Late last month, Saudi Arabia’s Deputy Defense Minister Prince Khalid Bin Sultan fired a shot across the bow from the Arab Water Council in Cairo to let the regime in Ethiopia know that his country takes a dim view of the “Grand Renaissance Dam” under “construction” on the Blue Nile (Abbay) a few miles from Sudan’s eastern border. According to Prince Khalid, “The [Grand] Renaissance dam has its capacity of flood waters reaching more than 70 billion cubic meters of water… [I]f it collapsed Khartoum will be drowned completely and the impact will even reach the Aswan Dam…” The Prince believes the Dam is being built close to the “Sudanese border for political plotting rather than for economic gain and constitutes a threat to Egyptian and Sudanese national security…” The Prince raised the stakes by accusing the regime in Ethiopia of being hell-bent on harming Arab peoples. “There are fingers messing with water resources of Sudan and Egypt which are rooted in the mind and body of Ethiopia. They do not forsake an opportunity to harm Arabs without taking advantage of it…”
A spokesman for the regime in power in Ethiopia sought to minimize the importance of the Prince’s statement by suggesting that the Saudi Ambassador in Addis Ababa had disavowed the Prince’s statement as official policy or a position endorsed by the Saudi government. The alleged disavowal of the statement of a member of the Saudi royal family and top defense official seems curiously disingenuous after the fact. But that is understandable since “an ambassador is an honest man sent to lie abroad for the good of his country.” The regime spokesman also insinuated in fuzzy diplomatese that such inflammatory statements could result in war between Arab countries and African countries in the Nile basin.
The real possibility of a water war between countries of the upper Nile basin, and in particular Ethiopia, and Egypt and Sudan over the so-called Grand Renaissance Dam is the (white) elephant in the room that no one wants to talk about openly and earnestly at this stage. But in November 2010, the late dictatorMeles Zenawi in an interview with Reuters seemed to defiantly relish the possibility of war with Egypt. With taunting, dismissive and contemptuous arrogance, Meles not only insulted the Egyptian people as hopelessly backward but bragged that he will swiftly vanquish any invading Egyptian army. “I am not worried that the Egyptians will suddenly invade Ethiopia. Nobody who has tried that has lived to tell the story. I don’t think the Egyptians will be any different and I think they know that…The Egyptians have yet to make up their minds as to whether they want to live in the 21st or the 19th century.” Meles also accused Egypt of trying to destabilize Ethiopia by supporting unnamed rebel groups which he promised to crush. Meles served the Egyptians an ultimatum to engage in “civil dialogue”: “If we address the issues around which the rebel groups are mobilized then we can neutralize them and therefore make it impossible for the Egyptians to fish in troubled waters because there won’t be any… Hopefully that should convince the Egyptians that, as direct conflict will not work, and as the indirect approach is not as effective as it used to be, the only sane option will be civil dialogue.”
Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit denied Meles’ allegations and expressed amusement and amazement over Meles’ braggadocio. “I’m amazed … by the language that was used. We are not seeking war and there will not be war… The charges that Egypt… is exploiting rebel groups against the ruling regime in Ethiopia are completely devoid of truth.” Gheit may have been diplomatically deescalating the war of words, but his statement belies statements by a long line of top Egyptian leaders over the decades. President Anwar Sadat in 1978 declared, “We depend upon the Nile100 per cent in our life, so if anyone, at any moment, thinks of depriving us of our life we shall never hesitate to go to war.” Boutros Boutros Gahali, when he was the Egyptian Foreign State Minister (later U.N. Secretary General), confirmed the same sentiment when he asserted “the next war in our region will be over the water of the Nile, not politics.”
“If it comes to a crisis, we will send a jet to bomb the dam and come back in one day, simple as that.”
What will Egypt will do if Meles’ “Grand Renaissance Dam” is in fact built? “Simple.” They will use dam busters to smash and trash it.
An email from the American private security organization Stratfor released by Wikileaks citing its source as “high-level Egyptian security/intel in regular direct contact with Mubarak and Suleiman”, “If it comes to a crisis, we will send a jet to bomb the dam and come back in one day, simple as that. Or we can send our special forces in to block/sabotage the dam. But we aren’t going for the military option now. This is just contingency planning. Look back to an operation Egypt did in the mid-late 1970s, I think 1976, when Ethiopia was trying to build a large dam. We blew up the equipment while it was traveling by sea to Ethiopia. A useful case study…”
The same source further indicated that Egypt is “discussing military cooperation with Sudan” and has “a strategic pact with the Sudanese since in any crisis over the Nile, Sudan gets hit first then us.” That military cooperation includes stationing Egyptian “commandos in the Sudan for ‘worst case’ scenario on the Nile issue. Sudanese president Umar al-Bashir has agreed to allow the Egyptians to build a small airbase in Kusti to accommodate Egyptian commandos who might be sent to Ethiopia to destroy water facilities on the Blue Nile…The military option is not one that the Egyptians favor. It will be their option if everything else fails.” So far Egypt has successfully lobbied the multilateral development and other investment banks and donors to deny or cut funding for the dam and to apply political and diplomatic pressure on Ethiopia and the other upstream Nile countries. The World Bank has publicly stated it will not to fund any new projects on the Nile without Egypt’s approval.
The Grand Renaissance Dam or the grand dam (de)illusion?
All African dictators like to build big projects because it is part of the kleptocratic African “Big Man” syndrome. By undertaking “white elephant” projects (wasteful vanity projects), African dictators seek to attain greatness and amass great fortunes in life and immortality in death. Kwame Nkrumah built the Akosombo Dam on the Volta River, at the time dubbed the “largest single investment in the economic development plans of Ghana”. Mobutu sought to outdo Nkrumah by building the largest dam in Africa on the Inga Dams in western Democratic Republic of the Congo (Zaire) on the largest waterfalls in the world (Inga Falls). In the Ivory Coast, Félix Houphouët-Boigny built the largest church in the world, The Basilica of Our Lady of Peace of Yamoussoukro, at a cost of USD$300 million. It stands empty today. Self-appointed Emperor Jean-Bedel Bokassa of the Central African Republic built a 500-room Hotel Intercontinental at a cost of hundreds of millions of dollars while millions of his people starved. Moamar Gadhafi launched the Great Man-Made River in Libya, dubbed the world’s largest irrigation project, and proclaimed it the “Eighth Wonder of the World.” Gamal Abdel Nasser built the Aswan High Dam which could be affected significantly if upstream Nile countries build new dams. Ugandan dictator Yuweri Museveni built the Bujagali dam which was completed in 2012. The backflow from that dam has submerged a huge area of cultivable and settled land forcing migration and resettlement of large numbers of people.
Meles Zenawi hoped to build the “Grand Renaissance Dam” as the mother of all dams on the African continent to outdo Nkrumah, Mobutu and Gadhafi. Like all of the African white elephants, this Dam is a vanity make-believe project partly intended to glorify Meles and magnify his international prestige while diverting attention from the endemic corruption that has consumed his regime as recently documented in a 448-page World Bank report. Meles sought to cover his bloody hands and clothe his naked dictatorships with megaprojects and veneers of progress and development. The “Grand Renaissance Dam” is the temporary name for the “Grand Meles Memorial Dam”. Meles wanted to be immortalized in that largest cement monument in the history of the African continent. To be sure, he had a “dry run” on immortality when he commissioned the construction of Gilgel Gibe III Dam on the Omo River in southern Ethiopia which has been dubbed the “largest hydroelectric plant in Africa with a power output of about 1870 Megawatt.”
The Dam and the damned
There is little doubt that IF the “Grand Renaissance Dam” is completed, it will have a significant long term impact on water supply and availability to the Sudan and Egypt. The general view among the experts is that if the dam is constructed as specified by the regime in Ethiopia, it could result in significant reduction in cultivable agricultural lands and water shortages throughout Egypt.According to Mohamed Nasr El Din Allam, the former Egyptian minster of water and irrigation,if the dam is built “Millions of people would go hungry. There would be water shortages everywhere. It’s huge.”
The regime in Ethiopia claims the depth of the Dam will be 150 meters and the water reservoir behind the Dam could be used to irrigate more than 500,000 hectares of new agricultural lands. Experts suggest that the water reservoir behind the dam could hold as much as 62bn cubic meters of water; and depending upon seasonal rainfall and the rate at which the reservoir is filled, there could be significant reductions in the flow of water to Egypt and Sudan. The environmental impact of the Dam in Ethiopia will be catastrophic. Experts believe such a dam if built will “flood 1,680 square kilometers of forest in northwest Ethiopia, near the Sudan border, and create a reservoir that is nearly twice as large as Lake Tana, Ethiopia’s largest natural lake….” The so-called tripartite committee of international experts is expected to issue its report on the potential environmental impacts of the Dam in May 2013.
The legal dimensions of the Nile water dispute
The are many knotty legal issues surrounding the treaties and agreements concluded between Britain as a colonial power and the countries in the Nile basin (Burundi, Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia, Eritrea, the Sudan, and Egypt) on the use of Nile water. Beginning in 1891, Britain concluded at least seven agreements on the use and control of the Nile. In the major treaties, the British included language which effectively prevented Ethiopia and other upstream countries from “construct[ing] any irrigation or other works which might sensibly modify its flow into the Nile” or its “tributaries.” For instance, the May 15, 1902 Treaty regarding the Frontiers between the Anglo- Egyptian Sudan, Ethiopia and British Eritrea, restrained “His Majesty the Emperor Menelik II, King of kings of Ethiopia” from “construct[ing] or allow[ing] to be constructed, any works across the Blue Nile, Lake Tsana or the Sobat,… except in agreement with his Britannic Majesty’s Government and the Government of the Sudan”.
The current legal and political controversy over the Nile water revolves around the 1929 Nile Waters Agreement (which guarantees disproportionately high volumes of Nile water (85 percent) to Egypt and gave Egypt the right to monitor the Nile flow in the upstream countries and veto powers on all Nile projects upstream) and the 1959 agreement between Britain and Egypt in regards to the use of waters of the River Nile for irrigation purposes which recognized “Egypt’s natural and historic rights in the waters of the Nile and its requirements of agricultural extension…”
A number of the upper-riparian states including Ethiopia, Tanzania and Burundi have rejected the validity of the 1929 Treaty and believe that they have the right to do whatever they choose with the water that flows through their boundaries (“Harmon Doctrine”). In 1964, the Government of Tanganyika openly disavowed the 1929 agreement (“Nyerere Doctrine” which asserts that a newly independent state has the right to “opt in” or selectively succeed to colonial treaties): “The Government of Tanganyika has come to the conclusion that the provisions of the 1929 Agreement purporting to apply to the countries ‘under British Administration’ are not binding on Tanganyika.” On similar grounds, Uganda and Kenya subsequently rejected that agreement. Even Sudan has challenged the allocation ratio of the water it got under that agreement.
Ethiopia’s legal position on the various colonial treaties is explored in full in Gebre Tasadik Degefu’s authoritative work, The Nile: Historical, Legal and Developmental Perspectives (2003). Gebre Tasadik challenges the validity of the treaties on the grounds that “while Ethiopia’s natural rights in a certain share of the waters in its own territory are undeniable…, no treaty has ever mentioned them. This fact would be sufficient for invalidating the binding force of those agreements, which have no counterpart in favor of Ethiopia.” He also points out significant technical issues in the treaties. He suggests that the “English version of the 1902 agreement obliged Ethiopia to seek prior accord with the united kingdom before initiating any works that might affect the discharge of the Blue Nile… The Amharic version does not oblige Ethiopia to request permission from the British Government…”
Others have argued that Ethiopia is not bound by the 1902 treaty with Britain because the “treaty never came into force as Britain did not ratify it and the Ethiopian government had rejected it in the 1950s”. Even if that treaty were valid, Britain is said to have violated its terms by “supporting and recognizing the Italian invasion of Ethiopia in violation of Article 60 of the 1902 agreement”. Technical interpretation of the relevant clauses of the 1902 treaty are also said to favor Ethiopia since that treaty “does not prohibit use of the Nile” but obliges Ethiopia “not to arrest of the Nile, which is interpreted to mean total blockage.”
The 1959 Nile Waters Agreement between Egypt and Sudan sought to give the two countries full control and utilization of Nile water by modifying certain aspects of the 1929 agreement. But that agreement completely ignored the interests of any of the upstream countries, particularly Ethiopia.
Egypt has refused to renegotiate the 84-year-old treaty and insist on the perpetual binding authority of the colonial era treaties as legal formalizations of Egypt’s historical and natural rights over the Nile water. They also insist that the international law of state succession makes the treaties made by colonial Britain binding on successor post-independence African states.
The general consensus among informed commentators is that the Nile treaties are not binding in perpetuity. They point to the inequitable elements of the various agreements on upper riparian states and the radical change in the scope of obligations under the agreements over the past eight decades to challenge the validity of the colonial era treaties.
The paramount question is not whether the Nile water dispute can be resolved in an international court of law or other tribunal but what political accommodations can be made by the basin states to equitably benefit their nations and strengthen their bonds of friendship. Equitable sharing of Nile water is necessary not only for regional stability and amity but also to meet the growing energy and food production needs of the populations of all Nile basin countries in the coming decades. There is no shortage of predictions of doom and gloom over the looming water scarcity worldwide. Over a decade ago, United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan warned, “Fierce competition for fresh water may well become a source of conflict and wars in the future.” Insisting on the eternal validity and binding nature of the Nile water treaties is untenable and unreasonable.
The Nile Basin Initiative was established in 1999 to develop a scheme for the equitable distribution of water among the Nile basin countries. Ethiopia, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and Kenya have signed the Agreement on the Nile River Basin Cooperative Framework (Entebbe Agreement). This agreement allows construction of projects that do not “significantly” affect the Nile water flow. Egypt has rejected the Agreement because it necessitates renegotiation of its share of the Nile water and surrender of its veto power guaranteed under the old agreements.
Water, water everywhere… and Meles’ “damplomacy” of brinksmanship
Whether there will be an actual “Grand Renaissance Dam” is the $5bn dollar question of the century. Because Egypt has been successful in pressuring multilateral development and investment banks not to fund the project, the regime in Ethiopia has defiantly forged ahead to fund the project itself. But is self-funding of the mother of all African dams a realistic possibility?
The regime has kept much of the details of the Dam behind smoke and mirrors. The regime claims that the dam is 14 percent complete (whatever that means) and will reach 26 percent completion by the end of 2013. When it comes online in 2015 as scheduled, the regime claims the dam will have the power generating capacity of nearly 6,000MW, much of it to be exported to the Sudan, Egypt and the Arabian peninsula.
But the whole “Grand Renaissance Dam” project is being staged in the theatre of the absurd. Is it possible to raise USD$5bn by 2015 from the people of the second poorest country in the world, the vast majority of whom live on less than USD$1? The dam is said to cost as much as the country’s total annual budget of USD$5bn. Is the largest recipient of international aid in Africa capable of raising multiple billions of dollars from its citizens for the Dam? Can a country which “lost US$11.7 billion to illicit financial outflows between 2000 and 2009” be able to undertake construction of a USD$5bn dam (unadjusted for cost overruns) on its own? According to the World Bank, Ethiopia’s “power sector alone would require $3.3 billion per year to develop” in the next decade. Can the regime in Ethiopia be able to build the largest dam in Africa and other energy projectsresorting to such “desperate measures” as “musical concerts, a lottery and an SMS campaign to raise funds”? Can a country which the IMF describes as having “foreign reserves [that] have declined to under two months of import coverage” as of June 2012 really be able to build the largest dam in African history? Can a country whose external debt in 2012 exceeded USD$12bn be able to build a $5bn dollar project?
The regime has forged ahead to build the “Grand Renaissance Dam” by “selling bonds” domestically and in the Ethiopian Diaspora. The regime claims to have collected USD$500 million from bond sales and “contributions” of ordinary citizens. Business and institutions have been forced to buy bonds. The regime’s Diaspora bond sales effort has been a total failure. Most Ethiopians in the Diaspora have been unwilling to bet on imaginary and speculative future earnings from operations of the dam because of the regime’s morbid secrecy and lack of transparency. They have little confidence in the regime’s capacity to guarantee their bond investments. For instance, current underpricing in power tariffs which have ranged between “$0.04-0.08 per kilowatt-hour are low by regional standards and recover only 46 percent of the costs of the utility.” That does not bode well for long term bond holders.
The regime in Ethiopia also has serious problems of cost overruns and poor project management in dam construction. For instance, the Tekeze hydroelectric dam on the Tekeze River, a Nile tributary, in northern Ethiopia was initially estimated to cost USD$224 million, but when it was completed seven years later in 2008, its cost skyrocketed to USD$360 million. How much the “Grand Renaissance Dam” will eventually cost, if built, is anybody’s guess. Regime ineptitude and mismanagement of Gilgel Gibe II on the Omo River in February 2010 resulted in a “tunnel collapse [which] closed the largest hydropower plant operating in Ethiopia, only 10 days after its inauguration.”
To add insult to injury, the Meles regime has the gall to say that it intends to sell the power from the “Grand Renaissance Dam” to the Sudan, Egypt and the Arabian peninsula once construction is complete. That is not only nonsensical but downright insane! Why would Egypt or the Sudan buy power from a dam that damns them by effectively reducing their water supply for agriculture and their own production of power?
Meles and his disciples have always known that they do not have the financial capacity to complete the Dam. They also know that actually completing the constructing the dam will be dangerous for their own survival as a regime should regional war break out. But Meles has always been a peerless grandmaster of intrigue, machination, duplicity, one-upmanship and diplomatic gamesmanship. With this Dam, he was merely pushing the envelope to the outer limits. His real aim was not the construction of dam but to use the specter of the construction of a gargantuan dam on the Nile to fabricate fear of an imminent regional water war. His price for continued regional stability, avoidance of conflict and maintenance of the status quo would be billions in loans, aid and other concessions from the international community and downstream countries.
Meles’ diplomatic strategy shrouded a clever deterrent military strategy: If Egypt goes for broke and attacks the “Grand Renaissance Dam”, Ethiopia could retaliate by attacking the Aswan dam. Meles likely believed the threat of mutual assured destruction will prevent an actual war while maintaining extremely high levels of regional tensions. By playing a game of chicken with Egypt and the Sudan, Meles hoped to strong-arm donor and development banks and wealthy countries in the region into giving him financial, political and diplomatic support. There is no question Meles would have driven on a collision course with Egypt only to swerve at the last second to avoid a fatal crash had he been in power today. It is unlikely that Meles’ disciples have the intellectual candlepower (“megawattage”) or the sheer cunning and artfulness of their master to play a game of chicken with Egypt to skillfully extract concessions.
For love of white elephants and war of the damned
Water is a source of life. War is a source of death. The water of the Nile has given life to Ethiopians, Egyptians and the people of the Nile basin countries since time immemorial. If Meles prepared for war by building his dam, his disciples shall surely inherit war. But Meles should have reflected on the words of Ethiopia’s poet laureate Tsegaye Gebremedhin before embarking on his “Grand Renaissance Dam” project: “O Nile, you are the music that restores the rhythm of existence…/ You are the irrigator that cultivate peace…/ …From my Ethiopia sacred mountains of the sun…”
Meles’ legacy could indeed be a water war of death and destruction on the Nile, but he will never have a cement monument built on the Nile to celebrate his life. Meles’ disciples would be wise to remember an old prophesy as they march headlong to build their doomsday dam on the Nile: “God gave Noah the Rainbow Sign: No more water. The fire next time!”
Professor Alemayehu G. Mariam teaches political science at California State University, San Bernardino and is a practicing defense lawyer.
Previous commentaries by the author are available at:
http://open.salon.com/blog/almariam/
www.huffingtonpost.com/alemayehu-g-mariam/
Amharic translations of recent commentaries by the author may be found at:
http://www.ecadforum.com/Amharic/archives/category/al-mariam-amharic
http://ethioforum.org/?cat=24
Ethiopian Muslims engaged in the moral equivalent of an anti-Apartheid movement?
In her recent commentary in the New York Review of Books, “Obama: Failing the African Spring?”, Dr. Helen Epstein questioned the Obama Administration for turning a blind eye to human rights violations in Africa, and particularly the persecution of Muslims in Ethiopia. She argued that “After more than four years in office… Obama has done little to advance the idealistic goals of his Ghana speech.” In fact, she finds the Administration playing peekaboo with Paul Kagame, the Rwandan dictator and puppet master of M23 (the rebel group led by Bosco Ntganda under indictment by the International Criminal Court) which has been wreaking havoc in Goma, (city in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo) and Youweri Museveni, the overlord of the corruptocracy in Uganda. Dr. Epstein is perplexed by President Obama’s lofty rhetoric and his paralysis when it comes to walking the talk in Ethiopia:
Perhaps most worrying of all is the unwillingness of Obama and other Western leaders to say or do anything to support the hundreds of thousands of Muslim Ethiopians who have been demonstrating peacefully against government interference in their religious affairs for more than a year. (The Ethiopian government claims the country has a Christian majority, but Muslims may account for up to one half of the population.) You’d think a nonviolent Islamic movement would be just the kind of thing the Obama administration would want to showcase to the world. It has no hint of terrorist influence, and its leaders are calling for a secular government under the slogan ‘We have a cause worth dying for, but not worth killing for.’ Indeed, the Ethiopian protesters may be leading Africa’s most promising and important nonviolent human rights campaign since the anti-apartheid struggle.
Is Dr. Epstein correct in her profound observation that the Ethiopian Muslim “protesters may be leading Africa’s most promising and important nonviolent human rights campaign since the anti-apartheid struggle.” Are the Muslim protests that have been going on for nearly two years the moral equivalent of an anti-Apartheid movement in Ethiopia? Is Obama failing an Ethiopian Spring?
The importance of religious freedom to Americans and in U.S. foreign policy
Religious freedom is arguably the most important cornerstone of all American liberties. Promoting religious freedom worldwide is so important that the U.S. Congress passed the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 (IRFA)affirming religious freedom enshrined in the U.S. Constitution and in various international instruments, including Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
The Obama Administration’s record on international religious freedom in general has been deplorable. In 2010, Leonard Leo, chairman of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom Commission openly complained that the Administration is ignoring religious persecution throughout the world to the potential detriment of U.S. national security. “We’re completely neglecting religious freedom in countries that tend to be Petri dishes for extremism. This invariably leads to trouble for us… Regrettably, this point seems to shrink year after year for the White House and State Department.”
The Obama Administration’s disregard for religious freedom and tolerance of religious intolerance and persecution throughout the world is incomprehensible given the centrality of religious freedom and separation of religion and government in the scheme of American liberties. The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, the foundation of all American liberties, first and foremost prohibits government involvement in religion in sweeping and uncompromising language: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof…” The “establishment” clause guarantees government neutrality by preventing government establishment of religious institutions or support for religion in general. The “free exercise” clause protects against religious persecution by government.
In the 1796 “Treaty of Peace and Friendship between the United States of America and the Bey and Subjects of Tripoli of Barbary”, the U.S. formally affirmed to the world the sanctity of religious freedom in America without regard to doctrine or denomination: “As the government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian Religion, — as it has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion or tranquility of Musselmen, — and as the said States never have entered into any war or act of hostility against any Mehomitan nation, it is declared by the parties that no pretext arising from religious opinions shall ever produce an interruption of the harmony existing between the two countries.” (Art. 11.)
Many of the American Founding Fathers including George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, John Adams and Benjamin Franklin were deeply suspicious of government involvement in religion, which they believed corrupted religion itself. George Washington championed separation of religion and state when he wrote, “I beg you be persuaded that no one would be more zealous than myself to establish effectual barriers against the horrors of spiritual tyranny, and every species of religious persecution.” Thomas Jefferson believed religion was a personal matter which invited no government involvement and argued for the “building a wall of separation between Church & State”. Jefferson wrote, “Among the most inestimable of our blessings is that … of liberty to worship our Creator… a liberty deemed in other countries incompatible with good government and yet proved by our experience to be its best support.” James Madison, the “father of the U.S. Constitution” was a staunch defender of religious diversity: “Freedom arises from the multiplicity of sects, which pervades America and which is the best and only security for religious liberty in any society.” President John Adams minced no words when he wrote, “Nothing is more dreaded than the national government meddling with religion.”
President Barack Obama himself made it crystal clear that he personally disapproves of government’s involvement in religion or government imposition of religious orthodoxy on citizens. “I am suspicious of using government to impose anybody’s religious beliefs -including my own- on nonbelievers.” In his first inauguration speech, President Obama declared, “Our Founding Fathers, faced with perils we can scarcely imagine, drafted a charter to assure the rule of law and the rights of man, a charter expanded by the blood of generations. Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience’s sake.”
The right of freedom of religion is the quintessential “rights of man” and an “ideal that still lights the world”. Yet, neither President Obama personally nor his Administration collectively have made any statements or taken any action concerning religious persecution in Ethiopia. It seems President Obama has given up the “ideal” of religious freedom for “expedience’s sake”. Such facile expedience is difficult to comprehend because President Obama was a constitutional lawyer before he became president.
It seems the President Obama now prefers a foreign policy based not on principle and the ideals of the Constitution but rather one based on expediency. It is more expedient for President Obama to have drone bases in Ethiopia than to have bastions of religious freedom. It is more expedient to sacrifice human rights at the altar of realpolitik than to uphold the right of Ethiopians to worship at the altar of their faiths. It is more expedient to chase after terrorists in the name of counterterrorism while sharing a bed with state terrorists. It is more expedient to tolerate dictatorship than to uphold the fundamental rights of citizenship. It is more expedient to support a benighted police state that to use American “ideals that still light the world” to enlighten it.
Why is the Obama Administration tone-deaf and bat-blind about religious freedom in Ethiopia given the established fact that the ruling regime in that country has engaged in egregious religious persecution with reckless abandon. The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, an independent body constituted by the Congress and the President of the United States to monitor religious freedom worldwide, recently reported:
Since July 2011, the Ethiopian government has sought to impose the al-Ahbash Islamic sect on the country’s Muslim community, a community that traditionally has practiced the Sufi form of Islam. The government also has manipulated the election of the new leaders of the Ethiopia Islamic Affairs Supreme Council (EIASC). Previously viewed as an independent body, EIASC is now viewed as a government-controlled institution. The arrests, terrorism charges and takeover of EIASC signify a troubling escalation in the government’s attempts to control Ethiopia’s Muslim community and provide further evidence of a decline in religious freedom in Ethiopia. Muslims throughout Ethiopia have been arrested during peaceful protests: On October 29, the Ethiopia government charged 29 protestors with terrorism and attempting to establish an Islamic state.
U.S. foreign policy of expediency in Africa
Expediency has been a guiding principle in American foreign policy in Africa for quite a while. “Expediency” emphasizes “pragmatism” or “realpolitik” over principles and ideals. It is an approach that dictates consideration of each case in light of prevailing circumstances. Expediency subordinates values, ideals and principles to particular political or strategic objectives. Expediency justifies full support for blood thirsty African thugs just to advance the national interest in global “war on terror”. Expediency sacrifices principles and ideals on the altar of hypocrisy. Expediency has allowed the Obama Administration to pump billions of America taxpayer dollars to strengthen the iron fist of Meles Zenawi and his cronies in the name of fighting the so-called war on terror while preaching a hollow sermon of human rights to ordinary Africans.
What is most disconcerting is the fact that President Obama speaks with forked tongue. In Accra and Cairo, he hectored African dictators and made promises and affirmations to the people of Africa: “Development depends on good governance… We must support strong and sustainable democratic governments… Repression can take many forms, and too many nations, even those that have elections, are plagued by problems that condemn their people to poverty… That is not democracy, that is tyranny, even if occasionally you sprinkle an election in there…” He spoke of a “new partnership” with Africa, but his Watusi dance partners were Kagame, Museveni, Zenawi and their ilk.
As a strong supporter of President Obama and one who sought to exhort and mobilize Ethiopian Americans to support his election and re-election, I feel pangs of conscience when I say the President has been a poor advocate of American ideals in U.S. foreign policy in Africa. He has hectored ordinary Africans and African dictators about the need to be “on the right side of history”. For four years, President Obama has talked a good talk to Africans that America symbolizes freedom, liberty and democracy. But when it comes to walking the talk, we see him sitting in a wooden wheel chair that ain’t going nowhere fast. This paralysis has created a monumental crises of credibility for the President personally. Few Africans believe he is on their side and even fewer believe he is on the right side of history. But they do see him standing side by side with African dictators.
But could there really be expediency in dealing with blood thirsty African dictators? President Obama knows Ethiopia is a virtual police state. He knows elections are stolen there in broad daylight as those in power claim victory by a margin of 99.6 percent. He knows thousands of political prisoners languish in Ethiopian jails considered by international human rights organizations to be among the most inhumane in the world. He knows civil society institutions in that country have been wiped out of existence. He knows opposition parties, the press and dissidents have been crushed. He knows of the crimes against humanity that have been and continue to be committed in the Ogaden region, in Gambella, the Omo region and many other parts of the country. He knows about religious persecution. President Obama personally knows that 193 unarmed protesters were massacred and 763 wounded following the 2005 elections and that no one has been brought to justice for those crimes against humanity. That crime against humanity is on par with the Sharpeville Massacre of March 21, 1960 in South Africa in which South African police slaughtered 69 unarmed black protesters in the township of Sharpeville and wounded 180.
It is said that politics makes for strange bedfellows. But must the Obama Administration get in bed with those who have committed the most heinous crimes against humanity in the 21st Century? Is it worth sacrificing American ideals to coddle and consort with brutal African dictators just to get drone bases?
Can Ethiopian Americans hold the Obama Administration accountable?
Yes, we can! The International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 (Public Law 105-292) [IRFA] was enacted to promote religious freedom as a foreign policy of the United States, and to advocate on behalf of persons and groups facing religious persecution throughout the world. Very few people are aware that IFRA came into being as a result of the religious persecution of a Christian Ethiopian man named Getanah Metafriah who was “imprisoned and tortured by the Communist rulers of Ethiopia for talking about Jesus.” Getanah’s cause “manage[d] to help start a grassroots movement to publicize religious persecution abroad” eventually leading to the passage of IRFA.
IFRA requires that the United States designate as “country of particular concern” (CPC) those countries whose governments have engaged in or tolerated systematic and egregious and “particularly severe violations of religious freedom” and prescribes sanctions against such countries. IRFA provides the President 15 options ( 22 U.S.C. § 6445(a)(1)-(15)) to consider against states violating religious freedom including demarches (diplomatic protest) , private or public condemnation, denial, delay or cancellation of scientific or cultural exchanges, cancellation of a state visit, withdrawal or limitation of humanitarian or security assistance, restriction of credit or loans from United States and multilateral organizations, denial of licenses to export goods or technologies, prohibition against the U.S. government entering into any agreement to procure goods or services from that country, or “any other action authorized by law” so long as it “is commensurate in effect to the action substituted.” Once a state is designated a CPC, the President is required by law to conduct an annual review, no later than September 1 of each year, and to take one or more of the actions specified in IRFA.
Based on the USCRIF (a body auhtorized by IFRA) report cited above, there is no question that the regime in Ethiopia meets the IRFA criteria of engaging in “systematic, ongoing, and egregious” violations of the religious liberty of Ethiopian Muslims. It is noteworthy that the 2012 Annual Report of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom March 2012 (covering April 1, 2011 – February 29, 2012)) documenting serious abuses of freedom of thought, conscience, religion, and belief around the world does not include religious persecution of Muslims in Ethiopia (which was reported by USCRIF in Novemeber 2012).
The first action Ethiopian Americans who believe in religious freedom in Ethiopia should take in an organized and collective manner is to file a request, (and if necessary a demand) that USCRIF amend or append to its 2012 report religious persecution and government interference in the profession and practice of the Islamic and Christian faiths in Ethiopia and make recommendations to the Secretary of State (SoS) for sanctions or alternative actions. In the alternative, they should insure that the violation is reported in the 2012-2013 USCRIF report with recommendations to the SoS for appropriate action. The SoS is required by IRFA to take “into consideration the recommendations of the Commission [USCRIF]” in formulating subsequent action.
By having USCRIF amend or append to its report and submit appropriate recommendations, Ethiopian Americans concerned about religious freedom in Ethiopia will have a legal basis to demand that the President “take all appropriate and feasible actions authorized by law to obtain the cessation of violations” (22 U.S.C. § 6445(a)(1)-(15)) or make Presidential certification and issue a waiver. In other words, the President would be in a position to take action or not to take action because taking action would be against U.S. “national security”. Either way, the Obama Administration could be held accountable under IFRA. No doubt, any such organized effort by Ethiopian Americans will stir the hornet’s nest of the K Street lobbyists who will rub their palms with glee and grin ear to ear as they come to feast at the trough of poor Ethiopian taxpayers.
The second action Ethiopian Americans who believe in religious freedom in Ethiopia should take is to establish an interfaith council to work on broader issues of religious freedom in Ethiopia. In my July 2012 commentary “Unity in Divinity”, I argued that a threat to the religious liberty of Muslims is a threat to the religious freedom of Christians. I urged Ethiopian “Christian and Muslim religious leaders [to] play a critical role in preventing conflict and in building bridges of understanding, mutual respect and collaborative working relations…” I suggested the establishment of “interfaith councils” patterned after those in the U.S. “These [interfaith] councils bring diverse faith communities to work together to foster greater understanding and respect among people of different faiths and to address basic needs in the community. Many such councils go beyond dialogue and reflection to cooperative work in social services and implementing projects to meet community needs. They stand together to protect religious freedom by opposing discrimination and condemning debasement of religious institutions and faiths. There is no reason why Ethiopians could not establish interfaith councils of their own.”
I reiterate my call for interfaith councils to bring together members of the two faith communities in the United States, and possibly elsewhere, for collective action. Religious freedom in Ethiopia is not an issue that concerns only Muslims. It is of equal concern and importance for Christian Ethiopians who have undergone similar egregious interference in the selection of their religious leadership just recently.
What is needed is sincere and open dialogue and interaction between Ethiopian Americans who are Christians and Muslims to advance the cause of religious liberty and equality for all in unity. Members of these two faith communities must come together in a historic meeting and develop a joint agenda to guarantee and safeguard their religious freedom, overcome any traces of sectarianism and reaffirm their long coexistence, diversity and harmony in a unified country based on the rule of law. They must jointly develop principles of cooperation and coordination. They must develop solidarity which can withstand narrow sectarian interests and the whims and personalities of those in leadership positions. They must relate with each other in the spirit of mutual respect, trust and co-operation and find ways to deepen and strengthen their relations.
Perhaps such dialogue may not come so easily in the absence of existing institutions. It may be necessary for leaders of both faiths to join together and establish a task force to study the issues and make recommendations for the broadest possible dialogue between Ethiopian American Muslims and Christians in America. Christian and Islamic spiritual authorities and laymen should be encouraged to work together not only to defend each other on matters of religious liberty but also to propose long term solutions to reduce the dangers of sectarianism, fanaticism, conflict and misunderstanding and institute a permanent dialogue between members of both faiths. There is no reason why an interfaith council cannot organize joint conferences, meetings, workshops, seminars, press conferences and informational campaigns in the media in both faith communities. The Ethiopia of tomorrow can be built on a strong foundation of dialogue of Muslims and Christians today. Dialogue is a precursor to national reconciliation.
From expediency to consistency
The Obama Administration must do a lot more to improve human rights in Africa. President Obama must not only talk a good talk, he must also walk the talk. But with religious liberty, he must walk the talk and follow the letter and spirit of IFRA. If he does not, he would have betrayed not only the ideals of the Founding Fathers and the Constitution but also disregarded the law he is sworn to uphold. There is no reason why the Obama Administration cannot find a harmonious convergence of national security and human rights in Africa. When America cannot lead by ideals it will be forced to follow up by exacting ordeals.
Are the Ethiopian Muslim protesters leading Africa’s most promising and important nonviolent human rights campaign since the anti-apartheid struggle? Yes, they are!!!
Professor Alemayehu G. Mariam teaches political science at California State University, San Bernardino and is a practicing defense lawyer.
Previous commentaries by the author are available at:
http://open.salon.com/blog/almariam/
www.huffingtonpost.com/alemayehu-g-mariam/
Amharic translations of recent commentaries by the author may be found at:
http://www.ecadforum.com/Amharic/archives/category/al-mariam-amharic
http://ethioforum.org/?cat=24
ፕሮፌሰር ዓለማየሁ ገብረማርያም
ትርጉም ከነጻነት ለሃገሬ
2011፡ የሙስና አገዛዝ፤ ፍርሃትና ሰም ማጥፋት
በዲሴምበር 2011 ‹‹ኢትዮጵያ የደም ሃገር ወይም የንቅዘት (ሙስና) ሃገር›› በሚል ርእስ የኢትዮጵያን ሁለት ገጽታ በማመዛዘን አንድ ጦማር አስነብቤ ነበር፡፡ በዚያን ወቅት ትራንስፓረንሲ ኢንተርናሽናል በተባለው ተቋም ተቀምጦ የነበረው ገጽታ ያሳየው ኢትዮጵያ ለም መሬቶች በተንኮል በተጠቀለለ ስውር ደባ እየተቸበቸቡ እንደነበር ነው፡፡በዘገባው ላይ ተቋሙ ለኢትዮጵያ ያሰፈረው ነጥብ (10 ከሙስና የፀዳ ማለት ሲሆን 0 ደግም በሙስና ንቅዘት ያጨማለቀው ማለት ነው) ኢትዮጵያ 2.7 ነበር ያገኘቸው፡፡ በሙሰና ከታወቁት የኣለም ሃገሮች ዋነኛዋ ኢትዮጵያ ናት ይል ነበር:: የግሎባል ፊናንሻል አንተግሪት ድርጅት ደግሞ ባለፉት ፲ ኣመታት ከኢትዮጵያ 11.7 ብልዖን ያሜርካን ብር በሀገወጥ መንገድ ከኣገሪቷ ወጥቶአል ብሎ ዘገቦ ነበር::
ባልፈው ኣመት: አሁንም በስላጣን ላይ ያለው ገዢ ኣስተዳደር ኢትዮጵያን በሽብርተኞች ማነቆ ውስጥ ተወጥራ እንዳለች ሃገር አድርጎ ለማቅረብ ባወጣው የልመናና የገንዘብ መቧገቻ እቅዱ ባለሶስት ክፍል የፕሮፓጋንዳ የቅጥፈት ታሪክ ‹‹አኬልዳማ›› በማለት (ወይም የደም መሬት በማለት ከአክትስ 1፡19 በመዋስ፤ የአስቆሮቱ ይሁዳ ክርስቶስን ክዶ በመሸጥ ባገኘው ገንዘብ የተገዛ መሬት) ከልብ ወለድ የማይሪቅ ትርኢት ለሕዝብ ኣቅርቦ ነበር፡፡ ይህም ትርኢት በአትዮጵያና በኢትዮጵያ ዲያስፖራ ሰዎች በሚታገዝና በሃገርም ውስጥ ባሉት የሚደገፍ የሽብር ተግባር አምባ አድርጎ ለማሳመን የተሰራ ነው፡፡ አኬልዳማ ሲጀምር በኢትዮጵያ ውስጥ ሊከሰት የሚችል በማለት የደም ጎርፍ መምጣት እንደሚችልና፤ ሸብር ዓለምን በማጥፋት ላይ ነው፡፡ ‹‹አኬልዳማ›› ሲተረት: “ሽብርተኝነት የቆምንበትን መሬት እያነቃነቀ፤ ዕለታዊ እንቅስቃሴያችንንም እየገታ መሆኑን በቅጥፈታዊ ፈጠራ ለማሳየት የቀረበ ትርኢት፡፡ አሁን እየተናገርኩ ያለሁት ስለዓለም አቀፉ ሥብርተኝነት አይደለም፡፡ እኔ እያልኩ ያለሁት በገዢው መንግስት ለኢትዮጵያ የተቀመጠውን የቅጥፈት ፕሮፓጋንዳና በዚያም ውስጥ ስለተካተተው አኬልዳማ ተብሎ ስለተቀፈቀፈው፤ ሸብርተኝነት ለኢትዮጵያ አስጊና አሳሳቢ ችግር ነው…… ስለተባለው ነው፡፡”
በአኬልዳማ ውስጥ ተቀነጫጭቦና ተቆርጦ የተቀጣጣለ የቪዲዮ ቅንጥብጣቢ፤የአልቃይዳና የአል ሸባቢ ተከታዮች የመለስ ዜናዊን መንግስት ለማፍረስና ሃገሪቱንም ለማመሰቃቀል ተነስተዋል በማለት የሕጻናት የአዛውንቶች፤ እሬሳ በመንገድ ላይ ወድቀውና በደም ተጨማልቀው በዝንቦች የተወረሩ እሬሳዎች፤ የተቆራረጡ እግሮች፤ የነደዱ ተሸከርካሪዎች፤ በቦምብ የፈራሱ ሕንጻዎች፤ የህክምና ባለሙያዎችም የተጎዱትን ሲያክሙና በኒው ዮርክ በሽብርተኞች የፈረሱት የትዊን ታወር ምስሎች በማገጣጠም የገዢውን መንግስት ስጋት አሳማኝ ለማድረግ ምስሉን አቀነባብሮ አቀረበ፡፡ በዚህም የሕብረተሰቡ ሕሊና ውስጥ የፈጠረው ስጋት ቢኖር የገዚዎች ውሸትና ተራ ፕሮፓጋንደ እንጂ ከዚያ ያለፈ ለማሳመን የቻለው የለም፡፡ ማስረጃውን እንመልከት ብሎም ያቀረበው ዘጋቢ ቁጭት በውስጡ እየነደደ የሃሰት ስሜቱን ታግሎ በማውጣት በጥፈሩ እየቆመና ቃላትን እየረገጠ በሚያስፈራና ቀፋፊ በሆነው ድምጹ ህጻናትን እያሰበረ አርጉዝ ሊያጨነግፍ በሚችል ስሜት አቀረበው፡፡ እስቲ እውነተኛውን ማስረጃ እንመልከት፤ ይላል ‹‹አኬልዳማ››: “ባለፉት ጥቂት ዓመታት፤ 131 የሽብርተኞች ጥቃት ተካሂዶ 339 ተገድለዋል 363 ቆስለዋል፤ 25 ደግሞ በሽብርተኞች ታፈነው ተገድለዋል፡፡” ቅጥፈት የተሞላበት፤ ማጭበርበሪያ የሆነ፤የተዛባ ትረካ የተካተተበት አኬልዳማ በተቃዋሚዎች ላይ ሕዝባዊ ጥላጫና ጥርጣሬ ለመንዛት ሆን ተብሎ የተዘጋጀ ነበር፡፡ውጤቱ ግን እንደታሰበውና እንደታሰበው ሳይሆን መክኖ ቀረ፡፡
2013፡ የሙስና አገዛዝ፤ ፍርሃትና ሰም ማጥፋት
ወደ ፌብሪዋሪ 2013 ፈጠን ብለን እንሂድ:: በቅርቡ ተጣርቶ በወጣው ባለ 448 ገጾች የዓለም ባንክ ዘገባ እንደሚያሳየው ኢትዮጵያ በዓለም ላይ ካሉት ሀገራት ሁሉ ከአናት እስከ ታች ድረስ በባለስልጣናቱና በአጃቢ አገልጋዮቻቸው ንቅዘትና ሙስና የተዘፈቀች ሃገር ናት ይላል፡፡ በዘገባው መሰረት የኢትዮጵያ ቴሌኮሙኒኬሽን ድርጅት የንቅዘቱ መፈልፈያ ማህጸን ነው፡፡ ገዢው ኣስተዳደር በጣሙን የገዘፈ መዋእለ ንዋይ በማፍሰስ በቴሌ ላይ ኢንቬስት ቢያደርግም፤በአፍሪካ ሁለተኛው የቴሌፎን ስርጭት ዝቅተኛ የሆነበት ሃገር ከመሆን አላዳነውም፡፡ በጣም አናሳ አግልግሎት ሰጪ ድርጅት ከመሆንም አልፎ፤ከተጠያቂነት ነጻ የሆነ የዘረፋ ማእከል ነው፡፡በሃገርም ውስጥ ሆነ በውጭ ታዛቢዎች ድርጅቱ በሙስናና በንቅዘት የተገነባ ለምዝበራ የተጋለጠ መሆኑን ያረጋግጣሉ፡፡ በየትኛውም የአገልግሎት አሰጣጥ መመዘኛ ተጎታችና እርካታ ይሉት አገልግሎት የሌለው በየጊዜው በሚነደፈው የሙስና እቅድ ውስጥ ተውተፍትፎ አገልግሎቱ እርባና ቢስ ነው፡፡ የፍትህ ስርአቱም ቢሆን ሕብረተሰቡን በነጻ እንዳያገለግልና የፖለቲካ መሳሪያ እንዲሆን ተደርጎ በገዢው ኣስተዳደር ንጹሃንን በመወንጀል ፖለቲካዊ እንቅስቃሴን በመግታት አገዛዙ ከመንበሩ ሳይለቅ የሚቀጥልበትን ሁኔታ የሚተገብር የፍትህን ስርአት የጣሰ ነው፡፡ ይህም በህጋዊ ኢፍትሃዊነት ብቻ ጉዳት ከማድረሱም ባሻገር ለጉቦና ለንቅዘት ተጋልጦ ያለ አንድ የገዢው መንግስት የጦር መሳርያ ነው፡፡ ገዢው መንግስት በስልጣን መቆየቱን እንጂ ለሃገርና ለህዝብ እድገትና ልማት ጨርሶ ደንታ የሌለው በመሆኑ ከጉቦ ውጪ አንዳችም ጉዳይ በስርአት አይከናወንም:: የዚህም ሂደት ዋናው አስፈጻሚ ሞተር ገዢው ፓርቲና ጀሌዎቹ ናቸው፡፡
በፌብሪዋሪ 5/2013 ላይ በአዲስ አበባ ያለው ገዢው ኣስተዳደር ‹‹ጂሃዳዊ ሃራካት›› (የቅዱስ ጦርነት እንቅስቃሴ) በሚል ርዕስ አንድ ዘጋቢ (ዶኩሜንታሪ) ፊልም በእኩይ አስተሳሰብና ዲያብሎሳዊ ግንዛቤው የኢትዮጵያ ሰላማዊ ሙስሊሞች ያነሱትን ሃይማኖታችንን ለኛ ተዉልን፤ ሰብአዊ መብት ይከበር፤ በማለቱና በሰላማዊ መንገድ እንሰማ በማለታቸው፤ በየቦታው ካሉና የኢትዮጵያ ሙስሊም ሕብረተሰብ ከማያውቃቸው፤ ተግባራቸውን ከማይቀበለውና ግንኙነትም ከሌለው ጋር ገዢው ኣስተዳደር በተካነበት የቅጥፈት ዘመቻው ጥያቄ እንዳሰኘው በሚያዝበት ቴሌቪዥን ጣቢያው ላይ አሰራጭቶ ነበር፡፡
‹‹ጂሃዳዊ ሃረካት›› በሁለንተናዊ መልኩ የ‹‹አኬልዳማ›› ግልባጭ ነው፡፡ መሰረታዊ ልዩነቱ የሙስሊሙን ማሕበረሰብ ለይቶ ለማስፈራሪያነትና ለስም ማጥፊያ ተብሎ በአንድ የሃይሞነት ተከታዮች ተነጣጥሮ መተግበሩ ነው፡፡ በአጠቃላይ ዘጋቢው ፊልም ኢትዮጵያዊያን ሙስሊሞች ሰብአዊ መብት እንዲከበር፤ ኣስተዳደሩ በእምነታቸው ጣልቃ መግባቱን እንዲያቆም በመጠየቃቸው፤ ያላለሙትንና ጨርሶ ያላሰቡትን ሕዝቡ ናቸው ብሎ እንዲቀበል፤ እነዚህ ደም የጠማቸው የናይጄሪያው ቦኮ ሃራም፤የማሊው አንሳር ዲን፤ አልቃይዳ አልሻባብ ሃማስ ቅርንጫፍ ተከታዮች በማለት ያልሆኑትን ናቸው በማለት በተለመደው የፍርሃትና የመደናገጥ ዜማው ታርጋ በመለጠፍ ላይ ያተኮረ ነው፡፡ ዶኩሜንታሪው ተቆቋሪ በመምሰልና አዛኝ ቅቤ አንጓችነቱን በማጠናከር በሙስሊሙ መሃል የተሸሸጉ ጥቂት ሽብርተኞች በማለት ይኮንናል፡፡ ዘጋቢው ፊልም በየትም የአፍሪካ ያልታየ የቂመኝነትና የትእግስት ማጣት እኔ ካልኩት ውጪና ከምፈቅደው ባለፈ ንክች ያባ ቢላ ልጅ ይሉት ዓይነት ድንፋታ ብቻ ነው፡፡
ውሸት ሞልቷል፤ እርቃኑን የቆመ ውሸት አለ፤የጎደፈ ውሸት አለ፤የሆዳሞች ውሸት አለ፤የመልቲዎች ቅጥፈት አለ:: ‹‹ጂሃዳዊ ሃረካት›› ደሞ እነዚህ ሁሉ ውሸቶች የተጠናወቱት ነው፡፡ ይህን የሚያቀለሸልሽ ዶኩሜንታሪ ከተመለከትኩት በኋላ፤ በቅርቡ ያለፈው መለስ ዜናዊ የሜይ 2010ን ምርጫ 99.6 በሌብነት የተገኘ ድል አስመልከተው የአውሮፓ ዩኒየን የምርጫ ታዛቢዎች ስለተከናወነው የድምጽ ሌብነቱ ፊት ለፊት ሲጋፈጡት የሰጠው ምላሽ ታወሰኝ፡፡ መለስ እጅ ከፍንጅ በመያዙ የአውሮፓ ዩኒየነን የምርጫ ዘገባ በመኮነን ከአንድ መሪ በማይጠበቅ መልኩ ማፈሪያ የሆነውን ‹‹ዘገባው ቆሻሻ ስለሆነ ንብረቱ ወደሆነው ወደ ቆሻሻ መጣያ ሊወረወር ይገባዋል›› ነበር መልሱ፡፡ ‹‹ጂሃዳዊ ሃረካት›› ደካማ፤ አስቂኝ፤ማሰብ ከተሳነው ህሊና የወጣ፤ማስመሰያ፤ መርዘኛ፤ በጉራ ያበጠ፤ ድንፋታ ነው፡፡ ይህን መሰሉ የመለስ አባባልም የቅራ ቅንቦ ክምር ነውና ‹‹ጂሃዳዊ ሃረካት›› ወደ ቆሻሻ ቱቦ ተደፍቶ ከእጥብጣቢውና ከቆሻሻው ፍሳሽ ጋር ሊቀላቀል ይገባዋል፡፡
ፈጽሙ የተባሉትን ያለ ጥያቄና ስስብእናቸውን ለጥቃቅን ጥቅም በመሸጥ ታዛዥነታቸውን የሚያረጋግጡትን አሰባስቦ ተመረጡ ብሏል፡፡ ቀድሞ ለዘመናት ከመንግስት ተጽእኖና ቁጥጥር ነጻ የነበረው አስልምና ካዉንስል አሁን በገዚዎቹ የሚታዘዝና የገዚዎቹን ትእዛዝ በመቀበል የሚያስፈጸም የካድሬዎች መጠራቀሚያ ሰፈር ሆኗል፡፡ መያዙ፤በሽብርተኝነት ወንጅላ ካውንስሉን የመቆጣጠር ህልሙን ተግባራዊ ማድረጉ በኢትዮጵያ ውስጥ ገዚዎቹ ሃይማኖቶቹን መጠቀሚያ የማድረጉ ሂደት እየባሰ መሄዱን የሚያረጋግጥ ነው፡፡ በሰላማዊ እንቅስቃሴያቸው ጊዜ በርካታ ሙስሊሞች በመላ ሃገሪቱ ለእስራት እየተዳረጉ ነው፡፡ በኦክቶበር 29 ገዢው የኢትዮጵያ መንግስት 29 ሰላማዊ እንቅስቃሴ ላይ የነበሩ ሰዎችን በሽብርተኝነትና የሙስሊም መንግስት ለማቋቋም ተንቀሳቅሰዋል በሚል ለእስር ዳርጓል፡፡
ጂሃዲስቶች ተመልሰው እየመጡ ነው?!
‹‹ጂሃዳዊ ሃራካት›› የኢትዮጵያ መንግስት ጂሃዲስቶችን ከጓዳው እያወጣ የኢትዮጵያን ሕዝብ ሲያስፈረራ የመጀመሪያው አይደለም፡፡በ2006 ዓም የመለስ ዜናዊ ታንኮች መንገዳቸውን ወደ ሞቃሾ ከማምረታቸውና በሺህ የሚቆጠሩ ንጹሃን የሱማሌ ህዝቦችን ከመጨፍጨፋቸው በፊት፤ በሚሊዮን የሚቆጠሩት ከቤት ንብረታቸው ከመፈናቀላቸውና ከመልቀቃቸው አስቀድሞ መለስ ዜናዊ የሶማልያን ጂሃዲስቶች፤ ሽብርን ፈጥሮ፤ በሚገዛው ሃገር ውስጥ የሚፈጽመውን ሽብር፤ ጭቆና፤ ግፍ፤ መጠን ያጣ በደል፤ የሰብአዊ መብት ገፈፋ፤ የፍትህን መዛባት ከዓለም ገጽታ ለመሰወርና አዲስ ባወጣው የሶማሌ ጂሃዲስቶችና ……… በመተካት በተለይም የአሜሪካንን መንግስት ትኩረት ከኢትዮጵያ የግፍ አመጽ በማሸሽና ወደ ሶማሊያ ላይ በማስተኮር የአሜሪካንን መንግስት የዲፕሎማቲክ ድጋፍ ሙሉ ፈቃድ ተጎናጸፈ፡፡
‹‹ጂሃዳዊ ሃራካት›› ወይም እስልምናን ማስፈራሪያ ማድረግ ጥበብ
‹‹ጂሃዳዊ ሃረካት›› የሚያስጠላ የሙያ አልባዎች ቅጥ የሌለው ፕሮፐጋንዳ ሲሆን ማንም ቢሆን ከተመለከተው በኋላ የዘገምተኛ መሃይም አስተሳሰብ ከማለት ቀልድ ሌላ ትርጉም አያገኝለትም፡፡ ለአዘጋጂዎቹ ግን ቁም ነገር የሌለው ተብሎ ብቻ የማይተው ሳይሆን ጠቅላላውን የሙስሊም ማሕበረሰብ ዝቅ አድርጎ የመመልከትና እንደ መሪም ሃላፊነት የጎደለው ጋጠ ወጣዊ ተግባር ሊባል ብቻ ነው የሚቻለው፡፡ ለማስተላለፍ የተፈለገውም በጥላቻ የተሞላና በሰላም የኖሩትን የአንድ ሃገር ሰዎች በማከፋፈልና ጠብ እንዲጫርና ጣልቃ ገብቶ የተለመደ የመግደል የማቁሰል ሱሱን ለመወጣት ተብሎ ‹‹ጥሩ ክርስቲያኖች›› ላይ ‹‹መጥፎ ሙስሊሞች›› ሊፈጽሙ ያሰቡት ደባ›› በማለት፤ ሁለቱ እንዲጋጩ፤ አለመግባባት ጨርሶ ሳይኖራቸው አንዱ የሌላው ችግር ደራሽ፤ አሳቢ፤ በሃዘንም ሆነ በደስታ አብረው በመቆም ዘመናት ባሳለፉት ወንድማማቾች መሃል አለመግባባት በመፍጠር በድንገት የሙስሊም ሽብርተኞች መጡብህ በሚል ስር የሰደደና የተካኑትን የማናቆር ተግባር በመተግበር የእስልምና መንግስት ለማቋቋም እየተንቀሳቀሱብህ ነው በማለት ክርስቲያኑ እንዲነሳሳ በመጨረሻም ግጭቱ እንዲሰምርላቸው ነበር ቅዠታዊ ስልት ነበር፡፡ ቀደም ሲል‹‹አኬልዳማ›› ብለው የፈጠሩት የቆርጦ ቀጥል የማፍያ ተግባራቸው፤ ሙስሊሙን ክርስቲያኖች ሊያጠፉህ መጡብህ ለማለት ተብሎ ቢተላለፍም፤ አቅራቢውም ትንፋሽ እስኪያጥረው ቃላቱን እየረገጠና በዘጋቢው ፊልም ውስጥ የነበሩትን ንጹሃን ዜጎች፤ ከአለቆቹ በበለጠ ጥላቻው ከሮበት እስኪታይ ድረስ ቢንደፋደፍም ውጤቱና ሕዝባዊ መልሱ ግን ከ ‹‹ዶሮን ሲያታልሏት………›› አላለፈም፡፡ እንዲጠሉ የታቀደላቸው ጭርሱን የፍቅር አድባራት ሆኑ፡፡ በእዝ ማስጠላትና ማራቅ ባለመቻሉ ግለሰቦችን ከእገሌ ጋር ቢቀርብህ ይሻላል በሚል ከንቱ ተራ ማስፈራርያ መጠቀሙም ቢሆን ብዙም አልሰመረም፡፡
ገዢው መንግስት በዚህ ዱክትርናው በርከት ያሉ የፕሮፓጋንዳ ግቦችን ለመፈጸም ሞክሯል 1) የማን አለብኙ መንግስት ሰብአዊ መብታቸው እንዲከበር፤በሃይሞኖቶች መሃል ጣልቃ ገብነቱን እንዲያቆምና የማይመጥናቸውን የራሱን ፍላጎት ለሟሟላት ሲል ብቻ ሽብርተኞች፤አክራሪ ጂሃዲስቶች፤ የመግደል አባዜ የተጠናወታቸው በማለት የራሱን መታወቂያ በሙስሊማኑ ላይ ለመለጠፍ መሞከር: 2)የክርሰትና እምነት ተከታዮችን በማነሳሳትና ነገር በመቆስቆስ ጥላቻና በመዝራት በሙስሊም ወንድሞቹ ላይ ጥርጣሬና እምነት እንዲያጣ ለማድረግ መሞከር፤ 3)ሙስሊሞችን ለይቶ በማወቅና ስማቸውን በእኩይነት በማቅለም ፍርሃት እንዲያድርባቸው ማድረግ፤ ከሌሎች ሃይማኖቶች ጋር ማጋጨት፤ ሁሉንም የሕብረተሰብ አባል እንደሚጠሉና ለራሳቸው የሚሆን ዓለም ለመፍጠር የሚጥሩ በማስመሰል ሌላውን የሕብረተሰብ አካል በጥላቻ እንዲነሳሳባቸው ማድረግ፤እንዲሁም ለመወንጀል ለመያዝ በግፍ ለማሰርና ለማሰቃየት በመጨረሻም የሚመኘውን የሰውን ልጅ ክብር በማዋረድ ለመከራ መዳረግ፡፡ 4)መላው ሕብረተሰብ ላይ ያጠላበትን የመከራ የርሃብ የችግር የድህነት የኤኮኖሚና የፖለቲካ እጦቱን፤ሙስሊሙን ጂሃዲስቶች ናቸው በሚል ከንቱ የጉሮ ወሸባዬ ያልተቃኘ ዜማው በማደናቆር ሃሳብንና ቁጭትን ለማስለወጥ የተዘረጋ የኢህአዴግ ዲያብሎሳዊ አካሄድ ነው፡፡ 5) ጨርሶ ሙስሊሙ ሕብረተሰብ አስቦትና አንስቶት የማያውቀውን አስተሳሰብ የሙስሊም መንግስት ለማቋቋም፤ ቦምብና ሌሎች መሳርያዎች ለማንሳት እንዳቀዱ በማስመሰል ፕሮፓጋንዳውን እንደ የእድር የቀብር ጥሪ ቢያናፋም ቀብሩ የማን እንደሆነ ሕብረተሰቡ ጠንቅቆ ስለሚያውቅ አልተቀበለው፡፡ እርግጥ ገዢው መንግስት የሕዝብን ቁጣና የበቃህ ስሜት በሚገባ ስለተረዳው በማድረግ ላይ ያለው አስተሳሰብንና አመለካከትን በማስቀየር ጊዜ መግዛትን ነው፡፡ የዓለም ባንክ ጥርት ያለው የ448 ገጽ ዘገባ፡፡
ይህንን የበሬ ክምር እበት በመመልከት ጊዜያቸውን ማጥፋት ለማይፈልጉ (ማየት ካለባቸህ ደግሞ አፍንጫችሁን ጠቅጥቁት) እንደዘጋቢ ፊልም ለማለፍ ቅንጫቢው እነሆ፡፡ የዶኪመንተሪ ቅልመዳ ትርኢት ሲከፈት መክፈቻውንና ማስረጃውን በጸሁፍ በማስቀደም ይጀምራል ‹‹ጥቂት ግለሰቦች የእስልምና ሃይማኖትን ከለላ በማድረግ፤የሥብር ተግባራቸውን ለመፈጸም ሲሉ ባደረጉት እንቅስቃሴ ላይ የቀረበ ማስረጃ፡፡ ከብሔራዊ ደህንነት አግልግሎት፤ ከፌዴራል ፖሊስ፤እና ከኢትዮጵያ ሬዲዮና ቴሌቪዥን ጋር በመተባበር የተቀነባበረ፡፡ ፊልሙ ማስረጃዎችን በመቅረብ እያንዳንዱ ተጠርጣሪ የእስልምና ሃይማኖትን መጋረጃ በማድረግ የአልቃይዳንና የአልሸባብን እቅድ በኢትዮጵያ ለመተግበር ያደረገውን እንቅስቃሴ ያስረዳል›› ይላል፡፡
ለ13 ሴኮንዶች ቀስ እያለ በጽሁፉ ምስል ይተካና ያለአንዳች ቅድሚያ ማስጠንቀቂያ የአንድ ‹‹ሽብርተኛ›› ተብሎ የተፈረጀ ዜጋ ገጽታ በጥቁር ግድግዳ ፊት ለፊት ቀስ እያለ ተመለካቹን በሚያስደነግጥና በሚያስፈራራ መልኩ ለ8 ሴኮንዶች ብቅ ይልና እያዘገመ ወደ ቀኝ ይሄዳል፡፡ይህ በፎቶሾፕ ምስሉ የተቀነባበረውና ቆርጦ የተቀጠለው ሰው አውሬ፤በረኸኛን እንዲመስል ቃሉን በለሰለሰና በረጋ መንፈስ ሙስሊም በሆኑና ባልሆኑ መሃል ‹‹ጂሃዲ›› ያለ ልዩነትና በሕብረተሰቡ ውስጥ የሌለ አመለካከት ለማስያዝ ሆን ተብሎ የተቀነባበረ ድራማ ነው፡፡ ይህን ዘጋቢ ያሉትን ማስረጃ ያዘጋጁት እርባና የለሾች እራሳቸውና የናጣቸውን የፍርሃት ድባብ በማቅረብ ለምን ሕብረተሰቡን የማይፈራውን ፍርሃት እንዲፈራ ያደርጉታል፡፡
‹‹ማስረጃ›› ተብሎ የሚደመጠው የያዘው ‹‹ኑዛዜ›› (በአብዛኛውከሁለት አለያም ከ3 አረፍ ተነገር ያልዘለለ፤ወንጀለኞች እንዲመስሉ ሆን ተብሎ የተቀነባበረባቸው ሆኖ ተከሳሦቹ የጥፋተኝነት እምነታቸውን ያረጋገጡበት ቢባልም በመርማሪው በኩል ምን እንዳለም ሆነ እንደጠየቀ አንዳችም ቃል አይሰማም) በአሜሪካን መንግስት የዓለም አቀፍ ሃይማኖቶች ነጻነት ኮሚሽን የተጠቀሱት 29 ተከሳሾች ዘገባ ግን ከተባለው አንዱንም አላካተተም፡፡ (እነዚህ ቃላቸውን ሰጡ የተባሉት ሰዎች ጉዳያቸው በፍርድ ቤት እየታየ ያለ ሲሆን ፍርድ ቤቱ ይኼው ፊልም ለሕዝብ እንዳይቀርብ ትእዛዝ ቢሰጥም ሰሚአጥቶ አባቱ ዳኛ ልጁ ቀማኛ አይነት እየተላለፈ ነው፡፡ ከዚህ የበለጠ አሳፋሪ መንግስታዊ የፍትህ ጥሰት የት ይታያል? ከቃል አሰጣጡ የሙስሊም የሆኑና ሙስሊም ያልሆኑ ጂሃዲስቶች የኢ ቲ ቪ ትርኢት ተከትሎ፤የቪዲዮ ቁራጭ ትእይንት ይከተላል፤ ወጣቶች (ሙስሊም አሸባሪዎች እንዲመስሉ ከሌላ ቪዲዮ ላይ የተቀነጨበ) ከአንድ ነገር ለማምለጥ ሲሸሽ ይታያል፡፡ ከኢንተርኔት የተለቃቀሙ ሌሎች ምስሎችም ተቆርጠው በመቀጠል፤በጭንቅላታቸው ላይ ስካርፍ ያሰሩና መሰወሪያ ፊታቸው ላይ ያከናነቡ በዓለም ላይ በተለያየ ወቅት ሽብርተኞች የተነሱትን ቪዲዮ መጠቀሚያ በማድረግ ቦታውና ጊዜው የማይታወቅ ፊልም ቀርቧል፡፡
የጽሁፍ መግለጫው ተከትሎ ይመጣና በድምጽም ‹‹ቦኮ ሃራም በኢትዮጵያ›› በሚለው ይታጀባል፡፡ ወጣት ኢትዮጵያዊያን በሰላማዊ መንገድ ለመብታቸው ተሰልፈው ይታያሉ፡፡ አንድ ወጣት ሙስሊምም በአንድ ቦታ ቆሞ ለተሰበሰቡት ‹‹ሙስሊሞች አሸባሪ፤ ወንጀለኞች፤ እና የሙስሊም መንግስት ለማቋቋም ይፈልጋሉ ተብለን ተወንጅለናል›› ይላል:: በርካታ ሰዎች ጥምጣም ያደረጉና መሳርያ ያነገቡ ሰዎች መልክና ሁለንተናቸው ጨርሶ ኢትዮጵያዊያን የማይመስሉ፤ አንድ ጢሙን ያጎፈረ ሰው ሲናገር ሌሎች ጉድጓድ ሲቆፍሩና መሳርያ ከተቀበረበት ሲያወጡ፤ ዓላማችን የሙስሊም መንግስት ለማቋቋም ነው በማለት ሲነጋገሩ ይደመጣል፡፡ ከዚሁ ጋር በመንግስት ‹‹ሽብርተኞች የሚል የማደናገሪያ ስም የተለጠፈባቸው የ29ኙ ተከሳሾች ምስል በቴሌቪዥኑ መስኮት ላይ ይመላለሳል፡፡ ይህም የሚነገረው ጉዳይ አባሎች ናቸው ብለን እኛ ተመልካቾች እንድናምን ሆን ተብሎ የተደረገ ቢሆንም ተመልካቹ ግን ከማመን ይልቅ በስህተት ልጆች ለጨዋታ ያቀነባበሩትን ፊልም መሰል ዝብርቅርቅ መጨረሻና መጀመርያ የሌለው በማለት በሚገዘው መንግስት ተራ ወንበዴነት አዝኖ ታዝቧል፡፡ በቃላትና ግድ የምታምኑትን እመኑ በሚል የማስገደጃ አካሄድ ቀረበ እንጂ ማስረጃ ተብሎ በምንም መልኩ ተቀባይነት አያገኝም፡፡ የግፍ ተከሳሾቹ ምስል ከየቦታው ተለቃቅሞ ሽብርተኞች፤ የሽብርተኞች ጥፋት በሚለው ቃል ብቻ በመታጀቡ ንጹሃኑ ያልሆኑትን ያደርጋቸዋል ብሎ የሚያምን ገዢ ዲክታተራዊ የቃዠ መንግስት ብቻ ነው፡፡
የሕግ የበላይነት ወይስ የመሃይሞችና የሕግ የበላይነት
የገዢው ፓርቲ ሰዎች በተደጋጋሚና አፋቸው በተከፈተ ቁጥር ምን ያህል ሕገመንግስቱን እንደሚያከብሩትና ለሕግጋቱም የቱን ያህል ታማኞችና ተገዢዎች እንደሆኑ ይቦተልካሉ፡፡ ባለፈው ሴፕቴምበር የፕሮፐጋንዳው ሂትለራዊው ሚኒስቴር በረክት ስምኦን ስለ መለስ መታመምና መሞት በየቀኑ ታላቁን የወቅቱን ውሸት ሲዋሽ ሲዋሽ ደሞ ሲቀላምድ ደሞ ሲቀላምድ፤ ችግር የሌላ መሆኑንና በሕገመንግስቱ መሰረት መተካካቱ እንዳለ ነው የሚለውን ያልተቃኘ ቱልቱላውን ሲነዛ ከረመ፡፡ እንደ መገናኛ ሚኒስትርነቱ ስምኦን የ‹‹ጂሃዳዊ ሃረካት››ን መተላለፍ ያዘዘው እሱ ነው፡፡ ማንንም ሰው የሚያስገርመው ግን እነዚህ ለሕገ መንግስቱ መከበርና ልዕልና ቆመናል በማለት በየጊዜው ከበሮ የሚደልቁት ማን አለብን ባይ ዲክታተሮች እነዚህን የፈጠራ ክሳቸው በፍርድ ቤት በመታየት ላይ ያሉትን ንጹሃን ዜጎች ከችሎቱ አስቀድሞ እንዲህ አይነቱን ፓርቲያዊ የስልጣን ማክረሚያ ፍርዳቸውን ማስተላለፋቸው መብት መጣሳቸው መሆኑን አንገታቸው ላይ የተሰካው ቅል አያስታውሳቸው ይሆን? ድርጊታቸው የሼክስፒርን አባባል አስታወሰኝ፡፡ ‹‹ዲያቢሎስም ለራሱ መጠቀሚያ መጽሃፍ ቅዱስን ይጠቅሳል›› ያለውን፡፡ እነዚህ ሰዎች ያላዋቂ ሳሚ ናቸው ወይስ የሰይጣን ቁራጮች? ላለፉት በርካታ ዓመታት በተደጋጋሚ እንዳልኩት በኢትዮጵያ ላለው አረመኔ መንግስት ስለ ሕግ የበላይነት ማውራት ለዲያቢሎስ መጽሃፍ ቅዱስን እንደማንሳት ነው፡፡ አይግባቡምና፡፡ ሕገመንግስቱ እግር አውጥቶ እየዳመጣቸው እንዲገባቸው ሊያደርግ ቢሞክር እንኳን ጨርሶ ድንጋያማ ሕሊናቸው ተፈረካክሶ ያልቃል እንጂ አይገባቸውም፡፡
በ‹‹ሽብርተኘነት የተጠረጠሩት›› ሙስሊሞች ጉዳይ እና ‹‹ጂሃዳዊ ሃረካት›› ላይ ቃላቸውን ሰጡ የተባሉት ጉዳይ ሊተኮርበት የሚገባው 3 ነጥብ አለ፡፡ 1) እነዚህ ተከሳሾ ቅድም ችሎት ታሳሪዎች ስለሆኑ በሕገመንግስቱ ላይ በተደነገገውና በሌሎችም ሃገሪቱ ከገባችባቸው ፍትሃዊ ዓለም አቀፍ ድንጋጌዎች አኳያ መብታቸው ሊከበርላቸው ግድ ነው፡፡ 2) እነዚህ ተጠርጣሪዎች ቃላቸውን በፈቃደኝነትና በነጻ አለመስጠታቸውን የሚያረጋግጠው በካቴና ቀርቦ የነበረው ተጠርጣሪ ሲሆን ሌሎችም ቢሆኑ አያያዛቸውና ያሉበት ሁኔታ ሕጋዊ ስርአትን የተከተለ አለመሆኑ ይታወቃል፡፡ 3) ሁሉም 29 ታሳሪዎች የፖለቲካ እስረኞች ናቸው፡፡ ሕገመንህስቱን ለማክበር በሱም ለመመራት ጨርሶ ፈቃድ የሌላቸው መሪዎች፤የጣሳሪዎቹን ሰብአዊ መብት ያከብራሉ ማለት የማይሞከር ነው፡፡የሃገሪቱ መሪዎች ባላቸውና በሚያሳዩት ተግባራቸው ምን ያህል ከእውቀትና ከሰለጠነው ፖለተካ ጋር እንደማይተዋወቁ ነው በማሳየት ላይ ያሉት፡፡ እነዚህ ገዢዎች ከመሰረቱ ጀምሮ ከተንኮልና ከግፍ በደል በስተቀር አንዳችም ተግባር አለመፈጸማቸውንና ማንኛቸውንም ጉዳይ ይተገብር የነበረው የሞተው አለቃቸው እንደሆነ ሳያፍሩ በመናገር የራሳቸውን ብቃት የለሽ መሆን አውጀዋል፡፡ ማንም ተከሳሽ በፍርድ ሂደት ወንጀለኛ እስካለተባለና እስካልተፈረደበት ጊዜ ድረስ ነጻና ንጹህ ነው፡፡ በምንም መልኩ በግዳጅ የተገኘ ቃል ለማስረጃነት ሊቀርብ አይችልም፤ ድርጊቱም ዓለማቀፋዊ ድንጋጌዎችን ያልተከተለ ነው፡፡ ሰብአዊ መብትን ይገረስሳል፤ የፍትህን የበላይነት ይቃረናል:: 4) በጣም የሚያሳዝነው ቀልድ ደግሞ ፍርድ ቤቱ በኢቲቪ እና በሬዲዮ ድርጅቶች ላይ ያን የተቀነባበረና ቆርጦ የተቀጠለ የማፍያ አካሄድ ጨርሶ እንዳይተላለፍ ያስተላለፈውን ትዕዛዝ፤ እነማን አለብን ‹‹እኛው የፈጠርነው ዳኛም ሆነ ችሎት ሊከለክለን አይችልም›› በማለት ትእዛዙን ጥሰው ሲያስተላልፉት፤ በፍርድ ቤቱ ትእዛዝ መሰረት ባለመፈጸሙና አግባብም ስላልሆነ የቀረቡትን ማስረጃ የተባሉትን ሁሉ አመኔታ ስለማንሰጣቸው ተቀባይነት አይኖራቸውም›› በማለት እንኳን ዋጋ ቢስ በማድረግ ፈንታ ችሎቱና በችሎቱ ወንበሮች ላይ የተጎለቱት እራሳቸው እርባና ቢስ ሆነዋል፡፡
ተስፋ የቆረጠ አምባገነንነት እና የዕጣቢ መውረጃ ቱቦ ፖለቲካ በዚህ ዶኩመንታሪ በኢትዮጵያ ያሉት ጨቋኝና ርህራሄ ቢስ ገዢዎች ከምንም በታች አዘቅዝቀው ወርደው ውረደታሞች መሆናቸውን ገሃድ ከማውጣታቸውም አልፎ የዝቃጭ መፈሰሻ ቱቦ ፖለቲከኛነታቸውንም ይፋ አድርገዋል፡፡ አንድ ብቸኛ ሆኖ ሊታይና ሊረጋገጥ የሚችለው በኢትዮጵያ ውስጥ ያለው ሽብርተኛ እነሱ ገዢዎቹ ብቻ መሆናቸው ነው፡፡በ‹‹አኬልዳማ ገዢው መንግስት ሆነ››ባለው መሰረት በአሸባሪዎች 131 ጥቃት ተፈጽሟል፤339 ዜጎች ተገድለዋል፤363 ቆስለዋል፤25 ደግሚ ተጠልፈው ለሞት ተዳርገዋል:፡ ይሁንና በራሱ በመለስ ዜናዊ ይሁንታ የተቋቋመው አጣሪ ኮሚሽን እንዳጣራው ምርጫ 2005ን ተከትሎ በጥቂት ቀናት ውስጥ በመለስ ዜናዊ አመራርና ትዕዛዝ መሰረት፤ 193 ሰላማዊ ዜጎች አንዳችም መሳርያ ያልነበራቸው 193 ሲገደሉ፤763ቱ ደግሞ ለከፍተኛ ቁስለት ተዳርገዋል፡፡ ኮሚሽኑ ባረጋገጠው መሰረት የስለላ ሰራተኞችና የመንግስት ጦር አባላት አተኳኮሳቸው ሰልፉን ለመበተን ሳይሆን ለመግደል በመሆኑ ሁሉም አናታቸውንና ደረታቸውን እየተመቱ ነው የሞቱት፡፡ በሴፕቴምበር 2011 ዓለም በሙሉ የኢትዮጵያ የደህንነት ሰዎች፤ በሴፕቴምበር 16 2006 በአዲስ አበባ ከተማ 3 ቦምቦች አጥምደው ካፈነዱ በኋላ ፍንዳታውን የፈጸሙት ኤርትራዊያንና የኦሮሞ ነጻ አውጪ ድርጅት አባላት ናቸው በማለት ሰበብ አድረጓቸዋል:: በዚህም ፍንዳታው የአፍሪካ ሕብረት መሪዎች ለስብሰባ በመጡበት ወቅት መከናወኑ የጉዳዩን ተአማኒነት አጣጥሎታል፡፡ አዲስ አበባ የሚገኘው የአሜሪካን ኤምባሲ ጉዳዩን በራሱ ባለሙያዎች ካስመረመረውና ካጣራ በኋላ ጣቱ የጠቆመው ወደ ኢትዮጵያ መንግስት ሆኗል፡፡ ገዢዎቹ ስልጣን ወንበር ላይ ከተፈናጠጡ ጀምሮ የተካሄዱት ግድያዎች ቢቆጠሩ ከብዙ ሺሆች በላይ እንደሚሆኑ ጥርጥር የለውም፡፡ መንግስት ነኝ ባዩ በራሱ አፈንድቶ፤ አጥምዶ፤ ደብቆ፤ አግኝቶ ያፈነዳውን አድራጊዎቹ ሌሎች ናቸው ብሎ አመልካች ጣቱን ወደ ሌሎች ሰዎች ሲዘረጋ ሌሎቹ ሶስቱ ያቶች ወደ ራሱ ማመልታቸውን መገንዘብ አልቻለም፡፡
ጂሃዳዊ ሃረካት የኢትዮጵያን ሙስሊሞች ስም ለማጥፋት፤ለመኮነን፤ለማዋረድ፤ለመከፋፈል፤ ሆን ተብሎ የተፈበረከ ነው፡፡ ለዘመናት ጸንቶ በፍቅርና በመተሳሰብ የኖረውን የሁለቱን ሃይሞኖቶች ሂደት ለመበጥበጥ የተቀመመ መርዝ ነው፡፡ እዚህ ግባ የማይባል ፕሮፓጋንዳ ነው፡፡ በዚህም ሊፈጠር የተሞከረው በሙስሊሙና በእስልምና ሃይሞኖት ተከታዮች መሀላ መለያያት ለማስረጽ ነው፡፡ ከዚህም ሙስሊሙን ዳግም ወደ ፖለቲካና መብት ጥየቃ እንዳይነሳ፤ በፍርሃት ለማሰር፤ለመወንጀልና ለማሰር መንገድ ለመክፈት ከኤኮኖሚ፤ ህብረተሰባዊ ግንኙነት፤ፖለቲካዊ እንቅስቃሴ ለመለየት የታቀደ ማስደንበሪያ ነው፡፡‹‹ጂሃዳዊ ሃረካት እስልምናን የመፍራትና ደንብሮ የማስደንበር፤ ፈርቶ የመስፈራራት፤ ያለቀንና የበቃውን የገዢነት ስልጣን የማቆያ ዘይቤ ነው፡፡ አይሆንም አልሆነም ይልቅስ ሁሉንም ያስተባበረ የገዢዎች ግፍ ሆኗል!
በኢትዮጵያ ያሉ የፖለቲካ እስረኞች ሁሉ ያለምንም ቅድመ ሁኔታ ይፈቱ!
*የተቶረገመው ጽሁፍ (translated from):
http://open.salon.com/blog/almariam/2013/02/15/ethiopia_the_politics_of_fear_and_smear
(ይህን ጦማር ለሌሎችም ያካፍሉ::) ካሁን በፊት የቀረቡ የጸሃፊው ጦማሮችን ለማግኘት እዚህ ይጫኑ::
http://www.ecadforum.com/Amharic/archives/category/al-mariam-amharic
http://ethioforum.org/?cat=24
The sights and sounds of an African police state
When Erin Burnett of CNN visited Ethiopia in July 2012, she came face-to-face with the ugly face of an African police state:
We saw what an African police state looked like when I was in Ethiopia last month… At the airport, it took an hour to clear customs – not because of lines, but because of checks and questioning. Officials tried multiple times to take us to government cars so they’d know where we went. They only relented after forcing us to leave hundreds of thousands of dollars of TV gear in the airport…
Last week, reporter Solomon Kifle of the Voice of America (VOA-Amharic) heard the terrifying voice of an African police state from thousands of miles away. The veteran reporter was investigating widespread allegations of targeted night time warrantless searches of homes belonging to Ethiopian Muslims in the capital Addis Ababa. Solomon interviewed victims who effectively alleged home invasion robberies by “federal police” who illegally searched their homes and took away cash, gold jewelry, cell phones, laptops, religious books and other items of personal property.
One of the police officials Solomon interviewed to get reaction and clarification was police chief Zemedkun of Bole (an area close to the international airport in the capital).
VOA: Are you in the area of Bole. The reason I called…
Police Chief Zemedkun: Yes. You are correct.
VOA: There are allegation that homes belonging to Muslim Ethiopians have been targeted for illegal search and seizure. I am calling to get clarification.
Police Chief Zemedkun: Yes (continue).
VOA: Is it true that you are conducting such a search?
Police Chief Zemedkun: No, sir. I don’t know about this. Who told you that?
VOA: Individuals who say they are victims of such searches; Muslims who live in the area.
Police Chief Zemedkun: If they said that, you should ask them.
VOA: I can tell you what they said.
Police Chief Zemedkun: What did they say?
VOA: They said “the search is conducted by police officers; they [the police] threaten us without a court order; they take our property, particularly they focus on taking our Holy Qurans and mobile phones. Such are the allegations and I am calling to get clarification.
Police Chief Zemedkun: Wouldn’t it be better to talk to the people who told you that? I don’t know anything about that.
VOA: I just told you about the allegations the people are making.
Police Chief Zemedkun: Enough! There is nothing I know about this.
VOA: I will mention (to our listeners) what you said Chief Zemedkun. Are you the police chief of the sub-district ( of Bole)?
Police Chief Zemedkun: Yes. I am something like that.
VOA: Chief Zemedkun, may I have your last name?
Police Chief Zemedkun: Excuse me!! I don’t want to talk to anyone on this type of [issue] phone call. I am going to hang up. If you call again, I will come and get you from your address. I want you to know that!! From now on, you should not call this number again. If you do, I will come to wherever you are and arrest you. I mean right now!!
VOA: But I am in Washington (D.C)?
Police Chief Zemedkun: I don’t care if you live in Washington or in Heaven. I don’t give a damn! But I will arrest you and take you. You should know that!!
VOA: Are you going to come and arrest me?
End of interview.
Meles’ legacy: mini Me-leses, Meles wannabes and a police state
Flying off the handle, exploding in anger and igniting into spontaneous self-combustion is the hallmark of the leaders of the dictatorial regime in Ethiopia. The late Meles Zenawi was the icon of spontaneous self- combustion. Anytime Meles was challenged on facts or policy, he would explode in anger and have a complete meltdown.
Just before Meles jailed virtually the entire opposition leadership, civil society leaders and human rights advocates following the 2005 elections for nearly two years, he did exactly what police chief Zemedkun threatened to do to VOA reporter Solomon. Congressman Christopher Smith, Chairman of the House Africa Subcommitte in 2005 could not believe his ears as Meles’ arrogantly threatened to arrest and jail opposition leaders and let them rot in jail. Smith reported:
Finally, when I asked the Prime Minister to work with the opposition and show respect and tolerance for those with differing views on the challenges facing Ethiopia he said, ‘I have a file on all of them; they are all guilty of treason.’ I was struck by his all-knowing tone. Guilty! They’re all guilty simply because Meles says so? No trial? Not even a Kangaroo court? I urged Prime Minister Meles not to take that route.
In 2010, Meles erupted at a press conference by comparing the Voice of America (Amharic) radio broadcasts to Ethiopia with broadcasts of Radio Mille Collines which directed some of the genocide in Rwanda in 1994. Pointing an accusatory finger at the VOA, Meles charged: “We have been convinced for many years that in many respects, the VOA Amharic Service has copied the worst practices of radio stations such as Radio Mille Collines of Rwanda in its wanton disregard of minimum ethics of journalism and engaging in destabilizing propaganda.” (It seems one of Meles’ surviving police chiefs is ready to make good on Meles’ threat by travelling to Washington, D.C. and arresting a VOA reporter.)
Meles routinely called his opponents “dirty”, “mud dwellers”, “pompous egotists” and good-for-nothing “chaff” and “husk.” He took sadistic pleasure in humiliating and demeaning parliamentarians who challenged him with probing questions or merely disagreed with him. His put-downs were so humiliating, few parliamentarians dared to stand up to his bullying.
When the European Union Election Observer Group confronted Meles with the truth about his theft of the May 2010 election by 99.6 percent, Meles had another public meltdown. He condemned the EU Group for preparing a “trash report that deserves to be thrown in the garbage.”
When Ken Ohashi, the former country director for the World Bank debunked Meles’ voodoo economics in July 2011, Meles went ballistic: “The individual [Ohashi) is used to giving directions along his neo-liberal views. The individual was on his way to retirement. He has no accountability in distorting the institutions positions and in settling his accounts. The Ethiopian government has its own view that is different from the individual.” (Meles talking about accountability is like the devil quoting Scripture.)
In a meeting with high level U.S. officials in advance of the May 2010 election, Meles went apoplectic telling the diplomats that “If opposition groups resort to violence in an attempt to discredit the election, we will crush them with our full force; they will all vegetate like Birtukan (Midekssa) in jail forever.”
Meles’ hatred for Birtukan Midekssa (a former judge and the first woman political party leader in Ethiopian history), a woman of extraordinary intelligence and unrivalled courage, was as incomprehensible as it was bottomless. After throwing Birtukan in prison in 2008 without trial or any form of judicial proceeding, Meles added insult to injury by publicly calling her a “chicken”. When asked how Birtukan was doing in prison, Meles, with sarcastic derision replied, “Birtukan Midiksa is fine but she may have gained weight due to lack of exercise.” (When Meles made the statement, Birtukan was actually in solitary confinement in Kality prison on the ridiculous charge that she “had denied receiving a pardon” when she was released in July 2007.) When asked if he might consider releasing her, Meles said emphatically and sadistically, “there will never be an agreement with anybody to release Birtukan. Ever. Full stop. That’s a dead issue.”
Internationally acclaimed journalists Eskinder Nega, Reeyot Alemu, Woubshet Taye are all victims of arbitrary arrests and detentions. So are opposition party leaders and dissidents Andualem Arage, Nathnael Mekonnen, Mitiku Damte, Yeshiwas Yehunalem, Kinfemichael Debebe, Andualem Ayalew, Nathnael Mekonnen, Yohannes Terefe, Zerihun Gebre-Egziabher and many others.
Police chief Zemedkun is a mini-Me-les, a Meles wannabe. He is a mini tin pot tyrant. Like Meles, Zemedkun not only lost his cool but also all commonsense, rationality and proportionality. Like Meles, Zemedkun is filled with hubris (extreme arrogance which causes the person to lose contact with reality and feel invincible, unaccountable and above and beyond the law). Zemedkun, like Meles, is so full of himself that no one dare ask him a question: “I am the omnipotent police chief Zemedkun, the Absolute Master of Bole; the demigod with the power of arrest and detention. I am Police Chief Zemedkun created in the divine likeness of Meles Zenawi!”
What a crock of …!
When Meles massacred 193 unarmed protesters and wounded 763 others following the elections in 2005, he set the standard for official accountability, which happens to be lower than a snake’s knee. For over two decades, Meles created and nurtured a pervasive and ubiquitous culture of official impunity, criminality, untouchability, unaccountablity, brutality, incivility, illegality and immorality in Ethiopia.
The frightening fact of the matter is that today there are tens of thousands of mini-Me-leses and Meles wannabes in Ethiopia. What police chief Zemedkun did during the VOA interview is a simple case of monkey see, monkey do. Zemedkun could confidently threaten VOA reporter Solomon because he has seen Meles and his disciples do the same thing for over two decades with impunity. Zemedkun is not alone in trashing the human rights of Ethiopian citizens. He is not some rogue or witless policeman doing his thing on the fringe. Zemedkun is merely one clone of his Master. There are more wicked and depraved versions of Zemedkun masquerading as ministers of state. There are thousands of faceless and nameless “Zemedkunesque” bureaucrats, generals, judges and prosecutors abusing their powers with impunity. There are even soulless and heartless Zemedkuns pretending to be “holy men” of faith. But they are all petty tyrants who believe that they are not only above the law, but also that they are the personification of the law.
Article 12 and constitutional accountability
Article 12 of the Ethiopian Constitution requires accountability of all public officials: “The activities of government shall be undertaken in a manner which is open and transparent to the public… Any public official or elected representative shall be made accountable for breach of his official duties.”
Meles when he was alive, and his surviving disciples, police chiefs, generals and bureaucrats today are in a state of willful denial of the fact of constitutional accountability. (Meles believed accountability applied only to Ken Ohashi, the former World Bank country director.) The doltish police chief Zemedkun is clueless not only about constitutional standards of accountability for police search and seizure in private homes but also his affirmative constitutional obligation to perform his duties with transparency. This ignoramus-cum-police chief believes he is the Constitution, the law of the land, at least of Bole’s. He has the gall to verbally terrorize the VOA reporter, “I don’t care if you live in Washington or in Heaven. I don’t give a damn! But I will arrest you and take you. You should know that!!”
Freedom from arbitrary arrest and detention, unbeknown to police chief Zemedkun, is guaranteed by Article 17 (Liberty) of the Ethiopian Constitution: “No one shall be deprived of his liberty except in accordance with such procedures as are laid down by law. No one shall be arrested or detained without being charged or convicted of a crime except in accordance with such procedures as are laid down by law.” Article 19 (Rights of Persons under Arrest) provides, “Anyone arrested on criminal charges shall have the right to be informed promptly and in detail… the nature and cause of the charge against him… Everyone shall have the right to be… specifically informed that there is sufficient cause for his arrest as soon as he appears in court. Zemedkun is ready to arrest the VOA reporter simply because the reporter asked him for his last name. What arrogance! What chutzpah!
It is a mystery to police chief Zemedkun that arbitrary deprivation of liberty is also a crime against humanity. Article 9 of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights decrees that “no one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile.” Article 9 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights similarly provides: “no one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile.” The deprivation of physical liberty (arbitrary arrest) constitutes a crime against humanity under Art. 7 (e) and (g) of the Rome Statute if there is evidence to show that the deprivation occurred as a result of systematic attack on a civilian population and in violation of international fair trial guarantees. The statements of the victims interviewed by VOA reporter Solomon appear to provide prima facie evidence sufficient to trigger an Article 7 investigation since there appears to be an official policy of systematic targeting of Muslims for arbitrary arrest and detention as part of a widespread campaign of religious persecution. The new prosecutor for the International Criminal Court, Fatou B. Bensouda, should launch such an investigation in proprio motu (on her own motion).
Meles has left an Orwellian legacy in Ethiopia. Police chief Zemedkun is only one policeman in a vast police state. He reaffirms the daily fact of life for the vast majority of Ethiopians that anyone who opposes, criticizes or disagrees with members of the post-Meles officialdom, however low or petty, will be picked up and jailed, and even tortured and killed. In “Mel-welliana” (the Orwellian police state legacy of Meles) Ethiopia, asking the name of a public official is a crime subject to immediate arrest and detention! In “Mel-welliana”, thinking is a crime. Dissent is a crime. Speaking the truth is a crime. Having a conscience is a crime. Peaceful protest is a crime. Refusing to sell out one’s soul is a crime. Standing up for democracy and human rights is a crime. Defending the rule of law is a crime. Peaceful resistance of state terrorism is a crime.
A police chief, a police thug and a police thug state
It seems police chief Zemedkun is more of a police thug than a police chief. But listening to Zemedkun go into full meltdown mode, one cannot help but imagine him to be a cartoonish thug. As comical as it may sound, police chief Zemedkun reminded me of Yosemite Sam, that Looney Tunes cartoon character known for his grouchiness, hair-trigger temper and readiness to “blast anyone to smithereens”. The not-so-comical part of this farce is that police chief Zemedkun manifests no professionalism, civility or ethical awareness. He is obviously clueless about media decorum. Listening to him, it is apparent that Zemedkun has the personality of a porcupine, the temper of a Tasmanian Devil, the charm of an African badger, the intelligence of an Afghan Hound and the social graces of a dung beetle. But the rest of the high and mighty flouting the Constitution and abusing their powers like Zemedkun are no different.
The singular hallmark — the trademark — of a police thug state is the pervasiveness and ubiquity of arbitrary arrests, searches and detentions of citizens. If any person can be arrested on the whim of a state official, however high or petty, that is a police state. If the rights of citizens can be taken or disregarded without due process of law, that is a dreadful police state. Where the rule of law is substituted by the rule of a police chief, that is a police thug state.
For well over a decade, international human rights organizations and others have been reporting on large scale arbitrary arrests and detentions in Ethiopia. The 2011 U.S. State Department Country Reports on Human Rights Practices (issued on May 24, 2012) reported:
Although the constitution and law prohibit arbitrary arrest and detention, the government often ignored these provisions in practice… The government rarely publicly disclosed the results of investigations into abuses by local security forces, such as arbitrary detention and beatings of civilians… Authorities regularly detained persons without warrants and denied access to counsel and in some cases to family members, particularly in outlying regions… Other human rights problems included torture, beating, abuse, and mistreatment of detainees by security forces; harsh and at times life-threatening prison conditions; arbitrary arrest and detention; detention without charge and lengthy pretrial detention; infringement on citizens’ privacy rights, including illegal searches…
In its 2013 World Report, Human Rights Watch reported: “Ethiopian authorities continued to severely restrict basic rights of freedom of expression, association, and assembly in 2012… The security forces responded to protests by the Muslim community in Oromia and Addis Ababa, the capital, with arbitrary arrests, detentions, and beatings.”
Rarely does one hear human rights abusers publicly showing their true faces and confirming their victims’ allegations in such breathtakingly dramatic form. Police chief Zemedkun gave all Ethiopians a glimpse of the arrogant and lawless officialdom of Post-Meles Ethiopia. It is a glimpse of a police state in which an ignorant local police chief could feel so comfortable in his abuse of power that he believes he can travel to the United States of America and arrest and detain a journalist working for an independent agency of the United States Government. If this ill-mannered, ill-bred, cantankerous and boorish policeman could speak and act with such impunity, is it that difficult to imagine how the ministers, generals, prosecutors, judges and bureaucrats higher up the food chain feel about their abuses of power?
But one has to listen to and read the words of those whose heads are being crushed by the police in a police state. When it comes to crushing heads, themodus operandi is always the same. Use “robocops”. In 2005, Meles brought in hundreds of police and security men from different parts of the country who have limited proficiency in the country’s official language and used them to massacre 193 unarmed protesters and wound another 763. These “robocops” are pre-programmed killing machines, arresting machines and torture machines. They do what they are told. They ask no questions. They shoot and ask questions later. Hadid Shafi Ousman, a victim of illegal search and seizure, who spoke to VOA reporter Solomon, recounted in chilling detail what it meant to have one’s home searched by “robocop” thugs and goons who do not speak or have extremely limited understanding the official language of the country:
These are federal police. There are also civilian cadres. Sometimes they come in groups of 5-10. They are dressed in federal police uniform…. They are armed and carry clubs. They don’t have court orders. There are instances where they jump over fences and bust down doors… When they come, people are terrified. They come at night. You can’t say anything. They take mobile phones, laptops, the Koran and other things… They cover their faces so they can’t be identified. We try to explain to them. Isn’t this our country? If you are here to take anything, go ahead and take it…. They beat you up with clubs. If you ask questions, they beat you up and call you terrorists… First of all, these policemen do not speak Amharic well. So it is hard to understand them. When you ask them what we did wrong, they threaten to beat us. I told them I am a university student, so what is the problem? As a citizen, as a human being…Even they struggled and paid high sacrifices [fighting in the bush] to bring about good governance [to the people]. They did not do it so that some petty official could harass the people. When you say this to them, they beat you up…
Let there be no mistake. Zemedkun is not some isolated freakish rogue police chief in the Ethiopian police state. He is the gold standard for post-Meles governance. There are thousands of Zemedkuns that have infested the state apparatus and metastasized through the body politics of that country. For these Meles wannabes, constitutional accountability means personal impunity; illegal official activity means prosecutorial immunity; moral depravity means moral probity and crimes against humanity means legal impunity.
Cry, the beloved country
In 1948, the same year Apartheid became law in South Africa, Alan Paton wrote in “Cry, the Beloved Country”, his feeling of despair over the fate of South Africa:
Cry for the broken tribe, for the law and the custom that is gone. Aye, and cry aloud for the man who is dead, for the woman and children bereaved. Cry, the beloved country, these things are not yet at an end. The sun pours down on the earth, on the lovely land that man cannot enjoy. He knows only the fear of his heart.”
Cry for our beloved Ethiopia!!
Professor Alemayehu G. Mariam teaches political science at California State University, San Bernardino and is a practicing defense lawyer.
Previous commentaries by the author are available at:
http://open.salon.com/blog/almariam/
www.huffingtonpost.com/alemayehu-g-mariam/
Amharic translations of recent commentaries by the author may be found at:
http://www.ecadforum.com/Amharic/archives/category/al-mariam-amharic
http://ethioforum.org/?cat=24
ፕሮፌሰር ዓለማየሁ ገብረማርያም
ትርጉም ከነጻነት ለሃገሬ
በዴሞክራሲ የአንድነት ጎዳና ላይ?
በጁን 2012 ‹‹ኢትዮጵያ፡ በሕገ መንግስታዊ ዴሞክራሲ ጎዳና ላይ›› የሚል ጦማር አቅርቤ ነበር፡፡ ‹‹በርካታማ ሕበረሰቦች ከጭቆና ወደ ዴሞክራሲ ሽግግርን ሲያስቡና ሲንቀሳቀሱ፤ እንቅስቃሴያቸውን የሚገቱ በርካታ ፈተናዎች›› እንደገጠሟቸው በማስረጃ የተደገፉ ታሪካዊ እውነታዎችን ጠቅሼ ነበር:-
ከአረብ ‹‹መነሳሳት››ከታየው ልምድ በመነሳት ሕገ መንግስታዊ ቅድመ ውይይት እንደሚያስፈልግ ጠቁሜ አንዳንድ ሃሳቦችም ሰንዝሬ ነበር፡፡ በኢትዮጵያ የዴሞክራሲያዊ ሕገ መንግስት ፍለጋና የዴሞክራሲያዊ ሕገ መንግስት ግቡ ዙርያ ጥምጥም መንገድ፤ አድካሚና ተስፋ ሞጋች ይሆናል፡፡ይም ሆኖ የማይቻል አይደለም………..ግጭትን አስወግዶ ሰላማዊ ሽግግርን ተግባራዊ ለማድረግ፤ተፎካካሪ አለያም በተናጠል ያሉት ሁሉ በአንድ ላይ መስራት ይኖርባቸዋል፡፡ ይሄ ደግሞ በዋናው ግብ ላይስምምነትንና መቻቻልን መግባባትን ይጠይቃል፡፡ በዚህ የሽግግር ወቅት ሕዝባዊ የሲቪክ ማሕበረሰብን በአዲሱ ሕገ መንግስት ዙርያ ማስተማርን ያካትታል፡፡ የኢትዮጵያ ፖለቲካ ፓርቲዎች፤ ድርጅቶች፤ አመራሮች፤ ምሁራን፤ ሰብአዊመብት ተሟጋቾች፤ እና ሌሎችም የጉዳዩ አካላት፤ ስርአት ባለው ፕሮግራም ተካተው ትምህርትና አስተባብሮ ማሰለፍን መውሰድና ማዳረስ በዚህም ለዴሞክራሲ ሽግግር የሚጠቅመውን ሁሉ ተግባራዊ ማድረግ ይኖርባቸዋል፡፡ ከጭቆና ስርአት ወደ ዴሞክራሲያዊ ስርአት ስኬታማ የሆነ ሂደት ለማድረግ ኢትዮጵያዊያን የመነጋገርንና የመመደራደርን ጥበብ ሊማሩ ይገባል…….››
እነሱ በታችኛው የጭቆና ጎዳና ላይ የኋሊት እየተዘወሩ ነው፤ እኛስ በዴሞክራሲ አውራጎዳና ላይ ወደፊት እየተጓዝን ነው?
ለአንዳንድ ሰዎች ለገዢዎች ባለስልጣኖች ወይንም ለመጪው እውነቱን መንገር ቀላል ነው፡፡ ያለምንም ችግር እነዚህን ስልጣንን አላግባብ የሚጠቀሙትን ጥፋት መስራታቸውንና ልክ አለመሆናቸውን ማሳወቅ፤ ጥፋታቸው ምን እንደሆነ፤ጥፋታቸውን እንዴት ማረም እንደሚችሉና ጥፋት ለፈጸሙባቸውም ትክክል በማደረግ ማሳረም አንደሚችሉ፡፡ ነገር ግን ‹‹ማንነታቸውን›› መለየት በማይቻልበት “ተቃዋሚዎች” እውነትን ማሳወቁ ቀላል አይደለም፡፡ ስለዚህም ላልታወቁት “ተቃዋሚዎች” ለማስረዳት ከሞመከር ይልቅ: “እነሱ በታችኛው የጭቆና ጎዳና ላይ የኋሊት እየተዘወሩ ነው፤ እኛስ በዴሞክራሲ አውራጎዳና ላይ ወደፊት እየተጓዝን ነው? ከዚህ በኋላ ቀጣዩ ጉዟችን (ወይም መቆሚያችን) ወዴት ነው? የሚል ጥያቄ ማንሳት እመርጣለሁ፡፡ ይህን መሰሉ ጥያቄ መሰንዘር ያለበት ‹‹ለተቃዋሚ አመራሮች ነው››:: ግን ለጥቂትጊዜያትም እነዚህ አመራሮች እንማንናቸው እንማንስ አይደሉም በሚል ግራ መጋባት ውስጥ ነበርኩ፡፡
ባለፈው ሴፕቴምበር ‹‹የኢትዮጵያ ተቃዋሚዎች በዴሞክራሲ ማለዳ ወቅት?›› በሚል ርእስ አንድ ጦማር አቅርቤ ነበር፡፡ ድምጼን ከፍ አድርጌ (እስካሁን መልስ ባላገኝም) ‹‹በኢትዮጵያ ተቃዋሚው ማነው?›› ብዬ ጠይቄ ነበር፡፡ አሁንም ሆነ ያንጊዜ ግራ እንደተጋባሁ መሆኔን መናዘዝ እወዳለሁ፡፡ ‹‹በአግባቡ የተደራጀና የማያወላውል አስተማማኝ ተቃዋሚ ፓርቲ እንደሌለ እረዳለሁ:: አንድም ጠንካራና ግንባር የፈጠረ የህብረት ፓርቲ የገዢውንመንግስት ፖለቲካም ሆነ ፍልስፍና የሚሞግት የለም፡፡ በምሑራን ግንባር ቀደምትነት የተቀናጀና የተጠናከረ አንድም ፓርቲ ያለ አይመስልም፡፡ ሁሉንም ሙያዎችና ማሕበራት፤ሃይማኖቶችን ያቀፈ የሲቪል ማሕበረሰብ ስብስብም የለም፡፡ ለወጥ ባለ አባባል፤ ‹‹ተቃዋሚው ያው ከዚህ በፊት እንደሚታወቀው ደካማ፤ ልፍስፍስ፤ ቅርጽ ያልወጣለት፤ ተጣምሮ አሁንም ከነድክመቱ፤ተከፋፍሎ፤ እርስ በርስ ለመናቆር የሚሽቀዳደሙትና ለገዢውፓርቲ የመጠናከርያና የግዛት ማራዘም አስተዋጽኦ የሚያደርጉት ናቸው? ያው አሁንም በማጉረምረም ብቻ ሰብአዊ መብትን ለማስከበር የሚጥሩት፤ የሲቪክ ማሕበረሰቡን የሚያደራጁት፤ጋዤጠኞች ተብዬዎቹ አገልጋዮች፤ እና ፈራ ተባ የሚሉት ምሁራን ናቸው? በመሳርያ ገዢውን ሃይል ገርስሰው የሚጥሉት ናቸው ተቃዋሚዎች? እራሱን በተቃዋሚነት ፈርጆና ሰይሞ ያስቀመጠችው/ው ሁሉ ናቸው ተቃዋሚዎች: ወይስ ከላይ የተዘረዘሩት አንዳቸውም አይደሉም?
የመጨረሻዋን እንጥፍጣፊ ብሬን ለውርርድ የማቀርብበት ጉዳይ ግን የመለስ ዜናዊ አምላኪ ደቀመዝሙራን ከዚህ በኋላ ወዴት ወዴት ነው የምትሄዱት ቢባሉ ለማስረዳት አንዳችም ችግር የለባቸውም፡፡ በእርግጠኛነትም: ሰማይና መሬት ቢደበላለቁም፤ በመለስ ‹‹ዘልዓለማዊ አሸብራቂ ኮቴ ፈለግ›› እየተመራን አሸሸ ገዳሜያችንን እያስነካን፤ ጮቤ አየረገጥን የሀደሰና ግድብ ሥር የተቀበረልንን ወርቅ ለማፈስና በየዓመቱም 10. 12. 15 በመቶ የኤኮኖሚ እድገት እያልን ከፍ ከፍ ብለን በመብረር መንገዳችንን እንቀጥላለን ይሉናል……….›› እኔም የጉዞ አውራ ጎዳና ቀይሶ ወደ የህልም መንገድ መሄዱ ክእጅና እግርን አጣጥፎ ማፋጨት ለእናት ሃገር ከመቆዘሙይሻላል ባይ ነኝ፡፡
ለመሆኑ ጥያቄው ተቃዋሚ መሆን ወይም አለመሆን ነው እንዴ? በተቃዋሚ ጎራስ መሆን ማለት ምን ማለት ነው? በተቃዋሚ ጎራ ውስጥስ ለመካተት አንድ ሰው ምን ሊያከናውን ወይም ሊያደርግ ይገባዋል? ተቃዋሚ መሆንስ ገዢውን ፓርቲና በውስጡ የተካተቱትን በመሳደብ በማጥላላት፤ በመፎከር፤ጥርስ በመንከስ፤ ስልጣንን አለአግባብ የሚጠቀሙትን በመውቀስና በመተቸት በስድብ ላይ ስድብ መከመር ነው? ስልጣንን አለአግባብ የሚጠቀሙበትንስ በመቃወም በተቃውሟችን የሞራል የበላይነትስ ማግኘት? እነዚህን አለአግባብ ማንኛውንም ጉዳይ የሚጠቀሙበትን ያለ እቅድ ያለግብ መቃወምስ ተቃዋሚነት ነው?
በተደጋጋሚ እንዳስቀመጥኩት የመለስ እምነቱ ‹‹ተቃዋሚዎች እራሳቸውን ከሚያውቁት በላይ መለስ ተቃዋሚዎችን ማወቁ ነው››::
መለስ በተቃዋሚዎቹ ከምር የስቅባቸው ነበር፡፡ የተቃዋሚዎችን አመራሮች የእውቀታቸው ደረጃ ከሱ ታች አድርጎ ነበር የሚገምተው፡፡ባስፈለገው ወቅትና ጊዜ፤ ሊያፌዝባቸው፤ሃሳባቸውን ሊያጣጥል፤ ሊበልጣቸው፤ማንም ከማንማ ሳይል ሊያላግጥባቸው እንደሚችል ያምን ነበር፡፡እርባና ቢስ ብሎ ስለሚያስባቸው፤ ለስልጣኑ አስጊና ተቀናቃኝ ይሆናሉ የሚል ስጋት አልነበረውም፡፡ በሚያደርጋቸው ሕዝባዊ ዲስኩሮቹ ሁሉ እንዳፌዘባቸው፤ እንዳዋረዳቸው፤መሳቂያ መሳለቂያ ሊደርጋቸው እንደሞከር ነበር፡፡ ተቃዋሚዎቹን የዕለት ተዕለት ክትትልና ቁጥጥር ከጥፋታቸው እንዲመለሱም ቁንጥጫና ትንሽም በሳማ ለብ ለብ እንደሚያስፈልጋቸው ጨቅላ ሕጻናት ነበር የሚያያቸው፡፡ እንደእውነቱ ከሆነም ባለፉት የግዛት ዘመኑ መለስ ተቃዋሚዎቹን እንዳለውም በሁሉም መልኩ ቀድሟቸው በልጧቸው፤ ቀልዶባቸው፤ መሳቂያ አድረጓቸው ነበር፡፡አሁንም የመለስ ደቀመዝሙሮችና እሱ የፈጠራቸው በፈጠረላቸው ብቻ የሚመሩት የራሳቸው የሆነ አንዳችም ነገር የሌላቸው ‹‹ሰብ ግዑዛን›› በመራቸው መንገድ የውርየድንብራቸውን ለመጓዝ ነው እቅዳቸው፡፡
‹‹ተቃዋሚዎች›› አሁን የት ናቸው?
ምናልባት በኢትዮጵያ ያሉትን ‹‹ተቃዋሚዎች›› ከእንግዲህ ጉዟችን ወዴት ነው የሚለውን ጥያቄ ማንሻ ጊዜው አማካኝ ላይሆን ይችላል፡፡ይልቁንስ አሁን ተቃዋሚዎች የት አሉ (የትም የሉም) የሚለውን መጠየቁ አግባብ ሊሆን ይችላል፡፡ ለኔ አመቺው ነጥብ፤‹‹ተቃዋሚው በአሁኑ ጊዜ፤ ወደ በቃኝ፤ አጉራህ ጠኛኝ፤ ወደ ተስፋ መቁረጡ፤ ወደ መሳቀቁ፤ ገለል ወደ ማለቱ ነው፡፡ ‹‹ተቃዋሚውን›› እንደተደገመበት አይነት ፈዝዞ ስልጣንን አለአግባብ ተከተለ ነው ማለት እችላለሁ፡፡ ‹‹ተቃዋሚው›› ደህንነት ያጣ፤ አጀንዳ ቢስ፤ አቅመ ቢስ፤ አቅጣጫ ቢስ፤ ራዕይ የሌሌለው ሆኖ ነው የሚታየኝ፡፡ ‹‹ተቃዋሚው›› ግራ የተጋባ፤ ተሸመድምዶ ያለ ነው፡፡ በአንድ ወቅት ‹‹ተቃዋሚው›› አንድ ላይ የሆነበት፤ በአንድ የቆመበት፤ጠላትን በአንድ ላይ የተጋፈጠበት፤እና በአንድ ላይ ለወህኒ የበቃበትም ጊዜ ነበር፡፡ የ2005 ምልሰት! ያኔ ‹‹ተቃዋሚው›› የዘርን፤ የጎሳን፤ የሃይማኖትን፤ የቋንቋን፤ የዓላማን እና ሌሎችንም ልዩነቶች ወደ ጎን አሽቀንጥሮ ጥሎ ለነጻነትና ለዴሞክራሲ በአንድነት የቆመበት ወቅት ነበር፡፡ ያ ራዕይ ደግሞ ተቃዋሚዎችን በወንድማማችነትና እህትማማችነት መንፈስ አስተሳሰራቸው፡፡ ‹‹ተቃዋሚው›› አንድ ሆኖ መለያየትን ትቶ በቅንጅት፤ ውስጣዊ መቆራቆስን በመተው ሊከፋፍሉትና ሊያለያዩትበሚጥሩት ላይ በአንድነት ቆሞ አሸነፋቸው፡፡
ባለፉት ሰባት ዓመታት፤ ‹‹የተቃዋሚዎች›› የነጻነትና የዴሞክራሲ ራዕይ ቀስ በቀስ ባለመግባባትና በመወነጃጀል እየከሰመ ሄዷል፡፡በተቃዋሚው ጎራ መወያየት በመነታረክ ተተክቷል፤ ተግባርም ወደ ባዶነት፤ ሕብረት ወደመለያየት፤ መቀናጀት ወደ ግላዊነት፤ መሰባሰብ ወደ መለያየት፤ መፈቃቀር ወደ መጠላላት፤ መቻቻል ወደ አለመግባባት ተለውጧል፡፡ ‹‹ተቃዋሚው›› ለውጥን ይፈልጋል:: በለውጡም ኢትዮጵያን ከጭቆና በማላቀቅ የዴሞክራሲ ባለቤት ሊያደርጋትይመኛል፡፡ ግን ዶክተር ማርቲን ሉተር ኪንግ ጁንየር እንዳሉት፤ ‹‹ለውጥ በመንኮራኩር ተጭኖ የማይቀር ነገር አይደለም: ሊገኝ አይችልም፤በማያቋርጥ የነጻነት ትግል እንጂ፡፡ ወገባችንን ጠበቅ አድርገን ለነጻነታችን መጣር አለብን፡፡ ወገብህ ለመጥ ካላለ ጠላትህ ሊጋልብህ አይችልም… ከልምድ እንዳየነው ጨቋኝ ገዢ ነጻነትን በፍቃደኛነት አይሰጥምበተጨቋኞች መገደድ ይኖርበታል››
የኢትዮጵያ ‹‹ተቃዋሚ›› ሃይሎች፤ ወገቡን ጠበቅ አድርጎና ጥርሱን ነክሶ ፍላጎቱን ማሳወቅና ማግኘት አለበት፡፡ ወገብን ማጥበቂያዎች በርካታ መንገዶች አሉ፡፡ስለሰብአዊ መብት መከበር መናገርና፤ ገዢዎች የሚያደርሱትን በደል ግፍና ጭቆና መናገርም ወገብን ማጠንከር ነው፡፡ ጥፋቶች መስተካከል እንዳለባቸው መሞገትም ቀበቶን ማጥበቅ ነው፡፡ በእኩዮች ፊት ዓይን መግለጥና የተደፈነ ጆሮን እንዲሰማ ማድረግ ጠንክሮ መቆም ነው፡፡ ለማንም ቢሆን አግባብነት ከሌለው አሻፈረኝ ማለት መቻል ብርታት ነው፡፡ ለገዢ ባለስልጣናት ስህተታቸውን ማሳወቅ ጥንካሬ ነው፡፡ ዶ/ር ኪንግ እንዳሉት ‹‹የፍፁምነት ሕግ አለያም ምሉዕ ሕግ ከሰው ሰራሽ ደንብ ጋር የሚጣጣም የሞራል ሕግ ወይም የፈጣሪ ሕግ ነው፡፡ ሕጋዊነት ያጣ ሕግ ደሞ ከሞራላዊ ሕግ ጋር የማይጣጣም ነው::›› በጃንዋሪ 2011 ሳምንታዊ የሆነ ጦማር ‹‹ከአፍሪካ ጨቋኝና ግፈኛ ገዢዎች ውድቀት በኋላ›› አቅርቤ የሚከተሉትን ጥያቄዎች አንስቼ ነበር፡፡‹‹በአሸዋ የተገነባው የፈላጭ ቆራጭ ገዢዎች ግንብ ሲደረመስና የቅዠት ቤተ መንግስታቸው ፍርስረሱ ሲወጣ አፍሪካ ምን ትሆናለች? አፍሪካ መላቅጡ የጠፋ ትሆንና መልሶ ለመገንባት የምታስቸግር ፍርስራሽ ትሆናለች? የፈላጭ ቆራጮቹስ መጨረሻስ ምን ይሆናል?
ባለፈው በጋ ወራት ያለፈው የጨቋኞች ስርአት ገንቢው መለስ ዜናዊ ካለፈ በኋላ በኢትዮጵያ ያለው የጭቃ ግንብ መስፋፋትን እያስመሰከረ ነው:: የታሪክ ሚስጥራዊነት ግን አሁን ያለው ጥያቄ እኩይ ገዢዎች ላለፉት ሁለት አሰርት ዓመታት ሊያደርጓት እንደሞከሩትና ኢትዮጵያ ትፈራርሳለች ወይስ ትጠነክራለች የሚለው አይደለም፡፡ እነዚያ ለኢትዮጵያና ኢትዮጵያዊያን ቀና ማሰብ የሚጎመዝዛቸው የእርኩስ መናፍስት ስሪቶች ከሚያመልኩትና አንቀጥቅጦ ሲያምሳቸው ከነበረው የቅዠት ሳጥን ሞት በኋላ እርስ በርሳቸው ወደ ፍርስራሽነት በመንደርደር ላይ
ናቸው፡፡ ባለሕልም እንጀራቸው ሲሞት የነሱም እንጀራቸው እያረረና እየሻገተ ነው፡፡ አባባሉ እንደሚያስረዳው‹‹በዕውራን አምባ አንድ አይና ብርቅ ነው›› አሁን እንግዲህ አይነ ብርሃናቸው የለም ከዚሁ ጋርም በራሳቸው ጥፋት፤ ተንኮል፤ ድክመትና መሰሪነት የሚይዙት የሚጨብጡት ጠፍቷቸው በመደነባበር ላይ ናቸው፡፡
አሁን ‹‹አጣዳፊው ጉዳይ›› ኢትዮጵያዊያን ተቃዋሚ መሪዎች ለዴሞክራሲ ያላቸውን እቅዳቸውንና ራዕያቸውን በአስቸኳይ ማዘጋጀት ነው፡፡ኢትዮጵያዊያን የሰብአዊ መብት ተሟጋቾች በሕግ የበላይነት የሚመራ ሕብረተሰብ ለመፍጠር ራዕያቸውን ማቀድ ያለባቸው አሁን ነው፡፡ኢትዮጵያዊያን የተቃዋሚ መሪዎችም የመገናኛ መረቦቻቸውን በጥንቃቄና በእርጋታ በመዘርጋት ከየአቅጣጫው ያለውን የሕብረተሰብ ክፍል በማሰባሰብና በመረቡ ግለሰቦችንም ሆነ ማሕበረሰቡን፤ በአንድ የማሰለፉ ወቅት አሁን ነው፡፡ ከጭቆና አገዛዝ ወደ ዴሞክራሲያዊ ስርአት የሚደረገውን ሽግግር ምሁራን ማመቻቸት ያለባቸው አሁን ነው፡፡ ሁሉም ነጻነትና ዴሞክራሲን የሕግ የበላይነትን የሚፈልግ ሁሉ አሁን ነው በአንድ ላይ ለመቆም ስምምነታቸውን ይፋ በማድረግ መንቀሳቀስ ያለባቸው፡፡ ካለፈው የግፍ ሰንሰለት ማነቆ እራሳችንን ማለቀቂያው ጊዜ አሁን ነው፡፡ ለሁሉም የኢትዮጵያ ልጆች ስንል የተጫነብንን የዘርና የጎሳ ፖለቲካ አሽቀንጥረን መጣያው ወቅት አሁን ነው፡፡ ለብሔራዊ አንድነት መቆሚያና መሰባሰቢያችን አሁን ነው፡፡ ለሃቅና ለይቅር ባይነት መወሰኛችን አሁን ነው፡፡ እራሳችንን ከጭቆና እኩይ ምግባርተኞች አላቀን፤ሰብአዊ ክብራችንን የምናረጋግጥበት ጊዜ አሁን ነው፡፡ አሁን እርስ በርስ የመወነጃጀያና የመለያያ የጣት መቀሰርያ የእልህ መወጫና የእርስ በርስ መናቆሪያ ወቅት አይደለም፡፡ አሁን እስቲ ይሁና በማለት አፋችንን የምንለጉምበት ጊዜ አይደለም፡፡ አሁን አይናችን እያየ አላይም የሚልበት ጊዜ አይደለም:: ጆሯችን አሁን አይደለም አልሰማም ማለት ያለበት ሊከፈት ሊያዳምጥ ሊሰማ የግድ ወቅቱ ነውና፡፡
ከዚህስ በኋላ ጉዟችን ወዴት ነው? ከዚህ በኋላ የራሴን ጥያቄ እኔ አጠር አጠር እያደረግሁ ለመመለስ እሞክራለሁ፡፡ ተቃዋሚው ሃይል ዴሞክራሲያዊ አስተዳደርን ለመምራት በጎዳናው ላይ መሆን አለበት፡፡ በቅድመ ዴሞክራሲ ጭቆና የነበረችውን ኢትዮጵያን ለመገንባት
ተቃዋሚው ሃይል የዴሞክራሲ ድርጊት እቅዱን በአግባቡ መንደፍ አለበት፡፡ ዋነኛው ካለፉት ሰባት ዓመታት ልንማርና መስወገድ ያለብን ለመቃወም በሚል ብቻ ዝም ብሎ መቃወም መቃወም መቃወም ያለግብና ዓላማ ሊሆን አይችልም፡፡ የተቃዋሚዎች ሚና በስልጣናቸው የሚባልጉትን መቃወም ከሚለው ባለፈ ሊሆን ይገባል፡፡ የተቃዋሚዎች ድርሻ በሃገሪቱ ላይ በሚመሰረተው ዴሞክራሲያዊ ስርአት እቅድና ራዕይ ላይ መሆን ይኖርበታል፡፡ የጨቋኞች የተጠያቂነትን ጉዳይ ሰምተው እንዳልሰሙ ሊያስመስሉ ይጥራሉ:: ያ ምንም ማለት አይደለም፡፡ ዋናው ነገር ተጠያቂነትን መቼ አምነውይቀበላሉ ነው፡፡ ለተቃዋሚዎች ጨቋኞች ያደረሱትን ግፍና በደል መቁጠርና በዚያ ላይ ማላዘኑ በቂ አይደለም፡፡ ተግባራዊ እንቅስቃሴ በአግባቡ በጥንቃቄ ታስበበትና ተመክሮበት ሊወጣ የግድ ነው፡፡
እንደ መግቢያ ተቃዋሚው ስለተጠያቂነትና ግልጽነት ጥርት ያለ አቋሙን ለሕዝቡ በማያዳግምና በማያወላዉል መልኩ ማስቀመጥ አለበት፡፡ለምሳሌ ስር ሰዶ ኢትዮጵያንና ሕዘቦቿን እየቦረቦረ በማጥፋት ላይ ያለውን የጨቋኞች ስሪት የሆነውን ሙስና ለማጥፋት ተቃዋሚዎች ምን ለማድረግ ነው ያቀዱት፡፡ የዓለም ባንክ በጥንቃቄ የተዳሰሰ 448 ገጽ ያለው ዘገባ ኢትዮጵያ በዓለም አሉ ከሚባሉት በሙስና የዘቀጡ ሃገሮች አንዷ እንደሆነች አስነብቧል፡፡ ከተቃዋሚ ድርጅቶች መሪዎችም አለያም ከአባሎቻቸው ይህን ዘገባ ምን ያህሉ እንዳነበቡት አለያም በሙስናና በብክነት ላይ የራሳቸውን ዳሰሳ እንዳደረጉ መናገር ባልችልም፤ ይህን ዘገባ ያነበበ ማንም ቢሆን በኢትዮጵያ ውስጥ ስላለው ስር የሰደደ የሙስና ነቀርሳ ጥርጣሬ ሊኖረው አይችልም፡፡
ለሥልጣን ለሚበቃው እውነትን ማሳወቅ
ይህ የጻፍኩት አንዳንዶቹን ሊያበሳጫቸው ሌሎቹን ደሞ ሊያንድዳቸው ይችላል፡፡ ብዙዎችን ደግሞ የሚያበረታታቸውና ጠንካራና ደፋር እርምጃ ነው እንደሚሉ እርግጠኛ ነኝ፡፡ አንዳንድ አቃቂር አውጪዎች እኔ በምቾት ፈረሴ ላይ ተኮፍሼ ‹‹ተቃዋሚውን እንደተሳደብኩ አድርገው በመውሰድ ምላሳቸውን ሊሰብቁ ይቃጣታቸው ይችላል፡፡ ተቃዋሚውን እያዳከምኩና ዝቅ አድርጌ እየተመለከትክ ነው ሊሉኝ ይችላሉ፡፡ሌሎችም የተቃዋሚውን ሚና አጋነንክ ሊሉ ይችላሉ፡፡ ከዚህ ባለፈም ለ‹‹ተቃዋሚዎች›› ባደረጉት መስዋእትነትና እኔ ከማደርገው በበለጠ ለሰብአዊ መብት መሟገታቸውን በማሳነስ የሚገባቸውን ከበሬታ አልሰጠሃቸውም ነፍገሃቸዋል ሊሉኝም ይችላሉ፡፡ እኔ የማደርገው ጨቋኝ የሆኑት አምባገነን ገዢዎች ከሚያደርጉት ጋር ተመሳሳይ ነው ሊሉም ይዳዳቸዋል፡፡ እኔ በተመቻቸ የምሁር ወንበሬ ላይ ተቀምጬ ያለሁ የተቃዋሚዎች ተግባርና አካሄድ ሊገባህ አይችልም ብለው ሊወቅሱኝ ይችላሉ፡፡ የሆነውይሁን!
ምንም እንኳን እነዚህ አባባሎች አቅጣጫ ማስለወጫ ቢሆኑም ሁላችንም ‹‹በተቃዋሚ›› ጎራ ነን የምንል ሁሉ ልንመልሳቸው የሚያስፈልጉን ሁለት ጥያቄዎች አሉ፡፡ ጨቋኞችና አምባገነን እኩዮች በጨቋኞች ጎዳና ላይ እንደግመልሽንት የኋሊት እየተዘወሩ ነው እኛስ በዴሞክራሲ አውራ ጎዳና ላይ ወደፊት አየገሰገስን ነው? የተቃዋሚው ጎራ ከ2005ቱ ከነበረበት ሁኔታ ዛሬ በተሸለ ደራጃ ላይ ነው?
*የተቶረገመው ጽሁፍ (translated from):
http://open.salon.com/blog/almariam/2013/02/10/ethiopia_where_do_we_go_or_not_go_from_here
(ይህን ጦማር ለሌሎችም ያካፍሉ::) ካሁን በፊት የቀረቡ የጸሃፊው ጦማሮችን ለማግኘት እዚህ ይጫኑ::
http://www.ecadforum.com/Amharic/archives/category/al-mariam-amharic
http://ethioforum.org/?cat=24
2011: Dictatorship, corruption and the politics of fear and smear