International lawlessness (Salim Lone)

"The US-backed invasion of Somalia to topple its Islamists is a dangerous, illegal act of aggression", writes Salim Lone, Dec 30, 2006 in The Guardian. See many comments at end of the piece.

Somali Prime Minister: War in Horn Of Africa inevitable

AP report via SudanTribune - excerpt:

Dec 5, 2006 (ADDIS ABABA) -- Somalia's prime minister told The AP war in the Horn of Africa is unavoidable because radicals control the Islamic movement that in recent months has taken over much of his country.

Somali Prime Minister Ali Gedi indicated war was imminent, but said his government will continue to take part in all peace efforts. In the interview late Monday, he added his government was preparing to defend itself against attacks by the Council of Islamic Courts, as the movement that has taken over most of southern Somalia is known.

Darfur rebel group denies holding conference in Ethiopia

Darfur rebel group Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) denied organising its second general conference in the Ethiopian capital from 20 to 25 November. It accused the Sudanese security service of organizing this alleged conference.

Full story 12 Nov 2006 via ST.

Ethiopia/Eritrea/Somalia: Thousands of foreign troops in Somalia - UN

Oct 27 2006 Associated Press report via ST Thousands of foreign troops in Somalia - UN:

Oct 27, 2006 (NAIROBI) -- Thousands of foreign troops in Somalia could lead to "an all out war" between Somalia’s transitional government and an Islamic group that controls much of the country, according to a confidential U.N. report obtained by The Associated Press.

The confidential report, dated Oct. 26 and obtained by The Associated Press, cites diplomatic sources in estimating that "between 6,000-8,000 Ethiopians and 2,000 fully equipped Eritrean troops are now inside Somalia supporting" the internationally recognized government or the Islamic movement.

"Both sides in the Somali conflict are reported to have major outside backers," the report said, saying Ethiopia, Uganda and Yemen supported the government and Iran, Libya, Saudi Arabia and Gulf states supported the Islamic movement.

The briefing paper was written to help senior U.N. officials map out a strategy on how to provide aid to one of the most impoverished countries in the world, which has not had an effective central government since 1991.

"In order for us to do this, a clear policy of engagement with the (Islamic movement) must be put in place," the report said. "The fact is that there is new found stability in Mogadishu, extending to areas that they have begun to control, which has not been seen for many years."

One problem facing the United Nations is the listing of the Islamic movement’s leader, Sheik Hassan Dahir Aweys, on a list of people with ties to terrorism. U.N. policy severely restricts how much contact U.N. officials can have with people with alleged ties to terror organizations.

The report was written as both the transitional government and the Islamic movement appeared to be girding for battle, even though they were scheduled to sit down at Arab League-mediated peace talks in Khartoum, Sudan on Monday. Government forces, supported by Ethiopian military advisers, have been digging trenches near Baidoa, the only town the U.N.-backed government controls.

The Islamic movement has deployed forces at a strategic town between Baidoa, and Mogadishu, 250 kilometers (150 miles) to the southeast.

Ethiopian officials have insisted they have only a few hundred military advisers assisting the government, but international and local officials have put the number into the thousands.

In towns and villages across southern Somalia Friday, thousands took to the streets after calls from Islamic leaders to protest Ethiopia’s backing of the virtually powerless government. Some 15,000 turned out in the Somali capital, Mogadishu. The demonstrations, which featured the burning of Ethiopian flags, were also being used to recruit fighters for a holy war against Ethiopia, Somalia’s traditional rival, enrollments that will continue over the next three days.

"From this time on, we will wage a war against Ethiopians inside Somalia," top Islamic leader, Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed, told thousands of Somalis in their capital. "We need anyone who can give us weapons, even a dagger."

Islamic leaders have repeated called for holy war on Ethiopia, but no clashes between their fighters and Ethiopian troops have been reported.

Somalia and Ethiopia share a 1,600-kilometer (1,000-mile) border and fought a war in 1977.

The Somali transitional government has repeatedly accused Eritrea of arming and supporting their rivals in the Islamic movement, something that both Eritrean and Islamic officials have repeatedly denied.

Ethiopia and Eritrea fought a two-year border war that remains unresolved and the top U.S. diplomat to Africa, Jendayi Frazer, last week accused Eritrea of using Somalia to open a second front against Ethiopia.

In Washington on Thursday, U.S. State Dept. spokesman Sean McCormack called on Ethiopia and Eritrea not to further aggravate the tense situation in Somalia.

"This is a country that has been ravaged by violence and civil conflict for decades and it’s a sad story, so we would hope that countries in the region would try to play a positive role ... to not take any steps that would aggravate what is already a very tough, sad situation." he said.

The U.N. refugee agency said Friday that the flow of Somali refugees into neighboring Kenya had slowed down, but expressed concerns over reports Islamic leaders were preventing people from leaving Somalia.

Ethiopia "technically" at war with Somalia -Meles

Reuters ADDIS ABABA, Oct 24, 2006:

Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said on Tuesday Ethiopia was "technically" at war with Somalia's Islamists since they had declared jihad on his nation.

"The jihadist elements within the Islamic Courts movement are spoiling for a fight. They've been declaring jihad against Ethiopia almost every other week," Meles told Reuters in an interview.

"Technically we are at war."

AU ready for Somalia mission - Arab League pledge of $50-million to boost the Darfur mission has not yet materialised

Reuters report via Africast Global Africa Network MOGADISHU, October 24, 2006:

The African Union is ready for a controversial peacekeeping mission in Somalia but nowhere near implementing an intended 4 000 troop expansion of its stretched Darfur force, a top official said on Tuesday.

"African countries are willing to give any amount of troops for peacekeeping ... (but) I'm telling you, that might be impossible," peace and security director Geofrey Mugumya said of the proposed increase to the 7 000-strong AU force in Darfur.

Such an expansion is seen by diplomats as a stop-gap before a possible mission transfer to U.N. troops in the vast Sudanese region. Conflict there has killed an estimated 200 000 people and displaced another 2,5 million since early 2003.

Khartoum, however, opposes UN entry, the AU mission's mandate ends on December 31, and the pan-African body is struggling even to rotate current battalions, let alone add the intended six more at a cost of roughly $80-million (about R620-million).

"Sometimes you get promises (of funds), but they are not translated into reality," he said at AU headquarters in Ethiopia, saying an Arab League pledge of $50-million to boost the Darfur mission had not yet materialised.

"Here we spend most of our time smiling at donors rather than on real issues."

The AU official was more upbeat, however, about the likelihood of a Ugandan-led African peacekeeping mission in Somalia. It would be tasked with bolstering an interim government challenged by the rise of powerful Islamists.

"Ugandan forces are ready and will go if the arms embargo is lifted or modified," he said, adding that the UN Security Council was meeting in November to mull such a change, a pre-requisite for an African intervention.

The Mogadishu-based Islamists have threatened to fight any foreign troops, and al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden has said such an intervention would justify jihad.

But Mugumya insisted an African force would calm the situation, rather than inflame it. "What we want is to protect the Transitional Federal Government, so it does not go back to being stateless, we want to put water on the fire," he said.

"It's always consensus minus one. ... And can you get consensus from Osama bin Laden?"

Though backed by the West and the Horn of Africa's most powerful nation Ethiopia, the Somali government has little control beyond the outlying town of Baidoa which is its base.

Some diplomats say if a proposed Ugandan troop vanguard goes in, it might call the Islamists' bluff, and enable the government to rally forces from disparate militia currently lying dormant around Somalia.

Uganda has emerged as the only nation probably able to send troops to Somalia in the short-term, because most others in the east African regional body IGAD, which would head the mission in coordination with the AU, border Somalia and fear being drawn into a conflict that could spill across their own territory.

Uganda has said it could fund itself in Somalia for six months, and other funds could be found from the European Union and elsewhere to gradually increase the force to 10 000 or more, Mugumya said.

It is all theoretical, however, if the United Nations fails to alter its arms embargo on Somalia, which is, despite the embargo, awash with weapons. The country has been in chaos since the 1991 ouster of a dictator.

"You obviously can't send troops unarmed," Mugumya said.

Aspiring to provide local solutions to Africa's crises, the AU is hoping to set up a five-brigade standby force for rapid intervention by 2010.

Darfur, however, came too early, Mugumya said, so the AU would welcome a UN takeover even though it may realistically have to extend its mandate into next year.

"The AU finds itself between a rock and a hard place. If it leaves, what would happen? If we stay, do we have resources?" he said.

Often criticised for failing to stop suffering in Darfur, the AU should be credited for rapid deployments and some stabilisation against all odds, he argued.

"AU troops move fast under harsh conditions. Would UN soldiers sleep under trees like the locals?"

U.S. urges Eritrea pullback from Ethiopia buffer zone

Oct 20 2006 Reuters report:

The United States urged Eritrea on Thursday to withdraw its forces from a U.N. buffer zone along the Ethiopian border amid concerns the troops' presence there could heighten tensions in the Horn of Africa.

A State Department spokesman said Eritrea's movement of troops inside the buffer earlier this week violated a 6-year-old peace agreement and further undermined regional stability.

"The United States calls on Eritrea to respond to the October 17 statement issued by the United Nations Security Council by immediately withdrawing the tanks, troops, and accompanying artillery that breached the Temporary Security Zone on October 16, 2006," spokesman Tom Casey said in a statement.

Casey said the United States also urged both countries to comply with a 2000 peace accord that ended a two-year border war that killed more than 70,000 people.

"The United States urges both Eritrea and Ethiopia to show maximum restraint, to refrain from the threat or use of force against each other, and to avoid any action that may escalate tensions between the two countries," Casey said.

The United Nations accused Eritrea on Monday of moving some 1,500 soldiers and 14 tanks closer to Ethiopia in a "major breach" of the peace agreement.

U.N. peacekeepers monitor the 15-mile (25-km) buffer zone along the 600-mile (1,000-km) border as part of the peace agreement.

The Eritrean government defended its movement in the zone, saying it had a sovereign right over the area and the troops were there to work on development projects.

Ethiopia said it would not respond militarily to what it called a "minor provocation."

Eritrea/Ethiopia: Zenawi says defected officers fear purge from the Ethiopian army

Many high-ranking officers from the Ethiopian army defected since August. They mostly joined the opposition Oromo Liberation Front bases in the neighbouring Eritrea. The most important was the defection of Brig. Gen. Kemal Geltu to Eritrea with 150 Ethiopian soldiers on 10 August.

Full story Sudan Tribune 1 Oct 2006.

Somali Islamists expand control near Ethiopian border

Oct 1 2006 Xinhua report via ST:

Fighters of Somali Islamic Courts have seized control of a strategic village in the agriculturally rich area of Lower Shabelle near the Ethiopian border, reports said on Sunday.

Fighters loyal to the Supreme Council of Islamic Courts (SCIC) group routed pro-government militia from the village of Jawill, some 15km from the Ethiopian border on Saturday. The only roads between Ethiopia and central Somalia pass through the village.

SCIC senior leader Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed has vowed to seize more territories.

The Saturday's takeover is the SCIC’s second major territorial gain in nearly a week, following last Sunday’s takeover of the southern port city of Kismayo.

The SCIC have gradually expanded their influence over Somalia since defeating warlords in a battle for the capital, Mogadishu, in June.

Somalia's interim government, the 14th attempt at restoring the central rule, viewed the Kismayo takeover as breaching a ceasefire agreed at talks in Khartoum, Sudan, early this month.

The African Union recently approved a plan to send thousands of peacekeepers to the war-torn Horn of Africa country. SCIC leaders have vowed to fight the peacekeeping force if it arrives.

Kidnapped Red Cross aid workers 'in contact'

From BBC via Garowe Online - Africa 22 Sep 2006:

A Red Cross spokeswoman said Donal had spoken with colleagues overnight and confirmed they were being treated well.

Red Cross general secretary Carmel Lynch said: "Donal has made contact by phone with the Red Cross in the area and he has reassured them they are both well and are being treated well. But he wasn't able to give any more information."

She told Today FM: "Of course we have concerns but as a person Donal is a very strong capable person, and he is very calm, so I am sure he would be well able to deal with any situation he may find himself in."

The Department of Foreign Affairs has sent an experienced kidnap negotiator to Ethiopia to assist the Red Cross.

"Foreign Minister Dermot Ahern has ordered a senior officer from London who is experienced in negotiating in kidnap situations to travel to Addis Ababa," a government spokesman said.

Note, Mr O'Suilleabhain is a water and sanitation engineer who has worked overseas for the International Red Cross for several years. He has spend periods in Darfur and Liberia and worked for the aid agency building new wells to provide clean water supplies for hundreds of thousands of people for last two years.

UPDATE 23 Sep 2006: BBC NEWS - Kidnapped aid worker is released

Eritrea: "Deploying AU Peacekeepers in Somalia", to What End?

Shabait.com (Asmara) opinion piece Eritrea: "Deploying AU Peacekeepers in Somalia", to What End? (allAfrica.com Sep 20, 2006)

Red Cross workers kidnapped in eastern Ethiopia

Sep 20 2006 Reuters/AP/ST:

Unidentified assailants kidnapped two aid workers form the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Ethiopia, the humanitarian agency and Ireland said on Wednesday.

The Irish government earlier named one of the kidnapped aid workers as Donal O'Suilleabhain and said he and his Ethiopian colleague were abducted on Sep 18. The ICRC confirmed the other aid worker was Ethiopian but has not provided a name.

The two ICRC staff were kidnapped on Monday while working about 50 kms (31 miles) outside Gode town in Ethiopia's southeastern Ogaden region, Krug Eglin, deputy ICRC head in Ethiopia told Reuters.

"We have suspended all activities in the Somali region for the moment after 11 years of operating in the region," ICRC spokesman Patrick Megevand told the Associated Press.

He said the agency had established contact with the kidnappers and demanded that they free the aid workers.

"We do not know who they are and have not received any demand for ransom, but we have established contact with the kidnappers and we have demanded their unconditional release," he said, without giving details.

"The two staff members were in the area doing their routine work related to improved access to clean water for the people of the region."

Eglin said the agency was also in touch with the Ethiopian authorities.

Government spokesman Zemedkun Teckle said Ethiopian police and security are investigating and trying to track down the kidnappers.

"No one is sure at this time who the perpetrators are," he told The Associated Press. "We do not know if it is ONLF or not."

The rebel Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF), a movement of ethnic Somalis fighting for independence, is known to be active in the region.

AU backs 8,000 troops for Somalia

The following report tells us many in Mogadishu oppose foreign intervention.

Sep 13 2006 BBC

The African Union has approved plans to send 8,000 peacekeepers to Somalia to support the interim government.

An alliance of Islamic courts which controls the capital and much of central and southern Somalia says it will oppose any deployment by force.

A meeting at AU headquarters in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, agreed that the first soldiers should be in place by the end of the month.

But obstacles remain as the AU does not have the funds to pay for the troops.

The approval for the force by the African Union Peace and Security Council also appears to fly in the face of a shaky agreement between Somalia's interim government and the Islamic courts not to allow any foreign intervention.

Further talks are expected to resume on 30 October. The two sides have already agreed on a united army.

Somalia has been without any effective government for the past 15 years divided into fiefdoms controlled by rival warlords.

The interim government has the support of the UN, but it controls only a small area of the country around its base in Baidoa, about 250km from the capital and a powerful local warlord has ordered them to leave.

The Islamists accuse the government of bolstering its defences with troops from Ethiopia, while they in turn have been accused of using military backing from Eritrea.

Neighbours agree on Somalia force

Sep 5 2006 BBC - Neighbours agree on Somalia force:

Somalia's transitional government has agreed with neighbours Ethiopia and Kenya on plans for an international peace force for Somalia.

In Mogadishu people demonstrated against foreign intervention

ERITREA: UN protests at staff expulsions

IRIN report 7 Sep 2006. Excerpt:

The United Nations Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE) has protested to the Eritrean authorities over the expulsion of five UN staff on allegations of spying, a spokesperson said on Thursday.

On Wednesday, the Eritrean authorities gave the five staff members - from Britain, New Zealand, South Africa, Liberia and Trinidad and Tobago - one day to leave the country.

"These individuals were ordered to leave Eritrea within 24 hours after they were apprehended while engaged, out of their mission, in deploying spy networks, recruiting mercenary agents and providing radio communication facilities," a government statement said.

AU appeals for help for flood-stricken Ethiopia

IRIN report via Reuters 21 Aug 2006:

The African Union (AU) on Monday appealed to its member states and the rest of the international community to provide humanitarian assistance to thousands of Ethiopians affected by flash floods that followed heavy rainfall.

The AU announced it was donating US $100,000 to the government to help it respond to the floods, which have displaced an estimated 10,000 people and left hundreds dead. Flooding first hit Dire Dawa city in southern Ethiopia earlier this month, killing hundreds. Then the Omo River burst its banks at the same time as rivers in Tigray, Amhara and Oromia regions.

Police Inspector Daniel Gezahegne, the public relations officer in the Southern Nations Police Commission, told IRIN that efforts were continuing to rescue thousands of marooned villagers along the Omo River. Rescuers had saved about 1,300 using boats and helicopters, he added.

"In the past five days rescuers were able to save about 1,300 people. There are still thousands stranded by the flood. The weather is good today [Monday] and we hope to save more people," said Gezahegne. Some people were, however, reluctant to leave because they did not want to abandon their livestock. "They are telling the rescuers that they can't survive without their cattle. But we are trying to convince them to be relocated to safe places," he added.

Sisay Tadesse, the public relations officer with the Federal Disaster Prevention and Preparedness Agency (DPPA), said the government continued using helicopters and boats to deliver humanitarian aid to those affected. "Various United Nations agencies and NGOs are participating in delivering humanitarian assistance to the affected people there," he added.

Floods are common during the June-September rainy season in Ethiopia

The country's National Meteorological Agency has forecast more heavy rains, indicating that more rivers could soon overflow.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said the immediate needs included search and rescue support, including boats, helicopters and life jackets. Helicopters could not fly most of the time due to bad weather, but they were essential to guiding boats to stranded people and dry land, the agency said in its latest update on the situation. The DPPA had also requested food and non-food items to fill the immediate humanitarian gap, according to OCHA. The DPPA was responding to both the food and non-food needs, with support from the UN World Food Programme and UN Children's Fund, it added.

Somali Islamists vow holy war on Ethiopian troops

Somalia's Islamists threatened on Thursday to wage holy war on Ethiopian troops they said had crossed into the Horn of Africa nation, Reuters reported July 20, 2006:

"God willing, we will remove the Ethiopians in our country and wage a jihadi war against them," Sheikh Mukhtar Robow, a senior Islamist in charge of defence, told reporters.

Robow said around 20 Ethiopian military vehicles had crossed into Somalia at Dollow on Wednesday, adding to previous Islamist accusations that its giant neighbour was sending in soldiers.

Independent analysts believe Addis Ababa has sent several thousand troops into Somalia, and is massing many more on the border, as a deterrent to any more advances by the Islamists, who took Mogadishu from U.S.-backed warlords last month.

Ethiopia backs the interim Somali government of President Abdullahi Yusuf, based in the provincial town of Baidoa.

Ethiopia, which is the main power in the Horn of Africa region, earlier said it would "crush" any move by the Islamists to take Baidoa.

Terrorist suspects running Somali capital - Ethiopia PM

AP report via ST July 4, 2006:

Members of a group listed by the U.S. as a terrorist band are now running the capital of neighboring Somalia, days after Islamic fighters wrested control of the city from warlords, Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said Tuesday.

"The renowned extremist and terrorist organization, al-Ittihad, is at the helm of the current leadership in Mogadishu," Meles told lawmakers during a review of the situation in Ethiopia relations with neighboring countries. "We do not believe that all the forces that have taken control of Mogadishu and its surroundings are extremists."

Al-Ittihad is listed by the U.S. as a terrorist group linked to al-Qaida. Washington has accused the group of harboring al-Qaida leaders responsible for deadly 1998 bombings at the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.

U.N. officials say Al-Ittihad operates openly as a religious organization and is a powerful economic force in southern Somalia, where it captured key towns from warlords in June.

U.N. experts monitoring an arms embargo on lawless Somalia described Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys - heads of the powerful consultative council of the group that controls Mogadishu - as the al-Ittihad leader responsible for overseeing military training.

The military trainers for what constitutes "Al-Ittihad’s de facto army" reportedly include several Afghans and Yemenis, the U.N. experts said in a report released early last year.

Aweys, however, has denied being al-Ittihad’s leader and said the group has disbanded.

Despite the dramatic rise to power of the extremists, most residents and members of the group running Mogadishu are only interested in ending 15 years of anarchy and restoring peace and stability in the country, Meles said.

Still, Ethiopia is closely watching developments in Somalia and has deployed troops and military hardware on the border separating the two countries.

Ethiopian officials have previously accused al-Ittihad combatants of training, arming and helping Ethiopia’s ethnic Somali and Oromo separatist fighter.

90,000 displaced by clan violence in Ethiopia

Via Sudan Tribune 30 June 2006:

Deadly inter-clan violence has forced nearly 90,000 people in southern Ethiopia to flee their homes in the past three weeks, government officials and aid workers said on Friday.

Land clashes between the rival Guji and Borena clans have left about 100 people dead in and around the towns of Shakiso, Arero and Yabello, all within about 100 kilometers (60 miles) of each other south of Addis Ababa, they said.

In Arero, about 450 kilometers (280 miles) south of the capital, between 27,000 and 29,000 people have been displaced since early June, regional administrator Jaatanni Taadhii said.

In Yabello, about 500 kilometers (310 miles) south of the capital, the figure is between 37,000 and 39,000 people, according to an aid worker in the area, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The British charity Oxfam, meanwhile, said that more than 20,000 people had been displaced in Shakiso, about 380 kilometers (235 miles) south of Addis Ababa, since June 16.

"With the Ethiopian Red Cross, we have started distributing blankets, jerrycans and teapots to help the displaced," said Oxfam spokeswoman Liz Lucas.

Inter-clan violence in Ethiopia's semi-arid and drought-prone southern Borena region runs high and there are frequent clashes over water, land and cattle.

Ethiopia says Somalia 'a threat'

The new leader of the Islamist group that controls much of southern Somalia is a threat to Ethiopia, says Prime Minister Meles Zenawi.

Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys was head of al-Itihaad al-Islamiya, a group accused of having links to al-Qaeda.

Ethiopia helped Somalia's now interim president, Abdullahi Yusuf, defeat al-Itihaad in the 1990s.

The United States has said it will not deal with Mr Aweys, because of "links to terrorism", a charge he denies.

Mr Meles says security along its border has been increased in case of "the resurgence of Jihadists in Mogadishu".

Last week, Mr Awey's Somali Supreme Islamic Courts Council and the interim government, which is largely toothless and based north of the capital in Baidoa, agreed not to fight each other.

The recent advances of the Islamists have renewed fears of major conflict in Somalia, which has not had an effective national government for 15 years.

Full report BBC 28 June 2006.

Mogadishu, Somalia: 'Crucial peacekeeping talks' being held in Sudan

Reuters report via Gulfnews June 21, 2006:

Mogadishu's new Islamist rulers and Somalia's interim government plan to meet in Sudan today under the auspices of the Arab League to try and avoid war following a recent power shift in the Horn of Africa nation.

When the Islamist militia kicked US-backed warlords out of Mogadishu there was hope they would work with the weak government based in the provincial town of Baidoa to install the first truly national administration for 15 years.

But the two sides have quickly moved apart.

The Islamists accuse President Abdullahi Yousuf's administration of encouraging an incursion by Ethiopian troops, while the government says that is a lie intended to justify an attack on Baidoa.

"The meeting tomorrow in Khartoum is crucial ... just sitting together would be a step forward," said a Western diplomat yesterday, who has been speaking to both sides.

Ten killed in violence along Kenya-Ethiopia border

Ten people were killed and five others wounded when suspected Ethiopian bandits attacked a Kenyan village in a region along the Ethiopian border plagued by conflict over livestock and grazing land.

Cattle rustling and cross-border raids are common for pastoralist communities living along the porous border where fighting over scarce resources like pasture and water has been exacerbated by a drought in the region. - Reuters via ST June 6, 2006.

UN peacekeepers in Ethiopia, Eritrea to be cut

The Security Council has unanimously approved a resolution cutting the number of peacekeepers deployed in Eritrea and Ethiopia by at least one-third, while extending UN mission's mandate for another four months, AP/Sudan Tribune reported June 1, 2006 - excerpt:

The reduction from 3,500 to 2,300 came after the United States sought a cutback because Ethiopia and Eritrea made no progress in resuming talks on the demarcation of their border.

The talks, held in London earlier in May, were aimed at breaking the deadlock between the two countries and the international Boundary Commission, which is charged with marking the border between the two Horn of Africa nations.

Eritrea has repeatedly ignored council demands that it lift restrictions on UN helicopter flights on its side of a buffer zone separating the two countries. Ethiopia, similarly, has rejected calls to abide by the deal that awarded the key town of Badme to Eritrea.

The resolution approved Wednesday stressed the council's "unwavering commitment to the peace process, and to the full and expeditious implementations of the Algiers Agreements ... as a basis for peaceful and cooperative relations between the parties."

The Algiers Peace Agreement ended a two-year border war between the countries in 2000.

The resolution authorized the "reconfiguration of UNMEE's military component and in this regard approves the deployment within UNMEE of up to 2,300 troops" including 230 military advisers.

While the cut in troop level indicates a partial victory for the United States, another proposal put forward by US Ambassador John Bolton to reclassify the force as an observer mission was not included in the resolution. It authorized the troop deployment "with the exiting mandate."

Relations between Eritrea and Ethiopia have been consistently strained since Eritrea gained its independence from the Addis Ababa government in 1993 following a 30-year guerrilla war.

Sudan, east rebels to start peace talks in Eritrea

Reuters report May 26, 2006:

Sudan's government and eastern rebels will hold talks in Asmara next month to try to end a simmering insurgency in the remote but economically important region, Eritrean officials said.

Khartoum -- which signed a peace agreement with southern rebels in 2005 and has also faced an insurgency in its western Darfur region -- will begin negotiations on June 13 with the Eastern Front, Eritrea's official Web site shabait.com said.

Eastern rebels, whose revolt has rumbled for about a decade, share the complaints of counterparts in Darfur and former rebels in the south that Khartoum has failed to develop their far-flung regions while exploiting their natural resources.

The article on shabait.com, the site of Eritrea's Information Ministry, said the government and the Eastern front signed an initial agreement on dialogue this week in Asmara.

"The agreement underlined that the dialogue should take place in a manner that would reinforce the on-going peace process in the Sudan, satisfy both parties and promote the peace, unity and stability in the country," the article said.

Sudanese Federal Minister Abdel Basit Sabderat and Mussa Mohamed Ahmed, leader of the Eastern Front, signed the agreement, it added.

"Both sides have agreed on Eritrea hosting the dialogue, the first of which is scheduled to take place on June 13, 2006."

Sudan this week released three members of the east's main political party, a key demand for talks to begin.

The Eastern Front includes both eastern rebel groups and the main political parties in the area.

The drought-stricken east has some of the highest malnutrition rates in the country, yet is home to Sudan's largest gold mine, its main port and major oil pipeline.

The main eastern tribe is the Beja.

The rebels took up arms in the 1990s and control the small Hamesh Koreb area near the border with Eritrea.

Relations between Eritrea and Sudan have been fraught in the past, with both sides trading accusations of support for armed insurgents on each other's territory.

Eritrea denies giving military support to the eastern Sudan rebels, but admits to political support.

Pictures of the $100 laptop: 1st working model of One Laptop Per Child (OLPC)

From May 23, 2006 blog entry by Pablo Halkyard at PSD blog - The World Bank Group:

Pictures from the unveiling of the first working prototype of the $100 Laptop at the Seven Countries Task Force today. Green became orange, and the hand-crank is gone. Compare with Intel's sub-$400 entry and AMD's $185 version.

Note, at the entry a techie commented: "Awesome. I want one. What is there to stop gringos from buying them all to have their recipes on the kitchen or to use as poolside or beach laptop?"

Click here to learn about One Laptop per Child and view pictures of original green prototype with hand crank.



Photo: 1st working model (OLPC) - taken at 11:45 AM on May 23, 2006; cameraphone upload by ShoZu - Uploaded to flickr by Pete Barr-Watson

Blogging anonymously from Ethiopia

If you want to blog from Ethiopia and protect yourself to the greatest extent possible, you should do the following:

Click here and read Ethan's blog entry at My Heart's in Accra.

Ethiopia delivers petition against VOA, Deutsche radios

Sudan Tribune report May 20. 2006 - excerpt:

Documents of petition collected in opposition to "unbalanced and destructive" reports on Ethiopia by the Amharic services of the Deutsche Welle and Voice of America (VOA) services were handed over to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for delivery to the legislatures of the countries hosting the two media organizations, the Ethiopian radio reported.

Ethiopia had charged five VOA Ethiopian journalists of treason, genocide, conspiracy, causing armed uprising and trying to overthrow the constitution. But authorities under external pressures dropped these charges against VOA staff.

In a press release issued on 22 March, CPJ said US diplomatic pressure may have played a part. VOA, which is funded by the US government, broadcasts into Ethiopia in the local language, Amharic.

UN to halve Eritrea-Ethiopia force

The UN plans to halve its peacekeeping force on the tense border between Ethiopia and Eritrea after talks this week failed to break a deadlock between the arch-foes, diplomats said Friday, Sudan Tribune reported May 19, 2006.

"The London talks this week failed," one western diplomat said on condition of anonymity. "So the UN has now decided to reduce UNMEE's military troops from 3,000 men to 1,500 men."

A second Asmara-based diplomat confirmed that the reduction "is what is most likely to happen" and said a final decision by the UN Security Council could come as early as Monday.

Darfur, Eritrea and "the road to peace in the Horn of Africa runs through Asmara..."

A letter by Thomas C. Mountain in Hawaii to the Editor of The Arab American News (in response to a piece entitled "The danger of misunderstanding Islam," Issue 1056, May 5-12, 2006) is copied here in full. Note, Asmara is the capital city of Eritrea.

General public knows nothing of Sudanese conflict

To the editor:

I specialize in the Horn of Africa, as part of my 25 plus years of work on black and African history. I am married to an Eritrean ex-fighter and have a home in Asmara, where we will be retiring soon.

While I appreciate your expose of the Zionist role in the Darfur demonstration ("The danger of misunderstanding Islam," Issue 1056, May 5-12, 2006), I found serious problems with the list of demands included in the piece.

You need to stop telling the people of the Horn of Africa what is best for them and start talking with the leadership of the peace movement in the Horn. The saying in the Horn is "the road to peace in the Horn of Africa runs through Asmara...", and I doubt you were aware of this fact.

You actually called for Eritrea to stop supporting the Darfur people. If you mean militarily, you have been misinformed. If you have any evidence to support this charge, I urge you to provide it, for my investigation, including interviews with the Darfur leadership over the last 3 years, shows this is a complete fabrication. Logistically, claiming that a small, very poor country like Eritrea is able to ship tons of arms over a thousand miles across Sudanese territory controlled by the Bashir regime is very difficult to swallow.

The only support the Darfur fighters receive from Eritrea is diplomatic and publicity wise. Your call for Eritrea to stop supporting the Darfur fighters if they don't accept a "peace treaty" rammed down their throats by Western and AU pressure really smacks of paternalism and outright ignorance of the situation on the ground in Sudan.

Your naive call to basically trust the Bashir regime, who has broken/ violated all the "peace" agreements it has entered into, which is what accepting this latest "agreement" amounts to, is dangerous and badly misguided. The NIF government led by Bashir is violating the present CPA just signed last year, i.e. refusing to accept the "final and binding" demarcation decision between north and south Sudan, along with other major violations and failures to implement their promises.

The Bashir regime knows that if it loses a mere 2% of its representation in the Sudanese national assembly its days in power are over. The Darfur fighters are calling for a share of power in the government. This would have to come from the NIF/ Bashir regime's portion. Do you think Bashir is ready to give up his power without a fight?

Talk to the other Sudanese resistance organizations, i.e. the SPLA, the National Democratic Alliance, the Beja resistance in the east, the Darfur leadership and last but certainly not least, the Eritreans. With a more informed and balanced viewpoint you may have second thoughts on some of the demands you have listed.

Thomas C. Mountain
Hawaii

Editorial response: The list of demands the writer refers to are a list of suggestions put forward not by The Arab American News, but by a coalition of Muslim organizations in the U.S., as reported in the article.

Darfur Daily News petition for "Complete, Inclusive and Comprehensive Peace for Darfur"

Copy of an entry published today at Sudan Watch:

Darfur Daily News blogspot claims to be, quote "a reliable source of news and information about what is going on in Darfur at the moment located in The Hague."

The blog author has organised a petition online targeted at UN, EU, AU, USA, UK, Civil Society, H Rights, International Community.

The petition, entitled "Complete, Inclusive and Comprehensive Peace for Darfur", has 82 signatures to date. Goal is 400,000.

Note, at the moment the thePetitionSite.com is temporarily unavailable, so I am copying their page/demands and publishing it in full at Ethiopia Watch, a sister blog of Sudan Watch.

Complete, Inclusive and Comprehensive Pease for Darfur Petition

We, the undersigned, are Darfurians, other Sudanese and concerned non-Sudanese who sincerely believe that the agreement that was signed on May 5, 2006 in Abuja, between one faction of SLM/A and the National Congress Party, does not address the root causes of Sudanese Conflict in Darfur and it is therefore unacceptable. We believe it will lead to more destruction of Darfurians and their region.

Complete, Inclusive and Comprehensive Pease for Darfur

To African Union, Unite Nations, European Union, President Obasanjo and People of Nigeria, USA, Canada, Safe Darfur and All Civil Society and Human Rights organizations and Individuals concerned about Darfur, we undersigned are representatives of Darfur and other Sudanese civil society organizations and Sudanese experts concerned about the way the talks are ending in Abuja and we have therefore decided to present you our position and the position of most Darfurians and other Sudanese. Again, the suggestions that we provide below also present the opinion of the majority of Darfurians as well as many other Sudanese.

We would like you to know that tens of thousands of Darfurians worldwide are unhappy with the document that has been adopted by the mediators as the final peace agreement; out of 79 articles and reaction messages that are published in www.sudaneseonline.com during the last two days concerning the document and its signature by Minni Arku Minawi, only two have commended it and all others were outrageous reactions and even many of them went as far as describing Minni Minawi as betrayer. Moreover, a quick study published by Alkhaleej newspaper on June 7, 2006 shows that none among the Darfurians in Khartoum whom the newspaper interviewed was happy with the peace deal and opinions of some Sudanese political parties (e. g. Sudanese Communist Party, Democratic Unionist Party, Umma Party, etc.) published in www.sudanil.com described the peace deal as irrelevant to the disaster that Darfurians have gone through. Furthermore, the telephone calls that we have been receiving from Darfurians and Sudanese all over the world confirm that 90% of Darfurians and over 70% of other Sudanese consider the document as flawed and therefore unacceptable. Many Darfurians went as far as describing May 5, 2006 as the day of mourn for all Darfurians except some clan politicians such as Minni Minawi and individual opportunists such as Dr. Abdelrahman Musa Abbaker.

Consequently, the document is unacceptable to Duarfurians and to Sudanese. Therefore, it needs substantial changes before Darfurians adopt it. We respect the efforts made during the production of the document, its adoption by the AU and the support that it got from the international community, but it is like a dress that does not fit the person for whom it was made and consequently it needs some adjustments. We heard that Abdelwahid Annur, Khaleel Ibrahim and their delegates were told: "Just take it or leave it!" We think that it is unfortunate that such language is addressed to individuals negotiating on behalf of the victims of genocide. The text can be amended even if most of the mediators believe that it is perfect. They see it in an outsider's viewpoint but we see it in an insider's viewpoint. They may want an instant solution, but we want a lasting one.

Based on what we have provided above, we strongly support the position of lawyer Abdelwahid Mohamed Ahmed Annur and doctor Khaleel Ibrahim until most of the following items are genuinely addressed in the peace document:

1) Guaranteed and adequately financed return of all indigenous Darfurians who have been forced out of their areas of origin since 1990. The definition of the international community to the problem of Darfur as a sudden explosion in February 2003 is faulty and will provide irrelevant solution and will lead to further complication of the situation. We therefore suggest that a commission including parties to the conflict and international community be formed to undertake the procedural issues related to repatriation.

2) All groups that have been imposed by the government on areas that are not their own should evacuate those areas to their legitimate owners. Khartoum is responsible for finding them other places and as many of them are not Sudanese Khartoum can arrange for their repatriation. The question to the authors of Abuja agreement is: "How can you repatriate the internally displaced Darfurians and Darfur refugees outside the country if their homeland areas are still occupied by the Janjaweed and their clans?"

3) Individual compensations to all refugees and displaced people that have been suggested by Mr. Abdelwahid Mohamed Ahmed Annur are not from his own invention. These compensations are what all Darfurians insist on. The amounts of 300,000,000 and 200,000,000 that have been suggested by the authors of Abuja document are completely irrelevant to the damage done and population displaced.

4) The commission that will be responsible for the establishment of Darfurians' historical rights on their tribal lands should also include a third party, that is to say, individuals assigned by the international community.

5) We strongly support Abdelwahid Annur and Khaleel Ibrahim in their position of one Darfur. The idea of three Darfurs is part of the National Congress Party's plan of "divide and destroy" so that it can rule the country for ever. We do not see any logic behind the National Congress Party's insistence in Darfur being three Darfurs other than what we have mentioned above. Yet, Darfur was one state until 1994. The question which we raise to the arbitrators in this issue is: "What is the logic behind accepting the South Sudanese right for one region; yet dying the same right to the Darfurians; however, Darfur was an independent kingdom until February 1916? What makes Darfurians deserve less?" Darfurians did not say that they want an independent Darfur; but the suturing (cut and paste) games of Khartoum will definitely push Darfurians to it.

6) We want as more autonomous Darfur as possible in exchange for the three cabinet ministers, and the three state ministers and 12 members of appointed undemocratic assembly all that is part of Khartoum's politics of suturing. In exchange, we want that governor of Darfur and 80 percent of the ministerial and all other positions in one Darfur be filled by the movements of Darfur. The assistant president or whatever name Khartoum wants is fine at this stage but he/she should be elected by the people of Darfur and his responsibility should be the follow up of the execution the peace agreement. All Darfurians should elect the person who will occupy that position so that she/he can do his/her job with confidence.

7) Darfur should be as autonomous as possible to have the right to develop its own educational plan (from daycare to university), its own independent police, independent legal system, sign trade agreements with neighboring countries, etc.

8) The percentages of the amounts that will be invested in Darfur from the federal revenues should be precisely defined in the agreement otherwise they will end up as mirage in the desert.

9) The share of the local people, municipalities, provinces and the region of Darfur in the subsurface resources (minerals) should be precise. We insist on the settlement of the aforementioned items in Abuja so that future conflicts, which might be more costly, can be avoided.

10) The agreement to be reached should be endorsed by strong guarantors. In addition to AU which is the mediating body we urge international bodies such as UN, other regional bodies such as EU and democratically sustainable countries (USA, United Kingdom, Norway, Canada, France, Netherlands, etc.) that usually take initiative in peace making, peace keeping and protecting to endorse it.

We reiterate that the position taken by Abdelwahid and Khaleel is the position of the majority of Darfurians and any peace deal without their endorsement will be incomplete because they are more popular among Darfurians and other Sudanese than those who left the demands of Darfurians down and signed Abuja deal only to satisfy their individual greed. According to a recent statement by Minni Minawi's spokesman, Mahjob Hussein, at www.sudanile.com , Minni Minawi's faction is "...is the main faction and it is the one that will keep the security and order in the region and the small movements have to be careful about their press conferences and media releases otherwise they will be punished." We believe the above quoted statement is a sign of the beginning of anarchy. Minni Minawi's faction might have the support of some soldiers but only the support of a handful of civilians because of its leaders' arrogant claim that the soldiers are the only legitimate representatives of the people of Darfur and their cause.

We are not sadists, but our knowledge of the problem of the region and its population compelled us to come out with this statement which we believe will contribute towards finding everlasting and sustainable solution to the problem. The door for genuine peace for Darfuris expires on May 15th, 2006. Why should not the door for peace be left open for comprehensive deal?

Ethiopian 'coup plot' trial opens

Ethiopian prosecutors on Tuesday accused a group of jailed opposition figures of conspiring with Eritrean-backed rebels to foment a coup by inciting violence after disputed elections last year.

Laying out the state's case against the 111 defendants on the opening day of their trial, prosecutor Shimeles Kemal said the group had worked with rebels supported by Asmara to destabilize the government in Addis Ababa.

"They have been collaborating with a clandestine Ethiopian organization, the Ethiopian Patriotic Front, which is supported by the Eritrean government and has openly declared an armed struggle to overthrow the government," he said.

The 111 - 101 individuals, four political parties and six newspapers - all stand charged with conspiracy to foment a coup, while 54 face more serious charges ranging from high treason to genocide that could draw death sentences.

Those charged with high treason, including nearly the entire leadership of the opposition Coalition for Unity and Democracy (CUD), have been specifically linked to the previously unknown Ethiopian Patriotic Front, Shimeles said.

Full report Sudan Tribune 3 May 2006.

Central Africa fears involvement in Chad troubles

The Central African Republic has closed its frontier with western Sudan where civil war has been raging, but now fears rebels from another neighbour, Chad, are being infiltrated by air via Sudan to set up rear bases on its territory.

And the government of the Central African Republic (CAR) is now worried that the presence of these bases could drag its country into conflict between rebels and the government in Chad.

Full report Sudan Tribune May 1 2006.

Economist says news media are feeling heat from blogosphere

Sokari Ekine of Global Voices tells us Ethiopian blog Concoction points to an opinion piece in the Economist that says news media are "already feeling the heat" from the blogosphere as blogs are changing the media.

Over the past 25 years I've taken The Sunday Times each week but since I started blogging three years ago and reading news online I barely read the Times when it arrives. I've not stopped the delivery because it provides a TV guide for the week which I find handy to use.

Since I am regularly online, newspapers, TV news and magazine no longer hold interest for me. Online news and blogs keep me up to date. By the time the newspaper is delivered, the news seems old. Same with TV news. I find online news and blogs are ahead by 24-48 hrs.

Reading online news and blogs seems quicker and more interesting - when something takes my interest, I google it and file it away in my head or email folder. I find myself getting impatient reading a newspaper, like it is wasting time.

It used to take me most of each Sunday to read the paper and a few hours each day watching TV news. Nowadays that time is spent online where the news is more up to date and blog doors are wide open and welcoming 24/7.

Online news seems alive. The beauty of blogging is in the connectivity, the linking and interaction. Keep on blogging!

Officials to Eritrea to prepare for East Sudan talks

A high-ranking government delegation will be travelling to the Eritrean capital, Asmara, today to discuss preparations for talks on eastern Sudan due to be held next May, as well as on normalising ties with Eritrea.

The delegation is due to meet leaders of the rebel Eastern Front (EF) tomorrow to agree on schedule and the agenda for the talks.

A high ranking EF official, who requested anonymity, told Al-Ayyam that the government delegation would hold consecutive meetings with leaders of the east and the Eritrean government.

He said all preparations had been finalized on the part of the EF to enter into negotiations with the government.

After long hessitation, Sudan agreed this month to engage peace talks with Eastern Front under Eritrean mediation.

The Eastern Front complains of marginalisation by the Khartoum government, which it accuses of exploiting natural resources such as oil, natural gas, gold and other minerals at the expense of the local population.

Full report Sudan Tribune Khartoum 25 Apr 2006.

Ethiopia, Turkey ink military cooperation deal

Turkish Chief of General Staff Gen. Hilmi Ozkok and his Ethiopian counterpart Gen. Samora Yunus have signed a framework agreement today, envisaging military cooperation between the two countries.

Full report Sudan Tribune 25 Apr 2006.

UN official due in Eritrea on mission to aid victims of drought and conflict

The top United Nations relief official for Horn of Africa was arriving in Eritrea tonight at the start of a week-long mission to a region where recurrent drought and food insecurity are threatening the lives of 11 million people.

Special Humanitarian Envoy for the Horn of Africa Kjell Magne Bondevik will also visit Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia.

Full report UN News Centre 24 Apr 2006.

Note, as part of the response to the situation, Secretary-General Kofi Annan appointed former Norwegian Prime Minister Bondevik as Special Humanitarian Envoy in February. The UN has also launched a $426-million appeal for the Horn of Africa to support the urgent needs of the affected people.

Ethiopian army moving against Anuak in South Sudan

The Ethiopian Army has entered Southern Sudan in cooperation with the SPLA as part of operations to disarm members of the Anuak ethnic minority, and is currently 24 km from Pochalla, where over 17,000 Anuak refugees are living, the British charity group, (Aegis Trust/ST) said April 12, 2006 - excerpt:

Large numbers of Anuak fled Gambella, Ethiopia, following a massacre in Gambella town in December 2003. A source inside Pochalla has indicated that the Anuak community there fears it may be about to face violence worse than that witnessed in 2003, and believes the troops may arrive within the next 24 hours.

The roads to Pochalla and nearby Otalo, which has a population of approximately 10,000 Anuak refugees, are reported to be blocked on the east by Ethiopian forces and on the west by the SPLA.

Members of the Anuak community state that disarmament operations commenced on 4 April and claim that they have been accompanied by violence against civilians, including a number of killings, rapes, the looting of property and the burning of houses.

The operations follow an attack on highlanders reported in Dimma, Gambella, and a reported request by the Ethiopian authorities for the SPLA to hand over 18 leading Anuak living in Pochalla, some of Sudanese nationality, accused of supporting Anuak rebels against the Ethiopians in Gambella.

In the past two days, members of the Merle ethnic minority are reported to have taken advantage of the disarmament of Anuak by attacking members of the community near Pochalla and also at Ajwara, wounding two people and stealing cattle.

In 2003, oil giant Petronas obtained a concession from the Ethiopian Government to conduct exploration activity in the Gambella basin. Anuak activists claim that the start of their recent troubles is linked to the discovery of Gambella’s natural wealth.

Op-ed: Can Ethiopia be saved?

April 2006 opinion piece by a netter from Addis. Excerpt:

Right now, I believe that the path leading to one Ethiopia, but a new Ethiopia, is our best option. But if someone can convince me that separation is the way, I am read to listen.

Horn stalemate 'shocks' UN envoy

The international community has not done enough to resolve the conflict between Ethiopia and Eritrea, says the outgoing regional UN mission head.

UN Mission in Eritrea and Ethiopia head Legwaila Joseph Legwaila said he was "shocked" by the three-year stalemate.

An international tribunal ruled in 2002 on a border dispute that caused a war from 1998 to 2000 costing 76,000 lives.

Ethiopia did not accept the ruling and Eritrea responded with restrictions on the UN peacekeeping mission.

"I am shocked to tell the truth that the stalemate is now more than three years old," Mr Legwaila told reporters in Addis Ababa, as his tour of duty comes to an end. Full report BBC 7 Apr 2006.

First Sudanese refugees from Ethiopia arrive home under UN programme

Seeing the photo in this report of a UNHCR convoy of refugees returning to Sudan yesterday brought tears to my eyes and a lump in my throat.



Photo: First Sudanese refugees from Ethiopia arrive home under UN programme - UNHCR convoy of refugees returning to Sudan (UN)

Slaughtering a white bull and holding prayers at the border, some 500 Sudanese refugees arrived home yesterday in the first such repatriation convoy from Ethiopia under United Nations agreements that eventually aim to bring home the vast majority of the nearly 360,000 Sudanese who fled two decades of civil war.

The return convoy spent three days travelling from Bonga refugee camp in western Ethiopia, spending three nights in way stations built to facilitate operations along the 820-kilometre route, UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) spokesman William Spindler told a news briefing in Geneva today.

UNHCR supplied all returning refugees with a package of non-food items, including blankets, sleeping mats, plastic sheets, guinea-worm filters, kitchen sets and soap. The standard reintegration assistance, including a food ration planned to last until the returnees get their first harvest, is to be distributed at the dispersal point.

Some 79,000 south Sudanese live in five camps in western Ethiopia – Bonga, Dimma, Fugnido, Sherkole and Yarenja. Most of them arrived in Ethiopia in 1983 and in the 1990s. Full story UN News Centre 4 Apr 2006.

First batch of Sudanese refugees in Ethiopia return home

Some 500 refugees left an Ethiopian camp today in the first repatriation convoy to Sudan from Ethiopia under UN agreements that aim to bring home the vast majority of the nearly 360,000 Sudanese who fled two decades of civil war in the south of Africa's largest country.

Full report (UN/ST) 1 April 2006.

ETHIOPIA: 2.5 million people affected by drought - Meles

An estimated 2.5 million Ethiopians are suffering from the effects of the drought that has wreaked havoc in the Horn of Africa, Prime Minister Meles Zenawi has said. Full report (IRIN) 29 Mar 2006.

Sorious Samura: The world's most fearless film-maker

For his stunning new documentary series, Sorious Samura moved in with hungry Ethiopians, joined the terrifying exodus from Darfur, tended to Aids sufferers in Zambia - and made an epic journey to Britain as an illegal immigrant. Paul Vallely hears his story and writes about it at the Independent 23 March 2006.

Eritrea bars three foreign aid groups: Concern, US Mercy Corps and British Accord - 100 000 tons of food aid stocked in warehouses starting to rot

Eritrea has ordered three foreign non-governmental aid groups to suspend their activities despite hunger threatening two-thirds of the population of the Horn of Africa nation, reported AFP/ST March 23, 2006. Excerpt:

The ministry of labour and human welfare told Irish aid group Concern, US Mercy Corps and British Accord that they had not "met the requirements laid down for an operational permit".

The letters didn't specify what requirements the groups had failed to meet.

The letters read, the ministry "kindly officially informs you that the registration certificate is recalled and requests the termination of your activities".

Last month, the government also ordered six Italian aid groups to stop their operations in the country.

In recent months, Asmara had been stressing the dangers of dependency on foreign aid and instituted policies intended to cultivate self-reliance.

In September, it stopped most free distribution of food aid, and called for "food for work" programmes to be put in place.

Diplomats said that owing to the halt, there were some 100 000 tons of food aid stocked in warehouses, some of which had started rotting.

According to the United Nations, two-thirds of Eritrea's 3.5 million population needed food aid in 2005 and while there were no figures yet for 2006, most of Eritrea's neighbours were suffering from a scorching drought that threatened millions with starvation.

Ethiopian Airlines to begin flight to south Sudan

The Ethiopian Airlines (EAL) is set to launch services to Juba, south Sudan as of May 1, the airline said Tuesday. - Xinhua 22 Mar 2006.

The launch of the services to Juba, a city with more than 160,000 people, will provide business executives and tourists direct link to Addis Ababa, Entebbe, and Nairobi, create convenient connections to Africa, Europe, Middle East, and Asia, and bring Sudan closer to the world, according to a statement.

Ethiopia charges 33 people for attempting to dismantle order

Ethiopian court charged 33 people with incitement to violence, they are “suspected of attempting to dismantle the constitutional order”, the state-run ENA reported.

In its charges submitted to the Second Criminal Bench of the Federal High Court on Monday, the prosecutor said the suspects accepted and acted up on the call made by the Coalition for Unity and Democracy Party (CUDP), "bent on dismantling the constitutional order through force".

Clashes between police and opposition supporters angered by the outcome of elections earlier this year left at least 46 people dead, drew international condemnation and raised questions about Prime Minister Meles Zenawi's commitment to democracy.

The violence began Nov. 1 after peaceful protests Oct. 31 over the disputed May 15 elections. Full report (Sudan Tribune) 21 Mar 2006.

Ethiopian thugs claim killing of 119 soldiers

Criminals in Ethiopia and other countries like Uganda, Sudan, Nigeria etc., appear to be getting away with murder just because they form a gang and give it a name. Sounds more like anarchy and organised crime. People around the world have access to the media and Internet giving plenty of opportunity to get ones cause heard without resorting to violence.

SudanTribune March 18, 2006 reported a rebel group operating in northern Ethiopia, the Ethiopian People's Patriotic Front (EPPF) said that its forces launched an offensive against an artillery unit the Ethiopian army in Bedew in northern Ethiopia on 4 March:

In a statement reported by the Eritrean radio, the EPPF forces killed 119 Ethiopian soldiers, wounded 68 and captured 27 others in the attack. It said six Doshka, seven Bren and two B-10 and 23 Kalashnikovs were also seized.

According to the statement, the EPRF released the captured soldiers after providing them with necessary medical treatment and enlightening them on the objectives of its struggle.

Progress in London talks on Horn of Africa

Today, the BBC reports progress on talks in London between reps from Ethiopia, Eritrea, US and the UN to end a border dispute between Ethiopia and Eritrea.

The talks, chaired by the international tribunal that decided where the border should run, were held with the blessing of the UN Security Council which had urged the countries to resume a dialogue. Excerpt:

This impetus from the international community appears to have helped break the deadlock.

Ethiopia indicated that it now accepts the tribunal's ruling without reservations.

TENSE BORDER
Dec 2000: Peace agreement
Apr 2002: Border ruling
Mar 2003: Ethiopian complaint over Badme rejected
Sep 2003: Ethiopia asks for new ruling
Feb 2005: UN concern at military build-up
Oct 2005: Eritrea restricts peacekeepers' activities
Nov 2005: UN sanctions threat if no compliance with 2000 deal

Eritrea for its part accepted the appointment of a technical expert to assist in the demarcation of the border.

Both countries will allow the demarcation process to resume where it left off some years ago.

Field offices will be opened, liaison officers appointed and security arrangements put in place.

And further talks are scheduled to be held in London in April.

But there is still much to do.

Both sides now want to consult with their respective capitals.

The UN asked Eritrea to lift restrictions on the operations of its 7,000 peacekeepers strung out along the border but Eritrea has not yet reacted. A small step forward, was how one diplomat described the process.

But even this is a major achievement in a dispute that the UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan, has repeatedly warned has the potential to provoke a renewal of hostilities at any time.

Eritrea, Italy expel diplomats

SudanTribune March 8, 2006 reports Italy has expelled an Eritrean diplomat in response for the arrest and expulsion of an Italian diplomat by Asmara, a foreign ministry source said Wednesday. Excerpt:

"To signal our disappointment at the expulsion of an official at the Italian embassy in Asmara and in line with established practice, the authorities have taken similar steps with an Eritrean official posted here," the ministry source said.

The official was not identified and it was unclear if he had already left Italy.

The foreign ministry had also called in Eritrea's Ambassador to Rome to protest the Italian's arrest and expulsion.

The ministry said the Italian had been arrested and detained earlier this week in the port city of Massawa, 60 kilometres (40 miles) west of the capital.

The ministry said he had been charged with "violating local laws by going to the defence of Italians whose property had been expropriated."

Earlier Wednesdsay, Eritrea's Information Minister Ali Abdu confirmed that the man had been expelled because he had broken the law, but he gave no details.

Diplomatic sources in Eritrea identified him as a senior diplomat, Ludovico Serra.

Ethiopia-Sudan joint panel inks cultural agreement

March 8, 2006 Sudan Tribune reports that Ethiopia and Sudan Joint border commission agreed today to enhance bilateral ties between the two countries by accelerating the implementation of different deals and signed an accord on cultural and sportive cooperation.

The two sides agreed to implement agreements signed earlier and new agreements enabling to collaborate in the areas of culture and sports.

The 8th Conference of the Ethio-Sudan Joint Border Development Commission was concluded on Wednesday in Bahir Dar town, Amhara State, with the two sides signing of a Memorandum of Understanding.

Lift ban on helicopter flights, Annan tells Eritrea

From The Tide Online 5 Mar 2006:

UN Secretary-Gen eral Kofi Annan urged Eritrea on Thursday to lift its ban on UN helicopter flights, said to hinder a timely, evacuation of a sick peacekeeper.

Annan urged "in the strongest terms, the Eritrean authorities to lift without delay the arbitrary restriction which places at risk the lives of UN personnel," UN chiefs spokesman, Stephane Dujarric said.

A soldier from the Indian Battalion of the UN mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE) died from cardiac arrest on Wednesday shortly after being flown to an Ethiopian hospital.

The UN mission said Eritrea's flights ban forced the sick soldier to be flown on a longer route and cost him the most precious rescue time.

"Because of the inadmissible restrictions imposed by Eritrea, the medical evacuation of the sick peacekeeper to a hospital required the use of a longer route," the spokesman said in a statement.

The UNMEE, now comprising mostly soldiers from India and Jordan, has some 3,000 troops stationed in Ethiopia and Eritrea to monitor the two countries' borders.

Since mid-2005, Eritrea has banned helicopter flights and restricted ground patrols of the UN mission.

In December, 2005, it demanded the mission's North American and European personnel leave its territory.

'Large scale' deaths in drought predicted for Kenya - UN says Ethiopia, Somalia and Djibouti are on brink of starvation

Excerpt from Sapa/IOL report March 05 2006:

World Food Programme chief James Morris has warned of large scale deaths in Kenya if donors delay delivering food to about 3,5 million people facing the threat of starvation.

"The world needs to know that ths issue in Kenya and Somalia are very serious... The people whose livelihood depend on mother nature are very vulnerable," he said. Kenya is home to 32 million people while Somalia has population of about 10 million.

In addition to Kenya, the UN estimates that up to 11 million people in three other east African countries - Ethiopia, Somalia and Djibouti - are on the brink of starvation. - Sapa-AFP

The 21st century's most explosive commodity will be . . . WATER

There's plenty of it to meet the world's needs but too much of our supply is in the wrong places says a report at thebusinessonline.com by Allister Heath 5 March 2006.

Report copied in full at Niger Watch for future reference, incase link to BusinessOnline.com becomes broken.

Ethiopia: EU Commissioner calls for political dialogue

The Reporter (Addis Ababa) February 25, 2006 by A Staff Reporter via allAfrica.com

The European Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid, Louis Michel, underlined the need for quick and concrete confidence-building measures to help democracy in Ethiopia.

During his visit last week, the commissioner held talks with Prime Minister Meles Zenawi and leaders of the opposition parties, including Hailu Shawel, Berhanu Nega and Bertukan Mideksa. He also had discussions with members of the civil society.

Meeting with the Prime Minister, Louis Michel welcomed the decision to grant him access to members of the opposition and journalists held in prison. "This is a positive sign, a sign of confidence, and I consider it a significant step in the direction of constructive political dialogue," he said.

The premier had assured the commissioner that international legal observers would be welcome at the trial of CUD leaders and others.

During his three-hour visit to the prison of Kaliti, the commissioner was able to meet with opposition leaders and Eskindir Nega, a journalist. He had exchanged views on the condition of their detention, the charges against them and the prospect for a breakthrough of the current political situation in the country.

The commissioner noted that the core of his mission to Addis Ababa was to help a re-launching of political dialogue among the major political parties and other pertinent stakeholders. He regretted that Meles was not willing to pursue political dialogue with the detained political prisoners. He, however, indicated that the opportunity for dialogue and to move on was not yet over.

Eritrea rejects UN criticism over peacekeeper death

Eritrea Thursday rejected criticism by the U.N. secretary-general, who urged the country to lift a ban on U.N. helicopter flights in its airspace after the death of a peacekeeper who had to be evacuated on a longer flight to Ethiopia.

Feb 2006: UN report says Eritrea, Libya, Chad supply arms to Darfur rebels

Sudan Tribune article, copied here in full for future reference:

Feb 8, 2006 (NEW YORK) -- A UN report accused Eritrea Libya and Chad of supplying arms and ammunition to the rebels groups in Sudan's troubled Darfur region.

The UN Panel of experts to monitor the implementation of the arms embargo imposed by resolutions 1556 (2004) and 1591 (2005); in a report released today said that "the Government of Eritrea has provided, and probably continues to provide, arms, logistical support, military training and political support to both JEM and the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA)".

"Training of JEM and SLA has reportedly occurred at a number of camps in Eritrea on the Eritrea-Sudan border", the report added.

But the report says the panel was not able to determine whether material support for the rebels in Darfur emanating from Chad and Libya was official Government policy or rather the independent actions of Government officials".

The Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) is also mention in the report as training provider and arms supplier to the Darfur rebel SLA.

"The Panel has received multiple, credible reports that the Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) provided training and supplied arms and ammunition to SLM/A".

"It appears that shipments of arms facilitated by the Sudan People's Liberation Army continued until at least August/September 2004, after Security Council resolution 1556 (2004) had been adopted. It also appears that SPLM/A stopped its official support when it appeared that the Niavasha peace negotiations would be finalized".

Regarding the Janjaweed militias, the report says it isn't possible to deny arms to these militias. Because the militias are already formally part of the Government security organs or incorporated into those organs, especially the Popular Defence Force (PDF), the border intelligence guard, the central reserve police, the popular police and the nomadic police.

Attached the full text of the UN Panel of Experts sanctions report.

Britain to host talks in London re Ethiopia and Eritrea border dispute

UK Guardian report 1 March 2006 reveals Britain is to host talks in London next week aimed at trying to prevent a renewal of fighting between Ethiopia and Eritrea over a long-running border dispute.

Note as well as the two governments, the talks will be attended by the UN, the US and, possibly, Norway.

Ethiopia bars UK reporter Inigo Gilmore from country - Committee to Protect Journalists

AP report Feb 24, 2006 says Ethiopian authorities have barred a British journalist who wrote a critical report on alleged human rights abuses, an international media watchdog reported.

Blue sky dreamers find feet needed on the ground

In Ethiopia's drought-stricken Somali and Oromiya regions, the health centres are not calling out for internet connections. They are calling out for staff and really basic supplies - things like oral rehydration salts to stop children dying from diarrhoea. A recent survey of the Somali region's Afder and Liben zones, for example, could not find a single operating health centre.

Read more by Andrew Heavens at Meskel Square: The dream is over.

Eritrea has released UN local staff

AP report Feb 23, 2006 reprinted at Sudan Tribune says Eritrea has freed 25 Eritreans working for the UN peacekeeping mission monitoring its tense border with Ethiopia, a UN official said Thursday.

Another two Eritreans who were part of 27 people detained, however, are believed to still be held by the authorities and their location is unknown, Musi Khumalo, spokeswoman of the UN Mission for Ethiopia and Eritrea, or UNMEE said in a statement.

"During the last week, a total number of 27 locally recruited UNMEE staff were arrested by the Eritrean authorities for varying durations," Khumalo said. "As of today, two national staff members have not reported for duty."

Eritrea has given no reason for the arrests.

On Feb. 14, a U.N. diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly, said Eritreans who work for international organizations, and are therefore exempt from national service, have been arrested in recent months and sent to the army.

The U.N. has around 3,000 peacekeepers patrolling a 15-mile (24-kilometer) buffer zone between the two countries and maintaining a fragile peace after a bloody border war ended in Dec. 2000.

Eritrea gained independence from Ethiopia in 1993 after a 30-year guerrilla war, but the border was never agreed. Fighting erupted again in 1998 and ended 2 1/2 years later after tens of thousands of people had been killed.

Under the 2000 peace agreement, both countries agreed to abide by an independent commission's ruling on the position of the disputed 1,000-kilometer (621-mile) border, while U.N. troops patrolled the buffer zone.

But Ethiopia has refused to implement the international commission's April 2002 ruling, which awarded the key town of Badme to Eritrea.

In response, Eritrea has accused the international community of shirking its responsibility to ensure the ruling is obeyed. Since October, it has banned U.N. helicopter flights and the movement of other vehicles at night on its side of the buffer zone.

On Dec. 6, Eritrea gave the U.N. mission 10 days to pull out staff from North America and Europe, including Russia. It gave no reason, but the move came amid mounting concern that both sides were massing troops near the buffer zone as a prelude to a new war. (AP/ST)

Ethio-German trade volume nears $240 million in 2005

The trade volume between Ethiopia and Germany has reached 200 million euros (238 million U.S. dollars) last year, according to a statement from the German embassy on Wednesday.

The statement said exports and imports between Germany and Ethiopia each account for approximately 50 percent of the trade volume in the year 2005.

Coffee remains Ethiopia's main export to Germany, the German embassy said, adding that the outstanding quality of Ethiopian coffee had Germany purchase 36 percent of the Ethiopian coffee exports.

Ethiopia's imports from Germany consist mainly of machinery, chemical products, automobiles, electrical engineering and precision mechanics products, the statement said.

The German embassy also said foreign investments involving German companies have brought a capital of over 700 million birr (81 million dollars) to Ethiopia in the past decade.

"This figure is constantly rising as the year 2005 brought new German investors in the field of horticulture and the textile industry to the country," it said.

Full story at Xinhua 23 Feb 2006.

Ethiopia's flower trade in full bloom

Floriculture has become a flourishing business in Ethiopia in the past five years, with the industry's exports earnings set to grow to $100-million by 2007, a five-fold increase on the $20-million earned in 2005.

Ethiopian flower exports could generate an estimated $300-million within two to three years, according to the head of the government export-promotion department, Melaku Legesse.

A score of investors from The Netherlands, Germany, India and Israel have secured licences for floricultural developments covering 450ha of land in 2006.

Full story at Mail & Guardian Online 19 Feb 2006.

Sudan's Salva Kiir makes new visit to Eritrea

Note this report says "other Sudanese rebel movements operating in the western Darfur region and eastern Sudan have offices in Asmara, Eritrea."

AFP February 23, 2006 (ASMARA):

Sudan's Vice President Salva Kiir arrived in Eritrea Thursday for his second visit to the neighbouring Horn of Africa country in three months, an official said.

Eritrean Information Minister Ali Abdou said that he would have talks with President Issaias Afeworki on regional and bilateral matters in the Eritrean port city of Massawa.

The entry of former southern Sudanese rebels backed by Asmara, including Kiir, into the Khartoum government following a peace deal last July eased a decade of difficult relations between Eritrea and Sudan.

But other Sudanese rebel movements operating in the western Darfur region and eastern Sudan have offices in Asmara.

A call by the eastern rebels to have Eritrea represented at peace talks in Libya was rejected by Khartoum, causing the negotiations to be postponed earlier this month.

Asmara also said it did not wish to attend the talks.

Sudanese minister of state for foreign affairs, Al-Samani al-Wasilah, on 7 February said in a press statement that Security is the most important issue in the bilateral talks with Eritrea. (ST/AFP)



Photo: Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki welcomes Sudanese First Vice-President Salva Kiir, Dec 1, 2005 (Shabait).

Ethiopian Airlines to start new flights incl to Juba, S Sudan

Ethiopian Reporter 18 Feb 2006 reports Ethiopian Airlines recently announced it will start four new international flights.

Ethiopian CEO, Girma Wake, said that the airline will start new flights to Brussels, Dakar, Juba (South Sudan) and Libreville. Girma said the flights to Dakar, Juba and Libreville will commence in March and the flight to Brussels in June this year. Girma said that the flourishing oil exploration activities in southern Sudan prompted Ethiopian to fly to Juba. "There is no international airline that flys to Juba," Girma said. "We will link the city with Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda," he added.

Trial begins of Ethiopian opposition leaders

Trial began Thursday for 129 opposition leaders, journalists and aid workers in Ethiopia, and all but three of them refused to enter pleas because they believe charges against them were fabricated and they will not get a fair hearing.

During Thursday's proceedings, some of the accused held their hands over their mouths in an act of protest at being banned by the judge from making statements regarding the ongoing trial.

Full report by Associated Press 23 Feb 2006 via Sudan Tribune.

Canada commits 46.5 million dollars in aid for Africa

AFP report 23 Feb 2006 says Canada will contribute 46.5 million dollars to help children in need in Africa, officials announced.

The funds will be distributed through UNICEF to improve the health and survival of children, primarily in Ethiopia.

Ethiopia's May elections are free and fair - UK Blair

(ST/ENA) article Feb 13, 2006:

British Prime Minister Tony Blair described Ethiopia's May elections as most free and fair ever held in the country, BBC reported on Monday. He also acknowledged that Prime Minister Meles Zenawi was democratically elected, according to the radio.

According to the state-run ENA agency, Blair said in Johannesburg "there are really issues we have discussed them. But I think, it is important to emphasize this is not the question of government having lost in the elections and then trying to retain power".

"The government won the election and there was reaction to it, there was then, perhaps, I can say this with out being too undiplomatic and overreaction to that, which often happens and we have to try and resolve the situation the human rights issues. To do so and I want to do so in a way that supports Ethiopia", Blair said.

Blair said Meles responded by stressing that his government didn't steal the elections but lost a number of seats. He retreated that if there was an overreaction on the part of the government then there should be an independent inquiry into the violence.

Regarding British government's decision on suspension of direct budgetary support to Ethiopia, Meles said I have a personal view which is not a hundred per cent identical to that of the Prime Minister of the UK.

They respect my responsibility to make decisions in Ethiopia and I respect their responsibility to make decisions about their own money, it is their tax payers money, said Meles.

The two days summit of "the Progressive Governance Summit," held in South Africa described as a meeting like-minded leaders concluded that the World Trade Organization round talks had to be a success. If failure, the leaders said, would be a huge blow to developed and developing countries.

The South African meeting drew Blair along with Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and South Africa's Thabo Mbeki as well as leaders from South Korea, Ethiopia, New Zealand and Sweden.

UK must stand firm against tyranny in Ethiopia

By Idris Shaankkore February 12, 2006 Open Letter to: The Right Honorable Tony Blair, PC, MP, The Prime Minister, 10 Downing Street, London, SW1A 2AA.

Re: Human Rights Abuses in Oromiyaa Region of Ethiopia 'The state of Africa is a scar on the conscience of the world. But if the world as a community focused on it, we could heal it. And if we don't, it will become deeper and angrier.' - Tony Blair, Labour Party Conference, Brighton, 2 October 2001.

Sudan says keen to normalize ties with Eritrea

Sudanese minister of state for foreign affairs, Al-Samani al-Wasilah, has said the country is keen to normalize relations with Eritrea reports Sudan Tribune 7 Feb 2006.

Ukraine to supply five An-74 light turbo jets to Sudan

See Sudan Tribune report 7 February 2006.

Ethiopia builds modern tank crew training centre - report

A training centre for tank and anti-tank crews, the first of its kind in eastern Africa, is about to go operational, the Ethiopian Reporter said yesterday.

The center is built by the Ethiopian Ministry of Defence at an outlay of 75m birr (8.7m dollars).

The size and modernity of centre which is built 120 km away from Addis Ababa, would make it to be one of the best in Africa as well.

The construction of the centre began three years ago and the contractor will hand it over to the Ministry of Defence next week.

The centre, built on a 2.5 ha of land in a place called Awash Arba, in central Ethiopia, includes offices, classrooms, a library, a laboratory and residential units for senior army officers.

The centre would be capable of offering training to trainees from other countries as well. - (ST/The Reporter) 7 Feb 2006.

East Africa a front in war on terrorism

Seattle Times Feb 5, 2006 publishes East Africa a front in war on terrorism authored by Shashank Bengali, Knight Ridder Newspapers.

The story was featured here below and at Sudan Watch a few days ago.

It is about the war on terrorism that most Americans (or the rest of us) haven't heard of and is a must-read.



Photo: Sgt. 1st Class Adam Reed, from Sidon, Miss., Jan. 17 with Somali farmers in Sankabar, Ethiopia, to check on the water pumps the U.S. military helped install in their fields. (Photo by EVELYN HOCKSTEIN courtesy Knight Ridder Newspapers) via Seattle Times, where you can click into a larger image.

The war on terrorism that most Americans don't know about

With few to fight, U.S. troops extend humanitarian help in East Africa.

This is the war on terrorism that most Americans don't know about:

Full story at Captain Marlow's.

By Shashank Bengali, Inquirer Foreign Staff, 30 January 2006.

Ethiopia - Foreign reports on human causalities during Epiphany baseless

Medical Director of Menelik II Hospital in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa, said inflated human causalities reported by various foreign media during Ethiopian Epiphany quoting the hospital was baseless.

Ethiopian Police opened fire on stone-throwing protesters in Addis Ababa Friday 20 January, leaving two person dead and 18 wounded - according to the official ENA - as annual religious processions turned into political protests.

Full story Sudan Tribune 26 Jan 2006.

Chair of AU fears Darfur crisis could spill into Sudan's neighbours - Congo's President urges international community to react

Chair of African Union, Alpha Oumar Konare, said Jan 10 that an "urgent" solution must be found to the crisis in Darfur, to prevent a spill-over effect.

"The problem in Darfur is so worrying that we must settle it very rapidly. This is a conflict that could destabilise the entire region - Sudan, Chad, West and Central Africa - through the DR Congo and even the Great Lakes region," Konare said on Congo Brazzaville State Radio, after an audience with President Denis Sassou Nguesso.

Presidents Denis Sassou Nguesso (Congo) and Idriss Deby (Chad), urged the AU to find a quick solution to the crisis.

At last week's summit of the Economic Community of Central African States in N'djamena, Chad, Nguesso, whose country has troops in the AU peacekeeping force in Darfur, denounced rebels destabilising Chad and urged the international community to react before it was too late.

Full story (AngolaPress) Brazzaville, Congo, Jan 10, 2006.

AU condemns worst right offenders, among them Ethiopia

From Basque News January 25, 2006:

An African human rights commission has criticised the continent's worst rights offenders, including Sudan and Zimbabwe, in a report analysts say marks a "coming of age" for the organisation.

The African Union's commission issued candid reviews of Ethiopia, Eritrea, Sudan, Zimbabwe, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo in the report, obtained by Reuters on Wednesday. Those countries said they wanted a chance to reply before the report became public, ensuring it remained confidential.

"If the African Union is to have a strong voice it has to foster constructive criticism, not bury it," said Reed Brody from the New York-based Human Rights Watch.

CUDP First Vice-President Message to the Ethiopian People

Note message sent by Bertukan Medeqsa, the Vice-Chairperson of Coalition for Unity and Democracy Party (KINIJIT) from Kalitit Jail. Courtesy Sudan Tribune 24 January 2006.

Hissene Habre: Ex-Chad dictator's case referred to Panel

Excerpts from Guardian report by Associated Press Writer Michelle Faul, January 25, 2006:

"...Habre's fate is now in the hands of African leaders, who decided Tuesday at the annual African Union summit in Sudan to form a committee of African jurists to decide within six months what should happen to him. The case is loaded with implications for African presidents, who include coup leaders and others accused of human rights violations.

At the summit, African leaders expressed a preference for an "African solution" to the problem of what to do about Habre. That indicated a distaste for extraditing Habre to Belgium, where a judge in September indicted him for crimes against humanity and torture, a ruling made after four years of investigations. A truth commission in Chad had already estimated that Habre's regime killed 40,000 of its citizens.

Options include trying him in a Chadian court or setting up a court under the African Union.

Habre's alleged victims celebrated his indictment in Belgium, thinking they finally had found a court that would hear their case. But those hopes were crushed when Senegal refused to extradite him.

A Senegalese judge had previously indicted the Chadian dictator in 2000 when the victims' association filed suit there. But the judge was thrown off the case and Senegalese courts ruled they had no jurisdiction.

Habre's lawyer Mustafa Diouf, speaking to reporters at the conference Tuesday, said the case should have been closed with the Senegalese courts' ruling, though he did not declare his client's innocence.

Senegal's President Abdoulaye Wade took the case to the African Union, saying it's a continental affair, not a Senegalese one.

The prospect of an African court trying Habre offers cold comfort to people like Abaifouta, 45, burned by his experience in Senegal. "It's difficult to find equitable justice in Africa because, always, politics interferes," he said. ..."

Ethiopian police say grenades defused in capital

Devices were found and defused after members of the public alerted police, who blamed "anti-peace elements" for planting them, the Ethiopian News Agency (ENA) reported.

"The anti-peace forces are creating chaos and disturbances in schools, disguising themselves as students," ENA quoted the statement as saying.

The term "anti-peace forces" is often used by the government to refer to members of the main opposition political party, the Coalition for United and Democracy (CUDP), which claims elections last year were rigged.

Nearly all the CUDP leadership are among a group of 131 opposition supporters, journalists and others facing treason and other charges after being accused of fomenting a coup d’etat through protests against the May 15 polls.

Full story courtesy Sudan Tribune 25 January 2006.