Bomb blast in Ethiopian capital kills two: state radio

              

ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) – A bomb blast in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa killed two people on Sunday, state radio said.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the bombing, but Ethiopia says it has thwarted plots of attacks in the past two years and blames rebel groups based in the south and southeast, as well as Somalia’s al Shabaab insurgents.

“A bomb blast occurred at a residential house in the Bole district and killed two unidentified individuals,” a report on national radio said, quoting the National Security and Intelligence Service.
The explosion occurred in the city’s upscale Bole district, about 5 km (3 miles) from a soccer stadium where thousands of fans were queuing for tickets to a World Cup qualifier against Nigeria and gathering at squares in the capital to watch the match on giant screens.
The radio did not mention any suspected link to the match.
It quoted the security service as saying it was investigating the incident and gave no more details.
Ethiopian troops have been fighting al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab militants in Somalia since 2011, alongside African Union forces from Uganda and Burundi and Kenya.
However, the Horn of Africa nation has so far been spared the sorts of attacks the militants have carried out in nearby countries – such as the siege at the Nairobi mall last month and the attack on soccer fans in Uganda in 2010 – although it has been hit by sporadic explosions in recent years.
Thirteen people were wounded when an explosive device ripped through a bus near the border with Eritrea in 2010, while a bomb explosion near a court in the capital wounded two in 2011.
(Reporting by Aaron Maasho; Editing by Alison Williams)

The AU’s Mass Treaty-cide Brinksmanship

by Alemayehu G. Mariam
Charge of the light brigade
The African Union’s threatened “mass treaty-cide” (a phrase I am compelled to coin to describe the bizarre threatened walkout on the Rome Statute) fizzled out. Those who predicted the “extraordinary  summit” on the “AU’s relation with the International Criminal Court” (ICC) would end in a big bang were pleasantly amused to see it wrap up with a whimper about “undertaking consultation with members of the UN Security Council” to seek “deferral of proceedings against the President and Deputy President of Kenya as well as the President of the Sudan in conformity with Article 16 of the Rome Statute.” After all, October 11-12, 2013 will not live in infamy as I had feared. The scheme to convince the 34 Rome Statute signatory African states to commit “mass treaty-cide” was a total flop.
The Sturm und Drang of a mass walkout on the Rome Statute proved to be nothing more than a tempest in a teapot.  The tag team of Hailemariam Desalegn and Teodros  Adhanom of the ruling regime in Ethiopia bleated out  their stealthily cloaked message of a walkout but nobody was buying it. Adhanom broadsided the media for bearing bad news: “Some media reported earlier today that we are divided but we have seen no sign of any of that. We are not divided and we will not be divided. Unity is the only option.”
Adhanom was right in a way; the group of 34 signatory states were united in their refusal to dump the Rome Statute. Desalegn and Adhanom were the last two men standing alone flying the white flag of flight from the ICC. No signatory state stepped forward to dump the Rome Statute. African signatories understood the Statute may not be good for African heads of states and warlords who commit gross human rights abuses, but it is damn good for ordinary Africans.  After all the huffing and puffing at the “extraordinary session”, the ICC proceedings will proceed and the trials of Ruto and a co-defendant will continue. Kenyatta’s trial is set to begin on November 12. Bashir will remain a fugitive from international justice with a hot warrant on his tail.
Brinksmanship of Mass Treaty-cide: Dangerous game of chicken
The significance of the African Union’s “extraordinary summit” on the ICC on October 11-12, 2013 should be neither underestimated nor ignored. It should be appreciated for what it is: A dangerous game of brinksmanship. Those AU leaders who insisted on having the summit on the ICC were playing a game of chicken with one of the most important international human rights institutions to emerge in the post WW II  period. They hoped to load up the 34 signatories of the Rome Statute on a bus that was careening on a collision course with the ICC, certain in the knowledge the ICC will blink and swerve at the last second. Fortunately, the ICC stood its ground and the AU bus drivers did not have any passengers on board with whom to play a game of chicken. They limped away   in dismay mumbling something about transforming the ICC from an institution that investigates and prosecutes perpetrators of crimes against humanity, war criminals and genocide to a mediation club that brings together victims of human rights abuses with their abusers to sing kumbaya.
Game plan to end-run the ICC 
The Hailemariam/Adhanom game plan to end-run the ICC was based on an appeal aimed at strategically galvanizing  the 34 African signatory states to turn their backs on the Rome Statute. In their speeches, Hailemariam and Adhanom laid out a number of propositions they hoped would appeal to the signatory states: 1) “Sitting Heads of State and Government should not be prosecuted while in office. 2) Let bygones be bygones. There is a need in the continent to “balance justice and reconciliation in complex conflict situations”. 3) The ICC is a “political instrument targeting Africa and Africans.” 4)  The 34 African states that signed the Rome Statute were snookered because they  “joined the ICC perhaps fully concerned that the organization would promote the cause of  justice with a sense of impartiality and justice. The practice so far however leaves so much to be desired.” 5) The ICC prosecution of Kenyatta, Ruto and Bashir  will upset the “reconciliation process.” 6) The ICC and the U.N. Security Council use a “double standard of justice”– a harsh and unfair one for African suspects and something else for others. 7) “We should not allow the ICC to continue to treat Africa and Africans in a condescending manner.”
It is ironic and the height of hypocrisy for “leaders” of a country that is not a signatory to the Rome Statute to pontificate and spearhead the effort to get other countries to abandon the Statute and the ICC. The only thing worse than a hypocrite is a cynical hypocrite!
Give sitting African heads of state get out of jail free card