CyberEthiopia

We must struggle peacefully till the end

Written by A.Danel Tamir - akaludesta@yahoo.co.uk
Thursday, 09 August 2007
By - A.Danel Tamir This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it I appreciate the patience of the leaders of Kinijit to withstand the false propaganda of the ruling party which is spread out in all forums of their media. Despite this propaganda, most of the Ethiopian people are still standing behind this party, which is advocating for "genuine struggle for Democracy". Kinijit party members who have won the 2005 election have not secured their seats in Parliament. In other words, they have to start from scratch and make themselves ready for the election to be carried out after 2 years. This is a clear manifestation of how the ruling Party is playing wide open intrigues to suppress the will of the people. It is also quite certain that this Party will once again find means and ways to disqualify KIinijit from the next election.
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Four more Ethiopian journalists sentenced; pardon anticipated

Written by Committee to Protect Journalists

Saturday, 04 August 2007

Ethiopia’s High Court handed down heavy prison sentences to four journalists jailed in connection with their coverage of deadly post-election unrest in 2005, after the journalists waived their defense and pleaded guilty in anticipation of a pardon, according to local sources. All of them worked for now-defunct Amharic-language weeklies.

At least six journalists remain in Ethiopian prisons, making the country the second leading jailer of journalists in Africa after neighboring Eritrea, according to CPJ research.

The Committee to Protect Journalists named Ethiopia the world’s worst backslider on press freedom this year.

More at CPJ

H.R. 2003 back on track. Please stop the massive phone/fax campaign for now

Written by Coalition for H.R. 2003
Wednesday, 01 August 2007
The Coalition for H.R. 2003 has just learned that H.R. 2003 will be up for consideration during the September session of the House Foreign Affairs Committee meeting. House Foreign Affairs Chairman Tom Lantos in a press release today following the Committee meeting declared: "This bill will not be considered by the full committee for now, but this does not mean the matter of progress in political and other rights in Ethiopia is closed. The United States relationship with Ethiopia will continue to be conditioned on Ethiopian support for human rights and the rule of law. We will continue to hold the Ethiopian government accountable for the way it treats its citizens." Congressman Lantos explained: "The full committee did not consider the measure at today's markup because I wanted to give Ethiopia's elders, government officials, courts and opposition leaders an opportunity to work out a pardon arrangement for the more than 30 remaining political detainees. Late last week I notified other members of Congress, including the House leadership, of my decision. I continue to be concerned about the detainees, and hope for their release soon.” Prof. Ephraim Isaac says H.R. 2003 “has many good ideas in it.” Read full Press Release from the Coalition for HR2003