Ethiopians in Dallas confronted a Woyanne delegation that called a public meeting to discuss Meles Zenawi’s 5 year plan. A few weeks ago, a similar Woyanne meeting was dispersed by brave Ethiopians in Seattle. In the Dallas meeting, about 50 people showed up. Watch the video below.
By Alemayehu G. Mariam
Honor Thy Independent Journalists
I often write about the trials and tribulations of Ethiopia’s independent journalists, sometimes in tones of lamentation[1], other times in wistful philosophical reflection[2]. I have always defended the constitutional and human rights of Ethiopian citizens “to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers, either orally, in writing or in print, in the form of art, or through other media of their choice.”[3] Unfortunately, I have had few opportunities to publicly celebrate and express my pride in the extraordinary deeds of Ethiopia’s emerging young and courageous journalists.
Courage, it seems, is fast becoming the common middle name for many young Ethiopian journalists. They are certainly racking up some of the most prestigious international journalism awards for courage. It is a special privilege for me to write a few words in honor of Ethiopian journalist Dawit Kebede and his young colleagues at Awramba Times (AT) and congratulate them for being the recipients of the Committee to Protect Journalists’ (CPJ) “2010 International Press Freedom Award”. This annual award is given to journalists who have shown extraordinary courage in defending press freedom in the face of attacks, threats or imprisonment. On November 23, Dawit, barely 30 years old, will accept the CPJ award on behalf of Team Awramba Times and all independent Ethiopian journalists who are still suffering and struggling in Ethiopia and others who have been forced into exile.
I am also privileged to congratulate another courageous young journalist, Sisay Agena, a former political prisoner and erstwhile publisher of Ethiop and Abay newspapers, for receiving the prestigious “Freedom to Write Award” from PEN Center USA. He will be honored in absentia on November 17 in Los Angeles. Last year this award was given to Liu Xiaobo, the imprisoned Chinese writer and human rights advocate and the winner of the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize. The PEN award honors exceptional international literary figures who have been persecuted or imprisoned for exercising and defending the right to freedom of expression.
In October 2007, another young journalist, Serkalem Fasil, received the prestigious “Courage in Journalism Award” given by the International Womens’ Media Foundation to women journalists that have shown extraordinary bravery in the face of danger. Serkalem and her husband Eskinder Nega, (both former political prisoners and publishers of Menelik, Asqual and Satenaw newspapers) today serve as the personifications of journalistic courage and integrity in Ethiopia. This past March, the Supreme Kangaroo Kourt of Ethiopia ordered Serkalem, Eskinder, Sisay and two other journalists, Zekarias Tesfaye and Fasil Yenealem, to pay the largest fines assessed against journalists in Ethiopian history. These journalists have been denied licenses to publish their newspapers for the past three years.
Dawit Kebede, a former political prisoner, and his young team at Awramba Times are part of a new breed of courageous young journalists in Ethiopia who continue to risk their lives and livelihoods every day to speak truth to power by exercising their constitutional and human rights to free expression. The members of Team Awramba Times, like the other independent journalists, do not hide behind clever pen names or concealed identities to do their work. They are always out there in the line of fire facing intimidation, threats on their lives, harassment, interrogations and imprisonment. I take this opportunity to single out and honor, congratulate and thank each and every member of Team Awramba Times: Fitsum Mamo, editor-in-chief and one of the founders of AT (and not long ago a victim of trumped up charges of defamation of state-appointed church head Paulos); Woubshet Taye (forced to resign on the eve of election in May 2010 following official threats); Gizaw Legesse, deputy editor-in-chief; Wosenseged Gebrekidan (a former political prisoner with Dawit Kebede and the others); Abel Alemayehu, senior editor; Elais Gebru and Surafel Girma, senior reporters; Tigist Wondimu (arts and entertainment editor), Abebe Tola and Solomon Moges, columnists; Nebyou Mesfin, graphics editor; Teshale Seifu, Sisay Getnet, Teshale Wodaj, marketing and advertising and Mekdes Fisaha, computer technologist.
Dawit is the managing editor of Awramba Times. If one were to ask him to describe himself, he would simply say he is journalist. He will say he is not “in the opposition”. He is not a politician. He is not partisan to any political party or ideology; but like his AT colleagues, he is uncompromisingly partial to the truth. He will not hesitate to report or write the truth regardless of who is in power. He will solemnly promise to continue to do his job as a professional journalist by exercising his constitutional and human rights for as long as he can given the intensity of press repression in Ethiopia.
The State of Press Freedom in Ethiopia Today
When I wrote “The Art of War on Ethiopia’s Independent Press”[4] last December, I argued that the regime of Meles Zenawi is conducting a search and destroy mission to completely wipe out the free press in the country. The history of the independent press in Ethiopia over the past five years is a chronicle of brutal crackdowns, arbitrary imprisonments and harassment of local and international journalists, shuttering of newspapers and jamming of international radio transmissions. In May 2009, the Ethiopian Free Press Journalists Association (EFPJA) reported: “Over 101 journalists are forced into exile, 11 are still facing serious plight in Kenya, Uganda, Yemen, Japan and India… Journalists Serkalem Fasil, Eskindir Nega and Sisay Agena are still denied press licenses. Editors of weeklies: Awramba Times, Harambe, Enku and Addis Neger are suffering under frequent harassments and the new punitive press law, which has become the tool of silencing any criticisms against the ruling party.”
Zenawi like all depraved dictators preceding him fears and loathes the independent press more than anything else. Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte of France expressed his deepest fears of the press when he said: “Four hostile newspapers are more to be feared than a thousand bayonets.” In Ethiopia, that could be translated as “one journalist is to be feared more than a thousand soldiers (‘ke shee toregna, ande gazetegna’). The informative powers of an independent press are so awesome that dictators and tyrants in history have lived in constant fear of having their crimes discovered by the press and reported to the people. As Napoleon explained: “A journalist is a grumbler, a censurer, a giver of advice, a regent of sovereigns and a tutor of nations.” It was the fact of “tutoring nations” — teaching, informing, enlightening and empowering the people with knowledge– that drove Napoleon “bat crazy”. He hated the press passionately because they exposed his vast network of spies that had penetrated every nook and cranny of French society and his failed military adventures. They relentlessly condemned his indiscriminate massacres of unarmed French citizens protesting in the streets and his killing, jailing and persecution of his political opponents.
Zenawi is no different. He wants to crush the few struggling independent newspapers in the country for the exact same reasons Napoleon wanted to crush the press. For Zenawi, the independent press is the mirror of truth that shows and tells it like it is. Whenever Zenawi looks into the press mirror, he asks the same old proverbial question: “Mirror, mirror on the wall/ Who in the land is the cruelest and wickedest of all?” The independent press is always there to answer that question for him truthfully. Zenawi fears and abhors criticism because he can’t handle the truth. His problem is that in the new breed of Ethiopian journalists he is facing his worst nightmare: the truth in the hands, hearts and minds of the youth. These young journalists have captured the hopes and aspirations of the millions of the young people in the country (which represent nearly 70 percent of the population). The youth armed with the truth and united can never be defeated!
Zenawi has used the “law” to crush these young journalists in much the same way as other dictatorships have crushed the free press in history. When the Nazis decreed the “National Press Law” in October 1933, propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels crowed that the “law is the most modern journalistic statute in the world! I predict that its principles will be adopted by the other nations of the world within the next seven years. It is the absolute right of the State to supervise the formation of public opinion!” Another decree known as the Law Guaranteeing a Peace of Right was proclaimed immediately after the press law imposing the death penalty on anyone who imports, publishes or distributes in Germany “treasonable articles” and 5 years for importing, publishing or distributing “atrocity stories” about the Nazis or “endangering public security and order.”
Back in April 2008, in a Newsweek interview, Zenawi triumphantly declared that his new press law “will be on par with the best in the world.” His “law” provided: “Whosoever writes, edits, prints, publishes, publicises, disseminates, shows, makes to be heard any promotional statements encouraging… terrorist acts is punishable with rigorous imprisonment from 10 to 20 years.” Dr. Goebbels’ press laws are still alive and well 75 years after he introduced them in Germany. This is proof that history never repeats itself; it just finds a new theatre to play itself out.
Knowledge Will Forever Govern Ignorance
Zenawi lives to control everything around him. He has been pretty successful in monopolizing political power by wiping out the opposition. He controls the economy by controlling aid handouts and cornering the lucrative international panhandling business. He controls the daily lives of the people with fear and intimidation. But there are two things he has been unable to control: Ideas and the minds of the people. It is not for lack of effort. Zenawi has tried to control the flow of ideas by shuttering newspapers, jamming radio stations, filtering websites, jailing and harassing journalists and intimidating the people from expressing themselves. But he has not been able to control the flow of ideas or the minds of the people. No one can do that. A good leader inspires with sound ideas and lofty ideals. She encourages the people to freely shop in the marketplace of ideas. To play such a role, a leader needs to have vision, insight, foresight, hindsight, the ability to “look at things the way they are, and ask why” and the courage to “dream of things that never were, and ask why not.” A man blinded by hatred can have no vision. He can only think and ask, “How can I can make things so crooked and so warped that they can never, ever be straightened out again.” A man with no vision lives in darkness and ignorance. As the father the American Constitution James Madison advised: “Knowledge will forever govern ignorance, and a people who mean to be their own governors, must arm themselves with the power knowledge gives.” It is the free press, “the tutor of nations”, that will help the people gain the knowledge they need to govern ignorance.
Kudos to All Independent Ethiopian Journalists
Ethiopia’s young independent journalists are fighting the armies of darkness against overwhelming odds. The Dawits, Serkalems, Sisays, Eskinders and all the rest man the frontlines with nothing more in their hands than pens, pencils and keyboards. They fight with the written word to inform and educate citizens and help them find ways to effectively participate in their own governance. I admire these young journalists for doing something that has never been done in the history of press freedom in Ethiopia. They have taught us by personal example what it takes to defend freedom of expression. They are inventing for us a new culture of free expression, societal openness, official accountability and transparency in Ethiopia. They are developing a style of journalism based on truth-searching, truth-telling and exposition of lies costumed as truth. They keep the candle of liberty flickering in the darkness of oppression.
I believe all independent journalists in Ethiopia are bonded together by a common cause of press freedom. They suffer the slings and arrows of a vindictive dictatorship together; they fight together, they rise and fall together and in the end they win or lose together. The CPJ, PEN USA and IWMF awards honor all of them. As we celebrate these young journalists, we should remember what it is all about: Press freedom in Ethiopia is not about protecting the rights of newspapers, editors, journalists, reporters or foreign correspondents and radio broadcasters. It is quintessentially about the right of every Ethiopian citizen “to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers and without interference.” Zenawi believes that by keeping Ethiopians in darkness his regime and hangers-on will thrive on forever. He needs to borrow a cup of wisdom. Only three things thrive and propagate rapidly in darkness: mushrooms, hate and anger. Mushrooms proliferate in dark caves; hatred and anger mushroom and smolder in the hearts and minds of men and women who are oppressed and subjugated. Let Zenawi ask himself these questions: What happens to hate and anger deferred, to paraphrase a poetic line of Langston Hughes? Do they just sag like a heavy load, or do they explode?
LET ETHIOPIANS “SEEK, RECEIVE AND IMPART INFORMATION AND IDEAS OF ALL KINDS, REGARDLESS OF FRONTIERS.”
RELEASE ALL POLITICAL PRISONERS IN ETHIOPIA.
[1] http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/61056
[2] http://www.huffingtonpost.com/alemayehu-g-mariam/ethiopia-information-with_b_551428.html
[3] http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/63303
[4] See fn. 1
By Elias Kifle
Al Amoudi’s aid Abinet Gebremeskel has apparently ordered his servants Ayaya, Fassil and gang at the ESFNA to stay firm on Birtukan disinvitation and ride out the storm, according to Ethiopian Review sources. Having Birtukan as ESFNA’s guest of honor is simply unacceptable to Al Amoudi and Abinet who are currently under the crosshairs of Meles Zenawi’s wife Azeb Mesfin and must demonstrate their loyalty to Woyanne more than ever.
Meanwhile, at least four of the nine executive committee members are demanding reinstatement of Birtukan’s invitation. Several teams have expressed their intention to go public with their demand. In Atlanta, which has been chosen to host the July 2011 event, community leaders and activists are preparing to give a warning to the executive committee that they will call for boycott of the event if Birtukan is not invited. As a way out of the quagmire, the Ayaya-Fasil group within the executive committee is now asking the host team in Atlanta to invite Birtukan without mentioning ESFNA’s name.
Birtukan’s invitation, however, is not the only issue at hand. Equally important is the rampant corruption and malfeasance inside the ESFNA leadership.
It is not a secret that the 27-year-old Ethiopian Sports Federation in North America (ESFNA) has been infiltrated and hijacked by Woyanne through billionaire businessman Sheik Mohammed Al Amoudi. As a result, for the past 5 years, the organization has been transformed into a political tool for Woyanne. On top of that, the misconduct of some of its officials has been a source of embarrassment for the Ethiopian community in North America. In recent events, we have heard reports about hotels being vandalized, vendors being abused, as well as increasing incidents of illicit drug use and sexual harassment during the annual events. Much of the money that is collected from soccer games and concerts has been embezzled by a group within the executive committee that operates like a mafia group. ESFNA’s 2008 tax return [see here], shows an income of $1.6 million and a total expense of $1.5 million. The bulk of the expense ($1.2 million) is simply itemized as “other expenses.” If an independent accountant combs through the return, it could be uncovered that much of money that is spent for “other expenses” has been misappropriated.
The misconducts, some of criminal nature, are too many to list here. To put it simply, the Al Amoudi-controlled ESFNA is a totally corrupt organization that is an embarrassment to the Ethiopian community in North America.
Is reform possible?
ESFNA’s corruption and shameful acts are recently brought to the surface by a group of concerned individuals within the organization who are determined to reform it and make it a genuine Ethiopian institution that reflects the values of the community. As a first step, the individuals who are striving to reform ESFNA have proposed two things at the board meeting that was held late last month in Atlanta:
1) hire an independent CPA to perform a thorough audit
2) invite Judge Birtukan Mideksa as a guest of honor
The executive committee has rejected both requests, and the Ayaya group threatened to physically attack the individuals who put forward the requests. Some of the team representatives who make up the 27-member Board of Directors fought back and forced the chairman to take a vote. The majority voted for inviting Birtukan. However, in a show of utter contempt to the board’s authority, the lawless Ayaya and gang demanded the members to withdraw their votes, and when they refused to do so, Ayaya, joined by Sebsibe, and Fasil demanded the chairman to reverse the decision. The chairman, who is a puppet of Al Amoudi, complied, causing five teams to walk out in protest.
Before a decision was to be made on auditing ESFNA’s fiances — another even more contentious issue — the executive committee hurriedly adjourned the meeting and started to hand out $2,000 checks to every team representative as a hush up money. The corrupt executive committee handed out a total of over $54,000 just to the board members at the end of the Atlanta meeting. Their hotel and other accommodations were also fully paid. The executive committee squanders the organization’s money in this manner.
Recommendations
1. Dismiss all the executive committee members — with the exception of three or four who are thought to be honest individuals.
2. Remove all individuals in the leadership who are associated with Al Amoudi and Woyanne, namely Ayaya (Eyaya) Arega, Sebsibe Assefa, Fassil Abebe, Endale Tufer, and Demis Lemma (Arawit).
3. Bring in an independent accountant and audit ESFNA’s finances.
4. Remove Al Amoudi’s ESFNA permanent guest of honor status.
If ESFNA is unable to reform itself due to the entrenched power of the Al Amoudi gang, it must be forced to cease operating in the name of the Ethiopian community in North America.
It is known that despots imitate each other. Here is a glaring example. The ethnic apartheid junta in Ethiopia released the leader of a major opposition party, Birtukan Mideksa, shortly after it conducted a fake election in May 2010. Similarly, the military junta in Myanmar (Burma) has decided to release Aung San Suu Kyi, the popular leader of the country’s opposition party, after conducting and winning a fake election last week.
The following is a report by The Telegraph
Aung San Suu Kyi release: the lady goes free but nothing changes
By Ian MacKinnon
On the face of it, Burma will have experienced a tumultuous seven days.
The woman known simply as The Lady to her fellow Burmese will taste freedom. Her worldwide following will cautiously rejoice.
But the more significant event has already happened. Last Sunday’s nationwide election provided the junta with a civilian face for the first time since it seized power in 1962.
It was an outcome that Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been relegated to the sidelines since her National League for Democracy (NLD) dominated the last elections in 1990, was powerless to prevent. Now the generals, many of whom have exchanged their uniforms for lounge suits, are confident they can curtail Mrs Suu Kyi despite her enduring appeal as the rallying point for Burma’s opposition.
When Mrs Suu Kyi’s NLD contested the 1990 poll it was the only serious opposition and it won by a landslide. Now the opposition in Burma has been fractured by Sunday’s elections. A splinter group of the NLD broke away to form the National Democratic Force (NDF) after Mrs Suu Kyi and her party decided to boycott the “sham” poll.
The NDF has so far only garnered a handful of seats out of the 164 it contested, but the divisions in the opposition ranks may dilute the voices raised against the pro-military government.
The Burmese people have been so cowed by years of repression that culminated in the brutal crackdown on the 2007 monk-led “Saffron Revolution” that they would not take to the streets again even if Mrs Suu Kyi issued the call.
Similarly, her impact abroad will be limited by her continued refusal to travel outside her country. The former Oxford housewife fears that she would be permanently exiled if she did.
In common with the jailed Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo, this year’s Nobel Peace Prize winner, she was conspicuously absent from a gathering of Nobel laureates in the Japanese city of Hiroshima yesterday.
SMNE’s response to the following statements by the Chief Executive Officer of the Karuturi Global Ltd, Mr. Sai Ramakrishna Karuturi:
1. *No one has been displaced.
2. They chose Gambella as it is relatively thinly-populated. He said like in Nevada you can drive 100 kms without seeing anyone. If they had chosen the shores of Lake Tana in heavily-populated Amhara then the ‘land grab’ critics would be justified.
3. *Ethiopia has 80 million hectares of arable land and only 12 cultivated. Foreign investment is needed to add the 3 million more the gov’t is targeting. “What is the argument” when so much money will enter the economy?
4. *There was discussion of relocation of the people of Elliah [Ilea] – the only settlement in the farm area – but the company did not want this. 5.
5. Elliah’s residents have been provided mosquito nets and electricity and live in “perfect communion” with the farm.
1. No one has been displaced.
The land has been taken over by Karuturi, but the clearing and cultivation is still in the beginning stages. Many people have been told that they should expect to be removed from their homes and land during the dry season which has just begun, but many of these have not yet been forced to leave. Reportedly, they have been told that they can move themselves now or later be taken to a resettlement village.
This is the case not in Ilea, but also in other areas around the Openo (Baro) River, and also in other districts; namely, Abobo, Jor, Dimma, Gog and Goderie whose local district and village leaders have received a similar mandate to be resettled elsewhere by officials sent from the regional and federal government. Most of the people in these villages are refusing to cooperate; saying they will never leave their homes and land; however, Ethiopian military troops have become more prevalent in the area and people are fearful that these troops will use force to evict them. Two weeks ago, a young man was arrested in Abobo because some government officials assumed he was advising the elders not to leave their homes and land.
Another highly sensitive issue is the fact that Karuturi has cleared Anuak burial ground that they have taken over; causing anger to simmer right beneath the surface. People cannot openly express their outrage due to fear of punitive actions on the part of the government; however, such an absence of public protest should in no way be reconstructed into thinking there is public approval of these land grabs. All of these issues have taken place without any input from the local people who have almost no information on what is going on even though it greatly impacts their lives and futures. Although Karuturi has commented about providing some kind of compensation to the people, no compensation has been given or even discussed with them.
2. They chose Gambella as it is relatively thinly-populated. He said like in Nevada you can drive 100 kms without seeing anyone. If they had chosen the shores of Lake Tana in heavily-populated Amhara then the ‘land grab’ critics would be justified.
This would never happen in the Tigray region that this ethnic-based government favors so why is it permitted in other parts of the country? You can say that the land is not cultivated—and there are many reasons for that—however, the land still belongs to the people of Ethiopia and in Gambella—to the indigenous people.
Karuturi is doing business with an unelected and illegitimate government that took power by force, manipulation and corruption. The Ethiopian people do not consider them the rightful negotiators of their national assets; particularly while they are forced into silence by one of the most brutal dictatorships in Africa.
The people of Gambella should be welcome at the negotiation table instead of being excluded and kept in the dark. It is like someone walking into your house and saying your house is too big for you so I’ll take these rooms over without consulting you and giving you any benefits. Is this right? This is why it is a land grab and justifies the criticism.
When I use the term “land grab” it means you “grabbed something” that was not rightfully yours without consulting the rightful owners. Is it not “land grabbing” when you exploit the vulnerability of people living under a repressive system where any protest is criminalized?
This is the Neo-colonization of Africa. If what is going on in Gambella was happening in New Delhi, India; in Oxford, England; in Bismarck, North Dakota; in Saskatoon, Canada; this would be unthinkable. If it is not allowed in these places, why is it justified in Ethiopia? Wrong is wrong! Just because the people are not educated or because, for a time, they are being controlled by a self-serving kleptocrat; it still does not make it okay to carry on such unethical business practices.
If one of the local Gambellans went to India and took over that much land without consultation with the people; would Indians be silent? This is a repeat of the Berlin conference where western colonizers met together; divvying up portions of Africa for themselves without ever including the Africans in the decision making.
3. Ethiopia has 80 million hectares of arable land and only 12 cultivated. Foreign investment is needed to add the 3 million more the gov’t is targeting. “What is the argument” when so much money will enter the economy?
Who is looking out for the best interests of the people? It is certainly not the leadership of Ethiopia; nor is it a company like Karuturi who denies the truth of the injustice carried out in their name.
If these deals are truly in the interest of Ethiopians, why is it all so hidden? If the people of Gambella are to benefit, why are the people of Gambella not in charge in any way? The same question can be asked of similar deals being executed in Benishangul-Gumuz, in the Southern Nations, in the Afar region, in Oromiya, in the Amhara region and elsewhere in the country—why are the people not consulted?
Secondly, no Ethiopians have confidence in ever benefiting from these deals, but instead see it as robbing them of their and their children’s future as their land is being leased for up to 99 years. This is more than a lifetime for most. Will this land always be “under-utilized” or could Ethiopians develop their own land in 5, 10, 20 or 50 years if they had a government that actually invested in the people; advancing agriculture in a freer market economy where people could actually own land?
Ethiopians have seen how little aid has ever made it to its destination and believe that this investment will again benefit only a select few. How will Ethiopians reap benefits from such economic development when they are already excluded from any decision-making? Instead, it is highly unlikely that the fruits of these land grabs will ever make it beyond the pockets of Meles, his cronies and those foreign partners willing to make these secret, backdoor deals.
4. There was discussion of relocation of the people of Elliah – the only settlement in the farm area – but the company did not want this.
They can say this now; however, it is only temporary as Karuturi has “claims” on land now that government officials assert will require the relocation of the people. Either Karuturi is not being told the “real” story or they are denying what is happening on the ground. In other words, if Karuturi was not there, this upcoming forced relocation would not be necessary. Ilea is only one place where this is happening as there are many more villages in the region being potentially impacted. It is not only affecting the Anuak, but some of the villages inhabited by the Nuer and Manjangir people are also targeted. Why is there no transparency? Why is there no honest discussion with the people? Karuturi may say they did not approve such resettlement, but the truth is that the people are being told they must be moved. No dates are set yet, but they know it is to happen in the near future.
5. Ilea’s [Elliah’s] residents have been provided mosquito nets and electricity and live in “perfect communion” with the farm.
This is false. Reports from the ground adamantly deny any knowledge of such improvements in a community where such news would be widely known. There is no electricity. Mosquito nets have not been distributed. As of November 9, 2010, the only bore hole being drilled for water was located within the Karuturi compound. Karuturi has told some that the local people can come inside the compound to use the water if they wanted to do so; however, if the water was supposed to bring the “farmers” in “perfect communion” with Karuturi, why are there no bore holes for access to water outside a compound that potentially could easily be closed off to the public for a multitude of reasons?
Karuturi has promised to bring health clinics, clean water and other benefits to the people but so far; there is no sign or mention of any of this according to reports from the local people.
What does “perfect communion” mean when peoples’ homes and farmland are being taken? What does this mean when burial grounds are being cleared? What does this mean when the people have never been consulted? What does this mean when the people say they will refuse to leave their homes for resettlement camps? Such a statement is strictly a denial of reality; flimsily supported only through the propaganda of government officials.
The people of Gambella live in a repressive climate where most all are afraid to speak out for fear of arrest, detentions, beatings or extra-judicial killings; all of which have taken place in the last year as Karuturi and others have endeavored to force this plan on the people.
The Anuak have already endured one genocide in 2003 at the hands of this TPLF/EPRDF government as they eliminated any leaders who might oppose the development of the oil reserves in the region. No one knows what will happen this time, but Karuturi should reassess their approach if they truly seek such “perfect communion!”
(For more information please contact Mr. Obang Metho, Executive Director of the SMNE at [email protected])
Residents of Sululta, a suburb of Ethiopia’s capital Addis Ababa, have revolted against land giveaway and attacked government officials. It’s a good beginning. Ethiopians need to take back their country from the vampire regime that is selling every thing — from children to fertile lands — in Ethiopia, and invest the money in developed countries. Watch the report below.