www.eastafricaforum.net http://www.shabait.com/staging/publish/article_008783.html
Official Eritrean government website September 10,2008 Press Statement:
Eritrea condemns Canada's desecration of the Liberation Struggle
Sep 10, 2008
The immigration authorities of Canada refused to grant an entry visa to Eritrea's Foreign Minister a few weeks ago. The Foreign Minister was scheduled to address the sizeable Eritrean community in that country.
Such unheard-of act from a country that enjoys full diplomatic ties with Eritrea would, in itself, construe an embarrassing aberration in diplomatic conduct. What is more horrendous is however the reasons that the country's immigration authorities have given to explain their provocative act.
In a letter delivered to Eritrea's Ambassador in Nairobi, the Canadian Counsellor states: "Specifically, you were a member of the Eritrean People's Liberation Front between 1979 and 1991. The EPLF was a group that engaged in the subversion(?) of a government by force. Canadian Federal Court jurisprudence confirms that membership in a group that attempts to subvert even a despotic government is sufficient to render inadmissibility. As such, you are inadmissible to Canada pursuant to section A34(1)(f) of the Act. I am therefore refusing, your application".
How can one explain this gross and provocative folly? Is it sheer ignorance by a junior Government official or a deliberate desire by the Government of Canada to desecrate Eritrea's legitimate struggle against colonial occupation that exacted the lives of more than 60,000 of our best sons and daughters?
If Canada's " Federal Court jurisprudence" is rooted on tho dofonco and apology of colonialism, which would violate the UN Covenant on Political and Social Rights, why did Canada establish, in the first place, diplomatic ties with Eritrea after its independence in 1993 and why has it maintained it until today? Why did it receive the accreditation of Eritrea's resident Ambassadors in the past years? (Eritrea's current Ambassador to Canada and the former Counsellor are invariably members of the EPLF).
This muddled decision is difficult to decipher and understand by any standards. The Government of Eritrea strongly condemns this hostile act and expressly requests the Canadian authorities to rectify this outrageous conduct.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Asmara
10 September 2008
The letter of the Canadian Counsellor
Government of Canada
High Commission of Canada
Immigration Section
P. O. Box 1013
Limuru Road, Gigiri
00621 Nairobi, Kenya
Telephone: (254 20) 366 3000
Facsimile: (254 20) 366 3914
Internet: www.nairobi.gc.ca
The Honourable Osman Saleh Mohammed
Minister of Foreign Affairs of the State of Eritrea
Asmara
Eritrea
Dear Minister,
After careful and thorough consideration of all aspects of your application and the supporting information provided, I have determined that you do not meet the requirements for a temporary resident visa for Canada.
Specifically, there are reasonable grounds to believe that you are a member of the inadmissible class of persons described in subsection 34(1)(f) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA) which states that "a permanent resident or foreign national is inadmissible on security grounds for
(a) engaging in an act of espionage or an act of subversion against a democratic government, institution or process as they are understood in Canada
(b) engaging in or instigating the subversion by force of any government
(c) engaging in terrorism
(d) being a danger to the security of Canada
(e) engaging in acts of violence that would or might endanger the lives or safety of persons in Canada
(f) being a member of an organization that there are reasonable grounds to believe engages, has engaged or will engage in acts referred to in paragraph (a), (b) or (c)."
Specifically, you were a member of the Eritrean People's Liberation Front between 1979 and 1991. The EPLF was a group that engaged in the subversion of a government by force. Canadian Federal Court jurisprudence confirms that membership in a group that attempts to subvert even a despotic government is sufficient to render inadmissibility. As such, you are inadmissible to Canada pursuant to section A34(1)(f) of the Act. I am therefore refusing your application.
I sincerely regret that this decision will be a disappointment to you.
Yours sincerely,
Tracey Vansickle
Counsellor (Immigration)
_____________________________
http://www.addisfortune.com/Wheat%20a%20Tempting%20Offer.htm Fortune, Ethiopia September 7, 2008 Wheat a Tempting Offer
YOHANNES ANBERBIR
A number of people in a queue for the grain admitted to Fortune that they were planning to sell it for a 100Br profit
A government scheme to distribute wheat to impoverished urban dwellers is being undermined by opportunistic traders.
Last week, kebeles started to sell the subsidized grain, but middlemen have been making tempting offers to the needy, sending them back to make a second purchase.
A quintal of wheat normally costs 650 Br locally, but the imported wheat is being sold for 350 Br per quintal in an attempt to offset the soaring price of food items. However, residents in some districts were instantly selling it off for 100 Br more.
“Not all the residents buy for consumption, many of them are here only to make the 100 Br profit from a quintal,” Melaku Tarekegn, head of Youth and Sport Affairs and sales point coordinator in Kebele 08/15 of the Yeka District, told Fortune. “We couldn’t sufficiently distribute the amount we get from the enterprise to the almost 3,000 people a day.”
Late last week, Addis Abeba Police began arresting the illegal traders. Commander Ayana Terfessa, head of the Kebele 08/15 Police District, told Fortune that within a day, police arrested five people they caught red handed offering 100 Br more than the wheat was bought for.
The government has imported 1.5 million quintals for 439 Br per quintal, out of which it has earmarked 951,000 quintals to be distributed to residents of Addis Abeba at below market prices.
It devised a distribution scheme under which flour factories in Addis get 10,000qtl each, while consumer and miller associations get 1,000qtl each. But the absence of consumer associations in the city forced the Grain Trading Enterprise, the importer of the wheat, to establish sub-distribution centres in kebeles, according to a source at the enterprise.
As the flour factories, which buy the wheat for 350 Br, sell the wheat flour for 800 Br a quintal, illegal traders have been attracted and have started purchasing wheat from individuals who bought directly from the government.
Fortune spoke to a number of people in a queue to buy the wheat who were not buying it for their own consumption, but intended to resell it at a 100 Br profit per quintal. There were even beggars in the queue waiting to spend 350 Br on a quintal of wheat.
“It is not their own money. They are given the money by illegal traders who are waiting in some corners to collect the wheat the beggars buy,” Melaku said.
Howver, the kebeles cannot prohibit residents from buying more than once because the government has announced that: “Every citizen has the right to buy as much as they can and wish.”
Triggered by high profit margins at the flour factories, last week the government decided to lower the price. Subsequently, through an announcement by the Ministry of Trade and Industry on Friday, August 29, it ordered that a quintal of flour should be sold for 550 Br.
Despite Fortune’s efforts, municipality officials were not available for comment.
Last week, the Grain Trade Enterprise ordered an additional 1.5 million quintals of wheat from foreign markets.
________________________________
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=80290
IRIN
September 11, 2008
ETHIOPIA: More parents saying no to FGM
Photo: IRIN
Girls dance at a past FGM initiation ceremony in Ethiopia: Female circumcision is one of the 140 harmful traditions still commonly practised
ADDIS ABABA - Fewer Ethiopian parents are subjecting their daughters to female genital mutilation and cutting (FGM), according to an NGO campaigning to eradicate the practice.
"The knowledge [that FGM is harmful] is increasing," said Abate Gudunfa, head of the Ethiopian National Committee on Traditional Practices (commonly referred to as EGLDAM - its name in Amharic]. "Children born more recently are safer."
A network of 40 NGOs, including EGLDAM, the government and international organisations, are involved in anti-FGM campaigns in Ethiopia. Policies have also been reviewed to ensure participants are punished.
"Prevalence, especially among newly born children is decreasing - meaning that more families have sufficient awareness and do not support this practice anymore," Abate added.
A 2007 survey conducted by EGLDAM found that prevalence across the country had dropped from 61 percent in 1997 to 46 percent.
Nine regions including Tigray, the Southern and Oromiya as well as two city administrations namely the capital Addis Ababa and Dire Dawa, showed the highest improvement.
Other regions recorded minimal change. "There is almost no decrease in Afar and Somali [regions] - the strongholds of infibulation," the survey noted.
Assessing prevalence among various ethnic groups, EGLDAM found a decrease in almost all. Some 29 groups reflected a 20 percent decline, of which 18 were located in the Southern Region.
"Those ethnic groups ...should be considered real success areas and given due attention as possible learning sites," EGLDAM said. "Six ethnic groups show about or less than 10 percent decrease and should be considered as groups of probable major resistance to change."
These included the Harari, Shinasha, Alaba and Hadia ethnic groups.
Old tradition
Female circumcision is one of the 140 harmful traditions still commonly practised in Ethiopia. Often female circumcision involves the removal of part of the clitoris or the clitoris and all or some of the labia.
In some cases, genitalia are sewn up, leaving a small hole for urine and blood to pass. When combined with excision, this is the most severe form of FGM, according to experts.
In some communities, the girls are secluded for a month with their legs bound together to immobilise them, as they wait for the bleeding to stop and scar tissue to form.
FGM is carried out on girls as young as 80 days old, particularly in the predominately Christian highlands, and up to 14 years of age in the lowland Muslim regions. Some excisors use the same knife or razor blade on all their victims, regardless of the danger of spreading infections.
Globally, an estimated two million girls are still at risk of undergoing FGM each year. Activists say FGM is deeply entrenched in society despite various efforts to stop it.
According to the Inter-African Committee, the practice is a serious health issue affecting women, helping to spread HIV/AIDS and responsible for high female mortality rates in Africa.
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