Ethiopia Watch

Meme: Joe Trippi's Eleven-Eleven 1111Campaign - America's and Britain's Veterans have given so much. Now, you can give back.

ingridj.jones@btinternet.com (Ingrid Jones) — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 22:11:00 +0000

Joe Trippi, one of America's greatest bloggers, has launched Eleven Eleven Campaign. The objective of the Eleven Eleven Campaign is simple: to get 11 million Americans to donate $11 to support America’s Veterans. Here is a copy of Joe's latest tweet on Twitter:

Tomorrow is Veterans Day, and now is our moment to encourage our friends, family members and colleagues to join us... http://bit.ly/9Iu9s
33 minutes ago from Facebook
1111Campaign
Eleven Eleven

Hey Joe! Britain's Veterans have given so much too!

Stand with 11 million Brits and Give £11 to Support Britain’s Vets!

Take Action Today
Click here to support Britain's Veterans
November 11, 2009

SSDF to sue NEC for denying Sudanese in Kenya, Uganda and Ethiopia a chance to register as voters in the general elections

ingridj.jones@btinternet.com (Ingrid Jones) — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 16:05:00 +0000

From Sudan Radio Service, Tuesday, 10 November 2009:
SSDF to Sue NEC over Foreign Voters

(Khartoum) - The South Sudan Democratic Front Party says it will mobilize other political parties in southern Sudan to sue the National Elections Commission for denying Sudanese in Kenya, Uganda and Ethiopia a chance to register as voters in the general elections.

In an interview with Sudan Radio Service in Khartoum on Monday, the Chairman of SSDF Party, David de Chand, said it is against the Comprehensive Peace Agreement and the National Elections Act to deny Sudanese living abroad a chance to exercise their rights to vote.

[David de Chand]: “Nowhere it is mentioned in the CPA that those in Nairobi, Kenya or Uganda and Ethiopia should not be allowed to vote. I think the right to vote is a democratic right guaranteed to every citizen by the constitution and it is an unalienable right to all people. We the political party leaders would also go to the NEC to challenge such a statement and they will have to prove to us beyond reasonable doubt. If not, we can file a case before the Constitutional Court to challenge such a statement. Why should southern Sudanese refugees in Kenya, Uganda and in Ethiopia be denied their legitimate right to be registered?”

De Chand said that if the National Elections Commission fears that non-Sudanese may register to vote as southern Sudanese, it should allow the United Nations to undertake the exercise abroad.

He urged southern Sudanese to register to vote in the elections next year because it is a step towards the possibility of self-determination offered by the 2011 referendum.

Cross-posted to Sudan Watch and Uganda Watch and Kenya Watch

US Secretary of State Clinton Remarks With Ethiopian Foreign Minister Seyoum Mesfin Before Their Meeting

ingridj.jones@btinternet.com (Ingrid Jones) — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 18:00:00 +0000

Source: US Department of State
WASHINGTON, November 6, 2009/APO
Hillary Rodham Clinton
Secretary of State

Treaty Room

SECRETARY CLINTON: Well, I’m very pleased to welcome the minister here. Ethiopia is a country with which we have very long ties, and have, in recent years, developed a very close working relationship on a number of important issues. And I’m looking forward to speaking both with the minister and his colleagues, who are here on a very important delegation to the United States.

FOREIGN MINISTER MESFIN: Well, Excellency, I’m very pleased to be here in Washington. Relations between Ethiopia and the United States are traditional and understanding. And I’m also confident and with full trust that my visit this time would be extremely fruitful in touching base on issues that are of crucial importance both to the United States and Africa and in Ethiopia.

SECRETARY CLINTON: Thank you, sir.

FOREIGN MINISTER MESFIN: Thank you. Thank you so much.

SECRETARY CLINTON: Thank you very much.

FOCA: China, Africa hold summit to reinforce bilateral trade

ingridj.jones@btinternet.com (Ingrid Jones) — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 10:46:00 +0000

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao can expect a warm welcome from Egypt’s President Hosni Mubarak and finance and foreign ministers from 50 countries when the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCA) starts in the Egyptian resort of Sharm El-Sheikh on Sunday.

Ever-eager for raw materials and markets to sell its products, China has said the new meeting will lay down a “road map” to further boost cooperation between 2010 and 2012.

Direct Chinese investment in Africa leapt from $491 million in 2003 to $7.8 billion in 2008. Trade between the two has increased tenfold since the start of the decade.

Last year, China-Africa trade reached $106.8 billion - a rise of 45 percent in one year and on a par with with the United States, which estimated its two-way trade with sub-Saharan Africa at $104 billion for 2008.

Chinese imports from Africa last year were worth $56 billion, dominated by oil ($39 billion) and raw materials.

Its $56 billion of exports in 2008 consisted mainly of machinery, electrical goods, cars, motorbikes and bicycles.

FOCAC is held every three years and this will be the fourth since it started in 2000.

Source: AFP report via Saudi GazetteFriday 06 November 2009. Copy:
China, Africa hold summit to reinforce bilateral trade

CAIRO - Leaders from China and Africa start a three day summit on Sunday that will again throw the spotlight on Beijing’s strategic sweep for energy, minerals and political influence in the continent.

China has over the past decade paid for dams, power stations, football stadiums across Africa and scooped up copper, oil and other fuel for its breakneck economic expansion from Algeria to Zimbabwe.

It has invested billions of dollars while raising eyebrows in the United States and its allies by pursuing the hunt for oil and other resources in Sudan, Somalia and other nations that the West has shunned.

Many African leaders praise China however for not preaching about rights and corruption. So despite neo-colonialist qualms, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao can expect a warm welcome from Egypt’s President Hosni Mubarak and finance and foreign ministers from 50 countries when the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation starts in the Egyptian resort of Sharm El-Sheikh on Sunday.

FOCAC is held every three years and this will be the fourth since it started in 2000.

Ever-eager for raw materials and markets to sell its products, China has said the new meeting will lay down a “road map” to further boost cooperation between 2010 and 2012.

Direct Chinese investment in Africa leapt from $491 million in 2003 to $7.8 billion in 2008. Trade between the two has increased tenfold since the start of the decade.

Last year, China-Africa trade reached $106.8 billion - a rise of 45 percent in one year and on a par with with the United States, which estimated its two-way trade with sub-Saharan Africa at $104 billion for 2008.

Chinese imports from Africa last year were worth $56 billion, dominated by oil ($39 billion) and raw materials.

Its $56 billion of exports in 2008 consisted mainly of machinery, electrical goods, cars, motorbikes and bicycles.

Some in the West have accuse China of worsening repression and human rights abuses in Africa by supporting countries such as Sudan and Zimbabwe.

US intelligence director Dennis Blair told a Congress committee in March that US agencies are keeping close tabs on China’s expanding influence in Africa, especially in oil-producing countries like Nigeria.

Cross-posted to:
China Tibet Watch
Congo Watch
Egypt Watch
Kenya Watch
Niger Watch
Sudan Watch
Uganda Watch
Africa Oil Watch

AGI: Tony Blair Africa Governance Initiative

ingridj.jones@btinternet.com (Ingrid Jones) — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 09:07:00 +0000

From The Office of Tony Blair
November 05, 2009
Tony Blair Africa Governance Initiative to create development through good governance becomes charity

The Tony Blair Africa Governance Initiative has become a registered UK charity after creating a unique 'hands-on' approach to development and poverty eradication over the past eighteen months.

The Charity Commission approved the application from this relatively new organisation, which is underpinned by the belief that good governance and sustainable development are key to poverty eradication in the long term.

Tony Blair, founder of the Africa Governance Initiative (AGI), said:

"I'm extremely proud of our excellent project teams who are working in partnership with the governments of Rwanda and Sierra Leone to reduce poverty and develop new opportunities for growth.

"It is a privilege to work with leaders as talented and as committed to their people as President Koroma and President Kagame who represent a new generation of leaders in Africa with a commitment to building a new future for their people.

"The developed world needs to keep up its commitment to Africa expressed at the 2005 G8 Summit in Gleneagles. But lasting change in Africa will only come in the end from African solutions. By building the capacity to create sustainable long-term development through good governance and providing high level advice, we have already started to help deliver that change.

"And it won't stop here. Whilst developing our work in Sierra Leone and Rwanda, we want to launch new projects with other countries, sharing our knowledge, experience and expertise. We want more countries to develop sustainably, paving the way to a prosperous future.

"This work has reinforced my optimism about Africa's future, as well as my conviction that governance and growth are the key ingredients to effectively reduce poverty across the continent."

Commenting on Tony Blair and the work of the Africa Governance Initiative, Ernest Koroma, President of Sierra Leone, said:

"Mr. Blair has demonstrated an enduring commitment to Sierra Leone and its people. The work comes at a critical stage in Sierra Leone's development. I believe together we have an opportunity to ensure that Sierra Leone puts in place the policies, people and institutions to achieve real and lasting change."

Commenting on the work of AGI, President Paul Kagame of Rwanda said:

"What I would like people to know is that the type of partnership we have with Tony Blair is totally different from the type of consultancy people are used to. We work in very strong partnerships whereby not only gaps are filled where they exist, but there's also the notion of transfer of skills, mentoring, actually doing things that are measurable such that over a period of time, we will be able to know what kind of impact was made."

Cross-posted to:
China Tibet Watch
Congo Watch
Egypt Watch
Kenya Watch
Niger Watch
Sudan Watch
Uganda Watch
Africa Oil Watch

Ethiopia, Sudan joint expo Afri Print

ingridj.jones@btinternet.com (Ingrid Jones) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 21:37:00 +0000

From Sudan Tribune, November Wed 04, 2009:
Ethiopia, Sudan joint expo opens tomorrow
By Tesfa-alem Tekle, November Tue 03, 2009

(ADDIS ABABA) - An expo jointly organized by the Sudanese, expo team services Co. Ltd. and Ethiopia’s Prana promotion will be launched tomorrow for two days.

A joint statement gave by the Ethiopian culture and Tourism state minister and Sudanese embassy said that over 25 Ethiopian, Sudanese and Egyptian printing organizations will take part at the expo named as Afri Print.

The Expo which comprises printing, packaging and advertising is organized based on past agreement signed between Sudan and Ethiopia to enhance culture, tourism, trade and investment.

The expo is said to have an important role to enhance international business trade investment and markets among national and international companies in printing publishing paper production.

It will further contribute to the development and upgrading of the printing industry by transferring best experiences, introducing new technologies, enhancing foreign investment and building the capacity of local entrepreneurs.

The expo, first of its kind in Africa, is believed to pave a way for publishers and printing organizations in the sector, to engage in a direct cooperation.

The fast growing Multi-lateral Cooperation between Ethiopia and Sudan is benefiting the two neighboring people on various areas. Currently both countries have signed-agreements on culture, trade, investment, security and road projects, among others.

Ethiopia :

Ethiopia on brink of famine again as Midge Ure returns 25 years after Band Aid

ingridj.jones@btinternet.com (Ingrid Jones) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 08:52:00 +0000

Midge Ure returns to the Ethiopian villages he helped save 25 years ago with Band Aid only to find malnutrition is once again killing children.

From The Daily Telegraph
By Nick Meo in Ayub
Published: 31 Oct 2009
Ehiopia on brink of famine again as Midge Ure returns 25 years after Band Aid

Twenty-five years ago, the farmers of Ayub village were reduced to living skeletons with bloated stomachs, certain of death. When emergency food rations turned up - seemingly by miracle - they fell on them without ever being sure how they reached the remote mountain hamlets. What most assumed was the mercy of God was in fact the work of a softly-spoken Scottish pop star, a man who had never set foot in Ethiopia, but who helped organise one of the most remarkable acts of charity in British history.

This week Midge Ure, the lead singer of Ultravox and the producer and songwriter for Band Aid, returned to Ethiopia to visit the villages which had been swept by terrible famine in 1984. What he saw did not please him.

The crops were again withered - and once more, local children are dying because of drought and malnutrition.

"It is desperately sad to see hungry children in Ethiopia again," Ure, 56, told The Sunday Telegraph, as he toured an infant feeding centre where, in the past few weeks, four under-fives have died of diarrhoea and other hunger-related diseases.

Other babies were already painfully thin, and being fed on a vitamin-enhanced, sweet-tasting peanut paste called plumpy nut, which, it is hoped, will save their lives.

"Ethiopia has come a long way," he said. "At least children here have been caught in time and the images aren't like 1984, with mass deaths. But the fear is, if these people don't get more help, that's what we could see here again."

His trip, to mark 25 years since Band Aid, was planned months ago to show how life had got better in villages which were a once a byword for terrible poverty. Clinics and schools have been built, and a rudimentary system of modest welfare payments has been set up to give a modicum of security to the poorest, who always perish first in a famine.

But Ethiopia's rural population still depends on rain to grow crops, and now they have gone three years of drought in a row, just as they did during the early 1980s. As a result, villagers who survived 1984 and prayed it would never happen again are once more at famine's edge.

Back then, those with the strength to do so in Ayub village dragged themselves ten miles to a place called Korum, where they found an isolated feeding station.

Thousands were saved there - but for many of those already in the latter stages of starvation, it was too late. They died in droves. The horrific scenes of filth and death were recorded for a television broadcast by the BBC journalist Michael Buerk that shocked Britain and inspired an extraordinary relief effort.

"The bodies of my neighbours lay in their huts, with their families either dead, or too weak to bury them," said Shashe Fentau, 45, with a shudder of horror at the memory. We only survived then because of food aid.

"Now we have eaten all our stores and we are selling our cattle. It feels like the same thing is happening again. We are very scared. We have little to eat. In our village we know that hunger doesn't kill you quickly. It is slow to take effect."

Mrs Fentau, a mother of five, did not recognise the foreigner who turned up in her village last week with aid workers from Save the Children UK, asking questions about life and death in Ethiopia's highlands. She had no idea that Ure may well have saved her life a quarter of a century ago.

It was after watching the harrowing BBC broadcast that he and ex-Boomtown Rat Bob Geldof galvanised a group of pop stars to form Band Aid and produced the single "Do They Know it's Christmas?", which raised millions in famine relief donations.

The food they bought was sent to villages like Ayub, much of it hurled out of the backs of aircraft - the only way of getting it to mountain communities, which at that time had no proper roads.

Unlike 1984-85, when a million died, there are good roads now, while the Soviet-backed military regime has been replaced by a government which shows rather more interest in its peoples' survival. Yet Ethiopia remains the fifth poorest nation in the world, according to last year's World Bank GDP figures, and is once again at risk of mass starvation.

Ure arrived last week just as Ethiopia's government issued an urgent appeal for donors to feed 6.2 million hungry farmers and their families. The World Food Programme estimates that 125,000 metric tonnes of grain are needed, at a cost of £54 million, to fill the gaping hole in the nation's food supplies.

Aid groups fear the real number at risk may be more than double that - putting more than one in ten of Ethiopia's 80 million people at risk - because another 7.2 million depend on a government welfare scheme that is only intended to tide peasant farmers over for a hungry spell before the harvest. This year, the crops lie withered in the fields in much of the country, including Ayub village.

Dressed in a baseball cap and casual shirt, Ure looked more like an aid worker than the flamboyant rock star whose hit Vienna re-defined the New Romantic sound of the early 1980s. He visited without an entourage or PR executives, flew the 8-hour journey from London in economy class and stayed in a run-down hotel in the highlands with no hot water that cost £13 a night. He brought with him his 14-year-old daughter, Kitty, so she could see what life was like in an African village.

"I first came here in 1985 on a transport plane and stayed for 12 hours," he said. "I swore I would never return. I went to a feeding centre outside Addis Ababa for children who were supposed to be on the mend. Three babies had died that morning.
"It was full of skeletal children with extended bellies. It was horrifying - just too much to handle for a 29-year-old pop star."

But on this trip, he spent his time speaking to farmers, experts and officials, discussing crop yields, deforestation, rainfall patterns, and rural demography with a knowledge well beyond that of the average celebrity doing their bit for charity. One other star, who visited Africa on a private jet to promote a disease prevention campaign recently, was unaware that malaria was transferred to humans by mosquitoes.

Ayub village is typical of the Ethiopian highlands, with thatched, round mud-huts ringed by cactus and thorn hedges to keep out herds of long-horned oxen. The animals wander dirt tracks, kept in order by small boys with sticks who take them out to graze.

Groups of smiling schoolgirls with braided hair and patched clothes walk past on their way to the local school building - a sign of progress. Despite its tragic past, the region has become a tourist attraction, with backpackers drawn by its beautiful mountain landscapes.

Ayub took years to recover from the disaster of 1984; since then the population has doubled, as it has nationally. But that has forced farmers to divide their land into ever-smaller plots for their sons, and to cut down the surrounding forests for fuel, destroying a source of forage they had relied on at times of hardship.

The landscape is still surprisingly green; yet most farmers suffer real hardship because the rains did not fall at the right time for their crops.

"When the rains don't come, hope is lost," said Teshome Laile, a 48-year-old health expert with Save the Children.

"The government does care about the people, unlike the old regime, but they don't have enough resources, and the problem is big. Agriculture is not modernised, farmers are dependant on rainfall. So if rain doesn't fall, farmers are in trouble."

Mrs Fentau, a survivor of 1984, gestured at a sickly, thin crop of maize next to her hut, which had not received enough water to produce anything edible.

Ure admitted that the feeling of achievement he felt at visiting villages kept alive by Band Aid in the 1980s was tempered by the fear he could see in the eyes of farmers now.

"I think there is a good chance that a lot of people we have met survived years ago thanks to food paid for by Band Aid," he said. "They are alive because people in Britain simply bought a record.

"But these lands are still desperately poor. What could really change things here is long-term development, if money could be raised for that. Saving lives is newsworthy. Long-term development is boring."

Band Aid has raised £150 million since the record was released, and it still generates money every Christmas. Ure admits that it wasn't his finest song – the singer Morrissey, a critic of Band Aid who claimed the project was self-righteous, once described listening to it as "torture". Ure is more combative, however, over the claim that pop stars use charity work to promote their own careers.

"I do this kind of thing because I think it is important to try to help," he said. "You don't sell any more records by doing this, there is no ulterior motive. The charities ask celebrities to make these trips because they work in attracting public attention."

He added: "It did its job and has a place in many people's hearts. The money raised was a drop in the ocean really, but it still saved a lot of starving people. We made charity cool for a whole new audience – before Band Aid, giving had been a worthy thing, confined to do-gooders and Blue Peter."

Today, though, he is doubtful that its success can ever be repeated, partly because he believes rock stars no longer have the following or influence that they had in the early 1980s.

"I performed at the Live 8 concert in Edinburgh four years ago and the attitude was very different. People came for a concert, not for a cause."

"In 1984 there was something real and honest and genuine about what happened. People in Britain didn't want to see people in Africa starving to death. They wanted to help - and thanks to them there are thousands of people in Ethiopian villages who are alive today."

* Save the Children has launched an appeal to raise £20 million to feed hungry people affected by drought in Ethiopia, Somalia, and Kenya. To donate, go to www.savethechildren.org.uk or call 0207 0126400.

Al-Shabab: Somali group with Al-Qaeda ties threatens Israel, Ethiopia, Ghana, Sudan, Uganda and Kenya

ingridj.jones@btinternet.com (Ingrid Jones) — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 19:22:00 +0000

A militant Islamic group associated with al Qaeda has threatened to attack Israel, far from its normal base of operations in Somalia. CNN writes that Al-Shabab, which is fighting to control the east African country, accused Israel of “starting to destroy” the Al Aqsa mosque, where standoffs have recently been taking place between Israeli police and Palestinians.

The mosque is part of the complex that Jews called the Temple Mount and Muslims call Haram al-Sharif. The group also threatened other African nations on Friday, including Ethiopia, Ghana, Sudan, Uganda and Kenya.

Source: Afrik.com Monday 2 November 2009 - Somalia: Somali group with Al-Qaeda ties threatens Israel, Ethiopia, Ghana, Sudan, Uganda and Kenya
- - -

(AFP photo) This still image provided by SITE, an organization which monitors Islamist websites, from a video entitled 'At Your Service Osama' released 20 Sep 2009, shows Abu Mansur al-Amriki (R) teaching mujahedeen small unit tactics

Source: Voice of America report by Alisha Ryu (Nairobi) 27 October 2009 - Uganda Tightens Security Following Al-Shabab Threat

Scientists unearth oldest human remains in Ethiopia

ingridj.jones@btinternet.com (Ingrid Jones) — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 18:50:00 +0000

From Sudan Tribune, Saturday, 3 October 2009, by Tesfa-alem Tekle:
Scientists unearth oldest human remains in Ethiopia

October 2, 2009 (ADDIS ABABA) — A group of scientists have found a 4.4 million years old human ancestor in Ethiopia’s remote Afar area.

The uncovered remnant of a female, named "Ardi" is said to be the closest founding to the ’missing link’ common ancestor of humans and chimps, thought to have lived five to seven million years ago.

The discovery of the skeleton has allowed scientists to retrace the first evolutionary steps of our ancestors, after they split away from those of modern chimpanzees.

The fossil reveals our earliest predecessor to have been a stocky, stooping creature, covered in hair, with a protruding face, long arms and a grasping big toe.

Ardi lived a million years before the famous Lucy, the previous earliest skeleton of a hominid who was also found in Ethiopia’s Afar region, and was of the more human-like genus Australopithecus.

The first fossilized and crushed bones of Ardi were found in 1992 in the Great Rift Valley in northeastern Ethiopia of Afar region.But it has taken an international team of 47 scientists 17 years to piece together the skeleton which comprises 125 pieces. Ardi has a relatively small skull, suggesting a comparable level of intellect to modern chimps. Scientists said that, the angle of her head relative to her spine shows that she would have been able to walk upright in a stooped posture.

However they said she retains the "grasping" big toe of our more primitive ancestors, as well as long arms and big hands, which point to her being an able climber. Unlike chimpanzees and orangutans, though, she would not have been able to swing through the trees.

Dr. Berhane Asfaw, a researcher from the Rift Valley Research Service in Ethiopia, said that the latest finding is a landmark for the studies on human evolution.

According to the scientists, Ardi was a female, bigger in physical to Lucy, and weighed about 50 kilograms and stood about 120 centimeters tall.

The research, in the form of 11 detailed papers and more general summaries, is expected to be published today-in the Science journal’s 2 October, 2009, special issue.

Why is Africa poor? Africa is not poor, it is poorly managed

ingridj.jones@btinternet.com (Ingrid Jones) — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 10:57:00 +0000

Quote of the Day
"Africa is not poor, it is poorly managed." - President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf of Liberia, 2009.

The following report also tells us that Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf says she underestimated the problem of graft.

From BBC News, Monday, 24 August 2009:
Why is the African continent poor?
By Mark Doyle, BBC world affairs correspondent

The desolate, dusty town of Pibor on South Sudan's border with Ethiopia has no running water, no electricity and little but mud huts for the population to live in.

You would be hard put to find a poorer place anywhere on earth.

I went there as part of a journey across Africa to ask the question "Why is Africa poor?" for a BBC radio documentary series.

I was asked to investigate why it is that every single African country - with the exceptions of oil-rich Gabon and Algeria - is classified by the United Nations as having a "low" broadly defined Human Development Index - in other words an appalling standard of living for most of the people.

In Pibor, the answer to why the place is poor seems fairly obvious.

The people - most of whom are from the Murle ethnic group - are crippled by tribal conflicts related to disputes over cattle, the traditional store of wealth in South Sudan.

The Murle have recently had fights with the Lol Nuer group to the north of Pibor and with ethnic Bor Dinkas to the west.

In a spate of fighting with the Lol Nuer earlier this year several hundred people, many of them women and children, were killed in deliberate attacks on villages.

There has been a rash of similar clashes across South Sudan in the past year (although most were on a smaller scale than the fights between the Lol Nuer and the Murle).

And so the answer to why South Sudan is poor is surely a no-brainer: War makes you destitute.

Why is there so much war?

And yet South Sudan is potentially rich.

"It's bigger than Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi combined," the South Sudan Regional Co-operation Minister Barnaba Benjamin, enthused.

"Tremendous land! Very fertile, enormous rainfall, tremendous agricultural resources. Minerals! We have oil and many other minerals - go name it!"

The paradox of rich resources and poor people hints at another layer of explanation about why Africa is poor.

It is not just that there is war. The question should, perhaps be: "Why is there so much war?"

And the headline question is in fact misleading; Africans as a people may be poor, but Africa as a place is fantastically rich - in minerals, land, labour and sunshine.

That is why outsiders have been coming here for hundreds of years - to invade, occupy, convert, plunder and trade.

But the resources of South Sudan, for example, have never been properly developed.

During colonial rule South Sudan was used as little more than a reservoir of labour and raw materials.

Then independence was followed by 50 years of on-off war between the south and north - with northerners in Khartoum continuing the British tactic of divide and rule among the southern groups.

Some southerners believe this is still happening today.

Corruption

On my journey across the poorest, sub-Saharan swathe of the continent - that took in Liberia and Nigeria in the west, Sudan in the centre, and Kenya in the east - people explored the impact that both non-Africans and Africans had had on why Africa is poor.

Almost every African I met, who was not actually in government, blamed corrupt African leaders for their plight.

"The gap between the rich and the poor in Africa is still growing," said a fisherman on the shores of Lake Victoria.

"Our leaders, they just want to keep on being rich. And they don't want to pay taxes."

Even President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf of Liberia came close to this when she told me she had underestimated the level of corruption in her country when she took office.

"Maybe I should have sacked the whole government when I came to power," she said.

"Africa is not poor," President Johnson-Sirleaf added, "it is poorly managed."

This theme was echoed by an architect in Kenya and a senior government official in Nigeria.

Both pointed out that the informal sector of most African economies is huge and almost completely unharnessed.

Marketplaces, and a million little lean-to repair shops and small-scale factories are what most urban Africans rely upon for a living.

But such is their distrust of government officials that most businesspeople in the informal sector avoid all contact with the authorities.

Kenyan architect and town planner Mumo Museva took me to the bustling Eastleigh area of Nairobi, where traders have created a booming economy despite the place being almost completely abandoned by the government.

Eastleigh is a filthy part of the city where rubbish lies uncollected, the potholes in the roads are the size of swimming pools, and the drains have collapsed.

But one indication of the success of the traders, Mr Museva said, was the high per-square-foot rents there.

"You'll be surprised to note that Eastleigh is the most expensive real estate in Nairobi."

He added that if Eastleigh traders trusted the government they might pay some taxes in return for decent services, so creating a "virtuous circle".

"It would lift people out of poverty," he said.

"Remember, poverty is related to quality of life, and the quality of life here is appalling, despite the huge amount of wealth flowing through these areas."

Then the young Kenyan architect echoed the Liberian president, some 5,000km (3,000 miles) away on the other side of the continent.

"Africa is not poor," he also said.

"Africa is just poorly managed."

See blog: Why is Africa poor? Have Your Say

Prendergast's ENOUGH Project: Poker players Ante Up for Africa charity - Sudan, Uganda, Congo, Chad, and Somalia

ingridj.jones@btinternet.com (Ingrid Jones) — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 13:30:00 +0000

Posted to YouTube by ENOUGH - Ante Up for Africa, June 25, 2008:

ENOUGH is the project to end genocide and crimes against humanity. Focusing on the crises in Sudan, Uganda, Congo, Chad, and Somalia, ENOUGH uses a 3Ps crisis response strategy: promoting peace, protecting civilians, and punishing the perpetrators.

This year ENOUGH again joined the benefit poker tournament Ante Up for Africa, hosted by Don Cheadle and Annie Duke.

To learn what you can do to join the fight against genocide, go to ENOUGH.

© Center for American Progress
Category: Nonprofits & Activism
Tags: Cheadle Prendergast genocide Sudan Khartoum Uganda Somalia ICC advocacy Gayle Smith Africa war ENOUGH Ante Up Poker charity benefit Hollywood

- - -

From usaplayers.com Thursday, 13 August 2009 by Bruce:
Full Tilt Poker's "Ante up for Africa" Charity Tournament

As part of Full Tilt Poker's FTOPS XIII online poker series, they are holding a special charity poker tournament known as "Ante up for Africa". The tournament will be held at 3 p.m. on August 15th [2009], and it will raise money for the humanitarian crisis in Darfur. The tournament will be hosted by actor and avid poker player Don Cheadle. The buy in for the tournament will be $100+20. The twenty dollar tournament fee will be donated to the charity. This charity tournament will be part of the FTOPS VIII online poker championships, which will feature more than $16 million in prize money over various tournaments. The last of the tournaments is known as the main event, and it will be held on August 16th with a massive guaranteed prize pool of $2.5 million.

Back in 2007, Cheadle co founded an Ante up for Africa Poker Tournament with Norman Epstein and Annie Duke. At the recent 2009 World Series of Poker, the third annual Ante up for Africa charity tournament was held. The tournament attracted some of the top celebrities from both poker and entertainment. Some of the stars in attendance were actors Ben Affleck and Matt Damon, and they were joined by poker pros Erick Seidel and Jennifer Harmon. The tournament had a $5,000 entry fee, and the players were asked to donate 50% of their winnings to the charity. When the tournament was complete, over $600,000 was raised. Since the Ante up for Africa charity was formed a few years back, over $2 million dollars has been raised. The funds have been distributed to organizations such as "Not on Our Watch", "Enough Project", and "International Rescue Committee". The upcoming online charity tournament will help raise even more money for such a good cause.

The FTOPS XIII charity tournament will take place on a Saturday afternoon giving most players the opportunity to play and help raise money for a good cause. Even though the tournament is designed to raise money for the Ante up for Africa charity, there is plenty of money to be won as well. The tournament will have a $100,000 guaranteed prize pool, with the winner guaranteed to walk away with at least $22,500. Players can take that their shot at winning some serious cash, while raising money for a great organization. Along with the chance to play with many well known poker professionals, players who play in the tournament will also get to play alongside celebrities such as Matt Damon. This will be another opportunity for poker players to help raise money for the ongoing crisis in Darfur.

To discuss this and other Poker articles like it drop by our brand new forum at: www.usaplayers.com

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From PokerNews.com Wednesday, 12 August 2009 by Elaine Chaivarlis:
2009 WSOP Ante Up for Africa Recap

ESPN’s third week of 2009 WSOP coverage aired last night with the Ante Up for Africa event. Dozens of celebrities and poker pros showed up for this event. This was the first time that Ante Up for Africa was aired on television.

The event had a $5,000 buy-in and attracted 137 players. The total prize pool generated for the event was $665,820. It was suggested that players donate 50% of their winnings to the charity.

Don Cheadle, Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Sarah Silverman, Montel Williams, Nelly, Cedric the Entertainer, Herschel Walker, and Charles Barkley were among the notable celebrities at the event. Several poker pros played the event as well, including Annie Duke, Jennifer Harman, Howard Lederer, Mike Matusow, Peter Eastgate, and Dennis Phillips.

Let’s face it, there weren’t a lot of stellar players, or plays in this event, as the event was created more as a fun way to raise money and awareness for the Darfur region.

Charles Barkley and Herschel Walker were two celebrities that might be able to benefit a little from the PokerNews strategy section. They both made this event entertaining to watch with their interesting plays. In one hand, where he rivered trip queens, Walker doesn't even know what the minimum bet is, but was happy with the face time he got from his hollywooding. Charles Barkley got it all in post flop when he flopped a flush draw with his . He never got there and was eliminated.

Mike McDermott (or Matt Damon, whatever you like to call him) ended up at the feature table sitting next to Erik Seidel. This is significant, only in that because of the movie Rounders, Erik Seidel's second place finish to Johnny Chan in the 1988 WSOP has been seen millions of times. So maybe Seidel had it out for Damon a little. Damon, like every other celebrity in this event, didn't make it to the final table. Wonder what happened to all those tells he used to pick up on.

The final table was, not surprisingly, packed with poker pros. Jennifer Harman, Matt Kay, John Hennigan, Phil Gordon, Chris Ferguson, Erik Seidel, Rafe Furst, Adam Richardson, and Alex Bolotin all made the final table of the Ante Up for Africa event. Five of the players at the table, Harman, Hennigan, Ferguson, Seidel, and Furst hold a combined 18 WSOP bracelets.

With the super fast structure, the final table saw its players drop rather quickly with Adam Richardson all but out the door at one point when he was all in and went runner runner clubs to stay alive. Richardson ended up going heads up against the eventual winner, Alex Bolotin, who won $176,449 for his first place finish.

There have been numerous opinions about whether or not there should have been more events from the 2009 WSOP aired on television. We're sure the minds over at ESPN had a reason for the lack of other coverage. We're not sure, however, if this will be the trend next year. What we can say is, in regards to this event, people watch what their favorite celebrities are doing, and if their favorite celebrity is playing poker, then they’re watching them play poker, bringing a more mainstream audience to the game, and that much we like. No matter what the broadcast schedule is next year, we definitely hope this event will be in the mix.

Be sure to tune into ESPN every Tuesday night for continuing coverage of the WSOP, and don't forget to follow us on Twitter.

Good luck to all.

ENOUGH was conceived in 2006 by a small group of concerned policymakers and activists who wanted to transform their frustration about inaction into pragmatic solutions and hope. Co-founded by Africa experts Gayle Smith and John Prendergast, ENOUGH launched in early 2007 as a project of the Center for American Progress. John Norris is Enough’s Executive Director. Read more about ENOUGH at http://www.enoughproject.org/about.

CECAFA U-17 football tournament: Ethiopia v Zanzibar (Juba, S. Sudan, 2.30pm on 19 Aug 2009)

ingridj.jones@btinternet.com (Ingrid Jones) — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 07:16:00 +0000

From Pana via Afrique en ligne, Wednesday, 12 August 2009:
Fixtures of Cecafa youth football tournament in Sudan

(Kenya) - Below are the fixtures for this month's Council of East and Central Africa Football Associations (Cecafa) championships taking place in Sudan.

The regional event, known as the Cecafa U-17 tournament, is slated for 19-31 August in three Sudanese cities - Khartoum, Juba and Medani. It is being sponsored by Sudanese President Omar Al Bashir to the tune of US$ 700,000.

Aug. 19 - Ethiopia v Zanzibar (Juba 2.30pm); Kenya v Uganda (Juba 4.30pm).

Aug. 20 - Somalia v Nigeria (Khartoum 5.30pm); Sudan v Tanzania (Khartoum 9.30pm )

Aug. 21 - Zanzibar v Kenya (Juba 2.30pm); Uganda v Ethiopia (Juba 4.30pm).

Aug. 22 - Nigeria v Tanzania (Khartoum 5.30pm); Somalia v Sudan (Khartoum 9.30pm ),

Aug. 22 - Eritrea v Rwanda (Medani 5.30pm); Egypt v Burundi (Medani 9.30pm).

Aug. 23 - Kenya v Ethiopia (Juba 2.30pm); Zanzibar v Uganda (Juba 4.30pm).

Aug. 24 - Tanzania v Somalia (Khartoum 5.30pm); Sudan v Nigeria (Khartoum 9.30pm ).

Aug. 24 - Rwanda v Burundi (Medani 5.30pm); Eritrea v Egypt (Medani 9.30pm).

Aug. 25 - Rest Day.

Aug. 26 & 27 - Quarter finals

Aug. 28 & 29 - Semi finals (Khartoum).

Aug. 30 - Rest Day.

Aug. 31 - Third place play offs/Finals (Khartoum).

Cross posted from Sudan Watch on Wednesday 12 August 2009: Fixtures of CECAFA U-17 football tournament in Sudan 19-31 Aug 2009

Click on labels here below for related reports and updates.

Microfinancing: Launch of new Mobile Money Transfer Directory will focus on Sub-Sahara Africa

ingridj.jones@btinternet.com (Ingrid Jones) — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 18:29:00 +0000

A new Mobile Money Transfer Directory at http://creditsms.org launches in 2 wks focus on Sub-Saharan Africa (by @CreditSMS)

Source: White African Erik Hersman via Twitter 04 Aug. 2009
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Snippets from CreditSMS website:

In December 2009, CreditSMS will launch several pilots throughout Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Additional pilot requests have been submitted for Kenya, Sudan, and Sierra Leone. Uganda and DRC have 87% and 66% rural populations respectively, constituting a nascent market of as many as 76 million potential clients and consumers. By enabling MFIs [microfinance institutions] to reach and meet the demands of this market, CreditSMS will facilitate a form of 'bubble up' development whereby the income of microloan recipients will increase and the price of newly-available goods and services will trend toward market equilibrium. All pilot results will be made free and accessible via CreditSMS.org as they become available.
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The Beginning...
By Ben Lyon
Published: July 14, 2009

Formal banks were hesitant to give "the bottom billion" loans because they didn't have collateral. Today, microfinance institutions (MFIs) fill that void by providing collateral-free loans to micro-entrepreneurs. In order to compete with traditional moneylenders, however, those MFIs had to charge exorbitant interest rates, mostly to absorb the high transport cost of making weekly visits to rural areas to collect loan repayments. With teledensity penetration and mobile commerce growing faster by the day, one has to wonder: why are loan officers still making the trip? Read More...
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Increasing revenue and impact through technology
By Ben Lyon
Published: July 22, 2009
[article written for Project Diaspora]

Aaron Ewedafe wakes up every morning at least one hour before the sun rises. Donning his satchel full of client records and repayment schedules, he hails the nearest okada driver and races into the surrounding countryside to begin a long day of loan group meetings. The trip from headquarters in Oshogbo to the village of Ojudo and back can take all day. Aaron rarely makes it home before nightfall. Altogether, Aaron spends 112 hours and 5,000 naira a week to manage 350 microloan recipients. His profit is negligible. Read More...
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The 'Phone as Cow' Model
By Ben Lyon
Published: August 1, 2009

Mobile phones are quickly becoming the hottest topic in development. Everyday, waves of new innovations are rolled out to connect 'bottom of the pyramid' (BOP) entrepreneurs to markets and information. But many advocates and implementers seem to neglect a fundamental question: What good are mobile innovations if BOP entrepreneurs can't afford handsets? According to Iqbal Quadir of Grameenphone, the answer is to issue the handset as the first microloan. Read More...

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Follow Credit SMS on Twitter

Check out Mobile Money Africa - Africa's leading online resource for mobile financial inclusion: mobilemoneyafrica.com

Somalia hires PwC to monitor aid

ingridj.jones@btinternet.com (Ingrid Jones) — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 15:32:00 +0000

From FT.com
Somalia hires PwC to monitor aid
By Barney Jopson in Nairobi
Published: July 8 2009

PwC, the world's biggest accountancy firm, is making a move into the world's worst failed state. Somalia's interim government has asked PwC to bring bookkeeping discipline to a country where lawlessness has reigned for nearly two decades.

At the demand of international donors, the besieged government has asked PwC to set up money tracking systems to ensure that aid sent to Somalia, including $67m (€48m, £41m) pledged in April, is spent as intended and not stolen by corrupt officials.

Somalia is in the latest phase of an 18-year civil war as Islamist insurgents, including some allegedly linked to al-Qaeda, seek to topple the western-backed government. Shoot outs, mortar attacks and suicide bombings have become so intense that aid agencies and the United Nations no longer base foreign staff in the country.

Abdulrahman Adan Ibrahim, Somalia's first deputy prime minister, said his government's efforts to tackle the Islamists and piracy had been constrained by the slow delivery of funds from donors nervous about their money going astray in the absence of a formal banking system.

"We want to be different from other African countries. We want to show the world that the money given to us will be going to where they want it, to be used in a transparent way," he said.

PwC has undertaken similar work monitoring donor payments in Afghanistan and Sudan. It declined to discuss details of the Somalia project, citing client confidentiality and security issues.

Abdusalam Omer, a senior adviser at Somalia's finance ministry, said PwC would set up and act as the trustee of an account in Mogadishu, the capital, for donor funds, most of which are intended for security, health and education.

He said the mechanism to be set up by PwC should speed up the arrival of the $67m pledged by donors, including the US and the European Union, to strengthen security forces. It was part of a broader $213m package that included funds for a 4,300-strong African Union peacekeeping force. A little less than half has been disbursed, partly because the alternative disbursement mechanisms - via a UN trust fund or the central bank of Djibouti - are considered by some donors as too slow or too leaky.

Mr Omer said he expected PwC to send staff to Mogadishu from Nairobi, capital of neighbouring Kenya. But it is likely that the only people on the project to be based permanently in Somalia will be local agents who deliver small cash payments and record them in electronic ledgers.

The process will begin with PwC informing the relevant ministries when funds arrive. It will verify that their spending plans match donor objectives, release funds and ensure they get into the hands of intended recipients.

"If the money is for salaries it will be transferred to the Somali employees and PwC will get receipts and signatures to show they got it," Mr Omer said. The money flows will be recorded in a new computer system and reports sent back to donors every 15 days. "The bottom line has to add up," he said.

PwC is not being paid a retainer but will receive a commission of between 2 per cent and 4 per cent on all funds that reach their intended destination, Mr Omer said.

In common with most accountancy firms, PwC is renowned for its extreme aversion to litigation risk in developed markets. In Somalia it will face physical risk. Many non-Somali diplomats and aid workers who go to the country restrict their visits to a day or two and travel in armoured vehicles with Somali guards carrying machineguns.

"We need to make people confident the money will not be used to buy a house in the UK," said Ahmedou Ould Abdullah, UN envoy to Somalia, alluding to the UK connections of many senior Somali officials.

Somalia has not had an effective central government since 1991. The interim administration controls only a few blocks of the capital, which are defended by AU peacekeepers. Islamist insurgents -surround it led by a group called al-Shabaab, which the US says has ties to al-Qaeda.

The US has admitted to supporting the interim government by supplying it with 40 tonnes of arms and munitions in the past two months.

UK Aid: £9bn to help 20 war-torn countries

ingridj.jones@btinternet.com (Ingrid Jones) — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 17:18:00 +0000

From www.publicservice.co.uk, Monday, July 06, 2009:
£9bn to help 20 war-torn countries

A new poverty action plan to help the world's poorest people cope with the economic crisis has been announced by [UK] International Development Secretary Douglas Alexander.

Launching the White Paper Building our Common Future, Alexander said there was a fundamental shift in the way the UK delivers development aid, refocusing resources on to fragile countries and for the first time treating security and justice as a basic service alongside health, education, water and sanitation. Fifty per cent of new bilateral funding will be committed to fragile countries, he said, with £120m being spent by 2014 on training police officers, setting up law courts and protecting women from violence. There would also be a sharper focus on creating jobs in five of the most vulnerable countries – Yemen, Nepal, Nigeria, Ethiopia and Afghanistan.

The White Paper underlined the UK's commitment to spending 0.7 per cent of Gross National Income on international development, equating to around £9bn per year by 2013, while also cutting maternal mortality rates with the aim of potentially saving the lives of six million mothers and babies by 2015, helping eight million more children in Africa go to school, doubling funding to £1bn for African infrastructure including transport, energy and trade in the region, tripling of funding to support developing countries recover stolen assets, and giving more to the Central Emergency Response Fund for humanitarian aid at the UN.

Alexander said: "We have made great strides over the past decade in tackling global poverty but there is much still to do. The economic downturn has had a devastating effect on the developing world, while millions live surrounded by conflict and violence. And we must face up to the havoc climate change could cause in the poorest countries. "

He added: "We will take action to save lives, put children in school and give mothers access to much-needed healthcare. But we will also support economic growth and tackle climate change – for many developing countries not a future threat but a current reality."

The changes will be backed by new branding under the name of 'UK Aid' to make people more aware of what efforts the government is making to aid international development.

Somalia president accuses Eritrea of arming Islamists

ingridj.jones@btinternet.com (Ingrid Jones) — Thu, 28 May 2009 09:54:00 +0000

From Sudan Tribune, Thursday 28 May 2009:
Somalia president accuses Eritrea of arming Islamists

May 27, 2009 (MOGADISHU) — Somali President Sharif Sheikh Ahmed on Wednesday accused for the first time Eritrea of arming Islamists fighting to throw out his government.

Yesterday the insurgents launched mortar shells on his palace.

"We know for sure that the majority of the weapons in the hands of the insurgents are coming from Eritrea," he told reporters from his residence which is heavily protected by the African peacekeepers.

"Eritrea is very much involved here... We know that Eritrean officers come here and bring money in cash."

The Eritrean officials rejected these accusations saying their country has been falsely accused of supplying arms to the Somali militants.

However, Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, an insurgent leader who returned to Mogadishu recently from Asmara where he was established, admitted last week that Eritrea supported them in their fight to topple the Somali government.

The Africa Union Peace and Security Council (AUPSC) on Friday May 22 called on the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) to sanction Eritrea for supporting Somali Islamist insurgents.

The Security Council also in a statement on May 15 expressed its concern about reports that Eritrea has supplied arms to those opposing the government of Somalia.

Somali journalists shocked as fourth journalist dies

ingridj.jones@btinternet.com (Ingrid Jones) — Wed, 27 May 2009 09:57:00 +0000

Report from The National Union of Somali Journalists (NUSOJ) - via APO:
Somali journalists shocked as fourth journalist dies

MOGADISHU, Somalia, 26 May 2009 - The National Union of Somali Journalists (NUSOJ) is today shocked by the death of veteran journalist Nur Muse Hussein (Nur Inji) who died today from injuries he sustained from a targeted shooting in Beledweyne city of Hiran region in Central Somalia on 20 April 2009.

Nur Muse Hussein, 56, was wounded while he was trying to cover fighting in Beledweyn between militias loyal to Hiran Regional Administration and Hisbul Islam, an Islamic movement that operates in southern central regions of Somalia.

According to fellow journalists and his widow, Nur Muse Hussein who was with three other journalists when wounded by one of the fighters after they identified themselves as journalists, a Pedestrian walking behind the journalists reportedly died on the spot for the bullets that came through Nur’s leg, who worked for Radio Voice of Holy Quran in Mogadishu as their correspondent in Central regions. Bullets fractured his right leg. Nur Muse Hussein was in serious condition since the attack but his condition deteriorated in the last week, according to his widow.

“Nur Muse Hussein paid greatly for his dedication to journalistic profession. Today is another unforgettable and sad day for Somali journalists community,” Omar Faruk Osman, NUSOJ Secretary General. “Nur is the fourth journalist that became victim in this year for the crimes committed by the gun carrying men in Somalia. The death of Nur Muse Hussein highlights the unacceptable, continuing and deliberate violence against journalists in Somalia”.

Nur Muse Hussein left 5 children and a widow.

Abdirisak Warsameh Mohamed, nicknamed Gadao, of Radio Shabelle was shot dead on the morning of 22 May 2009 by forces fighting in the neighbourhoods near Bakara Market in Mogadishu. He was killed as he was crossing the road near Wardhigley police station, according to the director of Radio Shabelle, Mukhtar Mohamed Hirabe.

Three men with pistols assassinated the well-respected Said Tahlil Ahmed, director of HornAfrik Radio in Mogadishu, on 4 February 2009 at around 2:45 p.m. (local time).

On 1 January, Hassan Mayow Hassan, a reporter for Radio Shabelle, was gunned down by a member of a pro-government militia in Afgoye, 30 kilometers south of Mogadishu. He is the first journalist killed in 2009 in the world.

Eritrea behind attack on Somalia: AU

ingridj.jones@btinternet.com (Ingrid Jones) — Sun, 24 May 2009 16:56:00 +0000

FIGHTING FOR ISLAM: At least 45 people were killed and 182 injured in heavy fighting in Mogadishu on Friday. The African Union accuses Eritrea of supporting Islamist militants.

From The Guardian, London (via Tapei Times)
Eritrea behind attack on Somalia: AU
Monday, May 25, 2009

The African Union (AU) is calling on the UN to impose immediate sanctions on Eritrea for supporting Islamist insurgents attempting to overthrow the Somali government. The demand follows heavy fighting between two formerly allied Islamist factions in Mogadishu, as the UN-backed government forces have tried to push the hardline al-Shabab group out of its positions in the city.

Heavy fighting on Friday in the capital killed at least 45 people and wounded 182, the highest day’s death toll in more than two weeks of intense battles.

The fighting saw government troops — bolstered by the recent defection of a prominent warlord to their side — attack al-Shabab positions in police stations and the area of the Bakara market, also a rebel stronghold.

Justifying the new offensive, Somali Defense Minister Mohamed Abdi Gandi. said government forces had retaken control of insurgent strongholds: “We started the fighting and we intend to defend the Somali people … we were forced to fight as there was no alternative.”

Al-Shabab is led by Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, a former ally of Somali President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed, who was elected earlier this year, becoming the country’s 15th president in 18 years of conflict.

“We are not fighting for positions, but for Islam,” Aweys said, describing the country’s president as a “Westerner.”

“It is agreed within Islam that Christians and those they support are the same — so war is incumbent upon us, like prayer,” he said.

Although Eritrea has denied arming al-Shabab, Aweys — who returned from exile there in April to lead the fight against the new government — said in an interview on Friday that the struggle was supported by Eritrea and also confirmed that foreign fighters had joined the insurgents.

“It [the UN Security Council] should impose sanctions against all those foreign actors, both within and outside the region, especially Eritrea, providing support to the armed groups,” the 53-member AU said in a statement late on Friday.

The statement echoed demands made on Thursday by the east African regional bloc the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development, made up of Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, Sudan and Uganda.

Eritrea suspended its membership of the bloc in 2007.

“[We want] the imposition of a no-fly zone and blockade of sea ports to prevent the entry of foreign elements into Somalia, as well as flights and shipments carrying weapons and ammunitions to armed groups inside Somalia,” the statement said.

Aweys and Ahmed ruled Mogadishu and most of southern Somalia in late 2006 as leaders of the Islamic Courts Union, before Ethiopian troops drove them from power.

The two Islamists — Aweys was always considered the more hardline — went into exile in Eritrea and formed the opposition Alliance for the Re-Liberation of Somalia, which aimed to oust the western-backed government. But Ahmed joined a UN-hosted peace process in Djibouti last year and was elected president in January. Parliament has since voted to introduce Shariah law throughout the country.

Neighboring states and Western security forces fear that Somalia, which has been mired in civil war for 18 years, could become a haven for militants linked to al-Qaeda.

AU calls on UN to sanction Eritrea over support of Somali Islamists - Sudan Air resumes flights to Eritrea after 13 years

ingridj.jones@btinternet.com (Ingrid Jones) — Sun, 24 May 2009 10:11:00 +0000

The return of Sudan Air to Asmara, Eritrea is the latest step in the process of normalization between the two countries who had tense relations in the past.

In 2002, Eritrea and Sudan withdrew their ambassadors and closed the border, after trading accusations of supporting respective opposition groups.

Source: Sudan Tribune report from Khartoum dated Sunday, 24 May 2009 - Sudan Air resumes flights to Eritrea after 13 years

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African Union calls on UN to sanction Eritrea over support of Somali Islamists
From Sudan Tribune Sunday, 24 May 2009:

May 23, 2009 (ADDIS ABABA) — The Peace and Security Council of the African Union (AUPSC) called on the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) to sanction Eritrea for supporting Somali Islamist insurgents.

In a statement released after the end of its 190th meeting in the Ethiopian capital on Friday the AUPSC urged the UNSC to impose sanctions on "all those foreign actors, both within and outside the region, especially Eritrea, which are providing support to the armed groups engaged in destabilizing activities in Somalia."

The Council appealed to establish a no fly zone and blockade of sea ports, to prevent the entry of foreign elements into Somalia, as well as weapons and ammunitions to the Islamist insurgency.

The AU peace and security council appeal comes in line with the IGAD request to the UN against Eritrea. In an extraordinary meeting dedicated to the security and political situation in Somalia on Thursday May 20 held in the Ethiopian capital the regional body appealed to impose sanction without delay on Eritrea saying Asmara called for the overthrow of the Somali government and attacks on African peacekeeping mission in Somalia (AMISOM).

Eritrea recalled its ambassador to the African Union following the statement. Asmara however denied reports that it had suspended its membership at the African Union.

Somali government accused Eritrea of supporting Al Shebab insurgents with planeloads of AK-47 assault rifles, rocket-propelled grenades and other weapons.

The Security Council also in a statement on May 15 expressed its concern about reports that Eritrea has supplied arms to those opposing the government of Somalia.

The Eritrean ambassador at the UN rejected these accusations saying his country has been falsely accused of supplying arms to the Somali militants.

"I wish to put on record my government’s strong opposition to, and categorical rejection of, the unsubstantiated accusations leveled against my country," Eritrean Ambassador Araya Desta wrote in a letter to the U.N. Security Council, on Wednesday May 20.

However, an insurgent leader who returned to Mogadishu recently from Asmara where he was established, Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, admitted in an interview with Reuters yesterday that Eritrea supported them in their fight to topple the Somali government.

"Eritrea supports us and Ethiopia is our enemy — we once helped both countries but Ethiopia did not reward us," Aweys, said.

Some 45 people were killed in Mogadishu as result of the heavy fighting between the government troops and the insurgents who control important parts of the capital.

Today the Islamists militant also renewed attacks on the position of the African peacekeepers in Mogadishu. There are 4300 peacekeepers from Burundi and Uganda in the capital to protect key government sites. (ST)

AU says Eritrea backing rebels in Somalia

ingridj.jones@btinternet.com (Ingrid Jones) — Sat, 23 May 2009 12:49:00 +0000

* AU says Eritrea backing rebels in Somalia

* Calls for sanctions, no-fly zone, sea blockade

* Eritrea denies accusations

From Reuters by Barry Malone, Saturday, 23 May 2009:
African Union calls for Eritrea sanctions

ADDIS ABABA, May 23 (Reuters) - The African Union called on the United Nations late on Friday to impose immediate sanctions on Eritrea for supporting Islamist insurgents attempting to overthrow Somalia's government.

But Eritrean Ambassador Araya Desta said in a letter to the U.N. Security Council: "I wish to put on record my government's strong opposition to, and categorical rejection of, the unsubstantiated accusations levelled against my country."

Fighting in Somalia's capital Mogadishu on Friday killed at least 45 people, the highest daily death toll in more than two weeks of intense battles, after government forces launched a dawn offensive on the Islamist militants. [ID:nLM978588]

"(The U.N. Security Council should) impose sanctions against all those foreign actors, both within and outside the region, especially Eritrea, providing support to the armed groups," the 53-member African Union (AU) said in a statement.

The statement echoed demands made on Thursday by the east African regional bloc, the Inter Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD). IGAD is made up of Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, Sudan and Uganda.

Eritrea suspended its membership of IGAD in 2007.

President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed's U.N.-backed administration is the 15th attempt in 18 years to set up central rule in Somalia. Neighbouring states and Western security forces fear the nation could become a haven for al Qaeda-linked militants unless the hardline Islamists are defeated.

Somalia's transitional government has said the insurgents had been joined by foreign fighters and were receiving arms from Eritrea.

The AU reiterated IGAD's request that the United Nations enforce a no-fly zone on Somalia and block its sea ports to prevent foreign fighters and arms from entering.

"(We want) the imposition of a no-fly zone and blockade of sea ports to prevent the entry of foreign elements into Somalia, as well as flights and shipments carrying weapons and ammunitions to armed groups inside Somalia," the statement said.

In an interview with Reuters on Friday, influential insurgent leader Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys said Eritrea supported the rebel struggle. He said a few Arab fighters had joined the rebels in the name of Islam.

Aweys returned to Somalia in April from exile in Eritrea. (Editing by David Clarke)

Sudan appreciates Ethiopia’s stance to ICC decision

ingridj.jones@btinternet.com (Ingrid Jones) — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 08:37:00 +0000

From Sudan Tribune Wednesday 8 April 2009 by Tesfa-alem Tekle:
Sudan appreciates Ethiopia’s stance to ICC decision

April 7, 2009 (ADDIS ABABA) – Speaker of the Sudanese National Assembly on Monday appreciated Ethiopia for her strong opposition against the International Criminal Court (ICC)’s arrest warrant decision for Sudan’s head of state, President Omer Hassan Al-Bashir.

Speaker Ahmed Ibrahim El-Tahir who is in the Ethiopian capital to attend the 120th Inter-Parliamentary Union’s Assembly (IPU) has hold discussions with his Ethiopian counterpart, Teshome Toga.

On March 4, the ICC issued an arrest warrant against Al-Bashir on charges of crimes against humanity and war crimes. Ethiopia is one of the first countries which swiftly voiced her opposition against last month’s ICC decision against Sudanese president.

The government of Ethiopia earlier last month condemned the arrest warrant issued by ICC saying it is against the interest of Sudan and Africa. It also said that the move undermines peace efforts.

"Though the Sudanese issue is not the agenda of the 120th IPU assembly we want to clearly demonstrate our country’s prevailing issue to IPU member nations" Ahmed Ibrahin EL-Tahir said.

"We will keep on trying to change the negative impacts of the arrest warrant" the Sudanese speaker added.

Conferring with his Sudanese counterpart, Ethiopia’ house speaker, Teshome Toga reaffirmed that his country, Ethiopia, would never accept decision made by ICC.

Beshir, 65, who is expected to visit Ethiopia in the upcoming days, is the first sitting president to face ICC arrest warrant since the world’s first independent and permanent tribunal on war crimes (ICC) began its work in 2002.

Somalia: Al-Qaeda's Next Battleground?

ingridj.jones@btinternet.com (Ingrid Jones) — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 18:06:00 +0000

Somalia: Al-Qaeda's Next Battleground
23/03/2009
From Asharq Al-Awsat, London

Al-Qaeda's appeal to the Somali people to stage an Islamic uprising fell on deaf ears; however, the militant, violent nature of the appeal stirs up aversion among ordinary people, who hope that the new Somali leader will be able to end the 18-year long anarchy.

According to analysts, Al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden's appeal, which he addressed to the Somali people last week to topple President Sharif Sheikh Ahmad, was an attempt to raise the morale of fighters who sympathize with Al-Qaeda, but who are increasingly losing popularity, not a realistic political action plan.

Fundamentalist Islamists in London told Asharq Al-Awsat that Al-Qaeda wants to return to Africa through Somalia. They noted that, in addition to Yemen, Iraq, and Afghanistan, Somalia is a vital new base for Al-Qaeda. In a telephone call to Asharq Al-Awsat, Dr Hani Al-Sibai, director of the Al-Maqrizi Studies Center in London, said that "since the early 1990s, Al-Qaeda has not given up Somalia where it fought battles." He said that before Bin Laden made his latest speech in which he urged the Somali people to depose and kill Somali President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmad, an audiotape had been posted in a website by Abu-Yahya al-Libi, one of the Al-Qaeda leaders. He added that while in Sudan at the beginning of 1990s, Al-Qaeda was greatly interested in Somalia. He noted that Abu-Ubaydah al-Banshiri (Ali Amin al-Rashidi), brother-in-law of Abdul-Hamid Abdul-Salam, who took part in the assassination of President Anwar al-Sadat, (traveled to Sudan). Al-Banshiri was viewed in armed fundamentalist groups as the chief of staff of the Al-Qaeda army. He was the first military officer of Al-Qaeda to travel to the heart of Africa in an exploratory mission. He drowned in Lake Victoria as he was training a number of the Al-Qaeda organization members in carrying out the bombing of the two US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998.

Al-Sibai said that Al-Qaeda has been interested in the Horn of Africa region since the 1990s, noting that the region witnessed the first actual attack by Al-Qaeda soon after the declaration of its founding in 1998 under the name "The International Front for Fighting Jews and Crusaders." The first operation this organization carried out was the suicidal attack on the US embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam. Al-Sibai noted that in its literature, Al-Qaeda regards Somalia as a source of pride because its tribal society is suitable for Al-Qaeda activities.

Al-Sibai revealed that 10 to 20 of the Somali Mujahidin Youth Movement (MYM) were in Afghanistan with Osama Bin Laden prior to the 9/11 attacks, and that they founded the first nucleus of the MYM although this group did not have a structural link with Al-Qaeda.

In a statement to Asharq Al-Awsat, Dr Kamal al-Hilbawi, former official spokesman for the Muslim Brotherhood in the West, said: "We want to know the form of government that Bin Laden and his deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri want in Somalia. They are neither satisfied with HAMAS, nor the Muslim Brotherhood organization, or the moderate leader, Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmad; there is something wrong that must be addressed." He added that Bin Laden believes he can rule the world from his hide-out. Al-Bilhari, who is the founder of the Islamic League, and of the British Islamic Council in Britain, said although these people call for jihad, they have no vision. He said that he personally wonders whether Somalia should be left in the hand of secularists after the withdrawal of the Ethiopian forces.

Asharq Al-Awsat had earlier published parts of Al-Qaeda's secret correspondence that was posted on websites, which belong in one way or another to the US Department of Defense (Pentagon). One of these was a message from Salih Abdul-Wahid to Abu-Hafs, (Muhammad Atif), the official in charge of military affairs in Bin Laden's organization, who was killed in a US air raid on Qandahar in November2001. In that message, dated December 1993, he spoke of the Mujahidin's strategy in Somalia and of his meeting with Sheikh Abdullah Sahl and Sheikh Hassan Tahir, two of the leaders of the Islamic Union. He said that "during the meeting, we discussed these issues: The need to strike at US forces in Somalia to turn the country into another Vietnam-like quagmire, and to strike at the UN forces in general.

According to experts, while Bin Laden's local allies in Somalia pose a real military threat, most of the Somali people seem to be more convinced of the former teacher, Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmad, 42, and of his ability to achieve stability in the country, than they are of the war message preached by Al-Qaeda organization. Rashid Abdi, expert in Somali affairs in the International Group for Addressing Crises, said: "There is no possibility of a rebellion erupting in Somalia. The (Bin Laden's appeal) primarily aims at raising the morale among the MYM." He added: "Bin Laden's appeal shows that Al-Qaeda has designs in Somalia, but, politically speaking, most of the country sides with Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmad." He said that the MYM is a strong group of Islamic fighters who are sympathetic to Al-Qaeda. They are in control of large parts of the country and they, along with movements that embrace the same ideology, are staging a rebellion against the government. He added that against this military threat, there is a deep feeling among ordinary Somalis that Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmad, a moderate Islamic leader who won the elections during talks hosted by the UN in Djibouti in January, provides the best opportunity in years to build a new future in the country.

Analysts believe that Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmad has a real chance of settling the worst disputes among the 10 million people of Somalia in view of his Islamic roots and the feeling in the West that he must be given an opportunity to achieve stability in the Horn of Africa region.

Abdi Samatar, a researcher in Somali affairs and professor of geography and international studies at the University of Minnesota, said: "Bin Laden can say whatever he wants, but this will not change the political scene as far as the YMY is concerned." He added: "The will of the people is to say no to war; this attitude represents a major obstacle for Bin Laden. The main enemy of the MYM up to January was the Ethiopian occupation forces, which were sent to Somalia with tacit US approval in 2006 to crush presumed activities by Al-Qaeda.

The presence of Ethiopian forces in Somalia triggered national sentiments among Somalis to prove their patriotism, sentiments that many Somalis understood. Analysts however believe that the complete withdrawal of the Ethiopian forces eliminated a key political reason for support for the MYM, which seems to be striving to remain a coherent force in the absence of the Ethiopian military presence. The new Somali leader faces numerous major dangers, primarily an assassination attempt by the MYM, which continues to receive funds from foreign sources and which tightly keeps its secrets, something that is not easy in a gossipy society where people exchange information quickly and competently.

Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmad so far does not have a considerable military force, for the government forces and the African Union peace-keeping force of 3,500-strong control only some parts of Mogadishu. He also faces many challenges, notably stopping acts of violence and piracy, establishing relations with the new US Administration, rebuilding roads and ports, and curbing militiamen leaders and greedy businessmen who have interest in weakening the government's authority.

The wide-range changes that occurred in the political scene in Somalia over the past six months mean that the possibilities have improved for handling these tasks and ending the anarchy that was fed by tribal propensities over the past18 years. The major development in the country has been Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmad's assumption of power. This encourages confidence because he led the Islamic Courts which defeated leaders of the strong militias in Mogadishu, and achieved a measure of stability in the capital and in most of the southern parts of Somalia in2006.

However, Sheikh Sharif Ahmad's success did not last long. The West accused the Islamic Courts of having links to terrorist groups. And Ethiopia dispatched forces to overthrow the Islamic Courts from power, prompting Sheikh Sharif Ahmad to flee the country and establish a group opposed to Ethiopia. He has now returned from exile and is seeking to consolidate his power on the ground and to communicate with the Islamists fighters who were part of the Islamic Courts he led. His moderate Islamic roots may be useful to him in his mission and in his effort to persuade some Arab countries to provide funds to his administration. He said that he backed implementation of Islamic Shariaa in Somalia, a statement that might dilute opposition to him among the Islamic groups even though his view of the Shariaa is unlike the more militant view preferred by the Taliban rebels in Afghanistan.

The Ethiopian forces have withdrawn from Somalia, ending an occupation that was seen in Washington as part of the war on terror, but locally was regarded as a flagrant violation of Somalia's sovereignty. According to some analysts, apprehensions about Ethiopia's role in Somalia continue to exist, and while Ethiopia has long been accused of preferring to see a weak Somali government to be able to dominate it, Ethiopia maintains that the opposite is true.

Facing collapse, Somali rulers plead for Ethiopia to stay

ingridj.jones@btinternet.com (Ingrid Jones) — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 09:35:00 +0000

December 01, 2008 (ADDIS ABABA) report from Sudan Tribune:

FACING COLLAPSE, SOMALI RULERS PLEAD FOR ETHIOPIA TO STAY

The Somali Transitional Federal Government has expressed fears that the withdrawal of Ethiopian troops in the current conditions with no alternative military force, like a UN peacekeeping mission, could have terrible consequences.

The spokesman for the Presidency of the Transitional Federal Government of Somalia (TFG) Hasan Muhammad Mahmud, alias Xubsireed, said in a statement that the planned withdrawal of Ethiopian troops within this month of December saddens the TFG.

If Ethiopian troops withdraw from Somalia before the full deployment of the 8,000 troops earlier promised by the African Union, the country will slide back to the civil war between Somalis and Islamist groups whose capability has increased, said the spokesman for the Somali presidency.

He added that Ethiopia will also be at risk since it shares a border with Somalia. "We would like to ask Ethiopia to reconsider its decision to withdraw its troops from Somalia," he said.

Deputy Speaker of Parliament Osman Elmi Boqore raised similar fears with Voice of America News, saying that after the Ethiopian withdrawal, the TFG may cease to exist.

The spokesman for the Somali presidency, speaking to Dayniile news, said the president is attending matters that are important to the nation in Garowe, the capital of Puntland, which is also the stronghold of the Harti sub-clan of the Darood, the clan affiliation of TFG President Abdullahi Yusuf.

The spokesman said the Puntland administration is part of the TFG and the president is in the region to reconcile presidential candidates who are vying for the leadership of the region with the current president, Adde Muse. The conflict between the Puntland leader and the presidential candidates is mainly about the way elections are to be conducted.

"The president will come back to Mogadishu as soon as his visit to Puntland is over," said the spokesman for the Somali presidency. Some reports previously indicated that the president will not be coming back to Mogadishu due to security reasons after the Ethiopian government made the decision to withdraw its troops from the country.

A coalition of Islamists and other forces now controls much of Somalia aside from parts of Mogadishu and Baidoa, the parliamentary seat, and Puntland and Somaliland in the north.

The Islamic Courts Union had briefly brought control and influence over most of Somalia in 2006 before they were toppled by a U.S.-backed Ethiopian invasion at the end of that year. Insurgents affiliated with the Islamists subsequently fought the Ethiopian-backed TFG across Somalia and in urban combat that displaced millions of civilians.

Senior UN officials have called the situation in Somalia the world’s worst humanitarian catastrophe. (ST)

Since Sep 13, Eritrean govt has interfered with delivery of U.S. Embassy’s diplomatic pouches - Washington warns against travel to Somalia and Eritrea

ingridj.jones@btinternet.com (Ingrid Jones) — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 11:08:00 +0000

Thursday 20 November 2008 AFP report via Sudan Tribune - Washington warns against travel to Somalia and Eritrea:

November 19, 2008 (WASHINGTON) — The State Department issued yesterday a warning against travel to Somalia and Eritrea, following attacks in Somalia’s Puntland and Somaliland regions, and after the Eritrean government interfered with the delivery of U.S. diplomatic pouches.

"Kidnapping, murder, illegal roadblocks, banditry, and other violent incidents and threats to U.S. citizens and other foreigners can occur in many regions" in Somalia, the State Department said in a statement.

Five suicide car bombs ripped through key targets Oct. 29 in northern Somalia, including U.N. offices and a presidential palace, killing 19 people and the five bombers.

Noting that the U.S. has no diplomatic presence in the country, the statement said "U.S. citizens also are urged to use extreme caution when sailing near the coast of Somalia." A number of attacks and seizures by pirates have occurred in the waters off the Horn of Africa, "highlighting the continuing danger of maritime travel near the Horn of Africa," the State Department said.

In addition to unrest between rival political factions and clans in Somalia, the statement issued Saturday mentioned violent attacks in Mogadishu, border disputes in Somaliland, as well as kidnappings and attacks against international relief workers.

The State Department also warned against travel to Eritrea, noting that "since September 13, the government of Eritrea has repeatedly, and in violation of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, interfered with the unfettered delivery of the U.S. Embassy’s diplomatic pouches."

"Until this matter is resolved, the consular section of the U.S. Embassy has no choice but to suspend all non-emergency services." The U.S. Embassy in Asmara has been unable to receive "critical" materials and supplies such as U.S. passports, the statement said.

The State Department also noted heightened tensions along the country’s borders with Ethiopia and Djibouti and escalating tensions between Eritrea and Ethiopia.

Pirates tow Saudi oil-tanker to Somali port with US Navy in pursuit - Islamist terrorists on brink of taking Mogadisu where govt is on its last legs

ingridj.jones@btinternet.com (Ingrid Jones) — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 19:59:00 +0000

Excerpt from today's Snowmail by Jon Snow, Channel 4 News, UK:

INDIAN OCEAN ANARCHY

Now they've captured an oil-tanker. The Somali pirates who've been hijacking ships and ransoming them for millions have claimed their biggest prize so far.

This ship is apparently Saudi, though the foreign office has confirmed that a couple of Brits are on board. Reports are pretty hazy. At one point, it looked like the ship had been freed, but the latest report suggest it's being towed to a Somali port.

We report on the maritime anarchy that now prevails off the east coast of Africa, matched by the anarchy in Somalia itself where Islamist rebels are on the brink of taking control of Mogadishu, and the government is on its last legs.

Visit Channel 4 News website for today's 7pm news report.
- - -

Excerpt from today's Newsnight email by Jeremy Paxman, BBC2, UK:

PIRATES

Somali pirates have hijacked a giant Saudi owned oil tanker in the Indian Ocean which was travelling towards the US. The vessel is now heading towards the Somali coast, with the US navy in pursuit. The vessel can hold up to two million barrels of oil - more than one quarter of Saudi Arabia's daily exports - worth over $100 million. What can the US military do about it? We'll have the very latest.

Visit BBC website for today's Newsnight report.