Diplomatic Briefing
Your exclusive news aggregator handpicked daily!Archive for Ethiopia
Newsline: U.S. Embassy intervenes to free VOA Correspondent in Ethiopia
Voice of America correspondent Peter Heinlein and his translator were released from police custody in Ethiopia, officials said. Heinlein and his translator Simegineh Yekoye were arrested on the outskirts of Addis Ababa upon leaving a local mosque where they had been filming. VOA said Saturday Heinlein and Simegineh were released and all charges were dropped after an official from the U.S. Embassy’s consular section appeared at the prison Saturday morning. VOA and the Committee to Protect Journalists expressed their relief in a statement Saturday, condemning the “restriction imposed by the Ethiopian government on foreign journalists.” VOA quoted Heinlein as saying he believed his arrest was linked to his reporting on a dispute between Ethiopia’s Muslim minority and the government over the leadership of the nation’s Muslim community.
http://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2012/05/26/VOA-Correspondent-freed/UPI-30121338056520/?spt=hs&or=tn
Newsline: Israel Appoints First Ethiopian-Israeli Ambassador to Ethiopia
The Foreign Ministry’s appointments committee announced Zevadia’s appointment to Addis Ababa. The 44-year-old will be Israel’s first Ethiopian-born ambassador. “It is a great honor to be appointed ambassador, and especially the first ambassador from the Ethiopian community,” she said. “I made aliya as a youth and am returning to Ethiopia as an ambassador.”
http://www.tadias.com/02/29/2012/israel-appoints-first-ethiopian-israeli-ambassador-to-ethiopia/
Newsline: Eriterian envoy blames Ethiopia for diplomatic row
Kenya’s ambassador to the United Nations is expected to seek audience with the President of the UN Security Council regarding Nairobi’s military intervention in Somalia. At the same time, the UN’s top body is considering a request by Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki to address the full council. Mr Afwerki is believed to be eager to head off additional UN sanctions against Eritrea related in part to his country’s alleged involvement inSomalia’s civil war. Kenya has accused Eritrea of supplying arms to the Al-Shabaab militants that Kenyan forces are now battling in southern Somalia. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has remained silent on Kenya’s intervention inSomalia. Portuguese UN ambassador Jose Filipe Moraes Cabral told reporters that he will be meeting “at the beginning of next week” with Kenya’s ambassador, Mr Macharia Kamau. Mr Kamau wrote to the Security Council last month to explain why its forces have entered Somalia. He said then thatKenya’s action was being coordinated with Somalia’s Transitional Federal Government.
http://mobile.nation.co.ke/News/-/1290/1267924/-/format/xhtml/-/lf5v8dz/-/
Newsline: Diplomat visits Swedes held in Ethiopia
The Swedish ambassador toEthiopiahas been allowed to see two jailed Swedish journalists and said they are in good condition. “They’re feeling fairly well, considering the circumstances,” Jens Odlander told the Swedish news agency TT. Reporter Martin Schibbye, 30, and photographer Johan Persson, 29, were slightly wounded in the weekend clash between the Ethiopian military and ethnic Somali rebels of the Ogaden National Liberation Front. The government said 15 rebels were killed. Abdi Mahdi, an ONLF spokesman inLondon, said the Swedes entered Ethiopia with rebel fighters. Sweden says they have received treatment for their injuries. The Swedish Foreign Ministry said Schibbye and Persson will face court proceedings but it was not clear when.
Newsline: Senior officer of Ethiopian consulate in Puntland assassinated
Unknown gun men assassinated senior officer working for the Ethiopian consulate in Puntland. According to eyewitness in Galkaio gun men shot dead Mr. Mukhtar Sheikh Ali, Somali-Ethiopian citizen in Galkaio. “The killing occurred at about 8:00.p.m. the backside of Galkaio stadium.” Mukhtar Sheikh Ali, 55 already served as the former district commissioner in Galladi district of Ethiopia administrated eastern region of Kilin-5 inhabited by Somalis. The killing is still unclear and the event came as Galkaio town experiences growing insecurity cases in the last two weeks. Two suspects were arrested for the case. The Ethiopian consulate in Garowe, the capital of Somalia’s semi-autonomous state of Puntland was opened on May 2009, to focus the security issues as well as the trade and immigration matters in the two administrations.
