Solidarity Movement for New Ethiopia(SMNE)
On June 16, 2009 something significant happened. For the first time, the Parliament of the United Kingdom opened up the doors to the House of Commons and gave the stage to Ethiopians in order to learn more from them about the grave human rights violations, including genocide, the pervasive injustice and the rampant corruption going on in Ethiopia under the government of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi. 

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EMF (2 July 2009)
Ethiopia:Gun men have arrested today the editor-in-chief of the weekly Awramba Times(Ethiopia), Fitsum Mamo (on the picture) and its senior reporter Elias Gebru in connection with extensive news coverage on Tuesday’s edition about Ginbot 7 suspect, sources said.

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Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Meles Zenawi says he wants to step down after 18 years running sub-Saharan Africa’s second most populous country. Meles says he is “bored” of questions about this, and will only repeat he needs the permission of his ruling party before he can leave. So when might he go? And what will happen if he does? Here are some possible scenarios:
MELES GOES AT SEPTEMBER PARTY CONGRESS? *Unlikely. The 54-year-old needs the permission of the ruling Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) party’s annual September congress before he can move aside. But it is doubtful he will ask for its blessing this year, analysts say. And, even if he did, they probably would not accept it a year before Ethiopia has its next national election due in June 2010.

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By Peter Heinlein, VOA
ADDIS ABABA - The Obama administration is signaling its intention to keep Ethiopia as a key strategic partner, despite concerns about the country's slide toward authoritarianism. The United States is seeking to expand development assistance to the Ethiopian government.
Deputy Secretary of State Jacob Lew is making his first trip to East Africa at a time of increasing regional instability.

The United States last week announced it had sent a $10-million shipment of weapons to help shore up the besieged government of Somalia, while accusing neighboring Eritrea of being behind violence aimed at undermining the Somali peace process.


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World Health Organization, WHO, regional director for Africa, Dr. Luis Gomes Sambo has urged countries in the region to be extra vigilant and strengthen their disease surveillance to ensure prompt detection and response to the pandemic H1N1 2009. All the confirmed cases are imported with the exception of one case in Algeria where the patient was in close contact with an imported case that was confirmed locally

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Ethiopian police have shot and killed two people who were helping to build a Christian church at a site which is also claimed by Muslims, officials say.Violence broke out when police tried to stop the construction in Dessie, 250km (155 miles) north-east of Addis Ababa.The police say they were responding to an attack on them by the Christians, but campaign groups say the police ambushed the workers.The population of Dessie is about two-thirds Christian, one-third Muslim.Information Minister Bereket Simon told reporters that the Christians had "stormed the place" and tried to continue building the church "unlawfully"."Unfortunately three lives have been claimed. Two of them were killed by bullets, one of them fell off a cliff," he said.

Several other people were also hurt in the violence.

Orthodox Christians attacked police Tuesday in Dessie area some 250 kilometres (155 miles) northeast of Addis Ababa when the forces tried to stop the construction."They stormed the place and then they started bringing materials to continue building the church unlawfully," spokesman Bereket Simon told reporters."Unfortunately three lives have been claimed. Two of them were killed by bullets, one of them fell off a cliff."

In 2007, around 12 people were killed in religious riots in western Ethiopia. Bereket said there has been an "upsurge of attempts" to instigate further conflict in recent months.

English translation coming soon
Westerse donorlanden zijn gul voor Ethiopië. Het land is in hun ogen een baken van stabiliteit in de Hoorn van Afrika, mede dankzij premier Meles Zenawi. Maar hij regeert wel met harde hand. Correspondent Koert Lindijer sprak hem in hoofdstad Addis Abeba. Daags na ons interview met Meles Zenawi ontstaat er ophef in Ethiopië over ons onderhoud met de Ethiopische premier. De lokale media hebben het gesprek uit onze kranten overgenomen en in het bijzonder de uitspraak van Meles dat hij wil aftreden. "Ik wil dolgraag het precedent scheppen om als eerste Ethiopische leider vrijwillig af te treden."

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Ethiomedia
"The government tried to spark ethnic conflicts for the last 20 years and failed. Now it is trying its hand at igniting religious conflicts that would carry it through the next 20 years." - A report on Ethiopia Zarreh

DESSIE, Northern Ethiopia - Police on Tuesday shot two people to death and wounded a dozen more when members of the Christian faithful resumed building a church the government had said was opposed by Muslims in the area. The leaders of the Christian faithful - who had suspended building St. Arsema Church in Azewa Gedel - then met with their Muslim counterparts, who told them that Muslims had no objection if the church was built." Trouble broke out when the Christians realized that they had no problem with their Muslim kins and kith, and went ahead with rebuilding the church. Federal police forces who were lying in wait then opened fire on the crowd, killing two and wounding 12.

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Ahmed, 35, is a member of the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF), one of a number of separatist groups fighting for independence of the Somali-speaking Ogaden region in the east of Ethiopia.The previous evening, he had participated in an attack against Ethiopian troops near the town of Babile.

"The assault lasted only a few minutes but we managed to kill nine government soldiers," he said.

"We are no match for direct combat, so we must rely on quick surprise attacks."

The armed resistance began in 1994 after the ONLF, then a political organisation, broached the idea of splitting from Ethiopia.

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UPDATE The Associated Press reports that an Ethiopian national is among the 11-crew members aboard the Yemeni aircraft that crashed. His/her name is not disclosed until family members are notified.

Yemenia airline officials say the 11-member crew was made up of six Yemenis, including the pilot, two Moroccans, one Indonesian, one Ethiopian and 1 Filipino. The officials asked that their named not be used because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

Ethiopian National on the ill-fated Yemeni plane An Airbus A310-300 from Yemen with 153 people on board, including 66 French nationals, crashed into the sea off the Indian Ocean archipelago of Comoros as it approached in bad weather early on Tuesday, officials said

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ADDIS ABABA, June 29 (Xinhua) -- Ethiopia has found another case of influenza A/H1N1, bringing the confirmed number of the disease in the country to three, the country's Ministry of Health reported on Monday.     The treatment was given at St. Paulos Hospital in the country's capital Addis Ababa for the suspects of the virus before the patients were shifted to St. Peter Hospital, another designated hospital in the city for treatment of the influenza, said Ahmed Emano, head of public relations of the Ministry of Health.

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ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AFP)--An anti-terrorist law currently before Ethiopia's parliament will violate human rights if passed, Human Rights Watch, or HRW, warned Tuesday. "Ethiopia's draft counterterrorism law could punish political speech and peaceful protest as terrorist acts and encourage unfair trials if enacted," the New York-based organization said in a statement.

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* Law may criminalise opposition, say rights group
* HRW says law needs to be rewritten before passing
* Government says fully recognises right to dissentBy Barry Malone

ADDIS ABABA, June 30 (Reuters) - A draft Ethiopian law could define criticism of the government as a “terrorist act” and be used to crack down on the opposition if it is passed by parliament, a rights group said on Tuesday.

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MUCH ABOUT HISTORY
Ethiopian church speaks out on Ark of the Covenant
Statement says Ten Commandments box won’t be displayed Posted: June 29, 2009 © 2009 WorldNetDailyThere was considerable confusion last week when the leader of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church apparently told an Italian news agency of an upcoming announcement about the possible public display of the Ark of the Covenant – the box holding the Ten Commandments – and then the prescribed time passed with no word. However, there was no equivocation today in an e-mail received by WND from the webmaster of a church website in response to an inquiry about the truth of the matter. “It is not going to happen so the world has to live with curiosity,” said the statement, signed only “Webmaster” in response to the WND inquiry.

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