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The War on Terror Has Turned Ethiopia Into a Surveillance State

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There’s a knock at your door. You open it, only to find several grave-looking police officers accusing you of a crime you didn’t commit. They pull out records of your most recent phone calls and tie you to your alleged co-conspirator, and now you’re screwed. This is Ethiopia. According to a  recent Human Rights Watch (HRW) report,  Ethiopian surveillance of phones and emails is rampant.  Eskinder Nega , a journalist and dissident blogger, reports being shown emails, text messages, and phone recordings when approached by Ethiopian police who were investigating him. Nega’s newspaper, Ethiopis , was shut down for being critical of the Ethiopian government’s abuses in freedom of expression and freedom of the press. Nega was sentenced to 18 years in prison for allegedly conspiring against the government in July of 2012. “Ethiopia certainly doesn’t have the resources or capacity to engage in surveillance on the scale of the NSA—very few governments do,” Cynthia Wong, a Senior Researche

Ethiopia: Why does EPRDF negotiate with ONLF

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Djibouti (HAN) April 6, 2014 – Opinion By Gorse Ismail – In 1984, Zaid Barre formed Ogaden National Liberation Front ( ONLF) after the military man massacred 80 commanders of West Somali Liberation Front (WSLF). Zaid had taken the move to set up ONLF to expand its hegemony in Horn of Africa; however, it has not only dashed Somali nationalism, but fomented lasting mistrust among Somalis in the republic of Somalia. This has been one of the reasons that Somalia would not have had a government in the last twenty years. The eleven higher executive members of ONLF were not born in Ethiopia, but in Somalia. The chairman of ONLF, Admiral Mohamed Osman was the head of Marine in Somalia under the leadership of dictator regime of Zaid Barre. He does not have a clue about Ethiopian politics. On the contrary, the only one who was a native of Ethiopian Origin, Dr. Dolal was killed two years ago when he questioned genuinely ONLF to be the sole representative of all Somalis in Somali Region. Dr.

Medrek’s Meeting in Hawassa Successful Despite Harassment from Government

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Medrek’s Meeting in Hawassa Successful Despite Harassment from Government Posted: Ebla/April 5, 2014 · Gadaa.com Medrek has successfully held a public meeting in Hawassa on March 29  (Megabit 20, 2006 EC) , which was organized with the objective of public discussion of its “Political Manifesto” issued last year. This meeting was held by overcoming severe obstacles imposed by the ruling party/EPRDF Cadres and its government officials. The obstacles included: preventing/forbidding announcement of the meeting through public mass media; posting posters and distributing fliers about the meeting; announcing the date, time and place of the meeting using loudspeakers, etc. As a means of intimidation, they also detained 7 Medrek members, including Mr. Tilahun Endeshaw, the Vice Chairman of Ethiopian Social Democracy-Southern Coalition Unity Party (ESD-SCUP), in Hawassa, and  Mr. Bekele Gabiso in Bansa District in Sidama. Mr. Bekele Gabiso, who was arrested and put in jail since Marc

ሲዳማ በተማሪዎች ንቅናቄ በመናጥ ላይ ናት

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ሰሞኑን በሃዋሳ ከተማ በሲዳማ ተማሪዎች ላይ በመንግስት የጸጥታ ኃይሎች የተወሰደውን የኃይል እርምጃ በመቃዎም እና የተማሪዎቹን የመብት ጥያቄዎች በመደገፍ በመላው ሲዳማ የምገኙ ተማሪዎች በመንቀሳቀስ ላይ መሆናቸው ተሰምቷል። በመላው ሲዳማ በምገኙት ከፍተኛ ደረጃ ትምህርት ቤቶች የመብት ጥያቄ ያነሱ ተማሪዎች መደብደብ የለባቸውም፤ ለተማሪዎቹ ጥያቄዎች ኣስቸኳይ ምላሽ ይሰጥ በምል በመንቀሳቀስ ላይ መሆናቸው ታውቋል። ከዚህም በተጨማሪ የሀዋሳ፤ዋቻሞ እና ሰመራ ዩኒቨሪሲቲ የሚማሩ የሲዳማ እና የኦሮሞ ተማሪዎች ለኣላሙራ እና ታቦር ተማሪዎች ድጋፍ በመስጠት ላይ መሆናቸውን ጥቻ ወራና ዘግቧል።

የሲዳማ ተማሪዎችን ህገ መንግስታዊ የመብት ጥያቄ በማንሳታቸው የተነሳ በመንግስት የጸጥታ ኃይሎ ታድነው በመታሰር ላይ ናቸው

ሪፖርተራችን ጥቻ ወራና ከሃዋሣ እንደዘጋበው ሰሞኑን በኣላሙራ እና ታቦር ከፍተኛ ሁለተኛ ደረጃ ትምህር ቤቶች ላለፉት ሁለት ኣመታት ውስጥ ለውስጥ ስቀጣጠል የነበረው የሲዳማ ተማሪዎች የመብት ጥያቄ ሰሞኑን ተባብሶ ተማሪዎች ከጸጥታ ኃይሎች ጋር እስከመጋጨት ደርሷል። የኣገሪቱ ህገ መንግስት ብሄር፤ ብሄረሰቦች እና ህዝቦች በራሳቸው ቋንቋ መማር መብት የደነገገ ሲሆን፤ በዚሁ መሰረት በመላው የኣገሪቱ ክልሎች ውስጥ የምገኙ በኣከባቢው ቋንቋ በማስተማሪ ላይ ይገኛሉ። እስከ ኣሁን ባለው ልምድ መሰረት በየትኛውም የኣገሪቱ ክፍል ያለ ብሄር ልዩነት ተማሪዎች በኣከባቢው ቋንቋ በመማር ላይ ሲሆኑ በሃዋሳ ከተማ ግን እውነታው የቅል ነው። ሰሞኑን የኣላሙራ እና ታቦር ትምህር ቤቶች የሲዳማ ተማሪዎች ካነሷቸው ጥያቄዎች መካከል፦ በየትምህርት ቤቶቹ በሲዳምኛ ቋንቋ የምሰጠው ትምህርት ሁሉንም ተማሪዎች ያሳተፈ ይሁን ! የሲዳምኛ ቋንቋ እንደማስተማሪያ ቋንቋነቱ ትኩረት ይሰጠው ! በትምህርት ቤቶች የሲዳምኛ ቋንቋ የመግባቢያ ቋንቋ ይሁን ! የምሉ ሲሆኑ ከዚህም ባሻገር፦ በሲዳማ ውስጥ ከጊዜ ወደ ጊዜ እየተባባሰ የመጣው የሰብኣዊ መብት ረገጣ ይቁም ! የክልል ኣስተዳደር መብት ጥያቄ ምላሽ ይሰጠው ! የምሉት ይገኙበታል። በጉዳዩ ላይ የሃዋሳ ከተማ ኣስተዳደር ከንቲባ ካላ ዮናስ ዮሰፍ ተማሪዎቹን ያነጋገሩ ቢሆንም፤ ተማሪዎቹ ጥያቄዎች ከንቲባው ኣጥጋብ ምላሽ ሳይሰጡ ቀርተዋል ተብሏል። ለጥያቄዎቻቸው ኣጥጋብ ምላሽ ያጡት ተማሪዎች ህገ መንግስታዊ መብቶቻቸውን የማስከበር ተግባራትን የወሰዱ ሲሆን፤ የትምህርት ቤቶቻቸውን ስያሜ በሲዳምኛ ቋንቋ ጽፈዋል። ተማሪዎቹ የየትምህርት ቤቶቻቸውን ስያሜ በሲዳምኛ ቋንቋ በምጽፉበት