Con Tedla Asfaw

Venerdì 18 maggio 2012 sarà ricordato come una delle vittorie più importanti della diaspora etiope nella zona di Washington segnato contro Meles Zenawi e dei suoi pochi sostenitori che hanno le spalle al muro all'angolo tra la Pennsylvania Avenue e la 13th St. mi ha sorpreso perché ottenuto un permesso di sulla 13th St e ha dato l'opposizione un posto migliore per umiliare Meles Zenawi e il suo sostenitore il presidente Obama. Questa era la loro grave lacuna che ha salvato la giornata altrimenti l'enorme folla contro Meles avrebbe applicato contro di loro per fermare la limousine di Obama e sarebbe stato brutto.

Venerdì 18 maggio intorno alle 7 i sostenitori dei 13 Meles angolo ST / Neche kofia stavano facendo poco rumore, senza alcun impatto a tutti. Verso le 7.30 ci sono stati allertati da abili organizzatori i giovani che i giornalisti e altre personalità sono stati messi in fila per entrare al Building.While Regan ha detto che non hanno permesso di andare lì dagli organizzatori e addetti alla sicurezza che attraversano la Pennsylvania Avenue, per l'azione. Emotion run alta, la denuncia di Mels Zenawi per il suo crimine contro l'umanità era molto forte e chiaro. Siamo andati avanti per quasi trenta minuti, mentre gli occhi di cannone trainato da sicurezza. E 'stato incredibile. La cosa buona, Meles non c'era.

Siamo tornati alla nostra area designata Pennsylvania Avenue e 14 St angolo con grande orgoglio, dopo abbiamo fatto la nostra voce per la libertà e la dignità forte e chiaro a tutti coloro che hanno responsabilità di scrivere ed educare il pubblico, i media liberi del mondo. Sulla Pennsylvania Avenue folla triplicato il numero e lo slogan condanna Meles Zenawi e il Presidente Obama per la promozione umana abusa proprio sulla Conferenza G8 sulla "sicurezza alimentare" era forte.

Il giornalista VOA, Henok stato avvisato circa l'azione ha perso all'ingresso del Palazzo Regan. A quanto pare non era interessato anche a chiedere su quanto è accaduto e stava intervistando uno degli organizzatori brevemente prima di lasciare la scena intorno a 20:00. Ha riportato VOA amarico ieri che poche centinaia di etiopi e sostenitori del governo sono stati pochi condanna e sostenendo Meles rispettivamente. La sua relazione è imprecisa, perché copre solo la prima ora della nostra azione del giorno e addirittura manca il grande azione, mentre lui era lì. Abbiamo audio e video per eseguire il nostro reclamo.

La battaglia sulla Pennsylvania Avenue per aprire il Woodrow Wilson scalinata Plaza e la passeggiata lato ci ha portato colluttazione con gli agenti di sicurezza. Ma la folla quando si confronta dalla sua dimensione era gentile e in effetti la Plaza ci ha aiutato a deviare la folla per aprire il marciapiede. I giovani, i vecchi, donne e uomini, i musulmani etiopi prima della preghiera del Venerdì sono uniti a noi per dire al mondo che gli etiopi sia di fronte ad insicurezza alimentare e la libertà di scegliere il proprio rappresentante e leader a tutti i livelli.

Obama: Dov'è la tua promessa? Vergogna su You presidente Obama! Questo è stato riverberante sulla Pennsylvania Avenue. Le persone che andavano a scuola o al lavoro ci hanno visto e hanno ottenuto il loro sostegno da parte loro auto suonando il clacson e tenendo volantini preparati da diverse organizzazioni civiche nella diaspora etiope. Quando siamo stati avvisati della venuta di Meles Zenawi intorno alle 9 si spezzò tutte le leggi per inseguire l'uomo prima di entrare nell'edificio. Mayhem e urlare costretto gli agenti di sicurezza a disegnare le loro pistole e ci knelled verso il basso per tenere la nostra terra.

Meles è un Killer, Meles è un saccheggiatore, Meles è il nostro venditore terra, ecc Noi riteniamo che la nostra terra per venti minuti prima di addetti alla sicurezza ci ha portato alla nostra area permesso in Pennsylvania Avenue. Non ho mai visto nulla di simile prima. Quando l'ultima volta che abbiamo avuto una protesta contro Meles negli Stati Uniti era settembre 2010 a New York presso la Columbia. Non ci hanno dato la possibilità di vedere e lui fu costretto a inserire una porta sul retro.

Questa è un'umiliazione che merita dopo aver preso il potere da Gun Sette anni fa questo mese. Sette anni fa il 15 maggio ha ordinato l'uccisione di centinaia e l'incarcerazione di migliaia di etiopi quando lo hanno destituito. Da allora l'Etiopia è sotto Miitialry governo fascista finanziato dall'Occidente. Per i Meles ultimi sette anni e la sua ricchezza accumulata stretti collaboratori di Etiopia è oltre 11,5 miliardi di dollari, mentre l'USAID sta alimentando etiopi poveri.

USAID, In dittatore We Trust è stato lo slogan che ha salutato Obama. Intorno 10:00 Pennsylvania Avenue è stata chiusa al traffico. Traffico tornato indietro. Quello era il tempo che controllare questa strada famosa per inviare il nostro messaggio forte e chiaro. Obama è venuto dalla Casa Bianca, scortato da auto della polizia e limousine nere. La bandiera etiope verde e rosso lo accolse con grida e condanna per il supporto di un noto abusatore mondo umano destra. Obama, smettere di sostenere un terrorista, Meles Zenawi è un terrorista. No sicurezza alimentare senza libertà. Shame on You presidente Obama!! Gli americani etiope non voteranno per You Again! E 'stato fragoroso e senza dubbio ha ottenuto il nostro messaggio e spetta a lui ora di chiamare in pubblico per la libertà di organizzare e parlare in Etiopia. Noi indossate per non iscriversi a sostenere la diplomazia porta. L'Etiopia non è la Cina!!

Pennsylvania Avenue, la voce alta tra i 13 e 14 ° sarà ricordato come un giorno che esposto USA Double Standard verso l'Etiopia. La lettera di protesta scritta da parte delle organizzazioni per i diritti e la petizione firmata da oltre 8.000 persone, la telefonata fatta alla Casa Bianca dal etiopi in tutto il mondo è un fatto Obama e altri politici non possono ignorare.

Per gli altri etiopi / Hodams che sono amanti del regime sul v 13 abbiamo chiarito loro che cosa a venire. Essi meglio essere sostenitori della libertà come quella di cui godevano qui. Lotta per lo stesso diritto e la libertà che avete qui per tornare a casa la gente. Non sfruttare le terre il tuo popolo in nome dello sviluppo. Etiopi amore per il loro paese è senza pari. Tuttavia, la dolcezza che ha caratterizzato il nostro popolo è frainteso da stranieri. Coloro che si è recato in Etiopia sono sicuri in Etiopia, perché il rispetto etiopi di vite umane è profondo nella loro cultura. Nessuno straniero è fatto saltare in aria da kamikaze o terroristici in Etiopia. Etiopia, tuttavia, è stata governata con il terrore e il regime vuole governare per tutta la vita con l'assunzione come un alleato Corno d'Africa la sicurezza dell'Occidente.

La maggioranza del nostro popolo sono ora astanti nel proprio paese. "Ricchezza" creatori sono gli stranieri e anche gli agricoltori sono ora costretti a lasciare la loro terra per soddisfare gli stranieri che sono stati riuniti a Palazzo Regan in nome della "sicurezza alimentare". Sì, è la sicurezza alimentare per l'India, etc Nazioni del Golfo, ma non per gli agricoltori etiopi. Gli abitanti di Gambella e Afar stanno lottando per mantenere la loro terra. Vite sono perse e sarà perso in questa lotta fino a quando i proprietari stranieri lasciano terra etiopica per gli agricoltori etiopi solo. La protesta davanti all'ambasciata dell'India scorsa settimana è un monito e ci organizzeremo tali proteste in Arabia Saudita e altre ambasciate che stanno pagando in contanti per leasing a lungo per controllare una risorsa che dobbiamo caro per nutrire il nostro popolo.

Se etiopi il diritto di protestare nei loro paesi di campagna propri molti sarebbe stato evitato di attività che mettano a rischio la sicurezza alimentare del nostro popolo. Negli ultimi sette anni non c'è mai stata alcuna protesta. In Etiopia non c'è libertà a tutti! Questo messaggio è stato consegnato direttamente a tutti coloro che erano nella sala meeting per parlare di sicurezza alimentare ieri mattina. Meles Zenawi è un violentatore diritto umano, non c'è libertà in Etiopia, Free Eskinder Nega, Freedom, Freedom Freedom gridò Abebe Gellaw uno dei produttori di TV ESAT la cui voce Meles Zenawi, bloccato in aria con l'aiuto della Cina. Meles ha ottenuto ieri da pochi metri vivono da Messenger Freedom. Tutto in quella sala conferenze non dimenticherò mai quei pochi secondi nel loro tempo di vita. Lo shock sul volto di Meles 'era chiaro per tutti. Mi chiedo che cosa ha detto dopo che l'incontro sconvolgente con uno dei nostri. Bravo Abebe!!

Meles Zenawi che è stato condannato durante l'immissione al Palazzo Regan è stato umiliato un'ora dopo dal nostro stesso di fronte a leader mondiali. Spero Meles ha una lezione di venire una volta nella vita e di dimettersi immediatamente e rilasciare tutti gli avversari politici. Alah WaKiber, Egzeabher Yetekebere yehune!! Vittoria per il popolo etiope!!

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Con Yilma Bekele

Due importanti incontri si sono tenuti una settimana fa. Uno era ad Addis Abeba e l'altra a Washington DC. Entrambi sono stati riguardanti la nostra patria e il futuro. Ecco dove finiscono le somiglianze. Uno era destinato a continuare il percorso di distruzione noleggiata dal regime attuale, mentre l'altro stava cercando di costruire su ciò che è stato raggiunto nel corso millenni e dimostrato di funzionare oltre le aspettative. La conferenza DC era una affermazione della conoscenza sapiente e appassionato dei nostri antenati che ha posto le basi per il luogo che chiamiamo casa.

Cristianesimo e Islam sono le due fedi più correlate che hanno origine proprio nel nostro quartiere. L'Etiopia è uno luogo dove i due sono confluiti in un modo particolare e sono riusciti a condurre una vita amorosa reciproca assicurata. Il legame tra i due è così profonda nessun uomo mortale può rompere questo e vivere per raccontarlo. Alcuni hanno cercato senza alcun risultato. Mentre il male va l'incontro di Addis è stato un altro tentativo di creare un cuneo tra le due fedi ei loro seguaci. E 'stato ideato TPLF vintage o scoreggia il cervello.

Perché il nostro paese è riuscire in questa impresa mentre la maggior parte dell'umanità è ancora cercando di capire come venire a patti con la religione e il rilascio di Stato è un soggetto meraviglioso per i nostri storici. Io sono in alcun modo uno storico, ma cercherò di condividere il poco che so dalla mia lettura sommaria del nostro glorioso passato.

Data esatta per la nascita del cristianesimo in Etiopia non è ancora risolta. Il più antico riferimento e all'introduzione del cristianesimo in Etiopia è nel Nuovo Testamento (Atti 8:26:38), quando Filippo l'evangelista convertito un funzionario etiope davanti al giudice nel 1 ^° secolo dC. È accordato un credito a San Frumenzio come il primo a portare il cristianesimo nel Regno axumita. Frumenzio uno siro-fenicia di Tiro greca insieme a suo fratello Edesius accompagnati dai loro Meropius zio erano naufragati sul Seacoast Red intorno all'anno 316 dC. I due ragazzi sono stati presi come schiavi del re di Aksum. Alla morte del re sono stati liberati, ma su richiesta della regina sono rimasti ad aiutare nella formazione del Ezana giovane erede. Ezana Quando raggiunse la maggiore età dei due fratelli tornarono a Tiro, ma Frumenzio è riuscito a convincere il Patriarca di Alexandra, Atanasio di inviare un vescovo in Etiopia. Nell'anno 328 Frumenzio fu rimandato come il primo Vescovo. Egli riuscì a battezzare il re Ezana avviare la diffusione del cristianesimo. Gli etiopi si riferiscono al Frumenzio come Kesete Birhan (rivelatore della Luce) e ABBBA Selama (Padre della Pace) ed è il nostro primo Abune.

L'Islam è venuto in Etiopia intorno 615AD. I musulmani prima erano immigrati da Mecca a causa di persecuzione da parte della tribù dei Quraysh dominante. Il profeta Maometto (pace e benedizioni su di lui) sentiva l'Etiopia per essere un rifugio sicuro per i suoi parenti e compagni. Gli storici musulmani si riferiscono ad essa come alla Higra prima o la migrazione e l'imperatore cristiano come Ashama ibn Abjar. Il Profeta istruì i suoi seguaci a rispettare 'e proteggere l'Etiopia e così come vivere in pace con i cristiani etiopi. Oggi Harar, Etiopia è considerata la quarta città santa dell'Islam, con 82 moschee tre dei quali risalgono al 10 ^°. Secolo.

La conferenza tenutasi a Washington DC dal Santo Sinodo della Chiesa ortodossa etiope Tewahedo in Exile era una affermazione di questo legame storico tra le due religioni e persone. E 'stato un momento di orgoglio edificio sul forte e incrollabile rilassato secoli fondazione che dura ancora oggi, nonostante il tentativo da parte di pochi a rompere ciò che Dio e Allah ha voluto.

D'altra parte la riunione tenutasi ad Addis era un tentativo palese di dissenso e ha visto indebolire il legame tra religione e le persone. E 'stato un momento imbarazzante e un atto vergognoso che ha portato la vergogna e il dolore al paese e la gente. E 'stato il riflesso della Kilil portato al regno della religione. E 'stato un altro piano ordito da Meles malato e società di fare il bullo con la nostra terra antica e un debole tentativo di dividere e conquistare. Che è caduto nel vuoto non è una sorpresa. Come ho già detto la nostra casa non è costruita sulla sabbia, ma su granito venduti che nessuna quantità di trucco idiota uomo fatto causerà alcun danno. Oserei dire che finisce per fare più forte e più potente per la masterizzazione dei usperes rinculo con vergogna e orrore.

La nostra abbondanza a Washington DC sono stati celebrati per la loro forte solidarietà con i nostri fratelli e sorelle musulmani, mentre l'usurpatore in Addis è stato zittito dalla nostra abbondanza è che fermamente era la loro terra, nonostante la minaccia della violenza, compresa la morte. Il nostro profondo apprezzamento per la forza del abbondanza nel sostenere tale brutto comportamento della Paulo dell'usurpatore e dei suoi scagnozzi riempie il nostro cuore di orgoglio e ci ricorda i nostri Petros amati Abune padre e la sua fede incrollabile nel paese e la gente di fronte al plotone d'esecuzione fascista.

Il leader della invasione italiana della nostra terra Gen. Rodolfo Graziani proclamato "Il Duce (Mussolini) avrà l'Etiopia, con o senza etiopi". Abune Petros rispose: "Il grido dei miei connazionali che sono morti a causa della tua nervo-gas e terrore macchinari non permetterà mai che la mia coscienza per accettare la ultimatum. Come posso vedere il mio Dio, se io do un occhio a un tale crimine? ' Ecco i passi nostra Abune attuale stanno seguendo. Li ringraziamo per averci orgogliosi sia in Addis e Washington DC. Noi li lodare per la loro leadership e il loro messaggio attuale di suscitare quella sensazione forte di ciò che significa essere un etiope sia come cristiano e un musulmano. Nessuno può spezzare che Dio e Allah ha unito.

Come ha fatto con un appuntamento di un Patriarca quadri del regime di Meles è dissenso taglio occupato e animosità nella comunità musulmana. Non vi è alcun trucco lasciato nulla di intentato. Chiese sono state bruciate dare la colpa ai nostri cittadini musulmani e musulmani sono stati accusati di essere terroristi, wahabists ecc Come ha messo Paulos Cadre oggi al potere il regime sta proteggendo il leader illegale musulmano e mettendo la sua sicurezza interna intorno a lui.

Tutta la politica è locale. E 'con questo in mente etiopi nella Bay Area in viaggio verso Los Angeles per partecipare a una dimostrazione World Wide il weekend del ⁴ giugno. contro le interferenze del regime nella religione in generale e il tentativo di distruggere il nostro patrimonio antico, il monastero di Waldeba in Etiopia settentrionale. Coloro che fossero interessati a partecipare a questo evento può inviare Monastero Waldeba bayarea4waldba@gmail.com .

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Portavoce della Casa Bianca Jay Carney annunciato la scorsa settimana che il presidente Obama ha invitato i presidenti del Ghana, Tanzania, Benin e Meles Zenawi a partecipare al vertice G8 (il forum per i governi degli otto maggiori economie del mondo) per una discussione della sicurezza alimentare sul 19 maggio alle Camp David (ritiro presidenziale) in Maryland. Gli Stati Uniti sono state distribuendo aiuti alimentari per il continente africano per decenni. Ora il presidente Obama dice che c'è un altro incombente "crisi alimentare" in Africa. Oxfam dice: "Tutti i segni indicano un periodo di siccità che diventi una catastrofe se non si interviene al più presto." L'Organizzazione delle Nazioni Unite Alimentazione e l'Agricoltura (FAO) ha emesso appelli per un extra di $ 70 milioni per aiutare circa 800.000 famiglie nel siccità hit regione del Sahel in Africa occidentale. Etiopia e Somalia si prevede che saranno ground zero per la carestia previsto. Secondo il 25 Aprile 2012 relazione della USAID-finanziato Carestia sistemi di allerta precoce Network (FEWS NET), sud dell'Etiopia sarà carestia esperienza più probabile: "Le piogge previste sotto la media avrà un significativo impatto negativo sulla produzione agricola, alla rigenerazione pascolo, e la ricostituzione delle risorse idriche in tutta la regione, con l'impatto più grave e immediato Belg zone dipendenti del sud dell'Etiopia. "Negli ultimi due anni o giù di lì, ho scritto più di un mezza dozzina di commenti sulla carestia e scarsità di cibo in Etiopia. (Vedi link qui sotto.)

The Hunger Games di Word in Etiopia

I governi etiope negli ultimi quattro decenni hanno incolpato scarsità di cibo e carestie su tutto, tranne che proprio l'indifferenza, incompetenza e negligenza. L'imperatore Haile Selassie nel 1974 finse non c'era fame fino a quando "La carestia Hidden" di Jonathan Dimbleby è stato trasmesso ad un pubblico scioccato e arrabbiato etiope. L'ex capo della giunta socialista di Mengistu era sprezzante arroganza della carestia 1984-85, in cui circa un milione di persone morirono. Mengistu avrebbe risposto sprezzante ai giornalisti, sfidando loro: "Che fame?"

Zenawi è più intelligente dei suoi predecessori. Suona pubbliche relazioni e giochi semantici con la fame nel paese. Userà tutte le parole, tranne la parola "F", per descrivere le croniche carenze di cibo e massiccia nel paese. Per Zenawi "non c'è carestia in Etiopia", solo "mancanza di posto", "malnutrizione grave", "insicurezza alimentare", "crisi alimentare", "gravemente colpiti dalla siccità" e così via. "La carenza di cibo" non sono il risultato di una scarsa pianificazione agricola e le pratiche ufficiali, incompetenza, corruzione massiccia, negligenza criminale, ecc, ma sono causati da "condizioni di siccità, piogge irregolari" "" "colture danneggiate o ritardata", "deforestazione" , "l'erosione del suolo", "pascolo" e altri fattori ecologici. Nel gennaio 2012, Zenawi ha negato ancora una volta la carestia in Etiopia in una intervista alla CNN: "L'Etiopia sta affrontando una grave carestia. Come si può giustificare la spesa per un'operazione militare in un altro paese quando il tuo popolo muore di fame? "Zenawi ha risposto:" Non c'è carestia in Etiopia, come tutte le organizzazioni umanitarie vi dirà. C'è una grave siccità, ma siamo in grado di mantenere il nostro popolo alimentata .... "

La povertà internazionale di mercanti / sfruttatori (PMP) hanno inventato un sistema "scientifico" di classificazione per "carenza di cibo" dietro la quale Zenawi ha potuto nascondere la vera entità e la gravità del problema nel paese. Gli eufemismi del PMP di evitare la parola "F" del tutto indipendentemente dalla estremità della scarsità di cibo. Per le PMP le condizioni rientrano in una delle seguenti categorie: "L'insicurezza alimentare acuta, ha sottolineato, crisi, emergenza e catastrofe." E '"scientificamente" impossibile avere fame in Africa! Così la congiura del silenzio continua a mantenere la carestia in Etiopia nascosto da un uso intelligente di eufemismi di mascheramento.

Zenawi e suoi principali luogotenenti sono stati promettenti alla fine "scarsità di cibo causata dalla siccità" in un tempo molto breve. Nel 2009, Simon Mechale, capo del Paese "Prevenzione dei Disastri e Preparedness Agency", ha dichiarato con orgoglio: ". Etiopia presto pienamente garantire la sua sicurezza alimentare" Da diversi anni, Zenawi è stata pubblicizzare il suo programma "Productive Safety Net", come il meccanismo per porre fine al "ciclo della dipendenza dagli aiuti alimentari" da ponte "deficit di produzione e proteggendo i beni per la casa e comunità". Nell'ottobre 2011 Zenawi ha detto ai suoi fedeli partito: "Abbiamo messo a punto un piano che ci consentirà di produrre eccedenze e essere in grado di nutrirci entro il 2015 senza bisogno di aiuti alimentari". Zenawi di "piano per la produzione di surplus" è quello di "leasing" di milioni di ettari di terreno agricolo del paese per gli investitori internazionali cosiddette accaparratori di terra), il cui unico scopo è quello di aumentare le colture per l'esportazione. Etiopia produrre cibo per sfamare altre nazioni, mentre gli etiopi muoiono di fame. Zenawi ha fermamente contrari proprietà privata della terra, che per tutti gli account di esperti è il singolo fattore più importante nel garantire la sicurezza alimentare in ogni nazione. Eppure l'anno scorso, l'inflazione alimentare in Etiopia è rimasto a 47,4 per cento.

Alimentare è stato utilizzato come arma politica in Etiopia. La fame è stata la nuova arma della scelta per generare il supporto per il regime di Zenawi e per decimare i suoi rivali politici. Zenawi ha avuto un discreto successo a schiacciare i cuori, le menti e gli spiriti delle persone tenendo lo stomaco vuoto. Coloro che si oppongono regime di Zenawi non solo sono negati gli aiuti alimentari umanitari e di soccorso, sono anche vittime attraverso un sistema di sfratti, la negazione di terra o di riduzione delle dimensioni del terreno così come la negazione di accesso al credito, fertilizzanti, sementi, ecc Nella caso del popolo di Gambella in Etiopia occidentale, intere comunità sono stati costretti ad abbandonare la terra per far posto a "investitori indiani", in violazione delle convenzioni internazionali che proteggono i diritti dei popoli indigeni. Human Rights Watch, tra le altre organizzazioni, ha sollevato gravi preoccupazioni l'uso improprio degli aiuti alimentari umanitari: "Il governo etiope è abitualmente utilizzando l'accesso agli aiuti come arma per controllare le persone e il dissenso cotta. Se non giocare il gioco del partito al governo, si ottiene chiuso fuori. Senza un efficace, un monitoraggio indipendente, gli aiuti internazionali continueranno ad essere abusato di consolidare un repressiva partito unico stato. "Nel 2009, Dipartimento di Stato americano ha promesso di indagare sulle accuse che" $ 850 milioni di alimentare e lotta alla povertà aiuti dagli Stati Uniti è stato distribuito sulla base di favoritismo politico da parte del ministro attuale Presidente del Consiglio. "Nessuna relazione è stata emessa.

Nel 2011, US Census Bureau ha fatto la previsione spaventosa che la popolazione in Etiopia entro il 2050 più del triplo a 278 milioni di euro. Etiopia cronica "insicurezza alimentare", si prevede di ottenere sempre peggio che culmina in una "catastrofe malthusiana" (dove la malattia, la fame, la guerra, ecc ridurrà la popolazione al livello della produzione alimentare) nel prossimo futuro. Regime di Zenawi ha omesso di attuare un programma nazionale di pianificazione familiare che evitare una simile catastrofe.

Carestia in Etiopia è il novanta per cento Man-Made

Nel 2011, Wolfgang Fengler, un economista di piombo per la Banca Mondiale, in un momento rinfrescante onesto per un banchiere internazionale disse: "La carestia nel Corno d'Africa è il risultato di prezzi artificialmente alti per il cibo e il conflitto civile che per cause naturali e ambientali . Questa crisi è artificiale. La siccità si sono verificati a più riprese, ma avete bisogno di politiche male per quello di portare ad una carestia. "In altre parole, è cattivo e malgoverno che è al cuore del problema carestia in Etiopia, non è la siccità o altre cause ambientali. Penny Lawrence, direttore internazionale Oxfam, dopo aver visitato l'Etiopia ha osservato: "La siccità non ha bisogno di dire la fame e la miseria. Se le comunità hanno di irrigazione per le colture, granai e pozzi alle piogge raccolto poi in grado di sopravvivere nonostante quello che gli elementi di portare alla loro attenzione. "Martin Plaut, BBC World Service News editor Africa spiega che la" corrente [cibo in Etiopia] crisi è in parte . il risultato di politiche volte a mantenere i contadini sulla terra, che appartiene allo Stato e non può essere venduto "Così le domande ovvie sono: Perché un regime che ha respinto il socialismo ed è presumibilmente impegnata in una economia di libero mercato insistono sullo stato di completo proprietà della terra? Perché non c'è un adeguato sistema di irrigazione per le colture, i depositi di grano e pozzi per raccogliere le piogge in tutto il paese? Zenawi ha davvero una politica di sicurezza alimentare per il paese?

The Hunger Games a Camp David

Dopo quattro decenni al valore minimo degli aiuti umanitari alimentari, è improbabile che l'Etiopia si raggiungere la sicurezza alimentare, anche in un lontano futuro. Il presidente Obama è giustamente preoccupata per la "carenza di cibo" nel Corno d'Africa e nel Sahel negli anni a venire. Il mese scorso, gli Stati Uniti si sono impegnati a fornire circa 200 milioni di dollari ulteriori aiuti umanitari per il Corno in previsione di "scarse piogge e la siccità". Nel 2011, gli Stati Uniti fornirono oltre $ 1,1 miliardi di aiuti umanitari in Etiopia, Kenya e Somalia.

Il 19 maggio, il presidente Obama ed i leader del G8 dovranno affrontare alcune difficili domande: Qual è il rischio morale di all'infinito fornire aiuti alimentari ai paesi Horn? Perché il mondo continuano ad aiutare un paese che affitta milioni di ettari di terre più fertili del paese e diventare il granaio per l'India e il Medio Oriente, mentre il suo popolo muore di fame? Perché il mondo fornire aiuti alimentari a un paese in cui il regime al potere weaponizes l'aiuto all'opposizione Decimate, schiacciare le aspirazioni democratiche del popolo e flagrante violazione dei diritti umani? Ha aiutare dittatori che usano gli aiuti alimentari per fine politico fame finalità e scarsità di cibo in Africa?

I leader del G8 può parlare di "mancanza di cibo" fino a quando le mucche tornano a casa, ma la risposta alla carestia in Etiopia e nel Corno non è infinita volantini per le popolazioni che muoiono di fame e pranzi gratuiti per dittatori accattonaggio. Dispense creare un rischio morale di dipendenza negativa da parte dei destinatari che li rende incapace di badare a se stesse. Zenawi e gli altri dittatori africani non hanno alcun incentivo ad affrontare la "crisi alimentare" questione perché sono assolutamente e positivamente in modo che gli Stati Uniti e altri paesi del G8 sarà SEMPRE portare aiuti umanitari cibo per il loro anno dopo anno le popolazioni muoiono di fame. In qualità di leader mondiale, gli Stati Uniti hanno l'obbligo morale di fornire aiuti umanitari alle vittime della carestia alimentare, ma ha anche la responsabilità morale di sfruttare i miliardi in dispense (aiuti allo sviluppo, prestiti dalle istituzioni multilaterali e dei pagamenti di sostegno al bilancio) a dittatori di promuovere la democrazia, i diritti umani e stato di diritto in Africa.

Nel maggio 2010, il partito Zenawi ha vinto 99,6 per cento dei seggi in parlamento. Nonostante due decenni di partito unico dominio, Zenawi non ha potuto fare molto per affrontare il problema strutturale di insicurezza alimentare nel paese. Ma lui ha soffiato il suo corno sulla falsa la crescita economica stratosferica. Etiopi soffre di croniche carenze di cibo e fame perché non hanno un quadro politico in grado di affrontare efficacemente il problema. L'indiano premio Nobel per l'economia Amartya Sen sostiene che il modo migliore per scongiurare carestie è di istituzionalizzare la democrazia e rafforzare i diritti umani: "No carestia ha mai avuto luogo nella storia del mondo in una democrazia funzionante" perché i governi democratici "devono vincere le elezioni volto pubblico e critica, ed hanno forte incentivo ad adottare misure per scongiurare carestie e altre catastrofi ". carestie sono tenuti nascosti alla vista del pubblico da incarcerando leader dell'opposizione, giornalisti e sostenitori della società civile che potrebbe suonare l'allarme su una carestia incombente.

Cosa dovrebbero fare gli Stati Uniti per l'Etiopia?

Tutti gli Stati Uniti devono fare per l'Etiopia è una pratica ciò che predica. Nel 2009 a Accra, in Ghana il presidente Obama ha predicato:

Lo sviluppo dipende dalla buona governance. La storia offre un chiaro verdetto: i governi che il rispetto della volontà del proprio popolo, che governano con il consenso e non sulla coercizione, sono più prospere, più stabili e più successo rispetto a governi che non lo fanno. Nessun paese sta andando a creare ricchezza se i suoi leader sfruttano l'economia per arricchire se stessi. Nessuno vuole vivere in una società dove lo Stato di diritto cede il passo alla regola di brutalità e corruzione. Questa non è democrazia, che è tirannia. E ora è il momento per quello stile di governo per porre fine .... Nel 21 ° secolo, in grado, le istituzioni affidabili e trasparenti sono la chiave del successo - i parlamenti forti, forze di polizia oneste, giudici indipendenti, una stampa indipendente, un vivace settore privato, una società civile. Queste sono le cose che danno vita alla democrazia, perché questo è ciò che conta nella vita quotidiana delle persone .... La storia è dalla parte di questi africani coraggiosi, non con chi usa colpi di stato o costituzioni cambiamento per rimanere al potere. L'Africa non ha bisogno di uomini forti, ha bisogno di istituzioni forti. Con una migliore governance, non ho alcun dubbio che l'Africa mantiene la promessa di una più ampia base di prosperità ....  

Ascoltare per perorare Zenawi maggiori aiuti prima del G8 per affrontare le incombenti "crisi alimentari" (ma "senza fame") è come ascoltare l'uomo che ha ucciso i suoi genitori e ha chiesto clemenza della corte perché è orfano. Ora questa è una faccia tosta!

Traduzioni amarico di commenti recenti l'autore si possono trovare su:

http://www.ecadforum.com/ Amharic/archives/category/al- Mariam-Amarico

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

Commenti precedenti da parte dell'autore sono disponibili all'indirizzo:

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

www.huffingtonpost.com/ Alemayehu-g-Mariam /

Commnetaries precedenti dell'autore sulla carestia in Etiopia:

Il "silenzio" Creeping Carestia: http://www.huffingtonpost com / Alemayehu-g-Mariam / ethiopias-silenzio-creepi_b_ 418068.html.

Quale dovrebbe essere il Mondiale fare per risparmiare Starving

Perché etiopi morire di fame nel 2011? http://open.salon.com/ blog/almariam/2011/08/20/why_ are_ethiopians_starving_again_ in_2011

"La carestia e la Bestia Noiseome" http://www.ethiopianreview. com/content/11124

Etiopia: Apocalypse Now o in 40 anni http://open.salon.com/~~HEAD=NNS blog/almariam/2011/07/10 / ethiopia_apocalypse_now_or_in_ 40_years

Etiopia: Starve la Bestia, sfamare il popolo! the_people http://open.salon.com/ blog/almariam/2011/08/14 / ethiopia_starve_the_beast_not_

Etiopia: Meles Zenawi e la militarizzazione della

በካምፕ   ዴቪድ   የአፍሪካ   የችጋር   ትርኢት

ከፕሮፌሰር ዓለማየሁ ገብረማርያም ትርጉም ከነጻነት ለሃገሬ

ባለፈው ሳምንት የሁዋይት ሀውስ ቤተ መንግስት ቃል አቀባይ ጄይ ካርኒ ፕሬዜዳንት ኦባማ የጋናን፤ የታንዛንያን፤የበኒን ፕሬዜዳንቶችንና መለስ ዜናዊን የስምንቱን የኤኮኖሚ ሃያላን ሃገሮች (G8) ስብሰባ ላይ በካምፕ ዴቪድ ሜሪላንድ በሜይ 19 ስለ ምግብ ዋስትና በሚካሄደው ውይይት ላይ እንዲገኙ መጋበዛቸውን ይፋ አድርገዋል፡፡ የአሜሪካን መንግሥት ለዘመናት ለአፍሪካ አህጉር የምግብ እርዳት ሲያደርግ መክረሙ ይታወቃል፡፡ አሁንም በድጋሚ አፍሪካን << የመረረ የችጋር ወቅት >> ገጥሟታል ይላሉ ፕሬዜዳንት ኦባማ፡፡ ኦክስፋም በበኩሉ ከአሁኑ አስፈላጊው ሁሉ ካልተደረገ በስተቀር በመታየት ላይ ያሉ ጠቋሚ ምልክቶች ሁሉ እጅጉን ዘግናኝ የሆነ መአት እንደሚከተል ያሳያሉ ይላል፡፡ የተባበሩት መንግስታት የምግብና የእርሻ ድርጅት በበኩሉ ባስተላለፈው የድረሱ ጥሪው፤ በሳሄል ምእራብ አፍሪካ ለ 800.000 በችጋሩ ለተጎዱት ረሃብተኞች መርጃ የሚሆን 70 ሚለዮን የአሜሪካን ዶላር እንደሚያስፈልግ፤አስቀድሞ ማስጠንቀቂያው መተንበዩን መሰረት አድርጎ ኢትዮጵያና ሶማልያ በጉዳቱ ወደ አዘቀዘቀው ደረጃ እንደሚወርዱም ይፋ አድርጓል፡፡ የዝናቡ አናሳ መሆንም አስፈላጊውን ምርት ስለማያስገኝ የግጦሽ መሬትንም መልሶ ስለማያለማው፤ በአጠቃላዩ አካባቢም የውሃ እጦት ሌላው ችግር በመሆኑ የደቡብ ኢትዮጵያውን ክፍል በእጅጉ የሚጎዳና ሕዝቡንም ለመረረ ችጋር ከብቱንም ለእልቂት የሚዳርግ ክፉ ቀን እንደሚመጣ ይተመናል :: ይህ ደሞ በገሃድ እየታየ ያለ በመሆኑ አደጋው ከአደጋዎች ሁሉ የባሰ በሆነ መልኩ ነው፡፡ አንባቢዎቼ እንደሚያስታዉሱት ሁሉ ባለፉት ሁለታ ዓመታትና ከዚያም ባለፈ በኢትዮጵያ ስለሚከሰተው ችጋር በርካታ አስተያየቶችን አስመልክቼ ጽፌ ነበር፡፡

የችጋር   ትርኢት በኢትዮጵያ

ባለፉት ዘመናት የነበሩት አሁንም ያሉት የኢትዮጵያ ገዢዎች ስለችጋር መከሰት የራሳቸውን ቸልተኛነት፤ አቅምየለሽነት በመካድ ነጻ በማድረግ በተጠያቂነት ያልወቀሱትና ሃላፊነት ያልሸሹበት ዘዴ የለም፡፡ በ 1974 ዓ.ም. ግርማዊ ቀዳማዊ ኃይለ ስላሴ ዲምብልቢይ ይፋ እስኪያደርገው ድረስ ረሃብ የለም ሲሉ ከርመው ነበር፡፡ በዲምብልቢይ ፊልም ሕዝቡ ረሃቡን አየ፤አዘነ፤ አንገቱን ደፍቶ አለቀሰ፡፡ የወገኑ በችጋር መቆላት ቅስሙን ሰበረው፡፡ የቀድሞው የሶሻሊስት ጁንታ መሪ መንግስቱ ሃይለማርያምም በ 1984-1985 የተከሰተውን ችጋር በድፍረተና በማንአለብኝት ክዶ ሁኔታውን በዓይናቸው ያዩትንና የታዘቡትን ሁሉ ገሸሽ በማደረግ ስችጋሩና እልቂቱ አንስተው ሲጠይቁት በመመጻደቅ << >> የምን ችጋር ነበር እያለ ያሾፍ ነበር፡፡

መለስ ካለፉት መሰል ገዢዎች ሁሉ የተለየ ብልጣ ብልጥ ነው፡፡ በሃገሪቱ በላይ በሚንሰራፋው የችጋር ወቅት ሁሉ የህዝብ ግንኙነት መሳይ ተግባር ይወጣል፡፡ያለው "የምግብ እጥረት" በሚል ሽፋን በመጠቀም በጣም የጎላውን "ረሃብ" የሚለውን ቃል አይጠቀም እንጂ ከዚያ ባሻገር ምንም አይቀረውም፡፡ ለመለስ በሃገሪቱ ላይ ችጋር የለም፡፡ ያለው የምግብ እጥረት ነው፡፡ የከፋ የተመጣጣነ የምግብ እጦት ነው: ያለው የምግብ ዋስትና ማጣት ነው፤ የምግብ አቅርቦት ችግር ነው፤ እና ሌላም ልላም ይላል መለስ፡፡ እንደሱ የማሳሳቻ ጥምጥም አካሄድ እነዚህ ሁሉ የየእርሻ ዘዴን አጠቃቀም አለማወቅ ያመጣቸው ችግሮች፤የባለስላጣናቱ የእውቀት ድህነት ፤ሙስና፤እና የወንጀለኛነት ውጤት ወዘተ አይደሉም ቢልም፤እነዚህ ሁሉ ግን በችጋርና ድርቅ፤በተደጋገመ የዝናብ እጥረት ሳቢያ የሰብል መበላሸት፤የደኖች መጨፍጨፍ፤የመሬት መሸርሸር፤ ከመጠን በከላይ የመሬቱ ምርታማነት ማጣት እና በሌሎችም ሰበቦች የተፈጠሩ ችግሮች ናቸው፡፡ መለስ ባለፈው ጃነዋሪ 2011 ላይ ለሲ ኤን ኤን በሰጠው የቅጥፈት መግለጫ ላይ፡ "ኢትዮጵያ በጣም አሰቃቂ የሆነ የችጋር ወቅት ውስጥ ሆና፤ ሕዝቡም ለችጋር ተጋልጦ ሳለ አንተ በሌላ ሃገር ጉዳይ ጣልቃ ገብ በመሆን ይህን ያህል ገንዘብ እንዴት ታባክናለህ? ለሚለው የሰጠው ዓይን ያወጣ የቅጥፈት ምላሽ፤ << ማንኛቸውም ሰብአዊ ድርጅቶች ሊነግሩህ እንደሚችሉ በኢትዮጵያ ውስጥ ችጋር የለም ድርቅ ቢኖርም እኛ ግን ሕዝባችንን በአግባቡ ልንመግብ እንችላለን ....... >> ብሎ አድበስብሶታል ::

ዓለም አቀፎቹ የድህነት ቃራሚዎች / አጎብጓቢዎች (mercanti di povertà / magnaccia "PMP") የምግብ እጥረትን ለማስረዳት << >> ሳይንሳዊ መገለጫ ፈጥረውለት፤ መለስ ደግሞ ያንን በሃገሪቱ ላይ ያንሰራፋውን የችጋር መጠንና በሕዝቡ ላይ የሚያደርሰውን እልቂት ለመደበቂያና መሸሸጊያነት እየተጠቀመበት ነው፡፡ እነዚህ ቃራሚ / አጎብጓቢዎች ምንም ያህል የምግብ እጥረት ቢኖርና ገጦ ቢታይም ችጋር የሚለውን መግለጫ እየሸሹትና ሳይንሳዊውን መደባበቂያ መግለጫ በመስጠት ላይ ናቸው፡፡ መለስ ደግሞ በዚህ በተፈጠረው መግለጫ ውስጥ በመሸጎጥ ችጋረ የለም ይለናል፡፡ በነሱ ብልጥታዊ ሰበብ ደግሞ ሁኔታው ​​በ << የከፋ የምግብ ዋስትና እጦት >> ጭንቀት፤አጉል ገጠመኞች> ... እያሉ ያሾፋሉ፡፡ በአፍሪካ ውስጥ በሳይንሳዊ ማስረጃ እንደተረጋገጠው ችጋር ሊኖር ጨርሶ አይችልም ብለው ሳያምኑበት ሊያሳምኑ ይጥራሉ፡፡ ስለዚህም የዚህ ሁኔታውን አፍኖ በዝምታ የማለፉ አድማና ዱለታ በማጭበርበሪያ ጭንብል በመሸፈን የኢትዮጵያን የችጋር አሰቃቂ መልክ ለመደበቅ ከፍ ያለ ጥረታቸው ነው፡፡

መለስና ከፍተኛ መኮንኖቹ በድርቅ ሳቢያ የተፈጠረውን የምግብ አቅርቦት እጥረት በአጭር ጊዜ ውስጥ ተቆጣጥረን እናሸንፈዋለን ብለው ምለው ተገዝተው ነበር፡፡የሃገሪቱ የድርቅ መከላከያን የአስቀድሞ ጥንቃቄ ሹም ስምኦን መቻሌ፤ መኩራራትና በእርግጠኝነት << ኢትዮጵያ በቅርቡ የምግብ ዋስትናን ጣረጋግጣለች >> ብሎ ነበር፡፡ ላለፉት በርካታ ዓመታትም መለስ "የሴፍቲ ኔት ፕሮግራም "፤ በምግብ ተረጂነት ላይ መተማመንን ለማስቆም፤ፈላጊውንና አቅራቢውን በማቀራረብና በቂ ምርት በማስገኘት የፕሮግራሙን ስኬታማነት በማስተዋወቅ ላይ ይገኛል፡፡ በኦክቶበር 2011 መለስ ለታማኝ የፓርቲው ሰዎች የተለመደ ቅልመዳውን ሲያቀርብ << ከምግብ ተረጂነት የሚያወጣንንና እራሳችን በበቂ ለመመገብ የሚያስችለንን፤ በ 2015 ከምግብ እርዳት ጋር የምንለያይበትን ዘለቄታዊ እቅድ ነድፈናል ብሎ ነበር፡፡ የመለስ የበቂ ምርት ማግኛ ዘዴም፤የሃገሪቱን በሚሊዮን ሄክታር የሚቆጠር ለም መሬት ለውጭ ኢንቬስተሮች ለሚላቸው ባዕዳን የተመረጡ የእርሻ ቦታዎችን በሊዝ በመችብቸብና ዓላማቸውም የሃገሪቱ ሕዝብ በችጋር እያለቀ ምርታቸውን ወደ ውጭ ሃገራት ለመሸጥና ለማትረፍ የሆነውን አሰራር ነው፡፡ መለስ የመሬቶችን የህዝብ ሃብት በማድረግ ከተረጂነት መውጫ መንገዱን ጥርቅም አድርጎ ዘግቶ የህዝቡን ባለንብረትነት ፈጽሞ ይቃወማል :: ይህ ደግሞ በየትም ቦታ ታይቶ የማይታወቅ ስርአት ነው፡፡ባለፈው ዓመትም የምግብ አቅርቦት ዋጋ ግሽበት 47,4 በመቶ እንደሆነ ቀጥሏል፡፡

በኢትዮጵያ የምግብ አቅርቦት እንደፖለቲካ መሳርያነት ጥቅም ላይ እየዋለ ነው፡፡ችጋር አዲሱ የተቃዋሚዎች ማጥፊያ፤ ማዳከሚያ ተስፋ ማስቆረጫ መሳርያ በመሆን በማገልገል ላይ ነው፡፡ መለስ ኢትዮጵያውያንን በችጋር ማጥ ውስጥ በመዝፈቅና ሆዳቸውን ባዶ በማድረግ ሕዝቡ አንገቱን እንዲደፋ ሞራሉን እንዲያጣ፤ ጥንካሬው ተሰብሮ አገልጋዩ እንዲሆን፤መንፈሱ እንዲላሽቅና ህሊናው የመከራ ቋት እንዲሆንና ማሰብ እንዲያቅተው በማድረግ ገዢነቱ ተሳክቶለታል፡፡ ሕዝቡም አቅሙን ተገፏል ወኔው ተዳክሟል፡፡ የመለስን አገዛዝ የሚቃወሙ ሁሉ ሰብአዊ የምግብ ተረጂነት መብታቸውን መገፈፍ ብቻ ሳይሆን፤ለስደት በሚዳርገው ዘዴ ስደተኛ በማድረግ፤እነሱነታቸውን በማጣጣልና ተስፋ በማስቆረጥ፤አለያም የያዙትን የእርሻ ማሳቸውን በሰበብ አስባቡ በመቆራረጥና በማሳነስ፤የብድር ተጠቃሚነት መብት እንዳይኖራቸው፤ የማዳበርያና የዘር እህል እንዳያገኙ በማድረግና በሌላም ሌላ ግፍ ማዳከሙ ተሳክቶለታል፡፡ የጋምቤላን ጉዳይ በተመለከተም የዓለም አቀፉ የሰብአዊ መበት የሚጥሰውን ነዋሪዎች ከያዙትና ካለሙት መሬታቸው ላይ በግዴታ እንዲለቁ በማድረግ አንድ ሙሉ ነዋሪ ቦታውን ሕንዶች በኢንቬስተርነት እንዲነጥቋቸው ተደርጓል፡፡ ከብዙዎቹ ተሟጋቾች መሃል ሁማን ራይትስ ዎች፤ በሰብአዊ የምግብ እርዳታ ፕሮግራሙ ላይ: ሲዘግብ << የኢትዮጵያ መንግስት በተከታታይ የምግብ እርዳታውን እንደ ፖለቲካ መጠቀሚያ፤ ተረጂውን ማግለያ፤ ለመቆጣጠርያነት እያዋለው ነው፡፡ የገዢውን ፓርቲ ጨዋታ ለመቀላቀል ፈቃደኛ ካልሆንክ በተገቢው የተቆጣጣሪ የውጭ ታዛቢ ግበረ ሃይል እንዳትታገዝ ሆነህ ከጨዋታው ውጪ ትደረጋለህ፡፡ ስለዚህም የተጠናከረና ወለም ዘለምን የማይቀበል በራሱ ተማምኖ የሚንቀሳቀስና ግድፈቱን ይፋ የሚያወጣ የውጪ ታዛቢ ካለተፈጠረል በስተቀር ይህን ጨቋኝ ኢሰብአዊ የሆነ ገዢ መንግስት ማስተካከል የማይሞከር ነው >> ብልዋል :: በ 2011 ላይ በሃገሪቱ ውስጥ ካለው ገዢ ፓርቲ ጋር ተወዳጅተውና ተቀብለው ከሚንቀሳቀሱት ውጪ በፖለቲካ አመለካከት ልዩነታቸው ሳቢያ ከአሜሪካን መንግስት ተችሮ የነበረው 850 ሚሊዮን ዶላር የማግለል ስርጭት በመለስ ፓርቲ ስለተፈጸመው የስርጭት ደባ የአሜሪካው ስቴት ዲፓርትመንት ለማጣረት ቃል ቢገባም፤ << እስካሁን ድረስ ስለጉዳዩ አንድም የወጣ ዘገባ የለም >> :: በ 2011 የአሜሪካው የምርምር ቢሮ የኢትዮጵያ ሕዝብ ቁጥር በ 2050 በመጠን በመግዘፍ ወደ 278 ሚሊዮን ያሻቅባል፤ ብሎል :: በዚህም በሽታ ችጋር ጦርነትና እልቂት ሌላም ሌላም ሰበብ ሕዝቡን ወደ ምግብ አምራችነት ግዳጅ ያሰድገባዋል፡፡ የመለስ ገዢ መንግስት ብሔራዊ የቤተሰብ መምሪያ እቅድ በአግባቡ መዘርጋት ስላልቻለ ወደ ተፈራው ችጋርና ችግር በተፋጠነ ሂደት መግባቱ የማይቀር ነው፡፡

በኢትዮጵያ የሚከሰተው ችጋር 90 በመቶው ሰው ሰራሽ ነው፡፡

የዓለም ባንኩ መሪ ኤኮኖሚስት ዎልፍጋንግ ፌንግለር በኦገስት 17 2011 ላይ እንደ ዓለም አቀፍ የባንክ ሰውነቱ ለአስተያየቱ እጅጉን ታማኝ ነበር፡፡ ሲናገርም፡ - << በአፍሪካ ቀንድ ያለው የችጋር ጉዳይ ለዋጋ የሚጠየቀው የተጋነነነ ዋጋና በሚፈጠረው የእርስ በእርስ ግጭት የመጣ እንጂ በተፈጥሮ ሳቢያ የተከሰተ አይደለም፡፡ይህ ችግር ሰው ሰራሽ ነው፡፡ድርቅ በተደጋጋሚ ተከስቷል፡፡በኢትዮጵያ ውስጥ ሁኔታው ​​ወደ ርሃብ እንዲቀየር ያደረገው ግን ዋነኛው ሁኔታ መጥፎ ፖሊሲ መፈጠሩ ነው፡፡በሌላ አገላለጥም በኢትዮጵያ ውስጥ መጥፎና እኩይ አስተዳደርየችጋሩ መንስኤ ነው እንጂ ድርቅና የአካባቢ ዓየር ያመጣው ጣጣ አይደለም፡፡ የኦክስፋም ዓለም አቀፍ ዳይረክተር የሆኑት ፔኒ ላውረንስ ፤ኢትዮጵያን ከጎበኙ በኋላ የደረሱበት ድምዳሜ << ሕብረተሰቡ ለሰብሉ የመስኖ ውሃ ቢኖረው፤የሰብሉ ማጠራቀሚያ ጎተራ በብቃት ቢያገኝ፤እና በቂ ውሃ ከዝናቡ ማቆርያ ቢሰራለት ማንኛቸውንም የሚያጋጥማቸውን ችግር ሁሉ በቀላሉ ሊቋቋሙት ይችላሉ በማለት ዘግበዋል፡፡ የዓለም አገልግሎት የአፍሪካ ኤዲተር የሆኑት የቢቢሲው ማርቲን ፕላውት ሲሉ፤ያሁኑ በገበሬው ላይ የወረደበት ችግር መንስኤ መንግስት መሬቱን የራስህ ነው ግን አታዝበትም አይነት ደንብ በማውጣት ገበሬው ከዚያ እንዳይነቀሳቀስ ለማድረግ ያወጣው ደንብ በመሆኑ ሊነሱ የሚገባቸው መሰረታዊ ጉዳዮች፤ ሶሻሊዝምን ያወገዘው መንግስት እና ነጻ የገበያ ኤኮኖሚን እተላለሁ የሚል አካል፤ መሬትን በተመለከተ ከመንግስት ቁጥጥር ውጪ ሊሆን አይችልም በማለት መመጎቱ ለምንድን ነው? ለምበንስ ስርአት ያለው የመስኖ ውሃ እንዲዘረጋ አልታቀደም? የሰብል ማከማቻ ሰፋፊ ቋትስ ለምን የለም? የዝናብ ውሃ መማቆርያስ ለይስሙላ ሳይሆን በወጉ ለምን አልተዘጋጀም? በእርግጥና በእውነት ግን ለኢትዮጵያ መለስ ዜናዊ የምግብ ዋስትና ፖሊሲ አለው?

ለዓመታት በሰብአዊ የእህል ምጥዋት አረንቋ ውስጥ የተዘፈቀችው ኢትዮጶያ በቅርቡ የምግብ ዋስትናን ታረጋግጣለች ብሎ ማሰብ ከቅዠት ውጪ ሊሆን አይችልም፡፡ የመጪው ዐመታት በአፍሪካ ቀንድና በሳህል ሊያጋጥም በሚችለው ችጋርና የረሃብ ሰደድ እጅጉን ያስጨንቃቸዋል፡፡ ባለፈው ወር የአሜሪካን መንግስት ሊከተል የሚችለውን የዝናብ እጥረትና የሚያመጣውን የድርቅ ሁኔታ ለመቋቋምና ሕዝቡን ከችጋር ሞት ለመታደግ ተጨማሪ የ 200 ሚሊዮን የምግብ ዕርዳታ ለመቸር ቃል ገብቷል፡፡የአሜሪካን መንግስት ለኢትዮጵያ፤ ኬንያና ሶማልያ የ 1,1 ቢሊዮን ዶላር የሰብአዊ ዕርዳታ ሰጪ ነው፡፡

በሜይ 19 ላይ ፕሬዜዳንት ኦባማና የ G8 መሪዎች እንደገና ሊያጤኑት የሚገባቸው 3 መሰረታዊ ጥያቄዎች አሉ፡፡ማለቂያ የሌለው እርዳታ ለአፍሪካ ቀንድ ሃገራት መስጠቱ የሚያስከትለው የሞራል ድቀት ምን ሊሆን ይችላል? እነዚህን ፈላጭ ቆራጭ ግፈኛ ገዢዎች መርዳቱና እነሱ ያንን መተማመኛ በማድረግ ተደላድለው ለግፍ አገዛዝ በእርዳታው ገንዘብ የበለጠ መመቻቸታቸው የረጂዎቹን የሞራል ኪሳራ አያስከትልም? በአፍሪካ ውስጥ በተደጋጋሚ በመከሰት ላይ ያለውንስ የችጋርና የድርቅ መፈራረቅና በተደጋጋሚ መከሰት ዘወትር ሰበቡ የዓየር ለውጥ በመሆን መቀጠሉስ በአፍሪካ ላለው የማይነቀል የምግብ እጥረት አስተዋጽኦ አያደርግም? የ G8 መሪዎች ለመለስ ዜናዊ ሊያቀርቡለት የሚገቡ ሌሎች ጥያቄዎች አሉ፡፡በሚሊዮን ሄክታር የሚቆጠር ለም መሬቶቹን ለህንድና ለአረብ ሃገራት የምግብ ዋስትና ማምረቻነት እየሸጠ የራሱን ሕዝብ ወደ ችጋርና ሞት የሚዳርግን ሃገር፤ ዓለም መርዳት ያለበት በምን መመዘኛና ሰበብ ነው? ለምንስ ተብሎ ነው የሚሰጠውን የሰብአዊ የምግብ አቅርቦት መርጃ ለፖለቲካ መጠቀሚያ በማድረግ ተቃዋሚዎቹን ለመጉጃ፤ ለማስደንበርያ፤ ለማስራቢያ፤ ለማፈናቀያ፤ዴሞክራሲን ለመጨፍለቂያ፤ሰብአዊ መብትን ለመድፈሪያ፤ ፍትህን ለማጥፋት መጠቀሚያ ለሚያደርግ ሃገርስ ለምን ተብሎ ነው የሚረዳው?

የ G8 መሪዎች ስለ << >> ምግብ እጥረት መነጋገር ይችላሉ፡፡ በኢትዮጵያና በአፍሪካ ቀንድ ላለው ችጋር ምላሽ ግን፤በረሃብ በመሰቃየት ላለው ሕዝብ እፍኝ ምጽዋት መቸርና፤ ለፈላጭ ቆራጭ ጨካኝ ገዢዎች የመዝናኛ ወቅትና የነጻ ምሳ አቅርቦት የችግሩ መቅረፊያ ሊሆን አይችልም፡፡ እፍኝ ምጽዋት ችጋርን ከማጥፋት ይልቅ የሞራል ውድቀትን በማስከተል የዘልአለም ተመጽዋችነትን ፍላጎት ያበረታታል፡፡ መለስና መሰለቹ ግፈኛ የአፍሪካ ጨቋኝ ገዢዎች የምግብ እጥረቱን አስመልክቶ ለሕዝቡ ዘላቂ መፍትሔ የማስቀመጥ ሃሳብም ፍላትም የላቸውም :: ምክንያቱም ዓለም ሁል ጊዜ ረሃብን በተመለከተ እንደማይጨክን ስለሚያውቁ ችግሩን እያወቁት አፍነው በመያዝ በመጨረሻው ደቂቃ ላይ ጩኸታቸውን ማቅለጣቸው የተለመደ ዘዴያቸው ነው፡፡የአሜሪካን መንግስት እነደዓለም ቀደም ሹመኛነቱ ርሃብ በገባበት ሁሉ ደርሶ እርዳታ በመስጠት ተጠቂዎችን ከችጋር ማዳንን የሞራልና ሰብአዊ ግዴታ አድርጎ ያየዋል፡፡ ከዚሁ ጋር በተያያዘም ለዚህ ሁኔታ የሚሰጡትንም የልማት እርዳታ ችሮታ፤ብድርን፤የበጀት ድጋፍ ችሮታውንም ለዴሞክራሲ ማበብና ተግባራዊነቱ፤ የሰብአዊ መብት መከበርና መየበቅ፤የህግ የበላይነትን ማክበርና ለሱም መገዛትን ማረጋገጫ ጉልበትም አድርገው የመያዝ የውዴታ ግዴታ አለባቸው፡፡

በ 2010 በተካሄደው የማስመሰያ ምርጫ የመለስ ፓርቲ 99,6 የፓርላማ ወንበሮችን አሸነፍኩ ብሎ ስልጣን መያዙ ይታወሳል፡፡ ባለፉት ዓመታት ውስጥ መለስ ዜናዊ አስገራሚ የኤኮኖሚ እድገት አሳይተናል በሚል የማይጨበጥ ተስፋ ቢስ እድገት ከመፎከር ውጪ እድገቱን ግን ማሳየት ካለመቻሉም ባሻገር፤በሃገሩ ውስጥ ያለውን የምግብ እጥረት ለማሸነፍ እዚህ ግባ የሚባል ስትራቴጂ ማቅረብ አልቻለም ፡፡ በሃያ አንድ ዓመታት የመለስ አገዛዝ ውስጥ፤ኢትዮጵያ ከእርዳታ ለማኝነት ሳትላቀቅና በየጊዜው የልመናዋ ቋትም እየበዛ ከመሄድ አልተላቀቀም፡፡ ኢትዮጵያውያን እጅጉን በከፋና መፍትሔ በሌለው የምግብ እጥረት ውስጥ መዘፈቁ፤ከችግሩ ጋር በቀጥታ ሊታይ በሚችል መልኩ የፖለቲካ አሰራር ባለመዘርጋቱ ነው፡፡ የሕንዱ የኤኮኖሚ የኖቤል ሽልማት አሸናፊው አማርቲያ ሴን ርሃብን ለማስወገድ ትክክለኛው መንገድ፤ዴሞክረሲን ሕዝባዊ በማድረግ ሰብአዊ መብትንም በማጠናከር ነው በማለት ያስረዳል፡፡ በዓለም ታሪክ ውስጥ፤ዴሞክራሲ በትክክለኛው መልኩ በሚተገበርበት ቦታ ችጋር ደርሶ አያውቅም፡፡ ምክንያቱም ዴሞክራቲክ አደስተዳዳሪዎች ምርጫቸውን ማሸነፍ ስለአለባቸውና የህዝብንም ሂሳዊ አመለካከት በግላጭ ስለሚቀበሉ ያጋጠማቸውን ችጋርና ድርቅ መቋቋምና አጥጋቢ መፍትሔ የማስገኘት ግዴት ስለአለባቸው ነው፡፡

የሴን ዴሞክራሲያዊው ‹‹የድርቅን አስቀድሞ ማስጠንቀቂያ አውታሮች” የሉም:: ተቃዋሚ ፓርቲዎች አላአንዳች ሰበብ ይጨፈለቃሉ፤ መሪዎቻቸው ለመከራ ይዳረጋሉ፤ይወነጀላሉ ይታሰራሉ፡፡ ነጻው ፕሬስም ይታፈናል፤ ነጻ ጋዜጠኞችም ገዢውን መንግስትና ሹመኞቹን በሚፈጽሙት ደባና ሙስና በማጋለጣቸውና ገዢዎችም ለሚከተሉት ጭፍን የማንአለብኝ አገዛዝ አስተሳሰባቸውን በመግለጽና ትክክለኛውን መንገድ በማመላከታቸው ለወህኒ ይዳረጋሉ፡፡ ስለችጋሩ እውነታውን ሊዘግቡ አይፈቀድላቸውም፡፡ መንግስታዊ ያልሆኑ ድርጅቶች፤ድርቅን ለማስወገድ የተቋቋሙት ድርጅቶችም ጭምር አረማመዳቸው ሁሉ ጥንቃቄን ባጠናከረ መልኩ በፍርሃት መሆን እንዳለበት ተረድተዋል፡፡ ህጉ ሀገሬውንም የውጭውንም የእርዳታ ተግባር ፈጻሚውንና የሰብአዊ መብት ተሟጋቹን በወንጀለኛነት የሚያካትት ሆኗል፡፡ መለስ ዜናዊ አመጣዋለሁ እያለ በማይተገበር የሃሰት የዴሞክራሲ ነጻነት እውነታ በመዋሸት የተካነ ነውና የዓለም አቀፍ እርዳታ ድርጅቶችን በዚህ መንገድ ሲያታልልና ሲዋሻቸው ኖሯል፡፡ ባለፉት በርካታ ዓመታት ሂደት ውስጥ መለስ ሊመጣ ነው ደርሷል፤ በዝግታ እንደርስበታለን ብለን አቅደን ፈጥነን ደረስንበት የሚለውን የዴሞክራሲ ነጻነት እንኳን ልናየውና አካሉ ልንሆን ቀርቶ በሕልማችን እንኳን ለማየት ተስኖናል፡፡ ይልቁንስ የመለስ አገዛዝ ጭካኔ በየቀኑ ከአቅም በላይ እየሆነ፤ አገዛዙ ሕዝብን ኑሮ እንዲመረው የሚያደርግ፤ ሲጨንቀው በሚያወጣቸው እዛዞችና አዋጆች ግራ መጋባት፤ የተማረው ዲግሪውን ታቅፎ ኮብል ስቶን መጥረብ፤ ያን ኮብል ስቶን ሊጠርበው የሚገባው የተማረው የሚቀመጥበት ወንበር ላይ በድፍረት መጎለትና የመለስን እድሜ መለመንን በየቀኑ እያደገና የሕዝቡም ችግርና ስቃይ በዚያው ልክ ሰበዛ ማየት ግን ተችሏል፡፡

አሜሪካ ለኢትዮጵያ ምን ሊያደርግ ይገባል ?

አሜሪካ ለኢትዮጵያ ሊያደርግ የሚገባው፤አደርጋለሁ በማለት ሲያውጅ የነበረውን ብቻ ነው፡፡ በ2009 ፕሬዜዳንት ኦባማ ጋና: አክራን በጎበኙ ወቅት፤ ሲናገሩ እንዳሉት:-

ልማት ሁል ጊዜ የሚሳካው መልካም አስተዳደር ሲኖር ነው፡፡ ታሪክ ትክክለኛውን ውሳኔ ያቀርባል፡፡የራሳቸውን ሕዝቦች ውሳኔ ሚያከብሩ መንግስታት፤በጉልበትና ማንአለብኝነት የሚገዙ ሳይሆኑ በሕዝባዊ ይሁንታ የሚያስተዳድሩ፤የበለጠ ፍሬያማ፤ የተረጋጉ፤ከፈላጭ ቆራጭና በግፍ ከሚገዙ የበለጠ የተሳካላቸው ናቸው፡፡ የራሳቸውን ምቾትና የግል ሃብታቸውን በማሰቀደም ሃገራቸውንና ሕዝባቸውን የሚበዘብዙ መሪዎች ሃገር ጨርሶ ለሃገራቸው ጠቀሚ ንብረት አያተርፉም፡፡ ማንም ቢሆን የሕግ የበላይነት ተረግጦ በሙስናና በዘረፋ በሚመራ ሃገር ውስጥ መኖርን አይመኝም፡፡ ይህ አይነቱ ስርአት ዴሞክራሲያዊ ሳይሆን የግፍና የመከራ አገዛዝ ነው፡፡ ያን የመሰለውን የግዛት ዘመን ጨርሶ ለመጣልና ለማስወገድ ወቅቱ አሁን ነው…….. በ21ኛው ክፍል ዘመን ችሎታ ያላቸው፤ ታማኝ የሆኑ፤ለተጠያቂነት የበቁ ኢንስቲቲዩሽኖች የስኬት ማረጋገጫዎች ናቸው—– ጠንካር ምክር ቤቶች፤የሲቪል ማሕበረሰብ አባላት፤ታማኝ የፖሊስ አባላትና የመከላከያ ሃይል፤ ነጣ ይፍትህ ስአት አባላት፤ነጣ የመገናኛ ብዙሃን፤ንቁ የሲቪል ማሕበረሰብ አባላት፤ እነዚህ ናቸው ለዶሞክራሲያዊነት ነፍስ ዘርተው የሚያገለግሉት ምክንያቱም በሕዝቡ የእለት ተእለት ኑሮ ውስጥ አስፈላጊዎቹ መዘውሮች፡፡ …ታሪክ ከነዚህ ጀግና አፍሪካውያን ጎን ይቆማል እንጂ በጉልበትና አላስፈላጊ በሆነ መንገድ ስልጣንን የሙጢኝ የሚሉትና ሕገ መንግስታቸውን ለራሳቸው እንዲሆን በዘፈቀደ ራሳቸውን በስልጣን ለማቆየት በሚለውጡትና በማያከብሩት ጎን አይኖርም፡፡ አፍሪካ ማን አለብን ባዮችንና በጉልበታቸው የሚመኩትን አትፈልግም፡፡ የምትፈልገው ጠንካራና ጉልበታም የሆኑ ድርጅቶች (ኢንስቲቲዩሽኖች) ነው፡፡ በተሻለ አስተዳደር እርግጠኛ ነኝ አፍሪካ ተጨባጭ የሆነ ሰፊ ልማትና የእድገት ራዕይዋን የማሳካት ተስፋዋ እውን ይሆናል፡፡

ካሁን በፊት የቀረቡ የጸሃፊው ጦማሮችን ለማግኘት እዚህ ይጫኑ >> http://www.ecadforum.com/Amharic/archives/category/al-mariam-amharic

Continua a leggere ...

Caro Presidente Obama,

I am sure you do not have time to read my letter nonetheless it gives me a certain amount of release from the pain I am feeling and the little chance of this letter getting to you fills my soul with great amount of joy and hope. I am an Ethiopian immigrant currently living in California. I came to your country to go to college. I am always grateful to the American people in general and the citizens of the State of Oregon in particular that supported me in fulfilling my dream. Their graciousness in welcoming me and their generosity in helping me with financial aid to finish my education will stay in my heart forever.

Upon finishing my education I have become a productive member of society and hopefully contributed my share in making your nation a beacon of light for all of mankind. I have been blessed enough to get married to a beautiful person and raise a family. I am glad to claim I am the personification of the American dream come true. I am not writing you to ask a favor for myself but I want to tell you about the dire situation regarding the homeland I left behind a long time ago. I want to give you an idea about my country Ethiopia and the horror faced by my people in the year two thousand twelve as the rest of humanity thrives.

The source of this unbearable pain forced on my country is none other than the individual that shows up in every meeting the heads of the advanced industrialized countries attend to solve problems and plan the future. I am sure you have noticed him during picture sessions and dinner parties. He is the one who claims to represent Africa and is usually given the corner seat in the back to keep quiet and observe.

His name is Meles Zenawi and his title is chairman of TPLF party and Prime Minster of Ethiopia. He has been in power for the last twenty years. It is not that he was elected to that position since free democratic elections are not allowed but he has managed to organize sham election and rigged voting not once but five times in a row. I will tell you a few things to give you an idea of how he manages to do that.

1) Premere: Non c'è libertà di stampa in Etiopia. C'è solo una TV locale, controllato dal suo partito. The only radio-broadcasting unit is under his communications department. There are no independent newspapers in the country. The few that are allowed to exist are routinely harassed and their publishers and editors spend most of their time in his rubberstamp court. Today a few are in his dungeon accused of fabricated charges and plenty are forced out of the country. There is only one Internet provider and his outfit controls that. He uses Chinese technology to block any foreign TV or Radio broadcast and Internet sites. Your Voice of America broadcast is routinely jammed. Today there are more journalists and Independent Web sites outside the country than in our homeland. The Ethiopian people are kept in the dark by design.

2) Political Party and Civic organizations: The dictator does not allow real independent political parties. On paper there are over eighty political parties in the country, but they are all the creations of the dictator. The few that dare to organize independently are subjected to harassment, imprisonment and even murder. His claim that there are no worthy opposition parties is a cruel joke. In Ethiopia being an opposition party leader is a death wish. We have lost many worthy leaders in the last twenty years. Independent labor unions, civic organizations and non-government affiliated associations are not allowed. If they dare to organize they are brought under government control within a short time.

3) Administration: He has divided the country into what is known as Kilil. Kilil is a black version of Apartheid; the system the White South African set up to control black citizens. The individual appoints all Kilil administrators usually local lackeys for show purpose. His party and ethnic group controls the Army and Security service with all commanders' hand picked from his ethnic group. Ninety nine percent of high-ranking military officials belong to the dictators ethnic group. The individual and his party inherited the dreaded Kebele system set up by the departing military dictatorship to control neighborhoods and enhanced its capability using modern means. Today the Kebele system is the eyes and ears of the TPLF party and is present in every household to terrorize and control.

4) Economy: All land belongs to the state. The Ethiopian people are sharecroppers. When he took power twenty years ago facilitated by your State Department he created a congramolate called EFFORT controlled by his ethnic group. All major confiscated business and property were given to EFFORT and today it is the premier corporation in the country involved in banking, transportation, manufacturing, import export and the hospitality business. EFFORT is bigger than Ethiopia. Unable to grow the economy, ill prepared to unleash the creative potential of his people the dictator is currently selling our fertile and virgin land to foreign investors. This is despite the billions of aid dollars given by your country and Western Europe and the billions more written off the book from the IMF and World Bank. His sole purpose is to stay in power by bullying and enrich his ethnic group, family and friends.

Dear Mr. President, you might think what a coward people we are to allow such and individual to do us so much harm and accept it with silence. Non è così. We were not always that docile. The simple explanation I can offer you is that he came on the scene at a very unfortunate time for us. The twenty years of military dictatorship has sapped our strength to fight back. We were caught at a time when in the name of socialism our people and country had gone thru a very traumatic process. Our moral compass was left in disarray. No one was willing to continue the self-inflicted agony we experienced. The current dictator also showed up carrying an olive branch that promised to form an all-inclusive government. Your State Department was the premier facilitator of such transfer of power from the Military to the new liberators.

Unfortunate for Ethiopia your country still is coddling and enabling the dictator. He is considered the front line in the fight against terrorism The Pentagon is pouring money and resources to train his army. He is given the green light to interfere in Somalia in the so-called war against terror. We pay the price. The US is not made safer with all the support given to the regime but the Ethiopian people are made insecure and hopeless. Today the Ethiopian people are migrating out of their homeland at an alarming rate. The young and able and the educated are leaving their country in search of a better tomorrow. Washington DC your capital is living proof of the flight of our people outwards.

We ask you to intervene and stop this human catastrophe. We believe it is the right thing to do. It is the moral thing to do. Ethiopian Americans were in the forefront of your campaign for the presidency. We were filled with hope that you will intercede and help our motherland enter the twenty first century with dignity. It has not happened. Your State Department never fails to record and publish the crimes of the Ethiopian regime. The annual report is a very alarming detailed testimony of the nature of the illegal regime and the crimes it commits against its own people. Thanks to Wikileaks we are made conscious of the terrorist acts of the security department's involvement in setting up explosives on its own citizens and blaming the opposition. Your Ambassador was part of the cover up of this crime. It is wrong.

We would like to call your attention to the policy the US followed in the aftermath of the Second World War when it came to Europe. The US was instrumental in encouraging democratic forms of government. US aid was based on the rule of law. Sixty years later Europe enjoys the fruits of such progressive and forward-looking policy. We ask your administration follow the same principle when it comes to Africa. We deserve nothing less. We ask your administration stop coddling and enabling dictators, misfits and loathsome individuals from terrorizing their own people.

The Ethiopian people are faced with a sad dilemma. How could they fight back against a terrorist regime armed and supported by a big power like your country? It is not a fair fight by any stretch of imagination. They find it confusing that on one hand you preach democracy and human rights while on the other hand you furnish the weapons and facilitate loans from World Bank and the IMF to the their tormentor. Wouldn't you say the US would have a lasting and worthy relationship with a strong and democratic Ethiopia rather than a country always on the verge of civil war and a pitiful hand stretched begging for food and medicine?

The Prime Minster is showing up at your dinner table next week. We all know he has nothing to contribute to such discussion. The country he has been leading for the last twenty years is beset with famine, double digit unemployment, runaway inflation and human misery in a large scale. He has no record to be proud of. He has no opposition to shame him. His presence at this gathering is unexplainable and undeserved. His single TV station and his sole Radio broadcast will present a different picture. They will use the occasion to bully the Ethiopian people. There is no other voice to set the record straight.

We wish you would UN invitee or dis invite him. We know that will not happen. On the other hand we ask you use the occasion to make it clear to him that your constituents are not happy with his actions. We wish that you explain to him US aid goes hand in hand with the existence of the rule of law and respect for human rights. The American people are blessed to have such a caring and honorable person as a leader. You lead a very honorable and generous nation that has stood with Ethiopia in its time of need. We ask you to step forward and do the right thing at this critical moment in our history. We ask you to think of the eighty million Ethiopians that are made to suffer because on man and his ethnic based party is enabled by your country and others to run amok and brutalize. History will not look kindly at such abdication of responsibility.

Dear Mr. President, we are aware of what happened to dictator Gadaffi. We are witnessing the unfolding human misery in Syria. That is what is waiting Ethiopia if the regime continues its mal treatment of its won citizens. That is what we are trying to avoid from happening in Ethiopia. You can help us.

Finally we are not asking you to fight our war. We are perfectly capable of doing the job ourselves. We are simply petitioning you not to stand with the dictator. Not to give him lethal aid and training to turn his fire on us. We know it is in your power to make a stop to this enabling activity. The children of Ezana, Tewodros, Yohanes, Minilik, Aba Jifar, Tona and many others are up to the task given the opportunity. We have taken care of our business for over three thousand years and there is no reason to think we will not rise up to the occasion now. Just give us a level playing field and Green Yellow and Red will fly high on our ancient mountains and fields.

PS We have a petition on line to be presented to your office along this letter. The Web address is as follows: http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/obama-stop-monster-zenawi-invitation.html

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Warlord Charles Taylor Caged!

[caption id="attachment_13899" align="alignleft" width="150" caption="Charles Taylor"] [/ Caption]

After 420 days of trial (over nearly four years), 115 witness, over 50,000 pages of testimony, and 1,520 exhibits, Charles Taylor, warlord-turned-president of Liberia, was found guilty on 11 counts by the UN Special Court for Sierra Leone. Taylor was found guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity (including murder, rape, mutilating civilians, including cutting off their limbs, conscripting child soldiers, sexual slavery and other acts of terrorism) committed in Sierra Leone from November 30, 1996, to January 18, 2002. Over 50,000 people died in that conflict. Taylor “aided and abetted” the notorious warlords Foday Sankoh, Sam “the Mosquito” Bockarie and Issa Sesay of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) in Sierra Leone. Taylor participated in the planning, instigation and commission of these crimes and provided weapons and military support in exchange for “blood diamonds” mined by slave laborers in Sierra Leone. Taylor will be sentenced next month.

There were some problems in the prosecution's evidence. There were few documents to show the depth and scope of Taylor's involvement with the rebels. There was no evidence that Taylor was at the scene of the rebel crimes. There was little evidence showing the Liberian troops Taylor sent to Sierra Leone were directly involved in the war crimes and crimes against humanity. However, prosecutors were able to use radio and telephone intercepts and the testimonies of Taylor's close associates and security detail and show that Taylor had shipped weapons to the rebels in exchange for (blood) diamonds.

Taylor avoided conviction for “command responsibility” under article 6(3) of the Statute of the Special Court which imputes criminal responsibility “if the superior knew or had reason to know that his or her subordinate was about to commit crimes prohibited by the Statute or had done so, and the superior failed to take the necessary and reasonable measures to prevent or punish the perpetrators”. Despite evidence that Taylor had knowledge RUF rebels were committing war crimes and crimes against humanity and that he had significant influence over them, there was insufficient evidence to prove that he had effective “command and control” over them to prevent the crimes or punish the perpetrators.

Taylor denied all of the charges and any responsibility for the crimes committed in Sierra Leone. He testified on his own behalf for seven months seeking to portray himself as a peace maker. The trial reportedly cost $USD250 million! Was it worth the expense? Does justice have a price tag?

Rogues Gallery of African Criminals Against Humanity

The International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued arrest warrants for other current and former African heads of state, including Cote d'Ivoire's former president Laurent Gbagbo and Sudan's president Omar al-Bashir (and the late Moamar Gadhafi). In November 2011, Gbagbo was quietly whisked away to the Hague from house arrest in Cote d'Ivoire to face justice before the ICC on charges of crimes against humanity (murder, rape and other forms of sexual violence, persecution and other inhuman acts) that were allegedly committed during the post-election period. Gbagbo will soon be warming Taylor's chair.

Al-Bashir sneered at the ICC indictment in 2009: “Tell them all, the ICC prosecutor, the members of the court and everyone who supports this court that they are under my shoe.” (In time, he may come under the ICC's shoes.) The UN estimated well over 300,000 people have perished under Bashir's regime. Along with Al-Bashir, the ICC has also issued warrants against other Sudanese nationals including Ahmed Haroun, a lawyer and minister of humanitarian affairs, Ali Kushayb, a former senior Janjaweed (local militiamen allied with the Sudanese regime against Darfur rebels), Bahr Idriss Abu Garda, a rebel leader and two others.

The ICC has also indicted criminals against humanity in Kenya. Uhuru Kenyatta, finance minister and son of Kenya's famed independence leader Jomo Kenyatta, resigned following an ICC ruling that he will face trial for crimes against humanity in connection with the communal post-election violence between supporters of presidential candidates Raila Odinga and Mwai Kibaki in 2008. The UN estimates some 1,200 people died in weeks of unrest between December 2007 and February 2008, and 600,000 people were forcibly displaced. Cabinet secretary Francis Muthaura, a close ally of president Mwai Kibaki, former Education Minister William Ruto and radio announcer Joshua arap Sang face similar charges.

In Uganda, the ICC has indicted senior leaders of the “Lord's Resistance Army” including the notorious Joseph Kony, his deputy Vincent Otti and three other top commanders. In the DR Congo various rebel and militia leaders and Congolese military officers and politicians including Thomas Lubanga Dyilo, Jean-Pierre Bemba Gombo, Bosco Ntaganda, Mathieu Ngudjolo Chui and two others have been indicted. The ICC has issued arrest warrants for Moammar Gaddafi's son Saif al-Islam and Libyan intelligence chief Abdullah al-Senussi who was arrested in Mauritania in March of this year. Libya is contesting ICC jurisdiction so that it may be able to try the two suspects in Libyan courts.

No ICC Indictments in Ethiopia?

While seeking out war criminals and criminals against humanity in the Sudan, Kenya, Uganda, the DR of Congo, Libya and other places, the ICC and UN Security Council have avoided “Crimes Against Humanity Central– Ethiopia”. The evidence of crimes against humanity and war crimes in Ethiopia is fully documented, substantial and overwhelming.

An official Inquiry Commission appointed by Meles Zenawi in its 2006 report documented the extrajudicial killing of at least 193 unarmed protesters, wounding of 763 others and arbitrary imprisonment of nearly 30,000 persons in the post-2005 election period in Ethiopia. The Commission was limited to investigating the “violence that occurred on June 8, 2005 in Addis Ababa and violence that occurred from November 1 to 10, 2005 and from November 14 to 16, 2005″ in other parts of the country. (The Inquiry Commission has evidence on extrajudicial killings by security forces for dates other than those indicated, and had those casualties been included in the official Commission report the numbers would have increased several fold.) The killings investigated by the Commission occurred after Zenawi publicly declared that all of the country's security and military forces were under his direct, exclusive and personal control.

The Commission's evidence further showed that nearly all of the 193 unarmed protesters died from gunshot wounds to their heads or upper torso. The Commission found substantial evidence that professional sharpshooters were used in the indiscriminate and wanton attack on the unarmed protesters. The Commission further documented that on November 3, 2005, during an alleged disturbance at the infamous Kality prison near Addis Ababa, guards sprayed more than 1,500 bullets into inmate cells in 15 minutes, killing 17 and severely wounding 53. These and many other shocking facts were meticulously documented by the Inquiry Commission which examined 16,990 documents, received testimony from 1,300 witnesses and undertook months of investigation in the field. There is also documentary evidence to show that there are at least 237 named police and security officials directly implicated in these crimes and subsequently dismissed from their positions. No person has even been criminally investigated, arrested, charged, prosecuted or in any way held accountable for any of these crimes.

In December 2003, in the Gambella region of Ethiopia, 424 individuals died in extrajudicial killings by security forces. A report by the International Human Rights Clinic of Harvard Law School's Human Rights Program corroborates the extrajudicial killings. In 2008, in the Ogaden region of Ethiopia, reprisal “executions of 150 individuals” and 37 others were documented by Human Rights Watch:

Ethiopian military personnel who ordered or participated in attacks on civilians should be held responsible for war crimes. Senior military and civilian officials who knew or should have known of such crimes but took no action may be criminally liable as a matter of command responsibility. The widespread and apparently systematic nature of the attacks on villages throughout Somali Region is strong evidence that the killings, torture, rape, and forced displacement are also crimes against humanity for which the Ethiopian government bears ultimate responsibility.

No person has even been criminally investigated, arrested, charged, prosecuted or in any way held accountable for any of these crimes.

In 2010, Human Rights Watch made a submission to the UN Committee Against Torture “regarding serious patterns of torture and other cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment in Ethiopia.”

Torture and ill-treatment have been used by Ethiopia's police, military, and other members of the security forces to punish a spectrum of perceived dissenters, including university students, members of the political opposition, and alleged supporters of insurgent groups, as well as alleged terrorist suspects. Human Rights Watch has documented incidents of torture and ill-treatment by Ethiopian security forces in a range of settings. The frequency, ubiquity, and patterns of abuse by agents of the central and state governments demonstrate systematic mistreatment involving commanding officers, not random activity by rogue soldiers and police officers. In several cases documented by Human Rights Watch, military commanders participated personally in torture.

No person has even been criminally investigated, arrested, charged, prosecuted or in any way held accountable for any of these crimes.

International Criminal Court of Justice or International Criminal Court of Selective Justice?

It is historic and commendable that the ICC UN Special Tribunal for Sierra Leone has convicted Charles Taylor for war crimes and crimes against humanity. The verdict is undoubtedly a giant step forward in ending the culture of official impunity and criminality in Africa. African dictators and tyrants may no longer assume automatic impunity for their criminal actions. David Crane, the former prosecutor who indicted Taylor in 2003 correctly pointed out, “This is a bell that has been rung and clearly rings throughout the world. If you are a head of state and you are killing your own people, you could be next.” UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon described the Taylor verdict as “a significant milestone for international criminal justice” that “sends a strong signal to all leaders that they are and will be held accountable for their actions.”

But the ICC and the UN Security Council must not succumb to the shameful practice of selective justice. It is hypocritical to indict criminals against humanity in the Sudan, Kenya, Uganda and the DR Congo and pretend to “hear no evil, see no evil and speak no evil” on the war criminals and criminals against humanity in Ethiopia. There cannot be a double, triple or quadruple standard of justice tailored for different grade of war criminals and criminals against humanity. There is no such thing as a good war criminal or criminal against humanity. There can be no beauty contest among warthogs. What is good enough for the Sudan, Kenya, Uganda and the DR Congo MUST be good enough for Ethiopia because what is good for the goose is good for the gander. Based on the compelling and substantial readily available evidence, the ICC has a legal duty and a moral obligation to at least open an investigation into war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Ethiopia since 2002 when the court was created.

FREE ALL ETHIOPIAN JOURNALISTS AND POLITICAL PRISONERS!!!

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

Previous commentaries by the author are available at:

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

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

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[caption id="attachment_11796" align="alignleft" width="164" caption="Dr Aklog Birara"] [/ Caption]

የታሪክ፡ ተጠያቂወች፡ ሁነናል። ለጎሳዊ፡ ስነ፡ ልቦና፡ አናጎብድድ
ክፍል፡ ሶስት፡

ክፍል፡ ሶስትን ያንብቡ

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April 18, 2012

One-people; one country! One man; one vote!

[caption id="attachment_13706" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="League of Nations Flag Cards Abyssinia Ethiopia"] [/ Caption]

Ethiopia was betrayed by the League of Nations (LoN) and the Fascist Italian Forces unleashed a naked aggression replete with grave violation of human rights, war crimes, crimes against humanity including genocide. Some Western powers in the LoN even encouraged the Fascist Mussolini to enter Addis Ababa and consummate his occupation and carry on with his 'civilizing' mission with the blessing of the Pope at the Vatican. But his brutal action of a savage was in sharp contrast to the humane handling of the prisoners of war of Fascist Italy at the hands of God fearing pious Ethiopians.

I am elated, humbled and mesmerized by the heroic deeds of the young patriots who had never met before converging from distant places on the soil of Tigray to fight the Fascist invaders and showing mercy to captured soldiers of the ruthless enemy. The grand question is what kind of a formidable force brought Abichu, Amdetsion, Gashu, Haptom and Worku together to accomplish such unimaginable feats? What motivated the bare-footed, ill-trained, poorly equipped Ethiopian militias, including those from as far as Kembatta, to travel for six to seven months mostly on foot to Tigray and give hell to Marshall Marshal Badoglio – supreme commander of the invading Italian Fascist Army? They all vowed in the name of Immiye Menelik II to crush the Fascist invaders hell-bent on enslaving the Ethiopian people. For more information, readers are referred to my article titled “Top patriot Abichu & his wartime heroic compatriots” dated 24 February 2012 and posted on most democratic websites.

The people of Ethiopia spontaneously and enthusiastically responded to the call of Immye Menilik to mobilize for the Battle of Adwa; and similarly to the call of leaders during the war with Somalia and Eritrea, subsequently. This phenomenon has been enigmatic to political scientists accustomed to hearing Ethiopians mention the name of their region of birth as their country when asked where they are from.
In view of the paragraphs above, Ethiopia is one country and we are one people with unbreakably intertwined cultural diversity. Culture is dynamic and will change in favor of strengthening our bond – for our common humanity transcend our ethnicity. Ways we do things change with progress in science and technology; new words infiltrate our languages and enrich our vocabularies; some languages die and new ones are created – the case in point being for example: the relatively recently created Swahili is lingua franca in East Africa; Latin and Geez are limited to liturgical prayers church services; few in our generation know that Aramaic, the language of Jesus Christ, is almost dead although He has over a billion followers and counting. It is predicted that far fewer languages will be spoken in our world by the turn of this century. But Zenawi wants credit by fooling nationalities as their defender to remain with harmful cultural practices that may not stand the test of time.
One man one vote is our best choice to live together in harmony, dignity and prosperity. The one and only one challenge for all of us is how we can pull ourselves out of abject poverty with inclusive democratic participation of all ethnic groups. The point is that we have to be prepared for and be willing to accept change for it is inevitable. Let graduates of Dedebit stay fossilized in their worn out theory of Nations and Nationalities, which its author Stalin himself refused to honor but instead sent secession seekers into internal exile or prison in Siberia.

Unrewarded contribution to world peace & national liberation

Ethiopia fulfilled her mandates in Korea and the Congo as part of her obligations under collective security of the United Nations.

Ethiopia actively opposed secession in Africa advocating status quo to colonial boundaries for the sake of forming the OAU

It is a matter of record that Ethiopia played vanguard roles in rendering genuine assistance to liberation movements in almost all black African countries except Liberia, which was independent. Students from liberation groups from Angola, Kenya, Nigeria, Somalia, South Africa, Tanzania, Zimbabwe et al received training in Ethiopia. The irreplaceable Prime Minister of Ethiopia, the late Aklilu Hapte Wold, strongly argued in favor of independence for Somalia. The Dergue regime strongly supported the independence of Djibouti; it gave substantial support and training to freedom fighters of Zimbabwe and Angola. What did Ethiopia get out of all the positive contributions aforementioned except morale satisfaction? Isn't Ethiopia still a victim of global injustice? Didn't Siad Barre incessantly accuse Ethiopia as a colonizer – eventually invading our motherland at a time he considered propitious immediately after the fall of the Imperial regime taking advantage of internal division within our country and the execution of top officials by the Dergue regime?

As usual, however, Ethiopians set aside their domestic differences and dealt a heavy blow to the invading army of Barre that eventually led to his downfall.

Zenawi went to the extreme in ethnic cleansing

The tyrant has reached a point of no return in his heinous crimes. The recent ethnic cleansing of the Amharas from Gura Ferda in Southern Ethiopia is yet another shocking addition to his already repugnant similar heinous crimes well known to and condemned by the international community. This bestial act in the long list of terrorism perpetrated by the TPLF regime requires urgent retaliation to stop it by pulverizing the inner kleptocratic clique of Zenawi. Thereafter, a lean and cost-effective government must be constituted to replace the bloated administration of the of TPLF regime feeding 5.7 million parasitic cadres.

Conclusione

The international community has so far failed to reciprocate for what Ethiopia has contributed to world peace and the liberation of black African states. Our country is on the verge of destruction. Ethnic cleansing is a sure thing rearing its ugly head. We are alone in our fight for freedom, dignity, and sovereignty in this troubled world where moral laws have been shoved to the backburner.

At this critical time of fast approaching the dead end for a peaceful democratic change, there is a lesson for us in this quotation by Sir Winston Churchill: “If you will not fight for right when you can easily win without bloodshed; if you will not fight when your victory is sure and not too costly; you may come to the moment when you will have to fight with all the odds against you and only a precarious chance of survival. There may even be a worse case. You may have to fight when there is no hope of victory, because it is better to perish than to live as slaves”.

So, my fellow Ethiopians, let us admit that we had, due to lack of unity, forfeited many a time our golden chance when victory could have been sure and not too costly. Nevertheless we must without further delay meticulously plan, organize and mobilize in order to launch a highly coordinated thunderous civil disobedience nationwide at home and to hold protest demonstrations in the Diaspora including making diplomatic representations for our just cause. And do so not forgetting that Ethiopians as young as Abichu, Amdetsion, Gashu, Haptom, Worku and the leader of the 15,000 strong militia from Kembatta chose to fight Fascist Italy fiercely with determination to die than live in slavery. The young patriots created their command structure, formed a team, and chose their commander Abichu. This concept of centralized command was one of the decisive factors for their success.

What do you say folks? Is it not our turn to emulate the example of our heroic militia?

Mobilization requires resources in manpower and logistics. Remember our heroic militia had to provide resources of their own to travel for up to 6-7 months to meet the Fascist enemy in Tigray. Ask whether we are not better off to unite similarly and hit back at tyrant Zenawi who had publicly called us his enemies by snapping our call for peaceful change through civilized dialogue? Don't you think it is time that the opposition chose a transitional leader?

Scholars live in trepidation; their exodus is rampant; wide spread corruption is crippling economic growth and degrading moral; the youth are forced to live under the umbrella of a single party; most unemployed youth have become drug addicts; health services are so poor and unable to check the spread of disease; the making of a personality cult is soaring. We must therefore act as a united people to get out of the quagmire to which our inaction has put us into.

Let us make a solemn pledge that in all cases where any ethnic group is a Zenawi-sponsored victim of terrorism, eviction or intimidation each of us is a member of that group. The Amharas were victims of genocide in Arbagugu once and they are victims of cleansing now in Gura Farda; so I am an Amhara of Oromo origin. The Anuak were once victims of genocide and now they are victims of eviction from their ancestral home; so I am an Anuak. The Ogadenese are victims of carpet bombing and artillery barrage; so I am an Ogadeni. The Afars are victims of eviction from their ancestral home; so I am an Afari. Ancient Christian Monasteries such as Waldba, Zequala and Asebot are under threat of extinction; so I condemn the unholy act in the strongest term in much the same I would have done for holy sites of Judaic and Muslim religious faiths.

LONG LIVE THE EXEMPLARY PATRIOTIC SPIRIT OF ABICHU AND HIS COMPATRIOTS!

LONG LIVE ETHIOPA!!!
Release all political prisoners in Ethiopia including Andualem Aragie, Iskinder Nega, Nathnael et al
robele_ababya@yahoo.com

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[caption id="attachment_12356" align="alignleft" width="100" caption="Alemayehu G.Mariam"] [/ Caption]

Last week I had an opportunity to address a town hall meeting in Seattle sponsored by the Ethiopian Public Forum in Seattle (EPFS), a civil society organization dedicated to promoting broad dialogue, debate and discussion on Ethiopia's future. I was asked to articulate my views on Ethiopia's transition from dictatorships to democracy in light of my recent emphatic commentaries on the subject.

My views on Ethiopia's transition to democracy originate in and are shaped by my own deepening concerns over the massive, sustained and gross human rights violations in that country. My active involvement in Ethiopian “affairs” and human rights advocacy dates back to 2005 when troops under the direct personal command and control of Meles Zenawi massacred 193 unarmed protesters and wounded 763 others. Prior to 2005, my interest in Ethiopian “affairs” was academic and involved editorial work in the publication of a scholarly journal and a popular magazine on Ethiopia. The 2005 massacres presented me several stark choices: pretend the massacres did not happen; express fleeting private moral outrage and conveniently forget the whole thing; hope someone will take up the cause of these victims of crimes against humanity, or take an active advocacy role and speak truth to those who abuse and misuse power. I embraced the old saying, “The only thing necessary for the persistence of evil is for enough good people to do nothing.” I chose to become a human rights defender and advocate.

Democracy (at least in its liberal form) is a form of government based on popular sovereignty (supremacy of the people), but it is an empty shell if it is not infused with the values of freedom (of association, expression, press), and respect for human rights and accountability (rule of law, independent judiciary, transparency and free and fair elections including competitive political parties and civil society organizations). Article 21(3) of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights forges the link between democracy and human rights: “The will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of government; this will shall be expressed in periodic and genuine elections…” The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights enshrines a host of political rights and civil liberties which provide the foundation for meaningful and functioning democracies. More narrowly, I regard the struggle for human rights in Ethiopia to be a struggle for democracy and vice versa. That is why I am interested in Ethiopia's smooth transition from dictatorship to democracy; for I believe that if there is a successful democratic transition in Ethiopia, human rights will be protected, promoted and defended.

The Bridge on the Road to Democracy

We can conceive of the transition from dictatorship to democracy as a metaphorical journey on the road to progress, freedom and human enlightenment (democracy) or a regression to tyranny, subjugation and bondage (dictatorship). Societies and nations move along this road in either direction. Dictatorships can be transformed into democracies and vice versa. But the transition takes place on a bridge that connects the road from dictatorship to democracy. It is on this bridge that the the destinies of nations and societies, great and small, are made and unmade. If the transition on the bridge is orderly, purposeful and skillfully managed, then democracy could become a reality. If it is chaotic, contentious and combative, there will be no crossing the bridge, only pedaling back to dictatorship. My concern is what could happen on the bridge linking dictatorship to democracy in Ethiopia when that time comes to pass.

I believe Ethiopia is rapidly advancing towards that bridge on the road to democracy hastened by a wide variety of factors: The regime has no legitimacy despite its ridiculous claim that it won 99.6 percent of the parliamentary seats. The economy is in shambles. “Ethiopia had the second-highest inflation rate in [2011], when it peaked at 40.6 percent, according to Addis Ababa-based research group Access Capital SC”. Last month, the IMF reported, “Ethiopia still faces significant challenges, in particular containing still-high inflation, raising savings, and meeting enormous investment needs.” Last year, the IMF warned, “High inflation is undermining poverty reduction efforts. A highly distorted monetary policy represents a severe drag on growth and is undermining macroeconomic stability. Ethiopia's approach to industrial development is largely ineffective given the extremely low level of manufacturing and industrial development, low productivity levels, and persistent trade deficit.”

The visceral anti-regime attitude is palpable throughout the country and magnified more conspicuously in the regime's massive crackdown and repression. The displacement of large numbers of people in what some have called “ethnic cleansing” seems to have crystallized definite patterns of antagonism towards the regime from all sides. The complete closure of political space has spawned fear and loathing in the population. The disparity between the ruling regime and its supporters and the masses continues to fuel massive discontent. The regime is completely bereft of any new or creative ideas to overcome the complex social, political and economic problems proliferating in the society; and the cosmetic PR about building dams and expanding investments to mask basic problems has drawn more opposition and ridicule domestically and from external sources. In sum, the evidence and signs of decay in the regime are manifest and numerous. Whether collapse comes from internal implosion, popular uprising or other factors cannot be predicted.

A Bridge Too Near

If we accept the philosophical principle that human history is essentially a struggle for freedom and against tyranny and dictatorship, then the natural human tendency is to seek freedom and avoid tyranny. Tyrants and dictators believe that they can always stifle the people's yearning for freedom through the use of force or corruption. But the inexorable march towards freedom imposes its own immutable historical laws on tyrants. The foremost law of dictatorships and tyrants is that they always fall. As Gandhi noted: “All through history, there have been tyrants and murderers, and for a time they seem invincible, but in the end, they always fall. Think of it, always.” Just over the past year, we have seen dictators fall like dominoes in Tunisia, Libya, Egypt and Yemen. The impulse for freedom and human dignity could no longer be contained by the secret police and the armed forces of the dictators in these countries.

The second law is that fallen dictatorships always leave behind chaos, conflict and strife. That has been amply demonstrated in the wake of the “Arab Spring”. The third law is that the outcome of the fall of dictatorships is unpredictable. To be sure, the fall of dictatorships does not guarantee the rise of democracy. In fact, more likely than not, it often leads to the rise of another dictatorship because, more often than not, those who seek to dethrone the dictators aim to enthrone themselves and continue to do business as usual. Stated differently, new bottle old wine.

The fourth law is that some dictators will fight to the end to avoid a fall and cling to power; others are more calculating, cunning and rational. When the jig is up, some dictators will fight and others will catch the next flight. Ben Ali of Tunisia caught the first plane out to Saudi Arabia. Ali Saleh of Yemen fought even after he was singed and disfigured in a rocket attack on his palace. This past February Zenawi granted him asylum after Saleh was denied entry in every other country where he sought refuge. Gadhafi fought to the bitter end until he was captured in a tunnel and killed like a sewer rat. Laurent Gbagbo of Cote d'Ivoire also fought to cling to power until he was collared like a street thug and turned over to the International Criminal Court to face charges of crimes against humanity. Bashir al-Assad continues to fight and cling to power as his security forces kill, maim and displace thousands of Syrians.

The fifth law is that the transition between the fall of dictatorships and transition to democracy can be managed to minimize the effects of the first four laws. The fifth law applies to the bridge on which the transition from dictatorship to democracy takes place and is the most critical phase in determining the destiny of Ethiopia for generations to come. The first four laws are historically predetermined, but the fifth law is entirely in our hands.

Chaos Creates Ideal Conditions for (Power) Thieves

On the bridge to democracy, there is often a collision between individuals and groups doggedly pursuing power, the common people tired of those who abuse and misuse power and the dictators who want to cling to power. The chaos that occurs on the transitional bridge from dictatorship to democracy creates the ideal conditions for the hijacking of political power, theft of democracy and the reinstitution of dictatorship in the name of democracy. There is an instructive Ethiopian adage that helps explain this situation more clearly: “Helter-skelter creates ideal conditions for thieves (gir gir le leba yimechal)”.

On the bridge to democracy, all sorts of actors and players will crawl out of the wood work to jockey for power. All sorts of intrigues, power games and shenanigans will be played out. A probable scenario based on historical evidence in Ethiopia suggests the following: Major outside forces will attempt to control and manage the transitional bridge, the transitional period and the transition itself. They will present themselves as “mediators”, offer their resources to manage the transition by managing the stakeholders. They will likely activate their prearranged “leaders” and groups and stage a transitional drama for the general public who are only too happy to see the end of dictatorship and wishfully hopeful of a new democratic beginning. In such a situation, the “mediators” will be in the driver seat of the transitional bus. They will transport the passengers over the bridge to wherever they want.

The military (at least the leadership) will seek to grab political power with the excuse that there is a need to maintain law and order during the transitional period and with false promises of elections and accountability for corruption and human rights violations in an attempt to win public and donor support. If the military intervenes in the transitional process, there will be no transition, only consolidation of military power over civilians. Political parties will regroup and prepare for a power play. Repressed internal forces will likely resurface after the fall of dictatorship to assert their interests and take a seat at the bargaining table. They will try to take advantage of the transitional chaos to position themselves for power and flex their muscles to demonstrate their intentions. New groups will be constituted and present themselves as power contenders and stakeholders. Regional powers will seek a role in the transition to determine an outcome that is favorable to them. Supporters of the fallen dictatorship will try to regroup and reclaim power, or more likely realign themselves with any group they believe will protect their interests and shield them from accountability.

As the various groups jockey for power and influence, the people will be mere pawns in a gambling game of power theft. They will be mobilized along ethnic, linguistic, religious, regional and communal lines. Historic grievance will be unearthed, threats of secession and acts of insurgency will be undertaken, mutual recriminations, accusations and denunciations will dominate the public airwaves. In the end, the people will be left holding a bag filled with confusion, despair, misery, hardship and heartbreak.

On the chaotic (gir gir) transitional bridge, one thing will surely occur: A power vacuum. It is in the chaos and power vacuum that a few calculating and well-organized groups and individuals will execute a well-planned strategy to swiftly capture the ultimate prize of political power and thwart the transition from dictatorship to democracy.

Failing to Plan is Planning to Fail

We need to plan for the inevitable, inescapable and unstoppable transition of Ethiopia from dictatorship to democracy. Dictatorship will end in Ethiopia. It is only a matter of when. Democracy will also rise in Ethiopia. It is a matter of how and what type. Let me use another Ethiopian adage to make my point clear: “Sergena meta, berbere kentisu.” (The wedding party has arrived, let us begin to prepare the meal.) The point is that it necessary to begin a purposeful dialogue and plan ahead about the prerequisites for an effective and smooth transition to democratic governance now, not when the dictatorship falls.

I believe dialogue needs to begin now on at least four major issue areas: 1) how to engage and increase the capacity of key stakeholders in identify potential triggers of violence during political transitions and preventing them; 2) identifying and devising strategies and opportunities for reducing ethnic, religious and communal tension and conflict in anticipation of a transition; 3) enhancing the role of civil society institutions in facilitating public engagement and interaction during the transitional period, and 4) anticipating critical constitutional issues that could significantly impair the transitional process.

The failure to plan for an inevitable opportunity for democratic transition is tantamount to planning to thwart democracy and depraved indifference to the reinstitution of another dictatorship. We must learn from recent historical experience. The Libyans failed to plan for a transition and expediently (with the aid of outside “mediators') united to bring down the Gadhafi dictatorship. Today, Libya appears to be teetering on the precipice of tribal warfare and deeply beset by political, regional and political antagonisms. Tunisia seems to be doing much better both because Ben Ali left quickly which made the transitional period easier and also because the military was noticeably absent in the transitional process.

Egypt seems stuck on the transitional bridge. After the young demonstrators mobilized to end Mubarak's dictatorship with great sacrifice, they were sidelined by the very military that kept Mubarak in power for decades. Civil society organizations which were the driving forces of the revolution are now facing persecution and repression by the military. Egypt's presidential election is scheduled for May but last week an Egyptian administrative court suspended the 100-member constitutional assembly which was supposed to draft a new constitution for post-dictatorship Egypt.

The suspension has thrown things into a tizzy and tensions are growing between the various secular and Islamist groups and the ruling military council which currently holds power. Having a new president without a constitution (worse yet with the old constitution) is like putting the cart before the horse. But there are real problems with the constitutional assembly that is dominated by members of the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party and the Salafist Nour party (who hold a majority in parliament). Secularist members and even Islamic and Christian representatives withdrew from the assembly reading the handwriting on the wall. Women were grossly under-represented on the assembly as were representatives of civil society institutions. Few of the assembly members had adequate knowledge of constitutional law to participate in meaningful drafting of such an important document. Beyond fair representation of stakeholders, there are some deeply divisive issues of constitutional significance in Egypt. The major one is the role of Islamic law (Sharia) in the new constitution. What safeguards will be in place to protect individual freedoms, women's rights and the rights of religious minorities and other groups? Ethiopians can learn a great deal from the Egyptian transitional experience.

Who Should Lead the Dialogue on the Transition from Dictatorship to Democracy?

Conventional wisdom says the important task of managing the transition from dictatorship to democracy should be left to the elites—the politicians, party leaders, bureaucrats, academics and other institutional leaders. They are believed to have the best and the brightest ideas for developing the “roadmap” and “action plans' for a transition to democracy. But for there to be a truly a successful transition followed by a durable democracy, the dialogue base must be expanded to broadly include civil society organizations, human rights advocacy groups, women and the youth. In fact, the likelihood of a successful transition is increased manifold if civil society organization, advocacy groups, women and youth take a leading role. The reasons are self-evident. Civil society organizations are critical to civil engagement and citizen action for participatory democracy. They are important in facilitating broad-based mobilization in a transitional period and in ensuring responsive governance in the post-transition period. They are also most effective in giving voice to the poor, the minorities and the vulnerable.

The youth are important because the future belongs to them. As George Ayittey explains, there are two generations in Africa: the Cheetah Generation and the Hippo Generation. “Cheetahs seek knowledge, innovation and look for solutions to their problems while Hippos blame others, seek handouts and generally drive our continent to the ground… The Cheetah Generation is a new breed of Africans who brook no nonsense about corruption. They understand what accountability and democracy is. They are not gonna wait for government to do things for them… Africa's salvation rests on the backs of these cheetahs.” Ethiopia's salvation rests in the palms of these Cheetahs.

Women need to be given a prominent role in the transitional dialogue because they have been historically ignored, discounted, overlooked and forgotten though they represent one-half of the population. There could be no true democracy where there is no gender equality, and that is one of the glaring inequalities in Ethiopia today. The evidence is incontrovertible that Ethiopian women today suffer significant sociocultural and economic discrimination and have far fewer opportunities than men for personal growth, education, and employment. But women's involvement in the transitional dialogue is vital because they bring their own unique insights and perspectives to the problems. I believe women have special leadership qualities which are vital to democratic transition and governance. On balance, they tend to be more honest, intelligent, understanding and trusting than men. They are more compassionate than men and more likely to negotiate and compromise. But we will never know know the leadership potential of Ethiopian women because few have been given a chance to prove themselves. They must have a major role in the dialogue on Ethiopia's transition from dictatorship to democracy.

From One Transitional Bridge to Many Permanent Bridges

All of the dialogue on Ethiopia's transition to democracy must serve to build bridges across the ethnic divides, the religious chasms, linguistic and cultural cleavages and geographic differences. The dialogue ultimately must lead to a national consensus on a vision of democracy — which I hope will lead to the creation of a government that always fears the people and a political system where the people never fear their government – which promotes peace, understanding and reconciliation of the people of Ethiopia.

So, let the dialogue, discussions and debates continue in the town halls, in the streets, parks and public squares, the villages and hamlets, the neighborhoods, the newspapers, the offices, the youth and women's organizations, trade and farmers' associations, meeting halls, the stadiums, restaurants, schools and universities, courthouses and parliaments and on the radio, television, the webpages, Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, Skype, instant messaging, blog pages and by email…

Let's get to work building bridges that connect people all across the Land of Thirteen Months of Sunshine!!!  

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

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

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

Previous commentaries by the author are available at:

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

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

Continua a leggere ...

History Keeps Repeating Itself in Ethiopia

Last week, the Voice of America Amharic radio program reported on the forced official removal (“displacement”) of a large number of people e from the southern part of Ethiopia. According to the report, numerous Amhara farming families from the town of Gura Ferda were ordered by local officials to pack up and go back to their “kilil” ethnic homeland. A number of these displaced persons told the VOA that they were summoned by local officials and ordered to “leave their lands” and get out of town before sundown. Many of them were born in the area or had lived there for decades. Before leaving, the victims of official displacement were required to sign an official document which stated that they had “illegally acquired, held and farmed land in the area” and now are voluntarily returning it to the local administration. Hundreds of displaced families left town headed to the capital of Addis Ababa to petition Zenawi's regime for redress of grievances. As they gathered outside the “Parliament”, they were rounded up by security officials and trucked out to parts unknown. A representative of Zenawi's regime told the VOA she knows nothing about the situation and that an investigation is underway. In the recent past, tens of thousands of other citizens have reportedly been removed from Benji Maji Zone in the “Southern Nations” region.

Forced removal of populations (under different designations “resettlement”,”villagisation”, “displacement”, etc.) has a sinister and ugly history in Ethiopia. In the past few years, Zenawi's regime has undertaken a massive program of “villagization” (permanent removal of local populations from ancestral lands) in the Gambella region in Western Ethiopia to make way for the Indian agrobuiness multinational Karuturi and other “investors”. Zenawi's top agriculture official said “there is no movement of population” in Gambella. But that is contradicted by a UNICEF field study which concluded:

The deracination [uprooting from ancestral lands] of indigenous people that is evident in rural areas of Gambella is extreme. It is very likely that Anuak (and possibly other indigenous minorities) culture will completely disappear in the not-so-distant future. Cultural survival, autonomy, rights of self-determination and self-governance are all legitimate issues for these indigenous groups, and these are all enshrined by international covenants and United Nations bodies – but all are meaningless in Gambella today.

The military junta (Derg) that ruled Ethiopia from the mid-1970s until 1991 used “resettlement” as a political and tactical counter-insurgency weapon. The Derg “resettled” populations in rebel-controlled areas in the north of the country to create military buffer zones and to deny the insurgents local support. At the onset of the 1984 famine, the Derg initiated a resettlement program for 1.5 million people from insurgent-controlled and drought-affected northern regions to the south and southwest of the country. The Derg claimed the people were relocating voluntarily. Tens of thousands of people died in that resettlement program from illness and starvation. Families were separated as people fled the ill-equipped and ill-managed resettlement centers.

Ironically, the northern insurgents, who have now wielded power in Ethiopia for the past 21 years, condemned the Derg and characterized the “resettlement” centers as “concentration” camps. In 2012, the very leaders who fought against such inhuman practices have become the chief architects and engineers of a new and systematic program of forced resettlement and transfer of population in Ethiopia. It seems history repeats itself over and over again in Ethiopia. But for the record, “deportation or forcible transfer of population”, (defined as “forced displacement by expulsion or other coercive acts from the area in which they are lawfully present, without grounds without grounds permitted under international law”) is one of the specified crimes against humanity under the Article 7(d) of the Rome Statute.

Kililistans and Bantustans

For the past two decades, Zenawi has been repackaging an atavistic style of tribal politics in a fancy wrapper called “ethnic federalism.” He has managed to segregate the Ethiopian people by ethno-tribal classifications and corralled them like cattle into grotesque regional political units called “ kilils ” (literally means “reservation”; semantically, the word also suggests the notion of an exclusion zone, an enclave). “Kilil” is basically a kinder-and-gentler form of Apartheid-style Bantustans (“black African tribal homelands”). The ideology of “kililism” shares many of the attributes of Apartheid's “Bantustanism”. Both ideologies aim to concentrate members of designated ethnic groups into “homelands” by creating ethnically homogenous territories which could ultimately morph into “autonomous” nation states. Zenawi made sure to insert Article 39 in the Ethiopian Constitution which provides: “Every nation, nationality or people in Ethiopia shall have the unrestricted right to self-determination up to secession.” In other words, the “kilils” could secede and become sovereign nations, which was precisely the ultimate aim of the Bantustans.

But there are many other similarities. One of the major policy aims of “Bantustanization” was to make South Africa's blacks nationals of the homelands instead of the nation of South Africa. By politically disempowering them and diminishing their national citizenship and human rights to travel freely and establish residence in any part of the country, Bantustanization effectively atomized black African communities. The forced removal of disapproved ethnic groups from the southern part of Ethiopia accomplishes the same purpose. “Bantustanization” was based on forced relocation of the black African population from different parts of South Africa to the “homelands”. It aimed at eventually accommodating every black person in South Africa into one of the 10 “homelands”. Kililism has effectively achieved that objective by corralling Ethiopians in 11 “regional states” (kililistans) organized exclusively on the basis of ethnicity. “Bantustanization” was used strategically to prevent alliances between the various African ethnic groups. It was an effective tool of the Apartheid government's policy of divide and rule to cling to power. “Kililism” serves the same purpose in Ethiopia today to the point where a handful of individuals exercise absolute power . According to the International Crises Group, (a research organization that gives advice to the United Nations, European Union and World Bank) :

Once close to their rural Tigrayan constituency, the TPLF and the EPRDF top leaderships now largely operate in seclusion from the general public. This has led to a situation in which an increasingly smaller number of politicians – the TPLF executive committee and the prime minister's immediate advisers – decide the political fate of the country.

Playing the Ethnic Card to Divide and Misrule

My basic belief is that tyranny, despotism and dictatorship thrive and flourish when the people are disunited and fragmented particularly along ethnic lines and the tyrants and their supporters maintain their ironclad unity. Ethnicity in Ethiopia, as in other parts of Africa, is a source of division, weakness, conflict and violence. Unity is a source of strength, harmony, peace and reconciliation. African dictators have used ethnicity as a powerful weapon to divide and rule.

In October 2011, I wrote a weekly commentary about the “ultimate weapon found in the arsenal of tyrants and despots– divide and misrule”:

For the past two decades, the maxim of those who have rivetedthemselves to the platform of power in Ethiopia has been: “We, the rulers of the people, in order to form a more perfect disunion…” They have put to use the ultimate weapon found in the arsenal of tyranny and despotism. They have divided and misruled, divided and subjugated, and divided and parceled away the land in bits, pieces and chunks. They have managed to systematically divide the people by region, city, town and even neighborhood. They have succeeded in dividing the people by corralling them into homelands (Bantustans) in the name of “ethnic federalism”. They have sought to divide the people by language and religion, and even rupture the bonds of affection between Ethiopians living in the country and those in the Diaspora.

This past January I wrote a commentary encouraging all Ethiopians to unite around a common purpose and destiny and celebrate the very idea of unity among peoples of a nation and warned of the dire consequences of failing to bridge the artificially manufactured ethnic divide: “A nation divided by race, tribe and ethnicity is doomed to poverty, ignorance and strife. I have always marveled at the majestic opening phrases in the Preamble to the US Constitution: “We the People of the United States, in Order to form a perfect Union…”

Overcoming Identity Politics in the Transition to Democracy

In the transition from dictatorship to democracy, one of the greatest challenges Ethiopians will face is the problem of identity politics at the ideological level and “kililism” at the structural and constitutional levels. One could surmise that the current political rationale for “kililism” could create a chaotic, if temporary, situation in the transition to democracy and potentially impair much needed efforts to create national unity, preserve the country's territorial integrity and guarantee its political sovereignty. The challenge, in my view, is how to transform the politics of identity and ethnicity into a dialogue over strengthening national unity and furthering the common cause of our humanity through cooperation, accommodation and reconciliation (while avoiding the path to conflict and violence).

The threshold issue for me is whether it is productive to play Zenawi's “ethnic card” game. He has used it as an effective tool to justify his one-man, one-party divide and misrule. He has used the “ethnic card” to anger and distract his opponents and divert public attention from the desperate economic situation in the country (“a recent report by the Addis Ababa-based research group Access Capital SC stated, 'Ethiopia had the second-highest inflation rate in the world last year, when it peaked at 40.6 percent'”). It is best to leave the ethnic polarization game to Zenawi and focus on ethnic reconciliation, cooperation and collaboration.

There is much social scientific literature to suggest that “identities are constructed and can be deconstructed and reconstructed anew”. In other words, ethnic identity like other forms of identity is malleable. It can be transformed over time by processes of immigration, marriage, education, national integration, nation-building, economic development and other factors. (Zenawi's antidote to this process is segregation of people in kililistans where there will be little opportunity for “ethnic fusion” or assimilation.) Often, ethnic identity trumps all other issues and leads to conflicts where there is an absence of social and legal justice, poor governance and denial of the equal protection of the laws and opportunities. The real challenge for Ethiopia's opposition political leaders, scholars, elites and ordinary folks today is to re-conceptualize the politics of identity which for so long has been based on historical and current grievances to a politics based on promoting and implementing human rights values. I believe a paradigm shift in the way we understand and discuss the question of ethnic identity; and that necessitates first and foremost a change in the very language of communication we use to construct, deconstruct and reconstruct ethnicity and its associated social, economic and political problems.

Inventing a New Language for a New Identity

I have previously argued for and proposed a new “language” for dialogue on the question of ethnicity in Ethiopia. (I even “invented” words (neologisms) for the occasion, one of the privileges of an academician.) I find it necessary to re-articulate those ideas once again. I view ethnicity as the flip side of the coin of unity. The coalescence of ethnic groups is the fabric of unity in any nation. When subnational groups are fragmented, divided and are at odds with each other, a nation faces the threat of disintegration. Zenawi sees Ethiopia as a collection of 9 distinct and autonomous kilils. In other words, Ethiopia for Zenawi is a patchwork of “nations and nationalities” that have very little in common (a convenient cover for divide and rule) and with mutually exclusive interests. We believe Ethiopia is a variegated mosaic of multiculturalism where all citizens have the same rights, freedoms, opportunities and protections under the law. They can live, work, play and pray in any part of their country without any limitations or restrictions whatsoever!

In the transition from dictatorship to democracy, it will be necessary to build a new kind of unity based on our common humanity. This special unity is grounded in a fundamental belief that our common bonds of humanity are greater than the sum of our bonds of ethnicity, nationality and communality. Our common yearning for freedom, democracy and human rights is greater than our narrow ethnic interests. Our commitment to each other's human dignity is nobler than the arrogant ethnic identity.

Unity that is based on our common humanity draws not only on universal ethical and moral values but also on the African ethic of “Ubuntu”, often used by Nelson Mandela to teach us about the essence of human existence: “A person is a person because of other people. You can do nothing if you don't get the support of other people.” “Ubunity” is unity that requires us to see each other as brothers and sisters and relate to each other on the basis of the principles of sharing, caring, trust, tolerance, honesty and morality. We do not see each other with a colored ethnic lens that filters for Oromo, Amhara, Tigrean, Gurage and so on but with a clear lens that is calibrated to illuminate justice, equality and fairness. The special unity of which I speak is also grounded in an unshakeable belief that our individual liberty must be protected against those who commit crimes against humanity and acts of atrocity, sneer at public accountability and abuse their authority and act beyond the limits of constitutionality.

I ask all Ethiopians to strive for a special kind of unity which I call both “humunity” and “younity”. “Huminity” is unity based not on ethnicity or nationality but on a blend of core universal values of human dignity and the African ethic of “ubunity”. It requires individual moral commitment to respect and uphold human rights, an allegiance to the rule of law, a belief in the consent of the people as the only legitimate basis of power, and strict adherence to principles of constitutional governance, accountability and transparency. If we could develop wide and deep consensus on these values, we would have achieved unity of thought, purpose and consciousness, the prerequisites to all other forms of unity. More importantly, if f we put these values into action by defending the rights of victims of human rights abuses, working for improvements in the observance of human rights conventions, organizing, teaching and preparing the youth for a democratic society, exposing corruption and abuse of power, strengthening our interpersonal relations across ethnic, religious and class lines, we will have achieved unity in action and deeds. Is it not true that the things that divide us, sow discord and hatred amongst us are rooted in and fester because of the very absence of these universal values in our lives?

Tyrants divide the people by magnifying the smallest of differences. Often, the people fall prey to the schemes of tyrants and sing their songs of discord and division. But in my conception of “huminity”, it is possible to have diversity of opinion, views and approaches because I believe “Every difference of opinion is not a difference of principle.” If we embrace and practice the universal principles of human rights, we will realize that it is not about our ethnicity, nationality, language, religion, region or anything else, but what we can do collectively and individually to remove the yoke of oppression and tyranny, institute democracy and the rule of law to uphold human dignity.

My conception of “younity” is a simple idea about you and I together standing up to tyranny, corruption and abuse of power. It is based on the notion that each one of us is a link in a long chain of both oppression and freedom. Our yearning for freedom welds the links in the chain of unity; tyranny melts the links. I believe we all have an individual civic and moral duty to strengthen the links and bonds of unity in the Ethiopian people by embracing and practicing the core values of human dignity and rights. Political leaders must adopt a new and more powerful language of “huminity” to bring the people of divergent views together. Religious leaders must speak of “huminity” in the language of divinity. They should preach and pray for unity. Civic leaders must speak up and advocate for “huminity”. Academics must teach the ways of “huminity” to the youth; and the youth must teach the older generation of the necessity of “huminity” for a new and enlightened Ethiopian community. Most importantly, ordinary people in the street must speak in the language of our common humanity (ubunity) to achieve ultimate unity.

Playing the ethnic card game with Zenawi is to fall victim to destructive identity politics that breeds division, hatred, conflict, and cynicism. We can choose to play Zenawi's zero-sum ethnic card game (a game in which he always wins and we always lose) and express outrage over the spectacle he has created in Gura Ferda, Gambella, Benj Maji and wherever else. But we can also rise above ethnicity and the politics of identity and help build a national Ethiopian identity. But how…?

“Establish New Relationships, Devoid of any Resentment and Hostility”

The most direct way to build a new national identity is to establish new relationships and discard the old and tired ways of hatred and domination. We must look to a vision of Ethiopia that is not only free of dictatorship and tyranny but also united. On the occasion of the establishment of the permanent headquarters of the Organization for African Unity (OAU) in Addis Ababa on May 25, 1963, HIM Haile Selassie made the most compelling case for African unity. One-half century later, that same message rings true for Ethiopia:

We look to the vision of an Africa not merely free but united. In facingthis new challenge, we can take comfort and encouragement from thelessons of the past. We know that there are differences among us.Africans enjoy different cultures, distinctive values, special attributes. But we also know that unity can be and has been attained among men of the most disparate origins, that differences of race, of religion, of culture, of tradition, are no insuperable obstacle to the coming together of peoples. History teaches us that unity is strength, and cautions us to submerge and overcome our differences in the quest for common goals, to strive, with all our combined strength, for the path to true African brotherhood and unity…. Our efforts as free men must be to establish new relationships, devoid of any resentment and hostility, restored to our belief and faith in ourselves as individuals, dealing on a basis of equality with other equally free peoples.

Close ranks regardless of ethnicity or regionality; reaffirm our basic humanity in our Ethiopianity; renounce our old enmity; openly declare our steadfast unity and trumpet our Ethiopian nationality at every opportunity. Let us strive to establish a new identity in Ethiopian unity!

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

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

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

Previous commentaries by the author are available at:

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

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

የኢትዮጵያ ሽግግር ወደ ዴሞክራሲና የማንነት ፖለቲካ

April 9th, 2012 | |

ከፕሮፌሰር ዓለማየሁ ገብረማርያም

(ትርጉም ከነጻነት ለሃገሬ)

በኢትዮጵያ ታሪክ ራሱን ይደጋግመዋል

ባለፈው ሳምንት የአሜሪካን ድምጽ የአማርኛው ፕሮግራም ዘገባ ከሃገሪቱ ደቡባዊ ክፍል በግዳጅ ከቀዬአቸው የተፈናቀሉትን በርካታ ኢትዮጵያዊያንን የሚመለከት ነበር፡፡ በዘገባው መሰረት፤ ከዚሁ ከደቡባዊ ክልል በጉራ ፈርዳ በግብርና ይተዳደሩ የነበሩ በርካታ የአማራ ተወላጆች በአካባባዊ ባለስልጣናት ንብረታቸውን ይዘው በአስቸኳይ ከአካባቢው ለቀው ወደ ‹‹ሞት ወረዳ›› የቀድሞ ቀያቸው እንዲሄዱ ለዳግም ስደት ተዳርገዋል፡፡ ለአሜሪካን ድምጽ በሰጡት የአቤቱታና የሰሚ ያለህ እሪታቸው በአካባባዊ ባለስልጣናት ተጠርተው የእርሻ ቦታቸውን በመልቀቅ፤ ቤተሰባቸውንና ጓዛቸውን ይዘው አካባቢውን ከጸሃይ ጥልቀት በፊት ለቀው እንዲወጡ መመርያ ተሰጥተዋል፡፡ አብዛኛዎቹ እነዚህ ተፈናቃዮች፤ በዚያው ተወልደው ያደጉና ቀሪዎቹ ደግሞ ለዓመታት ኑሯቸውን የመሰረቱ ናቸው፡፡ ስርአት ያጣው የመፈናቀል ዕጣ የደረሰባቸው ቤተሰቦች፤ መኖርያቸውን አላግባብ ይዘነው የነበረ በመሆኑ አሁን በፈቃደኝነት ለአካባቢው መስተዳደር በፈቃደኝነት መልሰናል የሚል የመስተዳድሩን ሰነድ በግድ እንዲፈርሙ መገደዳቸውን ገልጸዋል፡፡ በመቶ የሚቆጠሩ እነዚህ የመከራና የግፍ በደል ተሸካሚ ተፈናቃዮች ና ቤተሰቦቻቸው አካባቢውን በመልቀቅ አቤቱታቸውን ለመለስ ዜናዊ ለማሰማትና የአካባቢው መስተዳድሮች የጣሉባቸውን የመፈናቀል በደል እንዲያስነሳላቸው ለመጠየቅ ወደ አዲስ አበባ አቅንተዋል፡፡ ለአቤቱታ አገር ቆርጠው በዜግነት መብታቸው ለመጠቀምና አቤቱታ ለማሰማት ከፓርላማው በር ላይ የተሰበሰቡት አቤት ባዮች፤ አቤቱታቸው በመደመጥ ፈንታ በደህንነት ተከበው ተበድለው እንደበዳይ በመኪና ተጫነው ወደ አልታወቀ ቦታ ተወስደዋል፡፡ የመለስ ዜናውም ተወካይ ለአሜሪካን ድምጽ በሰጠችው መግለጫ ስለተባለው ጉዳይ ምንም የሚያውቁት ነገር እንደሌለና ጉዳዩን ለማጣራት ግን ሂደት መቀጠሉን ተናግራለች፡፡ በዚህ በኩል ደህነንት ማዘዝ በአሜሪካን ድምጽ በኩል ደሞ ጉዳይ ማጣራት ምን የሚሉት ቅልመዳ ነው? በቅርቡ በአሰርት ሺህ የሚቆጠሩ ዜጎች በአካባቢው ባለስልጣናት ትእዛዝ በጉልበት ከደቡብ ሕዝቦች ማስተዳደር ባንቺ ማጂ ዞን መፈናቀላቸው ይታወቃል፡፡

የሕዝቦች ግዳጃዊ መፈናቀል (<<ሰፈራ>> መንደር ምስረታ›› ‹‹የአካባቢ ለውጥ›› ወ ዘ ተ ር ፈ ………) በኢትዮጵያ አስከፊና ዘግናኝ ታሪክ ያለው ነው፡፡ የመለስ አገዛዝ በመንደር ምስረታ ስም በርካታ ፕሮግራሞችን በማካሄድ፤(ቋሚ የሆነ ከትውልድ ቦታ ንቅለትና ስደት) በደቡባዊ የሃገሪቱ ክፍል በጋምቤላ ነዋሪዎችን አፈናቅሎ የሕንድ ስሪት ለሆነው ለካሪቱሪና ለሌሎችም ኢንቬስተሮች በዜጎች ስደት ላይ ያበበ ንግድ ማካሄዱን የመለስ ገዢ መንግሥት ይክዳል፤ የመለስም ከፍተኛ የእርሻ ባለስልጣን ‹‹የስደት እንቅስቃሴ በጋምቤላ ጨርሶ የለም›› ቢልም የዩኒሴፍ የአካባቢ ጥናት ግን የሚከተለውን ይላል

ነዋሪ ዜጎችን ማፈናቀሉ (ከቅድመ ስሪታቸው ማፈናቀል) በጋምቤላ መጠኑን የሳተና ምክንያተዊነቱም የማያሳምን ነው፡፡ በቅርቡም የአኝዋኮች (ሌሎችም በቁጥር አናሳ ዘሮች)ባህል ጨርሶ እንደሚጠፋ አያጠራጥርም፡፡ ባህላዊ ደህንነት፤ራስን መቻልና ራስን ማስተዳደር፤ ለነዚህ ዜጎች መብታቸውና ሊከበርላቸውም የሚገባ የነሱነታቸው መገለጫ ነው፡፡ በዓለም አቀፍ ህጋግትም ጥበቃ ሊደረግላቸው ቢደነገግም በጋምቤላ ግን ትርጉሙ ጠፍቶ የግፍ መንደር እየሆነ ዜጎችም የግፍ ተጠቂ በመሆን ላይ ናቸው፡፡

ኢትዮጵያን የገዛው የደርግ መንግሥት ኢትዮጵያን ከ1970 እስከ 1991 ድረስ ሲገዛ ሠፈራን ለፖለቲካው መጠቀሚያ በማድረግ ሰርቶበታል፡፡ደርግ ህወሃት በያዛቸው መንደሮች የተገደዱ ሠፋሪዎችን በማሰማራት ለወያኔ ድጋፍ ለማሳጣትና ለሚሰነዘርበት ጥቃት መከላከያ አድረጓቸው ነበር፡፡በ1984 ዓም በተከሰተው ችጋር ሳቢያ ደርግ የ1.5 ሚሊዮን የተገዳጅ ሰፋሪዎችን በወያኔ ከተያዙና ለችጋር ከተጋለጡ ሰሜናዊ አካባቢዎች ወደ ደቡብና ደቡባዊ ምእራብ አካባቢዎች አሰፈረ፡፡ በዚህም ጊዜ ደርግ ሰፋሪዎቹ ያለምንም ማስገደድ በፈቃደኝነት ሰፈራውን ተቀላቅለዋል ብሎ ነበር፡፡ በዚሁ የሰፈራ ፕሮግራም በህመምና በችጋር በሺህ የሚቆጠሩ ወገኖች በሞት ተቀጥፈዋል፡፡ከዚህ መከራ ከከበበው ያልተሟላ ሰፈራ መንድርም ለመሸሽ ጉዞ የጀመሩት ኢትዮጵያዊያን ከቤተሰቦቻቸው ተለያይተው ለሞት ተዳርገዋል፡፡

የሚያስገርመው ግን የሰሜኖቹ የትላንት ተዋጊዎችና ላለፈው 21 ዓመታት ኢትዮጵያን ለመግዛት የበቁት መለሳዊ ገዢዎች ደርግንና የሰፈራ ፕሮግራሙን ‹‹የማፈኛ አስር ጣቢያ›› (“concentration” camps) በማለት ያወግዝና ያንቋሽሽ ነበር፡፡ እነዚህ ሰፋሪዎች ወደ ትውልድ መንደራቸው ጨርሶ እንደማይመለሱና (እትብታቸው ከተቀብረበት)ከመንደራቸው መለያየታቸውን ያናፍስና ያወግዝ ነበር፡፡ በ2012 ደግሞ እነዚሁ የግዴታ መፈናቀልና ሰፈራ ተቃዋሚ የነበሩት የአሁኖቹ ገዢዎች ዜጎችን ከመኖርያ ቀዬአቸው አስገድዶ ለማፈናቀልና ካለፈው በባሰና ነከፋ መልኩ መድረሻ ለማሳጣት የሚካሄደውን እቅድ ቀዳሚ መሃነዲሶች ሆነው በመንደፍና አዲስና እኩይ ዘዴ በመጠቀም ዜጎችን ያለአግባብ በማፈናቀል ዘመቻ ላይ ናቸው፡፡ ታሪክ በኢትዮጵያ እራሱን ደግሞ ደግግሞ ያሳያል ማለት ይቻላል፡፡ በአርቲክል 7 (d) የሮም ስታቸር መሰረት የሕዝቦች የዓለም አቀፍ ሕግ ከሚፈቅደው ውጪ በግዴታ ማፈናቀል እንደ ኢሰብአዊ ድርጊት የተመዘገበ ወንጀል ነው፡፡

ክልልና ባንቱስታንነት

ላለፉት በርካታ የግዛት ዓመታት መለስ ዜናዊ ጠብ የማይለውን ‹‹የዘር ፌዴራሊዝምን›› በአንጸባራቂ መጠቅለያ አሳምሮ ለማቅረብ እየጣረ ነው፡፡ የዘር መከፋፈያ አጠራር በመስጠት ኢትዮጵያዊያንን ለያይቶ በፈጠረው የፖለቲካ አጠራር እንደ ከብት በመደልደል፤ ክልል በማለት መድቧል፡፡ (የዚህም ትክክለኛ ትርጉሙ የተከለለ ማለት ሲሆን ቃሉም ታጥሮ የተከለለ ማለትም ነው፡፡ ክልል በአፓርታይድ ዘመን የነበረውን የዘር ልዩነት ባንቱስታኒዝም ለመፈረጅ የተጠቀሙበት ቃልን ይመሳሰላል፡፡የክልላዊነት ፍልስፍና ከደቡብ አፍሪካው ባንቱስታኒዝም ጋር ተመሳሳይነት አለው፡፡ ሁለቱም ፍልስፍናዎች የተወሰኑ ብሄሮችን ለማግለልና በተከለላቸው አካባቢ ብቻ ተገድበው እንዲኖሩ በማድረግ በጊዜ ሂደትም የራሳቸውን ግዛት ለመፍጠር እንዲችሉ ለጥፋት የሚያነሳሳ ሂደት ነው፡፡ መለስ ዜናዊ ሆን ብሎና በቅድሚያ ሊፈጸምና ኢትዮጵያን ለማዳከም የሚያስችለውን እኩይ ተግባር በማለም አንቀጽ 39ኝን የመገንጠል መብት የሚፈቅደውን አስቀምጧል፡፡ማለትም ክልሎች ቀስ በቀስ የራሳቸው መንግስትን ለመፍጠር ይበቃሉ፡፡ የባንቱስታንም አመሰራረትና ሂደቱመም ይህንኑ ለመተግበር ነበር፡፡

ከዚህ ባለፈም የሚመሳሉበት በርካታ ሁኔታ አለ፡፡ የባንቱስታን ቀዳሚ ፖሊሲም ጥቁር አፍሪካውያንን የደቡብ አፍሪካ ዜጎች ከማድረግ ይልቅ የአንድ መንደርና አካባቢ ነዋሪዎች ለማድረግና ደቡብ አፍሪካን የነጮች ግዛት አድርጎ ለማስቀጠል የታቀደ ሴራ ነበር፡፡ በዚህም የፖለቲካ መብታቸውን በማፈንና በመንሳት፤ብሔራዊ መብታቸውን በመንጠቅና በማሳጣት፤ በነጻ በሃገሪቱ መንቀሳቀስን፤ ሰብአዊ መብታቸውን በአጠቃላይ የዜግነታቸውን መብት በመግታት፤ ባንቱስታኒዝም ጥቁር አፍሪካውያንን ነጻነት ነስቶ አገቷቸው ነበር፡፡ በኢትዮጵያ ደቡባዊ ግዛት በመካሄድ ላይ ያለው የአስገድዶ ማፈናቀል ተግባር ባንቱስታኒዝም በደቡብ አፍሪካ የፈጸመውን ኢሰብአዊ ተግባር የሚያከናውን ክልል የሚባል ትርጉም የተሰጠው ነው፡፡ ክልላዊነትም ኢትዮጵያን በዘጠኝ ክልላዊ መንግሥት በሚል ቦታ በዘር ድልድል ቆራርጦ በደቡብ አፍሪካ አፓርታይድ ጥቁር አፍሪካዊያንን አግልሎ ሥላጣኑን እስከዘለቄታው ለማቆየት እንደተጠቀመበት ሁሉ በኢትዮጵያም ለመሰል ግባር ውሏል፡፡ International Crises Group, (a research organization that gives advice to the United Nations, European Union and World Bank):

የህወሃትና የኢህአዴግ አንድ ወቅት ከትግራይ የገጠር ነዋሪ ጋር የነበራቸውን ቅርብ ትስስርና ግንኙነት እርግፍ አድርገው በመተው አሁን ከሕዝቡ ተለይተው በመግዛት ላይ ናቸው፡፡ይህም አናሳ የሁኑት የፖለቲካ ባለስልጣናት የህወሃት ሥራ አስፈጻሚ አባላትና በተለይም ጠቅላይ ሚኒስተሩ ናቸው የሃገሪቱን የፖለቲካ እንቅስቃሴ የሚወስኑት›› በማለት ያረጋግጣል፡፡

የጎሳ ፖለቲካ ካርታ ጨዋታ ያብቃለት

በኦክቶበር 2011 በሳምንታዊ መጣጥፌ ላይ የጨቃኞችና አምባገነኖችና ፈላጭ ቆራጭ ገዢዎች የመሳርያ ግምጃ ቤት ውስጠ የሚገኘውን የመጨረሻ መሳርያቸውን ከፋፍሎ በግፍ መግዛትን አስመልክቼ ጽፌ ነበር፡፡

ላለፉት በርካታ ዓመታት፤በኢትዮጵያ የሥልጣን ወንበር ላይ የተኮፈሱት ገዢዎች እምነታቸው ወይም ዓላማቸው ‹‹እኛ የሕዝቡ መሪዎች በጣም ጋጠ ወጥ የሆነውን አገዛዝ ለመመስረት…………..›› በግምጃ ቤታቸው ያስቀመጡትን የግፍና የጭካኔ አገዛዛቸውን ተግባራዊ አድርገዋል፡፡ ሕዝቡን በዘርና በብሄር፤ በከተማው፤ በመንደር፤ዝቅ ብሎም በጉርብትና መከፋፈል ችለዋል፡፡ የብሔር ፌዴራሊዝም በሚል የተንኮል ድልድል በአካባቢ ሊገድቧቸው በቅተዋል፡፡ሕብረተሰቡን በቋንቋና በሃይማኖት፤ የኖረ ቁርኝታቸውን ለመበጠስና በሃገር ውስጥና በውጪ ያለውን ኢትዮጵያዊ ለማለያየት ጥረት አድርገዋል፡፡

ባለፈው ጃንዋሪ መጣጥፌ ላይ ኢትዮጵያዊያን ሁሉ አንድ እንዲሆኑና ለአንድ ዓላማ በመሰለፍ፤ በገዢዎች የተፈበረከውን ድውይ የሆነ አስተሳሰብ ያዘለውን የዘር የጎሳና የመንደር፤ የሃይሞነትና የብሄር መከፋፈልን አፍርሰን በአንድነት በኢትዮጵያዊነት በመቆም የአንድነት ድልድይ መልሰን በመገንባት ከድህነት ከችጋር ከእርዛት ከመሃይምነት እንድንላቀቅ ጠይቄ ነበር፡፡ ዘወትር የአሜሪካን ሕገመንግሥት መግቢያው ላይ የሰፈረውን ‹‹እኛ የአሜሪካን ሕዝቦች፤ትክክለኛውንና የማይነቃነቃውን አንድነታችንን ለመፍጠር…….››የሚለውን ሳነብ በዚህ ግዙፍ አባባል ልቤ ይሞላል፡፡

የዘር ፖለቲካን ድል በመንሳት ወደ ዴሞክራሲ የሚደረግ ሽግግር

ከዲክተቴርሽፕ ወደ ዴሞክራሲ በሚደረግ ሽግግር ኢትዮጵያ ውስጥ ሊያጋጠም የሚችለው ችግር፤በላዕላይ መዋቅሩ የተጋረደው የዘር ፖለቲካና የክልላዊነት ድልድል ነው፡፡አንዳንድ ሰዎች የክልሊዝም ፍልስፍና በሃገሪቱ ውስጥ ብጥብጥን ወቅታዊም ቢሆን፤ያለመረጋጋትን ሁኔታ በሽግግሩ ወቅት ብቻ ሳይሆን፤አንድነትን በማጠናከሩና ወደ ቀድሞው ህዝባዊ አንድነትና መግባባት መመለሱንና የኢትዮጵያን የፖለቲካ ነጻነት ሊሞግት እንደሚችል ይገምታሉ፡፡ በኔ ግምት የዚህ ግብግብ የማንነትን ፖለቲካና የዘር ጣያቄ ብሔራዊ አንድነትን ለማጠናከር፤ሰብአዊ ክብርን በረጋ መግባባት ለማጎልበት (በዚህም ግጭትንና ሕገወጥነትን በማስወገድ) የሚያስችል ሁኔታ ማመቻቸት ነው፡፡

ለኔ ዋነኛውና መሰረታዊው ጉዳይ፤የመለስ ዜናዊ ‹‹የዘር ፖለቲካ የካርታ ጨዋታን›› መጫወቱ ውጤታማ ነው ወይ የሚለው ነው፡፡ ካገሪቱን ቅጥና አመራር ለማሳጣትና የራሱን አንድ ሰው አንድ ፓርቲ አገዛዝ ለመምራት ትክክለኛ ነው ብሎ በማመንና ለሱ እስከተስማማው ድረስ ሃገሪቱንና ሕዝቡን ከምንም ሳይቆጥር በማንአለብኝነት ፈላጭ ቆራጭ ስርአቱ ተጠቅሞበታ ል፡፡ ይህን‹‹የዘር ቁማር መጫወቻ ካርታውን›› ተቀናቃኞቹን ለማንበርከክና ለብስጭት ለመዳረግ፤በሃገሪቱ በከፍተኛ ደረጃ እየናረ ያለውን የኑሮ ውድነት ከሕዝቡ ሃሳብ ለማራቅና ለማረሳሳት፤ (ተቀማጭነቱ በአዲስ አበባ የሆነው አክሴስ ካፒታል የሼር ኩባንያ ባለፈው ዓመት ጥንቅሩ ኢትዮጵያ በዓለም የዋጋ መዋዠቅ 40.6 በመድረስ ሁለተኛውን ደረጃ ይዛለች ብሏል) የዘር ክፍፍሉን ጨዋታ ለመለስ ተዉን በመምረጥ እኛ በዜጎች መሃል የዕርቀ ሰላምና የመግባባት የብልጽግና ውህደት በመፍጠሩ ላይ እናትኩር ፡፡

የማንነት መገለጫ ይገነባል፤ዳግምም ተሸሽሎ ይገነባል፤እንደገናም ለተሸለ ይገነባል፡፡ ይህንንም የሚያሳዩና ህብረተሰቡን የሚጠቅሙ በርካታ ሳይንሳዊና ጥናታዊ ጽሁፎች አሉ፡፡ በሌላ መልኩም የብሄር ማንነት እንደማንኛውም ማንነት ተለዋዋጭ ነው፡፡በስደት፤ በጋብቻ፤በትምህርት በመቀላቀል አንድነት በሚመሰረትበት ሁኔታ፤በኤኮኖሚ እድገትና በመሳሰሉት ሊለዋጥ ይችላል ማለት ነው፡፡ብዙ ጊዜ የህብረተሰብና ሕጋዊ ፍትህ በማይኖርበት ወቅት፤ የህግ ልዕልና በእኩልነት በማይኖርበት፤ደካማ አስተዳደር ባለበት፤ዘረኛነት ይጠነክርና ግጭት ሊከሰት ይችላል፡፡ለኢትዮጵያ ተቃዋሚ ፓርቲ መሪዎች፤ለምሁራንእና ለሌሎችም ትልቁ ፈተና የዘር ፖለቲካንና ባለፈውም ሆነ በአሁኑ ሁኔታ የተፈጠረውን አለመግባባትና የገዢዎች የመኖር ዋስትና ያሉትን ጥላቻ በማሰወገድ በሰበአዊ መብቶች ላይ በተመሰረተ መግባባት ላይ ማተኮር ነው፡፡ በኔ እምነትም ማንኛውንም ነገር ለሃገርና ለሕዝብ መጠቀሚያ ለማድረግ የሚቻለው በቅድሚያ ልዩነታችንን በመንቀስ ወደእንድነት የምንመጣበትን ውይይት ለማካሄድ የውይይቱን አካሄድና መግቢያና መውጫውን በመስማማት ፈቃደኛነትን በማስቀደም ብቻ ነው፡፡ለዚህም የሚረዳን በቅድሚያ ዘር የሚለውን ለመነጋገርያ በሚጠቅምና በሚያግባባ ትርጉሙ ላይ መስማማት፡፡

ለማንነት አዲስ ቃል መፍጠር

በኢትዮጵያ ስለተከሰተው የዘረኛነት ሁኔታን በተመለከተ ቀደም ባለው ጊዜ ይህን ሁኔታ ሊያወያይ የሚችል አንድ አዲስ ‹‹ቋንቋ›› እንዲፈጠር ሃሳብና ሊሆን ይገባል በሚልም ሃሳብ አቅርቤ ነበር፡፡ ለጊዜው (ቃሉንም ኒዎሎጊዝምስ ብዬው ነበር) ዋናው እምነቴም ፈላጭ ቆራጭ አገዛዝና ጭቆና የበለጠ እየደረጁና እየተንሰራፉ የሚሄዱት ሕዝቡ አንድነት ሲያጣና ሲራራቅ፤ በዘርና በጎሳ ተለያይቶ ጎሪጥ ሲተያይ መሆኑን አመላክቼ ነበር፡፡አንድነት የጠንካሬ፤የአብሮነት፤የሰላም እና የእርቀ ሰላም መሰረት ነው፡፡የአፍሪካ ፈላጭ ቆራጭ ጭራቃዊ ገዢዎች በዘር መከፋፈልን ከፍፍለው ለመግዛት መጠቀሚያ መሳርያቸው አድርገው ተጠቅመውበታል፡፡

እኔ ዘረኝነትን እንደ አንድ ሳንቲም የአንድነት ሌላው ገጽታ ነው የማየው፡፡የጎሳዎች ስብስብ የብሔራዊ አንድነት ውበትና ቅርጽ ነው፡፡አንድነት የመበታተን አደጋ የማያጋጥመው በብሔረሰቦች መሃል አለመጣጣምና መግባባት ሲጠፋ ነው፡፡ መለስያዊው የዘር አመለካከት ግን ኢትዮጵያን እንደ 9 የተለያዩ ብሔረሰቦች መመልከትና ክልሎች ብሎ ማስቀመጥ ነው፡፡ ክልል የሚለው ቃል በራሱ መታገትን፤ መገደብን፤ መራራቅን አመላካች ነው፡፡መለስም እንደሚያምነውና እንደሚመኘው ኢትዮጵያ የአንድ ሕዝብ ሃገር ሳትሆን በብሔር ብሔረሰቦች ተገጣጥማ ሲያስፈልግ የምትበታተን፤ ሕዝቦቿም አንድ የሚያደርጋቸው ምንም ፋይዳ የሚሞላ ጉዳይ እንደሌላቸው ነው፡፡(ይህ ደሞ ከፋፍሎ ለመግዛት ዋነኛው ሽፋንና መሳርያም ነው) በኛ እምነት ግን ኢትዮጵያውያን ሁሉም በአንድ ጥላ ስር የሚኖሩ፤ በአንድነታቸው የሚያምኑ፤ የሁሉም የሕግ ጥበቃ ከአድልዎ የጸዳና ሚዛናዊ የሆነ፤ኢትዮጵያም በዳበሩና ብዛት ባላቸው ባህሎች ተሳስሮና ተፋቅሮ የኖረ የሚኖርና በመኖርም ላይ ያለ ሕዝብ ሃገር ናት፡፡ ሕዝቡ በሃገሪቱ ዙርያ ገብ ያለ አንዳች ተጽእኖ፤ገደብ በፍቅር በመግባባት በመተሳሰሰብና በመስራት የሚኖሩ ናቸው፡፡

በሁላችንም ሰብአዊነት ላይ የተመሰረተ አዲስ አይነት አንድነት በመፍጠር ነው ከተጫነብን አረመኔያዊ የፈላጭ ቆራጭ የባርነት አገዛዝ ወደ ዴሞክራሲያዊ ሥርአት መሸጋገር ያለብን፡፡ይህም የተለየ አንድነት፤የሚቆምበት ዋናው መደብ የሁላችንም የጋያ ፕሮፓጋንዳ ከሆነው ዘረኝነት የበለጠ ዋጋ ያለው ሲሆን ነው፡፡ ሁላችንም ለሰብአዊ ክብር ያለብን ቃልኪዳናዊ ግዴታ ቅጥ ካጣውና መላቢስ ከሆነው የአንድ ዘር ግነትና ጋጠ ወጥነት የበለጠ ዋጋ እንዳለው አምነን መቀበል ነው፡፡ በከፍተኛ መመርያና፤ እምነት ላይ የተመሰረተ ነውና፡፡ አፍሪካዊ በሆነው አባባልና አጠራር ላይ ኔልሰን ማንዴላ እንደሚሉትና የሰውን ልጅ አፈጣጠር በሚያስረዳው መልኩ የአፍሪካን የተለያዩ ዘሮች ዩቡንቱ “Ubuntu” ብለን መጥራት እንችላለን፡፡ ሰው ሰው መሆን የሚችለው ሌሎች ሰብአዊ ፍጡሮች ሲኖሩ ነው፡፡ የሌሎችን ሰዎች ድጋፍና ይሁንታ እስካለገኘን ድረስ አንዳችም ነገር መከወን አንችልም፡፡ዩብዩኒቲ፤ እያንዳንዳችን እንደወንድማማች፤እህትማማች፤አንዳችን ስለአንዳችን ማሰብን መተሳሰብን፤መተማመንን፤ መቻቻልን፤የሞራል ግዴታን የምናከብርበት ነው፡፡ አንዳችን ሌላውን እየለየ በጎጂ ጎኑ በሚያሳየን የተቀባና በሰዎች ተንኮል የተፈበረከ መነጽር ኦሮሞውን ለብቻ ትግሬውን ለብቻ አማራውን ለብቻ፤ ደቡቡን ለብቻ ጉራጌውን ለብቻ፤ በዘር ሸንሽኖ እንደቅርጫ ስጋ የሚያሳየንን መለሳዊ አመለካከት በመምረጥ ጨርሶ ሊሆን አይችልም፡፡ይልቁንስ ሁሉም በአንድ የሚኖርባትን ሃገርና በፍቅርና በመግባባት ተከባብሮ የሞነር ህዝብ፤ፍትህና እኩልነት የጋራቸው የሆኑ ኢትዮጵያዊያን የሚኖሩባትን ኢትዮጵያ መልሰን መገንባት ነው፡፡

ሁሉንም ኢትዮጵያዊያን የምጠይቀው፤ ለዚህ ልዩ አንድነታችን መቆም እንድንችል ነው፡፡ይህንንም አንድነት እኔ ሁሙኒቲ “humunity”እና ዩዩኒተ “younity” እለዋለሁ፡፡ሁሙኒቲ በዘር ላይ ተመሰረተ አንድነት ዜግነት ሳይሆን በዓለም አቀፍ ህግጋት ሰብአዊ ክብር ላይ የተመሰረተ ነው፡፡ሰብአዊ መብቶችን የማክበር ግዴታ ያለበትናነው፡፡ሰብአዊ መብትን፤ ፍትሀን በእኩልነት የሚያስቀምጥ ለሕግ የበላይነት መገዛትን የሚወስን ነው፡፡የማንኛውም የስልጣን መሰረት ሕዝባዊ ይሁንታና በዚህም የተዋቀረው ሕገመንግስት በመመርያነት የሚተገበርበት፤ ተጠያቂነትን፤ ግልጽነትን፤በግዳጅ የሚያስቀምጥም ነው፡፡ እነዚህን ወደ ተግባር መለወጥ ከቻልን የተበዳዮችን መብት በማስጠበቅ፤የሰብአዊ መብት የተነፈጉትን ብናከብርላቸው፤ ምንጊዜም እንዳይጠሱና እንዳየበጣጠሱ፤ገደብ ብናደርግላቸው፤ሕብረተሰቡን ስለነዚህ ቀዳሚ ተግባራት በሚገባ እንዲያውቃቸውና እንዲንከባከባቸው እንዲጠብቃቸው በማስተማር በእውቀት ብናበለጽገው ፤ ወጣቱን ተተኪ ትውልድም ዴሞክራሲያዊ ለሆነ ሁኔታ ብናዘጋጀው፤ሙስናን፤ በስልጣን አለአግባብ በማን አለብኝነት መባለግን፤ በመታገል በዜጎች መሃል የጠበቀና የማይበጠስ አንድነት በመፍጠር አንድነትን በተግባርና በሃቅ ላይ አስቀምጠን የጋራ ንብረታችን ማድረግ እንችላለን፡፡ እነዚህ ውድ የሆኑ ዋጋዎቻቸው የማይተመን ጉዳዮች ከጎደሉብን ግን መለያየትና አለመግባባት ቤታቸውን ይሰሩብናል፡፡

አረመኔ ገዢዎች ጥቃቅን ልዩነቶቹን በማጉላትና በማባዛት ሕዝቡን ይከፋፍሉታል፤ ሕዝቡም በሚገባ ሳያውቀውና ሳያገናዝበው በሚመቱት የመለያየት ከበሮ ድምጽ በመመራት ለዜማቸው ይጨፍራል፡፡ በኔ የሁሙኒቲ “huminity” እምነት ግን የአመለካከት ልዩነት፤እምነት ሊኖር ይችላል፤የአመለካከት ልዩነት ደግሞ የእምነት ልዩነት ሊሆን አይችልም፡፡ዓለምአቀፋዊውን የሰብአዊ መብት ብንመለከት ስለኛ ዘር፤ ዜግነት፤ቋንቋ ሃይማኖት ወይም ሌላ ጉዳይ ሳይሆን፤ የጭቆናንና የክፉአረመኔያዊ ገዢዎችን አስኳል በመንቀል የዴሞክራሲ ስርአትን በመገንባት ለሕግ የበላይነት ተገዢነትን ማዳበር ነው፡፡

የ ዮዩኒቲ “younity” ግንዛቤዬ እኔና እርስዎ ነአንድነትና በቆራጥነት ፈላጭ ቆራጭ ገዢዎችንና ጭቆናቸውን በህብረት ለመታገል መነሳታችን ነው፡ የእምነታችን መመስረቻም፤እያንዳንዳችን ለጭቆና ማበቃትና ለነጻነት በረጂሙ የተሳሰርን የነዚህ ሁኔታዎች መገናኛ ቁልፎች መሆናችን ነው፡፡ ለነጻነት ያለን ፍላጎትም ከአንደንነት ሰንሰነለት ጋር ያቆራኘንና ጭቆናን ለማጥፋት መንገድ ይሆነናል፡፡ ኢትዮጵያዊያን የሆንን ሁሉ የሰብአዊ መብትን መከበር፤ በሚገባ አውቀንና አሳውቀን ልንጠብቀው ይገባናል፡፡የፖለቲካ ተቃዋሚ ፓርቲዎችም ህብረተሰቡ አመለካከቱ አንድ እንዲሆንና አዲስ የሁሚኒቴ “huminity” አስተሳሰቡን እንዲያዳብር የማድረግ ሃላፊነት ይጠበቅባቸዋል፡፡የሲቪክ ማህበረሰቦች ለዚሁ ሁሙኒቲ ጥብቅና መቆም፤ምሁራን የዚህን መንገድና ቋንቋ በማስተማር የተለያየ አመለካከት ያላቸውን ማቀራረብ ይኖርባቸዋል፡፡ ወጣቱ ትውልድም ለቀደምት ትውልድ የሁሙቲን አስፈላጊነት በማስተማር ለአዲስና ለብሩህ ተስፋ ኢትዮጵያ መመስረት ማዘጋጀት አለበት፡፡ ለዘለቄታው አንድነት ማረጋገጫ ደግሞ ማንኛውም ተራው ዜጋ የሁላችንም በሚሆነው ሰብአዊነት ዩብዩኒቲ (ubunity) ቋንቋ መነጋር አለበት፡፡

አፍሪካውያን ቅኝ ገዢውን ስርአት እና አፓርታይድን በጨቋኝ ስርአት ላይ ግንባር ሲፈጥሩ አሸነፉትና ጣሉት፡፡በቅርቡም የግብጽ፤ የቱኒዚያ፤ የሊቢያ፤ ዜጎች ‹በሕብረት ጸንቶ የቆመን ሕዝብ የሚያሸንፈው ሃይል የለም›› የሚለውን በተግባርና በቆራጥነታቸው አረጋግጠዋል፡፡ ሕብረትና አንድነት የማጣት ዋጋው ደግሞ ለመከራ መጋለጥ፤ለብዝበዛ መዳረግ፤ለመለያየት መንገድ መክፈት፤ መሳርያ መሆን ነው፡፡ ምርጫችን ሁልጊዜ ማልቀስ፤ ዘወትር ማውራት፤ በየቦታው ለችግር መጋለጥ፤ በፍርሃት መታሰር ሊሆን ይችላል፡፡ እርስ በርሳችን በመናቆር፤ አንዳችን አንዳችንን በማጥላላት፤ ለጥቅምና ለቁራሽ ስንል ወገንን ማሳለፍ፤ እራሳችንን ለማቆየት ብዙዎችን መክዳት የሚያስከትለው ውጤት ግን መብትን በማጣት ለባርነት መዳረግን ነው፡፡ አለያም ዩብዩኒቲ፤ ሁሙኒቲ፤ እና ዮዩኒቲ የአንድነትን ጎዳና መምረጥ ነው፡፡ ሁሉም ኢትዮጵያዊያን በእህትማማችነትና በወንድማማችነት መንፈስ መሰባሰብ አለብን፡፡የዘርን የሃይሞነትን፤የቋንቋን እና ሌሎችንም ልዩነታችንን በመቻቻልና በማስወገድ ተቀናጅተን የጥንቱን አንድነታችንን በመከባበርና በመተሳሰብ መመለስ ይኖርብናል

የመለስን የዘር ፖለቲካ ካርታ ለመጫወት ፈቃደኛ መሆን ማለት ለጥፋት ወደሚዳርግ ልዩነት፤የዘር ፖለቲካ፤አለመግባባትና መናቆር፤መዳረግ ነው፡፡በጉራ ፈርዳ፤ በጋምቤላ፤በቤንች ማጂ፤እና በሌሎችም ቦታዎች መለስ ላስከተለውና በሕዝቡ ላይ ስለጫነው የግፍ ቀንበር ደጋግመን ልንረግመውና ልናወግዘው እንችላለን፡፡ ግን ከዚያ ባለፈም ከዘር ፖለቲካ ተገልለን፤ የአንድነታችን የሆነችውን ኢትዮጵያን መገንባት እንችላለን፡፡ ግን እንዴት………?

ከቁጡነት፤ ከጥላቻ፤ ከክፋት የጸዳ አዲስ ብሔራዊ ግንኙነት መፍጠር

አዲስ ብሔራዊ አንድነትን ለመገንባት ቀጥተኛውና አመቺው መንገድ፤የቆየውንና ጊዜው ያለፈበትን በጥላቻና በጀብደኝነት ላይ ተመስርቶ የነበረውን አንድነት በመተው ነው፡፡የአፍሪካ አንድነት ቋሚ ጸ/ቤት በሜይ 1963 በአዲስ አበባ በተመሰረተበት ወቅት ግርማዊ ቀዳማዊ ኃይለሥላሴ የአፍሪካ አንድነት ያስፈለገበትን ዋነኛ ምክንያት አስረድተው ነበር፡፡ በዚያን ጊዜ ከግማሽ ምአት በፊት የተሰነዘረው አስተያየት አሁን መልሶ በኢትዮጵያ ላይ እያጉረመረመ ነው፡፡

ስለአፍሪካ አንድ መሆን ስናስብ ስለነጻነት ብቻ ሳይሆን ስለአንድነትም ነው፡፡ይህ አዲስ ፈተና ሲቀርብልን ከአለፈው ትምህርት በመውሰድ ተስፋና መበረታታት ይሰማናል፡፡በመሃላችን ልዩነት እንዳለ አይታበልም፡፡እኛ አፍሪካውያን የተለያየ በሃልን እናስተናግዳለን፡፡……………. እንደ ነጻ ሰዎች የእኛ ጥረታችን አዲስ ግንኙነት ለመፍጠር መጣር ሊሆን ተገቢ ነው፡፡…….ብለው ነበር፡፡

ጎሰኛነትን ወይም ዘረኝነትን በማግለል፤ በግልጽ የጠበቀ አንድነታችንን በማሳወቅና በማረጋገጥ ባጋጠመን እድልና ቦታ ሁሉ የኢትዮጵያዊነት እምቢልታችንን ከፍ አድርገን በማሰማት በኢትዮጵያችን ሰብአዊነትን ባረጋገጠ መልኩ ኢትዮጵየዊነትን መገንባት ነው፡፡ ከጥርጣሬና ከጥላቻ የጸዳ አዲስ አንድነትና ግንኙነት እንገንባ……….

(ይቀጥላል)

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April 08 , 2012

It is written in the Holy Bible in Ecclesiastic 3: 1 that: “There is a time for everything and a season for every activity under the heavens”

How long ago was is it since us Ethiopians said ENOUGH! of TPLF regime's multiple cruelties amounting to those of the ruthless invader Mussolini? When is the intense hatred for the Amharas, contempt for the Oromos and other ethnic groups going to end? When is trading in the name of the valiant people of Tigray going to end? Why has the Zenawi regime adopted Mussolini's strategy of total subjugation of the Amharas and the Oromos in particular?

Zenawi has yet again set in motion his grand design for incurably breaking the back of the Amharas and Oromos in tandem and proceed with bringing the rest of the ethnic groups to complete submission to the misrule of the regime.

The vindictive Italian Fascist, after forty years of sophisticated preparation, invaded Ethiopia with far superior modern military weapons and highly trained army that was no match in numbers to the ill-trained, poorly equipped and bare-footed peasant militia but determined to die for their dignity, creed, family values, their land and property, and independence of their motherland. It was during this war that the Italian Fascist invaders dropped leaflets from the air flying over villages in Tigray condemning the Amharas and Oromos and strictly warning the villagers not to cooperate with their militia in any way or face severe punishment.

In the circumstances, time has come for the Amharas and Oromos to set their relatively petty rivalry for power aside and collaborate in order to avert the grave simmering prospect of living in slavery – ironically in the country for which their ancestors had so bravely fought and jealously guarded its independence as vividly demonstrated in the Battle of Adwa that marked the humiliation of Italy, drew respect of the surprised European powers, and became a beacon of hope for all black people living in bondage in the Diaspora. Is it not time more than any other time to wake up to the danger of extinction?

Hypocrisy y of some Western powers:
In my letter of 19-Feb-09 to Secretary Clinton I wrote: “In the recent campaign unprecedented for the long time it took and the money spent, I was torn between the wish to see the first woman or the first African American in the White House. It is now history that Barack Obama won and other contenders bowed out gracefully setting a spectacular example to the international community which I believe hold you with high esteem for your spirited campaign for Candidate Obama to win the Presidency.”

And look at the above photograph for what I got in return to my remark, which on hindsight was a hyperbole. There is no mistaking the intimacy between the duos. But what was the warm handshaking and beaming smile about? My guess is that puppet Zenawi is saying aloud Bingo! Mission accomplished! Readers may make their own guesses.
President George W. Bush reneged on his promise not to collaborate with dictators. Secretary Clinton with her smile and warm handshake extended to genocidal tyrant is vindicating that reneging on promises was right; desperate dictators do things including torture and rendition legally barred in the United States.
Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice stood, side by side with tyrant Zenawi, on the hallowed ground of Meneliks's City to renounce the Human Rights Bill HR2003 unanimously approved by the exalted House of Representatives of the United States Congress. She contradicted African- Americans and the Black Caucus in the House who supported the Bill from its inception to its approval. The smiling Secretary Rice posed for a photograph with the tyrant standing on her side. Her denouncing of HR2003 in Addis Ababa – lacked statesmanship and decorum and exposed her insensitivity to the agony, grief and wailing of mothers of the martyrs of June and November 2005 in the aftermath of the historic election decisively won by the opposition and ruthlessly stolen by the ruling party of the despotic ruler.
Ambassadors Aurelia Brazil and Vicki Huddleston complained about what they called 'vitriolic' attack on Zenawi by opposition bloggers, but disregarded the execution of peaceful protesters by trigger happy security forces under his direct command of Zenawi. Susan Rice showed her support for the tyrant by the intimate photograph with him. Jundiai Frazer kept silent all along – perhaps spellbound by Zenawi's divide-and- rule atrocities like the other senior diplomats in the State Department.
Regarding British policy, I quote the following two paragraphs from my article written regarding the terrorist incident in London in 2005:
“I sincerely and strongly deplore the abortive bombing of London transport system on the 21st of July 2005, following the first devastating attack (on 07 July 2005) on the system that sadly claimed 56 lives and caused injuries to hundreds of innocent people. It is morally right that both terrorist attacks drew a chorus of condemnation from the international community.”
“The position taken by the British government over the shooting of the Brazilian is in sharp contrast to the red carpet treatment at the G8 Summit accorded to Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, who has ordered the execution of 40 innocent civilians in cold blood, thrown thousands into jail under harsh conditions, and made many to suffer mental and physical tortures. Meles the butcher, has neither apologized to the families of the bereaved and the Ethiopian people nor instituted his promised 'investigation' into the heinous crime attributed to state-sponsored violence orchestrated by the very few innermost clique of Stalinists in his TPLF regime. I do not know whether Prime Minister Tony Blair has even privately regretted for inviting the tyrant Meles to the G8 Summit where the killer basked in the lavish functions of powerful world leaders exchanging smiles and champagne toasts even as atrocities in Ethiopia were taking their tolls. I doubt whether the British Prime Minister would help end tyranny in Ethiopia.”
PM Tony Blair's successors pursue the policy of their predecessor on Ethiopia!
AU's Impotence versus. Ethiopian Election 2005
On that historic day of 07 May 2005 a truly mammoth crowd estimated at 2.5 – 3 million inundated the streets and squares of Addis Ababa to support the now defunct Kinijit Party (Coalition for Unity and Democracy). That sea of humanity was acclaimed internationally for its magnificent display of decorum and civility; it ended peacefully without a single incident of violence.

The unprecedented massive support for Kinijit was followed by an unprecedented turn out of massive voters for the election of 15 May 2005 in which the ruling party suffered a convincing defeat failing to win a single vote in Addis Ababa where the AU Headquarters is located. Tyrant Meles unconstitutionally declared a state of emergency and swiftly implemented his plan B: killing close to 200 peaceful protesters by trained snipers; throwing the true victors to the infamous Kaliti filthy prison; incarcerating tens of thousands of opposition supports, mostly young where their heads were shaven with unsterilized blades without regard to widespread STDs of that time; votes were stolen and his party declared victory overriding its even its hand-picked electoral commission announced the results.
The African Union shamefully pronounced the election free and fair and recognized the TPLF party as the winner. What is even more shocking is that one of the senior diplomats of the AU hailing from Rwanda overstepped diplomatic norms and blamed the opposition in public for the popular unrest in the aftermath of the election marked by gruesome atrocities. It is a shame that this Rwandan forgot so soon, in the comfort of luxury that dollar-paid diplomats enjoy in Addis Ababa, the close to one million victims of genocide in his country.

It is time, more than any other time, for the Amharas and Oromos in particular, for their own sake in self-defense, to combine their overwhelming numbers to deter the deadly threat posed against them; and to save the priceless heritage bequeathed by their ancestors in exemplary collaboration.

Let us say NO to ethnic cleansing; let us be proud that Ethiopia was the first country to develop systems of law by which to be governed; let us believe in ourselves as equals regardless of the chronological order of settling of our ancestors in Ethiopia; let us believe in our irreversible bond crowned by inter-marriage and multiple common values. It is our duty to preserve the sanctity of our places of worship in churches, mosques & synagogues in Ethiopia! So help us the Almighty God of the Universe!

LONG LIVE ETHIOPIA!!
Release all political prisoners in Ethiopia including
robele_ababya@yahoo.com

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The dismal performance of the African Union, since its establishment officially in Durban on the 9th of July 2002, is a burning issue especially to genuine intellectuals who have the interests of Africa at heart and the young generation who see their future blighted due to rampant corruption, inept leadership, contagious dictatorial rule and robbery of votes set in motion by the TPLF regime and spreading for example to Kenya and Zimbabwe whose leaders sought to emulate the method applied by Meles Zenawi in the aftermath of the 15 May 2005 Ethiopian election. It is my contention that failure on the part of the AU Leadership to condemn the illegitimate regime of Meles set a bad precedence ushering in an era of instability and abject poverty in countries under despotic rulers.

This piece is mainly meant for young readers that have stake in the background and performance of political institutions that define their future.

In fairness to the defunct OAU

I was still young when the now defunct Organization of African Unity was founded in Addis Ababa by 32 independent States on 25 May 1963. I was naïve in matters of politics at the time but I am a little wiser now to appreciate its detrimental effect in the hands of despotic leaders.

I recall the debate of the pros and cons of creating the OAU. There were outright oppositions by pundits on the payroll of foreign powers to the point of ridiculing it. On the other hand there were concerns in good faith that it was premature to embark on the exercise in view of the diverse cultures of the African people and grand size of the developing continent with pathetic transportation network and poor economy coupled with the intrigue of some diehard colonial masters to nip the Organization in the bud.

To be fair the OAU performed beyond expectations, against many odds, in fuelling the liberation struggle giving birth to independent states to the delight of jubilant others to welcome and register them as fellow members. I thank God that I saw this history of liberation struggle in the making.

It makes me proud as it does millions of my fellow citizens that the Headquarters of the OAU was decided to be located in the capital city of Ethiopia, Addis Ababa, founded by Emperor Menelik II – the Victor of the Battle of Adwa over Italy. This convincing victory over the evil forces of Italy in its own right became the beacon of hope for all black people in the Diaspora lending hope, inspiration and confidence to their struggle for freedom and independence. The seat of the OAU in our capital city is a living tribute also to the foresight and arduous work of Emperor Haile Selassie.

Ethiopia is also a founding member of the United Nations when Emperor Haile Selassie was at the helm of power. His Majesty was loyal to the UN and OAU Charters to the core. As part of commitment to Collective Security under the UN elite Ethiopian battalions were sent to Korea and Congo where they received glowing accolades for their professional acumen; a small military contingent was sent to Nigeria during the civil war incited by Biafra seeking cessation; the Emperor dispatched the Air Force to assist President Nyerere when the unity of Tanzania was threatened by an uprising in Zanzibar. Several liberation movement fighters including the distinguished Statesman Nelson Mandela were trained in Ethiopia

Ethiopians are proud for the significant contribution their country had made to the noble struggle against colonialism and to the cause of unity when that is threatened by internal strife.

The foresight, intelligence, revolutionary fervor and commitment of some of the founders of the OAU such as Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana did not go well with diehard colonial masters addicted to sucking the wealth of the continent and slave labor of its people. They used every intrigue to undermine the Organization and some greedy leaders fell willing preys to those intrigues. The greed spread like cancer to the point of making the Organization impotent and good governance a mockery. In spite of all these, the OAU did commendably well.

Negative side of OAU

The bad governance seen in Ethiopia for the last 18 years needs to be singled out for its detrimental consequences not only to Ethiopia but also to the stability of the entire region of the Horn of Africa. Cardinal examples are:

Despite the fact that Ethiopia sacrificed her meager resources to help others gain their independence and maintain their territorial integrity in keeping with the OAU Charter, not a single member of the Organization whispered a word in public when Eritrea ceded from Ethiopia leaving it a land-locked country. Those who said anything in private blamed the cessation on the ruling TPLF regime who strongly solicited for that to happen;

Cessation of Eritrea brought neither respect to the OAU nor stability to the Horn of Africa. The fratricidal war of 1998 – 2000 between Ethiopia and Eritrea claimed 100 000 thousand lives on both sides not to speak of the number of injuries colossal damage to the economy, and danger to regional peace.

The OAU was unable to stop the carnage on both sides. Ethiopia's contribution, as enumerated in the foregoing paragraphs, to the struggle for independence of fellow Africans under the yoke of imperialism unfortunately got little reciprocation – perhaps also partly because of the divisive exotic ideology intruding into our unique culture. .

In full view of the AU

The TPLF regime was convincingly and overwhelmingly beaten at the polls in the historic election of 15 May 2005. Meles Zenawi unconstitutionally declared a state of emergency; votes were stolen and his party declared victory even before his electoral commission began to announce the results. The true victors of the election were brutally thrown into jail including the charismatic and intelligent Judge Birtukan Mideksa who is back again to that filthy jail for the second time.

What is really shocking is that the African Union which had sent its observers to the above said election pronounced the election free and fair and recognized the TPLF party as the winner. What is even more shocking is that one of the senior diplomats of the AU hailing from Rwanda overstepped diplomatic norms and blamed the opposition in public for the popular unrest in the aftermath of the election during which close to 200 were executed in cold blood and tens of thousands of mostly young Ethiopians were crammed into filthy jails with their heads shaved with un-sterilized razors. It is a shame that this Rwandan forgot so soon, in the comfort of luxury that dollar-paid diplomats enjoy in Addis Ababa, the close to one million victims of genocide in his country due to utterly bad governance of the kind exercised by TPLF by deliberately inciting and exacerbating ethnic and religious differences in a tolerant country where unity in diversity had lived in exemplary relative harmony for centuries.

When pressure was mounting on it to relax the political space by allowing the state monopoly of all pillars of democracy, the ruling regime unleashed naked invasion of Somalia to divert attention from domestic problems. This unprecedented invasion in the name of Ethiopia caused draconian damage to the lives of our Somali neighbors and left a deep wound that will take decades to heal. Sadly, however, the AU publicly sanctioned this brutal invasion on grounds that the regime had the right to defend itself.

The invading TPLF army was expelled from Somalia in defeat leaving the future stability of that country uncertain. The Meles army must have lost several of its soldiers, otherwise Meles would have bragged by revealing the loss of just a few. The refusal by the tyrant Meles to disclose the information to his own rubber-stamp parliament is utter contempt to: globally recognized democratic norms; the Ethiopian people; and the families of the dead and wounded in the war of aggression against Somalia.

History will hold the AU Leaders in part responsible for the humanitarian suffering of mammoth proportion such as the one that had occurred on their watch.

Ethiopians live in a large prison; our Somali brothers and sisters should not hold the rest of us responsible for we are denied of democratic rights to demonstrate publicly against the excesses of the brutal TPLF regime.

The debate on foreign aid

Donors claim that Africa received over one trillion US dollars in aid over the last 50 years. Still the continent carries a heavy debt estimated at 350 billion US dollars. The question is where has all that money gone. The popular belief is that more than 80% found its way back to the donors and the remaining went to the pockets of corrupt leaders or squandered on military weapons and training of subservient security forces answerable to their corrupt masters.

One would share the belief of Professor George Ayittey (prominent Ghanaian Professor of Economics at the American University) that “Africa would be better served by building accountable democratic institutions such as
• An independent media
• An independent central bank
• An independent judiciary (eg rule of law)
• Neutral and professional armed forces
• An efficient civil service
• An independent electoral commission”.

Obviously none of the above exists in Ethiopia today under the secretive Stalinist regime of Meles Zenawi who stands among the worst dictators in the world.

Appeal to AU Leadership

The young generation has lost trust in the AU Leadership for all the reasons stated in the foregoing paragraphs. Corruption and wastage of money on security forces accountable to despotic leaders have dashed the hope of our young generation for a bright future in a prosperous and democratic continent endowed with enormous natural resources. The scramble by external powers for these resources is too obvious to state. The pervasive influence of neo-colonialism is being felt, but we have not prepared our citizens to counter it. With all due respect, the fault lies with the AU Leadership for failing to promote democratic culture and expedite the advent of a strong collaborative union in the best interest of all the citizens of the AU member States.

The hope of the young generation, Judge Birtukan Mideksa, was a child when Meles was a loyal disciple of Lenin, Stalin, Mao and Enver Hoxha. He was leading brain-washed peasants trained to kill their equally ignorant counterparts under the communist regime of Mengistu Hailemariam. She has nothing to do with the political mess created by successive regimes under which she grew up to emerge in her own right as a principled, intelligent and fair Judge as well as an able courageous and charismatic leader in the quest of the Ethiopian people for unity, justice and democracy. These national values being pursued in earnest by the people are odds with the atrocities being perpetrated by the brutal regime of Meles.

Judge Birtukan symbolizes a ray of hope for young generations. She is the leader of a popular political party committed to peaceful struggle for change. Her imprisonment for the second time leaving her four year old daughter in the care of over seventy years old mother is cruel because she has done nothing wrong except telling the whole truth which the Ethiopian people are entitled to know. She did not break any law; she is jailed in breach of the constitution which the ruling regime repeatedly breaks in full view of the AU and the international community.

Hundreds of political prisoners are held throughout Ethiopia. It is an open secret that political prisoners of the Oromo ethnic origin are the overwhelming occupants of filthy prisons infested with bugs and rodents.

The AU Leadership should not hide behind diplomatic veil and keep silent on the basic issues of grave violation of human rights perpetrated against Judge Birtukan and all political prisoners. The Leadership should openly condemn their jailors in breach of the constitution and demand unconditional and immediate release of all political prisoners.

The AU Leadership is morally and legally bound to reverse the destructive trend of bad governance which has had dire effect on the progress of the continent.

Zero tolerance for those holding political prisoners!

LONG LIVE ETHIOPIA!!!
Robele Ababya (robele_ababya@yahoo.com)

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[caption id="attachment_13450" align="alignleft" width="224" caption="Loving Ethiopia to death"] [/ Caption]

On November 11, 2011 Yenesew Gebre was driven to kill himself on behalf of all suffering Ethiopians. He killed himself out of love for his people and country. He made the ultimate sacrifice to wake us up so we can see what it means to be humiliated in your own home. Love can be expressed in so many different ways. Yenesew's method was that of a teacher. That is what he was in real life. Yenesew was a shepherd and an example setter to his people.

On March 24, 2012 Ethiopian Review reported about exiled Ethiopian physicians holding a meeting in Virginia, US to raise money to invest in a referral hospital in Ethiopia. A very laudable act you might say. They must love their country and people so much that even after being kicked out, exiled or driven off from their homeland they were willing to help. Isn't that a sign of generosity and love? Sono d'accordo. There is nothing like giving. Aren't we such a blessed people to have caring individuals among us?

Wait a minute, let us not put the cart in front of the horse please. Everything has a context otherwise it is meaningless. Our physicians 'love' for country has to be put in its context so we can really understand and appreciate their 'selfless' act. This is where the problem rears its head. They say the devil is in the details and it is nowhere true than in this instance. Our physician's act is nothing more than a cheap trick to pad their bank account while looking selfless and honorable. Their act is that of a charlatan. They are trying to get advantage using deception. It is petty theft and nothing more than the act of a common criminal.

How sad coming from people of such high knowledge that have taken the oath to do good. Well they are Ethiopians aren't they; the rules don't work in the land of TPLF Ethiopia. Being a physician is a sign of high achievement. It requires sacrifice, dedication and plenty of work. It is an honorable profession. Doctors are held in high esteem and it is every mother's dream for her baby. They teach you how to cure the sick in medical school. They make you a technician of the human body. The engineer build bridges, the architect designs house, the mechanic fixes engines, the chauffer drives a car, the physician cures people, the politician leads and the shoeshine cleans shoes. All are expert in their field. It is the contribution of each that makes a society work in harmony.

We put physicians on a pedestal. We ascribe a certain amount of higher intelligence to the doctor. That is more so in a backward society like ours. It is not healthy. We confuse education with common sense. One might be trained to be nuclear scientist but the possibility is there that the individual might be void of common sense or social grace. Those that have spent a major portion of their life pursuing a single goal can sometimes loose sight of the bigger picture.

When it comes to our learned compatriots we are dealing with two aspects of this myopic situation. There are some that are truly attracted to do good and help their people. At he same time there are those that will betray their people for thirty pieces. Isn't that the situation we got here?

That is what I believe. In a country where one man surrounded with his ethnic group and lords it over eighty million others, in a place where one is judged by his blood line instead of his deeds, in a location where no one is allowed to speak or associate freely and in a land where the young and able are forced to leave due to lack of opportunity our esteemed doctors are collecting money to enable the evil doer.

None other than Ato Girma Birru – our Oromo Ambassador, called them into a meeting. I know it is rude to identify an individual by his ethnic affiliation on the other hand Ato Girma owes his position due to his ethnic identity. He was the token OPDO Minster in the TPLF cabinet and today he is the token representative in the US. Before his assignment to his new job he was Minster of Industry and Commerce in emerging democratic Ethiopia. Makes you wonder what he did all day doesn't it? When you consider that he was a simple student like the rest of us before the arrival of TPLF and today he counts as one of the richest individuals in the country you know what he was busy at in his position. The well-dressed and manicured Ambassador is a picture of well-fed and modern Ethiopian.

Our physicians are the symptom of the disease afflicting our country. We focus on them because they are an easy target to identify. But this disease of discounting Ethiopia is nothing new. It has been going on for so long that it has become part of us. We all have become numb to being humiliated, trampled upon and discarded. No need to point our fingers at the greedy doctors when every house is a source of this virus of selfishness and greed. I do not mean to insult you my dear Ethiopian but isn't time we reflect on our actions?

Tell me who buys stolen plots of land? Who flies Ethiopian Airlines? Who party's in Addis among the starving? Who invests in hotels and brothels from Mekele to Moyale? Who turns a blind eye when the Anuaks are massacred in Gambella, the Amharas displaced from Benji Maji, the Oromos imprisoned in mass, the little girls sold into slavery in the Middle East? Don't tell me you did not know. You knew but you choose to keep silent.

We choose to be upset because Hillary Clinton sat with the monster in Arat Kilo. We seethed with anger because the little dictator inserts himself in every international meeting, we blow our tops when Gambella is leased to grow rice, Professor Asrat was murdered, teacher Assefa Maru is gunned down, Kinijit is imprisoned and elections are stolen. It took all five minutes to cool us down. Our anger was not real. It did not come from deep. Surface anger is so pathetic don't you think so?

Our esteemed physicians came to the west because they could not serve the people that paid for their training while working under the existing regime. Unfortunately they forget why they were driven away. They are just showing us how self-centered and idiots they are. Doctors without borders are in Ogaden tending to the deliberately starved, they are in the rift valley helping the intentionally marginalized and our doctors were assembled in Virginia to serve the less than one percent. Shame is an understatement. When did we loose our moral compass is a valid question?

You know what it took me along time to push send after I wrote this piece. I was worried offending you. I felt like I am not a good 'chewa' Ethiopian, being rude and confrontational is not our style. Then the picture of the displaced came to me. I saw the children from Benji Maji left to be homeless. I remembered my sister Alem Dechasa alone and helpless in Lebanon. I thought of my people in the jungles of Central Africa to be eaten by wild animals or drawn into harms way in other peoples' conflict or imprisoned in Yemen and I said enough is enough. I have no reason to please no one.

I have bad news for you my people. Freedom cannot be outsourced. The Americans, the British nor the Norwegians are going to liberate you. Liberation comes from deep inside. It comes from being true to your self. It comes from caring for other as you care for yourself. How could you save others when you are sinking your self? As for our physicians that are deluding themselves about helping our people I have one message for them-kindly shove your PhD's where the sun does not shine and take two aspirins for the pain. The physical pain will go away but the mental anguish caused by your betrayal will never leave you, ever.

As for me my friends, I am working overtime to bring this nightmare to an end. I support Ginbot 7, I am energized by the new OLF, I help ESAT and I am always there to expose Woyane atrocity every chance I get. I teach people on the goings in my homeland. I write my Congress representative to remind them of the plight of my people and I will never rest until this cancer is wiped out from my body politic. Sometimes the going gets rough, the road seems impassable but no one promised me a jolly ride. The fact that some individuals or groups betray our trust is no reason to resign and go home. I just reengineer and thrust on because the liberation of my country and people cannot be dumped onto others. What about you are you just complaining insistently, blaming others or are you becoming part of the problem like our educated but reality challenged physicians? It is a choice you have to make.

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Dear Rev. Tveit and Religious Leader:

We in the Solidarity Movement for a New Ethiopia (SMNE), a social justice movement of ethnically and religiously diverse Ethiopians, come to you as freedom-seeking people who believe peace can only come to Ethiopia and beyond when we value the God-given humanity in each one of us and uphold the right to one's own beliefs and religious practices. Read More

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By Aklog Birara, PhD

“The people occupying the plateau of the Blue Nile are conscious of a glorious past and proudly call themselves Ethiopians.”
Elise Reclus, Philosopher

[caption id="attachment_11796" align="alignleft" width="164" caption="Dr Aklog Birara"] [/ Caption]

Ethiopian ethnic-based political elites, most prominently, the champion of ethnic politics and business, TPLF Inc., were always bent on shredding to pieces our commonalities, shared history and common identity as Ethiopians of all shades, colors, languages and faiths, from their inception. They embraced the Apartheid like formula of separation and legalized ethnic-federalism. They were determined to de-institutionalize and de-capitalize Ethiopian society by dismantling social relations among the population. This is the thesis of this analytical piece. As a result of their secret and coded arrangements intended solely to serve them financially and economically, they sowed the seeds of revenge and fear among the population. Youth are forced to belong to the governing party if they wish to secure a job, a home or further education. As a result, the country that stood as symbol of independence, honor, dignity and pride for people of color around the globe is now the center of the grossest human rights violations on this planet. TPLF Inc. is determined to obliterate the past, present and future of all people who call themselves “Ethiopians.” This is happening in front of our eyes. As far as I know, de-institutionalization and social de-capitalization of Ethiopian society started when TPLF Inc. took power 21 years ago and continues at a faster pace today. The concepts were all planted during its formation. What we witness now is implementation of the sinister strategy using land and other economic resources to dispossess and expel.

Wherever one looks, dispossessions expulsions and human cruelty from government agents are widespread: the Afar, Beni-Shangul Gumuz, Gambella, Gondar, Lower Omo Valley, Oromia and SNNP regions and sub-regions are at the center. In this entire onslaught against the Ethiopian people, there is overwhelming documentary evidence that shows that the Amharic speaking population is singled out as 'enemy' number one. Why the differentiation? This group is identified by TPLF Inc. and the country's traditional adversaries as nationalist, that is, as Ethiopian more than its label as Amhara. I documented this in my book, Waves, two years ago and forewarned that TPLF Inc. will continue its relentless campaign to dislodge this and other nationalist oriented members of society using ethnic-federalism and decentralized decision making as the driver. Using this mode of government arrangements, TPLF Inc. tries to camouflage its misdeeds by using surrogates. We know that surrogates have little or no power. Authority comes from the top. The continued expulsion of Amharic speaking Ethiopians from the lands they use and from the neighbors with whom they coexist peacefully and amicably reflects this sinister arrangement. People naively wonder why the outside world, especially donors and diplomats with stake in Ethiopia do not react.

Although this is not the purpose of this piece, I should like to share my take on the matter again. British and American policy makers, the two largest sources of bilateral aid to Ethiopia, know that the TPLF Corporate group is anathema to their own values of the rule of law, human freedom, free enterprise and a semblance of democracy, for example, checks and balances and political pluralism. Why do they support a repressive regime that portends insecurity and instability in the long-run? Why do they refuse a movement toward globally accepted norms of humane institutions, decency, fair play, openness and the like? In my view and the views of other prominent international experts on the subject, democratic reconstruction and reconfiguration are secondary to their national interests of security and stability in the Horn of Africa. In other words, they are willing and ready to sacrifice their core values to serve their own narrow and short-term national interests of averting terrorism and instability in the Horn of Africa as they have done in the rest of the world. This is why Ethiopian opposition groups cannot afford to operate in their own silos. They need to cooperate and show credibility that they stand for a bigger cause than narrow or parochial interests.

Like us, the world community looks at the faces of innocent children and women forcibly expelled from their farmlands and properties where their forefathers worked and lived for 100 years plus, in Benji Maji, Southern Ethiopia. Like us, those whose profession is to monitor the Horn know that theirs is a fresh and ugly testimony and reminder of how far ethnic politics and business in Ethiopia would go to bring havoc to this ancient land. They know that, with a stroke of an order–no doubt emanating from the highest levels of the governing party–children and women and poor farmers were herded like sheep in their own country by their own government and forcibly expelled from their homes. They know that neighbors were awed but could do nothing in the country of fear. The bewilderments in the faces of the children and women are graphic and speak louder than my capacity to write about them; and the cruelty and brutality of a regime that has literally gone wild and mad. These Ethiopians could be our children, our sisters, our mothers, our fathers and or relatives. It does not matter. They are, first and foremost human beings and Ethiopians who deserve treatment with honor and dignity. Their expulsion is ours too. Donors and diplomats in Addis Ababa know all of this; but cannot say much because it does not affect their interests. It is up to us to make them understand and to draw them to our side.

TPLF Inc.'s ethnic politics and business robbed these Ethiopians displaced from their homes, of their humanity, dignity and honor. Fidati di me. Regardless of ethnic, religious, ideological or demographic affiliation, it is our own common humanity, dignity and honor that are robbed and are being undone by tribal elite that have no decency or humanity to speak of. I am not entirely clear where this unprecedented assault on the Ethiopian people is heading and where it will lead and to what end? Some in the diplomatic and donor community are weary but are not speaking out. I am wearily reminded of the civil war in Liberia, the dismemberment of Yugoslavia, genocide in Rwanda and the collapse of Somalia. I and others witnessed the horrors in Liberia where people were hacked like wild animals or in Rwanda where nearly a million people lost their lives because of their ethnic affiliation should worry that the same could happen in our country. It is not an exaggeration to put the pieces together by connecting the dots of cruelty and inhumanity and by arriving at a larger and ominous picture that seems to emerge. TPLF Inc. and its ethnic elite collaborators seem to be determined to push the entire country into the abyss. Donors and diplomats in Addis Ababa know this but do not see an alternative that gives them confidence and comfort.

In my view, the plight of the Amhara is not a single ethnic dilemma. It is an Ethiopian dilemma. The plight of the tribes in the Omo Valley being forced out of their ancestral homes is not solely their problem. It is an Ethiopian problem. The eviction of Anuak, Afar and Somali from their lands to make room for a narrow band of emerging ethnic capitalists and foreign governments and firms from 36 countries is not an Anuak or Afar or Somali problem. It is an Ethiopian problem. The rape of Somali girls and women and the destruction of villages and property is not a Somali problem. It is an Ethiopian problem. The transfer of lands in Waldiba on which monks depend, to TPLF Inc. firms and or the state within a state called MIDROC is not a Gondar problem. It is an Ethiopian one. No matter the location or the population, it is Ethiopia and Ethiopians who are under the gun. Thus, it behooves all Ethiopians to respond not as members of this or that ethnic or religious group but as Ethiopians. This is our only salvation as people. We either rise in unison as Ethiopians; or we will all perish together. We can never allow this to occur. It is not the legacy we would want to leave. Is it?

As I saw the video clips of innocent and frightened children, girls and women, I kept thinking that only an invading army would do this to Ethiopians. I am reminded that even invading armies from the colonial era were civilized and humane enough to differentiate the innocent from those who dissent. Children and women and poor farmers who work hard to earn a living are not a threat to the governing party. Their forcible expulsion is a form of ethnic cleansing and therefore a crime against humanity. Only Apartheid conducted an identical system of political and economic capture that expelled blacks and herded and concentrated them in their own “homelands or Bantustans.” This way, it is easier to monitor, subjugate and control them. TPLF Inc. does not have the moral courage or commitment to differentiate between those who dissent against it and those who live and work peacefully and legally in different parts of the country.
Ironically, Tigreans are free to live and work anywhere in Ethiopia. They are state sponsored and can own property anywhere in the country. A recent informal survey from a reliable group shows that in the city of Gondar, close to 50 percent of the population is now Tigrean as are more than 75 percent of major enterprises. Here is the difference. The Amharic speaking population of the city treats them as Ethiopians. No Tigrean national I am aware of has been expelled from the so-called Amhara region. This is the good news and Tigreans should condemn a ruling clique that abuses their name and expels people on the basis of ethnic and or linguistic affinity. For this reason alone, Ethiopia and the Ethiopian people do not deserve Apartheid like system that dispossesses and expels any or one group of people forcibly from any part of the country on the basis of linguistic and or tribal origin. Ethiopians must stand up and reject this regressive policy and the occurrences it triggers. They must recognize and appreciate the notion that inhumanity of man to man is not an Ethiopian popular tradition or value. It is not our heritage. It is the tradition of tyrants and dictators perfected by TPLF Inc. in other words; it is a governance and system's issue.

Is our history as cruel as TPLF Inc. manifests it?

I should like to take the reader back to a snippet of history to strengthen my argument. TPLF Inc. rejects the evolution of the country it defines as a “prison of nations, nationalities and peoples,” for which it is the proclaimed liberator. These narrow-minded, clubby and family centered minority ethnic elite try to compel innocent and self-serving people alike to believe that our identity should be defined narrowly in tribal and linguistic terms. It uses emotions to drive its political and economic agenda on the rest of us. The reader knows that people enjoy different identities for different reasons. I will identify some of my own: am a professional in development, have a higher degree and was and or is a banker, professor, writer, belong to the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, am a father, a husband and my linguistic affiliation is to Amharic and regional origin, Gondar. Of these, which one do you think is the identity that I cherish most and share or have in common with millions? It is this. I am an Ethiopian and have a great deal in common with Ethiopians than other people in the world. I presume most of us who hail from Ethiopia have numerous identities but believe in the notion that we are Ethiopians or people of Ethiopian origin. It is this core value that will save us.

The singular identity that binds us together regardless of different affiliations is that we belong to a country called Ethiopia. Hence, our commonality is expressed as Ethiopians and or as people of Ethiopian origin. TPLF Inc. wants us to sink to the bottom and think and organize ourselves as Amharic speakers or an Amhara ethnic group. I caution my compatriots that this is a tempting trap to which we should not sink. We need to be strategic and take the higher road of our historical and legitimate identity as Ethiopians. Let me elaborate within the context of today's global community in which the TPLF Inc. formula is totally against the tide.

Who in the world would find it credible if I told (in official travels with the World Bank) a Chinese or a Brazilian or a Nigerian or a Norwegian at their respective airports that I am an Amharic speaking Gondarie? Wouldn't the person find it incredible if I told him or her that I cannot live and or work in any part of Ethiopia because of my linguistic or ethnic affiliation? TPLF Inc. has reduced us to this low level. It is this emotionally driven and politically motivated identity that TPLF Inc. imposes on most of us. Some accept the new norm because of fear. Some accept it because of greed. Others accept it because of ignorance. Still others accept it because they believe in it. No matter the motive, TPLF Inc. wants us to believe that it is implementing Apartheid like formula on behalf of 'oppressed nations, nationalities and people.' The intent is to undermine Ethiopian unity and identity. The acid test of being an Ethiopian is the possibility of living and working in any part of Ethiopia. Otherwise, our commonality becomes meaningless regardless of the propaganda propagated by TPLF Inc. that we should all buy Renaissance Bonds and send our hard earned monies in support of a regime that does not allow us to fulfill our potential in our own country. Just think of this. The governing party that champions Ethiopian nationalism when it suits its interests still calls itself by its origin, Tigray People's Liberation Front? Liberation from who is now a legitimate question. The reader knows the answer and the purpose.

The Greeks looked up to ancient Ethiopia and called it the common cradle of mankind. Among other things, they contended that ancient Egyptians “derived their civilization and religions from Ethiopia and Ethiopians. Ptolemaic (Greek) writers and philosophers felt and wrote that “Ethiopians were the first men that ever lived.” Martin Bernal's “Black Athena: the Afro-Asiatic roots of classical civilization,” provides rich data and information on the richness of Ethiopian history; and, more important on the movement and on the interconnectedness of most Ethiopians for thousands of years. Interconnectedness of Ethiopians has now been validated through archaeological findings that confirm that Ethiopia is indeed the origin of humankind. In their highly acclaimed book, “Lucy (Dinknesh): The Beginnings of Humankind,” Donald Johansson and Maitland Edey, document the dramatic discovery of Lucy's (Dinknesh's) “completeness in the history of hominid fossil collection.” Dinknesh's (Lucy's) discovery did not happen by accident. It is a tribute to the farsightedness of Emperor Haile Selassie, who, in the 1950s–during a visit to Kenya–invited Western Anthropologists to explore fossils in Ethiopia and granted the requisite permits. The Omo valley expedition lasted from 1967 to 1977 and resulted in the finding of Dinknesh (Lucy). “There could no longer be any argument about that, or conjecture over whether a certain leg bone and a certain skull did or did not belong the same individual (Dinknesh). Here they were, together in one unbelievable skeleton.”

Dinknesh refers to a country known for thousands of years as Ethiopia, home of our common humanity as Ethiopians. If we are indeed the origin of mankind, possess an incontestable long history and have served as a home to different ethnic and religious groups for thousands of years, who is responsible for reducing us to identify one another as members of a tribe or a linguistic group rather than as Ethiopians? It is the EPLF, TPLF and other ethnic-based liberation fronts who wish us harm. It is also their foreign sponsors that continue to be inimical to a strong, unified and prosperous Ethiopia. As the champion of ethnic politics and business (the two are linked), TPLF Inc. is determined to obliterate this common humanity that the Ethiopian people have shared for thousands of years. This commonality has been strengthened generation after generation through marriages, economic and religious interactions, migration of people from South to North, from North to South, from East to West and from West to East and many in between. This is why I contend that Ethiopia and Ethiopians are the pace-setters of what is now commonly known as globalization. This phenomenon began as a result of human mobility from Ethiopia and the rest of Africa to the rest of the globe. Before Ethiopians moved across the globe, they spread within Ethiopia. Their linkages are thus incontestable.

Ethiopian identity and globalizing influence that TPLF Inc. wishes to undo by rewriting our entire history and reducing it to just 100 years to suit it, and by spreading the venom of ethnic revenge and hate are not confined to the story of Dinknesh, although hers is the foundation of our humanity. Herodotus, the Greek historian documented that Ethiopians reached out to the rest of the world through trade in spices and ivory far beyond Egypt and the Gulf. Ethiopians are said to have moved to and served in Persian armies. “The Eastern Ethiopians—for there were two sorts of Ethiopians in the army—served in the Indian army.” Here is the key though. “These were just like the Southern Ethiopians, except for their language and their hair; their hair is straight.” Threads that bind Ethiopians among one another through marriages, social and economic interactions, religious practices, localities and regions are rooted in our past. With its ups and downs and imperfections and manifestations of gross injustice, our past is the foundation of our present and future. In light of this, our diversity is nothing new. It has always been there. The trick is to harness it for the better.

Yet, our political leaders and institutions failed to use our diversity creatively and constructively in building an enduring, just and all inclusive society. Experts foreign and domestic recognize our history and diversity as sources of uniqueness and strength rather than as liabilities. Under TPLF Inc., both history and diversity are liabilities. These are used as political tools to create and deepen wedges to divide us, frighten us, exploit us and create animosities among us.

TPLF Inc. forces us to forget the assets and treasures that emanate from our roots and the uniqueness that our forefathers left for us. One additional example cements this point. In the 19th century, M. Le Jean, French, said this. “Ethiopia, even during its state of greatest decadence, offers to the unprejudiced traveler, the elements of an advanced social order. Feudality certainly exists there, but scarcely to a greater extent than in England…the administrative machinery is simple…is property well defined; individual rights are guaranteed by appeal to the Emperor; commerce is protected; and political vengeance and horrors of war in a great measure neutralized…” Can you say the same about the Meles Zenawi Government today? I cannot. The evidence is overwhelmingly oppressive and repressive. This is why revenge, fear and expulsion come naturally to the governing clique.

What can and should we do?

There is a great deal we can and should do. The starting point is for each of us and for our communities to believe and commit to preserving this ancient land and to frame an alternative that will accommodate the needs and interests of all its members. Our individual and collective responsibility is, first and foremost, to halt this frightening phenomenon of fear, ethnic divide and repression that–if not halted now–is likely to destroy all of us. We must determine that we do not wish to witness another Liberia, Rwanda or Somalia in Africa. TPLF Inc. and other surrogate ethnic-based parties use language and or other differences as a criterion to implant fear and revenge; to discriminate and expel as if we are not of the same diverse family; and to undo what has been built by all Ethiopians over thousands of years. Our ability and readiness to embrace one another and to stand for one another; and to reject ethnic divide is the starting point. We can do this wherever we are and in numerous ways.

This is the big picture I should like to implant in the reader's mind. We need to reject the Apartheid like system that drives little children and mothers, old people and poor farmers from their homes and farms and from their neighbors. In part two of this commentary, I will provide a specific example of the horrors of ethnic cleansing and civil wars that entail irreparable damage regardless of the temporary strength of a ruling group.

4/4/2012

The second in this series will be posted next week.

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Ethiopians are having a very hard time. Inside their own country, they are victimized by dictatorship, famine and pestilence. Thousands of Ethiopians who have fled political persecution and economic privation caused by systemic and massive corruption and poor governance are facing unspeakable victimization in various parts of North Africa, the Middle East and other parts of Africa.

This past January, I wrote a commentary entitled: “ Ethiopia: Middle Passage to the Middle East ” on the plight of the tens of thousands of Ethiopian domestic workers in the Middle East and North Africa. Substantial anecdotal evidence showed many of these workers are subjected to inhuman and degrading treatment, and that they are physically and sexually abused and economically exploited in a system of “contract slavery”. Last August, the daughter-in-law of the late Moamar Gadhafi poured scalding hot water on her young Ethiopian domestic worker totally disfiguring her ( video here ). Many Ethiopian domestic workers in other parts of the Middle East have faced mistreatment and abuse that would amount to torture under international law ( video here ). Another young Ethiopian domestic worker was so distraught she confronted a representative of dictator Meles Zenawi's regime at a town hall meeting and demanded an answer: “Why is that our government does not check on us, follow up on our conditions, ask about us?” ( video here ). Crying her eyes out, she demanded, “Where is Ethiopia's flag? I can't take it anymore. I can't take it anymore…!!!!”

A few of weeks ago, Alem Dechassa, another Ethiopian domestic worker was severely beaten and forced into a vehicle right outside the gates of the Ethiopian Embassy in Lebanon as Ethiopian “diplomats” looked on without lifting a finger or raising a voice ( video here ). Days later, Lebanese authorities announced that Alem hanged herself while undergoing treatment in, of all places, a psychiatric hospital! In the last few days, it was reported that Ethiopian Refugees in Yemen were beaten by Yemeni security forces as they sought help from the UNHCR office. Some 25 refugees were taken into detention. Another group of Ethiopian refugees protesting at the Yemen Human Rights Office was reportedly attacked by police. In Kenya, the Sudan and even in South Africa, Ethiopian refugees have faced abuse and brutality from law enforcement and vigilante elements. Ethiopians must be the most right-less people in the world!

Ethiopian Political Refugees in Norway

The latest horror story in the tragic saga of Ethiopian refugees comes from Norway. Recently, the Government of Norway put into place a plan to “involuntarily” (forcibly) deport hundreds of Ethiopian political refugees back to Ethiopia. According to human rights sources, some of these refugees have lived and worked in Norway for over two decades. Most of these refugees were given work permits and allowed to live freely and work in Norway when they first entered. Most learned the language and adopted Norwegian culture. Among the refugees include some 450 children born in Norway and living in “asylum seeker reception centers” for several years. Many of these children attend school and some of them speak only Norwegian.

The vast majority of these refugees had fled Zenawi's ruthless dictatorship by the skin of their teeth. Many of them are ardent opponents of Zenawi's regime in Norway. As recently as October 2011, many of these refugees flooded the streets of Oslo to protest the arrival of Zenawi for an energy conference ( video here ). Zenawi's operatives reportedly videotaped the protesters in the streets, according to sources. Many of these refugees have a long history of activism in Ethiopian opposition political organizations in Norway at the leadership and grassroots levels taking advantage of democratic freedoms in Norway.

The “Memorandum of Understanding”

The basis for the forcible return of the Ethiopian political refugees is a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), between the Norwegian Government and the regime of Zenawi, which purports to comply with the requirements of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other treaties concerning repatriation of refugees to their countries of origin. The objective of the MoU is to facilitate a “dignified process of assisted return”. It provides for the “Government of Ethiopia to carry out the necessary measures for the return of Ethiopian nationals from Norway.” The Norwegian Government is expected to provide “necessary support” for implementation and monitoring. Refugees who agree to voluntarily return are promised a set amount of money upon their arrival. Incredibly, in Annex 3 to the MoU, the Norwegian Government will provide to the “National Intelligence and Security Service of Ethiopia via the Royal Norwegian Embassy in Addis Ababa” detailed personal data on each refugee including, among other things, “personal details”, “passport, national identity, driver license” information, “special circumstances relating to the transferee” and the “observations” of the Norwegian National Police Immigration Service.

Upon signing of the MoU, Norway's international development minister, Erik Solheim, announced that the regime of Zenawi will receive annual aid in the amount of 350 million kroner. (Perhaps this should not come as a surprise. USD$35 million was paid in the last days of the Derg to let go the Beta Israelis.) Solheim said it is not quid pro quo (refugees for cash). Various Norwegian political leaders, opposition parties and human rights activists have severely criticized and condemned the deportation program.

MoU or RfC?

First, a major clarification. The Norwegian MoU concerning the forcible return of the Ethiopian political refugees is actually not an MoU in any legal sense. Under international law, an MoU is an important legal instrument which falls under the broad category of “treaties” and must be registered in the United Nations' treaty database. When properly performed, an MoU could serve in the place of a formal treaty. Whether MoUs are binding or not binding under international law depends on the intent of the parties, the position of the signatory officials and the specific terms and conditions.

MoU is a disingenuous misnomer for what the Government of Norway has concluded with Zenawi's regime. At best the document may qualify as an “exchange of notes” similar to an ordinary private contract. But the MoU is palmed off to the refugees as though it is a binding and enforceable legal document which protects their rights and guarantees their safety and welfare once they are forcibly returned. The MoU provides the illusion of legality and a veneer of moral decency for a despicable act of forcing political refugees to the gates of Zenawi's infamous prison gulags, which have been widely documented .

The Norwegian MoU is what in the old days used to be called a “gentlemen's agreement” or “letter of intent”. It is merely a collection of aspirational statements (wishful thoughts, desires) contained in a “memorandum” or a note expressing a general “understanding” (not a binding agreement) about the wholesale deportation of Ethiopian political refugees from Norway. It is a thinly veiled document which expresses the wishes of the Norwegian Government to get rid of the refugees as quickly as possible without creating any legal obligations on the part of Norway or Zenawi's regime. The MoU contains NO language that is enforceable at law by the refugee third-party beneficiaries (Ethiopian political refugees) and makes no express or implied legal commitment concerning the welfare or safety of these refugees after they are delivered in planeloads to Zenawi. Its enforcement relies entirely on the discretion of Zenawi's regime. Norway may call its “agreement” an MoU, but to the rest of the world it looks, walks and talks like a RfC (refugees for cash) program.

Delivering Lambs to the Wolf's Lair

The Norwegian MoU may vaguely remind some students of history the “Munich Agreement” of 1939 selling out Czechoslovakia. Neville Chamberlain victoriously declared, “We regard the agreement as symbolic of the desire of our two people never to go to war with one another again… Here is the paper that bears his name as well as mine…” The world soon found out that the “Munich Agreement” was not worth the paper it was written on. Hitler laughed at Chamberlain.

Concluding an MoU with one who has shredded his own constitution, trampled on his own laws, sneered at international human rights treaties, vilified international human rights organizations, imprisoned tens of thousands of his people, claimed election victory by 99.6 percent, crushed all opposition parties and democratic institutions is an exercise in futility. Concluding an MoU with one who has ignored the plight of 40 thousand Ethiopia domestic workers in the Middle East is an act of willful denial. Concluding an agreement with one who has weaponized famine and uprooted and “villagized” hundreds of thousands of people from their ancestral homes is a colossal act of moral indifference and callousness to the plight and suffering of Ethiopian political refugees.

It is laughable for the Norwegian Government to tout the MoU as some sort of “humane” and “dignified” mechanism for “reintegration” and “repatriation” of Ethiopian refugees denied asylum. The Norwegian Government has gone to great lengths to reassure the refugees, Ethiopians at large and the world of its MoU and eagerly pointed out the signatures on the lines and made lofty proclamations about “humane reintegration”. But at the end of the day, Zenawi will be laughing and the returned refugees will crying their eyes out in one of Zenawi's secret prison gulags. With its MoU, Norway has delivered these persecuted and long-suffering political refugees to the wolf's lair on a silver platter.

Do the Ethiopian Refugees Have a Well-founded Fear of Persecution?

How Norway applies its asylum laws are matters best left to Norwegian law and judicial and administrative process. However, Norwegian asylum law must conform to 1951 Refugee Convention (Norway ratified the Convention on March 23, 1953) as amended by the 1967 Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees.

Article 1 of the Convention defines a refugee as “A person who owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality and is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country; or who, not having a nationality and being outside the country of his former habitual residence as a result of such events, is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to return to it.” The Ethiopian refugees are making their claims under Art. 1.

Under Article 33 (1) of the Convention, “No Contracting State shall expel or return ('refouler') a refugee in any manner whatsoever to the frontiers of territories where his life or freedom would be threatened on account of his race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social or political opinion.” The prohibition on forcible return of refugees is also a widely accepted principle of customary international law, the violation of which requires immediate notification of and intervention by the UNHCR. It does not appear UNHCR assistance was sought in this case.

Whether the Ethiopian refugees in Norway have a “well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion” under the Convention presents interesting legal questions. The Convention requires states to include in their asylum procedures, among other things, an up-to-date knowledge of all the relevant objective circumstances in the country of origin . Such knowledge should play a critical role in the determination of whether to grant asylum. The burden of proof is on the asylum applicant, but the standard of proof in asylum cases is not “well-founded fear of persecution” beyond a reasonable doubt , but rather proof that it is “reasonably possible”.

For the Ethiopian political refugees, obtaining corroborative evidence of “well-founded fear of being persecuted…” is difficult and sometimes impossible given the extremely oppressive nature of Zenawi's dictatorship. Because of language issues and inability to legally articulate their factual circumstances, inability to remember all dates, times and places and other minor details and statements that may contain minor inconsistencies or are incorrect for lack of understanding of the process, it is easy to mistake an applicant's claim for asylum as lacking credibility. Under the Convention, the totality of factors is taken into account in the overall assessment of the applicant's credibility. If the applicant presents a claim which is coherent, credible and plausible, the Convention Convention urges giving the benefit of the doubt to the applicant as regards those statements for which evidentiary proof is lacking.

The “up-to-date knowledge of all the relevant objective circumstances” in Ethiopia has been documented by nearly every major human rights organization in the world and the world's major media. The facts are incontrovertible and summarized in the Human Rights Watch World Report 2012: Ethiopia :

Ethiopian authorities continued to severely restrict basic rights of freedom of expression, association, and assembly. Hundreds of Ethiopians in 2011 were arbitrarily arrested and detained and remain at risk of torture and ill-treatment…Long-term pre-trial detention without charge, often without access to counsel, is common, notably under the Anti-Terror law, which allows police to request additional investigation periods of 28 days each from a court before filing charges, for up to four months. Human Rights Watch is aware of at least 29 opposition party members, journalists, and an actor who at this writing were currently held in remand detention under the Anti-Terror law… The restrictive Charities and Societies Proclamation, adopted in 2009, which prohibits organizations receiving more than 10 percent of their funding from abroad from carrying out human rights and governance work, continues to severely hamper basic rights monitoring and reporting activities … No independent domestic or international organization has access to all of Ethiopia's detention facilities; it is impossible to determine the number of political prisoners and others arbitrarily detained or their condition.

What Could Happen to the Political Refugees Forcibly Returned by Norway?

MoU or no MoU, the Ethiopians political refugees forcibly returned will very likely face all forms of overt and subtle persecution. Without a doubt, upon their forcible return, they will be rendered right-less. Though the Ethiopian Constitution grants them a panoply of rights fortified by international human rights conventions (Eth. Const., Art. 13), they will have absolutely no constitutional protection. In the absence of freedom of speech and of the press, they will be unable to communicate their circumstances to anyone. In the absence of an independent judiciary, they will have no means of seeking justice or redress for grievances under law or the MoU. In the absence of civil society institutions, they will have no one to champion their cause and defend their rights. In the absence of the rule of law, one by one they will be picked up, jailed and tortured.

Zenawi is a cunning, calculating and spiteful dictator. He knows that in a few months the issue of these refugees will fade out of public awareness. He knows there will be no one to follow on their welfare or circumstances. He knows there are no groups and organizations in the country who will closely monitor the situation of these refuges. Zenawi will bide his time. When no one is noticing, he will nab each one of these repatriated refugees and there will be no traces of them. That is his MO It can be predicted with reasonable certainty that in one year's time, few of the returned refugees will be available for a head count!

The Norwegian MoU, like the Ethiopian Constitution, will offer nothing but lofty words and empty promises to the refugees. It will have little practical meaning or effect in the face of Zenawi's brutal dictatorship. History will show that the Norwegian MoU will amount to nothing more than just a scrap of paper.

What Would Dr. Fridtjof Nansen Do with the Ethiopian Refugees?

Norway is known for many great things — the Nobel Prize, international peace and the Oslo Accords. Norway was even rated as the most peaceful nation in the world in 2007. Norway is also known for its extraordinary humanitarian service to refugees worldwide. The internationally renowned Norwegian Refugee Council has provided assistance and protection to millions of refugees and returnees worldwide since the end of WW II.

When it comes to helping refugees, few equal the great Norwegian explorer, scientist, diplomat and humanist, Dr. Fridtjof Nansen. Dr. Nansen was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1922 for his humanitarian efforts on behalf of stateless persons (the “Nansen Passport” that was an international identity card for stateless refugees). Because of Dr. Nansen's work and efforts, the lives of millions of Russian, Greek, Turkish and Armenian refugees were saved. More recently, former Norwegian soccer star Bjorn Heidenstrom cycled from North to South Africa to put the spotlight on millions of forcibly displaced Africans.

Regarding the Ethiopian political refugees, the prominent Norwegian author Jan Kjerstad perhaps described it best: “It is possible this is the right thing to do (deportation) seen from a bureaucratic point of view… Nevertheless, in the big picture, this is an ethical act for which there is only one word: shame.”

If I could ask one question of Prime Minster Jens Stoltenberg and his ruling party, it would be this: What would Dr. Nansen do with your MoU, or better yet your RfC program? I believe he would offer an   MOU of his own to his fellow Norwegians: Moral Outrage Urged!

Shame!

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

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

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

Previous commentaries by the author are available at:

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

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

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