By Ethiopians and Ethiopian-Americans for a Democratic Ethiopia

On March 5, 2007, Prime Minister Meles Zenawi is set to hand down his kangaroo court ruling on one group of his political victims, the leaders of CUD – Kinijit. It is likely that he will once again ignore the pleas of the Ethiopian people and the international community to release these “Prisoners of Conscience” from his prison. If that is what he is determined to do, then Ethiopians, Ethiopian-Americans and their friends have to gird themselves for a long hot summer of an all out and intensive lobbying and political campaign across the world. If the prime minister once again refuses to release the prisoners and resolve the political impasse he himself has created in a round table negotiation, then all bets on our part should be off for a final assault on one of the worst dictatorships on the African continent.

The campaign will primarily focus on exposing the tyranny, corruption, and inhumanity of the regime, as well as isolating its key leaders from the world community. We will, as never before, show the entire world the lies, cunning and malfeasance of the TPLF leadership who have become the “lords of poverty” in an impoverished land. The campaign will target the leaders of the regime along with their families to be made international pariahs unwelcome anywhere in the world. Their bank accounts shall be frozen and their travels restricted, and be held accountable for their crimes against humanity.

The above actions will be taken not out of revenge to punish the corrupt dictatorship but out of respect for our heroes who are fighting for democracy, unity and economic wellbeing on behalf of the millions in our fellow citizens. Our fight will not be against individuals, but against a system that has bondaged our people to unspeakable poverty, disease, civil strife, division and unremitting subjugation. We have to stop the 15-year old and still continuing killings, tortures, imprisonments, beatings and muzzling of the people by tyrants whose systematic lies and cunning have never been seen before in Ethiopian history.

Each one of us should make a solemn pledge to do our part to contribute to the struggle for democracy, unity and freedom in our homeland. Every one of us who believe in the sufferings of the oppressed people and prisoners should pledge that we will support the struggle in any capacity we can. To wage our struggle for democracy, unity and freedom, we shall utilize tried and true tactics used by such successful movements as that of South Africa’s.

Apartheid South Africa and Present-day Ethiopia

The fight against tyranny, division and corruption in Ethiopia should be modeled after the struggle that abolished apartheid in South Africa, because both present-day Ethiopia and apartheid South Africa have a lot in common. Consider the following:

1. Ethiopia is divided into tribal homelands as racist South Africa was during the days of apartheid.

2. Both regimes used age-old divide and rule tactics to rule over their subjects indefinitely by recruiting local stooges like Buthelezi who cow-tow to their whims. In return the cohorts enjoyed the regime’s largesse and lived in comfort and corruption while holding down the masses under them.

3. Just like apartheid South Africa, the Ethiopian dictators use the bulk of their budgets and foreign donations to finance their extensive network of informants, security and military apparatus.

4. Both regimes made adventurous military forays into their neighboring states presumably to fight against insurgents. In South Africa – Angola, Lesotho, Zimbabwe and Zambia, the so-called frontline states, were the targets, while in Ethiopia, it is Somalia now, and who knows where it would be next.

5. The South African government squandered millions of tax dollars on lobbying Washington and Europe just as the despotic regime in Ethiopia does now.

6. Both regimes had the United States government behind their backs to give them diplomatic, military and financial support. You may recall President Reagan’s shameful support of apartheid South Africa in the 1980’s ostensibly to counter Soviet expansionism. He even had a name for his South African policy called “constructive engagement.” Today, the Bush Administration uses a similar policy in Ethiopia with a different name called “counter terrorism.” Once again the administration is on the wrong side of history. The Reagan administration made a mockery of justice and democracy by supporting a ruthless and corrupt apartheid system. Consequently the administration’s misguided policy helped galvanize the collective conscience of the American people for justice. Universities and churches played a key role in helping the American people to stand up against the South African tyranny. Congress, state houses and cities passed laws to help freedom fighters and human rights advocates incarcerated in South Africa prisons. We can do the same to raise the consciousness of the American people and the international community to take the side of democracy in Ethiopia.

This is just an example of what Ethiopians in the Diaspora can do to help fellow countrymen and women overcome the dictatorship that is suffocating our people. All we need are organization, know-how and determination which we have in abundance. We don’t even need to match the all-out South African campaign for freedom because the European Union is already on record condemning the Ethiopian dictatorship and the support of the American administration for the incompetent and half-baked former Marxists in Addis Ababa is lukewarm at best. Most of all, the regime is rejected and despised by every sector of the Ethiopian community including by its own tribal community of origin.

Today the parasitic regime lives off international handouts and donations. Early in 2006, it was widely reported that the regime’s military and security apparatus were in disarray or crumbling because the European Union and the World Bank had suspended their financial assistance in protest of the regime’s abuse of the human and civil rights of its citizens. What is still needed now to bring the regime in Addis Ababa to its knees is to once again turn off the tap of its international financial and diplomatic support. In short, our action plans include:

1. Organizing campaign and lobbying groups in cities states, universities and churches.

2. Work to get the World Bank and the international community to refrain from propping up the regime with their financial assistance.

3. Identifying the key leaders of the regime and expose their crimes.

4. Persuading the United States and European countries to restrict travel privileges of the key leaders and their families.

5. Seeking the assistance of the international community to find the bank accounts of the leaders and persuade them to freeze their assets.

6. Campaigning for the boycott of the businesses of the leaders and their associates.

It is important to know that history is on our side. The world is sick and tired of dictatorships and the poverty, strife, dislocation and human misery they cause. Today, the international community is well aware of the human rights abuse, political turmoil and the attendant misery in Ethiopia. We have lots of conscientious, determined and capable fellow citizens prepared to lead this campaign to free our people from one of the worst dictatorial regimes in the world. It is sad we have to resort to such extreme measures that may also impact the reputation of our country in the long run. However, we hope against hope that the Meles regime will see the potential damage such a wide range and worldwide protest would engender and come to its senses. If not, then fellow Ethiopians, we have our work cut out for us. Let us get on with it and pledge ourselves to do our part and contribute whatever we can to bring democracy to our long-suffering fellow citizens and gain the release of the elected representatives of the people.
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Ethiopians and Ethiopian-Americans for a Democratic Ethiopia (EEDE)
[email protected]