We are witnessing a flurry of news from the TPLF party that calls itself the Ethiopian government. Why is the Woyane party so busy and why is the party pushing its cadres to be super active is a good question. That is what piqued my interest and I was forced to look around to figure out what exactly is happening both in Ethiopia and the Diaspora community to make the illegal regime work overtime.

I did not have to look far to see why the government is acting very nervous. It looks like for a change the progressive forces are on the attack and the reactionary regime is on the defense. Believe me this is a rare occurrence and shows the realignment of forces in our country. I will try to explain why later on but let us look at what is causing this shift. A few weeks back the regime carried out its ‘ethnic cleansing’ activity in the Beneshangul Gumuz Kilil. It was not the first time the TPLF led regime has done this criminal act but what was different this time around was our collective indignation. We were able to carry out a sustained and well organized push back from around the world. The opposition in Ethiopia cooperated by boldly demanding action and tried to collect evidence from the affected areas.

First the hapless regime paraded its toy PM and made him give some half ass explanation and dumped the crimes on their Kilil dog. The fact that the previous ‘ethnic cleansing’ activity was carried out in the South Kilil where the PM originated from was not lost on us. This rehearsed mea culpa did not impress anyone. It was back to the drawing board for the regime. Next In the clueless regime tried to divert our attention by planting rumors about the death of that other tyrant in Zimbabwe. We did not bite. After the failure of that story they again tried to engage us by removing the monument dedicated to our Holy Father Abune Petros. Again we showed our unhappiness but did not take our eyes of the ‘ethnic cleansing’ crime. We were focused and relentless. We were just simply not crying but talking about taking the matter to the International Court of Justice and the UN.

After lots and lots of postponements and dragging the regime brought our political prisoners and decided to hand down their useless justice. We were supposed to drop all other activity and concentrate on Eskinder Nega and Andulalem’s miscarriage of justice. Something odd happened here. We did not follow the script. For the first time we were able to connect the dots and see the whole picture. The progressive forces decided to link ethnic cleansing, Abune Petros and our Political prisoners’ situation as one.

I was waiting for the next drama with heightened anticipation. What would they try now was a common question asked by students of Woyane theatre. Invading Somalia was out of the question since they have already learned their lesson. The demonization of Eritrea was becoming stale. Playing the ethnic card is what brought about the problem in the first place so that was a no go zone. What would the ‘great visionary’ leader do under the circumstances was in the mind of all TPLF cadres in leadership position. They dug deep, traveled back in their criminally ladened history and came up with ‘cannibalism’ as the way out.

So with great fanfare they went about arresting anything anybody they could find. The injustice Minister was hauled away. The guy with dark glasses that sat behind the tyrant in Parliament was arrested. The Revenue and Customs guys were escorted to their won prison with a few selected business people to add flavor to the drama.

I guess all this activity is supposed to impress us. A criminal arresting another criminal is meant to fill our soul with hope for the future. They are so clueless they don’t even know that the news is taken with such amusement that a soccer game between Buna and Giorgis garners more anticipation than their cheap drama. Why would anyone think that Melaku Fenta that spineless individual sitting under Gebrewhaid Giorgis is capable of making any decision let alone steal big? Like most sycophants that are serving as the face of their departments Melaku was just another mannequin for show while the TPLF boss under him runs the outfit. That game is played all over Ethiopia and in the Embassy’s outside. I bet you cannot find any worthwhile governmental body without a TPLF deputy in charge.

This new drama is meant to keep us guessing what in the world is going on inside the TPLF party. We are supposed to guess which faction is up and who is down. The disinformation campaign by Debretsion keeps manufacturing different versions of their supposedly internal turmoil and some of us love nothing more than being instant experts in the inner workings of the mafia group. To hear some of our people go on the minute details of the party is mind boggling and a testimonial to the hopelessness of a few of our family and friends. They might have their own differences but do you really think that will stop them from their common goal of staying in power no matter what? Do you for second think they will not close ranks when threatened? Then why in the world are you wasting time and energy whether Azeb is fighting with Berket and if Sebhat is is not in good terms with Seyoum? Now if they really want our attention the best way to do it will be arrest Azeb or Abay Woldu not Sebhat or Seyoum since they already are near death.

The biggest joke of all is the claim that Hailemariam Desalgne was cleaning house. Let us see the PM that was handpicked by the dead tyrant and schooled in the art of servitude to TPLF, the PM that does not have a power base, the same PM that cannot even pick the guards outside his office is exercising authority on TPLF officials? Who would swallow such Mamo Kilo bed time story is a good question. Yes there are a few especially here in the Diaspora that are trying to put some lipstick on this pig of a story.

Some opined ‘EPDRF supporters speaking out’ while others declared ‘EPDRF undergoing profound changes.’ Well, well let see us what is giving these Woyane coddlers new life? What is different today that was not there yesterday is a good question. I read their writings very closely and tried to see what they were basing their new found euphoria on. I wanted to know what arguments they were bringing to the table to see if there was any validity to their conclusions. I couldn’t find any. It is all wishful thinking, self fulfilling prophesy and confused theories that is trying hard to fit a square peg in a round hole. The ones that are trying to see light at the end of the tunnel are the same people that advised wait and see attitude when Woyane conquered our capital and were willing and ready to serve the criminal organization. Their last miscalculation caused twenty years of misery to our people and country and here they are again advising us the presence of a non entity called EPDRF that is supposed to usher a new era of peace and prosperity. Give it a rest gentlemen and do not waste our time with your unfounded optimism. Why peddle a worn out theory this late in the game?

I am emboldened by three factors that have been added to the equation of fighting injustice in our dear country. The first and very significant addition to our arsenal of fighting for freedom and democracy is no other than our beloved ESAT. It has given voice to the voice less and opened our eyes to the reality that is what is ailing us. ESAT is the main reason Woyane misinformation campaign is falling on deaf ears. ESAT is the main reason the cry of our people in Ethiopia is getting a hearing. No matter what no sane Ethiopian can ignore the voice of our people coming thru the airwaves loud and clear. The tenacity and diligent reporting by ESAT that refused to fall for Woyane diversion kept the ‘ethnic cleansing’ criminal act in focus and thwarted their attempt to derail us.

The second factor is the gallantry of our Moslem citizens that have against all odds persevered for over a year their quest for freedom and independence. The many attempts to divide and splinter them by the illegal Woyane regime has been repulsed and the Moslem community is still standing together with one voice and one aim of protecting their right to run their religion free of government interference. It is a lesson to the rest of us to keep our eyes on the prize and not to let our organizations be the play ground of Woyane operatives.

The third factor that is emerging from Ethiopia is the beautiful new voice of Semayawi Party that is clear, clean and void of any clutter of the past that has been hindering our forward movement. From what I can observe from afar Semayawi is not encumbered by our past failures, weighed down by unnecessary dogma and geared to act and try newer stuff. That is what the doctor ordered. Why use beige and gray to paint when you can use bright blue and bring warmth to the canvas. The call by Semayawi Party to dress in black and show the discontent of our people during African Unions 50th anniversary is a bold and timely call. That is all peaceful resistance is about. It is our duty to follow the advice of the Party and tell our family and friends to cooperate in showing their grief by dressing in black. Those of us that believe in peaceful resistance this is our chance to practice what we preach.

As times go by it is becoming clear that the regime is feeling the loss of the evil person in charge. For over thirty years the prince of darkness Meles Ashebari Zenawi has been the brain and body of the mafia outfit that has been masquerading as a political party. I am willing to give him the credit as the personification of Satan on earth. He has earned the title. His death has left the TPLF party void of someone to fill his shoes no matter how small it is. It is not the absence of idiots or sycophants that is lacking in their midst but they just seem to suffer from the mistrust the evil one has left them with. That deficiency coupled with the emergence of new and daring Ethiopians schooled in the art of confronting the regime head on is what is causing headaches to the downgraded TPLF.

Life is beautiful. Our new found unity and purposeful march to the future is a hard won victory. The fact that it is Woyane in disarray and we are becoming hip to their many attempts to distract us is testimonial to our ability to learn and apply the lesson. There are still many voices that are constantly trying to derail our movement but the fact that we have matured and are able to separate the chaff from the wheat is our new found strength. We are not there yet but with all those strong and tested groups and individuals joining our movement there is no reason to doubt we are bringing the dark days to an end and new bright sun will rise up over our mountains and valleys. A luta continua-the struggle continues.

[Source: Ethiopian Review]

ለአዲሲቷ ኢትዮጵያ የጋራ ንቅናቄ

May 14, 2013

በኢንቨስትመንት ስም የአገር ሃብትና ትውልድን እየበላ ስላለው የመሬት ነጠቃ አስመልክቶ የኦክላንድ ተቋምና ድርጅታችን ለአዲሲቷ ኢትዮጵያ የጋራ ንቅናቄ በጋራ ያዘጋጁት ጥናታዊ ዘገባ ይፋ ሆነ። የጋራ ንቅናቄያችን ዋና ዳይሬክተር ጥናቱ በትክክለኛ ጭብጥ ላይ ተመስርቶ እንዲዘጋጅ ለህይወታቸው ሳይሳሱ መረጃ በመስጠት ለተባበሩ ዜጎች “ታላቅ ክብር ይሁንላችሁ። አሁን አትታወቁም። ግን ከቶውንም አትረሱም። ክብር ለማትታወቁት ግን ለማትረሱት የአገር ጀግኖች” በማለት ምስጋና አቅርበዋል።

ኢህአዴግን በደፈናው መቃወምን ዓላማው ያላደረገው ይህ ጥናታዊ ዘገባ ዜጎችን ካደጉበት፣ ከኖሩበት፣ ከቀያቸው፣ ከህልውናቸው፣ ከርስታቸው፣ ወዘተ ያለ አንዳች ውይይት፣ ምክክርና ንግግር በማፈናቀል ለውጪ ኩባንያዎችና ለራሱ ለባለጠመንጃው አገዛዝ ሰዎችና ባለሟሎች መሬት ማከፋፈሉን በማስረጃ ያሳያል። የራሱ የኢህአዴግ አካላትም በሪፖርቱ ውስጥ በአግባቡ ድምጻቸው ተካትቷል። የሚጠቀሙባቸው አዋጆችና ህጎችም አልተዘለሉም።

“የውጪ ባለሃብቶችና ኩባንያዎች ወደ አገር ውስጥ መግባታቸው ለቴክኖሎጂ ዝውውር፣ በአገሪቱ ያለውን የምግብ እጥረት ለማስወገድ ይረዳል” የሚሉ ምክንያቶች እያቀረበ ያለው ኢህአዴግ በተግባር ሲፈተሽ ተግባሩና ዓላማው ምን እንደሆነ የሚያመለክተው ጥናቱ የስርዓቱ ሰለባዎች፣ የኢህአዴግ ባለስልጣናት፣ ኢንቨስተሮች፣ ጉዳዩ የሚመለከታቸው ክፍሎች፣ የቅርብ ምስክሮች፣ የተለያዩ ከዓለምአቀፍ ተቋማት የተገኙ መረጃዎች፣ አገዛዙ ራሱ ይፋ ያደረጋቸው መረጃዎችና ለጥናቱ አስፈላጊ የተባሉ አኻዞች የተካተቱበት በመሆኑ እውነታውን ህዝብና ማናቸውም ወገኖች እውነቱን ለመረዳት ያስችላቸዋል ተብሎ በጉልህ ታምኖበታል።

በምሳሌ ለማሳያነት የተጠቀሰው የሳዑዲ ስታር ኩባንያ የሚያመርተውን ሩዝ ደብረዘይት በገነባው ተቋሙ አማካይነት ሩዙን የመለየትና ለኤክስፖርት የማዘጋጀት ስራ ይሰራል። የተመረጠውና መለኪያውን የሚያሟላው ሩዝ ኤክስፖርት የሚደረግ ሲሆን፣ ደቃቃውና በሚሊሜትር ተለክቶ ለኤክስፖርት ደረጃ የማይበቃው አገር ቤት እንዲቀር ይደረጋል። ከዚህ አንጻር እንኳ ቢታይ የመሬት ኢንቨስትመንት የተባለው ዓለም ጠንቅቆ ለሚያውቀው የአገራችን የምግብ እጥረት ችግር መፍትሄ ሊሆን አይችልም። በጥናቱ ዝርዝር ጉዳዩ አለ።

ኢህአዴግ በፖለቲካው ውድማ ላይ ቆሞ የሚያወራውና በተግባር የሚሆነውን እውነት ከሰለባዎቹ አንደበት በመቅዳት ሊስተባበል በማይችልበት ደረጃ ያቀረበው ጥናት፣ ዜጎች ከቀያቸው  ከመፈናቀላቸው በፊት ምክክርና የስነልቦና ዘግጅት እንዲደረግ ጊዜ እንደሚሰጥ በህግ የተደነገገ ስለመሆኑ፣ ነግር ግን እውነታው የተገላቢጦሽ መሆኑንን ጥናቱ በማስረጃ ያትታል። ዜጎች ነገ ስለሚሆነው እንኳ ሊያውቁ በማይችሉበት ደረጃ ማለዳ ካረፉበት ሲነቁ ዶዘር ማሳቸውን፣ የጓሮ አትክልታቸውን፣ የኑሯቸው መሰረት የሆነውን ደናቸውን፣ ቤታቸውን ሲጠርግ እንደሚያዩ እነዚሁ መከረኞች ለህይወታቸው ሳይሳሱ መናገራቸውን ጥናቱ ትኩረት ሰጥቶ አቅርቦታል።

የመሬት ካሳ እንኳ ባግባቡ የማያገኙት ወገኖች በራሳቸው አንደበት፣ በግብር የደረሰባቸውንና ከፊት ለፊታቸው ያለውን አደጋ አስመልክቶ በዝርዝር ሚዛናዊ በማድረግ ያቀረበው ጥናት ኢህአዴግ ለማስተባበል ከፈለገ በዜናና በተራ ጩኸት ሳይሆን በመረጃ የተደገፈ፣ ሁሉንም ወገኖች ያካተተ  ሚዛናዊ ሪፖርት ካቀረበ ብቻ ለአዲሲቷ ኢትዮጵያ የጋራ ንቅናቄ (አኢጋን) በማስተባበያነት እንደሚቀበለው አስቀድሞ ለመግለጽ ይወዳል።

በአገርና በግለሰብ ደረጃ መረጃ ለማዳረስ፣ በተመሳሳይ ኢህአዴግ የሚያሰራጨውን የሃሰት ፕሮፓጋንዳ ማጋለጥ፣ የሰብአዊ መብት ጥሰቱን ማሳየት፣ የተሳሳተውን ፖሊሲ ማስቀየር ዋናው የጥናቱ ዓላማ ነው። በጥናቱ በቀረበው ጭብጥ መሰረት የዓለም ባንክ፣ ወዳጅ አገሮች፣ አበዳሪ አገሮች ፖሊሲ አውጪዎች ወዘተ አካሄዳቸውን እንዲመረምሩ ለማስቻል ሰፊ ስራ የተሰራ መሆኑንን በዚህ አጋጣሚ እንጠቁማለን። በተለያዩ አጋጣሚዎች የተለያዩ የውጪና የአገር ውስጥ ሚዲያዎች እንደዘገቡት ሰፊ ስራ የተሰራ ቢሆንም፣ በዋናነት የጉዳዩ ባለቤት የሆነው የኢትዮጵያ ህዝብ ምን እየተሰራ እንደሆነ ሲረዳ ትግሉን ማቅለል፤ ውጤቱንም ማቅረብ ይቻላል የሚል እምነት አለን።

በዚህና በሌሎችም ተዛማጅ ምክንያቶች በከፍተኛ የሃላፊነት ስሜት፣ ረዥም ጊዜ ተወስዶ የተሰራው የትርጉም ሰራ ሰውን የሚያክል ክቡር ፍጥረት ከማደሪያው እንዲወጣ ተደርጎ እንዴት ወደ ጉድጓድ እንደሚወረወር ለመጪው ትውልድ በታሪክነት፣ አሁን ላለነው በመረጃነት፣ ከሁሉም በላይ ከጩኸትና ከመረጃ አልባ ክስ የምናገኘው ጥቅም አለመኖሩን በመረዳት አቋቋምን ለማስተካከል ይረዳል፣ ታላቅ ምሳሌም ይሆናል ብለን እናምናለን።

ጥናቱን በማሰራጨትና ዜጎች እጅ እንዲደርስ በማድረጉ በኩል የሁሉም ወገኖች ያልተቆጠበ ጥረት እጅግ አስፈላጊ እንደሆነ ለመግለጽ እንወዳለን። በዚህ አጋጣሚ እናወጣዋለን ብለን ካሰብንበት ጊዜ በማለፍ ተጨማሪ ሳምንታት በማዘግየታችን ታላቅ ይቅርታ እንጠይቃለን፡፡ በአገራችን ካለው የመረጃ አፈና አኳያ የጥናቱ መጠን ሰብሰብና አጠር ባለ መጠን በኢሜይል እንደሚሰራጭ ሆኖ በአዲስ መልክ ሲቀናበር ተጨማሪ ሳምንታትን መውሰዱ የግድ ሆኗል፡፡

የጋራ ንቅናቄያችን ጽሁፉን የማሰራጨቱ ስራ በጨዋነት፣ ለጽሁፉ ባለቤቶች (ለእንግሊዝኛው የኦክላንድ ተቋም ለአማርኛው ደግሞ አኢጋን) አስፈላጊውን እውቅና በመስጠት እንዲሆን በዚህ አጋጣሚ አበክረን እንሳስባለን። ከመሬት ነጠቃ በላይ የከፋ ወንጀል የለም። ዜጎችን በምድራቸው ወደ ባርነት የሚያሸጋግረው የመሬት ነጠቃ የአገሪቱን ሃብትና ንብረት እየበላ ነው። ይህንን ወደር የሌለው ወንጀል ለማጋለጥ፣ ለመታገል፣ ለመቃወምም ሆነ ተዛማጅነት ያላቸው ተግባራት ለማከናወን ለሚፈልጉ ተቋማት፣ ግለሰቦችና ሚዲያዎች ይረዳ ዘንድ (Land Grab – http://landgrabsmne.wordpress.com) የሚባል ብሎግ እንዲሁም በፌስቡክ Land Grab/መሬት ነጠቃ መከፈቱን ለማሳወቅ እንወዳለን። በቅርቡ የሚሻሻለው ይህ ብሎግና የፌስቡክ ገጽ ከመሬት ወረራ ጋር በተያያዘ ሁሉም ዓይነት ማስረጃዎች የሚታተሙበት ስለሚሆን መረጃ ለሚፈልጉ ወገኖች ሁሉ መልካም አጋጣሚ ይሆናል። ጥናታዊ ዘገባውን ከድረገጻችን ላይ ለማግኘት እዚህ ላይ ይጫኑ፡፡ በኢሜይል ለማግኘት የሚፈልጉ በሙሉ በሚከተለው አድራሻ (media@solidaritymovement.org) ቢጠይቁን በቀጥታ የምንልክ መሆናችንን እናሳውቃለን፡፡

በመጨረሻም የጋራ ንቅናቄያችን ዋና ዳይሬክተር ለተርጓሚው ከሁሉም በላይ ግን የስርዓቱ ላንቃ ስር ሆነው የህይወት ዋጋ በመክፈል መረጃ ለሰጡት ወገኖች የአክብሮት ምስጋና አቅርበዋል። አቶ ኦባንግ በመልዕክታቸው “በቦታው ላይ ሆናችሁ ለህይወታችሁ ሳትፈሩ ይህንን መረጃ የሰጣችሁ ሁሉ የአገር ጀግኖች ናችሁ፤ አሁን አትታወቁም። አሁን ልንገልጻችሁ አንችልም። ጊዜና ወቅት ጀግንነታችሁን እስኪገልጹት ግን አትረሱም። ልትረሱም አትችሉም። ብዙ ባይነገርላችሁና ባይዘመርላችሁም ታላቅ ስራ ሰርታችሁዋልና ክብር ይሁንላችሁ” ብለዋል፡፡

ለአዲሲቷ ኢትዮጵያ የጋራ ንቅናቄ

የሚዲያና ሕዝብ ግንኙነት ግብረኃይል

የ ሙሉውን ጥናት ትርጉም በአማርኛ ለማንበብ እዚህ ይጫኑ Understanding Land Investment Deals in Africa (Ethiopia)

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ለዚህ ደብዳቤ ምላሽም ሆነ ለተጨማሪ መረጃ ዋና ዳይሬክተሩን ለሚዲያ ክፍሉ (media@solidaritymovement.org) በመጻፍ ወይም ድረገጻችንን (www.solidaritymovement.org) በመጎብኘት ለመረዳት ይችላሉ፡፡

[Source: Ethiopian Review]

Details here (pdf)

[Source: Ethiopian Review]

[Source: Ethiopian Review]

On July 29th. 1936 Abune Petros was executed by the Italian fascist that were trying to colonize our country for his refusal to submit. On May 2nd. 2013 the monument that was built to commemorate our Holy Father was removed by the order of the TPLF party that is currently ruling our country. Our Holy Father died for the first time. The murder by a firing squad was an honor and showed his deep love for his people and country. The fascist killed his body but he made his home in every Ethiopian soul for ever and ever. We all carry Abune Petros in our heart. ‘Abune Petros Adebabaye’, ‘Abune Petros Hawelt’ is not just a location but the symbol of our pride and the true meaning of sacrifice for a higher cause.

The order to Kill Abune Petros was given by the fascist Viceroy Graziani but the trigger was pulled by solders from the North that were faithfully serving the fascist invader. The order to remove our monument to our beloved father was given by the TPLF party but the backhoe and flatbed truck was driven by modern day Banda’s.
They claim the removal is temporary. That is not the issue. Was it necessary is our question. Could it have been avoided is our point. Aren’t there some things considered priceless is our contention. The same people that moved heaven and earth to bring back our stolen Obelisk and erect it in its rightful place felt no qualms about dispatching daily laborers to bring our hero down and place him in a warehouse. We rejoiced when our obelisk was returned because it is the symbol of our glorious past. Although their leader dismissed our joy and happiness and tried to claim it as his peoples private history we bit our tongue and dismissed his rudeness for immaturity.

I agree it is difficult to personally relate to a stone like an obelisk. Nevertheless it is the product of our ancestors and a symbol of their ingenuity for that period in our past. But Abune Petros is a living symbol every one of us would have no problem claiming, admiring and silently thinking ‘would I have courage to act like him?’
Abune Petros is what I always thought we Ethiopians were like. I was raised at a time when being an Ethiopian was something special. There was not enough adjective to describe our country and people. Yes I am aware that we had lots of problems to resolve after all forging a nation is not a cake walk. There were many that were left behind and quite a few that did not get a fair share of what was on the table. We are still trying to come to terms with that.
That still should not dampen our glorious past. Abune Petros was one of those bigger than life Ethiopians that added a positive value to our experience. He defined patriotism, resolve, love, spiritual guidance and commitment to the truth. He accompanied our Emperor and the civilian army to Maichew and confronted the fascist army. He witnessed the gallantry of his people and the savageness of the European invaders. They came with modern weapons and poison gas to scare us to submission. We lost the battle but it only made us realize defeat was not an option. Surrender was not the language of the Ethiopian at that time. Yes times do change. A visitor would have a hard time believing the current generation descended from those that even washed the shoes of the foreigners least they take our soil with them.

Abune Petros continued to fight the way he knew. His religion and his love for his country were his weapons. From the monastery of Debre Libanos to far away churches he continued to rally his people to stand up straight and took the cry ‘By any means necessary!’ to drive the invader out of our cherished land. During his interrogation this is what he told the fascist authority when asked to accept Italy’s sovereignty over Ethiopia or face death.

“The cry of my countrymen who died due to your nerve-gas and terror machinery will never allow my conscious to accept your ultimatum. How can I see my God if I give a blind eye to such a crime?”
His last words before the bullets tore our bishop and Holy Father were:
“My fellow Ethiopians, do not believe the Fascists if they tell you that the patriots are bandits, the patriots are people who yearn for freedom from the terrors of fascism. Bandits are the soldiers who are standing in front of me and you, who came from far away to violently occupy a weak and peaceful country. May God give the people of Ethiopia the strength to resist and never bow to the Fascist army and its violence. May the Ethiopian earth never accept the invading army’s rule.”

His defiance and heroism became the battle cry of our patriotic army thru out the land and it echoed in our valleys and mountains from north to south east to west and the invader never saw a day of peace until they were driven out.
This was the man and his memory our new Bandas were trying to extinguish that day a week ago. They thought removing a statue would erase history. They tried to cover their mis-deeds with talk of progress. We are not against progress. We in the Diaspora contribute more than our share to help our country and people. As a matter of fact there would be no tall buildings, no dinner on the table and no profitable Ethiopian Airlines and no TPLF millionaire without remittance from the Diaspora. We just know that there are some things more important than others and our heritage, our history and our patriots cannot be kicked around wantonly. We are also well aware of TPLF’s habit of using wedge issues to divide us and hiding behind nation building while using a wrecking ball to destroy our history.

It is a sad sign of the times that our dear father’s memorial statue was removed without much protest. Those that preach about waging a ‘peaceful struggle’ against the new Bandas were nowhere to be seen holding a vigil. They were given an opportunity to unite and galvanize their people and use this Woyane insult against our history as a ‘teachable’ moment. Yes a little sacrifice is what is required to fight injustice. Yes there is imprisonment, injury even death in the struggle for freedom and dignity. People like Eskinder, Reyot, Andualem, Bekele Gerba , Abubeker and Woubeshet are behind bars because they choose not to submit to injustice and heed Abune Petros’s call to stand their ground. I am sure what gives them such determination is his everlasting pray “May God give the people of Ethiopia the strength to resist and never bow to the Fascist army and its violence.” We shall overcome.

For further Info please go to:

http://www.ethiopianorthodox.org/gallery/todaysphoto/abunepetros/index.htm

http://www.ethiopianreview.com/content/28504

[Source: Ethiopian Review]

Read the response – Amharic (pdf)

Read the response – English (pdf)

[Source: Ethiopian Review]

First, the irrefutable facts about the Meles Dam hogwash.  As I demonstrated in my March 11 commentary, “Rumors of Water War on the Nile?”, the Meles Dam on the Blue Nile (Abay River) was  the exquisite figment of Meles’ imagination, and now the phantasmic idol of worship for his discombobulated apostles. Anyone who bothers to study the facts of this so-called dam project will readily conclude that it is pie in the sky. It is “self-funded” because the multilateral lending institutions and private investors who normally bankroll such major infrastructure projects wouldn’t touch it with a ten foot pole standing a mile away. They have determined it is a white elephant. Egypt has also used its leverage to block funding sources.  Egypt has contingency military plans to undam the dam if it ever comes on line.

[Source: Ethiopian Review]

[Source: Ethiopian Review]

Read the full Press Release here (pdf)

[Source: Ethiopian Review]

ሪፖርቱን ለማንበብ እዚህ ይጫኑ

[Source: Ethiopian Review]

[Source: Ethiopian Review]

Diplomacy by hypocrisy is “diplocrisy”.

Edmund Burke, the British statesman and philosopher, said “Hypocrisy can afford to be magnificent in its promises, for never intending to go beyond promise, it costs nothing.” We’ve heard many promises on human rights in Africa from President Obama and his Administration over the past four years.  “We will work diligently with Ethiopia to ensure that strengthened democratic institutions and open political dialogue become a reality for the Ethiopian people… We will work for the release of jailed scholars, activists, and opposition party leaders… We align ourselves with men and women around the world who struggle for the right to speak their minds, to choose their leaders, and to be treated with dignity and respect…. Africa’s future belongs to its young people… We’re going to keep helping empower African youth… Africa doesn’t need strongmen, it needs strong institutions. We support strong and sustainable democratic governments…. America will be more responsible in extending our hand. Aid is not an end in itself… [Dictatorship] is not democracy, [it] is tyranny, and now is the time for it to end… America is watching…” All empty promises and cheap talk.

Last week, the U.S. State Department released its annual Human Rights Report for 2013. In his remarks launching that report, Secretary of State John Kerry announced

…[These] reports show  brave citizens around the world and those who would abuse them that America is watching…

So anywhere that human rights are under threat, the United States will proudly stand up, unabashedly, and continue to promote greater freedom, greater openness, and greater opportunity for all people. And that means speaking up when those rights are imperiled. It means providing support and training to those who are risking their lives every day so that their children can enjoy more freedom. It means engaging governments at the highest levels and pushing them to live up to their obligations to do right by their people…

Is America really “watching” and “standing up”?

I am always curious when someone is watching. Big Brother is watching! Aargh!!

When Kerry tells “brave citizens” in Ethiopia like Eskinder Nega, Reeyot Alemu, Wobshet Taye, Sertkalem Fasil, Bekele Gerba, Olbana Lelisa, Abubekar Ahmed, Ahmedin Jebel, Ahmed Mustafa and so many others   “America is watching”, what does he  mean? Does he mean America is watching them rot in Meles Zenawi Prison #1 in Kality and/or #2 in Zewai? Does he mean America is watching Ethiopia like birdwatchers watch birds? Or like amateur astronomers watching the starry night sky? Perhaps like daydreaming tourists at the beach watching the waves crash and the summer clouds slowly drifting inland?

Is “watching” a good or a bad thing? If we believe Albert Einstein, watching is no good. “The world will not be destroyed by those who do evil, but by those who watch them without doing anything.” (Silent watchers, watch out!) Like Nero Claudius Caesar who watched Rome burn from the hilltops singing and playing his lyre. Or, (I hate to say it but it would be hypocritical of me not to) like  Susan Rice who watched Rwanda burn.  Her only question was, “If we use the word ‘genocide’ and are seen as doing nothing, what will be the effect on the November [Congressional] election?”

I like it when Human Rights Watch (HRW) watches because when they watch they witness. They saw the genocide and crimes against humanity in the Ogaden and Gambella and they have witnesses. They watched independent journalists jacked up in kangaroo court and railroaded to Meles Prison #1 or #2. (Sounds like the equivalent of a hotel chain? Well, they do put chain and ball on innocent people at the Meles Zenawi Hilton.)

I like watching watchdogs watch crooks, criminals and outlaws. I mean “watchdog  journalists” like Eskinder, Reeyot, Serkalem,  Woubshet and many others. These journalists used to watch power abusers and alert citizens of the crimes they were watching. Now the criminals  are watching them in solitary at the Meles Zenawi Hilton.

I also like the way the watchdogs’ watchdog watch those who dog the watchdogs. I am referring to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). The CPJ guys are like McGruff, the crime watchdog, always tracking to “take bites out of crimes” committed against journalists. Not long ago, they watched and sounded the alarm that Reeyot Alemu was heading to solitary confinement just because she complained about inhumane and inhuman treatment in Meles Zenawi Prison.  Last week, the CPJ watched Woubshet Taye being hauled from the Meles Zenawi Prison #1 to Meles Zenawi Prison #2.   (They think he will be forgotten by the world lost in the armpits of Meles Zenawi Prison #2.)

I pity those who just watch. Like the “foolish and senseless people, who have eyes but do not see, who have ears but do not hear” or those who may “indeed see but not perceive, and may indeed hear but not understand.” I have no idea what the Obama Administration is watching, perceiving or seeing in Ethiopia? I would like to believe they are watching human rights abuses and abusers and the criminals against humanity. But how is it possible to watch with arms folded, ears plugged and wearing welding goggles? I wonder: Could they be watching the tragicomedy, “The Trials and Tribulations of the Apostles of Meles”? Perhaps they are watching kangaroo courts stomping all over justice and decency? I am certain they are not watching the political prisoners. Perhaps they are watching the horror movie, “Dystopia in Ethiopia”? Sure, it’s a scary movie but it really isn’t real. But if it is real, what’s the big deal? The same horror film has been playing all over Africa since before independence. Get over it!

From where I am watching, the Obama Administration seems to be watching Ethiopia peekaboo style; you know, cover your face with the palms of your hand and “watch” between the fingers. “I seee yooou!” That is, stealing elections, sucking the national treasury dry, handing over the best land in the country to bloodsucking multinationals,  jailing journalists and ripping off the people.

Doesn’t “America is watching,” sound like Orwellian doublespeak. You know, “War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength.” Dictatorship is democracy. Watching is turning a blind eye.

When America is watching, those being watched in Ethiopia are watching America watching them. They watch America waffling and shuffling,  double-talking, flip-flopping and dithering, equivocating, pretending, hemming and hawing and hedging and dodging. But those chaps in Ethiopia watch like George Orwell’s Big Brother (Nineteen Eighty-Four) who watched  everybody and everything in Oceania. Well, Big Brother Meles is gone from Ethiopiana but the “Little Brothers of the Party of Meles”  keep on watching and yodeling:

…The Party seeks power entirely for its own sake. We are not interested in the good of others; we are interested solely in power, pure power. What pure power means you will understand presently. We are different from the oligarchies of the past in that we know what we are doing. All the others, even those who resembled ourselves, were cowards and hypocrites. The German Nazis and the Russian Communists came very close to us in their methods, but they never had the courage to recognize their own motives. They pretended, perhaps they even believed, that they had seized power unwillingly and for a limited time, and that just around the corner there lay a paradise where human beings would be free and equal. We are not like that. We know what no one ever seizes power with the intention of relinquishing it. Power is not a means; it is an end. One does not establish a dictatorship in order to safeguard a revolution; one makes the revolution in order to establish the dictatorship. The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power. Now you begin to understand me.

Oceania Ethiopiana!

I have been watching America watching Ethiopia for a very long time. I have been watching the Obama Administration watching and coddling the criminals against humanity in Ethiopia, Rwanda and Uganda.   I must confess that I enjoy watching and re-watching President Obama’s  speeches in Accra, Cairo, Istanbul and elsewhere. “History is on the side of brave Africans…” (whatever that means).

I liked watching former Secretary of State Hilary Clinton declare moral victory on the Chinese and capture the commanding moral heights. “We don’t want to see a new colonialism in Africa… It is easy to come in, take out natural resources, pay off leaders and leave… and not  leave much behind for the people who are there.” Right on! Power to the people of Africa! Down with colonialism! (I think that may be a bit passé.)

Sometimes I feel bad watching. When I watch hard earned American tax dollars bankrolling ruthless African dictators who laugh straight to the bank to deposit their American tax dollars, I really get bummed out. I am peeved when I watch the American people being flimflammed into believing their tax dollars are supporting democracy, human rights and American values in Africa. But when I watch those miserable panhandlers “enfolded in the purple of Emperors” bashing  and trashing America on their way back from depositing their foreign aid welfare checks, I just plain get pissed off!!

“America is watching,” but is America watching where its tax dollars are going? It is NOT.  According to an audit report by the Office of the Inspector General of US AID in March 2010 (p. 1), there is no way to determine the fraud, waste and abuse of American tax dollars in Ethiopia:

The audit was unable to determine whether the results reported in USAID/Ethiopia’s Performance Plan and Report were valid because agricultural program staff could neither explain how the results were derived nor provide support for those results. Indeed, when the audit team attempted to validate the reported results by tracing from the summary amounts to the supporting detail, it was unable to do so at either the mission or its implementing partners… In the absence of a complete and current performance management plan, USAID/Ethiopia is lacking an important tool for monitoring and managing the implementation of its agricultural program.

Watching diplocrisy in Technicolor 

There is nothing more mind-bending and funny than watching hypocrisy in Technicolor. Earlier this month, in an act of shameless diplocrisy, Secretary Kerry expressed grave reservations about the legitimacy of the election of Nicolás Maduro as president of Venezuela. Maduro won the election by a razor thin margin of 50.66 percent of the votes. Opposition leader Henrique Capriles rejected the results alleging irregularities and demanding a recount of all votes.

Kerry supported Capriles’ demand for a recount. “We think there ought to be a recount… Obviously, if there are huge irregularities, we are going to have serious questions about the viability of that [Maduro] government.” White House spokesman Jay Carney also issued a statement calling for a recount of all the votes.

… Given the tightness of the result — around 1 percent of the votes cast separate the candidates – the opposition candidate and at least one member of the electoral council have called for a 100 percent audit of the results.  And this appears an important, prudent and necessary step to ensure that all Venezuelans have confidence in these results. In our view, rushing to a decision in these circumstances would be inconsistent with the expectations of Venezuelans for a clear and democratic outcome.

In May 2010 when the late Meles Zenawi claimed 99.6 percent victory in the parliamentary elections and  leaders from Medrek, the largest opposition coalition, and the smaller All Ethiopia Unity Party alleged glaring election fraud, vote rigging and denial of American food aid to poor farmers unless they voted for the ruling party, the U.S. response was “see no evil, hear no evil and speak no evil.” White House National Security Spokesman Mike Hammer could only express  polite “concern” and muted “disappointment”:

We acknowledge the conclusion of Ethiopia’s parliamentary elections on May 23, 2010…

We are concerned that international observers found that the elections fell short of international commitments. We are disappointed that U.S. Embassy officials were denied accreditation and the opportunity to travel outside of the capital on Election Day to observe the voting.  The limitation of independent observation and the harassment of independent media representatives are deeply troubling.

An environment conducive to free and fair elections was not in place even before Election Day. In recent years, the Ethiopian government has taken steps to restrict political space for the opposition through intimidation and harassment, tighten its control over civil society, and curtail the activities of independent media. We are concerned that these actions have restricted freedom of expression and association and are inconsistent with the Ethiopian government’s human rights obligations.

…We urge the Ethiopian government to ensure that its citizens are able to enjoy their fundamental rights. We will work diligently with Ethiopia to ensure that strengthened democratic institutions and open political dialogue become a reality for the Ethiopian people.

Victory by 50.66 percent is irrefutable evidence of election fraud in Venezuela but “all Ethiopians should have confidence” in the 99.6 percent election victory of Meles Zenawi? Sounds like election certification in Oceania. Rigged elections are free and fair elections!    

Watching “fools, idiots” and sanctimonious diplocrites

If Susan Rice is to be believed, critics of Meles Zenawi and his regime (and by implication critics of U.S. policy that supports the regime) are “fools and idiots”. I guess if one must choose between being a “fool/idiot” and a hypocrite/diplocrite, one is well-advised to choose the former. A fool does or does not do the right thing because s/he lacks intelligence and understanding. S/he has the potential to learn and make right choices. But the cunning diplocrite does the wrong thing with full knowledge and understanding of the wrongfulness of his/her acts. S/he is unteachable and incorrigible. No one knows more about the difference between right and wrong than diplocrites, yet they do wrong because they don’t give a   _ _ _ _!

The U.S. has been practicing diplocrisy in Ethiopia for the past two decades. It has propped up the regime of  Meles Zenawi with billions of dollars of “development” and “humanitarian” aid while filling the stomachs of starving Ethiopians with empty words and emptier promises.  Since 1991, the West in general has provided Meles’ regime nearly $30 billion in aid.  In 2008 alone, $3 billion in international aid was delivered on a silver platter to Meles, more than any other nation in sub-Saharan Africa. In March 2011, Howard Taylor, head of the British aid program declared Ethiopia will receive $2 billion in British development assistance. In 2010, the EU delivered £152m to Meles Zenawi.

In December 2010, Human Rights Watch called on the Development Assistance Group (DAG), a coordinating body of 26 foreign donor institutions for Ethiopia to “independently investigate allegations that the Ethiopian government is using development aid for state repression.” In July 2010, a DAG-commissioned study issued a whitewash denying all allegations of improper use of aid. In August 2011, the Bureau of Investigative Journalism and the BBC reported the “Ethiopian government is using millions of pounds of international aid to punish their political opponents.” The report presented compelling evidence of how “aid is being used as a weapon of oppression propping up the government of Meles Zenawi.” Despite numerous documented reports of aid abuse and misuse, Western leaders and governments continue to hide behind a policy of plausible deniability and the massaged and embellished reports of swarms faceless international poverty-mongers creeping invisibly in Ethiopia.

The Center for Global Development in its comprehensive 2012 report cautioned, “The United States could be making a dangerous long-term bet with its assistance dollars by placing so little emphasis on governance in Ethiopia”, and US policymakers should temper their expectations for future development prospects in Ethiopia under the current regime. Sorry, no one is listening at  the U.S. State Department, only watching.

Watching truth on the scaffold and wrong on the throne

“America is watching.” But is anybody watching America?  The people of Ethiopia are watching America asking,  “Is America watching? Watching what?”

The powerful don’t believe the powerless are watching them because they equate powerlessness with blindness. The powerless do watch because that is all they can do. They watch boots pressing down on their necks. They watch crimes committed against them as they sit helplessly with empty stomachs and hearts filled with terror. When Kerry says, “America is watching”, he should be mindful that  Ethiopia’s poor and powerless are watching America with outrage on their faces, sorrow in their hearts and resentment in their minds.

I have watched Ethiopia’s “best and brightest” fall silent, deaf and mute watching truth on the scaffold and wrong on the throne. They have been watching the scaffold and throne like bystanders watching a crime scene — horrified, terrified and petrified. Perhaps they should heed Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s counsel, “Silence in the face of evil is itself evil. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act.”

But if Robert Lowell is right, it does not matter who is watching silently, watching peekaboo style, watching by turning a blind eye, watching for the sake of watching or not watching at all, because there is One who standing within the shadow watches the watchers, the watched and the unwatched:

Truth forever on the scaffold, Wrong forever on the throne,—                     Yet that scaffold sways the future, and, behind the dim unknown,               Standeth God within the shadow, keeping watch above his own.

Professor Alemayehu G. Mariam teaches political science at California State University, San Bernardino and is a practicing defense lawyer.

Previous commentaries by the author are available at:

http://open.salon.com/blog/almariam/

www.huffingtonpost.com/alemayehu-g-mariam/

Amharic translations of recent commentaries by the author may be found at:

http://www.ecadforum.com/Amharic/archives/category/al-mariam-amharic

http://ethioforum.org/?cat=24

[Source: Ethiopian Review]

Tamagne was here. I wrote that and felt I have said enough. Well since you asked I guess I will tell you the rest of the story. I thought by now you would know If Tamagne was here something big and important regarding Ethiopia happened. You know Tamagne; he does not do things little. He does not think of neighborhood, not even a region Tamagne goes the whole nine yards and dreams of a nation. Tamagne does not fly to Atlanta or Houstinn from his base in DC, our Tamagne crosses a continent all the way to California to spend an evening with his people. I am afraid he is outgrowing even that. Now we see Tamagne in New Zealand or Norway. I don’t need a fortune teller to predict we might hear from Tamagne from outer space. I will just sigh and mumble he must have found a lost Habesha that just don’t know when to stop and settle.

He has developed a new habit too. He does not travel light no more. As if the one man army is not enough he is accompanied by some heavy guns all around him. I am not talking about a bazooka or tank. No Tamagne has found the ultimate weapon disarm his enemies. He is accompanied with the messengers of love, brotherhood and tolerance. How I envy Weizero Mamita and Grazmach Beyene because they have given us such a precious gift. May God bless them.
I am sorry about my sloppy writing but you can’t blame me. Right now I am levitating and I am afraid it will take a while to bring me down to earth. I am floating with joy, happiness and hope and it is all due to Tamagne and his associates. I also noticed most of the folks I spent the evening with were a little delirious and as the evening went on the love and peace was infectious with Ethiopians spontaneously clapping, laughing and hugging without abandon. I told you, you should have been there.

Messengers of peace and unity.
What were all these people doing on a beautiful Saturday afternoon is a good question? The only explanation I could give you is to say they are committed, they care and they just acted on it. Lots of people worked hard to make the event a success it was. They all have one thing in common, they were all Ethiopians. What brought them together is their love and concern for their homeland.
First were the organizers of the event. It took time and effort to find a good safe location. They have to arrange transportation and accommodation for their guests. Flyers and pamphlets have to be printed to advertise the event. The posters have to be distributed in the community, published on our Web sites and the tickets have to be sold door to door. Without them there is no event. Thank you my beautiful young friends. I am happy your effort was gladly embraced by your community.
Then there were our guests that have to travel far and close to spend a precious day with their people. They are all busy and successful people that are willing to share their views and stick their neck out for all of us to dissect and parse. They were chosen to sit on the podium because they have earned the respect of their community by their work and deeds and we all want to hear from them, meet them and share our views with them.
The most crucial element in this gathering are the guests. Their presence is what makes all that effort worthwhile. I always think it is beautiful to have plenty of people but even the attendance of a single individual to me is a success. We have to show respect and do what has to be done. Coming to an event is not easy. It requires planning commitment and energy. We have to juggle so many responsibilities in our daily life and spending a whole afternoon and evening attending an event is not an easy matter. There is work, family responsibility and other commitments to take into consideration, not to mention paying for the ticket, arranging transportation etc. etc.
All three actors in this important function have something in common that makes them special. They all love their country in a positive way. They value the importance of getting together and trying to find a common solution to make their ancient country a better place. They are not just talkers but doers that go the extra mile to make things happen. It is what is called a symbiotic relationship. One cannot survive without the other. One needs the other to grow and thrive.

Our guests made all of us proud. They said many important things and it is beyond this little presentation to do it justice. There were so many standing ovations, plenty of laughter and the evening went so fast our poor organizers were forced to rearrange their program to fit the occasion. The two young people assigned to lead the ceremony were consummate professionals that made it look so easy I even thought I could do that. Dressed in the splendor of our national colors they set the tone in a positive manner. The sound and video was perfect showing the organizers commitment to excellence.

Abatachen his Holiness Abune Melkesedek General Secretary of the Holy Synod-in Exile, Archbishop of Medhane Alem Cathedral in Oakland was sitting in the middle. That sight by itself was enough to make ones heart swell with pride and joy. He started the assembly with a prayer. I don’t know about you but I knew things were going to get better and better. How could anything go wrong when Abatachen gives his blessings?

I hope you don’t mind me paraphrase and put their speech in my own words. Abatachen spoke about the importance of faith and responsibility in our daily life. He gave us perspective regarding our ancient history and the crucial role religion has played in the making of our country. He thought us how respect for each other’s religion and tolerance of our differences has played an important role in forming the Ethiopia we know now. Then he looked at us and asked a crucial question. What makes us different from animals? He said we are born, we grow up we have family and we all die. He explained we humans are different because we determine road we travel. If you take an animal far from where he was born and give it the comfort he/she needs they will not leave but stay put. It will form a family take care of its offspring and die. But we humans are different. There should be more. We think about the future. What we leave behind for our offspring is a very important consideration of being a human. Life is not about a simple comfort for oneself and one’s family but thinking of the greater family is a crucial aspect of living a successful and whole life. Something to think about, what do you think?

My dear brother Sheik Imam Khalid is not a complicated person. He speaks clearly, forcefully and in sharp short sentences. He does not leave much for ambiguity. In this time of misinformation, propaganda and rumors it is a relief to listen to someone that does not beat around the bush and states his case in a clear manner. His love for his country and religion just oozes out of him. He laid to rest the fact that our Muslim brothers struggle is for the rights of their religious independence despite the many insane ideas being thrown around by the illegal regime in power. In simple words he wants the government to stop meddling in his religion. I loved the way he started his speech. His observation was regarding the duality of our personality. There is the family you, the work place you, the you that is routinely presented among friends and the Mosque or Church you. Why so many faces? That he said is the central problem. We have to resolve that issue within ourselves and come out clean. It is not complicated is it?
We also heard from our local Mosque religious leader and he spoke about the importance of working together, the culture of unity of purpose our people have developed thru out the years and that spirit that is still leading our struggle forward. Shamble was the person that gave color to the event. With his Masinko and beautiful voice he took us back and you can see the audience mesmerized with everyone going home in a mental trip. Thank you Shambel may be next year we will meet in Addis. As the Jewish saying goes “Lashanah haba’ah biy’rushalem’ I say to you ‘ ýememetaw amet biáddis abeba’

Our hosts had a surprise guest for us too. I told you they were firing with all eight cylinders. They brought us none other than the dragon slayer himself. My friend Abebe Gelaw in person. The assembly went wild. Who else to elevate our spirit and remind us of the importance of sticking out for our people when the time requires it. He defines the meaning of seize the time.

It was time for Tamagne to come to the podium. You can hear a pin drop. The anticipation was overwhelming. As I have said before Tamagne don’t have to do anything to paint smile and joy on our faces. He has this ability to channel our energy and magnify it back at us. Some shout, some clap the men whistle and the women ululate. Pandemonium in the house is what it felt like. The fire alarm was triggered by the noise, the earth shook and the security showed up in force. I am exaggerating a little aren’t I? Well I don’t have a video and this is the best I can do. You get my meaning.

I will not even try to tell you what Tamagne presented. I don’t really know for how long but whatever it was it was short. Time has a tendency to flee when he is on stage. His simplicity is what makes the situation complicated. He disarms you with the strength of his presentation. It is audio, video and god knows what else. My suggestion is do not at all challenge Tamagne, he carries this thumb drives full of facts and figures. For a person with a death sentence hanging around his neck he seems to be relaxed. If only Ato Meles has allowed him to present his defense when accused of being a terrorist I am sure the court would have thrown the dictator into Kality. Poor Meles he died knowing Tamagne has another date to clear his name in a real court of law. You know me I will be in that jury.
So what did we accomplish? A lot my friend. We showed we cared. We proved Abatachen right by working together to leave something behind for our country and children. We rose up to the occasion when called for. The idea of the gathering was to raise money so ESAT can continue the job of being the independent ‘eyes and ears’ of our people. From something like three hundred people we raised over thirty thousand dollars. The investment we made was not to realize profit. Our reward comes when ESAT uses the fund to do the job we have entrusted them with-faithfully and truthfully inform our people. I am absolutely sure they will do that with determination professionalism and purpose. If not we all are here to watch and speak out when both things go right or wrong.

As I said it was a festive afternoon and evening. It was nice to see Ethiopians gathered to show concern and love for country and each other. I said many good things about our guests. I put them up on a pedestal. It is not about hero worship or excessive adulation of individuals. To me it is all about giving credit where credit is due. The tone set by the late dictator was constant put down of our country, people and culture. He wanted to shine all by himself. That is not good. We have plenty of good things going for us. We are blessed with ancient culture that is built on love and tolerance as a foundation. We have lived for eons as a nation state due to that. To me our guests were building on that tradition. If we don’t put them up on a pedestal who would? If we don’t celebrate their accomplishments , if we don’t appreciate their sacrifice who then? None were paid to be there, no one made a penny of the event and no one was compelled to come. That is all commitment is about. May God and Allah bless them all and protect them and shield them from harm for they are our national treasure.

I am sure my cousin Fekreye will ask me “why do you make it so long’ I thought I should be faithful to such an important gathering of honorable people and it just kept coming out. Take your time and read it please, won’t you I worked hard on it.

By the way the next day Tamagne presided on another gathering in Seattle and you know folks of Seattle are a show off and they collected close to sixty thousand dollars. Seattle congratulations, we will meet again and we will be ready. We accept the challenge, we got work to do. Finally look at the picture below and see Tamagne at work-the power of love!

[Source: Ethiopian Review]

[Source: Ethiopian Review]

“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing”, said Edmund Burke. But what happens when evil triumphs over a good young woman journalist named Reeyot Alemu in Ethiopia? Do good men and women turn a blind eye, plug their ears, turn their backs and stand in silence with pursed lips?

In an extraordinary letter dated April 10, 2013, the Committee to Protect Journalists pled with Berhan Hailu, “Minister of Justice” in Ethiopia, on behalf of the imprisoned 32-year old journalist urging that she be  provided urgent medical care and spared punishment in solitary confinement at the  filthy Meles Zenawi Prison in Kality just outside the capital Addis Ababa.

Prison authorities have threatened Reeyot with solitary confinement for two months as punishment for alleged bad behavior toward them and threatening to publicize human rights violations by prison guards, according to sources close to the journalist who spoke to the International Women’s Media Foundation on condition of anonymity.CPJ has independently verified the information. Reeyot has also been denied access to adequate medical treatment after she was diagnosed with a tumor in her breast…

Last week Reeyot was declared winner of the “UNESCO / Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize 2013.” That award recognizes “a person, organization or institution that has made an outstanding contribution to the defence and/or promotion of press freedom anywhere in the world, especially when this has been achieved in the face of danger.” The $25,000 prize will be awarded on the occasion of World Press Freedom Day on May 3, 2013.

In May 2012, Reeyot received the prestigious International Women’s Media Foundation “2012 Courage in Journalism Award for “her commitment to work for independent media when the prospect of doing so became increasingly dangerous, her refusal to self-censor in a place where that practice is standard, and her unwillingness to apologize for truth-telling, even though contrition could win her freedom.”

In December 2012, Reeyot, along with three other courageous independent journalists, received Human Rights Watch’s prestigious Hellman/Hammett Award for 2012 “in recognition of their efforts to promote free expression in Ethiopia, one of the world’s most restricted media environments.”

Reeyout Alemu is Ethiopia’s press freedom heroine

In May 2012, when Reeyot received the IWMF’s award, I wrote a commentary entitled, “Reeyot Alemu: Young Heroine of Ethiopian Press Freedom” recounting some of Reeyot’s courageous acts of journalism and denouncing the abuse she received at the hands of those in power in Ethiopia. In June 2011, Reeyot and her co-defendant journalist Woubshet Taye were arrested on trumped up charges of “terrorism” and held incommunicado in the infamous Meles Zenawi Prison. Reeyot’s arrest occurred just after she had written a column in a weekly paper criticizing the late Meles Zenawi’s harebrained fundraising campaign for the so-called Grand Renaissance Dam over the Blue Nile. That column seemed to have angered the cantankerous and irascible Meles. Reeyot also skewered Meles’ sacred cow, the half-baked “five-year growth and transformation plan” (which I critiqued in “The Fakeonomics of Meles Zenawi in June 2011) . In September 2012, Reeyot and Woubshet were charged with “conspiracy to commit terrorist acts and participation in a terrorist organization” under Meles Zenawi’s cut-and-paste anti-terrorism law.

Reeyot’s trial in Meles’ kangaroo court was a template for miscarriage of justice. She was held in detention for three months with no access to legal counsel. She was denied counsel during interrogation.  The kangaroo court refused to investigate her allegations of torture,  mistreatment and denial of medical care in pre-trial detention. The evidence of “conspiracy” consisted of  intercepted emails and wiretapped telephone conversations she had about peaceful protests and change with other journalists abroad. Her articles posted on various opposition websites were “introduced” as “evidence” of conspiracy.

Human Rights Watch was confounded by the idiocy of the terrorism charges: “According to the charge sheet, the evidence consisted primarily of online articles critical of the government and telephone discussions notably regarding peaceful protest actions that do not amount to acts of terrorism. Furthermore, the descriptions of the charges in the initial charge sheet did not contain even the basic elements of the crimes of which the defendants are accused….”

Amnesty International denounced the judgment of the kangaroo court: “There is no evidence that [Reeyot and the other independent journalists] are guilty of any criminal wrongdoing. We believe that they are prisoners of conscience, prosecuted because of their legitimate criticism of the government. They must be released immediately and unconditionally.”

PEN American Center “protested the harsh punishment handed down to” Reeyot and Woubshet and demanded their “immediate and unconditional release.” PEN asserted the two journalists “have been sentenced solely in relation to their peaceful exercise of their right to freedom of expression, in violation of Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and Article 9 of the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights, to which Ethiopia is a signatory.”

The International Women’s Media Foundation saw the kangaroo court trial as an intimidation tactic against all independent women journalists: “The fact that the Ethiopian Government pursues and persecutes courageous, brave and professional women journalists does not bode well particularly for young women who may be interested in journalism. As a result, women’s voices (as reporters, editors, journalists, decision-making chambers) are rarely heard and women’s  issues are often relegated to secondary position.”

Following Reeyot’s kangaroo court conviction, her father told an interviewer his daughter will not apologize, seek a pardon or apply for clemency. “As a father, would you rather not advise your daughter to apologize?”

This is perhaps one of the most difficult questions a parent can face. As any one of us who are parents would readily admit, there is an innate biological chord that attaches us to our kids. We wish nothing but the best for them. We try as much as humanly possible to keep them from harm…. Whether or not to beg for clemency is her right and her decision. I would honor and respect whatever decision she makes… To answer your specific question regarding my position on the issue by the fact of being her father, I would rather have her not plead for clemency, for she has not committed any crime.

Meles offered Reeyot her freedom if she agreed to snitch on her colleagues and help railroad them to prison. She turned him down flat and got herself railroaded into solitary confinement. Even in prison, Reeyot remained defiant as she informed IWMF: “I believe that I must contribute something to bring a better future. Since there are a lot of injustices and oppressions in Ethiopia, I must reveal and oppose them in my articles.”

The problem of evil in Ethiopia

Over the hundreds of uninterrupted weekly commentaries I have written over the years, I have rarely strayed much from my professional fields of law and politics. I make an exception in this commentary by indulging in philosophical musings on evil, a subject that has puzzled me for the longest time (and one I expect to ruminate over from time to time in the future) but one I never considered opining about in my public commentaries.  I am mindful that there is the risk of sounding pedantic when one reflects on “Big Questions”, but pedantry is not intended here.

My simple definition of evil is any human act or omission that harms human beings. For instance, convicting an innocent young journalist on trumped up “terrorism” charges, sentencing her to a long prison term and throwing her into solitary confinement is evil because such acts cause great physical and psychological pain and suffering. Ordering the cold-blooded massacre of hundreds of unarmed demonstrators is evil because that act arbitrarily deprives innocent people of their God-given right to life. Forcibly displacing indigenous populations from their ancestral homes and selling their land to outsiders is evil because that act destroys not only the livelihood of those people but also their history and social fabric. Trashing the rights of individuals secured in the law of nations is evil because it is a crime against humanity and an affront to human decency and all norms of civilization. Discriminating against a person based on ethnicity, language and religion is evil because it deprives the victims of a fundamental right of citizenship. Albert Camus argued evil is anything that prevents solidarity between people and disables them from recognizing the rights or values of other human beings. Stealing elections in broad daylight and trying to deceive the world that one won an election by 99.6 percent is evil because such an act is an unconscionable lie and theft of the voice of the people. Stealing billions from a poor country’s treasury is evil because such theft deprives poor citizens vital resources necessary for their survival.

The evil I struggle to “understand” is that evil viciously committed by ordinary or sub-ordinarypeople in positions of political power. Such persons believe they can cheat, rob, steal and kill with absolute impunity because they believe there is no force on earth that can hold them accountable.

I am also concerned about the evil of passive complicity by ordinary and extraordinary people who stand silent in the face of evil. What is it that paralyzes those “good men and women” who can stand up, resist and defend against evil to cower and hide? Why do they pretend and rationalize to themselves that there really is no evil but in the eye of the beholder? What evil binds the blind, silent and deaf majority? Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. taught, “He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it. He who accepts evil without protesting against it is really cooperating with it.”

I should clarify my use of the word “understand” in the context of evil. One can never understand evil. The Holocaust and the Rwanda Genocide are evils beyond human understanding and reason. To “understand” the deaths of millions or hundreds of thousands of innocent human beings is to implicitly justify it and somehow diminish its enormity.  To “understand” the deliberate and premeditated murder of 193 unarmed protesters is beyond understanding because there could never be adequate reason, explanation or argumentation to justify it. “Understanding” such evil is tantamount to suggesting that there are or could be justifications for its occurrence.

When I use the word “understand”, I mean to suggest only that I am trying to get some insight, a glimpse of the moral makeup of people who live in a completely different moral universe than myself. It is impossible for me to see the world through the eyes of those in power who perpetrate evil in Ethiopia. When I speak of the triumph of evil in Ethiopia, I realize that there is nothing I can say by way of reasoned argument or presentation of evidence to persuade those in power to forsake their evil ways and deeds. I have concluded that those in power in Ethiopia live on a planet shielded by the equivalent of a moral Van Allen radiation belt that  keeps out all cosmic rays of virtue, decency and goodness.

Let me also clarify what I mean when I speak of the audacity of evil in Ethiopia. The evil I am talking about is not the evil that Aquinas’ wrestled with in Questions 48 and 49 of Summa Theologica. Nor I am concerned about the evil Spinoza determined  originates in the mind that lacks understanding because it is overwrought by fickle emotions. Neither am I concerned with evil that, for most of us, is associated with the Devil and his lesser intermediaries. I am not concerned about inanimate non-moral evil which manifests itself in the form of famine, pestilence and plague. I am also not referring to that evil lurking deep in the nihilistic being of those soulless, heartless and mindless psychopaths who are so disconnected from the rest of humanity that they feel justified in slaughtering innocent people at a sports event.

I am concerned about the evils of ordinary human wickedness and bestial human behavior that Aristotle alluded to in Nicomachean Ethics. I am concerned about gratuitous evil (pointless evil from which no greater good can be derived) committed by ordinary and sub-ordinary wicked people whose intellect is corrupted, and their bestial counterparts who are lacking in intellectual discernment. Such evil is cultivated in the soil of arrogance, ignorance, narcissism, desire for domination, self-aggrandizement and hubris. Those who commit gratuitous evil do so audaciously, willfully, recklessly and impulsively because they feel omnipotent; because they fear no retribution; because they anticipate no consequences for their evil deeds. They know they are committing evil and inflicting unspeakable and horrific pain and suffering on their victims but nonetheless go about doing evil with calculation and premeditation because they believe they are beyond morality, legality, responsibility and accountability. Hubristically relying on their power, they have exempted themselves from all rules of civilized society. They believe that their stranglehold on power gives them a license to commit evil at their pleasure and therefore make a habit of doing evil for evil’s sake. They are incapable of remorse or regrets because they have made evil their guiding “moral” principle.

My musings on the audacity of evil in Ethiopia are not intended to be abstract philosophical reflections but observations with practical value for victims of evil. I have an unshakeable belief that there will come a time in Ethiopia when the demands of punishment, blame and justice would have to be weighed against the greater good of peace, harmony and reconciliation. There will come a time when the open wounds of ethnic division, hatred and sectarianism must be healed and safeguards put into place to prevent their future recurrence. I believe insight into the nature of gratuitous evil is an important step in the healing process.  By “understanding” (gaining insight) why individuals and groups in power commit gratuitous evil, it may be possible for Ethiopians to develop the courage, perseverance, fortitude and spiritual strength to move towards a reconciled and peaceful society. That is exactly what the South Africans did by instituting their Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) after Apartheid ended. Perpetrators of gratuitous evil were given the option to come to a public hearing and confess the evils they have committed and seek not only  amnesty and immunity from civil and criminal prosecution but also forgiveness from their victims and the survivors of their victims. The Commission largely succeeded in that mission. The Rwandan “Gacaca courts” (traditional grassroots village courts composed of well-respected elders) which were established to administer justice to those alleged to have committed genocidal acts similarly sought to achieve “reconciliation of all Rwandans and building their unity” by putting justice partially into the hands of the surviving victims or victims’ families who are given the opportunity to confront and challenge the perpetrators in the open. The Rwandans also achieved a measure of success.

What has been learned from the TRC of South Africa and Rwanda’s Gacaca courts is that the act of forgiving can be an activity that victims of evil can find enormously helpful and beneficial. By publicly confronting the perpetrators, victims gain a sense of psychological satisfaction, moral vindication and physical well-being. The victims are no longer tormented by the desire for revenge and retribution. Coming to terms with the enormity of gratuitous evil makes it easier for a society to reconcile and prevent the recurrence of such evil.

Touched by evil

The Socratic thesis is that no one does evil intentionally. In other words, men and women commit evil out of ignorance which blinds them from doing right and good and deprives them of the practical wisdom to know the difference between right and wrong and good and evil. Evil doers are morally blind and unable to value other human beings while overestimating their own value and worth.

Why do those in power in Ethiopia commit the gratuitous evil of throwing into solitary confinement an innocent young woman who has been internationally honored and celebrated for her journalistic courage? Could it be the evil of misogyny that makes powerful men derive sadistic pleasure from the humiliation, degradation, dehumanization, depersonalization, demoralization, brutalization and incapacitation of strong-willed, intelligent, defiant, principled and irrepressible women who oppose them?

The gratuitous evil that is inflicted on Reeyot by those in power in Ethiopia is only the latest example. The exact same evil was inflicted on Birtukan Midekssa, the first woman political party leader in Ethiopian history, who was thrown into solitary confinement for months at Meles Zenawi Prison because she stood up and opposed him. The same evil in different form was inflicted on Serkalem Fasil, another world-renowned female Ethiopian journalist who was imprisoned and forced to give birth in prison. The common denominator between these three women is that they are strong, self-confident, determined and principled and risked their lives to stand up to a brutal  dictatorship. Because they refused to back down, they suffered the most inhumane treatment at the hands of powerful men.

Solitary confinement in Meles Zenawi Prison is used as a psychological weapon to drive the victims mad. By depriving victims of all human contact and by denying them access to any information about the outside world, the aim is to make them feel lost and forgotten. Solitary confinement for women is a particularly insidious from psychological torture intended to humiliate and breakdown their physical, psychological, spiritual and moral integrity. Those in solitary confinement in Meles Zenawi Prison are not allowed to visit with friends. They are denied access to books. They are not allowed to meet their legal counsel. Family visits are interrupted even before smiles are exchanged; and even hugs and kisses with family members are forbidden. Solitary confinement is a dirty psychological game played by those in power to plunge the victims into the depths of despair, sorrow and confusion and make them feel completely helpless and hopeless.

When Meles threw Birtukan into solitary confinement, he just did not want her to suffer. That would be too easy. He wanted to humiliate and dehumanize her. When she was in solitary confinement, he used a cruel  metaphor describing her as a “silly chicken who did herself in”. While in solitary confinement, he mocked and took cheap shots at her telling the press that that she is “in perfect condition” but “may have gained a few kilos”. He wanted her to suffer so much that he told reporters, “there will never be an agreement with anybody to release Birtukan. Ever. Full stop. That’s a dead issue.” He wanted Birtukan to be the living dead in solitary confinement. Providence had a different plan.

The gratuitous evil perpetrated against Serkalem Fasil is beyond human comprehension. In their letter to President Lee C. Bollinger of Columbia University opposing Meles Zenawi’s appearance to speak at that institution, Serkalem and her husband the world-renowned journalist Eskinder Nega wrote:

We are banned Ethiopian journalists who were charged with treason by the government of PM Meles Zenawi subsequent to disputed election results in 2005, incarcerated under deplorable circumstances, only to be acquitted sixteen months later; after Serkalem Fasil prematurely gave birth in prison.Severely underweight at birth because Serkalem’s physical and psychological privation in one of Africa’s worst prisons, an incubator was deemed life-saving to the new-born child by prison doctors; which was, in an act of incomprehensible vindictiveness, denied by the authorities. (The child nevertheless survived miraculously. Thanks to God.)

Do those who slammed Reeyot and Birtukan in solitary confinement and forced Serkalem to give birth in one of the filthiest prisons in the world realize what they are doing is evil?  Do they care about the suffering of these young women?

Birtukan has survived and continues to thrive. Serkalem struggles to survive every day as she agonizes over the unjust imprisonment of her husband Eskinder. Reeyot, I believe, will survive in solitary confinement because she is a strong woman of faith and conviction. Solitary confinement to persons of faith and conviction is like fire to steel. It brings out the best in them. Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for 27 years; but is there a man alive who is more compassionate, humane, kindhearted and forgiving than Mandela?

Sigmund Freud wrote about the kind of sadistic gratuitous evil driven by deep-seated hatred and aggression against women. Other psychologists see the root of gratuitous evil in personality “fragmentation” caused by feelings of rejection and inferiority. They say those who commit gratuitous evil seek to “defragment and hold themselves together” by degrading and feeling superior to their victims. Others have argued that beneath the gratuitous evil that perpetrators commit lies a profound emptiness filled by sadistic rage, anger, and hatred.

I believe those in power in Ethiopia commit gratuitous evil to obtain absolute obedience and respect. As Stanley Milgram’s obedience experiments (and in other aspects the Zimbardo (Stanford) experiments) have shown, those in authority seek to secure obedience by establishing social models of compliance. In other words, those in power aim to teach by harsh example. If you are an independent journalist and do your job, you will be jacked up on bogus terrorism charges, held in detention, thrown in solitary confinement and tortured. If you challenge a stolen election and protest in the street, you will be shot in the  streets like a rabid dog.  By using extreme violence, those in power in Ethiopia seek to create not only an atmosphere of fear but also a culture of terror. The experiments have also shown that resistance can also be taught by example. Reeyot, Serkalem, Birtukan, Eskinder, Woubshet, Andualem are social models of resistance.

Hanna Arendt observed Adolf Eichmann, one of the major organizers of the Holocaust, at his trial in Jerusalem and found him to be  “medium-sized, slender, middle-aged, with receding hair, ill-fitting teeth, and nearsighted eyes, who throughout the trial keeps craning his scraggy neck toward the bench.” He appeared to be a common man  incapable of monstrous crimes. The banality of evil is the capacity of ordinary people to commit monstrous crimes. The audacity of evil is the capacity of ordinary and sub-ordinary people to commit evil not out of necessity, obedience to authority or even adherence to ideology; it is evil committed by those who are absolutely convinced that they will never be held accountable for their crimes.

Doing evil, doing good

I have many unanswered questions. Are the individuals in positions of power in Ethiopia evil by nature? Was evil thrust upon them by a demonic power? Were they victims of evil themselves and now seek to avenge the actual or perceived evil done to them and ended up being evil themselves? Did they become the very monster they slew? Are there persons who are innately incapable of doing good because they are bad seed and are born with a natural disposition to do only wrong and evil? Is gratuitous evil a psychological illness, an incurable sickness of the soul?

My questions do not end there. No one is immune from evil. Those of us who rise up in self-righteous indignation and denounce evil should look at ourselves and ask: If we were shown “all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor”, would we succumb to that offer and choose the path of evil? Nietzsche said, “When you look long into an abyss, the abyss looks into you.”  When we raise our lances at the windmills, do we really see monsters? Let us not forget that “He who fights monsters should see to it that he himself does not become a monster.” Are we also brutes, like those we criticize, costumed in a veneer of civilization and morality untested and unseduced by the corrupting power of power? Are human beings innately good, and evil people merely mutations of good ones?

The evil that men do lives after them

The late Meles Zenawi has left a dark and bleak legacy of gratuitous evil in Ethiopia.  The evil he has done shall continue to live in the prisons he built, the justice system he corrupted and the lives of young good Ethiopians he destroyed like Reeyot, Eskinder, Serkalem,  Birtukan, Woubshet, Andualem and countless others. In Shakespeare’s Julius Ceasar, Antony speaks: “The evil that men do lives after them; The good is oft interred with their bones. So let it be with Ceasar.”

When I speak of Meles, I speak not of the man but of the wretched legacy he left and of the pious devotion of his disciples to that legacy. His disciples today speak of his great achievements and his great vision with Scriptural certitude and apostolic zeal. Their mantra is, “We will follow Meles’ vision without doubt or question.” One must speak out against pre-programmed robots; but raging against the machine should not be mistaken for raging against the man.

I remain optimistic that in the end good shall triumph over evil because the ultimate battle between good and evil in Ethiopia will not be waged on a battlefield with “crashing guns and rattling musketry”; nor will it be fought and won in the voting  booths, the parliaments, the courts or bureaucracies. The battle for good and evil will be fought, won or lost, in the hearts and minds of ordinary Ethiopian men and women who have the courage to rise up and do extraordinary good.

Elie Wiesel, a prisoner in the Auschwitz, Buna, and Buchenwald concentration camps, and Nobel peace laureate said “indifference is the epitome of evil” and

“swore never to be silent whenever and wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation. We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented. Sometimes we must interfere. When human lives are endangered, when human dignity is in jeopardy, national borders and sensitivities become irrelevant. Wherever men or women are persecuted because of their race, religion, or political views, that place must – at that moment – become the center of the universe.

I have taken the side of Reeyot Alemu, Eskinder Nega, Serkalem Fasil, Birtukan Midekssa, Woubshet Taye, Andualem Aragie…. and made them the “center of my universe”.

(to be continued….)

Professor Alemayehu G. Mariam teaches political science at California State University, San Bernardino and is a practicing defense lawyer.

Previous commentaries by the author are available at:

http://open.salon.com/blog/almariam/

www.huffingtonpost.com/alemayehu-g-mariam/

Amharic translations of recent commentaries by the author may be found at:

http://www.ecadforum.com/Amharic/archives/category/al-mariam-amharic

http://ethioforum.org/?cat=24

[Source: Ethiopian Review]

[Source: Ethiopian Review]

[Source: Ethiopian Review]

                                          African Land and Natural Resource Grabs Destroy Lives and Futures of Africans

Mr. Obang Metho, Solidarity Movement for a New Ethiopia (SMNE), warns of the impact on people at the U.S. Congressional Briefing on Land Grabs in Africa

April 15, 2013

I would like to thank Congressman Christopher Smith, Chairman of the U.S. House Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights and International Organizations and members of the subcommittees for making this briefing on land grabs in Africa possible.

I am honored to be among those invited to talk about the impact of these land and resource grabs on the people of Africa. It is a vitally important issue that needs to be confronted. To me, this is not just about land grabs, but it is inherently about life grabs. In Africa, as well as in many other places, when you take someone’s land, you take away the means to an entire family’s livelihood, wellbeing and future. I am thrilled that the World Bank is also addressing this issue and hope it will soon lead to concrete action that saves lives.  

To me and the organization I lead, the Solidarity Movement for a New Ethiopia (SMNE), the problem of land grabs is not new. We have been actively working to expose and find solutions to these land grabs since they began in 2008 and partnered with the Oakland Institute in 2011 in a comprehensive in-country study on: Understanding Land Investment Deals in Africa: Ethiopia.[1] What is going on today is an immoral and predatory practice by African strongmen and their powerful partners that is targeting the most vulnerable people on the continent. 

When I speak today, my testimony will not be as an outsider, but as a witness. When I talk about the people being displaced from the land grabs, in many cases I am speaking about people whose names I know. They include my uncle, my cousins, my nephews, my extended family, my community and my people—the people of Gambella, the people of Ethiopia, the people of Africa and the people of the world. We the people of Africa must be able to feed ourselves, but when the powerful take the food and land we have to sustain ourselves, leaving little behind for the indigenous, it is unconscionable and should be challenged. I welcome the opportunity we have to talk about this today. I request that my statement be submitted into the record in its entirety.

Introduction:

When the global food crisis of 2008 struck, with its food shortages, sky-rocketing food prices and widespread riots, it sounded an alarm that began the global race for fertile agricultural land, particularly land with access to water. Asian countries in the global south, like India, China, and South Korea, simply did not have enough unused, suitable land to meet the increasing need for food for their people. Some European countries were in the same position. Arid countries in the Middle East, like Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Kuwait, may have wealth from oil, but they were large importers of food and have little or diminishing arable land. Underground water aquifers were already being depleted in efforts to irrigate existing food crops.

Soaring populations, decreasing available land, environmental degradation and lessening confidence in access to adequate imports caused many governments to search beyond their borders for new ways to ensure a supply of food for the future. At the same time, speculators, investors and multinational agri-businesses began to see food as a high-profit commodity which could be profitable like oil, minerals and other natural resources.

So began the second scramble for African land that has led to massive land grabs of land already occupied by the people of Africa. For most of those affected, it has led to widespread displacement and to greater, rather than less, food insecurity. This abuse of land rights has happened most easily in nations where authoritarian regimes maintain their control over the people through suppression of basic freedoms, human rights abuses, fraudulent elections, corruption and military power. Unfortunately, many of these foreign investors become complicit as they partner with Africa’s strongmen.

World Bank President Dr. Jim Yong Kim said at their annual meeting last week, “Usable land is in short supply, and there are too many instances of speculators and unscrupulous investors exploiting smallholder farmers, herders, and others who lack the power to stand up for their rights. This is particularly true in countries with weak land governance systems.”[2]

In many countries in Africa freedom does not exist. Freedom House in their Freedom in the World Study for 2012 ranked Sub-Saharan Africa as 82% un-free or only partially free. People who dare to demand their rights or who expose the dark side of those in power, do so at risk to their lives and futures. Those in power do not represent the best interests of their people, but instead represent their own interests. With the search for agricultural land, authoritarian governments with weak adherence to laws and few protections for the people are making secretive deals to lease both small and large swathes of some of the prime agricultural land to foreign and crony investors for negligible amounts (e.g. $1.19 per hectare in parts of Ethiopia) for up to 99 years. Equivalent land reportedly brings $350 per hectare in places like Indonesia and Malaysia and thousands in the farm belt of the US.

Much of the food is destined for export or wherever it can bring the highest price. Most Africans are small farmers; though poor, they have been able to sustain themselves because of their land; however, the displaced will no longer be able to be self-reliant and may easily end up hungry or in need of food aid. Although some of the food produced will end up locally, food prices may well be beyond their ability to pay. The displaced are mostly in the rural regions where education and training have been lacking, leaving most ill-equipped to find other jobs. Institutions, meant to strengthen civil society, often do not exist or are under government control. Because there is little accountability or transparency, it has opened the doors to high-level corruption, crony favoritism and illicit transactions as secretive deals, with vague contracts, are negotiated by regime power-holders. 

A Focus on the Gambella region of Ethiopia, my birthplace and the epicenter of land grabs in Africa:

Ethiopia is one of the leading examples on the continent where large scale land grabs are going on. Gambella region, considered to have the potential for becoming the breadbasket of Ethiopia or the Horn of Africa, may now fail to feed its own. The region has some of the richest, most fertile land and abundant water in the country. My own ethnic group, the Anuak—as well as other indigenous groups like the Nuer, the Mazengir, the Komo and the Opo—consider Gambella their ancestral home, but little investment has been directed towards this marginalized and undeveloped region. Now, Gambella is the region most significantly targeted for land grabs.

In 2003, related to natural resources, the current government of Ethiopia massacred 424 Anuak leaders within three days and went on to commit many more crimes against humanity directed towards this one ethnic group in the following three years. It was related to natural resources at the time and now, their land is being grabbed.

It is happening in other regions as well. Already, an estimated 200,000 small farmers and pastoralists in the rural areas have been displaced from their land in order to free it up for investors. Recently, thousands of people of Amhara ethnicity were forcibly evicted from the region of Benishangul. A year ago, 70,000 other Amhara were evicted from land in the Southern Nation’s region. In 2011-2012, 70,000 small farmers from the Gambella region were forced off their land. Many more will be moved to resettlement areas in the next year. In Gambella, a region with a total population of about 300,000, this means nearly three-quarters of the people will be affected. 

In the vague contracts, previously made available on the government’s website, investors are promised land “free of impediments.” Impediments, a description which refers to the people now living on the land, are citizens of Ethiopia, but instead of their own government protecting their rights, they are seen as obstacles to be “cleared from their land” as if they were squatters or intruders in their own homes. Even though the government claims the local people are choosing to leave voluntarily in order to access better services, resistance is met with human rights abuses.

This is most often occurring in rural areas among indigenous people who have no established land rights even though they and their families or communities have lived on the land for generations. Neither do they have the power to resist the regime’s security forces as many are forcibly evicted from their land and moved to resettlement areas where they are promised improved access to services; however, most often, those services do not exist and the land is inferior with less access to water sources. Some end up homeless, in refugee camps in neighboring countries or working for slave wages on land they used to own. In most cases those affected have neither been consulted nor compensated for their losses, in contradiction to national and international laws.

The government claims there is no relationship between the resettlements and land leases; however, as soon as they are pushed off their land, the investors or agricultural companies move in to clear the land. For example, land grabs from small farmers have opened up 100,000 hectares—nearly 250,000 acres—for large agricultural farms like Karuturi Global Limited of India. Karuturi has been promised a total of 300,000 hectares—nearly 750,000 acres, which will require the expropriation of the vast majority of the best agricultural land in Gambella. Water for irrigation from this Upper Nile region is not being regulated and could greatly impact water availability elsewhere, including down river in other parts of Gambella, as well as in South Sudan, Sudan and Egypt.

Another agricultural company, Saudi Star, owned by the second richest man in Africa, multi-billionaire Sheikh Mohammed Al Amoudi has been given 10,000 hectares to lease in Gambella. As part of his Derba Group, he plans to lease another 290,000 hectares in the same region. He also allegedly has intentions to lease 300,000 hectares in Benishangul, another marginalized region, north of Gambella, and recently purchased three other farms in the country. There has been violent conflict related to Saudi Star. Within Gambella, smaller sized sections of land have been leased to regime cronies. In fact, it is estimated that nearly 70% of the domestic lessees of land in Gambella are either regime supporters or members of the ruling party’s own ethnic group.

Some real life stories from the ground:

Case Study #1: Mr. Okok Ojulu: Okok is an Anuak smallholder farmer who was educated in the UK in sustainable development.  In 2002, he led the World Bank’s project in the Gambella region. His work was very effective in utilizing the bank’s development funds to build schools, clinics and to dig water wells for the region. The funds were given to all other regions in Ethiopia as well. After the World Bank assessed the outcomes, Okok was given an award of excellence for how the funds were used and how the services were implemented. One of the rewards received from the bank was a car for his work. Shortly thereafter he was imprisoned for several years in Addis Ababa by the federal government because he had become a threat to the government, having become so popular and influential in the community. In 2007 he was released and returned to his family and region.

Shortly after his release and prior to the land rush in the Gambella, Okok, a man of considerable vision and ability, began plans to form an agricultural cooperative that would benefit the community. He began to grow food himself and when he had grown enough food to make a profit, he began hiring local people. He also began negotiating for the purchase of a tractor that could be leased out during planting and harvesting. Those using it would help pay for the cost of the tractor with their crops when they were successfully harvested. The cooperative would then market the produce to the local people.

The initial success of the venture inspired the young people to see farming as a viable opportunity for their future livelihoods. It was also seen as a way to eradicate poverty and to become more self-reliant; however, the TPLF/EPRDF saw it as a threat, in direct opposition to the foreign investment model they were selling to the people. They intimidated him and after finding out he was again going to be arrested, he had to flee the country. He had been supporting his own children’s school fees as well as fees of other relatives, which he could no longer do. His vision was killed and the people he had hired no longer had jobs. In doing this, the regime further disempowered the small holder farmers, the backbone of solving food insecurity.

The farmland he had used in this project was instead given to Saudi Star. When we talk about local small farmers being pushed off their land and impoverished by it, we have names for you of many more examples. Mr. Okok is now in Kenya as a refugee because it is no longer safe for him to live in Ethiopia.

Case Study #2: WorOwar: A second case example is a local business man, WorOwar, who invested all the money he had from his business to lease agricultural land when he noted how foreigners were coming to take the land. However, because he was not a government supporter, a regime crony nor a TPLF/ERPDF party member, the government authorities ended up harassing, threatening, and torturing him. He lost the land to the government who made it so difficult for him and his family that they were forced to flee the country for safety in 2010. Some regime crony now has possession of his land.

Case Study #3: Gambellans in the Diaspora: There are Anuak, now living in the Diaspora, who took the initiative to attempt to lease land in the Abobo District of Gambella. They had heard that the area where they had grown up and where family members still lived was on the list to be leased. This was an effort to ensure that these family members would not be displaced and that the land would continue to be theirs; however, the regime authorities refused to lease it to them. Instead, an Indian company took over the land.

Case Study #4: Mazenger community leaders: In 2011, community leaders of the Mazenger people took the initiative to go to Ethiopian President Girma Woldegiorgis to seek help to stop the clearing of their virgin forests for an Indian company to grow spices.

The president agreed with the local people and advocated on their behalf by writing a letter to the Ethiopian Minister of Agriculture, the former Prime Minister, and the Minister of Environment, saying it would hurt rather than help the country in the long run; but his efforts were ignored. Instead, those community leaders who initiated this ended up losing their jobs and some were even put in jail. This is impact of the land grab investment on the people even while the government denies it all. This is why I call it not only a land grab, but a life and future grab from these innocent people. There are too many other examples to tell; not only in Gambella, Ethiopia or Africa but throughout the world

What Undergirds Land Grabbing?

• Lack of freedom:

Out of five countries in the world showing the greatest aggregate declines in freedom from 2007-2011, Ethiopia was fifth according to the previously mentioned 2012 study by Freedom House. In the case of Ethiopia, it is well known within the country that the ethnic-based Tigrayan Peoples’ Liberation Front (TPLF) not only controls the ruling party, the Ethiopian Peoples’ Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), but it also controls every sector of society and every facet of life from the federal level to the kebele (neighborhood levels). This includes the parliament, civil service, the judiciary, the military, security forces, civic institutions, religious institutions, the economic system, the educational system and the administration of developmental aid; including the dispensation of food aid, fertilizers, seed and other developmental aid. 

• Lack of justice and equality

Most benefits are directed to the TPLF’s own region or supporters. For example, in their own region of Tigray, there are five hospitals and four universities whereas in a region like Gambella, there are no universities and only one hospital without running water. Party membership is necessary to get into schools, to get jobs and to access most any opportunities. If you are not part of the inner circle, you stand no chance of moving ahead. Conversely, if you challenge the system, you could face harassment, higher taxes, loss of property, intimidation or rights violations. The judiciary and the land appeal process are not independent but are controlled by the top regime power-holders. The number one interest of the regime is the resources but not the people whose freedom they must restrict in order to have free reign of benefiting from the nation’s resources.

• Lack of political space: 

Opposition groups are threatened and undermined and opposition leaders and activists are imprisoned on charges of terrorism. There is only one opposition member in Parliament out of 547 members. He is only given 3 minutes to speak at any session.

• Lack of freedom of religion:

The TPLF/ERPDF interferes in the religious affairs of both Christians and Muslims, for example, forcing regime-selected, pro-government religious leaders into top positions to undermine their influence on society. It has caused church divisions among Christians and caused thousands of Muslims to peacefully protest against religious control. Muslim leaders have been arrested and are in prison despite committing no crimes.

• Lack of independent institutions:

Civic institutions, which are crucial in healthy societies, are under the control of the regime. Even the laws undermine civil society by prohibiting significant parts of their work, with criminal penalties for infractions, if they receive more than 10% of their funding from foreign sources. For example, human rights organizations have had to close and instead, the government has created their own.

• Lack of Communication and technology

Communication and technology, on every level, is controlled. Here are some examples:

• Telecommunication: the government is the only provider and most Ethiopians have limited access; for example, the rate of mobile phone usage in Ethiopia (5%) is one of the lowest in Africa; the rate of fixed land phones is only 1%; again, among the lowest. Ethiopia has invested in sophisticated spyware equipment to monitor users.
• Internet: the government is the only provider; they actively control opposition websites and closely monitor use[3] through various techniques, including spyware. Access to the Internet is one of the lowest rates in the world at 0.5%, seven times behind the African average.
• There is only one government-run television station and radio station. Voice of America (VOA) and Deustche Welle (DW) have both been jammed in the past. Newspapers are self-censoring or government –controlled. Journalists and editors have been imprisoned as terrorists or have fled the country. Printing shops have been threatened not to print any material that reflects poorly on the TPLF/ERPDF.
• The government disseminates propaganda internally and internationally; for example, claiming that resettlement is voluntary, by denying human rights abuses, by denying personal gain by regime power-holders, and by using democratic, developmental and war on terror rhetoric to dupe outsiders and to gain political, financial and military support.

• Lack of land tenure undergirds poverty and land grabs:

In Ethiopia, all land is owned by the state; essentially banning private ownership. This has made it impossible for farmers, who use their land as collateral, to buy and sell land. It also gives them uncertain rights to that land since the government has reserved the their own right to redistribute the land if they see fit to do so.

In regards to how this creates or mitigates food insecurity, the SMNE worked with the Humphrey Institute at the University of Minnesota on the completion of a study, Land Reform in Ethiopia: Recommendations for Reform, focusing on the role of land tenure policy and poverty in Ethiopia. That report will be released this week and will be available on our website. http://www.solidaritymovement.org/

The team of researchers found evidence that a lack of land tenure contributes to the vulnerability of the people; particularly in regions where they have no certificates giving the people individual or customary/community rights to utilize the land. Small and marginalized tribes have the fewest rights. The TPLF/ERPDF uses the lack of certification to redistribute land on whim.

Only four regions now have partial certification: Amhara, Oromia, Tigray and parts of Southern Nations. No one is safe, but those with certification are safer. Lack of mapping boundaries of properties also exacerbates the problem.

City dwellers also are at risk. Even though many hold certificates; urban certificates are inviolable only as long as no one wants the land underneath your home, condominium or business. If it is strategically located or sought after by an investor or someone from the inner circle of regime, the land can be expropriated. New laws are on the books that can demand eviction from urban land sites if the lessees fail to build a two or three story structure on the site. Many find it financially impossible to do so and end up on the streets, homeless.

The study found that land appeals are oftentimes heard by the same people and authorities who made the decisions on the expropriation of the land involved. There is obviously an inherent conflict of interest. [More information on Ethiopia’s certification program can also be found from the World Bank’s document: the Land Governance Assessment Framework: Identifying and Monitoring Good Practice in the Land Sector.][4]

Some observations:

• High rates of rural landlessness and land poverty already exist; challenging the government’s argument that there is abundant excess land. Much of that land is less arable than what is being forcibly vacated. Forty three percent of rural Ethiopians have no access to land and fully 60% lack sufficient land to grow enough food for a family of five. (Please see Humphrey Institute’s Executive Summary).
• Land grabs can be linked to increasing corruption, but not to decreasing hunger.
• Land grabs, which are resulting in increased food insecurity and dispossessing the small farmers of their livelihoods, are exactly contrary to goals expressed by the World Bank, the IMF, USAID, development groups like the Gates foundation and others who say they want to support smallholder farmers.
• Most every voluntary guideline of the FAO is not being followed in Ethiopia.[5] [Please see: Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests in the Context of National Food Security for further information].

Some conclusions regarding the TPLF/EPRDF’s Control of Ethiopia:

• Government ownership of land is equivalent to TPLF ownership of land, to be used as they choose. The TPLF strategic plan for hegemony of all of Ethiopia, including exploiting its resources for its own interests, will actively war against reversing poverty and conflict in the country. [Please see the link here http://www.enufforethiopia.net/pdf/Revolutionary_Democracy_EthRev_96.pdf to: TPLF/ERFDF’s Strategies for Establishing its Hegemony & Perpetuating its Rule.[6]]

This is a disturbing plan for one, ethnic-based party, the TPLF, to gain permanent control of Ethiopia and its resources that few insiders and even fewer outsiders have seen. A government that in and of itself has a policy that views any outside its party as enemies or people to be exploited, has egregiously failed to perform its duty to protect the rights of the people and must be reformed.

• A regime that actively promotes division, controls religious expression, criminalizes dissent and perpetrates robbery and violence against its own people has egregiously failed to perform its basic duties and should not be supported by international groups.
• A regime that lacks accountability and transparency and where corruption is rampant should not be supported by the international donors, the World Bank, the IMF, USAID, development groups like the Gates foundation. Ethiopia lost US11.7 billion in illegal capital flight from 2000-2009 and in the year following the beginning of the land leasing program in Ethiopia, the Task Force for Financial Integrity and Economic Development [7] (FTFP) reported that the amount doubled to $3.26 million (USD)—with the majority of that increase coming from corruption, kickbacks and bribery. 
• International Developmental organizations, like World Bank, the IMF, USAID, development groups like the Gates foundation, report success in helping small farmers in Ethiopia, but the majority of that aid is directed by the TPLF/ERPDF to one region—the TPLF’s own region of Tigray. Financial support to institutions, economic enhancement programs and democracy-building are directed to pseudo-institutions run by the TPFL/ERPDF.
• Military support received from donor countries is believed to have been used to perpetrate human rights crimes. This autocratic regime, with a documented history of human rights crimes, should not be the recipient of such support until a full and independent investigation is conducted.

Solutions:

The solution to this burgeoning problems of land and natural resource grabs is to have a government where the law can protect the people and where the law is not only limited to the elite, its cronies and partners. For positive change to come, citizens must be able to claim their rights—human, civil, land and religious. Until there is such a government to protect the rights of the people, which upholds democratic principles of free speech, freedom of movement, freedom of assembly, freedom in the media, an independent judiciary and institutions, an independent appeal process, a non-politicalized military and similar aspects of free and open societies, the people will be seen as impediments to whatever the government wants for its own interests. No one is safe in such a political climate. This is where donor countries like the US can become involved in pressuring these governments to be accountable to the people; not supporting autocratic regimes that are creating poverty by pushing people off their land. Africans who used to feed themselves from farming their own land are now hungry and needing food aid. Some who have been hired to work on these agricultural farms, are often working for wages below the World Bank’s minimum wage standards.

Overall, the donor countries, like the US, should try to side with the people, supporting them in having the freedom to elect their own government. If land grabs, human rights abuses and increased resulting food insecurity continue, it could create conflict, displacement and instability. This is not just about a land grab but is a life-grab which will affect the lives of Africans for generations to come. The multi-dimensional impacts are broad, long-lasting and difficult to measure. Environmental impacts are frighteningly inadequate. Sometimes the environmental assessments have not been done or when done, are voluntary or simply not enforced. Few controls are put on users of water and few, if any, studies have been done on the impact of water use on the lives of people in the surrounding areas or downstream. This is about human rights and human freedom. The donors and investors should look into this and take it seriously. The donors should think beyond themselves and about the people to whom the land belongs.

The following recommendations are for the US and other donor countries:

• Put pressure on the Ethiopian government to recognize human rights and provide social and environmental safeguards in land investment practices. Ethiopia is dependent on international aid and as such, donors are in a powerful position to demand that Ethiopia lives up to its international obligations and implements the above recommendations. Aid flows should be restricted if Ethiopia is not living up to international human rights, good governance, and indigenous rights standards.
• Ensure that not aid monies are going into any project that will be involved in land investment in its present form. Aid monies should not be funnelled towards projects that will make it easier for land investment in its present form to continue to take place.
• Aid flows be considered to aid and assist Ethiopian government in achieving the above goals. Many of the above recommendations will more easily be implemented if the financial support is available to support them.

In conclusion:

By 2025, nine billion people are expected to be in the world and these people will need food. The search for this food has fueled the land grabs in Africa. The exploration for suitable agricultural land and water sources has gone to where the most vulnerable people live and these are the people who are the victims. The weakest and most vulnerable populations of the world, already deprived of their rights and freedom are like these people in Africa. The focus has gone to the places where there is no rule of law, where people are not valued and where there is no participation in the decision-making by the people. 

Africans lack human freedom. They live on one of the poorest and most hungry continents, but not because they do not have arable land or water. What they lack are governments and strong institutions that protect the people. This is why unscrupulous investors are robbing the weak and the vulnerable. The need for food, water and shelter is not only critical to the more developed nations or the powerful, but the same needs exist for the weak and the vulnerable in Africa. 

You do not see it happening in the most agriculturally productive countries in the world, like in Saskatchewan, Canada, America’s Midwest or other free countries because there is a rule of law that is followed, but you can see it in a place like Ethiopia and in other parts of Africa.  This is what I call robbing the innocent. It is a daylight robbery and must stop. We are not against investment but it is immoral and wrong to rob the most vulnerable in our global society. It demands that free, conscience-minded people speak up. For some of the more powerful and wealthy to unjustly take the resources from these people will create conflict and instability in our global world.

As World Bank President Dr. Jim Yong Kim states, “Securing access to land is critical for millions of poor people. Modern, efficient, and transparent policies on land rights are vital to reducing poverty and promoting growth, agriculture production, better nutrition, and sustainable development.” But he also presents one of the most crucial challenges as he warns, “Additional efforts must be made to build capacity and safeguards related to land rights – and to empower civil society to hold governments accountable.”

The core principles of the SMNE are about sharing and caring about others. What this means to us is that humanity should be valued above our diverse identity factors—putting humanity before ethnicity.

The dehumanization of others precedes most every act of injustice and evil; meaning that lasting peace and the prosperity of others can only come to our world if we care about the freedom, justice and well being of others for “no one is free until all are free.” Our humanity has no ethnic, national, gender, political or religious boundaries.

Until Africans are free; the world will not be free. We can build a better, more humane, more just and more harmonious world than this by simply recognizing the face of our Creator in every one of our global brothers and sisters! Will you not be a bystander and help create a better world for all of us?
Thank you!

______________________________________________________________

Please do not hesitate to e-mail your comments to Mr. Obang Metho, Executive Director of the SMNE at: Obang@solidaritymovement.org. 

[1] http://www.oaklandinstitute.org/understanding-land-investment-deals-africa-ethiopia

[2] http://farmlandgrab.org/post/view/21922

[3] http://www.freedomhouse.org/images/File/FotN/Ethiopia2011.pdf; Freedom on the Net

[4] https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/bitstream/handle/10986/2376/657430PUB0EPI1065724B09780821387580.pdf?sequence=1

[5] http://www.fao.org/docrep/016/i2801e/i2801e.pdf

[6] http://www.enufforethiopia.net/pdf/Revolutionary_Democracy_EthRev_96.pdf

[7] http://www.financialtaskforce.org/2011/12/05/illicit-financial-outflows-from-ethiopia-nearly-doubled-in-2009-to-us3-26-billion-reveals-new-global-financial-integrity-report/

[Source: Ethiopian Review]

April 15, 20013

አማርኛ ተናጋሪዎችን የማመናመን፣ የማደህየት፣ የማራቆትና ክልላቸውን እያሳነሱ የማጥፋት እቅድ በህወሃት መርሃግብር ውስጥ የተካተተ ዋና ተግባር እንደሆነ ተገለጸ። አማርኛ ቋንቋንም ማሽመድመድ የዚሁ እቅድ አካል መሆኑ ተዘግቧል።

አቶ ገ/መድህን አርአያ ከኢሳት ሬዲዮ ጋር ባካሄዱት ቃለ ምልልስ በህወሃት ፕሮግራም ገጽ 18 አካባቢ “አማራ የትግራይና የኤርትራ ህዝብ ጠላት እንደሆነ ተመልክቷል” ብለዋል፡፡ አያይዘውም አማራ ማጥፋት የቅስቀሳው ዋና መሳሪያ ቢሆንም የትግራይ ህዝብ አልተቀበለም ብለዋል። ቅስቀሳውን አንቀበልም ያሉ “የትግራይ ሸዋ” ተብለው መገደላቸውን ይፋ አድርገዋል።

በተለይ የድርጊቱ ዋና አስተባባሪ በማለት የጠቀሷቸው አቶ መለስ ዜናዊ፣ አቶ ስብሃት፣ አቶ ስዩም መስፍን፣ አቶ አባይ ጸሐዬን የጠቀሱት አቶ ገ/መድህን፣ በ1972 በሰሜን ጎንደር የዘር ማጥፋት ወንጀል መፈጸሙን አጋልጠዋል። በወቅቱ የተካሄደው ጭፍጨፋ ከፍተኛ የዘር ማጥፋት ወንጀል እንደሆነም አመልክተዋል። “በሰላም እጃቸውን የሚሰጡ ወታደሮች እንኳ አማርኛ የሚናገሩ ከሆነ ይረሸኑ ነበር” ሲሉ እነ መለስ ያለቸውን በዘር ላይ የተመሰረተ ቆሻሻ አመለካከት አጋልጠዋል።

“ኢትዮጵያ የምትበተነው አማራ ሲጠፋ ነው” በሚለው የነመለስ ሃሳብ መተግበር የጀመረው ህወሃት አዲስ አበባ ከገባበት ጊዜ ጀምሮ መሆኑንን ያወሱት አቶ ገ/መድህን፣ ህወሃት ያሰማራቸው ከ350ሺህ በላይ ካድሬዎች ቁጥራቸው በውል የማይታወቅ አማራዎች በተለያዩ ምክንያቶች እንዲጨፈጨፉ ማድረጋቸውን አመልክተዋል።

ብአዴንን “አማራን ለማጥፋት የተፈጠረ፣ ጸረ አማራ ድርጀት” ሲሉ የሰየሙት አቶ ገ/መድህን፣ አመራሮቹ የኤርትራና የትግራይ ተወላጆች መሆናቸውን በርግጠኛነት ተናግረዋል። የትግራይ ህዝብ የተወከለው “በባንዳ ልጆችና የኤርትራ ተወላጆች ነው” ሲሉም ህዝቡ አደጋ ላይ እንደሚገኝ ጠቁመዋል። የክልሉ ፕሬዚዳንት አቶ አባይ ወልዱን “የባሻ ወልዱ ልጅ ነው” በማለት የትግራይ ህዝብ በባንዳ ኤርትራዊ ልጅ እንደሚመራ ያመለከቱት አቶ ገ/መድህን፤ ብርሀነ ገብረክርስቶስ፣ ቴድሮስ ሃጎስ፣ ቴድሮስ አድሃኖም፣ በማለት በመዘርዘር የባንዳ ልጆች መሆናቸውን ይፋ አድርገዋል።

“አማራው የሚኖርበትን መሬት በመውሰድ መሬቱን ያጠቡበታል፣ ከሌላው ክልል በማባረር የሚኖርበትን ክልል ያጠቡታል” ያሉት አቶ ገ/መድህን፣ ይህ የሚደረገው ከመጀመሪያው እንዲጠፋ የተወሰነበትን ህዝብ አጥብቦ በማፈን በችግር ለመግረፍና ለመቆጣጠር ተብሎ እንደሆነ ገልጸዋል።

ዘር የማጥራት የህወሃት የቀደመ ድርጅታዊ መዋቅር እንደሆነ በማመልከት መለስን የጠቀሱት አቶ ገ/መድህን፣ “አማራውን ዝም ካልነው አያስቀምጠንም” የሚለው የመለስ መፈክር አካል የሆነው የቤኒሻንጉል ክልል ርምጃ የህወሃት ቤት ስራ እንደሆነ አረጋግጠዋል። አማራውን ፋታ ማሳጣት፣ ማንገላታት፣ ስነልቦናውን መግፈፍ ህወሃት በፕሮግራም ደረጃ የያዘው እቅድ ስለሆነ ወደፊትም እንደሚቀጥል አቶ ገ/መድህን ተናግረዋል።

“ሞት መፍራት አያስፈልግም። የተቀደሰ ሞት መሞት ክብር ነው” ሲሉ በቃለ ምልልሳቸው መጨረሻ የተናገሩት የቀድሞው የህወሃት የፋይናንስ ሃላፊ ህዝቡ ተባብሮ ህወሃትን ማስወገድ ካልቻለ ማፈናቀሉና መሰደዱ ተጠናክሮ እንደሚቀጥል አስጠንቅቀዋል።

[Source: Ethiopian Review]

By UnescoPress
April 16, 2013

Reeyot Alemu

Imprisoned Ethiopian journalist Reeyot Alemu is the winner of the 2013 UNESCO-Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize. Ms Alemu was recommended by an independent international jury of media professionals in recognition of her “exceptional courage, resistance and commitment to freedom of expression.”

The Jury took note of Reeyot Alemu’s contribution to numerous and independent publications. She wrote critically about political and social issues, focusing on the root causes of poverty, and gender equality. She worked for several independent media. In 2010 she founded her own publishing house and a monthly magazine called Change, both of which were subsequently closed. In June 2011, while working as a regular columnist for Feteh, a national weekly newspaper, Ms Alemu was arrested. She is currently serving a five year sentence in Kality prison.

The UNESCO Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize was created in 1997 by UNESCO’s Executive Board. It is awarded annually during the celebration of World Press Freedom Day on 3 May, which will take place this year in Costa Rica.

The Prize honours the work of an individual or an organization which has made a notable contribution to the defence and /or promotion of freedom of expression anywhere in the world, especially if risks have been involved. Candidates are proposed by UNESCO Member States, and regional or international organizations active in the fields of journalism and freedom of expression. Laureates are chosen by a jury whose members are appointed for a once renewable three-year term by the Director-General of UNESCO.

[Source: Ethiopian Review]

The ODF is a “new movement” launched by “pioneers of the Oromo nationalist struggle” who “have mapped out a new path that embraces the struggle of all oppressed Ethiopians for social justice and democracy.” Central to the collective struggle to bust the walls and crash the gates of  “prison nation” Ethiopia is a commitment to constitutional democracy based on principles of “shared and separate political institutions as the more promising and enduring uniting factor” and robust protections for civil liberties and civil rights. Shared governance and the rule of law provide the glue “that will bind the diverse nations into a united political community” and return to the people their government which has been privatized and corporatized by the ruling regime “to advance and serve their partisan and sectarian interests.”

The Declaration foresees genuine federalism as the basis for freedom, justice and equality in Ethiopia. It argues that the ruling Tigriyan Peoples Liberation Front (TPLF) hijacked the federalism, which was originally birthed by the “mounting pressures of the struggles for self-determination by the Oromo and other oppressed nations”,  and subsequently corrupted it into a political scheme that serves the “present ruling elite’s aspiration of emerging and permanently remaining as a new dominant group by simply stepping into the shoes of those that it replaced.” The ODF “aspire[s] to build on the positive aspects of Ethiopia’s current federal set-up” by “remov[ing] the procedural and substantive shortcomings that stand in the way of democracy and federalism.”

The Declaration finds traditional notions of unity inadequate. “Invoking a common history, culture or language has not guaranteed unity. We similarly reject the present ruling party’s presumption that it serves as the sole embodiment and defender of the so-called ‘revolutionary democratic unity.’” It also rejects “the ruling party’s illusory expectation that the promotion of economic development would serve as an alternative source of unity in the absence of democratic participation.” The Declaration incorporates principles of constitutional accountability, separation of powers and check balances and enumerates “bundles” of participatory, social  and cultural rights secured in international human rights conventions. It proposes “overhauling” the civil service system and restructuring of the military and intelligence institutions to serve the society instead of functioning as the  private protective services of the ruling party and elites. The Declaration broadly commits to economic and social justice and condemns the mistreatment and “eviction from ancestral lands of indigenous populations, and environmental degradation.”

Significance of the Declaration

The world is constantly changing and we must change with it. Henry David Thoreau correctly observed, “Things do not change; we change.” We change by discarding old and tired ideas and by embracing new and energetic ones. The old ideas which demonize other ethnic groups as mortal enemies are no longer tenable and are simply counterproductive. In a poor country like Ethiopia, the vast majority of the people of all ethnic groups get the shaft while the political and economic elites create ethnic tensions and conflict to cling to power and line their pockets. We change by casting away self-deception and facing the truth. The truth is that “united we stand, divided we fall”. When the Declaration of Independence was signed in 1776, Benjamin Franklin said, “We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately.”  For the past 21 years, we have been falling like a pack of dominoes. They have been hanging us separately on the hooks of “ethnic federalism”.

We must be prepared to change our minds as objective conditions change. As George Bernard Shaw said, “Those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.” We must change our ideas, beliefs, attitudes and perspectives to keep up with the times. The alternative is becoming irrelevant. No organization can achieve unanimity in making change because change makes some in the organization uncomfortable, uneasy and uncertain. However, change is necessary and unavoidable. In line with George Ayittey’s metaphor, we can change and remain viable and relevant like the Cheetahs or suffer the fate of the hopeless Hippos.

It is refreshing and inspiring to see a transformative and forward-looking declaration forged by some of the important founding members and leaders of the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) emphatically affirming the common destiny of all Ethiopians and underscoring the urgency for consolidating a common cause in waging a struggle for freedom, democracy and human rights in Ethiopia. These leaders show great courage and conviction of conscience in changing their minds with the changing political realities. The reality today is that the “economic and security interests of the Oromo people are intertwined with that of other peoples in Ethiopia. In addition, their geographic location, demography, democratic heritage and bond forged with all peoples over the years make it incumbent upon the Oromo to play a uniting and democratizing role.” It must have taken a staggering amount of effort to overcome internal discord and issue such a bold and positively affirmative Declaration signaling a fundamental change in position. These leaders deserve commendation for an extraordinary achievement.

I believe the Declaration is immensely important not only for the principles it upholds and articulates but most importantly for the fact that it represents a genuine paradigmatic shift in political strategy and tactics by the founders of the OLF. The Declaration signals a tectonic shift in long held views, ideology and political strategy.   It represents a profound change in the perception and understanding of politics, change and society not only in Ethiopia but also in the continent and globally. By emphasizing inclusiveness and common struggle, the Declaration rejects the destructive politics of ethnicity and identity (the bane of Africa)  for politics based on issues of social, political and economic justice. By embracing a common struggle for freedom, democracy and human rights, the Declaration rejects ethnocentrism (the arrogant philosophy of narrow-minded African dictators) and fully accepts federalism as a basis for political power and shared governance.

What are we to make of the Declaration? Is it merely an aspirational statement, an invitation to dialogue, a call to action or all of the above? It appears the Declaration is not merely a statement of principles but also an invitation to dialogue and a call to action. It affirms the universal truth that “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere” and acknowledges that “struggling for justice for oneself alone without advocating justice for all could ultimately prove futile”.  It urges Oromo groups to stop “trivial political wrangling” and “join hands with us in strengthening our camp to intensify our legitimate struggle and put an end to sufferings of our people.” It counsels the “ruling regime to reconsider its ultimately counterproductive policy of aspiring to indefinitely stay in power by fanning inter communal and interreligious suspicion and tension.” It proposes a “country-wide movement sharing” a common “vision, principles and policies” to “propel Ethiopia forward and ending the current political paralysis.” It pleads with the “international community to stand with us in implementing our vision and proposal of transforming the Ethiopian state to bring peace and sustainable stability in Ethiopia and Horn of Africa.”

Dialoguing over “Federalism” or the futility of putting lipstick on “bogus federalism”

It is the privilege of the human rights advocate and defender to speak his/her mind on all matters of human rights. I should like to exercise that privilege by raising an important issue in the Declaration and respectfully taking exception to it. The Declaration states:

We aspire to build on the positive aspects of Ethiopia’s current federal set-up. However, to make the simultaneous exercise of self-rule and shared-rule possible it is necessary to remove the procedural and substantive shortcomings that stand in the way of democracy and federalism… [which] can be  accomplished by [allowing] subject nations, in due course, freely elect delegates to their respective state and central constitutional assemblies. When this process is completed, the present “holding together” type of bogus federalism will be transformed into a genuine ‘coming together’ variety.

I consider myself a hardcore federalist who believes in a clear division of power between a national and sub-national (local, state) governments. In fact, I consider the “Federalist Papers” written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay promoting the ratification of the United States Constitution as unsurpassed works of political genius on the theory and practice of federalism. Having said that, I do not believe there is an alchemy that can  transmute “bogus federalism” into “genuine federalism”. Just as there is no such thing as being a “little bit pregnant”, there is also no such thing as building upon “bogus federalism”. Either it is genuine federalism or it is bogus federalism.

As I argued in my May 2010 commentary “Putting Lipstick on a Pig, Ethiopian Style”, discussing the elections, “You can put lipstick on a pig but it’s still a pig. You can jazz up a bogus election in a one-man, one-party dictatorship with a ‘Code of Conduct’, but to all the world it is still a bogus election under a one-man, one-party dictatorship… They want us to believe that a pig with lipstick is actually a swan floating on a placid lake, or a butterfly fluttering in the rose garden or even a lamb frolicking in the meadows. They think lipstick will make everything look pretty.” You can put lipstick on “ethnic federalism” and call it “federalism”, but it is still bogus federalism.

As I have often argued, the late Meles Zenawi, the chief architect of  “ethnic federalism” in Ethiopia was driven by a “vision of ethnic division. His warped idea of ‘ethnic federalism’ is merely a kinder and gentler reincarnation of Apartheid in Ethiopia. For nearly two decades, Meles toiled ceaselessly to shred the very fabric of Ethiopian society, and sculpt a landscape balkanized into tribal, ethnic, linguistic and regional enclaves.” He crafted a constitution based entirely on ethnicity and tribal affiliation as the basis for political organization. He wrote in Article 46 (2) of the Constitution: “States shall be structured on the basis of settlement patterns, language, identity and consent of the people.” In other words, “states”, (and the people who live in them) shall be corralled like cattle in tribal homelands in much the same way as the 10 Bantustans (black homelands) of Apartheid South Africa.  Ethiopia’s tribal homelands are officially called “kilils” (enclaves or distinct enclosed and effectively isolated geographic areas within a seemingly integrated national territory). Like the Bantustans, Ethiopia’s 9 killilistans ultimately aim to create homogeneous and autonomous ethnic states in Ethiopia, effectively scrubbing out any meaningful notion of Ethiopian national citizenship. You can put lipstick on bantustans and call them “ethnic federalism” but at the end of the day a Killilistan with lipstick is a Bantustan without lipstick.

Before committing to “build up on the positive aspects of Ethiopia’s current federal set-up”, I urge the ODF and all others interested in institutionalizing genuine federalism in Ethiopia to carefully study and consider the long line of Apartheid laws creating and maintaining bantustans in South Africa. I commend a couple of illustrative examples of such laws to those interested. The Bantu Authorities Act, 1951(“Black Authorities Act, 1951”)  created the legal basis for the deportation of blacks into designated homeland reserve areas and established tribal, regional and territorial authorities. This Act was subsequently augmented by the Bantu Homelands Citizenship Act, 1970 (“Black States Citizenship Act & National States Citizenship Act, 1970) which sought to change the legal status of the inhabitants of the bantustans by effectively denaturalizing them from enjoying  citizenship rights as South Africans. These laws imposed draconian restrictions on the freedom of movement of black South Africans.  These laws further sought to ensure that white South Africans would represent the majority of the de jure population of South Africa with the right to vote and monopolize control of the state machinery. The Group Areas Act of 1950 (as re-enacted in the Group Areas Act of 1966), divided South Africa into separate areas for whites and blacks and gave the government the power to forcibly remove people from areas not designated for their particular tribal and racial group. Under this Act, anyone living in the “wrong” area was deported to his/her tribal group homeland. The law also denied Africans the right to own land anywhere in South Africa and stripped them of all political rights. The lives of over 3.5 million people were destroyed by this law as they were forcibly deported and corralled like cattle in their tribal group bantustans.

Recently, Prof. Yacob Hailemariam, a prominent Ethiopian opposition leader and a former senior Prosecutor for the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda commented that the forceful eviction of members of the Amhara ethnic group  from Benishangul-Gumuz (one of the nine kililistans) was a de facto ethnic cleansing. “The forceful deportation of people because they speak a certain language could destabilize a region, and if reported with tangible evidence, the UN Security Council could order the International Criminal Court to begin to examine the crimes.”  A year ago to the month Meles Zenawi justified the forced expulsion of tens of thousands of Amharas from Southern Ethiopia stating, “… By coincidence of history, over the past ten years numerous people — some 30,000 sefaris (squatters) from North Gojam – have settled in Benji Maji (BM) zone [in Southern Ethiopia]. In Gura Ferda, there are some 24,000 sefaris.” Meles approved the de facto ethnic cleansing of Amharas from the “wrong” areas and repatriation back to their kililistan Amhara homelands. Through “villagization” programs, indigenous populations have been forced of their  ancestral lands  in Gambella, Benishangul and the Oromo River Valley and their land auctioned off to voracious  multinational agribusinesses.  The undeniable fact of the matter is that over the past two decades the Meles regime has implemented a kinder and gentler version of Bantustanism in Ethiopia.

The perils and untenability of Meles’ “bogus federalism” have been documented in the International Crises Group’s report “Ethiopia: Ethnic Federalism and Its Discontents”. That report points out the glaring deficiencies and problems engendered by “ethnic federalism” in  “redefine[ing]  citizenship, politics and identity on ethnic grounds.” The study argues that “ethnic federalism” has resulted in “an asymmetrical federation that combines populous regional states like Oromiya and Amhara in the central highlands with sparsely populated and underdeveloped ones like Gambella and Somali.” Moreover, “ethnic federalism” has created “weak regional states”, “empowered some groups” and failed to resolve the “national question”. Aggravating the underlying situation has been the Meles dictatorship’s failure to promote “dialogue and reconciliation” among groups in Ethiopian society, further fueling “growing discontent with the EPRDF’s ethnically defined state and rigid grip on power and fears of continued inter-ethnic conflict.”

“Ethnic federalism” is indefensible in theory or practice. While intrinsically nonsensical as public policy, “ethnic federalism” in the hands of the Meles regime has become a dangerous weapon of divide and rule, divide and control and divide and destroy. Those in power entertain themselves watching the pitiful drama of kililistans compete and fight with each other for crumbs and preoccupying  themselves with historical grievances. The ICG report makes it clear that in the long term “ethnic federalism” could trigger an implosion and disintegration of the Ethiopian nation.

Meles used to boast that his “ethnic federalism” policy had saved the “country [which] was on the brink of total disintegration.” He argued that “Every analyst worth his salt was suggesting that Ethiopia will go the way of Yugoslavia or the Soviet Union. What we have now is a going-concern.”

The truth of the matter is that ethnic balkanization, fragmentation, segregation and polarization are the tools of trade used by the Meles regime to cling to power while lining their pockets. In a genuine federalism, the national government is the creature of the subnational governments. In Ethiopia, the “kilil” (regional) “governments” are creatures and handmaidens of the national “government”. In a genuine federalism, the national government is entrusted with limited and enumerated powers for the purpose effectuating the common purposes of the  subnational “governments”. In Ethiopia, the powers of the national “government” are vast and unlimited;  and there are no barriers to its usurpatory powers which it exercises at will. There are no safeguards against encroachment on the rights and liberties of the people by the national or subnational “governments”. Simply stated, “ethnic federalism” as practiced in Ethiopia today is not only a recipe for tyranny by the  national “government” but also the creed for secessionists in the name of self-determination. “Ethnic federalism” is an idea whose time has passed and should be consigned to the dustbin of history along with its author.  “Well, back to the old drawing board!”

The Curse of  Meles                                                        

According to those in the know, the late Meles Zenawi used to say “Diaspora Ethiopians can start things but never manage to finish them.” Regardless of the veracity of the attribution, there is a ring of truth to the proposition. Since 2005, we have read lofty declarations and heard  announcements on the establishment of political and advocacy groups and organizations. We have welcomed them with fanfare but they have come and gone like the seasons.

I do not believe those who drafted the Declaration of the Congress of the Oromo Democratic Front will be visited by the Curse of Meles. The Declaration seems to be the product of an enormous amount of organizational soul-searching, discussion, debate, introspection and contemplation. The ODF has come up with an honest, practical, bold and hopeful declaration. I have some questions as do others; but the fact that questions are being raised is proof that the Declaration has considerable appeal, credibility and traction. I ask questions to engage in dialogue and discussion, not to undermine or cause doubt about the worth or value of the Declaration. To be sure, I raise questions about the Declaration in the spirit of Dr. Martin Luther King’s counsel: “Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?’” My questions originate from the question: “What does the Declaration do for all of our people?  With sustained effort and the good will and cooperation of all stakeholders, there is no reason why new alliances cannot be created and old ones reinvigorated to move forward the struggle for freedom, democracy and human rights in Ethiopia. I am inspired by the Declaration’s commitment to wage a united struggle: “We will exert all efforts in order to pull together as many advocates and promoters of the interests of diverse social sectors as possible in order to popularize and refine the principles and processes that would transform Ethiopia into a genuinely democratic multinational federation.”

I understand “to pull together” means to stop pushing, shoving,  ripping, picking and tearing each other apart. That is why I have an unshakeable faith in the proposition that “Ethiopians united — pulling together — can never be defeated by the bloody hands of tyrants!”

Professor Alemayehu G. Mariam teaches political science at California State University, San Bernardino and is a practicing defense lawyer.

Previous commentaries by the author are available at:

http://open.salon.com/blog/almariam/

www.huffingtonpost.com/alemayehu-g-mariam/

Amharic translations of recent commentaries by the author may be found at:

http://www.ecadforum.com/Amharic/archives/category/al-mariam-amharic

http://ethioforum.org/?cat=24

[Source: Ethiopian Review]

What this chart shows us is that we are mostly rural, we have a very low life expectancy, we don’t have clean water to drink, we lack basic sanitation facility, our children are semi starved a condition that will affect them thru their adult life, more than half of our population is illiterate, we spend minuscule amount on education and health care and we owe our creditors more money that our grandchildren are left with to pay. We are a failed state. When we discuss changing our country, when we talk about bringing freedom and democracy to our ancient land, when we contemplate what we should do tomorrow it is always good to know what exactly we have on the table so we can make smart and real plans based on reality.
Thus when we despair about what the TPLF mafia is doing to our people and country it is always good to understand why they are succeeding with such bizarre acts and behavior when we look at it from afar. What is it that we in the Diaspora have that the Ethiopian people lack? It is true the diaspora in general is a little bit educated than those at home, we are a more exposed to newer ways of doing things and most of us have managed to conquer fear. All true but the most important factor in this equation is that we have more information to work with that our brethren at home. Information is power. Information gives the individual choice. Information opens the eye and creates that eureka moment we all dream about.
The power of TPLF comes from denying information to our people. That is why they work over time; spend millions of Bir to deny information from reaching our people. That is why in most library’s’ what is written prominently in bold is ‘ýe shall know the truth and the truth can make ye free.’ The truth is what our government is most afraid of. That is why my tile says whipped nation. They keep our people in the dark and whip them psychologically with falsehood, make believe stories and fairy tales that no one can contest. I will give you some examples from news that took place the last few days all beyond logic but told on Eth TV and media as rational and true.
1) I will start with the dead PM’s wife Azeb Gola Mesfin’s declaration that her husband used to make US $240 a month on government payroll. It is said ‘nothing else shows lack of conscience better than bold face lying.’ I guess the lady learnt from the best. We know that Ato Meles never worked for wages before he became PM, never have a bank account, never even paid rent, never paid bills of any kind and according to her didn’t even know how to drive a car. On the other hand the same Meles used to wear suit that cost close to ten thousand dollars- now how did that happen? There is no such thing as national medical insurance but Ato Meles used to travel to Brussels for regular checkup and died there after a lengthy and expensive treatment in a private room-do tell us how that was paid? Did we pay for that? Is that part of his employment package? How much did it cost the Ethiopian tax payer?
Furthermore a Spanish newspaper a while back reported that Weizero Azeb spent 1.2 Million Euros shopping for cloth. Is that money she earned all by herself or was it their combined money as husband and wife? You know why this is not known to our people? It is because there is no independent media to report is the reason. No one to call out her bold lie.
2) It was declared by the current guy who claims to be the PM that the regime has established Meles Zenawi Foundation (MZF) According to Walta ‘The Foundation would serve as a living center of ideas and programs to further advance the works and legacy of the great leader Meles Zenawi.’ Only in Ethiopia could such farce take place. I am sure you have heard of the Ford Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation or the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. What makes the MZF different from the above? Those Foundations were established by the individuals so they could share their good fortune with the rest of humanity instead of just willing it to their family. They wanted to share the success they earned by their hard work and use their wealth to good use.
On the other hand the MZF puts that concept on its head. The MZF is established in a ‘proclamation passed by the House of Peoples Representatives’ thus making the tax payer funder of the tyrant’s legacy. To add insult to injury the dictator’s family is in charge of the foundation with his wife and relatives assigned the majority of the board seats. Dictator Meles has all of Ethiopian public media at his beck and call since he assumed power to share his half-baked ideas and infantile musings and now we gona get more of that even from afterlife. Alive he was always quick to dismiss our green, yellow and red symbol therefore it is odd to see his foundation symbol wrapped with our colors minus his silly star in the middle. That is why I said whipped nation. No one to call out their dishonest plans played on our people.
3) The ethnic cleansing against the Amhara people shows no sign of slowing down. It was only last year that with the blessing of the late dictator his agents such as Shiferaw Shigute felt free to drive our people from their homes to faraway places. We protested a little but forgot about it within a short time. It is déjà vu time again. This time the TPLF appointed folks of BeneShangul region felt no shame when they decided to deport the Amhars from their homes. As usual this bizarre behavior of displacing people within their own country has become an Ethiopian past time. Of course some of us show indignation but unfortunately refuse to connect the dots that connect such behavior with our practice. Let me ask you when you buy your beautiful condominium how do you think Azeb Kuma, Arkebe and other TPLF folks acquired the property? Where do you think the peasants of Sebeta and Akai went after being uprooted from their family land and home? The acts of Gura fereda and bena Sahngul is just the same immoral and ugly deed but in a bigger scale.
All are clear signs of a regime gone rogue. How exactly are we responding to this blatant abuse of power and unimaginable atrocity against our people? What new ways have we devised to overcome this debilitating sickness that is slowly but surely killing our country? What exactly have we prescribed to ourselves so we can overcome this disease that is destroying our country, people and the Ethiopia we know?
I am afraid we excel at talking, condemning and always waiting for the next abuse so we could do more of our talking and condemning in a new spirit. Nothing more, nothing less is what I have witnessed if asked to testify. Why do you think that is so? In my humble opinion what we lack is a leader to inspire us, to take us to new heights and gather our people to believe. I am afraid that is not something one can buy from a supermarket order on Amazon.com. What we lack is an organization that will respond in kind to the actions and deeds of the TPLF mafia in power. In our country Sir Isaac Newton’s third law of motion that states ‘for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction’ doesn’t seem to work. Woyane kills we play dead. Woyane abuses we cry like a baby. Woyane ‘ethnic cleanse’ we talk about it and move on. Where is the equal and opposite reaction?
Fortunate for us I am happy to point out we have one area of responding in kind covered. Of course I am talking about ESAT. It is the first and glorious response we have devised to level the playing field. ESAT is an empowerment tool we have at our disposal. ESAT is the expression of our collective will born from amongst us, nurtured by us and serving the ordinary Ethiopian in a new kind of way. ESAT is fair, ESAT is balanced and ESAT don’t need to lie, tell tall stories and ESAT self corrects when wrong. ESAT is the proto type of the new Ethiopia we are capable of building when given the chance. It is the duty of all patriotic Ethiopians to support ESAT, to protect ESAT, to promote ESAT and safeguard ESAT from all and any naysayers that try to nick pick and slander our baby.
I also propose we start a new equal and opposite reaction’ to the current idiotic idea of white washing the legacy of the Woyane warlord. We have to nip this farce in the bud. They have established the Meles Zenawi Foundation and it is fitting we establish The Meles Zenawi Criminal Enterprise Data Base. I call all Ethiopians educated in the field of Library science, data base compilation, achieving, and media to help us preserve the twenty years of atrocity by the architect and his TPLF comrades. We have enough material to fill the library of Congress. We don’t even need a government proclamation nor a handout from dictators. Let us get to work!
So what did you think when you saw the title of my article. I am sure you most of us know what being whipped means but where the hell is FDRE? That is the official name of your country. Not only did TPLF folks come up with a new flag and the Kilil system which they copied from good old Mussolini but they changed our name too. I bet most of us don’t even know our national anthem, do you?

http://www.intropsych.com/ch12_abnormal/antisocial_personality.html

http://www.abc.es/20110120/internacional/abci-primeras-damas-derrochan-201101201613.html

http://www.waltainfo.com/index.php?id=7876:meles-zenawi-foundation-established-today-&option=com_content&catid=71:editors-pick&Itemid=396

[Source: Ethiopian Review]

[Source: Ethiopian Review]

Read the letter sent to SEC

[Source: Ethiopian Review]

Ato Ahmed Nasser, the president of the so-called Benishangul-Gumuz regional state, has apparently been ordered to issue a hastily-drafted letter (see Amharic text below) blaming the deportation on low-level cadres.

የቤኒሻንጉል ጉምዝ ክልል የተፈናቀሉ የአማራ ብሔር ተወላጆች እንዲመለሱ ጥሪ አቀረበ

By Tamru Tsige and Wudineh Zenebe | Ethiopian Reporter.com

April 10, 2013

Ato Ahmed Nasser, president of the so-called Benishangul-Gumuz regional state

ከቤኒሻንጉል ጉምዝ ክልል ካማሽ ዞን ያሶ ወረዳ የተፈናቀሉ የአማራ ክልል ተወላጆች ከመኖሪያ ቀያቸው የተፈናቀሉት በበታች አመራሮች ግብታዊ ዕርምጃ በመሆኑ፣ ወደነበሩበት እንዲመለሱ የክልሉ መንግሥት ጥሪ አቀረበ፡፡

የቤኒሻንጉል ጉምዝ ክልል ፕሬዚዳንት አቶ አህመድ ናስር ለሪፖርተር እንደገለጹት፣ ኪራይ ሰብሳቢ ያሉዋቸው የበታች አመራሮች በፈጠሩት ችግር የተፈናቀሉ 1,346 አባወራዎች ወደ ስፍራው እንዲመለሱ ጥሪ ቀርቧል፡፡

የተንጣለለ መሬትና የአምስት ብሔረሰቦች ክልል የሆነው ቤኒሻንጉል ክልል፣ በተለይ ከአማራና ከኦሮሚያ ክልል የመጡ በርካታ ሰፋሪዎች ይኖሩበታል፡፡ ከእነዚህ ክልሎች ከመጡ ዜጎች መካከል የእኩል እያረሱ የሚኖሩም በርካቶች ናቸው፡፡ ከዛሬ 28 ዓመት በፊት በክልሉ ውስጥ መኖር የጀመሩ ዜጎችም ተፈናቅለዋል፡፡ እነዚህ በሺዎች የሚቆጠሩ ተፈናቃዮች ያለመጠለያ ከመቅረታቸውም በላይ ለልመና መዳረጋቸው ሲነገር፣ ዘመድ ያላቸው በየዘመዶቻቸው መጠለላቸው ታውቋል፡፡ በዚህ የማፈናቀል ዘመቻ ለበርካታ ዓመታት የኖሩና መታወቂያ ያላቸው ዜጎች መፈናቀላቸውን ከተፈናቃዮች ለመረዳት ተችሏል፡፡

የክልሉ መንግሥት ባወጣው የመሬት ፖሊሲ መሠረት ሕገወጥ ሰፋሪዎችን በአግባቡ ለማስፈር ዕቅድ የያዘ ቢሆንም፣ ይህ ዕቅዱ ባልተጠበቀ ሁኔታ መመርያ ሳይሰጥበት በበታች የወረዳና የቀበሌ ካድሬዎች ያልተገባ ተግባር የተፈጸመ መሆኑን ፕሬዚዳንቱ ለሪፖርተር አስረድተዋል፡፡

የአመራሮቹና የካድሬዎቹ ያልተገባ ውሳኔ 1,346 አባወራዎችን ጨምሮ 3,240 ቤተሰቦቻቸው እንዲፈናቀሉ መደረጉንም አምነዋል፡፡ ተፈናቃዮቹ ግን ብዛታችን ከ5,000 ይበልጣል ይላሉ፡፡

ጉዳዩ ያሳሰበው የአማራ ክልል መንግሥት ከቤንሻንጉል ጉምዝ ክልል መንግሥት ጋር ውይይት ማድረጉን ለማወቅ ተችሏል፡፡ በውይይቱ ወቅት የቤንሻንጉል ጉምዝ ክልል በተፈጠረው ስህተት ማዘኑን መግለጹን አቶ አህመድም ገልጸዋል፡፡ ዜጎችን በማፈናቀል ስህተት በፈጠሩ አመራሮች ላይ ግምገማ ተካሂዶ ዕርምጃ እንደሚወሰድና ሕገወጥ የሰዎች ፍልሰትን ለማስቀረት የተቀናጀና ዘላቂነት ያለው ሥራ እንደሚሠራ አቶ አህመድ አስረድተዋል፡፡

አቶ አህመድ በክልላቸው በርካታ የአማራ ተወላጆች እንደሚኖሩና ሥልጣን ይዘው የሚገኙ በተለያዩ የአመራር እርከኖች ላይ ያሉ መኖራቸውን አስረድተዋል፡፡ ክልሉ ዜጎችን የማፈናቀል ሐሳብ እንደሌለውና የክልሉን የተፈጥሮ ሀብት ከውድመት ለመከላከል የግድ ሕገወጥ ሠፈራ አደብ መግዛት እንዳለበት ግን አስታውቀዋል፡፡ ይህንንም ለማድረግ ክልሉ ባወጣው የመሬት አጠቃቀም ፖሊሲ መሠረት ተግባራዊ እንደሚደረግ አስታውቀው፣ በሰሞኑ ሕገወጥ ዘመቻ የተፈናቀሉ ዜጎች ግን ተመልሰው ሰላማዊ ሕይወታቸውን መምራት እንደሚችሉ አረጋግጠዋል፡፡

በተያያዘ ዜና የኢትዮጵያውያን ዴሞክራሲያዊ ፓርቲ (ኢዴፓ) እና የሰማያዊ ፓርቲ ከቤኒሻንጉል ጉምዝና ከሌሎችም ክልሎች የአማራ ብሔራ ተወላጆች መፈናቀላቸውን አስመልክቶ ባስተላለፉት የተቃውሞ መግለጫ፣ እስከ አሥር ዓመታትና ከዚያም በላይ ከኖሩበት ቤኒሻንጉል ጉምዝ ክልል የተፈናቀሉ የአማራ ብሔር ተወላጆች፣ በአማራ ክልል በተለያዩ መጠለያ ጣቢያዎች መሆናቸው እጅግ በጣም አሳሳቢ በመሆኑ መንግሥት ሊያስብበት እንደሚገባ አሳስበዋል፡፡

ሁለቱም ፓርቲዎች በሰጡት ጋዜጣዊ መግለጫ እንዳስታወቁት፣ ከአንድ ዓመት በፊት ከደቡብ ብሔር ብሔረሰቦችና ሕዝቦች ክልል ከጉራፈርዳ ወረዳ በሺሕዎች የሚቆጠሩ የአማራ ብሔር ተወላጆች መፈናቀላቸውን፣ እንዲሁም በቅርቡ ደግሞ በሶማሌ ክልላዊ መንግሥት ከጅጅጋ ከተማ በሺሕዎች የሚቆጠሩ የአማራ ብሔር ተወላጆች ከኖሩበትና ንብረት ካፈሩበት ቀያቸው መፈናቀላቸውን ያስታወሱት ፓርቲዎቹ፣ አሁን መታሰብ ያለበት ነገሮች ወዴት እያመሩ መሆኑንና በቀጣይ ሊፈጠር የሚችለውን ሁኔታ መሆኑን አስረድተዋል፡፡

ዜጎች የሚፈናቀሉበት ምክንያት ፖለቲካዊም ሆነ ኢኮኖሚያዊ ወይም ብሔርተኝነት፣ የሚፈናቀሉበትም መንገድ ኢትዮጵያ በዓለም አቀፍ  ደረጃ የተቀበለቻቸውንና ስምምነት ያደረገችባቸውን የሰብዓዊ መብት ድንጋጌዎችን ያላከበረ መሆኑን ፓርቲዎቹ ገልጸዋል፡፡ በሕገ መንግሥቱ አንቀጽ 14 ስለሰብዓዊ መብቶች የሰፈረውን ድንጋጌና በአንቀጽ 25 የእኩልነት መብትን አስመልክቶ የተቀመጠውን መብት የሚፃረር ድርጊት እየተፈጸመ መሆኑን የገለጹት ፓርቲዎቹ፣ ዜጎች በአስገዳጅ ሁኔታ የተፈናቀሉት በአንድ ሕገ መንግሥትና ሉዓላዊነት አገር ማዕቀፍ ውስጥ መሆኑን፣ መፈናቀላቸውንና ስደታቸውን ተከትሎ እየተከሰተባቸው ያለው ማዋከብና ድብደባ አሳሳቢና አነጋጋሪ እንደሆነ ገልጸዋል፡፡

በደቡብ ክልል በጉራፈርዳ ወረዳ፣ በሶማሌ ክልል በጅጅጋ ከተማ፣ በቤኒሻንጉል ጉሙዝ ክልል ያሶ ወረዳ የተፈናቀሉ የአማራ ብሔር ተወላጆችና በኦሮሚያ፣ በጋምቤላ፣ በሶማሌና በሌሎችም ክልሎች የተፈናቀሉ ዜጎች ጉዳይ ያስከተለው የሰብዓዊ መብት ጥሰት፣ ማኅበራዊ ቀውስ፣ በየክልሉ በሚኖሩ ቀሪዎቹ ዜጎች ላይ በሰላም ሠርተው የመኖር ፍላጎትና ሀብት ባፈሩበት ቀዬ የመኖር ጥያቄ ላይ ሥጋት እየፈጠረ መሆኑን መንግሥት ልብ ሊለውና ሊያስብበት እንደሚገባ አሳስበዋል፡፡ በመሆኑም መንግሥት በዜጎች ላይ እያደረሰ ያለውን መፈናቀል በአስቸኳይ እንዲያቆም፣ የቤኒሻንጉል ጉሙዝ ክልል መንግሥት እያካሄደ ያለውን ኢሰብዓዊና ሕገወጥ ተግባር እንዲያቆምና እንዲታቀብ፣ የአማራ ብሔራዊ ክልላዊ መንግሥት ለተፈናቃዮቹ ዜጎች ጊዜያዊ መጠለያ፣ አልባሳትና ምግብ እንዲያገኙ እንዲያደርግ፣ የሕዝብ ተወካዮች ምክር ቤት በሕዝብ ላይ እየተፈጸመ ያለው ማፈናቀል ሕገ መንግሥቱን የጣሰና ኢትዮጵያን የሚጎዳ ተግባር በመሆኑ፣ ድርጊቱን የፈጸሙ ክልሎችም ሆኑ ግለሰቦች በሕግ እንዲጠየቁ እንዲያደርግ ፓርቲዎቹ ጠይቀዋል፡፡

[Source: Ethiopian Review]

[Source: Ethiopian Review]

BAHRAIN – An Ethiopian woman whose family had given her up for dead after they had no contact with her for nearly eight years is due to return home thanks to the help of community leaders.

Misrak Alemo came to Bahrain to support her family, but was held as a prisoner in her sponsor’s home and prevented from calling her relatives.

Her Bahraini employer also only sent her salary to her family in Addis Ababa twice – leaving them to fear something terrible had happened.

The 30-year-old’s case came to light when her mother tracked down and called Ethiopian G W Demmelash to say she feared her daughter may be dead. Relatives sent pictures to him and other community leaders, who took two years to find Misrak.

“We were unaware of the case until her mother called me and started crying over the phone from Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia,” said Mr Demmelash.

“She said Ms Alemu left the country in 2005 to work in Bahrain and hadn’t spoken to them since then.

“We had no clue where she was working and how to find her.”

Community leaders eventually had a breakthrough when the Misrak’s brother sent them a copy of a receipt from one of the few times her sponsor had sent the family money.

“They didn’t get money from him after that and had no contact with Misrak at all,” said Mr Demmelash.

“After getting the number, we contacted him but upon receiving a negative response, we forwarded the number to an officer at Isa Town police station.

“The employer confessed he didn’t pay Misrak as he was building his house and has agreed to pay her the money.”

According to Mr Demmelash, the Bahraini owes her BD3,000 from her salary of BD40 a month. “The employer agreed to pay after police intervened,” he said.

“Police asked him to come to the police station along with Misrak.”

However, community leaders are having to foot the bill of her air ticket home.

An emotional Misrak, who is now living with Mr Demmelash, told the GDN she was longing to return to her family.

“I was unable to control my emotions when I spoke to them for the first time in all these years,” she said.

“Now I call them everyday, just to confirm that I am fine and coming home soon.

“My mother couldn’t believe it when she heard my voice and started crying, but I told her everything will be okay now.”

Misrak has four sisters and three brothers and says the first thing she will do once she returns home is eat some of her mother’s food.

“I have to tell them so much and I am sure they have a lot to be shared,” she said.

“The first thing I want to do is hug my mother and then eat food cooked by her which I missed all these years.

“I am longing to go back home as soon as possible and be with my family.”

Source: Gulf Daily News

[Source: Ethiopian Review]

Monday, April 15 at 2:00PM
U.S. CONGRESS: Rayburn House Office Building
(45 Independence Avenue SW, Washington, DC)

A SHORT DOCUMENTARY ON LAND GRABBING WILL BE SCREENED
Land grabbing is becoming the single most combative issue in Africa. It involves large-scale land acquisitions by foreign countries and corporations for farming, biofuels, logging and minerals. Unlike land acquisitions in the United States and Europe where purchasers pay the fair market values for land, in Africa unscrupulous deals are displacing thousands of farmers and leaving local communities in abject poverty, while government officials benefit from land sales and leases.

PANELISTS

BINTA TERRIER
Ms. Terrier is Co-Founder and Executive Director of Partnership League for Africa’s Development (PLAD). PLAD was created to focus on education, health, land-rights and agriculture as the cornerstone to address the human rights problem in Africa. Educated as an economist she is becoming a leading female voice for Africa’s development and governance.

DR. GEORGE AYITTEY
Dr. Ayittey is a distinguished Economist and Professor at the American University, Washington, DC. He is the founder and chair of the Free Africa Foundation and an associate scholar at the Foreign Policy Research Institute. Dr. Ayittey has championed the argument that: Africa is poor because she is not free, that the primary cause of African poverty is less a result of the oppression and mismanagement by colonial powers, but rather a result of modern oppressive native autocrats.

OBANG METHO

Mr. Metho is Executive Director of the SMNE (www.solidaritymovement.org), a social justice movement of diverse Ethiopians that joint-sponsored with the think tank, Oakland Institute, to produce the Ethiopian portion of the comprehensive investigative report, Understanding Land Investment Deals in Africa, published in June 2011. Mr. Obang is a human rights activist who tirelessly advocates for human rights, justice, freedom and environment, enhanced accountability in politics and peace in Africa for over 10 years.
RICK JACOBSON
Mr. Jacobson works on land grab issues in Africa as a Team Leader for International Forest Policy and Environmental Governance for Global Witness.

MODERATOR: GREGORY SIMPKINS

Mr. Simpkins is an Africa Expert and Senior Advisor, to Congressman Chris Smith the Chairman of the U.S. House Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights and International Organizations.
Questions: please contact: Binta@allafr.org or kwame@rebeccaproject.org

[Source: Ethiopian Review]

A multi-billion dollar aid program administered by the World Bank is underwriting systematic human rights abuses in Ethiopia. Last September, Ethiopian victims submitted a complaint about the program to the World Bank Inspection Panel, which is tasked with investigating whether or not the Bank complies with its own policies to prevent social and environmental harm.  A meeting of the Bank’s board of directors to discuss the Panel’s preliminary findings was postponed on March 19th due to objections from the Ethiopian government.

Ethiopia is one the largest aid recipients in the world, receiving approximately US$3 billion annually from external donors. The largest aid program, financed by the World Bank, the UK, the European Commission and other Western governments, is called Promotion of Basic Services (PBS).  It aims to expand access to services in five sectors: education, health, agriculture, water supply and sanitation, and rural roads. The PBS program objectives are indisputably laudable and aim to meet a number of dire needs of the Ethiopian population. There is evidence, however, that it is contributing to a government campaign to forcibly resettle an estimated 1.5 million people.

In the lowland region of Gambella, the government’s principle means of delivering basic services is through the implementation of the “Villagization Program”. The government claims that “villagization” is a voluntary process, which aims to “bring socioeconomic and cultural transformation of the people” through the resettlement of “scattered” families into new villages.  The services and facilities supported by PBS are precisely the services and facilities that are supposed to be provided at new settlement sites under the Villagization Program.

However, Gambellans, now amassing in refugee camps in Kenya and South Sudan, report that the program has been far from voluntary.  When I visited the camps last fall, the refugees reported a process involving intimidation, beatings, arbitrary arrest and detention, torture in military custody and extra-judicial killing.  Dispossessed of their fertile ancestral lands and displaced from their livelihoods, Gambella’s indigenous communities have been forced into villages with few of the promised basic services and little access to food or land suitable for farming.  Meanwhile, many of the areas from which people have been forcibly removed have been awarded to domestic and foreign investors for large-scale agro-industrial plantations.

In September, Human Rights Watch and my organization, Inclusive Development International, arranged a meeting with the World Bank and five newly arrived refugees in Nairobi.  One by one, they gave chilling testimony of the abuses that they and their families have experienced under the Villagization Program.  Their testimony corroborated detailed reports about the program by Human Rights Watch and the Oakland Institute.

Yet, despite these credible reports and first-hand accounts that Bank staff heard in Nairobi, the Bank has continued to deny the forcible nature of villagization. The Bank also insists that its project is not linked to the Villagization Program, despite its acknowledgement that it finances the salaries of public servants who are tasked with implementing villagization.  These arguments are wholly disingenuous.
Donors must accept responsibility for human rights abuses they help make possible and do everything in their power to prevent them.  There are ways the Bank can support critical investments in human development while ensuring that it is not underwriting human rights violations. It could, for example, require that the Villagization Program comply with its safeguard policy on resettlement as a condition of its $600 million concessional loan for the latest phase of PBS.  If this policy were applied, the government would have to ensure, and the Bank would have to verify, that resettlement is truly voluntary and that the program improves people’s lives.

Yet the Bank and bi-lateral donors have instead chosen a strategy of denial. They have invested too much for too long in Ethiopia to admit that things have gone horribly wrong, and they are too worried about upsetting a critical military ally in a volatile part of the world to start attaching human rights conditions to aid packages.

That is why the World Bank Inspection Panel is so important.  After undertaking a preliminary assessment, the Panel determined that the link between PBS and villagization was plausible and it recommended to the Board a full investigation in order to make definitive findings.  However, Ethiopia’s representative on the Board has stymied approval of the investigation.  A meeting to discuss the Panel’s report scheduled on March 19 was postponed due to resistance from the Ethiopian government, which is vying to set the terms of the investigation.

The Inspection Panel was established as an independent body that people harmed by World Bank lending practices can access in order to hold the Bank to account.  Bank managers and member states are not supposed to interfere in the process.  The Bank’s president, Jim Yong Kim, should stand up for accountability and tell the Board to let the Panel do its job.  The truth that will come out of this investigation may be inconvenient for the Bank and an important client government, but it will be a rare measure of justice for the Ethiopian people.
_______________

David Pred is Founder and Director of Bridges Across Borders Southeast Asia (BABSEA), an international grassroots organization working to bring

people together to overcome poverty, injustice and inequity in the Southeast Asia region.

[Source: Ethiopian Review]

Ethiopian journalist Eskinder Nega is a special kind of hero who fights with nothing more than ideas and the truth. He slays falsehoods with the sword of truth. He chases bad ideas with good ones. Armed only with a pen, Eskinder fights despair with hope; fear with courage; anger with reason; arrogance with humility; ignorance with knowledge; intolerance with forbearance; oppression with perseverance; doubt with trust and cruelty with compassion. Above all, Eskinder speaks truth to power and to those who abuse, misuse, overuse and are corrupted by power.

Now almost a year since I wrote my tribute, I remember my great friend and brother Eskinder Nega as he languishes in Meles Zenawi Prison.  But I do not remember him in sadness or with heartache.  No! No! I remember Eskinder in the hopeful, faith-filled and resolute words of American poet James Russell Lowell (“The Present Crisis”): “When a deed is done for Freedom, through the broad earth’s aching breast…/ Once to every man and nation comes the moment to decide…/ In the strife of Truth with Falsehood, for the good or evil side… For Humanity sweeps onward: where to-day the martyr stands…/ Truth forever on the scaffold, wrong forever on the throne…/

Eskinder and his wife Serkalem did the right deed to defend the right of press freedom in Ethiopia. They spoke truth to falsehood in their newspapers and never backed down. They spoke right to wrong in kangaroo court. The man who tried for 20 years to right the wrongs of tyranny, today, like Lowell’s Truth, hangs on the scaffold in the belly of Meles Zenawi Prison, a place of  “wrath and tears where the horror of the shade looms”, with his head bloodied but UNBOWED!

Last week, Birtukan Mideksa wrote an opinion piece for Al Jazeera urging the release of Eskinder Nega and  other journalists including Reeyot Alemu (winner of the International Women’s Media Foundation 2012 Courage in Journalism Award) and Woubshet Taye (2012 Hellman/Hammett Grant Award) and all political prisoners in Ethiopia. Birtukan is the first female political party (Unity for Democracy and Justice) leader in Ethiopian history. Birtukan, like Eskinder, was the personal political prisoner of the late dictator Meles Zenawi.   Meles personally ordered Birtukan’s arrest and on December 29, 2008, a year and half after he “pardoned” and released her from prison, he threw her back in jail without even the usual song and dance of kangaroo court.  On January 9, 2010, Meles sent chills down the spines of reporters when he declared sadistically that “there will never be an agreement with anybody to release Birtukan. Ever. Full stop. That’s a dead issue.” On January 15, 2010, the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention adopted an opinion finding that Birtukan Midekksa is a political prisoner.

It is heartwarming to read Birtukan’s moving and robustly principled defense of Eskinder Nega and the other Ethiopian journalists and political prisoners. It is also ironic that Eskinder should replace Birtukan as the foremost political prisoner in Ethiopia today.

Few can speak more authoritatively on the plight of Eskinder and all Ethiopian political prisoners than my great sister Birtukan who also spent years in in the belly of Meles Zenawi Prison, a substantial part of it in solitary confinement. In her Al Jazeera commentary she wrote:

My journey to become a political prisoner in Ethiopia began as a federal judge fighting to uphold the rule of law. Despite institutional challenges and even death threats, I hoped to use constitutional principles to ensure respect for basic rights… [Ethiopian] authorities have detained my friend Eskinder Nega eight times over his 20-year career as a journalist and publisher. After the 2005 elections, Eskinder and his wife – Serkalem Fasil – spent 17 months in prison. Pregnant at the time, Serkalem gave birth to a son despite her confinement and almost no pre-natal care. Banned from publishing after his release in 2007, Eskinder continued to write online. In early 2011, he began focusing particularly on the protest movements then sweeping North Africa and the Middle East. Eskinder, who does not belong to any political party because of a commitment to maintain his independence, offered a unique and incisive take on what those movements meant for the future of Ethiopia. Committed to the principle of non-violence, Eskinder repeatedly emphasised that any similar movements in Ethiopia would have to remain peaceful. Despite this, police briefly detained him and warned him that his writings had crossed the line and he could face prosecution. Then in September [14], 2011, the government made good on that threat. Authorities arrested Eskinder just days after he publicly criticised the use of anti-terror laws to stifle dissent. They held him without charge or access to an attorney for nearly two months. The government eventually charged Eskinder with terrorism and treason, sentencing him to 18 years in prison after a political trial. Unfortunately, Eskinder is not alone; independent journalists Woubshet Taye and Reeyot Alemu also face long prison terms on terrorism charges.

Eskinder is a hero to the world but a villain to Meles Zenawi and his disciples 

Who really is Eskinder Nega? In Meles Zenawi’s kangaroo court, Eskinder has been judged a “terrorist”, a “public enemy”. In the court of world public opinion, Eskinder is celebrated as the undisputed champion and defender of press freedom.

When speaking of my brother Eskinder, I could be accused of exaggerating his virtues, hyperbolizing his singular contributions to press freedom in Ethiopia and overstating his importance to the cause of free expression throughout the world. Perhaps I am biased because I hold this great man in such high respect, honor and admiration. If I am guilty of bias, it is because seemingly in Ethiopia they have stopped making genuine heroes like Eskinder Nega, Woubeshet Taye, Anudalem Aragie, Temesgen Desalegn… and heroines like Birtukan Midekssa, Serkalem Fasil, Reeyot Alemu….

Let others more qualified and more eloquent than I speak of Eskinder Nega’s heroism, courage, fortitude, audacity and tenacity in the defense of press freedom.

On December 3, 2012, when Carl Bernstein (one of the two investigative journalists who exposed the Watergate scandal leading to the resignation of President Richard Nixon) read at a public forum Eskinder’s last blog before he was arrested, he said:

… No honor can be greater than to read Eskinder Nega’s words. He is more than a symbol. He is the embodiment of the greatness of truth, of writing and reporting real truth, of persisting in truth and resisting the oppression of untruth… So let us marvel at and  celebrate Eskinder Nega. For who among us could write what I am about to read [a blog of Eskinder’s] spirit unbound, faith in freedom and the power of the word untrammeled…

When Eskinder was named as the recipient of the prestigious 2012 PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award, Peter Godwin, president of PEN American Center said, “The Ethiopian writer Eskinder Nega is that bravest and most admirable of writers, one who picked up his pen to write things that he knew would surely put him at grave risk…”

Larry Siems, director of PEN Freedom to Write Award, at the award ceremonies groped for words trying to describe Eskinder Nega. “…[This year] one [journalist] really stood out, and that is Eskinder Nega. So tonight we recognize one of the world’s most courageous, most intrepid, most creative advocates of press freedom that I have ever seen…”

In awarding its prestigious Hellman/Hammett Award for 2012,  Human Rights Watch described Eskinder and the other journalists as “exemplifying  the courage and dire situation of independent journalism in Ethiopia today. Their ordeals illustrate the price of speaking freely in a country where free speech is no longer tolerated.”

The Committee to Protect Journalists declared, “The charges against Eskinder are baseless and politically motivated in reprisal for his writings. His conviction reiterates that Ethiopia will not hesitate to punish a probing press by imprisoning journalists or pushing them into exile in misusing the law to silence critical and independent reporting.”

Charlayne Hunter-Gault, the American civil rights heroine and former CNN Johannesburg bureau chief defended Eskinder and travelled to Ethiopia to plead for his release:

The specific charge against Eskinder was that he conspired with a banned opposition party called Ginbot 7 to overthrow the government. At his trial, government prosecutors showed as evidence a fuzzy video, available on YouTube, of Eskinder at a public town-hall meeting, discussing the potential of an Arab Spring-type uprising in Ethiopia. State television labeled Eskinder and the other journalists as “spies for foreign forces.” There were also allegations that he had accepted a terrorist mission—what the mission involved was never specified.

United States Senator Patrick Leahy read a lenghty statement into the Congressional Record informing his colleagues that “7,000 miles from Washington, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia… a journalist named Eskinder Nega stands accused of supporting terrorism simply for refusing to remain silent about the Ethiopian government’s increasingly authoritarian drift…”

The U.S. State Department has condemned the imprisonment of Eskinder and the other journalists:

The United States remains deeply concerned about the trial, conviction, and sentencing of Ethiopian journalist Eskinder Nega, as well as seven political opposition figures, under the country’s Anti-Terrorism Proclamation. The sentences handed down today, including 18 years for Eskinder and life imprisonment for the opposition leader Andualem Arage, are extremely harsh and reinforce our serious questions about the politicized use of Ethiopia’s anti-terrorism law in this and other cases.

Eskinder is a hero to the heroes of international journalism. In April 2012,  twenty international journalists who have been recognised as “World Press Freedom Heroes” by the Vienna-based International Press Institute (IPI) stood by Eskinder’s side, condemned his unjust imprisonment on trumped up terrorism charges and demanded his release and the release of other journalists. These press freedom heroes minced no words in telling Meles Zenawi of their “extremely strong condemnation of the Ethiopian government’s decision to jail journalist Eskinder Nega on terrorism charges.”

On November 21, 2012, the U.N. Human Rights Council Working Group on Arbitrary Detention issued a 9-page legal Opinion concluding:

The deprivation of liberty of Eskinder Nega is arbitrary in violation of articles 9, 10, 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and articles 9, 14, and 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights… The Working Group requests the Government to take the necessary steps to remedy the situation, which include the immediate release of Mr. Nega and adequate reparation to him.

In December 2012, 16 member of the European parliament demanded the release of Eskinder Nega and journalists Reeyot Alemu and Woubshet Taye.

Who is (are) the real terrorist(s) in Ethiopia?

Meles said Eskinder and all of the journalists he jailed are “terrorists”.  If Eskinder Nega is a terrorist, then speaking truth to power is an act of terrorism. If Eskinder Nega is a terrorist, then advocacy of peaceful change is terrorism; thinking is terrorism; dissent is terrorism; having a conscience is terrorism; refusing to sell out one’s soul is terrorism; standing up for democracy and human rights is terrorism; defending the rule of law is terrorism and peaceful resistance of state terrorism is terrorism. If Eskinder Nega is a terrorist today, Nelson Mandela was a terrorist then. The same goes for all of the other jailed journalists and opposition leaders jailed by Meles Zenawi.

But the real terrorists know who they are. When Meles and his horde of guerilla fighters challenged military dictator Mengistu Hailemariam, they were officially branded as terrorists, bandits, mercenaries, criminals, thugs, murderers, marauders, public enemies, subversives, rebels, assassins, malcontents, invaders, traitors, saboteurs and other names.  Were they?

Let the evidence speak for itself. In an interview Meles Zenawi gave to an Eritrean magazine called Hiwot (which was translated into Amharic and published by Etiop newspaper, (Vol. 5 Issue No. 52), he presented himself as the Willie Sutton of Tigray pulling bank jobs all over the palce. Meles spoke proudly of the banks he and his comrade-in-arms robbed or attempted to rob to finance their guerilla war. Meles boasted of his “victorious” robberies in Shire and Adwa while regretting botched jobs in Axum. Today they own the banks!

The current ruling party, “Tigrayan Peoples Liberation Movement” (TPLF), is listed today in the Global Terrorism Database as a terrorist organization. Documented acts of terrorism by the TPLF include armed robberies, assaults, hostage taking and kidnapping of foreign nationals and journalists and local leaders, hijacking of truck convoys, extortion of business owners and merchants, nongovernmental organizations, local leaders and private citizens and intimidation of religious leaders and journalists.

An official Inquiry Commission established by Meles Zenawi to investigate the deaths that occurred in the post-2005 election period determined that security forces under the personal control and command of Meles Zenawi  massacred 193 unarmed protesters in the streets and severely wounded another 763. The Commission concluded the “shots fired by government forces were intended not to disperse the crowd of protesters but to kill by targeting the head and chest of the protesters.” On November 1, 2005, security forces in the Meles Zenawi Prison in Kality gunned down 65 inmates while confined in their cells. No one has ever been brought to justice for these crimes against humanity.

In September 2011, the world learned that “Ethiopian security forces (had) planted 3 bombs that went off in the Ethiopian capital on September 16, 2006 and then blamed Eritrea and the Oromo resistance for the blasts in a case that raised serious questions about the claims made about the bombing attempt against the African Union summit earlier this year in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.” Following its own investigation and “clandestine reporting”, the U.S. Embassy in Addis Ababa fingered “GoE (Government of Ethiopia) security forces” for this criminal act. If all other acts of state terrorism committed against Ethiopian civilians were to be included, the body count would be in the hundreds of thousands.

Who are the real terrorists and criminals in Ethiopia today?

Tale of the Good Wolf and Evil Wolf

The late Meles Zenawi and his apostles remind me of an old Cherokee (Native American) tale of two wolves:  A grandfather tells his young grandson that everyone has a Good Wolf and an Evil Wolf inside of them fighting with each other every day. The Good Wolf thrives on peace, love, truth, generosity, humility and kindness. The Evil Wolf feeds on hatred, anger, greed, lies and arrogance. “Which wolf will win, grandfather?” asked the boy. “Whichever one you feed,” replied the grandfather.

Meles and his disciples have been feeding the Evil Wolf for decades, and now the Evil Wolf sits triumphantly crowned on the Throne of Hatred and Falsehood. They have fattened the Evil Wolf with a lavish diet of inhumanity, barbarity, brutality, ignobility, immorality, depravity, duplicity, incivility, criminality, ethnocentricity, mediocrity, corruptibility and pomposity.

Eskinder, Reeyot, Woubshet, Andualem. Temesgen and the rest have managed to tame the Good Wolf and have followed the path of peace, love and truth. Their wolf thrives on a simple diet of humanity, unity, integrity, authenticity, civility, morality, incorruptibility, dignity, affability, humility, nobility, creativity, intellectuality and audacity.

It is hard for the reasonable mind to fathom why Meles and his disciples chose to embrace and follow the path of the Evil Wolf. Indeed, the Evil Wolf has been very good to them. The Evil Wolf has made it possible for them to accumulate great wealth and amass enormous power. They have unleashed the Evil Wolf to divide and rule the country along ethnic, religious, linguistic and regional lines. They have used the Evil Wolf to destroy not only the lives and futures of young professionals like Eskinder, Birtukan,  Reeyot, Woubshet, Temesgen and  Andualem but also the future of the younger generation. They have used the Evil Wolf to sell off the country’s most fertile lands for pennies and plunder its natural resources. They have used the Evil Wolf to convict the innocent in kangaroo courts. They have used the Evil Wolf to strike fear and loathing in the hearts and minds or ordinary citizens.

They have given new meaning to the ancient Roman playwright Paluatus’ aphorism homo homini lupus est  (“man is a wolf to his fellow man”).  They have used the Evil Wolf to create war from peace; strife from harmony;  wrong from right; vice from virtue; division from unity;  shame from honor;  immorality from decency; poverty from wealth; hatred from love; ignorance from knowledge; corruption from blessing; bondage from freedom and dictatorship from democracy.  In 21 years, Meles and his disciples have managed to jam a whole nation between the jaws of a snarling, gnarling and howling Evil Wolf.

How long before the Good Wolf wins over the Evil Wolf?

The great Nelson Mandela wondered when Apartheid would end. He told those who had unleashed the Evil Wolf of Apartheid,  “You may succeed in delaying, but never in preventing the transition of South Africa to a democracy.”

My friend Eskinder Nega warned the overlords of the Evil Wolf in Ethiopia, “Freedom is partial to no race. Freedom has no religion. Freedom favors no ethnicity. Freedom discriminates not between rich and poor countries.  Inevitably freedom will overwhelm Ethiopia.”

But how long before freedom overwhelms Ethiopia? How long before Ethiopia transitions to democracy? How long before “truth crushed to earth rises again” in Ethiopia? How long before all Ethiopian political prisoners are set free? Before Eskinder is released and joins his wife Sekalem and their son Nafkot? How long before Reeyot, Woubshet, Andualem… rejoin their families? How long before the Good Wolf wins over the Evil Wolf?

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. agonized over similar questions during the darkest days of the struggle for civil rights in America. His answer to the question, “How long?” was “Not long!”.

I know you are asking today, “How long will it take?”  Somebody’s asking, “How long will prejudice blind the visions of men…?”

Somebody’s asking, “When will wounded justice, lying prostrate on the streets of Selma and Birmingham… be lifted from this dust of shame…? … How long will justice be crucified, and truth bear it?”

I come to say to you this afternoon, however difficult the moment, however frustrating the hour, it will not be long, because “truth crushed to earth will rise again.”

How long? Not long, because “no lie can live forever.”

How long? Not long, because “you shall reap what you sow.”

How long before the Good Wolf wins over the Evil Wolf? Not long, because “once to every man and nation comes the moment” to decide between Good and Evil.

How long before wounded justice, lying prostrate on the streets of Addis Ababa, Mekele, Adama, Gondar, Awassa, Jimma… is lifted from the dust of shame? Not long, “because the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.”

How long before truth and right crushed to earth rise up again in Ethiopia? Not long, because truth and right will not remain forever on the scaffold nor wrong and falsehood nest forever on the throne!

I have no greater honor than to stand up, speak up and defend my friends, brothers and sisters Eskinder Nega, Serkalem Fasil, Reeyot Alemu, Woubshet Taye, Temesgen Desalegn, Andualem Aragie and all political prisoners held in Meles Zenawi Prison!

Professor Alemayehu G. Mariam teaches political science at California State University, San Bernardino and is a practicing defense lawyer.

Previous commentaries by the author are available at:

http://open.salon.com/blog/almariam/

www.huffingtonpost.com/alemayehu-g-mariam/

Amharic translations of recent commentaries by the author may be found at:

http://www.ecadforum.com/Amharic/archives/category/al-mariam-amharic

http://ethioforum.org/?cat=24

[Source: Ethiopian Review]

Members of the Ethiopian National Transitional Council (ENTC) are currently carrying out an awareness-creation campaign in Ethiopian cities about the need to establish an all inclusive transitional government.

ENTC believes that as long as the government in Ethiopia is controlled by the TPLF/EPRDF regime, or any other dictatorship, the people of Ethiopia will continue to be denied a government they elect. Due to the TPLF regime’s anti-Ethiopia policy, our country is also sliding into chaos, and as some international observers predict, Ethiopia is endangered of becoming a failed state. Every patriotic Ethiopian has the responsibility to help prevent this danger. On our part, we at ENTC believe that the creation of a transitional government is imperative in order to have a smooth transition to democracy in Ethiopia.

With this goal insight, ENTC members are actively working to inform and mobilize the people of Ethiopia by distributing flyers, posting slogans in public places, and writing messages on walls, as shown in the video below:

ENTC members in Ethiopia have been encouraged by the reaction of the people who have seen and heard about our mission and many are expressing their interest to help.

As ENTC prepares for the July Conference that is called to discuss the formation of a transitional government in Ethiopia, its leaders and members inside Ethiopia and around the world are also busy giving voice to our people by engaging in diplomatic, public relations, and other activities.

Join us. Let’s save Ethiopia. Let’s fight for our freedom.

The Executive Committee
Ethiopian National Transitional Council

Contact info:
Tel: 1-202-735-4262 or +44-7958-487-420
Email: contact@etntc.org

[Source: Ethiopian Review]

Is this the Same New Ethiopia  We in the Solidarity Movement for a New Ethiopia (SMNE) Envision?

April 6, 2013

On March 30, 2013 I had the privilege of watching history in progress while attending the first meeting of the newly formed Oromo Democratic Front (ODF) as an observer. Those involved included most of the founding leaders of the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF). As they announced their new vision, direction and organization to more than 500 people attending the meeting in St. Paul, Minnesota, I was deeply struck with the vastly different message I was hearing that day—calling Oromo to work together for one Ethiopia—from what I had heard at their 2006 OLF meeting where their secessionist goals and strictly Oromo agenda dominated every aim. I can only think that this transformation has been brought about by a renewed hope among its leadership that the great people of Oromia can contribute to the creation of an Ethiopia for all its precious people.

I believe the ODF, and its new vision, could be part of the answer to the serious division among the Ethiopian opposition groups. This is a good beginning and worth applauding. During the meeting, ODF leadership clearly explained their objectives as advocates not only for the Oromo, but also for the “freedom and justice for all individuals and nations.” They explained that the change in focus was “motivated by the universal principle that struggling for justice for oneself alone without advocating justice for all could ultimately prove futile because ‘“injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”’

I do believe it is legitimate to protect the rights of your own ethnic people; exposing injustices and working towards the resolution of these grievances, especially in a country where no one speaks on behalf of others; however, we will know we have a much healthier society when we advocate for the rights of others and readily correct wrongs. These others can be from tiny subgroups of people or from large majority groups. They can be fellow members of our society that agree with us or those who dispute our positions. In a free society, those unlike us still deserve respect and equal rights. This is why it was so gratifying to hear Oromo leaders say they will not be speaking only for Oromo, but for everybody; and that from here on, the ODF will be a body that will work with others to bring lasting change to all Ethiopians.

Some in the audience challenged this new position. One man summed up the opinion of a number of attendees as they sought to better understand the change of direction. The man asked, “For the last 40 years, we’ve been told that Ethiopians in power were colonizers and imperialists and we have been dreaming about having our own country, but now you are saying we can work from within? Why the change the course we have been on?”

One of the leaders, Mr. Leenco Lata, respectfully explained, “I cannot preach what is unachievable. It cannot work in Ethiopia. If Oromia was to become a country, the entire region would be in chaos. Oromia is everywhere.  What are you going to do with Gambella, Southern Nations and Benishangul? 

It will be best to fix the country from within so we all have a democratic country in which to live. The Oromo don’t have to think like we are a victim or act like we are a minority. We are not a minority but a majority. We will not forget the historical chapter, but we have to start a new chapter where we work together with everybody to create an Ethiopia for everybody.” 

Mr. Leenco explained to the audience that all Oromo might not be convinced of the need to change directions, but that the leadership planned on talking with those holding different opinions in order to hopefully convince them to come on board. If convinced, they could go forward to start reaching out to other Ethiopian groups with the goal of coming together so all stakeholders could be party to formulating a plan that would work for everyone.

Another leader Mr. Dima, explained that in the previous Ethiopia, as well as under the TPLF/EPRDF, one group defined the direction of the country for everyone else and that this was wrong. He called the EPRDF a façade because although it is a large group of people that pretended to be for everyone, others outside the TPLF were never consulted. He said that Ethiopians should not make the same mistake, but instead must reach out to stakeholders so all could be involved in forming a plan as to how to bring about a more democratic Ethiopia for everybody. He emphasized the need to gain the consensus of the people to form a movement from within the country—not from a neighboring or other country—which would bring the heart of the struggle to Ethiopia so that change could come from within.

Following the presentation, I came forward to give a response during the question and answer period. I enthusiastically complimented the leadership who were presenting this new direction as well as the way the entire discussion was conducted. The leadership and the public had shown real respect towards each other even as questions were asked, positions challenged and explanations given. It was very encouraging. I wish I could have understood the language, (Afaan Oromo/Oromiffa) but thankfully, I found an Oromo brother from Melbourne, Australia who translated the entire discussion for me.

I told them what began there in this room as a dialogue should be demonstrated in action by talking with others. Other groups should follow suit—regional groups, women, religious groups and youth representing diverse groups. The time to start talking is long overdue no one should wait for an invitation. Be the one to start the conversation. For example, even though I was invited to this meeting; even without an invitation I still would have come had it been possible because this was such an important meeting. Its outcome would affect me as an Ethiopian. I called on them to think out of the box; realizing no one has to stay in their ethnic enclaves. I encouraged them to not wait for an invitation to enter the discussion.

I suggested, “The next step would be to have a workshop—a national level dialogue—where representatives from different groups could carry on a dialogue. Those speaking from the podium should share the same stage. Let the people have a debate where disagreements can be respectfully voiced, like what just took place at this meeting. This is something the SMNE and others willing to work in collaboration, like the ODF, can pursue.”

As the ODF leaders continue to meet with others to explain their new direction, they are well aware that there may be skeptics among the public or those among the Oromo who do not agree with them; however, as this new vision is practically enacted, it can become a model for other ethnic-based groups, also struggling for freedom and justice, who might be willing to join together if they had a voice.

When this happens, a New Ethiopia for all Ethiopians will be the mindset of a country that, with God’s help, will mobilize an inclusive peoples’ movement. This also means that ethnic-based groups will become civic groups rather than political parties, competing for dominance against other ethnic groups. 

Freedom and justice can never be accomplished through one ethnic group, even a large one. Neither can it be achieved through multiple factions working on their own goals, independent of others. Instead, meaningful change will require the improved collaboration between the many diverse groups seeking an inclusive democratic state. Even though we are diverse people, we Ethiopians have more in common than our differences. Not only do we share the land, we share the same blood through our ancestors who have lived in this land for millenniums. The diversity of Ethiopians in terms of ethnicity, culture, language, history, religion and language is what I call the garden of Ethiopia and what we hold in common is a desire for one healthy family of Ethiopians.

THE TPLF/EPRDF and other narrow-minded, ethnic-centered politicians have tried to overlook the value of all the people of Ethiopia, whether intentionally, for their own self-interests, or because they feared there was no future for them unless they were in power; however the world is changing. People are able to come together in ways never before possible. Improved technology and communication help, but collaboration, undergirded with respect towards others, brings about a better outcome, greater harmony and more sustainable relationships.

The TPLF/EPRDF’s whole system of ethnic-based hegemony cannot survive when groups such as the ODF refuse to play by those rules any longer. The TPLF/EPRDF’s apartheid model is dependent on division, suspicion and tribal competition and it will take a blow as the Oromo, Amhara, Ogadeni and other Ethiopians begin to advocate for the rights of the other. The people of Gambella as well as the people of Afar are said to be holding dialogues within their own communities regarding similar initiatives to advocate for the rights and inclusion of all Ethiopians, including the minorities and marginalized. This is a movement of thought and it now includes many in the Ethiopian religious communities.

Diverse religious groups have been the target of regime control for years, but now there are strong indicators that the TPLF/EPRDF’s control is faltering. Muslims are joining together with Christians to find a way to work together for the common good. This includes freedom of religion and expression for all Ethiopians. Civic organizations are also trying to create bonds with each other to advance shared goals. These developments should be a strong sign to regime power-holders that change is coming. The TPLF/EPRDF supporters are indeed on the wrong side unless they join with others in the transformation of Ethiopia into a “genuinely democratic multinational federation” that the ODF is talking about.

This new ODF initiative is what was envisioned four years ago when the SMNE was established. Our history of having an Ethiopia for only one or a few tribes—while all the rest struggle—must be ended. The only Ethiopia that will bring sustainable peace and prosperity is one where the humanity of each and every person, regardless of any differences, is not only valued, but also cared for, nurtured and protected. One’s own freedom, justice and empowerment are only sustainable when the same is given to others for “no one is free until all are free.”

The widespread application of these principles will make Ethiopia a home rather than the prison described by the ODF that makes us hunger for personal and collective freedom. Lasting change requires much dialogue, acknowledging the grievances of other people, the restoration of justice, the empowerment of our citizens at every level and reconciliation. Our goal is not to defeat, crush or root out the enemy as was said during the Dergue, but we must work to find ways to transform our country.

Through such dialogue we can talk about why the majority of various ethnic groups will not end up having their particular language as one of the national languages of the country because we have over 80 different languages. In the case of the Oromo language, it makes strong sense that it becomes a second national language because forty million of our people speak it. English may become another of its languages. There are examples of some countries functioning well with more than one language, like Canada or Switzerland; however, it is important to keep in mind that language is meant to be an instrument to advance communication. Through dialogue we can find ways to figure this all out, including how to bring new inclusion to the minorities and to the marginalized—like Ethiopian women, the disabled, the uneducated and others whose voices must be included.

With respectful dialogue, we can find workable solutions to our differences and grievances rather than dividing the country or seeing other people as our enemies. This is the time to talk to each other rather than talking about each other. In the last 20 years the only thing we have done, which was also advanced by the TPLF/EPRDF, was for some Oromo to talk about the Amhara and what they have done and for some Amhara to talk about the Oromo, decrying them as refusing to let go of what Menelik had done to them. In other cases, some Ethiopians do not openly say it, but they discriminate against some they do not consider to be “real Ethiopians” by not giving them opportunity. The people of the Omo Valley are good examples of that discrimination. Fortunately, more of us are realizing that there is no 99% Ethiopian; but instead that every one of us is fully Ethiopian.

We also must realize that there is no ethnic group that cannot claim being oppressed at some time; however, the name “Ethiopia” and the flag of Ethiopia have never oppressed the people. It has been the few elite in power and the dictatorial systems they set up which have oppressed us. There is no “us” and “them” in this land for we are one people. There is no need to separate the country when we can solve our differences through a genuine dialogue.  The ODF are now promising to do this.

From the very beginning, the SMNE has always sought to work with anyone and any group who honestly was willing to advance the betterment of humanity rather than using these principles disingenuously while holding onto a hidden agenda. As the ODF begins to advocate for all Ethiopians, they are “putting humanity before ethnicity” and endorsing the belief that sustainable freedom will never come to the Oromo until it comes to all Ethiopians. I enthusiastically commend them on a job well done and look forward to the fruit of this contribution. We in the SMNE will do whatever we can to work with them and hope that others, including the TPLF, will come to the realization that this is the only way forward that gives us all a future.

To accomplish these goals, we must acknowledge the historical past with its injustice towards different groups of people, but we must also look forward to building a better future. We should also be willing to give up something for a bigger cause.

There is a price to be paid for a better future. It will cost us something which may include forgiveness, humility, compromise, and putting behind us some of our past grievances.

The Ethiopia we have now is not good for anyone; for example: the unemployment, the locking up of Oromo and many others, the displacement of the people like the Amhara and others from their land, the outflow of Ethiopian women to the Middle East as maids, the lack of a future with hope in Ethiopia which should make us think about why we are choosing to work as factions rather than together. We must ask why we are settling for so little when we could collaborate by doing our share rather than giving the burden to only a few. Together we could create a better country—more unified than divided, more livable than inhospitable and more caring about others than selfish about our own interests.

If each of us really took the initiative and was willing to commit to doing our share, we could be able to create a better Ethiopia rather than a beggar Ethiopia. Imagine if the two major ethnic groups, the Oromo and the Amhara, would stand together as one people for the future of all of us! Imagine if the Ethiopian youth saw themselves as human beings first rather than as a tribe and could stand together as future leaders of one Ethiopia rather than as one tribe making Ethiopia their own playground for their own tribal interests. Imagine all the Ethiopian women reconciling and working together as mothers who do not favor one child over another. Imagine Ethiopia’s religious leaders, like the Ethiopian Orthodox, the Evangelical Christians, the Ethiopian Muslims, Ethiopian Jews, animists and non-believers coming together as people of moral character to promote love, compassion, peace, honesty, integrity, good relations and respect for freedom and justice. 

The evidence that the ODF and others are genuine will be seen in how they embrace others. Imagine an Oromo speaking up on behalf of the displaced Amhara, condemning it. Imagine an Amhara speaking up on behalf of the Oromo who have been unjustly imprisoned just for being Oromo. Imagine a Christian condemning the mistreatment of the Muslim. Imagine the Muslim doing the same thing on behalf of the Christians. Imagine if every group did this for others. Who would not want to live in such a country? This kind of Ethiopia would be much better than some of the countries where so many of our young people are running to in hopes of finding a better life, but too often are suffering or dying on the way.

The hope for a better future is within each of us. With God’s help, He can transform us and use us as tools to transform our country. It is a matter of putting these hopes and dreams into action. May God help more of us to realize, like the ODF, that we are one family, the Ethiopian family. May God help us not to be so judgmental and stubbornly fixed in our prejudices, but instead to open our hearts to accept each other; helping us to break down the barriers of suspicion that have kept us fighting each other and struggling to survive while a tiny minority has taken the power and are thriving at the expense of all of us.

May God help us to find a way to also embrace them, not excluding them either for they are a product of past mistakes and thinking.  If they change, we need to accept them as well for no one is free until we all are free. May the God who loves each of us, help us to see the beauty He created in our Ethiopian brothers and sisters.  ==============================

Please do not hesitate to e-mail your comments to Mr. Obang Metho, Executive Director of the SMNE at: Obang@solidaritymovement.org.

[Source: Ethiopian Review]

[Source: Ethiopian Review]

April 3, 2013

Margaret J. O’Connor

You wouldn’t know it by looking at me, but I have two native countries — Ethiopia and Australia — and an adopted one, America. I was born and raised in Ethiopia, a daughter of Australian missionaries. We lived in a small village in the highlands of the Great Rift Valley. There, I grew up surrounded by love, gentleness and kindness — not only from my family, but from the Amhara and the Arusi-Galla tribal people among whom we lived. For me, color was never an issue. It was not black or white, but rather, friend or not.

In the village where I grew up, we were the only white children. When I was 3, my family was returning to Australia for a yearlong furlough, and another missionary family with three children was coming to take over my parent’s mission post. The children were near our ages, and when they asked my sisters and I to play with them, we were shy and ran off into the village to play with our friends.

That night, my mother asked me why I’d run away. I’d said, “Mummy, they’re so different than us.” I’d never seen another white child, except for my sisters. I didn’t grow up noticing color. That’s why I know that bigotry is learned. Hatred is learned. It’s something we teach our children.

In 1967, my family came to America — one of the most important events in my young life. I really believed the streets would be paved with gold. America was the land of plenty, the new “promised land,” one filled with opportunity, the best of the best. But within 10 months, everything changed forever for me.

Forty-five years ago today, and just a few short months after my family came to America, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was shot and killed. I was 12, and it had a profound effect on me.

I had never been exposed to such violence or such discrimination based solely on skin color. I asked my father why they would kill him, and I have never forgotten what he said to me: “He wanted to make the world a better place, but it’s not that way right now, and one day because of him, it might be.”

From Martin Luther King Jr.’s death, I learned about things I had never known: Bigotry and violence and hatred. But I also learned how far one man’s dream can take him, a people and a nation. I learned about the passion of conviction; that nonviolence and love can triumph over blind hate. I learned about a man who awoke a nation to racial injustice and the struggle for freedom. He stirred souls and people to action with his call for unity.

If, in 1960, someone had asked if a black man coming out of the South could champion a movement whose effect would be heard and felt around the world — and by a young strawberry blonde girl from Ethiopia — the answer would be an emphatic no. But Martin Luther King Jr. saw the oppression and despair of a people. He believed that change needed to occur, “but within the framework of the American democratic set-up … One of the greatest glories of American democracy is that we have the right to protest for rights.”

With that, he began to lay the groundwork for equality for all. He believed, “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter,” and, “Today, the choice is no longer between violence and nonviolence. It is either nonviolence or nonexistence.”

Martin Luther King Jr. moved a nation toward his dream. His dream sustained a people and began to turn the tide away from apathy and ignorance. And he ultimately laid down his life for his fellow man, an act of “no greater love.”

His life has taught me that anything is possible, even if I am only one. He taught me that dreams, moral fiber, integrity and compassion are essential life characteristics. And he also reminded me of that essential lesson I learned as a young girl growing up in Ethiopia — that all people should be treated equally.

[Source: Ethiopian Review]

By Human Rights Watch

April 2, 2013

(Nairobi) – The prosecution of 29 Muslim protest leaders and others charged under Ethiopia’s deeply flawed anti-terrorism law raises serious fair trial concerns. The trial is scheduled to resume in Addis Ababa on April 2, 2013, after a 40-day postponement.

The case has already had major due process problems. Some defendants have alleged ill-treatment in pre-trial detention. The government has provided defendants limited access to legal counsel and has taken actions that undermined their presumption of innocence. Since January 22 the High Court has closed the hearings to the public, including the media, diplomats, and family members of defendants.

“There seems to be no limit to the Ethiopian government’s use of its anti-terrorism law and unfair trials to stop peaceful dissent,” said Leslie Lefkow, deputy Africa director. “The government’s treatment of these Muslim leaders bears the hallmarks of a politically motivated prosecution.”

The defendants include Muslim leaders and activists arrested and detained in July 2012 following six months of public protests in Addis Ababa and other towns by Ethiopia’s Muslim community over alleged government interference in religious affairs. Others on trial include Yusuf Getachew, former managing editor of the now defunct Islamic magazine Yemuslimoch Guday, and two Muslim nongovernmental organizations, allegedly managed by three of the defendants. Solomon Kebede was arrested and is being held under the anti-terrorism law.

According to official figures, Muslims make up approximately 30 percent of Ethiopia’s population. The protest movement began after the government insisted that the Supreme Council of Islamic Affairs accept members from an Islamic sect known as al Ahbash and tried to impose its teachings on the Muslim community. The government also sought to influence the operations of the Awalia mosque in Addis Ababa.

In January 2012 the Muslim community created a committee to represent it in discussions with the government. Nine of the 17 members of this committee are among those on trial: Abubekar Ahmed, Ahmedin Jebel, Ahmed Mustafa, Kamil Shemsu, Jemal Yassin, Yassin Nuru, Sheikh Sultan Aman, Sheikh Mekete Muhe, and Sheikh Tahir Abdulkadir. They were arrested as the Ethiopian security forces began a major crackdown on the protests at Awalia and Anwar mosques in Addis Ababa and on protests in other cities as well, arresting and assaulting hundreds of protesters. Although the government has not released numbers, credible sources told Human Rights Watch that as many as 1,000 people were arrested in July alone.

Journalists attempting to cover or report on the protests were also detained or intimidated. Despite these arrests, weekly protests have continued throughout the country.

As in Ethiopia’s earlier terrorism trials of journalists and opposition leaders, the current trial has been marred by serious due process violations.Defendants have had erratic access to lawyers and relatives, and a number of the defendants were initially held for almost two months without access to legal counsel.

Lawyers for the defendants have repeatedly complained to the courts about the treatment of their clients, and alleged that the Muslim committee members and Getachew were mistreated during their pre-trial detention at the Federal Police Crime Investigation Department, known as Maekelawi prison, in Addis Ababa, which is notorious for torture. The complaints do not appear to have been appropriately investigated. Both the first instance court and the higher court have claimed not to have the jurisdiction over these matters.

The defendants have all been charged with “terrorist acts” under article 3 of Ethiopia’s 2009 Anti-Terrorism Proclamation, and with planning and conspiracy to commit terrorist acts under article 4. Descriptions of the charges in the initial charge sheet do not contain the basic elements of the crimes that the defendants are alleged to have committed.

Human Rights Watch, other human rights organizations, and the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights have repeatedly raised concerns about the Anti-Terrorism Proclamation’s overly broad provisions, which have been used to criminalize legitimate free expression and peaceful dissent. Thirty-four people, including eleven journalists and at least four opposition supporters, are known to have been sentenced under the law between late 2011 and mid-2012 in apparently politically motivated trials.

The government has also undermined the defendants’ presumption of innocence by broadcasting inflammatory material and accusations against them on state television. In February state-run Ethiopian Television (ETV) broadcast a program called “Jihadawi Harakat” (“Jihad War”) that included footage of at least five of the defendants filmed in pre-trial detention, including Muslim committee members Kamil Shemsu, Ahmed Mustafa, Abubekar Ahmed, and Yassin Nuru, and the activist Nuru Turki. The program equates the Muslim protest movement in Ethiopia with Islamist extremist groups such as Somalia’s armed al-Shabaab militants, and casts the Muslim protest leaders as terrorists. The High Court granted an injunction prohibiting the broadcast but ETV ignored the court order.

The ETV broadcast was the latest in a series of television programs – many of them produced by the government’s Communications Ministry in collaboration with police or security services –that try to smear the defendants in terrorism trials. In November 2011, ETV broadcast “Akeldama” (“Land of Blood”) during the terrorism trial of 24 people, including prominent members of the political opposition and journalists. The program, which included film of several of the defendants in pre-trial detention, apparently under duress, described the defendants’ alleged involvement in a “terrorist plot.”

Two Swedish journalists were the subject of another similar piece in 2011 after they were arrested in Ethiopia’s eastern Somali region. They were subjected to a mock execution during the filming.

“The unfair trial of the Muslim activists is compounded by the government’s TV program that demonizes them as ‘terrorists’ and threatens to raise suspicion of all Muslims and their ongoing protests,” Lefkow said. “The Ethiopian government is prosecuting people who are simply trying to protect their rights to religious freedom and free speech.”

The government has also continued to use the anti-terrorism law to silence the media.

Kebede, Getachew’s successor at Yemuslimoch Guday, has been held for more than two months in pre-trial detention without charges. Heis being held in Maekelawi prison, withoutaccess to legal counsel, which heightens concerns about his treatment and safety.

On March 15 the first instance court granted the police an additional 28 days for further investigation in Kebede’s case. The Anti-Terrorism Proclamation permits pre-trial detention for up to four months without charge, one of the longest periods in anti-terrorism legislation worldwide,in violation of Ethiopia’s international legal obligations. Under the Ethiopian constitution detainees must be charged or released within 48 hours.

“Rather than jailing peaceful protesters and critical journalists, the government should amend the anti-terrorism law and stop these politically motivated trials,” Lefkow said. “The government should be reaching out to the Muslim community and discussing their grievances rather than silencing their voices and leaders.”

[Source: Ethiopian Review]

Professor A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, the renowned Indian scientist  (“Missile Man of India”)  and Eleventh President of India (2002-2007) said, “If a country is to be corruption free and become a nation of beautiful minds, I strongly feel there are three key societal members who can make a difference. They are the father, the mother and the teacher.”

Recently, the World Bank released its 448-page World Bank (WB) report, “Diagnosing Corruption in Ethiopia” with evidence galore showing that Ethiopia under the absolute dictatorship of the Meles Zenawi regime has become a full-fledged corruptocracy (a regime controlled and operated by a small clique of corrupt-to-the-core vampiric kleptocrats who cling to power to enrich themselves at public expense). Perhaps the report’s findings should not come as surprise to anyone since “power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely”.

Over the past several weeks, I have made a number of cursory remarks on the shocking findings of the WB report. I have also discreetly appealed to a segment of  Ethiopia’s  “beautiful minds”  (its teachers, professors, economists, political and social scientists, lawyers, and other members of the learned professions)  to critically examine the report and inform their compatriots on the devastating impact of  corruption on the future of their poor country and make some recommendations on how to deal with it. I even challenged the political opposition to issue a “white paper” and make crystal clear their position on accountability and transparency and make some concrete proposals to remedy the endemic corruption that has metastasized in the Ethiopian body politic.

I have yet to see any substantive analysis or commentary on the WB’s “diagnosis of corruption” in Ethiopia in the popular media or in the scholarly journals;  nor have I seen any proposals on how to sever the vampiric tentacles of corruption sucking the lifeblood from the Ethiopian people. Could it be that Ethiopia’s “beautiful minds” can’t handle ugly truths? Or do Ethiopia’s “beautiful minds”  turn faint-hearted when it comes to speaking ugly truths to power?

Few can tell the ugly truth about corruption in Ethiopia more bluntly thanGlobal Financial Integrity  (GFI), the renowned organization that reports on “illicit financial flows” (illegal capital flight, mispricing, bulk cash movements, hawala transactions, smuggling, etc.) out of developing countries. In 2011, GFI told the world, “The people of Ethiopia are being bled dry. No matter how hard they try to fight their way out of absolute destitution and poverty, they will be swimming upstream against the current of illicit capital leakage.”

When the late dictator Meles Zenawi was asked in July 2011 about his feelings concerning the use of the word “famine” synonymously with Ethiopia by the Oxford Dictionary,  he said, “… Like any citizen, I am very sad. I am ashamed. It is degrading. A society that built the Lalibela churches… Axum obelisks… some thousand years ago is unable to cultivate the land and feed itself….  That is very sad. It is very shameful. Of all the things, to go out begging for one’s daily bread, to be a beggar nation is dehumanizing. Therefore, I feel great shame.”  I too feel great shame that Ethiopia has become not only a “beggar nation” over the past 21 years, but also that she has now become synonymous with the word “corruption”. It is unbearable that the land of “13 months of sunshine” has become the land of 13 months of the darkness of corruption.

Speaking the ugly truth to power

Given the icy silence of Ethiopia’s “beautiful minds”, it is my humble duty and unenviable job to continue to speak the ugly truth about corruption to the powers that be in Ethiopia. For years, I have written numerous commentaries on corruption in Ethiopia as a serious human rights violation. I agree with Peter Eigen, founder and chairman of Transparency International (Corruption Index) that “corruption leads to a violation of human rights in at least three respects: corruption perpetuates discrimination, corruption prevents the full realisation of economic, social, and cultural rights, and corruption leads to the infringement of numerous civil and political rights.” I also believe corruption undermines  good governance, cripples the rule of law and destroys citizens’ trust in political leaders, public officials and political institutions.

In 2007 when Ethiopia’s auditor general, Lema Aregaw, reported that Birr 600 million of state funds were missing from the regional government coffers, Meles fired Lema and publicly defended the regional administrations’ “right to burn money.” In my December 2008 commentary “The Bleeping Business of Corruption in Ethiopia,” I argued that “corruption in Ethiopia is an evil with a thousand faces. It is woven into the fabric of the political culture.” Corruption is the modus operandi of the regime in power in Ethiopia today. Former president Dr. Negasso Gidada clearly understood the gravity of the situation when he declared in 2001 that “corruption has riddled state enterprises to the core,” adding that the government would show “an iron fist against corruption and graft as the illicit practices had now become endemic”. In 2013, the business of corruption is the biggest business in Ethiopia.

In my November 2009 commentary, “Africorruption, Inc.”, I described the tip of the iceberg of the web of corruption in Ethiopia by synthesizing some of the eye popping anecdotal evidence. Dr. Negasso documented corruption in the misuse and abuse of political power for partisan electoral advantage. Coincidentally, in 2009, U.S. State Department spokesman Ian Kelley announced that the U.S. is investigating allegations that “$850 million in food and anti-poverty aid from the U.S. is being distributed on the basis of political favoritism by the current prime minister’s party.” (For reasons unknown, but not difficult to guess, the U.S. State Department has never released the findings of its investigation.)

The ruling regime’s “Federal Ethics and Anti-corruption Commission” (FEAC) in 2008 documented the fact that “USD$16 million dollars” worth of gold bars simply walked out of the country’s principal bank. FEAC described the heist as a “huge scandal that took place in the Country’s National Bank and took many Ethiopians by surprise… The  corruptors dared to steal lots of pure gold bars that belonged to the Ethiopian people replacing them with gilded irons… Some employees of the Bank, business people, managers and other government employees were allegedly involved in this disastrous and disgracing scandal.”

FEAC also reported that “there was another big corruption case at the Ethiopian Telecommunications Corporation that took many Ethiopians by surprise” which involved the “competitive tendering for the supply of telecommunication equipment.” FEAC  “found out that nearly 200 million USD has been lost to corruption through the entire fraudulent and corrupt process…. In another case involving a telecommunications deal with the Chinese, a high level regime official was secretly tape recorded trying to extort kickbacks for himself and other regime officials.” (Even though high level bank officials were fingered in the gold heist, there is no evidence that any one of them has ever been prosecuted.)

In my November 2011 commentary “To Catch Africa’s Biggest Thieves Hiding in America!”, I called attention to a Wikileaks cablegram which confirmed long held suspicions about massive corruption in the current ruling party in Ethiopia, the Tigrayan People’s Liberation Front (TPLF): “Upon taking power in 1991… [the TPLF] liquidated non-military assets to found a series of companies whose profits would be used as venture capital to rehabilitate the war-torn Tigray region’s economy…[with] roughly US $100 million… Throughout the 1990s…,  no new EFFORT  [Endowment Fund for the Rehabilitation of Tigray owned and operated by TPLF] ventures have been established despite significant profits, lending credibility to the popular perception that the ruling party and its members are drawing on endowment resources to fund their own interests or for personal gain.” According to the World Bank, “roughly half of the Ethiopian national economy is accounted for by companies held by an EPRDF-affiliated business group called the Endowment Fund for the Rehabilitation of Tigray (EFFORT)… EFFORT’s freight transport, construction, pharmaceutical, and cement firms receive lucrative foreign aid contracts and highly favorable terms on loans from government banks.”

When 10,000 tons of coffee earmarked for exports had simply vanished (not unlike the gold bars that walked out of the National Bank) from the warehouses in 2011, Meles Zenawi called a meeting of commodities traders and threatened to “cut off their hands” if they should steal coffee in the future. In a videotaped statement, Meles told the traders he will forgive them this time because “we all have our hands in the disappearance of the coffee”.

In my December 2011 commentary “The Art of Bleeding a Country Dry”, I argued, “No one knows corruption — the economics of kleptocracy — better than [Meles] Zenawi.  The facts of Zenawi’s  corruptonomics are plain for all to see: The [Ethiopian] economy is in the stranglehold of businesses owned or dominated by Zenawi family members, cronies, supporters or hangers-on.”

“Diagnosing Corruption in (in the land of) Ethiopia”

Transparency International (Corruption Index) broadly defines corruption as “the abuse of entrusted power for private gain”. Corruption manifests itself in grand and petty ways. “Grand corruption consists of acts committed at a high level of government that distort policies or the central functioning of the state, enabling leaders to benefit at the expense of the public good.” Grand corruption often involves political corruption in which political decision makers manipulate “policies, institutions and rules of procedure in the allocation of resources and financing by political decision makers, who abuse their position to sustain their power, status and wealth.” Petty corruption often occurs when the law enforcement officials or bureaucratic functionaries exact payments from “ordinary citizens, who often are trying to access basic goods or services in places like hospitals, schools, police departments and other agencies” .

Corruption in Ethiopia is no longer a question of disparate anecdotal evidence or an issue of intellectual debate.  Corruption has become the loathsome disease of the Ethiopian body politic. That is why the World Bank carefully titled its report, “Diagnosing Corruption in Ethiopia”. Diagnosis refers to the clinical process of identifying a disease. The 448-page World Bank report has diagnosed corruption as the metastasizing cancer of the Ethiopian body politic.

Corruption in land is the root of all corruption in Ethiopia! Grand corruption in land originates from the upper circles of power in the public and private sector. The powerful political and economic elites in Ethiopia exploit the anarchic, arbitrary, secretive, unaccountable and confused governance of the ruling regime to weave their tangled webs of corruption. The World Bank report states that “the land sector [in Ethiopia] is particularly susceptible to corruption and rent seeking [using social or political institutions to redistribute wealth among different groups without creating new wealth (profit seeking)].” Corruption  in  land in Ethiopia is inherent (as the old communist ideologues used to say, “part and parcel of”) in “the way policy and legislation are formulated and enforced.”

The World Bank report explains that corruption in the land sector in Ethiopia occurs in several ways. First and foremost, “elite and senior officials” snatch the most desirable lands in the country for themselves. These fat cats manipulate the “weak policy and legal framework and poor systems to implement existing policies and laws” to their advantage. They engage in “fraudulent actions to allocate land to themselves in both urban and rural areas and to housing associations and developers in urban areas.” These “influential and well-connected individuals are able to have land allocated to them often in violation of existing laws and regulations.”

In the capital Addis Ababa, it is “nearly impossible to a get a plot of land without bribing city administration officials.” These officials not only demand huge bribes but have also “conspired with land speculators” and facilitated bogus “housing cooperatives [to become] vehicles for a massive land grab. It is estimated that about 15,000 forged titles have been issued in Addis Ababa in the past five years.”

Management of rural land is similarly deeply infected with corruption. “In rural areas, officials have distorted the definition of ‘public land’ to mean ‘government land’”. Officials define “public purpose” in applying expropriation which is believed to be a leading cause of “landlessness”. Officials have also “engaged in land grabbing to grant land to functionaries” and this is “happening at the woreda (district) level and is being copied by the elected committee members at kebele (subdistrict) level.”  According to the World Bank report, “Almost all transactions involving land most often incorporate corruption because there is no clear policy or transparent regulation concerning land.”

It is stunning to learn from the report that the ruling regime does not even have the most elementary system of  land management in place. “Rural areas have no maps of registered holdings… In urban areas, there is little mapping of registered property. Encumbrances and restrictions are not recorded in the registers, and the encumbrances, if registered, are listed in a separate document. Land use restrictions are not recorded in the register. There is no inventory of public land, which affects the efficient management of public land and creates opportunities for the illegal allocation of public land to private parties.” Because existing institutions and laws are evaded, ignored and manipulated for private gain, the system of land management is a total failure making it impossible to hold officials in power legally accountable for their corrupt practices.

A variety of methods are used to perpetuate corruption in land in Ethiopia. One “key method” of land corruption involves the illegal allocation of municipal land “to housing cooperatives controlled by developers who then sell off the land informally.” Often “buyers were unaware of the legal status of the land they were buying” and end up in court before judges who are “aligned (in cahoots) with the corrupt officials”.  Another “method” is official falsification of documents. “With limited systems in place to record rights, particularly in urban areas, and limited oversight, officials have plenty of opportunities to falsify documents. It is not uncommon for parcels of land to be allocated to many different parties, sometimes to as many as  different parties, from whom officials and intermediaries collect multiple transaction and  service fees.”  Blatant conflict of interest of board members who oversee the lease award process, the absence of a compliance monitoring process for lease allocations and payments and the absence of land use regulations have served to accelerate the metastasizing corruption in land in Ethiopia.

State ownership of all land in Ethiopia is the fountainhead of land corruption. Wealthy elites and influential groups seize the land of the poor and marginalized through forced, but “legal” evictions and eminent domain actions. Nowhere is this type of land grab corruption more conspicuous than in the regime’s land giveaways to foreign “investors”.  The World Bank report states that “a substantial proportion of expropriated land is transferred to private interests”, but not to smallholders. “The expropriation and relocation of smallholders has been to the advantage of extensive commercial farming, including flower farms, biofuel, and other commodities.” It is also documented that the Ethiopian “government is forcing the Indigenous Peoples of the southwest off their ancestral lands and leasing these lands to foreign companies.” This expropriation has been achieved through a bogus program of “villagization” in which 1.5 million people have been “resettled” from the regions of Gambella, Benishangul-Gumuz, Somali, and Afar and their ancestral lands handed over to domestic and international “investors”.

As I documented in my March 2011 commentary, “Ethiopia: Country for Sale”, the Indian agribusiness giant Karuturi Global today owns a 1,000 sq. miles, “an area the size of Dorset, England”, of virgin Ethiopian land for “£150 a week (USD$245)” for “50 years”. As Karuturi Project Manager in Ethiopia Karmjeet Sekhon euphorically explained to Guardian reporter John Vidal, “We never saw the land. They gave it to us and we took it. Seriously, we did. We did not even see the land. They offered it. That’s all.” The Karuturi guys would like us to believe they got something for nothing. The regime wheeler-dealers  would like us to believe they gave a 1,000 square miles of virgin land to one of the richest agribusinesses in the world for nothing. Suffice it to say that they may also believe we were born yesterday; but surely, we were not born last night!

Prognosis on corruption in Ethiopia

Corruption in Ethiopia is the principal business of the State. Corruption has metastasized in the Ethiopian body politic  because the political and economic elites that have total control over the country’s land resources benefit enormously. They use tailor-made legislative opportunities to secure,  sell and speculate in land rights. Because the state is the sole owner of land, those who own the state alone have the power to privatize land, expropriate, lease, zone or approve construction plans or negotiate large-scale land giveaways.  Those who control the land in Ethiopia control not only the political and economic process but also the digestive process (stomachs)  of 90 million Ethiopians!

The culture of corruption must be changed before the tangled webs of corruption spun by the political and economic elites in Ethiopia are shattered. The major problem with changing the culture of political corruption is, as Peter Eigen observed, “in many parts of the world, the local people are resigned to the fact that there is corruption. They think there is nothing they can do about it. Therefore they more or less try to accommodate themselves, pay bribes themselves.”

Most Ethiopians are unaware of the regime’s “anti-corruption” efforts and those who are aware view the whole effort with a jaded eye. The simple fact of the matter is that having the “anti-corruption” agency (FEAC) to oversee, monitor, investigate and prosecute the architects and beneficiaries of corruption in Ethiopia is like having  Tweedle Dee monitor, investigate and prosecute Tweedle Dum. To invoke an old Ethiopian saying, “It is difficult to get a conviction when the son is the robber and the father is the judge.”

Effective anti-corruption efforts require an active democratic culture based on the rule of law and a vigilant citizenry empowered to confront and fight corruption in daily life.  Genuine anti-corruption efforts must necessarily begin by empowering ordinary people to fight back, not by creating a make-believe anti-corruption bureaucracy.

There have been some successful experiments in grassroots anti-corruption efforts where ordinary people have been given the tools to fight back corruption. In India, for instance, they have successfully organized local “vigilance commissions” in many towns and brought together the vulnerable and interested groups to probe into corruption. These commissions have put a significant dent in corruption. In Bangalore, “hub for India’s information technology sector”, residents have been involved in rating the quality of all major service providers in the city. The results were used to put pressure on government officials and service providers to become more accountable to citizens. The  Central Vigilance Commission of India also runs Project VIGEYE (Vigilance Eye)  which is “a citizen-centric initiative” in which “citizens join hands with the Central Vigilance Commission in fighting corruption in India.” VIGEYE provides citizens given multiple channels of engagement in the fight against corruption. In parts of Brazil, citizens are empowered to fight corruption through “participatory budgeting.” By including citizens from various backgrounds in the process of budget allocation, Brazil has been able to decrease levels of corruption and clientelism (exchange of goods and services for political support).

Ethiopia can learn much from Botswana, regarded to be the least corrupt country in Africa. The “Botswana Model” uses the strategy of “name and shame” to educate and accentuate public awareness of corruption. Using the free press as a tool, Botswanans name and shame corrupt officials by publishing their photographs on the front pages with the headline: “Is this man corrupt?” Botswana’s top political leaders are said to maintain high levels of public integrity and teach by example. Peter Eigen credits Botswana’s success to the “Directorate on Corruption and Economic Crime in Botswana [which] has processed thousands of [corruption] cases since 1994 and has made great strides against corruption.” In 2012, Botswana ranked an extraordinary 30/174 countries on the Corruption Index. These examples point to the fact that citizen involvement and monitoring are very effective in reducing corruption and increasing public integrity. Creating a bloated, toothless and  self-perpetuating anti-corruption bureaucracy  such as FEAC is mere window dressing for international donors and loaners.

The other remedy for corruption lies in vigorous and well-publicized criminal prosecutions of corrupt officials, asset forfeitures (divestment of corruptly obtained wealth) and imposition of tough prison sentences on convicted corrupt officials. FEAC’s own data show that corruption prosecutions and convictions in Ethiopia are negligible.

Absent some dramatic treatment for the cancer of corruption in Ethiopia’s land sector, there is no doubt that Ethiopia will be bankrupted in the foreseeable future. This   is  a country whose foreign reserve today could barely cover two months of its import bills, has accumulated over USD$12 billion in foreign debt;  and over the past decade Ethiopia  has lost USD$11.7 billion dollars in illicit financial flows.  Ethiopia’s “beautiful minds” and the opposition elements need to do a better job of addressing the issue of corruption. Passing references to “corruption” that “plagues the infrastructure sector”, “corruption that has never been seen before in the history of” Ethiopia and pleas to “arrest corruption that is rampant in the country” are simply not adequate.

I like to ask naïve questions. When it comes to governance, I ask not why Ethiopia’s rulers have chosen the “China Model” but rather why they have not chosen the “Ghanaian Model?” When it comes to corruption control, I simply ask why Ethiopia’s rulers have chosen not to follow the “Botswana Model”?

At the end of the day, “if Ethiopia is to be corruption free and become a nation of beautiful minds,” its  “beautifully minded” scholars, professors, researchers, policy analysts, lawyers  and other members of the learned professions  must renounce their vows of silence and loudly speak truth to black-hearted dictators! Silence may be golden but when we see the gold walking out of the National Bank in broad daylight, we had better  scream, shout and holler  like hell!!!

Professor Alemayehu G. Mariam teaches political science at California State University, San Bernardino and is a practicing defense lawyer.

Previous commentaries by the author are available at:

http://open.salon.com/blog/almariam/

www.huffingtonpost.com/alemayehu-g-mariam/

Amharic translations of recent commentaries by the author may be found at:

http://www.ecadforum.com/Amharic/archives/category/al-mariam-amharic

http://ethioforum.org/?cat=24

[Source: Ethiopian Review]

Read the full text in Amharic here

[Source: Ethiopian Review]

[Source: Ethiopian Review]

Read the full text here

[Source: Ethiopian Review]

March 23, 2013

“Every night, they took all of us girls to [interrogations]. They would separate us and beat us. The second time they took me, they raped me… All three of the men raped me, consecutively”.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) report in Collective Punishment, along with 15 other female students, this innocent 17 year-old Ogaden girl, was held captive for three months in a “dark hole in the ground” and raped 13 times. This is just one of countless accounts of abuse, from within the Ogaden region of Ethiopia, where it is widely reported criminal acts like these are perpetrated by the Ethiopian military and paramilitary forces on a daily basis. Untold atrocities like this; past and present are awaiting investigation, amid what is a much-ignored, little known conflict in the Horn of Africa.

In an attempt to hide the facts from the rest of the world, in 2007 the Ethiopian government banned all international media, and expelled many humanitarian aid groups from the area. It is reputed that any Non-Governmental Organisations (NGO’s) allowed to stay do so on the condition that they sign a waiver document, agreeing not to report human rights violations by the government. Ethiopia, Leslie Lefkow of HRW states, “is one of the most difficult places to work for human rights groups or humanitarian agencies on the African continent”, and the Ogaden (a barren land, littered with military remnants from past conflicts), “is one of the most difficult places to work in Ethiopia.” There are “huge challenges to doing investigations on the ground because the security apparatus of the government is extremely extensive and permeates even the lowest levels, the grass roots, the village levels”, where regime spies and informers operate, reporting anything and anyone suspicious.

Information about life within the region comes from whispering sources on the ground, and from those who have fled the violence, and are now living outside Ethiopia. Many are in refugee camps in Kenya and Yemen, from where they recount stories of horrific abuse. Mohammed, from the Dhadhaab (or Dadaab) camp in Kenya, described to Ogaden Online (OO) 1/12/2012 how he was captured by the Ethiopian military, accused of being a supporter of the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) and mercilessly tortured. “They hogtied me”, he said, “and then flogged me while pinned down.” Mohamed’s face “was disfigured to the point where he can’t be recognized”. Refugees support Amnesty International’s (AI) findings of “torture and extrajudicial executions of detainees in the region” – women tell of multiple gang rapes, their arms, feet and necks tied with wire, for which they bear the scars, men speak of barbaric torture techniques at the hands of the Ethiopian military and paramilitary – the notorious, semi legal, completely barbaric Liyu Police, who, Laetitia Bader of HRW says, “fit into this context of impunity where security forces can do more or less what they want”.

The ONLF is cast as the enemy of the state, and regarded, as all dissenting troublesome groups are, as terrorists. They in fact won 60% of seats and were democratically elected to the regional parliament in the only inclusive open elections to be held, back in 1992. Civilians suspected, however vaguely of supporting the so-called ‘rebels’, are forcibly re-located from their homes. The evacuated villages and settlements, emptied at gunpoint HRW (CP) record, “become no-go areas” and in a further act of state criminality, “civilians who remain behind risk being shot on sight, tortured, or raped if spotted by soldiers”. Children, refugees report are hanged, villages and settlements razed to the ground and cattle stolen to feed soldiers: HRW record (CP), “water sources and wells have [also] been destroyed”. Systematic, strategic methods of violence and intimidation employed by the Ethiopian regime, that has, Genocide Watch (GW) state, “initiated a genocidal campaign against the Ogaden Somali population”.

Pervasive pernicious control

Spearheading the Governments campaign of terror in the region is the Liyu Police. A force of 10,000-14,000 18-20 year olds, with little or no knowledge of criminal law or human Rights, David Mepham UK Director of HRW told The Guardian 15/01/2013, that “for years we have documented egregious human rights abuses committed by the Liyu police, including the March 2012 extra-judicial execution of 10 men in their custody and the killing of nine other villagers”. Established in 2005 the Liyu initiative was the brainchild of a group led by the current regional President. His Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) regime was and remains, at war with the ONLF, who are seeking self-determination for the five million ethnic Somali’s, in line with their constitutional rights under the governments Ethnic Federalism policy.

The EPRDF is a highly controlling repressive regime, which has extended its pervasive reach in the nine districts of the Ogaden, to where, HRW (CP) records, “security committees, which exist at every administrative level [and]… include members of the armed forces, military intelligence, security officials.” The local Ogaden administration “does nothing but carry out Ethiopian dictates and represents the interests of the present, centralised regime,” the Ogaden Women’s Relief Association (OWRA) record in their study, A Place to Call Home. Dictates’ of government brutality and intimidation regimentally carried out by the Ethiopian military apparatus, fully equipped by their principle donor, America, who GW recommend, should “immediately cease all military assistance”.

Terrifying tools of oppression and imprisonment

The current regime operates under the premiership of Hailemariam Desalegn, who, true to his inaugural word, is following in predecessor Meles Zenawi’s shoes – has expanded the EPRDF’s repertoire of violence and control and, in addition to the range of violent measures employed, is imposing additional economic pressures, intimidation and extortion the name of the game. It is widely reported that In the midst of the current dry (or Jilaal) season, new taxes are being levied on water drawn from wells for livestock and domestic use. Sums of up to $150 are reportedly being charged to people living in rural areas, already burdened by an economic and aid embargo, which is causing civilians great hardship.

Additional tax demands are also being made – OO (8/03/2013) carry the story that, “reliable reports…. confirm the imposition of what the locals term an illegal ‘head tax’, imposed on the civilian population as well as on their livestock”. A local elder, whose “family consists of eight children and he and his wife” received an arbitrary charge of “150 Ethiopian Birrs ($8) per individual regardless of age or gender”, a total of 1200 birr ($56) – far beyond his means.

Kidnapping, with subsequent ransom demands, is another applied tool of terror. Family members, abducted and imprisoned, are released upon receipt of ransom payments, made either by relatives inside Ethiopia or those living overseas. Levels of extortion vary, with those in the west paying anything from “$300 to $1,500”; the McGill Report found “in some cases those amounts were contributions to total collected ransoms of more than $10,000”. This criminal practice is widespread: civilians are arrested and imprisoned, without regard to due process, often repeatedly as Ifraah, a 25 year-old Ogaden Somali woman, told the OWRA: “To be released, you have to pay the Ethiopian military from 1,000 ($56) to 2,000 birr ($112). And the price keeps going up. If they suspect that the family has money, they raise the price. Poor people often stay in prison much longer because they can’t raise the ransom. It happened to me twice. The first time I wasn’t yet married. I spent a couple of months in prison and had to pay 500 birr ($28); the second time, I had to pay 1,000.” It’s a business in human suffering, “arrests also benefit the military; it’s a flourishing trade. Innocent people are captured and have to come up with a lot of money to free themselves.” This illegal income, it is widely believed, is being used to supplement the paramilitary soldiers salaries’. “There are women thrown into prison five times, and each time they have to pay to get out. But economic factors are not the only ones. There’s also torture and rape”.

Civilians like Ifraah indiscriminately accused of supporting the ONLF are detained without charge. Leslie Lefkow of HRW makes clear that, “the way the EPRDF targets people, is an enormous problem from a human rights point of view”. HRW have been monitoring the situation in the region for the past five years, and have seen and documented a range of Human Rights abuses, including “arbitrary detaining [of] family members, often for long periods of time, sexual violence against women and girls, sometimes if they are viewed as being members of the ONLF or supporters or simply because they are family members [of ONLF supporters]. There is a kind of ‘guilt by association’ that is used to target the family members”, punishable by “summary executions… where suspected ONLF supporters have been executed in cold blood.”

Incarcerated in what are often makeshift prisons (e.g. deserted school buildings), prisoners held in appalling conditions, are tortured, abused and intimidated. Ina and Halima, two young women from the town of Saga, were, OO 21/01/2011 report, “suspended in the air by their ankles with their legs spread wide, while the soldiers poured water mixed with red chilli powder over them [and] applied [it] in and around the victims’ genitalia, causing severe burns.” In ‘prison’ there are no medical facilities and, Ifraah says, no food: “You get your food from relatives. If you don’t have anyone nearby, your relatives send money to people who live there so they can buy you food”; or inmates share what little they have. Abdullahi, held amongst, others without trial for nine months, related to OWRA how their captors “locked us in an underground room” Young girls are regarded as Liyu property, kidnapped, held captive and repeatedly raped, often falling pregnant in the process. “Little girls”, record OWRA, “13 to 15-year-olds, in prison and suddenly pregnant….at night you hear the girls screaming when soldiers take them from their cells” – their dignity and childhood stolen from them.

Government genocide

The government’s so-called counter-insurgency policy in the Ogaden is, in truth, a form of genocide and is regarded as such by GW. Is it ethnic hatred, fear and loathing of the ‘other’, or simply greed for the regions natural resources – the oil and natural gas that drives the government’s violent, multi-pronged approach? An approach that HRW (CP) makes clear, aims “at cutting off economic resources, weakening the ONLF’s civilian support base, and confining its geographic area of operation”. In pursuing these duplicitous goals, the Ethiopian regime seems to exist on an island of impunity, hidden from the international community; as The Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization (UNPO) state, “there is a shocking lack of international attention directed at the situation” and, despite the “substantial documentation of the violations committed…published by human rights NGOs, governments and media outlets”, nothing is being done.

Let us be clear and state, unequivocally the findings of Human Rights groups: that the Ethiopian military and paramilitary is committing wide-ranging Human Rights violations in the Ogaden, which constitute war crimes and crimes against humanity. “The situation” should, as GW demand, be “referred by the UN Security Council to the International Criminal Court (ICC)”.

Such Human Rights violations are not confined to the Ogaden region. GW consider “Ethiopia to have already reached Stage 7 (of 8), genocide massacres, against many of its peoples, including the Anuak, Ogadeni, Oromo, and Omo tribes”. The EPRDF, unsurprisingly, plead innocent to all such accusations of abuse and state criminality and dismiss allegations of human rights abuse substantiated by reports from international human rights group such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International. The Ogaden regional president claims, they “peddle lies and propaganda from our enemies”. However, if the Ethiopian government has nothing to hide, why don’t they allow independent investigators and journalists access to the Ogaden region?

The shocking accounts of violence and abuse are endless. The situation is clearly extremely critical and demands the immediate attention of Ethiopia’s main benefactors – America and sister donor nations, the European Union and Britain. To continue to ignore the evidence of state criminality and to blindly support the Ethiopian government in the face of such persecution, is to be complicit in the murder and violent abuse of the innocent people of the Ogaden region.

Graham Peebles is director of the Create Trust. He can be reached at: graham@thecreatetrust.org

[Source: Ethiopian Review]

Read the full statement here

[Source: Ethiopian Review]

‘The Duce will have Ethiopia, with or without the Ethiopians’. Rodolfo Graziani

I am writing this as a proud Ethiopian because Graziani’s promise to the Fascist dictator was thwarted by my gallant ancestors. If it was not for the bravery and sacrifice of our grandparents, to day our country will be referred to as ex Italian Colony, we will be conversing in Italian, our national dish would be spaghetti and my name will probably be Mario. Please don’t knock it because my country being referred to as the only independent country in Africa, having my own national language, dining on Injera and answering to an original name is what defines me as unique member of the human race.

The Ethiopian and Italian entanglement goes very far back in history. The period known as ’the scramble for Africa’ from 1870 to 1914 is a good place to start. It was a time the European powers were invading, colonizing, occupying and abusing Africans all over the continent. After the scrooge of slavery this was another century where being black was not a desirable existence, not that it is any different now. To avoid warring each other the Europeans decided to sit around a table and carve out the continent into outright ownership of people and country and spheres of influence. Italy already had Libya and decided to include Ethiopia in its portfolio.

Unfortunate for the Italians the Ethiopians found the idea absurd to say the least. The battle of Adwa settled the matter and dealt the Europeans their one and only defeat in Africa. The victory at Adwa will forever define what it means to be an Ethiopian. Generations will use this colossal event to shape and mold their children to grow up with pride and determination to guard what is their own and not to covet what belongs to others.

The Italians never forgave us for the humiliation at Adwa. After waiting for forty years they came back in 1935 to avenge their defeat. They came back better prepared. They used superior weapons including poison gas trying to overwhelm our barefoot army on horseback. They occupied most of our sacred land. They won a few battles but were unable to win the war. Our grandparents never gave the invading army a single day of respite. The concept of guerilla warfare that has become the mainstay of all oppressed peoples response to overwhelming force was brilliantly utilized by our ancestors. You can say they wrote the book on mobile war using a few to harass and demoralize the enemy while recovering national strength.

This brings us to the infamous General Rodolfo Graziani Governor of Italian East Africa. His ghost is what is waking us up from where we having been lying down comfortably numb for over forty years. Graziani tried to do what Meles Zenawi was able to accomplish. I know harsh words but deservingly so. Let me tell you what Graziani did to us in 1936. The day was Friday February nineteenth. Viceroy Graziani decided to celebrate the birth of the Prince of Naples in Addis Abeba at the ‘Genete Leul palace.’ Abreha Deboch and Moges Asgedom two of the most beautiful Ethiopians our country has ever produced threw ten grenades at the fascist pig and his accomplices during the celebration.

What happened next will forever live in our heart and mind as the price paid when sovereignty is lost. The Federal Secretary Guido Cortese gave the following order to his solders:
“Comrades, today is the day when we should show our devotion to our Viceroy by reacting and destroying the Ethiopians for three days. For three days I give you carte blanche to destroy and kill and do what you want to the Ethiopians.”

Ethiopians were hunted down like pray animals and killed. Over thirty thousand (30,000) of our people died in revenge. No one was spared. They burnt the town down and murdered everything that moved. Graziani earned the name “butcher of Ethiopia.” I doubt there is anyone amongst that has not lost a distant relative in this bloodbath. Darkness fell on our country and we were given a taste of what it means to be under the mercy of an occupying force.
On the other hand Graziani’s animalistic and criminal behavior aroused the righteous anger of any and all red blooded Ethiopians. The fascist pigs never knew peace in the land of the habeshas until they were driven out the second time hopefully never to return again. This little note is by no means an adequate exposition of our fearless and gallant ancestors but it would be unforgivable not to mention Lij Haile Mariam Mamo-the first árbegna’, Dejazmacj Abarra Kasa from the north-west, Dejazmach balcha Aba Nebso from the south-west, Ras Abebe Argay leader of the band, Shaleka Mesfin Seleshi, Ras Desta Damtew from the south, Ato Belay Zeleke and host of other notables that stood a head above others and gave the enemy a taste of Ethiopian indignation.

As I said before the ghost of this evil specimen of a human being is with us again. In 2012 the town of Affile built a mausoleum in memory the fascist pig. Yes the same Graziani that ordered the killing of over thirty thousand people in a three days period, the same criminal that used mustard gas throughout our homeland killing in the hundreds of thousands of Ethiopians was honored as a patriot and a hero by his people. They felt they could do that because they knew there would be no one to stop them. What they saw was a country divided into nine Bantustans, a country in the process of degrading its past, a country willing to sacrifice its youth pushing, encouraging them to go where harm awaits them. Yes the citizens of Affile felt no shame because they knew no one will call them out.

We might be down but we are not dead yet. As there were ‘wust arebenoch’ during the occupation, there are still plenty of patriots that keep the flame of freedom alive. The shameful act of the people of Affile was too much to take. Patriotic Ethiopians decided to protest this fascist spit on our honor and insult to the memory of our people by marching and showing their righteous indignation in our homeland. You would think any government that is the recipient of this unjust provocation will lead the charge on behalf of its citizens. That it will use its moral power to unite its citizens and humanity at large and put the unrepentant Italians on notice that this kind of act is not acceptable, is counterproductive and unnecessarily brings buried memories to the forefront.

This is not unique to us. The Germans were made to accept responsibility for the crimes of Hitler, the Japanese were held liable for their atrocities in China and South East Asia, and the US showed its profound sorrow for slavery and so on. In the scheme of human history some shameful acts were committed and since no one can turn time back the responsibility of the current generation is to look back at the horror and shame and take responsibility and do what is necessary to teach its citizens so there would be no chance today or in the future for history to repeat itself.
No need to travel to Germany or Japan when we can just walk over to our neighbor in the south. The Kenyans have sued the British government for imprisonment and torture during the Mau Mau uprising for independence and their case is being heard in London. As far as I know the Kenyan government has not jailed any of its citizens for requesting accountability. Needless to say we do not have a legitimate government that reflects the aspirations of the citizen. Thus our patriotic protesters that dared express their views on the matter were beaten by Woyane police and hauled to prison. Their protest was seen as a criminal act. The odd situation here is that a few Italians that felt this miscarriage of justice did protest in Italy but no one beat them up and none were imprisoned for peacefully making their objections known.

We are one unique people aren’t we? No one will believe this unfolding story taking place in our ancient land. No one with a fertile imagination will come up with this kind of scenario even for as fiction. When we think we have seen enough our Woyane masters idiocy they seem to have this bottomless pit and pull out a new and more bizarre behavior to confound our senses.

At the beginning I compared Graziani to the recently departed Meles Zenawi the Woyane warlord. Some of you probably thought I have gone too far. Some of you judged me unfair and filled with hate. I understand. I felt the same way when I wrote it down. I almost took it out. Then I slept on it. Further reflection made me realize I am not really off the mark. I will state my point, you my brethren be the judge.

Graziani was avenging his people’s humiliation at Adwa. He came back with a purpose. What exactly did he do to make sure Ethiopia will never rise again? Wanton killing was one. Selective murder was another. The use of mustard gas, burning of villages and the Addis massacre are examples of wanton killing. The May 19th murder of 297 monks and 23 laymen of Debre Libanos Monastery is a calculated act of terror to discredit our ancient religion. Furthermore the liquidation of the young Ethiopian intellectuals and their organization ‘The Black Lions’ was another assault on what is dear to us. Other than those that left the country with the Emperor and the lucky ones that found their way to Sudan and Kenya all were executed. This I will file under selective murder.

The Italians also redrew the map of our country to create separate Bantustans. They divided our country into six units as follows: 1) Eritrea to include Tigrai – capital Asmara 2) Amhara to include Begemeder, Gojjam, Wello and northern Shoa – capital Gonder 3) Galla and Sidamo –capital Jimma 4) Addis Abeba 5) Harar 6) Somalia-capital Mogadishu.

Well, well, well, where do you think the great mind of Meles came up with his kilil solution? Now you know what he has been reading while holed down in his cave in the mountains of Tigrai. History will also show that his first target was none other than Haile Selassie University in search of intellectuals to liquidate, imprison or exile.
The period from 1935 to 1941 is referred to as the time of Italian ‘occupation.’ It is not known as Italian ‘colonization.’ That is so because our resistance did not give the Italians the legitimacy they so desired. Our patriots never allowed the Italian flag to fly unchallenged. Our Emperor was gallantly going to every capital in Europe and the League of Nations keeping the flame of freedom alive while our patriots at home were waging a successful guerrilla war keeping the fascist army in a state of fear and uncertainty.

We their children have failed our forefathers. We are unable to resist a home grown fascist dominating us using an old user’s manual. There are groups fighting the regime but unfortunately no one has managed to break out and claim the vanguard role. We are working on that. Where there is oppression there is resistance and we are not different. It is obvious we’re fighting an uphill battle. Our people are not educated, our communication system is rudimentary and our enemy is very cunning with plenty of resource. The young and able that are open to new ideas are being systematically marginalized using cheap drug to numb the mind and encouraged to leave the homeland. No matter, the planes and advanced weapons did not deter our ancestors and surely illiterate and not more than a thousand Woyane diehards are not going to make us flinch from our destiny of making sure our country take its deserved place as the leader of all Black people.

Finally here is a beautiful and timely poem from a play written by Ato Yoftahe Negus while in exile in the Sudan as quoted by Ato Berhanu Zewde. You will find information on Ato Berhanu’s book at the end of this article.

Bahru Zewde-The Ethiopian Intelegencia and the Italio Ethiopian War, 1935-1941 (The International journal of African Historical Studious, vol. 26, No. 2(1993.)
Richard Pankhurst –The Ethiopians- A History. (Blackwell Publishers USA 1998, pp238-239)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yekatit_12#cite_ref-7

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rodolfo_Graziani

[Source: Ethiopian Review]

After welcoming the participants and making brief remarks, Chairman of ENTC-Atlanta, Ato Fasil Kasegne, introduced the guest speakers, Aba Gebreselassie from the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, and Dr Fisseha Eshetu, Secretary General of ENTC. A representatives from the Muslim community was invited but was unable to come due to schedule conflict.

In his brief speech, Aba Gebreselassie urged political parties and opposition politicians to reconcile their differences for the sake of the suffering people of Ethiopia, but rejected any call for reconciliation with the TPLF/EPRDF regime.

Dr Fisseha explained that at the July 2013 conference ENTC will present a concrete proposal on how to remove the regime and form a transitional government, and indicated that this will be an excellent opportunity for all stakeholders to present their respective alternative ideas, plans, or proposals. He said that it is imperative for the conference to have the input of all political parties, civic and religious groups, scholars, elder statesmen, and other stakeholders.

Following Dr Fisseha’s presentation, a lively discussion took place. While everyone supported the July 2013 Conference on Transitional Government, some participants expressed their reservation that it might turn out to be just another political meeting. Dr Fisseha assured the participants that the July Conference will discuss and come up with concrete and implementable solutions that will be acceptable to all stakeholders. .
Similar town hall meeting are being organized in several cities around the world in the coming weeks.

ENTC is looking for volunteers to help with the July 2013 Conference. Please call 1-202-735-4262 / +44-7958-487-420 or write to contact@etntc.org

[Source: Ethiopian Review]

PRESS RELEASE
19 March 2013

Stop brutalizing Ethiopian refugees in Saudi Arabia

The Ethiopian National Transitional Council (ENTC) expressed its outrage over the brutal treatment of young Ethiopian refugees in Saudi Arabia by security forces.

In a letter to Saudi ambassador to the United State, Adel A. Al-Jubeir, ENTC demanded the government of Saudi Arabia to treat Ethiopian refugees humanely and with respect according to UNHCR guidelines.

ENTC stated: “Throughout history, Saudi Arabia nationals have been received with kind hospitality by the people of Ethiopia. Saudi Arabia is one of the biggest importers of Ethiopian food, particularly vegetable, fruits, and livestock. Saudi investors own large farms in Ethiopia. When it comes to religion and history, Ethiopia was a country where Prophet Mohammed’s followers sought refugee. The Christian king in Ethiopia did not abuse and savagely attack the Muslim refugees. Today, we are sad to witness that the police officers who are serving the Custodian of the two holiest mosques in Islam are brutally beating up young Ethiopian refugees who went to Saudi Arabia because the government in their own country is turned the country a hell on earth for them.”

ENTC wrote the letter to the Saudi ambassador after receiving a video that shows a horrific beating of young Ethiopian men by Saudi Arabia border police and local militia: http://youtu.be/vrPlqERFQOo

ENTC has also received reports that Saudi police is currently hunting down, arresting and beating undocumented Ethiopian refugees.

ENTC will continue to monitor the situation in Saudi Arabia and other countries where Ethiopians are reportedly abused.

[Source: Ethiopian Review]

1. Addid Gas and Plastics Factory PLC
2. Addis Home Depot PLC
3. Addis International Catering PL
4. Blue Nile P.P. & Craft Paper Bags Manufacturing PLC
5. Cabey PLC
6. Daylight Applied Technologies PLC
7. East West Ethio Transport PLC
8. Elfora Agro-Industries PLC
9. Lame Dairy PLC
10. Mamco Paper Products Factory PLC
11. Midroc Construction Ethiopia PLC
12. Midroc Energy House Electro-Mechanical Services PLC
13. MIDROC Ethiopia PLC
14. Midroc Ethiopia Tecnology Group PLC
15. Midroc Foundation Specialist PLC
16. Midroc Gold Mine
17. Modern Building Industries PLC
18. Moha Soft Drinks Industry SC
19. Mugad Travel PLC
20. National Mining Corp.
21. National Motors Corporation PLC
22. National Oil Ethiopia PLC (NOC)
23. Pharmacure PLC
24. Rainbow Exclusive Car Rental and Tour Services PLC
25. Salam Health Care PLC
26. Sheraton Addis
27. Star Soap and Detergent Industries PLC
28. Summit Engineered PLC
29. Trans Nation Airways PLC
30. Trust Protection & Personnel Services PLC
31. United Auto Maintenance Services PLC
32. Unity University PLC
33. Unlimited Packaging PLC
34. Wamza Furnishing Industries PLC
35. Equatorial Business Group PLC
36. Ethio Agri-Ceft PLC
37. Ethio Leather Industry PLC (ELICO)
38. Huda Real Estate PLC
39. Kebire Enterprise PLC
40. Kombolcha Steel Products Industries PLC

(Source: http://sheikhmohammedalamoudi.com/page2.html)

[Source: Ethiopian Review]

Following the presidential election in late December 2007 and the Kenya Electoral Commission’s hurried declaration of incumbent President Mwai Kibaki as the winner, supporters of opposition presidential candidate Raila Odinga in the Orange Democratic Movement alleged widespread electoral fraud and irregularities. For nearly two months following that election, ethnic violence and strife in Kenya raged resulting in more than 1200 deaths, 3,500 injuries, and the displacement of over 350,000 persons and destruction of over 100,000 properties.

In March 2011, Uhuru Kenyatta was indicted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) on various counts of crimes against humanity arising from the post-election violence.  The details of the ICC charges against Kenyatta and other defendants are set forth in exhaustive detail in a 10-count indictment.Kenyatta allegedly conspired, planned, financed, and coordinated violence against the supporters of Odinga’s Orange Democratic Movement. He allegedly “controlled the Mungiki organization” and directed the commission of murders, deportations, rapes, persecutions, and other inhumane acts against civilians in the towns of Kibera, Kisumu, Naivasha, and Nakuru. Kenyatta’s trial is scheduled to start at The Hague on July 9. Kenyatta’s election running mate and vice president-elect William Ruto as well as other top Kenyan officials are part of  different ICC cases. Ruto’s trial has been postponed to May 28.

Kenyatta and Ruto are presumed innocent until proven guilty.  Kenyatta’s lawyer Steven Kay claimed the ICC charges were “determined on false evidence, evidence that was concealed from the defense and the facts underlying the charges have been put utterly and fully in doubt.”

U.S. efforts to ensure free and fair elections in Kenya after 2008

The U.S. was among the first nations to recognize the validity of Kenya’s 2007 presidential election.  At the time, U.S. State Department Spokesman Robert McInturff announced, “The United States  congratulates the winners and is calling for calm, and for Kenyans to abide by the results declared by the election commission. We support the commission’s decision.” But U.S. validation of that election was completely unwarranted since there was substantial credible evidence of rampant electoral fraud and vote rigging in favor of Kibaki and considerable doubt about the neutrality and integrity of the Kenya Electoral Commission.

Over the past two years, the U.S. has made significant investments to promote free and fair elections in Kenya and prevent a repetition of the 2007 violence. According to the U.S. State Department, “since 2010, the U.S. Government has contributed more than $35 million to support electoral reform, civic education, and elections preparation in Kenya. In addition, since 2008, we have provided more than $90 million to support constitutional reform, conflict mitigation, civil society strengthening, and youth leadership and empowerment, all of which contribute significantly to the goal of free, fair, and peaceful elections in Kenya.”

Obama’s defining moment in Africa?

The March 2013 presidential election in which Kenyatta won by a razor thin margin of 50.7 percent is not entirely free of controversy. Raila Odinga, who received about 43 percent of the votes, has rejected the outcome of the election and filed action in court alleging collusion between the Kenyatta and the electoral commission, not unlike what happened in 2007. This time around, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry offered only half-hearted congratulations and assurances to the people of Kenya and applauded the fortitude of those who counted the ballots. But his congratulatory statement belied an apparent disappointment as manifested in his omission of the names of the election victors.  “On behalf of the United States of America, I want to congratulate the people of Kenya for voting peacefully on March 4 and all those elected to office… I am inspired by the overwhelming desire of Kenyans to peacefully make their voices heard… We … will continue to be a strong friend and ally of the Kenyan people.”

Prior to the election, it seemed President Obama and his top African policy man Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Johnnie Carson were playing a bit of the old “good cop, bad cop” routine. President Obama in a special video message to the people of Kenya said that though he is proud of his Kenyan heritage “the choice of who will lead Kenya is up to the Kenyan people. The United States does not endorse any candidate for office…” He assured Kenyans that they “will continue to have a strong friend and partner in the United States of America.” But Johnnie Carson who was also a former U.S. ambassador to Kenya, was more blunt in hinting to Kenyans that their “choices have consequences”. Carson hectored Kenyans that they “should be thoughtful about those they choose to be leaders, the impact their choices would have on their country, region or global community.” Does that mean electing ICC suspects in crimes against humanity could bring about crippling sanctions?

What is good for the goose is good for the gander?

Now that Kenyatta and Ruto are elected, will the U.S. do what it did with Omar al-Bashir of the Sudan, another notorious suspect indicted by the ICC? Or will Kenyatta and his government receive special dispensation from sanctions and other penalties?

Carson argued that Kenya and the Sudan are two different situations. “I don’t want to make a comparison with Sudan in its totality because Sudan is a special case in many ways.” What makes Bashir and Sudan different, according to Carson, is the fact that Sudan is on the list of countries that support terrorism and Bashir and his co-defendants are under indictment for the genocide in Darfur. Since “none of that applies to Kenya,” according to Carson, it appears the U.S. will follow a different policy.

U.S. Secretary of State Kerry seemed to provide a more direct response in his “congratulatory” statement in explaining why Kenya will get special treatment.  “Kenya has been one of America’s strongest and most enduring partners in Africa… and [the U.S] will continue to be a strong friend and ally of the Kenyan people.” That is diplomatese for “we will continue with business as usual in Kenya” come hell or high water at the ICC. Carson’s predecessor, Jendayi Frazer, cut to the chase: “Kenyatta knows that he needs the United States, and the United States knows it needs Kenya… And so I suspect that while it might be awkward, there won’t be a significant change in our policy stances toward Kenya or theirs toward us.”

A double standard of U.S. human rights policy in Africa?

It seems the U.S. has a double standard of human rights policy in Africa. One for those the U.S. does not like such as Bashir and Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe, and another for those it likes like the late Meles Zenawi, Paul Kagame, Yuweri Museveni and now Uhuru Kenyatta.

Following Bashir’s ICC indictment in 2009,  Ambassador Susan E. Rice, U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations, demanded his arrest and prosecution:  “The people of Sudan have suffered too much for too long, and an end to their anguish will not come easily. Those who committed atrocities in Sudan, including genocide, should be brought to justice.” Just before her resignation last month, U.S. Secretary of State Hilary Clinton urged: “Governments and individuals who either conduct or condone atrocities of any kind, as we have seen year after year in Sudan, have to be held accountable.” The U.S. has frozen the assets of individuals and businesses allegedly controlled by Mugabe’s henchmen because the “Mugabe regime rules through politically motivated violence and intimidation and has triggered the collapse of the rule of law in Zimbabwe.”

Legend has it that President Franklin D. Roosevelt once said of Nicaraguan dictator Anastasio Somoza that “Somoza may be a son of a bitch, but he’s our son of a bitch.”  Despite lofty rhetoric in support of the advancement of democracy and protection of human rights in Africa, the United States continues to subsidize and coddle African dictatorships that are as bad as or even worse than Mugabe’s. The U.S. currently provides substantial economic aid, loans, technical and security assistance to the repressive regimes in Ethiopia, Congo (DRC), Uganda, Rwanda and others. None of these countries hold free elections, allow the operation of an independent press or free expression or abide by the rule of law. All of them are corrupt to the core, keep thousands of political prisoners, use torture and ruthlessly persecute their opposition.

No case of double standard in U.S. human rights policy in Africa is more instructive than Equatorial Guinea where Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo has been in power since 1979. Teodoro Obiang is said to make  Robert Mugabe “seem stable and benign”. The U.S. maintains excellent relations with Teodoro Obiang because of vast oil reserves in Equatorial Guinea. But all of the oil revenues are looted by Obiang and his cronies. In 2011, the U.S. brought legal action in federal court  against Teodoro Obiang’s son Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue to seize corruptly obtained assets including a $40 million estate in Malibu, California  overlooking the Pacific Ocean, a luxury plane and super-sports cars worth millions of dollars. In describing the seizure action, U.S. Assistant Attorney General  Lanny A. Breuer crowed, “We are sending the message loud and clear: the United States will not be a hiding place for the ill-gotten riches of the world’s corrupt leaders.” (Ironically, U.S. law requires the U.S. to return any assets or proceeds from an asset forfeiture court action to the government from which  it was stolen.  In other words, the assets or proceeds from the forfeiture action against  son Teodoro Nguema Obiang will eventually be returned to father Teodoro Obiang Nguema!!!)

But the U.S. has not touched any of the other African Ali Babas and their forty dozen thieving cronies who have stolen billions and stashed their cash in U.S. and other banks. For instance, Global Financial Integrity reported in 2011 reported that “Ethiopia, which has a per-capita GDP of just US$365, lost US$11.7 billion to illicit financial outflows between 2000 and 2009. In 2009, illicit money leaving the economy totaled US$3.26 billion, which is double the amount in each of the two previous years…” Is there really any one wonder who in Ethiopia has the ability to amass such wealth or “illicitly” ship it out of the country and where much of that cash is stashed? Suffice it to say that the dictators in Ethiopia, Rwanda, Uganda… may be kleptocrats, criminals against humanity, genociders, election thieves, torturers, abusers of power… , but they are OUR kleptocrats, criminals against humanity…”

Does the Obama Administration have a (African) human rights policy?

If anyone is searching for the Obama Administration’s global or African human rights policy, s/he may (or may not) find it in the recent statements of  Michael Posner, the Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor of the United States. Posner said American human rights policy is based on “principled engagement”: “We are going to go to the United Nations and join the Human Rights Council and we’re going to be part of iteven though we recognize it doesn’t work… We’re going to engage with governments that are allies but we are also going to engage with governments with tough relationships and human rights are going to be  part of those discussions.” Second, the U.S. will follow “a single standard for human rights, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and it applies to all including ourselves…” Third, consistent with President “Obama’s personality”, the Administration believes “change occurs from within and so a lot of  the emphasis… [will be] on how we can help local actors, change agents, civil society, labor activists, religious leaders trying to change their societies from within and amplify their own voices and give them the support they need…” But does “engagement” of African dictators mean sharing a cozy bed with them so that they can suck at the teats of American taxpayers to satisfy their insatiable aid addiction?

Since 2008, the U.S. Government has spent $125 million to support electoral reform, civic education, constitutional reform, conflict mitigation, civil society strengthening, and youth leadership and empowerment for free democratic elections in Kenya. But just north of the Kenyan border in Ethiopia, how much has the U.S. invested to support electoral reform, civic education, civil society strengthening, etc., has the U.S. invested? (That is actually a trick question. Civil society institutions are illegal in Ethiopia and no electoral reform is needed where the ruling party wins elections by 99.6 percent.)

In May 2010 after Meles Zenawi’s party won 99.6 percent of the seats in parliament, the White House issued a Statement expressing “concern that international observers found that the elections fell short of international commitments”; but the statement unambiguously affirmed that “we will work diligently with Ethiopia to ensure that strengthened democratic institutions and open political dialogue become a reality for the Ethiopian people.” To paraphrase William Buckley, “I won’t insult the intelligence of the White House by suggesting that they really do believe the statement they had issued.”

“There’s serious evil in the world, and hardship and pain…”

There is a great moral irony in the Obama Administration’s human rights policy in Africa. The President seems to  believe that he is moving the African human rights agenda forward while appearing to be backsliding  metaphorically similar to Michael Jackson’s “Moonwalk” dance. My humble personal view, (with all due respect to President Obama and his office and mindful of my own full support for his election in 2008 and re-election in 2012), is that President Obama needs to straight walk his  human rights talk, not “moonwalk” it. I feel he does not have the confidence in the power of American ideals that I have as a naïve academician and lawyer. He is in an extraordinary historical position in world history as a person of color to advance American ideals in convincing and creative ways. But it seems to me that he has chosen to stand his ground on expediency with little demonstrated faith in American ideals. He now finds himself on a tightrope of moral ambiguity, which impels his hand to choose expediency over consistency of ideals and principles every time he deals with African dictators. He has chosen the creed of realpolitik at a time in global history when the common man and woman stand their ground on principle and ideals of human dignity.

In the “Arab Spring”, ordinary Tunisians, Egyptians, Syrians, Yemeni’s and others who have always faced privation, oppression, corruption and  destitution rose up and stood their ground on the principle of human dignity and the rights of Man and Woman. They wanted basic human dignity more than loaves of bread. It is true that one cannot eat dignity like bread nor drink it like milk. But dignity is like oxygen. It is the essence of human existence. If one cannot breathe, one can neither eat nor drink.  Human beings without dignity merely exist like the beasts of the wilderness — aimless, purposeless, meaningless, desultory, fearful and permanently insecure.

It seems to me President Obama has crossed over from the strength of American ideals to the weakness of political expediency. He has chosen to overlook and thereby excuse the cruelty and inhumanity of Africa’s ruthless dictators, their bottomless  corruption and their endless crimes against humanity. He says he will “engage” African dictators on human rights. Some “engagement” it is to wine, dine and lionize them as America’s trade partners and “partners on the war on terror”! But the real terror is committed by these dictators on their own people every day as they smash and trash religious liberties, steal elections, jail journalists, shutter newspapers, fill their jails with political prisoners and so on. “Engagement” of African dictators for the sake of the war on terror and oil has created a monstrous moral complacency which tolerates and justifies the ends of evil for the illusion of good.

In his first inaugural speech, President Obama served notice to the world’s dictators: “To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history, but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist.” In July 2009, in Ghana, President Obama told Africa’s “strongmen” they are on the wrong side of history: “History offers a clear verdict: governments that respect the will of their own people are more prosperous, more stable, and more successful than governments that do not…. No person wants to live in a society where the rule of law gives way to the rule of brutality and bribery. That is not democracy, that is tyranny, and now is the time for it to end… Make no mistake: history is on the side of these brave Africans [citizens and their communities driving change], and not with those who use coups or change Constitutions to stay in power. Africa doesn’t need strongmen, it needs strong institutions.”

Senator Obama before becoming president said: “[Reinhold Niebuhr] is one of my favorite philosophers. I take away [from his works] the compelling idea that there’s serious evil in the world, and hardship and pain. And we should be humble and modest in our belief we can eliminate those things. But we shouldn’t use that as an excuse for cynicism and inaction. I take away … the sense we have to make these efforts knowing they are hard.”

Perhaps President Obama has forgotten his philosophical roots. But Niebuhr’s philosophy has special relevance in dealing with not only the evils of communist totalitarianism but also the evils of dictatorships, criminals against humanity, kleptocrats,  abusers of power and genociders in Africa today.  I wish to remind President Obama of his words in his first inauguration speech: “Our Founding Fathers, faced with perils we can scarcely imagine, drafted a charter to assure the rule of law and the rights of man, a charter expanded by the blood of generations. Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience’s sake.”

If I had a chance to have a word or two with President Obama, I would ask him eight naïve questions:

1) On which “side of history” are you?

2) If “Africa does not need strongmen”, why does America need them?

3) Why does America support governments that “do not respect the will of their own people” and as a direct result have made their countries failed states (not “prosperous, successful and stable ones”)?

4) Why can’t you help ordinary Africans “end tyranny” in the continent?

5) When will you stop “moonwalking” your  human rights talk and actually straight walk your eloquent talk in Africa?

6) What are you prepared to do in the next four years about the “serious evil” of dictatorship, corruption and abuse of power in Africa and stop using the war on terror and oil as an excuse for “cynicism and inaction” ?

7) Do you think the people of Africa will render a  “verdict” in your favor (assuming you care)?

8) When will you start living up to the “ideals that light up the world” and give up “expedience”?

Professor Alemayehu G. Mariam teaches political science at California State University, San Bernardino and is a practicing defense lawyer.

Previous commentaries by the author are available at:

http://open.salon.com/blog/almariam/

www.huffingtonpost.com/alemayehu-g-mariam/

Amharic translations of recent commentaries by the author may be found at:

http://www.ecadforum.com/Amharic/archives/category/al-mariam-amharic

http://ethioforum.org/?cat=24

[Source: Ethiopian Review]

http://allafrica.com/stories/201107051138.html?page=2

http://www.diageo.com/en-ie/newsmedia/pages/resource.aspx?resourceid=1168

http://blogs.ft.com/beyond-brics/2013/03/07/heineken-to-build-ethiopias-biggest-beer-factory/#axzz2MxqCwlH1

http://allafrica.com/stories/201107051138.html

[Source: Ethiopian Review]

Read the full text in Amharic here

[Source: Ethiopian Review]

Juhdi Jasser | Georgetown Journal of International Affairs

March 13, 2013

From Somalian anarchy to Eritrean and Sudanese tyranny and civil strife, the Horn of Africa has long been a turbulent region. A notable exception has been the nation of Ethiopia.

That might be changing.

From December 15 through December 19 of last year, I was in Addis Ababa heading a delegation from the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF). We met with a wide range of people, from the American ambassador to Ethiopian government officials, religious leaders and nongovernmental human rights and interfaith representatives.

Prior to our trip, we had seen reports about violations against Muslims, especially since July 2011. This was when the Addis Ababa government first sought to change how Islam was practiced in Ethiopia and began to punish those resisting its new policy. Our findings confirmed the assaults on religious liberty and their negative impact—both as a human rights issue and a potential security matter.

Until July 2011, Ethiopia’s government largely respected the religious freedom of its people, including Muslims, who are mostly Sufis and comprise one-third of the population. Article 27 of Ethiopia’s constitution guarantees religious freedom and “the independence of the state from religion.”

Four factors have fueled a shift away from honoring this right. First, in neighboring Somalia and Sudan, violent religious extremists pose a security threat. Second, within its own borders, Wahhabism—imported from Saudi Arabia—also poses a danger. Third, Ethiopia’s policies have undermined civil society. Its government has imposed draconian limits on foreign funding for human rights, democracy promotion and conflict mitigation, leaving many NGOs with stark choices. They can work with the government—foregoing their independent status and drastically curtailing their activities—or they can close up shop. Consequently, there are no independent groups in Ethiopia that can monitor religious freedom or undertake interfaith cooperation or intra-faith conflict resolution activities. Finally, Ethiopia’s government is perpetrating religious repression, purportedly in response to Wahhabist threats.

Starting in July 2011, Ethiopia’s government decided that the way to fight the Wahhabism of some Muslims was by limiting the freedom of all Muslims. It imported imams from Lebanon representing the al-Ahbash movement within Islam and compelled Ethiopia’s imams and Islamic educators to embrace and mirror their teachings. The government began dismissing dissenters by firing imams and closing their schools. This effort was conducted not only through Ethiopia’s government but also through the Ethiopian Islamic Affairs Supreme Council (EIASC).

When it was launched, EIASC’s members had been appointed by the government rather than elected by the community, thus depriving Muslims of a recognized, independent voice. By December, the attempts to impose al-Ahbash triggered protests outside of mosques.

In the spring of 2012, an Arbitration Committee of 17 Islamic scholars was created by the protesters to negotiate with the government about respecting religious freedom guarantees such as ending the imposition of al-Ahbash, reopening schools and restoring dismissed imams and administrators. The Committee also asked for new EIASC elections.

By the end of July, negotiations had failed, protests increased and the government began conducting house-to-house searches. The government arrested 1,000 protestors, along with all 17 Committee members, eight of whom it later released.

In October, the government charged 29 protestors, including the nine Committee members it was still holding, with terrorism and attempting to establish an Islamic state. Thus far, it has offered no evidence that these people are terrorists.

We met with attorneys for 28 of the 29 who reported that their clients were tortured and that they’ve had trouble meeting with those imprisoned. The government prevented us from meeting with any of the prisoners directly.

Meanwhile, officials denied any role in the al-Ahbash trainings, rejected our concerns about foisting a particular belief onto a religious community, insisted that they do not meddle in religious affairs unless “red lines” are crossed—a which term they neglected to define—and blamed the EIASC alone for the al-Ahbash trainings, even though EIASC members were initially government appointees and remain entirely sympathetic to the government.

In our meeting with newly elected EIASC members, they reiterated the government’s talking points supporting separation of religion and state while labeling the demonstrators “terrorists,” even though some of its members had joined in protesting. Members kept deferring to the Council’s vice president, whom we learned is close to Ethiopia’s ruling party. We also learned that the Council’s president previously served in senior governmental postings. Finally, the EIASC members ominously said there would be no divisions within Ethiopia’s Muslim community and that dissenters would be “brought into the fold.”

What does this all mean?

While Ethiopia’s government fears violent religious extremism from Somalia and Sudan and the influence of Wahhabism, the way to counter religious extremism is not with religious repression but through religious freedom. It is not by manipulating outcomes in the marketplace of ideas, but supporting a marketplace that encompasses all ideas, including religious ideas. It is by trusting in the common sense of its people, believing that most will reject not just government repression but religious extremism and the totalitarian control it seeks over them and their families.

Indeed, across the world, study after study affirms that where there is religious freedom, there is stability, harmony and prosperity, and where religious liberty is lacking, so are these blessings.

Thus, the only way the radicals can win is if governments, in the name of fighting these extremists, repeatedly abuse their people’s freedom.

In Ethiopia, as elsewhere, freedom, not just for the sake of human rights but for peace and security as well, is the antidote to extremism.

M. Zuhdi Jasser serves as a Commissioner at the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF).

[Source: Ethiopian Review]

Omot Ojulu Odol, murdered by Ethiopian forces.  Source:  Goolgule.com

March 13, 2013

On March 2, 2013, seventeen Anuak men were ambushed by Ethiopian National Defense Forces (ENDF), as they were sitting under a tree near Gilo river in a rural area in the Gambella region of southwestern Ethiopia. Six men were killed. Among those killed was a 33-year old American citizen, Omot Ojulu Odol, [B.D. 2/2/1978] who came to the U.S. as a teenager more than fifteen years ago. Mr. Odol had been visiting his homeland.

The Ethiopian government claims Mr. Odol was killed for acts of terrorism in the region; however, eyewitnesses and others on-the-ground in Gambella share a different story, as learned by the Anuak Justice Council (AJC), a human rights organization that has been investigating the incident since it occurred. The AJC has many contacts on the ground, some of whom were eyewitnesses, family members of the deceased, friends and community members. As the Government of Ethiopia responds from afar to questions regarding what happened, those present during the incident provide a different scenario to the attack and its aftermath. The reality is, not only is the federal government in Addis Ababa disconnected from the region, they have repeatedly committed egregious human rights crimes in the region, fabricated propaganda and twisted information so as to advance their own deeply entrenched economic interests in the area. 

Background: For those who do not know, the AJC was formed following the massacre of the Anuak by the same Ethiopian National Defense Forces (ENDF) in December 2003. At this time, 424 Anuak leaders were targeted and brutally slaughtered within three days. Most of their bodies were buried in mass graves and have never been recovered. This all has been documented by respected human rights organizations such as Genocide Watch in their two reports and by Human Rights Watch in their report entitled: “Targeting the Anuak: Human Rights Violations and Crimes against Humanity in Ethiopia’s Gambella Region [ http://www.hrw.org/news/2005/03/23/ethiopia-crimes-against-humanity-gambella-region]. Thousands more were killed over the next three years when the military presence was very heavy surrounding an attempt to drill for oil on indigenous Anuak land, which eventually failed. Since then, the region has never recovered. The Anuak, in particular, have never found safety and security and many have left for neighboring countries.

The tensions in the region have only been exacerbated by the large-scale land acquisitions by foreign and local investors that have displaced 70,000 local people from land the Anuak and others have depended upon for their livelihoods for centuries. [For more information on the displacements, please see the investigation by Human Rights Watch entitled: “Waiting Here for Death” Forced Displacement and “Villagization” in Ethiopia’s Gambella Region. http://www.hrw.org/reports/2012/01/16/waiting-here-death ] Between now and 2015, another 150,000 indigenous Gambellans are to be moved to resettlement villages in a villagization program that has left the displaced homeless, with inferior land, with poorer access to water, with fewer or non-existing services and in hunger. In this milieu, anyone who attempts to defend their constitutional rights to their indigenous land can be called a terrorist and subject to human rights crimes.

Incident: From eyewitnesses and testimony from other local people, the AJC has learned that the incident began when someone reported to the local security in Gambella that an Anuak farmer had purchased a gun from the highlands in Ethiopia and had brought it back to this lowland area. Prior to the Anuak massacre in 2003, the Anuak had been disarmed of their guns despite using them for hunting and protection from the wild animals in the region that would prey on their livestock. Notably, the disarmament was ethnic-based and did not include those from other local ethnic groups. In fact, as of today, the Anuak remain the only disarmed people in the Gambella region while others still maintain the right to possess guns.

After receiving the report of this gun purchase, authorities had gone to the farmer’s house on February 28, 2013. He was not at home; however, there were some other young men in the home, some of his relatives and others his neighbors. One of his relatives, Mark Omot, who is 26 years old and whose father was killed in the Gambella massacre of December 2003, was interrogated and tortured. He was beaten by the barrels of the guns and he sustained many serious injuries to his head, neck and chest before finally telling the authorities that during the dry season, the majority of men go to the riverbanks to fish and hunt. [If you want to eat during the dry season, it greatly helps to have a gun to hunt.]

A local Anuak security official, along with the ENDF, took this man and forced him to help them find the farmer. After a search lasting several days, on the morning of March 2, the farmer was located about 40 kilometers away on the bank of the Gilo River near the village of Abelean and Apoo. Mr. Odol and sixteen others, including a number of children as young as ten years of age, were found sitting under the shade of a tree. Without warning, the ENDF began shooting at them, killing six persons, including an eleven-year-old. The others escaped, including the farmer. No one shot back. After the six men died, the troops searched through the bodies and their belongings and found only one gun. During their search of the bodies, they found Omot Ojulu Odol’s American passport and Washington D.C. driver’s license on him. This is when the entire situation changed. Instead of focusing on the farmer, the others they had killed or those who had escaped, they focused only on Mr. Odol and justified killing an American citizen by calling him a terrorist. They separated his body from the others and videotaped his body, propping the gun up beside him along with his American passport and U.S. driver’s license.

The security forces left the other bodies behind, without burying them, but took Mr. Odol’s body with them to the town of Pinyudo, the capital of the district of Gok. When in Pinyudo, they placed his lifeless body in the back of their army truck, flagrantly displaying him as they drove through the town, boasting that they had killed the man who did not want investment or development in the region. They claimed that there would now be peace and development in the region because this man, who was “anti-development”, “anti-foreign investment” and “anti-villagization”, was now finally killed. The location where Mr. Odol was killed was near to the place where land had been leased to a Turkish land investor.  They were among those who had been forcibly displaced from the area, ending up at the location 40 kilometers away where the farmer and they most of them were now living. 

Following this, the ENDF forces brought Mr. Odol’s body to the regional capital of Gambella Town, publically announcing their intent to display his body the following day, Sunday, March 3; however, the next day the people were told that his body would instead be displayed at the stadium and that the people should come and see the remains of a man who was “anti-development” and “anti-foreign investment.”

They claimed that he had been responsible for the attack on employees at the Saudi Star agricultural farm in May 2012 and for the deadly bus ambush in April 2012, which had occurred when he was not in Ethiopia according to reports from the ground.

However, the anticipated showing of his body in the stadium never took place. Allegedly, the central government in Addis Ababa stopped their plans, warning local officials that there could be a backlash because Omot Ojulu Omod had been an American citizen. This information was also confirmed by Gatluak Tut, Gambella Regional Vice President, when he was interviewed by the government-run newspaper, “Reporter,” on Wednesday, March 6.

On Monday, March 4, some ENDF went back to the village in Gok Depach where the farmer had lived and killed another farmer, Okwier Ojulu, who lived in the same vicinity. They saw him walking from his home and they ordered him to stop but he did not listen to them; knowing what had happened to the others and that if he stopped, he would be interrogated and possibly tortured. The soldiers then shot him in the back and killed him. His whole family witnessed his death. The soldiers left him dead on the road. Soldiers then arrested another farmer, Omot Abella, and his two teenage sons as well as one other Anuak farmer. People suspected that the defense forces feared retaliation from the villagers because of the people killed on the riverbank along with Omot Ojulu Odol. Those arrested, as well as Mark Omot, remain in custody in Pinyudo in the military’s detention center. 

Additionally, two others were also arrested. One was Mr. Oman Agwa, the chief of police of the Gambella region who had condemned the killing of Omot and the others, saying that these were innocent people and that there was no proof of them committing any crimes. Out of guilt or shame, the Anuak governor of the Gambella region, Omot Obang Olom, who was complicit in the massacre in 2003 of his own people, along with ENDF commanders, arrested this man in order to silence him. However, when Governor Olom was asked during an interview on Voice of America on March 5^th about the arrest of the chief of police, he claimed that the man had been arrested because authorities had found a T-shirt in the man’s house that called for the secession of Gambella from Ethiopia. No one else had ever seen such a T-shirt, but obviously free speech does not exist in one of the most repressive countries in the world– Ethiopia. He remains in detention in Gambella.

The second man arrested is Paul Agwa, a security guard at the Mekane Yesus Church in Gambella. He was accused of being related to the farmer who had bought the gun and authorities believed he had been aware of the purchase of the gun and had not reported it. There are reports that he was tortured during his arrest.   He remains in custody in Gambella. These are the facts from the people on the ground. 

The Anuak, including family members, reported the incident to the U.S. State Department. The U.S. Embassy in Addis Ababa later confirmed the man’s death to the State Department.

In reports the AJC received from U.S. government sources, they indicate the following:

Ethiopian officials have informed the U.S. Embassy in Addis Ababa that a U.S. citizen was killed on March 2, 2013, as part of an Ethiopian National Defense Forces (ENDF) operation against a rebel group that operates in the Gambella region of Ethiopia.

The U.S. Embassy in Addis Ababa has not been able to confirm the details of this reported incident, and is seeking additional information.

On March 7, Ethiopian television reported that security forces had killed Omot Ojulu Odol in Gambella because he was a terrorist. They never mentioned the other five persons who had been killed, including the eleven-year-old, perhaps because it would diminish their argument that they were fighting a “rebel group” operating in the region.

Conclusion: What began as a report of one gun being purchased by a farmer for hunting—a crime only for the Anuak—ended in the ambush and cold-blooded killing of six Anuak people who had committed no crime. Unknowingly, one of these victims they had killed had been an American citizen, which totally changed the rationale and focus of their actions, but yet it gives an accurate picture of the kind of insecurity the Anuak continue to face on a daily basis.

The AJC, as an organization that speaks for the well being of the Anuak, wherever they are found, finds it necessary to respond to the one-sided propaganda given in this case by the Ethiopian government. Most Anuak consider the TPLF/EPRDF regime, which has been in power for over 21 years, a terrorist regime that has a record of killing innocent people, not only in Gambella, but throughout the country. If they were genuine, they should have reported on the deaths and arrests of the others, but they did not. Sadly, this kind of biased and untruthful reporting by ETV and Tesfa- alem Tekle is not unusual, especially when the reporter, as in this case Tesfa- alem a hard-core TPLF supporter who based in Mekelle, northern Ethiopia.

From what we know, Omot Odol was not a terrorist. This was someone who was a responsible U.S. citizen who had had a job and reportedly, had never committed a crime in America, not even a driving violation; however, he had always spoken out against the human rights abuses committed by the current TPLF/EPRDF government. His own brother was killed by government-controlled military forces in 2008 and a few months later, his mother met the same fate. Maybe this was why he felt compelled to go back home to do what he could to speak out for justice. We are unaware of any crimes he has ever committed, and according to reliable sources, he was not even in Ethiopia at the time of either the Saudi Star attack or the ambush of the bus for which he is being accused.  

On the other hand, since 2003, the Anuak, simply for being of that ethnicity, have been targeted for repeated egregious human rights violations in their own land. No one has yet to be held responsible for these crimes, including for the December 2003 massacre and aftermath. Over the last several years, as the land grabs are continuing to displace the Anuak, those who speak out against the injustice can be called terrorists and are at great risk. Those Anuak who return to their homeland for visits from other countries are regularly targeted as suspicious persons by the authorities. We have documented more than twenty-one cases over the last two years where Anuak coming from the US, Canada, Europe or Australia have been detained and interrogated. Some have even been victims of torture and abuse by the TPLF/EPRDF. In certain cases, Ethiopian military and other security forces have even crossed international boundaries to harass and intimidate Anuak in the Republic of South Sudan and in Kenya. 

The killing of Omot Ojulu Odol is not unique to Gambella. What makes it different is the fact that Mr. Odol was an American citizen and that he was killed without any due process. The Government of Ethiopia now wants to avoid accountability to the U.S. Government by taking the easy way out, which is to label him as a terrorist and to accuse him of crimes that reportedly occurred when he was not even in the country. In a statement made by Gambella Regional governor, Omot Olom on ESAT [Ethiopian Satellite TV] on Friday, March 8, 2013, he said, “Anyone who broke the law in Ethiopia could be killed whether an Ethiopian or an American!”

Last month Governor Omot detained an Australian Anuak in Gambella, accusing him of aiding the rebels even though he lived in Australia. Allegedly security officials told him that they could kill him regardless of the fact he was an Australian citizen. In other words, educated Anuak from abroad are a real threat to them and they are obviously willing to break international laws in response to them.

We in the AJC are working to pressure the American government authorities to do their maximum in investigating this incident. To start, we have called on them to conduct an on-the-ground investigation in Gambella, beginning with exhuming the body in order to conduct forensic DNA tests to determine whether the remains are Omot Ojulu Odol’s, beyond a doubt. If it matches, we call on U.S. officials to claim his remains so that they might be given to his family for a proper burial.

As of now, the ENDF are the only ones who know where the body is buried. We also call on U.S. authorities to investigate who ordered the killing and who actually killed him so that they will be held accountable. Even if he was guilty of some crime, they should have arrested him and brought him to justice because of his American citizenship. This issue has already been taken up by some in the U.S. Congress and U.S. Senate.

The AJC and the Anuak as a whole, see Mr. Odol’s death and those of the other five Anuak killed alongside of him, as more names on the list of the thousands of Anuak who have already been killed by the TPLF/EPRDF since they came to power. The Anuak will not rest until justice has been served for all of them. It may not be done now, but surely there will be a day of accountability. Until then, the AJC will continue to gather the information and the names of those implicated in the crimes. When this government changes, the guilty will be found wherever they are and charged. This demand for accountability is not only for the Anuak, but for the rest of Ethiopians who have lost their lives throughout the country. 

May God comfort and strengthen the families of those who have lost these loved ones. Ethiopia has become like a weeping mother, crying for her precious children who have come to a premature end. May their deaths not be in vain but be building blocks towards a more peaceful, life-affirming Ethiopia. May God strengthen the living to reach out to each other to bring an end to this regime and their crimes against our Ethiopian people.

May Ethiopia stretch out her hands to God who will not abandon us if we call him in humility and faith.

Please do not hesitate to e-mail your questions or comments to Mr. Ochala Abulla, Chairman of the Anuak Justice Council (AJC): E-mail: Ochala@anuakjustice.org

[Source: Ethiopian Review]