- 3 August 2015
- Africa
EPRDF regime's self image of ethnically Balkanized Ethiopia, established by late Dictator Melese Zenawie. Freedom of Press is Dead in ethnocracy based irridentism. Fertile land is grabbed by foreign speculators, over 5 million are starving. 500'000 kids are on the streets. Millions are displaced by force. The regime is arming proxy warriors. Dams are built wantonly risking the existence of millions of indigenous people. Eritreans Moles are Ruling even after seceding in 1991.
Saturday, August 29, 2015
Friday, August 28, 2015
Ethiopia launches space programme
Ethiopia launches space programme
London – Ethiopia, which is receiving £300-million in British aid this year and is one of the world’s poorest nations, is launching its own space programme.
The East African country plans a national space agency and aims to put a satellite into orbit within five years to monitor farmland and to improve communications.
It is the fourth nation – following India, Nigeria and Pakistan – to have developed a space programme while in receipt of aid from the Department for International Development (DfID).
India, due to receive £160-million from Britain this year, has sent unmanned missions to Mars and the moon.
Ethiopia’s programme has begun with a $3-million observatory in the hills above the capital Addis Ababa. On the top of Mount Entoto, a peak surrounded by fields ploughed by farmers using oxen, two metal domes have been built to house two computer-controlled telescopes.
Mohammed Alamoudi, an Ethiopian-Saudi businessman who is the country’s richest man, paid for the observatory through the Ethiopian Space Science Society (ESSS), which he set up in 2004 to promote astronomy. The project claims it will give the country a technology boost that will aid development and inspire children, as well as provide a place where astronomy and astrophysics students from the nearby university can train.
Solomon Belay, the director of the observatory, said he had lobbied his government, telling ministers that space exploration was not a luxury even in a country where malnutrition was a threat.
“Being poor is not a boundary to start this programme,” he said. “Engineering and sciences are important to transform our (traditional) agriculture into industry.”
In 2013, the Daily Mail revealed that DfID money had gone into a project that provided £4-million to help fund the Ethiopian girl group Yegna, who modelled themselves on the Spice Girls. The group launched a radio soap opera and released a series of videos aimed at “empowering” teenage girls.
Thursday, August 27, 2015
Monday, August 3, 2015
Ethiopia jails Muslims convicted of terror plot - BBC News
Ethiopia jails Muslims convicted of terror plot
A court in Ethiopia has sentenced 18 Muslims, including clerics and a journalist, to up to 22 years in prison under controversial anti-terrorism legislation.
The 18 were convicted last month on charges including terrorism and conspiracy to create an Islamic state.
They were arrested three years ago over protests against alleged government interference in religious affairs.
Ethiopia's government has often been accused of stifling dissent.
It denies the allegation.
Some rights groups criticised US President Barack Obama for visiting the country last month, warning that it could lend credibility to a government accused of jailing journalists and critics.
Mr Obama called on the government to improve it record on human rights, while praising it as an "outstanding partner" in the fight against militant Islamists in neighbouring Somalia.
Ethiopia's privately owned Addis Standard publication reports on its websitethat four of the defendants - Abubakar Ahmed, Ahmedin Jebel, Yasin Nuru and Kemal Shmsu - were sentenced to 22 years each in prison.
The other 14 received sentences ranging from seven years to 18 years, it reports.
The state-run EBC television station said their sentences would run from when they were first detained.
The group denied the charges and said they had been mistreated during their detention.
A section of Ethiopia's Muslim community staged protests in 2011 and 2012 over several issues, including allegations that the government was interfering in the choice of the main religious body, the Islamic Supreme Council.
The government denied the allegation.
Ethiopia is a mainly Coptic Christian country, with a minority Muslim population.
Ethiopia's ruling EPRDF coalition, led by Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn, won all parliamentary seats in elections in May.
The opposition said the poll was rigged
Sunday, August 2, 2015
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