ZEWDIE MULETA THE GRANDFATHER OF OROMARA MOVEMENT

The post ZEWDIE MULETA THE GRANDFATHER OF OROMARA MOVEMENT appeared first on Satenaw: Ethiopian News & Breaking News: Your right to know!.

N.B: This piece was written based on an interview conducted on August 12, 2018 by the Weekly Private Paper, Capital.

By Haile-Gebriel Endeshaw

Last August 12, 2018 I read an interview the weekly Private Paper, Capital had with CEO of the Ethiopian Electric Power (EEP), Engineer Azeb Asnake. I really appreciate the engineer for lending a willing hand to give the information about her company. However, I should be frank enough to express my opinion that the questions forwarded to Engineer Azeb are so simple that she does seem to enjoy responding them very easily. Issues being circulated among the people have not been dealt with in the wide coverage of the interview. This is to say that the readership of the Paper can hardly get satisfactory information regarding the current issues in the realms of the power service provision.

EEP is one of the biggest (in terms of number of workers, capital, profits…) companies in the country. As it has been monopolized by the government, the services it is rendering to its customers are getting worse and worse. Apart from its poor service delivery, the famous company has sunk in to corruption and nepotism. In this country of ours, there is no one who does not complain about poor service delivery by EEP. Suffice it to mention the regular power disruption and power shedding phenomena we all face today.

I believe that had there been another similar company in the sector, citizens would have made their choices to get better services. Unfortunately, this has not yet been realised. Be it Ethiopian Electric Utility with the responsibility of power selling or Ethiopian Electric Power with the task of constructions of generation plants, transmission lines, substations and operations…, the big company has fallen far short of public expectations. There is no deny of the fact!

To date, people are crying for failing to get appropriate services of the company. There is no fair distribution of electric power throughout the country. People are getting the service for the mere reason of who or what they are; or how much they can afford to pay in terms of greasing officials’ palms. Should all the people of this country work for the ministry of defence, or be party members to get the electric power service? This is a complete apartheid. EEP is carrying out grand projects using public funds and international loans taken on behalf of the entire nation. How are our children supposed to pay the loans their parents have never been utilized? This is a total weakness of the company. Madam CEO, take heed of this. There is no need to evade responsibilities.

If you need electrical connection to your house, be sure to wait for months and years before getting the service. A case in point is an incident happened in the capital, Addis Ababa, where much ups and downs are not complained about to get the service. Lebu is the special name of the area. A number of people have applied for the electric power service by settling the required down payments as of 2015. But it is a very touching occurrence that these people are still leading lives in darkness. Some workers of EEP went farther to ask shamelessly for bribe which is very big, and the common people can hardly afford to pay. Those who can respond to the demand are seen getting the service. If you go to Kazanchis, Piassa, and Mexico offices of EEP here in Addis to consult senior officials about the issues, you will get responses related to problems of transformers and poles. (By the way, power disruptions have occurred three times while I was jotting down this note.)

Officials at EEP, including the CEO, are currently boasting of massive power selling to neighbouring countries without satisfying the domestic need. What does this mean? Why wasn’t the CEO asked by the Capital about this thing? Why wasn’t she requested to say something regarding the rampant corruption, nepotism and poor services of her company?

I felt that currently the people are not in a position to hear about public relation works of any organizations. These organizations can do the promotion works by using their respective internal publications (magazines and brochures…). As a public voice, the Weekly Private Paper, Capital should do its level best in bringing out hot issues to the public. This day, people request about the actual output or services they get from EEP. No need for the CEO to talk about several projects her company is executing across the country. This has long been reiterated by stated-owned media outlets. People are now tired of listening to such hotchpotches.

Our officials at higher positions should be bold enough to take responsibilities. Please take a good example of our Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed to speak confidently of draw backs. Engineer Azeb could have confessed at least that EEP failed to live up to public expectations. She should have done that even if she had not been asked in the interview. She could have taken this opportunity to acknowledge weaknesses of her company. You should know that the poor people need better services from EEP. They have nowhere to go.

It is not fair to talk about power sales in bulk to Kenya, South Sudan, Tanzania, Djibouti, and Uganda while the poor fellow country people are suffering from lack of an hour electric service to bake a single injera. The leaders of the neighbouring countries are thinking of providing their citizens with electric power services while our leaders forget everything about us. The CEO, Azeb Asnake, is talking about power selling to neighbouring countries. But what has she done regarding the grievances raised during her recent discussion with the people of Amhara? Should not this issue be given closer attention? Why the new transformers, people are complaining about, are not working properly? Why do EEP workers allegedly steal transformers and poles from one (destitute) place in a bid to fix them in to spots where they can get money from? Who is the responsible official to stop or fight against this daylight robbery? Or are these people at the top still fooling us by saying this is also a white lie?

The other thing is that we don’t read, in the interview, anything about the status of the old hydroelectric dams. We heard weeks back about the fire accident occurred at Ghibe II (?) Power Generation Dam. What is the current status? We hear people saying about the poor power generating capacity of Tekeze hydropower dam. What are the developments of the power plants? We have not been provided with the latest information in this regard. Can you hear me? …  I went through the interview with those thoughts in my mind.

I believe EEP is concerned about the tariff increment to be imposed on the customers. By the way, I don’t feel like using the diplomatic term ‘adjustment’.  No need to beat about the bush. It is a tariff increment; not an adjustment! We are surprised to hear about the news of tariff increment while there is no fair and satisfactory service provision. EEP is supposed to collect birr seven billion per month from customers who are crying over its poor and unfair services. Currently this famous company is amassing in a month birr six billion. So, the thing is that EEP is concerned not about service improving or upgrading but about the benefit it is gaining in terms of revenue. Therefore, what I understand from my reading is that the tariff increment is meant to help EEP do its assignment of hitting the revenue target of securing over birr seven billion on monthly basis. But what are the things it is planning to give in return to the customers?

This piece was written before Engineer Azeb was replaced by a new CEO.

End item

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Bekalu Atnafu Taye (Kotebe Metropolitan University)

Federalism as an ideology, like socialism, communism and liberalism, is a pragmatic term which refers to the sharing of power among autonomous units and is considered to advocate the values of ‘unity in diversity’ or ‘shared rule and self-rule’ (Watts 2008:1) and to give regions some authority of their own. In his definition of federalism, Watts (2008:9) suggested that a federal system of government is one in which there is a division of power between one general and several regional authorities, each of which acts directly through his own administrative agencies. From the theoretical stand-point, the importance of a federal system, as shared by all political theories of federalism, is the sharing of power among regional states. This division of power may lead to the extinction of tyrannical regimes.

The other reason why a federal form of government is chosen over a unitary form is to accommodate divergent local interests that cannot bear centralised rule (Alemante 2003:85). Owing to this, a federal system of government as a solution was high on the agenda during the early phase of post-colonial politics in Africa as potential ways to reconcile unity and diversity. Unfortunately, however, such attempts ended up being rather short-lived experiments (Erk 2014). Those countries which exercised federal systems for a short while and stopped having them were Congo (1960-1965), Kenya (1963-1965) Uganda (1962-1966) Mali (1959), and Cameroon (1961-1972). Federalism’s track record as a source of instability and secession might well counsel against choosing this form of government for Sub-Saharan African states (Alemante 2003:85). Considering the negative experiences, a number of African countries have ignored a federal system of government. This is because the socio-cultural set-up of the African states is so hybrid in terms of identity, language and religion that the existing social realities might not entertain the federal model. The most striking feature of African identities and communities was their fluidity, heterogeneity and hybridity; a social world of multiple, overlapping and alternate identities with significant movement of peoples, intermingling of communities and cultural and linguistic borrowing (Berman 2010:2).

Notwithstanding such scepticism, three countries in Africa (Ethiopia, South Africa and Nigeria) have chosen a federal form of government so as to accommodate ethnic diversity. But there are significant points of departures among the three federal governments of Africa in their degree given to ethnicity. The Nigerian federal structure is to give legitimacy to territory over ethnicity by distributing the core population of each ethnic group in several states and thus the Nigeria’s federal structure helps avoid the crystallisation of ethnic identity around a particular territory (Alemante 2003:100). The South African constitution-makers rejected the claims of certain ethnic groups to self-governing status on the basis of their distinctive ethnic identity, whereas the organisation of the Ethiopian state is founded upon ethnic federalism, which uses ethnic groups as units of self-government (Alemante 2003:78).

Seen from the perspectives of South Africa’s and Nigeria’s federal structures, Ethiopia’s federal arrangement is highly ethnocentric. Implementing the federal system of government on the idea of ethno-nationalism, as shown in Ethiopia, could worsen the matter. To put the idea more precisely, ethno-nationalism, a belief claiming the distinctiveness of a particular people and their right to self-rule in their homeland, exacerbates community clashes which become tribalism. Therefore, in order to defend a non-ethnic federal system and to promote the welfare of the society, the Ghanaian Constitution (Article 55:4) strictly prohibits any political party organised on the basis of ethnic ground. Contrary to Ghanaian Constitution, the EPRDF’s Constitution encourages the formation of ethnic political party. Owing to this, since the advent of ethnic federalism that politicised tribal identity, there have been a number of conflicts, cases of ethnic cleansing and unspeakable crimes committed against humanity in the country; and all these have taken place without fair responses from the ‘EPRDF/TPLF government’. Ethnic politics generates hostility amongst Ethiopia’s different ethnic groups that hinders group interaction and entails ethnic conflicts. Due to the policy of the ruling party, mutual suspicion and hostility causing ethnic cleansing and conflict are bound to emerge among the various ethnic groups even at the present time.

In light of the above, we, Ethiopians, expect Lemma Megresa’s team or Dr. Abiy Ahmed’s administration to throw the TPLF’s ideology of ethnic federalism and to introduce a new administrative scheme in Ethiopia.

References

Alemante, G. Selassie 2003. Ethnic federalism: Its promise and pitfalls for Africa. The Yale Journal of International Law, 28 (51), pp. 51-107.

Berman, Bruce 2010. Ethnicity and democracy in Africa. Tokyo, Japan International Cooperation Agency Research Institute.

Erk, Jan 2014. Federalism and decentralization in Sub-Saharan Africa: Five patterns of evolution. Journal of African Affairs, 24 (5), pp. 535-552.

Ethiopia 1994. Constitution of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia. Available from :< http://www.wipo.int/edocs/lexdocs/laws/en/et/et007en.pdf>[Accessed 9 September 2015].

Ghana 1992. The Constitution of the Republic of Ghana. Available from :< https://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/republic/constitution>[Accessed 10 June 2015].

Watts, Ronald 2008. Comparing federal systems. London, McGill-Queen’s University Press.

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By Nizar Manek
2August 22, 2018,
Bloomberg

• Harbor could be used to ferry fertilizer exports from new mine
• Construction of potash mine may start later this year

Eritrea is considering building a port on its Red Sea coastline to export potash from deposits being developed in the Horn of Africa nation, a mines ministry official said.

Plans for the harbor signal the country’s reemergence as a potential investor destination after its surprise rapprochement with neighboring Ethiopia last month ended two decades of political tensions. The facility could be used to ship potash from Ethiopia and adds to a series of port developments in the strategically located region by nations including Djibouti, Somalia, Sudan and the self-declared Republic of Somaliland.

The port would be situated at the Bay of Anfile, 75 kilometers (47 miles) east of the 1.2 billion-metric-ton Colluli potash deposit, Alem Kibreab, director-general of mines in the Ministry of Energy and Mines, said in an interview in the capital, Asmara. A feasibility study is under way to decide on the specific site, with the start of construction envisaged about five years after a mine starts operating there, he said.

The mine will be operated by Colluli Mining Share Co., jointly owned by Danakali Ltd. of Australia and the state-owned Eritrean National Mining Co. Colluli contains deposits of high-grade fertilizers suitable for use on fruit and coffee trees and vegetables, according to Danakali’s website. It’s situated in the Danakil Depression, a geological area that stretches into Ethiopia and is regarded as an “emerging potash province,” the company said.

Danakali expects construction of the $320 million mine to start later this year, Chairman Seamus Cornelius said by phone from London. The company is engaging bankers to secure funding for construction of the mine, he said.

“Those discussions have accelerated” following the recent rapprochement between Eritrea and Ethiopia, he said. “With the rapid changes and the rapid improvement in the geopolitical situation, things we weren’t thinking were possible in the past are now possible.”

Eritrea gained independence from Ethiopia a quarter of a century ago. The two countries had been at odds since a 1998-2000 war that claimed as many as 100,000 lives and have each harbored rebels hostile to their neighbor. Last month, they agreed to implement a long-delayed peace agreement that ended the conflict.

Existing Port

Construction of the mine is expected to take about two years, before the start of production that will eventually rise to 472,000 tons per year, Cornelius said. Output initially will be shipped from the existing Eritrean port of Massawa, which has sufficient capacity to handle the mine’s exports but is further away than Anfile, he said.

Alem said Anfile could be used by potash projects being developed in Ethiopia as an export route, instead of Djibouti, which is farther away. Oslo-based Yara International ASA plans to establish a $700 million potash plant near the Eritrean border, while British Virgin Islands-registered Circum Minerals Potash Ltd. has a mining license there covering 365 square kilometers (141 square miles).

Reopening an Ethiopian road network to Massawa and development programs along the border are priorities for Ethiopia’s government, Eritrean state media reported on July 11, citing Ethiopian Information Minister Ahmed Shide. In 2015, the government adopted a logistics strategy to use multiple regional ports to improve external trade.

Djiboutian ports authority Chairman Aboubaker Omar Hadi said the country’s Chinese-built Tadjourah port is expected to start potash exports by the start of 2020 and is in talks with exporters like Yara. A 128-kilometer road linking the port to the Ethiopian border is scheduled to open in January, he said.

“It’s a no-brainer that if you could have a port there and potash on the Ethiopian side, obviously you will choose that port,” Alem said. “Before the peace came, that was an impossibility.”

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by Sora Halake

https://www.satenaw.com/us-delegation-visits-ethiopia-to-discuss-reforms-human-rights/A U.S. delegation is heading to Ethiopia on Wednesday to talk about the country’s reform efforts since Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed took office in April.

Republican Congressman Christopher Smith, who led the congressional delegation, said he “is cautiously optimistic” about the political reforms in the country.

In an interview with VOA’s Horn of Africa, Smith says he will meet Prime Minister Abiy and Foreign Minister Affairs Minister Workineh Gebeyehu and push for continued reforms, as well as reinforcing human rights issues.

“We are going to meet with him [prime minister] and encourage him and try to get our own sense of how well the reform process is moving,” Smith said.

The congressman is the architect of H.R. 128, legislation condemning human rights abuses in Ethiopia and outlining a number of reforms that Ethiopia must take to promote peace and democracy. The resolution was passed in the House of Representatives earlier this year.

A wake of reforms

Since Abiy took office in April, Ethiopia has instituted reforms including releasing political prisoners, diluting state control of the economy, and making peace with northern neighbor Eritrea after two decades of hostility.

A 41-year-old former intelligence officer, Abiy came to power after his predecessor resigned earlier this year amid protests of abuses by security forces and public anger over perceived ethnic marginalization of many groups in the racially diverse country.

Smith said the delegation plans to press for “the release of all political prisoners, freedom of the press, the history of forced disappearances, accountability for past abuses committed against civilians, and an end to torture and all human rights abuses.”

These reforms, the congressman said, will only strengthen the country, “and we stand in solidarity with the Ethiopian people in pushing to promote these rights.”

Besides top officials, the U.S. delegation will also meet with religious and civic leaders, and journalists. Their talks are to focus on human rights and democracy in Ethiopia.

Smith confirmed to VOA’s Horn of Africa service that the government of Ethiopia has begun amending the Anti-Terrorism Proclamation with input from opposition parties.

Critics of the law argue it has criminalized dissent, saying the 2009 law’s broad definitions have been used indiscriminately against anyone who opposes government policy. Among its provisions, anyone convicted of publishing information deemed to encourage terrorism could receive a jail term of up to 20 years.

Border issues

The delegation also will discuss border issues between Somali and Oromia states, where thousands are displaced and hundreds have been killed.

The violence is said to be the biggest domestic challenge facing the country’s reformist prime minister. When he took office, Abiy ended a military stalemate with neighboring Eritrea and extended an olive branch to dissidents overseas. However, violence at the border continues.

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August 24, 2018

The Ethiopian Diaspora Trust Fund Advisory Council (Council) is pleased to acknowledge the statement issued by the Office of the Prime Minister of Ethiopia on August 9, 2018 announcing the formation of the Council to promote, support and coordinate Ethiopian diaspora engagement in development efforts in Ethiopia.

On various occasions, Prime Minister Dr. Abiy Ahmed has challenged Diaspora Ethiopians to lend their financial support to critical, vital and unmet development needs in Ethiopia by donating USD$1. He has also publicly stated that the Trust Fund “money will not be part of the government budget. It will be administered through its own board.”

The response to Prime Minister Abiy’s challenge has been overwhelmingly positive throughout the Ethiopian Diaspora.

The members of the Council are committed to using their diverse expertise and talents to ensure a successful outcome for the Fund. This will not be accomplished by Prime Minister Abiy and the Advisory Council alone, but through our collective efforts and commitments to help our country. We hope to make an announcement of new Council members in the near future reflecting the collective commitment of diaspora  Ethiopian communities.

As part of its essential tasks, the Council is developing a comprehensive and robust accountability and transparency structure for the Fund. The Council believes the Fund is most likely to be successful if contributors, beneficiaries and other stakeholders have a clear understanding of the Fund’s objectives and how it will be administered, managed, implemented and reported. One important element of accountability is the establishment of an independent board to oversee the Fund. The Council will adopt best practices to ensure a high level of accountability and transparency in the implementation of the Fund.

The Council is aware that contributors in the Ethiopian Diaspora have diverse views about how their contributions should be used to address development needs in our country. The Council aims to systematically seek and incorporate the diverse views of the Ethiopian Diaspora in identifying the range of development efforts to be supported by the Fund.

The Council is acutely aware of the great enthusiasm and commitment of Diaspora Ethiopians to make their contributions now. Many have asked why they simply cannot deposit their contributions into a bank account.

The Council wishes Ethiopian diaspora supporters of the Fund to be aware of the legal and regulatory compliance requirements in setting up the Fund.

We are working with multiple financial institutions across the globe to ensure maximize the highest rate of return for the contributions made by Diaspora Ethiopians to the Fund. We do this by making sure we follow all legal requirements for all countries, including Ethiopia, are met and the proper processes and controls are put in place for money transfers. The Council shall do its best to get all account setup completed as soon as possible.  We appreciate the patience of the Ethiopian Diaspora as we endeavor to set up the Fund properly.

The Council must also meet requirements of U.S. federal and state laws which govern the operation of charitable organizations.It takes time to process applications and secure regulatory approval.

The Council is also working on a variety of other tasks, including governance structures and processes for the Fund.

We ask the Diaspora Ethiopian community to continue to bear with us and understand that we are giving our best efforts to get the Fund on line as soon as possible.

In the meantime, the Council respectfully asks Ethiopian Diaspora supporters of the Fund to hold their first month’s contributions in reserve until next month when we shall provide an update.

The Council shall provide regular updates on its work through press releases, a new official website to launch in the foreseeable future and other media channels.

The Council is aware of various individual and group efforts to independently create and manage a separate Diaspora Fund. The Council wishes Ethiopian Diaspora supporters of the Fund to know that it has no connection or associations with such independent efforts or undertakings. We hope such individuals and groups will collaborate with us once we announce the official launch of the Fund.

The Council operates on the principle that doing it right the first time is more prudent than rushing into doing something for the sake of expediency and going back and fixing it.

The Council wishes to thank all Ethiopian Diaspora supporters of the Fund for their extraordinary enthusiasm, dedication and commitment to the Fund. We pledge to do everything in our power to make sure the Fund is operational at the earliest possible opportunity.

Alemayehu G. Mariam, Chair of the Council

Contact: EDTF2018@gmail.com

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By Assegid Habtewold[1]

I’ve not yet watched the Press Release (PR) Abiy gave this morning. However, I was given a short clip taken from the PR where he was talking about why mega projects are failing in Ethiopia. He is right on the money. He pinpointed the culprit- the country’s lack of capacity to implement the principles of Project Management.

This is not the first time he was lamenting about it. A couple of months ago, I remember Abiy talking to the business community where he emphasized the need to build the country’s project management capacity. Again, after three months, this is still a ‘deadly’ issue that took a fair amount of his time to explain. I feel him. The country must give it a priority and, most importantly, do something about it.

As someone who has the PMP certification (Project Management Professional) from the globally recognized Project Management Institute (PMI) and a facilitator who conducts project management workshops to some government agencies and major corporations, I fully understand why this competency is very crucial to any organization or nation. My clients invest thousands of dollars not only to empower their project managers alone but also all team members and other stakeholders. It’s not enough just to have well equipped PMP holders and project managers at the top who understand the in and outs of project management. It also takes to introduce the principles of project management to all parties involved so that they may play their respective roles toward the success of the projects they are part of directly or indirectly.

The first place to tackle this challenge, nonetheless, is to increase the awareness of key stakeholders- especially politicians and decision makers- concerning the critical place of project management. It’s easy to come up with ambitious ideas and launching mega projects.

Past governments had failed again and again for the same reason because they just had the ambition. They didn’t have the awareness about the critical roles project management principles play and the importance of building the capacity of the country in this regard. They were launching mega projects without making sure first whether the country has the capacity (the ability to initiate, implement, and monitor, and successfully complete projects). They also lacked the continuous commitment to give it their priority. The latter is very vital. Having the awareness and the capacity to initiate, implement, and successfully completing projects is never enough. The leadership’s commitment throughout the life cycles of these mega projects is imperative.

The good news is that, now, the new PM has the awareness and the political will. What is lacking is taking concrete steps to build the project management competency of the nation one step at a time. Otherwise, without strictly following Project Management principles to initiate, design, implement, monitor, evaluate, and successfully close the ongoing and future projects, the country will continue to suffer and waste its scarce resources.

This is a serious gap and the nation cannot afford to continue to lack this project management capacity and experience continual setbacks. For that matter, the lack of this competency not only endangers resources as mega projects fail and drag their legs, the ongoing change cannot succeed and remain sustainable without the full understanding of Project Management Principles from top to bottom and without building the capability of key stakeholders who initiate, execute, monitor, and evaluate projects.

What is more? The magnitude of the change the new administration intends to implement demands initiating and implementing many small, medium, and large projects within various sectors. Thus, this competency must be given a priority. And therefore, the new administration should begin investing in this desperately needed capacity as soon as possible…

[1] Dr. Assegid Habtewold is the author of Unchain Your Greatness- the book dedicated to Dr. Abiy Ahmed. The book is available on Amazon. Assegid can be reached at ahabtewold@yahoo.com

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In first press conference since taking office in April, Abiy Ahmed also says 2020 election will be free and fair.

The World Bank will provide $1bn in direct budget support to Ethiopia in the next few months, the prime minister has said, more than 13 years after the body and other donors suspended budgetary help over a disputed election in 2005.

Speaking on Saturday at his first press conference since taking power in April, Abiy Ahmedcredited his government’s economic and political changes for the development.

“This is due to the reforms taking place in the country,” he said, vowing to continue with dramatic transformation “at any cost”.

Abiy also said the longtime ruling Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) coalition, which controls all 547 seats in Ethiopia’s parliament, will soon prepare for a “free and fair election” in 2020.

“My dream is that doubts about the ballot box will disappear,” he said, saying the vote would not be delayed and promising a peaceful transfer of power if he loses.

Eritrea’s President Isaias Afwerki (R) and Abiy (L) ended 25 years of animosity [Reuters]

Since his election the 42-year-old has overseen a number of changes, including restoring diplomatic ties with neighbouring Eritrea after two decades, pledging to open up state-owned companies to outside investment and releasing thousands of prisoners.

The reforms have been praised by the international community and attracted investors interested in one of Africa’s fastest-growing economies.

Recent ethnic unrest in various parts of Ethiopia, however, has dampened the initial jubilation and posed a major challenge to the new prime minister.

“There are groups that are working in unison to cause chaos in different parts of the country,” Abiy told reporters. “They are triggering peoples’ emotions to this end.”

About 2.8 million people have been displaced by the unrest, according to the United Nations.

“But this didn’t happen due to the reforms,” Abiy said.

He said the unrest in the eastern Somali region has calmed, but measures will be taken against former officials. They include the region’s former President Abdi Mohammed Omar.

Internet cuts

Asked about internet cuts in the region following the unrest, an unpopular tactic widely used by the previous government, Abiy appealed for understanding and said it might have saved lives.

“But curbing access to information and cutting the internet is not the way forward,” he added, urging youth to use it responsibly.

Abiy in recent months has also welcomed a number of once-exiled opposition figures and groups back to Ethiopia and invited them to join in the political conversation.

But on Saturday he drew the line at former military dictator Colonel Mengistu Hailemariam, who overthrew the last Ethiopian emperor, Haileselassie, in 1974 and eventually was sentenced to life for spearheading a “Red Terror” that killed tens of thousands of people.

He fled the country in 1991 as rebels, who now make up the ruling coalition, approached the capital.

Some Ethiopians have called on Abiy to offer Mengistu amnesty after a rare photo of him in exile in Zimbabwe went viral early this month.

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By:  Afrasa Zamanel (Ph.D.) and Messay Dejene (Ph.D.)

The horrendous atrocities the terrorist organization, TPLF, has meted out against Ethiopians, particularly Amaras is unparalleled in history, save the Jewish holocaust. Emboldened by the overt and covert support it received from its handlers, the ethnocentric outfit that represents a mere 5% of Ethiopia’s population invaded Ethiopia in the wake of the collapse of the resented junta which was at the helm of power. Woyanes have perpetrated gruesome atrocities including spates of genocides across the length and breadth of the country with impunity. Kidnapping and assassination even beyond our borders, has been its national pastime.  The recent murders of a two patriotic Ethiopians, one, a refugee in South Africa, the other, the distinguished engineer in-charge of the construction of what is touted as the largest dam on the Nile, attest to this fact. The flight of the chief of Woyanes security implicated in the grenade attack to assassinate premier Abiy, speaks volumes about them.

It would be tedious to catalogue the atrocities which the members of this terrorist organization have unleashed against Ethiopians. TPLF/Woyane is perhaps, the first terrorist organization in the world that has concocted a constitution legitimizing the extermination of an entire race, the unsuspecting Amara people. Consequently, it has done away with six million of them.

The threat of secessionists was the very reason why Ethiopians endured the horrible former military regime. They tolerated the brutalities of the military regime which was fighting the dreaded secessionists including Woyanes.  As fate would have it, what Ethiopians had dreaded most and have sacrificed much to avert, came to pass. The junta collapsed after 17 years of mismanaging the country, having prepared the ground for the contemptible breed of Yemeni Tigres to invade it.

Ethiopia, thus fell into the hands of secessionists namely, the Eritrean Liberation Front, its brainchild the Tigre Liberation Front and the subservient junior partner, the Oromo Liberation Front.

Ignoring the backgrounds of these constitutionally treacherous people who were brought from Yemen as indentured labourers over a thousand years ago, we allowed them to fester in our midst. We let them entrench so that these virtual aliens could undo our county by ceding Eritrea, dismantling the armed forces, the educational system, the civil service and wreak the fabric of the society by pitting one group against another, and all against Amaras, their former masters. No Ethiopians, ever suspected that the horde of Tigres would prove to be so inimical to everything Ethiopian. Their deliberate and malicious barring of millions our Oromifa-speaking children from learning Amharic, was one of their wanton acts of destruction.

As injustice will always be challenged, the nation’s resolve to deal with the mortal enemies, has begun in earnest. Unbeknown to them, poor Woyane Tigres, have disturbed the hornet’s nest.

Indeed, the brave children of the aggrieved nation are up in arms to liberate their country from these wicked mercenaries who in any other country would be consigned to the gallows for high treason. That is why the struggle to rout out the incorrigible enemies is poised to proceed unrelentingly.

The Amaras, of whom some 6 million have quietly been exterminated at the behest of Tigre Woyanes, are certainly in no mood to brook such incomprehensibly brutal, cowardly and cold-blooded atrocities any longer.  Their conduct has shown them to be nothing but an inferior breed of third rate humans, no better than inebriated animals.

Woyanes annexation of neighbouring territories

The greedy horde had no qualms when they invaded others’ lands by violating the inviolable natural boundary, like the Tekezie River.  The fascist Tigre Woyane occupation forces in their insatiable desire to plunder, have also annexed territories ranging from the lowest place on earth in Afar, to the highest, in the Amara heartland. And of course, they have not spared regions in between including a big swathe of Wollo.

The Tigre clergy which has desecrated holy institutions, is as Godless, corrupt and rotten as the Woyane thugs themselves.  The appointment of the lecherous, late patriarch who ordered the cold-blooded massacre of 29 clerics in Gondar was followed by the murder of some 11 innocent Muslim worshippers in the grand Anwar Mosque.  The more recent desecration of Waldiba monastery where its nuns and monks were molested by Tigre rapists, speaks volumes about the nature of these creatures. Their beastly conduct defies description.

Who said Axumite Civilization had anything to do with Tigres?

Axum’s history by the way, is Ethiopia’s history before the advent of Tigres who came from Yemen. On the few occasions TPLF/Woyane’s half-witted Meles Zenawi, spoke the truth, he had admitted Tigres’Yemeni heritage. Yet, he had the audacity to bluntly tell the nation that the glory of Axum had nothing to do with non-Tigreans. This innately perverted grandson of a mercenary cannot be expected to relent to truth. For that matter, Amaras, Agaws, Gammos, Keffas, Sidamas, Somalis, Afars, Wolaita, Kembata, Gurages and other ancient Ethiopians have got a lot more to do with Axum than the Meles’s ‘golden race’, the slaves from Yemen. There is absolutely no reference to Tigres in old Axum or anywhere in the region they now live in

Not that it matters much, but the fact remains that Tigres, have nothing to do with old Axum.  For the record, even the appellation, Axum is derived from two Amharic words ‘Ager’ and ”Shum”, meaning the governor of a country.  It was our Agaw forebears and Amaras who founded Axum several thousand years before migrant Tigre tribes from Yemen were imported to serve the Ethiopian nobility. In other words, the ancestors of Tigres migrated from Yemen as domestics of Ethiopian kings, several centuries after the Axum obelisks were erected. Therefore, TPLF’s claim to Axumite civilization is a figment of their sterile imagination. Indeed, Tigres are carbon copies of their Yemeni cousins in many ways.

Yemenis and Tigres are the only people in the world who relish locust, that voracious insect, pretty objectionable to people with civilized sensibilities. Both are noted for their brashness, greed, vulgarity and condescending attitude towards women. One of the writers, (AZ) has a first-hand experience, having worked in Yemen for a close to a decade.

Indeed, Meles too had asserted the Yemen origins of Tigres every time he knelt in front of his Arab overlords with his begging bowl during his days as a rebel leader.

Woyanes, the reviled descendants of indentured slaves

Besides, Meles and his TPLF officials are all descendants of unrepentant mercenary Tigres who fought Ethiopians alongside Italians, twice in forty years. The venal lot have also been instrumental in the British invasion of Ethiopia some 150 years ago where they served as porters, spies and guides.  True to his uncompromising spirit, the brave Emperor Tewedros, turned his gun on himself instead of surrendering to the contemptible imperialists who entered his empire with the support of Tigres.

Demeqe Zewdu, a reincarnation of Tewedros, is cognizant of this history when he gunned down a host of terrorist Tigres who had come to Gondar in disguise to abduct him two years ago.

Woyane Tigres, according to Gebremedhin Araya, a former member of TPLF, are a repugnant lot sired by despised mercenaries. It is perhaps this blight in Woyane’s past that has created a profound sense of inferiority in them.

The crude, rude and seemingly supremacist outbursts which the rank and file Woyanes used to make until they were recently deflated, emanates from the deep-seated and irrevocable sense of inadequacy.  So, no wonder that Meles glibly bragged publicly that he prided himself for having been born to the ‘golden Tigre race’. Although his repugnant utterances have no merit, no Tigre ever rebuffed him.

Woyanes ludicrous claim that Adwa’s victory was theirs alone

The Woyanes are capable of denying even the very obvious. Yes, they had the courage to claim that the victory of Adwa was theirs’s alone. The facts however, are different.  We need look no further than just consulting Italian archives to debunk such ludicrous claims.

Ras Mengesha, the leader of Tigray, could not muster to field more than 3,000 men at the battle of Adwa. Yet, at least 70,000 Tigres had been in Italian uniform to fight the motherland. Empress Taitu alone had managed to garner 5,000 men under her command.

In essence, the combat role of Tigres in Adwa was negligible. Of course, the great Ras Alula Abba Negga and Awalom, were more of an exception. The latter, who provided decisive intelligence and Alula will always be remembered in the annals of Ethiopia’s history.

A quick glance at the manpower strength of the combatants, is illustrative.   Ras Mekonen of Harar fielded a formidably trained army of 25,000.  Wollo’s Ras Michael’s battle-hardened army was in upwards of 16,000 men, including his 5,000 horsemen who mesmerized the Italians with their dazzling display of gallantry.

In short, the victory of Adwa was the sum total of the valour of our ancestors who converged in Adwa from across the whole nation, rallying behind their beloved leader, Menelik. They came from Afar, Arsi, Balle, Benshangul, Gammo Gofa, Wolaita, Gurage, Harar (including Ogaden), Keffa, Begemdir, Simeien, Wollo, Gojam, Welega, Sidamo, Hadiya, Illubabor, Keffa, Kembatta, the mighty Shoa contingent consisting of Amara, Oromo, and Gurages. It was this army of fierce patriots who mowed down the 14,000 or so imperialist invaders in a day. Having done so, they brought glory to the motherland, a glory never ever bestowed upon any people of colour before. Despicable Woyanes have dared to appropriate our glorious victory at the battle of Adwa in which their ancestors had a shameful history. Italian archives reveal that almost all of the Italian black army consisted of treasonous Tigres.

The gallant patriots who fought at Adwa with such courage and valour were none other than Ethiopians whom Menelik had just reunited, some forcefully. Had there been any hostile sentiment towards him, our brave ancestors, the Mekonens, the Gobenas, the Balchas, the Habte Abba Mellas, the Gebeyehus, the Kawo Tonas, the Shogeles, the Morodas, etc would have rebelled against Menelik. But, their loyalty to their monarch was total contrary to renegade Woyanes’ claim.

It is in spite of such glaring evidence that Woyane Tigres and some semi-literate OLF elites like Negaso, the Lencho Lettas etc unjustly demonize the blameless Menelik today.

Tigres’ secession, should be blessing in disguise.

Finally, an honest interrogation of our recent past is necessary to chart our future.  Ethiopia’s last fifty years reveals a horrible history riddled with turmoil largely stemming from arid Tigrai although Tigres had been the most privileged entity, judging by all conventional development indices.

Over the last 44 years alone, millions of lives were lost and our country turned destitute. Some of the nation’s brightest sons and daughters perished under the guise of fighting for EPRP, itself, the brainchild of secessionist Tigres. The decades of war which Ethiopia waged to counter the secessionists, has brought the nation nothing but misery. If Ethiopians indeed, knew the horribly vile nature of Woyanes Tigres, they would have said, ‘’good riddance’’, long ago. We hope, Yemen welcomes them!

Woyanes are a perfect enemy. And like their Italian masters they divided our country along spurious linguistic lines, annexed a vast swathe of Afar, Gondar, Wollo and imposed a violent brand of Tigre apartheid.

The TPLF never relented from pursuing its goal of fragmenting a nation of over 100 million Ethiopians, until the current uprising halted it.

Woyanes thrived mainly on the contrived differences of Amaras and Oromos who are in the main, the architects of modern Ethiopia. To galvanize the concocted inter-ethnic hostility, Woyanes conducted a spate of massacres across the whole county. Even on their deathbed, they are busy spilling the blood of Ethiopians through their agents by fanning inter-communal violence. The latest massacre of over 120 Amaras, Oromos, Gurages and others in Ogaden, the destruction of 10 churches and monasteries, as well as the flight of over 10,000 Ethiopians to neighbouring countries in the last couple of days, is a case in point.

At long last, the collapse of the artificial wedge which the enemy Woyane laid between the two largest linguistic groups, the main architects of modern Ethiopia, has fomented the wave of national upheaval. that brought the likes of Abiy Ahmed to the fore.   The enemy that has confiscated the lives of many Christians to blame it on Muslims and declared war on our two major religions, the Ethiopian Orthodox Church and Islam, is now on the brink of collapse.

As Ethiopia’s liberation is in the offing, we need to think of the destiny of our country, our children, their children and their grandchildren.

Let us muster the courage to envisage our country, Ethiopia without the racist Woyane Tigres. Tigres have literally seceded in form and substance, as the past 27 years have demonstrated. We believe, Ethiopia’s best interest is served better if Ethiopians humbly bid the ‘golden race’, a gracious farewell.

If 99% of Tigres outside Ethiopia lend support to the Woyanes, it is ludicrous to assume that Tigres living in Ethiopia would be any different. We are not in any way questioning the boundless patriotism of the suppressed minorities in Tigrai such as Kunamas, Erobs etc.

Our plea to fellow Ethiopians is one of realism. We should delightfully accede to TPLF and its constituency, their wish to hoist their own flag, wherever that may be. Of course, the territory they call Tigrai, is the home of the indigenous people of northern Ethiopia, the Agaws, Amaras, the Bejas, as are the recently annexed territories in Afar, Benshangul, Gondar and Wollo.

Long live the motherland!!

The authors are consultant engineers.

The post A viewpoint: Tigres’ secession is a blessing in disguise. appeared first on Satenaw: Ethiopian News & Breaking News: Your right to know!.

By Al Mariam

For Shakespeare’s Hamlet, the question was, “To be or not to be.”

For me, the question is “medemer or not medemer.”

Hamlet, perplexed in the extreme about his own fate, pondered “Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer/ The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,/ Or to take arms against a sea of troubles/…

I, also perplexed in the extreme about the fate of Ethiopia, ponder why some people who proclaim their love for Ethiopia choose not to help Abiy Ahmed, Lemma Megerssa and Gedu Andargachew as the do all of the heavy lifting in transitioning Ethiopia from dictatorship to democracy.

It appears some people prefer to stand on the sidelines and carp and whine about why the troika  have not solved all of Ethiopia’s problems in five months.

If all the whining windbags on the sidelines would put their shoulders to the wheel and noses to the grindstone, it may be possible to solve all of Ethiopia’s problems overnight. But they think they can heave “Poof!” and solve all of Ethiopia’s problems with hot air.

In 2018, Abiy Lemma and Gedu deflected many slings and arrows of outrageous misfortune, prevented a civil war and transformed an Ethiopia in a deep sea of troubles into an Ethiopia in incredible sea-change.

Six months ago, I trembled in cold sweat watching Ethiopia inching to a creeping civil war. Today, I rejoice in the fact that God has smiled on Ethiopia and steered her away from civil war to civil peace, civil government, civility and civil reconciliation.

I give full credit to Abiy Ahmed, Lemma Megerssa and Gedu Andargachew for their extraordinary work in transforming a sure-fire civil war into an abundance of civil peace, despite the diabolical shenanigans of the Forces of Darkness.

In a recent speech, Prof. Mesfin Woldemariam, the stalwart of Ethiopian human rights, said at this moment in Ethiopia’s history, the only question is whether to help Abiy Ahmed, Lemma Megerssa and their team or to forfeit the chance and once again face the abyss.

Over the past several months, I have been asking the same question in a different form: Ask not what Abiy Ahmed, Lemma Megerssa and Gedu Andargachew can do for Ethiopia, ask what you can do for Ethiopia.

In other words, both I and Prof. Mesfin are asking everyone to share in the heavy lifting by doing our small part. We are asking everyone to practice what Abiy Ahmed calls “Medemer” or help each other as a core element of our Ethiopiawinet.

The enormous job of building the New Ethiopia is the responsibility of 100 million Ethiopians, not three individuals.

If only we could all pile up (“Medemer”) and do our little parts for the greater good of Ethiopia!

Ethiopians have an old saying. “If spiders’ web could be made into twine, it could tie up a lion.”  If thousands of spiders could come together for a common purpose (“Medemer) and work together, they could snag and bag that big ole king of the jungle.

If 100 million Ethiopians could only lend each other a hand (“Medemer”), they could uplift not only their country but also the world.

“Medemer” means to help each other. To help means to give a hand, not a handout but a hand up.

We have so much strength in our hands to help each other.

We pack enormous kinetic energy when we make a fist by simply bringing those puny fingers into a fist.

Ten fingers working together (“Medemer”) can change the world for good or bad. The surgeon holding a scalpel in his fingers saves life. The trigger finger on a gun takes life. The fingers of the artist, author and musician create beauty. The demagogue wags his finger to sow conflict and discord.

When 5 puny fingers come together (“Medemer”), they make a powerful fist. When 10 fingers multiplied 100 million times come together, they can lift up a country.

That is what Abiy Ahmed’s “Medemer” means to me. One billion fingers coming together to lift up Ethiopia out of the miry pit poverty, disease, ignorance and ethnic division and hate.

I hear the nattering nabobs of negativism downplay “Medemer” as “just a political slogan. It does not mean anything.” They are missing the point.

“Medemer” is simply practicing the principle of inclusiveness.

In South Africa, they call their inclusiveness  “Ubuntu” (I am because you are.” In other words, you are part of me and what happens to you affects me too.) For Mandela, Ubuntu is the “profound sense that we are human only through the humanity of others; that if we are to accomplish anything in this world it will in equal measure be due to the work and achievement of others.”

As far as I am concerned, Abiy Ahmed’s “Medemer” is no different than Mandela’s Ubuntu. “Medemer” is all about cooperation, collaboration, consultation, common cause, give-and take, partnership, alliance-building, team work, giving a hand up and creating synergy for the common good.

“Medemer” is also rooted in MLK’s idea of “solidarity and concern for the good of others” because we “are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality.” Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., said:

We must all learn to live together as brothers or we will all perish together as fools.  This is the great issue facing us today. No individual can live alone; no nation can live alone. We are tied together. We are tied together in the single garment of destiny, caught in an inescapable network of mutuality.  And whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly.  For some strange reason I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be.  This is the way God’s universe is made; this is the way it is structured.”

To me, that is all “Medemer” is all about: Being tied together in the single garment of destiny and being caught in an inescapable network of mutuality.

The alternative is to perish together as fools. How closely we came to perishing together as fools!

When we practice “Medemer”, we will be doing what Dr. King decreed: Walk together, work together, go to jail together, celebrate together, cry together, laugh together, pray together, sing together, and live together in peace until that day when all God’s children – Amhara, Oromo, Tigray, Somali, Gurage, Wolayita, Sidama, Afar and the other 75 or more groups of the Ethiopian family — will rejoice in one common band of humanity.

When we practice the inclusive politics of “Medemer”, in the poetic words of James Weldon Johnson, we

Lift every voice and sing,
Till earth and heaven ring,
Ring with the harmonies of Liberty;
Let our rejoicing rise
High as the list’ning skies,
Let it resound loud as the rolling sea.
Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us,
Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us;
Facing the rising sun of our new day begun,
Let us march on till victory is won…

When we develop a robust culture of inclusiveness, our identity becomes our humanity. We focus on what makes us human, and not a member of an ethnic group, religion or region.

When we practice “Medemer”, we rise up from our narrow ethnicity to our inclusive humanity or Ethiopianity.

When we practice inclusiveness or Ethiopiawinet, we no longer think in terms of “I, me, mine”.  We scale up to think about “We, us, ours” as human beings bound in a single garment of destiny called the New Ethiopia.

It is by being inclusive that we can create a peaceful and harmonious society where everyone feels they belong, which means they feel included.

When everyone feels included and becomes part of the Ethiopian family, “Medemer” becomes our song of faith, of hope, of freedom, of democracy, of equality, of justice.

“Medemer” ushers in our new day, our New Ethiopia, before the rising sun and becomes our anthem, not a slogan, as we march till victory is won.

Prof. Mesfin Woldemariam: The question is to help or not to help Abiy Ahmed, Lemma Megerssa and Team Abby-Lemma?

When Prof. Mesfin Woldemariam talks, most of us listen, and not necessarily because we agree with him. Many who disagree with him also listen. For many, he has been a teacher in the classroom and for many more an advocate-teacher in the courtroom of public opinion.

Prof. Mesfin is an inspiration to me.

To me, before he was a university professor, he was a professional dissenter. He has lived the hard, onerous and intellectually lonely life of the dissenter always speaking his truth to users, abusers, misusers and losers in power.

During his 88 years on the planet, all of the powers that be in Ethiopia have wagged their index fingers at him, clenched their fist in his face and pushed and shoved him in and out of jail. Like the indefatigable camel, he kept on walking. He kept on talking, teaching, preaching and outreaching as the dogs of state kept on barking and baring their teeth at him.

I was brought to tears when he told a gathering a few days ago [translated by author]:

… It is after such a long time that I have been invited to appear at a gathering like this. I am not the kind of person who is invited to attend gathering like this. The fact that I am invited to this event is testament to how much Ethiopia has changed. I thank you [for inviting me] not privately for myself but for Ethiopia. All of you who are here, just like me, perhaps are not the type who would have been invited to attend such a gathering. Today, we are here and so has Ethiopia.

The question now is how do we create an Ethiopia in which all of us will live in dignity, live peacefully, live proudly as Ethiopians. We are the ones who can make her so. To achieve this, we must purge self-centeredness from our character… We must unite and if do we will not go to bed hungry.

These days I have seen things I have not seen in my life. I am 88 years old. I have seen many governments since the time of the Italian invasion [1935]. Until this time when God has sent us the two people, Abiy Ahmed and Lemma Megerssa, whom I believe are Godsend to us from Heaven, [I had little hope]. These people have ideas, spirits and objectives they want to plant in the country. We must join them (Medemer) and strive to plant the same ideas, spirit and objectives. That is the question now. There is no other question. There is no question of self-centeredness. How do we help these people who have come with new aims plant their objectives in Ethiopia? How do we help them so that what they are doing lasts a long time, for our children and grandchildren? That is the question. We must help them plant those ideas and objectives for all Ethiopian citizens, not ethnicities. Personally, for however long time I have, I don’t know if I have one or two years, I pledge to help these people by doing everything I can do…

Prof. Mesfin and myself are arguably the first out of the gate in the human rights advocacy community to fully endorse and defend PM Abiy Ahmed.

In an Amharic commentary on April 22, 2018, Prof. Mesfin explained:

… Abiy is just starting. As he said himself, he is beginning to do his first task. He is just taking his first steps. Let alone running, he is barely walking. But it appears there are many standing in the shadows to ambush him. I believe he is crisscrossing the country to save our people from dangerous intrigues. In my estimation, those who are expressing bitter opposition against him could be transformed into becoming his supporters…

How true. Those who opposed Abiy Ahmed in the beginning are today his die-hard fans and cheerleaders.

I gave PM Abiy Ahmed my unconditional support in my 6,755-word open letter six days after he took office.

I supported him because I knew he would be facing a gathering storm of doubt, condemnation, skepticism, fear mongering, criticism, baseless accusations and enmity. I knew he needed help and fast. That is why I assured him from day 1, I have his back.

I also gave him a couple of useful pieces of advice I have followed in my life.

One advice comes from Mark Twain, the great American writer and humorist who said, “It’s not the size of the dog in the fight that determines the outcome, it’s the size of the fight in the dog.” That is how David defeated Goliath. Abiy too can prevail.

In my second piece of advice, I told him to heed an old adage about the devil and the storm. To those who say you are not strong enough to weather the storm, I want you to tell them, “I am the storm”. To those who do not believe you are the storm, tell them, “I am the calm in the eye of the storm.” To those who do not believe that, tell them, “Just wait and see Cheetahs raining down on you.”

Over the past seven months, Stormin’ Abiy has changed so many things, my head spins just thinking about it all.

Why we must help Abiy Ahmed, Lemma Megerssa and Gedu Andargachew (Team Abiy) in the heavy lifting to bring democracy to Ethiopia

Reason No. 1: To put it bluntly, Team Abiy is the best hope we have right now for freedom, democracy and human rights in Ethiopia. No question about it!

There are many politicians who talk big and blow smoke.

Abiy, Lemma and Gedu talk the talk and walk it too!

Seven months ago, Ethiopia was on the verge of civil war. Today, Ethiopia is basking in civil peace and freedom.

Reason No. 2: Team Abiy  saved the day. They saved us from the Day of Armageddon. They saved us all by preaching love and teaching us we must take the path of forgiveness and reconciliation because the other path leads only to destruction. We could have been cursed with rabble-rousers who preach the philosophy of “an eye for an eye”. If we had sought revenge instead of reconciliation, today Ethiopia would be a nation of 100 million blind people. Instead, we have 100 million bright-eyed people who believe  Ethiopia’s best days are yet to come!

Reason No. 3: Team Abiy is knocking down walls and building bridges. They are busting down the kilil mud walls one mud brick at a time.

In January 2011, I predicted, “When the mud walls of African dictatorships come tumbling down, the palaces of illusion behind those walls will vanish without a trace.” If Ethiopians and the rest of Africa is to have “hope of a better future, they will need to build a fortress of freedom impregnable to the slings and arrows of civilian dictators and the savage musketry of military juntas.”

In February 2013, I predicted how the end would come when the mud walls of ethnic dictatorship in Ethiopia come tumbling down.

The mud walls of dictatorship in Ethiopia have been exhibiting ever expanding cracks since the death of the arch architect of dictatorship Meles Zenawi sometime last summer. The irony of history is that the question is no longer whether Ethiopia will be like Humpty Dumpty as the ‘king’ and ‘king’s men’ have toiled to make her for two decades. The tables are turned. Despite a wall of impregnable secrecy, the ‘king’s men and their horses’ are in a state of disarray and dissolution. They lost their vision when they lost their visionary. The old saying goes, ‘in the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.’ Well, the king is no more; and the ‘king’s men and horses’ are lost in the wilderness of their own wickedness, intrigue and deception.

Are the Forces of Darkness today lost in the wilderness of their own wickedness, intrigue and deception?

In January 2013, I also predicted the rise of a new generation of Chee-Hippo bridge builders. I wrote the Cheetah (Abo Shemane, younger) generation of Abiy, Lemma and Gedu shall join hands with my Hippo (older) generation to “build bridges to connect people seeking democracy, freedom and human rights. They will build bridges across ethnic canyons and connect people stranded on islands of homelands (kilils). They will bridge the gulf of language, religion and region. They build bridges to link up the rich with the poor. They build bridges of national unity to harmonize diversity. They build bridges to connect the youth at home with the youth in the Diaspora. Chee-Hippos will build social and political networks to empower youth.

I believe that is exactly what is happening today. Chee-Hippos tearing down mud walls and building steel bridges.

Why I will help Team Abiy to the best of my ability

I have no political ambitions. Over the past 13 years, I have declared many times that I have nothing but contempt for those who hunger and thirst for power.

I support Abiy, Lemma and Gedu because they believe and practice the politics of inclusion.

I abhor the politics of exclusion, division, discrimination, dehumanization, repression and personal destruction.

I shall help them because I share their core beliefs.

First and foremost, they, like me, believe in EthiopiaWINet. We do not believe in EthiopiawiNOT.

In January 2012, I declared, “Choose your humanity before your ethnicity and nationality.”

But when my Ethiopiawinet was challenged, I taught the Forces of Darkness the meaning of Ethiopiawinet.

I believe I am the first person to ever issue a personal proclamation (of 5,544 words) declaring myself, “I, PROUD ETHIOPIAN” when my Ethiopiawinet was challenged by the Forces of Darkness.

Second, like me, Abiy, Lemma and Gedu believe in the rule of law. I was proud to see Prime Minster Abiy Ahmed yesterday teaching members of the press the practical meaning of rule of law. He said no one will be deprived of his/her right except with strict adherence to the rule of law. That is due process.

When he was asked about the delay in the release of information to the public on the status of the investigation of the June 23 bombing, PM Abiy demonstrated to the world that he means what he says and says what he means when he talks about the rule of law. He made no mention of those accused but discussed the professional aspects of the police investigative process.

Compare that with the rule by law of Meles Zenawi.

During the “terrorism” trial of Swedish journalists Johan Persson and Martin Schibbye in 2011, Meles Zenawi declared,

They are, at the very least, messenger boys of a terrorist organization. They are not journalists. Why would a journalist be involved with a terrorist organization and enter a country with that terrorist organization, escorted by armed terrorists, and participate in a fighting in which this terrorist organization was involved? If that is journalism, I don’t know what terrorism is.

Shortly thereafter, Persson and Schibbye were convicted and handed a long prison term.

PM Abiy, knowing full well that the suspects tried to kill him and were caught red handed, said absolutely nothing about their case because he knows the applicable rule of law, Art. 20(3) of the Ethiopian Constitution: “Accused persons have the right to be presumed innocent until proved guilty according to law.”

Third, like me, they believe in the power of love, nonviolence, forgiveness and reconciliation. In my very first public statement in July 2006, I declared, “I believe we prove the righteousness of our cause not in battlefields soaked in blood and filled with corpses, but in the living hearts and thinking minds of men and women of good will.” For me, from day 1, it has been a struggle for hearts and minds of Ethiopian men and women of good will. It has been about truth and reconciliation, first and foremost, in hearts and minds.

No one has ever won the hearts and minds of the people by using hate, violence and  revenge.

But Abiy Ahmed has won the hearts and minds of the Ethiopian people by preaching love, nonviolence, forgiveness and reconciliation. I challenge anyone to disprove me on this point!

When the power of love overcomes the love of power, Ethiopia shall have peace and not civil war, thanks to Abiy Ahmed!

Fourth, like me, they believe in inclusion. Having lived in America for nearly fifty years, I never felt excluded because I included myself in anything I wanted. In that, I felt like Ayn Rand’s character (founder of Objectivism, which champions individuality and self-reliance) in one of her novels who resonates the view, “The question isn’t who is going to let me; it’s who is going to stop me.” That is how I began my career of speaking truth to power where ever they may be.

Long before Barack Obama declared it,  I practiced and lived the politics of inclusion in my life: “There is not a liberal America and a conservative America—there is the United States of America. There is not a Black America and a White America and Latino America and Asian America—there’s the United States of America.”

That is exactly my politics of inclusive Ethiopiawinet. There is not an Oromoo Ethiopia, an Amhara Ethiopia, a Tigray Ethiopia… There is only ETHIOPIAWINET!

Fifth, I must confess Abiy, Lemma and Gedu are better than me. They are humble, unpretentious, soft-spoken, patient, modest, sincere and tolerant. That is great because I can learn so much from them. After seeing them in action, I have come down from my high horse and become one with the people of Ethiopia.

Dr. King said, “Every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or the darkness of destructive selfishness. Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others’?”

Nelson Mandela taught pretty much the same thing. “What counts in life is not the mere fact that we have lived. It is what difference we have made to the lives of others that will determine the significance of the life we lead.”

Every day, I see Abiy, Lemma and Gedu leading by example working for Ethiopian unity, peace and reconciliation.

We know what Abiy, Lemma and Gedu are doing for Ethiopia.  The question for all of us is, “What are we doing for our people? What positive difference are we making in their lives?”

My plea to the Hippo Generation to support Abiy Ahmed, Lemma Megerssa and Gedu Andargachew

I plead with those in my Hippo (older) Generation to rise up and help the Cheetah (Abo Shemane) Generation of Abiy Ahmed, Lemma Megerssa and Gedu Andargachew as they do all of the heavy lifting in transitioning Ethiopia from dictatorship in democracy.

I make my plea because I do not want our history to repeat itself.

I have this nagging, gnawing fear of history repeating itself in Ethiopia: We never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity!

I shall paraphrase President Abraham Lincoln’s speech  to Congress in December 1862, a month before he issued the Emancipation Proclamation, in making my closing argument:

Fellow-Ethiopians. We cannot escape history. We of the older generation will be remembered in spite of ourselves. No personal significance, or insignificance, can spare one or another of us. The fiery trial through which we pass, will light us down, in honor or dishonor, to the younger generation. We say we are for Ethiopia. The world will not forget that we say this. We know how to save Ethiopia. The world knows we do know how to save it. We hold the power and bear the responsibility.

Today, we shall nobly save, or meanly lose, the last best hope for peace, reconciliation and a bright future for Ethiopia. Other means and men and women may succeed. But this blessed journey we have begun with Abiy Ahmed, Lemma Megerssa and Gedu Andargachew cannot and must not fail because failure is not an option for us!

We MUST help and support Abiy Ahmed, Lemma Megerssa and Gedu Andargachew with all our hearts and minds!

Ethiopia’s destiny is in our hands

The solution to our problems is in each of our hands.

If we want to defeat our deadly enemies — poverty, disease, ignorance, ethnic division, strife and hate – once and for all, we must be inclusive, not exclusive, divisive, isolative, discriminative or destructive.

Legend has it that a little boy once caught a small bird and took it to an old man to trick him. He put the bird in his cupped palms and asked,  “Old man, can you guess what I have in my hands?” The old man replied, “You have a bird, my son.” The boy, disappointed  he could not trick the old man followed up, “If you’re so smart, now tell me is this bird alive or  dead?”

The old man paused for a while because he knew if he said the bird is alive, the boy  would squeeze his hands and crush the little bird to death. If he said the bird is  dead, then the boy would just open his hands and let the bird fly free. The old man replied, “Well, that is entirely up to you, my son. After all, the bird is in your hands.”

Ethiopia’s destiny is entirely in our hands, NOT in the hands of Abiy Ahmed, Lemma Megerssa and Gedu Andargachew.

Ethiopia will live or die based on what we do with our hands.

If we want Ethiopia to live forever and thrive, we have to give Abiy Ahmed, Lemma Megerssa and Gedu Andargachew a hand up in the heavy lifting.

We must join hands with them (Medemer) and lift Ethiopia out of poverty, disease, ignorance, ethnic strife and hatred.

We MUST all practice “Medemer” to let Ethiopia become free as a bird!

Medemer today.

Medemer tomorrow.

Medemer forever!

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.

Prof. Mariam played a central advocacy role in the passage of H.R. 2003 (Ethiopia Democracy and Accountability Act of 2007)  in the U.S. House of Representatives in 2007. Prof. Mariam also practices in the areas of criminal defense and civil litigation. In 1998, he argued a major case in the California Supreme Court involving the right against self-incrimination in People v. Peevy, 17 Cal. 4th 1184, cert. denied, 525 U.S. 1042 (1998)  which helped clarify longstanding Miranda rights issues in California criminal procedure. For several years, Prof. Mariam had a weekly public channel public affairs television show in Southern California called “In the Public Interest”. Prof. Mariam received his Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota in 1984, and his J.D. from the University of Maryland in 19

The post Medemer or not Medemer, That is the Question for All Ethiopians! appeared first on Satenaw: Ethiopian News & Breaking News: Your right to know!.

Ethiopian Trade Unions: Hailu Urgessa – SBS Amharic

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• Salem Solomon
• Sahra Abdi Ahmed

Earlier this month, Mustafa Omer lived in exile. Now, he’s the acting president of Ethiopia’s Somali region and one of the country’s most powerful people.

The dramatic turnaround comes less than three weeks after federal forces stormed the regional capital, Jijiga, and forced the previous regional president, Abdi Mohamoud Omar, also known as Abdi Illey, to step down.

With no political experience and no mandate from the 4.5 million people he will lead, Mustafa faces formidable challenges addressing ethnic tensions and balancing Somali peoples’ desire for self-determination with their role within Ethiopia’s federalist government.

But Mustafa’s popular rhetoric and personal history have raised hopes that he’s the right person to lead the Somali region through a period of challenging transition.

Focus on human rights

Mustafa, an iconic activist, told VOA’s Somali service that he will prioritize human rights in his new role.

“Since 1954, when the region came under Ethiopian rule, there was no democracy and human rights,” Mustafa said.

“Over 27 years, people in the region were living under harsh crimes against humanity, the most painful ones committed in the past 10 years, so we will restore human rights.”

Mustafa added that he plans to create space for dissenting voices critical of his administration.

‘A lot of things to clean up’

“Expectations are genuinely high. People feel that he’s the right man for the job at this time,” Juweria Ali, a doctoral candidate in Politics and International Relations at the University of Westminster in London, told VOA.

“There’s a lot of things to clean up,” Juweria added.

In the Abdi era, violence, displacement and imprisonment touched many Somali people’s lives.

For 10 years, Abdi ruled the Somali region as a warlord, punishing critics with impunity and overseeing the Liyu police, a special force that human rights groups say committed atrocities and agitated ethnic violence, particularly between Somalis and Oromos, Ethiopia’s largest ethnic group.

Earlier this week, Human Rights Watch called for an extensive, independent investigation into years of abuses, human rights violations and war crimes to redress wrongdoing and hold perpetrators accountable.

Personal ties

Mustafa has long been an outspoken critic of Abdi Illey’s policies, and that has made him a target.

Years ago, Abdi threatened to harm Mustafa’s family if he continued to criticize the government. Mustafa refused to stay quiet and, in 2016, his brother Faysal, an engineer, was killed.

The family was coerced into saying Faysal took his own life, Juweria said. Their property was confiscated, and they were forced to flee to Kenya.

Mustafa, 45, also fled. Prior to his selection as acting president, he had been living in Somalia, where he’d been working with the United Nations for the past few years, Abdinasir Mohamed Abdullahi, an attorney in Minnesota and close friend, told VOA.

Other critics of Abdi’s regime have faced similar consequences.

“[Mustafa] effectively symbolizes thousands like himself who had to flee and whose families had to flee because of their outspokenness against Abdi Illey,” Juweria said.

“He has, first-hand, experienced the horrors of Abdi Illey’s administration, which is why people are hopeful that Mustafa, more than anyone else, will know what the people need at this time, and will know what the people need in order to be healed and move forward.”

Retribution?

Those deep personal ties have left some who follow the region wondering if Mustafa will use his newfound role to exact revenge, hunting down those loyal to the old administration.

But Mustafa said retaliation doesn’t have a place in his reform agenda, and close friends don’t think it’s consistent with his character.

“Based on my personal views, [what’s happened] will not have an impact on my administration. As a human being, I can love and hate someone, but that has no effect on my administration. What was existing before me was a kind of kingdom, which we need to terminate,” Mustafa said.

Now, he added, the regional government will promote togetherness through peace and unity.

Politics at play

Senior leaders of the Ethiopian Somali People’s Democratic Party (ESPDP) unanimously selected Mustafa, an economist, after meeting in Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa, for several days.

It was an unlikely pick. Mustafa doesn’t belong to the party, nor does he have any prior experience in politics.

Some in the Somali region see his selection as another example of the federal government encroaching on Somali sovereignty.

ESPDP doesn’t belong to the ruling coalition, the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front. But the EPRDF created ESPDP in 1998, and some in the region see it as an extension of the federal government’s interests.

One particularly vocal critic has been the Ogaden National Liberation Front, a political party and armed group that, earlier this month, declared a ceasefire against what they term the “Ethiopian Security Apparatus” in the region.

Rights groups have also accused federal forces of committing war crimes.

Identity

ONLF enjoys a good deal of support, and Mustafa will need to engage with the group to be successful, Juweria said.

Discussions about identity and autonomy will propel those talks.

“The question of self-determination is going to be a test,” Juweria said. “[The ONLF] still finds it problematic that the federal government hand-picked the person who’s going to take charge of the region.”

Mustafa met with an ONLF delegation in Addis Ababa Saturday, and the sides appear ready to move forward together.

Juweria@BJuweria

New President of the Somali Region – #MustafaOmer met with an #ONLF delegation in Addis this morning. Some of the issues they discussed, and the points they agreed upon are listed below. In his message, Mustafa emphasises the importance of unity in moving forward.

9:12 AM – Aug 25, 2018

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Questions of identity, ethnicity and nationality permeate Ethiopian politics. An ethnic-federalist approach to government, in which political parties based on ethnicity represent regions within a national parliament and executive coalition, has held the country together for nearly 30 years.

But ongoing conflicts and underrepresentation have raised doubts about the viability of the model. Secessionist groups such as ONLF have pushed for independence, and the powerful central government has, at least until recently, maintained stability through violent crackdowns and suppression.

New way forward?

Mustafa, like the country’s new Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, represents a decisive departure from the old way of doing things.

Improving relations between Somalis and Oromos is one of Mustafa’s priorities.

“This is a politicized issue. There is a lot of propaganda that looms inside the two brotherly communities, led by former administrations who want to profit from this fighting. But we will prevent that and unite the two communities.”

New political players like Mustafa have created an opportunity for change, but the issue of identity has not been fully settled.

Abiy, an Oromo, has underscored respecting differences and empowering Ethiopia’s many ethnic groups, while emphasizing shared Ethiopian values and identity.

Mustafa, on the other hand, has prioritized Somali identity, saying on social media this week that Somalis will no longer allow their heritage or identity to be compromised.

“Our historical, cultural, social, economic and political ties to the Somali race across the Horn of Africa region is a fait accompli. No one can change it or wish it away,” Mustafa wrote on Facebook.

“We will therefore embrace symbols of Somalinimo no matter what angry oppressors say,” he added.

A complex clan system within the Somali region further complicates matters of identity and efforts toward reconciliation across Ethiopia’s diverse populations.

But Juweria is optimistic that Mustafa will be able to build bridges across long-standing divisions and animosities.

“Oromos and Somalis alike feel that Mustafa is the right answer,” Juweria said. “I think this marks a new era.”

• Salem Solomon

  Salem Solomon is a multimedia digital journalist with the Voice of America’s Africa Division. She covers the latest news from across the continent, and she also reports and edits in Amharic and Tigrigna.

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Young, democratic and preaching peace, he’s the leader the country has been waiting for. But can Abiy Ahmed live up to the hype?

By Jenni Marsh, CNN

Updated 0913 GMT (1713 HKT) August 27, 2018

The crowd at the Minnesota rally held by Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed.

Stickers bearing the face of Ethiopian president Abiy Ahmed adorn taxis around Addis Ababa.

Tom Gardner, a British journalist who lives in Addis Ababa, says there is an almost religious fervor to what has been dubbed “Abiymania.” “People talk quite openly about seeing him as the son of God or a prophet,” he says.

On the verge of civil war

A prime minister’s wardrobe doesn’t often attract attention. But the blazers with purple or green and gold trim that Abiy wore on his US tour were not just a natty pick: this was traditional Oromo attire.

Left, Abiy Ahmed in Washington and, right, with his family in Minnesota on his US tour in July 2018.

That’s significant. Abiy is Ethiopia’s first prime mister from the country’s biggest ethnic group, the Oromo, who make up one third of its 100 million people. Ethiopia has more than 90 ethnic groups, and for decades the country’s politics have been organized along these divisive lines.

In 1991, the Tigrayan People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) toppled the dictatorship of Mengistu Haile Mariam, whose communist regime had imposed military rule since 1974. Mengistu had thousands of his political opponents murdered and ignored a famine that killed one million people — a tragedy that found a global spotlight in the 1984 Band Aid charity record “Feed The World.”

Mengistu Haile Mariam in 1980.

The TPLF began as a small band of guerrilla fighters from the Tigray ethnic group, who account for six percent of Ethiopia’s population. As the party prepared to assume power, in 1989, it engineered a coalition with larger ethnic groups, such as the Oromo and Amhara, to bolster its legitimacy. The catch? “The TPLF formed the rest of the parties — they don’t have an autonomous existence,” says Tsedale Lemma, editor-in-chief of the Addis Standard, an independent newspaper.

Until Abiy, that coalition, the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), ruled with an iron fist. Government marginalizationof other ethnic groups prompted an exodus of professionals from the nation and secession cries from the Oromo at home. Government plans to annex Oromo farmland in order to expand Addis Ababa saw civil unrest explode across Ethiopia in recent years.

As the country disintegrated into chaos, in February 2018 Prime Minister Haile Mariam Desalegn did something African leaders rarely do. He quit. A state of emergency was called for the second time in 18 months and an internet blackout followed, including in the capital. “It was devastating for the economy,” says Tsedale.

“Everyone feared that if Ethiopia didn’t get an Oromo leader then the nation would collapse into civil war,” says Abel Wabela, a former engineer for Ethiopian Airlines, who was imprisoned for blogging about democracy under the previous administration. “Luckily, we got Abiy.”

The selfie prime minister

Abiy is nothing like those who came before him. He hugs politicians in public, takes selfies with fans, and doesn’t just smile for the cameras, he beams. His message to Ethiopia’s ethnic groups has been: “Take down the wall, build the bridge.”

Abiy embraces Tamagn Beyene, an outspoken critic of the previous Ethiopian governments, during his American tour.

In Minnesota, he asked the crowd to “medemer,” literally, be added to one another. “If you want to be the pride of your generation,” he said, “then you must decide that Oromos, Amharas, Wolaytas, Gurages, and Siltes are all equally Ethiopian.” In a country physically carved up along ethnic lines (many groups were given their own region to govern in 1991, as the country moved to ethnic federalist politics), this is a revolutionary message.

“He talks in a language people understand,” says Ademo, who joined Abiy’s US tour as a consultant on the American diaspora. Embracing the previous government’s enemies is a classic Abiy move. “People cry because for the first time they see light at the end of the tunnel. People have finally found the leader they’ve been waiting for.”

It helps that Abiy’s own identity bridges ethnic groups: his father is a Muslim Oromo while his mother was a Christian. He is fluent in Oromo, Amharic, Tigrinya as well as English. In Minnesota, he addressed the crowd in all three of these Ethiopian languages, as well as some rehearsed Somali for attendees from Ethiopia’s restive eastern region.

His professional experience is also diverse. In the 1990s, Abiy was a United Nations peacekeeper in Rwanda, he subsequently headed Ethiopian cyber security agency INSA and served as minister of science and technology before shrewdly leaving the embattled central government to become deputy president of the contentious Oromia region, aligning himself with that area’s struggle.

As Abiymania swells, there is talk of a “brain gain.” Ethiopians are being pulled into his orbit, and back to a country that now has the fastest growing economy in Africa. Ademo returned to Addis last month. Olympic Marathon silver medalist Feyisa Lilesa plans to do the same in September. He has been exiled in the US since crossing his arms at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympic Gamesin protest against government land grabs and ethnic killings. “If I had gone back, I would have been killed,” says the runner. Former political prisoner and democracy blogger Atnaf Berhane says that in Addis “for the first time in six years, I don’t feel like I’m going to be arrested.”

Feyisa Lilesa protests as he takes second place in the men’s marathon race at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.

Abiy’s own safety might not be so assured. In June, a bomb was detonated at a rally he gave in Meskel Square, in what was seen as an assassination attempt. While Tsedale says many of the old guard are “disgruntled” by Abiy’s disrupting of their political hegemony, there is also a pragmatic “reformed wing” of the TPLF that backs his leadership.

Arkebe Oqubay, a founding member of the EPRDF, senior figure within the TPLF and government minister, appears to be in their ranks. “Abiy is young and he brings vigor,” he says. “The whole country should get behind him.”

A cult of personality?

Ethiopia Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed waves to the crowd at Meskel Square in Addis Ababa on June 23, 2018.

There’s a slightly awkward sticking point in Abiy’s success story. While he presents himself as a liberal champion, in four months in office he hasn’t given an interview. Private media, for a time, stopped being invited to government events for “reasons we don’t understand yet,” Tsedale says. Consequently, a question mark hangs over much of Abiy’s worldview and biography, other than the fact he is married with three daughters. On August 25, however, he did hold a three-hour press conference — his first — at which Tsedale says he seemed “relaxed and convincing.”

Having already visited Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, the US and Djibouti, Abiy is the region’s “most active diplomat by some way,” Gardner says. Ademo notes that he has taken tough questions from the public at multiple town halls.

Official news now comes almost exclusively via the Twitter account of Abiy’s chief of staff, Fitsum Arega, who posts his boss’ achievements in real time. As ethnic violence in rural areas has claimed lives in recent weeks, Abiy’s silence and Fitsum’s cheer leading have jarred. “You have people being lynched in Shashemene and then he [Fitsum] is tweeting about Abiy visiting the Jimma Industrial Park. It’s ridiculous,” says Mula Geta, an Ethiopian living in Tel Aviv, Israel.

And the government still appears to be turning off the internet during flashes of unrest.

Supporters of Ethiopian Prime Minister attend a rally on Meskel Square in Addis Ababa on June 23, 2018.

“The government should be doing more to address such violence and ensure there are credible investigations into killings,” says Maria Burnett, associate director of the Africa division at Human Rights Watch.

Furthermore, while Abiy has apologized for the torture that political prisoners endured in jail under previous governments, there is no sign that offending guards will face charges.

Ahmed Shide, minister of government communication affairs, did not reply to CNN’s request for comment. Abiy did not reply to multiple CNN requests for interview.

Perhaps the biggest concern is that “Abiymania,” and the faith it confers, will blind Ethiopians to the potential flaws of their leader, and weaken the democratic process. Natasha Ezrow, a professor in the department of government at Essex University in England, says: “We should be cautious of leaders who emerge and appear to be a messiah for everybody.” Ethiopia, she adds, has “no institutions for democracy” and is “used to a strong man.” Unless Abiy implements significant checks on his own power, then it will be hard to avoid a dictatorship, she says.

For now, Ethiopians worldwide are hoping that will not be the case.

The post Why Ethiopians believe their new prime minister is a prophet appeared first on Satenaw: Ethiopian News & Breaking News: Your right to know!.

By Muluken Gebeyew

This writer  was one of the first article contributor on  what direction and measures the would be Prime Minster and elected chairman of EPRDF  should embark following Dr Abiy Ahmed’s election on 27 March 2018 ( see articles titled: Ethiopia: Agenda for Dr Abiy  in goggle search or   http://ethioforum.org/ethiopia-agenda-for-dr-abiy-ahmed-by-muluken-gebeyew/ ).

That article  was wrote on the early hours following his election as chairman of EPRDF  before he assumed the Prime Minster (PM)  post  and  few days earlier before we listen his wonderful and inclusive first speech as PM  in the Ethiopian parliament which enshrined  most Ethiopians at home and Diaspora in optimistic  outlook about the future of our country.

This writer listed 15 points on that article on what Dr Abiy Ahmed as the would be prime minster at that time  to consider as the writer believed those points would help to sail safely the complicated challenge our country has been.  I am pleased the PM Dr Abiy Ahmed and the new leadership team have started tasking most of the 15 lists I put forward. It seems leadership listen the suggestion of Ethiopians or his ( his team) intended plan coincided with the writer and most Ethiopians quest. Hopefully the remaining list will be implemented during his premiership.

It is very encouraging Dr Abiy chose to travel all over the country to form his own people army which gave him the confidence and immunity from TPLF to progress the change. He made a bold, inclusive, realistic, optimistic and Ethiopian speech which gave the public  hope of democracy, unity, reconciliation and revision of  the  TPLF’s  made Ethiopian history.  The release of most political prisoners, activists and journalists; the invitation to the banned political organisation to operate in the country and decriminalising the party leaders; engaging the public and intellectuals, reaching out to the Diaspora Ethiopians, helping to unify the Orthodox Christian religious fathers difference and Muslim leaders, forming  new relation with neighbour countries and peace agreement with focus of people to people relation with Eritrea in very short period of time are great achievements.

Then we question  what should be the next move. Here are some of my thoughts  for the next move the leadership team can consider.

The fundamental cornerstone in a fair society or country are peace and stability, justice, fairness and equal opportunity of Citizens. To ensure this, there is a need for personal commitment from new leaders and strong infrastructure installed in the country to keep for longevity.

It is paramount to revisit our culture, values, norms and history to get  the wisdoms  for fair society. We can also learn from other society and select what is appropriate to Ethiopia’s situation. We should never copy something that doesn’t fit us.

It is important to respect and ensure individual rights in a society. This has been ignored  while group rights were superficially acknowledged in the last three decades. Every human being by nature has distinct own feeling, thought and volition. The biology of each individual is distinct. Our DNA is different.   This natural reality needs a free medium to express itself. This entails individual freedom and responsibility. People abhor when treated as herd. We have been treated as herd for so many generations.

Individual freedom with responsibility allows people to be creative, productive and attain self potentials.  When people understand others right and adhere to  self responsibility, fairness would prevail in a society. A fair society ensures justice.

Group right should be respected in a society as there are natural and nurture difference among people. Individuals  with similar inclination, value, history and attitude make up groups.  It should be acknowledgment  of the groups right which is important but not domination of one group against the other.  The constitution should be revised in such way that ensure these reality of individual and group rights and responsibility.

We need to build a fair justice system in our country. When justice is ignored, individuals and group rise for change. This can be either in peaceful or destructive way. The infrastructure that ensures justice in modern society should be free from the influence of politicians, rich individuals or dominant groups. The police, prosecutor and the judge and jury system should be established or reformed  without the influence of the powerful. The army and security system  should be reformed to serve the interest of the nation not that of the politicians on power. Individuals who work in this system should be loyal to the law or constitution the society agreed on.

In a fair society, the weak and poor ones will not be subjected to ill treatment or injustice by the strong and rich ones. We can aim such system provided that we build  infrastructures that ensure that.

In a fair and justice prevailing society, peace reigns. Peace doesn’t need arm but human consciousness. That is why we see in many civilised modern society the police in the city doesn’t carry weapon.

It is a must that  the educational system in our country should be revised in such away that is positive, fair, solution oriented and crafted in producing a confident graduate who is able to create jobs, not  depend on others for jobs. Education is all about bringing change otherwise it is wastage. A learnt and free society can cruise life at its maximum potential.

Rushing for election or forming another government without an infrastructure that ensure peace and stability, fairness, justice and equal opportunity is futile attempt. Unless we have a system that ensues election is genuine and made in fair playing field, it will serve as playing tool for those on power. That was the reality in our country for so many  years. Election must be a means for the public to have a say on the way how it is governed. Through election the majority vote can change or maintain the course of a government.

Economic development is one of the vital survival means for Ethiopia. Feeding more than 100 millions people with limited economic activity is a challenge and probably impossible. The economic field should be open to every Ethiopians in private or group capacity. The state can have a role in ensuring a fair system is undergoing and participating in areas where the private sector will not actively participate. Foreign investment can be encouraged in areas that can be beneficial for the society. The financial system should support individual and group creativity, growth, employment and production.

The question of land should get an answer in Ethiopia. It is vital for the economy. Land ownership shouldn’t be left to the state. This has been leading to embezzlement, corruption and favouritism by those on power.

As conclusion, the new leadership has to be commended for most of the progressive change  ensured in the short period of time.  The new leadership needs support and direction towards the establishment of fundamental political infrastructure in our country in areas of justice, fairness, individual and group right, education and economic sector.

The new leadership should follow wisdom-full approach in tackling the artificial obstacles laid by those who lost the power or influence that attempt to derail the progress by inciting and encouraging violence, lawlessness and fragmentation. Balancing the moral human aspect, reconciliation and  justice are essential  for our Ethiopia. It is understandable you recognise the minimum requirement of a government is maintaining law and order.  Your careful approach is admirable but should be effective and efficient by not allowing gaps.

The youth, the intellectuals and professionals should support the new leadership to ensure those changes we desperately needs for. Political parties of every colour should also actively participate and support the change  in such way that a fair and justice system is established in our country. Rushing to election or power sharing without clear political infrastructure laid in the ground will be a futile vicious circle which will not achieve the majority Ethiopians’ desire.

The post Dr Abiy Ahmed and the team, What is next? appeared first on Satenaw: Ethiopian News & Breaking News: Your right to know!.

Mikael Wossen, PhD.

I have come to realize over the past decades that the terrorist Woyanne party and its Killil concept was too intellectually bankrupt, morally corrupt and offensive to Ethiopians. This murderous concept of statecraft was directly borrowed from the racist and Fascist Italian colonizers of our country.  It cannot  be reformed, and must be changed now to effect a sense of shared citizenship and nationality among all Ethiopians. Ethnicty based propagandists and agitators of hate must be banned and punished by law. Along with my distinguished colleagues, I have tried to expose and explain the oppressive apartheid characteristics of the TPLF ethnocentric system of killilization agenda on the pages  of  our erstwhile journal, The Ethiopian Register. Specifically, what was happening was not a democratization process at all, but an inntergenerational scheme of oppression and exploitation.  Now this fact has become crystal clear to all.

The trouble with lying and deceiving is that their efficiency depends until a grasp of the clear notion of the truth (promoting uninterrupted ethnic animosities/strife among Ethiopians, and advancing the intended plunder & dismemberment of Ethiopia in favor of a ‘greater Tigrai’) and what the liar and deceiver wishes to hide behind, by using such prestigious code terms as “federalism”, “democracy” etc. Once this hoax is revealed, it is game over. Empty and fake terms such as tehadiso are replaced by “deeper tehadiso” and even national  “uplift” by the  cornered Woyanne. This kind of verbal deception, however, can be maintained only, and only until the precise moment when the facts became incontrovertible (undeniable) to all , as happened in the last two or three years in Ethiopia.

Both the TPLF party and its leadership are genocidal fascist Banda offsprings whose instinct to dominate, steal and murder perceived opponents is engraved in their political DNA. Their greed is deep-seated. Everything they own has been looted from the suffering Ethiopian people. At the root of their kleptocratic system, there exists the divisive structures of apartheid walls, they have imposed on the Ethiopian people. These must be removed immediately, in order to restore a sense of common Ethiopian citizenship and to prepare citizens to partake in the nationwide democratic elections, which PM Abiy has promised would take place in two years. In one stroke, this act would solve the existential plight of populations in Wolkaite, Korem (Afla), Raya, as well as Afar, Bale, Harergey,Assosa, Gumuz  among others. This policy move would have the additional benefit of changing the country’s political discourse. A further entrenchment of the ethnic categorization of citizens could well lead to catastrophic disaster.

In sum, apartheid is a quintesential system of minority and supremacist domination. It is how a criminally organized  and well armed,  minority ethnic/racial group can wield  power and dominate over an effectively disenfranchised and fractured or “minoritized” majority.  In Ethiopia’s case around 6% of the population is entitled to the spoils of office and the lion’ s share of the economy. This heinous system has been condemned internationally for rationalizing and commissioning untold crimes against humanity in the name of politics. It is basically a criminal enterprise designed for dealing with occupied populations. It is obviously man-made and in Mandela’s words it can be removed by the actions of human beings. As such, PM Abiy and Co. owe it to themselves to free Ethiopians from the dead hands of this evil and criminal system. PM Abiy please bring down these walls of apartheid now!

The post Vindicated By History appeared first on Satenaw: Ethiopian News & Breaking News: Your right to know!.

I dedicate this column to TPLF Woyane whose action of using citizenship as a weapon made some of us appreciate the value of freedom. Thank you  ሕ ወ ሐ ት  for making us love Ethiopia.

Ethiopians are flocking back home. It is the exodus in reverse. For forty years or so we were pouring out of our country and going far and away from our home. At the beginning it was the young and educated that dared to venture out of the hidden empire. Our country is not known for its travelers. The few that left the country during the Emperor’s time were sent out to go to school. Staying away was not considered an option. The Derg changed that. It compelled the best and the brightest to leave and they did in droves.

Meles Zenawi and the TPLF mafia mitigated the second exodus. It began with the clearing of highly respected educators and administrators from the University. The violent 2005 election proved to the young that Ethiopia is no place to live. It was like a dam broke. All of a sudden sightings of Ethiopians was reported from Africa to the Middle East and even far away Australia. We poured out with a vengeance. No one was spared. The parents followed after their children settled in the new land. The last forty years we have managed to build settlements on every continent. We have built homes and families that try to mimic our old life.

We did not turn our face or give our back to good old Ethiopia. In fact to some the fight to take back the country never stopped. How and why we left is complicated but it is mostly because home became a dangerous place. Be it political oppression, religious differences, lack of economic opportunity or a need for higher education any place looked better than home. Lately the civil war in Yemen, the slave trade in Libya or the desert of Sahara was not a hindrance our young victims that took the high risk rather than submit to Woyane. We have no clue to how many perished without trace in all these conflict zones and lawless locations.

Many never set foot back home for many decades. The reverse trip we are witnessing today is not because our country has prospered and improved the life of the citizen. Unemployment is rampant, schools including the colleges are a joke and inflation has become our companion. The only thing that has changed is the politics. Saying the politics does not explain it all but it will do for now. After all it is still EPRDF in control of state power. We have a new Prime Minister and the same Central Committee elected him. What is different here is that up until now TPLF that is just one member of the coalition has been in total control and three months ago the majority rejected the candidate they groomed to take over the position. Dr. Abiy of OPDO was elected

The absence of TPLF Woyane in power or lurking behind a figurehead they installed is what is different today. The PM has approached his job a little differently. He seems to believe the carrot approach to be better than the stick option. He has removed the famous ‘terrorist’ law that was a favorite of Woyane dogs brought out to charge citizens from traffic violation to trying to overthrow the regime. Dr. Abiy also lifted the restrictions against the free press and stopped Internet blocking. This is what has exited the Diaspora and celebrating the New Year in Ethiopia without ugly Woyane around is what is causing a brain melt Watching tears of happiness flowing, the bright smiles mixed with uncontrolled dancing and joy when families meet after many years apart is a special moment we are fortunate enough to witness. .

It is sad to see some instead of using this historical occasion as a ‘teachable moment’ attempting to throw shade and negative energy at our victory celebration. I am referring to two speeches that were made by the President and VP of Tigrai Kilil Dr. Debretsion and W/O Fetlework. There is no question the two honorable leaders are not familiar with facts on the ground or refuse to see the writing on the wall. Today Ethiopia is trying to come to terms with the many illegal, criminal, and lawbreaking activities carried out by the TPLF party that ruled for twenty-seven years.

Everyday the free media is full of horror stories committed by the mafia outfit. Torture including removing nails, electric shocks, hanging, urinating in prisoners mouth, beatings, sleep deprivation, rape, inserting blunt objects etc. etc. No need to go on. It was committed by order and full knowledge of TPLF Politburo. The victims are appearing live on television and testifying to time, place and names of Woyane individuals that are responsible. The amount of money looted from our banks and treasury is mind-boggling and it is not even the tip of the iceberg. Those hiding in Mekele are all aware of everything that is being said and exposed today. They are doing what they are used to doing for thirty years. Deny, deflect and find someone, something to blame. I told you they are not capable of learning or empathy. That is why they did what they did.

Dear Woyane misfits, we apologize for the high traffic at Bole International it is due to all those you chased away returning. And the noise you hear all the way in Mekele is the singing, dancing and tears of joy by their families and loved ones. They are coming back because you are not there, well physically you occupy space but spiritually you have been beaten to a pulp. Praise the Lord.

Both leaders evoked the term ‘Enkebaber’ (አንክከባበር) I have a feeling they are not clear on what it means. That term is even enshrined in the UN Charter that our ancient nation is founder and signatory of. The Charter “reaffirmed faith in fundamental human rights, and dignity and worth of the human person” and committed all member states to promote “universal respect for, and observance of, human rights and fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race, sex, language, or religion”.

TPLF ሕ ወ ሐ ት  did not abide by the charter. The organization routinely assassinated, tortured and imprisoned citizens without charge or made up charges. All this can be proven in any court in the world. They disrespected Ethiopians. Why they think we do not respect them is not clear yet. They are the ones that caused the agony but today they are working hard to appear as the victims. They started singing that tune about a year ago. Their children passed resolutions in their ethnic organizations all over the world decrying perceived threat. That is like putting the cart in front of the horse. Acting victim before the so-called crime is something a Woyane brain will come up with. The intellectuals from the kilil have chosen not to condemn what was done in their name. All I could do is quote MLK who said, “In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.”

Ethiopia’s children are returning home. Their absence was a dark cloud hanging over our country. No one should be kept out of his homeland. Well as usual we are flipping disaster into victory. The children are coming back smarter, calmer, tolerant, loving and most of all wealthier. It was all achieved through hard work and honest living. Woyane used to attract the ugliest and the loser amongst us to come and invest on stolen land. Today’s returnees are different. They are bringing value to our country. They could be considered lost treasure found. They are Dr. Abiy’s building block for the future Ethiopia.

I saved the best for last. The most precious of the returnees are the people of Arbenoch Ginbot 7. What makes them a head taller than the rest is the approach they took to solving the Woyane problem. They married theory and practice. They gave new life to the struggle. Led by Professor Berhanu, AG7 took a step-by-step approach towards weakening the TPLF machinery from different angles. The relationship with Eritrea was a brilliant move. The organization boldly showed its capacity for ‘realpolitik’. Practicality was chosen over idealism. It allowed the group to move beyond organization and diplomatic activities towards the military field. It gave Ethiopian activists an outlet to raise the struggle to a higher level. It increased Woyane’s insecurity. AG7 made Ethiopians stand tall.

How do you welcome such heroes? That question has been discussed throughout Ethiopia. The cells that have been organized throughout the country the last few years are today operating in the open for the most part. They are leading the discussion to welcome their comrades and leaders. I don’t envy their task.

There is not much our people have not done to express their newfound freedom, the disappearance of Woyane hyenas and share the joy in spectacular manner. Bahir Dar came up with 500 feet flag without the foreign symbol and that got Woyane twisted like a pretzel.  Well Konso did one thousand feet and we were delirious. Not too fast said Arba Minch and unfurled a one thousand five hundred

feet river of a flag. Woyane suffered a mental breakdown and the kilil president was rushed to a hospital. I am afraid AG7 welcome celebration will deal a deathblow to the hapless organization that is on life support and being moved to Khartoum for rehab. No one expects TPLF to survive.

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i Mohamed Omar arrested on charges of human rights abuses and stoking deadly ethnic clashes in restive region

in Ethiopia arrested the former president of the volatile eastern Somali region on charges of human rights abuses after a series of deadly clashes earlier this month.

Monday’s arrest of Abdi Mohamed Omar, who was forced to resign earlier this month, came days after Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said he would face charges following fighting in the regional capital, Jijiga, and nearby towns.

“Abdi was arrested for allegedly being behind the human rights violations as well as the ethnic and religious clashes that have happened in the Ethiopian Somali region,” Ethiopian Broadcasting Corporation (EBC) said, citing the attorney general.

Television images showed Abdi being led out of his villa in a posh neighbourhood in Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa, and into a four-wheel drive.

Five Kalashnikov assault weapons and four pistols were discovered inside Abdi’s house, the state broadcaster reported.

Abdi’s arrest and dismissal follow recent unrest in the region, which has left at least 20 people, including five priests, dead and forced thousands to flee Jijiga, as mobs looted properties owned by ethnic minorities and torched several Ethiopian Orthodox churches.

In his statement, the attorney general accused Abdi of “stoking disputes along ethnic and religious lines”, adding other officials were also sought by police.

‘Shameful’ scenes

Somali region is Ethiopia’s second largest but also one of its most unstable. Rights groups have repeatedly accused Abdi’s government of using its Liyu police force to carry out abuses.

The government fired senior regional prison officials last month over accusations of torture.

On Saturday, Abiy, Ethiopia’s 42-year-old reformist leader, told reporters measures will be taken against former officials of the Somali region, including Abdi.

Inside Story

What triggered unrest in Ethiopia?

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Abiy, who took office in April, has prioritised reconciliation between critics and the ruling Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), which has held power unopposed for 27 years.

In an announcement on Saturday night, he said work had been done to make the Electoral Commission “non-partisan and credible”, adding that the country could adopt an electronic voting system for the upcoming polls.

If EPRDF wins a truly democratic election it can implement its agenda with full confidence, and if EPRDF loses, it will fulfil its long-held pledge to implement democratic transition.

“My dream and ambition is for democratic elections to be held,” the 42-year-old prime minister said.

In his first press conference since taking office, he ruled out postponing the polls and said the ruling party wanted to “conduct truly democratic elections”.

“EPRDF’s desire at this moment is to conduct a truly democratic election,” he said.

“If EPRDF wins a truly democratic election it can implement its agenda with full confidence, and if EPRDF loses, it will fulfil its long-held pledge to implement democratic transition.”

The EPRDF has held power unopposed since the elections of May 2015 when it scooped up all 547 seats in the parliament, in a ballot denounced by the opposition as a “farce”.

Reforming the ruling party

Observers say the EPRDF, which has held power since 1991, has been forced to change course due to a wave of anti-government protests by the country’s two largest ethnic groups that began in late 2015, leaving hundreds dead.

A year later, with the unrest ongoing, the government of then prime minister Hailemariam Desalegn imposed a state of emergency.

But he resigned in February this year, paving the way for Abiy to take over, becoming the first leader to ever come from the Oromo people, Ethiopia’s largest ethnic group.

Since then, Abiy has launched a series of sweeping changes which have shifted the power balance within Africa’s second-most populous country.

He has shaken up the security services, ended the state of emergency, freed jailed dissidents and signed a peace deal with neighbouring Eritrea, ending two decades of hostilities.

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Press Release

August 28^th, 2018: London/Washington DC

“TOGETHER WE ARE ONE” “TOGETHER WE SHALL WIN”

The indigenous peoples of Southwest Ethiopia have long endured suffering under various Ethiopian autocratic leaderships, since the reign of Menilik II. The plundering and monopolization of resources by highly centralized government in Addis Ababa; the continuation conquering of the indigenous land without their prior free consent; the deprivation of their social and economic development; and the institutional racism embedded in the governance system continuous to threaten and deny the rights of the indigenous population to utilize their ancestral land.

Despite that Southwestern Ethiopia’s endowed with abundant natural resources, it has remained the most remote and underdeveloped region in Ethiopia due to the lack of good governance and responsive political directions. As the results, indigenous populations estimated to be 18-20 million become subjects to absolute poverty and constant atrocities under highly centralized Ethiopian regimes rule.

The new political reform in Ethiopia offers an opportunity to address the concern of the perpetual insecurity, land grabs and occupation, identity crises, and marginalization faced by the indigenous tribes in the southwest Ethiopia. In response, the Southwestern opposition parties have deeply realized the importance of solidarity and unity to collectively contain the growing atrocities and socio-political conditions in this region in particular, and in Ethiopia in general.  The unity is in the realization to embrace peace, justice, freedom, and prosperity for the indigenous peoples to accelerate the democratic principles for sustainable development in the Southwestern and Ethiopia in general. It is understood that every indigenous tribe in the Southwest Ethiopia cannot contain alone the growing political and socio-economic crises unless they unite to act together while building the nation peacefully.

For these reasons therefore, the Southwest Ethiopia Indigenous Peoples Democratic Movement (SWE-IPDM) was formed as a joint venture socio-political movement to address and eliminate collectively the overhanging atrocities and grand human rights abuses facing the indigenous populations of southwest Ethiopia. The movement covers the populations of the Gambella region, Kaffa and Shekecho zone, Bench Maji Zone, with the potential of reaching-out to the Benishangul-Gumuz region, the South Omo zone, and others. The SWE-IPDM will commit itself to address the insecurity, land grabs, ethnic cleansing conflicts and mass killings, underdevelopment, and lack of justice and freedom of the indigenous peoples of Southwest Ethiopia, as inspired to participate in building the ideals of “a diversified-united, God-fearing, non-racial, corruption-free, peaceful, inclusive and democratic Ethiopia” through self-rule and highly devolved government system.

The founding parties include the Gambella Nilotes United Movement (GNUM) envisioned by the Southwestern Ethiopia Nilotic Omotic Peoples Independent Movement (SENPIM), and the Southwest Ethiopian Peoples Union (SWEPU), the Shekecho People for Justice and Democratic Movement (SPJDM), with potential of reaching-out to the South Omo Zone, and the Benishangul-Gumuz region who have expressed their great interests, opinions and blessings to be part of the   movement.

The formation of SWE-IPDM strongly lays its legal foundations in the provisions of the UN and EU Declarations of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in which the indigenous tribes of the south western Ethiopia have their rights to security and Self-Determination from excessive internal exploitative relationships and occupation given the fact that Ethiopia has been part of the international agreements and it has obligation to abide with the international rules as stipulated below:

The provisions on the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) of which Ethiopia ratified on June 11/1993, citing of “no case may a people be deprived of its own means of subsistence”. The provisions on the International Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD) of which Ethiopia ratified on June 23/1976, confirming that  “government in failure to recognize and respect indigenous customary land tenure are guilty of racial discrimination, and call the state to recognize and protect the rights of indigenous peoples to own, develop, control, and use communal lands, territories and resources,  and where they have been deprived of their lands and territories of traditionally owned, or otherwise inhabited or used without their free and informed consent, to take steps to return these lands and territories”.

The provisions on the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) in relations to forced eviction and the right to housing, particularly, article 2(1) and general comment 7 of the ICESCR outlines other protections from displacement and forced evictions, and stipulates that states parties “shall ensure, prior to carrying out any evictions, and particularly those involving large groups, that all feasible alternatives are explored in consultation with the affected persons, with a view to avoiding, or at least minimizing, the need to use force.”

The UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples passed in 2007 stating that this declaration is “an important standard for the treatment of indigenous peoples that will undoubtedly be a significant tool towards eliminating human rights violations against the planet’s 370 million indigenous people and assisting them in combating discrimination and marginalization”, suggesting that states should prohibit “any action which has the aim or effect of dispossessing (indigenous peoples) of their lands, territories or resources.

As part of the international obligations Ethiopia in its constitution particularly the article 18:1 provides prohibition against inhuman treatment and right to protection against cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment; article 39:1 provides unconditional right to Self-Determination, including the right to secession; likewise, article 40:5 provides pastoralists having the right to free land for grazing and cultivations as well as the right not to be displaced from their own lands.

Despite that Ethiopia has signed the provisions of the UN and EU, the Ethiopian regimes have violated the international standards and its own constitution, justifying full accountability to the present increasing atrocities and grand violation of human rights issues against the indigenous populations of Southwest Ethiopia.

In recognition to the potential peaceful political reform in the Ethiopia therefore, the SWEIPDM welcomes and is opens for a dialogue with the Ethiopia government in the area of security, independent development policies, foreign policies, and territorial integrity, to contest its vision in the process of building the nation to accelerate peace and development in the southwest Ethiopia. At these points we (SWEIPDM) extend our call to all of the indigenous peoples across Ethiopia and other political organizations to foster a strong partnership to form a national-inclusive political alliance for a greater democratic space in Ethiopia.

We also call upon the United Nations, European Union, USA, UK, Canada, Australia, African Union, IGAD and all allies of the international community, and justice and peace-loving bodies, to stand with the SWE-IPDM for legal and political guidance, support, protection and freedom of the indigenous peoples of Southwest Ethiopia.

Therefore, the Southwest Ethiopia Indigenous Peoples Democratic Movement (SWEIPDM) will continue its peaceful struggle until rights of indigenous people of the Southwest Ethiopia is fully recognized.

THE SOUTHWEST ETHIOPIA INDIGENOUS PEOPLES DEMOCRATIC MOVEMENT (SWEIPDM)

Executive Committee

Email: sweipdm@gmail.com

Contacts:

Mr. Okok Ojulu Okok:      Chairperson of the SWE-IPDM

Email: okokojulu@gmail.com      Phone: +1 202 834 9813

Dr. Achame Shana:           Deputy Chairperson and Spokesperson

Email: achame@sepag.org                    Phone: + 44 774 764 2562

The post THE SOUTHWEST ETHIOPIA INDIGENOUS PEOPLES DEMOCRATIC MOVEMENT (SWEIPDM) appeared first on Satenaw: Ethiopian News & Breaking News: Your right to know!.

By Teshome Borago

Satenaw/Zehabesha with Professor Yohannes Gedamu of Georgia College about Ethiopian politics.

In an exclusive interview, US-based Professor Yohannes Gedamu; a lecturer of political science at Georgia college, an expert on federalism and commentator on Ethiopian politics, spoke with Teshome M. Borago of Zehabesha newspaper & Satenaw media Group regarding recent developments in Ethiopia.

Zehabesha/Satenaw: Did you anticipate the ruling TPLF politburo will collapse this fast, soon after the Oromo protests spread to other regions?

Prof. Gedamu: The changes that we are witnessing today are indeed mostly unexpected. If someone would say that he or she has expected it, it will be quite a stretch. However, I was very much eager to see what will be the end of the three years long popular struggle that played out in the form of protests and strikes and whether such waves of protests will bring about some needed change. Indeed, as the question implies, what has expedited the process was the fact that citizens from the Amhara region, especially from Gondar, felt the pain and suffering of the Oromo brothers and sisters and officially joined the movement. Citizens from Amhara administrative region had also experienced their share of suffering and for them, establishing such an alliance was something crucial. As we know the two regions constitute more than 65 percent of the country’s citizenry. Thus, such a simple but important fact makes it clear that the change that we see today belongs to all Ethiopians and was made possible because of the sacrifices of all Ethiopians. And when all Ethiopians unite, I cannot imagine a force that could deter any movement.

Z/S: The abuses in Oromia were so systematic and extensive that many Oromos used to say OPDO was more brutal to them than its TPLF masters. Who would have thought that OPDO, TPLF’s own creation, would now become this popular in Oromia. How did all this happen and will OPDO’s popularity survive when ODF, OLF, OFC and others start campaigning?

Gedamu: As we all know, the OPDO of the last couple of years is very much different from the OPDO of old. The leadership led by Mr. Lemma and Dr. Abiy recognized the anger within their constituency and these leaders and their coalition partners within EPRDF, especially ANDM leadership, came out united to acknowledge questions and grievances from the public at large. The leadership of these two political organizations also fully understood that for any change to emerge and for any possibility of addressing those very serious political challenges, standing together with the raging citizens was the best solution. It was indeed difficult for them and it could have been very costly for these leaders. However, as long as the people remained with them, it seems that they had no doubt that they will emerge victorious.

As to OPDO and whether it survives the challenges that could come from its oppositions within Oromia, it remains to be seen. However, I really think that whether for OPDO or ANDM, establishing political coalitions would be extremely important. That could also be done while they remain members of the EPRDF coalition. Political dialogues among different parties must start and all should understand that without any credible effort towards coalition making, we could even go few steps back to where we were before Abiy came to power. Coalitions do not mean creating new political parties, rather establishing alliances for the purpose of winning elections and leading a government until the next election.

Z/S: There are pessimists out there, who say the military still has mostly Tigrean leadership or say Prime Minister Dr. Abiy’s privatization schemes might transfer wealth to Tigrean conglomerates. They accuse Dr. Abiy of flexing his muscles only on Abdi Illey or demanding resignation of officials from smaller tribes, but he does not confront the TPLF directly. How would you respond to such critics?

Gedamu: Yes, such are timely questions. I have no any bad judgment to those who say PM Abiy has no control over the military. But I really think he is very much in control of the security apparatus of the state. What we witnessed in Jigjiga was indeed a national security emergency and that also was a blessing in disguise for me because the event has shown me the leadership qualities of the Prime Minister. He was decisive and eventually controlled the situation without much more bloodshed. That was significant. Having said that, we should also consider the difficulties that any leader could face when attempting to reform such huge and sophisticated institutions like the Ethiopian army. It is not really easy. Institutions are not built overnight. If someone wants to see a complete overhaul of such complex organizations in a short time, that means he or she do not fully understand the process that is known as institution building. It takes time. And there will be ups and downs along the way. But I am confident that he will get there. Why not confronting the TPLF? I believe that he has already done that and TPLF officials will eventually understand that they can not deter the reform efforts and will come to terms that way.

Z/S: What is the worst case scenario that could possibly restore TPLF to its former status politically?

Gedamu: I do not foresee any such circumstances. In my opinion, TPLF will just be a regional party in control of the Tigray region and if they are smart they will also heed that the only alternative is to partner the change agents and be part of this new journey.

Z/S: If TPLF hardliners continue to sabotage Dr. Abiy or challenge his authority, how should he deal with them?

Gedamu: Whether that is from TPLF or any sympathizers of the old regime, I think we can call it that way, challenges will remain out there. The most important solution will be to make sure such individuals and groups who resent the progress under PM Abiy are identified and if there are evidences for sabotages, use the justice system to make them accountable.

Z/S: During my last interview with Republican US Congressman Mike Coffman, he supported applying the US Magnisky Act as a warning to TPLF spoilers in Ethiopia. Should Dr. Abiy embrace such western measures to discourage mutiny from TPLF security apparatus?

Gedamu: I am not sure if it will be wise to use US’s Magnitsky Act in our case. However, as a sovereign state and a regional power itself, Ethiopia could also legislate a similar law when it comes to questions of suing those who might have stolen from public assets or dealing with former bureaucrats who are accused of corruption in general.

Z/S: Unlike the Obama & Susan Rice praises of the TPLF, do you agree with some analysts who say that the lack of diplomatic cover from the Trump US administration (and the diminishing role of TPLF generals in the “war on terror” in Somalia) contributed to their downfall?

Gedamu: Probably. The Trump organization is suffering from many challenges at home and we can debate that all day. However, we also know that the U.S. Department of State and the newly appointed US Ambassador, Michael Raynor, were very vocal in their support of the changes that we are observing in Ethiopia today, including the historic Ethio-Eritrea peace accord. And the fact is also that the Obama administration was also very much taking a u-turn from its policy in Somalia and that is what Trump seems to have followed after he came to power.

Z/S: Historically, people of Gondar, Wollo and others did not identify themselves as “Amhara.” From Menelik to Mengistu to Mesfin W/mariam, all Ethiopian elites reject the existence of an Amhara ethnicity completely; even after Meles created the “Amhara Region.” Today, this concept is a double-edged sword for Tigray, but isn’t the rise of AMHARA identity politics one of TPLF’s biggest political achievement?

Gedamu: An Amhara identity, as we all know, was very much contested as to its meaning and scope, especially in the past. Nevertheless, the question is that if there is no such thing as an Amhara identity as a nation or ethnicity, is there such a thing called Gondare ethnic group or Wollo ethnic group and so on? The answer is there is not any thing that we refer as Gondar nation or ethnic group and or Gojame ethnicity. We need to look at this very carefully, objectively and in very much honest terms. Moreover, Amharas live all across Ethiopia. In fact, the Amharas who live outside of the ‘proper’ Amhara region in today’s federal setting could outnumber Amharas who reside in Gondar or those in Gojam. This definitely creates a problem of understanding where Amharas actually live since they are not defined by a certain ethnic territory alone. But when Amharas are evicted or face hardships because of mere reasons related to their identity, where do we see them going? The answer is, they go to Amhara region. We have seen that with incidents from Gura Ferda, Benishagul Gumuz or when it comes to evictees from some parts of Oromia region. This also shows that let alone the Amhara from Gondar, Gojam, Wollo and Shewa, even the Amhara from other parts of the country recognize their Amhara identity and they go to the region whenever they seek shelter from any hardships they might suffer from elsewhere in our country. That is also evident given what we see in Wolqait and Raya areas and their questions of identity that are very difficult challenges to the current federal arrangement.

Because of the fact that the current federal setting (which is created along ethnic fault lines) projects that each region belongs to one or few cleared identified groups, it has created a problem for the Amharas living outside the ‘proper’ Amhara region in today’s federation. And the pervasive nature of an Amhara identity in Ethiopia is that we cannot limit such a huge population to a certain geographical location. I also assume that this might be the reason why most people openly question the nature of the Amhara identity. This definitely brings us to very broad definitions of identity formation. Therefore, the question should focus on how we define an Amhara identity? Is it the language, Amharic? I think that will be difficult to decide. However, I can say that the psychological make up of citizens form most areas in Amhara region and those Amharas living outside of the region is mostly similar, which is enough to say that there is an Amhara identity that could serve as an organizing principle in end of itself.

The TPLF did not create the Amhara identity, rather the Amhara region of today. However, its ill motives targeting the Amhara has helped transition the once weak and even ‘contested’ Amhara identity into a solid political and national identity. So, yes. That definitely has contributed to TPLF’s demise.

Z/S: Can Dr. Abiy appease both ethnic nationalists and Pan-Ethiopian nationalists at the same time?

Gedamu: Most Ethiopians, I could say, recognize that Dr. Abiy is pan-Ethiopian nationalist although he is a chairman of an ethnic political organization, which cannot make him any less pan-nationalist, by the way. But he needs to be very careful from unintentionally undermining ethno-nationalists since that could lead to the emergence of difficult and disruptive challenges especially from his electoral constituency of Oromia. Because, as we all know, he is widely popular and has massive support across the country, but given the current institutional designs whereby the the government is founded upon, Oromia remains his only electoral constituency. Therefore, his best bet will be to try to tame ethnic-nationalism and support coalition efforts towards the creation of Pan-Ethiopian organizations in systematic ways. Thus, the salient nature of ethnic politics should be recognized and not undermined. Having said that, I would also add that he needs to use his rhetorical skills and his widely recognized appeals towards moderation, as he moves forward as the country’s reform leader in the next few years.

Z/S: What are some practical alternatives to ethnic-federalism in Ethiopia?

Gedamu: That is a difficult question. And from few media appearances and few public discussions that I attended over the issue, I have also learned that our discussions on the solutions are also becoming a very sensitive one to address and come to any consensus too. My solution is what I refer to as ‘A Consolidation Strategy.’ In short, my solution touts the need to abolish a reference to so called ‘developing regions’ and ‘developed regions’ within one federal setting. How? We need to make sure to find ways in which regions that the regime refers to as ‘developing regional states’ merge with more capable ones so that those mostly peripheral regions will enjoy the administrative capacity of the stronger regions nearby. For example, Gambella region could benefit from merging with Oromia and Benishangul-Gumuz region will benefit from possible merger with Amhara region. Some part of Ethiopian-Somali region can also merge with Eastern parts of Oromia. And Dire-Dawa can also serve as a capital of a new region that we can refer to as Eastern Ethiopia regional state. Each of the two most populous regions such as Amhara and Oromia regions could also be divided into two to accommodate such changes. Such consolidation strategies could have few important consequences. A) the newly created regions definitely emerge multi-ethnic or multinational, which will reduce ethnic tensions and save all of us from the kind of evictions that we witnessed over the years. B) They will still have places to host both ethno-nationalist political organizations as well as Pan-Nationalists. Such solutions also require ethno-nationalists to broaden their base and eventually become ideology and message centered than staying with their ethnocentric agendas. And lastly, such an arrangement increases the value of formation of political coalitions for electoral and administrative purposes, and limits ethnic organizations towards becoming political caucuses alone after elections.

Z/S: Some Western organizations are demanding Dr. Abiy hold human rights abusers accountable for past crimes. But since many diaspora-led opposition groups, like the ONLF, were also accused of assassinations, ambushing economic sites and other crimes; is it realistic for Dr. Abiy to hold every abuser accountable without damaging the ongoing reconciliation efforts?

Gedamu: This is a matter of how we see transitional justice mechanisms and what avenues or approaches we should take as a nation to address past crimes. And PM Abiy’s emphasis seems to focus on forgiveness and reconciliation. But he has also affirmed his belief, per his latest press conference, that he will hold those with such crimes accountable. That remains to be seen.

Z/S: Millions of Ethiopians are mixed, with ancestors from two, three or more ethnic backgrounds. Should the new government continue forcing them to choose one tribal identity or should they be recognized as “Ethnic Ethiopians” (or simply Ethiopians)?

Gedamu: Most Ethiopians are intermixed and intermingled in one way another, be it in ethnic or in religious terms. Hence, unless an individual has any particular interest to identify as a member of a given group or whatever, he should not be obliged to choose so. The only solution that addresses such problems is that the country should move away from ethnic-based ideologies towards citizenship based politics. However, as I clearly stated earlier, that will not be easy. Hence, for that to happen, taming ethnic nationalism is also very important and we will see how that unfolds.

Z/S: Like Addis Ababa, Awassa City is viewed as a tolerant and multiethnic oasis where all Ethiopians feel at home, and its thriving economy is a testament to its success. But many Ethiopians in Awassa, especially the Wolaita, are now worried about Sidama nationalists who are demanding referendum for a separate state. How should they address this growing threat?

Gedamu: That definitely is very much concerning and recently, we have seen a terrible violence as a result of that. The creation of any new ethnic based region, however, will become our demise as a nation. Therefore, the question of our Sidama brothers and sisters should only be solved via a new institutional design that we hope could address the challenges within the current ethnic federal arrangement. But just to reiterate, any isolated effort to address that, could potentially become very damaging.

Z/S: To solve the worsening crisis, should Awassa become a federal chartered city like Dire Dawa?

Gedamu: I think we should have a working federal setting that significantly improves the current malfunctioning system, which is based on ethnic fault lines. Making Awassa another federal city could solve the issue that is concerning the non-Sidama residents. But it will not be a lasting solution for all. Therefore, we should look into the grand scheme of things and call for a complete overhaul of the federal system by way of the consolidation strategy that I mentioned earlier. And this can be contested, but if we build a consensus on the issue, its implementation could be done in a way that would not anger anyone in both sides of the argument.

Z/S: Prime Minister Abiy was recently frustrated when Amhara nationalists pushed him on the Welkait case. But some Amhara extremists are even claiming a medieval city of Barara, an Abyssinian capital located at present-day Addis Ababa before the 16th century Oromo settlement. Do you believe Amhara tribalism is becoming a threat to peace in Ethiopia?

Gedamu: For me, it is not tribalism whatsoever. And we should be careful about the use of such terms. We can always look at other cases across the globe where ethno nationalism is very much rampant. Such questions are also a testament to the ugly nature of ethno-nationalism. Because, different ethno-nationalist movements always come with a narrative that they think will help challenge the narrative of other ethno-nationalists. For example, the issue with regards to the history of Barara came about, in my opinion, to challenge the narrative that some use when it coms to the special interest of Oromia in Addis Ababa.

We should calm down, think and discuss about such a divisive issue for some time. It starts with doing away with the use of terms such as, special interest. Instead, we should use phrases such as coordinated regional planning strategies and coordinated city-planning strategies. Unless we make some changes in our mindset on such issues, we will have a hard time to reconcile those interests. Being an enclave in a given territory doesn’t also mean you will lose your autonomy as a city and your sovereign entity status as a level of government within a federal setup. Just like the fact that Lesotho is an enclave doesn’t mean South Africa can violate its sovereignty for some special interests that it might have. But indeed those two countries have some coordinated planning for developing their cities and regulate trade and people to people interactions. Of course, it is completely different issue. But I believe that we can apply a similar logic at times, when we face with a similar challenge within a given federal system.

Z/S: Oromos have recently became victims of nativist tribal attacks, with almost a million displaced and many killed in Somali, Benshangul, Gedeo and other regions. So why do Oromo elites still support the current segregationist federal system?

Gedamu: Yes, Oromos have been victims, although sadly they are also blamed for some. At the end of the day, the Oromo is one of the largest ethnic groups in the country and the region. We should not forget that Oromos are also cross border societies since we also have ethnic Oromos in Kenya. So, just like you said, I do not understand why the Oromo elites prefer such an ethnic box, which is too limiting or constraining for such a large ethnic group that should freely roam around. Because, I do believe that Oromos should also live and prosper beyond the confines of Oromia region. The size of the population requires and encourages that.  Unfortunately, the ethnic federal arrangement today is not permissive of that and I hope that some of the elites would reconsider and look at the bigger picture.

Z/S: Looking forward to the 2020 election: Dr. Abiy belongs to EPRDF, but his populist & democratic rhetoric sounds more like a Kinijit or Ginbot7 party leader. How should the Pan-Ethiopian opposition camp deal with him during the next election?

Gedamu: That will be an interesting situation to look forward to and enjoy with some popcorn. But I have no doubt that it will be such a great spectacle for the country that we will have such exciting debates to look forward too.

Z/S: Do you expect the Ethiopian ownership of Aseb port in Eritrea to become a hot topic in 2020 as it was in 2005?

Gedamu: I don’t think so. Because, both the opposition and the incumbents will be smart enough to understand the sensitivity of the issue. As a result, they should restrain from debating the issue for this upcoming election. However, the right to access to the sea understandably will remain a question for along time.

Z/S: Should Prime Minister Abiy recognize Somaliland independence?

Gedamu: No, is my answer. Any new Ethiopian administration must patiently wait for any lasting solution between the Somalian state and the Somalilanders.

Z/S: Ethiopia is a country of minorities but Amharic is spoken predominantly almost everywhere in the nation. If You visit even the most remote areas in Wolaita, you will still find people who speak Amharic, not Afan Oromo. Aren’t recent efforts to add Afan Oromo as “official language” more appeasement politics?

Gedamu: I think Afan Oromo is a very good candidate for a second working language for the federal government. And it should be. All will benefit from this. However, such decisions and implementation strategies are like building institutions and that will take time and effort. Hence, I advise that we should be less appeasing and become more accommodating as a nation.

Z/S: Instead of having over fifty parties, is it possible to create aTwo-Party system in Ethiopia: with right-wing Ethiopian nationalists advocating individual rights VS. left-wing ethnic-nationalists advocating group rights?

Gedamu: a two party system is almost impossible in today’s Ethiopia, at least in my opinion. Therefore, multi-party system would remain the appropriate one for the foreseeable future.

Z/S: Almost a year ago, you said the Pan-Ethiopian nationalist camp are the majority in Ethiopia because they dominate in Amhara region, parts of the south and urbanites nationwide. After the recent growth of Amhara ethnic nationalism, do you still believe the Pan-Ethiopian side is the majority?

Gedamu: No doubt that the reality on the ground is changing with coming of a fast growing Amhara nationalist movement. But let’s also not forget that ANDM is also becoming more popular and it shows. However, I still believe that the region remains very much open and fertile for any political groups to campaign and win over the voters. We will see what happens. But the party with very good campaign organization will win, in my opinion. It is all about strategies.

Z/S: Do you forecast EPRDF winning the 2020 election and Dr. Abiy having another term?

Gedamu: I know EPRDF will be very much competitive and even could win it all if they could continue with the rebranding efforts. But with Abiyotawi Democracy? I don’t see them winning. For now, PM Abiy seems committed to that. If he wants his party to win, the rebranding must go beyond logo and party names. Hence a change in ideological frameworks and possible efforts towards coalition formation with some opposition might be needed if we want to see Abiy remain the Prime Minister.

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The post Prof. Gedamu: divide Oromia & Amhara to fix Ethiopia’s federalism – INTERVIEW appeared first on Satenaw: Ethiopian News & Breaking News: Your right to know!.