BBC follows up on its investigative report that exposes torture, including the burning of women, the use of food aid as a weapon of oppression and other crimes against humanity by the U.S.-financed apartheid brutal dictatorship in Ethiopia. In the report, British aid official Andrew Mitchell tries shamelessly to coverup the Woyanne crime. Watch the report below.
By Paul Fauvet
(IOL) – The 15 Ethiopian athletes who disappeared from the Games Village last week at the All-Africa Games in Maputo, Mozambique, have been found in South Africa, according to the Mozambican police.
The spokesman for the General Command of the police, Pedro Cossa, told reporters that all the fugitive athletes are currently in South Africa, and that a Mozambican, whom he named only as Jorge, has confessed to helping them cross the border in exchange for $300 to $400 per athlete.
Cossa said the police suspect that this man, who is trained in international relations, has a long track record of trafficking people over the border into South Africa. He claimed that Jorge had been in contact with an individual inside South Africa (whom he did not name) who made arrangements to receive the Ethiopians. The disappearance of the Ethiopians was announced on September 14 by the games organising committee (COJA).
The head of the Ethiopian mission himself had informed COJA that 15 of the athletes had vanished from the village, but no names were released. COJA informed the police and immigration authorities, but by this time it was likely that the Ethiopians were already in South Africa.
Ninety-six Ethiopian athletes attended the games, and between them they won 28 medals (six gold, 10 silver and 12 bronze). – Independent Foreign Service
Some people prefer to hand control of their lives over to the regime. They may feel inadequate to make their own decisions. After decades of authoritarian rule or other forms of oppression, people may lack self-confidence in their ability to make change. This develops mainly from a lack of decision-making experience and limited opportunities for developing alternative leadership… [read more]
Alemayehu G. Mariam
“If I Were the U.S.”
The old saying is that there is no honor among thieves. Is it also true that there is no honor among dictators? Perhaps that is a distinction without a difference. But Meles Zenawi, the dictator in Ethiopia and Omar Bashir, the dictator of Sudan seemed to be good longtime friends. At least Bashir thought so. When Zenawi went to see him on August 21, 2011, “to resolve South Kordofan’s problem and defuse tension in the Blue Nile,” Bashir told reporters: “Meles is a friend and [he is] keen on peace and stability in Sudan and a strong advocate of Sudan in regional and international occasions.”
Some friend! Back in February 2009, Zenawi was not “advocating peace and stability” in the Sudan. Rather, he was sweet-talking the Americans to “remove the Bashir regime”. According to a Wikileaks cablegram:
Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles told Acting AF Assistant Secretary Phil Carter and AF/SPG Director Tim Shortley that with the expected ICC indictment of Sudanese President Bashir either 1) someone within Khartoum would take advantage of the move to attempt to remove Bashir, or 2) such an attempt will either fail or be aborted. While Meles gave the chances of success for option 1 as nearly zero due to the close knit ties among senior National Congress Party (NCP) officials, he argued that the result would leave the Bashir government a ‘wounded animal’ that is more desperate….
Meles suggested that if he were the U.S., he would either 1) remove the NCP regime or, if that weren’t an option, 2) make clear to the GoS that the U.S. is not out to get it and explicitly lay out what is expected of the GoS on Darfur and the South to avoid continued challenges…[Meles] clearly conveyed the preferred choice would be to ‘remove the Bashir regime.’ … Meles concluded the discussion by highlighting that ‘they don’t trust the Obama Administration’…
In a moment of extraordinary candor, Zenawi also characterized Bashir and the National Congress Party as money-grubbing, power-hungry thugs: “While the ‘Islamic agenda’ may have motivated the regime ten years ago, today they are interested only in money and power.”
Defending the “Wounded Animal”
In July 2008, Zenawi went gung-ho shielding the “wounded animal” from the spear of the International Criminal Court. Zenawi waxed poetic as he warned the West against the folly of the “single-minded pursuit of justice” by indicting Bashir for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes in Darfur. Zenawi pleaded that “concern for justice should not trump concern for peace.” He joined the African Union in urging the UN Security Council to suspend Bashir’s indictment. Zenawi’s right hand man Seyoum Mesfin declared: “The government of Ethiopia believes that ICC’s prosecution process is unbalanced, lacks justice and violates the sovereignty of Sudan.” He lectured, “It is not the duty of ICC to present the image of a legal nation as if illegal.”
In December 2007, Zenawi was defiantly defending Ethiopian sovereignty against a bill in the U.S. Congress that he considered “insulting”. Zenawi told a member of the U.S. Senate that “H.R. 2003 – The Ethiopia Democracy and Accountability Act – was an insult and risks jeopardizing the excellent U.S.-Ethiopia relationship if enacted into law.” He protested that the bill “is unfair and unduly singles out Ethiopia.” He “argued that H.R. 2003 effectively represented the United States “kicking its friend” when others have far more egregious records. He demanded respect from the U.S. and warned the U.S. to not “legislate about the minutia of internal politics in Ethiopia.” It is OK for the Americans to “remove the Bashir regime” for human rights violations in Darfur, but not OK to pass a simple bill requiring human rights accountability in Ethiopia!?!
Regime Change in the Sudan and ?
Zenawi’s “preferred choice” was removal of the Bashir regime. In other words, he wanted regime change in the Sudan. But the mechanics of ridding Bashir’s regime remained unclear. Would the U.S. instigate a military coup? Undertake a covert CIA operation to eliminate Bashir and his top lieutenants? Coordinate NATO air strikes on critical military infrastructures? Launch a full-scale military invasion? Sponsor, arm and support rebels and dissidents in the Sudan? Support a neighboring nation (with experience in invading neighboring countries) launch a preemptive attack? Perhaps the U.S. Congress can pass a bill asking Bashir to remove himself?
On the other hand, what happens after the Bashir regime has been removed? Allow for free democratic elections? Leave the Sudanese to their own devices? Install puppets?
In a press release last week, Zenawi’s regime denied counseling Washington to remove the Bashir regime. It is not an uncommon practice to seek plausible deniability when one is caught red-handed. But one must consider Zenawi’s denial in the removal of Bashir in a broader context of his interventionary regional foreign policy pattern and practice. In December 2006, Zenawi invaded Somalia to effect regime change and save Somalia from“Talibanization.” In March 2011, Zenawi “announced a change in its foreign policy to actively advocate the overthrow of the government in neighboring Eritrea.” Is it reasonable to believe that someone who has a proven record of attempting regime change in two neighboring countries in the last few years would seek regime change in a third neighboring country?
But there is an irony in all of the regime change business that Zenawi does not seem to appreciate very well. One cannot condemn others for doing the same thing one is doing. Zenawi should not be surprised when others in neighboring countries allegedly plot to seek his removal. Nor should he be shocked at the alleged efforts of “part time amateur terrorists” who seek to remove him from the throne. The old saying goes that what is good for the goose is good for the gander. Or is it?
People Who Live in Glass House Should Not Throw Stones
In soliciting the Americans to “remove the Bashir regime”, Zenawi makes the compelling moral argument that Bashir & Crew have no legitimacy whatsoever because they are “interested only in money and power.” How ironic! That is exactly what they say about him and his crew too. “According to the World Bank, roughly half of the rest of the national economy is accounted for by companies held by an EPRDF-affiliated business group called the Endowment Fund for the Rehabilitation of Tigray (EFFORT). EFFORT’s freight transport, construction, pharmaceutical, and cement firms receive lucrative foreign aid contracts and highly favorable terms on loans from government banks.”
By a strange stroke of coincidence, Zenawi and I finally agree at the most fundamental level: All African dictators are in the business of politics “only for the money and power”. In one of my most widely-read commentaries over the past four years, Thugtatorship: The Highest Stage of African Dictatorship, I merely fleshed out Zenawi’s fundamental argument that the politics of dictatorship in Africa is only about money, power and privilege:
If democracy is government of the people, by the people and for the people, a thugocracy is a government of thieves, for thieves, by thieves. Simply stated, a thugtatorship is rule by a gang of thieves and robbers (thugs) in designer suits. It is becoming crystal clear that much of Africa today is a thugocracy privately managed and operated for the exclusive benefit of bloodthirsty thugtators.
There is a great lesson to be learned here. This is not about one African dictator plotting behind the scences with the “imperialist West” to remove another African dictator. It is certainly not about getting justice for the oppressed people of Darfur. It is not even about sovereignty, independence, respect and the rest of it. It is “only about money and power.”
Africans who have suffered the trials and tribulations of colonialism, faced the persecution and repression of military dictatorships and withstand gross abuses of their human rights daily deserve leaders who are in politics to help the poor, defend the rights of the weak and powerless, uphold the rule of law, practice accountability and transparency and respect the voices of the people. Africa needs leaders who honor and serve the people.
FREE DEBEBE ESHETU, OLBANA LELISA, BEKELE GERBA, ESKINDER NEGA, ANDUALEM ARAGIE, WOUBSHET TAYE, REEYOT ALEMU, ZEMENU MOLLA, NATHNAEL MEKONNEN, ASAMINAW BERHANU AND ALL OTHER POLITICAL PRISONERS IN ETHIOPIA.
Previous commentaries by the author are available at: www.huffingtonpost.com/alemayehu-g-mariam/ and http://open.salon.com/blog/almariam/
PRESS STATEMENT
September 18, 2011
CONCERNED by the recent wave of arrests of political leaders, men and women of the Arts, journalists and human rights activists; We concerned Ethiopians and members of various support groups of Ethiopian civic and political organizations in the United States and Canada, having attended the emergency meeting organized by the BEKA MOVEMENT;
HAVING EXAMINED the root causes of the wave of arrests and TPLF/EPRDF’s nervousness about the Arab revolution, and the recent promulgation of a draconian and poorly drafted anti-terrorism law that criminalizes almost every form of dissent;
DEEPLY CONCERNED by the dismal state of the Ethiopian economy, which is characterized by rampant youth unemployment, poor education, endemic rural and urban poverty, migration, eviction from ancestral lands, hyperinflation, land grab at unbelievable prices, corruption, the creation of a tiny super-rich elite that is subservient to the minority regime, and the unfortunate prospects of the so called Growth and Transformation Plan and its delusional statistics;
ALARMED by the scale of the famine in Ethiopia and the Horn of Africa, and TPLF/EPRF’s denial of the existence of widespread hunger in Southern and Eastern Ethiopia, and the ongoing cover-up of the starvation and conflict, harassment of those who exposed the cover up to the international media, including the propaganda against the BBC’s investigative journalists and the deliberate wounding and imprisonment of Swedish journalists;
COGNIZANT of the fact that the Unity for Democracy and Justice’s (UDJ’s) New Year call to the Ethiopian people to stand up together to regain their stolen freedom and this call is being adopted by the main opposition groups in side Ethiopia;
NOTING the call for protest demonstration in Addis Abeba on October 2, 2011 and TPLF’s denial of permit, is yet another indication of the fact that the revolution that engulfed several North African and Middle East countries is slowly coming to Ethiopia;
NOTING with dismay some of the recent trivial arguments about collaboration among political parties, and its lack of relevance to defending the revolution that is already at the door steps of the country;
We have resolved:
(1) To adopt in full the NEW YEAR’S call of the UDJ to the Ethiopian people to stand up together to regain their stolen freedom, and concur with the view that the people of Ethiopia, like the 1974 revolution, cannot wait for political parties to stage the struggle. Details of the UDJ’s statement is available at http://andinet.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Unity-for-Democracy-and-Justice-Party-New-Year-Press-Release_Amharic__090911.pdf
(2) To support the call for protest demonstration in Addis Ababa on October 2, 2011, in provincial cities and throughout the world where Ethiopians are residing;
(3) To call upon all Ethiopians inside Ethiopia and in the Diaspora to isolate the TPLF/EPRDF leadership and its foot-solders. Ethiopians in the Diaspora must make every effort to boycott TPLF/EPRDF’s embassies, TPLF/EPRDF affiliated business enterprises, community associations, clubs and societies and places of worships; with a view to put pressure on the minority regime to listen to the voices of the Ethiopian people;
(4) To call upon the Government of the United States and Canada to revise their policies towards the minority regime in Ethiopia. We call upon the White House to listen to its diplomats who are calling for change of the United States’ policy towards Ethiopia. We request the White House to target TPLF’s bosses like Bereket Simon, Shimeles Kemal, Dina Mufti, Redwan Hussen, Berhane Gebre Kristos and HaileMariam Dessalegn. There is enough prima facie evidence which shows that these individuals, together with Meles Zenawi, Azeb Gola, Sebhat Nega, Seyoum Mesfin, Addisu Legesse, Abay Tsehaye, Getachew Assefa and Samora Yunus, jointly and severally, are responsible for the tens of thousands of lives that were lost during the last 35 years;
(5) To condemn in the strongest possible terms the imprisonment of Olbana Lelisa, Bekele Gerba, Andualem Arage, Zemenu Molla, Nathnael Mekonnen, Eskender Nega, Debebe Eshetu, Riyot Alemu and Woubshet Taye. The allegation against these individuals is preposterous. The basis is the draconian and poorly drafted law. Its purpose is to suppress democracy. Ethiopians must refuse to observe this law. The above individuals are not terrorists as TPLF alleges. They are journalists, men and women of the Pen, artists and political leaders. We therefore demand the immediate and unconditional release of ALL political prisoners and prisoners of conscience;
(6) To call upon civic and political organizations to rise up to the challenge and immediately form a broad based National Council so that the revolution in Ethiopia is fast tracked and coordinated. This revolution must lead to the formation of a popular and prudent care taker administration that maintains law and order, defends the interests and territorial integrity of the country, while preparing the nation for peace, reconciliation and an unfettered free and fair election;
(7) To renew our commitment to continue our unwavering support to the struggle of the Ethiopian people for freedom, Justice and the Rule of Law. To this end, we have resolved to immediately start extensive world wide campaign to mobilize moral, material and diplomatic support for a united action to replace the dictatorial regime with a truly democratic system of governance that can bring freedom, peace and prosperity for the people of Ethiopia. We call upon all democratic forces to support the revolution that is at the doorsteps of the minority tyrannical regime.
People power shall end minority rule in Ethiopia!
Victory to the people of Ethiopia
Beka! Geye! Enough is Engough!
For more information contact: [email protected]
Patriotic Ethiopians in Los Angeles confronted and chased away the Woyanne ambassador and cadres during the Fairfax Little Ethiopia Street Festival on September 4. Read the report in Amharic below from the anti-Woyanne action organizers. Woyanne junta members and supporters must be confronted every where around the world in a similar manner by patriotic Ethiopians.
እንደሚታወቀው በ9/4/2011 በሎስ አንጀለስ ከተማ የሊትል ኢትዮጵያን አመታዊ በዓል ለማክበር ዝግጅት ሲደረግ ከርሞ ነበር። በዚህ በዓል ላይ ወያኔ ድንኳን ሊከራይ አይችልም በሚል አገር ወዳድ ኢትዮጵያዊያንና የበዓሉ አዘጋጅ ኮሚቴ ሲከራከሩ ነበር የሰነበቱት ሆኖም ግን እስካሁን በሚሰራበት ህግ ማንንም መከልከል አይቻልም ፤ ሁላችሁም ተሳተፉ፤ ተቃውሟችሁንም በሰላማዊ መንገድ እስከሆነ ድረስ የማቅረብ መብታችሁ የተጠበቀ ነው በሚል ስምምነት ተደርጎ እኛም በቂ ዝግጅት አድርገን ትናንትና በቦታው ተገኘን። በነገራችን ላይ፤ የበዓሉን አዘጋጅ ኮሚቴ በስራ በማገዝም ትብብር አድርገናል
የድንኳን ምደባው በእጣ ነበር። እጣው ያለምንም አድሎና ግልጽና ለቁጥጥር አመች በሆነ መንገድ ነበር የተዝጋጀው።
የድንኳኑ አመዳደብ ጎደሎ ቁጥር በአንድ በኩል፤ ሙሉ ቁጥር በሌላ በኩል እንዲሆን ተደርጎ ነበር የታሰበው፤ በዚህ መሰረት እጣው ሲመዘዝ ለኛ የደረስን 6 ቁጥር ሲሆን ለወያኔ የደረሰው 8 ቁጥር ነበር። ስለዚ የእኛና የወያኔ ድንኳን ምሰሶው በአንድላይ የታሰር ነበር። ይህ አጋጣሚ ብዙውን ህዝብ፤ ፍረንጆችን ሁሉ ሳይቀር ያስደነቅ ነበር። እኛን ደግሞ እጅግ ያሰደሰተ አጋጣሚ ነበር። አምባሳደር ተብየው ዘሪሁን ረታ አበደ፤ ስማይ ሊነካ ደረሰ፤ የአዘጋጅ ኮሚቴው እኛን እንዲያስነሳለት ጠየቀ አልሆነም፤ ፖሊስ ጠራ፤ አልሆነም። ያለው አማራጭ የሚደርስበትን የውግዘት ናዳ ተቀብሎ መቀመጥ አለበለዚያ ጥሎ መሄድ ነበር።
እኛ ድንኳናችን ወያኔ ከዚህ በፊት በገደላችው ስዎች ምስልና አሁን በርሐብ ምክንያት አጽማቸው ገጦ በወጣ ህጻናት ሸበብነው። በአሁኑ ሰዓት ያለውን ርሐብ የሚያጋልጥ የቪዲዮ ክሊፕ በፕላዝማ ስክሪን ደቅነን ነበር።
በርካታ ስለርሐቡ ምክንያት የሚግልጹ ጽሁፎች ነበሩን። ልዩ ልዩ ወያኔንና ስርዓቱን የሚያጋልጡ መፈክሮች ተዝጋጅተው በአርበኞች እጅ ተይዘው ነበር። የዚህ ግሩፕ ሎጎ በአዋቂዎች ተሰርቶ በድንኳኑ ውስጥ ተገትሮ ነበር። ምድረ ጨሰች፤ ወያኔ ጥጥ አጥቶ እንጅ ጀሮውን በጥጥ መድፈን ይፈልግ ነበር።
እኛ ቀደም ብለን ደህንነታችን እንዲጠበቅልን ለፖሊስ አመልክተን ስለነበር አንድ ፖሊስ የኛን ድህንነት እንዲጠብቀ ተመድቦ አይዟችሁ እያለ በአካባቢው ያንዣብብ ነበር። እኛም ጨዋነት በሞላው አንድበት ወያኔን ልክ ልኩን መንገራችን ቀጠልን። በወያኔ ድንኳን አካባቢ አንድም ስወ ተውር ማለት አልቻለም። አንዳንድ ፈረንጆች ሂደው አነጋግረው ወደኛ ዘወር ሲሉ ፊታቸው በሐዝን ይዋጣል ምክንያቱም ወያኔ የሚያሳያቸው የትዋበ ህንጻ፤ የአባይ ፏፏቴና የቱሪስት ቦታዎችን ሲሆን እኛ ደግሞ አሁን በተጨባች ኢትዮጵያ ወስጥ ምን እየሆነ እንድሆን ነበር። ተኩረት በሚስብ አቀራረብ አርበኞች እየተባበሩ ባደረጉት ቅስቀሳ የበዓሉን ተሳታፊ አይን ስቧል።
ወያኔ ከዉኃ የገባች አይጥ መስሎ ሲንቆራጠጥ ነበር የዋለው። ቦንድም አልተሸጠ፤ ብሮሸርም አልታደለ። አራት ስዎች ብቻ ነበሩ አምባሳደር ተብዬውን አጅበው የዋሉ። ከአጃቢዎች ውስጥ ሁለቱ ከዚህ በፊት ከነበሩበት ድርጅት ወንጅል ሰርተው የሄዱ ናቸው። መቸም ወያኔ ውንጀለኛና የወንጀለኛ ዋሻ ነው፤ እውነተኛ ቦታቸውን አግኝተዋል።
በመጨረሻም ወያኔ ድንኳኑን ዘግቶ ለመሄድ ወሰነ። እቃውን ጠቅልሎ ሲወጣ ጉዳት እንዳይደርስበት ስለሰጋ በአካባቢው ያሉ ፖሊሶችን ጠርቶ ተጠብቆ ወጣ። እኛም መፈክራችን እያቀለጥን፤ ወያኔና ውሻ ወደ ቤት እያልን ሽኜናቸው።
የማቻል ሆኖ ነው እንጅ “ክቡር አምባሳደሩ” በመትረየስ ቢያስጨርሱን በወደዱ ነበር ነገር ግን ሎስ አንጀለስ 6 ኪሎ ባለመሆኑ ተርፈናል።
የተቃውሞው ተሳታፊዎች በሎስ አንጀለስ ኗሪ የሆኑና በሳንዲያጎ የሚገኙ የኦጋዴን ተወላጆች ኢትይዮጵያዊያዊያንና አሜሪካዊያን ለፍትህና ለዴሞክራሲ በሚል ጥላ ስር ነበር።
ኢትዮጵያ ለዘላለም ትኑር