Ethiopia News

The United States will encourage Ethiopia not to return to Somalia as it would be against the interests of both Horn of African nations, Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Johnnie Carson said on Saturday.

Ethiopia has criticised the Human Rights Watch over its report that the country's draft anti-terrorism law would violate human rights.

By Emmanuel Goujon
Addis Ababa - Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir on Tuesday taunted the international community by arguing that an arrest warrant against him for war crimes had earned him more support than ever.
Bashir made his statement after meeting Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi in Addis Ababa, on his sixth foreign trip since the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued its warrant on March 4.
"For us, the ICC indictment has been positive," Bashir told reporters.
The veteran leader is accused by the Hague-based court of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Sudan's western region of Darfur, where the United Nations says six years of conflict has killed 300 000 people.
The arrest warrant was the court's first against a sitting head of state and was seen as a key step in making world leaders accountable.
But Bashir, who has ruled over Africa's fractious largest country for two decades, suggested the move had enhanced his domestic and regional standing.
"For the internal front in Sudan, we have all seen how the Sudanese people have come out in a spontaneous way to support the president of Sudan," he said.
"We have found a very strong stance from the regional organisations like the Arab League and the African Union," Bashir also said.

Hundreds of women have rallied to demand the death penalty for a man who shackled a girl with dogs for 18 years and abused her, the Ethiopian News Agency reported on Friday.

A nurse at work at a Kenyan hospital: Overall pandemic preparedness in East Africa and the Horn of Africa remains "relatively inactive", according to a UN agency, as the first cases are reported in Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda - file photo NAIROBI/ADDIS ABABA/KAMPALA, 2 July 2009 - Although some countries within East Africa and the Horn region have ...

But, African leaders at a summit in Libya are seriously concerned by reports that foreign Islamic fighters are pouring into Somalia to join the insurgents.

Addis Ababa - Ethiopia on Wednesday said it will not send troops to Somalia, though a hardline Islamist militia fighting to topple the Somali government recently threatened to invade the neighbouring country.

The government uses repressive tactics against the opposition, and corruption continues to be commonplace. The highly disputed 2005 elections resulted in a highly factionalized government.
Although the government attempted to train army recruits in human rights, many human rights abuses are still committed by the military.
Impunity of the police was a serious problem with regards to human rights abuses and corruption, despite government attempts to train police recruits in human rights. Lack of professionalism among federal and regional police was also an issue.
The law requires an independent judiciary, and although civilian courts remained relatively independent, criminal courts are weak, overburdened, and subject to political intervention. There is an extreme lack of qualified staff within the judiciary.
The civil service continued to suffer from corruption and a lack of resources.

DESSIE, Northern Ethiopia (Ethiomedia)- Police on Tuesday shot two people to death and injured a dozen more when members of the Christian faithful resumed building a church the government had said was opposed by Muslims in the area. The BBC said on Wednesday a third person died when the victim fell off a cliff.
The leaders of the Christian faithful - who had suspended building St. Arsema Church in Azewa Gedel - then met with their Muslim counterparts, who told them that they had no objection if the church was built."
Trouble broke out when the Christians realized that they had no problem with their Muslim kith and kin, and went ahead with rebuilding the church. Federal police forces who were lying in wait then opened fire on the crowd, killing two and wounding 12.
Meanwhile, the state-owned TV whose news reports are usually carried online via EthioTube, said two were killed and 12 others injured when individuals who had "concealed agendas" clashed with police. The government warned the society to distance itself from individuals it said had "hidden motives."
Dessie has for a long time been known as a city of religious diversity where Christians and Muslims have intermarried and lived harmoniously for generations. But the government of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi has been caught on several occasions trying to spark ethnic conflicts in the country. Lately, it has resorted to igniting religious violence.

June 30, 2009
(Nairobi) - Ethiopia's draft counterterrorism law could punish political speech and peaceful protest as terrorist acts and encourage unfair trials if enacted, Human Rights Watch said today. The government and members of parliament should amend the draft law, which may otherwise be imminently passed as-is by parliament, to meet international human rights standards, Human Rights Watch said.
Human Rights Watch's detailed analysis of the draft Anti-Terrorism Proclamation concludes that the bill violates fundamental freedoms of speech and peaceful assembly, and strips defendants of important due-process protections. As drafted, the law could provide a new and potent tool for suppressing political opposition and independent criticism of government policy, Human Rights Watch said.
"Ethiopia may well need a fair and effective law to combat terrorism, but this is not it," said Joanne Mariner, Terrorism and Counterterrorism Program director at Human Rights Watch. "As drafted, this law could encourage serious abuses against political protesters and provide legal cover for repression of free speech and due-process rights."
The measure ignores well-established standards embedded in both international law and Ethiopia's own law, Human Rights Watch said.
The draft law's overly broad definition of terrorist acts could be used to prosecute peaceful political protesters and would in some circumstances impose lengthy prison terms and even the death penalty as a punishment for damaging property or disrupting public services.
Even those who merely express support for a peaceful political protest could be deemed terrorists under the law, as well as any member of the group who engaged in the protest. The law would even eliminate protections against the use of confessions obtained after torture.

Somalia's Islamist rebels threatened on Tuesday to attack Ethiopia after repeated witness reports that Ethiopian troops were back in the chaotic Horn of Africa country they withdrew from in January.

Ethiopia's draft counterterrorism law could punish political speech and peaceful protest as terrorist acts and encourage unfair trials if enacted, Human Rights Watch said today.

" The Ogaden National Liberation Front rejected the claim by the website, Somaliland press, accusing the rebel group of killing several civilian in south Eastern Ethiopia, who are traders from Somaliland's Hargesa town.

China continues to make inroads into Africa, as it bagged yet another major order for building infrastructure in the East African state of Ethiopia.

Ethiopia is a name which conjures up, for most people, heartbreaking images of famine in the 1980s.

Addis Ababa, June 27: The Export and Import Bank of India is in negotiations with Ethiopian officials about the opening of an East African office in Addis Ababa.

June 26, 2009 a ' Ethiopian authorities on Friday arrested three rebels from Oromo Liberation Front accusing them of carrying a raid on a dam construction site in the western part of the country and beating Chinese workers.

The late start of Ethiopia's wet season and the unreliability of the rains could affect crop production this year and increase the number of those in need of aid, officials said.

Locust swarms have migrated from northwestern Somalia and spread to seven regions of Ethiopia, but have so far caused minimal damage to crops, an official has said.

A A A' In a brazen show of power in Somalia's capital, Islamist rebels punished four convicted thieves by cutting off a hand and a foot each before hundreds of onlookers who gathered for the bloody spectacle.