|
|
Ethiopia: Seyoum in Kenya for Crisis Talks
 |
 |
|||||||||
|
||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||
|
||||||||||
The Daily Monitor (Addis Ababa)
8 February 2008
Posted to the web 8 February 2008
Abera W.kidan
Addis Ababa
Foreign Minister Seyoum Mesfin left for Kenya early on Thursday to attend a meeting of the seven-nation, regional bloc IGAD, where post election crisis would be high on the agenda.
According to ministry Spokesman Wehade Belay, the meeting was being held in a sign of solidarity with the people of Kenya and in an effort to bring peace and stability in the country where disputed elections killed 1000 people and displaced about 300,000 in one of Kenya's darkest moments since its independence from Britain 44 years ago.
The bloodshed ensuing from the Dec. 27 election has seriously harmed Kenya's image as a stable and prosperous country in a turbulent part of Africa.
Wehade also said the regional meeting in line with the consensus reached by African leaders to support peace initiatives in Kenya at the 10th ordinary session held here between 31st January and 2nd February 2008.
But the opposition had threatened more street protests if the government holds Thursday's planned meeting of the regional bloc IGAD, whose rotating chairmanship is now held by President Mwai Kibaki.
Echoing a complaint it made when Kibaki attended the AU summit as head of state last week, the ODM said the IGAD meeting would legitimise his position "through the back door".
Wehade said on Thursday that, given the circumstances, Ethiopia will take over and Foreign Minister Seyoum will chair the meeting.
The government has banned protests and most previous ones have ended in violence, looting or rioting.
"If the government goes ahead and holds the IGAD meeting, we will protest peacefully. We will march, carry placards, show our messages," a Reuters report quoted an opposition official as saying on Wednesday.
Kenya's government is banking on goodwill in African diplomatic circles -- earned from years as a continental peacemaker -- to win support for its view that the opposition should challenge the vote in court, not in the streets.
IGAD issued a communique last week that backed that position, while supporting the talks. The opposition argues that Kenya's institutions are too flawed or biased to do the job.
|
Former U.N. chief Kofi Annan, mediating between the opposing sides about a disputed election, has chided the opposition for threatening mass action while talks were under way.
ETHIOPIA: "Eight million need assistance, 07 Feb 2008 12:09:50 GMT Source: IRIN
NAIROBI, 7 February 2008 (IRIN) - Ethiopia experienced a record harvest during the meher season that runs from June and October but pockets of poor food production across the country have still left millions of people needing food assistance, according to a food security update.
Citing the Somali region in particular, the update issued by the Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS Net) on 6 February stated that poor rains during the deyr season, from October to November, exacerbated extreme food insecurity in parts of the... [Read Full Text]
It’s like mixing a rotten apple in the basket full of fine apples.
Ethiopian rulers are the master of war in the horn Africa. Particularly the TPLF military juntas which during last election won only in Tigray zone (about 5% of the total Ethiopian population) know better than anyone how to rig the election votes. The best thing Kenyan will get from the TPLF messenger is roadmap to join Ethiopian made horn Africans war club. War made by Ethiopia in horn Africa.
1.train and equip SPLA to divide Sudan and created unsolvable wars in Sudan. 2.by training and arming... [Read Full Text]
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Copyright © 2008 The Daily Monitor. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections -- or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Make allAfrica.com your home page | RSS Feed | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Top | Site Guide | Who We Are | Advertising | Search | Subscribe | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Questions or Comments? Contact us. Read our Privacy Statement. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
