By Assta B. Gettu

A moving, inspiring, and galvanizing speech by Dr. Gregory Stanton, President of Genocide Watch, is a blessing in disguise for all of us Ethiopians, especially for some of our Tigrean brothers and sisters who are intentionally or unintentionally ignoring our every day calls to them to openly denounce the most oppressive government of Meles Seitanawi (Zenawi) and join the solidarity movement without hesitation.

Dr. Gregory Santon’s advice [watch the video here] and warning to the Tigreans are simple, direct, and clear: Meles Zenawi is vicious, barbaric, criminal, and greedy; he wants to colonize the entire country of Ethiopia, using the old tactics — divide and rule, and at the same time exposing those Tigreans who support his goal for their own selfish benefits to a precarious situation.

Dr. Gregory, as a president of Genocide Watch, has the first hand knowledge about human tragedies in Ukraine, in Burma, in Ghana, in Sudan, in Uganda, in Ruanda, in Cambodia, and in many other parts of the world, and such wide range of knowledge and experience of his has enabled him to unequivocally predict what is going to happen to those Tigreans who are looting the country, selling its fertile lands to foreigners, and amassing great wealth for themselves and for their friends, leaving the other Ethiopians hopeless and desperate.

Since he knows very well what happened in Rwanda between the Tutsi and the Hutu tribes, Dr. Gregory expresses his innermost fear of such genocide may happen in Ethiopia against the minority tribe, the Tigreans unless they stop their support for the oppressive regime of Meles Seitanawi (Zenawi). God forbids, if genocide takes place in Ethiopia, it will first, Dr. Gregory foretells, destroy the Tigrean political elites who are now enjoying life to the fullest and send thousands of them to jail and many of them to exile.

Knowing the strength, the wealth, the greed, and the cruelties of dictators of our world, Dr. Gregory sends a strong message to all political opposing parties that such powerful dictators such as Meles Zenawi, who is armed to the teeth, will not easily be removed from power unless the opposing political party is well organized and united, regardless of ethnicity, religion, and geographical location. And the best place, Dr. Gregory suggests, for organizing solidarity movement is Washington that has attracted thousands of Ethiopian politicians. It was from this great city of ours, Dr. Gregory says, that the Ghanaian politicians were able to overthrow the dictator of Ghana, and from this Washington city the Ethiopian solidarity moment could bring down Meles Zenawi from his power.

Having freely offered to his, mostly, Ethiopian audience the techniques how to bring down Meles from power, Dr. Gregory denounces the atrocities Meles have committed on his own people, especially the genocide on the people of Gambella in 2003 in which over 1000 people were murdered; he recalls what happened in the 2005 election where Meles was defeated, but angry about the outcome of that election, Meles murdered over 100 Ethiopian civilians and sent to jail thousands of people on suspicions of opposing him.

Angry by the deaths of so many Ethiopians under Meles the dictator, Dr. Gregory recommends that we must track of each killer, and when these criminals come to Washington, they can immediately be caught and sent to jail. He believes democracy is the solution for genocide; genocide occurs when people are excluded from voting, and he firmly attests that women are the best for defeating genocide and bringing peace to the world. Of course, he is not talking about Jezebel (Azeb Mesfin) or about the wives of Al Amoudi here; he is talking about the great women such as the Burmese Aung San kyi,
Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia, and many other noticeable women who advocate democracy and the rule of law for their people in their respective countries.

Finally, his perfect message to all Ethiopians and particularly to the Tigreans who adore Meles Seitanawi (Zenawi) is related to Martin Luther King’s statements: “I think we all have moral obligations to obey just laws. On the other hand, I think that we have moral obligations to disobey unjust laws because non-cooperation with evil is just as much a moral obligation as cooperation with good.”

I agree with him that Ethiopia has the most ancient civilization, and I may add to his factual statement that the main factor for that ancient Ethiopian civilization is the existence of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahido Church, which he calls the Coptic Church. The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahido Church has an absolute right to build a Church in Gambella or anywhere else in Ethiopia. Its mission is to spread the word of God to all people by building Churches, church schools, hospitals, training theologians and missionaries.

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.