Dawit W Giorgis
December 2, 2020

• Extract from the detail research to be found in africaisss.org) by Dawit W Giorgis

Over 60% of Africa’s population is under 25 years of age. Youth poverty is higher than in any other region. It has become chronic and is rising. As young people are driven to desperation, many are resorting to crime or become involved with organized crime. It is generally believed by many close observers that Africa’s vulnerability to violent extremism is deepening. Half of the continent’s population lives below the poverty line, and many of its young people are chronically underemployed, making them vulnerable to recruitment. One attractive sector is joining extremist organizations. Members of violent extremist groups are disproportionally young men and they are geographically dispersed.

Recruitment efforts by extremist groups are focused mainly on youth. They make it easy to join: one does not have to belong to a particular country or ethnic group or belong to a certain religion or region to become a member. Extremist groups are motivated either by money or religious beliefs. In order to sustain themselves, financing often comes through illicit drug trafficking, arms trafficking human trafficking, bank robberies, kidnappings (ransom), and maritime hijacking. The difference between organized crime and violent extremism is at times difficult to discern.

In their 2017 study based on interviews with hundreds of voluntary recruits to Al-Shabaab and Boko Haram, the United Nations Development Program found that the journey to violent extremism is one marked by exclusion and marginalization, lack of opportunities, and grievances with the state. About 71% of those interviewed cited government action — the murder or arrest of a family member or friend — as the tipping point for joining a violent extremist group, indicating the limits of militarized counter-terrorism responses by governments. (Obonyo)

In 1994 the UN (UNDP Human Development Report, 1994) redefined security to embrace human rights and developmental perspectives. While the traditional definition was limited to physical threats, the new concept is broader, embracing the well-being of the population. Thus, the concept of security has moved from threat-centric to people-centric. The UN report stated that the concept of human security “has been related more to nation-state than to people ….in the final

analysis human security is a concern with human life and dignity.” (22) The people-centered concept of human security is different from the notion of state security, or from the security of the political elite. If economic growth does not improve the lives of the orderly people it is a violation of the security of the population and is to be considered either bad governance and at worse a criminal act. The so-called African economic growth is discussed in this context in this article.

As indicated on my website the growing nexus between organized criminal gangs and terrorist groups has turned Africa into a new theatre of violence and terrorism and disrupted attempts to improve the lives of the majority. The crisis created by the activities of organized criminal groups is one of the most serious challenges to regional and global peace, stability, economic development and peaceful co-existence. Weak governance and the absence of the rule of law, corruption and dysfunctional institutions, a vulnerable civil society, poverty and horizontal and vertical inequality, porous borders, radical interpretations of religions and other extremisms, have coalesced, leading to the rise of violent militant groups and criminal gangs. In many parts of Africa the absence of hope for a better future has created an uncontested environment for recruitment and indoctrination. The fate of several African countries hangs in the balance as conflicts ravage parts of the continent, mostly in the continent’s northern, western and central parts as well as in the Horn of Africa, but the threat is steadily spreading southwards.

The security threats posed by natural resources and the extractive industries, by climate change and by criminals and terrorists have the potential to destroy the integrity and legitimacy of the states and undermine their capacity to protect their citizens and implement sustainable economic development programs. But the reaction of governments to real or perceived threats (i.e., terrorism) can also undermine the security of its citizens in the form of human rights abuse and denial of constitutional rights. This fine line between the rule of law and authoritarian rule in the name of protecting the citizens has become the subject of great concern and debate in contemporary Africa.

It is the nexus between the various criminal activities across national boundaries and regional and global criminal networks and the potential access to the most lethal weapons of destruction that would force Africa to set in motion a fundamental departure from conventional strategies to combat these contemporary security challenges. There is no one holistic solution because the conditions that bring all the groups together are different. The real religious zealots are after state power, the criminal gangs are after money, the ethnic lords are after controlling resources and protecting their turfs, and for many it is simply the empowerment to do whatever they want with impunity. Whatever the motivation, the result has been death and destruction on a massive scale, causing the great majority of Africans to remain poor and insecure.

To be able to defend Africa from this looming catastrophe, AU member states will have to agree on a common strategic doctrine that addresses the root causes of violence, the proliferation of small and big arms, including weapons of mass destruction (e.g. bio-terrorism), and giving up some aspects of state sovereignty in favor of a common regional and international strategy. There is a desperate need in Africa for strong, selfless educated leaders with visions like their forefathers. (See main document for the Visions of our forefathers) No country can solve the problem on its own. Violent extremism does not have a country or a boundary. It is regional, continental, and global and has the capacity to corrupt governments and be a proxy to external agendas. Mr. Lapaque Pierre UNODC (UN Office on Drugs and Crime) regional representative for West and Central Africa emphasized, “The work of the civil society is crucial in addressing the problem of violent extremism. They provide a good understanding of the local realities, which is needed to devise effective polices in the region to fight against transnational organized crime and corruption.” (UNODC)

GDP and Human Security

The GDP as a measurement of human progress does not embrace human security in the sense that has ben defined above. These conceptual changes in the security debate happened primarily in countries undergoing change to make the concept of development broader and more inclusive. GDP does not measure the wealth of the people. It only measures the income that the state gets. It tells you the value of goods and services produced yesterday in a particular country not about tomorrow and not how the people benefited from it.

When Nigeria was busy selling high-priced oil to the world before the price crash, its GDP (money in the state coffers) was soaring. But its wealth was falling. “Oil deposits were used up, but cash was not reinvested in human, physical and technological capacities to ensure future income. Only wealth accounts could have drawn attention to that” (Pilling).

The fundamental impact of Africa’s economic decline or stagnation is shown by the increase in income disparity even though it is decreasing worldwide. This income inequality exists under all kinds of measurements, which clearly indicates that the states in Africa have become richer and rich citizens in all those countries labeled as the fastest growing economies have benefited more than poor citizens. “A prime example is Nigeria where the incomes of the poorest 80 percent of the citizenry have declined, while the incomes of the richest have increased. That situation provides little incentive for the rich and powerful to make meaningful policy changes”(Picker) and if I may add, Ethiopia is one in this category of deceptive growth measurement.

Despite the much acclaimed economic growth rate of Ethiopia over the last 20 years averaging 10.5%, which could be an economic miracle in the world, according to the Human Development Index (HDI) prepared by the United Nations itself, Ethiopia is actually one of the poorest countries in the world-number 173 out of 189. Most of the others are in Sub-Saharan Africa. (“2019 Human Development”)

The Oxford Multidimensional Poverty Index measured by the proportion of the population that is multidimensional poor and the average intensity of their deprivation, ranks Ethiopia as one of those often viewed as emblematic of poverty with a very high index of 0.489 in 2020. This is calculated from both the percentage of people in poverty (83.5%) and the intensity of their deprivation (61.5% live in severe poverty). (“Global MPI Country Briefing 2020”).

The global burden of poverty is highly concentrated in Africa. For example, just two countries– Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of the Congo – have more than 150 million people living in extreme poverty according to World Data Lab during the time that Africa was dubbed as the fastest growing economy in the world. The World Data Lab also estimates that nearly 80% of countries that will be unable to eliminate poverty by 2030 are in Africa. “When weighted for absolute number of people living in poverty, that figure increases to more than 90%.” (Donnenfeld). It has already proved to be an impossible goal under any circumstances.

The major factor driving this increase in poverty is Africa’s rapid population growth. But another, which is more serious is human security, with Africa being the continent with the largest number of conflicts. Government revenues are spent more on state security rather than human security. People do not have the freedom to express opinions or move freely in the country without risking their lives. Government officials are corrupt. Public services are weak. There are parallel security forces, in some places warlords, who control people’s actions. In some places people are being killed, displaced, and harassed for who they are. Violent extremists have infiltrated many African countries and people’s lives are being controlled by the rules established by these criminal gangs. Violent extremism is spreading like wildfire across the continent and has become the major impediment to development. Africa is projected to decrease the proportion of people living in poverty by nearly five percentage points between 2015 and 2030, “But despite that percentage reduction, the absolute number of people living in poverty is forecast to more than double over that same period, swelling from around 270 million in 2015 to more than 550 million in 2030” (Donnenfeld). And these projections do not even consider the spreading violent extremism nor the impact of Coved 19, in 2020.

African Rise or Decline in Human Security?

Poverty, population displacement, hunger, disease, environmental degradation and social exclusion all directly affect human security. People live their daily lives based on people-centered, human concerns: their hopes and their aspirations for tomorrow, the desire to live in peace, dignity and freedom and to exercise their choices freely within the bounds of internationally accepted domestic laws, to live with opportunities and feeling confident of not losing them. In most of Africa these do not exist. Africa is at war with itself but it was not brought on by itself. If the conflicts we see today are the results of poverty then African countries should ask why they have become so poor when they own the resources now? If we are fighting because of lack of justice, equality, and freedom then African countries should ask themselves why did we create a political system that mis-governs, exploits and represses our people? If we are fighting because of ethnic and religious differences what we have to ask ourselves today is how did the 2000 ethnic groups of Africa live together relatively peacefully amongst themselves before and during the times of the colonizers? Something must have happened to make Africa today the continent with the largest number of conflicts.

The answer could be found in “the second scramble for Africa” which Julius Nyerere of Tanzania predicted. Poverty, migration, and the rise of transnational crimes and insurgencies and civil wars that led to continuous political crisis and regional instability on the African continent lie heavily on the shoulders of the African elites and the leaders. How then can we explain the fact that 94% of the UN peacekeeping missions, the largest and most expensive, are all in Africa?

Many of the missions on the continent are amongst the world’s most expensive and largest forces under the U.N. mandate. With the funding cutbacks by the U.S., many missions have to reduce operational costs and workforce. Is this a wake-up call to the African Union to get its act together? (Mbamalu).

The United States is the single largest financial contributor to UN peacekeeping activities. Congress authorizes and appropriates U.S. contributions, and it has an ongoing interest in ensuring such funding is used as efficiently and effectively as possible. The United States, as a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council, plays a key role in establishing, renewing, and funding U.N. peacekeeping operations. For 2020, the United Nations assessed the US share of UN peacekeeping budgets at 27.89%; however, since 1994 Congress has capped the U.S. payment at 25% due to concerns that U.S. assessments are too high. For FY2021, the Trump Administration proposed $1.07 billion for U.N. peacekeeping, a 29% decrease from the enacted FY2020 level of $1.52 billion (“United Nations Issues”). But peace has not come yet despite these efforts. There are several major trouble spots.

South Sudan is still fragile after civil war broke out in December 2013. Over 50,000 people have been killed—possibly as many as 383,000,—and nearly four million people have been internally displaced or have fled to neighboring countries. 2018 brought an increase in regional and international pressure on President Salva Kiir and opposition leader and former Vice President Riek Machar to reach an agreement to end the conflict, including targeted sanctions from the United States and a UN arms embargo. In March 2020 the Security Council Renewed the Mandate for United Nations Peacekeeping Mission (“Security Council Renews”).

In Sudan the Darfur situation is still not resolved. In June of 2020 the Security Council extended the deployment of the African Union-United Nations Hybrid Operation in Darfur (UNAMID) and set out the parameters for a follow- up mission that will start its work on 1 January next year. Somalia is still in turmoil and the Security Council has authorized the African Union to deploy its troops there in the run up to elections (“Security Council Reauthorizes”).

The Central African Republic (CAR), which has been in civil war since the overthrow of President Bozizé in 2013, is still in turmoil. There are over 13,000 UN troops deployed there currently. (“MINUSCA”)

According to International Peace Institute Global Observatory “For instance, the UN at present has seven multidimensional peace operations deployed on the continent (one deployed in partnership with the AU), as well as three special political missions that play the role of multilateral peace operations (one of them being mandated to support an AU mission). The AU currently has five operations deployed in Africa, including the largest peace operation in the world in terms of number of uniformed personnel deployed: the African Mission to Somalia (AMISOM). In addition, Regional Economic Communities (RECs), Regional Mechanisms (RM), as well as ad hoc security initiatives currently deploy another five operations in the continent.”

The presence of UN and African Union Peacekeeping Missions in so many countries shows the extent of instability that warranted UN and AU intervention. In most of the African countries where the UN has been for years the peacekeeping missions have not resolved the root causes of the conflicts and have not been able to make the necessary changes in policies and governance to ensure sustainable peace, because they had limited mandates to do this. That is why year after year they request the extension of the presence of the UN. There are even more countries in Africa with very serious internal conflicts and cross-border security issues that have not been considered for UN interventions partially because the governments refuse to internationalize their countries’ problems. Ethiopia seems to be going along this path with civil war raging in the North and Southwestern part of the region. We have yet to see where the government will be able to stabilize the fragile security situation that is fast becoming a concern to regional peace and stability perhaps requiring UN intervention. We hope it will not reach that stage because if it does it will be a major set back to world and regional peace.

Salafism (Wahhabism) and Conflicts in Africa

The contemporary challenges of Africa for the last two decades have come from extremists, who have spread across the globe after the 911 attacks and the Arab Spring. There are no major extremist organizations operating in the Arab World or in Africa that do not have direct or indirect support and inspiration from the Wahhabi /Salafist government of Saudi Arabia. One cannot explain Salafism without looking into Wahhabism. This ultra -conservative interpretation of Islam is based on the teachings of Muhammad Ibn Abd al-Wahhab who together with the Saud family created the country called Saudi Arabia. The Arabian Peninsula was then under the control of the UK who, in effect, allowed this country to come into being through an agreement with Abdul Wahhab and the Saudi family. In the current discourse on Islam, the term “Salafi” and “Wahhabi” are often used interchangeably. Many confuse the two while others refer to them as one. In effect they are two faces of the same coin. The Wahhabis are always referred to as Salafis, and in fact they prefer that term. As a rule, all Wahhabis are Salafis but not all Salafis are Wahhabis. The term Salafism did not become associated with the Wahhabi creed until the 1970s. It was in the early 20th century that the Wahhabis began to refer to themselves as Salafis.

Wahhabism is likely to remain a pillar of the kingdom in the medium term. The religious establishment controls colossal material and symbolic means — schools, universities, mosques, ministries, international organizations and media groups — to defend its position. Any confrontation between the descendants of Saud and the heirs of Ibn Abd al-Wahhab will be destructive for both.

The historical pact between the monarchy and the religious establishment has never been seriously challenged. It has been reinterpreted and redesigned during times of transition or crisis to better reflect changing power relations and

enable partners to deal with challenges efficiently. In fact, Saudi export of Wahhabism was first used to counter Egypt, which was seen as the leader of the Arab world under Nasser. Nasser’s anti-imperialist stand helped Saudi Arabia advance a religious revival in the Muslim world.

The Wahhabi strategy was deployed to fight the Soviet Union. The mobilization of the mujahedeen in Afghanistan was a classic example of this. This is where western powers were most complicit in training so-called ‘religious warriors’ to fight the Soviets. It will be recalled that Pakistan too became a willing western pawn in this regard and helped the Afghan mujahedeen. That decision in turn saw the rise of religious extremism in Pakistan, leading to the situation Islamabad finds itself in today. That was where Osama Bin Laden’s strength grew to become one of the fiercest challengers of the Soviet Union and then America.

Wahhabism is now being used to combat Shiism (Shia), which has gained in prestige and power since the Islamic Revolution in Iran in 1979. Saudi rivalry with Iran on the leadership of the Muslim world is now perceived as the most serious challenge wherever Muslims live. The destruction of Yemen is a proxy war between Iran and Saudi Arabia and its allies. Fundamentalist strains of Islam, including Saudi-born Salafism and Wahhabism, form the ideological bedrock for most terror groups according to a study by Leif Wenar of King’s College London. Three out of four terrorist attacks in the last 10 years have been inspired by Salafism (Solomon). Leif Wenar of King’s College London states that

Saudi Arabia is the chief exporter of Salafism around the world, spending tens of billions of dollars to build mosques, fund madrassas, finance preachers and offer scholarships to students to study the rigid form of Islam. The effort is possibly the most expensive ideological campaign in human history.

Saudi Arabia is not the only factor, of course, in the spread of violent extremism. But for 50 years Saudi Arabia has been funding schools and mosques and radical preachers worldwide who have set down their particular narrow and puritanical version of Islam, which has in many places mutated into the violent extremism we see today (Solomon).

The problem of jihadist terrorism is not going away any time soon. It has been almost 20 years since 9/11 and despite the efforts of the United States and other countries the extremists are still very much a threat as a recent article in Foreign Policy made clear:

Here’s a sobering fact: Even after the destruction of the Islamic State’s territorial caliphate in Iraq and Syria, there are today more jihadist or criminals fighting in more countries than there were on Sept. 11, 2001… The harsh reality is that despite the United States’ important successes in killing terrorists on the battlefield and preventing another 9/11-scale attack, the problem of radical Islamist terrorism is not shrinking. On the contrary, it has steadily morphed and metastasized. After nearly 18 years, and enormous expenditures and loss of life, the United States still has no proven strategy for reducing the number of young people around the world susceptible to jihadists or criminals in the name of Jihadism. It’s been clear to U.S. policymakers for years that hard power alone— military action to kill terrorists and disrupt terrorist plots—is not by itself a winning formula. While necessary for long-term success, hard power on its own is simply insufficient. Also essential is a strategy for combating the extremist ideology that serves as the central building block of jihadism—the totalitarian, intolerant, ultraconservative interpretations of Islam that systematically dehumanize all those holding different beliefs, both Muslim and non-Muslim alike. Killing terrorists has proven a relatively straightforward task. Killing the state of mind—the idea that helps radicalize and then, in far too many instances, weaponize young Muslims to kill nonbelievers—has been a vastly more difficult undertaking. (Hannah)

It should be recognized that the spread of these extremist views are facilitated by a systematic educational approach of religious leaders funded by enormous oil wealth of the kingdom.

The universities of Islamic studies are another key vector of Saudi Arabia’s influence through the religious sphere. The Islamic University of Medina, the Umm Al -Qura University in Mecca, and Imam Muhammad in Saud Islamic University in Riyadh have been training thousands of imams and ulamas through scholarships since the 1970s. The latter, once they have returned home, not only practice Wahhabi Islam in mosques that are often built with money from Riyadh, but also have a strong attachment to the Kingdom that trained them. Nowadays, this clergy that has been molded for three decades in these universities, occupies the highest religious positions in Africa and has some influence over their country’s political authorities (Auge).

The Wahhabi influence has also been increasing through schools for children, cultural centers, mosques, and charities. In a 2013 report Saudi Arabia provided as much as 10 billion dollars to promote Wahhabism through charities, some with ties to terrorists (Palazzo). Millions of dollars from charities goes to Africa, for example, the King Faisal Foundation has 197 projects, 43 of them target Africa (Auge).

Saudi Arabia has put a policy in place linking diplomacy, financial aid and the politicization of Islam in order to have influence in Africa. Although, its objectives have not always been achieved … however, it has built a solid network of alliances, particularly in the Sahel and the Horn of Africa. It is mainly through official state channels that Riyadh’s power in Africa is deployed, since the private sector’s economic initiatives are still very modest. The men in the background and other intermediaries, although they obviously exist, are not the kingdom’s main vectors for African policy, which can count on an experienced administration. Saudi Arabia does not seem to consider Africa as a projection area for its economy. Its investments there still remain undisclosed compared to donations and partnerships operating with money from the zakat (alms-giving) (Auge).

The most dominant and influential extremist ideology in Africa has never been ISIS but its derivative and source the ultra-conservative ‘Arab-infused Wahhabi model of Islam’ that is being spread by Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States. With the enormous amount of wealth hey have and investment on mainstream and social media globally they have been able to change mindsets of millions of vulnerable Africans. The most dangerous violent extremist groups, Boko Haram and al-Shabab were created re ISIS. The leader of Boko Haram, Abubakar Shekau, in his own words, was trained n Saudi Arabia. Al-Shabab advocates taking political power by force and practices Saudi inspired Wahabism while most of Somalis are Sufis.

The extremist groups across Africa, which had different names before, are now adhering to the new brand of Islamic State and have become the major destabilizing factors on the continent that have hindered development and social harmony. They have promoted conflict between Christians and Muslims and even amongst Muslims.

The Mozambican Islamic Insurgency in the northern province of Cabo Delgado, Muslim extremists have become increasingly active, with the usual atrocities, abductions, and arson associated with jihadists. This is the most surprising security development in Southern Africa, so far considered the most unlikely place for extremists insurgencies and first manifestation of a militant movement which is directly associated with the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, and the notion of a jihadist insurgency.

“The ongoing conflict in northern Mozambique has gathered pace over the past several months and shows little sign of abating, despite the Mozambican military and Russian private military contractor (PMC) Wagner’s security operations in the region. Islamic State Central Africa Province (IS-CAP) has claimed responsibility for attacks at an increasing rate over the past six months, but the dynamics between various militant cells in the region remain opaque. While the dynamic between local cells in Mozambique is still unclear, there have been mounting indications as to what IS-CAP’s overall structure will look like and the logic behind its geographic layout.”(Perkins)

The major groups operating in Africa are the following:

The Islamic State in Sinai (Ansar Beit al-Maqdis), Islamic State in Egypt (IS-Misr), IS in Algeria (ISAP), Islamic State in Libya, Boko Haram in Nigeria, Boko Haram in Cameroon, National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA) in Mali, Islamic State in Somalia, al-Shabab, IS in Tunisia, Islamic State in Central Africa Province (ISCAP), Mozambique, Democratic Republic of Congo and Tanzania, Islamic State in Somalia, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. The details of these are in main document of this research work. Below I will discuss the development in Greater Horn of Africa.

The Islamic State in Somalia, Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda

“In April 2016, a grouping called the Islamic State in Somalia, Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda (ISSKTU), or Jabha East Africa, pledged loyalty to al-Baghdadi, though again, the pledge was never recognized. A breakaway from al-Shabaab, the group was formed by Mohamed Abdi Ali, a medical intern from Kenya who was arrested in May 2016 for plotting to spread anthrax in Kenya to match the scale of destruction of the 2013 Westgate Mall attacks. As its name suggests, the group—small as it is—has a multinational composition.” This is a small group and may have ceased to exist (Warner and Hulme).

Al-Shabaab operating out of Somalia remains the largest and deadliest terror organization in East Africa, according to Africa Command. The extremist group was responsible for a truck bombing in Mogadishu in October 2017 that killed 500 people in one of the deadliest violent extremist attacks since September 11, 2001. More recently, it was responsible for an attack in January on a hotel complex frequented by Westerners in Kenya’s capital city that left more than 20 innocent people dead. Poverty and hopelessness has driven many Kenyans to cross the border and join Al Shabaab in neighboring Somalia.

For the past decade, Al Shabab has targeted marginalized communities along East Africa’s Swahili coast who share historical ties through Islamic culture and ancient trade roots. Khelef Khalifa, a veteran human rights campaigner and Chairman of Mombasa-based Muslims for Human rights (MUHURI) told TRT World that Kenya’s raging financial turmoil and erratic economy is “causing unemployment and pushing desperate youth to join militant group, Al Shabab”. Rampant corruption and a judicial crisis have fueled the militant recruitments. For decades – even before 2013 when devolution came to effect – resource allocation was skewed which resulted in the marginalization of some areas. An effect that is still being felt to date.

“The extremists are promising hefty pay for local fighters who have largely remained unemployed or poorly paid,” Khalifa said. “They target those below 30 years, Kenya’s biggest population and one which has been greatly affected and impacted by unemployment.

“Al Shabab is waging more terror onslaughts in Kenya than any other radical faction in the world. Al Shabab came into existence in 2006 as an armed wing of Islamic Courts Union, later splitting into smaller groups,” Khalifa said. “At the time, youth unemployment in Kenya was at around

22 percent according to data from Statista – a reputable international firm leading in providing market and consumer statistics. Al Shabab attacks increased with the rate of youth unemployment.” (“Why Is Al Shabab…”)

Islamic State In Ethiopia

Islamic State militants in Somalia say they will release jihadist materials in Amharic — a step unmistakably aimed at winning recruits in restive, neighboring Ethiopia. The announcement came in the form of a three-minute video released last month by pro-Islamic State sites and endorsed by the official IS media. The video posted the words to one of Islamic State’s best-known chants in Amharic and promised IS will release more materials in the language, one of the two most-spoken tongues in Ethiopia.

Matt Bryden, an Africa analyst with Kenya-based Sahan Research, believes Islamic State — also known as ISIS — is reaching out to Ethiopia’s Muslim community in an attempt to take advantage of ongoing ethnic and political unrest in Africa’s second most populous nation (Maruf).

An Ethiopian army official, Colonel Tesfaye Ayalew, gave further details on September 11 of Ethiopia’s recent arrest of Islamic State militants in the country. Ayalew said that the arrests took place in towns near the Kenyan and Somali borders and that the majority of Islamic State militants arrested were Syrians and Yemenis, although Ethiopians were arrested as well. The colonel attributed the arrests to Ethiopia’s strong relationship with the Somali Federal Government (SFG).

SFG Prime Minister Hassan Ali Khaire visited Somali National Army (SNA) troops in Hudur town, the capital of Bakool region in Southwestern Somalia, on September 12. Khaire urged SNA forces to liberate areas still under al Shabaab control in the region (Barnett and Larsen). Pro-Islamic State militants in Somalia reported the death of an Ethiopian jihadist among their ranks, but the group didn’t say when/how he died. Abu Zubayr Al -Habash appeared in IS video in Dec 2017 threatening attacks on public places in Somalia (Maruf). Sixteen members al-Shabab ad 17 members of IS were arrested in 2019; 2020 (33 members in one year). In the middle of November 2020, the Ethiopian government announced that 14 IS insurgents have been captured. It further explained that these people had the intention to create mayhem in the capital. These of course are ominous signs of difficult times ahead. With the war the government has begun with Tigray, cracks are going to be opened for insurgents to be activated under the cover of the war. Such wars are the traditional fertile grounds of violent extremists.

In the summer of 2020 Ethiopia was shaken by massacres of Christians and Amharas at the hands of Oromo Islamic extremists. These were a landmark events that took Ethiopia into uncharted territory in Muslim – Christian relations. It was by all accounts a well -organized operation implemented a few hours after the assassination of the famous Oromo singer and activist, Hachalu Hundessa, who himself was a Christian. It is not yet clear who killed him, but in the anger, unrest, and protests that followed, hundreds of Christians were massacred. The killers seem to have come from the ranks of those gangs of young men called querros who have been organizing for years. Understanding who the querros are, what they want, and how they are organized reveals a complicated picture, but they are forces to be reckoned with in Oromia, and because of the large number of unemployed young people, Muslim extremists find a ready-made audience for their aggressive politics of destruction.i

The incidents that took place following the assassination were unprecedented in Ethiopian history, both in the manner in which they were carried out and in the

number of victims who died and were tortured, all accompanied by appalling messages of hate and disgusting slogans. These events filled every Ethiopian with revulsion, both Muslims and Christians, who never had this sort of conflict in their recorded history. Islam and Christianity were introduced in Ethiopia long before they reached much of the Middle East, North Africa, Europe and the rest of the world. Ever since they have peacefully co-existed.

In the past three decades history has been manufactured to fit the Wahhabi agenda of politicizing Islam and creating Islamic government in Ethiopia. Saudi Arabia and its allies and surrogates have trained many Ethiopians in the various madrassas in Saudi Arabia, in Pakistan and Sudan, one of which I have visited. Ever since, we have been seeing cracks in the cooperation that has been there for many years. Extremists always choose time and place to create instability in a country. This time they took advantage of the political instability that existed in Ethiopia and the open hostility between the Amharas and Oromo nationalists in which the political leaders have played no positive role. These sorts of crimes that have been committed against Amharas, the Orthodox churches and their followers in the last two years, since PM Abiy came to power were unheard of. Some of the crimes directed against Amharas and those belonging to the Orthodox church can only be termed as genocide in its precise definition. It resulted from the policy of the previous government, an ideology of hate embraced openly by the very party that the current PM belongs to. He never tried to change it. To make matters worse the PM did not express his condolences to the hundreds of Amhara, Christians, Welayitas, and Gurages that have been murdered tortured and displaced. This reinforced the suspicion of many that had doubted the sincerity of this PM to bring peace to Ethiopia. It seems that he is either a member of this extreme nationalist Oromo movement, who are anti -Amhara and anti-Christian, or he has been become a captive of these forces. Time will tell.

What gives me hope are the words of Desta Heliso, an Ethiopian professor of theology:

…, I do not think that the dream of Islamic extremists to establish a political government, which sustains puritanical Islamic doctrine through a strict application of Sharia, will come true in Ethiopia. But any success of a fundamentalist form of Islam in any part of the country could lead to religious conflict and potential disintegration of the country. That will probably end any hope of peace and stability in the Horn of Africa. So I urge all those who focus on the imperfections of the current system and the failures of the current government to consider this issue as well. Our deep and legitimate desire to perfect the democratic process and bring about the sort of ‘human-rights’ we have experienced in the West should not blind us to one of the greatest threats Ethiopia (and the world) is facing right now. Without safeguarding the secular state and developing strong security, religious extremism cannot be tackled. If religious extremism is not properly tackled, democracy and freedom cannot be achieved or protected.

In his very profound research work under the title “Islam, the Orthodox Church and Oromo Nationalism” Abbas Haji Gnamo defines the historical roots of both religions and the dynamics between people of various religions in Ethiopia and concludes that these relationships have been based on tolerance and a full sense of belongingness to one country with mutual aspect and equality. I hope such sincere intellectual voices would prevail and prevent Ethiopia from descending into the chaos of ethnic conflict that we have seen in so many other African nations.

Muslims, Christians and traditional believers fully share the core idea of Oromo nationalism. This would entail that the path of Oromo nationalism is founded on twin policies: secularism and tolerance. Strict respect in religious matters does not only aim to maintain the harmony of the Oromo but also to define their national identity in an open and inclusive way due to religious differences among the Oromo themselves. Religious tolerance or accommodation of differences is not new to Oromo worldview/cosmology. Despite this, there are some individuals who try, from within or without, to divide the Oromo, along religious/confessional lines or politicize religion….

• a systematic application of the Wahhabi tradition of Islam into non-Arabic culture poses a series of problems. In effect, if African Islam, perhaps in other cultural areas as well, easily expanded and got many followers it was mainly because it managed to adapt itself to local cultures and incorporate some rituals, beliefs and other traits of culture, by Islamizing them, although the acceptance of its basic dogma is a prerequisite to be Muslims (Tapiéro 1969: 74). Popular Islam in many respects is certainly in contradiction with the Puritanism of Wahhabi tradition (Abbas Haji Gnamo).

While the theory seems to support an unlikely scenario of wide spread Wahabi(Salafi) movement in Ethiopia, the realities on the ground are different. The cracks in the fabrics that had for long united all sectors of Ethiopian society (religious and ethnic) are getting wider, because of war, poverty and insecurity, making it possible for extremist operators to recruit and mobilize followers with relative ease. The rise of terrorism and violent extremism across Africa is attributable to the weakness of the states. Extremism preys on fragile states and fuels violence and instability towards an uncertain political objective. Ethiopia is certainly in that category.

Conclusion

Though the TPLF leaders whom most Ethiopians have demanded that they be brought to justice have not yet been captured, the TPLF force has been irreparably crushed. The center has asserted its power as it should have done from the get go. There cannot be a country without a center. TPLF defied this basic commonsense. Ethiopians want to see a center that crushes all those who resort to violence and that addresses the central issue of democratizing Ethiopia, where ethnicity does not infringe on the inalienable rights of people to be equal under the law. This would mean changing the constitution, delegitimizing ethnic federation, and electing its leaders through a fair and free election under a transitional government that would not interfere in the shaping of the constitution and running of the election.

For once, let the people speak! What is needed in Ethiopia is a devolution of power under a non-ethnic based federal system which will assure people that, despite their ethnic backgrounds, they will all be Ethiopians first, and own the country together. Genuine “Truth and Reconciliation“ and the eradication of distorted history through dialogue and education would slowly but surely bring back Ethiopia where it belongs — the “Hope and Vanguard of Freedom”, as it has always been and told by blacks and other oppressed people across the globe for centuries.

Violent extremism can be fought back and the challenge of “Human Security” can be addressed successfully only in peace and unity. Ethiopians should remember that they have a country that is extraordinarily beautiful and having an unparalleled history, but a country in one of the most complex security and militarized zones in the world. Being seen as a weak state will invite many kinds of enemies. Let our leaders be bold enough to pave a path to a strong Ethiopia by making the necessary fundamental changes now before it is too late. If the Ethiopian leadership can crush one of the staunchest enemies of peace and unity in our history, then it can easily crush the OLF and other extremists. Both OLF are TPLF fulfill the requirements of being designated as terrorist organizations, dangerous not only to peace and security in Ethiopia but to the region. According to the policy memorandum of US Immigration Services of June 15, 2014: “the TPLF qualifies as a Tier III terrorist organization prior to May 1991”, that is, until it became the government. Now that it is waging war against its own people it should be re- designated as a terrorist organization. Oromo nationalists have inherited the ideology and practice and implementing it more intensely and aggressively than the TPLF. There will be no sustainable peace unless it too is crushed in the same kind of determination. Amharas have proved once again that they will be with any government and any leader that has the interest of a united, equal, just and free Ethiopia first.

Listen to this : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LgoW4GMlftA

END

*References are to be found in the main document: www.africaisss.org

Dawit W Giorgis Executive Director of the he Africa Institute for Strategic and Security Studies and visiting scholar at Boston University, African Studies Center.

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Dr. Aklog Birara
December 2, 2020

By Aklog Birara (Dr), former Senior Advisor, the World Bank, ret.

Submitted to the Editor, China Daily

On March 17, 2005 a UN panel of experts defined terrorism as any act “intended to cause death or serious bodily harm to civilians or non-combatants with the purpose of intimidating a population or compelling a government or an international organization to do or abstain from doing any act.”

Following the horrendous and tragic act of terrorism in the United States, an American agency, the FBI described terrorism as codified in the Code of Federal Regulations. It is “The unlawful use of force and violence against persons or property to intimidate or coerce a government, the civilian population, or any segment thereof, in furtherance of political or social objectives” (28 C.F.R. Section 0.85).”

The purpose of this editorial comment is to underscore to Ethiopia’s friends across the globe the fact that the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) has committed terrorist acts in Ethiopia. It is solely this act that prompted Prime Minister Dr. Abiy Ahmed of Ethiopia to instruct Ethiopia’s Defense Forces to restore peace and stability; and to enforce the rule of law in Africa’s second most populous nation.

Ethiopia has a distinguished history of peaceful and mutually beneficial relations with all nations. Its current singular interest is to accelerate sustainable and equitable development. In this regard, I am delighted to see that the Chinese private and public sector is involved heavily in Ethiopia and in the rest of Sub-Saharan Africa. The structural changes in infrastructure, agriculture, manufacturing industry, telecommunications, hydropower and thermal generation, finance, and export and impot trade etc. bode well for Ethiopia’s growing population. There is a spillover effect in the rest of the Horn. Investments generate employment, increase household income. In turn, citizens enjoy peace, stability, and personal security. No nation can develop without peace, stability, and the rule of law.

It is this promising trend that the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (the TPLF) has threatened. There is a plethora of evidence supporting the thesis that the TPLF must be designated as a terrorist group. The TPLF defied the Ethiopian Federal Constitution it crafted masterfully and imposed on Ethiopians. It stole Federal armaments. It preidentified and murdered non-Tigrean members of the Ethiopian Federal Defense Forces Northern Command. The TPLF declared that it no longer recognized the central Government. It continued to use coercive tools; escalated and expanded a reign of terror throughout Ethiopia.

In line with these terrorist acts, the TPLF Special Forces committed war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide in Mai Kadra, the Amhara region of Ethiopia where more than 1,500 innocent civilians were massacred in a single night on November 9, 2020. It called on all terrorist, extremist, and jihadist forces in Ethiopia to rise-up and create havoc and destruction. The specific intent to cause civil war and to Balkanize Ethiopia.

Despite these terrorist acts, the Government of Ethiopia showed restraint and extended an olive branch of 72 hours; and urged the TPLF core leaders, its Special Forces and militia to abandon fighting; and to surrender peacefully. The intent was to mitigate losses of innocent human life and prevent costly damages to investment property. Tigrean-Ethiopians have responded positively; and welcomed Ethiopia’s military. They are as eager in welcoming peace as other Ethiopians.

Tragically for Ethiopia, especially Tigrean-Ethiopians, the TPLF refused to surrender. It continued to murder, launch rockets, and hit civilian airports in Asmara, Eritrea, in Bahir Dar and Gondar, Ethiopia. It gutted one of the largest civilian airports in Tigray.  Deliberate and intended to inflame the situation; divert responsibility; and blame the Government of Ethiopia for the mayhem and destruction.

The crimes committed by the TPLF should confirm and support the argument that the UN system, the African Union, the European Union and friendly Governments around the world including China and Russia have an obligation to designate the TPLF as a terrorist group.

We also plead with the international community to dismiss falsehoods and propaganda against Ethiopia and its Defense Forces. Among those falsehoods is the false narrative that Ethiopian Defense Forces are targeting Tigrean-Ethiopians. The war is not between Ethiopia’s Defense Forces and Tigrean-Ethiopians. The war is not between the TPLF and Prime Minister Dr. Abiy. The war is to subdue terrorists.

The Ethiopian Defense Forces have taken extreme caution to avoid civilian deaths and the destruction of investment property.

The level of empathy, the care and the humanity Ethiopian Government leaders as well as the members of Ethiopia’s Defense Forces show will long be remembered as a singular tribute to the high moral compass that has governed and still governs Ethiopian society. These careful and sensitive actions demonstrate a common humanity. We should therefore ask the question “Why the TPLF and its core supporters show barbaric and inhumane deviations from the norm? How would a Federal Government that is responsible for all Ethiopians respond?” How would China react to terrorism?

In the light of the above, I urge the international community to consider and designate the TPLF as a terrorist group.  Its terrorist acts are the same as acts of terrorism by Al-Qaeda, Al-Shabab and Boko Haram. The TPLF murdered more than 1,500 innocent people in Mai Kadra because they were non-Tigrean. The TPLF preidentified and murdered non-Tigrean members of Ethiopia’s Northern Command in Mekele. It also sponsored other murders in Ethiopia. The TPLF perpetrated rocket attacks.

All these barbaric and inhumane actions are intended to foment ethnic conflicts and to destabilize Ethiopia,

The Government of Ethiopia is totally justified in executing a careful and methodical peacekeeping operation in Ethiopia’s heartland. Any nation would do the same thing if faced with these types of terrorist acts.

All TPLF terrorists must be subdued. It must be held accountable. It is only then that Ethiopia’s 116 million people would begin to enjoy peace, stability, and personal security. It is only then that Ethiopians would be able to focus on the most important enemy of all, namely, the alleviation of poverty.

Aklog Birara, Ph.D. is author of 6 books and thousands of commentaries. He served with the World Bank for 30 years and retired as Senior Advisor. He can be reached at:  abt.semegn@gmail.com

Mobile 301-814-0340

Submitted on November 28, 2020

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By Alemayehu G. Mariam
December 2, 2020

Author’s translation of PM Abiy Ahmed’s Remarks to the Ethiopian Parliament on November 29, 2020 [relevant portion translated begins at 2 hours, 33 minutes].

…This enemy did not fight only a land war against us…. They had started the diplomatic war in advance with their money. They were lobbying governments in various countries. They were lobbying the media [to get favorable coverage]. They opened up on us on all fronts. Then many of our friends said, “Go enter into negotiations.” We want negotiations. We hate war deeply. We begged the TPLF for peaceful resolution until they chopped us up (by attacking the Northern Command). As things got worse for them, they began asking for negotiations. In a situation like this, no country will negotiate. They told us to negotiate, but no country will negotiate with those that have attacked its defense forces. They would rather die first than negotiate.

But because we are poor, they insisted that we negotiate. My message to our friends is this: We know diplomacy. Ethiopia is a country that helped establish the United Nations and the African Union. You don’t need to teach Ethiopia diplomacy and multilateralism.  We are known for peace and negotiations. We have served as peacekeepers in Korea and in many parts of Africa. This will continue. What I want to tell our friends is, “If you want to be friends with us, you need to know who we are. Even though we are poor, we have long experience in statecraft. We had a government long before you even existed as a country. Before you stood up as a country.

We are not a people who confuse government and country. We want you to know this. Not today but even 100 years ago, a country with superior firepower tried to rule us. We told them we prefer death than to be ruled by them That is how Ethiopia remained a singularly independent nation. If you have forgotten this, you need to remember it now.

The existence of Ethiopia is our pride and honor. Do not expect an Ethiopian that will trade on Ethiopia’s existence. Doing so would be a mistake. Recognizing the fact we love peace and work for peace, you should understand our situation and work with us in the spirit of cooperation. We may be the poorest of the poor but there is no Ethiopian who will trade away his honor. But don’t blame us for this. It is our forefathers who passed this gene [of defiance] in our blood. You cannot do it any other way. Trying to scare us [by threatening to withhold aid] in pennies will not work in Ethiopia. The only option is to work cooperatively with Ethiopia. As long as there is an Ethiopian left, no one can do anything [to harm us]. Today or in the future. After we’re all gone, you can do whatever you want. It is necessary for our friends understand us when we try to ensure observance of the rule of law. It is necessary. This is my message for all of our well-intentioned friends. Ethiopia has a government that functions on the principle of the rule of law. It has a government accountable to the law. A government that respect is citizens. A government that aims to build a democracy that looks like Ethiopia…  Looks like us… So, forget your intrigues. It will not work in Ethiopia….

U.S. and E.U.: “Don’t need your handouts. Take your aid and shove it. Yes, I am Ethiopian, Poor and Damn Proud!”

Last September, I told “Lyin’ Sack Don” Trump to take his counterterrorism aid to Ethiopia and shove it!

I also promised him, “The people who came from “s**hole African countries” will kick the s**t out of him and dump him out of office on November 3, 2020!” 

We did our tiny part and now, well, “Ding dong! Lyin’ Sack Trump is gone!”

The European Union (EU) now has a “Motion for Resolution” written by lobbyists of the internationally registered terrorist group known as the Tigrean People’s Liberation Front (TPLF).

In the Motion, the EU “demands federal authorities end the practice of arbitrarily arresting and targeting ethnic Tigrayans and Tigrinya speakers, and urges national and local authorities, media organizations, and the public to refrain from engaging in incitement to violence towards, discrimination of, or hostility against Tigreans.”

There are also indications Biden’s nominees, Anthony Blinken for Secretary of State Anthony and Jake Sullivan, National Security Advisor, will likely seek to pressure Ethiopia to “negotiate”.

With whom? I don’t know. Certainly not with the TPLF terrorists.

There is no question the Shevil Susan Rice, Obama’s National Security Advisor, who literally laughed in the faces of Ethiopians as she declared the TPLF’s 100 percent electoral victory in 2015 is “democratic” will be gunning for Ethiopia and the government of PM Abiy Ahmed.

But of course, negotiations have been underway between the Ethiopian federal government and constitutionally authorized temporary governing body  for Tigray region.

There is no need for me to belabor the hypocrisy of the U.S. and EU.

From 1991 to 2018, the U.S. and E.U. turned a blind eye, deaf ears and muted lips as the TPLF killed, maimed and plundered Ethiopia.

When the TPLF declared it had won 99.6 percent of the seats in the Ethiopian parliament in 2010, they kept their mounts shut. No aid suspension. No threats of any action.

They did not demand the TPLF negotiate with opposition parties, or else.

In 2015, when the TPLF declared it had won 100 percent of the seats in parliament, the U.S. declared the election democratic.

They did not demand the TPLF negotiate with opposition parties, or else.

In 2005, when the TPLF massacred, maimed and jailed tens of thousands of Ethiopians, the U.S. and E.U. kept their mouths shut.

They did not demand the TPLF be brought before the bar of justice and be held accountable.

Today, they are shedding crocodile tears about human rights violations, internationalization of the conflict in northern Ethiopia and regional peace.

The ultimate weapons the U.S. and E.U. can use to break Ethiopia’s knees are cutoff of aid, cutoff of loans, cutoff of investments and imposition of sanctions.

Right now, they are using aid cutoff as a shot across the bow before they escalate.

Well, paraphrasing lyrics (and song) of Johnny Paycheck, I say to the U.S. and the E.U.:

“Take your aid and shove it!”

U.S and E.U.: Take your aid and shove it!
Ethiopians don’t need it no more
Your handouts of pennies made us your comprador
We watched our people
For nigh over fifty years
Drownin’ in a pool of blood and tears.

If you think you can buy our sovereignty
With your pittance of aid
Listen good to what I have said:
Take your aid and shove it!

We know diplomacy
We helped birth the U.N and A.U.
We were a nation long before you
Finally we mustered the guts to say
Take your doggone aid and shove it
Cause we don’t need it no more!

Ethiopia may need assistance in its poverty
But we’ll be damned to sell our sovereignty
For your doggone aid charity
So, take your aid and shove it!

Dig this U.S. and E.U.
And hear me say it loud!
I am Ethiopian, Poor and Proud!
Say it loud!
I am Ethiopian, Poor and Proud!
Say it loud!

Say it loud, “Take your aid and shove it!”
Say it loud, “I am Ethiopian, Poor and Proud!
Say it loud!
I am Ethiopian, Poor and Proud!

The post U.S. and E.U.: Hear me Say it Loud: “I am Ethiopian, Poor and Proud!” appeared first on Satenaw Ethiopian News/Breaking News/.

Communiqué of Ethiopians in Switzerland and Austria at the end of the ​briefing by the Permanent Mission of Ethiopia to the United Nations Office and other international organizations in Geneva, held on 28th of November 2020

We, Ethiopians in Switzerland and Austria, gathered on the 28th of November 2020, at the second briefing by the Permanent Mission of Ethiopia to the United Nations Office and other international organizations in Geneva, on the unfolding of the law enforcement operation in Tigray regional state of Ethiopia,

Noting​with support and appreciation that since 2018, Ethiopia is ​undergoing a profound transformation​​which cuts across political, economic and social areas, under the leadership of ​H.E. Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed Ali whose efforts were recognized through the award of the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize,

Recalling​that since 2018, the belligerent ethno-nationalist group under the name of Tigrayan People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) has been conducting and sponsoring ​destabilizing actions resulting in the death and displacement of innocent civilians including ​ethnic targeting crimes,

Recalling further​that PM Abiy has repeatedly ​called upon the TPLF’s leadership to cease its destabilizing conducts and to become a force of peace and development,

Noting ​with disappointment that these efforts were systematically rejected by the TPLF who continued with improper and destructive actions taking the lives of many innocent civilians ​with the intent to destabilize the nation, the government and its reform agenda,

Supporting ​the Ethiopian Government’s appreciation that the criminal acts committed by the TPLF do not reflect the wishes of the people of Tigray,

Stand​​with the Government of Ethiopia in its commitment to uphold rule of Law in Ethiopia’s Tigray Region by undertaking a legitimate ​law enforcement operation,

Condemn​the TPLF and Tigrayan militias’ series of crimes and mass murders of Amhara People carried out on 9–10 November 2020 in the town of Mai Kadra as evidenced by the Ethiopian Human Rights Council and Amnesty International,

Call​upon the international community, the diplomatic community in Geneva and the Swiss Government to support the Ethiopian Government in its operations to restore rule of law to ensure lasting peace in the Tigray region, bring the perpetrators within the TPLF leadership to justice, and pursue the path to development and democratization,

Caution​international media entities and international organizations to thoroughly investigate and verify information and be aware of TPLF agents spreading disinformation on the legitimate law enforcement operation by the Ethiopian Government,

Call​upon the international community and humanitarian aid agencies to provide help on the unfolding emergency food need and logistics support to refugees and displaced persons.

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Aklog Birara, PhD
December 09. 2020

Abstract

Sub-Saharan Africa is full of promise. It has immense untapped natural resources and a growing human capital base, mostly young. Its immense potential is constrained by poor governance, rent seeking, and massive illicit outflow of capital, tribal conflicts, and terrorism. Ethiopia represents Africa’s promise and pitfalls.  Recent events in Oromia show that the country is poorly governed. I do not dispute growth in social and physical infrastructure fueled largely by foreign aid, Foreign Direct Investment, and remittances. Aid contributes 50 to 60 percent of government budget. Social development indices show that Ethiopia is among the most repressed and poorest nations in the world. It is experiencing the worst famine in 30 years with an estimated 18 million people requiring food aid.

Ethiopia is the largest recipient of Western aid in Sub-Saharan Africa. It is part of the globalization process. My argument in this paper is that, in the absence of good and empowering governance and a regulatory framework that is transparent, fair, just, empowering, pro-poor and the domestic private sector, increases in aid, FDI and remittances will not solve Ethiopia’s legendary structural poverty. Ethiopia’s priority is therefore to get its governance problem in order. The world’s obligation is not to grant more aid but unbridled commitment to human rights, the rule of law and democracy.

Introduction

With the permission of the publisher, I decided to republish this article included in a must-read book “Foreign Capital Flows and Economic Development in Africa: the impact of BRICS versus OECD,” 2017 as is with a setting added.

Today, we Ethiopians, especially those in the Diaspora are preoccupied with the tragedy inflicted on Ethiopia’s 116 million people, most of them poor. This unfolding, inexcusable and costly war triggered by the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) is a huge set back in the transformation of the Ethiopian economy. It is important to imagine the untold human, financial and economic cost.

Equally important is to reflect on the lessons we must draw from this costly and inexcusable war. Ethiopian ethnic-elites cannot continue with same model of political competition and expect a transformative economy. There is no scenario I can think of under which Ethiopia can transform the structure of its agriculture-based economy without changing its governance drastically and boldly.

In this article written more than 3 years ago, I drew attention to the pitfalls of the developmental state led by the TPLF that had created favorable conditions for future ethnic conflicts. The financial, economic and resources elite capture issues embedded in the model foretold the explosive nature of conflict-prone governance in Ethiopia. Although the TPLF is on the run, the salient policy, institutional and structural hurdles that affect Ethiopia’s development remain intact.

“David Roth Kopf’s book “Superclass: The Global Power Elite and the World They Are Making” depicts the deepening gap in incomes and wealth between the few and the vast majority of the world’s poor. “The current global system seems, to many people, to be fundamentally unjust. The richest get much richer and the great majority of others struggle to remain in place,” 1/ Page 318, in Rothkopf, D. Superclass.

I subscribe to this thesis; and am weary that Africa has become a victim of globalization. I grew up in a world dominated by two superpowers: The United States and the Soviet Union. This global phenomenon changed with the collapse of the Soviet Union. For a brief period, we lived in a mono-super power world dominated by the United States. The world has changed dramatically since, with economic power shifting from West to East and South. The term BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India and China) became a vocabulary. The 21st century is increasingly governed by a multi-polar world with diverse economic and political actors. Although the evidence is not apparent yet, the so-called African Renaissance is taking place in a changing environment. This new form of globalization compels us to re-write and redefine an uncertain world in which each person is affected, with only a few controlling the levers of power; and dictating the rules of engagement. What we know is that they are not governed by democratic and inclusive governance. The Nobel Laureate Joseph Stieglitz, one of the staunchest critics of undemocratic globalization opined “Investments with high social returns were being starved” through misallocation of capital; and that the U.S. should “get out of the way and let us create an international architecture for a global economy that works for the poor.” 2/ In “America is on the wrong side of history,” paragraph 2, Joseph Stiglitz, August 7, 2015, www.ethimedia.org.

I agree with this narrative; and disagree with the Western ideology of continued hegemony that enables the rich and elites in poor countries to “get much richer; and the great majority of others remain in place. China’s efforts to establish the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank is a promising alternative in leveling the playing field. In my estimation, giving a free ride to multinational corporations, sovereign and hedge funds and state and party owned enterprises to avoid taxes on profits in African economies is a form of robbery. Stieglitz points out that “Last year, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists released information about Luxembourg’s tax rulings and exposed the scale of tax avoidance and evasion,” 3/ Paragraph 10, in “America is on the wrong side of history,” Joseph Stiglitz, August 7, 2015, www.ethimedia.org.

The poor in Ethiopia and other African countries have no say in holding their governments accountable for bribery, corruption, tax evasions and illicit outflow of capital. This suggests the need for new, democratic, and socially meaningful governance at the national and international levels. Globalization of financial capital is dictated by Western economies led by the United States; and Africa is squeezed in the process. It is not yet a full beneficiary of the evolving system. It suffered from slavery and colonialism. Africa’s 50 states are a result of the 1885 Berlin Conference designed for the benefit of colonizers; its legacy of ethnic-based economic and market fragmentation persists. In my estimation, the new system is best described as neocolonialism and Africans have minimal say.

Investments and growth are about improving peoples’ lives; and not about making the “rich and elites get richer.” Take the new country of South Sudan. It is natural resources rich; but beset by civil war. It is a prime example of the devastating effects of unfettered globalization—Bible carrying missionaries, UN Peacekeepers, American and Chinese oil, gold, uranium and farmland prospectors and investors as well as tons of NGOs and aid workers etc. South Sudan is part of the Nile Basin and its long-term importance to Egypt and North Sudan is well known. The agendas of these new “friends” do not necessarily converge with the interests of poverty-stricken black Africans. More than anything else, the poor want a better life. Ironically, immense natural resources wealth turns out to be a “curse” rather than a blessing.  The poor are exploited by elites and their foreign sponsors.

Millions of African lives have been turned upside down by internal colonial bosses or warlords or rent seekers who often partner with foreign profit seekers. In many cases, local bosses are trained and or supported by foreign sponsors. South Sudan has been transformed into a country of despair, with women being raped, children malnourished and tens of thousands in refugee camps. It is this desperate situation that leads many cynics, including African intellectuals, to conclude that Africa’s new leaders are no better than their former colonizers.

At the heart of the current wave of undemocratic, cruel, and unfettered globalization is the role investment capital from which local elites benefit and the poor do not. Capitalists with surplus monies, talent and technologies leverage them to secure national resources such as farmlands, commodities such as minerals as well as markets. Money takes material shape when there are willing regimes that accommodate investments regardless of adverse social and environmental consequences. Adverse consequences are inevitable when governments are not committed to productivity, ownership of real assets such as land and are unwilling to promote justice, fair and equitable distribution of incomes and an enabling environment that sustains these.

It stuns me that decades after the end of colonialism, foreign experts have more say in African affairs than Africans. In part, this is because African governments led by rent-seeking elites trust foreigners more than their own nationals.

For example, World Bank and IMF advisors and other champions of unfettered and free market capitalism persuaded the late Prime Minister of Ethiopia, Meles Zenawi, converted Marxist, to privatize profitable and not so profitable state-owned enterprises wholesale. Hundreds of firms were privatized without clear criteria and competition. Jobs were lost. It is alleged that most of the beneficiaries are members and families of the ruling party and its endowments. Previous Ethiopian governments had adhered to the principle of private and public sector partnership in modernizing Ethiopia’s primitive economy. Meles wanted to show that he had no problem with economic liberalism if his party was the primary beneficiary. In his early days, he had admonished the East Asian Miracle stating that the working class was not the primary beneficiary and that capitalism was replete with dangers. “The Korean economic miracle was the result of a clever and pragmatic mixture of market incentives and state intervention. The Korean government did not vanquish the market as the communist states did. It did not have blind faith in the free market either. While it took markets seriously, the Korean strategy recognized that they often need to be corrected through policy intervention.” 4/ Page 15, Chang, J.H., Bad Samaritans: the myth of free trade and the secret history of capitalism.

Ethiopia’s developmental state is substantially different from Korea’s, Singapore’s, Taiwan’s, and other East Asian miracle countries in that it is party ownership that dominates the national economy. The government of Ethiopia’s does not acknowledge the enormous intellectual and policy power of global actors.

In my estimation, the power that the new form of globalization conveys is substantial. It shapes future generations. Experts estimate that the developing world accounts for half of global output. Africa’s contribution is minimal. In the coming years, this shift in economic power will be greater. We do not know whether African governments would change their governances and equip their societies in the new competitive world.

Today, China is the second largest economy in the world. Its links to Africa show that it consumes unbelievable quantities of minerals such as copper, aluminum lead, nickel, zinc accounting for 48 percent of world consumption. At the same time, Chinese investment in Africa’s infrastructure is legendary. The Third International Conference on Financing and Development in which new actors featured prominently took place in Addis Ababa welcoming the notion that Africa can absorb huge amounts of capital. Roads, bridges, ports, hydro and other electric power generation stations, rails, schools, hospitals, stadiums, villas, skyscrapers, towns, and cities are being built at a faster pace than before. Chinese investors play significant roles in this endeavor, often at the cost of socially beneficial projects. Some say that there is nothing wrong with the emphasis on infrastructure; while others contend that sustainable and equitable growth must be people-centered and anchored. The key variable in this debate is good governance on which China is deficient; and the West is timid in promoting it. 

I subscribe to the fundamental principle that only accountable governments are more productive and caring than dictatorships. Growth in GDP alone will not generate productivity or increase employment.

President Obama hammered the vital role of good governance during his visit to Kenya and Ethiopia. What he did not say is equally important. Africa is increasingly squeezed by investors and trade regimes led by the United States from the Western hemisphere and China.

My hypothesis for this article is this. The intense rivalry between the two is taking place, in large part, without Africans having a major say on matters that affect their lives and destinies. African government leaders meet and talk while leaving the core issue of good governance to others as if they are still colonies. Concerns about the President’s visit are therefore more than about human rights and other forms of governance. Human rights are always vital. An African who has nothing to eat or does not have a job or safe drinking water or proper shelter or sanitation etc. does not really care whether the President of the United States talks about democracy or about dictatorship. Africans know that there are good and bad dictators. I often ask myself this question. “What is in it for those who are marginalized or are being harmed by an unjust global system? What difference does it make for the tens of thousands who flee their homes in search of jobs in Western Europe and the Middle East and die on their way or are degraded when they arrive if their country receives billions in aid or FDI?”

The relevant debate in most parts of Africa today is about being independent from foreign food and other aid. It is about ownership of assets. It is about benefiting from Africa’s immense resources. It is about shaping the future for Africans by Africans.

I was struck at a meeting of Black African and Arab scholars in Doha sponsored by Al-Jazeera in November 2013 how blacks are perceived by Arabs and Westerners alike. Despite Africa’s immense intellectual capital, we Africans are not at the table in forums that affect our lives and those of our countries. This is because our countries are poor, backward, and dependent. With a few exceptions—Botswana, Mauritius, Cape Verde, South Africa, Namibia–Africa is dominated by more authoritarian governments than any other continent.

Retarding governance has barely improved after colonialism and the Cold War. The African Union is more of a club of like-minded authoritarian and corrupt leaders than a forum for good governance. We ought to acknowledge that colonial repression has been replaced by new elites and new external actors and allies who have captured political, financial, and economic institutions as well as natural resources. They have opened Africa’s womb for a new form of undemocratic globalization. This collusion of mutual interests is a threat. It is an African problem that should be solved by Africans. Whether it is the Chinese, former colonizers, the Saudis or the Americans, engagement is centered on self or national interest and not on Africa’s poor. The global architecture reinforces this phenomenon.

I subscribe to the notion that Africans can gain from fair and democratic globalization, especially in knowledge transfer. Ethiopia’s relations to the global community cannot be unconditional. It must be based on national interest and the aspirations of the Ethiopian people. “The more recent economic success stories of China, and increasingly India, are also examples that show the importance of strategic, rather than unconditional integration with the global economy based on a nationalistic vision.” 5/ Page 29, Chang, J.H., Bad Samaritans

The imperative of an Ethiopian national agenda

African countries such as Ethiopia differ from East and South Asia in numerous ways. Among these are the vagaries of ethnicity and ethnic elite political and economic capture. In other words, Ethiopia does not follow a “nationalistic vision,” the same way China or Vietnam does. I find no evidence whatsoever that the Ethiopian government is committed to a strong national private sector. It refuses to apply high tariffs to protect nascent industries. It leases large tracts of land to foreign investors. Ethiopia today is not in the hands of Ethiopians but a narrow band of ethnic elites and their global champions.

Africans forget, ignore or neglect Obama’s speech in Ghana. “We must start from the simple premise that Africa’s future is up to Africans. We may share mutual interests, but we also live in an extremely competitive world. It isn’t a zero-sum game, but the choices they make will not necessarily be to our advantage, and vice versa.”

I indicated in my book, Waves that the principle of legitimacy has been wrongly applied in colonizing and still dominating African countries. In graduate school one of my professors argued that “Portuguese colonialism of Angola, Guinea Bissau, Mozambique, and Principe/Sao Tome was legitimate,” because these Europeans were advancing modernization. I contested this hypothesis. Exploiting African resources and suppressing the population is not consistent with modernization.

The Professor’s argument that Portugal had a legitimate right under “international law” is not in synch with Western values and changing times. By his definition, “America would have remained a British colony had the settlers not revolted.”  In fact, colonization creates “gross inequality” and is conflict prone. 6/ Page 61, Birara, A. Waves: Endemic Poverty that Globalization Cannot Tackle but Ethiopians Can, 2010.

Is Black Africa free?

The remnants of colonialism linger in many parts of Africa. As was the case in colonial times, gross inequality is inevitable if state and non-state actors preserve and retain financial and economic interests for a narrow band of folks in concert with global actors. The argument that global actors, especially paid experts mean no harm is a fallacy. Hundreds of thousands of foreign experts manning African institutions are paid salaries and subsidies that no African expert can ever aspire in his or her own homeland and in his or her lifetime.

Sadly, each African country has ample trained but not retained human capital. Ethiopia graduates thousands of medical doctors each year. I estimate that 2/3^rd of this human capital leaves the country each year. The Ethiopian poor are subsidizing other countries. Yet, I have seen no evidence from global experts, donors and governments who admonish this bleeding. Global actors impose bad policies but do not encourage nationalist Africans to counter their views. “The Bad Samaritans have imposed macroeconomic policies on developing countries that seriously hamper their ability to invest, grow and create jobs in the long run.” 7/ Page 159, Chang, H.J., Bad Samaritans

The centrality of human capital

Trained human capital is the single most important variable in advancing African economies. If you lose your lead human capital, you lose the capacity to negotiate. African governments have thus far failed to nurture and retain this critical asset. As I travel around the world, I am struck by the number of successful Africans. For example, Ethiopians save and invest in Ethiopian restaurants anywhere in the world and make them profitable. My conclusion from this observation is that Ethiopia’s middle and upper middle class resides abroad, not in Ethiopia.

We Africans are ignoring the new actors of globalization at enormous risks for succeeding generations. Enormous profits are being made in Africa while power elites tolerate human trafficking of African youth, destitution and repression of Africans from Burkina Faso, Mali, Nigeria and Eritrea, Ethiopia, and environmental degradation everywhere. This is happening while elites live in luxuries that are beyond belief. Although not reported in official statistics, some Ethiopian officials own 100 million Birr ($20 million) palatial homes. Those who are being asked to help drought famine victims in Ethiopia find luxury during misery intolerable.

In its 2016 report of the status of African economies, the Economist reported that the number of middle-income Africans, defined as those with per capita income of $10-20 per day does not exceed 15 million people and “none is in Ethiopia,” 8/ The Economist, the World in 2016: A Revolution from Below and Continental Drift).

I chose the title “Your next “landlord” will not be Ethiopian: how globalization undermines the poor” for a sound reason. Ethiopia has ample irrigable and other farmlands. Yet, it is food aid dependent. It is one of the centers of land grab. It is the largest aid recipient in Sub-Saharan Africa and one of the largest in the world. Yet, its economic and social structures are Biblical. Its growth favors ethnic elites at the top. More than 75 percent of its population consists of youth. Yet, it floods the global market, especially the West and South Africa, with an exodus of immigrants. It is unable to create jobs, in part because the private sector is squeezed by party and endowment monopolies. It draws FDI but does not have a regulatory framework of partnership that favors the domestic private sector.

Sadly, the global community does not find anything wrong with the current system. For reasons that escape me, Ethiopia’s benefactors—donors, and friendly governments, seem to prefer stability at the cost of freedom, human rights, the rule of law and democracy. It is certainly true that in a region of failed states and terrorism, Ethiopia has not suffered the traumas of savage and senseless attacks by terrorist groups such as Al-Shabab. But for how long? Most Ethiopian intellectuals and opposition groups contend that the Ethiopian state is “terrorizing” the population. This may be debatable depending on the motive behind the characterization.

What I know is this. Ethiopia is one of the worst jailers of journalists in the world. It is one the major sources of human exodus in Africa. It suffers from one of the worst cases of nepotism, corruption, and illicit outflow. It is among the top centers for land grab and dispossession of indigenous people. It is home to the largest brothels in Africa. Girls as young as ten are traded for sex in Addis Ababa, home of the African Union.

The tragedy of Ethiopia’s young girls and land grab in Africa in general and Ethiopia illustrate the pitfalls of globalization combined with poor governance. The motives are self-serving. I remind the reader that investors are driven by three motives:

First is “the need to establish beachheads and secure reliable and reasonably priced food supplies for their clients.” This is understandable given diminished arable lands across the globe. The concern is the transfer of ownership from indigenous people to foreign and elite domestic investors.

Second is “to secure reliable and reasonably priced sources of biofuels.” Ethiopia’s top priority should be to be food self-sufficient; and therefore, to boost smallholder food productivity.

Third is to respond to “hedge funds and other investors that wish to capitalize on the commodity boom and to make money.” The Ethiopian government’s argument that the country should lease its lands, gain foreign exchange, and purchase food supplies in the open market is short-sighted. Among other things, the policy “undermines domestic capabilities and perpetuates food dependency,” 9/ Pages 218-220, Birara, A. Ethiopia: The Great Land Giveaway, 2011.

In my estimation, globalization in the form of foreign direct investment, trade, migration, remittances, the fight against terrorism does not have to be a zero-sum game. The single most important message I took from President Obama’s speech in Africa is this. If Africans, including Ethiopians, wish to transform their societies on a sustainable and transformative manner, they must do it themselves, for themselves (ourselves). No one else will do it for us.

Africans rejected colonialism and other isms; and then lost decades of growth because of dictatorships. Sadly, these other isms have been replaced by elitism, cronyism, tribalism, nepotism and political and economic captures by elites. Except for democratic Botswana, Burkina Faso, Mauritius, Cape Verde, Namibia, South Africa, Tanzania, Morocco, Tunisia, Senegal and Ghana, most of Africa is still shackled by new forms of repression, exploitation and collusion. www.Legatumprosperityranking/2015).

The consequences of poor and repressive governance are staggering. For example, if we take the ten fastest growing economies in Africa, the socioeconomic situation for most Africans is either the same or worse. The difference in GDP per capita per year between Botswana at $16,000 and Ethiopia $470 to $490 is day and night. It can’t be explained by any other variable but lack of good and empowering governance. Social rates of return in Botswana are about four times higher than Ethiopia. The private sector in Botswana is more robust. Corruption in Botswana is almost zero. It is institutionalized in Ethiopia.

It is arguable that FDI, aid and trade can improve lives in a sustainable manner without accountability in governance. For example, how come Ethiopia has not achieved food self-sufficiency after $40 billion in Western development assistance?

What is development anyway?

Today, ordinary Ethiopians joke about growth in their country. In other words, their government has degraded the concept. It has made a mockery of growth by defining growth and development as top down like command economies. For me, it is freedom and empowerment. As such, it is about people. It is ownership of assets. If you wish to build a better home; you work hard, save, and invest. You cannot save if you do not have a job or are not allowed to establish a firm; or if someone comes to your home or goes to the bank and steals your savings. What is true at the individual and family level is also true at a national level. Africans are unable to keep what is theirs. There is a plethora of evidence that shows that over the past 39 years, Africa lost $1.8 trillion. This sum is staggering and debilitating. This problem is compounded by other factors and interventions.

African countries suffered immensely from structural adjustments that curtailed public spending in education, health and other social sectors. In the early 1990s, Ethiopia was compelled to privatize successful state-owned enterprises (SOEs), including those that were profitable. To this day, the government has not explained to the public to which groups and or individuals the privatized firms were transferred and what social and economic benefits Ethiopians gained.  As far as I know, there was no transparency in the transactions and there was no open competition. The process was opaque. Equally worrisome is the fact that Ethiopia’s land leases and FDI are shrouded in mystery.

The volume of FDI and trade to “the new frontier,” especially to the ten fastest economies, has increased dramatically over the past decade, with FDI of $32 billion in 2013 and $29 billion in 2014. In 2013, a quarter of the inflow of $10.3 billion was invested in Nigeria and South Africa. Nigeria has the largest middle class in Africa. This is in part because of the growth role of the domestic private sector and FDI. In 2012, Mozambique attracted $7.1 billion, dedicated mostly to natural resources extraction. Other beneficiaries of FDI include Ghana, Uganda and Zambia.

One encouraging trend is diversification of the investment portfolio into media and telecommunications, technology and manufacturing. Ethiopia is paying a heavy price in the media and telecommunications sector. The party and state own this sector. Its potential to contribute to increased employment and incomes will not be realized until and unless the government deregulates and privatizes the sector as other African counties have done. I reckon that the government is reluctant to grow the telecommunications sector because of its democratization feature. Imagine millions of Ethiopian youths sharing knowledge using social media. Among other things, they may demand more freedom. And freedom is dangerous in Ethiopia. It exposes poor and rent-seeking governance. The freedom deficit is among the ingredients that give globalization a bad name.

Who invests in Africa? 

It is not well known that the biggest investors in the ‘new frontier’ are not the Chinese or other Asians. Europe dominates FDI while China dominates trade. With some 104 projects and $4.6 billion, the old colonial power, the United Kingdom is by far the largest investor followed by the United States. China’s investment has risen from $392 million in 2005 to $2.5 billion in 2012. Its investment portfolio is concentrated in mining and infrastructure.

A unique feature of American investment that has attracted global attention is “Power Africa” —a commitment to light 60 million homes and businesses– to which the U.S. has committed $7 billion and the U.S. private sector $12 billion. The Blackstone Group and the Carlyle Group are the most active promoters of the project. The capital requirement to achieve “Power Africa” is more than $300 billion. African countries can meet part of this requirement if they prevent capital leakage.

Ironically, Ethiopia is investing billions of dollars in hydroelectric power generation, all of it for export. Only 17 percent of Ethiopians have access to electricity. I question the wisdom of massive investment in hydroelectric power generation while most Ethiopians literally live in “the dark ages.” In the village I left decades ago, Ethiopian rural families continue to use kerosene to light their homes at night, if they can afford it.

Who dominates trade in Africa? 

When I was growing up, it was Japan that dominated trade in many countries of the world, including Africa. Today, the dominant player is China; and competition for the African market is stiff. Africa is being squeezed in the competition between China on the one hand and the West on the other. In 2011 U.S. trade with Africa amounted to $125 billion; and China’s $166 billion. Although the U.S. had initiated the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), there is little indication that access for African goods to the U.S. market has been made easier. Two-way trades have not expanded. In 2013, U.S. trade declined to $85 billion while Chinese trade rose to $213 billion. The government of China aims to increase this to $400 billion by 2020. This favors China more than Africa. Ethiopians are resentful of the Chinese because of their pervasive presence. They do not understand that China is there at the invitation of the Ethiopian government.

Make African development youth-centered

Whether FDI or trade, the central question in my mind is the extent to which Africans, especially the poor and youth, would gain. More research should be done on the role of the new form of globalization in accelerating sustainable and equitable development for Africans or doing the opposite. At minimum, there must be African governments that are dedicated to the defense and services of their own national interests and societies in the same way as developmental states in East Asia and the Pacific region. As President Obama said in Ghana, this is a highly “competitive” world in which weaker and least developed countries are at the mercy of domestic elites and global actors that often work in tandem.

Singular concentration in fighting terrorism while leaving intractable socioeconomic and political problems that breed terrorism, civil conflict, balkanization, capital flight untouched and un-discussed is not a winning strategy. And the West is partly to blame for not addressing this phenomenon.

Farmlands and water grabbing in the new frontier

A prime example of greed during poverty is land grab by foreign investors and domestic elites. FDI in farmlands in Africa is a new form of “colonialism.” In all cases, investments disadvantage poorly governed countries such as Ethiopia. There are no rules, regulations, and protocols to protect the poor; and Ethiopia’s national interests and sovereignty are compromised. Countries dominated by repressive regimes are always characterized by weak institutions. There is no community or civic voice or independent media to mitigate risks.

My argument is that benefits depend on the existence of nationally oriented, competent, and highly dedicated government leaders and institutions that negotiate, defend, and protect the indigenous population. FDI does not advance public welfare unless authorities defend the interests of their societies. The fact that economic power shifts from West to East does not mean that poor countries can do better. There are no transparent and shared rules and arrangements that govern investments. The poor and domestic investors are left on their own.

Land grab is an excellent example of poor and repressive elite governance in Ethiopia. Land grab means expropriation. The regime expropriates and gives farmlands away to the highest bidder without any open competition or compensation. The reason is simple. It is to ensure single party dominance over the national economy. When I contrast unbridled FDI in commercial agriculture in Ethiopia with countries that negotiate the best deals for their societies, I discover that Ethiopia sold or leased its farmlands and water basins for nothing. In the process, the government dispossessed millions in the process.

Despite lack of a new global inclusive and just architecture in conducting business, there is no evidence that supports that nationally oriented and committed governments give away the most critical source of current and future comparative advantage to investors for free. They ensure that their populations are given priority over foreign investors. Repressive and corrupt regimes give away natural resources including fertile farmlands for short-term gains such as foreign exchange. When this occurs, the social, economic, and environmental effects are huge. Families, communities, and the entire society lose control of a key natural resource that defines their culture, identity, potential source of prosperity and security.

What drives this new phenomenon? At the start of 2011, the Ethiopian government had leased or sold 3 million hectares of farmlands to foreign investors, an amount that is almost 30,000 square kilometers. “In mid-April 2011, a pro-government newspaper, the Reporter, confirmed that regional states had voluntarily transferred to the Federal Government of Ethiopia 3, 638, 415 million hectares” for the purpose of leasing them to foreign and selected domestic investors…..We know that 900 permits and licenses were granted.” 10/ Page 218, Birara, A., Ethiopia: the Great Land Giveaway.

Regional governments are run by ethnic elites. They benefit from land transfers. Land is the primary source of nepotism, bribery and corruption in Ethiopia. Ethiopia’s land giveaway did not generate outcry among elites or the opposition because of self-interest and fear. Further, Ethiopians are ill informed and confused about the meaning of development and the role of land grab in achieving growth goals. Ever since I remember, two extreme classes have characterized Ethiopia: the rich and super rich at the top and the poorest of the poor at the bottom.

For the past half-century, the country provided ground to the poverty alleviation business. Aid is received on behalf of the poor; but enriches the few. This is where I would center the growth and development debate. It must be people-centered and not ethnic-elite centered. Without it, one cannot understand the political economy of poor governance and transfer of natural resources to investors. Without it, we cannot understand why there is widespread conflict among ethnic elites for control of natural resources. The distinction I made between Botswana and Ethiopia refers to the two extremes. Ethiopia does not have a middle class. It has a few millionaires. Botswana has a growing middle class. Millions of Ethiopians starve; there is no starvation in Botswana. The difference is accountable and democratic governance in Botswana and dictatorial governance in Ethiopia.

Foreign experts and visitors travel to Ethiopia and declare that the country is hopelessly poor, while recognizing physical change. Physical infrastructure has had a glitz effect masking deep policy and structural hurdles that Ethiopia faces. The hopelessness arises from abject poverty that they see everywhere. The World Bank defines the middle class as those who earn $10 per day (Brazil) and $20 per day (Italy). In Ethiopia 90 percent of the population is multidimensionality poor. In 2000, 430 million people belonged to the middle class. The projection by different institutions including McKinsey and Company is that this number will rise to 1.15 billion by 2030.

By 2000, China grew its middle class to 100 million people. McKinsey projects that this number will grow to 140 million by 2015. Therefore, I argue that poverty reduction in Ethiopia must be measured by the rise of the middle class. It is when the poor eat three meals a day, send their children to school and have accesses to economic opportunities that substantial rise in the middle class will occur. The current system grows incomes and assets for the rich and super rich but does not enhance opportunities for the poor.

Land is among the most important variables in the equation. How it is allocated, developed, and used determines the extent to which those at the bottom would rise to the middle. This class will produce and consume large quantities of domestically manufactured goods, foods, and services. It will enlarge the government’s tax revenue base. It will demand accountability from its government. Now the two extremes are stuck. The poor do not have the time or freedom or resources to demand accountability as much as the middle class. For the regime in power, it pays to keep the poor where they are.

The second organizing principle is that the Ethiopian regime seems to market the notion that a large chunk of fertile farmlands and waters in Gambella can be transferred to foreign ownership to grow and develop the region. Millions of hectares of farmlands have been or will soon be transferred to investors. The developmental argument of forcibly removing inhabitants to lift them out of destitution is absurd and immoral. How many ordinary people in Gambella would enter the middle class if they are marginalized? What would be their social rates of return? Would reliance on commodity exports owned by foreigners and for foreigners induce a middle class and pave the way for sustainable and equitable development? Gambella illustrates this is not the case.

Most of the population falls into the lowest level of income and material poverty. Therefore, I gave this article the title “Your next ‘landlord’ will not be Ethiopian.” An Indian commercial farm manager in Gambella said it best. “They gave it to us, and we took it. We did not even see the place.” Karuturi is one of 896 foreign investors that scramble for a piece of the action in Gambella and other locations. At the height of “farmland colonization by invitation,” at least 36 governments were involved. On March 21, 2011, John Vidal of the Guardian Co., UK newspaper chain presented a heart-wrenching documentary on the social, economic and environmental implications of disenfranchisement that comes from transfers of ownership from Ethiopians to foreign investors. One commercial farm of 100,000 hectares of emerald green land is as “big as Wales” in the United Kingdom. The 300,000 hectares plus land offered to Karuturi, one of the largest “landlords” in Ethiopia stretches 1,000 square miles and displaces entire villages. Vidal offers a vivid picture of 250 people left stranded for “8 months.” 11/ Page 152, Birara, A., Ethiopia: The Great Land Giveaway. 

Land as big as “Wales and Luxembourg” represents more than geography. It represents people and their futures. The heart-wrenching story I suggest comes from people who are uprooted and full of fear. Vidal quotes people under conditions of anonymity. We “are scared to talk. Who cares about us; they will jail me.” Utterances such as these do not indicate consent, but coercion. “They gave it to us, and we took it.” What this says to me is “Do not blame us; ask the Ethiopian government that granted us these lands.”

Accountability for social, economic, and environmental outcomes resides with the regime. “Who cares about us” is a story about the poor, and the callousness of their government. At the peak of land transfers to 896 licensees in 2007 when the regime earned more than $3.00 billion, thousands of inhabitants in Beni-Shangul and Gambella were forced to move. Officials told Vidal that resettlement was voluntary and developmental. Villages razed to the ground, the poor had extraordinarily little choice but to move. Officials argue that the primary reason for resettlement is the need to accelerate social and infrastructural development; and that it is virtually impossible and uneconomical to provide social services to scattered villages. This is true; and has been for the past 25 years under the watch of the current regime.

Is it coincidental that resettlements are speeded up to meet a development gap? It does not seem to be that way. Relocation is planned and deliberated as part of the transfers. On November 29, 2010, William Davison of Bloomberg news reported that 150,000 households or 750,000 people from the Afar, Beni-Shangul Gumuz, Gambella and Ogaden regions would be resettled. What is heart wrenching is the reaction of indigenous people, victims of land grab in the name of development. “We are deceived by our government.” 12/ Page 257, Birara, A., Ethiopia: the Great Land Giveaway.  

In “Public Backlash against Forced Evictions from Land a Certainty,” posted by the Solidarity Movement for a New Ethiopia, one learns the magnitude and growing resentments that John Vidal underscored in his documentary. Solidarity says, ¾ of the population of Gambella is slated to move. Assuming a population of 225,000, it means close to 170,000 people would need to move. This amounts to effective evacuation of the majority to make room for large-scale commercial farms. “Villagization” is a deliberate program of the government and is a result of land grab. In the initial phase, officials promised 3 to 4 hectares of farmlands for each household; but only 60, 000 hectares are set aside. It is equivalent to 1.3 hectares per household in a region that is giving up 1.8 million hectares to investors. As enticements, inhabitants are promised schools, health facilities, market sites, roads and the like. No high school or higher education is planned by either the government or investors. Inhabitants complain that the minimal promises from the government that earns billions of dollars from land sales and leases are not often kept. Without quality education and accesses to new economic opportunities, it is unlikely that the people of Afar, Beni-Shangul Gumuz, Gambella or Ogaden would see increases in incomes. What is predictable is continued poverty, inequality, and instability.

Karuturi’s holding of 300,000 hectares is accompanied by Saudi Star that owns between 300, 000 and 500,000 hectares in Gambella. It has similar projects in Beni-Shangul Gumuz. The “new landlords” are diverse for strategic reasons, I believe 36 countries and 896 separate licenses are diverse. These investments cannot possibly take place without adverse effects on inhabitants and the environment. The government is silly in not acknowledging that land transfers to investors entail huge costs. In the words of an Anuak cited earlier “If these people think they will come here, remove us by force from our ancestral land for mega-farms and think they will succeed in harvesting their crops without any resistance, they are wrong. The only way they will be right in thinking this is if their crops remain green; and ready to harvest forever.”

I fully understand the agony of this Ethiopian. The Indian representative says the Ethiopian government “Gave it to us, and we took it. Seriously, we did not even see the land. They offered it. That is all.” This is the reason for my thesis that farmland and water basin transfers or giveaways to foreign investors are effectively “farmland colonization by invitation.” People are simply “scared to talk.” The developmental economics point of the regime fits the definition of “survival of the fittest” model of thinking. It is only those with political influence and their allies who could not only survive but thrive. Under this inequitable model the world seems to condone, one would have to wonder for how long people would live with the model itself.

My sense is that it will perpetuate the extremes of elites and the poor and ignite civil conflict. Public backlash is inevitable. The totality of potential adverse effects leads Vidal to call the transfers the “deal of the century.” After visiting with government officials at all levels and learning the party line, he asks the penultimate question, “Is it in the people’s best interest” that the regime gave away their sources of current and future comparative advantage and prosperity. My conclusion is none. This is the reason why the 21st century version of globalization is perceived as unjust. The uprising in Oromia in early 2016 reveals the dilemma of political and economic capture, especially lands, by a minority ethnic group and the marginalization of millions.

Is there a way out? 

I believe there is. It requires political will. In summary, I come up with the following conclusions.

First and foremost, Africans must straighten out their own governments. They must believe in themselves and hold their governments accountable for outcomes. This occurs when good governance is institutionalized.

Equally, the global community, especially FDI must be governed by new, inclusive, democratic, and accountable governance architecture. I suggest we use parameters against which both can be assessed. The most important parameter is the wellbeing of most of the poor.

In this regard, economic and social rates of return from investments in natural resource must be equally beneficial to Ethiopian society. They must improve the value-chain by enabling Ethiopians to be producers, income earners, food processors, manufactures, exporters, consumers and so on. As designed, the value-added of foreign owned large-scale commercial farms accrues to investors. Ethiopians are not only disenfranchised from transfers of an estimated 30,000 square kilometers of their most fertile farmlands and water basins; they do not play roles in the development process. There are no food processing plants. There are no Agric-based manufacturing economic activities adjacent to the farms. There are no meaningful additional physical or social infrastructure projects that connect various sectors. These investments do not grow the national economy in ways that will make it self-reliant and independent. Millions of Ethiopians live in extreme poverty earning less than $1.25 a day. Escalating food prices diminish this meager earning further.

At the annual spring meetings of the IMF and the World Bank in April 2011, the President of the World Bank had warned “on the threat of social unrest” driven by escalating food prices and unemployment. When food prices persist upwards, it is the poorest of the poor who suffer most.

The jigsaw puzzle of development policy of the Ethiopian ruling party in giving away farmlands to foreign investors while importing food will, inevitably lead to the tensions the World Bank and others have in mind. These transfers deny Ethiopians the benefits that arise from ownership and control. The value-added from “processing, marketing and distributing” of produces in their own homeland go to investors. Accordingly, the “deal of the century” enriches investors while deepening Ethiopia’s poverty. This unbelievable deal is not governed by any code of business conduct to mitigate risks for Ethiopian households, communities, and society.

The deals do not induce food self-sufficiency. The regime neglects key lessons from the North

African and Middle East uprisings. According to a statement from Robert Zoellick, President of the World Bank, “We should remember that the revolution in Tunisia started with the self-immolation of a fruit seller who was harassed by authorities.” Farmland giveaways to foreign and a selected few domestic are imposed by Ethiopian authorities without clear and predictable benefits to the Ethiopian people. They dispossess inhabitants. When a government dispossesses its own citizens, it invites civil conflict. Widespread civil conflict spares no one, including the physical properties of foreign and domestic investors.

Second, these farmlands are sources of comparative advantage for Ethiopia and could be transformed into granaries for exports and domestic consumption. Building national institutions and strengthening domestic capabilities will generate private sector enterprises and employment, boost agricultural productivity and make the country more competitive. Given favorable conditions-instead of foreign investors–it will be Ethiopians who will be able to export agricultural produce to Chinese, Egyptian, Saudi and Indian markets. Empowering foreign “landlords” is the opposite policy.

Third, terms and conditions do not state clearly and openly that these large-scale commercial farms will generate permanent employment and that wages and benefits will lift employees from poverty. On the contrary, low wages will keep Ethiopian workers poor. This is no way to achieve middle income status. These Ethiopians will be condemned to endure the indignity of working for “new landlords” who happen to be non-Ethiopian in a sector where the country has a solid history and potential for a smallholder “green revolution.”

Fourth, Ethiopia has a track record that governs FDI. This comes in the form of 51 percent domestic ownership and 49 percent foreign ownership, standardized under the Imperial regime. The regime was ahead because it was nationalistic and wanted to protect the country’s interests. Land deals under the current government do not manifest this best practice in natural resource management.

Fifth, whether unoccupied or occupied, fertile farmlands belong to specific groups. Their involvement and participation in decision-making is vital. The governing party has not shown any inclination to engage them. Decisions create unnecessary tensions and conflicts that could have been avoided. This is the social missing link. The fact that lands are not occupied is irrelevant. Unoccupied lands can be leased in a responsible manner, with the Ethiopian people in control of their natural resources for their benefits. Ethiopian communities are stakeholders and deserve to be heard. Those hired must feel that their government stands on their side.

There must be linkage to other sectors of the economy. Workers should not be expected to live with ‘slavery wage rates’ working on farmlands in their own home country. Ethiopians are forced to work for “foreign bosses” in a sector about which they know something. There are numerous Ethiopians with technical and managerial talent to manage large-scale commercial farms. Farming is a national tradition that goes back thousands of years. The role of government is to equip smallholders and others with the tools they need to increase productivity and employment. It is not to make tenants and “strangers” in their own lands.

Sixth, when a regime gives away farmlands or other natural resources without engaging foreign corporations to agree to terms and conditions that will advance the interests of households, communities, and the entire society, it is legitimate to question the ultimate objective of the deals.

Beneficial FDI is always based on shared benefit and is publicized to educate the public. Nationalistic governments ensure that there is no environmental destruction. Ethiopia has a history of environmental degradation. The landmass that is forested and needs custodianship is much smaller than it used to be. There is ample evidence in Gambella and other localities that shows catastrophic levels of clearing of virgin and irreplaceable forests as well as streams. The flora and fauna as well as the natural resources used by households and communities to earn a living are being destroyed.

For example, households harvest honey to earn incomes and to sustain livelihoods. This will not occur when the forest is cleared. Inhabitants use streams and rivers to fish, earn incomes and sustain lives. This disappears when foreign corporations dam and divert rivers to support their large commercial farms. Eliminating livelihood to make way for FDI without offering meaningful alternatives is irreprehensible in a country that “begs” for food. The social and environmental impacts of these unregulated clearings by investors are catastrophic and irreversible. Future generations of Ethiopians will suffer from these destructions. These are among the reasons why I question the deals.

Equally, natural resources capture of lands and water resources in Ethiopia reflects political capture by elites who find nothing wrong with FDI. Elites are the lead beneficiaries of this phenomenon. The problem is this. Concentration of incomes and wealth is hugely risky for Ethiopia. It creates inequality and poverty and leads to social and political instability and terrorism. Eventually, people revolt because economic and social opportunities are closed. Those who are rich do not feel safe and flee with their capital. Their homes and enterprises become easy targets for the outraged. This actually happened recently when Oromo youth targeted and burned investments properties because they were outraged by government brutality.

It narrows the domestic savings and consumer base and reduces productivity, consumption and competition. Poor people cannot buy, and rich enterprises cannot expand markets. Inequality and unfair practices force domestic investors to leave with their capital. This is the reason for massive illicit outflow of capital.

When talent leaves the country in droves it reduces social capital. Ethiopia suffers from the worst human exodus in its long history. Ethiopia will not have social and financial capital, technology or managerial talent to manage and use its natural resource effectively. This forces it to invite foreign investors to do as they wish. Ethiopians lose control of their destinies and Ethiopia losses its sovereignty.

Sadly, the regime allows natural resource exploitation because it gains from collusion with FDI.

Ethiopia cannot afford to emulate income and wealth inequality as a sustainable development model. Control of the commanding heights of the economy by a single party proves to be a sure way of aggravating income inequality, future social fissures and dependency on foreigners. Showing a few success stories here and there–such as cut flower exports without diversification and expansion of economic opportunities for large numbers of people–does not suggest that the lives of ordinary Ethiopians are improving, and that Ethiopia’s middle class is exploding. More critical, this model does not illustrate that Ethiopians are in control of their future. Millions of people find it difficult to eat two meals a day in a country that is giving away its fertile farmlands to foreign investors.

This leads me to critique the “win-win” proposition advanced by such entities as IFC and private sector multinationals, hedge funds and rich individuals that lack intellectual honesty. They suggest that FDI in commercial farming is critical for Africa. FDI in commercial farms is not altruistic. The primary motive is to make profits, secure food sources and alternatives to fossil fuel. Investors are helped by the convergence of domestic economic, financial and political and class interests.

Just imagine how the poor can survive this well financed assault on their social, economic and cultural rights. In one form or another the principle applied is availability of untapped farmlands, markets and rural poverty. Consequences on communities and the environment are immaterial. In a capital and technology poor country such as Ethiopia, there is nothing wrong in investing in fertile farmlands that would alleviate world demand for foods and biofuels while contributing to the development process. The question is “For whom and how?” Sustainability and equity are vital in development. Without both, growth is meaningless, and chaos is inevitable.

I find it find ironic that the World Bank, IFPRI and others agree on a set of principles that should govern investments in farmlands. In Africa, principles dictated by “Good Samaritans” are a dime a dozen. They dictate them but do nothing to push these principles on the Ethiopian government and on investors. Instead, they have watched the regime push and impose on the poor and defenseless a laissez-faire development model that many nationalist governments would find repulsive.

As far as I know no one is held accountable for failures for social and environmental degradation in Africa. And Ethiopia is the worst example of this. Because fundamental principles are not enforced, interethnic conflict and terrorism will flourish.

The global community must acknowledge the enormous gap between intentions and deeds on the ground that makes the global system un-trustworthy and unreliable for the poor. Most Africans disenchanted with this unjust system ask the pertinent question “Where is the moral obligation to make repressive governments and FDI accountable to communities, the society and future generations?” If there is one notion that has given unregulated capitalism a bad name, it is corruption and greed. Un-regulated FDI is full of greed. In Ethiopia, greed among official and nonofficial loyal to the governing party is legendary. Ethiopia continues to lose billions in illicit outflow of capital each year.

Greed put the world capitalist system on the brink of collapse in 2008/2009 and threatens its very existence today. FDI in farmlands is full of greed. Firms such as Saudi Star and Karuturi and numerous hedge funds and individual investors are not in Ethiopia to alleviate poverty, feed the hungry and end dependency. They are not the “Mother Teresa” of the Ethiopian poor and never will be. No one blames them for exploiting the country’s natural resources and human capital. They are there at the invitation of the Ethiopian government. The transnational corporations that command billions of dollars in investment assets found a willing and inviting partner at the top of the decision-making pyramid and are making full use of it.

Investors do not feel obligated to apply any fair and just principle. Firms operate with political and social classes within the country and feel immune from public scrutiny. Although I have focused on Ethiopia, with a few exceptions, the entire Africa illustrates a recurring dilemma.

Natural resource endowments have become a curse. This is the reason why, each year, hundreds of thousands of African youths leave their homes and families in search of opportunities in Europe and elsewhere. Ethiopia is among the top contributors to this exodus. Building physical infrastructure such as roads, rails, dams, lavish villas and skyscrapers is fairly easy if you receive billions in aid monies.

The acid test of credible growth in Ethiopia is the extent to which most citizens eat three meals a day, enjoy freedom, better health, safe drinking water and better sanitation; and youth look forward to employment opportunities after they complete their education. As an Ethiopian friend confided, “You cannot eat the Renaissance Dam. Can you.”

Sadly, I conclude with my repeated claim of collusion between global capital and domestic elites at enormous costs for households, communities, and the entire Ethiopian society. This is not a “win -win” proposition. Instead, it should be labeled “Welcome to your ‘new landlord’ who is not Ethiopian.” I am convinced that Ethiopians and other Africans can come up with better governance and regulatory alternatives if they have freedom.

Citations

1/ Rothkopf, D. Superclass: the Global Power Elite and the World They Are Making, October, 2007

2/ America is on the wrong side of history, paragraph 2, By Joseph Stiglitz August 7, 2015 WWW.Ethiomedia.org

3/ Ibid, paragraph 10

4/ Chang, H.J. Bad Samaritans: the Myth of Free Trade and the History of Capitalism, Bloomsbury Press, 2008.

5/ Ibid

6/ Birara A. Waves: Endemic Poverty that Globalization Can’t Tackle but Ethiopians Can, Signature Books, 2010

7/ Chang, H.J. Bad Samaritans: the Myth of Free Trade and the History of Capitalism, Bloomsbury Press, 2008

8/ the Economist, the World in 2016: A Revolution from Below and Continental Drift) www.economist.org

9/ Birara, A. Ethiopia: the Great Land Giveaway, Signature Books, 2011

10/ Ibid

11/ Ibid

12/ Ibid

References

Birara, A. ድርጅታዊ ምዝበራ (Organized Plunder), Maple Creek Media, 2013

Keller, K. “Technology and social change is a two-way street.” Foreshadowing the future: the impact of demography, School of Advanced International Studies. Washington, DC. 2010/11

“African Presidents and Prime Ministers: performance index for 2010-2011.” East African Journal.

January 2011

2011 Index of Economic Freedom, the Heritage Foundation and Wall Street Journal. January, 2011.

The 2010 Freedom House Political and Civil Rights Index. Freedom House. Washington, D.C. 2011.

Dulane, A. “Ethiopia: an appealing destination in Africa.” Japan Spotlight. September/October, 2010.

“Mining Fight Shows Pressure on Multinationals,” Wall Street Journal. January 27, 2011.

“A Continent of New Consumers Beckons,” Wall Street Journal. January, 2011.

Daniel, S. and Mittal, A. “Mis-investment in agriculture: the role of the International Finance Corporation in the Global Land-Grabs,” Oakland Institute. 2010.

Borras, S. and Franco, J. “From Threat to Opportunity: problems with the idea of ‘Code of Conduct” for land grabbing, Yale Human Rights and Law Journal. Vol. 13, No. 2. 2010.

Rising Global Interest in Farmlands: can it yield sustainable and equitable benefits? World Bank. September, 2010.

Pingali, P. Ending the debate over the world’s small farmers, Posted 10/13/2010.

Vidal, J. “How food and water are driving a 21st century African land grabs.” The Guardian Co., UK, March 7, 2010

Debdebo, A. “Tearing down Ethiopian society through land seizures,” Posted 11/28/2011

Ayano, F.M. Agrarian Law and Economic Development: the case of Ethiopia, Unpublished thesis. Harvard University Law School, May 2009

Keiger, D. The Curse of the Golden Egg: why are resource-rich African countries plagued by slow growth, economic disparity, corrupt and repressive governments, and civil strife? Johns Hopkins University Magazine, spring 2011.

Tamirat, I. and team. Policy and Institutional Assessment Framework: Large-scale acquisition of land rights for agricultural or natural resource use: Ethiopia, Unpublished report, World Bank. January 2010.

Deininger, K. Land Policies for Growth and Poverty Reduction, Oxford University Press and the World Bank. 2003

Government of Ethiopia, Federal Investment Bureau, Charting our Future: economic frameworks inform decision-making, Addis Ababa, 2009

Solidarity Movement for a New Ethiopia, Public backlash against forced eviction from land a certainty, January 3, 2011

Degu, L. Justifiable concerns over Ethiopia’s reckless farmland deals, posted on Ethiomedia, March, 2010.

United Nations Development Program (UNDP). Illicit Financial Flow from the Least Developed Countries: 1990-2008. New York, May, 2010.

Human Rights Watch. Development without Freedom, October 19, 2010

Wallis, J, England, A and Manson, K. Ripe, Reappraisal: Africa, the Financial Times, May 19, 2011 World Economic Forum, the Global Competitiveness Report, 2010/2011. Geneva http://Web.worldbank.org/Website/External/Countries/Africa.EXT/Ethiopia.

The Legatum Prosperity Index, 2010/2012/2015

Furtado, X and Smith, J. Ethiopia: Aid, ownership and Sovereignty. Global Governance working paper 2007/2B

Moyo, D. Dead Aid, Farrar, Strauss and Giroux. New York. 2009

Wrong, M. It is Our Time to Eat: the story of a Kenyan whistleblower. Harper/Collins, 2009 Oxford University Multidimensional Poverty Index, 2010 http://Web.UNICEF.org/Ethiopia. 2003-2008

Reich, A. Robert. After Shock: the next eco

The post Your next “landlord” will not be Ethiopian: how globalization undermines the poor appeared first on Satenaw Ethiopian News/Breaking News/.

Author Contact information:
Girma Berhanu
Department of Education and Special Education (Professor)
University of Gothenburg
Box 300, SE 405 30
Göteborg, Sweden
E-mail: Girma.Berhanu@ped.gu.se

“Never react to an evil in such a way as to augment it,” the great French philosopher and activist Simone Weil wrote in 1933 as she contemplated on how to be a complete human being amid a world that seemed to be falling apart.

Introduction

As a young boy growing in the Mengstu’s era (The Derg), I was continually mesmerized or absorbed by the thoughts of evil in relation to atrocious and cruel acts committed against young people who were accused of anti Derg operation. Many intellectual elites were eliminated during this period. In the name of justice, revolution and ‘proletarian dictatorship’ innocent and hard-working people were executed. I saw these acts as evils in different forms, embedded in structural as well as individual spheres. All that was during my teenage; it left me wondering agonisingly. I never had a conversational partner to grapple with this issue. These tormenting ideas have been hanging upon me for 30 plus years. I have never had an opportunity to discuss the matter with anyone up until now, although I read a number of books on the matter including Hannah Arendt’s.

My intention with this less digested paper is just to reflect, based on the research literature and my own observation, on evil deeds and evil motives that engulf Ethiopia under the auspices of TPLF and other destructive political forces, and show the reader the way out of this quagmire.

Some people may see evil as a supernatural force, whilst others deny its existence or seek to ignore it. I want to avoid either of these approaches and to account for evil, with all its power, in human experience. It appears that the meaning and seriousness of evil seems to be undermined and trivialised in modern culture[1]. I never associated evil or wickedness with Satan or supernatural factors. In my view the problem of evil is certainly the greatest obstacle to my belief in the existence of God. When I ponder both the extent and depth of suffering in my homeland, whether due to man’s inhumanity to man or to natural disasters, then I must confess that I find it hard to believe that God exists. No doubt many of you have felt the same way. How can we be sure that God does not exist? Perhaps there’s a reason why God permits all the evil in the world. Perhaps it somehow all fits into the grand scheme of things, which we can only dimly discern, if at all. How do we know?

According to the logical problem of evil, it is logically impossible for God and evil to co-exist. If God exists, then evil cannot exist. If evil exists, then God cannot exist. Since evil exists, it follows that God does not exist. But the problem with this argument is that there’s no reason to think that God and evil are logically incompatible. There’s no explicit contradiction between them. But if the atheist means there’s some implicit contradiction between God and evil, then he must be assuming some hidden premises which bring out this implicit contradiction. But the problem is that no philosopher has ever been able to identify such premises. Therefore, the logical problem of evil fails to prove any inconsistency between God and evil[2]. When the Mengsitu regime collapsed, I thought no worse system would replace it. It did not take me much to realize how destructive and callous our new rulers were. That was in 1991. I still hoped then that things might change. The 27 years of tyranny by the TPLF[3] has been unbelievably monstrous, brutal and savage in suppressing dissent.

Too many devilish and unconscionable acts have been committed against individuals and the nation Ethiopia the consequences of which may last several decades. A month ago, more than 600 unarmed civilians were massacred by TPLF forces (a youth group) in Maikadra area, which is only 30 kilometres away from Humera town, upon which TPLF placed important strategic significance due to access to Sudan and Sudanse port.[4] Apparently, the attack was ethnicity based;[5] and it specifically targeted men. The attackers profiled people, often mainly through their identification cards, as Amharas and Wolkaits. Even so, a number of people from other ethnic groups have also been killed. While it can be verified that women and children were mostly spared, some women, including mothers who had tried to shield their families, suffered severe physical and mental injuries. Moreover, as testified by eyewitnesses, women were also harshly threatened by the perpetrators that the following day would be their turn, “the attackers would come back after the women the following day.”[6].

The Northern Command has been stationed in the Tigray region for more than two decades, to serve and protect the people of Tigray from external military threats. In the early hours of 4^th November unprovoked, TPLF forces carried out an attack on a federal military base located in Mekelle city. According to the Prime Minister, that attack had been aimed at large-scale looting of military equipment and indiscriminate killings of the soldiers and officers stationed in the military camp[7]. It was that midnight attack on that army camp that plunged Ethiopia into a deadly armed conflict which the government calls law enforcement action.

In today’s world of mass communication, gruesome content has become just about as normalized in our society as any other piece of information. However, some atrocious crimes of war are so staggering that they simply defy comprehension even to a most desensitized individual. The monstrous attack on the military base and the barbaric murders committed therein actually defy comprehension. The dreadful testimony about that specific attack by Tigrean members of the military base against their own compatriots from other ethnic groups is virtually beyond comprehension. Imagine, soldiers were killed while still in their pyjamas![8]

Countless horrendous acts of terrorism have been and are still being carried out by TPLF[9]. In a recent article entitled Digging own grave: The End days of Ethiopia’s TPLF, Thomas Mountain (2020 Nov)[10] wrote that TPLF has been Africa’s, if not the world’s most corrupt, brutal genocidal regime for the past forty years. Removed from national power in Ethiopia during the peaceful revolution of 2018, the peace deal the USA brokered left them holding out in their home province of Tigray, accommodating one of Ethiopia’s smallest minorities. Providing sanctuary to fugitive criminals, and then sending their paid undercover operatives to commit murder and ethnic mayhem across Ethiopia these past two years, the TPLF has most ruthlessly instigated mayhem and plunged the country into havoc. Indeed, in other words, ‘digging their own graves!!!

Those acts are indeed an embodiment of nefarious and devilish organizational behaviour. The belligerently committed atrocities were not in any manner difficult to be discovered by observers of Western powers, who apparently by choice ignored the malice of TPLF. Accordingly, the TPLF considered itself free and somewhat encouraged to defy all moral and legal boundaries. According to Bronwyn Bruton (2020),[11] despite the massive human rights violations that were associated with TPLF rule—despite the authoritarianism and theft, the imprisonments and the torture that have been laid at its door—TPLF international allies have neither repudiated those well-founded concerns, nor have they examined their own inappropriate investment in the TPLF welfare. International analysts, in their assessments of the current crisis, have pointedly and repeatedly failed to even raise any concern about any aspect of the TPLF dishonourable maladministration and intransigence.

In this paper, I will attempt to expand upon the foregoing premises as well as the evolution of TPLF evil intentions and monstrous deeds. The reflection is not only upon TPLF deeds and misdeeds but also other destructive forces, in particular the devilish and unconscionable acts instigated by the OLF (Oromo Liberation Front) in the Oromia region.

Obedience, Authority and the Banality of Evil: Psychological and philosophical dimensions

In the 1960s, psychologist Stanley Milgram (1963, 1974)[12] conducted a series of studies on the concepts of obedience and authority. His experiments involved instructing study participants to deliver increasingly high-voltage shocks to an actor in another room, who would scream and eventually go silent as the shocks became stronger. The shocks weren’t real, but study participants were made to believe that they were. Today, the Milgram experiment is widely criticized on both ethical and scientific grounds. However, Milgram’s conclusions about humanity’s willingness to obey authority figures remain influential and well-known.

Had the Tigrean Special Forces, who committed the horrendous crimes in Maikadra, merely obeyed orders from the ageing murderous TPLF rulers? Are the OLF mercenaries and the extremist groups of the Oromo youth (Queeroo) just naïve confused youngsters obeying their bosses? Or are they just following brute impulse, showing a lack of reason or intelligence? Or both?

Probably the best-known statement of the thesis that ordinary people may engage in outrageous torture and killing of innocent fellow humans is Arendt’s (1963) report of the trial of Adolph Eichmann in Jerusalem. Although Eichmann had played a major role in organizing the planned extermination of the European Jews, Arendt portrayed him as an uninspired bureaucrat who had only carried out his instructions. In her famous phrase, Eichmann illustrated the “banality of evil”. For Milgram (1974), and for many of the social psychological discussants of his research (see A. G. Miller, 1986), Arendt’s characterization of Eichmann applied as well to his obedient participants: After witnessing hundreds of ordinary people submit to the authority in our own experiments, I must conclude that Arendt’s conception of the banality of evil comes closer to the truth than one might dare imagine. The ordinary person who shocked his victim did so out of a sense of obligation and not from any peculiarly aggressive tendencies (Milgram, 1974, p. 6)[13].

Berkowitz (1999, p. 248) has correctly maintained maintained: “…. at this point, I voice my misgivings. I wonder if those who stress the generalizability of Milgram’s (1974) experiments to the Holocaust and talk about the banality of evil have not unduly neglected the sadism in some of the killings”. Episodes of genocidal acts have been committed intermittently in Ethiopia. One of the latest acts of genocide took place on 1^st November 2020 in Guliso district in Oromia Region. The victims (ca 200) were summoned and dragged from their homes; and were taken to the local school compound where they were summarily executed. Dead bodies not having been collected, relatives of the victims pleaded to authorities in the region to help collect littered bodies, in the hope of organizing a proper funeral[14].

The gruesomeness of those massacres as well as several others committed elsewhere in Ethiopia, by the master minder TPLF and its ally OLF, have some similarity with what Hannah Arendt herself documented. She was struck by the sadistic nature of some of those who participated in the murder of the Jews. In Arendt’s introduction to Neumann’s 1966 book about the trial of 22 SS men in Frankfurt, she commented about the charges that the defendants had committed horrific acts of torture and murder: No one had issued orders that infants should be thrown into the air as shooting targets, or hurled into the fire alive, or have their heads smashed against walls…. Innumerable individual crimes, one more horrible than the next, surrounded and created the atmosphere of the gigantic crime of extermination (Arendt, as cited in Blass, 1993, p. 36)[15].

White (23 April 2018) posed one interesting question: What is the basic confusion behind it? ‘Arendt never did reconcile her impressions of Eichmann’s bureaucratic banality with her earlier searing awareness of the evil, inhuman acts of the Third Reich. She saw the ordinary-looking functionary, but not the ideologically evil warrior. How Eichmann’s humdrum life could co-exist with that ‘other’ monstrous evil puzzled her. Nevertheless, Arendt never downplayed Eichmann’s guilt; she repeatedly described him as a war criminal and concurred with his death sentence as handed down by the Israeli court. Though Eichmann’s motives were, for her, obscure and thought defying, his genocidal acts were not. Indisputably, Arendt saw the true horror of Eichmann’s evil’[16]. In that context, we can see and assess the extent of the TPLF leaders’ inhuman acts against groups of people, individuals and the nation. In my view the leaders are ideologically evil warriors and war-lords intent on the destruction of a rich culture, history and harmony that Ethiopian people have built for centuries.

Mustafa Omer,[17] the President of the Somali Regional State in Ethiopia, succinctly illustrated that when the TPLF lost power in Addis Ababa the EPRDF was disbanded a year later. While the rest of the country embraced a new horizon, the TPLF ideologically evil warriors and warlords clung upon their old divisive ideology and even took it further. Its exclusionary mythology gave birth to the far-right “Agazian” movement, an incipient movement that seeks to create a Tigray homeland by uniting Christian Tigrigna-speaking people in Ethiopia and Eritrea. It is driven by those who see themselves as the successors of the ancient Axumite kingdom and dream of reviving it. I maintain that it is this divisive ideology of lies that has caused havoc in the country. Prince Asfa-Wossen Asserate recently said: “The root of all evil is the Ethiopian constitution. A constitution which called itself Ethiopia and ethnic federation. Ethnic federation that means Ethiopia is the only state in the whole world with the system like that. There is no other country in this world with ethnic federation and that’s what ruined this, Ethiopia became the most racist country in the world, we are the only place in Africa where in our identity cards you have the word race written on it.”[18]

Eichmann was not an amoral monster, Arendt concluded in her study of the case, Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil (1963). Instead, he performed evil deeds without evil intentions, a fact connected to his ‘thoughtlessness’, a disengagement from the reality of his evil acts. Lacking this particular cognitive ability, he ‘commit[ted] crimes under circumstances that made it well-nigh impossible for him to know or to feel that he [was] doing wrong’. I am not sure that this applies to the TPLF rulers. In my view and observation data, they performed evil deeds with devilish intentions, to cause harm to the historical nation and its proud people.

For Arendt’s critics, this focus on Eichmann’s insignificant, banal life seemed to be an ‘absurd digression’ from his evil deeds[19]. I partly agree with that statement. So what should we conclude about Arendt’s claim that Eichmann (as well as other Germans) did evil without being evil? “Evil comes from a failure to think. It defies thought for as soon as thought tries to engage itself with evil and examine the premises and principles from which it originates, it is frustrated because it finds nothing there. That is the banality of evil” (Arendt, 1963[20]). Eichmann in Jerusalem may remain, unfortunately, an increasingly relevant masterwork as we face a world like Ethiopia, seized by time-worn tyrants (such as Jawar Mohammed, Dr. Debretsion, Professor Ezkiel Gabisa, Bekele Gerba, Getachew Assefa, Getachew Redda Tsegaye Ararsa etc) capable of perpetrating enormous evil with their small hands.

Rape, genital maiming/mutilation and infamous secret killings

Rape, genital maiming/mutilation, and sexual violence including sodomy, was a practice in Ethiopian prisons during the EPRDF/TPLF era. Whether rape is conducted in a war situation or within the bounds of prison as a method of torture, the purpose is to humiliate the victim, and to intimidate others. It may be carried out to obtain information from a third party. Apparently, it is one major reason why the authorities condone or encourage the rapes, which are never purposeless. Rape is committed for a combination of motives, including the exercising of power, the infliction of humiliation, and for quenching the perpetrator’s perverted sexual inclination. It is significant that it is not uncommon that even the perpetrator is not likely to know which is predominant. Unsolicited and not consented sexual activity, by its very nature, is invariably humiliating and degrading, which is not necessarily the case for non-sexual assault. When it is carried out in an organized manner it aggravates the humiliating and degrading treatment such that it can be considered torture[21].

The evidence in Berhanu’s report (2018)[22] testifies to the fact that Ethiopia under TPLF/EPRDF had become a hub of those evil practices, which overwhelmingly were never investigated and those suspected of criminal responsibility never brought to justice. Criminal proceedings in Ethiopia continue to place the burden of proof on an individual complaining of torture or other ill-treatment, something which flies in the face of international human rights law and standards. The law rightly places the burden of proof on the authorities to prove that confessions were lawfully obtained, but judges (extension of the corrupt political system) still continue to give primacy to evidence presented by a public prosecutor without questioning its legality, and are failing to exclude evidence obtained under rape-sodomy or other form of sexual torture and ill-treatment. These acts of evil can mushroom into monumental tragedies; the individual human perpetrators of those acts are however often marked not with the grandiosity of the demonic but with absolute mundaneness.

In the early days of TPLF a lot of crime, sabotage and executions in brutal manners against dissenters occurred.[23] The dissenters were either veteran members of the movement or members of other movements who at one time had collaborated with them. Commonly, those dissenters to TPLF were those fighters and grass root members of such groupings as EPRP and other Tigrean political movements that were not in line with the core thesis of the TPLF. Some people have described these plotters within the TPLF as evil people, malicious (cunning) on secret killings and kidnappings.

Malevolence and General Dark Factor of Personality (D-factor)

Do evil people exist? While the answer to this question may depend on your religious, ideological or educational background and what you understand “evil” to be, scientists have figured out that people have a “dark core” to their personality. What’s more, a General Dark Factor of Personality (D-factor) exists that can tell the extent of a person’s dark traits, which cause questionable ethical, moral and social behaviour.

One research team from Germany and Denmark defined the D-factor as “the basic tendency to maximize one’s own utility at the expense of others, accompanied by beliefs that serve as justifications for one’s malevolent behaviours.” “Antisocial behaviour, aggression, cheating,” he said. “This should all be related to the dark factor.”[24]The psychologists established that the D-factor observed in the human population not only serves as a unifying theme among the dark traits, it also works with the principle of “indifference of indicator”. This term is typically used in the context of the ‘general factor of intelligence’ (g-factor), whereby scoring highly on one intelligence test usually means you’ll score higher on other intelligence tests. Intelligence types are related, and no matter what tests you administer to gauge it, the g-factor will still be there—its existence is independent of the tests used to measure it. The researchers discovered that people who score highly on a single dark trait tend to also score highly on several other dark traits, suggesting that there is a common core of darkness: dark traits are related[25]. The 9 traits of malevolence that one finds in this line of research are: 1. Egoism:  2. Machiavellianism:  3. Moral disengagement:  4. Narcissism:  5. Psychological entitlement:  6. Psychopathy 7. Sadism:  8. Self-interest:  9. Spitefulness. According to my limited observations and the stories I have been hearing over several decades about TPLF and extreme Oromo nationalists, including their militant organizations, it is a justified conclusion that the leaders or their ardent supporters appear to have some of these traits of malevolence or The Dark factor.

The difficult aspect of this line of research is to reveal the extent to which these traits can be developed or manifested within certain radical movements, or the extent to which these traits are products of the environment in which they are formed (socialization within the movements or elsewhere), or the extent of the disposition that these individuals are born with that gravitate them to these kinds of movements. These all are complex matters. How do we characterize Berhanemeskel Abebe Signe, Shimelis Abdisa, Abaye Tsehaye, and Mellese Zenawi etc. along those dimensions mentioned in the foregoing theoretical references?[26] These traits are sources of evil in the sense of profound immorality, demonic and monstrous acts. In my opinion these people ‘lack an inherent human quality: the capacity for thought, consciousness – conscience’. In my line of thought I am partly in agreement with Arendt (1963)[27] and partly in line with her critics (see Wolfe, 2011)[28]

The philosopher Alan Wolfe distinguishes between evil in general and political evil in particular; and argues that we should think politically about evil because the evil that we can actually do something about is a form of politics and can be defeated only if understood as such. Political evil—genocide, massacre, terrorism, ethnic cleansing—is another matter. Here, Wolfe argues that we are dealing with motives, intentions, which while repellent are political. Killing all Jews is not crazy: It is a plan that will make you master of all you survey. Expelling everyone unlike yourself is not insane: It guarantees eternal domination for your kind. Terrorizing a people you cannot defeat in battle is not pathological: It may force your enemy to yield. Wolfe asks us to fight evil with the restraint of adults, not with the certainty of adolescents: Politics does not ask that we eradicate evil from the dark hearts of men and women. It does demand that when faced with tactics that threaten our way of life in the pursuit of political goals, we at least make an effort to understand why those goals were chosen in the first place. Fighting evil with evil contaminates, but fighting politics with politics does not[29].

The current Ethiopian government is fighting against a ruthless organization (TPLF) that is vividly involved in terrorism, accountable for genocide and other criminal activities. Its demonic bird of the feather, OLF, is still also carrying out the same. The government fails to label the organizations as terrorists, despite calls from the parliament that it should do so. Government reservation generates more speculations among Ethiopians, on the intent of such a decision, not knowing the purpose it might serve. What else can one expect from other governments, to support the case, when the Ethiopian government itself avoids declaring the organization a terrorist? Al-Qaida was labelled a terrorist organization without checking and taking into account the number of innocent members in the group. The Ethiopian government has much disqualified itself politically by not addressing this crucial issue[30]. Similarly, Dr. Aklog Birara, in a recent article, with a title Time for the International Community to Designate the TPLF as a Terrorist Group, wrote that TPLF terrorism is the same as terrorism by Al-Qaeda, Al-Shabab and Boko Haram. The fact that its architects are Tigrean does not make it any less brutal and lethal. Just think of this. The TPLF murdered more than 600 innocent people in Mai Kadra because they were Amhara and Wolkaite. The TPLF sponsored other murders in Ethiopia.

Tribalism is outdated but alive and kicking in the evil minds of the TPLF. Do you know of any African nation that has not banned political party formation based on ethnic identity or religion? Why did the TPLF, the chief architect of ethnic-federalism and the current constitution, select such a divisive architecture? The answer is simple. It is to enable it to divide and rule. It is to plunder Ethiopian resources for the benefit of TPLF families, friends, and stooges. The TPLF has accomplished that with aplomb. Any benefits grudgingly dripping down to ordinary Tigreans are however minuscule.

The TPLF and the OLF/Shine must be designated as terrorist organizations[31]. Sometimes I have been tempted to believe that ‘God is dead in Ethiopia’. Friedrich Nietzsche, the great atheist of the 19th century who proclaimed the death of God, understood that the death of God meant the destruction of all meaning and value in life. The evil forces in Ethiopia are intent on destroying the meaning of life and intrinsic value of humanity.

Intellectual Genocide and Cultural genocide

Berhanu (2017) argued that during the TPLF era (up until now in disguised form) intellectual genocide had been in the making in three different forms: (1) Systematic discrimination against certain groups in matters regarding higher education opportunities, and particularly scholarship grants; (2) Brain drain — the disproportionate emigration of intellectuals and young skilled Ethiopians— that increased under the TPLF regime;[32] and (3) Cultural genocide.[33]

Cultural genocide is a strong term, and its definitional explanation is contentious in the international literature. For my purpose, it refers to the actions of the TPLF regime that had the aim or effect of depriving Ethiopians of their integrity as distinct peoples, or of their cultural values or ethnic identities, and tried to construct a new narrative on the origin of Ethiopia. Within that context, it also includes the actions of the regime aimed at, and effecting, dispossession of land-ownership and occupancy; and dispossession of territories or resources, as witnessed for instance in Gambela region, in Oromia region, in Wolqait Tegede, and in North Wollo region (Berhanu, 2017). The agony of the Wolqait Tegede people in particular, is a telling example of depriving them of their integrity as distinct people, and dispossession of their lands, territories, or resources. Those people were forced to assimilate into the Tigrean culture and language — technically imposed on them by legislative, administrative, or other measures. One aspect of this cultural destruction or disintegration of social fabrics and networks is deeply related to large scale land investments by foreigners. As Abbink (2011: 609)[34] captured: “A new phenomenon since c.2006 is that of the federal and regional governments handing out huge tracts of land for commercial agrarian investment, mostly to foreigners, against lease fees and easy conditions.”[35]

The spread of asymmetrically exaggerated grievance narratives, and outright false historical assertions made by Oromo extremist nationalists, that have deadly and potentially genocidal consequences, are not widely known and accordingly much less being refuted based on historical facts and evidence. [36]

‘Human Wickedness and Our Only Effective Antidote to It’

“In keeping silent about evil, in burying it so deep within us that no sign of it appears on the surface, we are implanting it, and it will rise up a thousand fold in the future. When we neither punish nor reproach evildoers, we are not simply protecting their trivial old age, we are thereby ripping the foundations of justice from beneath new generations.”― Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, The Gulag Archipelago 1918-1956

In her book Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil, Hannah Arendt discussed “Personal Responsibility Under Dictatorship”, which provoked much heated controversy throughout the intellectual world. In that specific book, as well as in a number of her articles in The New Yorker, she deals with the topic from a philosophical perspective. She has referred to the post-war climate in Germany — where those personally innocent during the Nazi period all admitted to their “collective guilt” while the real criminals showed no remorse —  as “the quintessence of moral confusion” (Arendt, 1987)[37].

Arendt (ibid.) is of the view that the concept of collective guilt, as opposed to individual guilt, is “senseless,” and it only serves as an effective “whitewash” for guilty individuals to hide behind. I raise this point because I would like to reflect on the consciousness of the TPLF supporters, including the Tigreans at large. I am sure that not all of them supported the regime, the one which lost power in 2018. I want to believe that they also live (d) under fear and control. Of course, there is a great deal of brainwashing. I am sure all did not benefit from the new opportunities. That is what I want to believe, although some of my respondents tell me different discourses.

My position is that it is not right to blame an entire group collectively simply because members of the group have committed genocide or massacres, or have shown indifference to the plight of others. Legal analysts and philosophers still argue about the phenomenon of collective guilt.[38] The English dictionary defines collective guilt as guilt that is shared by a group of people over an act or actions that are seen as shameful. It is not commonly talked about, but does in fact manifest, for instance that the Afrikaners of South Africa have a collective guilt over Apartheid. So do the Germans with regard to the Holocaust. In this regard, it should have probably been high time to hear from the ethnic Tigreans such voices as ” Not In My Name”. All the same, the phenomenon of collective responsibility, also known as collective guilt, is a highly contentious matter in the Ethiopian context. Are all the Tigreans responsible for the atrocities of TPLF — through tolerating them, ignoring their criminal activities, harboring them, or actively collaborating in their actions? Are the Oromos responsible for the actions of OLF?

In July 2020, a disheartened friend of mine wrote to me:

“I’m puzzled and perplexed by what is happening at home in Ethiopia. The Oromo youth is simply pilling down the onion of Oromo civility. Pumped with empty bravado and false pretext history for decades since the days of the Derg regime, the youth has turned out to be wild, partial, ethnocentric, and without any humane empathy in them. To this youth Ethiopia is synonymous to Amhara. Even some close friends have cut connections with me because of my stand on united Ethiopia. I’m not sure how to cure and rekindle sense of unity in the minds of this furious and fiery Oromo youth.” 

Various new forms of destabilization narratives, and hate speech openly uttered by the political elites as well as some sections of groups of the Queeroo, have been repeatedly documented. Most of those speeches incite hatred and conflicts, apparently intended to destroy the peacefully woven inter-ethnic relationships prevailing in the country. These hate speeches have very recently resulted in killings of hundreds up to thousands of civilians, mostly non-Oromos in the Oromo region. Thousands were injured and most of the victims are members of the Amhara, Gurage etc. ethnic groups. The reports which are still arriving detail horrible killings, looting and other violence. The attacks were driven by a misguided urge to fully get rid of non-Oromos from the entire region.[39]  Schools, hospitals, business centers, places of worship and public facilities were attacked and destroyed, and houses and villages burned down. According to local reports, there were incidents whereby the local security forces collaborated with the killers.[40]

Probably the oldest example of accusation for collective responsibility is the practice of blaming the Jews for the crucifying of Jesus Christ. In this case, the blame was cast not only upon the Jews of the time but upon successive generations as well. This comes from Matthew 27:25-66 New International Version (NIV) 25: “All the people answered, ‘His blood is on us and on our children!'”. This collectivist idea that groups of humans can bear guilt above and beyond the guilt of individual members, and hence individuals hold responsibility for what other members of their group have commited, even if they themselves did not, is problematic in my view. However, at least a symbolic resistance or some form of manifestation is morally expected from the Tigran and Oromo people, and their civil societies, because the crime is being committed in their names. After all, if they do not ally with the oppressed segments of the Ethiopian population, history will harshly judge them. Moreover, one expects some form of dissent or disagreement with the methods, goals, and policies of the political party, local security forces and government. In any case, Tigreans or Oromos should not all be held collectively responsible for the crimes of their elites, although it may be argued that they have a moral responsibility.

The key components of the basic notion of moral responsibility, as David Risser accurately captured,[41] are deeply rooted in the fabric of every society and are constitutive of social life.[42] Without some conception of moral responsibility, no amount of imaginative insight will render a society recognizable as a human society. While there is broad, often tacit, agreement regarding the basic model of moral responsibility as it applies to individuals, there is considerable debate about how this notion might be applied to groups and their members.

Conclusion

We should sensitize people on moral responsibility. Without having to deeply enter into the philosophical discussion on moral responsibility, it is expected that it should be generally within our capacity as human beings primarily and secondly as Ethiopians to make the correct moral and ethical choices. Our free-will capacity makes us morally accountable. Our main problem contributing to the prevailing evil intentions and deeds to dismantle the county and spill blood has to do with our lack of making appropriate judgment about whether a person is morally responsible for his or her behavior, and holding others and ourselves responsible for actions and the consequences of actions. It is a fundamental and familiar part of our moral practices and our interpersonal relationships. It is high time to exercise this moral responsibility at a family, school, religious institutions and at other social sectors.

We should be well aware that the political elites play with fomenting conflicts and tensions among our religious and spiritual leaders as well as ethnic groups. The existence of this kind of power games and domination should neither be concealed nor denied, and should be openly discussed by the religious establishments, schools and youth clubs, as these tensions might lead into ethnic-based violence and instability

The faithful[43] demand honesty and integrity from their leaders. We need the resolute voices of our religious and community leaders, because they carry great power to galvanize our communities toward more effective and spiritually-grounded measures for justice and moral responsibility. It is unacceptable that our leaders are silent in the face of unspeakable atrocities. They should make their voices for peace heard, and call upon for the political leaders to appropriately address matters, and encourage the regime to abide to the rule of law and bring the perpetrators to justice.[44]

The whole state and federal political, social and economic infrastructure are infiltrated by ethno-nationalist cadres and dangerous forces. “Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring those ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.”[45]

If you, religious and community leaders [including the multitude of political parties] in Ethiopia, do not stand in uniform condemnation of this killing spree, genocidal act, then not only will you be judged by our people, not only will you be judged by history, you will as well be judged by God. There is no room in today’s Ethiopia for different faiths, different sects or different doctrines to battle over power, when the battle is between good and evil, death and life. It is a matter of priority! A Great Evil has pervaded that ancient land. And there’s more but our attitude will govern the rest, including our alertness to the dangers facing us as a nation and of the necessity to put on the whole armor of God and be ready.

[1] Leonard Berkowitz (1999) Evil Is More Than Banal: Situationism and the Concept of Evil. DOI: 10.1207/s15327957pspr0303_7. Pers Soc Psychol Rev 1999; 3; 246

[2] https://www.middlewaysociety.org/what-is-evil/

[3] TPLF was, until two years ago the main and most powerful party within the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), the so- called ruling political coalition which consists of four political parties. The TPLF-backed Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front took power after the collapse of the Derg in 1991.

[4] A Tigrayan youth group stabbed, strangled, and bludgeoned to death at least 600 civilians with the collusion of local security forces during a massacre in the town of Mai Kadra, the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission said on Tuesday. https://in.reuters.com/article/ethiopia-conflict-massacre-idINKBN2841X1

[5] The TPLF murdered more than 1,500 innocent people in Mai Kadra because they were non-Tigrean. The TPLF preidentified and murdered non-Tigrean members of Ethiopia’s Northern Command in Mekele. It also sponsored other murders in Ethiopia. The TPLF perpetrated rocket attacks. (https://www.satenaw.com/time-for-ethiopias-friends-to-designate-the-tigray-peoples-liberation-front-as-terrorists/) Dr. Aklog Birara: Time for Ethiopia’s Friends to Designate the Tigray People’s Liberation Front as Terrorists (December 2, 2020).

[6] https://ethiopiaobservatory.com/2020/11/24/ethiopias-human-rights-commission-preliminary-findings-about-the-maykadra-massacre/?fbclid=IwAR3ofLKpWY6KeS-ldDvljvEBaPzClv1FvjtpNc8RIeyFzzkwI8BqK80VP3c. Ethiopia’s Human Rights Commission Preliminary Findings about the Maykadra Massacre | THE ETHIOPIA OBSERVATORY (TEO).

[7] https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-54805088

[8] https://ecadforum.com/2020/12/06/the-midnight-attack-on-an-army-camp-that-plunged-ethiopia-into-war/amp/

[9] The TPLF Special Forces committed war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide in Mai Kadra, the Amhara region of Ethiopia where more than 1,500 innocent civilians were massacred in a single night on November 9, 2020. It called on all terrorist, extremist, and jihadist forces in Ethiopia to rise-up and create havoc and destruction. The specific intent to cause civil war and to Balkanize Ethiopia. https://www.satenaw.com/time-for-ethiopias-friends-to-designate-the-tigray-peoples-liberation-front-as-terrorists/

[10] https://www.tesfanews.net/digging-own-grave-ethiopia-tplf-end-days/

[11] Bronwyn Bruton. FRI, NOV 13, 2020. Calls for negotiation are driving Ethiopia deeper into war. Africa Source by Bronwyn Bruton. Africa Conflict Ethiopia Politics & Diplomacy Security & Defense

[12] Milgram, S. (1963). Behavioral study of obedience. Journal ofAbnormal and Social Psychology, 67, 371-378.Milgram, S. (1974). Obedience to authority: An experimental view. New York: Harper & Row.

[13] See Leonard Berkowitz (1999)

[14] Ethiopia: Over 50 ethnic Amhara killed in attack on village by armed group | Amnesty International https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2020/11/ethiopia-over-50-ethnic-amhara-killed-in-attack-on-village-by-armed-group/. https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/w/massacre-in-ethiopia-sparks-fears-of-war-as-country-plunges-into-further-instability.  https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/02/world/africa/ethiopia-school-massacre.html.  https://www.news18.com/news/world/survivors-of-a-rebel-massacre-have-counted-54-bodies-in-a-schoolyard-in-ethiopia-says-amnesty-international-3035978.html

[15] Leonard Berkowitz (1999)

[16] What did Hannah Arendt really mean by the banality of evil? Thomas White is a Wiley Journal contributing author, whose philosophical and theological writings have appeared in print and online. https://aeon.co/ideas/what-did-hannah-arendt-really-mean-by-the-banality-of-evil.

[17] https://www.geeskaafrika.com/the-conflict-in-ethiopia-and-tplfs-ultra-nationalist-ideology/amp/

[18] https://ecadforum.com/2020/12/06/the-root-of-all-evil-is-the-ethiopian-constitution/amp/

[19] https://aeon.co/ideas/what-did-hannah-arendt-really-mean-by-the-banality-of-evil

[20] Arendt, Hannah (1963) Eichmann in Jerusalem. New York: Viking.

[21] Milkias, Paulos, “Ethiopia, The TPLF and Roots of the 2001 Political Tremor” (2001). International Conference on African Development Archives. 4. https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/africancenter_icad_archive/4

[22] Berhanu, G. (2018). Rape and genital maiming/mutilation as a torture method in Ethiopian Prisons: Evidence that prisoners of conscience, critical journalists, and activists have been abused. Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal, 5(10) 346-361.

[23] EVIL DAYS 30 YEARS OF WAR AND FAMINE IN ETHIOPIA. An Africa Watch Report. September 1991

485 Fifth Avenue. New York, NY 10017-6104

[24] Hilbig, B. E., Thielmann, I., Klein, S. A., Moshagen, M., Zettler, I. (in press). The dark core of personality and socially aversive psychopathology. Journal of Personality. https://doi.org/10.1111/jopy.12577

[25] Moshagen, M., Hilbig, B. E., Zettler, I. (2018). The dark core of personality. Psychological Review, 125, 656–688. http://doi.org/10.z1037/rev0000111

[26] They have all been implicated in a number of occurrences of hate-speech unlawfulness, crimes against humanity and ’genocidal acts’.

[27] Some argue that Her use of the phrase “the banality of evil” in the context of Eichmann and the Holocaust was highly controversial. She was accused of being naïve in interpreting his motives and insensitive to her fellow Jews. But she was making an important point – with some courage under the circumstances – about the universal human potential for dehumanisation.

[28] Political Evil: What It Is and How to Combat It (2011),

[29] Wolfe, Alan (2011).Political evil : what it is and how to combat it. New York : Alfred A. Knopf, ©2011

[30] 20201204.Dr. Taye Demeke. Gothenburg posted on facebook

[31] https://ecadforum.com/2020/12/01/time-for-the-international-community-to-designate-the-tplf-as-a-terrorist-group/amp/

[32]   According to some observers, Ethiopia has become a substantial net exporter of academic talent. That is what is brain drain from Ethiopia to other countries.( https://www.satenaw.com/ethiopia-intellectual-genocide-making-george-carlin/)

[33] https://www.satenaw.com/ethiopia-intellectual-genocide-making-george-carlin/

[34] Jon Abbink (2011) Ethnic-based federalism and ethnicity in Ethiopia: reassessing the experiment after 20 years, Journal of Eastern African Studies, 5:4, 596-618, DOI:

[35] Berhanu, G. (2017). Ethiopia: Intellectual Genocide in the making? The Strong and Pervasive Evidence of Ethnic Inequalities.

Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal, 4(13) 133-165. Most of the land is said to be unproductive and empty terrain, fit for cultivation. Partly this is true. But a large portion of these lands is also used in a low- intensity manner by local groups as essential livelihood supplement (e.g., livestock pasture,   forest product gathering, beekeeping, shifting cultivation, water supply). The figures are staggering, and the land being formally state property is easily alienated from local people and then fenced off. In many cases, proper socio-ecological assessment studies have not been carried out, and the idea of serious dialogue about the plans is absent. Again ethnic minorities, although not the only ones affected, are especially vulnerable because they   cannot defend their rights (small numbers, lack of language knowledge and regional      connections). The options for local people are to move out and migrate to other areas, or to become (low-paid) laborers on the newly established mega-farms, taken out of their social fabric and networks. Alternative areas or facilities are not prepared for them and many are lost and become destitute” (see extensive references there in).

[36] Settler Colonialism: The Oromo Extremist Narrative (Getaneh Yismaw). https://borkena.com/2019/06/13/settler-colonialism-the-oromo-extremist-narrative-getaneh-yismaw/

[37] Bernauer, J. (ed.), 1987, Amor Mundi: Explorations in the Faith and Thought of Hannah Arendt, Dordrecht: Martinus Nijhoff.

[38] Arendt, Hannah, “Collective Responsibility.” in  Amor Mundi, ed. J.W. Brenner (Dordrecht: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, (1987) p. 50. For a further analysis of the phenomenon see French, Peter A., ed., Individual and Collective Responsibility, (Cambridge, Mass: Schenkman, 1972).

[39] According to the field report “These were the most horrific days for Christians in the Oromo region. There are different factions in the region. Some are ethno-nationalist and others are religious. The majority of those who got killed in a brutal way (beheaded and mutilated) are Orthodox Christian of Amhara Ethnicity. The other targets were Gurage, Wolayita, Tigreans, and Gammo ethnicities. No governmental forces were present in the scene. The murders were armed with knives and guns. Nobody stopped nor interfered. After the massacre, government soldiers are deployed.” (Source Source: OCP http://www.spc.rs/eng/genocide_orthodox_christians_and_minorities_ethiopia. Christian world News.

[40] https://mg.co.za/africa/2020-07-14-my-son-died-the-worst-kind-of-death-horrific-details-of-violent-unrest-in-ethiopia/ ; https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/07/160-killed-ethiopia-protests-singer-murder-200705063929720.html; https://www.dw.com/en/ethiopia-death-toll-doubles-from-unrest-over-singers-murder/a-54059817; https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/africa/ethiopias-week-of-unrest-sees-239-dead-3500-arrested/2020/07/08/8eb30952-c100-11ea-8908-68a2b9eae9e0_story.html  ;https://www.france24.com/en/20200716-we-have-nothing-ethiopia-s-ethnic-unrest-leaves-destruction-in-its-wake.

[41] Risser, David T., “Power and Collective Responsibility.” Kinesis, vol. 9, no. 1 (1978) pp. 23-33. Risser, David T., “The Social Dimension of Moral Responsibility: Taking Organizations Seriously.” Journal of Social Philosophy, vol. 27, no. 1 (1996) pp. 189-207. http://www.iep.utm.edu/collecti/. The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy (IEP). Collective Moral Responsibility May, Larry, The Morality of Groups (Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 1987).

[42] French, Peter A., ed., Individual and Collective Responsibility, (Cambridge, Mass: Schenkman, 1972) ; and also Arendt, Hannah, “Collective Responsibility.” in  Amor Mundi, ed. J.W. Brenner (Dordrecht: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, (1987) p. 50.

[43] The overwhelming majority in Ethiopia is religious and the importance of religion in creating harmony cannot be underestimated.

[44] https://ecadforum.com/2020/10/14/silence-gives-consent-the-tragedy-of-ethiopia-and-ethiopians/ ‘Silence gives consent’ The tragedy of Ethiopia and Ethiopians. Posted by: ECADF in Opinions October 14, 2020. by Girma Berhanu

[45] https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/705426-each-time-a-man-stands-up-for-an-ideal-or

The post The banality of Evil? How TPLF has evolved into a nefarious and villainous death machine appeared first on Satenaw Ethiopian News/Breaking News/.

By Alemayhu G. Mariam

The dangerous lies, disinformation and fabrication campaign of the New York Times on Ethiopia

The New York Times, Reuters, BBC, Al Jazeera and other international media have all pulled out their long knives against Ethiopia.

In a well-coordinated media assault, these “nattering nabobs of negativism” have ganged up on Ethiopia as  propagandists for the now-defunct Tigrean People’s Liberation Front (TPLF). Almost every day, they unashamedly crank out and spread lies, damned lies and disinformation on Ethiopia.

It is no secret that the TPLF has hired an army of lobbyists and public relations firms to wage a global media war on Ethiopia.

That is evident in the fact that all of these media write maligning narratives using the same talking points provided to them by the TPLF public relations firms.

In a military victory rarely recorded in the annals of military history, the Ethiopia National Defense Force decimated the TPLF in two weeks on the battlefield.

Now, the ghost of the dead TPLF consigned to the trash heap if  history is furiously conducting Infowars and Lobbywars on Ethiopia.

On December 9, 2020, the New York Times published a story written by Abdi Latif Dahir under the headline, “Fleeing Ethiopians Tell of Ethnic Massacres in Tigray War”.

Here are a few excerpts from the lie-filled story of Abdi Latif Dahir the “Tigray War” anchored in the personal account of alleged victim “Ashenafi Hailu”:

…Mr. Ashenafi and dozens of other Tigrayan refugees fled the violence and settled outside the remote and dusty town of Hamdayet, a community of just a few thousand people near the border, where I spoke to them. Their firsthand accounts, shared a month after Ethiopia’s prime minister, Abiy Ahmed, declared war on the Tigray region, detail a devastating conflict that has become a grisly wellspring of looting, ethnic antagonism and killings…

…Mr. Ashenafi, 24, was racing on his motorcycle to the aid of a childhood friend trapped by the Ethiopian government’s military offensive in the northern region of Tigray when a group of men on foot confronted him. They identified themselves as militia members of a rival ethnic group, he said, and they took his cash and began beating him, laughing ominously.

“Finish him!” Mr. Ashenafi remembered one of the men saying.

…As they tightened the noose around his neck and began pulling him along the road, Mr. Ashenafi was sure he was going to die, and he eventually passed out. But he said he awoke alone near a pile of bodies, children among them. His motorcycle was gone…

… As the fighting in Tigray continues, it is degenerating into a guerrilla war that could unravel both Ethiopia’s national fabric and the stability of the entire Horn of Africa region…

… After Mr. Ashenafi awoke and saw the bodies around him, he trudged through a nearby forest to reach the home of his friend, Haftamu Berhanu, who took him in. Photos taken by Mr. Haftamu and seen by The New York Times showed Mr. Ashenafi lying on his back, white skin peeled away around his neck from the noose.

For days afterward, Mr. Ashenafi could not talk or swallow anything and communicated with his friend through pointing or writing things down…

…Nearly 50,000 have fled to Sudan so far, in what the United Nations has called the worst exodus of refugees Ethiopia has seen in more than two decades…

… Devastating conflict in Tigray region has become a grisly wellspring of looting, ethnic antagonism and killings…

… As the fighting in Tigray continues, it is degenerating into a guerrilla war that could unravel both Ethiopia’s national fabric and the stability of the entire Horn of Africa region…

… William Davison, a senior Ethiopia analyst with the International Crisis Group who was recently expelled from the country… (Italics added.)

Patent Lie #1: “Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, declared war on the Tigray region.”

The TPLF declared war on the Northern Command of the Ethiopian Defense Force on November 3, 2020.

By stating “Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, declared war on the Tigray region,” the New York Times painted Ethiopia as the aggressor, the wrongdoer, the oppressor, raider, instigator, provoker and exposed Ethiopia to world condemnation and castigation.

The irrefutable fact is the TPLF is the aggressor, wrongdoer, etc. and the Times should have condemned it outright. But here are the facts.

Sekou Toure Getachew (see video below), a key member of the TPLF Junta explained in meticulous detail how the TPLF mounted an unprovoked  “blitzkrieg/thunderbolt” (“mebreqawi”) attack on the Federal Northern Command.

Here is how U.S. Assistant Secretary for African Affairs Tibor Nagy explained the motive of the TPLF attack:

…It is important to remember here there is no equivalency.  There are not two states which have been belligerent with each other. You have a sovereign government on the one hand Ethiopia, and on the other you have the region hope which the basically started a conflict against the government.  It is interesting the Ethiopia Constitution has provisions for a region to secede from Ethiopia but, you know, the best evidence is the Tigrean leadership did not want to secede from Ethiopia. They wanted to use the opportunity basically to overthrow the prime minister and return to the type of privilege that they had enjoyed within the Ethiopian state for the last 27 years…

Patent Lie #2: “Devastating conflict in Tigray region has become a grisly wellspring of looting, ethnic antagonism and killings.”

The Times points an accusatory finger at the Ethiopian federal government for making the Tigray region the killing fields when it is the TPLF that made Tigray the killing fields. The TPLF began looting, killing and spreading  ethnic antagonism within days of its attack on the Northern Command. On November 12, 2020,   Amnesty International reported:

We have confirmed the massacre of a very large number of civilians, who appear to have been day labourers in no way involved in the ongoing military offensive. This is a horrific tragedy whose true extent only time will tell as communication in Tigray remains shut down… Survivors of the massacre told them that they were attacked by members of Tigray Special Police Force and other TPLF members.” (Italics added.)

Patent Lie #3: “Nearly 50,000 have fled to Sudan so far, in what the United Nations has called the worst exodus of refugees Ethiopia has seen in more than two decades.”

The New York Times story provides a link to a UN High Commissioner for Refugee (UNHCR) Report dated November 17, 2020. That report states, “More than 27,000 have now crossed into Sudan”. The Times falsely reported UNHCR described the situations as the “worst exodus of refugees Ethiopia has seen in more than two decades.” IT DID NOT!

Patent Lie #4: “As the fighting in Tigray continues, it is degenerating into a guerrilla war that could unravel both Ethiopia’s national fabric and the stability of the entire Horn of Africa region.”

Talk of a TPLF “guerilla war” is wishful and alarmist thinking. The TPLF had nurtured the silly narrative that its fighters and supporters are battle-hardened and well-armed, posing the risk of protracted insurgency in the rugged mountains of Tigray. The TPLF forces fell like a house of cards as the incomparable Ethiopian National Defense Force troops chased them across the countryside and wiped them out in two weeks! The TPLF is “defeated and in disarray, with insignificant capability to mount a protracted insurgency.” The LF in TPLF stands for Lie Factory, but here are the facts:

1) Ethiopian Federal troops have seized the regional capital Mekelle, the TPLF’s citadel, and announced the three-week offensive is over. 2) A new temporary regional administration is now functional. 3) The TPLF leaders are decrepit old men who are physically incapable of leading a guerilla war. 4) The TPLF has virtually no popular support in Tigray, indispensable for any guerilla war. 5) The TPLF has lost its military assets, which a month ago rivalled or exceeded the Federal government’s, to conduct a guerilla war. 6) The TPLF is surrounded on all sides by forces that are determined to eliminate it as a military threat. 7) The fabric of Ethiopian society has never been stronger as PM Abiy Ahmed enjoys wide popular support. 8) The Horn of Africa Region has never been more stable. Sudan, South Sudan, Eritrea, Somalia, Djibouti and Kenya have expressed full support for Ethiopia’s military action in Tigray region. 9) On December 9, 2020, PM Abiy and President Uhuru Kenyatta opened “one-stop border post” as part of the Trans African Highway. 10) Today, Sudanese Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok is on a state visit in Ethiopia.

Patent Lie #5: “Mr. Abiy had sought to emphasize national unity and diversity in a multiethnic Ethiopia, even as he began methodically excluding Tigrayan figures from public life and condemning their abuses while they were in power. ”

The Times falsely suggests Tigreans are victims of wholesale discrimination and persecution in Ethiopia. They are not. The Ethiopian Government has sought out only those individuals, be they Tigreans or members of other ethnic groups, who have been colluding with the TPLF to engage in terrorism, criminality, treason and, for those in the military, conduct in violation of the military code. There is no methodical exclusion or discrimination against Tigreans. 

The Times itself reported last month Ethiopia’s attorney general, Gedion Timothewos, stated “the government takes the issue of ethnic profiling very seriously, and that it would establish a dedicated hotline for the public to report their complaints. We are doing everything within our power to make sure there will not be arbitrary or discriminatory measures. This is something that the government denounced.”  The Times failed to mention this fact held in its own archives to balance out the story.

Patent Lie #6: “William Davison, a senior Ethiopia analyst with the International Crisis Group who was recently expelled from the country.”

The Times cites as authority one William Davison for the proposition the “Tigray conflict has made [unity] that harder to achieve, and so increased the likelihood of serious ongoing political instability… William Davison, a senior Ethiopia analyst with the International Crisis Group who was recently expelled from the country.” The Times fails to disclose the fact that Davison had his visa revoked because he had engaged in visa fraud documented by the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs.

Only ONE sentence on the TPLF massacre of 600 innocent citizens in Mai Kadra

The Times devotes only a single sentence to the TPLF Mai Kadra massacre.

The move is likely to lead to violent Tigrayan reprisals, he said, as may have already occurred in the town of Mai Kadra, where human rights groups have said forces loyal to the liberation front massacred as many as 600 people, most of them Amhara.

I could go on and on but I want to focus on the photograph the Times used to demonize Ethiopia.

Preliminary medical expert forensic report on alleged injuries depicted in the Times photograph of “Ashenafi Hailu”

Over the past few days, I have had the opportunity to informally consult with Ethiopian and other physicians specializing in trauma surgery, plastic surgery and dermatopathologist, among others, and asked them to examine the Times photograph (see below) and provide me a preliminary photographic forensic analysis (with a full analysis pending) of the injury allegedly sustained by “Ashenafi Hailu” at the hands of alleged militiamen.

The question presented was straightforward: Does the injury depicted in the New York Times photograph and described by the Times reporters consistent with medically observed ligature (neck) injuries?

The TPLF attacked Ethiopian Federal troops on November 3, 2020. The alleged injury occurred “within a month” of the onset of the “war”.

The New York Times published its report on December 12, 2020.

According to the Times description, the alleged militiamen placed a “noose around his neck”, “pulling him along the road” and beating him”.

Assuming the neck injury occurred on the very day the TPLF attacked Federal troops (Nov. 3) and the Times reporters interviewed the alleged victim (“firsthand accounts, shared a month after Ethiopia’s prime minister declared war…”), is it likely to a medical certainty that “Ashenafi” could have sustained the injury depicted in the photograph between three to four weeks of the onset of the “war”?

[I expect a full expert medical opinion on a medical forensic analysis of the New York Times photograph in the foreseeable future and will make it public.]

The preliminary experts’ analysis unanimously concluded the age of the neck injury (scar) depicted in the photograph is beyond 3 months and certainly not less than 6 weeks. The gross appearance of the scar does not fit the described nature of injury and timing.

Here are the preliminary observations of different medical experts on the New York Times photograph which they examined, some who did so under high magnification.

The observations are presented as indicated by the various medical experts. Observations may differ.

The noose injury scar which is visible only from the alleged victim’s left side is definitely more than 4 weeks old because in a more recent injury (less than three months), one would see more pink dermal tissue, which is not presented in the photograph of the alleged victim. Normal skin turnover is 28 days and the injury depicted in the photograph is manifestly over 28 days and highly likely more than 90 days at a minimum and more in the range of 6 months or more.

The scar is consistent with pre-planned thyroidectomy for removal of goiter. In the particular area of the victim (The Highlands), the incidence of goiter is approximately one in three persons.

The linearity of the incision and pattern of scar formation on the alleged victim’s neck is consistent with a surgical scar, not ligature to the neck by rope or cord.

The scarring does not show scaling/crusting on the surface within the borders of the original wound but rather shows smooth surface and evidence of early keloid/hypertrophic scar formation which does not occur in three to four weeks.

The wound appears to be a superficial linear cut into the skin, an incision with a sharp instrument instead of injury from a rope type of noose.

If not an incision, the material used for the noose is likely a natural fiber rope than a wire or thin nylon cord. A wire or nylon cord under force (dragging, pulling, beating) could cut clean through the neck causing instant death.

It is difficult to determine the type of knot used in making the noose but for the alleged victim to survive violent “dragging”, “pulling”, “beating”, as described in the story, it is likely to be a single loop. A more sophisticated knot (e.g. constrictor knot) would be non-slipping at the end of the rope causing separation of the neck from the vertebrae (rest of the body) under force traction.

If the victim had been dragged and pulled under force traction, he would have suffered severed or severely damaged carotid artery which supplies blood to the brain resulting in a total vegetative state if the victim had survived.

From the description in the story, the ligature on the alleged victim’s neck was not gradually tightened but he was violently dragged and pulled and beaten. Such compression on the airways and blood vessels in the neck produces asphyxia cutting off oxygen supply to the body and brain resulting in death.

The victim’s weight under force traction to his neck by dragging and pulling would have separated his cervical vertebrae resulting in death.

The point of ligature around the neck under in multiple knot loops of noose would cause maximum force traction causing significant damage to the neck likely causing death or major neurological and thyroid cartilage damage resulting in paralysis.

If the alleged victim was “dragged”, “pulled along the road” by the neck and beaten as indicated in the story, there would have been evidence of abrasions, laceration, cuts, scrapes and scratches in the facial and shoulder areas. None of these are evident in the photograph.

If the alleged victim was “dragged”, “pulled along the road” by the neck and beaten as indicated in the story, his hyoid bone would have been crushed in which case he will not be able to hold up his tongue or have a functional larynx and would effectively be unable to speak and conduct the interview.

If the alleged victim was “dragged”, “pulled along the road” by the neck and beaten as indicated in the story, he would have suffered occlusion of proximal airway, that is  blockage of respiration in the airway. He would not be able to breath resulting in instant death by asphyxiation.

There are no hospitals or specialized wound care services in the Mai Kadra area (closest Hospital is in Humera) which the alleged victim could access for treatment of major neck injury. The story reports the alleged victim receiving no medical intervention. Under the described conditions, the victim would not have been able to recover from the alleged injury in 3-4 weeks or be able to speak.

In the absence of medical intervention or access to tertiary medical facilities (highly specialized medical care that can do advanced and complex procedures and treatments by medical specialists in state-of-the-art facilities), the alleged victim under the described conditions would have likely developed infections which would affect the pattern of healing and scar formation (from clean to jagged) and damage to nearby tissues would have been visible. The scar tissue is consistent with a well-healed injury that occurred over several months.

The Times report fails to indicate the material and types of knots used for the ligature. For instance, if wire or thin cord is used, there is likely to be a clear-cut, deep mark with sharply defined edges. A rope pulled tight around the neck will likely create a series of ridges that will show up as interlacing areas of bruising. No trace of such bruising is evident in the photograph.

No signs of defensive wounds. Victims almost always knowingly or reflexively try to defend themselves from attacks. In the victim’s situation described by the Times, defensive wounds are more often than not to be found on the hands, arms, shoulders of an individual who has been attacked and indicate how much of a struggle the victim put up and the frenzy of the attacker. The victim would have suffered defensive wounds under the pulling, dragging and beating depending upon how the assailant(s) approached him. No evidence of defensive wounds are visible in the photograph or reported.

The report claims the alleged victim was “beaten” violently. In the attack which allegedly  caused the neck injury, any beatings would have been delivered to the face of the victim. There is no evidence of injury or trauma to the alleged victim’s face.

New York Times Eth(n)ical Standards?

The New York Times slogan is “All the news that is fit to print.”

Does that include “All the fake photos unfit to print” as well? 

The Times in lofty words pontificates about its journalistic standards:

“The Times strives to maintain the highest standards of journalistic ethics… Whatever else we contribute, our first duty is to make sure the integrity of The Times is not blemished during our stewardship… Our fundamental purpose is to protect the impartiality and neutrality of The Times and the integrity of its report… Conflicts of interest, real or apparent, may come up in many areas. They may involve the relationships of staff members with readers, news sources, advocacy groups… No one may do anything that damages The Times’s reputation for strict neutrality in reporting on politics and government…

… In print and online, we tell our readers the complete, unvarnished truth as best we can learn it. It is our policy to correct our errors, large and small, as soon as we become aware of them… (Italics added.)

Did the New York Times even bother to have a medical expert look at the photo to verify if it is consistent with the alleged injury suffered by  the alleged victim?

I ask the reader one simple question: Did the New York Times live by the journalistic standards its professes in its story written by Abdi Latif Dahir, “Fleeing Ethiopians Tell of Ethnic Massacres in Tigray War”?

TO BE CONTINUED…

The post TPLF InfoWars: Fact Checking the New York FAKE NEWS Times Caught Red-Handed Spreading Lies, Fake Photos and Disinformation on Ethiopia appeared first on Satenaw Ethiopian News/Breaking News.

Jonathan Ames, Legal Editor
Monday December 14 2020,

An American economist nominated for the Nobel peace prize has called for the head of the World Health Organisation to be prosecuted for genocide over his alleged involvement in directing Ethiopia’s security forces.

David Steinman accused Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, 55, who took over at the WHO three years ago, of being one of three officials in control of the Ethiopian security services from 2013 to 2015.

Dr Tedros was the country’s health minister from 2005 to 2012 and its foreign minister until 2016, when his Tigray People’s Liberation Front party was the main member of the ruling coalition.

Mr Steinman, an economist and campaigner nominated for the peace prize last year, lodged the complaint at the International Criminal Court in The Hague.

He claimed

The post Tedros Adhanom: WHO chief may face genocide charges appeared first on Satenaw Ethiopian News/Breaking News.

The Queen of Sheba
December 14, 2020

Following an incident involving the Ethiopian army and the UN staff, which the international organization apologized for, this author wrote an earlier piece under a heading “The Rude Outlaw: The UN Staff or the Ethiopian Army?”. That story narrated how the UN staff broke the terms of its agreement with the Ethiopian government by breaching two check points and only stopped on the third one after a warning shot.

Initially, the organization accused Ethiopia of violating the agreement; and later its UNHCR head further pronounced Ethiopia as “out of control”. This triggered an avalanche of media attack by armchair analysts, biased journalists, and more so hired guns, painting Ethiopia and its government as outlaws. As a consequence of the twisted—and outright wrong—narrative generated by phony, but dangerous, UN allegation, a major damage has been inflicted on Ethiopia. Already, a possible punitive bill is being peddled by two United States Senators largely attributed to the bogus allegation.

Apologies: Worthless Words?

According to the Fana Broadcast Agency, the Ministry of Peace, on 13 December 2020, reported that the Government of Ethiopia received and “welcomed the apology given by Dr. Catherine Sozi, UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Ethiopia, on the [recent] incident [which the UN staff breached two checkpoints and forced to stop on the third one]. It also expressed its hopes that the UN will put mechanisms in place to prevent similar breaches in the future as it undermines humanitarian coordination and poses serious security risks.”

In the first place, the reporting, which was the subject of the apology, was based on misleading news and outright wrong information. These have raised the stakes for the Ethiopian government and its people so high that reversing the narrative remains a very daunting, and expensive, exercise.

It is true that the UN apologized for the actions of its staff, though belatedly. Already virtually all the major international media and many others around the world reported Ethiopia as a culprit in blazing headlines and blistering narratives. A bad picture has already been painted on the standing of the country which cannot be erased overnight, if ever.

It is important to note that even though an apology has been offered, the media will not carry it with similar intensity and zeal, to undo the indelible dirt on Ethiopia—a reliable UN partner involved in multiple peace-keeping missions in some of the most intractable parts of the world.

Ethiopia must insist on an appropriate restitution for the severe loss on the political, economic, social, and diplomatic front as a consequence of the UN’s blunder. The UN and others must help to rectify the situation. They must be part of a sustained effort to reverse some of the drumbeat of sanctions, threats and adverse propaganda against the country and its people. The UN can start the effort by forwarding that apology letter to the senators mentioned above.

This as it may, I find it exceedingly baffling why the UN and the so-called international community is wildly scrambling to support some 45,000 Ethiopian citizens of Tigrayan ethnic group when they have mostly been dead silent as several millions from multiple ethnic groups faced a grimmer situation in the last three years. It is disturbing to witness such a blatant double-standard with, of course, implications for the sanctity of these institutions.

Other Culprits

On the media front, well-established outlets such as, primarily Reuters, the BBC, the Guardian, and Aljazeera, as well as the New York Times and CNN, have been spewing hostile, sloppy, and, at times, outright falsehoods on Ethiopia since the outbreak of the conflict. Many observers attribute this trend to the well-oiled machinery of the TPLF cabal which managed to coopt and strategically plant rogue reporters in these organizations.

In a number of cases, some of these media houses invited unduly critical and well-known government adversaries to their popular programs and shows which often lacked balanced views as decent journalism demands. One glaring—and scandalous—story carried by the New York Times was already effectively countered in the piece mentioned above as well as a more blistering one as this.

We also recently heard that, the BBC has apologized following government protest on its aggressive and biased reporting. One would hope that many others may probably follow suit given the serious breach of trust witnessed for over a month now. To be sure, trust is both an asset—and a liability. Oh, yes, trust is earned slowly—but often lost quickly.

Sham Journalism

In writing this piece, I opted to review the website of Mr. Martin Plautt, whose reporting since the outbreak of the conflict, I found, has been one of the most biased, if not the most dishonest. In a class of its own, some of the reports, quoted from his website below, exhibit that bizarre blubbering only a hired gun would commit.

Mr. Plautt, who pronounces himself as a “Journalist specialising in the Horn of Africa and Southern Africa” introduces his minion outfit, “Europe External Programme with Africa” (EEPA), as such:

Europe External Programme with Africa is a Belgium-based Centre of Expertise with in-depth knowledge, publications, and networks specialised, in issues of peace building, refugee protection and resilience in the Horn of Africa.

And yet his webpages are cluttered with astoundingly biased news and blatant lies as these ones:

“Reported situation in Tigray (as confirmed per 13 Dec)

Reported from within Tigray: serious problem of lack of water.

Serious looting still ongoing from shops in Mekelle, perpetrated by Amharic militia and Eritreans as well as poverty stricken people benefiting from the lawless situation.”

One needs to pay attention to just three words and phrases used here to legitimize, obfuscate and simply lie: “confirmed”, “lack of water”, “Amharic militia and Eritreans”.

Mr. Plautt, on his self-declared “Situation Report” unabashedly pronounced the statements “as confirmed” but cowardly disclaims that “All information in this situation report is presented as a fluid update report.” The key word here is a “fluid update report” which may translate as self-selected, if not self-cooked account.

In this “Reported situation in Tigray” as “confirmed”, he unashamedly blurted a “serious problem of lack of water”. And yet one of the chronic infrastructural challenges known in Tigray, specially Mekelle, is exactly that problem which Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has identified as a priority, allocating billions to fix it, when the TPLF cabal was clandestinely prepping to wage a war against his government.

To be sure, the so-called “Situation Report” has conveniently ignored the cabal’s disastrous acts—of destroying bridges, powerlines, and airfields; massacring innocent and unarmed civilians, including women and children; and scorching everything on its tracks. In his pathetic effort to cover up for his cabal handlers, the “good” EEPA reporter has indecently overlooked these atrocious crimes which directly impacted, oh yes, water delivery.

The recent closed circuit footage released by the Ethio-Telecom in Mekelle, which shows forced disruption of services by the cabal, has proven beyond any doubt who the culprit is and also how far it would go in its unmatched criminal behavior—without regard to the dire needs of the Tigray people it pretends to represent.

Mr. Plautt in the “confirmed” report cited looting by “Amharic militia and Eritreans as well as poverty stricken people benefiting from the lawless situation”. For the ‘distinguished’ journalist to misstate the Amhara militias for Amharic militias is more than a slip of a tongue, well may be a slip of a keyboard. More so, as a main cook of “the Eritreans in Tigray” fiction, the UN Secretary General António Guterres’ statement which discounts this persistent falsehood may be sufficient to quash that fabricated story. But this may not seem to deter this and other hardcore operatives, paid guns and shenanigans of the cabal whose credibility is dissipating like a cloud in a windy day.

As an avid BBC listener growing up—I recall Mr. Plautt’s regular reporting and analysis. Now, I feel utterly betrayed and deceived—and feel foolish—for trusting his words and analysis without much reservation.

In my earlier piece, “The “International Community” and Ethiopia: The Good, the Bad, the Ugly—and the Gullible”, I concluded by citing the story of the poor Humpty-Dumpty who could not recover from his bad fall. Neither Mr. Plautt nor his handlers nor his benefactors can undo the fate of the Humpty-Dumpty cabals. The dogs bark, but the caravan goes on.

In Conclusion

It is true that the UN, the BBC and many others have and will in the future apologize for their misdeeds—inadvertent or deliberate. But this comes at a huge price for Ethiopia, its people and government.

Ethiopia thus should not bear the brunt of the burden of these misdeeds.

The UN could start with sharing that burden by advising the two US Senators to drop the bill largely produced on the account of frivolous—and dropped—charges.

The Queen of Sheba may be reached at QueenOfSheba2020@outlook.com

The post The UN: What is an Apology Worth After Inflicting a Massive Injury? appeared first on Satenaw Ethiopian News/Breaking News.

By LJDemissie
December 16, 2020

“A thing is funny when—in some way that is not actually offensive or frightening—it upsets the established order. Every joke is a tiny revolution. If you had to define humour in a single phrase, you might define it as dignity sitting on a tin-tack. Whatever destroys dignity, and brings down the mighty from their seats, preferably with a bump, is funny. And the bigger the fall, the bigger the joke.”

“The passage above is from the text reprinted in volume three of “George Orwell: The Collected Essays, Journalism and Letters”. (quoteinvestigator, Every Joke Is a Tiny Revolution).

Author’s Note:  I’m an ardent supporter of press freedom. I’m aware that Addis Standard’s editor, Medihane Ekubamichael, was arrested by the Ethiopian police. When I heard the news about his arrest, I had compassion for him, though I didn’t have the facts about the laws he allegedly violated. Stating my awareness and feelings about his arrest, in this article, is an effort to bring his imprisonment to the limelight. And also to demand he should receive a fair trial!

This article is a respond to Addis Standard’s editor in chief, Tsedale Lemma, article (the New York Times, November 11, 2020, “What’s Happening in Ethiopia Is a Tragedy”).

Although Lemma, in her opinion, rightly expressed what is happening in Ethiopia is a tragedy, her deceptive views are shaped with her ethnic based political motivation and her social needs which superseded her need to seek for “journalistic truth”, which is her first obligation if she is a professional journalist.

An Ethiopian reader of her article, one who attentively follows Ethiopians’ current affairs and has an objective understanding of Ethiopians’ history, cultures and politics, would easily recognize several things about her identity, personality and loyalty in her opinions, including: She is proud to be an Ethiopian if the TPLF’s beaten, ruthless tyrants control the Ethiopian government power. She is prouder in her ethnical (Tigrayan) identity than her national (Ethiopian) identity if Tigray remains a police state of the now obsolete TPLF’s authoritarians. She is proudest in her political identity with the outmoded TPLF’s apartheid policies than her Ethiopian, Tigrayan or journalistic identity.

She made it too obvious for her article’s readers that her loyalty isn’t for Ethiopia, Tigray or journalism; it is for the TPLF’s apartheid policies. For instance, she uses her news website to promote the defunct TPLF’s divide-families-federalism that to divide and rule Ethiopians along ethnic line or to dismantle Ethiopia. She is poor in rationality and pretty bad at finding “journalistic truth” because she let her reasoning become influenced by the TPLF’s ethnic politics – which is designed to divide and conquer Ethiopians among their 80+ languages and their corresponding dialects. Let describe the TPLF’s ethnic politics with a scenario, say a child was born from Ethiopian parents who came from two ethnic groups; for example:

1. A Bale Oromo father who speaks his region’s Afaan Oromo and Amharic of the Shewa region
2. An Amhara mother who speaks Amharic and Tigrinya of one of the Gonder’s regions
3. The child speaks Amharic of the Shewa region and English with an American accent
4. The child’s ancestries could be traced, obviously, to various ethnic groups across Africa, including Ethiopia and the Middle East

When the child applies for an ID card or a passport, the child would be required to be classified as an Oromo, because the child’s father is an Oromo.

Jim Fussell, Prevent Genocide International, on his article titled “Group Classification on National ID Cards as a Factor in Genocide and Ethnic Cleansing” articulated that “In his 1996 book Ethnic Cleansing, Andrew Bell-Fialkoff locates genocide and ethnic cleansing within a continuum of eliminationist population policies, offering the following as a definition of population cleansing”

“Population cleansing is a planned, deliberate removal from a certain territory of an undesirable population distinguished by one or more characteristics such as ethnicity, religion, race, class, or sexual preference. These characteristics must serve as the basis for removal for it to qualify as cleansing.”

Did PM Abiy overreach?

Lemma claimed that “… Mr. Abiy overreached. His first cardinal mistake was to sideline the Tigray People’s Liberation Front, for decades the most powerful political force in the country, in the peace he brokered between Ethiopia and Eritrea.”

The fact is Abiy didn’t overreach.  He didn’t sideline the TPLF’s ruling class. He executed what the abolished EPRDF’s executive committee, which was led by the TPLF’s butchers, decided long before he became prime minster of Ethiopia in 2018. He broke a deadlock and accepted an international arbitration commission ruling in favor of Eritrea in 2002 and signed a peace agreement with the Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki (The Nobel Prize, Abiy Ahmed Ali Facts).

Regarding communications shut down in Tigray

Lemma said that “As fighting raged [in Tigray], the internet and telephone networks have been shut down [in Tigray].”

She made it appear that Abiy ordered the blackout in Tigray. But Ethio telecom disclosed a video footage taken from security cameras that shows masked intruders disconnecting a network (Ethio Telecom, CCTV cameras video footage and LJDemissie, Reuters’ Fake News).

Is Ethiopia on the edge of civil war?

Lemma stated that “Ethiopia stands on the cusp of civil war, bringing devastation to both the country and the wider region. While the situation is volatile and uncertain, this much is clear: Mr. Abiy’s political project, to bring together the nation in a process of democratization, is over. And much of the blame must be laid at his door.”

Her farfetched concern – “Ethiopia stands on the cusp of civil war” – is the voided TPLF’s demagogues and their pawns the likes of Lemma’s rhetoric. To explain, when the TPLF’s treacherous tyrants lose their grip on power, they planned to trigger a civil war among Ethiopia’s ethnic groups in order to dismantle Ethiopia; and in turn, to destabilize the Horn of Africa region, hoping that will give them a golden opportunity to control Ethiopia.

Her allegation that “… much of the blame [for Ethiopian Tragic situations] must be laid at his [Abiy’s] door is correct, in theory.

To explain, after Abiy took office, he should have brought to justice the TPLF’s criminals – instead of trying to sacrifice justice under a pretext of national reconciliations and transitional justice. This act could have saved tens of thousands of lives, a significant amount of resources and a high opportunity cost of engaging to enforce the rule of law.

But in hindsight, Abiy’s willingness to sacrifice justice for the sake of national reconciliations, peace and stability paid off because the butchers and their pawns fell into their own trap. That created a greater prospect for Ethiopians to be united by the blood of the Ethiopian National Defense Force, the Amhara region militias’ and those innocent civilians the TPLF’s Special Forces slaughtered, including with machetes, among other places, in Mai-Kadra western Tigray.

Lemma is a deceptive journalist

The truth is Lemma has to take some responsibility for Ethiopians, particularly Tigrayans’ subjugations by the TPLF’s demagogues in the last thirty years. Due to her political interest with the TPLF’s tyrants she turned a blind eye to the crimes against humanity that the TPLF’s fascists committed against, among others, Tigreans. For example: using her news website, she never let the world know the Tigrayans’ commoners’ horrifying situations under the TPLF’s juntas.

She ignored the fact about the juntas’ prison holes dug down across Tigray’s mountains. She neglected to let the world know the TPLF’s despots used to execute their teenage guerrilla fighters for having consensual heterosexual relationship. She failed to act as champion fighting for the freedom of her people, the Tigrean people, whom she appeared to defend.

The fact is, after Abiy assumed power, Ethiopians except for Tigrayans have access for independent sources of information; Tigrayans only source of information was the TPLF’s media because the TPLF banned other sources of information. The TPLF’s tyrants also made it illegal to speak, write and/or protest against the TPLF’s ruling class. Moreover, it was almost impossible for opposition parties to promote their agendas in Tigray.

The TPLF’s illegitimate election

In the September 09, 2020, illegal regional election the TPLF held, Lemma’s news website, Addis Standard, reported: “Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), the ruling party of Tigray regional state, has won 98.2% of the vote for the regional parliament, taking all 152 seats.”

Lemma only reported there was an election in Tigray, without addressing the election’s nature that whether it was legal, democratic and transparent. She didn’t question how a party could win 98.2% of the vote. This evidence shows she isn’t a journalist that seeks “journalistic truth”.

Furthermore, Lemma mainly uses her news website to hide the TPLF’s rulers’ treachery and cruelty. For example, she never brought to light the tortures, disappearances and extra judicial executions of Tigrayans who lives in Tigray. She never mentioned the TPLF’s rulers’ savagery was more “pervasive and widespread problems” in Tigray than any other states in Ethiopia.

She never let her readers be aware of that the TPLF’s torturer kingpins torture every part of a prisoner’s body. For instance, the TPLF’s ruthless security head Getachew Assefa is notorious for, among other things, butchering female prisoners’ vulva: the labia minora and majora, opening of the urethra, clitoris and vagina with pliers. He tormented males’: penises, scrotums and testicles with various objects, including pliers and destroyed prisoners’ manhood related to their sexual power” (LJDemissie, article, December 16, 2018).

Giving a detailed description of how the TPLF’s torturers tortured Engineer Endale Abebe, who is an Oromo Ethiopian, across their prisons, including in Tigray, will make readers “feel queasy and uncomfortable”. To make a point, I paraphrased a few of his horrifying experiences. Abebe who appears to be in his 30s said that:

1. He was imprisoned for four years in a foxhole in Tigray

2. He wears a diaper because he has been made unable to control his bowel movements by the TPLF’s torturers; they shoved a police black baton in his rectum through his anus

3. His TPLF’s torturers left an executed prisoner’s corpse decomposing next to him while they imprisoned him in a foxhole. Their intention was to torture him physically and psychologically with “the stench of putrefaction” of the dead body
4. “Generations of maggots” from a prisoner’s corpse crawled on his body. In other words, he was made to live with every second of the dead body’s decomposition phases.

Note: depending on the environment, a corpse’s flesh could decompose [eaten by maggots and turn into soil within five days (“Deer Turns to Dust Before My Eyes”)] to fifty days (Australian Museum, “Stages of decomposition”)

His crime was saying the late PM Meles Zenawi’s parliament was illiterate, after noting some parliament members used their thumbprint as their signature because they didn’t know how to sign their name. Note: “Legally, a signature is just a way to say “Yes, I have read and understand this””

I take Abebe’s word literally because I know a torture victim (I remember his first name was Sisay) whose cellmates had to move him out from their cell and lie him down at a corridor of a makeshift prison because they couldn’t endure the stench of his untreated tortures wounds. I met him; I saw him unable to control his body balance when he walked. Since his feet and toes were irreparably damaged by his untreated torture wounds, when he walks, he loses his balance because his body parts: head, neck, torso and hips thrust him forward.

Sisay was made to suffer during Colonel Mengistu Haile Mariam’s bloody Red Terror campaign at the Higher-15 makeshift detention center in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. I heard he was released after about five years of imprisonment; he graduated from a university in Ethiopia, and he had a successful life. I’m grateful for not witnessing his sufferings.

To conclude, Ethiopians, including Tigrayans despised and rejected the now voided TPLF’s demagogues, among other things, for their apartheid policy and viciousness long before they lost their dominance in all aspects of Ethiopians’ affairs.

I argue that Ethiopians, including Tigrayans would “spare no privileges of respect even in death” to the TPLF’s beaten butchers’ dead bodies. If Ethiopians would be given an opportunity similar to an Italian crowd that was gathered in Piazza Loreto in Milan, Italy in April 29, 1945, I think they would treat the butchers’ corpse like the Italian crowd treated Benito Mussolini and his fascist henchmen’s dead bodies. If I’m given that opportunity, I would throw Kitfo and Kurt-Siga on the TPLF’s super greedy, day-hyenas dead bodies.

The Guardian, April 1945, “It is interesting to see the hate, the fury of those around Mussolini. People spit upon the body, but that is only a continuation of the justice he should have suffered. He died too quickly. “One woman shot five times into the body saying: ‘Five shots for my five assassinated sons.’ All approve and want more. They want the bodies to stay there for six months, and that is not enough. Never has so much hate, rancour, and thirst for vengeance been seen. This is justice. This is a good example and it will be followed by others.”

Finally, I respect the Addis Standard’s chief editor’s freedom of speech. Till I started editing this article and examined her postings on her news website, I never suspected that she has been loyally serving the TPLF’s greedy juntas as their mass media.

I dedicated this article to Engineer Endale Abebe, to show him my compassion for his sufferings in the hands of the TPLF’s cruel, greedy juntas. Endale, my brother, your sufferings are beyond my wildest imagination because I have listened to so many victims of torture stories since I was sixteen-year-old. However, I have never heard a torture survivor saying he/she was made to stay with an executed prisoner’s body and deal with the corpse’s putrefaction.

I heard Kefelegn Alemu Worku, one of the Higher-15’s make shift detention center executioners ordered a detainee to lick with his tongue executed detainees’ bloods off the floor of the interrogation/execution room as Alemu walked detainees to an execution field. The prisoner didn’t lick the bloods, but with other detainees, mopped the bloods off the floor with …

To learn more about Abebe’s sufferings, consider watching his Amharic interviews on Haleta TV ሀሌታ ቲቪ and Kefyalew Tufa’s YouTube Channels. And see what you can do for him to help him out.

The images used in this article are obtained from Google’s Images; to enhance the article’s contents, they are altered.

This article was drafted at the end of the second week of November 2020 and finished the third week of December 2020. The writer, LJDemissie, can be reached at LJDemissie@yahoo.com.

The post Addis Standard is the Defeated TPLF’s Media! appeared first on Satenaw Ethiopian News/Breaking News.

Alyou Tebeje
December 18, 2020

The world is getting smaller each passing day with the advancement of technologies and democratic policies. The politicians and the policymakers are now understanding that we can’t survive without our surrounding country mates. So, borders and lines are getting a myth day by day in developed countries. Nowadays, they are officially offering cluster passports where you don’t need to apply for a visa for each country separately like in the European Union. The picture is entirely different in the developing and more clearly to say in the third world countries. Here, the immigration rules are the most devastating, and the enforcement department is not willing to help at all. If you want to look for an example, nothing comes out better than the Ethiopian and Sudanese border clashes. Please scroll below to know how the Ethiopian refugees lead a vulnerable life in Sudan’s borders and their recent activities.

Border news

According to some trusted sources, the Ethiopian refugees are seeking shelter and food in the distanced camps. The border camps’ habitant stated earlier that the Sudanese army is getting inside their locality without any prior permission, any disgusting property harming the people in the process. The refugees do not feel safe here anymore. They are left with no more choices to stay as there are extreme food and supply scarcity in other camps. They think the distanced camps Amy be safer after the aggressive trans-border fleet raid of the Sudanese army.

Arrival

According to Ethio Point news, Hundreds of Ethiopian families seek refuge here in the Um Rakuoba camp of Sudan after a terrible fight in Ethiopia’s Tigray region. The situation forces the refugees to enter furthermore inside Sudan to seek a safer place to stay. Roughly more than fifty thousand people and families currently live here, and most of them came fleeing from the nearest camp of Hashana.

Current condition

There is currently a media blackout going on, a there is no electricity or internet facility in these refugee camps. These people are not getting the least amount of necessities. Information blackout is another Hunderance to understand what is going on inside the camps. But, several refugees from other camps reported seeing beating, inhuman bombing, and torturing events in the way and the camps. These people seek nothing but a safe refuge and get an uncertain future instead of any promise from their country’s responsible authorities.

Behind the scenes

Like several other countries, Sudan and Ethiopia share the same border for seven hundred and forty kilometers. As both are nearly underdeveloped countries, fights and violence are regularly happening within these countries’ borders. That is why regular border patrolling, peasant passing, and illegal border crimes are common. Most of the time, both countries manage these crimes hand in hand and with the help of responsible civilians. The Sudanese army recently showed an aggressive attitude by killing a few Ethiopian citizens and destroying their property, trying to take advantage of the ongoing conflict inside the Ethiopian regiment.

Conclusion

A war crime is one of the worst crimes of all. But, the situation is not new to the world. Capitalism teaches us to win everything we can by taking improper advantage of other’s situations. Sudan army is not acting responsibly by defying the international code of peace and hunting people down. It strictly goes against humanity and a very shameful act in the name of border protection. These unarmed and underprivileged civilians could not be any potential security threat to border safety. So, it is time that both countries take the necessary step to establish peace on the border.

The post Ethio-Sudanese Border Fracas: The Egyptian Croc Tears appeared first on Satenaw Ethiopian News/Breaking News.

BY MAHLET FASIL @MAHLETFASIL

Addis Abeba, December 26/2020 – Five defendants in the file under Eskinder Nega, Founder of the opposition party Balederas for Genuine Democracy, have entered a plea of not guilty after prosecutors submitted revised charges at the Federal High Court, Lideta Branch, First Constitutional and Anti-Terrorism Bench.

The federal judges however proceeded with ruling to commence witness hearing in four months from now on April 7, 8, 21, 22, 26, 27, 29,  as well as on May 4 and 6 2021.

The trial was held after the judges examined the prosecutor’s revised following the ruling during the last hearing ordering the prosecutors to clarify two points. One of two points the judges ordered prosecutors to clarify was to identify the social media posts that the defendants were accused of posting to inciting violence while the second one was to indicate the venue where the 4^th defendant was accused of giving instructions to the youth as was indicated in the initial charge. In light of this, the prosecutors revised the charges, which were read out at the court blaming the defendants’ use of various social media cites; it also accused the 4^th defendant Askale Demissie of giving instructions to the youth around Tor Hayiloch area in the capital.

The judges have subsequently ruled the defendants to enter a plea of guilty or not guilty based on the revised charge. The first defendant Eskinder Nega said that he did not commit the act and entered plea of not guilty adding that the accusation was politically motivated. Similarly the 2^nd defendant, Sintayehu Chekol, also a senior member of Balderas, entered plea of not guilty and added that they were arrested “because we plan to participate in the election.”

After pleading not guilty, the 3^rd defendant, Keleb Seyoum, told the judges that she was already sentenced in the past for four years in prison simply because of her political views and without any evidence, and that her current case is no different than the past. “The prosecutor is the government’s puppet, that’s why I am charged,” Keleb said, a remark immediately rebuffed by the prosecutor as “inappropriate remark” which should earn her charges of “contempt of court”; the judges overruled the request for contempt of court but cautioned Keleb to not repeat such emotional remarks.

Askale Demise, the 4^th defendant in the file, pleaded not guilty and said she was “a government employee, and my supervisor said that I cannot oppose the government. We are just arrested by the government,” she added. The 5^th defendant Getnet Bekele also pleaded not guilty of all the charges.

Soon after the judges adjourned witness hearing, the court was filled with murmurs of displeasure from the families and supporters of defendants who opposed to the ruling.

Eskinder told the judges that the appointments given were set for long time and should be brought closer because among the defendants were candidates of his party ready to participate in the upcoming election. The judges overruled the request on the bases of time constraint to accommodate their cases in a short period of time and adjourned the first witness hearing until April 07/2021.

It is to be remembered that on December 08, the judges have ruled against federal prosecutors’ request for behind a curtain witness testimony. Prosecutors requested witnesses to testify behind a curtain fearing “for their safety” and the testimonies to be conducted under witness protection provisions; but the defense team have objected the notion arguing that defendants have no way of knowing if the witnesses were reading from a script. After weighing on the arguments presented by both sides, the judges have dismissed the prosecutors’ request on the grounds that it will violet the rights of the defendants.

AS

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Addis Ababa, Ethiopia – A total of 207 people were killed in a Wednesday attack by gunmen in western Ethiopia, the country’s Human Rights Commission (EHRC) said, more than doubling a previous count.

The independent government body had on Wednesday said 100 people were killed in their sleep and crops burned in a pre-dawn assault in the Metekel area of the Benishangul-Gumuz region.

“133 of the victims were adult men and 35 were adult women. Seventeen children, one of whom a six-month-old baby, and 20 elderly persons were killed,” the EHRC said in a statement posted to Twitter late Friday.

Mostly inhabited by ethnic Shinasha, Oromo and Amhara people – the last two making up Ethiopia’s most numerous groups – the Metekel area has suffered a string of deadly attacks in recent months.

Local leaders blame ethnic Gumuz people for the violence.

Following Wednesday’s attack, “effort is underway to identify the victims with the help of survivors and identity cards,” the EHRC said.

The body repeated its appeal for “relevant authorities to provide urgently humanitarian assistance to the victims and persons displaced by the attack.”

It added that around 10,000 had fled the Bekuji Kebele area and made for the city of Bulen, around 40 kilometres (25 miles) away, which is already sheltering “thousands of displaced persons”.

“Bulen city is overwhelmed. The roads leading to the city are still teeming with displaced persons and their herds of cattle,” one eyewitness told the commission.

Regional authorities said on Thursday that troops had killed 42 armed men alleged to have taken part in the massacre, without giving details about their identities.

“The massacre in the Benishangul-Gumuz region is very tragic,” Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said in a Twitter post on Thursday, conceding the government’s efforts to solve the problem “had not yielded results”.

In October, he had said that fighters “armed and trained” in Sudan’s neighbouring Blue Nile state were behind the violence and urged Khartoum to tackle the problem.

Abiy claimed that the latest attack had been aimed at “dividing the significant force” deployed to the country’s dissident northern Tigray region.

There is no known link between the violence in Benishangul-Gumuz and military operations +in Tigray\Thousands have been killed in the Tigray conflict, according to the International Crisis Group think tank, and more than 50 000 people have fled over the border into Sudan.

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Alemayehu G. mariam
December 26, 2020

Michelle Bachelet is the former president of Chile (2006-2010)

Tedros Adhanom is a high level member of the terrorist group known as the Tigrean Peoples Liberation Front (TPLF).

Today, Michelle Bachelet is the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Today, Tedros Adhanom is the Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO).

Both Adhanom and Bachelet have their official headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland.

On May 20, 2018, Adhnom appointed Bachelet as the “new Chair of the Partnership for Maternal, Newborn, and Child Health of the World Health Organization (WHO)”.

On December 22, 2020, Bachelet came out swinging with an official statement damning the Ethiopian Government.

I thought Bachelet was a spokesperson for the TPLF when I read her statement. Could Bachelet have replaced TPLF junta spokesman Getachew “Comical” Reda, Ethiopia’s equivalent of Saddam Hussien’s “Comical Ali” who made up stories about Iraqi victories against the Americans.

Bachelet in a statement said:

Seven weeks after the conflict began in the Tigray region of Ethiopia, the continuing lack of overall humanitarian access, coupled with an ongoing communications blackout in many areas, raises increasing concerns about the situation of civilians, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet warned on Tuesday…

We have received allegations concerning violations of international humanitarian law and human rights law, including artillery strikes on populated areas, the deliberate targeting of civilians, extrajudicial killings and widespread looting, said the High Commissioner…

Based on multiple accounts, the Amhara “Fano” militia has reportedly committed human rights abuses, including killing civilians and carrying out looting. The UN Human Rights Office has also received information, which it has not been able to verify, concerning the presence of Eritrean troops in Tigray, their involvement in the hostilities and related serious violations of international law…

To avoid continued conflict and loss of life, Ethiopia should address its longstanding ethnic divides through accountability, inclusive dialogue, reconciliation and respect for human rights.

Within minutes, Adhanom tweeted  Bachelet’s most inflammatory and damning allegation (not fact):

We have received allegations concerning violations of international humanitarian law and human rights law, including artillery strikes on populated areas, the deliberate targeting of civilians, extrajudicial killings and widespread looting” says United Nations Human Rights High Commissioner, Michelle Bachelet.

This underscores the need for independent human rights monitors to be given access to Tigray to adequately assess the human suffering resulting from the conflict, verify allegations and to help ensure accountability for violations.

It does not require great genius to figure out the game Adhanom and Bachelet are playing from their posh offices in Geneva.

It is a game called, “Let’s use our high offices to bring down Ethiopia, to demonize Ethiopia, to portray the Ethiopian government as a barbaric and savage force that attacks poor civilians in artillery barrages.”

It is manifest to me that Adhanom and Bachelet concocted this statement.

After all, Adhanom gave Bachelet the prestigious chairmanship of the maternal health partnership, once held by none other than Nelson Mandela’s widow Graça Machel.

It is clear the Bachelet’s statement was concocted and designed as an indictment of the Ethiopian Government.

Seven weeks after the conflict began in the Tigray region of Ethiopia, the continuing lack of overall humanitarian access… raises increasing concerns about the situation of civilians… In other words, the Ethiopian government which solely controls humanitarian access has  intentionally blocked humanitarian aid endangering the well-being of civilians.

We have received allegations concerning violations of international humanitarian law including artillery strikes on populated areas, the deliberate targeting of civilians, extrajudicial killings and widespread looting. In other words, Ethiopian troops using their arsenal of artillery batteries are attacking Tigrean civilian targets indiscriminately massacring them and looting their property.

Based on multiple accounts, the Amhara “Fano” militia has reportedly committed human rights abuses, including killing civilians and carrying out looting. In other words, Amharas (using Fano as code name) are massacring Tigreans and looting their property.

To avoid continued conflict and loss of life, Ethiopia should address its longstanding ethnic divides through accountability, inclusive dialogue, reconciliation and respect for human rights. In other words, the Ethiopian government is hiding its own human rights crimes and should ultimately negotiate with the TPLF and reconcile with them.

I don’t know exactly what kind of relationship Adhanom and Bachelet have. Their photographs taken in public show a degree of intimacy that exceeds the boundaries of expected decorum between high level international civil servants.

I don’t know if Bachelet is returning the favor to Adhanom who appointed her as Chair of the Partnership for Maternal, Newborn, and Child Health of the World Health Organization which in 2020 mobilized “financial and policy commitments amounting to $20.6 billion.”

What Adhanom and Bachelet do privately is none of my business.

But it is my business when they use their official positions to promote their private partisan political agenda t harm Ethiopia.

It is my business when Adhanom and Bachelet conspire to propagate lies, damned lies and disinformation on Ethiopia.

Adhanom is a dyed-in-the-wool TPLF cadre even as he pretends to be WHO director.

In my book, once a terrorist always a terrorist.

It does not matter if a terrorist wears designer suits and pretends to be a leader of an international organization.

Adhanom will stop at nothing to materially, financially support the dead TPLF, lobby governments and international organizations to revive the TPLF and spread lies and disinformation  on Ethiopia.

Adhanom was recently caught secretly mobilizing military and diplomatic support for the TPLF.  I have presented those details in my recent commentary.

I have offered my solution to the Adhanom problem in my November 18, 2020 commentary.

Suffice it to say that the only solution to the ongoing Adhanom criminal conspiracy is for 1) the Ethiopian Government to issue a warrant for his arrest for violations of so many sections of the Ethiopian Criminal Law (Articles 17, 18, 238-242, etc.) and 2) lodge a complaint with the WHO Board and appropriate UN authorities and demand a full investigation into his covert political activities on behalf of the TPLF.

The bottom line is Adhanom is incorrigible. He thinks he can outsmart everybody and no one will be able to figure out his behind the scenes conspiracies, shenanigans, lobbying, gunrunning and the rest.

Like the rest of his TPLF buddies, Adhanom can run for now but eventually he will be caught and brought to justice.

Adhanom! You can run but you will never be able to hide under Mama Bachelet’s skirt.

POSTSCRIPT: The UN Human Rights Council is a citadel of hypocrisy and a travesty of human rights

I have always known the UNHRC, currently led by Bachelet, to be another one of those useless global bureaucratic (with a lot of American taxpayer) money pits that talks about human rights while walking with the worst human rights violators in the world. The Atlantic says it is a “deeply flawed body.”

All it does is put its stamp of approval on the self-serving human rights reports issued by countries in its “Universal Periodic Review”.

In my June 2017 op ed in The Hill, I supported Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, in her argument the U.S. should withdraw from the UN Human Rights Council.

In June 2018, U.S. Secretary of States Mike Pompeo said, the “Human Rights Council has become an exercise in shameless hypocrisy – with many of the world’s worst human rights abuses going ignored, and some of the world’s most serious offenders sitting on the council itself.” Of course, he was referring to the presence of the TPLF, among others, at the Council.

The Council is a den for some of the world’s wickedest human rights violators who have taken seats only to gain international respectability.

Consider the following evidence on Ethiopia.

In its 2014 Universal Periodic Review, UNHRC reported that in Ethiopia, “Freedom of expression continued to thrive,” and that, “Ethiopia had zero tolerance for torture and inhuman, degrading or other cruel treatment.”

However, Human Rights Watch (HRW) in 2014 reported the existence of “severe restrictions on the rights to freedom of expression” in Ethiopia and the occurrence of “torture and abuse” in its prisons. The 2014 U.S. human rights report singled out Ethiopia for “stifling free and open media and the development of civil society” and “routine use of torture”.

In its 2009 Universal Periodic Review, HRC reported Ethiopia had made “significant progress in freedom of expression” and “peaceful assembly and demonstration occurred without any barrier.” HRW and other reports sharply disagreed. It is extraordinary that the HRC ignores its own findings contradicting its periodic reviews on Ethiopia.

The defunct TPLF regime in Ethiopia is infamous for gross human rights violations. In November 2016, the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights issued a resolution “condemning the deteriorating human rights situation” in Ethiopia and singled out “undue restrictions on fundamental human rights and freedoms resulting from the state of emergency.”

During TPLF Ethiopia’s membership in the HRC, there have been numerous instances of documented gross human rights violations in Ethiopia.

Despite the overwhelming evidence, the HRC has neither suspended, sanctioned or otherwise demanded compliance with global human rights conventions from Ethiopia.

To add insult to injury, for over a decade, the TPLF regime refused entry to all of the HRC’s special rapporteurs with impunity.

In August 2016, then UNHRC Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein urged an independent investigation into the use of excessive force in Ethiopia, which was ignored by the regime.

Today, the High Commissioner Bachelet preaches and sermonizes Ethiopia on human rights violations.

Give me a break!

Truth be told, I don’t give a damn about the UNHCR.

But when the High Commissioner of the Council colludes and conspires to disseminate lies and disinformation on Ethiopia, I shall rise to defend!

The post The Tedros Adhanom-Michelle Bachelet Conspiracy of Lies and Disinformation on Ethiopia EXPOSED appeared first on Satenaw Ethiopian News/Breaking News.

Aklog Birara (Dr)

I have always argued that Egypt’s relentless proxy wars will undermine Ethiopian territorial integrity, sovereignty, and the unity of its diverse population. Egypt’s ultra nationalist and militaristic approach to the resolution of conflicts in Africa threatens peace and stability in the entire region.

It is not in the interest of the Sudanese and the Ethiopian peoples to follow Egypt’s edicts. The most sensible and rationale way out of the border conflict between the Sudan and Ethiopia is to arrive at a negotiated settlement. The two nations share a long history of mutual coexistence, culture, trade and a huge 1,600 KMs of border that has potential for more regional economic transformation. Egypt’s national interest is therefore not the same as that of the Sudan or Ethiopia.

Egypt’s historical track record with respect to Ethiopia confirms its constant perception that Ethiopia is a threat. Today, in encouraging a faction of the Sudanese transitional Government to go to war and annex Ethiopian territory, Egypt has demonstrated once again this misguided perception.

In the 1950s and 1960s, the Arab world, the CIA and others encouraged, supported, trained, and financed Ethiopian liberation fronts. These mushrooming national liberation fronts had commonalities and a few differences. By and large, they embraced the common ideology of anti-imperialism, anti-colonialism, and anti-feudalism. The central tenet was and still is “national oppression,” where each front wishes to overthrow the perceived oppressor. Left unchallenged, this ideology has far reaching implications. It undermines Ethiopia’s territorial integrity, national security, sovereignty; and the unity of Ethiopia’ s diverse population.

As national liberation fronts, elites, most of them ethnic, believe that their primary obligation is to fight and gain independence from the “fictional” oppressor. A strong central Ethiopian Government is not in their interests. This is amply demonstrated by behaviors and actions of the quarrelsome, corrupt and anti-democratic TPLF junta.

At the forefront of these emerging fronts were the Eritrean Liberation Front (ELF) and the Eritrean People’s Liberation Front (EPLF). The latter led Eritrea’s 30-year war against Ethiopia that ended up in an independent state in 1993. The new state split from Ethiopia. As a result, Ethiopia became landlocked.

I recall the organized chorus in the Arab world led by Egypt, Iraq, the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), Syria, etc. to make the Red Sea entirely Arab. So, Egypt’s primary motive for supporting the ELF and the EPLF then was to severe Ethiopia from the Red Sea. This strategy worked as planned. Egypt, with support from the EPLF and TPLF achieved its strategic geopolitical goal.

Egypt calculated then that Ethiopia will someday construct hydroelectric and irrigation dams on the Blue Nile. Egypt believed that the best remedy is to frustrate and diminish Ethiopia’s agenda, for example, by preventing multilateral lenders such as the World Bank from financing such projects.

Egypt’s intransigence, diplomatic interventions against Ethiopia, its recurrent sponsorship of proxy and cyber security wars, etc. has cost Ethiopia hundreds of billions of investment dollars. It is true that Egypt has tried; but has not succeeded in conquering Ethiopia. But it continues to use its second-best option for which there is market demand in Ethiopia. This takes the the form of encouraging, sponsoring, training, financing, and arming national liberation fronts, and neighboring counties, especially Sudan.

After Eritrea became independent, the front that gained prominence is the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF). During the time of President Clinton, TPLF Meles Zenawi, Ethiopia’s Prime Minister at the time and one of Ethiopia’s wealthiest men, was identified as among “Africa’s Renaissance Men.”  The West overlooked that he was a Marxist and anti-imperialist during his formative age. He served the strategic purposes of external powers. Meles became a champion of anti-terrorism. A Marxist turned himself into a capitalist. He played a lead role in privatizing Ethiopian state-owned enterprises (SOEs). Privatized assets were literally turned over to a selected few Tigreans; and to other TPLF loyalists at huge costs to Ethiopian society.

It is important not to ignore the machination behind Meles’ decision to construct the GERD close to the Sudanese border; and his agreement with Egypt not to cause any harm in the process.

More relevant to my commentary, Meles was also among the “African Renaissance Men” who was minted and coveted by Egypt and the Sudan. The reader would remember the frequency of Meles’ participation in high level world forums, including the World Economic Forum in Davos.

I recognize the fact that Meles and the TPLF core leadership are no more. The junta is hidden in its foxhole somewhere in the Ethiopian highlands. There are still numerous TPLF look alike supported by Egypt. Although the TPLF junta is hiding in fox holes, the ideology and the worldwide the infrastructure that Meles’ front created; and the ethnic and language-based Constitution the TPLF crafted and institutionalized are still intact.

On the plus side of the equation, relations between Eritrea and Ethiopia have improved dramatically. With the demise of the TPLF, trade, people to people interactions and physical mobility will improve for the better. With each improvement, the peoples of these two brotherly/sisterly countries will benefit enormously. Sudan will also benefit hugely from this rapprochement.

Internally, the biggest obstacle for a healthy and beneficial restoration of relations between Eritrea and Ethiopia was the TPLF. This barrier is largely gone; though there are remnants of resistance among Tigrean-Ethiopians, most of them in the Diaspora.

It is worth repeating that the ideological legacy that the TPLF implanted in Ethiopian society is still intact. I have identified this harmful legacy as more dangerous than cancer and the current Pandemic. In its manifesto that it never changed, the TPLF identified another dimension to its anti-imperialism and anti-colonialism rhetoric. This is anti-national oppression. More specifically, the TPLF falsely stated that the Amhara nationality is an oppressor of not only Tigreans; but also, of other, nations, nationalities, and peoples. This in a concerted and calculated attempt to frame the false Amhara oppression on par with European colonialism and American imperialism.

Given this sensational, destructive, and false edict of national oppression of Tigrean-Ethiopians and other peoples in Ethiopia by the Amhara nationality, it goes without saying that, for copy-cat ethnic elites, the oppressed are morally and ethically justified to revolt, murder and ethnically cleanse, maim, subdue, and evict forcibly from lands Amhara wherever they live. It is also vital to remember that the Amhara believe in one, multiethnic and multifaith and unified and democratic Ethiopia in which each Ethiopian should have the right to live and work in any part of Ethiopia.

Further, the same group believes that the Amhara must not hold national policy and decision-making positions. This false narrative suits Egypt.

The Oromo National Liberation Front (OLF/Shine) and the Beni-Shangul Gumuz National Liberation Front adhere to the above edict. They continue to believe that the Amhara are colonizers and oppressors. More troubling, with documented evidence of financial support of external powers including Egypt, they commit genocide (example, in the town of Shashemene, in Beni Shangul Gumuz). We should always remember that the TPLF was among the leading agents of genocide and instability also fueled by external powers including Egypt.

The exception to this animosity towards Amhara and Ethiopian nationalism that took roots over more than 40 years of propagation by the TPLF is the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF). This front has made a healthy transformation towards the ultimate objective of establishing an all-inclusive multinational, multiparty, democratic, and prosperous Ethiopian society.

This ultimate objective is possible. It requires more work. It requires sustained change in political culture. It requires a dramatic shift in the paradigm of thinking among all elites, intellectuals, and civil society.

How do fronts support themselves?

Fronts drum up popular support within by accusing the Amhara and other Pan-Ethiopian nationalist groups of being inimical to their financial, economic, natural resources and political interests. Among these variables, hegemony over lands features prominent. Given the agrarian and pastoral characteristic of the Ethiopian economy, conflict over lands is understandable. It is the primary source of livelihood.

However, ethnic cleansing, murders, wholesale massacres of innocent civilians and displacements based on ethnic and or religious affiliation are criminal acts. In addition to the untold human costs, these criminal acts undermine Ethiopia’s territorial integrity, national security, and sovereignty.

There is no plausible excuse not to hold regional authorities in Benishangul Gumuz accountable for crimes against humanity and for genocide. The same standards of accountability that the Federal Government of Ethiopia is applying about the TPLF junta must apply in this case, and every similar case.

Further, given the recurrent nature of ethnic atrocities in Benishangul Gumuz, Ethiopia needs to explore optimal solutions. This is because, Benishangul Gumuz is porous and serves as a hotbed of terrorist conflict.

Many observers genuinely believe that Egypt and extremists in the Sudan are channeling arms, training, financing, and encouraging the Benishangul Gumuz Liberation Front, jihadists, the OLF/Shine, and remnants of the TPLF.

Fortunately, the Government of Ethiopia, Ethiopia’s Defense Forces and Ethiopian society are fully cognizant of the machinations of internal fronts in concert with external powers.

What is the motive?

I will put this as bluntly as I can. Egypt is determined to scuttle or thwart Ethiopia’s national resolve to complete the GERD, one of Africa’s largest infrastructure. Egypt still believes that its colonial hegemony over the Nile is sacrosanct. Egypt emboldened a faction of the Sudanese Government in general and its military in particular because of this objective. Egyptian continued hegemony over the Nile is no longer viable. It is not in the interest of riparian nations, including Egyptian society.

Ethiopia and the Sudan share a huge border. They have a great deal in common. The unexpected military invasion by the Sudan and its annexation of large tracts of Ethiopian lands was timed opportunistically. The power behind this reckless adventure is Egypt. Egypt’s sole goal is to strengthen its hard-liner position on the GERD; and to pressure the Sudan to side with it on all matters.

On December 23, 2020, Egypt’s Foreign Ministry issued a statement saying, “Egypt is following these dangerous field developments with great concern … and underlines the need to take all possible measures to guarantee that such incidents against Sudan will not be repeated in the future. “This is one week after Egypt had “condemned” an alleged “cross-border attack on Sudanese military” by Ethiopian military.

Ethiopia has repeatedly urged and called for peaceful and diplomatic consultation to resolve the border issue with the Sudan. This issue has been festering since the colonial era. Emperor Haile Selassie’s Government, the Military Socialist Government and the EPRDF Government have each followed an identical policy concerning the border with the Sudan. Ethiopia adheres to the same modalities of negotiation in accordance with international law and conventions that underpin border conflicts.

This is also the same line that Ethiopia adopted regarding the dispute and impasse on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (the GERD).

In emboldening the Sudan to go to war with Ethiopia and annex large tracts of Ethiopian lands, Egypt miscalculated the risks. Although both are members of the Arab League, Egypt and the Sudan also share a highly contentious and unresolved border issue. If the primary concern is the border, how come Egypt and the Sudan have not yet settled their contentious border problem?

In any case, I believe that the solution in both cases is peaceful negotiation and not aggression.

It is my considered opinion that Egypt’s strong statement supporting the Sudan is causally related to the off and or negotiations or impasse on Nile River talks.

I recall that Egypt and the Sudan conducted military exercises in the Sudan. Egypt provides military training to the Sudanese, etc. These are facts.

In summary, Sudan’s unprovoked invasion of Ethiopia and the annexation of Ethiopian territory is illegal. It is a violation of international law. I therefore condemn this aggression. I urge the Sudan to withdraw its military from Ethiopia. The Ethiopian Defense Forces are justified in repelling Sudanese aggression against Ethiopia; and in restoring annexed lands to the Ethiopian people.

I also condemn Egypt’s recurrent proxy wars against Ethiopia. The international community must demand that Egypt stop undermining Ethiopia’s territorial integrity, national security, sovereignty, and the unity of its diverse population.

The way forward is for the Sudan and Ethiopia to revert to peaceful negotiations.

12/26/2020

The post Why Sudan Took an Aggressive Military Action and Annex Ethiopian Territory? appeared first on Satenaw Ethiopian News/Breaking News.

(Reuters) -Banking services have resumed in the capital of Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region for the first time since war broke out there on Nov. 4, state-affiliated Fana TV said on Monday, as the government seeks to restore normality.

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s government declared victory after seizing Mekelle from the former local ruling party, the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), on Nov. 28.

By mid-December, it was sending civil servants back to work and reopening air space, while some power and telecoms links were restored after a blackout.

Fana cited an interview conducted by state-run Ethiopia Press Agency with Mekelle’s mayor Ataklti Haile Selassie, in which he said banks had opened their doors.

The conflict between federal forces and the TPLF is believed to have killed thousands and displaced around 950,000 people.

World Health Organization (WHO) chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who is of Tigrayan descent and whom Ethiopia’s military has accused of supporting the TPLF, spoke emotionally about the conflict in an end-of-year message on Monday.

Tedros, who has denied accusations of trying to procure arms and diplomatic support for Tigrayan fighters, said he had many relatives including his younger brother in the region, but had heard nothing from them after communications were cut.

“I don’t know where they are,” he told a news conference about the coronavirus from WHO headquarters in Geneva.

“As if COVID is not enough, I have that personal pain also … I worry about the whole country, I cannot worry about my younger brother or my relatives alone, because the situation is worsening … So carrying all this is tough.”

Aid agencies have struggled to gain access to Tigray and are concerned about food running out, especially in refugee camps.

Abiy’s government says the conflict is finished.

Ethiopia has an election scheduled for June and is drafting a bill to create a stock market.

TPLF leaders have said they were fighting back from mountain hideouts, but there have been no reports of battles since earlier this month.

The post Banks reopen in Ethiopia’s Mekelle for first time since war broke out appeared first on Satenaw Ethiopian News/Breaking News.

Dr. Tedros Adhanom from his brief comment made the rest of the world know what we have known. He is on the side of TPLF and he doesn’t care about the huge humanitarian cost his TPLF war criminals inflicted on the army and innocent Amhara seasonal laborers. He is only counting the TPLF loss.

The post Making Tedros Adhanom a One Term Director of WHO !!!!! appeared first on Satenaw Ethiopian News/Breaking News.

By Brook Abdu

December 20, 2020

The National Election Board of Ethiopia (NEBE) announced that the sixth national elections will be held countrywide except in Tigray region on June 5, 2021, despite looming security concerns. It is to be recalled that the Board postponed the elections from late 2020 because of the Coronavirus pandemic.

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Addis Getachew Tadesse
January 10, 2021

7 civilian operatives of defunct front and two high-ranking army officers captured

Ethiopia said Sunday that a total of seven high-ranking and middle level officers of the militant Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) were neutralized in a joint military and police operation in its northernmost Tigray region.

Seven civilian operatives who held senior positions prior to the launch of a law enforcement operation in the region on Nov. 4 were also captured.

They include Abay Woldu, former president of the Tigray National Regional Government, the state-owned Ethiopian News Agency quoted Brigadier General Tesfaye Ayalew, the head of the federal army’s deployment department, as saying.

Those captured also included two high-ranking officers of the army who had defected to the TPLF.

On Nov. 3, TPLF forces attacked the Ethiopian National Defense Forces, killing soldiers while they were sleeping and looting military hardware, prompting the Ethiopian government to launch a sweeping law enforcement operation.

On Nov. 28, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed declared the military confrontation over after the fall of the regional capital Mekele to the federal army. But tracking down TPLF operatives who went into hiding has been ongoing.

Yesterday, the operation captured Sibhat Nega, a founding member of the TPLF and a hugely influential figure who created a multibillion-dollar business empire for himself and his family during the 27 years prior to 2018 when the TPLF was in power.

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