VOA
By Peter Heinlein, Addis Ababa,

Ethiopia's parliament has overwhelmingly approved a law that will sharply restrict the activities of most civil society groups. The law has been the target of scathing criticism from opposition parties, rights groups and many foreign governments, including the United States.

The ruling Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Party used its massive parliamentary majority to push through a law that gives the government broad powers over foreign funded non-governmental organizations.

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AI
For immediate release: 6 January 2009– Amnesty International called the Charities and Societies Proclamation law (CSO law), adopted today by the Ethiopian parliament, a repressive law designed to strictly control and monitor civil society in an atmosphere of increasing intolerance of the work of human rights defenders and civil society organisations. Previous drafts of the CSO law imposed strict government controls and harsh criminal penalties on non-governmental organisations.

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Jan. 6 (Bloomberg) -- Ethiopia’s parliament ratified a law that critics say will prevent groups from promoting human rights and democracy in the Horn of Africa country, strengthening the government’s hand to crack down on dissent.

The so-called “Proclamation for the Registration and Regulation of Charities and Societies” was passed today by a vote of 327 to 79 in Ethiopia’s parliament. The 547-member legislative body is dominated by members of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi’s Ethiopian Peoples’ Revolutionary Democratic Front, which has 481 seats.

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Ethiopia's parliament has passed a controversial bill imposing tight restrictions on aid agencies.

Foreign agencies are prohibited from a number of areas including human rights, equality, conflict resolution and the rights of children. Local groups that receive more than 10% of their funding from abroad are also banned from working in these areas. Under discussion for months, the bill has already been considerably modified amid objections from aid organisations.

The bill bans international non-governmental organisations (NGOs) from five sorts of activity:
• The advancement of human and democratic rights
• The promotion of equality between peoples, sexes or religions
• Campaigning for children's rights or the rights of the disabled
• Conflict resolution and reconciliation
• Work on criminal justice issues.

It's an attempt by the ruling party to banish all those it sees as a threat to its tight grip on power
Temesgen Zewdie, opposition MP

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NAIROBI, Dec 6 (Reuters) - Ethiopia's Ogaden rebels warned Malaysia's Petronas [PETR.UL] on Tuesday they would not tolerate oil exploration in their remote eastern region, saying it would link the company to war crimes by the Ethiopian military.

The Malaysian state-owned company is one of more than a dozen international explorers hunting for oil and gas deposits in different parts of the huge Horn of Africa country. The Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) rebels said that everyone should know that Ogaden was a war zone and the government had no right to sign contracts there.

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By Joe DeCapua , VOA
As Ethiopian troops withdraw from Somalia, the Ethiopian government has released a statement saying its mission in Somalia has been accomplished. It says Ethiopian forces, during their two year occupation, have eliminated a clear and present danger. However, Ethiopia leaves behind a country in turmoil and one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.George Washington University Professor David Shinn, a former US ambassador to Ethiopia, spoke to VOA English to Africa Service reporter Joe De Capua about whether Ethiopia can declare “mission accomplished.”

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Can't beat up the big boys? Beat on the woman and old man!
By Alemayehu G. Mariam
Bertukan
Widely believed as Ethiopia's hope, the charismatic Bertukan Mideksa enjoys huge support among Ethiopians both at home and abroad. Here in the photo, the Ethiopian heroine now in jail is accorded a rare tribute, walking her under a canopy of olive branches, during her visit to Seattle, United States, shortly after her release from prison in 2007. (Ethiomedia)
If you can't beat up the big boys in Mogadishu, beat on the woman and the old man in Addis Ababa!

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ወ/ት ብርቱካንን መጠየቅ አይቻልም፤ እናትና ልጃቸው ብቻ ተፈቀደላቸው

Ethiopia Zare (ቅዳሜ ታህሳስ 25 ቀን 2001 ዓ.ም. January 03, 2009)፦ ቅዳሜ ዕለት ወ/ት ብርቱካንን ቃሊቲ ወሕኒ ቤት ለመጠየቅ የሄዱ ወዳጅ ዘመዶቻቸውና ደጋፊዎቻቸው ለረዥም ሰዓታት እንዲጠብቁ ከተደረገ በኋላ ገብተው እንዳይጠይቋቸው ተከለከሉ። የወ/ት ብርቱካን ወላጅ እናትና የአራት ዓመት ሕፃን ልጃቸው ብቻ ለ40 ደቂቃ አገኟቸው። ሕፃንዋ ልጃቸው ከቃሊቲ እስር ቤት ስትወጣ ተንሰቅስቃ አለቀሰች።

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PRESS RELEASE
After 2 years of wreaking havoc in Somalia and suffering a humiliating defeat, the Meles regime in Ethiopia this week is forced to withdraw its invading army.

Ginbot 7 believes that the invasion of Somalia was unnecessary, and the result has been devastating for both the people of Somalia and Ethiopia in terms of losses of lives and scarce resources.

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The bill seeks to prohibit foreign organisations and local charities from engaging in activities which promote human and democratic rights, promoting ethnic equality, conflict resolution and reconciliation, child rights and the right of the disabled people.

EPRDF/Weyane is planning a law to limit foreign funding for non-governmental organisations to less than 10 percent and lock out foreign organisations from funding pro-democracy activities.

The proposed law, which has been at the centre of a raging debate on whether parliament should move on to deprive the local economy extra earnings from foreign non-governmental organisations, is set to move to the amendment stage in parliament.

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በፍሬው አበበ, Reporter
በርካታ ባለድርሻ አካላትን ሲያወዛግብ የቆየውና ለሕዝብ ተወካዮች ም/ቤት ቀርቦ የም/ቤቱ የሕግና አስተዳደር ቋሚ ኮሚቴ ሲመለከተው የቆየው የበጎ አድራጎት ድርጅቶችና የማኀበራት ረቂቅ አዋጅ የፊታችን ማክሰኞ ለፓርላማው ቀርቦ እንደሚፀድቅ ምንጮቻችን አረጋገጡ፡፡

ረቂቅ አዋጁ የተመራለት የፓርላማ የሕግና አስተዳደር ቋሚ ኮሚቴ በረቂቅ አዋጁ ላይ የሚመለከታቸውን ወገኖች ማወያየቱን የጠቀሰው ምንጫችን አዋጁ ብዙም የይዘት ለውጥ ሳይደረግበት ከኮሚቴው አስተያየት ጋር እንዲፀድቅ የፊታችን ማክሰኞ ታህሳስ 28 ቀን 2001 ዓ.ም. ለሕዝብ ተወካዮች ም/ቤት የውሣኔ ኀሳብ ይቀርባል፡፡

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Solidarity Movement for New Ethiopia | January 4, 2009

Human rights cannot be fought alone, but will require all people to come together… Ethiopians should stand in solidarity and fight together against the human rights abuses committed against all of them… Ethiopians deserve a much better government than what they have now, but Ethiopians have to speak with one voice and then we will help them if they do this. (Mr. Chris Smith, U.S. Congressman)

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Joe Michael
The Ethiopian Review editor seems like he is about to awfully collapse. Once again he rubbed his leg against the well known poison ivy that has been sickening the entire horn of Africa. The editor had chosen the dictator of dictators, the most brutal, and well-known Ethiopian enemy Essayas Afeworki as his person of the year.

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“I do not believe that all this intimidation and threat is aimed only at me”
My Word (My testimony)

It is very difficult to describe what I felt after watching on Ethiopian Television the very same warning that was given to me at the federal police after being summoned there the afternoon of December 23, 2008. Although there is nothing that I will say different from what I know and believe in, I have decided to write this to clarify the issue since what happened has raised questions among the public. Perhaps this can even be my last word.

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Reporter
የኢትዮጵያ ብሔራዊ ባንክ ታህሣሥ 17 ቀን 2001 ዓ.ም. ለአቢሲኒያ ባንክ ፕሬዚዳንት በፃፈው ደብዳቤ የ23 ግለሰቦችና የ15 ድርጅቶች ተንቀሳቃሽ ሒሳባቸው እንዲታገድ አዘዘ፡፡

ብሔራዊ ባንክ ለአቢሲኒያ ባንክ ፕሬዚዳንት በደብዳቤ ባስተላለፈው ትዕዛዝ “በድርጅቶቹና በግለሰቦቹ ሥም በባንካችሁ የሚንቀሳቀስ ሂሣብ ካለ፣ ሌላ ተለዋጭ ትዕዛዝ እስከሚሰጥ ድረስ ከታህሣስ 17 ቀን 2001 ዓ.ም. ጀምሮ እንዳይንቀሳቀስ እንዲደረግ እናስታውቃለን” ብሏል፡፡

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By yilma bekele

Judge Birtukan Mediksa has been arrested. According to reports civilian dressed TPLF cadres posing as the Federal police arrested the Andenet Party Chairwoman. Her colleague Professor Mesfin was roughed up and needed doctors care.

The harassment of opposition Party members started a few weeks ago. The reason given by the TPLF party was that in an interview she gave in Sweden she denied asking for a pardon from the Prime Minister. That is according to Ato Breket Simon, advisor to the PM. As they have done it many times before to members of the opposition, the Federal Police hounded Judge Birtukan all week long. Four or more police cars followed her around endangering her and those around. In the new democratic Ethiopia the Federal Police are above the law. It was a psychological ploy to torment her and to try to break her resolve.

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ADDIS ABABA - Ethiopia's leading opposition leader, Ms. Birtukan Mideksa, has fallen ill from refusing to eat since her arrest on Monday, reliable sources have told Ethiomedia.

Doctors are being sent to Kaliti Prison in the suburbs of the Ethiopian capital to treat Ms. Birtukan, president of the opposition Unity for Democracy and Justice Party (UDJP - Andenet). Regarded as a unifying force of the ethnically-fragmented country, the arrest of the charismatic opposition leader has sparked protests and condemnations by Ethiopians around the world.

ADDIS ABABA (AFP) — The US embassy in Addis Ababa on Wednesday voiced concern over the fate of an opposition leader who was jailed after her pardon from a life sentence was revoked.

Birtukan Midekssa, head of the Unity for Democracy Justice party, irked the regime when she reportedly claimed during a recent visit to Europe that she had never voiced remorse or acknowledged any mistake to obtain her pardon in 2007.

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