Somalia: The Dynamics of Post-Intervention Political Failure

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Also in the news:
[Reuters: Group demands info on 'African Guantanamo' detainees] - [Ethiopia's Orthodox Church blesses science & faith treatment] - [Eritrea blames U.S. for border impasse] - [Curfew in Mogadishu after shooting]

International:
[Critical time for Iraq says Bush] - [Castro Says His Health Improving Well] - [Israel Chooses Arrests Over Bloodshed] - [UK Spy Photos of Hitler Published] and more of today's top stories!

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EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT HEARING ON ETHIOPIA

Click on Picture to see flyer

Human Rights and Democratisation in Ethiopia
two years after 15 may elections

Committee on Development
&
Sub-Committee on human rights
5 June 2007
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Is the International media in Ethiopia in Cahoots with the government?
oh how we miss Anthony Mitchell!

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Somalia: The Dynamics of Post-Intervention Political Failure
Dr. Michael A. Weinstein

...After a year's political roller coaster ride attended by many casualties, Somalia now and for the foreseeable future appears to be running along a bumpy track that has become familiar in Afghanistan and Iraq, on which a weak and dependent central government imposed by external powers and insufficiently supported by them attempts to preserve itself against a fragmented opposition and disparate local power centers, and strives to concede as little as possible to its protectors and donors, each of which has its own interests and none of which has the political will to change the situation.

With no strong unifying domestic force on the horizon, PINR expects continued devolution accompanied by half-hearted efforts to arrest it. At present, the hopes of the West rest on the N.R.C., which will be the 15th attempt in as many years to bring stability to Somalia through a clan-based formula.

If the conference actually comes off and it is "inclusive," it will initiate a protracted process with uncertain results. If it is not held or it is not broadly representative, Somalia's political collapse will persist.

From the perspective of the West, the presence of radical Islamism in Somalia makes it more difficult to abandon the country as the great powers did after the fall of Siad Barre's dictatorship and the failure of a U.N. peacekeeping mission in the early 1990s. Yet there is no sign that the new danger will trigger sufficient commitment to overcome it.(More...)

Reuters: Group demands info on 'African Guantanamo' detainees

NAIROBI, Kenya (Reuters) -- In a case some rights campaigners have dubbed an "African Guantanamo," a British-based group called on Kenyan, Somali and Ethiopian authorities to come clean over the whereabouts and fates of some 66 Muslim detainees unaccounted for in Ethiopia.

They were picked up in Kenya in January and February after a two-week war that saw allied Ethiopian-Somali troops oust militant Islamists from the Somalia capital, Mogadishu, and push many of their fighters south and across the border, the group, Amnesty International, said.

A total of 85 people were "unlawfully" sent from Kenya to Ethiopia via Somalia, but 19 have been released, the group said.(More...)

Ethiopia's Orthodox Church blesses science & faith treatment

Apparently, a combination of anti-retroviral medicine and holy water has long been a source of controversy in the Ethiopian Church, where many local leaders believe patients should not take both holy water and medicine.
For the past year, Yonas Tadesse has been trying to stave off the effects of HIV with a blend of science and faith, he takes anti-retroviral medicine but also drinks a liter of holy water, blessed by a priest.

The combination has long been a source of controversy in the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, where many local leaders believe patients should not take both holy water and medicine. But on Wednesday, Ethiopia's top religious official gave the treatment his blessing in a country where an estimated 1.5 million people are infected with HIV.

"I am asking each and every one of them to swallow the medicine and the holy water together," Patriarch Abune Paulos told a crowd of about 250 worshippers at Addis Ababa's Entoto Mariam church. "They never conflict each other."(More...)

AP Exclusive: Somali Islamists produce martyr video

Sign that extremists are adopting tactics used by radical groups in Iraq

NAIROBI, Kenya: Islamic insurgents in Somalia have created a video showing a man reciting prayers from the Quran before apparently blowing himself up in a suicide blast, the latest sign that extremists are adopting tactics used by radical groups in Iraq, Afghanistan and the Middle East as they carry out their guerrilla war.

The Associated Press obtained the video Thursday from a person associated with the Shabab, the militant wing of an Islamic group that ruled much of southern Somalia for six months last year. The Council of Islamic Courts was driven from power in December but has vowed to launch an Iraq-style insurgency until Somalia is ruled by the Quran.(More...)

Eritrea blames U.S. for border impasse

ASMARA, May 24 (Reuters) - Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki said on Thursday a security buffer between the Red Sea state and arch-foe Ethiopia was "meaningless" and blamed the United States for a five-year border stalemate.

In a speech commemorating Eritrea's independence in 1991, Isaias said ultimate responsibility for the impasse and any "negative consequences that may unfold in the period ahead" rests with Washington.

"Eritrea's decision to show restraint and refrain from taking appropriate measures ... must be appreciated indeed," Isaias told thousands of Eritreans gathered in Asmara Stadium.(More...)

Ethiopian officials hope Bekele returns to form

Ethiopia's athletics chiefs hope Olympic and world 10,000m champion Kenenisa Bekele can put a series of poor performances behind him when he starts his track season on Saturday.

Bekele's loss of form since dropping out of the 12km race at the world cross country championships in March has worried the Ethiopian Athletics Federation (EAF), which said it would see how he ran on Saturday before deciding what do next.

"The Ethiopian Athletics Federation will wait and see before making any decisions. He will start his season on Saturday when he runs over the two miles in Hengelo (Netherlands)," said EAF spokesman Elshadai Negash.(More...)

Germany puts African poverty on front burner

BERLIN, GERMANY (Reuters) -- African poverty has climbed to the top of German Chancellor Angela Merkel's agenda for a Group of Eight (G-8) summit in Heiligendamm next month amid concern pledges to help the continent remain unfulfilled.


(Picture - German Chancellor Angela Merkel REUTERS/Tobias Schwarz )

The summit meeting will be held June 6-8 in the Baltic coast city. The G-8 is composed of Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and the United States.

Merkel's agenda harks back to the partnership forged in Kananaskis, Canada, in 2002. At that time, the Africa Action Plan was adopted, which set out specific commitments in support of the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD).(More...)

Has Fred Thompson Found His Role?

As former Republican Senator Fred Thompson ponders a late entry into the 2008 presidential race, the actor's biggest advantage just might be that people feel they already know exactly what he would be like as Commander in Chief.

(Picture - Actor and former Republican Sen. Fred Thompson )

Even before his Law & Order depiction of district attorney Arthur Branch, Thompson nearly always played variations on the same character — a straight-talking, tough-minded, wise Southerner — basically a version of what his supporters say is his true political self.

And he is often cast as a person in power — a military official, the White House chief of staff, the head of the CIA, a Senator or even the President of the U.S. It could be called the Cary Grant approach to politics. As the legendary actor once explained his own style and success, "I pretended to be somebody I wanted to be, and I finally became that person." (More...)

UK Spy Photos of Hitler Published

Photographs of Adolf Hitler taken by a British secret agent just before the start of World War II were published on Thursday.

(Adolf Hitler salutes Nazi troops during a military review on Wilhelmplatz in Berlin, Germany, April 19, 1937. At left is fieldmarshal Werner Von Blomberg, war minister with baton. In second row from left to right are, rear admiral Erich Raeder, Col-Gen. Hermann Goering and Gen. Werner von Fritsch. Hitler celebrates his 48th birthday tomorrow. AP Photo)

Charles Turner, a music composer who was recruited as a spy, took the photos at the Wagner Festival in Bayreuth, Germany, in 1939, where he joined Hitler's entourage, his son David Turner said. He was one of the last Englishman to speak to the dictator before Nazi forces invaded Poland on Sept. 1, 1939.

The composer first attended the festival in 1934, and each year Hitler was also there. In 1938 when war seemed imminent Turner was recruited as a spy, his son said.

"The miraculous happened. My father was invited to join Hitler's entourage for the day, Wednesday, July 26. He was given carte blanche permission to photograph the fuehrer," David Turner said.(More...)

Also see:
-The British spy who captured Hitler
-Secret agent captured a day at the opera with Hitler
-BRITISH SPY'S ALBUM

Today's Top International Stories

-Profile: Kenya's secretive Mungiki sect
-Critical time for Iraq says Bush(US President George W Bush has warned that the coming weeks and months will be critical for the success of the new security strategy for Iraq)
-Israel Chooses Arrests Over Bloodshed(Rounds Up More Than 30 Senior Hamas Officials In Bid To Stop Rocket Attacks From Gaza)
-Castro Says His Health Improving Well
-Lebanese Militants Told To Surrender
-Why Lebanon is Erupting Again
-IAEA: Iran 3-8 years from atomic weapons
-'Lost' season-ender offers surprises




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