Meftih Newspaper March 2014

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Volum 9 Issue 7 March 2014 - Printed the first Friday of every month Tel: 416-824-8124 Fax: 416-783-7850

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Torontos police chief removed himself from a lengthy criminal in-

vestigation of Rob Ford on Wednesday, but the citys mayor

denounced the change as too little too late.

Ford, who has repeatedly attacked the legitimacy of the probe and Bill Blair, wasted little time in criti-cizing the move, which puts provincial police in charge but leaves city in-vestigators on the case.

The damage has already been done, Ford said at city hall.

The chief obviously is playing political games and it should have been done from the very begin-ning.

OPP takes on oversight role in Rob Ford-related probe

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Earlier Wednesday, Blair re-leased a letter he had written to OPP Commissioner Chris Lew-is in which he laid out his rea-sons for asking his provincial colleagues for help.

I am taking this step to avoid the distractions that have as-sumed such recent prominence, Blair wrote.

The only public interest here is the continued investigation, without fear or favour, into evi-dence of possible criminality.

Charged for what?

Ford has publicly accused Blair of wasting tax money with the investigation, and vociferously challenged the chief to arrest and charge him.

The mayor said he was not con-cerned at the possibility.

Charged for what? For an emp-ty vodka bottle or urinating in a park, Ford said. Which one?

The Toronto police in-vestigation in question dubbed Project Brazen 2 arose last spring out of a year-long guns, gangs and drugs probe.

It was during the initial probe that police uncov-ered a video showing Ford apparently smoking crack cocaine, and decided to in-vestigate his activities.

Fords friend Alexander (Sandro) Lisi was charged in the first investigation with drug offences, and later with extortion in rela-tion to the crack video. The allegations have not been proven in court.

Were always very con-cerned that nothing is said or done that could have any impact on current or future court proceedings, said Toronto police spokesman Mark Pugash.

Well always err on the side of caution.

Giroux will continue to lead probe

Veteran Toronto homi-cide investigator, Det.-Sgt. Gary Giroux, will continue to lead the investigation, but will now answer to a senior provincial police of-ficer rather than to senior city police officers.

The provincial inspector will have no direct involve-ment in the probe, but will be available for consulta-tion or to offer advice, po-lice said.

OPP Commissioner Chris Lewis said the change is semantics but said the investigative team will no longer report up a chain in Toronto police, ultimately to Blair.

That removes the whole senior management team

OPP takes on oversight . . .From page 1


TORONTO -- The National

Energy Board is set to release a decision today on whether it will allow energy delivery gi-ant Enbridge to reverse the flow and increase the capacity of a pipeline thats been pumping oil between southern Ontario and Montreal for years.The decision on the controver-sial Line 9 is being delivered some four months after the fed-eral regulator held public hear-ings on the Calgary-based com-panys (TSX:ENB) proposal.During those sessions, a three-member panel heard from a wide range of parties including First Nations, environmental groups, private citizens and rep-resentatives from municipal and provincial governments.

Enbridges own final submis-sions were delivered in writing after the board cancelled its final day of Toronto hearings over se-curity concerns stemming from planned protest activity.Line 9 originally shuttled oil from Sarnia, Ont., to Montreal, but was reversed in the late 90s in response to market condi-tions to pump imported crude westward. Enbridge now wants to flow oil back eastwards to service refineries in Ontario and Quebec.It plans to move 300,000 barrels of crude oil per day through the line, up from the current 240,000 barrels, with no increase in pres-sure.It has also asked for permis-sion to move different types of oil, including a heavier form of crude.Opponents -- some of whom have staged protests and held

sit-ins at pump-ing stations -- argue the Line 9 plan puts com-munities at risk, threatens water supplies and could endanger vulnerable spe-cies in ecologi-cally sensitive areas.They also worry that Enbridge will run what they claim is a more corrosive

product through the 831-kilo-metre-long line -- a move which they claim will stress the aging infrastructure and increase the chance of a leak.Enbridge has insisted that safety is its top priority and has charac-terized the scope of the reversal as actually very, very small.It has said a reversed Line 9 will not be transporting a raw oilsands product, although there will be a mix of light crude and processed bitumen.It has stressed, though, that the products that will flow through the line will not erode it.The company has also said the refineries it supplies can cur-rently only take a small portion of heavy crude and would have to invest significantly in infra-structure to take more.Despite the companys assur-ances, Line 9s opponents have often pointed to an Enbridge spill in Michigan, which leaked 20,000 barrels of crude into the Kalamazoo River in 2010. There are concerns the same thing could happen in Ontario or Quebec in the future.Some opponents have also sug-gested the Line 9 reversal is ul-timately so Enbridge can trans-port oil to the Atlantic coast for export -- something the compa-ny denies.A portion of the line has already received approval for reversal and has been sending oil from Sarnia to North Westover, Ont. -- about 30 kilometres northwest of Hamilton -- since August.

CTV News

National Energy Board to rule today on Enbridges

Line 9 reversalAfter a week of vigorous debate, one novel has tri-umphed in CBCs annual Canada Reads literary bat-tle: Joseph Boydens The Orenda, which was de-fended this week by First Nations journalist Wab Kinew.

Set in the 17th century, Boydens 2013 historical bestseller explores the tu-multuous relationships be-tween indigenous groups and settlers in the days before the formation of Canada. It was a contender for the Governor Generals Award and longlisted for the Giller Prize.

Im shaking. Im in Thun-der Bay and Im shak-ing not because of the cold, Boyden said via telephone, immediately after his novel was an-nounced as the 2014 winner.

What an amazing group of writers to be surrounded by and the panellists were all amazing, he declared.

Earlier this week, phi-lanthropist and pan-ellist Stephen Lewis vigorously debated the novels graphic depiction of torture with Kinew.

Boyden admitted that he had listened to the debates all week and that hearing criticism of his book, at times it was painful for sure, but were all writers. We all have to take that once in awhile.

He also noted that he had started a Twitter hashtag for his champion Kinew: #WabKinewforPrimeMin-ister.

This [book] is for the people, Kinew said. Its not just lessons on being a good Indian, but lessons

on how to be a good hu-man being in here.

CBC Books: Canada ReadsThe Orenda won over Rawi Hages Cockroach, which was defended this week by writer, comedian and The Daily Show correspondent Samantha Bee.

The contemporary, darkly humorous 2008 novel ex-plores the alienation of a nameless immigrant in Montreal struggling with depression and the under-belly of the immigrant ex-perience in Canada. The book was shortlisted for the Giller Prize, the Governor Generals Literary Award

and the Rogers Writers Trust Fiction Prize.

The usually humorous Bee grew emotional in her fi-nal defence of Cockroach, arguing that its explora-tion of the dark side of the immigrant experience was imperative given areas of turmoil around the world today, like Syria.

The other contenders elim-inated earlier this week, and their respective cham-pions, were:

Margaret Atwoods The Year of the Flood, defend-ed by Lewis.Esi Edugyans Half-Blood

Blues, defended by Olym-pic gold medallist Dono-van Bailey.Kathleen Winters An-nabel, defended by actor Sarah Gadon.The novels selected this year were chosen in accor-dance with the 2014 theme: what is the one novel that could change Canada?

The goal was to find a book that could change the hearts, minds and lives of readers across the nation, with the ultimate goal of inspiring social change.

Past Canada Reads win-ners have included: The Book of Negroes by Law-rence Hill, February by

Lisa Moore, Lullabies for Little Criminals by Heather ONeill and The Best Laid Plans by Terry Fallis.

As the annual competition has grown in recognition over the years, a phenome-non known as the Canada Reads effect has emerged where the five competitors see a spike in sales, with both a jump in sales and recognition for the even-tual winner.

Both Boyden and Kinew will be interviewed by Canada Reads host Jian Ghomeshi on CBC cultural affairs show Q on Friday morning.

Canada Reads crowns Joseph Boy-dens The Orenda 2014 winner


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of the Toronto police and the chief from any involve-ment or perception of involvement in any de-cision-making around this case, Lewis said.

Blair wanted the public to be confident that there was no interference from the chief or other senior city officers, Lewis said, add-ing there was no indication any charges were immi-nent.

On Monday night, Ford at-tacked Blair during an ap-pearance on the U.S. late-night talk show Jimmy Kimmel Live.

They follow me around for five months and came up empty-handed. I just want him to come clean with the taxpayers, Ford said. Its all politics.

Michael Davis, a former homicide investigator, said taking away the appearance of politics will help if this case ever gets to court.

You always have to keep that in the back of your mind: What I do today may reflect on the outcome of a court case, Davis told CBC News.

From page 3

OPP takes on oversight . .

Toronto City Hall reaction

Coun. Adam Vaughan said the request to have OPP oversight was an indica-tion that the investigation has yet to wrap up.

I guess it means that the work is getting closer and closer to the mayors office, Vaughan said Wednesday.

Coun. Paula Fletcher said giving the OPP oversight made a lot of sense.

With the war of words go-ing on between Ford, his brother and the chief of police, Fletcher said, I think that everyone needs to feel that there is a very objective third party and the OPP will do that.

Ford has served as To-rontos mayor for just over three years. He is seeking a second term this fall, though more than two doz-en candidates have regis-tered to compete for his job in the October election.

With files from CBC News and the CBCs Steven DSouza

The Transportation Safe-ty Board says formal lab tests confirm the train that crashed and exploded in Lac-Mgantic, Que., last summer was carrying oil that was more volatile than advertised.

The board, which had dis-covered last September that the tankers were misidenti-fied, says it was actually as

flammable as gasoline.

The board took oil samples from nine tank cars that were intact after the crash and subjected them to a rigorous analysis.

The report says the oil from the cars was a Class 3, PG II product, although it had been documented as a less volatile, Class 3 PG III.

Lab tests show oil in Lac-Mgantic crash was as

volatile as gasolineThe samples were consistent a light, sweet crude oil, with volatil-ity comparable to that of a conden-sate or gasoline product.

The July 6 crash and explosion killed 47 people and destroyed much of Lac-M-gantics down-

town area after a runaway train belonging to the Montreal, Maine & At-lantic Railway rolled into town and derailed.

The board says the lower flash-point of the oil on the train explains in part why it ignited so quickly once the tank cars were breached.

The downtown was en-gulfed in a fireball as thou-sands of litres of oil ex-ploded.

The boards investigation continues.

HMCS Protecteur was towed into Pearl Harbor today, one week after an engine-room fire left the Canadian navy ship strand-ed in the mid-Pacific.Following a gruelling week, the crew of HMCS Protecteur waved as the ship approached Pearl Harbor.One of the ships engineers told CTV News that Pro-tecteurs engine suffered devastating damage in the fire, which also left 20 crew members with minor injuries.

The crew is now expected to turn their focus to the

fire investigation and pre-pare for the ships return to its home port of Esquimalt, B.C.The ships commanding officer Cmdr. Julian El-bourne said in a statement Thursday that hes proud of the courage, determina-tions and perseverance of the crew.It has been a very demand-ing period for all on board HMCS Protecteur and the crew has responded to the many complex challenges with the utmost profes-sionalism and ingenuity, he said. At the time of the fire, Pro-

HMCS Protecteur arrives safely, but suffers

devastating damage


Editors: Grace CherianPhotographer: Mulugeta Zergaber Contributors: Mohamed Edris Naza HasebenebiMedhin Ghebreslasie, Amleset Tesfay, Bode Odetoy-inbo, Mimi Chandy, Ken NtiamoaSubscription Costs in Canada $39 for a year and $59 for two years. In USA, it costs $45 for a year and $69 for two years.Articles appearing in assorted columns of Meftih newspaper are intended to generate civil & informed public discussions. You dont have to agree with opinions expressed by the writers. However, that should push you to express your own views. Through that way we generate lively & civil discussions in the community. Rejoinders are not forums for personal insults & we want readers to adhere to these principles.

Editor-in-chiefAaron Berhane

260 Adelaide St. E. Toronto, ON. M5A 1N1 # 192

Tel: 416-824-8124Fax: 416-783-7850

[email protected]

tecteur was about 700 ki-lometres northeast of Ha-waii with nearly 300 crew members, 17 family mem-bers and several civilian contractors aboard.Without power, the ship was in need of a tow. How-ever, the trip was even fur-ther complicated after the tow rope broke in heavy seas over the weekend. A U.S. navy tug took over for the remainder of the slow journey back to shore.Several senior Canadian navy officials are in Pearl Harbor to assess the ships damage and consider plans

to get the 44-year-old ves-sel back to Canadian wa-ters.The family of crew mem-bers arrived in Hawaii on USS Michael Murphy Tuesday. Michael Murphy was dispatched by the U.S. Navy to help HMCS Pro-tecteur after the fire.Its common practice for family to join crew mem-bers returning from long missions.HMCS Protecteur, one of Canadas two supply ships, had been at sea for about seven weeks.The cause of the fire is not yet known.

HMCS Protecteur . . .From page 6

Over the past 10 years, hundreds of Eritrean and Ethiopian migrants have been kidnapped and sold into slavery in the Sinai desert, where they have been tortured by traffickers in order to exhort money from relatives. Recent evi-dence points to collusion between the perpetrators and Sudanese and Egyp-tian state security services.

Even after ransoms are paid, survivors often find it impossible to reach safety because of an increase in border controls in the

countries along the Sinai.

But for a lucky few, there is sanctuary and support at the Maagan safe house, an Israeli government-funded programme for survivors of slavery.

Photographer Leila Segal visited the safe house for Voice of Freedom, a project by UK charity PhotoVoice. She has put cameras into the hands of three Ethiopi-an survivors so they could speak about their lives. The women talk us through their pictures, below.

LS: Leila SegalDG: Desta GetanehTB: Tizalu BrahanZZ: Zenebech Zeleke

Desta Getaneh

LS: Desta, 22, was liv-ing alone in Addis Aba-ba when a friend said he could help her get

a job in Sudan, but when they reached the border he sold her to traffickers. She survived the Sinai camps and made it to Israel. Des-ta is a force to be reckoned with and was keen to share her experiences.

DG: This is exactly the type of truck that we were travelling in after we were sold. They put us in here so it looked like goods being transported. They showed us that if anybody tried to scream they would kill them right there; nobody

wanted to ruin his or her life, so nobody did that or if they did, they would kill that person and set an example in front of us.

LS: Desta set this photo up. She chose the location, knelt on the ground and said to her friend Ze-nebech tie my hands be-

hind my back and get a stick to show how they beat us.

DG: Refu-gees who pass through this are really different, although we are human beings and we still have our bodies on us after the experi-ence. After you have passed through this, you will be really new.

LS: Desta is returning to Ethiopia and wants to work at grassroots level there to prevent trafficking. She fell victim to it because she did not know the risks

now she wants to educate others.DG: This plant is on a stone there is no water-ing to it and there is no food to it, but it still ex-ists. Some people are like that. There are people who are surrounded by nothing, there is nothing left in their

Sinai slavery and torture survivors share their experiences

Please see page 10


life, but its amazing how they are still standing. My dream is to give voice to people I want to do that for people who are repre-sented by this picture.Tizalu Brahan

LS: Tizalu is from rural Ethiopia. She left home to find work in Sudan after her mother died, but the

broker betrayed her and sold her to traffickers.

She was very shy at first but flourished as the proj-ect unfolded, taking hun-dreds of pictures. When she spoke about this picture, we could not believe it the red earth had allowed a very reserved woman to speak about what hap-

From page 8

Sinai slavery and torture survivors . . .pened in Sinai.TB: This is nice, but the red soil that we saw on our journey was different ev-eryone was sick and peo-ple were falling there were men with us and we were on top of each other and some people were just abandoned. It was so dusty in Sinai, you have to eat it. Yes, the red earth reminded me of that. Ill never for-get it. Its linked with my

bone.

TB: This is my room [in the safe house]. I took this pic-ture because I always like to see it. This is the first place I was happy after they stole me and I didnt see my father again. Here my life is really nice. There, in the Sinai, there were no clothes and the place was

not clean; the sand and the not clean place it was all trouble. But here they treat us very nicely: they give us clothes and they give us money.

TB: I have never been to the sea before this was the first time. Because I really liked it, I took a picture of it. It wasnt too cold, it wasnt too hot. Yes, it was exciting to experi-

ence something new.Z e n e b e c h Zeleke

LS: Zenebech was a passion-ate student she loved the pho tography. She and Desta are very close friends; they were trafficked together. She is returning to Ethiopia, and hopes to develop

her photography there, with our support, us-ing it to tell her story.

ZZ: The one thing I want to portray is how people can without their consent, without their will, be taken from where they are to a place that they never want-ed to come to. For exam-ple, a person from one bor-

der is blindfolded, beaten and taken away from the border to another place.

ZZ: Ever since I was a re-ally young person, up until two years ago when I left Ethiopia, people were not my friends. The dolls were my friends. I started hav-

ing people friends after I left Ethiopia, on my journey, thats when I started knowing peo-ple I really had a very lonely life when I was there.

LS: Zenebech is a committed Chris-tian taking strength from her faith dur-ing her ordeal. She took this picture at The Church of the Annunciation on our field trip to Nazareth.

ZZ: There are many ways to tell my story to other people, to

tell about these types of journeys, and if we can do it using photography, thats great. There are things that you go through and want to share, and it makes you feel better. Some of the things that could be told are: they used to force us into taking hashish or drugs and used

to bury people alive and we have seen them beheading people.

The light gets in you can let it in and its positive. But the darkness, it doesnt let you in, it just swamps you, and thats what it does.

Harriet Grant theguardian.com,


Please see page 13

Egypt Should Use Sinai Se-curity Operations to Suppress Trafficking

FEBRUARY 11, 2014

(Berlin) - Traffickers have kidnapped, tortured, and killed refugees, most from Eritrea, in eastern Sudan and Egypts Sinai Peninsula, ac-cording to dozens of inter-viewees said Human Rights Watch. Egypt and Sudan have failed to adequately identify and prosecute the traffick-ers and any security officials who may have colluded with them, breaching both coun-tries obligation to prevent torture.

The 79-page report, I Want-ed to Lie Down and Die: Trafficking and Torture of Er-itreans in Sudan and Egypt, documents how, since 2010, Egyptian traffickers have tor-tured Eritreans for ransom in the Sinai Peninsula, includ-ing through rape, burning, and mutilation. It also docu-ments torture by traffickers in eastern Sudan and 29 in-cidents in which victims told Human Rights Watch that Su-danese and Egyptian security officers facilitated trafficker abuses rather than arresting them and rescuing their vic-tims. Egyptian officials deny there are trafficker abuses in Sinai, allowing it to become a safe haven for traffickers.

Egyptian officials have for years denied the horrific abuse of refugees going on under their noses in Sinai, said Gerry Simpson, senior refugee researcher for Hu-man Rights Watch and author of the report. Both Egypt and Sudan need to put an end to torture and extortion of Er-itreans on their territory, and to prosecute traffickers and any security officials collud-ing with them.

Since June 2013, the Egyptian

authorities have intensified security operations in Sinai in response to almost weekly assassi-nations and attacks on police and military of-ficers by Sinai-based groups. Security of-ficials should ensure that their law enforce-ment operations in-clude identifying and prosecuting traffick-ers, Human Rights Watch said.

The report draws on 37 interviews with Eritreans by Human Rights Watch and 22 by a nongovernmen-tal organization in Egypt. The people in-terviewed said they had been abused for weeks or even months, either near the town of Kassala in eastern Sudan or near the town of Arish in northeastern Sinai, near Egypts border with Israel. Human Rights Watch also interviewed two traffickers, one of whom acknowledged that he tortured dozens of people. The report also draws on interviews conducted by other nongovernmental orga-nizations outside Egypt who have interviewed hundreds of torture victims, and on statements by the United Na-tions High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) relating to its interviews of hundreds of such victims.

The victims said the Egyptian traffickers had tortured them to extort up to US$40,000 from their relatives. All of the witnesses interviewed by Hu-man Rights Watch said they saw or experienced abuse by the traffickers, including rapes of both women and men; electric shocks; burning victims genitalia and other body parts with hot irons, boiling water, molten plastic, rubber, and cigarettes; beat-ing them with metal rods or sticks; hanging victims from

ceilings; threatening them with death; and depriving them of sleep for long peri-ods. Seventeen of the victims said they saw others die of the torture.

Relatives who heard the vic-tims scream through their mobile phones said they collected and wired the vast sums of money the traffickers demanded.

Since 2004, over 200,000 Er-itreans have fled repression and destitution at home to re-mote border camps in eastern Sudan and Ethiopia, dodging Eritrean border guards with shoot to kill orders against people leaving without per-mission. They have no work prospects in or near the camps and until 2010, tens of thousands paid smugglers who took them through Sinai to Israel.

By 2011, Israel had complet-ed large sections of a 240-kilometer fence along its bor-der with Sinai to keep them out. Since then, traffickers have continued to kidnap Er-itreans in eastern Sudan and sell them to Egyptian traf-fickers in Sinai. Every Eri-trean Human Rights Watch

interviewed who had arrived in Sinai in 2012 said that traf-fickers had taken them from Sudan to Egypt against their will.

Human Rights Watch re-ceived new reports of traf-ficking from eastern Sudan to Sinai as recently as Novem-ber 2013 and January 2014.

Eritreans told Human Rights Watch that Sudanese police in the remote eastern town of Kassala, close to Africas oldest refugee camps, inter-cepted them near the border, arbitrarily detained them, and handed them over to traffick-ers, including at police sta-tions.

Some of the victims also said that they had seen how Egyptian security officers had colluded with traffickers at checkpoints between the Sudanese border and Egypts Suez Canal, at the heavily po-liced canal or at checkpoints on the only vehicle bridge crossing the canal, in traffick-ers houses, at checkpoints in Sinais towns, and close to the Israeli border.

Despite the widespread knowledge of the traffick-

ing in Sinai and the severity of the abuses, senior Egyp-tian officials have repeatedly denied that the trafficking is taking place. The few who acknowledge possible abuses say there is not enough evi-dence to investigate.

As of December 2013, Egypts public prosecutor had prosecuted one Sinai traffickers accomplice liv-ing in Cairo, according to a lawyer representing traffick-ing victims. According to in-ternational groups following trafficking cases in Sudan, the Sudanese authorities had prosecuted 14 cases involv-ing traffickers of Eritreans in eastern Sudan. By the end of 2013, Sudan had prosecut-ed four police officials and Egypt had prosecuted none in connection with the traffick-ing and torture.

Both countries failure to adequately investigate and prosecute traffickers who se-verely abuse their victims and the alleged collusion by se-curity officials breaches their obligations under the United Nations Convention Against Torture, international human

Egypt/Sudan: Traffickers Who Torture


Please see page 13

Samsoms father Mr Haile and his mother Ms Zayd were both fighters dur-ing the Eritrean liberation struggle. Samsom was the only child of this young couple. Samsons father lost his life during the struggle and his mother Zayd became his only par-ent.

After Eritrea won its in-dependence, his mother, now a veteran (ex-fighter) moved to the capital city of Asmara. In Asmara, Zayd took the only job she could find, like many female vet-erans she took a job selling parking tickets in the streets of Asmara. Selling parking tickets in the streets is a very low wage job that the government offered to its female veterans. After the independence veterans got much lip service with little support from the govern-ment. The government they helped come to power.

Even this humble leaving was lost however when Zayd lost vision in one eye and was no longer able to work. Samsom had to be-come the bread winner and started taking care of his mother. That is until the government decided to take him away against his

will to do the National Service(Slavery).

Like every Eritrean citizen, Samsom was conscripted under the guise of Na-tional Service which is supposed to include mili-tary training followed by un-paid work for a total of 18 months. Like everyone in Eritrea would tell you, his 18 months of National Service become perma-nent.

Samsom was assigned to the military camp at Klima area.The notorious camp of Klima is located about 40 kilometers from the port of Assab. It has ex-tremely hot climate where temperatures soar to over 40 dgree C (100 degree F) most of the year.

The disgraceful life of con-scripts at Klima was made worst by lack of food, clean water and other basic life amenities.This was too much for the 19 year old body of Samsom. He start-ed to become weak, he fell ill with the symptoms of stomach bug and started to lose so much weight. His health deteriorated so much it reached a point when he had to struggle just to walk and move around.

One morning, sometime around the 16th of June 2006, his brigade com-mander, Yemane (known by his nick name Dimu), ordered Samsom to go out with the others to gather wood. Samsom explained he is ill and cannot work. He pleaded with Yemane Dimu to leave him be un-til he feels better. Yemane Dimu refused to consider his illness and forced him to go with the others.

Because Samsom had dif-ficulty walking his friends, including Yosief Gebrehi-wet, had to take turns to support Samsom to walk. After some distance, they decided to sit Samsom down under the shade of a tree on the way so he can rest while they go gather wood.

That night after everyone was back from gathering wood they noticed that Samsom was not there in the camp. Worried as to his whereabouts they asked their commander Yemane Dimu where Samsom is. He replied carelessly that he doesnt know.

After two days of worry-ing about the whereabouts

of their friend, some of Samsoms friends formed a search party and decided to go search for Samsom. Passing by the areawhere they went gathering wood three days earlier, they saw something at a distance, something that looks like an animal under a tree. Not sure what it was they decided to check it out. As they got closer they dis-covered it was the body of Samson. Lifeless, sitting down under the tree with his head between his legs.

The body was decay-ing and his body was all greased as if it was melting from the heat. His friends, shocked and crying, dug a grave nearby and bur-ied him. His body was too dried and locked into po-sition that they could not straighten him and buried him as he was. His body was too decayed that a piece of flesh from the back remained stack on the tree trunk when they were moving him.

After burying him, Yemane Dimu warned them not to mention of what they saw to anybody he threatened them that if word got out he would have them ex-ecuted. He later forced

them to sign a document promising not tell anyone. He threatened them if any-one knew of the story they would be risking the life of all four of his friends.

After few months of the incident, it was that time when families were told the death of those who died in the 1998-2000 border war with Ethiopia. Families where told that their loved once were martyrs even though the reality is most those who died there were victims of the government itself. Due to the large number of deaths, many of those who died were bur-ied in unmarked graves. Multitudes of human skel-etal remains were collected on a large truck and moved to mass grave later.

Samsoms mother Zayd, was however not told of her sons death because nobody reported him. Af-ter not hearing from her son for so long, she decid-ed to come to Klima with her sister to ask about her son. At this time, Zayd was also losing sight in her oth-er eye. She had traveled for four days from Asmara in hope of seeing her son. At

Samsom Haile: A Victim of National ServiceBy Eden Tedla


Klima she started asking around about her son. But no one was able to give her an answer.

Yosief, one of those who buried Samsom, remem-bers that when he saw her face and learned she was Samsoms mother, he started shaking physi-cally. They told her to ask his commander Yemane Dimu.

Zayd introduced herself as the mother of Samsom and asked Yemane Dimu about her son. Yemane Dimu answered her reluctantly, You are the mother of that lazy rotten Samsom? He cant even gather fire wood. He is buried under the tree, go find him.

And that is how Zayd was told of her only sons

death. A vain and undigni-fied death.

No mother deserves to lose a son because of the Na-tional Slavery. Samsom is speaking from his grave, so we can take action to save millions Eritrean youth like him died and continue till this day. Let us demand justice for Eri-trean youth and for those who have lost their loved ones.

Please join us and make a statement to stop death and suffering caused by the National Slavery.

Web:http://www.stopslav-eryineritrea.com/aboutus.html#roadmap

Twitter: @StopSlavery-InEr

From page 12

Samsom Haile . .

rights law, and, in Egypts case, national and interna-tional anti-trafficking laws, Human Rights Watch said.

Egypt should use its increased security presence in Sinai to apprehend traffickers, in par-ticular near the town of Ar-ish, and investigate security officials colluding with them at the Suez Canal and in Si-nai. Sudan should investigate collusion with traffickers by senior police officials in and around Kassala, including in police stations.

Egypt and Sudan are giv-ing allegedly corrupt security officials a free pass to work with traffickers, Simpson said. The time has long passed for Egypt and Sudan to stop burying their heads in the sand and take meaningful

soles of my feet with rubber tubes. They put water on my wounds and then beat them. Sometimes they electrocuted me, burnt me with hot irons, and dripped melted rub-ber and plastic on my back and arms. They threatened to cut off my fingers using scissors. Sometimes they came into the room, took the women out, and then I heard the women screaming. They came back crying. During the eight months, I saw six others die because of this torture.

Human Rights Watch in-terview with a 17-year-old Eritrean boy, kidnapped in eastern Sudan in August 2011 and transferred to traffickers in Sinai, who abused him for eight months until his rela-tives paid $13,000.

They beat me with a metal rod. They dripped molten plastic onto my back. They beat the soles of my feet and then they forced me to stand for long periods of time, sometimes for days. Some-times they threatened to kill me and put a gun to my head. They hung me from the ceil-ing so my legs couldnt reach the floor and they electrocut-ed me. One person died after they hung him from the ceil-ing for 24 hours. We watched him die.

Human Rights Watch in-terview with a 23-year-old Eritrean man who was kid-napped by traffickers near Su-dans Shagarab refugee camp in March 2012 and handed over to Egyptian traffickers in southern Egypt, who took him to Sinai where he was held with 24 other men and eight women for six weeks.

I arrived in Kassala [in eastern Sudan]. The police stopped me and took me to a police station. They asked me whether I had relatives abroad and I said no. The next morning, the police opened

the door and there were two men standing next to them in the doorway looking at me. I speak a little Arabic so I heard a little of what they said. One of the men asked one of the policemen, Do these men have families who can pay us? and he said, Yes. The next day the police took us to a car parked outside the police station. The same two men were in the car. The po-lice told me to get into the car and the men drove me to the desert about an hour away.

Human Rights Watch in-terview with a 28-year-old Eritrean man on how Suda-nese police handed him over to traffickers in November 2011. He was transferred to traffickers in Egypt who se-verely abused him.

At the Suez Canal, the driv-er told us to get off the bus and we were told to wait in a house, about 150 meters away from the edge of the water. Just after dark, Egyp-tian police in blue uniforms arrived and a little while af-ter a boat arrived. The smug-glers put 25 of us in the boat, while the police stood about 50 meters away watching. We crossed the canal. On the other side there were three soldiers, wearing beige dot-ted uniforms and with small handguns, standing next to some men who looked like Bedouin. While the soldiers watched, the Bedouin loaded us into the back of two civil-ian pickups and told us to lie down and covered us with plastic.

Human Rights Watch in-terview with a 32-year-old Sudanese man on Egyptian police and military collu-sion with traffickers at the Suez Canal. He was held and severely abused in Sinai in April 2011.

Human Rights Watch

action to end these appalling abuses.

When traffickers free Eri-treans whose families have paid their ransom, Egyptian border police often intercept the Eritreans and transfer them to military prosecu-tors and then detain them for months in inhuman and de-grading conditions in Sinais police stations, victims said. The Egyptian authorities deny trafficking victims their rights under Egypts 2010 Law on Combatting Human Trafficking, which says they should receive assistance, protection, and immunity from prosecution.

Instead, the authorities charge them with immigration of-fenses, and deny them access to urgently needed medical care as well as to the UN ref-

ugee agency, UNHCR, which considers refugee claims in Egypt. Egyptian authorities have repeatedly claimed that all Eritreans intercepted in Sinai are illegal migrants, not refugees, ignoring the fact that since mid-2011 most Si-nai trafficking victims have been taken from Sudan to Egypt against their will.

Egyptian authorities only re-lease detained Eritreans when they have raised enough money to buy an air ticket to Ethiopia. There, many come full circle, living once again in the refugee camps near Eritrea where they originally registered as refugees.

International donors to Egypt, including the United States and the European Union and its member states, should press Egyptian and Sudanese authorities to investigate and prosecute traffickers and to investigate any collusion by security officials with traf-fickers.

It is too late for the tortured trafficking victims who have gone through hell in Sinai, Simpson said. But the in-ternational community can try to prevent hundreds more Eritreans from falling into the hands of abusive traffick-ers, while insisting that past crimes should not go unpun-ished.

For detailed extracts of four Human Rights Watchs inter-views with Eritreans describ-ing abuses and law enforce-ment collusion, please see below.

Selected testimony from Eri-treans interviewed for the re-port

They hung me by my arms, and upside down by my an-kles. They beat and whipped my back and head with a rubber whip. They beat the

Egypt/Sudan: Traffickers . . .From page 11


Eritrean President Isaias Af-werki was his usual uncompro-mising self when interviewed on national television earlier this month. Only daydream-ers believe in alternatives to the ruling Peoples Front for Democracy and Justice (PFDJ), said the man who has run this Red Sea state for 23 years without a national elec-tion. Anyone hoping for mul-tiparty democracy, he added, can go to the moon.

Isaias slapped down sugges-tions that the time was ripe for negotiations with neighboring Ethiopia, with which Eritrea has been locked in a no-peace, no-war standoff since a two-year border conflict in the late 1990s left Ethiopian forces il-legally occupying swathes of Eritrean land. As for the notion, recently voiced by a bevy of former U.S. policymakers and ambassadors, that strained re-lations with Washington could and should be improved: This is like chasing the wind!

The dogged intransigence on display in the interview, staged during celebrations to mark his former rebel movements 1990 capture of the strategic port of Massawa, was typical of the man who once led the Eritrean Peoples Liberation Front (EPLF) to victory -- but who has since moved, in many of his own citizens eyes, from heroic liberator to iron-fisted saboteur of Eritrean indepen-dence. He never hesitates when it comes to pouring cold water on expectations, says Gaim Kibreab, a professor at London South Bank Universi-ty and the author of four books on his native country. Every time people hope for change, he comes out and says, You must be kidding.

Isaiass obduracy also sends an inadvertent message: If change in Eritrea cannot be achieved either peacefully or gradually, it must come about through violence.

There have been nearly 13 years of lockdown in Eritrea, a period in which the country routinely dubbed Africas North Korea for its milita-rism and defiant isolationism

has virtually disappeared from global headlines. Isaiass sup-port for fundamentalist groups like Somalias al-Shabab -- one of the reasons for eroding rela-tions with Washington -- has led the United Nations to im-pose sanctions on the country. Nowadays, even physically accessing what was once an African gateway to the Middle East and Europe is a challenge: Lufthansa, the only Western airline that serviced Asmara, Eritreas capital, ceased flying there in October 2013, and the European Union has banned Eritrean Airlines for safety reasons.

Today, there is a growing sense that a crisis point is approach-ing. Eritreas definitely going to blow, predicts Selam Ki-dane, an Eritrean democracy activist based in London.

Isaias cant carry on like this for much longer.

This prospect makes Western policymakers exceedingly jit-tery. Gazing across the Red Sea at Yemen and Saudi Ara-bia, blocking Ethiopias access to the sea, and bordered by Su-dan and Djibouti, Eritrea oc-cupies a prime site in geostra-tegic terms. With South Sudan in the throes of a new civil war and Somalias president struggling to pull together a dysfunctional na-tion, the last thing the Horn of Africa needs is another un-stable country.

Rumors about Isa-iass health circu-late, but thats a common phenome-non with strongmen of whom a popula-tion has begun to tire. A more signifi-cant harbinger of turmoil, in a system that has failed to make the transi-tion from military to civilian rule, is the tangible dis-satisfaction within the countrys armed forces, whose size

-- just under 600,000 members -- seems grossly dispropor-tionate to a population of less than six million.

The rank and file of the armed forces, their numbers swelled by the policy of open-ended, obligatory national service that has sent more than 300,000 Eritreans fleeing the country in the last decade, are increas-ingly unhappy at the denial of civil rights, the rationing of basic commodities, and the fla-grant corruption of senior offi-cers. The PFDJ argument that Ethiopias illegal occupation of Eritrean land -- in violation of a 12-year-old international boundary ruling issued in The Hague -- makes such sacrifice necessary is wearing thin.

With the University of As-mara, the countrys only public institution of higher education, closed and the private sector crippled by import restrictions and foreign-exchange regula-tions, a generation forced to don camouflage has little to look forward to. It feels both caged and marooned.

A preview of the likely future came on Jan. 21, 2013 when 100-200 junior army officers,

accompanied by two tanks, stormed the Ministry of In-formation, a building that sits on a promontory overlooking Asmara and is known locally as Forto. Invading the stu-dio of state-owned EriTV, they managed to force the stations director to read a statement before transmissions were cut, demanding the implementa-tion of Eritreas multiparty constitution and the release of political prisoners. (Some of Isaiass closest collaborators in the 1990s, dubbed the G15, have not been seen since he rounded them up in 2001 for daring to criticize his political and military strategy.)

Operation Forto appeared to go off at half-cock, before the ringleaders had won the unequivocal backing of key generals. The officers may have been hoping to capture Isaias, who was due to attend a meeting at the Ministry of Information but rescheduled at the last moment. Whatever the case, as the hours ticked by, the mutineers allowed them-selves to be talked down by army superiors. The ringlead-er, a colonel, reportedly was later shot or committed sui-cide while fleeing toward the border, and a round of arrests

of high-ranking PFDJ person-nel followed.

But the botched mutiny was a salutary warning. Not just for Isaias, who last month reshuf-fled his generals in what was widely interpreted as a bid to prevent them from building up loyal followings, but also for the Eritrean diaspora, where vocal, civilian opposition to the regime has, of necessity, been corralled and channeled. Isaiass critics living abroad are anxious not to see Eritrea fit the clichd African ste-reotype, whereby a military strongman is replaced not by a civilian administration but by an ambitious young officer who initially promises reform, only to become the new dicta-tor. They are also very worried about being sidelined.

Earlier this month, three EPLF stalwarts staged a press con-ference in the Hilton Metro-pole in London to announce the launch of the Forum for National Dialogue, intended to act as a bridge among the op-position-in-exile, the diaspora, and covert dissenters within the Eritrean administration. Pointing out that the Forto mu-

Is Africas hermit kingdom heading toward a military coup?

Please see page 15


tineers made no reference to the civilian opposition in their public statements, Dr. Asse-faw Tekeste, who once ran the EPLFs Health Department, said the episode highlighted the disconnect between what is happening inside and out-side the country. The muti-neers, he said, had no idea what was going on abroad. Hence the urgent need to get the various players, in Eritrea and outside its borders, talking to one another.

Some might suggest that the junior officers knew about the civilian opposition but re-garded it as irrelevant -- and with good reason. Since Isaias staged a crackdown in 2001, jailing possible rivals and neu-tralizing potential sources of dissent, Eritreas exiled oppo-sition parties have squabbled and fallen out, announcing the formation of all-encompass-ing umbrella groups while repeatedly disagreeing over strategy, roles, affiliation, and funding.

Disputes have often focused on the appropriateness of stag-ing meetings in Addis Aba-ba or accepting funds from Ethiopia -- a coziness that has made it all too easy for Isaias to label his challengers living abroad as traitors. But the ten-sions are also rooted in older antagonisms between former members of the Eritrean Lib-eration Front (ELF), a largely Muslim rebel movement, and the EPLF, in which Christians predominated, that chased them out of the country in the early 1980s.

Despite public mea culpas from former Isaias allies, ELF survivors of that fratricidal rebel war are quick to detect incipient arrogance from ex-iled EPLF cadres who, they ar-gue, are now seeking to topple the unaccountable presidency they originally created. They suspect the movement that lib-erated Eritrea believes it won the right to rule, with or with-out Isaias.

The civilian oppositions real challenge, however, is how to cross a yawning generational divide. Anyone who has at-tended Eritrean opposition meetings or civil society get-togethers knows what these gatherings have in common: Delegates are usually male, over the age of 60, and the in-ternational media and Western officials are notable in their ab-sence. Dissidents might expect to find an automatic hearing among younger Eritreans who are going into exile rather than performing national service -- a constituency voting with its feet. But, in fact, asylum-seek-ers rarely attend. Desperate to build new lives for themselves in the West, they are intent on winning the necessary paper-work, earning a living, and integrating into host societies. Many feel understandably dis-illusioned with both the PFDJ and the opposition, whom they see as selling out to Ethiopia.

Yet lately, there are some promising signs of change.

Growing numbers of Eri-treans living abroad, including younger ones, are being drawn into grassroots activism. They are inspired by events like the Arab Spring and dismayed by stories of the ordeals endured by Eritreans trying to escape their country, who fall prey to gangs of traffickers in the Si-nai or who go down in rickety boats off the Mediterranean Coast. Images of hundreds of coffins lined up in an Ital-ian airport hangar, after a boat laden with mostly Eritrean migrants sank off Lampedusa Island in October 2013 and an estimated 360 people drowned, were a massive shock to the community.

Activists in the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Switzerland, Sweden, Israel, and Australia launched a cam-paign called Freedom Friday a year ago. Going through Eritreas telephone directory, volunteers began randomly cold-calling compatriots back home, urging them to empty the streets each Friday as a gesture of discontent. (The so-ciable evening passeggiata -- a hangover from Italian colonial days -- is an established tradi-tion in Eritrea.)

In September 2013, Free-dom Friday unveiled an un-derground newspaper called Echoes of Forto, the first inde-pendent newsletter in Eritrea since the independent press was closed in 2001. A photo-copier has been smuggled into Asmara, and contributors in the diaspora send electronic files to supporters in the capi-tal, who surreptitiously print out and distribute the news-paper. Volunteers also plaster stickers and posters making fun of Isaias on walls and tele-phone booths at night.

The PFDJ has always been very skilled at marshaling its diaspora followers, who regu-larly disrupt opposition events staged in the West. Now, liais-ing via Twitter and Facebook, activists are fighting back. They are targeting PFDJ meet-ings and anniversary celebra-tions, alerting those who rent out their premises to the op-pressive nature of the regime.

A lot of churches in the U.K. and U.S. stopped hosting these events after we made them aware of Eritreas persecution of Christians. Now the PFDJ doesnt announce its meetings, says Kidane, the democracy activist. Moreover, earlier this month, campaigners sneaked a secret camera into the Eritrean Embassy in London to record officials forcing people in the diaspora to pay a 2 percent tax on earnings, a practice banned by the U.N. Security Council. Canada expelled the Eritrean consul in Toronto last year for continuing to levy the illegal tax, a key source of funding for what the World Bank lists as one of the worlds 10 poor-est countries.

These are tiny steps, particu-larly when compared to the extraordinarily effective fund- and consciousness-raising campaign that Eritreans waged from shabby Western offices in the 1970s and 80s, as the EPLF fought Ethiopias Em-peror Haile Selassie and, later, the Marxist dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam. But there was a time when such disloyalty would have been unthinkable, so genuine was the newly-lib-erated countrys affection for Isaias.

The question now is whether Eritreas fractious civilian op-position can form a common political platform and draw in the wide-ranging grassroots support it needs to win cred-ibility -- before the military men inside Eritrea lose pa-tience once and for all. Eri-trea has always prided itself on forging its own path. But theres one recent, continent-wide trend that Africa-watch-ers would dearly like to see the country embrace in coming years: the phasing out of the military coup as a method of political transformation.

(Source: AFP)

Is Africas hermit kingdom heading toward . . . .From page 14


Please see page 17

OPINION

By Loly RicoPresident, Canadian Council for Refugees

Citizenship rules not only determine which individu-als are Canadian, they also tell us a lot about who we are as a country. So we all need to pay careful atten-tion to a recently tabled bill, which is described by Minister of Citizenship and Immigration Alexan-der as the first comprehen-sive reforms of the Citi-zenship Act in more than a generation.

The bill will make it more difficult for newcomers to become citizens. More ap-plicants will have to pass language and knowledge tests (everyone from 14 to 64 years of age, compared to 18-54 years now). Peo-ple will have to wait lon-ger: they will need 4 years residence in Canada, rather than 3 years.

Furthermore, under the terms of the bill, people will no longer be able to count time spent in Canada before becoming a perma-nent resident this will affect, for example, Live-In Caregivers, who spend years in Canada looking after our children and el-ders before they become permanent residents. It will also prolong the wait for many refugees. Having been forced myself to flee my home country, I know how important it is for ref-ugees to become Canadian citizens. As long as you are a permanent resident, you dont feel fully safe or completely settled. Once you become a citizen, you can close the old wounds and feel that you are now at home in Canada and that you can participate fully. Now you belong to a coun-try that will defend you and look after your basic rights. The fees for citizenship have also gone up. I think back to how hard it would have been for my family to pay these extra fees an extra $200 per adult. The

new fees are already in ef-fect.

I worry that all these bar-riers to becoming a citizen will undo one of the things Canada has been good at: making newcomers feel welcome and encouraging them to be full members of Canadian society. We should not think of citizenship as prize for those who most success-fully struggle through a long process of adapting to Canada. Offering citizen-ship is rather an important way that Canada assists newcomers in that struggle to adapt, by making them feel at home and removing the barriers faced by non-citizens. This helps new-comers to contribute to their full potential which is to Canadas benefit.Far from valuing what fu-ture citizens will bring to this country, the proposed changes seem to suggest an attitude of suspicion towards newcomers that they need to be tested more thoroughly to determine if they are deserving enough

to become Canadians.

Worse, the suspicions con-tinue even after citizen-ship is granted. Under the proposed rules, the Minis-ter would have increased power to strip people of their citizenship in certain situations without the right to a hearing before an in-dependent adjudicator.

Most worryingly, the bill would allow citizenship to be stripped from dual citizens in cases of trea-son or terrorism. Creat-ing separate rules for dual citizens is wrong because it creates a two-tier citi-zenship, with lesser rights for some citizens. It is also wrong to use citizenship rules to punish people for wrongdoing. The criminal system is the proper way to deal with crimes. Citi-zenship is a fundamental status, not something that should be taken away for bad behaviour.

These new powers to strip citizenship on the basis of terrorism or treason are

largely symbolic it is un-likely many people would be affected. The message being sent however is very strong: it says that Cana-dians are not all equal, and that the loyalty of some citizens is in question. This negative message particu-larly affects certain Ca-nadians, notably Muslims and Arabs, who have been unfairly and persistently associated with terrorism.

If passed, I think the bill will make many of us who are dual citizens feel less safe, and that we are not real citizens, because our citizenship could be taken away from us.

As we mark this year the 100th anniversary of the Komagata Maru and the 75th anniversary of the SS St Louis, we are reminded of Canadas shameful his-tory of racist immigration policies. Canada spent decades working to keep Asians and Jews out of Canada. And during the Second World War, Japa-nese Canadians were in-

Is Canada becoming less welcoming towards newcomers?

terned en masse, on the basis of suspicions of trea-son.Canada has come a long way since those days, but we live in the continuing shadow of that past. Our Citizenship Act needs to work to undo the racist policies of the past, bear-ing in mind that the ma-jority of newcomers today are people who 75 or 100 years ago were deliberate-ly excluded from Canada. The Act also needs to be designed to protect the equality of all citizens and to ensure that all will be treated fairly without dis-crimination.

If you share my concern that the Citizenship Act needs to reflect our values as a country, I encourage you to learn more about the proposed changes and contact your Member of Parliament to discuss what you think should be in the bill.


he did of the Vancouver Games found that Canadi-ans were quite willing for taxpayer funds to go to-ward programs focused on securing medals.

Medal fever

However, Donnelly ques-tions Own The Podiums singular focus on aiding only those athletes with a podium chance. Its an ap-proach adopted 10 years ago from the Australians, where its come under crit-icism and re-evaluation.

He points to Norway as an alternate example. The small country of five mil-lion people performed remarkably well, hitting second place for golds and

third for overall medals. That placed it side-by-side with powerhouses such as the U.S. and Russia.

In Norway, sporting groups are funded based not only on high-performance ath-letes with medal capabili-ties but also on grassroots participation.

As a result, they have one of the most active, healthy sporting populations in the entire world, he said. That broad participation in sports creates a large pool to pull from.

Merklinger acknowledged that in the past 18 months, Own The Podium has refo-cused its efforts on longer-term goals in part because

of issues finding the next medallist.

Our athlete pool has flat-lined so we knew that we needed to change our ap-proach in order to increase that pool for the longer term, she said.

The potential for funding stability should be a re-lief to some organizations, frustrated by Own The Podiums fickle attention span.

Ski jumping which saw the womens debut in Sochi got a last-minute cut to its funding the year before the Games, send-ing the sports organization scrambling to make ends meet and forcing it to cut

two paid staff positions.

We were disappointed by their decision to not fund us leading into an Olym-pic year in the first year our sport was in the Olym-pics, said Curtis Lyon, the chairman of Ski Jumping Canada.

Ski jumping saw one of the largest percentage increas-es in funding from Vancou-ver to Sochi, but its among the lowest funded sports by Own The Podium in dollar figures.

Lyon hopes change is on the horizon with Peter Judge, the lead of the suc-cessful freestyle ski team, who is slated to take over as head of Own The Po-

Own the Podium sets sights on 2018 . . .From page 18

diums winter sports in March.

Were hoping that theres a bit of a shift towards helping sports develop into podium potential, not just coming in or out at the last second with money. Or giving money at the last second, said Lyon.

Whatever happens in the next four years, its cer-tain, as Merklinger said, theres a lot of work to be done.

Amber HildebrandtCBC NEWS


please see page 17

Despite Canadas many successes at the Sochi Games, it fell short of its own admit-tedly audacious goals, a stumble thats high-lighted the escalating medals race between nations and reinvigo-rated critics of Own the Podium.

We set a new bar in Vancouver for Canada and for other nations, said Anne Merklinger, the CEO of Own The Podium, a non-profit that exists to help Ca-nadian athletes with medal potential win. Other nations are chasing Canada and we need to continue to find ways that we can improve high-performance sport in our country.

At the 2010 Vancouver Games, Canada racked up a record 26 overall med-als, including a record 14 golds. This time, the coun-try won 25 medals, includ-ing 10 golds.

That put Canada in fourth place in the overall stand-ings, its lowest position since the 2002 Salt Lake City Games, and dropped it from the top gold medal spot to third.

It also failed to reach the bold goals set out by the Canadian Olympic Com-mittee and Own The Po-dium, including exceeding Vancouvers 26 medals or even winning the total medal count. Russia man-aged that feat with 33.

Officials say they arent

disappointed.

With countries investing more into the so-called global medals race, the gap is closing between the top-tier nations, said Merklinger. Thats forcing them to rejig their strategy by looking further into the future.

Own the Podium has al-ready turned its attention to pinpointing podium potential athletes for the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Games and even the 2022 Games.

But the organization is planning an extensive de-brief with sporting groups to analyse the Sochi per-formance.

Some sporting organiza-tions that fell short of ex-pectations like snow-boarding, alpine and cross-country skiing are already expressing con-cerns about cuts to fund-ing. Others are questioning

the short-term approach taken by Own The Podium in the first place.

Merklinger said its too early to know what sports hold the best medal pos-sibilities, but assures or-ganizations that it looks to future potential, not past performance.

Costly games

Own The Podium will also scrutinize other nations, some of which, like Great Britain and Russia, are adopting similar programs. Russia reigned supreme over both the gold and overall medal tallies, with 13 and 33 respectively.

It costs more and more money just to stay in the same place because oth-er countries are putting so much money into at-tempting to win Olympic medals, warned Peter Donnelly, director of the University of Torontos Centre for Sport Policy

Studies.

When it comes to costs, Own The Podium actually spent less in Vancouver per medal won $2.6 mil-lion than the $3.2 million in Sochi. That doesnt in-clude private sponsorship or other funds that sports receive.

The single costliest medal was the unexpected bronze won by Jan Hudec in al-pines super-G. It was the only win in alpine, a sport given the third highest amount by Own The Po-dium at $7.2 million. But it ended Canadas 20-year drought in the sport.

Freestyle skiing which re-ceived a tenth of Own The Podiums $80 million, the biggest portion proved to be the most successful sport, with seven medals.

We had the best coaches, trainers, physios, Mike Riddle, who won silver in mens halfpipe, said on the

weekend. Access to the best facilities made all the difference.

Overall, Canada spent $15 million on sports that didnt get medals includ-ing cross-country skiing, skeleton, luge, biathlon and ski jumping.

Then again, as Donnelly notes, predicting medal wins is a fools game.

Its sport, said Donnelly. On any given day, any-thing can happen.

And as Dan Mason, a Uni-versity of Alberta sports policy professor, notes, in the end, not every medal is worth the same in the eyes of Canadians. The gold medal domination in both womens and mens hockey and curling counts for more when Canadians assess a Games success.

Mason adds that a study

Own the Podium sets sights on 2018, 2022 Olympic medallists

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Editors: Grace CherianPhotographer: Mulugeta Zergaber Contributors: Mohamed Edris Naza HasebenebiMedhin Ghebreslasie, Amleset Tesfay, Bode Odetoy-inbo, Mimi Chandy, Ken NtiamoaSubscription Costs in Canada $39 for a year and $59 for two years. In USA, it costs $45 for a year and $69 for two years.Articles appearing in assorted columns of Meftih newspaper are intended to generate civil & informed public discussions. You dont have to agree with opinions expressed by the writers. However, that should push you to express your own views. Through that way we generate lively & civil discussions in the community. Rejoinders are not forums for personal insults & we want readers to adhere to these principles.

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please see page 21

By Grace CherianMoms ties to India were very strong. Ive learned more about this especially since her death.

When Mom was twenty-five, she married Dad in India. Very shortly after, they left India for Singapore, seeking better op-portunities. Four children came along in rapid succession in four years and later, a fifth. Mom longed to go home. So in 1956, she took her three children while pregnant with a fourth, boarded a ship and returned to India. Dad stayed behind to work and sup-port the family. Unfortunately, things didnt work out in India. So Mom returned to Singapore.

In 1971 Dad emigrated to Can-ada from Brunei where he was

teaching. A year later, the rest of the family followed: Mom, my oldest brother James, older sis-ter Liz, younger brother David and the baby of the family, Wils, born nine years after David.

I found myself out of work in 1986. Liz was also in the same situation. James was then work-ing at Goodyear Tire Company in Quebec. Mom, Liz, Wils and I decided to return to India and make it our home. James took a leave of absence from work and accompanied us on the trip. We sold our house in Mississauga, packed our belongings and flew into Trivandrum, the capital of Kerala, in India.

Poor Mom was so disillusioned and deeply distressed when we arrived at Trivandrum airport. The officials treated us like

One of Moms Deepest

Yearningscommon criminals. They ran-sacked our luggage and made a complete mess of our neatly packed clothing. We had no idea what they were searching for. Drugs? Explosives? This was decades before strict airport controls were imposed. What a terribly nasty welcome for poor Mom who had been away from India for 34 years!! I had never experienced such outrageous in-dignities from airport officials before or since. We think the green-eyed monster, jealousy, had overtaken these men. These Indians must have hated other Indians who seemed to have more money than they did.

Life in India wasnt at all like it is here in Canada. I realized I had become very westernized and terribly spoilt. Here at the mere push of a button, I can turn

on a stove, wash and dry my clothes.

We lived like refugees in Trivan-drum, sleeping on mats on the concrete floor of a flat we had rented. Poor Mom bought a kerosene stove and slaved away to prepare meals for us after shopping for groceries in nearby shops. We hired auto rickshaws to get from one place to another. But Mom, my sister or I never traveled alone. One of my broth-ers always accompanied us. We didnt want to risk of being at-tacked, raped or killed.

Every auto rickshaw driver was so corrupt, always insisting they get paid more than the fare that we had agreed upon. They could see that even though we

be a motivating factor in creating identity-related fraud schemes including synthetic identities.

John Russo, vice-presi-dent and legal counsel of consumer credit report-ing agency Equifax, said theyve uncovered cases of people on do-not-fly lists using synthetic IDs for travel purposes.

Theyve created these fictitious IDs to escape and avoid being caught at airports, and being able to travel across the borders in terms of exchange of ma-terials.

So its not only financial gain, but for other criminal elements.

Police have also uncovered synthetic identity fraud in-volving airline tickets be-tween New York, Toronto and Pakistan, a high-risk state in the world of global security.

Toronto Police Detective Constable Mike Kelly, who has been investigating synthetic identities for the past four years, said these schemes can be very use-ful to anybody with bad things on their mind.

Think of the potential of having an apartment and a vehicle and a phone, all registered in different names. That you can come and go as you please. You have the ability to open businesses and transport

large volumes of materials in trucks with appropriate permits and licence desig-nations, he said.

And then at the end of the day, when people like myself and police agencies go to investigate whos be-hind it all, theres a puff of smoke and theres nobody there.

Fraudsters didnt enjoy spoils of their efforts

In a five-month investi-gation called Operation Mouse, Kelly and his col-league discovered synthet-ic identities were responsi-ble for $25 million in fraud losses in which credit card bills and mortgages were never repaid. But Kelly said one of his concerns is that the vast majority of fraudsters theyve come across who are involved in these schemes are living modestly.

Generally people do fraud for financial gain and most people get financial gain so they can enjoy the spoils of their efforts. In this case, we never saw that, he said.

Instead, Kelly said he be-lieves the money is going to something overseas that isnt anything posi-tive.

I dont think anything good comes from some-body in an organization hoovering tens of millions of dollars out of our legiti-

mate economy and feeding some form of organized crime. Particularly one that operates overseas.

Mushani suggested that the ease with which iden-tities can be created, the amount of money that can be raised and the destina-tion of the funds should be cause for concern.

There are streams of mon-ey. We dont know where its going. Hezbollah? Per-haps, I cant say. Or any organization? I cant say.

In your own backyard you have safe houses being put up by people youre not aware of. You dont know the size of this group of individuals, but theyre highly financially- so-phisticated, she said.

They know how the de-partments work, govern-ment departments. Where the access points are. Where the weaknesses are. They seem to know a lot of things. I think it would worry anyone.

Terrorist finance laws brought in after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks are just not effective to deal with this new type of crime, she added.

The complete structure cannot appropriately ad-dress this crime, she said.

Rick MacInnes-RaeCBC News

Suspected terrorist links . . .From page 22


were Indians, we were dressed like Westerners. Moreover we didnt speak the language. So they cheated us every single time. We learned not to argue with them. Because one auto rickshaw driver even fought with James when James tried to pay no more than the pre-ar-ranged fare.

We didnt last very long in India. After six weeks, we were back in Canada. In the meantime, James had asked Dad to look for and buy a house for Mom and Wils to live in. My sister and I stayed with a friend. James returned to his job in Quebec.

When James and I traveled to India to visit Moms relatives last year, we met one of our very elderly uncles, Uncle Cyril, whos in his eighties or even

nineties. He told us Mom had written to him once, asking him to buy a piece of land near St. Josephs Metropolitan Cathe-dral where Mom had worshiped as a child and young lady. James and I were really surprised. We had known nothing about this. Clearly, that plan never materi-alized.

Just recently, I was talking with a former colleague, Bim, who had become very good friends with Mom. Bim phoned Mom regularly. Bim told me that Mom had once said to her, You, Grace and I should go and live in a convent in India.

When I heard this, I felt very sad. Mama, you never shared this deep yearning with me. You did tell me often that you didnt like Canada at all, for obvious

One of Moms Deepest . . .From page 20

rea-sons. It was here that a tempes-tuous ocean of suffering broke out and enveloped you: the loss of your spouse through divorce; recurrent illnesses in the family; the tragic and untimely death of your tender-hearted loving son and companion, Wils; and end-less periods of loneliness.

Mama, its no wonder you longed to return to India. But you never fulfilled your hearts longing. Now, however, you live in the very best home in the entire universeHeavenbasking in the love of your dear Saviour whom you served so faithfully all your life. And all your terrible suffering is finally over. All these facts, Precious Mama, provide a soothing balm to my soul.

After years of touting the latest gadgets and beauty products, the former pub-lisher of a Canadian wom-ens magazine is making amends for years of pro-moting over-consuming with her pledge to buy nothing for an entire year.Former Chatelaine pub-lisher Lee Simpson -- who is now a United Church minister in Lunenberg, N.S. -- is still frequenting the grocery store to fill her fridge, she says shes given up the habit of buying for the sake of buying. That means shes stricken such items as new (and second-hand) clothes, shoes, fur-niture, books, gifts, and toiletries all off of her shopping list.This is largely ecologi-cally driven on my part to leave a smaller footprint, Simpson told CTVs Can-ada AM on Tuesday.

Simpson, who is blogging about her year-long chal-lenge, says the decision to scale back on shopping is also her own personal mea culpa after spending years in the magazine in-dustry encouraging readers to purchase stuff, the ma-jority of it being fatten-ing, silly, fragile, fleeting.I was an enthusiastic par-ticipant in a business that reduced people to their lowest common denomina-tor: consumers, she wrote in her blog.Simpson said she was in-spired to embark on the

year-long-challenge, which started on Jan. 1, 2014, when she was searching for a Christmas gift for her grandson last December.I discovered that there was nothing on offer that wasnt stereotyped, brand-ed, plastic, made offshore, and frankly, an invitation to join a giant corporate cult of buying, she said.To prepare for her self-im-posed challenge, Simpson stockpiled eco-friendly household cleaning prod-ucts and toiletries.TP is not optional. But cloth hankies await the first sniffle, and my mother kept a clean kitchen for decades without paper towels. Re-member rags? Simpson wrote in her blog.While the challenge hasnt been too difficult so far, Simpson admits there have been a few times when her mission has been less than easy.Not being able to buy gifts for other people, Simpson admits, has been a psy-chological challenge.Im one of those people who would spend hours looking for the perfect shade of blue to match my daughters eyes, she said.But Simpson hasnt given up giving gifts. Recently, rather than buy her son-in-law a birthday present, she decided to make him a loaf of bread every week instead.He seems delighted with it and Im exploring new bread recipes.Fan-Yee Suen, CTVNews

The N.S. woman trying to buy nothing for a year

Meftih March 2014 Volume 9 Issue 7: page 22 Technology & Science

Please see page 20

The drones ability to stay in the air for at least five years using solar power makes it ideal for Facebooks Internet.org initiative, which is focus-ing on regional Internet sys-tems

Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) is getting aggressive with its Internet.org initiative af-ter spending $19 billion on WhatsApp. The social net-working giant is the big-gest backer of the Internet.org initiative. Mark Zucker-berg aims to provide afford-able Internet access to the remaining 5 billion people through the initiative. Now the company is in talks to buy Titan Aerospace, which makes solar-powered drones. Sources close to the deal told TechCrunch that Facebook is willing to shell out about $60 million for the acquisition.

Facebook to use drones ex-clusively for the Internet.org initiative

Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) may use these near-orbital drones to provide Internet access to regions that still lack Internet access, begin-ning with Africa. According to TechCrunch, the company would build about 11,000 Solara 60 model unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). And

all of them would be used for the Internet.org initiative. These drones can perform most of the functions of an orbital satellite, but are much cheaper. They can be used for Earth imaging, disaster re-covery, communication and weather monitoring. But the Menlo Park-based company is more likely to be interested in its communications capa-bilities.

Titan Aerospace drones can be launched at night. They use power from the internal battery packs until the sun rises. And then the drones use solar energy to ascend to 12.5 miles above sea level. They can remain there for at least five years without needing to refuel or land. Titan Aero-space is a private company led by CEO Vern Raburn. It has R&D facilities in New Mexico.

What is Facebook planning?

Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG)s Proj-ect Loon also aims to provide easy Internet access to the other 5 billion people who dont use the internet. But it involves balloons. There have been reports that Fa-cebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) is already working on the counterpart to Googles

Project Loon. Its a bit sur-prising that the social media company paid $19 billion for WhataApp, and is willing to pay only $60 million to make Internet more accessible. TechCrunch says that What-sApp also shares the same broader goal of bringing In-ternet to the world, from Fa-cebooks point of view.

If Titan Aerospace drones can provide weak but free Internet access to emerg-ing countries, Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) could make a basic version of WhatsApp for those users. The basic version may not allow users to share photos and videos, but they could send messag-es and view status updates. Facebook acquired Onavo, which is working on data compression technologies. It will allow same functions to consumer less data to com-plete. The Onavo-optimized version of WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger could run on weak Internet strength provided by drones because they dont need much data.

Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) shares rose 1.66% to $68.53 in pre-market trading Tues-day.

Vikas Shuklahttp://www.valuewalk.com/

Facebook Inc (FB) To Buy Drone Maker Titan Aerospace

The growing problem of synthetic identity fraud is raising concerns that ter-rorist cells could be linked to these schemes, experts say.

This requires immediate attention. This is extreme-ly serious, and its been ignored for way too long, said Kalyani Munshani, an expert in financial crime.

Synthetic identity fraud is a scheme that procures new and genuine credit and identification cards us-ing false names in order to create a fake identity.

Fraudsters have been able to obtain drivers licences, passports, phone numbers and credit cards, as well as open bank accounts, take out bank loans and create companies, all under fake names. By the time po-lice move in, many of the fraudsters have vanished, leaving investigators try-ing to locate people who never existed.

While domestic organized crime is certainly involved in these frauds, Munshani has warned of the possibil-ity of a terrorist link.

She said synthetic identi-ties are used for two pur-poses: revenue generation and logistical purpose.

And this is where the real concern lies, said Mun-shani, who has referred to synthetic identity fraud as a game changer.

Using synthetic identi-ties, safe houses can be es-tablished, cars can be rent-ed, heavy vehicles can be bought, international travel can be facilitated, restricted goods can be bought with-out any flags being raised, she said. This is not a conventional crime. This is more towards terrorism, I believe, not just merely revenue generation.

The RCMP has also warned that terrorism may

Suspected terrorist links to synthetic ID fraud are

being ignored

Dr. Kalyani Mushani, an expert in financial crime


Please see page 24

OTTAWA -- The Ukraini-an flag is flying on Parlia-ment Hill as demonstrators gather nearby at Russias embassy to protest the military intervention in Ukraine.Prime Minister Stephen Harpers official Twit-ter account says the flag, which is on display just east of the Centre Block, illustrates Canadas soli-darity with the Ukrainian people.The move comes the day after the House of Com-mons unanimously passed a motion condemning Rus-sias dramatic incursion

in the country, which has been riven by protests for months.

Russian President Vladi-mir Putin, meanwhile, spoke out today to assert his countrys right to use its military to protect Rus-sians in Ukraine.Putin also says any sanc-tions against Russia by the United States and the Euro-pean Union will backfire.He accused the West of sowing divisions within Ukraine.

With files from The As-sociated Press

Ukrainian flag hoisted over Parliament Hill in Ottawa

The Canadian Food In-spection Agency says it cant confirm a link be-tween contaminated ani-mal feed and the outbreak of a deadly pig virus.After conducting tests on pig feed pellets made with porcine blood plasma, the CFIA has concluded that the plasma did contain genetic material of the porcine epidemic diarrhea virus. However, the agency says it could not demon-strate that the feed pellets containing the blood plas-ma were capable of caus-ing disease.The porcine e p i d e m i c diarrhea, or PED, virus was first detected in Canada at an Ontario pig farm in January. The virus has since been report-ed at farms in Mani-toba, Prince E d w a r d Island and Quebec.

Although it poses no risk to human health or food safety, PED can be highly contagious and has killed millions of piglets in the U.S. since last May.In a news release, the CFIA says it will continue to analyze feed ingredients and follow up with farms that may have received the contaminated feed.The feeds Ontario pro-ducer, Grand Valley Forti-fiers, voluntarily recalled the feed pellets last month. The company says on its

CFIA cant confirm contaminated feed caused deadly pig virus outbreak

website that it may have received contaminated porcine blood plasma from a major North American manufacturer. The CFIA said the blood plasma originated in the U.S. It says its working closely with American of-ficials to ensure that the affected plasma was not shipped to other pig feed manufacturers in Canada.The Canadian Swine Health Board has said that the disease has been con-tained in Canada thanks to tighter control measures since the outbreak.

MOSCOW -- Ac-cusing the West of encouraging an un-constitutional coup in Ukraine, Vladi-mir Putin said Tues-day that Moscow reserves the right to use its military to protect Russians there but hopes it wont need to. The Russian leaders first comments on Ukraine since its fugitive president fled came as U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry arrived in Kyiv to meet with Ukraines

new government.Putin declared that Western actions were driving Ukraine into anarchy and warned that any sanctions the West places

on Russia for its ac-tions there will back-fire.We arent going to fight the Ukrainian p e o p l e , Putin said, adding that the massive

military ma-noeuvrs Russia had been do-ing involving 150,000 troops near Ukraines border had been previously planned and

were unrelated to the current situation in Ukraine. He or-dered the troops back to their bases.

The U.S. announced a $1 bil-lion aid package Tuesday in energy subsidies to Ukraine, which faces a looming finan-cial disaster. NATO mem-bers met in Brussels and announced that the alliance would hold talks Wednesday with Russian officials about Ukraine, while world mar-kets rose, buoyed by Putins apparent efforts to de-esca-late tensions.

We are going to do our best (to help you). We are going to try very hard, Kerry said upon arriving in Kyiv. We hope Russia will respect the election that you are going to have.Ukraines finance minister, who says the country needs $35 billion to get through this year and next, was meeting with International Monetary Fund officials.Tensions remained high in Crimea, with troops loyal to Moscow firing warning shots to ward off protesting

Putin: Russia has right to use force in Ukraine


Ukrainian soldiers. Heavily armed pro-Russian forces took over the strategic pen-insula on Saturday, sur-rounding its ferry, military bases and border po

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Meftih Newspaper March 2014