Will Ephrem Isaac please speak up?

(By all EZ Post contributors)

The Ethiopian conception of Shimgelena is very pragmatic. It has less to do with justice and truth than crafting the conditions for coexistence. Thus, we say that Shimagles have a right(and even an obligation) to lie, hide the truth, and sometimes push one or the other party to accept deals which may be objectively unjust(based on a careful analysis of reality and balance of powers), to bring about reconciliation. That was why, all contributors to EZ Post, had no strong words against Professor Ephrem Isaac, the Chief Shimagele, during the process of the negotiation between CUD leaders and Meles, even though we firmly believed the prisoners were at times under intense pressure to accept unjust terms in the deal.

But Shimageles aren't absolute Machiavellian amoralists. Their willingness to be less truthful and unjust has limits. Today was the second time Meles Zenawi backed down from a deal he agreed to in the past three months. He kept on changing his terms whenever he felt like it. He added more onerous conditions for the prisoners to accept after agreements had been made, sometimes embarrassing the Shimageles themselves. We think that even for a staunchly Ethiopian Shimagele like Epherem Isaac, Meles' acts should be beyond the borders of what is acceptable in a Shimgelena process. We believe this is the time for the great Professor to speak up against Meles Zenawi's blatant disregard of our long standing institution of Shimgelena, and his capacity to boundless immorality.

"No negotiation with Kaliti prisoners" - Meles

PM says prisoners will be sentenced

Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi says there has been no negotiation with the imprisoned CUD leaders. "Negotiation can only be made between two free persons. There can be no negotiation between an organ which has imprisoned the CUD members because they broke the law, and the prisoners on the respect for the rule of law, " Meles Zenawi said in Parliament today.
The Prime Minister was adamant that the issue of clemency can't be discussed in parliament before the court delivers its sentence on the prisoners as it affects the decision of the court.

EZ's view:
From Meles' statement, there is no possibility that the prisoners will be released before the sentencing which will either be a rigorous imprisonment or death. Last week, I wrote that the prisoners would be released this week unless Meles, the serial liar, backed down. He has done that again.

It is sometimes unfathomable how some people are willing to act as utterly stupid to defend the act of others. Take, for example, Aigaforum's consistent and persistent use of the term "Plea Bargain" to describe the agreement signed by CUD leaders in prison. One doesn't have to be a lawyer to know some of the steps in a criminal trial.
-Plea Bargain is a prosecutorial instrument, and the deal is made between the prosecutor and the defendant.
-In principle, plea bargain must take place before the trial unless there is good cause for delay. Plea bargain, however, doesn't take place after conviction.
-In civil law countries like Ethiopia, plea bargain can only take place in very, very limited circumstances.
The agreement the CUD leaders signed was made after their conviction. It has nothing to do with plea bargain.

Yesterday the EPRDF executive committee approved Meles' deal with CUD leaders. We had known all along that it was a one-man party, and the committee would rubber stamp the deal.

My earlier unconfirmed reports about the release of the prisoners today wasn't accurate. According to sources, for adminstrative and legal reasons, the prisoners will not be out in the next couple of days, but they are expected to be released before Thursday. I will update this blog everytime new information is in.
This was what, according to sources, what professor Mesfin said during the negotiation. "Sewiyew hulet amet kaseren behula lemefitat yemariyam menged yifelegal. Asiben enistew." This is what thinking ahead for your nation and putting yourself in somebody's shoes classically means.

There are unconfirmed reports that the CUD leaders will be released from prison this afternoon. I will try to get more information about it as the day goes.

Agreed!

CUD leaders in prison have finally agreed to sign the proposal sent by Meles last week. If Meles doesn't, as he usually does, back down from his own proposal, our heroes will be out of prison next week. There are additional lines in the proposal including that the partial acceptance of responsibility and admission of mistake have no legal consequences.
This is a political agreement. Meles has got his face-saving agreement, and the prisoners have in turn got his admission that the court was wrong. And more; their release from the rotten concentration camp called Kaliti. Still we don't know whether Meles who is a serial breaker of agreements will uphold this one.
(fingers crossed...or may be not)

I am hearing that there was some progress in the talks today which were intitiated by Meles Zenawi's proposal. I haven't obtained the details yet.
(watch this space for more information)

There was no change in the afternoon(regarding the signing or not of the proposal). With additional people coming into the deliberative process, there were too many ideas to chew. It will continue tomorrow.

Not yet...Prisoners haven't signed release papers

Stephanie McCrummen of WaPo wrote today that some of the prisoners have signed Meles' proposal. Read it here. The report isn't very accurate. I think the American officials in Addis whom she quoted and EPRDF are trying to spin this even before an agreement is reached. I hope all will be resolved today. Meles has come some way in this last round. Although the terms are still short of what we expect ideally, and although negotiating under duress is unjust, I think this one can be accepted without compromising basic principles.

It is 4:50 in the afternoon here in Addis Ababa. The mediators are in Kaliti right now talking to the prisoners. Now that it it is broken, this is what has really happened so far.

Friday, 15 June

Meles sent a proposal to the prisoners outlining his intention to use his executive powers to release them. There were two main points in the proposal which differentiates in from his previous terms.
1. The terms "fault" and "guilt" were substituted by "mistake". The proposal states that the CUD leaders admit that they have committed mistakes after the election, and that they take partial responsibility to the consequences of the mistakes including the violence in October.
2. Meles says that he doesn't accept the "guilty" verdict by the court.

Caveat: The proposal is a "take it or leave it."

Monday, 18 June

Representatives of the prisoners debated about the proposal. Hailu Shawel(the chairman of the CUD) and Birtukan Mideksa(Vice chairwoman) rejected it. Dr. Yacob Hailemariam, Birhanu Nega and Muluneh Eyuel, Gizachew Shiferaw and Hailu Araya were just debating the pros and cons of the proposal without making their decision known.

Tuesday, 19 June

Hailu and Birtukan haven't changed their stance. The others said that once the two have decided, civility, solidarity and the idea of practical public reason won't allow them to sign the document unless there is a consensus among the prisoners. The legal and political debates regarding signing the proposal continued.

Wednesday, 20 June

Hailu Shawel and Birtukan haven't changed their mind, and the others weren't willing to sign the paper. Late afternoon, the talks seem faltering. With the mediators except Ephrem Isaac giving up hope.

Today

The mediators are still there. The morning went the same as yesterday. But in the afternoon, all of the prisoners(not only the representatives) have met to debate on the issue.

Again, I believe this is an agreement our heroes can take. Meles' statement that he doesn't accept the guilty verdict of the court creates a false division between the executive and the judiciary. However, it is very valuable politically for the CUD leaders and the pro-democracy movement. This is just my opinion. It has nothing to do with the decicion of the leaders. I know they will decide what is best for the country as they usually do.

I don't like the way it is spinned by the US officials here though.
(more to come...)

Meles ready to sentence CUD leaders

last gasp mediation efforts have failed as the convicted CUD leaders rejected Meles' proposal that they be our before the sentencing by admitting that they have made mistakes. According to sources, Meles had said that his "compromise" proposal was a "take it or leave it."
The prisoners have decided to leave it and face the consequences. The crime they were convicted of carries death penalty or a mandatory rigorous imprisonment.

Yglesias on Ethiopia

Matthew Yglesias is a fiercely independent blogger on The Atlantic Online. Read his comment on the Ethiopia-Somalia situation here.

Conviction gives a sense of triumph for Kinijit leaders

When the high court convicted Kinijit leaders of committing outrage against the constitutional order, it received the most unexpected of responses from the convicted. There was no shock. No anger. No sadness. Birhanu Nega, the elected mayor of Addis Ababa, stood up to thank the court. It wasn't a satirical thank you. He was genuine about it.

Since then the prisoners have been telling the real reasons for their amazing reaction to their families and friends. "Kinijit and its ideals have triumphed three times. The first time was the May 8 march in 2005. Then it was the election day. The guilty verdict was the third one. In the first two Ethiopians in the most civilized way showed that their lives were meaningless without freedom and democracy. The day of the conviction was the day EPRDF finally took out the last cloth it wore to hide its true self." Those were the words of Birhanu.

Now in Kaliti, this sense of triumph is uniting the prisoners even more. There is a feeling in all of them that their resolve has been tested in the toughest way possible; and they have shown what it takes to be a genuine political leader in Ethiopia. It is now for other Ethiopians to show what they are made of. "It was supposed to be our trial. We made it their trial," another prisoner said.

A trial it has become for EPRDF. The outpouring of shock from the international community has caught the government off guard; some accusing each other. EZ Post sources reported that the Prime Minister is now looking a way out of the mess. And as EPRDF usually does, the fire extinguishing act has started. At the office bar in Sheraton, EPRDF apologists like Costentinos Berhe are trying to give the best spin to the guilty verdict to unimpressed diplomats. And in other parts of the town, desperate EPRDF spies who didn't anticipate the reaction are trying to spread rumours that there is a split among the convicted leaders. Arbitrary numbers like 6-4, 7-3 splits are being thrown everywhere.

What EPRDF says or does now seems frivolous in the face of the heroism shown by our great leaders.

Conviction followed by crack down

(by Meqdela)
If anyone thinks the outpouring of anger and shock which followed the Adil Ahamed's blatant injustice would make EPRDF rethink its decision, what has happened after the conviction should be a cause for pause. In most villages in Addis Ababa, there is a massive crack down of former kinijit members and opposition supporters. Even those who are linked remotely with the opposition are facing real threat now. EPRDF's strategy is clear.

-First, convict the prisoners while people aren't giving attention to the trial.
-Arrest and torture opposition supporters as a pre-emptive action so that they wouldn't organize protests before the sentencing.

They know as far as the international community is concerned, they can implement whatever strategy with absolute impunity. During the fake negotiations in April, one of the so-called mediators who lost hope on the American amabassador said:"I can't believe how Meles treats him[Yamamoto] like a child. He doesn't even respect the flag the ambassador represents." Whether the mediator intends it or not, the message of the satement can't be more lucid.

Breaking news:Court finds kinijit leaders guilty

The court in charge of the kinijit trials today decided that all of the kinijit leaders accused of outrage against the constitutional order are guilty as charged. The defendants include the chairperson of the party, Ato Hailu Shawel and the mayor of Addis Ababa, Brehanu Nega. According to Ethiopian law, the crimes the court found them guilty of committing entail death penalty or at least 25 years imprisonment.
The next step, according to the law, is sentencing.
(In depth report soon)

Crack down in Addis Ababa

At least sixty young supporters of CUD have fallen victims to the latest crackdown in Addis Ababa. According to police sources, most of them were teenagers. Police accused them of accumulating guns to destabilize the millenium celebrations in the country. Twenty of them were caught from the Rufael area of Addis Ababa where Tesfaye Tadesse, 25, and opposition supporter was beaten to death by security forces in January.

Back

I am back. Same vigor and dedication from all EZ post bloggers.

EZ WILL BE BACK NEXT WEEK

Shimeles Kemal Loses Out In MoJ Shake Up

The predictable demise of Shimeles Kemal, Chief Prosecutor in the case of Hailu Shawel et al., is on the corner after a surprise hurricane hitting the Ministry of Justice blew away some of the prosecutors he hand picked to be part of the team in charge of the Kinijit Trial.

Seid Mohammed, the impeached judge who later on joined the prosecution team with the invitation of Shimeles Kemal, was fired this week by the order of the Minister of Justice, Civil Service College graduate Assefa kessito. The decision brought a public spat between the minister and his deputy, Hashim Mohammed. Sources at the MoJ said Seid's dismissal was the result of Shimeles kemal's ending romance with top EPRDF officials who have now started to privately blame him for the embarrassing conduct of the trial. His once blooming relationship with Bereket Simon has severely strained, with Bereket looking for fresh faces to fill in Shimeles' role as a de facto personal legal advisor to him.

Shimeles is soon expected to be removed form his post as head of the Legal Department of the MOJ, and be replaced by Yohannes Seifu. Sources said he is already suspend from the post. But the the decision hasn't been made public. If the reports are accurate, Shimeles will be another victim of the theory of "Yezaf Lay Enkilf".

Meanwhile, the MoJ has terminated the employment of 47 support staffers on Wednesday under the procedure called 20/40. This procedure gives employees a right to leave their work on pension if they have worked for 20 years and have reached the age of 40. But the procedure, according to lawyers, is a right given to the workers, and not the Ministry. Workers have a right to choose not exercising the procedure, and the MoJ terminated the contracts in disregard of the basic tenets of the procedure. The support staffers claimed that they were victims of Assefa Kesito's projection game. Assefa has been criticized several times by the Prime Minister for failing to execute government policies properly.

(More soon)

Arrest Exposes The Shady Dealings of The International Media

(By Meqdela and Ethio-Zagol)
When news that three New York Times reporters were caught in Deghabur while they were trying to cover rebel activity in the region sipped through last week, American diplomats in Addis Ababa immediately contacted Ethiopian government officials, including the Prime Minister to demand their release.

That triggered a chain of reactions from the government, the diplomats and the press which reveal a curious collusion between a rogue government and institutions which claim to be the agents of the public.

The Ethiopians were insistent that they would only release the captives if the press didn't report about it. The message was immediately passed to Nairobi where most of the media have their regional bureaus. "Government officials were, not surprisingly, talking about the fact that the journalists went to Deghabur without permission, and about the disrespect for the rule of law. They were confrontational, and we were in deep shit, " said one American diplomat.

In Nairobi, regional bureau chiefs of the major international media agreed to put the story under the carpet. The decision was communicated to reporters here in Addis. "It was a gag order basically," said a foreign journalist in Addis Ababa. In the mean time, the captives were being dragged from one jail to another.

Some media observers here express their surprise with the agreement. AP, AFP, Reuters and the BBC are very competitive with each other. And in the country where getting and verifying news is hard, the slightest opportunity to outpace the competitors in breaking the news is grabbed with both hands. In fact, the observers claimed, the whole saga reveals one operational philosophy of the international media here - being cosy with the government.

"With threats of expulsion, withdrawal of accreditation and shutting them out from information, the Ethiopian government makes sure that the foreign journalists in Addis Ababa and their editors in Nairobi get into self-censorship and the policy of appeasement, " cried one observer. "They try hard, sometimes too hard, to write good stories about Ethiopia and the Ethiopian government."

Even within the correspondents here, there are some who are concerned about the implication of self-censorship Vis-a-Vis the public's right to know and the journalistic duty to impart information, but usually keep quiet to avoid diversely affecting their careers. Instead, these young journalists hob-nob with government officials and apologists of human rights violations in the grand hotels of Addis Ababa, and write reports which are at the very least neutral to the government. Those who dare to break this culture of comfort lose out as their editors reject their stories. "It is Nairobi, stupid!" said one journalist referring to the heavy censorship by the editors.

In the Kenyan capital, editors are more worried as to whether their presence in Ethiopia will be jeopardized if they write bad stories about the government than the public's right to know and fairness to the victims of human rights abuses. "They are obsessed with presence. This has partly to do with their career, but partly with the lack of role-theory," said a foreign journalist here in Addis Ababa. And there is also an agreement among many of them that, however bad the government is, it is better than the unknown or untested alternatives, and other African governments; a political judgement that not only contravenes their supposed objectivity, but the facts on the ground. Far from the close scrutiny of journalistic watchdogs in their homelands, these editors also collude with the diplomats of their countries in Nairobi and Ethiopia. They push the official line of their capitals. The foreign correspondent speak for this unholy collusion is "Protective Alliance." "It is like get closer to me baby and I will get you out when you are in trouble," Explained one journalist. It is a security insurance.

It took the release of the journalists for the news to get out. Even then, most of the wire services reported it after The Times issued a statement about it. "To put a counter factual question, Would they have reported it if The Times kept quiet?" asked one observer. We will never know. But we know that the decision to report it wouldn't be informed by accountability, but rather, by the interests of the Ethiopian government, and its foreign protectors.

Good Cop, Bad Cop

(by Ethio-Zagol)
After getting its journalists released, the NY Times had this to say about the arrest.

We would like to thank Ambassador Yamamoto and his colleagues at the
American Embassy in Addis Ababa, and Prime Minister Meles for their help in
freeing them.

Honestly, this statement is so silly that it is laughable. The Ethiopian army doesn't operate without the authorization of the PM in cases which have international implications. Meles arrests...Meles kicks...and Meles releases. That, at least, is our folklore.

NY Times reporter released

After negotiation between the Ethiopian government and the American embassy here in Addis, Times reporter Jeffrey Gettleman was released yesterday late afternoon. According to sources, the Americal embassy asked the international media here in Ethiopia not to report about the arrest of the Times journalist and the three people accompanying him.

Breaking News: Ethiopian Government Arrests New York Times Reporter

New York Times' East Africa correspondent Jeffrey Gettleman was arrested by the Ethiopian government while he was sneaking to rebel territory in the Ogaden region. EZ Post's security sources confirmed that the correspondent was taken to a prison in Jijiga with his wife, unidentified cameraman and a British journalist.

Gettelman who has been reporting well-researched articles about the Horn of Africa from Nairobi had gone deep into the volatile Ogaden region with fighters from the Ogaden National Liberation Front, a group fighting for the independence of the Ogaden region from Ethiopia. He was caught by government soldiers patrolling the area on Friday afternoon. According to security sources, Gettelman's plans to cross the border might have been obtained by the government before hand from phone taps of his exchange with a stringer in Addis Ababa.

Gettelman had changed the dynamics of reports from Horn of Africa with his thorough investigation and uncompromising reporting. His reports about the Somalia war has been lauded here in Ethiopia by independent observers, but his report about EU probe on war crimes allegedly committed by Ethiopian troops had angered the government.
....
See Gettelman's Africa reports here.

Counterfeit Solomon Tekalign

(By Ethio-Zagol)
There was something phony about Solomon Tekalign. His over-the-edge patriotism(bordering bigotry), vitriolic rhetoric, implausible sense of self-importance and tendency to exaggerate his political persecution all suggest a Lidetu in artist's clothing. Now that he has chosen to enjoy Al Amoudi's consummate hospitality at the grand Sheraton in Addis, his veil is taken down big time.

American ambassador pushes for guilty confession

(By Ethio-Zagol and Meqdela)
Donald Yamamoto, America’s mild-mannered Ambassador in Addis Ababa has thrown his weight behind the mediation efforts of Professor Ephraim Issac. The renowned Ethiopian linguist has started the mediation between the government and Kinijit leaders who have been in prison for a year and half now, but has been stung with accusations that he has so far failed to be even-handed mediator in trying to push the prisoners to accept whatever the government proposes. In the last proposal, the government asked CUD leaders to fill a form which makes all of them individually responsible for trying to overthrow the government. The prisoners have declined to sign the form.

In a letter addressed to professor Ephraim and obtained by a contributor to EZ Post, Ambassador Yamamoto, says he stands with the professor’s attempt to mediate between the two parties, and that he prays for the success of his attempt to make the prisoners sign the form. His letter also says the American Embassy will facilitate a medical travel to America by Kinijit’s Chairman, Hailu Shawel, and Ethiopia’s greatest human rights activist, Professor Mesfin Woldemariam.

Observers say that the Ambassdor’s stance is outrageous because he knows how Prime Minister Meles broke down the mediation after preliminary agreement was reached by the parties two weeks ago.

(Roha will be back with his views on Addis Ababa University on Wednesday.

Mediation breaks again after EPRDF and political prisoners appear to reach preliminary agreement

Final efforts for mediation between the government and Ethiopia's famous political prisoners broke down last week due to Meles Zenawi's Intransigence. Hope that this time the mediation would be successful was high after preliminary agreement was reached between the parties last Tuesday. Meles Zenawi, however, sent a guilty form for the prisoners to be filled individually a day after the agreement was reached. The form states that the CUDP council members admit that they have tried to subvert the constitutional order. The prisoners refused to sign the form.

Sources who have closely followed the mediation said that the blame squarely lied on the mediators who didn't even censure Meles Zenawi when he went back on his agreement a day after he made it. "Meles is playing a game here. He doesn't want to release them, but at the same time, he wants to alleviate foreign pressure. The tactic is to appear as if he were involved in mediation without doing anything. The mediators are chickens in this game," one source said.

Anthony Mitchell, courageous journalist

Greg Swift, deputy news editor of the Express, said this about Anthony Mitchell, the British journalist who is thought to have died after the Kenya Airways plane he was on board crashed yesterday:

"He is a really old-fashioned journalist who can pin down a story with intelligence and determination."

There is a classic debate in journalism classes about whether a journalist could care about the object or sometimes the subject of his/her report and be objective enough. I think "objectivity of result" as we know it in traditional journalism is a lexicon for journalistic passivity: try to stand so far from the object or the subject of your report and consider all assertions and viewpoints as equal. So when the Ethiopian government killed scores of people during demonstrations, the concern for these traditional journalists wasn't where, in the context of the shootings, the main responsibility lied. Instead, they focused on how many lines they would give to Bereket Simon, then Information Minister, and how many to the victim families and eye witnesses. So the story they wrote went like this: "Forty six people died in Ethiopia election demonstrations which officials said was intended to overthrow the government." This narrative went on and on.

Anthony Mitchell was, in that sense, quite unorthodox. He cared about the object and the subject of his story without being sloppily acting like a post-modernist who would claim that "truth is just a social construct" and reject objectivity in total. Instead, he applied rigorous objectivity of method, objective in his gathering and interpreting of information; but went to where the facts lead him. If the facts lead that the Ethiopian government had massacred people, he would bluntly make it a headline. As a non-consequentialists, he would tell "the truth and let the chips fall". But he was, in a different way, consequentialist as he had utter belief in truth as a better guide for better consequences.

For me, he was the best foreign journalist to be stationed in Ethiopia for the last decade. Apart from his journalistic philosophy, he would also be remembered as incredibly courageous correspondent. I don't think AP reports about Ethiopia would have been the same, had he not been directly and indirectly responsible for those stories - In Ethiopia as a reporter and in Kenya, as an editor.

The limits of free speech

Andrew Heavens summarized the debate regarding the frontiers of free speech which was sparked following the Ethiopian review's shocking comment, applauding the acts of ONLF. Obviously, that kind of speech is even graver than shouting fire in a cinema hall. Andrew Heaven's summary would have been more complete if he had included another recent writing by Samuel Gebru, a stomach-churning article which unashamedly apologized for war crimes.

There is no doubt that the Meles administration will seize this opportunity to justify its cyber-censorship; and I feel that by integrating the issue of censorship with the limits of free speech in one post without cautioning against the urge to linking them, Mr. Heavens has unintentionally lent credence to that justification.

I have made my article of faith clear before. Excesses in free speech can only be diluted by "more speech not enforced silence". And there is no more proof to that than the reaction of shocked bloggers to ER's comment. After all, most of those bloggers were very critical of the government, and would in most other issues found themselves with ER than Aigaforum.

Counselor Kevin Sullivan gets more power in US Embassy as the Somalia situation worsens

(By Ethio-Zagol and Meqdela)
The political and Economic Counselor of the US Embassy in Addis Ababa, Kevin Sullivan, has become the single most important figure in Ambassador Yamamoto's leadership, even eclipsing the influence of the Ambassador himself in Ethiopian political issues. The Ethiopian staffers in the embassy call him "the Deputy Ambassador", in reference to his growing power.

His assistants say he is a hard-core realist who shows distrust to values like human rights as the center of cooperation between states. His convictions have led him to support the Meles administration even though there is open acknowledgement by key embassy officials that Ethiopia's bad human rights record is indefensible. "He is from the old school, obsessed with security and economic interest in the Horn of Africa; and he believes that the only power in Ethiopia which can guarantee that is the Meles administration," a US embassy staffer said.

Although Ambassador Yamamoto has since his arrival tried to press the release of political prisoners in Ethiopia, the Somalia war has complicated the situation with diplomats like Mr. Sullivan, insisting on the policy of appeasing the Meles administration. "His views are clear. He thinks as long as the Ethiopian government continues to act as the proxy of US interests in the Horn of Africa, the Americans should staunchly support it, “the staffer told me.

The counselor has looked a little shaggy in the last few days, working punishing hours. Shiro Meda insiders claim that the Somalia war and the insurgency have made embassy officials stand on their toes. One insider thinks the whole issue has given diplomats like Mr. Sullivan an upper hand in the embassy's little internal politics. "They don't want to call it an insurgency. They label it with less flattering terms as opportunistic violence; but the truth is they are unsettled by it. They think their only option is to stand with Meles whatever he does. That is why Mr. Sullivan is getting more and more de facto power and ears from the embassy and the State Department" He said.

Mr. Sullivan also thinks US Congress Representative Donald Payne's new bill is damaging to US interest in Ethiopia and the Horn of Africa. Insiders say that embassy officials believe that there is an inevitability that the bill will pass in the House of Representatives this time as its introducer, Donald Payne, has a good working relationship with the speaker of the house, Nancy Pelosi.Mr. Sullivan was so unhappy about the developments in US congress that he was even heard criticizing the visit here of Ted Dagne, Africa Specialist at the Congressional Research Service.

Finally!

It seems now the blogger page one needs to access to post on blogspot.com is blocked. It is difficult to access and post using free proxy servers. The Ethiopian government might have finally figured out how to stop people writing; in addition to how to block readers from reading. But the only blogspot.com blog in Ethiopia(run from Ethiopia) which deals seriously with Ethiopian politics is Ethio-Zagol Post... and its subsidiary blogs. The government should and will know(after this post)that it can't block us from writing, whatever technology it uses. Finally it is done. But sorry, it isn't.

Zemedkun Tekle and Internet Blockage

(By Ethio-Zagol)
What does it feel to be a Zemedkun Tekle? Poor man, he has to defend the dumbest action by his bosses in the dumbest way possible. Today OpenNet Initiative, an Internet watchdog partly funded by my favourite billionaire, George Soros, accused Ethiopia of blocking opposition websites and blogs, after running tests which produced overwhelming evidence that the sites were blocked. Zemedkun's reply?

We may have technical problems from time to time. But we have not done
anything like that and we have no intention of doing anything like that.

What is it really, really, really like to have a job where your main responsibility is to act idiot?

Lidetu's third non-sense

There is no politician like Lidetu Ayalew in Ethiopia. In any other country, he would have been laughed out of court donkey's years ago. But our patience runs so deep into our bones that we shrugged off his stupidity even when he asked the Prime Minister why his economic report consisted only GDP growth while "not mentioning" growth in per capita income. So much for intellectual accountability.

So last week he was at it again; dropping off concepts he clearly didn't understand. Yeah, yeah, yeah..be ready for the third way. Somewhere, somehow, Lidetu has heard/read Anthony Gidden's political theory...and Blairism. Too bad he didn't really get it right.
His party(himself) claimed to have embraced a new system of politics, a third way. Addis Fortune quotes their(his) statement:

This new system of working would appreciate the ruling coalition,
EPRDF, when it accomplished positive feats and denounce it when it was involved
in negative ones. ...The party is trying to amend the mistakes that it has
made during its years of struggle and to further strengthen its strong
points.

Genius. After two years of grad school(and in political science no less), Lidetu thinks compromise, tolerance and loyal opposition, pillars of a well-functioning democracy, are his brain children.

There are unconfirmed reports that the Chinese hostages are released by the ONLF. (more to come)
Meanwhile, the Ethiopian government has released eight people who it claimed were suspected of participating in the Ogaden massacre.
Update:
The report is now confirmed. See it here.

More on Samuel Gebru

One version of consequential utilitarianism justifies almost all terrible crimes in the world. Samuel Gebru has removed his justification of war crime without apologizing after I posted about it yesterday. For those of you who hadn't read it. This it it.

Ethiopia: On the "war crimes"

BY SAMUEL M. GEBRU

A recent article published by Reuters
(http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L06542374.htm) talks about
war crimes committed by the Ethiopian and Somali Governments in the
recent heavy fighting in Mogadishu. I personally do not think that
there were any types of war crimes committed. After all, we are
talking about government versus anarchy, we are talking about hope
versus terrorism!
Even if "war crimes" have been committed by the Ethiopian and Somali
Government, why should it be a big deal...it shouldn't even be called
a "war crime" because it is on terrorists. The
article also writes: "The consultant wrote that he based his concerns
on press statements by Somali government officials warning that
civilian targets would be hit if they shielded insurgents, and reports
from rights groups." I support the idea of targetting civilians that
shield terrorists. Terrorists do not work or fight under the banner of
any country nor do they fight on behalf of any believe. They claim to
be Muslims but all they are doing is tarnishing the image of a
peaceful religion, Islam.
Civilians, obviously, should never be a target in war. However, one
must read the fine print to the Somali issue! If civilians are
blocking the AU, IGAD, FDRE, US, and RS (Rep. of Somalia) from
completing their mission of restoring order to Mogadishu and greater
Somalia, they must be dealth with. For this, I fully support the
measure to target civilians that protect terrorists for they are now
becoming a "pimple on the butt of humanity" as my former Literature
teacher would say.
With regards to the "secret prisons" in Ethiopia...I would be very
surprised to see one. I do not think that there are secret CIA or FDRE
prisons in Ethiopia. I, however, think that there might be
interrogation units within Ethiopia operating under the Ethiopian and
American armed forces since the Ethiopia-ICU war broke out in
December. I, once again, fully support the measure to interrogate
terror suspects and anyone linked to the ICU because this is a serious
situation.
Terrorism is something that must be dealth with by force. They speak
the language of force, so the "Islamists" must be dealth with by the
barrel of the gun. I clearly remember that sunny day when we were told
that New York City's WTCs were attacked by airplanes in elementary
school...oh how scared I was that Boston might become a target. We
must not provide amnesty to any terrorist. They do not deserve trials,
immunity, rights or anything. For all I care, any terrorist that has
faught against Ethiopia or the greater world should be tortured!
Ethiopia was faced by a threat and is continued to be faced by a
threat.
I know, you might be thinking...what a hardlined view from
Samuel....well actually it isn't. The other side is saying give
immunity and trial to people who attack my country and that are linked
to international terrorism via Somalia. I say viva Somalia and viva
Ethiopia. I unconditionally support this war and think that the EU
should shut up...after all this is an African problem and must be
solved by Africans through the AU, IGAD and other concerned parties.
The EU has no business investigating anything!
April 6, 2007

See the paragraph highlighted. It is a shocking example of consequential utilitarianism pushed too far. This kid says he aspires to become Ethiopia's Prime Minister. God save us!

Miscellaneous

(By Ethio-Zagol)
-Stephanie McCrummen is back in Addis. She is really a credit for the WaPo , a reputable paper which, nonetheless, has tarnished its good name by callously cheerleading the Iraqi war. See her well-researched piece on Somalia here. Note Kinfe Abrham's analysis. He said the situation in Mogadishu is a "hiccup". Familiar? The same word was used to describe the post-election violence in Ethiopia. You kill thousands, displace hundred of thousands and call it a hiccup. This is the zenith of Fascism. If you want to see how proud fascists some EPRDFites have become, see young Samuel Gebru's war crimes apology here.
-The Economist seemed to believe that Eritrea was indirectly involved in the ONLF attacks without offering any evidence.
-This article of the NY Times tries in the Times tradition too hard to detect invisible causes for insurgency in Somalia.
-This, This and This tell the truth in Somalia. Great work Martin Fletcher.
-Meqdela has the diary of Agazi Soldier here. ...And a different perspective about Siye Abraha's trial here.

I was wrong

(By Ethio-Zagol)
When the AFD was formed, I supported it. One of the reasons for my support was that bringing secessionist groups to main stream politics tempers their radicalization. The Ogaden National Liberation Front was one of the founders.
What ONLF did a couple of days ago was outrageous and sickening. Though I still staunchly believe in inclusive politics, the gory drama left me in no doubt that ONLF has no place in civilized politics. The AFD, if it still exists, should throw out this terrorist group.
My condolences to the families of the victims of the crime. I share your sorrow and anguish.

The Federal police members have now forced their way to Addis Ababa University's main campus. Students are in real danger.

Classes stop as Addis Ababa University students protest abuse

The student protest at Addis Ababa University is in its second day today after it was ignited yesterday by some students at Arat Kilo campus. The Students said they started chanting anti-university administration slogans when they learnt that the body of dead student was abused by the Menelik hospital autopsy department. The student passed away three days ago. His friends suspected that he was poisoned. According to sources, at least 200 students have fallen sick in the last two days as a result of food poisoning. The report is yet to be confirmed by the university's medical staff.
"We have stopped classes to protest the administration's disregard for our safety," a student told Ethio-Zagol Post. The presence of the Federal Police has angered the students even more. "They are over-reacting again. They are video tapping our protest. I suspect the administration is going to dismiss some students from the university as it has done several times in the past when students protest," another students said.
There is virtually no academic freedom and the right to free speech and protest at Addis Ababa University. Students and instructors claim that lack of freedom has worsened in the past couple of years under Professor Andreas Eshete's beleaguered administration.

Roha, EZ Post blogger, will continue writing about the university's problems here.

Losing the plot

Meles has never been as confused and confusing. Just after the Ethiopian army captured Mogadisu he argued they did that with the help of Somali people. Then the insurgency began and on the Al Jazeera interview held a month ago, he had this to say about the situation in Mogadishu.

In case of Mogadishu, taking into consideration the fact that this is a city
of 2.2 million people, awash with guns, the type of security challenge we face
are not all that unexpected or alarming.

Now this is what he has to say:

There are no mass casualties of the type that the so-called
human rights organizations have been reporting.I would be very surprised if it
were to take us more than a week or two to completely clear Mogadishu.

Forget the facts of the statements. Important here is how his lines kept changing dramatically in the last three months. That is how war are lost. Remember US in Iraq? What is surprising is in Somalia, It took way, way lesser time for the insurgency to pop up.

Ali Sero's non-sensical claim

Ismael Ali Sero, President of the Afar region has this to say about the release of the eight Ethiopian hostages.

The hostages taken by members of the Eritrean armed forces were released after
Afar elders from Ethiopia crossed the border and spoke to Afar elders in
Eritrea.

Does that statement makes sense? If it was the Eritrean army which kidnapped them, why would the talks to release them be made between Afar elders?
And six weeks after the Europeans were released, why hasn't the international community taken Ethiopia's allegation that the Eritreans kidnapped them seriously?

Teshome Toga and Legal Professionals: Ethio-Zagol's Diary

Most of the standing committee members of the Ethiopian parliament are embarrassingly unfamiliar with the topics they are in charge of. They have no research aides and, almost always, they rubber stump the executive’s agenda. Most members register for donor-funding trainings to get the daily allowance.

Yet donor money keeps on coming; and trainings keep on going. The parliament is now planning to give legal training to the members. Umm, there is only one problem. During election 2005, most of the country’s lawyers sided with the opposition; some leading the democratic movement. Afterwards, even judges like Woldemichael Meshesha, who were supposed to be loyal to EPRDF, followed their conscience and exposed the government. The ruling party now trusts only a handful of lawyers and legal professionals. And these people are stretched. They just can’t do everything.

So who would train the MPs? Are they going to let opposition-leaning legal professionals to teach constitutional law to MPs? What if they tell them democratic centralism isn’t a constitutional principle? What if they tell them about Bradenburg v. Ohio and how democratic countries strike the balance between Free speech and other interests? What if they teach them the checking powers of parliament, including the no-confidence motion? What if, what if, what if…

The speaker of the house, Teshome Toga, doesn’t want to take the chance. Last week, he was heard as saying, “no way Kaliti will creep to parliament by stealth.” So he has instead decided to recruit Indian legal professionals. When the training starts, we will see Indians, who have been lectured how and what they teach, talking to the MPs about what they will say is the pillar of our constitution - Article 39
......
The AAU debate continues. See Roha's second entry on the right sidebar of this blog. Or read it here.

Meles's grandiose delusional disorder gets reality check

(By Meqdela)
"Empires die of indigestion," Napoleon claimed. So too dictators. Sense of invincibility and self-importance leads to grandiose delusion disorder. Psychiatrists say that people who are affected by grandiose delusion disorder usually don't care about getting treatment because they are convinced of their ideas. The political form of grandiose delusional disorder is worse as it is a source of catastrophic action by those in power who harbour the disorder. There can be no better example than the actions of Napoleon himself.
Meles destroyed his opponents at home with brute and force. His shaky government survived in spite of a tide of unfavourable opinion from the citizenry. I think that led him to the sense of invincibility. He invaded Somalia without due cause and argued what happened to America(the world's hyper power) in Iraq wouldn't happen to Ethiopia in Somalia. That is pure and simple delusional disorder. Now he has to face reality check and- by extension indigestion . Is Somalia the beginning of the end for Meles?

As promised, Roha has started the Addis Ababa University debates. You can find it at the right side bar of this blog below Ethio-Zagol Post diaries.
Here is the first article.

Protesting Ethiopian soldiers jailed

(By Ethio-Zagol)
Five hundred members of the Agazi battalion were put in jail last week for refusing to fight in Somalia. The soldiers had been in Somalia since the start of the war. Military sources said that the protesting soldiers were rounded up and taken back to Ethiopia where they were put under round the clock surveillance at Wondetika military camp, 260 kilometers south of Addis Ababa.

(By Ethio-Zagol)
Amnesty International has a new report on action alert on Ethiopia. This latest one is about foreign nationals who are held incommunicado in Ethiopian prisons. This caught my attention.

Among those detained are several women and children, the youngest of whom is thought to be aged around four. Tunisian national Ines Chine was pregnant at the time of her arrest and had suffered a bullet wound to her back. She did not receive adequate medical care while in detention in Kenya, and Amnesty International is concerned her current detention continues to endanger her health and that of her unborn baby. Comorian national Halima Badrudine Hussein and Swedish national Sophia Abdi Nasir are both detained with their children, although the ages of their children is not known. Amnesty International believes that there may be another five women detained.

From killing nine year old kids for supporting the opposition to jailing a four year old "Al-Qaeda" suspect... that is a new low even by EPRDF standards.

AP risks ban in Ethiopia

(By Ethio-Zagol)
Ethiopian government officials are considering the possibility of banning the Associated Press from Ethiopia. The news outlet's recent reports about the country have angered government officials.

AP's new correspondent Anita Powell arrived in Ethiopia last week but hasn't yet received her accreditation from the Ministry of Information. Accreditation, the ministry's jargon for controlling foreign journalists in Ethiopia, usually takes two weeks. Government sources who requested anonymity said Ms. Powell's case may be more complicated as Bereket Simon, the Prime Minister's advisor and right hand man, has intervened to temporarily block her accreditation.

"We are specifically instructed by Bereket not to give her the license to report from this country until further orders come from him, " a Ministry of Information staffer told this blog.
AP had recently published several articles which had put the Ethiopian government in state of disarray. According to the sources the story of secret prisons in Ethiopia and the alleged involvement of Ethiopian troops in war crimes had particularly infuriated government officials. Both stories were written from Nairobi.

"Some officials think banning AP from Ethiopia will only tarnish Ethiopia's already bad reputation of not respecting freedom of the press and won't stop the news organization from publishing reports which present the government unfavourably," one government source said. There are, however, hardliners who think that AP should be punished for what it has done.

AP's former correspondent in Ethiopia, Anthony Mitchell, was kicked out of Ethiopia last year for defaming the country. Yet his deportation hasn't stopped him from breaking stories which have presented Ethiopian government in the way its officials want to avoid.

How to save one's rear

(By Ethio-Zagol)
It took two weeks for the legal department of the Ministry of Foreign affairs to come up with this:

In a statement issued Friday, the Ethiopian Foreign Ministry acknowledged
that it had received a cargo shipment from North Korea on Jan. 22, but asserted
that it did not include prohibited items like tank parts. “This shipment
contained spare parts for machinery and engineering equipment and raw material
for the making of assorted ammunition for small arms,” the Ethiopian statement
read. “The United States Embassy in Addis Ababa might have been aware of
Ethiopia’s importation of the said cargo from North Korea. “However, the fact is
that Ethiopia did not purchase arms or any other item covered by Resolution 1718
under the contractual agreements,” the statement read, referring to the Security
Council measure.

Read article 8 of resolution 1718 and you will know how the lawyers came up with that.

“8. (a) all Member States shall prevent the direct or
indirect supply, sale or transfer to the DPRK, through their territories or by
their nationals, or using their flag vessels or aircraft, and whether or not
originating in their territories, of:
(i) any battle tanks,
armoured combat vehicles, large calibre artillery systems, combat aircraft,
attack helicopters, warships, missiles or missile systems as defined for the
purpose of the United Nations Register on Conventional Arms, or related materiel
including spare parts, or items as determined by the Security Council or the
Committee established by paragraph 12 below (the Committee);
(ii) all
items, materials, equipment, goods and technology as set out in the lists in
documents S/2006/814 and S/2006/815, unless within 14 days of adoption of this
resolution the Committee has amended or completed their provisions also taking
into account the list in document S/2006/816, as well as other items, materials,
equipment, goods and technology, determined by the Security Council or the
Committee, which could contribute to DPRK’s nuclear-related, ballistic
missile-related or other weapons of mass destruction-related
programmes;
(iii)luxury goods;
(b) the DPRK shall cease the
export of all items covered in subparagraphs (a) (i) and (a) (ii) above and that
all Member States shall prohibit the procurement of such items from the DPRK by
their nationals, or using their flagged vessels or aircraft, and whether or not
originating in the territory of the DPRK;
I all
Member States shall prevent any transfers to the DPRK by their nationals or from
their territories, or from the DPRK by its nationals or from its territory, of
technical training, advice, services or assistance related to the provision,
manufacture, maintenance or use of the items in subparagraphs (a) (i) and (a)
(ii) above;
(d) all Member States shall, in accordance with
their respective legal processes, freeze immediately the funds, other financial
assets and economic resources which are on their territories at the date of the
adoption of this resolution or at any time thereafter, that are owned or
controlled, directly or indirectly, by the persons or entities designated by the
Committee or by the Security Council as being engaged in or providing support
for, including through other illicit means, DPRK’s nuclear-related, other
weapons of mass destruction-related and ballistic missile-related programmes, or
by persons or entities acting on their behalf or at their direction, and ensure
that any funds, financial assets or economic resources are prevented from being
made available by their nationals or by any persons or entities within their
territories, to or for the benefit of such persons or
entities;
(e) all Member States shall take the necessary steps to
prevent the entry into or transit through their territories of the persons
designated by the Committee or by the Security Council as being responsible for,
including through supporting or promoting, DPRK policies in relation to the
DPRK’s nuclear-related, ballistic missile-related and other weapons of mass
destruction-related programmes, together with their family members, provided
that nothing in this paragraph shall oblige a state to refuse its own nationals
entry into its territory;
(f) in order to ensure compliance with
the requirements of this paragraph, and thereby preventing illicit trafficking
in nuclear, chemical or biological weapons, their means of delivery and related
materials, all Member States are called upon to take, in accordance with their
national authorities and legislation, and consistent with international law,
cooperative action including through inspection of cargo to and from the DPRK,
as necessary;
“

Classic stuff. Read the law and look for the loopholes to cover your rear. Too bad that they are so late. There reaa has already been exposed. If they would start asking advice from their lawyers before they are in mire, all these scandals wouldn't have happened. What serious lawyer would have advised Meles to charge political opponents with genocide?

Blogging Addis Ababa University

Ethiopia's former great academic institutions is in woeful state. Poor education standards, bad governance, corruption and lack of academic freedom now define its identity. Ethio-Zagol Post blogger Roha will start a new blog section on the University on Wednesday. Students, teachers and other university staff will contribute to the section.
In his smashing bestseller written frm prison former AAU academic Brehanu Nega asserted that Ethiopia's intellectuals are one of the the reasons why democracy hasn't taken root in Ethiopia. I agree with him. Roha's efforts will be part of the attempts to democratize AAU. At the moment, there is no forum in Addis Ababa University where stakeholders debate about the institution and much more. Our blog wilfully takes the lead to open the closed space.

Ethiopian troops to start major offensive in Somalia

(By Ethio-Zagol)
Ethiopian and Somalia government soldiers are preparing to start a major military offensive against insurgents in Mogadisu, a source at the Somalia Embassy in Ethiopia said.

The source who requested anonymity because of the risks of leaking the information told Ethio-Zagol Post that the forces are at the final stage of their preparation. Mogadishu has remained relatively calm in the last week after the capital’s dominant clan, the Hawiye, had brokered a cease-fire about 10 days ago to end a calamitous fighting.

“The Ethiopian forces have gathered intelligence on the whereabouts of the leaders of the insurgents and they feel the time is ripe for major offensive to end the insurgency, “the source said. The Ethiopians will be helped by Somalia government soldiers.

Ethiopia has been stung by war crimes claims. On April 2, EU Commissions senior adviser on security for Somalia sent send a letter to Eric van der Linden, the commission’s head of delegation in Kenya, alerting him about the "significance of the events of the past four days in Mogadishu in terms of the international law on conflict". Hawiye clan elders said that more than 1000 people were killed and 4000 wounded during the heavy clashes in capital.

The new offensive will, however, commence despite the accusation. “The Ethiopian government is nervous about EU allegations; but I don’t see any evidence that it will stop them from another attack,” the embassy source claimed.

Meles does the dirty work for the Americans and takes the heat.

(By Meqdela)
It was Replica Iran. Eight "terrorists" detained in secret prisons in Ethiopia (some referred to them as TPLF’s Guantanmo) were paraded on ETV yesterday. The “terrorists” in broken English told the world that their captures were humane; and provided them with clothing and meals of their own choice. The claimed Ethiopian jail guards were friendly, and like brothers to the jailed. What a moving story!

When Iran paraded captured sailors from the British Royal Navy on state TV, Britain and America hastily condemned the act. We will see how they will act now. But for me that is beside the point. Forceful videotaping and recording of prisoners by Ethiopian authorities is a standard procedure in the county. What might shock the world is normal behavior in Ethiopia. We have seen that with our political prisoners.

Americans know about that and the practices of severe torture in Ethiopia. And I believe it is this “comparative advantage” of our system that they tried to exploit before the story was reported by the media. It is common knowledge that Americans send “terror” suspects to countries where there is widespread torture. They want others to do their dirty work. So is it fair for the media to jump on the back of the Ethiopian government? Are the prisoners in Ethiopia’s jails without the recognition of the American government?

Meles has been given the license to do whatever he wants. He flouts rules of international behavior at will. He kills thousands in Ethiopia and Somalia and tortures political prisoners in his own country without eyebrows raised in the part of the world which calls itself the international community (Intcom in the words of Noam Chomsky). That is not because they think his other proxy works outweigh his thuggery. No, no, no; that is not the reason. They themselves actively encourage the thuggery. That is it. No pulling punches. If the media believe illegally detaining and torturing “terror” suspects in Ethiopia is a story worth reporting and human rights groups think it is affront to the rights of man, both should seek more answers at Shiro Meda* and in Washington than Arat Kilo.

*Shiro Meda is where the US embassy is located in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Democracy in action

Ethiopian American Civic Advocay(EACA) has created a wonderful website for democracy in action. Be part of political action. Click here to see the site and here to read and sign its urgent petition.

Hail Cæsar! Those who are about to die salute you!

(By Ethio-Zagol)
Meles is still trying to extract apology from the CUD leaders under duress. The latest version runs like this:

Meles is ready to admit that he regrets the killing of civilians by the
police when the institution was enforcing constitutional order while the CUD
leaders will admit that evidences in government hand show that their
supporters and members have committed unconstitutional acts and, therefore,
they will vicariously apologize to the government and the Ethiopian
people for the acts of third parties.

Of course, this is a non-starter. The leaders have rejected it . The court's decision las week was a set-back as far as justice and rights go. Yet the leaders' steadfastness shows that the decision can't be used to bully them to make apologies for the acts they didn't commit.

The Roman gladiators used to show their allegiance to the king before they fought by saying Ave cæsar! Morituri te salutant!. Roughly translated it means; Hail Cæsar! Those who are about to die salute you! What it doesn't mean is Hail Cæsar! Those you will put to death salute you! Just in case Meles misinterpreted the salute.

Long live the spirit of Brandeis

(By Ethio-Zagol)
A little break from Et. politics. The New York Times today has a front page story about manners in the blogosphere. Read the story here. Some of the incidents the times mentioned make Ethiopia's blogosphere appear the epitome of civility.

Mr. Wales and Mr. O’Reilly were inspired to act after a firestorm erupted
late last month in the insular community of dedicated technology bloggers. In an
online shouting match that was widely reported, Kathy Sierra, a high-tech book
author from Boulder County, Colo., and a friend of Mr. O’Reilly, reported
getting death threats that stemmed in part from a dispute over whether it was
acceptable to delete the impolitic comments left by visitors to someone’s
personal Web site.
Distraught over the threats and manipulated photos of her
that were posted on other critical sites — including one that depicted her head
next to a noose — Ms. Sierra canceled a speaking appearance at a trade show and
asked the local police for help in finding the source of the threats. She also
said that she was considering giving up blogging altogether.

AND

For the last four years, Richard Silverstein has advocated for
Israeli-Palestinian peace on a blog (richardsilverstein.com) that he maintains from
Seattle.
People who disagree with his politics frequently leave harassing
comments on his site. But the situation reached a new low last month, when an
anonymous opponent started a blog in Mr. Silverstein’s name that included photos
of Mr. Silverstein in a pornographic context.
“I’ve been assaulted and harassed online for four years,” he said. “Most of it I can take in stride. But you just never get used to that level of hatred.”

I think trying to codify code of conduct(even a non-binding one) to govern bloggers and commenters is a bad, bad idea. Blogging is where free speech with all its mess and untidiness gets to be practised. Any attempt( good or bad intentioned) to impose rules on it will damage the extent of free speech.

There is also a slippery slope here. Now is for non-binding codes of conduct. When it remains unenforceable, politicians(who are always interested in curbing the freedom of those who embarrass them) and the main stream media will start arguing for laws to enforce the code of conduct. Once there are laws to govern manners in the blogosphere, it will become the amateurish version of the MSM.

There are always risks in blogging...even more when you are doing it from Ethiopia. Those risks are taken with consent because the benefits outweigh the risks. If people don't want to be harassed in cyberspace, there is an option - dropping out of it.

In fact, the blogosphere has shown that it can be self-regulatory. Most sites that have high visitor numbers are better mannered and more reliable. Nasty comments are usually moderated by the bloggers themselves or counter-balanced by civil discussions. And cyber bullies are not usually tolerated.

Blogosphere is a place where more speech works better than enforced silence.

Mobile phones and foreign admirers

(By Meqdela)
The Capital quoted this from the gathering to introduce Nokia Siemens Networks.

Ethiopia’s mobile penetration rate stands as the lowest in Africa, at 1.4%,with
ETC as one of the largest monopolies in the continent.

Ten years ago, Meles's argument against allowing private mobile service providers was that they wouldn't serve the rural areas as their interest is to maximize profit. He said the government would do that. For such a stupid argument, he was hailed as genius by his many foreign admirers.
This year he was praised when he said allowing private investors to provide mobile services amounts to letting them print money. While he is praised for this and that silly argument, Ethiopia is where it is.
Either way the foreign friends won't be affected, will they?

Tsegaye Tadesse gets his windmill

(By Ethio-Zagol)
Tsegaye Tadesse is an insult to the great media institution he works for. Last week, the Reuters reporter kept silent when the court in charge of the treason and genocide trial decided that the CUD council members should defend themselves against the charge of outrage against constitutional order.
Today, he got the story that would put the government and the court in positive light. His headline was predictable but false.

Ethiopia treason trial judge frees 25 journalists

The number of journalists who were freed today is eight. 25 is the total number of people who were released.
This is not the first time Tsegaye acted as the propagandist for the government. From predicting a huge victory to EPRDF in election 2005 to continually disseminating the myth that Ethiopia is on course to become a middle income country in 20 years, Tsegaye's spins and stories are eloquent testimonies to what he stands for.

Breaking news:Court releases major newspaper publishers

The court in charge of the treason and genocide trial of political dissidents today ordered the release of five major newspapers including Serkalem Fasil and her husband Eskinder Nega. The The court also ordered the release of prominent journalists Sisay Agena, fasil yenealem and Dereje Habtewolde.
Meanwhile, the court said the prosecutor didn't show enough evidence proving the charges of attempted genocide and high treason(different from treason) against CUD leaders.
(more on this and other ruling later)

Melkam Fasika

For the readers of EZ Post

Melkam Fasika

EZ, Mengedegna, Roha, Meqdela
EZ Post bloggers

From lust to survival: how the value and meaning of power is changing for Meles

(By Ethio-Zagol)
Xan Rice, the Guardian's East African Correspondent ended the story about EU's war crimes probe with this:

Strong support from the US for Ethiopia's incursion is another potential obstacle to investigation. But the expert and another regional analyst said it was time the international community spoke out against abuses. "When the Sudan government bombs villages in Darfur, it's called genocide," the second analyst said. "But when the Ethiopians bomb civilian areas...nothing is said. Is it because this is perceived to be part of the war on terror?"

This probe and what he has done at home will make Meles cling to power even more. He knows there is a significant chance of ending up before one court or another if and when he retires. Staying in power is a security against that. Power is no more lust for him. It is a means of survival - man's basic instinct.

Once again...On the court

(By Ethio-zagol)
Bedru Adem, Kinijit council member, has been under EPRDF custody since 31 October 2005. Nonetheless, the court today decided that he had led a stone-throwing protest in Addis Ketema area on the 1 Nov 2005, the day after he landed at the Maekelawi prison where he stayed the next four weeks and then transferred to Kaliti. What do you call this?
…
The international media have been silent about the decision of the court. AP’s new reporter Anita Powell hasn’t yet arrived here. I can’t criticize an international news outlet with no correspondent (temporarily) in the country for not reporting the trial. But where is the BBC? Will Amber Henshaw please stand up?

Andragachew Tsgie and Elias Kifle are guilty, court rules

In a remarkable precedent in Ethiopian legal history, the court in charge of the treason trial of CUD leaders, independent journalists and civil society members ruled today that Andargachew Tsgie, Mesfin Aman and Elias Kifle are guilty of outrage against the constitutional order even before they are given a chance to defend their case. Although both of them are tried in absentia, they still have a constitutional right to defend their case.
The court either dropped or dismissed the case against other defendants who are tried in diaspora including Tamagne Beyene, Negede Gobeze, Abreha Belai and Brehane Mewa.
Civil society leaders Daniel Bekele and Netsanet Demissie were also ordered to defend their case. Kassahun Kebede, however, was set free.
Ethiopia's greatest civil rights advocate Professor Mesfin Woldemariam was also ordered to defend the charge of outrage against the constitutional order. The court reasoned that eventhough as a non-member of the CUD council he didn't have collective responsiblity, professor Mesfin had made speeches advocating the dismantling of the constitutional order and institutions.
The Kangaroo trial continues Monday.
I will write more on it later.

What-it-is-like-to-be-EPRDF

If I would start with a cliche... Today was a sad day. After following the American embassy efforts and the mediation, I had thought that there could be some opening for reconciliation and a new start. The problem with the likes of me is that we try to consider EPRDF as a group which makes rational decisions and try to put ourselves in the shoes of EPRDF leaders and speculate about what their interest are and what they might decide.

Of course, there is something to be like EPRDF. Yet EPRDF doesn't have the same rational faculty as we have. Our way of perceiving things is different. We can't extrapolate EPRDF's reasoning from our experience. We can form schematic conceptions of what it is like to be an animal; but not what to be EPRDF is. What we can do, however, is to rob EPRDF of its power to perplex, hurt and anger us with its irrationally irrational decisions .

Death sentence beckons our heroes

The court in charge of the treason and genocide trial of kinijit leaders, civil society members and independent journalists has today rules that all council members of kinijit including Hailu Shawel, Brehanu Nega and Birtukan Mideksa should defend their case in the treason charge.
The court ruled that the council’s decision has a direct cause and effect relationship with the June 8 and November one disturbances. It also ruled that the prosecutor has produced sufficient evidence to prove that they have committed treason.
The leaders have previously decided not to defend the case. If they stick to their previous decision, it means they will be sentenced for committing treason soon The crime of treason carries a death sentence or severe imprisonment in Ethiopian law.
The following are ordered to defend themselves
Ato Hailu Shawel, Chairman
Wzr Birtukan Mideksa, Vice-Chair
Ato Muluneh Eyuel, CUD Secretary General
Dr Befekadu Degifie, Head of Finance
Dr Yacob Hailemariam, Head of External Affairs
Ato Gizachew Shiferaw, Head of Public Relations
Ato Sileshi Tena
Ato Abayneh Berhanu
COUNCIL MEMBERS
Ato Andualem Aragie
Ato Aschalew Ketema
Ato Assefa Habteweld
Dr Berhanu Nega, Mayor of Addis Ababa
Ato Brook Kebede
Ato Bedru Adem, Member of Parliament
Ato Debebe Eshetu
Dr Hailu Araya, Member of Parliament
Ato Gebretsadik Hailemariam
Shaleqa Getachew Mengiste
Wzr Nigist G/Hiwot
Dr Tadios Bogale, Member of Parliament
Ato Tamrat Tarekegn
Ato Yeneneh Mulat
Ato Mesfin Aman

The court will rule on other defendants tomorrow

Breaking news:court ruled defendants to defend their case

The court decided that all council members (including HAilu Shawel , Birtukan Mideksa and Birhanu Nega) are ordered to defend their case. The court ruled that the prosecutor has shown enough evidence that treason has been committed.

Postponed again

The judges in the trial of CUD leaders, independent journalists and civil society members yet again decided to adjourn the proceeding. They finished most of the briefing today.
The judges said they would conclude the briefing and read the ruling tomorrow.
The briefing was read today by judge Leul who was supposed to be sick.

Scene from Women's Great Run

Runners flashing Kinijit's "V" sign and calling for the release of political prisoners at Women's Great Run on Sunday. The faces are covered to hide their identity.

Court adjourned for tomorrow

(By Ethio-Zagol)
The court is adjourned again; this time for tomorrow. The briefing continued today with remaining part of the documentary evidence summarized. The testimonies of ten witnesses were also summed up. Seventy-nine witnesses had have testified in the trial. The court said the briefing will continue tomorrow.
The court said it would have continued in the afternoon if one of the judges hadn't been sick. This was the same reason given on Friday for not continuing the proceeding in the afternoon. The sick judge is Leul Gebremariam.

Ethio-Zagol Post diaries

(By Ethio-zagol)
The new format of the blog seems to be confusing some of the readers of this site. Only 16% of vistors read the diaries of Ethio-Zagol Post contributors in the right side of the blog. The diaries are part of this blog and they are there to be commented upon. More diariests will join the blog soon. Diaries may be sent to:
seminaworq@yahoo.com
I will verify the information and post the diaries.