Addis Ababa, Ethiopia — Unity for Democracy and Justice Party (UDJ), whose leader {www:Birtukan Mideksa} is currently in jail, has been engulfed with internal crisis even before it was officially formed. In the past few weeks, the crisis has reach at a critical level where the party is heading toward a split up, one side headed by the acting chairman, Ato Gizachew Shiferraw, and the other, a dissident group led by Prof. Mesfin Woldemariam. Awramba Times and The Reporter have the following reports:
UDJ to take measures against dissident members
Addis Ababa (The Reporter) — The Unity for Democracy and Justice (UDJ) Party will hold a meeting today to take measures on council members accused of distributing “defamatory document” on executive members of the party. The party has suspended 21 members of the party on Tuesday, and today’s decision by the party expected to be harsher than ever.
Dr. Hailu Araya, vice president and public relations head of the party said that they suspended certain members of the standing committee members of the council, and the party will deliberate on other members, including Prof. Mesfin Woldemariam.
The disagreement in the party was a turning point after a document was distributed among the party members by Prof. Mesfin and other members. The document, entitled “abusing power”, accused members of the executive committee of the party. The authors of the document said that the leadership of the party was abusing the power entrusted to them.
Dr. Hailu said that the content of the distributed document was full of unsubstantiated allegations. If there is a problem within the leadership of the party, they should present their disappointment through the party’s proper channel.
The document was distributed to members last Sunday at a meeting called by the party to brief members about joining the opposition parties’ coalition, Forum, and to discus current affairs within the party.
Prof. Mesfin and other members said in the document that since Birtukan Midekssa, president of the party, was detained, the party under Eng. Gizachew Shiferaw, who is now acting leader, had failed to show effective leadership. Instead, it said, the executive committee does not want to discuss issues with members, was not welcoming criticisms, does not want to acknowledge the efforts of youth members and is not fit to lead the party.
In addition to that, they said, the executive committee is squandering the money collected form members to recruit supporters, harassing members who are challenging them and acting in contravention of the statutes of the party, which is against the principles of the party.
Except for minor differences and disappointments with the executive committee of the party, the distributed document did not reflect major differences of opinion. However, some party members have begun to show disappointment that their party would not stand firm if things are carried out in this manner.
Dr. Hailu said that the basic difference between the party leadership and Prof. Mesfin and others is the issue of collaborating with the Forum. Joining the forum will strength the party to sustain its agenda in Ethiopian politics during and beyond elections, he said, adding that if members were not happy there is a party discipline to discuss issues in appropriate way rather than brewing differences by propagating false allegations.
የስብሰባውን አላማ በመቃወም 10 የአንድነት
አዲስ አበባ (አውራምባ ታይምስ)፡- ‹‹የፓርቲው አባላት ያለህገ ደንብ ይባረራሉ፤ በአመራሮቹ ዘንድ አምባገነንነት ሰፍኗል›› የሚል አቋም አንግበው ተቃውሞአቸውን በማስተጋባት ላይ የሚገኙት ፕ/ር መስፍን ወ/ማሪያም፣ዶ/ር ሽመልስ ተክለጻድቅና አቶ ደበበ እሸቱ ፓርቲው በዛሬው እለት የሚያደርገውን ስብሰባ በመቃወም ሳይሰበሰቡ መቅረታቸውን የአውራምባ ታይምስ ምንጮች ገለጹ፡፡
አንድነት ፓርቲ በእነዚህ አመራሮች ላይ እርምጃ ለመውሰድ በዛሬው ዕለት የብሄራዊ ምክር ቤት ስብሰባ ጠርቶ የነበረ ሲሆን የዚሁ ምክር ቤት አባላት የሆኑትና በዛሬው ዕለት መገኘት የነበረባቸው አስር አባላት ፕ/ር መስፍን፣ዶ/ር ሽመልስ ተክለጻድቅ፣ወ/ሮ ሀና ዋለልኝ፣ወ/ሪት ትዕግስት ተሾመና አቶ ታምራት ታረቀኝን ጨምሮ ሁሉም ሳይገኙ መቅረታቸውንና የኦዲትና ኢንስፔክሽን ሃላፊው አቶ ወረታው ዋሴም ለእነፕሮፌሰር መስፍን ድጋፋቸውን በመስጠት በስብሰባው ላይ ሳይገኙ ቀርተዋል፡፡
በተያያዘ ዜና ፕሮፌሰር መስፍን ወልደማሪያም ‹የአንድነት ስራ አስፈጻሚ ውስጥ አብዮታዊ ጡንቻ ነግሷል› በሚል ርዕስ ዛሬ ይፋ ባደረጉት ጽሁፍ ‹‹… የሰብዓዊ መብቶችን እናስከብራለን ተብሎ የተቋቋመው ፓርቲ ሰብዓዊ መብቶችን እየጣሰ፣የፓርቲው ገንዘብ ለመደለያ ወይም ለማስፈራሪያ እየዋለ ነው›› ሲሉ የገለጹ ሲሆን ስራ አስፈጻሚው በጥቅም በተሳሰሩ ሰዎች አንድ አካል አንድ አምሳል ሆነው የተለየ አስተሳሰብ ያላቸውን ሁሉ እየመነጠረ በማስወጣት ላይ ነው ሲል የፕሮፌሰር ጽሁፍ ያትታል፡፡
29 thoughts on “Internal crisis engulfs Ethiopia’s UDJ Party”
The guy called Prof. Mesifin is a poison for Ethiopian politics. I am really disappointed with this guy. UDJ has to reject him and Debebe Eshetu out of the political arena.
I think it is time not to rely on any orgs. These mofos all they do is take our money and fight each other from year to year!
I have always respect for Prof. Mesfin but I do not appreciate his always reckless moves. You just do not distribute your propaganda when you disagree with issues. There has to be a proper channel even when a party leadership is out of line and make mistakes. He should stop playing this Godfather figure and status and may take retirement at his age.
I have no clue what their internal problems are but more turned off with lack of discipline.
There is no way they will win the election because the woyane will work overtime to widen this gab. Not that I have hope as it is clear the woyane will steal the election again.
those people are the enemy of ethiopian people. instead of unity they fight for to be a leader.
They are good for nothing.EPPF is the way. Lets encourage G7 to follow what Arbegnoch have started.
From the beginning UDJ is one of fake party! What do we expect from UDJ party? What do we expect MEDERK’s seye and Gebru?
UDJ is capable of standing and promoting its agenda by it self with out joining a forum with so called MEDREK group. The so-called medrek individuals(Gebru, Seye and Negasso..) are former TPLF members who are hell bent to see the destruction of Ethiopia. These are individuals who approved the current TPLF constitution including the time bomb article 39 of this constitution. What a joke? I ask the Dr. Hailu Araya and Engineer Gizachew group not to proceed any alliance with these evil minded (my opinion) individuals of former TPLF members as they would totally object UDJ core political agenda. These individuals are full of hate against certain groups. UDJ should not entertain hate politics against people of other groups by embracing these individuals as they have showen their true nature during their tenure time with TPLF by grinding (AMENJAGI) past administrative mistakes of previous Govt’s. So, there is no need to have alliance with them. Let them stand alone. BITEACHEWN YIFELEGU! Basta!
Guess what the issue of this internal quarell is!!! They could do not vote on who the best “domesticated opposition” is. They all claiming therefore at each others throat. God save Ethiopia and Ethiopians because nothing will safe these house niggers of the Ethno-fascists of Abay Tigray.
This ‘Azawint’ Mesfin is doing what he has been doing all along. He may be suffering from an onset senile syndrome. I remember a video a friend showed me about some kind of a hearing that took place at the US Congress. It must have been right after the demise of the dreaded Derg. I remember seeing Goshu Woldie and the son of Deressa. Everyone was sitting at the front row but he was sitting in a back row seeming detached from others. And his answer to a member of the house pannel was somehow vague and not siding with the others. Did anyone else noticed that? It showed a stand of an opportunist. But it did not save him. That goon from Adwa does not know what friendship is or neutrality means. Didn’t he bus his tail to jail for more that a year? That made me laugh and laugh. I wish he shut his mouth up and let others think he is a Nyala or a wild ass.
Prof wants to maintain a kingmaker status in Ethiopian politics and that is very dangerous. As much as we respect him, he needs to understand nobody is above the law.
The professor is telling the truth.
I am pretty sure that Woyanes are doing everything under the sun to dismantle all the political parties by any means necessary and at any cost; everything is easy when money is no object for woyanes.
those old polticians they are not struggling for ethiopians they fight each other for seltane. most of us disappointed about ethiopian politician
The prof. has had enough positive and negative role in Ethiopian politics. Except his stubrness and EHRC, he has been trying to be a king maker. Sometimes, he seems dilusionary or opportunistic.
For example, he is against the use of force to oust the Woyanes, but he does not come up with any alternative than just talking and patronizing.
I wonder if he can reconsider retirement before joining the flanks of Hailu Shawl and Goshu Woldie, as the disgraced and buffons ever in the history of Ethiopian leadership
The me-first leaders
Unity for Democracy and Justice Party (UDJ) must form an internal-crisis-management team to overcome its subjective conflicts before it spills over to the other opposition parties.
If the conflict is about personal interest in capturing the higher office and personalizing it since its President is in jail, then the UDJ needs its leader Birtukan Mideksa to solve these deep-rooted crises, but it has to patiently wait until Mideksa comes out from its incarceration, and no one knows when; I hope it will be sooner than later so that she could solve these crises easily.
Such crises are common among a group of people whom the public always admires as its own best representatives. For example, two thousand years ago, there was a very heated argument about getting the highest position, thinking that if one is recognized as a chief or a leader among the rest of the group, he would take the highest office or the highest position or rank. This type of argument was among the future spiritual leaders – the twelve Apostles. Knowing the seriousness and significance of the argument among his disciples, Jesus took a little child and had him stand beside him and said to his disciples: “For he who is least among you all—he is the greatest.” (Matthew 46-48)
In this case, if the conflict is between the acting chair man, Ato Gizachew Shiferraw and Professor Mesfin Woldemariam, leader of the dissident groups, or Dr. Hailu Araya, Vice President and Public Relations, all these higher educated personnel should be reprimanded for not behaving properly and not making themselves humbles like that little child Jesus took and had him stand before him and that he warned his disciples to be the least if any one of them wanted to be the greatest.
At this point, it seems neither of them wants to be humble as that little child; I suspect all of them are upon each other’s throat to take the place of the President of UDJ – Birtukan Mideksa while she is languishing in that dark Qaliti Jail. She is in jail, not in her grave; therefore, I don’t see any significance to fight for her office instead of praying for her release so that she could come and assume her position.
The fight among these position-seeker individuals – Mesfin Woldemariam, Gizachew Shiferraw, and Hailu Araya – looks like the bitter fight among the children whose wealthy mother suddenly passed away without leaving a well-documented will for her poor children.
Assuming Birtukan Mideksa may never come out of her jail to run the UDJ again, these position-seeker individuals within the UDJ Party have no qualms or ethics when they fight for such position still occupied as far as the officially recognized President of the UDJ Party exists among us the living.
So far the behaviors of these position-seekers are unhealthy and their leaderships unproductive, yet they remain as if they were the pillars of the UDJ Party, but their continuous internal fight for a higher position disparages their artificial and domineering personalities, and as the consequences of their unquenchable thirst or greed for power, the UDJ Party has no other option but to disintegrate or break apart into different fragmented faction, each faction following its own leader: one faction following Mesfin Woldemariam, other faction following Gizachew Shiferraw, and still another faction following Dr. Hailu Araya, and that will be the end of UDJ Party.
Does such fragmentations of UDJ Party help foster the over all political positions of the other opposition party? Not at all! Did the separation of the Christian Church that taught the Gospel of Jesus for 1000 years as one voice, and then became divided in 1054, help to spread the word of God to all places? Certainly, not! In fact, its tragic division opened the door wide for Islam to spread all over the world while the Church was arguing about its ecclesiastical hierarchy within itself.
I think the same thing is going to happen within the UDJ Party that would bring a disastrous end to the party and great opportunity to the Woyanne government. In case, the UDJ Party stops to exist or function properly, those three persons I mentioned above will be responsible. The Jewish Prophet Micah declared long time ago, saying: “…a man’s enemies are the members of his own household.” (7:6) How true his prophetic declaration is today in our UDJ Party – a party that has no hope to succeed as far as its leaders are working hard to promote their own self interests rather than the interests of the Ethiopian people and as far as the leader of the party is still in jail for an indefinite time.
We really have turned into real Zinjeros. Zinjero looks at another zinjero and laughs not knowing that its ass is also a pinky. It is time to search our soul. Let us stop behaving like baboons.our country is going down the drain by the second. Or do we all need psychiatric help?
ONLY EPPF and G7 are the sollution!
How are you going to run for the election if you are so divided? Besides, election is a number game any thing may happen to gain the numbers. All I am saying is just free Bertukan and other political prisoners. We are not ready for democracy?
when Andinet decided to operate within the political domain Woyane lets them, we all understood that they were far from solving our political problems, though we hoped they could contribute something to the more fundamental strugle. What we see now is some of the members understood the task at hand and wanted to do something about it while others wanted to put stick in our wound by trying to join other ill formed groups who believe that only talking can solve our problems……
We coming here and cursing our politicians for what everhappened internally is only gonna make woyane smile. If u really wanna do something about Ethiopian politics don’t come here and write your myopic opinion; just join the people who are on the task and you all know who am talking about!!
Ethiopia will be free by her beloved sons and daughters and its up to you to sit and watch (making the struggle to last longer and to cost more) or stand together now to see the sunrise soon!
Peace and food to all!
prof Mesfin please leave these people alone. You don’t have no speech skill, no timing skill and most of all you are one selfish individual that wants to see his name on news for any reason. You have served a lot and your generation got us here please retire
A few of us now are foul-talking against Prof. Mesfin, because he is telling the truth. The moment he tells the truth, he is in trouble. You tell the truth, you are in trouble! It is that simple. It happended before, it is happening now. He is one of the most misunderstood persons in Ethiopian Politics. At the end, it is words that remain true. Remember what he said before and after the 2005 election. If you have memmory lapse, please go back and read his write ups. He is for truth, democracy, rule of law, justice in Ethiopia, but never for power.
Bad-mouthing Prof. Mesfin benefits nothing but Woyane. It is essentially we pay attentin to what the Professor says, unless we are going for another Woyane blw.
They are forgetting big time that the only party benefitting from their internal squabbles is weyane. This clearly shows during critical times they are incapable to pull together and work out their differences. Now I have given up my last hope that one day they will become mature enough to handle tough situations and come out united to confront the country’s number one enemy – the weyane. If they can’t solve their own internal problems in a democratic way, how can we expect them to handle the country’s complex problems?
I lost my trust on Prof. Mesfin when he labels Dr. Birhanu with Ato Hailu as a power trusty person who destroys CUD. Actually everyone knows that it was Ato Hailu (not Birhanu) who is not able to accept the rule of law and democratic leadership.
But following the fiasco of CUD prof. mesfin said (from india where he go for treatment) the problem is all about power struggle b/n hailu & birhanu. What a pathetic lie? The same old man is creating confusion inside UDJ. He better retire.
May God Bless Birtukan.
May God Bless G7.
May God Bless Ethiopia.
እጅግ በጣም ያሳዝናል የአገራችን ምሁራን ተነጋግረው መግባባት ሲያቅታቸው:: እኔ እንድሚመስለኝ ችግሩ ያለው ከፕሮፌሰሩ ጋር አብሮ መሥራት የሚቻል አይደለም ትክክለኛውን መንገድ በማጣመም ፓርቲውን ከውድቀት ለማድረስ ነው የሚጥሩት ይህ የመጀመሪያቸው አይደለም በ2005 ምርጫ ተከስቷል:: የደረሰውን ሁሉም ያውቃል መድገም አስፈላጊ አይደለም:: በደርግ ጊዜም ምን እንደሰሩ ይታወቃል:: ሰውየው ሁል ጊዜ ከጨቋኞች ጋር በመተባበር ሕዝቡን እንዲደናገር ያደርጉታል:: ለማስመሰል በዙ ይለፋሉ ግን ሁሌም እንደተጋለጡ ነውና ጠንቀቅ ብሎ ማየት ያስፈልጋል:: “እውነትና ንጋት እያደር ይጠራል” የባለል እስቲ የጥንቶቹ የዩኒቨርሲቲ ተማሪዎችበ60ዎቹ ዓ.ም. የነበራችሁ ብቅ ብላችሁ ስለ እኝህ ሰው ማንነት ለዚህ ትውልድ ንገሩት እባካችሁ!! ምነው አርፈው በክብር ወደ ሚቀጥለው ቤታቸው ቢሄዱ መካሪ ዘመድም የለ? እረ የኢትዮጵያ ህዝብ መሮታል ተረት ሁሉ እዚህ ላይ ቢቆም ይበጃል!! ፍቅር; ሰላም; መግባባት ለኢትዮጵያ ይምጣላት!!
አገር ወዳድ!
Tenagenet T.
Please solve this internal problem democratically and even if you don’t come out clean take it as a lesson learnt and concentrate on the big problem. That is throwing out the tyrant and liberate mother Ethiopia from the Dedebit animals.
God Bless Ethiopia and Her children.
Very tragic! we ethiopians, this time are not really in line with the God commandments, since we are observing different signals from different directions.Gizachew and his discples, please stop ur unifying agendum with Forum until u r going to reach a consensus with the national council.
Comment # 24 was not posted by me ‘George’. I don’t know whether there is another George or the name just defolted in name box. Any way, I still have great respect for the professor.
we are tired of the old politics, give a chance to the young politicians. let them lead. the old ones still have that old politics in thier mind that they inherit from HAILESELASSIE, MENGISTU, and now from Meles. I don’t want to compare who is successful or who is not. The clock is ticking fast, we don’t have time to think about all those past situations, instead we all as one have to think about how we can make a big stride to the new politics including our young politicians to participate, not only for them to participate, but also to take actions. why do we have to make the same mistake over and over again? I hope G7 won’t make a silly mistake which will probably lead to the disappointment of the Ethiopian people. There are only two honest political groups left for us to free our people from the arms of TPLF – G7 and EPPF. If it is possible for them to take the action, let’s go for it before the politics gets stagnant. That’s what is happening in Ethiopian politics. The more we take our time to take actions the more danger we are attracting towards the whole group. GOOD LUCK TO ALL OF US