Ethiopia’s tyrant Meles Zenawi has called U.S. Ambassador Douglas Griffiths an ‘idiot’ for claiming that there is no equal representation of all ethnic groups in the government.

Mr Griffith represents the U.S.  at the United Nations Human Rights Commission in Geneva.

Speaking at a council meeting last week, Ambassador Griffiths questioned Ethiopian regime’s contention that there is a fair representation of nationalities in government institutions. He said independent observers note that most senior government positions are represented by one ethnicity.

The dominant role of ethnic Tigrayans in the government, especially in the military, has often been a contentious political issue in Ethiopia. Tigrayans make up about six percent of the population.

Listen below:
[podcast]http://www.ethiopianreview.info/audio/12142009amha1800aMON.mp3[/podcast]
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VOA reports: Prime Minister Dictator Meles flatly rejected Ambassador Griffiths’ assertions. “I have not heard of such idiocy. But if it has occurred, it proves the idiocy of the person in Geneva,” he said.

Speaking to reporters before traveling to the climate conference in Copenhagen, Meles also dismissed a U.S. critique of Ethiopia’s restrictions on human rights and press freedom.

The U.S. embassy in Addis Ababa last week took the unusual step of urging Ethiopia to review a recently passed law restricting the activities of non-governmental organizations receiving foreign funding. The law goes into effect next month.

The Center for International Human Rights at Chicago’s Northwestern University issued a report last month saying the measure effectively silences human rights defenders and advocates of democratic governance. The center described the Charities and Societies Proclamation, or CSO, as “the most restrictive of its kind in sub-Saharan Africa” and compared it to similarly repressive laws in Zimbabwe and Russia.

But Prime Minister Dictator Meles defended the measure, saying it is in line with democratic norms. “There is no possibility of us changing the CSO law because we believe it is a perfectly legitimate law and consistent, if not with the theory, consistent with the practice in the advanced democracies,” he said.

Meles also rejected U.S. concerns about the closure of a newspaper that had criticized government policies. The U.S. embassy said the closure of the Addis Neger newspaper and charges against other private journalists and publishers might contribute to a perception that space for independent media in Ethiopia is constrained.

The media rights group Reporters Without Borders said the decision of Addis Neger’s editors to close the paper and flee the country was evidence of a climate of fear.

Meles said such criticisms are not based on facts. “We don’t take this institution seriously. Because they have proven to us over again, they take any allegation against the government as the last word in the Bible and they do not try to verify the facts,” he said.

At the same time, Prime Minister Dictator Meles scoffed at reports that suggest Ethiopia’s relationship with the United States is strained. He called bilateral ties “mature.” “It was never off track. People assumed it was off track because of some idiot comment made by this or that particular person in this or that particular place. But the relationship is quite solid, has always been based on things other than passing emotions,” he said.

Meles said he had not seen the U.S. embassy statement or the comments by the U.S. representative at the U.N. Human Rights Council. But he said, “I respect the rights of the United States to express its opinion on any matter under the sun, or if they want to, even on any matter over the sun.”

(ION) – Now that the EPRDF [a front organization for the ruling Tigrean People Liberation Front] has been in power for almost two decades, its leaders have had time to accumulate wealth. We make a roundup — by no means exhaustive — of their activity.

[Meles is now estimated to worth $1.2 billion, according to sources close to his regime.]

Azeb Mesfin, the wife of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, takes no mean interest in the world of business and sometimes has been highly interventionist in defending the commercial interests of those close to her. She recently put the spoke in the wheels of the firm Nyala Motors over the importing of UD Nissan lorries; conversely she has lobbied in favour of Sunshine Construction whose executives Samuel Tadesse and Fetlework Elala are close to her. Moreover, Azeb Mesfin is believed to have a stake in Alfa University College and in property in Addis Ababa.

The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Seyoum Mesfin, is for his part at the head of a unit producing ceramics for the construction industry. It is winning all of the contracts, to such an extent that it has pushed some of its rivals to close down. Asefaw Yirga, the manager of Ase Marble, is believed to be one of them. He committed suicide on 20 December. Seyoum Mesfin also owns several tens of lorries registered in his name. Addisu Legese, the Deputy Prime Minister currently on the way out, owns a hotel at Bahr Dar, which is the stopping place for all the officials visiting this town. The State Minister for Public Works, Arkebe Oqubay Mitiku, owns two buildings in the capital, while one adviser to the Prime Minister, Bereket Simon, owns a rental building and a fleet of lorries transporting oil products from Djibouti. The Police Commissioner Workineh Gebreyehu is at the head of an import-export company which has no difficulty in getting foreign currency when it needs it. A band of generals is very active in the property market, buying and selling villas and plots of land, beginning with the army chief of staff, General Samora Younis, who owns a building in the smart neighborhood of Bole.

The Ethiopian regime recently attributed plots of land in Addis Ababa together with money for building, to some generals, mainly Tigrayans. Samora Younis, Yohannes Gebre Meskel and a few others are among the lucky beneficiaries of this scheme.