And how many will survive?
"43 Ethiopians, Somalis suffocate in truck smuggle" by SUKHDEV CHHATBAR | Associated Press, June 28, 2012
ARUSHA, Tanzania — Forty-three Ethiopians and Somalis who paid to be smuggled from their homelands in search of better living conditions died in the back of a crowded, suffocating truck, an official said Wednesday.
Deputy Home Affairs Minister Pereira Silima said it was sad that so many people died from the illegal smuggling scheme.
Tanzania’s state television said the dead bodies were thrown off the truck and dumped in the bush after the driver of the truck realized on Tuesday that some of the people he was smuggling had perished. Some 70 people in the truck survived and are receiving medical treatment and being questioned by police.
Tanzania lies on a smuggling route Africans use to travel to South Africa, where there are more economic opportunities.
Area residents were the first to report the deaths because of a foul smell....
The immigrants were said to be on their way to South Africa in hopes of finding better jobs....
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And how many Ethiopians can you stuff in a jail cell?
"Ethiopian activists get long sentences" Associated Press, July 14, 2012
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia — Ethiopia’s federal court sentenced a prominent dissident blogger and 23 other opposition activists on Friday to long prison terms on terror charges, in a ruling that critics decried as politically motivated.
Prominent journalist and blogger Eskinder Nega, who received a prestigious press freedom award from PEN America in May, was sentenced to 18 years in prison by the court.
‘‘The Ethiopian government clearly means to send a signal to its people: Speak against us, and you, too, could be jailed as a terrorist,’’ PEN America head Peter Godwin said in a statement, calling for Eskinder’s immediate and unconditional release. He urged the United States and other donor nations to reevaluate their cooperation with Ethiopia’s government....
Aaaah, he's an ally. Thus the silence.
Among those sentenced are leaders of the so-called Ginbot 7 movement, which is based in the United States. The group vows to use ‘‘any means’’ to topple Ethiopia’s ruling party, and Ethiopia’s Parliament classified the group as a terrorist organization. The United States has not labeled the group as such.
It's not the first time the U.S. has hosted terrorists or used them in coup attempts.
Ethiopia typically takes a hard line on domestic security matters.
What government doesn't?
‘‘This sentence makes clear that Ethiopia’s growth and stability are dependent on an iron fist from a leadership intolerant of critical reporting or journalists seeking public accountability,’’ said Mohamed Keita of the Committee to Protect Journalists.
Amnesty International said the trial fell short of international standards, and the group called on the government to release or retry the activists. Prime Minister Meles Zenawi insists the trials were appropriately based on the country’s antiterrorism law.
The journalists’ group says that since 2011 the Ethiopian government has convicted 11 independent journalists and bloggers under the sweeping law. Among those jailed are two Swedes who are serving 11-year prison terms after the pair illegally entered the country with an ethnic Somali rebel group.
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Related: Donor dollars aiding political repression in Ethiopia
"CIA takes over as Ethiopian regime crumbles: analyst
Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi is turning more and more to the CIA for making his government’s critical decisions as the foundation of his regime crumbles, a political analyst says.
In an article published on Tuesday, independent journalist Thomas C. Mountain said that the isolation surrounding Meles Zenawi grows almost by the day as he faces “more insurgencies, an ongoing economic crisis and calls for regime change from the religious community”.
“Hated in his ethnic homeland of Tigray, once his power base, and hated by the Amhara elite, the ethnic minority who previously ruled Ethiopia, Meles has ceded de facto control of his ministries to technocrats from the CIA and US State Department,” Mountain said.
Mountain argued that the US is desperate to keep Zenawi in power as it does not have a backup plan for Ethiopia or anyone they can trust to replace him....
However, Mountain added that despite CIA's grave power inside Ethiopia the end of the Zenawi regime grows closer and with it there will be no longer “a regional power and policeman on the beat for the imperial interests of the USA”.
“So far $ 7 billion a year in western aid has kept Meles Zenawi and his army, the largest, best equipped in Africa, in power and able to do Pax Americana's dirty work in the Horn of Africa. But with Meles gone and no pro-USA replacement waiting in the wings the options facing America will be daunting,” Mountain added.
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Yes, that is $7 BILLION YOUR TAX MONEY, Americans -- as you are now told you must endure austerity!
Also see: Black Sunday: Ethiopia's Egregious Export
The way to an empire's heart is through it's stomach?
