The Justice Department has advised Ethiopian Review to inform Ethiopians in the U.S. whose family members have been tortured or murdered by the Meles/Addisu regime to contact the FBI offices in their local areas.
ER has contacted the Washington DC FBI office today and is trying to arrange a meeting with agents.
Diplomatic immunity cannot protect Addisu Legesse from murder charges, so let’s use the U.S. laws to get justice for our tortured and murdered friends and families back home.
Deputy Prime Minister Addisu Legesse was too afraid to face Ethiopians in Atlanta at the public meeting he himself had called yesterday afternoon. He decided to call off the meeting after learning that less than ten individuals came to listen to him and about eighty protestors were waiting to look him in the eye and ask him why he is arresting, torturing and murdering their friends and relatives back home. One of those who awaited to confront him inside the meeting hall at Marriott Hotel was Artist Solomon Tekalign. But the embassy staff that organized the public meeting requested the police to ask Solomon to leave. After some discussion, he complied. A few minutes later, the meeting was canceled.
Over thirty Atlanta police officers and U.S. secret service agents supported by an helicopter were providing security for the deputy chief of Ethiopia’s current criminal regime. Some of the Atlanta police officers who were told by the protestors about Addisu Legesse’s atrocities in Ethiopia were shaking their heads in disbelief. It seems that they felt the irony of protecting a mass murderer against peaceful, law abiding people. As the protestors dispersed, the officers thanked them for being cooperative and expressing their grievances in a peaceful and orderly manor.
The Atlanta meeting was part of a North America tour by the Meles regime’s officials who are organizing segregated meetings in several U.S. cities. In the Atlanta meeting, only people from the Amhara ethnic group were invited. But out of the ten who showed up, about half were members and supporters of the ruling Tigrean People’s Liberation Front.
At a similar meeting in Boston last Saturday, Addisu ran out the back door like a thief after he saw that most of those inside the meeting hall were there to confront him.
ER has been informed that Addisu Legesse is planning to have a meeting in Ohio and Washington DC this coming weekend. Is there any lawyer in Washington DC who can file charges of murder and torture against him and have a judge issue an arrest warrant? Or is it possible to make a citizen’s arrest? There are hundreds of cases that are documented by respected international institutions that show Addisu Legesse, Meles Zenawi et al have ordered the torture and killing. So why is this criminal allowed to roam freely in the U.S. where justice applies to all, including the President?
I would like to inform you that an individual named Addisu Legesse, who is the Deputy Prime Minister of Ethiopia, is currently in the United States. Mr Legesse is Ethiopia’s Al Zawahiri. He is the second in command of Ethiopia’s terrorist regime that has kidnapped, tortured, and gunned down tens of thousands of innocent Ethiopians. The crimes of Mr Legesse’s regime have been documented by the United States Department of State, the European Union, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and several other international institutions. As the chief law enforcement officer of the United States, we believe that you have the responsibility to take action against criminals like Addisu Legesse. On behalf of Mr Legesse’s victims, I appeal to you to detain and prosecute this criminal to the full extent of the law.
Sincerely,
Elias Kifle
Publisher, Ethiopian Review
For more information on the crimes of Meles and Addisu, please refer to these documents:
Federal Police and soccer fans clashed this afternoon (local time) at the Addis Ababa Stadium in Ethiopia. During the soccer match, the fans started shouting slogans, which include “release CUD leaders,” and “Meles leba (thief).” The Federal Police reacted by beating up the protestors who responded by throwing stones. The soccer match was called off as a result.
It is not a secret that the United Ethiopian Democratic Forces (UEDF) is waging an all out attack against the Alliance for Freedom and Democracy (AFD), a coalition of EPPF, Kinijit, OLF, ONLF and SLF. UEDF had participated in the conference in the Netherlands when the agreement was made to form the AFD. But its representatives failed to sign the memorandum of understanding that created the alliance asking a one-month period to think about it. The one-month has come and gone, but UEDF is more determined than ever about not only rejecting the AFD, but also vigorously fighting to destroy it.
At first, UEDF was citing procedural matters for its unwillingness to be part of the AFD. When that argument didn’t get any traction, they come up with the following arguments:
1. The Alliance doesn’t protect the sovereignty of Ethiopia.
2. It doesn’t have “Ethiopia” in its name.
3. AFD’s memorandum of understanding accepts the existing constitution.
4. It was formed under the auspices of the Issayas Afeworki regime.
UEDF is being criticized by many that the real reason it is opposing the Alliance is because it is not leading it. ER doesn’t want to question the motives of UEDF leaders. But the arguments they presented against the AFD so far have not been persuasive enough. UEDF was in fact working hard to help create a similar alliance that would have involved all the parties that are now members of the AFD. Some of UEDF’s member organizations themselves accept the existing constitution, including the Article 39 that allows ethnic groups to secede from Ethiopia.
What prompted ER to write this commentary is UEDF’s recent statement that condemns that the desecration of the Ethiopian flag in Asmera after a video surfaced in the Internet that shows the flag was being stomped on at a recent event. A lot of people have pointed out that the video was doctored by TPLF agents, whose leader Meles Zenawi ridiculed our flag as a “piece of cloth” (cherq). The purpose of UEDF’s statement was to link the alleged incident with the AFD, and insinuate that AFD is an anti-Ethiopia coalition. We expect the UEDF leaders to be the last to be manipulated by a TPLF propaganda war. In their single-minded focus on discrediting AFD, and running out of persuasive arguments, they are falling into the TPLF trap.
As a political organization, UEDF must respect and abide by the desire of the people. Currently, what the people of Ethiopia desire is a united front of all opposition parties that can remove the Meles brutal dictatorship. The AFD is the only organized force that can back up its political and diplomatic efforts with a military force. For the past 15 years, the opposition camp did not have such a combination of united political and military force. We have it now. Unfortunately, UEDF is unintentionally providing aid to the Meles dictatorship by attacking this united force–the Alliance for Unity and Democracy.
ER once again is urging the UEDF leaders to reconsider their position and join the Alliance.
The pressure should not be on UEDF alone. ER has observed that OLF and Kinijit have not been accommodative to UEDF’s concerns. They have not even been willing to spend sufficient time to consider some of UEDF’s legitimate concerns. Hopefully, this will be corrected.
Ethiopians in Washington DC confronted Beyene Petros today as he tried to hold a segregated meeting for people from southern Ethiopia. Only ten people attended the apartheid-style meeting he organized in collaboration with the Ethiopian embassy. But close to 100 Ethiopians had gathered outside the meeting hall to express their anger and frustration at Dr Beyene for collaborating with brutal dictatorship in Ethiopia, and advancing its ethnic segregationist policy. Some of the protestors who wanted to go inside the meeting hall at the Unification Church were denied entrance. The embassy staff were also seen video taping the protestors.
After the Meles regime stole the May 2005 elections, Dr Beyene joined the parliament over the objection of the executive committee of his own party, the United Ethiopian Democratic Forces (UEDF). UEDF suspended him from his chairmanship. But Dr Beyene continues to claim that he is still the chairman of UEDF.
The Meles regime this month sent a delegation to conduct segregated meetings in North America. Last week and this weekend, Deputy Prime Minister Addisu Legesse held public meetings for people from the Amhara ethnic group in Seattle, San Jose, Boston and other major cities. An average of 20 or less people participated in the meetings, while hundreds showed up to protest.
