This article [in Amharic] brings to light Ato Hailu Shawel’s trail of greed and betryal, including how he even failed to visit his colleague Prof. Astrat Woldeyes when he languished in jail for 6 years, and later when he was in a hospital bed, while continuing to complain that Kinijit officials failed to welcome him at a Washington DC airport last September. Click here to read.
11 thoughts on “Hailu Shawel’s trail of betrayal and greed”
I am surprised by the fact that all these years the Ethipian people has been betrayed by these kind of people. The worst is not his background, rather those who allowed him to be the leader knowing these facts.Was there any acountability in Kinijit leadership at all? By the way, do we know anything about the other leaders as well except few like Wt.Birtukan? Or are we massing behind them blindly? Is there any way these old feudal,greedy old blood sucker,the so called leaders leave Ethiopia for the young? We have seen them for several years. They are good for nothing. They think they are the only one who care and know the best way for this country.The fact shows to the conrary. Please believe in a change and there is always better leader out there if given the chance. Why are we stack with those people with the ideology of the 50’s and 60’s? Move on Ethiopia !!!
Hard to believe again. well I may say thank you for the person who produce the the six page article however I am suprised as the same time just because knowing all these facts about Hailu’s why they let him to exerices his evil power against the will of the Ethiopoian People. This is a big dissaster.
ይህንን አይነት ጉድ ያለበት ታሪክ ካለው ሰው ምን ይጠብቃል:: ትላንት ልደቱ ዛሬ ደግሞ እድሜ ጠገቡ ” መሪ” የስንቱ መሰሪ ድብቅ የስልጣን ጥም አንገታችንን እንዳስደፋን ይኖራል::እንኳንም ገና ያገር መሪ ሳይሆኑ ጉዳቸው ታየ:: ይህ ሁሉ መስዋዕትነት ሌላ አምባገነን ለመተካት ያለመሆኑም ሌላ ድል ነውና ማንነታችውን አሁን በመሳየታችው ልናመሰግናቸው ይገባል::
It is good to know all these facts. Thank you. Now we clearly know who this devil is.
Amazing story. i didn’t know Hailu Shawel was such an evil man. This article should be made available to Ethiopian public in some form. Very amazing story. This guy was a derg confidant. He was friends with Fikreselassie Wgderesse and Mengistu Hailemariam? Why was all this info was withheld from the public? pure evil.
One thing I can say is Lidetu is vindicated. He was RIGHT all long about the undemocratic culture in CUD and the Dictatorship. Hailu was a dictator, but lets not forget that Dr. Brahnu and the rest of them also allowed him to become a dictator. Lidetu is the only one who has guts.
Thank God he is now exposed by the true Ethiopian.How come Ato Hailu’s Children stop their dad madnees? don’t they care for their old father falling like this? I feel sad. What is the point of having children and waste time and money on their education? I embarassed by Ato Hailu Shawel I do not even know him. Thank God I am not one of his relative I will not be in history book associated with the man who distroyed Ethiopian hope in the 21st century. Thank God he is gonne forever from Ethiopin politics.
response to comment #5,
You have raised a nice point regarding Lidetu being right all along about Hailu’s dictatorial behavior. It is also right to ask why Dr Birhanu and the rest did nothing to expose Hailu’s dictatorship to the public. I hope that they will answer this one day. But my guess is that they kind of tolerated him out of respect for the AEUP since it was the largest party within the coalition. Hailu was also elected president of CUD for this specific reason–out of respect for AEUP. It was not because they were impressed by Hailu’s skills which he has none.
I do not think they imagined that he would cause a turmoil in this scale when they elected him and tolerated his dictatorial behaviours he exhibited while he was the chairman. They must have been in a very difficult position on the one hand to keep the coalition/party together and on the other hand to accommodate his dictatorship.
Considering the pressure Dr Birhanu, Lidetu and all were under during the election and the period that followed, I do not blame neither Lidetu nor Dr Birhanu et al for the actions they took.
Lidetu’s actions were opposed by many of us during 2005 because we did not know all the facts about Hailu as we do now. But Lidetu knew all this dirt about Hailu right then and before CUD. You cannot blame him for losing hope in the coalition under Hailu under those circumstances and given the fact that Lidetu was made to suffer in Woyane’s jail.
On the other hand I do not blame Dr Birhanu et al for naively believing that the coalition/party would survive even under Hailu’s dictatorship. They must have thought, lets see the bigger picture first, then we will take care of the “minor” problems later. But little did they know that Hailu would come close to collapsing not only Kinijit but the whole democratic movement.
In retrospect I am sure many of us learned a big lesson from the mistake called “Hailu Shawel” because that is all what he symoblizes– a big mistake.
What would be a bigger mistake than Hailu Shawel is if we let him be the reason to stay away from the political struggle and the democratic movement. We should continue without Hailu and his likes, for we know what they are–obstacles on the democratic path that need to be cleared away.
Sure, Hailu and his friends caused a major disappointment and demoralized the entire Kinijit movemnet, but still this will come to pass. All we have to do is focus and concentrate on the issues that matter the most. Let’s focus on democratizing ourselves, our local institutions and build on that. Lets focus on what’s within our reach and under our influence then before we know it we will have a strong democratic Diaspora institution world-wide–large and democratic enough to influence the democratic movement in our country.
So, lets get to work –heads up!!!!!!!!
I read the story. While I truly believe Hailu Shawel is a dictator, I don’t buy the part about betrayal. Nothing in the story shows betrayal. if at all, for me, it shows a picture of a man with unfinching stand and courage to do what he wishes. unfortunately, that is sometimes self-destructive and it is clear he is arrogant. On the issue of the break-up with Kinijit, just what is Dr.Birhanu and Birtukan thinking about? I believe they are more democrat and more in touch with issues on the ground, but I beleive Woyanne will never be made to lose power with elections and due process. If they believe that, they must be joking.
As to the assertion about joining the parliament in 2005, I recall that everybody in Ethiopia wanted them not to join. I think hailu followed the popular view then. give him credit where he deserves. My view is that Birtukan and Dr. Birhanu should lead the country when it is freeed from woyanne. as to the freedom fight, ruthless people like Hailu shawel are preferred. But he shouldn’t be let to come to power in a free Ethiopia. He will just be another Meles. for now, let him do the dirty job. Ishoohin ba Ishooh, or so goes the old adage.
found me contradictory? nothing is so just read it twice.
It is up to the author to answer why he has kept to himself this explosive until now other than that the article appears to be written by an insider. Whether the testimony is partly or absolutely true it matters little. Is it wise to waste bullets over a dead body?
In my opinion, in the past few weeks alone Hailu’s defiance to the CUD’S rules, his contradictory statements, endless lies, lavishness, association with corruption suspects and attempt to ban colleagues from party’s duty (without mandate) based on false charges are enough violations to discharge him from the party.
Who is behind the denial of conferences places for Bertukan?Where did the guard get the authirity or the green light to deny Bertukan to enter the CUD office in Addis Ababa? Why is woyane grooming a pro Hailu CUD? The answer is clear: Hailu is becoming a new Ledetu. Shame Shame Shame Ato Hailu. In as much as I was wrongly aplauding you I am disappointed now. Your personal greed has driven you than the interest of Ethiopia. You are vindictive just like woyane, but I am happy that you are detected early. Probably you are terminally ill and thinking like the proverbial donkey that if you die let the entire ethiopia die. Well we have gotten over this and you will be remembered as another dictator period. The dust has already settled. I can not believe you did this to the miserable Ethiopians langushing under woyane rule! At last let me ask you this: When did taye w/semayat and eprp became CUD members let alone leaders? Hand picking some one as you feel is not the kind of democracy we expected.The fact that you are a chairman does not make you above the party rules.