Ethiopia Refuses to Cooperate With World-Bank-Funding Probe

By William Davison, Bloomberg 

Ethiopia’s government said it won’t cooperate with a probe into whether the World Bank violated its own policies by funding a program in which thousands of people were allegedly relocated to make way for agriculture investors.Ethnic Anuak people in Ethiopia’s southwestern Gambella region and rights groups including Human Rights Watch last year accused the Washington-based lender of funding a program overseen by soldiers to forcibly resettle 45,000 households. The Inspection Panel of the World Bank, an independent complaints mechanism, began an investigation in October into the allegations, which donors and the government have denied.“We are not going to cooperate with the Inspection Panel,” Getachew Reda, a spokesman for Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn, said in a phone interview on May 22. “To an extent that there’s a need for cooperation, it’s not going to be with the Inspection Panel, but with the World Bank”Ethiopia, Africa’s most-populous nation after Nigeria, has made 3.3 million hectares (8.2 million acres) of land available to agriculture companies. Investors include Karuturi Global Ltd. (KARG) of India, the world’s largest rose grower, and companies owned by Saudi billionaire Mohamed al-Amoudi.There is a “plausible link” between the Promoting Basic Services program, partly funded by the bank to pay the salaries of local government workers, and a resettlement process also known as villagization in Gambella, the panel said in a Nov. 19 report obtained by Bloomberg News. The World Bank confirmed the authenticity of the report.‘Potential Non-Compliance’The concurrent implementation of PBS and the resettlement program may raise issues of “potential serious non-compliance with bank policy,” according to the report.“From a development perspective, the two programs depend on each other, and may mutually influence the results of the other,” the panel said.Human Rights Watch, based in New York, made similar allegations about the resettlement program in a January 2012 report. Those findings and the Inspection Panel process are part of a “propaganda campaign being waged against the government,” Getachew said by phone from the capital, Addis Ababa. “It’s not a World Bank inspection panel, it’s a panel that likes to impose its mostly fictitious findings on the decision-making process of the World Bank.”About 35,000 households voluntarily moved over the past three years in Gambella and now have better access to public services and are growing more food, State Minister of Federal Affairs Omod Obang Olum said in a May 15 interview.‘Unprecedented’The complaint to the panel was made on behalf of 26 Anuaks now living in South Sudan and Kenya. Refusal to cooperate with the panel by a World Bank member state is “unprecedented,” said David Pred, a managing associate at Inclusive Development International, or IDI, a California-based human-rights group that assisted with the complaint.“I don’t see how the bank could justifiably continue supporting Ethiopia if the government simply rejects outright any semblance of accountability,” he said in an e-mailed response to questions.The complaints should be investigated further “as they pertain to the bank’s application of its policies and procedures,” the panel said. The probe should not look at allegations of “specific human rights abuses” or the “underlying purposes” of the resettlement program, it said.Donor AidDonors provided $3.56 billion of aid to Ethiopia in 2011, which was 11.3 percent of gross national income, according to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.The World Bank said that while officials on PBS-funded salaries may have “responsibilities related” to resettlement, this doesn’t mean the two programs were “directly linked,” according to the panel.There was no evidence of “forced relocations or systematic human-rights abuses,” according to reports by two fact-finding missions in 2011 and 2012 by donors including the U.K. and U.S. aid agencies. “Half of the people interviewed said they didn’t want to move” and some said public services hadn’t been provided in new sites, the 2012 report found.PBS “does not build upon villagization, it is not synchronized with villagization, and does not require villagization to achieve its objectives,” the World Bank’s management said in response to the complaint. “Furthermore the bank does not finance” villagization.Election ViolencePBS began in 2006 after donors stopped “direct budget support” to the federal government because of violence following a disputed 2005 election. The program provides block grants to regional governments that are mainly spent on education, health, agriculture, water and road workers.A postponed March 19 discussion of PBS by the bank’s board has yet to be rescheduled, Guang Chen, the bank’s Ethiopia director, said in an e-mailed response to questions. “Staff are not authorized to comment prior to the board discussion,” he said.Since 2006, PBS has cost donors and the government $13 billion, the panel said. The ongoing phase is funded by the government, the World Bank, the African Development Bank, the European Union, the U.K., Austria and Italy.The panel also can’t comment at this stage, operations analyst Dilya Zoirova said in an e-mailed response to questions.To contact the reporter on this story: William Davison in Addis Ababa via Nairobi at pmrichardson@bloomberg.net. To contact the editor responsible for this story: Antony Sguazzin in Johannesburg at asguazzin@bloomberg.net.

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Publisert 22. mai 2013

http://www.ethsat.com - Ethiopian Satellite Television ESAT 

ESAT is the first independent Ethiopian Satellite Television service and Radio Station who broadcast to Ethiopia and the rest of the world

Millions of dollars found at the residence of late dictator Meles Zenawi close friend and confidant

Police seized millions of dollars from the private residence of Gebrewahid Woldegiorgis, a close friend and confidant of the late Ethiopian dictator Meles Zenawi this week. If Gebrewahid has kept this much money in his residence, one can imagine how much money he has transferred out of the country, and how much his late boss Meles Zenawi and wife Azeb Mesfin have stolen. Gebrewahid is the latest fall-guy in the ongoing power struggle inside the ruling junta. He is no more corrupt than any of the other TPLF officials who have been sucking the life blood of Ethiopia during the past 20 years. According to Ethiopian Review’s Intelligence Unit sources in Addis Ababa, the recent purges are being orchestrated by the deputy chief of security Isayas Woldegiorgis and close ally Bereket Simon, who is the minister of government communication.

Blue Party of Ethiopia’s Journey to Join the Braves

by Tedla Asfaw

The Blue Party of Ethiopia also known as “Semaiawi Party” has called for a public protest rally next week on May 25 in front of African Union in Addis Ababa. The rally has nothing to do with the 50th year anniversary of the foundation of OAU/AU. However, it chose this date to remind foreign guests who are coming to Ethiopia thatEthiopians are living in their own country in fear and poverty behind newly built roads and high rises. Protest of any kind has been illegal since May 2005 in Ethiopia. The only rally that has been allowed for the record is the one organized by Eritrean Refugees to protest against Isaias Afeworki’s dictatorship.The Blue Party of Ethiopia also known as "Semaiawi Party"

The right to assemble and freedom of speech is non existent in Ethiopia. Many journalists who challenged the TPLF/Woyane regime by exercising these rights ended up in jail accused as terrorists. Many Ethiopians are living in fear and political parties can not assemble even in rented hotels. The Blue Party that called the May 25 rally was denied dinner gathering in a rented hotel by government security forces early this year.

The Blue Party called Ethiopians in March of this year to come out and denounce the erection of Mausoleum for Graziani in Italy. The government beat up and arrested more than 40 people. The members and activists of this party are mainly young and female. They are action oriented and risk takers. Their leaders drove to South Ethiopia to see the evicted or ethnically cleansed Amhara farmers from Beni Shanguel and Gumuz last month. They were briefly jailed.

The Blue Party is protesting injustices when it sees it. The ESAT “Eneweyaye” May 13 program by three hosts seem to disagree with the May 25 Rally because of its timing and the lack of other parties participation. Ato Fasil argued that the rally looks like “begging” foreigners/Ferenji Limina. The majorities on the 50th celebration are Africans. As the hosts agreed many of them have similar problems in their own countries and the Blue Party’s call for Freedom and Justice for Ethiopians is not at all begging. It is exercising citizens right to assemble.

Ato Fasil argument that the regime by allowing such protest for first time might get credential as a “democratic ” is absurd. The nature of the regime is not determined by what it did in one day but its record of more than twenty two years. The whole world including those guests on that day know what Ethiopia has been under TPLF/Woyane. That day rally is to affirm our people right to say No when they see it any place, day and time, nothing wrong with May 24.

The Blue Party called this rally and asked others to join it. Someone has to start and should be commended for that.The young and women are comprising the majority of our people and many of them are not members of the Blue Party or any other parties. By going out on May 25 where foreign journalists are abundant will reaffirm the world the call for Freedom and Justice made by millions in Addis Ababa eight years ago.This time they might be a tiny fraction of that number but the demand remains the same. The braves though few are always in front line for the Freedom Battle.

Eskinder Nega, Reeyot Alemu and Wubishit Desse could have been better journalists and analysts from distance. They chose to speak and write and paid a high price for it. Andualem Arage and Bekele Gerba could have shut their mouth and still be a leader of a party they chose not. Many whose names are many to mention here have already given their lives for justice, did not choose place,date and time. The Blue Party members chose to follow them and need encouragement.

This is a month of Freedom here in the Ethiopian Diaspora in North America. Abebe Gellaw an ESAT Journalist on May 18, 2012 morning at Regan Building in Washington D.C. shattered the Wall of Fear and denounced the late Meles Zenawi led Dictatorship and Injustices Financed by the West. An act of one man was considered by TPLF/Woyane supporters and many foreigners as “impolite” action. The Ethiopian people are proud of Abebe’s heroic Voice !!! We have never been in in business of begging or worshipping foreigners. Polite and Proud !!!!

The few who will start the Freedom Rally on the 50th year commemoration of OAU/AU against injustice in Ethiopia are doing the right thing like Abebe in America. Doing it on May 25 will magnify their effort like Abebe’s protest of May 18, 2012. Make no mistake, some think that this is the first peaceful rally in Ethiopia since May 2005 but it is not. The peaceful rally in Ethiopia is now more than 16 months old carried out by hundreds thousands every Friday in mosques throughout Ethiopia. What the Blue Party is trying to do is bring all Ethiopians, Christians and Muslims to common agenda in a public place. TPLF failed to sabotage the Ethiopian Muslims prayer rally and it will fail to sabotage the May 25 political rally in Addis Ababa. We are all Blue! Long Live May 18 and Long Live May 25!

ኢትዮጵያ በፍጥነት ወደኋላ እየገሰገሰች ነው!

ጌዲዮን ከኖርዎይ

የኢትዮጵያ እድገት መቼም በጣም አስገራሚና አነጋጋሪ መሆን ከጀመረ ሰነባበተ፥፥ ውሸት ሲደጋገም ውነት ይሆናል አለች ቻይና! አቶ መለስ ዜናዊ እንደቀልድ የተናገሩት ነገር ስር ሰዶ አሁን አሁን በሳቸው አጠገብ ያለፉት ሁሉ አብረው አጮሁት፥፥ የሚገርመው ነገር ግን አውሮ ፓውያንም አብረው አጮሁት እንደውም ስራቸውን በርዳታ ስም እንደፈለጋቸው እንዲያሮጡ መልካም አጋጣሚን የፈጠረላቸው ይመስላል፥፥

ግንቦት 13,2013 ቀን በኦስሎ ከተማ ሊተራቱር ህውስ በተባለው አዳራሽ ውስጥ ይህንኑ የኢትዮጵያን እድገት ለማስተጋባት በኖርዌጂያን ዴቨሎፕመንት ፈንድ በተባለ ድርጅት አማካኝነት Ethiopia - the reality behind the media በሚል ርእስ በተጠራው ስብሰባ ላይ ኖርዌጂያን ፖለቲከኞችና የኢትዮጵያ መንግስት ተወካዮች በእንግድነት በተገኙበት የውይይት መድረክ ላይ በርካታ ወድ ኢትዮጵያውያን በኖርዎይ እንዲሁም ኖርዌጂያን በቦታው ላይ ተገኝተው ነበር፥፥

ተጋባዥ ከነበሩት እንግዶች መካከል፥

• ·         ኢንተርናሽናል ዴቨሎፕመንት ሚኒስቴር ሃይኪ ሆልሞስ ከሶሻል ሌፍት ፓርቲ
• ·         ፒተር ጊትማርክ የኖርዌጂአን ኮንሰርቫቲቭ ፓርቲ የኢንተርናሽናል ዴቨሎፕመንት ዋና ቃልአቀባይ እና
• ·         ዶክተር ሚሊዮን በላይ ኢኮሎጂካል ለርኒንግ እና ኮሚዩኒቲ አክሽን ዳይሬክተር ከኢትዮጵያ ሲሆኑ ስብሰባውን የመሩት አቶ አንድሪው ክሮግሉንድ የኖርዌጂያን ደቨሎፕመንት ኤንፎርሜሽን ኤንድ ፖሊሲ ዋና ክፍል ሃላፊ ነበሩ፥፥

ውይይቱን በይበልጥ ያተኮረው በስልጣን ላይ ባሉት አቶ ሃይኪ ሆልሞስ የኢንተርናሽናል ዴቨሎፕመንት ሚኒስቴር እና በአቶ ፒተር ጊትማርክ የኮንሰርቫቲቭ ፓርቲ የኢንተርናሽናል ዴቨሎፕመንት ዋና  ቃል አቀባይ መካከል ቢሆንም ዶክተር ሚሊዮን በላይ ብዙ ለመናገር ከኢትዮጵያ መንግስት ብዙም ፍቃድ የተሰጣቸው አይመስልም ነበር፥፥

ይሁን እንጂ አቶ ሃይኪ ሆልሞስና በአቶ ፒተር ጊትማርክ መካከል የነበረው የልዩነት አቋም አቶ ሃይኪ ሆልሞስ ኢትዮጵያ ውስጥ እድገት አለ ስለሆነም የገንዘብ እርዳታ ማድረጋ እንቀጥላለን የሚል ሲሆን አቶ ፒተር ጊትማርክ በበኩላቸው አሁን ኢትዮጵያ ውስጥ አለ ስለሚባለው እድገት ጥርጣሬ እንዳላቸውና እንዲሁም በኢትዮጵያ ውስጥ ያለው የሰብአዊ መብት ረገጣ ከግዜ ወደጊዜ እየተባባሰ በመምጣቱ ኖርዎይ የምታደርገውን የገንዘብ እርዳታ እንድታቆም እንዲሁም እርዳታው አስፈላጊ ከሆነም በስልጣን ላይ ላለው መንግስት ሳይሆን ለኢትዮጵያ ህዝብ የሚደርስበት መንገድ መፈለግ አለበት ሲሉ የሳቸው ፓርቲም በስልጣን ላይ ከወጣ ይህው እርዳታ እንደሚቌረጥና በማንኛውም ጊዜ ይህ ሁኔታ ሲሻሻል እርዳታው እንዴት እንደሚቀጥል የሚታይ ይሆናል ብለዋል፥፥

እንዲሁም ከተሳታፊዎች መካከልም ብዙ ጥያቄዎች ለዶክተር ሚሊዮንና ለአቶ ሃይኪ ሆልሞስ የተሰነዘረ ሲሆን የተሳታፊው አቋም የነበረው፥ የኖርዎይ መንግስት እየሰጠ ያለው የገንዘብ እርዳታ በኢትዮጵያ ውስጥ ያለው መንግስት ህዝቦችን ለማፈን እያተጠቀመበት ነው፥ እርዳታው መረዳት ላለበት ህዝብ አልደረሰም፥ የሚሉና በርካታ የተቃውሞ መልክቶችን ያዘኡ ነበሩ፥፥

በመጨረሻም ምንም እንኳን ከተሰብሳቢው በርካታ የወቅታዊ የሃገራችን አንገብጋቢ ጥያቄዎች የተነሱ ቢሆንም ለውይይቱ ተጋባዥ እንግዶች የቤት ስራ የሚሆኑ በርካታ ጥያቄዎች በመስጠት ውይይቱ ተጠናቋል፥፥

ድል ለኢትዮጵያ ህዝብ!

Corruption and the Ethiopian Regime

Semahagn Gashu Abebe (PhD)

The legal measures undertaken by the Ethiopian regime last week has once again brought about the issue of corruption to the spot light. According to the statement released by the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission of Ethiopia, high ranking government officials and prominent business personalities have been arrested for their alleged involvement in corrupted practices. A measure against such high profile personalities prompts us to look at the various perspectives of addressing corruption in the country.  The measure gives an impression that the regime is determined to fight the rampant corruption in the country. But there are numerous issues surrounding the problem of corruption in the country and its implications.

Some commentators associate the measure taken by the regime in relation to the internal strife emerging within the party after the passing way of the godfather of the regime some eight months before. After the deaths of the only unifying force within otherwise a fragmented EPRDF leadership, the emergence internal struggle for dominance is a natural sequence. After all, applying the parameters of corruption to root out dissent within EPRDF is not a new phenomenon. Leaders of EPRDF, particularly Meles Zenawi, have been applying the rhetoric of fighting corruption to attack political opponents. The imprisonment of the former prime minister of the country Tamerat Layne as well the veteran TPLF leaders such as Seye Abreha in 2003 were largely associated with the use of corruption rhetoric to purge out power rivalries with in TPLF and the larger EPRDF circles. If the current campaign against corruption is taken in light of the rivalry among the various factions within the vanguard party, the implications are more serious to the survival of the regime and stability for the country in the short term since the power struggle is now conducted without any apparent ‘big man’ that may manipulate the power play to emerge victories. Due to this new scenario, the consequences of this power struggle may not be a limited one as it was before.

To emerge as victors in this power rivalry, each group will use every opportunity to attack the strong hold of the other groups. The problem will make the issue complicated as security officials and army generals are also involved in the power struggle and they are implicated in the rent-seeking trends rampant in the country. The involvement of the security and the military in the power struggle will create division that leads to conflict within the army. This will in turn creates political instability having serious implications to the country given the ethnicized political environment and the precarious economic situation that has been galvanized by hyper inflation. Since there are no strong institutions such as the media, civil society groups or other governmental institutions that may facilitate the smooth transition, the division may take the country into an unpredictable situation we have never dreamt of.

The other perplexing question with regard to the contemporary campaign against corruption is whether the regime is willing and capable of fighting corruption to the very end. In order to have some response to the issue, it is imperative to study the nature and behavior of the Ethiopian regime. In light of the power relations and the decision making process that have been developed within the regime, there appear to be no efficient system that could fight corruption effectively. As a typical African state, the Ethiopian regime is a neopatrimonial one where patrons use state resources in order to secure the loyalty of clients in the general population. Such a system is characterized by an informal patron-clientrelationship that can reach from very high up in state structures down to small villages.This has been the case with in the EPRDF controlled regime in Ethiopia. The regime claims to have more than 6 million members and increasingly forcing others co-opt with it for it has become increasingly difficult to get a job or freely conduct business without directly or indirectly supporting the regime.

EPRDF has monopolized productive resources such as land, capital, telecommunications, the banks as well as public utilities that expand rent-seeking behaviour. In addition to controlling government resources, the ruling party owns and manages businesses engaged in manufacturing and service industries that receive preferential access to land leases and credit. This has forced citizens to co-opt into the status quo for survival and obtain access to economic benefits. Since access to employment or benefits directly or indirectly requires loyalty to party policies, people are increasingly attempting to obtain favour in the eyes of the power holders rather than developing their competence, personal integrity and commitment to the rule of law.

The rent-seeking trend is exacerbated by the fact that the whole state machinery is largely controlled by less competent individuals who have much to gain by joining the ranks of the party. These less competent individuals are particularly attracted to the rank and file of the party structure due to their rent-seeking motives rather than because they are convinced by the system’s policies. From the beginning, their motive of joining the party is not ideological affiliation or commitment to public service. When such people are assigned to some positions, they immediately engage in corruption and due to lack of competence, they render poor public service. Such kind of personalities have infested the ranks and file of the institutions such as the parliament, the administrative agencies, regional legislative and executive organs up to the smallest kebele administrative units.

The whole power relation is entirely functioning on patron-client loyalty motivated by undue economic benefits rather than merit or ideological commitments. Such power relations have made corruption systemic in the country rather than an isolated incident you fight it through establishing anti-corruption commission or arresting few individuals. Since corruption is systemic in the country, fighting corruption to the very end will threaten the survival of the regime itself. Due to the threat to its very survival, the regime will stop the campaign against corruption at certain stage or only target junior government officials. If the regime determined to address corruption altogether, it is likely that the regime will disappears in the coming few years as its members and supporters will no more be interested to work with the system once they knew that the regime could not render them the benefits they were receiving for their support to the regime. The regime will be unlikely to engage in such kind of suicidal alternative that will wipe it out from its grip to power.

The regime’s action rather reminds me of a very interesting story we find in the bible under the Gospel of John chapter 8. In this text, Jesus went to the Mount of Olives and the scribes and Pharisees brought to him a woman taken in adultery. They said to him ‘Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act. Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what sayest thou?’  But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground, as though he heard them not.  When they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.  And again he stooped down, and wrote on the ground.   After that,being convicted by their own conscience went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst. In the same way, who in the regime is clean enough to accuse the others and cast the stone? One way or the other the ranks and file in the regime from top to bottom are engaged in corruptive practices. The very lifeline for the support of the regime is related to the army of supporters and members who have joined for job opportunities, financial incentives and getting priorities in public funds. Fighting corruption primarily requires clean hands and pure conscience!

The most effective way of fighting corruption is establishing accountable, transparent system where rule of law reigns. As things stands now, the percepts of revolutionary democracy do not permit the existence of independent institutions such as the media, civil society groups, effective parliament, the judiciary, Ombudsman and other democratic institutions that are instrumental in addressing corruption in the country. Without such institutions, it is almost impossible to address the trends of corruption consuming the country’s limited resources. The regime is unlikely to allow the existence of such institutions in the country as their existence amounts to the end of the police state it runs. What is the alternative way out? I presume we are yet to live with the rampant corruption in the country until the appointed time for freedom comes and we are able to install the institutions that address the root causes of corruption!

Dr Berhanu Nega’s intervew with France based Radio about the imprisonment of Eskinder Nega and the judicial system in Ethiopian, May 2013

Dr Berhanu Nega’s intervew with France based Radio about the imprisonment of Eskinder Nega and the judicial system in Ethiopian, May 2013.

Andualem Arage: Ethiopian Awakening and The Arab Spring

semayawi party leaders in benshangul part 1

semayawi party leaders in benshangul part 2

ESAT Tikuret Tekle Yeshaw Moresh Wegene April 2013 Ethiopia

Behind the ethnic cleansing in Benishangul-Gumuz

By Fekade Shewakena 

The despicable and barbaric action of targeting, evicting and deporting ethnic Amaharas from the Benishangul-Gumuz ethnic state in western Ethiopia is a horrific crime and a crime against humanity by any measure and the outrage of Ethiopians across the world is justified.  The stories we hear from the victims themselves and the witnesses who saw it are heart wrenching.  Thanks to social media and communication technology, we are hearing from the victims themselves and seeing some of their tragic pictures in real time irrespective of where we live. Thanks to the folks at ESAT TV and Radio for the relentless coverage.  I have even heard many supporters of the Ethiopian regime, at least those who live outside of Ethiopia, condemn this barbarism.  

They should be applauded for that.What kind of sane person cannot be outraged when watching this replay of a Nazi pogrom that targets an ethnic group who were literally frog-marched and, in the words of the victims themselves, told to go to “their country” and “wherever their ancestors were born”?  What do you feel when you are told this nonsense in your own country, the country your fathers and forefathers defended and died for?  The victimized ethnic Amharas were beaten, violently dragged off their homes and forced to pay for the trucks that packed them inhumanely, transported them out of the Benishangul Gumuz state, and dump them at the edge of another ethnic homeland without anything to help them stay even for a day.   The government has not even denied or confirmed reports that one truck loaded with more than sixty people had overturned at night and fifty nine deportees were killed.  We heard that women were giving birth in the wilderness and children died of suffocation.   What kind of decent human being would watch this unconscionable action of a government do this to its own people, particularly to the most vulnerable and not get outraged?  

While we are at it, it is good to know that this is a part of Ethiopia where even Sudanese nationals related to tribes inside Ethiopia freely move in and out as they wish and depending on the season of their comfort.  Note also that the Amharas are not a minority in this ethnic region.  Based on the 2007 census, Amharas with 21.8% are the second largest ethnic group among six other ethnic groups inhabiting the area. The largest ethnic group, the Berta, is only slightly larger than the Amhara at 25.4%.  Important to note is also that the Amhara are allowed only to elect officials to all levels of government but cannot be elected themselves - democracy Ethiopian style. And lo and behold, this is the area where we are building the huge Nile Dam that we are being asked to contribute money for  and that Sudan and Egypt hate like the plague.

Only the Ethiopian government media thinks it is hiding this horrific story.    Embassies of Ethiopia’s donor countries in Addis Ababa, who tirelessly tell us how they care for civilization and human rights, have also chosen to look the other way.  This barbarism is theirs too as they are underwriting it in so many ways. That may partly explain their silence.  The only silver lining I found in this whole sad story is that the local, indigenous tribes and ethnic groups have not joined the officials in this crime.  Many, we even heard, were sympathetic to the victims. We all need to be proud of them.  They have not lost their senses even as their chiefs lost theirs. 

But here is the major point.  Many Ethiopians seem to miss the root cause of this crime and get outraged at the chaffs.   The root cause of this ethnic cleansing and the factor that created it is embedded in the vision set out for Ethiopia by its rulers, the TPLF/EPRDF, as soon as they took power.   The officials of the Benishangul-Gumuz state and those in Guraferda, Bench Maji Zone, in the Southern Ethiopia Regional State, were executing a Grand Vision imbedded in the creation of the ethnic homeland – the Killil.    That is why some officials seem to be surprised by our surprise and were giving incoherent responses to some media interviews.  In a way, you can argue that the local officials who are doing this crime are also victims of the Grand Vision which they were told was a good official policy.  

The Benishangul officials somehow failed to learn from their comrades in the Southern Regional State in Guraferda Bench Maji who as we speak are doing the same thing.   Had they done it a few victims at a time, the outcry would have been easily muted.   In the Guraferda case, they seem to get smarter after doing a massive eviction when they started out last year.    Now they are doing it on “a smaller group of victims at a time” basis.  They seem to have learnt that the larger their victims the louder the visibility and outrage.   Other than that, the local officials are doing their job prescribed in the Grand Vision.

When Meles Zenawi said, “what is Axum to the Wolayita and the Castles of Gondar to the Oromo”, he may have spilled the beans quite early in his tenure, but he was not saying it out of ignorance or saying anything outside of what he believed.   The suggestion was to create a psychology among people that anybody born outside of your ethnic homeland does not belong with you - that Ethiopia’s numerous ethnic groups are mechanically joined units that share very little among one another.   The Grand Vision stipulates that the best way to divide and rule Ethiopia, and fight age-old and powerful Ethiopian nationalism that stood on their way, was to reduce it to divided units and inward-looking ethnic nationalism.  Of course, this was not an innovation by Meles or TPLF.    It was first invented by the Italians who twice invaded Ethiopia and, to their unforgettable surprise, found out that Ethiopian nationalism is more powerful to tear down, and that it is hard to divide Ethiopians along their ethnicity and conquer their country.  A version of the current ethnic map is first made by Italian strategists and visionaries, if you can call them that.   

Please don’t get me wrong.  I am all for the rights of ethnic groups to promote their cultures, languages, etc., and believe that any attempt at democratizing Ethiopia should do its best to do away with ethnic inequality in the country. I also know it is a challenge for any government trying to address it.  I have monkeyed with Marxism- Leninism when I was a collage kid.  When I began to see and understanding my country fully, I found out that any solution for Ethiopia’s ills can only be based by studying and understanding Ethiopia and its complexities and devising indigenous solutions and not by importing European ideas.  I believe we can find our own solutions.

Anybody who thinks that the motive behind the manufacturing of the “killil state” by the TPLF/EPRDF was to empower ethnic groups and help them promote their language, culture etc, and do away with ethnic inequality, was apparently taken for a ride or has not paid attention to the philosophy embedded in the formation of ethnic homelands – the killil.  The fact is you don’t necessarily need the ethnic killil to make ethnic groups or so called “nations” and “nationalities” and “peoples” equal.   In fact, for ethnic groups to be equal citizens in the country, you don’t necessarily have put them inside a geographic enclave.  I am a student of geography.    I can make you digital maps of ideal federal states that can be optimally used to help avoid inequality between ethnic groups, fight poverty, and strengthen the Ethiopian union, all at the same time, by crunching hundreds of variables on a computer.  It is even possible to avoid the current ridiculous hierarchical classification of ethnic groups into “nations”, “nationalities” and “peoples” which inherently perpetuates inequality.  

The current practice only exposes the regime that it does not have even a slight commitment to the rights of ethnic groups.  I know many have come to this conclusion by looking at what the regime is doing to the Agnuak inGambella.   According to current practice in Ethiopia, you will lose your citizenship rights, if you are a citizen at all, as soon as you move from your designated ethnic homeland and move to another.   Think about it.  In the country where I currently live, the son of a Kenyan immigrant is the President of the country.  When I think of it, it painfully reminds me of how far in the past my beautiful Ethiopia still lives in.   My children and grand children can become presidents or senators in the country that gave me refuge.   My relatives who live outside of their ethnic homeland in their own country are not allowed to run and hold even a “kebele” office.   It is simply unconscionable that this is happening in the twenty first century.   

Has anybody wondered why individuals of mixed ethnicity, which probably number more than thirty million, are forced to choose between their father’s and mother’s ethnicity when they are issued ID cards? Isn’t this a crime against an entire people?

So please don’t tell me that the ethnic homeland states of Ethiopia are set up with the good intention of helping ethnic groups achieve equality.   Meles Zenawi and those who shared his Marxist- Leninist views very well know that there cannot be a sustainable oppression of one group of people by another without an economic basis.  The only economic basis with which the ruling classes in Ethiopia in the past, be it Amahara or a multiethnic class, was able to oppress another group for a long period of time was because of unequal land ownership.   But the dergue, Mengistu Hailemariam’s government, has done away with that seventeen years before the TPLF took over.  The dergue also targeted Amharas and killed many.   In the absence of an economic basis to point to as the basis of oppression, TPLF leaders have to manufacture some tool.   The only tool they found in their tool box was linguistic differences and the hatred of the “other”.    People were encouraged to hate one another and feel their differences with others more than what they share in common.   That was why they dismissed Ethiopia’s long recorded history, the very thing that joins us in pride as Ethiopians as “Teret” (folk tale).   I see many countries use even mythologies to help them promote their union. In Ethiopia we are asked to despise even the facts on our record.

It appears that this hate is bearing bigger fruits with time and that is exactly what we are seeing in Benishangul Gumuz and Guraferda now.  What we are reaping is what has been sawn, and I am afraid this is not going to be the end of it and may not stop at the Amhara.   We are hearing that some of the Benishangul deportees are now allowed to return. Most probably this is due to the need to mute the worldwide outcry and appease some donors but not out of the realization of the wrong they did.  The damage is already done. I have no idea how this traumatized people would live a normal and secure life even if they are returned.   Some who are very traumatized are even saying they will better die on a street anywhere than return back.

If Ato Meles Zenawi was alive today, I am sure he would pull all his word-craft to justify the crime in Benishangul-Gumuz.   He already did justify the deportation from Guraferda in front of the “parliament” last year by saying that the Amhara “settlers” were destroying forests and doing unplanned use of land.   He didn’t even care his justification run in violation of the constitution.  You see, in civilized communities across the world, the constitution is meant to protect the people from government excesses and the power government holds over people.  In Ethiopia it is only quoted when there is a need to protect the government from the people and often to intimidate and throw critics and opponents into the kaliti dungeon.

The whole idea and talk about oppression of nations and nationalities, as they call them, was propagated only to patronize the ethnic elites and facilitate their cooperation in the Bantustanization of Ethiopia and reduce the country to units manageable to rule. That was how you could manufacture surrogate ethnic parties.  This was the reason the multiethnic Ethiopian People’s Democratic Movement (EPDM) was forced to become an ethnic Amhara party overnight, though it is obvious that none of it looks like a party created to help Amharas.

Folks, whether you like it or not, this is the vision that will definitely challenge Ethiopia’s survival as a nation in the future.  And this is the vision that all of Ethiopia’s officialdom and party cadres are swearing to preserve.  Be afraid not only for the Amhara, this poison embedded in the philosophy of our government’s ethnic policy can destroy Ethiopia if left unreformed.   This fire will catch more forests.  You ain’t seen nothin' yet, as my American friends would say.

Yes, we are witnessing a painful tragedy in progress and I understand why many of you are crying.  I myself did shade some tears when listening to the voices of the unfortunate.   But don’t let your tears cloud you from seeing the real reason. There is a need for a huge change in Ethiopia.

--
The writer can be reached at Fekadeshewakena@yahoo.com

Reeyot Alemu: Ethiopia's Jailed Truth Teller

By Nina Strochlic, The Daily Beast 

She’s spent the last 669 days languishing behind the bars of a notoriously brutal prison, but Ethiopian journalist Reeyot Alemu has not been forgotten. On Tuesday, the 32-year-old female dissident was honored with the 2013 UNESCO-Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize. In announcing the prize, the jury hailed her “exceptional courage, resistance and commitment to freedom of expression.” But no amount of international awards and public outcry have succeeded in gaining her freedom—and her medical condition is reportedly deteriorating. After recently undergoing surgery for a breast tumor, she was immediately sent back to the Kality Prison with no downtime for recovery, according to reports.

Last year, the International Women’s Media Foundation bestowed a Courage in Journalism Award on Alemu in absentia for her “refusal to self-censor in a place where that practice in standard, and her unwillingness to apologize for truth-telling, even though contrition could win her freedom.” At the ceremony, the presenters read a note from Alemu that had been smuggled out of prison. “For EPRDF [Ethiopia’s ruling party], journalists must be propaganda machines,” she wrote.
Alemu worked, among other roles, as a columnist for the weekly independent paper Feteh, which was later shuttered by the government. Four days before her arrest, Alemu had written a scathing critique of the ruling political party’s fundraising methods for a national dam project, and had apparently drawn parallels between late Libyan despot Muammar Gaddafi and Ethiopia’s then-Prime Minister, Meles Zenawi. (He would die a year later, in August 2012.)
On June 21, 2011, Alemu was seized from the high-school English class she taught, and placed under arrest, with reportedly no information about why she was being detained alongside another journalist and two politicians.
Her outspoken criticism on political and social issues was not viewed lightly by the government, which has been notoriously suppressive of the press for decades. In 2012, the Committee to Protect Journalists named Ethiopia as one of the ten countries where press freedom suffered most.
“The group was caught while plotting to sabotage electricity and telephone lines in an attempt to wreak havoc in the country,” the assistant commissioner police chief claimed.
“Further investigation has also revealed that they acted to recruit others to carry out terrorist activities with support from the Eritrean government and other anti-peace groups.”
The government reportedly used Alemu’s articles and a recorded phone call about a peaceful protest as evidence to charge her under a vague 2009 Anti-Terrorism Proclamation. She was sentenced her to 14 years behind bars. A year later, the sentence was commuted to five years, and an appeals court dropped two of three charges, with the promotion of “terrorist activity” as the last charge standing.
Similar charges have been used against multiple journalists in Ethiopia over the past few years, including two Swedes sentenced to 11 years (but later released) for reporting on rebel groups. During three months of pretrial detention, Alemu reportedly had no access to legal counsel.
“She looked fragile but she is a survivor,” said one of the Swedish journalists, of the last time he saw Alemu, in August. She is being held alongside blogger Eskinder Nega and young politicians Andualem Aragie and Natinael Mekonnen. Many other journalists have passed through the notorious prison.
Alemu, refusing offers of clemency in exchange for providing information on other journalists, was punished with nearly two weeks in solitary confinement. On January 8th, an Ethiopian court upheld her five-year conviction. A few days earlier, renowned American journalists Christiane Amanpour and Cynthia McFadden wrote an open letter condemning her treatment and pleading for Alemu’s release.
But Alemu is still being threatened. In early April, prison officials accused her of “disrespecting prison policies” and “planning to share information on human rights violations in Kaliti prison with the media.” They are apparently considering punishing her with solitary confinement and denying family visits, legal counsel, and medical care. In a statement, the Committee to Protect Journalists wrote: “Prison authorities have threatened Reeyot with solitary confinement for two months as punishment for alleged bad behavior toward them and threatening to publicize human rights violations by prison guards.”
Despite rumors of deteriorating health, Alemu continues to bravely serve her time, to the reverence of supporters ranging from the international community to her own family. Reeyot's father, Ato Alemu, told reporters last year he supports his daughter’s refusal to bend to government pressure. “I would rather have her not plead for clemency,” he said, “for she has not committed any crime.”

Dr. Berhanu Nega with Sisay Agena of ESAT, on the current Ethiopian politics

Dr. Berhanu Nega, Chairman of “Ginbot 7 Movement for Justice Freedom and Democracy” on the current Ethiopian politics with Sisay Agena of ESAT.

Ethiopia: Regime tries to break morale of jailed female journalist

Addis Ababa — The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has expressed concern about the safety of Reeyot Alemu, a jailed Ethiopian journalist and teacher. 

In a protest letter to Birhan Hailu, Ethiopia's justice minister, Joel Simon, CPJ's Executive Director asked that Alemu, whose health has reportedly deteriorated since being held on terrorism charges, to withdraw the threat of placing her in solitary confinement.

"Prison authorities have threatened Reeyot with solitary confinement for two months as punishment for alleged bad behavior toward them and threatening to publicize human rights violations by prison guards" said CPJ's letter, which was published on its website.
Despite pledges to the contrary Ethiopia's Ministry of Justice has failed to ensure that Reeyot's full human rights have not been violated during her detention, which began in June 2011.
"We urge you to fulfill Ethiopia's promise to build a humane and democratic state by withdrawing the threat of solitary confinement against Reeyot and ensuring her access to adequate medical care" CPJ said.
"No journalists should face detention or imprisonment in the exercise of their duty"
Reeyot, a columnist for the now-defunct independent weekly Feteh, is being held of the basis of accusation that she was involved in a vague terrorism plot.
In January 2012 she was sentenced her to 14 years in prison under the country's anti-terrorism law however an appeals court later in August, reduced the initial sentence to five years after the court dropped most of the terrorism charges pressed against the journalist, who is known for writing columns critical of the government.
CPJ has also expressed grave concern over the deteriorating health conditions of Reeyot saying she has been denied of access to adequate medical treatment after she was diagnosed with a tumor in her breast.
Reeyot is a 2012 winner of the International Women's Media Foundation Courage Award.
International human right groups accuse Ethiopia of using the country's broadly defined anti-terrorism law to punish critical journalists and opposition members, an allegation Addis Ababa denies.
In 2011 the United Nations special rapporteur on torture, Juan E. Méndez, urged the prohibition of "the imposition of solitary confinement as punishment - either as part of a judicially imposed sentence or a disciplinary measure."
In the report the special rapporteur urged Ethiopia to fulfill its obligation as signatory to the United Nations Convention against torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

Source: sudan Tribune

The Silent Genocide on the Amhara Documentary

Ethiopia: Right in Prison, Wrong on the Throne

By Alemayehu G Mariam
April 8, 2013

Last April, I wrote a “Special Tribute to My Personal Hero Eskinder Nega”.  In that tribute, I groped for words as I tried to describe this common Ethiopian man of uncommon valor, an ordinary journalist of extraordinary integrity and audacity. Frankly, what could be said of a simple man of humility possessed of indomitable dignity? Eskinder Nega is a man who stood up to brutality with his gentle humanity. What could I really say of a gentleman of the utmost civility, nobility and authenticity who was jailed 8 times for loving liberty?  What could I say of a man and his wife who defiantly defended press freedom in Ethiopia, even when they were both locked up in Meles Zenawi Prison just outside of the capital in Kality for 17 months! What could anybody say of a man, a woman and their child who sacrificed their liberties, their peace of mind, their futures and earthly possessions so that their countrymen, women and children could be free!?   

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

   

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Who are the real terrorists and criminals in Ethiopia today?   

Tale of the Good Wolf and Evil Wolf   

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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