Beloved Oromo Singer Almaz Tafara Dies

March 22, 2014 | OPride

Almaz Tafara, famed Oromo singer and songwriter, died on Mar. 22 at Police Referral Hospital in Addis Ababa after long illness with blood cancer. Her daughter confirmed the news, adding the body is now being transported to Harar. She was 57.

“This is a tremendous loss,” said Kadir Said, who produced an album with Tafara in 1986, in a phone interview from Minneapolis, Minn. “Almaz was a multitalented singer with an exceptional voice that lit up the room.”  

Ethiopia uses foreign kit to spy on opponents – HRW

March 25, 2014 (BBC News) — Ethiopia’s government is using imported technology to spy on the phones and computers of its perceived opponents, a Human Rights Watch report says.

The New York-based rights group accuses the government of trying to silence dissent, using software and kit sold by European and Chinese firms.

The report says the firms may be guilty of colluding in oppression.

An Ethiopian government spokesman, quoted by AFP, dismissed the report as a part of a smear campaign.

“There is nothing new to respond to,” Ethiopian Information Minister Redwan Hussein told the agency.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) says its report is based on more than 100 interviews with victims of abuses and former intelligence officials, conducted between September 2012 and February this year.

Rights groups frequently accuse the Ethiopian government of cracking down on opposition activists and journalists.

“Security officials have virtually unlimited access to the call records of all telephone users in Ethiopia”

Human Rights Watch

Kibba Afriikaa Keessatti Hiriirro Mormii Guddaan Hawaasa Oromoo fi Ogaadeniin Gaggeefame.

Gaafa Bitootessa 18,2014 ummanni Oromoo fi Ogaadeen kibba Afriikaa jiraatan walgahii mootummoonni Afriikaa 54 guyyaa hundeeffama Pan-African Prliament kabajachuuf torbaan lamaaf Afirikaa kibbaa magaalaa Johannesburg bakka Midrand jedhamutti yeroo gaggeefatan hawaasi Oromoo fi Ogaadeen tokkummaan ta’uun miidhaa mootummaan Wayyaanee fi abbaa irree EPRDF uumattoota Ithiopia irraan gahaa jiru balaaleffachuun sagalee mormii jabaa dhageessisuun gabaafame.

In Accepting Ethiopia, Transparency Group “Sacrifices Credibility

March 21, 2014 | Inter Press Service (IPS) | By Carey L. Biron

A major international initiative aimed at promoting transparency in the extractives industry is coming under harsh criticism for accepting an application from Ethiopia, despite significant ongoing legal restrictions on the country’s civil society.

The Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), a standards programme based in Oslo, had declined a previous application for candidature from Ethiopia, in 2010. The previous year, the Ethiopian government had passed a law widely seen as repressive, and the EITI board stipulated that the country’s application would be deferred until that law was struck down.

ETHIOPIA REGULARLY RECORDS PHONE CALL

March 21, 2014 | Associated Press

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) -- A rights group says that Ethiopia's government regularly listens to and records the phone calls of opposition activists and journalists using equipment provided by foreign technology companies.

Ethiopia: Transparency Group Should Reject Membership: Repression of Civil Society Contravenes Organization’s Rules

March 14, 2014 | Human Right Watch

The Ethiopian government has crushed activist groups and muzzled the media. Ethiopia’s harsh repression of independent voices is utterly incompatible with this global effort to increase public oversight over government.

(New York) – A major global initiative to encourage governments to better manage natural resource revenues should reject Ethiopia’s bid for membership due to its harsh restrictions on civil society, Human Rights Watch said today.

The governing board of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) is expected to make a decision about Ethiopia’s candidacy at its next meeting, on March 18 and 19, 2014, in Oslo. EITI was founded in 2003 to strengthen governance by increasing transparency over revenues from the oil, gas, and mining industries. Itsmembers include countries, companies, and civil society representatives.