China proposed to Ethiopia an agriculture technology center, construction of hydropower stations and an oriental industrial zone to attract investment

November 13, 2008 Sudan Tribune report - China proposes to Ethiopia to develop close ties:

November 12, 2008 (ADDIS ABABA) – China proposed to Ethiopia to enhance bilateral relations through expanding joint cooperation and coordinate their positions on world affairs to safeguard their interests.

The offer was made during a visit by the speaker of the Chinese parliament Wu Bangguo to the country from November 8 to 10, the official Xinhua reported.

Wu, chairman of the Standing Committee of China’s National People’s Congress (NPC), called on in his meeting with Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi that the ruling parties, legislature and governments of the two nations to step up exchange and cooperation.

Wu also proposed the two nations to focus on three key projects that he believed would be vital to foster the bilateral cooperation, referring to an agriculture technology demonstration center, an all-packed economic and trade project including the construction of hydropower stations and the establishment of an oriental industrial zone to attract investment from Chinese companies.

"China encourage its companies to expand investment in Ethiopia and will adopt open policies on technology transfer and as well as training program for the Ethiopian personnel," Wu told Meles.

Echoing on Wu’s proposal, Meles said the Ethiopia-China cooperation has become an important drive for the country’s development. The cooperation with China is of vital importance to push forward Ethiopia’s development and the Ethiopian government highly values it, Meles noted.

He said the Ethiopia would make its efforts to further implement the projects between the two sides and consolidate the cooperation in fields such as agriculture, infrastructure and human resource.

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November 9, 2008 Sudan Tribune report - Chinese speaker visits Ethiopia:

November 8, 2008 (ADDIS ABABA) – A Chinese delegation led by the speaker of the Chinese parliament, the Standing Committee of the National Peoples Congress, Wu Bangguo arrived here on Saturday in a working visit to Ethiopia.

Chinese top legislator Wu, who is invited by Degefi Bula the speaker of the Ethiopian House of Peoples Representatives, said in press statement released after his arrival hailed the rapid growth of the bilateral relations between the two countries. He also underscored that the bilateral cooperation between the two nations have yielded remarkable achievements in fields such as economy and trade, culture, public health and tourism.

"We have witnessed the best ever relations and I hope my visit would help promote traditional friendship and cement cooperation with mutual benefit in an effort to bring the China-Ethiopia all-round and cooperative partnership to a higher level," Wu said in the written statement.

In addition to Degefi, Wu is scheduled to meet with Ethiopian President Girma Wolde Giorgis, Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, Speaker of Council of People’s Representatives Teshome Toga to exchange views on bilateral relations and other regional and international issues of common concern.

The Chinese official also will visit the African Union (AU) headquarters in Ethiopia’s capital. It is the first visit to the AU headquarters by a Chinese top legislator.

Related reports at Sudan Tribune

- China proposes to Ethiopia to develop close ties
- Ethiopia, Djibouti sign customs transit agreement
- Ethiopia’s Tigray region pardons over 2000 prisoners

Remember the 11th day of the 11th month at the 11th hour

On 2 May, 1915, in the second week of fighting during the Second Battle of Ypres Lieutenant Alexis Helmer was killed by a German artillery shell. He was a friend of the Canadian military doctor Major John McCrae. It is believed that John began the draft for his famous poem 'In Flanders Fields' that evening.

In Flanders Fields

John McCrae
In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved, and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders Fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders Fields.



The poppy is the recognized symbol of remembrance for war dead. The flower owes its significance to the poem In Flanders Fields, written by Major (later Lieutenant-Colonel) John McCrae, a doctor with the Canadian Army Medical Corps, in the midst of the Second Battle of Ypres, in Belgium, in May 1915.

The poppy references in the first and last stanzas of the most widely read and oft-quoted poem of the war contributed to the flower's status as an emblem of remembrance and a symbol of new growth amidst the devastation of war.



Two minutes of silence at the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month because that was the time (in Britain) when the armistice became effective. The two minutes recall World War I and World War II. Before 1945 the silence was for one minute, and today some ceremonies still only have one minute of silence despite this.

In the United Kingdom, although two minutes' silence is observed on November 11 itself, the main observance is on the second Sunday of November, Remembrance Sunday. - Wikipedia
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"The Meaning of God"

By Mahatma K. Gandhi
(Young India, October 11, 1928)

There is an indefinable mysterious Power that pervades everything.

I feel It, though I do not see It.

It is this unseen Power which makes Itself felt and yet defies all proof,
because It is so unlike all that I perceive through my senses.

It transcends the senses....

That informing Power or Spirit is God....

For I can see that in the midst of death life persists, in the midst of untruth, truth persists, in the midst of darkness light persists.

Hence I gather that God is Life, Truth, Light. He is love.

He is supreme good.

But he is no God who merely satisfies the intellect
If He ever does.

God to be God must rule the heart and transform it.
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Gandhi's Peace Prayers

Hindu Peace Prayer
I desire neither earthly kingdom, nor even freedom from birth and death. I desire only the deliverance from grief of all those afflicted by misery. Oh Lord, lead us from the unreal to the real; from darkness to light; from death to immortality. May there be peace in celestial regions. May there be peace on earth. May the waters be appeasing. May herbs be wholesome and may trees and plants bring peace to all. May all beneficent beings bring peace to us. May thy wisdom spread peace all through the world. May all things be a source of peace to all and to me. Om Shanti, Shanti, Shanti (Peace, Peace, Peace).

Islamic Peace Prayer
We think of Thee, worship Thee, bow toThee as the Creator of this Universe; we seek refuge in Thee, the Truth, our only support. Thou art the Ruler, the barge in this ocean of endless births and deaths.
In the name of Allah, the beneficient, the merciful. Praise be to the Lord of the Universe who has created us and made us into tribes and nations. Give us wisdom that we may know each other and not despise all things. We shall abide by thy Peace. And, we shall remember the servants of God are those who walk on this earth in humility and, when we address them, we shall say Peace Unto Us All.

Christian Peace Prayer
Blessed are the PEACEMAKERS, for they shall be known as The Children of God. But I say to you: love your enemy, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. To those who strike you on the cheek, offer the other also; and from those who take away your cloak, do not withhold your coat as well. Give to everyone who begs from you; and, to those who take away your goods, do not ask them again. And as you wish that others would do unto you, do so unto them as well.

Jewish Peace Prayer
Come let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, that we may walk the paths of the Most High. And we shall beat our swords into ploughshares and our spears into pruning hooks. Nation shall not lift up sword against nation - neither shall they learn war any more. And none shall be afraid, for the mouth of the Lord of Hosts has spoken.

Shinto Peace Prayer
Although the people living across the ocean surrounding us are all our brothers and sisters why, Oh Lord, is there trouble in this world? Why do winds and waves rise in the ocean surrounding us? I earnestly wish the wind will soon blow away all the clouds hanging over the tops of the mountains.

Bahá'í Peace Prayer
Be generous in prosperity and thankful in adversity. Be fair in thy judgement and guarded in thy speech. Be a lamp unto those who walk in darkness and a home to the stranger. Be eyes to the blind and a guiding light unto he feet of the erring. Be a breath of life to the body of humankind, a dew to the soil of the human heart and a fruit upon the tree of humility.
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Further reading

Tuesday, November 14, 2006 - Sudan Watch:
The Anglo-Zulu war - A Lesson Learned?



Cross posted to Sudan Watch, Congo Watch, Uganda Watch, Kenya Watch

Somali woman buried up to her neck and then pelted to death with stones in front of a large crowd in Kismayo

Shocking sad news from BBC today, Tuesday, 28 October 2008 - Somali woman executed by stoning:

A woman in Somalia has been stoned to death after an Islamic Sharia law court found her guilty of adultery.

The woman was buried up to her neck and then pelted to death with stones in front of a large crowd in Kismayo.

It was the first such execution in the southern port city since Islamist insurgents captured it from government-allied forces in August.

A local Islamist leader said the woman, Aisho Ibrahim Dhuhulow, had pleaded guilty to committing adultery.

"She was asked several times to review her confession but she stressed that she wanted Sharia law and the deserved punishment to apply," said Sheikh Hayakallah.

A group of men performed the execution in one of the city's main squares in front of thousands of people, AFP news agency said.

Such ignorant barbarians deserve life imprisonment. I wonder what befell the person who committed adultery with her. Sharia law makes no sense to me. I am totally against it operating in any shape or form here in UK.

+ + + Rest In Peace Aisho Ibrahim Dhuhulow + + +
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Extremists to be barred from UK

Tougher measures to prevent extremists entering the UK are to be announced by Home Secretary Jacqui Smith. Liberal Democrats home affairs spokesman Chris Huhne suggested the plans were inadequate and did not tackle those already living here or people preaching on the internet. Full story BBC Tuesday 28 October 2008.

Ethiopia Receiving Africa’s Largest Wind Farm

Photo Credit: Vergnet.fr 

Source: October 27, 2008 (Clean Technica) report by Ariel Schwartz - Ethiopia Receiving Africa’s Largest Wind Farm - excerpt:

The Ethiopian Electric Power Corporation has announced today that it plans to build Africa’s largest wind farm.

The farm, which is being built in Ashegoba, will have a relatively impressive output of 120MW— enough power to supply 15 percent of Ethiopia’s energy needs.

The new turbines are especially important for the country, whose main source of power (hydroelectric dams) has been hit hard by droughts. Ethiopia’s wind power system will remove some of the burden from the dams.

The €220 million endeavor will use turbines from France’s Vergnet Group, which produces turbines designed to function well even in areas that don’t have optimal weather for wind power. Ethiopia’s new plant will go online and reach its maximum output by 2011.

Hopefully, the wind power project will be followed up by a solar project that takes advantage of Ethiopia’s plentiful sunshine.

Britain threatens to drop £130 million annual aid to Ethiopia

Report from Anyuak Media by Tesfa-alem Tekle October 20, 2008 - Britain threatens to drop £130 million annual aid to Ethiopia:

October 19, 2008 (ADDIS ABABA) — After visiting in one of Ethiopia’s worst drought-hit areas of the Somali region a British minister on Friday accused Meles-led, Ethiopian government of hiding the scale of famine crises and warned that his country will hold back future aid commitment to the horn of Africa’s nation.

After visiting the Somali region and hearing the testimony of aid organizations as well as evidence of attempts by the authorities to hide the scale of the crisis, Minister for International Development, Douglas Alexander told the Ethiopian Prime Minister, Meles Zenawi that that Britain would not guarantee future payments to the country.

The minister arrived Ethiopia on Thursday, initially with a proposal committing millions of funds to the nation.

“In light of our continued concerns, I said I was now not prepared to make a multi-annual commitment,” Alexander said.

"In the months ahead I will be discussing the funding position with Europe and the United States," he said. "I am not making a decision now because of the continuing issues I have seen here."

The official has visited hospitals, drought affected people, starving and malnourished children and mothers of the region.

An international health worker on a condition of anonymity uncovers that children had been taken away from hospital ahead of the minister’s arrival to avoid “embarrassing” press pictures of the nation.

"I come here every day and they are always here," the health worker said. "I don’t know where they are now," he told reporters

"They’ve hidden them," the health worker said adding "The Government doesn’t want to acknowledge this crisis because it’s bad for their image"

The British minister raised the incident later in his meeting with Zenawi. "If it’s true that they moved severely malnourished children, that is unconscionable," he said. Zenawi promised to investigate, calling the incident "despicable".

A number of aid agencies who operate in the region have complained that with mandatory government permission and military escorts it was impossible to conduct surveys to examine the scale of the crises.

Meanwhile the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in a new caution says that drought-hit Ethiopians are facing a worsening food situation as the cost of maize soars nearly three-fold.

Earlier this week, OCHA appealed for more than $265 million to fund relief operations in Ethiopia for the next three months to meet the widening scale of the crisis, with some 6.4 million people now estimated to need urgent assistance.

Give free rice to hungry people by playing a simple game - Spread the word about hunger

This is my contribution to World Food Day today, October 16.

My top tips: Don't waste an inch of food or water. Cook fresh home made meals from scratch. Don't drink unnatural juice. Make and mend. Recycle food, water, paper, metal, glass. Adopt a rescue cat to ensure no mice. Adopt a rescue dog for self protection and healthy exercise. Respect the land, sea and air. Be kind and generous. Try to love all people, animals, insects, flowers, trees and plants. Care about what happens to the thirsty, hungry, homeless, sick, disabled, and elderly. Visit friends in person or write note instead of phoning. Cut down on petrol pollution and plastic waste. Don't drive a distance that you could easily walk, bus or cycle. Take care of the pennies and the pounds will take care of themselves. Tithe 10% of your income and see how much more you receive in return.
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Notable Quote

"The best things in life aren't things" - Art Buchwald (Credit: Bloomberg TV)
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On World Food Day - October 16, Spread the word about hunger

Give free rice to hungry people by playing a simple game that increases your knowledge.



Visit FreeRice, www.freerice.com, to translate your right answers into rice for the hungry.

147,750,140 grains of rice donated yesterday. Over 47 billion grains donated to date. Sponsors pay for the donated rice.

Click into www.freerice.com and give the right answer in the middle of the page. I reached level 41 with a donation total of 3040 grains. Will do more later.

"Help us mark World Food Day this year as high food prices, dramatic increases in fuel costs, and profound changes in climate conditions have conspired to bring new dimensions of suffering and hardship to the poor, depriving almost one billion people of the food they need to live a healthy life."  - UN

Islamist insurgents attack African Union (AMISOM) peacekeepers in Mogadishu

MOGAIDSHU, Oct 13 2008 (Reuters) report - Insurgents attack African Union troops in Mogadishu - excerpt:

Islamist rebels attacked African Union (AU) peacekeepers in Mogadishu for a second day running on Monday after more than 800 AU reinforcements from Burundi arrived.

The AU mission, AMISOM, is guarding key sites in the Somali capital where a U.N.-backed interim government and its Ethiopian military allies are battling Islamist rebels and clan militia.

At least two of the new arrivals from Burundi were wounded within hours on Sunday when a bomb hit their convoy. A similar attack was launched on Monday.

"One of our soldiers was injured after an AMISOM vehicle was targeted by an explosive device," an AU spokesman told Reuters.

"This morning, armed elements also attacked one of our bases, but there were no casualties on our side."

The peacekeepers have been targeted in a string of bombings and ambushes since the Islamists launched their rebellion early last year. The fighting has killed nearly 10,000 civilians. Seven Ugandan soldiers and one Burundian have died.

The worst insecurity for nearly two decades in the chaotic Horn of Africa country has fuelled a wave of kidnappings this year as well as at least 30 attacks by pirates offshore.

Kidnappers of missing Somali journalists demand $2.5m ransom - talks stalled

MOGAIDSHU, Oct 13 2008 (Reuters) report - Insurgents attack African Union troops in Mogadishu - excerpt:

On Monday, the National Union of Somali Journalists (NUSOJ) said ransom talks had stalled for two foreign journalists who were seized by gunmen on the outskirts of Mogadishu on Aug. 23.

"It's more than 50 days since the abduction ... and there is no official word coming from the kidnappers since they demanded a ($2.5 million) ransom in September," it said in a statement.

Australian freelancer Nigel Brennan and his Canadian colleague Amanda Lindhout were kidnapped with a local reporter as they visited camps for families displaced by the violence. (Reporting by Ibrahim Mohamed; Writing by Daniel Wallis; Editing by Louise Ireland)

Related reports

Aug 25 2008 - Ethiopia Watch - Missing Somalia journalists named: Abdifatah Mohammed Elmi, Nigel Brenan, Amanda Lindhout (and driver Mahad)

Sep 24, 2008 - Ethiopia Watch - Two Medecins du Monde aid workers kidnapped in Ogaden, Ethiopia and taken to Somalia's central region of Galguduud by well-armed gunmen

Sweden's Lundin Petroleum AB says its exploration in S. Ethiopia would lead to discoveries of oil and natural gas

Ethiopia’s Ogaden region, which is inhabited largely by ethnic Somalis, has been plagued by civil war.

The Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF), which has long sought independence for the region, attacked an oil installation operated by a Chinese company in April 2007, killing dozens of people and prompting a harsh crackdown from the Ethiopian government.

The ONLF following the signing of the PSCs with Ethiopia advised the Swedish company to stop its exploratory activities in Ogaden.

Source: Sudan Tribune 10 October 2008 - Swedish oil operator says confident in Ethiopia’s exploration - copy:

October 9, 2008 (ADDIS ABABA) — Swedish oil explorer, Lundin Petroleum AB, showed on Thursday confidence on its exploration in southern Ethiopia saying it would lead to discoveries of oil as well as natural gas.

The Ethiopian government and the Swedish oil operator signed a Production Sharing Contract (PSC) on November 7 2006. Lundin’s first PSC cover Blocks 2, 6, 7 and 8 located in the onshore Ogaden Basin.

"We feel that this basin has not only proven gas potential but also light oil," James Phillips, Lundin Petroleum’s vice president of exploration for Africa and the Middle East, said at the Africa Upstream 2008 oil conference in Cape Town.

The Swedish oil operator agreed this week to transfer 15 of its interest in Ogaden to New Age, a South African energy firm. The farmout covers Lundin blocks in southern and northern Ethiopia.

Lundin Petroleum said it holds a 100 pct in the contract area for the duration of the exploration period but the Ethiopian Government has an option to participate with up to a 10 pct interest following any commercial discovery.

Lundin is among a handful of companies that are exploring for gas and oil in Ethiopia, the Swedish firm has also another contract with Addis Ababa with a 50 percent interest, covering the Adigala Area, northern Ethiopia.

Ethiopia’s Ogaden region, which is inhabited largely by ethnic Somalis, has been plagued by civil war.

The Ogaden National Liberation Front, which has long sought independence for the region, attacked an oil installation operated by a Chinese company in April 2007, killing dozens of people and prompting a harsh crackdown from the Ethiopian government.

The ONLF following the signing of the PSCs with Ethiopia advised the Swedish company to stop its exploratory activities in Ogaden.

Lundin also has operations in several other African nations, including Sudan, Kenya, and Tunisia, where it holds a stake in the Oudna energy development. The company said also mulling to expand in Congo Brazzaville and other African markets. (ST)

8 million Ethiopians could need food aid this year, agencies say (BBC)

Desperation as hunger grows. Agencies fear prices and drought. The current crisis in Ethiopia is being lost in a swirling mist of competing figures - BBC:

Sunday, 12 October 2008 report by BBC Africa analyst Martin Plaut, copied here in full, for future reference.

Ethiopian need 'under-estimated'

Aid agencies are warning that Ethiopian authorities are under-estimating the scale of the country's drought.

Official estimates of the number of people facing hunger and hardship stand at 4.6m but agencies warn the real figure could be more than 8m.

There is also confusion over the amount of money needed to meet the crisis, with the Oxfam agency estimating it at about $500m.

However, the United Nations reports that $772m has already been pledged.

Proud people

Ethiopia is in the grip of severe food shortages after rains failed across a large swathe of the east and south of the country.
But attempts to deal with the crisis have been hindered by disputes over the number of people affected.

In April the first government appeal spoke of more than 2m in need of food aid. By June that figure had risen to well over 4m.
Aid agencies now say the official estimate has reached 6.4m - but has not yet been released.

But, say the agencies, even this underestimates the scale of the problem.

Ethiopians are a proud people, who hate the image of their country forever extending a begging bowl. And they are suspicious of the motives of the aid community.

In an interview with Time magazine in August, Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said there were pockets of severe malnutrition but that the situation was manageable.

He questioned the way some agencies operated, saying they tended to use "hyperbole" to get the aid they needed.

"That can convey the message that the situation is hopeless when in fact it is not," said the prime minister.

Yet if the 8m figure is correct, and if this is added to the approximately 7m who are chronically short of food, then as many as 20% of all Ethiopians could need food aid this year.

Oxfam has just released a fresh appeal. It says the aid required is $260m short of its target.

But figures produced by the United Nations office for the co-ordination of humanitarian affairs show that $772m has already been pledged, the vast majority from the US, which has nearly trebled its aid to Ethiopia this year.

The current crisis in Ethiopia is being lost in a swirling mist of competing figures.

April appeal: 2.18m in need
June appeal: 4.6m in need
October assessment: 6.4m in need
Aid agencies: 8m in need
Source: Government reports and aid agencies

"There has not been a famine on our watch - emergencies, but no famines" - Prime Minister Meles Zenawi

Deployed peacekeeping veterans with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) have significant impairments in health-related quality of life

Nine years ago today, I was struck down with a flu like viral illness from which I never recovered. After the initial six months, my profoundly disabling condition was diagnosed by a Consultant Psychiatrist as a severe form of Post Viral Fatigue Syndrome (PVFS), also known as Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME)/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS).

Still, to this day, there is no effective treatment or cure. In my experience, the condition is similar to Multiple Sclerosis (MS), Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and Gulf War Syndrome (GWS).

Over the past nine years my energy level has increased from one half hour to two hours per day. I am still virtually housebound. Last March, I was able to attend my mother's funeral. Next month, I am scheduled to attend a long awaited appointment with a CFS Consultant. Several years ago, I was bedbound for two years.

The following definition of ME is from a paper I wrote with a very dear friend (recently departed, God rest his soul) in March 2003:

Myalgic Encephalomyelitis - ME

Evidenced by muscle pain, with inflammation of the brain and spinal cord, ME has been known for half a century as 'a-typical polio'. The symptoms of extreme lassitude, and the swift onset of exhaustion that characterise the disease, also caused it to be known for many years as 'chronic fatigue syndrome' or CFS. It was only classified by the World Health Organisation of the United Nations as a neurological disorder in 1969.

The disorder is triggered by a virus infection that occurs worldwide in epidemic and pandemic form: seasonally and in selected geographical areas. It affects about 1% of the British population and there is no known cure. While three-quarters of those who become infected do not present advanced symptoms, 25% of ME sufferers are chronically affected with severe illness and pain, causing them to become profoundly disabled and very largely housebound. The condition can last throughout life without remission of any kind.

Doctors and sufferers generally agree that the worst effects of the disease can be 'managed by strict adherence to conservation of energy, reduction of stress and simplification of work: augmented by education, with practical and economic support'.

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We're not lazy nor crazy, tiredness is the least of our problems

This post today, 10 October 2008, here at Ethiopia Watch, is to help raise awareness of the plight of military personnel suffering from ghastly life-wrecking Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Below are some excerpts taken from Science Daily online. More on this topic at a later date.
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Peacekeepers are exposed to traumatic events which they are helpless to prevent under the United National rules of engagement

While the relationship among Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and physical and mental health impairment is well developed in combat veterans, it is less studied among the deployed peacekeeping veteran population.

Peacekeepers are exposed to traumatic events which they are helpless to prevent under the United National rules of engagement, which state soldiers must show restraint and neutrality. The feeling of being unable to control a situation at the time of trauma is an important risk factor for developing PTSD.

More from ScienceDaily.com (Dec. 15, 2007):

Canada’s peacekeepers suffer similar rates of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorders (PTSD) as combat, war-zone soldiers, according to a London, Ont. research team.

Psychiatrist J. Donald Richardson and his co-investigators also found that PTSD rates and severity were associated with younger age, single marital status and deployment frequency.

Vietnam Combat Linked To Many Diseases 20 Years Later

According to Boscarino, of the 1,399 Vietnam veterans studied, 24 percent (332) were diagnosed with PTSD sometime after military service, and nearly all cases of PTSD in the study resulted from exposure to heavy or very heavy combat in Vietnam.

He said his research and others' suggest that those with PTSD often have altered neuroendocrine and sympathetic nervous systems. Disturbances in these key body systems are the main reason for increases in a broad spectrum of diseases among combat veterans, he said. His research also uncovered abnormal immune functioning and clear medical evidence of coronary artery disease among the veterans studied. Read more at ScienceDaily (Nov. 26, 1997)

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder May Result In Heart Disease

Combat veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) appear to be at higher risk for coronary heart disease (CHD), according to a recent study of 4,462 male U.S. Army veterans.

"We believe that this research suggests a clear, definitive linkage between exposure to severe stress and the onset of coronary heart disease in humans," said Boscarino. Read more at ScienceDaily (Nov. 10, 1999)

PTSD Causes Early Death From Heart Disease, Study Suggests

A new study sheds light on the link between PTSD and heart disease. Vietnam veterans with PTSD suffered higher rates of heart disease death than veterans without PTSD.

The more severe the PTSD diagnosis, the greater the likelihood of death from heart disease, the study showed. Read more at ScienceDaily (July 8, 2008)

Whether combat or peacekeeping, PTSD impacts veterans' well-being

Deployed peacekeeping veterans with PTSD have significant impairments in health-related quality of life according to research by Dr. J. Donald Richardson of The University of Western Ontario and his co-investigators.

The research, published recently in the Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, found anxiety disorders such as PTSD are associated with impaired emotional well-being, and this applies just as much to peacekeeping veterans as to combat veterans. "This finding is important to clinicians working with the newer generation of veterans, as it stresses the importance of including measures of quality of life when evaluating veterans to better address their rehabilitation needs," says Dr. Richardson. "It is not enough to measure symptom changes with treatment; we need to objectively assess if treatment is improving their quality of life and how they are functioning in their community."

Richardson is a consultant psychiatrist with the Operational Stress Injury Clinic at Parkwood Hospital, part of St. Joseph's Health Care, London and a psychiatry professor with the Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry at Western. His team studied 125 male, deployed Canadian Forces peacekeeping veterans who were referred for a psychiatric assessment. The average age of these men was 41, and they averaged 16 years of military service. The most common military theatre in which they served were the Balkan states (Bosnia, Croatia, former Yugoslavia, and Kosovo), with 83 per cent having exposure to combat or a war zone. Read more at ScienceDaily (Oct. 3, 2008)

Post Traumatic Stress Has Tripled Among Combat-exposed Military Personnel

Concerns have been raised about the health impact of military deployment. Studies have estimated as many as 30% of Vietnam War veterans developed post-traumatic stress disorder at some point following the war and, among 1991 Gulf War veterans, as many as 10% were reported to have post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms years after returning from deployment. Read more at ScienceDaily (Jan. 17, 2008)

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Postscript

I would be interested to hear from anyone affected by above issues. Feel free to email me anytime and forgive me if I am slow to respond. Note, my current email address will cease on November 28, 2008 because I am switching my ISP to British Telecommunications (BT) Broadband.

With love from me and my cat Ophelia xx

[Afterthought: As my network of blogs receive thousands of regular visits from military, health orgs, unis, govts, etc., I have decided to cross post this whole entry at some of Sudan Watch's sister sites: Congo Watch, Uganda Watch, Ethiopia Watch, Niger Watch, Kenya Watch, Russia Watch.]

MV Faina cargo for Ethiopia? Washington accuses Asmara of supporting "terrorist groups" in Somalia - Seven NATO frigates will arrive within 2 weeks

Washington accuses Asmara of supporting "terrorist groups" in Somalia. Eritrea slams US over arms ban. NATO agrees to join anti-piracy operations off coast of Somalia, seven of its frigates will arrive within two weeks. MV Faina's cargo in Somalia destined for Ethiopian army? Details in the following reports.

Aljazeera report, October 09, 2008 - Nato joins Somalia piracy fight - excerpt:

"There will soon be Nato military vessels off the coast of Somalia, deterring piracy and escorting food ships," James Appathura, Nato's chief spokesman, said on Thursday.

"Piracy is a serious problem for shipping in that area. It is also an immediate threat to the lives of the people in Somalia," he said.

Nato said the seven frigates from a group that was to have taken part in an exercise in the Suez Canal region would arrive off the Somali coast within two weeks in response to a request from the UN World Food Programme (WFP).

The force, which currently consists of destroyers from Italy and the United States, frigates from Germany, Greece, Turkey and Britain and a German auxiliary vessel, will stay in the region until at least December.

MV Faina standoff

Six US warships have already been deployed in the area and have surrounded the Ukrainian MV Faina amid fears that its weapons, including 33 battle tanks, might fall into the hands of armed groups in Somalia.

However, a spokesman for the pirates has said that the vessel, which has 20 crew members on board, could be released within days if the $8m ransom was paid.

"We are open for give-and-take negotiations," Sugule Ali, a spokesman for the pirates, told The Associated Press news agency.

He also said that the Faina's crew were holding up well despite their ordeal.

"Their chef still prepares their food for them," Ali said. "They are healthy and have no worries. But of course their only worry is when they will gain their freedom. Their feeling is typically that of hostages - no more, no less."

Lieutenant Nathan Christensen, a spokesman from the US 5th Fleet in Bahrain, said the navy was in regular contact with the crew and would not allow the pirates to offload the weapons.

Mark Caltar, a piracy expert and operations director of Olton Solutions, told Al Jazeera that the payment of any ransom would be a win for the pirates and a loss for the United Nations.

"What we have here is an epidemic, a plague of piracy," he said. "If people ... see that the pirates around Somalia can get away with this now, and six US warships are hanging around doing absolutely nothing, then you are encouraging piracy on a global status."

The United Nations Security Council earlier this week called on countries to send naval vessels and military aircraft to support anti-piracy efforts.

The call came after European Union countries said they would launch an anti-piracy patrol, and Russia announced it would co-operate with the West in fighting the pirates. 

Somalia's transitional government, which is under pressure from near-daily attacks by armed opposition groups, has given foreign powers the freedom to use force against the pirates. [end of report]

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Hijacked arms cargo in Somalia destined for Ethiopian army?

The following report suggests that the hijacked Ukrainian ship MV Faina and its cargo may end up being destroyed, and that the cargo could have been destined for Ethiopia.

September 30, 2008 (pr-inside.com) report by Shuun Isaaq - Hijacked arms cargo in Somalia destined for Ethiopian army - excerpts:

Recent unflattering international reports of a Ukrainian cargo ship hijacked by militias loyal to the current parachutist government of "Somalia" from the region formerly known as Majertenia and now dubbed as "Pirate (Puntland) State of Zoomalia" reminds Somalis of the dangers which encircle them on a daily basis.

What the firestorms of speculations by media collusively failed to investigate is the correct destination of weapons bought "legitimately" from Ukraine through Ukrainian weapons brokers. Although first major reports claimed the purchase was made by South Sudan rebels, or by the Khartoum government. More recent analysis by Somali experts is growing intensely and may lead to the eventual destruction of the ship along with its cargo. [cut]

Speaking from London, a former manager of a major Kenyan haulage company from Mombassa Samir Yasin ridiculed accusations of South Sudan connections. Revelations were made this week that such cargo to be heading to South Sudan prompting the SPLA to strongly deny such claims. SPLA may have used Ukrainians based in Dubai to broker and drop light weapons such as grenades and assault rifles by air. However, never to delver a huge consignment of tanks and modern Russian ammunitions by cargo ship specially through mainland Kenya.

The same media quickly ran errands this time provoking the Kenyan army and the East Africa division lately built by America to fight against an apparent "terror networks" in the horn of Africa. They also distanced themselves from this consignment, although they confirm the ships destination to had been Mombassa. This leaves the main culprit Ethiopia, as the sole destination of reported weaponry since it is not common sense to deliver to the Khartoum government using the Indian Ocean.

Hat tip: Ethiopia - Topix.net, October 06, 2008
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Eritrea slams US over arms ban

Washington announced the ban on Monday, accusing Asmara of supporting "terrorist groups" in Somalia.

Source: Mail & Guardian Online - ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA Oct 08 2008 - Eritrea slams US over arms ban

Hat tip: Ethiopia - Topix.net, October 08, 2008
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Related report

October 08, 2008 - Sudan Watch:
A businessman from Odessa with an Israeli passport is the man behind Russian tanks shipment destined for Govt of South Sudan (GOSS) via Mombasa?
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[Cross posted today at parent site Sudan Watch]

Message for African leaders: Annual $5 million African prize is a 'developmental project', says Sudanese born British billionaire Dr Mo Ibrahim

Yesterday, I came across the following Associated Press report, posted at Sudan Tribune 28 October 2006, and wondered about the possibility of Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir making himself eligible for the prize. Most days, I think anything is possible. My favourite motto is "where there's the will, there's a way".

"African prize is a ’developmental project’, says Sudanese Billionaire"

Oct 27, 2006 (LONDON) — A Sudanese billionaire who is offering a $5 million prize to an African head of state who significantly improves the lives of citizens said Friday the money is intended as ’’a developmental project, not a gravy train."

Mohamed Fatehi (Mo) Ibrahim acknowledged critics’ comments that his money could go directly to poverty-stricken Africans. But without good governance, he argued, there is no way to ensure it is distributed fairly and effectively.

’’I’m not squandering money,’’ Ibrahim said in an interview Friday.

The prize is the largest of its kind, surpassing the $1.4 million Nobel Peace Prize.

’’If you write a good novel, or a chemistry paper, you win the Nobel Prize,’’ Ibrahim said. ’’If we have a leader take 4 or 5 million people out of poverty, this is a much greater achievement.’’

Ibrahim hopes to award the prize annually to an African head of state who improves the standard of living among ordinary citizens, and who does not try to cling to power on a continent where military dictators and presidents for life have long held sway. If no candidate meets the criteria, no prize will be given. The first prize was scheduled to be awarded late next year.

Board members of the Mo Ibrahim Foundation for African Development include Mary Robinson, former president of Ireland and U.N. high commissioner for human rights, and Salim Salim, a Tanzanian diplomat and former leader of the Organization of African Unity.

’’The prize is not intended for the thief or the corrupt, it is for those that serve their people,’’ Salim said.

But some are concerned that offering a prize for good governance is not the best way to help Africa. With millions in poverty, why should more money go to the most advantaged of African society, asked John Larvie of the Center for Democratic Development, a think tank in Ghana.

’’Though prize money for a well-behaved president may be attractive to the office- holders, what good would that do to the general welfare and democratic development of the people and the country as a whole?’’ he asked.

Others argue that the prize will not influence African leaders’ behavior, particularly when it comes to holding on to power. Ibrahim designed the prize in part to address reluctance to leave office. Winners receive $5 million spread over 10 years after they leave office. If they are still living when the initial prize is exhausted, they will receive another $200,000 annually until they die.

’’Money is not an issue because the corruption in this country means they can systematically syphon off funds throughout their rule,’’ Geoffrey Rwakaeale, National Coordinator for the Anti-Corruption Coalition of Uganda, said in Kampala, Uganda. ’’They (African leaders) have money. It is their safety they are worried about.’’

Ibrahim said his prize may be too small to influence the corrupt. But he said it would reward leaders trying to do the right thing, and sway those who are wavering.

The idea of an award for results comes from the business world, said Ibrahim, who founded Celtel International, an African cell phone network. He sold Celtel for $3.3 billion in 2005.

’’As an engineer, as a businessman, I found performance measurement is normal. Everyone has performance related pay,’’ Ibrahim said. ’’We’re just applying that to governance.’’

The prize will be awarded based on criteria developed by Robert Rotberg, a professor at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government who said he will rate security, rule of law, economic opportunity, political freedom, health service, education system, infrastructure, and civil society.

’’They will be measured by outcome, not input or budget, because in the developing world, what goes in doesn’t always come out,’’ Rotberg said Friday in a panel discussion at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London. (AP)

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Also, yesterday I posted here at Ethiopia Watch (and Sudan Watch) news of Dr Ibrahim's interest in investing in Ethiopia - see Ethiopia Watch, October 05 2008 - Sudanese born billionaire entrepreneur Dr Mo Ibrahim, named as Britain's most powerful black man, shows interest in investing in Ethiopia.

Soon, I hope to catch up on posting a backlog of news for this site, mostly re commercial/joint ventures starting up in Ethiopia. Lately, it seems as though the Ethiopian's are attracting publicity for making good stuff happen in their country. Maybe their president could be eligible for the $5M prize? According to the above report, the prize is awarded annually and the first one was scheduled to be awarded in 2007. Must find out what's happened.
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[This is an edited version of post published today Oct 09 2008 at Sudan Watch]

Sudanese born billionaire entrepreneur Dr Mo Ibrahim, named as Britain's most powerful black man, shows interest in investing in Ethiopia

From Nazret.com, Wednesday October 08 2008 - Mo Ibrahim shows interest to invest in Ethiopia:

Dr. Mohamed "Mo" Ibrahim, the Sudanese-born British mobile communications entrepreneur, and founder of the Mo Ibrahim Foundation is interested to invest in Ethiopia, according to a report by African Press Agency (APA).

According to APA, Mr. Ibrahim spoke with Addisu Legesse, Ethiopia's deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development. Legesse in turn briefed Ibrahim about the investment opportunities in Ethiopia, mainly in the agricultural sector, which he said is full of human resources and services, APA wrote.

Ibrahim earned a Bachelor of Science from University of Alexandria and a master's degree from the University of Bradford, both in electrical engineering, and a PhD from the University of Birmingham in mobile communications, according to his profile on Wikipedia. Ibrahim was employed by Sudan Telecom for a time, and later worked as the technical director for Cellnet, a subsidiary of British Telecom. In 1989 he founded MSI, a consultancy and software company, which was bought by Marconi in 2000. MSI had 800 employees, who owned approximately 30% of the stock at the point of its sale; Ibrahim says he gave employees stock as a form of bonus.

In 1998, MSI spun off MSI-Cellular Investments, later renamed Celtel, as a mobile phone operator in Africa.

According to the Forbes 2008 Rich List, Mo Ibrahim is worth $5 billion.

See this site's parent blog Sudan Watch - Sunday, October 05, 2008: Sudanese born billionaire entrepreneur Dr Mo Ibrahim is named as Britain's most powerful black man

Note, Nazret.com appears to be an Ethiopian Website and its Merkato Blog, a marketplace of ideas on nazret.com, welcomes participants.

Ethiopian Famine Averted - “That might be what they say, but is it true?”

'Ethiopian Famine Averted' is another gem of a blog post by freelance foreign correspondent Rob Crilly. I am copying it here for future reference for reasons listed below.

From The Frontline - Ethiopian Famine Averted
By Rob Crilly, 04 October 2008

Among many of the titbits of useful advice I picked up as I worked my way through Britain’s regional newspapers was one that has caused me no end of trouble. “Rob,” one of the old hands at The Herald (I should point out this is a Scottish national paper - not a British regional paper) said, “The stories that you don’t write are just as important as the stories you do write.”

The job of a journalist, he went on to explain, is to sift through the assorted rubbish that arrives each day and work out what is true, what is important and what is news. Everything else could be passed over with a dismissive, “The Scotsman might do this tomorrow but frankly it’s bullshit,” to the news editor.

Sound advice. But it has been causing me problems as a freelancer sitting several thousand miles away from the foreign desk. The issue is that a quiet word in the ear of my foreign editor that such and such a story is rubbish, doesn’t stop some hotshot writer from London bigfooting me or another freelancer offering said story to the desk. Often the first I’ll know about it is reading my own paper online.

I raise this now because I deliberately haven’t written about the “impending famine” in Ethiopia. Charities have been taking journalists on junkets to view stick-thin children and talking up the crisis in terms of global warming and natural disasters. This was not enough for me. If I was going to write about an Ethiopian hunger I wanted to discuss the country’s expensive wars in Somalia, Ogaden and Eritrea, its abuse of human rights in Ogaden and its denial of drought. That was the way the to do the story properly.

Meanwhile a steady stream of wannabe Michael Buerkes was filing stories such as this, in my own paper:

Surprisingly, when The Times visited the region, the fields were alive with maize and most afternoons a warm rain fell. “Here the problem is acute,” said Jean de Cambry, the emergency co-ordinator for Médecins Sans Frontières in southern Ethiopia. “It is very surprising and very strange, because everything is so green. But food stocks at household level are empty or close to empty.”

Or this imaginative way of producing a famine story in the LA Times:

They call it the green hunger. Four-foot cornstalks sprout from rain-soaked earth, and wind billows fields of teff, the staple Ethiopian grain. Goats and cattle are getting fat on lush grasses – but the children are still dying.

Each time these stories appeared I would call colleagues to ask whether it was time to go to Ethiopia. Each time they said not yet - including one TV reporter who had just filed a harrowing account of children starving, but had to admit it wasn’t really as bad as all that. A day’s filming was canned because the area was too green.

So it wasn’t a massive surprise when I received the following press release from the Irish aid agency Goal:

Ann Bourke, one of the most experienced of GOAL’s field personnel, reported with optimistic news from Ethiopia today. Ann stated that the interventions of aid agencies such as GOAL, and fact that it has started to rain have had very beneficial effects on the famine in Ethiopia. Although it is too early to be sure, indications are that a major famine may have been adverted.

This is clearly great news for the people of Ethiopia. And it is still early days. And maybe it was the reporting and PR work by charities that averted a crisis. But at a time when fundraisers complain about compassion fatigue could it be another example of journalists putting their critical faculties to one side in favour of reporting a worst-case scenario peddled by NGOs with an interest in collecting cash? Did we jump when they cried wolf? I wasn’t the only Nairobi-based reporter who decided not to go to Ethiopia, only to see a colleague based on another continent file an “Ethiopia Starves” piece.

It all reminds me of another piece of advice I picked up at The Herald, where the editor was fond of shooting down stories in conference with a terse:"That might be what they say, but is it true?"

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Note the following comment from Simon [Visitor] at Rob Crilly's post:

Of course it was true, it was only averted because United States has to arm twist every western nation to pump a lot of money to prop the murderous regime they are backing. You have only to see how much Australia, Austria, Canada, EU, Uk, US etc have to donate just in this year. What amazes me is why is no one reporting on where the funding, so far given to Ethiopia (more than $25Billion) since the current government came into power is ending.Not to mention the $12 Billion ear marked to be given for the year 2008-2011 How come more arid places like Sudan and Eritrea are coping much better with out hardly any Aid ?

According to HRH Ethiopia gets at least $2billion with no accountability
http://hrw.org/english/docs/2008/06/12/ethiop19029.htm
http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/04/08/news/arms.php
http:/www.arabnews.com/?page=6§ion=0&article=112524&d=7&m=8&y=2008
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/5016834.stm

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Postscript from author of Ethiopia Watch

The above commentary is copied here because one of the reasons I have a series of blogs on Africa is to track and chronicle various news reports on alleged genocide and famine in Africa in order for me to study and learn about how and why such things occur and how they are reported by mainstream media.

Check out the following copy of my post at Niger Watch (sister site of this blog, Ethiopia Watch) dated April 06, 2006:

Niger to block foreign press reporting food crisis - What's up with Mr Tandja?

Today, Reuters says Niger's government denied it had stripped the journalists of their accreditation, saying it had summoned them to explain that their coverage was one-sided and did not present the country's efforts to solve its problems:

"We did not expel the BBC. We summoned the team to say their report had caused shock and Niger is more than just recurring food shortages," said Fogue Aboubacar, secretary-general at the Culture, Arts and Communication Ministry.

"Niger is also about the authorities attempts to solve these problems and one must stop focusing on the negative side," he added. "That is what happened in 2005 and we are not going to tolerate it, especially as harvests have been good."

"Be it the BBC, CNN or any other media, we will not hand out more accreditation on the food situation," he said.

And this copy of a post at Niger Watch dated August 06, 2005:

Now we know part of the answer to: Why starving in Niger?

Huge thanks to Tim Worstall for pointing out the following post by Aunty Marianne in Brussels, Belgium who, in her blog Tomato And Basil Sandwiches describes her occupation in 'government' as 'spending your money on humanitarian aid'.

Here is the post, copied in full, just incase Aunty Marianne decides for one reason or another to delete it, as it helps answer my question Why starving in Niger?

August 06, 2005 - OK, I'm fed up and others aren't

I am fed up to the back teeth with this whingeing about donors not reacting on the Niger famine. The EU have been actively looking for aid partners to spend 4.6 million euros since April. The reason why people are starving in Niger now, in August, is because some of those who asked for it to be made available for their feeding projects didn't get their proposals for actual projects in before early July. I also know for a fact that one of the organisations has a massive "emergency reserve" lying in wait for the famine almost certainly about to happen in a certain southern African country, a reserve that could have easily been tapped and replenished. They did not need to wait for donor funds to react.

We've had to release another 1.7m euros now that IMHO we wouldn't have had to, had they taken the first lot in time, because now, for example, therapeutic milk has to be airfreighted in instead of sea/road-shipped, and that's more expensive than the milk itself.

I am disgusted with the blamestorming around this famine, especially when the primary culprits are the ones pointing the finger, I'm disgusted at the waste of time and therefore money and all the additional suffering that it has caused to should-be-beneficiaries, and I wish the reputable media would check their facts better before blindly repeating press releases.

As always, this is just my personal view of things, and in no way necessarily represents the position of my employers.
posted by Aunty Marianne @ 10:59 AM

[My first reaction to Aunty Marianne's post was disgust but not surprise because of what happened in Darfur last year when the UN and its World Food Programme admitted they acted too slowly and had to resort to costly air drops despite the long predicted rainy season. There is something terribly wrong with emergency aid responses and the way they are funded and reported.

A week or so ago I saw a top British politician (Hilary Benn I think) interviewed on UK television news. It may have been a Channel 4 News interview by Jon Snow who asked point blank why the long predicted food crisis in Niger was not responded to. The politician concluded by saying the "system" was not perfect and needed overhauling.

I say, once again, there is no accountability. Whoever is responsible for this scandal, not to mention the outrageous waste of precious public funds, is getting away with murder. Sorry for putting it so strongly but it is sickening to know the money for emergency food aid is there but the people entrusted by the public don't respond in time and then blame donors for not paying up. Of course, it then creates more publicity and an outcry which generates more funds before the food aid has even been delivered. Meanwhile, people starve to death and suffer unimagineable pain, grief and misery and the excuse all because the "system" needs overhauling. If heads rolled over this, the nameless "system" might get overhauled sooner.]

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Lastly, this copy of a post at Niger Watch dated September 01, 2005:

Can aid do more harm than good? Who is spinning lies?

As noted here in previous posts, Niger's President Mamadou Tandja recently said his country was experiencing food shortages but not a famine. He accused aid agencies of exaggerating the food crisis for their own gain, raising serious issues about the way aid emergencies are handled.

American blogger Ethan Zuckerman points out that Henri Astier, a BBC correspondent, after talking to aid workers and experts on African aid, concluded, on balance, that President Tanja was probably right and quoted Professor William Easterly of NYU, as saying: "There were localised food shortages this year - but they were not particularly acute, and are now easing. What Niger is experiencing is not a sudden catastrophe, but chronic malnutrition that makes people vulnerable to rises in food prices."

Note, the report also quotes Professor Easterly as saying "I think NGOs and rich country media do have an incentive to paint too simplistic and bleak a picture, as was the case in Niger's food crisis."

So, going by the above [which does not appear to touch on issues of African politics, land ownership rights, corruption, looting, violence and arms dealing] they seem to be saying:

food aid can distort 'functioning' markets, causing increased food insecurity in the long term;

regional solutions are needed to solve shortages that are not regional famine - so long as participating governments allow that trade to happen and international donors are able to help subsidise food to poorer areas when neccesary.

Note, Ethan praises the BBC saying it provides a terrific space where people from outside Africa can discover, if they listen, that their proposed solutions are often - strongly and validly - opposed by the people they're trying to help.

Unless I have missed something, there still seems to be no proper explanation of who was behind the surge in alarming media reports falsely accusing the world of turning its back on the starving people of Niger.

Who is doing the spin? And why are they getting away with such misleading news? My guess is we are left to believe aid agencies are the culprits. Propaganda is everywhere in the media. It's hard to believe much of what is published. There is so little investigative reporting, the media treats us like simpletons, feeding us by the minute with nuggets of junk.

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Type the word FAMINE into the search box in top left corner of Niger Watch (or click here) and scroll through reports on famine in Niger.

PS Note to Rob Crilly: Sorry I've cribbed yet another of your blog posts but I fear that any links to great posts may, within a few years, end up leading to a blank 'not found' page.

"In Ethiopia alone, more than 6 million people need emergency food aid" (UN) - "4 million Ethiopians are now estimated to need food assistance" (UN)

UN health agency calls for extra $8 million to help aid operations in Ethiopia:

The United Nations World Health Organization (WHO) is appealing for an additional $8 million to fund its humanitarian preparedness and response operations in Ethiopia, where prolonged drought has left hundreds of thousands of the Horn of Africa country's poorest people at serious risk of malnutrition or disease.

UN aid agencies have sounded the alarm about the humanitarian situation across the Horn of Africa, and as many as 4 million Ethiopians are now estimated to need food assistance.

Source: UN News Centre report - UN health agency calls for extra $8 million to help aid operations in Ethiopia - 03 October 2008
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New ‘Green Revolution' needed to combat hunger in Africa, UN relief chief says:

A new Green Revolution is urgently needed in Africa to curb the suffering of the most vulnerable people, according to the top United Nations relief official, who recently saw first-hand how the current dire food crisis is affecting Ethiopia.

Unlike the “epic, largely man-made famine” the country faced over two decades ago, the current situation in the Horn of Africa affecting 16 million people offers “a glimpse of what much of our world might be like if we do not deal effectively with the huge challenges of rising food and fuel prices, climate change, environmental stress and population pressures,” John Holmes wrote in an op-ed column [HOLMES: Food crisis in Africa] published in yesterday’s Washington Times.

“Great swathes of the developing world could be pushed to the margins of survival,” he cautioned.

Both short- and long-term strategies are needed to address the problem, wrote Mr. Holmes, who serves both as Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and as Emergency Relief Coordinator.

“Africa, and Ethiopia, need a new Green Revolution – one that is agriculturally productive, economically profitable and environmentally sustainable,” the column noted.

“The time to do it is now, before the effects of rising population, more erratic weather, commodity price shocks and depleting fossil fuel resources cause further massive suffering for the world’s poorest.”

In Ethiopia alone, more than 6 million people need emergency food aid due to the failure of this year’s harvest, triggered by yet another drought. The situation has been exacerbated by both skyrocketing food prices, which have shot up 500 per cent in some parts of the country since last year, and conflict, which has thwarted the largely pastoralist population from selling their animals and purchasing food.

Short-run measures to alleviate the crisis in Ethiopia must include cooperation between the Government and relief organizations and increased donor support, the Coordinator said.

“But we must not stop there,” he wrote. “Beyond food aid for today, we above all need to help people feed themselves tomorrow.”

To this end, Mr. Holmes said that greater emphasis must be placed on reducing the impact of climate-induced crises.

He also urged greater investments in developing countries’ agricultural sectors “to reverse the neglect” of the past three decades.

“Well-targeted investments can make a life-changing difference,” he said, pointing to examples such as better drought management techniques, crop adaptation and improved access to credit.

Source: UN News Centre report - New ‘Green Revolution' needed to combat hunger in Africa, UN relief chief says - 01 October 2008

US warships surround Ukrainian ship hijacked nr Somalia: Cargo for Sudan - Somali Islamic rebel group bans operations of aid agencies CARE & IMS

A Somali Islamist rebel group said on Friday that it has banned two international aid agencies which they accused of anti-Islam activities from operating in areas controlled by their militias in south Somalia.

It also has given warnings to others.

Spokesman for the Islamist Al-shabaab movement said that Care International and International Medical Corps (IMS) have been involved in "immoral and bad activities" that are against the teaching of Islam. He did not elaborate.

Source: MOGADISHU, October 03 2008 Xinhua report - Somali insurgent group bans operations of two aid agencies. Excerpt:

 "We cannot accept such activities by these two organizations to continue under our rule. We have also given warning to other international NGOs," Sheik Muqtar Robow, Al-Shabaab spokesman told Xinhua.

The Al-shabaab is one of the hard-line insurgency groups that have been waging deadly attacks on Ethiopian troops backing Somali government forces since the allied forces ousted an Islamist administration in South and central Somalia in December 2006.

The group's fighters are in control of a number of regions in south Somalia including Kismayu, the third largest city in Somalia, where they have been ruling according to the Koran ever since they took over the port city in August.

Related reports

Sudan Watch Thursday, October 02, 2008 : US warships surround Ukrainian ship hijacked nr Somalia: Cargo for Sudan - Moscow sends warship - Germany joins EU forces - Kenyan official arrested


Sudan Watch Friday, October 03, 2008 : Three killed in pirates' shoot-out aboard Russian arms ship - UK to attack al-Qaeda pirates

Two Medecins du Monde aid workers kidnapped in Ogaden, Ethiopia and taken to Somalia's central region of Galguduud by well-armed gunmen

Two aid workers working for Medecins du Monde in Ethiopia have been abducted from the Ogaden region that borders Somalia, the French aid agency says.

Eyewitnesses say the man and woman, whose nationalities are not known, have been taken to Somalia's central region of Galguduud by well-armed gunmen.

The aid workers in Ogaden, Ethiopia's Somali region which is suffering from a severe drought, were kidnapped on Monday.

"The organisation is in permanent contact with the authorities, its team on the ground as well as other actors on the field," AFP news agency quotes Medecins du Monde as saying in a statement.

Somalia has been wracked by conflict since 1991 and ethnic Somali rebels have been fighting an insurgency for years in Ogaden.

Full story by BBC News Tuesday, 23 September 2008 14:21 UK: Aid workers kidnapped in Ethiopia.

MBEKI IN CRISIS - Jonathan Rugman's film from Ethiopia: 'Nomads blame Ethiopian military for starvation'

Excerpt from today's Channel 4 News Snowmail, authored by Britain's top investigative news reporter and presenter Jon Snow, Friday 19 September 2008:

In South Africa the bell has been tolled for Thabo Mbeki. The ANC have told him to resign as president and if he doesn’t they have said they will pass a vote of no confidence. It’s a moment that has all the hallmarks of a Shakespearean tragedy.

Mbeki, the exile, has always fought both his own conscience and his foes, many of whom are people who slogged through the battle against Apartheid inside the country.

He’s an intellectual and for a president, an honest man, but he made a catastrophic and alienating mistake over the origins of AIDS and has never recovered. Now after years of building difficulties he stands accused of conspiring to get his anticipated successor, Jacob Zuma, prosecuted for corruption and so barred from succeeding him.

More snippets from the Snowmail:

If you want to reply to Snowmail please email news@channel4.com and put Snowmail in the subject header.

If you missed Jonathan Rugman's film from Ethiopia last night, catch it here:
http://tinyurl.com/4gr4ak

Catch Tony Blair on the Daily show
http://tinyurl.com/4ev46m

McCain v Obama: ad wars
http://tinyurl.com/52v3jl

Note, Tony Blair makes a rare television appearance across the pond. He is about to start his teaching career at Yale, marking the occasion with an appearance on satirical US news programme The Daily Show (see above link) which will be shown on More 4 at 8.30 tonight.
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UPDATE: SATURDAY 20 SEPTEMBER 2008

SA's Mbeki says he will step down (BBC)

BBC report Saturday 20 September 2008 - excerpt:

South African President Thabo Mbeki will accept a call to resign by the governing African National Congress (ANC), his spokesman has said.

Mukoni Ratshitanga said Mr Mbeki would leave his post once "all constitutional requirements have been met".

It comes days after a High Court judge suggested that Mr Mbeki may have interfered in a corruption case against his rival, ANC leader Jacob Zuma.

Mr Zuma was expected to succeed Mr Mbeki in scheduled elections next year.

Photo: Mr Mbeki has denied interfering in the case against Jacob Zuma (AFP/BBC)
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MBEKI AGREES TO STEP DOWN

South Africa's President Thabo Mbeki has agreed to step down. The metaphorical pistol having been put to his temple by his own party the ANC. His position, it seems, untenable after a long-running battle in and out of the law courts with his arch-rival Jacob Zuma. - Channel 4 News Tomomail, Saturday 20 September 2008.

Ethiopian needy 'not getting aid' (BBC)

Food aid is not getting to the people in Ethiopia's troubled Somali region quick enough, a top US official says.

Full story: BBC September 19, 2008 Ethiopian needy 'not getting aid'.

UN says Ethiopian food shortage now alarming

The UN humanitarian office said Monday that food shortages in Ethiopia have reached alarming levels following widespread drought in the country. - September 9, 2008 (Topix.net)
- - -

UN humanitarian chief visits Ethiopia



Photo: John Holmes, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator (UN News Centre)

Source: September 3, 2008 UN News Centre report entitled Ethiopia’s food crisis tops agenda on final day of UN humanitarian chief’s visit
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Food security in drought-stricken Ethiopia at alarming levels, warns UN

The food security situation in Ethiopia has deteriorated to alarming levels in the wake of drought conditions throughout much of the Horn of Africa country, and relief agencies are grappling with shortages of supplies, the United Nations warned today.

Some 4.6 million people in Ethiopia are need of food aid due to a combination of drought and high food prices, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

UN humanitarian chief John Holmes, who just returned from a visit to Ethiopia, told reporters last week that it was clear that “the crisis remains very severe, and the numbers of people affected are continuing to rise.”

Source: September 8, 2008 UN News Centre report entitled Ethiopia’s food crisis tops agenda on final day of UN humanitarian chief’s visit

Missing Somalia journalists named: Abdifatah Mohammed Elmi, Nigel Brenan, Amanda Lindhout (and driver Mahad)

Missing since Saturday August 23, 2008:

Somalia journalists Abdifatah Mohammed Elmi, Nigel Brenan (pictured here below), Amanda Lindhout and their driver Mahad.

Are they being held by a militia near Mogadishu?

See August 24, 2008 BBC report 'Missing Somalia journalists named' - edited excerpt:



Photo: Australian photographer Nigel Brenan went missing near Mogadishu (AFP/BBC)

An Australian journalist and his Canadian colleague are missing, feared kidnapped, in Somalia.

Somalia's National Union of Journalists said they had been abducted along with a Somali reporter [Abdifatah Elmi] and their driver [named as Mahad].

In a statement released on its website, The National Union of Somali Journalists (NUSOJ) says it "has been investigating the case of the abduction since it emerged", and is trying to discover the whereabouts of the journalists and their driver.

The NUSOJ said it received information on Sunday morning that the two Westerners and their Somali colleagues were being held by a militia in a north-eastern district of Mogadishu.

"We demand that those holding Abdifatah Mohammed Elmi, Nigel Brenan and Amanda Lindhout free them unconditionally and immediately," he [Omar Faruk Osman NUSOJ Secretary General] said, adding "we are worried about their safety as we have had no contact with anybody saying they are holding three journalists and their driver."

Full story 'Missing Somalia journalists named'
Page last updated at 15:39 GMT, Sunday, 24 August 2008 16:39 UK
news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/-/1/hi/world/africa/7580021.stm

Donors give $847 mln to cut poverty in Ethiopia

July 4, 2008 Reuters report (via Sudan Tribune online July 6, 2008 'Donors give $847 mln to cut poverty in Ethiopia'):

(ADDIS ABABA) - Donors funding Ethiopia’s programmes to cut poverty said on Friday they would provide $847 million in 2008/09 for projects such as free education and distribution of insecticide-treated bed nets.

The World Bank and the UK Department of International Development (DFID) jointly gave the money to Ethiopia’s Protection of Basic Services (PBS) programme. Last year, they gave $573 million.

"After reviewing the results of PBS implementation since 2006, both the government and development partners are of the view that the programme has been successful and will be crucial in supporting Ethiopia’s plan towards poverty alleviation," said Paul Ackroyd, head of DFID in Ethiopia.

Keniche Ohashi, the World Bank head said the PBS was the largest single development assistance in Ethiopia and that it would help the poor country achieve universal goals to halve poverty by 2015.

Under the PBS programme, an extra three million children and 65,000 teachers were now in school since 2006, Ackroyd said.

A total of 24,000 insecticide-treated bed nets have been distributed so far in 2008 compared with 2,700 in 2006 and as a result, new malaria cases have dramatically dropped to 370,315 in 2007 from 780,019 in 2006, he said.

Donors had also raised an extra $200 million out of the $420 million that the government says it requires for humanitarian needs. Efforts were also underway to raise a further $150 million, Ackroyd added.

The fund will distributed to the U.N. World Food Programme and other agencies and will be used to purchase food, fertilizers and for other humanitarian purposes, he said.

World Bank’s Ohashi said his organisation was considering helping Ethiopia with additional resources to mitigate against the external shocks of rising oil prices.

(Reuters)

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Source: http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?article27756

Eritrea: Security Council calls for UN fact-finding team to visit Djibouti border

June 29, 2008 - The UN Security Council has called for a fact finding mission to investigate the border disputes between Eritrea and Djibouti. There has been recent fighting on the border. The Council has requested Eritrea to withdraw its forces from the border. DH

Source: AfricaFiles InfoServ - Eastern Region 29/6/08 18:04

The number of Eritrean soldiers who fled to Ethiopia tops 10,000

June 28, 2008 news report by Tesfa-alem Tekle, published at Sudan Tribune Saturday June 28, 2008:

June 27, 2008 (MEKELLE, Ethiopia) - The number of Eritrean soldiers who crossed the borders to Ethiopia and currently being sheltered in Ethiopian camps reach 10,500.Admnstration for Refugees and Returnees Affairs (ARRA) said

“Currently a total of 31,500 Eritreans are being sheltered in Ethiopian camps among whom 10,500 of them are Eritrean soldiers” statement said.

Every day a number of Eritrean soldiers flee to Ethiopian borders in protest to killings, detention and harsh treatment they face back at home.

“The flee soldiers who include higher military officials are under necessary treatment” it said.

Meanwhile three new camps which are built to accommodate increasing influx of Eritreans have gone operational.

Accordingly the new camps built at Tigray and Afar regions have sheltered 5514 Eritreans in a start move.

According to ARRA, the influx of Eritreans to Ethiopia has seen a 25% Increase to that of last year’s and the Eritreans now in camps belong to eight of the the total 9 ethnic groups the nation embraces.

Over the past few years, thousands of Eritreans have been resettled to different western nations with the help of Ethiopian government and international organizations.

Eritrea, a young nation in Africa, with only 4.5 million population is believed to have 250 thousand soldiers, a relative top military build-up in Africa.

(ST)
Related reports :
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- Opposition alliance urges Egypt to stop deporting Eritreans
- Egypt crackdown on African migrants hits Eritreans
- UN looks at disbanding Eritrea/Ethiopia force

Source: http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?article27672

Britain pledges 20 million dlrs in Ethiopia food aid

June 9, 2008 (AFP) LONDON - Britain pledged at least 10 million pounds (12.6 million euros, 19.7 million dollars) for Ethiopia on Monday after the east African nation said 4.5 million people were in need of emergency food aid.

A team of officials were due in Ethiopia Tuesday to assess the situation in the drought-stricken country, a spokeswoman for the Department for International Development (DFID) told AFP.

The money will "be going to partners, for example UNICEF (the United Nations Children's Fund) or the World Food Programme, or various other NGOs who can support supplementary and therapeutic feeding programmes," she said.

"It's still to be decided how it's (the money) to be allocated, but at the moment, those are the most urgent needs ... We're taking advice on where our assistance is best placed," she added.

An Ethiopian government body said last week that the number of Ethiopians in need of emergency food aid had risen to 4.5 million after one of the country's worst droughts in years.

Monday's pledge of aid was in addition to the five million pounds Britain promised for Ethiopia last month.

Source: Agence France-Presse (AFP) 09 Jun 2008 via
http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900SID/KKAA-7FG2XL?OpenDocument&RSS20=02-P

Somali BBC contributor shot dead

June 7, 2008 BBC News (Saturday 22:26 UK) report:

Gunmen in the southern Somali city of Kismayo have killed a local journalist.

Nasteh Dahir, who worked for both the BBC and Associated Press news agency, was shot in the chest and stomach outside his home.

The National Union of Somali Journalists said it was a "targeted assassination" and that the 26-year-old had received death threats.

Somalia, mired in chaos and violence since 1991, is among the world's most dangerous countries for journalists.

At least nine other journalists have been killed in Somalia since February 2007, according to the human-rights group Amnesty International.

Islamist insurgents are suspected in the attack on Mr Dahir, correspondents say.

At least 13 people, mainly civilians, die in an attack by insurgents on the African Union base in the Somali capital

May 27, 2008 BBC News World Africa report 'Deadly Somali raid on peace force':

Only Uganda and Burundi have sent peacekeepers to Somalia

At least 13 people, mainly civilians, have died in an attack by Islamist insurgents on an African Union (AU) base in the Somali capital, Mogadishu.

AU mission spokesman Baridgye Bahuko said two insurgents were among those killed during the fierce battle.

The UN and aid agencies say some 6,000 civilians have died during clashes in Mogadishu in the past year.

So far only 2,400 AU peacekeepers have been sent to Somalia, of a planned 8,000-strong force.

Ethiopian troops are also in Somalia supporting the transitional government.

Since the Ethiopians helped oust the Union of Islamic Courts (UIC) in December 2006, Islamist fighters have used guerrilla warfare to target government installations, Ethiopian and AU troops in the capital.

Al-Shabab, the militant wing of the UIC, has claimed responsibility for Monday's daring attack on the AU base.

Correspondents say at least 11 civilians died during the battle most of them were hit by stray bullets and mortars that landed on their homes.

A alliance of opposition groups based in Eritrea - which includes the Islamists - has refused to have face-to-face talks with the government until there is an agreed timetable for Ethiopian troops to leave Somalia.

The country has been devastated by conflict since 1991 when the former President Mohammed Siad Barre was ousted.

Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/7421357.stm

Ethiopia in Somalia: One year on (Martin Plaut, BBC)

Copy of BBC News report Friday, 28 December 2007, 00:25 GMT

By Martin Plaut
BBC Africa analyst

The Ethiopian decision to invade Somalia in December 2006 altered the balance of power in the Horn of Africa.

The Ethiopian army is now fighting on several fronts

On 28 December 2006, they helped government forces capture Islamists from the capital, Mogadishu, which they had controlled for six months.

Ethiopian forces, which had been facing Eritrea along their 1,000km border, but were otherwise confronting few security threats, are now engaged on three fronts.

The forces in Somalia are now bogged down and cannot withdraw, as Prime Minister Meles Zenawi recently acknowledged.

In addition to the conflict in Somalia they now also confront a growing rebellion in the Somali region of Ethiopia from the Ogaden National Liberation Front.

Knox Chitiyo, head of the Africa programme at the Royal United Services Institute in London, believes the Ethiopian military position is increasingly difficult.

"The government now has daggers pointing at it from all directions," he says.

"It is facing a multi-front war with no prospect of a military victory."

The invasion has:

- Left Ethiopia bogged down in Somalia
- Forced around 600,000 Somalis to flee their homes, in what the UN has described as one of the worst humanitarian situations in Africa
- Brought the United States into the conflict, allied to Ethiopia
- Left Eritrea even more isolated from the international community and threatened with being declared a terrorist state by Washington.

The US says it opposed the Ethiopian invasion, although it certainly supplied assistance to the Ethiopian military once the invasion had happened, and used its AC-130 gunships to try to kill senior Islamists on at least one occasion in January 2007.

Many Somalis are opposed to the Ethiopian presence

The US Assistant Secretary of State Jendayi Frazer said: "We urged the Ethiopian military not to go into Somalia."

This is acknowledged by Ethiopian officials, who say the then head of US Central Command, General John Abizaid told them the invasion would be a mistake, and warned that Somalia would become "Ethiopia's Iraq."

Others analysts are not so apocalyptic. Ethiopia argued it had no alternative but to confront the Union of Islamic Courts (UIC) after it took power in Mogadishu in mid-2006, because of the Islamists' alleged links with al-Qaeda.

The declaration of a jihad against Addis Ababa by UIC leader Sheik Hassan Dahir Aweys was seen as the last straw.

Human cost

But even if the UIC was routed, it has now re-formed and has banded together with other forces in the Eritrean-based Alliance for the Liberation of Somalia.

Sally Healy of the Royal Institute of International Affairs argues that even if Ethiopia has made some security gains, the suffering of ordinary Somalis has been disproportionately high.

"The cost for the people of Mogadishu has been unacceptable," she says.

This reflects the view of the United Nations, which now considers Somalia the worst humanitarian crisis in Africa.

The conflict is taking a heavy toll on Somali civilians

Peter Smerdon of the World Food Programme says it will have to try to feed at least 1.2 million Somalis during 2008.

"More than 600,000 people were forced from their homes in Mogadishu in 2007 by fighting and the worst cereals harvest in 13 years in Middle and Lower Shabelle, traditionally the most agriculturally productive regions of the whole country," Mr Smerdon says.

He warns the numbers needing food aid could well rise if there is continued insecurity and any kind of repeat of the floods and bad harvests seen in recent years.

New initiative

So how might the Somali crisis be resolved?

Hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced this year

Ethiopia has said it would consider withdrawing its troops if an international peacekeeping force were put in place, but UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has said the situation in the country makes such a deployment "neither realistic nor viable".

The UN believes a new initiative is required, bringing together Somalia's Transitional Federal Government and the opposition.

This proposal was put forward by the UN's senior Somali official, Ahmedou Ould Abdallah, when he addressed the UN Security Council earlier this month.

"These discussions should preferably be held in a location close to Somalia or in one where most observers following the situation in the country are based," he said.

"I am preparing the agenda, identifying a possible list of participants, and the timing for this process."

Ms Healy says this is really the only way forward.

Until an exit strategy can be achieved for Ethiopia, its troops will remain in occupation of the country - providing a cause around which the Islamists can rally.

"The Somali people must create a situation that would allow the Ethiopians to leave," she says.

But 16 years after the country last had a functioning national government, there seems little prospect of President Abdullahi Yusuf asserting control of the whole country in 2008.

Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/7155868.stm

Rebel attack won’t discourage Chinese investment in Ethiopia-PM

May 16, 2007 Reuters report in full (via Sudan Tribune Thursday 17 May, 2007, entitled 'Rebel attack won’t discourage Chinese investment in Ethiopia-PM'):

May 16, 2007 (ADDIS ABABA) - A rebel attack on an oil facility in Ethiopia that killed nine Chinese workers and 64 locals has not dented Beijing’s investment in the Horn of Africa nation, the Ethiopian leader said on Wednesday.

"The Chinese have made it abundantly clear that they are not going to be scared away," Prime Minister Meles Zenawi told Reuters. "On the contrary, they are increasing their investment in our country."

Chinese personnel returned quickly to the exploration project they run in the remote south-eastern Ogaden area after the attack, he said. "We have immediately after the incident taken effective measures to ensure it does not happen again."

The pre-dawn raid in late April was one of the Ogaden National Liberation Front’s (ONLF) highest profile operations.

The attack highlighted the perils of Beijing’s growing investment push in Africa, which it regards as a crucial source of raw materials for its booming economy. In Ethiopia, the Chinese are mainly involved in the construction business.

Meles’s government wants more foreign investment and he said the attack should not have a lasting impact.

"I would understand that some foreign investors might be a bit worried about going to the place where the massacre took place," he said.

"But I do not think it will have any long-term impact. There have been no such incidents in the main economic centres of the country. And here in Addis, I would argue that it is probably one of the safest cities on earth."

WORLD TRADE CLUB

Meles confirmed Ethiopia was seeking membership of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and was "reasonably optimistic" of acceptance.

"I hope it will be a speedy process. It can take many years, but I very much hope that this will not be one of those very protracted processes. They tell me that two to three years would be a reasonably expeditious process," he said.

Economists say Ethiopia may come under pressure first to open its financial sector to foreign investors and relinquish state control of telecommunications.

Meles said: "I do not think they should be obstacles. As you know, we are a least developed country, and least developed countries benefit from what is called a special and differential treatment (in the WTO)."

Africa’s top coffee producer and sub-Saharan Africa’s second most populous nation, Ethiopia was on track for its projected economic growth rate of near 10 percent this 2006-07 year, compared with 9 percent last year, Meles said.

"We expect to maintain the momentum next year too. Our hope and expectation is that it will be a double-digit growth rate. It is still agriculture leading the growth. But industry and services are also picking up."

Inflation — a big problem for Ethiopia’s 79 million people — was "unfortunately still too high for our taste", said Meles, with an expected 10-12 percent rate this year, after 12 percent in 2005-06.

"But I hope it will be lower next year," he said.

The most vulnerable group, the urban poor, were being helped by measures including food subsidies, said Meles, who receives generally high marks from analysts and diplomats for his pro-poor policies.

(Reuters)

AU peacekeepers killed in Somalia while on patrol in the north of Mogadishu

May 16, 2007 BBC News report 'AU peacekeepers killed in Somalia' published online Wednesday, 16 May 2007:

Four African Union soldiers have been killed after a roadside bomb struck their convoy while on patrol at the north of Somalia's capital, Mogadishu.

AU spokesman Paddy Ankunda said five other soldiers were injured in the explosion targeted at the peacekeepers.

The attack is the deadliest on the peacekeepers since 1,600 Uganda soldiers deployed to the city in March.

A proposed force of 8,000 AU soldiers is due to take over security duties from the Ethiopian army.

Ethiopia's troops have been in Mogadishu since December at the invitation of Somalia's transitional government fighting Islamist insurgents and clan militiamen.

The attack comes only a day after Somalia's President Abdullahi Yusuf held talks with his Ugandan counterpart Yoweri Museveni in Kampala over the mission.

"We lost four and five were wounded. It was a roadside bomb and its intention was to hit the peacekeepers," Mr Ankunda told Reuters news agency.

He told the BBC that the wounded would be evacuated to Uganda for treatment.

The interim President's spokesman Hussein Mohamed Mohamud blamed the attack on Al-Qaeda elements still residing in Mogadishu and said they were hunting for them.

Cinema attack

Earlier, four people were killed in the Gedo region, south of the capital, Mogadishu, when an unknown man threw an explosive at a cinema hall.

Baardheere Police chief Mohammed Yare said 20 others were seriously injured during the attack which took place while they were watching an Indian film.

"We do not know who is responsible for the attack but are investigating," Mr Yare told the Associated Press news agency.

On Monday, a similar blast occurred at a different cinema hall but there were no casualties during the incident.

Health officials in Gedo are battling to treat the victims of the attack and lack resources.

"Most have serious wounds and we are trying to help though we do not have enough medicine," Dr Bashir Ali of Shifo Hospital where most of the casualties were taken said. During the six-month rule in Mogadishu and southern parts of Somalia, the Union of Islamic Courts banned cinemas, television viewing and music.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack.

Warning

On Tuesday, the US and the AU warned Ethiopia not to withdraw its troops from Somalia before peacekeepers are deployed to replace them.

AU commission chief Alpha Oumar Konare said it would be a "catastrophe" if Ethiopia pulled out too soon.

US Africa envoy Jendayi Frazer said it would probably be several months before the full peacekeeping force arrived.

Ethiopia's prime minister says he wants to withdraw all his troops, after they helped oust the Union of Islamic Courts.

Somalia has been without an effective national government for 16 years, controlled by rival militias and awash with guns.

Releases

Two foreign aid workers kidnapped last week in northern Somalia have been released.

Reports from the semi-autonomous region of Puntland say the pair - one Kenyan and one British - were being flown to Nairobi after their kidnappers handed them over to local elders.

Both men are employees of the London-based charity, Care International.

Its director in Somalia, David Gilmour, said they were relieved that the issue was resolved with nobody being harmed.

One of the kidnappers told Reuters news agency by satellite telephone that they had released the aid workers following successful negotiations with the Puntland authorities; but he did not elaborate.