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African asylum seekers in Canada, Australia and the European Union to show solidarity Wednesday with migrants’ struggle

[jqdial code=”dial6c0bb19818″] [/jqdial] African refugees who have obtained asylum in the West are to protest in front of the Israeli embassies in their respective countries in a show of solidarity with migrants seeking asylum in Israel.

The refugees will hold simultaneous protests Wednesday in Canada, Australia and various European Union countries, to raise awareness of the struggle of refugees based in Israel.

Early January saw a series of unprecedented, well-organized demonstrations by migrants in Israel, who demand that the state recognize them as refugees with the attendant international rights. Israel has so far refused to do so in all but a few cases.

An estimated 20,000 rallied in Tel Aviv, 10,000 protested outside the Knesset in Jerusalem, and 150 migrants began an open-ended hunger strike.

On Monday, the NRG website quoted one of the refugee protest leaders in Israel as saying the idea to hold demonstrations around the world came up after asylum seekers from Eritrea and Sudan living in Western countries contacted their brethren in Israel.

“They asked us what they can do, and we thought that demonstrations around the world, to raise awareness of our protest and situation, could help,” the protest leader said.

Last Wednesday, representatives of the African asylum seekers participated in a meeting of the Knesset Committee on Foreign Workers. The migrants, a week earlier, were prevented by Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein from entering the parliament for meetings with MKs. The committee’s discussion centered around the Immigration and Border Authority policy toward asylum seekers and its impact on the business sector.

By: The Times of Israel

Eritrean beats Luis Leon Sanchez in Gabon

[jqdial code=”dialcd32123c7c”] [/jqdial]  Natnael Berhane (Europcar) became the first African rider to win the Tropicale Amissa Bongo stage race when he edged out Luis Leon Sanchez (Caja Rural-RGA Seguros) on the final stage in Libreville on Sunday.

The Eritrean entered the final day in third place overall, four seconds down on Sanchez, but with three intermediate sprints on the menu, the race was delicately poised as it reached its endgame. The Europcar squad managed to keep the peloton intact for two of the three sprints, while Berhane did the rest, picking up six bonus seconds to Sanchez’s one. While Fréderique Robert (Wanty-Groupe Gobert) won the stage, Berhane took overall honours, just one second ahead of the experienced Sanchez.

“It’s a real joy. I found it hard to believe that it would be possible to beat a rider like Luis Leon Sanchez, who has such a great palmarès. But in the end, I got there, and that means that I’m starting to make a place for myself with the pros,” Berhane said afterwards.

Berhane is part of a talented generation of Eritrean riders that also includes Daniel Teklehaimanot, formerly of Orica-GreenEdge and now at MTN-Qhubeka. African road champion in 2011 and 2012, Berhane made the move to Europe last season with Jean-René Bernaudeau’s Europcar squad.

The highlight of Berhane’s year came at the Tour of Turkey, where he won a stage and finished second overall behind Mustafa Sayar, a result that may yet be upgraded to first place due Sayar’s positive test for EPO at last season’s Tour of Algeria.

“I want to thank my teammates who did enormous work for me today,” Berhane told RFI.fr. “I worked a lot, thinking every day about this win. I dedicate this victory to Eritrea. I’m so happy that I don’t know what to say.”

Berhane’s Tropicale Amissa Bongo victory is the fifth in succession by a rider from Jean-René Bernaudeau’s team in the race in Gabon, but the first by an African rider in the event’s nine-year history.

“The Tropicale is the true barometer of cycling in Africa,” Bernaudeau told RFI.fr. “A few years ago, African riders were struggling, but now we’re discovering some talented riders.”

Bernaudeau paid tribute to Berhane’s victory and said that he believes the 23-year-old can beat a trail on the world stage for other African riders to follow. “I’ve discovered a fine African rider who will be, I hope, the ambassador for the African continent,” he said. “Sport is also about discovering talent. I’m emotional because I am the first one to place his confidence in a rider of great talent without looking at his colour.”

Berhane’s next target will be the Tour de Langkawi (February 27-March 8), where he will lead Europcar’s general classification challenge.

[jqdial code=”dial5979b17ddc”] [/jqdial] In the spirit of Forto, an assertive group of Eritrean youth remembering Wedi Ali and his colleagues and their brave action of 21st January 2013 to rid Eritrea of dictatorship and awaken the spirit of resistance. These youth are declaring loud and clear that, they will KEEP HOPE ALIVE.

[jqdial code=”dial416a5c3d4a”] [/jqdial]  Despite many years of civil war following the army coup and a harsh Marxist regime, Addis Ababa, capital of Ethiopia, is one of the most pleasant cities in Africa.

Given its altitude, 2,350 meters, its bracing climate all year round, its population, about three and a half million which is just about right, Addis Ababa is certainly worth a visit being close to the Arabian peninsula and is fairly cheap to spend a holiday in. I know people who go there more than once every two or three years. I liked it since my first visit to interview the old emperor Haile Sellassie who was later arrested and left to die in prison although he was a fairly moderate ruler, helped found the Union of Africa and was instrumental in building its headquarters in Addis Ababa.

Only the coup and the brutality of the regime that followed it under the extreme communist label prevented its tourism from flowering and turning it into a full-fledged year round resort. Its long civil war with its erstwhile occupied territory of Eritrea cost it dearly in men and resources as it dragged on for decades following the Italian withdrawal from its colony by the Red Sea. Ethiopia adhered to it and refused to decolonize it as it needed the Red Sea ports of Assab and Mussawa.

Eventually Eritrea which had been an Italian colony since before the World War II was liberated by the emperor with massive British military aid which invaded it and handed it over to the emperor. But the Eritreans did not reconcile to that and continued to fight for independence until the eighties.
Addis had to accept the harsh realities on the ground and turned to nearby Djibouti, a French colony now independent, whose port was nearby and based on the Red Sea which is crucial for the Ethiopian economy.
Addis Ababa is an Amharic name which is linguistically akin to Arabic. Ababa is Amharic meaning flower. It was invaded by the Italians in 1936 from their bases in Eritrea which they had seized during the European scramble for Africa whose history is still being unraveled, uncovering horrendous brutalities and exploitation specially in the Belgian colonies of Congo as Belgian books are gradually revealing. One of the most suitable hotels for families was Ganet, not far from the city center as it consisted of rooms and flats plus its own restaurant, children’s games, swimming pools and an easy access to some of the main roads and taxis. At that time the city was peaceful and safe to visit and stay in, that is before the ouster of the emperor. So we could travel by taxi far into the countryside, like Sogaree, a beautiful resort popular with families as it offered everything they wanted. At night, there were plenty of options for entertainment and the five star hotels like the Sheraton and Radisson lead the pack of several first class accommodations.
Of course these qualities could not hide the many slums that stood behind the main roads because the city had hundreds of thousands of woefully poor people.
The Italians spent only five years in Addis but were quite determined to build it and succeeded in developing much of it, specially the roads in the city and the highways as if to make them ready for any invasion or native uprising under the Haile Sellassi, who was gathering foreign support to regain his land and he did eventually defeat them with British aid.
I often wondered how the Italians were able to develop so much of Addis and other cities within five years but they did apparently because they had not expected to leave so soon or to fight the British for the country shortly after capturing it.

By: Arab News

[jqdial code=”dial3cb7820f34″] [/jqdial] Hundreds of African women and children marched across the Israeli city of Tel Aviv on Wednesday to demonstrate outside the offices of the United Nations and the embassy of the United States.

It was the latest in an unprecedented wave of protests by African asylum seekers, who fear the Israeli government is trying to force them out of the country.

Since a new law came into force last month, the asylum seekers – most of whom are from Sudan and Eritrea – say the authorities have been instructing many of them to leave the cities and towns where they have been living and report to a detention centre in the Negev desert in southern Israel.

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