Ethiopia to withdraw from Somalia by end of year(AP)
MOGADISHU, Somalia – Ethiopia announced Friday that it will withdraw its forces from Somalia by the end of the year, leaving this country's weak and fractured government to face an increasingly powerful Islamic insurgency.
Ethiopia — the region's military powerhouse — has sent thousands of troops to support Somalia's U.N.-backed government, which has failed to assert control over the country. The decision adds urgency to the Somali government's long-standing request for international peacekeepers to deploy here.
Friday, November 28, 2008
Thursday, November 27, 2008
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Ethiopia says detains Westerners for aiding rebels
GODE, Ethiopia (Reuters) - Ethiopia has arrested a number of American and European citizens of Ethiopian descent, accusing them of aiding separatist rebels, a senior Ethiopian official said on Friday.
GODE, Ethiopia (Reuters) - Ethiopia has arrested a number of American and European citizens of Ethiopian descent, accusing them of aiding separatist rebels, a senior Ethiopian official said on Friday.
"I can assure you they are many," Abdullahi Hassan, president of the country’s troubled Ogaden region, told journalists visiting the area at the government’s invitation.
He declined to say how many people had been detained or when they had been arrested.
"Those who are waging the terrorist war against our people are coming from Europe, are coming from America. They hold American passports, they hold European passports," he said.
Hassan said the detainees were originally from Ogaden but moved to the United States and Europe where they raised money for the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF).
"They are buying with this money weapons, mines and explosives," he said, adding that he would not contact their embassies because they were suspected terrorists.
"We don’t care whether they see (their diplomatic representatives) or not," he said, comparing the situation to the U.S. base in Guantanamo Bay, where nearly 300 inmates are being held without charge or access to consuls.
"In America ... al Qaeda members are in Guantanamo ... We are faced with the same problem,"he said.
A spokesman for the U.S. embassy said they had received no official notification from the government. "We are following up with Ethiopian authorities as we speak," he said.
Hassan said the detainees were being held in the eastern town of Jijiga. He said they would face trial, but did not say when, or on what charges.
The barren, ethnically Somali region made headlines in April when ONLF guerrillas attacked a Chinese-run oil exploration field and killed 74 people. Both the government and rebels accuse each other of committing human rights abuses.
The ONLF are fighting for autonomy for their remote region, which borders Somalia. The United Nations says nearly a million people there are in need of humanitarian assistance.
GODE, Ethiopia (Reuters) - Ethiopia has arrested a number of American and European citizens of Ethiopian descent, accusing them of aiding separatist rebels, a senior Ethiopian official said on Friday.
GODE, Ethiopia (Reuters) - Ethiopia has arrested a number of American and European citizens of Ethiopian descent, accusing them of aiding separatist rebels, a senior Ethiopian official said on Friday.
"I can assure you they are many," Abdullahi Hassan, president of the country’s troubled Ogaden region, told journalists visiting the area at the government’s invitation.
He declined to say how many people had been detained or when they had been arrested.
"Those who are waging the terrorist war against our people are coming from Europe, are coming from America. They hold American passports, they hold European passports," he said.
Hassan said the detainees were originally from Ogaden but moved to the United States and Europe where they raised money for the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF).
"They are buying with this money weapons, mines and explosives," he said, adding that he would not contact their embassies because they were suspected terrorists.
"We don’t care whether they see (their diplomatic representatives) or not," he said, comparing the situation to the U.S. base in Guantanamo Bay, where nearly 300 inmates are being held without charge or access to consuls.
"In America ... al Qaeda members are in Guantanamo ... We are faced with the same problem,"he said.
A spokesman for the U.S. embassy said they had received no official notification from the government. "We are following up with Ethiopian authorities as we speak," he said.
Hassan said the detainees were being held in the eastern town of Jijiga. He said they would face trial, but did not say when, or on what charges.
The barren, ethnically Somali region made headlines in April when ONLF guerrillas attacked a Chinese-run oil exploration field and killed 74 people. Both the government and rebels accuse each other of committing human rights abuses.
The ONLF are fighting for autonomy for their remote region, which borders Somalia. The United Nations says nearly a million people there are in need of humanitarian assistance.
Ethiopia Challenges Rights Group on Ogaden War Crimes Allegations(VOA NEWS)
Ethiopia is challenging a Human Rights Watch report that accuses Ethiopian soldiers of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity during a counterinsurgency campaign in its eastern Somali region. As we hear from correspondent Peter Heinlein in Addis Ababa, a team of Ethiopian investigators has issued a counter report charging the U.S.-based rights group with making false allegations based on flawed methods.
The 47-page document issued by Ethiopia's foreign ministry Wednesday is a reply to a 136-page report released by Human Rights Watch last June.The initial report is titled, "Collective Punishment: Crimes Against Humanity in Ethiopia's Somali Region". It accused Ethiopia's counterinsurgency forces in the Somali, or Ogaden region of a variety of war crimes, including torture and arbitrary executions of suspected members or sympathizers of the rebel Ogaden National Liberation Front, and burning villages suspected of harboring insurgents. The Human Rights Watch report was based on interviews with hundreds of people who had fled the region, backed up by satellite imagery of destroyed villages.But a government-appointed team of investigators led by independent consultant Lissane Yohannes rejected the Human Rights Watch findings. They issued a response titled: Flawed Methodology, Unsubstantiated Allegations." A video shown to journalists at a briefing Wednesday quoted commission members as saying villagers whom they interviewed flatly contradicted the Human Rights Watch conclusions."We visited all relevant areas and nearly all the villages Human Rights Watch mentioned by name. We met with people who could tell us they had not been killed or raped, as Human Rights Watch alleged," says an announcer. "We saw villages that had not been burned to the ground, as Human Rights Watch claimed."Ethiopian foreign ministry legal adviser Minelik Alemu mocked the Human Rights Watch's report, saying it contains inflammatory language. He also criticized the rights' groups' investigative techniques, which did not include visits to the Ogaden region."In light of the gravity of the allegations of crimes against humanity, we would have thought more serious investigation would have been called for," Minelik Alemu said. "But that was not done. If you look at the report, you would see it is based on the testimonies that it collected mainly through telephone. They never had any on the ground visit to the region."One of the authors of the Human Rights Watch report, senior researcher Leslie Lefkow told VOA in a phone interview that the group had several times submitted written requests to Ethiopia to visit the Ogaden during their investigation. She says there was no government response."In terms of our methodology, we stand by it 100 percent, and we would welcome a discussion with the Ethiopian government about the specific cases we mentioned," she said. "We did request access to Somali region several times formally by letter." Lefkow said she would welcome the opportunity to discuss with Ethiopian experts the contradictions between the two reports."We have been carrying out research into situations of conflict for many years, and these kinds of allegations that we've been duped by a rebel movement, it's not the first time we hear this," she said. "These are sort of standard government responses. And we are trained investigators. And then we corroborate the information through independent sources, and in this case including through the use of satellite imagery, where we were trying to verify that attacks on certain villages had actually taken place." Lefkow said she had not finished reading the Ethiopian report, but said she saw hope in Ethiopia's willingness to conduct an investigation. She said it was one of the first times in her long career in human rights activist that a country had taken the opportunity to issue a counter report. She said she would again try to contact officials in Addis and in the Ogaden region to discuss Human Rights Watch's continuing concerns about the conduct of Ethiopia's counterinsurgency campaign in the Ogaden.
Comment: If HRW really stands for Human Rights, why don't they report about the plights of the prisoners in Guantanamo and the civilian deaths in Afganistan and Iraq? Ethiopia is a sovereign country and they must stop inerfering in its affairs. Ethiopia has a right to fight domestic and foreign terrorists and any one who is employed or who works for HRW must be detained or deported to his/her country of origin immediately for assisting terrorists.
Ethiopia is challenging a Human Rights Watch report that accuses Ethiopian soldiers of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity during a counterinsurgency campaign in its eastern Somali region. As we hear from correspondent Peter Heinlein in Addis Ababa, a team of Ethiopian investigators has issued a counter report charging the U.S.-based rights group with making false allegations based on flawed methods.
The 47-page document issued by Ethiopia's foreign ministry Wednesday is a reply to a 136-page report released by Human Rights Watch last June.The initial report is titled, "Collective Punishment: Crimes Against Humanity in Ethiopia's Somali Region". It accused Ethiopia's counterinsurgency forces in the Somali, or Ogaden region of a variety of war crimes, including torture and arbitrary executions of suspected members or sympathizers of the rebel Ogaden National Liberation Front, and burning villages suspected of harboring insurgents. The Human Rights Watch report was based on interviews with hundreds of people who had fled the region, backed up by satellite imagery of destroyed villages.But a government-appointed team of investigators led by independent consultant Lissane Yohannes rejected the Human Rights Watch findings. They issued a response titled: Flawed Methodology, Unsubstantiated Allegations." A video shown to journalists at a briefing Wednesday quoted commission members as saying villagers whom they interviewed flatly contradicted the Human Rights Watch conclusions."We visited all relevant areas and nearly all the villages Human Rights Watch mentioned by name. We met with people who could tell us they had not been killed or raped, as Human Rights Watch alleged," says an announcer. "We saw villages that had not been burned to the ground, as Human Rights Watch claimed."Ethiopian foreign ministry legal adviser Minelik Alemu mocked the Human Rights Watch's report, saying it contains inflammatory language. He also criticized the rights' groups' investigative techniques, which did not include visits to the Ogaden region."In light of the gravity of the allegations of crimes against humanity, we would have thought more serious investigation would have been called for," Minelik Alemu said. "But that was not done. If you look at the report, you would see it is based on the testimonies that it collected mainly through telephone. They never had any on the ground visit to the region."One of the authors of the Human Rights Watch report, senior researcher Leslie Lefkow told VOA in a phone interview that the group had several times submitted written requests to Ethiopia to visit the Ogaden during their investigation. She says there was no government response."In terms of our methodology, we stand by it 100 percent, and we would welcome a discussion with the Ethiopian government about the specific cases we mentioned," she said. "We did request access to Somali region several times formally by letter." Lefkow said she would welcome the opportunity to discuss with Ethiopian experts the contradictions between the two reports."We have been carrying out research into situations of conflict for many years, and these kinds of allegations that we've been duped by a rebel movement, it's not the first time we hear this," she said. "These are sort of standard government responses. And we are trained investigators. And then we corroborate the information through independent sources, and in this case including through the use of satellite imagery, where we were trying to verify that attacks on certain villages had actually taken place." Lefkow said she had not finished reading the Ethiopian report, but said she saw hope in Ethiopia's willingness to conduct an investigation. She said it was one of the first times in her long career in human rights activist that a country had taken the opportunity to issue a counter report. She said she would again try to contact officials in Addis and in the Ogaden region to discuss Human Rights Watch's continuing concerns about the conduct of Ethiopia's counterinsurgency campaign in the Ogaden.
Comment: If HRW really stands for Human Rights, why don't they report about the plights of the prisoners in Guantanamo and the civilian deaths in Afganistan and Iraq? Ethiopia is a sovereign country and they must stop inerfering in its affairs. Ethiopia has a right to fight domestic and foreign terrorists and any one who is employed or who works for HRW must be detained or deported to his/her country of origin immediately for assisting terrorists.
Monday, November 24, 2008
Ethiopia 'demands Britain returns stolen treasures'
LONDON (AFP) – Ethiopia is demanding that Britain returns some of its most significant religious treasures, including a royal crown grabbed by British troops 140 years ago, a report said on Sunday.
LONDON (AFP) – Ethiopia is demanding that Britain returns some of its most significant religious treasures, including a royal crown grabbed by British troops 140 years ago, a report said on Sunday.
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Ransoms bring wealth to Somali pirate bases
BOSASSO, Somalia (Reuters) – As dawn breaks over the Indian Ocean each morning, elders in Somali pirate bases sip strong coffee and clutch mobile phones to their ears, eager to hear the latest from the gunmen out at sea.
Have any more ships been hijacked or ransom talks concluded? Any news of the Western warships hunting them?
BOSASSO, Somalia (Reuters) – As dawn breaks over the Indian Ocean each morning, elders in Somali pirate bases sip strong coffee and clutch mobile phones to their ears, eager to hear the latest from the gunmen out at sea.
Have any more ships been hijacked or ransom talks concluded? Any news of the Western warships hunting them?
Saturday, November 22, 2008
Obama's To-Do List: Somalia (Jonathan Stevenson)
Somalia, a genuine failed state, ranks alongside Sudan as the world's most conspicuous candidate for American attention in the early days of Barack Obama's administration. Last week, capping a series of territorial gains across the country, Islamist insurgents seized the port of Merka, and appeared poised for an offensive against the capital city of Mogadishu 60 miles to the north. Aspiring jihadists, averse to the risks posed in Iraq and Pakistan, are increasingly flocking to Somalia, which is 97 percent Sunni Muslim. At the same time, Somali pirates have become a significant maritime menace, with press reports suggesting that they are driving up prices of goods worldwide. Almost two years ago, U.S.-supported Ethiopian troops ousted the de facto government run by the Al Qaeda-linked Islamic Courts Union (ICU) from Mogadishu, installed an internationally recognized secular transitional government formed in exile, and remained in-country to support it along with an anemic African Union (AU) contingent. But the Ethiopians can't afford to stay much longer, and their repressive tactics have lost Somali hearts and minds, allowing the Islamists to regain social as well as military traction. Earlier this month, in a brutally populist application of sharia law, a 13-year old girl was stoned to death in the southern Somali city of Kismayu for alleged adultery in a stadium packed with 1,000 spectators.
Somalia, a genuine failed state, ranks alongside Sudan as the world's most conspicuous candidate for American attention in the early days of Barack Obama's administration. Last week, capping a series of territorial gains across the country, Islamist insurgents seized the port of Merka, and appeared poised for an offensive against the capital city of Mogadishu 60 miles to the north. Aspiring jihadists, averse to the risks posed in Iraq and Pakistan, are increasingly flocking to Somalia, which is 97 percent Sunni Muslim. At the same time, Somali pirates have become a significant maritime menace, with press reports suggesting that they are driving up prices of goods worldwide. Almost two years ago, U.S.-supported Ethiopian troops ousted the de facto government run by the Al Qaeda-linked Islamic Courts Union (ICU) from Mogadishu, installed an internationally recognized secular transitional government formed in exile, and remained in-country to support it along with an anemic African Union (AU) contingent. But the Ethiopians can't afford to stay much longer, and their repressive tactics have lost Somali hearts and minds, allowing the Islamists to regain social as well as military traction. Earlier this month, in a brutally populist application of sharia law, a 13-year old girl was stoned to death in the southern Somali city of Kismayu for alleged adultery in a stadium packed with 1,000 spectators.
Somali rebels take steps to attack tanker pirates (Reuters, 11/22/08)
Haradheere residents said another group of Islamists had arrived in the town, apparently with less noble intentions.
"A group of Islamists met some of the pirates here and asked for a share of the ransom," one local man, who gave his name as Farah, told Reuters by telephone.
"The pirates promised them something after the ransom was paid. But there is no deal so far."
Haradheere residents said another group of Islamists had arrived in the town, apparently with less noble intentions.
"A group of Islamists met some of the pirates here and asked for a share of the ransom," one local man, who gave his name as Farah, told Reuters by telephone.
"The pirates promised them something after the ransom was paid. But there is no deal so far."
Friday, November 21, 2008
Somali pirates make $150 Million in a year
Somali Pirates (video)
This is a concern and the international community must stop these Somali pirates who are probably terrorists backed by Eritrea.
This is a concern and the international community must stop these Somali pirates who are probably terrorists backed by Eritrea.
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Monday, November 17, 2008
Eritrea was born yesterday and commited suicide Today. Watch this video and witness the death of this tiny nation in the Horn.
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