Léon Chefneux and Ethiopia

Léon Chefneux was a French trader, born in Romania, who entered Ethiopia as early as 1877 – a full decade before the founding of Addis Ababa. He was thus in Ethiopia quite early in Menilek’s reign. It was Chefneux who helped Menilek in printing the first Ethiopian postage stamps, and in the minting the first Ethiopiancoined money, both in Paris in 1894, as well in the acquisition of the first Ethiopian government printing press.
He is, however, best remembered for collaborating with the Swiss craftsman-cum-diplomat Alfred Ilg in building the famous Djibouti-Addis Ababa railway – an event on any showing of immense historical importance
Menilek was deeply grateful to Chefneux for his help in the modernization of Ethiopia.

The Watch was a gift to Leon Chefneux in recognition of his contribution to the implementation of Ethiopia’s first railway line, as inscribed on the inside of the case ‘Don de Sa Majeste Menelik II Empereur d’Ethiopie’.
The Ethiopian king accordingly presented him a hand-Watch, reportedly in 1893, with a fine and
excellently crafted 18K gold with Amharic characters. Menilek, we may add,
always displayed an inordinate interest in clocks and watches of all kinds.
The Watch was particularly in recognition of his contribution to the implementation of Ethiopia’s first railway line, as inscribed on the inside of the case ‘Don de Sa Majeste Menelik II Empereur d’Ethiopie’. / Gift of His Majesty Emperor Menelik II of Ethiopia/
which remained in the family for over a century, was finally auctioned in Geneva,
Switzerland, on 22 November 2009, and sold for the Euro equivalent of 51,687 US dollars
Chefneux left Ethiopia in 1922 and returned to France, following the official announcement and death of His Majesty Emperor Menilk II.

The oldest Tour de France winner is adopting a one year old Ethiopian boy.

Australia’s cycling star Cadel Evans, the Tour de France champion in 2011, is adopting a one-year-old Ethiopian boy with his wife, a report said Wednesday.

Evans said on his Twitter on Tuesday that he was “busy baby sitting“.

His wife, Chiara Passerini, also confirmed on her Twitter that the couple had travelled to Ethiopia to adopt a child.

“We came here to bring home our little 12-month boy after months of paperwork,” she said. “We always felt the strong wish to adopt, so we decided to start our family through adoption.”

The 34-year-old Evans was the first Australian to win the Tour de France and the oldest in 88 years.

Gelila and Tyler are ready to get married.

There are whispers that Tyler Perry could be ready to jump the broom with a model.

Is Tyler gearing up to settle down. A source close to the entertainment mogul told MediaTakeOut.com last week that Tyler is getting ready to propose!

Model Gelila Bekele reportedly let it slip to friends that she and Tyler have talked about getting married.

But the nuptials could be more than just talk as one of would-be bride’s buddies revealed that Gelila and Tyler have actually looked at rings and scoped out some prospective wedding venues.

Neither Tyler nor Gelila have commented on the rumors at this time.
S2s megazin .com

The First person to Knock Muhammad Ali at Madison Square died

Joe Frazier needed the night of his career to knock down “The Greatest.”

Frazier knocked Muhammad Ali down in the 15th round and became the first man to beat him in the Fight of the Century at Madison Square Garden in March 1971, the first in a trilogy of bouts that have gone down as boxing’s most fabled fights.

“That was the greatest thing that ever happened in my life,” Frazier said.

It was his biggest night, one that would never come again.

The relentless, undersized heavyweight ruled the division as champion, then spent a lifetime trying to fight his way out of Ali’s shadow.

Frazier, who died Monday night after a brief battle with liver cancer at the age of 67, will forever be associated with Ali. No one in boxing would ever dream of anointing Ali as The Greatest unless he, too, was linked to Smokin’ Joe.

“I will always remember Joe with respect and admiration,” Ali said in a statement. “My sympathy goes out to his family and loved ones.”

They fought three times, twice in the heart of New York City and once in the morning in a steamy arena in the Thrilla in Manila the Philippines. They went 41 rounds together. Neither gave an inch and both gave it their all.

In their last fight in Manila in 1975, they traded punches with a fervor that seemed unimaginable among heavyweights. Frazier gave almost as good as he got for 14 rounds, then had to be held back by trainer Eddie Futch as he tried to go out for the final round, unable to see.

“Closest thing to dying that I know of,” Ali said afterward.

Ali was as merciless with Frazier out of the ring as he was inside it. He called him a gorilla, and mocked him as an Uncle Tom. But he respected him as a fighter, especially after Frazier won a decision to defend his heavyweight title against the then-unbeaten Ali in a fight that was so big Frank Sinatra was shooting pictures at ringside and both fighters earned an astonishing $2.5 million.

The night at the Garden 40 years ago remained fresh in Frazier’s mind as he talked about his life, career and relationship with Ali a few months before he died.

“I can’t go nowhere where it’s not mentioned,” he told The Associated Press.

Bob Arum, who once promoted Ali, said he was saddened by Frazier’s passing.

“He was such an inspirational guy. A decent guy. A man of his word,” Arum said. “I’m torn up by Joe dying at this relatively young age. I can’t say enough about Joe.”

Frazier’s death was announced in a statement by his family, who asked to be able to grieve privately and said they would announce “our father’s homecoming celebration” as soon as possible.

Manny Pacquiao learned of it shortly after he arrived in Las Vegas for his fight Saturday night with Juan Manuel Marquez. Like Frazier in his prime, Pacquiao has a powerful left hook that he has used in his remarkable run to stardom.

“Boxing lost a great champion, and the sport lost a great ambassador,” Pacquiao said.

Don King, who promoted the Thrilla in Manila, was described by a spokesman as too upset to talk about Frazier’s death.

Though slowed in his later years and his speech slurred by the toll of punches taken in the ring, Frazier was still active on the autograph circuit in the months before he died. In September he went to Las Vegas, where he signed autographs in the lobby of the MGM Grand shortly before Floyd Mayweather Jr.‘s fight against Victor Ortiz.

ABC News

የኦፔራ አቀንቃኟ ሕፃን አንደኛ ሆነች

 

The PDF file: ethiopian idol

ባለፈው እሑድ በኢትዮጵያ ስብሰባ ማዕከል በተደረገው የኢትዮጵያ አይዶል ውድድር ከአሥር ድምፃውያን አምስት ምርጦች ሲለዩ የኦፔራ ሙዚቃን ይዛ በመቅረብ ባለፉት ዙሮች ተወዳዳሪ የነበረችው ሕፃን ሃና ግርማ ልዩ ሥራ ይዛ ለውድድር በመግባቷ አንደኛ ተብላለች፡፡

ሃና በልዩ ዘርፍ አንደኛ ብትባልም በዝግጅቱ ላይ ከኦፔራ በተጨማሪ እንደሌሎቹ ተወዳዳሪዎች የአንዲት ታዋቂ ድምፃዊትን ዜማ እንድትጫወት ተደርጐ ነበር፡፡ በዚህም በኦፔራ ብቻ ሳይሆን የአገራችንን ዜማዎች የመጫወት ብቃት እንዳላት አስመስክራለች፡፡ በዝግጅቱ ላይ የሕፃኗን ኦፔራ የመጫወት ብቃት ተመልካቹ በንጽጽር እንዲረዳ ከመድረኩ በቴፕ የኦፔራ ሙዚቃ እንዲለቀቅና ጐን ለጐን እሷ ኦፔራ እንድትጫወት የተደረገበት ሁኔታ ነበር፡፡

በዳንስና በባህላዊ ውዝዋዜ ቻዴት የባህል ቡድን፣ ሀሁ የዘመናዊ ዳንስ ቡድን እና የማይክል ጃክሰንን ዳንስ ይዞ የቀረበው ወጣት ታምራት ወደ ፍጻሜው የውድድር ዙር አልፈዋል፡፡

በዘፈን ወደ መጨረሻው ዙር ውድድር ያለፉት ምርጥ የአይዶል አምስቶች ዮሐና በላይ፣ ሐሰን አርጋው፣ ማስተዋል እያዩ፣ ይድነቃቸው በላይና ተመስገን ናቸው፡፡

ምንም እንኳን ለፍጻሜው ዙር ባይደርሱም ምርጥ አሥር ውስጥ የገቡ ተወዳዳሪዎች የፍጻሜ ውድድር በሚካሔድበት የነሐሴ 29 ቀን 2003 ዓ.ም. የኢትዮጵያን አይዶል ልዩ ዝግጅት ላይ ተገኝተው የተዘጋጀላቸውን ሽልማት እንደሚቀበሉ የኢትዮጵያ አይዶል አስታውቋል፡፡

ተወዳዳሪዎች እስከዛሬ በተለያዩ ዙሮች ይሆነናል እንፈልገዋለን ያሉትን ዜማ ይዘው መቅረባቸው የሚታወስ ሲሆን፣ ለፍጻሜው ዙር ግን በዳኞች በተመረጠላቸው ሥራ እንደሚቀርቡ የኢትዮጵያ አይዶል አዘጋጆች ገልጸዋል፡፡

Ethiopian-Israeli’s, Sderot’s Hagit Yaso Captures Top Prize in “Israeli Idol”

21-year-old Ethiopian–Israeli’s rise to fame has a Canadian connection.
As with all new olim, starting new lives in Israel, while exciting, comes with its share of challenges.
For 21-year-old Hagit Yaso, whose parents left their native Ethiopia in the early 90’s for a brighter future in the Jewish state, growing up in Sderot has not always been the idyllic backdrop one might associate with a talented artist. For more than 10 years and counting, the beleaguered residents of Sderot have been bombarded with almost daily – and unprovoked – Kassam rocket attacks, making relaxation and a sense of safety, rare commodities.
Fortunately for Hagit, her parents decided to make that trek to Israel those 30 years ago, because if it was designed to give their future children a better shot in life, it was an investment that has already paid significant dividends.
Fast forward to Saturday, July 23, 2011. The beautiful and mellifluous Hagit, standing on a beach in Haifa, surrounded by other stars in the Israeli night sky, her incredible voice drowning out any memory of those Kassams or sirens, singing her way to victory in this year’s Israeli version of American Idol, “A Star is Born”.
When the music stopped, this assistant daycare provider in a kibbutz near her humble home in Sderot instantly became an Israeli Cinderella story; and, more importantly, an inspiration to thousands of olim, just like her.
And, there’s an unlikely Canadian connection to this songbird’s success.
It turns out, representatives of United Israel Appeal of Canada (UIAC) met Hagit over four years ago when she was part of the Sderot youth troop. It was during Hagit’s visit to UIAC’s Israel Emergency Campaign intervention project in Sderot where they watched the troop’s rehearsal, and noticed one talented young singer in particular, Hagit. So taken with the then 17-year-old’s talent and potential, and as part of UIAC’s visionary strategy to help the youth of Sderot reach their that potential, they awarded her with a scholarship to the Music School at the Community Center, which allowed her to receive voice lessons.
And that, as they say, was the start of a beautiful friendship.
Hagit soon travelled with the Sderot youth troop to the Great White North – Toronto and Montreal – to be exact, where they performed – and delighted – Jewish audiences.
It was soon after that visit that UIA Canada held its 40th anniversary, which coincided with Israel’s 60th anniversary celebrations. As part of the joint celebrations, UIAC chose Hagit to perform a moving tribute to then Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.
A star is born, indeed, and judging by Hagit’s talent and poise, I have a feeling that this new star will burn brightly for a long, long time.
See for yourself, and watch one of Hagit’s winning performances of the season:

Beyonce and Ethiopian Dance (Eskista)

The American R&B recording artist Beyonce Knowles performed an Ethiopian dance in the beginning of her latest music video “Run the World (Girls)” song from her Album titled “4.”

The traditional Ethiopian dance form known as “Eskista” is indigenous to the east African region and Beyonce first performed the dance when she was in Ethiopia in 2007. During Ethiopia’s new year celebration four years ago, Beyonce did a concert in Addis Ababa.

Her Training can be seen here under @ Ethiopian Millinum Hall by Teddy’s Millinium Music:

Judgement day, May 21,2011.

A self-taught radio preacher has managed to convince a good many people around the world that the end of days has arrived.

New Zealand Preacher Harold Camping says he’s studied the bible and done the math, and has decided that May 21st is “Judgement Day.”

He chose 6 PM New Zealand time for the magic hour.

The preacher is so sure of this, he bought ad space on hundreds of billboards across the country, including ones in downtown Eugene and in Springfield.

If what Family Radio President Harold Camping says comes true…

“There’s going to be a great earthquake such has never been… it’ll be so great that all the tombs everywhere in the world are going to be thrown open,” said Camping.

Then the current view of Eugene will at any minute unfold into a scene right out of the disaster movie “2012.”

“It will make tonight really interesting. I hope we party in the streets if it happens,” said Beth Mead, Eugene resident.

But partying will only be for the believers. According to Camping, they’ll ascend into air to meet Jesus Christ. Non-believers will be left to die.

The message he’s choosen is right out of a bible passage from Thessalonians.

“We who are alive and remain will be caught up together with him, in the clouds, to be with the Lord in the air.”

Eugene Pastor Chet Raube of Immanuel Baptist Church read those words from his bible. He’s more than a little familiar with Camping.

They both spoke at a conference in Santa Cruz in the 70’S.

“It was very obvious that we didn’t agree on when Jesus Christ would come back,” Raube said.

While Raube doesn’t doubt the words in print, he does doubt Camping’s interpretation of them.

“Jesus himself said no one knows the day or the hour…He says that’s he’ll come as a thief in the night. How in the world is it going to be a thief in the night if you know the day and the hour?” said Raube.

Camping and his loyal followers are still convinced, and they’re trying to convince the public before they say it’s too late.

“My feeling is you know, that maybe it wouldn’t be a bad thing if it was the end, but I don’t think we’re going to get out of it that easy,” said Judith Baranowski, Eugene resident.

When a national reporter asked Camping on Friday if he’d do an interview with her on Monday if he’s still here, he said quote “I will not answer your question.”
By Stacia Kalinoski, EUGENE.

Amnesty International 2011 Country report

The state of the world’s human rights

Source: Amnesty International

The ruling Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) won the parliamentary elections in May, which took place in a context of intimidation, harassment and restrictions on freedom of association and assembly. Legislation that severely limits human rights activities came into force. The independent press was severely restricted. State resources, assistance and opportunities were broadly used to control the population.
Background

Parliamentary and State Council elections took place in May. The EPRDF and a small coalition of affiliated parties won 99.6 per cent of parliamentary seats. An opposition coalition, Medrek, the Forum for Democratic Dialogue in Ethiopia, accused the government of electoral fraud and called for a rerun. The National Electoral Board rejected the call and a subsequent appeal to the Federal Supreme Court was dismissed.

The final report of the EU Election Observation Mission stated that the elections fell short of international commitments. The findings highlighted the lack of a level playing field for all contesting parties; violations of freedom of expression, assembly and movement of opposition party members; misuse of state resources by the ruling party; and a lack of independent media coverage. The Prime Minister described the report as “useless trash” and the Chief EU Observer was not granted access to Ethiopia to present the final report.

Ethiopia was considered to have one of the fastest growing economies in Africa. The government received praise from the UN for being on track to halve its poverty rate by 2015. However, the UN also stated that increasing inequality in urban areas and poor education standards were obstacles to development and that Ethiopia was not making sufficient progress on gender equality and maternal mortality.

Pre-election violence and repression

State resources, assistance and opportunities were used repeatedly before May’s elections as leverage to pressure citizens to leave opposition parties. Education opportunities, civil service jobs and food assistance were often contingent on membership of the ruling party. Immediately prior to the election, voters in Addis Ababa were reportedly threatened with the withdrawal of state assistance if they did not vote for the EPRDF.

The build-up to the elections was punctuated by incidents of political violence.

Aregawi Gebreyohannes, a candidate for Arena-Tigray, one of the opposition parties forming Medrek, was stabbed to death by six unidentified men in Tigray on 2 March. The government rejected opposition claims that the attack was politically motivated and said it had been a “personal quarrel” in a bar. A man was tried and sentenced to 15 years’ imprisonment. The opposition said that the trial was “arranged and orchestrated” and that Aregawi Gebreyohannes had previously been subjected to government harassment.

Other killings were also reported. The Oromo Federalist Congress party reported that Biyansa Daba, an opposition activist, was beaten to death on 7 April because of his political activities. In May, the government announced that a policeman had been stabbed to death by two opposition members who had confessed and were carrying Medrek identity cards. Their trial and conviction reportedly took place within one week. On 23 and 24 May, two members of the Oromo People’s Congress party were shot in Oromia. The opposition stated that the government’s aim was to stop protests; the government stated that the men had been trying to storm a ballot collection office.

Medrek reported in February that armed men were preventing its members from registering as candidates.

Opposition parties said that their members were harassed, beaten and detained by the EPRDF in the build-up to the elections. Hundreds of people were allegedly arrested arbitrarily in the Oromia region, often on the grounds of supporting the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF), an armed group. Detention without trial, torture and killings of Oromos were reported. On 7 February, Dr Merera Gudina, leader of the Oromo People’s Congress party and the Chairman of Medrek, told the media that at least 150 Oromo opposition officials had been arrested in less than five months.

Freedom of expression – journalists

Ethiopia’s independent press was barely able to function. Journalists worked in a climate of fear because of the threat of state harassment and prosecution. Information was closely controlled by state bodies including the Radio and Television Agency (ERTA) and Ethiopian Press, the state publisher.

In January, Ezeden Muhammad, editor and publisher of Ethiopia’s largest Islamic weekly, Hakima, was sentenced to one year’s imprisonment for “incitement” in connection with a 2008 column criticizing comments made by the Prime Minister. In September, Ezeden Muhammad was released, but his 17-year-old son Akram Ezeden, who had been acting as editor during his father’s detention, was arrested on the same day. He was later released and the case against him dropped.
On 4 March, Voice of America reported that its Amharic-language broadcasts were being jammed. On 19 March, the Prime Minister declared that the radio station had been broadcasting “destabilizing propaganda” and compared it to Radio Mille Collines, a Rwandan radio station that incited ethnic hatred before and during the 1994 Rwandan genocide.
In May, Woubshet Taye, editor-in-chief of the Awramba Times, resigned following a warning from the Ethiopian Broadcasting Authority that he would be “responsible for any bloodshed that may occur in connection with the coming election”. The Awramba Times had featured an article the week before about a pro-democracy demonstration during the 2005 election period.

In March, the Supreme Court reinstated fines imposed in 2007 on four independent publishing companies in the wake of a post-election crackdown in 2005, but overturned by a presidential pardon the same year. The publishers could not pay the re-imposed fines. The High Court was asked by the government to freeze the assets of the publishers and their spouses.

Internet content was censored by the state and some websites were blocked. The National Electoral Board introduced a press code which restricted journalistic activities during the elections, including a ban on interviews with voters, candidates and observers on election day.

The Mass Media and Freedom of Information Proclamation remained in force, giving the government disproportionate power to launch defamation cases, issue financial penalties and refuse media registrations and licences.

Human rights defenders

The Charities and Societies Proclamation, passed in 2009, took effect. The legislation imposed strict controls on civil society organizations and provided for criminal penalties, including fines and imprisonment. Local NGOs were barred from working on issues of human rights and democracy if more than 10 per cent of their income came from foreign sources. The law made human rights defenders fearful of working and led to self-censorship.

Some organizations significantly altered their mandates and ceased their work on human rights. Several human rights defenders fled abroad fearing government harassment following the implementation of the law.

A small number of organizations continued working on human rights and democracy issues, including the Ethiopian Human Rights Council (EHRCO) and the Ethiopian Women Lawyers Association (EWLA), although both were forced to reduce staff numbers and close offices due to the new funding rules. At the end of the year, EHRCO had only three offices (compared to 12 previously). Despite successfully re-registering with the Charities and Societies Agency, the enforcing body, the bank accounts of EHRCO and EWLA were frozen in late 2009 and remained frozen at the end of 2010.

Counter-terror and security

The Anti-Terrorism Proclamation, whose broad definition of terrorism appears to criminalize freedom of expression and peaceful assembly, remained in place. The threat of prosecution contributed to a climate of self-censorship including among journalists, who can be prosecuted for publishing articles referring to individuals or groups deemed to be “terrorists”.

Prisoners of conscience and political prisoners

A large number of political prisoners and possible prisoners of conscience remained in detention.

The government continued to imprison numerous ethnic Oromos on accusations of supporting the OLF. These charges often appeared to be politically motivated.

In March, 15 Oromo men and women were convicted of membership of the OLF in a group trial and given sentences ranging from 10 years’ imprisonment to death. The 15 – arrested in 2008 along with other Oromos who were subsequently released – came from a variety of professions, and many did not know each other before being arrested and tried as a group. There were concerns that the trial fell short of international standards and was politically motivated in the run-up to the elections. Many of the detainees reported that they had been tortured. Two male detainees who were released before the trial died immediately after their release, reportedly as a result of their treatment in detention.
Prisoner of conscience Birtukan Mideksa, leader of the Unity for Democracy and Justice Party, was released in October. She had been detained since December 2008 following a previous two-year imprisonment.

Conflicts in the Somali and Oromia regions

Low-level conflict continued between the OLF and government forces. Ethiopian refugee children reported that they had been forcibly recruited by the OLF in Kenya and trafficked back to Ethiopia to serve as porters and cooks.

Clashes continued in the Somali region in the long-running conflict between the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) and government forces. The ONLF published a statement on 4 February calling on the AU to investigate human rights violations, in particular alleged war crimes by government forces in the region. Access to the Somali region for international journalists and certain humanitarian organizations was restricted by the government and it remained largely inaccessible. A Voice of America journalist was expelled from Ethiopia in June after reporting on clashes between the government and the ONLF.

On 12 October, a peace deal was reportedly signed between a breakaway faction of the ONLF and the government. It was reported that under the agreement, members of the faction received immunity from prosecution and prisoners taken by the government would be released. The main ONLF group reportedly dismissed the deal as “irrelevant”.

In November, reports were received that over 100 civilians had been detained in the town of Degeh Bur and transferred to a military prison in Jijiga. In December, it was reported that Ethiopian troops had burnt a village in the Qorahey zone, resulting in the deaths of three civilians.

Death penalty

Death sentences were imposed but no executions were reported.

A former regional official, Jemua Ruphael, was sentenced to death in June for murder and supporting an Eritrean-backed armed group.
Hassan Mohammed Mahmoud, a former member of the armed Somali group Al-Itihad Al-Islamiya, was found guilty in March of committing terrorist acts in the 1990s and sentenced to death.

Pay Fairtrade Forward Day gets underway

The concept of “paying it forward” involves doing a good deed for a complete stranger.

But do good deeds extend to buying those strangers coffee?

Well, that’s exactly what one local charity is trying to get Kiwis to do on Wednesday May 18, all in the name of Fairtrade.

It’s a daily ritual for many, but buying a coffee for someone you don’t know and have never met is almost unheard of.

“Pay Fairtrade Forward Day” was started by a charity that is encouraging New Zealanders to help end global poverty, it’s centred around one simple act of kindness.

“All you do is go into the café closest to you that sells fair-trade, buy the first coffee of the day – but not for yourself, for the person behind you,” says foundation founder Divya Dhar.

“Walk out the door and the next person that comes in gets a free coffee. It’s up to them to pay it forward.”

It is hoped the domino effect of customers paying it forward will also generate talk about the Fairtrade movement, which looks to guarantee farmers from poor and disadvantaged nations aren’t underpaid for their produce.

“In doing that act of generosity you’re really helping a huge community somewhere else that you don’t even know about,” says Ms Dhar.

A visiting coffee farmer from one of those communities in Ethiopia, Tadesse Meskela, says profits from Fairtrade go directly towards improving living conditions.

The price of coffee on the global markets is continuing to rise, and Ms Meskela says Fairtrade is a way of making sure growers don’t miss out on the benefits.

The P3 Foundation says more than 1500 coffees were paid forward last year. It hopes to increase that, with cafes in Brazil, South Africa and Italy also taking part.