Today is a day of joy for most Ethiopians and all freedom loving people around the world. The ruling Woyanne tribal junta has finally admitted this morning that Meles Zenawi, the genocidal tyrant who has been terrorizing the people of Ethiopia for the past 4 decades, is dead.
The state-controlled ETV reported that Meles Zenawi has died yesterday, but the fact is that he died in the early morning of Sunday, July 15, as first announced by the Ethiopian National Transitional Council (ENTC).
Meles suddenly disappeared from the public view 61 days ago on June 20. On July 11, he went into a coma and was flown to Belgium, according to an eyewitness who is working for Ethiopian Airlines. After the doctors at St. Luc Hospital tried to revive him for the next 4 days, he took his last breath on July 15.
Ethiopian Airlines (EAL) is consistently proving to be a bad financial deal for travelers to and from Ethiopia. EAL used to tout itself as the most affordable way to travel back home. But our research finds that at least nowadays, that is most certainly not the case. For the three-week time period beginning on September 1, we randomly searched on Expedia.com for round-trip flights from locations where many Ethiopians live abroad, to Addis Ababa. What we find is that EAL always turns out to be more expensive than the best deal, sometimes by many hundreds of dollars. See the results further below for trips to Addis from DC, Atlanta, London, and Rome, for example.
Why is EAL overcharging passengers? Two factors appear to play a role.
(1) Extracting foreign exchange from the diaspora. Even before the Meles-disappearance fiasco, the regime had been in a bind, running dangerously low on foreign exchange reserves. But now things are going from bad to worse: Woyanne elites and others with political connections
are bringing their hard currency reserves into safety, i.e. out of the country, as reported here. The past and ongoing Forex crunch of the TPLF regime is likely to create pressure for companies under TPLF control that get their primary business from the diaspora and foreigners — such as EAL — to do their best to extract as much hard currency money from their customers. After all, hard currency from the diaspora is now needed more urgently than ever, to keep senior military officials rich and happy so that they don’t turn on the TPLF elite.
(2) EAL mismanagement. Since a competent chief executive of EAL had been removed and the airline put into the hands of TPLF insider Tewolde Gebremariam, EAL has been undertaking bizarre moves, such as forcing airline staff to take wage cuts shortly after announcing sterling profit growth (read here). So it shouldn’t surprise if flights become as expensive as they have become.
The net profit of Ethiopian Airlines in the 2011/2012 fiscal year has tumbled by 40 percent to 732 million birr year-on-year. In the 2010/2011 fiscal year Ethiopian earned a net profit of 1.23 billion birr, which dropped by 500 million birr. In the 2011/2012 fiscal year, which ended on June 30, Ethiopian hauled 4.6 million passengers, a 25 percent surge in comparison to that of the previous year. The airline generated an operating revenue of 33.8 billion birr, up 37 percent. Operating expense increased by 35 percent to 5.7 billion birr. The airline made an operating profit of 1 billion birr and its net profit stood at 732 million birr.
Ethiopian said the unaudited figures for the fiscal year show that despite the challenges faced by the airline during the year, it finished the year in black with strong overall performance and is set to continue its growth to achieve goals set in its Vision 2025. At a press conference held yesterday Ethiopian CEO, Tewolde Gebremariam, said that the just ended fiscal year was the most challenging year.
“The fuel price hike was a daunting challenge. For the first time the price of fuel stayed high for a long time. It was above USD 120 per barrel for a year-and-half. The European economic crisis reduced the demand for air travel and the economic growth of China and other Asian countries stalled,” Tewolde told reporters at his office. “All these have affected the profitability of the global airline industry. As you have heard Kenya Airways has started laying off employees. And a number of major international airlines have registered loss. Despite all the challenges we are profitable. We made an annual salary increment of 6-8 percent.”
An official at Ethiopian told The Reporter that the 20 percent devaluation of the Ethiopian currency against the US dollar in September 2010 inflated the net profit the airline made in the 2010/2011 fiscal year. “One of the contributing factors for the surge in profit in that fiscal year was the devaluation. And it is unfair to compare the profit made in 2010/2011 to the 2011/2012 fiscal year,” the official said.
The airline introduced a six percent salary increment for employees earning a monthly salary of 4000 birr and above, seven percent for those who earn between 2000-4000 birr and six percent for those who earning 2000 birr and below. At an annual internal meeting with employees held on Wednesday at the African Union Assembly Hall the management of Ethiopian management briefed them about the challenges the airline faced during the fiscal year.
It was a tough year for the global airline industry. Last March IATA forecast that the global airline industry would make a profit of USD 3 billion. However, IATA said African airlines would lose a total of USD 100 million. South Africa Airways, which is currently in the red, is receiving subsidy from the government. Royal Air Marroc, the national flag carrier of Morocco, which declared bankruptcy, is laying of employees.
Tewolde said Ethiopian is in the third year of the Vision 2025 (a 15-year development strategy) adding that the airline is growing according to schedule. “We are growing at an annual rate of 25-30 percent. We are on the right track,” the CEO said.
He added that the airline plans to build a new cargo terminal and maintenance hangar.
Ethiopian has set up a second hub in West Africa in Togo where its affiliate airline ASKY is based. ASKY was established by the private sector in 2007 and became operational in 2009. Tewolde said that ASKY, which is in its third year of operation, has managed to achieve a rapid growth.
The CEO disclosed his management’s plan to establish two regional hubs in southern and central Africa. Under Vision 2025 Ethiopian anticipates to increase its fleet to 120 from the existing 47, the number of destination to 90, the volume of passengers to 80 million and its employees to 17,000.
Currently, the airline is expanding its aviation academy at a cost of 42 million dollars.
ATLANTA (CN) – A businessman claims in court that a magazine defamed him by accusing him of involvement in “‘human trafficking’ of Ethiopian women serving as household maids in Saudi Arabia who are held in ‘slave-like conditions’ and subjected to beatings and other abuses.”
Jemal Ahmed sued Elias Kifle and Ethiopian Review, in Federal Court. They are the only defendants.
“Plaintiff Ahmed brings this action seeking damages for defamatory statements by defendants Elias Kifle and the Ethiopian Review asserting that, through his business relationship with Sheikh Mohammed Al Amoudi, plaintiff Ahmed is ‘in charge of,’ participates in, and/or is involved in ‘human trafficking’ of Ethiopian women serving as household maids in Saudi Arabia who are held in ‘slave-like conditions’ and subjected to beatings and other abuses,” the complaint states. “Defendants’ defamatory statements are demonstrably false.”
Ethiopian-born Ahmed says he owns and manages several companies in Africa, Europe and North America. One of his businesses, which grows coffee beans and exports them to the United States and elsewhere, is co-owned by Saudi Arabian-Ethiopian billionaire Sheikh Al Amoudi, according to the complaint.
Ahmed claims that in March, Kifle published a defamatory article on his magazine’s website, linking him to Al Amoudi’s alleged “export” of 45,000 Ethiopian women a month to Saudi Arabia.
Kifle, a U.S. resident born in Ethiopia, publishes the Ethiopian Review, an online “news and opinion journal,” from his home in Atlanta, according to the complaint.
Ahmed claims the Ethiopian Review picked up a March 15 article from the Saudi Gazette, “45K maids to arrive every month from Ethiopia,” which relied on “an unidentified source in the Ethiopian Embassy in Saudi Arabia.”
Ahmed says the Saudi Gazette article did not mention him, Al Amoudi, or their businesses, and did not connect them to the “export” of Ethiopian women to Saudi Arabia.
Ahmed claims Kifle added false statements to the article, linking him and Al Amoudi to human trafficking and enslavement of Ethiopian women.
The complaint states: “On March 16, 2012, defendants Kifle and the Ethiopian Review re-printed the ‘Saudi Gazette’ article on the Ethiopian Review’s website and added the following text: ‘This news is so shocking it is hard to believe. If it is true, it must be stopped at any cost. This is a wholesale enslavement of Ethiopian women, particularly those from the Amhara and Oromo ethnic groups.'”
Two weeks later, Ahmed says, Kifle wrote and published another article on the Ethiopian Review’s website, titled “Al Amoudi’s Human Trafficker in Ethiopia Identified,” which claimed, among other things: “‘Ethiopian Review Intelligence Unit has now confirmed Al Amoudi’s involvement in this massive human trafficking and also we have been able to identified [sic] the person whom he has put in charge of the operation. His name is Jemal Ahmed.'”
The complaint continues: “The Ethiopian Review article goes on to state: ‘Jemal and other partners of Al Amoudi … are pillaging and plundering Ethiopia, and selling our women as slaves to Arab countries …’
“On information and belief, defendants Kifle and Ethiopian Review did not have any sources with verified, first-hand or direct knowledge of the allegations in the Ethiopian Review article prior to publishing it, nor did they have multiple sources for those allegations.” (Ellipses in complaint).
Ahmed says the article does not identify any sources or documents to substantiate the allegations.
He says he is not associated with or involved in any way with trafficking and enslavement of Ethiopian women, “through his business relationship with Sheikh Al Amoudi or otherwise.”
Ahmed claims Kifle did not contact him before publishing the article, to verify the allegations or allow him to comment, and refused to remove the article.
Ahmed claims that in April he sent a letter to Kifle and the Ethiopian Review, asking for a retraction, but they ignored the request and ridiculed him on the website.
“On the same day they received the April 4 letter, defendants Kifle and Ethiopian Review reprinted portions of it on the Ethiopian Review website, included a link by which the full letter could be viewed, and wrote the following response: ‘Where are you going to sue me this time? In Timbuktu? Bring it on please. Sincerely, Elias Kifle.'”
Ahmed adds: “The defamatory Ethiopian Review article has incited others to make further defamatory and threatening statements in the comments posted on the Ethiopian Review article. Some of these comments threaten violence against plaintiff Ahmed.”
Ahmed claims the article harmed his reputation, which is crucial to his business, and caused him loss of income, embarrassment and mental anguish.
He seeks compensatory and punitive damages for defamation.
He is represented by Mark Grantham with DLA Piper.
Don’t hand over your hard-earned dollars, euros, any foreign currency to them! And save your own money in the process!
Meles Zenawi is either dead, or if he is not actually clinically dead, he is as good as dead in terms of his physical and mental condition and well-being. Here is a critical question: What can every Ethiopian, especially Ethiopians living across the world, do to make it as difficult as possible for Woyanne to continue to rule the country with an iron fist without missing a beat, now that Meles is out of the picture?
One of the greatest powers we all have is the power of our money. Especially at this time of uncertainty, foreign exchange is one of the most important resources TPLF will try to hold on to and continue to amass. They are desperate for forex in order to be able to buy the necessary military and police hardware to put down any uprisings or opposition attacks against them. Perhaps more importantly: Foreign exchange is also needed to keep the military elites happy and well-taken care of—now more urgent than ever for TPLF, because some senior military officials may start getting restive in light of the death (or as-good-as-death) of their patron-saint, Meles.
One of the major sources of foreign exchange for woyanne are revenues they extract from Ethiopian Airlines, predominantly from ticket purchases by Ethiopians residing abroad. Starve the beast by stopping to hand over your money to Woyanne through Ethiopian Airlines (EAL). Moreover, EAL prices are likely to increase, in part because of inefficiencies in management—now likely to get worse since they recently removed a respected chief executive and put one of their own, a true-blue Woyanne, at the helm of EAL. Therefore, in fact EAL is more often than not more expensive than other airlines. So by quitting EAL and taking other airlines instead, you are not only depriving TPLF of foreign exchange that they need now more desperately than ever; you are also being wiser in managing your own finances.
Here is just one of many examples (see on the right) where flying EAL is more expensive than flying other airlines (screenshots from Expedia.com). For a randomly picked roundtrip flight from Washington DC to Addis and back, Lufthansa is the cheapest flight with $1,194, while EAL costs $1,382.
I knew something was missing. It kept nagging at me, the little voice in side kept saying ‘you know you have been here before.’ I was driving south on the 580 Freeway when it hit me. It was 2005 deja vu. How could I forget? I ask for forgiveness, I am an Ethiopian and memory is an option. Our long-term memory is intact and is usually retrieved at a drop of a hat. Now short term is a different matter. We are very selective about that. Why do you think I keep writing about the crimes of the regime? It is my humble attempt to act as a reminder, to help us visualize and store for easy recall.
This is what I wrote in 2009 during the Kinijit debacle “Psychologist Ellen McGrath calls it ‘the rumination rut’…. a style of thinking in which, like a hamster in a cage, you run in tight circles on a treadmill in your brain. It means obsessing about a problem, about a loss, about any kind of setback or ambiguity without moving past thought into the realm of action.’ This in turn makes us loose our focus. While our problem stays constant our focus wonders aimlessly. It is like trying to hit a moving target.”
See what I mean, what we got here is mirror image of our situation then. I am not that much of a religious person. But I am beginning to see what we commonly refer to as the Ethiopian God or Allah. What ever the force is it looks like we got some body, someone looking after our ancient land. It is too much of a coincidence to be dismissed lightly. The force is with us again. Despite our weakness it always shows up to salvage all that we mange to squander. This time it came in full glory with trumpets, whistle and drums.
There was the time when the TPLF regime in consort with Shabia declared us superfluous and discarded us as old shoes. We lost use of a port, we let our army march in shame, we opened our border as a one way highway, shared a common National bank, contemplated changing the name of our Airlines and even took a second fiddle to exporting the mighty coffee. Then the force showed up. Need I say more? No.
There was a time when Somalia and Ogaden were quiet. Poor Somalia was going thru growing pains. The whole world was dumping on our brothers. Literally dumping toxic waste on their coast and fishing their resources out of existence. The brave and fierce Somalis said enough. The arrogant west decided to practiced target shooting on live humans. Well, well, well guess who decided to be part of this game. Thus we marched into Mogadishu dressed, armed and driven with foreign sponsors. It was not long before we left in the middle of the night whipped, demoralized and in a hurry. The force showed up.
In 1993, during the conclusion of an interview, a reporter asked the lately departed Ashebari on his views of Ethiopian history and he replied, “ Ethiopia is only 100 years old. Those who claim otherwise are indulging themselves in a fairy tale.” The arrogance, the hubris boggles the mind on the other hand it leads one to do reckless stuff. Thus Waldeba Monastery was condemned to be a sugar plantation. Over fifteen hundred years of treasure was to be replaced by a farm so we can sweeten our coffee. The mighty force was not amused. Shall we say the Christian God and the Muslim Allah got together and decided to declare a recall of a defective specimen. I am not being presumptuous but some things have to be explained in a manner we can all understand. This is my take on this situation.
I believe we have been cashing our credit once too often. There should come a time when we should help our selves instead of relying on an outside power to straighten our never-ending screwups. What better than now to acquire some stiff spine or an extra pair of balls if you don’t mind my expression. Is it possible to trade in timidity with bold action? I know it is a tall order but you know what it is actually possible. May I be allowed to whisper Arab Spring in your ear please? I really don’t want to startle you, so I will try to jog that short-term memory into the front for easy recall.
I associate Arab Spring with rage. Our cup has runneth over and it is time, don’t you think? That is what happened with our Arab neighbors, their cup runneth over and they exploded.
Who would have thought forty years of Gadaffi, thirty years of Mubarak, thirty years of the Assad’s and whatever year of Ben Ali will be such a push over? It is all about rage my friend. Did the Arabs have elaborate plans of what comes next when they decided to do away with the garbage? I am afraid not. There was no user manual. There was no formula and there was no divine guidance. Just your everyday dream of hope and optimism is all they needed. There were no leaders showing the way, there were no grand coalitions, there were no Fronts and no organized Parties. It was just your average ordinary citizen taking matters into their own hands and drawing and redrawing the future one-day at a time.
The few scattered voices turned into a tsunami of screams. Some took long while a few were done is a short time. As I said there was no blueprint. What they got in common was rage. What runs thru their story is the common theme of a relentless confidence that tomorrow whatever it is cannot be as bad as today. Yesterday stank, today is more of the same thus the only thing left is to try to change tomorrow so it would be a better day. There was nothing to lose. If we can call the happenings in the last few months’ as history, no question it will be judged a success. A few hiccups but it is work in progress and no one promised a rose garden.
It could be said it is a pivotal moment in our long history. We got a choice to go forward in good faith, unsurpassed optimism or march on the same spot till we fall due exhaustion. No one can make that choice for us. As psychologist McGrath said ‘we can run that tight little circle in our brain obsessing about our problems’ or go past that rumination stage and commit our selves to act.
What we got today is a very peculiar situation that can only happen in Ethiopia. We are always different, aren’t we? Looks like our dictator is gone. The evil that has polluting our very existence has been removed by the grace of God. He was the center around which eighty million people revolved. The center has collapsed on itself. When the Sun dies an about five billion years or so all the planets revolving around it will disappear too. That is the law of physics. The death of evil Meles will result in the withering away of his evil TPLF party and those hodam teletafis revolving around him. No one can stop that.
What should our response be like? You know us; it is as muddled as anytime before. Right now we are on a freeze mode. We are unable to go beyond the ‘talk’ stage. Looks like we jabber so much we substitute that for action. I have been the beneficiary of so many incredible responses by my friends and acquaintances I consider myself immune to farce, idiocy, ignorance not to mention comedy. I had people admonishing me for celebrating the death of an evil tyrant, folks lecturing me about my giddy disposition regarding the demise of the cancerous cell in our body politic or rebuking me for falling on my knees and thanking God almighty. As you can see I am one confused Abesha. How exactly I am supposed to view the death of my countries and people enemy is not clear to me.
Our Amharic saying goes ‘helm teferto kuch belo aytaderm’ A very simple and beautiful statement. Should we have prayed to God to allow the idiot to live a little longer since we are afraid what would come next? No one seems to have told this Ethiopian insight to the Tunisians, Libyans or Egyptians. Aren’t you glad? I believe since we screwed twice before in this business of trying to bring change we area little gun shy now. It is understandable but definitely not rational. Life does not work like that. How many times have each one of us made mistakes in our everyday life? It has not stopped us from trying again has it? Of course there is no guarantee of success now but that should not deter us from trying, should it?
We also have this issue of a leader. It is associated to a simple lack of self-esteem. Following comes natural to us due to our old culture of fear of family, fear of elders and fear of authority. Thus we are always looking for a leader, a redeemer or a fall guy. We expect Dr. Berhanu, Ato Bulcha, Professor Mesfin, Judge Bertukan or others to lead us to the Promised Land. We also insist they form a Front, unite or be one for us to approve. Why do you think that is so? Is it possible that we want to avoid responsibility in case things do not work out? Is it because we always seem to prefer that others stick their neck out for our benefit? Or could it be that we can always have someone to assign blame to? Again I wonder how this philosophy would have translated in the land of the Arabs.
Fear of failure is our number one enemy. Fear of assuming responsibility is our Achilles heel. Lack of self-esteem is our undoing. I love Judge Bertukan. I respect Dr. Berhanu. I miss Eskinder. They all stood up for what they believe and paid a price. The net effect on me is that they inspire me. I pay them compliments by emulating their unselfish act. My resolve to be free makes them a better leader. By fighting for their freedom and dignity they inspire me to demand for mine too. We complement each other. We are equal human beings; they just have the added responsibility of standing in the front with my consent. It is true we are all leaders it is a matter of degrees. The difference is some of us lack faith in our good judgment.
Today same old Woyane bastards are toying with us. The evil man is dead but his evil system is still functioning by remote. Absolute idiot like Berket Semeon, a high school graduate that won his last election by cheating is giving out incoherent press conferences. A senile fatherly figure like Sebhat Nega with mind stuck in the ‘70s, and no authority from anyone we know of is trying to explain to us how things work. There is no such thing as a legitimate Ethiopian Constitution, there is no such thing as a freely elected Ethiopian Parliament and here we are trying to interpret and split hair of a non-existent phantom situation. All ado about nothing.
All I see in my head is Arab Spring. All I think about is the power of rage. I remember the brave Egyptians burning Mubarak’s headquarters to smitten and I grin from ear to ear. I dream of my brave fearless people smashing the walls of Maekelawi and letting my brothers and sisters out. I lounge for the day when the doors of Kaliti are flung open and my people march singing and dancing all the way to Merkato and Kebena and Gulele. I smile when I see in my head Meskel Square full of my people celebrating their freedom and hugging, kissing shouting “Free at last, thanks God almighty we are free at last!!” I jump with joy when Ethiopian Airlines lands at Bole with the scattered children of Ethiopia from the four corners of the world bring her future back to build and make our ancient land the center of African freedom and dignity. Yes you can make that happen but you first have to have faith in yourself, respect for your fellow human and a heart full of love and tolerance the rest will take care of itself. It is all about you talking personal responsibility and rising up to the occasion. Hate of dictatorship is acceptable. Celebration of the demise of evil is a human duty. Wanting to be free and live in dignity is as important as breathing and eating.
Meles died in Europe. Meles should be buried in Europe. Alive he did not care for Ethiopia. Dead there is no place for him in Ethiopia. We want to be free of his body and spirit. This is not about hate but a perfectly normal closure for the pain and agony he inflicted on our country and people. TPLF should be warned regarding this notion of a state burial for a tyrant. Do not thread on our sensibilities and bring the ugly in all of us. Let us open a new chapter in peace and harmony.
