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UN adopts historic ‘land grab’ guidelines
The United Nations has adopted global guidelines for rich countries buying land in developing nations.
The voluntary rules call on governments to protect the rights of indigenous peoples who use the land.
It is estimated that 200m hectares, an area eight times the size of Britain, has been bought or leased over the past decade, much of it in Africa and Asia.
But aid agencies warn it will be very difficult to ensure the guidelines are implemented everywhere.
AFP quoted Clara Jamart from Oxfam as saying this was just a first step and urging caution.
“Governments have no obligation to apply these measures,” she said.
There has been growing concern about so-called land grabs, when foreign governments or companies buy large areas of land to farm.
In Africa countries such as Ethiopia, South Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo and Sierra Leone have all signed major land deals with foreign investors.
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Mr Waaqo Daddach interview with Linord Moudou of VOA TV
Baek Kim and Waaqo Daddacha in Kim’s laboratory. Their ability to make precise measurements of DNA’s building blocks helped them discover why HIV-1 does not infect certain white blood cells.
A protein that protects some of our immune cells from the most common and virulent form of HIV works by starving the virus of the molecular building blocks that it needs to replicate, according to research published online in Nature Immunology.
The finding comes from an international team of researchers including scientists from the University of Rochester Medical Center, NYU Langone Medical Center, several institutions in France – and a graduate student who is a political refugee from Africa and is now at work in a Rochester laboratory, intent on helping his people who have been devastated by the HIV epidemic.
While researchers hope the work will one day lead to a way to make anti-HIV drugs more effective by increasing their potency against the virus, they’re also excited about its implications for our knowledge of other pathogens, such as herpes viruses, which use the same machinery within our cells that HIV does to replicate.
For more read University of Rochester news room and BBC health news
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Oromo Cultural Show in Rochester Was a
Success
The Oromo Community of Western New York has completed cultural show it hosted on December 10, 2011successfully. This unique show brought several communities and individuals from Rochester and surrounding cities together. Actually some members of Oromo community and others drove hours to attend this fun yet meaningful event. We like to thank all individuals and organizations who honored our invitation and made it to the show. OCWNY is confident that our guests acquired significant amount of knowledge about Oromos and their culture from this unique show.
At the event there were several to observe. Upon stepping in the hall, one thing that strikes the guest’s eyes was the display of Oromo traditional belongings. Traditional display items ranging from cloths to equipments were brought out by OCWNY members to show the unique Oromo culture. The traditional cloths of children and adults made the show even more representative of Oromo nation. Through the traditional cloths and displayed items, one could observe the diversity and complexity of Oromos. In addition the traditional foods gave attendants the test of Oromia.
Like any Oromo events, OCWNY Oromo cultural show was started by a blessing. Again, even the blessing was proof of the diversity and complexity of Oromos. The blessing was lead by Mr Achoy Urufule, Haji Amaan Usoo and Mr Konte Dofaa representing Waaqefannaa, Islam, and Christian respectively. Although most of the audiences are familiar with the Islam and Christian, it is their first time to hear of Waaqefanna. Thus there was a brief introduction about Waaqefana, the indigenous and major religion of Oromos before arrival of Islam and Christian. Following the blessing the audiences were entertained by several traditional dances including ceremonial and other songs from different Oromia regions. While talking about the traditional dances it worth mentioning the time and energy OCWNY children contributed. They took their job seriously, practiced hard and performed beautifully. The community treasures them and encourages them to keep it up. Beside its member’s effort, OCWNY got to where it is by support of other organizations. To say thank you to such organizations OCWNY awarded the certificate of appreciation to Harter Secrest & Emery LLP, Downtown united Presbyterian Church (DUPC) and Flying Squirrel Community Space (FSCS).
Although entertainment is part of the event, the major aim of the show was to educate the audience about Oromo people and their history. The keynote speaker, the president of OCWNY, Mr Waaqo Daddacha provided the facts about Oromos and their history. During his talk Mr. Waaqo showed the connection between current Ethiopia, Oromia and Abyssinia. Moreover, the talk highlighted the human right abuse in Ethiopia as general and that of Oromos in particular. The talk was concluded urging the audience to support the Oromo cause by taking necessary actions. In addition the background about the OCWNY was presented by Biftu Duresso and Abshiro Abubakar. The two beautiful girls walked the audience through the journey of OCWNY from initiation up to now. In their talk Biftu and Abshiro underlined the major accomplishment of the community including the Afaan oromo teaching program and advocating for basic human rights.
Generally, this event brought the Oromo history to light and showed the unity and strength of OCWNY members. Beside the performing members, several others supported the show by contributing their part. The organizing committee thanks all who contributed their time, energy and money to make this event successful. Particularly, thanks to DUPC for covering the cost of rent for the venue.
Unity is Strength
Tokkumman Jabeena
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Oromo Community in New York joined several
to celebrateworld refugee day.
The world refugee day was celebrated with a number of activities, including parade, speeches, traditional dance, and food in city of Syracuse, NY. The oromo community in New York participated on this event and introduced themselves and their root to other communities. Oromo community members paraded holding their colorful flag chanting “Oromiya shall be free” and ‘’Oromiyaan ta oromooti” During the festival president of the Community Mr. Waaqo Daddacha gave a speech that introduced Oromo people and Oromiya. Mr Daddacha indicated that oromos make about half of Ethiopian population and their land is a main source of Ethiopian income. He also highlighted the problem forced most of oromos to exile, successive suppression from Ethiopian government and thereat to their lives. At the end he thanked U.S.A and humanitarian agencies such as UNHCR for providing hope to refugees at a time they need it most and urged audience to do their part to help refugees. After the speech oromo community members took the stage and showed a traditional dance that brought audience to their feet.
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admin @ February 6, 2011