November 9, 1989, is a special day for the German people, in particular, and for the rest of humanity, in general. It is a day that one more system designed to treat fellow humans as lesser beings is shattered and discarded. On November 9, 1989, the ‘wall’ that was built to keep people in fear and agony was finally breached and then there was light. It was celebrated with great fanfare. The enabler of this heroic act, former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and current German Chancellor Angela Merkel held hand and crossed the border to cheers and tears accompanied by thousands of fellow citizens. Angela Merkel said “This is not just a day of celebration for Germans. This is a day of celebration for the whole of Europe; this is a day of celebration for all those people who have more freedom.”
November 1, 2005, is a special day for the Ethiopian people. On that fateful day that will live in infamy in our ancient history, the Prime Minister of Ethiopia Meles Zenawi ordered his private Agazi force to open fire using live bullets on fellow Ethiopians that were peacefully protesting the rigged outcome of the May general election.
The independent report by Chairman Frehiwot Samuel and Judge Wolde-Michael Meshesha showed that government forces massacred 197 civilians. We are eternally grateful to the courageous act by Frehiwot Samuel and Judge Wolde Michael and other inquiry commission members for shining a bright light on the despicable act committed by the Meles regime. At this critical juncture in our history where principle and integrity are traded like commodity it is rare to find such patriotic Ethiopians who are willing to tell the truth and are ready to pay the price.
The story of our November 1, 2005, does not end with the massacre. Prime Minster Meles and his cabinet of criminals detained more than 40,000 Ethiopians and transported them to all corners of the country. We became familiar with places such as Zewai, Dedessa, Bir Sheloko, Shoa Robit, Kolfe and Sendafa. People were indiscriminately picked up from their homes, work places and street corners and taken to be shaved, beaten, starved and humiliated their crime; being Ethiopian or young. How many were exposed to AIDS by the wholesale shaving using the same razor blade, how many were eaten by crocodiles trying to escape Dedessa hellhole and how many were scared for life for being treated like a herd of animals will never be known.
November 1, 2005, should be etched in the brain of every Ethiopian that values human life and hungers for freedom and equality. We commemorate Yekatit 12, 1937. We have built a monument in Arat Kilo to remind us of Yekatit 12. On Yekatit 12, 1837 the fascist forces that were occupying our motherland opened fire on the residents of Addis Abeba in retaliation to the attempted assassination of the Viceroy Graziani by Abrham Deboch and Moges Asgedom. On November 1, 2005 Agazi forces, the private army of Meles Zenawi and friends massacred our people for demanding freedom. Graziani and Meles will never be forgotten. When the time comes a monument will be erected for our heroes of November 1, 2005. No one can stop that.
The Germans celebrated their November victory. They remembered the nightmare years under Communism and rejoiced in their new found freedom. For over fifty years the East German people suffered untold hardship. Some collaborated with the regime for economic reasons, some collaborated because there was no place to go but no matter all suffered because tomorrow brought more misery and hopelessness. Today Germany is one and people are building a new free and independent society based on a strong foundation of the rule of law.
The Ethiopians still remember what November brought. November was a ‘eureka’ moment. It laid bare the character of the so-called EPDRF regime. The lies, falsehoods, empty bravado of the minority regime was exposed for all to see. We came to realize that there is no such thing as EPDRF but TPLF, that there is no such thing as the Ethiopian police but private Agazi Force, answerable to Meles Zenawi and a few of his inner circle and there is no such thing as a cabinet but a few dedicated hard core Woyanes.
No matter there are always dedicated people fighting slavery and injustice. It is no different in Ethiopia. There are those that choose immediate fame and glory and side with the enemies of the people. There are those willing to sell everything including their country because of cowardice or natural weakness. Then there are those who choose freedom and risk it all. We have encountered plenty of brave Ethiopians in this time of trial and tribulations in our history. We are emboldened by their selfless act and dedication. They make all of look good.
The heroes of the leadership of Kinijit hold a special place in our heart. Their smart organizational skills and simple message of hope galvanized the whole nation. Our country was filled with hope, possibility and unsurpassed joy. Over a million people showed up to that celebration of pre-victory and showed the whole world that we are not stupid that we can taste freedom and we are ready for the future. Dr. Berhanu and friends unlocked the doors of possibility and unleashed a powerful force that was brewing inside of us. No one can extinguish that fire. The more they try the more it glows.
Inquiry commission Chairman Frehiwot Samuel and Judge Wolde Michael Meshesha gave us the gift of standing up against dictators. The truth was told and there is no amount of revision that can change what really happened on that day. They were forced to flee their beloved homeland because they refused to be bought, intimidated or humiliated.
Judge Bertukan Mediksa is celebrating 317 days in Woyane jail. Judge Bertukan is the symbol of our suffering. She is also a bright light shining over all of humanity with a message of dedication to the truth and love for mother Ethiopia. She is a strong lady following the footsteps of Abuna Petros, Abrham Deboch and Moges Asgedom. Amnesty International has declared our dear sister, mother, and leader of Andenet Party a political prisoner. Please join the global write for Rights organized by AI. It is the duty of every Ethiopian to involve a minimum of ten people to this noble cause. You can use the following format to let your opinion be known:
http://www.amnestyusa.org/writeathon/pdf/WAT09sampleltrs_all.doc
http://www.amnestyusa.org/writeathon/pdf/WAT09sampleltrs_all.pdf
We commemorate November 1, 2005 to pay our respect for those who lost their lives when they were trying to speak for us. We can do our silent prayers or attend a service for our heroes. But that would not be enough. The real commemoration is working to stop another November 1, from happening. It is doing your share wherever you are in setting aside time or money to help those who are working to stop a repeat of Nobember1. To all my country people scattered all over the planet remember we are here in a foreign land among strangers because the ‘freedom deniers’ are over there wrecking our motherland and planning more November massacres. You can stop them or sit idle. It is your choice.
The Ethiopian Prime Mister has been a very visible figure lately. If there is such thing as frequent flyer marketing by Ethiopian Airlines Ato Meles is sure to have enough to go to the moon and back. Stop wishing it were a one-way ticket ok? The period after the 2005 general election has not been good to Ato Meles.
The sure win situation was spoiled by the upstart and spoiled brat called Kinijit. Kinijit took the wind out of Ato Meles and his ethnic entourage. TPLF (EPDRF) was shown to be a house built on sand. A little strong wind and the whole thirteen years Hollywood style façade were shattered to pieces. Kinijit victory was total. The Ethiopian people knew it. The foreign observers concurred. The only one denying reality was TPLF.
Ato Meles always keeps something in his back pocket for a rainy day. He was able to whip out the predicted ‘Interhawme’ scenario to overcome the defeat. He used the threat of Interhamwe (conspiracy to kill all Tigreans by Kinijit) to declare state of emergency. Of course one evil deed leads to another and in a panic he ordered the murder of unarmed protesters by his security force, imprisoned over forty thousand fellow citizens and jailed the whole opposition including human right advocates and civic leaders. The charge included ‘attempted genocide’.
It was a return to the yesteryears of African strong man scenario. Sham elections, rejection by the population, the use of force to change the natural outcome and finally hiding to sit out the shame associated with such barbaric and ugly deed against fellow human beings. The illegal acts ushered in a long winter of exile and lock down. Ato Meles went into hibernation. Let alone Europe and America he was not welcome in most parts of the country. He settled for Adwa as a vacation spot. Talk about downgrading. His party used the down time to fine-tune the repressive machine. The ‘kind’ image cultivated for the election was jettisoned to be replaced by the ‘mean’ not forgiving TPLF.
New programs were designed to satisfy the donors and the Diaspora was actively cultivated to bring needed dollar and euro. Elections were held with new safeguards to assure victory. There is nothing better than to run unopposed and win resoundingly. The ferenjis were happy and were able to fill the necessary forms to continue business as usual. TPLF was happy that once again victory was snatched from the jaws of defeat. The Ethiopian people were depressed and started their geography lesson to scan for a quick way out of the Africa.
Ato Meles emerged from his cocoon around 2007. The world was flush with money and the ferenjis were throwing it out as if it grew on trees. The job market was such that new immigrants were working two jobs. It was planet wide party time. The fantastic amount of remittance flowing into the country and the surge in commodity prices were making the TPLF regime delirious. No one was willing to challenge the fantasy of 12% economic growth thrown around by the regime.
The fight against terror came at an opportune time too. Ato Meles jumped on the bandwagon and declared Jihad on ‘Islamists’ wherever they are. In a split second he was re incarnated as defender of the faith and slayer of Al Qaeda and whatever dada. Not bad for an old Marxist whose religion was dialectic materialism. Jesus was in Marx was out. Condoleezza Rice and Jendayi Frazier were happy to declare Ato Meles No. 1 Jihad fighter in Africa. The fearless leader promised the Pentagon Somalia on a silver platter. It was supposed to be a weekend excursion, a quick jaunt with enough time to be home for dinner. Well, the drive to Mogadishu was a freeway. In fact our Somali friends waited at roadsides to wave at the invaders and wished them a quick trip to the Indian Ocean resort.
Something went wrong. After the heroic arrival in Mogadishu those tricky Somalis closed all the exits. The African Union solders dug in and refused to budge out of their camp. The West said ‘you broke it, you fix it.’ The UN said not now we got more pressing problems. There goes your name, your reputation and the little savings in the coffer. Life is not fair.
At least something good came out of this debacle. Ato Meles was out and about. The Chinese turned out to be real friends in times of need. They were willing to forward loans and collaborate with TPLF and World Bank to show economic activity. Remember most are not sustainable enterprises but who is to complain. Ato Meles leveraged Ethiopia’s position as the seat of African Union to get involved in environmental and aid issues.
By hiring advisors and lobbyists in the West he was able to rehabilitate his image. He started by visiting fellow African dictators. Then he moved in to the periphery like China, Russia or the Middle East. He was worming his way. He always made sure that it was a locality with no civil liberties where his people are not allowed to confront him. For a time it was a days visit to Europe. It was never announced and was done fast. Then he ventured to America under the guise of attending the UN. The ice was broken.
The last year we have seen him in London, Rome and now Pittsburgh. He is seating with who is who on this planet. He wants to be admitted into the Major league. Play with the big boys. All attending G8, G20 meetings are legitimately elected heads of states. None have served more than two terms. Except for the Russian and the Chinese all are dependent on the good will of their people to maintain their status as a leader. In all major meetings Ato Meles is the only ‘leader’ that has clung to power for more than ten years. The vast majorities are new to the job. The meetings are a venue where they jockey to score good deals for respective countries. Ato Meles can sit and watch.
Ato Meles was happy to sit on the same table. He can have his picture taken, attend dinners and such but he cannot speak or vote. Sitting with the big boys have its price. There is certain behavior that is not tolerated unless of course one is either strong or rich neither of which Meles can claim to be. Yes there are always exceptions. That is real life. On the other hand a complete disregard of basic decency is not tolerated even for the rich. The Chinese leaders were shunned after the Tienamen affair. They are very careful and conscious about their dark side since that incident. Despite the ugly display before the dinner in Pittsburgh, I am sure he is happy with his performance.
In that case let us take him for his word. Let us agree that he has matured enough as a leader that he can be included in such gathering. I believe deeds should follow the rhetoric regarding the rule of law, the need for a free and fair elections and observance of the declaration of human rights that Ethiopia is a signatory of. That is good enough for starters. Democracy is the price to sit on that table unless of course you got a few nuclear warheads in your back yard. Suffice to say Ato Meles couldn’t even whip a disorganized Somali rag tag police force. He can only bully un armed civilians.
I believe we should seize the time and use this opportunity for the Ethiopian people to take advantage of the many liberties and rights promised by the Constitution. Meetings by political party’s, associations and organization should be automatic and free. Political parties should be free to lobby the system by using such methods as marches, sit ins and public gatherings.
We know that Ato Meles is preparing to position himself as a selfless leader to assume some positions in international organization when he retires. It is to be commended. Surely a leader that sits with the Barrack Obamas, Angela Merkels and Gordon Browns will not allow his solders to shoot and kill citizens demanding justice. It will definitely affect the next G20 meeting or next climate conference. You just don’t wash your hands with people’s blood and expect a seat with the big guys. It is highly unlikely such deed will go unnoticed. It is definitely a conundrum. This is what is called between a rock and a hard place. Leadership sometimes calls for tough solutions.
It is a tough choice isn’t it? To do the right thing and live in harmony or commit a transgression that will result in being ostracized once again. The decision to use the iron fist will add a lot of uncertainty in what comes after. The call for the International Criminal Court to act will be loud. Other matters that have been pushed under the rug will start to surface. Do we really want that? There are some forces urging Ato Meles to stay the course, but aren’t they sacrificing him to save their behind?
I hope the real opposition will use this opportunity to call Ato Melese’s bluff regarding democracy and freedom and test how real the promise of Woyane ‘Constitution’ is. I hope Ato Meles realizes his legacy is on line. I hope the nightmare decade will be replaced by a long period of prosperity and real peace. With TPLF in charge there is no such thing as a sure bet. Anything is possible.
Siege is a strong term. It is normally used to describe a war situation. The invading army resorts to siege when it encounters a fortress or robust defense it cannot overcome easily. When a siege occurs the enemy surrounds the city or fortification and does not allow reinforcements to come in or permit those inside to escape.
The most famous modern day siege is that of the ‘Siege of Leningrad’ by Nazi troops during World War II. It lasted twenty-nine months. The Soviet Union lost over a million and half people. We are witnessing ‘Gaza under siege’ by Israel as you are reading this article. Human history is full of atrocities as such.
Our country Ethiopia is under siege. We are not under invasion by a foreign force. Who needs enemies when you have friends so they say. We are under siege by a homegrown enemy. We find ourselves in the most unenviable situation of crying wolf but the wolf is us. We are in a strange predicament and it is very confusing to outsiders and ourselves.
You can rally people around a foreign enemy. The enemy is identifiable. The enemy is easy to target. The brain is more willing to accept the definition of ‘enemy’. What we got in Ethiopia is blurred vision. The enemy has watered down the definition. The enemy is also relentless. The whole country is one battleground. No one is immune from being incorporated or made into a subsidiary.
Why would anybody want to destroy Ethiopia is a good question. What a diabolical thing to say or think is a rational reaction. Are you sure Ethiopia is the target is a common response. On the other hand we could be victims of what is known as the ‘law of unintended consequences’. This is how Wikipedia defines the law.
The “law of unintended consequences” (also called the “law of unforeseen consequences”) states that any purposeful action will produce some unintended consequences…
Stated in other words, each cause more than one effect and these effects will invariably include at least one unforeseen side effect. The unintended side effect can potentially be more significant than any of the intended effects.
This is a good point as any trying to understand our current crisis. What exactly was Ato Meles fighting for? How did he go about to attain that goal?
He started as an ethnic study group and formed an ethnic liberation organization. Although all those before him and around him were organized as a multi-national he choose the ethnic road.
There lies the fork on the road. His organization took the easy path. They choose to fight injustice by rallying around primitive ethnicity rather than nationality. It was a short cut.
Our current dilemma has been brewing for eighteen years or so but the seeds were planted over forty years ago. The late sixties and seventies were a time of turmoil. There were two super powers and two contending ideologies. The West was vilified due to its history of colonialism and the then war in Vietnam. Marxism was getting acceptance in the new emerging nations. Our country’s intellectuals were drawn into this philosophy to solve the many problems facing our country. The two questions of land ownership and good governance were the main issues.
We gave birth to the military junta. It was a miscarriage. Despite the Derge lasting seventeen years it was an utter failure in bringing about a positive change. We were caught between the East and the West and we were not ready or able to play that game. Everything our forefathers taught us was turned upside down. All that we learned in thousands of years were discarded in a matter of days. All that which made us Ethiopian was declared old, backward, reactionary and other not favorable adjectives. We know for a fact that most of our core beliefs were challenged and ruled unfit for the new Ethiopia.
Our current leaders are the children of that era. Meles and company built their new psudo ideology on that premise. They also took the then ascending theory of socialism as a dogma instead of a scientific philosophy to be interpreted and reinterpreted as situations change. As Lenin bastardized scientific Marxism to suit his notion of the petty bourgeois seizing power in the name of the proletariat, as Mao Tse Tung reinterpreted Lenin and substituted the peasantry for the petty bourgeois our own TPLF came up with the notion of ethnic based organization to seize and hold power.
We are all products of our environment despite what some US Senators tried to claim otherwise during the recent hearing during Judge Sotomayor’s confirmation. Ato Meles and his mentor Aboy Sebhat are perfect specimens of this assertion. Ato Meles and his comrade’s tunnel vision came from their insular upbringing in the little Village of Adwa. For Meles and company someone born in Hawzen down street from Adwa is an outsider. The rest of Ethiopia is a foreign land. It will not be farfetched to claim that it was during his trip to Addis to attend high school that Ato Meles even met an Oromo, a Gurage or a Sidama.
The many years they spent fighting the Derge was not spent in devising solutions to bring about change but rather sharpening the skills necessary to control and subjugate others. The many writings by ex TPLF members show that disproportionate amount of resources were allocated to eliminating internal dissent rather than building a democratic institution. It is not far fetched to assert that TPLF killed or exiled more Tigrean than the Derge.
What exactly did they bring with them when they marched into Addis as victors on that fateful day in 1991? They brought with them the concept of Kilil, a new revised ethnic map and a new flag. All these years fighting and this is all they have to show for it? Unfortunately this is it! No new agenda to improve agriculture, no new program to encourage rebuilding of industries or learning centers or no new idea to return our old nation on the path of reclaiming our eminence place in Africa.
It was the Derge dressed up in civilian uniform. They were happy to inherit all Derge institutions that were set up for coercion. They took ‘Kebele’ organizations and replaced the heads not the function, they appropriated internal security intact and installed their trained killers and psychos as people in charge. They inherited all land and property as state asset. They transferred state owned industries to EFFORT and called it privatization. They changed the name of their ideology from Marxism-Leninism and Enver Hoxha thought to Revolutionary Democracy.
The last eighteen years they went about looting everything that is of any value. In the words of Aboy Sebhat they built EFFORT as the premier corporation in the country. That claim is incorrect. They robed from Ethiopia. To think TPLF leaders who have never worked for a living, never paid bills from their hard earned income, never even have a simple bank account in their name but were able to build such an enterprise is absurd. It is not an exaggeration to claim EFFORT is bigger than Ethiopia. TPLF is one gigantic wealth sucking vacuum devise with tentacles in all aspect of the life of our people.
Transportation is owned by the Foreign Minister, Sugar is owned by the Military Generals, Brewery is owned by advisors, building and engineering is owned by party hacks, telecommunications and media is owned by the first lady, banking is owned by the party, coffee and other commodities are under the new exchange (TPLF subsidiary) and so on so forth. There isn’t a single aspect of movement of capital in the country without the involvement of TPLF or its subsidiaries.
This is where the ‘law of unintended consequences come in.’ Ato Meles and company organized this huge machine to loot and pillage. Think of TPLF as the parasite and Ethiopia the host. The parasite has been feeding wantonly for the last eighteen years. The host is dying. The well being of the parasite has the exact opposite effect on the host. The parasite is fat and flabby. The host is just skin and bones. The natural outcome is for both host and parasite to perish. It is possible the parasite can move on and find another host. But the host is too weak to survive. Other parasites are hovering to devour what is left of it.
On the other hand the host can wake up from its long slumber and develop an anti biotic to save it self. In this scenario the host did develop a vaccine to protect itself. Kinijit was the vaccine. It was not a fully developed vaccine. The parasite was able to adapt. It was mimicking the HIV virus. It became a moving target. What is required is what is known as a ‘cocktail’ drug. Scientists found out that HIV develops resistance to every antiviral drug and once one drug fails the whole combination is not effective anymore. The trick was finding the right combination of drugs. Kinijit was stuck on the concept of working within the system. A single drug solution. But TPLF was like our HIV lentivirus. One drug alone is not enough. Like the HIV scientists we have to come up with a ‘cocktail’ of resistance combinations. Some call it ‘hulegeb tigil’.
Now TPLF have come to another crossroads. This unquenchable thirst they have to amass wealth is creating its own contradictions. The well is in the process of drying up. What to do? Of course there is always the option of skipping town in the cover of darkness. But that will be admitting guilt thus hunting them down becomes a simple process. There is always the possibility of fanning civil war. But the ensuing chaos might consume them too. Except for a few million stashed away in foreign banks most of the wealth is still sitting in Ethiopia. With modern forensic accounting every penny deposited outside can be traced and any way what is the point of having it if you can’t enjoy it. Their unabashed greed is becoming their undoing.
In an attempt to understand their destructive polices we ascribe such explanations as their hate towards our country, being Eritrean (good old Eritrea always there) their vow to destroy our old kingdom or their grand plan to liberate Tigre as a nation. I have never been comfortable looking into people’s motives. I am more interested in their action. The action of the TPLF mafia group is that of a petty thief but on a national scale.
The issue in front of us is that the cadres are in the process of destroying our homeland. The question put to each and every one of us is what are you going to do about it? Yes, you what is your next move. You can sit in a coffee house or a family gathering and recount the many horror stories of TPLF and company. You can even blame the opposition for not uniting or for splitting into factions at a drop of a hat. Unfortunately that would not absolve you of your responsibilities. Why you want to shift responsibility unto others is strange. You still have not answered the question what are you doing about it? Fighting injustice takes many forms. We all are not cut out to be solders. What is asked of us is to contribute positively to liberate our homeland so we have some place to go at the end of the day.
What is universally clear is no masters have voluntarily let his slaves go, no colonialist have granted freedom without a fight, no dictator have vacated power without struggle. Ato Meles and his inner group have to be forced to see the dead end road they are traveling. It is not about rational discussion with irrational people. Their greed is their Achilles heel. Their perceived economic strength is their vulnerability. That is where we should concentrate our fire. We don’t have to bring them down. We just have to make them stagger and they will fall.
As Henry Thoreau said ‘there are thousands hacking at the branches of evil to one who is striking at the roots…’ don’t tell me you are still hacking at the branches!
I am sure you have all heard that Ato Sebhat Nega aka Aboy Sebhat, the Prime Minster’s mentor and a very high official of the ruling TPLF party was a guest on Voice of America. I was very glad. We are always happy when TPLF officials submit to unrehearsed interviews. It seems that it is the only way we get to know them close and personal. I fondly remember Ato Meles’s appearance on Hard Talk with Stephen Sakur in 2005 and Zenib Badawi in 2009. Ato Sebat’s interview is another gem to be savored.
Ato Sebhat was interviewed by Ato Addisu Abebe of VOA Amharic program. Ato Addisu is a consummate professional. He did his job very well. He was not there to prove Ato Sebhat right or wrong. He knows it is up to the listener to make that determination. Like a language surgeon he is, with his soothing voice he lulled his subject into an incredible comfort zone. Then it was a matter of pealing the public fake persona TPLF have constructed for him. Ato Addisu was able to draw Aboy Sebhat out of his skin and reveal the inner self. It was not a pleasant sight. The Sebhat Nega we saw is a very embarrassing figure. Full of hatred, suffering from an inferiority complex, very angry and a pathological liar are the descriptions that come to mind.
I do hope that Aboy Sebhat took some lessons from his experience with VOA. Although his party controls all media outlets and does not allow the airing of ideas different than the ruling party’s here in America it is the responsibility of the press to present different views and let the public be the judge. It has served them very well for over two hundred years. We hope Aboy Sebhat’s outfit Ethiopian Radio and TV will invite leaders of the real opposition and have them explain their vision for their country. The opposition is more than happy to comply.
This was a two-part interview. In this short piece I will concentrate on a few of the ill conceived ideas he was trying to disseminate. I knew it was going to be interesting when I heard his title in the introduction. He is a member of the Ethiopian Parliament, I guess from Tigrai (one never knows since Ato Berket represents Wollo) and President of International Center for Peace and Development. There is no one opposed to peace and development, but this one in Addis it is nothing but. The truth is it is Orwellian double speak at its best. The Center is one of those TPLF created outfits to swindle cash from European Union and Western aid agencies. Ato Sebhat and his organization have never known peace nor developed any enterprise using legal means. As for being elected, I am sure he garnered 99.9 percent of the vote and he did not even have to campaign for it.
He started the interview with a bold lie. There was no need to lie. He can’t help it. His quick motor response is to lie at a drop of a hat. There was no stopping him after that. Blinded by his hatred, emboldened by his false sense of self worth Sebhat Nega was swimming in a cesspool of lies, falsehood and ignorance. We wouldn’t give a damn what he have to say if it wasn’t for his influence and advice to that other powerful person sitting in Arat Kilo with a loaded gun in his hands aimed at our country.
To start him off Ato Addisu thanked his guest for accepting the invitation and out of curiosity asked him regarding TPLF’s policy of not granting interview to VOA’s Amharic programming. That they do not is an established fact. The question was simply what the reason is for such a policy. His response was outright denial of the existence of such a decision.
Could this be true? There is one Nation wide radio station in Ethiopia, Radio TPLF. By all accounts VOA and Deutche Welle are the two most listened to independent news services favored by the population. The minority based government views unfiltered news as a threat. Thus on numerous occasions it has officially complained to both the US and German government regarding the radio stations. The TPLF regime has invested millions of dollars in purchasing radio signal jamming devices from Chinese and East Europeans to silence independent voices.
Is Ato Sebhat’s claim of the Politburo not discussing VOA and formulating different policies credible? To top if off he said he personally does not listen to VOA! When you consider that the Prime Minter himself anonymously participates in Radio call in shows isn’t this assertion a little difficult to swallow? So he claims that he personally does not listen to VOA and since he came to the US he has been told that ‘VOA lacks objectivity, that it is not balanced and it is in the camp of the opposition’. The word he choose to translate the word ‘camp’ into Amharic is very revealing. He said ‘yetequamiwoch Beret’. As far as I know ‘Beret’ is where we keep animals. Enclosed so they do not escape, watched by guards and dogs so wild animals do not harm them. Is that how he views his fellow Ethiopians. Which of these two are we? The domesticated animals fattened for labor or dinner? Or the stupid and gullible sheep and cows and have to be watched by TPLF cadres from undue influence? A curious choice of words but it speaks a lot about the mindset of the individual and his friends.
The crazy part of this farce is that he is telling all this to Ato Addisu Abebe, a VOA correspondent and victim of TPLF injustice. You see Ato Sebhat’s government charged Ato Addisu and twenty-one Ethiopian journalists with ‘involvement in an attempt to overthrow the government’ in the aftermath of the famous 2005 elections. Ato Addisu is lucky. He has the US government behind him. The Ethiopian journalists suffered a lot. They all lost their livelihood. Some are still in prison. Some were jailed for over two years and their license revoked. A few were hounded out of the country. Many were scared for life. Our country lost its brave and brightest sons and daughters. Ato Sebhat as member of the Politburo is personally responsible and will be asked to account for his actions. Whether this will happen or not is not relevant. He is responsible in the eyes of the Ethiopian people.
The next discussion was about EFFORT (endowments fund for the rehabilitation of Tigrai). The eight hundred-pound gorilla. Ato Sebhat’s claim is that it is the premier corporation in Ethiopia both in asset and reach. After confirming that it is audited both internally and by external government agencies he feigned memory loss when asked to disclose the capital of the multi national in numbers. What he said was ‘it is not important’. It was very curious answer for a person who has been the CEO and President of the company. A company without a balance sheet and net worth unknown to the CEO can only happen in TPLF fairyland.
What was absolutely laughable is the claim that TPLF brought the capital from outside to establish the company in Ethiopia. That is insulting the intelligence of eighty million people. For the life of me I do not remember our Tigrai cousins being known for their special skills in being traders and merchants in our Ethiopia. Here we are in 2009 and the most visible conglomerate is EFFORT and the richest and smartest merchants are our Tigrai cousins. Wonder never ceases. Keep talking Aboy Sebhat.
The next line of questioning has two threads and it is full of the most bewildering mish mash of ideas put together in a very haphazard manner. The first one consists of TPLF’s philosophy of what he refers to as ‘bourgeois revolution’, followed by the party’s view of our country Ethiopia.
Ato Sebhat’s attempt to describe the theory of ‘bourgeois democracy’, ‘revolutionary democracy’, ‘emerging democracy’ or ‘developmental state’ (depending on the mood) the society his party is trying to build in Ethiopia completely went over my head. His claim is that TPLF masquerading as EPDRF is accelerating the growth of capitalism in Ethiopia and will wither away on its own is a very lame interpretation of the Marxist idea of the ‘withering away of the state’ as the final stage of capitalist development. Suffice to say that it is proven to be a fairy tale. So, at a certain point in time EPDRF will hand power to the new classes and disappear. That is what he said and he is sticking by it. He did not elaborate when this is projected to happen or who these new classes are. Why there still are classes upon the withering away of the state is left open. May be the theory is in a developmental state. Let us just say it is not well thought of.
The second thread is where Abboy Sebhat’s version of Ethiopia is defined. When he started the journey to liberate Ethiopia this is where he began. His assertions are very troubling. In computer speak there is something they call GIGO. It stands for garbage in garbage out. A ‘computer will unquestioningly process the most nonsensical of input data and produce nonsensical output.’ The same with leaders saddled with faulty, incomplete, or imprecise and utterly wrong data they come up with wrong and imperfect solutions that cause harm and agony to their people.
His claim that we stayed enclosed in our own regions isolated from each other is utterly false. His assertion that we have been fighting each other for hundred years and lived with our hands in each other’s throat is both ugly and abhorrent. His very violent statement that we do not know each other uttered in such forceful manner is very alarming. He repeated ‘Anetwawekem! Antewawekem!’ twice. It made me very sad. It is far from the truth. It is not the Ethiopia I know and I am a typical Ethiopian.
How he is able to hold two contradictory thoughts at the same time is bewildering. He said that he embarked on the struggle to get rid of national oppression. Well and good. But the solution he came up with is very strange to describe it mildly. In order to foster equality they decided to divide the country into Kilils. Everybody was ordered to get an identity card with his/her ethnicity registered by the authorities and was encouraged and forced to go settle in his own enclave. Those with mixed ethnic identity were forced to pick one. I am sure this did not pose a problem in Adwa, but in the rest of Ethiopia many people were put in absolute quandary. How being strangers to each other was going to foster one people one country is not clear. This was a sad moment in our history
So the theory goes the TPLF as an advanced and vanguard party under the tutelage of Meles Zenawi, Sebhat Nega, Azeb Mesfin, Seyoum Mesfin, Arkebe Uqbai and their immediate families will preside on this lofty Nation building endeavor. The Military and security forces with Woyane Generals and high-ranking officers will work in bringing the Oromos, Amharas, Sidamos, Wolamos, Anuaks and other assorted Nationalities to a newer level of preparedness to build the new emerging Ethiopia.
One can see the common thread in this new philosophy of Nation building process. Our Tigrai masters seem to be the center of the Ethiopian universe with wealth and power emanating out until it engulfs the whole society. Le Ras Sekorsu Ayasnasu comes to mind. What do I think? I think Komatan Komata kalalut Gebeche Lefetfit Yelal is most approperate. I believe for so long no one have bothered to tell Aboy Sebat ‘with all due respect sir, you are full of crap!’ I know it is not grown up, but it serves the purpose. I could put it delicately in a more civilized way. But what is the point?
To come up with such preposterous idea it is possible Ato Sebhat’s Adwa was different. That must be the glass he is using to see Ethiopia. But he lived in Addis while going to Haile Sellasie I University. Did he not see how the others lived together? Wasn’t the cry ‘land to the tiller’ by the privileged University students of the time? Surely the students were not fighting for a plot of land. How about during the fight against the Derg? We are told that the TPLF army was composed of all Ethiopians. Weren’t Addisu, Kuma, Tefera, Aba Dula in the TPLF military or did they have their own regiment? Did they fight for the freedom of all Ethiopians or freedom for their ethnic group?
During the process of Nation building animosity does arise between people. Solving such problems and emerging stronger is a difficult task. Some countries are blessed by visionary leaders that harness the positive power of their people and lay a strong and unshakeable foundation. Some are cursed by the likes of the Rwandan Hutu leaders, Milosevic of Yugoslavia and Stalin in Armenia. They bring war and destruction on their people. They go away but they leave animosity and mistrust behind. It takes a long time to undo the damage they cause. In the mean time the rest of humanity marches forward. Evil has to be stopped at its inception before it takes roots. Silent people allow evil to flourish.
Lots of things were said by Aboy Sebhat. The assertion that there were no national Organizations that fought the Derg is not correct. Without going far both EDU and EPRP were National based and stood for the unity of our country. Both were violently attacked by TPLF. Both were expelled out of Tigrai by TPLF. The EDU leader His Excellency Prince Ras Mengesha Seyoum was warned regarding an official trip to his beloved Tigrai. His presence in Tigrai was a threat to the mighty TPLF. The existence of EPRP was denied. When he said that TPLF was ‘overjoyed’ when they found the existence of Ato Kifle Wodgajo’s party in the USA it was nothing short of wonder about the capacity of Aboy Sebhat’s brain to have woven such a tapestry with imaginary yarn of silk. Listen to it and you be the judge my friends in the Diaspora. You can go to VOA website and listen to it from the archives. Unfortunately our people in Ethiopia cannot do that. There is no electricity; when Internet service is available it is a slow crawling modem with all the independent Ethiopian websites blocked. That in a nutshell is the Ethiopia TPLF is building deaf, blind and ignorant.
So the saying used to go ‘the sun never sets on the British empire’ that was yesterday. It should be replaced by ‘the sun always shines on Serkalem.’ The Global Forum of Freedom of Expression has honored Serkalem again. (see the video below)
What a deserving recognition of a brave lady in the relentless service of her people for freedom and democracy. We thank the Forum for directing the beam of light on Serkalem to expose the nature of the ethnic junta in power. Serkalem is the symbol of eighty million Ethiopians languishing under the apartheid rule of the minority ethnic based mafia.
Serkalem was jailed because the opposition won the 2005 election. Serkalem and her husband Eskinder used to publish two independent newspapers, Menelik and Satenaw before the general election. Their crime is doing their job ethically and professionally. They wronged the mafia clique because they told the truth. So Meles and our Tigrean cosa nostra group thought they can silence the press by jailing the publishers. Old and tired solution debunked a long time ago. But our peasant warriors are stuck on chapter one. They can not differenciate between their illegal deeds and the story being told. The rational action will be to refrain from illegal act. Unfortunately they would rather punish the messanger hoping the message will not see the light of day.
When will they learn? Unfortunately they are perfectly aware of their actions. They kill, torture, exile and insult because that is what they know best. They are not capable of change. They figure why change something that has worked for forty years. Ato Meles has been practicing his craft since the early 70’s. In his book ‘Democratization and Unity’ one of the founders of TPLF Kahsey Berhe, tells of an incident perfectly revealing the mind-set of Ato Meles and his group. The group suspected one of their friend to be an agent of the Derge whereby without an iota of evidence they went ahead to ‘beat him up and burn him with hot sickles’ till he was dead. The rank and file did not view this act favorably. The new leadership composed of Sebhat Nega, Meles Zenawi, and Abbay Tesehaye solved this dilemma by forming their own secretive security team within the organization. This arrangement of creation of a militia personally responsible to a few in the leadership has become the trademark of Ato Meles and company.
In today’s Ethiopia there is a government within a government. The TPLF clique has its own security force, its own private jail, its own private army and its own private law. Ato Meles is the ‘capo di tutti’ (boss of bosses) of this infamous criminal enterprise masquerading as a party. Why some think that they can reform the mafia is very bewildering. The fact that a few think a bully will relent due to some moral constraint is a wishful thinking that has become very costly to individuals and our country.
The narrow ethnic group in power is relentless in its pursuit of its perceived enemies. It is compounding the problem hourly and daily. It knows no shame. It thinks it is reinventing itself by doing the same thing again and again. So now they drafted a new so called ‘terrorist law’ by the Council of Ministers and submitted it to the ‘House of Representatives’. I know both are oxymoron. One-man rule and a fake council or parliament and unelected representative are contradiction at its best. The word terrorism is so passé no one bothered to inform the cadres. My dear Meles you have traded that currency, it is over. The new key word today is ‘Democracy and transparency’ please make a note.
The new law being drafted is an attempt to codify what the regime has been doing for the last eighteen years. Why they bother to even draft such a law is very strange? They have been killing with impunity, jailing without due process torturing at will so what is the idea of such a law in present day Ethiopia? Guess who is brought out to discuss and explain the nature of the new law. It is no other than our good old friend Shimelis kemal, the mentally challenged and borderline schizophrenic prosecutor of Kinijit.
As a reward for being humiliated in the eyes of the Ethiopian people the junior cadre has been promoted to the mis-communication outfit run by the mentally unstable Berket Semeone. Ato Shimelis and a brand new sidekick named Ermias Legesse are being mentored by Ato Bereket. Lord have mercy! According to duo as reported by the Daily nation ‘most of the core provisions of the draft anti-terrorism law have been drawn from the anti-terror laws of the UK, Canada, Australia, the US, Uganda and South Africa.’ There you have it. They dig deep into the Constitution of these developed countries and all they could come up with is a lesson to fight ‘terrorism’. My dear Shimelis and Ermias next time could you please pay special attention to the Magna Carta and Bill of Rights in those important documents.
There is more. I told you our mafia have no shame. They have a bill pending in their Parliament regarding retirement benefits for the ruling class. Yes retirement benefit, that is what I said. So they own all land, own all property, own all industry and the national bank and they still want lifetime pay from poor Ethiopia. To sweeten the deal they also included the so-called parliament members and ministers too. See what I mean, they are relentless. The word enough is not in TPLF’s vocabulary. The word shame is alien to them. By the way this retirement document is also based on US laws for former head of state. No need to comment on this farce.
So what is with the table through out this article? These are the names of a few of our fellow Ethiopians massacred by Ato Meles’s army on June 8, 2005 in Addis Abeba. Our dear friend Serkalem Facil and opposition leaders, fellow journalists, civic organization leaders and ordinary Ethiopians were jailed by the regime in the aftermath of this government sanctioned killing of its own citizens. Thanks to Judge Wolde Michael Meshesha we have the report of the inquiry commission intact to remind us of the ultimate sacrifice paid by some so the rest of us can continue the struggle for freedom. Ato Meles has been vainly trying to shift responsibility for the massacre on to others. Our leader Judge Bertukan Mideksa is in jail (one hundred sixty two days, nineteen hours, fifty two minutes, as of this writing) because Ato Meles still thinks he can find a scapegoat for his crimes. Ato Meles declared ‘state of emergency’, Ato Meles took control of the military, and Ato Meles gave the order to use bullets on fellow citizens so he can stay in power illegally. No amount of backtracking will change that.
The only thing that can change this state of affairs is the resolve of all Ethiopians to honor the sacrifice paid by our fellow citizens. They have done what they have to do. It is now our turn to do what is right and honorable. It is the responsibility of each one of us to do what is within our power to oppose tyranny, ethnic politics and to say no to TPLF bullies. Freedom is earned. Freedom cannot be outsourced. The U.S, President Obama, the European Union or any other party is not going to bring freedom and democracy to our land. Foreigners can only complement our struggle. It is up to us to show the world that a few cannot defeat the many. It is up to us to stop this dysfunctional behavior of tearing each other down and build on the positive aspect of our glorious history. It is up to us to support those who are working hard to stand up to the ethnic mafias so we can all live free in our own homeland. There are a lot of Ethiopians doing just that. The question is what have you done to contribute positively to enhance the struggle and bring those that killed our people to face up for their crimes?
What can you do? A lot my friend. You have the choice to contribute labor and money to the organization that best fit your philosophy. You can publicize the plight of your people in the many different forums, peaceful marches, candle light vigils held all over the world. You can get involved in letter writing campaigns to your representatives and international organization working on Human Right issues. You can starve the ethnic based regime of foreign currency by boycotting a trip back home. You can refuse to invest in Ethiopia until the mafia clique is removed from power and authority. You can urge the IMF and World Bank not to grant loan to the illegal regime. There are ways.
We congratulate our dear sister Serkalem for a well-deserved recognition by her peers. She makes all of us proud to be an Ethiopian. We remember the victims of June 8, 2005. We will continue the struggle they gave their lives for. Quitting is never an option.
