A group of Ethiopian political, civic, and media groups, as well as civil rights activists and religious leaders are holding weekly conferences to discuss how to receive the Ethiopian millennium (Ethiopia 2000) this coming September.
So far, the group has held seven meetings and decided to call on Ethiopians and friends of Ethiopia around the world not to travel to Ethiopia and participate in events organized by the Woyanne dictatorship. The group is also discussing about facilitating a world-wide week of protests in the days leading up to September 11 (Meskerem 1), 2007.
Several Ethiopian organizations are currently organizing millennium events in Washington DC and other cities around the world.
The event that is being organized in Washington DC by a coalition of several groups is expected to draw close 100,000 Ethiopians through out North America. The major part of the Washington DC event is a large protest march that demands the release of political prisoners in Ethiopia and respect for democratic rights.
The civic and political groups conference invites all Ethiopians around the world to be part of the planned pro-democracy campaign during the Ethiopian millennium.
Most Ethiopians, particularly the hardline Nationalists, hold the perception that Eritrea is still conspiring with the woyanne regime against the interests of Ethiopia. They believe that even the bloody border conflict between the two countries is an attempt by their incumbent leaders to deceive the Ethiopian people and the international community and is designed to tighten their grip on power in their respective countries.
Evidences on the ground seemed to have validated this perception until the year 2000, as the leadership of both countries had been trying to consolidate power by eradicating those who oppose their rule.
However, Woyannes Economic sanction on Eritrea, the border conflict, and the events in the aftermath of the conflict, not to mention events in Somalia, has brought a major shift in the relationship between the two countries’ leaders.
With the withdrawal of Eritrea’s support to the TPLF regime, the leaders of TPLF have been concerned with their relations with Eritrea, hoping that it work out in the end, despite the firmness of the Eritrean position.
This has led the TPLF to switch their strategies between normalizing relations with Eritrea with or without the EPLF, while continuing to assert themselves militarily to consolidate power in Ethiopia and avert any possible danger from Eritrea or elsewhere.
This, in my view, is contrary to the dominant perception among most Ethiopians that views both governments as working together, and needs to be changed if things on the ground are to change. I believe that after the last May election in Ethiopia, strategizing opposition struggle demands the opposition to change its unwarranted perception and think in terms of forming alliance with Eritrea that could work to the long-term interests of both countries.
The writer believes that a negotiated alliance of opposition with Eritrea is a key in the struggle for democracy in Ethiopia and peace and prosperity in Eritrea. This requires a rethinking of existing relations with Eritrea.
The TPLF Dominance in Today’s Ethiopia
There is no doubting to the fact that the TPLF established itself as a major force to reckon with, both as a national and regional force, in the eastern part of Africa. How did this happen? What contributions did domestic and international factors made to this reality? I do not dare to delve into the series of historical events that led to this event, as it is not the main topic of this article. But, the fact is TPLF emerged and updated itself as a regional force from its gorilla status. Existing trends are indicative of this dominance.
The TPLF has managed to establish its own puppet government in Ethiopia for the last sixteen years and is determined to continue to do so in the absence of any major unfragmented opposition.
The woyannes are now almost in control of all the national and regional institutions of social, economic and political structures. The TPLF cadres are in control of all key government posts in Ethiopia and have well established themselves in the federal government. They have political cadres in all the regions to watch regional colleagues behave exactly as they are programmed. They do this with the help of a well-crafted incentive system which makes regional bosses bow to the will of their TPLF masters in Addis Ababa.
The TPLF policy of patronization is key to its dominance in Ethiopia. The idea of getting political support in exchange for money or other benefits is not seen as corruption by the regime. The creation of patrons who are willing to support the regime politically in exchange for resources is a means to implement the revolutionary democracy of Zenawi in all the regions of the country. Many are willing to be patronized because of poverty in Ethiopia.
The woyannes have made good neighbors at a huge cost of Ethiopia and Ethiopians. The TPLF policy with Ethiopia’s neighbors has always been one of “let us be at peace what ever it takes.” This is primarily aimed at denying any possible safe haven to potential armed opposition in neighboring countries. The so-called border commissions and border trade relations with Kenya and the Sudan are designed to serve this objective. Obviously, this is something a nationalist democratic government is not willing and able to do.
A Weak opposition: why?
Despite the TPLF hegemony in Ethiopia, the opposition remains very weak and fragmented lacking unity of purpose. It has been made so by the well-crafted policies and deceptive diplomatic efforts of the regime.
The absence of leveled political playing field is one of the many causes contributing to the weakness of the opposition in Ethiopia. The Regime’s game of political opposition is based on the idea of loyal political opposition in which opposition political parties are expected to think and act within the framework of the woyanne constitution. Any independent thinking outside this framework is treated as being a traitor and criminal.
The regime uses elimination policy to kill the opposition leaders. In fact, intimidating, imprisoning and killing leaders who dissented is a major strategy for weakening the opposition. Capable leaders who take initiative to enlighten and organize people are always marked for detention and torture. Many leaders suffered this way even long before kinijit leaders come into the political scene.
Weakening the opposition is also meant to legitimize TPLF rule in the pretext of a weak opposition that cannot run the country even if it is given the chance to take power. Meles and his colleagues has always used this phrase to misinform their friends abroad, as if they are the ones who got certification from the Gorilla school in the jungle making them the best leaders of the nation playing by the rules they learned in the jungle.
I also believe that the opposition weaked itself. The Ethiopian opposition forces allowed themselves to be divided by their own making and by the enemy tactics. Most opposition members even today failed to agree on a common national agenda. Even worse, they let their differences remain even when their people are suffering from dictatorship. Their internal weakness opened the door for their common enemy to further subdivide them. They are weak because they still fail to realize the fact that it is their unity the enemy fears most, not how many men they have on the ground or how many supporters they have in the west. The call for meaningful unity is still unheaded or arrogantly ignored.
Misperception on Current Ethiopia-Eritrea Relations: Reality check?
Some Ethiopians still think that woyanne and the eritrean leadership are still working together and conspiring against the Ethiopian people. I, a strong nationalist, am of the view that this requires some degree of reality check.
I believe that there is a strategic gap between TPLF and EPLF since the border conflict broke or probably dating back to the times of the gorilla struggle. Contrary to popular perception, the events of at least the past six years indicate the strategic gap between woyanne leadership and the eritrean leadership. I call it strategic because it is related to the long-term interests of woyanne and Eritrea.
From the Eritrean side, while this had been the case up until the border conflict in the year 2000, it is no longer so. The events following the conflict severed the strategic link between the two dominant powers in the eastern part of Africa. The conflict led to massive human, material and financial losses on both sides. The bloody war cancelled the generation long ties and grew antagonism between the two powers.
From the TPLF side, though, all hope is not lost. TPLF leaders still see their future with Eritrea. Their long-term strategic goal of achieving independence for their tigray region, they think, can best be achieved with the help of Eritrea. The TPLF policy on Eritrea is one of tolerance and defensiveness until recently. Even, the strong stand of the eritrean leadership on tigray secession did not seem to have deterred them from seeking strategic alliance with Eritreans, to say the least. The normalization agenda and mediation through a third party are all tactics for restoring relations with Eritrea as a means to a strategic goal of full independence.
The Eritrean leaders have made it clear that they do not want to see independent Tigray, lest it would mean a lot of things including insecurity for the port of Assab and a threat for the territorial integrity of Eritrea.
However, the TPLF leadership seemed to have lost patience in recent times due to the perceived way the Eritreans act despite the former tolerance towards Eritrea. As a result, the language and rhetoric of normalization seem to have given way to a “Regime change” in Asmara that would enable them to continue with the strategic relationship with the future Eritrea without the EPLF. The effort of some TPLF cadres to work together with some Eritreans, both inside and outside, is a strategy to isolate the leadership in Asmara from its people. As such, it is not a sign of “working together” at the leadership level as most Ethiopians would like to believe. Whether the independence and regime change agendas are feasible options for TPLF leaders, only time will tell.
The Derg Era: Woyanne Alliance with the EPLF
Who could have thought alliance with Eritrea, at a time when all Ethiopians believed Eritrea did not have to break away from Ethiopia, is a key strategy for defeating the Derg Regime, a common enemy, and gain control of power in Ethiopian state? Eritrean strategy does not surprise me because it is precisely this strategy that could secure their independence, that without a proxy control of power in Ethiopia, secession would be practically impossible.
What I think a creative strategy is the one TPLF used to snatch power from the Ethiopian state that has long been the vangard of the nation of Ethiopia. I do not want to mention the stupidity of Derg leaders in acting rigidly, not creatively, to the eritrean question. The woyannes of Tigray thought the unthinkable and did the unexpected to achieve their objective of controlling power in Ethiopia. I believe this gives a lesson to opposition in Ethiopia in terms of strategizing opposition struggle. I believe the kinijit leadership in the USA has made a smart move along those lines which needs to be appreciated and build up on in the future.
The TPLF Aspiration of Independence for its Tigray Region
Despite its grip on power in the state and government of Ethiopia, TPLF leaders has not so far abandoned their paranoid and unrealistic ambition of independent Tigray. They did not even change their TPLF name while forcing other member parties in Ethiopia to change theirs.
Zenawi and his friends are still desirous of librating Tigray from the mainstream Ethiopian land. They made all regional states in Ethiopia to have their own constitution and flags. Their own constitution in Tigray indicates that Tigray people will remain in the unitary government as long as they retain their dominance in Ethiopian politics and state in the name of peace and democracy. Zenawi hinted this in his recent “secret document” circulated among the TPLF leaders in which he spoke of “self-reliant Tigray in the new millennium.”
They have incorporated this aspiration in the Ethiopian constitution and are waiting for their first opportunity, which hasn’t come yet. They see the independence struggle of the OLF and ONLF as a premature move that cannot be granted at this time. To me, the article that allows independence from Ethiopia is the “ let us secede together when TPLF want it” agenda that is planned to be realized after the homework is done: fuelling, instigating and masterminding hatred, tension and conflict among the Ethiopian nations and nationalities to force them decide in favor of secession.
Fortunately, this move has suffered a major setback. The Eritreans has taken a firm stand on the independence of tigray. The Eritreans has already made it clear that they do not like to see independent tigray, and that they want to work with a unitary government of any sort short of woyanne in Ethiopia. The problem they have is the mistrust towards Ethiopian people; especially conservative Ethiopians who does not want to accept the reality of independent and UN accepted country. Sorry, but that is the reality and the bitter pill we need to swallow. Historical mistakes on the part of Ethiopian leaders created this reality. We cannot correct this, however wishful we might be. We can only correct it through peaceful means through dialogue and mutual acceptance and thrust, which will be the core foreign policy agenda of the future government and state of Ethiopia.
The So-called Peaceful Struggle: What did it achieve?
It has always been the deceptive tactic of the TPLF that opposition politics is always framed in the name of peaceful struggle which aims at blocking any thinking and effort towards alternative form of struggling in Ethiopia. The peaceful struggle framework is still the overriding agenda and helped the regime to intimidate and chain opposition hands even when TPLF wants to strike supporters of opposition. Woyannes do not like to see any gun or a resort to gun on any one, especially in opposition hands. When that occurs, they are ready to negotiate. That is exactly where their weakness lies and that is when they start to shake to their knees, and ready to negotiate.
We should ask ourselves, where did the so-called “ Peaceful struggle” led us? The big question that the peaceful struggle has so far failed to answer is, can a peaceful struggle bring about democratic governance in a country characterized by 3000 years of tyranny?
The peaceful struggle has only led to the massacre of innocent civilians including the future leaders of Ethiopia who were not willing to bow to the idol of hatred and revolutionary democracy in Ethiopia. It led to the mass arrests and torture of Ethiopians. It misled our fathers and brothers who are well trained to serve their beloved people and country. It seduced them to work with a schizophrenic enemy to their suffering.
The events of the May 2005 election teaches us that we need to open our eyes to alternative forms of struggling without which the peaceful struggle does not bring the results we want in the shortest possible time.
So, the big question remains, are we going to repeat the mistakes of the past and let woyanne cheat us into believing that there is still a chance for a peaceful transition of power in Ethiopia through democratic means? If we do that, history would prove us wrong. We cannot topple a tyrant through peaceful, democratic means alone.
Room for a Negotiated Agreement
As things stand now, I do not agree with the conspiracy theory when it comes to relations with Woyanne and Eritrea. But, I do believe that Ethiopia and Eritrea need each other to fully develop in a short time.
I still believe that there is room for negotiation between Ethiopian opposition and the leadership in Eritrea for the common good. Issues like economic relations or benefits, access to the sea, normalization of relations, etc can be made if there is a political will on both sides. Both Ethiopians and Eritreans should cease to see each other as enemies. We were on the same boat and we can lead Africans together on the sustainable path of development. This is what the 21stcentury demands from both of us. The Ethiopian opposition should have this vision and attitude. So do Eritreans and their allies.
The perception that woyannes and the EPLF are on the same boat emanates from the conspiracy theory. In my opinion, this is not the case any longer. That is why we need to work together with our eritrean brothers to eradicate the woyanne monster from east Africa to avoid the threat to our survival. We should take lessons from its madness and brutality that is being committed against innocent Somali civilians in the name of fighting Islamists and terrorists. If we fail to act now, there is no guarantee why the same thing cannot be applied on the peoples of Ethiopia and Eritrea tomorrow.
Conclusion
The Bible tells us that when God wants to rescue His people, He raises warriors to challenge and defeat the enemy of the people. It is time for Ethiopians, irrespective of whether we are Protestants, Catholics or orthodox, Moslems, to pray to God so that men of Valor like Gedion and Samson would raise their hands against the enemy.
When the enemy is merciless, so does the wrath of God. The Woyannes have repeatedly shown their unforgiving attitude even when they have every thing under their control. Their sub-conscious is sick and wounded, and they refused to get treated and healed. Their wound and hatred is still fresh in their mind since their time in the bush. They persistently refused to forgive the Ethiopian people, let alone those who wronged them. That is why we need to rise up in unison to pray and challenge the politics of hatred and exclusion before it destroys all of us.
At the same time, it is important to seek peace and promote reconciliation with Eritrea and its allies, both at opposition level and at population level, for the common good of both Ethiopians and Eritreans. I believe that it is only through peaceful means that one can get what it wants from the other. There is a lot that we can exchange between the two countries if there is a way to communicate and build trust among our peoples and nations. This is God’s way of making peace and reconciliation that has long inflicted both of us. This is the way to mutual blessing and peace. This is God’s will for the peoples of Ethiopia and Eritrea.
Most Ethiopians, particularly the hardline Nationalists, hold the perception that Eritrea is still conspiring with the woyanne regime against the interests of Ethiopia. They believe that even the bloody border conflict between the two countries is an attempt by their incumbent leaders to deceive the Ethiopian people and the international community and is designed to tighten their grip on power in their respective countries.
Evidences on the ground seemed to have validated this perception until the year 2000, as the leadership of both countries had been trying to consolidate power by eradicating those who oppose their rule.
However, Woyannes Economic sanction on Eritrea, the border conflict, and the events in the aftermath of the conflict, not to mention events in Somalia, has brought a major shift in the relationship between the two countries’ leaders.
With the withdrawal of Eritrea’s support to the TPLF regime, the leaders of TPLF have been concerned with their relations with Eritrea, hoping that it work out in the end, despite the firmness of the Eritrean position.
This has led the TPLF to switch their strategies between normalizing relations with Eritrea with or without the EPLF, while continuing to assert themselves militarily to consolidate power in Ethiopia and avert any possible danger from Eritrea or elsewhere.
This, in my view, is contrary to the dominant perception among most Ethiopians that views both governments as working together, and needs to be changed if things on the ground are to change. I believe that after the last May election in Ethiopia, strategizing opposition struggle demands the opposition to change its unwarranted perception and think in terms of forming alliance with Eritrea that could work to the long-term interests of both countries.
The writer believes that a negotiated alliance of opposition with Eritrea is a key in the struggle for democracy in Ethiopia and peace and prosperity in Eritrea. This requires a rethinking of existing relations with Eritrea.
The TPLF Dominance in Today’s Ethiopia
There is no doubting to the fact that the TPLF established itself as a major force to reckon with, both as a national and regional force, in the eastern part of Africa. How did this happen? What contributions did domestic and international factors made to this reality? I do not dare to delve into the series of historical events that led to this event, as it is not the main topic of this article. But, the fact is TPLF emerged and updated itself as a regional force from its gorilla status. Existing trends are indicative of this dominance.
The TPLF has managed to establish its own puppet government in Ethiopia for the last sixteen years and is determined to continue to do so in the absence of any major unfragmented opposition.
The woyannes are now almost in control of all the national and regional institutions of social, economic and political structures. The TPLF cadres are in control of all key government posts in Ethiopia and have well established themselves in the federal government. They have political cadres in all the regions to watch regional colleagues behave exactly as they are programmed. They do this with the help of a well-crafted incentive system which makes regional bosses bow to the will of their TPLF masters in Addis Ababa.
The TPLF policy of patronization is key to its dominance in Ethiopia. The idea of getting political support in exchange for money or other benefits is not seen as corruption by the regime. The creation of patrons who are willing to support the regime politically in exchange for resources is a means to implement the revolutionary democracy of Zenawi in all the regions of the country. Many are willing to be patronized because of poverty in Ethiopia.
The woyannes have made good neighbors at a huge cost of Ethiopia and Ethiopians. The TPLF policy with Ethiopia’s neighbors has always been one of “let us be at peace what ever it takes.” This is primarily aimed at denying any possible safe haven to potential armed opposition in neighboring countries. The so-called border commissions and border trade relations with Kenya and the Sudan are designed to serve this objective. Obviously, this is something a nationalist democratic government is not willing and able to do.
A Weak opposition: why?
Despite the TPLF hegemony in Ethiopia, the opposition remains very weak and fragmented lacking unity of purpose. It has been made so by the well-crafted policies and deceptive diplomatic efforts of the regime.
The absence of leveled political playing field is one of the many causes contributing to the weakness of the opposition in Ethiopia. The Regime’s game of political opposition is based on the idea of loyal political opposition in which opposition political parties are expected to think and act within the framework of the woyanne constitution. Any independent thinking outside this framework is treated as being a traitor and criminal.
The regime uses elimination policy to kill the opposition leaders. In fact, intimidating, imprisoning and killing leaders who dissented is a major strategy for weakening the opposition. Capable leaders who take initiative to enlighten and organize people are always marked for detention and torture. Many leaders suffered this way even long before kinijit leaders come into the political scene.
Weakening the opposition is also meant to legitimize TPLF rule in the pretext of a weak opposition that cannot run the country even if it is given the chance to take power. Meles and his colleagues has always used this phrase to misinform their friends abroad, as if they are the ones who got certification from the Gorilla school in the jungle making them the best leaders of the nation playing by the rules they learned in the jungle.
I also believe that the opposition weaked itself. The Ethiopian opposition forces allowed themselves to be divided by their own making and by the enemy tactics. Most opposition members even today failed to agree on a common national agenda. Even worse, they let their differences remain even when their people are suffering from dictatorship. Their internal weakness opened the door for their common enemy to further subdivide them. They are weak because they still fail to realize the fact that it is their unity the enemy fears most, not how many men they have on the ground or how many supporters they have in the west. The call for meaningful unity is still unheaded or arrogantly ignored.
Misperception on Current Ethiopia-Eritrea Relations: Reality check?
Some Ethiopians still think that woyanne and the eritrean leadership are still working together and conspiring against the Ethiopian people. I, a strong nationalist, am of the view that this requires some degree of reality check.
I believe that there is a strategic gap between TPLF and EPLF since the border conflict broke or probably dating back to the times of the gorilla struggle. Contrary to popular perception, the events of at least the past six years indicate the strategic gap between woyanne leadership and the eritrean leadership. I call it strategic because it is related to the long-term interests of woyanne and Eritrea.
From the Eritrean side, while this had been the case up until the border conflict in the year 2000, it is no longer so. The events following the conflict severed the strategic link between the two dominant powers in the eastern part of Africa. The conflict led to massive human, material and financial losses on both sides. The bloody war cancelled the generation long ties and grew antagonism between the two powers.
From the TPLF side, though, all hope is not lost. TPLF leaders still see their future with Eritrea. Their long-term strategic goal of achieving independence for their tigray region, they think, can best be achieved with the help of Eritrea. The TPLF policy on Eritrea is one of tolerance and defensiveness until recently. Even, the strong stand of the eritrean leadership on tigray secession did not seem to have deterred them from seeking strategic alliance with Eritreans, to say the least. The normalization agenda and mediation through a third party are all tactics for restoring relations with Eritrea as a means to a strategic goal of full independence.
The Eritrean leaders have made it clear that they do not want to see independent Tigray, lest it would mean a lot of things including insecurity for the port of Assab and a threat for the territorial integrity of Eritrea.
However, the TPLF leadership seemed to have lost patience in recent times due to the perceived way the Eritreans act despite the former tolerance towards Eritrea. As a result, the language and rhetoric of normalization seem to have given way to a “Regime change” in Asmara that would enable them to continue with the strategic relationship with the future Eritrea without the EPLF. The effort of some TPLF cadres to work together with some Eritreans, both inside and outside, is a strategy to isolate the leadership in Asmara from its people. As such, it is not a sign of “working together” at the leadership level as most Ethiopians would like to believe. Whether the independence and regime change agendas are feasible options for TPLF leaders, only time will tell.
The Derg Era: Woyanne Alliance with the EPLF
Who could have thought alliance with Eritrea, at a time when all Ethiopians believed Eritrea did not have to break away from Ethiopia, is a key strategy for defeating the Derg Regime, a common enemy, and gain control of power in Ethiopian state? Eritrean strategy does not surprise me because it is precisely this strategy that could secure their independence, that without a proxy control of power in Ethiopia, secession would be practically impossible.
What I think a creative strategy is the one TPLF used to snatch power from the Ethiopian state that has long been the vangard of the nation of Ethiopia. I do not want to mention the stupidity of Derg leaders in acting rigidly, not creatively, to the eritrean question. The woyannes of Tigray thought the unthinkable and did the unexpected to achieve their objective of controlling power in Ethiopia. I believe this gives a lesson to opposition in Ethiopia in terms of strategizing opposition struggle. I believe the kinijit leadership in the USA has made a smart move along those lines which needs to be appreciated and build up on in the future.
The TPLF Aspiration of Independence for its Tigray Region
Despite its grip on power in the state and government of Ethiopia, TPLF leaders has not so far abandoned their paranoid and unrealistic ambition of independent Tigray. They did not even change their TPLF name while forcing other member parties in Ethiopia to change theirs.
Zenawi and his friends are still desirous of librating Tigray from the mainstream Ethiopian land. They made all regional states in Ethiopia to have their own constitution and flags. Their own constitution in Tigray indicates that Tigray people will remain in the unitary government as long as they retain their dominance in Ethiopian politics and state in the name of peace and democracy. Zenawi hinted this in his recent “secret document” circulated among the TPLF leaders in which he spoke of “self-reliant Tigray in the new millennium.”
They have incorporated this aspiration in the Ethiopian constitution and are waiting for their first opportunity, which hasn’t come yet. They see the independence struggle of the OLF and ONLF as a premature move that cannot be granted at this time. To me, the article that allows independence from Ethiopia is the “ let us secede together when TPLF want it” agenda that is planned to be realized after the homework is done: fuelling, instigating and masterminding hatred, tension and conflict among the Ethiopian nations and nationalities to force them decide in favor of secession.
Fortunately, this move has suffered a major setback. The Eritreans has taken a firm stand on the independence of tigray. The Eritreans has already made it clear that they do not like to see independent tigray, and that they want to work with a unitary government of any sort short of woyanne in Ethiopia. The problem they have is the mistrust towards Ethiopian people; especially conservative Ethiopians who does not want to accept the reality of independent and UN accepted country. Sorry, but that is the reality and the bitter pill we need to swallow. Historical mistakes on the part of Ethiopian leaders created this reality. We cannot correct this, however wishful we might be. We can only correct it through peaceful means through dialogue and mutual acceptance and thrust, which will be the core foreign policy agenda of the future government and state of Ethiopia.
The So-called Peaceful Struggle: What did it achieve?
It has always been the deceptive tactic of the TPLF that opposition politics is always framed in the name of peaceful struggle which aims at blocking any thinking and effort towards alternative form of struggling in Ethiopia. The peaceful struggle framework is still the overriding agenda and helped the regime to intimidate and chain opposition hands even when TPLF wants to strike supporters of opposition. Woyannes do not like to see any gun or a resort to gun on any one, especially in opposition hands. When that occurs, they are ready to negotiate. That is exactly where their weakness lies and that is when they start to shake to their knees, and ready to negotiate.
We should ask ourselves, where did the so-called “ Peaceful struggle” led us? The big question that the peaceful struggle has so far failed to answer is, can a peaceful struggle bring about democratic governance in a country characterized by 3000 years of tyranny?
The peaceful struggle has only led to the massacre of innocent civilians including the future leaders of Ethiopia who were not willing to bow to the idol of hatred and revolutionary democracy in Ethiopia. It led to the mass arrests and torture of Ethiopians. It misled our fathers and brothers who are well trained to serve their beloved people and country. It seduced them to work with a schizophrenic enemy to their suffering.
The events of the May 2005 election teaches us that we need to open our eyes to alternative forms of struggling without which the peaceful struggle does not bring the results we want in the shortest possible time.
So, the big question remains, are we going to repeat the mistakes of the past and let woyanne cheat us into believing that there is still a chance for a peaceful transition of power in Ethiopia through democratic means? If we do that, history would prove us wrong. We cannot topple a tyrant through peaceful, democratic means alone.
Room for a Negotiated Agreement
As things stand now, I do not agree with the conspiracy theory when it comes to relations with Woyanne and Eritrea. But, I do believe that Ethiopia and Eritrea need each other to fully develop in a short time.
I still believe that there is room for negotiation between Ethiopian opposition and the leadership in Eritrea for the common good. Issues like economic relations or benefits, access to the sea, normalization of relations, etc can be made if there is a political will on both sides. Both Ethiopians and Eritreans should cease to see each other as enemies. We were on the same boat and we can lead Africans together on the sustainable path of development. This is what the 21stcentury demands from both of us. The Ethiopian opposition should have this vision and attitude. So do Eritreans and their allies.
The perception that woyannes and the EPLF are on the same boat emanates from the conspiracy theory. In my opinion, this is not the case any longer. That is why we need to work together with our eritrean brothers to eradicate the woyanne monster from east Africa to avoid the threat to our survival. We should take lessons from its madness and brutality that is being committed against innocent Somali civilians in the name of fighting Islamists and terrorists. If we fail to act now, there is no guarantee why the same thing cannot be applied on the peoples of Ethiopia and Eritrea tomorrow.
Conclusion
The Bible tells us that when God wants to rescue His people, He raises warriors to challenge and defeat the enemy of the people. It is time for Ethiopians, irrespective of whether we are Protestants, Catholics or orthodox, Moslems, to pray to God so that men of Valor like Gedion and Samson would raise their hands against the enemy.
When the enemy is merciless, so does the wrath of God. The Woyannes have repeatedly shown their unforgiving attitude even when they have every thing under their control. Their sub-conscious is sick and wounded, and they refused to get treated and healed. Their wound and hatred is still fresh in their mind since their time in the bush. They persistently refused to forgive the Ethiopian people, let alone those who wronged them. That is why we need to rise up in unison to pray and challenge the politics of hatred and exclusion before it destroys all of us.
At the same time, it is important to seek peace and promote reconciliation with Eritrea and its allies, both at opposition level and at population level, for the common good of both Ethiopians and Eritreans. I believe that it is only through peaceful means that one can get what it wants from the other. There is a lot that we can exchange between the two countries if there is a way to communicate and build trust among our peoples and nations. This is God’s way of making peace and reconciliation that has long inflicted both of us. This is the way to mutual blessing and peace. This is God’s will for the peoples of Ethiopia and Eritrea.
Various websites have reported that Khadija Ibrahim Moussa, an Ethiopian woman, has been beheaded by the Saudi regime.
The report alleges that she was beheaded for killing an Egyptian after a dispute. However, no further information is given as to what prompted the Ethiopian woman to take such a drastic action. It is doubtful that an Ethiopian woman would resort to such an extreme measure without being provoked beyond limit by some strong and unusual humiliation. It could also be due to mental health problems. Because of the well known excessive suffering that female workers endure in Saudi Arabia, it is reasonable to speculate that Khadija’s case could be similar to that of another Ethiopian woman who was accused of murder caused by the excessive humiliation she suffered while working as a maid in Bahrain, a neighboring Arab country to Saudi Arabia.
Khadija’s beheading by the Saudi Wahabist regime is barbaric and an affront to humanity and a humiliating situation for Ethiopians, Christian or Moslem, as well as all people who believe in justice.
As if Saudi Arabia’s Wahabi interference in internal Ethiopian affairs (please see attached) were not enough, that country’s arrogant regime has pushed the envelope further by beheading an Ethiopian woman.
The blatant and shocking action committed by the Saudi regime is particularly sad especially when taken in the context that Ethiopia is a country that had given refuge to the forefathers of the Saudi’s when they were being persecuted for their religious faith.
Many questions arise surrounding this tragic case. Was the Ethiopian embassy informed about Khadija’s legal case and, if so, did it ensure that she was given a proper hearing? If not, what action, if anything, is the Ethiopian government which is supposed to look after the interests of its citizens, doing to demand Saudi Arabia’s explanation for this extremely disturbing and tragic case and possible restitution to her family?
Shouldn’t international human rights organizations such as Amnesty International be interested in this case and investigate the matter in detail?
What about Ethiopians in the diaspora, especially the Ethiopian community in Saudi Arabia? Should we be satisfied with merely expressing disgust at the barbaric action taken by a backward regime in Saudi Arabia?
Why is it that Ethiopian women and men are forced to leave their country and subject themselves to such anguish? Is it not because of the poor leadership that continues to sustain an abject poverty in a country that is known to have rich agricultural and water resources?
Who will cry for you, dear Khadija?
My deepest sympathies to her bereaved family and friends.
The month was October and the year was 1971. And my life was about to take a sharp turn with unintended long term consequences. That month and that year, I received two important documents I was eagerly waiting for. I received an acceptance letter and financial clearance from Avondale College, Australia, and I was truly excited! In those days, only a select few had the opportunity and privilege to go abroad for higher education. And to be among that elite group was in deed a special privilege.
When young Ethiopians completed their course of study abroad and returned home, they were held in high esteem. They were considered well traveled, well educated, well informed, and sophisticated. And a lot was expected of them because they were considered the key to the country’s development and modernization. This poor peasant boy was suddenly a member of a highly privileged and elite group and what a privilege and responsibility that was.
Before I left for Australia, I went home to say good-bye to family and friends and it was a very difficult and emotional moment. After a lot of hugs and kisses mingled with tears, I was about to break away when my father asked me a question that has haunted me ever since. “When are you coming back? When will we see you again?” he asked. I responded by saying that I would be back in 8 years and would not stay a day longer after I completed my studies. And I meant what I said. I heard a collective gasp around me followed by, “8 years! That is too long!”
Well, that was 36 years ago, and I have obviously failed to fulfill my promise. I am sad to say that it is unlikely I will fulfill that promise at all. Three years after I left Ethiopia, Mengistu Haile Mariam’s extremely cruel and murderously vicious regime came to power and shook that fervently religious and thoroughly traditional country to its foundation causing a lot of grief, death, destruction, and displacement. In less than two decades, hundreds and thousands of Ethiopians lost their lives in the cruelest and most degrading manner. And about that many fled the country. Those of us already out of the country let our promises to family and friends expire and never returned. Not returning home from abroad was simply unthinkable in those days. We never ever imagined that our promises would have an expiration date but they did, under duress.
When Mengistu Haile Mariam’s regime trampled under foot basic freedoms of conscience, worship, expression, choice, and movement, we felt it across the oceans. That regime had total control of everyone and everything and we felt our people’s gripping fear and their pain and suffering. We also found ourselves between a rock and a hard place. We were stranded both physically and emotionally in a foreign land not knowing what to do next and totally unprepared to handle the realities that confronted us. We could not return home and we were not prepared for a life of exile. To return or not to return, that was our question collectively. Those of us who left Ethiopia during Haile Selassie’s reign never imagined and had absolutely no desire or plan to live outside Ethiopia. The love of country and the love of family among us was rock solid and the urge to return home was equally intense. We were proud of our heritage and conscious of our place in history to make a difference in Ethiopia. We were separated from our parents, uncles, aunts, nieces, nephews, cousins and friends still living in Ethiopia. And what a traumatic experience that was. But here we are many years later living with broken promises to family, friends, and country. In my case, it has been thirty six years since I left Ethiopia and I am still moaning and groaning about the difficult decisions I have had to make. My promise to return home has long expired and I very much doubt at this point that it will ever be renewed at all
The account I have related above is very familiar to many of us, but it needs to be formally told for the record. Practically all of us believed that the political upheaval of the Derg era would come to a close sooner or later and that it would be possible to return home. But meanwhile, we had to survive in our respective host countries. That meant getting work permits to find a job to pay rent, buy grocery and other necessities. So, we were introduced to political asylum to secure work permits and permission to live and work in our host country.
Applying for political asylum was depressing and traumatic. We felt that we were betraying our family and our country but life must go on and we did what we had to do rather reluctantly. So, we applied for political asylum in droves. But none of us viewed it as a permanent arrangement. The desire to return home still burned brightly within us. There were no weddings and hardly anyone bought property or made long term investments. We were simply buying time until the political situation at home improved so we could return at the first signal of peace and stability.
Unfortunately, our dreams to return home were dashed when the TPLF came to power in 1991 with cynical and sinister ethnic politics. The TPLF touched the national nerve by ushering in more confusion, division, instability, ethnic hatred, and bloodshed. Everyone had hoped that seventeen years of blood and tears, pain and suffering, starvation and death, and imprisonment and torture would finally be over leaving behind an indelible lesson to do better. Sadly, that is not what has happened since 1991. The TPLF never learned the lesson of the past and it has been very busy doing more of the same. And Ethiopians in the Diaspora finally saw the hand writing on the wall and began to make long term decisions to settle down in their host countries. Those of us who applied for political asylum during Mengistu Haile Mariam’s era began applying for citizenship during Meles Zenawi’s reign and effectively became permanent immigrants.
Furthermore, refugees began streaming out of Ethiopia in much greater numbers than before hoping to leave behind Meles Zenawi’s legacy of oppression and poverty. Meles Zenawi’s Ethiopia has become so inhospitable to its citizens that the majority of Ethiopia’s youth now want to leave the country with no intention to look back. That indeed is the sad state of affairs in today’s Ethiopia. Our numbers in the Diaspora are growing by leaps and bounds. According to anecdotal stories, there are more Ethiopian professionals in the Diaspora than in Ethiopia itself subjecting the country to the worst brain drain ever.
In 1996, I myself finally came to the inescapable realization that I was not returning to Ethiopia any time soon and I made the most difficult and painful decision in my entire life; I renounced my Ethiopian citizenship and became an American. Unfortunately, neither the United States nor Ethiopia allows dual citizenship. I am grateful to the United States of America for allowing me to enjoy freedom and the pursuit of happiness that my country of birth denied me. Freedom is a precious gift from God and no one has a right to take it away from us. And those who deny their citizens basic human rights and freedoms must be confronted by persistent and determined struggle until justice and freedom for all prevail.
The year I became an American citizen was also an election year and I voted for the first time in my life as a citizen of a truly free and democratic country. It was an awesome experience and I was impressed by what I saw at the voting station. I was greeted by friendly volunteers upon arrival and I saw no armed guards around. The whole experience was simple, peaceful, and yet profound. It was as simple as renting a couple of movies from a video store or buying a gallon of milk from the local market. That is how simple it was! And how is that possible? It is possible because the government of the United States of America is subordinate to civil society. Such a government is expected to respect the law and be accountable for its action.
Dictatorial regimes conduct elections to fool the international community by claiming and even bragging that they too have elections. But they predetermine the conditions and predict the outcome in their favor by engaging in institutional manipulation, fraud, intimidation, and violence. They harass voters, imprison political opponents on trumped up charges, and even kill them in broad daylight. They control the flow of information, monopolize the use of the media, rig elections, and declare landslide victories shamelessly. They acquire power by the barrel of the gun and hang on to it by whatever means necessary until they ran out of tricks. Eventually, they ran out of tricks and more powerful forces overthrow them. And the cycle of violence continues. More often than not, dictators end up dead, imprisoned, or they flee the country.
The two fundamental principles of an open society are respect for the individual citizen and the limitation of political power and the people are the intended guardians. “Democracy is that form of government in which the sovereign power resides in the people as a whole”. In a democracy, the people have the power to vote their leaders into office and to recall them. Leaders can be impeached if they break the law and be removed from office kicking and screaming. Citizens in a democracy insist on due process and assume the presumption of innocence until proven otherwise. Citizens have a constitutional right to remain silent under police questioning if they so desire and they are protected by law against torture.
Law enforcement officers in countries like the United States remind citizens under their custody about this constitutional right by saying, “You have a right to remain silent and anything you say will be used against you in the court of law.” This is real power, and these are luxuries millions of oppressed people around the world can only dream about.
A story is told about an Ethiopian police officer who arrested a citizen without any explanation or warrant. When the arrested citizen protested and asked the arresting officer for his ID, the officer allegedly pulled out a gun, pointed it at the victim’s head, and apparently responded by saying, “this is my ID”. Such acts of violence and violations of individual rights are the rule in dictatorial regimes, including today’s Ethioipia. This kind of arbitrary behavior demonstrates an outright contempt for the rule of law and for due process. In such systems, retribution for alleged and real opposition comes fast and furious. And it is deadly! Dictators are accountable to no one because they are the law unto themselves. And they take quick actions against their opponents with no apparent fear of consequences. That is because they cannot afford to let their guards down and they survive by taking preventive measures and preemptive actions. It is true after all that those “who kill by the sword die by the sword”. And dictators often die that way sooner or later, leaving behind a legacy of chaos, destruction, and more violence.
It is well overdue for Ethiopia and Ethiopians to embrace democracy and make their government subordinate to civil society. Elections must be fair and free and the people must decide the winner. That is the only way to achieve lasting peace. Sociologist Seymour Lipset observes that “a society of nonvoters is potentially more explosive than one in which most citizens are regularly involved in activities which give them some sense of participation in the decisions which affect their lives”. Research also suggests that “voting deepens community involvement and good citizenship. People who vote are generally more attentive and better informed, and they become share holders in good and responsible governance.
To paraphrase Thomas Jefferson, an arbitrary government that expects legitimacy expects what never was and never will be. Ethiopians want to return home and thousands would indeed return home if political peace and stability prevails. Furthermore, Ethiopians in the Diaspora have accumulated wealth and expertise that Ethiopia can greatly benefit from. Meles Zenawi missed a historic chance when he blinked after the 2005 election. But it is not too late. The Ethiopian Millennium is around the corner and it provides a context for a new beginning. To begin the new millennium without new beginnings and new directions will be foolhardy.
In closing, let me quote the following lines from the American Declaration of Independence which outlines the core values of a democratic society:
“We hold these truths to be self-evident; that all men are created equal and independent; that from that equal creation they derive rights inherent and inalienable, among which are the preservation of life, and liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; that to secure these ends, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just power from the consent of the governed; that whenever any form of government shall become destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its power in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness.”
Rebecca Haile, daughter of Professor Getatchew Haile, has just published an engaging book on Ethiopia , entitled “Held at a Distance: My Rediscovery of Ethiopia.”
The book is available on Amazon and other book sites now and will be in bookstores in the next week or two. The link below has a good description and excellent endorsements from Professor Henry Louis Gates of Harvard University and Professor Immanuel Wallerstein of Yale University .
For those of you in the New York area: Rebecca is having her first reading and book-signing in New York on Monday, May 21, 2007, from 6pm to 8pm, at Hue-Man Bookstore and Cafe, 2319 Frederick Douglass Blvd, between 124th and 125th Streets.
For those of you in the Washington DC area: she is having two readings and book-signings in Washington , DC . The first is on Thursday, June 7, 2007, at 7pm, at Olsson’s Bookstore (The Lansburgh), 418 7th Street NW , and the second is on Saturday June 9, 2007, from 2pm to 4pm, at Sankofa Bookstore and Cafe, 2714 Georgia Ave N.W. These events promise to be exciting and we recommend that you attend it.
