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Chew Leraseh Sitel Tafit (Crystal salt retain your flavour else they will throw you out thinking you are a rock!)

EPRDF has concluded an agreed code of conduct with major opposition groups for the coming election which MEDREK boycotted with the lame excuse that they do not want to sit with other oppositions. As can be read (here) MEDREK officials are banking on the assumption that EPRDF cannot afford not to negotiate with them. This organization is barely a year old with no coherent strategy and common platform to tie all the organizations that claim its membership. They have not even brought to the public their political program! There is no bases for MEDREK to claim higher stature than any of the opposition.

EPRDF should forge ahead with the election process giving due credit to those who are negotiating in good faith. MEDREK should not be allowed to hold the process hostage. We think EPRDF as a party should negotiate with all oppositions to hold a civil campaign where harassment as well as white lies to defame and belittle the forthcoming election is not practiced by any one. No organization should hold the election hostage we repeat! (Aigaforum 09/28/09)

Current Events

Honorable Maitre Artiste World Laureate Afewerk Tekle

Part I Part II

From our email folder....

Thank you for inviting a clarification about the Birtukan case. I would not say that Judge Birtukan's imprisonment is a violation of a constitutional right. What I have learned from Ethiopians who experts in the constitutional law of Ethiopia is that the case is highly ambiguous–and therefore worthy of independent legal examination. The Government has acted on such considerations in other instances, as when the PM consulted constitutional law expert Mehari Maru to determine whether an act of Parliament was needed to pursued indictments against the elected MPs who refused to take their seats.

The humanitarian consideration is separate. Many informed people, including Ambassador Tesfaye Habisso, argue that the action against Birtukan is inhumanitarian and only hurts the public image of Ethiopia. For the government to release her on humanitarian grounds alone without a legal clarification might prejudice her future contributions to Ethiopian society.

Akbariwot,
Donald N. Levine 09/28/09
___________________________
Response to Prof. Donald Levine’s e-mail
Prof. Donald Levine and I have recent and very good acquaintance. I am one of those Ethiopians who appreciate his contributions to Ethiopian academic and political discourse.
This aside, I want to express my deep disappointment regarding his e-mail which reported something I have never said. I, thus, would like to clearly and unequivocally state that:
1. I have never in my entire life met the PM, and never said to anybody I have meet the PM let alone to extend my advice on any matter whatsoever.
2. Also I have never been involved in any case regarding the indictment of elected MPs.
Sincerely,
Mehari Taddele Maru 09/29/2009

GibeDam.Org is a website dedicated to supporting clean, environmental friendly energy production in Ethiopia. Our aim is to become a portal where stakeholders will discuss and exchange ideas for the betterment of the project and the environment

gibedam.org

VOA Amharic “ Eset Ageba”

Discussion with W/ro Shashu Habtu and Ato Yared Tebebu on the democratization process in Ethiopia.

Part II Part I

Moderator Alula Kebede asks both to share their view on the upcoming election and EPRDF’s decision to replace its top leaders during the coming five years! W/ro Shashu argues the democratic process is moving forward regardless of the challenges the country is facing everyday while Ato Yared argues the pessimist view that the sky is falling and the country is in dire situation!

Voa Tigrigna host Minia Afeworki discussion with Aite Kasay Teka and Efrem Tekeste on China’s foray in to Africa and its implications.

Part II Part I(forward past news)

News & Analysis

USAID provides over 80 mln USD to improve quality education in Ethiopia Tuesday, 29 September 2009

Addis Ababa, September 29 (WIC) - The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) on Monday announced support for six new education programs to improve quality education in Ethiopia

The Front Line in Somalia: Dead Shebab Fighter believed to be from Eritrea!

By Jeffrey Gettleman MOGADISHU, Somalia – We duck through a hole in a wall along this city’s blasted-out waterfront, following teenage gunmen with skinny shoulders and enormous weapons...the evidence is here, sprawled out in the streets. According to the front-line soldiers, the dead Shabab fighter was from Eritrea, a tiny but nettlesome African country widely suspected of funneling arms to Somalia’s insurgents...

Ethiopia: Somalia looks like a lost cause
UNITED NATIONS – Somalia is being hijacked by al-Qaida-linked terrorists who are better organized and more highly motivated than the ineffectual government in Mogadishu, and Sudan could be the next nation to fall under their influence, Ethiopia warned Saturday.

STATEMENT

By H.E Ato Seyoum Mesfin Minister Of Foreign Affairs
Of The Federal Democratic Republic Of Ethiopia
At The 64th Session Of The United Nations General Assembly

Eritrea: insular, secretive, aiding, financing and facilitating resources for Al-Shabaab
Eritrean protege, Sheikh Hassan Dahir 'Aweys', head of the extremist Hizbul Islam opposition coalition in Somalia, has called for more suicide attacks against AMISOM peacekeeping forces in Mogadishu. Speaking at the weekend, Sheikh 'Aweys' welcomed the deaths of 17 peacekeeping troops a few days earlier and said people should carry out more such attacks... See Also: A Week in the Horn (25.09.2009)

Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, left, is greeted by a State Department protocol officer Gladys Boluda as he arrives at Pittsburgh International Airport in Coraopolis, Pa. , Thursday, Sept. 24, 2009. He will be attending the G 20 Summit being held in Pittsburgh.
Climate change needs US leadershipAt the G20 summit
Obama must go beyond his UN climate speech and fully commit to leading the climate change fight...he can join other leaders, like Gordon Brown and Meles Zenawi, the prime minister of Ethiopia, in declaring their intention to personally attend the Copenhagen negotiations.

Ethiopia hopes to double leather exports in 2009/10
ADDIS ABABA, Sep 24 (Reuters) Ethiopia hopes its rapidly-expanding leather industry will generate $200 million from leather exports in 2009/10 (July-June), a government official told Reuters on Thursday. Ethiopia, which has an estimated 49.6 million cattle, 25 million sheep, 23 million goats and over 600,000 camels, exported leather goods worth $101 million in 2008/09.

Meles co-chairs international meeting in New York, holds discussions with stakeholders on global warming

Addis Ababa, September 23, 2009 (Addis Ababa) - A series of international meetings aimed at finding lasting solutions for the adverse effects of global warming were held on the premises of the UN headquarters in New York, USA. Prime Minister, Meles Zenawi and Chilean president, Michelle Bachelet co-chaired one of these meetings that confer mainly on alternative energy sources, water resource utilization, and environmental protection schemes. The discussion attracted leaders of 16 countries worldwide, according to the reporter of the Ethiopian Television and Radio Agency.

Meles Calls for increased financial, technical support to attain MDGs (Sep25, 2009)
Prime Minister Meles Zenawi called for increased financial and technical support to enable developing nations meet Millennium Development Goals MDGs.
Preparation is well underway to organize a review meeting to assess the implementation status of MDGs in the last nine years, and put a way forward. The panel held in New York is part of the effort for the same cause

Articles

Mark Your Calendar

Knowledge and Skill Transfer Program at Ethiopian Universities

An invitation from The Expatriates Affairs Directorate of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to all Ethiopian University Professionals in the Diaspora
(Ethiopian Consulate LA)