Meseret Defar wins gold in 5,000m, Osaka, Japan, Sep 1, 2007

A group of exiled leaders of Ethiopian trade unions respond to a recent article by former chairman of the Confederation of Ethiopian Workers Associations, Ato Dawey Ibrahim.

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OSAKA, Japan (AFP) — Ethiopia’s Olympic champion Meseret Defar timed her run to perfection to win her first world title in the women’s 5,000 metres on Saturday.

The world record holder stalked the front runner for most of the race before sprinting away with 200 metres to go, finishing in a slow 14 minutes 57.91 seconds.

Vivian Cheruiyot took silver in 14:58.50 with team-mate Priscah Jepleting Cherono winning the all-Kenyan dash for bronze in 14:59.21.

The 23-year-old Defar, who set the world record 14:16.63 just two months ago, was the hot favourite in a race missing Ethiopia’s two-time defending champion Tirunesh Dibaba through injury.

And the double African Games champion, who took silver behind Dibaba in 2005, showed her class as she tracked the front-runner all the way before bursting free at the last lap.

Cheruiyot, who owns the second fastest 5,000m in history, tried to go with her as the tightly bunched field finally opened up.

Kenya’s Sylvia Jebiwott Kibet finished fourth with Turkey’s 10,000m silver medallist Elvan Abeylegesse, a former world record holder over this distance, fifth.

Defar’s long-standing rival Dibaba pulled out of the race citing stomach problems, depriving fans of one of the world championships’ most hotly awaited showdowns.

Dibaba, who had successfully defended her 10,000m title, is a double world champion over 5,000m and her races with Defar are legendary.

Last year Defar beat Dibaba in Berlin to cut significantly her share of the Golden League jackpot, increasing reported tensions between them.

Defar beat Dibaba into third place when she took the Athens Olympic title and she has lowered the world record twice in the past two seasons, most recently in Oslo this June.

Ethiopians swept the board at the last world championships, with Dibaba, Defar, Dibaba’s sister Ejagayou and Meselech Melkamu finishing one, two, three and four in Helsinki.

Cheruiyot’s silver, heading a Kenyan two, three, four, improved on her seventh-place finish in 2005.

በአዲስ አበባ እና በክልል ከተሞች የመንግሥት መስሪያ ቤቶች ለሚሰሩ ሰራተኞች ከ37-38 በመቶ የደሞዝ ጭማሪ ይደረጋል ሲል የገንዘብና ኢኮኖሚ ልማት ሚኒስቴር አስታወቀ፡፡

ባለፉት ሁለት ዓመታት በኢትዮጵያ በታየው ከፍተኛ የኑሮ ውድነት ከተወሰኑት በስተቀር ሁሉንም ሕዝብ የጎዳ ነበር፡፡ በተለይ አነስተኛ የኑሮ ደረጃ ላይ ያለውን የህብረተሰብ ክፍል፡፡ በተለያየ መንገድ የኑሮ ውድነቱ የሚቀንስበትን መንገድ መንግሥት እንዲያስተካክል ጥረት ቢደረግም “ለኑሮ ውድነቱ መባባስ ምክንያት እድገት ነው” እየተባለ ያለምንም መፍትሄ ሕዝቡ አሁንም በኑሮ ውድነት እየተሰቃየ ይገኛል፡፡

በዛሬው ዕለት የገንዘብና ኢኮኖሚ ልማት ሚኒስትሩ አቶ ሶፊያን አህመድ ለጋዜጠኞች እንደገለፁት የኑሮ ውድነቱን ለማረጋጋት ለመንግሥት ሰራተኞች የደሞዝ ጭማሪ ይደረጋል ብለዋል፡፡ ለሚደረገው የደሞዝ ጭማሪም ለ2000 ዓ.ም 1.8 ቢሊዮን ብር ተመድቧል፣ ከዚህ ውስጥ 1.3 ቢሊዮን ብር ለክልሎች የተመደበ ሲሆን 500 ሚሊዮን ብር ለአዲስ አበባ ከተማ ነዋሪ የመንግሥት ሰራተኞች መመደቡን ነው፡፡

እንደሚኒስትሩ ገለፃም ለአንድ የመንግሥት ሰራተኛ ደሞዝ ተከፋይ ከ37-38 በመቶ የደሞዝ ጭማሪ ይደረጋል፡፡ ይህም ከመስከረም ወር ጀምሮ ተግባራዊ እንደሚደረግ ነው፡፡

የኑሮ ውድነቱ ሳይባባስ በፊት የደሞዝ ጭማሪ እንዲደረግ ግፊት ሲደረግ የነበረ ቢሆንም መለስ ዜናዊ “የደሞዝ ጭማሪ መፍትሄ አይሆንም” ሲሉ ጠንካራ አቋሟቸውን ሲገልፁ እንደነበር ይታወሳል፡፡ ለኑሮ ውድነቱም አሳማኝ ያልሆኑ ምክንያቶችን ሲደረድሩ ቆይተዋል፡፡

አንዳንድ ኢኮኖሚስቶች እንደሚሉት አሁንም ቢሆን በተደረገው የደሞዝ ጭማሪ የኑሮ ውድነቱ ሊረጋጋ እንደማይችል ነው፡፡ የዋጋ ንረቱና የተጨመረው ደሞዝ በፍፁም አይመጣጠንም፡፡ በሌላ በኩል ደግሞ ከመንግሥት ሰራተኛው ውጭ ኑሮውን ለመደጎም ሌላ አማራጮችን እየተጠቀመ ደፋ ቀና የሚል በርካታ ህዝብ በመኖሩ ነው ይላሉ፡፡

መንግሥት ከምርጫው ጋር በተያያዘ የአዲስ አበባን ሕዝብ ለመበቀል በመፈለጉ ሆን ተብሎ በተቀነባበረ ዘዴ ዋጋ እንዲንር ተደርጓል፡፡ ከዛም ለሕዝቡ የተጨነቀ በሚመስል ስሜት መፍትሄ ያልሆነ ግን መፍትሄ የሚመስል ነገር ይዞ እዛም እዛም ይላል የሚሉ አስተያየት ሰጪዎችም አሉ፡፡ ወደዚህም ተባለ ወደዚያ ዋናውና ትልቁ ነገር መካከለኛና አነስተኛ ገቢ ያለው የኢትዮጵያ ህዝብ ኑሮው ከብዶታል እጅግም ተወዶበታል፡፡ በዚህ አቅጣጫ ከቀጠለም ደሐ፣ መካከለኛና ሐብታም ተብሎ በሶስት የተከፈለውን አኗኗር የኑሮ ውድነቱ በሁለት እንደሚከፍለው ነው፡፡ ሐብታምና ደሐ በሚል፣ መካከለኛ የኑሮ ደረጃ ላይ ያለው ይጠፋል ይላሉ ኢኮኖሚስቶቹ፡፡ የተደረገው የደሞዝ ጭማሪ ለህዝቡ መፍትሄ ሊሰጠው እንደሚችልና እንደማይችል የመመልከቻው ግዜ ሩቅ እንደማይሆንም አስተያየት ሰጪዎቹ ጠቁመዋል፡፡

The Washington DC Debre Selam Kidist Mariam Church’s (DSKM) board has  sent a letter  to officials of the Kidist Mariam Idir informing them that their church membership has been revoked and that they are prohibited from coming to the church any more.

The incoherent letter states that if the Idir officials come to the church, the board will take “police action” to remove them. Is Agazi on stand-by, too?

After consulting with their lawyer, the Idir officials, who are upstanding members of the church, have said that the board does not have the authority to ban them and that they will go to the church on Sunday and assert their right to be there. If the board carries out its threat and tries to forcibly remove them, then they will immediately go to court and fight for their right.

The DSKM board members have become unabashed servants of Aba Gebre-Medhin, the Woyanne-installed patriarch in Addis Ababa. It is therefore not surprising that they resort to crude threats and ‘police action.’

This matter also poses a challenge to the Ethiopian community in the Washington DC area. Are we to allow Frew Bulbula, Abebe Aboye and the other agents of Tagay Gebre Medhin to strip the rights of our brothers here in the United States of America where rule of law prevails? Isn’t enough that Aba Gebre Medhin and his Woyanne thugs brutalize our people back home?

These three individuals — Seyoum Garedew, Tadelle Gebre-Wold, and Solomon Bedasso — are conscientious Ethiopians. All three of them have nothing to gain personally from the Idir. They could have kept quite and save themselves from all this. The only reason the DSKM board is persecuting them is that they are vocal opponents of the board’s decision to hand over the church to Tagay Gebre Medhin and their attempt to save the 400-member Idir from being taken over as well.

The Ethiopian community in the Washington DC area needs to come to the side of these brave Ethiopians who said NO to Aba Diabilos and his agents. On Sunday, let’s join our brave brothers and stand with them.  

Read the DKSM board’s outrageous letter here.

The Washington DC Debre Selam Kidist Mariam Church’s (DSKM) board has  sent a letter  to officials of the Kidist Mariam Idir informing them that their church membership has been revoked and that they are prohibited from coming to the church any more.

The incoherent letter states that if the Idir officials come to the church, the board will take “police action” to remove them. Is Agazi on stand-by, too?

After consulting with their lawyer, the Idir officials, who are upstanding members of the church, have said that the board does not have the authority to ban them and that they will go to the church on Sunday and assert their right to be there. If the board carries out its threat and tries to forcibly remove them, then they will immediately go to court and fight for their right.

The DSKM board members have become unabashed servants of Aba Gebre-Medhin, the Woyanne-installed patriarch in Addis Ababa. It is therefore not surprising that they resort to crude threats and ‘police action.’

This matter also poses a challenge to the Ethiopian community in the Washington DC area. Are we to allow Frew Bulbula, Abebe Aboye and the other agents of Tagay Gebre Medhin to strip the rights of our brothers here in the United States of America where rule of law prevails? Isn’t enough that Aba Gebre Medhin and his Woyanne thugs brutalize our people back home?

These three individuals — Seyoum Garedew, Tadelle Gebre-Wold, and Solomon Bedasso — are conscientious Ethiopians. All three of them have nothing to gain personally from the Idir. They could have kept quite and save themselves from all this. The only reason the DSKM board is persecuting them is that they are vocal opponents of the board’s decision to hand over the church to Tagay Gebre Medhin and their attempt to save the 400-member Idir from being taken over as well.

The Ethiopian community in the Washington DC area needs to come to the side of these brave Ethiopians who said NO to Aba Diabilos and his agents. On Sunday, let’s join our brave brothers and stand with them.  

Read the DKSM board’s outrageous letter here.