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The snake oil salesman, still at it.
The Nigerian, Karl-Marx Edward Ikemefuna William George Okeke, has a good "lobby-firm" con game going. He changed his name to "Karl Von Batten", taking his wife's last name, to sound impressive as he fleeces his chgrayan TPLF—& Oromo & Ogaden—clients. Nice going, Dr Karl-Marx.
And this is Elizabeth Von Batten, aka Liz Okeke-Von Batten, the wife of the Nigerian charlatan of "Von Batten-Montague-York" lobby firm. Montague & York are ghost partners, for show. It's a one-man, con game.
Last edited by Zmeselo on 25 Oct 2021, 17:26, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: The snake oil salesman, still at it.
Dignified, Ethio- tegaru:
Araya
Dr. Abraham
Hermela
Natnael
Araya
Dr. Abraham
Hermela
Natnael
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Re: The snake oil salesman, still at it.
I'm rather sorry for those who by desperation have resorted to this con man and think he can help them with their lost cause. Note, I'm too nice saying that they've got a cause albeit lost, as in reality they haven't got any justifiable one to the average healthy mind.
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Re: The snake oil salesman, still at it.
Africa
Tigray crisis: How the West has fallen out with Ethiopia's PM
By Farouk Chothia
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-58967302
Published 22 hours ago
Tigray crisis
With the Ethiopian government's relationship with the US and European Union (EU) at a low ebb, it is looking elsewhere for new allies to crush the rebellion being waged against it from the mountainous Tigray region.
Both the US and EU have threatened sanctions on the government and its arch-enemy, the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), in a bid to press them into ending the almost year-long conflict that some fear could be as devastating as the civil war that led to the break-up of Yugoslavia.
Kjetil Tronvoll, a professor in conflict studies at the Oslo New University College in Norway, said this has led to the government's focus shifting.
he said, pointing out that the latter two had already blocked the UN Security Council from agreeing on a resolution on the civil war.The Ethiopian government feels that it can do without the West - that it can obtain weapons from Iran, Turkey and China, soft loans from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, and political protection from Russia and China,
He added that while there was no official confirmation, there were credible reports that the Ethiopian military had obtained Iranian and Turkish-manufactured drones to carry out strikes in Tigray in the hope of tilting the war in its favour.
Lynchpin of security
Canada-based Ethiopia analyst Ann Fitz-Gerald said she was concerned by US and EU moves to take "punitive measures" against the government.
she said, adding that there was also a need for the government to communicate more clearly and regularly.The international community should be standing by the legitimate government of Ethiopia, and all three regions [Tigray, Amhara and Afar] affected by the conflict. It should call out the TPLF's atrocities, and call on it to lay down arms,
Prof Tronvoll said the EU and US had seen Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed as a
when he took office in 2018, and regarded Ethiopia as aclose strategic partner
in a region that was close to the shipping routes of the Red Sea, a hot-bed of militant Islamist activity, and a major source of migration to Europe.lynchpin of security
Prof Tronvoll added.Their relationship deteriorated after the war started. The US and EU became increasingly critical of government atrocities, and the famine-like conditions in Tigray,
Even four months after the cessation of military operations, Ethiopias northern Tigray region bears telltale signs of war, with military vehicles zooming past, endless checking on the roads, and displaced people still pouring in to take shelter in Mekele, the regional capital.
Image caption,Thousands of people have been killed or wounded in the conflict IMAGE SOURCE, GETTY IMAGES
UN officials say that a de facto blockade imposed on Tigray by the government has restricted aid deliveries, leaving about 400,000 people in famine-like conditions in the region.
Faisal Roble, a US-based Horn of Africa analyst, said that if the government does not soften its approach, the West could consider creating a humanitarian corridor into Tigray from Sudan, or declare a no-fly zone over the war-battered region so that food and medicine could be air-dropped. https://wardheernews.com/the-war-in-tig ... EY.twitter
But Ethiopia-based analyst Wuhibeegzer Ferede warned against
and "unbridled" diplomatic pressure on the government.humanitarian imperialism
Pressure should instead be placed on the TPLF to give the federal government unfettered access to Tigray so that it could deliver aid to people there, he said.
but also with the neighbouring regions of Amhara and Afar as a TPLF offensive has created a humanitarian crisis there too, he added.The international community's preoccupation should not only be with Tigray,
Downgrading diplomacy
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell announced on 18 August that while development aid to Ethiopia would continue, the EU planned to impose sanctions against groups involved in the conflict once a UN investigation into human rights abuses was finalised.
he said.Tigray is shattered by systematic violations of human rights by armed groups that use war crimes and crimes against humanity as a weapon,
Image caption,Hospitals, homes, schools and businesses have been looted in Tigray IMAGE SOURCE, GETTY IMAGES
Prof Tronvoll said the administration of US President Joe Biden was also stepping up pressure through the following measures:
• It has ordered a "legal investigation" into whether or not the atrocities in Tigray amounted to a genocide
• It has requested the International Monetary Fund and World Bank to withhold some loans to Ethiopia and
• It is considering removing Ethiopia from the list of countries that get duty-free access to the US market though the Africa Growth and Opportunities Act, in a move that would be a huge political and economic blow to the government.
Prof Tronvoll said.When there is a war and pressure to end it, you would expect Ethiopia to strengthen its diplomatic presence in the US and Europe to win the argument, but the opposite is happening,
He is referring to the fact that the government announced in June that it was shutting or downgrading about 30 diplomatic missions around the world - including in African states such as neighbouring Kenya, the economic powerhouse in East Africa, and Egypt, with whom Ethiopia is at loggerheads over the building of a dam on a tributary over the River Nile.
Prof Tronvoll said.Ethiopia had one of Africa's oldest and strongest diplomatic corps, but that's changing under this government,
For UK-based Horn of Africa analyst Abdurahman Sayed the government's announcement signalled a move towards "digital diplomacy" to save money, and to "cleanse" diplomatic missions of TPLF supporters.
Mr Sayed said.Western countries do not understand Ethiopia. They are emboldening the TPLF by threatening sanctions against the government,
They need to learn from the African Union (AU), which is respectful of the federal government's jurisdiction over its sovereign territories.
Both sides have suffered heavy casualties in the conflict IMAGE SOURCE, GETTY IMAGES
Prof Tronvoll said the diplomatic pressure from the US and EU was aimed at getting the government and TPLF to agree to a ceasefire and peace talks under the AU's auspices.
The AU has appointed Nigeria's ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo as its special envoy after Mr Abiy, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, rebuffed the efforts of its previous envoys, including Liberia's Nobel peace laureate Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, to broker a ceasefire.
Prof Tronvoll said.The TPLF has welcomed any peace negotiation initiative, but has doubts about Mr Obasanjo for many reasons, among them because he is an evangelical Christian, like Mr Abiy,
Prof Tronvoll added.As for Mr Abiy, he has accepted Mr Obasanjo as an envoy, but he has so far not committed himself to a peace process,
In a jointly written article in Politico magazine, Alex Rondos and Mark Medish, former senior officials in the EU and US government respectively, warned that Ethiopia could disintegrate like Yugoslavia, https://www.politico.com/news/2021/10/1 ... ess-516117 with far more serious repercussions, if efforts to end the conflict were not stepped up.
they wrote.This crisis will require diplomacy and mediation on a scale not seen since the 1995 Dayton peace process to end the bloody war in Bosnia,
But Mr Sayed doubts that any peace process would succeed.
he said.Ethiopian politics is always a zero-sum game. One side will have to defeat the other,