Woyanne ambassador to Washington DC Samuel Assefa at his mother’s funeral in Addis Ababa (Photo: Addis Journal)
The funeral of Ethiopia’s first woman parliamentarian Wzr. Sinedu Gebru took place two days ago at the Holy Trinity Cathedral Church in Addis Ababa in the presence of family, friends and {www:Woyanne} regime officials.
Wzr. Sinedu is an amazing Ethiopian who severed her country throughout her life as this brief biography shows (click here to read). Unfortunately, her legacy also includes having Woyanne ambassador Samuel Assefa as a son whose consciousness level is lower than that of a donkey. It is indeed sad that such a patriotic woman who fought for and diligently served her country had managed to raise a useless drunkard who is at the service of an anti-Ethiopia fascist regime.
Addis Journal reports Wzr. Sinedu Gebru’s funeral as follows:
The funeral for author, activist, patriot, and Ethiopia’s first woman parliamentarian, Sinedu Gebru has taken place at the Holy Trinity Cathedral Church on Wednesday, April 22, 2009, in the presence of Abune Paulos Aba Tagay Gebremedhin, the Woyanne-installed fake patriarch of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church.
President Girma Wolde Giorgis [Meles Zenawi’s puppet] paid his respect to the late Sinedu by sending flowers to her funeral. Mourners included the Ethiopian parliament’s woman representative, Netsanet Asfaw and other Woyanne officials.
The late Sinedu’s son, Ethiopia’s Woyanne’s current ambassador to the United States, Dr. Samuel Assefa, arrived in Addis Ababa on Tuesday to attend the funeral service. He was visibly shaken as prayers and blessings were chanted during the ceremony.
The Honorable Sindeu Gebru, who had been in a frail condition recently, died on Easter night at the age of 94.
Rita Pankurst, who has known Sinedu for many years, described her as a very independent-minded and formidable woman. “I have always been a great admirer of her. She was the heroine of my life.” Rita told Addis Journal.
Rita said she always went to see her on holidays with some flowers, including this past Easter morning where she was awake, but died that evening. Rita says Sindu, who has been the first Ethiopian school director of Etege Menen school, had done tremendous amount of job in promoting girls education. She was “a great believer in the importance of education, in general, and girls in a particular” according to Mrs. Pankurst.
Another former student of Etege Menen School said, “The loss of Woizero Sinedu is enormous but she leaves a legacy of accomplishment, hope and commitment for the community and her country.”
Pennsylvania, USA (AP). – An economics professor at a Pennsylvania university said Saturday he supports efforts to spread democracy in his native Ethiopia, but denied backing an alleged coup attempt there that led to the arrests of 35 people by the government.
“I’m very suspicious that there was an attempt at all,” said Berhanu Nega during an interview at his home outside of Lewisburg in north-central Pennsylvania. “This is not a government that has any credibility whatsoever in terms of telling the truth.”
He said he did not know who may have been arrested, and said it could have easily been some sort of overreaction.
“The government, every time, it panics,” he said. “It’s always treason, always acting against the government.”
Berhanu, 51, said he came to the U.S. as a young man in 1980, is married to an American citizen and has two sons. He is an associate professor of {www:economics} at nearby Bucknell University, a private liberal-arts school that enrolls about 3,400 undergraduates.
He previously taught at the university from 1990 until 1994, when he returned to Ethiopia to work at Addis Ababa University, according to a profile on the university’s Web site.
In 2005, he became the country’s first elected mayor when he won the mayoral race in Addis Ababa, the nation’s capital. But post-election violence over the election results led the Ethiopian government to shoot 193 protesters and to later jail Berhanu, other opposition leaders and thousands of supporters. Berhanu said the party was not responsible for the violent demonstrations.
The opposition leaders stood trial for nearly two years on charges of challenging the constitutional order — the charge was lessened from treason. The main clique of 38 opposition leaders pleaded guilty and were pardoned in 2007 after appealing to the government.
Berhanu and several other party leaders then left for the U.S., returning to the country in August 2007. He rejoined Bucknell as a visiting international scholar in economics in Spring 2008.
“It became very clear immediately after our release that they will not at all tolerate any opposition, meaningful opposition,” he said.
Berhanu also urged President Obama’s administration to “carefully revisit its policy toward Ethiopia.”
“It is just unseemly for any democratic government such as the United States to have any relationship with it,” he said.
(Associated Press writer Anita Powell in Nairobi, Kenya, contributed to this report.)
The Woyanne-led Ethiopian government has arrested 35 people suspected of a coup {www:attempt} allegedly backed by an Ethiopian economist now teaching at a Pennsylvania university, a government spokesman said Saturday.
Government spokesman Ermias Legesse said the group, which calls itself “Ginbot 7” (May 15) after the date of {www:controversial} 2005 elections in Ethiopia, was led from the U.S. by former opposition leader Berhanu Nega, who is an assistant professor of economics at Bucknell University.
“It is the party led by Berhanu Nega,” said Ermias. “If he comes to Ethiopia, we’ll arrest him.”
He said the alleged plotters were arrested Friday.
Interviewed in Lewisburg, Berhanu, 51, said he had no role in organizing any coup attempt.
“I’m very suspicious that were was an attempt at all,” he said. “This is not a government that has any credibility whatsoever in terms of telling the truth.”
Berhanu was elected mayor of Addis Ababa in 2005 but was arrested afterward along with more than 100 other opposition politicians and stood trial for {www:treason}. He and the others were freed in 2007 in a pardon deal. He left Ethiopia after the trial.
“It became very clear immediately after our release that they will not at all tolerate any opposition, meaningful opposition,” he said Friday.
Ermias said the group of suspects arrested Friday was comprised of two cliques, one of former soldiers, another of civilians.
“They were caught with weapons, uniforms, even plans,” he said. “I don’t want to give details about the plans; it’s for the court case.”
Ermias said the charges have not been set and court proceedings will begin soon.
“They decided to change the government in an unconstitutional way,” he said.
Asked if he considered violent regime change inevitable, Berhanu said he was still pushing for a peaceful, negotiated solution, but the Ethiopian government was showing “absolute intransigence.”
“When the option becomes freedom (or) living in some sort of slavery, I have no doubt that people will fight for freedom,” he said.
He did not deny raising money in the U.S. for Ethiopian opposition groups.
“All opposition groups raise money in the U.S.,” he said.
He said he hoped the administration of President Barack Obama would realize it is “unseemly” for the U.S. to have any relationship with the Ethiopian regime.
The opposition won an unprecedented number of parliamentary seats in the 2005 vote, but not enough to topple Prime Minister Meles Zenawi. The opposition claimed the voting was rigged, and European Union observers said it was marred by irregularities. The election was followed by violent protests. Ethiopia acknowledged that its security forces killed 193 civilians protesting alleged election fraud.
Since 2005, there has been only one opposition-led political protest in Ethiopia, held this month in Addis Ababa.
Berhanu said he believed the government is wracked by internal {www:turmoil}, perhaps even within the military.
“The government is becoming increasingly unstable and is lashing out at anyone it thinks is even mildly popular inside the country,” he said.
ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA — The family home of Dr {www:Berhanu Nega}, leader of the Ethiopian opposition, Ginbot 7 Movement for Justice and Democracy (Ginbot 7), has been surrounded and his parents have been roughed up by {www:Woyanne} gunmen, according to Ethiopian Review sources.
Dr Berhanu’s 80-year-old father, Ato Nega Bonger, was inside the house when the gunmen forced their way into the house and started beating up family members, including Ato Getu Worku, who was later taken away and his whereabouts right now is unknown.
Meles Zenawi’s armed thugs also confiscated mobile phones belonging to Ato Nega and Dr Berhanu’s mother, Wzr. Abebech Woldegiorgis.
The extended family was gathered at Ato Nega’s house in Addis Ababa to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the death of Wzr. Abebech Woldegiorgis’ brother when the lawless regime’s security forces suddenly descended on them earlier today.
The Woyanne regime today also announced that it has foiled a coup attempt by Ginbot 7 and that it has arrested over 30 suspects who were found with a variety of weapons.
Ginbot 7 has issued its own press released regarding the Woyanne cliam. Click here the statement. Below is a report by the Woyanne-controlled Ethiopian News Agency (ENA).
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (ENA) – Terrorist operation being advanced by a terrorist group calling itself “Ginbot 7” was foiled, the National Intelligence, Security Service and Federal Police Joint Anti-Terrorist Taskforce, disclosed.
In a press statement it sent to ENA on Saturday, the taskforce said the subversive activities of the terrorist group, which was established by Dr. Berhanu Nega, has declared an armed struggle to dismantle the national constitutional system through force saying that there is no more peaceful struggle.
However, the taskforce said, the activities of the terrorist group was foiled by the security force.
It said the operation of the anti-peace group has organized a military and civilian sub-team in the country with millions of Birr which it said has been foiled.
The military sub-team embraced some members of the army and a lot of x-army members who were dismissed from duty for disciplinary reasons, according to the Taskforce.
It further said the civilian sub-team comprised employees working in various private and government organizations.
The taskforce, which has been closely following up the activities of this terrorist network for a longer period, detained 35 suspects on Friday based on the country’s law.
In addition to this, the taskforce through a search warrant issued by the court has caught different arms, bombs, satellite, computers, radio communications, military uniforms and planning documents, among others.
The taskforce said it is investigating the cases on the suspects and will disclose the details soon.
It expressed appreciation to the cooperation shown by the public and the active participation of members of the army in foiling the conspiracy against the national constitution.
OTTAWA, CANADA -A decommissioned ambulance dedicated to former Ottawa mayor Marion Dewar will soon be in service in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
At a handover ceremony outside City Hall yesterday, Councillor Diane Deans gave the keys to the ambulance to Samuel Getachew of Friends of Ethiopia, which organized the project and raised the money to ship the ambulance to Ethiopia. The group will also be shipping medical and educational supplies, along with computers donated by Algonquin College.
“It’s nice for citizens of Ottawa to give a second life to a decommissioned ambulance,” says Deans, who lobbied her fellow councilors to donate the vehicle. “That ambulance probably saved a lot of lives in Ottawa and now it will save a lot more in its new home in Ethiopia.”
Getachew has dedicated the ambulance in memory of Dewar, a “dear friend” who gave him advice in the early stages of this project. Her son, Ottawa Center MP Paul Dewar, was also at the City Hall ceremony yesterday.
“We wanted to send something useful, and Africans need something that can help them be self-sufficient, and we believe an ambulance is a good start,” says Getachew, who has worked on the project for almost two years.
The ambulance will be donated to the foundation run by Abebch Gobena, a well-known children’s activist in Addis Ababa. “She has raised 5,000 orphans, and she has a small hospital in her compound and branches all over Ethiopia.”
Pennsylvania, USA (AP). – An economics professor at a Pennsylvania university said Saturday he supports efforts to spread democracy in his native Ethiopia, but denied backing an alleged coup attempt there that led to the arrests of 35 people by the government.
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (ENA) – Terrorist operation being advanced by a terrorist group calling itself “Ginbot 7” was foiled, the National Intelligence, Security Service and Federal Police Joint Anti-Terrorist Taskforce, disclosed.
OTTAWA, CANADA -A decommissioned ambulance dedicated to former Ottawa mayor Marion Dewar will soon be in service in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.