NPR Report : Ethiopia Releases Prisoners

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Also:
- Today's Top HEADLINES
- INTERNATIONAL news
- Picture of the day
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[AUDIO] NPR Report : Ethiopia Releases Prisoners

On Friday, Ethiopia began releasing prisoners it had jailed two years ago in a crackdown on political opponents. Some human rights advocates on Capitol Hill are taking credit, saying it pays to put pressure on repressive regimes. The U.S. is now giving closer scrutiny to Ethiopia's human rights record at home.[Listen...]

Today's Top HEADLINES

-Congressional Ethiopian American Caucus Celebrates the Ethiopian Millennium upon release of Political Prisoners
-Chairman Donald M. Payne Welcomes Release of Prisoners in Ethiopia
-Reactions from the Diaspora on the release of the CUDP leadership
-SOCEPP: Release Daniel Bekele and Netsanet Demissie
-We’ve just won the Battle but not the Victory
-The moral hazards of dealing with Ethiopia's Meles Zenawi (Washington Post)

Refugees in Sudan
-AMNESTY: Forcible return/Fear of torture/Arbitrary detention - Ethiopian and Eritrean nationals
-SOCEPP-CAN: Ethiopian Refugees facing an involuntary repatriation from Sudan

The Ogaden
-Ethiopia rebels warn catastrophe looming in Ogaden
-Ethiopia tells Red Cross to leave the Ogaden region within Seven days
-WFP says no Ethiopia aid blockade, but has concerns

Eritrea, Somalia
-Eritrea asks China to help break Ethiopia border deadlock
-More civilians fleeing Mogadishu violence

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

-HIV medics freed after Libya-EU deal
-Mugabe vows to save sick economy
-Obama, Clinton clash in YouTube debate
-Iranian support for Iraq militias up despite talks: US envoy
-Blair on His First Trip As Peace Envoy
-Earthquake damage at nuclear plant raises questions in Japan

Picture of the day

Emperor Haile Selassie was born 115 years ago yesterday, 23 July, 1892, in Enjersa Goro, just outside the city of Harrar.

The ultimate African diplomat

(Haile Selassie Mediating between southern Sudanese insurgents (the Anya Nya) and the Sudan government in Addis Ababa, 72; His mediation efforts were responsible for 11 years of relative peace in the Sudan. This scene was later replicated by reggae singer Bob Marley on his “One Love Peace Concert” in April of 78, when he asked rival political leaders of 'the Jamaican Labor Party' and 'the People's National Party' on stage and managed to get them to shake hands. )

Haile Selassie, a gifted diplomat, was a player in the international seen. "He became a leader in the Pan-African movement, stressing African unity to deal with common problems and concerns. He supported independence for former European colonies, condemned South Africa's foreign and internal policy of racial segregation (apartheid), and sought to limit French nuclear tests in the Sahara. He also took a leading role in the formation of the Organization of African Unity (OAU). Having the organization establish its permanent headquarters in Addis Ababa further enhanced his international prestige. He successfully mediated the border dispute between Morocco and Algeria in 1963 and then intervened on the side of Nigeria during its bloody civil war, which began in the late 1960s when Christians in the South broke away and formed a separate nation called Biafra." (James J. Podesta)

-Learn more about the life of Emperor Haile Selassie I


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