BBN Daily Ethiopian News September 1, 2017

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By Matebu Benti, Ph.D.

The political crisis in Ethiopia is getting various dimensions.  The Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) has divided the country along ethnic lines.  With its infamous Article 39 of the constitution, TPLF has made secession of ethnic groups a constitutional right.  In its 25 years of brutal rule, TPLF-led EPRDF has been inculcating toxic propaganda and hate into young Ethiopians to pit one ethnic group against the other.  The cruel ruling of TPLF being with its divisive and hate-filled strategy has brought the country to the current state of political crisis.  TPLF has been setting Ethiopia for destruction.  The current most pressing problem in Ethiopia is the systemic and multidimensional human right abuse by the TPLF-led regime.

Such threat to the people of Ethiopia and the unity of the country can be averted when Ethiopians stand united, find a common ground, and fight tyranny, brutality, and get rid of the TPLF dictatorial regime and the system it established.  On the contrary, some self-proclaimed Oromo political leaders, who present themselves as academics, are repeating the very thing they claim to oppose and worsening the suffering of Ethiopians.  They are echoing the TPLF strategies that are being used to divide and rule Ethiopia.

Knowing that Ethiopians have high regard to academicians, these individuals are harboring under their academic rank and academic institutions and engaging in fighting Ethiopia and Ethiopian unity through their noxious and hate-mongering propaganda that they disseminate on the Oromo Media Network (OMN).  These individuals’ political platform is just hate to Ethiopia and Ethiopian unity.  Among these bad actors are Dr. Tsegaye Ararsa, the former EPRDF cadre trainer at the TPLF-run Civil Service College and TPLF loyalist, who deceitfully claim to be currently a professor at University of Melbourne; Dr. Abbas Haji Ganamo, the Ryerson University, Professor Ezekiel Gebissa, Kettering University ; and Jawar Mohammed, OMN; and  Etana Habte, a student at University of London  These individuals are using OMN and targeting the young Ethiopians from Oromia region who are suffering under the oppressive and brutal power of TPLF.

While thousands of Ethiopians are being heinously killed, tortured, and imprisoned by the TPLF-led EPRDF, these OMN pseudo intellectual groups, are exploiting the current dire situations in Ethiopia, manipulating the psychology of the victims, waging a propaganda war on what they call Amhara, Ethiopia, and Ethiopian unity.  It would be a big mistake to let these individuals and OMN unabated and to let them continue their hate movement that could lead to ethnic strife in Ethiopia and destroy the country and the future of the young generation.

Should we give a free pass to these individuals who reside in western countries and poison the whole political discourse in Ethiopia by ethnicizing every grievance?  Blind acceptance of this toxic propaganda or being aloof of this negative campaign is tantamount to contributing to their destructive agenda.  It is akin to letting our house being destroyed by fire.  We should not let the divisive fabrication thrive and our country lead into ethnic conflict.  Ethiopians from different corners of the country, regardless of their ethnic origin, should speak out when such individuals impose their evil views on the already suffering Ethiopians.

OMN and these individuals apply the following strategies to disseminate hate and mobilize people in Oromia areas towards their sinister goal, which is a separation of the Oromigna-speaking Ethiopians from the rest of Ethiopia.  From their practice, we can see this hate group, and OMN uses the following strategies:

1. Creating a political movement on the basis of Islam and ethnic lines. Jawar Mohammed, the current Executive Director of OMN, as can be seen on the video, appealed to Muslims, and tried to mobilize Oromos on the basis of Islam.  In his words, this what he said:   “እኔ ባለሁበት 99 በመቶ ሙስሊም ነው። ደፍሮ ቀና የሚል የለም አንገታቸውን ነው በሜንጫ የምንለው።  …. ኦሮሞ በተነካ ቁጥር እስልምና ይነካል። እስልምና በተነካ ቁጥር ኦሮሞ ይነካል። የኦሮሞ ህዝብ መጠናከር የእስልምና መጠናከር ነው።   አክሱም ላይ መስጊድ የምትሰሩት ኦሮሞ ሲጠናከር ነው።” This translated as, “Where I live[d] 99% is Muslim.  No one can have the courage to stay upright.  If they [referring to Christians or Amharas] have the courage to do so, we will hit their neck with a sword.  Whenever Oromo is affected, Islam is affected.  The strength of the Oromo people is the strength of Islam.  You can build a mosque at Axum when Oromo get stronger.”  This is an obvious campaign to create a political Islam, which is extremely dangerous move.  Political movement around radical Islam is destroying many countries.  Radicalizing the Muslim Oromos in Ethiopia will be a catastrophe not only for Ethiopia, a model country, for Christians and Muslims to have peacefully lived together for centuries but also for the entire geographic region.
2. Fighting Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity. This is a recent one being pushed by Dr. Tsegaye Ararsa.  This is what Tsegaye Ararsa put on his Facebook: “ If Alithad or its third generation offspring (Alshabab) was a political Islam in Somalia, Ethiopian Orthodox church would be the exact opposite of that, i.e., a political ..but even older than the former by thousands of years. Why should the world fight only political Islamists while sparing their dumpiest counterpart in the horn of Africa or elsewhere??”  By attacking Ethiopian Orthodox Church, this group attempts to attack the long-standing history and the unity of Ethiopia
3. Attacking Ethiopian unity, Ethiopian history, and everything that symbolizes Ethiopia. Tsegaye Ararsa, who was a teacher at the TPLF cadres’ college (Civil Service University) and who is the Dr. Joseph Goebbels of this movement, repeatedly stated, “Ethiopians do not have a national identity.”  He further tried to elaborate his point saying that Ethiopian identity is for Amhara and Tigre only.  Dr. Tsegay Ararsa also wrote, “Emperor Menelik II of Ethiopia did deny his being black.  This is to smear the name of one of the greatest black African leader.  Emperor Menelik II led the Battle of Adwa, defeated the fascist Italian invaders, and inspired black people all over the world in their struggle for independence.  Emperor Menelik II symbolizes Ethiopia and Ethiopian unity.  By discrediting his immense contribution that the world witnessed, the hate groups are attacking Ethiopia.  Attacking Emperor Menelik II has become the day-to-day activity of OMN.  This is done by design to fabricate a hate-ridden story and to disintegrate Ethiopia.
4. Using pseudo-academic discourse and misinforming and misleading the regular people- One of the deliberate deception constantly broadcast by OMN, Aljazeera, Asafa Jalata and Dr. Abbas Haji Ganamo, is that  “between 1868 and 1900, half of all Oromo were killed, around 5 million people.”  A rational person first asks whether there were 10 million Oromos during that period. This is a white lie by the so-called Professor Abbas Haji Ganamo and Asafa Jalata who are the shame of the higher institutions they come from.  An academic should always be a skeptic and should question its sources and verify its accuracy.  One needs not to be a genius to refute their claim.  In 1950, the population of Ethiopia was 18 million.  In the last sixty-five years, the Ethiopian population has grown on average by about 2.7% every year.  Given this population trend, in 1887, the total Ethiopian population was estimated to be between three to four million.  Abbas Haji Ganamo and Asafa Jaleta have been deliberately echoing this poisonous lie to create havoc in Ethiopia.  This is a shameful and unethical act in the academic world.

Recently, Dr. Abbas Haji Ganamo, Etana Habte and had Dr. Ezekiel Gabissa appeared on OMN. This discussion clearly shows the severity of hate campaign that this group is propagating.  The discussion was very irresponsible, very graphic, and violence inciting in its presentation.  May almighty God save Ethiopia.  These individuals are setting a stage for ethnic war in Ethiopia.  These are some of the things what Professor Abbas Haji Ganamo said:  “Someone in Bale told me that his father had told him that he had seen when the Minelik’s army had brought a piece of cloth immersed with disease and killed all the members of some of the tribes except one person.“ Professor Ganamo also said that “the blood of the Oromos killed flew like a flood and joined a river.”  Why does a university professor with his old age irresponsibly say this to the media without even trying to check the reliability of the information?  Was Emperor Menelik’s army of the 1880s so sophisticated to create and handle biological weapons?  How could a professor teaching in the civilized world believe this and speak on a media?  How could a person, with his bare eyes, see and identify a disease-carrying cloth?  How many people should be killed at one place for the blood to flow like a flood and join a river?  Ethiopians should not let such dangerous white lie unchallenged.  The discussion on OMN is reminiscent of the hate propaganda that led to the Arbagugu and Bedeno genocide of the Amharas, whoever was the perpetrator.  No one should allow that to happen again because of these hatemongers.

5. Opposing any movement that leads to unity among Ethiopians of various backgrounds: Using seemingly academic discourse, the OMN group ethincizes  Any organization that is not organized on the basis of ethnicity or religion is opposed by these hate mongering individuals.  They even call those Ethiopians who are not organized on ethnic lines as “homeless politicians”.  For this hate group, Ethiopian identity is a hoax.  They even went even further and encouraged others to be organized based on ethnicity to destroy the values that glued Ethiopians together irrespective of ethnic differences.  This is one of their approaches to dismantle Ethiopian.

The most important question here is, why attacking Ethiopia and Ethiopian unity and broadcasting of hate become the top priority of this OMN group while Ethiopians are suffering under the ruthless TPLF who murdered thousands of Ethiopians.  Since November 2015, about 1000 Ethiopians were killed by TPLF-EPRDF.  Thousands are imprisoned and being tortured.  Thousands are fleeing the country and dying in the ocean.  The Ethiopian political leaders like Bekele Gerba, Dr. Merara Gudina, Andualem Arage; and journalists like Eskinder Nega and Temesgen Desalign and many others are languishing in the TPLF dungeon.  Defenseless Ethiopians are crying for help.  Those who committed the crime are walking freely and making the victims laughingstock.  Those who killed the young man and forced his mother to sit on her son’s dead body did not face justice.  Instead of emancipating Ethiopians who are under the yoke of the brutal TPLF, the OMN group is giving a propaganda opportunity to TPLF and pushing Ethiopia into a civil war.  This is a period for the current generation, and this is the foundation for the coming generation.  We cannot stay trapped in our past mishaps.  We all have a moral and civic obligation to do soul-searching and work together to bring positive changes in Ethiopia.  By disseminating hate, no one will benefit.  When we have differences, we should disagree constructively not to destroy one another.  Hate can never ever be a solution.

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Hiber Radio interview with Ato Chalachew Abay

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Ermias Eshetu, the CEO of the Ethiopian Commodity Exchange (ECX), has tendered his resignation letter to the board of directors of the trading enterprise.

The resignation of Ermias stunned many as it came at a time when the CEO was attempting to restructure ECX and introduce new trading services and working procedures. Though the resignation of the CEO is not yet made public reliable sources told The Reporter that the board of directors of ECX is holding an in-depth evaluation on the executive management including the CEO.

Sources said the rigorous evaluation has prompted the CEO to leave his position. According to sources, the board of directors of ECX has accepted the resignation letter of the CEO. However, Ermias would stay in office until the board finds a successor.

According to sources, the stringent evaluation held last week lasted until 5PM in the evening. “The evaluation dwelled on the performance of the trading floor (ECX) and on the issue of who should leave and who should remain in office. The CEO tendered his resignation letter in the wake of the in-depth evaluation,” sources told The Reporter.

The management of ECX declined to comment on the matter. The Reporter’s repeated attempts to reach Ermias could not be successful.

Ermias’s decision took many by surprise as he was publicising the new working procedures he was planning to introduce in ECX. Sources said the board’s in-depth evaluation aimed at reforming the ECX. According to sources, the evaluation is part of the board’s efforts to identify the weaknesses of ECX and reform the organization.

ECX was established by the acclaimed entrepreneur and intellectual Elleni Gebremedihn (PhD) in 2008. After the first CEO left her position Anteneh Abraham, former vice president of Abyssinia Bank, managed ECX for a short period of the time. Anteneh resigned due to illness.

Ermias replaced Anteneh three years ago. Ermias, 42, previously served Zemen Bank as vice president. Ermias is a returnee from the UK, where he lived for 20 years. In the UK, he served global IT giants including IBM and Alcatel.

Source -the reporter ethiopia

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By Shiferaw Abebe

Deeply religious, Ethiopians historically trusted each other. They reserved suspicion and caution to strangers, outsiders, and in many cases as a defense mechanism to minimize risks; those that are close and familiar were believed and trusted readily and wholeheartedly.

That changed when the Tigray People Liberation Front (TPLF), a profoundly secretive organization, took power in 1991.  Before this entity reached the capital, Addis, the vast majority of Ethiopians didn’t know its name let alone its agenda.  Twenty-six years later, Ethiopians are still puzzled about its inner workings and thought processes. They are suspicious of every bit of its activities because they are afraid it has a “grand scheme” kept hidden within its inner circle.

This level of distrust is unmatched even by internatinal standards. It certainly didn’t exist in our modern history; even under the brutal Derg regime, Ethiopians had a pretty clear understanding of the nature and inner workings of the Derg because it did what it said it would do, good or (mostly) bad.

Over the years, TPLF’s answer for the trust deficit has been causing more of it and spreading it far and wide. It kept the two largest ethnic groups at odds with each other by skillful manipulations, by creating and fanning misgivings, lies and deceptions, even by hiring mercenaries to manufacture incidents that could instigate conflicts and bloodsheds between members of the two ethnic groups.

It created a one-to-five spying web throughout the country, in big cities and tiny remote villages alike, turning ordinary citizens into informants on their neighbors and their colleagues. It dispatches operatives as priests, prostitutes, and beggars to spy on opposition figures, EPRDF officials, business owners, and ordinary citizens. It infiltrates opposition parties to sow discord and mistrust within their ranks eventually splitting them and rendering them weak.

This depraved schems did work beyong TPLF’s own imaginatin, so much so that we now have a very distrustful culture not just toward the regime but toward each other. Nothing is no more taken at face value.  Ethiopians, including opposition parties, which one would think would know better, spend a whole lot of time figuring out each other’s “motives”. The natural tendency to trust and count on one another is gone, perhaps not to comeback intact even if TPLF goes away.

TPLF has altered the psychology of a nation in a time span of one generation.

This is therefore the psychological backdrop of the recent Oromo-Amhara conference in Bahir Dar and how it is analyzed and interpreted by people from different sides. The massive conference, organized by the presidents of the two regions, included Aba Geda’s, elders, authors, intellectuals, singers, and politicians on both sides (250 from Oromia alone). By its sheer size, one has to believe the conference was in mind, if not in the works, for months; my own guess is the idea of the conference must have originated during the State of Emergency which essentially incapacitated the two regional administrations for ten months, whch in turn further damaged their relationship with the federal government and, in the end, eroded the federal government’s control over these two regions and their leaders.

There was another another significant event is Bahir Dar that preceded this conference by a few weeks in which, in a defining gesture of Oromo-Amhara solidarity, some 200 Oromo youth crossed the Abay River to help fight the invasive weed that is chocking the Tana Lake. Before TPLF, no one would have given that event much attention, but knowing what happened in the relationship between the two people in the last 26 years, it was a spectacular scene to watch the Oromo youth who were born and/or grew up during this same period, shatter the psychological wall of TPLF’s kilils and claim the Tana Lake their own – Tana kegna, Oromo kegna, Amhara kegna, they sang with their Amhara compatriots!

Yet, thanks to TPLF, suspicious hearts prevailed; many wondered if the trip was orchestrated by TPLF for some hidden agenda, because Ethiopians are convinced that TPLF would not allow such opulence of goodwill and brotherhood and sisterhood between the two people it worked for 26 years to keep apart unless it has something to gain.

Coming back to the Bahir Dar conference, the keynote speeches by the two presidents, Gedu Andargachew and Lemma Megerssa were mind blowing. Like the acts of the Oromo youth, they were a clear rejection of the divisive past and a repudiation of the agents of division that drove a wedge between the two people to the point of staking the unity of the country.

Gedu said the problem of hate and alienation is not inherent to this group or that group; it is inherent in the political system that fosters a hate environment. He didn’t pronounce it but the name of that system is ethnic politics crafted, fine-tuned and operationalized by TPLF.

But no one came close to Lemma Megerssa in poise and eloquence. He said the Ethiopian people are like ‘sergegna teff’, virtually impossible to separate, adding, Ethiopiawinet is an addiction, a description I am sure writers and singers will borrow into the future. I don’t believe he used these expressions glibly to arouse emotions.  I believe he meant them.

There were times in the last 26 years when I thought what kept Ethiopians together was geography. I now have a better explanation; it is an addiction to Ethiopiawinet, which follows them wherever they go. Diaspora Ethiopians do two things commonly: as soon as they attain a critical mass, they create a community association and they form a congregation to worship their creator. This is uniquely Ethiopian; no other people look for each other or commune with each other as much as Ethiopians do. We may fight at times, say the wrong things to each other, but we have time and again proved to ourselves that we cannot live away from each other. Because Ethiopiawinet is an addiction, as Lemma put it.  We come back to each other for our fixes – in our hugs and warm smiles, in our humors and sensibilities, in our food and music, in sharing our despairs and uplifting hopes for our common motherland, in our Ethiopiawinet!

Now that Lemma and Gedu have done all the good, comforting talk, which in itself is quite audacious,  the question arises if they are resolved to walk the talk from here on? Or is it being naïve to expect much from them when we know they are basically a product of the current system; knowing that they didn’t get where they are today – presidents of the two biggest regions – without being loyal to the current regime? How can one hope let alone trust these two to challenge the system in a credible and practical way?

We will not know for certain, but this is not about folding our hands and trusting those within the system to bring the change we all want. But now is the time to lend goodwill, to begin to fill the trust gap and reach out inside and outside the system, to create a broader coalition to expedite the demise of the TPLF regime, to minimize the risks, and smoothen the transition into a new, better future.

This is not also just about the two officials. There is already a significant pressure from behind them, by their party members and the people broadly, to move in the direction they are moving. But I also think Gedu and Lemma understand and appreciate the reality in front of them. Ethiopia’s current state is pretty precarious with the TPLF regime losing its grips and engaging in desperate acts.

I also hope Lemma and Gedu understand their immense capacity, the resources of their respective state machinery that they can use to mobilize their constituencies to frustrate TPLF’s reckless measures to hang on to power even if it means causing deadly damages to the very fabric of the country.

The course of history changes because, sometimes, people who are part of the status quo choose to take a different course by joining change agents . Choices, more than history, define the future. And choices are available to everyone at every moment. Now is the moment of choice for Gedu, Lemma, and many others like them to side with the Ethiopian people and birth a new country whose people are not diced and sliced by what language they speak or which region they come from but one that promotes and celebrates its rich diversity, ensures equality and prosperity to all within a unified and dignified whole.

Shiferawabebe1@gmail.com

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Rodolfo Graziani in Addis Ababa in 1937. Photo: public domain/Wikimedia Commons. Jessica Phelan news.italy@thelocal.com helocalitaly

8 November 2017

A mayor and two town councillors were sentenced to prison on Tuesday for commissioning a memorial to one of Benito Mussolini’s top commanders.

Mayor Ercole Viri received eight months for building the monument to Rodolfo Graziani, a Fascist-era general and convicted war criminal, in the town of Affile near Rome.

Councillors Giampiero Frosoni and Lorenzo Peperoni each got six months.

They were convicted under an Italian law that makes “apology for fascism” a crime.

The monument, a mausoleum for Graziani engraved with the words “Fatherland” and “Honour” set in a memorial park, was unveiled in August 2012, at a cost of some €130,000 to local taxpayers.

View image on Twitter

✔@nzingaretti

#Affile la Giustizia ci dà ragione, il monumento al gerarca fascista Rodolfo Graziani è illegale https://goo.gl/pnskM9 

It met with protests from the Democratic Party and other leftists, as well as the national association of Italian resistance fighters, which took the case to court.

Speaking at the time, Viri dismissed the criticism as “idle chatter”.

Today the memorial stands in disrepair, covered in graffiti that denounces Graziani’s war crimes in Italy’s African colonies.

The prosecution had sought to have it seized, but the judge did not grant the request.

It will “certainly” remain in place, a defiant Viri told La Republicca after the ruling. He claimed that the sentences were politically motivated and insisted it wasn’t clear that Graziani was guilty of war crimes.

Graziani was dubbed the “Butcher of Fezzan” for his brutal tactics as commander of colonial Italian forces in Libya in the 1930s. Thousands of Libyans died in concentration camps he created to detain those who challenged Italian rule.

He earned a similar nickname in Ethiopia, where he oversaw the massacre of as many as 30,000 people. He also ordered his troops to use poison gas against Ethiopian forces, in contravention of Italy’s own laws.

Mussolini appointed him defence minister in 1943 and he continued to serve Il Duce until the end of World War Two.

• READ ALSO: Into the fascist forest – a real Italian controversy

After the war Graziani was convicted of war crimes and sentenced to 19 years in jail, though he was released after only a few months. He died in 1955 and was buried in Affile, where he lived for many years.

The monument was simply a tribute to one of the town’s famous sons, Mayor Viri said when it was first unveiled.

The monument didn’t stop residents of Affile reelecting him once and he expects them to do so again when he runs in April, he told La Repubblica.

Source: thelocal.it

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Abdur Rahman Alfa Shaban

The Ethiopian government on Friday announced a ban on protest rallies across the country, the state-owned ENA reports. The move according to the authorities is part of a national security plan aimed at consolidating peace and stability in the country.

The defense minister, Siraj Fagessa, in a press briefing after a national security council discussion said the ban was a consensus decision by the council with the aim of preventing deaths and destruction of properties across the country.

The minister, however, admitted that parts of the country were becoming volatile after the lifting of the 10 – month state of emergency but Ethiopia was largely peaceful in its current state. The government has also vowed to prosecute officials complicit in compromising state security.

He disclosed further that the current security plan had been developed at the national level but with support of all regional states and with ‘feedback from foreign countries.’ Regional states were to tailor all their security plans with the national plan.

The security council meeting was chaired by Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn who according to ENA said peace and security was key to enable the public to fully concentrate and exert maximum effort in the fight against poverty.

Present at the meeting were chief administrators of the regional states, mayors of city administrations, heads of federal and regional security forces and commanders of the defense forces.

Ethiopia is seen as a key player in terms of security in the restive Horn of Africa region. Its internal crisis largely stems from the Oromo protests which led to the imposition of a state of emergency in October 2016.

After the lifting of the measure in August this year, there has been a seeming reemergence of the protests in recent times. Deadly clashes along the Oromia and Ethiopian Somali border stretch also led to deaths and displacements last month.

Away from home, Ethiopia’s border tensions with Eritrea remains a threat to the region. Addis Ababa is also engaged in the fight against Al-Shabaab militants in neighbouring Somalia and is also active in hosting South Sudanese refugees and in the peace process in that country.

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November 11, 2017Idris Ibrahim

The 2016 report rates the Nigeria Police Force the “worst” globally in terms of its ability to handle internal security challenges.

The report was released by the International Police Science Association, IPSA, and the Institute for Economics and Peace, a nonprofit organisation that brings together experts, researchers and scholars concerned with security work from all over the world.

The indices used in accessing 127 countries from four key areas, namely, capacity, process, legitimacy and outcomes, aim to measure the ability of the security apparatus within a country to respond to internal security challenges, both now and in future.

Nigeria police performed worst on the index on all the four domains, with a score of 0.255 ranked 127 below Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Uganda and Pakistan.

The report noted that countries with protracted civil conflicts were not eligible for the index.

“There are 219 police officers for every 100,000 Nigerians, well below both the Index median of 300, and the sub-Saharan Africa region average of 268,” the report reads.

“This limits the capacity of the force to measure up to its law and order mandate.

“In terms of process, legitimacy and outcomes, the story is not different which makes the force fall short of the required standard.

“High levels of political terror have been an issue for Nigeria since 1993, with the country scoring a 4 on the Political Terror Scale every year since then.”

“Terrorism remains one of the greatest threats to internal security. Terrorism has increased dramatically over the last three years, with more than 62,000 people being killed in terrorist attacks between 2012 and 2014. The biggest rise in the last year occurred in Nigeria.”

According to the report, the top 10 performing African countries are Botswana which ranked highest at 47, followed by Rwanda which took the 50 position.

Others are Algeria, Senegal, Tunisia, Egypt, Burkina Faso, Ghana, South Africa and Mali, in that order.

The 10 least performing African countries are Madagascar 111th, Zambia 112th, Ethiopia 115th, Sierra Leone 117th, Cameroon 120th, Mozambique 122nd, Uganda 124th, Kenya 125th and Democratic Republic of Congo 126th.

The report showed that Singapore performed best on the index, followed by Finland, and then Denmark.

There were only four non-European countries in the top 20. The United Arab Emirates was the highest ranked country from the Middle East and North African, MENA, region as it ranked 29th overall.

The Nigerian police rejected the report. A statement by spokesperson Jimoh Moshood claimed the Nigeria police is the best in Africa.

“The Nigeria Police Force after a careful study of the report and the news items emanating from it, wishes to state categorically that the report is entirely misleading, a clear misrepresentation of facts and figures and essentially unempirical, considering the area of coverage of the report which was said to have been carried out in 2016 by the above mentioned associations,” the statement said.

“The report did not take into cognisance the significant improvement in the areas of Capacity Building, Training and Re-training of the entire personnel of the Force as provided for by the current Federal Government of Nigeria and other Foreign and Local NGOs which has greatly improved the efficiency and service delivery of the personnel of the Force throughout the country.

“Furthermore, in the UN Peace Keeping System, the Nigeria Police Force is rated as the best in UN Peace keeping operations in the world. This clearly shows that the Nigeria Police Force is not and cannot be the worst in the world under any known scientific yardstick or measuring instrument.

“Currently, the Nigeria Police Force is one of the only two African Delegates representing the whole of Africa continent on the executive committee of Interpol, a position the Force attained based on high performance, merit and sustained good track records.

“However, it must be pointed out that the Nigeria Police Force sees the report as a clear demonstration of mischief, ignorance and calculated attempt to distort the feat being recorded by the Force in ensuring adequate security and safety of Nigerians. Nowhere in the report were references made to either the improved capacity or achievements recorded by the Nigeria Police Force across the country in the recent time, the Force therefore implores all Nigerians and international community to disregard the report as unfounded and misleading.”

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Qemant Referendum Tigabu Kibret – SBS Amharic

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Abdur Rahman Alfa Shaban

A United Nations report says Eritrea’s continued support for some anti-government elements continue to heighten security in the Horn of Africa region. The activities of the said groups are intended at destabilizing Ethiopia and Djibouti.

The document titled: ‘Report of the Monitoring Group on Somalia and Eritrea’ presented to the U.N. Security Council (UNSC), however, emphasized that the said groups do not pose a critical threat to the target nations.

“Eritrea continued to provide support to armed groups intent on destabilizing Ethiopia and Djibouti, including the Benishangul People’s Liberation Movement, the Front for the Restoration of Unity and Democracy (FRUD-Armé), Patriotic Ginbot Sebat (PG7) and the Tigray People’s Democratic Movement.

While none of these groups poses a critical threat to either Djibouti or Ethiopia, the support of Eritrea for them continues to generate insecurity in the region and undermines the normalization of relations between regional Member States.

“While none of these groups poses a critical threat to either Djibouti or Ethiopia, the support of Eritrea for them continues to generate insecurity in the region and undermines the normalization of relations between regional Member States,” the report said.

The 8-member team led by Kairat Umarov said for the fourth consecutive year of its work, it had failed to find conclusive evidence of allegations that Eritrea was supporting Somalia insurgent group, Al Shabaab.

The said allegations are the reason behind a 2009 arms embargo slapped on Eritrea by the UNSC. The U.S. backed sanction said al-Shabaab was being armed by Eritrea but the experts said the sanctions had to be lifted. Somalia is also affected by a similar sanction which is affecting its fight against terrorism.

Addis Adada and Asmara continue to trade accusations at each other over plots to destabilize the other. Ethiopia says Eritrea is backing anti-government miscreants in the Oromia region. They have also said Ethiopia is behind skewed reports of a rare protest by students in the capital Asmara.

A border tension dating to 2009 persists between the two countries. Eritrea also has border issues with Djibouti. The tensions escalated earlier this year when Qatari peacekeepers on a disputed border region withdrew amid the Gulf crisis.

The post Eritrea backing armed groups against Ethiopia and Djibouti – U.N. experts appeared first on Satenaw: Ethiopian News|Breaking News: Your right to know!.

“For the dead and the living, we must bear witness. For not only are we responsible for the memories of the dead, we are also responsible for what we are doing with those memories.” Elie Weisel

We the living MUST bear witness…

On June 6-8 and November 1-4, 2005, following the parliamentary elections in May, the military, police and security forces of the ruling Thugtatorship of the Tigrean Peoples’ Liberation Front (T-TPLF) in Ethiopia under the personal command and control of the late T-TPLF mastermind Meles Zenawi committed unspeakable crimes against humanity.

Watch video documenting the Meles Massacres (in Amharic) HERE.

An official Inquiry Commission established jointly by Meles Zenawi and his rubberstamp parliament documented that 193 unarmed men, women and children demonstrating in the streets and scores of other detainees held in a high security prison were intentionally shot and killed by police and security officials. An additional 763 were wounded. [1] The Commission held Meles Zenawi and his T-TPLF bore full responsibility for the massacres.

We MUST remember the victims of the Meles/T-TPLF Massacres of 2005:

Rebuma E. Ergata, 34, mason; Melesachew D. Alemnew, 16, student; Hadra S. Osman, 22, occup. unknown; Jafar S. Ibrahim, 28, sm. business; Mekonnen, 17, occup. unknown; Woldesemayat, 27, unemployed; Beharu M. Demlew, occup. unknown; Fekade Negash, 25, mechanic; Abraham Yilma, 17, taxi; Yared B. Eshete, 23, sm. business; Kebede W. G. Hiwot, 17, student; Matios G. Filfilu, 14, student;Getnet A. Wedajo, 48, Sm. business; Endalkachew M. Hunde, 18, occup. unknown; Kasim A. Rashid, 21, mechanic; Imam A. Shewmoli, 22, sm. business; Alye Y. Issa, 20, laborer; Samson N. Yakob, 23, pub. trspt.; Alebalew A. Abebe, 18, student; Beleyu B. Za, 18, trspt. asst.; Yusuf A. Jamal, 23, occup. student; Abraham S. W. Agenehu, 23, trspt. asst.; Mohammed H. Beka, 45, farmer; Redela K. Awel, 19, taxi Assit., Habtamu A. Urgaa, 30, sm. Business. Dawit F. Tsegaye, 19, mechanic; Gezahegne M. Geremew, 15, student; Yonas A. Abera, 24, occup. unknown; Girma A. Wolde, 38, driver; W/o Desta U. Birru, 37, sm. business; Legese T. Feyisa, 60, mason; Tesfaye D. Bushra, 19, shoe repairman; Binyam D. Degefa, 18, unemployed.

Million K. Robi, 32, trspt. asst.; Derege D. Dene, 24, student; Nebiyu A. Haile, 16, student; Mitiku U. Mwalenda, 24, domestic worker; Anwar K. Surur, 22, sm. business; Niguse Wabegn, 36, domestic worker; Zulfa S. Hasen, 50, housewife; Washun Kebede, 16, student; Ermia F. Ketema, 20, student; 00428, 25, occup. unknown; 00429, 26, occup. unknown; 00430, 30, occup. unknown; Adissu Belachew, 25, occup. unknown; Demeke K. Abebe,uk, occup. unknown; 00432, 22, occup. unknown; 00450, 20, occup. unknown; 13903, 25, occup. unknown; 00435, 30, occup. unknown. 13906, 25, occup. unknown; Temam Muktar, 25, occup. unknown; Beyne N. Beza, 25, occup. unknown; Wesen Asefa, 25, occup. unknown; Abebe Anteneh, 30, occup. unknow; Fekadu Haile, 25, occup. unknow; Elias Golte, uk, occup. unknown; Berhanu A. Werqa, uk, occup. unknown.

Asehber A. Mekuria, uk, occup. unknown; Dawit F. Sema, uk, occup. unknown, Merhatsedk Sirak, 22, occup. unknown; Belete Gashawtena, uk, occup. unknown; Behailu Tesfaye, 20, occup. unknown; 21760, 18, occup. unknown; 21523, 25, occup. unknown; 11657, 24, occup. unknown; 21520, 25, occup. unknown; 21781, 60, occup. unknown; Getachew Azeze, 45, occup. unknown; 21762, 75, occup. unknown; 11662,45, occup. unknown; 21763, 25, occup. unknown; 13087, 30, occup. unknown; 21571, 25, occup. unknown; 21761, 21, occup. unknown; 21569, 25, occup. unknown; 13088, 30, occup. unknown; Endalkachew W. Gabriel, 27, occup. unknown.

Hailemariam Ambaye, 20, occup. unknown; Mebratu W. Zaudu,27, occup. unknown; Sintayehu E. Beyene, 14, occup. unknown; Tamiru Hailemichael, uk, occup. unknown; Admasu T. Abebe, 45, occup. unknown; Etenesh Yimam, 50, occup. unknown; Werqe Abebe, 19, occup. unknown; Fekadu Degefe, 27, occup. unknown Shemsu Kalid, 25, occup. unknown; Abduwahib Ahmedin, 30, occup. unknown; Takele Debele, 20, occup. unknown, Tadesse Feyisa,38, occup. unknown; Solomon Tesfaye, 25, occup. unknown; Kitaw Werqu, 25, occup. nknown; Endalkachew Worqu, 25, occup. unknow; Desta A. Negash, 30, occup. unknown; Yilef Nega, 15, occup. unknown; Yohannes Haile, 20, occup. unknown; Behailu T. Berhanu, 30, occup. unknown; Mulu K. Soresa, 50, housewife, Teodros Gidey Hailu, 23, shoe salesman; Dejene Yilma Gebre, 18, store worker; Ougahun Woldegebriel, 18, student; Dereje Mamo Hasen, 27, carpenter.

The hottest places in Hell are reserved for those who in time of moral crisis preserve their neutrality. (Attributed to Dante Alighieri.)

Regassa G. Feyisa, 55, laundry worker; Teodros Gebrewold, 28, private business; Mekonne D. G.Egziaber, 20, mechanic; Elias G. Giorgis, 23, student; Abram A. Mekonnen, 21, laborer; Tiruwerq G.Tsadik, 41, housewife; Henok H. Mekonnen; 28, occup. unknown; Getu S. Mereta, 24, occup. unknown;W/o Kibnesh Meke Tadesse, 52, occup. unknown; Messay A. Sitotaw, 29, private business; Mulualem N. Weyisa, 15, Ayalsew Mamo, 23, occup. unknown; Sintayehu Melese, 24, laborer; W/o Tsedale A. Birra, 50, housewife; Abayneh Sara Sede, 35, tailor; Fikremariam K. Telila, 18, chauffer; Alemayehu Gerba, 26, occup. unknown; George G. Abebe,36, private trspt.; Habtamu Zegeye Tola, 16, student; Mitiku Z. G. Selassie, 24, student; Tezazu W. Mekruia, 24, private business; Fikadu A. Dalige, 36, tailor; Shewaga B. W.Giorgis, 38, laborer; Alemayehu E. Zewde, 32, textile worker; Zelalem K. G.Tsadik, 31, taxi driver; Mekoya M. Tadesse, 19, student; Hayleye G. Hussien, 19, student; W/o Fiseha T. G.Tsadik, 23, police employee; Wegayehu Z. Argaw, 26, unemployed.

Melaku M. Kebede, 19, occup. unknown; Abayneh D. Orra, 25, tailor; W/o Abebch B. Holetu, 50, housewife; Demeke A. Jenbere, 30, farmer; Kinde M. Weresu, 22, unemployed; Endale A. G.Medhin, 23, private business; Alemayehu T. Wolde,24, teacher; Bisrat T. Demisse, 24, car importer; Mesfin H. Giorgis, 23, private business, Welio H. Dari, 18, private business, Behailu G. G.Medhin, 20, private business; Siraj Nuri Sayed, 18, student; Iyob G.Medhin, 25, student; Daniel W. Mulugeta,25, laborer; Teodros K. Degefa,25, shoe factory worker; Gashaw T. Mulugeta, 24, student; Kebede B. Orke, 22, student; Lechisa K. Fatasa, 21, student; Jagama B. Besha,20, student; Debela O. Guta, 15, student; Melaku T. Feyisa, 16, student; W/o Elfnesh Tekle, 45, occup. unknown; Hassen Dula, 64, occup. unknown; Hussien Hassen Dula, 25, occup. unknown; Dejene Demisse,15, occup. unknown; Name unknown; Name unknown; Name unknown; Zemedkun Agdew, 18, occup. unknown; Getachew A. Terefe, 16, occup. unknown; Delelegn K. Alemu, 20, occup. unknown; Yusef M. Oumer,20, occup. unknown.

Mekruria T. Tebedge, 22, occup. unknown; Bademe M. Teshamahu, 20, occup. unknown; Ambaw Getahun,38, occup. unknown; Teshome A. Kidane, 65, health worker; Yosef M. Regassa, uk, occup. unknown; Abiyu Negussie, uk, occup. uk; Tadele S. Behaga,uk, occup. unknown; Efrem T. Shafi,uk, occup. unknown; Abebe H. Hama, uk, occup. unknown; Gebre Molla, uk, occup. unknown; Seydeen Nurudeen, uk, occup. unknown; Eneyew G. Tsegaye, 32, trspt. asst; Abdurahman H. Ferej, 32, wood worker; Ambaw L. Bitul, 60, leather factory worker; Abdulmenan Hussien, 28, private business; Jigsa T. Setegn, 18, student; Asefa A. Negassa, 33, carpenter; Ketema K. Unko, 23, tailor; Kibret E. Elfneh, 48, private guard; Iyob G. Zemedkun, 24, private business; Tesfaye B. Megesha,15, private business; Capt. Debesa S. Tolosa, 58, private business;Tinsae M. Zegeye,14, tailor;Kidana G. Shukrow,25, laborer;Andualem Shibelew, 16, student; Adissu D. Tesfahun, 19, private business; Kassa Beyene Yror,28, clothes sales; Yitagesu Sisay,22, occup. unknown; Unknown, 22, occup. unknown.

T-TPLF police and security personnel killed in each other’s crossfire: Nega Gebre, Jebena Desalegn, Mulita Irko, Yohannes Solomon, Ashenafi Desalegn, Feyisa Gebremenfes.

We MUST remember the T-TPLF/Meles Massacres in Kaliti Prison on November 2, 2005:

In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends. — Martin Luther King, Jr.

Teyib Shemsu Mohammed, age unknown, male, charged with instigating armed insurrection. Sali Kebede, age unknown, male, no charges indicated. Sefiw Endrias Tafesse Woreda, age unknown, male, charged with rape. Zegeye Tenkolu Belay, age unknown, male, charged with robbery. Biyadgligne Tamene, age unknown, male, charges unknown. Gebre Mesfin Dagne, age unknown, male, charges unknown. Bekele Abraham Taye, age unknown, male, charged with hooliganism. Abesha Guta Mola, age unknown, male, charges unknown. Kurfa Melka Telila, convicted of making threats. Begashaw Terefe Gudeta, age unknown, male, charged with brawling [breach of peace]. Abdulwehab Ahmedin, age unknown, male, charged with robbery. Tesfaye Abiy Mulugeta, age unknown, male, charged with instigating armed insurrection. Adane Bireda, age unknown, male, charged with murder. Yirdaw Kersema, age unknown, male, no charges indicated.

Balcha Alemu Regassa, age unknown, male, charged with robbery. Abush Belew Wodajo, age unknown, male, no charges indicated. Waleligne Tamire Belay, age unknown, male, charged with rape. Cherinet Haile Tolla, age unknown, male, convicted of robbery. Temam Shemsu Gole, age unknown, male, no charges indicated. Gebeyehu Bekele Alene, age unknown, male, no charges indicated. Daniel Taye Leku, age unknown, male, no charges indicated. Mohammed Tuji Kene, age unknown, male, no charges indicated. Abdu Nejib Nur, age unknown, male, no charges indicated. Yemataw Serbelo, charged with rape. Fikru Natna’el Sewneh, age unknown, male, charged with making threats. Munir Kelil Adem, age unknown, male, charged with hooliganism. Haimanot Bedlu Teshome, age unknown, male, convicted of infringement. esfaye Kibrom Tekne, age unknown, male, charged with robbery. Workneh Teferra Hunde, age unknown, male, no charges indicated.

Sisay Mitiku Hunegne, charged with fraud. Muluneh Aynalem Mamo, age unknown, male, no charges indicated. Taddese Rufe Yeneneh, charged with making threats. Anteneh Beyecha Qebeta, age unknown, male, charged with instigating armed insurrection. Zerihun Meresa, age unknown, male, convicted of damage to property. Wogayehu Zerihun Argaw, charged with robbery. Bekelkay Tamiru, age unknown, male, no charges indicated. Yeraswork Anteneh, age unknown, male, charged with fraud. Bazezew Berhanu, age unknown, male, charged with engaging in homosexual act. Solomon Iyob Guta, age unknown, male, charged with rape. Asayu Mitiku Arage, age unknown, male, charged with making threats. Game Hailu Zeye, age unknown, male, charged with brawling [public disorder] Maru Enawgaw Dinbere, age unknown, male, charged with rape. Ejigu Minale, age unknown, male, charged with attempted murder. Hailu Bosne Habib, age unknown, male, convicted of providing sanctuary. Tilahun Meseret, age unknown, male, no charges indicated. Negusse Belayneh, age unknown, male, charged with robbery. Ashenafi Abebaw, age unknown, male, no charges indicated. Feleke Dinke, age unknown, male, no charges indicated. Jenbere Dinkineh Bilew, age unknown, male, charged with brawling [public disorder].

The world will not be destroyed by those who do evil, but by those who watch them without doing anything.  — Albert Einstein

Tolesa Worku Debebe, age unknown, male, charged with robbery. Mekasha Belayneh Tamiru, age unknown, male, charged with hooliganism. Yifru Aderaw, age unknown, male, no charges indicated. Fantahun Dagne, age unknown, male, no charges indicated. Tibebe Wakene Tufa, age unknown, male, charged with instigating armed insurrection. Solomon Gebre Amlak, age unknown, male, charged with hooliganism. Banjaw Chuchu Kassahun, age unknown, male, charged with robbery. Demeke Abeje, age unknown, male, charged with attempted murder. 58. Endale Ewnetu Mengiste, age unknown, male, no charges indicated. Alemayehu Garba, age unknown, male, detained in connection with Addis Ababa University student demonstration in 2004. Morkota Edosa, age unknown, male, no charges indicated.

I am the captain of my soul.  — Nelson Mandela

We MUST remember Yenesew Gebre.

On 11/11/11, Yenesew Gebre, a 29 year-old Ethiopian school teacher and human rights activist set himself ablaze outside a public meeting hall in the town of Tarcha located in Dawro Zone in Southern Ethiopia.

We MUST remember the victims of the T-TPLF Irrecha Massacres of 2016

We must take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented. — Elie Wiesel

On October 2, 2016,  troops loyal to the Tigrean Peoples’ Liberation Front (T-TPLF) opened fire indiscriminately on crowds attending one of the most important cultural and spiritual events in Ethiopia, the Irreecha (Thanksgiving)  Festival  in the town of Bishoftu, some 45 miles southeast of the capital Addis Ababa. An estimated 500-plus people were killed and twice that number severely injured during the event.

Watch Irreecha Massacre victims funeral services HERE.

Watch BBC report on the Irrecha Massacres HERE.

T-TPLF puppet prime minster (PPM) Hailemariam Desalegn pledged, “The government will bring to justice such evil doers  and hold them accountable. In this effort, the whole people must stand with the government. In this situation where only evil doers were involved, our security forces made great effort to ensure security; no gunfire was heard and the government took great care [to prevent harm] of the situation. I want to thank the security forces who protected the people in the name of the EFDRE (T-TPLF)…”

By November 12, 2016, PPM Hailemariam had made good on his promise by detaining over 11,000 persons in connection with the Irreecha Massacres, which balooned to over 26 thousand persons by March 2017.

On October 3, 2016, Freedom House issued a statement on the Irreecha Massacres:”The deaths in Bishoftu occurred because security forces fired tear gas and live ammunition at a crowd of over a million people celebrating a religious occasion. The government of Ethiopia should allow a truly independent body to investigate the tragedy at Bishoftu as well as security forces’ well-documented record of using excessive force against peaceful gatherings. (Emphasis added.)

In late March 2017, the T-TPLF Command Post announced that 4,996 of the 26,130 people detained for allegedly taking part in protests would be brought to court.

On 18 April 2017, the T-TPLF’s in-house “Ethiopia’s National Human Rights Commission” “submitted its second oral report to Parliament on the protests, which found that 669 people were killed, including 63 members of the security forces, and concluded that security forces had taken ‘proportionate measures in most areas.’”

The Irreecha Massacres were poignantly recalled by a grieving mother who told reporters that she “felt like she was being chased by a cackle of  hyenas” running away from the trigger-happy T-TPLF soldiers at the Ireecha celebrations.

We MUST remember the victims of the T-TPLF Ambo Massacres of 2014

The world is a dangerous place to live; not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don’t do anything about it. – Albert Einstein

In early May 2014, the T-TPLF massacred at least 47 university and high school students in the town of  Ambo 80 miles west of the capital Addis Ababa. The actual number is said to be at least three times the reported fatalities and hundreds more injured and imprisoned. The T-TPLF dismissed the Ambo Student Massacre and tried to sweep it under the rug claiming that a “few anti-peace forces incited and coordinated the violence”.  (See my May 2014 commentary, “Crimes Against University Students and Humanity”.

We MUST remember the victims of the T-TPLF’s Ogaden Massacres of 2007

He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it. He who accepts evil without protesting against it is really cooperating with it.”- Martin Luther King

In 2007, the T-TPLF massacred hundreds of people in the Ogaden region of Ethiopia. Human Rights Watch in its June 2008 report entitled “Collective Punishment: War Crimes and Crimes against Humanity in the Ogaden area of Ethiopia’s Somali Region”, documented, “Ethiopian troops have forcibly displaced entire rural communities, ordering villagers to leave their homes within a few days or witness their houses being burnt down and their possessions destroyed and risk death. Over the past year, Human Rights Watch has documented the execution of more than 150 individuals.”

We MUST remember the victims of the Meles/T-TPLF Anuak Massacres of 2003

 Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable. – John F. Kennedy

In December 2003, the T-TPLF massacred hundreds of Anuak people in Gambella in Western Ethiopia.

A report by the Harvard Law School Human Rights Program on the Anuak Masscre concluded, “From December 2004 to at least January 2006, the ENDF (Ethiopian National Defense Forces) attacked and abused Anuak civilians in Gambella region – wantonly killing, raping, beating, torturing, and harassing civilians.”

Genocide Watch sent a fact-finding team in Gambella and secured  authentic documents “proving that the Gambella massacres were planned at the highest levels of the Ethiopian government, and even given the code name “Operation Sunny Mountain,” the title of Genocide Watch’s resulting 1994 report.” (See also my May 2011 commentary/interview, “ The Anuak’s Forgotten Genocide.”)

We MUST remember the victims of T-TPLF Massacres in Gonder, Wolkait, Bahr Dar and other locations in Ethiopia

In its Manifesto, the TPLF declared:

Amhara are the enemy of the Tigray people. Amhara are not only enemies but also double enemies. Therefore, we must crush Amhara. We have to destroy them. Unless Amhara are destroyed, beaten down, cleansed from the land, Tigray cannot live in freedom. For the government we intend to create, Amhara will be the main obstacle.

According to Al Jazeera,  “Amhara is one of the poorest regions not only in Ethiopia but in Africa.”

Over the past several years, the T-TPLF has directly  and using  proxies committed crimes against humanity and genocide against the Amhara people.

The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress. — Frederick Douglass

We MUST remember the victims of Derg (military regime) executions of November 23-24, 1974.

On November 23, 1974,  a military junta gathered and took a “simple vote” to summarily execute 60 high level government officials, civil servants, decorated war veterans and elite army officers and enlisted men of the imperial regime of H.I.M. Haile Selassie. That massacre propelled Ethiopia into a spiraling vortex of gross human rights violations and tyranny which persists to the present day. On August 28, 1975, nearly a year after he was deposed and held in detention, Emperor Haile Selassie was reported dead by the Derg military regime . The overwhelming body of evidence shows the Emperor was murdered by the Derg. His remains were discovered buried “under a palace toilet in 1992.”

In the in ensuing years, the Derg launched a Red Terror Campaign (Qey Shibr) of assassination and massacres of young people numbered in the tens of thousands. We MUST remember the young and idealistic Ethiopians who were victimized by a bloodthirsty and ruthless military regime.

First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out—Because I was not a Socialist. Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out—  Because I was not a Trade Unionist.  Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out— Because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me. — Pastor Martin Niemöller

Aklilu Habtewold
(Tsehafe Tizaz, served as prime minister under H.I.M. Haile Selassie for 13 years and in other  high level positions for a total of 39 years).
H.H. Ras Asrate Kassa
(member Crown Council, Senate President, Enderassie; served in various high level positions for over 34 years).
Endalkachew Mekonnen
(prime minister; Lij; Ethiopian ambassador to the U.N., served in various high level positions for 23 years).
Ras Mesfin Seleshi
(war veteran, Enderassie; served in various high level positions for over 54 years).
Ato Abebe Retta
(Minister, linguist, scholar in history and religion, particularly the Ethiopian Orthodox Church; served in various capacities for 47 years).
Lt. Col. Tamirat Yegezu
(Enderassie, Crown Council member; served in various capacities for 38 years).
Ato Akaleworq Habtewold
(Minister, ambassador, served in various capacities for 39 years).
Dr. Tesfaye Gebre-Egzy
(Minister of Information).
Ato Mulatu Debebe
(Minister; served in various capacities for 22 years).
Dejazmach Solomon Abraha
(Enderassie; served in various capacities).
Dejazmach Legesse Bezu
(Enderassie; served in various capacities for a total of 29 years).
Dejazmach Sahlu Defaye
(Enderassie, veteran; served in various capacities for a total of  46 years).
Dejazmach Workneh Wolde Amanuel
(Minister, Senator, Enderassie; served in various capacities for a total of 30 years).
Dejazmach Kifle Ergetu
(Ambassador, diplomat, Senator).
Dejazmach Worku Enqoselassie
(Enderassie; served in various capacities for a total of 26 years).
Dejazmach Aemeroselassie Abebe
(Enderassie, civil servant; served in various capacities for 35 years).
Dejazmach Kebede Ali Wole
(Enderassie military commander served in various capacities for 34 years).
Ato Nebeye Leul Kifle
(Minister, Crown special cabinet member; served for a total of 24 years).
Col. Solomon Kedir
(Chief of security, minister; served in various capacities for 25 years).
Afenegus Abeje Debalq
(Judge, Crown Counsellor; Senator; served in various capacities for 44 years).
Ato Yilma Aboye
(Palace courtier, served in various capacities for 18 years).
Ato Tegen Yeteshaworq
(Minister, editor Ethiopian Herald; served for 12 years).
Ato Solomon Gebremariam
(Minister; served in various capacities for 31 years).
Ato Hailu Teklu
(civil servant).
Blata Admassu Retta
(Palace courtier).
Lij Hailu Desta
(Ethiopian Red Cross President, served in various capacities for 26 years).
Fitewrari Amede Aberra
(rancher, served in various capacities).
Fitewrari Demessie Alamerew
(Enderassie).
Fitewrari Tadesse Enquselassie
(Enderassie).
Lt. General Abiye Abebe
(Minister, ambassador, Senate President).
Lt. General Kebde Gebre
(Minister, Enderassie).
Lt. General Dressie Dubale
(Commander, Ground Forces).
Lt. General Abebe Gemeda
(Commander, Imperial Body Guard, Enderassie; served in various capacities for a total of 40 years).
Lt. General Yilma Shibeshi
(Chief of national police; served in various capacities for 34 years).
Lt. General Haile Baykedagn
(Chief of staff; served in various capacities for 32 years).
Lt. General Assefa Ayene
(Minister, chief of staff; served in various capacities for a total of 38 years).
Lt. General Belete Abebe
(Chief of staff, served in various capacities for a total of 40 years).
Lt. General Isayas Gebreselassie
(Senator).
Lt. General Assefa Demissie
(ADC H.I.M.).
Lt. General Debebe Hailemariam
(war veteran, palace courtier, commander ground forces; served a total of 33 years).
Maj. General Seyoum Gedle Giorgis
(served in various capacities in the military for a total of 31 years).
Maj. General Gashaw Kebede
(served in the national police force and other capacities for a total of 33 years).
Maj. General Tafesse Lemma
(Military attache, palace courtier; served total of 28 years).
Vice Admiral Iskinder Desta
(Commander of the navy, modernized Ethiopia Navy, diplomat).
Brig. General Mulugetta Woldeyohannes
(Chief of National Police; served in various capacities for 31 years).
Brig. General Girma Yohannes
(served in national police force for 28 years).
Col. Yalem Zewd Tessema
(Commander, Army Airborne).
Col. Tassew Mojo
Col. Yigezu Yimer
Major Berhanu Metcha
Capt. Molla Wakene
Cpt. Demessie Shiferaw
Cpt. Belay Tsegaye
(Army aviation helicopter pilot; served a total of 31 years).
Cpt. Woldeyohanes Zergaw
Lance Cpl. Teklu Hailu
(18 year-old and member of Army engineers; executed for opposing the idea of military government).
Pvt.  Bekele Woldegiorgis
(served 22 years).
Lt. General Aman Michael Andom
(chairman of Derg and Council of Ministers, Defense Minister and Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces).
Lt. Tesfaye Takele
(24 years-old Army aviation pilot, Derg member).
Junior Aircraftsman Yohanes Fitiwi
(Derg member).

We MUST remember all of the innocent victims of T-TPLF crimes against humanity since 1991.

We MUST remember  the political prisoners held by the T-TPLF.  “Many of Ethiopia’s political prisoners—opposition politicians, journalists, protest organizers, alleged supporters of ethnic insurgencies , and many others—are first taken to Maekelawi (“central” in Amharic), after being arrested. There they are interrogated, and, for many, at Maekelawi they suffer all manner of abuses, including torture.”

We MUST remember… to get up and stand up for human rights and never give up the fight!

Get up, stand up, stand up for human rights!

Get up, stand up, stand up for your right!
Get up, stand up, don’t give up the fight
Get up, stand up. Life is your right
So we can’t give up the fight
Get up, stand up.
Keep on struggling on
Don’t give up the fight…
Don’t give up the fight… Bob Marley

I have never seen more light in my life than the times I stood by those facing their darkest hours and assuring them that even the darkest of the darkest hours is only 60 minutes long and light always follows darkness. This too shall pass…

“Remember that all through history, there have been tyrants and murderers, and for a time, they seem invincible. But in the end, they always fall. Always.” – Mahatma Gandhi

You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty.  – Mahatma Gandhi

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Author’s Note: Following the Meles Massacres of 2005, I became involved in Ethiopian human rights advocacy. My conscience was seared by the crimes against humanity committed against innocent men, women, children and old men who were massacred merely because they engaged in peaceful protest.

I had a simple choice to make: Stand up and be counted on the side of the victims and define the moment, or remain silent and be on the side of the tormentors and killers and be defined by the moment.

For the last 12 years, I have been the voice from the grave of all victims of crimes against humanity and genocide of the T-TPLF. The hundreds of thousands of T-TPLF victims need at least one witness to bear testimony on their behalf. I have been blessed to be that vigilant witness in the court of world public opinion.

They say justice is like a long delayed train and though it chugs and lugs, in the end it always arrives. I have no doubts that I will be among the welcoming party when it arrives in Ethiopia.

Some have told me that I have made the Meles/T-TPLF Massacres my cross to bear for the past 12 years. They could not be more wrong. It has been a labor of love being the voice of voiceless and silenced victims of Meles/T-TPLF crimes against humanity and genocide. It has been a divine blessing to be able to stand up for human rights and against government wrongs!

I often wonder how many Ethiopians remember the victims of T-TPLF’s crimes against humanity and genocide in a moment of silence, how many remember them in the houses of faith and worship during services, how many political groups, social, cultural and community organizations include them in their activities, how many in the electronic and print media and cyber-media and blogosphere remember them.

I hope all Ethiopians will join me in this month of November at least in a moment of silence, and if possible in moments of reflection, about those whose lives were taken by a gang of criminal thugs defending the cause of freedom and human rights in Ethiopia.

In their moments of reflection, I wish they would contemplate Nadezhda Mandelstam’s words writing about life under Stalin’s reign of terror:  “I decided it is better to scream. Silence is the real crime against humanity.”

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[1] The Commission’s list of 193 victims includes only those deaths that occurred on June 6-8 and November 1-4, 2005, the specific dates the Commission was authorized to investigate. It is believed the Commission has an additional list of many hundreds of victims of extra-judicial killings by government security forces which it did not publicly report because the killings occurred outside the dates the Commission was authorized to investigate.

Professor Alemayehu G. Mariam teaches political science at California State University, San Bernardino. His teaching areas include American constitutional law, civil rights law, judicial process, American and California state governments, and African politics. He has published two volumes on American constitutional law, including American Constitutional Law: Structures and Process (1994) and American Constitutional Law: Civil Liberties and Civil Rights (1998). He is the Senior Editor of the International Journal of Ethiopian Studies, a leading scholarly journal on Ethiopia. For the last several years, Prof. Mariam has written weekly web commentaries on Ethiopian human rights and African issues that are widely read online. He blogged on the Huffington post at  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/alemayehu-g-mariam/ and later on open.salon until that blogsite shut down in March 2015.

The post Ethiopia: Remembering the Meles Massacres of November 2005, the Irreecha Massacres of 2016 and… – Al Mariam appeared first on Satenaw: Ethiopian News|Breaking News: Your right to know!.

by Hassen Hussein, Mohammed 

Ethiopia is reeling from stubborn anti-government protests and growing fissures within the ruling party. The economy is not doing so well either. High inflation, shortage of foreign currency, and lagging exports prompted authorities to devalue the Birr last month.

But it is the crippling protests and lack of coherence inside the ruling Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) that is paralyzing the country.

Protests that began in 2014, concentrated mainly in Oromia, the largest and populous of nine linguistic-based regional states, and to some extent the Amhara State, the country’s second most populous, are still ongoing.

The government decreed a state of emergency in October 2016 to quell the unrest. The decree temporarily stopped street protests but it did little to address the underlying causes. Officials lifted the martial law in August 2017, almost 10 months later, while still leaving the public grievances untouched.

The edict was reimposed on Nov. 10, 2017, by the National Security Council, a body that lacks constitutional muster. As with the emergency law, the latest security measure is spearheaded nominally by the Defense Minister, Siraj Fegessa, a civilian, but in reality by high-ranking military officers.

Fegessa says the militarization was necessary given the deteriorating security situation in the country. But it may have more to do with the deepening cracks within EPRDF, particularly the resurgence of the Oromo associates of the governing coalition, than security concerns.

The Oromo People’s Democratic Organization (OPDO), officially the ruling party in Oromia, is of late acting as though it was an opposition. Asking if OPDO is “the opposition party” in Ethiopia’s confusing state of affairs is a sacrilege. Why? First, OPDO has been a loyal and subservient member of EPRDF for 27 years. The latter is a highly centralized bloc that’s been in power since 1991.Second, EPRDF’s official dogma does not tolerate dissent. Opposition voices are silenced with the force of the gun or the instruments of law. With the possible exception of Beyene Petros and Lidetu Ayalew every prominent opposition official has faced detention or has been forced to flee the country over the last two decades and a half.

Let alone opposition groups, even civil society organizations and the private media are not immune from EPRDF’s vengeance. It strives to be the sole legal voice in Ethiopia by criminalizing all other voices. The very thought of casting OPDO as an opposition, even rhetorically, therefore speaks to the breadth and depth of changes made possible by three-years of protests by the Oromo, who account for nearly half of the country’s estimated 100 million population.

However, OPDO has unmistakably signaled a shift. Not only did it show new resolve to advance Oromo interests, but it is also increasingly seen as a fresh and refreshing alternative to the status quo by its supporters as well as detractors.

“Why persist with costly street protests when we have made your demands our own? If we failed to deliver using existing legal and institutional mechanisms, I and all of us here will join you in the protests,” Lemma Megersa, OPDO’s newly minted chairman, said in one of his many recent speeches. Lemma receives a hero’s welcome wherever he goes these days—a feat unprecedented in OPDO’s quarter of a century existence.

This turn of events has confused both those on the ground and many observers watching the situation from afar. Groups who only months earlier were calling for protests to topple the EPRDF regime are seen urging for restraint and calm on cues of the new leaders in Oromia. Among the Oromo, for the most part, OPDO is no longer presented as the previously despised and shunned TPLF puppet but rather fondly as Mootummaa Naannoo Oromiyaa (MNO), the Oromo name for Oromia Regional Government.

The tale of two OPDOs

To understand OPDO’s metamorphosis, one needs to go back to the mid-1980s and the early 1990s.

Since 1974, a military junta known as the Dergue ruled Ethiopia, when it was part of the socialist states allied with the former Soviet Union, with an iron fist. The junta was locked into a life and death tug of war with three liberation groups. The most lethal, the Eritrean People’s Liberation Front (EPLF) fought to break the Eritrean Red Sea coast from Ethiopia and form an independent state of its own. This conflict had been going on for three decades.

Further south, Ethiopian troops battled the Tigrayan People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) whose goal was ending the political domination of the Amhara, Ethiopia’s historical rulers, and restoring autonomy for ethnic Tigrayans. The Oromo Liberation Front (OLF), the third rebel group, operated both in the east and west of the country with objectives that alternated between seeking autonomy for the Oromo and forming an independent Oromia Republic. While fiercely independent and jealously guarded their autonomy from it, both TPLF and OLF largely tended to see EPLF as their elder brother and mentor.

Their opposition to the Dergue united the three rebel groups. But they were not on the same wavelength. While comprised predominantly of ethnic Tigrayans, the EPLF and TPLF didn’t always see eye-to-eye on many things other than defeating the massive Dergue army, by then Africa’s largest. Numerous attempts to form alliance between OLF and TPLF, both left-wing movements, failed to materialize. Whereas the latter was fervently communist, in the mold of former Albanian strongman Enver Hoxha, the former was communist in name only and gave primacy to Oromo nationalist ideology.

Toward the end of 1985, TPLF dispatched a company of its elite troops to OLF’s western front ostensibly to exchange best experiences thereby improving relations. However, it instead ended up unraveling the already sore relationship when the unit was discovered trying in vain to covertly recruit OLF members into a rival faction paying allegiance to TPLF’s strictly Marxist and Leninist line.

The relationship between EPLF and OLF remained relatively more cordial. Like OLF, EPLF had also soured on Marxism-Leninism. Besides, the two operated geographically far from each other and didn’t have the love-hate rivalry of cousins that defined TPLF-EPRDF relations. But their relationship wasn’t necessarily free from mistrust emanating from EPLF’s ethnic and cultural affinity with TPLF.

By the end of the 1980s, EPLF and TPLF had shattered the backs of the Dergue army and were contemplating the end game. OLF was just beginning to warm up, growing its support, and applying pressure, after a series of setbacks, both internal and external, that decimated its founding leadership. Contrarily, having overran the Tigray province in a stunning offensive in 1989, TPLF had set its eyes on the ultimate prize: Capturing Addis Ababa, Ethiopia’s capital. To reach Addis, however, it had to cross the vast Amhara and Oromo-inhabited provinces to the south, both hostile territories.

To overcome this hurdle, TPLF first co-opted and brought under its wings the Ethiopian People’s Democratic Movement (EPDM), later christened in 1994 as the Amhara National Democratic Movement (ANDM), the current ruling party in the Amhara State. While operating in Amhara-inhabited provinces adjacent to Tigray, EPDM billed itself as a multinational party.

TPLF and EPDM together formed EPRDF in early 1989. With this outfit, TPLF could now cross into the Amhara-speaking provinces on the backs of EPDM. But what to do about the Oromo?

Having failed to woo the OLF, TPLF scoured the world for Oromo “Democrats,” to use former president of Tigray Region, Gebru Asrat‘s word― willing accomplices who could form a party loyal to TPLF and rival to OLF.¹

TPLF spread its nets as widely as Europe and North America looking for Oromo allies. But it could only catch one fish: Dr. Negaso Gidada, one of the many future nominal presidents doting EPRDF’s 27-year-reign. Given his rebellious personality and shifting loyalty, Negaso carried little influence among the Oromo at home and abroad. Curving a space in the Oromo intellectual camp fertile to TPLF’s dream of restoring unrivaled Tigrayan dominance over Ethiopia, a dominion lost with the demise in 1889 of Emperor Yohannes IV, was proving a difficult nut to crack.

Previously, EPDM had reached out to the princely EPLF, the rebel par excellence, for technical support. The Secretary-General of EPLF at the time, Ramadan Mohammed Nur, proposed two solutions. First, for EPDM to have its own presence, separate from TPLF’s, outside Ethiopia. Second, Ramadan offered to hand over POWs under its captivity. In its 30-year war with Addis Ababa, EPLF had thousands of such captives and it kept them fed, clothed and sheltered in the arid and mountainous environment where it was garrisoned — a Herculean task.

Consequently, EPLF supplied about 300 lower-level Dergue military officers from captivity to EPDM in two consecutive batches. Most were of Oromo descent.

TPLF’s intelligence arm had a daunting problem at hand: How to march into the vast Oromo land without local eyes and ears. That is when Kinfe Gebremedhin, the late head of Ethiopian intelligence, who was killed in 2001 after a bitter fallout within TPLF, stumbled upon a breakthrough: Why not mold the former EPLF captives, then operating with EPDM, into a separate Oromo organization?

That is how OPDO came to be founded in 1990. For the most part, it was made to copy watered down versions of OLF’s political program. To distinguish it from OLF, OPDO was made to advocate for Oromo rights within the context of the Ethiopian state, which was palatable given their previous service to the country, thereby distancing OLF as a separatist movement. And OPDO immediately joined the EPRDF coalition. OLF vigorously protested against what it saw as a betrayal, repeating a familiar pattern of duplicity that so often characterized Oromo-Amhara-Tigrayan group efforts at alliances. It pleaded with EPLF to avert internecine war within the anti-Dergue camp.

During one mediation effort, held in Sen’afe, Eritrea, Meles Zenawi, Ethiopia’s future Prime Minister, offered to disband OPDO and hand them over to its nemesis, the OLF. Caught off guard by the unexpected concession, the OLF delegation led by Lencho Leta, already used to Zenawi’s theatrical performances, first gave out a poker face. Come the morning, Zenawi’s colleagues, including Siye Abraha, Ethiopia’s future defense minister, had talked him out of the “crazy” idea.

Meles Zenawi’s OPDO

During the transition period, TPLF watched, not impartially, as OLF and OPDO battled for the hearts and minds of the Oromo.² It soon dawned on it that OPDO had no chance against OLF in this effort. Consequently, TPLF brought in its military muscle on the side of OPDO, forcing OLF to leave the transitional arrangement in July 1992 and subsequently resume armed struggle.

EPRDF was able to subdue the OLF militarily, but it could not cleanse OLF’s credo from Oromo hearts and minds. OPDO vacillated between mimicking and copying OLF and violently suppressing such dalliance at other times. It also served as a bogeyman and scarecrow to frighten the Amhara opposition, which saw the curving up of Ethiopia into a multinational federation as a mortal threat to “national unity.”

For all intents and purposes, by late 1990s, OLF’s low-level insurgency had come to an end. After overcoming the shock of being outgunned and outmaneuvered in 1992, OLF showed a remarkable revival, especially in Eastern and Southeastern Oromia, between 1994 and 1996. However, it couldn’t sustain this rally and its operational capacity began to decline in early 1997 and sputtered in 1999 (the 1998-2000 Ethio-Eritrean war lent some life to it but this too was short-lived).

In the new millennia, if OPDO’s birth was a reaction to OLF’s existence and prowess, the latter’s decline corresponded with growing confusion and discontents within OPDO’s ranks.

When OLF was active, TPLF needed, hence respected, the OPDO. Now that OLF was no longer a threat, TPLF honchos paid no heed to its subservient partner.

Tensions briefly came to a boil in 2001, in the aftermath of a crushing split among TPLF’s leadership. Some in the OPDO used the opening provided by TPLF’s internal rupture to press for more autonomy. While Kuma Demeksa, then-president of Oromia, and Negaso, Ethiopia’s nominal president at the time, sided with the dissident TPLF faction and were sidelined, the remaining OPDO leadership sat in a month-long meeting headed by Meles Zenawi, then Chairman of TPLF and Prime Minister.

Zenawi made lots of promises. One such promise was to end TPLF stewardship of OPDO. Accordingly, Bitew Belay, who until then minded Oromia and the southern region as TPLF’s viceroy, was removed—even though the tutelage continued in other less overt ways. Another promise was to invite Oromo intellectuals into OPDO’s fold. He made good on this promise by recruiting Juneydi Sado, who was until then unaffiliated to OPDO, as the president of Oromia State, at the OPDO Congress held in Naqamte in 2002.

To ensure that Juneydi didn’t overplay his hands, Zenawi brought in Abba Dula Gamada, then a Major General and Minister of Defense, as party Chairman. Abba Dula had played a starring role in defeating TPLF dissidents who had threatened Zenawi’s hold on power. While Juneydi focused his efforts on institutionalizing and professionalizing the Oromia bureaucracy and public services, Abba Dula went into an aggressive recruitment drive quadrupling OPDO’s membership. After being routed by the opposition in the 2005 elections, Zenawi was done taking risks and decided to concentrate leadership of OPDO and the Oromia regional government in Abba Dula’s loyal hands.

Abba Dula took over at the helm in 2006 with the full trust and backing of Zenawi. At the same time, the new president of Oromia and OPDO chief was by far the most hated by Oromo activists. In fact, many refused to call him Abba Dula, instead referring to him as Minase Woldegiorgis. But he went onto reshape the OPDO, the Oromia state, and the Oromo people’s struggle for years, and perhaps even for decades, to come. First, he used his platform to organize and galvanize a fledgling Oromo business class, catapulting them into playing a more active role in the region’s economy.

Second, he continued with his membership drive. OPDO’s much-touted 4,000,000 membership owes to this drive. Most of those recruited into the OPDO were new college graduates, including those who had been active in the protest movement centered around university and college campuses. 

Third, he launched large infrastructural projects, including the establishment of new universities — a work started by his predecessor, Juneydi. Fourth, he reached out to the Oromo public in a way that had heretofore not seen. In his short tenure of four years, Abba Dula became a household name in Oromia. Fifth, through this outreach, he dried the well that previously allowed OLF to survive at least as a ghost overshadowing his OPDO. His tentacles even reached all the way to the Oromo diaspora where opposition to OPDO had been almost universal.

Abba Dula’s popularity earned him a grudging respect among many in the Oromo nationalist camp, but it also raised fears with Zenawi. Accordingly, against the unanimous opposition of OPDO’s rank and file and his own expressed wishes, in the 2010 elections, Zenawi forced Abba Dula to run for the federal, rather than the regional parliament. To accomplish this, Zenawi reached out to his loyal OPDO faction led by Kuma, who by then had regained Zenawi’s trust. The faction included in its ranks Aster Mamo and Muktar Kadir. Aster was brought into the limelight through Azeb Mesfin, the Prime Minister’s wife. Muktar rose through OPDO’s ranks and was at the time serving as the Prime Minister’s office as Zenawi’s protégé.

There were two major speculations in the months before the 2010 elections. One said it’s time for an Oromo prime minister, which was and has been a ruse to mollify OPDO and defuse pressure from the Oromo public. The second rumor posited that Abba Dula was immersed in corruption up to his neck and that he would go to jail. Zenawi’s loyalists furtively collected and piled all the dirt they could find on Abba Dula.

In the organizational conference following the election, Abba Dula’s supporters were in disarray but they somehow managed to force a compromise that resulted in Alemayehu Atomsa’s elevation as president of Oromia and chief of OPDO (Abba Dula’s compromise with Kuma’s faction reportedly angered the nationalist wing of the party which four years later would take over the organization).

Having broken Abba Dula’s grip on Oromia and OPDO, Zenawi figured that Abba Dula was more useful as the Speaker of the House rather than a prisoner. Besides, parliament was a nominal body and hence a boring assignment for Abba Dula. While reluctantly making himself at home in his pseudo speakership position, thanks to his charms and warmth Abba Dula ingratiated himself to the MPs while keeping his hands close to the pulse on Oromia. With the untimely death of Alemayehu from an unknown illness, Muktar and Aster took the helm in Oromia in March 2012. This carefully choreographed master and willing servant arrangement between TPLF and OPDO began to come unglued with the death of Zenawi in August 2012.

OPDO post-Meles

For most of its 27-year history, OPDO personified the humiliation of the Oromo people. The embattled party held a pitifully marginal status in the EPRDF behind TPLF and ANDM and it allowed the dominant TPLF to ride roughshod over the Oromo populace.

On the one hand, OPDO is presented as the representative of the Oromo in EPRDF; on the other hand, as executors of TPLF’s hardline policy on the Oromo. As a result of the dissonance caused by the conflicting expectation placed on it, a large number of the party’s founding members and leaders left the organization and the country in disgust.³ An ever larger number faced purges for refusing to accept the OPDO’s status as the perennial TPLF Trojan Horse. The party’s primary grievance was the federation was by name only and that the constitutional promises of regional autonomy were flagrantly violated by TPLF.

This begun to change in May 2014 when enraged members of the OPDO spoke out forcefully against the so-called Addis Ababa master plan, which would have significantly expanded the Ethiopian capital’s territorial jurisdiction into Oromia.

#OromoProtests and the rebirth of OPDO

The Master Plan, which sought to make a huge wealth transfer from poor Oromo farmers to the new oligarchy, was the straw that broke the camel’s back. It brought into clear focus and encapsulated all past grievances and frustrations. The plan was first introduced to OPDO cadres in Adama, where it unusually set off an uproar. In a departure from the previous practice of kowtowing the official line, opposition to the Master Plan was covered by the regional TV Oromiya, setting off statewide protests that would continue until October 2016 when Ethiopia declared a state of emergency. ⁴

“The issue of Addis Ababa and surrounding Oromia region is not a question of towns; it is a question of identity,” said Takele Uma, now the head of Oromia’s transport authority, at a workshop in Adama.

“When we speak of identity, there are fundamental steps we ought to take to ensure that the plan would incorporate and develop the surrounding towns while also protecting Oromo’s economic, political, and historical rights.”

Takele added: “We are keenly aware of the city’s past spatial growth. We don’t want a city that pushes out farmers and their children but one that accepts and develops with them…more importantly, we don’t want a master plan developed by one party and pushed down our throats.”

His comments reverberated across Oromia. “No to Addis Ababa master plan,” chanted the youth in their hundreds of thousands—town after town. The federal security forces responded with a brutal crackdown, arresting tens of thousands and killing more than 1000 people in 2016 alone. But nothing would quell the protests. The Oromo has risen and finally said enough. Protests even spread to the Amhara region and parts of southern nations, nationalities, and people’s region.

In October, after imposing martial law, EPRDF ostensibly launched a “deep reform” campaign with the aim of addressing the mounting public grievances. But it quickly sidestepped those demands using such euphemisms as governance bottlenecks and corruption. However, dissent voices within OPDO, who were incensed by the violent repression of peaceful protesters, used the occasion to respond positively to popular demands. Rather than skirting around popular demands that the regime reluctantly acknowledged as legitimate, the party adopted them by electing their own leaders without central imposition — for the very first time.

Previously OPDO leaders were handpicked by TPLF and communicated through the EPRDF head-office. TPLF held significant sway over the EPRDF executive committee that “recommended” regional party leaders.

But, this time, the nationalist-wing prevailed and ended its humiliating debacle by forcing the resignation of the party’s chairman and deputy chair. After 27 years of subservience, OPDO began to show signs of assertiveness. It quickly launched a swift campaign to earn the public’s trust: First by demanding that foreign cement producers share control of mines with the region’s unemployed youth.

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Hassen Hussein @AbbaKayo

Why urgency on OPDO’s Lemma? Oromia presidents have shortest tenure. If demands of #OromoProtests unmet? Woe woe!

8:58 PM – Sep 23, 2016

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The new leaders also began a massive audit of land deals across Oromia, particularly in towns near Addis Ababa, and repossessed undeveloped or underdeveloped plots held by shadowy investors. Meanwhile, the regional broadcaster launched its own rebranding campaign—both physically and editorially.

It went from TV Oromiya to Oromia Broadcasting Network (OBN) with a motto of “voice of the people.” Editorially, in a sharp departure from a hitherto obsession with “developmental journalism,” OBN began to churn out investigative reports, including reports on illegal land deals. It also broadcast speeches and town hall meetings attended by the new leadership where constituents openly vented their pent-up anger and frustration.

AFTER the 2014 protests, Speaker Abba Dula reportedly warned the federal government, including the prime minister, that, despite a lull in protests, all was not well in the restive state. Privately, he reportedly confided to associates that despite criticism of OPDO’s lackluster performance, under its watch, Oromia has produced one of the bravest generations ever to grace the land who could never be intimidated. When the feared Oromo youth explosion returned in November 2015, Abba Dula felt as vindicated as powerless. The protests managed to sustain itself and eventually led to the downfall of Muktar and Aster and rise of a dynamic duo—Lemma and Abiy Ahmed.

A year after the OPDO renewal commenced, on October 8, 2017, Abba Dula resigned from his post as Speaker of the House of People’s Representatives, protesting what he termed “disrespect to his party and people.”

Two weeks later, on October 29, 2017, 177 members of parliament, a third of the body, mostly from Oromia, boycotted a joint session where the sitting prime minister defended his government’s new year agenda. The PM also faced unusually sharp and critical questions from previously docile MPs. Even more ominously, a great mass of invitees skipped the annual state dinner reception held for MPs of both Houses of Parliament. Present were a mere 7 Oromo, only a third of the Amhara delegates, and a small number from the Benishangul Gumuz and Gambela regions.

2017 OPDO Congress

On October 29, 2017, OPDO reached another milestone: For the first time in its history, the party adopted its own meeting agenda, which reflected the grievances and aspirations of the people they were supposed to represent, the key plank of which is a judicious implementation of the country’s federal constitution. Previously, OPDO simply rubber-stamped the agenda, resolutions, and other diktats sent from the central party office.

To be clear, OPDO leaders did not wake up one morning, snap their fingers and decide to change the humiliating course they have been on for more than quarter a century. The party’s remarkable turnaround is as gradual as methodical, not to mention the accident of history. Why so? Because it could not even be conceived, let alone be realized, had it not been for the struggles waged by Oromo nationalists for decades and the unrelenting youth-led protests that engulfed Ethiopia since April 2014.  Practically speaking, the new OPDO leadership is a child of the Oromo protests—not to mention the vacuum left by Zenawi’s death. 

Wherever the OPDO went to calm down the public, it ran into a wall. The question from all sectors of society was always one and the same: If this was a federation, why are the Oromo not proportionally represented in the federal army which terrorizes children and women and kill our youth? No explanation was enough. “Don’t tell us anything else; can you get the bloodthirsty federal police and army units out of our villages?”

Unable to contain a popular grassroots movement to end the oppression and marginalization of the Oromo, OPDO has to adjust, bucking the resistance from central leaders. As a result, OPDO, a party in ascendancy, is now pitted against TPLF, the previous hegemon and a party in the throes of an excruciating decline.

OPDO’s uncertain future

There are and have always been factions within the OPDO. However, there is also a total agreement among the new leadership and the majority of party’s rank-and-file that their subservient role within EPRDF and the marginalization of the Oromo from federal structures are totally unacceptable. Toward that end, they are pushing for real change and reforms. It isn’t like they have a choice: The Oromo public, who has proven an autonomous force to reckon with, is breathing down their neck.

The public has forced OPDO to sideline those still loyal to TPLF and EPRDF’s authoritarian legacy. And the OPDO knows full well that they couldn’t take the public’s support for granted. The Oromo simply gave its benefit of a doubt, which it can withdraw if OPDO failed to deliver. Having seen how defiant the youth protesters, the Qeerroo, blunted the edge of the emergency rule, OPDO doesn’t have any reasons to doubt that the public will back down from asking and getting what it wants from the regional and federal state.

Lemma once remarked that Ethiopia’s rulers have not fully grasped how far the Oromo popular mobilization has advanced and warned against underestimating its resolve to meet all challenges, be it internal or external.

To say the least, OPDO’s rise under its mercurial and charismatic leader has stoked fears within the TPLF oligarchy that is used to running the country and regions as their little fiefdoms. TPLF-affiliated media has been in overdrive to discredit the new direction taken by OPDO.

So far, TPLF had tried three approaches to bring the new OPDO leadership under its orbit. First, it unleashed a proxy war using the Somali region’s paramilitary force, the Liyu Police, to invade Oromia districts and villages along the common border, killing hundreds and displacing close to half a million. Rather than cow the OPDO and the Oromo into submission, the blatant aggression stoked a unity and solidified support for the new OPDO leadership among the disgruntled Oromo public, especially the youth.

Second, TPLF, in a bid to make Oromia unstable and ungovernable, deployed its clandestine agents to exploit differences within the OPDO itself and to mobilize opportunists and rogue elements at the zonal and district levels too eager to do TPLF’s bidding. However, this also didn’t take TPLF’s agenda in Oromia far enough. Instead, it resulted in the unintended consequence of helping the new OPDO leadership further consolidate power by purging and distancing TPLF lackeys.

Third, TPLF used its vast intelligence networks throughout the country to saw hostility between the Oromo and other Ethiopian nationals residing in Oromia for generations, mainly the Amhara. This too produced an effect unintended by TPLF: It brought the Oromia and Amhara state officials closer in a way not seen before.

Fourth, using the instability concocted and fostered by its agent provocateurs, TPLF sought to once again bring Oromia under martial law. This too came to naught thanks to a budding rapprochement between ANDM and OPDO, who together hold more than 67 percent of the seats in the federal parliament, the body that has, at least on paper, the ultimate powers to declare an emergency rule.

ANDM-OPDO bromance: the best hope for Ethiopia?

Lemma and the new leaders in Oromia continue to hit the right notes, openly scolding rent-seekers, entrenched robber barons and their media associates for wanting to destabilize the state and the country. They continue to champion the grievances and aspirations of the Oromo as well as the Ethiopian people for implementing the spirit and letter of the federal constitution. With their overtures to the Amhara, via two recent initiatives, the Xaanaan Keenyaa (Tana is ours) dabo, in which Oromia sent its youth to help to fight invasive water hyacinth on Lake Tana, and the recent Bahir Dar forum, OPDO is indeed charting a new path for the future of the country and its diverse population.

Kassahun Andualem @AndualemKasahun

Both Amhara and Oromo youths @ Lake TANA – Bahir Dar Ethiopia.

4:55 AM – Oct 13, 2017

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With these bold moves, OPDO has literally eviscerated a few of the thorniest issues standing in the way of inter-communal harmony between Ethiopia’s two largest nations, the Amhara and the Oromo. This move has obviously unnerved TPLF hardliners. Their media outlets have been courting ANDM in a bizarre and brazen manner. At the same time, ANDM’s leadership is yet to undergo the kind of remake OPDO experienced with its “deep renewal” and it is not certain the bromance will hold for long. To make matters worse, some of the agenda being pushed by OPDO, such as Oromia’s Special Interest on Addis Ababa, are those that have historically been unpalatable to the ”pro-unity“ camp if not necessarily to ANDM’s sympathizers in the capital.

TPLF: A cornered tiger?

There is an Oromo saying that Lemma uses frequently: You won’t take hold of a tiger’s tail but once you do, you never let it go. TPLF is clearly a cornered tiger, its sharp teeth are intact, and it is still plotting its options. Its central committee has been meeting in Mekelle since early October to formulate policies and strategies that can safeguard its interests in Addis Ababa and its hold on the country.

Many fear that TPLF would resolve to use its dominance in the top brass of the military and intelligence services to quash the threat posed by the new OPDO and Oromo protests. Should this come to pass, the fear is that Oromia will be drenched in blood. The current generation of youth, who make up over 70 percent of the state’s population, is unlikely to allow TPLF to play roughshod over MNO, as well as the Oromo public. Even if OPDO fails to deliver or prevented to do so by TPLF, the youth doesn’t seem to stop at nothing, including storming the national palace.

Although skeptics abound, the OPDO has galvanized the Oromo in ways not witnessed before and it is winning the public’s one-time reluctant support. In fact, there is growing pressure on OPDO from within and without to assume leadership of the ruling party and the country. However, it still has a long way to go to have the organizational capacity to fully realize the aspiration of the Oromo people: Meaningful self-rule and equitable representation in the country’s federal institutions. Many still question the party’s seriousness and readiness, not to mention its real motive.

This skepticism is reinforced by the fact that TPLF still controls all of the country’s instruments of coercion. The generals are too involved in business (many reportedly own premium real estate in Addis Ababa) and illicit or contraband trade. Their elaborate patronage system could unravel with the collapse of Tigrayan hegemony. Hence, they have a huge stake in keeping the status quo in place if they are unable to reverse things back to where they were before the protests. But will the rank and file, the average soldier, loyally execute another unpopular state of emergency?

A new martial law by another name

Having failed to decree a new martial rule through parliament as well as the EPRDF Executive Committee, TPLF and its allies are apparently resorting to the heretofore unused National Security Council, an advisory body with fleeting legal ground, to reinstate the same Command Post structures put in place in preparation for the October 2016 emergency decree. This too may end up being another futile attempt at plugging the floodgates.

Even without the army, TPLF still has the will and ability to subvert the OPDO from multiple directions. There is no illusion that it will play nice and allow OPDO’s new vision to prevail at the March 2018 EPRDF Congress, the highest decision-making body that meets every two to two-and-half years.

The conventional wisdom is that TPLF would either take cosmetic overtures to OPDO, such as breaking the Gordian knot with Somali regional president Abdi Iley and his Liyu Police, who proved to be the albatross on TPLF’s neck. Or it would escalate the confrontation with OPDO and end up taking the country to the brink of civil war. Giving in without a fight to the core demands of a force for which it has so much contempt is unthinkable.

In this regard, OPDO hasn’t answered some unavoidable questions: What will it do when the federal special forces, the Agazi, mounted atop tanks, come marching with machine guns as they did to kick out OLF (1992), crush the Coalition for Unity and Democracy (2006) and silence Dimsachin Yisema (2014)? What will it do when TPLF weaponizes the courts to come after key OPDO leaders? These questions are bound to come and OPDO has not yet answered them. And the answer isn’t saying our people will match up better against tanks.

Nevertheless, TPLF’s stranglehold on Ethiopia is clearly waning. TPLF no longer holds the superiority in governing ideas that it had for nearly two decades and a half under Meles. OPDO’s new leadership outclasses TPLF’s not only intellectually but also in their ability to inspire, mobilize and organize. Yet, given its utter contempt for OPDO, TPLF may find it difficult to accept OPDO as an equal partner, let alone the new big kid on the block—hence why its emotion may trump its reason.

The historian Thucydides tells us that war becomes inevitable when a unique historical circumstance comes to pass: When an emerging force threatens the supremacy of an established hegemon that is on a decline. Under Ethiopia’s current circumstances, the Oromo in general and the OPDO, in particular, are rising. And TPLF, the established and dominant force, unmistakably on a downward slump.

To reiterate, they both have their vulnerabilities. OPDO has yet to prove its mettle with the Oromo public by enacting desired policy reforms and changing their daily lives in a meaningful way. Knowing the impatience within the Oromo camp, TPLF can simply delay and stall and wait for a more opportune time to strike. It could physically liquidate some of the key MNO leaders.

TPLF’s main bottleneck is that its own house isn’t in order. Since Zenawi’s untimely death, TPLF has failed to produce a leader of his stature and influence that transcends the Tigrayan region. At the same time, TPLF can still count on Abdi Illey and his Liyu Police in the Somali region as well as sympathizers in the Southern region.

The loyalty of the current Prime Minister, Hailemariam Desalegn, who lacks his own anchoring vision as a leader and a distinct power base is uncertain. Of the southern movement he leads, the Sidama, the largest of many smaller groupings, want genuine representation that is commensurate with their size. It is worth noting here that TPLF hardliners have lately faulted Hailemariam for endorsing OPDO’s versions of events, especially on the bloody rancor between Oromia and the Somali regional state.

Regardless, TPLF still has one additional advantage that allowed it to weather many previous storms: Cordial relations with the international community as well as regional (African) governments. Its success in isolating Eritrea is coming to an end, but TPLF leaders still have their international backers.

The Ethiopian military is viewed as the bulwark for regional stability, including by the United States. Its role in preventing Al-Shabab’s takeover of Somalia and the total collapse of South Sudan is a major source of international and regional legitimacy. To play into Western fears of the rise of radical Islam, TPLF would leave no stone unturned, including fanning religious radicalization, religiously motivated conflicts, and inter-communal tensions.

Still, the up and coming Oromo ascendancy have passed the stage where it can be easily thwarted either by TPLF’s monopoly over the military and security services or its uncanny ability to subvert, perfected over the last 40 years. With his victory lap to the northern lakeside city of Bahir Dar, Lemma is already looking like Ethiopia’s new leader. He has the charisma. He has the eloquence. He has the base. He knows the ins and outs of the current system. He has his hand on the pulse of the country’s youthful and dynamic population, the Oromo.

Prime Minister Lemma?

Ethiopian history tells us three things about transfer of power. One, transitions are rarely products of compromises between rival factions but the victory of one group over another. With the departure of Abba Dula — the last bridge between TPLF and OPDO — a negotiated outcome is hard to fathom at this point. We are already seeing the power play and the jockeying.

Two, that the country experiences sustained chaos following a leader’s death or downfall. After Zenawi’s demise in 2012, Ethiopia has indeed been in turmoil.

Third, the chaos ends with the rise of a victor, a new strong leader. Would Lemma be the strong leader that finally ends Ethiopia’s harrowing instability? Given his base and wits, Lemma is unlikely to follow the footsteps of Hailemariam, the embattled current prime minister, who is seen as a puppet of Tigrayan ministers, special advisors, generals, and intelligence bosses.

Shedding its evolving status as a governing opposition party, will the OPDO  become a real political organization that can resolve Ethiopia’s historical ills, including its original sin of marginalizing its majority Oromo population?

Time will tell.

1. Asrat, G. (2014). Sovereignty and democracy (in Amharic),,Signature Book Printing Press. Gebru Asrat, a long time TPLF leader, was the chief administrator of the Tigrean National State from 1994-2001.
2. Meles Zenawi used to remark that OPDO was like a scratch off lottery ticket: You scratch an OPDO and you are sure to find a disguised OLF.
3. The most notable defections include the first Oromia regional president Hassan Ali (1998), Speaker of the House of federation Almaz Mako (2000), generals Kamal Galchu and Hailu Gonfa (2006), Juneydi Sado, Oromia’s third president (2012), and a dozen bureau heads.
4. At least 18 Oromo journalists, including the anchor of that news segment, were subsequently fired from Oromia Radio and Television Organizatio

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Kigali – The Walias of Ethiopia were eliminated from the 2018 Africa Nations’ Championship (CHAN) after their return leg match with Rwanda ended in a scoreless tie here today.

The Walias did themselves a disservice when they lost 3-2 in the first leg match played in Addis Ababa last week.

Rwanda and Ethiopia were given a second chance for a final place at next year’s finals following Egypt’s withdrawal after their clubs refused to release players as the tournament for home-based footballers is not staged during a FIFA international window.

Morocco will stage the 2018 edition having replaced Kenya as hosts.

The draw for the 2018 CHAN will be made on 17 November 2017, with the 16-team tournament taking place from 12 January to 4 February.

FBC)

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• Gulf nation reportedly setting up base in Horn of Africa
• Assistance would violate eight-year UN arms embargo on Eritrea

Emirati armed forces show their skills during a military show at the opening of the International Defence Exhibition and Conference (IDEX) in the Emirati capital Abu Dhabi. Photographer: Karim Sahib/AFP via Getty Images

Eritrea’s military received help from the United Arab Emirates and possibly Russian, Czech and Italian companies in the past year, assistance that would violate a United Nations arms embargo on the Horn of Africa country, the organization’s investigators said.

Thirteen Eritrean air force and navy cadets received training at U.A.E. military colleges and seven at Emirati engineering institutions between 2012 and 2015, the investigators said in a Nov. 8 report to the UN Security Council, citing testimony from five cadets who defected. The U.A.E. has been building a military base in Eritrea, whose port facilities two months ago appeared to be “almost complete with multiple vessels docked,” the investigators said, citing satellite imagery.

U.A.E. tanks and artillery have been present between the port facilities and an airport that is also being developed, the investigators said. A U.A.E. Foreign Ministry official didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. Eritrean Information Minister Yemane Gebremeskel didn’t comment directly on the allegations.

Eritrea, a one-party state that sits on a key shipping strait linking the Red Sea and Suez Canal, has been under UN sanctions since 2009, following allegations President Isaias Afwerki’s government supports Al-Qaeda-linked rebels in Somalia. UN monitors said two years ago that the Saudi Arabia-led coalition fighting in Yemen may have been offering Eritrea monetary compensation for the use of its land, airspace and territorial waters.

‘Unwarranted Sanctions’

In an emailed response to Bloomberg’s questions, Information Minister Gebremeskel criticized “unwarranted sanctions” based on “false allegations” it supported the al-Shabaab militant group. UN investigators said they found no conclusive evidence of support given to the fighters nor of large shipments of weapons and ammunition between the two countries.

The investigators also said Russia’s permanent mission to the UN told them the St. Petersburg Aviation Repair Co. overhauled a Mi-17 helicopter that was transported from St. Petersburg to the Ministry of Transport and Communications in Eritrea’s capital, Asmara. Satellite imagery later appeared to show the aircraft at various military sites in the country, the UN experts said.

Defectors told them all helicopters operated by Eritrea’s government are used by the national air force, although not necessarily exclusively. The repair company didn’t immediately respond to an email seeking comment.

Two Eritrean Augusta Bell AB 412 EP helicopters were overhauled over the past two years by Italian helicopter service company Airgreen S.R.L., the experts said. Airgreen, which didn’t immediately respond to an email seeking comment, told the UN it was given documentation indicating the helicopters’ registration was issued by the Eritrean Civil Aviation Authority. Satellite imagery later showed the two helicopters parked on a military apron adjacent to an Eritrean airport base, according to the report.

Czech Republic-based Zlin Avion Service s.r.o. supplied parts and training to members of the Eritrean air force, which has at least four Zlin aircraft, the experts said, citing certificates bearing the Zlin Avion logo and the signature of a flight instructor who was in Asmara in May 2016, as well as eyewitnesses.

The company didn’t immediately respond to an email seeking comment. It told the UN investigators it hadn’t entered into any contractual agreement with Eritrea’s government and that its employees hadn’t been present in the country.

— With assistance by Claudia Maedle

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Bahir Dar University

The U.S. Embassy in Addis Ababa is pleased to announce the launch of the Ambassador’s Distinguished Scholars Program – Ethiopia, which will  bring American scholars to teach, research, and collaborate in over sixty academic disciplines from 2018-2019 in Ethiopia. The program is launched by the U.S. Embassy in Ethiopia, in partnership with Bahir Dar University, the University of Gondar,and the Institute of International Education (IIE).

The Ambassador’s Distinguished Scholars Program seeks to strengthen Ethiopian universities’ capacity to teach, research, and manage undergraduate and graduate programs.  Qualified academics will be placed in faculty positions at Bahir Dar University or the University of Gondar in STEM fields, agriculture, humanities, law, public health, and more.  The scholars will have the opportunity to engage in primary research with doctoral students, publish, teach, design curriculum, mentor students, and collaborate with faculty at their host institution.  American citizens holding a Ph.D. or an equivalent professional or terminal degree, at any career stage including post-doctoral candidates and professors emerti, are eligible to apply.

University of Gondar – Atse Tewodros Campus (Photo credit: UOG)

The United States has a long history of partnership with Ethiopians on improving education.   We see our cooperation to strengthen Ethiopia’s higher education system as a key component of our efforts to enable Ethiopians to achieve a more prosperous future.

The deadline for applications is December 1, 2017.  This first cohort of Ambassador’s Distinguished Scholars Program – Ethiopia will cover the period February-July 2018.  Deadlines for subsequent cohorts will be announced in early 2018 and will be for one year.

Additional information about the Ambassador’s Distinguished Scholars Program – Ethiopia and the application can be found at: https://www.iie.org/Programs/Ambassadors-Distinguished-Scholars-Program

Source: U.S. Embassy in Ethiopia Press Release

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Document presented at the National Security Council meeting reveals Ethiopia facing alarming multi-front crisis

by Addis Standard

Major points discussed in the document include:

• The country’s federal system is facing imminent threat
• Security breakdown contributing to rising public anxiety
• Immeasurable human and material cost caused by recent conflicts
  
• Absence of rule of law prevalent
• Security crisis negatively impacting the economy
• Diminishing foreign aid due to human rights related concerns
• Crippling effect on the tourism industry as well as hurting the country’s image
• Security crisis curtailing the ability of the security establishment to discharge its constitutional 

Although it mentions Egypt and Eritrea as two foreign agitators, the document squarely blames the crisis on the “internal vulnerability” of current leadership

It proposes the establishment of a joint command post/joint committee between the federal and regional security establishment.

Hailemariam Desalegn

Addis Abeba, November 12/2017 – A document assessing the current security and political situation in Ethiopia and was presented at the National Security Council meeting, held on Friday Oct. 10/2017, revealed in detail that Ethiopia was currently confronted with alarming level of multi-front crisis.

The meeting was held at the office of PM Hailemariam Desalegn and was attended by Siraj Fegessa, minister of defense & head of the National Security Council, General Samora Yenus, chief of staff of the Ethiopian National Defense Forces and other high level federal intelligence and defense officials, presidents of regional states and their security officials, as well as federal and regional state senior members of the police and the militia.

The document, which was jointly prepared by the country’s intelligence and defense officials, and was viewed exclusively by Addis Standard,reveals that the current security crisis, which was exacerbated by the prevalent of “absence of rule law”, was the most serious of all threats the country was facing as of late. It blames that”lawlessness” and “dissent” were alarmingly taking national forms by expanding throughout the country, threatening the federal system. Such incidents, according to the document, were fueling public anxiety and loss of confidence in the government.

“Genocide” 

But the most disturbing detail in the document was the part in which it discussed the recent violence in several towns and villages within the Ethio-Somali and Oromia regional states, which resulted in the death of unknown numbers of civilians and displacement of hundreds of thousands of Oromos from the Ethio-Somali regional state as well as hundreds of Ethio-Somalis from towns in Oromia regional state.

The document described the situation as having “resulted in genocide and mass displacement of people; witnessed inhuman and atrocious killings of civilians; and created a moral and psychological scar among the victims.”  It further said that this incident revealed the presence and prevalence of an “unnamed terrorist organization which “has not taken responsibility” for the crimes committed. “The people have lost trust in their constitutional right to move freely and live peacefully.”

The document also mentioned the proliferation of arms within the country and its nature in changing hands among various ‘agent provocateurs’.  The combined effect of this was crippling the country’s security apparatus to discharge its constitutional duty because it was engaged in “putting conflicts sprouting in several places under control”.

Economy & tourism 

The economy is severely hurting, according the document, and the flow of foreign currency was drying. Foreign aid, too, was diminishing due to conditions attached to human rights abuses, and the country’s tourism was significantly affected and its image tainted. But most alarmingly, the document admitted that domestic investment was facing heavy challenges and unprecedented level of capital flight by those who have already invested in the country was seen recently. The economy was also affected by stockpiling of commodities as well as the proliferation of money laundering by increasing numbers of individuals; and it admitted that the country’s taxation system was unable to collect due taxes to help the economy, which was also hit by “illegal export of prohibited commodities” through organized illegal traders.

Blame on leadership

The document mentions Eritrea and Egypt as well as the presence of a coordinated cyber propaganda as fueling tensions within the country; but at the same time it puts the blame on the vulnerability of  the political leadership and its inability to address public grievances in the last two and half years. It also points fingers at the direct involvement of the leadership in recent conflicts. Instead of guiding the public and the youth to productive ways of live, it says, the leadership was involved in guiding them to dissent and destruction, immersing itself in a zero sum game. “The problem is political”, it says, and “it can only be solved politically.”

Joint command post/joint committee

But its recommendation is an establishment of a joint command post (sometimes referred in the document as mere “joint committee”) between the federal and regional security establishments.

The immediate aim of this joint command post/joint committee was highlighted in eight different points. This include the work that needed to be done to secure the free movement of people from places to places; securing major roads throughout the country on 24 hour bases of patrolling; bringing to justice those who were involved in recent conflicts; prohibiting of illegal rallies; rehabilitation of displaced Ethiopians back to their homes; strict control of anti-public armed forces; control of the movement of illegal arms, human trafficking as well as contraband trades; as well as strengthening of the security apparatus at every level.

This joint command post/joint committee, would be organizing a monthly joint meeting between federal and regional security establishment after/on the second week of every month; and it would be submitting its reports directly to the Prime Minister’s office.

Speaking at a press conference after the meeting, which last for several hours, Siraj Fegessa said that a consensus  between federal and regional states was reached to coordinate the security establishment of both to tackle the growing security crisis. “We have evaluated the security risk in the country which has been recurring since last year and we have prepared a detailed plan to control the situation,” Siraj was quoted by a local newspaper as saying . “We met with the stakeholders since we have to work together.”

Addis Standard received further information that there would be additional similar meetings to hammer out more details on the document, which was distributed as a working paper to everyone who participated in the meeting held at the PM’s office on Friday.

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NOVEMBER 11, 2017 

by Graham Peebles

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Abdur Rahman Alfa Shaban

The national human rights body in Ethiopia has revealed that some 38 inmates currently under detention in connection with a September 2016 prison fire incident have been tortured by the authorities.

The Ethiopia Human Rights Commission (EHRC) according to local media portals said the category of torture meted out included pulling out of nails and acts that left the said inmates with scars. The inmates are held at the Ziway and Showa Robit prisons.

The government after the incident confirmed the death of 23 patients in the Qilinto prisons deemed to be one of the biggest prison facilities in the country. The state-owned FBC said 21 inmates died as a result of a stampede and suffocation whiles two were killed as they attempted to escape.

Two buildings were damaged by the fire while materials including mattresses, blankets as well as recreational and other facilities used by the inmates were also damaged. A number of inmates and officers were also hospitalized having suffered varied degrees of injuries.

In November 2016, a High Court formally charged the 38 inmates for the deadly incident. According to the charges filed by the prosecution, the accused persons cruelly assaulted their colleagues before setting the fire that burnt them and destroyed property.

Ethiopia’s human rights record has come in for flak from activists and political watchers. Issues of prolonged detention and prison abuse have been reported especially by persons who have been back from the facilities.

The country made mass arrests last year during spreading anti-government protests in mainly the Oromia region. Even though mass releases were announced, it is believed that hundreds remain behind bars.

Political opponents are also locked behind bars as their cases move at snail pace. A leading opposition figure Bekele Gerba was granted bail weeks ago but his daughter said they remained skeptical of his release because prison authorities have often acted above the law.

Barely 24 hours later, the courts overturned the bail and Bekele remains in jail along with leading opposition voice, Merera Gudina of the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF), he is currently facing multiple criminal charges.

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Abdur Rahman Alfa Shaban

Prime Minister of Ethiopia Hailemariam Desalegn is in Qatar for an official visit and is set to meet the Emir of the gulf state, media channels of both nations have confirmed.

“The Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani will meet with Ethiopian  Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn at the Emiri Diwan tomorrow (i.e. today),” the gulfnews portal said.

The two parties are expected to discuss bilateral relations in areas of cooperation. “The Emir and the Ethiopian prime minister will discuss means of enhancing bilateral relations as well as a number of issues of common interest,” the portal added.

The visit of Desalegn comes only seven months after the Qatari Emir also visited Addis Ababa on similar grounds.

Since then, the Gulf crisis and its implications nearly troubled the security of the Horn of Africa region.

Qatar withdrew its troops from a disputed border region between Eritrea and Djibouti after the latter pledged support for Saudi and its allies in blacking Doha out.

Ethiopia at the time said it was monitoring the situation and like Somalia opted to stay neutral on the matter. Eritrea also maintained all its ties with Doha. It is not known if the issue will come up during deliberations.

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Abdur Rahman Alfa Shaban

Ethiopia and the United States must jointly sponsor a United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolution aimed at lifting an arms embargo imposed on Eritrea, an ex ambassador of the United States has said.

According to the one-time U.S Assistant Secretary of State Herman J. Cohen, the reason for which the 2009 sanctions were imposed has not been proven hence his call. The U.S. had held that Eritrea was funding al-Qaeda linked Somali insurgent group, Al-Shabaab.

A recent report by a U.N. mandated team of experts on Somalia and Eritrea, however, said there was no conclusive evidence of Eritrea – Al-Shabaab relations. The 60-page document asked the U.N. Security Council (UNSC) to consider lifting the arms embargo on Eritrea.

“Given that the Monitoring Group has been unable to find conclusive evidence of Eritrean support for Al-Shabaab in Somalia for four consecutive mandates, the Group recommends that the Security Council consider disassociating the sanction regimes for Eritrea and Somalia,” they said.

The team disclosed that Eritrea had flatly refused to allow them entry into the country as part of their mandate. They added that despite allegations of Eritrean support for Al-Shabaab by a member state and corroboration by another, the allegations could not be substantiated.

The UNSC via Resolution 1907 (2009) imposed an arms embargo on the Horn of Africa nation 16 years after it attained independence from Ethiopia. Somalia on the otherhand is also suffering a similar sanction which is believed to have hampered their ability to effectively combat Al-Shabaab.

In August this year, Cohen had called for Ethiopia – in their capacity as head of the UNSC – to propose the lifting of sanctions on Eritrea. That did not happen before in September Eritrea’s Foreign Minister described the sanctions as ‘unjustified and useless’ in an address to UN General Assembly.

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