Addis Neger, a local Amharic language newspaper in Ethiopia’s capital Addis Ababa reports that a former judge who is currently prominent lawyer is among 40 people jailed after being accused of plotting to assassinate Ethiopia’s dictator Meles Zenawi and other high ranking Woyanne regime officials.
Goshyirad Tsegaw, who along with Birtukan Mideksa has presided over a high-profile case of the former Defense Minster and top ranking Woyanne official, Siye Abrah, was arrested on April 24, according to Addis Neger
Goshyirad got his first degree from the Addis Ababa University in 1999 and started his career working as an Assistant Judge at the Federal First Instance court where he worked for a year. He served for eight more years as a judge in the same court where he came to preside over Siye’s case.
Starting from 2009, he has been practicing law independently and doing his second degree at the Addis Ababa University in Human Rights Law.
I am not endorsing the Ginbot 7 party led by Dr Birhanu Nega on its first anniversary; rather to congratulate the Ethiopian masses who went out in millions in all corners of Ethiopia and voted TPLF out of office four years ago on May 15, 2005 (Ginbot 7, 1997 Eth. Cal.). I am also remembering the fallen heroes — unarmed peaceful protesters — who were gunned down by Agazi commandos on broad day light.
Here is my difference with former minister of defense Ato Seye Abraha, one of the founders of TPLF, who wanted to accuse both the victims and crime perpetrators by characterizing what follows May 15 elections as “unprepared for peaceful election.” Wait a minute, how did he forget the Miazia 30 rally of more than two million people in Addis Ababa who went out on pre-election rally without a single incident? The only reason our people were left alone on that day was because of the arrogance of TPLF cadres who believed that the paid rally in support of TPLF could beat any opposition by the Kinijit/CUD.
The May 15, however, proved that TPLF arrogance was unparalleled and it lost overwhelmingly in Addis Ababa and to avoid defeat it massacred our peaceful people. That is the fact and any attempt to paint our people as “violent” is just covering up the TPLF crime.
The theory of participating on peaceful election in Ethiopia has been dead since May 16, 2005 after our people’s aspiration for democracy was stopped by the brutal forces of TPLF leaving more than two hundred dead and tens of thousands in concentration camps. Now TPLF is preparing to control power and get legitimacy it never got during the last eighteen years by preparing a fake election and recruiting new comers on Mederk platform run by Gebru Asrat and Seye Abraha.
Accusing our people for violent behavior and “opposition organizations” unprepared to challenge the “strong and powerful TPLF” they are working to get a seat with their former brothers until “the unorganized oppositions” are ready in 2015 to challenge TPLF. We haven’t heard from them on the ongoing ethnic cleansing in the army which Bulcha Demeksa accurately characterized as pre-election terror.
Another major election campaign was orchestrated by Meles Zenawi in the Amhara Region a month ago. A poem was read to congratulate “Talaku Mereyachenen” Meles Zenawi and read like this: “Do not worry, all of them will come back to you, Meles; Hulum Meles Bilew Yematalu.”
The person who wrote this poem accurately captured the so called participants of the the 2010 peaceful elections led by Medrek.
Our people’s readiness to elect their leaders peacefully was well documented even by those who financed and armed TPLF and what our people demand right now is their right to organize, speak and print freely; not another Lidetu Ayalew type Democracy Talk. Without basic rights of democracy, the new formation like “Mederek challenging TPLF/EPRDF” in the June 2010 election is just betrayal of our people much worst than Lidetu Ayalew’s betrayal four years ago.
TPLF is running a one party state until our people economy reached to that of Communist China. It transferred itself to a “development party” and can now be called also Tigray People Development Party (TPDP). Do not worry about the name Tigray — they mean business and is all clear for all doubters. TPLF/TPDP Oromo’s wing was dealt with before and the Amhara wing of TPDP is being hit by imprisoning Amhara officers in the army who were “conspiring” with Ginbot 7 weeks ago.
Does any one still doubt that TPLF does not mean EPRDF. I hope the Mederek people will tell us if there is anybody in EPRDF except TPLF that has real power. I hope they will not mention Teferra Walewa who will soon be accused of eating the left over “sugar” from Pastor Tamrat Layne who was thrown in jail for over decade for “sugar crime” (profiting from the sale of sugar).
Our generation has the same choice our fathers and mothers had seventy five years ago: either to live in dignity or die fighting. I choose the latter one and support all real oppositions, including Ginbot 7, for the common struggle to remove TPLF and empower our people.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Meanwhile, Addis Ababa and other cities use electric light in shifts as a result of Meles Zenawi’s tribalist regime policies of every thing to Tigray. The following is reported by the Woyanne-hijacked Ethiopian News Agency.
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (ENA) – Ethiopia and France on Thursday signed a financing agreement amounting to 210 million Euros for implementation of the Ashegoda Wind Power Project in Tigray State.
Chief Executive Officer of the Ethiopian Electric Power Corporation (EEPCo), Mihret Debebe and ambassador of France to Ethiopia, Jean-Christophe Belliard signed the agreement.
With an installed capacity of 120 MW, along with annual energy production of 400 to 450 GWH, the Ashegoda wind harnessing project came as the first of its kind for Ethiopia.
It is believed to improve the country’s energy mix, thereby reducing the impact of possible hydrological risks.
Mihret said on the occasion that the fund will be used for implementation of the Project.
The project has an implementation schedule of 36 months from the date of commencement to bring the whole wind energy converter units into commercial operation. However, the first phase yielding 30MW capacity will be commissioned in 16 months after contract commencement.
Ambassador Jean-Christophe Belliard also said the project will contribute to ongoing efforts of Ethiopia to distribute electric power service in Africa.
The ambassador also said it will help to strengthen the age long friendship between the two countries.
The recent accusation by Meles Zenawi’s clique of an alleged ‘coup’ attempt led by {www:Ginbot 7}, which in a matter of days, was revised and heralded as an ‘assassination’ attempt is a vivid indication of a very serious internal danger that the dictatorial regime in Ethiopia has begun to face. The only objective of the confusing and the constantly changing statements coming from the Prime Minsterís office is to distract Ethiopians and the international community from seeing the real crisis engulfing the regime.
For a long time, high military positions and exclusive military training and educational opportunities both at home and abroad have been monopolized by ethnic Tigrean officers; and this has created immeasurable discontent in the highly polarized Ethiopian army. Officers affiliated with the ruling Tigrean People Liberation Front (TPLF) routinely disobey their superiors from other ethnic groups, ignoring military codes of conduct and discipline. For example, a major affiliated with the TPLF scolds a General from other ethnic group in a breach of strict military protocol. The absolute majority of the Ethiopian army is composed of non Tigreans; however, most of the high ranking commanding officers, including the Army Chief of Staff are from the ruling Tigrean ethnic clique. In addition, 22 of the 23 Army Divisions and all of the five Regional Army Commands are headed by ethnic minority Tigrean commanders.
Such disproportionate Tigrean domination is not limited to the military, it encompasses the Police Forces, Intelligence services as well as the political and economic spheres of the country. Moreover, almost all important civilian assignments within the government and key posts in the economic and social sectors are occupied by a small group of loyal ethnic Tigreans affiliated to the TPLF. The recent uproar in the military was to challenge the inequity and the injustice inherent in the system. General Kemal Gelchu from Oromo ethnic was the first high ranking officer to officially break rank with the ethno-racist politico-military rule of Meles Zenawi.
General Tefera Mamo, the recent victim of the brutal regime, has been a long time outspoken opponent of the ethno racist policies of Zenawi’s regime. The view of this courageous general is shared by tens of thousands in the highly politicized and polarized members of the Ethiopian Armed Forces.
Ginbot 7 is acutely aware of the simmering discontent within the army and defense forces, shares their solemn belief that only a genuinely democratic Ethiopia will remove the scourge of preferential treatment and nepotism in the army and in the country at large.
What shook Meles Zenawi’s regime to its core is the realization that the Army has now joined the civilian population in concluding that Meles and his band of ethno-racists are the main impediments to Ethiopia’s peace, stability, economic prosperity and forming a truly democratic government accountable to its citizenry. This is the frightening fact Meles and Bereket want to hide underneath the confusing allegations and denials of the last few days.
Meles and his colleagues are failing to understand that the problem they are facing now is of greater magnitude than anything they have faced in the last 18 years. The festering problem will not disappear just because the regime clumsily accuses and imprisons a handful of officers and a motley crew of alleged collaborators — including an eighty year old senior citizen. Ginbot 7 would like to inform Ethiopians at large, and the international community in general, the simple truth behind the smoke screen of alleged ìcoupsî, ìplotsî and ìassassinationî attempts concotted by the Zenawi regime.
The primary link between Ginbot 7 and General Tefera Mamo as well the civilian prisoners of the brutal regime is our shared vision of creating a democratic Ethiopia where citizenship and merit, rather than blood line will become the route to high office and wealth and where civil liberties and the rule of law will flourish in every corner and every hamlet of our proud and ancient land.
(The above is a statement by Ginbot 7 Movement for Justice, Freedom and Democracy)
Meles Zenawi’s dictatorship in Ethiopia attacks the United States Department of States officials as liars for publishing a report that exposes the regime’s massive human rights violations.
In a statement issued yesterday, the Meles regime said that normally they do not respond to such reports, but in this case they have to protect Ethiopia’s name!
The TV reporter who read the statement must be a skilled actor because he was not laughing as you can see in the video below.
Addis Ababa — Ethiopia’s next national election is a year away, but tensions are already increasing. At least two opposition politicians have recently been jailed, both possibly facing life in prison, and security forces have arrested dozens of others, accusing them of plotting against the government. Both government and opposition leaders are expressing concern about the potential for election-related violence.
No Ethiopian needs reminding about the horrors that followed the disputed 2005 election. Nearly 200 protesters killed in the streets by security forces, more than 100 opposition leaders arrested, convicted of treason and sentenced to life in prison before being pardoned.
When government spokesman Bereket Simon kicked off the 2010 election season, he said a top priority of the ruling Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) would be preventing violence. “This election must be peaceful. Government must do whatever it takes to ensure that our election will be peaceful,” he said.
Prime Minister Ethiopia’s dictator Meles Zenawi warned that government forces would have little tolerance for street protests. “The 2005 experience was experience enough for anybody to be able to learn from, and so I’m sure our law enforcement entities will be much better prepared for any eventuality than they were in 2005, not only in terms of handling riots, but also in terms of deterring and preventing riots,” he said.
Opposition activists are equally concerned. It was their supporters that were killed in the streets four years ago. Many fear 2010 could be as bad or worse than 2005.
Already, several government opponents have been jailed. Among them, Birtukan Mideksa, a charismatic young former judge who was among those sentenced to life and then pardoned after the 2005 election.
Birtukan had been touted to be a potent force in the 2010 vote. But she was re-arrested and ordered to serve out her sentence after saying she had not asked for the pardon.
Another prominent member of Birtukan’s party, Melaku Teferra, was among 40 people accused last month of involvement in a coup plot directed by {www:Berhanu Nega}, who was elected mayor of Addis Ababa in 2005.
Berhanu and Melaku were also among those jailed for life after the last election. Melaku stayed in Ethiopia after being freed. Berhanu fled to the United States, where he teaches economics at a Pennsylvania university and heads a political group that advocates the overthrow of the Meles Zenawi government.
Merera Gudina is another political science professor who doubles as an opposition leader. Merera teaches at Addis Ababa University. His party is among eight opposition groups banding together in hopes of mounting a serious challenge to the ruling EPRDF.
Merera worries, however, that next year’s vote may turn into a replay of last year’s local and bi-elections, in which the EPRDF and its affiliates won all but three out of nearly 3.6 million seats being contested. Most opposition parties pulled out of the contest in advance, complaining the rules were written so only pro-government parties could win.
Merera says given that the EPRDF now controls all local administrations, this election will be a struggle to prevent Ethiopia from becoming a one-party state.
“Our role is… to make sure this government cannot rule without accepting the rules of multi-party democracy. We are in a struggle. This government is not ready for change, and this government is cheating left and right and its ultimate agenda is revolutionary democracy. We know all these things, and in fact people who were with (Prime Minister) Meles, who used to play those games and clearly know these games, are now with us,” he said.
Seeye Abraha Hagos is a former member of Prime Minister Meles’s inner circle. He was military commander of the guerrilla force that brought the Meles government to power. After a falling out with the government, he was convicted of corruption and spent several years in prison. But he is still popular among his former military colleagues
Seeye is now a member of the coalition of opposition groups know as the forum. He says the only ways of breaking Ethiopia’s long tradition of violence-plagued elections is to ensure opposition parties and their supporters know change is possible through the ballot box.
“There is always violent opposition in Ethiopia. Even if you take out the 2005 elections, there was violent opposition in this country. So if we are ever going to control violence in this country, the only way out is to chart a peaceful political transition. No peaceful elections, no peaceful political transfer of power would mean there will be continuous violence in this country, and this can take this country down the drain given our poverty,” he said.
A year before the May, 2010 election, Ethiopia displays all the outward signs of calm. Despite grinding poverty, frequent power cuts, and a severe foreign exchange shortage that has seen imported goods disappear from stores, there is little evidence of the country’s violent past.
But opposition leaders and political analysts caution that the outward appearance masks a deep-seated longing among Ethiopians for freedom of political expression. Former defense minister Seeye Abraha likens the country to a dormant volcano. It might look calm, but even a small disturbance could set it off.
