Michael's Blog

Michael Chebud ADDIS ABABA, Apr 15 2009 (IPS)  - The Inter Parliamentary Union (IPU) started its assembly in the Ethiopian capital on Apr. 5 with a debate called by women parliamentarians. The MPs (members of parliament) expected their male colleagues to participate in the discussions ranging from climate change to gender partnership. But the majority of male MPs stayed away, preferring to spend their Sunday in their hotels and elsewhere ahead of the plenary the following day. “It was a pity that very few men attended the session of women parliamentarians,” says Shitaye Minale, deputy speaker of the Ethiopian parliament. “I urge our male colleagues to participate in our future dialogue sessions so that discussions are more interactive and inclusive.” For women’s rights activists, this no-show exposed a conventional mindset, whereby men can be indifferent to discussions on women’s issues or with women. “Men are still struggling to think out of the box,” observes Nicole Chira...

Michael Chebud The daunting task of making Africa the centre of attention awaits Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Meles Zenawi when the Group of 20 (G20) rich and emerging economies meet in London tomorrow. Invited by the host country, Zenawi, who chairs the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD), is the only African leader apart from South Africa’s President Kgalema Motlanthe to attend the G20 summit. Zenawi was in London two weeks ago to hold pre-summit consultations with senior African officials and organisers of the summit, including UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown. His message to Brown was clear: that the richest countries cannot afford to ignore Africa in the wake of the global economic meltdown. His is a belief shared by African trade ministers who met in Addis Ababa on Mar 19 at the headquarters of the African Union. ‘‘As a result of the global economic crisis, more than at any other time, there is a need to place African economic development at the centre o...

Michael Chebud ADDIS ABABA, Mar 25 2009 (IPS)  - Haile Gerima’s film “Teza” may only have come to the world’s attention when it won Africa’s highest prize in Ouagadougou on Mar. 7, but it has been a sensation in his native Ethiopia since it premiered in Addis Ababa at the start of the year. Young Ethiopian film-makers welcome Teza co-producer Selome Gerima. Credit: Michael Chebud/IPS The winner of the 2009 Golden Stallion of Yennenga at the 21st Festival of Cinema and Television of Ouagadougou (better known by its French acronym, FESPACO), the film about the regime of former dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam premiered in the Ethiopian capital on Jan. 3. “The film, in which Gerima portrays the true picture of rural Ethiopia, should be prized and hailed,” wrote movie columnist Masresha Mammo in, the largest Amharic private weekly, Addis Neger. Teza, 14 years in the making, tells the story of an Ethiopian whose dreams of serving his country after an education in Germany ...

Michael Chebud ,  OneWorld US ADDIS ABABA, Feb 3 (OneWorld.net) - Pressure is mounting on the administration of Robert Mugabe with over 35,000 people from 190 countries fasting in solidarity with the Zimbabwean people's struggle for survival, justice, and democracy. Kumi Naidoo. © Global Call to Action against Poverty (GCAP) "People are fasting in 30 countries across the African continent and in countries as far away as Argentina, Burma, and Papua New Guinea," said Ricken Patel, executive director of Avaaz, a global movement with a mission to bring good governance. "The global solidarity fast is taking place at a crucial time when a new government will be formed in Zimbabwe -- now more than ever African leaders need to address the crisis of hunger, disease, and human rights in Zimbabwe." Kumi Naidoo, Save Zimbabwe Now activist and honorary president of the global civil society coordinating group CIVICUS, is on his 14th day of a three-week hunger strike t...

Michael Chebud ADDIS ABABA, Jan 30 2009 (IPS)  - African governments have rallied behind Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir in rejecting a possible international arrest warrant by the International Criminal Court on charges of orchestrating genocide in Sudan’s volatile western region of Darfur. African peacekeepers in Darfur - the AU regards the Sudanese president as vital to achieving peace in the region; the ICC alleges he's a war criminal. Credit: Derk Segaar/IRIN “The continent, through the African Union, has requested the UN Peace and Security Council to suspend the indictment of President Omar Al-Bashir,” chairperson of the African Union Commission Jean Ping told IPS on the sidelines of a high-level meeting of African foreign ministers in Addis Ababa on Jan. 29. Following a three-year investigation at the behest of the U.N. Security Council, ICC Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo concluded there are reasonable grounds to believe that Bashir bears criminal respo...

Michael Chebud ADDIS ABABA, Jan 27 (IPS)  – The Ethiopian parliament has voted into law a controversial bill which bars any civil society organisation receiving more than 10 percent of its funding from foreign sources from engaging in human rights issues. The new law, passed on Jan. 6, affects the majority of the 4,677 registered Ethiopian NGOs. They are now prohibited from work touching in any way on the subject of human rights, governance, criminal justice issues and others. Out of the 547 lawmakers in parliament, 79 opposition politicians raised their hands to veto the bill in vain. Opposition politicians are not the only ones fuming at the latest bill. Humanitarian groups are also strongly dismayed, considering it an attempt by the government to undermine the ailing political space. “Those are the rights of Ethiopian citizens. Foreign groups cannot simply meddle in such affairs any more,” says Berhanu Adelo, head of the Prime Minister’s office. The government consi...

Michael Chebud ADDIS ABABA, Jan 12 2009 (IPS)  - Bertukan Mideksa has a reputation in Ethiopia as a competent politician, but voters will not be able to cast ballots for her in the next national election. The revocation of her 2007 pardon has sent a chill through Ethiopia's opposition parties. After the 2005 elections, opposition protests against irregularities in the polls were followed by violent clashes in the streets. More than 100 opposition leaders were arrested. Mideksa was charged with treason, outrage against the constitution, inciting armed rebellion and more. She spent two years in jail before being convicted and sentenced to life in prison in July 2007 along with 34 others. They were immediately pardoned by President Girma W. Giorgis; the government announced that they had requested a pardon and expressed remorse for their wrongdoings. But while on tour in Europe in November 2008, Mideksa denied making a request for state pardon for the post-election...