The unity many are crying about is unity in name and geography, not unity of people. Isn't this fake unity? Whether we like it or not, our success in uniting our society primarily depends on how we deal with the Oromos in General and OLF in particular.

The only way we can heal the wounded hearts of the Oromos and others, that have been marginalized because of their ethnic identity is through a democratic process, which requires more action than slogans.

Easier said than done … if the Professor believes what he wrote, he should start by advocating justice to the millions of Ethiopians who suffered under the Tigrean rule and their accomplices – as long as the underlining injustice goes unpunished, the call for unity will remain asymptotic –

Al Mariam further prfesses;… "Practicing unity means focusing on issues and ideas and not personalities; not dwelling too much on the wrongs that have been done to us in the past but how we can heal each other in the future adopting evidence-based thinking instead of reacting emotionally; thinking before acting and always maintaining a personal policy of openness, honesty, fairness and respect for each other."

For human rights groups and many among Ethiopians who follow the human rights condition in Ethiopia, the savagery being committed against the Oromo people by Meles Zenawi and Tigre thugs is more than a little dirty secret. In one recent event the former Woyane “Seye Abraha” soon after his release from Qaliti prison said “Esir Betu Orommifa Yinageral”. To the stunned audience Seye added a figure -“about 99% of the prisoners in Qaliti are Oromos”.

As Fekade Shewakena wrote a year ago … "The information that gets out of Ethiopia from multiple sources has it that this naked tyranny against the Oromo people is being committed with impunity and complete disregard for human life. Many of these prisoners are victims of suspicion of belonging to the OLF. Many prisoners, are family members held hostage to hand in their adult relatives suspected of joining the OLF. Many are students who take the constitution and their rights seriously and demanded some freedom. They are of all age groups including 90 year olds, children being nursed by their prisoner mothers, students, toiling peasant farmers who work hard to feed their families. Many have never seen judges or are languishing in jails for years with punitive long court appointments. DWO (Dissenting While an Oromo) is a dangerous thing in Ethiopia. You will be tagged an OLF. Even some low level security operative or cadre can lock you up and throw the keys away."

I appreciate Al Mariam's concern for Unity …but you can't do it by rehabilitating criminal elements .. so we concentrate on personalities in our midst …the Abraha Belay's, the Seye's the Nagasso's etc

I think that many ethnic based groups have legitimate questions regarding the unity of Ethiopia. There are many issues that we need to address. We can not suppress them under the pretext of humanity. The right thing would be to create the political condition (which is democracy) for sorting out these issues.

I feel that the majority of Ethiopians are more concerned about their democratic rights than national unity. So, democracy is the only force that can keep us together. Democracy must be first! Then we can build genuine and sustainable unity. Thus, I believe that democracy is the condition for unity.

The problem persists as long as we are not able to exercise democratic principles in managing our differences. Wishing to get unconditional commitment of citizens for national unity, regardless of whether their individual and group rights, can not take us any further.

Mikir

For human rights groups and many among Ethiopians who follow the human rights condition in Ethiopia, the savagery being committed against the Oromo people by Meles Zenawi and Tigre thugs is more than a little dirty secret. In one recent event the former Woyane "Seye Abraha" soon after his release from Qaliti prison said “Esir Betu Orommifa Yinageral”. To the stunned audience Seye added a figure -“about 99% of the prisoners in Qaliti are Oromos”.

So how come the good Professor who eloquently profess UNITY didn't address those very painful realities of our people – Does he think Unity can be achieved by "Sleeping with the Enemy"?

Let me repeat my sincere concern about advocating cosmetic unity where it doesn't exist – Indded the diaspora are still being fragmented by the likes of agents of the enemy like those of "Abraha Belay" who is making a desperate effort torehabilitate war criminals like "Seye Abraha, Gebru Asrat and Nagasso Gidada" to further create disillusion among Ethiopians.

Until the good professor address issues of real substance to distance himself from members of the Meles crime family, his eloquence will remain only as an intellectual exercise and far removed from the reality on the ground!!!

I repeat once again the likes of Seye, Gebru, Nagasso and by extension "Abraha Belay and Ethiomedia" are instrumental in creating wedges between legitimate political opposition forces such as G7, OLF, EPPF, UDJ etc those fighting to dismantle the Woyane tyranny. In the name of "UNITY" – the aforementioned are making an effort to reinvent post Meles Woyane to further extend the Woyane tyranny!