White House saddened by deaths in Lebanon crash

The Associated Press
Monday, January 25, 2010; 1:23 PM
WASHINGTON -- The White House says the Obama administration is deeply saddened by the deaths of passengers aboard an Ethiopian Airlines plane that crashed after taking off from Beirut early Monday.

Spokesman Robert Gibbs said the administration's thoughts and prayers are with the loved ones of those who died, and he commended rescue workers for their quick response.

The plane carrying 90 people caught fire and crashed into the sea minutes after taking off. No survivors have been found, but emergency workers recovered at least 34 bodies. The cause of the crash was not immediately know, but the Lebanese president says terrorism is not suspected.

The Washington post

Ethiopia declares January 25, “National Day of Mourning.”

Addis Ababa, January 25 (WIC) – Prime Minister Meles Zenawi expressed his regret over the unfortunate accident of ET-409 which took place shortly after departure from Beirut International Airport today.

The government of Ethiopia has declared January 25, “National Day of Mourning.”

Meanwhile, the United States government on Monday said USA is ready to assist in the investigations into the crash of an Ethiopian passenger airliner that occurred several minutes after take off in Beirut, Lebanon according to APA.


“On behalf of the American people, the Embassy of the United States of America expresses our deepest condolences to the Ethiopian people on the tragic crash of Ethiopian Airlines flight 409 this morning,” said the USA embassy in Ethiopia.


“Our thoughts and prayers are with the families and loved ones of those who were in this terrible accident,” added the embassy.


The embassy said that together with the US government they stand prepared to assist Ethiopian Airlines and Lebanese officials in investigation into the tragedy.

“Ethiopian Airlines is a demonstrated leader in safe and reliable civil aviation in Africa and internationally,” added the embassy.
Last Updated ( Monday, 25 January 2010 )

'If push comes to shove, we can survive on our own'

Foreign Affairs Correspondent Mary Fitzgerald talks to Ethiopia’s prime minister in the first of a series of articles from the African country

IT IS almost two decades since Meles Zenawi came to power in Ethiopia after the rebels he led toppled the brutal dictatorship of Mengistu Haile Mariam.

Since then, the former Marxist guerrilla has presided over sweeping political and economic change: introducing a multiparty system, boosting health and education, and adopting pro-market policies to help transform a limping, largely agricultural economy into one predicted to be among the five fastest-growing in the world in 2010.

“We have succeeded in proving that Ethiopia can grow at Asian growth rates,” says Meles, sitting in his cavernous offices in the capital Addis Ababa. “This has rekindled hope in the possibility that Ethiopia will not for long be the poster child for poverty in the world.”

Ethiopia remains heavily dependent on foreign aid – Ireland contributed €27.8 million in bilateral aid in 2009 – and almost 12 million Ethiopians will rely on food aid in the first half of this year. It comes as a surprise, therefore, to hear Meles argue that “technically . . . if push comes to shove, we can survive on our own”.

If food aid was cut tomorrow, he continues: “We would have to shelve some of our development projects and use the money to buy wheat from abroad but no one would starve.”

While Meles’ fans once hailed him as one of sub-Saharan Africa’s shrewdest and most visionary leaders – in 1998, Bill Clinton described him as the leader of a continental renaissance – his record has been blotted by sharp criticism over human rights and the violent crackdown on anti-government protests which followed a disputed general election in 2005. At least 193 people were killed by police and thousands arrested.

Meles admits mistakes were made: “With better training and equipment of our police force, the number of people who lost lives could have been drastically reduced . . . there were very glaring shortcomings but those shortcomings have now been overcome.”

Most of Ethiopia’s political players have signed up to a new code of conduct ahead of parliamentary elections due to take place in May.

“That is a major plus to what we had in 2005 because the majority of participants have now agreed on the rules of the game,” Meles says.

“In spite of all this, I cannot tell you the risk of instability is zero. I can say that we are aware of this risk and we are determined to ensure that it doesn’t materialise.”

Asked about opposition claims that aid is being used as a political tool in the run-up to the poll, he replies: “Given the fact that there are several hundred thousand people involved in the distribution of food aid, I cannot say that not a single one of them has unfairly discriminated . . . People are trying to make political capital out of this.”

Still, Ethiopia has faced increasing criticism for its human rights record.

“The overwhelming majority of the criticism is invalid,” Meles claims. “At the same time, I say this is a work in progress . . . and we do not expect to have a situation where there is no violation of human rights of any person anywhere in Ethiopia.”

He refers to a Human Rights Watch report which alleged Ethiopian troops committed war crimes while battling rebels in the country’s Ogaden area, and a US state department report: “We found that the overwhelming majority of those accusations are allegations by people who have an axe to grind being transformed into facts after a series of reportings.”

A review by the UN Human Rights Council in December raised several concerns about Ethiopia’s record. It recommended that the government reassess controversial legislation passed last year which outlawed any civil society group that promotes human rights, democracy, or conflict resolution and receives more than 10 per cent of its funding from abroad.

“It is perfectly democratic legislation,” Meles argues. “I believe that if we were to follow the advice of some of our friends and allow foreign money dictate political terms in Ethiopia, we would simply pretend to be in the process of democratisation without democratising.” But doesn’t the law narrow Ethiopia’s democratic space? “No, it is possible to organise in Ethiopia without foreign money. I know because I have done it both as a student and a guerrilla fighter,” he counters.

Some international human rights groups and Ethiopian opposition figures accuse donor states of holding back from properly challenging the government on human rights because it is a crucial ally in an unstable region. During the Bush era, US officials frequently described Meles as Washington’s most important African partner in its so-called war on terror.

Meles rejects claims that some donors have soft-pedalled on human rights. “Many of our friends have not minced words in criticising us . . . They tried to convince us to stop the [civil society] legislation. But I think our friends know that . . . we make our own decisions.” He is scathing about Birtukan Mideksa, an imprisoned opposition leader whose case has been highlighted by Amnesty International. Birtukan, who was given a life sentence following the 2005 elections and then released under a pardon agreement, was sent back to prison after the government accused her of violating the terms of her pardon.

“She will be in prison until she serves her full term and nothing anybody says is going to change that,” Meles bristles. “It is a perfectly legal process and that is the end of the story . . . This is again a glaring example of how the human rights issue is abused by people who want to influence political processes in Ethiopia.”

Meles has now been in power for longer than the man his rebel army overthrew in 1991. After consultations with his party, he says his intended retirement date of 2010 has been put back to 2015: “I will be participating in these elections as a candidate but for sure this will be my last term . . . It will be my last term because the party says it will be my last term.”

Ethiopian jet crashes off Beirut

An Ethiopian Airlines plane carrying 85 passengers has reportedly crashed into the sea after taking off from Lebanese capital Beirut.

Airport sources cited by the Reuters news agency said the aircraft disappeared from radar screens shortly after take-off early on Monday morning.

According to the Ethiopian Airlines website, the flight from Beirut bound for Addis Ababa is operated by a Boeing 737 aircraft.

It had been scheduled to depart from Beirut at 02:10am, landing at Addis Ababa at 7:50am local time.

source

Ethiopian wife may be deported because husband suffered stroke

In 19 days Baza Almash will be deported to Ethiopia, because her husband has been in a nursing home, immobilized by a stroke, and the couple is no longer living as man and wife.

Almash, 32, is not Jewish. Her husband of 10 years, Mogus Adeniya, immigrated to Israel in 1991. He would fly to Ethiopia every few months to see her. Their daughter, Rahel, was born five years ago. Shortly afterward, in 2006, Almash immigrated to Israel, where she was given a temporary visa.

The family lived together in Netivot. About six months ago Almash began studying to convert to Judaism, in order to obtain Israeli citizenship.

About a year after her arrival, however, Adeniya, who is about 30 years her senior, had a stroke that left him paralyzed below the waist and unable to walk or to take care of himself. Almash cared for him, but he eventually was admitted to a nursing home in Ashkelon.

About two weeks ago, Almash received an urgent summons to report to the Be'er Sheva branch of the Population Registry, where she was handed a letter giving her 30 days to leave the country. The letter said that an agency committee had rejected her request to become a naturalized Israeli citizen because her husband had been in an institution since the beginning of the naturalization process, and "you are not living together and managing a common household."

Almash tearfully told a reporter, "I haven't slept since, the fear of deportation has paralyzed me, I don't know what to do; I came with my husband, who was like a father to me, to Israel, and now they want to deport me because he is institutionalized."

She says that her daughter is completely Israeli: "Do they want me to return her to Ethiopia? What will we do there? Our whole life is in Israel."

Almash works two hours a days as a cleaner at a Netivot community center, and gets by with help from the city welfare department.

The Interior Ministry said in response: "Mrs. Almash submitted a naturalization application based on her being the spouse of an Israeli citizen. Shortly thereafter the citizen was admitted to a medical institution, and for the past three years they have not lived as a couple. In light of the tragic circumstances, however, the naturalization process was not halted immediately, but only two years later. When it became clear that the process had been suspended, Mrs. Almash lost her standing and she was recently asked to leave the country. However, the head of the Population Registry, Mr. Amnon Ben Ami, has asked to review her case as early as tomorrow."

Haaretz.com

Ethiopians Rulers

ETHIOPIA’S MELES ZENAWI, like Rwanda’s Paul Kagame, was among a new generation of African leaders who came to power in the early 1990s whose role in kicking out murderous regimes and commitment to democratic values was much admired. It seemed like Africa was fiinding a new voice. And there is no doubt that the Ethiopia Meles rules today is a far cry from the famine-ridden brutalised country of dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam. But on the human rights front Meles does have questions to answer.

Facing elections that will certainly see him re-elected prime minister, he can boast an economy growing at 7 per cent and dramatic improvements in health and education standards. As he tells Mary Fitzgerald in the foreign pages today: “We have succeeded in proving that Ethiopia can grow at Asian growth rates,” rekindling hope “in the possibility that Ethiopia will not for long be the poster child for poverty in the world.”

There is some way to go. Ethiopia remains an important recipent of Ireland’s aid, a “programme coutry”, where we contribute tens of millions to a food safety net programme that feeds 12 million people in return for public works. A further five million people are under threat of famine in the months ahead. Malnutrition is widespread with 47 per cent of children under five suffering from wasting or stunting. Over half the population lives below the national poverty line.

Donor countries have come under fire, however, from human rights groups who complain they are not sufficiently vocal about abuses. The 2005 elections tarnished Meles’s reputation with violence in which some 200 died and opposition leaders and activists were jailed. Although freed temporarily, Birtukan Mideksa, the 36-year-old head of the Unity for Democracy and Justice party (UDJ), has been sent back to jail for life after authorities claimed she flouted the terms of her pardon by denying that she had “expressed remorse”. Her release would go a long way to reassuring civil society about the fairness of forthcoming elections.

Meles is also unrepentant or in denial about widespread concern over recent anti-NGO legislation and the documented use of torture by police and military officials in official and secret detention facilities across Ethiopia. All are issues which Irish diplomats say are the subject of regular “frank” bilateral and multilateral discusssions with the government. Meles has been told rightly that these elections will be an important test of his democratic commitment.

Source IrishTimes

Anxious Ethiopia Jangling nerves

Meles Zenawi will probably win the election. But that may not bring calm


Jan 21st 2010 | ADDIS ABABA
From The Economist print edition


WORRIES about Ethiopia’s election, due in May, are growing. Aid-giving Western governments hope it will pass off without the strife that followed the last one, in 2005, when 200 people were killed, thousands were imprisoned, and the democratic credentials of Meles Zenawi, despite his re-election, were left in tatters

Though poor and fragile, Ethiopia carries a lot of weight in the region. A grubby election could worsen things in neighbouring Sudan, where civil war threatens to recur. The borderlands near Kenya, where cattle raiding, poaching and banditry are rife, would become still more dangerous. A renewal of unrest in Ethiopia would be exploited by its arch-enemy, Eritrea, which already backs sundry rebel groups in an effort to undermine the country’s government. And it could make matters even worse in Somalia, where jihadist fighters linked to al-Qaeda want to weaken “Christian” Ethiopia, where a third of the people are in fact Muslim. Foreign intelligence sources have long feared a jihadist attack in Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa.

Ethiopia is a country of contradictions. With its present population of around 82m growing by 2m a year, it is poised to overtake Egypt as Africa’s second-most-populous country after Nigeria, with around 150m. It hosts the seat of the African Union. It runs one of Africa’s biggest airlines. This year its economy is predicted to grow by 7%, one of the fastest rates in the world. It is wooing foreign investors with offers to lease 3m hectares of arable land. It is expensively branding its coffee for export.

Yet the grim side is just as striking. Hunger periodically stalks the land. Some 5m people rely on emergency food to survive; another 7m get food aid. Few people benefit from the country’s free market. Ethiopia has one of Africa’s lowest rates of mobile-phone ownership. Income per head is one of the most meagre in the continent.

All this is the responsibility of Mr Meles’s Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), which has run the show since 1991. The party is dominated by former Marxist rebels from Tigray, even though Tigrayans, among them Mr Meles, make up only 6% of Ethiopia’s population. Not that Tigrayans want to cling to power, says Mr Meles brusquely. It is just that Ethiopia needs consistency to pursue a long-term development agenda. And the EPRDF can point to some successes. Since Mr Meles came to power, infant mortality has fallen by half, school attendance has risen dramatically and life expectancy has increased from 45 to 55 years.

Nourishing a liberal democracy or upholding human rights, however, has never been central to that agenda, even less so after Mr Meles clobbered the opposition in 2005. Some Western diplomats insist, implausibly, that politics has got better since. The government and some opposition parties have, for instance, signed a code of conduct for the coming election. Some of the opposition groups are genuine, but others are in hock to the EPRDF. In any case, the main opposition grouping, Forum, refused to join the talks, arguing that the EPRDF would exploit any agreement for its own ends. The government has been smothering potential sources of independent opposition, such as foreign and local NGOs. It insists it does not censor the press, but newspapers continue to close and independent journalists are moving abroad. Some farmers allege they are being denied food aid for political reasons.

Forum is demanding the release of one its leaders, Birtukan Mideksa, from prison. She was jailed with other opposition figures after the 2005 election, later pardoned, then arrested again. She is unlikely to be let out again before the poll as she could, some say, pose a real threat to the EPRDF in Addis Ababa and other cities.

Yet most Western governments seem keen to downplay Mr Meles’s human-rights record, hoping his re-election will keep his country stable. America is to disburse $1 billion in state aid to Ethiopia this year, more if covert stuff is included. Ethiopia can expect a similar amount from the European Union, multilaterally and through bilateral arrangements with Britain and others. And climate-change deals may bring Mr Meles even more cash.