UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA - AFRICAN STUDIES CENTER |
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** EDITORIAL PRINCIPLES **
The Horn of Africa Bulletin (HAB) is an international media review, compiling and recording news and comments on the Horn of Africa. Reports published in HAB represent a variety of published sources and do not necessarily represent the views of the editors.
Readers are always referred to the original sources for complete versions. When HAB uses a secondary source, the secondary source is given first, followed by the primary source in square brackets. Some items are re-titled to best reflect the content of chosen excerpts. Sections marked with "/HAB/" are introductions or comments made by the editors. Square brackets are used to indicate changes/ additions made by the editors. (Square brackets appearing within a secondary source may also indicate changes made by a previous editor.)
Note of Thanks: We are particularly indebted to our readers for their contributions and to our sources for their invaluable cooperation.
** ABBREVIATIONS **
Abbreviations of sources used in this publication:
AB - African Business; AC - Africa Confidential; AED - Africa Economic
Digest via RBB; AFP - Agence France Presse, Paris; AI - Amnesty
International; AN - Africa News; ANB - African News Bulletin; APS -
Africa Press Service; AR - Africa Report; ARN - Arab News; CSM -
Christian Science Monitor, World Edition; DN - Daily Nation; DNR -
Dagens Nyheter; DT - Daily Telegraph via RBB; EC - Ethiopian
Commentator; EH - Ethiopian Herald; EN - Ethiopia News; ENA -
Ethiopian News Service; ER - Ethiopian Review; FOA - Focus on Africa;
GI - Guardian Independent; GN - The Guardian via RBB; GW - Guardian
Weekly; HRM - Human Rights Monitor; IHT - International Herald
Tribune; IND - The Independent via RBB; ION - Indian Ocean Newsletter;
KT - Kenya Times; LICR - Lloyd's Information Casualty Report via RBB;
LWI - Luth. World Information; MD - Monday Developments; MEED - Middle
East Economic Digest via RBB; NA - New African; NFE - News from
Ethiopia; NN - NordNet; NNS - NGO Networking Service's Monthly Update
via NordNet; NYT - New York Times; RBB - Reuters Business Briefing;
SCSG - Scottish Churches' Sudan Group Newsletter via NN; SDG - Sudan
Democratic Gazette; SHRV - Sudan Human Rights Voice; SN - Sudan
Embassy News; SNU - Somalia News Update; SSV - Southern Sudan Vision;
STD - Standard; SU - Sudan Update; SvD - Svenska Dagbladet; SWB - BBC
Summary of World Broadcasts via RBB; UNIC - United Nations Information
Center, Sydney, via NN; WH - The White House via
Radio stations are abbreviated as follows:
RNU - Radio National Unity, Omdurman; RFI - Radio France
Internationale, Paris; RH - Radio Hargeisa, Voice of Republic of
Somaliland; RM - Radio Manta, Mogadishu; RMO - Radio Mogadishu; RMV -
Radio Mogadishu, Voice of the Great Somali People; RSR - Republic of
Sudan Radio, Omdurman; VBME - Voice of the Broad Masses of Eritrea,
Asmara; VOA - Voice of America; VOE - Voice of Ethiopia, Addis Ababa;
VOEE - Voice of Ethiopia External Service, Addis Ababa; VOEN - Voice
of Ethiopia National Service, Addis Ababa.
** PUBLISHER INFORMATION **
The Horn of Africa Bulletin is published bimonthly by the
LIFE & PEACE INSTITUTE, Box 297, S-751 05 Uppsala, Sweden
Tel: (+46) 18-16 95 00; Fax: (+46) 18-69 30 59
Email: enelson@nn.apc.org
Publisher: Sture Normark
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** E T H I O P I A **
ACRONYMS:
** E R I T R E A **
ACRONYMS:
** E D I T O R I A L **
THE BETRAYAL OF THE SOMALI PEOPLE
This article is written by Professor Ken Menkhaus, Davidson College,
North Carolina, USA. He worked last year for UNOSOM in the south of
Somalia, and is presently visiting Somalia on behalf of LPI to assess
the efforts to build a national reconciliation process from the grass
roots.
"The warlords are now peacelords." This remarkable declaration was
made by the former Special Representative of the Secretary-General in
Somalia, Ambassador Lansana Kouyate, following the signing of the
Nairobi declaration in May 1994, by Somalia's main factional leaders.
Since then, Somalia's "peacelords" have been busy with new fighting in
the Jubba valley, Merka, Mogadishu, and Beled Weyn, displaying yet
again their disdain for written peace accords obtained through the
mediation efforts of the UN. The militia of one of the "peacelords",
General Aideed, has also attacked UNOSOM forces in Mogadishu, Beled
Weyn, and Baidoa, resulting in the deaths of 17 peacekeeping troops
since April. And preparations are now being made for still more
fighting in those zones. Whatever new name UNOSOM wishes to bestow
upon the militia leaders, they have continued to promote war,
instability, and division rather than reconciliation.
It is difficult to comprehend the turn UNOSOM policy has taken in the
past eight months. In a desperate bid to justify its own costly
presence in Somalia, UNOSOM is attempting to engineer a
hastily-assembled national government in Somalia. Some UNOSOM
officials evidently believe they can do this by forsaking the more
time-consuming process of working with already established local
government and grass-roots organizations, and cutting a deal instead
with what they see as the most powerful forces in the country--the
militia of General Aideed, in alliance with General Morgan and
Abdullahi Yusuf. It is a tactic that is based on striking ignorance of
social realities in Somalia and vast overestimation of the real
authority of these warlords; it violates the UN's alleged adherence to
political neutrality in Somali national reconciliation; it is not only
morally questionable, it is also doomed to fail. It is a policy that
reveals yet again that some UN officials consistently pursue their own
best interests rather than the best interests of the Somali people. It
is not surprising at this point, that some critics of the UN claim
that the Somali people would be best served by the UN leaving Somalia
altogether.
All along, even in the best of times, tensions within the UN and
UNOSOM led to an ambiguity in UNOSOM's commitment to fostering a
grass-roots approach to political rehabilitation in Somalia. While in
1993, it assisted in the establishment of district and regional
councils, selected by local populations, it also enshrined the
factions as linchpins of national reconciliation in the Addis Ababa
agreement of March 1993. Since January 1994, despite UN rhetoric about
a "two-track" process involving both factions and grass-roots
representatives in the shaping of Somalia's future, UNOSOM has ignored
and even suppressed participation of grass-roots groups. It has
ordered a halt to any assistance to the many district and regional
councils in the countryside--even though scarce international aid has
been set aside for them--in order to placate General Aideed, who finds
the idea of representative local government threatening to his control
by military conquest and occupation. UNOSOM officials argue that the
Nairobi declaration calls for factional "review" of existing district
councils, and that it must respect that accord. But who signed the
Nairobi declaration? The factions, of course, not real representatives
of the Somali people.
Meanwhile, a recent visit by LPI representatives to Somalia revealed
evidence that local, grass-roots organizations do have the authority
to bring peace and governance to the country and to operate in
opposition to warlordism. When a Swedish NGO worker was kidnapped by
the clan of General Aideed, Aideed himself said he had no power to
intervene. Eventually, the Swede was released through the efforts of a
group of Somali women, who managed to obtain the release of the
hostage. In Gardo, where the SSDF recently met, Mijerteen clan elders
rejected the leadership bid by warlord Abdullahi Yusuf, choosing
instead a respected civilian leader. And while the warlords continue
to foster an economy of plunder among their militias, local
neighborhoods in Mogadishu and other towns are offering young
militiamen training--without international support--to develop skills
that will allow them to re-enter civil society. These kinds of dynamic
social developments go virtually unnoticed, while the UNOSOM
leadership is meeting only with scheming faction leaders.
UNOSOM's failure to see its responsibility to the average Somali and
to the principles of representative governance is tragic, and
represents a costly missed opportunity for the Somali people. In some
UN circles, the "grass-roots" approach in Somalia is now viewed as
naive and unacceptable because it is seen as a conscious effort to
marginalize factional leaders. But the establishment of district and
regional councils, selected by local communities, is hardly a radical
or unworkable idea. All it required of aspiring Somali leaders was to
demonstrate that they possessed a real constituency, not just a
menacing militia. If warlords like Aideed are as popular as they claim
to be, they should have no fear of such a process. It was not too much
to ask of the UN to safeguard the fundamental right of representative
governance for the Somali people.
ON THE BRINK OF MASSIVE FAMINE
NAIROBI - The Horn of Africa faces another famine threat as a result of
drought, poor harvests and war, the U.N. Food and Agricultural Organisation
(FAO) warned Friday.
"A serious food crisis is emerging in the Horn of Africa as a result of
reduced or poor harvests due to adverse weather or civil strife," said the
FAO in its latest quarterly report on food supply and crop prospects,
published here Friday...
The U.N. agency warns the situation is much more serious than that of the
1984/85 famine, "when hundreds of thousands of people perished due to
starvation".
This time around, the lives of 22 million people are threatened, according
to the FAO...
Although the donor response has been generous, the pledges are likely to
fall short of the requirements. Only 60 percent of the pledged assistance
has been delivered.
"There is an urgent need for substantial additional pledges and measures to
expedite the delivery of pledged assistance," the report says.
In Ethiopia, famine conditions are emerging because of the poor harvest in
1993/94. There are also delays in deliveries of relief assistance because
of bad roads in the worst affected areas.
"Large numbers of deaths from starvation have been reported in recent
weeks," says FAO.
Particularly hard hit is the Afar region of the north-east, eastern
Hararghe, Arissi in central Ethiopia, Gonder in the north-west, [Ilubabor]
in the west, Wolaita in the south-west, southern and northern Oromo...
The government estimates 7.5 million people, or 14 percent of the
population, are affected. According to the U.N. agency, "without an adequate
and timely response to these needs, millions will face starvation in the
coming months."
In Eritrea, 1.1 million people or 40 percent of the total population, have
serious food difficulties because of poor harvests last year.
FAO says these people will need food assistance until the next harvest due
in December. The agency urges donors to make additional pledges because
those so far made fall too far short of the requirements...
Sudan, which had an exportable sorghum surplus in the 1992/93 season,
suffered a poor harvest last season and now faces a large cereal deficit.
"The situation continues to deteriorate in several parts, particularly in
the south due to intensified fighting in recent weeks," the report notes...
The situation in Juba and Wau is particularly grave, FAO warns. Food has
disappeared from the markets and the little available is beyond the pockets
of most people.
In Somalia, the agency says the food supply position remains difficult for
farmers who lost their secondary season crops because of drought.
The large number of displaced and vulnerable people affected by the civil
strife are seriously at risk, especially in the north-western Galbeed
region. Severe food shortage have been reported in western Mudug, and in the
Jilib and Kismayu areas of the southern and lower Juba regions.
FAO emphasises that the recent outbreak of militia hostilities and the onset
of the rains has hampered the distribution of relief food...
"MINDING THEIR NEIGHBOURS": OAU LEAVING THE PRINCIPLE OF NON-INTERVENTION
TUNIS, Jun 15 (IPS) - It took the death of half a million people in Rwanda
to get the leaders of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) to come to
terms with the fact that sometimes a neighbours' domestic affairs are their
affair as well...
Something had to be done. But first one ghost had to be laid to rest: the
OAU's historic commitment to the principle of non-intervention in the
domestic affairs of their members as laid down in their founding charter.
To get around this, the OAU has devised a form of OAU 'Security Council' on
U.N. lines, so as to broaden its authority to act as an independent force
in sensitive situations where global forces--such as the U.S. in Somalia and
the U.N. in Rwanda--have failed.
"The idea for a Committee of The Summit (the proposed council's former name)
was floated last year and was put on hold to be looked at," said Christopher
Clapham, an African regional security expert at Britain's Lancaster
University...
Details of the new OAU security council--a name that OAU Secretary General
Salim Ahmed Salim described as an "explanatory analogy"--have not yet been
made clear, beyond its membership, frequency of meetings and its broad tasks
as a conflict management body.
Its task will be intended to support, not supplant, the United Nations, said
Salim. "Africa should not be considered as apart from the rest of the
world," he said, noting the U.N. Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali's
part in the new body's devising.
"It's quite clear that the U.N. Security Council can't take on all the
world's problems, and all Africa's problems," said Adam Roberts, a conflict
intervention specialist at Oxford University in Britain. "Time and time
again the United Nations has itself pressed for a more regionally based
system."...
Thus foreign minister Habib Ben Yahia of Tunisia, whose leader heads the OAU
and thus its new 'security council', on Wednesday quietly overturned 30
years of OAU habit by noting that there was no such thing as "a 100 percent
purely domestic issue".
Yet some were sceptical: "In the past it has been the sovereignty issue that
has been the real obstacle to effective OAU intervention. I don't see how
they are going to overcome that," said Clapham.
The OAU already has the year-old Central Organ of the OAU Mechanism for
Conflict Control, Management and Resolution, which has met at head of state,
ministerial or ambassador level 18 times since last June - 11 times in
emergency session...
Under Tunisian chairmanship, the new OAU 'security council' will constitute:
Cote D'Ivoire, South Africa, Mauritania, Zaire, Benin, Tanzania, Ghana,
Nigeria, Egypt and Ethiopia.
The new security council will meet once a month at ambassadorial level,
twice a year at foreign minister level and once a year as a summit of heads
of state, though Salim said emergency meetings would be called as needed...
Clapham notes that an OAU conflict resolution mechanism could be backed up
by richer, industrialised nations, pleased to pay to get the diplomatic
embarrassment of intervening in African wars off their hands while meeting
domestic demands for action.
"This way, U.S. soldiers are not going to get shot: neither is the U.S.
going to get accused of imperialist interventions," he said...
RUSSIA'S PM SEEKS TO "REGAIN LOST TERRAIN" IN REGION
Speaking in Moscow on July 12 to Russian ambassadors holding posts in
Africa, Russia's prime minister encouraged them to "regain lost terrain" in
the region since the collapse of the Soviet Union. He also said it was
necessary "to start again at zero with the African market for Russian-built
arms" and revealed that decisions in principle had been taken on technical
military cooperation with Djibouti, Namibia and Sierra Leone. Moscow hopes
to resume cooperation with Angola and Ethiopia.
** POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC ISSUES **
ERITREA'S CONSTITUTION COMMISSION STARTS TAKING DISCUSSION TO THE PEOPLE
This month in Asmara, the Constitution Commission opened public discussions
on the issues which will determine the shape of the future Eritrean
Constitution. These have been divided into 22 topics including governance,
security, social and cultural issues, foreign relations and comparative
constitutions each being discussed by a panel. Presentations have been given
by members of the commission, members of the People's Front for Democracy
and Justice as well as by invited guests such as the Ethiopian Constitution
Commissioner, Kifle Wodajo. The Eritreans intend to take the discussion out
to the districts and sub regions for feedback. They begin the first leg of
their journey to the Eritrean communities in Europe and North America
shortly.
ERITREA: SIGNING UP
July saw the signing of the international convention on the rights of the
child by Eritrea. Also, the IMF accepted Eritrea's application for
membership opening the way for admission to the World Bank and the
International Development Association.
ERITREA DOWNGRADED TO POOREST OF THE POOR
UNITED NATIONS - The United Nations has downgraded Angola and Eritrea to the
ranks of the poorest of the world's poor.
The U.N. Economic and Social Council is adding the two African countries to
a list of 47 Third World nations categorised as least developed countries
(LDCs).
Salim Lone, Editor-in-Chief of the U.N.-published 'Africa Recovery'
newsletter, told IPS Friday he was not surprised. For one thing, he said,
the new nation of Eritrea was carved out of Ethiopia, which was already an
LDC. Eritrea joined the world body as a full-fledged member in May 1993.
The LDCs numbered 24 about two decades ago. By 1991, the number increased
to 42, and in Dec. 1991, five other countries joined the ranks of LDCs:
Cambodia, Madagascar, the Solomon Islands, Zaire and Zambia.
The addition of Angola and Eritrea last week brings the number to 49, of
which, 34 are from Africa...
A country is designated LDC based on its population size (less than 75
million) and per capita income (less than 699 dollars).
These countries should also score a value of 47 or less on the United
Nations' 'augmented physical quality of life index', and a value of 22 or
less on the 'economic diversification index.'...
ERITREA LAUNCHES LAWS TO SPUR INVESTMENT
ASMARA - The Red Sea state of Eritrea has adopted sweeping trade laws
tailored to gain support from global donors, spur foreign investment, and
reverse decades of economic stagnation forced by civil war and hardline
Marxist rule.
The new laws govern investment, land tenure and trade and pledge an
export-oriented Eritrean economy that fully utilises its strategic
geographical position and natural resources.
Investment laws passed by parliament on Tuesday limit the role of government
in trade to only regulatory service and back a liberal free-market economy,
officials said on Thursday...
Under the laws, Eritrea will privatise 42 state firms and the government
will also auction 11 of the hotels it owns.
Government authorities said some 44,855 houses nationalised by the Mengistu
administration had already been returned to their previous owners and
authorities were sorting out 16,000 pending cases, most of these due to
disputed ownership.
Domestic and foreign investors will be treated equally in trade and
investment matters and the economy will be fully open to private capital for
investment purposes. But priority will be given to Eritreans for all new
jobs, the adopted laws say.
The laws stipulate that remission of profits and repatriation of capital is
to be unrestricted and foreign capital is now assured of guarantees against
nationalisation or confiscation. Bureaucratic policies will also be
streamlined...
The laws placed small-scale industry, light manufacturing, irrigated
agriculture and agro-industry as sectoral priorities. Government will
provide strong backing to small business that shows a clear competitive
advantage in international markets - including preferential exchange rates
and loans, officials say.
Officials added that such support was backed by cash from a $25 million
package in development assistance under the World Bank Reconstruction and
Rehabilitation Programme for Eritrea...
The government pledged to assist 50,000 ex-fighters who have been or will
be demobilised, as well as orphans, wounded veterans and families of the
65,000 people killed in the war.
The laws give Eritreans and foreign investors a right to land for farming,
housing and development but government and communities would have a say in
land usage. They outlaw the sale, division of inheritance of land granted
to investors.
The passing of the law on land frees construction of housing and office
units, especially in the capital Asmara, while the legal safeguards to
tenure are expected to encourage previously wary investors, economic
analysts told Reuters.
** ELF CLAIMS **
THE EPLF AND ITS "CONSTITUTION"
The EPLF regime has since the last few months been propagating that it has
drafted a constitution for the country...
To begin with, the Commission was appointed, and had its tasks defined, by
the "National Assembly" comprising mainly of members of the EPLF leadership.
In all appearances, the regime's so-called National Assembly has now taken
the role of what should have been a democratically elected Constituent
Assembly. Moreover, the NA doesn't appear to expect [anything] from the
Commission for the draft constitution other than its rubber-stamp approval.
Yet, it tries to impart the impression that the said constitution is
actually being drafted by the appointed Commission. In fact, any attempt
made on the part of the Commission at inclusions, alterations, modifications
or omissions in the contents of the constitution is stringently opposed by
the EPLF...
ELF MEMBERS IMPRISONED IN ETHIOPIA
On 6 June 1994 the Amharic Service of the German radio broadcasting, the
"Deutsche Welle", had an extensive interview with Dr. Beyene Kidane, member
of the ELF-RC Executive Committee in charge of Foreign Information. The
interview dealt with the problem of the ELF-RC cadres and a member of the
leadership who have recently been detained in Ethiopia by the Transitional
Government of that country...
Q. In spite of being allowed to operate in the country, we heard that some
of your activists have recently been detained by the Transitional
Government. If that is indeed true, why have they been detained? And, how
many are they?
A. 26 persons were detained on 29 April 1994, and are still in detention at
the moment. In view of the relative freedom of movement we had enjoyed, the
action of the TG of Ethiopia was rather surprising and unexpected...
Q. Do you have any information as to how the detainees are being treated?
If the answer is yes, can you comment?
A. Up to now, neither we nor their relatives or friends have been able to
establish direct contacts with them. In fact, it was only after a month that
we were able to find out where those groups who were arrested in the various
parts of the northern province of Tigray were held...
Q. It is difficult to believe that the TG would arrest your members after
giving you permission to open offices and operate in the country. What have
your people actually done? Indeed, what crimes have they really committed
for the government to take such a drastic measure against them?
As I said earlier, we still don't know of any crime that our people have
supposedly committed. The fact that the action was taken few days after an
EPLF delegation had visited Addis Ababa leads us to believe, however, that
the measure taken by the TG was political in nature. And, in our view, the
entire episode cannot be seen in isolation of the anti-democratic policies
the EPLF leadership pursues against all the Eritrean democratic forces in
general, and the ELF-RC in particular...
ELF-RC CLAIMS WAR VETERANS SHOT
The EPLF regime recently gruesomely massacred a number of its disabled
war-veterans who were encamped at the Mai Habar town, some 30 km south east
of Asmara. 21 of them are so far known to have died when indiscriminate fire
was opened on them by the government's notorious army commandos. More than
20 wounded are currently being hospitalised at the Haz Haz hospital in the
northern outskirts of Asmara.
The incident is believed to have happened on 11th July 1994 as a culmination
of a long drawn-out dispute with the leadership. The invalid veterans had
been lodging a number of administrative and political complaints against the
leadership that went on for years but still remained unsolved...
** FOREIGN RELATIONS **
ISRAEL TO PROVIDE MEDICAL ASSISTANCE TO WOUNDED VETERANS
The Eritrean and Israeli governments have signed an agreement which will
allow handicapped persons who were wounded during Eritrea's war of
independence to be cared for in Israeli hospitals. Seven Eritreans have
already arrived in Israel for surgery which will enable them to wear
artificial hands. According to Israel's ambassador in Asmara, his government
had perviously despatched a specialized medical team to examine Eritrean
war-wounded.
ERITREAN "TAXES" IN SWEDEN QUESTIONABLE
The Swedish Foreign Office will now take up the question of whether a
foreign country's embassy has the right to collect fees from that country's
own citizens in Sweden.
"An embassy cannot just do anything, it is regulated by the Vienna
Convention from 1961 and 1963," says Bjorn-Gosta Sporrong, deputy assistant
under-secretary of the Foreign Office's legal division...
All countries' embassies charge small fees of a few hundred crowns [1 USD=8
SEK] for so-called "stamp fees"...
"Such fees are definitely allowed and can be rather high," says Bjorn-Gosta
Sporrong.
But according to Sporrong, those fees which Eritrea's embassy charges are
not stamp fees:
"It is very questionable if one can do as this embassy is doing now. I am
not completely clear on the legality of this situation."
/HAB/ Allegedly, the Eritrean government is demanding 2% of the annual
income of all Eritreans living abroad.
ERITREA SIGNS AGREEMENT ON BORDERS, SECURITY, REPATRIATION OF REFUGEES
Talks between the foreign ministers of Eritrea and Sudan ended yesterday.
After extensive discussions based on the 1994 agreement [as heard], a joint
communique on security, repatriation of refugees, the opening of consulates
and modes of coooperation was issued. Each side also agreed not to intervene
in the internal affairs of the other and to ban the activities of terrorists
in their territories. On the basis of the agreement reached and in order to
facilitate the effective performance of the joint security committee, the
two sides agreed to implement fully the agreement reached and enhance their
efforts to dislodge terrorists from their respective territories...
(SWB 16 Aug 94 [Suna news agency, Khartoum, in English 13 Aug 94])
Asmara: ...A meeting would be held soon between the two countries' interior
ministers as Sudan accepted to sign a common agreement with the United
Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNCHR). A programme was prepared to
start the repatriation of the Eritrean refugees from Sudan next September...
** FOREIGN AID **
US TO OPEN INFORMATION OFFICE
Mayor of Asmara Sebhet Effrem and US ambassador in Eritrea Robert Houdek
have concluded an agreement on opening a branch of American Information
Office in the Eritrean capital. A US delegation which included ambassador
Houdek, the head of USAID Brian Atwood, and congressman Tom Hull recently
toured the country. The visitors promised on their return to send US
president Bill Clinton a full dossier of Eritrea's needs so that the US
administration may be in a position to increase substantially its financial
aid (currently standing at US$ 6 million) to Asmara.
EUROPEAN PROJECTS FOR NGOS
The European Union has awarded the Eritrean government financial aid worth
ECU 3.7 million (US$ 4.1 million) under the Lome IV agreement for a series
of six projects which are to be evaluated and supervised by European
non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in liaison with Eritrean NGOs.
ISCOS-CISC of Italy will take responsibility for the demobilization of
soldiers project (ECU 540,000) and CRIC, also of Italy, will be working on
a health project (worth ECU 731,860, of which ECU 250,000 will be for
equipment and ECU 70,000 will be for pharmaceutical products), and Christ
Outreach of Great Britain will supervise another public health project worth
just over one million ECU (of which ECU 70,000 will be for equipment). The
French veterinary NGO Veterinaires Sans Frontieres will supply aid to
Eritrean veterinary services (ECU 430,000, including ECU 125,000 in
veterinary products), CAFOD of Great Britain will take charge of a drinking
water supply project (estimated to cost ECU 290,000) and the humanitarian
organization Medecins Sans Frontieres of Belgium will be working in the
health sector (ECU 698,000, including some ECU 150,000 worth of
pharmaceutical products)...
OAU GRANTS USD 200,000 TO ERITREA
ADDIS ABABA - Eritrea and Tanzania each received 200,000 U.S. dollars from
the OAU Special Emergency Assistance Fund for Famine and Drought in Africa
(SEAF) a press release from the information division of the regional
organization said.
According to the release, the agreements to this effect were signed
Wednesday by the OAU Secretary General, Mr. Salim Ahmed Salim, Ambassador
Haile Merkorios of Eritrea and Ambassador Christopher Liundi of Tanzania.
The agreement stipulates that the Eritrean government use the grant to
construct 36 wells in the five most famine and drought stricken areas
affecting 2 million people, the release said...
ERITREA THANKS KINGDOM FOR HELP IN RECONSTRUCTION
RIYADH - The state of Eritrea has expressed its deep gratitude to the
Kingdom for its humanitarian aid and financial support for various urgent
projects of national reconstruction in this newly independent country after
undergoing 30 years of struggle against the foes of Eritrea.
Speaking to Riyadh Daily, here Saturday Eritrean Charge d'Affaires Mohammad
Berhan A. Kader said: "The Saudi Fund for Development (SFD) has been
studying several projects of reconstructing roads, airports, improving its
sea ports and building up hospitals and schools."
The Islamic Development Bank (IDB) has also promised substantial grants of
scholarships and help to the educational institutions in Eritrea, he said.
During the long struggle for Eritrea's freedom, Saudi Arabia extended all
possible support to that country which is linked by centuries-old ties of
friendship and culture, Kader said...
Kader said about 80,000 Eritreans are residing in the Kingdom employed in
diversified professions...
** SOMALI REGION **
SOMALI REGION ELECTIONS TO BE HELD 17 JULY
Sixty-nine candidates have been put forward and 1,550,795 voters registered
for the Region Five [eastern Ethiopia, mainly Somali] Constituent Assembly
elections which will be held on 10th Hamele [17th July]. According to Mr
Abdi Ali Abshir, the area's election board representative, among the 69
candidates 47 are independent, 21 are represented by the Ethiopian Somali
League and one is represented by the Western Somali Democratic Party...
DIRE DAWA OFFICE BLAMES NEB FOR ELECTIONS POSTPONEMENT
DIRE DAWA--The head of the Electoral Board office of Dire Dawa special
district has blamed the National Electoral Board (NEB) for the postponement
of the election of Constituent Assembly members of July 17 in the city and
its environs.
Ato Ahmed Raghe Musa, head of the Office, said that had the NEB responded
on time to their request that the residents of the 29 kebeles of Gurgura
Woreda, a constituency outside both Region 4 and Region 5, cast their votes
with the people of Dire Dawa, the election would have taken place on
schedule. According to him the response to a letter sent to the NEB on 7
April was acknowledged on May 25, only 11 days before the election. "It was
too late to prepare the people for the election within 11 days," said Ato
Ahmed...
Meanwhile, the Secretary General of the NEB, Ato Assefa Biru, said that it
was to give ample time for preparations and conduct things smoothly that the
election was postponed.
According to him, because of the unsettled border disputes between regions
4 and 5, some of these people demand to vote in Dire Dawa while others
choose Region 4. "We have already taken up the matter with the Prime
Minister's Office and I hope that by the time the election takes place, the
border dispute will have been settled, said Ato Assefa.
VOTING FOR CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY HELD IN MAINLY SOMALI REGION 5
Residents of the town of Dire Dawa and its environs [Region Five, mainly
Somali, eastern Ethiopia] today cast their votes for the Constituent
Assembly in their respective constituencies...
/HAB/ As HAB goes to press, sources in Ethiopia say that the elections in
Dire Dawa have gone to the OPDO. Results of elections in Region Five are not
yet available.
VOICE OF ETHIOPIA ELEVATES SOMALI TO NATIONAL LANGUAGE STATUS.
The Voice of Ethiopia's Somali language service has for a long time been
part of local vernacular services. As of Sunday, 7th August 1994, the Somali
language will be included in the national languages. [Passage omitted on
resultant changes to broadcast times]
** CONSTITUTIONAL ELECTIONS **
EPRDF TRIUMPHS IN ETHIOPIAN ELECTION
The ruling Ethiopian Peoples Revolutionary Democratic Front has won a
landslide victory in the country's first national elections. It secured 484
of 547 seats in a constituent assembly that will approve a charter for a
decentralised democracy based on a voluntary association of ethnic states.
The outcome of the June 5 vote was never in doubt. Despite appeals from aid
donors and Ethiopia's friends in the West, the country's main opposition
groups boycotted the elections, alleging harassment and saying the EPRDF's
ethnic project could result in 'balkanisation'.
International observers' judgment that the ballot was generally free and
fair appears, however, to have been borne out by the result from Addis
Ababa, where independents mounted a strong challenge and the EPRDF took only
13 of 23 seats.
In the regions, where strong opposition parties stood aloof, EPRDF allies
carried the day with ease. Thus 173 of 178 seats in Oromo areas went to the
Oromo People's Democratic Organisation, the Oromo arm of the EPRDF, and all
but one of the seats in the Amhara-dominated north went to the Amhara
National Democratic Movement. Unrest prevented polling in the Ogaden,
Ethiopia's ethnic Somali region.
The opposition's refusal to participate in Ethiopia political reorganisation
after decades of dictatorship began with its boycott of regional elections
two years ago and subsequent withdrawal from the Council of Representatives.
Many Ethiopians believe the moves have backfired by strengthening the
EPRDF's grip on government.
"The opposition has failed its constituents," Andreas Ashete of the
Inter-Africa Group said. "The regional elections were terribly flawed, but
the government has made a serious effort to correct the mishaps and will try
harder next time. Free and impartial elections cannot be left to the
government alone. Join the electoral board! Open offices! That's how
elections get to be fair."
Some members of the opposition also criticise its intransigence. "Our
chances of having our perspectives enshrined in the constitution are over
now," lamented a leading member of the Oromo Liberation Front. "The first
important chapter is finished, and the Oromo are going to live under a
constitution in which they have not participated. In a country that never
had any democratic exercise, some violations are bound to happen. But it's
up to us to rectify some of these violations rather than stay out of the
process. We are going to have only one party running the show now. But what
is the sense of lamenting after abdicating the whole thing."
Immediately after last month's elections, some observers expressed hope that
opposition parties would be sufficiently encouraged to participate in key
parliamentary elections early next year. Those hopes are likely to have
dimmed, after five opposition politicians were jailed last week on what
Amnesty International calls "slender and dubious evidence" of conspiracy.
COMMUNIQUE OF PRESIDENCY OF EUROPEAN UNION
Brussels, 04/07/1994 - The Presidency of the European Union has published
the following Communique:
"The European Union believes that the elections of a constituent assembly
in Ethiopia were satisfactory from a technical point of view. These
elections were thus an improvement on the 1992 regional elections and
represent progress in the democratic development of the country. The conduct
of the elections indicated that there are grounds for believing that the
opinions of the Ethiopian people could be properly reflected at the planned
elections for a parliamentary government.
"The European Union considers that there is still some way to go,
particularly regarding the climate in which opposition parties are able to
campaign. Although a substantial number of independent candidates stood in
the elections, the European Union regrets that, for whatever reasons, the
main opposition parties did not participate and it was therefore, for the
most part, an EPRDF-dominated election.The European Union finally believes
that in the forthcoming parliamentary elections not only the conduct of the
electoral press must be satisfactory, but all political forces should
participate."
CONSTITUTIONAL DILEMMAS
...Opinions differ as to the EPRDF's real intentions:
- Groups which believe in a centralised state and claim the EPRDF is
undemocratically turning its own manifesto into a constitution, without
involving any opposition, argue that the EPRDF wants to destroy the
integrity of a state already threatened by Eritrean independence. It is also
suggested that the TPLF/EPRDF wants the option of pulling out if things go
wrong and being able to declare Tigray independent.
- For the OLF and ONLF (and several other movements among Afars and
Tigrayans) the problem is the opposite one: that the EPRDF is only prepared
to accept the secession concept under very particular circumstances which
it would take care to avoid. In other words, it is using the Soviet trick
of creating impossible conditions to ensure secession is never implemented.
The ONLF claims this is the whole point of creating the ESDL in the Somali
Region: to ensure that those wanting a referendum on the issue are kept out
of power and that the EPRDF keeps control of the Somali political debate.
Recent EPRDF moves against it in Region 5 have left the ONLF feeling it has
little future under the new constitution, even though it claims it is not
secessionist as such but wants to explore 'fully' the right of
self-determination. The OLF also feels options are closing. It has kept
contacts open, most recently through ex-President Jimmy Carter's mediation
efforts in February, but feels the EPRDF has made no move on major issues:
independent military control, rebuilding the national army and realistic
regional security control.
The opposition is divided on other levels besides the issue of
self-determinaiton and secession which has caused problems in the [COEDF]
and CAFPDE and did much to weaken the efforts of the 1993 Paris conference
of opposition groups. The creation of the CAFPDE in Addis Ababa after the
abortive conference there last December was not welcomed by all: leading
oppositionists overseas have reservations about the rise to prominence of
Dr. Beyene Petros as CAFPDE Chairman.
The EPRDF hopes the new constitution will provide a form of words to satisfy
all sides in the self-determination debate but is aware of the risk of
alienating everyone. The TPLF itself is showing signs of strain and there
has been concern in Tigray over the effects of the boundary changes of two
years ago. These have left a serious legacy of ill-feeling in both Gondar
and Tigray. The level of active opposition by Kefegne (Unhappy Ones) in
former northern Gondar may still be little more than the bandit activity
that EPRDF military sources claim, but there is general animosity in the
region over the loss of so much land to Tigray. Equally, the handling of
control of the traditionally Tigrayan lowland salt areas to the Afar Region
has caused irritation as the Afar have tried to maximise returns from the
salt trade.
The EPRDF, well aware (and still resentful) that its forces are widely seen
as an army of occupation, planned to demobilise up to 30,000 this year as
part of its intention to reduce both the military as a whole and its
Tigrayan content. This will now be difficult. Unrest in parts of Gondar has
led to greater caution among possible donors about supporting proposed
agricultural settlements for Tigrayan ex-soldiers. More generally, there are
no jobs available for the demobilised and a lack of overall funding for
alternatives. Widespread food shortages and drought conditions have added
to these difficulties as has the unresolved debate over funding for the new
regions.
In the last resort, the major problem is a lack of finance for the whole
constitutional experiment. The EPRDF still hopes, even expects, that this
will come from external sources but there are indications that some of its
staunch and even uncritical supporters in the West are becoming more
cautious. Partly, this is due to genuine doubts about the viability of the
constitutional project while human rights organisations report a
deteriorating situation, and partly to increasing constraints on Western
treasuries at a time when Ethiopia faces a famine as potentially devastating
as that of a decade ago (AC Vol 35 No 7). Some see the present crisis as one
of poverty not just famine, and argue it has not been helped by the
establishment of new regional administrations and bureaucracies. Inevitably,
concern about the seven million Ethiopians said to be at risk from the
famine will outweigh any enthusiasm for political innovation.
** OPPOSITION **
AI: COURT JAILS GOVERNMENT OPPONENTS
On Monday 27 June, the Central High Court in Addis Ababa sentenced a medical
professor and four other members of an opposition group, the All-Amhara
People's Organization (AAPO), to two years' imprisonment.
"The five convicted prisoners appear to have been imprisoned on the basis
of slender and dubious evidence and without direct proof of the alleged
conspiracy", Amnesty International said today.
The human rights organization has not yet received the full details of the
judgement, but at this stage it seems that the judges relied on prosecution
evidence which was not properly corroborated.
This evidence included a written note apparently found by the police at the
university and a statement made to the police during the preliminary
investigations by a witness who died before the trial. All five men denied
the charges of incitement to violence and are appealing to the Supreme court
to overturn the sentences.
Professor Asrat Woldeye, 65, had been free on bail during the long trial but
the other four--Sileshi Mulatu, 61, AAPO's office manager, Teshome Bimerew,
an Addis Ababa University student, former army lieutenant Chane Alamrew and
Ambelu Mekonnen, a farmer from Gojjam, had been in prison for over a year.
A court had granted them bail but the Supreme Court overruled it.
The five men were arrested in July 1993 and charged with holding a meeting
in the AAPO office nine months earlier at which they were alleged to have
planned violent attacks on the government...
The defendants denied any plan of anti-government violence. They said the
meeting had been about complaints the AAPO had received of abuses by
government soldiers of the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front
(EPRDF) and pro-government militias against AAPO supporters and Amharas...
NINE "BANDITS", INCLUDING AAPO MEMBER, KILLED IN NORTH
The central police bureau has disclosed that nine people were killed and
eleven others captured in Asaget [phonetic] district in North Shewa
administrative zone [Region Three] in an exchange of fire with members of
the security forces. The bureau said the group of 22 [word indistinct], a
collection of bandits and former soldiers perpetrating different criminal
activities. [Words indistinct] between the security forces and the bandits
began as they refused to surrender. The group members who had earlier broken
into the Debre Birhan prison and illegally set free prisoners were under
security force surveillance before they were rounded up.
According to the police, Mr Andale Melaku, the ringleader of the bandits who
was the Debre Birhan representative of the all Amhara People's Organization
[AAPO], was one of the bandits killed in the fire exchange.
ETHIOPIA SETS MASS TRIAL OF EX-COMMUNISTS
ADDIS ABABA - Ethiopia said it will start charging 1,315 detained officers
of the ousted Communist regime with serious crimes and human rights abuses
from next month.
Ethiopian state television quoted Chief Special Prosecutor Girma Wakjira as
telling diplomats that the detainees would be divided in three broad
categories for the trial.
First to be charged would be policy and decision makers - senior officials
and miltiary commanders who served under deposed Marxist dictator Mengistu
Haile Mariam.
The second batch would include field commanders, to be followed by a final
group comprising individuals suspected of murder, torture and other related
crimes, the special prosecutor was quoted as saying on Tuesday.
Ethiopian Foreign Minister Seyoum Mesfin said on Tuesday Mengistu, in exile
in Zimbabwe, will be arraigned in his own country in September, probably at
the same trial as that of his officials.
Seyoum told reporters during a visit to Harare that he had not discussed
Mengistu's return to Ethiopia with Zimbabwean officials as the case was
being handled by Ethiopian courts.
Girma did not give the exact date when he would start charging the former
officials in an Addis Ababa court.
The trial would be based on Ethiopian and international law but he did not
rule out the possibility of the death penalty for those found guilty of
committing serious capital crimes.
"I cannot rule out that the prosecution may cite incidents where we would
seek the death penalty," Girma said. "But I hope it will not to the extent
of embarassing the international community by seeking the death penalty in
every case."
Girma said exhumation work carried out by Argentine forensic experts in
different sites in Hauzien, in the northern region of Tigray and in the
capital Addis Ababa strengthened cases against human right violations.
"The exhumations were of extreme importance to the collection of evidence
to build cases of human rights abuses and for the process of reconstructing
the truth about the occurences of the recent past," Girma told the
diplomats.
In March, Argentine experts uncovered remains of 12 people strangled and
dumped in mass graves outside Addis Ababa - suspected victims of an
Ethiopian death squad.
The grave was found behind a building apparently used for torture and
executions by Mengistu's loyalists just before May 1991 when rebels took
over Addis Ababa, toppling a government accused of deaths of tens of
thousand of opposition loyalists.
The Argentine team has also exhumed remains of civilians bombed
indsiscriminately at an open-air market by Mengistu's airforce closer to the
period before he fled.
Mengistu critics accuse him of ruining the economy of the Horn of African
state and of perpetuating or failing to stem the murder of his opponents.
Ethiopian authorities have previously said they would like the ousted
dictator to be extradicted to stand trial for his role in the atrocities.
/HAB/ International human rights groups admit today that they did little to
monitor and publicize the horrors and crimes of the Mengistu regime.
MENGISTU REPORTEDLY ADVISING ZIMBABWEAN GOVERNMENT
Deposed Ethiopian dictator, Mengistu Haile Mariam, is reported to be
advising the Zimbabwean government on intelligence gathering, security and
weapons purchases. Zimbabwe's independent 'Daily Gazette' said Mr Mengistu
began acting as a consultant to the central intelligence organization and
the ministry responsible for state security several months after being
granted political asylum in Harare in 1991.
The newspaper said his role revolved around training programs on
intelligence tactics and the acquisition of modern armaments. The Zimbabwean
government has refused to comment on the report.
ETHIOPIA REJECTS HUMAN RIGHTS ACCUSATIONS
ADDIS ABABA - Ethiopia denied on Thursday jailing anyone for expressing
their political opinions or views, saying people were jailed only when they
were found guilty of crimes.
In a statement, Justice Minister Mathiteme Selemon said the London-based
human rights watchdog Amnesty International had written demanding the
release of prisoners jailed for various crimes.
"People are jailed in Ethiopia, not for expressing their views and opinions,
but they receive sentences of imprisonement when evidence proves them guilty
of committing crimes," he said.
He said Amnesty International should visit Ethiopia to make inquiries if it
believed there were human rights violations.
/HAB/ For a review of AI's assessment of human rights in Ethiopia during
1993, see the Amnesty International Report 1994.
ARRESTS, IMPRISONMENT OF JOURNALISTS
Daniel Kifle, arrested on 15 January 1994, was sentenced to 18 months'
imprisonment under the Press Law on 1 June on account of articles based on
a clandestine opposition radio broadcast, that alleged corruption by the
Prime Minister and claimed that Eritrean troops were deployed in Ethiopia.
Mulugetta Lule [Editor of Tobia] was sentenced on 1 June to a suspended
one-year prison term and fined for publishing a communique by the Kefegne
rebel fighting group. The communique had claimed heavy casualties by
government troops, which were denied by the government. His case is
currently under appeal.
Mesfin Shifferaw has "re-appeared" (details still unclear). Kayk Kassaye is
still "disappeared".
Tefera Asmare, who is currently serving a two-year sentence, was given an
18-month suspended sentence on 29 June for allegedly disseminating false
information. The appeal against his sentence to two years imprisonment is
still pending before the Supreme Court.
Meleskachew Amha and Berehane Mewa are still detained without charge and
with bail refused. They have been held on repeatedly renewed 14-day court
orders requested by the police for investigation... They have access to
their families but no official acess to their lawyers.
Wolde-Ghiorgis Wolde Michael is reportedly held without charge or access to
lawyers and relatives in Shashamane (175 kms south of Addis Ababa). There
is concern that he may have been physically ill-treated.
Melaku Tedasse [Editor-in-Chief of Lubar magazine], Habtamu Belete
[Editor-in-Chief of Ruhama magazine] and Girma Endrias [Editor of Ruhama
magazine] were sentenced to six months imprisonment for contempt of court
around 7 July. They had been arrested in Addis Ababa in mid-June with
Tesfaye Tadesse [Publisher of Lubar magazine], who remains in detention, and
were held by the police for questioning in connection with published
articles criticising government troops and officials. Several court cases
involving journalists provisionally released on bond are still continuing,
including against Kefale Mammo, chairman of the Ethiopian Free Press
Journalists Association and editor of Ruh magazine.
** FAMINE, POVERTY TRAP **
FAMINE IS A TABOO WORD IN A STARVING NATION
SODDO, ETHIOPIA - By Ethiopian custom, it is taboo to tell anyone that there
is a dearth of food in one's family.
Social norms also prohibit exposure of weak children to outsiders. If
cornered by circumstances, an Ethiopian would rather say his or her child
is weakened by a disease rather than admit that it is malnourished.
Small wonder then that thousands of children die of starvation and related
complications whenever drought hits this Horn of Africa country, causing
massive crop failures...
Ethiopia's rural communities are likely to depend on food handouts for their
survival for the next two to three years. Many have fallen victim to loan
sharks who provided money to tide the farmers over until the situation
normalised.
These farmers would have to give up their entire harvests this year to local
traders to repay the loans.
"Their food problems will be snowballing," Hastamu Zeleke, an official of
the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) in North Omo zone, told
IPS...
The need to narrow the gap between food requirements and domestic supply is
at the centre of the Ethiopian government's development policy concerns.
It has come up with a land use plan to expand the area under rainfed
cultivation, estimated at seven million hectares (ha). The country has 55
million ha of arable land
Draught power and farm equipment need to be made available to more farmers,
while small-scale irrigation farming will have to be expanded to ensure that
yields are stable during droughts.
The government's target is a five-percent annual increase in farm production
until the year 2000 so that Ethiopia can feed itself. This would increase
gross food output from the present seven million tonnes to 12 million
tonnes.
But even if another natural disaster does not force Ethiopia to depend on
additional food aid, the FAO does not expect the country to be
self-sufficient in food within the next few years.
The organisation says food imports to meet domestic shortfalls will remain
in the range of 650,000 tons a year over the next 17 years.
ETHIOPIANS URGED TO CHECK POPULATION GROWTH
ADDIS ABABA - Ethiopians were urged on Monday to curb population growth from
1.7 million people a year, trapping them in a vicious cycle of deprivation,
hunger and death.
Negussie Teferra, head of population affairs in the prime minister's office,
told a news conference annual population growth of 3.2 percent was
outstripping economic development of 2.0 percent.
This was the main reason for Ethiopia's failure to feed its 55 million
people, he said in a statement marking World Population Day. He added
millions of Ethiopians had died in the last 20 years because the country
could not grow enough food.
THE FOOD IS THERE BUT NO TRUCKS TO DELIVER IT
ADDIS ABABA - Donors have responded to Ethiopia's appeals for food aid but
have now complained that there are not enough storage facilities and trucks
to transport supplies to more than seven million starving people here.
"The critical issue regarding relief operations during the remaining months
of the year is not the availability of food aid, but the capacity to manage
distributions, short-haul transport and warehousing," says a recent report
by the U.N. Emergencies Unit for Ethiopia (UN-EUE).
Donors, who in june delivered 329,634 tons out of a required total of
933,634, have said that new shipments totalling 157,819 tonnes were expected
to arrive soon in the northeast African country.
But the UN-EUE has warned that it foresees heavy congestion of food loads
at Djibouti and the Eritrean ports of Assab and Massawa, on which landlocked
Ethiopia relies.
It has urged the Ethiopian authorities to speed up the clearance of food
supplies from the two Eritrean ports to reduce the congestion.
Both Assab and Massawa urgently need funds to maintain their off-loading and
shore-handling equipment to cope with the volume of food arriving there.
A World Food Programme (WFP) logistics mission, which recently toured the
towns, has launched a 1.5-million-dollar appeal for spare parts to improve
the two Red Sea ports...
NO ROADS FOR AID TRUCKS TO DRIVE ON
LONDON - ..."There is potential for mass movement of people in Ethiopia,"
Mark Bowden, area director for Africa of Save the Children, told a news
conference. "But the capacity to prevent that is well within our reach."...
Presenting the findings of a survey conducted in northern Ethiopia during
May and June, Bowden said Ethiopia's poor infrastructure meant highland
areas were particularly vulnerable to food shortages that could prompt mass
movement of people into more central areas where access to aid is easier.
"Ethiopia has almost the lowest density of roads per head of population in
the whole of Africa," he said.
Continued neglect of maintenance and building work during 20 years of
conflict in Ethiopia has left only 20 percent of the population served by
the existing road network.
The survey proposed 12 emergency feed roads should be cut from four major
routes being built by the Ethiopian government to reach remote areas in the
North Wollo district.
"Four or five million pounds now would have a substantial impact," Bowden
said, adding that investment in better roads would help to head off
starvation crises in the future...
NO OXEN TO PLOUGH IT, SO LAND LIES IDLE
ADDIS ABABA, JUL 20 (IPS) - Weather forecasts indicate that this year's
rains in parts of Ethiopia are likely to last long enough to ensure good
harvests.
But, even if they do, for some farmers it is already too late. Many of the
draught animals they use, mainly oxen, have either been killed or weakened
by drought between 1993 and this year.
One of the most affected regions is northern Tigray, on the border with
Eritrea. The U.N. Emergencies Unit for Ethiopia (UN-EUE) says the area will
remain fallow this year because draught animals are in scarce and many of
those available are in poor health...
EAST AFRICAN LOCUST CONTROL AGENCY FACES COLLAPSE
ADDIS ABABA - Ethiopia appealed on Thursday to East African states to save
their 32-year-old locust control organisation from collapse by paying their
arrears.
Awetahegn Alemayhu told a meeting of the seven member states of the Desert
Locust Control Organisation - East Africa (DLCO-EA) that it was ineffective
as annual contributions were unpaid.
"The DLCO is bankrupt and unable to pay staff salaries and employees are
threatening to sue," he told the ministerial meeting, adding that the
DLCO-EA played a vital role combating pests.
Conference sources said ministers would discuss whether DLCO-EA could be
merged with the regional Inter-Governmental Authority on Drought and
Development (IGADD) to ease its cash crisis.
The two-day meeting in the Ethiopian capital accepted Eritrea as an eighth
member state of the DLCO-EA. The others are Ethiopia, Djibouti, Somalia,
Sudan, Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania.
60,000 PEOPLE FLEE FLOODS
ADDIS ABABA - At least 60,000 people have left their homes in Ethiopia
because of floods near the Red Sea state of Djibouti, Ethiopian radio
reported.
The radio said the Awash river had turned 2,000 hectares (5,000 acres) of
farmland into a swamp in areas inhabited by the Afar tribe near the
Ethiopia-Djibouti border.
It did not say whether there were any casualties.
Rain this year in Ethiopia, where some 7.5 million people are threatened
with famine, has been steady, bringing hope that 1994 crops yields will be
better than in 1993.
AFRICAN REFUGEE DAY AND CONVENTION ON AFRICAN REFUGEES
ABBIS ABABA--African Refugee Day is an occasion which provides an
opportunity for Africans to make a sober assessment of the refugee situation
in the continent and devise a future strategy aimed at alleviating the
suffering of people who fled their country for one reason or another, Ato
Kuma Demekasa, Minister of Internal Affairs said here yesterday...
Speaking about the refugee situation in Ethiopia, he said that the TGE, in
cooperation with UN agencies, international and local donor organizations,
was taking concrete steps to rehabilitate the Ethiopian returnees. Over
608,000 Ethiopian refugees have been returned from Somalia, Kenya, Sudan,
Djibouti and other countries, he added.
At present Ethiopia hosts 260,000 refugees from Somalia, 44,019 from Sudan,
18,000 from Djibouti, 10,000 from Kenya, Ato Kuma said adding, some refugees
from Zaire, Rwanda, Burundi, Liberia and other countries are also being
assisted in Addis Ababa. Over 27,000 additional refugees from Somalia are
now living in the southern parts of Ethiopia, he said...
THE FATE OF AFAR REFUGEES
One of the secretaries of the French parliament's foreign affairs
commission, Xavier Deniau, has pleaded, in a report of the mission he
carried out in Ethiopia in March 1994, in favour of France and the
international community helping the Afar community in Djibouti which has
fled the civil conflict in their own country to seek refuge in neighbouring
Ethiopia... Deniau's report takes the figures issued by the United Nations
High Commissioner for Refugees for Afar refugees sheltering in Ethiopia at
some 17,000, mostly in villages along the main road linking the Eritrean
port of Assab with Addis Ababa. During his mission, the French MP noted that
"the international community has taken hardly any interest in their fate up
until now", that food aid from the United Nations World Food Programme was
"insufficient because based on an estimated population of 10,000 persons"
since the officials "usually live in Addis Ababa". He said he considered
that UNHCR had adopted an attitude of "prudent expectation" towards these
refugees and that France had "so far shown proof of remarkable discretion
on this dossier". He quotes the Ethiopian government's request for aid for
the refugees, issued in July 1993 and transmitted to Paris by the French
ambassador in Ethiopia, but says that it "received a negative response from
the Africa Desk officials" in the French foreign ministry. Xavier Deniau
therefore proposed a humanitarian aid project (which was subsequently
integrated into the cooperation programme of the French embassy in Addis
Ababa) in three parts: educating young Afars in the villages along the
Ethiopia-Djibouti frontier, setting up a mobile medical assistance system,
and carrying out traditional well-digging programmes...
** FOREIGN RELATIONS **
BORDER DISPUTE WITH SUDAN?
ADDIS ABABA - A border dispute is simmering between Sudan and Ethiopia
despite attempts by both sides to settle the row.
According to Seyoum Mesfin, Ethiopia's foreign minister, the problem is
caused by Sudanese farmers slipping into Ethiopia to cut down trees for
firewood, and then nipping back over the border.
Their claim on Ethiopian territory and violation of the border has led to
clashes between both country's security forces...
The assessment however has been denied by Sudan. "We have no border
conflicts with Ethiopia," said Al Nour al Hadi, a foreign ministry official
in Khartoum.
Earlier Sudan's foreign minister, Dr. Hussein Abu Salih, also rejected
speculations by journalists that the unannounced visit by Head of State
Lt-Gen Omar Hassan al Bashir to Ethiopia last week had to do with the
conflict.
"What concerns the press on the visit of the president to Ethiopia? We have
joint interests with Ethiopia and the president can go there without
informing the press," he said.
Despite the denials, reports reaching Khartoum say nine Sudanese citizens
had recently been killed by Ethiopian forces at Fashiga, on the border.
"Ethiopian forces also attacked and killed five soldiers of the Popular
Defence Forces (militia) who were guarding farmers in the area," according
to a local government official in eastern Sudan, on the border with
Ethiopia.
The Ashiga Triangle and Galalabat, on the Red Sea - both disputed by the two
neighbours - almost led to war in the 1970s. The squabble over the ownership
of the land extending from Metema to Humera settlements straddling the
common border, have been off and on for many years...
Attempts to strike an accord were made by past regimes of the two countries
but no agreement was reached...
AMBASSADOR PRESENTS CREDENTIALS TO SUDAN
ADDIS ABABA - Ato Yoseph Kumalo, the newly appointed Ambassador of Ethiopia
to the Sudan has presented his credentials to President Omar Ahmed Al-Bashir
last month...
ETHIOPIAN-US MILITARY EXERCISES START
Ethiopian and American military experts are currently conducting a joint
military exercise which will last over one month, the Ministry of Defence
stated today. The joint exercise, which started on 24th Ginbot [Ethiopian
Calander: 1st June], is taking place at the Addis Ababa military hospital
and Dukem [south of Addis] and is divided into three categories. There are
138 experts involved, and the exercise includes military engineering,
supplies and surgery... The current joint military exercise will further
strengthen relations between Ethiopian and American forces and will also
help the Ethiopian military experts to improve their military skills... Of
the 138 military experts, 53 are American, while the rest are members of the
Ethiopian defence force.
CLINTON AND MELES MEET AT THE WHITE HOUSE
President Clinton met with Ethiopian President Meles Zenawi at the White
House Thursday. The two leaders discussed a range of regional issues, as we
hear in this report from V-O-A White House correspondent Deborah Tate.
President Clinton met with his Ethiopian counterpart in the oval office to
discuss a host of regional issues, including efforts to bring peace to
Rwanda, Sudan, and Somalia.
A senior administration official - who did not wish to be identified - said
the two presidents also discussed the severe drought in Ethiopia that is
resulting in food shortages threatening millions of people in the East
African nation.
The official said the meeting took place in a friendly atmosphere, and that
Mr. Clinton re-affirmed U-S support for Ethiopia's efforts toward
multi-party democracy and its pursuit of economic reforms.
The official said the two men also discussed the human rights situation in
the country, but he did not elaborate.
As the two presidents met, a number of Ethiopian opposition groups held
demonstrations outside the White House, protesting alleged human rights
abuses by the Meles Government. Other Ethiopian groups in Washington
expressed their support for the Ethiopian president.
** ECONOMIC NEWS **
ETHIOPIA ELECTED EU-ACP COUNCIL CHAIRMAN
Ethiopia has been elected as chairman of the Advisory Council of European
Union and African, Caribbean and Pacific Countries (EU-ACP) committee for
industrial cooperation.
In a written statement it sent to the Ethiopian News Agency, the Ministry
of Industry said the council elected Ethiopia as its chairman during its
second annual meeting held recently in Brussels, Belgium...
The statement said Ethiopia's Industry Vice Minister Girma Yigebru will
serve as chairman of the council till July 1995...
ETHIOPIA'S ECONOMY IMPROVING
ADDIS ABABA - Ethiopia's economy has surged forward because of a major
inflow of loans and grants from global donors in the last two years, the
finance minister said.
Alemayehu Daba said on state-run television late Sunday that world bodies
such as the World Bank and IMF were pleased with the country's economic
restructuring programme and had pledged to offer $1.2 billion in aid and
grants. Of this, $651 million was released in the first tranche of the
agreement last year.
"The fund was used to buy spare parts and raw materials to boost the
performance of the country's industries from as low as 20 percent to the
present 75 percent capacity," he said.
"It was also used to purchase fertilizers to increase agricultural output,"
he added.
He said the remainder of the $1.2 billion would be released after an
assessement mission by donors visits Ethiopia and see how the money already
released had been utilised...
Ethiopia's economy grew by 7.0 percent in 1992 but drought reduced growth
from a predicted 5.0 percent to 2.0 percent 1993.
Alemayehu gave no forecast for economic growth this year...
ETHIOPIAN BANK ANNOUNCES $45.3 MILLION PROFIT
ADDIS ABABA - Ethiopia's only commercial bank Friday reported a gross profit
of at least $45.3 million in 1993-94, more than double its gains in the
previous fiscal year.
Tilahun Abaye, general manager of the state-owned Commercial Bank of
Ethiopia, said the profit was the result of business expansion due to the
government's new liberal economic policies...
He said the bank's profit for fiscal 1991-92 stood at around $10.6 million
and $20.3 million for 1992-93.
Deposits in the bank's 155 branches rose to $1.1 billion in 1993-94 from
$942.6 million the previous year, he added...
COFFEE PRICE RISE TOO LATE FOR 93/94 CROP
ADDIS ABABA- Ethiopia's coffee export earnings will rise if the
international rise in prices is sustained until the next season, a top
coffee exporter said.
But Aschenaki Gebrehiwot, executive secretary of the Ethiopian Coffee
Exporters' Association, said the frost in Brazil had come at an inopportune
time as far as the current season's exports were concerned.
"Most of the country's 1993-94 coffee crop had already been sold. As a
result Ethiopian coffee exporters enjoyed only a small benefit from the
sudden price hike," he added.
He estimated coffee exports in the 1994-1995 season at 90,000 tonnes.
Ethiopia exported 85,000 tonnes of coffee in the 1993-94 season and earned
around $160 million, according to official information. In 1992-93 it
exported 70,000 tonnes and received $120 million.
Coffee accounts for over 60 percent of foreign exchange earnings. Most
exports go to Europe, Asia and the Middle East...
POOR ETHIOPIA LOOKS TO MINERALS FOR GROWTH
ADDIS ABABA - Ethiopian authorities said a geological survey has confirmed
vast deposits of gold, platinum, petroleum and gas which the nation planned
to start exploiting to kickstart economic growth.
Ethiopian Vice Minister for Mines and Energy Resources Shemsudin Ahmed told
Reuters the survey showed the minerals had been available but were not
explored under previous feudal monarchies or the Marxist rule of Mengistu
Haile Mariam.
"This remained an agrarian country of peasant farmers," he told Reuters.
"Exploration has now begun. We expect the results will reverse a legacy of
famine and massive deaths from starvation that have plagued Ethiopia," a
government official added...
Ethiopian leaders say the campaign to attract private capital for mining -
first presented at a world mining conference in Denver, Colorado - had an
impressive response.
They said 28 companies from the United States, Canada and Britain had
already applied for concession rights and a few were already operational.
They gave no details.
"A geoscientific survey carried out in Ethiopia indicated the nation's
underground wealth is vast. It showed gold deposits as being at par with
Ghana," Shemsudin Ahmed said.
"Ethiopia also possesses five proven major basins where potential oil and
gas reserves have been identified."
Geology department experts say Ethiopia's Ogaden basin which covers an area
of 350,000 square kms is considered to have high oil potential. The other
chief oil area is the Gambella basin, on the western border with Sudan.
They said the survey indicated that platinum, nickel, lead and gem stones
would also be available...
ETHIOPIA SLASHES MILITARY SPENDING
UNITED NATIONS - One of the biggest military spenders in sub-Saharan Africa
says it has sharply reduced defence spending and stopped buying weapons of
war.
Ethiopia has told the United Nations it has slashed military spending from
50 percent to 10 percent of its national budget.
"Moreover, no arms have been imported after the downfall of the past
regime," the Ethiopian government says in a letter to Secretary-General
Boutros Boutros-Ghali released this week...
As part of the new trend towards "transparency of military expenditures,"
Ethiopia admits it spent "billions of dollars on arms during the past
regime."
"However, the picture has changed drastically since peace has prevailed and
the country is actively engaged in economic reconstruction," the letter
says.
"The arms Ethiopia possesses at the moment are only those that were
purchased by the former government," according to the letter. "The bulk of
the arms are now, in fact, junk and hence hardly of any use. Ethiopia keeps
the rest only for defence purposes."
According to the latest figures released by the Washington-based Arms
Control and Disarmament Agency (ACDA), Ethiopia imported about three billion
dollars in arms during 1987-1991.
Of this, about 2.9 billion dollars came from the former Soviet Union,
followed by China, which accounted for about 90 million dollars' worth of
military equipment during the same period.
Since Mengistu took power in 1974, the Soviets reportedly supplied about 10
billion dollars' worth of military equipment to Ethiopia over a 17-year
period ending 1991.
Ethiopia was the largest single buyer of arms in sub-Saharan Africa,
according to ACDA. The Ethiopian air force is equipped with Soviet-made
MiG-17, Mig-21 and MiG-23 fighter planes...
Editor: Susanne Thurfjell Lunden
Assistant Editor: Everett Nelson
AAPO - All Amhamra People's Organisation
ADU - Afar Democratic Union
ALF - Afar Liberation Front
APDO - Afar People's Democratic Organisation
ARDU - Afar Revolutionary Democratic Union
ARDUF - Afar Revolutionary Democratic Unity Front
BPLM - Benishangul People's Liberation Movement
CAFPDE - Council of the Alternative Forces for Peace and Democracy in
Ethiopia
COEDF - Coalition of Ethiopian Democratic Forces
CRDA - Christian Relief and Development Association
ECS - Ethiopian Catholic Secretariat
EDAG - Ethiopian Democratic Action Group
EDC - Ethiopian Democratic Organization Coalition
EDUP - Ethiopian Democratic Unionist Party
EECMY - Eth. Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus
ENDP - Ethiopian National Democratic Party
EPDA - Ethiopian Peoples' Democratic Alliance
EPDM - Ethiopian People's Democratic Movement
EPRDF - Ethiopian People's Rev. Democratic Front
EPRP - Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Party
ESDL - Ethiopian Somali Democratic League
ESDM - Ethiopian Somali Democratic Movement
GDU - Gamo Democratic Union
GPDF - Gurage People's Democratic Front
HPDO - Hadia People's Democratic Organisation
IFLO - Islamic Front for the Liberation of Oromia
IGLF - Issa Gurgura Liberation Front
KPC - Kembata People's Congress
MEISONE - All Ethiopia Socialist Union
OALF - Oromo Abo Liberation Front
OLF - Oromo Liberation Front
ONLF - Ogaden National Liberation Front
OPDO - Oromo People's Democratic Organisation
ORA - Oromo Relief Association
OSAFU - Oromo Students Association of Finfine University
SEPDC - Southern Ethiopian Peoples Democratic Coalition
SGPDO - Sodo Gordena People's Democratic Organisation
SPDO - Sidama People's Democratic Organisation
TPLF - Tigray People's Liberation Front
TWU - Tigri-Worji Union
UODO - United Oromo Democratic Organisation
UOPLF - United Oromo People's Liberation Front
WPE - Workers' Party of Ethiopia
WPDF - Wolaita People's Democratic Front
WSLF - Western Somali Liberation Front
ARDU - Afar Revolutionary Democratic Union
ARDUF - Afar Revolutionary Democratic Unity Front
CERA - Commission for Eritrean Refugee Affairs
CRS - Catholic Relief Secretariat
ECE - Evangelical Church of Eritrea
EDLM - Eritrean Democratic Liberation Movement
EDM - Eritrean Democratic Movement
ELF - Eritrean Liberation Front
ELF-RC - ELF-Revolutionary Council
ELF-UO - ELF-Unity Organisation
EPLF Eritrean People's Liberation Front
ERRA - Eritrean Relief and Rehabilitation Association
ERD - Emergency Relief Desk
PFDJ - Popular Front for Democracy and Justice
PGE - Provisional Government of Eritrea
PROFERI - Programme for Refugee Reintegration and Rehabilitation of
Resettlement Areas in Eritrea
(IPS 5 Aug 94, by Horace Awori)
(IPS 15 Jun 94)
(ION 16 Jul 94, p.8)
(NNS July 94)
(NNS July 94)
(IPS 22 Jul 94)
(Reuter 25 Aug 94, by Jacky Sutton)
(The Eritrean Newsletter June/July 94, p.12)
(The Eritrean Newsletter June/July 94, p.1)
(ELF-RC press release 25 Jul 94)
(ION 11 Jun 94, p.4)
(DNR 10 Aug 94, by Anders Hellberg [original in Swedish])
(SWB 16 Aug 94 [VBME in Tigrigna, 13 Aug 94]
(ION 25 Jun 94, p.4)
(ION 30 Jul 94, p.6)
(EH 15 Jul 94, p.6 [ENA])
(Moneyclips via RBB 11 Aug 94 [Riyadh Daily, by Furqan Ahmed])
(SWB 1 Jul 94 [VOE in Amharic, 29 Jun 94])
(EH 8 Jun 94, p.1, by Kisut G/Egziabher)
(SWB 2 Aug 94 [VOE in Amharic, 31 Jul 94])
(SWB 9 Aug 94 [VOEE in Somali, 5 Aug 94])
(GN 4 Jul 94, by Julie Flint)
(Agence Europe via RBB 5 Jul 94)
(AC 1 Jul 94, p.4)
(AI 1 Jul 94, AFR 25/WU 02/94)
(SWB 4 Jul 94 [VOEE in English, 2 Jul 94])
(Reuter 24 Aug 94, by Tsegaye Tadesse)
(SWB 23 Jun 94 [SABC Channel Africa radio, Johannesburg, in English 21 Jun
94])
(Reuter 14 Jul 94)
(AI 20 Jul 94, AFR 25/17/94)
(IPS 21 Jun 94, by Anaclet Rwegayura)
(Reuter 11 Jul 94)
(IPS 21 Jul 94, by Anaclet Rwegayura)
(Reuter 19 Jul 94)
(IPS 20 Jul 94, by Anaclet Rwegayura)
(Reuter 21 Jul 94)
(Reuter 18 Jul 94)
(EH 21 Jun 94, p.1, Berhanu Legesse)
(ION 25 Jun 94, p.3)
(IPS 29 Jul 94, by Anaclet Rwegayura and Nhial Bol)
(EH 19 Jul 94, p.5 [ENA])
(SWB 20 Jun 94 [VOE in Amharic, 17 Jun 94])
(Ethiolist 16 Aug 94 [VOA 11 Aug 94])
(EH 24 Jun 94, p.1 [ENA])
(Reuter 4 Jul 94)
(Reuter 8 Jul 94)
(Reuter 20 Jul 94, by Tsegaye Tadesse)
(Reuter 11 Aug 94, by Tsegaye Tadesse)
(IPS 29 Jul 94)
From: Everett Nelson