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የሱዳኑ ፕሬዚደንት ኦማር ሀሰን አልበሺር በኤርትራ ያደረጉት ጉብኝት የሁለቱን ኣጎራባች ኣገሮች ግንኙነት ከማጎልበት ጎንለጎን በአካባቢያዊ እና ዓለም ዓቀፋዊ ጉዳዮች ላይ ያተኮረ መሆኑ ተገለጸ። ኣልበሺር ከኤርትራው አቻቸው ኢሳያስ አፈወርቂ ጋር ባደረጉት የሶስት ቀናት ቆይታ የደቡብ ሱዳን ወቅታዊ ሁኔታን ጨምሮ በተለይም የኢትዮ ኤርትራን የሰላም ንግግር ስመልክቶ መነጋገራቸውን ምንጮች ኣመልክቷል።
የኣሁኑ ውይይት በሁለቱ ተደራዳሪ ኣገሮች በኩል ሊቀርቡ በሚችሉ ቅድመ ሁኔታዎች ላይ ያተኮረ ነበርም ተብሏል።

የሱዳኑ መሪ ኦመር ሓሰን ኣልበሺር፣ ባለፈው ሳምንት በኤርትራ ያደረጉት የሶስት ቀናት ጉብኝት፤ የሱዳኑ የውጪ ጉዳይ ሚኒስትር አሊ ኬርቲ ለዜና ወኪሎች እንዳስረዱት፤ የሁለቱን ኣጎራባች ኣገሮች ግንኙነት በማጎልበት ላይ ያተኮረ ነበር። የኣልበሺር ጉብኝት ባለፈው ህዳር ወር የኤርትራው ኢሳያስ አፈወርቂ በሱዳን ያደረጉትን ጉብኝት ተከትሎ የተደረገ መሆኑን የጠቀሱት የውጪ ጉዳይ ሚኒስትር ኬርቲ በዚህ ግንኙነት ሁለቱ መሪዎች ከዚህ ቀደም የተፈረሙ የውል ስምምነቶች ሊተገበሩ ስለሚችሉባቸው ዝርዝር ጉዳዮች ላይ መምከራቸውንም ኣስረድቷል።
ባለፈው ማክሰኞ ኤርትራ ሲገቡ ደማቅ ኣቀባበል የተደረገላቸው ኣልበሺር ከኣስመራ ውጪ ያሉ ኣንዳንድ ከተሞችንም የጎበኙ ሲሆን በኤርትራ 21ኛ ዓመት የነጻነት በዓል ላይም ተገኝተው ነበር። ሁለቱ መሪዎች፣ ኣልበሺር እና ኢሳያስ፣ የዔርትራው ገዢ ፓርቲ የፖለቲካ ጉዳዮች የበላይ፣ የማነ ገ/ዓብ፣ ለዜና ምንጮች እንደገለጹት፣ የደቡብ ሱዳን ወቅታዊ ሁኔታን ጨምሮ በበርካታ አካባቢያዊ እና ዓለም ዓቀፋዊ ጉዳዮች ላይ የመከሩ ሲሆን ዘገባዎች እንደሚያመለክቱት ደግሞ ኣንዱና ዋናው የመሪዎቹ አጀንዳ የኢትዮ ኤርትራ የሰላም ንግግር ነው ተብሏል።
በኖርዌይ ኣገር፣ ስታቫንገር ዩኑቨርሲቲ፣ የፖለቲካል ሳይንስ እና ዓለም ዓቀፍ ግንኙነት መምህር የሆኑት ዶ/ር ግሩም ዘለቀ እንደሚሉትም የኣልበሺር የኣስመራ ጉብኝት የሰላም ንግግሩ የመጀመሪያው ምዕራፍ ሲሆን በሁለቱ ወገኖች በኩል ሊቀርቡ በሚችሉ ቅድመ ሁኔታዎች ላይ ያተኮረ ሊሆን እንደሚችል ተጠቁሟል።
እርቀ ሰላም መውረዱ ለሁለቱም ኣገሮች በተለይ ም ደግሞ ዶ/ር ግሩም እንደሚሉት ለኤርትራ ከፍተኛ ጠቀሜታ ነው ያለው።
ከኤርትራ በኩል በጉዳዩ ላይ እስከ ኣሁን ይፋ የሆነ መግለጫ ባይኖርም በኢትዮጵያ በኩል ግን፤ የጠ/ሚኒስትሩ ቃ/አቀባይ አቶ ጌታቸው ረዳ እንደሚሉት፣ ቀደም ሲል የተቀመጡት ቅድመ ሁኔታዎች እንደተጠበቁ ሆነው ለመደራደር ግን መንግስት ዝግጁ ነው።
በዚህ የሰላም ንግግር፤ ከተሳካ ማለት ነው፤ ተጠቃሚዎቹ በዋናነት ሁለቱ ኣገሮች ቢሆኑም ዶ/ር ግሩም ዘለቀ እንደሚሉት ደግሞ ኣልበሺርም ቢሆኑ በግልም ጭምር ተጠቃሚ መሆናቸው መዘንጋት የለበትም።
ከተገንጣዩዋ የደቡብ ሱዳን መንግስት ጋር ካለባቸው የግዛት ይገባኛል ውዝግብ በተጨማሪም የዳርፉር ቀውስን ጨምሮ በሰሜን ኩርዱፋን እና በብሉ ናይል ግዛቶችም በውስጥ ችግሮች ተጠምደው የሚገኙት ኣልበሺር ምንም እንኳን ከኣፍሪካ ህብረት በኩል አንጻራዊ ተቀባይነት ቢኖራቸውም በምዕራባውያኑ ዘንድ እንደ ወንጀለኛ መፈረጃቸው ይታወቃል። በዚሁ የተነሳም ዓለም ዓቀፉ ፍ/ቤት ICC የእስር ማዘዣ እንደቆረጠባቸው ይገኛሉ።

ማንኛውም አንድን ሃገር እመራልሁ የሚል …የበላይ መመሪያ እና ህዝብን የሚያስተዳድርበት ህገመንግስት አለው:; የወያኔ ጁንታም በራሱ የፓርቲ ፕሮግራም መሰረት ተደርጎ አለማቀፍ ህጎች ተዋህደውት በራሱ ካድሬዎች ውክልና እና ስብስብ የጸደቀውን ህገመንግስት ለህገወጥ ተግባር እያዋለው ነው:: አንድ ህዝብ ህግን ሊያከብር የሚችለው ራሱ ወይንም ተወካዮቹ ባረቀቁለት ህግ እና ህገመንግስት መሆኑ እሙን ነው::ጨዋው ይሪትዮጵያ ህዝብ ግን እንደፈለጉ የሚያመጡለትን ህግ አንገቱን ሰብሮ በማክበር ሲኖር ገዢዎቹ ግን ራሳቸው ያወጡትን ህግ ሀገወጥ መሆኑን በአደባባይ ያስመሰከሩበት አጋጣሚዎች እጅግ ብዙ ናቸው::

በሃገሪቱ ህገመንግስታዊ መዋቅር እና መነባበብ የሌሉባቸውን ያለፍት ህገወጥ 22 አመታቶች በህዝብ ተወካዮች ምክር ቤት የበላይነት የተዳደሩ ወይንም ያለፉ የሰው ልጆችን ይወክላሉ የሚባሉ ህጎችን ማግኘት አስቸጋሪ ነበር::ምንሊክ ሳልሳዊ በዘፈቀደ የበላይ የፓርቲ አመራሮች በሻቸው ሰአት ህጎችን በማውጣት እና በማጽደቅ ህዝብ ላይ እንደፈለጉ ይጨፍራሉ:: ህዝብ ለህገመንግስቱ ያለ ግንዛቤ አናሳ መሆኑን እና ማን እንዳወጣው እንዴት እንደወጣ ስለሚያውቁት ህዝቡ ያሌለበት ተሳትፎ እንደሆኑ ስለሚረዱት እንዳሻቸው ህገመንግስቱን ይጥሉታል ያነሱታል:: የወረቀት ላይ እይታ ብቻ አድርገው በማስቀረት ህገወጥነትን አስፋፍተዋል::

በወያኔ ውስጥ ተስፋፍቶ የሚገኘው መንግስታዊ ህገወጥነት ከእይታ ያልተሰወረ ሲሆን ህዝብ በህገመንግስቱ መሰረት ፍትህ ማግኘት ሲገባው ፍትህን አቶ እየተንደፋደፍ ይገኛል::ህዝብን በፍትህ እጦት የታረደ ዶሮ ያደረገው ወያኔ የፍትህ አከላት ከህገመንግስቱ ውጪ ህገወጥ የሆኑ ያልተጻፉ ህጎችን ሲጠቀሙ ያየ ወይንም ለምን ያለ መንግስት የለም::የፍትህ አከላቶች ህገን ለማስከበር እና ህግን ለመተርጎም የተቋቋሙ አካላት ሆነው ሳለ በፖለቲክ ትብትቦሽ ተይዘው ሕገ መንግሥቱን በሚያሽመደምድ ሕጎችን በሚጥስ መንገድ እነ ..እንዳይጠየቁ ወይም እንዳይከሰሱ፣ ከተከሰሱም እንዳይሸነፉ የሚንቀሳቀስና የሚሯሯጥ በፍትህ አከላት ውስጥ በድብቅና በሕገወጥ የተገነባ አካል በይፋ በትንንሽ መመሪያዎች እና ትእዛዞች ህገመንግስቱን ደፍጥጦታል::

ሌላው በወያኔ ጁንታ ውስጥ እየተደረገ ያለው ህገመንግስታዊ ህገወጥ ንቅዘት የዜጎች የመኖር ህልውና እና ሰርቶ የማደር ጉዳይ ሲሆን አለማቀፍ ድንጋጌዎችን የጣሰ እና ህገመንግስቱት የጣለ ከፍተኛ የሆነውን ህዝብ ለስደት ያበቃ የጸረ ህልውና እንቅስቃሴ በገሃይ እያየን ነው::ይህ ደሞ የወለደው የወያኔ ባለስልታናት በሚያደርጉት ህገወጥ የኢኮኖሚ ወረራ ምክንያት ህዝቦች በሃገራቸው እንዲሽመደመዱ ሲያደርግ ሰርቶ የመኖር ህልውናን ገደል ከቶታል::ባእስልጣናቱ ህዝቦች በፈለጉት የስራ መስክ እንዳይሰማሩ ሙስናን እና ንቅዘትን በስፋት በስራ ላይ አውለውታል::

እነዚህ የተፈጠሩ መንግስታዊ ህገወጥነቶች ሕዝብ መንግስት እንዳሌለ አምኖ እንዲቀበል አድርገውታል፡፡እኩልነት እንዳሌለ አረጋግጠዋል፣ ሕገ መንግሥቱም አለኝታዬ አይደለም እንዲል አድርገውታል፡፡ ምክንያቱም ሕግ አክብሩ ከሚባሉ ዜጎች ጎን ለጎን ከሕግ በላይ የሆኑና ተመልሰው መንግሥትን የሚጫኑ፣ የሚይዙና የሚያስፈራሩ ሌሎች ዜጎች እንዳሉ ሕዝብ በተግባር አይቷል፡፡ እነሱንማ ማን ይነካቸዋል እያለ መንግሥት ዜጎችን ከሕግ አንፃር በእኩልነት ያያል የሚለው እምነቱ ተሟጧል፡፡የተቃወሙትን መብታቸውን የጠየቁትን ሁሉ ልማቱን ያደናቅፋሉ፡፡በማለት… የወያኔ ባለስልጣናት ከአገርና ከሕዝብ በላይ ነን ብለው አገር ለእነሱ በምትስማማበትና በምትገዛበት መንገድ እንድትጓዝ ይፈልጋሉ እንጂ ከእነሱ ጥቅም፣ ክብርና ዝና ውጭ ህዝቦች በህግ ተዳደሩ አልተዳደሩ አጀንዳቸው አይደለም፡፡ለምን ቢባል ጥይት እንዲገዛቸው ይደረጋል:: እነዚህ ሕገወጥ የወያኔው ቡድኖች አገርን እየዘረፉ፣ የአገር ገንዘብ እያሽከረከሩና የሰው ልጆችን መብት እየጣሱባለበት ወቅት ህዝብ በቃኝ ብሎ ሕገወጥነትን ለማፈራረስ ሲረባረብ በጥይት ይቆላል ይወነጀላል::(ምንሊክ ሳልሳዊ)

ወያኔ ከአብዮታዊ ዲሞክራሲ ወደ ልማታዊ ዲሞክራሲ ተለውጫለሁ በማለት እያጭበረበረ ነው፡፡ ሕዝቡን ከድህነት ለማላቀቅ፣ ሙስናን ለመዋጋት የቆምኩና የቆረጥኩ ነኝ በማለት እያደናበረ ነው፡፡ የሕግ የበላይነት የሚለውን አባባልም በየዕለቱ ለሚዲያ ፍጆታ እየዋለ ነው፡፡ ኪራይ ሰብሳቢነትን እና አደርባይነትን ማውገዝ ከዕለቱ የሜትሮሎጂ ሪፖርት በላይበተጋነነ መልኩ በተደጋጋሚ የምንሰማው ነው፡፡ በወያኔ መዋቅሮች ውስጥ ተሰግስገው ያሉት ሕገወጥ ንቅዘቶች ግን የማይፈርስ መሰረታቸውን ተክለው እየተንቀሳቀሱ ነው::ይህን ለነገ አደጋ እንዳለው ያልተረድው ወያኔ ራሱን ማዳን ወደማይችልበት አዘቅት ውስጥ እንደገባ እሙን ነው:; (ምንሊክ ሳልሳዊ)

After the government held an evaluation regarding the leakage of information, disarray in information keeping and cyber intelligence, members of the intelligence have asked to whom they were answerable to. ESAT obtained audio supported evidence regarding the query from sources in the Intel office. High government officials and appointees also attended the meeting.

The question was posed by Intel officers working under the Federal government and graduates of the Mekele Institute of Technology (MIT), an institute founded under the cover of MekeleUniversity during the period in office of the late Prime Minister Meles Zenawi.

“Is our responsibility protecting the security of the Nation or the political regime?” asked the officers. A senior government official responded saying “there is no Intel officer who also does not have political duties. From the outset, intelligence is a work of sustaining a regime in power and this is done by professionals. It requires one to trust the regime. One who believes in Ginbot 7 Movement’s outlook and thinks that the regime should be removed through force, would disintegrate the system even if he is remarked for having the skills of Tesfaye Woldeselassie or was trained by Mossad for 20 years.”

It was also discussed during the evaluation that there is a difference and fall out within the chain of commands of the Nationality and Immigration Department, Defense Intelligence, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Federal Police, Anti-Terrorism Taskforce and Information Network Security Agency (INSA).

Some government officials have said that secrets of the government have been passed to third parties to the extent that it has become impossible to protect secrets.

Intel officials that came from Oromia and Southern regions complained why there was a dominance of one ethnic group within the Defense Intelligence. The official responded saying that balancing the Force was a long-term work.

Responding to the question that there is a rumour that Meles Zenawi was killed by foreign forces, the official said Meles died due to “huge workload and his inability to put up with the medical treatment”.

In the mean time, five members of the Ethiopian National Intelligence and Security Service have been detained suspected of working and passing information with and to Ethiopian Satellite Television (ESAT). Mebrate Tamrat, Jemal Awol, Dejene Admas, Hailu Cherkos, Capitan Assefa Abraha have been detained by securities.

Similarly, students and intelligence heads found in the 28 universities of the Country have started an evaluation meeting. It has been decided during the evaluation that Aksum, Debre Tabor and Debre Birhan Universities have witnessed huge protests thus should be under stringent Intel surveillance. ESAT News

An Ethiopian government official said the border demarcation controversy between Ethiopian and Sudan has no legal backing but moral and social questions. The official said this during an evaluation and meeting of Intel officers and high government officials.

The official said the demarcation process started in 1965 between the then Ethiopian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dr. Minase Haile and his Sudanese counterpart Jaafar al-Nimeiri and has been lingering since.

He said based on the complaints received that the Sudanese have passed the Ethiopian border line of Guwi, a committee had been formed which has not yet conducted any form of border demarcation.

The official said on a recent high level meeting Sudanese officials came up with a new suggestion. The Sudanese said “you can still hold the land. We will protect the rights of your citizens. But at least in terms of principle, accept and confirm that the land belongs to us.”

The Ethiopian official told the officers that if one checks out his mobile apparatus near the borders of Ethiopia and Sudan such as Berehet in Tigray or Armachiho near Gonder it shows you that you are in the Sudan. So you may fake politics but not the science, he added.

He also said that recent reports that Armachiho has been given to Sudan is wrong but some Sudanese police officers do at times sneak in to the border towns of Ethiopia start havoc but our militias do not hold down rather they do not even consider the Sudanese soldiers as ‘soldiers’.

He said it does not mean that we can take hold of anything that our eyes see in fact if we want to do so we can even capture Khartoum.

The official asserted that the border demarcation has not at all started so far.

The online news source, Sudan Tribune, had reported quoting the region’s administrator in 2007 that a large chunk of land had been given to the Sudan.ESAT News

The Ethiopian government has decided to revoke the investment license of at least 2500 foreign direct investors who have not started investment. The majorities of the 65, 000 investors who have been given the license in the past 15 years have not been…

Eritrea is among the most closed countries in the world; human rights conditions remain dismal. Indefinite military service, torture, arbitrary detention, and severe restrictions on freedoms of expression, association, and religion provoke thousands of Eritreans to flee the country each month. Among those fleeing in 2013 were the minister of information—whose 85-year-old father, brother, and 15-year-old daughter were immediately arrested—and the deputy head of economic affairs of the People’s Front for Democracy and Justice (PFDJ), Eritrea’s sole political party that controls most major domestic commercial enterprises.

In October, more than 300 Eritrean refugees drowned when a boat bringing them to Europe capsized near Lampedusa, Italy. According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), over 305,000 Eritreans (more than 5 percent of the population) have fled during the past decade.

Eritrea has no constitution, functioning legislature, independent judiciary, elections, independent press, or nongovernmental organizations; it does not hold elections. All power is concentrated in the hands of President Isaias Afewerki, in office since 1991.

In a rare sign of domestic dissent, on January 21, 2013, a group of soldiers with tanks, led by a brigadier general and three colonels, briefly occupied the Ministry of Information (“Forto”) and forced the director of government television to read a statement demanding the release of political prisoners and implementation of the 1997 constitution. The transmission was cut after a few sentences and the protestors surrendered when other military units failed to deliver expected support. According to credible reports, 60 or more high-level alleged collaborators were arrested, several of whom are now dead, some by suicide. Among them is said to be Abdella Jaber, PFDJ’s chief administrator.

Despite repeated requests, Eritrea denied the United Nation special rapporteur on Eritrea, Sheila Keetharuth, a visa. In a 2013 report based on refugee interviews, she concluded that “basic tenets of the rule of law are not respected.” Following her report, the Council “strongly condemn[ed]” Eritrea’s “continued widespread and systematic violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms.”

Indefinite Conscription and Forced Labor
Eritrea conscripts all men and unmarried women into “national service.” Although Eritrean law limits national service to 18 months, most conscripts serve for much of their working lives. Conscripts are routinely used as forced labor on essentially civilian jobs. In 2013, Human Rights Watch reported that conscripts were used by a state-owned construction company, Segen Construction Co., engaged by Canadian mining firm Nevsun Resources, to build infrastructure at its Bisha gold mine. Former conscripts described working long hours for minimal food rations, primitive lodging, and wages too low to sustain themselves, much less their families. They were not allowed to leave the work site.

Children as young as 15 are inducted and sent for military training, according to recent interviews by refugee agencies. They and other recruits are regularly subject to violence and ill-treatment for raising questions or for other perceived infractions. Beatings, torture, and prolonged incarcerations are common. Women are subject to [deleted] violence from military commanders, including rape. No mechanisms for redress exist.

Since mid-2012, all men in their 50s, 60s, and 70s are compelled to perform militia duty: carrying military weapons; reporting for training; and going on periodic patrols.

Arbitrary Arrest, Prolonged Detention, and Inhumane Conditions
Thousands of ordinary citizens are arrested and incarcerated without charge, trial, or opportunity to appeal, and without access to family, lawyers, or independent prison monitoring organizations. While some are freed without explanation and warned not to speak about their detention, most prisoners remain in jail indefinitely. Until the “Forto” incident in January 2013, the most prominent prisoners were 21 government officials and journalists arrested in September 2001 and still held incommunicado 12 years later. None have been formally charged, much less tried; former guards who have left Eritrea report that half of them have died.

Former detainees describe brutal detention conditions. Death in captivity is not unusual. Many prisoners disappear, their whereabouts and health unknown to their families. Former prisoners describe being confined in vastly overcrowded underground cells or shipping containers, with no space to lie down, little or no light, oppressive heat or cold, and vermin. Medical treatment is poor or non-existent. Food consists of a piece or two of bread a day, occasional servings of lentils or beans, a cup of tea, and insufficient water. Beatings and torture in detention are common; wardens are able to impose any physical punishment they devise. A former interrogator told Human Rights Watch he ordered beatings of prisoners until they confessed to whatever they were accused of; they were then beaten to implicate others.

Eritreans who were forcibly repatriated to Eritrea from Middle Eastern countries and then fled again told Human Rights Watch in 2012 they had been incarcerated in crammed cells and beaten shortly after their return. They displayed scars from beatings and electric shocks. One escapee reported that several prisoners in his group of returnees died from their beatings.

Freedom of Religion
Since 2002, the government has jailed and physically abused citizens for practicing religions other than the four government-controlled or recognized religions—Sunni Islam, Ethiopian Orthodox, Catholicism, and Lutheranism. Most arrests occur in private houses but many also occur during private Quran or Bible study at colleges or at national service training centers.

Some prisoners are offered release on condition that they sign statements renouncing their faith. Three deaths during captivity were reported by foreign-based religious monitoring groups in 2013, but given the difficulties of obtaining information, the number may be higher.

The octogenarian Orthodox patriarch, whom the government deposed in 2007, remains under strict house arrest.

Reprisals against Family Members
Family members of some draft evaders or national service deserters have been punished by fines of Nakfa 50,000 (US$3,333) and by detention, in a country with, according to the World Bank, per capita income in 2012 of $560.

Families are also punished when relatives living abroad fail to pay a 2 percent tax on foreign income, retroactive to 1992, or to contribute “national defense” fees. Punishments include revocation of resident families’ business licenses, confiscation of houses and other property, and refusal to issue passports to allow reunification of children and spouses with overseas parents or spouses.

Freedom of Expression and Association
The government maintains a complete monopoly on domestic sources of information since it closed all local press outlets in 2001 and arrested their staff. Telephone and Internet communications are monitored. Eritrea expelled the last accredited foreign correspondent in 2008. Although foreign language transmissions are accessible, the government jammed Al Jazeera in early 2013 and has long jammed overseas transmissions from Eritrea diaspora stations. At least six government journalists arrested in 2009 and 2011 remain in solitary confinement without trial.

No independent civil society organizations are permitted. Labor unions remain a government monopoly.

Key International Actors
Eritrea’s government has few allies. Relations with Ethiopia remain hostile following the 1998-2000 border war and Ethiopia’s failure to implement an international boundary commission’s ruling awarding disputed territory to Eritrea.

Eritrea has been under United Nations sanctions since 2009 because of its support for armed Islamic insurgents in Somalia and its refusal to release Djibouti prisoners of war captured during a 2008 invasion of Djibouti’s border territory.

A UN monitoring group reported in July 2013 that although Eritrea had made a tactical decision to court the Somali government, it fostered regional destabilization by “maintain[ing]close links to a network of warlords and other spoilers in Somalia,” including at least two Al-Shabaab leaders. Eritrea refuses to acknowledge that it holds Djibouti prisoners of war although three escaped in late 2011. Following the report, the UN Security Council retained sanctions and renewed the monitoring group’s mandate for a year.

Eritrea’s relationship with Qatar, which had been mediating Eritrea-Djibouti border issues, frayed in 2013 and Qatar apparently stopped funding a large Red Sea resort. The Yemeni Foreign Ministry complained that Eritrea seized Yemeni fishing vessels in international waters and detained their crews. In October, Eritrea released 81 Yemeni fishermen held for 18 months without trial; Yemen claims another 519 remain jailed.

In June 2013, Canada expelled Eritrea’s Toronto consul for continuing to solicit “national defense” fees (and the 2 percent tax) from Eritrean expatriates despite Canadian demands that he stop because the practice violated UN sanctions.

Eritrea has warmer relations with China. The Chinese government provided a 630 million Yuan ($10.3 million) loan in 2013 to construct canning, food cold-storage, and PCV pipe manufacturing plants. The projects will be run by SFECO, a Shanghai Construction Co subsidiary. SFECO bought a 60 percent share of the Zara gold exploration site near Asmara in 2013 and has contracts to repair and enlarge Asmara’s power plant. Lengthy power shortages occurred in 2013.

In earlier years, Eritrea expelled all nongovernmental aid agencies. In 2013, the UN and Eritrea agreed on a four-year $188 million “cooperation framework.” The UN will provide $50 million and attempt to raise the remaining $138 million from donor countries for capacity building, food security, environmental improvements, and social services. Providing assistance presents “acute coordination challenges,” according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, because of “access restrictions on international staff” and the “absence of up-to-date information” from the government.

The Bisha mine, a major hard currency generator, was expected to earn less in 2013 as production shifted from gold to copper and copper prices fell. Eritrea issues no budget; government finances are opaque and secret. President Afewerki nevertheless complained in 2013 that “international organization” statistics (ostensibly referring to the World Bank and International Monetary Fund) “are based on speculation and aimed at serving vested political interests” and “should be dismissed.”

http://www.hrw.org/world-report/2014/co … rs/eritrea

In a recent article in Times of Malta about g@y couples adopting children, I discovered anew how pharisaical people’s ignorance and hypocrisy can be. One sentence reads: “Countries like Ethiopia had been closing doors on adoptions for Maltese because of fears that prospective single parents could be g@y.”

Ethiopians, renowned for their inability to govern themselves and for living in the second poorest country in the world despite being one of the richest in mineral resources like gold, potash, copper, platinum and natural gas, are closing doors on adoptions by Maltese parents because these might be h o – m o se x ua l.

A country ravaged by illiteracy, corruption, child prostitution and political instability still has the damnable effrontery to pontificate on the s e x u a l orientation of a few good souls willing to take starving Ethiopian foundlings into their care.

If this doesn’t win an award as one of the most banal acts of immorality ever to find its way into State policy, nothing will.

It is staggering that African nations only too willing to accept handouts and ‘aid’ from developed countries that endorse h om ose x ua lity will recoil in horror at one of their own being cared for by a g@y couple.

Those African politicians who are so morally bankrupt that they will boast of being on the take and even hold ‘briberyauctions’ do not have the right to stand in the way of individuals whose only failings are being g@y and wanting to give a few children a better life.

(Reuters) – South Sudan’s government and rebel troops loyal to sacked Vice President Riek Machar signed a deal on Thursday to end fighting that has lasted more than a month and killed thousands.The leader of President Salva Kiir’s delegation to talks …

Ukrainian riot police appear to strip protester naked in freezing cold and take trophy shots. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0zD3pOG-Tk

Man accused of spying for ESAT sentenced to four years in prisonMikiyas Nigatu of the Ethiopian Airports Enterprise’s Gambella Airport Security personnel, who was charged by the federal prosecutor for delivering sensitive information to the ESAT journalist named Fasil Yenealem for 4,460 Br is sentenced to four years in prison by the Federal High Court’s Fourth Criminal Bench on January 20, 2014.

Mikiyas who has failed to defend himself against a 10 page written document from his e-mail and three pictures from his cell phone has been giving various information to the ESAT television station which was deemed by the Ethiopian government as “a media outlet for the terrorist group Ginbot 7” The charge indicates that Mikiyas has provided information about foreign investors who were killed in the Gambella region and other very sensitive security related materials.