At least he's our SOB - well one of them

Mengistu Haile Mariam, was the Communist leader of Ethiopia from 1977 to 1991 when on May 21st 1991 he fled in a small airplane to Kenya, organised by the US Embassy in Addis, to Zimbabe. Where he still lives in splendour assisting another evil dictator destroy his country.

Many millions of Ethiopians fell victim to his Mengusatu's regime of murderous excesses, corrupt militarism, and economic devastation. The indelible image of his misrule is the picture of an entire land wracked by genocide.

US connections with Ethiopia since then have been fractured but not discontinued, the current leader Meles Zenawi became the "Interim President "of Ethiopia from 1991 to 1995. Meles Zenawi wa - beinf awarded a First Class M.A. (Masters of Arts) in Business Administration from the UK Open University at the same time. He had fought Mengistu as a member of the Tigrayan Peoples' Liberation Front and since the declaration of the War on Terror the US he has enjoyed a close and growing military and political relationship. He now leads the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front.

In July 2003, the Pentagon held a three-month training exercise in tandem with Ethiopian military at the Hurso Training Camp.northwest of Dire Dawa, Ethiopia. Ongoing “anti-terrorism” training exercises continue in coordination with the U.S. base at Djibouti and the US Army's 10th Mountain Division, assigned to Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa (CJTF-HOA), provided infantry skills training on small unit tactics.

All this was as part of the Democratic Peoples Republic of Ethiopia effort to establish the first of three new Anti-terrorism Battalions.

In January of 2004, a new joint U.S.-Ethiopian military base was established at Hurso, in Ethiopia, alongside “Camp United,” where U.S. troops train Ethiopian troops in anti-insurgency strategy and tactics. The record of U.S. military aid to Ethiopia shows a marked increase since 2001. Keith Snow has documented the increasing levels of finacial support ;

“The US International Military and Education Training (IMET) delivered US$1,835,000 which involved train about 120 officers under the IMET program from 1991-2001. …

“ Financial support increased to US$2.9Mn in 2002/03 through the IMET and Foreign Military Sales and Deliveries programs. The US also equipped, trained and supported Ethiopian troops under the Africa Regional Peacekeeping Program. In August 2003, the U.S. committed $28 million for international trade enhancements with Ethiopia.”

In his second election in May 2005 parliamentary elections , the first all party election in Ethiopia, Meles' Ethiopian Peoples Revolutionary Democratic Front took control of nearly two-thirds of parliament. in events surrounding the elections some 200 people were killed. A report by a 10 man enquiry published (leaked) in Nairobi in June 2006 and stated that ;

1. 193 people were fatally shot, beat or strangled by Ethiopian security forces
2. More than 750 people were injured
3. Police records showing that 20,000 people were rounded up during the protests. More than 100 opposition leaders, journalists and aid workers were put on trial for treason and attempted genocide.

Vice chairman of the enquiry Judge Wolde-Michael Meshesha, told AP "This was a massacre," "These demonstrators were unarmed yet the majority died from shots to the head."

"There is no doubt that excessive force was used," added the judge, who left Ethiopia prior to the report's publication after receiving anonymous death threats, leaving his wife and five daughters behind. He claimed asylum in Europe and would not disclose his exact whereabouts out of fear for his safety.

Ana Gomes, the European Union's chief observer during the elections, said the report which she says "exposes the lie" that the Ethiopian government is moving toward democracy.

"It is time the EU and U.S. realize that the current regime in Ethiopia is repressing the people because it lacks democratic legitimacy and is actually weak." . "It is driving Ethiopia to more poverty, conflict and war."

In January 2006 , Britain withheld $87 million in aid because of concerns about the government's handling of the unrest,redirecting it to humanitarian agencies or local officials because of concerns about the central government's handling of the unrest. This followed by the UK ofUS $36m (£20m) aid increase to Ethiopia after deaths in election protests after UK Development Minister Hilary Benn met Prime Minister Meles Zenawi in Addis Ababa.

Meanwhile US bombing raids on the Somali / Kenyan border said to be in support of getting at 3 leading al Quaeda figures Fazul Abdullah Mohammed (FBI most wanted ) the alleged mastermind behind the 1998 attacks on the U.S. embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania,killing 225 people, and his accomplices Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan and Abu Talha al-Sudani. Reports today claim Mohammed has been killed.

So far the civilian death toll is at least 27 civilians killed in Afmadow, a town in southern Somalia. "My 4-year-old boy was killed in the strike," said Mohamed Mahmud Burale, who can hardly be expected to be grateful for his "liberation" at the hands of the U.S. and its Ethiopian allies.

The much feared "Spectre" AC-130 U/H gunship reportedly attacked Badmadow island, in a group of six rocky islands known as Ras Kamboni — a suspected terrorist training base.

Hussein Aidid the American educated, ex US marine, son of the late Somali warlord used to operate out in the crumbling white mansion, Villa Somalia, the capital Mogadushu , which was Siad Barre's last refuge before he was toppled from power in January 1991. Effectively without a Government since then he has risen to the top of a pile of warring factions - the Muslims are now being cleared out it seems with the US now showing their hand in attacking their southern redoubts and extending their proxy war on Muslims for the Zionists.

The position however remains confused. The US marines have bad dreams about Mogadishu.

White House pic - President George W. Bush meets President Daniel Arap Moi of Kenya and Prime Minister Meles Zenawi of Ethiopia in the Oval Office Dec. 5, 2002.