September 2011

PRESS RELEASE For Immediate Release Contact: Julie Thelen, 651-269-8755 or julie@womenofwise.org Women’s Initiative for Self Empowerment, Inc. Introduces its Program to Assist Professional Refugees with Recertification Services in Minnesota The Women’s Initiative for Self Empowerment (WISE), Inc. has a new program, Professional Refugee Recertification Program, and is seeking participants for this program. This program assists […]

I am Eskinder Nega. To be sure, I am the voice of Eskinder Nega. It is impossible to scare, arrest, muzzle or jail the voices of truth. I can claim that I, the voice of Eskinder Nega, am as free as the birds in the sky and free to speak out to those terrorized by

Do you work with refugee individuals, families or children in Minnesota? Are you interested in meeting with others to collaborate on issues facing refugees as they resettle in our communities? Join us for as we re-imagine the Bi-monthly VOLAG Refugee Consortium Meeting! Date: Thursday, October 13th, 2011 Time: 3:00 – 4:00pm Where: Lutheran Social Services

(By Kim Zetter) An Ethiopian journalist has reportedly fled his country after government authorities interrogated him over a WikiLeaks cable in which he was mentioned. It appears to be the first confirmed case in which someone identified in the raw, unredacted files that WikiLeaks recently released has found himself in danger over the disclosure. According

(AFP) ADDIS ABABA — Ethiopian authorities arrested four opposition members and one journalist suspected of plotting attacks on state security, the government said Thursday. Prominent opposition leader Andualem Arage and journalist Eskinder Nega were among those arrested Wednesday, government spokesperson Shimeles Kemal said. “The five were involved in staging a series of terrorist acts that

(By Eskinder Nega) Researchers detail ten types of smile. There is the tight-lipped smile which the English particularly fancy. There is the twisted smile of the angered. There is the dealer-smile of the sly. There is the nothing-I-can-do-smile of defeat. And on it goes. Most people could muster a reasonable mimic of most types of

(startribune) Abdirizak Bihi was at a local coffee shop late last week when conversation turned to Mahdi Hassan Ali, the teenager accused of gunning down three men during a botched robbery that shook the security of Minneapolis’ Somali community. Most customers didn’t know that nearly two years after the January 2010 slayings at the Seward

By Alemayehu G. Mariam} In 1987 when Time Magazine featured a famine-stricken Ethiopian mother on its cover page, it failed to ask the most important question of all: What should Ethiopians do and not do to help themselves? It is the privilege of those who give to pity those who receive. One of the great

Upon taking power in 1991, the ruling Tigrayan People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) liquidated non-military assets held by the movement to found a series of companies whose profits would be used as venture capital to rehabilitate the war-torn Tigray region’s economy. The TPLF bestowed a portion of this initial roughly US $100 million to each of

The Ethiopian government says it has detained 29 people, including several opposition members, across the country on terrorism-related charges. Government spokesman Shimeles Kemal said Monday that the suspects were involved in terrorist activities. He says they are also linked to the rebel Oromo Liberation Front. Among those detained are two prominent opposition politicians arrested last

By Timo Deresu]- Once upon a time there was a king who wanted to build a tower whose top gets as far as the heavens. If one ignores all the negative intentions of the king and focus on his target of reaching the heavens, it showed his believe in God and a desire to bring