Thursday, November 28, 2013

50 000 Ethiopians in Saudi Arabia sent home | News24



 Ethiopia has flown home over 50 000 citizens in Saudi Arabia after a crackdown against illegal immigrants in the oil-rich state, the foreign ministry said on Wednesday.
"We projected the initial number to be 10 000 but it is increasing," foreign ministry spokesperson Dina Mufti told AFP, adding that the final total once the mass airlift ends is now expected to be around 80 000.
Ethiopia started repatriating citizens living illegally in Saudi Arabia after a seven-month amnesty period to formalise their status expired on 4 November, sparking violent protests between Saudi police and Ethiopian migrants preparing to leave the country.
The Ethiopian government said three of its citizens were killed in clashes.
Dina said the government is spending $2.6m on the repatriation programme to bring citizens home, the majority women.
Ethiopia has said relations with Saudi Arabia remain "sisterly", with Dina saying the government's main priority was to bring citizens home.
"We are focussing on the repatriation... we have not evaluated that one, we have not assessed that," he said, referring to Ethio-Saudi ties.
Emotional speech
Large numbers of Ethiopians - often women seeking domestic work - travel to the Middle East each year looking for jobs.
About 200 000 women sought work abroad in 2012, according to Ethiopia's ministry of labour and social affairs.
The International Labour Organisation (ILO) said many face physical and mental abuse, low pay, discrimination and poor working conditions.
Reports of mistreatment of Ethiopians in Saudi Arabia has sparked outrage in Ethiopia.
In an emotional speech this month, Ethiopia's Foreign Minister Tedros Adhanom said the government was in "around the clock crisis management" mode trying to bring citizens back.
With 91 million citizens, Ethiopia is Africa's most populous country after Nigeria, but also one of the continent's poorest, with the majority of people earning less than two dollars a day.
At least 27% of women and 13% of men are unemployed, according to the ILO

Sunday, November 24, 2013

Sudanese rebels visit ICC premises - Sudan Tribune: Plural news and views on Sudan

November 21, 2013 (THE HAGUE) - The leaders of the rebel Sudanese Revolutionary Front (SRF) on Thursday paid a courtesy visit to the International Criminal Court (ICC) and expressed willingness to collaborate with the war crimes court.
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Photo shows the International Criminal Court in the Hague (AFP)
The rebel delegation led by SRF leader Malik Agar is touring European countries to explain their position over the comprehensive approach to bring peace and to establish a democratic regime in Sudan.
During their visit to the Netherlands, the SRF leadership visited the ICC headquarters where they met with an external relations officer from the Outreach unit. The delegation was briefed about the court functioning and it is different departments.
During a meeting with the ICC officials, the visiting delegation expressed its willingness to cooperate with the court saying they are ready to hand over any of their members including the leaders if they are accused of perpetrating any war crime.
The rebels further regretted the non-arrest of president Omer Al-Bashir in spite of the warrants issued against saying this not-arrest encourages him commit more atrocities and crimes as it was the case during the bloody repression of protesters last September.
The rebels said they will keep their efforts to mobilise the international community, rights groups and Sudanese people on the need to cooperate with the international court. They further stressed the need to carry out a, awareness and information campaign in Africa to explain the ICC mission.
The ICC issued two arrest warrants against Bashir in 2009 and 2010 for alleged war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide committed in Darfur region.
Nonetheless, last June the ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda criticised the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) over its "inaction and paralysis" over Darfur cases.
Bensouda also criticised the UNSC for failing to intervene after neighbouring countries, most notably Chad, refused to arrest Bashir despite him taking several trips inside their borders.
The Sudanese rebels also attended a hearing at the court as it has started the trial of the Kenyan vice president William Ruto.
Ruto and the Kenyan president Uhuru Kenyatta are facing charges of crimes against humanity for their alleged role in ethnic violence in the aftermath of an election in 2007 when 1,200 people were killed.
Kenya backed by many African countries seeks to persuade the ICC’s members to accept an immediate change in the rules of the court providing that the head of states are not forced to attend trials.
The east African country also demands a longer-term amendment in the ICC’s founding treaty, the Rome Statute status banning the prosecution of heads of states.

Sunday, November 3, 2013

ONLF Evicts Ethiopian Army from Bantureeb village in the Godey Zone-somalilandsun

Somalilandsun- Sources close to the Ogaden regional administration confirmed to Ogadentoday Press that ONLF captured the village of Bantureed near the city of Godey in the Beercaano district.This attack took place last night according to the sources who spoke to Ogadentoday press
According to the sources, Ethiopian soldiers who are regionally known as the "Liyuu Police" were killed in the attack.
The Ethiopian government sent a lot of its troops from the city of Godey to the village and its surrounding where they began arresting both "Liyuu Police" and civilians in the area and accusing them of standing idly and doing nothing when the ONLF were present in the city and when they were taking ammunition and weapons from a weapons depot
Sources so far confirm that amongst those who were arrested include the following names. These people were given 10 years of imprisonment.
1-Nuur Daahir
2-Axmed Suldaan
3 Cumer Xassan
4 Kaamil Miyir
5 Afwaax
6.Xaliimo Qooqan
Besides them there are up to fifty other civilians who have been arrested and are awaiting sentencing.
The past few days the region has seen an increase in heavy fighting. Ogadentoday Press has can further confirm that some district leaders in Beercaano have been sentenced to at least 25 years of imprisonment.
Further details to come as soon as we obtain more information
Ethiopian Paramilitary Forces have long accused of human right abuses in Ogaden Region but Ethiopia denies the accusations.
Ethiopian Deputy Prime Minister Demeke Mekonnen and his delegation have visited recently the area for investment.
Since 2005, Ethiopia government isolated Ogaden region from the World, Ethiopia imposed a ban all international aid and media organizations in Ogaden despite some are operating under the permit of intelligence surveillances.
Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) fighting for the self-determination of Ogaden Region in Ethiopia since 1994.