Monday 16 January 2012

ዘሰንብድ ብሽርሕን ዓሌታውነትን ዝተአለመ ዜና ካብ ሽረ እንዳስላሴ …ኤርትራን መደባት ኢትዮጵያንዶ ክብሎ?


    ደቂ ኤረ፣ እንታይ ይኸይድ ከም ዘሎ ክርድኣና ነዚ ዝስዕብ ሓበረታ ንወከስ፡- ካብ 9 ክሳብ 13 ጥሪ 2012፡ ካብ ዝተፈላለየ ኣብ ሰሜን ኢትዮጵያ ካብ ዝርከብ መደበራት ተሓሪና እተጸዋዕና ኤርትራውያን ስደተኛታት እተሳተፍናዮ ኮንፈረንስ ኣብ ከተማ ሽረ   ተኻይዱ። እዚ ኣብ ሚድያ ኢትዮጵያ ብወግዒ ዘይተገለጸ ኮንፈረንስ ብቤት ጽሕፈት ጸጥታ መንግስቲ ኢትዮጵያ እዩ ተወዲቡ። ነቲ ኮንፈረንስ ዝመርሖ ድማ ሓደ ካብ ኢትዮጵያውያን ላዕለዎት ናይ ጸጥታ ሓለፍቲ ኢዩ እተባህለ ኣቶ ኢሳያስ ወልደጊዮርጊስ ነይሩ::ናይ’ቲ ኮንፈረንስ ኣጀንዳ ንኩነታት ኤርትራ ኣብ መዳያት ፖለቲካ፡ ቁጠባ፡ ማሕበራዊ ጉዳያትን ዲፕሎማሲያዊ ዝምድናን ምድህሳስ ኢዩ ነይሩ። እቲ መደምደምታታት ድማ ኤርትራ ኩሉ መሰላት ዘይክበረላ፡ ማሕበራዊ ጸገማት ዝሳዕረረላን ካብ ሕብረተሰብ ዓለም ዝተነጸለትን ምዃና ኣትሪርካ ምድማቕ እተሓወሶ ነይሩ። እዚ ኣብ ሓቂ እተመስረተ ዝኽእል መደምደምታ ብምንባሩ ዘካትዕ ኣይኮነን። ኣብቲ ኣኼባ ‘’እዚ ሕጂ ስልጣን ዝርከብ መንግስቲ ንኤርትራ ብድኻአ እዩ ክርከባ’’ ዝብል ኣበሃህላ ተንጸባሪቑ። ኣብ መወዳእታ ካብዚ ኮንፈረንስ ንፍሉይ ስልጠና ብዝብል ምኽንያት 11 መንእሰያት ተሓርዮም። እንታይ ዓይነት ስልጠና’ዩ ጌና ኣይፈለጥናን። ክግመት ከም ዝከኣል ግን እዚኣቶም ምናልባት ንመጻኢ ሰፊሕ ናይ መንእሰያት ኮንፈረንስ ንምድላው ይመስል።
ኣብዚ ኮንፈረንስ ሓደ ግሩህ ካባና፡ ‘’ስለምንታይ እዚ ኮንፈረንስ ኣብ ክንዲ ብኢትዮጵያውያን ዝምራሕ፡ ብኪዳን ወይ ድማ በዚ ኣብ ሃዋሳ ዝተመስረተ ባይቶ ዘይምራሕ?’’  ዝብል ሕቶ ኣቕሪቡ። በቲ መራሕ ኣኼባ ድማ ደሓር ነዚ ሕቶኻ ንምምላስ ብውልቂ ድሕሪ ኣኼባ  ክንራኸብ ኢና ዝብል መልሲ ሂቡ ሓሊፍዎ። ሓታትን  መራሕ ኣኼባን ምስ ተራኸቡ ድማ “እዘን ውድባት እዚኣተን ኣንጻር ህግደፍ ከድመዓ እየን ኢልካ ኣይትሕሰብ። ካብ ዘይሰረሓ ድማ መተካእታ ምድላይ ናይ ግድን እዩ” ዝብል ሓውሲ መጠንቀቕታ መልሲ ከም እተዋህቦ ባዕለይ ኣረጋጊጸ።
ካብ ደቂ ውሻጠ ዝመስሉ ከም ዝሰማዕኩዎ ከኣ፡ እዚ ኮንፈረንስ ናይ ኤርትራውያን መንእሰያት ኣብ ኢትዮጵያ እዩ ነይሩ። ኣብዚ ቀረባ ግዜ’ውን ከምቲ ኣቐዲሙ ዝተኻየደ ናይ መራሕቲ ውድባትን ናይ ምሁራትን ሰሚናራት ‘’ኣብ መላእ ዓለም ናይ ዝርከቡ ኤርትራውያን ተቓወምቲ መንእሰያት ኮንፈረንስ’’ ኣብ ትሕቲ ዝብል ጭረሖ፡ ኣብ ኣዲስ ኣበባ ኮንፈረንስ ክካየድ እዩ ዝብል መደብ ኣሎ። ብዘይካዚ ናይ ኢትዮጵያ ናይ ደቂ ኣንስትዮ ሊግ ብወገኑ ኣብ ዓመተ 2012፡ ናይ ኤርትራውያን ደቂ ኣንስትዮ ዓለም ለኻዊ ኮንፈረንስ ኣብ ኣዲስ ኣበባ ናይ ምክያድ መደብ ኣለዎ ክብሃል ሰሚዐ።
ዝተወሰኑ ኤርትራውያን ኢና ኢሎም፡ ኣብ ጉባአ ሃዋሳ ካብ መደበር ስደተኛታት ተወኪሎም ተሳቲፎም ዝነበሩ ደቂ ከባቢ ሰርሐ ኣውራጃ ኣከለጉዛይ ንሕና ኤርትራውያን ኣይኮናን ስለዚ ኢትዮጵያዊ ዜግነት ክወሃበና ኣለዎ ኢሎም ከም ዝጠለቡን ኣብቲ መደበር ስደተኛታት ነዚ ስምዒት’ዚ ንምስራጽ ይንቀሳቐሱ ከም ዘለዉን እውን ኩሉ ክፈልጦ እደሊ። ካብዞም ኣብ ከምዚ ዓይነት ሕማቕ ተግባራት ተሳቲፎም ዘለዉ ባእታታት ለገሰ ረዳ መለሰ፡ ኣባዲ በርሀ ፍጹምን፡ ተስፎም ሓጎስን ከም ኣብነት ክጠቕሰልኩም። ኣብ ቀረባ ዘሎኹም ትፈልጥዎም፡ ርሑቕ ዘሎዉ ደቂ ሃገር ከኣ ሓቲቶም ይፍለጡ።
ንለባም ኣምተሉ፡ ንዓሻ ከኣ ደርጒሓሉ ኢዩሞ፡ እቲ ኣሚተዮ ዘሎኹ ዝኣኽለኩም ሓበረታ ገይረ እወስዶ።               

Poor UK families feel the heat…not!


Thousands of British families are feeling the chill, stuck below the poverty line and unable to meet soaring energy bills. And it is having an impact on the next generation, which has slipped through the government net for heating handouts.Boiling the kettle for tea – this is something that single mother of four Julie Henry cannot afford to do very often. 
Hers is one of 800,000 families in the UK living in “fuel poverty” – struggling to pay for heating and electricity.  In the last three years, she says her bill has doubled, and it is a constant juggling act.
“The more goes to the bill, and for food and school uniforms, then you have nothing to save, so that’s the difficult bit of it. The children have to eat, four of them have to eat, and their school uniform I have to buy, and on top of that cut down on the electricity use and the light bill. I try to cut down so many things, but it’s not working,” says Henry.
The Warm Home Discount is a government scheme aimed at helping low-income families heat their houses adequately in the winter. But charity Save the Children says energy companies are not contributing enough to the fund, meaning only 3 per cent of families are getting the help they need – with disastrous social consequences.
“We know that growing up in a cold and damp home has a really profound impact on children in terms of their physical health, in terms of their mental health, in terms of their general well-being. Indirect effects in terms of their educational attainment and their chances in life,” says Chris Wellings, head of policy at the Save the Children, an internationally active non-governmental organization that promotes children's rights. 
Energy UK, which represents gas and electricity companies in the media, refused to give an interview. But they did issue the following statement: 
“Following consultation, the Government decided who will benefit from core funding under the new Warm Home Discount scheme, and those customers will get an automatic discount off their electricity bill without needing to apply for it,” said Christine McGourty, director of Energy UK. 
Save the Children says that is not good enough. Currently, only pensioners automatically benefit from the Warm Home Discount scheme, and others must apply, which charities say is very complicated. The scheme is under-funded, and every year energy bills are ticking up and up.  
Additionally and crucially, poor families often use a pay-as-you-go system for their electricity and gas, which works out more expensive than paying monthly. A poverty premium in action.
Meanwhile, Julie sees first-hand the other price of being poor. If she can only afford to heat her house for two hours a day, her children suffer at school.
“Even though they have got jumpers to put on and socks on, they still can’t sleep because the place is too cold. They go to bed late, and wake up late, and they don’t concentrate. My two sons were in big trouble all the time, too many detentions, tired, sneezing all over the place. Matthew got asthma,” Julie says. Save the Children says it will carry on lobbying the government for the help poor families need. And Julie Henry and her children will go on fearing that the next energy bill they receive will be the one that drives them into debt.

Security Council expands sanctions on Eritrea over support for armed groups



Security Council in session
5 December 2011 – 
The Security Council today placed additional sanctions on Eritrea for continuing to provide support to armed groups seeking to destabilize Somalia and other parts of the Horn of Africa, building on the arms and travel embargoes it imposed exactly two years ago.The new measures are contained in a resolution which received the support of 13 of the Council’s 15 members. China and Russia abstained. It follows an earlier meeting today at which the Council heard a briefing from the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD).
The Council expressed its grave concern in the text that “Eritrea has continued to provide political, financial, training and logistical support to armed opposition groups, including Al-Shabaab, engaged in undermining peace, security and stability in Somalia and the region.”It also condemned the planned terrorist attack of January 2011 to disrupt the African Union summit in Addis Ababa, as expressed by the findings of the Somalia/Eritrea Monitoring Group in July.
The group found that the Eritrean Government “conceived, planned, organized and directed a failed plot” to disrupt the summit by bombing a series of civilian and governmental targets.
In December 2009, the Council adopted a resolution which imposed sanctions on Eritrea for supporting insurgents trying to topple the government in nearby Somalia. The measures included an arms embargo on Eritrea, travel bans on the country’s top political and military officials, and the freezing of assets of some of its senior political and military officials.
By today’s text, which was sponsored by Gabon and Nigeria, the Council condemned Eritrea’s violations of earlier resolutions.
It demanded that it “cease all direct or indirect efforts to destabilize States,” including through financial, military, intelligence and non-military assistance, such as the provision of training centres and camps for armed groups, passports, living expenses, or travel facilitation.
The Council also voiced concern at the potential use of the Eritrean mining sector as a source of finance to destabilize the Horn of Africa. It decided that States should take measures to ensure that their companies involved in mining in Eritrea exercise “due diligence” so that funds derived from the sector are not used to destabilize the region.
In addition, the Council called on Eritrea to engage constructively with Djibouti to resolve their border dispute.