By Joe Michael
Can someone prove me wrong if I say the Ethiopian dictator Meles Zenawi is the worst dictator comparing to Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe? I’ll bet no one can.
There is no question that Robert Mugabe is a dictator. However, when it comes to the intensity of the crimes he has committed against his own people, he is way less criminal than Meles Zenawi. Even at these defining moments, the falling Mugabe regime is not arresting or killing his own people. Observably, his political opponents are exercising their constitutional rights; they are assembling, they are freely expressing their views, they are protesting, etc. There is no local journalist that was arrested illegitimately and sent to prison for criticizing the Mugabe regime.
Was there any point in time in the Mugabe regime in which hundreds of citizens were killed and tens of thousands of opposition supporters were arrested for having different political views? Never. Not even when the oppositions won the general election.
Evidence could be gathered to prove Mugabe’s undemocratic regime. Zimbabweans could testify how their despot leader led them into poverty and diseases. The international community could also confirm the dictatorship of Mugabe’s regime. However, Mugabe didn’t mass murder, arrest, or torture his own people. With all the political games and conspiracies going on, there is no political prisoner in Zimbabwe.
On the other hand, we have been witnessing a murderer regime in Ethiopia that has been terrorizing its own people for the past 18 years. The regime has been arresting, torturing, and killing its citizens without any accountability whatsoever. Politicians, entrepreneurs, students, artists, philanthropists, journalist, teachers, tourists, etc. have been arrested in different occasions simply because they have different political views or because they have criticized the regime. Mothers and kids were killed in an indiscriminate murder and justice has not been served. So many citizens are in prison with out due process for no other reason than supporting opposition political parties.
There are many political prisoners in Ethiopia where as there is none in Zimbabwe. Many people have been murdered in politically motivated killings in Ethiopia than Zimbabwe. Significantly, today Zimbabweans could freely criticize Mugabe, could freely assemble, or join any opposition party they prefer, which has been impossible for Ethiopians.
Zenawi’s latest victim, the most prominent and peaceful opposition leader Judge Birtukan Mideksa has been re-arrested for no other reason than unifying the Ethiopian people. Birtukan and other opposition figures were unlawfully arrested for two years in 2005 and were released following a continuous pressure by the international community. Her new political party UDJ has been receiving supports from all over the country, which unquestionably was the cause for her re-arrest.
Apparently, Meles Zenawi is the worst criminal than Robert Mugabe. It is not fair for the international community to pressure Mugabe while accommodating Meles Zenawi and his uncountable crimes. Whatever punishment Mugabe gets, Meles Zenawi should get it twice over.
35 thoughts on “The Ethiopian dictator is worst than Robert Mugabe”
I don’t agree with you, Elias. Robert Mugabe is an ‘angel’ compared to the tyrant Meles Zenawi. I think the Tigrayan dictator is even worse than Adolf Hitler.
I absolutely agree. The international community take late measure only after they see exacerbated blood shade in the country. The international community accept faked images and realities manuplated by Meles.
I agree no one question you except the so called Donor Countries that will be available after the blood shed.
Unity First!
Meles is a typical አድጊ
ከእንሰሶች መሃከል አድጊን ለማታውቁ
በሃሪን መርምሩ ተግባርን እወቁ
በጣም ከጠገበች ሆድዋ ከሞላላት
የመጋፋትና የርግጫ አመል አላት
አፍንጫዋን ነፍታ ቂጥዋን እያዞረች
በቁጣ በርግጫ አትቅረቡኝ ባይ ነች
ከሁሉም አብልጣ ሆድን ስለምትወድ
ለክብር ለቀየ ምንም የላትም ግድ
በልታ የማትወዛ በፈስ የምትሰድ
ሳር ያቀረበላት ሁሉ ወዳጅዋ ነው
ነውርን ስለማታውቅ -መለስ ከለስ ነው
አርቃ አስተውላ ፍጹም የማታስብ
በጣም ትልቅ ሆዳ አ ዕምሮ ጠባብ
ጠጥታ የማትረካ በልታ የማትጠግብ
አሰሱን ገሰሱን የምትጋፍፍ
ለትውልድ ለነ ምንም እንዳይተርፍ
ከራባት ወራዳ ቆሻሻ አትጠየፍ
ከአመዱ ከ ሰው ቀየ የምትልከፈከፍ
ራብ ሲለቃት ጥጋብ የማትችል
ሚዳ አይብቃኝ ብላ የምትፋልል
ሃ-ሃ -ሃ ትላለች አጅዋ ሲሞላ
ጝድኞቾን ሁሉ በርግጫ ፈንግላ
ምንም አትሰማም ዋሽ ዋሽ! ቢሉ
ራቅ ብሎ በዱላ መጀለጥ ካልቻሉ
የአድጊን በሃሪ በደንብ ለማታውቁ
አድጊየ ይች ንች ከእንግዲህ እወቁ
በርግጥ ትወዳለች ድጊ አድጊ ማለት
በግብርም በስራም ስለተዋህዳት
Get your stick to kick his stupid ass, barking on this donky doesn’t help…but find a way to lash out his stupid and coward ass.
Yes indeed the ruthless psycopath and compulsive liar Meles Zenawi is the worst dictator and untrustworthy low life leader in the whole of Africa.Colonel Mengistu Hailemariam was ruthless too,but he was indeed a true Ethiopian Nationalist never have a dream of ruling a disintegrated Ethiopia.Resisted Eritrean independence until the last minute(which I personally disagree neverthless I respect his view)and didn”t expel anyone who reside in Ethiopia forget ethiopian origin of Eritrean descent meles”s ultimate goal is to divide Ethiopia into many ethnic entities, destroy the Ethiopiawnet and put the Tigrayans superior of them all specially Amharas and Oromos.
The facts about the brutality of Meles Zenawi is reported in genera terms by Mr. Joe Michaele above. A lot of Ethiopians call him, the black Hitler. He has murdred more that ten thousands of innocent people. However, Meles Zenawi through his paid lobbysts and by misinforming US policy makers, managed to stay in power for the last 18 years. The US government has been supporting this tyrant financially, militarily, politically and in orther areas. I hope and I believe, the Obama administration will change the policy of the US toward Ethiopia and Ethiopians will be free from the dictatorial regime of Meles Zenawi. Let GOD hear our prayers!!!
It is a very true analysis. To me, I reached to a decision that peaceful struggle doesn`t work in Ethiopia right now. So, starting from today, I will support other organization including Ginbot 7, OLF and Arbechoch. Even Shaebia is much better than TPLF at this moment.
Good comparison.
The only difference is Meles is a “friendly tyrannt” because he is selling his land but Robert Mugabe is a tyrannt because he is returning land to the people.
As long as Meles is loyal and friendly he can kill thousands if not millions but at the end he will depart like other tyrannts – the Mengistu or Saddam Hussien way. Accepting the result of the May 2005 election was the right way to build a free and democratic Ethiopia but unfortunately that is not needed by him or his masters.
The sudden win of CUD and the coming of into power of engineer Hailu Shawl was not desired and Meles was advised by his Bosses/Anglo-Americans to crack down the opposition and stay in power.
It is this double-standard which is increasing the hatred of America all over the world. According to Newton, for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. As long as the State supported by Anglo-Americans continue terrorizing its people, there will be a counter-reaction.
I hope in the years to come the new US-elect president Obama say no to state terrorism as he promised in the election campaign.
First of all you can’t compare Mugabe and Meles.
Mugabe is working to the betterment of his people. Remember, the main resean for all this mess in Zimbabwe is the Land Reform. He took this calculated risk to endure his people’s freedom for generation to come. On the contrary I didn’t see such deep commitment in the Ethiopians side.
Mugabe is a great man. History will recognise that. But some African leaders are headless stupid pigs. They should have helped that country. It is painfull to see African leaders work together with their former colonialists in order to crush their fellow freedom fighter.
To this end, it is a SIN to compare Mugabe with Meles. I can’t deny some of Meles’s qualities too. I chose to compare their strength. I think it is time to shift our attention to wards the positive side people.
ብርቱካን በአንድ ወቅት “ከወያኒ ጋር ላንፋታ ተጋብተናል” ብላን ነበር ዛሪ ምን ንካችውና ተፋቱ
ለማንችውም እግዚአብሂር ይተብቃት
ካችሳው ነን ከአዲሳበባ
Elias think twice before you drop controversial and useless comments.Do you really know why Mugabe is blamed for?
This is a great piece of article I ever seen written by foreign journalists. It is Great.I wish A happy new year to Michael, he is a superb writer and journalist.
Ethiopians need such brave non corrupted journalists.
Thank you all and Happy New Year.
Oh! Meles is the worst Ethiopian leader of all time.He is a criminal and should be punished.Mugabe believes in Zimbabwe but ‘our leader’ doesn’t feel Ethiopianism as we can see it from his childish government.But I believe that he will rape what he saw-it is a matter of time .May God hear our pray!One Ethiopia.
Imagine if Mugabe killed students for demonstrating, commited genocide like the one in Gambela, tortured and imprisoned for belonging to a majority ethnic group like Oromos, and burned down villages like in Ogaden. What the likes of UN, US, BBC, and main stream media would have to say about it. To me there is no comparison and not to mention, Mugabe only narowly lost the election (meaning there is still support for him) where as ony a Tigre can truly support Meles. But as long as he stays darling of the West, the so called international community is happy to look the other way. For me the US will simply continue to support him even after Obama takes over. For the simple reason that he will work to safe guard US interests at any cost for he knows that is the only way to stay in power. The US will do the same simply because a HAilu Shawil presidency or any of the opposition for that matter will put Ethiopia first and doesn’t necessaritly depend on US support to survive. So we need to look at our strength in unity to do away with the tribal war lords rather than hope for the US under Obama to do the right thing. The right thing is simply not to their interest.
Are you kidding me I love Robert Mugabe. Do you know what he did to his people, he tries to maintain the land of his people that was stolen or invaded by the white european back to them. he should be actually not be compared to dictator ship of any country. no comment on Meles Zenawi?!?
“Her new political party UDJ has been receiving supports from all over the country, which unquestionably was the cause for her re-arrest.”
WOW it seems you know what is in the Government’s mind. You must be a wizard. Questioning why she was imprisoned in 2005 is one and legitimate question, but being imprisoned after she admitted her guilt and walked free and then to turn back on it and said something different, doesn’t make you a good debater or intelligent, rather a vindictive, nonsense person with an attitude of “want to get where I want at any cost”.
17 አመት የመለስ ጭፍን አመራር ሽብር ጭፍጨፋ ኣስር ጦርነት ረሃብ ነው የምናየው ያለነው እሱ አራት ኪሎ በተ መንግስቱ ውስጥ ደልቶት ተቀምጦ የኢትዮጵያ ህዝብን ኣድገትና ሰላም ሳይሆን የሚያስበው ክፋት በመጠቀም ኣንደት አድርጎ ህዝቡን ከፋፍሎ በስልጣን ይኖራል የሚሎውን መርህ ነው የተከተለው የኢትዮጵያ ተቃዋሚ ሃይሎችም ብዙ ከማውራት በስተቀር ምንም ስያደርጉ አላየንም ቡርቱካንም ወደ ቃሊቲ ልትታሰር ስትወሰድ ብአንድነት ሆነው ተቃውሞ ቃል አልተሰማምይህምድክመታቸውን ያሳያል ድር ብያብር አንበሳ ያስር የሚለውን ኢትዮጵያዊ ተረት አልተጠቀሙበትም በጣምያሳዝናል
AWET nHafash
Zenawi is the most vicious criminal ever lived in this planet more than Adolf Hitler. And Joe’s analysis is excellent.
Elias, I agree with your characterization of Meles but disagree with your comparision with Mugabe. You should have compared Melese with Adolf Hitler. Mugabe have been trying to re-libert his land taken by foreigners. For that reason, the European and American cololizers did not like it a bit. They wanted to punish him badly and he is tryin to resist. Meles on the other hand, he killed, tortured, prisoned,divide the country by etnicity(Any leader that divides into groups which fight each other will not last very long), sold part of our land for foreigners, put the country without sea port for his own political interest. He is evil.
I agree with the article, weyane’s crime against it’s own people has no comparison in modern day time. The wide spread killings; tortures; and disappearances of it’s citizens across the country is a well known fact. But, the western countries and their puppet African leaders are heard day and night demonizing Mugabe, but when it comes to the tplf, they chose not to say a word. Mugabe’s crime is, he went against the orders of the former colonialists. It all started when he took away the fertile land from the remnants of the white colonialists and gave it to his starving people. Britain as a former colonialist took offence by his actions and started with it’s evil freinds a campaign of economic and political campaign to bring him down. He is the only leader who stood up for his people. He could have returned the land to white farmers and leaved peacefully like the rest of the African baboons. On the contrary, the tplf sold Ethiopian fertile lands to foreigners; divided it’s people along ethnic lines and is working very hard to secure the political and economic dominance of his own ethnic group over the others for years to come.
This article is right on target! There is no comparison between Mugabe and the Midget dictator in Addis. Mugabe may be a dictator in the eyes of western powers and the whites who live in Zimbabwe and elsewhere in the world, but he loves his country and his people. By comparison, Meles hates his people and have no bone of Ethiopianism in him. The dictator is unlike anyone we have seen in the face of the earth before. He is probably the only dictator that ever appeared in history that works against the country he supposedly represents. The sooner this scum of the earth is banished the better!
Actually I don’t like Melse and Woyane regime. I hate Melse too much but you cant compare like this With Mugabe. First of all Mugabe is a Crazy person.
And please don’t write any comment regarding arm struggle as alternative means because it is better to see first the reality inside the country. Don’t talk too much from outside. Who is going to sacrifice his life for Arm struggle from Europe or America? No one! Please don’t push with empty hope poor Ethiopian brothers and sisters to go to war again. It is better to show them the way for peaceful means of struggle.
ዘለአለም: መርገም ምንም አያዋጣም: አየነውኮ ለ 34 አመት ወያኔ ኢትዮጵያን ህዝብ ሲገድል, ሲያስር, በቁም ሲቀብር (ከትግራይ ህዝብ ጀምሮ እስከ ባሌ) አንድ ባንድ ሲጨርሰን እኔን አይመለከተኝም እያልን ቤታችን እያንኳኳ ዝምታን የመረጥነው:: በቃ የምንለው መቸ ነው:: ከብርትኳን በፊት ብዙ ተገድለዋል, ታስረዋል, ተሰቃይተዋል::
ይህ ኢ-ኢትዮጵያዊ መንግስት እስኪወገድ ድረስ በአንድንት ከመታገል ውጭ ስንዝርም መጓዝ አንችልም::
ድል ለኢትዮጵያ ህዝብ::
Blood ethopians, do you really know Zimbabwe and Mugabe? Go to Zimbabwe now and see for yourself. Mugabe is no hero, he is an asshole. If he was fighting for the the poor, why is that 60% of the Zimbos are in foreign lands? Why are Zimbabwean refugees in South Africa, UK, Australia, Zambia and Botswana? If Zimbabweans wanted land so much, why is that they are still hungry and not farming 8 years after land reform? Why did it take Mugabe 22 year after independence to address land reform? Why is there no rule of law in Zimbabwe. Read the Zimbabwean local news and see for yoursefl the number of people arrested, torture and kidnapped for opposing Mugabe. Mugabe lost three elections in a row and you still call him Hero. Mutherfuckersss go fck yuselfs
We could be able to make a difference if we act together rather than having all these isolated opinions. The new government doesn’t understands the absence of democracy within our country. It is our duty to be influentially involved with this new govenrment by colectivley addressing our facts and concerns.
You must not know the true Mugabe, he has brutalized his own people, in fact he killed more than 25 000 ndebele people, he used the land reform to try and energize his weakening support, the land he took has been given to his cronies, it is disingenous to think that Mugabe is better, he is worse, the Zimbabwean people have seen a better day under the white rule, sometimes its an honorable thing to sleep with the enemy for the sake of your people. Why does he think that after 28 years in power he can come up with any new ideas, he is a has-been with outdated solutions to 21st century problems. He is the most corrupt leader under the sun. He abducts the oppostion in dark and tortures innocent people who are simply exercising their god-given right of assembly. What a shame to see Zimbabwe become a certified full blown failed state ( all under the tyrannical rule of the mad man from Zvimba)
It seems like the truth is killing TPLF agents.
The point has been made clearlly and it is true. Zenawi is more criminal than Mugabe. The international criminal court is just a symbol if it let Zenawi get alon with all the crimes he has commited.
No need to compare…both are useless
African leaders have problems…for me all are the same
Mugabe is not a hero but a blood-sucking day-time murderer, who played so much to the tune of his former colonial masters – the British.Please take your time to find what he did in Zimbabwe from 1981 to 1987.Mugabe slaughtered over 20 000 ( twenty-thousand) innocent civilians in a mass-murder campaign never witnessed anywhere in southern Africa in order for him to crush the opposition party ZAPU – a party he( Mugabe) broke away from and the very party that brought him up. Mind you ZAPU is the party that founded the nationalist political movement and fought a long liberation war to dislodge the white racist and oppressive regime in Zimbabwe, then Rhodesia. Surprisingly enough Britain and America did not condemn or bothered even to say anything , but went on to knight him, despite committing such a callous crime against humanity.The whole act was well calculated move using a specially trained army brigade – ” The Fifth Brigade or Gukurahundi”. This was a carefully selected unit only from Mugabe’s former guerilla combatants ZANLA, and only from a Shona-speaking population in Zimbabwe.This was meant to ensure an efficient killing machine as it was used against the people in the Matebeleland and Midlands regions of Zimbabwe, which are predominantly non-Shona speaking regions. So there you are! A head of state using the state machinery to mow down his fellow country men, women and children, plain civilians who could not even lift a finger to defend themselves, whose sin was merely supporting ZAPU.This is MASS GENOCIDE! It must be noted again that Robert Mugabe is not truly genuine about defending the interests of Zimbabweans, but has found a very hard to penetrate shield of the “land issue” to hide behind from the mass genocide crimes against the people of Zimbabwe , that he committed in 1980 – 1987 period.Now his former colonial masters he initially set out to please so much have deserted him and instead are calling for his head.Hence all this fiasco you see between Mugabe and the British, with the aid of their cousins the Americans, that has effectively destroyed the Zimbabwean economy.
Finally the correct assesment of the devil’s incarnate is reflected by the article,thank you a million times.I am from wolkaite and tsegedie,M.Zenawi and TPLF cadres torture,rape,massacre the hard working people each and everyday.It is horifying even to mention the crimes against humanity that Meles continues to carry out over there.Please,join the perscuted people of wolkite & Tsegedie and the rest of the Ethiopian people including Somalies that are slauthered by TPLF’s Nazis in bringing the devil and his racist group to their knees.God Bless our struggle for democracy and freedom.
Meles is the worst of all humans and animals I know.
He is not comparable with human beings and animals.
He is a different species.
I’m one of the victims of his cruel administration.By chance I have not been killed and still I am breathing.
But my time in jail was beyond your expectation or imagination.It was the worst of the worst.
Mu mouth was smelling like…I don’t know how I can express it. I had never imagined that a human being has such strange behavior to do something extremely cruel over an other human being!!
Meles and his followers must be from a different planet.
I can say that in some situation, Meles and his followrs are not human beings!
what can I say, I always cry when I think of the time I was in jail.
How can one Tigrean brother eat the fresh meat of his brothers from Gondar or Bale or Arbaminch or Nekemte…???
I always ask this question to myself and I couldn’t get an answer.
Any ways….
I have a lot to write about this issue.
One day I will write my whole story on a medium sized book.
If you are interested give me a comment and I will write it in a series of articles.
Ladies and Gentle men,
Have good time and God Bless!!
Joe, what are you smoking? Are you seriously comparing Meles to Mugabe? You must be out of your mind. Because some of the elites are making some noise doesn’t mean the vast majority of Ethiopians share their twisted and distorted view. I don’t know if you ever been to Ethiopia – but the current Ethiopia is nowhere close to Mugabe’s Zimbabwe. The saddest thing about your article is in order to make Meles look bad you seem to neglect and downplay the misery the poor people of Zimbabwe are going through. Last I checked they are printing money in billion dollar denominations. Is that where your “Meles’s Ethiopia” is at right now? Don’t get me wrong, there are so many reasons to disagree with the politics of the current government. But to suggest that Ethiopia is a police state with no freedom whatsoever is so distorted and far from the truth. The opposition leaders can go where ever they like to go and express themselves as they wish. In some cases they can even travel for fund raising purposes. Wow, Mengistu must be delighted to read your article. I don’t think you are advancing any civil discussion how to better the lives of so many hunger-stricken Ethiopians by singing to the choir. For me, the heroes are the once who are in it through thin and thick. The likes of Haile, Kennisa, ……. They could live any where else on this planet – instead they chose to be with their people.
“Can someone prove me wrong if I say the Ethiopian dictator Meles Zenawi is the worst dictator comparing to Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe? I’ll bet no one can.”
So the answer to your challenge is : Yes, not only you are wrong, but dead wrong! I can tell you this on behalf of all my friends which are investing in our peoples future despite some reservations of some political and policy positions. I invite open minded folks to go to Ethiopia and see for themselves the changes which are taking place in places which were forgotten for decades by the likes of Haileselassie and Mengistu. Go to Bahir-Dar, go to Nazerth, go to Assela, yes, go also to Tigray and see what’s taking place.
Shame on you, Joe!
I laugh at the comments of the diaspora who were ousted after the downfall of the socialist Dergue. You have found a home on this website, haven’t you. You enter your group-think thoughts in this group-think web site, safely tucked away in your DC flats. If you think the Meles regime is so bad, why don’t you go back home and fight for change? I’ll tell you why you won’t do that. You are cowards. Comfortable cowards. Fat in your American homes. You can drink the water here. You have plenty of food here. You have jobs here. You don’t have to put your lives on the line here. You can bark like a little Addis street dog, feeling safe for the night in a pack of other barkers. You have not guts, no balls. Until you go back to Oromo, Harrar, Addis or Bahir Dar and fight for a change from there, all you are is a barking dog.