Azeb Mesfin speech at the late dictator Meles Zenawi funeral (video)
Meles Zenawi
Hailemariam Desalegn demoted to deputy PM
Acting prime minister of Ethiopia Hailemariam Desalegn was introduced as deputy prime minister today at the late dictator Meles Zenawi’s funeral by the TPLF junta officials, while foreign leaders such as South African president Jacob Zuma and South Sudan president Salva Kiir Mayardit addressed him as ‘acting prime minister.’ Head of the U.S. delegation, Amb. Susan Rice, also addressed him as ‘acting prime minister.’
When Meles’s death was announced on August 21, the TPLF junta’s propaganda chief Bereket Simon had stated that Hailemariam has taken over as acting prime minister. A couple of days later, the parliamentary meeting that would formalize his appointment was abruptly called off.
This is one of the first major signs of the ongoing campaign to deny Hailemariam the prime minister’s position by some factions in the ruling party, including Meles’s wife Azeb Mesfin.
By the way, where was ‘President’ Girma Woldegiorgis? He was no where to be seen during the entire funeral proceeding.
Also, Susan Rice’s speech was so disgusting that it was hard to watch. She is a damn liar.
Why didn’t Meles Zenawi get medical treatment in Ethiopia? (San Francisco Chronicle)
By Joel Brinkley | San Francisco Chronicle
Meles Zenawi, Ethiopia’s dictator, died last month – in a Brussels hospital. Why didn’t he get medical care at home? Look at the state of his people’s health, and you’ll understand.
The government provides vaccinations for only 5 percent of the children. Fewer still receive antibiotics when they contract pneumonia. Only 20 percent of teenage girls are educated about AIDS. Is it any wonder that Ethiopia’s average life expectancy is 56 – among the world’s lowest?
Eleven years ago, 53 African nations signed a pledge to spend at least 15 percent of their national budgets on health care. Almost no nation has lived up to that. Right now, Ethiopia dedicates 3.6 percent of its budget to health. So no one was surprised when the president went abroad for care.
In fact, across the developing world, whenever a president or potentate gets sick, he travels to a more developed state for care. That boldly displays the heedless view these leaders have of their own people. Perhaps if they were required to use their own hospitals, they might be more inclined to improve them.
Many of these reprobates find they can’t step on the plane as blithely as Zenawi did. To get away often requires stealth and deceit.
Not long ago, Asif Ali Zardari, Pakistan’s president, wanted to go abroad for an unspecified, apparently minor health issue. So he directed doctors at a Karachi hospital to forge a report saying he had a more significant illness: prostate cancer. Dr. Ghayur Ayub, a former national director general of health, had a look at the lab results and on his blog declared the diagnosis “ludicrous.” Zardari left anyway.
Last year, he decided to spend some time in Dubai. His spokesmen said he’d gone to visit his children. But that was proved to be a lie after he entered a hospital. The rambunctious Pakistani press declared that he was being treated for a host of different problems: a heart attack, a clot in his neck, a dangerous reaction to medicine.
After he’d been away two weeks, the news media began writing about the political message Zardari was sending. Pulse International, Pakistan’s most prominent medical journal, wrote that Zardari’s trip demonstrated a “lack of trust and confidence in Pakistani healthcare professionals and healthcare institutions.” It turned out he’d had a minor stroke.
Zardari is hardly alone. Since Hugo Chavez, the Venezuelan strongman, took office in 1999, he has bragged ceaselessly about improving health care for his people. But when he contracted cancer, he flew off to Cuba – twice. That’s a telling statement about Venezuelan medicine. Cuban doctors say they earn about $24 a month.
In Venezuela, rumors are rife that Chavez’s cancer is terminal, though he denies that. Is he lying? You decide. Chavez suddenly decided to build a $140 million mausoleum for Simon Bolivar, the 19th century political and military leader Chavez reveres. The Venezuelan press notes that the building has room for at least one more resident.
Hun Sen, Cambodia’s prime minister, visited constituents a while back and noted that he had a minor wound needing treatment. He insisted that only when “doctors in Cambodia say they cannot deal with it will I go to a hospital abroad.” He failed to note that a few years earlier he had traveled to Tokyo for what the government said was a two-day “checkup.” Cambodian doctors aren’t capable of even that? Like the other leaders who travel abroad, health and welfare conditions in his country are no better than those in Ethiopia.
But in Saudi Arabia, an exceedingly wealthy state, Prince Nayef said he was traveling abroad for “medical tests” last spring. He was gone a month and said he’d been in a Cleveland hospital but provided no other details. He died in June – in a Geneva hospital.
Dictators always seem to be traveling abroad for simple tests or checkups. Nursultan Nazarbayev, Kazakhstan’s president, insisted he was in a German hospital for a “checkup” last year – though he had issued a press release saying, “I suggest everyone have routine checkups here in Kazakhstan.” A German paper reported that he was treated for prostate cancer.
This spring, a South African newspaper reported that government leaders from Malawi, Gabon, Togo, Nigeria and Tanzania all had died in foreign hospitals. The paper then made a note of a fact that every one of those leaders’ constituents ought to stand up and shout about: These heads of state “prefer to pour taxpayers’ money into overseas medical facilities rather than spending it on improving health care at home.”
Joel Brinkley, a professor of journalism at Stanford University, is a Pulitzer Prize-winning former foreign correspondent for the New York Times.
TPLF media fabricates news of Meles’ burial one day in advance
The Reporter, a TPLF-affiliated local newspaper, reports that the late Ethiopian dictator Meles Zenawi has been buried, even though the burial will actually take place tomorrow, Sunday. This is how the TPLF media fabricates news. They prepare news about events before the actual events have even taken place.
The editor, Amare Aregawi, might have inadvertently pressed the ‘publish’ button instead of the ‘draft’ button after writing the news and that could be how it appeared on the web site two days in advance.
We have taken a screenshot of the webpage where the fabricated ‘news’ appeared, and as expected, a few minutes later the page was removed. See the screenshot below.
The late dictator’s funeral scaled down because of security concerns
The late Ethiopian dictator Meles Zenawi’s funeral Sunday has been scaled down because of security threats, according to an Ethiopian Review correspondent in Addis Ababa.
The gathering for the funeral at the Addis Ababa Holy Trinity Cathedral has also been reduced to a small number of foreign dignitaries and senior members of the ruling party, while the people are being ordered to go to the various tents that has been set up through out Addis Ababa and watch the ceremony on TV.
The number of people coming from other regions of Ethiopia for the funeral has also been reduced to 200 per region.
The main fear on the part of the junta is that a riot could break out if there is a large crowd and things could easily get out of hand.
It is not clear where Meles Zenwi will be buried, but we have been informed that it will not be at the Holy Trinity cemetery. There is a wide spread speculation that his body is placed inside a freezer at a secure location and may be set to this birth place, Adwa.
This is an extremely stressful time for the TPLF junta. … stay tuned for updates.
Death and drama in Ethiopia
By Yilma Bekele
I am hoping this is the last discussion about our emotional response regarding the disappearance then death of Ato Meles Zenawi. As controversial and in your face individual he was alive his death has brought drama, division and ugliness to our life. The person is refusing to go away in silence and dignity. I am very much conflicted about his going away. First and foremost I want to make it clear that I am definitely not sad at all. It is not because I am inhuman or lack empathy. Far from that, I consider myself caring and always concerned about others.
When it comes to Meles Zenawi my blood turns ice cold. It is not because of any of his physical traits but rather it is all about his record as the Prime Minter of my motherland. How he used his office and the power it comes with it is how I judge the individual. By all accounts he was not a pleasant human being and for over twenty years he rode rough on our poor nation and seemed to enjoy the wanton destruction he visited on his people. When I think of him what I visualize in my head are memories that bring negativity, sadness and rage.
I remember his constant put down of anyone that dares to ask a question not to his liking, the display of that stupid smirk on his face knowing the individual dare not confront him or else. I will not forget his cold blooded response after murdering over two hundred fellow citizens because they marched in peace because he cheated. His non-challant response to a reporter regarding the health of Judge Bertukan Mideksa whom he threw in jail for no reason by joking she is fine except she might have gained a few kilos and the display of that same smirk on his face is etched in my brain forever. Meles Zenawi was a despicable human being, a mad person that should not be trusted with authority over a family let alone a nation.
The current cry fest sponsored by his fellow criminals even after his demise is what worries me. In Ethiopia they are using the power they accumulated the last twenty years to assert their authority. The citizen is at the mercy of the TPLF mafia. Land belongs to the government, the regime is the number one employer in the country and such essential items as flour, sugar, oil and others are regulated by the dreaded kebeles. The average Ethiopian is a prisoner in his own land. There should be no surprise if they cry when told, march when ordered and ask how high when instructed to jump. It is sad but true. The fact they are obeying the instructions of the TPLF cadres does not mean they agree or are convinced. No deep inside they are laughing and bidding for time. Our people are not stupid nor cowards but they are not into suicide either. They are like mount Zukala volcano, dormant but not extinct.
The Ethiopians in the Diaspora are a different matter. There are those from the regime’s ethnic group that will support the regime due to commonality of interest. Most have vested interest in the survival of the TPLF regime. Then there are those that have used their dollar power to buy stolen land, stolen property and are intricately connected to the ruling party. They are the ones that are easily coopted or blackmailed into obedience. A vast majority have their head in the sand and refuse to hear or see no evil. They wait for the most opportune time to see who will come ahead and join the parade. They are sometimes called the silent majority. Unfortunately their silence works against themselves and the loved ones they left behind.
It is the combination of the TPLF party sympathizers and their puppies they keep on a leash that are making noise regarding holding a cry fest in the Diaspora community. A few of them rent a hall or a community center get their video or picture taken to be beamed by Woyane media at home. The purpose is to show the Ethiopian people that their power and hold extends in the Diaspora community. It is another form of bullying. We saw that during their campaign to raise money in the so called dam on Abbay river. In the Ponzi scheme meeting held in our city over ninety five percent of the participants were from the ruling ethnic group. The cry fest is the same crap in a different guise.
The problem for us is this drama they concoct takes us away from the job at hand. It is vintage Woyane tactic to send us on a wild goose chase while they do their homework. If you notice they took a month to declare the tyrant dead. They used the month to call meetings of their party, the Kebeles and underlings to prepare the ground for country wide mourning. We used that time to speculate whether he is dead or alive, what hospital he is in, where his wife is spotted and discuss the many ramblings of Sebhat Nega. It was a useless digression.
We are at it again. The discussion is on the drama beamed by Woyane TV regarding who has been taken prisoner and made to cry or swear allegiance. We get worked over when we see Haile sobbing, Neway bending some other idiot in designer black silk cloth taken hostage and putting a show. We are programed to follow.
While we are wasting valuable time and energy on side issues Woyane’s are working in the background to shore up support and hold the structure from falling. Speculation is rife with Obama calling Hailemariam, Azeb snubbing Hailemariam, Sebhat under house arrest, Samora dying and Seyoum weak. I still have not seen any of our so called opposition calling for a country wide discussion where we should be heading and some kind of list of points we should be thinking about. Leadership is all about putting your preferences, your thoughts and your plans so the citizen can mull over the possibilities and make an informed decision. Always pointing out Woyane’s atrocities, wrong doings and Woyane’s plans is not a winning strategy.
The question facing our Woyane warriors is what comes next Monday. The drama is done and over and poor Meles is six foot under, what comes next. We just can’t continue with no one in charge. For the last two months Ethiopia and Somalia have been the only two countries operating without a known leadership in charge. We are on what is known as auto pilot. I don’t know if this is good and healthy. One thing is for sure it has not been tried before. In most previous situation the void is normally filled by regional warlords. Are we reverting to that?
Right now the foreign reserve has been depleted; commerce has been on hold for over a month and the two weeks mourning period has brought the poor economy to standstill. The noveau capitalists have been either hording dollars or transferring it outside the country.
How does the new regime afford buying fuel, buying wheat and oil and still pay all the millions borrowed by Meles? What happens to all the contracts signed by Meles selling different parts of the country? Do the new Kilil heads accept the one sided agreements dictated by the then strong TPLF or demand a new form of contract? Are the American and European enablers willing to allow more borrowing from IMF and World bank for a regime that does not show promise of staying stable? What kind of demands are they going to present now knowing they have a weak and divided central authority? Last time their solution caused us agony for twenty years are they going to screw us again?
Issues like this is what we should be discussing about instead of inner fighting and speculation regarding the health of dying Woyanes. We seem to fall into a trap set by the mafia group and waste time and money. We need to grow up and stick to issues that will help our country and people and mind our own business instead of being led astray by others that have their selfish needs.
It is time we bury Meles and his toxic ideas and move forward. It is time we decide the agenda instead of following one drawn by TPLF. It is time we completely ignore Woyane drama do what we got to do to define our issues and stick with the plan. My wish, my plan is that I do not mention you know who for ever and ever and completely wipe his face and memory from my brain. No need to dwell on a history that is only twenty years old while my country has over three thousand years of glory. He was a stain but a very tiny and insignificant one.