The Week in Review

Ethiopian troops ride on a military truck in Somali's capital Mogadishu December 29, 2006. Somalia's Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi swept into Mogadishu in an armoured convoy on Friday a day after his Ethiopian-backed forces drove Islamist rivals from the city they had ruled by sharia law since June. REUTERS/Sahal Abdulle (SOMALIA)


Ethiopian tanks are seen in Mogadishu airport on 29 December. Somali government forces backed by Ethiopian troops have clashed with Islamist fighters as they advanced on the final Islamist stronghold of Kismayo in the south of the country.

• Monday - December 25, 2006

[Censorship in Ethiopia enters the next phase - All Internet cafes ordered to register users]


• Tuesday - December 26, 2006

[Somalia could be Ethiopia's quagmire - and create the same problems the U.S. is facing in Iraq] - [A Reckless War Borne of Bad Choices] - [Mass Arrests on Christmas Day in Addis] - [UIC chairman says The duels with Ethiopia will be long and unending] - [Censorship in Ethiopia enters the next phase - All Internet cafes ordered to register users] - [Somali flare-up pits three African "dogs of war"] - [Ethiopian troops advance on Mogadishu] - [Meles says up to 1,000 Islamists dead in Ethiopia offensive}


• Wednesday - December 27, 2006

[ETHIOPIAN WOMEN LEADING THE STRUGGLE AGAINST TYRANNY] - [U.N. envoy urges cease-fire in Somalia] - [Ethiopian troops move within 50 kilometres of Mogadishu] - [U.S. Signals Backing for Ethiopian Incursion Into Somalia] - [AFRICAN UNION AND ARAB LEAGUE CALL FOR ETHOPIA'S WITHDRAWAL] - [Ethiopia urged to withdraw army] - [Former US Ambassador Questions Ethiopian Military Strategy in Somalia]


• Thursday - December 28, 2006

[The Road to Mogadishu Begins in Kaliti] - [SOCEPP: Ethiopian government intensifies repression in the country as war in Somalia rages on] - [CNN: Ethiopian troops enter Mogadishu] - [Somalia: Banditry insecurity rage in Mogadishu as Islamists leave] - [U.S. Should Not Support Ethiopia’s Invasion of Somalia] - [Pressure mounts on Ethiopia to withdraw troops from Somalia] - [Ethiopia's Invasion Bodes Ill for Regional Peace] - [Serkalem's struggle against tyranny] - [Kenya: MPs condemn Ethiopia’s attack on Somalia]


• Friday - December 29, 2006

[Foreign Troops Must Leave Somalia - Rep. Donald Payne] - [Somalia faces months of martial law] - [Eritrea and Ethiopia Top Africa in Army Sizes]

Change of Tune - Ethiopian forces will stay as long as needed says Somali PM

Also in the news: [Foreign Troops Must Leave Somalia - Rep. Donald Payne] - [Somalia faces months of martial law] - [Eritrea and Ethiopia Top Africa in Army Sizes]

International: [Saddam Handed Over To Iraqi Officials] - [Cloned animals deemed safe to eat] - [Israel Won't Free Palestinian Prisoners] and more of today's top stories

Change of Tune - Ethiopian forces will stay as long as needed says Somali PM

MOGADISHU (AFP) - Somalia's Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi returned in an armed convoy one day after government forces and Ethiopian troops had forced Islamist leaders to abandon the coastal capital they had controlled for six months.

"Most of the Islamists were destroyed by our forces ... the Islamic courts do not exist any more," Gedi told reporters, adding that their defeat had curbed the expansion of terrorism in Africa.

"The Ethiopian (forces) will stay as long as needed by the transitional federal government ... The stabilization of Somalia is needed for the stability of our neighbours," he said Friday.(More...)

Foreign Troops Must Leave Somalia - Rep. Donald Payne

United States Congress (Washington, DC)
PRESS RELEASE
December 29, 2006

The invasion of Somalia by Ethiopian forces, despite claims of invitation by the weak Baidoa-based Transitional Federal Government, only leads to more suffering and instability in the Horn of Africa region. United Nations Security Council resolution 1725 clearly stated that "all Member States, in particular those in the region, should refrain from any action in contravention of the arms embargo and related measures."

Using military force instead of negotiations is a deliberate and ill-advised measure that will further destabilize and increase the suffering of the Somali people. I strongly condemn this aggression and call for the immediate withdrawal of Ethiopian and all foreign forces from Somalia.

The African Union and the Arab League have called for Ethiopian and all foreign troops to immediately leave Somalia. Unfortunately, the inaction by the United Nations Security Council has once again failed the helpless people of Somalia.

A negotiated settlement is the only guarantee for a lasting peace, not war. Prime Minister Meles Zenawi of Ethiopia accuses the Union of Islamic Courts as Jihadist and extremist. He also justifies his action against Somalia because of the threats he claims the Courts pose against Ethiopia. The fact of the matter is Ethiopian forces are in Somalia and not the other way around. Besides, how is it possible for a non-conventional force to really pose a threat against the largest armed forces in Sub-Saharan Africa? Ethiopia's military adventure not only diminishes hopes for a negotiated settlement, but confirms the suspicion of Somalis that the TFG is a proxy of Ethiopia. (More...)

Today's Top Stories

-Eritrea and Ethiopia Top Africa in Army Sizes
-Somalia faces months of martial law
-Ford Told Reporter Friendship With Nixon Affected Pardon
-Saddam Handed Over To Iraqi Officials
-Israel Won't Free Palestinian Prisoners
-Cloned animals deemed safe to eat
-'New Mozart work' gets premiere
-Helpful drunk driver offers aid to police

The Road to Mogadishu Begins in Kaliti

Also in the news: [SOCEPP: Ethiopian government intensifies repression in the country as war in Somalia rages on] - [CNN: Ethiopian troops enter Mogadishu] - [Somalia: Banditry insecurity rage in Mogadishu as Islamists leave] - [U.S. Should Not Support Ethiopia’s Invasion of Somalia] - [Pressure mounts on Ethiopia to withdraw troops from Somalia] - [Ethiopia's Invasion Bodes Ill for Regional Peace] - [Serkalem's struggle against tyranny] - [Kenya: MPs condemn Ethiopia’s attack on Somalia]

International: [Ford funeral to begin Friday] - [John Edwards joins Democratic presidential race] - [Iraqis brace for Hussein execution] - [Ford disagreed with Bush over Iraq invasion -WPost] and more of today's top stories



The Road to Mogadishu Begins in Kaliti

As the Ethiopian troops roll into Mogadishu, there are a few things we should keep in mind.

The first is that as 2007 comes upon us, Prime Minister Meles and the politburo of the EPRDF, are, faced with an intense challenge. How do you advance as the party of the future, the party of the developmental state, when you have extremely low legitimacy in the eyes of anyone outside the party's or government's payroll. Since the election debacle of 2005, the EPRDF has pained itself to assume some kind of legitimacy in the eyes of the populace and intelligentsia, but has failed to find any traction in doing so.

And reasons for that failure are our friends in Kaliti. In the eyes of the public, the imprisoned CUD still holds legitimacy. It is the mayor of Addis Abeba in jail at the Addis Abeba Penitentiary, not an arrogant rebel group, not corrupt businessmen, and definitely not Islamists.

The infamous trial, and the post-traumatic stress that was 2006, has done nothing to change the place of the CUD in the minds of the populace. The Great Ethiopian Run showed us that. For far too many people (as far as the EPRDF is concerned), the CUD is the future, and despite all his high school debate club rhetoric and post flood visits to Dire Dawa, Meles has been incapable of changeing that view. And despite all the concessions made in parliament to make the political body seem like a legitimate forum for countervailing opinion and dissent, the people shrug and keep their eyes on Kaliti.

It is in that context that Meles pulls the trigger on Somalia, and that says everything. Meles has no more tricks up his sleeve. The rule of the EPRDF, with the onset of 2007 and the upcoming millennium, is just a regime: not a program, not a revolution, not reform. They have come full circle confirming what many had claimed a long while ago: the revolutionary democrats are still just guerillas in suits clinging onto power and using brute force and Derg-worthy militarism, to do so.(More...)

Ethiopian government intensifies repression in the country as war in Somalia rages on
SOCEPP, Solidarity comity for Ethiopian political prisoners
Press release

As the EPRDF regime enters into a much condemned war against factions in Somalia, it has stepped up the repression inside Ethiopia. This wave of repression is aracterized by a daily rounding up and arrest of youngsters in Addis Ababa and other localities, in the shooting to death of resisting youngsters like Abebe Haile Mariam and Assefa Tesfaye, in the forced recruitment of youngsters into the army and indiscriminate military actions in the Ogaden and other areas.

The rounding up of youngsters has been done on an almost daily basis in the last month and is still continuing. Security forces have also continued to search districts alleging that they are looking for arms during which operations many innocent people have been manhandled and beaten. In the month of December alone, more than 436 people have bene detained on suspicion of "anti peace activities" that have yet to be defined adequately. Rounded up youths have been forcefully taken to military training camps.

The regime's adventure and war in Somalia have made it even jittery and it is using the war as a pretext to curtail the rights of the people even further. All those who do not support the war are being labelled as "agents" and threateed with reprisals of all sorts. On the other hand, Ethiopian refugees in Somalia are also not faring well in the hands of the Islamic Courts.

SOCEPP condemns with vigor the ongoing mass arrest of youngsters in Ethiopia and their forced recruitment into the army. SOCEPP also condemns the search and seizure operations that have led to the violation of rights and outright robbery of the property of innocent civlians.
www.socepp.de

CNN: Ethiopian troops enter Mogadishu

Ethiopian troops, along with Somali government soldiers, entered Mogadishu on the heels of retreating Islamist troops Thursday, according to a journalist in the Somali capital.

Witnesses reported chaos and looting throughout the city as the Islamist fighters abandoned the city ahead of the advancing troops.(More...)

Somalia: Banditry insecurity rage in Mogadishu as Islamists leave

Mogadishu 28, Dec.06 - With Islamists entirely withdrew from the capital Mogadishu, looters could be seen stealing Islamist reserved arms in their main headquarters in the northern part of the capital Mogadishu.

The Union of Islamic Courts, which was militarily powerful and in firm control of the capital withdrew from Mogadishu late on Wednesday afternoon. It surrendered all battlewagons known as “technicals” back to local clans that gave their backing to Islamists in the first place.

The ICU chairman Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed accompanied by the consultative leaders Sheik Hassan Dahir Aweys and Ibrahim Sulaey held a press conference in south of Mogadishu last night. Sheik Sharif who spoke at the news conference said he would call on the civilian population in Mogadishu to take care of the security in the capital and cooperate with Islamist forces that he said will secure the stability of the city.

Islamist soldiers who retreated from their strongholds in southern and northern parts of the country which were immediately occupied by Ethiopian and pro-government troops, put off the military dresses mingling with the ordinary people.

Repeated gunshots could be heard in Mogadishu all last night. Clan militias have instantly taken over all Islamist positions, setting up checkpoints. (More...)

U.S. Should Not Support Ethiopia’s Invasion of Somalia
By Amitabh Pal, The Progressive

The Ethiopian government is quite possibly manipulating intelligence to fool the United States into thinking the threat from the Somali Islamists to be bigger than it actually is.

Unfortunately, the Bush Administration is so spooked by the specter of Islamic fundamentalism that it’s willing to overlook the dangers of the conflict sparking off a larger conflagration.

The human toll of the invasion is increasing day by day. Plus, the U.S. backing for the invasion will add to its unpopularity on the continent and in the Middle East. The African Union and the Arab League have called for Ethiopia to pull out, as have Kenya and Djibouti. The United States should firmly add its voice, and instead of backing military adventures should invest in the Somali peace process as a way of staving off the Islamist threat.(More...)

Pressure mounts on Ethiopia to withdraw troops from Somalia

The Arab League and the African Union have called for Ethiopian troops to be withdrawn from Somalia immediately. Ethiopian troops are said to be only 30 kilometres north of the capital Mogadishu.

Speaking after a joint consultative meeting the chair of the African Union commission, Alpha Oumar Konare, said the three organisations wanted to see Ethiopia's troops withdrawn from neighbouring Somalia immediately.

Mr Konare told journalists at the African Union headquarters that they wanted all parties to cease hostilities and return to peace talks. (More...)

Ethiopia's Invasion Bodes Ill for Regional Peace

Ethiopia's invasion of Somalia is a threat not only to the Union of Islamic Courts, (UIC) but to any prospect of peace and order in this war-torn country. It also violates the Security Council resolution 1725 of December 6, 2006, which prohibits neighbouring states from deploying troops to Somalia.

The impact of this invasion is likely to be exacerbated by the UN Security Council's decision to partially lift an arms embargo on Somalia, which had been in force since January 1992. The embargo was not particularly effective, but by lifting it in respect of a force to be trained by IGAD and the African Union, the UN may have opened a floodgate.

Somalia has been without an effective government since the overthrow of former military dictator Siad Barre in January 1991. Had the transitional government, which was established in 2004, been united, disciplined and focused, the UIC would not have dislodged it earlier this year.(More...)

Serkalem's struggle against tyranny




Serkalem at four months pregnant, was arrested by the Ethiopian authorities along with her husband, journalist Eskinder Nega, for publishing materials critical of the government



November 1 2005, their offices were searched and the next day security forces were dispatched to arrest the couple in their home. Upon arrival, they discovered that the pair had already escaped and gone into hiding. Instead, her mother was taken hostage and held in custody for five days while the pictures of the couple were broadcast on national television, accompanied by a public arrest warrant and a statement denouncing them as dangerous criminals. For three weeks they remained in hiding, during which time her closest brother was arrested and then released, only to inadvertently lead government agents who were assigned to track down the `fugitives' to their hiding spot.

In the months that followed, Serkalem endured a difficult pregnancy within the Squalid conditions of her cell—forced to cope alone with the wildly fluctuating temperatures of the tropics and frequent prison outbreaks of lice and infectiousdisease. Despite such hardship, she continued to display remarkable courage, regularly appearing in court with her head held high, rising with the other defendants at the bench when requested even during the final stages of her third trimester. According to Amnesty reports, she was denied sufficient medical and pre-natal care throughout the pregnancy, and eventually gave birth to her son in the undesirable conditions of the police hospital under 24-hour official guard.(MORE..)

Today's Top Stories

-Kenya: MPs condemn Ethiopia’s attack on Somalia
-Ford funeral to begin Friday
-Ford disagreed with Bush over Iraq invasion -WPost
-John Edwards joins Democratic presidential race Canada
-Iraqis brace for Hussein execution
-Saddam's Death To Be Videotaped
-Head-banging snakes may predict quakes

ETHIOPIAN WOMEN LEADING THE STRUGGLE AGAINST TYRANNY

Also in the news: [U.N. envoy urges cease-fire in Somalia] - [Ethiopian troops move within 50 kilometres of Mogadishu] - [U.S. Signals Backing for Ethiopian Incursion Into Somalia] - [AFRICAN UNION AND ARAB LEAGUE CALL FOR ETHOPIA'S WITHDRAWAL] - [Ethiopia urged to withdraw army] - [Former US Ambassador Questions Ethiopian Military Strategy in Somalia]

International: [Gerald R. Ford, 38th U.S. President, Dies at Age 93] - [Saddam to die within 30 days as appeal fails] - [Iranian President sends message to the Pope} and more of today's top stories

Ethiopian women leading the struggle against tyranny

In a country where politics is regarded as a man's domain, Ethiopian women are leading the struggle against tyranny, writes KE's Women's Affairs correspondent Rachel Lewis







A woman in her twenties walks on a muddy path sporadically speckled with red sand and reaches her destination. The way she respires betrays excitement. She wears black gown and carries a cake, giftwrapped with greaseproof paper and ribbons. A group of people follows her, their faces knotted with utter exhilaration.

It is Lidya's graduation day and family members have gathered to celebrate the achievements of their beloved daughter, niece and sister. There is food, and smiles and laughter all around.

As her mother looks on, beaming tearfully with pride, the new graduate excitedly discusses her plans for the future amidst the well-meaning interjections of her gathered relatives and friends. This scene should ring familiar to anyone who has ever attended a graduation celebration. What makes this a rather unique and remarkable celebration is that it is being held in Kaliti Federal Prison in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, during the strict one-hour visitation period allotted the nation's political prisoners.

Kaliti prison is a collection of wide hovels made of corrugated iron and concrete. The celebration is taking place at the stand where prisoners meet their relatives during the visitation hours. It is unbearably hot by the sweltering midday sun, which followed the morning drizzle. There are no decorations and music is prohibited, though a few defiant relatives absently hum quiet refrains, while wild mice scurry underfoot in fierce competition for the leftover crumbs of the modest graduation feast.

In a few moments time, the `10-minute warning' will be announced by the head guard over a crackling loud-speaker and the celebrations will immediately come to a close—dishes and leftovers are hurriedly stuffed back into bags, goodbyes exchanged, and palms pressed. Mother and daughter stand face to face, in a final private moment—the mother bravely smiles, her repeated congratulations punctuated by the sobs that rack her small frame, while the daughter nods and whispers words of comfort as she turns to leave, masking the pain of goodbye with a maturity far beyond her years.(MORE..)

Ethiopian troops move within 50 kilometres of Mogadishu

Mogadishu - Ethiopian-backed government troops came within 50 kilometres of the Somali capital Mogadishu on Wednesday and took the last remaining large town before the capital Mogadishu, residents said.

Government troops fought their way into Jowhar, some 90 kilometres north of Mogadishu early on Wednesday as Islamist fighters in the town retreated to the capital, after orders by the Islamist chairman, Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed.

'We attack Mogadishu Thursday. We will catch and behead all the terrorists and militants as they behead the innocent people,' said Mohamed Dhere, a former warlord who once controlled Jowhar and marched into the town with the government forces on Wednesday.

Residents of Balad, 30 kilometres north of Mogadishu said the Ethiopian-backed forces were 20 kilometres away from their town, while all Islamist troops had retreated from there to the capital. (More...)

U.N. envoy urges cease-fire in Somalia

UNITED NATIONS - The top U.N. envoy to Somalia urged the Security Council to demand an immediate cease-fire between Ethiopian forces backing Somalia's weak government and the powerful Islamic militia that has controlled much of the country.

But the appeal Tuesday from Francois Lonseny Fall, the U.N. secretary-general's special representative to Somalia, failed to produce results.

The Security Council couldn't agree on a draft presidential statement circulated by Qatar calling for an immediate cease-fire and the withdrawal of all foreign forces, specifically Ethiopian troops.

Other council members - including the United States, Russia, China, Britain, France and African members Ghana and Tanzania - objected to singling out Ethiopia and insisted on talks between the parties and a political agreement to achieve stability before foreign forces withdraw. Discussions were to continued Wednesday afternoon.

Meanwhile, Alpha Oumar Konare, chairman of the African Union Commission, has called a meeting Wednesday in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, of the 53-nation AU, the Arab League, and the Intergovernmental Authority on Development, a seven-nation East African group, to try to end the fighting and resume dialogue between Somalia's warring parties. (More...)

U.S. Signals Backing for Ethiopian Incursion Into Somalia

WASHINGTON, Dec. 26 — The United States on Tuesday signaled its support for the Ethiopian offensive in Somalia, calling it a response to “aggression” by Islamists who have since the summer been consolidating power in the country.

A spokeswoman for the State Department, Janelle Hironimus, said Ethiopia was trying to stem the flow of outside arms shipments to the Islamists. Ms. Hironimus added that Washington was concerned about reports that the Islamists were using child soldiers and abusing Ethiopian prisoners of war.

The statement was the most detailed by the United States since last week, when the long-simmering tension between Ethiopia and Somalia boiled over.

Ethiopia has long been a strong ally of Washington in the Horn of Africa. The American military has for years trained Ethiopian troops at bases in the eastern region. The training is part of a Pentagon effort to build the Ethiopian military into a bulwark against regional terrorist networks. (More...)

AFRICAN UNION AND ARAB LEAGUE CALL FOR ETHOPIA'S WITHDRAWAL

Addis Abeba, 27 Dec. (AKI) - The African Union (AU) and the Arab League on Wednesday issued calls for Ethiopia - whose troops are currently advancing on the Somali capital, Mogadishu - to withdraw from the conflict-scarred country. Both bodies urged Ethopia not to attack Mogadishu and to begin peace talks with the Islamist Union of Islamic Courts (UIC).

Arab League delegates gathered in the Egyptian capital, Cairo, said Ethopia should immediately withdraw its troops to prevent the escalating conflict spreading to the entire Horn of Africa region. The African Union (AU) and the Arab League also issued a joint appeal from the Ethiopian capital, Addis Abeba backing Somalia's transitional government based in the southern town of Baidoa. (More...)

Ethiopia urged to withdraw army

DJIBOUTI, December 27 -- Djibouti has called on its neighbour Ethiopia to withdraw its troops from Somalia, where they are backing the weak government against Islamist fighters, warning the conflict could destabilise the whole of the Horn of Africa.

The Djibouti government issued the appeal following a cabinet meeting late on Tuesday called to discuss the week-old conflict, said government spokesperson Ali Abdi Farah.

"The Djibouti government joins with the Arab League and the European Union (EU) and reiterates its position in solemnly calling for the parties in the conflict to call an immediate ceasefire, the withdrawal of Ethiopian forces from Somalia and the resumption of inter-Somalian negotiations," he said.(More...)

Former US Ambassador Questions Ethiopian Military Strategy in Somalia

As Ethiopia continues its military advances in Somalia, observers are debating the wisdom of the strategy. For an analysis, VOA English to Africa Service reporter Joe De Capua spoke with Dr. David Shinn of George Washington University, a former US ambassador to Ethiopia. Dr. Shinn gives his short-term and long-term views of the situation. He says he thinks Ethiopian forces may try to encircle the capital, Mogadishu.

“I strongly doubt they have any desire to go into Mogadishu and repeat the problems that earlier peacekeeping forces have had in a major, highly confined urban area. But perhaps just sit outside Mogadishu and try to in effect strangle the (Islamic) courts. What I’m perplexed at though is how this accomplishes that unless you’re there a very, very long time,” Shinn says.

As for the long term, the former ambassador says, “If you stay there, you open yourself to guerilla attack. And if you leave I guess you’re assuming that you reinstall those Somali elements, including the warlords, who were there before.”(More...)

Today's Top Stories

-Gerald R. Ford, 38th U.S. President, Dies at Age 93
-Saddam to die within 30 days as appeal fails
-Iranian President sends message to the Pope
-Pregnant Germans try to delay births to get New Year cash bonus
-Woman fakes kidnapping to avoid work

Somalia could be Ethiopia's quagmire - and create the same problems the U.S. is facing in Iraq

Also in the news: [A Reckless War Borne of Bad Choices] - [Mass Arrests on Christmas Day in Addis] - [UIC chairman says The duels with Ethiopia will be long and unending] - [Censorship in Ethiopia enters the next phase - All Internet cafes ordered to register users] - [Somali flare-up pits three African "dogs of war"] - [Ethiopian troops advance on Mogadishu] - [Meles says up to 1,000 Islamists dead in Ethiopia offensive}

International: [Egypt reports ninth human bird flu death] - [Iraq War Claims More U.S. Lives Than 9/11] - [Israeli PM favors talks with Syria] - [Asian Nations Mark Tsunami Anniversary] - [James Brown's last words: 'I'm going away'] and more of today's top stories

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On January 11, 2007, an important Human Rights Symposium will take place in Atlanta. The Coalition for HR 5680, represented by Professor Alemayehu G/ Mariam will participate. In collaboration with other organizations, the Coalition for HR 5680 plans to push for a strongly worded resolution calling for the IMMEDIATE and unconditional release of all prisoners of conscience in ETHIOPIA. (More on the symposium...)
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Mass Arrests on Christmas Day in Addis

Lewit

Last night police swarmed the streets of Addis in attempt to broaden the mass arrest efforts already underway.

In addition to the thousands of youths reportedly detained over the weekend, those even remotely connected to the opposition CUD are being systematically rounded up and detained for 'questioning'--thanks to a circulating 'official list' of names and license plate numbers of alleged party supporters.

It is assumed that this action is intended as a preventative measure in light of growing internal opposition to the war following the recent air strikes in Somalia.

People are advised to remain in their homes after dark.

Somalia could be Ethiopia's quagmire

A more involved military offensive might pose the same problems the U.S. is facing in Iraq, observers say.

By Edmund Sanders, Times Staff Writer
December 26, 2006

NAIROBI, KENYA — Ethiopia's attacks against Islamic forces in Somalia may have delivered a short-term military victory, but analysts warned that a longer offensive could present the U.S. ally with some of the same challenges facing American forces in Iraq.

Airstrikes against the Somali capital, Mogadishu, and other towns Sunday and Monday demonstrated Ethiopia's military superiority over the Islamic forces that seized most of southern Somalia during the summer.

But Ethiopia would be hard-pressed to dispatch enough troops to capture and occupy Islamic-held areas of Somalia.

"I don't understand what Ethiopia's objective is," said David Shinn, a former U.S. ambassador to Ethiopia and now a political science professor at George Washington University. "I can't imagine their objective is to occupy and hold Somalia. It was a very limited victory."

Most experts agree that Ethiopia's battle-tested army, numbering as many as 150,000 troops, could easily beat Somalia's ragtag Islamic fighters, which are believed to total under 10,000.(More...)

Meles says up to 1,000 Islamists dead in Ethiopia offensive

ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - Somalia's Islamists are in full retreat after Ethiopian airstrikes and a ground offensive that have killed up to 1,000 of the religious movement's fighters, Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said on Tuesday.

"A joint Somali government and Ethiopian force has broken the back of the international terrorist forces... These forces are in full retreat," Meles told reporters in Addis Ababa, adding that up to 1,000 Islamist fighters had been killed.

"A few are Somali but the majority are foreigners," he said of the dead.

Addis Ababa has vowed to protect Somalia's weak interim government from rival Islamists based in Mogadishu. A week of artillery and mortar duels between the two sides has spiraled into open war that both sides say has killed hundreds.

Meles said most fighters of the Somalia Islamic Courts Council (SICC) had fled to their home areas. He said Ethiopian forces were now hunting down troops from his arch-foe Eritrea, which he accuses of supporting the Islamists.

"The only forces we are pursuing are Eritreans who are hiding behind the skirts of Somali women, and terrorist mujahideen," Meles said. (More...)

Somali flare-up pits three African "dogs of war"

NAIROBI (Reuters) - Three wily old soldiers who know each other only too well from years at the heart of conflict and power-play across the Horn of Africa are once again pitting their military wits in the Somalia war.

Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, his ally Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf, and their mutual arch-foe -- Somali Islamist leader Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys -- are the key players in a flare-up many fear could spread across the region.

"These three have a long and tangled history. They can probably read each other's minds by now," said a Western diplomat who tracks Somalia.

"What they all share is plenty of battlefield experience. And you really could call them three of the Horn of Africa's oldest dogs of war."

Meles, who has sent his military into Somalia to curb the rise of a militant Islamist movement, is a 54-year-old former rebel leader who toppled dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam in 1991.

The shrewd and tough Ethiopian leader -- initially a darling of the West but increasingly viewed as an autocrat -- first sent troops into Somalia in the early 1990s to crush Islamic militants, led by Aweys no less.

Meles then fought what many outside the region perceived as a pointless 1998-2000 war with Eritrea over a desolate patch of border. The conflict killed 70,000 people and devastated what were already two of the world's poorest nations. (More...)

ICU chairman says The duels with Ethiopia will be long and unending

Mogadishu 26, Dec.06 ( Sh.M.Network) In a press conference held in the capital Mogadishu, Islamic Courts chairman Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed told reporters that the war between the ICU and the Ethiopian troops backing the Somali government will be long and unending.

Ahmed said, “There was a meeting in Emirates between us and the Ethiopian government. They put forward conditions that we should cut our relations with countries like Eritrea, Sudan and other world countries and that we should give up Ethiopian rebels whom they said are in Somalia”.

Ahmed reiterated that there were no al-Qaeda members in Somalia.
Ethiopian prime minister Males Zenawi said on Sunday, that meeting between Ethiopia and Islamists in Somalia ended in failure, and that his country was forced to go into war with Islamic movements. United States says Somalia’s Islamic Courts include radicals and moderates.

Ethiopian fighter jets bombed Mogadishu’s international airport and Baledogle, which is 100 km away from the capital Mogadishu. Islamists retreated many key towns in central and southern Somalia where Ethiopian backed government troops soon occupied.
The Somali government in Baidoa announced that it would extend forgiveness to Islamic Courts forces that surrender. (More...)

Censorship in Ethiopia enters the next phase - All Internet cafes ordered to register users

Groum Abate

The Ethiopian Telecommunication Agency is distributing forms for Internet cafes in the country to register internet users. Sources said that the agency in collaboration with the Federal Police is disbursing the letter to all cyber cafes in Addis Ababa and other major towns.

The form requests the internet user’s ID, full name and residential address. Users will be registered and police officials would collect the form for identification. If an internet café is found giving service to unregistered customers, the owners would be jailed for violation of the regulation with severe punishment.

Ethiopian troops advance on Mogadishu

MOGADISHU (Reuters) - Sensing victory against its Somali Islamist foes, Ethiopia attacked retreating fighters from the air on Tuesday and threatened to seize their stronghold Mogadishu after a week of war in the Horn of Africa.

"Ethiopian forces are on their way to Mogadishu. They are about 70 km (40 miles) away and it is possible they could capture it in the next 24 to 48 hours," Somalia's ambassador to Ethiopia Abdikarin Farah told reporters in Addis Ababa.

Islamists said any attempt to take Mogadishu would end in disaster for the attackers. Islamists said any attempt to take Mogadishu would end in disaster for the attackers.

"It will be their destruction and doomsday," Islamist spokesman Abdi Kafi told Reuters. "It is a matter of time before we start striking at them from all directions". (More...)

Today's Top Stories

-A Reckless War Borne of Bad Choices: Enset
-Egypt reports ninth human bird flu death
-Iraq War Claims More U.S. Lives Than 9/11
-Israeli PM favors talks with Syria
-Asian Nations Mark Tsunami Anniversary
-James Brown's last words: 'I'm going away'
-Cash on offer for S Koreans who stay away from prostitutes

Censorship in Ethiopia enters the next phase - All Internet cafes ordered to register users

Groum Abate

The Ethiopian Telecommunication Agency is distributing forms for Internet cafes in the country to register internet users. Sources said that the agency in collaboration with the Federal Police is disbursing the letter to all cyber cafes in Addis Ababa and other major towns.

The form requests the internet user’s ID, full name and residential address. Users will be registered and police officials would collect the form for identification. If an internet café is found giving service to unregistered customers, the owners would be jailed for violation of the regulation with severe punishment.

Breaking news - Ethiopia Launches Airstrikes in Somalia, bombs Airports and Bridges

Also in the news: [Ethiopia 'officially' at war] - [U.S. policy in the Horn of Africa may aid al-Qaida, experts warn]

Ethiopia 'officially' at war

In his address to the Nation concerning the current situation in Somalia, broadcast live on Ethiopian Television and Radio, Prime Minister Meles said Ethiopia had been "forced to enter a war" and that the Ethiopian National Defense Forces will relinquish Somalia immediately after accomplishing their mission.

Ethiopia Launches Airstrikes in Somalia, bombs Airports and Bridges

Mogadishu - Ethiopian warplanes attacked two Islamist-held airfields in Somalia on Monday, witnesses said, in the most dramatic strikes yet of a war threatening to engulf the Horn of Africa.

The attacks - one on the capital Mogadishu - came hours after Ethiopia formally declared war, saying it was protecting its sovereignty against a movement run by terrorists.

Fighting raged for a seventh day near Daynunay, close to the government seat, Baidoa. Witnesses reported truck-loads of Ethiopian wounded being evacuated, and Islamist soldiers were said to be reciting the Qur'an as they went into battle.

A MiG fighter struck Mogadishu's international airport with machinegun fire soon after dawn, airport managing director Abdirahim Adan told Reuters. Three jets later attacked Somalia's biggest military airfield at Baledogle, 100km west of Mogadishu. (More...)

U.S. policy in the Horn of Africa may aid al-Qaida, experts warn

"Even powerful U.S. politicians have had a role in American policy surrounding the complex conflict. Dick Armey, the former majority leader in the GOP-run House of Representatives, has been lobbying for Ethiopia (government), congressional aides said. Last summer, Armey worked to block a vote on a bipartisan bill to cut U.S. security aid to Ethiopia if it failed to halt political repression. The Bush administration also opposed the bill." - Jonathan S. Landay and Shashank Bengali
--------------------------------

NAIROBI, Kenya — As fighting intensified Friday between Somali Islamists and an Ethiopian intervention force, Western diplomats and experts warned that U.S. policy in the Horn of Africa - intended to curb Islamic radicalism - may not only be fueling this newest conflict, but also may be making it easier for al-Qaida to gain a foothold in the strategic region.

Fighting raged for a fourth day around Baidoa, the last bastion of Somalia's U.N.-recognized Transitional Federal Government, which is depending on Ethiopian troops for its survival. Both Islamists and the government claimed advances after what was described as a heavy artillery exchange.

The top Islamist official renewed his call for "jihad" against what he said was Ethiopian invaders, and there were reports of an armored column of Ethiopian tanks heading into central Somalia. (More...)

The Week in Review

• Monday - December 18, 2006

[Free our leaders, stop the war] - [Yemen And Sudan Urge Ethiopia to Pull Its Troops Out of Somalia] - [International Court Close to Filing Darfur War Crimes Charges] - [289.7 million birr for Ethiopia's Millennium Festival] - [What is the point of war with Somalia?] - [Somali Islamists hint they are open to talks with Ethiopia]


• Tuesday - December 19, 2006

[Mass detentions in Addis] - [ION: Somalia as a backdrop] - [Internet Anti-Jamming Technology Companies Reach Milestone Agreement] - [In the Name of...Justice?] - [Guns silent as Somali Islamists' deadline passes]


• Wednesday - December 20, 2006

[Heavy fighting erupts in Somalia] - [Many in Ethiopia See Premier's Talk of War As Ploy to Tighten Grip] - [EU Envoy makes bid to avoid war in Somalia ] - [In response to the Interview With Meles Zenawi]


• Thursday - December 21, 2006

[Smith: New State Dept. Policy Puts Internet Repressive Regimes on Notice] - [Somali fighting is 'full scale war' - Islamist] - [Many Ethiopians take dim view of burgeoning war with Somalia]


• Friday - December 22, 2006

[Tanks roll towards battlefront as UIC claims killing of Ethiopian soldiers] - [Addis Ababa: Police kill a young man escaping round-up] - [SOCEPP: OPEN LETTER TO THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT] - [Thousands Flee Fighting in Somalia] - [Ethiopia’s government media struggling to sell war with Somalia]

Tanks roll towards battlefront as UIC claims killing of Ethiopian soldiers

Also in the news: [Addis Ababa: Police kill a young man escaping round-up] - [SOCEPP: OPEN LETTER TO THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT] - [Thousands Flee Fighting in Somalia] - [Ethiopia’s government media struggling to sell war with Somalia]

International: [Global Terror Concerns Rise For Holidays] -[8 Marines charged in Iraqi civilian massacre] - [North Korea talks end without agreement] - [The best piece of mathematics seen in a long time] and more of today's top stories


Picture of the day - U.S Sen. Joseph Lieberman lights Hannukah candles with immigrants to Israel from Ethiopia at a Jewish Agency's Absorption center in Mevaseret Zion near Jerusalem. (AP Photo/Sebastian Scheiner)


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Ethiopia: Free-press calendar 2007

Landscape
Portrait
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Addis Ababa: Police kill a young man escaping round-up

EZ - Federal police shot dead a young man who tried to escape from the round up in Addis Ababa. Abebe Hailemariam who was in early twenties was killed when he refused to accept instruction by the federal police to enter the police garage in front of the Sheraton Addis where hundreds of young men who were rounded up from the streets of Addis were held.

Abebe lived in the neighborhood of the Filwha area where the round up was the most rampant. The EPRDF government had reptile conducted raids in the Filwha and Arogew Kera area in the last two weeks.

Eye witnesses said Abebe was trying to escape what locals call "affessa" when police opened fire and killed him.(More...)

UIC says scores of Ethiopian soldiers killed in the fighting

Authorities of Islamic Courts Union in Somalia capital Mogadishu claimed on Thursday that its fighters had gained victories over the latest skirmishes with the Ethiopian forces near Baidoa city, the base of thetransitional federal government.

In a news conference held around 5:00 pm local time in the ex-villa Baidoa (Presidential residence in Mogadishu) which is now headquarter for the ICU, the officials said they had subjected causalities to what they called ‘The Ethiopian invaders’ in the clashes in Daynunay and Idale areas close to Baidoa, the seat of TFG in southwest of Somalia.

Sheik Ibrahim Shukri known as ‘Abu-Zainab’ the ICU spokesman for Juba regions in southern Somalia but currently chosen to be the Islamist spokesman for the war issues, said its combatants have killed 203 soldiers of Ethiopian troops and wounded other more in the latest battles near Baidoa 240km southwest of Somalia. (More...)

Ethiopian tanks roll towards Somali battlefront

BAIDOA, Somalia (Reuters) - Ethiopian tanks rolled to the battlefront on Friday as Somali Islamists and Somalia's pro-government troops pounded each other with artillery and rockets in a fourth day of clashes edging closer to all-out war.

The Islamists said they would send ground troops to attack en masse on Saturday, as opposed to fighting from a distance with heavy weapons as the two sides have done so far, ignoring a European peace initiative.

"Our troops have not started to attack. From tomorrow the attack will start," Islamist deputy spokesman Ibrahim Shukri told a news conference.

Witnesses near the fighting on two fronts near the government's encircled stronghold of Baidoa in south-central Somalia said they heard the rumble of armour before dawn.

"I was awakened this morning by heavy sounds of tanks. I woke up and saw seven Ethiopian tanks heading towards Daynunay," Baidoa resident Abdullahi Ali told Reuters.

An Islamist fighter near one of the fronts in Daynunay said the tanks had attacked his unit, and he was awaiting anti-tank weapons to fight back. (More...)

Ethiopia’s government media struggling to sell war with Somalia
The Associated Press

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia: Ethiopia's government media barrages the public with justifications for war with an Islamic movement in neighboring Somalia. Many in Ethiopia's capital, though, don't buy it.

Exhausted by a war with neighboring Eritrea that ended in 2000 and by election violence last year that saw nearly 200 citizens die at the hands of police, Ethiopians are suspicious of their leader, Prime Minister Meles Zenawi.

"Meles wants this war," said Abiye Fikre, a shopkeeper in the capital. "The problems are his own creation."

Adds butcher Abebe Belayaneh: "If Meles has his way, we'll make war all over the Horn."

There are questions the war rhetoric is meant to win Western backing for Meles. Some Ethiopians accuse the United States in particular of ignoring Meles's poor human rights record because it sees him as an ally in the war on terror. U.S. troops attached to an anti-terror operation based in nearby Djibouti can be seen from time to time in the Ethiopian capital, fueling rumors. (More...)

OPEN LETTER TO THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT:
RELEASE SOLOMON ABERRA AND ALL DETAINED ETHIOPIAN REFUGEES

SOCEPP

ETHIOPIAN ASYLUM SEEKER SOLOMON ABERRA is detained under harsh conditions in Britain and facing deportation to Ethiopia where he would surely face torture and possible ”disappearance”. Solomon is nunder medical treatment for cancer. His asylum request has been rejected and he is being detained, along with other Ethiopians, at the Immigrant Deportation Center,Hesler, 2 Dolphine Way,Gosport,Hampshire PO12 2AW.

Forced to sleep on cold floors, Solomon Aberra is depressed and in need of medical care and assurance/security. It is sad to note that the concerned British uthorities have ignored all notions of decency and human rights in their callous treatment of Ethiopian asylum seekers.(More...)

The best piece of mathematics seen in a long time


The most significant scientific achievement of 2006 was, according to Science magazine, the solution of a 100-year-old mathematical problem that had baffled some of the best minds of the 20th century.



Russian Mathematician Grigory Perelman solved this problem in a series of papers he circulated in 2003, and this year the mathematical community officially recognized his solution by offering him the Fields Medal, the most important prize in mathematics.

The Poincaré conjecture, as the problem is known, belongs to the field of math called topology. But the methods that led to Perelman's proof took hints from the physical world, and may have implications for research in theoretical physics, experts say.

The conjecture was stated in the early 1900s by the French mathematician Henri Poincaré. It concerns the shape of three-dimensional spheres -- spheres that have three dimensions, as opposed to the surface of an ordinary sphere, which only has two: latitude and longitude. Mathematically, one way to construct a three-dimensional sphere is by taking the boundary of a four-dimensional ball, which fills out a solid region in four-dimensional space. Mathematically, one way to construct a three-dimensional sphere is by taking the boundary of a four-dimensional ball, which lives in four-dimensional space. (More...)

Related Story - BBC: Maths solution tops science class

Today's Top Stories

-Thousands Flee Fighting in Somalia
-Global Terror Concerns Rise For Holidays
-8 Marines charged in Iraqi civilian massacre
-North Korea talks end without agreement
-Gaza's residents rally for peace
-A real Christmas story

Smith: New State Dept. Policy Puts Internet Repressive Regimes on Notice

Also in the news: [Somali fighting is 'full scale war' - Islamist] - [Many Ethiopians take dim view of burgeoning war with Somalia]

International: [U.N. Council Renews Liberia Diamond Ban] -[Obama ad hits New Hampshire & D.C.] - [Iraqi bloggers react to the violence] - [U.S. to declassify secrets aged 25 and older] - [The Lennon Files: The FBI and the Beatle] and more of today's top stories


Map locating the latest violence in Somalia. Somalia's Ethiopia-backed forces and Islamic fighters have clashed near the seat of government in Baidoa with both sides claiming inflicting massive casualities.(AFP/Graphic)

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FORUM REPORT

Exiled Journalists' Network: Public Order, State Security and Press Freedom in Ethiopia - 27 & 29 September 2006 (London,UK)
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Somali fighting is 'full scale war' - Islamist

Mogadishu - A leader of Somalia's Islamists has called fighting near the government's base 'a full scale war,' blaming neighbouring Ethiopia for starting the violence.

Fighting between the Islamists and forces loyal to the transitional government continued Thursday, a day after both sides agreed to return to peace talks.

The two sides exchanged missile, artillery and mortar fire for a second day near the interim government's seat of Baidoa about 250 kilometres west of the capital Mogadishu.

'It seems that Ethiopia started the full scale war,' said Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, the leader who is charged by the US of having ties to al-Qaeda. 'The fighting will spark the entire region and it will be disastrous for Ethiopia.'

Several hundred Ethiopian troops were sent to Somalia, said to be training the government troops but the Islamists claim there are thousands of them fighting alongside the government forces. The Islamists have vowed to wage jihad (holy war) on any Ethiopian soldier in Somalia. (More...)

Many Ethiopians take dim view of burgeoning war with Somalia
By Stephanie McCrummen, Washington Post

ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA - As Ethiopia and Somalia's Islamic Courts movement inch closer to all-out conflict, a widespread view among people here in the capital is that Prime Minister Meles Zenawi is using the conflict to distract people from a vast array of internal problems and to justify further repression of opposition groups, including ethnic Somalis in Ethiopia.

In particular, opponents of war say he is playing up the claim that there are Al-Qaida operatives within the Islamic Courts in order to maintain the support of the U.S. government, which relies on a steady flow of Ethiopian intelligence that some regional analysts say is of dubious value.

A recent attempt by Congress to sanction the Ethiopian government for human-rights violations failed after former Republican House leader Dick Armey of Texas argued that the United States needs Ethiopia to fight terrorism. (More...)

Smith: New State Dept. Policy Puts Internet Repressive Regimes on Notice

"There are two pillars to every dictatorship - secret police and propaganda. The Internet companies that comply with these regimes enable dictatorships to impose both pillars by allowing them to spread lies and find people whose only crime is wanting freedom and democracy,"Chris Smith

Washington - Representive Chris Smith (R-NJ) said he plans to reintroduce the "Global Online Freedom Act" today after the U.S. State Department announced its new strategy on global Internet freedom organized around three priorities that is designed to expand access to the Internet by spotlighting and protesting abuses of Internet freedom, pressing the message of Internet freedom in official dialogue and promoting innovative approaches to combat Internet censorship.

"This is a historic day. Today, the U.S. is taking the first step toward tearing down the Great Firewall. The repressive regimes and the businesses that enable the censorship, political persecution and stifling of human rights need to understand that there will be more scrutiny to follow and they must change their ways," said Smith.

Smith, who in February of 2006 held a landmark seven-hour hearing on the issue of internet freedom, said this strategy "sends the message that the U.S. government means business."

Smith added, "This new strategy puts internet repressive regimes on notice and shows we mean business, but it also sends a message to the corporations that are enabling these abuses that it is good business to promote human rights."
(More...)

Iraqi bloggers react to the violence

(Iraqi Rocker or "Meemo" is a 19 year old man living in Baghdad): "Good Bye Blue Sky:

I leave Baghdad in two days. I'm going to Syria as a first step to the world.

I'm not going to see death anymore; I'm not going to hear car explosions again; I will come back to life again. I'm not living dead anymore, I'll be back to humanity in two days. Goodbye Baghdad, I hope that you will recover soon and that peace will return. I wish you peace, Baghdad, for the New Year."

(Chikitita is a 27 year old woman living in Baghdad): "Monday, December 18, 2006: Am I the only one who believes that the post-invasion crimes committed by the government-backed militias have kind of desecrated the memory of the mass graves victims?

Isn't it ironic that such an appalling crime makes Saddam look like an angel, compared to today's Satans. At least the bodies were buried when he was in power; he didn't give orders to dump them in piles of trash with the three bullets to the head trademark.

On second thoughts, I think Iraqis should be thankful to the democratically elected government.

But for them, we wouldn't have felt the sense of equality; when bakers and academics, the rich and poor have all become victims of the militia-infiltrated security agencies as well as hard-line insurgents."(More...)

Today's Top Stories

-U.N. Council Renews Liberia Diamond Ban
-Obama ad hits New Hampshire & D.C.
-UK soldier accused of giving secrets to Iran
-Ahmadinejad allies last in final Tehran vote count
-North Korea Talks Hit a Significant Obstacle
-U.S. to declassify secrets aged 25 and older
-N Korea's Kim Jong-il gives karaoke boost to army morale
-The Lennon Files: The FBI and the Beatle

Heavy fighting erupts in Somalia

Also in the news: [Many in Ethiopia See Premier's Talk of War As Ploy to Tighten Grip] - [EU Envoy makes bid to avoid war in Somalia ] - [In response to the Interview With Meles Zenawi]

International: [Libya Sentences 6 to Die in H.I.V. Case] - [Cheney to testify at CIA leak trial] - [Al-Zawahri: U.S. Should Talk to al-Qaida] and more of today's top stories




European Commissioner Louis Michel with UIC leader Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys. 20 Dec,06 (more on this story below)

Heavy fighting erupts in Somalia

Heavy fighting has broken out close to the base of the weak Somali interim government in Baidoa. A deadline from Islamists for Ethiopia to withdraw troops from Somalia or face "major attacks" expired on Tuesday.

Residents say pro-government forces and the Islamic militia exchanged mortar shells at Daynunay, 20km from Baidoa. A European Union envoy was in Baidoa to meet officials. There are fears an all-out war would plunge the entire Horn of Africa region into crisis.

On a mission to get peace talks to resume, the EU's development commissioner, Louis Michel, has now travelled on to the capital, Mogadishu, and met Union of Islamic Court (UIC) leaders. (More...)

Many in Ethiopia See Premier's Talk of War As Ploy to Tighten Grip
Washington Post
Stephanie McCrummen

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia -- War or no war with Somalia, Mulunesh Abebayhu wants out. Out of her teaching job, where Ethiopian security forces constantly harass her because of her political views.



Out of this city, where hundreds of protesters were killed by police bullets after disputed elections last year. And, if she can manage, out of this country that she believes has plunged into the abyss of dictatorship at the hands of its prime minister, Meles Zenawi, a staunch ally of the United States in the vulnerable Horn of Africa.

"He confuses the Westerners so that he can keep ruling," said Abebayhu, 54, an opposition member arrested along with an estimated 30,000 others in the sweeping post-election crackdown last year. "Our party does not believe in this war. Our priority is to eradicate poverty, not go to war. Meles knows this war is a way for his system to survive."

As Ethiopia and Somalia's Islamic Courts movement inch closer each day to all-out conflict, a widespread view among people here in the capital is that Meles is using the conflict to distract people from a vast array of internal problems and to justify further repression of opposition groups, including ethnic Somalis in Ethiopia.

In particular, opponents of war say he is playing up the claim that there are al-Qaeda operatives within the Islamic Courts in order to maintain the support of the U.S. government, which relies on a steady flow of Ethiopian intelligence that some regional analysts say is of dubious value.

A recent attempt by Congress to sanction the Ethiopian government for widespread human rights violations failed after former Republican House leader Richard K. Armey (R-Tex.), lobbying on behalf of the Ethiopian government, argued that the United States needs Ethiopia in order to fight terrorism.(More...)

In response to the Interview With Meles Zenawi

For almost a week now I have been trying to make peace with the interview given bZenawi to a reporter from the Washington Post. I have re-read it several times, alternately cursed and laughed, yet each time I pass the pages lying on my coffee table it makes my blood boil.

I just can’t seem to digest the dispicable irony of this man publicly claiming support for the transitional government of Somalia (TGS) solely on the grounds that “it represents all the clans in Somalia” (as reported in the Ethiopian Herald, July 2006)—a bold claim from a dictator whose entire leadership has been fashioned from the divide-and-rule tactics of a minotrity clique!

There has not, as of yet, been significant evidence to suggest that the Union of Islamic Courts (UIC) has any intention of establishing Taliban-style rule and the threats of “jihadist attack’ on Ethiopian soil remain greatly exaggerated--despite his cunning attempts to ridicule the “intelligent people in the 21st century” who correctly assume that unprovoked invasion could eventually push the Courts (10 out of 15 of which are currently considered moderate) to retreat into extremism, resorting to terrorist methods in response to the unprovoked attacks. (More...)

EU Envoy makes bid to avoid war in Somalia

NAIROBI, Kenya - A European Union envoy plans to fly to Somalia to promote peace talks after weeks of saber rattling by the besieged government and an advancing Islamic movement.

But with troops on the move, suspected terrorists emerging as leaders and foreign fighters pouring into the country, only masterful diplomacy and some arm twisting will get both sides to back away from the brink of war for very long.

Louis Michel, the European commissioner for development and aid, will try to get the two sides to stop fighting and commit to high-level peace talks, according to an EU statement released Tuesday.

Fears of a full-blown civil war have intensified in recent weeks as both the government and Muslim leaders dismissed efforts to schedule peace talks and threatened military action. Both sides have moved fighters, fuel and ammunition to the front lines.

Somalia has not had an effective government since 1991. The current government, supported by troops from neighboring Ethiopia, holds only a small area around the central town of Baidoa. The Islamic militias control the capital, Mogadishu, but have also fanned out across most of southern Somalia.(More...)

Today's Top Stories

-Libya Sentences 6 to Die in H.I.V. Case
-Cheney to testify at CIA leak trial
-Al-Zawahri: U.S. Should Talk to al-Qaida
-Spain: ETA peace process in 'preliminary' phase
-One Last Time, Rocky!

Mass detentions in Addis

Also in the news: [ION: Somalia as a backdrop] - [Internet Anti-Jamming Technology Companies Reach Milestone Agreement] - [In the Name of...Justice?] - [Guns silent as Somali Islamists' deadline passes]

International: [Europe Condemns Libya's Death Penalty for Foreign Medics] - [Pentagon: Al-Sadr more dangerous than al Qaeda] - [Israeli PM Makes Surprise Trip To Jordan] - [Scientists find over 50 new species in Borneo]

Somalia as a backdrop
Indian Ocean Newsletter N° 1204 16/12/2006

Meles Zenawi is trying to moderate his internal opposition so as to have his hands free to handle the inevitable armed conflict with Somalian Islamists.

Several initiatives are currently under way to find a way out of the internal political crisis in Ethiopia. Thus, Ephraim Isaac (seen here), a Falasha living in the United States where he heads the Institute of Semitic Studies at Princeton University and is chairman of the Peace and Development Committee for Ethiopia and the Yemenite Jewish Federation of America, last month visited the leaders of the Coalition for Unity and Democracy Party (CUDP) in prison in Addis-Ababa.

He presented himself to them as a “non-partisan” emissary, sent by Prime Minister Meles Zenawi to ask them to dissociate themselves officially from the Alliance for Freedom and Democracy (AFD) and the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF, armed opposition). In return they would be freed before the end of the year.

Furthermore, also according to our sources, discreet negotiations are under way between pro and anti-government Ethiopian intellectuals. These informal discussions have set the members of the Citizens’ Charter Group (CCG) against the intellectuals with ties to the regime in place, such as Professor Bahru Zewde in Addis Ababa.

Last week Zewde went to Paris for a meeting with, among others, Pr Mammo Muchie and Tecle Zerihun from Unesco. Some of these intellectuals have ties with Ephraim Isaac.

At the end of the 1999s, Ephraim Isaac had founded an Elders Peace Committee and undertook mediation between Ethiopia and Eritrea, without being able to prevent an armed border conflict from breaking out.

Internet Anti-Jamming Technology Companies Reach Milestone Agreement

ATLANTA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Four world-leading companies in Internet anti-jamming technologies reached an agreement today that starts full-scale cooperation in their technology and business operations. The four companies are the World’s Gate, Inc., the Dynamic Internet Technology, Inc., the UltraReach Internet Corp, and the Garden Networks for Freedom of Information Inc.

Internet users in China are unable to access blocked overseas web sites without outside help from the free world. Several companies, including the above four, have successfully developed and implemented technologies (anti-jamming services, also known as anti-blockade services) to enable Chinese users to break through the blockade and access overseas web sites.

The companies’ technologies will help users not only in mainland China, but also other authoritarian regimes, including Belarus, Cuba, Ethiopia, Iran, Laos, North Korea, Tunisia, and Vietnam -- thanks to the borderless nature of Internet.

At the same time, these tools also effectively protect user privacy and online safety by providing a secure Internet access mechanism for the users. (More...)

Guns silent as Somali Islamists' deadline passes

BAIDOA, Somalia, Dec 19 (Reuters) - Guns were silent in the sole stronghold of Somalia's interim government on Tuesday as an Islamist deadline to Ethiopian troops to leave or face holy war passed with conciliatory signs.

Around the dusty agricultural trading post where Somalia's shaky government conducts business from a converted warehouse, residents reported calm despite the threat by the country's Islamist movement.

Nonetheless, the Islamists and Ethiopian-backed government troops remained dug in along a tense frontline just kilometres (miles) apart.

Baidoa is a potential ground zero in what many fear will become a regional war, sucking in Horn of Africa rivals Ethiopia and Eritrea and spawning suicide bombings in east Africa.

The Somali Islamic Courts Council (SICC) said they wanted peace talks, and backed off a threat by defence chief Yusuf Mohamed Siad "Inda'ade" that gave the Ethiopians a week to leave -- thrusting war fears into overdrive. (More...)

In the Name of...Justice?

Amidst reports of war and attempted negotiation with the political prisoners, life in Ethiopia is becoming far more confusing for this ferenj!



It seems that everyone has a different opinion regarding the outcome of the political trial these days, as the next court session (February 19, 2007) draws closer by the day. Some say that Meles must be under pressure from the international community to release the prisoners immediately, while others argue that the Americans need them to remain behind bars in order to successfully wage this proxy “War on Terror”.

There are also those who suggest that, due to mounting civil dissent, the Prime Minister is left with no choice but to release the leaders (in hopes of rallying support for the war and preventing armed struggle); still others insist it cannot be that simple—and fear this dictator has something far more sinister up his sleeve.

Regardless, should the trial actually reach February’s scheduled hearing, a handful of men will be of particular interest; as much has already been disclosed about head Prosecutor Shemiels Kemal by far more competant bloggers here, I will stick with the three High Court Judges--Mohammad Abdulsani, Leul Gebremariam and Adil Ahmed.

Judge Mohammad seems to have the least suspicious CV of the three and is generally considered apolitical. Currently in is his late-30s, he graduated in law from the Civil Service College in Addis Ababa and practiced as a prosecutor in the SNNPR region for years before being appointed as a federal high court judge.(More...)

Mass detentions in Addis Abeba

Police is rounding up young men from the streets of Addis.

In what some think parallels the Derg's "Affesa era", hundreds had been detained while walking on the streets of the city, standing in their neighborhood or watching European football in little sports bars on Saturday and Monday.

Some were released from detention on Monday after they presented ID cards which proved that either they were students or government workers. Those who worked for private employers were told that their status would be further investigated.

"We didn't know what crime we committed. We were returning to out neighborhood after watching the Manchester United game on Sunday. They encircled us and ordered us to jump onto a truck. We were taken to woreda 10 police station," a teenager who was released the next day said.

He claims that hundreds still remain there. Some eye witnesses said street kids were being beaten by police men while they were rounded up. (More...)

Today's Top Stories

-Europe Condemns Libya's Death Penalty for Foreign Medics
-Pentagon: Al-Sadr more dangerous than al Qaeda
-U.S. Plans Military Buildup To Warn Iran
-Israeli PM Makes Surprise Trip To Jordan
-Scientists find over 50 new species in Borneo
-Trump decides not to fire Miss USA
-Marijuana top U.S. cash crop, policy analyst says

Free our leaders, stop the war

Also in the news: [Yemen And Sudan Urge Ethiopia to Pull Its Troops Out of Somalia] - [International Court Close to Filing Darfur War Crimes Charges] - [289.7 million birr for Ethiopia's Millennium Festival] - [What is the point of war with Somalia?] - [Somali Islamists hint they are open to talks with Ethiopia]

International: [Former spy chief takes over Pentagon] - [Hamas to boycott early elections] - [Iran vote "decisive defeat" for president: reformers] - [The Vatican to own a team in Serie A?] and more of today's top stories.
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(capitalethiopia) Some 289.7 million birr is required to finance projects proposed to mark the Ethiopian new millennium, according to the Ethiopian Millennium Festival National Secretariat's draft strategic plan. presented on Wednesday for evaluation and endorsement by the Ethiopian Millennium Festival Council, the Secretariat's strategic plan comprises a number of multifaceted millennium projects, including those proposed by individuals and private businesses. According to the strategic plan, projects the Secretariat proposed will consume 170.8 million birr, while those proposed by individuals and businesses (and submitted to the Secretariat) are expected to take 118.9 million birr.


Free our leaders and stop the war
Press Release

Under the banner, "Free our leaders and stop the war" Europe kinijit support groups in collaboration with civic organizations will be holding vigils in Johannesburg and more than 8 European cities. Our leading slogan will be "This time there is no Christmas in Ethiopia"; a line taken from the famous song composed by the world top artists to raise funds to tackle famine in Ethiopia in 1984.

We call upon all Ethiopians all over the world to join us by organizing similar vigils to remember the dead and the imprisoned and protest against a war designed by Meles Zenawi only to prolong his stay in power.

The history of Christian Ethiopians is as old as Christianity. Its beginnings came long before Europe accepted Christianity. On the record this will be, at least, the 1650th celebration of Christmas holiday in Ethiopia. Yet Christmas this year in Ethiopia will not be celebrated with customary joy and festivity.

The reason for it is not a natural calamity such as the famine of the 1980s which forced Europeans to sing the famous song; "Do They Know it is Christmas" to raise funds to feed the starving.

The misery associated with this Christmas is a product of the actions of a brutal regime. The ruling party that lost the May 2005 general election and its determination to hang on to power by brute force has turned Ethiopia virtually into hell. Hundreds have lost their lives; thousands have disappeared and tens of thousands have ended up in prisons and concentration camps to languish in subhuman conditions.

Among them we find democratically elected members of parliament that are leaders of the largest opposition party, CUDP, Coalition for unity and democracy. The first ever democratically elected Mayor of the city of the capital, Addis Ababa, scores of journalists who were serving the fledgling free press and a number of prominent civic organisation leaders are also among those thrown into prison. Torture and extrajudicial killing has replaced the rule of law.

In its desperate attempt to cling on to power, and to divert the attention of the indigenous population and the international community from its crime against humanity, the government of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi is now actively campaigning to invade Somalia under the guise of the war on terror. The prospect of a dangerous and destructive war is looming.

On top of the gross human rights violations and the grinding poverty which Ethiopians have to endure recently, a new front of suffering has been launched to make their lives more unbearable.

It is in this climate of daily abuse, fear and uncertainty that Ethiopians are forced to greet Christmas.

This Christmas, you can give millions of Ethiopians a gift that will cost you nothing.

Tell your representatives in parliament and government officials to use their influence on the Ethiopian government and demand the release of all political prisoners in Ethiopia.

Tell them to work on your behalf to stop the prime minister of Ethiopia from executing a war that will drag the whole region deep into troubled water.

Yemen And Sudan Urge Ethiopia to Pull Its Troops Out of Country

December 18, 2006 - Yemen's effort to mollify the dire situation in Somalia was supplemented by an endeavor of Sudan that is also taking roles in preventing the Horn of African country from falling into clannish wars again.

The news came as Ethiopian troops were massed along the Ethiopian border with Somalia. Fresh Ethiopian troops were also brought in the government base of Baidoa to protect the transitional federal government (TFG) against the expected invasion of Islamic Courts fighters that gave an ultimatum, which will last tomorrow. The ultimatum calls on the Ethiopian government to pull its troops out of the country or that it will face major jihad wars.

Reliable sources in Yemen say that Sudan and Yemen were cooperating to convince the Ethiopian government to withdraw its troops from Somalia to calm aggravating situation in the country. (More...)

What is the point of war with Somalia?

It is foolish in the extreme not only to resort to force before necessity compels, but especially to madly create the conditions that will lead to this necessity: Benjamin Tucker, Liberty , May 22, 1886

By Kebour Ghenna

...Ethiopia is in a no-win situation for favoring war and for tying its interest with the TFG, a party perceived by the Somalis public as not defending their interests. Yes, Ethiopia has the fire power and the tacit support of the US (for now), but we all have learnt (and continue to learn) this is not enough to bring conflicts to end. Of all countries, Ethiopia should not believe in war with Somalia - a country with which we share part of our soul. Ethiopia is constituted with an important region inhabited and governed by Somalis who share their culture, language, and religion with Somalia .

Let's use our wisdom and start working on political compromises and winning peace. One word of cautious: by closing the doors of participation to the ICU, it is a question of time before it (the ICU) finds a segment, say among the opposition in the Somali regional administration that defer from Ethiopia's policy, to cooperate and communicate with. Finally, by seeking parliamentary power to conduct military action to solve the Somali conflict, I am afraid the government may have underpinned its decision on political choice instead of national security necessity. Is this is a gamble worth taking? (More...)

Somali Islamists hint they are open to talks with Ethiopia

ADEN, Yemen (AFP) - Somalia's powerful Islamist movement appeared to open the door to talks with neighboring Ethiopia to avert war with the weak Ethiopian-backed Somali transitional government.

A top Islamist official, Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, said the movement was prepared for "dialogue" with Ethiopia, which has troops in Somalia protecting the government.

At the same time, Ahmed and the speaker of the Somali parliament announced a deal to bring the Islamists and the government back to the negotiating table after peace talks collapsed last month.

However, the prospects were unclear as the Islamists have given Ethiopia until Tuesday to withdraw or face major attacks and the Somali government says the window of opportunity for talks has closed. (More...)

International Court Close to Filing Darfur War Crimes Charges

The prosecutor for the International Criminal Court (ICC) told the U.N. Security Council December 15 that he has enough evidence of "willful killings, massive rapes and pillaging of entire cities" to charge a number of individuals with war crimes in the Darfur region of Sudan by February 2007.

In Washington, a senior U.S. diplomat reaffirmed support for a hybrid peacekeeping force made up of United Nations and African Union troops. The United States also is willing to consider a "no-fly zone" to protect civilians in Darfur.

ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo said there is "sufficient evidence to identify those who bear the greatest responsibility for some of the worst crimes in Darfur," including torture, murder and rape, but declined to reveal the names of those under investigation or say how many are involved. Presentation of the first case, Moreno-Ocampo said, "sends a signal to those who are considering committing further crimes that they cannot do so with impunity."

The prosecutor told the 15-nation Security Council that the perpetrators of atrocities "are standing in the way of progress towards peace and security in Darfur, as well as the neighboring states." (More...)

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