By Elias Kifle
Supporters of Meles Zenawi’s dictatorship in Ethiopia are losing it. They know their end is coming soon and they are desperate. Just listen to the kind of death threats they continue to make against Ethiopian Review. Listen the audio below:
[podcast]http://www.ethiopianreview.info/audio/death_threats_against_elias_kifle_jan2009b.mp3[/podcast]
.
Please feel free to come and visit me:
601 4th Street NW
Washington D.C. 20535
And here is my phone number:
202 369 9543
In its January 2009 report, Human Rights Watch accuses Meles Zenawi’s regime in Ethiopia of war crimes and assault on civil society:
The Ethiopian government’s human rights record remains poor, marked by an ever-hardening intolerance towards meaningful political dissent or independent criticism. Ethiopian military forces have continued to commit war crimes and other serious abuses with impunity in the course of counterinsurgency campaigns in Ethiopia’s eastern Somali Region and in neighboring Somalia. Local-level elections in April 2008 provided a stark illustration of the extent to which the government has successfully crippled organized opposition of any kind—the ruling party and its affiliates won more than 99 percent of all constituencies, and the vast majority of seats were uncontested. In 2008 the government launched a direct assault on civil society by introducing legislation that would criminalize most independent human rights work and subject NGOs to pervasive interference and control.
Read the full text here.
By Afrik.com
Ethiopian Prime Minister dictator Meles Zenawi said Thursday he was to discuss a peaceful end to the cold war with the Eritrean government, if Asmara feels a need to discuss a peace.
“We are not uncomfortable with the status quo but it is in our interest to have peace. We will consider the status quo as unhealthy, unwelcome, but we will live with the status quo indefinitely,” the Prime Minister dictator told journalists Thursday.
Meles said his regime was ready to discus a peace proposal with Eritrea, if Asmara feels ready to discuss peace, but would not rush into such discussions unless the Eritrean government expresses its wish to discuss peace.
“We are ready to wait for them until such a time when they feel the need for peace, at that time, we will be ready with our peace proposal,” Meles told journalists.
The Ethiopian Prime Minister dictator said he was aware of the Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki’s latest seven-hour long press interview, which bashed the Woyanne regime. He said it was less worrying to him “so long as they do not bloody my nose.”
By Tedla Asfaw
Ato Seye Abraha, former defense minister of {www:Ethiopia} under the regime of Tigrean People Liberation Front (Woyanne), has been active since he has been released from jail few years ago. He came out in public on VOA Amharic after he was released and told Ethiopians that he was jailed for personal vendetta and was not involved in any corruption he was accused for which he spent more than six years in jail. I had congratulated him then for being out of jail and be with his loved ones. What I am going to comment here is based on his recent speeches and writings as “free” man that makes me believe that he is the next man to replace Meles Zenawi to save TPLF.
On his recent speeches and writings it seems that he is ready to join the so called “election” in 2010. On his recent appearance on Andenet/UDJ party meeting as guest he was received with wide applause and seems that he has political future. However, he has not so far formed or join any party except giving speeches. He recently wrote more than thirty pages in Amharic on the political situation of our country and his recommendations.
No doubt, Ato Seye Abraha is directly speaking to members of TPLF/EPRDF who are and will continue to dominate any “election” in the future. Yesterday, on VOA Amharic he said emphatically that TPLF/EPRDF made a mistake on jailing Birtukan Medeksa and opening up the “wound”, defeat of TPLF, of election 2005. He demanded for her immediate release to avoid popular anger and revolt to continue the path to “peaceful” struggle. Stay tuned he will be the VOA Amharic guest today.
I am sure many of his former buddies who are now controlling the parliament are also seriously thinking to save TPLF, to keep their wealth and power. Why jailing the popular leader and spoil the coming fake election of 2010 which surely Ato Seye Abraha, Gebru Asrat ready to join according to the recent speeches Seye gave.
Ato Seye might join the parliament running as individual to work with his buddies in parliament who are known for voting anti-people legislation to keep TPLF in power for years to come. TPLF will have one of its “leader” in the parliament in the name of opposition to charter its future after Meles’ retirement due to foreign countries pressure and save TPLF as reformed party with a new leader, Seye Abraha.
Nothing is impossible on politics driven by ethnic loyalty. Ato seye’s only problem has been Meles Zenawi and the rest as he told us on his speeches and writings is a foundation for our country’s future. For Ato Seye Abraha the Constitution of TPLF is a must and one thing he doesn’t want to admit is that the TPLF constitution was a document imposed on our people not a product of any democratic deliberation.
We have to start from scratch Ato Seye if we are serious to save our country. However, if the intention is to save our own ethnic domination by staging another fake election, we might succeed in cheating few people and collaborate with known opportunist political parties. But the majority of the people will not be part of such enterprise and repeat May 2005 again. Our people demand is total freedom that was snatched by killing squads of TPLF four years ago. The Freedom Train that was derailed in 2005 is fixing its tracks and ready to rumble to make a promising future for our people and no force can derail it this time.
The Ethiopian People’s Patriotic Front (EPPF) is taking root among Ethiopians in the Diaspora. This week alone, two EPPF chapters were launched — in Norway and Washington DC.
Currently EPPF chapters are being formed in several cities, including Dallas, Toronto, Atlanta, Seattle, and San Francisco.
For more information about EPPF’s activities, visit its official web site: eppfonline.org
ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA (Reuters) – An apparently accidental hand-grenade explosion wounded 33 people, nine seriously, on Thursday at the central bus station in the Ethiopian capital {www:Addis Ababa}, police said.
“This does not appear to be a terrorist attack. It seems a passenger was carrying the grenade in their luggage and it detonated accidentally,” federal police commander Demash Hailu told Reuters.
In the past, {www:Ethiopia} has accused arch-foe Eritrea of backing rebels who have bombed civilian targets in Addis Ababa.
Blasts at two petrol stations killed two people a day after local, regional and federal elections in April 2008, then a bomb tore through a minibus taxi a month later, killing six. (Reporting by Tsegaye Tadesse; Editing by Daniel Wallis and Michael Roddy)
