By Yilma Bekele

As far as our ruthless tyrant is concerned the Somali situation is a dream come true. Since the general election of 2005 he has been in a general state of funk. This is what the Americans call catch 22. If you do you are doomed, and if you don’t you loose anyway. Our fearless leader was in such a situation.

First he thought it was just a harmless election where he was going to be crowned and show his fernji benefactors how cool he is. Unfortunately he lost, and boy did he loose big. Never mind he thought he will shoot a few demonstrators and things will revert back to normal. Wrong again, this pesky new entity called ‘Kinijit’ refused to cooperate. Well he said kill some more and show them who is in charge. Did not work at all. Man this job is becoming ever difficult. You would think after seventeen years of terrorizing and looting, people would have some respect for you. So he said charge them with ‘genocide, insurrection, etc. etc.’ and throw their leaders in jail. As for the little incident of killing a few troublemakers, appoint a ‘commission’ and blame the dead. As they say when it rains it pours.

The imprisoned leaders shined like a super nova in the eyes of the Ethiopian people. The court became a two-bit circus act. Hollywood couldn’t have written a better comedy. We have judges faking illness, prosecutor calling his own witness crazy, witness feigning memory loss and good old Kemel Bedri wishing he was back in his kiosk chewing chat. Furthermore, Judge Frehiowot skipping town with that video was an absolute mess.

To top it all good old Meles ends up being a prisoner in his own palace. Got chased out of Stockholm, have to use back door in Berlin, New York was too toxic to land, forget Amsterdam, damn the only safe place is either Khartoum, Beijing or Aduwa. So he was sitting in the basement chewing chat with good old Berket talking about the good old days of roaming free with cousin Isaiyas when the phone rang.

It was his godson Mohamed Geidi from Baidoa. Suddenly in a flash of merkana everything became clear. He gave the phone to Bereket and flew upstairs to call his friend Vicky. Hey Mrs. Charge de affairs, I got an idea. Why don’t I send my army and fight the Jihadists in Somalia. It will destabilize the region for you, and people will forget this nonsense of elections, killing, trial and leave me alone. It is a win win situation Mrs. Vicky. Mrs. Charge de affairs knew he was chewing that forsaken leaf again, he forgot that was her idea, never mind she thought it might even help if we can convince the press to scream Jihadists flocking to Somalia from all over Jihad land where ever it is.

Stay tuned the thirds chapter will begin soon. Will the tyrant’s solders get bogged in Somalia? Will his own solders reverse and march all over him? Is his friend Vicky helping him with finding accommodation when he leaves town?

Now to the sad aspect of this drama. The only real loosers are the people of Ethiopia. They suffered seventeen years under a brutal dictator, and we no gap he was replaced by Meles and his militia in uniform ushering another seventeen years of darkness. Today, they are facing another uncertain future with Isayas looking down from the North, Woyane in the belly, Islamic court from the East, and the US and Europeans getting ready for a showdown with their proxy army poised for wanton destruction. If there is ever such thig this is the time for ‘Ethiopia to stretch her hands to heaven’ and ask the almighty to guard her in this time of sadness.

The writer can be reached at [email protected]