A member of Ethiopian Federal Police Killed 12 Innocent People in Bahir Dar is a post from: Ethiovision

However, the decision to remove the Minister from Office has come as little surprise in the government circle. He has lost his position in the powerful executive committee of the ruling EPRDF, when elections were held back in March 2013. He was under fire during a convention of his party, the Amhara National Democratic Movement (ANDM), held in Bahir Dar in March, held as a prelude to the EPRDF congress, which was held  in the same city.

Seconded by a member to the central committee seat in the ANDM, Brehan was harshly criticized by the bigwigs of the party for his failure and incompetence while serving at the Justice Ministry.

Brehan has not been immediately available for comment, despite Fortune’s repeated attempts.

Hailemariam Desalegn Fires Justice Minister is a post from: Ethiovision

The Director of the Ethiopian Revenue and Customs Authority (ERCA), Melaku Fenta, and his deputy, Gebrewahid Woldegiorgis,were detained on Friday afternoon on allegations of corruption.

On Friday, the Ethiopian Federal Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (FEACC) announced that the two officials and 10 other suspects, whose names were not disclosed, have been arrested on suspicion of involvement in corruption-related crimes. 

Melaku had been in office for over eight years and led, after the 2005 elections, the restructuring effort of the Authority previously known as the Ministry of Revenue. He had been quite successful in revamping the tax and revenue collection system of the country. Before he was posted to ERCA, he served as State Minister of Federal Affairs for over three years and was also assigned to the Prime Minister’s Office before that. Currently, he is the Board Chairperson of the Development Bank of Ethiopia (DBE), one of the three state-owned banks. Melaku is also an executive member of the Amhara National Democratic Movement (ANDM).

Gebrewahid Woldegiorgis, Deputy Director of ERCA and Head of Law Enforcement at the Authority, was also a member of the management team at the Customs Authority, before it was incorporated under ERCA in the restructuring undertaken some seven years ago.

The Anti-Corruption Commission’s statement indicated that it has been carrying out several thorough investigations and compiled information from whistleblowers and documentation as evidence in collaboration with the Information Network Security Agency (INSA). According to the statement, the Commission arrested the above-stated officials and ten other suspects whose names shall be revealed at the appropriate time.

Birhanu Assefa, Public Relations Head of FEACC, told Capital that the names of the other individuals have not been made public due to the fact that the investigation is ongoing. “It is too early to reveal their names,” he commented. He further said that other suspects may be arrested in connection with the ongoing corruption cases; therefore the Commission will not divulge the names of those already in police custody.

“The commission will release further information regarding the issue at the appropriate time,” he added. 

According to our sources, some well-known private investors have been allegedly implicated in the corruption cases, but this was not confirmed by officials of the Commission.

Established in 2001, FEACC has been undertaking several measures to curb and ultimately eliminate corruption. During the early days of its formation, the Commission had carried out the investigation on the corruption case of Siye Abraha, a former party official of the Tigray Peoples Liberation Front (TPLF) and his accomplices and over the past decade investigations undertaken by the Commission has led to the arrest of several low and mid-level officials and their collaborators. But many arrests involving allegedly corrupt high level officials have not been made until now.

Melaku Fenta, Minister of Ethiopian Revenue & Custom Authority Detained on Corruption Charges is a post from: Ethiovision

By Hama Tuma —-

Che vergogna as the Italians themselves would say, what a shame! The new Italian center-left government included in its cabinet a Congolese born longtime Italian citizen, Madam Cecile Kyenge (she is married to an Italian and has two children), and all hell has broken loose with the foul side of Italian racism exposed for all to see. She has been called a “Congolese monkey” among other epithets. Another politician said “she can only be a good housewife and not a minister”. Speaking on the radio earlier this week, Italian politician Mario Borghezio from the Northern League party referred to the new government as a “bonga bonga government” and said that Africans “had not produced great genes.” Thereby denying tha fact that patriotic Ethiopians whipped their behind and defeated them at Adwa and even during World War II. Africa has produced so many great genes than the stupid racists could ever match. The racist Lega Nord party led by Bossi (a fascist to boot), an ally of Berlusconi, is adding insult after insult as is to be expected. The good lady has said “I am not colored, I am proudly black, and an Italian”. She has tried to find excuse to the racists declaring them ignorant. She is kind.

Italian racism, especially against blacks, has a very long history. Bossi, Fini, Berlusconi have all an affinity to fascism that they cannot hide or cover. Italian fascism was racist to boot. Even the Vatican said, in January 2010, that racism in Italy is a weeping sore that needs to be treated”.  It is a historical sore that is not done justice with the generalized question are all Italian racists? Mussolini’s fascism was based on fetid racism towards blacks, gypsies (Roms) and Jews. The fascist magazine of the time, La Difesa de la Razza, accused the French and the British of miscegenation, interbreeding with blacks and being influenced by Jews to explain their alleged degeneration and even colonial savagery. Nowadays, the Italian racists state that a Negro cannot be Italian and claim a historically that the Italian race is “pure”. Hitler did try something like that much to his own disaster. To insult blacks, Berlusconi said Obama is not black but “tanned”. The fascists, given due punishment by Ethiopian blacks time and again, are singed by shame. The defeat at Adwa is their albatross. Though they killed no less than a million Ethiopians (using mustard gas too) they were never able to defeat and occupy Ethiopia no more than five years. They had their “madamismo” (local concubines with no rights) and their native and Italian quarter and restricted education and job rights in Asmara but they were not able to sustain their apartheid and their “we shall not be a nation of half castes” true to word. Mussolini’s hordes killed hundreds of thousands in Ethiopia but they interbred, alas for them. When Italy declared that a quarter of a million of Italians would settle in Ethiopia British Marxist Biologist Professor Haldane predicted that there will for sure be interbreeding and African blood will flow in Italians. It has. There are now many, many African Italians.  Italian football fans shouting their vile racist epithets against black footballers are common sights, Italians like the famous footballer Mario Bartolleti had to endure disgusting racism for very long. The long held campaign to pressurize Italian women not to ever marry Africans and foreigners that are “tanned” has not worked at all. The Italian racists are just trying to hold on in the face of a historical flood.

They are not the only ones. France, accused by the Italian fascists of being lax and liberal, has yet to defeat the evil of racism. It has its own Lega Nord pseudo fascists within the so called National Front (FN) that is enjoying increasing support from the populace. Take the recent May 8 celebrations, the end of World War II, and there were no more than two African veterans being part of the cortege that Francois Holland shook their hands. The socialist president has yet to appoint black Africans as presidents, ministers, ambassadors etc. notwithstanding the token “Ns” as they say. My attempt to see one black face in the Republican Guard was without success. Europe’s neo Nazi groups and racists are becoming legion compared to the past and the status quo political parties are supporting them albeit covertly. All over Europe victims of racism are becoming many. The concept of Fortress Europe, a doomed program, fans racism and murder. Britain is trying to make its immigration laws tough and tight says David Cameron. Pathetic. The present world, still characterized by Africa being plundered by the West and the Asians, militates against the closed country dream. As the unlamented Khadafy used to say the “hordes will come to the shores of Europe in their thousands braving death”. No one can stop them. You come to us to rob us blind and we will come to you to find a way to survive. Tit for tat.

The Chinese, who claim to be superior and above yellow, black and white devils, nevertheless worship white. The famous Chinese proverb says “one white covers up a 100 defects”. The Chinese, like the Russians, are one of the worst racists. Ever since African students went on scholarships to study in China this blind racism was in evidence. The Chinese detested blacks and called any relation between a Chinese woman and an African “obnoxious novelty”. That is what Lou Jing, a pop star born from an Afro American father and a Chinese woman, had to endure in Shanghai so much so that she wants to leave and continue her education in Europe or the USA. China has now become an aggressive imperialist power plundering the wealth of Africa. This Chinese invasion that is not being countered by the corrupt so called leaders of Africa has exposed Chinese racism at its worst. A Chinese official interviewed on why Chinese construction diggers have to be imported from China declared that Ghana does not have “such skilled workers”. The Chinese insult Africans as lazy and, for example, the regime in Addis Abeba has given the Chinese the right to beat physically all “lazy Ethiopian workers”.  The Chinese exhibit such crude and foul racism that is one is reminded of the Boers and their apartheid and crude colonials.

Italy is shamed by its parties and political leaders. Asked on racism in Italy a Portugese woman who had lived in Italy had the following to say:

 “I have been in many European countries but I never seen such a strong hate against blacks like the one I saw in Italy. I’ m not talking about skinheads or nazi skins groups, I’ m talking about average Italian people. Italians are friendly with white immigrants from all over the world but they really hate black people. I was so shocked when I came in Italy because in my  think blacks are animals, they are the most white supremacist people in the world and my advice for black people is to avoid that country at any cost”.

An exaggeration? Hardly. But my advice is not to go there but to go there en masse and flood them to no end. Berlusconi has time and gain defended the Mussolini invasion of Libya and Ethiopia. Italy has built a monument to Graziani the man who butchered thousands of Ethiopians and entertained the idea of cleansing Ethiopia from its people. Is fascism continuing and trying to revenge its defeat by being shamefully anti-black? In any case Madam Cecile Kyenge is a convenient scapegoat for old and foul Italian racism. And as she said, all Italians are not racists. But there are too many racists and “ignorants” in that country, in Europe, in China, etc and we blacks are targeted for suffering. A situation we should not and cannot accept at all. Invade and interbreed should be our slogan, maybe. After all, Berlusconi himself was doing his bunga bunga with North African girls.

Mama Mia – The Shame of Italy! is a post from: Ethiovision

BY KIRUBEL TADESSE —

ASSOCIATED PRESS —

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia — Eritrea's government has jailed about 10,000 dissidents without charge or trial over the years, a rights group said in report Thursday, describing the Horn of Africa nation as one of the world's most repressive states.

The new report by Amnesty International said those held in detention include suspected critics of the government, politicians, journalists, and "anyone who refuses to comply with the repressive system."

In a statement Thursday, Eritea's governmnet called the report "unsubstantiated" and a "political assault" on the country.

Among those behind bars are 187 people detained since January, when a group of more than 100 soldiers stormed the Ministry of Information and demanded the release of all political prisoners. Some Western diplomats and observers said at the time that this event was an attempted coup against President Isaias Afewerki, who led the country to independence from Ethiopia in 1991. He has been president since 1993.

According to Amnesty International, Eritrea has since become "one of the most repressive, secretive and inaccessible countries in the world."

Increasingly isolated, Eritrea is under sanctions imposed by the African Union and the United Nations. In late 2011 the U.N. Security Council expanded an arms embargo against Afewerki's regime. The country is accused of supporting al-Qaida-linked Islamist militants in Somalia.

Neighboring Ethiopia has stepped up its criticism of the regime, which it sees as a negative force in the region. In March 2012 Ethiopian troops moved deep into Eritrean territories to destroy military camps that the government said the camps were used to train "subversive groups" that routinely attack Ethiopia.

"There are calls by some corners to ease sanctions imposed on Eritrea. We reject this," Dina Mufti, a spokesperson for Ethiopia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said Thursday."

10,000 dissidents detained in Eritrea is a post from: Ethiovision

The leader of a Boston-based Ethiopian association says news that Robel Phillipos is being investigated in connection with the Marathon bombings came as a complete shock to the community.

Binyam Tamene – executive director of the Ethiopian Community Mutual Assistance Association — said he knew Phillipos as an exemplary young man.

“Robel was born in Cambridge and was a good kid,” he said. “He was good academically, his (single) mother took care of him very well, and he was able to go to one of the best universities here in Dartmouth – the University of Massachusetts.”

Phillipos – a U.S. citizen of Ethiopian descent – is one of three friends of accused bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.                

Phillipos and two other 19-year-olds — Azamat Tazhayakov and Dias Kadyrbayev — were charged with obstruction of justice & lying to FBI investigators.

Tamene said Phillipos devoted most of his time and energy pursuing his studies. He said it’s difficult to assess what may have influenced the young man to engage in the acts alleged by investigators.  The three young men are said to have thrown away a back-pack carrying explosives for fireworks and removed a lap top from Tsarnaev’s residence.

Tamene said he doesn’t believe the charges against Phillipos will cast a shadow over the Ethiopian community.

“I don’t think the community in general worries about what other people will say about Ethiopians, because we don’t have that history in the past. It’s difficult to think other communities will look at us differently,” he remarked.

A new look at Robel Phillipos

BOSTON (WHDH) — Officials say 19-year-old Robel Phillipos has known Dzhokhar Tsarnaev for years, the two of them went to high school and college together.

Phillipos, a U.S. citizen, is one of the three suspects arrested in connection with the Boston Marathon bombing, but the trio wasn’t associated with the attacks. Phillipos is accused of lying to the FBI. He appeared in federal court on May 1.

“My client is not charged with helping the suspect in anyway whatsoever, before or after,” said defense attorney Derege B. Demissie. “And he had no knowledge of the incident.”

But a criminal complaint says Phillipos lied to investigators three times about being in Tsarnaev’s dorm room days after the bombings. During a fourth interview, the FBI said Phillipos admitted to being in Tsarnaev’s room with the other suspects.

He saw Tsarnaev’s backpack with the empty explosives and “freaked out” that Tsarnaev was allegedly the marathon bomber. Phillipos told investigators that he didn’t know what the other two suspects did with the backpack because they were speaking in Russian and he didn’t understand.

Featured in an online video, neighbors described the teen, who is from Cambridge, as a good student focused on his studies.

“Robel is a nice boy, very nice kid — he [doesn’t] talk too much,” said neighbor, Tecleverhan Mengistu. “He’s a very nice boy.”

Phillipos, a naturalized citizen, was born in Ethiopia and lives in Cambridge with his single mother.

The family’s apartment building is located next to the gas station where the carjacking victim from the night of the shootout in Watertown escaped.

Ethiopian Community Shocked By Robel Phillipos, Ethiopian-American’s Involvement In Bombings is a post from: Ethiovision

Abdoulaye Cisse heads home with two minutes remaining as Zamalek secure passage to the African Champions League group stage in thrilling fashion following a 3-3 aggregate draw.

In-form striker Abdoulaye Cisse headed home at the death to lift Egypt's Zamalek to the African Champions League group stage on the away goal rule following a 2-2 draw at Ethiopia's Saint George on Saturday.

The Burkinabe put the visitors in front after two minutes but St. George's Shimelese Bekele levelled the aggregate score on the quarter hour mark.

St. George were on course to cause an upset and eliminate the five-time African Champions after Isaac Isinde gave them the lead on the stroke of halftime but Cisse came to Zamalek's rescue with a close-range header two minutes from time.  

Cisse, who is enjoying a new lease of life under Brazilian coach Jorvan Vieira, got the nod ahead of Ahmed Gaafar after putting in some efficient displays lately, including scoring another late winner over Dakhleya in the Egyptian Premier League last week.

He also netted with eight minutes remaining to help Zamalek salvage a 1-1 draw at home to St. George in the first leg two weeks ago.

The Cairo club, who are topping the league's Group B with maximum 30 points from 10 games, are unbeaten in 16 matches so far this term.

Cisse silenced the raucous home crowd after ten minutes when he got ahead of his marker to meet an inswinging cross from left-back Sabri Rahil with a powerful header that went in off the underside of the bar.

Despite taking the lead, the visitors struggled to contain St. George's forwards, who often enjoyed smooth rides to the penalty area and had the upper hand in most of the aerial challenges.

Zamalek were also toothless upfront, with attacking midfielders Ahmed Hassan and Mohamed Ibrahim struggling to feed the isolated Cisse.

St. George were rewarded after 14 minutes when Bekele caught Zamalek's defence backline off guard to volley home from inside the area following a left-wing cross.

They could have gone ahead five minutes later but a fierce volley from an acute angle was superbly palmed away by Zamalek keeper Abdel-Wahed El-Sayed.

St. George made amends two minutes before the interval when a poor defensive clearance fell to Isinde on the edge of the area to send a half-volleypast El-Sayed.

Zamalek threw everything forward in the second half and coach Jorvan Vieira tried to beef up his attack by introducing Gaafar, pacy winger Hazem Emam and playmaker Ahmed Eid.

The substitutions paid dividends as Zamalek laid siege to St. George's area and were unlucky not to score on 70 minutes when a low shot by Ahmed Hassan was denied by the woodwork after the keeper was caught out of position.

The lively Emam and Eid combined to set up Cisse for the decisive goal with two minutes remaining.

Eid released Emam with a deft ball down the right and he skipped past his marker to whip in a cross for Cisse to head home and stun the home crowd, who were earlier widely celebrating a possible upset.

Cisse’s late header in Ethiopia lifts Zamalek to Champions League group stage is a post from: Ethiovision

ADDIS ABABA: Anger and frustration are taking center stage here in Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa, after blogger Eskinder Nega saw his appeal fail and will head to jail. The court dismissed the appeal from the blogger and opposition leader Andualem Arage, who were imprisoned last year on what supporters say are trumped-up terrorism charges.

Outrage as Ethiopia lays down jail term for blogger Eskinder Nega is a post from: Ethiovision

By Marthe van der Wolf —-

ADDIS ABABA — Shelter is among the many things Ethiopia’s street children long for.  But a study by the international aid group Save the Children indicates that local non-governmental organizations and community organizations rarely offer what the street children want.  

Azeb Adefrsew, a researcher with Save the Children, said the limited services provided by local NGOs do not match what the kids see as their greatest needs.

“The children say that their major problem was shelter.  But the street children organizations were providing mainly food and other items, clothing and so on," Adefrsew explained. "But the children were not satisfied with the services they were receiving.”

Save the Children interviewed kids living on the streets in five major cities, three regional towns and eight rural villages across Ethiopia.  The children discussed a wide range of topics, including their needs, health and risks.

 There are about 30,000 street children in Ethiopia, with 17,000 in capital city, Addis Ababa, alone. More than half of these kids do not have access to shelter or adequate food.

They mostly survive on what they receive from shining shoes, selling small items to passersby and begging.

There are health risks.  Research data indicate some 30 percent are seriously sick, but most do not have access to any kind of treatment.  And about 40 percent give indications they have been forced to have sex.  Shelter is seen by the kids as way of reducing these kinds of risks.

GOAL Ethiopia is an NGO that facilitates services for street children such as psychological support, non-formal education and guidance on how to reintegrate back into their communities.

Kedir Ahmed of GOAL Ethiopia acknowledged the findings in the study, but said providing a shelter is not the best way to help street kids. “No organization can afford to provide all these services for the children.  What we try to do is to do that rehabilitation support while street children are still on the street.  So in the environment where all the resistance and the problem is still happening, if you provide the rehabilitation support, they can change their life,” he noted.

GOAL used to provide shelter for street children, but found that it discouraged the children from re-entering their own communities.  In most cases, the children had left home because of poverty, and shelters were often more comfortable than the family homes.

The British organization Retrack provides 300 street children in Addis Ababa with shelter.  The aid group's country director, Lynn Kay, believes poverty also needs to be tackled because it is a major reason why children leave home.   "Poverty is a major push factor for children to move on to the street, that’s our experience with the children," she said. "Also, I think what would be great to see is money being channeled to help children to reintegrate with their families instead of being placed in institutions, where we know that the care for children is not good for children.  Children don’t do well in institutions.”

The Ethiopian government is currently in the final stages of completing the National Social Protection Strategy that also includes a new child policy.  New approaches and structural changes will be included for vulnerable children — such as supporting families to reduce poverty and keep children off the streets.  The government is reaching out to international organizations to make the new policy happen.

Needs of Ethiopia’s Street Children not Met, Aid Group Says is a post from: Ethiovision

(VOA) – Trafficking in Africa has long been a problem, from drugs and minerals to ivory and people. A new type of trade involving Eritreans fleeing the regime at home, however, has led to new tales of horror. Kidnapped in Sudan and sold into Egypt, Eritrean refugees reportedly are being tortured until families back home desperately search for the money to save them.

Kidnappers target Eritrean refugee camps in Sudan is a post from: Ethiovision