Heated, but important, debates are currently raging inside the Unity for Democracy and Justice Party (UDJ) on the future course of the organization. There are major disagreements among the top leaders of UDJ, which is formed by leaders of the Coalition for Unity and Democracy (Kinijit) after being forced by the Meles dictatorship in Ethiopia to change their name in order to be able to legally operate inside the country. Some outsiders try to characterize the disagreements as power struggle. But it is not as simple as that. According to ER sources, the debates evolve around the question of how to move the party forward, in light of its inability to freely operate inside Ethiopia.
Ethiopian Review’s recommendation to the UDJ leaders is to follow their secretary general’s lead and officially suspend all their operations inside the country. The head of finance, Dr Befekadu Degifie, has also resigned last week, since it is currently impossible to operate as a genuine opposition party in Ethiopia. Prof. Mesfin Woldemariam made it known this week that he will no longer be in the leadership of the party. More high level officials are expected to take the same measures. If the rest of UDJ leaders intend to continue to operate inside the country under the terms dictated to them by the Woyanne fascist regime, they would only be serving the interest of the Meles crime family, and not the people of Ethiopia.
Suspending operation doesn’t mean disbanding the party. The party can continue to exist, but until the Woyanne repression ends, it should suspend all its activities, as well as withdraw its application from the illegitimate Election Board. If UDJ engages in any activity, it should be trying to convince the other parties who claim to be opposition to also suspend their operation in protest of Woyanne’s repression. UDJ and the other opposition parties inside Ethiopia are not going to bring any change. Woyanne will continue to use brute force to stop them. In fact, their only use right now is to give Woyanne legitimacy. They are not serving the interest of the people they clam to stand for by giving legitimacy to the brutal dictatorship.
When Birtukan Mideksa and the other leaders of Kinijit (now named UDJ) returned to Ethiopia in September after their U.S. and European visits, they were widely popular. Right now, no body cares about what they say or do. They have not been doing much to begin with, other than holding endless meetings and begging Woyanne to give them legal status, in the process humiliating themselves and the people of Ethiopia. As a result, their popularity has now plummeted. They have expended all their political capital on a futile effort to get legal status from the Woyanne-controlled Election Board. If they think otherwise, they are only fooling themselves, not to mention insulting the intelligence of the Ethiopian people.
In addition to officially announcing their suspension of operations inside the country, the UDJ leaders need to inform their support groups abroad that all of them are free to decide what to do next. This will allow many of the Kinijit support committees around the world to rally around Ginbot 7.
Ethiopia is currently in extremely desperate situation. This is the time to think and act fast. This is the time to take drastic actions to save our country from falling apart, and her people from dying by the millions. This cannot be done without a strong and decisive political leadership.
Ethiopian Review urges all Kinijit supporters in the Diaspora who understand the extreme severity of the situation at home to join Ginbot 7 and help it become a strong force that will use any available means to remove the cancer that is eating away our country. Any thing short of doing that is failing the people of Ethiopia in this time of despair. The people of Ethiopia need a strong political leadership that will bleed and kill Woyanne, not beg and kneel down to Meles and Sebhat.
Our political leaders need to always put themselves one step ahead of Woyanne, instead of always reacting to what Woyanne does. Wzt. Birtukan and colleagues will be remembered as heroes if they outsmart Woyanne at its own game. What they are doing currently is not smart at all. If they continue on their current course, they will be totally discredited as political leaders.
Meanwhile, Ethiopian Review repeats its call to Ginbot 7 to take the following steps in the fight to save our country:
1) Form a transitional government in exile with OLF, ONLF, EPPF, and TPDM as soon as possible.
2) Bring the military forces of the OLF, ONLF, TPDM and EPPF under one military command that will operate as Ethiopian National Defense Forces.
3) Establish a diplomatic relation with Asmara without any further delay, which will send shivers down Woyanne’s spine. Don’t even waste time to explain to the fools why it is necessary to take such a step. Millions of our people are dying horrible deaths at this very moment and there are some dunderheads who still want to pick and choose who to work with to save our people in this hour of despair.
Smaller political parties, the media, and civic groups, such as Tatek, Hibre Hizb, Tegbar, Gasha, Kinijit support groups, Kinijit Youth League, and others need to come under the Ginbot 7 umbrella.
This is not a time for debate. It is a time for action to save our people from holocaust.
Hopefully Birtukan and friends will make the right decision this coming Saturday when they will meet to decide their party’s — and their own — future.