World
Refugee Day:
The Plight of Ethiopian Refugees Worsens
SOCEPP
The
repressive situation in Ethiopia has forced thousands to flee and
seek refuge abroad. The neighbouring countries, in varying degrees,
have turned hostile to these refugees. Many are jailed, quite a few
deported back, many more subjected to ill treatment and denied asylum
rights. Ethiopian refugees in European countries have also been denied
asylum rights and not only threatened by deportation but have actually
been deported as has happened to some refugees in England. The decision
by some countries to consider Ethiopia as a "safe country"
and to justify the denial of asylum rights to Ethiopians is an injustice.
Read
More.....
Excerpts
from a letter sent to Jeffery Gettleman
By Aklilu Demissie
Dear JEFFREY GETTLEMAN,
Greetings!
I
read your report and video with amazement for the exceptional courage
it took you in telling the truth as it is: “In Ethiopia fears
and cries of Army Brutality.” As you have observed it is not
an isolated incidence but rather a daily criminal act of the regime
all over the country.
It
is my first time to read a true, vivid revelation of the horrendous
human rights abuses from a Western journalist who, I feel miraculously
escaped the government’s self censure imposed on journalists
as a whole on their reporting. Your exposure of the heinous crimes
being committed by the one man State of Meles Zenawi is a selfless
commitment to promoting freedom, democracy and the right to live.
Living in Ethiopia as you have noted for many Ethiopians is an every
day road to perdition. Read
More.....
Badme - Diversion of attention
Yilma Begashaw
The
Meles Zenawi – Bereket Simon Alchemy to divert
attention from their brutality and rules of the jungle to looking
abiders to peace and international law will not work again. Read
More.....
Evaluating
Three Decades of Ethiopian Resistance, its Challenges,
Achievements and Failures: Perspectives for Political and Leadership
Change
By Dr. Maru Gubena
Looking
at the perspective for political and leadership change in our country,
I would certainly not hesitate to point out that the ball has been
and is still in our hands, in the hands of all Ethiopians; there is
still the potential for us to make up our minds and come together
in an effort to heal our deep-seated socio-political fractures and
help redirect Ethiopia’s current position both in Ethiopia and
within the international community. Read
More.....
Ethiopia
agrees to give a key town to Eritrea following years of border dispute
The Associated Press
The
Ethiopian government gave its unconditional acceptance of the commission's
decision, announced five years ago, that it return the key town of
Badme to Eritrea, in a letter last week to the U.N. Security Council.
Read
more ....
Kinijit
UK press release (Amharic
- PDF)
Tsegaye, Yishak and others 16 Years of disapperance
(June 1991- June 2007)
Solidarity Committee for Ethiopian
Political Prisoners (SOCEPP)
June
1991: Tsegaye Gebre Medhin (aka Debteraw), Yishak Debretsion, Amha
Belete, Teklai Gebre Sellasie, Sitotaw Hussein, Hagos Bezabih,
Desalegn Amsalu fall into the hands of the TPLF in Quara /at a place
called Sankisa for some/. Azanaw Demile, ak Tulu, was also forcefully
deported from the Sudan and handed over to the Tigrean front that
took power in May 1991. All were taken to Bahr Dar where they were
imprisoned with other captives. From there, the traces of the above
disappeared as the reports indicated that they were taken to Tigrai
and sent to one of the secret prisons there. The regime denies ever
holding them though some of its officials have said in private that
"all were shot and killed". Read
More.....
Mockery
of justice: the case of Seye Abraha et al
Solidarity
Committee for Ethiopian Political Prisoners (SOCEPP)
Siye Abrha, much like former prime Minister Tamrat Layne,
is a victim of a political vendetta. Accused of corruption and other
such unsubstantiated charges, he was thrown into prison because of
his political differences and conflicts with Prime Minister Meles
Zenawi. His incarceration and the vendetta on his family members are
all results of a political motivation on the part of Meles Zenawi.
That the case has dragged on for six years with no clear and real
evidence ever being presented is ample proof of the violation of due
process as regards Seye and his relatives. The courts controlled by
the ruling front, EPRDF, are doing the biddings of Meles Zenawi whose
enmity towards Seye has not been a secret. Read
More.....
CALL
ME BY MY NAME: A discussion with Debteraw
Wolde
Tewolde alias Obo Arada Shawl
So
far, the collective leadership and the Party of EPRP have survived
many ups and downs. The AB (ANJA & b’TENA) story within
EPRP is relegated to history. The concept of B’tena has been
realized by almost everybody for its social and cultural havoc. ANJA
belongs solely to the leadership style whereas B’TENA refers
to the members or followers of the Party. Both leadership and followerships
should equally share accountability and responsibility Anja and Bitena
respectively. However, before relegating them into archives, we need
to put them in their proper perspectives. Read
More.....
Urgent
call for a series of international
campaign against the Woyane kangaroo court and the verdict of the
jungle
Yilma Begashaw
The
Great Professor Asserat Woldeyes lost his invaluable life in the hands
of our Dictators – we are sleeping. Hundreds of thousands of
innocent citizens suffered in the hands of our brutal Dictators –
we are sleeping. Our people in Arba Gugu, Bedeno, Gambella, Oromiya,
Gondar, Gojjam, Wollo, Addis Ababa, etc. have suffered grossly from
the ethnic cleansing and divide and rule policies – we are sleeping.
The leaders and members of the opposition political parties who genuinely
and convincingly won the last national election were thrown into jails
we are sleeping. Members of the free press and the civic groups too,
-we are sleeping – ever divided. Read
More.....
Never
could you stall the “March to Freedom”!
Aklilu Demissie
There is no an inch retreat in the winnable war against
injustice and brutality. The regime is rather hastening its downfall
by feeding fuel to the almost being accomplished “Freedom March”.
In history there was no war won against tyrants by being timid, docile
and begging for their mercy and leniency. Be it their release or detention,
they have and will undoubtedly crush the evils of the despot.
Read
More.....
A
HORRIBLE TRAVESTY OF JUSTICE IN ETHIOPIA
SOCEPP - JUNE 11/2007
The
EPRDF regime in Ethiopia has convicted some 38 opposition leaders
and a number of j
ournalists
and publishers and declared that they aill be sentenced to prison
terms ranging from 3 years to life (and possibly to death also) within
a month. This is one more proof of the travesty of justice that characterizes
the Meles Zenawi
regime. Read
more.....
Ethiopia
verdict 'not political'
BBC
The opposition blames the violence on the security forces
Ethiopia's government has denied accusations that the conviction of
38 opposition leaders was intended to stifle political dissent. Read
more....
Editors face death sentence in Ethiopia
Guardian Unlimited - UK
Ethiopia's high court has convicted four editors and three publishers
of now-defunct weeklies of anti-state charges. Two of the editors
- Andualem Ayle of ...Read
more....
Kidnapped
To Order
Dispatches (of Channel 4) exposes a new phase
in America's dirty war on al Qaeda: the rendition and detention of
women and children. Last year, President Bush confirmed the existence
of a CIA secret detention programme but he refused to give details
and said it was over.
Grey
uncovers evidence of secret rendition flights on which suspects were
flown from Nairobi into war-torn Somalia - a state with no effective
law or government. Amongst the suspects were women and children -
he hears a first-hand account from one Briton who was on one of the
flights who describes being beaten, interrogated and finding himself
in a prison cell opposite a woman and a five-year-old boy. Another
woman who was rendered to Somalia describes being flown on to Ethiopia
with other women and children - where one pregnant woman gave birth
to her child whilst in detention. Read
More......
Thank
you, Great Patriots!
Prof. Alemayehu G. Mariam
KIL
PR on the mockery of Justice
Woyane
kangroo Court convicts CUD leaders
A court in Ethiopia has found 38 senior opposition figures guilty
of charges connected to mass protests after disputed elections two
years ago. Read
more from BBC
.....
The
International Ethiopian Women's Organisation (IEWO) June 10 Radio
Program (Amharic) 
EPRP's
Iyasou Alemayehu commenting on woyane's "semaetat metasebia"
(Finote Radio, May 30, 2007)
// Amir
& Bushra on the same topic (June 01, 2007)
Justice denied, criminals at large
Solidarity Committee for Ethiopian Political
Prisoners (SOCEPP)
The
regime of Meles Zenawi has summarily executed very many innocent citizens
and the criminals responsible for the murders have yet to be brought
before a proper court of law. To fight against forgetfulness, SOCEPP
presents again the case of the innocent Ethiopians murdered by the
regime whose blood is still crying for justice. Read
More.....
The
role of generations in Ethiopian Politics
By Yilma Begashaw
The
purpose of this personal comment and testimony is to share my experience
for raising appropriate awareness, for the sake of genuineness and fairness,
and for a call to remove the suffering of our dear fellow citizens.
Read More.....
Murderers
of Tesfaye Tadesse still at large
Solidarity
Committee for Ethiopian Political Prisoners (SOCEPP)
On
June 7/1998, lawyer, human rights activist and journalist TESFAYE
TADESSE, the father of two young children, was brutally hacked to
death outside his house by two men who were later identified as security
agents of the Meles Zenawi regime. The killers are still at large.
The brutal murder of Tesfaye was preceded by the daylight shooting
to death of activist teacher Assefa Maru. Read
More.....
Zenawi’s
intransigence and the bogus claims of his Western
backers
By Bizualem Beza
“Ooops! We do it again.”
It was just well over a year ago that an American writer who wrote
about what was happening in Ethiopia and the position of the United
States .In her article entitled ”Ooops! We do it again.”,she
was referring the unscrutinized and full-scale help of America to
Nazi Germany in the early years of WWII and nowadays to the totalitarian
regime in Ethiopia. Her entire message was,standing by the side of
an authocratic regime for whatever arguments will only result in far
reaching disastrous repurcussions. Read
More.....
The Adoption Racket and the Violation of the Rights of Children
Solidarity Committee for Ethiopian Political
Prisoners (SOCEPP)
The
market is controlled in Addis Ababa by the government and its officials
like Haddush Haelfom while other loyalists and relatives of Meles
Zenawi himself are also active in the racket. It is not secret that
brothers and sisters have been brutally separated and sold to different
buyers and some of those coming to adopt these children are not even
separated from their racial prejudices and are looking only for “exotic
pets” ... Read
More…..
A
Historic Transatlantic Legislative Summit on Human Rights
Coalition for H.R. 2003
On
June 8, 2007, a historic summit will take place in the United States
Congress. On the agenda are three of the most critical contemporary
human rights issues facing the African continent today: Genocide in
Darfur, Unraveling of Somalia and Gross and Sustained Human Rights
Violations in Ethiopia. Read
More......
Somali
government shuts down three Radio stations
Shabelle
Media Network
Troops
go house-to-house searching for weapons in Somali
The Associated Press
EPRP
Atlanta Public meeting on 09 June 2007 (Click here for more detailed
information)
The
International Ethiopian Women's Organisation (IEWO) Radio Program
- 3rd June 2007
Arbitrary
detentions of activist teachers in the Ethiopian Teachers' Association
(ETA) have been resumed since 30 May 2007
Statement
from the Gambella People's United Democratic Front
CALL
ME BY MY NAME:
A commentary
By Wolde Tewolde alias Obo Arada Shawl
June
1, 2007: Now that we have named names, pointed fingers at each other,
label labeling, it is time to debate with Debteraw about issues and
ideas concerning SEEDS (Sudan, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Djibouti and Somalia).
But let us do first things first. Let us deal first with Ethiopian
politics. We have done some background talk on political, social and
Revolutionary issues and ideas that brought us here in the first place.
Liberty and justice are separated in Ethiopia and Eritrea. The Past
is not revisited and the present is not assessed correctly. In such
a situation, there is hardly any useful purpose to debate let alone
to discover life. And so it is useful to link liberty with justice
and to revisit the past and to assess the present. Until next time,
call me by my name: a debate with Debteraw will continue. I really
appreciate for your comments and questions. Read
More.....
Ethiopian elephants, black-mane lions at risk as forest cut
EITB24
Ethiopian
Community in Muenster, Germany In memory of Dr. Paulos Daffa
WHERE
ARE THESE POLITICAL PRISONERS?
SOCEPP,
MAY 29/2007
•
Teshome Beyene: a militant of the EPRP who had been jailed by the
former regime for years
was detained by the present regime in June 1995 and has disappeared
since.
• Journalist Berhanu Ijigu and Getachew Eshetu were arrested
late June 1994 and have disappeared since. There were unconfirmed
reports that Getachew was taken to Makalle,Tigrai, but he has not
been seen since.
• Abayneh Shifferaw and Mot Baynor Nuri were also arrested on
mid April and August 1994 respectively and have disappeared since.
• Ms Aberash Berta, Lemma Mekonen and Tesfaye Getachew were
arrested in Addis Ababa in 1993 and have disappeared since then.
Read
more .....
A
group of top-ranking Ethiopian military officers meet conclave - Indian
Ocean Newsletter N° 1214
DENOUNCE
THE POLITICAL MACHINATIONS OF THE RULING EPRDF VIS A VIS THE VICTIMS
OF THE RED TERROR - SOCEPP,
MAY 28 2007
16
killed in attacks in eastern Ethiopia
The
Associated Press
At least
16 people were killed and dozens were injured on Monday in two attacks
in eastern Ethiopia, a government official said. A rebel spokesman
denied involvement. Read
more.....
A
CALL TO ALL ETHIOPIANS IN THE DIASPORA
The
Meles Zenawi gang is trying to make the celebration of the coming
New Year celebration an occasion for selling itself as a popular regime.
Its despicable campaign is backed by the Saudi citizen called Sheikh
Alamoudi who has announced that he is hiring Janet Jackson and 50
Cents (very popular American singer and rapper) to come to Addis Ababa
to sing for the Weyane celebration. Ethiopians in the Diaspora should
write and wage a campaign to call on these singers not to ally themselves
with the illegal regime. Ethiopians in the Diaspora should actively
call on those who want to join the Weyane in its celebration to desist
from such a shameful choice.
Celebrate
the New Year by raising high the anti Weyane banner!!
The
Terrible Plight of Ethiopian Refugees in Libya
SOCEPP
Amnesty
International annual report on Ethiopia
Meles
Zenawi`s Millennium Bluff
Seifu Tsgaye Demmissie
The
ethnic fundamentalist and warlord, Meles Zenawi is an Ethiopian by
birth, but an enemy by deed. The independence and sovereignty of Ethiopia
are the first causalities of Meles Zenawi`s onslaught. Meles Zenawi
harbours deep seated contempt and disdain for Ethiopia and Ethiopians
and he does not even hesitate to hide them. Ethiopians had unpleasantly
experienced occasions on which he publicly scoffed at Ethiopia as
a country of 100 years old and creation of one emperor and a certain
group of Ethiopians. Read
More.....
Ethiopia
Detains Times Journalists for Five Days
The New York Times
May 22, 2007: Three journalists for The New York Times were arrested
by the Ethiopian military on May 16 in the Ogaden region of Ethiopia,
held for five days and interrogated at gunpoint, and then released
on Monday without any charges being lodged against them, The Times
said today. The three journalists — Jeffrey Gettleman, 35, Nairobi
bureau chief; Vanessa Vick, 43, a photographer; and Courtenay Morris,
34, a videographer — were reporting on the conflict in the Ogaden
region of Ethiopia when they were detained by soldiers in the town
of Degeh Bur. They had entered the country on journalists’ visas
and were not in a restricted area. Read
More.....
Meles
and his “Onerous burden” of killing
Aklilu Demissie
If by mischance some one looked in to a week
in Meles’s view of the Horn of Africa (18/5/2007) in his Ministry
of foreign affairs page, it would make a sane mind and body convulse
how he tried feebly justify his impunity in Somalia . Read
More.....
Italy
presses Ethiopia to pull troops from Somalia
AFP
NAIROBI -- The Italian government Saturday pressed Ethiopian troops
to pull out from lawless Somalia and urged the rival factions there
to observe a truce ahead of a key reconciliation conference in June.
During a one-day trip to Mogadishu, Italy's deputy foreign affairs
minister, Patrizia Sentinelli, held talks with Somali President Abdullahi
Yusuf and Prime Minster Ali Mohamed Gedi. "I expressed the position
of my government that Ethiopian troops must withdraw," she told
a press conference in the Kenyan capital Nairobi, after visiting Rome's
former colony. Read
More.....
Shocking News:
Saudi Arabia displays bodies of two Ethiopians beheaded
Kuwait Times
Saudi authorities yesterday beheaded two Ethiopians convicted of killing
a Saudi national in an armed robbery and displayed their bodies in
public after the execution, the Interior Ministry said in a statement.
Read more.....
A Call from the Editor:
Let us post our protests to the Saudi Shura
Council against these cruel actions; their email address is: webmaster@shura.gov.sa
What
has really happened to the Ethiopian dreams of peace, freedom and
democracy. The three dangerous mosquitors and how we can eradicate
them
By
Dr. G. Bekele.
No
matter what they continue to do too, I say to my people, from now
on, don't ever let the western leaders try to con into believing that
they are the champions of democracy. Read
more....
Assimba
with Dr Getachew Begashaw of the EPRP Leadership: Audio
1 // Audio
2 // Audio
3 // Audio
4
16
Years since they “disappeared”
Solidarity
Committee for Ethiopian Political Prisoners (SOCEPP) Newsletter, April
2007
Tsegyae
Gebremedhin, Yishak Debre Tsion, Sitotaw Hussein, Amha Belete, Azanaw
Demile, Teklai Gebre-Selassie, Hagos Bezabih and many other EPRP leaders
captured by the regime, in Ethiopia, have been “disappeared”
since 1991. Despite many calls the regime has refused to make any
account on their condition.
Since
then, the regime has also disappeared Ms Aberash Berta, Lemma Mekonnen,
Abebe Ainekulu, journalist Berhanu Ijigu, Tesfaye Kebede and many
others. Tamrat Gizachew, Dinku Shifferaw and Tadele Mengesha have
also been “disappeared”. In all cases, the regime has
refused to admit that it has even imprisoned all these in the first
place.
Of Secret Prisons and Labor Camps in Ethiopia
The
recent issue of SOCEPP Newsletter discloses that the regime of Meles
Zenawi, in Ethiopia, runs secret prisons and concentration camps in
many places. There are many secret prisons all over Ethiopia and especially
in Zenawi's home region of Tigrai. Some of these prisons are underground
holes serving as isolation cells. The well known labor camps are also
in Dedesa, Zwai and Bir Sheleko. In these camps, the beating of prisoners
is routine. Prisoners are starved and subjected to force labor. One
report states that most of the hoards and wardens in Zwai hail are
from ethnic group of the Prime Minster. Psychological torture and
humiliation of the prisoners are also routine in these camps. Secret
prisons have been identified in Quiha Tigrai), Welkait, Metekel, Holeta
and other places. Priosners are held incommunicado, denied medical
treatment, beaten severely and mistreated daily. Reports indicate
that such prisoners who die are buried in secret.
Broad
Bipartisan Support for Human Rights in Ethiopia Finally a Reality:
Republicans Take an Unwavering Stand on Human Rights in Ethiopia
Coalition For H.R.2003 Press Release
On
May 9, 2007, Republican Congressman Christopher Smith introduced H.R.
2228 (“Ethiopia Freedom, Democracy, and Human Rights Advancement
Act of 2007”) in the House of Representatives. H.R. 2228 effectively
replaces H.R. 5680, which was prevented from getting to the House
floor by then-Speaker Dennis Hastert. Read
More.....
Message
from Addisvoice.com
The
International Ethiopian Women Organization Radio Program of May 13,
2007: the Reaction of Ethiopian Community members
to the beheading of our Sister Khadija Moussa in Saudia Arabia
Click
here and then on the player to listen Meskerem
Radio (The Voice of Ethiopian Community in the Greater Toronto Area
& surrounding Region) Programe of 06 May 2007
CALL
ME BY MY NAME: A small talk with Debteraw, X
Wolde Tewolde alias Obo Arada Shawl (May 13,
2007)
This day is the 13th day of the month. Besides, the number
13 being the day for our salvation, it is the Mother’s day.
Happy Mothers’ Day to all mothers of the country of 13 months
of Sunshine! This month is also celebration of Jamestown, VA. The
Catholic Pope in Latin America. Ethiopian woman was beheaded in Saudi
Arabia. European promise grants money for Eritrea. The APERT of EPRP
is in full swing.
Read More.....
Ethiopians
Fear for Their Interfaith Oasis: Cherished Interweaving Of
Christians, Muslims Shows Signs of Fraying
By Stephanie McCrummen
Sunday, May 13, 2007 (DESE, Ethiopia): Rumors
were spreading up and down the narrow streets here, in front of the
Noah pharmacy and Millennium Cafe, through the rectangular mosques
and domed Orthodox churches of this northern Ethiopian city. Read
More.....
Ethiopia's
Iraq
By David Ignatius
It's
like Iraq and Afghanistan, in other words. A decisive military strike
has destroyed one threat. But what's left behind, when the dust clears,
is a shattered tribal society that won't have real stability without
a complex process of political reconciliation and economic development.
Read
More.....
PRESS
RELEASE
Ethiopian
Association in the Greater Toronto Area & Surrounding Regions.
Read
more.....
Who
will cry for Khadija, the Ethiopian?
By Hibret Selamu
The
report alleges that she was beheaded for killing an Egyptian after
a dispute. However, no further information is given as to what prompted
the Ethiopian woman to take such a drastic action. It is doubtful
that an Ethiopian woman would resort to such an extreme measure without
being provoked beyond limit by some strong and unusual humiliation.
It could also be due to mental health problems. Because of the well
known excessive suffering that female workers endure in Saudi Arabia,
it is reasonable to speculate that Khadija’s case could be similar
to that of another Ethiopian woman who was accused of murder caused
by the excessive humiliation she suffered while working as a maid
in Bahrain, a neighboring Arab country to Saudi Arabia. Read
More.....
On
the behading of an Ethiopian woman by Saudi Arabia
Solidarity Committee for Ethiopian Political
Prisoners (SOCEPP)
SOCEPP
is shocked to learn that last week the Saudi authorities
