• Jaalala Blog

Politics in the horn of africa is complex and filled with many ironies. Now, Eritrea's Foreign Minister is accusing the United Nations of "ignoring" Ethiopia's illegal occupation of the Badme region. It is weird that Eritrea is accusing others of violation of international law while it was accused of violating UN resolutions and single handedly destroying the United Nations Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE) a couple of years ago.

Anyhow, is Ethiopia occupying Badme? What about Eritrea?

Well, the story of Badme is more complex and it has more to do with domestic politics inside Ethiopia. For many Ethiopians (who saw Ethiopian troops defeat Eritrean army in 2000) they are disappointed that the topic of discussion has been watered-down to Badme. That is because, they basically expected Ethiopia to retake other territories occupied by Eritrea.

But alas!, to the surprise of many in 2002, Meles Zenawi gives up Assab port and the occupied Kunama lands to Eritrea! That was when many Ethiopians began to wonder if Meles Zenawi is really more Eritrean than Ethiopian! Zenawi's own TPLF party got split apart with Defense Minister Siye Abraha accusing Meles Zenawi of a crime against Ethiopia.

To save himself from more embarrassment inside Ethiopia, Meles Zenawi tried to hang on to the last Ethiopian terroritory left.... Badme. And, after all these years, he is still hanging on to it as we can all see today.  So Badme is not just a boundary dispute issue, it is more about internal Ethiopian politics.
 
But what about Eritrea's occupation?

Well, the Asmara government is also violating the decision by the Eritrea-Ethiopia Boundary Commission by occupying many disputed territories, including the area around Bure and Kunama. Nobody expects Eritrea to give up Kunama land because for the Tigrigna speaking highlanders in Asmara, Kanama land is a commodity. For them, the Kunama people are not... [Read More]

• Jaalala Blog

The invitation of Ethiopia's Prime Minister Meles Zenawi to Columbia University (CU) in New York has attracted a lot of attention from the Ethiopian and American media. CU's invitation has been another honor for a dictator that has brought so much pain and suffering to many people of his own country. But this is not the first. Meles has been invited to many western conferences and summits like the G20 and G8, shaking hands with President Obama and many ELECTED leaders of world. What makes CU's invitation different is that it is an independent academic institution that, unlike western summits and westerns leaders, is not expected to be "politically correct" or defend selfish American interests (like "War on Terror") at the expense of supporting dictators.

Still, the shame of inviting a brutal dictator can be replaced by praise for CU if the university officialls trully make the podium a "neutral" place for dialogue and questions. According to Columbia University Director of Media Relations Robert Hornsby, there will an open QUESTION-AND-ANSWER period after the dictator finishes his speech. It is time for Columbia's World Leaders Forum (WLF) to prove to the world that it will respect its own mission to “advance lively, uninhibited dialogue” by asking the dictator these top 12 questions that us Ethiopians will never be able to ask.

• Question # 1. You were "elected" once again to be chairman of Tigrayan Peoples Liberation Front (TPLF) after 25 years. Was nobody else qualified to lead your party during over a quarter of a century?
• Question # 2. You installed a policy of "ethnic federalism" in Ethiopia the last 15 years to allegedly stabilize the country but why has ethnic-based opposition to your government increased?
• Question # 3. BBC's last [Read More]

• Jaalala Blog

Another election in Ethiopia, another drama staged. The ruling party of dictator Meles Zenawi has taken virtually all seats in parliament and made Ethiopia a one-party state similar to the tyranny in Eritrea. Even the genocidal regime in Sudan has a better representative parliament than Meles Zenawi. That is how bad it has become in our country. Now Meles is trying to show new security problems in the Ogaden to trick the West into supporting him for the sake of stability in the horn of Africa.

Most Western governments have accepted that this 2010 election was a sham. The fact that Ethiopian capital city Finfinne (which was swept by the opposition in 2005) has now been won by the Zenawi dictatorship was probably when the drama became too predictable. Since then, the dictator has been trying to survive by doing two things:
(1)distract the Ethiopian people and
(2) hold western leaders hostage.

This past week, Zenawi’s media in Ethiopia started to distract the people with the news of the Nile river dispute with Egypt and about the upcoming World Cup football games. Meanwhile, Meles is trying to create news about insecurity in southern Ethiopia so that the West will have no choice but to support him for the sake of “war on terror.” This is the only explanation for how a small group of Ogaden rebels (ONLF) took over the most important Oil field in Ogaden region WITHOUT ANY FIGHTING! Meles simply handed over the Oil field to the rebels! Knowing that the ONLF bandits will run away and hide when they are attacked, Meles Zenawi staged another drama in the Ogaden by allowing the rebels to take control of the Oil exploration area for a short period of time. The foolish ONLF leaders in Europe then congratulated themselves and fell for Zenawi’s trick by sending press release to western media about their “successful” capture of the Oil field. The ONLF helped Zenawi to prove a point once again that the West needs Zenawi for the s... [Read More]

• Jaalala Blog

My two music video picks for today show the direction of new music styles in Ethiopia and the role of the different ethnic and modern cultures influencing Ethiopian music. The first one is titled "Elle yaba Addis Ababa" and it is one of the favorite songs in Ethiopia today among young people. It combines African American and Ethiopian Reggae styles with a mix of hip hop and Welayta dances.  I have to say that Welayta dances and music has taken over Ethiopia these days. There is virtually no modern Ethiopian song without welayta influence! Its amazing. My second music video choice is titled "Bareedu Oromo." It is a song by a young Oromo singer (a "Youtube star") with rap nickname "Epidemic"and slogan Oz'Up. Besides the strange names, the singer is talented and this music below is his best one.
Checkout both the videos

• Jaalala Blog

Here are my latest music video picks. It is by singer Gossaye Tesfaye. I have to admit that Gossaye is one of my favorite Ethiopian singers even though i believe there have been too many copy cats of his (and Teddy's) music style in Ethiopia, so much so that the repetition has bored many people to death. But he is an exception. This song titled "Wegen Tesebseb" has the "YOUTUBE record" for the most viewed Ethiopian video ever! It was the first Ethiopian video to pass the one million viewers YouTube mark.  The video does not have that great quality but the messege tells Ethiopian people to "come together." 

Gossaye is also inside the famous video "Balageru III," which actually has a much better quality. The dance scenes in the video are excellent, mixing the modern "Harlem shake" with its ancient form and predecessor "Eskista."

Enjoy my 2 picks below.

• Jaalala Blog

I started posting my video picks on my blog last month, here are my 2 video picks for today. The first one is inspired by the Christmas day news article that described how an Abyssinian/Ethiopian Christian king saved the first Muslims from persecution and arguably saved the religion of Islam singlehandedly. It is no surprise that the first Mosque is also found in northern Ethiopian town of Negashi. Below is a short hollywood video depicting the time when the persecutors tried to change the King's mind about giving the muslims a refugee. The Arabs blamed the first muslims for betraying the religion of their forefathers by adopting the new "foreign" religion of Muslim. But the King of Ethiopia defended Islam and gave refugee to the muslims. The second vid is a recent muslim celebration program in Ethiopia.

<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/WtVjs4XUSjc&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x3a3a3a&color2=0x999999"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/WtVjs4XUSjc&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x3a3a3a&color2=0x999999" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>

<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/tprlUfef3Ew&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x3a3a3a&color2=0x999999"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src=... [Read More]

• Jaalala Blog

Recently, i have not been blogging as often as i used to do. Sorry fans. You all know that we all have our tough days or our busy times so i just didn't have the time to write. Well, even if i didn't write, everyone knows my views on current events like about the traitor senior Hailu Shawel who sold democracy to fix his retirement in Ethiopia and about the OLF officials brainwashing Oromo students in Germany last week. Both events are a SHAME in my opinion. I think OLF should let Oromo youth develop independent thinking and i think Hailu Shawel's AEUP should have joined the MEDREK coalition instead of supporting the fake Meles election. Sometimes i really feel like we are just too stupid and we deserve a dictator like Meles Zenawi.

Anyway, I had some free time today and I was checking some videos on Youtube. Here are a couple of them that i really enjoyed. Actually, i will be doing this regularly and picking nice videos of the day or week. If you have some nice videos you want to share, send them or post its link below. Enjoy.

<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/qbjg-ginjuM&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x234900&color2=0x4e9e00"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/qbjg-ginjuM&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x234900&color2=0x4e9e00" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>

<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/kcUBMyyb41g&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube... [Read More]

Opinion | By Blogger Jaalala

This is one of those things you can say "Only in Ethiopia!" The trip to Ethiopia by the hollywood superstar Actors Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie could not have gone more under the radar. We all saw a little media coverage about Angelina bringing her adopted daughter Zahara to Ethiopia but nothing else from the trip. Apparently, that is because almost nobody knows (and cares to know) about the two celebrities. I was surprised to hear from friends that the two famous American stars even took public transportation in Ethiopia and went to markets around the capital city Addis Ababa. But no one recognized them!. Then when the two stars went to Merkato (the largest market in Africa) an Ethiopian guide was allegedly approached by curious man who asked who the hell the famous actress is. I don't know whether this is a good thing or bad for Ethiopia. Even the jihadists in Afghanistan or Mogadishu would know Angelina Jolie!  People in virtually all arab capital cities, they also know her. Addis Ababa must be the only capital city in the world where famous people like these are not known by the locals.

I wonder if the two also went to Bole sub-city (the most "upscale" district) of Addis Ababa because that would have been the ultimate paparazzi test. Anyway, i always felt sorry for hollywood actors who have no private life because of the paparazzi taking pictures of their every move. So this could a blessing in disguise for actors/actresses and for Ethiopia.

For any famous hollywood entertainer and public figure out there, the best and perhaps the only world capital city to get away from the annoying paparazzi is Addis Ababa. Enjoy it while it lasts.

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The views expressed in this blog do not represent the views of Jimma Times or its staff. The v... [Read More]