Key Contacts for Africa Advocacy

This directory is published soon after the beginning of the 110th Congress, at a time when there
is a shift in power of the leadership in the House. The change offers an opportunity for
constituent members to interface with Congressional leaders about U.S. policy on Africa. The
Senate Majority Leader and the House Speaker must lead this Congress to challenge, as well as
partner with, the Bush Administration to address issues that are of priority to Africa

Celebrity Photo Shoot for Day for Darfur:

Embargoed until 29th April.
Thandie Newton and Matt Damon are among a group of artists who have posed for a series of pictures to draw attention to the crisis in Darfur.

The photographs were taken by celebrity photographer Jane Hodson at the Jasmine studios in London on the 26th April.

The photographs tie in with the fourth anniversary of the conflict on Sunday 29th April. They picture the actors smashing hourglasses filled with fake blood to demonstrate that time is running out for the people of Darfur.

YouTube - Somalia: Ogaden War 77/79 Somalia vs Ethiopia & Co

YouTube - Somalia: Ogaden War 77/79 Somalia vs Ethiopia & Co

"The Most Lawless War of Our Generation" - Fmr. UN Spokesperson on Somalia

In Somali, fierce clashes in Mogadishu are being described as some of the heaviest fighting in the city's history. Some 329 people have been killed over the past ten days. This comes just three weeks after another series of battles claimed at least 1,000 lives. The United Nations says more people - over 350,000 - have been displaced in Somalia in the past three months than anywhere else in the world. [includes rush transcript]

The Rise and Fall of Mogadishu’s Islamic courts

CHATHAM HOUSE: APRIL 2007
• Multilateral efforts to support Somalia have been undermined by the
strategic concerns of other international actors – notably Ethiopia and the
United States.
• Security in Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu, has severely deteriorated since
the US-backed Ethiopian intervention in the country.
• The Islamic Courts, which were ousted, had strong support in the
country but fell victim to the influences of ‘extremist elements’ within the
country and an Ethiopian power eager for the Courts’ downfall.
• The standing of the Islamic Courts was damaged by their defeat but the
subsequent disorder has served to make their time in control appear as a
‘Golden Age’.
• Support for the Courts has been fairly consistent for over a decade and
is unlikely to melt away. click the top .......for more

Classes stop as Addis Ababa University students

The student protest at Addis Ababa University is in its second day today after it was ignited yesterday by some students at Arat Kilo campus. The Students said they started chanting anti-university administration slogans when they learnt that the body of dead student was abused by the Menelik hospital autopsy department. The student passed away three days ago. His friends suspected that he was poisoned. According to sources, at least 200 students have fallen sick in the last two days as a result of food poisoning. The report is yet to be confirmed by the university's medical staff.

Talk but no action on genocide

Apr 25, 2007

Carol Goar

Every seat in the hall was filled despite the stirrings of spring outside.

"Even though it's a fine and lovely day, I will depress you deeply," warned Gerry Caplan, who was about to deliver the annual public lecture at the University of Toronto's Centre for Ethics. He was true to his word.

PRESS RELEASE from Somali human Rights Action

Mogadishu 25, April.07 ( Sh.M.Network) We are serious concern of bloody conflicts and fighting’s in Mogadishu which caused the death of thousands of innocents in Mogadishu and also thousands living under trees for they escaped from the war.

A PLEA FOR KINIJIT UNITY

Over the years, since 1991, on account of lack of unity, foresight, and a commitment to Ethiopia by the opposition,, especially in the Diaspora since October 2005, Weyane has brought about incalculable damage to Ethiopia and Ethiopians:


1. Dismembered Eritrea, putting our Afar people under separate governments and land-locking Ethiopia.
2. Instigated a senseless and costly war with Eritrea, leading to some 70,000 brothers dead, at a colossal material cost, thousands of landmines scattered along the fictitious borders with Tigray and millions of dollars allocated to get them out.
3. Destroyed our National Defense Forces and exposed Ethiopia to Eritrean invasion. Members of the national Defense Forces, including senior officers, continue to be thrown out of service today on account of ethnicity and suspicions of support for the opposition, thereby again exposing Ethiopia to possible external attack.
4. Destroyed several institutions and dismissed several thousand professionals from their jobs, thereby forcing thousands out of the country to seek refuge in all corners of the globe.
5. Institutionalized a pseudo-ethnic system of government in which some 83 of Ethiopia’s ethnic groups are reportedly organized under 7 ethnic groups in Tigray, Afar, Oromia, Benishangul-Gumuz, Gambella, Harari and Ogaden. The organization in Amhara and SNNPS is mixed since Weyane itself provides the leadership to ensure complete subservience and its designs of divide-and-rule..
6. Committed genocide in Gambella and Eastern Wellega, and crimes against humanity in broad daylight
Press the link for more

Somalia burns - but does anyone care?

By Andrew Cawthorne NAIROBI, April 24 (Reuters) -

The carnage and suffering in Somalia may be the worst in more than a decade -- but you'd hardly know it from your nightly news. For a mix of reasons, from public fatigue at another African conflict to international diplomatic divisions and frustration, a war slaughtering civilians and creating a huge refugee crisis has failed to grab world attention or stir global players. "There is a massive tragedy unfolding in Mogadishu, but from the world's silence, you would think it's Christmas," said the head of a Mogadishu political think-tank, who declined to be named because of the precarious security situation in Somalia.

Gunmen Kill at Least 69 in Attack on Oilfield in Ethiopia

By Edward Cody

Washington Post Foreign Service
Tuesday, April 24, 2007; 9:34 AM

BEIJING, April 24 -- Gunmen attacked a Chinese-run oilfield in Ethiopia early Tuesday, killing at least nine Chinese and more than 60 Ethiopian workers, according to the New China News Agency.

The official agency, in a dispatch it said was confirmed by the Chinese Embassy in Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital, reported more than 100 Ethiopian soldiers beat back the attackers in nearly an hour of shooting. The battle took place just after dawn in an oilfield at Abole, a small town the agency said lies 90 miles from Jijiga in Ethiopia's Somali State near the border with Somalia.

U.S. House of Representatives

WASHINGTON - Congressman Donald Payne (D-NJ) on April 20 introduced the "Ethiopia Democracy and Accountability Act of 2007" in the US House of Representatives, the Coalition for H.R. 5680 has learned.

The new bill* re-drafted by Congressman Payne retains much of the legislative findings and provisions of H.R. 5680 (the "Ethiopia Freedom, Democracy and Accountability Act of 2006), and 'regime accountability' is the centerpiece of the legislation.

The Coalition of HR 5680 is mindful of the high degree of commitment being made by Congressman Payne, who is also chairman of the subcommittee on Africa, Global Human Rights and International Operations.

A New Ethiopia: Calling All Youth to Join the Struggle for Freedom, Morality

April 20, 2007
A new Ethiopia is needed! We call on our youth to join us in our struggle for freedom, morality and the
fear of God in Ethiopia! We have come a long ways towards achieving our goals in Ethiopia, but the last
part of that struggle may be the hardest and things may get worse before they get better! Despite this, we
must push through to the next level and it may be our youth who bring it about! When so many of our
young people were killed during the student protests of 2005, the Prime Minister referred to those who
died as “unemployed youth” as if they were unimportant to the future of Ethiopia. We need a new
Ethiopia where youth are recognized and accepted as precious human beings and potential leaders of the
country! They are someone else’s children, our students and the fathers and mothers of everyone’s future.

PRESS THE NOTICE TO ENLARGE

EHRCO nominated for a major Human Rights Defenders Award!!!

Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders:

Ethiopian Human Rights Council. EHRCO was established in 1991 to strive for a democratic system, to promote the rule of law and to monitor human rights violations in Ethiopia. Because of its work, several members have been arrested and harassed by the government’s security forces, while others were forced to leave the country or to disengage from their human rights activities. A reduced staff courageously continue its operations.

Heavy Somali fighting amid crisis

Fierce fighting has resumed in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, following UN warnings of a humanitarian disaster.

የትግል ቃልኪዳን ጥሪ

የትግል ቃልኪዳን ጥሪ

Scores of Ethiopian troops flee Somalia to Yemen: report

Sana'a - Scores of Ethiopian army troops have arrived off the coast of Yemen onboard two boats belonging to smugglers after they fled fighting with Islamic insurgents in Somalia, a press report said on Tuesday.

Guarantee of Rights and Freedoms

ON THE 25TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE CANADIAN CHARTERS OF RIGHTS AND FREEDOM.
A GOOD READ FOR MY FELLOW COMPATRIOTS FROM ETHIOPIA.

Reports of torture in Ethiopia are widespread

07-04-16) 04:00 PDT Ghimbi, Ethiopia -- First, the police threw Tesfaye into a dark cell. Then, each day for 17 days, it was the same routine: Electric shocks on his legs and back, followed by beatings with rubber truncheons. Four or five officers would then surround and kick him. At last, a large bottle of water would be tied around his testicles. He'd pass out.

Ethiopia and Eritrea: Allergic to Persuasion

Six years after they signed a peace agreement in Algiers, Ethiopia and Eritrea
continue their confrontation. Ethiopia won’t accept the ruling of the Boundary
Commission. Eritrea won’t negotiate. Tensions rise in Somalia as Ethiopia and
Eritrea back different sides.

The Horn of Africa: a bitter anniversary

Edward Denison
Five years after international arbitration over the Eritrea-Ethiopia border, the world remains dangerously indifferent to the still-unresolved issue, says Edward Denison.

Our Quest for the Resolution to the Ethiopian Human Rights Crisis: Time for A Critical Appraisal

By Dr. Meqdes Mesfin | April 14 2007

The massive and systematic crackdown that followed the post-election protest of 2005 is in its second year. Needless to say, none of us had any idea that such destruction and carnage would follow such a powerful statement—— a people under a repressive environment, waking up to the fact that the key to the future of their country was in the ballot–coming out by the millions to vote for the first time! (more…)

Wolfowitz Fight Has Subplot

WASHINGTON, April 13 — When President Bush appointed Paul D. Wolfowitz as the president of the World Bank two years ago, the White House had to put down an insurrection among European nations that viewed the administration’s best-known neoconservative as a symbol of American unilateralism and arrogance.

Ethiopia loses her last MiG-21 pilot to exile

SEATTLE, Washington – Lt. Yonas Belay, Ethiopia’s last remaining MiG-21 pilot who had a staggering 128 reconnaissance missions into enemy territory in the 1998-2000 Ethiopia-Eritrea War, recently sought a political asylum in Canada.

Does terrorism work?

Nonviolent strategies of resistance are not simply morally superior to their violent counterparts. They are also more effective, according to the groundbreaking research of Dr. Maria Stephan and Dr. Erica Chenoweth.

Ethiopian troops to start major offensive in Somalia

Ethiopian and Somalia government soldiers are preparing to start a major military offensive against insurgents in Mogadisu, a source at the Somalia Embassy in Ethiopia said.

The source who requested anonymity because of the risks of leaking the information told Ethio-Zagol Post that the forces are at the final stage of their preparation. Mogadishu has remained relatively calm in the last week after the capital’s dominant clan, the Hawiye, had brokered a cease-fire about 10 days ago to end a calamitous fighting.

Canadian detainee may face trial in Ethiopia: CTV

CTV.ca News Staff

A former Toronto resident who disappeared in Kenya several months ago is behind bars in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa where he may face a trial, Ethiopian foreign affairs officials confirmed to CTV News on Tuesday.

Mogadishu’s Carnage, the Death of the TFG & its Fraudulent Reconciliation

Introduction

The European Union (EU) and the United States have “urged” Somalia’s weak and illegitimate Transitional Federal Government (TFG) to negotiate with ‘moderate’ elements of the Islamic Courts and other stakeholders in order to form a broad-based and inclusive transitional authority which can advance reconciliation and secure peace. Such a push by the USA and EU is a tacit recognition that the TFG is illegitimate. The EU, unlike the United States which has supported Ethiopia’s invasion of Somalia and which has endorsed the TFG, informed the latter that it was not prepared to release funds to help the country unless the latter committed itself to the creation of an inclusive government. In response to the EU’s demand several TFG ministers traveled to Brussels and reported to the EU that the regime was ready to organize the reconciliation conference in Mogadishu. Although all the details are not known it is clear from the regime’s proposal that it will invite 3000 delegates and manage the convention. The EU appears to have accepted the proposal and the ministers returned to Nairobi/Baidoa in a cheery mood. Since then, the TFG leader has declared that the invitees will be solely clan elders and representatives, and a sprinkling of others.

PRESS RELEASE FROM KINIJIT CANADA CHAPTERS