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SMNE Articles and Opinions - 2011
Mr. Obang Metho is the primary author of these articles, but many are also written with the collaboration of other members of the SMNE team.
April 28, 2011
Dropping Off Ethiopian Refugees in Deserted Areas at Night by Norwegian Police is Not a Solution
Norway gives generously to refugee assistance throughout the world so what was going on in Norway on April 26th when at 10:30 PM, Norwegian police picked up sixty-three Ethiopian asylum seekers from an Oslo city “camp,” where they had been staying pending a decision on their asylum case, and transported them to five different isolated areas outside of Oslo and simply left them there? read...
read in Amharic
April 27, 2011
Petition to support the Open Letter to the UNHCR Commissioner António Guterres Regarding the Plight of Ethiopian Refugees in Japan, Norway, Sweden and Beyond
Click here to sign the petition
April 23, 2011
Open Letter to UNHCR Commissioner António Guterres
Dear Commissioner António Guterres:
On behalf of Ethiopian refugees seeking asylum, we in the SMNE call on the UNHCR and host countries to quickly address the urgent matters that are now threatening the lives and security of Ethiopian refugees throughout the world, particularly those facing deportation as they will be unable to protect themselves from persecution should they be forcibly returned to Ethiopia. We strongly hold that the UNHCR and host countries should ensure their right to international protection and seek permanent solutions to their predicament. read...
April 10, 2011
Open Letter to Mr. Haile Mariam Dessalegn, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Ethiopia
On behalf of the Anuak Community Association of North America (ACANA), the Anuak Women’s Association, the Anuak Youth Association, the Anuak Community in Kenya, the Anuak Community in Sudan, the Anuak Community in Canada, the Anuak Churches Council in USA, the Anuak Community in Australia, the Anuak Community in Europe and Anuak Justice Council (AJC), together, we are writing this notice of intended action to you in defense of the Anuak and other people of Gambella, whose land is being forcibly taken from them. read...
April 9, 2011
Open Letter to Ethiopian Delegates Planning to Defect in North America
As you embark on a North American tour of 14 cities to lure members from the Diaspora to invest in the TPLF/EPRDF’s Growth and Transformation Plan, we are aware of the strong possibility that some, or even many of you within the ranks of the government’s 52-person delegation sent on this campaign, will attempt to defect while you have this opportunity to seek asylum in either Canada or the United States. read...
read in Amharic
April 5, 2011
Obang’s Address to Norwegian Politicians, Policy-Makers and Refugee Advocates Related to Ambiguous Status of Ethiopians in Norway!
I want to thank the Norwegian Organization for Asylum Seekers (NOAS) for inviting me to speak here today on the subject of "Human Rights and the Political Climate in Ethiopia." It is a topic of significant importance to the 160 or more Ethiopian refugees now living in Norway whose fate will soon be decided as to whether or not they will be deported back to Ethiopia after living many years in Norway without clear resident status. I thank you for your dedicated work in helping these Ethiopians who are hoping to be granted permanent asylum status and protection in Norway. read...
March 25, 2011
Robbery of Land and Resources Incites Mounting Call to End Meles Regime!
Meles and his TPLF regime are their own worst enemies. As they attempt to hang on to power, they are fomenting large-scale rebellion against their own iron-fisted rule and seem incapable of altering their self-destructive path. Meles knows his time is coming to an end as his survival instincts sound out loud alarms to the rising danger of an entire nation of discontented people. read...
March 21, 2011
Ethiopia at centre of global farmland rush
It's the deal of the century: £150 a week to lease more than 2,500 sq km (1,000 sq miles) of virgin, fertile land – an area the size of Dorset – for 50 years. Bangalore-based food company Karuturi Global says it had not even seen the land when it was offered by the Ethiopian government with tax breaks thrown in. read...
Ethiopia's land rush: Feeding the world
John Vidal reports from Ethiopia's remote Gambella region, where foreign investors are pouring in to exploit land the government has cleared of people read...
View Virgin Land
March 3, 2011
Nineteen Ethiopians Released from Detention in Mexico!
Nineteen Ethiopians were finally released on Friday, February 25, 2010 from the Tapachula Detention Center in southeastern Chiapas, Mexico after being held for as long as five months; significantly beyond the 90 day international legal limit for such detentions; after which detainees must either be deported or released. read...
read in Amharic
March 1, 2011
Urgent Appeal to Human Rights Advocates and Leaders of the Peoples’ Movement in Libya: Ethiopians stranded in Libya; especially in Benghazi, need your protection!
We in the Solidarity Movement for a New Ethiopia stand in full solidarity with the people of Libya who have risen up to demand freedom, justice, peace, equality, respect for human rights and opportunity after living under the brutal and repressive regime of Col Muammar Gaddafi for forty-two years! read...
February 16, 2011
Environmental Impact Warnings Ignored in Gambella Land Grabs
The Ethiopian Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development (MoARD) is ignoring objections from Ethiopian President Girma Wolde-Giorgis, from the Environmental Protection Authority of Ethiopia (EPA) and from the indigenous Mazenger people of Gambella, to the clearing of 5,000 hectares of ancient forests in the Godere District, located at the headwaters of five critical rivers in the Nile Basin that are major tributaries to the White Nile. read...
read in Amharic
February 11, 2011
Ethiopians Rejoice in the Egyptian Peoples’ Victory Over Mubarak as the Momentum for Regime Change Ignites Ethiopia!
As Egyptians rejoice the end of the Hosni Mubarak regime after thirty years of repressive and corrupt rule, we, the freedom-loving people of Ethiopia celebrate this victory of the people after standing with them in full solidarity in their pursuit of freedom over the last eighteen days and nights. We are inspired by the courage, sacrifice and determination they have demonstrated and are saddened by the needless loss of lives among the protestors; killed for merely exercising the universal right to peacefully protest. Yet, their deaths have not been in vain as hope is reignited among the people of other repressed countries; not only countries in the Middle East, but also in Africa. Ethiopia is one of them! read...
February 8, 2011
Ethiopians: Let us Prepare Ourselves Before the Peoples’ Revolution to Oust an Ethiopian Dictator Reaches Ethiopia (Part II)
Since we released the first half of this series , unrest continues to shake the very foundations of increasing numbers of countries throughout the world as ordinary people rise up for the first time in many years to resist their dictatorial leaders. Inevitably, the same will take place in Ethiopia; it is just a matter of time. We strongly believe that when it does, actions taken or not taken by some key groups of Ethiopians could alter the outcome for good or bad. read...
February 5, 2011
Ethiopians: Let us Prepare Ourselves Before the Peoples’ Revolution to Oust an Ethiopian Dictator Reaches Ethiopia (Part I)
For thousands of years, life in Egypt has been greatly sustained and nurtured by the Nile waters coming from the rivers of Ethiopia and beyond; flowing through the beautiful land we all share. The Nile is like the blood of our shared humanity that passes through the veins of every human being; preserving life through generations past, present and future. read...
February 2, 2011
Protests in the Arab world - We want your opinion
The world is keenly watching the rapid developments in the Arab streets caused by popular and brave demand by regular citizens to put an end to dictatorship and corruption in their respective countries. This inevitable revolt has made dictators like Meles Zenawi very uneasy. SMNE is also following developments very closely. To that end, we would also like to hear your opinion on the survey we have put together on our website regarding the ramifications of these revolts to our country and our struggle against tyranny as a whole.
Please fill out the survey at http://solidaritymovement.net/smneSurvey.cfm
January 30, 2011
SMNE MOBILIZATION ALERT!
We Ethiopians must begin mobilizing! It is time to take action if we are to join in the peoples’ movements for freedom, now spreading among nations where autocratic rulers and their regimes, like Meles Zenawi and the EPRDF, have repressed their citizens for so many years. If there were a list of people most desperate for such change, Ethiopians would surely be near the top of the list. read...
read in Amharic
January 22, 2011
Will Ethiopians Join in the People’s Movement for Change as it Blows from North Africa?
All eyes are on Tunisia right now following the startling news of the peoples’ uprising that ousted their iron-fisted president, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, after being in power for twenty-three years. It has sent shockwaves of fear to other strongmen throughout Africa, the Middle East and the world; all who are rightfully worried that their own subjugated people will similarly rise up against them.
read...
read in Amharic
January 3, 2011
Public Backlash Against Forced Evictions from Land a Certainty!
The Solidarity Movement for a New Ethiopia has recently acquired the Ethiopian government’s official report, “Villagization Program Action Plan,” which gives many specific details of their plan to resettle 49 villages in Gambella Peoples National Regional State in the upcoming months and year. A total of 45,000 households will be targeted to move from homes and land occupied for generations. This totals approximately 225,000 people according to government calculations of five members per household.
read (pdf)... read report(pdf)...
read in Amharic
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