Sunnis and Shiites remain historical rivals

Deutsche Welle, 23 August 2012

The civil war in Syria is becoming a proxy war between Sunnis and Shiites, symbolized by Saudi Arabia and Iran. Their differences originated in the early days of Islam.

If the Prophet Mohammed had arranged a successor before his death in 632, the Islamic landscape could have turned out differently.

But as things turned out, the Prophet's fledging Islamic community disintegrated just 30 years after his death. The majority of Muslims joined a group that later became known as the Sunnis. A second group consisted of followers of Ali ibn Abi Talib, the cousin and son-in-law of Mohammed.

It is the "Shi' at Ali," the party of Ali from which the Shiites originated. Up to this day, the Shiites remain in the minority, accounting for between 10 to 15 percent of the more than 1.6 billion Muslims.

Early power games

A personnel controversy was sparked in 632 by the question of how to correctly select Prophet Mohammed's successor, according to Lutz Berger, an Islamic scholar at the University of Kiel. "At the beginning, we had a political conflict about personnel decisions and group interests," he said. "Then the political conflict turned religious." 

Protests followed the arrest of
a Shiite preacher in Saudi Arabia

The debate about the rightful successor of Prophet Mohammed initially focused on the four "rightly guided" caliphs, agreed on by a majority vote. In 660, the Omayyad dynasty came to power. For those selecting the caliphs, it was of paramount importance they be members of Mohammed's tribe, the Quraysh.

Followers of Ali, however, believed the Prophet's successor should come from Mohammed's family. They argued that God himself had appointed Ali as the successor, that Mohammed had this succession recorded in writing before his death and that the Sunni erased it from the Koran. To this day, the Koran forgery charge has not been clearly withdrawn.

According to Berger, Ali was ambitious and bothered by not being able to succeed as the Prophet's successor. Finally, in 656, he was appointed the fourth and last legitimate caliph. His reign lasted just five years - until he was assassinated.

In Damascus, the newly forming center of Islamic power, the Umayyads had the say, while Ali followers secured supremacy in the frontier province of what is now Iraq. In 680 Ali's youngest son, Hussein, was elected counter-caliph. That same year, he was murdered by the Umayyads and buried in Karbala. With that, the foundation was laid for the permanent division between the Sunni and Shiites as well as the martyrdom cult in Shia Islam.

Early hostility

"In some ways, the Shiites were history's losers," says Berger. Ali and his successors failed to prevail in the entire Islamic community, resulting in a rather negative worldview and presumably Shia's own worldview that is shaped by a concept of suffering and salvation.

Iranian Sunnis read the Koran

From a Shiite perspective, the religious leaders, the Imams, are chosen by God. At the end of time, a savoir will come to establish a divine kingdom of justice. Belief in the Imam is one of the main differences to the Sunnah, which is the passed down knowledge of Mohammed's words and deeds as guidance for Muslim life.

To Shiites, the Imam is a mediator between God and his follower because only the Imam alone knows the hidden meaning of the Koran and has the task of communicating it to the community. His teaching decisions are infallible; for the Shiites, his sayings have the same authority as the Koran.

For many Sunnis, that borders on heresy. "The Shiites are accused of deifying people and seeing in Ali, the Prophet's son-in-law and his successors as super-human figures, thus moving away from a basic principle of Islam; namely, that there is only one God and that people should not be worshiped.

Lasting consequences

If the Shiites see themselves more as losers by refusing to participate in the secular rule over the centuries, the "Sunnis, by comparison, are successful from the start," says Islamic scholar Berger. They were able to play down the conflicts of earlier times and viewed the Shiite domination claims as troublemaking. 

Iraqi Shiites rally at the ruins of
a Shrine in Samarra

Even if the Sunnis and Shiites define themselves through their mutual rejection – as Berger puts it – phases of peaceful coexistence have historically alternated with those of religious-motivated clashes. The current political conflicts in the Islamic world are often religiously charged and show the some of the traditional conflicts between Sunnah and Shia. There are many examples, such as the civil wars in Syria and Iraq or the long-simmering conflict between Saudi Arabia and Iran, the only country where Shia is the state religion.

Worldwide, there are about 1.6 billion Muslims, of whom between 85 and 90 percent are estimated to be Sunnis. No exact numbers exist because many countries have no surveys of religious affiliation. Moreover, Shiites are not always willing to disclose their religious affiliation in a non-Shiite environment.

Countries from North Africa to the Sahara are mostly if not entirely Sunni. The same is true for Saudi Arabia, Indonesia and Bangladesh. Syria and the Palestine regions, too, are largely Sunni.

Iran is the only country where Shia is the state religion. The majority of the population in Iraq and Bahrain is also Shiite. About one third of Lebanon's population is Shiite. Notable Shiite populations also exist in Afghanistan, Kuwait, Pakistan and Syria.

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Unite Shiites and Sunnis in Indonesia

"The End of History" – Nov 20, 2010 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll)

(Subjects: Abraham, Isaac, Ishmael, Muhammad, Jesus, God, Jews, Arabs, EU, US, Israel, Iran, Russia, Africa, South America, Global Unity,..... etc.) (Text version)

" ..... If an Arab and a Jew can look at one another and see the Akashic lineage and see the one family, there is hope. If they can see that their differences no longer require that they kill one another, then there is a beginning of a change in history. And that's what is happening now. All of humanity, no matter what the spiritual belief, has been guilty of falling into the historic trap of separating instead of unifying. Now it's starting to change. There's a shift happening. ....."

"Perceptions of God" – June 6, 2010 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Quantum Teaching, The Fear of God, Near-death Experience, God Becomes Mythology, Worship, Mastery, Intelligent Design, Benevolent Creator, Global Unity.... etc.) (Text version)

“.. For centuries you haven't been able to think past that box of what God must be like. So you create a Human-like God with wars in heaven, angel strife, things that would explain the devil, fallen angels, pearly gates, lists of dos and don'ts, and many rules still based on cultures that are centuries old. You create golden streets and even sexual pleasures as rewards for men (of course) - all Human perspective, pasted upon God. I want to tell you that it's a lot different than that. I want to remind you that there are those who have seen it! Why don't you ask somebody who has had what you would call a near-death experience?

"Healing the Military Energies in our family Tree" – Jun 13, 2011 (Kryon channelled by David Brown)

“ … There’s much violence and anger throughout the world; when we look at the Middle East, we can see that changes are coming there. The West has a lot of power over the Middle East, but that power will begin to dissolve. The Muslim people of this world will begin to have their own power, and their own prosperity, and they will begin to disconnect from the Western World. This disconnection doesn’t have to be violent as violence only happens when somebody hangs onto what doesn’t belong to them....

... What Military Energy means if we use an analogy: it would be like putting grinding paste into the oil of your motor car. Once you release these energies you will begin to feel lighter as you disconnect from this reality, and, you will find it easier and easier to release any other negative emotions. Military Energies are the core of all your problems...."

Three months to probe miners' deaths

Deutsche Welle, 23 August 2012

With unusual speed, President Zuma has named a judicial commission to look into South Africa's deadliest spate of police violence since the end of apartheid. The same day ceremonies were held mourning the 34 victims.

The three-person commission will be headed by retired appeals court judge Ian Farlam and has been given a broad mandate to probe the police, mining giant Lonmim, rival unions, the government and any individuals involved in the violence.

The inquiry was announced by one day after the police crackdown on August 16 in which 34 workers were killed following inter-union clashes that had earlier killed 10 people at Lonmin's Marikana platinum mine.

The commission will have four months to complete their investigations and another month to submit their report. They will not only look at policing and security issues, but also at broader concerns about labour policies and working conditions. 

Mines closed

The judicial commission will look at
 labor policy and working conditions
as well as security

Key politicians mostly stayed away from Thursday's memorial services, leaving religious leaders to articulate the outrage over the killing of 34 miners by police seven days ago, with its unpleasant echoes of the not-too-distant past.

"We are shocked by what has happened. None of us ever thought this would happen again," said Anglican Bishop Johannes Seoka as he addressed thousands of people gathered near Lonmin's Marikana platinum mine.

Police kept their distance as tensions still ran high among workers, with security noticeably lighter than earlier in the week.

Lonmin and the nearby Impala Platinum mine were closed to allow workers to attend the local memorial service, one of many ceremonies held across the country. Many of the 34 victims were migrant workers whose bodies have already been returned to their home villages.

Nontamazo Mthembu, a relative of one of the dead, told DW the affected families must get assistance from the mines. "It's sad when you look at these families," she said.

Zuma's handling of the crisis

Before naming the commission, Zuma had warned mining firms they could lose their licences if they failed to provide decent housing for their workers.

He also pointed out that the mining industry had assets valued at $2.5 trillion (1.99 trillion euros) excluding coal and uranium and should therefore be able to pay workers a better wage. 

Religious leaders attending a memorial
service for victims of a wildcat strike at
Marikana mine

Zuma has met strikers and is trying to address concerns that the government has ígnored their plight.

The South African president is trying to guide his country out of this crisis as he prepares to seek re-election as ANC leader in December.

Nic Dawes is editor-in-chief of the Mail & Guardian newspaper in Johannesburg. He says that Zuma and the party he leads "have lost some credibility among South African workers and in poor and marginalized communities."

Firebrand politician Julius Malema, recently expelled by the ANC, warned that the country's mines should brace for a revolution, unless workers' conditions improved. Malema has pushed hard for the nationalization of the country's mines, a policy which the ANC has rejected.

DW's correspondent in South Africa, Subry Govender, says Lonmin workers have said they will return to work on Monday, August 27, if management agrees to their demands for higher wages, better working conditions and assistance with funeral arrangements.

Related Article:

South African police open fire on striking platinum miners

Egypt president issues law to free news editor

Associated Press, by Maggie Michael, Aug. 23, 2012

Egyptian Vice President, Mahmoud Mekki, left, President Mohammed Morsi,
 second left, Prime Minister Hesham Kandil, third left, and the Grand Sheik of
Al-Azhar, Ahmed el-Tayeb, right, attend Eid al-Fitr prayers in Amr Ibn Al-As
 mosque to mark the start of a three-day Muslim holiday that marks the end
of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan on Sunday, Aug. 19, 2012. In his sermon,
 the imam, Ismail el-Diftar, not seen, prayed for martyrs and the liberation of
Jerusalem's al-Aqsa mosque. (AP Photo/Egyptian Presidency)

CAIRO (AP) — Egypt's state news agency says the country's president has issued a law that bans imprisoning journalists pending trial for publishing-related charges.

Islam Afifi, the chief editor of el-Dustour

newspaper, center, attends a court hearing

 in Cairo, Egypt, Thursday, Aug. 23, 2012. 

(AP Photo/Mohammed Asad)

Thursday's decree is the first law issued by President Mohammed Morsi since he assumed legislative powers this month in the absence of a parliament, and after he sent the generals with whom he had shared powers into early retirement.

A Cairo court on Thursday had ordered the editor of the privately-owned el-Dustour daily, Islam Afifi, detained pending trial on charges that his newspaper had insulted Morsi and potentially harmed the public interest.

Following Morsi's decree, MENA reported that Afifi was ordered released from prison.

Rights groups had expressed indignation at the court's decision, saying it betrayed the values of last year's revolt against Egypt's longtime former President Hosni Mubarak.

Palestinian town gets new mayor, aged 15

Bashaer Othman has taken over the municipal offices of Allar in the West Bank hills as part of a youth empowerment programme

guardian.co.uk, Harriet Sherwood, Wednesday 22 August 2012

Bashaer Othman, 15, is the first female mayor for the town of 9,000
residents. Photograph: Al-Arabiya

She could have spent the long, hot summer holiday hanging out with friends or helping at home. But instead, 15-year-old Bashaer Othman is making speeches, signing documents, chairing meetings, attending civic functions and meeting citizens as mayor of Allar, a small Palestinian town high in the West Bank hills.

Every morning Bashaer heads off to the municipal offices, where she has full control – except for financial matters – as part of an unusual summer experiment aimed at empowering young people.

For two months the regular mayor, Sufian Shadid, and his team of councillors have handed the reins of power to a group of teenagers. The adults are on hand to advise and guide, but the decisions are made by the youngsters.

"At the beginning, people were critical because of our age," says Bashaer. "But then they saw us working, and that we were tough and dedicated, and now they respect us."

Bashaer is the first female mayor for the town of 9,000 residents. The regular 11-strong council includes two women, who are appointed under a quota system. But this summer, the gender balance is close to equal, with five girls and six boys serving the town.

Halfway through her term, Bashaer has presided over a vote to set up a local fire department and establish Allar's first public park with a children's playground. She has also represented the town on a trip to Qatar. But she identifies the most important local issue as unemployment, especially among youth.

"If I could achieve one thing, it would be to create a project to provide as many youth jobs as possible," she says. "Many people from Allar are crossing the Green Line [entering Israel illegally] to work. Instead of them going to work as cheap labour in Israel, we need to create jobs here."

According to Mayor Shadid, the aim of the summer takeover is "to give the young people a chance to participate in civil society and more confidence to become part of the political system in the future". Bashaer is "doing a great job", he says. She has "charisma, a strong leadership personality – and people like her".

The teenager, who hopes her role as mayor will encourage more women to become actively involved in public life, plans to pursue a political career. But first she intends to study international issues at university following her final two years at school. The youngest of seven children, Bashaer says her family are supporting her summer role this summer and her ambitions.

Related Article:

What a Palestinian Teen Did During Holidays: Act as Mayor

Homophobic Archbishop divides Cameroon

RNW, 21 August 2012, by Anne Mireille Nzouankeu, Yaoundé

(Photo Scatcat/Flicker)

  

The Archbishop of Yaoundé, Tonyè Bakot, recently described homosexuals as “corrupters of society”. A view shared by some Cameroonians and criticised by others, who believe that the Church’s role is not to divide but to unite.

“Archbishop Tonyè Bakot must stop excluding people,” says Stéphane Koche, the vice-president of Association for the Defence of Homosexuals in Cameroon (ADHEFO).

Speaking during a mass last week to celebrate the Catholic Holy Day of the Assumption, Bakot claimed homosexuality was growing in Cameroon and was condemned by the Catholic Church. He went on to describe homosexuals as “corrupters of society,” comparing them to paedophiles.

"An insult"

It seems Bakot’s sermon was intended to be a celebration of women and the family. (The Assumption is a feast in honour of the mother of Jesus, the Virgin Mary, an important figure in Roman Catholic theology.) Homosexuality is “an insult to family, an enemy to women and creation,” he said.

Serge Douomong, the secretary of the Affirmative Action Association, which deals with HIV/AIDS and other health issues in Cameroon, disagrees. “If homosexuality was a threat to procreation, the human species would have been extinct a long time ago because the practice has existed for ages,” he says.

No pretext

34-year-old businessman Idriss Mangoa admits he is a homophobe, but he still thinks women should not be used as a pretext to voice anti-gay sentiments. “Is the role of women limited to procreation? Is a barren woman then less of a woman?” he asks.

Arguments used by the Archbishop are echoed among many young people. “Homosexuality is a danger to the family structure. Homosexuals want to adopt children but who do they think is going to make babies for them to adopt?” asks Jacques Nsangou, a young student.

Olivier Ekoman, a medical student, has a more moderate view. “As a devout Catholic, I can only follow the position of the Church, which is against homosexuality. However, homosexuals can adopt children, as studies have shown that children raised by gay parents are psychologically as normal as children raised by heterosexual parents.”

Not a first

Transvestites and transgenders didn’t escape Bakot’s condemnation. He described them as “a disgrace and a disrespectful criticism of God who chose to create us male or female.”

It is not the first time Archbishop Bakot has spoken out against gays. He had previously claimed gays were responsible for unemployment because only young men who were willing to have sex with senior government officials were given jobs.

Douomong, from ACT, says statements like the Archbishop’s only reinforce the stigmatisation of homosexuals and can have serious consequences. “This can lead to an increase in the HIV rate, as gay men will not find the courage to come out. As a result, it will be more difficult to treat them.”

Role of the Church

This debate on homosexuality is raising serious questions about the role of the Church itself in Cameroon. “The Church’s role is to promote harmony and peace,” says Douomong. “Christ himself used to reach out to those considered to be bad. Even if homosexuality is evil as some believe, the Church should not be promoting rejection and division instead of unity.”

ADHEFO’s Vice-President, Koche: “God never said to love your fellow men except homosexuals. It’s a pity that a clergyman preaches exclusion and stigmatisation instead of uniting the people. He should not use a segment of the population as scapegoats for society’s problems.”

Homosexuality is considered a crime in Cameroon. Same-sex relations are punished by six months to five years imprisonment and a fine of between 20,000 and 200,000 CFA francs (30 and 300 Euros). The average monthly salary in Cameroon is around 28,000 CFA francs.

Related Articles:

60Mins: The Archbishop of Dublin challenges the Church

About the Challenges of Being a Gay Man – Oct 23, 2010 (Saint Germain channelled by Alexandra Mahlimay and Dan Bennack) - “You see, your Soul and Creator are not concerned with any perspective you have that contradicts the reality of your Divinity – whether this be your gender, your sexual preference, your nationality – or your race, ethnicity, religious beliefs, or anything else.”

"The Akashic System" – Jul 17, 2011 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll) - (Subjects: Religion, The Humanization of God, Benevolent Design, DNA, Akashic Circle, (Old) Souls, Gaia, Indigenous People, Talents, Reincarnation, Genders, Gender Switches, In “between” Gender Change, Gender Confusion, Shift of Human Consciousness, Global Unity,..... etc.)  - (Text version)

Shell spending millions of dollars on security in Nigeria, leaked data shows

Internal documents reveal oil company spent $383m over three years protecting staff and installations in Niger delta region

guardian.co.uk, Afua Hirsch and John Vidal, Sunday 19 August 2012

If it were a country Shell would have the third highest security budget
in Africa. Photograph: Adrian Arbib/Corbis

Shell is paying Nigerian security forces tens of millions of dollars a year to guard their installations and staff in the Niger delta, according to leaked internal financial data seen by the Guardian. The oil giant also maintains a 1,200-strong internal police force in Nigeria, plus a network of plainclothes informants.

According to the data, the world's largest company by revenue spent nearly $1bn on worldwide security between 2007-09: if it were a country Shell would have the third highest security budget in Africa, after South Africa and Nigeria itself.

The documents show that nearly 40% of Shell's total security expenditure over the three year period – $383m (£244m) – was spent on protecting its staff and installations in Nigeria's volatile Niger delta region. In 2009, $65m was spent on Nigerian government forces and $75m on "other" security costs – believed to be a mixture of private security firms and payments to individuals.

Activists expressed concern that the escalating cost of Shell's security operation in the delta was further destabilising the oil rich region and helping to fuel rampant corruption and criminality. "The scale of Shell's global security expenditure is colossal," said Ben Amunwa of London-based oil watchdog Platform. "It is staggering that Shell transferred $65m of company funds and resources into the hands of soldiers and police known for routine human rights abuses."

The financial documents, passed to Platform, suggest Shell's worldwide security costs almost doubled between 2007-2009, coinciding with the rise of armed insurgency in the Niger delta.

In 2008, 62 Shell employees or contractors were kidnapped and three killed, many Shell-operated pipelines, well heads and offshore oil platforms were attacked and the company was forced to halt oil exports for several weeks after attacks by groups including the Movement for the emancipation of the Niger delta.

Nearly a third of Shell's global security budget in 2008, or $99m, was spent on "third parties". This was double what the company spent on its own security staff and is believed to include the services of 600 Nigerian government police and 700 members of the controversial state "joint task force" (JTF) comprised of army, navy and police.

Shell denies having any direct control over JTF forces, amid numerous accusations of human rights abuses, including a large-scale military attack in 2009 which the US state department said led to the displacement and loss of livelihood of tens of thousands of residents.

But in the past Shell has supplied government forces with gunboats, helicopters, vehicles and satellite phones to better patrol the myriad creeks and waterways of the delta.

"This proves what we in the Niger delta have known for years – that the air force, the army, the police, they are paid for with Shell money and they are all at the disposal of the company for it to use it any how it likes," said Celestine Nkabari at the Niger delta campaign group Social Action.

According to Platform, a significant amount of Shell funding is channelled via senior military officials which provides "ample opportunities for corruption". US cables, released by WikiLeaks in 2010, alleged that the company paid hundreds of thousands of pounds towards the deployment of 350 soldiers in the delta in 2003.

But Shell International said that any allegations of corruption should be addressed to the Nigerian authorities, and that its spending is necessary to protect its staff and operations.

Although armed insurgency in the oil producing regions of the delta has declined since a 2009 amnesty, the company says it faces widespread criminality, organised crime and massive oil theft. It has stated that 15-20% of its output is stolen by international gangs.

"Protecting our people and our assets is Shell's highest priority," it said. "Our spending on security is carefully judged to meet this objective, wherever we operate in the world. We have always acknowledged the difficulties of working in countries like Nigeria. In the period that this report refers to, the armed militancy in the Niger delta was at its height, requiring a relatively high level of security spending there.

"All our staff and contractors are expected to adhere to the highest levels of personal and corporate ethics, as set out in our code of conduct. We support the Voluntary principles on security and human rights (VPSHR), and we recognise that these principles help maintain the safety and security of our operations in a manner consistent with upholding human rights. We also investigate grievances under the VPSHR."

The company declined to comment on whether worldwide costs for security were increasing because of the Arab spring. The company has recently left Syria and has interests throughout the Middle East.

But the scale of Shell's spending, revealed by the data for the first time, raises questions about the effectiveness of its security policies. "What is striking about the amount being spent in Nigeria is its ineffectiveness," said Amunwa. "Shell spent many millions of dollars each year on government forces who failed to provide the company with adequate security."

Nkabari said: "Shell cannot call this spending 'security'. If it was really providing security, then why do we continue to have vandalisation, why do we have bunkering [theft of oil], why do we have the security mess that we have in the Niger delta? They give protection to the oil workers but they are not providing the region with 'security'."

"These figures are alarming – it is a scandal that so much money is spent on security instead of on the local communities whose livelihoods are destroyed as a result of the oil exploitation," said Jaff Napoleon Bamenjo of Relufa, which campaigns for environmental justice in west Africa.

"Across Africa oil, mining and agro-industry companies regularly pay for the services of local security forces that have deplorable human rights records; sometimes as a contractual obligation," said Bamenjo. "This is an extremely unethical practice held over from the colonial era which must end immediately. Not only is it bad for local communities who are the primary victims of police and military predation, but as Shell well knows, it exposes foreign companies to lawsuits in multiple jurisdictions."

Related Article:

Dutch politicians question Shell's actions in Nigeria

Ethiopia's Meles Zenawi dies of undisclosed illness

Fears for stability after PM's 21-year rule characterised by economic growth and human rights protests from international community

guardian.co.uk, David Smith in Johannesburg, Tuesday 21 August 2012

Meles Zenawi, the then-leader of the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic
 Front, pictured in Addis Ababa in 1991. Photograph: Alexander Joe/AFP/Getty Images

One of Africa's most powerful and divisive leaders, Meles Zenawi of Ethiopia, has died of an undisclosed illness, it has been announced. He was 57.

During his 21-year rule, Meles turned Ethiopia into one of Africa's fastest-growing economies and proved to be a key US ally in the war on terror. But he was also regarded as an authoritarian strongman whose critics suffered persecution, imprisonment and torture.

Meles had not been seen in public for about two months. He failed to attend a meeting of African Union heads of state in the capital, Addis Ababa, last month, raising speculation about his health.He died "abroad" at around 11.40pm on Monday after contracting an infection, state television said on Tuesday.

His demise creates a potential power vacuum in Addis Ababa. Expressing concern, Kenya's prime minister, Raila Odinga, told the BBC World Service: "We need a seamless, peaceful, transition of power. The region, the horn of Africa, needs stability."

Hailemariam Desalegn, appointed deputy prime minister and foreign affairs minister in 2010, will be sworn in as prime minister after an emergency meeting of parliament, said Bereket Simon, the communications minister.

"To be sick is human and he has been struggling to be healthy in the last year," Simon told reporters in Addis Ababa. Meles's family were by his side when he died, he said. "He has been diligently delivering on his promises; illness has never been a hindrance."

Simon added: "I assure you everything is stable and everything will continue as charted by the prime minister."

On Tuesday, state TV showed pictures of Meles against a soundtrack of classical music. Simon called the death shocking and devastating.

Born on 8 May 1955, Meles grew up in the northern town of Adwa, where his father had 13 siblings from various women. He moved to the capital on a scholarship after completing an eight-year elementary education in just five years.

A hardline Marxist-Leninist and a towering intellect, Meles became president in 1991 after helping to oust Mengistu Haile Mariam's Communist military junta, which was responsible for hundreds of thousands of deaths. He became prime minister in 1995, head of the federal government and armed forces.

Meles introduced a controversial form of ethnic nationalism and, from 1998-2000, went to war with neighbouring Eritrea, a conflict that resulted in tens of thousands of deaths. The countries remain sworn enemies. Eritrea will be watching developments closely.

The US has long viewed Meles as a strong security partner and has given hundreds of millions of dollars in aid over the years. US military drones that patrol east Africa, especially over Somalia, are stationed in Ethiopia.

Ethiopia has long been criticised by human rights groups for the government's hardline crackdowns on dissent. During the G8 summit in Chicago last May, Meles was interrupted soon after he started to speak: "You are a dictator! You have committed crimes against humanity!" a member of the audience shouted.

The bald, bespectacled politician, visibly shocked at first, tried to continue talking before staring down, stony-faced.

Leslie Lefkow, deputy director of Human Rights Watch in Africa, said Meles brought Ethiopia out of a hugely difficult period following Mengistu's rule and made important economic progress, but the ruling party has been too focused on building its own authority in recent years instead of building government institutions.

"On the human rights side his legacy will be much more questionable," Lefkow told the Associated Press. "The country remains under a very tightly controlled one-party rule and this will be the challenge for the new leadership, to take advantage of the opportunity that his death presents in terms of bringing Ethiopia into a more human rights-friendly, reform-minded style of leadership."

Meles's government has been criticised for its use of arbitrary detention, torture and surveillance of opposition members inside Ethiopia. The ONLF, an opposition group that consists mostly of ethnic Somalis, has openly clashed with the government, including in 2007 when Ethiopia sent troops to Somalia to fight al-Shabaab militants.

During Meles's election win in 2005, when it appeared the opposition was likely to make gains, Meles tightened security across the country, and on the night of the election he declared a state of emergency, outlawing any public gathering as his ruling party claimed a majority win. Opposition members accused Meles of rigging the election, and demonstrations broke out. Security forces moved in, killing hundreds of people and jailing thousands. Almost the entire leadership of an opposition group that won an unprecedented number of seats in parliament was jailed for life for treason.

In 2009, an anti-terror law was enacted, under which more than 100 opposition figures have since been arrested. The government insists it is tackling rebel groups that have links with al-Qaida and Eritrea.

More than 10 journalists have also been charged under the law, according to the Committeeto Protect Journalists. The group says Ethiopia is close to replacing Eritrea as the African country with the highest number of journalists behind bars. Two Swedish journalists were jailed for 11 years on charges of entering the country illegally and aiding a rebel group.

Navi Pillay, the UN high commissioner of human rights, has criticised the verdicts, saying journalists, human rights defenders and critics were facing a "climate of intimidation".

Meles responded with trademark defiance, labelling the duo as "messenger boys of terror groups".

In 2010, Meles won a further five years in office while receiving a reported 99% of the vote in an election that the US and other international observers said did not meet international standards.

Meles was the leader of a political coalition known as the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front. He was also the longtime chairman of the Tigray People's Liberation Front and has always identified strongly with his party.

When asked what he thought would be his legacy, Meles once said: "I cannot separate my achievements from what can be considered as the achievements of the ruling party. Whatever achievement there might have been, it does not exist independent of that party."

Under Meles, Ethiopia recorded improvements in education with the construction of new schools and universities. Women gained more rights. And in the mid-2000s Ethiopia experienced strong economic growth, tripling in size in 15 years, which won Meles plaudits. The International Monetary Fund in 2008 said Ethiopia's economy had grown faster than any non-oil exporting country in sub-Saharan Africa.

The prime minister forged close business ties with India and Turkey as well as China, which footed the $200m bill for the sprawling, new headquarters of the African Union in Addis Ababa.

Despite those gains, Ethiopia remains heavily dependent on agriculture, which accounts for 85% of employment. Per capita income is only about $1,000 – about $3 a day.

Meles is survived by his wife, Azeb Mesfin, an MP, with whom he had three children. State TV said funeral arrangements would be announced soon.

Related Articles:

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Somalia swears in formal parliament on home soil

Deutsche Welle, 20 August 2012

For the first time in two decades, a formal Somali parliament was sworn in on home soil at a ceremony at Mogadishu Airport. It is the latest bid two end two decades of instability in the war-torn country.

Due to fears of attacks by Islamist militant groups such as al Qaeda-linked al-Shabaab, the parliamentarians were sworn in on the tarmac in the capital Mogadishu's heavily fortified airport zone under the protection of African Union (AU) troops.

The parliament was the first to be sworn in on Somalian soil in more than 20 years. The Horn of Africa nation has not had a stable central government since former president Siad Barre was killed in 1991.

"Somalis have been through over 20 years of chaos ... people are ready for a new day in Somalia," said Hussein Arab Isse, a lawmaker and defense minister in the previous government.

The swearing-in was the culmination of a UN-backed process in which lawmakers were chosen by a group of 135 traditional elders. The ceremony officially brought an end to Somalia's transitional government after eight years of political infighting.

The process of forming a new government was hailed as an "unprecedented opportunity for greater peace and stability," said a joint statement from the UN, AU, United States and European Union issued on Sunday.

"The conclusion of the transition should mark the beginning of more representative government in Somalia," leaders wrote in the statement, which was also signed by Norway, Turkey and East Africa's main diplomatic body, IGAD, among others.

The airport where the swearing-in ceremony was held adjoins the base for the almost 17,000-strong AU force, which has propped up Somalia's Western-backed leadership against attacks by al-Shabaab.

No presidential election yet 

Islamist group al-Shabaab has
been linked to al Qaeda

While the ceremony was hailed as a success by some, others took a far gloomier outlook, suggesting it offers little but a reshuffling of political positions for a nation that also suffers from rampant corruption.

"Whilst parliament remains a selected rather than elected body, it is essential that it cuts its ties with the past of self-interest and warlordism," the international statement said.

Also, there was no clear time-frame for when voting for key positions - first for parliament speaker, then for president - would take place.

"The presidential elections will not be held today," said lawmaker Aweys Qarni. "The election committee must still be convened ... There is still work to go before the presidential elections."

Outgoing Somali President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, in power since 2009, is considered one of the favorites for the job, though he is a controversial figure among some Western observers.

A July UN report said that under Sharif's presidency, "systematic embezzlement, pure and simple misappropriation of funds and theft of public money have become government systems." Sharif has rejected the claims.

Over a dozen candidates are expected to run for the presidency. Voting will be held by secret ballot, with up to four rounds possible to select the president. In addition to Sharif, Prime Minister Abdiweli Mohamed Ali and outgoing parliament speaker Sharif Hassan Sheikh Adan are also thought to be contenders.

More than 400,000 Somalis live in this refugee camp outside Dadaab, Kenya

Massive problems, some progress

Without a central government since 1991, several issues plague Somalia. Piracy is a serious concern along the coast, where hundreds of foreign nationals and ships have been held for ransom. In mid-2011, a famine resulted from the worst drought in East Africa in more than 60 years, killing tens of thousands.

Past efforts to restore peace in Somalia have had mixed results. A US-led offensive to remove local warlord Mohamed Farrah Aidid in 1993 ended in disaster, with Aidid escaping and 19 American troops and more than 1,000 civilians and militia slain.

According to the CIA World Factbook, life expectancy in Somalia is just 50.8 years - the seventh-lowest in the world.

Yet progress has been made recently, with improved security in the capital and large numbers of Somalis returning to their homeland from places such as Kenya, Europe and the United States.

A military offensive by the AU, Somali and Ethiopian troops has driven al-Shabaab from several key bases in recent months, but fighters have also staged a string of guerrilla attacks.

bm/msh (AFP, AP, dpa, Reuters)

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Sudan crash: Minister Ghazi al-Sadiq Abdel Rahim dies

BBC News, 19 August 2012

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The Sudanese government's religion minister has been killed in a plane crash, Sudanese television says.

The civilian aircraft, carrying some 30 people, came down in the Nuba Mountains. A delegation of military and political representatives was on board.

All are believed to have perished in the crash.

The plane was on its way to South Kordofan for an Eid al-Fitr celebration, to mark the end of the holy month of Ramadan.

Sudan's Minister of Guidance and Religious Endowments, Ghazi al-Sadiq Abdel Rahim, is among the dead.

The aircraft come down in the Talodi area of South Kordofan, en route from the capital Khartoum.

The television statement said weather prevented the plane from landing first time round. On its second attempt, the plane hit a mountain.

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