A look at the blogosphere in the Horn of Africa and Sudan · Global Voices
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The term Horn of Africa in this report represents Ethiopia, Eritrea and Somalia.
Ethiopian bloggers have been busy assessing the political situation in their country following general elections held there in May 2005 which the ruling party of Prime Minister Meles Zewani reportedly won. Ethiopundit in an article entitled Politics is the Continuation of War by Other Means rebukes the Ethiopian government for the manner in which the elections were conducted and the killing of protesters in June this year among other things.
Ethiopian Paradox re-echoes a similar message to Ethiopundit's but this time focusing particularly on the Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi. Ethiopian Paradox appears very discontented with Mr. Zenawi's move to repeal the immunity rights of opposition MPs, addressing the Prime Minister as a “vicious dictator” who seeks to “stifle the Opposition and to reign fear and terror among his own appointees.” Often employing a poetic form of writing in some of its blog write ups (for instance as in Revolution of a Mind), Ethiopian Paradox seems all out to question practices by the government of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi.
Looking at other issues in the Ethiopian blogosphere, Friends of Ethiopia reports on a demonstration by Ethiopian Jews, known as Falasha Mura, in Jerusalem over the failure of the Israeli government to bring their relatives to the Jewish state. Friends of Ethiopia also peeks at the Ethiopian-Eritrean border dispute and what the international response has been.
The Passion of the Present, a blog aimed at providing a forum on how to stop the genocide in Dafur, Sudan, tells of a Canadian MP, David Kilgour who has been pressuring the Canadian government to increase aid to Dafur and pressurize African countries and NATO to do more for the embattled region. The blog also presents an interesting interview with Salva Kir (conducted by Uganda's New Vision, the largest daily newspaper in Uganda), the first vice president of Sudan, and a founding member of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement.
Sleepless in Sudan, authored by a “female aid worker” tells of a leadership conference being held by the SLA rebels in Sudan, and presents a picture of the hassles of life in Dafur.
Yvette Lopez's Inside Somaliland is full of interesting stories about life and politics in Somaliland – a country struggling for international recognition. Yvette reports on recent elections in Somaliland. Somaliland may have its own government, laws and constitution but the rest of the world still views it as part of Somalia. Somalia has not had a functional central government since 1991. Somalilanders in diaspora are also busy blogging about their homeland. Check out Ahmed Quick's blog The Voice of Somaliland Diaspora – Ottawa.