Some of the defendants, including Masresha Sete (right) and Dr. Fikru Maru (upper center) as was compiled by Ethio trial TrackerImage may be NSFW. Clik here to view.
Mahlet Fasil
Addis Standard
Addis Abeba, March 12/2018 – Judges at the federal high court 19th criminal bench have this morning postponed a key verdict in the case involving 38 defendants charged after having been accused of masterminding the Qilinto prison in Sep. 2016. The court said it was too busy to exhaustively look at documents and adjourned the next hearing to deliver the innocent or guilty verdict on April 24.
IN November 2016, federal prosecutors have charged 38 inmates accusing them of “causing fire and beating 23 prisoners and making them burn” at Qilinto prison, a maximum security prison located in the southern outskirt of the capital Addis Abeba. A fire at the Qilinto prison on September 3, 2016 has caused the death of disputed numbers of inmates and the destruction of, according to prosecutors charge, over 10 million birr worth property.
The case has been dragging in the court since then. Initially the prosecutors have submitted a list of 85 witnesses to testify against defendants. Of these 48 have so far testified while the testimonies from the 28 have been dismissed by the court. However, the prosecutors witness hearing have been marked by several irregularities and inconsistencies including witnesses’ inability to properly identify suspects during witness depositions in the court.
Five pages of report compiled by the independent Human Rights Council Ethiopia was also submitted to the court detailing gross rights violations against the defendants by prison authorities. The defendants have repeated their plea again during the hearing this morning.
Background
From the get go, the charges filed at the Lideta federal high court 19th criminal bench have contradicted the government’s initial statement that 21 inmates have died of suffocation during the fire and two were killed by prison security while trying to escape. The prosecutors said they were charging the 38 inmates, under the file name of inmate Masresha Sete, “for beating” the 23 inmates and making them “to burn to death.” The charge also accuses the inmates of having links to outlawed opposition organizations such as OLF and G7 while in prison and conspiring to start he fire.
Details of what caused the fire and the number of people killed have therefore remain disputed. On September 4, in an e-mail message received by Addis Standard, an eyewitness who said he was on guard the morning of Saturday Sep 3, said that “armed prison guards were indiscriminately shooting at prisoners”. Most of the prisoners were running “frantically to extinguish the fire,” according to the email from the eye witness. He said he had “seen about five prisoners gunned down in the spot by armed security guards from two different directions,” and added he has helped “18 bodies being taken out of the prison in the late afternoon. As far as I know none of the dead were due to the fire. They all died of gunshot wounds.”
However, an inquiry by the state sanctioned Ethiopia Human Rights Commission claimed that the fire was a “premeditated arson”. In April 2017, the former Commissioner, Dr Addisu Gebregziabher, told the House of People’s Legal and Administrative Affairs Standing Committee that prisoners have smuggled “combustible materials, drugs and lighters,” to start the fire. A charge vehemently denied by all the defendants. The accusation was also debunked from the several witness inconsistencies during the multiple hearings so far.
All the 38 defendants have been charged with other cases before the prison fire and were serving and or being held at the prison during the fire accident. Notable among the defendants are well know heart surgeon Dr. Fikru Maru, who was jailed for corruption and was serving four years and eight months term at the time the prison fire happened. On March 07. the federal Cassation bench overruled the federal Supreme Court’s decision to dismiss the corruption charges against Dr Fikiru and upheld the federal High Court’s sentencing, sentencing and a fine of 60, 000 ETB.
Ethiopian authorities have recently released thousands of political prisoners including key personalities, but none of the 38 defendants have received the amnesty so far. AS
Gambella Nilotes United Movement Press Release March 12th, 2018, Gambella
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.GNUM strongly condemns the current state of emergency declared by TPLF/EPRDF government, purposely imposed to hinder the exercise of Freedom of speech, embedded in the constitution of the country. The Ethiopian citizens should not accept this despotic act of the government and must stand in solidarity with the protesters’ across the country and around the globe. The Gambella Nilotes United Movement (GNUM) condemns the TPLF government’s genocidal killings, arbitrary arrest, and tortures of civilians in most parts of Oromya, Amhara, Gambella, Beneshangul Gumuz, Southern Nations Nationalities People Region, Afar, and Somalia regions.
GNUM strongly condemns the killings of innocent Oromo people in Oromia region by the TPLF soldiers since last year. The current mass protests in various regions of the Ethiopia against the TPLF government demonstrate the government failure to address the democratic principles enshrined in the constitution; calling for freedom and justice in the country. GNUM strongly condemns the ongoing killing of the civilians, gross violation of human rights, obstruction of Freedom of speech and Freedom of the Press. For instance while the Oromo people are mourning the death of innocent civilians in their region which was triggered by the October 2, 2016 annual religious of Irreechaa thanksgiving festival in Bishoftu, a town near Addis Ababa, the Agazi Force continued to massacre the Oromo civilians in different parts of Oromiya region. It is the rights of Oromo people to continue struggle to ensure freedom and justice prevail across the country. GNUM and all indigenous people in Gambella and the neighboring Nilotic Omotic people will stand with all protestors across the country to ensure change in the government.
We are calling upon the Oromo and Ogaden Elites, political organizations, religious institutions, youths, women, and farmers to work together for peaceful co-existence between the two regions.
GNUM condemns the killings, arbitrary arrest and detention, tortures and displacement of the Amhara people in different parts of Amhara region. The Amhara people had been the target of TPLF/EPRDF government since 1991. The Amhara people currently live in great fear and threat following the protest against the government dictatorship and corruption.
The leadership of GNUM would like to inform and encourage all the indigenous populations to collaborate and pay solidarity with other oppressed Ethiopians to condemn and oppose the current leadership of the TPLF/ EPRDF government in order to bring about regime change.
The TPLF State of emergency declared on February 16th, 2018 is leading the country to chaos and mass killing of innocent people. This is the third time that the government declared state of emergency in the country to suppress the up rise against its unpopular and racist policies which are danger for the country co-existence. We are calling upon all Ethiopian from all directions including all opposition political movements in and outside the country to stand together as one Ethiopian to ensure the apartheid TPLF regime is gone.
To this effect, GNUM calls upon the international community to investigate and condemn these barbaric killings, human rights abuse, intimidation and harassment toward the mass protestors in Ethiopia and holds the TPLF/EPRDF regime accountable for all crimes against humanity. We are particularly calling upon the United Nations, EU, USA, AU, and all other humanitarian organizations to closely monitor the political and military action against the innocent civilians in many parts of Ethiopia and to actively denounce any retaliatory actions against the innocent civilians who are rightfully exercising their constitutional rights under the law of the land.
At last we call upon the TPLF/EPRDF government to stop killing of innocent Ethiopians; to release our brothers kept in various prisons in the country under inhumanly conditions; to recognize the communal land rights and ownership in accord with the UN provisions. The Gambella Nilotes United Movement (GNUM) will continue its struggle for all people of Gambella and other oppressed Ethiopian to ensure freedom, justice, security and prosperity are brought to all the oppressed people of Ethiopia.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.Ethiopian lawyer Yetnebersh Nigussie is being honored with the Spirit of Helen Keller Award. It’s named for an American who promoted the rights of women and people with disabilities. (Photo courtesy of Light for the World)
Ethiopian Disability Rights Advocate Champions Opportunities for Women
Yetnebersh Nigussie had opportunities other girls in rural Ethiopia can only dream of.
Unlike her peers growing up in Wollo province, Nigussie wasn’t married off as a young girl or forced to work at home.
Instead, she devoted herself to learning.
Nigussie moved to the capital, Addis Ababa, and pursued an education, eventually earning a law degree and founding the Ethiopian Center for Disability and Development, a group that advocates for the rights of disabled people in her home country.
What makes Nigussie’s accomplishments especially noteworthy are the challenges she overcame.
Nigussie lost her sight at age 5 after contracting meningitis. But where some see obstacles, Nigussie, now 36, sees potential.
“I believe challenges are opportunities. So we human beings are created to change challenges into opportunities,” she told VOA’s Amharic Service in a phone interview last week. “That’s why I always tell [people] that, when I turned blind at the age of 5, that brought a new opportunity. I would have never been educated had I not been blind. All my siblings and the children in my area, in my age [group] — none of them have gotten educational opportunities.”
Advocacy
Nigussie has built her career on advocating for people with disabilities. In recognition of her accomplishments, she will receive the prestigious Spirit of Helen Keller Award, presented by the nongovernmental organization Helen Keller International, at a May 2 gala in New York.
First presented in 1959, the award is named for an American activist who was deaf and blind. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Keller gained fame for her lectures, writings and advocacy work promoting the rights of women and the disabled.
“Receiving the Spirit of Helen Keller Award is a great thing because Helen Keller has been my source of inspiration that I am living. We believe in the same thing: telling people not to focus on our disabilities, [but] rather on our abilities,” Nigussie said. “Helen was always saying that ‘I don’t know what darkness is, but I know there is a light.’ So it’s a great thing to be associated with such a fantastic hero who has been always my inspiration in life.”
Recognizing contributions
Now, Nigussie wants to honor women making an impact across the globe with a separate award: Her Abilities, which she will give out annually in partnership with Light for the World. Nigussie is an adviser to the Austria-based organization.
The award will recognize women making an impact in the areas of health and education, rights, and sport and culture. It is open to women with disabilities worldwide.
“The reason we decided to focus on women with disabilities is that we believe they face double, and sometimes triple, discrimination,” Nigussie said. “We need to spotlight their work and make sure that they are visible to the world. … So it’s very much in line with my personal motto: I have one disability and 99 abilities. So we’re not going to focus on the one disability. We’re going to talk about their 99 abilities — or more — and we’re going to celebrate their achievements, their greatness.”
Nominations for the award will open July 2, and winners will be announced in December.
Overcoming barriers
An estimated 15 million people in Ethiopia live with disabilities, and they often lack access to resources and protections while facing stigmatization and a heightened risk of poverty and social isolation. According to the World Health Organization, Africans with disabilities face significant gaps in their access to welfare, education, vocational training and counseling services.
Nigussie’s organization, the Ethiopian Center, has sought to address these barriers through job training and publications. For example, it offers an online guide to Ethiopian hotels, restaurants and offices that are accessible to people with disabilities.
The activist also hopes to continue advocating for legal changes, including overturning a restriction that makes it illegal for deaf people in Ethiopia to drive.
Nigussie said she is humbled by the recognition and motivated to do more.
“I believe all these challenges would lead people with disabilities, in particular in Africa, to make sure that they overcome the challenge,” she said. “No challenges are coming to stop us. They are coming as a puzzle for us to solve.”
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.Etagegn Woldu takes the win in Lisbon (Marcelino Almeida/organisers)
Battling high winds, Kenyan Erick Kiptanui and Etagegn Woldu of Ethiopia prevailed in their respective races at the EDP Lisbon Half Marathon, an IAAF Gold Label road race, on Sunday.
Women’s Race
In the women’s event, which started 15 minutes before the men’s, also had seven women in contention through the first 17 kilometres in the front. Woldu then took the lead, upped the tempo and ran to a 1:11:27 win, improving her personal best by three minutes.
“I expected to race under 68 minutes, but the strong wind didn’t allow it,” the 21-year-old sai. “I’m happy for this win and I hope run faster in my next race.”
Belainesh Oljira followed in 1:11:29 with Helen Bekele Tola, the fourth place finisher at September’s Berlin Marathon, third in 1:11:33 to round out the podium for Ethiopia.
Mimi Belete of Bahrain was fourth in 1:11:38 with Kenyan Magdalyne Masai fifth in 1:11:49 to repeat her position from last year.
The weather conditions forced organisers to change the course for the mass race from the south to the north bank of the Tagus river to avoid crossing the 25 of April Bridge, an iconic feature of the race.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.Professor Mammo Muchie
I read with interest what you and Dr. Berhanu Mengistu wrote recently, dubbing it an “Urgent Call for an Ethiopian All-Inclusive Consensus Forum.” I also listened to the video in which you implore the TPLF regime and opposition groups to help Ethiopia make a transition to a form of government that allows her “peoples” to live in unity and peace. I heard you beg the regime and its opponents to do this, even as you gave them in the same breath advice about practicing morally grounded politics and about promoting “the philosophy that bears the country’s name,” that is, Ethiopianism.
Fundamental questions arise here that are worth asking and seeking answers for. The issues of “transition,” and “conflict resolution” themselves, as distinct from the particular ways in which you and Dr. Berhanu in particular have framed them, are often raised widely among concerned Ethiopians at home and abroad. Since there is neither need nor space here to engage in an extended analysis, I offer my thoughts summarily on a few relevant themes. I offer them in a provisional way, with openness to exchange of ideas with you and others.
The Role of the Intelligentsia
There are many Ethiopian mihuran whose resistance against TPLF dictatorship is carried on often in ways that are not technically or essentially related to their professional work as intellectuals. An economist may work at helping disparate opposition groups reconcile their differences and create coalitions, for example; a mihur trained in law may be engaged in bringing Ethiopian concerns to the attention of major Western powers, doing “diplomatic” work in support of the Ethiopian cause against TPLF tyranny. Or, as in your case, Professor Mammo, an intellectual whose expertise lies in technological and social innovation, may implore members of the nation’s political class, including ethically tone-deaf bosses and partisans of the Woyane tribal regime, to do the right thing for the Ethiopian people. He gives moral advice to a regime that is demonstrably lacking in moral bearings.
Such “intellectual” engagements may not be entirely discounted, but they have no connection to our literati’s trained functioning as knowledge workers, as thinkers who traffic in meanings, symbols, and facts and their interpretation. The engagements are not linked to the vital functions of dissenting Ethiopian mihuran, regardless of disciplinary background. Namely, to generate new ideas and values or innovate on existing ones, to enlighten the Ethiopian people through broadly accessible analysis and persuasive argument, to chart national-strategic direction for the nation’s popular resistance movements, or to wage effective ideological struggle against nationally divisive authoritarian ethnocentrism in all its variants.
Morality and Politics
In drawing an absolute contrast between “dirty politics that kills” people with “clean politics that saves human life,” you, along with Dr. Berhanu, imply that politics can be practiced in moral purity, organizing its ideas, values and practices from “outside” the society it would transform. You seem to suggest that the political can be approached in idealistic detachment from the complexities of social-historical reality. You call upon a nefarious regime, hell-bent on carrying out an anti-Amhara and anti-Ethiopia political project, to demonstrate virtue in its behavior, to show nobleness and worth of character. You appeal to the “moral intelligence” of a fascistic ruling party which is lacking in such intelligence.
In the context of our struggle for national survival against colonial-like Woyane tyranny, this moralistic approach to realpolitik creates a double distortion: First, in effect if not in intent, it cuts the Ethiopian resistance off from the support of lived social and national experience; it disconnects the resistance from the energy and vitality of existent patriotic forces. Second, pure moralism is actually politically disabling. It has the effect of incapacitating the dissident Ethiopian mihur by inducing him or her to forgo strategic thinking and action. On the other hand, such politically disembodied moralistic posture on the part of dissenting Ethiopian mihuran is useful to the Woyanes because it does not critically and systematically challenge in thought (and practice) their system of domination.
I am here not saying that there is no room for morality in the struggle we wage to save our national life. There is. But our moral values are exercised under the conditions of our shared Ethiopian experience, not in abstraction from them. Moral agency is not a capacity to operate “outside” our national-political context but to transform it, to work through it in envisioning an alternative political order while remaining grounded on our national being.
Here, it helps to recognize that moral, intellectual and political values or sentiments are not insular substrata that take shape and come into play as such, i.e., in island-like isolation from one another. In actuality, they tend to flow and merge into one another, often while maintaining their respective spheres of influence. For example, moral integrity and intellectual courage to speak truth to power are not mutually exclusive attitudes. Or, emotional intelligence need not be separate from critical intellect. Instead, one could be reflected in, and support, the other.
In struggling for change within easy reach of the repressive hand of TPLF regime, the Ethiopian people handle fear by approaching the feeling with national purpose and context, taming and channeling it as a motive force of the struggle for change, not allowing the feeling to make itself felt in its nakedness. There is a lesson here for the nation’s educated stratum, you and I included. We could use the power of ideas and causes greater than ourselves to loosen the grip spontaneous anxiety (or careerism) has over us. Such power emboldens us to speak truth to power, acting as a deterrent against sentimentalism or the emotional overloading of our politics. In this way, we refrain from feeling without thinking; instead of abstractly moralizing Ethiopian national and political affairs, we strive to get a good grasp of the reality that is in them. We explore possibilities and ways in which the reality may be transformed.
Ethiopia and Ethiopianism
As you often remind us, the meaning and value of Ethiopia have transnational and transcontinental dimensions that extend beyond the core of the Ethiopian nation-state and its territory. Historic Ethiopia has provided a global beacon of black independence, self-rule, and spiritual culture to the African Diaspora. In this sense, Ethiopianism signifies Ethiopiawinnet beyond Ethiopia. What is more, Ethiopia is the original locus from which humanity dispersed world-wide.
However, we should be careful not to mix up Ethiopianism as an enduring source of transnational “self-identification” in the Black diaspora with national identityand experience that areconstitutive of Ethiopia proper. What I find problematic in your approach is that the promotion of Ethiopianism, particularly in the context of the general commitment to Pan-Africanism, is often gained at the expense of close, critical and strategic analysis of the political and national affairs of the real and objective Ethiopia in particular.
Ironically, Ethiopianism thereby bypasses or pre-empts the vitality of its national-historical ground by transposing it into a global “philosophy,” even as it glorifies and celebrates historic Ethiopia. In this sense, it represents a curious biherawi consciousness: ideally/globally assertive and celebratory, yet recessive and quietist in the face of the struggle to save the real Ethiopia from TPLF tyranny. There is here a need to recognize that Ethiopianism, embraced “philosophically” in ideal purity and isolation from the adverse realities of our national life today, would not help much in overcoming or changing those realities and in saving actually existing Ethiopia.
“Conflict Resolution”
As a general idea or theme, “conflict resolution” is hardly controversial. What is often open to debate is the way in which the idea is framed in particular terms under particular conditions. More specifically, what I have in mind here is Dr. Berhanu Mengistu’s formulation of the theme in the contemporary Ethiopian context. In making your recent “urgent call for an Ethiopian all-inclusive consensus forum,” you did so jointly with Dr. Berhanu, so I take it that you share his thoughts on the matter.
I had an opportunity a couple of years ago to comment on his views, responding to a paper he wrote, entitled “Mediating Political Space for Opposition Parties in the Ethiopian Political System: A Conceptual Framework.” So I will here state again why I found his basic approach fundamentally misconceived. I assume that he still holds the views presented in that paper. If you think otherwise about his framing of the notion of conflict resolution in the present Ethiopian context, I would like to know why you do so.
To speak more substantively about Dr. Berhanu’s views, there is, first, the matter of his characterization of the sources of conflict and crisis in Ethiopia. He sees conflict originating from corruption, human rights abuses, and scarcity of good governance. This may be so, but the characterization is marked by distortions of both commission and omission. First, clashes and struggles that are uniquely reflective ofthe historical depth and troubled revolutionary experience of the Ethiopian nation are flattened into general problems of African underdevelopment. Diagnosis of national problems and conflicts in Ethiopia in such generic terms as “corruption” and lack of “good governance,” which is common currency in World Bank technocratic circles, is often echoed without much critical thought among the nation’s Western-trained academics, technocrats and some advocates of peaceful transition to democracy in Ethiopia . Second, the fact that the TPLF regime in and of itself is the major source strife, dissention and instability in Ethiopia today, that the tribal regime generates conflict by its very nature and functioning, is an inconvenient truth that is ignored or unremarked in Dr. Berhanu’s talk of conflict resolution.
What is worse is that Dr. Berhanu depicted the political behavior exhibited by the Woyane dictatorship since its hostile take-over of the Ethiopian state in May 1991 as a “process of democratization” and a “democratic experiment.” For all his claims to “neutral mediation” or shimgillina, he concedes from the start a whole lot of ground to one side of the conflict, namely, that of the TPLF regime. He helps validate the regime’s false political self-image. Need we point out that the depiction simply flies in the face of the actualities of Woyane partisan-tribal dictatorship? One here wonders what caused the good doctor, supposedly a neutral mediator of conflict in Ethiopia, to shy away from not only speaking truth to power, but even from mildly expressing in his concept paper what he probably knows to be true about the real character and behavior of the TPLF regime.
In focusing on the imperative of creating “political space” for opposition parties within the TPLF/EPRDF state, such as it is, Dr. Berhanu’s paper suggested that lack of such space is the underlying cause of conflict and instability in Ethiopia. But, speaking more fundamentally, the challenge of transition we as a nation face today is one of transforming the existing system of politics and government, not creating more space within it. At bottom, the political project of transition has to do with phased movement from one political paradigm or system to another.
On Transition
As the Ethiopian people confront the beginning of the end of TPLF tribal tyranny, how a transition to an alternative, more just and democratic political order might proceed is not easily understood. The regime can be expected to fight for its life by all means necessary, operating desperately in a twilight zone of decline and decay before the dawn of Ethiopian resurgence and renewal.
How a transition might take place is not easily conceived also because the crisis of the TPLF dictatorship is not a particular event impinging on the dictatorship alone but an increasingly complex gray zone in which residual and emergent patriotic resistance forces are active, struggling to come into their own and avoid cooptation or destruction by the ever scheming Woyane regime. The uncertainty and contingency associated with the crisis, which has created a structural opening for systemic change, puts stress not only on the regime itself but on opposition parties and movements as well.
A central issue that arises now is this: given that TPLF bosses and cadres are unwilling or unable to engage the opposition in good-faith dialogue and negotiation for a peaceful transition to democracy in Ethiopia, how should the social and political forces of Ethiopian unity, including patriotic and forward-looking educated strata, give shape and direction to the discourse of transition? How might the conversation about transition take place as a vital national force in the transformation of the existing political system rather than as a drag on all round structural change?
The problem with the idea of “transition” as often proposed by political elites and their intellectual backers, particularly in the Diaspora, is that, knowingly or not, it throws a lifeline to the TPLF regime instead of helping to neutralize it. The notion has also the effect of dampening or circumventing potentially revolutionary popular resistance. Moreover, talk of transition tends to short-circuit critical, system-transforming thought through opportunistic “pragmatism” or conventional moralism.
Knowledge, information, strategy and intelligence are often associated with war making. But they figure in all modes of contention and combat, non-violent as well as violent. Thus, struggling peaceably for systemic transition and change in our country can be enhanced by these instruments and qualities of effective engagement, with all their attendant risks and rewards.
In a paradoxical sense, then, the art of peaceable resistance in Ethiopia today can draw lessons from the art of war. Through well thought out plan and strategy, peaceful struggle could neutralize or circumvent the war-making capacity and activity of the TPLF regime. According to the renowned Chinese warrior-philosopher Sun Tzu, in seeking “victory without battle, and unassailable strength through understanding of the…politics and psychology of conflict,” informed and methodical combat is opposed to destructive war making. Thought and strategy are most successful when they make possible winning without fighting, when they make “[violent] conflict altogether unnecessary…” As he further explains in his The Art of War:
When your strategy is deep and far-reaching, then what you gain by your calculations is much, so
you can win before you even fight (emphasis added). When your strategic thinking is shallow and
near-sighted, then what you gain by your calculations is little, so you lose before you do battle…
Lacking autonomous agency and effective strategy, proponents of peaceful transition struggle within Ethiopian political and intellectual strata at home and abroad lose before they engage in the struggle, often giving currency to terms like “all-inclusive dialogue,” “negotiation,” and “consensus” isolated in their ideal purity from the Ethiopian national-popular resistance against TPLF tyranny. The terms signify a process seen to be prior and external to a coherent Ethiopian movement, with “movement” here understood as an integral agerawi activity in which moral, intellectual, and political/strategic engagements form an indivisible, dynamic whole.
Under these circumstances, there is little or no possibility for transition dialogue to be a powerful national force in the initiation and direction of systemic transition and change. Instead, the TPLF regime itself or its foreign enablers and/or domestic agents and intellectual fellow travelers could jump into the conversation and steer it in any way that they might desire. For this reason, Ethiopian transition thought, discourse and practice need to be guided by a deep strategy which is most productive of systemic change with a minimum of conflict and loss of life and treasure.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.Rex Rex Tillerson is arriving in Ethiopia one day early from Sergey Lavrov, the Russian Foreign Minister
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is wrapping up a visit to Chad, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya and Nigeria to talk with African leaders about counterterrorism, trade and investment on a continent rich in oil and natural resources, according to the State Department.
Absent from his agenda were human rights, democracy and the rule of law. Most African countries Tillerson was to visit, especially Ethiopia, are rife with human-rights abuses, despotism and corruption.
Ethiopia is slowly imploding. For the past two years, the Ethiopian people in Amahara and Oromia regions have waged massive anti-government demonstrations to challenge the stranglehold on power by the ruling Ethiopia People Revolutionary Democratic Party Front party, dominated by the Tigrayan People’s Liberation Front. Some of these demonstrations have resulted in bloodshed.
The TPLF draws support from Tigrayan people, who make up 6 percent of the population, but the faction controls most of the country’s economy, land and top military and intelligence-service posts.
After disagreement with top TPLF leadership over how to handle the discontent of the masses, Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn recently resigned. In a televised speech to the nation, Desalegn said that his resignation would allow for the reforms the country needs. He also added, “People’s demands and questions should be met and answered.”
Opposition groups are demanding a free and credible election, closely monitored by international observers, and the establishment of an independent electoral commission. Although thousands of prisoners in Amharas and Oromos have been released, opposition leaders also want the remaining political prisoners, including Canadian Bashir Makhtal, who are still locked up in federal and regional state prisons to be freed.
The human consequences of allowing this regime’s reign of terror to continue unchecked can be measured by the death toll and the displacement of civilians in the Amhara, Oromia and Somali regional states.
The federal security forces and the Liyu police, a paramilitary force controlled by the thug Abdi Mohamed Omar (aka Abdi Iley), president of the Somali regional state, were accused of crimes against humanity. These include “mass killing, kidnappings, systematic use of rape, torture, arbitrary arrest, looting livestock, destroying wells and razing villages to the ground,” according to the Human Rights Watch
Join the conversation
Despite the massive human-rights abuses, America has kept a blind eye to the regime’s depravity in order to pursue a narrow counterterrorism interest. The U.S. has foolishly provided the Ethiopian government with billions in aid, including humanitarian and development help, plus training and supplying weapons to the Ethiopian security forces.
Millions of dollars of that money go straight to the Ethiopian government’s coffers. There is no chance of fighting poverty while Ethiopia is rife with rampant corruption, human-rights abuse and injustice. In fact, America’s aid has the inadvertent effect of helping TPLF cling to power. The regime also diverted some of the aid money to stifle freedom and dissent, to incite ethnic divisions and to rig elections repeatedly.
The Ethiopian people had made their choice clear in a 2005 election. They voted for a regime change, but the regime stole the election. Since then it has eliminated any credible political opposition or dissent. Today, Ethiopia is de-facto dictatorship.
Ethiopia requires concerted international action. America has a moral responsibility to aid Ethiopians who are yearning for freedom from oppression and misrule. America, Britain and the European Union have the power to bring an end to the regime in Addis Ababa. The United States could use its diplomatic muscle and leverage to assist a peaceful regime change through negotiated political settlement. That settlement should include a transitional government and, eventually, a free and credible election.
Congress also has the power of the purse to suspend all nonhumanitarian assistance and military-to-military relationship with this vile regime until it allows real reforms, respect for human rights and inclusive governance in Ethiopia.
Allowing a country with an estimated 90 million people to implode is dangerous. This scenario not only would deny the beleaguered Ethiopians the right to decide their own future but would also ignite ethnic strife, spreading extremism in a volatile region.
Ali Mohamed of Lewis Center is the editor and founder Gubanmedia.com, an online source of news and commentary about the Horn of Africa region. He can be reached at aliadm18@gmail.com.
Addis Abeba, March 13/2008 – 38 people were killed yesterday in a tragic traffic accident in Legambo wereda, South Wollo Zone in Amhara regional state, when the bus they were traveling in tumbled off a cliff, according to the Amhara mass media agency. Lagambo is located some 482 Km north of the capital Addis Abeba.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.
#Ethiopia – 38 people were killed yesterday in a tragic traffic accident in #Legambowereda, South Wollo Zone in #Amhara regional state, when the bus they were traveling in tumbled off a cliff, accrdg to Amhara mass media agency. Lagambo is located some 482 Km north of #AddisAbapic.twitter.com/OaatG7ac9J
The bus was carrying a total of 48 passengers, the mass media agency said. Ten of the passengers have sustained serious and light injuries. The bus tumbled off a five meter cliff in the specific area called Genete Selam Ber, Kebele 07, in Legambo.
Of the 38 killed in this tragic accident, 28 are male, and 10 are female. Most of them were university students, according to Legambo wereda communication bureau. The 10 who were injured are receiving medical treatment at Hidar 11 hospital in the Akesta town. It is not clear what caused the bus to derail off the cliff. AS
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News: Kenya Red cross providing relief to thousands of Ethiopians displaced following deadly army assault in Moyale
According to the report by the Amhara Mass Media Agency (AMMA), Bahir Dar University is conducting a curriculum design to start Oromiffa language teaching program.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.ባህርዳር ዩኒቨርሲቲ ኦሮሞኛ ቋንቋን ለማስተማር ቅድመ ዝግጅት እያደረገ ነው፡፡
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.“Mike Pompeo, Director of the CIA, will become our new Secretary of State,” Trump tweeted.
“He will do a fantastic job! Thank you to Rex Tillerson for his service! Gina Haspel will become the new Director of the CIA, and the first woman so chosen. Congratulations to all!”
The news was first reported by The Washington Post.
Tillerson and Trump have had a tempestuous relationship throughout the president’s tenure, with published reports, denied by the secretary of State, that he had referred to Trump as a “moron.”
The reports prompted Trump to challenge his secretary of State to an IQ test.
There were also differences in rhetoric, including on Monday, when Tillerson pointed the finger at Moscow over the poisoning of a double agent and his daughter in London. The White House earlier in the day had notably not blamed Russia for the incident, despite claims from Great Britain’s prime minister.
Late last year, speculation mounted in Washington that Tillerson would be replaced, and reports circulated that Pompeo could be his replacement.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.As I write this letter I started remembering interviews with Professor Ephriam shortly after the 2005 stolen election of Ethiopia. I listened over and over again and his answers to the questions of the interviewer were cloaked in riddles. He would not answer the question about what exactly happened during his efforts as he negotiated between TPLF/Meles Zenawi and the leaders of Kinijt. It was very odd and bizarre to me that this so-called elder was not able to transparently explain what occurred as he was shuttling between the prison where the democratically elected leaders were being held and Arat Kilo palace. I concluded that perhaps I did not fully appreciate the “shimgelena”protocols of my culture. However as time went on and some information started to leak out about the situation it was clear that something nefarious was at play.
Leaving this aside I just read the open letter penned by Professor Ephraim Isaac in the Reporter magazine, an Open Letter to Ethiopians and Abroad . I must say that I had to make sure that I read it twice before reacting. There are so many platitudes and obvious historical references to tug at the hearts of Ethiopians that I actually found it condescending and distasteful. My first reaction was outrage that Professor Ephraim would dare come at this time. Where was he for the past 13 years and more so the past 3 years when hundreds of young Ethiopian children, youth, fathers, mothers… have been murdered and thousands jailed by EPRDF/TPLF merely for peacefully wanting their voices to be heard. What moral high ground does the professor have and how dare he think that Ethiopians will listen to anything he says. Where was he when the Ireecha massacre happened? Where was he when the youth were gunned down in Gonder and Bahir Dar by snipers? Where was he when Agazi/TPLF killed the youth in Chelenko? Where was he when TPLF soldiers started raining bullets on the religious procession of Kana Zegelela during Timket in Woldiya? Hamaresa, Moyale…. Where was he? And how dare he?
However my second reaction was relief because it is better to fight an enemy you know. Let the enemy show themselves. This tired and old TPLF/EPRDF is out of ideas and strategies. They are looking into their bag of old tricks.
1) Come out on TV and say there is a leadership problem, we in EPRDF/TPLF will look inward and fix it….. That didn’t work!!!
2) Send out cadres and intellectuals to preach that it is an economic issue and that due to the rapid growth of the economy the government is not able to quickly provide relief by creating new job etc…… Well that went down like a ton of bricks!!
3) Throw out some flares and give good lip service that the 27 year EPRDF/TPLF is a young a burgeoning democracy in transition…. Strike out.
4) Preach that the economy is one of the fastest growing in Africa. Oh wait the currency was devalued in October 2017 ahead of the Managing Director of IMF visiting Addis in December. This visit was during the midst of this current unrest which some say was to advice the Ethiopian government to take heed of foreign loans. And by the way, the inflation rate for consumer good has gone up to 18 percent just in December. The unemployment rate in the country is about 14 percent officially however some experts say that it is likely above 20%.
and oh yes there is a drastic shortage of foreign currency. It can take up to a year to open an LC…. Next please!!!!!!
5) Go back to the State of Emergency play book to choke the people of Ethiopia and force the people to cower in fear. Surprisingly and to their credit the parliament controlled by EPRDF/TPLF did not pass the resolution by 2/3 as seen on video and printed articles right after the vote. So the EPRDF/TPLF cooked the books and changed the numbers hours later to report that it was a mistake…… Really ????
6) Bring out famous people like Haile G/Selassie that TPLF thinks are going to be heard, and have them read from the book of Bereket Simon. Have them say that there is no real political problem but rather an economic question as well as potential foreign elements trying to cause distrust in the country…. Big Fail!!!!!!
7) Elders… yes Elders that the regime has used in the past that have no significance. Parade them out and have the talk about reconciliation and togetherness, when for the past years these same people have stayed silent…… Not Going to Work!!!!!
I will say that as a youth I would run in my living room whenever I watched videos of Abebe Bikila thinking that I actually ran a marathon. I get goose bumps when I watch clips of Miruts Yifter “The Shifter”. I get butterflies when I watch Kenenisa or Yomif or Genzebe, or Meseret, or Almaz Ayana etc… running. I run with them, my spirit is with them, I am on the edge of my seat until they win because they need us and we need them. I am no different than most Ethiopians in the way we revere our athletes.
Moreover as an Ethiopian I have the utmost respect for elders. We are taught at a young age that elders are not only to be respected but no matter what the situation they know through experience the correct resolution. They have wisdom, so even if you do not agree, their intuition and spiritual guidance will win the day.
However in this time of great trial for our country we must all see clearly and not be disillusioned by our emotions. Ethiopia comes first always.
The TPLF/EPRDF cannot ever be trusted that much is a given. However the motivations of people like Haile G/Selassie and Professor Ephraim is clearly not in the interest of the Ethiopian people. It is my opinion that these celebrities are trying to buy time for this vicious regime that kills it’s own citizens. It is not that these celebrities don’t know, I feel that they are deliberately collaborating with this fascist EPRDF/TPLF regime to further their own interests, which may amount to their properties or businesses. So they have chosen material things over the lives of 13 and 14 yr olds being gunned down by snipers, mothers forced to sit on the dead body of their child, father and son killed in their house. They have sold their morality and conscious and more importantly they have sold the Ethiopian people and Ethiopia to the unelected killer regime known as EPRDF/TPLF. No one will listen so please respect yourselves and stay out of the fray.
What we see here is what the west calls “throwing everything and the kitchen sink”. This is an act of extreme desperation by the TPLF and they are trying to see which one will work. The people of Ethiopia are awake; they know these tricks and will not fall for them. This is a movement of the people by the people and they are all chanting the same slogan…”DOWN DOWN WOYANE”….”WOYANE LEBA”…… “WE WANT CHANGE”
In other words your time is up EPRDF/TPLF and the only way this will end is when you give up your power to the people.
Haile Gebressilasie has made several poorly informed comments about Ethiopian issues in the past but his latest one is hard to stomach for so many Ethiopians, even for his inner circle.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.Just this week Haile Gebressilassie made another uninteresting interview with a local media. In the interview he talks about how his business or in general the economy in Ethiopia has been hurt by ongoing pro-democracy protests and the brutal crack down of the regime. There is nothing false in what he said. Its true the three years old unrest has caused too much damage on businesses. It has destroyed Ethiopia’s image before foreign investors. The richest black man on the planet, Ali dangote even threatened to leave the country because of what happened to his property. This is all true. I don’t have to tell it now or Haile at his latest media appearance. What is happening is crystal clear. So why did Haile Gebressilasie have to talk about him losing business due the unrest? This is really confusing. I have been trying hard to understand the logic behind this for the last few days. I did not get an answer.
I have really struggled with myself not to use any degrading words toward Haile when I was preparing this piece. He’s my hero. I love him. The only man I love to see running is Haile Gebressilassie. I wish the 90s returned and saw Haile run again. The love and respect I have is what millions of Ethiopians have for him. i accept and respect his personal choices but when he comes out and make these inflammatory and even dangerous comments, its really a problem. he’s just calling for a war on himself. I wish he had good people around him who advice him on what is good and what is bad.
I spoke to Haile in several occasions when I used to work for the sports media. he’s a nice man. Very calm and soft. He can answer his phone anytime he can. He never acted like a very big international celebrity. I knew him to be everybody’s man. He could have turned this nature of him for better but he failed so far.
It seems Haile has totally lost his mind. It might look like he’s trying to sympathize the regime or get their help. But I don’t think so. He is not a typical regime man. The ruling elite do not like him. Its not harsh to say they make fun out of him every time he shows up. His personality does not sympathize their existence. He did not get rich in political ties. He made his fortunes with hard work, dedication and endurance. The name is Haile Gebressialsie is big enough to stand on its own. It seems for me though, he’s fighting with his own name. he’s fighting himself and his big name. His own name has been a burden for him.
I guess Haile has enough IQ to understand what is going on in Ethiopia. The country is at war. This is not what I claim. The regime is fighting for its survival. It has declared a second state of emergency in just two years. Thousands have been killed and arrested. The prime minister has resigned. Only last week, Siraja fergesa, the defense secretary and spokesman of the command post ruling the country with martial law, said in a press conference that some forces are trying to snatch power. He used “color revolution’ to explain the situation. The economy is crumbling. Haile himself in his own words has felt the heat of the war. And in a war, there are waring sides. If you’re brave enough, you take sides. or if you don’t like both, you stay quite with the silent majority. Haile could simply have shut up. But instead he chose his own foolish tears. Thats very very pathetic.
Haile Gebressilaise was once a true representative of typical Ethiopian identity. He dominated long distance running for two decades. He won consecutive Olympic and word titles. he’s arguably the greatest long distance runner the planet has ever seen. He carried the name Ethiopia on his own throughout the 90s and the early 2000s. he’s a true man of hard work and endurance. His life is true model for an ordinary Ethiopian. We all remember how he won the 10,000m race in Sydney 2000. but the consecutive comments he makes regarding sensitive issues in Ethiopia are really destroying who he represents.
A few years ago, I remember the excitement of some BBC and CNN sports reporters asking me about Haile’s announcement to run for president. Ethiopia is not a presidential country. There are no presidential elections. It felt like he was unintentionally copy-catting other international celebrities who talk about their home nation’s politics. For so many Ethiopians, that comment was just a national joke. The comments he makes for attention were really coming back at him.
As a man with that big name, Haile could denounce the brutal crack down going on in the country. He could have called for unity. Okay, he did not do that for his own personal safety and business interests for that could have caused a retaliation from the regime. Ethiopia’s ages old brutal history of power makes politics a very scary activity for big names. It is rumored that the great Abebe Bikila was assassinated by the imperial regime. Another great man from the sixties, Mamo Wolde has languished in jail before his death under the current regime. The Moscow legend Miruts Yifter was imprisoned by the Mengitu Hailemariam regime. Everyone has paid prices for some political activity or comment. The silence of Kenenisa Beqele is understandable. The great Derartu Tulu is believed to be a member of the ruling party. Genzebe Dibaba was under severe backlash from activists for throwing away an Ethiopian flag with no star. It is a personal choice and right. Its still understandable.
And even worse, In Ethiopia, “Heroes” are traditionally respected from fear. today’s “hero” is the incumbent in one way or another way, they’ve been ruling with iron fist for 27 years now. But when the “hero” is struggling to stay on, you either try to prop it up or stay quite and see what will happen if you’re not brave enough or uninterested in the situation. Haile made the worst of all. His comments does not please the regime or add anything to its actions. As I said above, he’s not their man, may even be a victim himself. His comments rather anger the other side and make them hostile to him. He just diminished himself to a helpless man crying desperately for no gain. It was never wise. Haile is better than that.
The good culture of respecting individuals heroes with their own stupidity is still there. I hope the Ethiopian youth dying in Ambo or Gondar in this critical time of history would forgive him once again. But Haile must forgive himself and reconcile with his name, The name kids in Ethiopia use to say “ I wanna be like him when I grow up”.
Betemariam Hailu is an Ethiopian journalist and media personality. he’s worked for several local and international media including BBC sports, Goal.com and insidefutbol.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.Addis Abeba, March 14/2018 – The Swedish Foreign ministry has on Tuesday March 13 called Ethiopia’s Ambassador to the country, Prof. Merga Bekana, for talks regarding the protracted court case of jailed Ethiopian born Swedish heart surgeon Dr. Fikru Maru, according to Radio Sweden .
Dr. Fikru Maru was jailed for corruption and is serving four years and eight months term. However, he is also charged with terrorism along with 37 others accused of orchestrating the fire at the Qilinto prison in Sep. 2016.
According to further report bySVT, the Swedish national public TV broadcaster, the foreign ministry has once again expressed its criticism against the trial. “Criticism was brought against the trial once again,” the SVT quoted Linn Duvhammar, the ministry’s press communication officer as saying. Linn Duvhammar is also quoted as saying the Ethiopian ambassador was met by the Sweden’s Foreign Council Ulrika Modéer. “It was the Foreign Council Ulrika Modéer who met the ambassador,” Linn Duvhammar, said but declined to give further explanations on the details of the talk.
This is not the first time that Sweden has expressed its criticism of the trial of Dr. Fikru Maru.“No, it’s not the first time, I have no numbers here how many times [criticisms] have happened,” Linn Duvhammartold SVT.
Dr Fikru Maru, a 66-year-old cardiologist, was behind the 2006 establishment of the Addis Cardiac Hospital, a hospital specializing in heart diseases treatment in Ethiopia. He was also the CEO of the hospital before he landed in Ethiopian jail charged with corruption.
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Video: An emotional reunion between Dr. Fikru Maru and his daughter Emy Fikru during one of the trials inside the federal court premises. Video Credit: FreeFikru
“Sometimes it feels like the nightmare has been going on for so long that I have gotten used to it. Forgotten the unjust, cruel and lawless acts that are committed against my dad and others in Ethiopia,” his daughter Emy Maru said.
Seven months after Emy’s plea, Dr. Fikru remained in jail and on March 07. the federal Cassation bench overruled the federal Supreme Court’s decision to dismiss the corruption charges against Dr Fikru and upheld the federal High Court’s sentencing and a fine of 60, 000 ETB. AS
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.Addis Abeba March 15/2018 – It has been confirmed that members of the command post overseeing the current state of emergency have this morning detained Taye Dendea, an outspoken senior member of the Oromia regional state’s justice bureau. Taye is the head of the bureau’s communication and PR department.
Taye Dendea is one of the growing numbers of officials from within the OPDO, the largest of the four parties that make up the ruling EPRDF, who took a public stance in criticizing the army’s killing of innocent civilians in Moyale town last Saturday. At least nine civilians were killed and 11 others were wounded in what many of the residents of the town said was an unprovoked attack by the army. The secretariat of the command post said the killing happened due to an intelligence report error.
#Ethiopia– Taye Dendea, head of PR & communication at the #Oromia regional state justice bureau, has been detained by “members of the command post” this morning. In a recent interview, Taye said that the military’s killing of civilians in #Moyale on Sat. was ‘not a mistake’. pic.twitter.com/YT4ZrbSWHy
— Addis Standard (@addisstandard) March 15, 2018
“They have arrested Taye this morning,” confirmed Taye’s colleague.
In an interview he gave to the VOA Amharic on Tuesday, Taye said he did not believe the killings were committed by intelligence report mistake, instead all indication show it was a deliberate act, he said. He also called on the federal government to investigate and bring to justice the entire chain of command that is responsible for the killings and not just five army members who were responsible for firing at the civilians. The violence has displaced close to 39,000 civilians, according to the national broadcaster EBC. Of these, more than 8000 are currently being taken care by the Kenya’s Red Cross Society across the border inside Kenya.
Since the first announcement by council of ministers on February 16 and the subsequent legislation by members of parliament on March 03 of the current controversial state of emergency, members of the command have detained several government employees from the Oromia regional state including the chief administrator of the east Hararghe zone, the deputy police commissioner of the Oromia regional state, the deputy administrator of the east Wellega zone, the Mayor of Nekemt city and the head of the justice bureau of Kelem Wellega Woreda.
The move to arrest Taye therefore lays bare the growing crackdown against individuals and institutions within the Oromia regional state, a region whose members of parliament have led a fierce opposition against the emergency rule. “Time will tell if arresting Taye could bring peace to Ethiopia,” wrote Dereje Gerefa Tulllu, who is known for his enthusiastic advocacy of reform from within the OPDO. “Taye has been previously detained twice; for three years and seven years; but his detention didn’t bring peace to the country. It will not bring peace this time too; in fact it will make things worse,”Dereje wrote on his Faceboook.
This is the third time for Taye to be detained. He has already served two jail terms of three years and seven years each after having been accused of being a member of the banned Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) while he was a university student between 2003 and 2016. It took Taye a total of 16 years to graduate with his first degree in Law before he joined the Oromia justice bureau in 2017.
While he was at law school at the Addis Ababa University, Taye Dendea had been arrested twice, first for three years and then for seven years as suspected Oromo liberation Front supporter, taking him 16 years to graduate from the University.
— Arefaynie Fantahun@ (@AddisJournal) March 15, 2018
In addition to these officials from the Oromia regional state, however, the crackdown by the command post also saw prominent blogger and university lecturer Seyoum Teshome detained. Seyoum is currently held at the infamous Ma’ekelawi prison in the capital Addis Abeba.
I visited #SeyoumTeshome today in #Maekelawi. He is held in Tawla bet, relatively convenient place. No interrogation he has passed through afrer the first day he was detained. He is considering the place like a human zoo, where lion like people are kept.
— BefeQadu Z. Hailu (@befeqe) March 14, 2018
The police have already brought Seyoum to a court and have been granted 14 days to investigate and establish a case against him. Seyoum has already been arrested during the first state of emergency in 2016-1017 for nine months.
So far, the names of those detained has not been released to the public and the a parliamentary inquiry board established to look into the conducts of the command post said today that it will make the names public by the end of this month in Ethiopian calendar or first week of April.
Ethiopia’s sugar shortage has become very pronounced in recent months. Since October/November 2017, it has become common to see long lines of people particularly women and children, but also a few men, waiting patiently in line for their sugar ration. In Addis, observers have noted such sites in Gulele, Cherkos and Yeka. During the same time, sugar had become a flash point (the trigger issue) for the violence in many towns in Oromia Region1.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.Ethiopia depended on imported sugar for many years as the domestic production did not meet the increasing level of consumption. Traditionally, the sugar mills used to be closed between mid- June and mid-September for repairs and maintenance. During those months, attention was focused on the plantation of the sugar cane for the next harvest. Almost all the workers in the farms and crushing operations went on compulsory annual leave. Imports bridged the shortages during those lean months. From the time that imports became important (since the early 1990s), the Ethiopian Sugar Corporation imported sugar and distributed it through established channels. If the Corporation had such a long experience in managing the seasonal flows since the early 1990s, why did it fail this time? What are the underlying factors that exacerbate the need for imports and boost aggregate supply? Why did Ethiopia fail this time despite the promises of GTP1 and GTPII, the first of which has already concluded and the latter is in its mid-term of implementation? In responding to these and similar questions, this essay takes a broader and longer perspective.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.Ethiopian Israeli woman holds up pictures of relatives in Ethiopia during a demonstration in front of the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, in Jerusalem, Monday, March 12, 2018. Hundreds of Ethiopian immigrants are protesting outside Israel’s parliament, demanding the government fulfill a pledge to bring some 8,000 of their countrymen remaining in Ethiopia to Israel. (AP Photo/Sebastian Scheiner)
JERUSALEM (AP) — The reunification of hundreds of families split between Israel and Ethiopia is on hold after Israel failed to set aside funding for the Ethiopians’ immigration in next year’s budget, an activist group said Thursday.
Nearly 8,000 Ethiopians are hoping for Israel to approve their immigration, allowing them to join their families in Israel. Although many are practicing Jews, Israel doesn’t consider them Jewish, meaning their immigration requires special approval.
Alisa Bodner, a spokeswoman for the Struggle for Ethiopian Aliyah, called on Israel to resolve their plight without further delay.
The families see the issue as part of an inconsistent and discriminatory immigration policy.
Parliament approved a 2019 budget early Thursday with no allocation for the Ethiopians’ immigration. Bodner said the issue is expected to come up in a government committee at an unknown date.
An official from the prime minister’s office said the issue was set to be raised at the next meeting of a ministerial committee dealing with the integration of Ethiopian-Israelis, without elaborating on why the funding wasn’t allocated. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to discuss the issue with the media.
Ethiopia’s ruling coalition is due to meet soon to choose its next leader. That person will automatically become the prime minister. They will be taking on the role at a time of bitter internal wrangles and violent protests.
Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn announced on 15 February that he would resign as both the chairperson of Ethiopia’s ruling coalition EPRDF and as prime minister – a position he had held since 2012.
So that leaves the 180-strong EPRDF council to choose the next prime minister.
The coalition is complex.
EPRDF is made up of four ethnically based political parties: the Amhara National Democratic Movement (ANDM); the Oromo People’s Democratic Organisation (OPDO); the Southern Ethiopian People’s Democratic Movement (SEPDM) and the Tigrayan People’s Liberation Front (TPLF).
While the ANDM and OPDO have roots in Oromia and Amhara regions, which together account for more than half of Ethiopia’s population, it is the minority TPLF from Tigray region that controls the military and security apparatus and is seen as the dominant party in the coalition.
Bitter internal wrangles within the ruling coalition have however made it difficult to predict just who will become the next prime minister.
To make matters worse, the government failed to quell anger when it declared a state of emergency. Demonstrators in the west defied a ban on protests and marches became violent.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.The coalition, which has been in power since 1991 after toppling the communist regime, is at a crossroads.
The bitter infighting is between reformists who feel the country is headed the wrong way and conservatives keen on maintaining the status quo and the grip on power.
Here’s a run down of the top seven contenders for prime minister.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.Image captionFrom left to right: Abiy Ahmed, Debretsion Gebremichael, Lema Mergessa, Workneh Gebeyehu, Demeke MekonnenImage may be NSFW. Clik here to view.
1. Lemma Magersa
He is the current President of the Oromia Regional State and deputy leader of the OPDO.
The charismatic Mr Lemma is seen as a fearless and eloquent reformer. He was once quoted as saying he was ready to go out and join demonstrators if the government did not heed the demands of protesters especially from his region.
The 47-year-old was born and raised in East Welega, Oromia.
Last December he condemned the killings of protesters and the federal security forces’ intervention in the Oromia region without his region’s consent. He has also offered to hold dialogue with opposition groups.
He is deemed as an acceptable candidate who can unify the country but his path to the top seat is complicated. He’s not a member of the federal parliament, the House of People’s Representatives, a requirement to become prime minister.
Last December, a cartoon depicting Mr Lemma as the biblical Moses parting the Red Sea was widely shared on social media, showing just how his popularity “as a man with answers to the country’s problems” had soared.
Despite his meteoric rise within the ruling party and Ethiopia’s complex politics, his critics believe he is too inexperienced to take on the intricacies of the EPRDF.
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2. Abiy Ahmed
The current leader of the OPDO, Mr Abiy, is seen as the front-runner in the race to succeed the outgoing prime minister having just been elected to head the party.
He is an astute politician with impressive academic and military credentials.
He was born in the city of Agaro in Oromia and comes from a mixed Christian-Muslim family. The 42-year-old joined the OPDO in the late 1980s.
He has served in the military and rose to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. He also took part in the UN peacekeeping mission to Rwanda.
He was the founder and director of the country’s Internet Security Agency between 2009 and 2012 after which he became the minister for science and technology.
He is seen by many as outspoken and competent and a person who leans to a participatory leadership style.
Mr Abiy is younger than the other potential leaders and is believed to have huge support among the Oromo youth as well as other ethnic groups.
His critics however say that as an EPRDF insider, he won’t offer much of the change demanded by protesters.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.
3. Debretsion G Michael
Mr Debretsion was born in Shire, located in the northern Tigray region. He dropped out of his studies at the University of Addis Ababa to join the armed struggle.
During this time he travelled to Italy where he completed training in communications technology. After which he established the regional TPLF radio station known as “Dimtsi Weyane”.
Soon after the EPRDF came into power in 1991, Mr Debretsion served as the deputy to the head of the intelligence bureau.
He has been serving as the Director of the Information and Communication Development Agency since 2006 but also served as a deputy prime minister.
He is the chairperson of the TPLF party and the deputy head of state for the Tigray region as well as the minister for information and communications.
Activists and opposition political parties argue that the TPLF dominates the political power in the coalition, so his election as prime minster would be a controversial move that would be likely to deepen divisions within the coalition and further inflame feelings of exclusion among the Oromo and Amhara communities.
Mr Debretsion is a member of the House of People’s Representatives.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.
4. Demeke Mekonen
He is the current deputy prime minister.
He joined the EPRDF after university and a few years later became a member of the Amhara region council.
During the mid-2000s he became the deputy chief of the Amhara regional state and a year later became a member of the ANDM executive committee.
While on duty as chair of the ANDM, in 2013, he was appointed the deputy chair of the EPRDF.
Prior to coming to power, Mr Demeke was a teacher and served as the education minister.
Mr Demeke, who is a member of the House of People’s Representatives, is known to be a low-key player in the federal government.
It is unlikely the ANDM will take the prime minister’s position as the party has held the deputy prime minister position for so long.
He is a member of OPDO and is the current foreign affairs minister.
Born in the late 1960s, Mr Workneh has served for many years as the commissioner for the federal police commission.
In the late 2000s he was appointed as transport minister, a position he held for four years.
A member of the OPDO since the late 1980s, Mr Workneh has since the late 2000s served as a member of the executive committee for both the OPDO and EPRDF.
He is a member of the Addis Ababa city administration council but not a member of the House of People’s Representatives.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.
6. Siraj Fegessa
Ethiopia’s current defence minister has been the face of the state of emergencies announced in October 2016 and again in February 2018.
He has constantly appeared on state media articulating the conditions imposed by the state of emergency.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.Image copyrightREUTERSImage captionEthiopia has been hit by three years of protests
The sharply dressed but straight-faced politician is seen as one of the least favourite to become the new prime minister.
He is a member of the SEPDM, the same party as the recently resigned prime minister and has just been announced as its deputy leader, further complicating his ascendancy to power.
Some analysts say his party might argue that Mr Hailemariam never finished his term and therefore might suggest that Mr Siraj or someone from within SEPDM for the premiership. This is however highly unlikely.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.
7. Shiferaw Shigute
He is currently working with the secretariat of the EPRDF, previously he was the minister of education, and president of the southern Ethiopia regional state.
Mr Shiferaw is the newly elected chairman of the SEPDM replacing the recently resigned prime minister who was also the chairman of the party.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.Image copyrightEPRDF/ FACEBOOK
Born in Haroressa, in the southern Ethiopia region, Shiferaw was a teacher before joining politics.
When the outgoing prime minister was still the region’s president, Mr Shiferaw was deputy president of the southern Ethiopia regional state government.
When Mr Hailemariam became deputy prime minister and foreign minister under the late Meles Zenawi’s administration, Mr Shiferaw assumed the presidency of the region.
Some people say his election as the chairman of the SEPDM was intended to enhance his chances of becoming prime minister.
Mr Shiferaw is a member of the federal parliament from which the prime minister will be elected.
(TPLF-governance 101: governing = terrorizing, massacring and torturing)
Ethiopians have witnessed too many massacres committed by a coward regime that uses its special military, the Agazi forces, to protect the interests of the ethnocentric killing and looting machine, the TPLF, rather than to protect the country’s borders.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.
Based on records of the Ethiopian government, close to 30,000 Ethiopians were massacred by fascist Graziani during the Ethio-Italian war of 1937. While it is very difficult to get the exact number due to lack of transparency and independent media, various sources put the number of Ethiopians killed by the TPLF over the past twenty-seven yearsto be over 10,000.
Italians massacred the population as revenge for their failed attempt to colonize the country and its people for the second time, since brave Ethiopians fought and defeated the ruthless colonial power. Similarly, the TPLF is massacring Ethiopians because they unequivocally rejected its apartheid style and its poor and uncivilized governance. TPLF officials including the current TPLF leader, Debretsion Gebremichael, who is known for his travel to foreign nations for prostitution, are proud of the number of Ethiopian lives they’ve taken, which is not that far from lives taken by the fascist General
It is well known that most of the TPLF leaders have no training in governance. They are so strongly influenced by their idol, Meles Zenawi, that they strongly believe that the only way they should govern Ethiopians is by applying the techniques of terrorizing, massacring, torturing and imprisoning.
While horrifying torture stories have been told by brave survivors, it is very hard to collect all the data on massacres committed by the TPLF. Based on recent reports, a few of the massacres committed by the TPLF include:
Moyale massacre of March 2018: Close to 30 Oromo Ethiopians were intentionally killed days ago by the command post.
Woldia massacre of 2018: More than 20 Amhara Ethiopians killed while celebrating a religious holiday (hundreds disappeared and suspected to be killed or imprisoned in Nazi style prison camps in Tigray).
Chelenko Massacre of 2017: Close to 15 kids were murdered by the regime, including a 10-year-old child.
Irreccha massacre of 2016: More than 800 Oromo Ethiopians were killed while celebrating the Irreccha holiday.
Ambo Massacre of 2014 and 2017: More than 100 peaceful demonstrators killed.
Gambella massacre of 2003: More than 400 Anuak Ethiopians were massacred.
Ogaden massacre of 2008, 2014 and 2016: More than 200 people have been murdered.
Gojam kobel massacre of 2016: More than 50 peaceful demonstrators were killed by sharp shooters stationed on buildings.
Meles Massacre of Addis Ababa of 2005: Close to 200 youth massacred during peaceful demonstrations.
The question is, how many more massacres do we have to witness before the world community takes a strong stand and imposes sanctions against the TPLF leaders? How many more Ethiopian mothers must lose their loved ones? How many more Ethiopian households should have empty chairs and empty beds due to the loss of their brothers, sisters, fathers and mothers?
TPLF leaders have washed their hands with the blood of poor Ethiopians, and they will not think twice before they kill thousands more again. The fact is, key players, including Debrestione Gebremichael, Samora Yenus, Getachew Assefa, Sibhat Nega and Abay Tsehay would care more about the food they eat than the lives of hundreds of Ethiopians that they kill every day. They would care more about the whisky they drink than the wellbeing of the country Ethiopia itself. These thugs are committing all their crimes at the comfort of their houses, payed for by money looted from poor farmers and merchants whose kids are being attacked by weapons and bullets purchased by their own tax dollars.
Relentless uprising by Ethiopians in all regions, coupled with pressure from donor nations, have prompted little action and empty promises by the regime. The TPLF has only released close to 5% of its political prisoners and has never allowed for real and reliable political dialogue. The regime has immediately declared a state of emergency as soon as it released a few prisoners and soon started to imprison famous bloggers, like the Ambo University lecturer, Seyoum Teshome and peaceful demonstrators, taking them to TPLF’s torture museum called Maekelawi. As of now, that torture museum can only be visited by the TPLF torture masters.
These actions of the TPLF fortify the fact that Ethiopians have never considered the TPLF as their government. Instead, they have rightly labelled it as a collection of criminals who ruled the country under a state of emergency for twenty-seven years.
Ethiopians should continue the uprising to get rid of the cruel regime and establish a government that is accountable to them. The state of Emergency will not protect the killers who work for the TPLF, as they will soon face justice
