By Elias Kifle
Concerned Ethiopians in the Washington DC Metro Area gathered in front of the Embassy of Lebanon Thursday to mourn Alem Dechasa, the Ethiopian girl who died after she was attacked and abducted outside the Ethiopian embassy in Beirut early this week. We also expressed our outrage over the killing of Alem and presented our demand to the Government of Lebanon to bring the individuals who committed the crime to justice.
During the silent protest, First Secretary of the Lebanese embassy, Mr Toni Frangie, came out to speak to us.
Ato Tekle Sahlemariam, who spoke on our behalf, expressed his gratitude to Mr Frangie for his willingness to hear our concern and communicated to him that Ethiopians are seeking justice for the crime against Alem.
Mr Frangie expressed his sadness about the death of Alem and assured us that full investigation is underway. From his demeanor, one can tell that he appeared to be genuinely moved by our grief.
All of us left the embassy feeling better because of Mr Frangie’s assurance that Alem will get justice.
The ultimate justice is of course to eliminate the Woyanne junta that is the primary cause of Alem’s tragic death and the suffering of millions of other Ethiopians. The Woyanne ambassador was watching and doing nothing when Alem was dragged to her death. Probably because he is one of those individuals who are profiting from the human trafficking of Ethiopian women and she is one of his victims.