Dear Patriotic Global Citizens and Friends of African/Ethiopian Millennial Renaissance Transformational Agenda of "Sustainable Security, Peace and Prosperity"
The following is an interesting discourse between Good Reporting, Good Governance and Good Public Relations.
The Media and Activists such as Amnesty Internatonal are promoting Amnesty for International and highly organized terrorist in the Horn of Africa by encouraging terrorists that the media and public will give them amnesty if they continue to terrorize the Horn, so long as they can go to them for publicity.
The only regional government that has endorsed Good Governance and Millennial Renaissance Transformaton Agenda is demanding the elements of Good Governance that is transparency and accountability from all, that incudes the terrorists themselves their new allies of loony left media and activist pretenders of Good Governance such as Amensty International.
Eventually, what matters is good journalism and public relations campaign. Early pre-emptive communicaiton strategy is critical and this is witnessed in the following series of articles.
The public is expected to read between the line. Are they trained to discen is the real question.
The US Presidential Election Campaigns between Barack Obama and Hilary Clinton as well John McCain is teaching us the use of Psiops or Psychological Science in Public Relations. It appears that the terrorists are learning fast and are ahead of the Governing Institutions around the world who are not yet competent in utilizing modern multi-media communicaiton channels.
Eventually, the truth and courage will win, if looks that is on ballace now.
Please read on:
Dr B
www.Globalbelai4u.blogspot.com
Press Statement
The Government of Ethiopia categorically rejects the allegations of Amnesty International that Ethiopian troops in Somalia have killed people by slitting their throats “like goats”. This is an outright, and deliberate, lie, fed to Amnesty by groups affiliated to Al-Shabaab, groups that use the cover of human rights to promote their terrorist agenda.
We must deplore that one of the world’s most prominent human rights organizations should descend to the level of publicizing deliberately invented stories about the activities of Ethiopian troops. We deeply regret that Amnesty International has lent itself to an obviously transparent and disgraceful smear campaign against the armed forces of Ethiopia, using highly emotive, even racist, language, language that it would not and has not used outside of Africa.
Amnesty International’s latest report deliberately avoids any mention of terrorist groups. Indeed, it appears to have escaped Amnesty’s attention that Al-Shabaab has been declared a terrorist organization. Amnesty devotes most of the report to fabricated allegations against Ethiopia and its armed forces.
It purposefully ignores the widespread violations of human rights committed by Al-Shabaab whose signature activities include a widespread campaign of murder and targeted assassination of political and religious leaders, a deliberate and admitted disregard for civilian life in its operations, the desecration of dead bodies and the cutting of throats of Muslim clerics who oppose it, as at the Al Hidaya mosque only two weeks ago. In this situation Amnesty International deliberately ignores all mention of these atrocities.
This report has been published at a time when Al-Shabaab is finally on the run in Mogadishu and elsewhere in Somalia. Yet it is at this juncture that Amnesty appears to be engaged in efforts to assist in the recruitment of Al-Shabaab terrorists by deliberately inciting hatred and animosity based on lies and fabricated stories from Al-Shabaab affiliated sources.
All serious observers of Somalia accept that there is a real “window of opportunity” for the Somali peace process, a process substantially brought about by Ethiopia’s successful military backing for the TFG. This will be demonstrated in two weeks time when the representatives of the TFG and of the opposition hold preliminary talks in Djibouti. The peace process does, of course, have enemies, notably among terrorist groups. These enemies now apparently include Amnesty International.
The Government of Ethiopia rejects absolutely the allegations of Amnesty International, an organization which has a long record of refusing to respond to our criticisms of its reports, and of its uncritical use of sources which have their own, all too obvious, agenda. Ethiopian troops are well-disciplined.
They are educated in, and committed to, the principles of human rights, to the protection of civilians in conflict areas and the implementation of international humanitarian law. They have proved this time and again in a wide variety of situations in Somalia and in UN peacekeeping operations around the world.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Addis Ababa
May 6, 2008
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http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hmWzFBuX2am-JU8PfdUkILrbvE9gD90G3DF00 Source: APAmnesty Intl: Ethiopian troops commit atrocities in Somalia
May 6, 2008
MALKHADIR M. MUHUMED
NAIROBI, Kenya — A leading human rights group on Tuesday accused Ethiopian troops in Somalia of killing civilians and committing atrocities, including slitting people's throats, gouging out eyes and gang-raping women.
In a new report, Amnesty International detailed chilling witness accounts of indiscriminate killings in the Horn of Africa country and called on the international community to stop the bloodshed.
Ethiopia's government said the report was unbalanced and "categorically wrong."
The London-based rights group said testimony it received suggested all parties to Somalia's conflict have committed war crimes. But it singled out Ethiopian troops, who are in the country to back Somalia's U.N.-sponsored government, for some of the worst violations.
Somalia's shaky transitional government invited Ethiopian forces into the country to help it battle Islamic insurgents. Somalia has been torn apart by years of violence between the militias of rival clan warlords.
The rights group said it obtained scores of reports of killings by Ethiopian troops that Somalis have described as "slaughtering like goats." In one case, "a young child's throat was slit by Ethiopian soldiers in front of the child's mother," the report says.
Ethiopia's Information Minister Berhanu Hailu said the report was "totally unfounded."
"Normally when they report they do not balance it out. They have to go and see the reality for themselves. They shouldn't report from abroad saying this is happening," he told The Associated Press in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa.
Amnesty said some 6,000 civilians were reported killed and more than 600,000 were forced to flee their homes in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, last year.
"The people of Somalia are being killed, raped, tortured. Looting is widespread and entire neighborhoods are being destroyed," Michelle Kagari, Amnesty's deputy director for Africa, said in a statement from Nairobi that accompanied the report.
The report quotes testimony from some 75 witnesses as well as scores of workers from non-governmental organizations. People are identified only by their first names to protect them from retaliation.
In one testimony, Haboon, 56, said her neighbor's 17-year-old daughter was raped by Ethiopian troops. The girl's brothers tried to defend their sister, but the soldiers beat them and gouged their eyes out with a bayonet, Haboon was quoted as telling Amnesty.
"The testimony we received strongly suggests that war crimes and possibly crimes against humanity have been committed by all parties to the conflict in Somalia and no one is being held accountable," Kagari said.
Somalia has been mired in chaos since 1991, when warlords overthrew longtime dictator Mohamed Siad Barre and then turned on each other. Last year, Islamist militants took control of most of southern Somalia, including Mogadishu. Troops from neighboring Ethiopia deployed in December 2006 and ejected the Islamists from the capital.
But since then, Mogadishu has been caught up in a guerrilla war between the government and its Ethiopian allies and the Islamist insurgents.
Amnesty urged the U.N., African Union and others to act to halt the violence.
____________ No link available. Complete report by Amnesty International is attached as a PDF file. ROUTINELY TARGETED: Attacks on Civilians in Somalia May 6, 2008 ___________________________________ http://www.afrol.com/articles/28820 Source: Afrol, Norway Rebels fear Puntland, Ethiopia secret pact
6 May 2008 - Authorities in Somalia's semi-autonomous state of Puntland have been warned to "bear sole responsibility for the consequences" of entering into a "secret agreement with the Ethiopian regime to transfer private citizens from Ogaden and any ONLF (Ogaden National Liberation Front) officials who enter Puntland to Ethiopian security officials."
In a statement, ONLF, an Ethiopian rebel group fighting for self-determination in the Ogaden region, said the "ongoing crackdown in Puntland has created an inhospitable environment for our people fleeing Ethiopian persecution."
It called on rights groups and the international community to "safeguard the well-being of our people who have fled Ethiopian persecution and currently resident in Puntland."
The secret pact was forged to provide arms and military training for Puntland authorities, a clear violation of the United Nations arms embargo on Somalia, ONLF complained.
Dozens of Ogaden Citizens have reportedly been arrested throughout Puntland. Already five private citizens have been handed over to Ethiopian security officials after being arrested on 1 May. This follows the detention and forced transfer to Ethiopian security forces of two ONLF Central Committee members in Garowe, 750km North of the national capital Mogadishu.
Reports of arbitrary arrests came on the heel of a trip by Puntland President Adde Muse's trip to Ethiopia last month. Ethiopian authorities have always blamed their Puntland counterparts of allowing ONLF rebels to operate on their territory.
ONLF said the transferred Ogadan citizens risked torture or execution.
In another development, Ethiopian officials have released 11 Muslims arrested and detained few months ago. But 19 Kenyan are still believed to be languishing in Ethiopian jails. The detained Muslims were accused of collaborating with the deposed Islamists regime.
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Forces under Zenawi command accused of war crimes in Somalia
The Associated Press | May 6, 2008
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NAIROBI - Amnesty International on Tuesday accused Ethiopian troops in Somalia of killing civilians and committing atrocities, including slitting people's throats, gouging out eyes and gang-raping women.
In a new report, the human rights group, which is based in London, detailed chilling witness accounts of indiscriminate killings in Somalia and called on the international community to stop the bloodshed. The Ethiopian government said the report was unbalanced and "categorically wrong."
Amnesty said testimony it received suggested that all parties to the conflict had committed war crimes. But it cited Ethiopian troops, in the country to back Somalia's UN-sponsored government, for some of the worst violations.
The shaky transitional government invited Ethiopian forces into the country to help it battle Islamic insurgents. Somalia has been torn apart by years of violence between the militias of rival clan warlords.
The rights group said it had scores of reports of killings by Ethiopian troops. In one case, "a young child's throat was slit by Ethiopian soldiers in front of the child's mother," the report says.
The Ethiopian information minister, Berhanu Hailu, said the report was "totally unfounded."
"Normally, when they report, they do not balance it out. They have to go and see the reality for themselves. They shouldn't report from abroad saying this is happening," he said in Addis Ababa.
Amnesty said about 6,000 civilians had been reported killed and more than 600,000 had been forced to flee their homes in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, last year.
"The people of Somalia are being killed, raped, tortured. Looting is widespread and entire neighborhoods are being destroyed," Michelle Kagari, the Amnesty deputy director for Africa, said in a statement from Nairobi that accompanied the report.
The report quotes testimony from 75 witnesses as well as scores of workers from nongovernmental organizations. People are identified only by first name to protect them from retaliation.
In one testimony, Haboon, 56, said her neighbor's 17-year-old daughter had been raped by Ethiopian troops. The girl's brothers tried to defend their sister, but the soldiers beat them and gouged their eyes out with a bayonet, Haboon was quoted as telling Amnesty.
"The testimony we received strongly suggests that war crimes and possibly crimes against humanity have been committed by all parties to the conflict in Somalia and no one is being held accountable," Kagari said.
Somalia has been mired in chaos since 1991, when warlords overthrew the longtime dictator, Mohamed Siad Barre, and then turned on each other. Last year, Islamist militants took control of most of southern Somalia, including Mogadishu. Troops from neighboring Ethiopia dewere ployed in December 2006 and ejected the Islamists from the capital.
Since then, Mogadishu has been caught up in a guerrilla war between the government and its Ethiopian allies, and the Islamist insurgents.
Amnesty urged the United Nations, the African Union and other groups to halt the violence.
2nd day of riots in Mogadishu
Hundreds of youths in the Somali capital lobbed stones at shops and cars and set tires on fire Tuesday in a second day of violence over food prices, The Associated Press reported from Mogadishu.
The unrest Tuesday was not as widespread as a day earlier, when tens of thousands took to the streets and troops shot and killed two people.
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http://africa.reuters.com/wire/news/usnL07300228.htmlEthiopia accuses Amnesty of smear campaign
Wed 7 May 2008 Tsegaye Tadesse ADDIS ABABA, May 7 (Reuters) - Ethiopia accused Amnesty International of a smear campaign against it on Wednesday after the rights group said Ethiopian troops in Somalia had killed civilians by slitting their throats.
Thousands of Ethiopian soldiers are stationed in Somalia where they are helping the government fight Islamist-led insurgents, among them al Shabaab militants who are designated by Washington as a foreign terrorist organisation.
In its second report on abuses in Somalia in two weeks, Amnesty said on Tuesday that all parties to the conflict had committed abuses.
However, it said it had received an increase in reports of violations of Somalis by Ethiopian troops, with allegations of gang rape and civilians having their throats slit among the most common.
"This is an outright and deliberate lie, fed to Amnesty by groups affiliated to al Shabaab, groups that use the cover of human rights to promote their terrorist agenda," Ethiopia's Foreign Affairs Ministry said in a statement.
"It is deplorable that Amnesty International has lent itself to an obviously disgraceful smear campaign against the armed forces of Ethiopia, using highly emotive, even racist language."
The ministry accused Amnesty of ignoring widespread human rights abuses by the al Shabaab, including assassinations of political and religious leaders, desecration of dead bodies and the cutting of throats of Muslim clerics who oppose it.
Al Shabaab is the armed wing of a sharia courts movement that ruled most of southern Somalia for six months in 2006 before being ousted by allied Somali-Ethiopian forces.
Ethiopia said the timing of Amnesty report was designed to help al Shabaab "in the recruitment of terrorists by deliberately inciting hatred and animosity based on lies" and to derail talks due to start in Djibouti on Saturday.
The United Nations has brokered tentative peace talks due to begin on Saturday between 15 officials sent by Somalia's interim government and a similar number of delegates from the Eritrea-based Somali opposition.
Amnesty urged Ethiopia to read its report and study the allegations against its troops, rather than issue accusations.
"In light of the devastating testimony we received from ordinary Somalis who have been the victims of brutal attacks by all parties to the conflict, we expect the Ethiopian government to support a call for an international independent commission into the serious crimes being committed," a spokesperson said.
Last month Amnesty said Ethiopian troops killed 21 people in Mogadishu's Al Hidaaya mosque, adding that seven of the victims had their throats slit. Ethiopia rejected the report and said its forces had never been involved in such incidents.
_____________________ http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080507/ap_on_re_af/djibouti_eritrea;_ylt=AgcJx_qaSa4FAUfyvIqax5y96Q8F Source: AP Djibouti: Eritrea military buildup on border a provocation EDITH M. LEDERER
May 6, 2008
The tiny port nation of Djibouti, a key U.S. ally in the Horn of Africa, has urged the U.N. Security Council to take immediate action to prevent a conflict with its northern neighbor Eritrea.
In a letter to the council president circulated Tuesday, Djibouti's Foreign Minister Mahmoud Ali Youssouf said Eritrea has launched a major military buildup on their border overlooking critical Red Sea shipping lanes.
He accused Eritrea of carrying out "an undisguised and naked provocation against my country's sovereignty and territorial integrity."
"We call on the council to deploy urgently all necessary measures toward preventing yet another conflict, under any guise, in a region long ravaged by mayhem, bloodshed and destruction," Youssouf said.
More than 1,200 U.S troops are stationed in Djibouti, which hosts the base for an anti-terrorism task force in the Horn of Africa. France also has a base in Djibouti, its former colony.
Youssouf said he was bringing the Eritrean buildup to the council's attention because there has been a progressive growth of Eritrean troops at our common border since February 2008."
Djibouti has responded by sending troops to the border as well, Youssouf said.
He said contacts with Eritrea at the highest level "have failed to elicit any credible response."
Eritrea's U.N. Mission said no one was immediately available to respond to the foreign minister.
Youssouf recalled that in 1996 Eritrea floated "a false map ... that incorporated the same northern border area into its territory, thus unilaterally redrawing the established border."
Youssouf said Djibouti suspects the motivation behind Eritrea's deployment is the strategic location and panoramic view of the critical Red Sea shipping lanes from the border.
____________________ http://www.eritreadaily.net/News0108/article0805061.htm Source: Eritrea Daily, US/APA 06 May 2008 Arab League to mediate between Djibouti and Eritrea
Ahmed Ben Hely
APA-Cairo (Egypt) The Arab League will send a mission to Ras Doumeira, the territory disputed by Djibouti and Eritrea “within the coming three days”.
Arab League for political affairs assistant secretary Ahmed Ben Hely said the mission will assess the situation in the area and file an urgent report to the Arab Peace and Security Council.
In a statements issue to reporters after his meeting on Monday with envoy Eritrea Nafie, he said the mission will be headed by Arab League Africa Department director Samir Hosni.
He expressed hope that the Arab League will contain the tense situation between Djibouti and Eritrea within the framework of respect for borders and sovereignty of all nations.
Hely said that he believed that the tension between Djibouti and Eritrea will not evolve to an armed conflict and that the current efforts will contribute to the solution of the problem.
He said the Eritrean envoy carried a message from Arab League secretary-general Amro Mussa to Eritrea’s ‘foreign affairs minister.
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