Norway, WB finance Ethiopia’s land management

• Tuesday, 03 September 2013 07:08 - 
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The Government of Norway and the World Bank signed two agreements with Government of Ethiopia to provide significant financing for sustainable land management, climate-smart agriculture and forest protection in the country.

The first agreement injects an additional US$50 million grant funds from the Government of Norway through a trust fund to co-finance the Sustainable Land Management Program (SLMP II) aimed at reducing land degradation and increasing land productivity of smallholder farmers.

In the second agreement, Norway provides US$13 million through the World Bank’s BioCarbon Fund (BioCF) to support Ethiopia’s Climate Resilient Green Economy (CRGE) Facility and to promote climate-smart agriculture, forest protection and land rehabilitation at the landscape level.

According to the donors, Ethiopia is a country highly vulnerable to extreme weather events, land degradation, deforestation and food insecurity and the funding is expected to help fight climate change, promote sustainable rural development and build resilience.

Norway’s contribution complements initial funding of US$5 million from the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DFID), and ongoing financing from the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF).

“Norway is pleased to collaborate with the World Bank in supporting Ethiopia’s ambitious efforts to fight land degradation, deforestation and climate change while promoting sustainable development in the land use sector,” said Tove Stub, Charge d`affaires a.i., Royal Norwegian Embassy in Addis Ababa.

Under SLMP II, the Government of Ethiopia is building on the remarkable progress achieved during implementation of the program’s first phase in reducing land degradation and increasing sustainable land and water productivity.

Under SLMP I, which started in 2008, over 190,000 hectares of degraded communal and individual farmlands have been rehabilitated and agricultural productivity has improved in areas that were hitherto found to be less productive.

SLMP II, a blended IDA credit (US$50 million) and GEF grant (US$14 million) with co-financing from Norway (US$50 million), scales up earlier achievements.

The ongoing process to reduce deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+), a key pillar of Ethiopia’s fight against climate change, will be significantly strengthened with support from the BioCarbon Fund.

This program will enable Ethiopia to fully finance its ongoing REDD+ readiness process and to develop a REDD+ pilot program at a Regional State level. It will also provide advisory services to the CRGE Facility, in particular to enhance access to climate finance for REDD+ and other land-based activities.

“These funds will allow Ethiopia to become ready for REDD+ and will provide for an ambitious landscape-level program to address the causes of deforestation in the most forested region of our country, while also promoting social benefits to local communities,” said H. E. Sileshi Getahun, State Minister, Ethiopian Ministry of Agriculture.

The BioCF’s new initiative provides an important boost to the activities of the CRGE Facility, which was established by the Government of Ethiopia to spearhead national efforts to reach carbon neutrality by 2025.

“The World Bank expects that these two initiatives, including others not mentioned here, will contribute significantly to Ethiopia’s efforts to deal with three of the most daunting challenges of our times: land degradation, deforestation and climate change.

It is also a good opportunity for the Bank to share its global expertise on climate finance to provide advisory support to the CRGE Facility,” said Guang Zhe Chen, World Bank Country Director for Ethiopia.

Miseensotiin Qeerroo Bifa Wal Fakkaataa fi Yeroo Tokkicha Oromiyaa Magaalota Gara Garaa Keessatti Gooticha Injiner Tasfahun Camadaa Yaadatan.

Fulbaana 2,2013 Finfinnee

Fulfaana 1,2013 Oromiyaa goleelee adda addaa keessatti barattooti Oromoo fi dargaggoonni Oromoo naannoo adda addaa irraa walitti dhufuun gooticha qabsoo Oromoof jecha kufee dhaloota haaraaf fakkeenya ta’e Injiner Tasfahun Camadaa yaadataa oolan.

Haala kanaan gabaasi Qeerroo naannoo adda adddaa irraa dhufe akka addeessutti hanga ammaa miseensotiin Qeerroo Bilisummaa fi dagertooti Qabsoo Oromoo malgaalota keessatti sirna yaadannoo gaggeessan keessaa:-

1. Asallaa
2. Aamboo
3. Dirree Daawaa,
4. Finfinnee bakkoota adiitti qoodamuun
5. Geedoo
6. Naqamtee
7. Shaambuu
8. Gimbii
9. Mattuu
10. Dambi Doolloo

Kanneen keessatti bifa qindaawaan sirni yaadannoo wal fakkaataa gaggeeffamaa akka ture gabaasi nu gahe addeessa.

Gama biraan yaadannoo kana irratti Qeerroon Bilisummaa waadaa qabsoo Oromoof qaban akka haaromsanii jiran qeerroon ni addeessa.

Waadaa fi imaanaa Injiner Tasfahun Camadaa bifa sagaleen qindaawee gara fuula duraatti akka dhihaatu gabaasi Qeerroo ni addeessa.

OSA Letter to the UN Secretary-General: Killing of Eng. Tesfahun Chemeda is Continuation of Injustices Against Oromo

September 2, 2013 at 10:12 am · Gadaa.com

The following is a letter from the Oromo Studies Association (OSA) on the killing of an Oromo activist, Eng. Tesfahun Chemeda, in the notorious Ethiopian prison known as Qaallittii.

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September 1, 2013

His Excellency Mr. Ban Ki-moon, Secretary-General
Office of the Secretary General of United Nations
885 Second Avenue  New York, NY 10017, USA

Your Excellency Ki-moon:

I am writing on behalf of the Oromo Studies Association (OSA), a scholarly organization established by Oromo and non-Oromo scholars to promote studies on and relevant to the Oromo people. The Oromo Studies Association is deeply saddened and alarmed by the death of Engineer Tesfahun Chemeda in Ethiopian gulag. The ordeal that finally led to such horrific death of Engineer Chemeda highlights the systematic persecution of the Oromo people in Ethiopia and beyond which OSA and its scholars have documented and published for the last 27 years.

For instance, several papers presented at OSA conferences have shown that, most of the time, Oromos have been targeted for simply advocating for the basic rights of the Oromo people and exercising their constitutional rights.

Engineer Chemeda came first under the radar of the regime when he joined other students and campaigned to help put off the Bale forest fire of 2000. One would have thought that such courageous activism to protect the natural habitat would have earned him admiration. In contrast, concern for the environment and the well being of his people earned him a constant harassment by the security services, a situation that forced him to flee the country in 2004.

After forcing him to flee his homeland, they followed him to the neighbouring country, Kenya, where hesought international protection and was granted refugee status by the UNHCR, and kidnapped him in 2007. Tesfahun and his fellow Oromo Engineer Mesfin Abebe were arrested by the Kenyan security forces on dubious accusation of “crime of terrorism.” Although they were cleared of the terrorism suspicion by the Kenyan Government and the American Bureau of Investigation, and despite having the UNHCR refugee status, Engineers Chemeda and Abebe were handed over to the Ethiopian Government. This is sufficient proof that regional and international powers are not only silent and also complicit in the ongoing gross human rights violations against the Oromo people.

In violation of Ethiopian constitution and international human rights instruments, after being sent to Ethiopia, Engineers Chemeda and Abebe were held in a secret detention facility and tortured without any charge for over a year. Using evidences extorted through a yearlong torture and without adequate legal representation, they were condemned to life imprisonment by “specialized” Ethiopian Bench of Criminal Court.

There is a lot of evidence which indicates that the harsh treatment, under which Engineer Chemeda was kept, continued even after he was tried and sentenced. He was held in solitary confinement for most of the last three years, and denied access to proper healthcare services. Although the specific cause of Engineer Chemeda’s death is unknown, at the moment, the culpable party is not in doubt. Whether he succumbed to the prolonged maltreatment or agents of the regime delivered the final blow, the regime must be held responsible for the loss of this bright young Oromo man.

The killing of Engineer Chemeda is the continuation of injustices that have been committed against the Oromo people for over a century in Ethiopia. OSA condemns the heinous crimes committed against Chameda’s life and the Oromo people with all possible strongest words. OSA would also like to call upon all Oromo people and organizations to make sure that the sufferings and life of Engineer Chemeda is not in vain, but for freedom and liberty of his people.

Respectfully,

Ibrahim Amae Elemo, M.D., M.P.H
President, Oromo Studies Association/Waldaa Qorannoo Oromoo

CC:

President Barack Obama
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20500, USA

Mr. David Cameron
Honorable Prime Minister of the U.K.
10 Downing Street
London, UK

President José Manuel Barroso
President of the European Commission
1049 Brussels, Belgium

Amnesty International
International Secretariat
1 Easton Street
London WC1X 0DW, UK

Amnesty International USA
Penn Plaza
New York, NY 10001, USA

Human Rights Watch
350 Fifth Avenue, 34th Floor
New York, NY 10118-3299, USA

World Bank
1 Dag Hammarskjold Plz #26
New York, NY 10017-2201, USA

International Monetary Fund
700 19th Street, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20431, USA

International Monetary Fund
1900 Pennsylvania Ave NW
Washington, DC, 20431, USA

United Nations Development Programme
One United Nations Plaza
New York, NY 10017, USA

African Union (AU), previously called Organization of African Unity
The African Union Commission
PO Box 3243
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR)
Palais des Nations CH-1211
Geneva 10, Switzerland

Mr. Uhuru Kenyatta
President and Commander in Chief of the Defence Forces of the Republic of Kenya
E-mail: president@statehousekenya.go.ke

Kenya Human Rights Commission
Gitanga Road opp. Valley Arcade Shopping Center
P.O Box 41079-00100
Nairobi, Kenya
Fax: +254-203874997
Email: admin@khrc.or.ke

Ambassador Girma Birru
Special Envoy, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the FDRE
Embassy of Ethiopia
3506 International Drive, NW
Washington, D.C. 20008
Tel: 202-364-1200
Email: ethiopia@ethiopianembassy.org

Looking Back – A 1974 Amnesty International’s Report on Obbo Haile-Mariam Gemeda’s Death in Prison in 1969

Obbo Haile-Mariam Gemeda, General Secretary of the Macha Tulama Self-Association Association, died in prison in 1969.
September 2, 2013 at 5:35 am · Gadaa.com

On August 24, 2013, the Oromo Nation was shocked to learn thatObbo Tesfahun Chemeda, an engineer by profession, a student activist and a UNHCR mandate-holding refugee refouled by Kenya to Ethiopia in 2007, died in the notorious prison of Qaallittii after six years of torture in the Ethiopian prison. As the report quoted below shows, Obbo Tesfahun Chemeda died in a similar way as ObboHaile-Mariam Gemeda, who died in an Abyssinian prison in 1969 – after continuous torture by the Ethiopian government’s security apparatus. Obbo Haile-Mariam Gemeda was a lawyer by profession and the General Secretary of the Macha Tulama Self-Association Association at that time. Obbo Haile-Mariam Gemeda was imprisoned, along with other leaders of the Oromo civic Association, by the Emperor Haile-Selassie regime when the Association was banned in 1967 for it attempted to spread literacy and develop basic infrastructures among the Oromo.

The following is a quote from Amnesty International – reported in 1974, when the Monarchy was still in power – on the case of the 1967 Oromo Trial and reports of torture at the notorious Abyssinian prison of Alem-Bekagn, which was speaking in Afan Oromo just like today’s Abyssinian prisons. Note also that, by 1969, there were also many Oromo political prisoners, such as Oromo freedom fighters from the Bale Oromo Revolt (1963-1970), thus the statement that “Ethiopian prisons speak in Afan Oromo” would have been true even back in the 1960′s.

Here’s the quote from Amnesty International (1974):

“The student unrest and ethnic discontent have led to charges of torture being made against the Ethiopian authorities. The first such reports to reach Amnesty from private sources date from 1967, when several leaders of the Mecha and Tulema Association, an ethnic organisation of the [Oromo], were arrested and tried on charges of plotting to overthrow the government. It was alleged that some of the accused in this trial were extensively tortured by the Ethiopian police over a period of six months in order to extract from them confessions to be used in court. The tortures alleged included beatings, deprivation of sleep and food, and suspension from a rod. Subsequent to this torture several witnesses retracted in court what they claimed to be statements extorted under duress. Following the sentencing of the accused, ill-treatment reportedly continued during their confinement to prison in Addis Ababa. The General Secretary of the Association, Haile-Mariam Gemeda, died in prison in 1969. His colleagues in the Association claim that he died as a result of torture, and was paralysed and bedridden for two years before his death. The Ethiopian authorities state that he died of ‘natural causes.’”

(Source: http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/ACT40/001/1975/en/d63fb4a3-a50a-4cb8-ad1a-ab60bb7b3721/act400011975eng.pdf)

Letter to U.S. State Department, Ethiopia-Desk: Death of Mr. Tesfahun Chemeda in Ethiopia, an Oromo UNHCR mandate holder refouled by Kenya

September 2, 2013 at 2:28 am · Gadaa.com

The following letter to the U.S. State Department is from the Macha Tulama Cooperative and Development Association.

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Dear Director of Ethiopia-Desk
U.S. State Department

August 30, 2013

During a 2009 speech given by President Obama, preservation of human dignity was stated as the core U.S. policy objective. A portion of the speech was documented by the Congressional Research Service in a July 22nd, 2011 article titled Africa Command: U.S. Strategic Interests and the Role of the U.S. Military in Africa.

“When there is genocide in Darfur or terrorists in Somalia, these are not simply African problems, they are global security challenges, and they demand a global response … And let me be clear: our Africa Command is focused not on establishing a foothold on the continent, but on confronting these common challenges to advance the security of America, Africa, and the world.”

Although the African Command goals include “confronting common challenges” of genocide and terrorism, the question remains why U.S. government provides military aide to States (including African) that practice “state terror.” Support of “state terror” often results in oppression, human rights violations and genocide as history has proven repeatedly. Such was the case in Iraq, where the U.S. foreign policy, initially, supported Saddam Hussein’s regime during the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s. The foreign policy was instituted despite the fact that the Saddam Hussein regime persecuted occupied people, such as Kurds, and other segments of the Iraqi population. Support of Saddam Hussein at that time emboldened the regime to use brutality to suppress Kurds and the Iraqi people in general, as well as neighboring Kuwait. Operating with impunity caused the death of untold number of Iraqi civilians. Similarly, support of the Ethiopian government has resulted in extrajudicial imprisonments and deaths of many civilians, including nationals from the Oromo, Ogaden, Anuak, Sidama and Southern Nations.

Further analysis of Ethiopia reveals the African colonial nature and desire for perpetrators (Abyssinian elites) to retain the colonial empire as the root of conflicts in the Horn of Africa. The Northern ethnic groups (Amhara and Tigray) have occupied Oromo, Ogaden and Southern Nations for over 120 years. Throughout the occupation, brutality, ethnocide and genocide have been part of the Abyssinian policy for controlling the occupied territory through leveraging international conflicts and ideologies. The policy of ethnocide extended to cultural and linguistic domination by a population (Amhara rulers), who constitute less than twenty percent of Ethiopia.

While Amhara ruled Ethiopia, the Oromo language was banned in public places. The founders of Macha Tulama Self Help Association in Ethiopia, a civic organization made of Oromo professionals and leaders¹, attempted to counter the repressive regime, resulting in many of the leaders imprisoned and/or killed. Attached is a 1977 Amnesty International press release that reported on the execution of Mecha Tulama leaders, General Tadessa Birru and Colonel Haile Regassa. Colonel Alemu Qixxessa was arrested and served 10 years in prison for being one of the founding members of Mecha Tulama.
http://www.amnesty.org/es/library/asset/AFR25/007/1977/en/60527fe6-4fba-45eb-a44a-922648490a70/afr250071977en.pdf

In some such trials in early 1976, defendants were allowed their own lawyers or state legal aid, and relatives could attend the trial. However, in general, trials were in camera, defendants were denied legal representation, and judgement and sentences appeared to be arbitrary. In one well-known case in 1975, two Oromo officers, General Tadesse Biru (whose case had been taken up by AI in the 1967 ‘Galla Trial’) and Colonel Haile Hagassa were sentenced to prison terms by a military tribunal, on charges of joining a counter-revolutionary organization, but the terms were changed to death penalties by the chairman of the Derg, and both were executed.
- Amnesty International 1977

Under the current Tigrayan regime, Oromo was included as a state, but our language and culture was suppressed, including Waaqeffannaa, an indigenous Oromo religions. As was the case during Amhara regime, our founding organization’s offices in Ethiopia were looted and closed by government of Ethiopia.
http://www.amnesty.org/fr/library/asset/AFR25/008/2004/fr/91c51157-d5ae-11dd-bb24-1fb85fe8fa05/afr250082004en.html

Arbitrary arrests of Oromo were documented in 2007 by Amnesty International
http://www.amnestyinternational.be/doc/spip.php?page=imprimir_articulo&id_article=11649

Oromo Support Group Australia letter on Oromo Prisoners of Conscience including Mecha Tulama members and leaders
http://www.gadaa.com/OSGAStatementSept2011.pdf

Although the War on Terror is critical, sacrificing of occupied people, such as Oromo, in Ethiopia sends mixed messages to the world. An underlying message is that our government allows aligned states to commit human rights violations and genocide, under the guise of state security. The inference is that our government stays “neutral” as long as the aligned nation supports the current global initiatives, such as the War on Drugs and War on Terror. It sets a standard for other nations that the world accepts policies that vilify civilian populations in order to carry out a mission to suppress dissents, occupy neighbor states, genocide and/or ethnocide, further weakening the core objectives of the United Nations.

One recent consequence of “Neutral policy” towards human rights violations and genocide by the Ethiopian empire is the death of Mr. Tesfahun Chemada, an Oromo professional who was killed in the Ethiopian Kaliti prison this past week.

Mr. Tesfahun Chemeda fled Ethiopia to Kenya because of persecution of Oromo professionals. In Kenya, Mr Tesfahun approached UNHCR and filed for protection. UNHCR gave him a mandate based on confirmation that Mr. Tesfahun was persecuted in Ethiopia. Tragically, the Kenyan government arrested Mr. Tesfahun along with another Oromo, Mr Mesfin Abeba, for interrogation before refoulment to Ethiopia. According to sources:

“The two innocent victims Tesfahun and Mesfin were handed over to the Ethiopian authorities who took them hand cuffed and blind folded at 2:00 AM local time on May 12, 2007, purportedly to have them investigated for terrorism at the JATT Main Investigation Branch in Finfinne (Addis Abeba) … From April 27 to May 12, 2007, before handing them over, they [Tesfahun Chemeda Gurmessa and Mesfin Abeba] were interrogated at the Kenyan National Bureau of Investigation near Tirm Valley by American Agents and Kenyan Anti Terror Police Unit. The Kenyan officer Mr. Francis, who led the investigation, concluded the innocence of these two victims and requested the Kenyan authority to immediately let them free. However, another Kenyan CID agent Ms. Lelian, who is suspected of having close connection with the Ethiopian agents, opposed the decision and facilitated the handing over of these two innocent victims.”

Kenyan government actions were in violation of international obligations and norms. The standards that Kenyan blatantly violated include:

1465 U.N.T.S 185, Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment²
and Article 3 of the Convention against Torture³

As a result of these violations, Mr. Tesfahun Chemeda was martyred as an Oromo – having been tortured and killed in Kaliti prison in Ethiopia. The tragedy is that the case of Mr. Tesfahun Chemeda is much too common for Oromo.

Attached are letters by Oromo Support Group to Minister in the UK and Human Rights League of the Horn of Africa, which provide a great deal of detail on Mr. Tesfahun Chemeda.

http://gadaa.com/oduu/21413/2013/08/27/open-letter-of-osga-to-hon-kevin-rudd-australian-pm-on-the-death-in-ethiopian-custody-of-engineer-tesfahun-chemeda-after-refoulement-from-kenya/

http://humanrightsleague.com/2013/08/ethiopia-the-government-is-accountable-for-the-death-of-a-political-prisoner-at-an-ethiopian-jail/

We urge the U.S. government to reform U.S. foreign policies to protect all human rights. The consequences of “neutral policies” have created vast suffering of civilian populations around the world, including Oromo.

Sincerely,

Mardaasa Addisu
Secretary of Macha Tulama Cooperative and Development Association
http://www.machatulama-usa.org

Ethiopia arrests top security official His arrest may be a prelude to the arrest of Azeb Mesfin, aka "Mother of Corruption" Ethiomedia

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Her liutenants are being rounded up for corruption ... and it may be a matter of time before she joins them at Kaliti

WASHINGTON, DC - A top Ethiopian security official has been arrested on corruption charges, Radio Fana, a radio owned by the ruling party, said on Friday.

The official, Woldeselassie Woldemichael, a close friend and confidant of Azeb Mesfin, the widow of the late Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, was thrown into jail as part of the ongoing hunt for officials who have amassed wealth on grounds of corruption.
Woldeselassie was a close friend of Gebrewahd Woldegiorgis, former deputy head of Revenue and Customs Authority, who has been in jail for months accused of corruption.
Observers say the arrest of the ranking security official could be a prelude to the arrest of Azeb, who is dubbed the "Mother of All Corruption" in the country.
"It is a matter of time before Azeb joins the ranks of the corrupt officials now behind bars," a source said.
Azeb was recently removed from her post as CEO of EFFORT, the business oligarchy that has never been audited despite comprising major multi-billion-dollar companies such as Sur Construction, Mesfin Engineering, Almeda Textiles, and nearly two dozen business enterprises that have been the cash cow of the Meles-Azeb family and their inner-circle liutenants.
When Meles Zenawi was alive, Azeb was the most feared and powerful woman who at party meetings vilified those who don't bow to her as womanizers and alcoholics. Recently, she lashed out at current security chief Getachew Assefa for corruption and extravagant lifestyle. Azeb had insisted that Getachew should be fired and her favorite, Woldeselassie, promoted.
The once powerful and aggressive woman is slowly turning into the most vulnerable following the death of her husband in August last year. She now has no known official job. Critics have been blaming her for being corrupt on the one hand and incomptetent on the other that she can't work as CEO of EFFORT. Though not officially reported, there were anti-Azeb protests at a number of EFFORT-affiliated companies that called for her removal following the death of her husband.
Azeb was counting on the political support of Bereket Simon, the lazy and cynical former government spokesperson who had lived much of his life as the second-in-command during the Meles time, but lost power recently when he was thrown into the dark alley as the "advisor to PM Hailemariam Desalegn."
In the absence of Bereket, and the ailing General Samora Yunus, Azeb may now lean on the political clout of Abai Woldu, an autocratic figure hated by the Tigrai people. Abai is leading the war against the Addis Ababa-based "power breakers," and he is on the losing side despite being a TPLF politburo member and president of Tigrai region.
Like Azeb, Abai has also been at loggerheads with Getachew Assefa and behind-the-scene powerful man, Debretsion Gebremichael, who is deputy chairman of TPLF and minister of Communication and Information Technology, and wait, one of the three deputy prime ministers.

In reality, many consider Debretsion as Number One in the power hierarchy, and his side leading the anti-corruption campaign means the days of Azeb as the spoilt brat of the palace are ove

Dr. Ali Mohammed Birra’s 50th Anniversary Tribute in Toronto, Canada (Sept. 7, 2013)

The following is a statement from the Organizing Committee of the Dr. Ali Mohammed Birra’s 50th Anniversary Tribute in Toronto, Canada, on September 7, 2013.

For Immediate Release

You are cordially invited to join Dr. Ali Birra’s 50th Anniversary Tribute to celebrate the greatest musical career of our dearest living legend.

50th Anniversary Tribute to Dr. Ali Birra (1963 – 2013)
Saturday, September 7, 2013 (6:00 PM – 2:00 AM)
Noor Cultural Center (123 Wynford Drive, Don Mills, Toronto)

We look forward to seeing you at this great occasion.

Sincerely,

Organizing Committee
birra50thanniversary@hotmail.com