A confidential TPLF document

Indian Ocean Newsletter N° 1211 31/03/2007
According to information obtained in Addis Ababa by The Indian Ocean Newsletter, the Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi has written a 22 page document entitled Tigray in the new Millenium calling for a strengthening of the construction of a Tigray Regional State which is in a position to “survive on its own means if necessary”. This text was approved by Seyoum Mesfin, Abay Tsehaye and Sebhat Nega and is now circulating in the executive circles of the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF, hard core of the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front in power in Addis Ababa) as a confidential document. According to our sources, it lists the various infrastructure projects already completed in Tigray, laying special emphasis on the Tekezie hydro-electric dam for its role in the electrification of the country, calls for the expansion of other sectors of activity in this region in the North of Ethiopia and praises the close relations between the Tigray Regional State and China. This text also considers that the Tigrayan Diaspora abroad should be “educated and mobilised to invest” in this regional state. Finally, it stresses the need to establish close relations with certain Eritrean opponents. This theoretical assemblage is similar to the thesis in favour of creating an independent state, coupling Ethiopian Tigrayans and Christian Eritreans from the high plateaux. The idea of such a Tigray-Tigrigni State was favoured two decades ago by certain Ethiopian Tigrayan and Eritrean nationalists.

Evils of man

Why is the monster who committed this brutal crime not already prosecuted and punished? What's the point of an authoritarian regime, if such hideous crimes are not met with swift justice?

Kamilat Mehdi, 21, had a bright future ahead of her. She dreamt about doing a degree and becoming an air hostess.

Acid attack on woman shocks Ethiopia (BBC) 28 March 2007

Eritreans risk death in the Sahara

Just when you think we've got it bad...

Every day, in the barren lands along the Sudanese border, young Eritreans risk their lives to flee from their country.

...According to opposition sources, between 400 and 600 Eritreans a month make this dangerous journey.

Eritreans risk death in the Sahara (BBC) 25 March 2007

Meles on Al Jazeera

...You've been in power a long time, how would you like to be remembered in history?

Zenawi: I would like to be remembered as someone who got Ethiopia off to a good track, a democratic one, one ... where Ethiopia's proverbial poverty begins to be tackled in an effective way. I'd like to be remembered as someone who started the process.

Interview: Meles Zenawi (Al Jazeera) March 19, 2007

"En route" for Asmara?

Indian Ocean Newsletter N° 1210 17/03/2007
According to a source close to the Ethiopian ministry of defence, the Ethiopian army has obtained satellite photos from the American intelligence services, showing the northern border of Ethiopia and providing useful information on Eritrean troop concentration. Moreover, the leaders of the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF, hard core of the EPRDF in power in Addis Ababa) are currently waging a propaganda campaign based on the slogan “repeat in the North the victorious military operation in Somalia”. This aggressive orientation towards Eritrea, which has been in a still unresolved border dispute with Ethiopia for many years, is not to the liking of the leaders of the other factions making up the Ethiopian governing coalition. Furthermore, it has caused diplomats on post in Addis Ababa to wonder whether the United States military cooperation with Ethiopia to prepare their joint offensive into Somalia could now be repeated in Eritrea. All the more so since the relations between the USA and the government of Asmara are at their lowest point and Addis Ababa suspects Somalian Islamists have transited through Eritrea or have found refuge there.

The fallout of a kidnapping

Indian Ocean Newsletter N° 1210 17/03/2007
The release of Western tourists kidnapped in East Ethiopia has led to words between Meles Zenawi and Seyoum Mesfin.

Following the release in Asmara of the British diplomats who had been kidnapped in East Ethiopia by a group of Afar rebels, the Ethiopian Prime Minister criticised the way this crisis had been managed by his minister for foreign affairs. According to information obtained in Addis Ababa, Meles Zenawi is said to reproach Seyoum Mesfin and his ministry of staying rooted to the spot and being content to merely reiterate accusations against Eritrea, which had been initially held responsible for the kidnapping. Conversely, he considers that they should have tried to use their contacts with the former leaders of the Afar Revolutionary Democratic Unity Front (Arduf) who have now rallied behind the government of Addis Ababa, such as Mahamooda Gass to try and obtain the release of the hostages in Ethiopia. Instead, it was Eritrea that gained the credit for obtaining the liberation of the British diplomats held hostage.

This incident has also brought into the open the opposition in certain Afar circles to the Ethiopian government plans to expand the growing of sugar cane over a 200,000 hectare area in the Afar region of Tendaho. The consequence of this agricultural project would be to prevent the movement of Afar herdsmen and to encourage the settlement in their stead of arable farmers, probably Tigrayans like the current main Ethiopian political leaders.

Tadesse Ebba

Indian Ocean Newsletter N° 1210 17/03/2007
During a recent meeting of its executive committee, the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF, Ethiopian opposition) gave the task of heading the workgroup created to invigorate the Alliance for Freedom and Democracy (AFD, opposition coalition) to the head of its department of external relations, Hassan Hussein. Meanwhile, Tadesse Ebba was designated to be the representative of the OLF external relations department. Aged about 60 and from the Western Wollega, Ebba had been an executive of the OLF in Sudan in the 1970s. Two decades later he emigrated to Minnesota (United States) where he worked as a teacher. He subsequently again became an active OLF activist and headed the organisation’s North American bureau when Abiyou Geleta left this function to join the OLF faction headed by Gallasa Dilbo. Ebba is considered by those who know him as soft spoken and moderate person.

Ethiopian-American artists

A generation of Ethiopian Americans is making its mark on the arts. They are part of a wave of young people whose families fled Ethiopia in the 1970s and who came of age in the United States. Their writing, music and art are adding a new chapter to the epic of American immigration.

Ethiopian-American Artists Make Their Mark (NPR, Morning Edition) March 13, 2007

Tough days for EPRDF diplomats

An Ethiopian consulate official in Frankfurt, Germany, is egged by protesters demanding the release of political prisoners in Ethiopia. The consulate office had called a meeting targeting Ethiopians abroad to promote EPRDF's current round of land for lease policy and investment opportunities in Ethiopia. Such days are swaying more diplomats to quit, rather than represent EPRDF among the diaspora.

Shame for Weyane officials (www.EthioGermany.de) March 11, 2007

Woofing it down

Before passing judgment, consider reaction of others to consumption of raw meat ( Tiré Siga).

...Oga Bassey, however, says his cuisine is in high demand although his business is not doing so well because dogs are becoming scarce now in Abuja.

Dog's dinners prove popular in Nigeria (BBC) March 7, 2007