The International Criminal Court’s (ICC) prosecutor charged Sudan’s president on Monday with masterminding a campaign of genocide in Darfur, killing 35,000 people and persecuting 2.5 million refugees. More on Sudan leader accused of genocide

By Prof Alemayehu Gebremariam

The Failed States Index for 2008 is out; and the Land of Famine, Gross Human Rights Violations, Stolen Elections and Poverty is re-certified as a “Failed State”, again! We have Zenawi and his corrupt regime to thank for this dubious honor. But there is a simple formula that can predict the evolution of a failed state in Ethiopia: FL+FR(k)/time =FS. Simply stated, Zenawi (FL) and his TPLF-EPDRF syndicate (FR(k)) operating a kleptocracy (government of thieves) over a period of 17 years (/time) have produced a failed state in Ethiopia (FS). More on Why is “Ethiopia a failed state?”

NAIROBI,(IRIN) – Fears of major clashes in the town of Beletweyne in central Somalia’s Hiiraan Region have sparked a mass exodus from the town, sources there told IRIN on 14 July.

“Thousands of people have already left the town and many others are still leaving,” Ga’al Hirsi Hooshow, the chairman of the Beletweyne Elders’ Council, said.

He said forces of the ousted Union of Islamic Courts (UIC) in Beletweyne and Ethiopian troops now based at Janta Kundishe, 5km east of the town, “are both gearing up for a major battle”.