UK sells armoured vehicles to Ethiopia, despite Eritrea tensions

23 March 2012

UK sells armoured vehicles to Ethiopia, despite Eritrea tensions

Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT) has questioned the Foreign Office on UK arms sales to Ethiopia, as fighting flares on the border between Ethiopia and Eritrea. Between the beginning of 2008 and September 2011, the UK licensed military and dual use equipment for export to Ethiopia to the value of over £1.2 million - with military comprising half of the value.

CAAT is especially concerned about the £243,000 for "military vehicles" and "components for military vehicles", licensed in March 2011. Such vehicles might be used in the arid border areas where fighting has taken place.

Other items relate to small arms and communications equipment. In August 2010 the UK approved export licences for "components for simulators for small calibre artillery" of £161,000. In June 2009 a licence was issued for export of "components for ground military communications equipment", for £43,000 and in February 2009 for "ground military communications equipment" and "military communications equipment", together totaling £106,000.

CAAT has asked the UK government if UK equipment has been used in the recent incursions and is calling on the UK government to suspend extant licences to Ethiopia and to use the new powers of suspending the export licensing process.

Kaye Stearman, spokesperson for Campaign Against Arms Trade, said:

It is disturbing that the UK is licensing armoured vehicles to Ethiopia, a country where poverty is rife and a previous conflict with Eritrea resulted in the deaths of thousands of conscript soldiers and civilians on both sides. We urge the Foreign Office to suspend any licences pending and to suspend the export licensing process to Ethiopia while the conflict continues.

ENDS

For further information please contact CAAT's Media Coordinator, Kaye Stearman, on 020 7281 0297 or mobile 07990 673 232 or email press@caat.org.uk.

NOTES

1. Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT) works for the reduction and ultimate abolition of the international arms trade.The arms business has a devastating impact on human rights and society and damages economic development. Large-scale military procurement and arms exports only reinforce a militaristic approach to international problems. Around 75% of CAAT's income is raised from individual supporters.
2. The data for arms export licences for Ethiopia can be found via CAAT's export licence app here.The full app can be accessed here.
3. CAAT believes that the export of weapons to Ethiopia breaks at least three of the Consolidated EU and National Arms Export licensing criteria, which the UK has agreed to abide by. These are:
• Criterion 3 - The internal situation in the country of final destination, as a function of the existence of tensions or armed conflicts. Both Ethiopia and Eritrea have been accused of sheltering political opponents, including armed opposition groups, organising against each other; in the case of Ethiopia in the borderlands that it continues to occupy although the area has been awarded to Eritrea by the international Ethiopia-Eritrea Boundary Commission. The government of Ethiopia has also used military force in the Ogaden region and to repress political dissent, most notably in the capital and in Oromia state.
• Criterion 4 - Preservation of regional peace, security and stability. In 1998-2000 Ethiopia and Eritrea fought over disputed border territory in a war which cost tens of thousands of lives on both sides. Continuing tensions along the Ethiopia-Eritrea border have been exacerbated by a military presence.
• Criterion 8 - The compatibility of the arms exports with the technical and economic capacity of the recipient country, taking into account the desirability that states should achieve their legitimate needs of security and defence with the least diversion for armaments of human and economic resources. Ethiopia is one of the poorest countries in the world. High military spending diverts resources better spent on urgent social needs, such as health, education and welfare.
4. The UK does not export military equipment to Eritrea; it has licensed dual use goods to the value of £44 since 2008.

Ethiopia. A Fool’s Game in Ogaden

Accueil > Humanitarian Negotiations Revealed > I. Stories > Ethiopia. A Fool’s Game in Ogaden

Ethiopia. A Fool’s Game in Ogaden

Laurence Binet

The Ogaden region in the Somali regional state of Ethiopia has been the scene of conflict between the Ethiopian federal government and the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) separatist movement since 1994. In April 2007, the fighting intensified. After a series of rebel offensives, a wave of repression hit the region, which saw villages attacked and burned, violence and forced displacements, denial of access to wells and a blockade on all commercial traffic, vital to the nomads who inhabit the area.¹
In 2007, MSF’s objective was to provide care for the victims of the conflict. In a region with very few medical facilities and a dispersed population, this meant supporting health centres and organising mobile clinics to go where patients were in need of treatment.
Since the beginning of 2007, the Dutch section’s team had been trying to set up a programme in the Wardher hospital on the outskirts of the conflict, but the army regularly denied MSF access to the population living in the area. After a rebel attack near its base in July, MSF decided on a temporary evacuation that was followed by the authorities banning the organisation from returning. Before pulling out, during the few rounds of medical consultations it had managed to hold, MSF had been able to collect witness reports on the acts of violence committed by the warring factions.

During the same period, the Belgian section was prohibited from completing an exploratory assessment at the centre of the conflict zone in the area around Fiq where it was preparing to start up a programme and the ICRC, accused by the Ethiopian authorities of supporting the ONLF, was expelled from the Somali region.
No other humanitarian organisations were active in the conflict-ridden areas of Ogaden. The army’s distribution of WFP aid raised questions of impartiality as it was suspected of using the aid to reward people for keeping their distance from the ONLF.
In early September, after a series of diplomatic meetings with Ethiopia’s main donors and other stakeholders that brought few results, MSF held a press conference to condemn the government’s refusal to allow humanitarian organisations into the Ogaden region.² Accounts of human rights violations, documented by the Dutch section, were also cited at the press conference and reported by the international media.³
The government then accused MSF of violating its sovereignty and supporting the ONLF.⁴ The Belgian section was ordered to close down its long-standing programme for tuberculosis patients outside the conflict zone and the ban on the Dutch team returning to Wardher was maintained.
In the meantime, OCHA, responding to the alerts on the situation in Ogaden, issued in particular by MSF, sent a fact-finding mission which reported a worsening of the health and economic situation in certain areas:⁵ difficult access to water and food, shortage of drugs and therapeutic foods, and many cases of acute diarrhoea and measles. In November, OCHA obtained permission from the Ethiopian authorities for several international organisations to work in Ogaden. As the authorities were continuing to block the return of the Belgian and Dutch sections, the MSF movement encouraged applications from the Swiss and Spanish sections that went on to become some of the chosen few. OCHA also obtained the promise that WFP officials could be present when the army distributed food aid, a promise that was not to be kept.
In January 2008, the Swiss and Spanish sections started up medical and nutritional programmes in the areas of Fiq and Degeh Bur that were directly affected by the conflict and the Dutch section returned to Wardher, without authorisation but not officially banned either. But, in reality, by mid-January the operations of two sections were at a standstill. The team of the Dutch section was put under house arrest in Wardher after one of its lorries refused to stop at an army roadblock, and several national staff members were accused of spying for the ONLF. With no explanation, an MSF-Switzerland field team was also ordered to shut down its exploratory mission and forbidden to leave the hotel. Before the mission was suspended, the team had observed that the people it had encountered were victims of violence and suffering from shortages of water, food and medical care due to the restrictions on movement caused by the conflict. However, MSF headquarters was reluctant to draw overall conclusions from these events with regard to the situation in the region as a whole.
In March, the house arrest orders had only just been lifted when all the MSF teams were hindered, on the pretext that most of the expatriate staff members didn’t have work permits.⁶ In May, a severe nutritional crisis necessitated the assistance of international organisations to conduct emergency relief operations in several Ethiopian states and the authorities took a more relaxed attitude to the question of work permits.
In the Fiq area, however, the MSF-Switzerland field teams were still paralysed and, in June, several national staff members were accused of spying and imprisoned. A month later, the Swiss section shut down its programme and issued a public condemnation of the administrative obstruction that was preventing it from providing relief to the population.⁷ It also circulated a document to donors, international institutions and embassies denouncing the Ethiopian authorities’ exploitation of emergency food aid for political ends and the absence of a response from the United Nations.⁸ The other sections, hoping to be able to work within the limits allowed them and judging that they lacked solid evidence of the misappropriation of aid, did not join MSF-Switzerland in the condemnation.
In the following years, managing as best they could with the endless administrative hurdles, they instigated programmes to support health facilities in areas of ongoing, low-intensity conflict. They provided medical and nutritional aid to the inhabitants—who lacked such care even in times of peace—and medical care to Somali refugees in the transit camps on the border.

Conflicting Objectives

The issue of access to Ogaden in 2007 to 2008 was marked from the outset by a conflict between MSF’s goals and those of the Ethiopian government. The latter regarded international humanitarian organisations’ aid to the inhabitants of ONLF-controlled areas as potential support for the rebellion. Any contact with the insurgents—even though such contact was crucial to impartial distribution of aid and the safety of the humanitarian teams—was condemned as a sign of political partiality. This position was clearly expressed and defended during meetings with MSF representatives and in the official correspondence sent to them.⁹ In 2009, the president of the Somali regional state even confided to a journalist that he believed “that MSF has a hidden agenda. MSF is consulting the ‘elders’ [clan chiefs] who have close relations with the ONLF, and hiring personnel who support the ONLF”.¹⁰
MSF, convinced of the legitimacy of its cause of providing assistance to the Ogaden people, took a while to realise just how intransigent the government was. It tried to resist the pressure by playing on the fact that there were several MSF sections present and using the levers of diplomatic negotiation and public statement. But those public statements worked to its detriment. The September 2007 press conference referred to the accounts of violence logged by the Dutch section’s team, even though they had been regarded initially as insufficiently documented. This increased the Ethiopian authorities’ mistrust of MSF, who they accused of spreading propaganda on behalf of the ONLF under cover of providing humanitarian aid. A few weeks later, representatives of MSF were able to experience the government’s intolerance of criticism first-hand. During a meeting with the foreign affairs minister, they were shown a file of press cuttings containing all of MSF’s public criticisms of the government dating back to its denunciation of forced displacements during the famine of 1985.
In July 2008, the Swiss section’s public criticism of the government’s refusal to allow access to the area was weakened as the two other MSF sections were still in Ogaden and did not join in the accusation. A paradox that did not escape the notice of the authorities, who publicly accused MSF of “disseminating rumours whose content is clearly at odds with the reality on the ground”.¹¹
When it came to negotiating with the authorities, even the heads of mission acknowledged that MSF’s network of official contacts in Ethiopia was insufficient and poorly organised. The operational teams, often with little experience in the country, struggled to identify the right contacts within a complex governmental system with blurred levels of responsibility; decisions on authorisations and restrictions were taken sometimes at regional level and sometimes at federal level, sometimes by the health authorities and sometimes by the army, without any clearly defined rules.
On the diplomatic front, the team responsible for coordinating the different MSF sections’ relations with countries, civil society and international institutions saw that appealing to the African Union would be futile, given Ethiopia’s prominent role in the organisation. The team therefore concentrated its efforts on United Nations agencies and western donors who, as providers of aid to Ethiopia, were liable to take seriously the difficulties experienced by the people of Ogaden in gaining access to their aid. But Ethiopia is the United States’ main African ally and its partner in the “war on terror”, particularly in Somalia where the Ethiopian government plays a leading role in the combat against Islamist insurgents.¹² Most of the diplomats and representatives of those UN agencies present in Ethiopia privately expressed their alarm at the government’s refusal to allow access to the area and its misappropriation of aid. While many of them encouraged MSF to voice what they were thinking, none of them seemed to have either the means or the ambition to change the balance of power with the Ethiopian government, a past master in the art of controlling aid.
Over the course of these events, the Ethiopian authorities manoeuvred MSF into waltzing twice round the floor. The first time of the first round began when the Ethiopian government launched a crackdown and denied access to the area from April to November 2007. The second was marked by MSF’s diplomatic and public protests, and the third by a spurious opening-up in November, briefly imposed on the Ethiopian government after pressure from the United Nations.
In 2008, events speeded up in the second round. Access was refused for longer, the period of opening-up was no more than brief. The authorities engaged in virtually uninterrupted harassment, paralysing all action by the MSF teams.
If MSF resisted the first waltz, it subsequently bent to the tempo that permitted it to stay at the dance. Since what was to be to date its last public statement on the situation in Ogaden, the organisation has kept a low profile, hoping to improve its relations with the authorities and thereby gain wider access to the region. This strategy is designed to enable MSF to assist the inhabitants should the conflict intensify, but there is no reason to believe that the Ethiopian government will be any more willing to open up the area than it was in 2007 and 2008.

Translated from French by Neil Beschers

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• 1. Jeffrey Gettleman, “In Ethiopian Desert, Fear and Cries of Army Brutality”, The New York Times, 18 June 2007.
• 2. MSF, “MSF Denied Access to Somali Region of Ethiopia despite Worsening Humanitarian Crisis”, press release, 4 Sept. 2007.
• 3. “Ethiopia Blocking Civilian Access to Medicine in Conflict Zone, Agency Says”, Associated Press, 4 Sept. 2007.
• 4. “Ethiopia: Government Denies ‘Blocking’ NGO”, IRIN, Nairobi, 4 Sept. 2007.
• 5. “Report on the Findings from the UN Humanitarian Assessment Mission to the Somali Region, 30 Aug.–5 Sept. 2007”.
• 6. “Letter from MSF International Office Secretary-General to Ethiopian Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs”, 31 Mar. 2008.
• 7. MSF-Switzerland, “Ethiopia: Repeated Obstructions Lead MSF-Switzerland to Pull Out from Fiq, Somali Region of Ethiopia”, press release, 10 July 2008.
• 8. MSF, “Access and Response in the Somali Region: Mission Impossible? The Case of MSF-Switzerland in Fiq”, report, Dec. 2007–June 2008.
• 9. Letter from Tekeda Alemu, Ethiopian minister of foreign affairs, to the heads of mission of the Belgian, Dutch, Swiss and Spanish sections of MSF, 18 Feb. 2008.
• 10. Peter Gill, Famine and Foreigners: Ethiopia since Live Aid, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010.
• 11. “Ethiopia Slams Swiss Charity over Ogaden Pull-out”, Reuters, 12 July 2008.
• 12. See infra, “Somalia: Everything is open for negotiation”, pp. 77–106.

Ethiopia’s secessionist group that is hunted in Kenya

Ethiopia’s secessionist group that is hunted in Kenya

Published on 03/01/2012

By Boniface Ongeri

It is hard to find the leaders of Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF), the rebel group fighting Ethiopian government for southeastern Ethiopia’s self determination, to talk to.

They are paranoid fearing that anyone seeking them is part of the Ethiopian intelligence network that they claim is hunting them down in Kenya.

But when they are certain that one is not an agent of the Ethiopian government, they open up.

Ogaden region is a no go zone for media, human rights activists and aid agencies. But from Kenya, the organisation’s leaders have managed to sneak journalists into Ethiopia where they try to justify their rebellion to the outside world.

Journalists’ ordeal

Indeed, two Swedish journalists were recently jailed for 11 years for illegally entering the country and associating with a terror group, the ONLF. It is claimed that they passed through Kenya on their way to the Ogaden region.

At face value the ONLF fighters looks like another rug tug group with their unkempt hair and overgrown beards.

But this group, said to have more than 30,000 armed youths scattered over the Ogaden region in south eastern Ethiopia, is said to be one of the well armed and organised group with commanders.

ONLF was founded in 1984. Led by Admiral Mohammed Omar Osman who is the current Chairman of the movement, ONLF went on a recruitment spree.

ONLF is a home-grown movement formed by Ethiopian Somalis who have grown disillusioned with the central government for alleged marginalisation of the area.

"We are bitter with the Ethiopian government and from here we will fight for our rights and if need be we will die for self determination," ONLF Foreign Affairs Secretary General Abdirahaman Mahdi says.

Fierce fighting in the region has persisted for over 20 years. The war coupled with hunger and diseases has left tens of thousands killed and thousands of others forced to flee from their homes to Kenya, Djibouti and of all places, Somalia.

The ONLF have on numerous occasions attacked oil fields explored by Chinese in Ethiopia leaving more than 70 people killed. The attacks trigger the government to unleash its forces on the residents.

Peace talks

The ONLF claims the Ethiopian Somalis in the region have been marginalised by the central government.

They have on several occasions sat with the government for round table peace talks, but each time the meetings have ended in stalemate.

The government wants the rebel group to disarm before engaging in meaningful talks. There have been numerous reports of a section of the ONLF surrendering to the Ethiopian government in an effort to slow down the violence in the Ogaden region.

The high profile surrenders and some seeking amnesty lead to claims that ONLF is divided.

However, each time this happens ONLF leadership comes out to deny any division in the movement.

"Those deals where ONLF members are claimed to surrender and seek amnesty are stage-managed and those who claim to lay down the arms were not ONLF members," Mahdi says.

"The deals are inconsequential. ONLF is still united and we will soldier on," he says.

From their bases, ONLF has infuriated the Ethiopian government by launching a series of hit and run attacks against government installations and even raided oil exploration by Chinese companies in the region.

Direct confrontations

The ONLF has also had direct confrontation with the government forces inflicting and suffering casualties in the process.

It has good relations with the villagers who provide it with shelter, food and intelligence and above all, a stream of willing young men ready to join the fighting.

The group occasionally attack trucks and kidnaps people suspected of being government agents. During such raids, it has been criticized for bringing villagers into the line of fire from Ethiopian forces who accuse them of harbouring the ONLF. This has caused many residents of the region to seek refuge outside Ethiopia.

The Ethiopian government has branded ONLF a terrorist group and accuses Eritrea, its historically bitter foe, of supporting it by supplying it with arms.

The government also says that some Ethiopians in the Diaspora fund the group.

ONLF leadership was reluctant to disclose its source of arms supply that includes tanks, anti aircraft missiles and landmines.

Other guerillas

The ONLF is only one of the guerilla groups rebelling against Ethiopian government.

The other group, that is equally vicious, is the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) that is based on the southern tip of Ethiopia bordering Kenya’s Counties of Wajir, Moyale and Marsabit.

ONLF senior leadership is scattered all over Europe where they fled fearing assassination.

"We have been asking for democracy and equal rights. Is that too much to ask for?" Mahdi poses.

Nolasha Kajirta Naigeria & ta Soomaalida is barbar-dhig dabeetana waxa kusoo baxa ka jawaab?

Ethiopia Denies ICRC Permission to Resume Ogaden Operation

Ethiopia Denies ICRC Permission to Resume Ogaden Operation

Peter Heinlein | Addis Ababa April 29, 2011

Jakob Kellenberger, President of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), (File)

Ethiopia has denied the International Committee of the Red Cross permission to resume humanitarian operations in the restive Ogaden region. ICRC workers were expelled from the Ogaden nearly four years ago for allegedly aiding members of a separatist group, a charge they strongly deny.

ICRC President Jakob Kellenberger says talks with Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi yielded no progress on the organization's return to the eastern Ogaden region.

"I had bilateral talks yesterday. And it will not be possible in the very near future for us to go back to the Ogaden region," Kellenberger said. "That's the message I got."

Ethiopia ordered ICRC staff out of the mostly ethnic Somali region in July, 2007, accusing humanitarian workers of siding with rebels of the outlawed Ogaden National Liberation Front. The ICRC rejected the charges.

Ethiopia limits access to the Ogaden by journalists and humanitarian groups. But a recent US State Department human rights report suggests food and medicine deliveries are restricted in the conflict zone, as pro-government forces wage a counterinsurgency operation against increasingly violent ONLF rebels.

The challenge to humanitarian groups is compounded by a severe drought. The UN World Food Program estimates nearly eight-and-a-half million people are in need of food aid over a wide swath of the Horn of Africa, including southern and southeastern Ethiopia, as well as parts of neighboring Somalia and Kenya.

Kellenberger says the ICRC focuses its Somalia operation mainly on the parched south and central region that is the stronghold of the al-Qaida-linked extremist group al-Shabab. He admits it is hard to monitor food and water deliveries to ensure the aid is not being used to benefit al-Shabab.

"Somalia is a very difficult context because to a large extent, it is what you call in humanitarian language a remote control operation," he said. "For security reasons it's very difficult to have expatriates on the ground on a permanent basis, so what they can do at the maximum is go in and out, so we do rely to a large extent on Somali ICRC staff, and we rely on the Somali Red Crescent."

Kellenberger's agenda in Addis Ababa included briefing the African Union Peace and Security Council on ICRC operations. He says six of the 12 largest ICRC missions are in AU countries, including Libya, particularly its embattled city Misrata.

"The ICRC is trying to work on both sides, on the side controlled by the TNC but also on the side controlled by the government in Tripoli. In recent times we've had a special focus on Misrata. It's still difficult for us to have an overall assessment," Kellenger explained. "Because we could visit part of the city but could not make an overall assessment."

Kellenberger says ICRC activities in Libya include evacuating migrant workers and people critically wounded in fighting, as well as visiting detainees being held by the rebel Transitional National Council. He said negotiations have not been completed with the Tripoli government to visit detainees they hold.

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Ummad Walba Oo Dunida Guud-Keeda Ku Nool Waxay U Baahantahay Xornimmo!

Sida aad ka aragto cajalkan muuqaal-ka ahi ummadani waxa ay u dhaqaaq-day oo ay warmaha u qaateen sidii ay ugu dagaalami lahaayeen xornimmadooda taasoo aanay ku qancayn wax ka hooseeya, waxayna u astays-teen calan si ay taa u gaadhaan, haddaba Shacabka ree Ogadenia miyuu ka tabar & taag la' yahay ummadan go'aan satay sidii ay ugu noolaan lahaayeen "xornimmo" mise waa ay garab & gaashaan waayeen ???

Hadii aan soo qaato hadalada mid kamida halgamayaashan oo ah Oday da' ah sida aad daawateen ba wuxuu sheegay in aanu ku qancayn wax ka hooseeya "xornimmo buuxda", wuxuu kaloo uu caddeeyay ama uu yidhi, inkasta oo aan da' ahay haddana waxaan u istaagay sidii aan u dagaalami lahaa wax baqdin ihina iguma jirto! intaa kuma uuna hakane wuxuu hoosta ka xarriiqay in aanay weligood ka laabanayn oo aanay joojinayn halganka ay ugu jiraan xorriyaddooda. "Papua Freedom" Ogadenia Freedom!!!

FACTBOX-Who are Ethiopia's ONLF rebels?

11 Dec 2009 13:35:05 GMT
Source: Reuters
Dec 11 (Reuters) - Ethiopia's Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) launched attacks on government positions last month and are warning international oil companies not to explore for their region's potential deposits. [ID:nGEE5B91IW]

Here are some key facts about the ONLF:

* The Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) is the most active of the country's rebel groups. It was formed in 1984 amid a resurgence of separatist sentiment in the Ogaden region, which is near Ethiopia's border with Somalia.

* In April 2007 the rebels attacked an oilfield run by Sinopec, Asia's biggest refiner and China's second largest oil and gas producer. Sinopec then pulled out of the Ogaden. Most of Ethiopia's oil and gas exploration activities have centred on the vast desert province. The rebels want firms to stay away.

* Ethiopia's Somali region, of which the Ogaden is a part, is mainly populated by Muslim Somali-speakers. The area has its own identity, doing most of its trade with Somaliland, Somalia and the Middle East, rather than the rest of Ethiopia.

* The ONLF dominated the Somalia region's government from 1991 until 1994. But the regional parliament passed a resolution in 1994 to hold a referendum on independence for the Ogaden and was then dissolved by the government.

* The group says its goal remains a referendum on independence for the region.

* The rebels have employed a strategy of hit-and-run attacks, often using grenades and landmines before melting back into the region's largely nomadic population.

* The Ethiopian government says the ONLF is trained and funded by Horn of Africa rival Eritrea in an effort to destabilize Ethiopia. Regional analysts agree.

* The Ethiopian government is itself partly made up of former rebel groups. Prime Minister Meles Zenawi came to power in 1991 when rebels led by him and others overthrew a communist regime. He has said his government will not commit war crimes in the Ogaden as they know what it is to be rebels.

* The separatist cause has been fuelled by widespread resentment at the region's low level of development. Until Chinese engineers arrived in 2006, the entire region had just over 30 km (20 miles) of tarmac road. (Reporting by Barry Malone, editing by Paul Taylor)

Time For A Shift In Priorities

by Nicole Lee
NNPA Columnist
Originally Posted 10/28/2009

--Over the years, we have provided millions of dollars in military aid to Ethiopia and Kenya, yet have been slow criticize those covernments when they have allied themselves, at least in word if not in deed, with our military. We see the same in Ethiopia over the issue of the Ogaden region, where thousands have died in each year from hunger and neglect.

Read More >>> http://www.seattlemedium.com/news/article/Article.asp?NewsID=99839&sID=34&Search=YES

New Tree Found In Ogaden

Posted on: Friday, 24 April 2009, 06:40 CDT

Botanists discovered a pink-flowered tree in Ethiopia that has been overlooked by generations of researchers.

The acacia fumosa tree is located in a war zone so it was not "found" for scientific purposes until 2006-7.

"I have spent a lifetime looking at plants and describing species -- it knocked me sideways when I heard about this tree," said David Mabberley of the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew, England.

"The total numbers must be in the millions," he said of the 20-foot tall tree that covers hillsides in an inaccessible area of 3,100 sq miles near the border with Somalia.

The article about the acacia fumosa tree is in Friday's edition of the journal Science.

Mabberley noted the flowering tree had probably been overlooked by generations of botanists, because it grows in the same region where the Ogaden National Liberation Front is fighting for autonomy.

From rainforests to mountains to the ocean depths, researchers say the discovery was encouraging that other overlooked large species might still be found.

"It's an upbeat story for a change," Mabberley said.

Swedish botanist Mats Thulin found the tree and previously described it in a Nordic journal.

Some believe the tree may have commercial uses, for instance in gum used for foodstuffs or glues. It’s currently used for firewood only.

Mabberley said around 10,000 new species of plants or creatures are described worldwide every year, but most of them are small.

"I suspect there are still large species out there to be discovered," said Craig Hilton-Taylor, head of the International Union for Conservation of Nature's Red List of endangered species.

He said the most likely places to find overlooked species were in countries that have suffered conflicts like the Democratic Republic of Congo, Cambodia or Colombia.

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Image Caption: A tree now named Acacia fumosa covers thousands of square kilometers of the limestone hills in Ethiopia's Ogaden region. Yet botanists had never named the tree until 2008. The new species bears pink flowers in the dry season, unlike most acacias, which produce yellow or cream blooms in the wet season.Credit: Thulin

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On the Net:

Royal Botanic Gardens
Science

Source: redOrbit Staff & Wire Reports

EPRDF Failed Ethiopia But Accused The International Community Of Double Standards

“In fact, despite the number of terrorist atrocities world-wide, and despite the resolutions of the General Assembly, some in the international community still appear to fail to understand the realities of terrorism. We would repeat: they are quite simple. Terrorism (to paraphrase the OAU/AU’s Convention on Prevention and Combating of Terrorism) is any violation of a state’s criminal laws which may endanger the life, physical integrity or freedom of, or cause serious injury, or death to, any person, any number of group of persons or damage public or private property, resources, or heritage of the state, in order to intimidate, frighten or coerce any government body or the general public, disrupt any public service or create general insurrection in a State”.

The above paragraph is an excerpt from an article titled “Terrorism, double standards and the international community” written by the Ethiopia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. aiga
Surely if we stick to the above definition, Ethiopian government qualifies perfectly to be a terrorist state. However, despite its proven track record of grave human right violations, EPRDF-led Ethiopian government remains a close ally of the world’s super powers, particularly the US, exposing the inconsistency and the double standard of the latter. This relationship exemplifies how terrible many leaders in the developed world have abandoned the fundamental values of the countries they represent and betrayed their electorates.

This is the government that, in 2005 with no hope left of winning the election, shot dead more than 200 civilians in Addis Ababa, simply for protesting against the announced result of an election they believed to be rigged. This took place just less than two years after the Gambella massacre in which many hundreds of unarmed populations perished at the hands of the government. Imagine if this has happened in Zimbabwe or Sudan! How EPRDF treats its political rivals? Tamrat Layne has been in jail for more than a decade now, accused of corruption. What happened to Siye Abraha and Bitew Belay after TPLF split in 2001. They were too charged with corruption and power abuse. While I’m not defending them, few might doubt (if any) that the charges were politically motivated and the state power was horrendously abused, not least in the case of Siye. Again compare this how the international community would have criticised and condemned had this been in Zimbabwe.

Thousands have disappeared in the Oromo and Somali regions while Amharas were beaten into submission earlier in the process. War mongers lie, innocent people die. Can we count the number of innocent civilians killed cold-bloodedly by the state security forces? Yet EPRDF/TPLF enjoys an unqualified support of the western countries laying bare the very double standard Ethiopian government is accusing them of.

In the article, the ministry mentioned the assassination attempt of Dr. Abdulmajid Hussien who was a minister at the time. For argument sake, let’s say that Alitihad, ONL or ONLF was behind it – though hard to believe given the location of the incident and the timing. Whoever committed, the action was a crime and must be treated as such. But discuss with every Ethiopian Somalis and you hear loads of Abdulmajids killed by the government forces inhumanely in front of the public. They hardly miss to mention Mirad Layli (Gode woreda), Muhumed Omar Tube, Dek Mohamud Arab (Kabridahar woreda), Abdullahi Taflow, Abshir Abdi (Members of the local council), Muktar Adan, and many other civil servants executed publicly, not because of what they committed (they were not even suspects), but to terrorize the people.

Don’t we know what is going on in Somalia and Ogaden now? In Somalia, it has been reported that more than ten thousand died and about two-third of Mogadishu population have been displaced. Ethiopian forces involved in the conflict are accused of indiscriminate shelling (of civilian populated areas), use of banned weapons, gang rape and heavy looting. The situation is much worse in the Ogaden. Collective punishment, extrajudicial killings, torture, forced displacement, mass arrest without due process and rape are common in the region. As widely reported and at last shown digitally by Human Rights Watch villages were destroyed. To hit where it hurts most, at the peak of the 1 in 100 years drought, woredas have been blockaded to starve and pastoralists denied access to drinking water. To realise the effectiveness of these inhumane treatments and ensure that no one was spared (from the punishment), another unprecedented measure was introduced. Compensation (blood money) of USD 15000 was imposed to be paid by the local people for any one – military or local militias – killed by ONLF. It is not secret that the food aid is used as an effective political weapon. Imagine how many stories would have been made if Sudan would have expelled one aid organisation from Dafur. EPRDF have ordered many such organisations to leave the country with no consequence from the international community.

It is definitely impossible to list the atrocities committed by the security forces, but I emphasized Ogaden because of the depth and magnitude of the problem. I’m empathizing, and in no way undermining or denying, the physical and emotional pain millions of Ethiopian individuals in other parts of the country feel.

Where in the constitution are these collective punishments approved? If the attempt of Dr. Abdulmajid’s life is sufficient for one organisation to be a terrorist, where in the ladder of the list will EPRDF qualify?

Indeed EPRDF and particularly the TPLF seem to have forgotten their recent history. Their cynical mendacity and actions have wiped away the social reality that brought them to power. They have mistakenly clung to the belief that they could maintain the power, they so desperately want to keep, by terrorising the people. Little wonder such approach has not delivered a peace to its predecessors. The only way to end the starvation and civil wars with which Ethiopia is associated with is to end the denial of the rights that fuels them and to ensure that all people’s rights are equally protected.

The early anticipation, that EPRDF would be a harbinger of peace, justice, equality, democracy and economic salvation has been proven wrong. They have shown no sign of wanting to do this and it is increasingly becoming clear that it is finished now. As a ruling entity, it is in office but practically not in power. The system is paralysed, deeply disorganised and perhaps permanently damaged. Individual members do as they wish; pursuing their interests. Since EPRDF came to power, it failed to remain true to its promises. It has exploited our ethnic difference to divide us further and bring misery and endless conflicts. Yet unfortunately, many countries treat them as partners, especially in the fight against terrorism. Many Ethiopians found it difficult to fathom out how raping and strangling innocent girls and women in the remote Ogaden region could contribute positively to the war on terror. How can punishing, torturing, starving and killing the poverty-stricken pastoralists in the desert Ogaden weaken terror organisations?

John Holmes (UN Humanitarian Coordinator), after visiting the region admitted (with channel 4 interview) that there were issues he couldn’t say publicly and failed to criticise, even mildly, the government for its misdeeds. Similarly, many aid workers and diplomats feared to speak out. Now let’s hope that the unfair criticism of the article (of the Ministry) against Ambassador David Shinn and Prof. Ken Menkhaus will not silence them.

For Ethiopians, solutions seem far into the future but the questions are how much long can this continue and how long will it be before we rise and face the challenges? In conclusion, in their hour of need our brothers and sisters in Ogaden need our help, let’s stand by them.

Tadesse Mesfin
Geneva
Switzerland
Tadesse2001@live.co.uk

Young adults lobby for change: The Ogaden Youth Network

By Lisa Peterson-de la Cueva , TC Daily Planet
February 26, 2008

Hodan Dualeh has never set foot in the Ogaden, but her passion for the land and people could not be stronger. Dualeh is president of the Ogaden Youth Network (OYN), a youth group from the Ogaden region of Ethiopia.

“Our aim is to change U.S. foreign policy specifically as concerns the Ogaden,” Dualeh said, using the gestures of a politician to help get her point across. “That is really the main objective, whether it’s though
lobbying or through education,” The Ogaden is a large desert in eastern Ethiopia. Most of its residents are ethnically Somali and speak Somali. The Ethiopian government has a record of perpetrating human rights abuses in the region, mainly through the military. This treatment has caused local groups to develop their own rebel militia. The conflict between militia groups and the military continues to ravage the region.

According to the Minnesota state demographer’s office, it is difficult to tell exactly how large Minnesota’s Ogaden community is, because it is not identified as a separate category. Most Ogadanians count themselves as Somali instead of Ethiopian, which further complicates the figures. Members of the OYN estimate the number to be more than 15,000.

For more information on the current situation in the Ogaden see this article and video in the New York Times.

Dualeh never actually lived in the Ogaden. Her mother was born there but fled to Somalia, where Dualeh was born in 1981. They moved to Kenya in 1991 and then came to Minnesota in 1996, where Dualeh attended the School for Environmental Studies in Eagan. She went on to major in biology at the University of Minnesota and is pursuing coursework in epidemiology. There are about 30 core members of OYN like Dualeh. Most were educated in American high schools and are now in college, have graduated, or are working to save money for postsecondary education.

These young adults founded the OYN in June 2005. In 2006, they raised funds for drought relief in the Ogaden region, and organized a national Ogaden youth conference at St. Thomas University, where 600 people gathered. The second annual conference will be held this August in San Diego.

Besides preparing the upcoming conference, the OYN is lobbying in Minnesota and in Washington. The OYN educates elected officials about the Ogaden and lobbies for a change in American foreign policy, which has been backing the Ethiopian military.

Last October the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 2003, the Ethiopia Democracy and Accountability Act of 2007. The bill, sponsored by Representative Donald Paine (D-NJ), emphasizes human rights and humanitarian efforts in the Ogaden region.
The U.S. Senate has not voted on the bill, which is why the OYN is eager to influence Senator Norm Coleman, a member of the Foreign Relations Committee.

“We have gone to Senator Coleman’s office and met with his representatives, but never with him,” Dualeh says. “And he has yet to take any aggressive action regarding Ogadania.” Otherwise the OYN says that many elected officials have been very supportive, including Senator Amy Klobuchar and Representative Keith Ellison.

The OYN also invites guest speakers to educate its own members on the Ogaden. Last Saturday, members gathered in a dimly lit room in the Sabathani Community Center in South Minneapolis. Kadra Abdi, Secretary of the OYN, started off the monthly meeting by introducing Hassan Mohamed Ciise to speak about his recent trip to the Ogaden. Twenty-five young adults listened to his account, told in Somali but sprinkled with an occasional phrase in English, such as “without justice, there cannot be peace.” Speakers like Ciise help OYN members stay current on a region that many have not visited in years, if ever.

Not all of the OYN’s activities focus on the Ogaden. OYN members are preparing voter education and participation activities for the upcoming election. They will determine which candidate to endorse, something they have done before. In 2006 Representative Mark Kennedy supported the Ogaden, who in turn endorsed his candidacy and encouraged members of the Ogaden community to vote and volunteer for him.

Dualeh and the other members of the Ogaden Youth Network have their work cut out for them. It seems, though, that Dualeh at least has strong support within her family. Her mother, Hawey Mahad, is also active in the recently formed Ogaden women’s group, an adult version of the OYN. Mahad attends most of the OYN meetings, more as an observer and silent participant than an active member. Kadra Abdi says of Dualeh’s mother, “She helps us a lot; if we need finances, she goes and raises money from the community, and she gives us a lot of advice.”

As Dualeh and Abdi recount their goals and activities in the OYN, Dualeh’s mother sits in the background with her arms crossed. Occasionally she reminds her daughter in Somali “to talk about the human rights abuses.” It is not likely something Dualeh or other members of the OYN will overlook.

Lisa Peterson-de la Cueva (peterson.delacueva@gmail.com) is an educator and has taught in various contexts, including junior high social studies and adult basic education. She is transitioning from a career in teaching to freelance writing and is interning at TC Daily Planet.

Making exceptions for Ethiopia

Meles Zenawi thinks the west's attitude to Africa is unbalanced and unfair. But his country is being torn apart by human rights abuses


January 30, 2008 6:30 PM Printable version

Western policy towards Africa is ill-informed and inconsistent. That's the message of Ethiopia's prime minister, Meles Zenawi, in his interview in the Guardian last week. And there's some truth in what he says. But Meles should be careful what he wishes for.

If the west was better informed about the war crimes and human rights abuses committed by Meles' military forces in Somalia and Ogaden, western taxpayers might balk at the thought that their governments are providing Ethiopia with hundreds of millions of dollars of military and economic aid.

And if western governments were more consistent and less selective in their reaction to human rights abuses around the world, they might be less inclined to turn a blind eye to Ethiopia's failure to abide by international norms in pursuit of its military objectives in Somalia and Ogaden.

Last year, Human Rights Watch documented a disturbing pattern of abuses by all sides, including Ethiopia, in the dangerous armed conflict which erupted after Meles sent his army into Somalia to dislodge the Islamic Courts Union, a group which many say has links to international terrorists. In its subsequent struggle with Somali insurgents, Ethiopia has committed serious violations of the Geneva conventions including the carpet-bombing of residential districts of Mogadishu, the deliberate targeting of hospitals and arbitrary executions.

Human Rights Watch has also documented abuses by Ethiopian forces in its simultaneous counter-insurgency campaign against the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) in the Somali region of southeastern Ethiopia. These include the systematic use of rape, torture and execution as a means of terrorising and collectively punishing the civilian population, a partial trade blockade of districts deemed sympathetic to the rebels and the destruction of villages.

There are good reasons why Ethiopia's western backers do not jump to condemn Meles with the same speed with which they rightly condemn, say, Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe or Sudan's Omar al-Bashir. In his almost 20 years in power, Meles, a former rebel leader, has transformed Ethiopia from a war-torn, famine-prone dictatorship into a relatively stable state which combines elements of both democracy and authoritarianism. He has won plaudits from donors for poverty reduction and good economic stewardship.

Meles' supporters also make allowances for the fact that he is the key regional player operating in a tough neighbourhood. Somalia is a failed state; Eritrea is a closed dictatorship that has picked fights with most of its neighbours; Sudan defies the UN and the international criminal court in their efforts to secure peace and accountability in Darfur; and now Kenya is slipping into its worst political crisis since independence.

But above all western politicians and diplomats warm to Meles, because they concur with his analysis that he is a bulwark against the spread of Islamist militancy in the Horn of Africa. Meles plays this card well. He is helped by the fact that the influence of political Islam is strong and growing among the large Muslim populations of the region. Furthermore, Islamist militants, some with links to international terrorist organisations, are operating in Somalia, Kenya and elsewhere in the Horn.

But, while these considerations can help to nuance the west's diplomatic, economic and military relations with Meles, they can be no excuse for the war crimes and gross violations of human rights that Human Rights Watch has documented in Somalia and Ogaden. These unjustifiable acts are not only morally repugnant; they are also counterproductive. They serve to undermine international respect for the rule of law and they are likely to sharpen radicalisation and conflict in what is already one of the most dangerous parts of the world.

The west's failure to acknowledge the reality of what is going on in these remote and inaccessible places and its failure to call for full investigations and accountability leaves the impression that when it comes to counter-terrorism, anything goes. It is a shortsighted policy that is already backfiring in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq and Lebanon - and it will backfire here too.

DUBAI: Night Secrets

Halkan Waxaad Kaddaawataa Dhaqan-xumada ay Gaaladu Ladhexjoogto ama ay Kaddamacsantahay Waddamada Islaamka, Taasoo Kuucaddaynaysa in ay Gaaladu Rabaan Dhammaan-ba Dunida Islaamka in ay Kadhigaan Meel Fisqi & Faasaad ah, is'lamarkaana Kubeeraan Dhaqankooda Xun ee Sidaaya. "DUBEY" Waa Waddan Islaama Haddase Kucaana Dhaqanka Reegalbeeka & Gaalada. Sida aad Ka'arkiddoonto Cajaladdan Muuqaalka ah Waxay Katarjumaysaa "Dimocracy"siga ay Maraykanka & Ree-Galbeed-ku Kufidinayaan Caalamka Islaamka, Sidanoo Kalanna Waxay Kajirtaa Meelo-badan oo Waddamada Carabta/Islaamka ah. Runtii Shaki Kumajiro in ay Tani Tahay Dagaal Dhaqan-doorina, Dunida Islaamkuna ay Noqoto Meel Dubey oo Kala'ah. Waana Sidaa Sida ay Gaaladu unoolyihiin Noloshooda iyo Dhaqankooduna uu Kusalaysanyahay..!

Ethiopians Said to Push Civilians Into Rebel War

Vanessa Vick for The New York Times

Ethiopian military sealed off parts of the Ogaden region. More Photos >

By JEFFREY GETTLEMAN
Published: December 15, 2007

NAIROBI, Kenya — The Ethiopian government, one of America’s top allies in Africa, is forcing untrained civilians — including doctors, teachers, office clerks and employees of development programs financed by the World Bank and United Nations — to fight rebels in the desolate Ogaden region, according to Western officials, refugees and Ethiopian administrators who recently defected to avoid being conscripted.
Ethiopia has been struggling with the rebels for years. But with tens of thousands of its troops now enmeshed in a bloody insurgency in Somalia and many thousands more massing on the border for a possible war with Eritrea, the government seems to be relying on civilians to do more of its fighting in the Ogaden, a bone-dry chunk of territory where Ethiopian troops have been accused by human rights groups of widespread abuses.
In a recent report, government officials in the region called upon elders, traders, women and civil servants to form local “security committees” and mobilize their clans to destroy the rebels and their bases of support. The government says that the rebels are terrorists who have carried out assassinations and bombings, and that civilians have volunteered to fight them.
But by many accounts, the militias are hardly voluntary. One Western aid official said soldiers had barged into hospitals to draft recruits and threatened to jail health workers if they did not comply. In other cases, lists of names were posted on public bulletin boards, ordering government employees to report for duty, according to a member of the regional Parliament and two Ethiopian administrators who have fled the country. Many of those who refused were fired, jailed and in some cases tortured, the administrators and the Parliament member said.
The civilians are serving as guides, porters, translators and foot soldiers, and they are sent into the bush with little or no training to confront hardened guerrilla fighters. In the ensuing battles, many civil servants have recently been killed, according to accounts corroborated by Western officials and aid workers.
“Anybody who works for the government — teachers, doctors, clerks, administrators — has to join a militia,” said Hassan Abdi Hees, who worked as the head accountant in a government office in the Ogaden and is now seeking asylum in Kenya. “I left because I didn’t want to die.”
Several Western officials say they are alarmed about this new strategy, especially when the first signs may be emerging of a humanitarian crisis that aid officials predicted over the summer.
Earlier this year, the Ethiopian military sealed off large swaths of the Ogaden to choke off support for the rebels, preventing much of the commercial traffic and emergency food aid from entering. Western aid officials warned this could cause a famine.
The military has since relaxed some restrictions, but a survey by the aid group Save the Children U.K. found that child malnutrition rates in some areas have soared past emergency thresholds and are now higher than in Darfur or Somalia, widely considered the two most pressing crises in Africa.
In late November, John Holmes, the most senior humanitarian official at the United Nations, came to the Ogaden to assess the situation. While there, he said, he heard reports of civilian militias being formed, and observed that it was increasingly difficult to find health workers, livestock workers and trained professionals to distribute much-needed aid in the region, which now faces a drought.
“There is not a catastrophe there, for the moment,” he said. “But there is a lot of concern the Ogaden could become a serious humanitarian crisis.”
Ethiopian officials deny this.
“Many media and international organizations have been exaggerating the problems,” said Nur Abdi Mohammed, a government spokesman. “There is no food aid problem. There is no malnutrition problem.”
As for militias, Mr. Mohammed said, “What is happening is that the local tribes are forming to fight against the O.N.L.F.,” the Ogaden National Liberation Front, the main rebel group in the area.
“The people want to protect their livelihood,” Mr. Mohammed added.
According to the recent government report, which was published by regional authorities, rank-and-file civil servants are not the only ones called upon to fight the rebels. It also lists several employees who work for programs financed by international donors.
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