Addissu Legesse's whirlwind U.S. tour

Opposition rally in Atlanta (left) and Seattle (right)











So far, a series of meetings across the U.S. headed by Deputy Prime Minister of EPRDF, Addissu Legesse, regarding "investment and development in Amhara regional state," have been anything but successful. Apparently, barely twenty people showed up in San Jose, with meetings in other cities being cancelled or lasting minutes before the Deputy PM was forced to exit due to heckling from supporters of Ethiopia's imprisoned opposition party members. Addissu Legesse's coast-to-coast tour started in San Jose, and on to Seattle, Atlanta, Boston, and is scheduled to end in Washington DC, bastion of opposition groups. Will the Deputy PM cut short his failed tour and fly back to Addis, or opt for complete humiliation?

Video: Addisu Legesse heckled in Boston

Update, Sept. 2, 2006: No surprise, Addissu Legesse cancelled his meeting at the Ethiopian Embassy in Washington DC due to poor attendance. Hundreds of Ethiopians were waiting outside the Embassy ready to confront him, or anyone else who chose to enter the meeting. The Deputy PM can use the long flight back to Ethiopia to question what on earth possessed him to attempt such a disastrous public relations tour of the Diaspora.

Fuel prices up 19% in Ethiopia

Wow, again? I was just in Addis last May during an earlier price hike, taxi fares went up immediately the next morning. Not only is there lack of adequate public transport, people now have to manage an extra twenty percent into their monthly transport budget. Even the weather is not accommodating for those who choose to go on foot.

...A litre of benzene would now cost 8.17 birr (about $0.94) from the previous 6.68 birr, diesel would cost 5.44 birr ($0.58) from 4.78 birr and kerosene would cost 4.12 birr ($0.47) up from 3.45 birr. The new prices represent a 19 and 22 percent hike for diesel and benzene from the previous costs.

..."Any one who will use this price adjustment as an excuse to increase price on other goods and items will be punished accordingly," the [trade and industry] ministry warned.

Fuel prices up 19% in Ethiopia (Business in Africa) 28 August, 2006

Horn of Africa's exit point

...Several thousand Ethiopians sleep rough in Bossaso's dirt, like animals. They are sustained by Muslim alms: a free meal each day, paid for by Bossaso traders. Some of the Ethiopians arrive in town feral with hunger. They have to be beaten back with cudgels when the meal is served. The hope of all of them is to be illegally trafficked across the sea to Yemen. They slip out of town in the moonlight, cramming into metal skiffs that are death traps. Many drown in the crossing: the boat sinks or they are tossed overboard by traffickers when Yemeni patrols approach.

The path to ruin (Economist) August 10, 2006

Islamists open militia camp

Somalia's powerful Islamist movement opened a militia training camp on Wednesday with trainers from Eritrea, Afghanistan and Pakistan, witnesses said.

...The Islamists' hardline leader, Shiekh Hassan Dahir Aweys, attended the opening of the camp for more than 600 Islamist militiamen at Hiilweyne, north of Mogadishu.

Somali Islamists, foreign trainers open militia camp (Reuters) 23 August, 2006

U.S. Policy in Horn of Africa

...U.S. missteps in the region date to 1977, when policymakers tacitly — and foolishly — encouraged Somalia to take advantage of political instability in the Ethiopian capital and grab control of Ethiopia's Somali-inhabited Ogaden region.

The move backfired when Soviet and Cuban troops rushed in to defend the Marxist regime in Addis Ababa, turning Ethiopia into Moscow's staunchest ally in Africa. In response, Washington armed Mohamed Siad Barre's thugocracy in Somalia.

Dragged Back Into Somalia (Los Angeles Times) August 13, 2006

Ethiopian commander joins rebels

An Ethiopian Army general says he has defected to join the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF), a rebel group backed by neighbouring Eritrea.

...Ethiopian television said Gen Kemal had asked for further promotion soon after being promoted to the rank of brigadier general, but after this was rejected he engaged in "divisive activities".

Ethiopian commander joins rebels (BBC) 10 August, 2006

Interview (Real Player)
Interview (Windows)

Live and Become (2006)

In a Sudanese refugee camp sheltering Ethiopians displaced by civil war and famine in 1984, the Israeli secret service has begun Operation Moses, airlifting thousands of Falashas, or Ethiopian Jews, to Israel. A non-Jewish Ethiopian woman persuades a Falasha woman whose own son has just died, to allow her son to assume his identity. Renamed Schlomo, the boy is adopted by a loving and liberal Israeli family. However, Israel, rather than being the promised land, turns out to be rife with racism. We follow Schlomo through the trials and tribulations of assimilation.

Movie Trailer
Live and Become (2006) - Yahoo!7 Movies

Dire Dawa, hundreds missing

Rescuers have been digging through mud and debris, looking for some 300 people still missing after floods in Ethiopia.

Hundreds lost in Ethiopia flood (BBC) 7 August, 2006

Against all odds

If this story doesn't convince you of the power we as humans have to transform not just our lives, but the lives of others as well, then surely yours is a life filled with cynicism.

An Ethiopian girl who became the face of African famine when she was filmed starving and in tears in 1984 has graduated from college.

Face of Live Aid appeal graduates (BBC) 3 August, 2006