the international community must ensure it is so. The Anti terrorist Proclamation is an unjust piece of legislation designed and implemented by a corrupt and violent regime who are in breech of international law and there own constitution. It must be repealed immediately, the many innocent good men and women falsely imprisoned released and those supporting Ethiopia through development aid should insist on the implementation of these legitimate and morally right demands. Sit not in silent appeasement, but raise your bowed heads and act.

Notes:

1. http://www.amnestyusa.org/research/reports/ethiopia-dismantling-dissent-intensified-crackdown-on-free-speech-in-ethiopia

2. 1994 United Nations Declaration on Measures to Eliminate International Terrorism annex to UN General Assembly resolution 49/60 ,”Measures to Eliminate International Terrorism”, of December 9, 1994, UN Doc. A/Res/60/49

3. Human Rights Watch Analysis of Ethiopias Draft Anti-Terrorist Law. http://www.hrw.org/news/2009/06/30/analysis-ethiopia-s-draft-anti-terrorism-law

4. http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=41112&Cr=journalist&Cr1

5. http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/poverty-matters/2012/feb/03/ethiopia-human-rights-questions?INTCMP=SRCH

(About the author: Graham Peebles is Director of The Create Trust, a UK registered charity, supporting fundamental social change and the human rights of individuals in acute need. He may be reached at graham@thecreatetrust.org)

Meles Zenawi is a manipulative and ruthless tyrant is a post from: Ethiovision

An Ethiopian judge delayed the verdict on Friday in the case of 24 people charged with terrorism

admin — Fri, 11 May 2012 19:11:49 +0000

Addis Ababa – An Ethiopian judge delayed the verdict on Friday in the case of 24 people charged with terrorism, including prominent journalist Eskinder Nega and opposition member Andualem Arage.

The conclusion of the trial, which has been widely condemned by human rights organisations, was postponed until June 21 because the judge had not received a full transcript of the defendants' case.

"We will not give a decision because some parts of the defence are not transcribed," Judge Endashaw Endale told the courtroom.

The 24 on trial were charged with terrorism in September 2011, and potentially face the death penalty if found guilty.

Only 20 people were allowed into the crowded courtroom, including US Ambassador Donald Booth, journalists and family members.

An Ethiopian judge delayed the verdict on Friday in the case of 24 people charged with terrorism is a post from: Ethiovision

Time’s Breastfeeding Cover Leaves Out Adopted Ethiopian Child

admin — Fri, 11 May 2012 23:44:32 +0000

Jamie Lynne Grumet, America’s favorite Lululemon Madonna, admits that breastfeeding her nearly 4-year-old son, Aram, on the cover of this week’s Time was meant to “cause a stir.” In her appearance this morning on the Today show, she said, “Yes, we knew exactly what we were going to get into. Our family was one of the better ones to handle because my mom is a personal breastfeeding…” And here she couldn’t finish her sentence due to cute little Arom’s on-air fuss.

No matter. We get the point. Grumet, breastfed by her own mother until she was six, was prepared to challenge the rest of us to look at the “real” face (and body) of attachment parenting. If that were true, though, why is Grumet’s other child, an older child she also continues to breastfeed, not in the cover photo? Or on the Today Show interview?

As Grumet shares on her Twitter bio and blog, I Am Not The Babysitter, she has another son. Samuel, 5, is adopted from Ethiopia. Grumet tells Time’s Kate Pickert that Samuel continues to nurse “maybe once a month.” Read more…

Time’s Breastfeeding Cover Leaves Out Adopted Ethiopian Child is a post from: Ethiovision

Ethiopian film maker win a prize at the One World Media Awards ceremony in London.

admin — Sat, 12 May 2012 23:22:29 +0000

Adanech Admassu, one of Ethiopia's few female film-makers, has won a prize at the One World Media Awards ceremony in London. She took the Special Award for her film Stolen Childhood, which tells the true story of a young girl who is forced into marriage. She says it is a fate she managed to avoid with the help of The Ethiopian Gemini Trust. Read More… Ethiopian film maker win a prize at the One World Media Awards ceremony in London. is a post from: Ethiovision

Ethiopian film maker win a prize at the One World Media Awards ceremony in London. is a post from: Ethiovision

Ethiopian Journalist Eskinder Nega Could Face Death Penalty

admin — Thu, 10 May 2012 23:19:48 +0000

A verdict in the trial of Ethiopian journalist Eskinder Nega and other activists accused of inciting terrorism is expected on Friday, 11 May, report PEN American Center and other IFEX members, whom Nega has worked with. If convicted, Nega could face the death penalty.

Nega was arrested in September 2011 for an article questioning the arrests of journalists and the actor Debebe Eshetu under the country's sweeping anti-terror legislation, under which he himself is now being tried. The laws criminalise any reporting deemed to "encourage" or "provide moral support" to groups and causes which the government considers to be "terrorist".

Nega was accused of affiliation with the banned political party Ginbot 7, and of allegedly receiving weapons and explosives from Eritrea so he could carry out terrorist acts in Ethiopia.

He's among five journalists – including two Swedish reporters – jailed under the anti-terrorism laws that the Ethiopian government, concerned by the Arab Spring protests last year, has increasingly used to quash independent reporting, according to PEN American Center and the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). About 150 Ethiopian journalists live in exile – more than from any other country in the world, CPJ says.

Nega and his wife Serkalim Fasil, also a journalist, have remained in the capital, Addis Ababa. In 2005, they were jailed together in Kaliti Prison for treason because of their coverage of a disputed parliamentary election. The couple's son, now 7, was born in jail.

After protests began sweeping across the Arab world, Fasil told "The New York Times" that police started threatening her husband. She said the police warned that if he continued to cover protests and opposition politics in Ethiopia, he would be violating the law and could face the death penalty. "With that kind of threat, you can't function as a journalist," she said.

But Nega – who had previously been imprisoned at least six times under Prime Minister Meles Zenawi for his work as a journalist – has continued to write. His defiant stance in defence of human rights in Ethiopia earned him a prestigious press freedom award from PEN American Center. PEN said it was both recognition of his past work and an attempt to pressure the Ethiopian government into halting its prosecution of journalists.

Thirty-two IFEX members have also spoken out against Ethiopia's jailing of journalists and other critics on terrorism charges, and called for their immediate release.

And the International Press Institute (IPI) asked 20 of its World Press Freedom Heroes – renowned courageous journalists worldwide – to condemn his imprisonment.

The authorities now appear to be tightening their hold on local media. Just last week, Temesgen Desalegn, another local editor, was fined 2,000 Birr (US$114) for his newspaper's "biased reporting" of that trial, reports IPI.

IFEX members argue that Western governments are unlikely to press Zenawi on human rights abuses in Ethiopia, a strategic partner for the West in combating terrorism and instability in the Horn of Africa.

"But can you really be crowned a "champion of development" if you lock up all your critics?," asks Tom Rhodes, CPJ Africa correspondent. "Ethiopians and the international community will never be able to truly determine whether the prime minister is an 'advocate of the development state' if only yes-men and blind supporters are allowed to speak of his achievements."

Ethiopian Journalist Eskinder Nega Could Face Death Penalty is a post from: Ethiovision

Norway to deport Ethiopian boy

admin — Mon, 07 May 2012 17:56:05 +0000

Nathan Eshete was born at Stord hospital, western Norway, on 1st May 2005. His parents are from Ethiopia and have had their asylum application rejected.

The family are now set to be deported from Norway on 16th May, the day before Norwegian National Day. Nathan’s father , Asfaw Eshete, believes he faces persecution and imprisonment in Ethiopia for being politically active.

Mr Eshete told Dagsavisen that Nathan is struggling to understand why he is being sent to a country he has never been to before.

“He asks why he should be thrown out when he is Norwegian, has friends here and does not recognise anything about Ethiopia”.

In March, the Immigration Appeals Board (UNE) told the family that their application was being looked into again, but last week they received their rejection notice.

The decision, which comes following January's Norway-Ethiopia return agreement, has been met with disappointment from a group supporting the family as well as Labour Party (Ap) leader for Bergen, Marte Mjøs Persen. Several local Labour Youth movement (AUF) politicians protested against the government's policy on 01st May.

She believes that the UNE should postpone the deportation of children until the government’s white paper, which will set out guidelines for the immigration policy, has been issued.

“I’m very disappointed that the UNE has not taken the signals to put the cases in abeyance until the then,” she said.

The government cannot intervene in individual cases at present.

Norway to deport Ethiopian boy is a post from: Ethiovision

A South African Cabinet minister Roy Padayachie dies in Ethiopia

admin — Sat, 05 May 2012 09:41:12 +0000

JOHANNESBURG — (AP) A South African Cabinet minister died while attending an African Union meeting in Ethiopia, South Africa’s president said Saturday.

In a statement Saturday, President Jacob Zuma did not give a cause of death for Roy Padayachie, 62, who died Friday in the Ethiopian capital, where the AU is headquartered.

“No amount of words can express this loss that the government and people of South Africa feel,” Zuma said.

Padayachie had been moved from minister of communications to minister for public service and administration in October in a Cabinet shuffle that became necessary after other ministers were caught up in corruption scandals.

Zuma’s governing African National Congress called Padayachie a veteran member “whose life was defined by his continued activism and his work amongst the poorest of our communities.”

The Democratic Alliance, South Africa’s main opposition party, praised Padayachie’s leadership of the public service ministry, which oversees government workers. The Democratic Alliance said Padayachie’s work “demonstrated his commitment to service delivery excellence.”

A South African Cabinet minister Roy Padayachie dies in Ethiopia is a post from: Ethiovision