Obama’s Ethiopia visit legitimizes authoritarian government, critical expatriates say

• 134

   
  EmailShare
• SUMOME

By Andrew Nachemson – The Washington Times – Tuesday, July 21, 2015

President Obama is poised to become the first sitting president to visit Ethiopia when he travels to Africa later this week, but the milestone is not a source of pride for Aklog Birara.

Like many Ethiopian-Americans, the economist and former adviser to the World Bank is expressing very mixed emotions about the trip and the symbolism it will have for Ethiopia’s authoritarian government. Mr. Birara fled his native country amid increased repression and is now an American citizen.

“Under normal circumstances I would not only admire but support a visit from a U.S. sitting president to Africa,” Mr. Birara said, but he added that the Ethiopian government is “one of the two worst jailers of journalists in Africa,” and the justice system is “practically nonexistent.”

His misgivings are shared by Lemlem Tsegaw, an Ethiopian-American poet and human rights activist.

AFP: Obama warns African leaders who refuse to step down

(AFP) Addis Ababa (AFP) – Barack Obama on Tuesday condemned African leaders who refuse to give up power and urged the continent to end “the cancer of corruption”, in the first ever address to the African Union by a US president.

But Obama said the rest of the world also needed to change its approach to Africa by boosting fair trade and not just providing aid handouts, and vowed that the United States stood with the region to defeat terrorism and end conflict.

The speech marked the end of a short tour that has seen Obama visit Kenya, his father’s birthplace, and Ethiopia, from where he flew out on Air Force One after the speech.

Both are key security allies in the fight against Somalia’s Al-Qaeda-affiliated Shebab militants, but they were also challenged on concerns over democracy, human rights and graft.

“Africa’s democratic progress is also at risk when leaders refuse to step aside when their terms end,” Obama said, drawing huge applause and cheers from some sections of the audience in the AU’s Nelson Mandela hall.

ትንሽ ስለ ፕሮፌሰር ብርሀኑ ነጋ (ይገረም አለሙ)

July 24, 2015

ይገረም አለሙ

ፕ/ር ብርሀኑ ነጋ ሰሞኑን የተናገሩትን ስሰማ አስር አመት ወደ ኋላ ተመልሼ አንዳስብ ግድ አለኝ፡፡ ፕ/ሩ ኢትዮጵያም ሆኑ አሜሪካ ወይንም አስመራ ሰላማዊ ተጋይም ሆኑ ሁሉን አቀፍ የትግል ስልት አራማጅ እምነት አስተሳሰባቸው የማይለዋወጥ መሆኑን ለመገንዘብ ቻልኩኝ፡፡

ጊዜው 1997 መጨረሻ ወቅቱ ሕዝብ ይመርጣል ጠመንጃ ያሸንፋል ሆኖ የፖለቲካው አየር የጋመበት ቅንጅትም ወያኔም በየራሳቸው በጭንቅ ውስጥ የነበሩበት ነው፡፡ የወያኔ ጭንቀት ሥልጣኑን ላለማጣት ሲሆን የቅንጅት ጭንቀት ደግሞ ሥልጣን ወይንም ሞት የሚለው ወያኔ ወንበሩን ከሚያጣ ሀገር ቢፈርስ ሕዝብ ቢጨራረስ ደንታ የሌለው በመሆኑ ነገሮች ወደዚህ አንዳያመሩ በማሰብ ነው፡፡

Obama Calls Ethiopian Government ‘Democratically Elected’: The elections were condemned as a sham

July 27, 2015

by Peter Baker and Jacey Portin| The New York Times

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia — President Obama twice called the government of Ethiopia “democratically elected” on Monday as he stood by the country’s prime minister, two months after elections that handed every seat in Parliament to the governing party and its allies.

Though human rights groups had called on Mr. Obama to use his visit to press for change, the president took a mild tone in his public remarks. He gently urged the Ethiopian government to make room for opposition, while stressing his respect for the country and its challenges in emerging from a long era of monarchy and autocracy.

አርበኞች ግንቦት 7 ሰራዊት በትግራይ ምዕራባዊ ዞን ማይ-ሰገን አካባቢ በሰነዘረው ጥቃት በርካታ የወያኔ ታጣቂዎችን ሙትና ቁስለኛ አድርጓል

July 26, 2015

በትግራይ ምዕራባዊ ዞን ማይ-ሰገን በተባለው አካባቢ የሚገኙትን የኢህአዴግ የሰራዊት አባላት በአርበኞች ግንቦት 7 ሰራዊት በደረሰባቸው ድንገተኛ የማጥቃት እርምጃ ምክንያት ሙትና ቁስለኛ መሆናቸውን ተገለፀ።

ባለፈው ቀናት በሑመራ አካባቢ ማይ ሰገን በተባለው ቦታ ላይ የግንቦት 7 አርበኞች ግንባር ሰራዊት በኢህአዴግ ሰራዊት ላይ ባደረሱት ድንገተኛ የማጥቃት እርምጃ ብዛት ያላቸው ታጣቂዎች ከጥቅም ውጭ ማድረጋቸውን የገለጸው መረጃው በውጊያው ከተገደሉት ታጣቂ አመራሮችም መካከል፣

ኮማንደር ወልደሚካኤል ገብረእዝጊአብሄር የሃይል አዛዥ የነበረ፤ ካሕሳይ ነጋሽ በባዕኸር የሚልሻ አዛዥ የነበረ፤ ለግዜው ስሙ ያልታወቀው የሻምበል ማእርግ ያለው በ24ኛ ክፍለጦር የሓይል አዛዥ የሆነውና ሌሎች የሚገኙባቸው እንደሆኑ ለማወቅ ተችሏል።

እነዚህ የስርዓቱ ታጣቂዎች- በአካባቢው ሰላማዊ ህዝብ የተለያዩ ግፍ ሲፈፅሙ የቆዩ በመሆናቸው የተነሳ የግንቦት 7 አርበኞች ግንባር ሰራዊት በላያቸው ላይ እርምጃ መውሰዱን የተገኘው መረጃው አስረድቷል።

ምንጭ – ትህዴን

The Ethiopian regime not been elected through free and fair elections

July 27, 2015

by Obang Metho

President Obama knows very well that PM, HMD and the entire leadership of the ethnic apartheid regime of TPLF/EPRDF have not been elected through free and fair elections and the regime doesn’t allow basic freedoms, independent judiciaries, open political space and multi-ethnic governments. Instead, corruption is rampant, the human and civil rights of the Ethiopian people are violated and ethnic and religious based conflicts have caused untold suffering throughout Ethiopia.

Obama criticised for calling Ethiopia’s government ‘democratically elected’

July 27, 2015

While US president calls for end of crackdown on political and press freedom, his comments on Hailemariam administration are widely condemnded

(The Guardian) Barack Obama has been criticised by opposition groups and journalists in Ethiopia after referring to the country’s government as “democratically elected”, with one human rights watchdog describing the statement as “shocking”.

Barack Obama speaks on Monday as Ethiopian prime minister Hailemariam Desalegn looks on. Photograph: Tiksa Negeri/Reuters

The US president was speaking at a joint press conference with Hailemariam Desalegn, the Ethiopian prime minister, after the two leaders held talks in the capital, Addis Ababa.

Although Obama said he had raised issues of good governance – “I don’t bite my tongue too much when it comes to these issues” – he also insisted: “We are opposed to any group that is promoting the violent overthrow of a government, including the government of Ethiopia, that has been democratically elected.”