Saturday, June 14, 2014

Three killed, 52 others rescued in ambush in Wajir

WAJIR (Xinhua) -- At least three Ethiopian aliens have been killed and 52 others who narrowly escaped death were rescued by security forces in an ambush in Wajir, northern Kenya, officials confirmed on Monday.
Wajir County Commissioner Naftali Mungathia said the foreigners, who were being smuggled from Ethiopian’s region by Kenyan traffickers come under arbitrary gun fire from unknown armed assailants, who waylaid them along Wajir-Moyale road on Sunday evening.
“The Ethiopians were to be ferried on a vehicle packed on top of each other by the human traffickers, who usually charge them a lot of money  for the service of sneaking them into the country illegally” Mungathia said Wajir town.
The County administrator said the unidentified bandits of unknown number attacked the vehicle carrying the aliens at area near Bute town some 230 km from Wajir town.
Mungathia added the motives of the attackers can’t be immediately established, noting that among those arrested were three Kenyans from the central region, who were smuggling the Ethiopians into the country illegally.
However, some security sources within Wajir police station said the bandits could be either of the two marauding militia from clans fighting in the county, who might have mistaken those in the vehicle as people from their rival clan.
“The other aliens were very lucky, despite the intensity of the attack none of them were hurt in the unfortunate incident apart from those killed,” Mungathia said.
“We have sent enough security personnel to pursue the assailants in area around where the attacks happened,” he said.
Mungathia said the aliens were now held at Wajir police station for interrogation and could appear before the Wajir senior resident magistrate to answers charges of unlawfully been present in the country.
Hundreds of aliens are being smuggled into the country despite the presence of security agents in all towns in northern Kenya.
“Human trafficking is a serious issue here. Hardly a week passes without our security officers nabbing aliens who have been smuggled into the country mainly from Ethiopia,” the county boss noted.
“Smugglers at many times attempt to pass through our county, at many times they are apprehended by our security agents, but in some rare cases they manage to escape our security dragnet,” he added.
According to the International Organization of Migration (IOM), up to 20,000 Somali and Ethiopian immigrants are smuggled into Kenya annually with the South Africa as their final destination.
The Kenyan authorities have blamed the vastness of the region for the runaway influx of foreigners in to Kenya through Moyale on Kenya-Ethiopia borders.
Refugee rights organizations and aid agencies have blamed poverty in Africa for the rising cases of human trafficking.
They said that the huge supply of labor both skilled and unskilled makes them vulnerable to criminal syndicates.

Thursday, June 12, 2014

Ethiopia Arrests 25 Shabaab-linked Suspects in 'terror' Sweep

Al-shabaab vicitims/fileAl-shabaab vicitims/file
Somalilandsun - Ethiopian police arrested 25 people accused of plotting attacks in the country and suspected of having links to Somalia's Al-Qaeda-linked Shebab rebels, officials said Thursday.
Government spokesman Shimeles Kemal said that those detained had been trained by the militants in Somalia and were planning a series of attacks in Jimma, about 305 kilometres (189 miles) southwest of the Ethiopian capital and where the arrests were made.
"About 25 people have been apprehended on suspicion of organising an underground terrorist cell," he said, adding that "a number of weapons" were also seized and the suspects likely to be charged.
Ethiopia, which shares a 1,600 kilometre border with Somalia, sent troops into the country in 2011 to help African Union and Somali defence forces fight the Shebab. It currently has around 4,500 troops in the country and has spearheaded a recent offensive against the Islamists.
Neighbouring Kenya has been a frequent target of attacks by Shebab rebels, who have demanded that Kenyan troops leave Somalia and claimed responsibility for last year's attack on the Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi that left at least 67 dead.
Uganda and Djibouti, both contributors to the AU force in Somalia, have also been attacked by the Shebab.
The US and British embassies have upgraded their travel warnings for Ethiopia in recent weeks, alerting visitors and residents to an increased threat of attacks.
Shimeles said while Ethiopia "has been and will remain vulnerable to terrorist attacks," the threat has not necessarily increased.
"I don't think that there is a special risk that warrants an extraordinary alert," he said.
Shebab leaders have vowed to attack Ethiopia to avenge the presence of its troops in Somalia, and last October two Somali nationals blew themselves up while crafting a bomb in Addis Ababa, which police said they planned to detonate at a crowded football match.

'Questions rise after US trained Iraqi police flee for lives in Mosul'

Wednesday, June 11, 2014

Angelina Jolie and William Hague Open London Summit on Rape in War Zones

http://bcove.me/y83cxul5

William Hague and Angelina Jolie attend sexual violence in war summit in London


Foreign Secretary William Hague and UN Special Envoy Angelina Jolie are today attending the opening of a four-day summit on sexual violence in war being held in London.

The event, which is the biggest of its kind ever held, will take place over four days, and includes film screenings, theatre and art as well as the attendance of high-level foreign delegates.
The foreign secretary, who has worked closely with Hollywood star Angelina Jolie for over two years, today described sexual violence in conflict zones as "one of the great mass crimes of the 20th century and the 21st century".
Speaking on BBC Breakfast this morning Mr Hague said the crime has affected most continents in the world and in particular countries such as Syria, Rwanda, Congo and Colombia.
READ MORE: ANGELINA JOLIE HAS THE POWER TO CHANGE THE WORLD
ON THE FRONT LINES: DOCUMENTING EVIDENCE OF RAPE IS A FRAUGHT TASK
HALF THE VICTIMS OF RAPE IN CONFLICT ZONES ARE CHILDREN
"If anything, this is getting worse - war zone rape as a weapon of war, used systematically and deliberately against civilian populations," he said.
Mr Hague praised Jolie, who is a special envoy for the UN Commissioner for Refugees, saying she had made an "enormous transformative" difference to the campaign.
"What this campaign needs is big powerful governments of the world, like us, with a big diplomatic network and a big development budget to really get involved and take action, as we are," he said.

"But it also needs people who will be listened to in a different way from governments and speak with their own personal authority and Angelina Jolie brings that.
"She is very committed to this, very knowledgeable about the issues, she has come up with many of the ideas for the campaign.
"She and I have been working closely on this for the last two years and we will keep doing so."
Survivors: Women in North Kivu, a region where sexual abuse is highSurvivors: Women in North Kivu, a region where sexual abuse is high
The event, which is taking place at the ExCel conference centre in London Docklands, is being attended by representatives from 140 nations.
Mr Hague has called on the nations involved to write action against sexual violence into their army training.
Organisers have expressed their wish that the conference will mark the moment the subject comes to wider public attention.
Mr Hague and Ms Jolie joined forces to launch the Prevention of Sexual Violence Initiative (PSVI) in 2012, with a UN Declaration of Commitment to Ending Sexual Violence in Conflict.
The foreign secretary became committed to the agenda after seeing Jolie's film 'The land of Blood and Honey' about the horrors of sexual violence that militias and armies perpetrated during the Bosnian conflict of the 1990s.
In Bosnia, as many as 50,000 women were raped — many in special rape camps. Virtually none of them have received any form of justice.  In Rwanda the figure is thought to be upwards of 500,000.
Nations taking part in the summit also included the Democratic Republic of Congo and Somalia - countries where sexual violence had happened "on a vast scale", Mr Hague told the BBC.
The aim is now to take concrete steps to improve lives of victims and to establish best practice for obtaining witness testimony of crimes of sexual violence in conflict.
Hague and Jolie are today opening the Global Summit Fringe, which aims to increase awareness of sexual violence in conflict. They are also taking part in meetings with youth delegates.
Tomorrow they will attend an event to launch the international protocol to help strengthen prosecutions for rape in conflict.
On Thursday, delegations from more than 100 countries will attend and Mr Hague will chair a ministerial meeting on security in northern Nigeria.
On Friday, Mr Hague, Jolie, UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon (by video message) and US Secretary of State John Kerry will speak in a closing plenary session.
From today until Thursday there will be some 140 free events open to the public.
Events and performances include the Royal Court Theatre presenting the world premiere of award-winning Liberian Girl.
There will be an exclusive screening of In The Land Of Blood And Honey, with the opportunity to hear its director Jolie and Mr Hague discuss the film and how it inspired the initiative that led to the summit.
As part of the £TimetoAct campaign, a short animation has been produced to portray the horror of rape and sexual violence through the eyes of a child.

Obama talks about Oregon Shooting Gun Laws and recent High School Shootings

Waiting and hoping after Oregon school shooting They stopped in fire lanes, on medians, in spaces so tight one man wedged his sedan between two cars and climbed out of his sun roof. They double-, triple- or quadruple-parked, spilling into driveways and crosswalks, disregarding every traffic law. By NIGEL DUARA and JONATHAN J. COOPER Associated Press READER COMMENTS Read all 1 comments Post a comment advertising Click here TROUTDALE, Ore. — They stopped in fire lanes, on medians, in spaces so tight one man wedged his sedan between two cars and climbed out of his sun roof. They double-, triple- or quadruple-parked, spilling into driveways and crosswalks, disregarding every traffic law. The loved ones of the children at Reynolds High School in the Portland, Oregon, suburb of Troutdale knew that a student was shot to death during the second-to-last day of school. And they knew the shooter was dead. They also knew that the 3,000 children who survived would be waiting for them at a grocery store parking lot a mile away. Details spilled out in fits and starts on Tuesday. The shooting started in a gym detached from the main school building. A 14-year-old boy named Emilio Hoffman was fatally shot in the boys' locker room. Physical education teacher Todd Rispler also was in the gym and was grazed by a bullet. But he escaped serious injury and managed to alert school officials of the shooter. "This is a lockdown," the school announced over the speaker system, according to junior Andrea Chanocua. "This is not a drill." Locked in a classroom, sophomore Dominic Senarsky, 16, said he followed the police response by listening to scanner traffic with a phone app. "I was scared, because we were listening directly to it, so we knew everything that was going on," he said. The shooting broke out as the school day started and students prepared to take final exams. Senarsky was studying for his test in health class when he heard teachers yelling to get into a classroom. "I didn't think this was how I was going to end the year," he said. Nearby, in the grocery store parking lot, parents waited for three hours or more. Details were frustratingly thin. Chanocua, 16, didn't bring a cellphone to school. Her mother saw the commotion on television, but doesn't speak English, so she was at a loss until her sister-in-law, Laurie Garcia, came home from work. Garcia rushed to the parking lot and waited, along with hundreds of others. Once the school buses of students started arriving, parents craned their necks to see who stepped off. The first students spilled off the buses around 11 a.m. They were crying or smiling through tears, some with eyes shut tight or shocked wide open. The thing they all shared was a look, even for a moment, of happy recognition. Then the kids collapsed into their parents' waiting arms, accepted a grateful backslap or shrugged their shoulders and grinned with embarrassment. Chanocua was happy to find her aunt. "You're OK," Laurie Garcia said, who grabbed and pulled Chanocua to her. "You're OK." In the aftermath, the governor called the violence senseless, the Troutdale mayor praised the police response, and the school district superintendent said she had once hoped she could get through her career without a school shooting. Hoffman, who died, was the only teenage boy in his house, said Savannah Venegas, who dated him a year ago, "so (his mother) was very protective of him." "He was such a good kid, a quiet kid," Venegas said. "He didn't stir up trouble. Just a down-to-earth guy." The shooter was later found dead in a separate bathroom. Police didn't release many details of the shooting, but said he used a rifle. Perhaps no school district better reflects the changing face of Oregon than the one in Troutdale. This was not a shooting at a school in the posh suburbs or the inner city. Reynolds High School is harder to categorize. The school draws from a diverse group, including far-east residents of Portland and agricultural families from the Columbia Gorge. "This is a tragedy that affects our whole community," Troutdale Police Chief Scott Anderson said. "This is not supposed to happen in any school, or to any child."

Thursday, June 5, 2014

Ethiopia claims foiling terrorist attack after US warning

The US Embassy in Addis Ababa urged American citizens residing or traveling to Ethiopia to exercise caution over a possible attack by a Somali terrorist group.

The safety advisory in the embassy said was issued due to threat from Al-Shabaab against Ethiopia and western interests in Ethiopia. Citing to multiple and ongoing credible threats, the US embassy urged its citizens to take the highest precautions to maintain their personal safety and security.

US and Canadian embassies in Addis Ababa issued alerts that terror groups want to attack Ethiopia and Western interests inside Ethiopia.

The Ethiopian  news media  claimed that  Alshabaab plans to bomb some targets in Addis were foiled after the security forces captured a bomber who is suspected to be a member of Alshabaab. Security officials in Ethiopia say, Ashabaab have at several times tried to carry out bomb attacks inside Ethiopia but were unsuccessful.

The US embassy said that there have been a number of incursions along the Ethiopian-Somali border in recent weeks urging its citizens to maintain a high level of vigilance and to take appropriate steps to enhance personal security.
“While there is no known specific information regarding the timing or location of an attack, we would like to remind U.S. citizens to be especially vigilant in areas where large numbers of US and western citizens congregate, including restaurants, hotels, bars, places of worship, supermarkets, and shopping malls” the statement said.

According to Ethiopian government unverified report last  October , a bomb killed two Alshabaab members who were trying to plant it . This   incident happened at Bole Mekaa'iil in Addis Ababa. Police believe that they were intending to explode that bomb at Addis Ababa Football Stadium where a match
would take place.

Horn of Africa Refugee basher sentenced to nine years jail



Timothy Williams was today sentenced to nine years jail over the attack that occurred outside Wollongong train station, south of Sydney, last October.
The vision shows 26-year-old Williams knocking the unidentified man to the ground with a single punch.
Williams then continues to hit and hold the victim in a headlock as he tries desperately to flee his attacker.
It is not known what provoked the attack, which left the refugee with several injuries.
Illawarra resident Williams was sentenced to nine years jail, with a non-parole period of six years.
Williams' associate in the attack - a 28-year-old woman - will be sentenced tomorrow

Mariam's brother: She should be executed

Tuesday, June 3, 2014

US warns of possible terror attack in Ethiopia - Sudan Tribune: Plural news and views on Sudan

By Tesfa-Alem Tekle
June 1, 2014 (ADDIS ABABA) - The US Embassy in Addis Ababa urged American citizens residing or traveling to Ethiopia to exercise caution over a possible attack by a Somali terrorist group.
The safety advisory the embassy said was issued due to threat from Al-Shabaab against Ethiopia and western interests in Ethiopia.
Citing to multiple and ongoing credible threats, the US embassy urged its citizens to take the highest precautions to maintain their personal safety and security.
“The Embassy continues to receive credible threat reports of Al-Shabaab’s intent and capability to attack Ethiopia and western interests in Ethiopia” it said in a statement Sudan Tribunereceived on Sunday.
The embassy said that there have been a number of incursions along the Ethiopian-Somali border in recent weeks urging its citizens to maintain a high level of vigilance and to take appropriate steps to enhance personal security.
“While there is no known specific information regarding the timing or location of an attack, we would like to remind U.S. citizens to be especially vigilant in areas where large numbers of US and western citizens congregate, including restaurants, hotels, bars, places of worship, supermarkets, and shopping malls” the statement said.
The embassy highly recommended for Americans living in Ethiopia and those travelling to Ethiopia to enrol in the Department of State’s Smart Traveler Enrollment Program (STEP).
“The STEP enrollment gives you the latest security updates, and makes it easier for the U.S. embassy or nearest U.S. consulate to contact you in an emergency. If you don’t have Internet access, enrol directly with the nearest U.S. embassy or consulate” it added.
Ethiopia, which is a regional security partner of the United States government, has a deployed forces in war torn Somalia to help the weak government battle the Al-Qaeda-allied Al-Shabaab group.
In the past Al-Shabaab has repeatedly warned to carryout massive attacks in Ethiopia in retaliation for its military intervention and Addis Ababa takes such threats seriously.
However government officials often disclose that the country’s defence force and intelligence are capable enough to thwart Shabaab’s terror plots and to defend the country from any external enemy.
Addis Ababa says it will remain determined to keep its troops in Somalia till order, peace and security is fully restored in Somalia.
However Ethiopian opposition politicians on the contrary call on government for immediate pull-out arguing keeping the troops longer will increase the risk of retaliation attacks against the horn of Africa’s nation.

Controversy over soldier exchanges



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