Category Archives: Article

Re-Emerging: The Jews of Nigeria

Like many young men and women growing up in Nigeria, Shmuel consistently heard that the Igbo people were Jews. Yet, two centuries of Christian Colonialism prevented him and many other Igbo from exploring that connection further. When an Internet café … read more »

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Nigeria: A Space at the Mortuary…By Olusegun Adeniyi

By Olusegun Adeniyi If there is any development that depicts the state of affairs in our country today, it is what happened last week following the coordinated attacks by Boko Haram on police, army and prison formations in Bama, Borno … read more »

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Oedipus Recommends Self-Blinding for Eritrean Elite

Zekre Lebona You can see for yourself- the city is like the ship rolling dangerously; it has lost the power to right itself and raise its head up out of the waves of death. Thebes is dying. There is a … read more »

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Ethiopia Film Initiative Pitch Selection – Drama ‘Nishan’

By Tambay A. Obenson A year ago, Yidnekachew Shumete was one of 3 Ethiopian filmmakers selected for a week-long visit to Monaco and Cannes for workshops, programs and events happening during the 2012 Cannes Film Festival in May. Shumete, along … read more »

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Tithes and Offerings and the Pauperization of Village Pastors

The practice of city pastors commandeering all the tithes and offerings  to themselves while pauperizing their village counterparts is one of the reasons every pastor is running to the city to establish a church. Tithes and offerings are biblical injunctions … read more »

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Symbolic Resistance and Marriage: Ethiopian Muslim Activists’ Reclaiming of Hope in the Face of Regime Brutality

Alemu Tafesse, Political Analyst and academic Anti-authoritarian struggles creep into the symbolical world both in content and form. Acts of defiance send across sparks of moments that carry multiple meanings to multiple audiences. In many instances, with more repression, more … read more »

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Why I am naming and shaming African Media Initiative (AMI)

                                              By; Kiflu Hussain  I might never have known about the existence of African Media Initiative (AMI), had I not received an invitation from this organization that sounds well intentioned. In 2011, I was pleasantly surprised by an email from … read more »

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Ethiopian government minister, businessmen to face corruption charges after 2-year probe

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia — An Ethiopian court ruled Tuesday that prosecutors have two weeks to finalize corruption charges against two dozen people who have been arrested, including a senior Cabinet minister. The 24 people charged include the head of Ethiopia’s … read more »

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Nigeria: Insecurity – Don’t Declare Emergency Rule, Govs’ Forum Tells Jonathan

By Chibuzo Ukaibe,Leadership (Abuja) The 36 governors under the aegis of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) yesterday asked President Goodluck Jonathan not to yield to the agitation for a declaration of state of emergency in troubled states in the country. … read more »

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Disrespect for human rights in Eritrea is unacceptable – UN expert

The international community must keep Eritrea under “close scrutiny”, an independent United Nations expert said today, stressing the need to fundamentally transform the East African nation’s “current culture of rights denial.” “Blatant disrespect for human rights in Eritrea is unacceptable,” … read more »

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Nigeria: Ngige and Obi: the debate begins

by Valentine Obienyem I think it was Shakespeare who in Macbeth said “There’s no art to find the mind’s construction in the face.”  I am not a telepathy expert neither do I aspire to be one. Human nature is so … read more »

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Nigeria: Boko haram staging bolder, deadlier comeback

(Reuters) – After a crackdown pushed them out of Nigeria’s northern cities, Islamist militant group Boko Haram have regrouped, rearmed and are staging a bold comeback that has already allowed them to seize control over parts of the northeast. Using … read more »

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Ethiopia: Abune Petros in our heart

On 29 July 1936 Abune Petros was executed by the Italian fascist that were trying to colonize our country for his refusal to submit. On May 2, 2013 the monument that was built to commemorate our Holy Father was removed … read more »

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Can Britain fix Somalia?

By Abdihakim Aynte Last week, Somalia’s donors and international partners came together in London to lay down the foundations of post-transitional government in the country.  The London gathering, which brought together over 50 heads of state and hundreds of international … read more »

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Sudan: Breaking silence on Abyei

By Beny Gideon Mabor “I don’t know what’s right and wrong anymore”, he said, tears streaming down his cheeks. “On the one hand, I am warned that you are the tool of oppression against our people, an enemy of the … read more »

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Ethiopia: How we behave online

By Teklu Abate  Thanks to advances in information and communication technologies, people overcome spatio-temporal limitations. We communicate in real time regardless of where we live. Traditionally, communications and collaborations were made between people and organizations that somehow know each other … read more »

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Ghana: Lest We Forget – 1983 – Thirty Years Ago

The year 1983 perhaps was the harshest year in Ghana’s modern history. In some countries there would be retrospectives, symposia and other kinds of public reflections on this most devastating year in our collective memory. When I say “collective”, I … read more »

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50 year old Uganda and Ethiopia host of OAU/AU for 50 years

By; Kiflu Hussain        Uganda is a 50 year old independent African country unlike Ethiopia that has been hosting OAU/AU for five decades while enjoying her own thousands of years of “independent”history.Ironically, Ethiopia has no independent institution which is equally … read more »

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Drawing The Curtain On Nigeria…

by Prince Charles Dickson No matter how stout, long and turgid a penis. It’s erection can not intimidate a vagina. In short, the rise and fall of a penis was masterminded by a vagina. Local axiom. In the last few … read more »

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Edu-corruption and Mis-education in Ethiopia By Alemayehu G Mariam

“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world,” said Nelson Mandela. For the late Meles Zenawi and his apostles (the Melesistas) in Ethiopia, the reverse is true: Ignorance is the most powerful weapon you … read more »

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Ethiopia arrests minister, 11 others over corruption

Ethiopian police have arrested a minister and 11 other people on corruption charges, an official and state media said on Saturday, in the country’s most high-profile swoop against graft for more than a decade. Businesses in the region regularly complain … read more »

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Eritrea jailed “at least 10,000″ political prisoners

Eritrea’s hardline regime has jailed at least 10,000 political prisoners, many in “unimaginably atrocious conditions”, rights group Amnesty International said in a report Thursday criticising the situation in the Red Sea state. With political opposition banned, independent media quashed and … read more »

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Ethiopia: As Easter goes on, a historical wedding inside Qaliti prison

by Sadik When the dictators incarcerate valued and exceptional leaders without justice, it is not only to bar them from their followers, but to break their soul in irreversible manner. Today our brave Ethiopians broke the passion of the oppressor … read more »

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Eritrea: Rampant repression 20 years after independence

Twenty years after its independence, Eritrea’s prisons are filled with thousands of political prisoners, locked up without ever being charged with a crime, many of whom are never heard from again, Amnesty International said in a report released today. Twenty … read more »

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Ethiopia: I shall persevere By Eskinder Nega (From Kaliti Prison)

By Eskinder Nega  (From Kaliti Prison) “So that I may do the deed That my soul has to itself decreed.” – Keates Individuals can be penalized, made to suffer (oh, how I miss my child) and even killed. But democracy … read more »

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Nigeria: Soludo’s Solution of Anger and Innuendo By Nasir El Rufai

by Nasir El Rufai Long before the publication of The Accidental Public Servant, I had decided to resist joining issues with whatever commentators wrote in response to the book by way of either attacking the author or its contents. It … read more »

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Zimbabwe Elections Scenarios: New ICG Report Cuts Through the Political Posturing

The International Crisis Group issued on 6 May a very helpful report entitled Zimbabwe: Elections Scenarios. Prepared by Piers Pigou, the ICG’s Southern Africa projects director and his team, this report should be required reading for those outside of Zimbabwe … read more »

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The OAU & Emperor Haile Selassie’s Rightful Place in History

  As Addis Ababa prepares for grand festivities, galas and events in celebration of the 50th Anniversary of the establishment of the African Union (AU), formerly known as the Organization of African Unity (OAU), on May 25, 2013, we, Africans, … read more »

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Nigeria: Sowore versus Doyin Okupe On Al Jazeera TV

by Joe Igbokwe I have just finished watching Al Jazeera Television where Omoyele Sowore, of Sahara Reporters, our own Professor Wole Soyinka and Dr Doyin Okupe, Senior Special Assistant on Media to President Goodluck Jonathan spoke on Nigeria’s political crisis … read more »

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Revisiting the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Debate

By Philip Amiola The volume of responses generated by my last article entitled, “Gays and Lesbians, We Will Not Keep Quiet!” has put me under responsibility to write a sequel to address genuine concerns raised by some of my readers. … read more »

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