Ethiopian Review and EMF conducted a press conference with Kinijit North America auditor, Ato Tesfaye Asmamaw. Ato Tesfaye, a senior accountant with the U.S. Federal Elections Commission, has also served as the auditor of Kinijit North America. Ato Tesfaye has informed us that he has finished preparing a comprehensive report to be presented to the Kinijit executive committee in Addis Ababa. The report exposes the rampant corruption that went on inside the Kinijit North America committee under the leadership of Shaleqa Yoseph Yazew, in collaboration with his long time friend since their EDU days, Ato Moges Brook of Los Angeles. Between these two individuals, according to the auditor, $700,000 – $1.2 million dollars have been stolen, wasted, or unaccounted for. This figure doesn’t include funds collected in cash that had nevere been deposited in a bank account. Some of the wasteful expenses include $4,000 for just one restaurant bill, $6,000 for unauthorized trip to Kenya, etc. Only $23,000 have been sent to Ethiopia to assist the families of the jailed leaders. But even this money was not given to those who needed it. The money was distributed to the shaleqa’s and Ato Moges Brook’s friends who didn’t need the money.
According to Ato Tesfaye, the Internal Revenue Service and the State of Virginia have now launched investigations in to the financial improprieties by the shaleqa and group of friends.
Shaleqa Yoseph and group have shamed themselves and the party they were put in charge of. They betrayed their party and the people of Ethiopia. What is more sad and telling about all of us is that these individuals are being tolerated and allowed to continue holding leadership positions inside the party. We are condemning the corrupt Woyanne regime, but at the same time, we are tolerating outright stealing of public funds inside Kinijit.
After learning all the hard facts about the corruption that went on inside Kinijit and yet the top leaders fail to take strong actions, then the problem will not be with the shaleqa and his cohorts alone. Kinijit’s name will be irreparably tarnished as a corrupt party.
Click here to listen the full interview with Ato Tesfaye Asmamaw.
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia August 1, 2007 (ENA – state controlled) – The Federal High Court [kangaroo court] has sentenced five leaders and members of the Coalition for Unity and Democracy Party (Kinijit) from four to 16-year rigorous jail terms.
In its session held here on Wednesday, the Second Criminal Bench of the Court sentenced Lieutenant Girma Amare to 16 year rigorous prison term and other defendants Kidist Bekele and Mebratu Kebede to 15 year-prison term each.
Editor of Addis Zena, Wosen-seged Gebre-kidan and Editor of another tabloid called Hadar, Dawit Kebede received 4- year behind bar each.
The charges in which Lieutenant Girma Amare, Kidist Bekele and Mebratu Kebede were convicted were heavy and they should have been sentenced either to life in prison or death, the Court said.
According to the decision, the convicts incited violence in Kirkos and Addis Ketema sub-cities here in the capital following the May 2005 national election.
Prosecutor witnesses had testified that Lieutenant Girma in particular to have instigated violence and stoned and set ablaze the office of Kebele 13/15, a city bus, government vehicle and a shop while preventing the movement of people.
The Court said Kidist was convicted of supplying petrol for setting ablaze the stated properties while attacking police members and preventing the movement of people.
However, the Court had sentenced the convicts to the stated jail term taking into consideration these attempts had failed to materialize.
The stated editors were convicted of instigating violence claiming that the national election was fraudulent and the incumbent state could not form a government with rigged vote and the public should not accept the outcome of the elections, among others.
Though the convicts were supposed to get up to 10-years in jail each, they were sentenced only to 4-year imprisonment each.
The Court postponed its verdict on other members of the CUD leaderships for August 6, 2007.
By Scott A. Morgan
American Chronicle
We all noticed last fall when the American Voters decidely threw out a Republican Congress and replaced it with the Democrats. But it is becoming clear that if WE expected a change in how things are run in Washington we were sadly mistaken.
Like in the last Republican-controlled Congress, a Bill that was designed to address the internal climate in an African Country that is an ally was introduced. Sadly it appears that it is travelling down the same road. If certain people have their way this legislation will not see the floor to be voted on.
H.R. 2003, which deals with Freedom Democracy and Human Rights in Ethiopia, was reintroduced in the House after a journey that had some treachery in it. After clearing the House International Relations Committee (now the Foreign Relations Committee) it was tabled by then Speaker Hastert. Now, under the leadership of Speaker Pelosi, it may suffer the same fate as it did in the last Congress.
The Current Government in Ethiopia has a serious image problem. Its actions were recently criticized in a report by Human Rights Watch. It released 38 political prisoners that were mainly members of the Political Opposition after an unfair trial. And the Red Cross was asked to leave the Ogaden region of the country. Also the country faces increasing scrutiny after its U.S.-backed incursion in to Somalia.
What did this African country do to try and shore up its image? It has retained one of the most powerful lobbyist groups in Washington — DLA Piper. Already the group has sent two former members of Congress, Dick Armey and Richard Gephardt, to lobby the Speaker in an effort to prevent this bill from being voted on. The government in Addis Ababa could lose substantial economic and military aid if this bill passes.
The fact is that this attempt at a backroom deal could backfire. The Congress has an even lower approval rating than the President. If this occurs, then who knows how much the average citizen will trust their member of Congress. The Ethiopian Diaspora here in the United States are organizing an effort to bring this bill to the floor so it can be voted on. Maybe Americans themselves should join this effort so that people can be heard and not the lobbyists. Isn’t that supposed to happen in the House anyway?
By Jake Grovum
The Minnesota Daily
Remedan Yuya fled Ethiopia to escape the hardship and strife brought upon the Oromo people by the Ethiopian government. Dr. Negasso Gidada, an Oromo himself, served as president of that government from 1995 to 2001. He is currently a member of the Ethiopan parliament.
[Photo by Ryan Callahan]
Dr. Negasso Gidada, president of Ethiopia from 1995 to 2001, speaks Thursday at the second annual International Oromo Human Rights Conference in Coffman Union’s Great Hall at the University of Minnesota.
“When I saw him, what I feel, (he is) somebody who tried to kill me, who tried to hunt me back home, I escaped from that,” said Yuya, an activist and Oromo Studies Association member. “My sisters, my brothers, my mom, my father, because of him, disappeared. Then, how can I tolerate (him) over here?”
Last week, hundreds of Oromos attended two conferences at Coffman Union to discuss human rights issues facing the Oromo community in Ethiopia.
Gidada spoke at both conferences; Yuya attended one.
“When Sept. 11 happened, I was a student in college. I was made sick by that day because of all the people dying in America,” Yuya said. “That’s the same I feel when I see (Gidada).”
The situation in Ethiopia
The Oromo people have faced persecution in Ethiopia since a transitional government gave way to the
Tigray Peoples’ Liberation Front in the mid-’90s, under Prime Minister Meles Zenawi and the TPLF have remained in power ever since.
“We had party members in the countryside who were beating people, for example taking out the whole village, maybe about 5,000 people, and have them sit down in the sun for five days,” Gidada said. “(They were) accusing them of hiding the (Oromo Liberation Front) people and they were violating the human rights of the whole village.”
The Oromo Liberation Front works for the human rights of the Oromo people. In Ethiopia, membership in the group is viewed as illegal by the governing regime.
Gidada said while he was president there were approximately 25,000 Oromos held as political prisoners for five or six years.
“I know that in 2000, when the new president was elected … he gave amnesty to about 1,000 people,” he said. “The rest, we don’t know where they are.”
The U.S. Department of State issued a human rights report on the Ethiopian government in 1999. The report said the government’s human rights record “generally was poor,” and despite improvements, “serious problems remain.”
In the Ethiopian government, the presidency is mainly a symbolic position which serves as head of state, but Gidada said he participated in all decisions made by the ruling party.
Gidada said he is prepared to accept personal and collective accountability for human rights violations.
“How many have died … are crippled … in prison and how many have run away to other countries because of the brutality of the government, I do not know exactly,” he said. “What I can only say at the moment is I am very sorry.”
Last week’s conferences, The International Oromo Human Rights Conference and the Oromo Studies Association annual conference were both co-sponsored by the University’s Oromo Student Union.
There are an estimated 12,000 to 15,000 Oromos living in the Twin Cities and more than 90 percent have refugee status, according to the Oromo Community of Minnesota.
Oromo students react
Oromo Student Union secretary, Hussein Waliye, lived in Ethiopia while Gidada was in office. Waliye said his father was imprisoned “pretty much for being Oromo.”
“Every time and anytime they want, they’d just put him in jail,” he said. “Every night, even though we were little kids, we would be sitting in the house wondering what’s going to happen to our dad.”
Eventually the government gave his father a final notice to leave the country. Officials threatened him, saying if they suspected he was involved with the OLF, he would be killed.
Gidada also played a role in the formation of the current government during four years of transitional government. Because of this, Waliye said Gidada has significant responsibility.
“Him coming here and saying sorry and then criticizing the current government doesn’t make any sense to me, because he’s the one that put this government in place,” he said. “I have more blame on him than any Ethiopian president that came after him because without him (they) wouldn’t be able to stand on their feet today.”
Oromo Student Union President Gada Beshir said he once shared that distrust of Gidada and other members of the regime. But a trip to South Africa changed his mind. There, he studied the way that country reconciled following years of apartheid.
“Going to South Africa, personally, that changed me around 180 degrees,” Beshir said. “I would like to see a true reconciliation commission based on the South African model that brings the society together.”
Despite his optimism for the future of Ethiopia, Beshir admits Gidada’s apology is not enough for him to forgive.
“As a student leader, I decided to tolerate him and accept him,” he said. “When it comes to the excuse and apology that he made in front of the public, I just know that’s not enough.”
Community reaction
Oromos make up nearly 40 percent of the Ethiopian population, according to the CIA’s World Factbook.
Because he is Oromo, Gidada’s role was part of the reason why the regime was able to gain power, Nuro Dedefo, chairperson of the OLF in the United States, said.
“Because he held that status (he) gave legitimacy for the TPLF regime,” Dedefo said. “He’s a doctor, he should know better man, he should know better.”
While Gidada’s position was largely ceremonial, Dedefo said the former president could have done much more while in power.
“He should speak up for the human rights violations committed against the Oromo people,” he said. “Once he left the office, whatever he says doesn’t fly in my eyes because of the action that government committed. He was part of the regime; he is responsible.”
Barbara Frey, director of the University’s human rights program, was seated alongside Gidada on the panel held Thursday at the International Oromo Human Rights Conference.
“I found it quite extraordinary that the president chose to come here knowing that he would probably face criticism from his own ethnic community,” she said. “It was a very powerful, the most powerful moment in the event, when he personally apologized for his role.”
President of the Oromo Studies Association Dr. Gobera Huluka, said Gidada brought a necessary point of view to the conference.
“I am the most idealistic person who believes in the free flow of ideas,” he said. “That is the only way we can understand our enemy; we can understand ourselves and we can understand our friends.”
Watch a video of interviews with Dr Negasso and other participants of the conference. Click here.
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By Stephanie Hanson
Council on Foreign Relations
After Ethiopia’s December invasion of Somalia to vanquish Islamic militants, many observers labeled Addis Ababa a proxy of the United States, and a few even called it a “puppet.” Both labels implied the United States was an unseemly ally. Now, after the Ethiopian government’s recent attempt to put dozens of opposition politicians to death and reports of military abuse of civilians (HRW), Washington may be starting to balk at its close relationship with Addis Ababa.
Ethiopia receives nearly half a billion dollars in U.S. aid each year as well as military assistance. Yet the Ethiopian government has shown little inclination to improve a dismal record on human rights, as well as a history of unresponsiveness to international pressure on its domestic policies. When Ethiopian prosecutors jailed over one hundred opposition politicians and journalists after 2005 parliamentary elections, international donors—including the United States—put $375 million in aid on hold. By mid-2006, Ethiopian prime minister Meles Zenawi still refused to release the prisoners. “U.S. concerns about terrorism in Somalia led diplomats to accept a status quo they concluded would not change and to get on with business,” writes Terrence Lyons in a Council Special Report on the Horn of Africa.
Since then, Ethiopian authorities have been accused of further harsh measures. Last month, Zenawi announced a crackdown on the Ogaden National Liberation Front, a separatist movement in the country’s eastern Ogaden region. Some aid officials and diplomats now claim the government is blocking emergency food aid (Reuters) to the region. Ethiopia’s military—one of the largest and best-trained in Africa—has been accused of widespread domestic abuses (NYT)in villages in the Ogaden, including civilian executions and gang rape.
Ethiopia is an “important partner for the United States,” writes Horn of Africa expert John W. Harbeson, but “joint counter-terrorism initiatives must be kept separate from Ethiopia’s struggles with democracy and its continuing pursuit of a post-imperial political identity.” The U.S. Congress clearly agrees—it recently passed an amendment cutting $3 million in assistance, and pending legislation would put strict conditions on remaining aid. Yet the Pentagon is “dead keento boost [Zenawi’s] armed forces,” writes the Economist.
Some in the U.S. government may have qualms about Ethiopia’s undemocratic behavior, but it has been a reliable ally in the tumultuous Horn of Africa. While tensions simmer between Ethiopia and Eritrea over a disputed border, rebels wage regular attacks in Mogadishu, Somalia’s capital. The Ethiopian military had hoped to withdraw months ago, but it remains mired (WashPost) in the city battling insurgents on behalf of Somalia’s weak transitional government. In an Online Debate, Sadia Ali Aden of the Somalia Diaspora Network and Terrence Lyons agree that Ethiopia must withdraw from Somalia. Lyons argues that the U.S. relationship with Ethiopia could help promote peace in the region, but Aden calls it “a grave impediment to lasting peace in Somalia,” arguing that Washington’s partnership choice “may further radicalize the region.”
