Now that the Meles regime has ignored the AFD’s call for a national reconciliation conference, the next step is for the AFD to go ahead and set up a transitional government in exile. A plan could be already in the works behind the scene. If it is, we believe that public discussions and input is helpful.
The government in exile is necessary for the following reasons:
1) highlights the illegitimacy of the dictatorship in power.
2) its presence helps exert increasing international and domestic pressure on the dying regime, expediting its inevitable fall down.
3) serves as a rallying point for the people of Ethiopia.
4) the international community will see that there is a better alternative that will be able to bring democracy, peace and stability in the Horn of Africa region.
5) there will be a planned, smooth transition of power, avoiding potential chaos.
6) defeats the Meles regime’s “divide and conquer” strategy.
Planning the government in exile starting now will give time for thorough discussions among the political parties, scholars, and the public at large. There is nothing to be gained by waiting.
Structure of the proposed Transitional Government
A proposal by Ethiopian Review
The Transitional Government will be headed by a five-member Presidency Council–a president and four vice-presidents.
President – from OLF
Vice President – from Kinijit
Vice President – from EPPF
Vice President – from ONLF
Vice President – from SLF
The Presidency Council (PC) will have a three-year term. At the end of the three-year term, there will be a national election under a new constitution.
The presidency rotates every 12-month.
Decisions in the PC will be made by consensus.
The PC’s decisions will be carried out by a Council of Ministers.
The Council of Ministers (CM) will be composed of a prime minister (PM) and two deputy prime ministers (DPMs).
The PM and DPMs will be appointed by the PC.
Prime Minister –
Deputy Prime Minister –
Deputy Prime Minister –
Minister of Defense –
Minister of Foreign Affairs –
Minister of Justice –
Minister of Interior –
Minister of Finance –
Minister of Agriculture –
Minister of Industry –
The rest of the CM members will be appointed by the PM with the consent of the PC and the DPMs.
The CM will serve during the three-year transition period.
The PC’s primary task will be to prepare the country for elections within three years. In preparation for the elections, the PC will:
1. create an election committee composed of one representative from each party.
2. convene a Constitutional Convention (CC) composed of 500 members, each member representing one woreda (district) of the country, as well as representatives of civic, religious, labor, and other groups.
Kinijit and OLF will have equal numbers–about 150 each–in the Constitutional Convention. The rest will be distributed among the other parties and groups.
Addis Ababa will be administered by Kinijit during the transition period since there is already a legitimately elected mayor (currently unjustly imprisoned) and city council.
Activities while in exile
1. The Transitional Government in exile, upon its formation, will contact all governments around the world and seek recognition as the legitimate government of Ethiopia.
2. Merge the EPPF, OLF, ONLF, and SLF fighters under one unified command to be named Ethiopian Armed Forces.
3. Contact each military officer in the army under the Meles regime and persuade them to join the legitimate Ethiopian Armed Forces.
4. All the ministers in the Transitional Government in exile will start to carry out their responsibilities. For example, the Minister of Foreign Affair will mobilize international support for the government in exile; the Minister of Justice will investigate officials of the Meles regime for crimes against humanity and corruption; the Ministers of Finance, Industry and Agriculture will create an economic team that will prepare a plan on how to grow the country’s economy during the transition period; etc
The danger of not setting up a government in exile
1. When the Meles regime collapses, chaos could reign in the country for several days, or weeks. A well executed plan by the transitional government in exile will prevent that.
2. The Meles regime will continue to incite ethnic conflict.
3. An unknown armed force could come to power and install another dictatorship.
4. The unity of Ethiopia will be in grave danger as ethnic-based parties become militarily and politically more powerful and decide to stick to their independence agenda when they see for them no political space under the Ethiopian tent. The Transitional Government will give political space for these ethnic-based parties to address the concerns and grievances of their constituencies under a united Ethiopia using democratic means such as elections, courts, dialogue, etc.
The wisdom of creating AFD
The Kinijit and OLF leaders, in deciding to create an alliance, were cognizant of the fact that Ethiopia is a changed country after a 15-year rule by the TPLF ethnic apartheid regime. The Meles regime has been leading the country towards a civil war by spreading hate, suspicion and hostility among the many ethnic groups, particularly the Amhara and Oromo. AFD is the best instrument to heal the wounds, and neutralize what Meles and his criminal gang have in store for us–Interahamwe-like civil war. Meles and his close family members may flee when the end for them arrives. But the hard core TPLF gangs such as General Samora Yenus have already declared their stand–to destroy and be destroyed (atfito metfat). Those who cannot see this are too far removed from the realities in Ethiopia.
For Melissa Fay Greene, the enormity of the AIDS orphan crisis in Africa became impossible to ignore one Sunday morning in August 2000. After reading an article in the New York Times estimating that more than 12 million children in sub-Saharan Africa had lost parents to AIDS — and that by 2010 those figures were expected to rise to between 25 million and 50 million — Greene wondered who was going to raise 12 million children. Admitting that she and her attorney husband in Atlanta were being driven cheerfully “insane” by their five kids, Greene asked, “Who will offer grief counseling to 12, 15, 18, 36 million children? Who will help them avoid lives of servitude or prostitution? Who will pass on to them the traditions of culture and religion, of history and government, of craft and profession? Who will help them grow up, choose the right person to marry, find work, and learn to parent their own children?”
These questions sent Greene, now 53, on a journey as both an adoptive parent and a journalist. Since that Sunday morning, she and her husband have adopted two Ethiopian orphans, with two more on the way.
This month, Bloomsbury has published Greene’s fourth book of nonfiction, “There Is No Me Without You: One Woman’s Odyssey to Rescue Africa’s Children.” Greene, who has twice seen her work nominated for the National Book Award, is not the titular woman. Instead, it is Haregewoin Teferra who gives a human face to the havoc AIDS has wreaked on an entire continent. A middle-class, middle-aged Ethiopian, Teferra is as surprised as anyone to find herself running an orphanage out of her home in Addis Ababa. In 1990, Teferra’s husband unexpectedly died of a heart attack at the age of 54; eight years later, her adult daughter, the mother of an infant, died of AIDS. Overcome with grief, Teferra prepared to move into a hut on the grounds of a cemetery and live in seclusion. Instead, the director of a Catholic charity asked if she’d consider staying where she was and taking in a 15-year-old AIDS orphan. One orphan became two, and then four, and then — despite disapproving friends and little to no government assistance — 80. Some of these orphans were HIV-positive, some not. With the expansion of the orphanage came problems for Teferra, which Greene does not shy away from describing: Teferra was accused of child trafficking and also of negligence in ignoring claims from orphans that an orphanage employee molested them. These charges led to Teferra’s arrest, though she eventually was exonerated.
In addition to chronicling Teferra’s story, Greene provides a scientific and cultural history of AIDS — one in which she makes withering assessments of government leaders and pharmaceutical companies — and also a history of Ethiopia. But Greene is too shrewd a storyteller to think that it’s statistics that will motivate people to act, or even make them cry. Without a doubt, this is a three-hankie read, but it’s because of the stories about individuals: of those who, like Teferra, have upended their stable lives in order to help those less lucky; of the orphans themselves, among whom it is not uncommon for a 7-year-old to single-handedly raise a 5-year-old; of the adoptive families in America who, in cross-cultural run-ins worthy of a sitcom, must politely decline their new son’s offer to butcher a cow for dinner, or explain to their new daughter that there is no need, in Snellville, Ga., to watch out for hyenas when using the bathroom at night.
Both in print and in conversation, Greene comes off as very much a mom. She is perceptive, compassionate and clearly tickled by a good fart joke: Although the Ethiopians are famously well-mannered, she can’t resist bringing whoopee cushions as gifts for children at one orphanage. Indeed, it is the combination of Greene’s maternal tendencies and narrative gifts that make her the ideal person to tell this timely story.
What do you think motivated Haregewoin Teferra to give her entire life to taking care of these children?
I think in Haregewoin’s case, she was absolutely up against the wall. Grief had completely ruined her life, and she was going to need to leave the world as a result. She could no longer live without her husband and her daughter. That component of the story is so powerful and universal. I think a lot of people have found that the only way to survive is to start reaching out to others and trying to love other people. The children saved Haregewoin as much as she saved them.
How did you cross paths with Haregewoin?
I had heard she had these containers, like a trailer off the back of a truck, and she would cut a door in the container. People were calling her “the Container Lady” and thought she was living in the container with the children. But she wasn’t — she was using that as a dining hall and classroom.
I asked Good Housekeeping if I could do a story for them about her. Good Housekeeping had never done an international story, ever, but they said OK, they would try it.
The response [to the story] was tremendous. Good Housekeeping readers from all over the country sent contributions, $10 and $25 at a time, saying, “We had no idea this was happening.” Haregewoin was so encouraged by that. It emboldened her to keep talking to me.
And yet, while you were in the process of writing a book in which Haregewoin plays a huge role as a heroine, things temporarily unraveled at her orphanage. What was that like?
Last September, I first heard that there were accusations that child molestation had taken place in her compound, it was overcrowded, there were too many kids in each bunk, there were too many kids everywhere.
I did not mention it to my editors at that time because I wanted to be able to confirm it myself and figure out what was happening. I went over to Ethiopia, got what I thought was the story, came back, and then in December, she was arrested. The book was due Dec. 15. And Dec. 14, Haregewoin called me from prison. So then there was a frantic scramble on my part to get on top of events and to deal with my own disappointment and fury.
When I connected with Haregewoin again, I understood what had happened and I felt that I didn’t have her wrong. This stuff was not her fault. She wasn’t getting any help from the government or anywhere. She was taking in all these kids.
I had to forgive Haregewoin, see her as human, understand that she’s more interesting not being a saint, and realize that I sort of messed up because I did think I was writing about a saint. So I had to rewrite the book, starting from the beginning.
By the time you began reporting this book, you already had adopted a son from Bulgaria and a daughter from Ethiopia, in addition to your four biological children. How did you initially become interested in international adoption?
At 42, I thought, if my husband and I are going to have another child, this is the time. I have to do it. Should I do it? And we didn’t. I thought, we’ve got our four, they’re great, it’s enough already. By [the time I was] 46, our daughter Molly was starting to apply to colleges and we suddenly realized this was all going to end. It’d all been so incredibly fun and crazy and nice and she was going to leave. And we got kind of this panicky feeling of empty nest that we were going to be down to just three. At some point, my husband said, “Listen, if we want more children, we can adopt.” I’m sure he just tossed it out to comfort me.
One day I sat at the computer and I typed in “adoption” and suddenly I realized that the entire Internet had been invented for international adoption. I learned about the Internet at the same time that I learned about international adoption. At that point, Bulgaria displayed photos of children in orphanages who needed families, and I came across the picture of this little boy who became our son. He was just a sweet little guy, 4 years old, and needed a family and so we followed all the steps. At the moment that we brought him home [less than a year later], I had this science fiction feeling like I had pushed something on the computer and he’d come out of the screen.
Then a couple of years later, [our son] Seth was ready to go off to college and we thought, Oh God, no! Another one? You’ve taken Molly, leave us someone! So we started thinking about adoption again at the moment that, for me, the headlines hit the kitchen table: Africa is a continent of orphans. So I just thought, if we’re really going to adopt again, could we bring in one of these children?
Was your interest in AIDS orphans originally as an adoptive parent rather than as a journalist?
I sort of used journalism as a cover. I would say, outside a really close circle of friendship, people thought I was sent on these interesting assignments by the New Yorker and the New York Times and Good Housekeeping, and while I was over there, I would meet some nice little kid I didn’t feel like I could leave behind. But that was a total deception. I didn’t want people to think I was completely insane. But in each case, we already were doing the adoption and the article was a way for me to go over and do more research in something that passionately interested me.
I wrote about AIDS orphans for the New York Times Magazine feeling really humble that I was not an epidemiologist, a doctor or a social scientist. I had none of the criteria. But I was a firsthand witness. I could look at something and say what it was I was looking at. I thought, I can tell stories. Even here, I can tell stories. And that’s useful.
What’s it like preparing to adopt your eighth and ninth children?
It’s ridiculous. I almost hate to mention it. It sounds like more than it feels like. We had neighbors years ago in Rome, Ga., who had eight children, and I never thought we would pass that family, ever, ever, in a million billion years. They had eight children and we had a newborn, and the newborn was just about to undo me. I found the change from zero to one to be so gigantic and so difficult and impossible and wonderful, but exhausting, and I was hallucinating from the sleep deprivation. That change from zero to one — nothing else has compared to that. So going from four to five or five to six — once you survive zero to one, I found it manageable. Plus we’re not bringing in little babies, and not everyone lives at home.
My husband and I went pretty quickly from thinking, How could we possibly do this? to How could we not do this? Because we know we can do it. By our Atlanta Midtown standards, it’s a lot of kids and it’ll be a little crowded and crazy, but by the standards of where the kids are, it’s going to be Disney World here. For them, we live in the Disney World castle.
You tackle the science and politics behind the AIDS crisis in Africa, and your portrayal of pharmaceutical companies is incredibly damning. You speak particularly critically of companies like Glaxo Wellcome and Bristol-Myers Squibb who for years protected their patents through legal maneuvering, made drugs expensive, argued that they had to keep prices high because of the cost of research even though most research was government-funded — and made outrageous profits.
World-record-shattering profits were made on these drugs while people died. People in the know, looking at that, have said, “These were crimes against humanity.” There have been all these arguments by the pharmaceutical companies about why it doesn’t boil down to giving the drugs to people. But when you’re on the ground over there, the only thing that matters is getting the drugs to people. Everything else can follow from that.
It was life-changing what I saw when I went over [to Ethiopia] the first time, especially the orphanages of the HIV-positive children where they were all going to die — these were just orphanages that were hospices. We talked to the director of one of those orphanages and asked him what would he do if he had money. And he said he would immediately bring in more children. And we said, “What if it was a choice between buying medicine and bringing in more children?” And he said, “I’d bring in more children.” And we were incredibly shocked. But what he saw was children dying on the streets, so he thought the most good he could do was let the children at least die in a loving circumstance.
Are things still as bad as they were five or 10 years ago?
Progress has been made. The “3 by 5 Initiative” [an initiative by UNAIDS and the World Health Organization to get 3 million people in developing countries on anti-AIDS drugs by 2005], even though it failed to meet its target, still got hundreds of thousands of people on drug treatment. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the William J. Clinton Foundation are reaching tens of thousands of people with the actual drugs that you would get if you lived in Chicago or Las Vegas.
What’s going to happen down the road a few years is that people will start to build up immunities to those drugs and need the second-line drugs, and those second-line drugs still have the high price tags on them. But we’re not at that crisis yet.
You point out that one misperception Americans have is that we’re a leader, in financial terms, in fighting AIDS and HIV. But though the United States does in fact give the most foreign aid money of any country in dollars (over $75 million between 2002 and 2005) — it gives one of the lowest GNP percentages (0.1575 percent).
We’re pathetic in that respect. And we don’t know it about ourselves. We think that we’re so generous and that we’re holding up the world, but we’re not.
You present a few theories about how HIV first spread, and you seem to favor the theory that, with the introduction of antibiotics to Africa in the 1950s, HIV spread through hundreds of thousands of unsterilized needle injections.
I found trusted experts who believe that is definitely the direction of the inquiry. But the force of the research now is behind finding a cure or a vaccine. There are not many people interested in how this happened. But it’s also possible that the answer is so terrible, if it’s truly the result of well-intentioned but misguided health campaigns. That’s a tragic answer. And it’s still going on.
There are regions where safe sex is increasing, condom use is increasing, sexually transmitted diseases are falling — and HIV is off the charts. That’s not explained by sexual behavior. One of the things people think is that AIDS is spreading out of control because of some African hypersexual behaviors. But researchers into sexual behaviors find African men have fewer lifetime partners than American men.
Was your goal in writing this book to move Americans to adopt an orphan themselves? To donate money? Or merely to be more aware of the situation?
I don’t want to promote adoption as the major answer to AIDS in Africa because there’s no way enough families around the world will open their homes to these children. That’s doomed to failure.
I hope to be working against paradigm. The paradigm of Ethiopia is, People are starving and/or People are very fast runners. A lot of the major newspaper coverage begins with images like that. In Haregewoin Teferra, there’s the story of a middle-class educated women whose husband was the high school principal and she too is suffering.
And on the most elementary level, I would love people to read this and think, “Oh my God, they’re just like us! What’s going on is as if my partner and I died and left our children orphans.” The first step is to feel it as an emergency happening to people like yourself.
In the book you describe a white father from Vermont who wonders, when traveling with his wife to Ethiopia to pick up their new daughter, whether there’s an imperialist angle to these adoptions. What’s the answer to his question?
Of course one has mixed feelings looking at international adoption. You weigh what the child is losing: connection to culture and history and language and religion and art and literature. A child is losing the world into which the child was born. And that is almost always a loss. It’s hard to offset that. A child is losing the right to grow up in a family that looks like the child, the child is losing the possibility of going out for dinner on a Tuesday night with his or her parents and not having people look over at the odd configuration of that family. It’s not all good news, and the fact is that people can have incredibly happy and wonderful childhoods outside the U.S. In fact, on every trip I’ve taken into rural Ethiopia, I’ve had the same thought looking around, which is, if you could have enough food, schools and medicine, this would rival any childhood on earth — the freedom of being out on this beautiful landscape and riding a donkey and chasing the geese and climbing a tree and running across the fields with your friends and swimming in a lake. It’s a Huckleberry Finn childhood — if there were food, medicine and schools. And parents.
But all of that is swept off the board when a child is orphaned in a poor country. Then you ask what can you do to make up for what the child has now lost? And what you can offer the child is a new family. And a new family trumps just about everything else. I can’t imagine a child on earth who would rather be speaking their native language in the impoverished orphanage in Romania or Bulgaria or China or Cambodia or Vietnam or Ethiopia rather than learn English with a suburban family in, you know, Dallas. The tradeoff wins out.
It’s a truism in the adoption world that people walking around with their adopted babies or children have observers come up and say, “She’s so lucky, he’s so lucky,” and the adoptive mom or dad says, “No, I’m the lucky one.” But what I’ve learned is that the true answer is, “You’re right. This child has won the lottery. This is a lucky child.”
The recent development in the alliance of forces in Ethiopian politics has initiated hot discussions among Ethiopians. The emergence of AFD has divided Ethiopians into opposite camps. Many Ethiopians see the AFD as the Ethiopian people’s prayer answered. Others have mixed feelings ranging from outright rejection to wait and see attitude. The constituents of all the parties involved have aired their concerns and hopes about the future. The issues of contention and the comments on the Memorandum of understanding from the different stakeholders seem to be minor compared to the monumental issues of democracy, the international alliance of forces, and what the strategy of our united struggle should be to salvage Ethiopia. It is my belief that any political leadership that doesn’t have a vision that defy conventional thinking is not going to succeed in getting the Ethiopian peoples out of this boundless tribulation and lead them to democracy. The steps taken to form the AFD exhibits all the unconventional steps which one would like to see in such an organisation. It is a step that unhitches our minds from the past and invites us to look forward to the future. Who would have expected an alliance between a pan- Ethiopian CUDP and the nationalist organisations OLF, ONLF, SLF would come true based on issues of democracy and freedom? Neither the TPLF nor many Ethiopians had dream of it. The emergence of AFD was a shock that the TPLF and its supporters hadn’t expected would come. It is their worst dreams come true. Their core strategy was anchored on dividing and pitting the Ethiopian people against one another, branding all organisations as either chauvinists or narrow nationalists. The opposition seem to have learned a couple of lessons and above all they seem to have listened to the crying of the Ethiopian people for unity and democracy.
The state of the EPRDF
The pillar of EPRDF’s politics rests on:
*Dividing the Ethiopians according to ethnic lines and keeping them in perpetual antagonism so that it can keep them at bay,
*When it comes to organisations this politics was anchored on two dimensional pillars. Organisations are classified as chauvinistic or narrow nationalistic and thus persecuted according to this criterion as soon as they seem to be a threat the ruling clique, and
*Misleading the international public opinion and giving the semblance of a regime that is democratic, and progressive which stands for the very existence of Ethiopia.
The politics of EPRDF is primitive and backward that it is unprecedented in modern day politics around the world except a few exceptional cases.. In the age of globalisation the world has become a global village. Unfortunately, the EPRDF is working hard to confine Ethiopians from natural cultural and economic intercourse both internally and externally. In countries where democracy and liberty prevail elections are held to confirm existing political regimes or to bring about a change of government. In such a process democratic institutions are strengthened and the general public’s trust on these institutions grows and increases. For EPRDF, democracy is something that one could pay lip service to. It is a means to mislead the international opinion to extract political and financial resources which the beneficiaries are of the ruling clique. It is something one holds mock election every five years to give itself a semblance of democratic government. In the EPRDF’s Ethiopia elections are held as a window-dressing exercise to give itself a semblance of legitimacy. These election exercises have alienated the population from the regime and widened the gap between the rulers and the ruled. This was vividly demonstrated in the May elections. The ruling group had never dreamed that it would lose the elections having the state apparatus, the massive superiority of material and monetary resources. This is a huge testimony to the gap between the ruled and the rulers.
The EPRDF are among the rulers in Africa who are most dependants on foreign aid. Such being the case they were eager to get their credentials renewed as a democratic government by the donor nations. It is thanks to this set up that they had to accommodate, with huge reluctance and massive distress, opposition parties and international election observations and to go along with a more or less free election. This setting gave the Ethiopian opposition the chance to campaign and present their vision of the future Ethiopia and the kind of governance the Ethiopian people deserve and are entitled to. Ethiopians holding election cards in their hand were biding their time. We all know how it went on Election Day. When they got the chance our people went out and voted out the regime they have been dissatisfied with for the last fifteen years. At the same time our people showed to the whole world how civilised and matured they are in exercising their democratic rights.
Now the prayers of Meles Zenawi for a strong opposition were answered. He had never thought that day would come. If such a broad based alliance as the AFD sees the day and can mobilize and stand with the Ethiopian people, this tyrannical ruling group has nothing to justify its rule.
The aspiration of the Ethiopian people, “do they have food in Ethiopia?”
The Ethiopian people have been crying for united struggle to get rid of this horrendous regime for the last fifteen years. The May election is an expression of the peoples resolve for change. Through voting cards Ethiopians made it clear to all political forces that they don’t want and can’t be governed the way the EPRDF governs them. Dividing and pitting them against one another was the melody of the Italian colonialists. One would have expected that this generation should have learned that lesson. But the malicious TPLF group has tried to repeat the act. Fortunately the good students of Italy, the TPLF leadership, has tried and failed precisely as their teachers did thanks to the staunch resistance of the Ethiopian people. People have explicitly shown that the only way to come to power and stay in power is by democratic means. For demanding these inherent natural rights the people are paying a very high price. They are being killed, muzzled, tortured and imprisoned. Under these circumstances the emergence of the AFD is a moral lift and the crowning of our people’s struggle with success provided that the AFD can contribute in a substantial way in enshrining these fundamental rights. What the Ethiopian people are crying for is peace, harmony and the chance to work and feed them selves. The precondition for such a development is democracy and liberty. Ethiopia is the origin of human race, and a symbol of freedom for the black race. Thanks to the mismanagement of subsequent regimes it is now reduced into a laughing stock of the whole world. The other day I saw an American film where the actor invites his darling for a dinner to an Ethiopian restaurant. The feminine actress asks her friend “do they have food in Ethiopia?” He in return answers “we will order empty dishes.” It says it all. The film was supposed to be a comedy but it inflicts a mortal wound on our pride.
Ethiopia has every potential to be a developed nation given an honest and benevolent regime that can give its people a chance to live in peace and harmony. There are a huge natural resources and the human capital necessary for sustainable development. What is lacking is an honest, democratic and accountable government. Surely Ethiopia will reclaim its place in the history books that it deserves sooner or later. No doubt that Ethiopia is mentioned over thirty times in the bible and the Koran. It will be a country that Africans and the black race can again be proud of. On our way to that end we need all kinds of forces who can make a contribution and I would like to believe that the AFD can be one of them.
Democracy in practice
Democracy is in a multidimensional crisis in Ethiopia emanating from the totalitarianism of the regime. Some of the major contradictions which have erupted and erupt now and then among the ruling group have been “solved” by throwing the opponents into jail or by simple physical elimination. The major contradiction that has its source in the totalitarianism of the regime and the concentration of power in the hands of one man is however the contradiction between the ruling elite and the Ethiopian people. This concentration of power in the hands of the dictator and totalitarian elite has been stifling the Ethiopian people politically, culturally and economically since 1991. This is the major democratic crisis that is threatening the country and the rest of Eastern Africa. The May election was the best opportunity lost to solve this crisis. On the contrary, the daylight robbery of the peoples will by the regime has exacerbated this crisis. This major crisis of democracy needs to be resolved in order to salvage our people and country.
Another aspect of the crisis of democracy in our country is the discord, disunity and lack of democratic experience in tackling and resolving political differences and problems among the opposition groups. This problem has been the stumbling block in our struggle for democracy and justice. Thus any attempt for a solution to our problems and contradictions has to include the resolution of the problem of democracy even among the opposition. The emergence of AFD seems to be a good start in resolving this outstanding contradiction. The nature of the organisations that formed the alliance is markedly different from one another. The very attempt to come and work together for the common cause, democracy and freedom, is an achievement. It is a sign of maturity and sign of embracing democracy. To give and take and to agree and work together for a common goal is real democracy in practice. Democracy entails compromise. These organisations that have done that seem to have learned important lessons from past experiences and the May elections.
The international alliance of forces
As we are all aware this horrendous regime can only stay in power thanks to the support of the donor nations. Between 30 and 50 percent of its annual budget is covered by budgetary supplements from the western nations. This generous flow of financial resources and support to the EPRDF has its roots in our past history and the cunning nature of the regime. One of the greatest disservices of the military dictatorship of Mengistu was the annihilation of one generation of young and dynamic Ethiopians. The frustration and demoralisation that emanated from this campaign of annihilation forced the remains of that generation of Ethiopians into exile or passivity. This cleared the way to the TPLF and other forces that worked for the weakening and eventual destruction of Ethiopia as a country. In the late 80s the west in its competition with the communist east was winning the terrain in the whole world. The collapse of communism started with the sacrifice of Ethiopia. It was in one of the summits between the US and the Soviet the fate of Ethiopia was sealed. Soviet Union conceded to leave Ethiopian to its fate while in turn it bought time for an orderly retreat from the rest of its empire. History repeated itself. As Ethiopia was the first victim to be sacrificed to appease fascist Italy in the Second World War, it happened this time again and Ethiopia was sacrificed to appease the west. The first victim of the collapse of communism became Ethiopia. At that point of history Ethiopia stood alone in front the almighty west. Their fate was decided with out their participation. They were dragged out of the mouth of the wolf Mengistu and thrown into the mouth of the hyena Meles.The Albanian communist party oriented TPLF turned itself into a “democratic” TPLF overnight. The ferocious MLLT/TPLF animal and the EPLF coalition presented itself as the best possible alternatives to the Ethiopian problem. This should not be surprising since we all know that deceit and lie is the trade mark or enigma of this clique. But we have to take part of the blame for this development. We could not produce any viable alternative to the TPLF/EPLF coalition at that point of time. After taking power the clique has played it smart.
*They have always aligned their foreign policy to correspond to the interests of the west in general and the US in particular while giving a semblance of democracy while working hard to achieve their aim of a weak and divided Ethiopia.
*The disunity and hostility among the opposition groups has made it easy for these myopic elite to present itself as the guarantor of the existence of Ethiopia as a nation.
*Due to the sensitive nature of the East African geopolitical situation and the US perusing its national interest, the fight against terrorism, has appointed TPLF to axel the role of a fighter against terrorism. The TPLF has joyously accepted this role. It is even overexploiting the situation as it is doing now in Somalia. It is surprising that the US is still sticking to this group despite all facts speaking against them. Dictatorship is the mother of terrorism and the TPLF regime is a typical example of that.
Despite all the setbacks, we Ethiopians in the Diaspora are trying to make ourselves heard and present the case of our people to the international public opinion, governments and Human right organisations. From what I observe we are making progress and gaining a lot of powerful friends for the Ethiopian cause and the cause of democracy. The TPLF is exposed and its true nature is being exhibited for the wider world. I believe it is even possible to bring more change in the opinion in the west in favour of the Ethiopian people’s cause provided we work a bit diligently and united. The emergence of the AFD is an important leap in this work. The west has been putting an immense pressure on the opposition to show flexibility and willingness for dialog. If the AFD can prove that it is a strong and reliable partner to do business with, I am convinced that the west is matured and interested to completely change its stance on the question of Ethiopia. In our struggle to show the whole world the intransigency and dictatorial nature of this regime it is pertinent to stand united and the AFD was just the best thing we ever have produced. We have to show the world
*That we are united in the in our struggle for freedom and democracy and we are capable of uniting the Ethiopian people and can shoulder the responsibility of leading our country into a model democratic country.
*We must be able to show that a democratic Ethiopia can be a factor of stability to the whole region.
*That we are flexible and reliable
*We are democratic and respect the rules of democracy.
*The problem of Ethiopia and the region as a whole can only be solved when the EPRDF accepts the will of the people.
*We should prove beyond all doubt that we are not the weak and the extremist groups as the EPRDF is trying to portray us in the face of the whole world.
Concluding remarks
In the ideal world the best solution for all of us, even the EPRDF, would have been the solution of the May elections. Ethiopians went out and exercised their inherent right and voted for the party of their choice. Unfortunately that ideal did not materialise as the ballot was rigged and election results hijacked by the EPRDF. From now the struggle for democracy and freedom must start afresh. Next time when freedom and democracy is achieved we should make sure that it works and pass the tradition for generations to come. It is in this context that the AFD must play a prominent role to achieve this goal.
The reason beyond my many ifs and mays is the bitter experience I have had from the Ethiopian political struggle. The Ethiopian opposition has not proved itself to be consistent and democratic, that is willing to wage an inner struggle in a democratic way and stay and work together to achieve the goal of democracy. This time around, if we fail to materialise the goal of a united struggle we will be giving the best gift we ever have given the EPRDF and we would have done the biggest damage we could have inflicted to the struggle of the Ethiopian people. I hope that
*We all democratic and humane Ethiopians would like to see our country as a democratic and a land of righteousness where nobody is wronged for his ideas and convictions.
*We would like to see a country where organisations are free to work and mobilise the people to their idea and win political power by the means of ballot box.
*We would like to see a country that is blooming with economic development and freed from the shackles of famine and starvation.
*We would like that our ancient country reclaims its right place as the cradle of the human race and as a symbol of black pride.
One anticipates that the AFD will be relevant in building a democratic Ethiopia. It is in this hope I raise my voice to support this incipient organisation. I hope this organisation will work in a dynamic and prudent way and mobilise its supporters for the cause of unity. I hope this organisation will speak loud and clear the principles of one man one vote and the alienable rights of the Ethiopian people to decide their own destiny. I hope the AFD will show in practice that it has drawn the necessary conclusions from the May elections and it will respect the will of the people. Finally I hope the AFD will be transparent and open to accommodate constructive opinions which flow from different direction.
The recent development in the alliance of forces in Ethiopian politics has initiated hot discussions among Ethiopians. The emergence of AFD has divided Ethiopians into opposite camps. Many Ethiopians see the AFD as the Ethiopian people’s prayer answered. Others have mixed feelings ranging from outright rejection to wait and see attitude. The constituents of all the parties involved have aired their concerns and hopes about the future. The issues of contention and the comments on the Memorandum of understanding from the different stakeholders seem to be minor compared to the monumental issues of democracy, the international alliance of forces, and what the strategy of our united struggle should be to salvage Ethiopia. It is my belief that any political leadership that doesn’t have a vision that defy conventional thinking is not going to succeed in getting the Ethiopian peoples out of this boundless tribulation and lead them to democracy. The steps taken to form the AFD exhibits all the unconventional steps which one would like to see in such an organisation. It is a step that unhitches our minds from the past and invites us to look forward to the future. Who would have expected an alliance between a pan- Ethiopian CUDP and the nationalist organisations OLF, ONLF, SLF would come true based on issues of democracy and freedom? Neither the TPLF nor many Ethiopians had dream of it. The emergence of AFD was a shock that the TPLF and its supporters hadn’t expected would come. It is their worst dreams come true. Their core strategy was anchored on dividing and pitting the Ethiopian people against one another, branding all organisations as either chauvinists or narrow nationalists. The opposition seem to have learned a couple of lessons and above all they seem to have listened to the crying of the Ethiopian people for unity and democracy.
The state of the EPRDF
The pillar of EPRDF’s politics rests on:
•Dividing the Ethiopians according to ethnic lines and keeping them in perpetual antagonism so that it can keep them at bay,
•When it comes to organisations this politics was anchored on two dimensional pillars. Organisations are classified as chauvinistic or narrow nationalistic and thus persecuted according to this criterion as soon as they seem to be a threat the ruling clique, and
•Misleading the international public opinion and giving the semblance of a regime that is democratic, and progressive which stands for the very existence of Ethiopia.
The politics of EPRDF is primitive and backward that it is unprecedented in modern day politics around the world except a few exceptional cases.. In the age of globalisation the world has become a global village. Unfortunately, the EPRDF is working hard to confine Ethiopians from natural cultural and economic intercourse both internally and externally. In countries where democracy and liberty prevail elections are held to confirm existing political regimes or to bring about a change of government. In such a process democratic institutions are strengthened and the general public’s trust on these institutions grows and increases. For EPRDF, democracy is something that one could pay lip service to. It is a means to mislead the international opinion to extract political and financial resources which the beneficiaries are of the ruling clique. It is something one holds mock election every five years to give itself a semblance of democratic government. In the EPRDF’s Ethiopia elections are held as a window-dressing exercise to give itself a semblance of legitimacy. These election exercises have alienated the population from the regime and widened the gap between the rulers and the ruled. This was vividly demonstrated in the May elections. The ruling group had never dreamed that it would lose the elections having the state apparatus, the massive superiority of material and monetary resources. This is a huge testimony to the gap between the ruled and the rulers.
The EPRDF are among the rulers in Africa who are most dependants on foreign aid. Such being the case they were eager to get their credentials renewed as a democratic government by the donor nations. It is thanks to this set up that they had to accommodate, with huge reluctance and massive distress, opposition parties and international election observations and to go along with a more or less free election. This setting gave the Ethiopian opposition the chance to campaign and present their vision of the future Ethiopia and the kind of governance the Ethiopian people deserve and are entitled to. Ethiopians holding election cards in their hand were biding their time. We all know how it went on Election Day. When they got the chance our people went out and voted out the regime they have been dissatisfied with for the last fifteen years. At the same time our people showed to the whole world how civilised and matured they are in exercising their democratic rights.
Now the prayers of Meles Zenawi for a strong opposition were answered. He had never thought that day would come. If such a broad based alliance as the AFD sees the day and can mobilize and stand with the Ethiopian people, this tyrannical ruling group has nothing to justify its rule.
The aspiration of the Ethiopian people, “do they have food in Ethiopia?â€Â
The Ethiopian people have been crying for united struggle to get rid of this horrendous regime for the last fifteen years. The May election is an expression of the peoples resolve for change. Through voting cards Ethiopians made it clear to all political forces that they don’t want and can’t be governed the way the EPRDF governs them. Dividing and pitting them against one another was the melody of the Italian colonialists. One would have expected that this generation should have learned that lesson. But the malicious TPLF group has tried to repeat the act. Fortunately the good students of Italy, the TPLF leadership, has tried and failed precisely as their teachers did thanks to the staunch resistance of the Ethiopian people. People have explicitly shown that the only way to come to power and stay in power is by democratic means. For demanding these inherent natural rights the people are paying a very high price. They are being killed, muzzled, tortured and imprisoned. Under these circumstances the emergence of the AFD is a moral lift and the crowning of our people’s struggle with success provided that the AFD can contribute in a substantial way in enshrining these fundamental rights. What the Ethiopian people are crying for is peace, harmony and the chance to work and feed them selves. The precondition for such a development is democracy and liberty. Ethiopia is the origin of human race, and a symbol of freedom for the black race. Thanks to the mismanagement of subsequent regimes it is now reduced into a laughing stock of the whole world. The other day I saw an American film where the actor invites his darling for a dinner to an Ethiopian restaurant. The feminine actress asks her friend “do they have food in Ethiopia?†He in return answers “we will order empty dishes.†It says it all. The film was supposed to be a comedy but it inflicts a mortal wound on our pride.
Ethiopia has every potential to be a developed nation given an honest and benevolent regime that can give its people a chance to live in peace and harmony. There are a huge natural resources and the human capital necessary for sustainable development. What is lacking is an honest, democratic and accountable government. Surely Ethiopia will reclaim its place in the history books that it deserves sooner or later. No doubt that Ethiopia is mentioned over thirty times in the bible and the Koran. It will be a country that Africans and the black race can again be proud of. On our way to that end we need all kinds of forces who can make a contribution and I would like to believe that the AFD can be one of them.
Democracy in practice
Democracy is in a multidimensional crisis in Ethiopia emanating from the totalitarianism of the regime. Some of the major contradictions which have erupted and erupt now and then among the ruling group have been “solved†by throwing the opponents into jail or by simple physical elimination. The major contradiction that has its source in the totalitarianism of the regime and the concentration of power in the hands of one man is however the contradiction between the ruling elite and the Ethiopian people. This concentration of power in the hands of the dictator and totalitarian elite has been stifling the Ethiopian people politically, culturally and economically since 1991. This is the major democratic crisis that is threatening the country and the rest of Eastern Africa. The May election was the best opportunity lost to solve this crisis. On the contrary, the daylight robbery of the peoples will by the regime has exacerbated this crisis. This major crisis of democracy needs to be resolved in order to salvage our people and country.
Another aspect of the crisis of democracy in our country is the discord, disunity and lack of democratic experience in tackling and resolving political differences and problems among the opposition groups. This problem has been the stumbling block in our struggle for democracy and justice. Thus any attempt for a solution to our problems and contradictions has to include the resolution of the problem of democracy even among the opposition. The emergence of AFD seems to be a good start in resolving this outstanding contradiction. The nature of the organisations that formed the alliance is markedly different from one another. The very attempt to come and work together for the common cause, democracy and freedom, is an achievement. It is a sign of maturity and sign of embracing democracy. To give and take and to agree and work together for a common goal is real democracy in practice. Democracy entails compromise. These organisations that have done that seem to have learned important lessons from past experiences and the May elections.
The international alliance of forces
As we are all aware this horrendous regime can only stay in power thanks to the support of the donor nations. Between 30 and 50 percent of its annual budget is covered by budgetary supplements from the western nations. This generous flow of financial resources and support to the EPRDF has its roots in our past history and the cunning nature of the regime. One of the greatest disservices of the military dictatorship of Mengistu was the annihilation of one generation of young and dynamic Ethiopians. The frustration and demoralisation that emanated from this campaign of annihilation forced the remains of that generation of Ethiopians into exile or passivity. This cleared the way to the TPLF and other forces that worked for the weakening and eventual destruction of Ethiopia as a country. In the late 80’s the west in its competition with the communist east was winning the terrain in the whole world. The collapse of communism started with the sacrifice of Ethiopia. It was in one of the summits between the US and the Soviet the fate of Ethiopia was sealed. Soviet Union conceded to leave Ethiopian to its fate while in turn it bought time for an orderly retreat from the rest of its empire. History repeated itself. As Ethiopia was the first victim to be sacrificed to appease fascist Italy in the Second World War, it happened this time again and Ethiopia was sacrificed to appease the west. The first victim of the collapse of communism became Ethiopia. At that point of history Ethiopia stood alone in front the almighty west. Their fate was decided with out their participation. They were dragged out of the mouth of the wolf Mengistu and thrown into the mouth of the hyena Meles.The Albanian communist party oriented TPLF turned itself into a “democratic†TPLF overnight. The ferocious MLLT/TPLF animal and the EPLF coalition presented itself as the best possible alternatives to the Ethiopian problem. This should not be surprising since we all know that deceit and lie is the trade mark or enigma of this clique. But we have to take part of the blame for this development. We could not produce any viable alternative to the TPLF/EPLF coalition at that point of time. After taking power the clique has played it smart.
•They have always aligned their foreign policy to correspond to the interests of the west in general and the US in particular while giving a semblance of democracy while working hard to achieve their aim of a weak and divided Ethiopia.
•The disunity and hostility among the opposition groups has made it easy for these myopic elite to present itself as the guarantor of the existence of Ethiopia as a nation.
•Due to the sensitive nature of the East African geopolitical situation and the US perusing its national interest, the fight against terrorism, has appointed TPLF to axel the role of a fighter against terrorism. The TPLF has joyously accepted this role. It is even overexploiting the situation as it is doing now in Somalia. It is surprising that the US is still sticking to this group despite all facts speaking against them. Dictatorship is the mother of terrorism and the TPLF regime is a typical example of that.
Despite all the setbacks, we Ethiopians in the Diaspora are trying to make ourselves heard and present the case of our people to the international public opinion, governments and Human right organisations. From what I observe we are making progress and gaining a lot of powerful friends for the Ethiopian cause and the cause of democracy. The TPLF is exposed and its true nature is being exhibited for the wider world. I believe it is even possible to bring more change in the opinion in the west in favour of the Ethiopian people’s cause provided we work a bit diligently and united. The emergence of the AFD is an important leap in this work. The west has been putting an immense pressure on the opposition to show flexibility and willingness for dialog. If the AFD can prove that it is a strong and reliable partner to do business with, I am convinced that the west is matured and interested to completely change its stance on the question of Ethiopia. In our struggle to show the whole world the intransigency and dictatorial nature of this regime it is pertinent to stand united and the AFD was just the best thing we ever have produced. We have to show the world
•That we are united in the in our struggle for freedom and democracy and we are capable of uniting the Ethiopian people and can shoulder the responsibility of leading our country into a model democratic country.
•We must be able to show that a democratic Ethiopia can be a factor of stability to the whole region.
•That we are flexible and reliable
•We are democratic and respect the rules of democracy.
•The problem of Ethiopia and the region as a whole can only be solved when the EPRDF accepts the will of the people.
•We should prove beyond all doubt that we are not the weak and the extremist groups as the EPRDF is trying to portray us in the face of the whole world.
Concluding remarks
In the ideal world the best solution for all of us, even the EPRDF, would have been the solution of the May elections. Ethiopians went out and exercised their inherent right and voted for the party of their choice. Unfortunately that ideal did not materialise as the ballot was rigged and election results hijacked by the EPRDF. From now the struggle for democracy and freedom must start afresh. Next time when freedom and democracy is achieved we should make sure that it works and pass the tradition for generations to come. It is in this context that the AFD must play a prominent role to achieve this goal.
The reason beyond my many ifs and mays is the bitter experience I have had from the Ethiopian political struggle. The Ethiopian opposition has not proved itself to be consistent and democratic, that is willing to wage an inner struggle in a democratic way and stay and work together to achieve the goal of democracy. This time around, if we fail to materialise the goal of a united struggle we will be giving the best gift we ever have given the EPRDF and we would have done the biggest damage we could have inflicted to the struggle of the Ethiopian people. I hope that
•We all democratic and humane Ethiopians would like to see our country as a democratic and a land of righteousness where nobody is wronged for his ideas and convictions.
•We would like to see a country where organisations are free to work and mobilise the people to their idea and win political power by the means of ballot box.
•We would like to see a country that is blooming with economic development and freed from the shackles of famine and starvation.
•We would like that our ancient country reclaims its right place as the cradle of the human race and as a symbol of black pride.
One anticipates that the AFD will be relevant in building a democratic Ethiopia. It is in this hope I raise my voice to support this incipient organisation. I hope this organisation will work in a dynamic and prudent way and mobilise its supporters for the cause of unity. I hope this organisation will speak loud and clear the principles of one man one vote and the alienable rights of the Ethiopian people to decide their own destiny. I hope the AFD will show in practice that it has drawn the necessary conclusions from the May elections and it will respect the will of the people. Finally I hope the AFD will be transparent and open to accommodate constructive opinions which flow from different direction.
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?
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.
