To many Ethiopians the sudden disappearance of Prime Minister Zenawi is a source of joy and excited expectation, for his die-hard supporters apprehension no doubt and concern for their leader. Is he dead they ask, or perhaps critically ill, has he run away, finally overwhelmed by guilt and shame at the way he and his ministerial cronies have treated the people of Ethiopia, since they took power from the communist Derg twenty one years ago. Or is he recovering from illness peacefully on some isolated retreat.
The Prime Minister has not been seen since his last outing at the G20 summit, in Mexico on 19th June, where he looked a wee shadow of his usual Italian suited self. Such prolonged absence is unusual for a man who revels in performing his supporting part upon the international stage of political propaganda.He has failed to appear at a series of high-profile events since June, including the opening of the African Union summit in Addis Ababa in July.
So where is the revolutionary democrat? It has been repeatedly reported that Meles has received treatment in the Saint-Luc hospital in Brusselsfor a stomach complaint, a suitably vague description as to mean nothing.The Washington Post (8/8/2012) affirms “Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, the rebel-turned-technocrat who has led Ethiopia since 1991, is sick.” The Guardian (8/8/2012) relays “the Egyptian state information service reporting that Meles underwent surgery in Germany.” They continue “It is a mystery what has happened to Meles and not even his own ministers know his fate,” an exiled Ethiopian source said.” According to a ‘government source’, (no name or status is given) speaking to the Guardian, Meles is on holiday, well it is the summer after all, and is recovering from an illness. There is no mention of where he is holidaying or why he has not personally issued a statement, reassured his followers, who are no doubt worried, and silenced the internal tussling within the EPRDF, that is undoubtedly taking place.
Secrecy smoke and mirrors
Ethiopians are notoriously secretive and distrustful, the great Polish journalist Rysard Kapuscinski in his classic work ‘The Emperor’, regarding the reign of the last Ethiopian Emperor, Haile Selasie and his inner circle, states “the Ethiopians are deeply distrustful and found it hard to believe in the sincerity of my intentions,” elsewhere he goes further claiming that Ethiopians are the most “secretive people on Earth.” Having lived in Addis Ababa and worked with Ethiopians for a number of years, my experience certainly bears out Kapuscinski’s comments reinforced by René Lefort, author of ‘Ethiopia. An heretical revolution?’ when he states “given the history of Ethiopia, where secrecy is a cardinal virtue”
The Sellasie years were ones shrouded in deceit and extreme secrecy, all discussions and decisions between the Emperor and his ministers took place verbally. There are no documents with Sellasie’s signature, making it possible for him to deny involvement in any policy, to adopt a number of positions on any issue and to change his mind based on political expediency at any point in time. Kapuscinski relates, “Though he ruled for half a century, not even those closest to him knew what his signature looked like.” At meetings the Monty Python sounding ‘Minister of The Pen’, recorded the Emperors orders and instructions, whose words were often muffled and ambiguous, allowing for non-commitment on issues and the creation of fear amongst his ‘court’.
Image and social status is of great importance within Ethiopian society. In 1973, whilst hundreds of thousands starved, Halie Selasie and his government denied that a famine was taking place in the northeast of Ethiopia, known as the ‘Unknown Famine’ and lied to ITV journalist David Dimbleby, who reported the situation in Wollo that Sellasie and his cronies had attempted to cover up. Food was in fact available in the Wollo region, but was transported to the capital Addis Ababa, where it could command higher prices at market, all under the direction of the Sellasie regime. The revelation to the World of the famine hastened his downfall and he was deposed in 1974 by a military junta, led by Mengistu Haile Mariam, who had him suffocated to death a year later.
Another example of the secretive/duplicitous tendency of the Ethiopian people, creating a false or misleading image was the way Emperor Menelik II death in December 1913 was kept quiet. He died and was buried without any public announcements after suffering a stroke and being unable to govern for several years. And this for and of a man regarded by many as the last true Emperor.
The Meles way
There is no freedom of the press in Ethiopia; in fact there is little or no freedom in any area of social or political life. Express dissent at governments policies and face certain imprisonment, write articles critical of Zenawi and his regime and expect to be charged with treason or some such fictitious crime and sentenced as many have been, often in absentia, to life imprisonment. The Economist (7/8/2012) reports “Dissident or investigative journalists have been jailed or driven into exile. In July a prominent online journalist, Eskinder Nega, was sentenced to 18 years in prison.” Political opposition is all but banned under the Zenawi administration.
All media is state owned, so too the sole telecommunication company. As well as the major printing press Barhanena Selam, who recently told the weekly newspaper Feteh, who planned to publish a story quoting BBC and others discussing the where about and health of Meles, that the government had ordered that week’s edition (22/7/2012) of the paper, about 30,000 copies, to be blocked on grounds of inciting national insecurity and endangering the government and the public. Such is the degree of media control.
Accurate, uncensored information about anything is therefore impossible to find within the Ethiopian news sources, who are to nobody’s surprise towing the EPRDF party line on the missing premier – ‘Meles is on holiday, recovering from illness.’ ESAT the independent satellite television station based in Holland, have reported various accounts of Meles death (30/7/2012), misquoting it appears the Belgium based International Crisis Group, who denied giving any such information. It is it seems a maze of invisibility cloaks, secrets and deceit, a drama that would one feels not surprise Kapuscinski in the least.
The EPRDF under Meles Zenawi has been in power since 1991, he has been Prime Minister since 1995, after taking the mantle of President the previous four years. Two stolen corrupt elections in 2005 and 2010, in which European observers declared the election unfair. The regime is a dictatorship, trampling on human rights and restricting all freedoms, selling off vast tracks of prime Ethiopian farmland to international corporations for a few dollars, displacing hundreds of thousands of indigenous people in the process, who are corralled into villagization developments. Land sold is cultivated to grow staples not for the needy people of Ethiopia where some 13 million are food insecure, but for the industrial farmers home ‘market’.
Western complacency
The west believes, as it did with Egypt’s President Mubarak, that it has an ally in Prime Minister Zenawi. He allows American drones to be stationed on Ethiopian soil, and acts when ordered to by the imperial master. In 2006 Ethiopian troops invaded Somalia, at the behest of George W. Bush, who sought to subdue the activities of the Al Shabab militia (Islamist group). The deal is clear and predictable: Meles allows Ethiopia to be an outpost of the American military, in exchange for the west turning a blind eye to extensive human rights abuses in the country. As the Financial Times states “western donors and allies have been willing to overlook human rights abuses and a lack of political freedom at home.” Human rights abuses that destroy lives too many to count, but trouble not ‘western donors’, concerned only to extend their reach into all corners of the world.
Around $3 billion a year is given to Ethiopia in development aid by the US, Europe, Britain and The World bank, all of which incidentally is paid to or through government agencies. The EPRDF misuse and politicize the funds, allocating donations based on political affiliation and not need, including emergency humanitarian aid.
For western donor countries the heavy hand of a tyrant, that inhibits and controls, offers stability, or so those fearful of freedom will say, as the Financial Times (9/08/2012) comments, “Strongmen in power can be useful allies. They make decisions fast and can impose their wills.” Not withstanding the impact on the people of their hasty ideologically driven decisions and shortsighted actions.
Time for change
If Zenawi is unable to continue in office, and according to Rene Lefort in Open Democracy (8/8/2012) “the widespread conviction shared by most diplomats and experts is that, whether Meles is dead or alive, he is no longer in charge and never will be again, so the candidacy for his succession is open.” should the constitution be respected, parliament would pick a successor. Would his passing make any difference, ushering in change in the way the EPRDF rules Ethiopia, for in the absence of any credible, well-organized, coherent opposition they are sure to continue in power. Will freedom social justice and democracy flow into the country unrestricted, gently healing the deep wounds of the past 20 years, or will another in the mould of the repressive, brutal Zenawi step forward to continue his legacy of suppression and human rights abuse. One suspects the latter would take place, sadly Ethiopia has lacked good governance for generations.
The ERDF and its leader Meles Zenawi, whilst publically espousing democratic values and signing all manner of human rights laws into their constitution and federal code – to be summarily ignored, are idealists, adhering firmly to a version of ‘Revolutionary Democracy’. At the core of which is a centralized controlling dogma, that believes in social uniformity and the abolition of independent thought. Human Rights Watch (HRW) in their report on Ethiopia ‘Development without Freedom,’ quote Meles describing his version of the ideology, “individuals will start to think alike and all persons will cease having their own independent outlook. In this order, individual thinking becomes simply part of collective thinking because the individual will not be in a position to reflect on concepts that have not been prescribed by Revolutionary Democracy.”
Time for freedom and justice
Perhaps Meles Zenawi is dead or and one feels this more likely, recuperating on holiday. Alive or not, his passing is long overdue, should a man who holds such divisive inhibiting ideals, disregards human rights laws and indeed Ethiopian domestic laws, and seems to care little for the people of Ethiopia hold political office at all. It is time for change within Ethiopia. The current regime locked as they are into a repressive narrow ideology show no signs of relaxing the controls exerted upon the people, in fact since 2009 State repression has intensified.
It is Prime Minister Meles Zenawi that leads the EPRDF government and dictates policy. Governance is highly centralized, The Economist (7/7/2012) states “power has still rested with a clutch of Mr. Meles’s comrades from his home area of Tigray in northern Ethiopia,” and according to a former American ambassador to Ethiopia, David Shinn cited in The Economist, “this hard core, including the army’s chief of staff, General Samora Younis, retains a “paranoid and secretive leadership style.” Echoes of Sellasie perhaps and further support for Kapuscinski’s view.
The people’s time
One doubts a man like Meles Zenawiwould be a greatlose,either to the African continent or to the people of Ethiopia.On the contrary the majority of Ethiopians would rejoice, for under his leadership they are controlled andsuffer, have no voice and cry out to be heard, are entrapped and yearn to be free: freeto express themselves, to gather and speak openly, free to build a just and opensociety. Free to be.
Graham is Director of The Create Trust, a UK registered charity, supporting fundamental social change and the human rights of individuals in acute need.
The question is not a geographical brain teaser but a concerned query about the well-being of Prime Minister Dictator Meles Zenawi, who has not been seen in public for two months, and about Ethiopia’s commitment to U.S. counterterrorism efforts in neighboring Somalia.
Ethiopian officials say Mr. Meles, 57, is recovering from an undisclosed illness, but he has not been seen or heard from since he attended the Group of 20 summit in Mexico in mid-June.
In his absence, the government has continued to brook little dissent from the media, activists and members of opposition parties. It also has announced that Ethiopian troops will remain in Somalia to help defeat al-Shabab, the al Qaeda-linked Islamist militant group that has ruled large areas of the Horn of Africa nation.
What’s more, government insiders say Mr. Meles has been grooming his deputy, Foreign Affairs Minister Hailemariam Desalegne, to succeed him.
But no succession plan has been announced publicly, and Mr. Meles’ hold on power has been near absolute, with little in the way of institutional capacity to accommodate a transfer of power.
In addition, Mr. Meles’ minority Tigray ethnic group dominates the government’s ruling coalition, which has stoked deep ethnic resentments and heightened the risk of a scramble for power if the prime minister is no longer in charge.
“Ethiopia is a very traumatized society, and people could use this window of uncertainty as a chance to rise up,” said Obang Metho, executive director of the Solidarity Movement for a New Ethiopia, a nonprofit advocacy group based in Arlington.
Such a scenario, observers say, could dramatically shift government attention and resources toward domestic issues and hamper Western- and African Union-led efforts to stabilize Somalia.
Mr. Meles’ government sent hundreds of Ethiopian troops into Somalia in November to fight al-Shabab. They have helped wrestle away towns in central Somalia, train local militia and prevent spillover along Ethiopia’s long border with Somalia, which has allowed AU troops to advance toward other al-Shabab strongholds.
Ethiopia invaded Somalia in 2006 to fight Islamists, but that move was unpopular among Somalis and gave rise to al-Shabab. This time, Ethiopia’s presence in Somalia has been more welcome, given the ruthless governance of al-Shabab militants.
Ethiopia also has attacked militant bases in Eritrea, which has been accused of supporting al-Shabab.
Ethiopia is home to a U.S. drone base operating from a small civilian airport in the southern town of Arba Minch. Mr. Meles’ regime receives billions of dollars in U.S. assistance.
Economic growth has averaged more than 10 percent over the past eight years, spurred by low taxes, improvements to infrastructure and strong foreign investment.
But economic inequality remains stubbornly high, with per capita income at about $1,000 a year and youth unemployment at 25 percent, according to the CIA World Factbook 2012.
Meanwhile, the government has cracked down on Muslim protesters and forced thousands of people from their land in Gambella and South Omo to make room for commercial agricultural projects.
An aide to a U.S. senator involved in African affairs described Mr. Meles’ absence as unsustainable and said it’s anybody’s guess how the country might unravel.
David Shinn, a former U.S. ambassador to Ethiopia, said domestic unrest is unlikely to have much impact on Ethiopia’s policy in Somalia because self-interest is guiding the government’s involvement there.
“Any government in [Ethiopia’s capital] Addis Ababa will link unrest in Somalia to potential or actual unrest in Ethiopia’s Odaden region,” Mr. Shinn said, referring to the Ethiopian territory that borders Somalia.
The Ethiopian government likely sees itself benefiting from the U.S. drone operation in terms of security and intelligence-sharing with the West.
A spokesman in the U.S. Bureau of African Affairs said the United States has been in contact with several Ethiopian officials since Mr. Meles’ disappearance but would not speculate on what changes might occur should the prime minister not return to his duties.
Mr. Meles took power after the fall of the communist Haile Mariam Mengistu government in 1991 and was re-elected amid accusations of voting fraud in 2005.
The net profit of Ethiopian Airlines in the 2011/2012 fiscal year has tumbled by 40 percent to 732 million birr year-on-year. In the 2010/2011 fiscal year Ethiopian earned a net profit of 1.23 billion birr, which dropped by 500 million birr. In the 2011/2012 fiscal year, which ended on June 30, Ethiopian hauled 4.6 million passengers, a 25 percent surge in comparison to that of the previous year. The airline generated an operating revenue of 33.8 billion birr, up 37 percent. Operating expense increased by 35 percent to 5.7 billion birr. The airline made an operating profit of 1 billion birr and its net profit stood at 732 million birr.
Ethiopian said the unaudited figures for the fiscal year show that despite the challenges faced by the airline during the year, it finished the year in black with strong overall performance and is set to continue its growth to achieve goals set in its Vision 2025. At a press conference held yesterday Ethiopian CEO, Tewolde Gebremariam, said that the just ended fiscal year was the most challenging year.
“The fuel price hike was a daunting challenge. For the first time the price of fuel stayed high for a long time. It was above USD 120 per barrel for a year-and-half. The European economic crisis reduced the demand for air travel and the economic growth of China and other Asian countries stalled,” Tewolde told reporters at his office. “All these have affected the profitability of the global airline industry. As you have heard Kenya Airways has started laying off employees. And a number of major international airlines have registered loss. Despite all the challenges we are profitable. We made an annual salary increment of 6-8 percent.”
An official at Ethiopian told The Reporter that the 20 percent devaluation of the Ethiopian currency against the US dollar in September 2010 inflated the net profit the airline made in the 2010/2011 fiscal year. “One of the contributing factors for the surge in profit in that fiscal year was the devaluation. And it is unfair to compare the profit made in 2010/2011 to the 2011/2012 fiscal year,” the official said.
The airline introduced a six percent salary increment for employees earning a monthly salary of 4000 birr and above, seven percent for those who earn between 2000-4000 birr and six percent for those who earning 2000 birr and below. At an annual internal meeting with employees held on Wednesday at the African Union Assembly Hall the management of Ethiopian management briefed them about the challenges the airline faced during the fiscal year.
It was a tough year for the global airline industry. Last March IATA forecast that the global airline industry would make a profit of USD 3 billion. However, IATA said African airlines would lose a total of USD 100 million. South Africa Airways, which is currently in the red, is receiving subsidy from the government. Royal Air Marroc, the national flag carrier of Morocco, which declared bankruptcy, is laying of employees.
Tewolde said Ethiopian is in the third year of the Vision 2025 (a 15-year development strategy) adding that the airline is growing according to schedule. “We are growing at an annual rate of 25-30 percent. We are on the right track,” the CEO said.
He added that the airline plans to build a new cargo terminal and maintenance hangar.
Ethiopian has set up a second hub in West Africa in Togo where its affiliate airline ASKY is based. ASKY was established by the private sector in 2007 and became operational in 2009. Tewolde said that ASKY, which is in its third year of operation, has managed to achieve a rapid growth.
The CEO disclosed his management’s plan to establish two regional hubs in southern and central Africa. Under Vision 2025 Ethiopian anticipates to increase its fleet to 120 from the existing 47, the number of destination to 90, the volume of passengers to 80 million and its employees to 17,000.
Currently, the airline is expanding its aviation academy at a cost of 42 million dollars.
In what appears to be a nervous move by members of Ethiopia’s ruling party, Tigrai People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) and the well-connected elite in the wake of the disappearance of Ethiopian dictator Mekes Zenawi, big money is being transferred overseas. The situation is so bad that even the pro-TPLF journal, The Reporter, is forced to admit “capital flight”.
CBE suspends opening Letter of Credit
AUGUST 11, 2012 (The Reporter) — The Commercial Bank of Ethiopia (CBE) has suspended opening letters of credit (L/C) to businesses after the much-talked about three-month export foreign currency reportedly depleted in a one-year time or so. CBE, the largest buyer of foreign currency from the National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE) and the biggest generator of foreign currency from its international banking department and from remittances, suspended opening L/C for two to three months, according to sources from the bank.
The country’s largest bank currently opens L/C only for basic items such as petroleum and medicine, according to bank sources, while it is not now known when it will resume to provide the service for its customers and businesses.
Shortage of foreign currency has hit banks for a couple of months now, while the reason for the depletion has left private bankers in the dark, according to prominent bankers in the sector.
“The sad part is that we are notified the there is shortage of foreign reserve unprecedentedly,” said a banker who opted to remain anonymous. “The situation should have been known and disclosed earlier before it became critical. And it is very difficult to identify how the shortage was created, except for guessing or setting possible scenarios. There are bankers who say the problem has got to do with capital flight, both formal and informal. Yet while the informal capital flight has got to do with over invoicing and under invoicing, it will not have an effect on the country’s foreign reserve. But the formal does.”
Sources assert that there is a tendency for the reserve in forex offices to make their way or shift to the black market, which involves a huge volume of transaction.
Some also claim that NBE’s control over foreign currency reserve and transactions is not as stringent as other regulations the governing bank imposes on commercial banks.
The shortage of foreign currency has also made the come-back of the long and overdue queue at private commercial banks seen three years ago when the foreign reserve reached an alarming low in less than one year’s export.
The daily foreign currency auction between NBE and the commercial banks came to a halt for a month now.
For months, Eskinder Nega’s supporters in Washington, New York and around the world have been pleading for his freedom. In petitions, blogs and speeches, they have hailed the prominent Ethiopian journalist, detained last fall on terrorism charges, as a courageous champion of democratic rights in a country that is systematically snuffing them out.
But the government of Ethiopia — a major recipient of American aid and an important U.S. military ally in a volatile region of Africa — chose to ignore the appeals. In late June, it convicted Nega, 44, of crimes against the state, which included “attempting to incite violence and overthrow the constitutional order.” On July 13, he was sentenced to 18 years in prison.
“We will continue to push for Eskinder’s unconditional release. He is one of our key, priority cases,” Ilona Kelly, a representative of Amnesty International, promised a gathering of Ethiopian exiles in the District on Thursday. She called Nega’s plight a symptom of the widening crackdown by Ethiopian authorities in which “almost any act of dissent or criticism can be interpreted as terrorism.”
Nega, who graduated from American University and then returned home in the 1990s to establish several independent newspapers, was one of 20 journalists and opposition figures condemned on similar charges last month. But almost all the others were already safe in exile, having fled over the past several years as pressure on dissidents mounted. Nega, who is legally a U.S. permanent resident, decided to stay and fight.
At the somber gathering in a U Street bar Thursday night, there was a feeling of uneasiness and guilt among Nega’s compatriots and colleagues. Most work at professional jobs, attend graduate school or have found other niches in the region’s large and thriving Ethiopian community of about 200,000, which includes half a dozen members of Nega’s extended family.
One journalist in the room, Abiye Teklemariam, fled his homeland in 2009, but he was sentenced in absentia last month to eight years in prison.
“Terrorism is a powerful word, and the government is using it to accuse people with no reason,” said Teklemariam, 34, who is studying for a doctorate at Oxford University. “Eskinder used to criticize us for leaving. He is a calm and patient person, but he is also willing to take risks that most people are not. He is like an American in his passion for freedom of expression.”
Nega’s fortunes as a journalist have followed the tortuous path of a country that emerged from decades of dictatorial communist rule in 1991, ushering in a period of political hope and change. The fragile new democracy was rent by ethnic divisions and breakaway militias, buffeted by war and chaos in next-door Somalia, and threatened by the permanent specter of famine.
The government of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, although popular with Western donors and praised for its innovative plans for economic development, became increasingly intolerant of dissent. According to international rights groups, the crackdown began in earnest in 2005, when bitterly contested elections led to mass protests and police shootings.
Nega chronicled every new injustice, and he was jailed seven times on charges that included anti-government agitation. In 2005, he and his wife and business partner, Serkalem Fasil, were detained for 18 months. Fasil was pregnant, and their son Nafteko was born in prison. After the couple’s release, officials refused to renew their newspaper licenses, so Nega turned to blogging.
His critiques grew sharper as protests erupted across the Arab world in the spring of 2010.
“He was absolutely fearless, but he paid a heavy price,” said Mohammed Keita, Africa advocacy coordinator at the Committee to Protect Journalists in New York. He cited several blogs that upset the Meles regime: for instance, one that drew parallels between unrest in Ethiopia and protests in Egypt and Yemen, and another that questioned the detention of a dissident actor in his 70s. As other journalists fled, Nega defended them in his blogs, which were blocked at home but read by a widening audience abroad.
In September, he was arrested again, this time on much more serious terrorism charges. Prosecutors alleged that he and others were conspiring with armed opponents, including rebels from neighboring Eritrea and an opposition group called Ginbot 7. Keita described their court hearing as a “show trial with no credibility” and said the judge accused Nega of trying to spark an Arab Spring-style uprising.
Officials at the Ethiopian Embassy in Washington could not be reached last week for comment.
As Nega languished in prison, his blogs fell silent, but his plight gained international attention. More than 30 international rights groups circulated petitions for his release and lobbied Congress for help. Sympathetic features and indignant editorials appeared in respected journals and magazines. In May, the PEN America organization awarded Nega its prestigious press freedom prize. Fasil, an elegant and poised woman, caused a sensation when she appeared at the New York awards ceremony to represent her husband.
Although Nega found a few champions on Capitol Hill, notably Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.), his high-profile case remains a source of tension and embarrassment to the Obama administration. The Meles government, despite its increasingly harsh treatment of domestic opponents, is a rare, reliable U.S. ally in a chaotic and impoverished region beset by ethnic strife and threatened by radical Islamic militancy.
The regime in Addis Ababa has provided soldiers for international peacekeeping efforts. It recently agreed to host a base for unmanned U.S. drones. Ethiopia has received more than $2 billion in U.S. aidsince 2010 and major project investment from the World Bank and other international agencies, in part because of its promising economic policies and in part to stave off famine.
Last month, the State Department issued a statement saying it was “deeply concerned” about the convictions and sentences of Nega and his co-defendants, including an exiled opposition leader who was condemned to life in prison. The statement called on the Meles government to “stop stifling freedom of expression” and to release those imprisoned for exercising their rights.
There was no public suggestion, however, of economic sanctions or other tangible form of disapproval.
“It’s very frustrating,” Kelly said. “The big concern in Washington now is about security and food aid. These are legitimate concerns, but it creates an environment that puts human rights on the back burner.
“Civil society is being decimated in Ethiopia, but the administration is turning a blind eye.”
The young Ethiopian emigres gathered Thursday said they closely followed events in their homeland — most recently, rampant rumors of Meles’s ill health — on Facebook and Twitter, but they seemed reluctant to be publicly associated with any opposition groups and uncertain how to connect with the great majority of people in Ethiopia who have no Internet access.
“In a way, it is just whispering from a distance,” said one participant.
Nega’s family members in the Washington area also have kept a low profile, but in interviews last week they expressed deep anguish for him and their homeland.
Makdela Bekele, 43, a cousin, is a longtime U.S. resident who works for a software company in Maryland. She wept repeatedly as she spoke of their lifelong friendship and the weekly phone conversations they enjoyed until last September, when Nega vanished into prison.
“We had a nice talk, and he seemed to be in good spirits. Then the next day my brother called to tell me he had been arrested,” Bekele said, apologizing as she tried to blot tears from her mascara.
“Once I wanted to go back home to live, but now I have changed my mind. I’m not brave like Eskinder,” she said, bursting into tears again. “I am not brave enough to sacrifice my life like he has.”
The Prime Minister has not been seen since his last outing at the G20 summit, in Mexico on 19th June, where he looked a wee shadow of his usual Italian suited self. Such prolonged absence is unusual for a man who revels in performing his supporting part upon the international stage of political propaganda.He has failed to appear at a series of high-profile events since June, including the opening of the African Union summit in Addis Ababa in July.