Ethiopia - Information Minister, Bereket Simon Press conference on the death of Meles Zenawi

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አቶ ኃይለ ማርያም ደሳለኝ ተጠባባቂ ጠቅላይ ሚኒስትር ሆኑ Haile Mariam Desalegne named acting Prime Minister

የጠቅላይ ሚኒስትር መለስ ዜናዊን ሕልፈተ ሕይወት አስመልክቶ መግለጫ የሰጠው የመንግሥት ኮሙኒኬሽን ጉዳዮች ጽሕፈት ቤት፣ የውጭ ጉዳይ ሚኒስትርና ምክትል ጠቅላይ ሚኒስትር ኃይለ ማርያም ደሳለኝ ተጠባባቂ ጠቅላይ ሚኒስትር በመሆን በሙሉ ሥልጣን አገሪቱን እንደሚመሩ አስታወቀ፡፡

በሚኒስትር ማዕረግ የጽሕፈት ቤቱ ኃላፊ አቶ በረከት ስምኦን በሒልተን ሆቴል ዛሬ ማለዳ በሰጡት መግለጫ፣ አቶ ኃይለ ማርያም በተጠባባቂ ጠቅላይ ሚኒስትርነት አገሪቱን ይመራሉ ብለው፣ በሚቀጥለው መስከረም መጨረሻ የሚሰበሰበው ፓርላማ የሚቀጥለውን ጠቅላይ ሚኒስትር እንደሚያፀድቅ ይጠበቃል፡፡ የጠቅላይ ሚኒስትር መለስ ዜናዊን የቀብር ሥነ ሥርዓት የሚያስፈጽም ሰባት አባላት ያሉት ብሔራዊ ምክር ቤት መቋቋሙንም አቶ በረከት አስረድተዋል፡፡

መንግሥት በዛሬው ዕለት በሰጠው መግለጫ ጠቅላይ ሚኒስትር መለስ ትናንት ከምሽቱ 5፡40 ላይ ማረፋቸውን የገለጸ ሲሆን፣ በጋዜጣዊ መግለጫው ላይ ስለ ሕመማቸውና አማሟታቸው ዝርዝር መግለጫ ከመስጠት ተቆጥቧል፡፡

በጠቅላይ ሚኒስትር መለስ አመራር የወጡት ፖሊሲዎችና ስትራቴጂዎች ተጠናክረው እንደሚቀጥሉ የገለጸው መንግሥት፣ የአቶ ኃይለ ማርያምን ተጠባባቂ ጠቅላይ ሚኒስትርነት አረጋግጧል፡፡

ከዛሬ ጀምሮ የቀብር ሥነ ሥርዓቱ እስኪፈጸም ድረስ ብሔራዊ የሐዘን ቀን ታውጇል፡፡ የአገሪቱ ሰንደቅ ዓላማም ዝቅ ብሎ እንደሚውለበለብ አቶ በረከት አስታውቀዋል፡፡
http://www.ethiopianreporter.com 

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Teddy Afro’s concert is scheduled to rock Addis Abeba for New Year eve

The highly anticipated Tewodros Kassahun a.k.a. Teddy Afro’s concert is scheduled to rock the capital on Ethiopian New Year eve at the Ghion Hotel. With his recent album release ‘Tikur sew’, Teddy Afro gained critical acclamation from his fans while setting the record for album sales by an Ethiopian artist in its first week of release.

This concert will be his second since his recent album release. With ticket sales already commenced since August 20, some 15,000 people are expected to attend the concert. The organizers say that they are expecting tickets be sold out well before the event.

The concert is expected to be transmitted live for a few minutes on Ethiopian Broadcasting Services (EBS), provided that they managed to reach an agreement. After the album release, Teddy had a concert on August 4 as part of the London the London Olympic Games. And he is yet to be back in Addis Ababa for the next concert. The concert seems be a highly anticipated event among his fans since it will be his first show after his latest release. The fans want to know how some of his popular new songs would sound on the stage. The closest he got to perform a song out his latest album is the new video clip ‘Tikur sew’ which was appreciated by his audience.


With four albums, Teddy Afro was able to climb to prominence in the local music scene. Teddy Afro is one singer, who is adored by many fans for the deep lyrics and courageous issues that he raised. Many people believe that within a short period of time, he is able to imprint his mark on Ethiopian music industry.

Source: EthiopianReporter

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Ethiopian Maid kills her baby as she feared UAE consensual sex outside of marriage, court hears

The Nationals

DUBAI

A maid accused of murdering her baby hid its corpse in a suitcase because she was so scared of being punished for having sex outside of marriage, a court heard yesterday.

Prosecutors said that JA, a 29-year-old from Ethiopia, fell pregnant by AK, a 35-year-old Indian driver, in a consensual affair when he was working at her sponsor's house in Al Mutaineh 2 in August last year. She managed to keep the pregnancy secret from her employer throughout her term and gave birth unassisted in her room on April 24, 2012, using a knife to cut the umbilical cord. She claims the baby was born dead, but an autopsy showed the baby was born alive and was breast fed at least once before being dying of suffocation

Some while after the birth the maid's employers, an elderly Emirati couple, grew suspicious at the number of breaks she would request. The maid would use these to visit her room claiming she was tired.

The couple decided to book her a plane ticket home and asked their grandson AM, 17, to help. They kept the booking a secret but told the maid to shower and get dressed so they could all go out.

While she was in the shower they began to search her bags to see if she was hiding something. However, the maid noticed and rushed back out of the bathroom and tried to stop them.

The grandmother AH said she managed to check one of the maid's bags, but that when she tried to check a second one the maid rushed towards her and stopped her. The maid then grabbed an item wrapped in a black shayla and tried to flee the house. The family chased and caught the maid and found that the shayla contained the baby's dead body. They then called the police and reported the incident.

SS, a 22-year-old Emirati policeman, said that the baby's body showed signs of decomposition as the abdomen and face had turned green and swollen. "When I asked her why would she put the baby in a bag, she said she was scared she would be caught for having an illicit relation and an illicit child."

The maid and the driver are both on trial in the Misdemeanour Court charged with consensual sex outside of marriage - the maid will face a separate trial in the Criminal Court on the charge of premeditated murder.

Neither was present in the Misdemeanour Court yesterday, so the case was adjourned to September 9 to summon them.

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Ethiopia PM Meles in 'critical' state in Brussels

AFP – 21 hrs ago
Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, a key player in the fight against Islamist extremists, was "critical" in hospital in Brussels Wednesday, diplomatic sources told AFP, though his government denied he was unwell.

The one-time Marxist who toppled the bloody dictatorship of Mengistu Haile Mariam in 1991 was in a life-threatening condition, said a diplomat who asked not to be named.

"He is in a critical state, his life is in danger," said the diplomat.

"He is in a critical state but is alive," said another.

In Addis Ababa, however, government spokesman Bereket Simon denied reports that the 57-year-old premier who has held power in the populous African nation for over two decades was ill. "He is not in a critical state. He is in good condition," the spokesman told AFP.

In Brussels, the Ethiopian embassy refused comment.

It said earlier this week that reports Meles was being treated at a hospital were "false and wrong", a rumour created by "an interest group which has preoccupied itself in disseminating such untrue stories".

But several diplomats in Brussels said he had been undergoing regular treatment on a private basis at one of the city's major hospitals for some time, and had been in hospital for some days.

No information was available on his illness and hospital officials declined comment on grounds of medical confidentiality.

His death could have dire consequences in the already unstable Horn of Africa, said diplomats in Brussels. "He has imposed his will on his neighbours" and is "a pole stability between Sudan, Eritrea and Somalia."

Questions surfaced about Meles's health when he missed a two-day African Union summit Sunday and Monday in Addis Ababa, apparently for the first time.

Meles's wife, herself a lawmaker, declined to talk to reporters about her husband.

One of the last times Meles was seen in public was at the G20 meeting in Mexico on June 19.

Dozens of African heads of state visited Ethiopia for the summit, including newly elected Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi, the first to do so since an assassination attempt in Ethiopia on former president Hosni Mubarak in 1995.

Benin's president and current AU chairman Thomas Boni Yayi said at the opening of the summit that the "unusual absence... cannot go unnoticed, because we know that Mr Meles is full of dynamism and leadership in our meetings".

Meles has been vilified by some as a dictator and praised by others as a visionary.

A key ally of the US in the fight against regional Al-Qaeda linked Islamists, Meles sent troops into Somalia to topple the Islamic Courts Union in 2006.

He sent troops back in five years later in 2011 to fight the Islamist group that had sprung up to replace the ICU, the Shebab.

Last week, UN human rights chief Navi Pillay condemned a "climate of intimidation" in Ethiopia after a court jailed a journalist for 18 years for "terrorism" and 23 other reporters and activists for between eight years and life.

Pillay said the overly broad definitions in a July 2009 anti-terrorism law had resulted in "criminalising the exercise of fundamental human rights".

Born May 8, 1955, Meles abandoned his medical studies before turning 20 to join the Tigray People's Liberation Front and fight Mengistu's regime.

In 1989, he took over the group's leadership and then forged a broader coalition with other regional movements to make up the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), now the country's ruling party.

With US backing, the rebellion toppled Mengistu in 1991, a year after Meles abandoned Marxism.

Meles also fought a bitter war from 1998 to 2000 with neighbour Eritrea, which broke away from Ethiopia and won independence in 1993 after a 30-year struggle.

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I'm Sexy and i know it Ethiopian version very funny

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Ethiopian Descent Theodor Gebre Selassie Subjected to Racist "monkey chants" During Russia Match

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Racism and violence involving Russia's fans have marred the start of the European Championship and confirmed fears that Euro 2012 could be a troubled tournament.

Fans of co-host nations Poland and Ukraine had been seen as a potential source of racial abuse, following a damning investigation by the BBC. Instead, Russia became the main security issue after evidence emerged Saturday of incidents at the Wroclaw stadium where it beat the Czech Republic 4-1 on Friday.
Czech defender Theodor Gebre Selassie, who is black, was the target of racial abuse reported by official fan monitors to Euro 2012 organizer UEFA.
Russia supporters later fought stadium stewards in an attack seen worldwide after footage circulated online. Wroclaw police said four people were treated in a hospital.
A potentially volatile clash between Russia and Poland looms in Warsaw on Tuesday — a Russian national holiday with fans planning to march from the city center to the stadium.
A Russia team spokesman, Nikolai Komarov, said the federation declined comment on details of the reported incidents.
However, Komarov told The Associated Press in a telephone interview: "The federation has many fans, you don't have control over them all."
Saturday's reports tarnished what was a successful opening day for Euro 2012. Two compelling matches followed constant negative headlines regarding social and political issues in the eastern European neighbors, including monkey chants aimed at Netherlands players during a public practice Wednesday at Krakow, Poland.



UEFA has pledged zero tolerance of discrimination during the three-week tournament. To help achieve this, it asked the Football Against Racism in Europe (FARE) fans' network to send two monitors to each match offensive banners, chants and behavior in stadiums, and report to UEFA within 24 hours.
On Saturday, FARE said it identified verbal insults targeted at Gebre Selassie, whose father is Ethiopian.
"There was some suggestion that the Czech defender went to take a corner and had a few problems," FARE executive director Piara Powar told the AP.
Fans also displayed a nationalist "Russian Empire" flag which "we take as evidence of far-right sensibilities," Powar said in a telephone interview.
Powar said FARE officials aimed to provide footage of Gebre Selassie being abused.
"We are trying to get that evidence, and it's not always possible to capture it on film," he said.
Still, film was available showing some Russian fans attacking security staff.
Polish police said the four injured stewards "were not badly injured, and security footage was being studied to identify those involved.
UEFA said in a statement that "around 30 fans" attacked the stewards in a "brief and isolated incident.
"The situation was quickly and efficiently brought under control," the statement said, though footage appeared to show attackers walking away from the scene.
The 16 competing teams' national federations are responsible for their fans' actions. They would be fined by UEFA before facing possible expulsion from Euro 2012 for repeated offenses.
Four years ago, UEFA fined Croatia 20,000 Swiss francs (then $19,600) for its fans' neo-Nazi flags and chants during a Euro 2008 quarterfinals loss against Turkey in Vienna, Austria. On Sunday, Croatia plays Ireland in Poznan, Poland.
"We don't expect UEFA to act on every report," Powar acknowledged. "It's tough to evidence everything that could be admissible in a hearing."
Powar also expressed concern at possible nationalist flashpoints in Tuesday's march, even if Russia fans are denied permission by Warsaw city authorities to go ahead.
"There is a feeling that the Russians will do it anyway," he said. "We have got a lot of people out and we will be looking."
Powar said Polish feelings were agitated by Russia basing its players in a Warsaw hotel neighboring the country's presidential palace, close to a shrine commemorating the Smolensk air disaster.
Poland's then state president Lech Kaczynski was among 96 people who died on April 10, 2010 when their airplane crashed in Russia.
Conspiracy theories persist in Poland that Russia was complicit in the crash.
Concerns of racism at Euro 2012 were fueled last month by a British television program, entitled "Stadiums of Hate," showing discrimination and violent incidents at recent club matches in Poland and Ukraine. It was broadcast in Poland this week.
Racism marred the Netherlands' preparations for its opening match Saturday against Denmark after several spectators made monkey noises at players during a squad practice in Krakow, Poland, which was attended by 25,000 people.
UEFA President Michel Platini has said that his organization has given referees the power to stop and abandon matches if crowds racially abused players.
After Italy forward Mario Balotelli threatened to leave the field if abused, Platini warned players they would get yellow cards for acting alone to protest.
Gebre Selassie said this week that he would not walk off the field.
"I'm not ready to give up," said the 25-year-old player. "I definitely won't leave. I'll stay until they throw stones at me.

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