More than 3 million people are expected to vote in non-binding poll that has raised tensions and fears of instability
Islam is the real positive change that you need to change for being a better person or a perfect human being, you can change yourself if you read QURAN, IF YOU DO THAT !! you will change this UMMAH, say I am not A Sunni or Shia, BUT I am just a MUSLIM. Be a walking QURAN among human-being AND GUIDE THEM TO THE RIGHT PATH.
Saturday, September 30, 2017
Friday, September 29, 2017
Thursday, September 28, 2017
Wednesday, September 27, 2017
Tuesday, September 26, 2017
Monday, September 25, 2017
برنامج لتأهيل النساء لتقبّل الزوجة الثانية
الامارات اليوم
يتكوّن من 5 جلسات لاحتواء حالات الغضب الهستيري والاكتئاب الانفعالي
:
- أشرف جمال ــ أبوظبي
2/2
صمّمت باحثة متخصصة في علم النفس برنامج علاج نفسي وانفعالي،
لإعادة تأهيل النساء اللائي يصبنَ بصدمة، نتيجة تزوّج أزواجهن بأخريات،
ويستهدف البرنامج الزوجات في حالات الغضب الهستيري والاكتئاب الانفعالي،
الذي قد يؤثر فيهن نفسياً وصحياً، كما يؤثر في أطفالهن.
وتعتمد الدراسة التي أعدّتها الاستشارية النفسية والأسرية، زهراء
الموسوي، وحصلت «الإمارات اليوم» على نسخة منها، على خمس جلسات نفسية
وإرشادية، يتم خلالها العمل على إقناع الزوجة بأن موضوع الزواج الثاني
موجود، شئنا أم أبينا، وهو في حقيقته مشابه تماماً لموضوع إنجاب الابن
الثاني أو الثالث، فما تشعر به الزوجة الأولى من غيرة، مشابه تماماً لشعور
الطفل الذي يولد له أخ أو أخت.
وتفصيلاً، ذكرت دراسة بحثية عرضت خلال فعاليات مؤتمر أبوظبي الدولي
الأول للجمعية العالمية لإعادة التأهيل النفسي والاجتماعي، الذي نظمه جناح
العلوم السلوكية في مدينة الشيخ خليفة، التابعة لشركة أبوظبي للخدمات
الصحية (صحة)، أن موضوع الزواج الثاني للزوج، بما أنه شرعاً وقانوناً مسموح
به، فمهما حاولت الزوجة الأولى منعه، فذلك لن يحدث، وهو في الغالب يسبب
لها صدمة، وعدم قدرة على ممارسة الحياة اليومية كما في السابق، لافتة إلى
أن بعض الزوجات يصبنَ بحالات اكتئاب تفاعلي نتيجة زواج أزواجهن بأخريات، ما
يؤثر سلباً في الأبناء، وفي قدرتها على اتخاذ القرارات الصحيحة.
وقالت الموسوي، في دراستها، إن موضوع الزواج الثاني موجود شئنا أم
أبينا، وهو في حقيقته مشابه تماماً لموضوع إنجاب الابن الثاني أو الثالث،
فما تشعر به الزوجة الأولى من غيرة، مشابه تماماً لشعور الطفل الذي يولد له
أخ أو أخت، إلاّ أن الأول مرفوض عرفاً، بينما الثاني أمر طبيعي ويوجه
للطفل اللوم على غيرته، فيما يُتعاطف مع الزوجة الأولى على مشاعرها.
وأفادت الدراسة بأنه يتم خلال الجلسة الأولى تكوين علاقة مهنية بين
المرشدة والحالة، من خلال أخذ المعلومات الأساسية، ثم الاستماع للحالة في
بيان مشكلتها والاستفسار عن أهم الأفكار الداخلية المزعجة لها، مثل «هل
يوجد عيب فيّها جعل زوجها يتزوج عليها؟ هل هي غير مرغوبة لزوجها؟ هل تستطيع
مواجهة نظرات الناس بعدما أصبح لدى زوجها زوجة أخرى؟ هل يتسبب زواج زوجها
في حرمانها وأبنائها من حقوقهم المادية في المنزل والمصرف؟».
فيما تقوم المرشدة في الجلسة الثانية، بحسب الدراسة، بتعليم نموذج «ABC»
للحالة، ووضع الأفكار المستخلصة من الجلسة الأولى في الجدول، ومناقشتها مع
الحالة، وبيان اللاعقلانية فيها، منها أهم فكرة تراود الزوجة، المتمثلة في
«وجود عيب فيّها جعل زوجها يتزوج عليها»، فهذه الفكرة تزعزع ثقة الزوجة
بنفسها، وتقديرها لذاتها، خصوصاً أنها تربط تقديرها لذاتها بتقدير الزوج
لها، وعن طريق تقنية الحوار الجدلي يتم إقناع الزوجة بأن زواج الزوج لا
يعني بالضرورة أنها سيئة، وليست مرغوبة ومطلوبة.
وتتعلق الجلسة الثالثة بمعالجة أحد أهم الأمور الصعبة التي تواجهها
الزوجة الأولى، بعد زواج زوجها، وهي مواجهة حديث الناس عنها، أو شفقتهم
عليها، أو تشجيعها على السلوكيات العدوانية والمدمرة مع زوجها، أو ضد
الزوجة الثانية، أو لومها بأنها هي السبب في زواج الزوج.
ففي هذه الجلسة، تستخدم المرشدة تقنية التقبل غير المشروط لذاتها، حتى
تتوقف عن لوم نفسها تجاه الموضوع، وثم لعب الأدوار لتعلم السلوك التوكيدي
في مواجهة من يشجعونها على السلوك العدواني مع الزوج، أو ترك المنزل، أو
اللجوء إلى السحر والرقية، كي يكره الزوج الزوجة الثانية ويعود إليها، كما
يتم تعليم الحالة الفرق بين الصبر كحالة سلبية، والتكيف كفعل فعال.
وتركز المرشدة في الجلسة الرابعة على تشجيع الحالة على أن تبحث في
أسرتها أو صديقاتها عن شخص داعم لها، تستطيع اللجوء إليه حين تشعر بالضغط
والتوتر، أو تحتاج إلى دعم عاطفي.
في ما تتعلق الجلسة الأخيرة بطمأنة الحالة بأنها في المسار الصحيح،
وتشدّد على ضرورة عدم الالتفات لمن يلومها على تكيفها مع الوضع بطريقة قد
تجعلها تشك في صحة ما تقوم به.
وأفادت الدراسة البحثية بأن الجلسات الخمس ستحقق نتائج إيجابية منقطعة
النظير، موضحة أنه بعد الجلسات الإرشادية ستستطيع الزوجة أن تشعر بالسيطرة
على حياتها، بعد أن كانت تشعر بأنها خارجة على السيطرة
مشاعر الضعف والاكتئاب
أفادت الاستشارية النفسية والأسرية، زهراء الموسوي، بأن
وجود منافس قوي يسبب للإنسان مشاعر الضعف والاكتئاب والإحساس بأنه غير
مطلوب، ما يسبب بالتالي مشاعر الاكتئاب أو الغضب والإحباط.
وأوضحت أن هذه المشاعر تتولّد لدى الزوجة عندما يتزوج عليها
زوجها، وتنعكس سلباً على الأبناء، وتؤثر في حياتهم الطبيعية، وهناك من
وقعن في هذه الظروف، ولم يستطعن التأقلم معها، فانعكست الآثار السلبية على
الأبناء
.
ظاهرة الزواج الثاني
خلصت دراسة بحثية أعدّتها الاستشارية النفسية والأسرية،
زهراء الموسوي، إلى أن ظاهرة الزواج الثاني أمر مسموح به في الشريعة
والقانون، فيجب التعامل معه بشكل يقلل من الآثار السلبية في جميع الأطراف
المعنية بالموضوع، عن طريق برنامج إرشادي عقلاني انفعالي، تم تصميمه
لإعادة تأهيل الزوجة الأولى، بعد زواج زوجها، للعودة إلى ممارسة الحياة
الطبيعية دون أزمات نفسية، مشيرة إلى أن البرنامج يتكوّن من خمس جلسات
إرشادية.
.
برنامج علاجي لتأهيل نساء الامارات نفسيا لتقبل الزوجة الثانية
بوابة الاسبوع
السبت، 23 سبتمبر 2017 01:24 م
بوابة الاسبوع
صممت باحثة إماراتية متخصصة في علم النفس، برنامج علاج نفسي، لإعادة
تأهيل النساء اللائي يصبنَ بصدمة، نتيجة تزوّج أزواجهن بأخريات، ويستهدف
البرنامج مساعدة الزوجات في حالات الغضب الهستيري والاكتئاب الانفعالي،
الذي قد يؤثر فيهن نفسياً وصحياً، كما يؤثر في أطفالهن.
وبحسب ما نشرته صحيفة "الإمارات اليوم" في عددها السبت، فإن البرنامج الذي
صممته زهراء الموسوي، يتضمن خمس جلسات نفسية وإرشادية، يتم خلالها العمل
على إقناع الزوجة بأن "موضوع الزواج الثاني موجود، شئنا أم أبينا .. فهو
متاح شرعا وقانونا".
ونقلت الصحيفة عن الموسوي قولها إن "موضوع الزواج هو في حقيقته مشابه
تماماً لموضوع إنجاب الابن الثاني أو الثالث، فما تشعر به الزوجة الأولى من
غيرة، مشابه تماماً لشعور الطفل الذي يولد له أخ أو أخت، إلاّ أن الأول
مرفوض عرفاً، بينما الثاني أمر طبيعي ويوجه للطفل اللوم على غيرته، فيما
يُتعاطف مع الزوجة الأولى على مشاعرها" بحسب ما ترى.
وتتضمن أحدى جلسات إعادة التأهيل "معالجة أحد أهم الأمور الصعبة التي
تواجهها الزوجة الأولى، بعد زواج زوجها، وهي مواجهة حديث الناس عنها، أو
شفقتهم عليها، أو تشجيعها على السلوكيات العدوانية والمدمرة مع زوجها، أو
ضد الزوجة الثانية، أو لومها بأنها هي السبب في زواج الزوج".
وأوضح التقرير – الذى عرضته " قدس برس" أنه في هذه الجلسة "تستخدم
المرشدة تقنية التقبل غير المشروط لذاتها، حتى تتوقف عن لوم نفسها تجاه
الموضوع، وثم لعب الأدوار لتعلم السلوك التوكيدي في مواجهة من يشجعونها على
السلوك العدواني مع الزوج، أو ترك المنزل، أو اللجوء إلى السحر والرقية،
كي يكره الزوج الزوجة الثانية ويعود إليها، كما يتم تعليم الحالة الفرق بين
الصبر كحالة سلبية، والتكيف كفعل فعال".
وأعربت الموسوي، عن قناعتها بأن البرنامج التأهيلي النفسي الذي قامت
بتصميمه "سيحقق نتائج إيجابية منقطعة النظير" موضحة أنه "بعد الجلسات
الإرشادية ستستطيع الزوجة أن تشعر بالسيطرة على حياتها، بعد أن كانت تشعر
بأنها خارجة على السيطرة" بحسب قولها.
Wararkii ugu dambeeyey ee buuraleeyda Galgala iyo khasaare kadhashay qarax lala beegsaday ciidanka
puntsom.com
Sep 25, 2017 - Aragtiyood
Waxaa Qoray Warkan: Ahmed Mohamed
Faahfaahin dheeraad ah ayaa ka soo baxaysa weerar shalay galinkii
dambe 24 September 2017, ka dhacay buuraleyda gobalka Barri, gaa rahaana
Agagaarka Bali-Khadar oo ku dhaw magaalada Galgala.Maleeshiyaad katirsan kooxda Al- Shabaab ayaa weerar gaadmo ah ku qaaday mid kamid ah baabuurta ciidamada Puntland ee ah loo yaqaano Iska rogada oo marayey goobtaas, ayna saarnayen Saad ciidan.
Qarax ayaa la sheegay in loo dhigay markii hore baabuurkaas, balse uu ka badbaaday ka dibna ay kusoo qaadeen kooxdaasi weerar, sidda ay sheegayaan warar madax banaan oo laga helayo aagaas.
Saraakiisha ciidamada ayaa sheegay in duulaankaas laga hortagay, isla markaasna ay ciidamadu khasaare gaarsiiyeen kooxdan oo doonaysay in ay qabsadaan baabuurkan.
Inta la og yahay ilaa hadda 7 qof oo ay ku jiraan dumar ayaa ku
geeriyooday weerarkan, waxaase wararku ay sheegayaan in 3 kamid ah
kooxdii weerarkan soo qaaday lagu dilay goobtaas, lana qabtay xog muhiim
ah.
Sarkaal katirsan laamaha Amniga ee kusugan Bal-Khadar ayaa u sheegay Puntlandtimes in ay dileen mid kamid ah ragga inta badan abaabula weerarada lagu soo qaado ciidamada Puntland ee kusugan buuraleyda Galgala.
Puntland ayaa sannado badan dagaal kula jirta kooxaha Argagixisada ah ee ku dhuumaleysanaya Buuraleyda loo yaqano Caalmadow, waxaana marar badan lagu qaaday howlgalo waa weyn oo looga qabsaday goobo ay isku aruursadeen.
Dagaaladii ugu dambeeyey ayaa ka dhacay buuraleydaas iyo deegaanka Af
Urur, kuwaas oo sababay khasaare kala duwan oo soo gaaray labada
dhinac, waxaana Madaxweynaha Puntland Dr Cabdiweli Maxamed Cali Gaas uu
ku dhawaaqay 9-kii bishii June weerar culus oo lagu qaado kooxahan,
loogana sifeynayo buuraleydaas oo dhan, kaas oo aan wali bilaaban.
Sarkaal katirsan laamaha Amniga ee kusugan Bal-Khadar ayaa u sheegay Puntlandtimes in ay dileen mid kamid ah ragga inta badan abaabula weerarada lagu soo qaado ciidamada Puntland ee kusugan buuraleyda Galgala.
Puntland ayaa sannado badan dagaal kula jirta kooxaha Argagixisada ah ee ku dhuumaleysanaya Buuraleyda loo yaqano Caalmadow, waxaana marar badan lagu qaaday howlgalo waa weyn oo looga qabsaday goobo ay isku aruursadeen.
FADLAN HOOYADAAN HADAAD GARANAYSO WALAAL GAARSII CARUURTEDA
FADLAN HOOYADAAN HADAAD GARANAYSO WALAAL GAARSII CARUURTEDA
Iraqi Kurds vote in historic independence referendum
A woman in Kirkuk casts her vote in the independence referendum.
Photograph: Thaier
Al-Sudani/Reuters
Associated Press in Erbil
Iraqi Kurds are casting ballots in Iraq’s Kurdish region and disputed
territories on whether to support independence from Baghdad, in a
historic but non-binding vote that has raised regional tensions and fears of instability.
The referendum will not immediately bring independence, but it would mark a definitive stance by the Kurds to break away, and Kurdish leaders say they will use a “yes” vote to press for negotiations with Iraq’s central government to win statehood. Iraq has called the vote constitutional and it is opposed by Iran, Syria and Turkey, who also have Kurdish minorities.
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the Turkish president, on Monday threatened military intervention in response to the vote, stressing that Kurdish independence was unacceptable to his country and that this was a “matter of survival.”
He said Turkey would take also take political and economic measures against steps toward independence and suggested it could halt oil flows arriving through a pipeline from northern Iraq, depriving Iraqi Kurds of revenues. “We have the valve. The moment we shut the valve, that’s the end of it,” he said.
Iran, which on Monday called the vote “untimely and wrong” and has since Sunday been holding a military exercise in its northwestern Kurdish region bordering Iraq.
More than 3 million people are expected to vote across the three provinces that make up the Kurdish autonomous region, as well as residents in disputed territories – areas claimed by both Baghdad and the Kurds, including the oil-rich city of Kirkuk – according to the Independent High Elections and Referendum Commission, the body overseeing the vote.
Lines began forming early in the day at polling stations across Erbil, the Kurdish regional capital.
“Today we came here to vote in the referendum for the independence of Kurdistan,” said Tahsin Karim, one of the first people to vote in his neighbourhood. “We hope that we can achieve independence.”
The Kurdish region’s president, Masoud Barzani, also voted early on Monday morning at a polling station packed with journalists and cameras. At a press conference in Erbil on the eve of the referendum, Barzani said he believed the vote would be peaceful, though he acknowledged that the path to independence would be “risky”. “We are ready to pay any price for our independence,” he said.
The US, a key ally of Iraq’s Kurds, has warned the vote is likely to destabilise the region amid the fight with Islamic State. The Iraqi central government has demanded on Sunday that all airports and borders crossings in the Kurdish region be handed back to federal government control.
In
a televised address from Baghdad on Sunday night, the Iraqi prime
minister, Haider al-Abadi, said: “The referendum is unconstitutional. It
threatens Iraq, peaceful coexistence among Iraqis and is a danger to
the region.”
He added: “We will take measures to safeguard the nation’s unity and protect all Iraqis.”
Initial results from the poll are expected on Tuesday, with the official results to be announced later in the week.
At his press conference, Barzani also said that while the referendum would be the first step in a long process to negotiate independence, the region’s “partnership” with the Iraqi central government in Baghdad was over.
He detailed abuses inflicted on Iraq’s Kurds by Iraqi forces, including killings at the hands of Saddam Hussein’s army that left more than 50,000 Kurds dead.
Iraqi Kurds have long dreamed of independence – something the Kurdish people were denied when colonial powers drew the map of the Middle East after the first world war. The Kurds form a sizable minority in Turkey, Iran, Syria, and Iraq. In Iraq, they have long been at odds with the Baghdad government over the sharing of oil revenues and the fate of disputed territories such as Kirkuk.
The Kurds have been a close American ally for decades, and the first US airstrikes in the campaign against Isis were launched to protect Erbil. Kurdish forces later regrouped and played a major role in driving the extremists from much of northern Iraq, including Mosul, the country’s second-largest city.
But the US has long been opposed to Kurdish moves toward independence, fearing it could lead to the breakup of Iraq and bring even more instability to an already volatile Middle East.
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/sep/25/iraqi-kurds-vote-in-historic-independence-referendum#img-1
The referendum will not immediately bring independence, but it would mark a definitive stance by the Kurds to break away, and Kurdish leaders say they will use a “yes” vote to press for negotiations with Iraq’s central government to win statehood. Iraq has called the vote constitutional and it is opposed by Iran, Syria and Turkey, who also have Kurdish minorities.
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the Turkish president, on Monday threatened military intervention in response to the vote, stressing that Kurdish independence was unacceptable to his country and that this was a “matter of survival.”
He said Turkey would take also take political and economic measures against steps toward independence and suggested it could halt oil flows arriving through a pipeline from northern Iraq, depriving Iraqi Kurds of revenues. “We have the valve. The moment we shut the valve, that’s the end of it,” he said.
Iran, which on Monday called the vote “untimely and wrong” and has since Sunday been holding a military exercise in its northwestern Kurdish region bordering Iraq.
More than 3 million people are expected to vote across the three provinces that make up the Kurdish autonomous region, as well as residents in disputed territories – areas claimed by both Baghdad and the Kurds, including the oil-rich city of Kirkuk – according to the Independent High Elections and Referendum Commission, the body overseeing the vote.
Lines began forming early in the day at polling stations across Erbil, the Kurdish regional capital.
“Today we came here to vote in the referendum for the independence of Kurdistan,” said Tahsin Karim, one of the first people to vote in his neighbourhood. “We hope that we can achieve independence.”
The Kurdish region’s president, Masoud Barzani, also voted early on Monday morning at a polling station packed with journalists and cameras. At a press conference in Erbil on the eve of the referendum, Barzani said he believed the vote would be peaceful, though he acknowledged that the path to independence would be “risky”. “We are ready to pay any price for our independence,” he said.
The US, a key ally of Iraq’s Kurds, has warned the vote is likely to destabilise the region amid the fight with Islamic State. The Iraqi central government has demanded on Sunday that all airports and borders crossings in the Kurdish region be handed back to federal government control.
Advertisement
He added: “We will take measures to safeguard the nation’s unity and protect all Iraqis.”
Initial results from the poll are expected on Tuesday, with the official results to be announced later in the week.
At his press conference, Barzani also said that while the referendum would be the first step in a long process to negotiate independence, the region’s “partnership” with the Iraqi central government in Baghdad was over.
He detailed abuses inflicted on Iraq’s Kurds by Iraqi forces, including killings at the hands of Saddam Hussein’s army that left more than 50,000 Kurds dead.
Iraqi Kurds have long dreamed of independence – something the Kurdish people were denied when colonial powers drew the map of the Middle East after the first world war. The Kurds form a sizable minority in Turkey, Iran, Syria, and Iraq. In Iraq, they have long been at odds with the Baghdad government over the sharing of oil revenues and the fate of disputed territories such as Kirkuk.
The Kurds have been a close American ally for decades, and the first US airstrikes in the campaign against Isis were launched to protect Erbil. Kurdish forces later regrouped and played a major role in driving the extremists from much of northern Iraq, including Mosul, the country’s second-largest city.
But the US has long been opposed to Kurdish moves toward independence, fearing it could lead to the breakup of Iraq and bring even more instability to an already volatile Middle East.
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/sep/25/iraqi-kurds-vote-in-historic-independence-referendum#img-1
'Mass Hindu grave' found in Myanmar's Rakhine state
BBC NEWS
- From the section Asia
Related Topics
The Myanmar
authorities have accused Muslim Rohingya militants of killing 28 Hindu
villagers whose bodies were allegedly found in a mass grave.
The army says the bodies of 20 women and eight men and boys were found in two pits in northern Rakhine state.The state has been in turmoil since 25 August when Rohingya militants launched deadly attacks on police posts.
Over 400,000 Rohingya have since fled an offensive by the military, which the UN accuses of ethnic cleansing.
Hindus as well as members of the majority Buddhist population in Myanmar (also called Burma) have also been displaced from their homes by the violence in Rakhine.
The military denies widespread reports it has committed atrocities, saying it only targeted those belonging to the militant Arakan Salvation Rohingya Army (Arsa) which launched the attacks.
- What sparked latest violence in Rakhine?
- Who are the Rohingya group behind attacks?
- Seeing through the official story in Myanmar
It said 300 Arsa militants had rounded up about 100 villagers and killed most of them on 25 August, the same date as the start of the latest phase of the conflict, in claims attributed to an unnamed Yebawkya villager.
The claims could not be independently verified. Authorities have restricted journalists and independent observers from freely travelling in Rakhine state, citing security concerns.
But a BBC reporter has spoken to Hindus who fled from Rakhine to Bangladesh and said they were threatened and attacked by Arsa. They also said some Hindus had been killed and some houses burned by the militants.
Hindu villagers in the Yebawkya area told the AFP news agency that Rohingya militants attacked their communities on 25 August, killing many and taking others into the forest.
The Hindus have said they were attacked by Arsa because the militants suspected they were government spies.
Arsa has consistently denied such accusations, and on Monday a spokesman told Reuters news agency that claims of its militants killing villagers were "lies".
- Reality Check: Are Suu Kyi's Rohingya claims correct?
- Myanmar conflict: The view from Yangon
- Who will help Myanmar's Rohingya?
The Rohingya - a stateless mostly Muslim minority - are widely despised in Myanmar, where they are considered to be illegal migrants from Bangladesh, despite the fact that some have been in Myanmar for generations. Bangladesh, which now hosts about 800,000 Rohingya, also denies them citizenship.
Inside Rakhine, bitter ethnic tensions have led to waves of communal violence in the past.
Myanmar's military says its operation is aimed at rooting out Rohingya militants and has repeatedly denied targeting civilians. But many of those who fled to Bangladesh accuse the military and Buddhist mobs of beating and killing villagers and razing their communities.
Earlier this month the UN special rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar, Yanghee Lee, said more than 1,000 people may have been killed in the conflict, most of them Rohingya.
The army says some 400 people have been killed during military operations, the vast majority of them Arsa militants. But BBC correspondents say it is very likely that many of them were civilians.
Thousands of young men joined the attacks in support of Arsa, armed with machetes and bamboo sticks, but very few were trained and armed militants, they say.
DOWLADA SOMALIYA OO KA DHABEYSEY BALANQAATII LAGA SUGAAYEY
DOWLADA SOMALIYA OO KA DHABEYSEY BALANQAATII LAGA SUGAAYEY
Sunday, September 24, 2017
Saturday, September 23, 2017
Friday, September 22, 2017
Thursday, September 21, 2017
Wednesday, September 20, 2017
Tuesday, September 19, 2017
Monday, September 18, 2017
Hiiraan Online
How the NSA Built a Secret Surveillance Network for Ethiopia
132
Shares
Share
Tweet
Email
Thursday September 14, 2017
By Nick Turse
Photo: Minasse Wondimu Hailu/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
“A warm friendship connects the Ethiopian and American people,” U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson announced earlier this year. “We remain committed to working with Ethiopia to foster liberty, democracy, economic growth, protection of human rights, and the rule of law.”
Indeed, the website for the U.S. Embassy in Ethiopia is marked by press releases touting U.S. aid for farmers and support for public health infrastructure in that East African nation. “Ethiopia remains among the most effective development partners, particularly in the areas of health care, education, and food security,” says the State Department.
Behind the scenes, however, Ethiopia and the U.S. are bound together by long-standing relationships built on far more than dairy processing equipment or health centers to treat people with HIV. Fifteen years ago, the U.S. began setting up very different centers, filled with technology that is not normally associated with the protection of human rights.
In the aftermath of 9/11, according to classified U.S. documents published Wednesday by The Intercept, the National Security Agency forged a relationship with the Ethiopian government that has expanded exponentially over the years. What began as one small facility soon grew into a network of clandestine eavesdropping outposts designed to listen in on the communications of Ethiopians and their neighbors across the Horn of Africa in the name of counterterrorism.“Governments that provide Ethiopia with surveillance capabilities that are being used to suppress lawful expressions of dissent risk complicity in abuses,” says Horne. “The United States should come clean about its role in surveillance in the Horn of Africa and should have policies in place to ensure Ethiopia is not using information gleaned from surveillance to crack down on legitimate expressions of dissent inside Ethiopia.”
In exchange for local knowledge and an advantageous location, the NSA provided the East African nation with technology and training integral to electronic surveillance. “Ethiopia’s position provides the partnership unique access to the targets,” a commander of the U.S. spying operation wrote in a classified 2005 report. (The report is one of 294 internal NSA newsletters released today by The Intercept.)
The NSA’s collaboration with Ethiopia is high risk, placing the agency in controversial territory. For more than a decade, Ethiopia has been engaged in a fight against Islamist militant groups, such as Al Qaeda and Shabab. But the country’s security forces have taken a draconian approach to countering the threat posed by jihadis and stand accused of routinely torturing suspects and abusing terrorism powers to target political dissidents.
“The Ethiopian government uses surveillance not only to fight terrorism and crime, but as a key tactic in its abusive efforts to silence dissenting voices in-country,” says Felix Horne, a senior researcher for Human Rights Watch. “Essentially anyone that opposes or expresses dissent against the government is considered to be an ‘anti-peace element’ or a ‘terrorist.’”
The NSA declined to comment for this story.
Addis Ababa is the capital city of Ethiopia. Photo: Yannick Tylle/picture-alliance/dpa/AP
In February 2002, the NSA set up the Deployed Signals Intelligence Operations Center – also known as “Lion’s Pride” – in Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa, according to secret documents obtained by The Intercept from the whistleblower Edward Snowden. It began as a modest counterterrorism effort involving around 12 Ethiopians performing a single mission at 12 workstations. But by 2005, the operation had evolved into eight U.S. military personnel and 103 Ethiopians, working at “46 multifunctional workstations,” eavesdropping on communications in Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen. By then, the outpost in Addis Ababa had already been joined by “three Lion’s Pride Remote Sites,” including one located in the town of Gondar, in northwestern Ethiopia.
“[The] NSA has an advantage when dealing with the Global War on Terrorism in the Horn of Africa,” reads an NSA document authored in 2005 by Katie Pierce, who was then the officer-in-charge of Lion’s Pride and the commander of the agency’s Signal Exploitation Detachment. “The benefit of this relationship is that the Ethiopians provide the location and linguists and we provide the technology and training,” she wrote. According to Pierce, Lion’s Pride had already produced almost 7,700 transcripts and more than 900 reports based on its regional spying effort.
Pierce, now a lieutenant colonel in the Army Reserve and a lawyer in private practice, had noted her role with the NSA’s Ethiopia unit in an online biography. When contacted by The Intercept, she said little about her time with Lion’s Pride or the work of the NSA detachment. “We provided a sort of security for that region,” she said. The reference to the NSA in Pierce’s online biography has since disappeared.
Reta Alemu Nega, the minister of political affairs at the Ethiopian Embassy in Washington, D.C., told The Intercept that the U.S. and Ethiopia maintained “very close cooperation” on issues related to intelligence and counterterrorism. While he did not address questions about Lion’s Pride, Alemu described regular meetings in which U.S. and Ethiopian defense officials “exchange views” about their partnership and shared activities.
Shabab and Hizbul Islam militants take a break at a front-line section in Sanca district in Mogadishu, on July 21, 2009. Photo: Mohamed Dahir/AFP/Getty Images
Lion’s Pride does not represent the first time that Ethiopia has played a vital role in U.S. signals surveillance. In 1953, the U.S. signed a 25-year agreement for a base at Kagnew Station in Asmara, Ethiopia, according to a declassified NSA report obtained by the nonprofit National Security Archive. Navy and Army communications facilities based there were joined by an NSA outpost just over a decade later.
On April 23, 1965, the Soviet Union launched Molniya-1, its first international communications satellite. The next month, the NSA opened STONEHOUSE, a remote listening post in Asmara. The facility was originally aimed at Soviet deep space probes but, in the end, “[its] main value turned out to be the collection of Soviet MOLNIYA communications satellites,” according to a 2004 NSA document that mentions STONEHOUSE.
STONEHOUSE was closed down in 1975 due to a civil war in Ethiopia. But its modern-day successor, Lion’s Pride, has proved to be “such a lucrative source for SIGINT reports” that a new facility was built in the town of Dire Dawa in early 2006, according to a secret NSA document. “The state of the art antenna field surrounded by camels and donkey-drawn carts is a sight to behold,” reads the NSA file. The effort, code-named “LADON,” was aimed at listening in on communications across a larger swath of Somalia, down to the capital Mogadishu, the Darfur region of Sudan, and parts of eastern Ethiopia.
At a May 2006 planning conference, the Americans and Ethiopians decided on steps to “take the partnership to a new level” through an expanded mission that stretched beyond strictly counterterrorism. Targeting eastern Ethiopia’s Ogaden region and the nearby Somali borderlands, the allied eavesdroppers agreed on a mission of listening in on cordless phones in order to identify not only “suspected al-Qa’ida sympathizers” but also “illicit smugglers.”
From the time Lion’s Pride was set up until predominantly Christian Ethiopia invaded mostly Muslim Somalia in December 2006, the U.S. poured about $20 million in military aid into the former country. As Ethiopian troops attempted to oust a fundamentalist movement called the Council of Islamic Courts, which had defeated several warlords to take power in Somalia, Pentagon spokesperson Lt. Cmdr. Joe Carpenter said the two nations had “a close working relationship” that included sharing intelligence. Within a year, Ethiopian forces were stuck in a military quagmire in Somalia and were facing a growing rebellion in the Ogaden region as well.
“While the exact nature of U.S. support for Ethiopian surveillance efforts in the Ogaden region is not clear, it is very troubling to hear the U.S. is providing surveillance capacities to a government that is committing such egregious human rights abuses in that region,” says Horne, the Human Rights Watch researcher. “Between 2007-2008 the Ethiopian army committed possible war crimes and crimes against humanity against civilians in this region during its conflict with the Ogaden National Liberation Front.”
For the U.S., “the chaos” caused by the invasion “yielded opportunities for progress in the war on terrorism,” stated a top secret NSA document dated February 2007. According to the document, the Council of Islamic Courts was harboring members of an Al Qaeda cell that the NSA’s African Threat Branch had been tracking since 2003. After being flushed from hiding by the Ethiopian invasion, the NSA provided “24-hour support to CIA and U.S. military units in the Horn of Africa,” utilizing various surveillance programs to track Council of Islamic Courts leaders and their Al Qaeda allies. “Intelligence,” says the document, “was also shared with the Ethiopian SIGINT partner to enable their troops to track High Value Individuals.” The NSA deemed the effort a success as the “#1 individual on the list” was “believed killed in early January” 2007, while another target was arrested in Kenya the next month. The identities of the people killed and captured, as well as those responsible, are absent from the document.
As the Council of Islamic Courts crumbled in the face of the invasion, its ally, the militant group Shabab, saw Somalis flock to its resistance effort. Fueled and radicalized by the same chaos exploited by the NSA, Shabab grew in strength. By 2012, the terrorist group had formally become an Al Qaeda affiliate. Today, the U.S. continues to battle Shabab in an escalating conflict in Somalia that shows no sign of abating.
The first batch of Ethiopian troops leaving the Somali capital Mogadishu hold a departure ceremony Jan. 23, 2007 at Afisiyooni Air Base. Photo: Stringer/AFP/Getty Images
At the time the NSA set up Lion’s Pride, the U.S. State Department had criticized Ethiopia’s security forces for having “infringed on citizens’ privacy rights,” ignoring the law regarding search warrants, beating detainees, and conducting extrajudicial killings. By 2005, with Lion’s Pride markedly expanded, nothing had changed. The State Department found:
The Government’s human rights record remained poor. … Security forces committed a number of unlawful killings, including alleged political killings, and beat, tortured, and mistreated detainees. … The Government infringed on citizens’ privacy rights, and the law regarding search warrants was often ignored. The Government restricted freedom of the press. … The Government at times restricted freedom of assembly, particularly for members of opposition political parties; security forces at times used excessive force to disperse demonstrations. The Government limited freedom of association. …
A separate State Department report on Ethiopia’s counterterrorism and anti-terrorism capabilities, issued in November 2013 and obtained by The Intercept via the Freedom of Information Act, noted that there were “inconsistent efforts to institutionalize” anti-terrorism training within Ethiopian law enforcement and added that while the Ethiopian Federal Police use surveillance and informants, “laws do not allow the interception of telephone or electronic communications.” The readable sections of the redacted report make no mention of the NSA program and state that the U.S. “maintains an important but distant security relationship with Ethiopia.”
A 2010 NSA document offers a far different picture of the bond between the security agencies of the two countries, noting that the “NSA-Ethiopian SIGINT relationship continues to thrive.”
In an after-action report, a trainer from NSA Georgia’s “Sudan/Horn of Africa Division” described teaching a class attended by soldiers from the Ethiopian National Defense Forces and civilians from Ethiopia’s Information Network Security Agency. He praised the Ethiopians for “work[ing] so hard on our behalf” and wrote that his students were “excited and eager to learn.”
According to the documents, analysts from the Army’s 741st Military Intelligence Battalion were still detailed to Lion’s Pride while the Ethiopians they worked beside had increased their skills at analyzing intercepted communications. “More importantly, however,” the American trainer noted, “is the strengthening of the relationship” between NSA and Ethiopian security forces. NSA Georgia, he declared, was eager to continue “developing the relationship between us and our Ethiopian counterparts.”
The NSA refused to comment on whether Lion’s Pride continues to eavesdrop on the region, but no evidence suggests it was ever shut down. There is, however, good reason to believe that U.S. efforts have strengthened the hand of the Ethiopian government. And a decade and a half after it was launched, Ethiopia’s human rights record remains as dismal as ever.
Read more: https://www.hiiraan.com/news4/2017/Sept/144165/how_the_nsa_built_a_secret_surveillance_network_for_ethiopia.aspx
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)