Ethiopia denies forcing through Gibe Dams project

Fishermen on Lake Turkana. Human Rights Watch says the water body is on the brink of drying up due to Ethiopia's Gibe Dams project. PHOTO | FILE | NATION MEDIA GROUP. 

In Summary

• On Tuesday, Human Rights Watch said Lake Turkana, which receives its water from the Omo River, is slowly drying up.
• Based on publicly available data from the United States Department of Agriculture, the group said, Lake Turkana’s water levels have dropped by approximately 1.5 metres since January 2015.

By AGGREY MUTAMBO
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Ethiopia is denying claims that it forced through its controversial Gibe Dams Project without consulting its neighbour Kenya.

In a statement on Friday, Ethiopian Ambassador to Kenya Dina Mufti said his country has always discussed the matter with Nairobi and they even have a team of officials from both sides that deals with possible environmental problems from the project.

“This is a baseless allegations concocted against the Gibe project that the Ethiopian government is undertaking for only generation of hydropower. Ethiopia and Kenya have Joint mechanisms called Joint Ministerial Commission (JMC) and Joint Border," he said.

IMPACT

"Administrators/ Commissioners Commission (JBC), which both are active in resolving any disputes that arise between trans-boundary communities over scarce resources as well as problems that may arise as a result of cattle rustling along the common border.”

“The two countries have been in regular consultations regarding the Gibe project from its inception and have been determined to resolve any concern through cooperation.

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"It is under the above mentioned mechanisms that the two countries have been working together to protect the common natural resource of Lake Turkana,” he said.

Addis Ababa, which has been building dams along the Omo River, has recently come under fire from rights and environmental groups, which accuse the country of forcing through the projects without considering their environmental impact.

LAKE DRYING UP

On Tuesday, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said Lake Turkana, which receives its water from the Omo River, is slowly drying up.

Based on publicly available data from the United States Department of Agriculture, the group said, Lake Turkana’s water levels have dropped by approximately 1.5 metres since January 2015, and further reduction is likely without urgent efforts to mitigate the impact of Ethiopia’s actions.

Human Rights Watch said it investigated the impact based on satellite imagery that shows that the drop is already affecting the shoreline of the lake, which has receded by as much as 1.7 kilometres in Ferguson Gulf since November 2014.

The gulf is a critical fish breeding area, and a key fishing ground for the indigenous Turkana people.

SCANT REGARD

“The Ethiopian government has shown scant regard for the lives and livelihoods of already marginalised communities who are reliant on the Omo River and Lake Turkana for their livelihoods,” said Felix Horne, the head of Arica Research at HRW.

“In its rush to develop its resources it has not developed strategies to minimise the impact on those living downstream.”

The latest controversial project is the Gibe II dam, set to cost $1.8 billion and which could produce 1,870 megawatts of power when completed.

This will make it the third largest dam by power production in Africa.

FLOODING

But rights groups say the dam is holding up water that previously flowed unimpeded into Lake Turkana and replenished seasonal drops in lake levels.

In 2015 the annual July-November flood from the Omo River into Lake Turkana did not occur, resulting in a drop of water levels of 1.3 metres from November 2014, HRW says.

But Ethiopia says the fact that the flooding did not occur is beneficial to people who had had to flee every time the flooding season came. 

Mr Mufti dismissed HRW as one of the groups bent on spoiling development projects for African nations by citing baseless rights abuses.

KENYA RESPONDS

Kenya Environment Cabinet Secretary Judy Wakhungu admitted the existence between Addis and Nairobi but raised concerns over the risk of water pollution.

"There is an agreement with Ethiopia, but there is also a general agreement based on international law, that whenever there transboundary resources both countries should agree on the use of resources and the development of those transboundary resources should not negatively affect the other country.

"When it come to Gibe I, I, III, when it comes to generating electricity, we  as a country don't an issue because they are simply storing water and releasing it. But when it comes to the agrochemicals, that has a negative effect and discussions are ongoing with the government of Ethiopia."

Source:http://www.nation.co.ke/news/Gibe-Dams-project-on-Kenya-and-Ethiopia/1056-3816882-10d7oky/

Hacking Team’s response regarding Ethiopia

August 14, 2015

TO:  Human Rights Watch

This is in response to your letter of Aug. 3, 2015 regarding Hacking Team’s relationship with the government of Ethiopia.  Today Ethiopia is not a client of Hacking Team.  The company suspended the relationship last year and terminated all relations with Ethiopia earlier this year.Hacking Team Hacked

Of course, Hacking Team is the victim of a criminal attack that resulted in the theft and publication of many documents and company proprietary information online in violation of the laws of Italy and all other countries.  Yet the leaked information is partial, and it does not include a record of phone calls or discussions held during internal meetings at the company.

However, now that this stolen information is publicly available, Hacking Team believes that the record demonstrates that the company followed all laws and regulations as well as its own Customer Policy statement published in 2013.  That policy is that when Hacking Team becomes aware of allegations of misuse of its software, it investigates to determine the facts and then may suspend the client.

Hacking Team software is operated by the client, not by Hacking Team, and the subjects of surveillance, the information gathered and the reasons for the surveillance in the first place are not available to Hacking Team.

However, Hacking Team requires clients to affirm in their contract with the company that the client will use the technology not for military purposes and only in accordance with the law.

In this case, when allegations by Citizen Lab arose in early 2014 that Ethiopia was misusing Hacking Team software, the company began an investigation and a review of the facts.

Citizen Lab alleged that the client attempted to initiate surveillance against a person identified as a ‘journalist.’  There was no evidence that surveillance actually took place.

The first step by Hacking Team was to interrogate the client, the Ethiopian Information Network Security Agency (INSA).  Ethiopia claimed that the subject was not a journalist, but an opponent of the government that the agency had reason to believe posed a threat of violence.

Although the investigation of the facts was inconclusive, there were several within the company who argued that irrespective of the reasons for this particular surveillance attempt, the Ethiopian investigators were inept, and the relationship with the client should be suspended for that reason alone.

As the record shows, the company decision was to suspend support the client even though the allegations by Citizen Lab were still unconfirmed.

Although Ethiopia was suspended, a contract remained in place and Hacking Team could not demonstrate violations of the contract.  So discussion continued within the company about what to do about the client.

Ultimately the relationship with Ethiopia was terminated.

So the facts are these:

Hacking Team did investigate the allegations of Citizen Lab in accordance with company policies.
Even though there was no evidence that any surveillance actuality took place, and even though the Ethiopian client argued the attempt to surveil the suspect was justified, nonetheless, Hacking Team suspended the client in the fall of 2014.
Ethiopia is no longer a client of the company and all relationship with Ethiopia has ended.
Finally, it is important to note that, at the time of the sale of Hacking Team technology to Ethiopia in 2011 and continuing throughout the period of the relationship, the country was never under embargo, and there are currently no restrictions on sales to Ethiopia.

Hacking Team

Source :ecadforum.com

የመንግስት አመራሮችና ጋዜጠኞች ከውጭ እና ከውስጥ የሚለቀቀውን ፕሮፖጋንዳ እንዲያከሽፉ አደራ ተጣለባቸው

መጋቢት ፴(ሠላሳ) ቀን ፳፻፯ ዓ/ም ኢሳት ዜና :- የመንግስት መገናኛ ብዙሃን ኢህአዴግ የኒዮ ሊበራል አፈቀላጤ የሚላቸውን እነ አምነስቲ ኢንተርናሽናል፣ ሂዩማንራይት ዎች እና ሲፒጄ የሚያወጡትን መግለጫ ነቅቶ በመጠበቅ አፍራሽ ጎናቸውን እንዲያጋልጡ አደራ ተጥሎባቸዋል፡፡

የመንግስት ኮምኒኬሽን ጽ/ቤት፤ ለመንግስት መገናኛ ብዙሃን አዘጋጆችና አመራሮች ለሶስት ቀናት በአዳማ ከተማ ባዘጋጀው ስልጠና ላይ ከምዕራባዊያን ሀገራት የሚፈልቁ አፍራሽ ፕሮፖጋንዳዎችን በማጋለጥ ጋዜጠኞች ከመቼውም ጊዜ በበለጠ ትኩረት ሰጥተው እንዲሰሩ አደራ ተጥሎባቸዋል፡፡

የኒዮሊበራል ኃይላት አፍራሽ ፕሮፖጋንዳ ናቸው ተብለው ከተጠቀሱት መካከል የመንደር ማሰባሰብ መርሃግብር፣ የስኳር ፕሮጀክቶች፣ ለግብርና ልማት የሚሰጡ ሰፋፊ እርሻዎች፣ የጊቤ ሶስት ፕሮጀክት፣ የህዳሴ ግድብ፣ እንዲሁም በስራ ላይ ካሉት ሕጎች መካከል

የጸረሽብር ሕጉ፣ የበጎ አደራጎትና ማህበራት አዋጅ፣ የመገናኛ ብዙሃንና የመረጃ ነጻነት ሕግ፣ በሀገር ውስጥ ሕጋዊውንና ሕገወጡን መንገድ ያጣቅሳሉ የተባሉት ሰማያዊ፣ መድረክ እና መሰል ፓርቲዎች የሚለቁትን ፕሮፖጋንዳ እንዴት ተከታትለው ማክሸፍ እንደሚገባቸው  ትምህርታዊ ማብራሪያ ተሰጥቶአቸዋል፡፡

የኒዮሊበራል ሃይላቱ እነዚህን አጀንዳዎች መሰረት አድርገው የማጥላላት ዘመቻ ሊከፍቱ ስለሚችሉ ተከታታይነት ባለው መልኩ ምላሽ መስጠትና የህብረተሰቡን ግንዛቤ በማሳደግ አንቅሮ እንዲተፋቸው መገናኛ ብዙሃኑ በቅንጅትና ተከታታነት ባለው መልኩ ሊሰሩ

እንደሚገባ ተነግሮአቸዋል፡፡

የኒዮሊበራል ሃይላቱ እነዚህን ክስተቶች መነሻ በማድረግ በሕዝብና በመንግስት መካከል አለመተማመን በመፍጠር በሀገሪቷ አለመረጋጋት እንዲፈጠር  የተቀናጀ ድብቅ ኣላማ እንዳላቸው የመገናኛ ብዙሃን ባለሙያዎቹ አስቀድመው መረዳት አለባቸው ተብሎአል፡፡

በኒዮሊበራል ሃይላት የሚነሱት አጀንዳዎች ተደጋጋሚ በመሆናቸው የመንግስትን ምላሽ የያዘ ሰነድ መዘጋጀቱ የተጠቆመ ሲሆን ፣መገናኛ ብዙሃኑ ሰነዱን እያጣቀሱ እንዲሰሩ በማሳሰብ ስልጠናው ዛሬ ተጠናቆአል፡፡

Source: ethsat.com