The World Economic Forum’s 2012-2013 Global Competitiveness Report has been released, and Ethiopia under the TPLF/EPRDF junta ranks at the bottom ten in several categories. The worst of all is technological readiness where Ethiopia ranks 140 out of 144 countries. The technological sector, particularly information technology, has been purposely stifled by the regime in order to keep Ethiopians in the dark. The person who is doubling as head of Ethiopia’s information technology development is Debretsion Gebremichael. Currently he is one of the candidates to replace the late dictator Meles Zenawi. Read the full report here.
In a New Year message released Sunday, the Ethiopian National Transitional Council (ENTC) has called for the convening of a conference in less than one month to launch the process of establishing an all-inclusive transitional government. Click here to read the message.
The dangerous situation that is developing in Ethiopia as a result of the power struggle among the ruling junta gives extreme urgency to the formation of a transitional government. This is the time for all patriotic Ethiopians to seize the moment and take action, instead of being bystanders and spectators in the affairs of our own country.
A delegation of the ruling junta in Ethiopia, Tigray People Liberation Front (TPLF), has secretly met with acting prime minister Hailemariam Desalegn over the weekend in Addis Ababa to negotiate TPLF’s role in the new regime.
It is not known yet what was exactly discussed at the meeting, but observers speculate that the TPLF is trying to pressure Hailemariam into agreeing with their demand to keep the current government structure intact, or else stand down and help pave the way for the new TPLF leader to become prime minister.
Abay Tsehay, Arkebe Ekubay and Debretsion Gebremichael are in the short list of candidates for the TPLF chairmanship, Ethiopian Review sources reported.
The TPLF leadership decided to start negotiating with Hailemariam to avoid confrontation with the ANDM, OPDO and SEPDM (member organizations of the ruling coalition, the EPRDF) before the 180-member EPRDF council meets next weekend.
Bereket Simon did not accompany Hailemariam during the negotiation with TPLF leaders. He was busy meeting with ANDM members over the weekend.
Former chairman and co-founder of TPLF Sebhat Nega is taking an extremely hardline position. It is reported that the 81-year-old Sebhat is prepared to call for the nuclear option (Article 39) if necessary and declare Tigray an independent country if TPLF fails to secure the premiership. Sebhat believes that TPLF will be back to square one — back to where they started — if power slips from their hands. TPLF members inside the country and abroad are expressing the same concern.
Major, potentially explosive, development is expected between now and next Sunday.
The drunkard billionaire sheik Mohamed Al Amoudi, best friend of the late Ethiopian dictator Meles Zenawi, is back to partying, getting drunk and making a fool out of himself.
RIYADH (SPA) — The Interior Ministry has warned citizens against traveling to Ethiopia.
The warning came after a cable from the Saudi Embassy in Addis Ababa about the tense situation currently prevailing in Ethiopia, including violence against Muslims and the arrests made by the federal police on a daily basis. Some Saudi citizens were among those arrested.
The warning will be in effect until the situation calms down, the ministry said.
The Tigrean People Liberation Front (TPLF), the leading party in the ruling coalition in Ethiopia, the Ethiopian Peoples’ Democratic Front (EPRDF), is preparing to eliminate potential threats to its continued dominance by conducting purges in the EPRDF rank, according to the latest information we have received from Ethiopian Review Intelligence Unit sources in Addis Ababa.
In a series of meetings over the past few days with members and supporters inside the country and around the world, the TPLF leadership heard earful that under no circumstance the premiership should go to Hailemariam Desalegn or any one who is not a member of the TPLF.
The other members of the ruling coalition, namely OPDO, ANDM and SEPDM, seem to be equally determined to swear in Hailemariam as the new prime minister of Ethiopia.
Both sides are being led by powerful personalities. The TPLF side is being led from behind the scene by 80-year-old Sebhat Nega, while the ANDM-OPDO-SEPDM side is being led by propaganda chief Bereket Simon. Both Sebhat and Bereket are known to be masters of political intrigue and maneuverings.
Balance of power
On Sebhat’s TPLF side there are the military, which is led by Generals Samora Yenus and Saere Mekonen, and the security/intelligence, which is led by Debretsion Gebrmichael and Getachew Assefa.
On Bereket-Hailemariam’s side there are the notorious Federal Police whose head is Workneh Gebeyehu, the Addis Ababa Police, local militias, and a large populous that is tired of being dominated by one minority ethnic group. OPDO is armed to its teeth, and Addis Ababa police is led by Hassan Shifa of TPLF, but most of its members are from ANDM and OPDO. The officers could back Bereket-Hailemariam’s side. Another big asset for the Bereket side is local militias that are dispersed through out Amhara, Oromiya and southern regions. They can be instrumental in blocking any military movement by the TPLF generals.
The balance of power favors the Bereket-Hailemariam group, but Sebhat’s TPLF seems to be more determined and ready to sacrifice any thing and every thing to stay in power. They have the mindset of all or nothing, which makes them dangerous.
Knowing the nature of TPLF, the question now is, who is going to blink first? Or, more aptly asked, who is going to be breakfast?
