Ottawa Rally calls on Canada to halt support for dictatorship

Where on Earth have you seen Christian and Muslim leaders jointly protesting against repressive regimes? Join the Ethiopians in Diaspora, and witness the rare God-blessed scene
OTTAWA – Ethiopian Canadians on June 5 took to the streets of Ottawa and condemned the ongoing human rights violations in the Horn of Africa nation. The protesters were mainly drawn from Toronto and Ottawa.
Amid the demonstrating crowd in the capital which is also a touristic destination for many, bystanders were very surprised to see Muslims and Christians side by side protesting the lack of freedom of religion, ethnic cleansing in different parts of Ethiopia, the genocide and the land grab in Ethiopia, the crackdown against journalists and political dissidents, as well as the crackdown on religious and political leaders.
Reverend Mesale Enguede of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church in Exile and Mr. Abu Rashid of the Ethiopian Muslim Council spoke on the occasion about the ancient history of Ethiopia the harmonious coexistence of the two religions centuries.
Reverend Mesale Engude said that "Ethiopia has had so many problems in the past but she overcame them with the courage and determination of her own children.
Mr Abu Rashid also expressed his anger towards the Ethiopian government’s effort to impose alien doctrine on Muslim Ethiopians. He wondered how would a government select and impose a certain sect over all other Muslims. Abu Rashid stated that "the Let Our Voice Be Heard” struggle will continue until a fully democratic state is created in Ethiopia.
Shortly after the two religious leaders spoke to the gathered crowd, opposition Member of Parliament, and a friend of Ethiopia, Paul DEWER raised his concern about the serious human right offenses committed by the Ethiopian government.
Mr. Obang Metho, founder of SMNE, human rights activists and community leaders also took part in the rally. The demonstrators called upon the government of Canada to condemn the human rights violations in Ethiopia and stop supporting the repressive regime in that country.

Some of the slogans chanted by the activists were "Justice for Murdered Ethiopians", "Canada should condemn government interference in religion in Ethiopia", " Democracy Now in Ethiopia," "Canada: Say No to Ethnic Cleansing and Religious Suppression in Ethiopia," "Muslims and Christians are United in Ethiopia."

Detained Journalists and Bloggers in Ethiopia Must be Charged or Released, says IFJ IFJ

May 21, 2014 Three journalists and six bloggers behind bars in Ethiopia The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) on Tuesday severely criticised authorities in Ethiopia following the decision by a court to grant police nearly one more month to conduct investigations against the journalistan bloggers detained in the country last month. Three journalists and six bloggers were arrested on 25 and 26 April by police using an arrest warrant from a public prosecutor in Addis Ababa, the country’s capital city. The police on May 19 said that while the investigations continue the three journalists and six bloggers will remain in prison. “This is a clear human right violation,” said Gabriel Baglo, IFJ Africa Director. “These journalists and bloggers have not been charged yet and must be released immediately. The court is clearly hesitating because there are no strong charges against our colleagues”. The IFJ criticism comes a few weeks after it wrote an open letter to U.S. Secretary of State, John Kerry, during his visit to the country to ask him to raise his concerns about the ordeal of the imprisoned journalists when he met with Ethiopian Prime Minister, Hailemariam Desalegn. According to media reports, Kerry subsequently raised the arrests during meetings with the Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, Tedros Adhanom, on May 1. Following the meeting the IFJ welcomed Kerry’s action, but the Ethiopian court has now taken the decision to extend their detention. The journalists who have been arrested are Tesfalem Weldeyest, who writes independent commentary on political issues for Ethiopia’s Addis Standard magazine and Addis Fortune newspaper, Asmamaw Hailegiorgis, senior editor at an influential Amharic weekly magazine Addis Guday, and Edom Kassaye, who previously worked at state daily Addis Zemen Newspaper and is an active member of the Ethiopian Environmental Journalists Association (EEJA).

አኖሌ…..የባህር ዳር ነውር….አምቦ እና ግምቢ

May 17, 2014 | Filed underአማርኛ ዜናና መግለጫ | Posted by admin

ኢትዮጵያችን አደጋ ላይ ነች። የአደጋዋ ምንጭ ህወሃት እና ህወሃት ነው። ህወሃቶች በአገራችን ላይ የመዘዙት የበቀል ሰይፍ ወደ ሰገባው የሚመለስ አልሆነም። ከበቀል ስሜታቸው ጋር መቶ ዓመት የመንገስ ምኞት አላቸው። ምኞታቸውንም እውን ለማድረግ የንፁሃን ደም ለህወሃቶች መስዋዕት ሆኖ መቅረብ ይኖርበታል። እስከ ዛሬ ብዙ ኦሮሞዎችና አማሮች መሥዋዕት ሁነዋል። የመስዋዕቱ ምንጭ እንዳይደርቅ አሩሲ ላይ አኖሌ ቁሟል።እርሱን ተከትሎ ባህር ዳር “አማራና ኦሮሞ” ኳስ እንዲጫወቱ ሁኖ ነውር የሆኑ ስድቦች እየተነቀሱ ወጥተው በኢቲቭ እንዲተላለፍ ተደረገ። ይሄን ተከትሎ የመሬት ቅርምቱ ተከሰተ። አምቦና ግምቢ ላይ በህወሃት-ኦህዴድ ፊታውራሪነት የንፁሃን ደም በከንቱ ፈሰሶ ህወሃት የለመደውን ምሱን አገኘ።

ትኩረት በህወሓት፣ ኦህዴድ፣ ብአዴንና ደህዴድ ላይ ይሁን!!!

May 15, 2014 | Filed underG7 Editorial,State Dept | Posted by admin

ዛሬ አገራችን ኢትዮጵያ መንታ መንገድ ላይ ትገኛለች። በአንድ በኩል ህወሓት እና አገልጋይ ድርጅቶቹ በተለይም ኦህዴድ፣ ብአዴንና ደህዴድ የተነሳባቸው ሕዝባዊ ተቃዉሞ ለመሸፈን የሕዝብ ለሕዝብ ጠብ ለመጫር የተቻላቸውን ሁሉ እያደረጉ ነው። በየተገኘው አጋጣሚ ሁሉ ዘርን መሠረት ያደረጉ ስድቦች፣ ዘለፋዎችና ጥቃቶች እንዲኖሩ በካድሬዎቻቸውና በቅጥረኞች አማካይነት እየጣሩ ነው። በዚህ እኩይ ተግባር ውስጥ ባለማወቅ በስሜት ብቻ የሚነዱ የወያኔ ደጋፊ ያልሆኑ ወገኖችም እየተሳተፉበት ነው። በሌላ በኩል ደግሞ በዘውግም ይሁን በአገር ደረጃ የተደራጁ የፓለቲካ ድርጅቶች መሪዎች የጋራ ጠላቶቻችን ወያኔና ግብረአበሮቹ ስለመሆናቸው የጠራ አቋም እየያዙ ነው። ወያኔና ግብረአበሮቹን ለማስወገድ በጋራ መታገል የሚያስፈልግ መሆኑ እና ከወያኔ አገዛዝ በኋላ በእኩልነት ላይ የተመሠረተ አገር የመገንባት የጋራ ኃላፊነት ያለብን መሆኑ ሰፊ ግንዛቤ እያገኘ መጥቷል።

ይህ መንታ መንገድ በሁሉም ቦታ በባሰ ኦሮሚያ ውስጥ ጎልቶ እየታየ ነው። በኦሮሚያ አካባቢዎች የሚደርሰው ጥቃትና መፈናቀል ያስቆጫቸው ወጣቶች የሚያደርጉት ፍትሃዊ ተቃውሞ ቀጥሏል። በአምቦ፣ በነቀምት፣ በጊምቢ፣ በሀረር፣ እና ሌሎችም አካባቢዎች በተለይም የዩኒቨርስቲ ተማሪዎች ሥርዓቱን በመቃወማቸው ከፍተኛ ጥቃት እየደረሰባቸው ነው። በመቶዎች የሚቆጠሩ ሕይወታቸውን አጥተዋል፤ በሺዎች የሚቆጠሩ ታስረዋል። በእነዚህ ቦታዎች ሁሉ የእንተባበር ጥሪዎች ጎልተው እየተሰሙ ነው። በኦሮሚያ በሚገኙ ዩኒቨርስቲዎች የሌሎች አካባቢዎች ተማሪዎች ከጎናቸው እንዲቆሙ የኦሮሞ ተማሪዎች ተደጋጋሚ ጥሪዎችን አቅርበዋል። የሌሎች አካባቢዎች ተማሪዎችም ከኦሮሞ ወንድሞቻቸውና እህቶቻቸው ጎን ቆመዋል። ይህ ተስፋ የሚሰጥ እና መበረታታት ያለበት ነገር ነው። ሆኖም ግን ከዚሁ ጎን ለጎን ህወሓትና ኦህዴድ የሕዝቡን ጥያቄ ወደ ዘር ግጭት ለማዞር እየሠሩ ነው። በተማሪዎች መፈክሮች ውስጥ ዘርን ለይተው የሚያንቋንሽሹ መልዕክቶች ሰርገው እንዲገቡ እየተደረገ ነው። ኦሮሞ ባልሆኑ በተለይም በአማራ ተወላጆች ላይ ጥቃት እየደረሰ ነው። የወያኔ ጆሮ ጠቢዎችና ካድሬዎች በስሜት የተገፋፉ ወጣቶችን ወደ ዘር ግጭት እየመሯቸው ነው።ይህ እጅግ አሳሳቢና በአስቸኳይ መቆም የሚኖርበት ነገር ነው።

ዘር ማጥራት ወይስ ኢህአዴግን ማፍረስ?

(ተመስገን ደሳለኝ)                                                                                              ኢህዲግ ያነበረውን ቋንቋንና ዘውግን መሰረት ያደረገ ፌዴራሊዝም አደገኛነ በተመለከተ 

በርካታ ምሁራን፣ ፖለቲከኞች፣ ጋዜጠኞች… ሳያሰልሱ ለመምከርና ለማስጠንቅቅ መዋተታቸውን 

አልዘነጋሁም፡፡ እኔም ከ“ፍትህ” ጋዜጣ እስከ “ፋክት” መጽሔት ድረስ ችክ ያልኩበትም ሆነ ዛሬ በዚህ 

ተጠየቅ የተመለስኩበት ምክንያት ችግሩ እያደር እየተባባሰ በመምጣቱና ከምንጊዜውም በላይ 

አዘናግቶ ወደተፈራው የእርስ በእርስ እልቂት ሊዘፍቀን እየተንደረደረ በመሆኑ፣ ቅድሚያ ሰጥተን 

በሕብረ-ድምፅ ‘የሀገር ያለህ!’ ብለን መጮህ እንዳለብን ስለማምን ነው፡፡ 

Silencing Zone9 by hook or crook

By Hindessa Abdul May 20, 2014 ists are not terroristsReporters Without Borders has learnt today that the court in Addis Ababa granted the police investigating the case against the 6 bloggers and three journalists, 28 more days for further investigations. The police notably claimed they were unable to access the Facebook and Twitter accounts of the detainees, which were reportedly disabled after the hearing on May 7th and 8th. According to the Eastern Africa Journalists Association ’s Secretary general, Alexis Niyungeko. “The request by the police for more time to conduct further investigations clearly shows that the three journalists and six bloggers were arrested without sufficient evidence". Following today’s hearing, the news providers are now being officially charged under the country’s infamous anti-terrorism proclamation of 2009, which can carry imprisonments sentences from 5 to 10 years. During today’s hearing, a witness said that Zone9 blog member Atinaf Berhane complained of sever torture and interrogation throughout the night. The detainees were able to see their lawyers for the first time on May 14th and May 16th, according the defense lawyer Amha Mekonnen. The next hearing is scheduled for June 14th. (Source: RSF) It has been over three weeks since close to a dozen journalists and bloggers were arrested, most of whom members of the blogging collective known as Zone 9. Their site, hosted in Google’s Blogger platform, was launched two years ago with a catching motto “We blog because we care.” They coined the name after a visit to the Zone 8 of the Kaliti prison, where a fellow journalist, Reeyot Alemu, is serving a five-year sentence. Zone 9 is a metaphor to say the rest of the populace is also in jail but in a different cell block. No surprises; their page was blocked within weeks of its launch.Abel Wabela, Asmamaw W/Giorigis, Atnaf Berhane, Befekadu Hailu, Edom Kassaye, Mahlet Fantahun, Natnael Feleke, Tesfalem Weldyes, Zelalem Kebret have been locked up in the notorious Maekelawi in the north of Addis, where the tradition of torture is alive and kicking. The bloggers were public servants,university professors,information technology professionals, full time journalists so on and so forth.

Abebe Gellaw interrupted Obama, shouting, “Freedom for Ethiopia!”

U.S. President Barack Obama has agreed with journalist Abebe Gellaw’s demand to support freedom in Ethiopia and help free bloggers, journalists and political prisoners jailed by the tyrannical regime.
  While Obama was wrapping up his speech last night at a glitzy Democratic National Committee reception in San Jose’s Fairmont Hotel, journalist and activist Abebe Gellaw interrupted the president and called support for freedom in Ethiopia. The event jointly hosted by Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer and and Y Combinator CEO Sam Altman was mainly attended by Silicon Valley business and political leaders.
Abebe began his message with a positive note. “Mr. Obama, we Ethiopians love you. We demand freedom for Ethiopia,” he said.
The President, who was talking about winning both Congress and the Senate from the Republicans in the next election, replied “I agree with you although why don’t I talk about it later because I am just about to finish. You and me will talk about it. I am going to be coming around.”
But Abebe continued his message and loudly called for help to free jailed bloggers and journalists. “Stand with the people of Ethiopia, don’t support tyranny,” he said to which the president answered again, “I agree with you.”
 //www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=otaQbyXzHWI#t=0