By Mohamed Hassen
In 1991, as the result of military ruling collapsed, Ethiopia established a federal system creating largely ethnic-based territorial units, its framers claiming they have found a formula to achieve ethnic and regional autonomy, while maintaining the state as political unit. The initial process of {www:federalization} lasted four years, and was formalized in a new constitution in 1995. The Ethiopian ethnic federal system is significant in that it provides for {www:secession} of any ethnic unit.
The leading party EPRDF consisted of four parties; although, TPLF led the regime. TPLF working hand-and-gloves with Eritrea rebel at the time had deliberately designed a controversial article 39 so that EPLF should have created its own government and it succeeded to make Ethiopia a country without a port.
The secession clause is one of the most controversial issues in public discourse in Ethiopia and its Diasporas communities today. The TPLF and EPLF soldiers had disarmed Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) and put them in jail; even though, the honey moon of TPLF and EPLF did last for a short period and we all knew that they had bloody war that claimed the lives of 70 thousands innocent people in 2000.
Opponents of ethnic federalism fear that it invites ethnic conflict and risks state disintegration. The Ethiopian state, they worry, may face the same fate as the USSR and Yugoslavia. Others, of an ethno nationalist persuasion, doubt the government’s real commitment to self-determination; they support the ethnic federal constitution per se, but claim that it has not been put into practice. To many critics, the federal state is a de facto one-party state in which ethnic organizations are mere satellites of one ethnic organization, the Tigray Peoples Liberationits Front (hereafter referred to as TPLF), the leading unit in the ruling coalition, the Ethiopian Peoples Revolutionary Democratic Front (hereafter referred to as EPRDF). Finally, those who consider Ethiopia to be a colonial empire sees the federal exercise as yet another colonial trick, and advocate “decolonization.” Supporters of ethnic federalism point out that it has maintained the unity of the Ethiopian peoples and the territorial integrity of the state, while providing full recognition to the principle of ethnic equality. It is important to examine objectively whether ethnic federalism is a viable way of resolving conflict between ethno nationalism and state nationalism. Now that the ethnic federal experiment is more than two decades old, it is possible to make a tentative evaluation of its performance. According to a reliable data, the ethnic conflicts have been exacerbated in the last two decades and more conflicts have been emerged in Ethiopia. The main ones are Somalis against Oromo, Oromo against Harari, Afar against Somalis and within Somalis, etc. ,
I posed a key question, not only about the conflict but about whether the current liberation fronts be it OLF, or ONLF should have the controversial secession sentiment is valid: “The question has hovered over Ethiopia Federal System from the moment the Deg regime collapsed whether TPLF, EPLF, ONLF or ONLF join their cousins fighting in its zone: Was the battle for Ethiopian power the clash of a brutal dictator against democratic opposition fronts, or was it fundamentally a tribal civil war?” The brute answer was a tribal civil war and all the fronts have shown their ugly heads once they got a power seat.
This is the essential question because there are two kinds of school of thoughts in Ethiopia: “real united country approach” with long histories in its territory and strong national identities (Amhara, Tigray, Oromo, Somali, Afar, Gurague etc); and those that might be called “tribes with bullets approach,” or more artificial regions with boundaries drawn in sharp straight lines by TPLF’s pen. Those have been trapped inside their regional borders myriad tribes and sects who have volunteered to live together for centuries and have fully melded into a unified family of citizens if they are not organized along the nation and nationalities line.
They are Somali Region, Afar Region, Amhara Region, Trigray Region, and Oromo Region to name a few. The nations and nationalities and sects that make up these more artificial regions have long been held together by the iron fist of EPRDF, kings or military dictators. They are no real “citizens” in the modern sense. They have been asked to forcefully endorsed the identity of their nation origin aka balkanization of apartheid South Africa.
The balkanization disease has not only gone through the people in homeland, but Ethiopians who live in Diaspora. On April 9, and 10, Ethiopian officials visited 14 cities in North America and discussed the so-called Growth Transformation Plan. According to a reliable information that I got from Minnesota, clash of clans had surfaced among the Somalis.
The President of Somali Region Abdi Mohamud Omar had welcomed his own sub clan Ali Ysuuf of Ogadeni and did not want to see any other Somali clans who inhabited in Somali Region. These had a created a tension among the six other Somali clans had formed an organization to fight under the banner of unity of Ethiopia and distanced themselves from the ethnicization. On one occasion, the President of Somali Abdi Mohamudd Omar had insulted the counselors in Washington DC Embassy because they did give a preference to his own sub-clan during the conference. It seems that the Meles regime is doing deliberately to foment tribal conflict so that he elongated his Power. For instance, Somali Region President has spent 90, thousands dollars during his visit to North America, but two millions Ethiopian Somalis are on the brink of starvation in Somali Region. The same thing is going in Somali Region. Many Somali clans had sent a letters of complain to the Federal Government. This attested how much the introduction of article 39 and zoning had destroyed the fabric of Ethiopian society. The people of Ethiopia had lived for centuries, intermarried and fought together to make Ethiopia a land that had never colonized. Currently, ONLF, OLF and G7 political Organizations are meeting in North America and we urged them to focus on the unity of Ethiopia to dismantle the dictatorial regime of Meles Zenawi and to echo the uprising of Arab World.
Finally, sadly, we can’t afford to divide Ethiopia along nations and nationalities line. We have got to get to work on our own country. If the Diaspora is ready to take some big, hard, urgent, decisions, shouldn’t they be first about fighting for freedom, justice and rule of law in Ethiopia? Shouldn’t he first be forging a real unity that will go beyond nations narrow outlook that weakens all the the unity and true Ethiopian identity and a budget policy that secures the Ethiopian dream for another generation? Once those are in place, I will follow the Meles and his gang to be routed out from the power seat as Mubarek and Ben Ali had been relegated to the history bin.
(The writer can be reached at [email protected])
31 thoughts on “Distorted ethnic federalism in Ethiopia”
Mohamed Hassen,
are we talking about ethiopia or somalia. i am very confused with clan talk. please explain your self.
“The main ones are Somalis against Oromo, Oromo against Harari, Afar against Somalis and within Somalis, etc” there is a lot of muslim in these states. i wonder where the problem is? will ask a professor if he has an idea where the problem is. oops my 7 year old brother solved it the problem is……..
This is indeed a fair description of the reality in Ethiopia today. As has been witnessed in the past in many places disunity and division along ethnic lines have never been a solution to any political problem. Those who echo secession and separation are the ones whose main agenda it is to gain political power at any expense.
A very well thought out article.I would like to add though,that the war against the Derg was no doubt ethnic based and in no way a war for Democracy as we know it in the west,but the convoluted version spewed by marxist-lenninst thinking which to this day the current regime is holding the Country hostage to.
Look at it this way brother,there is only one direction the minority based ethnic government can go.It cannot go higher,so there is only ONE WAY,and thats down.The worry of balkanization will not be paramount,as that is the game the regime wants to propagate.If independence had worked and economically viable,the weyane`s would have adopted it in 1991.
The TPLF understands,by example of and from their former colleagues up north where the bread-basket of the region is.Declaring disunity,regardless of ethnic,religious or any other imagined foible would be tantamount to political and economic suicide for the said grouping.
What is essential here therefore,is a concerted,united,an all-inclusive,but SOLID opposition.It will not be difficult,as all the ingredients are there,just a spark like Tunisia or Fgypt and recently Uganda
GOODLUCK until we meet on the ground.
I started your long and boring sounding article and left it without making it to the 3rd line. First of all the Military regime did not collapse, it was ousted. There is a HUGE difference, get your facts straight before you start to want to sound Almariam.
Thank you for being realistic.If we want to save our people and the Country itself this is the only and ONLY way to tackle what we have at hand and make the people to determine their own rule by way of REPRESENTATIVE Governance.Thanks again.
First and foremost, Meles has to go. He is the devil. He is the one who messes the country by divide and rule, robbing the assets of the country, and corrupting the bureaucracy.
He creates religious and ethinic animosities in different parts of the country in order to prolong his rule. The fight in Jimma is a typical act of his devilish act.
On top of this, he robbed the gold in the National Bank, 10,000 tons of coffee, and strikes off the loans his wife borrows from the Banks of the country.
At present time the corruption in the country is unprecented. Citizens have to pay bribes to get done anything done in almost all government offices.
Mels foments hatred, plunders the country, and promotes culture malfeasance. It is time Meles The Devil and The Mafis has to go.
The coming into power of TPLF/EPRDF neither solved nor brought to an end the deeply entrenched political problems and the question of nation/nationalities in Ethiopian. Rather It simply replaced the Amhara dominated monarchical and military regimes with tribalist and regionalist Tigrain one. To easy-ride the political system, the Tigrian dominated regime, divided the country into nine nation/nationalities and two autonomous cities,i.e. Addis Ababa and Dire Dawa.
Currently, the Ogaden tribe of Somali in imitation of their creator and ardent-enemy are trying to dominate the whole political sphere in Somali regional state. The Harari/Adre control the whole city of Harar regardless of presence of a huge descendants of Amhara from the northern Ethiopia in the regional administration. This is also true to the Dire Dawa administration where a significant section of the residents of the city belong to other nations from highlanders. In these administrative regions, the residents from other nation/nationalities are denied basic political, civic and constitutional rights. That means the change in Ethiopia that happened two decades ago rarely transformed the status quo. Instead it brings up a new groups and subjugate others. The an unabated cycle of oppressions will continue despite changes of governments in the last half century.
It is hard to imagine democracy will reign in Ethiopia anytime soon. Their is deep mistrust among the people that it would be very difficult to establish a ground framework for introduction of democratic value. Recently I travelled to Eastern Ethiopia, and to gauge the opinion of the the citizen about what they think of their government, I initiated a Socratic dialogue with a crowd of traveller packet in a mini bus I paid half the fare just to make sure that I travel early to my destination. Although it is too risky manoeuvres to air any form dissent public in Ethiopia, my good gesture of paying for the half of the travel fare made all of the traveller happy that they showed no bad intention. In this discussion I discovered how the regime turned this nation into a place big prison. None dared to speak against this government although I raised some basic human right violations and absence of democratic values in the country except tribal administration, nepotism, corruption, unlawful killing, detention to mention a few but not all.
The current head of state, Meles Zenawi is so treacherous that he just want to stay in power to make sure that the people of this country impoverished. He is fight a foxy war in the neighbouring Somali just to shore up the support of the Western Countries who are scared of their ass. Sometime you would think Meles is acting as Pakistan is doing in Afghanistan. In order to milk the Americans, the Pakistani government secretly support the Taliban. By the same token Meles is making sure that the Al Shaba operate in Somalia so that he keep the American with him. This political tactic is not a new strategy. It is used repeatedly by trickery politician throughout human history. The last one was the ousted Egyptian president Husini Mubarack, who kept the Gaza strip and the Palestinian question as a hot political bargain chip to make sure that the American pay him the second largest American money.
Therefore, we all people in the Horn Africa should rise and bring an end to all dictatorial regimes.
“The people of Ethiopia had lived for centuries, intermarried and fought together to make Ethiopia a land that had never colonized.” you wrote. Do you really believe even yourself what you are stating or you just close your eyes and let propaganda take its course? :)
Well, many thanks for your opinion but I thought that you are writing objectively and impartially by defining what you mean by the people of Ethiopia, who they are and they were as well as for how many centuries they have lived together. If they have lived together was it voluntary or forced marriage was it marriages of equality or marriage by force based on exploitation of the strong over the subdued. I am not asking these questions with bad intention in mind but simply seeking truth, I am not only your side of the truth but all sides of the truths.
Just like Wayane propagandists claim what is clearly transparent in the presentation of your opinion is that you are seeking a unitary state with a single language, single religion, single identity, single cultural values, etc. being led by a single Ethnic group, the whole of which you repeatedly call the people of Ethiopia who had lived for centuries, intermarried, and fought together to make Ethiopia a land that had never colonized.
I am for unity/alliance and formation of new democracy for new Ethiopia as well as representative good governance with justice for all nationalities, religions, regions, languages, etc.
In the first place, the typical and hollow long running traditional feudal phrase, “never colonized” alone by itself is not enough if the people living in this so called “never colonized” feudal “paradise” live the lives of HELL ON EARTH, starvation, brutalities, chaos, and endless hopelessness to this very day while even those countries who were previously under colonialism managed to put up modest democracy, good governance and sustainable development towards which even the Ethiopian people of this “never colonized paradise” run for their lives and meager lively hoods. Again I am not stating these living facts for the purpose of disrespect but for stating the problems very close to the fact and then find appropriate and mutually satisfying solutions.
Although it seems an honest and frank approach to our problems, it is completely out of touch from the reality.
Mr. Mohamed, sometimes it helps if you read history before you refer an article, unless you are doing it intentionally to mislead people, article 39 is one reason behind EPLF and TPLF disagreement during the army struggle. I am convinced that you knew about it too, but you chose to mislead your readers.
You are right. The so called REGIONS were formed in the history of that country for the first time, 20 years ago.
They were formed by Woyane and ethno-centered organizations. Division to govern is the aim. Self administration, cultural development and etc. are just fake.
No one asked the permission of the small states (provinces) in the regions to be inclusive in the so called Kilil. In all regions all the provinces are different in every aspect from each other. For example, Oromos in the east are not the same except language with the Oromos in the west. Even the language has some differences. Originally they may be the same but after so many years and after so many marriage and so on it is difficult to say they are one. Eastern Oromo might be mixed with Somalis than Gurage. Oromo in the west might have been mixed more with amhara, benishangul or gambella. Shoa Oromo is more mixed with Amhara, Arsi might be mixed with Gurage, Kembata and Hadya.
Amhara kilil also is composed of different people. Just because they speak same language it doesn’t mean they are one. Wollo doesn’t have any relation to Kimant, a tribe in Begemdir. Wollo is more mixed with Afar.
Therefore, It is not easy as we think. The people of Ethiopia are one from many BLOOD. This can be proved by DNA.
From Haramaya, Ethiopia.
one of the most confusing articles i have ever read. …
Mohamed you did good !
Mr Hassen
What a great writing of the last 20-30 years Ethiopia reality based on TPLF “Ethnic federalism”, where one ethnic Supremacy is gripping to power while crashing the rest both majority and minority Ethnics and benefit all economic,political and social advantage over the rest of the population.I am so confident this barbaric and backward one ethnic dictatorial System of TPLF will fall but yet we do not have a single group or organization based its motto on principles or ideas but Ethnicity like that of TPLF ,our 20+ years experience with Ethnic LF’s showed us ONE ETHNIC SUPREMACY OVER THE OTHERS ,what made us believe the other LF’s will be different than the Current LF ???The idea would be so hard to trust and swallowed
Dear Mohammed Hassan,
I salute you. You are the kind of people should take the center stage at this critical time in history of Ethiopia. We should get rid of this cancerous tplf from the face of the earth. With it it will go balkanization, apartheid, phoney federalism. We can bring the just and free Ethiopia for all of its citizens. Democracy is the core problem we miss now.
God bless you.
wey gud
why do not you post my commment?
Dear Obbo Mohammed H,
NO Thanks for your article which delivers the TPLF’s agenda in making the more confusion for divide and rule system to defend the Meles Regime from the inevitable popular uprising for Liberty and Justice. Yes, Ethiopia as mother land for all nations and nationalities and thus if properly managed by the true power of its citizens rights , nobody could raise the question of secession.Our people are unfortunate for that matter always ruled by the greedy regimes, particularly by the present TPLF facist regime, so rather than ruled by the Meles I would prefer secession.
Fortunately to save our country, as it already proved in Atlanta and Toronto the mission is possible- All inclusive United Forces built the base. Our differences are our strength for equality and co- existence. The articl’s agenda is to sow the discord. For such cheap outdated propoganda, the last 20 years experience is a fresh memory for every true Ethiopians.
Viva the United Force against Woyane
BEKA, GAYE!!
SINCE WHEN IN A NATION OF MULTI ETHNIC NATION A ONE ETHNIC DOMINANCY–TIGREANS DOMINANCY IS CALLED A “ETHNIC FEDERALISM” ONLY ON USUAL TPLF AND ITS CADRES PATHOLOGICAL LIERS WORLD
THANK YOU Mr. MOHAMED HASSEN
The writer was objecting the article 39 for helping Eritreas secession
as the same time the writer also said Ethiopia was never colonized but
since Eritrea was colonized for 60 Years by Italy and British then Eritrea was not part of Ethiopia even before article 39. Here comes a
question why don’t Ethiopians admit their mistake in Eritreas case it
was not Weyane secessed Eritrea it was History of Ethiopians a part that does not includ Eritrea and During the time when Eritrea was under colony {Italy/British}both port was within Eritrea and how come
Ethiopians never fought for both the people and the port if they did would it take seventy years with out claming part of your country with
out including in your history?
Note: I think Ethiopia made a mistake and still contune making mistake
by asking the port not the people in general i belive your oun history
explained Eritrea was not part of Ethiopia otherwise if eritrea was part of Ethiopia then Ethiopia needs to rewrite history about colony
period.
This is for commentator Anonymous: NO,The Derg primarily collapsed on itself.It had become a huge financial burden on itself and the nations resources,hence it was defeated easily. Please stop writing a non existent History where the TPLF defeated a strong and mighty Ethiopian Army.By the time weyane arrived in AA,internal strife and disloyalty had eroded the Derg government.
TPLF`s success,in modern military battles has a very limited rating,and just because it now controls from Berhan ena selam to mega-publications and all the media outlet in the country,there is no need to propagate a myth that the Derg was a Goliath and was defeated by ragtag rebels. The Derg had lost its might much,much earlier,even before Afabet,the historical turning point for this debacle Ethiopia is in.
Thankyou.
I like to stay being an Oromo. Here I give no offer; my being Ethiopia can be negotiated on conditions.
Not a timely article- a boring piece meant to divide the opposition. The main acute problem in Ethiopia nowadays is Meles and his party. WE have argued on this issue for almost 20 years and that only gave strength to the junta on power while we are becoming continuously weak. We can sort out our other differences once we get rid of the cancer of our society.
Let do DNA test.
Which Oromo You are?
The Original(Borena), Mixed(Wellega, Shoa, Arsi,Harar)? Harar Oromo is mixed with Somalis, Wellega is mixed with Amhara, Benishangul, gambella, Arsi is mixed with Sidama, Hadiya, Gurage etc.
Being Oromo is fantastic. I am an Oromo too. But, But it does not mean that I am super than the other. It means that I am not greater or lesser than any body. It means that I love everyone. IIt means I live and work together with every one. It means I am a true Ethiopian who develops Ethiopia with all Ethiopians.
Being an Oromo is not a division sign. Only Woyanne and Narrowist use tribal identity as a dision tool.
I am an Oromo. I am proud of it and I am an Ethiopian also which make me more proud because it makes me many, colourful, powerful, wealthier, and so on.
Therefore, we say BEKA WOyanne,
BEKA Narrowist
BEKA Tribalists
Long live diversity, long live Ethiopia
Ethiopian Oromo.
Gudatta,
Desperate divisive cheap impostor chimp agent of tyranny and dictatorship. You may fool some of the people some of the time but you can not fool all of the people all of the time. Dumb like the garden shovel!:)
Negresh Nebere replies:
March 14th, 2012 at 4:06 PM
Gudataa, Bravo. Your physical grace, Your great number, your potential wealth, your gentle characher, your patience, your calm and undisturbed soul, disturbs Haylom. Because he is small, he is jealous, he is mean, he is restless, and most of all he is going to fall, while you, Gudataa will rise.
Regarding Hassen, I salute, good for you.
Robbery is the highest stage of corruption.If one of the pilars of the Zinawi’s regime is collapsed,then,the rest of the pillars will do so by htemselves.The house of the robbers stands on four pillars:Guns and Bullets,corruption,economic and ethnic policy,and laws and rules.
The system that Zinawians established is self-destructive and is gravitating towards its downfall,but an external force needs to be exerted on it in order to overcome the counter-force of the system.
Unity is a force of synergy that we,Ethiopians continiously and persistently maintain to keep pushing the distructive systems of a regime to its final rest;once at rest,it will collapse by its own.
Victory for all Ethiopians!
True, the so-called Kilil5 of Somali region arbitrarily created by the woyane twenty years ago is in turmoil. Injustice ,crude nepotism, militarism and curruption are widespread with unprecedented level. There is no semblance of democratic values, accountability or transparency in area whatsoever. Citizens have been trapped in alien kilils and zones or woredas without their consent.
People in the so-called kilils may speak the same lingua or belong to the same ethnic but they have little else in common. I had mixed view when the system started first introduced, but it is completely utter failure after 20 years in existence. The way of life (nomadism vs farmers), level education (urban vs rural) and their historical admin pattern are far important than other simplistic and divisive policies.
For instance, the Jijiga region, which is the most populous and mainly agro-pastoralist area and cosmopolitan urban is now swamped by the people from farther Ogaden desert nomads and other places. No one knows how these people got into system and got so much power at expense of the local who are shut out of the administration through by hook and crook tribal schemes and misrepresentation . Woyane has put few currupt and loyal individuals surrounded by ignorant tribal men. No eduction, no decency and no other political vision is required as far woyane concerned. Melez & company just kept short leesh on them and milk the system with little effort.
The article is misleading and written intentionally for sell, which I don’t buy it. I took my time to find some relevance to real causes for the problem. As you may know, the problem is not only caused by Meles lead government in the last 20 years. The problem Mr. Mohammad Hassen wrote is inherited in the formation of Ethiopia the last decades. Whether you like it or not, Ethiopia as a political entity is the problem; Ethiopia itself is a problem. Isn’t it? Let me explain, some of you wrote about the mythical story of three thousand years of Ethiopians, lovely and happy marriages-feudal political tactic; some of you blindly or ignorantly wrote about “never colonized “, which is myth when the facts show that the people in today’s Ethiopia had been suffered under Black-to Black racism and forced to slavery and exchanged for European fire arms to conquer free people. However, in 1935 Italy invaded Abyssinia not Ethiopia; there was no such country Ethiopia before.
I don’t buy many of the Meles’s party policies, but there is one solid truth I agree with: different nations and nationalities are living in Ethiopia who was put together NOT by their free choice but by gun point that used against them by barbaric, ignorant and arrogant rulers of the time. These historical differences cannot be substituted through marriage letters and song lyrics. These problems can only solved by knowledge and mindset that respect these differences-the existence of nations and nationalities that have aspirations to shape their destiny by their own free will. Those who imposing their view of Forced Unity=Ethiopia, are disserving the people in that region.
Mr. Mohammed must recognize that Ethiopia is a problem before Meles’s party. If you are a genuine person or politician you should blame Meles’s party or government for NOT realizing article 39 in peaceful way or referendum to transform Regional National States to Independent Republics with the options of voluntary economic association by free people. Reducing the political aspiration of people, who willing to give away their lives, to Ethnic or tribal talks is disrespectful, ignorance and moreover, it is a continuation of illiterate feudal arrogance. Finally, Ethiopia is equal to a hell on earth and must be changed by all necessary means, but preferably by knowledge based means-peacefully. Amen!
#21.Oromo,
I am not an Oromo but I agree with you 100%.
Every individual human being needs to accept and respect him/herself as a dignified human individual. Self respect is the basis of respecting others. Self respect is not a matter of arrogance but a matter of healthy self awareness.
Next we have the family unit where individuals (MAN AND WOMAN) belong through an agreement to join hands and form a union and cohabitation equal partnerships to share all the goodies and and none goodies too. If the joint effort and life partnership is based on equality, mutual support, mutual understanding the relationship may last to the end of life with pleasant experiences and relaxing memories.
If the relationship is based on inequality, deceit, cheating,beatings, exploitation, etc. then you have a problem to solve through flight or flight strategy. Family life is a continuously negotiated life of cohabitation.
And then humans are born to their ethnic groups from where we learn our languages, cultural values, religions, rituals, world views as well as being gregorius social human beings.
Our individuality, our family pattern and our ethnicity are our identities that needs to be acknowledged, accepted and celebrated with great funfair at all times in all places. THUMBS UP!
And then again we need to be honest and accept others individuality, individual personalities, family unite patterns, ethnicity,religions,regions, etc. diversities in as much as they are important to them as ours are also important to us.
What is not acceptable is directly and indirectly using individual personalities, family lines, ethnic,linguistic, religious, region, etc.diversities to exploit and oppress those we deem different from us. Hence negotiating on the appropriate system of satisfactory coexistence based on equality and justice for all at all levels are of absolute necessity in order to have a win-win relationship of welfare and well-being.
MY WAY OR NO WAY IS THE HIGHWAY TO THE ABANDONED AND CONTAMINATED SUBWAY! :)
THANK YOU ALL!
Ethiopia has never had a better system other than the one we have now. At least it is a start.
To make democracy work in Ethiopia, we need a strong opposition parties who can lead the Ethiopian people to hold the govenment and corrupt officials accountable.
Without strong opposition parties, we will not have a good system that server the Ethiopian people.
Geta,
Please go and fool others like always. We have heard about the folkloric beautiful cakes and free Manna from the heavens above endless swan songs for the last 20 long years while Ethiopia have been marching down to the drain and its people reduced to one of the worlds most wretched beggars living on the shameful international handouts.
Under the racist brutal tyrannical one party one man dictatorship there can never be any genuine opposition, even for the show business, as the fraudulent 2010 election results where the tyrant won 99.6% glaringly showed us all.
The real opposition that can work is a united opposition that rises up with the Ethiopian people and brings about a genuine democratic system by removing the current cunning fox manipulative and divisive minority medieval tyranny. In the face of the arrogant and entrenched murderous dictatorships, Opposition parties did not work even in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Syria, Yemen, etc. But removing tyrannical dictatorships worked.
“Ethiopia have never had a better system other than the one we have now”? kikikiki… That is true for the TPLF army chiefs having exclusive monopoly over the commandments of the 90 million Ethiopians. That is true for the one Man one party tplf dictatorship who fraudulently won 99.6% of the Ethiopian votes in the 2010 fake election. That is true for the exclusive tplf business monopoly conglomerates like EFFORT, MIDROCK and the others. It is really true for the Tigrian elites who come only from the 5% Tigrians ethnic base in order to dominate and dictate 95% of 90 million Ethiopians.
Before the current tplf dictatorship coming to power 100 kilos of Teff which is a staple food grain of all Ethiopians coasted some 30 Ethiopian Birr. But now under the political and economic dictatorship of the land grabbing tplf minority tyranny the same amount coasts over 600 Birr if not more. So we know fore sure for whom the current dictatorship very good and for whom it very bad.
CHANGE IS WHAT WE NEED! YES WE CAN! :)