If the silenced majority inside of what has become Prison Nation Ethiopia (PNE) could talk, what would they tell President Obama and Secretary Clinton about U.S. human rights policy? Would they pat them on the back and say, "Good job! Thank you for helping us live in dignity with our rights protected."? Or would they angrily wag an accusatory finger and charge, "You speak with forked tongue......full text
Ethiopia’s highest court, the Court of Cassation, this week passed a
ruling against Medrek’s legal bid for a re-run of the election in
unyielding words: “No substantial case for a re-run has been
presented.” The ruling put an end to Medrek’s 80-page petition, concurring in
almost exact words with an earlier ruling by the Supreme Court......full text
The two monuments of Stalin erected in his life time in his home state of Georgia were removed from public squares in Georgia with effect from June 2010......full text
Live Aid, which celebrated its 25th anniversary earlier this month, was conceived after heart wrenching TV footages of dying children and emaciated adults weeping for the dead, as well as the abhorrent misery they had to face, globally brought into sharp focus the forgotten horrors of war and famine in Ethiopia......full text
'I really feel totally betrayed by the system,’ confessed Beyene Petros, one of the most respected leaders of the Ethiopian opposition, a few days after its crushing defeat in the general elections on 23 May 2010. ‘I thought that, if we competed in the elections, there would be a door ajar that could be made use of by competing parties. This assumption of mine was totally misplaced.’
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Teddy "The Rough Rider" Roosevelt, the twenty-sixth president of the United States, had many faults, but one of them was not inability to distinguish between talk and action. The old warhorse understood that "Rhetoric is a poor substitute for action, and we have trusted only to rhetoric.......full text
July 18 marks the first Nelson Mandela International Day. It was last November that the United Nations General Assembly adopted a special resolution declaring July 18th an international Mandela day to be observed annually......full text
History will always remember British PM Neville Chamberlain waving a piece of paper, on which rested the signatures of Hitler and himself, as he proclaimed to an eager world, “peace for our time......full text
For the past 24 days, Ethiopian Satellite Television (ESAT) broadcasts and transmissions in Ethiopia have been disrupted by external interference to its satellite signals from sources that we are still continuing to investigate. This occurrence has triggered considerable not only public outrage among our viewers in Ethiopia but also internationally......full text
Washington, DC – Most of us have heard about the 74 people killed and some 70 more wounded in Kampala, Uganda when three bombs exploded that had been planted at an Ethiopian restaurant and rugby field......full text
...Social change depends a great deal on the circumstances of social forces in a given society. Political change in Ethiopia today seems improbable not because of the invincibility of the dictatorship but because of the lack of unity and commonality of purpose among the opposition. This calls for the establishment of a new political culture of cooperation, collaboration and coalition-building among anti-dictatorship elements, who now seem to have retreated into passive spectatorship of the dictatorship......full text
The Ethiopian Border Affairs Committee is delighted to express its satisfaction with the substantive discussion carried out by the Conference on Good Governance, Peace, Security and Sustainable Development in Ethiopia and the Horn of Africa, held at Crystal City, Virginia, from April 9-11, 2010......full text
Coming only six years after the Watergate calamity, Ronald Reagan was
almsot literally “the man on a horseback” who rode triumphantly into
Washington to save the disconsolate Republican Party (and the
country, many of his partisans insist)......full text
In his victory speech on May 25, 2010, Meles said, “We will work day and night to obtain your support in the next election”, that is, in 2015. The question is: Will the democratic opposition work as hard to ensure a historically significant political outcome in 2015, or would it continue indulging in interpassive activities, as it did between 2005 and 2010, and make itself irrelevant? The democratic opposition could choose to be a force for advancing democracy in 2015.......full text
Birtukan Midekssa, Ethiopia's foremost political prisoner and first woman political party leader in Ethiopian history enjoyed talking about an allegorical "future country of Ethiopia" that would become an African oasis of democracy and a bastion of human rights and the rule of law in the continent......full text
The preparation for the elections in May 2010 was more than a year in the making in the PM’s office. Abay Tsehaye, once a fixture in popular imagination as one of several mystic leaders who were really running the EPRDF behind the public persona of Meles Zenawi, but later to be demystified, publicly humiliated and now a grateful underling with a ministerial portfolio as national security advisor approached the PM’s office every morning with a judicious expression......full text
Last week the leaders of the world’s largest economies met at the G20 Summit in Toronto. The key items on the agenda were global economic recovery, sustainable and environmentally-friendly growth, and the impact of the recession on social justice......full text
Greater Toronto Area and surrounding region is home to thousands of Ethiopian Canadians. Early settlement began in great numbers in the early '80s - when the Derg's Red Terror campaign and armed rebellions started to displace local populations. The influx of refugees to Sudan from Gondar, Eritrea and Tigray in thousands prompted western governments to implement an unprecedented resettlement programs on a large scale. The Canadian people have since hosted at least fifty thousand immigrants of Ethiopian origin who have chosen this great vast country as their home for starting and raising families.......full text
...Today, the dictatorship of Meles Zenawi is busily implementing a master plan to "own" Ethiopia's youth in a futile attempt to perpetuate itself for a thousand years. Zenawi's strategy is straightforward. Force the best and the brightest of Ethiopia's youth to make a Hobson's choice:......full text
Thirty-six years after the 1974 Ethiopian Revolution, the political chaos then generated hit rock bottom on May 23rd when the ruling TPLF/EPRDF party claimed to have won 99.6% of the votes - effectively becoming a one-party rule with Stalinist features.......full text
Barely a month after the nonsensical 99 % “win” by the EPRDF in this year’s election, gloom has set in stalwartly even in the midst of EPRDF’s happy-go-lucky adherents. The extremist’s dependably silly proclivity for melodrama is also considerably diminished. (EPRDF extremists constitute an amorphous entity unofficially steered by Bereket Simon.) And with federal police and kebele officials shamefully avoiding eye contact with Addis residents, the distressing impact of the election’s “results” seem to be more perceptible on EPRDF’s grassroots than either the opposition or the general public......full text
To a casual observer, the tens of thousands of people who poured into the central square of Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa on May 25 to peacefully celebrate the country’s elections might have been mistaken for a massive symbol of democratic progress in a poor and troubled part of the world. In fact it was quite the opposite.......full text
The Greek philosopher Diogenes used to walk the streets of ancient Athens carrying a lamp in broad daylight. When amused bystanders asked him about his apparently strange behavior, he would tell them that he was looking for an honest man......full text
Perhaps the crudest claim by the EPRDF in its bungled-rigged-election
saga this year is its “triumph” in Birtukan Mideksa’s wereda where
she was born, raised and resided until she was imprisoned in 2009.
Popularly known as Ferencay Legasion, the area was first settled by
two prominent nobles of Haile Selasie’s era -- Ras Seyoum and Ras
Kassa -- and the French embassy; which is said to sprawl on over
eighty acres of land allotted to it by a jubilant Menelik who had just
overwhelmed the Italians at Adwa in 1896......full text
In the criminal law, an accessory is a person who assists in the commission of a crime without actually participating in it. Those who are "accessories before the fact" assist in the commission of a crime. "Accessories after the fact" help the criminal conceal his crime and escape liability......full text
The election board’s emotionally charged rejoinder to the opposition this week, in which it brusquely rejected a rerun of the election, surprised no one; least of all the opposition that in the words of one of its leaders, Merera Gudina, was soothingly testing the “integrity of institutions” in full view of the public and the international community......full text
One would first ask why democratic elections in Europe go so well and ours in Ethiopia go so embarrassingly bad given that we had been one of the oldest civilizations? ......full text
Later this month, leaders from Ethiopia and Malawi will be in Toronto as invited guests of the G20. While it is to be expected that the Malawian President would be invited in his capacity as the Chair of the African Union, it is more surprising to see an invitation extended to Prime Minister Meles Zenawi of Ethiopia......full text
Always speak truth to power; but sometimes it is necessary to speak it to the powerless too. Truth must be spoken not only because it renders naked the hypocrites and villains, but also because it has a cathartic (cleansing) effect on its defenders. Above all, it must be spoken because it is the quintessential requirement of freedom: "The truth shall make you free." ......full text
Nearly everybody including Meles has lost this election. Peaceniks like me and many Ethiopians who have been sitting on the fences have also lost the argument that there is hope in democratizing Ethiopia though a peaceful process. In a perverse way they have made it easier on all of us now. The unnecessarily fragmented Ethiopian opposition should cease this opportunity to rethink its tactics and strategies, find its voice, and mount a vigorous common resistance to this inhuman system......full text
Mengistu Haile Mariam was livid with fury. This was in February 1990, days after the EPRDF (but really the TPLF) seized Debre Tabor and Baher Dar, the latter the fourth largest city in the country. “You are hereby ordered to head straight to Addis Ababa and report to the Ministry of Defense,” read a stern radio telegram delivered to Brigadier General Abebe HaileSelaise, commander of the 603 Corps, which was responsible for the defense of the two cities. ......full text
The point is well taken that readers are interested in the way forward in the aftermath of the massively rigged election 2010. An immediate and overriding course of action is to reflect on the failure to create a formidable unity that has eluded opposition forces for decades. It is imperative now more than any time before to ask the cardinal question whether each of us have put Ethiopia first over and above personal or group interests in order to prevent extinction of democracy on the watch of all of us who really love our Motherland, Ethiopia......full text
For the past year, I have been predicting that the 2010 Ethiopian “election” will prove to be a sham, a travesty of democracy and a mockery and caricature of democratic elections.[2] Without my literary and rhetorical flourish, that is now the exact conclusion of the international election observers......full text
Today, Meles has comfortably joined the list he derided and despised. By the end of his new term, Meles will have ruled the poor nation that survives on food aid for a quarter of a century. For now, he has bought relative silence from the West by continuing to serve as a key ally in the war on terror. But in Ethiopia, totalitarian rule remains a serious act of terrorism that goes unchallenged. Ethiopia’s elections have turned out to be more embarrassing for its Western sponsors than their daredevil African ally, which shows no remorse over the death of democracy.......full text
SEATTLE - Ethiopian Satellite Broadcasting Service (ESAT) programs have been disrupted since Thursday and the board said negotiations were underway to resolve the crisis. ......full text
Imprinted in popular imagination is the image of Meles Zenawi quivering, focused, and clearly at one of his heights of oratory as he ranted against the Algiers Technical Arrangement in one of his most -- he has several -- press conferences. “We will not relent until Shabiya (the Eritrean government) leaves our land without any precondition. No negotiation before then. We reject the Technical Arrangement put forth by the international community to avert war.”......full text
Ethiopia's tyrant Meles Zenawi has crossed the finish line of election 2010 by setting a new world record - sweeping over 99.6% of the votes. Right. Indeed, he set a new world record that eclipsed the drama of other despots, including his own predecessor, former dictator Mengistu Haile-Mariam, who was an old hand at producing 'landslide' victories over elections where there were no political rivals......full text
...Government officials and militia members went house to house in recent weeks to warn Ethiopians to vote for the ruling party or face reprisals that could include the loss of their homes or jobs, Human Rights Watch said......full text
Ethiopia's current leader, Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, who led the rebellion that deposed Mengistu in 1991, has not been quite so utilitarian in how he disposes of his opponents......full text
ADDIS ABABA - European Union (EU) chief observer of the Ethiopian elections, Thijs Berman, said on Tuesday this year’s election fell “short of international standards in some respects.” While he praised the electoral board’s handling of the technical side of the election, he repeatedly stressed that the absence of a level playing field “in favor of the EPRDF” has affected both the process and outcome of the election.......full text
(Nairobi) - Ethiopian government and ruling party officials intimidated voters and unlawfully restricted the media ahead of the May 23, 2010 parliamentary elections, Human Rights Watch said today.In assessing the polls, international election observers should address the repressive legal and administrative measures that the Ethiopian ruling party used to restrict freedom of expression during the election campaign, Human Rights Watch said.
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There is an old morality tale of The Emperor's New Clothes about a king who is so self-absorbed, vainglorious and obsessed with his appearance that he hired two suit makers and gave them vast amounts of money to sew him the finest silk robes. They agreed to make the robes but warned the king that the types of robes they make are invisible to anyone who is unfit for their official position or hopelessly stupid......full text
On the occasion of World Press Freedom Day observed on May 3, 2010, President Barack Obama reminded the world of the “critical importance” of a free press “in challenging abuses of power, identifying corruption, and informing all citizens about the important issues that shape our world.” He noted:......full text
I had the great honor and privilege to meet Birtukan in the Fall of 2007 when she led a delegation of Coalition for Unity and Democracy (Kinijit) party leaders visiting the United States. On numerous occasions, I have publicly expressed my highest respect, greatest admiration, deepest gratitude and boundless appreciation for Birtukan’s sacrifices in the cause of democracy, freedom, human rights and the rule of law in Ethiopia......full text
This piece is meant mainly for the young generation born the 1960s and growing to adulthood in the aftermath of the Ethiopian Revolution of 1974 who now carry the burden of the political chaos created by my generation......full text
The last ten years have seen increased ethnic-based conflicts among university students in Ethiopia. Many of my own friends have become victims of these spontaneous eruptions. After interviewing several students involved in these conflicts and witnessing two violent episodes in Haramaya and Adama universities in 2006, I have come to the conclusion that lack of academic freedom at the universities and infiltration by agents of Ethiopia’s secret police are the major sources of conflict......full text
No poll has been conducted on election 2010 to date, not even by the little read English weeklies, which have broader leeway than the closely-monitored (by the state) Amharic newspapers. But whether sanctioned or prohibited, this would have been inconceivable if pre-2005 newspapers were around. Defying the EPRDF (and paying the price), so passé for existing newspapers which have been massively rejected by the public, as their circulation numbers sadly show. But I read them.), was in fact the raison d'être of existence for pre-2005 newspapers......full text
A month ahead of national elections, the Ethiopian government has come under critical Western scrutiny in an article which accuses foreign donors of "subsidizing a regime that is rapidly becoming one of the most repressive and dictatorial on the continent." ......full text
I would like to start this piece by paying tribute to the opposition parties such as Medrek on home soil for their stellar performance in the debate in which they have succeeded in driving the brutal TPLF Party to the corner, defenseless on every issue raised. They have articulated burning issues with courage against draconian odds......full text
I would like to start this piece by paying tribute to the opposition parties such as Medrek on home soil for their stellar performance in the debate in which they have succeeded in driving the brutal TPLF Party to the corner, defenseless on every issue raised. They have articulated burning issues with courage against draconian odds......full text
As Mother’s Day is celebrated in Ethiopia on the second Sunday in May, I feel privileged to share with my readers a testimonial tribute honoring Birtukan Midekssa, the first female political party leader in Ethiopian history and the most famous political prisoner in that country. Let me say up front that Birtukan needs no tribute or praise from me or any other person......full text
Ethiopia’s ruling party has increased harassment of opposition supporters before a May 23 election in the Horn of Africa country, opposition coalition leader Merara Gudina said.Activists loyal to Prime Minister Meles Zenawi’s Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front have thrown stones at his car, breaking its windows and puncturing its tires over various occasions while campaigning in the Oromiya region in the past two weeks, said Merara, who is a parliamentary candidate......full text
The title of the most famous book about the First World War says it all: All is calm on the Western Front. And so it is in Addis these days as the election season comes to a close: All calm. Not even the nudge at Addis Ababa University’s sidist kilo’s campus, where a scuffle between two students escalated into group fights that shut down the campus was able to alter the broader setting: too eerily calm for many; no less, confirm sources, for the increasingly restless (and thus dangerous) EPRDF executive committee......full text
In what seems to be a brazen move against a major donor, Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi decided to jam Voice of America (VOA), a voice that was part of the Ethiopian airwaves for almost three decades. The PM accused VOA of “engaging in destabilizing propaganda.” He even went as further as comparing the Washington DC based broadcaster to Radio Mille Collins of Rwanda of the early 1990s which is considered to be the voice of génocidaires......full text
MEKELLE, Northern Ethiopia - Ethiopia's sparsely-populated Tigray region is shaping up as the focal point for the May 23rd elections for parliament. Tigray contributes only 6 percent of Ethiopia's 80 million people. But, it could hold the key to the country's political future.Tigray might well be called Ethiopia's battleground state, in more ways than one........full text
I have the audacity to write this letter on this day when Mr. Christopher P. Flaherty is on hunger strike in front of the White House, which is a symbol of the rule of law and universal human rights recognized as such by the global community upholding the fundamental values of Liberty Freedom and pursuit of Happiness.......full text
It is the same two-act play (farce) of May 2005. The stage is the same. The director is the same. The stagehands are the same. The script is the same. The players are the same stage veterans. The stagecraft (lighting, makeup, props) is the same. The audience is the same. Act I, last scene, “End Game”. (Kick the propaganda machine in overdrive and pump up the media volume! Ethiopian opposition leaders, enter stage right.)......full text
There is much talk that election 2010 is stolen by tyrant Meles. TPLF Party might dismiss complaints with the simple rebuff: Oh yah? So what are you gona do about it? So what are we in the opposition going to do about it? This piece attempts to answer the question beginning with the following true story for a start......full text
“Four hostile newspapers are more to be feared than a thousand bayonets,” fretted Napoleon Bonaparte, Emperor of France, as he summed up the informative powers of an independent press. All dictators and tyrants in history have feared the enlightening powers of the independent press because, as Napoleon explained, “A journalist is a grumbler, a censurer, a giver of advice, a regent of sovereigns and a tutor of nations......full text
At all these well attended gatherings, Medrek was hailed as the new face of Ethiopia, the rebirth of Ethiopia – and as the Menfes (spirit) that Kinijit once was. An informant close to the organizers tells us that the delegation didn’t adjourn their official tour. But with public meetings still scheduled around the states, only Seye Abraha, the spokesperson for the coalition, remains in the United States. Seye is also scheduled to do a signing ceremony for his forthcoming book “Netsenat Ina Dagninet Ba Ethiopia”, roughly translated Freedom and Justice in Ethiopia......full text
Meles Zenawi’s mother first encounter with the media was on the day of Eritrea ’s referendum in 1993, when she was confronted by a BBC journalist in Adwa as she came out of a polling station after casting her vote......full text
I am sure most of you have heard or read that the leaders of Medrek are on a tour of North America. They have held town hall meetings in Seattle, San Jose, Las Vegas, Washington DC and Atlanta and are coming to Los Angles this coming weekend. The delegation consists of Ato Seye Abreha, Ato Gebru Asrat, Dr. Negasso Gidada and Engineer Gezachew Shiferaw. All four gentlemen were former members of TPLF, OPDO or AEUP......full text
This piece, which is written without fear or soliciting favor, is prompted by the recent slur on Seye Abraha et al and by extension a veiled attack on Medrek with a motive to divide it, which is unfortunate at this time when unity of opposition forces against tyrant Meles is needed more than ever. The attack on Medrek and its popular leaders at this time is a much needed respite for TPLF, which is running out of ideas and therefore doomed to die at the polls......full text
“There are lies, lies and implausible lies,” to quote Meles Zenawi, the dictator-cum-economic spinmeister of Ethiopia. Last week, Zenawi told a snickering Parliament a story that is the equivalent of the proverbial bull that gave birth to a calf (or in Amharic “bere welede”): “We will be seeing an economic growth rate of 10.1 percent this year, while inflation will fall to 3.9 percent. This is the result of sound economic policy." (Sorry, but this is the result of voodoo economics!)......full text
The successful holding of “Ethiopia and Horn of Africa Conference” is a laudable achievement given the desperate effort of TPLF to subvert it. The Conference drew “several hundreds of Ethiopians, experts, scholars from the United States and Europe, men and women of the Arts, former diplomats and leaders of civic organizations, with Honorable Ana Gomes of the European Parliament, speaking over the telephone from the Sudan”......full text
Seye Abraha’s commanding presence and well delivered speech on foreign affairs in last week’s televised debate between political parties has vexed EPRDF leaders, say sources. Their only solace is Seye’s rather brash characterization of the recent row between the EPRDF and the Obama administration as “staged drama”; which went down well with the public but will hardly endear the opposition with the diplomatic community in Addis......full text
A few historical accounts of power of the people in crushing or shaking the foundation of totalitarian governments, no matter how colossal, are briefly presented in this piece of writing. The examples under the captions below are meant to dispel any fear of the much vaunted propaganda that the TPLF regime has five million registered party members, loyal special security organs and army. At the end of the day the regime shall collapse because the poor and hungry Ethiopian peasants will be unable to feed the huge army, security agents and party operatives;......full text
“Lies, lies and implausible lies,” blasted Meles Zenawi, the enfant terrible of Ethiopia, in describing the March 11, 2010 U.S. State Department’s “Reports on Human Rights Practices” on Ethiopia. Apparently, the U.S. State Department is not worth a damn when it comes to lying: “The least one could expect from this report, even if there are lies is that they would be plausible ones,” snarled Zenawi. “But that is not the case. It is very easy to ridicule it [report], because it is so full of loopholes (sic)......full text
Since the 1974 revolution, Ethiopia has witnessed cycles of unimaginable violence. City streets as well as remote villages that are normally far from the influence of the brutal political elites in the center have been washed with blood and littered with the bones of tormented men and women......full text
With national elections in Ethiopia fast approaching, Prime Minister Meles Zenawi appears intent on controlling both the medium and the message. Reports of the harassment of opposition political figures and interfering with international media broadcasts into the country undermine the image of his government, and if the polling is to be credible, it must be an open process......full text
The audacity of Meles Zenawi and his vultures has reached a new low. In his recent press conference, the tyrant was not hesitant to declare his disdain for the basic rights of the people of Ethiopia. After jamming the Voice of America, the charlatan ruler felt no shame whatsoever when he accused VOA of trying to instigate genocide, an idea that is dangerously playing in his evil heart......full text
When Meles Zenawi, the arch dictator in Ethiopia, was asked about Birtukan’s health in his prison on March 23, 2010, he was comically philosophical about it. He said Birtukan health is in “perfect condition”, except that she may be putting on some weight......full text
LONDON - Hundreds of Ethiopians on Wednesday said Ethiopia's ruthless tyrant Meles Zenawi deserves to stand before the International Criminal Court in The Hague and not represent Africa at the Climate Talks.The protesters called on Western governments to stop extending aid to a man who has held a nation of over 80 million people hostage to his divisive and destructive politics of ethnicity......full text
The best bullet is the ballot to remove tyrant Meles from power for at this time the ballot is equally available to all who opt to get it in accordance with constitution imposed by TPLF. Ethiopians and the opposition democratic forces might once again perhaps for the last time try to beat tyrant Meles at the ballot box. But of course registered voters can abstain by staying at home and opposition democratic parties can exercise their powerful option to boycott the election at any time in a coordinated manner for good reasons, thus exposing the repressive ruling Party for any foul play.......full text
It is a staple of the criminal defense bar to represent thieves, robbers, burglars, muggers, pickpockets, shoplifters, embezzlers, con men, fraudsters and swindlers. It is also the ineluctable lot of the defense lawyer to learn about the M.O. (modus operandi, techniques) of the criminal classes with professional detachment. But few defense lawyers could claim the dubious honor of representing criminals that specialize in election heists. So, when the Carter Center issued its post-mortem “Ethiopia National Elections Observation Mission 2005 Final Report”1 recently, a unique academic opportunity became available to learn about how an election is actually stolen......full text
Conference on Good Governance, Peace, Security, Sustainable Development in Ethiopia & the Horn of Africa - April 9 & 10
Five years ago, when the TPLF regime lost ground in the general elections, Meles Zenawi went out of his mind and compared the captivating Ethiopian opposition to the “Interahamwe”, a group of young Hutu males who carried out the [1994] Rwandan Genocide......full text
The Ethiopian government is waging "a co-ordinated and sustained attack" against its opponents ahead of May elections and countries like Canada that send aid to Ethiopia should condemn it, a new report says......full text
Emperor Yohannis IV, my hero, was killed at the Battle of Mettema, on March 11, 1889 fighting the Mahdists who had invaded Gojam and Begmdir (Gonder). Emperor Yohannis never gave up a piece of land. He fought the Italians and Egyptians, even died for it. After his death, on May 2, 1889, the so-called the Treaty of Wichale was signed by Menilek II. The negotiator of this Treaty was an Italian by the name of Count Pietro Antonelli who had imperialistic ambitions for Italy. ......full text
(Nairobi) – The Ethiopian government is waging a coordinated and sustained attack on political opponents, journalists, and rights activists ahead of the May 2010 elections, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. On May 23, 2010, Ethiopians will vote in the first parliamentary elections in Ethiopia since 2005, when the post-election period was marred by controversy and bloodshed......full text
Meles Zenawi seems to have a morbid fascination with genocide. Whenever the going gets tough -- bad news, tightening election campaigns, stiffening political opposition -- he whips out the specter of Rwandan-style “interhamwe” (which in Kinyarwanda or Rwanda means “those who stand, work, fight, attack together”) in Ethiopia to change the subject. Predictably, as recent news of his rebel group’s use of famine aid money in 1984 for weapons purchases received massive international coverage, the opposition stepped up its campaign for the so-called May elections, the U.S. State Department issued its condemnatory human rights report on his regime and Bob Geldof went bananas, Zenawi resurrected his favorite “interhamwe” bogey man to justify his decision to jam the Voice of America:......full text
Democracy is all about freedom of choice of each and every individual living in a free, tolerant and compassionate society without infringing on the right of others. Only a “government of the people, by the people, and for the people” can sustain such a society, whereas the very opposite is true in a government run by thugs such as the ones holed up at Menelik’s Palace in Addis Ababa. The word “choice” does not appear in the TPLF lexicon. Anyone who does not fall in line with TPLF political views shall do so at his/her peril because Stalinism does not allow opinions different from official diktat. Adios freedom of choice! ......full text
Debates are by definition cantankerous, although they should not be. The recent debates were not cantankerous. On the surface, they were smoothly organized.The first three rounds of the recent debates invite an objective analysis, which I modestly attempt. I will organize my reflection on three foundational debates, (1) Is the ruling regime democratic? (2) Is the ruling regime governing well? And (3) My vision for Ethiopia......full text
Sir Bob Geldof told Meles Zenawi to “Grow up!” when he found out that security forces directly under the control and command of Zenawi had massacred hundreds of unarmed protesters following the 2005 elections. It looks like Sir Bob may have to take his own advice and do a little growing up. In the days after the BBC reported its findings some ten days ago on a scam that diverted $95 million from famine relief to weapons purchases by Zenawi’s rebel group in Ethiopia in 1984, Sir Bob has been throwing temper tantrums on the talk show circuits......full text
2009 Human Rights Reports: Ethiopia
ADDIS ABABA - The U.S. State Department's annual human rights reports says Ethiopia is holding several hundred political prisoners, including the leader of one of the country's largest opposition parties. Ethiopia has reacted strongly to past U.S. criticisms of its rights record.
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The stabbing to death of an opposition parliamentary candidate and the brutal beating of another in Tigrai by Meles Zenawi’s thugs last week, only days after the latter made a code-loaded speech at the TPLF anniversary in Mekele, where he referred to his opponents as the mud, the riffraff, and the enemy, fall perfectly in line with the tactic and strategy set out for “winning” the May 2010 election......full text
The year was 1984. A famine of unimaginable proportions was ravaging the northern region of Ethiopia. Besides the famine, that part of Ethiopia was also in the midst of a multi dimensional bloody civil war that took so many lives and destroyed infrastructure. The fighting parties were the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) and the Eritrean People’s Liberation Front (EPLF), operating in a close alliance, launching a coordinated political and military operation against the regime in Addis Ababa......full text
Last week the secret world of Meles Zenawi’s kleptocracy, famine aid-sharking and money laundering in Ethiopia was exposed by two of his former comrades-in-arms in the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF). Gebremedhin Araya, a former treasurer and TPLF co-founder Dr. Aregawi Berhe, detailed the scam used to swindle, hustle and con millions of dollars from international famine relief organizations in the mid-1980s. The two former top leaders accused the TPLF leadership, including Zenawi, for taking tens of millions of dollars earmarked for famine relief in the Tigrai region to buy weapons and enrich themselves.
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By Martin Plaut, Africa editor, BBC World Service / March 3,2010
Former rebel leaders told the BBC that they posed as merchants in meetings with charity workers to get aid money.They used the cash to fund attempts to overthrow the government of the time.One rebel leader estimated $95m (£63m) - from Western governments and charities including Band Aid - was channelled into the rebel fight.......full text
Last week, a couple of interesting political statements grabbed the cyber headlines. One was a truly entertaining piece entitled “Letter from Ethiopia,” by the indomitable Ethiopian journalist Eskinder Nega. Eskinder’s “Letter” sought to make sense of the power jockeying that is apparently taking place backstage to replace dictator Meles Zenawi. The other was a bombastic speech given by Zenawi to a captive audience in Mekele in observance of the 35th anniversary of the founding of his liberation movement. In that speech, Zenawi unleashed a torrent of vitriol against his opponents and critics to rival Hugo Chavez’s, and indulged in a little bit of megalomaniacal braggadocio and self-glorification for democratizing Ethiopia and inundating it with prosperity......full text
A few months ago, I had a lively debate with a friend of mine regarding the relationship a few Ethiopians in the opposition camp are establishing with Mr. Issaias Afeworki. My friend, whom I didn’t see for a long time, and whom I knew for more than 30 years, was debating ardently in support of these individuals. Though I was surprised with his view, I was more mesmerized by his justification than anything else. After my recent postings on Ethiomedia website, among the barrage of e-mails, one of my friend’s......full text
Ask me what the distinctive trait of the opposition is in this year’s election apart from the provocative imprisonment of Birtukan Mideksa, and my response would not be amidst the proverbial list: weak organization, lack of preparedness, appallingly low finance (pundits estimate that only slightly over half a million US dollars is available for the entire opposition this election season, excluding the miserly electoral board finance) and an assortment of other secondary factors......full text
When I wrote Part Iof “The Hand That Rocks the Cradle” nearly a year and eight months ago1, the heartbreaking and outrageous scandal in the broken adoption system in Ethiopia was a shocking molestation crime committed against two recently adopted Ethiopian children -- one barely 2 and the other 4 years old -- by their French parents. The father was jailed for rape and violence, and the mother for failure to report a crime. The attitude of the Ethiopian adoption officials interviewed in that case was a nauseatingly indifferent, “S_ _ t happens!” ......full text
SEATTLE - Hundreds of Ethiopian bishops, priests and clergymen who had come to Seattle from as far as New Zeland, Australia, South Africa and Europe in addition to the entire churches in America and Canada that were represented by their delegates attended the memorial service for His Eminence Abune Zena Markos, who died on February 13 at Swedish Medical Center. He was 72. ......full text
By Tesfay Atsbeha and Kahsay Berhe / February 18, 2010
The TPLF started the armed struggle on 18 February 1975. We would like to remember the tens of thousands of Ethiopians of all groups who lost their lives on this occasion. We would also like to raise the questions why the legacy of the martyrs of the TPLF has degenerated to tyranny, why their suffering has led to the perpetuation of suffering, why the people for whose freedom and welfare the young people gave up their lives are not free to join any organisation of their choice and why the people are not free to elect their own representatives......full text
It has been said that Africa’s natural resources -- oil, diamonds, minerals -- have often proven to be sources of woe, suffering and misery than wealth, prosperity and progress for the people of the continent. What should have been a blessing for Africa’s poor has become a curse of corruption, malfeasance and bad governance. Could Africa’s new found wealth in farmlands prove to be a curse once again? If so, how could it be averted?......full text
Three children, sisters from Ethiopia are shown in a video - ages, you are told, 7, 4 and 6. Their mother is dead, their father dying of AIDS. A life of prostitution is all but assured - if not adopted - saved - by a loving American family......full text
It is no accident that the person who subscribes and practices Hoxha’s twisted ideas today, Meles Zenawi, baptized and christened as “the new breed of African democrat” by the West, is an admirer and student of the former Albanian fascist leader. Alike Hoxha Meles, Zenawi has put in place the entire instrument of oppression to extend the life of his rule in Ethiopia. He is due to hold another Parliamentary election in May, 2010. According to foreign diplomats, political observers, and an article in the Economist magazine, the outcome of the scheduled election is a foregoing conclusion that no matter which party will be the people’s choice, Meles and his TPLF regime will remain in power for another five years. Simply put the dictatorial regime will not relinquish its iron grip on Ethiopia through peaceful means.......full text
We have a historical obligation to keep alive the spark of democracy that Ethiopians ignited in 2005, and for which many lost their lives and freedoms. Every conceivable opportunity, however bleak the circumstances may be, must be seized. Only with such persistence will the crushed democracy of 2005 be reborn stronger. One such moment is looming ahead of us: the 2010 elections. True, the TPLF/EPDRF has made it clear that it will fabricate another electoral victory. It has muzzled Ethiopians with laws, decrees, codes of conduct, and its omnipresent security forces......full text
Reporting on the eerie silence of Western diplomats in Addis Abeba on Birtukan Midekssa, the first woman political party leader in Ethiopian history and Ethiopia’s # 1 political prisoner, Xan Rice, a reporter for the Guardian wrote last week:......full text
Unity for Democracy and Justice (UDJ) Secretary General Andualem Aragie accused western governments of failing to stand by their rhetoric and support human rights and democracy in Ethiopia. “They are following the old way of doing business. They are partners in development with the Ethiopian government but I don’t think they are partners in freedom and democracy,” Andualem told Jason McLure’s of Bloomberg News recently......full text
The harrowing experience of Ethiopians over the doomed Ethiopian airliner in the Mediterranean Sea last week, and the racist ways in which grieving Ethiopians who were trying to know the fate of their loved ones were treated in Lebanon, could have been used to raise important questions and start a more important discussion......full text
The TPLF/EPDRF is currently imposing, as it has always done since its capture of state power, a frame of reference that limits the 2010 elections to the issues and questions that allow the regime to give itself a democratic façade while totally controlling the electoral process......full text
Proud Teddy at the Proud Bird in L.A.
At noon every Sunday an old Toyota sedan donated by supporters of Ethiopia's most famous prisoner pulls up near a jail on the outskirts of the capital......full text
Last week, there was a great deal of teeth-gnashing, knuckle-cracking and gut-wrenching by Ethiopia’s dictators over Human Rights Watch’s (HRW) 2010 report. The dictators belched out much sound and fury that signified nothing. Their fury had to do with HRW’s conclusion that “Ethiopia is on a deteriorating human rights trajectory as parliamentary elections approach in 2010.” In blunt and unequivocal language, HRW whipsawed the dictators with the facts: ......full text
The West has provided hundreds of millions of dollars of food aid to Ethiopia in the past several years. However, donor countries have placed few monitoring and accountability mechanisms to ensure that the aid provided is delivered to the target populations. As a result, the ruling party has been able to effectively use relief aid to mobilize support for itself and undermine support for its opposition... ...full text
This Part II under the title “Bracing to weather political storms amid hunger” is a sequel to my article entitled “Jailed icon Birtukan and brewing political storms amid hunger” that was posted on democratic websites starting from 12 January 2010. I would like to precede it by the following extract from my article written in March 2008 entitled: “The folly of dubbing Ethiopia a ‘black colonizer’”:......full text
Since the dawn of African independence from colonialism in the early 1960s, African liberation leaders and founding fathers qua dictators, military junta and “new breed” leaders have sought to justify the one-man, one-party state — and avoid genuine multiparty democracy — by fabricating a blend of self-serving arguments which converge on the notion that in Africa there is a democracy before democracy......full text
Whatever one’s position on the 2010 general election, a number of things are certain. First, the election will take place. Second, the democratic forces are fragmented and at loggerheads with each other, but almost all of them—those who signed the Code of Conduct and those who did not -- are participating in the election. Third, the history of the TPLF/EPRDF makes it certain that it will use fraud, intimidation, arrest, imprisonment, and violence to win the elections......full text
Aristotle wrote that “man is a political animal” to suggest that the defining characteristic of human beings is involvement in the civic life of their communities. Today, many Ethiopians across the board are strangely disengaged and alienated from Ethiopian politics. For the “alienated majority”, the disengagement is justified......full text
Google is at war with the Peoples Republic of China. Google is a worthy adversary. If I was a betting person I will put all my money on Google. There is no question Google will win. The Peoples Republic is playing the old game of bullying. Too bad for the Chinese those days are gone. It is a new age, a new game and winning comes from using your smarts not your brute force......full text
The game of chess may not be the best metaphor for the political games Meles plays, but it is the best I can think of. It is not my intention to demonize or insult anybody in this piece, but as Ethiopia moves toward what Meles calls an "election", I feel I must share how I see him and the game he plays in the clearest way I can! It is clear to me the there is one true chess player at the table and the rest have, either knowingly or inadvertently, decided to be pieces on the chess board. I hope this analysis will help you re-evaluate your perspectives and expectations of the process he is currently conducting......full text
But there is manifestly a “silent” famine and a “quiet” hunger haunting the land under Zenawi’s “watch.” In April, 2009, Zenawi gave an interview to David Frost of Al Jazeera in which he openly admitted that famine is rearing its ugly head once again in Ethiopia and other parts of Africa. Frost asked: “Is there any danger that as a result of this [current] crises there could be famine like there was famine in 1984?” Zenawi responded: ......full text
“Ethiopia is the country of the future,” Birtukan Midekssa would often say epigrammatically. Ethiopia’s No. 1 political prisoner is always preoccupied with her country’s future and destiny. Her deep concern for Ethiopia is exceeded only by her boundless optimism for its future. For that reason, her maxim echoes not only a manifest general truth, but also makes a profound and complex historical argument that calls for a paradigm shift in the way we understand contemporary Ethiopian politics and envision the future......full text
The people at the helm of the Federal Supreme Court know the difference between justice and vengeance. They know that justice is blind, a concept that underlines the neutrality of the judiciary. But blinded by political and ethnic interests, the supreme court judges have preferred to dispense injustice with vehement vendetta against the perceived political enemies of the regime......full text
If there is one gift God has given Meles it is the ability to divide his enemies against each other so that he always emerges as the winner! If there is one curse God has cast against Meles' enemies, it is their failure to appreciate this one weapon that Meles consistently uses against them to win! From the day his army marched into Addis Ababa and took power by force to this day, Meles has used this method along with other supplementary measures to completely vanquish his opponents and ultimately the country we call Motherland. Just to recapitulate here are some examples, not exhaustive by any stretch, of what I mean......full text
There are three things important in real estate: location, location, location. Agents never tire mentioning this important fact. What exactly does it mean? Simply put what matters most is not the structure of the house as much as its physical location. It is smart to buy the ugliest house in a good neighborhood than a beautiful palace in a rough area. It is much easier and cheaper to remodel a bad and decrepit structure rather than moving it to a new location......full text
African diplomats, most of whom had brashly stood by Zenawi when he violently crushed a pro-democracy movement in 2005, naively expressed shock and incredulity at his betrayal of their trust at the recent Copenhagen Climate Conference......full text
It was a remarkable display of raw machismo: “My way or the highway… or jail!” It was a one-man political theatre, a monologue about absolute power, domination, toughness, brawn and pugnacity. It was a demonstration of sang froid machismo calculated to taunt and sneer at the opposition, and bombard them with contempt and derision. It was an ostentatious public vindication of the ignoble principle “might makes right.” ......full text
NGOs and civil society groupings are reacting with anger and disappointment to a joint appeal by France and “Ethiopia, representing Africa” for a so-called ‘Copenhagen Accord’ to result from the current COP15 negotiations being held in the Danish capital......full text
Use a sledge hammer to smash a butterfly! That is the exquisite art of war unleashed on Ethiopia’s independent press by the dictatorship of Meles Zenawi today......full text
For the past 24 days, Ethiopian Satellite Television (ESAT) broadcasts and transmissions in Ethiopia have been disrupted by external interference to its satellite signals from sources that we are still continuing to investigate. This occurrence has triggered considerable not only public outrage among our viewers in Ethiopia but also internationally...
(Nairobi) - Ethiopian government and ruling party officials intimidated voters and unlawfully restricted the media ahead of the May 23, 2010 parliamentary elections, Human Rights Watch said today.In assessing the polls, international election observers should address the repressive legal and administrative measures that the Ethiopian ruling party used to restrict freedom of expression during the election campaign, Human Rights Watch said.
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With national elections in Ethiopia fast approaching, Prime Minister Meles Zenawi appears intent on controlling both the medium and the message. Reports of the harassment of opposition political figures and interfering with international media broadcasts into the country undermine the image of his government, and if the polling is to be credible, it must be an open process...
Five years ago, when the TPLF regime lost ground in the general elections, Meles Zenawi went out of his mind and compared the captivating Ethiopian opposition to the “Interahamwe”, a group of young Hutu males who carried out the [1994] Rwandan Genocide...
Human rights abuses reported during the year included unlawful killings, torture, beating, abuse and mistreatment of detainees and opposition supporters by security forces, often acting with evident impunity; poor prison conditions; arbitrary arrest and detention, particularly of suspected sympathizers or members of opposition or insurgent groups; police, administrative and judicial corruption; detention without charge and lengthy pretrial detention; infringement on citizens' privacy rights, including illegal searches; use of excessive force by security services in an internal conflict and counterinsurgency operations; restrictions on freedom of the press; arrest, detention, and harassment of journalists; ...
