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Tuesday, July 31, 2007

U.N. elections consultant testifies for Daniel and Netsanet, says they "acted within law"

Check back with ETP for more news throughout the day

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Also:
- Today's Top HEADLINES
- INTERNATIONAL news
- Picture of the day

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Press Release - PLEASE STOP! the PHONE/FAX CAMPAIGN

The Coalition for H.R. 2003 has just learned that H.R. 2003 will be up for consideration during the September session of the House Foreign Affairs Committee meeting.(More...)
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A U.N. elections consultant told an Ethiopian treason trial on Tuesday two anti-poverty activists charged with trying to overthrow the government had been acting within the law.

(Picture - Daniel Bekele(L)Netsanet Demissie(R))

Daniel Bekele, 40, and Netsanet Demissie, 29, are the last defendants out of 131 originally charged in the proceedings that followed post-election violence in 2005 which a parliamentary inquiry said killed 199 civilians and police, and resulted in 30,000 arrests.

The defendants were involved in deploying observers at polling stations in and around the capital Addis Ababa. Most of those originally charged were freed on July 20 after the government published a letter it said opposition leaders had signed admitting their guilt and repenting.

Defence lawyers say Bekele and Netsanet, who work for ActionAid Ethiopia and the Organisation for Social Justice in Ethiopia respectively, refused to sign and want to be acquitted.(More...)

Today's Top HEADLINES

-Daniel and Netsanet deny association with CUDP
-Hailu Shawl testifies in court for Daniel and Netsanet, says they were not members
-Addis Fortune's GOSSIP
-Nearly 12 000 Ethiopians left homeless by floods
-Obscure Dealings: the Ogaden
-Ethiopia: Food Security Situation in Oromiya Worrying - UN
-Ethiopian base attacked in Somalia
-United nations extends mandate in Ethiopia and Eritrea
-Chinese company to construct $500 million industrial park in Ethiopia
-Rastafarians don't give up the fight to live in Ethiopia

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

-U.N. resolution on Darfur troops nears vote
-US Lawmakers to Step Up Economic Pressure on Sudan
-Mass purge of Nigerian generals
-A New Mideast Military Alliance?
-Iraqi Leader Faces Revolt Within Party
-Afghan Police Find Body of 2nd South Korean
-"Life in Hell" for South Korean hostages' families
-Japan PM says to explain sex slave stance to U.S.
-Cell phones light up operating room during blackout


Picture of the Day

(Siye Abraha, celebrating his release from prison with his family)

"Ethnic politics is primitive; it doesn’t require intellect, understanding, education or wisdom. It is very elementary, very cheap and dangerous.....I am an Ethiopian, former TPLF official born in Tigray....As a Tigrayan, I would like to say, don’t give up on all Tigrayns just because of what has happened in the past few years. Anyone who is familiar with Ethiopia’s long history Should Know Better. If one Ethiopian starts losing the trust he has for the other, then we will all be in great peril." (loosely translated to English from Siye’s Deutsche Welle interview part 2)

-[AUDIO] Siye's Deutsche Welle interview part 1
-[AUDIO] Siye's Deutsche Welle interview part 2
-Siye: Ethiopians should never give up hope (Amharic)
-Siye Abraha interview with VOA Tigrinya(translated to Amharic)





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