Skip to content

Hailu Shawel lies to Washington Post

Posted on , Updated on by Elias Kifle

The estranged Kinijit chairman, Ato Hailu Shawel, has told the Washington Post reporter Nora Boustany that he was in Washington DC on Oct. 2 to and met with Congressman Chris Smith one day before the House of Representatives passed H.R. 2003.

Read the following email exchanges with Ms. Nora Boustany of the Washington Post:

from Nora Boustany [email protected]
to Elias Kifle [email protected]
date Oct 9, 2007 11:01 PM
subject Re: article on HR 2003

Mr. Kifle, we corrected his title, but not the fact that he was up in the gallery watching the vote. Thanks for your interest. Best Regards. Nora

Nora Boustany
Foreign Staff Writer
Human Rights, Development, Trends
Tel: 202 334 7474
Fax: 202 334 5651
——————————————————————————————–

from Elias Kifle [email protected]
to Nora Boustany [email protected]
cc [email protected]
date Oct 9, 2007 11:26 PM
subject Re: article on HR 2003

How could a sick man sitting on a hospital bed in Minneapolis at the same time be in Congress up in the gallery watching the vote? Why don’t you call Mr Shawel himself and hear it from his own mouth? Why are you sticking to a false story?

——————————————————————————————–

from Nora Boustany [email protected]
to Elias Kifle
date Oct 10, 2007 1:05 PM
subject Re: article on HR 2003

Dear Mr. Kifle, if Mr. Shawel was able to meet with Congressman Smith, was he too ill to go to the gallery? Why is this such an issue? What has become very clear now is that there is a big problem between Mr. Mekonnen and a another group of Ethiopian Americans and that you do not work together, for reasons I am sure are very legitimate. It would have been great if all of you had been eager to inform me of your progress as the vote was shaping up, rather than of your differences after the vote. If there will be such a fuss everytime we write about Ethiopia, we can easily focus on other problems in the world. Please move on and let me focus on my work. Thank you for your interest. Nora

——————————————————————————————–

from Elias Kifle [email protected]
to Nora Boustany [email protected]
date Oct 10, 2007 3:53 PM
subject Re: article on HR 2003

I am moving on. Thanks.

——————————————————————————————–

from Nora Boustany [email protected]
to Elias Kifle [email protected]
cc [email protected]
date Oct 10, 2007 11:50 PM
subject Re: article on HR 2003

Mr. Kifle, just to put your mind at rest, I will share the following with you. I called Mr. Hailyu Shawel’s wife in their hotel in Rochester, Minnesota and finally reached them after many attempts since your campaign began last week. She told me they were both in Washington last week for a couple of days and that her husband had made visits to the hill in a wheelchair. Mr. Shawel himself confirmed that he had met with Representative Chris Smith, as did Patrick Creamer on Smith’s staff, early last week. Mr. Shawel said though he wanted to attend the vote, he left a couple of hours before to make a doctor’s appointment that afternoon. Of Mefsin Mekonnen, he said: “He is our man,” confirming that his group was not defunct. Thank you for your interest. best regards.

Nora Boustany

——————————————————————————————–

from Elias Kifle [email protected]
to Nora Boustany [email protected]
date Oct 11, 2007 1:14 AM
subject Re: article on HR 2003

Dear Nora,

Ms. Shawel is lying to you — I am sorry to say — to cover up for Mesfin Mekonnen who is in hot waters now because of this incident and another misinformation he may have provided to The Hill newspaper a few weeks ago. Mr Shawel met with Congressman Smith on Sept. 20 (see this report). The next day (on Friday) he went to Minneapolis for medical treatment. He was scheduled to return to DC on Sept. 29 to attend a public meeting. The doctors would not allow him to do so. The meeting was rescheduled for Oct. 6. Again, the doctors refused to let him travel to DC for the Oct. 6 meeting. The meeting is rescheduled again for Sunday, Oct. 14. Any time Hailu Shawel is in town for personal visit — let alone for an official meeting with a congressman — every body knows about it. Meeting with a congressman would have been a big news, particularly in an occasion like that. So Nora, I am happy that you have tried to get in touch with Hailu Shawel, and at least you got some response from his wife. But I think Mr Shawel and friends — now even family members — are compounding the problem by lying to a major media like the WP to cover up for their friend. As American journalists say, in politics it is not the mistake or the crime itself that get you in trouble, it is the cover up (I am rephrasing it). In this case what angered a lot of people is not that Mr Shawel did not come (because every one knows that he is getting medical treatment), or that Mesfin Mekonnen misinformed you, but what he and his friend did to cover up their mistake — i.e, attacking me and other individuals in the media as liars. More importantly, misinforming the Western media by a member of our community could be too costly to us. We are afraid that we would lose the little media coverage our cause is getting if those who are assigned to speak on our behalf engage in blatant lies. I accept your suggestion and I am moving on. But if you really want to get to the bottom of this matter, there are two ways: 1) insist on speaking with Hailu Shawel himself on the record (ask him if he was in Washington DC on Tuesday, Oct. 3); and/or 2) speak with Congressman Smith’s office on the record (which I did — I asked his staff if Mr Smith met with Mr Shawel any time on Tuesday, Oct. 3. They said NO). I am 100 per cent certain that you will find out the truth.

Regards,
Elias

——————————————————————————————–

from Nora Boustany [email protected]
to Elias Kifle
date Oct 11, 2007 1:50 PM
subject Re: article on HR 2003

Mr. Kifle, I did speak to him in person by telephone after having reached his wife. I talked to them separately. He met with Smith on October 2 and left the next morning, a couple of hours before the vote on October 3. This is exactly what he said. So thank you again for your interest. Nora

——————————————————————————————–

Ato Hailu Shawel, you have disgraced yourself once again, this time by telling an egregious lie to a major U.S. newspaper. Why?

64 thoughts on “Hailu Shawel lies to Washington Post”

  1. Elias – It is one thing to find out the truth but at what cost? When people fighting for the same cause accusing each other on a public forum is really no use when looking at the big picture.

    Even Nora stated in one of her emails that “if it causes a fuss when writing about Ethiopia ….. , we should be able to show our strength not weakness, I gues that is what Weyane is doing best. I am afraid that the media and all others who are following our affair not to give up on us when seeing we are fighting each other. for nothing? Is our struggle against Weyane or amongst ourselves? Every one fighting for Democracy shold as this question.

  4. Eng. Hailu even admitted he has only met the congress only once in his VOA interview yesterday. Actually now I feel sorry for Eng. seriously. These idiots tarnished his good name and deeds. He lied this time to protect Mesfen Mokenen. Why does he allow to be manipulated by these idiots, why? why? They are doing all these, not because they care for him. They(Shaleqa and co) don’t give a flying rat if he dies tomorrow as long as their crime is covered. But for some reason he is not willing to open his eyes.

    very sad indeed!

  5. in kinijit.com it is stated that the coming meeting in DC is called by Hailu shawel.

    In VOA 2. part hailu said he is not the caller of the meeting. he is only invited so that he can not call the delegation.

    A big living lie.

    Just analyse the VOA interview you will find a lot of lies and arogance talks.

    This guy seems to be mentaly not very healthy.

  6. Elias,

    Who Cares!!!!!!!!!! We really have to stop this negative intra-party cat fight. Please try to be agent of peace. 70 million people and our entire country are at stake!!!!
    Again, please preach peace. I really assume you have all good intentions, but please take it a bit easy on Shawel and company, and let us focus on the big picture.

  7. Simon,
    In leadership, charactor matters. I wish I was dead long ago than trusting such a liar person as leader of Kinijit for the past three yrs. I feel like crying when I remember those children and mothers who were betrayed and died in streets. I do believe he betrayed all of us.

    In sadness,

  9. እንጂነር እባክዎ
    በኢትዮጵያ አምላክ እባክዎ ኢንጂነር ደሙን ባፈሰሰዉ በእለተ ቀትር ህይዎቱን ለሰዋዉ ላላማዎ ክብር አካላቱን ባጣዉ በስር ለሚጉላላዉ እዉነት ዪናገሩ ለሱ ክብር ብለዉ
    በጣም እንዳያዝንቦት ልቡን እንዳያማዉ ብሰላም በክብር እስክንሰናበቶ ጥሩ ነገር ካፎ ይዉጣ ካንደበቶ ከቅንጅት አምባ ቶሎ ገለል ካሉ እንደፈቀደዎት በሬ ወለደ ይበሉ::

  10. Simon,

    The truth has to be found out at ANY COST. Your struggle should be against everyone who is lying so blatantly, Meles or Hailu. Hailu Shawel needs to stop telling bold faced lies in public. What the hell is wrong with this man? My God, is he this stupid? Doesn’t he realize he is talking to the Washington Post, not to the Enquirer where anything cause. Is there an end to his shameful acts??? What a despicable immoral person?

  11. ሃይሉ ሻወል በቃው በሰላም ተሰናብቶ ቢለቅ ጥሩ
    መሰለኝ ወያኔወች መርፌ ወግተዉታል ብዙ ህዝብ
    ሳያወናበድ እንደ ልደቱ በጊዜ እንሸኘው እረ ጎበዝ
    ብዙ ህዝብ ያለቀበት ፖለቲካ ነው ካለፈው እንማር
    ሃይሉ ምንም አይሆንም ደሀውን ህዝባችን እንዘንለት እነልደቱ በኮብራ ነው እሚፈላሰፉ ምን
    ሆኑ ሃይሉ እንደዛው::

  13. Elias,
    As much as I admire your effort in your capacity to fight the fight, you surely have an obsession disorder. First was Shaleqa and now with the chairman of Kinijit the Honorable Eng. Hailu Showel! Get help buddy!
    Don’t take it personal it is brotherly advice!

  15. If indeed HS was not in DC on October 2, as Elias confirms from Mr. Smith’s office that HS was not in Smith’s office on that date, then there is a lie. Lies should not be tolerated since in that case HS is unfairly trying to boost his stature about his contributions to HR2003. The Mayor of Atlantic City, NJ resigned recently for attempting to boost his resume by falsly claiming service in the military. I think what ER is doing is appropriate journalistic research, even if not a common tactic used among Ethiopians. In Rome live like the Romans.

    Also, we would like to know how a false news that Gizachew and Brook are not for HR2003 rather opting for a backyard dimplomacy with Woyane. That news rattled the Ethiopian community like a dagger to the heart. That news was proven false as we heard directly from the horse’s mouth as they say, and as we witnessed earlier and later that these gentlemen rallied in support of the bill.

    If Mesfin Mekonnen was the source of this news to the Hill newspaper rather than the two gentlement themselves, then Mesfin has indeed done Ethiopians an extreme wrong and a great disservice. But there is as yet no substantiation that Mesfin indeed did that. Hence, ER should be careful no to spread an unsbstantiated news about Mesfin Mekonnen. But ER has the right and obligation to dig for the truth in that regard, but report to us about his findings.

  16. Dear Elias…

    Everyone knows the truth, but there is no use to hassle these people who want to deal with the big issue like promoting HR2003. As Nora said….

    ‘It would have been great if all of you had been eager to inform me of your progress as the vote was shaping up, rather than of your differences after the vote. If there will be such a fuss everytime we write about Ethiopia, we can easily focus on other problems in the world.’

    So lets drop the gossip of this shameful story of Eng. Hailu there is a lot of work to do…lets moveeeeeeeeeeeee

  17. Dear Nora boustany,what is your motive?do you know ato mesfin mekonnen and his corrupted group is resposnsible for 1.2m dollars? our sister Nora, if you want to get the truth ,it is better to call mr congress man chris smith’s office and ask his seceratry. that is the easiest way to get reliable information instead of asking those liars.dear Nora , as a human being you need to stand behind the truth to defend democracy and freedom from dictator like eng hailu shawul {sorry my word}

  18. “If there will be such a fuss everytime we write about Ethiopia, we can easily focus on other problems in the world.”
    Nora.

    she is absolutely right. And this is what is going to happen. Who is going to be responsible if HR 2003 fails to be a law while people are fighting eachother? who?

  19. it is sad to see all of us sucked into the very trap woynes’ want. they want us to creat differences between us and divide, so why is so hard for those of us who know better get trapped in this nonsense. if Hailu Shawel does not want to be part of the movement that promises freedom and democracy for all ethiopians, then we just have to forget him move on with our struggle. i think the more we focuss on the little problems we are facing today, Meles is going to be a winner in his plan of dividing us even more. the other thing is that we were all calling Ato shawel our hero not long time ago, but all the sudden he is the lier of the mellenium. where is the patient Elias, just give the guy time to recover from his illness and then we will get to the bottom of the truth. for now i think we all should focus on the rest of the kinijit leaders and figure our how they can accomplish their pletical goal and ecourage Ethiopians in america to attend the metting with leaders to learn more about the party and and find out ways to bring peace and democracy to the country

  20. የህዝብ መወደድ ሀይሉ የነበር :
    ደፋር ታግይ ግርማው የሚአምር :
    ገና ግዳይ ሳይጥል :
    እግሩን ቆሰለ አሉ ሳያቆስል ::
    ታግሎ ሳያበቃ :
    ተማረክ አሉ ባንድ ሻለቃ ::
    ጉድ ተሰማ በኛ ቀዬ :
    ለስንት የታጨው ትልቁ ሰውዬ :
    ተረሳችና ኢትዮጵያዬ :
    ባምቻ ጋብቻ በጎጥ በሰፈር ሲሰባሰብ ታዬ ::

  21. ቃል አፍራሽ ነው ቢሉኝ ቅዱስ ኤልያስ
    የጉለሌው መስሎኝ እንባየ ሲፈስ

    ለካስ ሌላ ኑሯል እዚያ ባህር ማዶ
    ‘ጣኦተ ኤልያስ ‘ የወሬ ማገዶ

    ጣኦተ ኤልያስ ጭሱ እየበነነ
    ‘አንዳርጋቸው ‘ ቢሉት ምነዋ በተነ

    ‘መብዓ ‘ ብንጠይቅ ፍቅር ርቦን
    ጥላቻና ውሸት አደለን

    ፍሬ ከርስኪ ‘ብርሀን ‘ አልባ
    ባንድ ሙቀጫ ቢንጫጫ ተልባ

    ቅንጅት ‘ኃይሉ ‘ ነው ለህዝቡ
    ካንገቱ የማይለየው ያንድነት ክታቡ
    http://seminawork.blogspot.com/2007/10/let-hailu-shawel-speak-freely.html

  22. Elias,
    I used to hate you. I have changed my mind. Whether the issue is trivial or important, I like your determination to find the truth, the root … Berta and carry on as shaid to you.
    What an Investigative Journalist !!
    You will succeed.

  26. It doesn’t matter wether it is Hailu Shawel, Meles Zenawi, Megistu or my mom :-)

    I second “Lies should not be tolerated”

    Truth Shall set you free!!!! Lets be honest!

  27. Elias, I like your determination to find the truth. Keep up the good work. As everybody knows god loves Ethiopia we are lucky this maaniac was not to be the leader. he is worst than Meles. In the last three weeks I conunt more than twenty lies. I admired the other Kinijit officials for their guts and decision to work with him. To tell you the truth his character is the same like his best friend and his boss during red terror Colonel Mengestu Hailemariam. May be Mengestu learned from Hailu shawel. Big Lier.

  28. I think, all people might have lied for good or bad at least once in their life time. But this one is a little big since it was designed to score a political point. The funny thing about all this is that the very CUD people were there to testify, HS should have done the same, had he been there. From the e-mails, it was clear that he was not there. If it was back home, he could have gotten away with it so easily as it would be easier to lie and not being caught.

  30. Good job Elias! The truth shall set you free.

    You know what? I strongly believe that things happen for a reason. If it wasn’t for election 2005 and the TPLF thugs stealing the people’s vote, we would never have learned about Lidetu Khidetu. I know there were youngsters in Ethiopia who considered him as their role model and used to swear in his name instead of their dads (‘Lidet Yimut’ instead of ‘Abate Yimut’).

    Now through these fiasco, we are learning the true character of Hailu Shawl(I always thought he was truthful, just communication challenged) and the people surrounding him, like ShaleQa Yosef (I knew he was incompetent but I never suspected he was a thief) and all the other alleged patrons and matrons of Kinijit in the US and Canada.

    Respectfully,

    -Surafel

  33. Hey Esu,

    With all due respect, you are missing the point here. If he was not there and didn’t want anybody to know about it, there is no point of talking to Washington post. See where your logic fails!

  34. Hailu shawl lied and deceived the entire world specially millions of poor Ethiopians who scarified so much for the cause of Kinijit.

    For all Ethiopians!

    If you are attending the October 14, KIC Feudals meeting in DC, PLEASE ask Eng Hailu Shawl the following:
    •Eng Hailu Shawl, Why are you hiding from the Public?
    •Eng Hailu Shawl , why did you promise Abebe Belew Addis Dimts radio producer for interview with a date and time and on last minute you went hiding?
    •Eng Hailu Shawl, we all know that 1.2 million of Kinijit’s money was stolen by Shaleka and company , what portion of the stolen amount was transferred to your private bank account through your son in Minnesota USA?
    •Eng Hailu Shawl, who the hell are you to self appoint Dr. Taye over the diaspora?
    •Eng Hailu Shawl is your wife also KIC public affair , she sure was a crook hidden messanger between you and KIC thugs
    •Eng Hailu Shawl NA Chairman Aklog invited you to attend the meeting over and over, he even came to your hotel room and begged you twice but you REFUSED, so how on earth do you claim that you were never invited on VOA?
    •Eng Hailu Shawl, are you mentally retarded or just purely greedy feudal?
    •Eng Hailu Shawl, I ask you to resign your position gracefully , IF you have any leftover

    Ayyee Eng Ledetu Hailu Kedetu –Eski Yehun

  35. I know we are all concerned about the character the Old man. Truely, had he got the seat of Minelik Palace, he was worse than TPLF. What a sad!!! What unfortunate country? What unfortunate people????

    But regarding our dealings with foreigners, let’s not offend them as we do to each other.

    I think ER should write the jornalist thank you letter for her effort to cover the Ethiopian case on such great news papers like the WP. I hope ER will read this message.

  37. Although it is necessary not make things personal,we must develop a culture of telling the truth for the sake of not personal or group ‘satisfaction’ but for the sake of the interest of the people whose knowledge and observation cannot not be underestimated. We need to respect, not worship leaders. I strongly believe any leader including Ato Hailu Shawel has to give due attention and consideration to the interest of the people. It is absolutely necessary to get out of this kind of ill-guided political behaviour.

  38. One of the most important political realities of 2005 was not only to expose the very nature of the ruling party-EPRDF, but also the very hidden interest and nature of some individuals/leaders with in Kinjit itself, and that is a very harsh but valuable experience.

  40. Hailu Shawl is too old to lead kinijit.Beside that the more aging lot of problems comes such as,Demantia,Parkinson and
    Alzahemeia.So it is not a big deal if he lies,because he is losing his short memories.However if you ask him the past 30 years events he can tell you perfectly.

  41. Let’s give the old the benefit of the doubt; maybe he sincerely think he was there. Perhaps he just got mixed up with the date, place and congressman he spoke with.

  42. Elias, as a public media professional you are doing a GREAT Job.

    Do not forget Elias! BE thoughtful, tolerant, to the point/specific, and focused.

    After saying that to your keen interest in knowing the truth, let me say some words on the unfolding negative events from Engineer Hailu Shawul’s bad ego and unwillingness to work and lead the Ethiopian political business together (with his fellow CUDP leaders):

    I believe the battle for cleaning the power-engine of CUDP has actually started a while ago, as soon as these leaders were released from TPLF’s Kaliti prison.

    Let me just focus on Eng. Hailu’s pal-talk and other interview and communications since then.

    Around August 07, he said: ” all CUDP supporting chapters and organizations around the world (outside Ethiopia) must organize themselves without any interference from us, and be accountable to themselves!

    This is a very good statement, but he consistently excluded the KIC from this consideration. He was giving reasons such as:
    – KIC is organized with interested groups convergence and fair election process (we know this is not true; KIC is organized with his direct suggestion and command I would say!!)
    – He is trying to say now KIC is a non-profit NGO. (we know this is not true. For an NGO there are certain rules and regulations, clear written document on how it functions (constitutions and bylaws) there exists nothing like that, there). An NGO is a public domain by nature and there is a clear and transparent accountability which states such things as how much money is collected and how it is spent; who is doing what under which specific condition; regular quarterly half-year and yearly report to who ever interested to know about it. THERE IS NOTHING like that with KIL.
    – For simple management reason I would call KIL an appendix like unnecessary organization in the World wide kinijit support group structure. Because it is above every continental organization, be it from Europe or Australia, or South Africa—first it have to come to KIL in the US before something can be done. – and for an optimal performance of KIL office doing a simple calculation (based on us salary and payment rate–annually) you need say one secretary (35000 USD; an office with minimum furnishing; communication facility I would say at least 12000USD; at least two full time peoples to get the job done, this would cost at least 80000USD each since they have to be competent and highly professional. This would bring a total yearly budget of around $200 000 USD, unnecessary expenditure just to facilitate this basically unnecessary structure at the top of every thing! ALL THE MONEY COMES FROM THE POCKET OF EACH OF US WHAT A MEANINGLESS STRUCTURAL DESIGNING! I think this is very clear for every body including Engineer Hailu shawl and he have to support the dissolving of KIL.
    – The other think which I observed from Engineer Hailu’s interviews is He tries to push every thing to the future and thereby try to get favorable conditions to push active CUDP leadership members (individuals and groups) out of action by maneuvering tactic-fully, avoiding direct professional media confrontation, and taking the issue of KIL back to Addis Ababa. Debating about KIL in Addis Ababa where there is no freedom at all means, trying to shamefully use the lawless atmosphere there to his advantage.
    – The other interesting thing is he comes to the media of his choice when ever the Kinijit delegate, led by vice president Birtukan, get successful meetings and town-hall gatherings done well. It looks lie a sort of follow-up distortion and confusion creation process.

    At the end I believe what Engineer Hailu should know is, I believe no body is against his leadership and I am not contesting about its quality either—But every body is against his bad habit of hating peoples who are potentially better than him or doing great job for their people and their country.

  44. Dear Mr. Elias,

    Why you are spoiling your time on the issue. What ever they say there are politicians, and politics is a profession. So, if you are tekorkuari to Ethiopia, it is better if you write articles which introduces ethiopia inorder to attract business organizatios or tourists. But if you want to deal with political issues, it is better to diclare yourself as a member of one party and do like the others are doing. If that is not the case i can’t consider you as a political journalist.

    Regarding the current dispute among the Kinijit leaders , I hope it will end peacefully -selezih negeruen ataketatilew!!!!! By the way what we are listening is seeing is written and said by MP Lidetu one half yea ago—gin semi aleneberem…..Anyways , all are politicians and they can choose the they want to follow, please don’t disturb them. And concentrate yourself on positive aspects of Ethiopia and contribute something to your country by doing. And please be opetimist!

  45. Burka please mind your own business, Elias is giving us a lot of information that we need to know. Many of us don’t even know what’s going on, now we have an idea where the problem is coming from.

  48. Thank you Burka. I didn’t like how Elias is handling this volatile situation. The current problem needs patience and forward looking. Lets keep our judgments to later. Don’t need smoking guns at the moment.

  49. Of course, being a kinijit supporters, we are fighting lie.Atse Hailu keeps lying now and then.More surprisingly, he accused our heroes as if they are standing against HR2003. That is so awful. Great jobs Elias!!!!!!!!!!

  50. Elias,

    To be effective you have to pick your fight – only when it matters the most. In my opinion, this does not matter. There are a lot of issues of concern between Hailu and the other leaders that we should focus on and understand – policy related, decision making process related, that are more critical. The more the leaders speak, the clearer the distinction becomes and we can make informed judgment. Even if we may not follow Ato Hailu from here on, he deserves our respect and appreciation for the struggle he waged – nothing less.

    For your own good, don’t major in minor things!

Leave a Reply