H.E. Meles ZENAWI
Prime Minister of Ethiopia

Meles Zenawi was born on 8th May 1955 at Adwa in Northern Ethiopia. He received elementary education at Queen Sheba Junior Secondary School and completed High School in 1972 at General Wingate School in Addis Ababa. He then joined the Medical Faculty of Addis Ababa University where he studied for two years.

Meles interrupted his studies in 1974 to join the Tigrai Peoples Liberation Front (TPLF). He was elected to the Leadership Committee of the TPLF in 1979 and to its Executive Committee in 1983. He is chairman of both the TPLF and the Ethiopian Peoples Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) since 1989. EPRDF is a political alliance of the four main political organizations in the country.

Upon the defeat of the military junta, Meles became president of the Transitional Government of Ethiopia and Chairman of the Council of Representatives (the legislative body of the transitional government) from 1991-1995. He was elected Prime Minister of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia in 1995 and re-elected for a second term in 2000.

He has served as chairman of the OAU from June 1995 until June 1996. He is also serving as co-chairman of the Global Coalition for Africa. He has also been actively involved in IGAD's efforts to end the conflicts in Sudan and Somalia, and Africa initiatives to seek a solution to the crisis in Burundi.

PM Meles acquired a First Class MA in Business Administration from the Open University of the UK in 1995 and an M. Sc. in Economics from the Erasmus University of the Netherlands in 2004. PM Meles is married and is a father of three.

Actually who is Andargachew Tsege?

Andagachew Tsege was born in 1955 in Addis Ababa. After successfully completing his elementary and junior education at the former Asfawosen School, he joined Teferi Mekonnen high school in 1968. By 1972 Andargachew enrolled in to the then Haile Selasse University and studied there until 1975. As any other youth of his era he stood against the oppressive Dergue regime and joined the EPRP. When his life was at risk, he fled Ethiopia into exile first into the Sudan and then to the United Kingdom.

When the EPRDF came to power in 1991, Andargachew was the first mayor of Addis Ababa for a brief period of time. He resigned over policy disagreements with the TPLF leaders, the main party in the EPRDF coalition. He was a member of Tamrat Layne's Ethiopian People's Democratic Movement (EPDM) that initially spited from EPRP taking some 120 members away, which later changed its name to Amhara People Democratic Movement (APDM), to go along with Meles Zenawi's ethnic apartheid agenda. Andargachew was one of the few Ethiopians who had the benefit of observing the dangerous nature of the current regime by joining their ranks for the first three years of the EPRDF power. While with EPRDF Andargachew was clearly following the political environment in which by early hay days of 1991, when Essayas and Meles were enjoying their honeymoon of sitting on power, they had sinisterly jointly stubbed Ethiopia's nationhood by forcibly imposing their wish on parliament to pass Article 39 - on self-determination. This action was taken not only considering the immediate separation of Eritrea by 1993, but also preparing the ground for other nationalities to move in the same direction and eventually delete Ethiopia as a national state. Actually speaking Article 39 does open a space for claiming legal Secession through the UN to approve. But it is not that easy to simply forward such a national issue to the UN and get immediate approval. Pre-conditions need to be fulfilled first.

In 1994, once again, he was forced to become an exile. During this period he wrote lots of articles and books on Ethiopian politics. Especially his recent work entitled "Nesanten Yemayouk Nesaouch" was the most acclaimed.

Andargachew Tsege left London for Ethiopia in April 2005 to take part in the electoral process. Whilst there he volunteered to help the Coalition for Unity and Democracy (CUD) in their campaign activities for the third general election. Subsequently, on the 8th of June 2005 he was detained from his family home along with several thousand members and supporters of the opposition parties.
It seems the book "Nesanten Yemayouk Nesaouch" and his help for CUD (which won large number of seat in both in urban and rural constituencies) earned him the enmity of the ruling party.

According to a report disclosed in Reporter website in March 2006, Andargachew Tsege and Kassa Kebede went and stayed in Asmara where they had lengthy meetings with EPLF senior government officials. One can read the actual report at www.ethiopianreporter....e&sid=3681

Thus, given the fact that:
1. Andargachew’s recent-past intimate relation with Meles and Essayas Afeworki;
2. Andargachew’s track record of flowing with the wind every decade or so; 70s = EPRP, 80s = DERG, 90s = EPDRF and Now = 00s = Kinijit
3. Andargachew’s constant vacillation on major political issues;
4. Andargachew’s inconsistent, unprincipled political stance of the past.

How much trust followers of Kinijit (CUD) should bestow upon Andargachew and his leadership? Such questions have been asked a lot of times. However, Andargachew refuses to give clean straightforward answers to such questions and valid explanation to issues in concern.

An article written by Commander Asefa Seifu just a month ago and posted at: the website www.ethiogermany.de/news.htm does give you certain concrete clue on AFD and its mission. Please go to this website and look under the Heading: 'AFD and the current Disaster in Ethiopia.' When you click on that title, it takes you to the article titled: By Commander Assefa Seifu - Sept.20, 2006 - THE SO CALLED ALLIANCE FOR FREEDOM & DEMOCRACY THE CURRENT DISASTER OF ETHIOPIA. Another article written by Ambassador Imiru Zelleke also hinted at the same thing in his famous article on AFD. This article was posted by Ethiopian Review (ER) sometime in July or August 2006.

According to what has been charted at www.oefre.unibe.ch/law...000_.html, the major steps to follow are indicated below: Before requesting U.N. recognition for the right to self-determination, including secession, of every Nation, Nationality and People shall come into effect when:
1. A demand for secession has been approved by a two-thirds majority of the members of the Legislative Council of the Nation, Nationality or People concerned.
2. The Federal Government has organized a referendum which must take place within three years from the time it received the concerned council's decision for secession.
3. The demand for secession is supported by majority vote in the referendum.
4. When the Federal Government will have transferred its powers to the council of the Nation, Nationality or People who has voted to secede.
5. The division of assets is effected in a manner prescribed by law.

Obviously Andargachew had knowledge of the divisive cards at his disposal since long when he was together with Essayas and Meles in the hay days of the 1980s. At the moment it is sad that we still have so many blind supporters of AFD among us. These persons simply support AFD out of sheer sentiment. Certainly majority AFD-supporters are floaters who have no or some ideological background on the whole lot and yet blow their horn, applaud with amusement blow still with the wind and maintaining their noise all around. If sympathy and support comes from the OLF-ONLF-EPPF camps to AFD, I can understand. But when it comes from CUD's own supporters, I am bewildered and tormented to say the least. It must be either shortage of information or proper understanding of the whole political game that put us in a check position. At the end of the day, sentimental reaction will not save Ethiopia from the age old divisive mission of Essayas Afeworki orchestrated currently by AFD. The attempt to eventually create 3 mini republics in place of Ethiopia is a serious political ploy that deserves immediate attention of Ethiopians and those concerned for Ethiopia. . We have seen Yugoslavia being split into six parts, a country that has structurally similar socio-political artifacts. I would not be surprised if it happens to Ethiopia. We have to understand what is going to be given on our plates pretty soon is not a nice sounding party. The country’s current crisis really needs urgent efforts to put things in order and move in the pathway that leads to building a democratic Ethiopia indivisible under the God-of-us-all. Time goes and we have to catch up as fast as possible. Life goes and life goes by. So we must use the time effectively and efficiently than to lament in trauma later after things have already happened. We must also be aware of that things are being cooked behind closed doors; so we must stop smelling what others cook; rather start to cook our own menu in order to prepare ourselves for the inevitable competition or combat.

Professor Mesfin Woldemariam, 75-year-old founder and former chairman of the Ethiopian Human Rights Council, has been detained since early November 2005, following opposition party demonstrations to protest peacefully against alleged fraud in Ethiopia’s May 2005 elections. A retired geography professor from Addis Ababa University, he is Ethiopia’s most prominent human rights defender. He recently spent a year at Harvard University.

Jailed along with Mesfin Woldemariam are many others, including leaders of the opposition political party Coalition for Unity and Democracy (CUD), journalists, and anti-poverty activists. These include Dr. Berhanu Negga, a professor of economics, Dr. Yacob Hailemariam, a former prosecutor in the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, Hailu Shawel, Bitukan Mideksa, Getachew Mengiste, Gizachew Shifferaw, Dr. Hailu Araya, Debebe Eshetu, Muluneh Eyual, Daniel Bekele, Natsanet Demissie, and Dr. Befekadu Degefe. Although the charges against the defendants include “treasonâ€Â

SEBHAT NEGA

OUTLINE - Born in 1934 in Adwa (north) - School Director in Adwa - Chairman of the TPLF (Tigrayan People's Liberation Front, 1979-89) - Head of the Economic Affairs Department of the EPRDF (Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front, 1991) - Member of the board of directors of EFFORT (Endowment Fund For the Rehabilitation of Tigray, 1995-2001) - Chairman of the board of directors of EFFORT (since April 2001).

"FATHER TIGRAY"

Sebhat Nega (his real name is Wolde Selassie Nega) was born in 1934 in Adwa, a northern town now in Tigray Regional State which was also the birthplace of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi. When crisis broke out within the TPLF in early 2001, his support for the Prime Minister was decisive and important. He was rewarded by being named chairman of the board of directors of the Tigrayan holding EFFORT, replacing dissident Seye Abraha.

His father, who had the title of Fitawrari, or Commander in the front line in
the traditional military order of Ethiopia, was a governor in Adi Abune, near Adwa, during the reign of Emperor Haile Selassie. Known as "Aboi Tigrai" -- Father Tigray -- in recognition of his hardline nationalism, Sebhat Nega is about 15 years older than most of the TPLF leadership and thus commands respect.

After primary schooling at Nigist Saba School in Adwa, Sebhat Nega completed high school in the Tigrayan town of Mekele, where he won a reputation as an agitator and a nationalist. He graduated from Haile Selassie I University (HSIU) in 1964 in Economics, but did not participate in the student movement. He worked for the ministry of finance in the south and then quit to take up teaching, apparently to become more involved in politics. He was subsequently assigned to Adwa where he became a school director, a position he held until he went into the battlefield with the first contingent of TPLF fighters.

FOUNDING MEMBER OF THE TPLF

Sebhat Nega was one of the seven members of the first TPLF Central Committee set up at the February 1976 "Fighter Congress", along with Aregawi Berhe (at the time elected president of the movement, now a dissident in exile Abay Tsehaye (from Axum, became a dissident in 2001 but was reinstated within the Central Committee after renouncing his dissident beliefs), Seyoum Mesfin (from [deleted], now Foreign Minister), Gidey Zeratsion (now an exiled dissident), Mahari Haile (whose nom de guerre was "Mussie") and "Suhul". A hardline Tigrayan nationalist, Sebhat Nega helped draft the 1976 TPLF Manifesto calling for the independence of Tigray and urging "the necessary breakup of Ethiopia into various ethnic based states". In 1979, Sebhat Nega played an instrumental role in the downfall of TPLF chairman Aregawi Berhe (or Berihu, his real name) and his deputy Gidey Zeratsion (real name, Fantahun).

In 1979, Sebhat Nega took over Aregawi's position as the head of the TPLF and was only replaced a decade later in 1989, at the party's Third Congress, by Meles Zenawi. Although he appears to be on the fringes of the TPLF since losing its leadership, Sebhat Nega remains in the background as a key figure of the hard-core TPLF, and some TPLF members maintain that he himself asked to be relieved of the job of party chief. Sebhat Nega remains a Tigrayan nationalist who in 1988 said "the nationality question is a primary issue" and "we don't believe that the unity of Ethiopia should be pursued at all costs".

When the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) led by Meles Zenawi took power in 1991, Sebhat Nega was named head of the coalition group's Economic Affairs Department. Then in August 1995, when Meles was appointed prime minister of the new Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (FDRE), he was placed on the board of directors of the Endowment Fund For the Rehabilitation of Tigray (EFFORT), a holding company formed of Tigrayan companies set up after 1991. Sebhat Nega thus chairs two EFFORT holding firms: Trans-Ethiopia SC. transport company and a new bank, Wegagen Bank.

THE "KINGMAKER"

During the war between Ethiopia and Eritrea (May 1998-December 2000), Sebhat Nega backed Meles Zenawi. He was one of 13 TPLF Central Committee members who voted in June 1998 to approve the US-Rwandan peace plan supported by Meles *. On the other side, 17 members (who would later become dissidents) voted against the plan.

But it was in March 2001, when it was time to vote to exclude opponents of
Meles from the TPLF Central Committee, that Sebhat Nega played a key role. He convinced his sister Ms Kidusan Nega (who is chairperson of the Democratic Association of Tigrayan Women, the TPLF's women's organization) and her husband, Tsegaye Berhe, who were opposed to Meles, to switch sides and join the pro-Meles camp. Thanks to this move, the bloc of dissidents within the party's central committee was in the minority and reduced to 12 people more easily kicked out by Meles Zenawi. Sebhat Nega saved Meles Zenawi and in this way has been crowned "kingmaker". He was rewarded for his loyal support in April 2001 when he was named chairman of the board of directors of EFFORT, a holding formed from Tigrayan companies set up after 1991 to recycle the "war chest" accumulated by the TPLF during the guerrilla years. Grouping a score of companies today valued at around 125 million dollars in capital, EFFORT is involved in every one of the country's economic sectors: agriculture (Hiwot Mechanized Agriculture), industry (Almeda Textiles Manufacturing SC., Mesfin Industrial Engineering SC.), import-export (Guna Trading House), transport (Trans-Ethiopia SC.),
insurance (Africa Insurance SC.), mining (Meskerem Investment SC.),
communications (Mega-Net Corporation), banking (Wegagen Bank). EFFORT is divided into several sectors directed by members of the TPLF Central Committee, like Abadi Zemo for industrial activities, Arkebe Oqubay Mitiku for construction and transportation, and Tewodros Hagos for mining.

Sebhat Nega was married to Saadu, a Tigrayan captured by the TPLF in 1984 and accused of spying, and had two children before divorcing. After the EPRDF took office, Sebhat Nega graduated with an MBA from the University of London by correspondence, like many other TPLF leaders, including Meles Zenawi. One of Sebhat Nega's uncles, Haile Abai Nega, who was one of the leaders of the EPRP (Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Party), was killed in June 1991 by TPLF troops in Quara in the western region of Gondar.

Source:
lists.sn.apc.org/piper...01691.html

ON THE WISDOM OF KNOWING THE BACKGROUND OF OUR LEADERS!

In Ethiopian politics of the last 32 years, the personal background of political actors who, more often than not, have left an indelibly negative mark on society has hardly been known to the Ethiopian people. The lack of such tradition in our political culture has denied the Ethiopian society from appreciating the danger lurking behind the unknown personal background of these political actors. In the democratic West, where some of us are currently residing, a person would not be catapulted to the
fore as a potential leader of even a local committee much less a national political party without a proper scrutiny of his/her background. In the case of Ethiopia, it has become fashionable to promote to position of prominence any one who utters ad nauseam catch-phrases that lack depth and substance. We readily vote such aspiring individuals into office without ascertaining their past track-records, establishing their social standing in society, questioning their integrity as individuals and without probing into their social and personal backgrounds that may adversely impact the
bigger cause of Ethiopia they claim to represent or champion. The Ethiopian society, which has a penchant for secrecy, does not even contemplate the very idea of subjecting individuals who aspire to assume public space (as politicians, etc) to the rigors of public scrutiny as is the case here in the democratic West. This fact has led to the unhampered, if meteoric, rise of unscrupulous individuals to positions of authority thereby precipitating much destruction of life and property on our society.

The records of the last 32 years under the Dergue and now under the ethnocratic minority regime amply bear witness to our legitimate fear or worry. Even after 32 years of destructive record of individuals about whose background we have hardly known anything before they assumed public space in the political life of Ethiopian society, Ethiopians within the country and in the Diaspora do not seem to have yet grasped the wisdom of scrutinizing the background of those aspiring to assume public space as political leaders, etc. We believe that a change has to come in this passive attitude of turning a blind eye to the emergence of individuals of
checkered background as political leaders amidst us. We should not allow individuals of dubious or dangerous track-record to determine and seal the fate of more than 77 million people. The negative experiences suffered by the Ethiopian people under the Dergue, EPRP, MEISONE, ECHAT, WEZ, MALERED, SEDED, OLF, EDU, TPLF, EPLF, etc. should alert us to the need of carefully scrutinizing those masquerading as political leaders on the Ethiopian political landscape. We have to stop picking up and promoting individuals whose only towering virtue happens to be their verbose selfpromotion at hearings and public meetings. We should not be deluded by the tantalizingly disarming speeches and rhetoric oozed by such individuals. Practical records of one’s social standing in society, one’s contribution to society, integrity and the moral authority one has established in the community he or she lives in, should be the elements which should inform our decision in choosing aspiring political figures who would assume power on our behalf. We should avoid the temptation of
falling in for deceptive individuals who opportunistically jump on the time-honored political band-wagon without any regard for issues of principle and scruple. Let us be wary of men of all seasons who are adept at shifting their gear and loyalties at the very sight of better opportunities on offer. Such unstable individuals, who lack a solid personal grounding, can sell themselves to the highest bidder as they are unscrupulously bare-faced and bereft of any conscience or moral values.

So far the experience of Ethiopia has shown how those with modesty, moral authority and scruple tend to avoid any engagement with such unscrupulous political animals and leave the political field to them. This has created a fertile ground for the domination of Ethiopian politics by marginalized elements of society and has made the quest of the Ethiopian people for freedom and democracy even difficult and remote. Ethiopians have paid dearly for leaving the political field to the whims of these dangerous political animals. As there is much at stake, we cannot afford to
idly sit by and become passive spectators when the fate of Ethiopia is determined by such unscrupulous elements. We have to come out in the open and make our voices heard so that our fate may not be sealed by unscrupulous elements that have continued to dominate our political life for well over thirty odd years.

If Ethiopia is to pull itself out of the quagmire in which it is currently wallowing, we believe that, people of caliber, principle and scruple should assume responsibility. Ethiopians have to develop a social consciousness and awareness that will help us overcome the hurdles put on our path by ambitious political animals that would devour any one on their way. It is high time that we introduce in the public life of Ethiopians credible and perceptible criteria by which we can scrutinize those aspiring to assume a political space in Ethiopian society. We should start to consign to the
dustbin those who woefully lack principles and humanistic moral values. If we fail to introduce such a moral threshold, Ethiopian society would continue to be victimized by unscrupulous individuals of weak character, dubious moral authority and conscience as is the case today. The document which we have attached herewith, would, we believe throw some light on some aspects of the personality and background of an aspiring political luminary by the name of Ato Andargatchew Tsige. This is a man who, following the May 2005 election, has become a household name. We hope that many readers who have read his new book entitled: “NESANETEN YEMAYAWK NESA AWITCHIâ€Â

Sheik Almoudi’s influence in Ethiopian Politics, Economy and Religion and how he is sustaining Meles’ regime:

We all know his economical clout in our fragile and small Ethiopian Economy. Meles as usual has right words and told investors (Aloumudi) that he is his modern day cannon: True, Sheik Almoudi has been brainwashed by powerful Meles’ tongue for a while now:
Meles presents himself to Almoudi as the first Ethiopian leader who is extra sensitive to the needs of Ethiopian Moslems! That has been perfect sales pitch that convinced Alamoudi to support TPLF till the end!! Alamoudi to achieve his vast investment objectives , he tried to portray himself as genuine Ethiopian whose only interest to invest in Ethiopia and see this impoverished country prosper! To achieve his objective, he started to recruit famous Ethiopian entertainers like Tilahun Gessese and Tamagne Beyene by rewarding them with gifts and large sum of money. His strategy worked really well.

Alamode being a savvy business man, he understood the importance of winning fans in Diaspora Ethiopian community. He organized music troupes led by Tamagne and Tilanhun and other famous Ethiopian entertainers to make whirlwind tour around the world and sell the good name of Sheik Alamoudi and he indeed succeeded in earning himself a nameâ€Â

Lemma Mengistu,

That doesn't tell me who Shiek Alamoudi is. It only tells me that Shiek Al-Amoudi supports TPLF/EPRDF. He told himself every ethiopian that has ears, him and his family are prepared if needed to defend EPRDF with his life.

I was hoping someone to tell how the Shiek made his money, Its not in ethiopia that he made his money, BTW, as the AAPO people would have you believe in their empty hameta and alubalta.

There was one shocker the Shiek dropped on the haters. The information that he speaks Tigrigna. I cannot believe the shock on these haters.

One information that needs to be mentioned about the Shiek is that, he is our Andrew Carnegie, Rockefeller, Bill Gates and Bill Allen ...and others. As Andrew Carnegie, still the richest man in history, said I have proven, beyond this money has no meaning. I have proven making it, I will also prove distributing it. Now you find Carnegie in every library.

You will find Shiek Alamoudi on every highway, every highrise, every hydro electric dam, every mining pit and yes every mosque and sometimes church....

I need to know also about Esayas Afeworki, how he fabricated TPLF and planted it in Ethiopia, how he lost control of TPLF and entered to this crises and the likes

Looking forward, Kasa

Does Sebhat Nega has British blood may be that is why he hates Ethiopia and works to its destruction like friendly tyrant Meles Zenawi