Assena well done! I love when Eritreans speak the TRUTH!

By – z’Quartet.amichewoch – Dec 26th, 2011

If … only, we mean ONLY, Ato Elias Kifle -ኤልያስ ክፍሌ – the Owner & editor-in-chief of the online cyber site EthiopianReview.com, HAD extracted & beautified his OUTCRY of “Justice for Ethiopia & Ethiopians “

out of humane gesture, compassion & Human activism that DOES NOT Justify-Rationalize other humans’ (the people of Eritrea) Oppression of a day-in day-out Injustice & humiliation, then, ONLY then, we, the outsiders to Eritreans’ & Ethiopians’ political mess, would have said, YES, brother, we are 110% behind YOUR CRY OF Justice and freedom.

::Because, we believe, Injustice anywhere is Injustice Everywhere !



But, BUT, the man, that man you see in picture, in pure day-light alongside the deadliest dictator of Eritrea, Ato Elias Kifle ኤልያስ ክፍሌ ,and his calculated, contradictive ጦብሎቅሎቅ – ዘባርቄነት that truly reflects a diluted Justice-Cry.



From Ethiopia’s Ultra-nationalists eye & also from those benefit-married Eritreans’ eye, Ato Elias Kifle’s & Co. bedding with Eritrea’s rulers is immaculate and is a reflection of exquisite skill of a political scientist student or Harare military academy grad. But, for the oppressed people of Eritrea, it is a reflection of a tramp & a drifter that replicates evil politicians’ & oppressors’ tokenism and a prostituaized conscience!

Ato Elias demands “Justice for Ethiopia & Ethiopians ” from the current rulers of Ethiopia the “weyane” while He & Co. condone, support a most cruel regime in Eritrea that is committing extraordinary injustice and crime against the people of Eritrea. What Do U say this?

As is always the case with bed-fellows, new events of Eritrea & its rulers’ Dureyenet have been haunting Elias Kifle and his team of Qinjit, and Ginbot 7. The Eritrean rulers have appeared to bogging themselves down in a messier political pool that could shorten their life if the people of Eritrea are that lucky. Susan Rice, after a decade, has surely come back to haunt them for sure.

The world’s political dynamism seems to catch up with them and playing tit-for-tat with their arrogance. If Italian ex-prime Capo Silvio Berlusconi, had to turn against buddy Gadaffi in no time, then for the sake-of-the people of Eritrea, perhaps a divine intervention is at work that may send Capo Isaias Afewerki to the hands of those who may terrorize his last minutes.

As is typical for them, the Eritrean rulers’ way of conducting business, hatching politics appears to begin & end in a space & speed that doesn’t even allow normal political prostitution to blossom with their collaborators, such as the Ethiopians Qinijit & Ginbot7.

The epitome of what they hatch always appears to end up giving birth to a lifeless political chick. And now these, Ato Elias Kifle & Co, who had thought of themselves as the Aradochu with the knack found their Aradnet being instead knocked down to the floor and axed and unaccounted for in the landscapes of Eritrea. They have ended up as victims as the Eritrean people themselves.

No one can boldly tell us that the political romance of Elias Kifle and the Eritrean regime is still well & swell.

But, as History taught the Emperor & Dergue, Ato Elias & Co surely are to unwrap it all over once more, as Saif al Islam Gadaffi, and Uday and Qusay Saddam Hussein’s sons, inevitably & eventually unwrapped it all !

We will see below some intriguing events. In this picture you see the Ethiopian “patriotic” Ato Elias strolling in Asmara, Asmara –a city- that has fallen to hoist many contradictions. It simultaneously & strangely hosts humans & evils: http://www.ethiopianreview.com/content/9754

Only just on January 01, 2009 new year day, he, Ato Elias Kifle ኤልያስ ክፍሌ and his team of የፖለቲካው አቀንቃኞች -OR- is it እርጥቦች- elucidated political analysts generously blessed the Eritrean president as their pick of their previous year’s milestone i.e. 2008, because Ato Elias & Co believed, the dictator, Quote, “…contributed the most to the betterment of Ethiopia in the past 12 months. “ http://www.ethiopianreview.com/content/8056



And now zoom almost 2 years later and on December 03, 2011, Ato Elias Kifle revealing it all – the sequential incidents “disappearances, liquidation..” of members of the Ethiopian opposition military wing based in Asmara by the heavy-handedness of Eritrea’s Colonels.

And Ato Elias has been expressing his anger & frustration with the Eritrean rulers & the colonels. After he has seen NO fruit for his plea, he tactfully approached another corner, AGAIN, and lamented on Dec 03, 2011 http://www.ethiopianreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=33765&p=181342#p181342 - Prescribing 7 diplomatic steps.

“ Eritreans are not good at diplomacy” – EliasKiflerants by elias » Sat Dec 03, 2011 11:53 am

Even though they have the truth on their side regarding the U.N. resolution that is threatening them with sanctions, Eritreans are failing to win the argument mainly due to their lack of diplomatic skill. There is a large Eritrean community in the United States that supports the GoE. Why did they fail to convince enough senators and congressmen to put the leash on Susan Rice, a paid agent for the Woyanne regime? If Woyannes succeed in bringing down the Isaias government through such sanction, it will be a major blow to the Ethiopian anti-Woyanne camp, not to mention the devastating effect it will have on the people of Eritrea. My unsolicited suggestion to the GoE:

1) Mobilize Eritreans in the U.S. to lobby the U.S. Congress. Forget the State Department. It is filled with corrupt officials.
2) Reduce the rhetoric against the U.S. Gov’t. You cannot afford to make the U.S. an enemy.
3) Invite U.S. senators and congressmen to visit Eritrea.
4) Hire powerful former senators and congressmen as lobbyist. Learn from Microsoft.
5) Allow U.S. companies to open businesses in Eritrea and give them tax shelter. “The business of the United States is business.”
6) The GoE is infiltrated with Woyanne spies. Clean up house.
7) And most important of all, do not underestimate your enemy, in this case Woyanne hyenas.

/..E.N.D./ ~ 7 “unsolicited” advisory points ~

so what happens? -Who has betrayed whom? Is TRUST now blossomed enough and arrived in hatching the mistrust, already? Is the –collateral-damage- of that short-lived political love affair over? Has that disturbed enough Ato Elias & Co that has forced them to cry foul and accusing Eritrean Colonels and pleading to the EthiopianReview.com “Hall-of-famer” President, a president that doesn’t even listen to his own intuitive when his nation is at risk?

Fact !- The fact the Eritrean rulers, as one expects and with full knowledge of GoE, pulled the red-carpet off Elias Kifle & Co, and a lot of damage is being “done” to Ethiopia’s opposition based in Eritrea according to Ato Elias Kifle articles. And his call that the Eritrean president do something has gone to deaf ears, thus far. Elias’ decision to throw the towel and accusing the Eritrean colonels last year and still (few days off 2012) awaiting an outcome from the Eritrean President!

Now, the outrage, accusation of Eritrea’s Colonels (Does it sync wih the proverb of Amharic – በሠፈሩት ቁና – ሆነና ነገሩ ! )

Elias wrote … “ December 17th, 2010 http://www.ethiopianreview.com/content/30707 …our response to his article …የነቶሎ ቶሎ ቤት ግርግዳው ሠንበሌጥ – አሉ አበው የሳቸው ተረት ነገር እንደው‘ኮ !

…ኣባወራው Ato ኤልያስ - አቅሞትን እንዲገመግሙ ምናለ ሒሡን ብናሽግዎ ! as we care – እርሥዎ የኛ Homeboy እንዳው ነውኮ’ዎ !

If you, Ato Elias Kifle & Co. are endowed with the slightest, rarest commodity of common-sense then let alone you, even Eritreans who struggled with the Eritrean rulers for more than 4 decades have failed in excelling to hack off the Eritrean strongman’s exceptional deceptive next moves and intricate mind. He has comfortably fooled, outsmarted countless extraordinary Eritrean minds. The man in his own evil world is a genius. So know your shoes’ size our Ethiopian brother/s.

As shown from Elias’ January 3rd, 2011 http://www.ethiopianreview.com/content/30854 . He is in a lot of pain and he is being advised by the supporters of GoE “oh the GOE is slow so be patient” “Our GOE handles things meticulously and slowly as it has no correction-plan once is done. so walk with us in a snail’s pace. Our Isaias AfewerQi, we can assure you, slowly but surely is gonna bite the Colonels, the Generals. His moves of liquidation, incarceration among other things are slow, but measured, decisive, merciless and inevitable.”



And it has been a year since Ato Elias pleaded to the Eritrean strongman. And NOW Elias came out earlier this month albeit a subdued tone telling Eritreans that they lack diplomacy! Only, after he has witnessed the UN re-imposed a renewed sanction.

So the EthiopianReview.com editor-in-chief implicitly is saying –I have been told so! The crimes the Eritrean people are enduring is undeniably deeper than what my countrymen the –Dergue system and its executors the likes of ShaleQa Dawit WoldeGiorgis did!

Admitting and telling those who toy Eritrea around that they, the Eritreans, LACK-DIPLOMACY, humility, political finesse is bitter truth! (Eritrea’s Amb. To UN Araya Desta one example of a failure of Eritrea’s ruler as the man have shown his inability in articulately communicating. PFDJ should have considered his Diaspora Die-hards for that post. But again, PFDJ’s core problem? Trust, among other things! It trusts no one except its old-guards. The old-guards won’t let it down as they, themselves, are part of the blood-crime-drenched hands of countless Eritreans. So, in protecting it (PFDJ), they protect themselves.

There is NO illusion that the Eritrean rulers are now letting even their hardcore supporters down. Forget Eritrea as a whole and their longtime supporters and believers who they thought were “sincere idealists”. Even their hardcore benefit-bound supporters are now running out of steam. You Gotta give them credit. They have been the pace-setters thus far! I wonder what 2012 has in its bags for Eritrea and them? የትም ፍጭው ዱቄቱን አምጭው አሉት አበው …! ታዲያ ምን ተሻለ!? …. ገና ምኑ ታዬና !

Ato Elias, is not stating it explicitly but implicitly admitting, after all, it is “Weyane”:
■That in just 20 long years of governing Ethiopia that has undeniably elevated its political know-how well.

The Eritrean president, as the world has come to know as the worst dictator on earth, that Ato Elias Kifle & Co. lavishly, generously praised, hailed as the “President of Year 2008” considering (dunno what these fellas consideration of his achievement) all the Qualities that a Statesman and a leader would be expected to possess and lead with example and humility, and for that, Matter-Of-Fact, even being the VERY first TRANSITIONAL President (the stakes even Higher) after Eritrea paid so dearly to victoriously, beautifully concluded the war with Ethiopia in May 24, 1991 and the world had expected for the Transitional government:
■(a) In ensuring to establish: ■A Constitution that Citizens are introduced to and understands and abide by
■rule-of-law that Citizens are introduced to and Understands and abide by its civilians Justice systems.
■Law & Order that Citizens are introduced to and understands and respect & honor its Security & armed forces
■Moral-compass that Citizens strengthen, display in reflecting the beautiful Eritrean cultural norms


so the few corrupt in & out (the diaspora) don’t mesh it up with their already decayed amoral gravy and Junk it up.

Who needs the ugliness, sexualized world of BET, MTV and the likes when A people, culture is endowed frugally with profound beauty such as the Eritrean accompanied by a timeless and artistic depth of the man and the one and only one that Eritrea can never breed a man like him once more. This was a man that filled Eritreans’ soul with his EXCEPTIONAL voice of hope, and patriotic & love songs. His voices were echoing the inevitable victory as though it was almost touchable: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Xg88bI3vN0&feature=related

His return and roaming Asmara summed it all up: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2KiId_dfMvU&feature=related
■(b) In ensuring to establish: ■ Higher Institutions: colleges, Universities that Prepare the inheritors so they understand, respect, abide by, and communicate International law, Diplomacy, leadership and what not. But, alas. It ain’t happen until Eritrea’s Capo intersects Colonel Gaddaffi’s fate. Eritreans need to just taste bitter reality and start drilling for the Golden bullet.


Elias Kifle has condemned our Eritrean ordinary people to injustice of PFDJ, to death squad of PFDJ, while he is crying for his “subjugated” Ethiopia.

Call Ato Elias & Co whatever you like, but if they are NOT a mouth of –SELECTIVE JUSTICE Lovers…not sure what then!

.. to be Cont’d …

Observations from 'the Motherland': A day at the ER in Ethiopia

Hello blogosphere,

Last week I shared my early general observations of life in Ethiopia and promised to elaborate on a disturbing experience I had in the ER in my next entry. In this second installment, I will walk you through the ER at Black Lion Hospital and share the heartbreaking story of a young girl from Gelemso. Please be warned that some of the details of her story are very graphic.

My first shift in the ER began with a tour of the facilities. As I approached the main door, I quickly noticed the overcrowded waiting area and instantly felt weighed down with expectations as about thirty pairs of eyes watched me walk into the department. “Here is our triage area,” the chief ER resident said pointing toward a wooden desk with a sign above it that read, “Vital signs are as important as the patient’s life.” As we moved further into the ER and farther away from the fresh air outside, I was overcome by the smell which was a mixture of bodily excretions, blood, sweat and stagnant air.

There are fourteen beds on the medical side of the ER, ten beds on the trauma side, and anywhere from seven to ten beds in a hallway which serves as a makeshift holding area for admitted patients awaiting beds on the wards. At the end of a dimly lit back hallway there is a small room with four beds where the most critical patients in the department are monitored. “Umm, okay…that’s pretty much it,” he said gesturing back toward the front. “Let’s get to work.”

Before even seeing one patient, I felt complete and utter hopelessness. There were so many truly ill people, so few doctors and forget about the resources. I couldn’t help but think of the ERs I am used to in the U.S. Trauma bays that convert to ORs, supplies stocked to the brim, MR and CT scanners in the department, O negative blood within reach for emergency transfusions. “This is going to be a heartbreaking, gut-wrenching experience” I thought. I already knew I would watch helplessly as patients die from injuries or ailments that are not fatal in better equipped parts of the world.

I put my bag down at the nurses station and pretended to bend down to tie my shoe. “God, help me be strong. Use me to help who I can.” I prayed the quickest prayer and stood up to face the day.

As we walked through the holding area hallway, I locked eyes with a young girl on a stretcher. She was extremely thin, sitting up with her legs bent at the knees and had an IV of normal saline going into her right forearm. There were two men with her and from the look of their garb I could tell they came from the countryside. At first glance it just looked like a typical case of malnourishment. Young child, poor family from the countryside, emaciated features, thinning hair, open and shut case. In a million years I could never have been prepared for what happened next.

One of the men called us over to her bed complaining, as many patients do, that a doctor hasn’t been by in a while to see her. She was admitted a few days back and apparently awaiting an orthopedic procedure. I was confused. Why would she possibly need an orthopedic procedure for treatment of malnourishment? The man was speaking in a frenzy then quickly got up and lifted the blanket that was covering the girl’s legs. What we saw was nothing short of horrific. The skin and soft tissue around the girl’s ankles had completely necrosed (died due to lack of circulation) the whole way down to her bones which were visible with a naked eye. Her feet were completely dead, black and hanging by the ligaments which connect the leg bones with those of the ankle joint. Before I could stop myself, I let out a gasp and covered my mouth.

The history from both the girl and her caretakers repeatedly declared no foul play had taken place. However, as medical professionals, we are trained to look beyond the apparent, acting a lot like detectives to solve a puzzle that only contains half the pieces. Just as the girl fit the prototype for risk of malnutrition, sadly she also fits another one for victim of abuse. The pattern of her injury raised concern in all of us that this is unfortunately exactly what happened to her. Being that her wounds were symmetric, at the same level on the legs and of equal age the most likely cause was that she was bound by her ankles so tightly and for so long that the circulation of blood to her feet was stopped. Corporal punishment, especially in rural parts of the country is some of the harshest anywhere in the world.

I felt particularly saddened by this case for many obvious reasons but most strongly because this did not have to happen. This was not an unavoidable accident or illness. It was, most likely, an unnatural, provoked event. I remember thinking that if the caretakers had just a little bit of understanding of the morbid consequences, maybe, they would have tied the rope less tightly or removed it sooner. I know, that’s not a sound solution by any strech but you have to understand just how desperate I was at that moment.

I will never forget the look in her eyes as we locked gaze with one another from across the room. This young, beautiful, little girl will now live her life as a double amputee. She was scheduled for bilateral below the knee amputation which is still pending because before going into surgery, patients must secure their own supplies including blood that will surely be needed for transfusion in such a procedure.

Thank you for reading this post through to the end. I understand it may leave many of you feeling very disheartened and uneasy. Please keep this young girl and all victims of abuse in your thoughts and prayers.

In my next blog, I will share with you a very interesting conversation I had with a surgical resident at Black Lion Hospital about the state of the healthcare in Ethiopia. With his permission I will include some of the findings from a thirty page report he wrote for the Ministry of Health about restructuring the system to a more European style of healthcare delivery....with a few curve balls of course.

Until then, take good care of your Self.

Observations from 'the Motherland': A day at the ER in Ethiopia

Hello blogosphere,

Last week I shared my early general observations of life in Ethiopia and promised to elaborate on a disturbing experience I had in the ER in my next entry. In this second installment, I will walk you through the ER at Black Lion Hospital and share the heartbreaking story of a young girl from Gelemso. Please be warned that some of the details of her story are very graphic.

My first shift in the ER began with a tour of the facilities. As I approached the main door, I quickly noticed the overcrowded waiting area and instantly felt weighed down with expectations as about thirty pairs of eyes watched me walk into the department. “Here is our triage area,” the chief ER resident said pointing toward a wooden desk with a sign above it that read, “Vital signs are as important as the patient’s life.” As we moved further into the ER and farther away from the fresh air outside, I was overcome by the smell which was a mixture of bodily excretions, blood, sweat and stagnant air.
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There are fourteen beds on the medical side of the ER, ten beds on the trauma side, and anywhere from seven to ten beds in a hallway which serves as a makeshift holding area for admitted patients awaiting beds on the wards. At the end of a dimly lit back hallway there is a small room with four beds where the most critical patients in the department are monitored. “Umm, okay…that’s pretty much it,” he said gesturing back toward the front. “Let’s get to work.”

Before even seeing one patient, I felt complete and utter hopelessness. There were so many truly ill people, so few doctors and forget about the resources. I couldn’t help but think of the ERs I am used to in the U.S. Trauma bays that convert to ORs, supplies stocked to the brim, MR and CT scanners in the department, O negative blood within reach for emergency transfusions. “This is going to be a heartbreaking, gut-wrenching experience” I thought. I already knew I would watch helplessly as patients die from injuries or ailments that are not fatal in better equipped parts of the world.

I put my bag down at the nurses station and pretended to bend down to tie my shoe. “God, help me be strong. Use me to help who I can.” I prayed the quickest prayer and stood up to face the day.

As we walked through the holding area hallway, I locked eyes with a young girl on a stretcher. She was extremely thin, sitting up with her legs bent at the knees and had an IV of normal saline going into her right forearm. There were two men with her and from the look of their garb I could tell they came from the countryside. At first glance it just looked like a typical case of malnourishment. Young child, poor family from the countryside, emaciated features, thinning hair, open and shut case. In a million years I could never have been prepared for what happened next.

One of the men called us over to her bed complaining, as many patients do, that a doctor hasn’t been by in a while to see her. She was admitted a few days back and apparently awaiting an orthopedic procedure. I was confused. Why would she possibly need an orthopedic procedure for treatment of malnourishment? The man was speaking in a frenzy then quickly got up and lifted the blanket that was covering the girl’s legs. What we saw was nothing short of horrific. The skin and soft tissue around the girl’s ankles had completely necrosed (died due to lack of circulation) the whole way down to her bones which were visible with a naked eye. Her feet were completely dead, black and hanging by the ligaments which connect the leg bones with those of the ankle joint. Before I could stop myself, I let out a gasp and covered my mouth.

The history from both the girl and her caretakers repeatedly declared no foul play had taken place. However, as medical professionals, we are trained to look beyond the apparent, acting a lot like detectives to solve a puzzle that only contains half the pieces. Just as the girl fit the prototype for risk of malnutrition, sadly she also fits another one for victim of abuse. The pattern of her injury raised concern in all of us that this is unfortunately exactly what happened to her. Being that her wounds were symmetric, at the same level on the legs and of equal age the most likely cause was that she was bound by her ankles so tightly and for so long that the circulation of blood to her feet was stopped. Corporal punishment, especially in rural parts of the country is some of the harshest anywhere in the world.

I felt particularly saddened by this case for many obvious reasons but most strongly because this did not have to happen. This was not an unavoidable accident or illness. It was, most likely, an unnatural, provoked event. I remember thinking that if the caretakers had just a little bit of understanding of the morbid consequences, maybe, they would have tied the rope less tightly or removed it sooner. I know, that’s not a sound solution by any strech but you have to understand just how desperate I was at that moment.

I will never forget the look in her eyes as we locked gaze with one another from across the room. This young, beautiful, little girl will now live her life as a double amputee. She was scheduled for bilateral below the knee amputation which is still pending because before going into surgery, patients must secure their own supplies including blood that will surely be needed for transfusion in such a procedure.

Thank you for reading this post through to the end. I understand it may leave many of you feeling very disheartened and uneasy. Please keep this young girl and all victims of abuse in your thoughts and prayers.

In my next blog, I will share with you a very interesting conversation I had with a surgical resident at Black Lion Hospital about the state of the healthcare in Ethiopia. With his permission I will include some of the findings from a thirty page report he wrote for the Ministry of Health about restructuring the system to a more European style of healthcare delivery....with a few curve balls of course.

Until then, take good care of your Self.

Eritrean Despot Has the Nerve to Criticize USA! No Question Eritrean Leadership Deserve Sanction!! But instead of correcting their mistakes and join the world community tried to win Sympathy because they are so poor!! Issias is the most arrogant leader ever exist in the history of horn of Africa

Not many Americans are aware or have any idea that a very grave injustice is being committed in their name; as the USA has been working frantically and pulling strings aggressively to impose additional sanction on an African country, Eritrea, at the United Nation. This is being done without having to prove the allegations or provide any evidence.

The current injustice that is being committed on Eritrean people can not be viewed in isolation without looking at the role of the main players in the region, particularly the US and the Ethiopian regime - Why is Eritrea being punished? How is the US conducting itself in imposing additional sanction on Eritrea? Is Eritrea destabilizing force in the region as the US and Ethiopia allege? Who are the responsible parties for the untold suffering of the people of the region? How is the US viewed by the people of the region in relation to its role and possible consequences for future American generations?
For the Eritrean people and the people of the Horn Africa region at large, this act and the consequences of the policies of the US on the ground, are viewed as Americas declaration of war on their very existence. What is puzzling is that the fact these policies, are not only resulting in the suffering of the people of the region but also compromising the interest of the US itself. This raises very serious questions not only about the policies and the competence the US officials, but also the US political system.

The Horn of Africa region - one of the most troubled regions in the world- has exposed Americas double standards and contradictions in its values and policies to the maximum

The US, finds itself, engaged in imposing additional sanction on Eritrea; poor yet a very promising country that has been making rapid progress in education, basic health, life expectancy and economic growth according to international agencies and institutions. Why would then the US want to exterminate such progress?

While a revised draft resolution on Eritrea has been circulated in the name of Gabon, which is said to have been watered down from an earlier draft that banned companies from investing in mineral resources and prohibited the payment of a remittances tax; the US has still managed to add references to both targets, which it will be able to exploit at later times.

Furthermore, the content of the draft still remains very strong and has widened its scope. What started out as Eritreas alleged support for Islamist rebels in Somalia and Eritrea-Djibouti border dispute - has now extended its focus to Eritreas alleged role in destabilizing the Horn of Africa region.

This has demonstrated the central objective of US-Ethiopia sponsored sanction on Eritrea is not about concern for terrorism or the stability of the region; but to defend and allow the Ethiopian regime, the closest US allay, to have the upper hand in the ongoing problem between Eritrea and Ethiopia.

The US has not only brought its morality as low as it can ever get, by these acts, but also in the very dangerous way it has sought to accomplish its current mission to impose additional sanctions on Eritrea violating the right of the country, using its influence, and breaching, exploiting and sidestepping regulations and procedures of the UN - thereby, reducing the United Nations to a tool for prosecuting nations without due process and fabrications in the name of the UN.

The different stages involved in the process of imposing the additional sanction has been riddled with lies, manipulation, bullying and denying Eritrea the chance to defend itself. The first stage was preparing the ground work the UN sanction monitoring group that is supposedly independent produced a report making allegations that include Eritrean plot to bomb the African Union Summit in Ethiopia and Eritreas alleged support for Islamist rebels in Somalia.

The main source for most of the allegations -in particular the alleged plot to attack the AU- solely came from Eritreas arch-enemy, Ethiopia. Hence the quality of the report is closer to fiction. Not only has the US brought itself to the level of the Ethiopian regime, but it has also brought the UN down to the same level.

After all the Ethiopian regime, according to the leaked cables from the American embassy in Ethiopia confirmed the Ethiopian regime planted three bombs in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa: An embassy source, as well as clandestine reporting, suggest that the bombing may have in fact been the work of the GoE security forces. The regime went on to blame Eritrea and Oromo Liberation Front, just as the monitoring group does about the plot of the AU.

This is the same group that produced several false allegations including the presence of 2000 fully equipped combat troops from Eritrea" in Somalia to justify the US backed invasion of Somalia by the Ethiopian regime. According to the wikileaks cables this information was also supplied by Ethiopia, yet, the group had not had to explain itself. On contrary, it has been allowed to make much wilder allegations with no evidence to support. Is this the justice the UN offers to the victims?

The next stages were getting a draft circulated in the name of African countries as the US did not want to be seeing committing injustice against a small African country and the final process for the voting to take place. However, in crucial periods in the process the US ambassador to the UN, Susan Rice, has been playing a very aggressive game and leading from the front in getting the final draft and rushing the process without having Eritrea to defend itself and refusing to give enough time to experts.

One would hope Susan Rice would not take victimizing a small African country as heroic act or getting her own way as a big victory. This is no victory; it has only brought shame to the US in the eyes of the victims and people at large who are watching the historic injustice.

In the era of the information age, people of the region and the world at large are aware of who is doing what and the responsible bodies for the crisis, the region finds itself. Thus there is no need for any pretention or for the US to hide behind international organizations and name of African countries at its service.

Indeed, the US, as the most powerful country on earth as it has could impose sanctions on Eritrea; specially given Eritrea has no strong economic connections with the permanent members of Security Council that have the veto power. However, do the US current policies on the Horn region, benefit its national interest? Is Eritrea really the destabilizing force in the region?

The main focus of the US on the Horn of Africa region is said to be combating terrorism. The US has invested considerable amount of resources for this purpose. Somalia - a country that has not had a central government for two decades- has been the area where the greatest concerns are as far as terrorism is concerned.

However, a glimpse look into the development of the last six years shows that the US policies together with its closest allay Ethiopia, have been the main source of contributing factor for take over of the large part of the country by Somalia Islamist youth, Al-shabab. Therefore, Al-shabab is more or less a product of US policy.

The rise of Al-shabab came about as the US rashly determined to get rid of the Islamic Courts Union (ICU) fairly moderate coalition of Sharia courts that emerged and managed to bring a relative peace and sense of hope in the country in 2006. To make matter worst, it was Ethiopia, a traditional enemy of Somalia that invaded the country.

The elder leaders of the Islamic Courts Union escaped the invasion and made their way to different countries, while the youth fought the Ethiopian occupation until it withdrew its troops. The leaders, who escaped, lost their credibility, while the Al-shabab, expanded its power base- controlling much of the country. The irony is the US now finds itself trying to install a government lead by the same leader of the Islamic Courts Union that it helped overthrew.

The US further missed a big window of opportunity after the Ethiopian regime withdrew its army from much of Somalia. This was an opportunity to start an inclusive dialog amongst all Somalia factions and the traditional leaders. Yet again, the US rushed and quickly formed the present Transitional Federal Government (TFG).

What is the other major problem the US has in the region? The US's partners including the TFG, the AU troops, Djibouti and Ethiopia are in the partnership for different reasons. The TFG is incompetent and most of the people involved in the structure are more interested in sharing the funds the US and the other Western countries provide. According to the recent US congressional hearing on Somalia, much of the funds provided could not be accounted for.

Ethiopia has the most divergent interest from the US. Fighting terrorism is not its agenda. It views the legitimate struggle of the Ogden people as terrorism. In the last two decades Ethiopian regimes main effort and intention have been ensuring Somalia remains disintegrated through armed incursions and disrupting peace initiatives.

The consequences of flawed US policy on the Horn of Africa combined with several blunders and incompetence of US officials including the former US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, Jendayi Frazer and the now US ambassador to the UN, Susan Rice - have allowed the Ethiopian regime to have a greater say on the way the US conducted itself in the region and freely allowing the regime to destabilize the region, commit untold atrocities on Ethiopian people and the region at large, and illegally occupying Eritrea territory.

These have put the US in direct conflict with the struggles and aspirations of the people of the region and in undermining and violating the rights of nations and international laws. Sadly the United Nations has also failed to live up to its obligation by allowing the organization to be used and manipulated by the US.

The US is one of the witnesses and guarantors of the Agreement between Eritrea and Ethiopia. The US has not only failed to live up to the agreement on its part, but it has also been one the main obstacles in resolving the problem.

The US has gone as far as encouraging the Ethiopian regime to withdraw from the legal ruling - it agreed to abide by. This was revealed by the wikileaks in conversation the Ethiopian prime Minster and Jendayi E. Frazer, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs.

When Ethiopias military adventure failed and legal concussion of the Eritrea-Ethiopia border problem was reached, the policy pursued, was to hold Eritrea hostage of the no-war-no-peace situation in a hope it would collapse from economic and political pressures. The US has not only favored Ethiopia, but it has actively been trying to weaken Eritrea for the last decade.

The US has worked tirelessly with the intention of speeding up the collapse the country - ensuring financial assistance for development from the western governments and institutions were withdrawn; discouraging any foreign investment, and efforts to isolate Eritrea diplomatically using its massive influence on many countries.

Hence, the current sanction and aggressions are only a continuation and are not new. Ethiopia and the US failed to defeat Eritrea through unilateral action and now have chosen to use the UN to achieve their objective.

Eritrea is not the destabilizing force in the region. On contrary, Eritrea has played a very constructive role in putting an end to armed conflict in Eastern Sudan, and the huge role it played in peace deal reached in South Sudan. Eritrea is being punished to give the Ethiopian regime an upper hand in the problem between the two countries and for advocating for the right and principled solution to the crisis in Somalia.

In concussion, US should evaluate its policies on the region at large. It must immediately stop pushing for additional sanction on Eritrea and review its relations with Ethiopia and correct the regime from the path of destruction. Sponsoring armed invasion and overthrowing governments or imposing one on countries in contradiction with the will of the people will only bring about short-term victories and tragic and devastating wars in the long-run. The US should seriously look at possible consequences of its current foreign policies on the future American generations.

Daniel Berhane

Eritrean Dictator suspends Eritrea's Football team fearing disappearance, I thought he is broke!

By Blogger Addis


Eritrea’s dictator Isaias Afeworki is famous for his shoot to kill policy if any Eritrean is found crossing the country’s border with Sudan or Ethiopia. Even if thousands of Eritreans still manage to cross the borders every month, hundreds of innocent Eritreans have died over the years under the dictator’s rule. Their crime was just for trying to escape the ongoing dictatorship and famine in Eritrea.

Now the dictator has even banned the Eritrean National Football team from leaving the country.

According to Kenyan media, the dictator Isaias regime has suspended his country’s participation in the CECAFA tournament. There are many possible reasons given. One reason was that the Isaias government does not have money for the team. But that is ironic, because the Isaias government has been pretending like there is no famine. The Eritrean dictator was saying his regime has plenty of revenue from recent investment on natural resources in the country. He was boasting about his economic success. Now he is saying his government has no money for a small football tournament in Tanzania?

Maybe the dictator is playing games again. Recently Kenya accused him of financing terrorists in Somalia. So maybe He wants to prove to Kenya that his regime has no money to pay for a football team let alone to finance the al Shabaab terrorists in Somalia.

Another possible reason is that the Eritrean football team is terrible…even worse than the worst teams like Somalia.

But the most likely reason is that the dictator knows that all Eritreans hate him, even the national football team. In 2009, the whole Eritrean national team disappeared and applied for asylum in Kenya. Again recently in July, more Eritrean footballers fled to Tanzania. Historically in 2006 and before, many Eritrean athletes and footballers have disappeared. Unlike other African refugees, it is the elite and top Eritrean sportsmen that disappear and seek political asylum. This shows that there is no more country pride left in Eritrea. The small country never had anything to be proud of other than some colonial buildings and architectures built by Italian colonialists. The mainly desert Eritrea does not have any significant natural resources, historical heritages or unique achievements. The only pride for the country was “the war of independence” against Ethiopia but even that has become useless today, thanks to the dictator Isaias Afewerki. Most Eritreans feel they had more freedom under Ethiopian rule than under the Isaias rule. This explains why tens of thousands of Eritreans have risked being killed to escape back to Ethiopia every day. More than Tens of thousands of Eritreans have left Eritrea and live in Ethiopian refugee camps and even more thousands of Eritreans have left Asmara and have begun new lives in Addis Ababa and other Ethiopian cities.

As of now, the Eritrean dictator has also banned cyclists and other athletes from leaving the country for any international competition.

Thanks for the honor Prime Minister By Abebe Gellaw

Dear Prime Minister Ashebir Zenawi,
First of all, I would like to thank you profusely for including me in the latest roll call of patriots and freedom fighters. I am extremely humbled for the honor. Though I have not done enough to deserve one of your highest medals of good citizenship and patriotism in Ethiopia, I assure you that the honor will inspire me to do even more to accomplish what is expected of me more effectively and efficiently.

I must also thank you for the free global promotion you have given me and others. I am pleased to report back to you that I have received not condolences, but numerous congratulatory messages from across the world.

Prime Minister Ashebir, I should, however, suggest that the list of honorees be expanded to include more deserving patriots and the criteria be more logical. People like me have not done enough to be in this prestigious roll call of freedom fighters.

I am not complaining Prime Minister, but I would like to point out that the coveted list should not be compiled by corrupt thugs, drug addicts, drunkards and sycophants like Shimelis Kemal, Bereket Simon, Getachew Assefa, Genenew Assefa, Birhan Hailu, Tewodros Beharu and Million Assefa…, people who are held in great contempt as they have sold out their souls and conscience for a few dinars. In spite of the fact that these low-life thugs will do whatever you tell them to do, I believe that for the sake of the integrity of the honor list, these people should not be allowed to arbitrarily pick unrelated honorees while they are high on drugs, khat and alcohol. These vultures of yours have been undermining your wisdom and credibility by advising you to correct your mistakes with screaming blunders.

I am not complaining Prime Minister Ashebir because I still feel greatly privileged to be on your list of honorees. But I need to tell you that the latest list includes people who have already received the highest honor your government, i.e. TPLF, confers on any patriot. We were already told, via your Kangaroo court, that Dr. Birhanu Nega, Andargachew Tsigie and Mesfin Aman had already received martyrdom status. They were supposed to have been sent to report back to Almighty God. Why was it necessary to bring them back to life to award them another honor? How many times can they face your respected Kangaroo Court? It is neither fair nor logical. There are also those who were given lifetime fellowship like Fasil Yenealem, Ephrem Madebo and Andualem Andargie. I think fresh undergraduate honorees like me should not have been placed in a class of highly experienced senior honorees without even being given an orientation.

Another thing that I need to point out is that the list of deeds appeared to be copied from the previous honor sheets. Terrorism, espionage, treason, conspiracy and the other deeds listed publicly appeared to be on one menu directly copied from another one. How could your fertile imagination fail you and recycle the same thing again and again? I am not complaining but you guys appear to be suffering from brain freeze.

I have to be honest with you Prime Minister Ashebir that of all the things you listed down in the file, I am not amused with your effort to link me and other Ethiopians with Al Shabab or Shabia, your former mentor. How can you be so ungrateful to the people that trained and armed you to fight against Ethiopia and its people? By the way, you are more related to Eritrea than anyone of the people you put in the honor list. Isn’t Eritrea the land you claim to have freed from Ethiopian colonialism and made it a land of abundant liberty and freedom? Isn’t it your mother’s country? It is absurd to relate anyone in the streets to your motherland that you should keep to yourself. I, for one, seek neither assistance nor citizenship from your Eritrean cousins.

Let me also tell you that I am not a member of any political parties. If I decide to join a political group, rest assured that I will apply to become a member of the Tigray People’s Liberation Front because unlike the puppets it is the only organized political group in Ethiopia that has real power, fortune and leverage. But as you know, I don’t qualify to be a member of the TPLF because I do not pass the required genetic and blood test. That means I will never be a member of any political group until the ethnic apartheid you have been building is dismantled for good.

I am not complaining, but during the 2005 election turmoil, your roll call of honorees was ridiculed globally. You might have forgotten but those, who were in the honor list for “treason” and “genocide”, were five VOA broadcasters, aged university professors including Prof. Getachew Haile, journalists, activists and lawyers. Many of them are still in exile but whatever they say and write seems to haunt you and give you constant nightmares. We must feel sorry for you because your paranoia has reached an unprecedented level.

Prime Minister Ashebir Zenawi! William Gaddis once said: “Stupidity is the deliberate cultivation of ignorance.” I do not understand how a man of your caliber is so predictable all the time that you repeat the same mistake time and again. You have been toiling hard to make yourself an object of ridicule. You may remember that famous character called Mamo Kilo.

Because of his unforgettable acts, there is no character as enduring as Mamo Kilo, a dim-witted country boy. His endless creativity, quick thinking and most of all absurdities, have made him widely popular. Mamo Kilo gets everything wrong and never learns from his mistakes. In fact, his way of correcting mistakes is making more absurd blunders that make him a laughingstock.

By all account, there is only one man that has been overtaking Mamo Kilo’s place as a master of absurdities. Despite your best efforts to appear smart, erudite and serious, not to mention mingling with famous leaders, your ridiculous actions have made you the uncontested king of absurdity in Ethiopia. Your place is history is not just for being an evil dictator, From your courts to parliament, from your cabinet to electoral board, your endless absurdities have ensured your infamy not only locally but across the globe.
Mr. Prime Minister, as you have honored so many patriots, Ethiopians will permanently honor you in their history as a terrible dictator in par with Mussolini and the adult version of Mamo Kilo.

Mr. Prime Misery, you are a shame to humanity, a shame to Ethiopia and more specifically to the people of Tigray. Your fictitious charge sheets don’t scare anyone except having the usual effect of degrading yourself, your “parliament”, kangaroo courts and the very concept of law and order…. Your moronic injustice and outrageous lies will only bring your downfall ever closer… Your downfall will inevitably be as resounding as Gaddafi’s. This must be terrorizing and terrifying to you and Azeb.

Shame on you Mr.Prime Terrorist Ashebir Zenawi! Please don’t forget to add my words to the charge sheet because I am telling the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth…. Keep on lying in the name of justice. Your fate is quite predictable.
Free all the innocent men and women you have taken hostage.
Victory to Ethiopia!

Issias Demand To Be Heard Reveals Corruption of UNSC and UN Charter With 17 comments Ok so what??? why UN waste time to listen to this idiotic and heartless despot? Issias followers are try to justify his stupidity

by Sam B.

November 6, 2011

With every passing day it is becoming more apparent that the United Nations and more exactly the United Nations Security Council has been reduced to an American foreign policy apparatuses or is usurped “by the American authorities”. At most inopportune times the founding Charter, The Charter of The United Nations, is deliberately ignored and relegated to an ineffectual instrument as opposed to being the sacrosanct document that laid down the rules for international cooperation, international law and engagement. Such derogation of the UN Charter has been long in coming as some insights gleaned from the former UN Secretary General, Boutrous Boutros-Ghali, attest.

According to a March 2004 statement to the French newspaper Liberation, the former UN Secretary General Boutrous Boutros-Ghali states “that a major problem at the UN was that the Department of Peacekeeping Operations was very infiltrated by the American authorities”. Boutros-Ghali further elaborated:

“The US authorities have taken control of the UN system through financial administration and the appointment of officers and staff who are paid directly by the United States. The UN doesn’t have the means to appoint senior officers and specialist staff. When these people are selected and paid by a foreign government, they are obviously more loyal to that government than to the UN. As a result, reports presented to the Secretary General and to the Security Council are purged and modified.” (Boutrous Boutros-Ghali)

Boutros Boutros-Ghali opinion quoted above is inline with many well-respected social and political commentators. Mr. Ghali has also stated “the United Nations is just an instrument at the service of American policy.” (Boutros Boutros Ghali, 2003). That the UN is basically “a reliable instrument of U.S. foreign policy” (N. Chomsky) is a commonly held view now.

So the reply by Martin Nesirky, Spokesperson for UN Secretary-General Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, comes as no shock when Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press asked what Ban ki-moon’s thoughts are “as the UN system’s top official, that a head of state, when he or she asks to address an organ like the Security Council, should be allowed to: if talking is better that not talking.”

Ban’s spokesman Nesirky reply was, “It’s for the Security Council to decide.”

It is shameful for a spokes person of the UNSG or anybody of the UN to relegate such rights, as enshrined on The Charter of The United Nations, to a decision of a politically charged Security Council. He ought to have stated what the UN Charters requires and stood by it. It is for a reason the UN Charter under Chapter V, titled “the Security Council”, explicitly states in Article 31:

“Any Member of the United Nations which is not a member of the Security Council may participate, without vote, in the discussion of any question brought before the Security Council whenever the latter considers that the interests of that Member are specially affected.”

Article 32 adds:

“Any Member of the United Nations which is not a member of the Security Council or any state which is not a Member of the United Nations, if it is a party to a dispute under consideration by the Security Council, shall be invited to participate, without vote, in the discussion relating to the dispute. The Security Council shall lay down such conditions as it deems just for the participation of a state which is not a Member of the United Nations.”

Let alone Eritrea asking to address the Security Council, in accordance with the procedures laid down by the Charter, Eritrea should have been “invited to participate,” by the Security Council “in the discussion relating to the dispute” or “in the discussion of any question brought before the Security Council whenever the latter considers that the interests of that Member are specially affected.”

That Eritrea’s interest are “specially affected” is a forgone conclusion, and that ONLY Eritrea’s interest are “specially affected” by the discussions and actions of the resolution considered is also in little doubt. In short the dispute of whether the President of Eritrea addressing the Security Council is a reflection of both the dysfunction at the UN and the complete contempt for the Charter that exists.

Neither Ban Ki-moon, his spokes person, Susan Rice and her government ought to have the right or privilege to trample upon The Charter of The United Nations. Nobody is conferring on the President of Eritrea the right to address the Security Council, the Charter does. America’s opposition via Susan Rice for the President of Eritrea to address the Security Council only yet again reveals their complete disregard of the rules of law and engagement that they so profusely declare to support .

African Dictators: The People Don't Love You!

By Alemayehu G. Mariam
In February 2011, at the onset of the Libyan Revolution, Moamar Gadhaffi trumpeted to the world, “They love me. All my people with me, they love me. They will die to protect me, my people.” He called the rebels fighting to oust him from power “rats and cockroaches”. He believed it was his birthright to rule Libya as “king of kings” and remained in total denial of his own doom until the bitter end in a sewer tunnel. In the end, in an ironic twist of fate, Gadhaffi was served poetic justice. He was trapped like a sewer rat and smashed like a cockroach as he begged for mercy: “Don’t shoot me!”

The man who had played God in Libya for 42 years died a wimpy thug. The man with the absolute power to decide who shall live and who shall die was shot down like a rabid dog in the street by a nameless rebel. The man who had tortured and abused so many thousands of his people in secret prisons and dungeons was himself tortured and abused with unspeakable inhumanity broadcast for the world to see. The man who slaughtered thousands of his people ended up in the meat locker of a slaughterhouse where his victims gloated over his bloodied and half-naked body discarded on a filthy mattress like big game hunters inspecting their kill on an African safari. The man with the golden gun died from a lead bullet. The man-turned-monster who once called himself “brother leader,” “guide of the revolution,” “king of kings,” “Great Leader,” and “keeper of Arab nationalism” was escorted to his unmarked grave in the featureless desert by a swarm of hungry maggot-bearing flies. Only one question remained: Is it possible for Gandhi’s warning about dictators to have momentarily flashed before Gadhaffi’s eyes or echoed in his ears as he prepared to meet his Maker: “I remember that all through history the ways of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants, and murderers, and for a time they can seem invincible, but in the end they always fall. Think of it--always.”

Gadhafi boasted he will die a hero and a martyr, but died a hated villain and a coward. But the manner of his death left an ugly blotch on the glorious record of the Libyan Revolution. Gadhaffi’s young captors, unable to contain their pent up rage, treated him with such unspeakably inhumanity that their actions spoke very poorly for all of humanity. His execution in the street was an ugly public testament to man’s inhumanity to man. Even the most wicked and depraved dictator is entitled to basic human dignity. But in the euphoria of the moment, Libyans erupted with celebration at the news Gadhaffi’s dehumanization and death. With muted jubilation and a sigh of relief, acting Prime Minister Mahmoud Jibril declared: “We have been waiting for this moment for a long time.” President Obama followed, “This marks the end of a long and painful chapter for Libya.”

Gadhaffi was the ultimate personification of the adage, “power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” Over four decades, he became convinced that he was a god and untouchable by any man or law. He became an egomaniac, a megalomaniac, and a monomaniac. Gadhaffi and members of his family believed that they had a divine right to own Libya and Libyans as their personal property. His son Saif al-Islam threatened to dismember the country and plunge it into a civil war that “will last for 30 or 40 years” if anyone tries to oust his family. The young thug promised a bloodbath: “We will fight to the last minute, until the last bullet. I will fight until the last drop of my blood. We have a Plan A which is to live and die in Libya. Plan B which is to live and die in Libya…” Gadhaffi refused to resign and leave the country peacefully. He would not listen to reason and defiantly declared he would never negotiate, mediate, compromise or surrender. He urged his supporters to fight to the last man and watched Libya burn in a civil war holed up in the sewer. As many as thirty thousand Libyans are estimated to have died as a result of Gadhaffi’s futile attempt to cling to power.

The African People Do Not Love Their Dictators

They say love is blind. That is especially true for dictators. Dictators are so blind that they believe the people love them. Long before Gadhaffi announced to the world “my people love me”, his brother-dictator Saddam Hussien of Iraq told the interrogators who snatched him out his spider hole, “The Iraqi people will always love me.” He even authored a romantic novel and spoke through his main character (king): “I'm a great leader. You must obey me. Not only that, you must love me.”

Long before Saddam, the Italian Fascist leader Benito Mussolini pontificated, “With every beat of my heart, I give service to the Italian people. I feel that all Italians understand and love me.” Idi Amin of Uganda was less sentimental: “The people should love their leader!”; and if they don’t he had his own tough love methods to get the job done. Mobutu Sese Seko of Zaire would often chuckle and tell foreign correspondents that not only do his people love him, they want him to stay in power because the “people need me.” Mengistu Hailemariam believed that he ruled with an iron fist out of patriotic duty and love of country. No doubt he loved Ethiopia to death, and proved it for seventeen years by killing thousands of its citizens wantonly. Last May, in a victory speech, Meles Zenawi said he won the election by 99.6 percent because the Ethiopian people love his party and implicitly himself as the party leader. He said the people “consider themselves and the EPRDF [Zenawi’s party] as two sides of a coin” and “nothing can ever shake their unwavering support for our organization.” He returned the love by congratulating them for their “high sense of judgment and fairness” and for “giv[ing] us the mandate through your votes.”

African dictators are so tone-deaf that they just don’t get the message no matter how many times it is repeated to them. Perhaps they might understand if told in sign language: T-H-E P-E-O-P-L-E D-O-N-’T L-O-V-E Y-O-U! In fact, they loathe you. It is a raw and visceral feeling that is manifest in the eyes, thoughts and words of the people. African dictators love having absolute power and boundless privilege. They worship at the altar of money. They love themselves and no one else because they are narcissistic. Every day they look into the ghostly mirror in their minds seeking reassurance: “Mirror, mirror!! Who is the smartest, cleverest, boldest, cruelest, wickedest, trickiest, slickest, shrewdest, quickest, savviest, cunningest… of them all? The answer is always the same.
African dictators are all self-delusional and spend most of their time on Planet Denial. In the face of total repudiation by their people, they invent their own mythology of self-grandeur. They reassure themselves that even if the people don’t love them, “history will one day vindicate me”. To avoid facing the truth, they categorically claim that they have “never killed even a fly and all the crimes I'm accused of are all lies perpetrated by my enemies.” They justify their cruelty by making the excuse that “my country is better off under me” than the previous regime. They brag about their accomplishments “successfully managing the transition from military dictatorship to an emerging democracy” and put themselves out as messiahs who “rekindle hope through a renaissance” and “chart a course of optimism” on a “trajectory of fast economic growth.” African dictators are as loveable as an African scorpion.
Perhaps it is a bit of an overstatement to say African dictators do not love their people. They do. They love to kill them; they love to jail them and torture them. They love to intimidate them, and most of all they love to crush them like cockroaches. How they love to rob, steal and cheat them! They thrive on the blood, sweat and tears of their people. African dictators love their people in much the same way as vampires love people. They love the sound of their own voices which resonate with lies, echo with deceit and jangle with hate: Those who oppose them are “rats and cockroaches” and “terrorists and insurrectionists”.

Did Gadhaffi Cheat the Libyan People in Death as He Did in Life?

It was jarring, confusing and troubling to hear acting Libyan Prime Minister Mahmoud Jibril declare on the confirmation of Gadhaffi’s death that “We have been waiting for this moment for a long time.” I wish he had said, “The day we have been waiting for was the day Gadhaffi is brought to the bar of justice.” I wish the rebel fighter who shot Gadhafi in the face would have said the same thing that young fighter who captured the dictator Laurent Gbagbo of Cote d’Ivoire said a few months ago. “We attacked and forced in a part of the bunker. Gbagbo was there with his wife and his son. He was slapped by a soldier, but was not otherwise hurt.”
The moment to wait for would have been that precious moment when Moamar Muhammad Abu Minyar al-Gaddafi stood in the dock in a Libyan court or at the International Criminal Court in the Hague listening to the long list of criminal charges as his victims paraded in one by one wagging an accusatory finger at him. That would have been a historic moment worth waiting for no matter how long it took.

Gadhaffi is one of the top ten worst human rights abusers and criminals of the post-World War II era. I personally believe he is the apotheosis of evil. Regardless, I fully respect his human rights, including his right to a presumption of innocence and unabashedly defend his basic human right to proof of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law based exclusively on legally admissible evidence. This I believe to be the true meaning of human rights. Even monsters walking amongst us in human skin are entitled to due process (fair trial) and must be protected from lynching or street, mob or vigilante justice. The line that separates the rule of law from the rule of one man or the rule of the mob is a mighty slender one; and the rule of law must be defended at all costs against those who seek to breach it. It is easy to defend the human rights of Eman al-Obeidy, the courageous Libyan woman who was gang-raped by Gadhaffi’s thugs or Gadhaffi’s revenge killing victims. But it is infinitely more difficult to stand up for monsters like Gadhaffi; but the ironic truth is that the brand of human rights that fully protects Eman al-Obeidy also protects fully the monster once known as Moamar Muhammad Abu Minyar al-Gaddafi.

But I am afraid Gadhaffi in his death, as in his lifetime, got away with murder and torture and all sorts of crimes against humanity. He cheated al-Obeidy and the Libyan people out of justice. He cheated them out of the TRUTH. Now, al-Obeidy will never get the chance to confront Gadhaffi in a court of law, wag her delicate fingers at him as her tears roll down her cheeks and scream with all her might, “Gadhaffi! I accuse of rape and torture!” Her tears which testified before the court of world opinion and seared the conscience of all humanity will never get the chance to testify against Gadhaffi in a court of law and have him held accountable.

The truth is now buried with Gadhafi’s corpse and lost forever in the featureless sand dunes of the Sahara. His humiliation will give no satisfaction to al-Obeidy or the thousands of other innocent victims in Libya or those he blew up on Pan Am flight 103. The ghoulish public display of his corpse as a trophy game animal and all the gloating that went with it might give momentary satisfaction to some but it will never quench Libyans’ thirst for justice that could have come only from bringing Gadhaffi to trial. By taking the truth to his grave, Gadhaffi had the last laugh. He took his last revenge on the Libyan people for he knew that there could be no reconciliation in Libya without the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth laid bare before the people. It is too bad that Gadhaffi was given the easy way out!

The End of African Dictators

Winston Churchill said, “Dictators ride to and fro upon tigers which they dare not dismount. And the tigers are getting hungry.” President John Kennedy cautioned us to “remember that, in the past, those who foolishly sought power by riding the back of the tiger ended up inside.” He warned the “new states” liberated from colonialism that “Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.”

The people of Africa are beating the drums of change and democracy and encircling the mud walls of African dictatorships. The die is now cast and African dictators will have to make a choice. The smart ones will read the writing on the wall and beat feet to enjoy their stolen loot in comfort and luxury in the sanctuary of well-known “dictatordoms”. Ben Ali and Mengustu are doing just that now as did Idi Amin before them. The stubborn ones will stick around and face the scales of justice. Mubarak is doing that now as did Jean-Bedel Bokassa, the self-proclaimed Emperor of the Central African Republic, before him. The self-delusional ones like Gadhaffi and Laurent Gbagbo of Cote d’Ivoire and Samuel Doe of Liberia before them will cause a civil war to cling to power only to find themselves at the mercy of their ferocious and vengeance-thirsty adversaries. The rest will try to hide and hope their crimes will not catch up with them. Like Robert Mugabe and Omar al-Bashir, they will always be looking over their shoulders for the long arm of international law or the sharp tiger claws of the people that will one day surely hook them. African dictators who make peaceful change impossible will make vigilante justice possible as they peek straight through the barrel of a gun whimpering, “Don’t shoot me! Please don’t shoot me!” African dictators, there is a better way. Show your people some love. LEAVE THEM!

African Dictators: T-H-E P-E-O-P-L-E D-O-N-’T L-O-V-E Y-O-U!

African land grab: what Indian companies do in Ethiopia is what they are not allowed to do in Inida Posted by Keffyalew Gebremedhin

The question of land grab in Ethiopia and indeed in other developing countries would remain a topic of national and international conversations. The Ethiopian government is fully aware of this and has been fighting to influence its direction, although unsuccessfully to date. What it is doing is to deny traction to the criticisms against its policy of doling out Ethiopian lands to foreign investors.

What it should have done, which is right and proper is to begin to see reasonings by all sides in their proper light, especially the concerns of Ethiopian citizens. It has miserably failed to engage and convince citizens about the present and long-term implications of farmland grabbing. To date, we know that 3.6 million hectares have been put on offer for chicken feed to international investors. Seventy percent of foreign investors in agricultural lands in Ethiopia today are Indians, some of them such as Karuturi, who have shifted gears to tendering Ethiopian lands piece by piece to Indians specifically from the southern part of the country. The indication is that this would give rise to serious indignation by citizens at home and abroad.

What drives the government into this straightjacket is the hunger for power, not the national interests of Ethiopia. This has been ably dealt with by Ethiopia’s foremost economists and specialist in land tenure Prof. Dessalegn Rahmato in his Land to Investors: Large-scale land transfers in Ethiopia, 2011. Thus, he sees the rational for the government’s stubborn direction by its desire to redefine the agrarian structure of the country as well as the future course of agricultural production in Ethiopia in a manner that will increasingly marginalize the rural population to make them dependent on its handouts in return for their political support.

In the process, Prof. Rahmato says, this has alienated land from those who have customary rights and rights of longstanding usage, and transferred it, without consultation or consent, to investors from outside the communities concerned as well as from outside the country. For this, government has the advantage and possibilities because of its statutory right of ownership of land. In Ethiopia, by law the state has juridical ownership of the land and in contrast to peasant farmers and pastoralists that only have right of use. Whether government likes the interpretation or implications of this, it has made the Ethiopian state responsible for all the land grabbing in the country.

The question now is why does it have to go through this irresponsible path, already the rigmarole of which has caused its image within the populace and on the international media irreparable harm as unfeeling and uncaring for its own citizens. Because power has been TPLF/EPRDF’s goal. It enables it, according to Prof. Rahmato, to concentrate all authority in the hands of its public agents and local administrators, which ensures TPLF/EPRDF’s permanence in power.

Therefore, the government’s fierce defenses of the land grab policy have been consciously designed to consolidate its powers in rural Ethiopia, where 85 percent of the population is domiciled and is dependent on small-scale agriculture and pastoralism. That is why government reacts strongly with senseless denials of the dangers arising from the land grab it has been exercising and promoting. Often, its defenses are fired from the top by the prime minister and his deputy down to others in the lowest rungs of power within the party and administration–if at all they are distinct as they ought to be.

Echoing that tone, the very same responses were recently regurgitated by the public relations officer of the ministry of agriculture Wondimu Flate. As if to persuade environmentalists, he underlined, “Plots are transferred only after making sure that these and other procedures including environmental impact assessments are conducted.”

In terms of technological inputs, especially fertilizers and their distribution, there is a disheartening report from the Ethiopian Central Statistics Agency (CSA). According to the Agency’s data from 2010, Ethiopia used 1.2 million tons of fertilizers. Of this amount, 433,515 tons was distributed in Tigray alone. Amhara and Oromia, the regions that have the most lands and agricultural activities received a total of 347,430 tons.

In addition, on the potentials of land grab for employment, I refer Mr. Flate to the above-mentioned World Bank report that this webpage had analysed in an article entitled http://transformingethiopia.wordpress.com/2011/08/23/part-ii-meles-says-no-land-grab-in-ethiopia…of 23 August 2011. It clearly concludes that there is nothing promising about land grabs in terms of employment creation, as shown here:

“Given the central nature of asset and employment generation through planned investments, the level and recording of information on planned (temporary or permanent) employment and physical investment is surprisingly limited. The patchy data that are available suggest that investments create far fewer jobs than are often expected (or promised, as discussed later) and that their capital intensity varies widely. For example, projected job creation ranges from less than 0.01 jobs/ha (for a 10,000 ha maize plantation) to 0.351 jobs/ha (for an outgrower-based sugarcane plantation) in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Expected job creation in Ethiopia is similarly limited, with an average of 0.005 jobs/ha for cases where figures are given…Case studies point to high expectations in employment generation, which, at least in some cases, do not seem to be commensurate with the investment or the qualifications of the local populace. The extent to which assets are provided or local people gain access to knowledge and technology varies widely across investments. Most successful investments provide social services and encouragement for local entrepreneurship. As many of the projects considered began only recently, few positive impacts have yet materialized. Careful future monitoring
as well as attention to the time profile of benefits and the distribution of risks will be important.”

For Prof. Ghosh, what is ignored in this unholy alliance between the government of Ethiopia and the Indian companies is water use. This refers to the quality of the agreement the Ethiopian government has signed with the companies. Ghosh revealed that in Ethiopia Indian companies are given agricultural lands carte blanche, since the agreements do not place any restrictions on both land and water use. For instance, this has enabled investing companies to do whatever they liked. For instance, the companies have ventured into opening canals and turning the direction of rivers.

This has already encroached in multiple ways on traditional rights of the indigenous populations, that for inexplicable reason have already been betrayed by their own government. In that, this corporate pattern of food production has already begun showing its dangerous features to the local people, which in the future is likely to affect the whole country. In that sense, the Indian professor says, land grab is a misnomer since what in reality it represents is a rush to grab surface and ground water and mineral inside the lands. This is consistent with historical experiences.

What are her fears and concerns for the future? As a concerned Indian, she opined, all Indians should be worried for these poor countries not only as a matter of international solidarity. But also because, if Indian companies are allowed to behave in such exploitative manner as all previous generations of colonialists had done toward local peoples and poor countries, they should also be concerned that there is no reason these investors and their corporations could not behave towards Indian citizens in the same manner in India itself.

Source

This was an Eritrean intelligence activity, falsely flagged as an OLF initiative.

“Te’ame opened his laptop and showed me a video about how Iraqi insurgents have used explosives to powerful effect. He was trying to motivate me […] then he closed the laptop and told me that we would make Addis Ababa like Baghdad.”

[T]his operation was effectively an Eritrean intelligence activity, falsely flagged as an OLF initiative.



A UN report confirmed Eritrea’s foiled plot to ‘make Addis Ababa like Baghdad’, as reported earlier in this blog. The report by ‘the Monitoring Group on Somalia and Eritrea’ that was submitted to the Secretary General, and published today, provides a long list of Eritrea’s ‘support to armed groups involved in violence, destabilization or terrorist acts’ in the Horn of Africa.

[The report is more than 400 pages, including a part on Somalia. Thus, I will provide you with key point of the report, topic by topic, in this blog.]

The major one of Eritrea’s destabilizing attempts and activities is the January 2011 plot to bomb AU Summit that was thwarted by Ethiopia’s National Anti-Terrorism Joint Taskforce, which consists the National Intelligence and Security Service(NISS) and the Federal Police. The report notes the implication of the plot as follows:


Whereas Eritrean support to foreign armed opposition groups has in the past been limited to conventional military operations, the plot to disrupt the African Union summit in Addis Ababa in January 2011, which envisaged mass casualty attacks against civilian targets and the strategic use of explosives to create a climate of fear, represents a qualitative shift in Eritrean tactics.

Here is the section of the report detailing Eritrea’s plot to bomb AU Summit

Case study: planned “Oromo Liberation Front” operation to disrupt the African Union summit

286. In early 2011, Ethiopian intelligence and federal police disrupted a conspiracy to bomb targets in and around Addis Ababa at the time of the sixteenth ordinary session of the Assembly of the African Union, which was scheduled to take place on 30 and 31 January 2011. Although ostensibly an OLF operation, it was conceived, planned, supported and directed by the external operations directorate of the Government of Eritrea, under the leadership of General Te’ame. If executed as planned, the operation would almost certainly have caused mass civilian casualties, damaged the Ethiopian economy and disrupted the African Union summit.[222]

(a) Background to the operation: recruitment, planning and training

287. Planning for the operation appears to have begun in 2008, when the National Security Agency of Eritrea recruited and trained the first of the OLF fighters to be involved in the operation. Fekadu Abdisu Gusu, a survivor from an OLF unit that had been defeated and dispersed with heavy losses by the Ethiopian military, told the Monitoring Group that in 2008 an OLF associate in Kenya had put him in contact with an Eritrean Colonel calling himself “Gemachew Ayana”, also known as “Kercho”. Gemachew gave Fekadu instructions to travel with three other OLF fighters to Eritrea by way of the Sudan. [223]

288. Following his arrival in Eritrea, Fekadu received several weeks of initial training in explosives theory and practice at various sites in and around Asmara, under Gemachew’s supervision. The principal instructor was an Eritrean officer known to his students only by the nickname “Wedi Eyasu”.[224] Upon completion of this training, Fekadu told the Monitoring Group, he was instructed to travel to Addis Ababa to familiarize himself with the city.[225]

289. Two months later Fekadu was recalled to Eritrea for more extended and intensive training in a range of military skills, first near Dek’emhare then at the camp of Een, where he and other OLF trainees spent the rest of 2009. According to Fekadu, a Tigrayan militia group known as “Demhit” was also training at Een during the same period. [226]

290. While Fekadu was training at Een, the Eritrean security services, through Colonel Gemachew, approached an OLF cadre based in Djibouti named Omar Idriss Mohamed, who would eventually become the team leader for the Addis Ababa operation. In interviews with the Monitoring Group, Omar stated that he had joined OLF in 2003, undergone training in Eritrea at Mulubera (near Gash Barka) and Addis Ma’askar, and held increasingly senior posts. During the month of Ramadan (August/September) 2009 he was contacted by OLF Chairman Dawud Ibsa and told to expect a call from an Eritrean officer who would give him a secret assignment. Shortly afterwards he was contacted by Colonel Gemachew, who told him to bring five new recruits to Eritrea.[227] He did so, crossing the border at Dada’atu, and subsequently returned to Djibouti.[228] Imam Sa’id Ahmed, who was among the five, confirms that the group was subsequently assigned to train together with Fekadu at Een.[229]

291. In March 2010, Omar was again recalled to Eritrea, meeting with Gemachew and Te’ame at an Asmara hotel. Te’ame told Omar that he would receive explosives training for “urban operations” and should select two of the five recruits he had brought from Djibouti for this special purpose. Omar travelled to Een to attend the graduation ceremony of the recruits, who knew him under the pseudonym “Yahya”, and selected two of them as Te’ame had requested: Abdulqadir “Gurtu” and Sa’id Mohamed Yusuf “Drogba”.

292. In late April or early May 2011, after two weeks of theoretical and practical training in and around Asmara, the three of them were instructed to prepare for a mission to Djibouti, with the objective of blowing up Ethiopian fuel trucks at a depot on the outskirts of Djibouti town. They were told that the explosives would be delivered to them.

293. For reasons that are unclear, Te’ame recalled Omar to Eritrea before the planned operation could be carried out. Omar and his two associates travelled overland to Djibouti, where they spent several weeks on reconnaissance before being recalled to Eritrea. He and 10 other OLF fighters were sent to Een for a month of refresher training in basic infantry skills, under the supervision of the Een camp commander, Colonel Jamal, with Omar serving as the group’s leader. Upon completion of the training, Omar was recalled to Asmara where Te’ame informed him that his new target for the operation was to be Addis Ababa.



(b) Team 1: Fekadu Abdisu Gusu

294. In March 2010, as final preparation prior to deployment, Fekadu and other trainees were sent to Asmara for a brief course with Wedi Eyasu on the use of mobile telephones and mechanical timers to detonate explosives. According to Sifen Chala Bedada, a member of Fekadu’s team, he and other members unfamiliar with explosives received essentially the same basic training that Fekadu had received, as well as some instruction from Te’ame in operational security and countersurveillance.[230] Gemachew then instructed Fekadu and his team to return to Addis Ababa, where they were to await the arrival of explosives and further orders. Following his deployment, Fekadu remained in contact with Gemachew, with phone records indicating that at least 27 conversations took place between them. [231]

295. Fekadu and his team were sustained in Addis Ababa thanks to periodic money transfers from abroad. Sifen Chala Bedada told the Monitoring Group that Gemachew arranged for him to receive payments through the Dahabshiil and Amal money transfer companies, using various Oromo and Eritrean intermediaries in Kenya and the Sudan. Official documents issued by Amal Express and the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia confirm that such transactions took place (see annex 8.4.b).

(c) Team 2: Omar Idriss Mohamed

296. In mid-2010, Omar was dispatched to Ethiopia with instructions from Te’ame to reconnoitre an overland route to Addis Ababa by way of Chifra, for infiltration of his team, and to survey a number of possible targets in the Ethiopian capital, including the African Union headquarters, the London Café, near Bole Airport, the Axum Hotel, and the Filoha area between the Sheraton Hotel and the Prime Minister’s office.

297. Upon completion of his reconnaissance mission, Omar returned to Eritrea where he rejoined the trainees at Een. Upon their graduation in December 2010, Omar and “Drogba” travelled together to Assab for a final session on explosives with Wadi Eyasu and a briefing from Te’ame. In an interview with the Monitoring Group, Omar recalled Te’ame’s briefing in the following terms:


“One of the targets he gave me was the African Union summit. I was told to rent a Land Cruiser or a car of the same standard as the African Union leaders and delegates. I was to prepare two to four cylinders, hidden in a TV style box, and put it behind the seat of the vehicle. I was to extend the fuse to the front panel of the car. We should study the times that the African Union leaders took their breaks and choose a time that they were either coming or going. Then we should set a mobile phone alarm for that time. We were to sit in a nearby hotel or café and if the leaders came out at a different time, we could call the cell phone.

“The intention was not to kill the leaders, but to show them that they are not safe, that Ethiopia is not safe for them. By so doing, some people may start to listen to what Eritrea is saying about Ethiopia. Some Arab States will be sympathetic to this view.

“Another target was Filoha, near the Palace, the Sheraton and the Prime Minister’s office.

“The third target was Merkato [the largest open air market in Africa] to kill many people. This would make the people complain that the Government is not keeping them safe. We would place the explosives, together with gas cylinders, on an Isuzu pick-up truck. Such a truck can be filled with up to 15 cylinders and 4 to 6 kg of C-4 explosive. We were to wrap the cylinders with detonator cord and extend it to the front of the vehicle. The C-4 would be packed around the inner six cylinders, and the detonator cord would be wrapped around the other nine. The fuse would be placed in one end of the detonator cord and initiated by mobile phone.

“Te’ame opened his laptop and showed me a video about how Iraqi insurgents have used explosives to powerful effect. He was trying to motivate me […] then he closed the laptop and told me that we would make Addis Ababa like Baghdad.”[232]

298. The following day, Omar met again with Te’ame and Gemachew to discuss possible follow-up operations, including bombings of Government-affiliated banks, public transport networks and the Addis Ababa power grid.

299. According to Omar, he and Drogba received from Gemachew a bag of approximately 20 kg of C-4 explosive, detonators and a roll of 100 metres of RDX detonator cord (pictures of items recovered from the OLF team are attached in annex 8.4.c).

300. They travelled on foot to Djibouti, then by car across the border into Ethiopia. Omar described in detail to the Monitoring Group the precautions taken at each stage of the journey to avoid detection by Ethiopian police and security forces. Upon arrival in Addis Ababa, Omar handed over the explosives and material to an individual named “Musa”, whose task was to keep the explosives safe until they were required for operations. Omar also contacted Fekadu, whose team was already in place awaiting instructions.

301. Fekadu briefed Omar that they had failed to find a vehicle, since most car hire agencies would not provide a car without a driver, and that to purchase a vehicle required them to present identification. Omar also observed that Fekadu had rented a house in a shared compound, undermining privacy and secrecy.

(d) Team 3: Mohamed Nur “Doctor”

302. While the team in Addis Ababa struggled to prepare the operation, the remaining trainees at Een completed their training and also prepared for deployment overland into Ethiopia. One member of this team, Imam, told the Monitoring Group that an Eritrean logistics officer at Een issued weapons and equipment to the team. As the team sniper, he was given a Dragunov-type sniper rifle, which he carried on the mission (see para. 307 and fig. XIV below, as well as export details and the end-user certificate in annex 8.4.d).[233] The others received Kalashnikov-pattern assault rifles and ammunition.[234] Mohamed Nur “Doctor”, one of the original recruits enlisted by Omar from Djibouti, was designated the team leader.

303. According to both Imam and Sa’id Abdirahman Omar, the team was first travelled to Assab, where Te’ame and Gemachew provided them with final instructions and explosives. Their orders were to travel on foot to the Chifra area, where they should bury the explosives and await further orders from Omar.[235]

(e) The operation unravels

304. In early January 2011, with the date of the operation fast approaching, Omar requested additional funds from Gemachew:


“The additional cash was sent to Addis via Amal hawala from Kenya in the name of Omar Idriss. Then I gave the new $3,000 to the three other guys and I kept the balance of what was remaining from Asmara to myself. Gemachew had also told me he would send $500 to a woman associated with one of the guys — Enani Melesi, a friend of Tesfay [Fekadu], so she could return to Asmara.” [236]

305. The Monitoring Group subsequently obtained the records of both of these transactions, dated 8 January 2011, corroborating Omar’s account (see annex 8.4.b).

306. In the last week of January, with time running out before the African Union summit, Omar felt the need to consult with Gemachew. In order to do so, he would travel to Metemma, near the Sudanese border, where he could call Eritrea from a Sudanese SIM card. Likewise, Gemachew would sometimes travel to Teseney in Eritrea from where he could call with a Sudanese or Ethiopian SIM (see phone records attached in annex 8.4.e). Phone records appear to indicate that they made contact 39 times during Omar’s deployment in Ethiopia, mainly initiated by Gemachew. Omar also spoke once with Te’ame and Dawud Ibsa while they were together at Te’ame’s office.[237] The phone number indicated in phone records for Te’ame’s office is the same one independently provided to the Monitoring Group by another former OLF cadre, arrested in the Sudan, during an interview in May 2011.[238] The Monitoring Group is in possession of an audio recording of a conversation between Omar and Te’ame (archived with the United Nations), and has independently verified Te’ame’s voice.

307. While in Metemma, Omar learned that the team led by “Doctor” had been intercepted by Ethiopian security forces near Bati and that one of them, Imam, had been injured, captured and displayed on Ethiopian television. When arrested, Imam was in possession of a Romanian-made PSL (Dragunov-type) sniper rifle that he told the Monitoring Group had been issued to him at Een. In a letter to the Monitoring Group dated 11 April 2011, the Government of Romania confirmed that it had sold the rifle and attached sniper scope to the Ministry of Defence of Eritrea in 2004 and provided supporting documentation, including an end-user certificate issued by the Government of Eritrea (see annex 8.4.d).

308. Other members of the “Doctor” team escaped and dispersed. Omar told the Monitoring Group that he immediately put the Addis operation on hold while he travelled to Bati to find and rescue the remaining team members. He was able to find only two of his team members, Ali and Abdi, who had gone into hiding in the bush near Gerba; another two had been picked up by the police. “Doctor” had been killed.

309. When Omar and the survivors returned to Addis Ababa, the African Union summit was in progress, but without a suitable vehicle and with time running out, he abandoned the African Union as a target and decided to simply attack two other venues using taxis. After the summit had ended, on the morning of 2 February 2011, together with Abdi and Fekadu, he reconnoitred the Axum Hotel and Filoha.[239] Then Omar called Musa and arranged a meeting in the afternoon to pick up the explosives and detonators. They handed over the equipment in Piazza, and Omar transferred the material to Fekadu’s house.

310. The next morning, police arrested Fekadu and his associates at the house. When Omar tried contacting Fekadu and found his phone switched off, he became nervous and relocated the other team members to a new hotel.

311. The following day Omar boarded a public minibus where other passengers were talking about a police arrest of people with explosives. He avoided Fekadu’s residence and told the rest of his team to move to Kombolcha to avoid capture. Then he visited Fekadu’s residence, and found it empty. After a few more days in Addis, changing hotels each night and divesting himself of false documents and SIM cards, he moved to Nazret. On the way, he was arrested.

(f) Analysis

312. Only one detainee interviewed by the Monitoring Group, team leader Omar Idriss Mohamed, appears to have been in regular contact with the OLF leadership in Asmara. All other team members were isolated from OLF structures from the moment of recruitment and received all training and orders directly from Eritrean officers. According to Omar, only Dawud Ibsa, Chairman of OLF, was aware of the existence of this special operation and its objectives, and he does not appear to have exercised any command or control over its actions.[240] The Monitoring Group therefore concludes that this operation was effectively an Eritrean intelligence activity, falsely flagged as an OLF initiative.

******************************
Notes:
222 – From 7 to 10 March 2011, the Monitoring Group was granted access to evidence recovered by the Government of Ethiopia, including arms, explosives, telephone and financial records and telephone intercepts. During that period, the Group also spent more than 22 hours over a period of three days separately interviewing seven detained members of OLF involved in the operation, including team leader Omar Idriss Mohamed.
223 – Interview with Fekadu Abdisu Gusu, 9 March 2011.
224 – The Monitoring Group believes this individual to be Solomon Eyasu, a Ministry of Defence official who also assists the presidential office in matters of security.
225 – Interview with Fekadu Abdisu Gusu, 9 March 2011.
226 – Interview with Fekadu Abdisu Gusu, 9 March 2011. This information corresponds with information obtained during an interview with an ONLF detainee, November 2010.
227 – The five recruits were: Sa’id Ali Ahmed “Doctor”, Imam Sa’id Ahmed (also known as Yemam also known as Abu Mohamed Telah also known as Abdulwahab), Abdou Sa’id Mufti (also known as “Ali”), Abdulqadir “Gurtu” and Sa’id Mohamed Yusuf “Drogba”.
228 – FRUD commander Mohamed Jabhaa also confirmed to the Monitoring Group the use of Dada’atu as a primary crossing point for members of OLF. Interview, Djibouti, 30 November 2010.
229 – Interview with Imam Sa’id Ahmed, 10 March 2011.
230 – Interview with Sifen Chala Bedada, 10 March 2011.
231 – Confidential document archived at the United Nations.
232 – Interview with Omar Idriss Mohamed, 10 March 2011.
233 – Interview with Imam Sa’id Ahmed, 10 March 2011.
234 – According to Imam Sa’id Ahmed, the members of this team were (a) Sa’id Ali Ahmedey also known as Mohamed Nur also known as “Doctor”; (b) Imam Sa’id Ahmed also known as Abdu Mohamed Toleha; (c) Abdu Sa’id Mufti also known as Ali; (d) Adem Awel Sa’id; (e) Adem Idriss; (f) Sa’id Abdirahman Omar also known as Sa’id Kemse also known as Bow; and (g) Feyera Bekele also known as Abdi.
235 – Separate interviews with Imam Sa’id Ahmed and Sa’id Abdirahman Omar on 10 March 2011.
236 – Interview with Omar Idriss Mohamed, 8 March 2011.
237 – Interview with Omar Idriss Mohamed, 8 March 2011, and telephone records.
238 – Interview, May 2011. The same source told the Monitoring Group he had met with “Yahya” (also known as Omar Idriss Mohamed) during a visit to Asmara in 2010. He travelled twice to Asmara between 2010 and early 2011, where he also met OLF leaders including Dawud Ibsa.
239 – Separate interviews with Omar Idriss Mohamed and Fekadu Abdisu Gusu, both on 9 March 2010.
240 – Interviews with Omar Idriss Mohamed, 8 and 9 March 2010.

Eritrea, the silent nation under the Mad man Issias Afrworki

Ten years ago press freedom was taken away in the country of Eritrea, in the Horn of Africa. In September 2001 all privately owned print media was closed down by the government with many of the native journalists arrested and detained in prison.
The last local government election in Eritrea took place in 2004 after the 2001 election had been postponed because the land was under construction. There has not been a general election since 1993.
Run by The People's Front for Democracy and Justice (PFDJ), the only political party allowed, the government leader is President Isaias Afwerki.
Independent media has been banned since 2001 and the country does not have one single foreign correspondent residing there. Without an independent voice human rights abuses go unreported allowing the government to abuse those opposed to the current system. There is no due process with prisoners sitting for years in jail.
Currently there are about 30 journalists being held by the government somewhere in the 314 prison camps and detention centers that litter the nation. At least four journalists have not survived the stark conditions where medical services are neglected, food is deprived and excessive heat is the way of life. Unknown numbers of journalists have simply disappeared.
Citizens deal with severe restrictions on their basic human rights. Basic freedoms of speech, press, assembly, religion and travel are restricted or severely limited. Women, gays and lesbians, certain religious groups, disabled persons and those who are infected with HIV are abused and discriminated against. Young girls face female genital mutilation is prevalent in rural areas. Workers rights are limited and children are forced into labour.
The restrictions are not just limited to the nations citizens but to humanitarian agencies, the United Nations, foreign residents and foreign diplomats. Even in the face of consular emergencies foreign diplomats are required to apply for travel permits 10 days in advance. Those applications are often not answered or refused outright.
People in Eritrea are facing mass executions. In April 24 people were executed in the gold mining areas of Hademdem and Fankon in the Gash-Barka region according to local reports. Among those killed were government officials and journalists.
In 2003 Yosuf Mohamed Ali, a journalist, and Aster Fessehasion, and former minister Salih Kekiya died due to the excessive heat within a three day period while in prison.
It's not uncommon for people to be arrested on political grounds. One of the most famous cases was the mass arrest of several hundred people in 2001 who were said to have spoken against the government's actions. Several of those detained were tortured to death and others still remain behind bars. The International Red Cross has been denied access to these prisoners.
It is also not uncommon for military and government officials to seize property of private citizens so that they may house their own families.
Eritrea has three newspapers, three radio stations and two television stations run by the government. There is no private broadcasting or media of any other kind within its borders. Foreign publications must met the government's approval. Only those who have the means to buy satellite dishes have any media access to the outside world.
That hasn't stopped dedicated journalists who have left the nation. After the 2001 ban several radio stations were founded from exile such as Radio Assenna and Radio Erena in Europe. These actions have not been without risk. In 2009 the entire staff of Asmara-based Radio Bana was detained. It is not known where these people are at this time, it is assumed that they are still alive and in detention.
Citizens are 'allowed' to use the Internet but it is common knowledge that their emails and viewing are monitored by the government. About 4 percent of the population uses the Internet according to statistics from the International Telecommunication Union. Much of these use is in major cities like Asmara where there are monitored Internet cafes. The majority of Eritreans do not have access to the Internet.
This is the first in a series of reports. During the next seven days reports will continue on the conditions of the nation of Eritrea and what journalists in that nation are facing. All research material has been provided privately by a member of PEN Canada.