By Tedla Asfaw
Ato Seye Abraha, former defense minister of {www:Ethiopia} under the regime of Tigrean People Liberation Front (Woyanne), has been active since he has been released from jail few years ago. He came out in public on VOA Amharic after he was released and told Ethiopians that he was jailed for personal vendetta and was not involved in any corruption he was accused for which he spent more than six years in jail. I had congratulated him then for being out of jail and be with his loved ones. What I am going to comment here is based on his recent speeches and writings as “free” man that makes me believe that he is the next man to replace Meles Zenawi to save TPLF.
On his recent speeches and writings it seems that he is ready to join the so called “election” in 2010. On his recent appearance on Andenet/UDJ party meeting as guest he was received with wide applause and seems that he has political future. However, he has not so far formed or join any party except giving speeches. He recently wrote more than thirty pages in Amharic on the political situation of our country and his recommendations.
No doubt, Ato Seye Abraha is directly speaking to members of TPLF/EPRDF who are and will continue to dominate any “election” in the future. Yesterday, on VOA Amharic he said emphatically that TPLF/EPRDF made a mistake on jailing Birtukan Medeksa and opening up the “wound”, defeat of TPLF, of election 2005. He demanded for her immediate release to avoid popular anger and revolt to continue the path to “peaceful” struggle. Stay tuned he will be the VOA Amharic guest today.
I am sure many of his former buddies who are now controlling the parliament are also seriously thinking to save TPLF, to keep their wealth and power. Why jailing the popular leader and spoil the coming fake election of 2010 which surely Ato Seye Abraha, Gebru Asrat ready to join according to the recent speeches Seye gave.
Ato Seye might join the parliament running as individual to work with his buddies in parliament who are known for voting anti-people legislation to keep TPLF in power for years to come. TPLF will have one of its “leader” in the parliament in the name of opposition to charter its future after Meles’ retirement due to foreign countries pressure and save TPLF as reformed party with a new leader, Seye Abraha.
Nothing is impossible on politics driven by ethnic loyalty. Ato seye’s only problem has been Meles Zenawi and the rest as he told us on his speeches and writings is a foundation for our country’s future. For Ato Seye Abraha the Constitution of TPLF is a must and one thing he doesn’t want to admit is that the TPLF constitution was a document imposed on our people not a product of any democratic deliberation.
We have to start from scratch Ato Seye if we are serious to save our country. However, if the intention is to save our own ethnic domination by staging another fake election, we might succeed in cheating few people and collaborate with known opportunist political parties. But the majority of the people will not be part of such enterprise and repeat May 2005 again. Our people demand is total freedom that was snatched by killing squads of TPLF four years ago. The Freedom Train that was derailed in 2005 is fixing its tracks and ready to rumble to make a promising future for our people and no force can derail it this time.
The Ethiopian People’s Patriotic Front (EPPF) is taking root among Ethiopians in the Diaspora. This week alone, two EPPF chapters were launched — in Norway and Washington DC.
Currently EPPF chapters are being formed in several cities, including Dallas, Toronto, Atlanta, Seattle, and San Francisco.
For more information about EPPF’s activities, visit its official web site: eppfonline.org
ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA (Reuters) – An apparently accidental hand-grenade explosion wounded 33 people, nine seriously, on Thursday at the central bus station in the Ethiopian capital {www:Addis Ababa}, police said.
“This does not appear to be a terrorist attack. It seems a passenger was carrying the grenade in their luggage and it detonated accidentally,” federal police commander Demash Hailu told Reuters.
In the past, {www:Ethiopia} has accused arch-foe Eritrea of backing rebels who have bombed civilian targets in Addis Ababa.
Blasts at two petrol stations killed two people a day after local, regional and federal elections in April 2008, then a bomb tore through a minibus taxi a month later, killing six. (Reporting by Tsegaye Tadesse; Editing by Daniel Wallis and Michael Roddy)
MOGADISHU (Reuters) – Ethiopian Woyanne invaders withdrew completely from Mogadishu Thursday [after a humiliating defeat at the hands of Somali patriotic forces], witnesses and a local government official said.
“I confirm that there are no Ethiopian Woyanne soldiers in the capital. They emptied all their bases and moved overnight onto the southern road to Baidoa,” Abdifatah Ibrahim Shaaweye, deputy governor of Banadir Region, told Reuters.
(Reporting by Ibrahim Mohamed; Writing by Daniel Wallis; Editing by Angus MacSwan)
EDITOR’S NOTE: Somali freedom fighters busted the myth about the fighting capacity of Woyanne’s military. These blood sucking vampires will be brought to justice by Ethiopia’s freedom fighters. Ethiopian Review congratulates Somali patriots for a job well done!
MOGADISHU (Reuters) – Somali insurgents fired mortars at Mogadishu’s presidential palace and ambushed departing Ethiopian Woyanne soldiers on Wednesday, underlining fears of more bloodshed in Somalia after the Ethiopian regime’s pullout. Witnesses said security forces including African Union (AU) peacekeepers guarding the hill-top palace compound in the coastal capital responded with volleys of artillery shells, shaking the city for several hours.
Then suspected militants from the al Shabaab group ambushed a convoy of departing Ethiopian Woyanne soldiers on a street not far from the palace. The Ethiopians Woyanne invaders fought back with a tank.
Some analysts say the ongoing withdrawal of some 3,000 Ethiopian Woyanne soldiers will leave a vacuum, triggering more violence by rebels who have battled the U.N.-backed administration for two years, and are now increasingly fighting each other.
Others believe the Ethiopian Woyanne exit could remove forces seen by many locals as occupiers and spur more moderate Islamist factions to participate in forming a new, inclusive government.
After vacating four bases on Tuesday, the Ethiopians Woyannes left two more on Wednesday, one at a football stadium.
“The Ethiopians Woyannes have deserted the stadium and many residents have come to watch,” witness Abdullahi Hassan told Reuters.
“We see only chairs and their footprints.”
The Ethiopian Woyanne have eight other bases in Mogadishu and face a 500 km (300 mile) journey through Somalia to the border.
Somalis are pessimistic about a return to peace in a nation that has suffered 18 years of incessant civil conflict.
“No Somali wants the Ethiopians Woyannes to stay, but there will be chaos whether they withdraw or not,” said a spokesman of Ahlu Sunna Waljamaca, a government-allied Sunni Islamist group.
Hardliners Plan Atacks
He said hardliners like al Shabaab—which Washington says has links to al Qaeda—and militants backed by Somali exiles in Eritrea planned to fight the government and moderate groups like his if they tried to form a power-sharing administration.
Al Shabaab’s national spokesman, Sheikh Muktar Robow Mansoor, told a news conference in Mogadishu his group would focus on attacking AU troops and government targets.
“Now that the Ethiopians Woyannes have left the bases we used to attack, we shall launch attacks on (AU mission) AMISOM, the government and the airport,” he said.
The AU has 3,500 soldiers in Somalia and wants to reinforce.
Fighting has killed more than 16,000 civilians since the start of 2007, after the Meles regime in Ethiopia sent military forces to help the government drive an Islamist movement out of the capital. One million people have been forced from their homes.
Ethiopia’s regime, frustrated by rifts in the Somali administration and the cost of its operation, began dismantling its main bases in Mogadishu on Tuesday.
Ethiopians residing in the Washington DC area held a protest rally in front of the State Department today demanding freedom for political prisoners, including Teddy Afro, Birtukan Mideksa, Bekele Jirata and thousands of others who are languishing in Woyanne jails.
Similar protests were held in several other cities around the world.
Addis Dimts Radio reports that some 500 Ethiopians participated in today’s Washington DC rally. Representatives of the protesters briefly met with a State Department official during the rally and handed him a prepared statement.
[Photo: Addis Dimts]
