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Sudan Tribune

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Eight Ethiopians poisoned to death in UAE

By Tesfa-alem Tekle

July18, 2009(ADDIS ABABA) – Addis Ababa has begun a probe after Eight Ethiopian house-maids were reported to have been murdered under mysterious circumstances in their apartment last week in Sharjah, the third largest emirate of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), a source from Ethiopia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs indicated.

Ethiopian authorities have contacted Ethiopia’s consulate General in Dubai for details in the incident. But UAE police has declined to comment or provide details to the Ethiopian authorities for a reason that “case still under investigation.”

As off-hand for facts at this moment, an Ethiopian official who requested anonymity told Sudan Tribune that Ethiopian authorities are following up the incident seriously and government will reveal details early next week.

According to Sources from the Ethiopian embassy in the UAE, the eight female maids had been poisoned by a compatriot maid last Wednesday. But the motive behind the killings remains unclear.

The murder case was reported to the police on July 8 and later referred to forensics. While investigations are under way, arrests have been made, but an exact number could not be ascertained.

The women are said to have been living together in an apartment in the Abu Shagara neighborhood.

The UAE has received extensive criticism over the years from human rights and labor organizations over the conditions for foreign workers in the country.

Domestic workers, which make up a significant proportion of the UAE’s predominately foreign population, have complained of sub-standard housing, lack of medical care, abuse and non-payment of wages.

The International Labor Organization plans to push international standards or labor recommendations for domestic laborers in their annual conference next year.

The United States recently placed the country on a watch list of countries with poor human trafficking records.

Thousands of young Ethiopian women are being enticed via Djibouti, Egypt and Somalia for domestic work, to the Middle East particularly to the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Lebanon with the promises of lucrative work but except few lucky ones, most of them suffer worst verbal, physical and sexual abuses.

Most girls are employed in back-breaking jobs for up to 18 hours a day. Many Ethiopians have ended up killed by their employees, or commit suicide and many more return home mentally ill, partially paralyzed, insane, with broken backs and legs and others been burned with acid.

Following the rise in deaths of a number of Ethiopian domestic workers, The Ethiopian government in May Last year banned its citizens from attempting economic travel to Lebanon. The ban remains in effect.

During the past few years, the Ethiopian government have scaled up preventive steps such as issuing proclamation for agencies to have a permit from the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs and also a massive awareness campaign by the Ethiopian media, But the numbers flocking to the Middle East are still huge and seems to cost the government relentless efforts nationwide.

(ST)

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  • Samson Shawel Ambaye
    Samson Shawel Ambaye

    Eight Ethiopians poisoned to death in UAE
    Iraq Body Count
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    Iraq Body Count is an ongoing human security project which maintains and updates the world’s largest public database of violent civilian deaths during and since the 2003 invasion. The count encompasses non-combatants killed by military or paramilitary action and the breakdown in civil security following the invasion.

    Data is drawn from cross-checked media reports, hospital, morgue, NGO and official figures to produce a credible record of known deaths and incidents. (more in About IBC)

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    Civilian deaths in “noble” Iraq mission pass 10,000
    Falluja Siege, April 2004: A News Analysis
    Adding indifference to injury
    Reality checks: Some responses to the latest Lancet estimates
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  • Samson Shawel Ambaye
    Samson Shawel Ambaye

    Eight Ethiopians poisoned to death in UAE
    Saturday, July 18th, 2009 Home Support Store About Events Nominate a story Contact Lectures Next »
    #1. Over One Million Iraqi Deaths Caused by US Occupation
    in Top 25 Censored Stories for 2009

    Sources:
    After Downing Street, July 6, 2007
    Title: “Is the United States Killing 10,000 Iraqis Every Month? Or Is It More?”
    Author: Michael Schwartz

    AlterNet, September 17, 2007
    Title: “Iraq death toll rivals Rwanda genocide, Cambodian killing fields”
    Author: Joshua Holland

    Reuters (via AlterNet), January 7, 2008
    Title: “Iraq conflict has killed a million, says survey”
    Author: Luke Baker

    Inter Press Service, March 3, 2008
    Title: “Iraq: Not our country to Return to”
    Authors: Maki al-Nazzal and Dahr Jamail

    Student Researchers: Danielle Stanton, Tim LeDonne, and Kat Pat Crespán
    Faculty Evaluator: Heidi LaMoreaux, PhD

    Over one million Iraqis have met violent deaths as a result of the 2003 invasion, according to a study conducted by the prestigious British polling group, Opinion Research Business (ORB). These numbers suggest that the invasion and occupation of Iraq rivals the mass killings of the last century—the human toll exceeds the 800,000 to 900,000 believed killed in the Rwandan genocide in 1994, and is approaching the number (1.7 million) who died in Cambodia’s infamous “Killing Fields” during the Khmer Rouge era of the 1970s.

    ORB’s research covered fifteen of Iraq’s eighteen provinces. Those not covered include two of Iraq’s more volatile regions—Kerbala and Anbar—and the northern province of Arbil, where local authorities refused them a permit to work. In face-to-face interviews with 2,414 adults, the poll found that more than one in five respondents had had at least one death in their household as a result of the conflict, as opposed to natural cause.

    Authors Joshua Holland and Michael Schwartz point out that the dominant narrative on Iraq—that most of the violence against Iraqis is being perpetrated by Iraqis themselves and is not our responsibility—is ill conceived. Interviewers from the Lancet report of October 2006 (Censored 2006, #2) asked Iraqi respondents how their loved ones died. Of deaths for which families were certain of the perpetrator, 56 percent were attributable to US forces or their allies. Schwartz suggests that if a low pro rata share of half the unattributed deaths were caused by US forces, a total of approximately 80 percent of Iraqi deaths are directly US perpetrated.

    Even with the lower confirmed figures, by the end of 2006, an average of 5,000 Iraqis had been killed every month by US forces since the beginning of the occupation. However, the rate of fatalities in 2006 was twice as high as the overall average, meaning that the American average in 2006 was well over 10,000 per month, or over 300 Iraqis every day. With the surge that began in 2007, the current figure is likely even higher.

    Schwartz points out that the logic to this carnage lies in a statistic released by the US military and reported by the Brookings Institute: for the first four years of the occupation the American military sent over 1,000 patrols each day into hostile neighborhoods, looking to capture or kill “insurgents” and “terrorists.” (Since February 2007, the number has increased to nearly 5,000 patrols a day, if we include the Iraqi troops participating in the American surge.) Each patrol invades an average of thirty Iraqi homes a day, with the mission to interrogate, arrest, or kill suspects. In this context, any fighting age man is not just a suspect, but a potentially lethal adversary. Our soldiers are told not to take any chances (see Story #9).

    According to US military statistics, again reported by the Brookings Institute, these patrols currently result in just under 3,000 firefights every month, or just under an average of one hundred per day (not counting the additional twenty-five or so involving our Iraqi allies). Thousands of patrols result in thousands of innocent Iraqi deaths and unconscionably brutal detentions.

    Iraqis’ attempts to escape the violence have resulted in a refugee crisis of mammoth proportion. According to the United Nations Refugee Agency and the International Organization for Migration, in 2007 almost 5 million Iraqis had been displaced by violence in their country, the vast majority of which had fled since 2003. Over 2.4 million vacated their homes for safer areas within Iraq, up to 1.5 million were living in Syria, and over 1 million refugees were inhabiting Jordan, Iran, Egypt, Lebanon, Turkey, and Gulf States. Iraq’s refugees, increasing by an average of almost 100,000 every month, have no legal work options in most host states and provinces and are increasingly desperate.1

    Yet more Iraqis continue to flee their homes than the numbers returning, despite official claims to the contrary. Thousands fleeing say security is as bad as ever, and that to return would be to accept death. Most of those who return are subsequently displaced again.

    Maki al-Nazzal and Dahr Jamail quote an Iraqi engineer now working at a restaurant in Damascus, “Return to Iraq? There is no Iraq to return to, my friend. Iraq only exists in our dreams and memories.”

    Another interviewee told the authors, “The US military say Fallujah is safe now while over 800 men are detained there under the worst conditions. . . . At least 750 out of the 800 detainees are not resistance fighters, but people who refused to collaborate with occupation forces and their tails.” (Iraqis who collaborate with occupation forces are commonly referred to as “tails of the Americans.”)

    Another refugee from Baghdad said, “I took my family back home in January. The first night we arrived, Americans raided our house and kept us all in one room while their snipers used our rooftop to shoot at people. I decided to come back here [Damascus] the next morning after a horrifying night that we will never forget.”

    Citation

    1. “The Iraqi Displacement Crisis,” Refugees International, March 3, 2008.

    UPDATE BY MICHAEL SCHWARTZ

    The mortality statistics cited in “Is the United States Killing 10,000 Iraqis Every Month?” were based on another article suitable for Project Censored recognition, a scientific investigation of deaths caused by the war in Iraq. The original article, published in Lancet in 2006, received some dismissive coverage when it was released, and then disappeared from view as the mainstream media returned to reporting biased estimates that placed Iraqi casualties at about one-tenth the Lancet estimates. The corporate media blackout of the original study extended to my article as well, and has continued unabated, though the Lancet article has withstood several waves of criticism, while being confirmed and updated by other studies (Censored 2006, #2).

    By early 2008, the best estimate, based on extrapolations and replications of the Lancet study, was that 1.2 million Iraqis had died as a consequence of the war. This figure has not, to my knowledge, been reported in any mass media outlet in the United States.

    The blackout of the casualty figures was matched by a similar blackout of other main evidence in my article: that the Bush administration military strategy in Iraq assures vast property destruction and lethality on a daily basis. Rules of engagement that require the approximately one thousand US patrols each day to respond to any hostile act with overwhelming firepower—small arms, artillery, and air power—guarantee that large numbers of civilians will suffer and die. But the mainstream media refuses to cover this mayhem, even after the Winter Soldier meetings in March 2008 featured over one hundred Iraq veterans who testified to their own participation in what they call “atrocity producing situations.” (see Story #9)

    The effectiveness of the media blackout is vividly illustrated by an Associated Press poll conducted in February 2007, which asked a representative sample of US residents how many Iraqis had died as a result of the war. The average respondent thought the number was under 10,000, about 2 percent of the actual total at that time. This remarkable mass ignorance, like so many other elements of the Iraq War story, received no coverage in the mass media, not even by the Associated Press, which commissioned the study.

    The Iraq Veterans Against the War has made the brutality of the occupation their special activist province. The slaughter of the Iraqi people is the foundation of their demand for immediate and full withdrawal of US troops, and the subject of their historic Winter Soldier meetings in Baltimore. Though there was no mainstream US media coverage of this event, the live streaming on Pacifica Radio and on the IVAW website reached a huge audience—including a vast number of active duty soldiers—with vivid descriptions of atrocities committed by the US war machine. A growing number of independent news sites now feature regular coverage of this aspect of the war, including Democracy Now!, Tom Dispatch, Dahr Jamail’s MidEast Dispatches, Informed Comment, Antiwar.com, and ZNet.

    UPDATE BY MAKI AL-NAZZAL AND DAHR JAMAIL

    The promotion of US general David Petraeus to head CENTCOM, and General Raymond Odierno to replace Petraeus as commanding general of the Multi-National Force in Iraq, provoked a lot of anger amongst Iraqis in both Syria and Jordan. The two generals who convinced US and international society of improvement in Iraq do not seem to have succeeded in convincing Iraqi refugees of their success.

    “Just like the Bush Administration decorated Paul Bremer (former head of the Coalition Provisional Authority), they are rewarding others who participated in the destruction to Iraq,” stated Muhammad Shamil, an Iraqi journalist who fled Iraq to Syria in 2006. “What they call violence was concentrated in some parts of Iraq, but now spread to be all over the country, thanks to US war heroes. People are getting killed, evicted or detained by the thousands, from Basra (South) to Mosul (North).”

    Other Iraqi refugees seem to have changed attitudes regarding their hopes to return. Compared to when this story was published in March 2008, the refugee crisis continues to deepen. This is exacerbated by the fact that most Iraqis have no intention of returning home. Instead, they are looking for permanent residence in other countries.

    “I decided to stop dreaming of going back home and find myself a new home anywhere in the world if I could,” said thirty-two-year-old Maha Numan in Syria, “I have been a refugee for three years now living on the dream of return, but I decided to stop dreaming. I have lost faith in all leaders of the world after the surges of Basra, Sadr City and now Mosul. This seems to be endless and one has to work harder on finding a safe haven for one’s family.”

    Iraqis in Syria know a lot more of the news about their country than most journalists. At an Internet café in Damascus, each of them calls his hometown and reports the happenings of the day to other Iraqi refugees. News of ongoing violence across much of Iraq convinces them to remain abroad.

    “There were four various explosions in Fallujah today,” said Salam Adel, who worked as a translator for US forces in Fallujah in 2005. “And they say it is safe to go back! Damn them, go back for what? For roadside bombs or car bombs?”

    It has been important, politically, for the Bush administration to claim that the situation in Iraq is improving. This claim has been assisted by a complicit corporate media. However, the 1.5 million Iraqis in Syria, and over 750,000 in Jordan, will tell you differently. Otherwise, they would not remain outside of Iraq.

    To obtain updated information on the refugee crisis, see http://www.irinnews.org/IRIN-ME.aspx, http://www.iraqredcrescent .org/, http://www.refugeesinternational.org/section/waystohelp, http://www.unhcr.org/iraq.html, and http://www.dahrjamailiraq.com/.

    To obtain updated information on the number of deaths in Iraq see http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/iraq/iraqdeaths.html

    Reply
  • Samson Shawel Ambaye
    Samson Shawel Ambaye

    Eight Ethiopians poisoned to death in UAE
    Israel admits using white phosphorous in attacks on Gaza
    (Mohammed Abed/AFP/Getty Images)
    The incident being investigated is believed to be the firing of white phosphorous shells at a UN school in Beit Lahiya on January 17

    James Hider in Jerusalem and Sheera Frenkel in Gaza City
    Recommend?
    After weeks of denying that it used white phosphorus in the heavily populated Gaza Strip, Israel finally admitted yesterday that the weapon was deployed in its offensive.

    The army’s use of white phosphorus – which makes a distinctive shellburst of dozens of smoke trails – was reported first by The Times on January 5, when it was strenuously denied by the army. Now, in the face of mounting evidence and international outcry, Israel has been forced to backtrack on that initial denial. “Yes, phosphorus was used but not in any illegal manner,” Yigal Palmor, a Foreign Ministry spokesman, told The Times. “Some practices could be illegal but we are going into that. The IDF (Israel Defence Forces) is holding an investigation concerning one specific incident.”

    The incident in question is thought to be the firing of phosphorus shells at a UN school in Beit Lahiya in the northern Gaza Strip on January 17. The weapon is legal if used as a smokescreen in battle but it is banned from deployment in civilian areas. Pictures of the attack show Palestinian medics fleeing as blobs of burning phosphorus rain down on the compound.

    A senior army official also admitted that shells containing phosphorus had been used in Gaza but said that they were used to provide a smokescreen.

    Related Links
    Gaza: burns victim vows to be suicide bomber
    Israel launches inquiry into Gaza weapons
    Arms are still arriving through undamaged tunnels
    The Ministry of Defence gave lawyers the task before the attack of investigating the legal consequences of deploying white phosphorus – commonly stocked in Nato arsenals and used by US and British forces in Iraq and Afghanistan – inside the Gaza Strip, home to 1.5 million Palestinians, and one of the most densely populated places in the world.

    “From what I know, at least one month before it was used a legal team had been consulted on the implications,” an Israeli defence official said. He added that Israel was surprised about the public outcry. “Everyone knew we were using it, and everyone else uses it. We didn’t think it would get this much attention,” he said.

    Because Israel is not a signatory to the treaty that created the International Court of Justice in The Hague, it cannot be tried there. Any country that is a signatory to the Geneva Convention, however, can try to prosecute individuals who took part in the Gaza operation as culpable of war crimes.

    Despite a denial when The Times first reported the use of white phosphorus, an army spokeswoman said yesterday that the military had never tried to cover up its deployment. “There was never any denial from the beginning,” she said.

    – President Sarkozy of France ordered the deployment of a frigate to international waters off Gaza to patrol against arms smuggling into the territory. Preventative measures against arms trafficking are one of Israel’s demands for a peace deal with Hamas. The warship will conduct surveillance with Egypt and Israel, the French presidency said.

    CHANGING TUNE

    January 5 The Times reports that telltale smoke has appeared from areas of shelling. Israel denies using phosphorus

    January 8 The Times reports photographic evidence showing stockpiles of white phosphorus (WP) shells. Israel Defence Forces spokesman says: “This is what we call a quiet shell – it has no explosives and no white phosphorus”

    January 12 The Times reports that more than 50 phosphorus burns victims are taken into Nasser Hospital. An Israeli military spokesman “categorically” denies the use of white phosphorus

    January 15 Remnants of white phosphorus shells are found in western Gaza. The IDF refuses to comment on specific weaponry but insists ammunition is “within the scope of international law”

    January 16 The United Nations Relief and Works Agency headquarters are hit with phosphorus munitions. The Israeli military continues to deny its use

    January 21 Avital Leibovich, Israel’s military spokeswoman, admits white phosphorus munitions were employed in a manner “according to international law”

    January 23 Israel says it is launching an investigation into white phosphorus munitions, which hit a UN school on January 17. “Some practices could be illegal but we are going into that. The IDF is holding an investigation concerning one specific unit and one incident” Source: Times database

    Reply
  • Samson Shawel Ambaye
    Samson Shawel Ambaye

    Eight Ethiopians poisoned to death in UAE
    AFGHANISTAN: Pentagon expected to issue report on Afghan deaths
    Posted by warvictims on June 17, 2009

    16 Jun 2009 19:56:56 GMT
    Source: Reuters
    (Updates with quotes from Pentagon press secretary, details) By David Morgan WASHINGTON, June 16 (Reuters) – The Pentagon is expected to release a report on civilian deaths from U.S. air strikes in western Afghanistan after debate within the Obama administration nearly squelched the disclosure, officials said on Tuesday.

    The air strikes, which heightened tensions between Kabul and Washington over a rising civilian death toll across Afghanistan, were carried out against what U.S. military officials described as a legitimate Taliban target in Farah province in early May. The U.S. and Afghan governments have clashed over the civilian toll, with Kabul putting deaths at 140 civilians, making the military action the deadliest for Afghan civilians since the 2001 U.S.-led invasion.

    Officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the question of whether to release an unclassified summary of the air strike investigation report has also brought debate between the Pentagon and State Department officials, with top military officials including Army General David Petraeus urging its release. In the end, the Pentagon decided tentatively to release the unclassified summary but a final review of the material had not yet been completed, according to officials.

    Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell suggested the report could be released as early as Tuesday afternoon but declined to offer a public commitment. “I am assured that it is being worked and that hopefully it will be released rather soon,” Morrell told reporters. “Hopefully it can come in hours and not days.” The use of air power as part of a two-day battle near the villages of Geraani and Ganj Abad has fueled public anger against Western forces in Afghanistan. Afghan President Hamid Karzai has urged an end to U.S. air strikes in the country, a call rejected by Washington.

    The U.S. military has said that 20-35 civilians died out of 80-95 killed in the incident, the rest being Taliban insurgents. Meanwhile, an Afghan human rights watchdog has said the bombing killed 97 civilians and no more than two members of the Taliban. U.S. military officials say the report’s release is favored by top commanders including Petraeus as a way to show American accountability on civilian casualties, a topic that experts say could turn Afghan public opinion against the West if mismanaged. Pentagon officials have already said the report acknowledges that U.S. personnel made mistakes in carrying out the operation in Farah. “It contributes to our credibility for us to own up to what we did, express regret for the loss of civilian life and show that we are capable of self-assessment,” said one official.

    The Pentagon first raised expectations a week ago that an unclassified report would be released along with a videotape showing Taliban insurgents at one of the bombing sites. But officials said disclosure plans soon drew criticism from the State Department, which feared the report’s release would only underscore U.S. mistakes. “Those who opposed the release felt we’d already talked about this and so let’s just move on,” said a military official. Morrell suggested the report’s release was favored by officials at “the highest levels” of the Pentagon but declined to characterize Defense Secretary Robert Gates’ position. He also played down suggestions of administration disagreements but acknowledged that timing had been affected by Farah report’s circulation to officials outside the Pentagon. “It’s one thing if you do things internal to this building. But often times, when you reach out and include others, it takes longer than you anticipate,” Morrell said. “There is a great interest throughout the government about all matters Afghanistan these days, particularly civilian casualties,” he added.

    http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N16267584.htm
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    This entry was posted on June 17, 2009 at 2:20 pm and is filed under Actors, Afghanistan, Air Strike, Central Asia, Civilian Casualties, Country, Government, Insurgents, Military, Region, Tactics, Taliban, Type of Harm, United States. Tagged: us military, Afghanistan, Taliban, Air Strike, Pentagon, civilian deaths, US airstrikes, Farah, civilian casualites. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.

    Reply
  • Nakedu Mura
    Nakedu Mura

    Eight Ethiopians poisoned to death in UAE
    Arabs are Naturally LAZY,that is why they have to seek for laborers even for some simple trivial house jobs.but their sense of humanity is incredibly gravious! they always advocates AGAINST HUMAN RIGHTS,always doing opposite of what the whole world does!

    Reply
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