ICC Seeks UN Council Aid on Sudan Arrests
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court said on Thursday that he will ask the U.N. Security Council this week to order Sudan to hand over two men indicted for war crimes in Darfur. Full Article
Two Ethiopia Opposition Members Killed After Poll
Dr . Merera Gudina, OFC
Ruling party won overwhelming majority
Government says killings being investigated
European Union says poll fell short of standards
By Barry Malone
ADDIS ABABA, May 26 (Reuters) - An Ethiopian opposition party said Wednesday that two of its members had been shot dead by security forces in the sensitive Oromia region in a crackdown on dissent after the ruling party's crushing election win.
"One was shot on Sunday and one was shot yesterday," Merera Gudina, leader of the opposition Oromo People's Congress (OPC) told Reuters. "The government is trying to prevent protests by massively repressing the people."Read more
Ethiopia: Govt Repression Undermines Poll – HRW
May 25, 2010(Gadaa.com)
International Election Observers Should Condemn Voter Intimidation
(Nairobi) – Ethiopian government and ruling party officials intimidated voters and unlawfully restricted the media ahead of the May 23, 2010 parliamentary elections, Human Rights Watch said today.
In assessing the polls, international election observers should address the repressive legal and administrative measures that the Ethiopian ruling party used to restrict freedom of expression during the election campaign, Human Rights Watch said.
“Behind an orderly façade, the government pressured, intimidated and threatened Ethiopian voters,” said Rona Peligal, acting Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “Whatever the results, the most salient feature of this election was the months of repression preceding it.” Read more
ICC Says Kenya Probe a Lesson for Future Polls in Africa
NAIROBI (Reuters) - An International Criminal Court investigation into crimes against humanity in post-election violence in Kenya in 2007-2008 should serve as a warning to other African states, the ICC chief prosecutor said on Saturday.Full Report
Sudan Poll Does Not Meet Global Standards-Observers
Final results of the presidential and legislative polls are due on Tuesday, and President Omar Hassan al-Bashir is widely expected to win, most of his rivals having boycotted the proceedings, accusing his ruling party of fraud. "These elections have struggled to reach international standards. They have not reached them all," the head of the EU observer mission in Sudan, Veronique de Keyser, told reporters.Read more
UNPO Condemns the Imprisonment of 15 Innocent Oromo’s in Ethiopia
April 10, 2010 (Gadaa.com)
The Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization (UNPO) condemns in the strongest possible terms the recent decision by the Ethiopian Federal Court to imprison 15 innocent Oromos in clear breaches of their human rights.
On Wednesday 31 March 2010, 15 innocent people were sentenced to death and long-term imprisonment without parole by the Ethiopian Federal Court. This decision is clearly an attempt to continue the harassment of the Oromo population in Ethiopia and to deny them fair and impartial treatment under the law.Read More
Ethiopia Opposition Leader Flees 12-Year Jail Term
Apr 8, 2010
Mr. Beqele Jirata, Secretary General OFDM
(Reuters) - An Ethiopian opposition leader convicted in absentia of belonging to a separatist rebel group has fled the country, party colleagues said on Thursday.They said Bekele Jirata, secretary general of the Oromo Federalist Democratic Movement (OFDM) who left while free on bail, was targeted as part of a pre-election crackdown on the country's biggest ethnic group. Read more
EU Urges Responsible Foreign Farmland Investments
Wed Mar 31, 2010
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Foreign investors in agricultural land in developing regions such as Africa must respect local human rights, livelihoods and resources, the European Union said in a policy paper released on Wednesday. Sharp rises in global food prices in 2008 prompted major food importers such as Saudi Arabia, China and South Korea to lease farmland abroad -- often in Africa -- to secure food for their populations. Read more
VOA Says Ethiopia Blocks Website as US Row Escalates
Ethiopia accused of media crackdown before poll
VOA attempts to overcome radio service ban
By Barry Malone
ADDIS ABABA, March 29 (Reuters) - U.S. funded-broadcaster Voice of America said on Monday that Ethiopia may have blocked its website in a move which may lead to further U.S. criticism of its closest ally in the Horn of Africa.Ethiopia holds national elections on May 23 and international press freedom advocacy groups say the government is intimidating and harassing journalists ahead of the vote. The government denies that. Read more
Annan Hints at ICC Kenyan Trial
Mar 29, 2010
The Election ignited deep-seated rivalries
Chief Kenya mediator Kofi Annan has suggested that he might send a list of suspected election violence ringleaders to the International Criminal Court. He said he would obey the "spirit, letter and intent" of a commission of inquiry into the violence. The commission delivered a sealed list of suspects to Mr Annan and said it should be sent to the ICC if a local tribunal was not set up by 1 March. Parliament on Thursday rejected a bill to establish the special court. Read more
The Borana Oromo of Ethiopia Inaugurate New Leader in Badhaasaa
“My main aim is to uphold the Gadaa culture. Not only for Borena – for the whole of Ethiopia.” … Abbaa Gadaa Guyyoo Gobbaa.
Guyyoo Gobbaa, 36, was named “Abba Gadaa” on Tuesday, 03 March 2009, to maintain a 500-year-old system of governance for more than one million Borana. His rule extends from southern Ethiopian into Kenya. Guyyoo was chosen at birth, trained for 30 years, and will be replaced in eight years by a member of another Borana sub-clan.
A 36-year-old cattle herder became Gadaa leader of all of the Borana sub-clans in a private ceremony in Badhaasaa, Arero district of Borana zone, last Friday. Guyyoo Gobbaa began his eight-year stewardship as “Abba Gadaa” of the cultural heritage of an estimated 1.5 million Borana living in Ethiopia’s Oromiya and the Southern Nations regions and as many as a million who live across the border in Kenya.
While some outsiders have called him a king, he is seen within the Borana clan as a leader who assures the continuance of the traditional Gadaa system. Gadaa is a highly self-sufficient democratic and egalitarian political system that has guided the religious, social, political and economic life of the Oromo people of the Horn of Africa for many centuries, and also their philosophy, art, history and method of time-keeping. It is a system that organizes the Oromo society into groups or sets (about 7-11) that assume different responsibilities in the society every eight years.
Under Gada system the power to administer the affairs of the nation and the power to make laws belong to the people. Every male member of the society who is of age and of Gadaa grade has full rights to elect and to be elected. All the people have the right to air their views in any public gathering without fear.
As Abba Gadaa, Guyyoo is asked to mediate disputes and settle conflicts in the region.He usually travels with members of his cabinet, individuals who were chosen by the sub-clans. Guyyoo was chosen by clan elders at birth, will rule for eight years in a governance system that has continued for more than five centuries. The position rotates among the clans every eight years. He is the 70th Borana to hold the position.
VOA News
KHARTOUM, April 17 (Reuters) - Sudan's first multi-party elections in 24 years did not meet all international standards, European Union observers said on Saturday in the first authoritative judgment on the poll.