Wey gud!

My mother would say, "YeqoTun awerd bila yebibitwan Talech". Or maybe she'd be more pithy and come up with a better one liner.

Here are a series of events that just ... hurt when one tries to make sense out of.

a) August 6 : The 'Islamists' take full control of Mogadishu, and start advancing north, increasing areas of Somalia under their control. The government of Ethiopia starts saying 'i'rrrreeeee!', and warns that if they advance withing 60 km of the Ethiopian boarder, then Ethiopia will take action. Let me clarify, in case there's any misunderstanding. We're talking 60 km inside Somalian territory. Apparently EPRDF is high on whatever their papa Bush is on, and think that they can pull the same shit America's pulling in Iraq (never mind the fact that Iraq has now degenerated into a state of civil war ... perhaps for Ethiopia that's no issue since Somalia has 'always' been perpetual a state of civil war).

There were reports of Ethiopian solders inside of Somalia. The Ethiopian Government denied it. The Somalian transitional government denied it. But the Islamists were convinced that Ethiopia wanted a hand in this. They finally declared jihad on any Ethiopians found in Somalia. (Ok, I'm Ethiopian but really, who can blame them?)

2) August 7/17 : Floods hit parts of Ethiopia, especially in the south and south east. The first of major reports coming from Dire Dawa suggested that about 200 people were estimated dead. A couple of weeks later another river overflowed killing 125 more people in southern Ethiopia. Thousands are reported missing or trapped.

Rescue workers claim that their efforts were hampered by the fact that helicopters couldn't fly to the disaster regions due to weather conditions, and the boats they were able to send in were very small. "We are trying our best", they said.

3) Aug 20 morning : The United States sends in its army reserve stationed in Djibouti to help with the rescue operations. Oh, how nice! (yes, as much as I like to sit and bash American foreign policy and its global irresponsibility, the US does have its many kind moments.)

4) Aug 20 evening : Ethiopian troops are finally openly present in Somalia. The BBC reports that they were seen approaching the city of Baidoa, the seat of government of the transitional government of Somalia.

We've people and villages getting swept away, lives being taken and destroyed by the hundreds and what is the Ethiopian army doing? Yelela swe guada gebto yifetefital. Ihis? We've other people's armies coming into our country to deal with our disasters.

"We're trying our best", they said. Best? Best? Does that imply there could be worse? Mts.