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Monday, January 15, 2007

Somali media under attack

The Ethiopian invasion of Somalia is ending up freedom of speech in Somalia. Irin reports that the Somalia Transitional Government(TG), which many regard as Ethiopia's puppet, has closed three popular Mogadishu radio stations, HornAfrik radio and television, Shabelle Media Network, Radio Voice of Holy Koran and the offices of international news station, Al Jazeera.

Somalia had some of the freest media in Africa. The Islamists who were labeled as enemies of freedom hadn't tried to close the radio stations which are under attack from the TG now.
Horn of Africa media watchers make parallels between the current media attack in Somalia and what has been going on in Ethiopia for the last two years in Ethiopia. "This is Ethiopian style onslaught on freedom of the press. There is Meles Zenawi's finger print all over it, " an Ethiopian journalist said.

See Irin for detailed news

............

Shimeles Kemal replaces Zenebe Bourka
The chief prosecutor in the treason and genocide trials of the popular CUD leaders has been appointed as the head of Lega Research and Study Department at the Ministry of Justice. The post was held by Zenebe Bourka who was demoted to a lower position by EPRDF last month.

Shimeles now hold four government posts. He is the head of Ethiopian Broadcast Agency, Deputy Attorney General, Chief Prosecutor of the treason trials and head of Legal Research and Study Department. The piling responsibility of Shimeles kemal in the country's justice system shows EPRDF's unpopularity among legal professionals.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh, surely it has been long since EPRDF has happened to be unpopular amongst the legal professionals and by the legal profession's standard itself.

But mind also those 'lawyers' who still remain popular in the eyes of EPRDF, in reward for which they are getting such extended posts.

'Yimechachew Abo, eskegizew dires.'

Anonymous said...

These outlets were shutdown because they were pouring fuel into the fire. They are anti rule and regulations, many of the owners of these outlets also own business that run slavers. Before you started defending them and blaming the Government of Ethiopia which has no authority in Somalia and the Governmetn of Somalia do your home work.

Thank you

Anonymous said...

it looks to me,it is the begining of the unity of ethiopia and somalia. how sad... if it is this way.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous said...
"These outlets were shutdown because they were pouring fuel into the fire. They are anti rule and regulations, many of the owners of these outlets also own business that run slavers. Before you started defending them and blaming the Government of Ethiopia which has no authority in Somalia and the Governmetn of Somalia do your home work."

Thomas H ?
Samuel Gebru?
Selamawit A ?

Anonymous said...

Don't be foolish, he is not popular in the eyes of EPRDF (Melese). He reminded me donkeys’. When I moved to Addis from the northern part of Ethiopia my first surprised was the load they used to load on donkey. He is just one of the donkeys who were loaded by Melese. Melese openly said he will use anyone who has empty brain and promote that person. This isn't a surprise for me because I know melese at least for the past 25 years. Look what he did to Seya Abraha and others. When time comes a lot of things will come out. A lot of people don't have a clue what is going on in Adigrat, Sherae, Wolkaite and raya. Melese has not changed for a bit for the past 25 years. He has been the same person since he started manipulating TPLF central committee and push himself to power. Don't be surprised if he used a person like Shemeles who has empty brain. If Melese doesn't go before Shemelese he will be trash out like the others. For us let concentrate and work hard to support our people. From North to South; from South to East; From East to West and From West to North let freedom shine for our people, and for our beloved country. We are know in historical time. We never have Ethiopian united like this time for the same pupose and determine to re-build their country. Don't be side tracted by people like Melese I know my self and many Ethiopian are determine to support the cause of those brave leaders dream. A lot of brave Ethiopian are standing firm to fight for their country. Always time has a solution. However, we have to stand strong with time to overcome our people misery of bad government, starvation, and poverty.

Anonymous said...

Hi Everbody,
I love you all because you are so funny.
Prof.Are Mariam

Anonymous said...

Hi all,
It is great to see the luck of volunteers to this regim. This is the begginning of the end.
take care
Tesfa

Anonymous said...

Even though I disliked Meles very much, I support what he did in Somalia, which is good for Ethiopia, America and the world at large. Terrorists should be pursued and killed. Besides, their “media” outlets should be shut down. If I were him, I would have even gone to the extent of killing the owners of the “media” outlets that are shut down in Mogadishu – they are spokespersons of terrorists; they breed and disseminate hate about Ethiopia and America in particular, and liberal/social democracy in general.

Anonymous said...

To: Anonymous above,

I am not sure I am reading this blog in an active and awaken state of mind, before I go further let me wash my face with cold water and see if I am not in a dream state. Please allow me to use my bathroom, just for a sec I will be back.

Okay I am back, now I know this is NOT a dream, this is a real shit. For starters, I would like anyone that reads my response to know that I am Anti-terrorism, I would also like to let ya'ol know that I don't believe that the greatest threate to our world today is terrorim, its greed and ego.

Who is to labele who 'a terrorist?' I am NOT sure the writer above understands the definition of the term 'terrorist,' it is to terrify a group into submission thru intimidation of destructive force and mass killing. In a ballpark, that is the general definition. Who is causing the destruction, killing innocent civilians and creating anger for retaliation in Somalia today? it is NOT the IUC, it is TPLF financed by USA taxpayers and supported by AMERICAN MIGS firing indescriminantely? the last time I saw IUC's clip on 'youtube' is fixing and building NOT terrorizing. Check this clip: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4139134285433724955&q=somalia

Somalia was in a terror state for the past 16 years, residents were always in fear for their lives, day in day out. For the first time in 16 years Somalis enjoyed peace and serenity as well as order for only six months. Many thought it was like being born again, they have never experienced such peace and order for 16-years. Its like Ruben "Hurricane" Carter, who has been in jail for 20+ years for some thing he didn't do and finally being released. That is the kind of freedom Somalis felt, for the first time in 16-years. White Americans cannot understand that kind of liberation, becasue they have always been in the giving end.

Just before TPLF invaded Sovereign Somalia, a BORN-AGAIN MOSLES consolodated power with the permission and blessing of all Somali clan and subclan leaders. Its not that Somalis forgot how to fight when they knowingly allowed the new BORN-AGAIN Mosles takeover the security of the country. They allowed the take over without much of a challenge, and their warlords realized that it is not possible to fight a popular movement led by the BORN-AGAIN Moslems. So what do they do, the warlords? they exist out of the seen with dignity and allow rule of law to surface again in Somalia. Like George Bush and the GOP, these people are nothing like al-qaida or any other organized 'terrorist' organization. They come to the seen with a clear mandate, that is to govern the uncompromising warlords and their territories.

With that understanding, I don't think IUC were a threate to anyone, except they were stabilizers of the unstable. It would be easier to control them if they were allowed to govern, they have a shattered economy and the need to feed 15+million Somalis. They would have been brought to a compromise, but NOOOOOOO. They have to be labelled are a threate America's interest. America is always searching for assignement all over the world to have reason to expropraite US taxpayers money. Surprisingly, one famous writer said recently, American presidents are said to have been judged on their ability to create hotspot and defuse that hotspot. That gives the President reason to continue to milk the American tax-cow the dough to finance America's Greate Industrial Military Complex. If a president that does NOT give the military complex that kind of freedom to exercise its muscle that president is considered weak or failure in American contemporary history.

However, in theis particular case it is not different for America to exercise American's muscle, America requires reason to support TPLF regime stay in power at the expense of Ethiopian majority. So what do they come up with, they come up with an assignment to help TPLF stay in power at the same time give the Americans Industrial Complex who are stationed in Djibouti. Because USA have to send more troops to Iraq, the 2,500 American soldiers in Djibouti require reason to stay put in the area where they were at, to make them look they are doing something important. So they found a very good reason, IUC in Somalia is the best reason to allocate budget to the troops. After all Somalis have unpaid debt to the USA, remember the black-halk? where 18-American servicemen who lost their lives while massacaring 800-innocent Somali women and children in an open market. In a way the Americans did more damage and killing than the Somalis by shooting down the 18-American mass murderers. However, one American senator claimed, "the whole of Somalian people is not worth one American life." At the moment they did NOT mention the 18-Americans the damage they inflicted to the innocent Somali babies and women carrying their babies in an open market. The only thing people focused on was the mutilation of dade American servicemen and dragging them around, essentially playing for the camara.

Coming back to the main reason as to why TPLF and America in Somalia are to be financed by the American taxpayers in which to destroy the Islamic nation of Somalia. At the same time the Amerians know once Meles is out, they will not find a friend as good as Meles who will give them the key to Ethiopian foreign policy. So they are trying to benefit from the opportunity while Meles and TPLF is in power, they are both taking advantage of each other. Meles and TPLF would like the American intervntion in Somalia with their participation, because if the Americans are gone from that region, Meles will start to feel the drift. What is he going to feed his people? there will be no crams of the Americans eating their sandwitched. Meles knows that Ethiopians will NOT eat unless food is brought to them from somewhere. After all, he is from Tigrea, where begging is a culture. To him there is no shame in begging, its considered a wise move by his tribe. While majority of Ethiopian people dispise the idea of begging. So you can safely say that Meles and the American soldiers in Djibouti are riding each other. The Americans have Meles' ass while Meles has the the American tits. His focus for now is sucking the American taxpayers tits for as much as he can and for as long as the Americans allow him to stay stuck on their body like the blood sucking insect. He is good in sucking, he has so much experience on sucking, he used to go down on Isais before they fall out of love. Someday though, he will realize after all that love making he won't be able to walk straight or sit on his ass, because it will be painful. Don't also forget that soon it will be our turn, and we will tear his ass.

Please, Americans please, please, please, leave us alone! We are good people, the Somalis are good people, it is the TPLF that are bad. We like American culture we respect American culture, we like American life style and we respect American life style. We all would like to have a country like America, so don't abuse us. There will be time when you will need our total cooperation, NOT for false terrorist threate but for something real; unless you are nice to us today how are we going to be friends in the future? Let Meles and TPLF minority regime feel the drift and the cold. If it was NOT for your support they wouldn't have stayed in power even for one month.

PATRIOTIC-ETHIOPIAN

ENAT ETHIOPIA TIKDEM!!!
TPLF WOYANE YIWDEM!!!!!

Anonymous said...

Washington admits role in illegal war: US troops took part in invasion of Somalia

By Ann Talbot

17 January 2007

Pentagon officials have confirmed for the first time that the United States has troops on the ground in Somalia. This amounts to an admission that the Bush administration is a co-belligerent with Ethiopia in its illegal war in the Horn of Africa. It is the first time that Washington has acknowledged having forces in Somalia since it pulled out in 1994 after the infamous "Black Hawk down" incident.

Somalia has become a new front in Bush's "war on terror." The willingness of officials to own up to the US having "boots on the ground" is an indication of the bellicose mindset that now dominates in Washington. In comparison to protracted US denials in the 1970s that it had extended the Vietnam War into Laos and Cambodia, the pretence that America was not directly involved in the invasion of Somalia lasted barely a week.

What began as a proxy war in which Ethiopia invaded its neighbour with American backing has become an openly American-directed act of imperialist aggression. The US-Ethiopian invasion of Somalia threatens to embroil the Horn of Africa in a war that may well extend far beyond this region. It is also a harbinger of future US acts of military aggression against Iran and Syria.

The Bush administration did not even attempt to deny a report in the Washington Post last week that it had sent Special Forces into Somalia. In advertising its illegal action the US is sending out a strong signal to its allies and potential rivals alike that it will allow none of the conventions of international relations to stand it in its way.

The admission that it has forces on the ground in Somalia followed a series of US air strikes against targets in southern Somalia. It was claimed that the purpose of the air strikes was to kill three Al Qaeda suspects wanted for their alleged involvement in the bombing of the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998.

Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, Abu Taha al-Sudani and Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan have been named by US officials as part of an Al Qaeda cell in East Africa involved in the embassy bombings. A Pentagon official claimed to have "credible intelligence" that the three had taken refuge near the coastal town of Ras Kamboni near the Kenyan border. On this basis the area was attacked with AC-130 aircraft.

Initially Somali officials claimed that Fazul Abdullah Mohammed had been killed. But the US ambassador to Kenya, Michael E. Ranneberger, later denied this. "The three high-value targets are still of intense interest to us," an unnamed US official told the press. "What we're doing is still ongoing, we're still in pursuit, us and the Ethiopians."

The invasion of Somalia is the result of long term planning and preparation. In December, General John Abizaid was in Ethiopia for talks with President Meles Zenawi. The Guardian quoted a former US intelligence officer stating, "The meeting was just the final handshake."

Anonymous said...

the appointment of shemelis kemal is a great news. a good position for a great patriot and intellectual. think this new position suits better than all. i know him well and he is one true gentleman. honest, full of integrity, and great wisdom. i see it as a a positive sign. a government that gives such responsibility to a great man like him is definetily going in the right direction.

long live ethiopia

Melat

Anonymous said...

TPLF/WOYANE leader declared "MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!" He gave a fake press conference that they have completed the intended mission and next war target is SUDAN.

The made sure they closed all the independent and Somalia media whatever they say its unbelievable. We never believed them to begin with let alone closing all independent media outlet. They know that while they look good they want to hide all the damage they are sustaining from resistance in Somalia. Any thing coming out of Somalia is no longer believeable.The independent media used to tell us the number of dead TPLF led Ethiopian soldiers. Now that the media is closed we will never know how many innocent civilians Meles and USA are killing. Forr them no media is like a child in a candy store without the store keeper, that child can eat as many candy as he can and whichever variety candy he desire, sometimes he can just open one candy and lick it once and throw it in the garbage can. TPLF and USA have all Somalia in their hand they can kill as many people as they want and can, they can even wound as many people as they want and NOT take that person to medical center, after all the only outside voice Somalia had was their tireless journalists telling the world the accurate infomation precisely as it happened. Oh Somal, Oh Somal, your soldout leaders did thie to you, don't blame anyone blame them soldout criminal leaders under the guise TFG. I cannot believe that Somalis hate their own people so much that they give them to TPLF MURDER MACHINE. You all know what TPLF is made out of, she is a faceless teeth only ready to infect whatever she sees worth infecting. How can they doi this to their own people? One of the leaders (speaker of TFG) realized the mistake he has made and came back to his senses. Because he has called TPLF to leave his country he got them all worried, so TPLF orders his resignation.

IMAGINE HERE, IF TPLF DECALARES WAR OVER/MISSION ACCOMPLISHED/WITHDRAWAL HAS BEGUN, THEN WHY DO THEY WANT HIS RESIGNATION? IF TPLF IS LEAVING SOMALIA THEY SHOULD NOT HAVE A PROBLEM WITH HIS REQUEST, all they have to say is they are leaving already. But, they know they are NOT going to leave Somalia. There is a huge hidden agenda, TPLF is going to stay in Somlai as long as the Ethiopian people tolerates her in power. She will be there indefinitely, TPLF nominated TFG prime minister has said earlier, there is no border between Ogaden and Somalia, what does that mean? it means TPLF has free access to a new sea port via Somalia. TPLF realized its NOT possible to get one at Aseb or Mitswa, you know why because she knows any more war with Eritrea means she is on her own, and she will not be able to handle Eritrea on her own alone. She is going to need the mobilization of Ethiopians so she can use them once again for a cannon fodder so she can try to sneak in behind the dying True-Ethiopians. As it stands the whole Ethiopia is working underneath to burry her alive or evict TPLF her big-mouth-Tigrea children from MOTHER ETHIOPIA. So TPLF wouldn't dare attack Eritrea, because no one is going to support her ass, we would like her to attempt so the Eritreans would eat as much as they can and we eat the rest of her.

PATRIOTIC ETHIOPIAN

ENAT ETHIOPIA TIKDEM!!!!
TPLF WOYANE YIWDEMU!!!!!