http://www.oregonlive.com/politics/index.ssf/2014/07/missing_ethiopian_runners_athl.html
Missing Ethiopian runners: Athletes come from deeply troubled nation
By Bryan Denson | bdenson_at_oregonian.com The Oregonian
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on July 28, 2014 at 3:38 PM, updated July 28, 2014 at 4:04 PM
Missing Ethiopian runners: Athletes come from deeply troubled nation
Four Ethiopian runners who vanished Saturday from the 2014 IAAF World
Junior Championships in Eugene, perhaps seeking asylum in the U.S., would
have much to put behind them by leaving their home country.
Poverty, regional instability, human rights abuses and disease plague
Ethiopia, which fought a crippling border war with Eritrea from 1998 to
2000, and more recently has sent troops to fight the jihadist group
Al-Shabaab in neighboring Somalia.
Protesters spilled into streets from Portland to St. Paul Minnesota last
spring in response to news accounts that 11 students were killed in clashes
with Ethiopian police forces.
The purchasing power of the nation's 96.6 million people stands at 69th
globally, but per capita income has remained among the lowest in the world,
according to the CIA's World Fact Book.
The U.S. State Department estimates that more than 1 million people of
Ethiopian origin live in the United States, with a great number of U.S.
groups providing humanitarian support to Ethiopians.
"Ethiopia's weak human rights record creates tension in our relationship,
and we continue to push for press freedom, appropriate application of
anti-terrorism legislation, a loosening of restrictions on civil society,
greater tolerance for opposition views, and religious dialogue," State
Department diplomat Donald Y. Yamamoto, the acting assistant secretary with
the Bureau of African Affairs, told a House subcommittee in June 2013.
During the Cold War, athletes from Communist nations such as the Soviet
Union and East Germany sometimes used international competitions to defect
to Western nations. The phenomenon has been picked up by young East
Africans, although for generations, U.S. universities have given full
scholarships to promising - and often world-class - long-distance runners
from Africa.
The four Ethiopian runners who slipped out of Eugene, reported missing on
Saturday, had already run their events, according to a story in Reuters.
They were Amanuel Abebe Atibeha, 17,who ran the men's 800 meters, and three
18-year-old women: Dureti Edao, (800 meters), Meaza Kebede (400 meter
hurdles), Zeyituna Mohammed (800 meters).
East African distance runners - from Ethiopia, Kenya and Djibouti -
dominate global performance in track and field, and road racing.
As of Saturday, East Africa's women runners led the world in every track
event from 3,000 meters to the 10,000 meters, including the 3,000-meter
steeplechase. East African men topped the world charts in the 1,500 meters,
mile, steeplechase and 5,000 meters.
The only non-African on the men's list is Galen Rupp, the former University
of Oregon standout and silver medalist at 10,000 meters in the London
Olympic Games. Rupp leads the world at 2 miles and 10,000 meters.
-- Bryan Denson
Received on Tue Jul 29 2014 - 10:19:48 EDT