Announcements:

• A Big Show in Washington DC to help Poet Laureate Tsegaye G. Medhin

• Debre Selam Medhanealem Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church Inaugurated in Minneapolis, Minnesota Twin Cities Journal: Once again, Minneapolis church welcomes immigrants. Minneapolis Star Tribune, Nov 8

Analysis:

• Ethiopia /Eritrea:Battling for Badme Badme, taken by Eritrea in May 1998, has this year been the focus of several deadly battles. In February, Ethiopia attacked with artillery, then aircraft and tanks, then human-wave assaults. After four days and heavy losses, Ethiopia broke the Eritrean defences in two places. Eritrea, too, took heavy casualties, and withdrew. Eritrea had seven divisions at Badme against Ethiopia's five; over-confident, it had built only a single line of trenches, which were broken by guns and tanks. At Tserona in March, Eritrean troops had dug three lines; an Ethiopian armoured brigade broke through the first two in six hours but lost more tanks than expected and withdrew when threatened by Eritrean reinforcements. Both sides had lost 70,000 men before the June fighting; they have since lost at least 30,000 more, of which most were Eritrean.

  See Africa Confidential for full article.

Commentaries:

• International Response to the Ethiopia - Eritrea Conflict Mythology, the media and the peace process. by Tony Hickey, Oct 29

• African Studies Association meeting; Preview of talk by Jordan Gebre Medhin in panel on Ethiopia-Eritrea conflict. Nov 10; "In the end, this turns out to be a question of the credibility of the researcher and his/her studies, and whether he/she aims at producing scientific works, or political manifestos.”

• Comment on Deported/Repatriated Eritreans: When I read the trash written by some of the deported or repatriated Eritreans, I am extremely satisfied that these particular individuals are gone from Ethiopia. Good riddance!! On the other hand, it is sad to see that quite a few innocent individuals have been caught up in this Eritrean-generated disaster and I feel sorry for some of them who deserved a chance to be given Ethiopian citizenship. Ethiopian government should setup a commission to investigate cases of those treated unfairly.

News:

• Two dead in suspected terrorist explosion under commuter train AP, Nov 14 Terrorism manufactured in Eritrea. With its economy comatose, terrorism has now become Eritrea’s biggest export. But Eritrea itself will receive in abundance what it so cavalierly sows around the Horn of Africa.
  
• Eritrean Forces Accused Of Killing 17 In Northern Ethiopia PANA, Nov 12
  
• Security Council members call on Ethiopia and Eritrea to use "maximum restraint." UN Nov 11
  
• Commodities - Brazil weather keeps coffee hot Reuters, Nov 12

• DJIBOUTI: Focus on mounting tension with Eritrea UN IRIN, Nov 12

• Eritrean troops poised to attack Sudan: report AFP, Nov 7
  
• Ethiopian opposition demands free, fair elections Reuters, Nov 5
  
• Somalis should rise above warlords: Djiboutian president AFP, Nov, 4

• BBC Three-part Series from Ethiopia (Nov 3-8):
  Ethiopia's waiting game
  Ethiopia: A refugee's story
  Plight of the stranded Eritreans

• Ethiopia AIDS Conference VOA; Nov 3
  
• Djibouti Proposes Sub-Regional Parliamentary Union PANA; Nov 3
  
• Kenya blocks returning refugees BBC; Nov 3
  
• The Rain Has Stopped, So Blood May Flow Again in the Horn of Africa Washington Post, Nov3
  
• INTERVIEW-Eritrea offers border war troop pullback Reuters, Nov 1
  
• Ethiopia unimpressed by Eritrean withdrawal offer Reuters, Nov 2
  
• Djiboutian President Visiting Ethiopia PANA; Nov 1