PRESS RELEASE
Global Civic Movement for Change in Ethiopia
This is a call to all patriotic Ethiopians to say No to the TPLF/EPRDF officials’ visit to North America searching for investment from the Diaspora community. We are not against investing and helping our country and people. On the other hand, we believe we should have a clear understanding of where our money goes and for what purpose it will be used. TPLF/EPRDF officials are asking us to invest under the following circumstances best suited to their perpetuation of their power and not the national interest of Ethiopia.
* Today, all land belongs to the government and we are supposed to lease our own ancestral land. The Ethiopian farmer is at the mercy of TPLF/EPRDF officials in his own land. As a result of these and the overall ill devised policies of the regime, millions of Ethiopians depend on donor food aid; millions of Ethiopians still live in grinding and abject poverty. While the kleptocrats of the ruling regime’s ethnic and political cronies gloat with opulence and decadence.
* Today TPLF/EPRDF officials and EFFORT (Endowment Fund for the Rehabilitation of Tigrai) are the largest owners of the major industries in Ethiopia including Banking, Construction, Agribusiness, Mining, Communication, Insurance and other pillars of the economy that are vital to the well-being and development of the country. Meanwhile, Ethiopian business owners are being pushed out of the market due to a lack of a level playing field. While the regime penalizes these business owners with trumped up charges of tax evasion etc., business owners affiliated with the regime due to their ethnicity or political loyalty are made to thrive and prosper.
* Today TPLF/EPRDF controls the rubber stamping parliament using illegal and bogus elections as we witnessed a few months back “winning” 99.6% of the seats; thus effectively turning Ethiopia into a one-party state. Meles has been in power for 20 years. He has been a cause of death and destruction. He has stolen the election in 2005, and massacred unarmed civilians. He imprisoned close to 50 000 people. At present the brutal regime is imprisoning our people in Gambela, Oromo, Ogaden, Southern Ethiopia and elsewhere.
* Today TPLF/EPRDF controls the military, security service, and the police leaving our people at the mercy of a few sick and selfish individuals. The North Africa and Middle East democratic revolutions are forcing the regime to panic. In desperation it is looking for Diaspora money.
* Today TPLF/EPRDF is selling our land to foreign investors at the expense of Ethiopian farmers and the fragile ecology of these places. Thus transferring this problem for generations to come. Our most fertile land and forest resources are being cleared to feed foreigners without regard to the grave consequences to the people of Ethiopia.
* Today we are made to be by-standers and strangers in our own land with the ruling regime working day and night to create animosity, division, confusion and hatred among Ethiopians based on ethnic background and religious affiliation.
Dear fellow Ethiopians, what we are being asked is to go against our own interest. They want us to invest our hard earned money so that TPLF/EPRDF officials and their families can reinvest it outside of our country by buying properties in Europe and America and on shopping sprees. As you are all aware, we work hard for our money. We left our homeland without anything and through hard work and perseverance we have managed to build a decent living wherever we reside.
TPLF/EPRDF and their cohorts have used and abused our people for the last twenty years. They have committed untold crimes against the people of Ethiopia. Now they want us to be part of their criminal empire. We ask you to look at this situation soberly and choose the welfare of your Motherland and your people over empty promises and shameful acts.
Washington DC, New York, NY, Dallas, TX, Seattle, WA, Las Vegas, NV, Atlanta, GA, San Josea , CA , Los Angeles, CA , Ottawa, Canada, Toronto, Canada, Denver, CO, Minneapolis, MN organizing groups and Taskforces.
It time to say no! Enough is enough! Beka! Geye! Yaekel! Aloni! Wetandem! Gides! Bass! Diiteh!
Freedom, justice, equality for the People of Ethiopia! Victory to the people of Ethiopia!
For more information contact: [email protected]