Ruling party won 100 of seats in parliament, president obama faces criticism for describing ethiopia as a democratically elected government. We will speak to professor Horace Campbell about obamas historic african trip, then we will hear from a swedish journalist who was jailed in ethiopia on terrorism charges for over a year. It was supposed to be about oil and freedom. We slept on the concrete floor with 8000 inmates. We did not go home. We stayed and stayed. Amy and as over 10,000 protest in honduras, we will speak to former president Manuel Zelaya about the growing protests and Hillary Clintons role in the 2009 coup that ousted him from power. On one hand, they condemn the coup, on the other hand, they were negotiating with the leaders of the coup. Secretary clinton maintained that ambiguity. Amy all that and more, coming up. Welcome to democracy now, democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. In yemen, the u. S. Backed Saudiled Coalition launched a new wave of airstrikes monday, despite the 5day humanitarian truce that went into effect sunday night. Meanwhile, Human Rights Watch has said fridays saudiled bombings of the western port city of mokha, which killed at least 120 people, appear to be a war crime. The continued fighting comes as oxfam warns that yemen is facing quote the highest ever recorded number of People Living in hunger. In news from libya, Muammar Gaddafis son and 8 others have been sentenced to death for committing war crimes during the crackdown against the 2011 revolution, which ultimately toppled the gaddafi regime. The former Prime Minister and head of intelligence are also facing the death penalty. In news from turkey, the police have detained more than 1,000 people in the ongoing crackdown on suspected militants from the selfproclaimed islamic state, as well as members of the dissident kurdish workers party, known as the pkk. Meanwhile, at an emergency meeting in brussels today, nato offered support for turkeys escalating military actions which include air strikes against isil in syria and attacks on pkk camps in northern iraq. They have called the assault on pkk camps a Dangerous Development that will create more terminal more turmoil. In germany, an explosion in dresden struck the car of a leftist politician who has been advocating for refugees. The explosion comes one day after dresden residents smashed windows in a hotel that is being converted into refugee housing. Asylum applications to germany are expected to double this year as hundreds of thousands of refugees flee syria, iraq and the balkans. No one was hurt in mondays explosion. The boy scouts of america has ended its nationwide ban on gay adult leaders. The move follows the boy scouts decision to open its ranks to gay scouts two years ago. Mondays policy shift, which takes effect immediately, still permits local churchsponsored troops to discriminate against gay leaders. A federal judge has issued a harsh condemnation of the obama mass detention for immigrant women and children. Us district judge dolly gees ruling gives the department of homeland 90 days to either release the more than 2,000 women and children held in two texas facilities, or show just cause to continue holding the migrants. Immigration lawyers in texas have said the ruling has already a groundbreaking impact as judges have started ordering women and childrens release without bond. In the latest news from Waller County, texas, a team of outside lawyers will be assisting in the investigation of the death of sandra bland, who was found dead in a jail cell two weeks ago. Texas state trooper Brian Encinia forcibly removed bland from her car after she objected to putting out her cigarette when he pulled her over for allegedly failing to signal a lane change. Authorities say she killed herself in jail. It is a claim her family disputes. The lawyers will have access to evidence, the ability to subpoena witnesses and the power to recommend criminal charges to Waller CountyDistrict Attorney elton mathis. If mathis fails to take up any possible recommended charges the committee of lawyers can instead present their recommendations to a grand jury. So far, two lawyers have been appointed to the panel. Both are African American. Bree newsome, the africanamerican activist who scaled the flagpole and removed the Confederate Flag from the South CarolinaState Capitol after the shooting of nine africanamerican churchgoers has been scheduled for a trial in november. Newsome and jimmy tyson, the white activist who helped her, have been charged with defacing state property, which can carry three years in prison and a 5,000 fine. They had their first appearance in court yesterday and a trial date was set despite the fact that South Carolina lawmakers have voted the flag down, and it no longer flies on the grounds of the capitol. The u. S. State department has upgraded malaysias Human Trafficking rating, despite protests from human Rights Groups and lawmakers who say the step was taken to ease passage of the Transpacific Partnership trade pact. Mondays announcement came one day before a fresh round of tpp talks in hawaii. Malaysia, one of 12 countries involved in the secretive trade pact, was previously given the worst trafficking rating, but a new measure bars the United States from negotiating trade deals with the worstranked countries. In response to a reporters question, undersecretary of state sarah sewall denied the tpp influenced malaysias rating. This has been questioned by groups and members of congress. Did that come into play at all . No. It reflects the assessment of Foreign Government assessments to comply with minimum standards to the elimination of trafficking. Those standards are spelled out. Those are the standards applied based on reporting gathered during the course of the year. Amy the United States also upgraded the Human Trafficking rating of cuba. Amnesty International Says mexico is facing a crisis of enforced disappearances. The statement came after the Associated Press reported authorities have found at least 60 mass graves with 129 bodies in the Southern State of iguala since the disappearance of 43 students there 10 months ago. Antichoice hackers have reportedly released planned parenthoods website databases and employee email addresses in a targeted attack. The hack comes after antichoice activists released edited videos that appear to show planned parenthood doctors discussing the practice of sharing fetal tissue with researchers. In an interview on abcs this week, planned parenthood president Cecile Richards said the donations are never done for profit. Doctors said planned parenthood does not profit from fetal tissue donation. What is not told is these are highly edited. The folks behind it are behind the bombing of clinics, the murder of doctors and burning of churches. Amy republican president ial candidate donald trump, who called mexican immigrants rapists, has been accused of rape in the past by his exwife. The daily beast reports ivana trump made the accusation in a 1989 deposition, and later softened her language, saying she felt violated during an encounter where trump reportedly held back her arms pulled out fistfuls of her hair. The assault was described in the 1993 book lost tycoon. Michael cohen, an attorney at the Trump Organization incorrectly told the daily beast quote you cannot rape your spouse, and then threatened the outlet, saying quote what im going to do to you is going to be disgusting. Democratic president ial candidate Hillary Clinton has outlined her plan to address climate change, calling for a sevenfold increase in solar panels, and for a third of the nations electricity to be produced by renewable sources by 2027. The announcement comes after the Huffington Post revealed earlier this month nearly all of the lobbyists bundling contributions for clinton have worked for the fossil fuel industry. The u. S. Olympic committee has dropped boston as its proposed bid city to host the 2024 olympics following mass resistance by city residents. Amid protests over the high cost to taxpayers and the mass displacement seen in other olympic host cities, the Olympic Committee acknowledged in a statement quote we have not been able to get a majority of the citizens of boston to support hosting the 2024. The 2024 olympics. And those are some of the headlines. This is democracy now, democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. We turn now to president obamas trip to africa where he is set to become the first u. S president to address the African Union. On monday, obama made history by becoming the first sitting u. S. President to visit ethiopia. He is facing criticism after twice describing ethiopia as having a democratically elected government despite a recent parliamentary election when ethiopias ruling party won 100 of the countrys 547 parliament seats. Obama made the comment monday during a News Conference in addis ababa, alongside ethiopian president Prime Minister hailemariam desalegn. We are mindful of ethiopias history. The constitution that was formed, and the election put forward a democratically elected government. As i indicated, there is more work to do. Amy human Rights Groups widely criticized the recent ethiopian parliamentary elections as a sham. Human rights watch said authorities use politically motivated prosecutions to silence bloggers and protesters. During the press conference, obama praised the fight against the somalibased military group, house shabbat. Ethiopia faces threats. They have reduced areas under alshabaab control. They have to be stopped. We have more work to do. We have helped retake two major strongholds. Amy to talk more about the significance of obamas visit, we go now to syracuse to talk to Horace Campbell, professor of African American studies and Political Science at syracuse university. He has written extensively on african politics. His new piece for counterpunch is called obama in africa. Overall, can you start off by talking about the significance of the trip . The first time a president has gone to ethiopia. It is the first time a u. S. President is addressing the African Union. This was a liberating trip for president obama and from the News Coverage of his trip to kenya, one can see this is liberating. He called himself an africanamerican for the first time. He was dancing. He was compromised because of the footprints of the United States, especially in kenya and ethiopia and somalia, in this mission that the United States has been on. It has led to the militarization of Eastern Africa with the epicenter of the war against the people of somalia. The people of kenya have been brought into this war. The people called for demilitarization of this region. On sunday morning this is something that the left in the country should agree on. In every aspect of the relationship we have the United States having the history of its military involvement and history of counterterrorism unleashing, forcing that which cannot be controlled. All of the leaders, the foreign minister of sudan, the president of uganda, all have been involved in this militarization of the region. We need conscious, clear guidelines and pathways how we are government bring peace to this region. I am glad you pointed out the compromise of the u. S. Government with ethiopian leadership. It is a leadership that is violated the rights of the millions of ethiopian people nearly one million ethiopian women are sold or sent as domestic slaves to saudi arabia. If you open the government to the people, it is one of unbridled repression. Amy on monday, president obama talked about the conflict. We can encourage the government to end the violence and move towards a peace agreement. The situation is deteriorating. The humanitarian situation is worsening the possibilities of renewed conflict in a region that has been torn by conflict for so long. It has resulted in so many deaths. It requires urgent attention from all of us. Amy the ethiopian Prime Minister also addressed the situation. I cannot agree more with the president. This process has taken the people are suffering on the ground. The meeting we are making this afternoon has a strong message that has to be passed to the parties in south sudan. Amy professor, your response . We have a government that blocked the report. One of the tragedies of the south sudan situation, the way in which the organizations, and people around barack obama like dale smith. Susan rice. They have been involved in this disaster from the beginning. What one needs is to step back from the height about how to go forward and look step back from the hype about how to go forward. This report that was done last year was supposed to be tabled in the African Union summit. The ethiopians blocked the report. It was only last week, on the 24th, before the meeting of obama that the report was presented and was not presented to the heads of state as it was supposed to be. Downgrading the importance of this report, which has farreaching recommendations about how to demilitarize south sudan and the support of the United Nations, the ngos, that they neither transition the government, that they need five years of these. Of all the persons sitting at the table with obama, the only person not compromised was the head of the African Union. We need to get this information out there, debated at great length in africa. It is comprised of the best brains in africa. We need to have a clear roadmap of how to demilitarize the situation in south sudan. President obama his advisers, like gayle smith, should not be the demilitarization of the situation south sudan. It is difficult to compare. The case of the chinese, the chinese are bringing concrete support for infrastructure development. The chinese have the capacity and the financial level to invest in infrastructure. What the United States has invested in is at the cultural and ideological level. The chinese can never compete in the cultural level with the advancement of the group the bornagain religious forces through these are the forces that are spewing hate around africa and spewing hatred for same gender loving persons. What one needs is for the Progressive Forces in the United States to be able to push an agenda so the United States china, and the Progressive Forces can work for the rights of women you use, and entrepreneurs, that this is not for the entrepreneurs. Amy thank you for being with us. We will link to your new piece. This is democracy now. When we come back, we speak to a journalist recently released from maine from an ethiopian jail. Stay with us. [ ] amy while president obama visited ethiopia, he made a reference to opening an Additional Space for media. Ethiopia is one of the leading jailer of journalists. Today, we turn to the story of two swedish journalists who traveled to report on the actions of the swedish oil company, london oil. London oil is well known in sweden. Five days after crossing the border, the journalists were shot and captured by the army. They spent over a year in prison, which they chronicle in their book, 438 days. I interviewed Martin Schibbye last year in sweden. I asked him to describe what happened to him. I was jailed for doing my job. The longer version we were supposed to investigate a swedish oil company. In the oil Company Swedish foreign minister had been on the board. There are reports of gross human rights violations. There were two sides to this story. Exploring oil would benefit the region, oil company say it makes the situation worse. We wanted to see for ourselves what is true and what is not. We wanted to go into this region and see how the situation was for the civilian population. Amy i do not think the conflict is very well known and can you explain what the region is . It is east of ethiopia. It has been debated and fought over between somalia and ethiopia. Currently, the region is within the borders of ethiopia. And they feel it is misrepresented within the system. There is a Guerrilla Movement fighting for independence, attacking foreign oil companies. The region is closed. They do not love journalists to enter. The red cross has been kicked out. Doctors without borders has been kicked out. Few reports get out on what is really happening. It was important to give people a voice. Amy explain who the oil company was and its connection to the current foreign minister. Lun