Alemayehu G. Mariam

IVORY COAST, DECEMBER 2010

A report by the Harvard Law School Human Rights Program on the Anuak concluded: ‘From December 2004 to at least January 2006, the ENDF (Ethiopian National Defense Forces) attacked and abused Anuak civilians in Gambella region - wantonly killing, raping, beating, torturing, and harassing civilians

‘Oh what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive,’ said Sir Walter Scott, the English novelist and poet.

In 1620, one hundred and two prospective settlers left England and set sail for over two months to come to the New World. They landed in what is now Plymouth, Massachusetts, USA. Nearly one-third of them were religious dissenters escaping persecution.

I often write about the trials and tribulations of Ethiopia's independent journalists, sometimes in tones of lamentation[1], other times in wistful philosophical reflection[2].

CRUEL NOVEMBER

Last week, it was quietly announced that the official wholesale ban on distance learning educational programs in Ethiopia has been lifted. In August 2010, the ban was imposed out of the blue ‘because of quality concerns’.

The helping hand that feeds Ethiopians is the same hand that helps bleed Ethiopia.

One can roam cyberspace in vain looking for informed public forums dedicated the causes of democracy, human rights and social justice in Africa. There just aren’t that many out there. In fact, I would wager to say there is only one: Pambazuka News.

The great American novelist Thomas Wolfe wrote, ‘All things on earth point home in old October; sailors to sea, travelers to walls and fences, hunters to field and hollow and the long voice of the hounds, the lover to the love he has forsaken.’ On 6 October 2010, Birtukan Mideksa, Ethiopia’s Firs