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The Eye on the Ethiopia and the Horn of Africa Vol. XXXIV No. 124 September 2005 DIPLOMATIC BRIEFINGS NEWS VIEWS & REVIEWS Execution for Ethiopia torturers
The two men had played prominent roles in setting up torture camps during the "Red Terror" under Mengistu Haile Mariam, the court said. Some 150,000 people were killed before Mr Mengistu was deposed in 1991. Eight other defendants were given prison sentences from 10 years to life for their part in the abuse of political prisoners. 'Plastic sheeting' At one such torture facility, known as Bermuda, "victims of excessive torture were wrapped [in] plastic sheeting to protect the torturers from getting splashed with blood or pus of the victims in successive round of tortures," the court said. "Apart from the routine whiplashes and beatings, victims also used to be electrocuted." Many other trials are under way of those accused of being involved in the Red Terror. Mr. Mengistu, who has been living in exile in Zimbabwe since he was overthrown, has been charged with genocide and human rights abuses. The AFP news agency reports that neither of the two men previously sentenced to death have been executed. Ethiopia obtains 793.2 mln. USD in foreign trade The Ministry of Trade and Industry said the country has obtained 793.2 million USD from the export of various commodities during the concluded budget year. According to the PRH of the Ministry, the country secured the stated sum, which is 88.7 per cent of the 894.7 USD of the set target. He added that the foreing currency obtained in 1997 E.C. showed an increased by 33 per cent compared with that of 1996 E.C. fiscal year. The rise in the price of coffee significantly contributed a lot for the increase in foreign currency earning, he added. Accordingly, coffee accounted for 42.2 cereals and oil seeds 18.7, chat 10.5, gold 5.6 and sugar 21 per cent. Ato Abera Geyessa, Head of Export Department, on his part said that the quality of export goods should be maintained to secure higher foreign currency and be competitive in the market. He added that his department is doing its level best in searching for market to increase the volume of export goods. Ethiopia’s major export partners are USA, Germany, Holland and Switzerland. Coffee is the main export item to Europe, livestock to the Middle East and floriculture to the Netherlands, according to Ato Abera. ETHIOPIA: UNICEF appeals for US $36 million
Another area that would benefit
from the appeal is the Enhanced Outreach Strategy, a UNICEF partnership
with the UN World Food Programme and the Ethiopian government that targets
6.8 million children under five, as well as pregnant and nursing mothers
in 325 drought-affected districts. The agency had appealed for about $54.7 million for Ethiopia's most vulnerable children during 2005: $15 million for water and sanitation work, $39.7 million for health and nutrition. Halfway through the year, fewer than 75 percent had been funded. UNICEF's representative in Ethiopia, Bjorn Ljungqvist, said in July "There is a growing idea that these are 'normal' levels of child deaths and malnutrition for Ethiopia - that this is the 'usual' situation. There is nothing 'normal' about 500,000 children dying every year." Kiir 'wants to keep united Sudan' Salva Kiir, the new vice-president of Sudan, has said he is firmly opposed to independence for the country's south. Speaking after his inauguration in the capital, Khartoum, Mr Kiir told the BBC he wanted to see Sudan as a united country, giving the south new status.
Secession referendum Mr. Kiir said he would be able to work with members of Sudan's government - his former enemies - because they had acknowledged that people in the south had had cause for complaint. After arriving in Khartoum, Mr Kiir appealed for calm after riots following Mr Garang's death left at least 130 dead. The civil war pitted the Muslim north against Christians and animists in the south, leaving some 1.5 million people dead. Under January's peace deal, the SPLM and the government agreed to share wealth and power. The south is set to hold a referendum on secession in six years' time.
SOMALIA: TFG denies split within its ranks
Dinari
said the TFG welcomed efforts by the UN and others to facilitate dialogue,
"but that should not become some sort of a reconciliation conference". Federal Parliament, Sharif Hassan Shaykh Aden, and other Members of Parliament, in trips he made to Mogadishu and nearby Jowhar. Yusuf, Gedi and their supporters in the Transitional Federal Institutions (TFIs) have recently relocated from Nairobi to the town of Jowhar, 90 km north of Mogadishu. They maintain that Mogadishu must be secured before they can relocate there. About 100 members of the 275-strong interim parliament - led by Aden - are currently in Mogadishu attempting to restore stability to the war-scarred city.
A section of the government,
including prominent faction leaders, strongly disagreed with the decision
to install the administration in Jowhar. The proposed deployment of
peacekeepers, particularly from Somalia's neighbours, has also deeply
divided the new government. Dinari said the cabinet had its "rules and procedures" and so did parliament. "If there are differences or disagreements they vote and the majority prevails; that are what democracy is all about," he said. Dinari said members of the TFIs currently based in Mogadishu should meet their colleagues "anywhere inside Somalia where security is not a problem, to iron out whatever differences exist". Somalia has had no functional central authority for the past 14 years, following the collapse in 1991 of the government of President Muhammad Siyad Barre. Civil war erupted in the country soon after Barre was toppled, as various factions and rival warlords fought for power. The regional Inter-Governmental Authority on Development - made up of Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Sudan, Uganda and Somalia - sponsored two years of talks between the various Somali clans and factions, culminating in the establishment of the TFG in October 2004. Cheap Internet Calls for Kenyans The Kenyan government is set to issue licences for companies to offer phone calls over the internet, officials say. Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) would bring down prices, Communication Commission of Kenya spokesman Mutua Muthusi told the BBC. He said the price differences would be biggest for long-distance and international calls. Until recently, Kenyans could face waits of up to 10 years to have land-lines installed. Correspondents say the situation has improved since the monopoly of state-owned corporation Telkom was ended. Telkom has also come under pressure with the advent of mobile phones. "We want to create value in the communication industry and the voice over internet is a technology that is going to create immense value by enabling more people to get into the industry at a cheaper rate and good services," Mr Muthusi said. He said international calls could become as cheap as local calls - 10 shillings a minute (13 US cents). Solar System assembly plant to be built in Uganda
Managing director of Solar Energy for Africa Richard Kanyika said the plant would assemble solar panels, charge controllers, investors, solar lights and lanterns and heater kits. “We want to fight poverty by providing villages with affordable power. It will cost 3.4 million dollars to run the assembly lines in about two years,” he said. “We expected to grow by 10 percent annually for the first 10 years, serving Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sudan, Ethiopia and Kenya,” Kanyika added. (Xinhua). |
This is
the last chance for Sudanese unity and it is incumbent upon us to work
towards realising it 
