Leaders of the Unity for Democracy and Justice (UDJ) will travel to Europe starting Nov 7 next week. The delegation is headed by UDJ chairperson Wzt. Birtukan Mideksa. The countries they plan to visit include Germany, U.K., Sweden, Belgium and Holland.
After breaking all the promises Wzt. Birtukan and her comrades made — including sticking to the Kinijit 8-Point Proposal before any serious consideration about participating in future elections — Ethiopians in Europe are angry and plan to boycott any of the planned public meetings.
Today, Ethiopian Review spoke with some Ethiopian activists in London and Frankurt who used to be strong supporters of Wzt. Birtukan. They said that the current position Birtukan’s party took is a betrayal of those who gave up their lives to help bring about freedom and justice in Ethiopia.
Requests by Ethiopian Review to interview Wzt. Birtukan have been declined. But UDJ has no problem begging Woyanne to have access to the state-controlled media.
Currently, the only opposition party that is talking about participating in the 2010 elections is UDJ. It is also the only opposition party that has kept silent for so long about the continued atrocities by the regime of the Tigrean People Liberation Front (Woyanne) against the people of Ethiopia and Somalia, including the ongoing genocide that even some U.S. Congressmen are talking about and condemning.
UDJ thus demonstrated itself to be of no use to the people of Ethiopian. To the contrary, UDJ is currently aiding and abetting the Woyanne terrorist regime by speaking out against those Ethiopians who have raised arms to defend themselves, calling them ‘backwards,’ ‘primitives,’ and ‘chauvinists’ — the same language Woyanne uses against the opposition.
It is disheartening that Birtukan Mideksa and her colleagues have joined the camp of losers and traitors such as Beyene Petros, Ayele Chamiso, Lidetu Ayalew, Solomon Tekalign, and others who have betrayed their supporters and the people of Ethiopia for crumbs (frifari) that are being thrown at them by Woyannes at the urging of U.S. and U.K. diplomats. Without the intervention of the American embassy, these losers have no political life in Ethiopia. They are operating in Ethiopia only as long as Ambassador Yammamoto keeps giving assurances to Woyanne that they are no threats to the tribal junta.
53 thoughts on “Ethiopians to boycott UDJ visit in Europe”
After reading the article, I started tallying the first 50 comments on this forum, and it is comforting to learn that 33 out of 50 bloggers support Chairwoman Birtukan and the UDJ Party (66%).
Elias:
This (66%) is a VETO PROOF majority if you have any inkling about democracy, so please STOP trashing Birtukan, her associates and the UDJP. One thing you need to understand is this; people visit your site to get some aggregated info about Ethiopia and no one cares about your lunatic ranting and ravings. Ever since you nominated Issayas Afeworki as ER’s ‘Man of the Year’, people have realized that you nothing but an opinionated wind bag.
Ever since you have aligned yourself with the ‘Mountaineers Club’, you have been calling Judge Birtukan all sorts of nasty names including but not limited to: ‘Lady Surrender’, ‘Traitor’, ‘Sell Out’, ‘TPLF Lapdog’ etc. etc. What amazes me is what gives you the right to label a person like Birtukan all these sordid names? Is it because, you were also accused, tortured and executed by the Woyanie regime in absentia?
Let’s put things in their proper perspective here. When you and people like you left Ethiopia, Birtukan was either an infant or not even born most probably. We all came to know Birtukan in the aftermath of the 2005 election fiasco. Like all the rest of her colleagues, she has paid the ultimate price by going to prison for two years, living an infant child behind. I know most of you out there, badmouthing these good people, won’t even show up for a demonstration on a rainy day, let alone paying such a huge price for your people and country.
Ever since Birtukan and her colleagues have returned to Ethiopia, they have been doing an amazing job under very difficult circumstances. They have organized a first rate party, the first of its kind in Africa, based on transparency and fundamental democratic principles. Each and every day they are crisscrossing the country to build the grassroots movement from the ground up, based on true democratic principles and shared beliefs and values. At least they are planting the seeds of democracy within the Ethiopian population, as opposed to confusing the Diaspora with pipe dreams of bloodless armed struggle and quick victory via remote control.
Elias, last but not least, if you want to dabble in journalism the first rule of thumb is, don’t bad mouth people, specially people that you are seeking an interview with. People hate bullies.
Surafel
Did you get the message of the article?
– Lidetu suffered and prisoned long before UDJP leaders.
– Lidetu is paying the price for being loyal opposition.
– Lidetu was having clarity from the get go and consistently moving on the same direction.
– Lidetu is insulted and abused by UDJP leaders & their supporters like you for his political stand of peaceful struggle.
– Lidetu is still being scorned by UDJP leaders and their supporters for being what UDJP leaders are now.
Therefore, what is the difference between UDJP or Burtuke with other loyal oppositions, like Lidetu, Beyene, Merara?
At least Lidetu is consistent and pursues one political line from the beginning, that is peaceful struggle.
UDJP has no clarity and jumping from one extreme to another, that too without apologizing and totally relying on diaspora support which you & UDJP leaders badmouth whenever it fits.
Have clarity before criticizing.
Bertuke is much less than Lidetu in maturity and clarity. At least Lidetu is independent in his thinking and mode of struggle while Bertuke is played like a doll by her handlers.
Cheers
Why all this Fuss? We know from the 1997 election, that Wayanne will never relinquish power peacefully. Unless Andenet has a plan to be a big TELETAFE.