AANOLEE: ‘A TRAGEDY ON WHICH ETHIOPIAN SOURCES ARE SILENT'

(OPride) – Hundreds of thousands gathered in Hetosa, Arsi zone of Oromia, the largest of Ethiopia's nine federal states, for the unveiling of the Aanolee Cultural Center on April 6, 2014, local media reported.

The cultural center houses the Oromo Martyrs’ memorial monument, an ethnographic museum and a mural. Standing several inches on top of a tomb, the monument shows a severed hand stretched upward holding a women’s breast, also severed. It is erected as a tribute to the Arsi Oromo whose hands and breasts were mutilated by 19th century Ethiopian emperor Menelik II. 

Located 150kms from the capital Addis Ababa, Aanolee is a site steeped in Oromo history. As Madda Walaabuu stood as the cradle and greatness of the Oromo, Aanolee came to represent its humiliation. For centuries, the Oromo were organized under an egalitarian Gadaa system. It was at Aanolee that power transfer took place among generations of Arsi Abba Gadaa leaders under Odaa Rooba, one of the five Gadaa Oromo assemblies.

In late 19th century, roughly at the same time as the scramble for Africa, emperor Menelik II set out to forcibly incorporate independent Oromo territories into his “nascent empire.” Having conquered the Wollo, Tulama and other Oromo tribes, Menelik faced a fierce resistance from the Arsi. 

The Arsi were not new to their Amhara neighbors to the north. In their encounters in battle, the Arsi did not consider their future nemesis to be much of a contender. The Arsi had, as they still do, much respect, both in war and in peace, for their southern neighbors – particularly the Sidama who are known for their fiercely warrior tradition. Besides, the Amhara did not then know how to ride horses, and the Arsi did not see any reason to be worried about loosing in battle to them. When news came that an invading army was arriving, the Arsi simply asked, "Is this the Sidama?" When told it was not, the Arsi scoffed, lowering their guards.  

When Menelik’s army of conquest, equipped with modern firearms acquired from western powers, arrived in early 1880s, the Arsi was in for a rude surprise. However, buoyed by a tradition that bestowed Wayyooma (an almost sacred high honor) accorded to those distinguished in war as in peace, the Arsi waged a valiant war of resistance. The Arsi repeatedly ambushed and kept Menelik’s forces at bay for six years between 1880-86 — winning all 38 running battles. In one instance, in 1885, after Arsi warriors wiped out his elite imperial guard in a nightly ambush at the battle of Doddota near Mount Albasso, Menelik was forced to flee for life, leaving behind his wife and Negarit (the imperial drum). Menelik'sremaining soldiers, awed by the bravery of their opponents, reportedly sung: Doddota ye wandoochu bootaa (Doddota land of the brave).

‎On Sep. 6, 1886, the ferocious Arsi fighters succumbed to Menelik's state of the art of the arts armaments with their spears and shields outmatched. An armistice was declared after an estimated 12,000 Oromo fighters, who faced off against a superior force led by general Ras Darge, perished in a single day battle. The Arsi “suspended their struggle to save whatever could be saved,” according to Oromo historian Abbas H. Gnamo, author of a recently published book, “Conquest and Resistance in the Ethiopian Empire, 1880-1974 – The Case of the Arsi Oromo.”

But the suspension of open hostility did not end Menelik’s appetite to crush and humiliate the Arsi. In 1887, Menelik's forces came back to avenge their repeated defeat at the hands of local Oromo fighters and to terrorize the remaining populace into total submission. Ahead of a scheduled Buttaa event, a power transfer ceremony under the Gadaa system, Ras Darge called for a meeting to “make peace” with the Arsi and “deliberate” on future administrative matters. Thousands gathered at Aanolee. Aanolee was strategically chosen because it was a symbolic site of Arsi power and what is reverently referred to as Arsooma, a custom by which the Arsi Oromo made laws, deliberated on war and peace, elected their leaders and settled their inter and intra clan disputes — the super glue that held the Arsi tightly together.

Menelik's scheme was to divide the Arsi so as to dismantle their Gadaa government structure and communal unity. Along with other Oromo speakers who served the system, the emperor enlisted local elders such as Tuke Mama and Bitee Dilaato. Mama was installed as the interim governor of sort. But the Arsi refused, not least citing the fact that Mama had outlived his Gadaa and was by then a Gadamojji (way past the retirement age under the age-based Gadaa grades).

The debate then centered on “qubaan moo lubaan bulla” — whether to accept Menelik’s rule or maintain their Gadaa structures. The proud Arsi chose the latter. Menelik himself then arrived to deliver the ultimatum that they would be annihilated if they don’t accept his rule. The Arsi was not ready to do so even long after accepting inevitable military defeat. The Arsi insisted on maintaining their Gadaa while accepting, even if begrudgingly, Menelik as a king. “Nugusummaa fudhannee, seeraa keennan bula,” they proclaimed according to local elders. 

In what was to go down in Oromo history as Harmaaf Harka Muraa Aannolee, Ras Darge and Menelik's army ordered those in attendance at the "peace" gathering to enter a narrow pass one by one. “The right hands of all male that entered were cut off on orders of Ras Darge. The Shoans tied the hand they cut to the neck of the victim. In the same manner, the right breasts of the women were also cut and tied to their necks,” according Gnamo. “As a further form of humiliation, fear and terror, the mutilated breasts and hands were tied around the necks of the victims who were then sent back home.”

As a result, all the men and women who went to Aanolee, the estimates ranging from a low of a thousand to thousands more, returned short of their right hands and right breasts.

That was not all. The local Abbaa Gadaas, the highest-ranking Arsi officials, including those in line to take the reign of power, were castrated. Menelik's soldiers cut the tongues of those who spoke out against Abyssinian invasion. They went door to door collecting cultural artifacts, including Boku, Caaccuu, waraana, wonte, Siinqee and other relics. In a bid meant to destroy and remove Oromo culture from the people’s psyche, the artifacts were torched. It burned for eight straight days, according to descendants of the survivors.

Arsi oral historiography is replete with the story of the tragedy of the cold-blooded massacre at Aanolee. Told and retold by grandmothers and grandfathers for generations since, Aanolee served to this day as a symbol of Oromo resistance against Abyssinian expansion and its continuing legacy of subjugation. The Arsi saga of the 1880s gave birth to two stories — that of Aanolee and Lenjisoo Diigaa. According to Gnamo, Leenjiso was instrumental in organizing the Arsi resistance against Menelik’s invading army.

Among the Arsi, mention the word Aanolee and the blood of the Arsi boils and its trauma curdles into a rock of determination to see to it that justice is restored. Talk about the bravery of Lenjisoo and the knowledge of the massacre of Aanolee becomes a clarion call for spirited action against injustice and the willingness to pay whatever cost is necessary to re-empower the Oromo and relive the glory of its past patriotism and bravery.

Lenjisoo’s bravery was so well known that one of his earliest Geerarsa's became part of the Arsi folklore. Gnamo writes,

Koloobni gadi gatee
Abeetni guddifatee
Waan boru biyyaa tayuu
Waan boru Arsii tayuu
Leenjoon ardhumaa mul’dhifatee.

Which means:

Forsaken by the Kollobaa, reared by the Abeeta,
 What he will do tomorrow for the country
 What he will do for the Arsi
 Leenjiso showed it all today.

The fall of the Arsi marked a turning point in Abyssinia’s southern conquest. Although Menelik's imperial army faced furious resistance at Cali Calanqo, in Eastern Oromia, by that time, a vast swath of the Oromo country was already annexed.

The Aanolee memorial was constructed with a cost of 20 million birr, according to the Oroma Culture and Tourism Bureau. The monument stands erect as a reminder of the tragedy about which, in the words of Gnamo, "Ethiopian history was largely silent.” Even today, some right-wing Ethiopianists, akin to holocaust deniers, claim the incident was a fiction. Aanolee stubbornly stands to remind Ethiopia's rulers, who refuse to deal with mounting Oromo grievances, that the Oromo issue remains an open wound, a latent volcano — with only the day and time of its eruption uncertain.

=>opride

Ethiopia: Aster Mamo Becomes Deputy PM, Civil Service Minister

Aster Mamo, executive committee member of the Oromo People's Democratic Organization (OPDO),

one of the four member parties of the ruling party Ethiopian Peoples' Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), has been appointed by Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn to be the next Civil Service Minister and Good Governance and Reform Cluster Coordinator with the rank of Deputy Prime Minister.

While presenting her before parliament, Hailemariam said, "It gives me great pleasure to nominate the first woman for the position of deputy PM."

Aster was appointed on Tuesday and was sworn in before the House of Peoples' Representatives. This makes her the first woman to be appointed to serve with the rank of deputy PM. Prior to her appointment she was serving as advisor to the PM and Chief Government Whip.

Apart from her latest appointment, Aster was recently elected to be the deputy chairwoman of OPDO. Astet replaces Muktar Kedir, who was recently elected to be the chairman of OPDO and president of Oromia Refional State after the passing of Alemayehu Atomsa.

=>allafrica

OPINIONETHIOPIA’S BORDERLESS CYBERESPIONAGE

OPINION

ETHIOPIA’S BORDERLESS CYBERESPIONAGE

UNICEF ETHIOPIA / SEWUNET

Chinese- and European-made spyware is enabling Addis Ababa to silence dissent

by Felix Horne @FelixHorne1

I met Abdi (not his real name), a 32-year-old primary school teacher from Ethiopia’s Oromia region, last July while in Nairobi. Abdi had been arrested a year earlier in his hometown for organizing a protest against local government corruption. He was already under the eye of Ethiopian security officials because he refused to provide information on the activities of his students to local authorities.

Over the course of two weeks in detention, Abdi was repeatedly beaten and accused of belonging to the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF), which originated in nationalist movements fighting for increased autonomy in the 1960s. The Ethiopian government considers the OLF a terrorist organization and uses the threat of an armed struggle to justify repression of ordinary Oromos, who constitute Ethiopia’s largest ethnic group.

The harassment continued after Abdi was released. Eventually, like thousands of other Ethiopians, he felt compelled to flee to Kenya, leaving behind his wife and two children. After some time in Kenya he called home and spoke to his wife, who told him that security officials had been harassing her since he left. That was the last time he spoke to her.

Abdi later learned from neighbors that security officials came to their house hours after his call, demanding to know who was calling her from Kenya and accusing her of being in contact with rebel operatives there. He no longer calls Ethiopia and does not know the whereabouts of his family.

Abdi’s story is not unique. In the last two decades, tens of thousands of Ethiopians have fled their country because of government repression or limited economic opportunities. Most of these migrants, especially those living in neighboring African countries, fear that if they communicate with their families back home, their calls will be traced and their relatives will face repercussions. As new research by Human Rights Watch shows, their fears are well founded. The fear that permeates the lives of many inside Ethiopia has been successfully exported to other countries. 

Ethiopian expats, including those living in the United States, have become targets of Addis Ababa's global espionage. 

The state-run Ethio Telecom is the sole provider of phone and Internet services in Ethiopia. The Chinese telecom equipment and systems company ZTE is helping Ethiopia modernize its telecommunications infrastructure. The Ethiopian government uses a Chinese-developed telecom system to monitor and control the communications of its citizens and to silence dissenters both in Ethiopia and abroad. Security officials have unlimited access to the phone records of everyone in the country who owns a phone. During abusive interrogations, security officials often play back recorded phone calls to people in their custody. Those calling or receiving calls from foreign numbers are particularly at risk of reprisals by a government keen to punish those it considers a threat.

But Ethiopia goes even further to monitor dissenting voices outside its borders. The government has acquired and is using commercially available European-made spyware — namely the U.K.- and Germany-based Gamma International’s FinFisher and the Italy-based Hacking Team’s Remote Control System — to monitor dissenters in other countries, effectively extending its surveillance capabilities far beyond its borders. These tools provide security and intelligence agencies with full access to files and activity on an infected target’s computer. They can log keystrokes and passwords and switch on a device’s webcam and microphone, turning a computer anywhere in the world into a listening device. Ethiopian expats, including those living in the United States, the United Kingdom, Norway and Switzerland, have become targets of this global espionage.

In late 2012, security officials detained the wife of Yohannes Alemu, a Norwegian citizen and member of a banned opposition group, as she was visiting family in Addis Ababa. They questioned her about her husband’s political connections. Then the security officials demanded information from Yohannes via phone and email about his opposition party colleagues. He refused; after 20 days his wife was finally released and returned to Norway.

But the incident did not end there.

One of the emails he received contained an attachment infected with FinFisher spyware. Once he had downloaded this spyware, the Ethiopian security agencies had unfettered access to all the information on his computer.

While people around the world are right to be shocked by former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden’s revelations of mass surveillance by the U.S. government, they should also be concerned that repressive governments such as Ethiopia’s are purchasing and using advanced technologies to target independent voices beyond their borders. The export and use of these European-made commercial products remains virtually unregulated. This is particularly worrying given that evidence exists that similar technologies may be in the hands of authoritarian regimes throughout the world.

These technologies enable repressive governments to monitor dissenting voices in other countries — even in countries where privacy rights are stronger and legal protections are in place to limit state-sponsored surveillance.

The United States, European Union and other donors that together provide an estimated $4 billion in annual aid to Ethiopia should take concerted steps to stop this abuse. They should support global efforts to regulate the export and use of such technologies to governments with poor human rights records. African governments should also speak out and make it clear to Ethiopia that it is an infringement on basic rights to use these technologies to spy on citizens outside of Ethiopia’s borders — people who are all too often seeking protection from repression back home. 

Felix Horne is an Africa researcher at Human Rights Watch and co-author of a new report, “‘They Know Everything We Do’: Telecom and Internet Surveillance in Ethiopia.”

=>aljazeera

Dr. Negaso Responds Again

Response to Ato Girma Kassa’s Response

Point 1 – On “Trying to have back the dead Kinijit is an illusion?”

Dr.Negaso Gidada former president of Unity for Democracy and Justice Party (UDJ),

Yes, I am sure that we are speaking of the same Kanji as the organization which was a coalition of four parties which was legally registered and participated in the 2005 election but which disintegrated latter. As an organization, it was born then and has died since.

For some Ethiopians Kinijit may be a symbol of a movement, as you say, “the movement of democracy, justice and Ethiopiawinet. It was a symbol of the ever growing thirst and hunger of the people to have its dignity, respect and freedom.” But I cannot exclude other Ethiopian organizations and movements which do have similar aims and goals. The Ethiopian people have been struggling for democracy, justice, to have their dignity and freedom respected. Different movements and organizations have taken up this aim and have struggled in their own way and are continuing to do so. I do recognize that there may be differences on the term “ETHIOPIAWINET” a term which is perceived differently as we observe in the current political debate.(I shiver and fear for the future of Ethiopia when observing the heated propaganda war now raging between the “ETHIOPIAWINET” and “OROMUMMAA” nationalists in the Diaspora and the social media)For some “ETHIOPIAWINET” means simply being an Ethiopian citizen enjoying the rights endowed to him/her by the constitution and obeying the laws and regulations of the country. For some however it means being born and living in the territory under the control of the Ethiopian state. (Some may live outside but still having some kind of emotional attachment to Ethiopia. Some may think that the physical outlook of the people who originate from this area is unique from others and have different culture, values, and history which are unique to them only and define this as “ETHIOPIANISM”. Some people have the wish that the different ethnic groups living under the rule of the Ethiopian state have the same origin, or are intermingled for centuries and the same identity and should keep and cultivate “ETHIOPIAWINET” AND UNITY. Still for some, “ETHIOPIAWINET” is brand of nationalism, which if not democratized could mean racist in relation to other Africans (for that matter to dark skinned people also living in Ethiopia) and white skinned people. (“Arab” or “Faranj”). Some people think that this identity, “ETHIOPIAWINET” is artificial and is propagated to deny and destroy the ethnic and linguistic identities objectively present in Ethiopia. Again for some “ETHIOPIAWINET” is the slogan of expansionists and restorationists. Not only that, some take “ETHIOPIAWINET” movement as a movement to restructure the Ethiopian state and recreate a centralized administration as opposed to t the federal decentralized administration.

Read More at oromowiki

OLF Statement on Current Situations of Oromo Refugees in Kenya: Baqataa Seerawaa Miidhuun Tarkaanfii Namoomaan Alaa fi Seera Addunyaa jiru Dhiitu Dha | Abusing Legitimate Refugees is Violation of Human Rights and International Conventions

Abusing Legitimate Refugees is Violation of Human Rights and International Conventions

OLF Statement Regarding the Oromo Refugees in Kenya

Citizens flee their own countries for different reasons. Some of the causes are short term incidents while others are long term, requiring radical solutions. Natural calamities like drought, flood, earthquake and the like; and man-made causes like civil war, economic and political crises can force people to flee their own countries. Everyone wants to return to one’s own country once the cause for the flight is solved. Of the huge number of the current refugee in the Horn of African countries the Oromo predominates. The majority of them fled their country for none other than a deep-rooted political crisis that cannot be solved overnight. They apparently began this flight, right after the conquest during the last century,to save their lives and human dignity. Thus the Oromos have managed to survive in all the neighbouring countries for a long time. The OLF likes to express its gratitude to the countries that had harboured these refugees for such a long time. However, some developments of the last two decades are worrisome.

After building special relation with the current regime in Ethiopia the neighbouring countries have repeatedly violated the rights of these refugees who are recognized by appropriate UN agencies to be accorded proper protection. The fact that such acts, which have been reported by different human rights agencies, are perpetrated by the security and armed forces of these countries, have spread terror among the refugees.

Out of hundreds of thousands of refugees registered by the UNHCR in Kenya, Oromos constitute a big chunk. Many of such legitimate refugees in general and the Oromo in particular have been constantly maltreated, forcefully returned to the regime that they fled, robbed of their belongings and shockingly harassed. A case in point is an incident on April 5, 2014 when Kenyan armed forces broke into the houses of Oromo refugees beat them up, robbed them of their properties and detained them in mass while many disappeared. No tangible effort of the UNHCR to protect these refugees was observed.

The OLF requests the Kenyan government to immediately halt this recurring vicious abuse of legitimate refugees in general and the Oromo refugees in particular, release those detained, return their robbed properties and provide them the protection they deserve. We implore the concerned UN agencies to pay attention to this ordeal of the Oromo refugees and make sure that they get appropriate protection as well as finding permanent solution to this endless saga.

Victory to the Oromo People!

Oromo Liberation Front

April 7, 2014

Baqataa Seerawaa Miidhuun Tarkaanfii Namoomaan Alaa fi Seera Addunyaa jiru Dhiitu Dha

Haala Baqattoota Oromoo Biyya Keeniyaa Laalchisee Ibsa Adda Bilisummaa Oromoo

Lammiileen biyyoota gara garaa sababoota adda addaan biyya isaanii keessa jiraachuu dadhabu irra abdii of jireessuun biyyoota ollaatti baqatan. Sababni ittiin baqatan gariin kan yeroo gabaabaa keessatti furmaata argatu tahuu danda’a. Rakkinni yeroo gabaabaa keessatti hin furamne yeroo dheeraa fi jijjiirama hundee barbaadus jira. Sababa umamaan rakkooleen dhalatan kan akka hongee, lolaa, kirkira lafaa fi kkf akkasumas, rakkoolee namootni dhalchan kan akka lola biyya keessaa, rakkina dinagdee fi rakkoon siyaasaa sababoota madda baqatummaa ti. Sababoota lammii biyya tokkoo biyya ollaatti baqachiisan keessaa garii wayta furamanitti kanneen qe’ee fi biyya isaanii irraa buqqa’an jireenya isaaniitti deebi’uu irraa rakkoon hin qaban. Kan biyyatti deebi’uu hin dandeenye kanneen mootummaa fi sirna jiru waliin wal dhabbii qabani dha. Ilmaan Oromoo baqa kana biyyii weeraraan qababuun booda Jaarraa tokkoon dura lubbuu baafatuu fi kabajaa namooma isaanii tikfatuuf jalqaban,

Yeoo ammaa kana biyyootni Gaanfi Afriikaa baqataa hedduu keessummeessaa jiran. Baqattoota biyyoota hedduu biyyoota Gaanfa Afriikaa gara garaa-tti baqatuudhaan baqattummaan jiraataa jiran keessaa tokko lammii Oromoo ti. Oromoo biyya isaa jiituu fi badhaatuu hojjatee keessa jiraachuu danda’u irraa kan isa baqachiisaa turee fi jiru rakkinni uumaa isa mudate jiraatee ykn jireenya isaa wayyeeffatuuf biyya isa irra kan biraa caalsifatee miti.

Baqataan Oromoo hedduun dirqamuu fi lubbuu isaaf sodaatuu irraa jireenya baqatummaa kan eegale gabrummaa jalatti kufuu irraa eegalee ti jechuun ni danda’ama. Akka kanaan baroota dheeraan durattii eegalee biyyoota ollaa isaatti argaman hunda keessa baqattummaan jiraatee lubbuu isaa dandamachiisuu danda’eera. Kanneen yeroo dheeraaf Oromoo akka baqataatti fudhatuun keessummeessaniif ABOn galata galchaaf.

Haa tahu malee waggoota digdamaa as haallan mul’atan kan duraan ture irra adda tahaa jiran. Keessattuu biyyootni ollaa sababa adda addaan mootummaa Wayyaaneetti michoomanii fi mararfatan baqataa baqattummaan isaa qaama seerawaan mirkaneeffamee jiru irratti deddeebi’anii miidhaa adda addaa irraan gahuu baay’inaan mul’ata. Tarkaanfii seera addunyaa cabsu kana baqattoota irratti kan raawwataa jiru qaama tikaa fi waraanaa mootummootaa tahuun ammo baqattoota kan yaaddessuu fi dhiphisu akka tahe hin gaafachiisu. Dalagaan seeraan alaa baqattoota irratti raawwatamaa tures irra deddeebi’ee kan ibsamaa fi jarmayaalee mirga namaaf falamaniin kan saaxilamaa ture tahuun hin dagatamu.

Keenyaan biyyoota gaanfa Afriikaa baqattootni kuma dhibboota baay’een lakkaa’aman keessa jiraatani dha. Lakkoobsi baqataa Oromoo Jaarmayaa dhimma baqataa Mootummoota Gamtoomaniin (UNHCR) galmaa’ee kan seeraan jiraataa jiru lakkoobsaan guddaa akka tahetti beekama. Haa tahu malee yeroo gara garaatti baqataa waliigalaa fi addatti Oromoo seeraan jiru, biyyatti deebi’uu kan hin dandeenye tahuun isaa beekamu irratti roorrifamuun, mootummaa baqatee dhufetti ukkaamsuun kennuu, saamuu fi miidhaan gara garaa deddeebi’amee haala sukanneessaa taheen irratti raawwatamaa jira. Haalli gaddisiisaa kun dhaabbatuu irra itti fufee Ebla 5, 2014 humni waraanaa mootummaa Keenyaa manneen baqataa Oromoo humnaan seenuudhaan qabeenya saamuu, baqataa reebuu, jumlaan hidhuu fi balleessuudhaan miiddhaa irraan gahaa jira. UNHCR kan baqattootaaf gaafatama qabu kana ittisuuf carraaqii mul’ataa godhu hin jiru.

ABOn gochaa waraanni mootummaa Keenyaa baqattoota sirnaa irratti garaa laafina tokko malee fi deddeebi’ee raawwatu kana daddaffiin akka dhaabu, qabeenya saamame akka deebisu, kanneen hidhaman akka hiikuu fi mootummaan Keenyaas rakkinoota baqataa waliigalaa, addatti haala baqataa Oromoo hubatuun tikaa fi eegumsa barbaachisu akka kennuuf gaafata. Jaarmayaan baqattootaa Mootummoota Gamtoomaniis miidhaa baqataa Oromoo irra geessifamaa jiru beekee tinnisaa fi kooluu (protection) barbaachisu akka godhuuf yaadachiisaa karaa itti rakkoon kun furamaata maayyii argatu irraatti akka faluuf ABOn yaadachiisa.

Injifananoo Ummata Oromoof!

Adda Bilisummaa Oromoo

Ebla 7, 2014

=>gadaa

Egypt presidential hopeful threatens to use force over Ethiopian dam

April 6, 2014 (WASHINGTON) – A potential candidate for the Egyptian presidency announced today that he will order the use of military force against Ethiopia if the latter does not suspend the construction of the Grand Renaissance dam.

Lawyer and head of a renowned Egyptian soccer club Mortada Mansour speaks during a press conference in the Egyptian capital, Cairo, on 6 April 2014 (AP)

In announcing his presidential bid at a press conference on Sunday, lawyer Mortada Mansour said that “water for Egypt is Egypt’s life”.

“There” are signed international conventions ... There are two agreements, one in 1929 and the other in 1959 to regulate water usage between Egypt and Sudan,” Mansour added.

The controversial figure, who was elected last week as head of Cairo’s Zamalek Club, accused Israel of standing behind the Ethiopian dam project and dismissed popular initiatives to resolve the dispute with Addis Ababa.

“There are international organisations that failed [to mediate] and Ethiopia stuck to its position. Just like they threatened to use their army, Egypt has an army. If Israel which is inciting Ethiopia learned a lesson from the Egyptian army in 1973 [war], you are threatening my life. I will not allow you to build your dam and block water from me and in the end famine occurs among the Egyptian people and we kill each other for a drop of water,” Mansour said.

“Just like they showed off and brought their generals around the dam and said if Egypt can come. No we also have generals and planes O’ Ethiopia that can reclaim Egypt’s rights because we will not allow a drop of water to be cut, to have drought in the country, in agriculture, people can’t find a drop of water. This is vital for us. I thought that for subsequent Egyptian administrations that the issue of water is a life or death issue. This is not up for discussion,” he added.

Egypt fears that the $4.6 billion hydropower plant will diminish its share of the river’s water flows, arguing its historic water rights must be maintained.

Ethiopia is the source of about 85% of the Nile’s water, mainly through rainfall in its highlands, with over 90% of Egyptians relying on water from the Nile’s flows.

In June 2012, a panel of international experts tasked with studying the impacts of the Ethiopian dam on lower riparian countries, including Sudan and Egypt, found that the dam project will not cause significant harm to either country.

Cairo remains unconvinced and has sought further studies and consultation with Khartoum and Addis Ababa.

If Mansour’s candidacy is endorsed by the presidential commission he will face former Egyptian defence minister Field Marshal Abdel-Fatah El-Sisi, who is widely tipped to win. Leftist political figure Hamdeen Sabahi has also pledged to contest the elections.

Mansour has made a failed bid to run for president in the 2012 elections but was disqualified by the elections committee.

According to a profile by the Daily News Egypt, Mansour said in 2011 that he did not “have the right to run” for president because he is “ill-tempered”.

In April 2011, Mansour was accused of being involved in Tahrir clashes commonly dubbed “the Battle of the Camel” on 2 February, which left 11 demonstrators dead and hundreds injured. He was later acquitted of all charges however.

He ran in four parliamentary elections in 1990, 1995, 2000 and 2012, but only won in the 2000 elections. In 2012, he lost to an opponent from the Muslim Brotherhood.

He is well known for his hot temper and was taken off air in TV phone interviews a number of times for using obscene language.

Mansour is also seen as someone who is obsessed with filing numerous police complaints and lawsuits against figures he has disputes with.

=>sudantribune

Egypt to announce Renaissance Dam assessment report end of the month

Al-Masry Al-Youm

Official sources said Egypt is announcing the report of the international committee that is assessing the Ethiopian Renaissance Dam later this month so as to state its position to the international community.

 

The sources said the report draws attention to the side dam, which it said contains weaknesses in the design, and to the hydrologics design model and the storage lake, which it said entail negative effects on Egypt’s water needs and on the power generation of the High Dam, and bring severe environmental risks to Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia.

 

The report takes into account the specifications that were announced by the Ethiopian government, which did not furnish the committee with any financial studies.

 

The sources added that there is coordination between the Foreign Ministry and the Ministry of Irrigation to launch an international diplomatic campaign to explain Egypt’s point of view.

 

They also said Egyptian embassies abroad would continue to explain Egypt’s point of view, especially after the success of the factsheet that was distributed among foreign ministries and foreign media, which reiterated Egypt's keenness on mutual benefit without harm to any concerned party.

 

=>egyptindependent