Kinijit chairman Hailu Shawel has arrived in Washington DC Friday night. He was received at the Washington Reagan Airport by his friends, Shaleqa Yoseph Yazew and Ato Mirchaw Sinishaw.
Ato Hailu came to Washington DC to participate in a public meeting organized by the anti-Kinijit Shaleqa-EPRP alliance.
Earlier Friday, the Renaissance Hotel where the public meeting scheduled to be held had canceled the meeting over security concerns. But in the afternoon, the hotel’s manager for events (Tel: 202 898 9000) decided to reconsider her decision after being given a reassurance from the organizers.
The Sunday public meeting is being boycotted by all groups and most individuals that are affiliated with Kinijit, including Kinijit DC Metropolitan Area chapter.
Before coming to Washington DC, Ato Hailu was busy in the past two days making phone calls to former members of AAPO in the Washington DC area inviting them to meet with him privately Sunday night or Monday. Many of those whom he contacted turned down his invitation and expressed to him their disappointment at what he is doing.
Kinijit supporters in the Washington DC area are also organizing a protest rally outside the Renaissance Hotel on Sunday to:
1) Express disappointment at what Ato Hailu Shawel is doing — his recent dictatorial actions and attempt to cover up the Shaleqa group’s corruption.
2) Demand that Shaleqa Yoseph Yazew & Co. return the Kinijit funds that they stole and diverted to their personal accounts.
3) To ask Dr Taye Woldesemayat and EPRP to stop trying to divide Kinijit.
The protest rally will start at 1:30 PM in front of the Renaissance Hotel, 999 9th Street, Washington DC.
Sunday’s public meeting in Washington DC will be the first one where an Ethiopian opposition party leader to face protestors. All of those who will take part in the protest rally are the same Ethiopians who had been carrying Ato Hailu’s photos and marching in the streets of Washington DC appealing for his release from Woyanne jail just a few months ago. Those who are surrounding him now are those who were attacking him and the other jailed Kinijit leaders just as recently.
Ato Hailu Shawel’s current betrayal of his supporters and colleagues bring memories of his betrayal of Professor Asrat Woldeyes several years ago. After quitting the All Amhara People’s Organization (AAPO) over a minor disagreement, when Professor Asrat was languishing in jail for six years, Ato Hailu did not visit him even once in jail, and had never participated in any type of activity to help release the professor. For six years when Prof. Asrat languished in jail, Ato Hailu was making money and becoming a millionaire, without spending one minute of his time in politics. After Prof. Asrat died, Ato Hailu maneuvered his way back to the AAPO using his money. Once he became chairman of the AAPO, he had systematically pushed out most of the independent thinking leaders of the AAPO, including Ato Wondayehu Kassa, Ato Ali Indris, Col. Getahun Ejigu, and Ato Girma EnquSelassie. Many of these individuals had languished in Woyanne jails along with Prof. Asrat for several years.
Ato Hailu Shawel has also betrayed those of us who trusted him, and placed our hopes on him to provide an honest, principled, corruption free leadership. We were led to believe that he is a trust worthy, fair minded individual, a consistent, strong, unwavering leader. Little did we know that we were hoping against hope when all the signs were there — his crude betrayal of Prof. Asrat and all the other AAPO leaders. We were indeed fooling ourselves. The way things are unfolding now, it may turn out that he is the father of all corruptions, nepotism and bigotry.
As we look deeper into Ato Hailu’s past in trying to understand his current behavior, what we are finding is that his trail of betrayal, as well as his dictatorial behavior, goes way back. We will leave that for the history books. But what is now obvious is that when Ato Hailu told BBC’s Hard Talk two years ago that Ethiopians are double faced, we are now discovering that he was talking about himself.