Ethiopian-born Saudi billionaire Ato Al Amoudi has given $240,000 to his thugs who have hijacked the Ethiopian Sports Federation in North America (ESFNA), according Ethiopian Review sources.
Al Amoudi is a major financial backer of the ethnic apartheid junta in Ethiopia that is led by Meles Zenawi. He is also a self-proclaimed member of the ruling party, Tigray People Liberation Front (TPLF)
Using his enormous wealth, Al Amoudi has been trying to infiltrate various Ethiopian civic and political organizations inside the country and around the world and turn them into a political tool for the Meles dictatorship.
During the past 5 years, ESFNA has been turned into a personal club for Al Amoudi by a group of individuals in the 27-year-old organization who are prostituting themselves for the billionaire’s crumbs.
Al Amoudi has been trying to shut down Ethiopian Review by hiring a powerful law/public relations firm in Washington DC named DLA Piper. Recently, he won a default judgment in a British court under a shameful U.K. libel tourism.
According to Forbes Magazine, Al Amoudi’s net worth grew by $2 billion in 2010 to $12 billion. Much of the $2 billion he profited last year may have come from his gold mines and farms in southern Ethiopia. One can imagine that if Al Amoudi made a net profit of $2 billion in one year, how much his business partners Meles and Azeb (the dictator and wife) may have made during the same period. Also in the same period, 2 million Ethiopians have faced food shortages, according to the UN, while Al Amoudi and Meles were looting the country.
The Voice of America (VOA) web site’s Amharic section is filled with BEKA, a slogan in Facebook that demands the removal of Ethiopia’s dictator Meles Zenawi. Hundreds of Ethiopians have turned the slogan into their profile picture in Facebook and other social media. Click the here to see the VOA web site.
Youth groups have posted announcements in the social media about their intention to stage nation wide protests in May 2011 demanding the Meles regime to step down. May 2011 marks Ethiopian dictator’s 20th year in power.
By Lebenu Andinet
In the Time of Deceit Telling the Truth is a Revolutionary Act” – George Orwell
As a former Woyanne Diplomat I am writing this piece to call upon all Ethiopian diplomats and civil servants to stand for truth and abandon the regime that lives on deceit.
The year 2011 is a unique and crucial year for many oppressed and marginalized people of a number of Africa and Middle Eastern countries. The year has so far witnessed the freedom of people through out the Arab world where dictatorship prevailed for decades. Tunisia and Egypt have completed the removal process of their respective dictators through popular uprising, where as Libya, Bahrain, Djibouti, Yemen, Algeria, Saudi Arabia are fighting hard to topple their decayed and undemocratic regimes. The basic underpinning of these revolutions is tied to the inability of the regimes to bring about economic development, establishing the rule of law and adopting democratic system that includes freedom of speech, expression and women rights.
The underpinning factors that initiated the uprising in the Arab world that include poverty and undemocratic practices are extensively witnessed in Ethiopia in a greater level for decades. Each and every rational Ethiopian can easily understand the prevalence of these sorry realities in Ethiopia. Just taking the recent realities it is enough to mention that up to 3 million Ethiopians are in need of food aid from other donors. On the other side it is also important to point out the ridiculous EPRDF’s “99.66%” election victory, which, according to Human Rights Watch and European Union Election Observation Mission, was conducted under the environment of coercion and harassment. Ethiopian have the obligation to use the time to voice their discontent in a peaceful and legal ways so as to bring about a better and promising future to themselves and they children. It should be time Ethiopians stop going to bed empty stomach and it should be time Ethiopians feel free to express their opinions with out fear of the government intelligence apparatus. Our future is now and it is in our hands.
When people are faced with the issue of bringing about change in Ethiopia through peaceful popular uprising they seem to interpret it in terms of going out in the streets to for demonestration. Although that is part of the whole process it is not the only action.
As the British famous author and journalist George Orwell, whom we know by his controversial novel, “Animal Farm,” and the well known quote, “All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others,” has suggested the most important idea as to what constitutes a revolutionary act. Not only throwing stones, shouting anti-government words, posting resentment on facebook is revolutionary, but standing for truth in the face of deceit and naked propaganda is also by far the most revolutionary of all.
We all know the white lies and dry fabrication Meles Zenawi’s regime in Ethiopia feeds the public day in and day out about economic development and democracy. But it is not secret to understand the reality prevailing in Ethiopia. After two decades of Woyanne-led EPRDF rule, Ethiopia is at the bottom of the global economic ladder and its so-called “democracy” is resulting in the triumph of a one-party state where oppositions are weakened and coerced by the incumbent party and its coercive arm of the government.
In the face of these realities, Ethiopians from all walks of life have to be true to the truth rather than be filled with the garbage information disseminated by the regime to deceive Ethiopians. Therefore, amid these limitless Woyanne/EPRDF lies we got to stand for the truth. In so doing we are executing what is needed from each of us in making the revolution our country deeply needs a reality.
As a former diplomat of the Woyanne led EPRDF government, I know that the diplomats in different countries are instructed to execute so much fabrication that does not match the reality in Ethiopia. Among others, they are expected to promote the 10% economic growth, where as millions are in need of food and the government is begging other countries for help. They are supposed to promote respect for human rights in Ethiopia while the reality is that people have no right to organize freely. They are expected to inform other countries that elections in Ethiopia are free and fair, where as the institutions necessary to conduct elections are totally controlled by the Woyanne regime.
Ethiopian diplomats and other civil servants residing in Ethiopia and through out the world have to remain true to the truth and contribute their share of revolutionary act. They must assist the revolution by giving information necessary to inform the international community about the human rights violations and the corrupt nature of the regime. It is a call for your conscience in the name of millions of Ethiopians who go to bed every night with empty stomach, walking with bare feet and afraid to express their views.
Let’s come together and stick to one of the acts of revolutionary measure. Let’s fight deceit with the truth by exposing Woyanne’s horrible crimes and by supporting the forces fighting for the new Ethiopia where all people are equal no matter what their ethnic origin or political persuasion.
I am envious of the achievement of the people of northern Africa and it is my hope that Ethiopia shall join the Tunisia and Egypt in saying “no more” to dictatorship.
(The writer can be reach at [email protected])
Last Saturday, Azeb Mesfin, the wife of Ethiopia’s blood thirsty dictator Meles Zenawi, flew to Dubai on another shopping spree, according to Ethiopian Review sources.
Azeb arrived at the airport around 11 AM local time accompanied by a few close friends and bodyguards. She then proceeded directly to a small private plane.
Upon arrival in Dubai, she was greeted by Woyanne embassy employees who took her shopping. After she finished her shopping, the goods she purchased were handed over to Ethiopian Airlines employees to be flown to the U.K.
As instructed, the Ethiopian Airlines employees delivered all the items at a house owned by Azeb in London which is currently occupied by Semhal Meles, the dictator’s daughter.
On Monday morning, Azeb returned to Ethiopia.
Azeb Mesfin, who is called “the mother of corruption,” reportedly owns several homes in the U.S. and Europe. She is known for her shopping trips to European and Middle Eastern cities spending hundreds of thousands of dollars at a time.
U.K.’s High Court of Justice has issued an order in favor of Saudi billionaire Mohammed Al Amoudi in his libel lawsuit against Ethiopian Review editor Elias Kifle. (click here to read the order)
Bloomberg’s Kristen Schweizer wrote this about the case:
Saudi sheikh Al Amoudi, who owns several properties in the U.K., said a story in the U.S.-based Ethiopian Review website has subjected him to “serious libel centered around one of his young, unmarried daughters.”
“The Al Amoudi case is definitely libel tourism because Sheikh Al Amoudi lives for the most part outside the U.K. and is not a British citizen and the majority of readers of the Ethiopian Review are outside the U.K.,” Libel Reform’s Harris said. He said the draft bill is expected in late March.
Read the full text of Kristen’s article here.
