Belgian coach Saintfiet leaves Ethiopia job

CAPE TOWN (Reuters) - Belgian coach Tom Saintfiet said on Friday he was leaving his job as Ethiopia coach after just five months, citing broken promises for his departure.

 "Despite the many positives, some agreements were not honoured and that is the reason for this decision," he said in an e-mail to Reuters.

 Saintfiet had been in charge for three African Nations Cup qualifiers since June, including a 2-2 draw with Nigeria that contributed to the Super Eagles missing out on African Nations Cup qualification.

 Ethiopia finished third in the group and next play Somalia over two legs in mid-November at the start of the 2014 World Cup qualifiers.

 It was Saintfiet's third national team job after stints with Namibia and Zimbabwe.

 "I am now looking forward to a bigger task. A job and task where I can work in a professional set-up and with a team which can qualify for the tournaments," he added in his e-mail.
http://af.reuters.com

ቴዲ አፍሮ ኢትዮጵያዊውን ወጣት በ700 ሺህ ብር ከሞት አተረፈ

ወንድሜን ከሞት ወደ ህይወት መልሶልኛል አህት

ከሶስት አመታት በፊት መቀሌ የሚገኙትን ቤተሰቦቹን ተሰናብቶ ኑሮውን ለማሰነፍ ለስራ ወደ ፑንትላንድ ያመራው ኢትዮጵያዊ ወጣት አስመሮም ኃይለስላሴ እዛው ሆቴል ከፍቶ እየሰራ ነበር፡፡

ከባለቤቱ እና አንዲት ሴት ልጁ ጋር አንድ አመት ያህል እንደቆየም በታህሳስ 2002 ዓ.ም. አምስት የታጠቁ ሶማሊያውያን በሌሊት ለዝርፊያ ባለቤቱን ለመድፈር እና

ግድያ ለመፈፀም ግብግብ ይገጥሙታል፡፡በወቅቱም አብረውት ከነበሩ ኢትዮጵያውያን ጋር በመሆን ራሳቸውን ለመከላል በወሰዱት እርምጃ ከዘራፊዎቹ አንዱ ህይወቱ ያልፋል፡፡አብረውት የነበሩት ኢትዮጵያውያን አምልጠው ወደ ሃገራቸው ይመለሳሉ፡፡አስምሮም ግን ታስሮ ጉዳዩን ሲከታተል ይቆያል፡፡ቤተሰቦቹ እንደሚሉትም በአካባው የሚኖሩ ሶማሊያውያን አስመሮም ጥፋት እንደሌለበት እና በሰዓቱም ተኝቶ እንደ

ነበር ምስክርነታቸውን ሰጥተውለታል፡፡ሆኖም ምስክርነታቸው ተቀባይነት ባለማግኘቱ ከአንድ አመት እስር በኋላ በሞት እንዲቀጣ ተወሰነበት፡፡

አስመሮም በእስር ቤት ሳለ ሚስት በግብግቡ ወቅት ጉዳት የደረሰባትን የሰባት ሴት ልጇን ይዛ ወደ ኢትዮጵያ የተመለሰች ሲሆን ታዳጊዋ ላይ የደረሰው ጉዳት ከፍተኛ ስለነበር ህይወቷ አልፏል፡፡የልጇን መሞት እና በባለቤቷ ላይ ሞት መፈረዱን መቋቋም ያቃታት ባለቤቱ በአሁኑ ሰዓት የት እንዳለች እነደማይታወቅ የአስመሮም እህት ሉዓም ኃይለስላሴ ለአዲስ አድማስ ተናግራለች፡፡

እህቱ እንደምትለው ወንደሟ ከታሰረ ሁለት አመት ሆኖታል፡፡ጉዳዩም ፑንትላንድ ውስጥ ቦሳሶ ከተማ ሲታይ ቆይቶ በከተማዋ ያ የጎሳ አባላት በሞት እንዲቀጣ ይወስናሉ፡፡የሞት ቅጣቱ የሚነሳለት ደግሞ 700ሺህ የኢትዮጵያ ብር ወይም ወደ 40ሺህ ዶላር አካባቢ ሲከፍል ብቻ እንደሆነ ውሳኔ ያስተላልፋሉ፡፡

ሁኔታው እጅግ ያስጨነቃቸው ቤተሰቦቹ በተለያየ ጊዜ በርካታ ደብዳቤዎችን ለውጭ ጉዳይ መስሪያ ቤት በመፃፍ መንግስት ዲፕሎማሲያዊ ጥረት በማድረግ የወጣቱን ህይወት እንዲያተርፍላቸው ቢማፀኑም ምላሽ ሳያገኙ መቅረታቸውን የወጣቱ እህት ለአዲስ አድማስ ገልፃለች፡፡

በዚህ ሁኔታ ውስጥ እያሉ ጥቅምት 7 ቀን 2004 ዓ.ም. ወጣት አስመሮም ቤተሰቦቹን እንዲሰናት በማለት አሳሪዎቹ ስልክ ወደ ቤተሰቦቹ እንዲደወል ያደርጋሉ፡፡በተደወለው ስልክም እስከ አርብ መስከረም 17 ቀን ድረስ ገንዘቡን መክፈል ካልቻለ የሞት ፍዱ ተፈፃሚ እንደሚሆን ተናግሮ የደህና ሁኑ መልዕክት በማስተላለፍ ቤተሰቦቹን ይሰናበታል፡፡

እህቱ እንደተናገረችው ቅጣቱ ፍትሃዊ ባለመሆኑ ተፈፃሚ እንዳይሆን የቻልንውን ሁሉ ሞከርን የሞት ፍርዱ ሊፈፀም ሁለት ቀናት ብቻ ሲቀሩት የውጭ ጉዳይ መስሪያቤት ሰራተኞች ምናልባት በስራ ጫና ወይም ከሱ የባሱ ጉዳዮችን ሲፈፅሙ አቤቱታችንን አልሰሙም ይሆናል በሚል አስበን የመጨረሻ እድል ለመሞከር ጉዳዩን ለሪፖርተር ጋዜጣ አስረዳን እነሱም ዜናውን ረቡዕ አወጡት፡፡እስከ ሃሙስ ማታም ምንም የተለወጠ ነገር አልነበረም፡፡ሃሙስ ምሽት ላይ ግን አንድ ስልክ ተደወለልኝ፡፡አንድ ሰው ገንዘቡን ከፍሎ የወንድማችሁን ህይወት ሊታደግ ነውና ነገ ትገናኛላችሁ፡፡የሚል ነበር ስትል ሁኔታውን ታስረዳለች፡፡

እህቱ እንደምትለው ቤተሰቦቹ የጠበቁት የመንግስት አካላት ጋዜጣውን አይተው ምላሽ ይሰጡናል ብለው እንጂ አንድ ግለሰብ ገንዘቡን ከፍሎ ያስለቅቅልና የሚል ግምት አልነበራቸውም፡፡በትናንትናው እለትም የወንድሟ መትረፍ እንጂ የወንድሟን ህይወት ለመታደግ ያሰበው ግለሰብ ማንነት ሳያስጨንቃት በደስታ እና በሲቃ ተውጣ የተባለው ቦታ ስትሄድ ገንዘቡን ከፍሎ የወጣቱን ህይወት ለመታደግ የወሰነው ግለሰብ አርቲስ ቴዎድሮስ ካሳሁን (ቴዲ አፍሮ ) መሆኑን ትረዳለች፡፡

ገንዘቡን የሰጠኝ በቼክ ነው ይህንን ያደረኩት እኔ ሳልሆን እግዚአብሄር ነው፡፡አይዞሽ ተፅናኚ ብሎ 700 ሺህ ብር የያዘ ቼክ  ሲሰጠኝ ማመን አልቻልኩም ምን እንደምናገርም አላውቅም ብቻ እኔ ሰው ነኝ ግን በእግዚአብሄር እና በቤተሰቦቼ ስም ስም እጅግ አድርጌ አመሰግነዋለሁ፡፡ብላለች፡፡አክላም ድሮም ቢሆን ቴዲን በጣም እወደው ነበር አሁን ደግሞ በጣም ወደድኩት ብላለች፡፡

ገንዘቡን ካገኘች በኋላም ስለ ገንዘቡ አከፋፈል እና አስመሮም ከእስር ተለቆ ወደ አገር ስለሚመለስበት ሁኔታ ከውጭ ጉዳይ መስሪያ ቤት ጋር ቤተሰቦቹ ቤተሰቦቹ እየተነጋገሩ መሆኑን በመግለፅ ቴዲ አፍሮ የሰጣትን ቼክ በዛሬው እለት መንዝራ በሚኒስቴር መስሪያ ቤቱ በኩል ገንዘቡ ተከፍሎ ወንድሟ ከእስር እንዲለቀቅ ጥረት በማድረግ ላይ መሆኗን ገልፃልናለች፡፡

ወጣት አስመሮምን በተመለከተ ወገናችንን ከሞት እናድን በሚል ቤተሰቦቹ እና ጓደኞቹ በራሪ ወረቀት ፅፈው በድረ ገፅ የልመና ድምፃቸውን ሲያሰሙ መቆየታቸውን በመግለፅ በመጨረሻ ቴዲ አፍሮ ደረሰልን ብለዋ-ቤተሰቦቹ፡፡ 

አዲስ አድማስ ጋዜጣ

US flying armed drones out of Arba Minch, Ethiopia, Washington Post reports

The Air Force has been secretly flying armed Reaper drones on counterterrorism missions from a remote civilian airport in southern Ethi­o­pia as part of a rapidly expanding U.S.-led proxy war against an al-Qaeda affiliate in East Africa, U.S. military officials said.

 The Air Force has invested millions of dollars to upgrade an airfield in Arba Minch, Ethi­o­pia, where it has built a small annex to house a fleet of drones that can be equipped with Hellfire missiles and satellite-guided bombs. The Reapers began flying missions earlier this year over neighboring Somalia, where the United States and its allies in the region have been targeting al-Shabab, a militant Islamist group connected to al-Qaeda.

 Mindful of the 1993 “Black Hawk Down” debacle in which two U.S. military helicopters were shot down in the Somali capital of Mogadishu and 18 Americans killed, the Obama administration has sought to avoid deploying troops to the country.

 As a result, the United States has relied on lethal drone attacks, a burgeoning CIA presence in Mogadishu and small-scale missions carried out by U.S. Special Forces. In addition, the United States has increased its funding for and training of African peacekeeping forces in Somalia that fight al-Shabab.

 The Washington Post reported last month that the Obama administration is building a constellation of secret drone bases in the Arabian Peninsula and the Horn of Africa, including one site in Ethi­o­pia. The location of the Ethio­pian base and the fact that it became operational this year, however, have not been previously disclosed. Some bases in the region also have been used to carry out operations against the al-Qaeda affiliate in Yemen.

 The Air Force confirmed Thursday that drone operations are underway at the Arba Minch airport. Master Sgt. James Fisher, a spokesman for the 17th Air Force, which oversees operations in Africa, said that an unspecified number of Air Force personnel ­are working at the Ethio­pian airfield “to provide operation and technical support for our security assistance programs.”

 The Arba Minch airport expansion is still in progress but the Air Force deployed the Reapers there earlier this year, Fisher said. He said the drone flights “will continue as long as the government of Ethi­o­pia welcomes our cooperation on these varied security programs.”

 Last month, the Ethio­pian Foreign Ministry denied the presence of U.S. drones in the country. On Thursday, a spokesman for the Ethio­pian embassy in Washington repeated that assertion.

 “That’s the government’s position,” said Tesfaye Yilma, the head of public diplomacy for the embassy. “We don’t entertain foreign military bases in Ethi­o­pia.”

 But U.S. military personnel and contractors have become increasingly visible in recent months in Arba Minch, a city of about 70,000 people in southern Ethi­o­pia. Arba Minch means “40 springs” in Amharic, the na
tional language.

 Travelers who have passed through the Arba Minch airport on the occasional civilian flights that land there said the U.S. military has erected a small compound on the tarmac, next to the terminal.
http://www.washingtonpost.com

Parents accused of killing adopted Ethiopian daughter 'were inspired by religious discipline book that encourages children to be biblically punished'

The parents accused of killing their 13-year-old adopted daughter, are being investigated over whether they were inspired by a book that encourages children to be biblically punished.
The Washington co
uple deny homicide and child abuse charges relating to the death of Ethiopian-born Hana Willaims, who apparently lived in a closet and was denied meals for days at a time.
But investigators are looking into whether the Christian book, titled 'To Train Up a Child' may have been involved in the death of Hana and will be shown in a CNN documentary.

Tragic: Ethiopian adoptee Hana Williams, 13, lived in a closet and was denied meals for days at a time, according to police

Gary Tuchman will be reporting on the allegations in the show titled ‘Ungodly Discipline’ on Anderson Cooper’s 360 news show, despite prosecutors insisting that issues of faith were not a factor in the case against the couple.
Hana, who was adopted from Ethiopia by Larry, 47, and Carri Williams, 40, in 2008, died on May 12 after she was found unconscious outside shortly after midnight, in temperatures of around 40 degrees Fahrenheit, authorities said.

Although investigators found the Washington state couple adhered to a harsh child-rearing regimen prescribed by a controversial Christian parenting book, the prosecutor said earlier this month that religion was not relevant to the criminal case.
Larry and Carri Williams, of Sedro-Woolley -- a town about halfway between Seattle and Vancouver, British Columbia -- were arrested September 29, more than four months after their daughter, Hana, died of hypothermia in their backyard.
A Skagit County Superior Court judge reduced their bail from $500,000 to $150,000 each on October 6, and barred them from contact with their eight remaining children, who were placed into foster care in July, or with each other.

Each is charged with homicide by abuse in connection with their daughter's death, and first-degree assault of a child stemming from mistreatment of her adopted 10-year-old brother from Ethiopia.
If convicted each faces a prison term of between 20 and 29 years, according to state sentencing guidelines.
Investigators say the abuse she endured included beatings, starvation, being forced to sleep outside and use an outdoor toilet, and that she had lost a significant amount of weight since her adoption.
Prosecutors said the 10-year-old brother was similarly mistreated.
The parents kept the family isolated from non-relatives, home-schooled the children and followed strict religious principles described in the Christian parenting book titled "To Train Up a Child," investigators said.

According to court documents, their 16-year-old son told investigators that Hana 'was kept in a locked closet and the only light switch was on the outside of the closet.'

He stated that his mother would take her out every other day to walk and exercise. 

'They played the Bible on tape and Christian music for her while she was locked in the closet,' he said.

But Prosecutor Rich Weyrich insisted that issues of faith were not a factor in the case against the couple. 

'Religion's not an element we have to probe. We have to prove that the children were assaulted, tortured and died,' he said.

The Skagit Valley Herald reported that Carri Williams called 911 early May 12 and reported Hana was not breathing. 

Innocent: Hana died of hypothermia on May 12. An autopsy found malnutrition and a stomach infection were contributing factors

Williams said the girl was being 'rebellious' and that she had seen her daughter falling down and staggering in the backyard, and that the girl had taken all her clothes off. She said Hana had refused to come into the house before she was found face down down in the backyard with mud in her mouth.

She was taken to the hospital, where she died of hypothermia at 1:30am.

However, an autopsy found malnutrition and a stomach infection were contributing factors.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk

Search on for driver who rammed into Seattle Ethiopian Orthodox church

SEATTLE -- The search is on for the driver who crashed into a church, then fled the scene. The crash, which occurred just before 2 a.m., destroyed the stage inside Ethiopian Orthodox Christian Church, and left a large gaping hole on the side of the building. Firefighters said the driver abandoned his car and ran from the scene in the 2100 block of 14th Ave. S. before police arrived. No one was injured, but the crash displaced several church elders who live above the church. The Red Cross is assisting the displaced residents while investigators determine whether the building sustained any structural damage. A description of the sought driver was not available. http://www.komonews.com

Buzunesh Deba Eyes NYC Marathon

New York (TADIAS) – Buzunesh Deba “is not in the local race, she is in the big race this time,” her husband-coach Worku Beyi emphasized last week in reference to the Ethiopia-born runner’s bid to become the first New Yorker to win the New York City Marathon since 1974 — before the race left Central Park to touch all five boroughs and become the world’s largest marathon.

On November 6 she will pursue the $130,000 overall top prize that goes to the first man and woman finishing the 26.2-mile race through Staten Island, Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx and Manhattan.

Deba has the runner’s resume to be considered among the top five in the elite women’s field at the 2011 New York City Marathon.

Last June she won the Rock n’ Roll San Diego Marathon in 2:23:31, blazing the first half of the downward course in 1:09:53. Three months earlier she won the Honda Los Angeles Marathon. Last year she was victorious at the Twin Cities and Grandma’s marathons in Minnesota.

But the New York City Marathon is a demanding 26 miles, 385 feet (42.195 kilometers), with five climbs onto bridges, that runners seeking fast times typically avoid in favor of running over relatively flat courses in Berlin or Chicago.

Still Beyi insists if the weather is pleasant, Deba has a good chance of beating the New York City Marathon course record of 2:22:31.

“In San Diego she ran the first 5K in 16:0-something,” he said. “Her 10k time was 32 minutes, she was on world-record pace. Then until 23 miles, she was on sub-2:20 pace.”

The husband-coach told Tadias that he first met Deba when she was age 13, and a year later attended one of her races, positioning himself along a clearing about 400 feet from the finish line.

“Buzunesh was second, a good distance behind the leader, when she came by,” said Beyi. “I shouted ‘Go, go, go’ the next thing I knew she began to run faster. She passed the other girl and won the race.”

“When I congratulated her after the race I asked her how did she manage to pass the other girl so quickly?,” he continued. “She said, ‘You gave me power. You are my power.’”

The pre-New York marathon training through which Beyi led Deba peaked this autumn at 130 miles a week covered in two-a-day workouts. In recent days, Deba began tapering to about 90 miles a week with robust-morning and easy-evening sessions.

“Nutrition is very important for running a marathon,” Beyi said. “Marathon training is very hard, you have to eat properly. Up to one month before the marathon we ate a lot of meat and injera, but injera makes you heavy. Now we eat mostly vegetables, with a little chicken and some lamb soup.”

Deba gives a lot of credit for her success to Beyi — both his training and cooking.

Beyi, a world-class athlete, competes less now because of a medical condition and instead focuses on coaching Deba. Quite a cook also, friends say, Beyi said he prepares their meals so Deba can stay off her feet after training.

For Deba, the ascension was gradual to becoming a legitimate contender at one of the World Marathon Majors – a series held in Berlin, Boston, Chicago, London and New York.

Arriving in New York on an athlete’s visa in 2007, her early performance was hampered by chronic ankle problems.

With uneven success, she competed across the country at various races. It was not until September 2009 that Deba ran her first race over a 26.2-mile course — The Quad Cities (Iowa) Marathon — and won.

She found her winning stride, and with coaching from Beyi and altitude training in New Mexico, victories followed at the 2009 and 2010 California International Marathon as well as in Minnesota, Los Angeles and San Diego.

Deba is at the precipice of becoming a marathoner with wide recognition. She has been besieged with media requests – already interviewed by The New York Times and The New York Daily News about the upcoming race.

United by fate: The story of Libya's rebel national soccer team

Chingola, Zambia (CNN) -- It's 10 minutes after the final whistle has blown but still no one knows whether their efforts have been in vain.

 The Libyan national soccer team sit in the dressing room at the Nchanga Stadium -- in Chingola, a small copper mining town on the Zambia-Congo border -- quietly waiting for news amidst the fog of sweat and redolence of rubefacient muscle rub.

The team has just drawn 0-0 with Zambia in their final qualification match for the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations, a qualification campaign that began with the country under the rule of Colonel Moammar Gadhafi, continued through the civil war and ended before the death of the former notorious leader.

Victory was needed to be sure of progression to next January's tournament in Equatorial Guinea and Gabon. A draw meant that results elsewhere had to go their way.

 As their campaign for Africa's biennial continental championship progressed with war as the backdrop, some players declared the team was behind Gadhafi. Others left the team to go and fight on the front line with the rebels.

In unison, somehow, they qualified; news that will shortly be relayed to the team when confirmation of results from other matches are circulated.

 Six days earlier coach Marcos Paqueta is in good spirits in the lobby of his hotel in Tunis. The security situation is such that the team could not train in Tripoli. The Brazilian coach once famously won the under 17s and under 20s World Cups in the same year for his homeland, but signed for Libya in June 2010 when the Libyan Football Federation was run by one of Gadhafi's sons, Mohamed.

 "When I was there the first time I contacted only the federation, then one time I have one meeting with Dr Mohamed," Paqueta explains of his dealings with the Gadhafi regime.

"He was happy because of the project I made for the national team and Libyan football. I focus only on sports. At that time you don't know about the country.

" In the past, the Gadhafi family's dealings with soccer and its players had been much more hands on. His son Saadi played for Al Ahly Tripoli and installed himself as captain of the national team. The team plummeted to 186th on FIFA's rankings.

But they also used soccer as a political tool. In 2000 Saadi's Al Ahly Tripoli traveled to Al Ahly Benghazi for a league match. Benghazi had long been associated with Libya's opposition and the team's fans paraded a donkey wearing Saadi's shirt.

 "It is a bad story, not a funny story," says 29-year-old defensive midfielder Moataz Ben Amer, the current captain of Al Ahly Benghazi.

"The first half, Tripoli are winning. But the referee is no good. So Ahly Benghazi goes to the airport [in protest]. Saadi Gadhafi turned up with his dogs and the police and said: 'If you don't play the second half, we will kick you'.

" Unsurprisingly, the players returned to play the second half, and lost 3-0.

Colonel Gadhafi was so incensed that he ordered Al Ahly Benghazi's training ground to be destroyed. The club was also banned from domestic competition for five years. When Interpol released a "Red Notice" for Saadi Gadhafi in September, the allegations given were "misappropriating properties through force and armed intimidation when he headed the Libyan Football Federation.

" Paqueta's early results were encouraging. Libya beat Zambia, one of Africa's best teams, in Tripoli. But then in February civil war broke out, dividing the players. After Libya had beaten the Comoros Islands in March the team's former captain, 34-year-old Tariq Taib, declared that the players were 100 per cent behind Gadhafi. He even labeled the rebels "rats and dogs.

" Walid el Kahatroushi disagreed. The 27-year-old midfielder scored in that game but when the team gathered again in June, he decided to leave the camp and fight for the rebels when he heard a friend had been injured in the violence.

 "Some people come to me and told me one of my dear friends was in the hospital and lost his arm ... in that moment I decided to leave the camp and join the front line ... in Jebel Nafousa," explains Kahatroushi.

 Life on the front line was hard. Friends would shield him from worst of the fighting until, in the end, he felt he had no choice

 "When I was there I was just about forgetting about football because the most important thing then is how to secure your life and secure the life of your friends. If it was about me I would never come back, you would never find me here playing football. But ... my friends on the front line told me: 'This is your future, you must go there. This is also like a war for you'.

" Others left for the front line too, like goalkeeper Guma Mousa, but not all were so lucky. Ahmed Alsagir was shot in the shoulder and spent a month in hospital before returning to the front line. By the end of August Gadhafi had been toppled. A week later the team had to play their penultimate qualifier against Mozambique behind closed doors in Egypt.

Aside from the trouble of getting the players out of the country, there were some more practical concerns. For one, Paqueta had to hold a clear the air meeting with the squad. The old pro-Gaddafi players were nowhere to be seen. A new kit had to be designed, with the rebel's flag stitched on to it. The Libyans fought out a 0-0 draw.

 "The last game [against] Mozambique, it had a big impact on the people in Libya. Everyone was happy and everyone was talking about us," recalls Kahatroushi.

"We will do everything to qualify, Inshallah, because this will help our country too much. At least to bring them some happiness after all the sadness they have been through.

" The journey south to Zambia took almost 24 hours, but the players are ready when they take to the pitch at the packed Nchanga Stadium. Libya's new captain, 39-year-old goalkeeper Samir Abod is the hero, making three world class saves. The match finishes 0-0. Some of the players collapse on the floor in tears. Others pray before returning to the dressing room.

They wait.

The quiet is broken when one of the coaches bursts in and breathlessly delivers the news. The blue-painted room erupts in celebration and song. The rebel nation
al anthem is sung as the new flag is held aloft in the center of the melee.

 Ghana's victory and a last-minute equalizer for Guinea against Nigeria means that Libya has, against the odds, qualified for the Nations Cup. As a nation recovers thousands of miles away from the ravages of civil war under the new interim government, Walid Kahatroushi leads the celebrations and the chants.

 "The blood of the dead," they sing, "will not be spilt in vain."
http://edition.cnn.com