Kinijit-Los Angeles is organizing a discussion forum with Dr Berhanu Nega for this coming Saturday, Feb. 2. Artist Shambel Belayneh will introduce his new CD at the event.

By Melaku Tegegne

This call or plea is made following the statement made by Prime Minister Meles Zenawi of Ethiopia in which he dubbed the country’s entry into the third millennium as a Period of Renaissance. He made this statement in an interview that he gave on September 6, 2007, to Time Magazine. In that interview, he said, “It has always been fear — fear that this great nation, which was great 1,000 years ago but then embarked on a downward spiral for 1,000 years, and reached its nadir when millions of people were starving and dying, may be on the verge of total collapse. Now it’s not a fear of collapse, I believe we are beyond that. It’s the fear that the light which is beginning to flicker, the light of a renewal, an Ethiopian renaissance, that this light might be dimmed by some bloody mistake by someone, somewhere. This [renaissance] is still fragile, a few shoots [which] may need time to be more robust. At the moment, it is fear born out of hope that this new millennium will be as good as the first one and not as bad as the second one.”

Indeed, as he said, Ethiopia had its greatest famine in 1984 which was mainly brought about by the feudal system that the country had passed through for about 200 years or so. Ethiopia had also experienced a military dictatorship which lasted 17 years. In this particular period, the country was engulfed in unprecedented civil wars in Eritrea and Tigrai (1970s and 80s) and an expansionist war from Somalia (1977-1978). Hundreds of thousands of people, mainly young students and peasants and a number of scholars, perished. In my opinion, that was the darkest period in the history of the country.

When the Eritrean, Tigrean, and Oromo Liberation Fronts succeeded in ousting the brutal military regime, the people of Ethiopia and Eritrea were overjoyed. They had the conviction that a new era had dawned in the freedom, democracy, and economic progress of the two countries. Unfortunately, however, that euphoria and optimism has been dashed in a few years by the actions of the governments in planning and implementing policies that encourage separatism within Ethiopia.

Many scholars have criticized the current federal structure, which is based on ethnicity. For example, Professor Emeritus Mesfin Wolde Mariam, the well-known professor of geography at Addis Ababa University, and now a member of the Coalition for Unity and Democracy Party, once described the present federal structure as Bantustans (separate lands), likening it to apartheid in South Africa.

Another time, the same professor described it as a style of the Mussolini government which delineated the administration of Ethiopia along ethnic boundaries after their invasion in 1935.

There was also a cry by many scholars that Article 99 in the present Ethiopian Constitution, which grants freedom for all administrative regions based on ethnic lines, the right to independence if they wish. So this, in my opinion, gave fertile ground for some opposition parties who are currently in battle with government forces in Oromea and Ogaden regions. I strongly support freedom for any ethnic group, rather than coercion or subjugation as has been done by the past two Ethiopian governments. In short, a strong federation along non-ethnic lines should be the goal of the current government.

Background

Ethiopia is one of the ancient countries in the world; its history goes back to 4,500 BC. Its ancient kingdoms, the Sabean and Axumite Kingdoms have taken the longest span of time in the country’s checkered history, namely 1,000 years. Indeed, History attests to the fact that the Queen of Sheba had ruled over Yemen, and the Axumite emperors also did the same, and even extended their rule to Meroe town in present-day northern Sudan, making it their capital, and having a strong relationship with Egypt. Arising from this historical fact, Menelik II, the greatest emperor of Ethiopia, once declared that his forefathers had ruled a vast territory ranging from Yemen to Madagascar.

The state of Ethiopia came into being, as a modern nation state, in the past 110 years, especially after Emperor Menelik II took the helm of power and pioneered the country’s modernization programs around the turn of the century. The uneducated but foresighted Emperor had also made a valiant struggle against the encroachment of British, French, and Italian colonialism. Menelik and his lieutenants, who were leaders from the main ethnic groups (Amhara, Oromo, Gurage, etc.) and the general public, rallied around the Emperor’s march to Adowa and registered a shining victory against Italian colonialism. Adowa, surprisingly enough, is the birthplace of the current Prime Minister who has a strong dislike of the grand Ethiopian emperor, Menelik II. The Prime Minister is the chief denigrator of this founding father of the nation, in his drive to promote ethnic politics.

There is an old saying that those in power rewrite History.

In his 24 years of reign, the foresighted Emperor brought in all facets of modernization to the country with the sole objective of advancing the nation towards all-round progress. Just to site an example, the Ethio-Djibouti railway line which is the lifeline between Addis Ababa and Djibouti, was planned and partly implemented by the Emperor. Unfortunately, he died before it was completed. Because of lack of financial resources, however, the Emperor leased Djibouti to France for 99 years, and upon the termination of the contract, Djibouti became independent by a referendum of its population in 1976 during the period of the military regime.

Looked at in hindsight, the Eritrean and Tigrean liberation movements, which started their struggles in the early 1970s, were established at the right time to liberate their respective ethnic groups from the shackles of the military dictatorship led by Lt. Col. Mengistu Haile Mariam who fled Ethiopia in May 1991.

The original objective of the Tigrai liberation movement was to secede the historical part (the land of Sabean and Axumites) from the rest of Ethiopia. But the leaders of the liberation movement changed their goal of seceding, and instead decided to struggle with other movements to liberate Ethiopia from the oppressive military dictatorial regime.

It was a good decision and resulted in a success story, the formation of a federal government abolishing the unitary and centralized government of the old regimes. But the federation which had been expected for a long time by the entire population of Ethiopia was entirely different from the present ethnically-divided federation, which has brought about a number of practical problems.

Just to cite one example, the capital city, Addis Ababa, is still contested by the Oromos who consider it to be the capital city of their own administrative region. They consider the capital city to be their excusive domain. This situation arose from the fact that Addis Ababa was originally inhabited by the ancestors of the present-day Oromos. It is true that Addis Ababa was the land of the Oromos. But the argument now brought about against an exclusive right of the Oromos is that, as a result of settlement of millions of Ethiopians from every part of the country, the city is now multi-ethnic, not exclusively Oromo. This settlement has occurred over the past 100 years. This controversy arose as a result of the ethnically-based federation.

The federal structure based on ethnicity has also brought a number of problems concerning political participation, land ownership, business, and trade activities. A stranger, or a new settler, in the lands of any of the ethnic-based administrative regions doesn’t have equal rights with the indigenous population. This practically deprives the rights of citizens, Ethiopians, who have the constitutional right to live in any part of the country, own or possess property, and participate in the election of their administrative representatives, both at the regional and national levels.

The federation opens avenues for unnecessary competition, rivalry, deep hatred, and sometimes animosity among Ethiopians. When I was in Ethiopia in 1996, it was reported that some Amharas were displaced by the local people, their houses also burned down, and still others murdered by the same local people in the Southern part of the country. Many teachers from the same ethnic group lost their jobs just because they didn’t know the language of the locality where they were living. After being labeled as Neftegne (pioneers), many people from Amhara were killed at Arba Gugu, Arsi region, Asbot Monastery, eastern Ethiopia, by mob action, which seems to have had tacit approval from the government. It was this brutal action which led to the formation of the All Amhara Party led by the renowned veteran surgeon, Professor Asrat Woldeyes, who was incarcerated for a long time at the prison of the current regime. The Professor languished in prison for several years and finally was so debilitated that he died.

In short, the current ethnic-based federation is divisive, deprives human rights of the country, and retards the progress of the country.

Models of Federalism

1. The Difference-Blind State:

Pros:

The state allows people to develop and express their cultural practices and identities in private – in the home, church, or private associations – so long as they respect the rights of others to do the same, but the state neither promotes nor discourages cultural affiliations and practices. Ethno-cultural diversity is simply privatized, and the state is blind to the private cultural choice of individuals.

Cons:

There are two obvious limitations to this model. The first is that it requires considerable self-restraint on the part of the dominant groups who control the state, and hence which have the power to adopt state policies supporting their culture. Yet again, it would be naïve to suppose that dominant groups will not always be tempted to use their control over the state resources to promote their identities and practices.

Secondly, the state cannot avoid implicitly or explicitly supporting some cultures over others. Most obviously, the state must make decisions about the language or public administration, public health care, schools, public media, road signs, and so on.

Summary:

Many African countries have tried to avoid the danger of linguistic favouritism by simply adopting the colonial language as a state language. But this does not solve the problem of language policy at the local level.

In short, this model can’t serve best for Ethiopia.

2. Jacobean Republicanism

Pros:

The state promotes one particular language, culture, and identity and tries to turn this into a virtue rather than a vice. While the origin of the language will have been from one particular cultural group, the state declares it to be the national language and promotes it through all areas of the country. An example of this is modern-day Thailand. This is the French model of citizenship in which all citizens are expected to assimilate to a particular national language, republican political heritage, and secular culture. This was the model promoted by the Romans 2000 years ago.

Cons:

Many African countries have tried to pursue this sort of top-down nation-building strategy, particularly in Francophone Africa, where French has become the national language of several countries, relegating ethnic languages to a secondary position. However, in non-Francophone areas, including Ethiopia, this model was bitterly resisted by minority groups who feared losing their language.

Summary:

This centralized top-down nation-building strategy cannot be a model for Ethiopia as it has already been tried by the last Emperor of Ethiopia, Haile Selassie. The Emperor tried to impose Amharic language on the other ethnic groups who bitterly resented this policy.

3. Civil Society

Pros:

This model aims at avoiding imposition from a centralized and authoritarian state, by promoting government by institutions of civil society such as churches, trade unions, newspapers, environmental groups, women’s groups, etc. In this way, nation-building will occur as a result of gradual evolution and consensus-building in civil society, not by state imposition.

Cons:

Each group has a tendency to be dominant and tries to impose its own will on the others, leading to strife.

Summary:

This an attractive model followed by some African countries, Mauritius being the best example. However, this model, like the other previous models, was contested by many scholars in the field as unworkable. It doesn’t work in reality because there are too many fractured groups who cannot reach a consensus.

4. Multi-nation or Multi-ethnic Federalism

Pros:

This model aims at achieving the formation of a multi-nation state that can be seen as a federation or partnership of various groups, each of which will retain its distinctiveness and its rights to autonomy or self-government.

Where groups are more or less territorially concentrated, it is likely to take the form of federalism. In a multi-nation federal system, the country is divided into several sub-units whose borders are drawn in such a way that each of the various groups will form a local majority in one or more of the sub-units. By defacto controlling a sub-unit, even if they are a minority in the country as a whole, each group is able to feel a sense of security, and can use the levers of sub-state power to protect and promote its identity and culture.

Cons:

This compartmentalization of the country into ethnically-divided administrative regions might help to develop the language, culture, land of each individual state in the country, but there is a rigidity because it does not allow for free movement from one part to another. Thus personal rights are not respected.

Summary:

This model has been successfully applied in Canada, Switzerland, Belgium, and Spain, but has been a failure in Africa, including Ethiopia, because, in each country where it has been attempted, one ethnic group has taken control to the detriment of the others.

5. Shared Ethnic Rule

Pros:

The state may be unitary and centralized, but there are guarantees that all ethnic groups will share power at the central level. This may be achieved through rules regarding the representation of ethnic groups in the legislature, in cabinet, and in the civil service. Electoral systems can play an important rule in encouraging or requiring power sharing in the central legislature.

This model may involve some form of veto rights so that all the major groups in the country must agree on a policy, particularly if it involves constitutional changes or it affects the basic interests of the groups. Like federalism, this model has been successfully adopted in some Western states, such as the Netherlands, Austria, and Belgium. And it, too, has been promoted in Africa, with only limited success. The most obvious attempt to implement it, in Ruanda and Burundi, failed completely but it remains a topic of debate in other African countries including Liberia and Angola.

Proponents argue that it may help to provide a sense of security among the members of the various groups and help them develop some sense of identification with and loyalty to the state. It also eliminates the fear of secession which is often raised in federal systems, since groups are not given control over territory.

Relevant Quotes

* “Concerned with relations between an ethnic groups and the state or between two or more ethnic groups, is essentially amoral. This process, often called ‘political tribalism’, describes the competitive confrontation of ‘ethnic contenders’ for the material resources of modernity through control of the state apparatus. Here success is defined as maximizing the power and resources available to one’s own group, whatever the consequences for other groups or for the functioning of the state as a whole.” – Ethnicity and the Politics of Democratic Nation-Building in Africa, by Bruce Berman, Dickson Eyoh, and Will Kymlicka.

* “The groundswell of popular opposition to all totalitarian rule in the late 1980s and early 1990s was, for many a welcome sign of the re-animation of the agency of Africans to design for themselves more promising futures – futures that would be based on liberal politics and market economies. [emphasis added] This euphoria did not last long as successive electoral cycles re-affirmed the renaissance of clientalism and patronage as the dominant practice of African politics.” – Max Weber: An Intellectual Portrait, Reinhardt Benedix.

* “The development of ethnicity in African more than a century ago has been marked by dialectic of expansion and differentiation. Contemporary ethnicities are both much larger in social scale and population, and more shall be demarcated from other such groups, than the smaller and more fluid communities of the pre-colonial past. At the same time, African ethnic groups are univocal, and the concept of culture and custom as well as the boundaries of communities remain matters of frequent conflict and negotiation. The social forces shaping ethnic development and identity have been fundamentally material and ethnic politics has focused on defining the terms of access both to traditional assets of land and labour and the material resources of modernity in both the state and the market.” – Ethnicity and the Politics of Democratic Nation-Building in Africa, by Bruce Berman, Dickson Eyoh, and Will Kymlicka.

* “However constructed, transformed and instrumentalised politically, ethnicity is always or nearly always metaphoric kinship.” [emphasis added] – Ethnicity and the Politics of Democratic Nation-Building in Africa, by Bruce Berman, Dickson Eyoh, and Will Kymlicka.

The Proposal

Here follows what I have in mind regarding the existing ethnic federalism and the changes that should be made by the incumbent government. It is my conviction that, if a change is made to the current federal structure based on ethnicity, Ethiopia can smoothly sail the boat to catch up with the fast growing mid-level advanced countries or to usher in the 21st century.

I propose that the current 10 ethnically-based states be merged into 4 geographically-based states, namely Northern, Southern, Eastern, and Western states. The country should adopt the Canadian model which is a multi-ethnic and multi-lingual structure.

Boundaries are drawn by natural features of the landscape, such as mountains and rivers. This will allow the government to save money on civil service overhead. It does not favour any ethnic group over any other, and it brings people together. It promotes intermarriage and interaction between the ethnic groups. People will have equal rights regarding political affiliations, finding jobs, languages, and culture.

Regarding languages, although Ethiopia has never been colonized and had a language imposed, nevertheless English has become the second most popular language for business and the first for interacting with the outside world. So developing on this fact and the necessity to engage the people of Ethiopia with science and technological progress being made in the 21st century, it is high time that the government should adopt a new language policy which can bring English to number one in the coming few years. The current national language, Amharic, would become an official second language, and Oromifa would be recognized as the third national language. Following the Canadian example, all government documents would be issued in all three languages, legal systems would recognize and utilize all three languages in the courts. The official languages would also be used equally in advertising and packaging materials, road signs, schools, hospitals, and so on. The government should encourage people to learn all three languages by persuasion not coercion.

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About the Author:

Melaku Tegegne is a former Ethiopian journalist and diplomat, now a peace and democracy activist and can be reached at [email protected]. The URL for the author’s blog is: http://issues-in-focus.blogspot.com/

SIDEBAR

This is a call made to the President, Prime Minister, and Members of the Parliament of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia by me alone, without the involvement of any individual, group, or party.

Based on the statement made by the Prime Minister about this being a Renaissance Period, I came to the conclusion that a complete overhaul of the government and federal structure of the country is a matter of necessity, not luxury. The idea of having such a plan is aimed purely at promoting the concept of a multi-ethnic nation and to bring Ethiopia into the 21st century.

በ3ኛው አገር አቀፍ ምርጫ ቅንጅትን በመወከል ለህዝብ ተወካዮች ም/ቤት ያለፉትና በተመረጡበት ጎጃም ውስጥ ህዝቡን በማስተባበር ታዋቂ የሆኑት አቶ ይታየው ጥሩነህ ከእስር ለተፈቱት የቅንጅት አመራሮች በመወገን ሊቀሰቅሱ ይችላሉ በሚል የፈጠራ ክሶች እየቀረቡባቸው መሆኑን ለጉዳዩ ቅርበት ያላቸው ምንጮች ለዜና አገልግሎቱ ገለጹ፡፡

አመራሩ ከእስር ከመውጣቱ በፊት የገዢው ፓርቲ ካድሬዎች ቅንጅትን በመወከል ፓርላማ የገቡ ግለሰቦችን በማስፈራርያና በመደለያ ወደተለያዩ ቡድኖች እንዲቀላቀሉ ሲያደርጉ የቆዩ ሲሆን ተወካዩ የቀረቡላቸው የተለያዩ አንጃዎች የቅንጅቱን ተልእኮ ያነገቡ አይደሉም በሚል በገለልተኝነት የቆዩና አቋማቸውን በማሳወቅ በፓርላማው ውስጥ በድምጸ ተአቅቦ የተቀመጡ ሲሆን ከአመራሩ መፈታት በኋላ ለቅንጅቱ ይቀሰቅሳሉ በሚል የ16 አመት ታዳጊ ደፍረዋል የሚል የፈጠራ ክስ ተመስርቶባቸው ቆይተዋል፡፡ ይሁንና ተደፍራለች የተባለችው ወጣት ከዚህ ቀደም አግብታ የነበረች መሆኗን፤ በግለሰቡ ያለመደፈሯንና ጉዳዩ ፖለቲካዊ ጫወታ መሆኑን በመግለጽ ለተወካዮች ም/ቤት አፈ ጉባኤ ጽ/ቤት፤/ ወ/ሮ ነጻነት አስፋውን በግል በማነጋገር ጭምር ምርመራውን ለያዘው የቦሌ ክ/ከተማ ፖሊስ፤ ለሴቶች ጉዳይ ጽ/ቤትና ለመሳሰሉት ብታቀርብም ፖለቲካዊ ብትሩ ግን በግለሰቡ ላይ እስካሁን መቀጠሉን ምንጮቻችን ገልጸዋል፡፡

ተመራጩ በዛሬው እለት በፌዴራል ከፍተኛ ፍርድ ቤት 7ኛ ወንጀል ችሎት የቀረቡ ቢሆንም በሁኔታው ግራ የተጋቡት ዳኛና አቃቤ ህግ በወ/መ/ቁ 97439 ቁጥር 988/06/99 የተያዘውን የክስ መዝገብ ለሁለተኛ ግዜ ተጠቂ እስክትቀርብ በሚል ዘግተዋል፡፡

ሁኔታውን በጥልቀት የሚያውቁ የቅንጅቱ ቤተሰቦች በዛሬው እለት የታየውን ችሎት ለመታደም በልደታ ፍርድ ቤት መሰብሰብ የጀመሩት ከጠዋቱ 2፡00 ሰአት ጀምሮ ሲሆን አዳራሹ ስላልበቃ ውጤቱን ውጭ በመሆን ሲጠባበቁ ታይተዋል፡፡

JIJIGA, Ethiopia (AFP) — Ahmed Nour Abdi sighs heavily when asked to describe his futile attempts at mediation, a customary practice among elders in the restive Ogaden region of Ethiopia.

“The other side refused to meet us,” he says, referring to the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF, rebellion), with whom he planned to negotiate a peace deal. “We went as far away as London, Stockholm, Copenhagen, and Washington but nothing was achieved,” he adds.

Lying just 60 kilometers (37 miles) west of Somaliland, Jijiga thrives from cross-border trade with its neighbor, a self-declared independent region from Somalia, but has been unable to avoid a spate of sporadic violence that has rocked the Ogaden.

Through respected elders like Nour Abdi, the Ethiopian Woyanne government tribal junta claims to have made attempts to negotiate with the ONLF, but accuses them of flouting such pleas.

Formed two decades ago, the secessionist group has been carrying out a rebellion against the government Woyanne junta in response to what it asserts is systematic marginalisation by Addis Ababa. A massive clampdown was launched by the army following an ONLF attack on a Chinese-run oil venture that killed 77 people in March last year.

But despite government Woyanne claims of victory against the rebel group, hit-and-run attacks have been hard to curb throughout the region, and humanitarian aid has faced some slowdowns because of the military operations, according to the UN and humanitarian agencies.

In one of the latest attacks on January 17, “a bomb was thrown in a place where merchants and innocent people lived, two children got leg injuries,” says Haji Ali Gurez, an elder from one of the Ogaden’s biggest clans, the Jedwaq.

Police officials, traffic police and senior officials were among those who were often targetted last year.

“We have managed to destroy the ONLF in the bush, but some of the remnants manage to commit terror attacks in the city,” police chief Abdi Mohammed Omar admits. “Some of them hide among the population and it takes time to clean everything.”

The UN agencies have charged that the military operations in Ogaden have hampered food distribution to displaced people, estimated at more than 650,000 in the Somali region, and “endangered the food security” there.

The government Woyanne on January 10 rejected this, saying that the UN agencies’ statement was “an exaggerated story, (…) it should be realised that there does not exist any chronic shortage of food in the Ogaden region”.

Recently, Ethiopia Woyanne expelled two international aid agencies from the region, prompting fears that a major humanitarian crisis was about to unfold in the strife-torn region.

The International Red Cross and Red Crescent (ICRC) and Doctors Without Borders Belgium (Medecins Sans Frontiers Belgium, MSF) were both barred for allegedly aiding the rebels.

“They (ICRC) provided satellite phones to anti-peace elements in the bush. They were even giving them access to their vehicles and information about the whereabouts of regional officials,” said regional president Abdullahi Hassan, who himself survived an assassination attempt during a rally last year.

But aid has now resumed through UN and Ethiopian Woyanne state agencies. By early this month, almost 17,000 tonnes of relief food had been delivered by the government to the five zones under military operation.

Despite delays due to shortage of military escorts in some areas, the feared major food crisis seems to have been held off.

The government also hopes to reap benefits from the region’s untapped resources, notably oil and gas reserves, as well as water resources.

Multi-million dollar schemes on water facilities are well underway, albeit heavily guarded by rifle-brandishing soldiers.

But for most Ogadenis, one thing dominates above all.

“Food does come these days,” says a street vendor in the neighboring region of Degahabur. “But peace is what we need.”

By Scott A Morgan

Despite various Efforts of Mediation the situation within Kenya continues to Decline. Since the outbreak of violence days after the Highly Controversial Elections on December 27th at least 800 people have perished and thousands have been forced to flee their home after ethnically motivated violence began. What was considered by many people a beacon of stability in a very unstable region began to teeter.

Kenya is a key ally of the United States in the War on Terror. It borders Somalia which happens to be one of the key battlegrounds in the current War on Terror. It is a crucial regional player as well. A recent report indicated that one-third of the GDP of Burundi and one quarter of the GDPs of both Rwanda and Uganda move through Kenya. Uganda has reportedly sent Militias and Troops to its border with Kenya for “Security Purposes”. There have been reports that Ugandan Militias are in Kenya attempting to restore order.

So know lets go to the most important question right now which is What is the United States going to do? It has sent its best African Diplomat Under Secretary of State Frazier to Nairobi to attempt to broker talks between the Controversially Re-elected President Kibaki and the Losing Opposition Candidate Mr. Odinga. This attempt failed but a subsequent attempt by former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan was fruitful in bringing about a meeting. Current President Hopeful Senator Barack Obama a Democrat from Illinois has worked the phones as well trying to broker a deal. His Father is a member of the same tribe as Mr. Odinga

Another Key Question that has not been answered concerns the International Republican Institute. This Organization which receives funding from the US Congress is holding back the results of an exit poll from the Kenyan Elections. The IRI was one of the many International Electoral Monitors observing the Elections and reportedly their poll has Mr. Odinga winning the Elections. The IRI has a page on its website devoted to Kenya and in a Press Release it announced that it will release the Poll at an Appropiate Time.

The Answer to that question may be closer than we think. On Jan. 25th A Bill was introduced in the US Senate by Senator Russ Feingold (D-WI) and Senator John Sununu (R-NH) will if it is passed have the US to make several Concrete Steps when it comes to the Kenyan Crisis. First the bill will urge the President to support all efforts to bring about a dialogue to end the impasse and hopefully resolve the situation without anymore bloodshed.

There are other provisions in this bill as well that will garner some interest. First of all it will propose some strict measures against members of the ruling PNU and the Opposition ODM. The proposed Punishments include Freezing of Assets of both Parties, Travel Bans and restricting all-non essential Aid from the US until a Peaceful Dialogue resolves the impasse in a Peaceful Fashion. This measure has generated bipartisan support with co-sponsors including Senator Obama, Norm Coleman of Minnesota, Hillary Clinton of New York, Joe Biden from Delaware and Sam Brownback from Kansas.

Currently the Bill which now stands in the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on Africa could see some rapid Movement if the situation further escalates. At this time there are no reports of the House of Representatives having any similar Legislation in the works but hopefully the other Legislative Body in the United States will take similar action and demand that the President call upon a Peaceful Resoluton of the Crisis and restoration of both Freedom of the Press and Freedom of Assembly in Kenya.

Lets Hope that this bill passes muster and the US extends goodwill to a suffering nation.

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The Author publishes Confused Eagle on the Internet (morganrights.tripod.com) and is a Contributing Editor to the American Chronicle.

በምስራቅ ሸዋ ዞን ዝዋይ ከተማ ቀበሌ 02 የሚኖሩና በንግድ ስራ የሚተዳደሩ አራት የቤተሰብ አባላት በሚያዝያ ለሚካሄደው ምርጫ ካርድ አንወስድም በማለታቸው በታጣቂዎች ተወስደው መታሰራቸውን ሪፖርተራችን ከስፍራው ዘገበ፡፡

ወራት የቀሩትና ተመዝጋቢ በማጣት እስከቀጣዩ ወር መጀመርያ የተራዘመውን የመራጮች ምዝገባ ለመቀስቀስ በየቤቱ መዞር የጀመሩት የዝዋይ ከተማ የምርጫ አስተባባሪዎች በየቤቱ በመዞር ነዋሪዎቹ የመምረጫ ካርድ መውሰዳቸውን መጠየቅ የጀመሩት ባለፈው ሳምንት መጀመርያ ላይ መሆኑን ዘገባው ያመለከተ ሲሆን ትናንት ማምሻው ላይ በተለመደው ተግባር ላይ ተሰማርተው ማስፈራርያ የተሞላባቸው መጠይቆችን ሲያደርጉ በ02 ቀበሌ ጅንአድ ጀርባ የሚኖሩትና በንግድ ስራ ላይ የተሰማሩት አቶ ግዛው አበጋዝ የምርጫ ካርድ ያለመውሰድ መብት አለኝ በማለት ባነሱት የመብት ጥያቄ በተፈጠረ ውዝግብ ከሁለት ልጆቻቸውና በግሮሰሪያቸው ውስጥ ከሚረዳቸው ዘመዳቸው ጋር ወደ ፖሊስ ጣቢያ ተወስደው እስከዛሬ ከሰአት በኋላ ከቆዩ በኋላ በዋስ ተለቀዋል፡፡

የቅንጅት ተወዳዳሪዎች በምርጫ 97 ወቅት ባሳዩት ከፍተኛ ተሳትፎ ለምርጫው ልዩ ተነሳሽነት አሳይቶ የነበረው መራጭ ህዝብ ሂደቱ ባልታሰበ መንገድ ተደነቃቅፎ ከቀረ በኋላና በተለይም የዝዋይ ህዝብ በመረጣቸው የቅንጅቱ ተወካይ ፋንታ ኦህዴድን ወክለው የተወዳደሩት ግለሰብ በማጭበርበር ለህዝብ ተወካዮች ም/ቤት ካለፉ በኋላ ቀጣዩ የማሟያ ምርጫ ትኩረት መሳብ እንዳልቻለ የከተማዋን ነዋሪዎች አስተያየት ዋቢ ያደረገው ዘገባ ያመለክታል፡፡

በከተማዋ ኦህዴድን በመወከል የተወዳደሩትና በከፍተኛ የድምጽ ልዩነት የተሸነፉት የዝዋይ ከፍተኛ 2ኛ ደረጃ ት/ቤት ም/ር/መምህር የሆኑት አቶ ሚሊዮን ጋረደው ብሩ የሚባሉ ግለሰብ እንደሆኑ ከትናንቱ አሳፋሪ ክስተት በኋላ ዘጋቢያችን ያነጋገራቸው ነዋሪዎች የጠቆሙ ሲሆኑ ቅንጅቱን በመወከል ያሸነፉት ተወዳዳሪ እንዲሸማቀቁ የሚያደርጉ ጫናዎች ሲደረጉባቸው እንደከረሙ ተገልጧል፡፡