Abstract campaign

2006-12-04T04:32:00.000-08:00

Leaked UN report on Somalia:Who supports who?(PDF)

O'Africa

2006-11-05T04:57:00.000-08:00

Out of the ashes of a phoenix
A new African phoenix is born
As black and as famished as ever
Carrying the same loads of thorn
The same batches of infamy
Of disease, of wars, of hunger
The same scars in the horn
As politicians to each others whisper
Sweet lies; with no conscience to scorn
As they exhale and praises inhale over dinner
And more ranks to their siblings adorn
Africa stands aloof as distant as ever
As unique as an alien unicorn
Writhing in mounts of litter
Burdened, broken and outworn

O'Africa.............

A Mystery Plague Affects Ethiopians Worldwide

2006-10-06T07:20:00.000-07:00

There has been a sudden and strange and incurable plague scientists have named "Panethiopianist" that has struck the people of Ethiopia all over the globe in the last few years.

"This is a very strange thing that has occurred totally unprecedented in mankind's history" said a White House representative. "Never has such a phenomena happened where an entire group of over a 80 million people have suddenly changed their collective ideology".

In Ethiopia, civil wars have ceased. While leaders have come together to discuss numerous and drastic changes to improve the quality of life for there fellow countrymen in terms of leadership, political structure, education, technology, health services and agriculture. "The decisions made for our country that has suffered centuries of exploitation and corruption by the monarchy, the Derge and until recently the TPLF, will be made solely by Ethiopians for Ethiopians", stated Gertrude Mongella, President of the Ethiopian Union parliament. "We will not allow any input from non Ethiopians to dictate to us how we should run our country. Soon, the problems that have ravaged this country will be a thing of the past".

Educated Ethiopians, especially those who are graduating from various colleges and universities in Ethiopia have now completely understood the political world as it is, and not as they wish it to be. They have also come to realise, there enemy's vicious tactics of dividing them among themselves, and the impact of Geo-politics on there national movements. "We now have to depend on our own political creativity, material and spiritual resources and organisational capability for the realisation of a better country for all Ethiopians" A young student, Yared Tibebu stated. "We have to learn from our mistakes, improve our weakness and capitalise on our strength".

"We have to realise that any political movement, that does not learn from its mistakes, that does not improve its performance, that does not accept criticism, that does not have the intellectual wherewithal to reinvent itself from time to time, that does not alter its propaganda with a radically changing international political climate, that does not undertake the necessary paradigm shift when time demands it, that always reacts to events instead of being proactive, that blames others for its failures, that does not accept responsibility for its action and that always follows old ways of doing things instead of designing new strategies and tactics for mobilising people, Marshalling resources, winning friends, neutralising potential enemies and isolating the real enemy is doomed to facing repeated setbacks like that of the past political movement, the TPLF" stated the new energetic leader of the country Dr. Berhanu, who party was voted in with a clear majority of the votes in the resent national elections.

This phenomenon has caused a lot of illness, anger, confusion, paranoia, distress and resentment in non Africans, especially in Egypt and the Arab countries, who had lost a loyal ally in the despot Meles Zenawi.

"Well I know it is a dream for now, but if we all pull our weight together and support our jailed elected leaders and there vision for our country. This could be the list of our accomplishments" stated... well Ethiopian paradox.

when the dawn of freedom breaks

2006-09-17T05:48:00.000-07:00

“I am writing this book entirely devoid of any type of hatred. I know any idea and politics built on hatred is self-defeating and destructive and not productive. Being imprisoned by the forces of the regime has not changed this position by me. Far from prison weakening my position, in fact being in prison has strengthened my belief that hate is a feeling that one not at all ca afford to being burdened with. I held this view during the election campaign; I feel it more strongly now in prison.”

‘As or when the dawn of freedom breaks’ is the title of a major book authored by the jailed elected mayor of Ethiopia, Dr. Berhanu Nega. The breaking of freedom’s dawn signals a scenario of hope and even seeing an edifying possibility under conditions of adversity and difficulty. It makes compelling reading when the author is in jail and his pen, head, heart and spirit- together and in unison defy the will of the jailors and his own physical limitations walled in a small prison room. The spirit with which it is written is rich and generous in calling all those in the struggle not to employ feelings of hatred and motives of vengeance and other destructive impulses in their struggles to bring about irreversible and sustainable change with the core engine of freedom and democracy. Dr. Berhanu openly announces he has made all effort never to be guided by hatred even against those who jailed him. He makes the most profound maxim that fear, hatred, vengeance are antithetical to the project to create a society of united Ethiopian people with freedom and democratic agency.

Fear and hatred undo democracy and freedom and thereby destroy the dreams and imagination for making a new world possible entirely free from poverty, violence and hunger! His work is indeed a timeless contribution given his circumstance of being walled in, forced many times under duress to conditions of sickness. In less than a year he produced not only a master piece in terms of analytical work on the Ethiopian journey for democratic renewal, but above all he produced a powerful message that the struggle must not be driven by fear, hatred and vengeance. The fact that the regime uses actions built on hatred, blackmail, threats, deceptions, fraud, killing, fear and vengeance means that the opposition should learn to transcend these motivations and reach high level spiritual, political, intellectual and psychological harmony. He recommends the building of genuine debate, conversation, dialogue, communication and the broadest possible alliance to change the difficult un-freedoms built structurally by the dominance of one party rule and an ethnically re-structured society, and elections rigged under that same rule. It is unity and alliance that will eventually unhinge one party dominance control and ethnic- based gerrymandering. If the alliance succeeds then Confucian harmony amongst us will prevail and a harmonious society built on free debate of policies and communication amongst citizens will stimulate overall societal progress.

The tyrant's relation with the rulers of the world

2006-08-29T14:50:00.000-07:00

Meles Zenawi and Arkebe Iqubay are shown in this dated photograph taken in the Welqayit desert in Gondar/Tigrai border in the late 80s. Around the same time (1986), Mr. Meles authored the infamous book entitled "The Eritrean Struggle: From where to where" that established him as more concerned about EPLF issues than Ethiopian issues. In this book, Meles writes, "...In these days where Imperialism has dominated the world, the colonialism question can not be addressed separate from the Imperialist's need for capital investment and search for raw materials. While the Ethiopian ruling class has benefitted politically and economically from its occupation of Eritrea, the most beneficiary is American Imperialism...." Copies of this book which was an essential TPLF reading material were collected and destroyed when Meles came to power. A reprint was released recently by former TPLF members.

Remembering the June 8/2005 massacre

2006-06-08T01:21:00.000-07:00

"...Dawit then met some friends and, his father says, began to chat with friends when he saw the police chasing a group of young boys who were running towards where he and his cousins were talking in a circle 30 meters from his home. Instantly, the troops started firing at the boys who were running to their houses and killed one of them. Shocked by the merciless killing, Dawit and his friends decided to get back home with their heads down and running. '' But too late, he was gunned down from the back," says his father with his eyes swelling with tears." - The Reporter, June 2005

Mourning the death of two sons By Mariam Belay On the third day of the protest that took place last week ,Wednesday morning, the Mercato area, like any other part of the city, was lifeless and abandoned.

Fekadu Negash, 20, who works in a garage, was at his home around a place called 'Addis Ketema'. He was standing by his door when he heard shootings and screamings. He went out to see what was happing, and before he knew it, he was shot dead on his doorstep.

His younger brother, Abraham Yilma, 18, came running out of the house and called his mother shouting that his brother was shot. Both of them went out, and as Abraham took a step to pick up his brother, he saw the person who shot him.

"He picked up his hand and said, that's my brother, let me pick him up," their mother, Etenesh, recalls in grief. "Then he shot him too. I saw my sons lying on the road, their blood flowing like water."

"The youngest of the two came out of the house and saw his brothers. The man was going to shoot him if it wasn't for the screaming of my neighbors."

Soon after, an ambulance came and took the two brothers. Their mother was not allowed to go with them, and she did not know where they were taking them.

She later heard that one of them was already dead when the ambulance came, but the other one died on the way to hospital. Together with some relatives, their mother went to the Black Lion Hospital, where she hoped to find them.

They had to walk on foot, as the minibus taxies were on strike and there was no transportation. When she got there, she did not find them, so she looked for them in other hospitals, to no avail.

The next day, she went to Minilik Hospital, where a thorough search was carried out and their bodies were found lying there. Their funeral was on Friday.

People of the neighborhood, and those who heard their stories gathered en masse for the service, carrying national flags and pictures of the two brothers.

"The people of Ethiopia buried my sons and I was so grateful to see so much love," their mother said. But the people were not left alone to bury the dead peacefully. When the mourners were returning from the funeral, "they took them away and arrested them.

It was only after mothers went to the nearest fire brigade police station and pleaded with them, falling at their feet, that they released their children, after beating them severely" Etenesh is now left with only two sons.

The one who was almost shot and spared when women started screaming is still traumatised as a result of the shock he went through, seeing his brothers dead and startled by the gun that was pointed at him.

The youngest is only 11 years old and in despair like the rest of the family. "My children, my brothers and sisters, all of us, are living in anguish. There is nothing in the world left for us," Etenesh said.

The family depended on the meager income that Fikadu used to earn working in a garage and on what Abraham brought home working as a taxi assistant, after he came from school. Although their mother used to work in a coffee enterprise picking up coffee beans, she did not earn much and left the job four years ago.

To add to the income her two sons used to bring home, she has been selling home-made bread. "They were striving every day to take the burden off my shoulders. Their dream was to work and support me and their younger brothers," she said mournfully.

"They were shot dead on Their doorstep they did not even go out to the street, that's what makes my grief even worse." Giving birth to her sons at an early age, the first when she was 18, Etenesh has a reason to say that the two were not only her sons but also her companions.

Although she got them from different fathers, she brought them up together and saw them grow up day by day before they perished infront of her eyes. She almost went insane unable to bear her sorrow, but as life goes on, she is coping.

There was a rumor that Etenesh had committed suicide, but it was proved wrong as the writer of this article talked to her in person this Wednesday. "I seek justice from the people of Ethiopia" she said.

"I am poor. I can not sue the government, nor can I claim anything. Today it is my children and children of many others. What about tomorrow and the day after?" she asks. - The Reporter, June 2005 ----

Meles Zenawi on BBC Hard Talk...
....
HT - On the 8th of June, while police in Addis were faced with a large crowd, many of them students, what orders had you given the security forces?

Meles - Stop insurrection.

HT - Simple as that?

Meles - Yeah.

Blogs under attack by tyrannical government

2006-05-23T00:40:00.000-07:00

Since his regime lost the May 2005 election to the opposition the government of Meles Zenawi has been cracking down on pro-democracy protestors, leaders of the opposition and civil society, and the free press. Since May 2005 over 100 peacefully demonstrating youth have been killed by security forces carrying druganov sniper rifles and American Humvees donated to the government for counter-terrorism action againsts Islamist threats emanating from Somalia. The government has also shut down all free press publications. In a ludicrous move to quash the opposition movement, the government has jailed the entire leadership of the oppositon (including parliament electees, the mayor elect of the capital Addis Ababa, members of civil society and the free press including 5 Voicce of America radio journalists) and trying them in its kangaroo courts on trumped up charges of treason and genocide. Mind you the government kills over 100 pro-democracy protestors and jails upwards of 40,000 (yes that is 40K) in concentration-like open camps, and turns around and blame all this on the opposition. The recent crack down on the Ethio blogoshere is an extention of this repression. The government is losing it and is in its deathbed writhing. These atrocities need to be told all over the world. Ethiopian’s can’t overcome poverty without participatory democracy, free information, open communication and market economics. The regime of Meles Zenawi is standing in the way. The Ethiopian people have expressed their wish in May 2005. The Meles regime and the US government which is backing him need to be told enough is enough. No more tolerance for obstruction to democracy and the free flow of information via print, airwaves anf the internet. We need the support of all in exposing the suppression in Ethiopia. The recent crackdown on blogs by Meles’ regime with the technical advice of the Chinese government need to be stopped. Stand with the Ethiopian people, stand for unfettered exchange and freedom in the blogosphere!!!!!

A Comparison of Fascism and TPLF/EPDRF Ideology

2006-05-16T13:33:00.000-07:00

The predominant ideologies of today are based on the philosophies of the eighteenth century rational thinkers. According to this school of thought, the world is constructed according to a defined set of natural laws that can be explained in terms of “reason” such as the natural sciences and mathematical logic. By extension social problems can also be solved by ordering each case from the simplest to the most complex. For these thinkers nothing is acceptable as real without “evident knowledge of its truth.” Rationalism therefore stressed that man, not God, can understand and create his own world. In my opinion this is where humanity erred. But this will be a subject of a future article. But rational theory did not alleviate the human condition. Although progress was achieved, war, depression, economic inequality continued even to this day. As a result irrationalism, over time crept in and out of modern ideologies.

Fascism has been defined in various ways at various times. Some scholars don’t even consider fascism as a standalone ideology. These scholars point out that fascism selects elements and rejects certain aspects of every major ideology. These elements vary wildly in terms of coherence, appeal, sources and policy. Thus from conservatism, it borrows reverence for authority but rejects the slow pace of change. It has no respect for religious leaders or traditional elites. From liberalism, it incorporates the idea of social Darwinism to the extreme, to the point of exterminating the weak (remember what happened to the Anuak and to the people of wolkait and tegede as well as Tselemt). Yet it rejects individualism and insists on a racial or national community (Tigray first). From Marxism it incorporates a great deal including single party system and control of all aspects of social, cultural, economic and political life (the concept of EPDRF is an attempt to control other groups by TPLF). The ideal society under fascism is then one that is based on race or nationality.

Most scholars agree that fascism exhibits the following characteristics.

• Historically fascism did not come to power in “normal” times and is not voted into power.

This point needs no explanation. TPLF came to power by force at a time when the Ethiopian people were discouraged by the dictatorial administration of the Derg.

• Fascism’s mass social basis comes disproportionately from the lower middle- class (shop-keepers, artisans, small farmers…). Fascist movements gain their mass following as a reaction to earlier successes of socialist and labour party movements. Historically fascism also tried to attract and hold middle-class support by using the myth of race and/or empire to harness middle-class fears and resentment.

In the case of Ethiopia, EPRP enjoyed substantial support from the labour movement and to some extent it also obtained some support from the peasantry in areas where it operated extensively before TPLF came into the picture. TPLF, after successfully pushing out EPRP from Tigray, established itself as the new Marxist-Leninist (the Albanian type) movement in Tigray. TPLF built on the successes of EPRP and, it also played the race card to obtain mass support. Once it came to power by force, it abandoned its Marxist ideology (although it sometimes seemed like it still displays Marxist tendencies) and liberation movement. What followed is a dominance of a Tigrean group in the economic and political arena. This policy was especially important to keep its traditional support base intact. To avoid confronting its ideological inconsistencies and irrationalism, it disallowed opposing political expressions. Just like traditional fascism, race and ethnicity became very important. The struggle against the “neftegnas” (a loaded word for the Amhara) became the organizing and mobilizing principle. To obtain additional support from other ethnic minorities TPLF/EPDRF propounded that the “neftegnas” are the root of all the problems, not just for Tigray but for the whole of Ethiopia. This strategy seemed to have worked in the past although it is currently disappearing rapidly among the major ethnic groups.

• The early core of dedicated followers consisted mainly of alienated individuals and failed members of the lower middle class. Collectively, the group may also have experienced some form inferiority complex.

• For the unorganized, mainly the young and unskilled, fascism creates a sense of community.

During the struggle for freedom, the promise of liberation to bring about a prosperous independent Tigray became so important to the unemployed youth they volunteered to sacrifice their life for the cause. In some instance coercion was also used to recruit new fighter members. It also gave them a shelter from the harsh reality outside by creating belongingness.

• Fascism practices total-authoritarianism, as opposed to communist totalitarianism. Fascist ideology becomes a religion to its followers. The individual member is totally bound by the fascist dogma. This is accomplished by monopolizing the mass media and use of terror and coercion.

This is also obvious. Currently any independent media is not tolerated in Ethiopia. Only the government has complete control over the mass media. New technologies in communication technologies (e.g. plasma TV) are employed to propagate the official line. It is not hard in any TPLF forums, to see individuals who cannot see the light. The members follow the party line as divinely inspired therefore they do not think independently. Conformity to the party line is strictly enforced. That’s why you see identical opinion from TPLF members on all forums. They never question their party’s policy but always echo the party line.

• Acceptance of irrational ideological premise combined with unqualified obedience toward the party are the tests of the determination of the fascist subject/activist. Thus simple obedience would not do: active allegiance and an internalization of the official ideology were needed. The ideal fascist thus corresponds to the notion of the “eager robot” – completely obedient in matters of ideological formulation but entirely self-sacrificing and resourceful in bringing the ideology to life and carrying out the commands of its leaders.

TPLF members follow the party line as divinely inspired therefore they do not think independently. Conformity to the party line is strictly enforced. That’s why you see identical opinion from TPLF members on many forums. They never question their party’s policy but always echo the party line as a parrot. They carry out their assignments because the leader’s command is considered to be always right.

The Verdict: Guilty as charged, TPLF is a neo-fascist organization.

Agent Amberber

2006-03-24T09:34:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone, my name is Amberber and I work as an Agent in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. When people ask me to describe to them what exactly that I do, I always characterise my work as "a business of knowledge". What? You may ask, well you see here in Addis there is a huge knowledge gap between, a buyer and a saler, or a lender and a borrower, or even a leader and a follower. Therefor, my job is to fill this vacuum and try to make the life of my fellow country men as smooth as possible. I guess, the more conventional description for my job is "middle man", and this day's a lot of people are approaching me to get them a 'season ticket! for a funeral ceremony' at the various church's and masjid's here in Addis because of the huge demand for it. And wherever there is a demand, Amberber will always be there to help satisfy his costumers.

Since one is always interested with the business of another; I am also trying to feed this intelligence gap by launching my new money making venture called "Business intelligence service", an independent agency of the Amnerber consortium responsible for collecting and coordinating business intelligence and counterintelligence activities for my costumers interest. Let me tell you how I got this beautiful idea from my wife, Zenebu. The other day, she was telling me what the local chemist said to her when she asked to see the eye-ear doctor. Instead she was told, there's an ear-throat-foot doctor and an eye doctor but no ear-eye doctor. 'But I need an ear-eye doctor!' my wife insists. 'And what are you complaining of?', the chemist says to Zenebu. 'I hear one thing, and see another!' my wife explains. 'what do you mean?', the chemist asks. Well, what is the difference between the two Ethiopian government newspapers "The Truth" and "The News"?, my wife asks the chemist,'I don't know!', the chemist replies. My wife, Zenebu then explains to the chemist that, In "The Truth" there is no news, and in the "The News" there is no truth. Well, as soon as she told me this story, I thought of all the money I could make by imitating what the government does to my business costumers. Thanks to Zenebu, now I can sell News.

Well this is all I could say about me and my work at the moment, since I will be writing about my day to day experience. I hope you will get more information about what I do in my future writings. Otherwise, you can always contact my "Business intelligence service", to learn more about me. I told you I am in the business of selling news.

This days, I really don't think it is enough to say "Time is running fast", I rather think it has started to fly faster than the speed of light. We had just celebrated the birth day of my son, Demerew just last year to the day. When my wife, Zenebu informed me about her plans for Demerew's birth day last week. I thought she was talking about her plans for next year, how wrong I was? She even made it worst by reminding me about the so called election everybody was talking about last year and the birth day photo which we had to hide ever since, because every body in the photo was showing there two fingers. We even had to hide my two year old, Demerew's candles which can still burn to this day. Any way, let me tell you what my good neighbour, Ato Hagose told me about the election in Adwa constituency in Tigray. On the day of elections a voter received a ballot, but instead of lowering the ballot into the voting box, he began to read the surname of the single candidate. 'What are you doing?' his observer asked 'I want to find out, who I voted for.' says the voter, 'Yes but don't you know that elections are secret?!', the independent observer from carter centre informs the unsuspecting voter. I thought Ato Hagose was to honest as usual, because when I last asked him, if it was possible to live on his government salary?, all he said was, Don't know, didn't try.

Our plan for this year's birthday celebration will not include birthday cake, or any of last year's two finger party. rather, we are planing to assess the contribution my son Demerew, had made to our family and the world in general since he joined us on this earth. We are specially interested in giving him a good start to life and we don't wont him to ask unanswerable questions all the neighbourhood kids are asking this day's. I tell you, When I was there age all I cared about was football and the girl next door. Yesterday, the son of my good neighbour, Ato Gemechu asked me questions I have never thought of before. "What if I wasn't born?", "Have I made a difference to this world?", "what do I have to do to improve on my personal shortcomings?", "Do I know that, we were all born with freedom, but others had taken it away from us ?", "do I think there is freedom in Ethiopia",if not "What do I intend to do about it?". Ohhh, I was so scared for him, for having to carry all this burden on himself and because I was so shocked and confused all I could say to him was - If there were more people in Ethiopia who could think like him, we would not be living in such a squalid condition. But then I realised how terrified I was of his questions, and wondered why it was?, I was a bit puzzled with it when our local Kebele official(the local secretary of the Party Bureau) came towards me and Ato Gemechu's son. As he approached us he asks, 'Do you have an opinion on this question?', showing us a newspaper headline with "How a double digit economic growth registered in the past 3 years?", written on it. I quickly said 'I have an opinion yes, but I don't agree with it!'. Then he says, please answer it in line with revolutionary democracy teachings?. At this point Ato Gemechu's son tells the Kebele official, "Is it when everyone together says, 'yes' and when everyone individually says, 'nay'". Then it hit me, I am terrified because I know the truth and I am scared of it. Thanks for revolutionary democracy, it impossible to buy an honest person, but to sell one is possible!.

2006-01-23T01:43:00.000-08:00

“The Ethiopian people can never improve their livelihood when they are deprived of freedom and continue to live in an environment of fear. They have seen it; they have repeatedly witnessed similar states of affair. With the population growing, destitution is definitely to get worse.

"The direction taken by the Woyane absolutely dignifies and aggravates poverty, and nothing will improve this way. Hence, the Ethiopian people resolutely and with confidence, will have to claim their freedom, show their desire to be free and elect those they want, trust and rely upon regardless of the consequences. Unless they are determined to demand for their freedom, they will never be free from a repressive rule. And unless they are free from repression, they will never extricate themselves from poverty. This is undeniable.

"It is impossible to achieve prosperity and development under a repressive rule. A repressive rule inhibits people of their energies. And in a country where people are inhibited of their potentials, the land cannot be developed. It is people who need to grow, develop and improve. By protecting their land and conserving their natural wealth, people convert resources into prosperity. What makes people human is freedom. Therefore, to claim their freedom, Ethiopians will have to say enough - enough to a repressive rule, enough to repression.” - Prof. Mesfin Wolde Mariam, Translated from an Amharic interview on Deutsche Welle (2005).

Over the course of the past six-months the world witnessed the brutal suppression of a popular democratic movement in Ethiopia. The divisive government, which ruled by deception for the past fourteen years rejected the people’s decision for change and remained in power using brute force. Crushing its challengers, it continued to destroy the foundations of democracy put in place through the long and arduous struggle of the Ethiopian people.

Continuous calls from the opposition for reconciliation, tolerance, unity, and respect for the people’s vote were arrogantly dismissed. Democratic beginnings taking hold after several years of abusive rule were instantly reversed and today, the country finds itself facing an uncertain future.

The rogue regime openly suppressed democratic rights and terrorized the population for favoring the opposition in the May election. Although the government used every means to muffle their voice, the people showed their discontent by organizing peaceful demonstrations to restore their rights. But the government, knowing that it has little support, pursued to quell the peaceful uprising by savagely intimidating the population.

As Ethiopians struggled to gain their freedom and dignity, the portion of the world that claims to be civilized reacted to this blatant assault on democracy with the usual contempt. Sometimes, with stoic indifference and often, with meddlesome interference, Westerners continued helping the government to further soil the sacred tenets of democracy. They idly watched the human rights abuses and neglected their promised obligation of democratic solidarity with the oppressed people of Ethiopia. Through their silence and subversive action they gave free reign to a power- obsessed leadership with genocidal tendencies to continue crushing the dream for freedom, tolerance, unity and development. The true nature of the West’s desire in Africa became clear as Ethiopians witnessed the absolute lack of interest to acknowledge and support the widely embraced popular struggle for good governance.

Despite the continuous plea by the majority, the West kept on making immoral and self- indulgent decisions that prompted the killing of innocent civilians, imprisonment of opposition leaders and torture of thousands of freedom seeking Ethiopians.

In a neurotic attempt to safeguard its interest, the West has made and keeps making irreconcilable decisions that jeopardize the advance of equality, peace, democracy and prosperity in Africa. This obsessive desire to maintain dominance at any cost is the main reason why Africa repeatedly fails to extricate itself from the grip of unmatched misery. The continent is wallowing in a state of chaotic suspense unable to move forward as a result of the subtle and not- so subtle conditions imposed on it by the West.

Democracy veiled dictatorial rule, state sponsored corruption, and ethnic division were systematically shoved into the throats of Ethiopians in the last fourteen years with the full consent and support of the West. In a space of just the last six months, the West repeatedly reacted selfishly committing cruel, undemocratic, and inhuman offenses against the Ethiopian people by morally and materially supporting a regime that, by all standards, breached the boundaries of decent governance.

Instead of firmly standing by the people in their quest for true democracy, Western diplomats continued undermining the decision made by the Ethiopian people. They meddled in Ethiopia’s internal affairs and made it clear that they have a different agenda that directly conflicts with the dreams and aspirations of the people. Defying the democratic right of the Ethiopian people to elect the government of their choice they have been observed making a concerted effort to help a popularly rejected leadership remain in power against the people’s wish.

Across the continent of Africa, similarly orchestrated convenient alliances with thugs and murderers have caused and keep causing extreme misery in which Western sabotage, interference, and indifference perpetrate despicable atrocities. The consequence of such vitriolic intrusion keeps the continent churning in a downward spiral where continuous wars/ethnic conflicts, poverty, and underdevelopment shatter any semblance of hope for the future.

The persistently prejudiced decisions made by Western governments and institutions to the misery and anguish of the African people could no longer be dismissed as lack of information, misunderstanding, or plain indifference. It has become clear that there is a deliberate scheme, which follows a distinct pattern pointing in the direction of an inherent desire to keep Africa vulnerable, weak, and useless for Africans leaving it exposed for exploitation.

Ethiopians made it sufficiently clear to the world through the ballot box that they want change. Nevertheless, none of the Western democracies had the moral courage to acknowledge this desire. Knowing very well that the May election was extensively rigged, many called for the opposition to accept defeat and join the dysfunctional parliament.

The opposition was chastised and threatened for rightfully refusing to join the parliament and take part in a staged drama, which in effect would be used as an instrument to appease Western donors and humiliate Ethiopians for the next five years. The fact that the TPLF/EPRDF dominated parliament does not have the desire or capacity to honor democratic principles was deliberately overlooked. The West made it clear that a comfortable but dangerous liaison with dictators is much more desirable than a long-term mutually beneficial cooperation with the Ethiopian people.

Even though the majority of Ethiopians voted for a new leadership indicating that they have endured enough repression under a mock democracy, they were consistently scorned by the Western world for wanting something better. The response they got for believing that they could bring about change through the democratic process was something unexpected from those who claim to be champions of democracy and is treacherously cruel. Clearly, the West expects Ethiopians to continue sacrificing their lives and future to ensure that its interests remain unaffected.

When the country’s prominent opposition politicians, civic leaders, journalists, and students were summarily arrested and denied bail the West kept silent. Expected outrage over the killing of more than eighty-eight demonstrators followed by mass arrests didn’t materialize soon enough. A deliberate crime against humanity intended to terrorize a helpless but hopeful populace failed to rattle the conscience of the West. In contrast, the rescue of two cheetah cubs in Eastern Ethiopia attracted overwhelming attention. Quick, unconditional, and unbiased compassion for the rescued cheetahs crowded the media from all corners of the Western world while the story of Ethiopians languishing under tyranny was, for the most part, neglected.

The European Union’s official resolution condemning the killing of innocent civilians and arrest of opposition leaders came after a long period of hesitation. The United States is still reluctant to condemn the despicable actions of the government and keeps pointing fingers at the opposition accusing them of inciting violence and criticizes their decision not to enter parliament.

While the arrest and indictment of the opposition leaders and others was obviously illegal under any circumstances, Westerners are urging the government to consider a fair trial. By calling for a trial instead of the unconditional release of all political prisoners, they are indirectly supporting the government’s plan to convict these people using fabricated evidence.

The opposition leaders who have committed no crime other than standing up for the people’s rights are held in prison waiting to be tried by a phony judicial system. They have been repeatedly denied bail and are accused of treason and genocide. Highly principled men and women with exceptional talent, courage, and integrity are treated like common criminals just because the West lacks the decency to uphold the creed it vows to honor.

Betraying their conscience, Westerners have shown their willingness to sacrifice innocent lives for their own benefit. It is hard to imagine that they would do such a thing realizing the magnitude of their action. This clearly shows how much they care and what our lives, future and dignity mean to them. Because of their deliberate and/or irresponsible behavior innocent human beings have been subjected to extra-judicial imprisonment and may face execution or long-term sentences. With all the evidence in front of their eyes, Westerners obstinately refuse to acknowledge the truth. The government forces who couldn’t accept defeat at the ballot box incited the violence and none of the accused leaders was involved. Unfortunately, Westerners seem to be determined not to change their position when it comes to their interest no matter how morally repulsive their action may be.

Lame and face saving measures such as reducing direct aid and requests to free the opposition leaders are beginning to emerge out of Western capitals after Ethiopians held continuous demonstrations in cities around the world. The courageous move by the real honorable Anna Gomez and a few other local and international heroes helped garner some response. But a strong unambiguous support for the Ethiopian cause has not yet materialized.

In a sad attempt to claim that it has done something to address the issue, the United States went as far as refusing to sell no more Humvees to the government. This is a typical example of how the West usually reacts to Africa’s problems. When Ethiopians call for the restoration of their inalienable right for democracy, what they get in return is some superficial gesture, which has little or no significance to the issue at hand.

To add insult to injury, a Western initiated effort is underway to help the government “sweep the dirt under the rug.” Western allies are frantically advising the government to investigate the violence and begin the trials of the opposition leaders. After innocent civilians are gunned down in broad daylight, urging the government to set up its own commission and investigate the heinous crime it committed itself is a travesty that should put all those who claim to be civilized to shame. In effect, they are asking the criminal government to justify its reason for killing and arresting innocent civilians.

Additionally, as if the severe psychological and physical damage they allowed to be inflicted on the Ethiopian people is not enough, Westerners are now working with the government and groups who claim to represent the opposition by completely ignoring the widely popular Coalition for Unity and Democracy Party (CUDP) and its imprisoned leadership. Their plan is to neutralizing the real CUDP and clone a mild mannered opposition programmed to cater to their needs, which is willing to play their game of deception. By creating a toothless opposition with the shape and form of the CUDP made up of traitors, ethnic chauvinists, and opportunists their intention is to demoralize Ethiopians from ever hoping for unity and democracy.

The West’s deliberate refusal to unconditionally condemn the crimes committed by the government has caused severe hindrance to the democratization process in Ethiopia. And what transpired in the past fourteen years supports the assertion that democracy that enhances Ethiopia’s independence, self-confidence, and rights of its people is not acceptable and could not be supported by the West. An African country, which assertively pushes to protect its own interest and is a successful model of democracy, is perceived as a threat to Western interests. The current Ethiopian saga is a prime example of the deliberate sabotage Africa endures at the hands of the West. As a result of the unflinching support it receives from the West, the regime that rudely exhausted its welcome with the Ethiopian people has gained even more arrogant confidence. Consequently, the escalating crisis is being allowed to reach a point of no return. Constantly threatened by a government that refuses to honor the people’s desire and duped by the West, which broke its promise, Ethiopians have realized that they could depend on nobody else but themselves. Regardless of the rhetoric from those who want to divide them, they are ready to stand together and restore Ethiopia’s glory. With or without help from the West, they are determined to create a system, which honors true democracy.

In the words of the distinguished Professor Mesfin and his courageous colleagues suffering in prison, the Ethiopian people have said enough to suppression, enough to repression. The people’s vote has been stolen and there is no compromise. Nobody should expect them to choose repression over freedom. Not even for one day, let alone for five long, miserable, and destructive years.

The superficial sympathy displayed by many Westerners and the call to free Africa from its misery while helping it destroy itself is really getting old. Shedding crocodile tears after facilitating and enhancing the slide towards disaster should no longer be the norm in which this world operates in the 21st Century. Just like everybody else Ethiopians want justice, freedom and dignity. The democratic rights of Ethiopians to choose a government favored by the majority should be as sacred as anybody else’s. Democracy conveniently modified to accommodate the selfish needs of greedy leaders and foreign governments should no longer be considered as a viable option. The consequences are grave and it is not good for the world. It degrades humanity and helps extinguish the spirit of democracy. The world community should bear in mind that the suppression of democracy in a remote corner of the world is a threat to all humankind. There is nothing more ethically and morally reprehensible than helping to sustain a government that destroys the hopes and dreams of its own people in exchange for influence and interest.

The Kofi Annans, the Bob Geldofs, the Bonos, the Mandelas, the Desmond Tutus, prominent civic leaders and all others concerned for the future of this planet should recognize the fact that whatever they do, unless the basic problem that creates the injustice, mismanagement, bad governance, corruption, and dominance is effectively addressed the world will continue to see even worse disasters. The results of droughts, famine, poverty, genocide, underdevelopment etc., are all functions of government failure to address the people’s needs. Those who help corrupt and oppressive governments to continue destroying the lives of their people are in no way better than those who directly subject people to misery. The betrayal of truth for convenience has caused enough misery in Africa. It will not and should not be tolerated any more.

It is time to free Africa from the debilitating shackles it has been forced to endure so far. Ethiopians have made up their mind to go forward with democracy. If those who stand up for truth and justice don’t raise their voices to help Ethiopians in their quest for fairness today, when will they?

Free all political prisoners. Let Ethiopians determine their destiny through unity and democracy. Give true unadulterated democracy the honor and chance it deserves.

By Sereke Berhan

Ethnicity gone awry

2005-12-14T12:49:00.001-08:00

Melese's strategy to establish a governing system of ethnic federalism emphasising rights of "nations, nationalities, and peoples." This high-sounding principle, cribbed from Lenin, is more Machiavellian than Wilsonian however. If the outnumbered TPLF who direct the EPRDF/FDRE can keep other ethnic based groups divided and roiled against each other in ethnozenophobias or content to manage affairs in their own limited bailiwicks, then larger matters can be subsumed by the one governing party. Thus, what Meles view as the false ideology of nationalism for a "Greater Ethiopia" can be kept in check and its proponents divided and conquered.

1) The traditional paradigms stress the importance of either the individual, the state or the country's economic system as the relevant context and subject for analysis, rather than the cultural factors
2) Both contemplate a linear tradition-modernity transition, seeing ethnicity as belonging to an earlier, pre-modern stage of tradition and as bound to disappear as the Ethiopian society modernises.

The Ethiopian intelligentsia thought that a group's ethnic or religious identity was a traditionalist obstacle to development which would disappear as Ethiopia modernises. It was a great surprise for many to see evidence of burgeoning ethnic issues in Ethiopia, which is often interpreted as symptomatic of an anti-modernist, narrow minded ideas which are against science, industrialisation and liberal views.

It is very important to note, it is sometimes argued that contemporary ethnic consciousness expresses basic, primitive human sentiments along the lines that communities have always been divided by either language, custom, religion, race, or territory or the combination of these factors. Ethnic identities are not predetermined or inevitable, rather, they can be constructed by skillful, if unscrupulous, politicians like Meles who preach that their goal of power is best facilitated by the creation of a receptive political constituency. It is no coincidence that the recent ethinicization of politics in Ethiopia has come as grate help to Meles Zenawi.

Ethnic hatreds spawned by this scheme are the source of most human rights abuses in Ethiopia. Ethnicity played a mager role in Ethiopians being arbitrarily arrested, incarcerated without charge or trial, and brutally tortured by security forces of the government.

In Ethiopia, the world is witnessing ethnicity gone awry. The division of Ethiopia into ethnic administrative regions was mandated by the TPLF government and written into a new constitution approved by faux elections. The idea of ethnic federalism did not originate from the people nor did they approve of it in free and fair elections. In light of events in Rwanda, the Congo, and the former Yugoslavia, it is doubtful that any people willingly would subject themselves to the horrors of state-enforced ethnic warfare. In Ethiopia, the people have not been given the opportunity so to choose at the grass roots level, and until they do, ethnic federalism must be viewed as an artificial system imposed from above.

Instead of ethnicity referring to cultural-linguistic communal groups, built around ties of real or putative kinship, taking pride in the in-group, common consciousness and identity of the group-as is the case in most multi-ethnic societies--under the TPLF, cultural prejudice and social discrimination against "others" has been encouraged and perverted into denying others basic human and economic rights. This ethnicity run wild exaggerates differences, intensifies resentments and antagonisms, and sharply divides races and nationalities. Mutual suspicion and hostility are bound to emerge in a society bent on defining itself in terms of such jostling and competing groups.

In ethnic kilils, or homelands, nominally ruled by front parties of the EPRDF, but actually dominated by the central party TPLF, officials ruthlessly use political dominance, economic exploitation, and psychological oppression to drive out members of other ethnic groups who may have lived in the regions for decades--or to make life miserable for those who remain. Under the color of law, conflict and violence have been whipped up in response to imaginary threats from ethnic outsiders. As a result, the cult of ethnicity has produced adverse effects on the peace, harmony, and integration of the nation's society. The endgame of such identity politics is self-pity and self-ghettoization, and ultimately, political instability. As Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., has noted: "The meanness generated when one group is set against another, the 'built-in we-they syndrome' has caused more dominating, fearing, hating, killing than any other single cause since time began."

The solution for all this is very simple, but, hard to implement. Removing Meles and his zealots from power, and replacing them by elected officials who will be accountable, transparent and democratic to the people who vote them. Not everyone believes that they have a Strong ethnic identity which bonds them inextricably with others of there group. It is when an identity meets an explicit demand or situation that such ties become important. Unsurprisingly, some of the most powerful ethnic-orientated identities emerge out of a subordinate or superordinate position in a social hierarchy. I sum, the relation of ethnicity to politics changes; its appeal does not remain constant but is determined to a grate extent by the level of maturity, the level of material well being and security- i.e 'the feel good factor'- which Ethiopians as a community must enjoy.

SOS Ethiopia: 115,000 political prisoners at a Nazi-style concentration camp

2005-12-06T08:15:00.000-08:00

SOS Ethiopia: 115,000 political prisoners at a Nazi-style concentration camp

December 5, 2005 Almost four weeks after the popular revolt in Addis Ababa in November of 2005 in which more than 100 people were killed according to human right groups, shocking news is slowly emerging indicating that more than 43,000 political prisoners have been detained in open air prisons (read Nazi-style concentration camps) in the Dedessa valley of South West Ethiopia. For the first time in 11 years since almost a million Tutsis were slaughtered by Interhuame militias in the green hills of Rwanda in 1994 and 10 years since the Summer 1995 massacre of Bosnians, another human tragedy is unfolding in the green valleys of the Dedessa region of Ethiopia where Mr. Meles Zenawi's secret troops called Agazi Militia are torturing, starving, and killing political detainees from Addis Ababa. The latest reports indicate that as many as 500 people have already been shot and buried at mass burial sites, and almost 50 people have died en-route to the concentration camps. In fact, there is fear that it is a matter of time before diseases, torture and outright random killing by this government Agazi militia fashioned after the monstrous Interhuame militia of Rwanda kill the majority of the more than 43,000 political prisoners from Addis Ababa. While news has been slowly coming to Addis that Mr. Meles' Agazi militia has built a death camp in the Dedessa valley, it was only this weekend that an international news agency (Channel 4 of the UK) had broken the news to the outside world. Confronted by this frightening news, the usually timid Mr. Tim Clarke who represents the EU in Ethiopia sounded symphatetic to the victims while his colleague Mr. Robert Dewar, the UK's ambassador has preferred to appease the increasingly violent and Nazi-style appetite of Mr. Meles Zenawi. The US is yet to make any official statement on this impending genocide. In the Ethiopian community inside Ethiopia and outside the country, there is increasing nervousness that the only noise that the West will make will be, sadly, after the fact.

At this stage where the lives of more than 43,000 are threatened by an Interhuame-styled Agazi militia in a death camp, Ethiopians plead with the rest of humanity to come to their rescue by stopping this mad man, Meles Zenawi. For the EU which pays almost a billion Euro per year to Meles, and the World Bank which offers him and his cronies another $ 500 million, this is a crucial time where the have to exercise their power to stop this nightmare. It is the $1.5 billion that these two organizations give to Meles that pays for the salary and weaponry of the Agazi militia. Will the good citizens of the European Union and the United States approve their tax money being used to support a murderous militia ready to kill 43,000 in Dedessa concentration camp, 30,000 in Bir Sheleqo concentration camp, 18,000 in Ziway concentration camp, 8,000 in Denkoro Chaka concentration camp, 9,000 in Shoa Robit concentration camp, innocent young Ethiopians and bury them in mass burial sites?

We think the next 10-15 days leading to Christmas of 2005 will be very critical for the World to stand up for the rescue of lives before 115,000 innocent Ethiopian men and women. All the world has to do is to speak up and stand up to this mad man who thinks he can kill thousands of people to stay in power. The tragedy could be averted if the more than 120 embassies and consulates in Addis Ababa stand up for human life. Sadly, a tragedy of no parallel will indeed occur if all these diplomats representing the weak as well as the mighty powers of the world prefer to appease the new monster of Africa, Mr. Meles Zenawi. History, as Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia said in 1936, will judge the world if no action is taken to save these 115,000 l

Fighting terror with peace

2005-11-03T07:42:00.000-08:00

Revolt-No! Revolution-yes!

Rise like lions after slumber
In unvaquishable number -
Shake your chains to earth like dew
Which in sleep hand fallen on you -
You are many - they are few -

I would like every one who might have stumbled along this blog, to take a few minutes of your life and remember the innocent lives that were lost, while fighting the barbaric-terrorist Regime in Ethiopia.

We have been here before, and I am afraid this will not be the last time for us to witness the barbaric killings or wounding of many, incarceration of thousands of innocent civilians without due process of law, the incarceration of the leading figures in the opposition without any respect for the law or the constitution, imposition of insurmountable destruction and, above of all, the induction of a dangerous scenario of ethnic polarization and supremacy of the few ruling elites.

We have reached a point of no return. Appeasement, begging, compromise, negotiation and diplomacy will not work with a terrorist organisation who is well armed, and willing to kill as many as it takes to stay in power indefinitely. This intellectually repulsive and morally repugnant terrorist regime is hell bent on, to kill and destroy the lives of our brothers and sisters, without any consideration for the consequences.

Given all this fact, it is our responsibility, to plan the short, medium and long term strategies that will get us back our freedom. This is the time for cool heads to prevail against the evil that has befallen our beloved motherland. I ask upon every one of you, to contribute in any shape, way or form for the struggle against tyranny. I also humbly present to you all the possible NONVIOLENT strategies that were deployed to topple regimes that were even more deeply entrenched than the terrorist regime we have in Ethiopia.

WITHDRAW YOUR CONSENT

Fewer than 100,000 TPLF troops control 77 million Ethiopian. The TPLF have not taken ETHIOPIA from us - We have given it to them. Hold Dashen beer in your hand and think it is worth 60 million Birr. That is how much the TPLF government have been taking from us. Stop supporting their monopoly businesses. If we practise such non cooperation, it will not be possible for the TPLF administration to carry on terrorising us. Even if most if not all of Ethiopians leaders are in jail, the government will lose control. When Gandhi and most of India's leaders were in jail by midsummer 1930, the British government lost control of most major cities because of Gandhi's peaceful strategies. In years that follow, Gandhi proved a master strategist, adviser and motivator. His strategies form the foundation upon which many of today's non-violent actions are built.

STRATEGIZE

When the well dressed black student of the FISK university first sit at lunch-counters reserved for white Americans one Saturday afternoon, they are regarded as a curiosity. This is Nashvill in 1960 where white and black Americans are totally segregated so, of course, they are refused service. But by the third Saturday of their set-in, white tolerance has faded. Police-out in force-beat and arrest the Afro-Americans who are at the lunch counters... only to find a second, then a third wave of take their place. Trained for month beforehand to withstand white taunts and physical violence, the students who have broken no law other than convention-refused bail. their imprisonment provokes national sympathy, draws a dialogue of recruits. White and black from throughout the country and lead to a crippling boycott of white stores in downtown Nashville. Their actions start the process of desegregation of all city services that occurs over the following four years. This is an outstanding example of what people-power can achieve through disciplined training based on a carefully planned strategy that anticipates, then neutralises, the response of the oppressors. Unlike the Indians who responded to Gandhi, these Afro-Americans are in a minority who take on a majority - and win.

In our case I ask my fellow Patriots to OSTRACISE the terrorists, we know the terrorist supporters in our respective communities. OSTRACISE THEM. We must follow the lead of FISK university students, and alienate all terrorist sympathisers from our community. Any business that is owned by the terrorist supporter must be boycotted. Any person that supports terrorism must be ignored. There must be a price for their support. The terrorist must be hurt economically and socially. They will be left with hollow power.

USE WHAT YOU'VE GOT

Lysistrata and the women of Athens. It is 411 BC. The Peloponnesian war between Sparta and Athens is in its 21st year. The Greek women from opposing sides meet and decide that the war must stop. "We must refrain from the male altogether," says their chief strategist, Lysistrata. And, if forced into intercourse, Lysistrata advises them to "yield to their [men's] wishes, but with a bad grace; there is no pleasure in it for them when they do it by force." And so the sex-strike is born, the men's resolve crumples and a treaty of peace is signed.

That, of course, was fiction - a political satire by Greek dramatist Aristophanes (447-385 BC). Had Lysistrata's grand plan materialized, Athens might not have needed to surrender the war to Sparta in 404 BC. But the idea is still active - employed by women in a Turkish village in 2001 to get a decent water supply; by Icelandic women in 1979 to help the passage of equal opportunity laws; and in Colombia at a violent moment in the country's drug wars to achieve a brief ceasefire in 1997. The play Lysistrata is itself used as a worldwide act of dissent against the war on Iraq with 1,029 productions staged in 59 countries - all on 3 March 2003.

The moral of the story is, we must use anything and everything at our disposal to win our freedom. I ask my Ethiopian sisters to refuse any advances by the terrorist group. – I hope you will not take it as a joke.

IDENTIFY OPPORTUNITIES

Mkhuseli Jack and the Port Elizabeth resistance against apartheid.1 By 1985, violent resistance is failing black South Africans. Even though millions of South Africans are demanding an end to apartheid, the white Government's security forces are widespread, well armed, and dealing out death on a daily basis. 'Let us expose this violence and bring it right to the doorsteps of the whites,' Mkhuseli Jack tells the black townspeople living around Port Elizabeth in the Eastern Cape Province. After two months' preparation, Jack urges a huge crowd on 13 July 1985 at a funeral to boycott the white-owned businesses in Port Elizabeth where nearly half a million blacks normally shop. And on Monday, the streets are empty. There is nearly 100 per cent compliance with the boycott in the weeks that follow. When a state of emergency is imposed and the black leaders arrested, the desperate white store owners pressure the Government to have them released. Another boycott, another state of emergency and another spate of arrests follow over the next 12 months. And although the boycotters' demands - which include withdrawing Government troops and opening public amenities to the black population - are not met immediately, the boycotts shift power to the black communities and help undermine the white regime and its system of apartheid that will collapse eight years later.

For us this is a concrete confirmation that a non-violent resistance has a big impact, compared to violent resistance. Shall we say, we are on the right path?

PUBLICIZE THE TRUTH

The Mothers and Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo.3 'In order to guarantee the security of the State,' the commander-in-chief of Argentina's military forces tells journalists in October 1975, 'all the necessary people will die.' Five months later, the military seize power in Argentina and hold it vice-like until 1983. Public executions would make martyrs of their targets, so instead people are 'disappeared': kidnapped, then tortured and murdered away from public view. No-one is immune. As many as 80,000 writs of habeas corpus - applications seeking release from arbitrary detention - are sought from the courts and refused. The resulting terror created amongst the population initially makes it impossible to organize resistance against the regime.

On 30 April 1977, 14 mothers meet in Buenos Aires' Plaza de Mayo wanting, simply, to know what has happened to their children. Despite beatings, threats, arrests and disappearances, their marches become a weekly event and their ranks eventually swell to 2,000 mothers and grandmothers, many carrying pictures of those who have disappeared. Referring to the military as 'assassins' and 'torturers' - and using slogans like 'You took them alive, we want them returned alive,' - their example encourages other citizens, then international organizations, to speak out too, exerting pressure on the regime that contributes to its collapse.

Their tool - speaking the truth - puts non-violent action within everyone's grasp. My Ethiopian brothers and sisters, the propaganda battle is half won. We have an enemy which is giving us free ammunition without knowing it. We live in 2005, where communication and all the necessary tools to advance and publicize the truth could not have been easier. Our people's suffering must be publicized. And remember every "little" helps, so don't give up the fight. Do what ever you can. Let's make a difference.

MOTIVATION

OTHER OPPRESSORS and REGIMES REMOVED FROM POWER when the force of tens, sometimes hundreds, of thousands of people take to the streets to demand that they go include:

1944 – Hernandez Martinez (El Salvador)
1944 – General Jorge Ubico (Guatemala)
1957 – British colonial rule (Ghana)
1982 – Luis García Meza and the Generals who succeeded him (Bolivia)
1985 – Jaafar Nimeiry (Sudan)
1988 – Augusto Pinochet (Chile)
1989 – Egon Krenz, Erich Honecker and the Soviet Union (East Germany)
1989 – Gustav Husak and the Soviet Union (Czechoslovakia)
1989 – The Soviet controlled Polish United Workers’ Party Government (Poland)
1990 – The Soviet Union (Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia)
1992 – Amadou Toumani Toure (Mali)
1993 – Didier Ratsiraka (Madagascar)
2000 – Slobodan Milosevic (former Yugoslavia)
2001 – Joseph Estrada (The Philippines)
2003 – Eduard Shevardnadze (Georgia)
2004 – Viktor Yanukovych and Leonid Kuchma (Ukraine)
2005 – 14,000 Syrian troops (Lebanon)
2005 – Askar Akayev (Kyrgyzstan)
20?? – Meles Zenawi (Ethiopia)

Baby sitting a terrorist

2005-11-02T14:53:00.000-08:00

First of all I would like to express my deep and heart felt sorrow, for all the families who have lost there loved ones yesterday and today, by the criminal actions of the terrorist regime in Ethiopia. All Ethiopians who are at home or outside the country, I call upon you to do your level best so that the crime that was perpetrated against our brothers and sisters will not go unpunished.

Following the Meles's regime tyrannical theatre in the May Elections, Melese has plunged Ethiopia into a country of death and massacre. The current terror is characterised by the barbaric killings or wounding of hundreds, incarceration of thousands of innocent civilians without due process of law, the incarceration of the leading figures in the opposition party without any respect for the law or the constitution, imposition of insurmountable destruction and, above of all, the induction of a dangerous scenario of ethnic polarization and supremacy of the few ruling elites.

In a statement today on behalf of the US State government, the State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said "We deplore the use of violence and deliberate attempts to provoke violence in a misguided attempt to resolve political differences."

This ironic act of baby sitting a terrorist government by the US government is a sheer display of hypocrisy on one hand and an insult to the intelligence of the people of Ethiopia and the entire African continent on the other.

Only last month, the US State Department had sent Mr. Donald Yamamoto, the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, on a visit to Ethiopia in a bid to pamper the terrorist Meles at the expense of the Ethiopian people’s massacre, sufferings, stepping over the rule of law, suppressing the voices of the people and imposing threats and unwarranted pressure on opposition leaders.

They basically try to arm twist the opposition to make causation to Meles the terrorist. To let him massacre, torture and imprison whom ever he wish for whatever reason. License to be the God of Ethiopians.

"The survival of liberty in our land increasingly depends on the success of liberty in other lands. The best hope for peace in our world is the expansion of freedom in all the world." President J. W. Bush A big question I have for those critics like me is: why the shock? Promoting freedom and liberty is nothing new for President Bush, is it? He's spoken of America's role in spreading freedom many times throughout his first term. And for goodness sake, what do you think Iraq is all about? Moreover, he isn't the first president to utter the F word. Take this quote: "Our strength as well as our convictions have imposed upon this nation the role of leader in freedom's cause. No role in history could be more difficult or more important. We stand for freedom." Who said it? It wasn't George W. Bush; it was John F. Kennedy. Then there's: "It is up to us...to work together for progress and humanity so that our grandchildren, when they look back at us, can truly say that we not only preserved the flame of freedom, but cast its warmth and light further than those who came before us." That quote is just one of thousands from Ronald Reagan on the subject. So why are Ethiopians like me suddenly so shocked? Is it because the talk and the action are telling us different stories? Or, is it now, they spelt it for us?

The US State government played down its cards of vote rigging in its act of suppressing the voices of the multitudes of Ethiopians and has consequently instigated the prevalence of the current crisis that Ethiopia has plunged into. As if to insinuate that it was not the intentions of the US government to send the voices and lives of the thousands of Ethiopians to their graves, there is no point now in shedding crocodile tears over the lives of those innocent victims that the very department had given the death sentence to.

Now they spelt it for us, in no unequivocal terms. All the unarmed citizens who were gunned down by Meles the terrorist master were and are provoking him to kill them, period! We are guilty before proven innocent.

The US government has nothing to show for its expression of deep sorrow for the deaths of many Ethiopians. The main body that should be held accountable for the sad turn of events in Ethiopia is not only Meles the terrorist but also; the US State Department, the British government and few others; because I found them guilty, for aiding and abetting with known international terrorist and a mass killer.

Apart from highlighting the multi-standards it continues to apply, which by now has become its trademark, the US government has nothing to show for its expression of deep sorrow of the deaths of many Ethiopians. The main body that should be held accountable for the sad turn of events in Ethiopia is the US State Department.

A HOUSE OF CRIME AND SHAME

2005-10-21T13:49:00.000-07:00

No sooner had the phony woyane parliament been able to settle in the haunted house of horror than Zenawi embarked on his campaign of terror and intimidation by repealing the immunity rights of the Ethiopian Opposition MPs.

Attack on the Opposition is not only a vivid manifestation of the despotism of Zenawi but it also gives a clear picture of how the fraudulent parliament works, where the tyrant does almost anything he wants by manipulating the constitution to suit his own personal interest.

What we have witnessed is that, the first priority of the vicious dictator is to stifle the Opposition and to reign fear and terror among his own appointees, the TPLF/EPRDF ‘MP’s, the majority of whom should not have been there had it not been for vote stealing and fraud. All of these ‘MP’s, the candidature of whom has to be approved by Zenawi before they join the woyane criminal syndicate, owe their privileges to him, consider themselves as his appointees and their allegiance is only to the tyrant. They can not do anything that puts their allegiance into question and, as a result, they have turned themselves into willing and loyal slaves of Zenawi. Fear of expulsion and repression therefore dominate their lives. They have no right and no voice except carrying out orders of their master.

Lack of transparency, corruption, embezzlement of public funds and nepotism runs through the spine of the woyane bureaucracy and parliament. It is the breeding house for sedition, lies and deceit where crime is manufactured and administered as a routine business of the ‘government’ to paralyse, imprison, torture and murder Ethiopian citizens. Crime runs through every tentacle of the woyane parliament.

Many innocent citizens are abducted from their homes daily and disappear with out trace. Journalists, trade unionists etc are routinely dragged from their homes in the cover of darkness, into police stations and courts.

Murders and imprisonment have become daily occurrence that people are no more alarmed by the brutality of the regime. Zenawi and his woyane cronies have become synonymous with death and destruction among the Ethiopian public.

Nobody is accountable for the numerous crimes committed and only the barbaric cadres who carry out orders of the fascist regime know what has happened to the many thousands of victims tortured, killed and have disappeared in the last 14 years.

The woyane bogus parliament that has been set up by stealing votes and fraud and run by criminal gangsters can not be expected to do otherwise. The parliament has proved to be nothing but an instrument to put into practice Zenawi’s system of ethnically based divide and rule which at its core practices human rights abuses and the suppression of democracy and justice.

Zenawi’s terror campaign to silence and destroy the Ethiopian popular Opposition , yet again, shows the most aggravated form of his evil dictatorship. The tyrant has chosen to stand above the constitutional law of the country to intimidate and attack elected parliamentarians who have stood up for the people who voted for them. The use of brute force and violent intimidation, murder and detention should be condemned by all who stand for justice and democracy.

The incrimination, the arbitrariness and false accusations drummed up by Zenawi against the Opposition should be exposed and condemned. We can not allow conspirators disguised as mediators, to weaken the aspiration of the Ethiopian people to bring about a sustainable and just democratic transition.

The Ethiopian people and their leaders have emphatically said NO! to repression and tyranny. Those who have are part of the woyane parliament should realize that, by supporting such brutal and anti-democratic policies of the tyrant, they are creating a system under which they themselves will be the next victims. Many former supporters of Zenawi whom he has now locked up in prison bear witness to this fact. Woyane’s phony parliament is a tool of repression and dictatorship and those who serve in it either out of need or conviction are endorsing the criminal acts of Zenawi against the Ethiopian people.

The logical conclusion is very clear: either there is a political system, which allows the full democratic rights of our people and that respects human rights, accommodates differences of opinion, or a repressive and dictatorial system such as that run by Zenawi and his henchmen. There can be no other way.

Time is running out for Meles the terrible

2005-10-12T09:04:00.000-07:00

As PM Meles blinked and agreed to sit down with CUD and UEDF leaders to find a way out of the current political crisis in the country and the opposition leaders struggled to find consistency and some old fashioned good leadership, the average Ethiopian on the street continues to define the general mood in the country – a revolutionary mood demanding a fundamental change. When election fever gripped the whole country in the early days of May 2005, few people had predicted that this will transform to a revolutionary fervor that is still going strong five months after Election Day. Over the long and rainy Kremt, the opposition leaders have found out – to their surprise - that there is a revolution going on and its leader was not them but the “Mahal Sefari”. In each of the meetings called by the opposition parties in the cities, in the private press, in telephone call-ins at VOA, and in numerous ways, the Ethiopian voters (Mahal Sefari) had made it clear that they seek the end of the EPRDF era and want to see a change.

So, who is this ‘Mahal Sefari’ that is leading this ongoing revolution ready to burst into the national stage in full force? The ‘Mahal Sefari’, argues Blata Zewde Reta, the author of the recent book on the times of Emperor H/Selassie, is the main force that had shaped political events in modern Ethiopia’s history. Starting from the appointment of Ras Tessema as a care-taker in October 1909 in the final months of Menelik’s rule and the eventual weakening of the powerful Taytu to Ras Teferi’s ascension to the throne and, ironically, his downfall in 1974, the ‘Mahal Sefari’ played a decisive role as a king maker. As the writer points out repeatedly in his book, the concept of ‘Mahal Sefari’ that was prevalent in the Dergue era as the segment of the population uncommitted to any political group is a far cry from the original and accurate meaning of the phrase that describes the ‘army of the masses’ that came out in protest whenever its interests were challenged. Its leaders always operated behind the scenes.

When the History of the May 2005 election is written, it will no doubt be the History of the ‘Mahal Sefari’ that has been awakened from its slumber since the Yekatit 1974 revolution. The May 2005 election marked the beginning of a new revolution by the ‘Mahal Sefari’. Once the Kinijit and Hibret leaders framed their election platforms in an intelligent manner - in the weeks preceding the May Elections - that made their counterparts at EPRDF look like amateurs, the “Mahal Sefari’ reached its tipping point and came out in full swing voting EPRDF candidates out of office and forcing them to run for cover almost in all polling stations in the country.

Five months since that tipping point, everyone in the country (except Mr. Meles and his party and regrettably some of the opposition leaders as well) seem to understand that what we see now in Ethiopia is a genuine revolution by the people who are thirsting for change. The word - on the street, in social gatherings, in bars, in family dinner conversations, and wherever Ethiopian congregate - is that the time has come for a change; a change for the good. If not for revolution, how else could one explain the massive turn out in the country to vote-out the ruling party when all mass media, security apparatus, public finance is controlled by the ruling party only?

One may need to dig deeper to understand why the Ethiopian people have found themselves - once again - in the grips of a revolutionary fervor. May be the events of April 18, 2001 when a protest started by the university students spread like a wildfire to different part of the city and ended up tragically with 41 deaths and more than 250 wounded serve as a clue. The ferocity of the protest that included the burning of the telecom office in Merkato and ransacking of jewelry shops was almost unheard of in Addis Ababa’s history. That event, just like the Katrina Hurricane exposed the ‘guada misTir’ of the US, exposed the inherent problem of today’s Ethiopia. Poverty that has been exacerbated by bad governance, AIDS/HIV pandemic and loss of hope among the youth remains to be the major problem facing Ethiopia and Ethiopians. Due to bad governance and EPRDF’s inherent anti-Ethiopian stance, the country has been unable to create a decent middle class whose real concerns should be the usual and tolerable concerns of raising a family and just making a decent living. While India and China have realized this and transformed hundreds of millions of their citizens to a middle class and seem to enjoy the peace and stability that comes with it, we Ethiopians continue to falter in this vital endeavor that may be the only guarantee for our continued existence. Instead, we have a large segment of our population’s life wreaked by the unending cycle of poverty. The numerous unrests we have witnessed in the country, especially in Addis Ababa, such as the April 18, 2001, June 8, 2005, and September 27, 2005 protests are just a symptoms of the deep underlying poverty and discontent prevalent in the country. When one notes that the main street in our city is lined with shops that specialize in selling burial caskets of all sizes for the victims of the national tragedy, AIDS/HIV, the gravity of the problem hits home.

The past 14 years or so have demonstrated that the PM Meles regime does not consider the creation of the middle class as its objective. This regime has invested huge political and material stake at forming an Ethiopia at war with itself with divided ethnic groups forced to live and aspire a non-common destiny. The only result that the poverty reduction program that the government paid lip-service has produced is a creation of a handful of loyal and wealthy individuals in the few cities. With the exceptions of Dr. Berhanu Nega and Dr. Befekadu Degefe, trained economists and now opposition leaders, who have written extensively on poverty being our “Public Enemy’ number 1, there is no proof that the majority of our opposition leaders also understand that our future depends on solving this national crisis.

It is our belief that the “Mahal Sefari’ revolution of 2005 continues to carry the potent potential of throwing out PM Meles’ regime out of office in the very near future in peaceful ways and manners consistent with what we have seen in modern Ethiopia’s History. We are also convinced that the incoming political force will survive and succeed only if it realizes that the major problem in Ethiopia is the transformation of our families in cities and villages to a middle class status with a future that offers hope

The people united will never be defeated

2005-09-01T13:18:00.000-07:00

people are dying

Ethiopia is crying

but Meles doesn’t care

You are dead

and what have you left us?

A voice that tells us

once again

that we're human

and its okay,

that we have bruised up, banged up, lived on feet

and it’s okay,

that we love and feel such pain from it

and that's okay

because we're human.

Because we're human

we cannot allow ourselves to be oppressed.

Because we're human

we cannot allow our sisters

and brothers to be oppressed.

Because we're human we love.

Because we love,

we struggle.

Because we love,

because we're human,

we write poems.

We sing with our insides.

people are dying

Ethiopia is crying

but Meles doesn’t care

But we still love,

He want more than his share

because he is human.

or is he?

his soil and rigs are filling

while his soldiers are killing

and the world looks on as

he drop each slaying.

and that's okay

because he is human?

if lives are cheap

why should we weep?

after all he gets a

goodnights sleep

while children in pain

suffer in vain for one

man's personal gain.

and that's okay

because we love.

but, a question remains

why?

whose Ethiopia is it anyway?

he speaks of democracy

but practise hypocrisy

Meles, man of power

is he really human?

He wants to rule this age and hour

until we stand together

and stop his horror

so that we may end the innocents plight,

so, we, united will never be defeated

so the people united will never be defeated

once again we ask

whose Ethiopia is it anyway?

for judgement day

only truth will give way

Dedicated to terror prime misery, Meles Zenawi

Appeasing a Gun man

2005-08-20T09:13:00.000-07:00

Not so long ago Meles's private Army killed 36 unarmed protesters in Addis Ababa. Their only crime was they dared to protest against an election fraud committed by Meles Zenawi. Despite his crimes, the dictator is going to be the guest of Oslo on the 3rd of September. In Norske Concert Hall he will receive this year's African Green Revolution Yara Prize. It is the first prize of its kind dedicated to someone who believes in the principle of "give and take". He is going to be awarded the prize for what the organisers say "bringing democracy to his country", yes - hold on! They also alleged the prime minister took decisive steps to increase agricultural production and and and andddddd poverty reduction? in “one of the poorest countries of the developing world."

One cannot believe that the Board members of a major European corporation are not aware of the human rights situation in Ethiopia. Meles Zenawi has the worst record of atrocities and gross human rights violations of any current African leader. All known and respected human rights organisation's regularly report these shameful facts which are indigestible to Yara Foundation’s Board members and there like.

One also cannot believe that one of the poorest countries in the developing world, ruled by Meles for the last 14 years increased agricultural production in proportion to its population increase. During the same period the number of Ethiopians requiring food assistance tripled, yessss "TRIPLED" from 5 million to 14 million. Yara's claim that Ethiopia’s agricultural average growth is 3.6% per annum is contrary to all other reliable data which show’s that it was only 1.6 % yearly. To make matters absolutely crystal clear let's talk about per capita income. Before Meles the terrorist, Ethiopia's per capita income was $120. Today after one and a half decade our per capita income has plummeted to a meagre $96. Have no illusion whatsoever, the living conditions of Ethiopians has never been so low.

Then why ?

Like no other prize, it is purely based on the principle of "give and take". The accumulation of a fertiliser purchasing loyalty point is paramount to satisfied at least the minimal criteria for the prize. In Meles's Ethiopia fertiliser sale is 100 % monopolized by ruling party ( EPRDF ) affiliated fertilizer selling companies.

To win this highly acclaimed prize you have to learn from Meles who is a social predator, who charm, manipulate, and ruthlessly mope his way through life, leaving a broad trail of broken hearts, shattered expectations. Completely lacking in conscience and feelings for others, who selfishly takes what he wants and does as he pleases, violating social norms and expectations without the slightest sense of guilt or regret? Hey, you could be given, if you live and learn.

It is the same MELES whose hallmark is a stunning lack of conscience, and whose game is self-gratification at the other person’s expense. Come on, you should be Learning!

Meles's acts result not from a deranged mind, but from cold, calculating rationality combined with a chilling inability to treat others as thinking, feeling, human beings. Are you serious this MONSTER got a prize? I guess you are joking!

The so far personal history of Meles is a deeply disturbing inability to care about the pain and suffering experienced by others in short, a complete lack of empathy, the prerequisite for love. It is unthinkable that any rational person gives any prize to this MONSTER. I can never ever believe this.

The sad fact is this prize may further strengthen his narcissistic and glossy inflated view of himself, worth and importance, a truly astonishing egocentricity and sense of entitlement, and may see himself as the centre of the universe, as superior beings, who is justified in living according to his own rules. Don’t be surprised if he next time comes across as arrogant, shameless braggarts-self-assured, opinionated, domineering, and cocky.

Meles had 14 years to redeem himself, but he now presides over the graves of hundreds of thousands of Ethiopians. Murder and intimidation and detention are the whole marks of his regime. Ethiopians demand that he should be brought to justice for the recent “black Wednesday” massacre of innocent youngsters who are the pride of Ethiopia, and the many thousands he murdered in the last 14 years.

Fourteen years in power and look what he gave us. More people in famine, more prevalence and incidence of infectious diseases, more malnutrition, and higher infant mortality, lower life expectancy, more unemployment, lower per capita income, more brain drain, more degradation and desertification of our beautiful land, more corruption and looting of public wealth, more conflicts between ethnic groups, more hatred, perennial beggary for food, more of our beautiful sisters slaving throughout the Middle East, more humiliation, more loss of pride and dignity, the most populous landlocked country on the planet, a failing system of education. I am sick and tired of seeing this endless list of misery.

Is it to Govern or to Misgovern

2005-08-10T08:39:00.000-07:00

“The question of sharing power through negotiation will not be acceptable, as EPRDF had won the election democratically.” (EPRDF, Ethiopian News Agency, 9 August 2005)
“Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery, none but ourselves can free our minds.... None can stop the time” Bob Marley
The national election board of Ethiopia announced today that EPDRF could form a government as it has won majority seats in the house of people’s representatives. Let us take how the parties fared in NEBE’s first announcement. On June 6,2005, the NEBE announced that EPRDF won 268 seats, CUD alone won 115 seats, and UEDF also won 57 seats. After CUD and UEDF mainly complained about the unfairness and irregularities in the election, NEBE claimed to have undertaken an investigation that brought the following numbers. On August 9, 2005, EPDRF won 296 seats that are up 28 seats, CUD 109 seats, reduced 8 seats and UEDF 52 seats, reduced 5 seats. In other words it means after their complaints CUD lost 8 seats, UEDF lost 5 seats, and EPDRF increased 28 seats. Given that CUD and UEDF are the major parties that complained of voting irregularities, the NEBE seems to have gone for punishing the complainers and the complaint by decreasing even the seats NEBE acknowledged to them in the first place, and increasing the seats for EPDRF, its chief ally. CUD and UEDF complained not to lose the seats they won, but to recover the loss they were certain to reclaim. The NEBE seems to have gone for total acceptance of anything asked by EPDRF and total rejection of anything related to irregularities presented by the opposition parties. It does not make intuitive sense that in all the areas that the opposition parties complained they lost, including even in the areas where they secured victories, as duly acknowledged by NEBE by its June 6,2005 announcement. It is the best demonstration to show that the NEBE’s investigation is thoroughly soiled by partisanship and subservience to the power perpetuating need of the current incumbents in Ethiopia.
There is no need to audit the statistics, much as it embarrasses us, we have to admit that the NEBE is a national disgrace. We do not even have to think of justice will be redressed in relation to this gross robbery of the votes and voices of the Ethiopian people, because any attempt to go through court and legal route is likely to confront the chairman of the election board, who is president of the Supreme Court and also president of the Constitutional Inquiry Commission. Meles thrust all these multiple powers upon one person. Under the circumstances, it would be easier to get a lump of meat from the jaws of a lion than to get electoral justice through such a tampered legal process, as it has been recommended time and time again by foreign observers who take the role of advising the opposition parties to accept such injustice employing double standard on the way they treat regime and opposition.
We find NEBE a complete embarrassment and we are clear now that the Ethiopian people and their aspiration to democracy have been cruelly abused. Even though we know all along that NEBE and the EPDRF work closely, we did not want to believe that together they will descend to this depth of depraved robbery, completely oblivious to the long-term harm that their childish game will impart to Ethiopia’s aspiration to create, a free, democratic and open society.
The politics of blackmail and diktat so characteristic of Meles & Co has always had exclusive and non-reconciliatory consequences. This has been clear from 1975 when they formed the nucleus that eventually managed to come to power in 1991. They fought the TLF who had a similar idea and who also was fighting the same enemy they were fighting. They fought the EDU and the EPRP, who were fighting the same forces they were fighting. They fought the EPLF even when they had a strategic alliance with them by fighting with EPLF to make Eritrea a separate state. They also fought with EPLF to remove the ELF, its competitor in Eritrea. In 1991 they dismissed all those elements and groups they invited to form a transitional Government that did not fully obey their line, (e.g., the OLF, the Southern Unity Coalition led by Dr. Beyene Petros, and various individuals’ representing different groups.) They have now split the TPLF and nearly half of the leadership is either in jail, in exile or living in the country without any substantial public role. Related to the split in the TPLF, they dismissed the former president and a number of other regional leaders. So if one traces the short political history of Meles & Co, one sees that they are ‘democracy-talking but authoritarian- practising’ liars, while at the same time remaining arrogant, inhumane, full of devious intrigues, unscrupulous, immoral, intolerant, anti-democratic and a violent. It is difficult to imagine they will change, even though almost all who wish the country to put behind the violent past wish them to change and join and share the national thirst for imbuing the country with democratic imagination.
The key relationship that fosters a democratic energy is the development of state-society relations. When it comes to the way the state relates, under the Meles & Co dictatorship, to society, one sees nothing but the imposition of crude power and knee-jerk reaction of quick ‘shoot to kill’ citizens without giving any chance to the right to dissent. Over 3,500 people have been killed as part of the violation of human rights in the last ten years according to human right reports on Ethiopia. This figure does not include the displaced or the death toll related to the recent Ethiopian-Eritrean war.
For the first time May 15,2005 looked as if that Meles & Co may be changing the paradigm, habit and routine of violent engagement with an electoral and democratic alternative. The pre-election debates and the peaceful demonstrations, despite reports in the countryside of various abuses, looked on the whole that there was a flicker of hope, that something different has emerged in the way politics unfolds in Ethiopia. Alas this was to be rudely aborted by the way Meles & Co’s usual habit and reflex of violence took over reason and the window of opportunity to see a democratic possibility in the country. They announced immediately that they had won before the counting is finalised. They took a number of measures through the military, militia, media and the NEBE to change the opposition’s claim of victory into defeat. Eventually they set in motion a process that will have secured them a majority that will kill any sense of a embedding an intelligent and vibrant democratic public culture and debate in the country. They chose to pursue an illegitimate route to ‘legitimise’ their own exclusive electoral ascendancy.
We have now reached a moment when the EPDRF has finally declared a Government. It has been given the green light by the NEBE to form a Government. It seems to us that they will have no incentive to enter into any arrangement that will bring about national reconciliation for a long-term reversal of the politics that can enable Ethiopia to move out of the vicious circle of poverty and conflict. For myopic rulers, poverty and conflict remain fertile grounds for keeping themselves in power by exploiting real and imagined differences, in some cases even manufacturing and exaggerating those differences like in the case of playing up the Rwanda genocide to silence dissent in Ethiopia.
Is it to Govern or to Misgovern: That is the Question It is clear that in Ethiopia that people will not believe that the regime had won in an honest, fair and just election. There will be millions of Ethiopians across the nation and the world, who now justifiably feel not only is the Meles & Co cabal a prisoner of its violent history, but also it is now a wholly lying, and cheating group that can go any length to stay in power. The people have lost trust and confidence. They feel doubly cheated, and ask why did they accept in the first place an election to go this far and cheat when the people threaten through voting to reject their rule? The people now believe the election was not carried out to make them decide on who should govern them. It was made by Meles & Co. because of the particular policy of this group to allow the extraordinary flow of foreign aid, and grant into the economy. The donors have insisted that regimes that would like to scale up the share of foreign assistance have to also accept multiparty election. So in order to appear that they are doing what donors wanted, they have to go through the motion of undertaking election that they do not believe in and are not part of their style or way of their usual politicking. This brings to mind what Addisu Legesse asked in a donor conference. He said Ethiopia needs 122 billion dollars over a decade to achieve the Millennium Development Goals. If they can ask so much, and they get a lot as it is, though poverty is not growing less, they have to accept the ‘good goverance’ conditionality. Unfortunately for them, the May 15,2005 election just went beyond their plan and expectation. They expected to be returned. But the people wanted to intern them into oblivion. They made their coup against the will of the people, and NEBE helped to do so being the chief instrument to carry out the work that deflated the moral and trust of the people. This election has been mismanaged. The consequence of this management remains costly. There is now a crises of confidence, crises of credibility, loss of trust, crises of perception, crises of impression that can easily create a situation where those who have forced themselves over the people thwarting their will may not be able to govern, and those in the opposition who refuse to acknowledge the legitimacy of the NEBE manipulated result may not have the capability to control the anger of the people... such a development creates the classic situation of a crises of the old cannot continue in the old way and the new is having many barriers to be born and assert its new democratic objectives. It will come as no surprise, therefore, if the people refuse to be governed by the old rulers.
Something critically important has taken place in Ethiopia. A people that have been cheated will not forget or forgive such injustice. To govern with misgovernment will not be easy. To govern a people who trust the governors will be easy. The Ethiopian people know in their heart that this Government has cheated them of the priceless belief they must have in government. This makes the years to come very difficult under the rule of Meles and his friends. The regime can attract donor money, but it will not solve the poverty question in the country simply because the people have no trust in those who govern them. This difficult situation could have been avoided had there been honesty and integrity and a sense of responsibility to people, country and nation. We do not know how the people may respond. What we know is that the response will not submit or surrender to the current regime. The regime probably would resort, true to form, to the use of illegitimate force and violence to impose its diktat. This will not help to create trust. It will deepen the mistrust. Under such conditions, the governance will be self-serving rather than public serving. All the donor money too will not be helpful but hurtful to the people and the country by ending up possibly in the web of corruption and equally possibly also in financing the regimes’ weapons of repressions.
It is extraordinary to witness how leaders of the opposition parties behaved with statesmen like vision and how Meles misbehaved as a small-minded village tyrant. He is reported to give the opposition the ultimatum, saying you must decide whether you are in or out.’ In’-means to surrender to his whim. ‘Out’- means to oppose his whim. The opposition has been in the process, and it is Meles & Co by killing students, declaring state of emergency and all other misdoings that can disqualify them, by having chosen to be out of the democratic process preferring authoritarian methods to deal with the people and the opposition parties. But to use such childish tactics- such as are you ‘in’ or ‘out’- for a supposed leader of a country is simply incredible. Supposing they applied the same to him and say to him are you in the democratic process, do you respect the democratic process, why do you tamper with the democratic process? Why fail to undertake investigation properly? Why use our legitimate complaint into an opportunity to return your cadres by killing and intimidating our witnesses and using the NEBE for such jobs including some of their members serving openly partisan interests? All these actions suggest that the claim by the EPDRF that it is in the democratic process is tenuous. It may have been until May 15, 2005 just, but after that its actions belie any submission to democratic authority.
It is not only you are in or out, but also you cannot be in and out, that Meles has chosen to dictate to the opposition as well. In addition he has been reported to retort that the opposition if they do not accept what Meles and others have incubated have a few other options. Meles spelt out the options as follows: They can remain inside the country bowing to the rulers all the time, they can go into exile, and they can try armed struggle, they can be like the OLF and go to the political wilderness and so on. How anyone can wish Ethiopia that has gone through armed hell for so many years, yet another bout of armed struggle is beyond comprehension! Meles speaking with such childish and simple-minded notions is simply a curse and not a blessing for our country. He is completely reckless and cruel in the way he is so casual and superficial in providing as an option another cycle of armed violence for the country. Knowing what Ethiopia has been through, it is condemnable and criminal to recommend armed struggle as an option.
Given the context of Meles’s response described above, we commend highly the way the opposition showed patience and vision to avoid any harm to the people of Ethiopia. . We in the NES appreciate the opposition representatives attempt to present the case for restoring public trust with civility, humility and far-sighted vision and a sense of great historical responsibility. The fact that they invited the EPDRF to conceptualise its relations with other parties, the people, society and the country with national reconciliation has been indeed noble. That the ruling group declined their invitation shows more the myopia of Meles & Co than anything else. Unfortunately the choices of re-run of a national re-election or a national reconciliation conception of governance do not seem to be accepted by the regime. The regime has declared victory and called the outcome ‘democratic and legitimate.’ Where force and fraud were involved, it is not credible to declare the election is ‘democratic and legitimate’ and expect the people to believe it. It can believe its own lies, but it must not force those lies on the people, nor should it expect the people to believe it.
Ethiopia has now moved from hard choice to one choice only to show to the regime that the people do not have to accept any stealing of their voice and their votes by anyone. They must not be bullied to surrender to accept a broad day light robbery of their votes. They have a right to show peacefully their protest against this injustice by using all peaceful, popular and democratic expressions and avenues open to them. There is a need for a worldwide peaceful movement to respect voice and vote. This movement must be developed both inside and outside the country. All those who stand genuinely for human rights, democracy and democratic governance, the rule of law, and those who oppose all forms of officially sanctioned abuse must support it. The international community that claims to stand for human rights and democracy should support it. Any attempt to suppress this popular movement by the regime must be recognised that it will have the sole responsibility for any harm done to people who resist injustice. Any use of extra- judicial killing, harassment of the millions of people that supported and voted for the opposition parties, and did not vote for the ruling group must be protected. The attempt to abuse them that has started apparently by denying them fertilisers and other agricultural inputs must be resisted.
Concluding Remark In a series of press releases, we have tried to strive, seek and discover a way that will bring the best possible climate to facilitate the production of a future that rehabilitates rather than a future of violence and poverty that kill in our ancient country. We have shown an unyielding determination to the argument that, what the people achieved must not be stolen or lost. We have tried to unmask the abuse of power and dismissed the arrogance of the high office holders as wholly unbefitting to the challenges of building a free and open society in Ethiopia.
Having said that, we in the NES would like to make it clear that our involvement in the current struggle is driven by the highest ethical imagination to see good done to the much abused Ethiopian people, the country and the nation. We may not say all that needs saying in temperate or acceptable expressions. Our language may bite, but our paramount desire is to see good prevail in one of the three oldest nations on this earth, that has unfortunately not made it yet to the promise land. We think and feel that Ethiopians can learn to unite, organise and develop, and thus finally convert the country’s current disadvantage into an advantage. It is this optimism that fires our imagination and fuels our engagement. We are fired by the burning desire to see that our country achieves an irreversible civilisation-transition, to make it the civilisation-nation that it ought to be, given its old history, by mounting and engineering a paradigm shift through the sharpening of our collective handiwork, and the reinvigoration of our collective national self-esteem-a national self-esteem that has been dented and even battered by those who have chosen to express their solidarity only after making sure that they have taken much in terms of a particularly an uncongenial casting of the country as the premier symbol of hopelessness and tragedy in the world. We believe a country that has disadvantages can turn that disadvantage into an advantage. Equally important, a country that has advantages may not realise the fullness of what it has. Whether it has advantages or disadvantages, the ultimate yardstick resides in the ability and capability of that nation to turn advantage or disadvantage into freedom as development.
We have read politically that May 15,2005 is a clarion call to make an irreversible change and move away from the earlier rule by monarchy deriving legitimacy from the transcendental mysteries of divine election and providence, and any of the varieties of authoritarian autocracy and dictatorship that came afterwards such as that of the military, the current ethnic entrepreneurial minority rule, and the agitation to whip up regressive racial, vernacular, and narrow ideological species and dominations. We would like to see a recrudescence in, to and of democratic governance, that is derived and legitimated by the free voices and votes of free Ethiopian citizens achieved vibrantly with full of interest, freshness, industry, and vitality. We would like to see civic expression, civic identity and civic engagement across the land. We would like the people to be answerable only to the authority that emanates from their own conscience, choices, preferences, moral ideas and fellowship to their fellow human beings, and in addition also, from their sense of dedication, commitment, responsibility to people, nation and country. We believe the time is now to undertake the transition from rule by providence, dictatorship and autocracy to government by the people, for the people and of the people. We want this government to be borne not from the barrel of the gun but from the free will of the people who express civic political rights unhindered by any intimidation, threat and childish bullying that has been a trademark of the politics of the last fourteen years. We believe the opportunity is open to make the desirable transition to democracy possible, even as we recognise the dangers posed by the regime to abort this noble outcome by privileging selfish sectarian concerns over the good and accomplishment of the larger national purpose. Regime acolytes tend cut and paste intellectually dishonest views to justify the illegitimate as legitimate, the anti-democratic as democratic. They remove the context of the regime’s action for derailing the democratic process by its negative engagement through the use and violence and provide a sanitised role to it as if it were completely innocent. That is totally disingenuous and possibly such a dishonest defence is motivated by lucrative business, personal and other benefits that flow to the acolytes. It is very difficult for any sensible person not to see the enormous value of undergoing genuine reconciliation for the healthy political evolution of Ethiopia. They also play with the widely recognised fact that the turnout of the election was unprecedented while the election management and handling of result has been wholly inadequate. The acolytes try to confuse by a particularly pernicious intellectually dishonest and context-less pick up phrases and quotes as a way of helping the regime. It shows the regime has no serious intellectual backbone except for the childish pinpricks of the acolyte types.
It has been said, but time can be guilty as well, as witnessed by the convulsions that our country experienced from May 15,2005 onwards. Did we not observe dramatic rising of emotions where at one moment the nation was thrown into the ecstasy of millions of people voting, the next moment the emotions dropping with the tragedy of people being massacred by the forces that stood to damn the democratic resurgence that the people themselves so demonstrably created. The rising and ebbing tides and swings of sudden emotion from happiness to sadness is indeed a cruel irony experienced by arguably one of the gentlest peoples on this planet. The people, the country and the nation have been exposed to what turned out in the end to be an expectant exuberant celebration followed quickly by the sheer frustrations of not realising it in addition to the feeling of sorrow not only for the sake of the people killed, arrested, beaten and bullied, but also for the danger that the moment of democratic transition that arrived so manifestly may be dimmed or even lost.
We think that today in Ethiopia democracy has manifested through the expression of voice and vote by the people. What is threatened is the realisation and fulfilment of this democratic expression. The significance of this massive expression of voice and vote is that any ruler that threatens to abuse this public revolt against dictatorship would be rudely shocked. Rulers cannot govern by resorting to cheating and force. The people will resist in many forms. The society will sooner or later transform into an ungovernable situation. These myopic rulers who throw childish tantrums will not know what will hit them when an irate population rises and goes for them. There is a classic situation where those who would like to govern through dictatorship cannot. The sooner they fathom the significance of May 15, 2005, the better for all.
Power does not concede without demand. It never has and it never will, said Frederick Douglas. There is no freedom without striving for it. The struggle for democracy is thus in front of us. This is a struggle to make sure that the voice and vote of the people are respected and not infringed by arrogant power. As the people turned up to vote, they must be led to turn up to protest any attempt at a theft of their votes and voice. Neither fear nor appeasement/surrender to the regimes’ relentless insistence to accept theft must be condoned. People must resist theft. It is in their rights to resist and not surrender to any form of abuse. The right to resist is borne in relation to the power of abuse that they experience. Ultimately the responsibility lies in those who did wrong and not those who try to rectify wrong.

Network of Ethiopian Scholars (NES)

Revolution of a mind~

2005-07-21T08:25:00.000-07:00

Deception upon deception,
Misconception, false impression,
Instability, Illiteracy, corruption
Treachery, ethnicity, on top of starvation.

I looked around and I sighed,
Revolution, then I cried,
Prosperity, unity, I hoped to find,
Again! Found nothing, but been lied.
Bring 'they' a peace, I longed you’d try
Yet, one still dies, and the other crie’?

Tell I,
‘em all years you’ve fled
‘em all blood you’ve shad
If not her you loved,
Was it..….,
was it the power you craved?

Nah! No more!
Betray me no more, now I realized,
No more I let they, navigate my mind
Nor will I crown, a king of a land.

I say, NO! I, no more bleed,
Failed before, but, now I’m freed.
Chose you no more, no more you, I lead,
Trust not you, but the poors I’ll feed.

Promise me no more,
no more of your trick.
Not ‘they’, that you care,
but the command you seek.

So, I say, ‘am in the mission, mission of a kind,
Revolution, Revaluation of a mind,
Anticipate no more, no more I cry,
Freedom and love, peace comes within I!!
I govern and own, enjoyable land,
A peaceful place, with a pleasant so'nd,
Harmony and joy, certain I’ll find!!

So, I say,
Revolution, to the we,
Revolution of a mind, let’s be free.
Revolution, to all humankind,
Revolution,
Revolution of a mind!!

Oust we can

2005-07-20T10:05:00.000-07:00

In an incredibly partisan manner many Ethiopians in the Diaspora are pushing for a sustainable and long term positive democratic change in Ethiopian . The various political organisations and civic organisation's within Ethiopia and outside Ethiopia are closing rank against the terrorist regime of Meles Zenawi. Community organisations, concerned citizens and organised Ethiopians are now at the for front of the struggle to oust the terrorist Meles from power. This struggle is underway with the view of helping Ethiopia shack away from its crippling problem of hungry, disease and poverty in particular and the social, political and economic crises it is facing in general.

Oust we can. If the struggle continues with the same pace of momentum and a united, organised and unflinching stand, the day of a true liberation from tyranny will not be overdue. This struggle is showing every one that Ethiopia belongs to all Ethiopians, and if our current actions are an indication, it is the citizens and communities of Ethiopia who will gain the most.

One should, by now, predict that Meles is ready and able to inflict the maximum pain to terrorise and torment his own people. By now, every one will understand that shooting dead innocent civilians with the pretext of "preventative action" to preserve calm is surely counter productive at best, and is clearly making a mockery of the democracy which is clearly now hanging by a thread. By now, one should be able to predict that Melese’s party will be declared a winner in this election. By now, one should be certain that the EPRDF is determined to hang on to power by spreading fear and terror. In a nutshell, we have no alternative other than to unite, organise and ultimately be ready to sacrifice for what we believe in. If we within Ethiopia and diaspora that are organised under the banner of "unity" continue with our struggle, the day of our reckoning will not be far.

Ethiopians within Ethiopia and the Diaspora, led by responsible, intelligent and determined peace loving optimists will be able to overwhelm Meles's terrorist regime if we continues to profess what is true, objective and constructive. If the struggle continues with the same pace of momentum and a united, organised and unflinching stand, the day of a true liberation from tyranny will not be very far. Our idea of building a nation-state by combining a cogeries of Ethiopia's culturally diverse people, modernising elites-whether a civil bureaucracy, armed forces or political party's - will come true, and we will be able to develop the capacity to achieve order and develop our society toward modernisation.

Meles spreading ethnozenophobia

2005-07-18T13:46:00.000-07:00

As Meles and Isaiase came to power, many Ethiopian intellectuals and Ethiopians in general were taken by surprise, by the sudden resurgence of ethnic division in Ethiopia, for two reasons
1) The traditional paradigms stress the importance of either the individual, the state or the country's economic system as the relevant context and subject for analysis, rather than the cultural factors
2) Both contemplate a linear tradition-modernity transition, seeing ethnicity as belonging to an earlier, pre-modern stage of tradition and as bound to disappear as the Ethiopian society modernises.

The intelligentsia thought that a group's ethnic or religious identity was a traditionalist obstacle to development which would disappear as Ethiopia modernises. It was a great surprise for many to see evidence of burgeoning ethnic issues in Ethiopia, which is often interpreted as symptomatic of an anti-modernist, narrow minded ideas which are against science, industrialisation and liberal views.

It is very important to note that, it is sometimes argued that contemporary ethnic consciousness expresses basic, primitive human sentiments along the lines that communities have always been divided by either language, custom, religion, race, or territory or the combination of these factors. Ethnic identities are not predetermined or inevitable, rather, they can be constructed by skillful, if unscrupulous, politicians like Meles who precise that their goal of power is best facilitated by the creation of a receptive political constituency. It is no coincidence that the recent ethinicization of politics in Ethiopia has come as grate help to Meles Zenawi.

Melese's strategy to establish a governing system of ethnic federalism emphasising rights of "nations, nationalities, and peoples." This high-sounding principle, cribbed from Lenin, is more Machiavellian than Wilsonian however. If the outnumbered TPLF who direct the EPRDF/FDRE can keep other ethnic based groups divided and roiled against each other in ethnozenophobias or content to manage affairs in their own limited bailiwicks, then larger matters can be subsumed by the one governing party. Thus, what Meles view as the false ideology of nationalism for a "Greater Ethiopia" can be kept in check and its proponents divided and conquered.

Ethnic hatreds spawned by this scheme are the source of most human rights abuses in Ethiopia. Ethnicity played a mager role in Ethiopians being arbitrarily arrested, incarcerated without charge or trial, and brutally tortured by security forces of the government.

In Ethiopia, the world is witnessing ethnicity gone awry. The division of Ethiopia into ethnic administrative regions was mandated by an TPLF government and written into a new constitution approved by faux elections. The idea of ethnic federalism did not originate from the people nor did they approve of it in free and fair elections. In light of events in Rwanda, the Congo, and the former Yugoslavia, it is doubtful that any people willingly would subject themselves to the horrors of state-enforced ethnic warfare. In Ethiopia, the people have not been given the opportunity so to choose at the grass roots level, and until they do, ethnic federalism must be viewed as an artificial system imposed from above.

Instead of ethnicity referring to cultural-linguistic communal groups, built around ties of real or putative kinship, taking pride in the in-group, common consciousness and identity of the group-as is the case in most multi-ethnic societies--under the TPLF, cultural prejudice and social discrimination against "others" has been encouraged and perverted into denying others basic human and economic rights. This ethnicity run wild exaggerates differences, intensifies resentments and antagonisms, and sharply divides races and nationalities. Mutual suspicion and hostility are bound to emerge in a society bent on defining itself in terms of such jostling and competing groups.

In ethnic kilils, or homelands, nominally ruled by front parties of the EPRDF, but actually dominated by the central party TPLF, officials ruthlessly use political dominance, economic exploitation, and psychological oppression to drive out members of other ethnic groups who may have lived in the regions for decades--or to make life miserable for those who remain. Under the color of law, conflict and violence have been whipped up in response to imaginary threats from ethnic outsiders. As a result, the cult of ethnicity has produced adverse effects on the peace, harmony, and integration of the nation's society. The endgame of such identity politics is self-pity and self-ghettoization, and ultimately, political instability. As Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., has noted: "The meanness generated when one group is set against another, the 'built-in we-they syndrome' has caused more dominating, fearing, hating, killing than any other single cause since time began."

The solution for all this is very simple, but, hard to implement. Removing Meles and zealots from power, and replacing them by elected officials who will be accountable, transparent and democratic to the people who vote them. Not everyone believes that they have a Strong ethnic identity which bonds them inextricably with others of there group. It is when an identity meets an explicit demand or situation that such ties become important. Unsurprisingly, some of the most powerful ethnic-orientated identities emerge out of a subordinate or superordinate position in a social hierarchy. I sum, the relation of ethnicity to politics changes; its appeal does not remain constant but is determined to a grate extent by the level of maturity, the level of material well being and security- i.e 'the feel good factor'- which Ethiopians as a community must enjoy.

Living under terrorism

2005-07-17T04:49:00.000-07:00

Zenawi has followed up the June 8th massacre in Addis Abeba with country wide reprisals on the Ethiopian people. He has raised the level of his brutality to new heights. Reminiscent of the atrocities of fascist mussolini, meles zenawi has ordered people of all ages including women and children to be rounded up and taken to prison camps.Prisoners suspected to be supporters of opposition parties are being tortured and executed. Members of the opposition parties are being shot in broad day light. Tesfaye Adane Gara and another member of the United Ethiopia Democratic Party, both newly elected members of parliament, have been assassinated in Arsi by the fascist woyane police; and leaders of the opposition are under arrest, unable to leave their homes and 24 hours guarded by the fascist Gestapo.Peasant farmers and their families are being tortured and slaughtered in Gojam, Arsi, Wollo and in Shoa and Sidamo. Their homes are being torched and raised to the ground and their property destroyed. Zenawi’s revenge for his humiliating defeat in the election has bee an unmitigated, brutal and sadistic violence. He is awash with the blood of the Ethiopian people.There is no doubt that the main aim of this fascist dictator is to intimidate and to bring the people to submission by murder, torture and imprisonment. Realising that the ballot box has not worked for him there is no other way open to him to stay in power other than turning the country in to a tyrannical dictatorship where he will be the supreme ruler. The fascist atrocities have angered Ethiopians through out the world. These cruelties of zenawi have galvanised support for the suffering people of Ethiopia. The June 8 massacre and the atrocities taking place across Ethiopia right now can not be ignored. Every one is being affected with so many innocent people being brutalised by a merciless tyrant.The fascist zenawi has declared an open war on the people of Ethiopia, on democracy, on justice and freedom. This evil tyrant must be confronted and defeated so that peace prevails in our country.The wish of the Ethiopian people expressed in the ballot box should be respected, their voice must be heard and their votes should be made to count. There is no other way to pay respect to the sacrifices of our people to secure their rights and to maintain their human dignity. In the end the peaceful, the decent and the tolerant people of Ethiopia will be triumphant and the seemingly powerful fascists will be defeated

A revolutionary terrorist is not the answer for Ethiopia

2005-07-16T05:03:00.000-07:00

We can describe Ethiopia’s newly self elected Prime Minister, Meles Zenawi, as a revol- utionary terrorist, who is slowly growing the repressive wings and horns of the typical African tyrant. Western governments and media were and are clustering up Zenawi together with other youthful leaders elsewhere on the continent and peddling them around the globe as Africa’s new democrats and liberators.Together with Paul Kagame of Rwanda, Yoweri Museveni of Uganda and Jerry Rawlings of Ghana they were proclaimed the harbingers of the generation that was set to lead Africa out of a decadent morass of administrative ineptitude, sleaze and building of personal empires of graft. They would place Africa on the superhighway to a progressive and democratic future. Never mind that the much-hailed first ever-parliamentary elections that were Zenawi’s passport to the tag of a democrat had been hopelessly flawed. His Ethiopian People’s Democratic Front party had just garnered 98 per cent of the votes cast in a poll that had been boycotted by all Opposition parties. Never mind, too, that Zenawi had only recently reinvented himself from a military strongman – having first ascended to power as a tribal rebel commander in 1991, when he had overthrown another military strongman, Mengistu Haile Maryam. And finally, never mind the havoc and hopelessness that his transitional government had visited upon the separatist Oromo and Ogaden peoples between 1991 and 1995. In the fullness of time, Zenawi’s repressive plumage has come to full growth. He can now claim his rightful place in the assembly of Africa’s other despots before him. He has perfected the art of winning flawed elections, having repeated his 1995 feat in 2000, and again this year. But his performance this year has thrown the country into an orgy of fatal riots in Addis and elsewhere. Coming at a time when British Prime Minister Tony Blair is relentlessly trying to pass around Africa’s miserable beggar’s cap among the club of the rich nations of the world (the G8), Zenawi’s latest show of muscle is a direct slap in Mr Blair’s face, to say nothing of the great injustice it does Africa’s plea to the global community. Particularly embarrassing, Zenawi was going to be Blair’s special flagship at the G8 meeting in Scotland. Zenawi was expected to make a passionate plea to rich nations, on behalf of Africa. He was expected to sell Africa as a continent increasingly in democratic and responsible hands, able to put foreign funds to accountable use. But the bloody show of fiat, in which dozens have been killed, has not only seen Blair rethink his flagship, but also suspend all aid to Ethiopia. It is about the last thing Blair wanted to see happen in his ongoing push for Africa’s debt cancellation and quest for enjoyment of increased foreign aid.But does the riddle of Africa’s perennial penury and indigence seem to lie in what sits at the bottom of the example from Ethiopia? Is it possible that debt cancellation and doubling of aid could never end, or even reduce Africa’s abject conditions? It is instructive that in 1974 Mengistu took over power in a military coup in Ethiopia, invoking the name of responsible and democratic governance. Having literally killed the misanthrope Emperor Haile Salasie in office, Mengistu promised his long suffering compatriots, who had witnessed their kith and kin starve to death while Haile Salasie fed prime beef to dogs and lions, that he would deliver them to glory land.By the time Mengistu was getting ousted in 1991, Ethiopians could not tell whether life had been better under the emperor (the Lion of Judah, as he liked calling himself), or under the communist president. Today they don’t know whether life has ever been good under any one leader or the other.The African problem is one of absence of institutions and instruments that guarantee sound and responsible government. The continent urgently needs institutions that can generate checks and balances in the exercise of power, thereby paving way to responsible leadership. From Mogadishu to Dakar, and from Cape Town to Tunis, the continent has yet to evolve vessels in which the affairs of government and management of the national economy can bid farewell to the continent’s poverty crisis.The G8 could sweep clean the continent’s collective debt portfolio tomorrow morning. It could inject into Africa grants tenfold and engineer replacement of the present crop of leaders with new ones. But ten years down the line, the continent would still dither in poverty. It is instructive, for example, that at independence, the Zambian kwacha was twice as strong as the British Pound Sterling. Today you require over five thousand kwacha to buy one British Pound Sterling. What went wrong? The answer is certainly fairly complex. But one thing is clear, bad leadership due to lack of proper institutions of leadership has been at the forefront. Of course those who ascend to power in Africa are happy to deliberately leave our institutions weak so that they can exploit them to entrench personal rule, complete with personality cults, institutional rot and gentlemanly looting of public property. Those out of the epicenter of power attempt to peddle themselves as ambassadors of change, but deep down they hope that they can discover some shortcut to power, with everything else being constant. That way, it will be their turn to eat next. In Ethiopia and elsewhere in Africa, not even total erosion of debt can end poverty, no matter how passionately Blair and others like him wish to tame the monster on the continent. The starting point is, willy-nilly, the creation of enabling institutions. This is where Blair should redirect his efforts, if he truly wishes to see Africa crawl out of the morass of poverty. Anything less than this is to send good money after bad money.

Call for New Elections

2005-07-15T13:59:00.000-07:00

Exactly sixty days have passed since the people of Ethiopia overwhelmingly expressed their will regarding the direction of the country in the next five years. Sixty days have also passed with no final winner of the elections announced by the responsible office, NEBE (National Election Board of Ethiopia). Forty young students of Addis Ababa and a freshly elected MP (member of parliament) have also been brutally murdered by the incumbent government that, in the eyes of many Ethiopians, had lost the election. In the mean time, in sixty days alone, the government has incarcerated thousands of students, government employees, and opposition leaders. In sixty days alone, the prime minister Meles himself has successfully transformed himself - in the eyes of his Western supporters - from a promising leader to just another third world brutal dictator. In sixty days alone, Ethiopians in the Diaspora from Melbourne, Australia to Calgary, Canada had protested in hundreds of thousands to bring into question the legitimacy of the current government - to say the least.

In no other country in these modern times has there ever been a case where 60 days after elections, the final winner is not known. In an election where more than 25 million citizens voted, the numbers show that the only way that the final tallies could take this long is if only 3 votes were counted per hour per person by the more than 5000 thousands election officials in the past 60 days. Of course, the reason for the delay - as any Ethiopian would suspect - is that the government feels that it has lost the election and is doing every trick in the book to manipulate the numbers. Suspicious of a popular protest, the government is also determined to neutralize any potential uprisings by going after opposition figures in every possible way from fabricated charges to intimidation and in the case of the MP in Shashemene to outright assassinations.
For these reasons, we strongly feel that results announced after 60 days have elapsed since the people expressed their will can not win the trust of the constituents in the process. Even the proposed investigations into the election results in the more than 300 contested constituencies does not inspire confidence this late in the process. And the fact that NEBE owes its loyalty to the very person that created and hand-selected it, the Prime Minister, brings the fundamental question of impartiality and objectivity to the forefront once again - 60 days after the May 15, 2005 elections.
For the democratic process in Ethiopia to continue, for hope to see the day of light, for Ethiopians to be assured of a season of progress instead of a continued regress to the ugly days of brutal bloodthirsty dictators who are bent on killing 17 year old children and then demand money in return for their dead bodies, the only option left this late in the process is to call for a new election. And when we say a 'new election' we mean elections where there are at least 5000 independent observers from inside the country as well as outside the country. We mean elections where there are independent observers at each polling station. We mean elections where each ballot box stays within the sights of independent observers day and night until the election results are announced within a predetermined reasonable time frame (2 weeks, for example). By an acceptable new free elections, we mean an elections where the process of voting as well as counting is certified not by the usual impartial government supporters like the Carter Center but by EU, Donor Groups, and a 'Peer Group' comprised of representatives from African countries where democratic governance has been practiced such as Ghana and South Africa.
Only then, we feel, the current crisis can be averted and Ethiopia joins the emerging trend of democratization that our fellow brothers and sisters in South Africa and Ghana enjoy.
For that to happen, we advise that the opposition parties, CUD and UEDF in particular, get their acts together and assure Ethiopians on the specifics of what they will deliver and - most importantly - how they will deliver to provide hope for this country of 70 million people. It was not easy for them to come this far and build a coalition that shook to the cores the foundations of a brutal regime and expose its true barbaric nature to the outside world. Maintaining this coalition and transforming it to an effective and united political machinery is a difficult and challenging task which we hope the leaders of these groups strive to achieve in the days and weeks ahead of us. Among many other things, this will require a continued work on organizational issues where the charismatic leaders amongst them assume more public exposure selling their vision and matching (and surpassing) Meles' rhetoric while the technocrats continue building a formidable countrywide organization. For the EPRDF, our simple advice is to listen to the People's will.

Confusion Minister Bereket Simon

2005-07-14T12:36:00.000-07:00

So, for a man who just lost his seat in parliament, Ato Bereket Simon has been unusually informative these days, sign of either ignorance or poor knowledge, or, deliberate confusion! let's not be cynical. Ohhh, comical Simone, you amuse us so. By the way, only a tirazz neTeqq organisation like the EPRDF would think that the Information Minister of the country also serving as its party spokesperson bears no conflict plus Eritrean. It's soooo...."progressive" they save on humane resources costs, I guess. Anyway, no wonder he's chirpy..... he might have lost his parliamentary seat, no wories people of Ethiopia, he still has a couple of jobs' plus who knows what EFFORT company he is running!

Now, back to the future and see what our confused or shall we say deliberately confused Minister of ignorance has in store for us. heyyyyy at least he comes up with historical expressions such as,

"Anyone who incites violence, other than those elected, will have to face the law."

Let me give you a good advise, Mr Comical or is it Ato Comical, forgive my confusion I think it comes with the territory. Your phrase, ohhhh yes, your time immortal phrase ought to be carved in stone above the entrance to every legislative chamber, every courthouse, every government building on the face of Ethiopia and beyond the earth if possible, because it pretty much summarises, with admirable succinctness and brazen verve, the central operating principle of your government, not including your fake democracies of course. EPRDF elites whether elected or self-selected are above the law, and act accordingly. Crimes for which ordinary citizens would be incarcerated, and perhaps even executed, are legalised and even considered admirable when carried out under the colour of state authority, I am sooooo reassured with your Democratic credentials.... Sociopathic behaviour, such as murder and robbery, are simply repackaged as "Protecting the peace" and "public safety" and touted as our collective moral duty, or, at worst, unfortunate necessities. Our own Simom Bereket Simon's "Licence to kill."

I understand your dilemma, how do you legitimise a regime based on naked coercion and robbery? It is a tafeeeeeeee, but not beyond your menace- right/wronge?... The central problem you face as a governing elites, and you have come up with various and sundry answers in the last 14 years. Is legitimacy, ohhhhhh you crave for you dear Legitimacy!!! "what is not to be is not to be", why don't you save us all the halaaa-Balooooo and claim divinity and be our kings, averring that your rule is ordained by God in Heaven. For this you will have the backing of the Church(I think it was revolutionary democratically elected as well? by the voting EPRDF), or various shamans of this sort or another. Be very careful, however, as belief in the divine is retreating before the advance of science, this rationale must not fell apart. Otherwise dear legitimacy will replace you with the good old CUD/UEDF.

what is the difference between Meles's state sponsored terrorism with al-Qaida's senseless terrorism?

2005-07-13T12:36:00.000-07:00

on 07.07.05: Britain suffered its worst-ever terror attack, I pray for the victims, here in Britain and wherever there is terror. Blair's careful plans for the G8 end in painful dilemma, It should have been one of the highlights of the prime minister's career. Instead he was forced to desert his duties hosting the G8. Tony Blair flew back to the G8 summit and the solidarity of world leaders that night after rushing to London for eight hours to receive emergency briefings from the security forces and ministers.
Before leaving for London just after 1pm, Mr Blair delivered a statement of condemnation from Gleneagles, among the leaders of the G8, India, China, Brazil, Mexico, South Africa, the UN secretary general, Kofi Annan, the EU commission president, Jose Manuel Barroso, and James Wolfensohn, the UN special envoy to the Middle East.
In a sign that western divisions over the Iraq war must not give terrorists succour, Mr Blair was flanked on one side by George Bush, the instigator of the war, and on the other by Jacques Chirac, its opponent.
The group gathering was intended as physical evidence that the most powerful world forces would never succumb to terror. The al-Qaida strike, often forecast to take place around the general election, must have been disorienting for the prime minister. It came less than 24 hours after he punched the air celebrating bringing the Olympics to London, and after he had received glowing reviews for one of the most successful two-month periods of his seven-year premiership. But, in my eyes the prime minister of Britain who was flanked by the prime minister of Ethiopia, who conducted state sponcor terrorism on his own people should and must have known better about what to do with terrorists, who ever they are.

Becoming emotional and blinking frequently, he said: "Each of the countries round the table have some experience of the effects of terrorism and all the leaders share our complete resolution to defeat this terrorism."

Yes, prime minister one of them is behind you, his people are experiencing a state sponsored terror unleashed on them by there own prime minister, yes, ..... there own prime minister of terror. Now a big question for you, what is the difference between Meles's state sponsored terrorism with al-Qaida's senseless terrorism? the calculated use of violence (or threat of violence) against civilians in order to attain goals that are political or religious or ideological in nature; or in the case of PM Meles, to keep his power through intimindation or coercion or instilling fear.

what next ?

2005-07-13T12:15:00.000-07:00

It is now beyond contention that the ruling cabal in Ethiopia has suffered a humiliating defeat in the May 15, 2005 election. The people of Ethiopia have expressed their wish, the verdict was simple and left no room for doubt:

After fourteen harrowing years, if we, the people, are to have our say
on who should rule us and how our country is to be governed, then a
change of government is in order!

In simple terms this was the message that the Ethiopian people tried, in vain, to get across to the ruling elite on May 15, 2005.

Ordinarily, in a democracy, the landslide victory of the opposition would have been greeted by a gracious acceptance of defeat by the losing side and it would have been accompanied by a smooth political transition. At the same time, the losing camp would have began its own long and difficult process of reflection, introspection, and transformation in order to revive its political fortune and recapture the competitive edge it somehow lost in the political landscape. But, this is no ordinary democracy and it is no ordinary dictatorship either. Apparently, the ruling clique, which seemed to have been living in a bubble of its own, was caught unprepared to face, even with a modicum of statesmanship, the political tsunami that was to come its way by way of election results. In its wake, the election left a ruling oligarchy that is both stunned and stung by the scale as well as the intensity of the rejection it endured in full-view of the international community, the very community it tries hard to hoodwink and fleece in the name of democracy and good governance. After all, for the ruling clique the election was meant to produce nothing but an outcome of a unique quality, a win by the EPRDF and an enlarged yet inconsequential representation of the opposition in its rubber stamp parliament. The calculated payback for the clique was political legitimacy and a full-fledged membership of its leader, Mr. Meles, in the exclusive club of legitimately elected world leaders. Mr Meles, the head and the in-house strategist-in-chief of the ruling oligarchy[1], seemed to have thought he will somehow slog and sneak his way to the dream club. Unfortunately for him that was not to be, the Ethiopian people stood on his way!
In the immediate aftermath of its election defeat the ruling clique found itself in a precarious political ground and isolated, it felt threatened and insecure in its position. Thus, it bid a hasty retreat to a familiar political terrain where the rule of law is supplanted by the rule of the jungle, where ethnic differences are relentlessly exploited with impunity for the selfish political ends of the cabal, where the public is reduced to an object of intimidation and vengeful terror to be punished and cowed into submission. Emasculated of its democratic garb, the thuggish and vengeful self of the ruling cabal came out in force and undisguised, once more the beast began rearing its ugly head. Eventually, it was let loose, on the streets of Addis Ababa, on a stone-throwing-youth and an unsuspecting public going about its daily business on a sunny beautiful Wednesday morning on the 8th of June 2005, And

a murderous orgy erupted …a cry of anguish was heard in Addis, …
weeping and mourning unrestrained…Ethiopia weeps for her
children, refusing to be comforted – for they are dead.

On that Wednesday morning and in the days and weeks that followed ordinary law abiding citizens were savagely attacked and their humanity violated in the most atrocious and vengeful way throughout the nation for no other reason than voting their conscience in an election organized and sponsored by the government itself and for demanding that their votes be counted. This tragic episode is not an isolated incident; it is part of a long established pattern of government-sponsored violence, intimidation, and terror against ordinary citizens over the last fourteen years that need to be confronted![2] According to news reports streaming out of Ethiopia in recent weeks, even before the current round of atrocity draws to a close the ruling clique is busy planting the seeds for the next. Where will this madness ultimately lead the country? – Pray for Ethiopia, compatriots and friends!
Outrage, the rallying cry and opportunities and challenges for the Diaspora
The wanton destruction of life as well as the murderous zeal and callousness with which it has been carried out over the last couple of weeks have outraged the conscience of citizens and friends of Ethiopia the world over. In spite of being held hostage under the gun, Ethiopians at home are doing their best to resist the reign of terror instituted by the ruling cabal nation-wide. United by a sense of outrage, Ethiopians in the Diaspora as well are doing a tremendous job of exposing the state sponsored atrocities and terror campaigns currently reigning supreme over our land. The seemingly endless reports of protest rallies held in world capitals, communities, towns, and cities across the globe in solidarity with the plight of the much-suffering people of Ethiopia are beacons of hope and sources of encouragement to all Ethiopians, both at home and abroad, in this difficult period for our country.

Amid this unprecedented outburst of energy, commitment, and spirit of solidarity; one cannot help taking note of the growing influence the Ethiopian Diaspora can have, if it so chooses, on shaping the course of politics and socio-economic development in our country for the better. While the role of the Diaspora in the democratization process in Ethiopia cannot be decisive, it, nonetheless, is critical. The Diaspora community is blessed with many privileges and opportunities that it can take advantage of to enhance and promote the cause of peace and democracy in Ethiopia:

(1) As a community, the Ethiopian Diaspora enjoys access to a relatively larger margin
of disposable financial resources that it can channel in support of democratic forces
at home,
(2) The Ethiopian Diaspora has direct, though limited, access to the halls of power and
influential world media outlets both in the US and Europe. This is a privilege
that the Diaspora community can utilize to expose the genocidal acts, human rights
violations, and political abuses of the ruling clique at home and effectively discredit
it in the face of the international community, and
(3) Most significant of all, the Ethiopian Diaspora constitutes that part of the Ethiopian
soul that is free and empowered. Thus, as a community of free men and women, the
Ethiopian Diaspora needs to live up to its responsibility, the duty to strive earnestly
and unrelentingly to help redeem and rescue that part of it that still is suffering under
the yoke of tyranny - the tyranny of power and poverty.

So far, the great potential of the Ethiopian Diaspora to influence the course of events at home for the better had largely been left untapped. At best, the input of the Ethiopian Diaspora to the democratization process at home has been reactive, sporadic, and spasmodic largely dictated by the ebbs and flows of events there. Often times in the wake of a national tragedy at home, which is of late recurring with increased frequency and lethality, the largely docile and uninvolved Ethiopian Diaspora erupts into a bout of protest rallies, fundraisers, etc., united on the main by the collective outrage and anger that such crimes instill in the clean conscience of the decent men and woman of the Diaspora community. Invariably, these activities reach fever-pitch levels in the immediate aftermath of the tragic event or series of events that triggered it only to die-down shortly afterwards and be followed by a long spell of inaction and a state of disinterestedness - or shall we call it paralysis. While such episodic high-intensity involvements are necessary and helpful in at least temporarily soothing the pain and suffering of our compatriots in the hands of the ruling clique and its cadres; in terms of their long term impact, however, they leave a lot to be desired. The problem with such pattern of involvement is that our influence on events at home has become as fleeting and temporal as our passions are. This ought to change and change radically; if we, the Diaspora community, desire to make a meaningful, substantive, and consequential contribution to the political process at home. In essence, the Ethiopian Diaspora needs to devise a mechanism to mobilize, harness, and channel its resources in support of democracy in Ethiopia in a manner that is systematic, sustained (persistent), and proactive[3]. Such important objectives can be accomplished only through a strong communal organizational framework at the international level, which the Diaspora community has yet to establish[4].

It is to be emphasized here that this is NOT a clarion call for the formation of another political party that is larger, or smarter, or richer than all those around, NO! The intent here is to stimulate discussion among the men and women of the Ethiopian Diaspora on how to come together and join forces in a spirit of unity to form a communal platform[5], a focal point, on which our sense of community, citizenship, and duty is anchored firmly in solidarity with the plight of our fellow compatriots who are suffering under the yoke of the tyranny of power and poverty. A platform through which the Diaspora community can effectively channel its resources - be it financial, intellectual, or otherwise – in support of democracy, harmony, peace, and socio-economic development in our land. This is a platform on which the Ethiopian Diaspora will not only be the benefactor, but both the benefactor and at the same time the beneficiary. Here are just a few of the responsibilities and tasks that such a body can accomplish on behalf of the Diaspora community in a sustained and systematic manner:

(1) Effective and sustained fund raising,
(2) Channeling financial, intellectual, and other resources of the Diaspora in an effective and sustained manner in support of democracy at home,
(3) Organizing socio-cultural events on regular basis throughout the world to raise funds, to introduce the rich culture and tradition of Ethiopia to the international community and at the same time highlight the plight of the Ethiopian people under dictatorship and poverty,
(4) Organizing protest rallies, workshops, exhibitions, etc. worldwide on regular basis to expose the genocidal acts and human rights abuses of the ruling clique and thereby discredit it in the face of the international community,
(5) Creating an effective mechanism/instrument to legally confront, and seek accountability for, the atrocities and genocidal acts of murders and ethnic-cleansing that have been perpetrated by the ruling cabal and its associates throughout the country since 1991,
(6) Providing community services to members and newly arriving Ethiopian immigrants abroad,

(7) In the long run, as it matures and gain in strength, such a body can take upon itself responsibilities that are more weighty and of long term nature (socio-economic issues): poverty, HIV/AIDS, education, individual as well as communal investment, etc..
(8) …
(9) …
.
.
.

Un/fortunately, to be a part of the Ethiopian Diaspora today is a privilege, but it is also a responsibility; it is an opportunity, but also a challenge! The question of the moment is: will the Ethiopian Diaspora rise up to the challenges of the day and take advantage of the opportunities it presents and help Ethiopia free itself from her suffering under the yoke of the tyranny of power and poverty?

In a word the answer to the question, posed in the title of this note, is: Organize, Organize, and Organize!

[1] Mr. Meles is a fairly able political technician, albeit straight out of an archaic Byzantine mold, but he is no strategic thinker. His record as a politician is littered with strategic blunders of monumental proportions, all of which had to be redeemed by the ….., tears, sweets, and resources of Ethiopians and Ethiopia. It is no secret that Mr. Meles’ utter failure at the strategic level is wholly rooted in his singular lack of vision and statesmanship, leadership attributes anchored on weighty principles. The capacity to form and hold onto principles is all too burdensome a baggage to carry for Mr. Meles. In essence, Mr. Meles and by extension his cohorts are political organisms that live by the primeval instinct of survival and expediency (a condition of nature) than the high principles that underpin the strategic interests of a nation. This modus-operandi of theirs often renders them out-of-kilter and off-balance in the political scene, causing them to limp and lurch in and out of seemingly endless crises. The tragedy of it all is it is Ethiopians of generations to come that are to pick up the bills, bills that are to be redeemed by ……

[2] Allow me to digress a bit to reminisce and remember lives lost, hopes cut-short, dreams and potentials left unfulfilled; all due to a long series of genocidal atrocities committed by a cabal that seems to have set itself on a pedestal that is over and above the rule of law. The Bedeno Massacre of 1991/92, the Arssi internecine conflict of 1992/93, the murder of scores of peacefully protesting university students in Addis Ababa in 1993, the forced dislocation (ethnic-cleansing) of thousands more from various southern provinces of the country between 1991-1997, the 2001 massacre of dozens and ethnic-cleansing of thousands more from the province of Wellega, the murder of more than 40 unarmed protestors in Addis Ababa in April 2001, the killing of at least 38 peaceful protestors in Awassa in 2002, the massacre of over 200 protesters in Tepie in 2002 and the genocide of over 400 citizens in Gambella in December 2003 are some of the high profile atrocities perpetrated by the ruling oligarchy and its underlings. These and other atrocities of the ruling elite have been archived in great detail and specificity in the records of Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and the Ethiopian Human Rights Council.

[3] Of course it is involvement need to be carefully circumscribed in areas where it could be useful and effective
[4] At this juncture, as we look forward we need to acknowledge and give due credit to a few dynamic, diligent, and patriotic citizens who endeavored hard to keep us informed, inspired, and better organized, often times at a great cost to themselves in terms of finance, time, and emotion during the tragic events of the last few weeks in our country. Without the voluntary individual efforts and leadership demonstrated by those few citizens; the Ethiopian Diaspora may have found it difficult, if not impossible to channel the power of its outrage in a meaningful and consequential manner!
[5] At the local, national, continental, and international level

His Excellency

2005-07-12T03:43:00.000-07:00

It appears a bit awkward to address His Excellency Kemal Bedri. If one ventures to use his mouthful titles, he must be addressed as: "His Excellency Honorable Kemal Bedri, President of the Federal Supreme Court, President of the Council for Constitutional Inquiry and Chairman of the National Election Board of Ethiopia." With all his illustrious tiles and positions, he might be considered by the Guinness Book of World Records in the category of the longest political title.
In a recent interview with BBC's Stephen Sacker of Hard Talk, Meles could not properly answer rudimentary questions about the independence of the National Election Board of Ethiopia (NEBE). The questions were simple and Meles' answers were classically tricky.
'Let me ask you a simple question. Who presented the names of members of the election board to the House of Peoples' Representatives for approval'? Stephen asked. Meles held his breath and racked his brain for a little while. Then he said:'The National Election Board, the current board, was appointed over a decade ago, during the transitional period and that time the President submitted the names to the parliament. Now if we were to appoint new election board, it would be the Prime Minister, which [sic.] would put the names to the Parliament.' The answer was quite deceptive as it created the impression that the President and the Prime Minister were two different individuals with varied job descriptions and titles. However, the Hard Talk presenter was not easy to trick. To the PM's agony, the sharp journalist posed a follow-up question: 'Where were you at that particular time'?
There was no escape. Mumbling and looking blankly at the wall, Meles said: 'I was the President of the Transitional Government.' The journalist appeared a bit taken aback. 'You were the President'?
'Yes!' he answered with a bit of apprehension. 'So you still put forward the names'?
'Yes, I did' [sic.], said Meles. 'Well I think that is the point I am trying to get. You put forward all the names of the people who are on the election board'. And now you expect the opposition to believe this board would be entirely impartial'? That remains to be a million dollar question.
The Hard Talk interview, which has done a great deal of damage to the tyrant, highlighted once more that even Meles is short for words to answer a crucial question on the independence of the NEBE. The President and the Prime Minister, whoever they were, appointed members of the board. All the members of the board have dubious political background and links with the ruling party. In the process of appointing members of the NEBE, the PM made the gravest mistake. He appointed Kemal Bedri as Chairman of the Board in spite of the fact that he is not only Chief Justice in Ethiopia, despite his inexperience, but also President of the Council for Constitutional Inquiry.
The NEBE, under the guidance of Chief Justice Kemal Bedri, introduced an ordinance that effectively barred local civic groups from observing the election. The Chief Justice argued that local groups were required to have registered as election observers when they were originally set up. The decision was severely criticised by contesting parties as well as foreign observers, but Kemal Bedri and other member of the election board refused to budge. Despite the fact that election is held once in five years, the NEBE, which was supposed to be impartial and non-partisan, marred the election before it was even held with a ridiculously silly demand. Let alone in a country like Ethiopia, where we have nascent civic society, even in the most developed countries civic groups are not formed for the sole purpose of observing an election.
After a tumultuous legal battle, the Federal High Court passed a judgement against the NEBE. The Presiding Judge, Berhanu Teshome, reprimanded the NEBE for introducing the ordinance, which was found to have contravened the law of the land. The NEBE threatened it would appeal, though the appeal did not materialise.
During this unnecessary legal battle, time was deliberately wasted. The court ruling came too late, just 12 days before the general election, especially for a coalition of local civic groups, Organisation for Social Justice, which had planned to field over three thousand observers. The Chief Justice and his cohorts thwarted a crucial effort, which has made the election under observed in thousands of remote and inaccessible polling stations in the countryside.
Under heavy criticism from the EU observers and opposition parties, the NEBE made another blunder in the aftermath of the elections. While there were widespread allegations of vote rigging, it began to release results in trickles including those of disputed constituencies without any proper investigations and verifications. It declared that the ruling party had won the elections.On 24th May 2005 the largest foreign observer group, the European Election Observation Mission, led by Ana Gomes issued a damning verdict against Kemal's NEBE. It said: 'The European Union Election Observation Mission regrets the way in which the counting of the votes at the constituency level is being conducted as well as the way in which the release of results is being handled by the electoral authorities, the government and the political parties, especially the EPRDF. Contrary to voting day when the people of Ethiopia demonstrated a high sense of citizen responsibility and patience, and contrary to vote counting at the polling stations, where order and transparency prevailed, the following irregular practices are of concern:
1. In a press appearance on Monday 16 [May], EPRDF claimed victory in the absence of any results having been made public by the National Electoral Board. A similar statement was released on May 23. 2. Ten days after the election, although electoral results had been posted outside the polling stations in most of the country, the National Electoral Board has only released results from 121 out of 547 constituencies. 3. Since election day, the state-owned media have been releasing on a daily basis provisional, unofficial results mainly showing the partial victories of the EPRDF in a number of constituencies and regions across the country. However, the same media outlets have ignored press conferences or any other statement about results made by opposition parties. For example, on May 18, while international media (e.g. CNN and BBC) covered the press conference by CUD, Ethiopian TV and Radio Ethiopia as well as the next day editions of the state-owned newspapers Addis Zemen and The Ethiopia Herald completely ignored it. 4. Regarding the European Union Election Observation Mission Preliminary Statement of May 17, the state-owned media reported the positive side of the statement while disregarding any critical comments?The mission concluded: 'These practices, taken as a whole, are seriously undermining the transparency and fairness of the elections. They also risk increasing the scope for manipulation and consequently putting in doubt public confidence in the process. The European Union Election Observation Mission would like to recall that the state media has a duty to report on post election events in an even-handed manner. This duty includes allowing all parties access to the media, albeit while respecting the public interest."Again Ato Kemal Bedri was on the defensive. To make matters worse, in an interview with Radio Fana, the ruling party's mouthpiece, he said NEBE did not lose control of the election process. As a matter of fact, he should have talked to the independent media to boost his already sagging credibility.
In the meantime, the main opposition group, the Coalition for Unity and Democracy, went to court to challenge the PM's declaration of a state of emergency in contravention of the constitution. The matter was referred to the House of Federation's Council for Constitutional Inquiry, presided by the one and only Ato Kemal Bedri. The Council ruled that the Prime Minister was right even if the measure was clearly unconstitutional which contravened Articles 77 and 93. His involvement in the controversial election board had already made his judicial positions untenable and yet he presided over the council and came up with another great blunder.
Then came the ruling of the Federal High Court, which declared the release by the NEBE of disputed election results illegal. Kemal Bedri, President of the Supreme Court, vowed to have the decision overturned. The landmark ruling was overturned by the Federal Supreme Court, where the Chief Justice Kemal Bedri is the President.
The appointment of the current members of the NEBE, including Ato Kemal, whose independence is highly disputable, turned the first contested election in the history of Ethiopia into another farcical political exercise. That is why the call for a rerun of the general election, supervised by an independent election board, seems all the more resonant. It may be the only way forward to end the current political stalemate created by the TPLF, which is not yet ready for a real democratic change. During their Hard Talk interviews both Ato Meles and Ing. Hailu Shawel of CUD said a rerun of the election was a good idea. Nonetheless, whether there will be a rerun or not, it must be conceded that Ato Kemal and his colleagues have proved to be too partisan to serve a national election board, which is given the onerous task of overseeing a general election. Meles could not obviously get someone like Kemal Bedri and his colleagues to undermine the will the overwhelming popular quest for democracy.