EU deployed its election observers mission across Ethiopia

EU deployed its election observers mission across Ethiopia
From Sudan Tribune - Thursday 29 April 2010 by Tesfa-Alem Tekle:

April 28, 2010 (ADDIS ABABA) — The European Union on Tuesday dispatched a first group of its election monitors throughout Ethiopia, ahead of next month’s national election.

A first phase of 90 observers unit on Tuesday left the capital, Addis Ababa, to the different regions of the country.

With a budget of eight million Euros, the EU will deploy a total of 150 monitors in Ethiopia, with 60 more observers to land in the horn of Africa’s country one week before polls open on May 23 elections. The bloc’s mission said.

The deployment comes after the Ethiopian government signed a memorandum of understanding with EU this week.

"They will observe all phases of the election from the opening of polling stations to voting, closing ad counting," said the statement.

"Their findings will be part of the overall evaluation and assessment of the process by the European Union Election Observation Mission."

Earlier this month, the head of the EU monitoring team said it will remain impartial after the bloc was accused of bias by Addis Ababa in the 2005 polls The EU observers will asses the electoral campaign, voting day, compilation of results and post-election activity, including complaints and appeals procedures.

"They will also evaluate the general political electoral context, the work of the election administration, media environment and role of civil society, the human rights situation as relates to elections, and the participation of women and minorities," the EU observer mission further said.

Ethiopia’s biggest opposition coalition, The Ethiopian Federal Democratic Unity Forum (Forum) last week said that it does not consider the African Union and European Union Election Observers neutral.

"We know how the AU and EU observed previous elections in Ethiopia. This time, too, we don’t expect any impartial observation from them," Beyene Petros, chairman of Forum, told Ethiopian Reporter.

Beyene added that his party had no idea as to what exactly the election observers were doing in Ethiopia and that the observers have not made any attempts to talk to any of his party members, according to Reporter.

Around 32 million Ethiopians will go to polls to cast their votes for the May 23 national polls, country’s fourth elections since the fall down of Communist regime of Mengistu Haile Mariam in 1991. (ST)

White honey grows scarce as bees abandon Ethiopia's parched peaks

Ethiopia is Africa's biggest honey producer and the world's fourth biggest beeswax exporter.

Such is Ethiopians' love of honey that apitherapy clinics offer treatments for many ailments. The national drink is tej – honey mead.

White honey grows scarce as bees abandon Ethiopia's parched peaks
From The Observer
By Alex Duval Smith in Ethiopia
Sunday, 18 April 2010:

Drought forces bees into valleys in search of flowers, meaning they produce yellow honey

The truffle of the apiary world – rare white honey from Ethiopia's highest peaks – is in danger of disappearing, according to beekeepers in the Tigray region. "No rain for the flowers,'' said Ashenaf Abera as he stood on his rocky, parched slope in the northern Ethiopian region whose famine inspired Bob Geldof to stage Live Aid in 1985. "The bees need high-altitude flowers for the white honey. When they cannot find them, they go to other plants and produce yellow honey.''

Abera is paid £65 a month to mind 270 hives for the Asira Metira monastery, one of a dozen religious centres in an area whose 4th-century rock churches are among the wonders of the world. "We know about bees,'' said honey seller Sheikh Mohamed Ahamedin. He grips a large screwdriver with both hands to ladle a dollop of thick and lumpy white honey out of a plastic bucket. It is snow-white and tastes sweet and more waxy than yellow honey.

"The price is the highest it has ever been this year, because of scarcity,'' said Ahamedin who sells white honey for £7.75 per kilo. Last year he charged £4.50. Ethiopia is Africa's biggest honey producer and the world's fourth biggest beeswax exporter. After coffee, gold and cowhide, bee products are major contributors to the economy, especially through exports to Italy, where white honey is considered a delicacy. Bees' products are the only export item produced by Tigray's impoverished 4.6 million people, whose region is said to be one of the worst-hit in the world by climate change.

Such is Ethiopians' love of honey that apitherapy clinics offer treatments for many ailments. The national drink is tej – honey mead.

Beekeepers are increasingly scrapping traditional mud hives for square box-like hives from Europe which produce a higher yield. "The bees will not make white honey in the modern hives, but at least with them we can obtain a decent yield of yellow honey,'' he said.

The region's bee population is also in decline, with climate change and deforestation to blame. Tigray was a wealthy, lush region 150 years ago when its king, Johannes IV, brought a carpenter from Italy to fashion his imposing throne from local juniper wood. But wars with Italy, Egypt, Sudan and neighbouring Eritrea led to deforestation. '"Without the trees, the rainwater – which seems to be declining – does not run off the limestone in a useful way. That is why we end up with a landscape of rocks and little else,'' said local water expert Leul Fisseha.

Eritrean refugees have new camp in Ethiopia

Eritrean refugees have new camp in Ethiopia
From Sudan Tribune, Sunday, 18 April 2010:

April 17, 2010 (ADDIS ABABA) – Ethiopian authorities said this week they opened a new camp in the northern part of the country to meet the growing number of Eritrean refugees who arrive each month.

The new center located in Adi Harush in Tigray is the fourth to be established in the region since 2004.

The first batch of 356 people arrived on Thursday at the camp 80 per cent of this group is composed mainly of young people between 21 and 34, said a statement released by the Administration for Refugee and Returnee Affairs (ARRA).

According to the ARRA, up to 2,000 mostly young men and women are now crossing the border each month to "avoid excessive repression, gross human rights violations and forced conscription into the army."

Rights groups accuse Eritrea of turning into a "giant prison" where detentions, torture and prolonged military conscription have become rife since a 2001. But Asmara rejects these accusations saying they are immigrants for economic reasons.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) plans this year to resettle some 3100 Eritrean refugees to a number of western countries.

Nearly all Eritrean refugees in Ethiopia refuse home-return for safety reasons and the UN agency believes that resettlement to a third country is the appropriate option.

Since 2006, a total of 5,850 Eritrean refugees screened from different camps are resettled to different western countries. (ST)

Copy of 2 Forum messages

18 April 03:12, by visitor
We don’t want them in the West. Our countries are becoming hell-holes of tribal and religious fighting and endless neediness. A Sudanese man (Dinka) I met who had gone back to Sudan said to me "Europeans have built up their countries by themselves. We need to do the same." I agree. We can’t survive in the West if we have thousands and thousands of refugees turning up every year, costing us a fortune. The Eritrean people should stay in their countries and fight for freedom. They wanted independence; they got it. Now the UN says their problem is our problem? We can’t go on like this! Especially as they are bring too much Islam to Christian countries, and demanding that WE change to suit them.

18 April 05:07, by miss JOOK
You are absolutely right Visitor, am sudanese Dinka myself and i salute the southern who stayed and fought for their freedom. Eritreans wanted their freedom so they have it now. what else do they want?

Sudanese in Ethiopia voting for country’s presidency seat

Photo: Sudanese woman waits outside a polling station in Omdurman, west of Khartoum April 12, 2010. Sudan's elections commission on Monday announced a two-day extension to voting until April 15, after many voters experienced delays across Africa's largest country in the first open elections in 24 years. (Yahoo)

Sudanese in Ethiopia voting for country’s presidency seat
From Sudan Tribune, by Tesfa Alem Tekle, Tuesday 13 April 2010:

April 12, 2010 (ADDIS ABABA) - Hundreds of Sudanese residing in Ethiopia are smoothly casting their votes in the presence of election observers here in Addis Abab since yesterday.

Voting in Addis Ababa began early on Sunday with Sudanese Ambassador to Ethiopia, Moheieddin Salim Ahmed, casting the first vote.

A according to the Sudanese embassy, there were nearly one thousand eligible Sudanese in Ethiopia however most didn’t register.

Ambassador Moheieddin affirmed that the process being going on smoothly pointing out that the number of registered voter amount to more than 230. He added that the voting process is taking place in the presence of observers.

Nevertheless, Sudanese refugees in Ethiopian refugee camps, one of the largest in neighboring countries, will not participate.

"We have talked to the UNHCR and they said the refugees cannot vote. We are convinced with their explanation," the Ambassador told reporters.

The voting here is underway with observers from Ethiopia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the African Union (AU) and the Arab League.

Voting in Sudan’s first multi-party elections in 24 years is underway for a second day amid reports of confusion and delay in many regions.

The presidential, parliamentary and state polls are part of the comprehensive peace agreement that ended Sudan’s north-south civil war.

For many in Southern Sudan, these elections are a prelude to the referendum next January on self-determination.

Sudanese residing outside the country participate only in the presidential vote. They have no representatives in the national parliament.

The Electoral Commission of Sudan, voting to the presidential elections is underway in 21 countries, including in nine Arab countries, five European and four African states, in addition to the United States, Canada and Malaysia. Voters abroad are said to amount about 0.8 percent of the total Sudanese who are entitled to vote estimated at nearly 16 million.

SPLM's Kiir visits Maiwut County near Ethiopian border

SPLM's Kiir visits Maiwut County near Ethiopian border
From Sudan Tribune by James Gatdet Dak Friday 9 April 2010:

April 8, 2010 (JUBA) – Salva Kiir Mayardit, the Southern Sudan presidential candidate for the ruling Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) visited Maiwut County of Upper Nile state, on Wednesday, during his last days of campaign as the polling day is only 72 hours away.

Kiir urged the population of Gaajaak-Nuer inhabiting the County to vote for SPLM, which he said was born in their area in 1983, as he was referring to Itang where the SPLM/A was formed and historical Bilpam, which was the SPLM/A GHQrs and territory of Gaajaak-Nuer.

Bilpam, which is on the Ethiopian side of the border, is currently inhabited by the Ethiopian Gaajaak-Nuer under the administration of Gambella region in Ethiopia.

According to Biel Thich, one of the President's campaign team in Upper Nile state, over five thousand people gathered in the town to listen to the President.

Kiir promised the County citizens that his re-elected administration would construct a road connecting the state capital, Malakal to Pagak, a Payam headquarters under Maiwut County and less than one (1) kilometer away from the Ethiopian border.

The President was accompanied by the Vice President, Dr. Riek Machar Teny and members of Campaign Management Team (CMT) chaired by Dr. Samson Kwaje.

Kiir also talked about other activities related to development, especially the education of females, and opening of healthcare centers. (ST)

EU to observe Ethiopian election

EU to observe Ethiopian election
From Sudan Tribune, Saturday, 03 April 2010:

April 1, 2010 (ADDIS ABABA) — After been mulling whether to observe polls in Ethiopia, the European Union has hinted sending a team of observers to monitor Ethiopia’s election.

The decision was announced by the European Commissioner for Development Andris Piebalgs, to African and European parliamentarians meeting in Tenerife on Monday.

The Union’s decision comes after an EU exploratory mission concluded assessment of the electoral environment in the country. The European Union is expected to send an official letter to Prime Minister Meles Zenawi any time now to notify its decision.

Ethiopia last polls, in 2005, drew a record number of voters, with 90% of the electorate turning out to cast their vote however the election was deemed by the European Union election observer team which alleged irregularities and the whole election process lacking international standards for fair and free election.

The EU monitor team claims then created deep divisions between the Ethiopian government and the EU.

Over 29 million Ethiopians will go to polls to cast their vote in May, the first parliamentary elections in Ethiopia since 2005, when the post-election period was marred by controversy and bloodshed

The horn of Africa’s country has drawn up a code of conduct for international election observers so irresponsible comments or possible bias won’t lead to violence.

Recently, The Carter center announced that it will not be sending an observer mission to monitor Ethiopia’s national election.

The decision comes after the Ethiopian government postponed carter center’s request of sending an exploratory team in December to February.

Carter center argued that the arrival of its exploratory team in February will be too late to study whether to accept or reject the invitation.

Despite growing accusations of harassment by some opposition groups, Ethiopian officials have repeatedly gave their words to conduct fair, free, democratic, peaceful and credible elections. (ST)

Ethiopia admits jamming VOA radio broadcasts in Amharic

Ethiopia's Prime Minister said Ethiopia had been testing jamming equipment.

Ethiopia admits jamming VOA radio broadcasts in Amharic
From BBC News Online at 08:32 GMT, Friday, 19 March 2010:

Ethiopia has admitted it is jamming the Voice of America's (VOA) broadcasts in Amharic, accusing the radio station of engaging in "destabilising propaganda".

Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said Ethiopia had been testing jamming equipment, although there had been no formal decision to bloc the US station.

The Amharic Service has experienced interference since late February.

Mr Meles also compared the VOA's transmissions to broadcasts in Rwanda in the mid-1990s that incited genocide.

'Unfortunate' comments

"We have for some time now been trying to beef up our capacity to deal with this, including... jamming," Mr Meles said on Thursday.

In a statement, VOA director Danforth Austin said that any comparison of VOA programming to Rwandan broadcasts inciting genocide in the 1990s was "incorrect and unfortunate".

"The VOA deplores jamming as a form of media censorship wherever it may occur," he said, adding that the station's Amharic Service was required by law to provide accurate and objective information.

The VOA and other foreign media organisations say broadcasts in Amharic - the country's most widely spoken language - have been jammed around elections in the past.

The next polls in Ethiopia are in May and human rights groups say there has been a crackdown on the press.

The last elections saw opposition accusations of widespread rigging.

Thousands of opposition supporters were arrested after protests and some western countries reduced aid to Ethiopia.

Separately, Mr Meles again denied claims in a recent BBC report that he had ordered the diversion of food aid money to buy arms to fight the government in the 1980s.

"We did not need to [do it]. We were not short of ammunition or arms. That was never our problem. Our main problem was that we were operating in an environmentally very fragile area unable to feed itself," he said.

Click on labels here below to view related reports.

When feeding the hungry is political

Food aid for Africa
When feeding the hungry is political
A United Nations agency under attack
Mar 18th 2010 (NAIROBI)
From The Economist print edition

THE World Food Programme (WFP), created by the United Nations in 1962 to save lives, has since grown into the behemoth of the aid business, envied and disliked in almost equal measure by many of its smaller peers. It says it feeds 90m people a year in 73 countries. Yet some query whether it always fulfils the high ideals of its humanitarian mandate.

The WFP has had to get used to fierce criticism, particularly of its operations in Africa. The main complaint is that food aid creates a dependency culture among the poor. The WFP employs large numbers of press officers in its headquarters in Rome and elsewhere to jump to its defence. Even so, a recent scandal over its work in Somalia has pricked it. An internal UN report accuses the WFP of abjectly failing to get food to starving Somalis. The report says that systematic collusion between local WFP staffers, Islamist militants and food transporters has led to the diversion of up to half of the food it ships to Somalia, with some of it going to jihadists. The WFP has hotly denied the allegations of corruption, but it has ceased working with three transport contractors who are alleged to have been involved in arms trading.

The truth is hard to tell. Visiting Somalia is dangerous. The WFP’s operation there is run from Nairobi, capital of neighbouring Kenya. It has to contend with pirates at sea and armed groups on land. A spat with the militant Shabab group, now allied to al-Qaeda, means WFP is no longer supplying food to 1m of the 3m Somalis who need it.

The danger for the WFP is that the row over its work in Somalia will impede its massive operations in Ethiopia, Sudan, Kenya, Congo and beyond by prompting calls for extra scrutiny there too. Sudan alone accounted for $635m of WFP’s $2.2 billion spent in sub-Saharan Africa in 2008. Diplomats there have long suspected that food aid has been siphoned off by officials in south Sudan and by armed groups in Sudan’s western region, Darfur.

The whole business of food aid to Africa has come under additional scrutiny recently after a BBC report alleged that up to 95% of the cash provided to buy food for rebel-controlled areas during Ethiopia’s horrendous famine in 1984-85 was in fact used to buy weapons. The WFP says it had little involvement in that episode: it was feeding government-held areas. International charities have denied the story. Bob Geldof, a musician and anti-poverty campaigner, worries that the claim will be exploited by those who want to cut aid.

But the rebels in question, who hail from Tigray, a northern province, have run Ethiopia since 1991. And the country’s prime minister, Meles Zenawi, a rebel leader in 1984, faces charges that he is using food aid now to buy support before elections due on May 23rd. Human-rights investigators, including those of the American government, say they have documented the withholding of food and other benefits from opposition supporters. The Ethiopian government denies it, and says that the BBC allegations come from a political opponent of Mr Zenawi.

The WFP says it will welcome any investigation into its activities in Somalia. “The integrity of our organisation is paramount,” insists Josette Sheeran, a former State Department official now heading the outfit. About $2 billion of its $5 billion global budget is provided by America, most of it in sacks of surplus American food. But the WFP—and Somalia’s Shabab rebels—would prefer the American government to give cash, as the Europeans do, which can then be used to buy local food, rewarding farmers who produce surpluses. George Bush’s administration agreed but could not persuade Congress to concur.

Quite apart from the allegations over its role in Somalia, the WFP is failing to meet its target for donations this year. So school meals and other programmes will be cut. America is unlikely to be as generous with cash as it is in kind. Europe’s contribution of $1 billion may be slashed too. This year’s WFP budget of $2.6 billion for sub-Saharan Africa is $1.1 billion short. And the outlook for Africa’s own production is grim. Its food output will fall by a fifth over the next four decades, reckons the International Food Policy Research Institute in Washington. Climate change, it says, will make food even scarcer in semi-arid countries such as Sudan. The question of how to feed the starving will not go away.

Voice of America news broadcasts jammed in Ethiopia

Voice of America news broadcasts jammed in Ethiopia
From Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ)
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia, 05 March 2010 /via APO:

Voice of America (VOA) reported today that its transmissions to Ethiopia are being electronic jammed. The Ethiopian government denied responsibility.

VOA cited “international shortwave radio monitors” and complaints from listeners in Ethiopia since February 22 about static the U.S. government-funded station’s daily, hour-long shortwave broadcast from Washington in Amharic—the country’s main official language. CPJ independently collected widespread local accounts of interference exclusively on the Amharic service.

VOA’s half-hour broadcasts in the other two local languages, Afan Oromo and Tigrigna, were broadcasting normally, the sources said. David Borgida, a VOA spokesman told Bloomberg News the station had not identified the source of the interference.

“The Ethiopian government has long had a hostile relationship with VOA and that is why we view their denial of responsibility with some skepticism,” said CPJ Africa Program Coordinator Tom Rhodes. “We note that the Ethiopian government has neither offered to investigate nor fix the problem.”

In media interviews today, government spokesman Shimelis Kemal denied any government involvement. “This is absolutely a sham,” he told CPJ, adding that “the Ethiopian government does not support the policy of restricting foreign broadcasting services in the country. Such practices are prohibited in our constitution.”

Kemal was the government prosecutor who charged 21 journalists, including five Washington-based VOA journalists, with anti-state crimes over their coverage of the aftermath of disputed elections in May 2005. Under his leadership, the Ethiopian Broadcasting Authority, the governmental authority responsible for issuing print and broadcast licenses, in 2009 ordered private station Radio Sheger to drop VOA newscasts and briefly revoked the accreditations of two VOA stringers, according to CPJ research.

Kemal told CPJ the allegations were part of a “smear campaign” by “opposition Web sites in the diaspora” ahead of general elections in May.

VOA is one of a handful of foreign-based independent stations, including Deutsche Welle and Addis Dimts Radio, a station operated by the banned opposition movement Ginbot 7, that have reported ongoing or recurring interference of their broadcasts, according to CPJ research. Also in 2009, Meleskachew Amaha, a VOA stringer, was thrown into prison for three weeks on false tax charges that were later dismissed.

Geldof Slams BBC Over Ethiopia Weapons Claims

Geldof Slams BBC Over Ethiopia Weapons Claims
From Sky News.com at 5:05pm UK, Saturday March 06, 2010
Julia Reid, Sky News Online

Bob Geldof and the Band Aid trust are set to make an official complaint to the BBC over its claims that millions of pounds in donated aid for Ethiopia was spent on weapons.

The complaint will be made jointly with agencies including Christian Aid, and will denounce the "false and dangerously misleading impression" created by the BBC World Service's Africa editor, Martin Plaut.

His report claimed that 95% of the aid which went to Ethiopia's northern province of Tigray during the famine of 1985 was diverted for military use by rebel forces.

Paul Brannen, Head of Advocacy and Influence at Christian Aid, confirmed that the charity would be signing up to the complaint to BBC Trust chairman Sir Michael Lyons.

"This affair is a good example of the old adage that a lie can be halfway around the world while the truth is still getting its boots on," he said.

"In these days of rapid and international communications it is more important than ever that the BBC independently verifies every single fact that it intends to broadcast."

Oxfam says it will decide next week whether to sign up to the letter.

But campaigns and policy director Phil Bloomer said: "The British public, who in good faith donated money to help distressed, starving people, need to know that these allegations are preposterous.

"Aid distribution during this conflict held risks but it is indisputable that aid and the efforts of the humanitarian agencies saved many thousands of lives in Ethiopia.

Geldof, who raised $144m for Africa in the Live Aid concert in 1985, will also report the BBC to Ofcom.

Millions of pounds have been donated in aid to Ethiopia

"This story has gone around the world on the internet and created a totally false impression of what actually happened," he said.

"At the time of Live Aid we had journalists crawling all over everything we did trying to find something wrong - and they couldn't.

"And now, on the strength of one disgruntled soldier, the BBC has undermined the faith of ordinary people across the world in the effectiveness of giving to people in their hour of need.

"It is a disgrace."

The Independent newspaper claims a draft of the complaint to the BBC speaks of "disgracefully poor reporting" by the BBC and reliance on "dubious sources and rumour".

"There is not in fact a shred of credible evidence that this happened," it reads.

"There is overwhelming evidence that tens of thousands and even millions were saved by these efforts, which were in fact spurred by reporting by the BBC."

Mr Plaut's story was broadcast on the World Service, Radio 4 and via the BBC website.

It relies on accounts by two former senior Tigrean rebels, one of whom, Aregawi Berhe, was expelled from the guerilla movement in the summer of 1985.

Geldof said Berhe had a political axe to grind and could not have witnessed the alleged transactions.

There are fears that the BBC's report could undermine public generosity towards charity appeals for Haiti and Chile in the wake of the recent disasters.

A BBC spokesman says the corporation stands by the story and the documentary did not say that most famine relief money was used to buy weapons.

Coup attempt underway in Niger

See reports at Niger Watch, Thursday, 18 February 2010.

Desert trip in Yemen: Madventures road trip to the Empty Quarter / Rub' al Khali desert - Old City of Sana'a & Khat session

Here are two fascinating and amusing must-see video reports on Yemen.

Hat tip: Yam-Yam Yemeni blog Wednesday, 03 February 2010:
Some European chap on a trip to Yemen

Desert trip in Yemen - Madventures road trip to the Empty Quarter / Rub' al Khali desert



Posted to YouTube by dailypalnet on 03 September 2009 - info:

Madventures road trip to the Empty Quarter / Rub' al Khali desert
Category: Travel & Events
Tags: Madventures III Yemen Al-Siyah Al-Haima tribe Ramadan Eid ul-Fitr khat qat gat chaad farmer economics village party food Wadi Daw'an oasis Shibam Empty Quarter Rub' al Khali desert expedition road trip terrorist trek wasteland camp camel riding checkpoint Sharif bedouin country nomads sharia islam prayer song guns rifles Al-Qaeda Al-Qaida weapons blasters
(3,754 views and 12 comments, as at 12 February 2010)

This is a video response to
Old City of Sana'a & Khat session (Madventures III)



Posted to YouTube by OpenEyeVisuals on 27 April 2009 - info:
Clip from Yemen episode.
© Gimmeyawallet productions
Official chan: http://www.youtube.com/MadventuresEN

Get the dvd for full episodes and better quality.
http://www.superpirate.com/store/inde...
Category: Travel & Events
Tags: madventures III babel yemen sana'a old city market felix arabia atmosphere khat session qat qaat kat gat gathering party islam prayer muezzin mosque minaret arabian peninsula middle east southwest asia kamal sanaa travel culture english
(8,603 views and 21 comments, as at 12 February 2010)

Al-Qaeda in Yemen call for jihad

Said al-Shihri, the deputy chief of al-Qaeda's wing in the Yemen, has called for Muslims in the region to wage holy war against Christians and Jews.



Photo: A Yemen soldier stands atop a hill overlooking the capital Sanna (AFP/Getty Images)

Al-Qaeda in Yemen call for jihad
From The Daily Telegraph
Published: 6:59PM GMT Monday 08 February 2010

In an audio message posted on the internet Said al-Shihri, a former inmate of the US prison in Guantánamo Bay, urged followers "to attack the interests of America and the Crusaders."

He continued: "We advise you, our people in the peninsula, to prepare and carry your weapons and to defend your religion and yourselves and to join your mujahideen brothers."

The message is the first time that al-Shihri has surfaced since a December 24 air strike by Yemeni forces that targeted him and other al-Qaeda figures.

Yemeni authorities initially claimed that he had been killed, but this was later denied by al-Qaeda.

Yemen is in the throes of a major crackdown on the global militant network's regional offshoot, which grabbed the world's attention when it claimed a failed bomb attack on US-bound plane in December.

Al-Shihri congratulated Nigerian radical Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab for his "blessed" attempt to blow up the Detroit-bound airliner on Christmas.

The authenticity of the statement could not be independently confirmed but it was posted on a website commonly used for militant messages.

Saudi Arabia has long feared al-Qaeda will take advantage of the Yemen's lawless regions to build a solid base of operations there from which it can threaten the whole peninsula. The offshoot al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula was formed a year ago, when Yemen and Saudi militant groups merged.

UK gov't job vacancy: A2 Statistics Adviser based within World Bank Nairobi Country Office, Kenya

Seen on twitter:

RT with correct link #DFIDjobs New vacancy: Statistics Adviser, Kenya. Apply now: http://ow.ly/12ExI Closing date: 27 Feb
6:29 AM Feb 5th from HootSuite
dfid_uk

Based within the World Bank Nairobi Country Office, you will support the KNBS reform process, the design/implementation of the next KNBS strategic plan, and lead the sector's donor co-ordination. The closing date for applications is 27 February 2010. LAST UPDATED: 28 JAN 2010. Click here for specific vacancy information [PDF - 88 KB] and apply online.

African leaders urged to tackle al-Qaeda threat

African leaders urged to tackle al-Qaeda threat
AFP report by Helen Vesperini, Feb 02 2010 06:54 via Mail & Guardian:

(ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA) - Senegal's president urged African leaders on Monday to join forces in the fight against al-Qaeda's North African branch, saying the network's campaign was taking on "new and disturbing" forms.

Abdoulaye Wade's appeal came as African Union heads of state gathered to tackle the continent's crises and conflicts at the bloc's 14th summit.

"We must organise a round table with neighbouring countries to resolve the issue" of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), the veteran Wade said in an interview on the sidelines of the summit in the Ethiopian capital.

"This desert terrorism is taking new and very disturbing forms ... But countries like Senegal, or Mali, can do nothing on their own. It is an international problem. Western powers will have to intervene too," he said.

The Senagalese leader also raised the alarm over arms trafficking in the African Sahel region, saying "Western powers should also get involved", without elaborating.

The North African branch of Osama bin Laden's terror network has threatened to execute a French hostage kidnapped in Mali in November. The group is also holding five other European hostages in the region.

Wade also said he hoped the military junta in Senegal's neighbour Guinea "will respect their pledge not to participate in elections" this year, insisting an accord brokered by Burkina Faso "is just a beginning and we must remain vigilant".

He was speaking as African Union leaders tackled rising tensions in oil-rich, secessionist southern Sudan and other African troublespots on the penultimate day of their summit.

Libyan leader Moammar Gadaffi, who on the opening day had to relinquish the 53-state body's presidency to Malawi, warned Sudan could become "another Somalia".

Tension has been escalating in Sudan in the run-up to a 2011 referendum in which the south is widely expected to choose independence from Khartoum, only six years after signing a peace deal.

Many observers fear that a secession in oil-rich Sudan -- Africa's largest country, bordering nine others -- could further destabilise one of the continent's most volatile regions.

"If the South has a right to separate itself then there'll be danger for the South," Gadaffi told a press conference Sunday, arguing that secession could leave a weakened South vulnerable to outsiders who "covet" its oil resources.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who attended the first day of the summit, also put special emphasis on the fate of Sudan.

"The UN has a big responsibility with the AU to maintain peace in Sudan and make unity attractive ... This year will be crucially important for Sudan with the election in three months and the referendum in a year," he said on Sunday.

"In the AU we believe that till the last minute we should work with all the Sudanese stakeholders to be sure we promote peace in the country," AU Peace and Security Commissioner Ramtane Lamamra, told journalists.

He said the AU respected the will of the Sudanese people but: "Nevertheless, we are making sure that unity is attractive."

But for Bona Malwal, a member of the Sudanese delegation and ambassador to the AU, south Sudan is already on a path towards secession.

"It is already too late. We have asked this help for a long time. But now the people of the south have made up their mind. They are in favour of independence. Time is running out," he said.

"The international community can still be involved to help the two parties to handle the aftermath of the referendum in a peaceful manner," he said.

"The Khartoum government will never stop the decision of the people of the South."

The African leaders were also to discuss the conflict in Somalia, where the bloc's embattled peacekeeping force came under fresh Islamist militia attacks late on Sunday, claiming the lives of 12 civilians. - AFP

Ethiopia & Eritrea - Land disputes at the root of African wars

Land disputes at the root of African wars

A selection of the African continent's fights over land that have turned into violent, conflict, or threaten to.

From The Christian Science Monitor
By Jina Moore Correspondent, 30 January 2010

Land battles that sparked African conflicts

Western Sudan (Darfur) In the 1970s, the government eliminated the country's native administration – a quasi-government and colonial holdover of traditional elders – and rejected traditional land rights, depriving Darfur's pastoralists of access to grazing lands. When famine exacerbated disputes about land in the 1980s, violence broke out. Land grievances were never resolved, and in 2003, a rebel movement made up in part of disenfranchised former landholders revolted against the Sudanese government, which retaliated by arming bands of camel herders known as janjaweed to repress the rebellion – and promising them hefty tracts of the land, emptied in the course of the violence the militia unleashed.

The Democratic Republic of Congo Often called Africa's most deadly conflict, violence in parts of the northeast started over grazing cows in1999, when Hema herders evicted Lendu farmers after purchasing their land. Eviction grievances led both tribes to pick up weapons. As violence spread, the value of other mineral-rich lands contributed to the chaos in which 5 million people have died.

Ethiopia and Eritrea A 1998 dispute over the dusty border town of Badme turned into all-out war, with 80,000 deaths in two years. The town became the flash point of an older argument over the border between the two countries. Both sides saw Badme as a symbol of their real economic concern: power over the port of Assab, the Red Sea trade gateway. Despite international court rulings, the countries consider the border dispute unresolved – and their presidents often rally support by threatening to resume the fight.

Kenya Many indigenous tribes lost rights to traditional lands when the British privatized land holdings. When Joseph Kenyatta, the first postcolonial president, sought land redistribution, he gave the most fertile to his Kikuyu tribe. In a later backlash, many Kikuyu were pushed off their pastures. This created ethnic land grievances that have inspired violence during Kenya's elections since the 1990s, most recently after President Mwai Kabaki, a Kikuyu, was accused of stuffing ballot boxes in 2007.

Rwanda The 1994 genocide may have been catalyzed as much by land scarcity as by ethnic tension. Africa's most densely populated country found itself nearly without enough land to make farmers trust that they and their children could support themselves. Though the slaughter of minority Tutsis was also ethnically motivated, land fears played no small part in the violence.

Zimbabwe Land grievances helped fuel the 12-year war that led to independence in 1979. But recent violence stems from land reform efforts. In the name of economic fairness, President Robert Mugabe seized white farms and turned them over to blacks, primarily government officials who knew little about farming. As a result, agricultural production plummeted, food became scarce, and inflation spiked. Mugabe held power in a 2008 election only with violent intimidation of Zimbabweans.

Combustible land disputes that could erupt in conflict

Burundi The past decade brought the return of more than a half-million refugees who'd fled violence that began with independence in 1963. Many found their homes occupied – and because laws give ownership to anyone who has peacefully occupied land for at least 30 years, many refugees lost their homes and livelihoods. Experts fear the grievance could spark renewed conflict.

South Africa At the 1994 transition to democracy, the government planned to redistribute 30 percent of white-owned farms to blacks within 20 years. Transfers are behind schedule, and more than half have failed. After an outbreak of racial violence last year, observers fear the status quo – with expectations so high, progress so slow, and livelihoods at stake – is combustible.

Southern Sudan The 2005 peace agreement that ended a 20-year fight for the south didn't resolve tensions between the nation's two land systems. Private property reform implemented in the north was rejected in the south, which continues to use traditional rules. Danger of a potential clash between parallel systems is amplified by what's at stake: The south is oil-rich.

Uganda After 20 years of violence in the north, peace is bringing people home – and disputes are erupting over who owns property. Eighty percent of Ugandans have property claims based on the traditional land system, but a generation of conflict has weakened the traditional authority, of elders to resolve disputes or enforce land rules. As the government steps in to fill the power vacuum, experts fear a backlash.

Zambia White farmers forced off land in neighboring countries, found fertile soils here, and were initially welcomed by the government (five years ago). The tone changed as some immigrant farmers agitated locals by putting down roots on traditional lands. New arrivals, especially those fleeing Zimbabwe, are closely scrutinized. Observers fear deepening tensions.

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Al Qaeda is benefiting from civil unrest and economic woes in Yemen, says Fawaz Gerges

Editor's note: The following article by Fawaz A. Gerges (pictured here below), reprinted at the website of The London School of Economics (page last updated on 08 January 2010), first appeared as a Special on CNN.com January 07, 2010 -- Updated 1548 GMT (2348 HKT).

Fawaz Gerges, who has done extensive field research in Yemen, is a professor of Middle Eastern politics and international relations at the London School of Economics and Political Science, London University. Among his books is "The Far Enemy: Why Jihad Went Global." Click here for his website.

Click here for Google map of Yemen.

Al Qaeda has bounced back in Yemen

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Al Qaeda is benefiting from civil unrest and economic woes in Yemen, says Fawaz Gerges
  
• He says sending more aid, focusing on counterterrorism won't be a successful policy
  
• He says Arab nations should take the lead, with U.S., Britain helping in the background
  
• Gerges: It's crucial to tackle Yemen's social and political crisis
  

January 07, 2010 (CNN) - In his weekly address, President Obama said that the Christmas Day airline bomber acted under orders from an al Qaeda branch in Yemen, which 'trained him, equipped him with those explosives and directed him to attack that plane headed for America.'

Vowing to hold accountable all those involved in the attempted act of terrorism on Christmas, Obama sent a letter to his Yemeni counterpart, Ali Abdullah Saleh, delivered by Gen. David Petraeus, head of the U.S. Central Command, in which he pledged to double the $70 million in counterterrorism aid to the poverty-stricken country in 2009, a figure that does not include covert programs run by U.S. special forces and the CIA.

With the increase in security assistance, Yemen now tops Pakistan, which receives about $112 million, a clear indication of the growing threat of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (known as AQAP Yemen-based) in U.S. eyes.

American strategy is driven by assumptions that do not fully recognize the complexity and gravity of the situation in Yemen. The first premise is that with increased U.S. security assistance, the Yemen government will take the fight to al Qaeda and uproot it. Secondly, U.S. officials assume that confronting al Qaeda requires mainly counterterrorism measures.

What is alarming about the resurgence of this al Qaeda branch is its linkage to Yemen's deepening social and political crises and failing state institutions. In the last three years, against all odds, the al Qaeda branch has revived the central organization's declining fortune in the Arabian Peninsula and emerged as a potentially potent force.

AQAP numbers between 100 and 300 core operatives -- as many as those in Pakistan, though they are younger and lack the operational skills and sophistication of their Pakistani cohorts. Most are rookies with little combat experience, unlike the previous Afghanistan generation.

The structure and composition of the Yemen branch appears to have changed because of the merger with militant elements from Saudi Arabia last January, forming AQAP and revitalizing the jihadist network there. Some fighters had returned from war zones in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan and have supplied military training and ideological motivation and leadership.

In 2007 I interviewed several hardened Yemeni and Saudi returnees from Iraq who made it clear that they would target America and Britain if U.S. and U.K. troops do not withdraw from Muslim lands. These hard-liners were neither bluffing nor making empty threats.

There are also some signs of cross-fertilization between AQAP and Somalia's al-Shabab, an al Qaeda like-minded group fighting for control of the war-torn country facilitated by the flow of thousands of Somali refugees to Yemen.

That is not the whole story, however. The recent revival of al Qaeda in Yemen is a product of a structural socioeconomic crisis and political divisions and fault lines that have pushed the country to the brink of all-out war. Al Qaeda is a parasite feeding on lawlessness, social and political instability, and abject poverty and despair.

Today Yemen is a fragile state with failing institutions and a collapsed economy. Forty percent of the country's 23 million people are unemployed. More than a third of the population is undernourished and almost 50 percent live in absolute poverty.

Yemen, the poorest Arab country, has one of the highest fertility rates. A huge youth explosion (60 percent of the population is under the age of 20) faces a grim future -- and radicalization.

With every visit to this stunningly beautiful country, I observe a deteriorating security situation and declining social conditions. It is now common to see many women of all ages clad in black from head to toe begging on the streets of major cities, an alarming sign of social breakdown in an ultraconservative Muslim society where women do not appear in public.

The sound of Soviet-made fighter jets often shatters the peace of the early hours of the morning. The jets are on their way to bomb Houthi (Shia) rebels in the Sada'adah province and the Harf Sufian district of Amran province, a mini-civil war in the north that has raged on and off for four years and has claimed more than a thousand lives, most of whom are civilians.

A secessionist movement in the south has gained momentum, with a sizable segment of southern public opinion demanding a divorce from the forced union imposed by the north in the early 1990s. What the al Qaeda branch has tried to do is to submerge and embed itself in these raging local conflicts and to position itself as the spearhead of opposition and resistance to the Saleh regime.

For example, al Qaeda has allied itself with tribes in the separatist south in the fight against the central government, a radical move because many separatists are socialist and not religiously inclined.

Ironically, in 1994 President Saleh relied greatly on jihadists and Islamists to subdue the socialist south and unify Yemen. From his base in Sudan, Osama bin Laden, whose father was born in Yemen, exhorted his men to fight the "Godless Marxists" in the south, who they massacred.

The al Qaeda-Yemen connection goes back to the foundation of the jihadist organization. Yemen has always had powerful Islamist and jihadist movements. In the 1980s, thousands of Yemenis joined the Afghan jihad against occupying Soviet forces and most returned home emboldened and militarized. Unlike their Middle Eastern counterparts, Yemeni returnees were welcomed by the Saleh regime.

In the early 1990s when bin Laden set up al Qaeda in Sudan and then in Afghanistan, he heavily and personally recruited Yemenis whom he trusted. Bin Laden, a Saudi, has often said he has a soft spot in his heart for Yemen because of its people's religiosity and tribal code of honor and hospitality and harsh, mountainous landscape. The Saudi-Yemeni contingent was the largest within the bin Laden organization, as well as in the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay.

Many of his bodyguards, personal secretaries, drivers and cooks were Yemenis. AQAP chief Nasir al-Wuhayshi (reportedly killed by a U.S.-directed airstrike on December 24), once served as bin Laden's personal secretary. Bin Laden entrusted the protection and transportation of his wives and children to his Yemeni men, a fact that speaks volumes about his mindset.

U.S. officials appear to overestimate the capacity of the Yemen government to meet the multiple challenges and threats to its authority and integrity. Its security forces are spread thin. Four years after the outbreak of the Houthi rebellion, the state has failed to resolve it.

More importantly, the government can no longer deliver the social goods and patronage, historically solid underpinnings of the Saleh rule. The country has been badly affected by falling oil revenues (Yemen is the smallest oil producer in the Middle East), pervasive corruption, and the international financial downturn. After more than three decades in power, President Saleh's ability to co-opt adversaries and maintain friends has shrunk considerably, plunging Yemen into an uncertain future.

On its own, counterterrorism will most likely fail in expelling al Qaeda from Yemen's tribal areas and might trigger a backlash against the Saleh regime and its Western patrons.

Of all Middle Easterners, Yemenis voice strong anti-American foreign policy sentiments and take pride in sacrificing blood and treasure in defense of Arab and Muslim causes. Any U.S. policy course that neglects the local context will help al Qaeda sell its narrative to a receptive audience.

What Yemen desperately needs is a political and economic vision that tackles deteriorating security and social conditions and empowers state and society, not just the Saleh regime. This vision cannot be made in the USA.

Yemen's neighbors, particularly Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, along with the League of Arab States, should take the lead in finding solutions to Yemen's political and tribal divisions and providing the means to prevent Yemen from becoming a failed state. More than any other country, Saudi Arabia has more to lose by the breakdown of its next-door neighbor.

The United States and Great Britain should provide leadership and assistance in shepherding the reconstruction process through and ensuring that inclusive governance, transparency, and accountability are adhered to.

A good start is British Prime Minister Gordon Brown's call for a high-level international meeting this month to discuss ways of combating al Qaeda influence in Yemen. But the most effective means to combat al Qaeda is to to tackle Yemen's structural social and political crisis and to fully involve Yemen's Arab neighbors in the talks.

The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Fawaz A. Gerges.

Fawaz Gerges is a professor of Middle Eastern politics and international relations who has done extensive research in Yemen.

World Bank President Robert B. Zoellick to visit Ethiopia during Africa tour

World Bank President to Visit Ethiopia During Africa Tour
From Abesha Bunna Bet online, Thursday, January 21, 2010:

(Ethiopia News) - World Bank Group President Robert B. Zoellick on Saturday January 30, arrives in Ethiopia at the start of a four-day visit, the last leg of his eight-day, three-nation Africa visit to help focus the attention of African governments, development partners and private investors on seizing the opportunity for renewed momentum in economic growth and overcoming poverty.

Although hit by the global food, fuel and financial crises, African governments have persisted in strengthening their economic policies as they pursue development, or rebuild after conflict.

Ahead of the trip, Zoellick noted that many sub-Saharan African countries had enjoyed a decade or more of solid growth before the crisis and it was important to preserve and expand on these gains by drawing investment to high growth areas.

“I am visiting Africa to learn about how its people have coped with the global economic crisis and to see how the World Bank Group can work with them to improve prospects for economic growth and expanded opportunity. Much of Africa has a solid record of economic growth, including in some of Africa’s fragile states, and it has the potential to be another pole of growth for the world economy,” Zoellick said.

Zoellick said that a combination of policy and institutional reforms and external resources are urgently needed to help build capacity, generate economic opportunities in fragile states, and lay the foundation for stability and overcoming poverty. He also called for policies and investments that would expand Africa’s share of global and intra-African trade by fostering regional integration and building crucial infrastructure in energy, transport and irrigation needed to promote agriculture, manufacturing and industrialization on the continent and for helping countries adapt to climate change.

At a working breakfast forum on the sidelines of the AU summit, which Zoellick is hosting jointly with African Development Bank President Donald Kaberuka, several African leaders will discuss the transformative impact that information and communications technologies (ICTs) can have on the continent.

“The skeptics wondered whether Africa was ready for a revolution in telecommunications. But African entrepreneurs, with the help of supportive government policies, changed the facts on the ground,” said Zoellick.

Acknowledging that private sector participation will continue to be key to take Africa to the next level of high-speed connectivity and to create jobs, the forum is expected to urge African leaders to further lift barriers to private sector investment in the sector. It is also expected to encourage African leaders and the private sector to take advantage of ICTs to advance agriculture, education and health sectors, and to similarly realize the considerable promise of other sectors.

During his trip, Zoellick will visit energy, agriculture and fishery projects that have benefited from World Bank support. He will hold working sessions with representatives of other donor agencies; discuss ways of boosting World Bank support to governmental and civil society organizations promoting peace, transparency, accountability, and good governance.

In Ethiopia, Zoellick will meet with African Heads of State attending the African Union summit, including the Prime Minister of Ethiopia Meles Zenawi. He will hold discussions with African leaders on climate change; visit a shoe-making factory owned by an Ethiopian female entrepreneur, and staffed by under-privileged Ethiopians who craft shoes retailed globally. He will also visit the Ethiopian Commodity Exchange which has helped the country transit rapidly from rudimentary methods of marketing agricultural products to the kind of sophisticated platforms offered by globally-accessible modern electronic facilities.

The World Bank has been helping to fight poverty and improve the living standards for the people of Ethiopia since 1945. This country is one of the largest beneficiaries of the World Bank’s concessional lending program, the International Development Association (IDA). 

The World Bank’s strategy for the period FY 2008-FY 2011 aims to help sustain the ‘dual take-off’ of growth and basic services by supporting the implementation of key elements of the governments’ poverty reduction strategy framework. 

The Bank’s lending and non-lending activities aim to support Ethiopia in sustaining high levels of investments in key areas (both physical and human capital as well as institutional capacity building), while addressing priority policy issues to maximize the impact of such spending. 

Currently, the Banks’ portfolio consists of 32 active projects worth around US$ 3.6 billion of which around US$ 2.1 billion is provided as credit and the remaining US$ 1.5 billion is provided as grant. 

These projects support among others, initiatives across a number of areas including Governance and Public Sector Development, Private Sector Development, Agriculture and Rural Development, Protection of Basic Services (PBS), Health and HIV/AIDS, Transport, Education, and Water Sector Development Programs. 

After eight years of absence, the International Finance Corporation (IFC) has re-established its role in helping growth become more private sector-led. It now has staff in Addis Ababa and is more actively engaged in key sectors. Multilateral International Guarantee Agency (MIGA) is exploring new opportunities to support investment in Ethiopia.

President Zoellick will be accompanied by the Bank’s Vice President for the Africa Region, Obiageli Ezekwesili, the Director for Strategy and Operations for the Region, Colin Bruce, the IFC Vice President for Africa, Thierry Tanoh, and the Country Director for Ethiopia and Sudan, Kenichi Ohashi.

Pass this on: Missing Persons Registry - Haitian Earthquake January 2010

Copy of message today on Twitter from Ushahidi's Erik Hersman:

Pass this on. Missing persons registry for #haiti is http://www.haitianquake.com
about 4 hours ago from twhirl
ushahidi

Further reading

Patrick Meier's report at Ushahidi's blog, 13 January 2010: Our Efforts in Response to Haiti’s Earthquake - We’ve launched Haiti.Ushahidi.com

Ethan Zuckerman's blog post at My Heart's in Accra, 13 January 2010: Following the Haitian earthquake online

London based Tullow Oil to prospect oil in Ethiopia

From Sudan Tribune, Thursday 7 January 2010:
British oil firm to prospect oil in Ethiopia

January 6, 2010 (LONDON) — The London based Tullow Oil, is expected to prospect oil in Ethiopia after a deal signed with the US SouthWest Energy which holds acreage in the Horn of Africa country.

According to the HIS International Oil Letter, a weekly news letter on oil industry, Tullow will explore oil in Ogaden basin in blocks 9a, 9, and 13. SouthWest Energy’s blocks cover a total area of approximately 29,000 sq. km in the north-east part of the Ogaden Basin.

The Ethiopian government believes that the Ogaden basin, which covers 350,000 sq km (135,100 sq miles), contains gas reserves of some 4 trillion cubic feet. Officials point to neighboring countries such as Sudan and Yemen as evidence there could be major oil deposits under Ethiopia’s deserts.

The Ethiopian government downplays threats by an active rebel group in the region and stresses there would be five basins out of the troubled region.

The rebel Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) attacked an oil field in April 2007 where the separatist group killed 74 people, including nine Chinese employees of Zhongyuan Petroleum Exploration Bureau, part of Sinopec, China’s biggest refiner and petrochemicals producer.