Esat Radio Wed 15 Feb 2017

Congressman Chris Smith submit again His Resolution HR861 of Ethiopia Govt Human Rights Violation

The real reason why Oromo Activists attacked Professor Haile Larebo

ESAT News (February 15, 2017)

Prosecutors have begun the process of extradition of seven army officers and businessmen who hid in Dubai after allegedly taking bank loans amounting to over 5 million dollars in the name of agricultural development in Benishangul Gumuz region of western Ethiopia.

According to ESAT’s sources, the seven suspects, who are also called “the seven stars,” have taken thousands of hectares of land in the name of agricultural development in Benishangul Gumuz and took the said loan from the Development Bank of Ethiopia (DBE). The accused then put the money on real estate development and for the purchase of land in the capital Addis Ababa.

The seven fugitives are Salle Egziabher Berhe, Hailu Nega, Major Aymero Gebrekirstos, major kidu Ta’em, commander Mulu Huluf, Commander Tirhas Gebreyohannes and General Yohannes Alemseged.

The prosecutors called as witness former head of customs and director of DBE, Melaku Fenta, who is serving prison time convicted of corruption charges. Melaku has reportedly said he would not testify against people who are outside the country but would cooperate on ongoing investigations on suspects who are still in the country.

Prosecutors have also called to the witness stand former board members of customs and presidents and executives of DBE including Esayas Bahire, who resigned last year from the post of president of DBE after the loan scandal came to light.

In a similar development, prosecutors based on investigations and evidences presented by the intelligence bureau, allege that about 16 million dollars has been embezzled from government institutions and funds administered by the DBE. The funds were approved by the late Prime Minister Meles Zenawi. Sources say high ranking military officers and members of the inner circle of TPLF are implicated in the embezzlement and hence the case could have political ramifications. The military could feel it is being targeted, according to the sources.

Ethiopia’s crackdown on corruption has so far been toothless and has so far targeted low level and petty scoundrels and this could be the first time a large number of people close to the regime were implicated in a high level corruption.

Remembering Yekatit ፩፪ – Ethiopian Martyrs’ Day – SBS Amharic

The Ethiopian government is mourning one of its greatest historians, Dr Richard Pankhurst, who died at the age of 90.

Africa News

The country’s Foreign Ministry in a statement referred to Pankhurst as a ‘‘doyen of historians and scholars of Ethiopia,’‘ it added that he ‘‘was one of Ethiopia’s greatest friends during his long and productive life, and his scholarship and understanding for Ethiopia will be sorely missed.’‘

He received an award of recognition from President Teshome Mulatu for the crucial role he played in the campaign for the return of a historical monument (the axum stelae) from Italy. The monument was re-erected in 2008. The 1,700-year-old giant stone obelisk was taken to Italy by fascist invaders in the 1930s and remained there until it was restored to its historic site in an ancient northern town.
Professor Richard Pankhurst’s work & love for Ethiopia will always b remembered! His passing is a great loss to Ethiopia!
Pankhurst arrived in Ethiopia in 1956 and devoted his life to Ethiopian studies, he is credited with over 20 books and editing many more on aspects of Ethiopia’s history, culture and economics. He taught at the Addis Ababa University – then known as the University College of Addis Ababa.

He was the founding Director of the Institute of Ethiopian Studies and a leading figure within the ‘Friends of Ethiopia’ group. He left Ethiopia to his native Britain but returned in 1986 to continue work with the Institute he founded.

He was also awarded the Order of the British Empire by the Queen for his services to Ethiopian studies. He is survived by Mrs. Rita Pankhurst and two children, Helen and Alula. The late academician was the son of Sylvia Pankhurst, a staunch supporter of Ethiopia’s struggle against Italy in the 1930s.

Voice of Amhara Daily Ethiopian News February 16, 2017

Bekele Gerba

Addis Abeba, Feb. 17/2017 – After several delays and more than a year in detention, prosecutors have today presented two video clips as evidence against Bekele Gerba, first secretary general of the opposition Oromo Federalist Congress (OFC), who is facing terrorism charges in the file name under Gurmesa Ayano.

Bekele Gerba was charged in April 2016 along with 21 co-defendants including Dejene Fita Geleta, secretary general of OFC with various articles of Ethiopia’s much criticized Anti-Terrorism Proclamation (ATP).

The charges include, but not limited to, alleged membership of the banned Oromo Liberation Front (OLF), public incitement, encouraging violence, as well as causing the death of innocent civilians and property destructions in cities such as Ambo and Adama, 120km west and 100km east of Addis Abeba during the recent Oromo protests in Ethiopia.

In the past prosecutors have presented evidences largely marked by several inconsistencies, including oral testimonials, against all the defendants, but have until today kept postponing that of Bekele Gerba’s. However, no individual has come forth to testify against Bekele, which led prosecutors to present the two video clips to the 4th criminal bench of the federal high court.

One of the two clips presented as evidence is Bekele Gerba’s acclaimed speech as a keynote speaker during the annual conference organized by Oromo Studies Association (OSA) in August 2015. In it, after highlighting the plight of the Oromo, the largest ethnic group who are the basses of his opposition party, OFC, Bekele spoke at large, and pleaded passionately, about the need for nonviolent struggle. It now stands as evidence against him on charges that include ‘inciting violence.’ Bekele spoke at OSA’s event just five months after he was released from jail after serving more than four years for yet another terrorism-related charges. Prosecutors argued the speech was ‘inciting’ in its content. However, when asked by the defense lawyers to explain what OSA stands for, one prosecutor simply answered “no.”

The second evidence presented this morning was Bekele Gerba’s interview with ESAT, a foreign-based radio and television station. The interview was given in Dec. 2015, during the peak of the #OromoProtests that began in Nov. 2015 and lasted for almost a year. Prosecutors claimed the interview was related to the anti-government protests that gripped almost the entire parts of the Oromia regional state, the largest regional states in a federated Ethiopia.

The court adjourned the next hearing on Monday, Feb. 20th, during which prosecutors said they will present a third video clip of an interview Bekele gave to OMN, another foreign-based television station with a large viewership constituency among the Oromos in Ethiopia.

Prosecutors have also said they would present a fourth video clip as evidence against two defendants, Abdeta Negassa and Beyene Rudaa. Many of the 22 defendants in the same file are members of the opposition OFC.

Cover Photo: Bekele Gerba shortly after his release in April 2015

Photo Credit: Addis Standard

Historian Richard Pankhurst dies, Ethiopia mourns

Richard Pankhurst, pictured above at his home in Addis Ababa, has died at aged 89. The British Embassy in Ethiopia said Pankhurst had died on Thursday, February 16th, 2017. (Photo by Kristin Fellows)

Richard Pankhurst, the son of the British women’s rights campaigner Sylvia Pankhurst who became one of the world’s leading experts on Ethiopian history and culture, has died aged 89.

He first came into contact with Ethiopia through his mother, a ‘suffragette’ who also campaigned against the invasion of the Horn of Africa nation by Benito Mussolini’s fascist Italian troops in 1935.

He moved to Addis Ababa with her after World War Two and started teaching at Addis Ababa University, going on to write more than 20 books and thousands of articles.

He also inherited an activist streak from his mother and his grandmother, Emmeline Pankhurst, founder of the suffragette movement, which helped secure the right for British women to vote.

Richard campaigned with his wife Rita for the return of piles of plunder taken from Ethiopia by invading British troops in 1868, and of a giant obelisk taken from the ancient city of Axum by Mussolini’s forces. Both were there in Axum to watch as Italy returned the obelisk in 2005.

Ethiopia’s Foreign Ministry called him a “doyen of historians and scholars of Ethiopia”.

“Pankhurst was one of Ethiopia’s greatest friends during his long and productive life, and his scholarship and understanding for Ethiopia will be sorely missed,” it said in a statement.

Author and photographer Maaza Mengiste told BBC Africa: “I’ve discovered things about my country, just sometimes stumbling upon something that he’s written … a whole other window opens for me on how I understand my own history.”

One Ethiopian, Wondwosen Gelan, tweeted simply: “He was our history archive. We miss him so much.”

Eulogy by Professor Paulos Milkias, Concordia University, Montreal, Canada

Dr. Richard Keir Pethick Pankhurst

It was with deep sorrow that I learned the passing of Professor Richard Pankhurst, my teacher, mentor and role model, an eminent historian, a foremost economist, a celebrated educator who listened to the voices of various generations of Ethiopians on whose world views he left an indelible mark.

Indeed, we have lost a scholarly giant, a proud citizen of the world, a patron of Ethiopian history, economics, art and culture. Like his mother Sylvia, Richard Pankhurst dedicated his whole life to the cause of our country, Ethiopia. His prodigious intellectual contribution to Ethiopia is unmatched by any other Western scholar weather ancient or contemporary.

I was lucky enough to be his student during my teen age years at the University College of Addis Ababa and remember the time with fondness and nostalgia. When he intended to impart an important knowledge, Richard always interjected it with a pungent humour that we, his early students, still reminisce clearly decades later. Only a few of us who took his introduction to economics course know that it was Richard Pankhurst who sawed the seeds of progressive ideas among the burgeoning revolutionary youth of the 1960’s with his deliberate persuasive and dialectical pedagogical approach. We used to comment outside class that to take Richard’s course was a virtual guarantee that we would come out with a robust commitment to social justice.

Richard Pankhurst remained a beacon in my academic life. He was also kind and generous. I still remember when he commented to me at a rare encounter at Hamburg University a few years ago: “Paulos: your book, Ethiopia: a Comprehensive Bibliography is my Bible!” I was clearly humbled to receive such accolade from a great man, soon to be awarded the Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II. Such is Richard Pankhurst: his compliment was not because my book was so monumental but because he wanted to encourage me to produce more. Richard and his beloved wife Rita made me promise to work on a sequel covering the area after 1989 when my book came out and I promised I would. Though distracted by other commitments since then, I took up the challenge starting last year to update the bibliography in order to finish and show it to my master but even though that reference text will be published in the not too distant future, to my deepest regret, presenting it to him is not going to be.

To speak not only on my behalf but also on behalf of my Ethiopian compatriots who have benefitted from the gargantuan intellectual contributions of Richard Pankhurst, how fortunate all of us have been to have shared our lives with him. Though today is a day of sadness, in reality, we should be savouring the glory of our good fortune that he touched our lives in the first place.

Richard Pankhurst’s life was a blessing, his memory, a treasure. He is loved beyond words and is missed beyond measure by the post war generation of Ethiopians. May he rest in peace.

By Seung Min Kim

Politico – Overlooked in Donald Trump’s campaign crusade against illegal immigration was his vow to crack down on legal immigration, too.

Now, Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), a reliable Trump ally, is taking steps to execute that part of the president’s immigration vision — and it could provoke a showdown between two competing ends of the GOP: the working-class populists led by Trump and the establishment Chamber of Commerce wing.

The outspoken, 39-year-old Cotton has written the first in what may be a series of bills to revamp the nation’s immigration system. Cotton will start off with legislation being unveiled Tuesday that will dramatically slash the number of immigrants who can obtain green cards and other visas every year.

The conservative rising star is poised to step into the role being vacated in the chamber by Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), who has long preached the economic virtues of restricting legal immigration in favor of U.S. citizens — a view disputed by business-friendly Republicans who have pushed for a more expansionist immigration policy. Sessions is set to be confirmed as attorney general this week.

“Donald Trump was the only one who saw that most Americans don’t like our current immigration system,” Cotton said in an interview with POLITICO on Monday. “This is just the area of politics where I think leaders and elites are most disconnected from the people. Not just Republicans but in both parties, in business, in the media, in the academy, culture and so forth.”

The Arkansas senator has already spoken with Trump and key White House officials about his immigration proposals, and says the administration has been receptive. And Cotton dismisses research that shows the economic boon of immigrants, including low-skilled workers, by paraphrasing George Orwell: “Only an intellectual could believe something so stupid.”

Cotton’s new legislation, being formally proposed Tuesday with Sen. David Perdue (R-Ga.) and detailed exclusively with POLITICO in advance of its release, swings an axe at the nation’s green-card system by eliminating several avenues for U.S. citizens and permanent residents to sponsor family members for green cards.

Right now, U.S. citizens and permanent residents can sponsor a variety of family members, including spouses, parents, siblings and married adult children. Cotton and Perdue’s plan would allow only spouses and unmarried minor children to get green cards, although they would permit visas for aging adult parents whose American children are their caretakers — a population Cotton expects will be modest.

The bill also dumps the diversity visa lottery, which allots about 50,000 visas per year for citizens of countries that traditionally have low rates of immigration to the United States. And it would limit refugees to 50,000 annually — in line with levels outlined in Trump’s controversial executive order.

“Sen. Cotton and I are taking action to fix the shortcomings in our legal immigration system,” Perdue said. “Returning to our historically normal levels of legal immigration will help improve the quality of American jobs and wages.”

All told, the number of legal immigrants allowed into the United States under the bill — named the Reforming American Immigration for Strong Employment (RAISE) Act — would plummet by 40 percent in the first year and by 50 percent over a decade, according to analysis by Cotton’s aides.

Advocates of reduced immigration are delighted.

“With the introduction of this bill, Sen. Cotton has made it clear that he’s stepping not necessarily into the shoes, but onto the platform where Sessions’ shoes have been,” said Roy Beck, the president of NumbersUSA, which calls for less immigration. “This is beyond anything that Sen. Sessions ever did.”

Cotton says his legislation is the first step in revamping the current immigration system from one based on family ties toward a more skills-oriented one, a move that Republicans generally support. But the intraparty collision comes with Cotton’s push to tighten the number of low-skilled foreign workers into the country.

“For too long, our immigration policy has skewed toward the interests of the wealthy and powerful: Employers get cheaper labor, and professionals get cheaper personal services like housekeeping,” Cotton wrote in a December New York Times op-ed. “We now need an immigration policy that focuses less on the most powerful and more on everyone else.”

His arguments, however, run counter to research that show immigrants are a net boon to the economy, from the high-skilled foreigners coveted by the tech industry to employees who work at hotels, restaurants and in agriculture. The so-called Gang of Eight bill passed by the Senate in 2013 crafted a new “W” visa program that would allow up to 200,000 low-skilled guest workers in the country per year.

“Economists overwhelmingly think that immigration is good for the economy. That’s not just true at the high-skilled, but low-skilled level,” said Jeremy Robbins, the executive director of the Partnership for a New American Economy, the pro-reform group led by former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

Robbins, who regularly meets with GOP lawmakers, added: “There is overwhelming support in Congress for the idea of immigration as an economic driver, including in the Republican conference.”

But arguments from the other end of the Republican Party are rising in potency, particularly with Trump in the White House, which has put out a flurry of executive actions in his first two weeks in office. The Trump administration is also entertaining new orders to curb legal immigration programs such as the H-1B visa prized by the tech industry.

Cotton didn’t address employment-based green cards or related visas in his latest measure, noting that the laws governing those issues are more complicated and “touch more entrenched interests.” He also declined to say directly whether he is open to expanding the pool of 85,000 H-1B visas allotted per year.

“There are obviously abuses of the H-1B visa program. I think those abuses need to be addressed before we even consider expanding the program,” Cotton said. “That said, if the evidence demonstrates that say, software companies need PhDs with computer science degrees and they’re going to pay them a wage that’s in the top 1, top 5, top 10 percent of local wages, I’m open to that kind of evidence.”

Mark Krikorian, whose Center for Immigration Studies supports restricting the number of immigrants here, says Cotton has been a rarity among Republicans in that he consistently raised issues surrounding legal immigration in addition to the more oft-discussed debate over illegal immigration.

“He’s relatively young, he’s a rock star among lots of conservatives, combat veteran, the whole thing,” Krikorian said. “And so for him to be the one to carry the standard of immigration reduction really does give it legitimacy.”

The prospects of a full-blown immigration debate such as the one that consumed Congress four years ago appear unlikely, for now. But Cotton said if Trump calls on lawmakers to advance immigration legislation, such as a security and enforcement bill, that could be an opportunity to put forward his plan.

Cotton’s allies extend beyond the White House, to the Justice Department — where Sessions will be able to wield significant power over immigration in his new job.

“There’s only one Jeff Sessions. He’s not replaceable,” Cotton said during the POLITICO interview. “But Sen. Sessions correctly realized that most Americans want immigration levels at most, to stay the same, and more likely, to decrease because it does have a negative impact on jobs and wages.”

By AGGREY MUTAMBO

Ethiopia is denying claims that it forced through its controversial Gibe Dams Project without consulting its neighbour Kenya.

In a statement on Friday, Ethiopian Ambassador to Kenya Dina Mufti said his country has always discussed the matter with Nairobi and they even have a team of officials from both sides that deals with possible environmental problems from the project.

“This is a baseless allegations concocted against the Gibe project that the Ethiopian government is undertaking for only generation of hydropower. Ethiopia and Kenya have Joint mechanisms called Joint Ministerial Commission (JMC) and Joint Border,” he said.

IMPACT

“Administrators/ Commissioners Commission (JBC), which both are active in resolving any disputes that arise between trans-boundary communities over scarce resources as well as problems that may arise as a result of cattle rustling along the common border.”

“The two countries have been in regular consultations regarding the Gibe project from its inception and have been determined to resolve any concern through cooperation.

“It is under the above mentioned mechanisms that the two countries have been working together to protect the common natural resource of Lake Turkana,” he said.

Addis Ababa, which has been building dams along the Omo River, has recently come under fire from rights and environmental groups, which accuse the country of forcing through the projects without considering their environmental impact.

LAKE DRYING UP

On Tuesday, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said Lake Turkana, which receives its water from the Omo River, is slowly drying up.

Based on publicly available data from the United States Department of Agriculture, the group said, Lake Turkana’s water levels have dropped by approximately 1.5 metres since January 2015, and further reduction is likely without urgent efforts to mitigate the impact of Ethiopia’s actions.

Human Rights Watch said it investigated the impact based on satellite imagery that shows that the drop is already affecting the shoreline of the lake, which has receded by as much as 1.7 kilometres in Ferguson Gulf since November 2014.

The gulf is a critical fish breeding area, and a key fishing ground for the indigenous Turkana people.

SCANT REGARD

“The Ethiopian government has shown scant regard for the lives and livelihoods of already marginalised communities who are reliant on the Omo River and Lake Turkana for their livelihoods,” said Felix Horne, the head of Arica Research at HRW.

“In its rush to develop its resources it has not developed strategies to minimise the impact on those living downstream.”

The latest controversial project is the Gibe II dam, set to cost $1.8 billion and which could produce 1,870 megawatts of power when completed.

This will make it the third largest dam by power production in Africa.

FLOODING

But rights groups say the dam is holding up water that previously flowed unimpeded into Lake Turkana and replenished seasonal drops in lake levels.

In 2015 the annual July-November flood from the Omo River into Lake Turkana did not occur, resulting in a drop of water levels of 1.3 metres from November 2014, HRW says.

But Ethiopia says the fact that the flooding did not occur is beneficial to people who had had to flee every time the flooding season came.

Mr Mufti dismissed HRW as one of the groups bent on spoiling development projects for African nations by citing baseless rights abuses.

KENYA RESPONDS

Kenya Environment Cabinet Secretary Judy Wakhungu admitted the existence between Addis and Nairobi but raised concerns over the risk of water pollution.

“There is an agreement with Ethiopia, but there is also a general agreement based on international law, that whenever there transboundary resources both countries should agree on the use of resources and the development of those transboundary resources should not negatively affect the other country.

“When it come to Gibe I, I, III, when it comes to generating electricity, we  as a country don’t an issue because they are simply storing water and releasing it. But when it comes to the agrochemicals, that has a negative effect and discussions are ongoing with the government of Ethiopia.”

WRITTEN BY

Leslie Josephs
Airports around the world are rolling out facial-recognition technology in an attempt to improve security and reduce the painful boarding process.

Paris’s Charles de Gaulle airport is testing facial recognition technology made by Portuguese firm Vision-Box, Bloomberg reported this week. Wait times to enter the country jumped in the wake of terrorist attacks in Paris and Nice, as security officials were required to conduct deeper security checks on arriving passengers.

Japan last year said it was planning to use similar technology.

KLM is conducting a three-month trial of facial-scanning technology at the Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport. Passengers must register at a kiosk near the gate to participate by scanning their passports, boarding passes, and, of course, their faces. Three-dimensional facial recognition scans measure dozens of features such as jawline and distance between the eyes.

In Europe, all EU citizens with biometric passports can use special “ePassport” gates at major airports to get through border control, such as these in the UK, which are also open to citizens of other countries like the US and Canada who register in advance:

That kind of technology also exists in places like Singapore and Hong Kong, but has not extended to other parts of the airport experience as of yet. The boarding pass has already shifted to mobile wallets and smartwatches over the past few years.

In the US, Global Entry patrons enter via booths that check people’s identities against biometric data. Private biometric screening company Clear also scans a passenger’s fingerprint or iris with speedy lanes available at 20 airports across the US, and Clear says it plans to expand to two others in the coming weeks. Passengers still have to go through security screening but enter through a dedicated aisle. The company said it has 700,000 members.

Woe to my Generation! by Prof Adugnaw Worku

Awaze Alemneh Wasssie News – The body of Rechard pankrust will be laid to rest at the holy trinity cathedral monday

By JOSEPH MURAYA, NAIROBI, Kenya, Feb 18 – Talks are ongoing between the Government of Kenya and Ethiopia over the construction of Gibe 1, 2, & dams which according to human rights defenders, risk drying Lake Turkana.

Environment Cabinet Secretary Judi Wakhungu says the government had an agreement with the Ethiopian Government, which only allows the use of the water for hydro-power production only and not farming activities.

“There is an agreement between Kenya and Ethiopia, and also there is a general agreement in international law that when you have trans-boundary resources, both countries should agree on it,” she stated.

“Development of a trans-boundary resource should not affect the other country. That is the issue there. With Gibe 1, 2 & 3 when it come to generating hydropower, we as a country we do not have an issue because you are simply storing the water and realizing it, but when it comes to agro-chemicals, that has a negative effect and discussion are ongoing with the Government of Ethiopia.”

A report by Human Rights Watch indicates that dropping water levels in Lake Turkana following the development of dams and plantations in Ethiopia’s lower Omo Valley threaten the livelihoods of half a million indigenous people in Ethiopia and Kenya.

Based on publicly available data from the United States Department of Agriculture, Lake Turkana’s water levels have dropped by approximately 1.5 meters since January 2015, and further reduction is likely without urgent efforts to mitigate the impact of Ethiopia’s actions.

Human Rights Watch research based on satellite imagery shows that the drop is already affecting the shoreline of the lake, which has receded as much as 1.7 kilometres in Ferguson Gulf since November 2014.

The gulf is a critical fish breeding area and a key fishing ground for the indigenous Turkana people.

“The predicted drop in the lake levels will seriously affect food supplies in the Omo Valley and Lake Turkana, which provide the livelihoods for half a million people in both Kenya and Ethiopia,” Felix Horne, senior Africa researcher at Human Rights Watch said.

“The Ethiopian government’s moves to develop its resources should not endanger the survival of indigenous people living downstream.”

In 2015, the reservoir behind the new Gibe III dam in Ethiopia began filling.

Water that previously flowed unimpeded into Lake Turkana, replenishing seasonal drops in lake levels, has since been held behind the Gibe III dam according to Human Rights Watch.

In 2015 the annual July-November flood from the Omo River into Lake Turkana, they say it did not occur, resulting in a drop in water levels of 1.3 meters from November 2014.

The very limited artificial release of water from Gibe III in 2016 was not enough to replenish water levels in Lake Turkana, reads the HRW report.

According to HWR, as of January 30, 2017, lake levels were approximately 1.5 meters lower than they were two years earlier according to the data.

People living in fishing communities along Lake Turkana who spoke to Human Rights Watch in August 2016,”were generally aware of the risks posed by Gibe III but largely uninformed about the plantations and the devastating impact they could have on their livelihoods.”

The report by the right group accuses the Kenyan government of doing little to address the impact of Ethiopia’s Omo Valley development, or to press them to take steps to mitigate the damage and to consult with and inform affected communities about the impact of the project.

“The governments of Kenya and Ethiopia should urgently work with these communities to ensure upstream industrial works does not devastate their livelihoods,” Human Rights Watch said.

Ethiopia’s Gibe III dam, which opened on December 17, 2016, is a key component of a massive industrial project in the lower Omo Valley that includes a cascade of water-intensive mega dams, and sugar and cotton plantations.

The sugar plantations have been under development in the Omo Valley since 2011.

Based on Human Rights Watch estimates derived from satellite imagery, approximately 19,500 hectares of land has been cleared on the east bank of the river for sugar plantation development.

An additional 10,500 hectares has been prepared for irrigation on the west bank. The sugar plantations are planned to be 100,000 hectares. According to the Ethiopian Sugar Corporation, the first of the four sugar processing factories should be ready to begin production in early 2017.

In Ethiopia, livelihoods of those living in the Omo Valley depend on cattle grazing and planting crops in the rich alluvial soil along the banks of the Omo River.

Lack of floods in 2015 and an inadequate artificial flood in 2016 are making it more difficult to grow food along the Omo River.

Some communities have also reported restricted access to the Omo River and food shortages in 2016.

Impacts of Climate Change

According to Kenya’s Drought Management Authority data from January 2017, the 2016 October-December rains were the shortest in recent years in Kenya, leaving 2.7 million people depending on relief assistance. Turkana was one of the counties most affected.

Traditionally, in times of drought, many pastoralist communities dig in dry riverbeds for water and turn to the lake for fishing.

However, Turkana County officials told Human Rights Watch that the combination of threats to the lake and climate change will make it very difficult for the Turkana people.

The Kenyan Climate Change Law passed in May 2016, if rigorously carried out, could improve coordination and governance of national and local policies related to climate change, and ensure that the rights of indigenous peoples are respected.

The law mandates the participation of a representative from a “marginalized community” who has “experience in matters relating to indigenous knowledge” as a member of the new National Climate Change Council.

Ethiopian Ambassador to Kenya Dina Mufti however on Friday said both countries have a team of officials from both sides that deals with possible environmental problems from the project.

“This is a baseless allegation concocted against the Gibe project that the Ethiopian government is undertaking for the only generation of hydropower. Ethiopia and Kenya have Joint mechanisms called Joint Ministerial Commission (JMC) and Joint Border,” he said.

Voice of Amara Radio 18 Feb 2017

We Ethiopians both in and outside of Ethiopian have been advocating for a change of government there for some time. Well, obviously, we are frustrated not only with the government and its foreign backers but also (equally) with each other for an array of reasons. As a result we are unable to bring about the much needed change for our people and still, being unable to learn from our past wrongful journey, are caught up with inter and intra-ethnic bickering: blaming one another, throwing at each other all kinds of insults at our disposal, belittling and discrediting each others’ reputation as can be witnessed in an online and offline conversations. Needless to say all this doesn’t seem to solve or benefit any one or does it? but the enemy. If that is the case, what other venue is left for us to maneuver and come to terms with our fellow citizens so that we would be able to work together than continue with the infighting that has been going in a vicious circle for quite some time and had paralyzed our community from achieving almost anything together? I believe, as a community(specially the diaspora Ethiopian community), we  could  use our ingenuity and be a bit creative to tackle the seemingly simple but a major and dangerous trend, especially among the young generation, that is crippling our society to align our goals and work together to  liberate our people and ourselves from  unimaginable suffering and destruction.

In my observation, one of these dangerous trends that are engulfing our society making us unable to work together and align our common goal for a progressive agenda is the creation of an increasing number of anti (our own) society, anti-Ethiopian individuals-spearheaded by TPLF but using or camouflaged with different activist groups. What is more disturbing is that these anti elements are from educated classes-more and more of them are coming from the so called “ምሁራን”.  That being said, as a society, is there anything we can do to treat this anti–society (sociopath tendencies) before the trend engulfs the entire young generation?  Yes, that is the exact word I would like to use, we have so many sociopaths, undoubtedly inspired by the well-known TPLF sociopaths and they are producing/inspiring many more by the day in our society. So what can we do to make these individuals useful member of our society than being “የህብረተሰብ ጠንቅ.”? And more importantly how do we protect ourselves and the people we care from such societal disease called sociopath?

Well, one place to start is to know their characteristics behaviors and devise a way to help them in an attempt to protect our society particularly the youth from this societal sickness.

An online resource I stumbled on describes sociopaths as “masters at influence and deception. Very little of what they say actually checks out in terms of facts or reality, but they’re extremely skillful at making the things they say sound believable, even if they’re just making them up out of thin air.”

In the past, sociopaths had convinced everyday people to participate in mass suicides, assassin and murders .But even today, sociopaths are operating right now, today (in this information age where every deceptive claim or theory can be verified easily and  checked out!). We’ve seen a lot of people get hoodwinked, scammed or even harmed by sociopaths, and it is troubling that people are so easily sucked into their destructive influence.

The second place to seek a solution is to know the warning signs of sociopaths so that you can spot them, avoid them, and save yourself the trouble of being unduly influenced by them.

Here are the few indicators of sociopaths:

#1) Sociopaths tend to be highly intelligent, but they use their brainpower to deceive others rather than empower them. Their high IQs often make them dangerous. This is why many of the best-known serial killers who successfully evaded law enforcement were sociopaths.

#2) Sociopaths are incapable of feeling shame, guilt or remorse. Their brains simply lack the circuitry to process such emotions. This allows them to betray people, threaten people or harm people without giving it a second thought. They pursue any action that serves their own self-interest even if it seriously harms others. This is why you will find many very “successful” sociopaths in high levels of government, in any nation.

#3) Sociopaths speak poetically. They are master wordsmiths, able to deliver a running “stream of consciousness” monologue that is both intriguing and hypnotic. They are expert storytellers and even poets.

#4) Sociopaths invent outrageous lies about their experiences. They wildly exaggerate things to the point of absurdity, but when they describe it to you in a storytelling format, for some reason it sounds believable at the time.

#5) Sociopaths seek to dominate others and “win” at all costs. They hate to lose any argument or fight and will viciously defend their web of lies, even to the point of logical absurdity.

#6) Sociopaths are charming. Sociopaths have high charisma and tend to attract a following just because people want to be around them. They have a “glow” about them that attracts people who typically seek guidance or direction. They often appear to be sexy or have a strong sexual attraction. Not all sexy people are sociopaths, obviously, but watch out for over-the-top sexual appetites and weird fetishes.

#7) Sociopaths are more spontaneous and intense than other people. They tend to do bizarre, sometimes erratic things that most regular people wouldn’t do. They are unbound by normal social contracts. Their behavior often seems irrational or extremely risky.

#8) Sociopaths are incapable of love and are entirely self-serving. They may feign love or compassion in order to get what they want, but they don’t actually FEEL love in the way that you or I do.

#9) Sociopaths never apologize. They are never wrong. They never feel guilt. They can never apologize. Even if shown proof that they were wrong, they will refuse to apologize and instead go on the attack.

#10) Sociopaths are delusional and literally believe that what they say becomes truth merely because they say it! Charles Manson, the sociopathic murderer, is famous for saying, “I’ve never killed anyone! I don’t need to kill anyone! I THINK it! I have it HERE! (Pointing to his temple.) I don’t need to live in this physical realm…”

Back to our case, I don’t believe that my worries are farfetched; in fact they are for real in our society! Take for instance a person by the name Dr. Tsegaye Ararsa, whom I came to learn about recently through social media. I have a hard time to believe what he, with such educational achievement and the perceived status in society that comes with it, is spreading on social media to create a rift between the Oromo and other ethnic groups in Ethiopia and observe him joyous at the amount of cult like supporters, comments and likes he is amassing on social media, just like a teenager behaves at such adventures. Here are the facts and situation as you, me and all of us know pertaining to the Oromo ethnic group, which he claimed that he is spear-heading the activism work for: thousands are in TPLF concentration camps and prisons, thousands have recently been humiliated and released from a similar concentration camps and unspecified number of the Oromo ethnics (in thousands) have been killed by TPLF agazi soldiers and their surrogate OPDO officials and almost all the prominent Oromo opposition political leaders including Bekele Gerba and Dr. Merara Gudina are languishing in TPLF’s hell on earth prison and remember, this situation is also true in almost all part of Ethiopia-the Amhara region, the Southern, the Eastern etc. Amidst all this, here we are, hearing and reading some of the Diaspora Oromo activists like Tsegaye, telling/teaching the Oromo youth about the fictitious Minilik massacre that took place more than hundreds of years ago and the Amhara dominance over the other ethnic groups presumably thousands of years ago.

Yet the people are helplessly begging and fighting for justice, asking for help to free themselves from the yoke of the TPLF apartheid system-backed by powerful western nations, imposed on them. On the other hand Tsegaye and his colleague at OMN in their paradoxical activism work are telling all their  “cult-like supporters” “to forget about the current grim situation the people on the ground are facing and to focus on the past”- It is like saying “we should be focused and talking about Minilik era and Amhara dominance instead of devising a way out of this killer TPLF mercenaries spraying bullet on our children, mothers and Fathers right now, right in front of our eyes!” alas!, where is the connection here? Can anyone convince me that this is a normal Ethiopian or any human, for that matter, behavior at this time of the people’s struggle? Can you imagine anyone claiming Oromo activist  at this moment of our history and putting all his energy, working day in and day out, instead of for the betterment of his people, on the contrary to create rift among  people? Is this a normal human state of mind? I don’t think so! Based on the above criteria, I can safely conclude that this is a typical sociopath behavior.

But again how can we help as a society or can he be helped at all? I know this is the most difficult task to undertake, simply because sociopaths (in their view) are always right and everybody else is wrong and what makes matters worse is if one is an educated sociopath. Can we at least save our Young, who are becoming “a cult like followers” from this generational suicide? I am not an expert in this hence will leave it for the experts to devise away.

We Ethiopians both in and outside of Ethiopian have been advocating for a change of government there for some time. Well, obviously, we are frustrated not only with the government and its foreign backers but also (equally) with each other for an array of reasons. As a result we are unable to bring about the much needed change for our people and still, being unable to learn from our past wrongful journey, are caught up with inter and intra-ethnic bickering: blaming one another, throwing at each other all kinds of insults at our disposal, belittling and discrediting each others’ reputation as can be witnessed in an online and offline conversations. Needless to say all this doesn’t seem to solve or benefit any one or does it? but the enemy. If that is the case, what other venue is left for us to maneuver and come to terms with our fellow citizens so that we would be able to work together than continue with the infighting that has been going in a vicious circle for quite some time and had paralyzed our community from achieving almost anything together? I believe, as a community(specially the diaspora Ethiopian community), we  could  use our ingenuity and be a bit creative to tackle the seemingly simple but a major and dangerous trend, especially among the young generation, that is crippling our society to align our goals and work together to  liberate our people and ourselves from  unimaginable suffering and destruction.

In my observation, one of these dangerous trends that are engulfing our society making us unable to work together and align our common goal for a progressive agenda is the creation of an increasing number of anti (our own) society, anti-Ethiopian individuals-spearheaded by TPLF but using or camouflaged with different activist groups. What is more disturbing is that these anti elements are from educated classes-more and more of them are coming from the so called “ምሁራን”.  That being said, as a society, is there anything we can do to treat this anti–society (sociopath tendencies) before the trend engulfs the entire young generation?  Yes, that is the exact word I would like to use, we have so many sociopaths, undoubtedly inspired by the well-known TPLF sociopaths and they are producing/inspiring many more by the day in our society. So what can we do to make these individuals useful member of our society than being “የህብረተሰብ ጠንቅ.”? And more importantly how do we protect ourselves and the people we care from such societal disease called sociopath?

Well, one place to start is to know their characteristics behaviors and devise a way to help them in an attempt to protect our society particularly the youth from this societal sickness.

An online resource I stumbled on describes sociopaths as “masters at influence and deception. Very little of what they say actually checks out in terms of facts or reality, but they’re extremely skillful at making the things they say sound believable, even if they’re just making them up out of thin air.”

In the past, sociopaths had convinced everyday people to participate in mass suicides, assassin and murders .But even today, sociopaths are operating right now, today (in this information age where every deceptive claim or theory can be verified easily and  checked out!). We’ve seen a lot of people get hoodwinked, scammed or even harmed by sociopaths, and it is troubling that people are so easily sucked into their destructive influence.

The second place to seek a solution is to know the warning signs of sociopaths so that you can spot them, avoid them, and save yourself the trouble of being unduly influenced by them.

Here are the few indicators of sociopaths:

#1) Sociopaths tend to be highly intelligent, but they use their brainpower to deceive others rather than empower them. Their high IQs often make them dangerous. This is why many of the best-known serial killers who successfully evaded law enforcement were sociopaths.

#2) Sociopaths are incapable of feeling shame, guilt or remorse. Their brains simply lack the circuitry to process such emotions. This allows them to betray people, threaten people or harm people without giving it a second thought. They pursue any action that serves their own self-interest even if it seriously harms others. This is why you will find many very “successful” sociopaths in high levels of government, in any nation.

#3) Sociopaths speak poetically. They are master wordsmiths, able to deliver a running “stream of consciousness” monologue that is both intriguing and hypnotic. They are expert storytellers and even poets.

#4) Sociopaths invent outrageous lies about their experiences. They wildly exaggerate things to the point of absurdity, but when they describe it to you in a storytelling format, for some reason it sounds believable at the time.

#5) Sociopaths seek to dominate others and “win” at all costs. They hate to lose any argument or fight and will viciously defend their web of lies, even to the point of logical absurdity.

#6) Sociopaths are charming. Sociopaths have high charisma and tend to attract a following just because people want to be around them. They have a “glow” about them that attracts people who typically seek guidance or direction. They often appear to be sexy or have a strong sexual attraction. Not all sexy people are sociopaths, obviously, but watch out for over-the-top sexual appetites and weird fetishes.

#7) Sociopaths are more spontaneous and intense than other people. They tend to do bizarre, sometimes erratic things that most regular people wouldn’t do. They are unbound by normal social contracts. Their behavior often seems irrational or extremely risky.

#8) Sociopaths are incapable of love and are entirely self-serving. They may feign love or compassion in order to get what they want, but they don’t actually FEEL love in the way that you or I do.

#9) Sociopaths never apologize. They are never wrong. They never feel guilt. They can never apologize. Even if shown proof that they were wrong, they will refuse to apologize and instead go on the attack.

#10) Sociopaths are delusional and literally believe that what they say becomes truth merely because they say it! Charles Manson, the sociopathic murderer, is famous for saying, “I’ve never killed anyone! I don’t need to kill anyone! I THINK it! I have it HERE! (Pointing to his temple.) I don’t need to live in this physical realm…”

Back to our case, I don’t believe that my worries are farfetched; in fact they are for real in our society! Take for instance a person by the name Dr. Tsegaye Ararsa, whom I came to learn about recently through social media. I have a hard time to believe what he, with such educational achievement and the perceived status in society that comes with it, is spreading on social media to create a rift between the Oromo and other ethnic groups in Ethiopia and observe him joyous at the amount of cult like supporters, comments and likes he is amassing on social media, just like a teenager behaves at such adventures. Here are the facts and situation as you, me and all of us know pertaining to the Oromo ethnic group, which he claimed that he is spear-heading the activism work for: thousands are in TPLF concentration camps and prisons, thousands have recently been humiliated and released from a similar concentration camps and unspecified number of the Oromo ethnics (in thousands) have been killed by TPLF agazi soldiers and their surrogate OPDO officials and almost all the prominent Oromo opposition political leaders including Bekele Gerba and Dr. Merara Gudina are languishing in TPLF’s hell on earth prison and remember, this situation is also true in almost all part of Ethiopia-the Amhara region, the Southern, the Eastern etc. Amidst all this, here we are, hearing and reading some of the Diaspora Oromo activists like Tsegaye, telling/teaching the Oromo youth about the fictitious Minilik massacre that took place more than hundreds of years ago and the Amhara dominance over the other ethnic groups presumably thousands of years ago.

Yet the people are helplessly begging and fighting for justice, asking for help to free themselves from the yoke of the TPLF apartheid system-backed by powerful western nations, imposed on them. On the other hand Tsegaye and his colleague at OMN in their paradoxical activism work are telling all their  “cult-like supporters” “to forget about the current grim situation the people on the ground are facing and to focus on the past”- It is like saying “we should be focused and talking about Minilik era and Amhara dominance instead of devising a way out of this killer TPLF mercenaries spraying bullet on our children, mothers and Fathers right now, right in front of our eyes!” alas!, where is the connection here? Can anyone convince me that this is a normal Ethiopian or any human, for that matter, behavior at this time of the people’s struggle? Can you imagine anyone claiming Oromo activist  at this moment of our history and putting all his energy, working day in and day out, instead of for the betterment of his people, on the contrary to create rift among  people? Is this a normal human state of mind? I don’t think so! Based on the above criteria, I can safely conclude that this is a typical sociopath behavior.

But again how can we help as a society or can he be helped at all? I know this is the most difficult task to undertake, simply because sociopaths (in their view) are always right and everybody else is wrong and what makes matters worse is if one is an educated sociopath. Can we at least save our Young, who are becoming “a cult like followers” from this generational suicide? I am not an expert in this hence will leave it for the experts to devise away.

Yenegesew (yenegesew3@gmail.com)

(yenegesew3@gmail.com)

Esat Radio Sun 19 Feb 2017