A few days before the “Somalia Conference 2013” held in London on May 7, a foreign journalist friend of mine sent me an e-mail asking what my thoughts were regarding the upcoming conference hosted by Prime Minister David Cameron. I replied: “My heart’s belief in miracles outweighed my mind’s interest in the pursuit of objective […]
On Sunday, February 24, 2013, a regional peace accord was agreed upon in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, by 11 African nations from both the Great Lakes region and Southern Africa in an attempt to finally end two decades of conflict that have plagued most sections of the war-riddled country, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), particularly its mineral-rich eastern provinces. Appropriately labeled […]
Just as the temperature of the “security threat” slowly declines in Somalia, it rises in other parts of East Africa. Elements of mainly political, religious, and clan/ethnic nature continue to shift and create new volatile conditions. Though not entirely interdependent, these conditions could create a ripple effect across different borders. Depending on one’s purview, […]
Every year, the International Labour Organization’s (ILO) Committee on Freedom of Association releases a list of cases examined and their findings, placing a higher priority on some particularly egregious violations or lack of responsiveness on the part of governments. This year, situations in Argentina, Cambodia, Ethiopia, Fiji, and Peru were determined to be the most […]
In late August 2012 I wrote about uncertainty and apprehension surrounding the death of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, who ruled Ethiopia unchallenged for 21 years. Hailemariam Desalegn, Meles’ deputy, was a relative political unknown and no one agreed on how effective he would be in running the country, or in keeping stability in a notoriously […]
Hailemariam Desalegn was sworn in as Ethiopia’s new prime minister last week. He has some big shoes to fill. A cult of personality surrounds his predecessor, Meles Zenawi, who died last month.. Zenawi was a regional leader, fighting terrorism in Somalia and mediating the Sudan-South Sudan conflict. At home, he was the impetus behind Ethiopia’s […]
Recently, important new developments have occurred in Romania and Ethiopia in relation to topics I have recently written about: the impeachment of Romanian President Traian Basescu, and mysterious disappearance of Ethiopian President Meles Zenawi. Here’s a rundown of the aftermath of those stories. The future of democracy in both nations appears unclear. Romania On Aug. […]
Ethiopia, the second-most populous country on the African continent (behind only Nigeria), is looked to as a relatively strong and stable presence in a volatile region. Its cooperation is vital to security concerns in the region, especially as a barrier to the spread of radical Islamism and terrorism from neighboring Somalia. The U.S. has collaborated […]
Internally—where it matters the most—the overall status of a government is judged by how the average citizen perceives it. From that perspective, and due to a number of factors, in Somalia not much has changed in the past three decades since the military government went astray. Still, the average Somali sees his/her government as the […]
A video slideshow from the BBC illustrates the circumstances of two Ethiopian women, each dealing with food insecurity. Fitsum Birhan Tadele is a 20-year old mother of two who lives in Ethiopia’a arid Hintalo Wajerat district, whose people rely on food aid each dry season. The slideshow also shows how a food-for-work irrigation project can […]
Like in wars between states and other organized groups, civil wars and other protracted domestic conflicts are seldom caused by a single factor. Over time, even those that prove to be the exception to the rule eventually evolve into a much more complex conflict- hence the entity known as Somaliland. A Brief History Only […]
Last week the UN declared a famine in two regions of Southern Somalia and warned that it could spread to other parts of the Horn of Africa. That is a big deal. As Mark Leon Goldberg of UN Dispatch pointed out, a famine is a technical finding based or mortality, malnutrition and water consumption; they […]
Something I ran across on the ‘net that I wanted to share with readers. The video below was originally posted by Aljazeera in September of 2010: The past decade has seen Chinese economic growth explode across the world and the Chinese economic miracle seems to reach into every imaginable area of manufacturing and natural resources. […]
John Brown’s Public Diplomacy Press and Blog Review, Version 2.0. If you aren’t reading this on a daily basis you should be. It is the best collection of everything you need to know about public diplomacy and it’s downright entertaining, too. An excellent post on putting Ottoman ghosts into proper historical context – by Patricia […]
Impoverished Ethiopians search a city trash dump site for food and items that they can sell or barter in the capital city of Addis Ababa. (photo by Zoriah, www.zoriah.com) Zoriah Miller, who publishes photographs of the name Zoriah, is an award-winning independent journalist who travels the globe, photographing and telling stories about the people and […]