Security detain Diasporic Artist, husband in Addis

By Derese Tariku
Addis Abeba 
27 January 2013

ተቀማጭነቱ ለንደን የሆነው የኢትዮጵያ ዳንኪራ የዳንስ ግሩፕ አባል የሆነችው አርቲስት እስከዳር ታምሩ እና ባለቤቷ አበበ ወንድምአገኝ በደህንነት ሃይሎች የዛሬ ሳምንት ቦሌ አካባቢ ታሰሩ። ከሎንደን ወደ አዲስ አበባ የሁለት አመት ልጃቸውን ይዘው የሔዱት በአል ለማክበር ነበር። እስከዳር ስትለቀቅ አበበ አሑንም እስር ቤት ሲሆን ፍርድ ቤት ቀርቦ የሃያ ቀን ቀጠሮ ተሰጥቶታል። ቤተሰቦቹ  የእንድሊዝን ኤምባሲ ስለጉዳዩ አሳውቀዋል። ምክንያቱ "ፖለቲካዊ" ነው እሚል ጥርጣሬ አለ : እንደ ደ ብርሃን ምንጬች ።

                                                                         Artist Eskedar Tameru and Abebe Wondemagen

Plain closed Ethiopian security officers have reportedly arrested  Eskedar Tameru, a member of United Kingdom based Ethiopian dance group, Dan-Kira and her husband Abebe Wondemagegn, from their home around Bole area  in Addis Abeba last week, sources informed De Birhan. Witnesses also added that at the time of the arrest the couple and the Officers didn't understand each other as the later spoke "little Amharic". The couple with their 2 year old baby traveled to Addis Abeba from London to celebrate Christmas and epiphany with their families. Eskedar and her baby have been released few days ago, while Abebe is still in custody. He was taken to Court  and was denied bail. He is appointed to appear in court after 20 days. Sources say their arrest was  due to "political" reasons. 

Both are said to be in possession of British Passport and families have reportedly informed the British Embassy in Addis Abeba about Abebe's detention. Multi-talented artist Eskedar has been a member of the Dan-Kira Dance group since its formation. The dance group was founded by Daniel Dulla and Daougi Teddy in 2007.  Dan-Kira entertainment perform East African/Ethiopian traditional dance, live music and theatre events in UK and all over the world. The company also offers short courses on diverse African dance rhythms. They performed at big events such as BBC radio and WOMAD festival 2010. Dan-Kira won the BEFFTA Awards (Black Entertainment Film Fashion Television and Arts) in best dance act categories in 2011.