Ethiopia's Historic Trail: Quest for the Lost Ark

Ethiopia is easy to overlook as a travel destination, as it is one of the poorest countries in the world — and the site of much warfare. However, traveling in northeastern Ethiopia is safer than one might imagine. The country should be a top destination — provided one enjoys nature, religious history and simpler accommodations, says Susan Braden.

The Globalist -- The conflict with Eritrea has been over for more than five years and the government of President Meles Zanawi has brought a degree of calm to the country that enables foreigners to traverse the historic trail safely and in relative comfort.

Ethiopia is the site of one of the oldest Christian empires in the world. It also has an intriguing claim to being the caretaker of the most important relic of the Old Testament, the Ark of the Covenant.

Outside of the country, most people believe the wooden box built by Moses to protect the stone tablets inscribed by God with the Ten Commandments is lost and has been for more than 3,000 years.

Ark theory

Ask a native, however, and you will be told that the Ark is safely tucked away in Ethiopia. Spend a couple of weeks there — and you will think so too.

To understand the role Ethiopia played in the ancient world and its Christian heritage requires a quick review of the map and a ten-day trip from Bahar Dar to Gonder, Axum and Lalibela.

Deep history

From the map, you will gain an appreciation for northeastern Ethiopia's strategic location along two critical transportation routes — the Blue Nile and the Red Sea.

The trip along the historic trail will give you an intuitive understanding for Ethiopia's ties to the ancient Greeks, Egyptians and Israelites. On Lake Tana, for example, you will see flat reed boats bearing an uncanny resemblance to the reed boats on the Nile outside of Cairo.

Similarly, you will see indigenous Jews in Falasha settlements outside of Gonder and hear about local customs that underscore the deep connection between Judaism and Ethiopian Christianity.

Long journey

Starting in Addis Abba, it takes about an hour on Ethiopian Airlines to reach Bahar Dar, the stopping off point for a visit to the Blue Nile Falls and the island monasteries of Lake Tana. Although the falls were once considered the most spectacular in Africa, the construction of a hydroelectric dam nearby has so reduced its flow as to cause the locals to describe it as "a drunken man pissing."

According to the Ethiopians, the Ark was taken to the islands for safe keeping by Menelik, the son of the Queen of Sheba and King Solomon, at a time when the Temple of Solomon was under attack.

Rooted tradition

He carried the Ark to Egypt and then followed the Nile to the island monasteries on Lake Tana, where it was kept until the fourth century when Ethiopia converted from Judaism to Christianity and the Ark was moved to Axum.

From Lake Tana, the next stop is Gonder which takes a little over three hours to reach by jeep along a well-built road constructed by the Italians during their occupation of Ethiopia from 1931 to 1941.

Gonder's major attractions are its 17th century castles built by Emperor Fasiladas and his siblings beginning in 1636, when Gonder became the capital of Ethiopia for the next 200 years.

Land of righteousness

Other attractions include an enormous bath where thousands of people are still blessed during the January 19 (Gregorian calendar) celebration of Timket, or the Epiphany, commemorating Christ's baptism by Saint John in the Jordan River.

There is also the church of Debre Berhan Selassie, a relatively plain thatched-roof structure on the outside with beautiful paintings depicting various scenes from the Bible on the inside.

Bloody history

In one scene, for example, St. George is depicted slaying the dragon and in another St. Mary is conversing with Mohammad, who is about to choose a path she opposes.

Ethiopians claim that the Queen of Sheba was an Ethiopian who lived in Axum. To prove it, they will show you the remains of her palace and a bath dug out of red granite on a hillside.

Ethiopia's connection to Islam is almost as old as its ties to Judaism and Christianity. The prophet Mohammad reportedly told his early followers who were being persecuted in Arabia to emigrate to Ethiopia, "a land of righteousness."

In subsequent years, relations between Muslims and Christians soured and turned into bloody wars. Today, however, the country is almost evenly divided between Moslems and Christians, co-existing in relative harmony.

Continue to Part II of Susan Braden's account of Ethiopia's Historic Route.

Click here to view a gallery of Susan Braden's photos taken during her July 2006 visit to Ethiopia.


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"This seemed a crime against nature, against aesthetic sensibilities, even local economies..." -Richard Bangs, author of Mystery of the Nile

Risks and Perils Loom Large

Gulf News -- Although peering into the fog of the future is always a hazardous business, it would not be rash to say that, of all the potential man-made catastrophes that might afflict the world this coming year, for sheer destructiveness none would surpass an American/Israeli attack on Iran.

Is such an attack probable or even possible? Regrettably, it is.

In the current confrontation with Iran, the military option remains very much on the table. In the US and Israel, the same military planners, political lobbyists and armchair strategists that pressed America to attack Iraq are now urging it to strike Iran - and for much the same reasons.

These reasons may be briefly summarised as the need to control the Middle East's oil resources and deny them to potential rivals, such as China; the wish to demonstrate to friend and foe alike America's unique ability to project military power across the globe; and, last but not least, Israel's determination to maintain its supremacy over any regional challenger, especially one as recklessly provocative as Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

To be effective, an American/Israeli strike against Iran would have to destroy not only its nuclear facilities but also its ability to hit back, that is to say its entire military-industrial complex.

It seems more than likely that, if attacked, Iran will, one way or another, manage to strike back - against US troops in Iraq, against Israel, and against US bases and US allies in the Gulf.

The impact would also be devastating on US-Arab relations, on Israel's long-term security, on the flow of oil from the Gulf, on the oil price, on the economies of the industrial world and on the already highly fragile dollar. And yet, some influential voices in the US argue that the only way the US can hope to "win" in Iraq is to destroy Iran.

US President George W. Bush is due to make a statement of his Middle East strategy early in the New Year. There is talk of sending more troops to Iraq, of tightening sanctions against Iran and Syria, of mobilising "moderate" Arab states against "extremists", of arming the Fouad Siniora government in Lebanon against Hezbollah, and the Fatah forces of Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian National Authority president, against the democratically elected Hamas government.

In the Horn of Africa, the US is lending its "tacit support" to Ethiopia in its war against Somalia's Union of Islamic Courts, all this in the name of the ill-conceived "Global War on Terrorism", which continues to create more "terrorists" than it eliminates.

Instead of calming passions and bringing peace to a deeply troubled region, American policies are feeding the flames of civil war in Iraq, exposing American troops to still greater danger, forcing Iran and Syria to look to their defences, exacerbating conflicts in Lebanon and Palestine and opening a "new front" in Somalia, which risks destabilising much of East Africa.

Insane belligerence

Still in the grip of the neocon cabal which has destroyed his presidency by its insane belligerence, Bush continues to see the Tehran-Damascus-Hezbollah-Hamas axis as the main enemy to confront and bring down. The real danger this coming year is that Saudi Arabia, alarmed at the rise of Iran and at the self-assertion of Shiite communities in Lebanon and the Gulf region, will be persuaded to side with the US against Tehran. It would be wiser for the Kingdom to engage Tehran in a wide-ranging dialogue leading to an agreement on mutual interests, and even to the conclusion of a Saudi-Iranian security pact which alone could stabilise the region without the interference of external powers.

Meanwhile, Israel continues to play cat-and-mouse with the international community, pretending to make concessions to Abbas, while blatantly establishing a new illegal colony in the Jordan valley and pressing ahead with its infamous separation wall. The message is clear: Israel's land grab on the West Bank will continue whatever Washington or anyone else might say.

Various influential Israelis have stated that if the US does not strike Iran to destroy its nuclear facilities, Israel must do so itself.

If one considers the likely impact of these American and Israeli policies, it is clear that the coming year is likely to be a hot one in the region.

Real problem

The real problem is a world-wide lack of leadership. There is hardly anyone around with the power or the vision to end the current state of international anarchy.

Bush has de-legitimised himself and squandered American authority by his blunders. Russia's Vladimir Putin has managed to hoist his country back into the front rank of international powers, but his focus is still on reasserting Russian state control over oil and gas resources, while keeping neighbours such as Ukraine, Belarus and Georgia firmly within Russia's orbit.

The European Union is a magnificent example of how 27 nations can, by mutual agreement and by means of carefully crafted laws, give 500 million people a life of peace, stability and considerable prosperity. But in terms of a common foreign policy, the Union has been a failure. Its members have pulled in different directions.

Britain's Tony Blair has marginalised himself and his country by his slavish attachment to the US. He will, in any event, be leaving office in 2007. President Jacques Chirac of France - an experienced and sober Middle East hand - will be out of office by May. Neither of his potential successors has much foreign affairs experience, and both are committed to mistaken policies.

In the Middle East, three men will bear a heavy burden of responsibility in the coming year. They are King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz of Saudi Arabia, President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey. They all have great problems at home, but if they were to get together, pool their considerable resources and jointly exert their political influence, they could protect the region from some of the risks, perils and potential catastrophes of the year ahead.


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Ethiopians Are Divided Over War in Somalia

AFP Graphic

LA Times -- The headline in an Ethiopian newspaper drew familiar, if unflattering, comparisons to another nation's faster-than-expected victory in a war abroad.

"Mission Accomplished," blared Addis Ababa's Daily Monitor in a story about Ethiopian forces' triumph over Somalian Islamists this week.

In 2003, the same phrase adorned a banner behind President Bush as he declared an end to major combat operations in Iraq, though the battles and bloodshed proved far from over.

Just as the Iraq invasion has divided Americans, Ethiopians are split over their government's decision to get involved in Somalia's brewing civil war by sending troops across the border.

After just a week of fighting, Ethiopian troops have enabled Somalia's transitional government to gain control of a vast swath of southern Somalia that had been seized by the fundamentalist Islamic Courts Union over the last six months. By Thursday morning, Ethiopian and Somalian government troops had reached the outskirts of the capital city, Mogadishu, with Islamic forces there apparently having disappeared into the populace.

Ethiopian leaders are calling the military intervention a smart preemptive strike against the spread of religious extremism in the Horn of Africa. They say the world should thank Ethiopia for defeating a coalition of militant Islamists that U.S. officials have accused of having links to terrorists, including Al Qaeda.

Others here worry that the incursion could backfire over time by stirring political instability at home or driving Islamic militants to set their sights on this nation.

Ethiopia has no opinion polling to measure public attitudes, and recent government crackdowns against opposition leaders and journalists have made some citizens afraid to express their views.

But nearly everyone, including Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, agrees that the issue has sparked debate.

"It's natural to have disagreements on fundamental issues," Meles said Thursday in a televised news briefing. Yet he stressed that the Ethiopian people "overwhelming" support the action in Somalia.

About three-quarters of Ethiopia's parliament voted this month in favor of military involvement in Somalia. Though the vote suggested a resounding endorsement, opposition leaders said it was the closest tally they've had in a legislative body heavily dominated by Meles' party. One parliament member who is part of Meles' political coalition abstained, a rare act of defiance.

Noting that Islamists have threatened to resort to guerrilla tactics against Ethiopians, opposition leader Beyene Petros said he was not convinced that the threat posed by the Islamic courts merited Ethiopia's declaration of war.

"Ethiopia should not be bogged down in a problem that is not ours," he said. "This is not Ethiopia's problem. It's all of Africa's."

He also expressed concern that the government might use the perceived threat of terrorism to crack down against political enemies. After last year's disputed election, Meles was criticized for his response to large student demonstrations. Nearly 200 people were killed, mostly civilians, and many elected opposition leaders remain in prison awaiting trial for treason.

Supporters of the intervention in Somalia point to the Islamists' declaration of a "holy war" against Ethiopia.

"It's self-defense," said Amare Aregawi, editor of the Reporter newspaper and a former rebel fighter. "People always say, 'Don't touch the terrorists. You'll aggravate them.' What are we supposed to do? Flatter them?"

Others said the Islamists in Somalia were merely a front for international militants or other enemies of Ethiopia.

"I believe this whole thing came from Eritrea," said Michael G. Kirstus, 29, a customs house worker. International experts have said that Eritrea, Ethiopia's chief rival, has dispatched 2,000 troops to aid the Islamists, though the government in Asmara has denied it.

Allegations of U.S. involvement have been another hot-button issue in Ethiopia. Many believe the United States used Ethiopia to launch a proxy war against the Islamists.

"This was an American-made war," said Akmel Negash, 22, a student.

Meles on Thursday denied that U.S. soldiers or weapons were being used in any battles, though he noted that Washington and Addis Ababa have a long-standing agreement to share intelligence.

"We are not fighting anybody's war," Meles said. "We are fighting to defend ourselves."

Meles said that during a visit this month by U.S. Gen. John P. Abizaid, the top American commander in the Middle East had advised against a Somalia invasion. "He shared his experiences in Iraq and Afghanistan with us, and he indicated that we have, to the maximum extent possible, to avoid direct military intervention in Somalia," Meles said.

The war against Somalia's Islamists has been a touchy topic in Ethiopia's Muslim community. The country is about evenly split between Christians and Muslims, though Christians have dominated the government and Muslims were often oppressed. Though the communities have largely coexisted in peace, Muslim and Christian villagers clashed this year in southwestern Ethiopia in a conflict over religious holidays. More than a dozen people were killed and churches were burned.

"Muslims in Ethiopia are angry," said Isaac Eshetu, 25, a student. "For 2,000 years they've been living as strangers in their own motherland."

He said he opposed violence or imposing his religion on others, but "as a Muslim, I would like to live under an Islamic government."

Some Muslims questioned whether Ethiopia's Christian leaders launched the attack because they feared an Islamic government in Somalia might encourage Ethiopia's Muslims to seek the same.

Other Ethiopian Muslims said they supported the war.

"I'm Muslim, but I don't identify with them," said Mohammed Arab, 33, a waiter in Addis Ababa, the capital, referring to Somalia's Islamic courts militants. "They believe in holy war. I don't."

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Two-Thirds of Congo Basin Forests Could Disappear

© IRIN

Reuters/Planet Ark -- YAOUNDE - Two-thirds of the forests in the Congo River Basin could disappear within 50 years if logging and mineral exploitation continues at current rates, environmental group WWF said in a report.

The Congo Basin, the world's second largest tropical forest after the Amazon, loses some 3.7 million acres a year to agriculture, logging, road development, oil exploitation and mining, WWF's Central African regional office (CARPO) said in a report published late on Thursday.

"Tropical forest is vanishing at a rate of 5 percent a decade, wrecking habitats and releasing 3 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide a year, which is a fifth of global greenhouse emissions," CARPO director Laurent Som said in the report.

About 400 mammal species live in the Congo Basin, including the world's largest populations of lowland gorillas, chimpanzees, bonobos and forest elephants, all under threat as their habitat is destroyed.

More than 655 bird species fly under its dense canopy and over 10,000 plant species take root in the forest floor, many of them unique to the region and containing medicinal properties.

"The region is blanketed by a patchwork quilt of logging concessions. While the logging itself is usually selective and does little damage, the associated roads, infrastructure and migration degrade surrounding landscape and result in massive wildlife depletion," the report said.

"Studies show that if current trends continue, two-thirds of the Congo's forests could be lost within 50 years."

As well as endangered wildlife, central African forests also harbour vast reserves of minerals which still remain to be tapped and experts say there is a huge potential for the generation of hydroelectric power.

But clearing for agriculture and mining for diamonds and coltan -- a compound found in electronic goods including mobile phones -- are already destroying large parts of the Congo Basin's 470 million acres (200 million hectares) each year.

Parrots, crocodiles and lizards are also hunted for trophies, fetishes and the pet trade, while elephants are still poached extensively for their meat and ivory.

The forests are also home to the pygmies, traditional hunter-gatherers known for their singing, drumming and dancing in honour of the 'Jengi' or the Spirit of the Forest.

The pygmies, too, with their almost mystical knowledge of the forest and its wildlife, must be protected, WWF said.

The environmental group has been working in the Congo Basin for more than two decades, creating millions of acres of protected areas, sometimes across borders, introducing sustainable forest management plans and raising awareness.

One of the plans to make logging sustainable involves certifying certain areas as viable for timber firms. Dutch lumber company Wijma became the first firm in the region to operate in such a concession covering 45,000 acres in January.

The Congo Basin covers Democratic Republic of Congo, most of Congo Republic, the southeastern reaches of Cameroon, southern Central African Republic, Gabon and mainland Equatorial Guinea.

WWF is looking for 300,000 more acres to be certified in Congo Republic in the months ahead.

***

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Lion Cubs in Ethiopia Find Refuge in Italian Embassy

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Two Abyssinian lion cubs play in a large fenced garden of the Italian embassy in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The two were found orphaned near the Somali border.

The Seattle Times -- Ethiopia is a perilous place to be an Abyssinian lion — so perilous that an Italian aid group brought two orphaned cubs to the Italian Embassy, where the wife of a diplomat has been caring for them inside a fenced garden.

The Lion Zoo in the impoverished nation's capital has been killing the endangered animals, poisoning six cubs this year because of lack of money and space, zoo officials said.

This even though the Abyssinian lion, famed for its black mane, is Ethiopia's national symbol, adorning statues and the local currency. Ethiopians have long been fascinated with the rare creatures.

When the Italian aid group found two orphaned cubs near the Somali border, it took them to the Italian Embassy 500 miles away instead of the zoo. Chantal Benaben, the wife of the Italian deputy ambassador, has been caring for them there.

"They were on the verge of death when I got them, and now they have all of their vaccinations and they are healthy," she said.

But the cubs' fate was still uncertain. Officials from the government-run Ethiopian Wildlife Association, concerned the embassy's fence would not be strong enough to hold the growing cubs, warned Benaben they would be killed if a permanent home was not found.

Enter the cubs' next savior, President Girma Wolde-Giorgis. He learned about the lions and found them a new home in the country's eastern, fertile Awash Valley, 380 miles from Addis Ababa.

On a recent afternoon, the cubs, nicknamed Janu and Andrea, rolled and leaped on the ground, nipping at each other like puppies. They played, oblivious to Wolde-Giorgis, who watched from the sidelines.

"I have been able to find a home from a private individual who will be able to take the cubs in and give them a good home," the Ethiopian leader said.

Abyssinian lions live only in Ethiopia. Although government wildlife officials say 3,000 Abyssinian lions roam the country, conservationists say the real tally is closer to 1,000. They blame lax enforcement of laws against poachers for the animals' dwindling numbers.
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In November, Muhedin Abdulaziz, the administrator of Addis Ababa's Lion Zoo, said the overcrowded, underfunded facility had resorted to killing some of its lions to make ends meet. He said the zoo costs $6,000 to run each month but gets only $5,000 in entrance fees. Taxidermists pay $170 for a dead cub.

Ethiopia, home to 77 million people, has long associated the lion with their monarch, whom they refer to as the lion of Judah.

It's a symbol that merits saving, says Benaben.

"I'm really hoping that these cubs are properly taken care of — because if you look at how the zoo treats their lions, you just never know what can happen," she said.

Ethiopia, she added, "could use these lions like the Chinese use the panda bear, or Pakistan has used the snow leopard — to promote their countries."


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Coffee with Milk -- and Morals

Orlando Sentinel -- KFAR SHMARIAHU, Israel -- People around the globe down 8 billion cups of coffee a day. Drip, perk, filter, black, espresso, sweetened, decaf, latte, dark roast, instant, ground, freeze-dried, flavored, organic, demitasse -- coffee drinkers are passionate about their preferences. But until this year's film Black Gold, few were passionate about the desperate poverty of farmers who grow the precious beans. Few were even aware of it. The documentary insists everybody in the world who drinks coffee has the power to affect that poverty.

The low-budget movie has exploded as a sleeper in film festivals and movie houses, picking up steam as it goes -- from Seattle to San Diego, Toronto to Tel Aviv, Belfast to Brooklyn, Rio to Rome.

Click here to find out more!
Now it is affecting the epicenter itself: Starbucks Coffee Co. During filming, the company refused to talk to the directors. After Black Gold began to attract audience attention, they were invited to company headquarters. Now public pressure aroused by the film may have helped trigger the recent conciliatory visit to Ethiopia by none other than the CEO of Starbucks. Starbucks disputes Ethiopian plans to trademark the names of coffees named for its local regions, proposing a lesser form of protection. Compromise was not reached, but this publicized gesture shows that a small independent film can ignite public consciousness to the point that an international giant feels shaky about its good-guy humanitarian image.

A cup of coffee priced under a dollar is a bargain, yet Ethiopian farmers receive less than 4 cents for every pound they grow, and the take-home pay of workers who hunch over, manually sorting beans for eight hours, comes to 50 cents. Eighty percent of Ethiopians live on less than $2 a day.

With every new harvest, bone-weary farmers hope against hope that the product of their labors will yield enough to take them from living on the edge of despair. The cooperative they have formed seeks to route profits away from conglomerates and middlemen and back into the hands of impoverished growers. Even a documentary needs a hero -- Black Gold's is the modest representative doggedly traveling the world to sleek coffee fairs, handing out samples from Oromia Coffee Farmers' Cooperative Union, certain that if buyers will only try it, the quality of the product will speak for itself.

The Ethiopian coffee union is one of hundreds of international grass-roots cooperatives for agricultural products that sell as much outside the New York Board of Trade as possible. Four corporations that do deal there dominate the world coffee market, even though it may be news for many to hear these familiar names associated with coffee: Kraft, Procter & Gamble, Sarah Lee and Nestle. None acceded to the directors' requests to participate in the movie.

In light of growing public awareness, these corporate giants have agreed to devote a small share of their products to "fair trade" coffee. Whether or not this is a window-dressing public-relations bid to deflect criticism, as the film directors assert, it is a significant step toward spreading revenues to the growers.

In the Sidama region of Ethiopia, from where Starbucks buys some of its coffee, many farmers can no longer afford to grow the crop. Famine is spreading, and children starve.

Dusty farmers of the coffee cooperative sit around a table beating their heads against the figures to try to scrounge enough funds to build a school so their children will not be doomed to repeat their lives. They fail.

After the screen goes dark, audiences ask what they can do. In the open audience session after Black Gold premiered at Utah's Sundance Film Festival, one viewer pledged $10,000 to build that school. In a much more modest way, I vow to do my part. Every time I go to a coffee store, I buy only fair-trade grinds, whatever is in stock.

It takes effort to find coffee marked "Fair Trade," although more is becoming available to the mainstream consumer, from Peace Coffee in Minneapolis to Ilan's in Israel, and around the globe through Ben & Jerry's ice creams. It's not a case of paying more to do the right thing, because fair-trade coffee is not priced higher; the money just reaches other destinations.

But as time passes the impact lessens. I get lazy. When I can't find free trade where I happen to be grocery shopping, I revert to picking up other brands, fooling myself by saying, "Next time."

News of the Starbucks visit to Ethiopia has rekindled my determination not to neglect the small power I possess. Imagine that power multiplied by 8 billion cups a day.

Helen Schary Motro, who teaches at the Tel Aviv University Faculty of Law, is author of "Maneuvering between the Headlines: An American Lives through the Intifada." She wrote this commentary for the Orlando Sentinel.

Worldwide Protest Against Meles Zenawi's Invasion of Somalia

Photo courtesy: Ethiopian Review

Ethiopian Review -- Ethiopian dictator Meles Zenawi has invaded Somalia
after receiving a green light from the United States last week. Leaders of the Somali Islamic Courts Union (ICU), on their part, have asked Muslim jihadists around the world to come to their aid. According to a recent U.N. report, currently at least eight countries are lined up backing either the Meles regime or the ICU. From all indications, Meles and his Tigrean People Liberation Front (TPLF) may have succeeded in igniting a regional war involving all Horn of Africa countries and beyond.

Without Meles, this war will not have started

While the inept U.S. State Department officials may be fooled by the intelligence Meles provided to them about the threat of the ICU, every one else, including the Europeans, believe that he is invading Somalia to divert attention from the internal crises his regime is facing. Sadly, in the name of fighting terrorism, Jendayi E. Frazer and her morally corrupt U.S. State Department officials are assisting Meles Zenawi, the number one terrorist in the Horn of Africa, to wage a war that could cause incalculable damage to the whole region.

Ethiopians around the world, and the major Ethiopian opposition party, the Coalition for Unity and Democracy (Kinijit), are expressing opposition to Meles Zenawi's adventure in Somalia. It is important for the world, particularly the people of Somalia, to know that Ethiopians are against this war.

Why are we opposing the war:

* The Somali ICU does not pose a threat to Ethiopia.
* Meles, who was rejected by the people of Ethiopia in the May 2005 elections, doesn't have a mandate to declare war on behalf of Ethiopia.
* The legitimately elected rulers of Ethiopia are detained in Kaliti jail.
* The war is being waged by Meles to prolong his illegitimate rule.
* No one in the Horn of Africa has murdered, tortured, looted, pillaged and terrorized the people of the region as much as Meles and his TPLF gangsters.

It is encouraging that Kinijit has taken a strong position opposing the war. The international community needs to know that as a party that has been elected to govern Ethiopia, what Kinijit says reflects the sentiments of the majority of Ethiopians. If Kinijit is in power, we would not be talking about war today. Unfortunately, the Meles dictatorship, with moral and financial supports from the U.S. State Department, the World Bank and others, has denied the people of Ethiopia their choice.

Ethiopian Review urges Kinijit to continue speaking on behalf of Ethiopians in this matter of paramount national importance. We also urge Kinijit to hold frequent press conferences for the world media and get its message out. Issuing a two-page statement in Amharic is not enough.

It would help if, in collaboration with civic and other groups, Kinijit organizes worldwide protest rallies opposing the war, and call for a week of peaceful civil disobedience throughout Ethiopia. The purpose of the civil disobedience must be not only to oppose the war, but to also demand the resignation of Meles Zenawi, who has been certified by the parliament-appointed Inquiry Commission as a mass murderer.

While the peaceful civil disobedience takes place, EPPF, OLF and the other armed groups need to help out by blocking all major roads in the country, paralyzing the brutal regime completely.

Hazardous Hand-Me-Downs Under Spotlight at Waste Conference

Protesters in Abidjan from Sept '06 (photo courtesy: BBC News)

Environmental Data Interactive -- The growing problem of electronic waste was at the top of the agenda of this week's conference on the Basel Convention, held in Nairobi.

The Basel Convention is an international treaty brokered in 1989 by the UN which regulates the cross-boundary transfer of toxic waste.

In practical terms, it attempts to prevent the developing world from becoming the toxic dumping ground of wealthy states which might otherwise be reluctant to deal with their own waste.

But the high-profile case in the Ivory Coast this year (see related story) shows the agreement is not infallible and this week's conference aims to close loopholes whilst addressing issues which simply did not exist when the convention was drawn up.

The meteoric rise of the mobile phone and personal computer have revolutionised communication, but they have also created a new tide of hazardous waste.

"As the recent tragedy in Côte d'Ivoire reminds us, hazardous wastes continue to pose serious risks for human health and the environment," said UNEP's executive director Achim Steiner.

"Like the climate change treaties, the Basel Convention promotes clean technologies and processes that minimize unwanted by-products. It provides the tools and incentives we need to both empower and motivate the producers and consumers of goods that generate hazardous wastes to pursue innovative solutions.

"In this way the Convention also advances sustainable development and the UN's Millennium Development Goals."

On Thursday the Nairobi conference convened a high-level World Forum on E-Wastes to confront the growing reality that, in addition to its many benefits, the global consumer goods revolution is generating massive quantities of end-of-life computers and other obsolete electronic equipment.

Some 20 to 50 million metric tonnes of e-waste are generated worldwide every year, comprising more than 5% of all municipal solid waste. When the millions of computers purchased around the world every year (183 million in 2004) become obsolete they leave behind lead, cadmium, mercury and other hazardous wastes.

Similarly, the use and disposal of mobile phones - which like PCs barely existed 20 years ago - is increasing dramatically. By 2008 the number of cell phone users around the world is projected to reach some two billion. Leading cell phone manufacturers are collaborating through the Basel Convention's Mobile Phone Partnership Initiative to find better ways to reduce and manage this growing waste stream.

Lessons learned from efforts to improve the management of e-wastes could also be applied to other obsolete consumer goods and end-of-life equipment, such as batteries, automobiles and ships.

The key to success will, according to UNEP, be the creation of a global framework for managing wastes that renders waste flows transparent, predictable and traceable, while reflecting the specific attributes of each waste stream.

"Because you can only manage what you can measure, we need to shine a brighter light on hazardous wastes - on where they come from, and on where they end up. More and better information about waste will also help us to tackle the growing challenge of illegal trade," said Sachiko Kuwabara-Yamamoto, the Convention's executive secretary.

The dumping of hazardous wastes last August in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire, and the resulting deaths and illnesses, has revived concern about the continuing problem of illegal trade. A 2005 report by the European Network for the Implementation and Enforcement of Environmental Law (IMPEL) indicates that illegal trade is on the rise. A joint enforcement operation carried out in 17 European seaports examined 3,000 shipping documents and physically inspected 258 cargo holds. Of these, 140 were waste shipments, of which 68 - or some 48% - turned out to be illegal.

Governments are working through the Basel Convention to develop partnerships with industry, the public sector and civil society aimed at reducing hazardous wastes at source and promoting recycling and re-use. They are also taking advantage of the Convention's expanding series of technical guidelines for the environmentally sound management of specific kinds of wastes.

The Nairobi meeting will consider adopting three new sets of such guidelines for the environmentally sound management of certain persistent organic pollutants (POPs). Many of these pollutants are amongst the most hazardous substances known to humanity. Guidelines on POPs wastes and on PCBs were finalized in 2004. The new guidelines focus specifically on DDT, other obsolete pesticides, dioxins and furans.

Another hot topic at the conference was the dismantling of obsolete ships. The International Maritime Organization (IMO), which has launched negotiations on a legally binding agreement that would clarify the legal requirements for scrapping obsolete ships.

However, governments recognize that the Basel Convention also has a clear role to play in this issue.

The fate of ships which have reached the end of their useful lives has been a fiercely debated topic, with NGOs highlighting the terrible working conditions and environmental risks at breaking yards in India, China, Bangladesh and other states, mainly in the Far East, that dismantle the majority of the world's ageing hulks.

For many of these states, scrapping the ships is a major source of employment and income, however, and it is down to agreements such as the Basel Convention to ensure trade can continue while managed in an environmentally sound way.

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