Somalia-Eritrea-Ethiopia Headlines

Ethiopians around the world held a demonstration in support of political prisoners in Ethiopia since Wednesday. The main target of the protests demanded the release of Unity for Democracy and Justice (UDJ) chairperson Judge Birtukan Mideksa, Secretary General of the Oromo Federalist Democratic Movement (OFDM) Bekele Jirata and the famous artist Teddy Afro.

The rallies were held in various main western cities, including Washington D.C., London and Brussels. Several western governments and human rights organizations condemned the detainments of the opposition leaders by the Ethiopian government as well as the recent adoption of an NGO law which critics say violates fundamental rights and puts further restrictions on the civil society.

Birtukan “encouraged’

According to a JT source, the UDJ leader Birtukan Mideksa is encouraged by the growing emotional support she received from Ethiopians from all corners of the world as well as the political help from several Western governments, describing that she felt “comforted and heartened by the worldwide support.”

The jailed Birtukan, who is a fan of US President Barrack Obama, asked for two books while in her prison cell: the Bible and Obama’s memoir “Dreams from My Father.”

Ethiopian withdrawal

Ethiopia continued to withdraw from Somalia on Thursday. The last of Ethiopian troops left Somalia's capital Mogadishu on Thursday, mostly transferring power to a joint force of Somali government troops and moderate Islamists. But many believe there will be a power vacuum that will be filled with the stronger and hardline al Shabaab islamists. The Eritrea-based Sheik Hassan Dahir Aweys, designated a terrorist by the U.N, said on Thursday that the international community should stop calling for more peacekeepers in Somalia, a reaction to US attempts to bring UN peacekeepers to help the African Union (AU) force.

Eritrea - UN

The UN Security Council adopted a resolution condemning Eritrea’s occupation of Djibouti territories. It asked Asmara “to acknowledge its border dispute in Ras Doumeira and Doumeira Island” in order to start a dialogue. However on Thursday, the Eritrean government denied that it occupied any Djibouti territory. The Eritrean government, which has been blamed for starting conflicts against Yemen, Sudan, Djibouti and Ethiopia during the 1990s, is sensitive of new accusations from the UN. It called the UN resolution “ill-considered, unbalanced and unnecessary.”

Grenade blast in Addis

A hand-grenade blast wounded over 30 people in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa, federal police said Thursday. Though it appears to be accidental, many expect the government to eventually blame the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) and Eritrea. According to hospital sources contacted by Jimma Times, about two dozen of the wounded have already returned to their homes after getting brief treatment.

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Added: December 24, 2009. 05:33 PM GMT

bathmate

Thank you for your nice posting.
it is really helpful to us.
such a nice topics.

Bathmate

bathmateus

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Added: March 13, 2009. 09:16 PM GMT

Have faith!

We all need to have faith and trust God as he is in charge of all creations.

Anonymous

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Added: January 20, 2009. 07:36 AM GMT

reply

if it is about the name you didn't even spell it correctly "jirataa" that means you are a loser too. you concluded they are "amaras" when you know nothing about their background.nonsense!!

Anonymous

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Added: January 17, 2009. 08:51 PM GMT

jerat? loooooooooool

these amaras can't even spell bekele jirataa correctly kikiki what a bunch of losers!!

chaltu

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Added: January 17, 2009. 07:06 PM GMT

we need more rally like this

great job people! we have to do more of demonstration against injustice and TPLF tyranny

there will be woyane inagural party for Obama next week in woyane embassy, all of us have to go to the woyane embasy and expose the dictatorship party

warso

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Added: January 17, 2009. 06:28 PM GMT

Can Birtukan be the part of the smart Gadaa people?

Gadaa people started to be smart, to think smart and to act smart in order to be the "smart power of the Horn" as Ms Clinton described the new America!. In order to promote Oromo liberation from Abesha domination system, Oromos should still learn to think globally and act locally. Thinking globally in our case meanse look at the BIG picture of Qabsoo Bilisummaa Oromo, whereas act locally meanse cooperate and coordinate each individual and institutional move of ours to serve the big picture.

Now the formation of OFC (Oromo Federalist Congress) is the big step towards the right direction. I personally believe that there are genuine Oromos in OPDO striving to keep the hitherto gains of our Qabsoo. Let us encourage them and differentiate them from non-Oromo forces in OPDO, who mainly fight against our Qabsoo. The consolidation of the Oromo opposition under OFC is very timely and mandatory.

Now we need a similar step to be taken by Liberation Fronts (the 3 OLFs, COPLF, FIDO, FIO and UOPLF) to forge similar unity under the beloved and original name OLF. It is non sense to see so many liberation fronts fragmented even though they all do have the same KAAYYO aka Bilisummaa Saba Oromo and Walabummaa Biyya Oromo. I hope these rebel liberation groups learn from OFC and come together to forge only one strong OLF.

Then having genuine Oromos in OPDO (let's call them ODM = Oromo Democratic Movement) as a keeper of the status quo, having OFC as a strong opposition to promote our Qabsoo per ballot and forging only one strong OLF which struggles for our Bilisuimmaa and Walabummaa per bullet is the best we can achieve in our liberation journey. At the end, the cooperation and coordination of the struggle of ODM, OFC and OLF is the best instrument we can have against the Abesha Domination Forces. Thank you OFC for being an example of Tokkummaa for Bilisummaa!!

Fayyis

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