Ato Andargachew Tsige, a senior official of the Kinijit International Leadership, is currently in Accra, Ghana, to attend the annual African Union Summit. Ato Andargachew is carrying the following message from Kinijit to be delivered at the 3-day summit which will convene today:
______________________
Statement on the Union Government of Africa
The Coalition for Unity & Democracy (Kinijit)
The Heads of States and Governments of the African Union (AU), at their forthcoming Summit in Accra (Ghana), are expected to put another milestone in the political history of the Continent. At this Summit, the modalities of transforming the AU into the Union Government of Africa; popularly referred to as the United States of Africa, will be at the centre of the negotiation. The International Political Committee of the Coalition for Unity and Democracy Party (CUDP-Kinijit) has the honour and the privilege to forward the compliments of our jailed leaders to the Head of States and Governments of Africa, and express our party’s support for the unity of Africa through peaceful and democratic means.
The Union Government of Africa will be successful, if and only, if the source of political power is the ballot box; through free and fair elections; and its governance structure is unambiguously founded on the principles of separations of powers; with an independent and transparent judiciary and the rule of law; a vibrant press that harnesses democracy, traditions and value systems; and an academia whose mission is to advance new knowledge and provide the education and skills required for the new economy. These key enabling features of good governance and development should be enshrined in an overarching Continental Constitution that should be ratified by a referendum.
The Union Government of Africa, if formed under the above solid grounds, brings nightmares to anti democratic regimes in the Continent; whose hands and minds have been the cause of bloodsheds and misery to millions of Africans. They will object and sabotage its formation as it will expose not only their maladministration, but their horrendous crimes against humanity. One such regime is unfortunately found in Ethiopia.
The details of the illegitimate Prime Minister’s misrule of Ethiopia are too many to be detailed in this statement. Inspecting the December 15, 2005 resolution of the European Parliament and the draft bill of the United States Congress and the reports of human rights organizations like Amnesty International and the Ethiopian Human Rights Council provides a glimpse of the atrocities committed by the regime. In other words, there is overwhelming evidence that allows the AU to invoke the instruments of international law and its own conventions against such regimes, including the minority regime in Ethiopia and its cabal.
Meles Zenawi is not only dangerous to Ethiopians. His venom has started to spread to the rest of the Continent. We therefore call upon the Heads of States and Governments of the AU to first and foremost save NEPAD and the APRM. These programmes and institutions are too important to be left to rot in the hands of a charlatan. It is indeed ridiculous and ironic to find Meles at the helm of these institutions. Hence, we call upon President John Kufuor, the current President of the AU to officially raise these concerns at the Summit, and address the plight of political prisoners in the continent.
Free Political Prisoners in Ethiopia!