March of the Millions is underway in Egypt. It is an unbelievable scene. For Ethiopians it is a reminiscent of the May 7, 2005, rally in Addis Ababa where 4 million people turned out to express their support for change one week before the stolen May 15, 2005 elections. Unfortunately, the Ethiopian march of the millions did not bare fruit as the people still continue to suffer under a brutal dictatorship. Ethiopian Review wishes victory and success to the people of Egypt in their fight for freedom.
Latest developments in Egypt
* African leaders are warily watching Egypt. Frustrated with their political elites, railing against the lack of freedom, angered at unemployment levels, dismayed at the rising cost of food, fuel and other basics, the people of sub-Saharan Africa share many of the complaints that led to the upheavals in Tunisia and Egypt, along the continent’s northern edge. – Global Post
* An undercurrent of anger against the United States appears to be building here because of what many see as the Obama administration’s overly cautious response to the demands of protesters for the resignation of longtime U.S. ally President Hosni Mubarak. – Los Angeles Times
* Mohamed ElBaradei is emerging as a potential replacement for Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, but like other possible successors, he’s seen as a temporary leader. – USA Today
* China minimized news coverage of Egypt uprising and “warned last week that websites that did not censor comments about Egypt would be ‘shut down by force.” – CSM
* Former U.S. presidential candidate Senator John Kerry urges Hosni Mubarak to step down. – New York Times
* Opposition leader ElBaradei calls on Mubarak to quit in order to spare bloodshed. – Al Arabiya
* Egyptian army has ruled out force against the people. – BBC
* Mubarak authorized the new vice president to start talks with opposition leaders. – Al Jazeera
* Turkish Prime Minister Recep Erdogan called on Mubarak to listen to his people, in the first call by a foreign leader to ask Egypt’s present to step aside.
* Google and Twitter have launched a service which circumvents the ban on net services in Egypt. The so-called speak-to-tweet system allows people caught up in the unrest to post messages without any need to use an internet connection.
* The U.N.’s high commissioner for human rights praised protesters in Egypt Tuesday and said she was alarmed by a rise in casualties during unrest in the country.
7 thoughts on “Historic day in Egypt – March of a Million is underway”
Hi Elias, It’s great to see colourful revolutions sweeping brutal dictators across the Arab world, and Africa, we must follows the outcome as the domino effect soon or later would engulf part of the horn, but what’s going on behind all these proactive geopolitical crisis, how and when our leaders react without fear? what’s the position of the opposistion leaders dealing with the current situation? are we going to reapet the mistakes of the past? (1974 vs 2005) what is the role of the ordinary citizens? what kind of mechanisms can we use to reach the masses> ? million unanswerd question are awaiting our elite it’s a wake up call to save our country from tribalism and dictatorial mafia rule of TPLF, let’s get together now !!!
REVOLUTION we can believe in!!!!!
It is amazing how Egyptians are RESPECTED all over the globe except it is contempt leader. Their army is fully behind them. Will our army behind us when we rise up? Weyane had made sure of Tigrayans get ready to mass kill the rest of Ethiopians. These people had created hate for so long, the stupid Tigrayan army will not hesitate to ethnically cleanse Ethiopians. However if they do this, they cannot out run millions of Ethiopians therefore, the army will be hunted and hanged upside down then Ethiopians will warn Tigrayns either you are with us or leave the country asap!
We Ethiopians must act. We already have the experience of bringing 3 million supporters of change to Meskel square on May 07, 2005.
I think it is time for all African nations to follow the current trend to topple old and brain damaged leaders of Africa. 20, 30 + years in power absolutely ridiculous and laughable.
Africa need USA style of governance that is 4years and if re-elected 4 more years. That is the only remedy to the nations that suffer of one man rule for years.
“Atenesam hoy Atnesam hoy” …… that is what we used to sing during the derg Era. Where is that now????
It ain’t over until the fat lady sings. In fact, it is not time yet for her to start singing in Egypt. What we should not forget is Mubarak and Sadat along with Gamal did not sustain their rule over 80 million people alone. They have had a very huge workforce on their payroll who counts on them for survival. They need an extensive intelligence and bureaucratic state machine with hundreds of thousands of paid employees to maintain their status quo. That was how they defeated the Muslim Brotherhoods and other leftist opposition groups first time in the mid 50’s and again in the 80’s. They will not surrender to an angry and potentially vindictive crowd in the uprising. They have seen what happened to their kind in Iran after the Imam settled down. Gallows were everywhere. I would rather see the ending to this stalemate as it was done in Chile, Brazil and other South American or Asian countries. The uprising should come up with a pragmatic figure(s) who will be able to lead the people to an amicable conclusion. But I am skeptical. I hope and pray that I will be deemed dead wrong. After decades of tyranny a power vacuum is a sure thing if the ruling regime is brought down all in a sudden in the middle of a chaotic uprising. There is nothing to indicate to us there is anyone who will be able to make the people understand things may become worse before they get better. And that is very important not only for the people in Egypt but also to many Sub-Saharan countries including those in the nearby Horn of Africa. Once that evil – anarchy is out of control in such mega-urbanized country like Egypt, then the bets are off. The incidence today in Alexandria is a telltale sign of what could be afoot for the people at large. It is not a good sign.
And our so-called opposition groups whether in St. Paul, DC, LA, Asmara, Abu Dhabi or Addis should spend at least a day at school learning from the current uprising in Egypt. They will do greater good to the people they are ‘fighting’ for if they come together under one umbrella. They should stop flapping their mouths against each other but they should set their eyes on the ultimate prize – liberating our people from Mrs. Peggy Azeb and her mongoose face concubine.
Come on folks! When an uprising starts it needs to act swiftely and decisely rather than keep ammasing and ammassing milions upn millions just to demonistrate how much power it has. That is not always enough. Why keep waiting and keep dissipating scarce enegy and other scarce resources of the large and diverse opposition by endlessely encamping in the open city air. Wating for too long will only give momentum and strengthen the dictatorship and reduce momentum, divide and weaken weaken the opposition.
That is what happened in the case of the Thailand opposition and just now starting to happen in Egypt/Cairo where president Mubarak is now starting to gain momentum as he is organizing and sending SUDANESE JANJAWID STYLE VIOLENT SECURITY HORSE AND CAMEL MEN VIOLENTLY DIVIDING AND ATTACKING THE EGYPTIAN opposition.
MUBARAK is not at all interested or willing to transfer power peacefully but wants to kill, massacare and keep his dictatorial powe by all means possible. That is what dictators and dictatorships are all about. That is also why peacefull transition is almost impossible even if the people wish, desire and act peacefully. If not stoped, Mubarak will only cause blood bath simply he has no place to go and take refuge even.