GARSEN, Kenya — Eritrea, a sliver of a nation in the Horn of Africa that is one of the most secretive and repressive countries in the world, was cast into confusion on Monday after mutinous soldiers stormed the Ministry of Information and took over the state-run television service, apparently in a coup attempt.
Photo: President Isaias Afwerki (Reuters)
Coup Attempt by Rebel Soldiers Is Said to Fail in Eritrea. By JEFFREY GETTLEMAN
“There’s a lot of dissatisfaction within the armed forces,” said Dan Connell, a professor at Simmons College in Boston and the author of several books on Eritrea. “If this is suppressed, it won’t be the end.”
Eritrea is often called the North Korea of Africa because it is so isolated and authoritarian, with few friends and thousands of defectors in recent years as Mr. Isaias tightens his grip and the economy teeters on the brink of ruin.
In the early 1990s, when Mr. Isaias first took power, Eritrea was hailed as a beacon of hope in Africa, a country of low crime, ethnic harmony and can-do spirit along the Red Sea. The Eritreans fought for years in trenches and from craggy mountaintops to defeat a Soviet-backed Ethiopian government and win their independence.
But the euphoria did not last. In the late 1990s, Eritrea and Ethiopia waged a costly war over their shared border, in which tens of thousands of people died. Shortly afterward, Mr. Isaias rounded up political dissidents and journalists, dooming them to years in prison, often in sweltering, underground shipping containers.
Thousands of young Eritreans have been drafted into the army and then required to work indefinitely for the government for pittance wages in what is called “national service.” Each year, many young people risk their lives to escape. Eritrea has waged war with just about all of its neighbors, and the United Nations has imposed sanctions on Eritrea over what is suspected to be its support of Somali militants.
By nightfall on Monday, it seemed that the government had beaten back the mutineers, with some analysts saying that the government broadcaster, Eri-TV, was back on the air.
The rebel soldiers, believed to number around 100, made it as far as the director’s office in the Ministry of Information, forcing him to read a statement on air calling for the release of political prisoners. Then the broadcast abruptly cut out. They also may have briefly taken hostage Mr. Isaias’s daughter, Elsa, who is said to work in the ministry.
It was not clear what happened to the renegade soldiers; analysts said that troops loyal to the government had surrounded the Ministry of Information and that the mutineers would most likely be captured and imprisoned.
The State Department said that the situation remained fluid, and the small embassy in Asmara, Eritrea’s capital, sent out a warning on Monday to the few American citizens living there. “The U.S. Embassy has been made aware of increased military presence in some sections of Asmara,” the warning said. “Employees of the U.S. government have been advised to limit their movements within the city, avoid large gatherings and exercise caution. We strongly recommend that private U.S. citizens do likewise.”
Maybe Israeli Know-how is Better than Arab Money?
Official: African countries want to revive ‘golden era’ of Israel ties. By Rina Bassist
Deputy FM Ayalon to launch joint agricultural, health projects in Kenya, Uganda; Foreign Ministry official says African leaders who visited Israel recently ‘expressed disappointed at Arab promises from 70s, 80s’
Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon landed on Monday in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, where he met senior officials. He continued to Kenya and Uganda, where he was expected to inaugurate two Israeli-cooperation projects in the fields of agriculture and health.
An outstanding number of state and professional visits by African heads of state and ministers were recorded in Jerusalem this year. Foreign Minister Lieberman visited Africa in 2009. The visit of Ayalon this week constitutes yet another signal of the growing strategic and economic ties between Israel and the African continent.
On Thursday Deputy Minister Ayalon will launch a trilateral fishing project, in cooperation with Kenyan partners and the German economic and development ministry, near Lake Victoria, aiming to rehabilitate fishing water and agricultural polluted land patches in the region. Kenyan PM Raila Udinga is expected to take part in the ceremony, as will the German development minister, Dirk Niebel.
Ayalon will then continue to Uganda, where he will inaugurate an Israeli-built trauma center, at the Mulago referral hospital, in the capital Kampala. Israel has already offered to donate ambulances to health centers countrywide, as a contribution towards improving the health sector in Uganda. According to Gil Haskel, Israel’s ambassador to Uganda, Israel is willing to strengthen cooperation with Uganda in several areas of health and agriculture modernization.
Deputy director general of the African Division at the Foreign Ministry, Avi Granot, told Ynet that Ayalon’s visit this week is guided by two main axes: on the political level - strengthening Israel’s bilateral relations with Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda, and its relations with African regional organization, and on the another level – enhancing the regional development dimension of Israeli-African cooperation.
Granot explains that the democratization and stabilization of the African political structure over the last decade has contributed immensely to the spectacular economic growth of countries like Botswana, Namibia, Rwanda, Ghana and Ivory Coast: ‘“The new generation of African leaders feel responsible, not only to the destiny of their own people, but also regionally. We are now in an era where regional conflicts in Africa are resolved by African institutions, as was the case in Ivory Coast and in Malawi. This contributes to a welcoming economical and trade climate, which is bound to fulfill the enormous African potential.”
Granot says that thousands of Israeli companies benefit from this recent global African growth, offering expertise in diverse fields, such as communication infrastructure, hi-tech products, agriculture, health and more. Israeli companies also offer formation and education programs. The Foreign Ministry operates often these days in partnership with public and private sector elements, working together on development projects. Many Israeli companies are involved in such projects throughout Africa.
When explaining the recent change in relations between Israel and Africa, Granot points to yet another reason: a change in Africa’s own historical perception of these relations: ‘“Many of the African visitors in Israel this last year expressed disappointment at the promises made by Arab nations in the 70s and 80s, when African countries were pressured to cut off diplomatic ties with Israel in exchange for development aid. They look back to the ‘golden era’ of our relations and wish to bring them back to life.”
Deputy Minister Ayalon will discuss with his hosts Israel’s request to reinstate its status of observer with the African Union – having been disbarred from participating at AU meetings since the summit meeting of AU leaders in 2002, when Libya’s Gaddafi literally kicked Israel out. Granot says that with the PA and the Arab Leagues being full members of the AU, many African leaders agree that the Israeli point of view is nonexistent at these meetings.
Another topic on the agenda is the ”Arab Spring” and the upheaval in Libya. The fall of Gaddafi led to an enormous ‘leakage’ of weapons to the Sinai Peninsula and the Gaza Strip, but also to Mali, Niger, Mauritania and other sub-Saharan countries, where these weapons fell into the hands of Muslim extremists.
The Foreign Ministry held last week an extensive meeting to discuss these developments in Mali, where the north of the country has all fallen under the control of Ansar Dine – a Muslim terror group with ties to al-Qaeda. As in Israel, African leaders are also deeply concerned. In Kenya, two Iranians are now on trial for planning attacks against Israeli and American targets.
Granot says Minister Lieberman views Israeli-African relations as extremely important and plans to visit Africa again in the coming months. The visit of PM Netanyahu, cancelled three months ago, is rescheduled now for the coming summer. Israel has recently opened a new mission in Ghana. The minister is also considering the possibility of reopening the embassy in RDC Congo.
In anticipation of her 9th birthday, Rachel Beckwith informed her mom that she didn’t want presents; instead, she asked friends and family to donate $9 to charity: water, so that kids her age in Africa would have clean water to drink.
She fell shy of her goal of $300, which is enough to give 15 people clean drinking water. But she pledged to do better when her 10th birthday rolled around.
Tragically, Rachel was killed in a car accident in Seattle just a month after turning 9.
News of the tragedy — and Rachel’s birthday wish — made it around the world, and some 30,000 people gave more than $1.2 million to Rachel’s campaign.
Her mom, Samantha Paul, was blown away:
It made me realize how blessed I am even though I don’t have Rachel with me anymore.
And so on Monday, exactly one year after Rachel’s death, Paul continued her daughter’s campaign with a visit to a village in Ethiopia, where local partners were using funds from Rachel’s campaign to drill wells.
They also had commissioned a marble sign to honor her:
Rachel’s great dream, kindness and vision of a better world will live with and among us forever.
Sixty thousand people in more than 100 villages will drink clean water because of Rachel’s wish.
Genes reveal grain of truth to Queen of Sheba story. By Hannah Krakauer
The genomes of Ethiopian people hold echoes of the meeting between a legendary king and queen.
About 3000 years ago, the Queen of Sheba purportedly travelled from what is now Ethiopia to meet King Solomon in Israel. Ethiopian folklore even tells of a child between the pair. But that’s just a story, right?
Perhaps not entirely. Luca Pagani of the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute in Hinxton, UK, examined samples of Ethiopian genomes and noticed that some individuals had components of both African and non-African lineages. Delving deeper, Pagani and his colleagues discovered that the non-African genetic components had much more in common with people living in Syria and around the eastern Mediterranean than in the nearer Arabian peninsula. What’s more, the gene flow probably took place around 3000 years ago.
The finding is backed by linguistic research, which shows that one of the four language families of Ethiopia migrated from the same region about 3000 years ago. “Middle Eastern language came to Ethiopia along with Middle Eastern genes,” Pagani says. “And that is when the Queen of Sheba legend is supposed to have happened.”
The meeting between the queen and Solomon remains a story, but the populations they came from did meet around that time, says Pagani.
Journal reference: The American Journal of Human Genetics, DOI: 10.1016/j.ajhg.2012.05.015
- From issue 2871 of New Scientist magazine, page 15.
Addis Ababa light rail planned, proposed interurban
A 100km rapid transit link between Addis Ababa and Nazareth is being developed as a joint effort of the Ethiopian government and various private sector interests.
The 15 station line, more of an interurban than light rail, would use either new rail track parallel to the existing Ethio-Djibouti Railway, or updated track to the existing railway. Services would run every 10 minutes, serving stations in Meskel Flower, Gottera, Ring Road, Kaliti, Akake, Dukem, Debre Ziet and Mojo. Also included would be an electric trolleybus feeder system. Power would be supplied by the Ethiopian Electric & Power Authority (EEPA).
Project Director Dr Getachew Betru of GBA Consultancy, who rumour has it also sits on the board of the EEPA, says the line would be built by a public-private partnership and take two years to complete. Dr. Betru claimed the project. already endorsed by the government, is due to begin construction in March of 2005.
As of mid-2011, no project had begun. It appeared the Ethiopian government had chosen, and very foolishly might I add, to focus on frivolities like food and shelter rather than the desperately needed metro. In 2010, the government realized the importance of mass transit over food and housing by declaring that a 2nd line, 30 km light rail system would be built, thanks to a massive loan from China. Part of the loan will be paid back in raw materiels. When criticized by the West for enaging in a Chinese colonialist mentality, the Ethiopian president wisely stated “It’s in their (China’s) interest to spend tens of billions of dollars in Africa and it’s in our interest to have access to those tens of billions of dollars.” Which is very similar to what I told that collector from Capital One a few nights ago.
For all those doubting Solomons and Biruks, work on the 37.38 km Addis Express was already underway in December 2011, when the contract was awarded to China Railway Eryuan Engineering, which begs one to wonder if the award was somewhat of a formality. The first section of the two line system is expected to open in 2013.
Unfortunately, many residents enjoy substandard housing without running water, so the prospect of a new rail line seems unusual.
Ethiopia also claims to have three subways, but they are in reality three different mountain tunnels.
Bekoji, a rural town in Ethiopia, is home to eight(!) Olympic runners, including Tirunesh Dibaba, who took gold in the 10,000 and 5,000 metre races in Beijing in 2008. Behind their success is beloved long distance coach Sentayehu Eshetu, a central figure in a new documentary, Town of Runners, that follows three young athletes on their own quests for greatness. “Nearby villages think we’re mad,” Eshetu says.
“A lot of people say Bekoji’s success is down to genetics or the altitude,” director Jerry Rothwell says, “but that doesn’t explain why the town 5 miles down the road doesn’t also produce world-class long distance runners!”
The film debuts at the Tribeca Film Festival this month.
Google Glasses Competition: Will Powell, an augmented reality developer in the U.K., has beat Google at the future. His version of Google’s glasses is hacked together from Vuzix glasses, HD webcams, and a mic headset powered by a custom-coded Adobe Air app and Dragon voice recognition software. Translation? He built them himself using existing technology and duct tape.
A statement at the end of the video silences naysayers: “All video is recorded in real time and is undoctored.”
Oldie: Pronunciation
A man goes into a restaurant and is seated. All the waitresses are gorgeous. A particularly voluptuous waitress wearing a very short skirt came to his table and asked if he was ready to order, “What would you like, sir?”
He looks at the menu and then scans her beautiful frame top to bottom, then answers, “A quickie.”
The waitress turns and walks away in disgust. After she regains her composure she returns and asks again, “What would you like, sir?”
Again the man thoroughly looks her over and, again, answers, “A quickie, please.”
This time her anger takes over. She reaches over and slaps him across the face with a resounding “SMACK!” and storms away.
A man sitting at the next table leans over and whispers, “Um, Pal, I think it’s pronounced ‘quiche’.”
Having spent 5.5 years working in Ethiopia, and taking the chance to travel, I can attest that the choices BBC 4 made in Lost Kingdoms of Africa: Ethiopia are good, and they support the premise of the program.
Well worth watching if one is nostalgic.
Pro bono surgery. by Liron Sinay
Voluteer doctors from Eye from Zion organization bring Ethiopian girl to Israel to remove rare tumor from her eye
A delegation of Israeli doctors and volunteers from the Eye from Zion organization traveled to Ethiopia recently to perform 160 cataract surgeries in a portable operation room donated by Chaim Sheba Medical Center at Tel Hashomer. During their visit, they met Kavda Imsak, a 10-year-old girl who suffered from a large tumor in her eye.
Since Ethiopian hospitals are not equipped for such operations, Imsak had to live with the large growth until the Israeli delegation arrived.
At first the team, headed by Dr. Nachum Rosen, preformed a preliminary surgery to discern whether the tumor was cancerous or benign. Later on, they decided to bring her to Israel to remove it.
“The chances of recovery are very slim,” said Eye from Zion founder Nati Marcus, who insisted on bringing the girl to Israel. “As soon as I saw her I decided to take a chance,” he explained.
Imsak reovering from surgery (photo: Vardi Kahana)
Once it was decided to bring her to Israel for surgery, arrangements were coordinated with MASHAV, Israel’s Agency for International Development Cooperation, the Foreign Ministry, the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee and the surgeons who agreed to operate pro bono.
According to Marcus, many offered to help, including the best doctors in the country who asked to take part in the complex operation, and hospitals that offered to donate surgery and recovery rooms.
A complex team work
Imsak arrived in Israel with her older sister, and was admitted to Sheba Medical Center. After extensive examinations, she was successfully operated on by two eye plastic surgery specialists, Dr. Guy Ben-Simon and Dr. Nahum Rozen. In a few days she is expected be taken to Haifa, where Dr. Yoav Vardizer will fit her for a prosthetic eye. She is then to return home to Ethiopia.
“This is not a routine surgery and it can’t be done by a single person” said Dr. Ben-Simon. “I have consulted with many colleagues around the world before entering the OR.” According to Ben-Simon, a large team participated in the complex surgery, including an imaging team.
The Doctors after surgery (Photo: Vardi Kahana)
Ben-Simon said that although the tumor was benign it had life threatening implications for the girl, in addition to blindness and obvious aesthetic harm. Its size made it impossible to completely remove without harming important blood vessels, but the team removed as much as they could.
“The hospital performs orbit surgeries on patients from all over the world, and there aren’t many cases of tumors like this,” Ben-Simon said. Now that the surgery was successful everybody feels relieved, he added. Imsak is facing a long recovery, but the doctor said he hopes to participate in next year’s delegation to Ethiopia, and follow up on his patient there.
This is not the first pro bono operation for Ben-Simon. Together with friends and colleagues he volunteers in various places with Eye from Zion and independently. The delegations consist of volunteers who fund their own travel.
Eye from Zion operates in various places including Vietnam, Azerbaijan, Micronesia, Myanmar and Ethiopia, sending advanced equipment, specialists, operating room nurses and experts to remote locales.
According to Marcus, the volunteers are the best ambassadors Israel can ask for. “This is the pretty face of Israel,” he said
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TALKS
Shlomo Benartzi: Saving for tomorrow, tomorrow
It’s easy to imagine saving money next week, but how about right now? Generally, we want to spend it. Economist Shlomo Benartzi says this is one of the biggest obstacles to saving enough for retirement, and asks: How do we turn this behavioral challenge into a behavioral solution?
Shlomo Benartzi uses behavioral economics to study how and why we plan well for the future (or fail to), and uses that to develop new programs to encourage saving for retirement. Full bio »
Google Privacy Precaution
Google’s new unified privacy policy takes effect on March 1st, allowing Google to share users’ data among all of its products.
One of the most important things that will be shared is your Google Web History, which includes everything you’ve searched for on Google and every site you’ve visited while signed into a Google account.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation has posted instructions for deleting your web history and stopping it from being collected in the future, which is the only way (short of cancelling your Google account) to keep that data from being merged with everything Google knows about you from Google+, YouTube and its other sites.
Meanwhile, the attorneys general of 36 states have signed a letter to Google expressing concerns about the new policy, including the risk that the sheer volume of data Google wants to collect could lead to “much more damaging cases of identity theft and fraud” if it’s ever compromised.
