By Tsegaye Tegenu, PhD¹

Background: Interpretation of current unrest

The regions of Oromia and Amhara, where more than 60 % of the Ethiopian population live, are now engulfed by protest, riots and sporadic armed clashes. This political unrest began in Oromia region last November 2015 and has now sprung up in the Amhara region. The causes of this political unrest are interpreted differently. State actors interpret it as work of chauvinists and narrow minded nationalists. Non-state political activists see it as a question of justice, equality, cultural identity and issues of control of territory and resources. Some moderates blame the much skewed wealth distribution, poverty and poor governance in the country for the political unrest. What is the devil in the political unrest in the country? In this essay I will try to examine the unrest from the perspective of population growth, age structural change and the associated economic policy choices used to combat youth bulge problems in the country.

Population Growth, Age Structural Change and Youth Bulge

The Ethiopian population had doubled since the early 1970s under conditions of subsistence economy. In 2015, Ethiopia is the second-most populous country in Sub-Saharan Africa with a population of 92.2 million. According the Central Statistic Authority (CSA), under the most optimistic low fertility scenario the population size is projected to increase to 137 million by the year 2037. This is an increase of 45 million people with an average growth rate of 2.2% per annum. Currently the Ethiopian population is increasing by about two million people a year.

Countries with a history of rapid population growth have a high potential of future population growth with youth constituting the largest segment. In Ethiopia, initially the population growth was concentrated at the child age group (0-14) which dominated the structure (an average of 40% of the population), followed by the young adult age group (15-29), constituting an average of 28%, followed by the middle age (30-59) about 25% and old age (60+) about 6%.

Since 1995, five years after the start of a decline in population growth rate of the country, Ethiopia entered into the period of youth bulge, which is commonly defined relative to the total adult population. Moderate decline in the fertility rate and the echo of the baby boom generation of the 1975/76 land reform (large child bearing populations) were the major driving forces for the onset of the youth bulge in Ethiopia.  In 2008 the country had a total population of 79 million, the second largest population in sub-Saharan Africa, and 48 percent of the adult population was in the age group 15-29.

The Map shows the existence of significant regional as well as local variation in the youth bulge of the country in 2007. The border and southern regions have experienced a large youth cohort, which was about 40-70 percent of the adult population, while the central regions have cohort size of 20-40 percent of the adult population. For the Somali region I do not have age breakdown data at district levels; but the regional level data shows that the youth bulge in the region was 54,32%, which was well above the national average. The census data shows that most urban areas have higher level of youth bulges than rural areas.

Effects of Rapid population Growth and Youth Bulge

For the purpose of policy intervention, it is important to distinguish the effects of overall population growth from the effects of youth bulge. In a subsistence economy rapid overall population growth, which in the case of Ethiopia is characterized by exponential growth, leads to massive scarcity, increase in surplus labour, fragmentation of resources, diversification of economic activities, growth of nonfarm service activities, informal self-employment and internal migration and out-migration. Analysing overall rapid population growth effects helps to understand the mechanism of economic growth and pillars of structural transformation: need for concentration of resources and centralization of production, factors of labour productivity, balanced regional development, industrial linkages and clusters.

Focus on youth bulge on the other hand helps to understand the problems around the life trajectories of young adults in the country, i.e., livelihood positions and life transitions belonging to the young adult phase of life.  While livelihood positions refer to states which an individual occupies at a point in time, life transition refers to the sequence of events that brings about a change in states. The markers of life transition include events such as ending schooling, starting work, leaving home, first cohabitation, first marriage, and first birth. The timing and duration of these events and, in some cases, the sequences of these events differ over time, depending on opportunity structures.

In Ethiopia there is a glaring gap between the growing needs of the young adult age group and the availability/supply of resources to meet the markers of the life transition: access to education, getting job, earning income, marriage and housing. Because of limited opportunities, the youth is experiencing only one or two of the events for long duration, without transition to another event and this has created deep frustration and grievances leading to different forms of political violence.

According to a study of Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, in 2007 the employment-to-population ratio for the country was 71.5%. That means about 72% of the total population aged 15 years and over were working during the reference period. The employment-to-population ration in the rural areas was higher (76.6%) than in the urban areas (50.4%), i.e., 50 % of the urban adult population was unemployed (see figure below).

Source: FDRE, Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs (2013), Labour Market Dynamics in Ethiopia. Addis Ababa.

In rural areas job creation was related to of access to rural land, and this has caused problems of distribution/redistribution and fragmentation. World Bank study stated that “youth employment presents a particular challenge to Ethiopia; the country faces growing youth landlessness in rural areas and insignificant rural job creation, potentially leading to an increase in migration to urban areas” (World Bank, 2007, Urban Labor Markets in Ethiopia: Challenges and Prospects. Volume I: Synthesis report 38665). In rural areas the youth have limited access to farm land because of land scarcity and land market restrictions. In urban areas most jobs are created in the low-paid informal sector, since the public and private sectors have a very limited labour absorbing capacity.

Trend analysis showed a continued decline in the employment-to-population ratio as the youth cohort size increased both in the urban and rural areas. Underemployment, dissatisfaction with low-paid work and getting oneself stuck in life transition encourages outmigration from the country. A large majority of young adults who stayed in the county lived with their parents well into their thirties as slum dwellers.

Problems of Economic Policy Choice and Implementation

In youth bulge countries there is a potential for occurrence of conflicts if and when the proportion of youth bulge exceeds 20% of the adult population (Urdal, H. (2006), A Clash of Generations? Youth Bulges and Political Violence, in International Studies Quarterly). But bulge consequence depends on policy choices: analysis of the various intervention instruments (institutional support systems, trade, finance, price instruments, etc.) and specifying the objectives of reform instruments (overcoming production scarcity, creation of productive employment, profit making, commodity export and earning foreign exchange, etc.). With the right policy (clarity in the means and objectives of economic reforms) youth bulge can be turned into demographic dividend as in the case of East Asian “tigers” during 1965–90. As I have tried to argue in a number of occasion (see below links to list of popular debate articles), the EPRDF Government has problem not only of implementation but also an economic policy choices. The Government tries to solve youth bulge employment problems without focusing to transform the economic structure of the country (namely, without solving first the consequences of overall rapid population growth in the country).

Because of rapid population growth we have now around 15.6 million agricultural households all over the country owning less than 1.1 hector per holder. The urban economy has now made up of roughly 7 times more service providing than goods producing workers. Over 90 percent of the industrial firms are small or micro enterprises (SMEs) belonging mainly to informal sector and produce for low-income markets. Medium and large firms are known for their high dependence on imported raw material and for operating below capacity.

The fragmentation of the economy shows the need for concentration of resources and centralization of production for the purpose of labour specialization, creation of economies of scale and introduction of technology. The government, however, planned to increase public investment without a declared objective of transforming smallholder agriculture and small scale urban production for political and ideological reasons.

To transform the fragmented rural and urban economy, there is a need for a centralize production system and consolidation of resources. Centralized management of activities and concentration of land input ensures food security, reduces fixed and transaction costs, build up trust, encourages labour specialization, create production and consumption linkages and facilitate capital accumulation. Economic scale, which is the basis of technological change, is the result of concentration of inputs and centralization of production system.

Centralization and consolidation of resources can be done through privatization of land property rights to individual plot holders and development of the private sector in all regions of the country. But the EPRDF Government has no intention to slip the state’s hold on the economy due to its ideology of developmental state and politics of ethnicity. Government owning and running of the economy under condition of neopatrimonialism (patron-client relationship which is acknowledged by EPRDF itself) leads to inequalities between regions and ethnic groups.

Patron-client relation not only entrenches informal governance system but also creates unauthorized transactions. It encourages favouritism, nepotism, and other corrupt practices, which ultimately worsens the governance (See Kebede, G. 2013, Political Corruption: Political and Economic State Capture in Ethiopia. European Scientific Journal, Vol.9, No.35). In a country where linguistic/regional differences coincided with political differences, inequalities caused by clientelism serve as a motivation factor for youth unrest.

The Ethnic Trap

Ethnic trap is a situation where one cannot escape and avoid not to falling back into it. It is a self-reinforcing process or mechanism. In 1991, the EPRDF Government used ethnic ideology to shape the country’s institutions and to spell out action oriented programs for their activities. Ethnicity is used not only to address cultural demands such as the use and celebration of the ethnic language and culture, but also as a means of devolution of power. At that time the Ethiopian population counted as 45 million and this number has currently doubled to 90 million. As a result of rapid population growth, the the spatial characteristics, distribution and variations of the Ethiopian population has changed significantly. Because of labor mobility and internal migration the number of people living in the urban areas has increased rapidly and this has changed urban infrastructure and land use patterns. Population growth in general has affected food security, employment creation, public education, health, housing, infrastructure, urban services, public finance and sector growth.

When the ethnic federal system was constructed in 1991, no one conducted a demographic based forecast to provide alternative frameworks for future policy decisions. Effects of rapid population growth and youth bulge were not projected at the time of the creation of the ethnic federation. Population growth and age structural change is an autonomous force and the government has no control over demographic factors. After a period of 25 years of rapid spatial and basic need changes, it is no longer possible to use the criteria of language and local identity in the design and implementation of public policy reforms. Unfortunately some state actors perceive consequences of rapid population and youth bulge unrest as work of “nation chauvinism and narrow nationalism”. Some non-state actors are also using ethnic ideology due to a long-standing mistrust of central government. In both cases ethnicity is used not only to address cultural demands but also as a means of devolution of power and resource mobilization.

It seems that in the Ethiopian political culture there is too much use of ethnic ideology either as a result of mistrust of central government or as a means of holding to power. In any way it is important to know that there is a limitation to use of ethnic ideology as a means and objective of economic policy formulation and implementation. Under condition of population growth pressure and spontaneous internal mobility of labour, the perception of social, political and economic conflicts between groups of people in terms of a constructed linguistic identity is inappropriate. The effects of rapid growth population on the performance of social and economic sectors and material well-being of the Ethiopian people compel us to get out of the ethnic ideological trap. It is time to accept innovation and be tolerant to other views to design type of policies that can improve economic growth performance and other components of well-being. How well the economic resources of the county meet the needs and demands of a rapidly growing population in the past decades? If the level of meeting the desired needs is unsatisfactory what are the supply and growth capacity problems? It is not possible to assess such effects of rapid population growth and suggest alternative policy measures of economic transformation using paradigms of ethnic relations.

The future: ways of finding new resources

According to the Central Statistical Agency of Ethiopia (CSA), by 2027 Ethiopia’s population is projected to reach 116 million and the young adult age group will constitute about 47 per cent of the adult population. The continuous growth of the young adult group at least in absolute terms increases the number of young people searching for work and production resources. As the relative size of the cohort increases, the economic opportunities tend to decrease. In order for the labour market to absorb surplus young job-seekers, both unemployed and underemployed, it is necessary at first to transfer the structure of the Ethiopian economy.

Ethiopian population growth needs an increase in the scale of production. It is only manufacturing industrialization that increases the scale and the speed that the rate needed. At the present the country needs an instantaneous transformation in the structure of production, employment and sectoral composition of economic activities. The consequences of exponential population growth and youth bulge can only be solved through rapid industrialization that expands job opportunities and labour skills.

The attempt to scale up a fragmented economy (cost increasing activities), without changing the nature of their economic organization, and a plan of establishing industrial parks amidst a fragmented economy will not bring about fast and intense structural transformation (change in slope) as required by the population growth pressure. The pillars and requirements of economic structural transformation include:

1. i) Bring about a change in the scale of output production through centralize production system and consolidate resources (such as privatization of land property rights to individual plot holders). From the perspective of private sector development, a gain in one ethnic group/region is not equivalent to another’s loss. There is no one winner and one loser. Development is not only distribution; it is also creation of resources where everyone follows an underlying rules, clearly stated objectives and strategies.
2. ii) Need for the expansion industrialization in rural towns for the creation of productive employment for the surplus rural labour in the nearby towns (to curb long distance migration) and supply of consumption goods to the rural households

iii) Identify the appropriate forms of industrial policy aimed at changing the structure of the economy

1. iv) Designing the organizational structure of industrialization appropriate for the current conditions of the country
2. v) Democratic participation, good governance and establishment of a scientific bureaucracy for the purpose of policy implementation and evaluation. For a mutually acceptable political solution see Tsegaye Tegenu (2016), The Model and Making of Ethnic Federalism in Ethiopia: Identifying the Problems to Find the Solution. Paper submitted to 9th International Conference on African Development, May 27-28, 2016 Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia.

Retrieve from https://uu.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:934164/ATTACHMENT01.pdf

Ethnic ideology as a rule does not provide solutions to youth bulge consequences and scarcity problems created by rapid population growth. My view is that the political ideology of ethnicity is appropriate for distribution of existing resources; it cannot be applied for the creation of new resources. The effects of youth bulge on political unrest calls for a different approach and mindset.

Alternative Economic Policy Suggestion for Creation of New Resources

• Green Revolution and Industrial Decentralization: Policy Options for Food Security and Promoting Rapid Employment in Ethiopia, July 2010 retrieve from

http://uu.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:938584/FULLTEXT01.pdf

• Why Ethiopia Needs Green Revolution and Industrial Decentralization (Part Two), July 2010, retrieve from

http://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:938589/FULLTEXT01.pdf

• Green Revolution Management: Problems Should Not Scare Us from Adopting the Technology July 2010, retrieve from

http://uu.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:938591/FULLTEXT01.pdf

• Can Ethiopian Smallholder Farmers serve as basis for Green Revolution? July 2010 Retrieve from http://uu.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:938595/FULLTEXT01.pdf
• The Costs of Financing Small Farmer-led Green Revolution in Ethiopia: Final Reflection, July 2010, retrieve from http://aigaforum.com/articles/Final_response_on_green_revolution.htm
• Problems of Institutional Instability and Green Revolution Bureaucracy in Ethiopia, July 2010 retrieve from http://uu.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:938600/FULLTEXT01.pdf
• Conditions and Forms of Industrial Decentralization: Towards Policy of Balanced Regional Growth in Ethiopia, September 2010, retrieve from

http://uu.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:938602/FULLTEXT01.pdf

• Get Rid of Small Farms: Reflection on 2008 World Development and 2011 Rural Poverty Reports, December 2010, retrieve from

http://uu.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:938605/FULLTEXT01.pdf

• Miss Conceptualizing Growth Role of Small Farms, January 2011, retrieve from

http://uu.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:938609/FULLTEXT01.pdf

• Structural Transformation is a Defining Moment that Leads Ethiopia to Modern Development, April 2011 retrieve from

http://uu.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:938611/FULLTEXT01.pdf

• Large-scale Technology is at Heart of Economic Structural Transformation in Ethiopia, May 2011, retrieve from

http://uu.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:938615/FULLTEXT01.pdf

• Reflection on Growth and Transformation Plan (GTP) of Ethiopia 2011-2015, October 2010 retrieve from http://uu.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:938621/FULLTEXT01.pdf
• The Idea of Industrialization in Ethiopia: Fundamental Issues for Debate, May 2011 retrieve from http://uu.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:938626/FULLTEXT01.pdf
• Speeding up Industrialization in Ethiopia: What works and what does not, June 2011 retrieve from http://uu.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:938633/FULLTEXT01.pdf
• Export-led or Domestic Demand-led Growth Policy for Ethiopia: Getting Choice and Sequence Right, June 2011 retrieve from

http://uu.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:938634/FULLTEXT01.pdf

• The Youth Bulge, Rapid Urbanization and Political Violence: Understanding Egyptian Revolution, February 2011 retrieve from
• http://uu.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:938635/FULLTEXT01.pdf
• Revisiting Youth Bulge Countries, Deprivation Hypothesis andOpportunity Perspective, March 2011, retrieve from
• http://uu.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:938638/FULLTEXT01.pdf
• Population Pressure and Regional Development Disparities in Ethiopia: Case of Southern Region, August 2011, retrieve from

http://uu.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:938642/FULLTEXT01.pdf

• Constructing Regional Development Policy for Border Areas of Ethiopia: Reflection on Perspectives, May 2011, retrieve from

http://uu.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:938645/FULLTEXT01.pdf

• Exponential Population Growth and Carrying Capacity of the Ethiopian Economy, July 2013, retrieve from http://uu.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:938651/FULLTEXT01.pdf
• Reaching Critical Mass to Rapid Industrialization and Agricultural Fundamentalism in Ethiopia, March 2014 retrieve from

http://uu.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:938655/FULLTEXT01.pdf

• “What Does the Ethiopian Economy Want”: industrialization-led structural transformation, January 2014, retrieve from

http://uu.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:938663/FULLTEXT01.pdf

• How to create jobs quickly for all young people of Ethiopia, retrieve from

http://uu.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:938700/FULLTEXT01.pdf

• Is Ethiopia Missing the Opportunity of Labor-intensive Industrialization? retrieve from

http://uu.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:938705/FULLTEXT01.pdf

• “Industrialization in Ethiopia: The Fundamental, Missing Issues in the Debate”, in Ethiopian Business Review – magazine, December 16, 2015-January 15, 2016. Addis Ababa.

¹Tsegaye Tegenu is senior lecturer at the Department of Social and Economic Geography, Uppsala University

Almaz Ayana

The 1993 World Record set by the Chinese runner was totally obliterated by our Diamond/Almaz Ayana today at Rio Olympics 2016 record time of 29:17.6.  Almaz started controlling the race on the nine lap to remain of the 10k or 25 laps X 400m.

children protesters in prison

Children make up a third of the protesters jailed in connection with ‪#‎Grand‬ #OromoProtests. This photo was taken at Iyasu IV prison in Gara Mulata, East Hararge. (The former emperor was jailed there after loosing power to Hailesilassie)

• Salem Solomon

  Salem Solomon is a journalist and web producer at Voice of America’s Horn of Africa Service, where she reports in English, Amharic and Tigrigna. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, Poynter.org, Reuters and The Tampa Bay Times. Salem researches trends in analytics and digital journalism, and her data-driven work has been featured in VOA’s special projects collection.

By JEFFREY GETTLEMANAUG. 12, 2016

New York Times

Is Ethiopia about to crack?

For the last decade, it has been one of Africa’s most stable nations, a solid Western ally with a fast-growing economy. But in recent months, antigovernment protests have convulsed the country, spreading into more and more areas. In the last week alone, thousands of people stormed into the streets, demanding fundamental political change.

The government’s response, according to human rights groups, was ruthless. Witnesses said that police officers shot and killed scores of unarmed demonstrators. Videos circulating from protests thought to be from late last year or earlier this year show security officers whipping young people with sticks as they are forced to perform handstands against a wall. The top United Nations human rights official is now calling for a thorough investigation.

“It was always difficult holding this country together, and moving forward, it will be even harder,” said Rashid Abdi, the Horn of Africa project director for the International Crisis Group, a research organization.

Ethiopia is the second most populous nation in Africa, after Nigeria, and its stability is cherished by the West. American military and intelligence services work closely with the Ethiopians to combat terrorist threats across the region, especially in Somalia, and few if any countries in Africa receive as much Western aid.

Ethiopia’s economy has been expanding at an impressive clip. Its infrastructure has improved drastically — there is even a new commuter train in the capital, Addis Ababa. And its streets are typically quiet, safe and clean. Though Ethiopia has hardly been a paragon of democracy — human rights groups have constantly cited the government’s repressiveness — opposition within the country had been limited, with dissidents effectively silenced. Many have been exiled, jailed, killed or driven to the far reaches of the desert.

But that may be changing.

“If you suffocate people and they don’t have any other options but to protest, it breaks out,” said Seyoum Teshome, a university lecturer in central Ethiopia. “The whole youth is protesting. A generation is protesting.”

The complaints are many, covering everything from land use to the governing coalition’s stranglehold on power. After a widely criticized election last year, the governing party and its allies got the last seat the opposition had held and now control 100 percent of Parliament. At the same time, tensions are rising along the border with Eritrea; a battle along that jagged, disputed line claimed hundreds of lives in June.

Analysts fear that separatist groups that had been more or less vanquished in recent years, like the Oromo Liberation Front or the Ogaden National Liberation Front, may try to exploit the turbulence and rearm.

Several factors explain why bitter feelings, after years of simmering beneath the surface, are exploding now.

The first is seemingly innocuous: smartphones.

Only in the last couple of years have large numbers of Ethiopians been able to communicate using social media as cheaper smartphones became common and internet service improves. Even when the government shuts down access to Facebook and Twitter, as it frequently does, especially during protests, many people are still able to communicate via internet proxies that mask where they are. Several young Ethiopians said this was how they gathered for protests.

Second, there is more solidarity between Oromos and Amharas, Ethiopia’s two largest ethnic groups. Oromos and Amharas are not natural allies. For eons, Amharas from Ethiopia’s predominantly Christian highlands flourished in politics and business, exploiting the Oromos, many of whom are Muslim and live in lowland areas.

But that is changing as well.

“We are on the way to coordinate under one umbrella,” said Mulatu Gemechu, an Oromo leader.

The biggest protests have been in Amhara and Oromo areas. Many Amharas and Oromos feel Ethiopia is unfairly dominated by members of the Tigrayan ethnic group, which makes up about 6 percent of the population and dominates the military, the intelligence services, commerce and politics.

The third reason behind the unrest is the loss of Meles Zenawi.

Mr. Meles, a former rebel leader, was Ethiopia’s prime minister for 17 years, until his death from an undisclosed illness in 2012. He was considered a tactical genius, a man who could see around corners. Analysts say he was especially adept at detecting early signals of discontent and using emissaries to massage and defang opponents.

“The current regime lacks that ground savvy,” Mr. Abdi, the conflict analyst, said.

Ethiopia’s new prime minister, Hailemariam Desalegn, was plucked from relative obscurity to fill Mr. Meles’s shoes. Unlike Mr. Meles, who came from the Tigray region of northern Ethiopia, Mr. Hailemariam is a southerner. Analysts say he does not have the trust of the Tigrayan-controlled security services.

The result, many fear, is more bloodshed. The last time Ethiopia experienced such turmoil was in 2005, after thousands protested over what analysts have said appeared to be an election the government bungled and then stole. In the ensuing crackdown, many protesters were killed, though fewer than in recent months, and that period of unrest passed relatively quickly.

Development experts have praised Ethiopia’s leaders for visionary infrastructure planning, such as the new commuter train, and measurable strides in fighting poverty. But clearly that has not stopped the internal resentment of Ethiopia’s government from intensifying. And it is taking a dangerous ethnic shape.

Last month, protesters in Gondar, an Amhara town, attacked businesses owned by Tigrayans, and anti-Tigrayan hatred is becoming more common in social media.

Analysts say the protests are putting the United States and other Western allies in an awkward position. The American government has used Ethiopia as a base for drone flights over neighboring Somalia, though it recently said it had closed that base.

While the West clearly wants to support democracy, it also does not want its ally in an already volatile region to crumble.

“That,” Mr. Abdi said, “is a very tight rope to walk.”

Patriotic Ginbot 7 for Unity and Democracy (PG7) and the Oromo Democratic Front (ODF) announced that they have formed an alliance. The Memorandum of Understanding was signed by Prof. Berhanu Nega and Leenco Lataa representing their respective organizations.

Following is the full text of the MoU.

Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) Oromo Democratic Front (ODF) and Patriotic Ginbot 7 (PG7)

August 11, 2016

After several candid discussions and careful considerations of the current political, social, economic and humanitarian situations in Ethiopia, and all the damages caused by successive regimes and the TPLF/EPRDF regime in particular on the welfare and national interests of the peoples of Ethiopia and the security and sovereignty of our country, the ODF and PG7 have made important observations and conclusions. The longer the current regime is allowed to stay in power, the harsher will be the pain, suffering and humiliation endured by the peoples of Ethiopia. Therefore, both parties are fully convinced that a transition from the current TPLF regime towards a new and genuinely federal and democratic state is of utmost urgency.

Both organizations take note of the fact that millions of people in Oromia for the last nine months, and now in the Amhara regions, as well as in the south, coming out and protesting in massive show of defiance, just a few months after the regime claimed a 100 percent victory in the sham elections it conducted in May 2015, and the manner of its reaction to the legitimate popular protests, demonstrate beyond doubt that the regime has lost any semblance of legitimacy. We believe that the mass killings, brutality, and inhuman treatment perpetrated by the TPLF regime against the peaceful protesters are enough indications that the Woyyane clique is determined to control all spheres of life in Ethiopia by sheer use of force and cling to power at all costs. The regime’s unwillingness to function in a multi-party political environment, provided for in its own tailor made constitution, and unabated repression and brutal killings in all parts of Ethiopia, harassment and persecution of the legal opposition, civil society and journalists, as well as gross abuse of power, looting of public and state resources demonstrate that the regime has closed all political space and avenues for reform. Therefore, ODF and PG7 firmly believe that the people have no other choice to end this tyranny and humiliation, but to engage in a concerted and coordinated mass democratic movement, popular uprisings, and rebellion to bring an end to repression, economic exploitation, national humiliation, tyranny, and dictatorship.

ODF and PG7 are mindful of the long standing call of the Ethiopian peoples for unity of all opposition political organizations and their strong desire to see that the different political and civic organizations coordinate their efforts and resources to bring an end to the illegitimate and tyrannical regime. Towards this end, the two organizations pledge to work jointly to bring all credible opposition political groups together into a broad democratic coalition.

Therefore, believing that a coalition of the Ethiopian democratic and liberation forces is the only alternative to get rid of the dictatorial regime and to create a truly united and genuinely democratic federation in Ethiopia, where justice, peace, equality, freedom, and economic prosperity prevail, ODF and PG7 have agreed on this day, August 11, 2016, to form an alliance on the basis of the following three cardinal principles.

1. Ethiopia being a multinational, multilingual and multi religious country, the state should respect and equitably reflect all its identities. The two organizations shall strive to build a truly democratic federal state, which promotes and guarantees the equality and unity of its peoples on the basis of social justice, equality, citizenship, economic prosperity, and protects and safeguards the sovereignty of the country.

2. Bring an end to tyranny, dictatorship, and exclusive monopoly of political and economic power in Ethiopia, and lay the foundation for a democratic system where political power at all levels of government is subject to the free will of the people. All member organizations of the alliance and future coalition shall agree that genuinely free and fair elections are the only path to power. The primary objective of the alliance shall be bringing an end to tyranny and paving the way and laying the ground work for a democratic transition of power.

3. The paramount purpose of the alliance is to achieve the prevalence of freedom, justice, equality and democracy in Ethiopia, and the empowerment of the people. Hence alliance and future coalition members shall not use minor policy differences to hinder these noble goals. Once they are empowered, the people shall be the ones who decide on alternative political, economic and social policies. The alliance and coalition members shall promote a culture of tolerance and dialogue and resolution of differences through frank and open discussions.

Both organizations, ODF and PG7, have agreed to form a joint working group, composed of representatives from each organization, to undertake all duties of coordinating different tasks as assigned by the agreements between the leaderships of the two organizations.

Justice and Freedom for all!

Signed:

Leenco Lataa, President , Oromo Democratic Front (ODF)

Birhanu Nega, Chairman, Patriotic Ginbot 7 (PG7)

Gov’t communication minster Getachew Reda reacted on unity between Oromo and Amhara

The minister had drunk two glasses of wine before getting behind the wheel

Sweden’s youngest ever government minister, Aida Hadzialic, has resigned after being caught driving over the alcoholic limit.

Hadzialic, 29, is minister for higher education in the centre-left government and Sweden’s first Muslim minister.

She called the drink-driving incident “the greatest mistake of my life”.

Hadzialic, who arrived in Sweden aged five from Bosnia-Hercegovina, drank two glasses of wine before being stopped on the bridge linking Denmark and Sweden.

She faces a possible term of up to six months in prison after police detected a blood-alcohol level of 0.2 grams per litre.

Booze calculator: What’s your drinking nationality?

Explaining her error, she said she had drunk one glass of sparkling wine and one of red after a night out in Copenhagen. She set off for Sweden’s southern city of Malmo four hours later.

Image copyrightAP

Hadzialic said she thought that would have been enough time for her body to get rid of the alcohol.

Explaining her decision to quit, the Social Democrat told reporters: “I choose to do this because I believe what I have done is that serious.”

Sweden is one of several European countries which have low alcohol limits for drivers.

Drink-drive limits (grams per litre of blood)

UK, Malta: 0.8 (Scotland 0.5)

United States: 0.8

Most European countries, including Germany, France, Spain, Italy: 0.5

Sweden, Poland, Estonia, Cyprus: 0.2

Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania, Slovakia – no alcohol while driving

A 0.5-limit would mean an average man can take take a small glass of beer or a large glass of wine and women to half a pint of beer or a small glass of wine

Sources: drinkingandyou.com; European Transport Safety Council

Ethiopian Orthodox church members in Israel defend the real Ethiopia Flag to fly

A Generation Is Protesting’ in Ethiopia, Long a U.S. Ally [ The New York Times ]
By JEFFREY GETTLEMAN
AUGUST 12, 2016
Is Ethiopia about to crack?

For the last decade, it has been one Africa’s most stable nations, a solid Western ally with a fast-growing economy. But in recent months, antigovernment protests have convulsed the country, spreading into more and more areas. In the last week alone, thousands of people stormed into the streets, demanding fundamental political change.

The government response, according to human rights groups, was ruthless. Witnesses said that police officers shot and killed scores of unarmed demonstrators. Videos circulating from protests thought to be from late last year or earlier this year show security officers whipping young people with sticks as they were forced to perform handstands against a wall. The top United Nations human rights official is now calling for a thorough investigation.

“It was always difficult holding this country together, and moving forward, it will be even harder,” said Rashid Abdi, the Horn of Africa project director for the International Crisis Group, a research group.

Ethiopia is the second most populous nation in Africa, after Nigeria, and its stability is cherished by the West. American military and intelligence services work closely with the Ethiopians to combat terrorist threats across the region, especially in Somalia, and few if any countries in Africa receive as much Western aid.

Ethiopia’s economy has been expanding at an impressive clip. Its infrastructure has improved drastically — there is even a new commuter train in the capital, Addis Ababa. And its streets are typically quiet, safe and clean. Though Ethiopia has hardly been a paragon of democracy — human rights groups have constantly cited the government’s repressiveness — opposition within the country had been limited, with dissidents effectively silenced. Many have been exiled, jailed, killed or driven to the far reaches of the desert.
But that may be changing.

“If you suffocate people and they don’t have any other options but to protest, it breaks out,” said Seyoum Teshome, a university lecturer in central Ethiopia. “The whole youth is protesting. A generation is protesting.”

The complaints are many, covering everything from land use to the governing coalition’s stranglehold on power. After a widely criticized election last year, the governing party and its allies got the last seat the opposition had held and now control 100 percent of the Parliament. At the same time, tensions are rising along the border with Eritrea; a battle along that jagged, disputed line claimed hundreds of lives in June.

nalysts fear that separatist groups that had been more or less vanquished in recent years, like the Oromo Liberation Front or the Ogaden National Liberation Front, may try to exploit the turbulence and rearm.

Several factors explain why bitter feelings, after years of simmering beneath the surface, are exploding now.

The first is seemingly innocuous: smartphones.

Only in the last couple of years have large numbers of Ethiopians been able to communicate using social media as cheaper smartphones became common and internet service improved. Even when the government shuts down access to Facebook and Twitter, as it frequently does, especially during protests, many people are still able to communicate via internet proxies that mask where they are. Several young Ethiopians said this was how they gathered for protests.

Second, there is more solidarity between Oromos and Amharas, Ethiopia’s two largest ethnic groups. Oromos and Amharas are not natural allies. For eons, Amharas from Ethiopia’s predominantly Christian highlands flourished in politics and business, exploiting the Oromos, many of whom are Muslim and live in lowland areas.

But that is changing as well.

“We are on the way to coordinate under one umbrella,” said Mulatu Gemechu, an Oromo leader.

The biggest protests have been in Amhara and Oromo areas. Many Amharas and Oromos feel Ethiopia is unfairly dominated by members of the Tigrayan ethnic group, which makes up about 6 percent of the population and dominates the military, the intelligence services, commerce and politics.

The third reason behind the unrest is the loss of Meles Zenawi.

Mr. Meles, a former rebel leader, was Ethiopia’s prime minister for 17 years, until his death from an undisclosed illness in 2012. He was considered a tactical genius, a man who could see around corners. Analysts say he was especially adept at detecting early signals of discontent and using emissaries to massage and defang opponents.

“The current regime lacks that ground savvy,” Mr. Abdi, the conflict analyst, said.

Ethiopia’s new prime minister, Hailemariam Desalegn, was plucked from relative obscurity to fill Mr. Meles’s shoes. Unlike Mr. Meles, who came from the Tigray region of northern Ethiopia, Mr. Hailemariam is a southerner. Analysts say he does not have the trust of the Tigrayan-controlled security services.

The result, many fear, is more bloodshed. The last time Ethiopia experienced such turmoil was in 2005, after thousands protested over what analysts have said appeared to be an election the government bungled and then stole. In the ensuing crackdown, many protesters were killed, though fewer than in recent months, and that period of unrest passed relatively quickly.

Development experts have praised Ethiopia’s leaders for visionary infrastructure planning, such as the new commuter train, and measurable strides in fighting poverty. But clearly that has not stopped the internal resentment of Ethiopia’s government from intensifying. And it is taking a dangerous ethnic shape.
Last month, protesters in Gondar, an Amhara town, attacked businesses owned by Tigrayans, and anti-Tigrayan hatred is becoming more common in social media.

Analysts say the protests are putting the United States and other Western allies in an awkward position. The American government has used Ethiopia as a base for drone flights over neighboring Somalia, though it recently said it closed that base.

While the West clearly wants to support democracy, it also does not want its ally in an already volatile region to crumble.

That,” Mr. Abdi said, “is a very tight rope to walk.”

By Fikrejesus Amahazion       August 12, 2016

Rather than condemn and censure Ethiopia’s brutal crackdown, the international community has turned a blind eye.

US President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama with Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn and Ms. Roman Tesfaye in the White House, August 5, 2014 (Amanda Lucidon/White House)

Dozens of anti-government protesters have been killed and arrested by government authorities amid ongoing unrest in Ethiopia. For months, hundreds of thousands of protestors from Ethiopia’s largest ethnic groups have rallied to protest political marginalization and systematic persecution by the government. In June, a 61-page report was released by Human Rights Watch condemning the Ethiopian government’s heavy-handed response to the protests. According to the report, titled “Such a Brutal Crackdown: Killings and Arrests in Response to Ethiopia’s Oromo Protests”, during the widespread protests, largely arising within Oromia (but now extending to other regions), Ethiopian security forces have resorted to excessive and unnecessary lethal force and mass arrests, engaged in the ruthless mistreatment of those in detention, and restricted access to information. Estimates suggest that over 400 protesters or others had been killed by security forces, while tens of thousands more have been arrested, figures that will now have risen significantly.

Corruption and poor governance remain deeply embedded within Ethiopia’s socio-political structure, and the country consistently scores extremely poorly on a range of international governance indicators. The Ethiopian government has been consistently criticized by an array of international rights groups for its broad range of human rights abuses, including its harsh repression of minorities and journalists, press censorship, draconian anti-terror laws that are utilized to silence all forms of dissent, and brutal crackdowns upon opposition groups and protestors.

Although the ongoing crisis encapsulates the government’s utter contempt for basic human rights and the overwhelming “politics of fear” that pervades the country’s socio-political landscape, it also reveals, in crystal clear detail, the highly troubling role played by much of the international community, led by the US and the West. Specifically, while the government’s brutal crackdown warrants a strong rebuke and condemnation, there has been a severely muted international response, with many of Ethiopia’s foreign supporters remaining silent.

Rather than condemn and censure Ethiopia’s brutal crackdown, the international community has turned a blind eye, abdicated its responsibility, and instead been acquiescent to Ethiopia’s persistent violations and repression. Last year, both US President Barack Obama and US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Wendy Sherman granted legitimacy to the Ethiopian government by praising its “democracy”—even though the country’s ruling party, the Ethiopian People’s Ruling Democratic Front (EPRDF), swept the national elections by winning 100 percent of the parliamentary seats.

When the French statesman Talleyrand was told by an aide of the murder of a political opponent, the aide said, “It’s a terrible crime, Sir.” In response, Talleyrand answered, “It’s worse than a crime, it’s a blunder.” Likewise is the West’s propping up of the Ethiopian government. Unwavering support for and appeasement of Ethiopia are part of a policy approach based upon the misguided belief, dating back to the immediate post-World War II period but rearticulated more recently in terms of regional “anchor states” designations, that Ethiopia is vital to protecting US and Western geostrategic interests and foreign policy aims. However, not only is this approach morally reprehensible, with the US and West being directly complicit in the mass crimes, transgressions, and reign of terror perpetrated by the Ethiopian government, the misguided policy approach has largely failed to achieve its objectives, to even a minor degree, and instead only served to stunt regional development and destabilize both Ethiopia and the broader Horn of Africa region.

In seeking to address Ethiopia’s flagrant dismissal of international norms and blatant disregard for human rights, a number of measures could be undertaken (e.g. sanctions). However, the first, and possibly most far-reaching and effective, response by the international community should be to withdraw its unwavering support for the repressive Ethiopian government.

George Galloway, respected British politician, broadcaster, and writer, has frequently voiced concern of how the West’s support for dictatorial, tyrannical regimes in the name of security only results in “blowback” and harming the populations of those countries. Regarding Ethiopia, Galloway has decried how the UK and US policy of encouraging, arming, training, financing, and facilitating the Ethiopian government’s “reign of terror” is “morally vacuous.” Similarly, respected international economist, William Easterly, has recommended that the international community “stop financing tyranny and repression” in Ethiopia.

For decades, Ethiopia has been highly dependent on external economic assistance. In 2012, it was the world’s seventh largest recipient of official humanitarian aid and received $3.2 billion in total assistance, the latter figure representing between 50 to 60 percent of its total budget, while its 2011 share of total official development assistance—approximately 4 percent—placed it behind only Afghanistan. Problematically, however, even while it is one of the world’s leading recipients of foreign aid and is currently requesting even greater financial support, the Ethiopian government also annually spends hundreds of millions of dollars on weapons and arms—which are now being used against its own civilians.

With such a critical dependency on foreign aid, threats to “turn off the tap” unless Ethiopia changes course may be a viable step toward improving the country’s rights record. Alternatively, rather than providing aid directly to the Ethiopian regime, which has a long track record of corruption and misappropriation, the international community should consider directly supporting local human rights and democracy groups (although this may be difficult due to Ethiopia’s draconian laws on civil society and NGOs).

An indication of the possible far-reaching effects of removing external support from a harsh, brutal regime can be seen in the example of Indonesia. Noam Chomsky, internationally renowned professor and activist, has written and spoken extensively on how US and Western support for the despotic regime in Indonesia played an indirect, yet extremely harmful, role in the carnage and deaths of hundreds of thousands in East Timor. However, in 1999, after much pressure, the US finally “pulled the plug” on its support for the Suharto regime, quickly leading to the end of Indonesia’s brutal campaign.

Specifically, “For 25 years, the United States strongly supported the vicious Indonesian invasion and massacre, a virtual genocide. It was happening right through 1999, as the Indonesian atrocities increased and escalated, after Dili the capital city was practically evacuated. After Indonesian attacks, the US was still supporting it. Finally, in mid-September 1999, under considerable international and also domestic pressure, Clinton quietly told the Indonesian generals ‘It’s finished.’ And they had said they’d never leave, they said “this is our territory.” They pulled out within days, and allowed a UN peacekeeping force to enter without Indonesian military resistance. Well, you know, that’s a dramatic indication of what can be done.”

While the socio-political dynamics and historical contexts of Indonesia and Ethiopia are admittedly quite different, the comparison also offers relevant and striking similarities. Both regimes received decades-worth of external economic, military, and political support (particularly from the US). Additionally, both regimes systematically and persistently violated human rights, transgressed various international laws (such as through military occupation), and engaged in large-scale campaigns described as “genocidal”.

With Ethiopia continuing to overlook basic international norms, standards, and laws in its brutal crackdowns upon opposition groups and protestors, the international community must end its complicity in and indirect support for the government’s various transgressions. As Clinton relayed to Indonesia’s leadership, the international community must tell Ethiopia, “It’s finished.”

  East Timor, Ethiopia, Genocide, Human Rights, Indonesia, US Foreign Policy

http://www.foreignpolicyjournal.com

Documentary U S Policy ETHIOPIA A FAILED STATE! – Produce Jan, 2015

Are Amharas “retards”?

Are Oromo protesters demanding an end to confiscation of their land “criminals and terrorists”?

Are we now witnessing the rise of the “Amhara retards” and the Oromo “criminals and terrorists ” in Ethiopia?

The T-TPLF (Thugtatorship of the Tigrean People’s Liberation Front) and its handmaidens say Amharas and Oromos are just a bunch slobbering “retards, idiots, low lifes, criminals and terrorists”.

This is what one T-TPLF hate-monger had to say  (translated into English below; Amharic transcript of statement available here ):

… Did I speak in Tigrinya? Yes, what was I just saying was? Like the voice of Meles said, what’s the translation in Chinese? Ha ha! When you translate it from that, hee, hee, hee, hee hee… What did he say? He [Meles] brought an example which said, ‘Even if you die in the air, you will not be buried in the air. Ok. What I wanted to say is that I am not criticizing what’s his name Gobezay [name of a man?] by any means. I understand his feelings and he’s right.

Unfortunately, the Amharas in different ways are scheming to create some kind of conflict among Tigreans, to divide them, to tear them apart, that’s what they want. And using different forms, they are trying to cause us [Tigreans] mental anguish. And because they [Amharas] have a  strategy to swoop on Arat Kilo [symbol of T-TPLF power]. But we have caught on their scheme for some time now.

You are right. Our brothers [TPLF rebel fighters] have paid the ultimate sacrifice. They have fought and given up their lives. For that equality, those of our brothers who have died, they have paid a huge price for this equality, for this equality and reality to happen in Ethiopia.

Those who cannot stomach this, the people who hate this, the people tending goats in Eritrea, hee, hee, hee, hee, hee, hee, hee… Ok. Anyway, those who came from one area, they are retards.; it means retards. Where do they come from?

Yes the Gojames (Amhara people) are called retards.  Gonderes (another Amhara people) are enemies. They should not be given awards. They are retards. In terms of thinking, their brains, they are low, very low. They are low retards. They are in a separate category. They represent a retarded idea, a retarded way of doing things. They are a type that follow a way of doing things that is un-Ethiopian. Because they are failures and low-lifes. We need to refer to them. If we have to refer to them [saying], ‘You low-lifes. You don’t represent us. You don’t dare talk to me like this.’  We can even call them low-lifes, retards and idiots.

This is a type of thinking that has rolled and fell yesterday [outmoded]. We don’t have time to dig it up. We are marching forward. We are building Hidase Dam. We are laying rail lines. And, hee, hee, hee,… these retards unfortunately, they are not filtered. The vast majority of them spend their time on paltalk. I mean the retards. Ninety percent spend their time on paltalk. They have nothing to do. They have nothing. During the Derg [military regime] time, they were majors, lieutenant this or that.

Whether you like it or not, we have come to power after we paid a price. End of story. For the next time, we will pay for them. I wonder what militia will come. Hee, hee, hee, hee, hee hee. Anyway…. [Emphasis added.)

T-TPLF villification and humiliation of Amharas and Oromos continues unabated.

The T-TPLF’s driving organizational force from the very beginning has been hatred for and advocacy of the total annihilation of the Amharas, a fact meticulously explained by Gebremedhin Araya, the former treasurer and top leader of the TPLF, who left the TPLF and distinguished himself as a fearless  and uncompromising patriotic Ethiopian truth-teller.

According  to Gebrenedhin  (move clip on video to 7 minutes 26 seconds), T-TPLF leaders taught their members, followers, and supporters:

… The Amhara are the enemy of the Tigray people.  Not only that, Amhara are the double enemy of the people of Tigray. Therefore, we have to hit Amhara. We have to annihilate Amhara. If the Amhara are not destroyed, if the Amhara are not beaten up and uprooted from the earth,  the people of Tigray cannot live in freedom. And for the government we intend to create, the Amhara are going to be the obstacle. That is what it means…

(For a detailed analysis of the T-TPLF’s politics of hate, see my November 2014  commentary “ The de-Ethiopianization of Ethiopia.”)

The T-TPLF has vilified and demonized peaceful Oromo protesters and called them “criminals and terrorists”. The  T-TPLF  “speaker of the parliament” had to issue a public “rebuke” to those making the outrageously false charges.

T-TPLF supporters spew hate like their demi-god, the late T-TPLF thugmaster Meles Zenawi, who loved to demean and demonize Amharas and Oromos.

Obama’s National Security Advisor Susan Rice in her eulogy of Meles in 2012 recounted  that Meles was “tough, unsentimental and sometimes unyielding. And, of course, he had little patience for fools, or idiots, as he liked to call them.”

Meles reserved some mean and nasty words for his opponents, especially Amharas.

Meles often talked about his opponents as “dirty chaff”, “mud smearers” (mud people), “enemies” and “terrorists”.

T-TPLF leaders, members and supporter,s consider all Ethiopians  “retards, fools and idiots”.

The T-TPLF will not miss an opportunity to humiliate even Amhara political prisoners. According to “Eyewitness accounts who were present at court said General Asaminew Tsige told the court that his torturers were hurling ethnic insult at him saying, “Amhara shintam new!” … and “men tametalachihu?” meaning “Amahras are cowards who piss on themselves, what are you going to do?”

Thugmaster Meles Zenawi seemed to have a morbid fascination with genocide.

Whenever the going got tough for him and his criminal band of brothers, he would whip out the specter of Rwandan-style “interhamwe” (which in Kinyarwanda or Rwanda means “those who stand, work, fight, attack together”) in Ethiopia.

When Zenawi decided to jam Voice of America (VOA) broadcasts in Ethiopia in 2010, hisjustification  was that the VOA was promoting genocide:

We have been convinced for many years that in many respects, the VOA Amharic Service has copied the worst practices of radio stations such as Radio Mille Collines of Rwanda in its wanton disregard of minimum ethics of journalism and engaging in destabilizing propaganda.

At the time, I challenged Meles Zenawi’s genocidal speculations in my  May 2011commentary  “In Defense of the Voice of America”.

The hateful rants of T-TPLF supporters are not only deeply offensive but also provide a window into the dark souls of the T-TPLF thugs and “thugesses”.

Those who are vectors of hate, fear and smear must always be exposed and challenged. Silence is to hate as gasoline is to fire. Silence breeds hate. Silent indifference to T-TPLF hate-mongering is the moral equivalent of complicity.

What motivates T-TPLF supporters and mouthpieces to launch vicious and unprovoked slanderous verbal attacks on ALL Amharas and Oromos can only be explained by their monstrous and revolting hatred for ALL Amharas and Oromos.

It is easy to dismiss T-TPLF hate-mongers as inconsequential ideologues. But that would be a grave mistake.

The T-TPLF supporters have weapons of mass media distraction and destruction in their hands. They can easily spark and  unleash a genocidal civil war with their media hate-talk.

That is precisely what happened at the onset of the Rwandan Genocide.

Ferdinand Nahimana, Hassan Ngeze and Jean Bosco Barayagwiza used Radio Télévision Libre des Mille Collines, a private FM they operated as regime cronies, tobroadcast  inflammatory  and rabid propaganda against Tutsis, moderate Hutus, Belgians, and the United Nations mission.

The three disk jokeys of Radio Télévision Libre des Mille Collines coordinated the genocide by describing  Tutsis as “cockroaches” and communicating the location of Tutsis and moderate Hutus for execution by Hutu thugs.

The Rwandan disk jockeys fiercely urged, “You have to kill the Tutsis, they’re cockroaches.”

For using Radio Mille Collines in the Rwandan Genocide, Ferdinand Nahimana, Hassan Ngeze and Jean Bosco Barayagwiza were prosecuted at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda in 2003, convicted and given very long prison sentences.

Are we waiting for a radio broadcast from the T-TPLF messengers of hate to deliver the message, “You have to kill Amharas. They are retards.”

What is the difference between what the Rwandan disk-jokeys’ description of Tutsis as “cockroaches” and the T-TPLF hate-mongers who repeatedly describe Amharas as “retards”?

There is little difference. What is a “cockroach” for one is a “retard” for another.

There is only one unanswered question: When will the crimes against humanity inflicted on the Rwandan “cockroaches” be inflicted on the “Amhara retards” ?

The Nazis launched a propaganda campaign to exterminate and sterilize “mentally retarded people” and others with disability.

The “mental retards” of Nazi  Germany were not capable of doing things the Aryan way; just like the T-TPLF hate-mongers articulate the Amhara “retards” are a “a type that follow a way of doing things that is un-Ethiopian.”

In Nazi Germany, the “mental retards” were considered “low lifes” just like the T-TPLF hate-mongers consider Amharas  “retards”.

The Nazis used a slightly different word  to describe Aryans (Ubermenschen [supermen]) and  non-Aryans (Untermenschen [subhumans])  in Germany.

The T-TPLF hate-mongers proclaim, “Our brothers [TPLF rebel fighters] have paid the ultimate sacrifice. They have fought and given up their lives.”

The T-TPLF hate-mongers’  unmistakable suggestion is that Amharas, Oromos and others are cowards and wimps who will never raise arms to defend their honor or dignity. What they are saying is that Amharas, Oromos and others would prefer to live like slaves than “pay the ultimate price” and gain their honor, dignity and freedom.

That is why T-TPLF hate-mongers say  they have earned their place as supermen and as undisputed rulers of the thugdom they have established in Ethiopia.

But for the T-TPLF, Amharas “are retards. In terms of thinking, their brains, they are low, very low. They are low retards. They are in a separate category.”

In “a separate category of” subhumans?

Are the “Amhara retards” the T-TPLF’s new Untermenschen and the T-TPLF the Ubermenschen of Ethiopia?

Are T-TPLF hate-mongers campaigning for the extermination of the “Amhara retards”?

Or is the T-TPLF and its appointed hate-mongers challenging the “Amhara retards” and “Oromo criminals and terrorists” to rise up? Up from T-TPLF slavery!

Pray for the “retard” Amharas?!

Reaction to the rants of T-TPLF hate-mongers ranges from disappointment to outrage.

Some suggest responding to trash-talking loud-mouth T-TPLF hate-mongers  is the equivalent of dignifying their hateful messages.

There are some who believe hate-mongers will go away  if they are ignored and overlooked.

I don’t believe in giving a free pass to hate-mongers; it does not matter to me if the hate-mongers are called Donald Trump-aryans or Trump’s African Clones (corps).

The undeniable truth is that what the trash-talking hate-mongers are talking in the media are exactly the things the T-TPLF leaders, members and supporters talk in the privacy of their homes, behind closed doors and in their conference and boardrooms.

It is easy to be disgusted by all of the hate-filled statements of the T-TPLF and its supporters and turn a deaf ear.  It is easy to dismiss them as gabby hate-mongers as “tales told by idiots, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.”

The fact is that the T-TPLF leaders, members and supporters are on the same page when it comes to hating Amhara and Oromo people.

The T-TPLF hate-mongers articulate the hate, fear and loathing burning ceaselessly in the hearts and minds of the T-TPLF leaders, members and supporters.

The trash-talking hate-mongers get their hate talking points straight from the very, very top of the T-TPLF leadership. They are ordered to monger hate.

That’s the way the T-TPLF comrades talk everyday when no outsider is listening.

I know because they tell me.

Make no mistake: There are some (a few) among the T-TPLF who believe they are Ethiopians first and foremost before they are T-TPLF or anything else. Not all who wear T-TPLF stripes are T-TPLF in the heart. Bless their hearts!

There may be some who may be tempted to mudsling it out with the T-TPLF hate-mongers.

Not me. Like George Bernard Shaw, “I learned long ago, never to wrestle with a pig [or a sow]. You get dirty, and besides, the pig [sow] likes it.”

As I have often said, you can take the thug out of the bush, but you can never take the bush out of the thug.  No amount of fine jewelry, designer suits and handbags can ever change a thug or thugess. A thug is for life! A fact of life!

But those hate-mongers who point an index finger and insult and vilify an entire ethnic group as “retards, idiots and fools” should take a careful look at where their three fingers  are pointing.

T-TPLF hate-mongers mock the “Amhara retards”  by offering to “pray” for them.

They should save their prayers for themselves and their  T-TPLF partners-in-crime. They are going to need it more than the “Amhara retards”.

Since the T-TPLF hate-mongers present themselves as praying (preying?) people, they can learn from Scripture: “He who troubles his own house will inherit wind, And the foolish will be servant to the wisehearted.”

The T-TPLF hate-mongers offering their prayers should also remember from Scripture, “There is a time for everything.”

It is now time to be free of the T-TPLF scourage!

The T-TPLF, its leaders, members and supporters will inherit the wind on their way to the trash heap of history.

All indications are the “Amhara retards” are defiantly standing their ground declaring: “Praise the Lord!  Pass the ammunition.”

But the “retard Gojames” have a final and irrevocable answer for the T-TPLF:

Gojam is [land of ] of heroes. We will die for our country.

Welqait is ours.

We want a strong leader not a blind one.

Ethiopianity is our language.

Weyane are a bunch of cowards.

What is the business of a front established to liberate Tigray in Ethiopia?

The military belongs to the people.

The boundary of Tigray is Tekeze.

Release political prisoners.

Andargachew Tsigie is our leader, not a terrorist.

Andualem Aragie is our leader, not a terrorist.

Bekele Gerba is our leader, not a terrorist.

There can be no negotiation in the case of Col. Demeke.

End of the story for the T-TPLF? 

The T-TPLF hate-mongers say it is “the end of the story” for the “Amhara retards”?

Really?

It sure looks like the end of a horrendous story that began 25 years ago.

For 25 years, the T-TPLF has ruled the “Amhara retards”.

For 25 years, the T-TPLF has ruled Oromo “criminals and terrorists”.

But the T-TPLF is learning belatedly and much to their surprise the “retards, criminals and terrorists” are actually awakening tigers who have pretended to be in slumber for 25 years.

The Tigers are rising. The Tigers are growling. The Tigers are on the prowl!

Ecce Tigris! (Behold the Tiger!)

The T-TPLF no longer has the Tigers by their  tails.

The Tigers have set themselves free.

The T-TPLF is looking straight into the eyes of the Ethiopian Tigers, assembled together — fearless, defiant and hungry.

The T-TPLF is now facing the TRUTH: The Ethiopian Tigers!

Can the T-TPLF handle the TRUTH?

The T-TPLF believes it can handle the Ethiopian Tigers by massacring them, arresting, jailing, torturing and persecuting them.

The T-TPLF cannot win a war on the Ethiopian people when it has lost the battle for their hearts and minds.

There is no military might on earth that can defeat or contain the rage and outrage of a people who have been subjected to a  long train of abuses, daily indignities and mistreatment.

There is no military might that can defeat the Ethiopian people UNITED.

The Ethiopian people UNITED,  can never be defeated!.

I have often reminded the T-TPLF to think about an eternal truth spoken by Gandhi:  “I remember that all through history the ways of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants, and murderers, and for a time they can seem invincible, but in the end they always fall. Think of it–always.”

T-TPLF’s ONLY Option: Massacre innocent citizens on an industrial Nazi-scale to cling to power

The T-TPLF has many options to save itself and the country. But it will not take any of them because the T-TPLF leaders, members and supporters believe they can, once more, outwit, outthink, outsmart, outplay, outfox and outmaneuver the “Amhara retards”, the “Oromo ciminals and terrorists” and all of their opposition in all parts of the country.

The T-TPLF is said to be doing  contingency planning for direct martial law (military rule) if things cannot be controlled  in short order.

Like that is going to make a difference.

The T-TPLF is in power today only because it has control of the military, but that control is actually minimal. Though nearly all of the “officers” are T-TPLF cadres and the rank and file from the other groups, the T-TPLF will be making a big mistake if it believes it can maintain its killing machine by feeding the rank and file extra cash and perks.

The T-TPLF should heed the words of Ho Chi Minh from another time fighting against the most powerful military power in the world:  “You can kill ten of our men for every one we kill of yours. But even at those odds, you will lose and we will win.”

The T-TPLF will lose. The odds are against it. Do the simple arithmetic!

Let the T-TPLF be forewarned in the words of MLK: “Hate begets hate; violence begets violence; toughness begets a greater toughness.”

In the end, that T-TPLF strategy of making Ethiopia its killing fields will fail because the rank and file in the military will not stand for it.

But one cannot kill a people who feel living under T-TPLF is the equivalent of a thousand deaths.

In one recent video online, a man in the street is heard saying, “Under TPLF rule, we are already dead. Worse than dead.  We can’t be anymore dead than we already are.”

But the T-TPLF underestimates the bravery of the Ethiopian people in general. They underestimate the fierce capacity of a people who successfully fought and defeated one of the mightiest European colonial powers not once but twice.

The T-TPLF in their ignorant arrogance believe Ethiopians are cowards, “retards” “fools”, “idiots”, criminals” and “terrorists” and only they are the bravest of the brave.

Meles Zenawi believed he and his T-TPLF could remain in power forever by using crushing force and dividing Amharas and Oromos, Tigreans and all the rest.

Exactly four years ago to the month, Meles died from a terminal disease called HATE.

In August 2016, the T-TPLF is ready to harvest the hate it had sowed for the last 25 years.

To the T-TPLF who believe Amharas and Oromos are gutless cowards and wimps, I say you are wrong, dead wrong.

Amharas and Oromos are brothers and sisters to Tigreans, Sidamans, Welayita, Hadiya, Afar, Gamo, Ogadeni, Anuak… Christians, Muslims…

They are all  ETHIOPIANS before they are anything else.

We rise up or fall down as ETHIOPIANS!

It has long been told in Scripture that “Ethiopia shall stretch out her hands to God.”

That time is NOW!

Ethiopians need to stretch out their hands and embrace each other in peace, brotherhood, sisterhood and friendship. That is the holy way.

For those T-TPLF leaders, members and supporters “praying” for the “Amhara retrads”, I will remind them one more time the old prophesy told in the lyrics of a song of African slaves from the harrowing days of slavery in America: “God gave Noah the Rainbow Sign: No more water. The fire next time!”

Can you see the rainbow Ethiopian nation of Oromo, Amhara, Tigray, Gurage, Sidama, Welayita, Hadiya, Afar, Gamo, Ogadeni, Anuak… Christians, Muslims, Animists, young, old, men, women… embracing each other, holding hands and rising up together as one?!

Stretch out your hands, Ethiopians!

Interview with Fitawrari Mekonnen Dori – SBS Amharic
ፊታውራሪ መኮንን ዶሪ፤ የአፍሪካ ሰላም፣ ድርድርና ዕርቅ አንደኛ ተቀዳሚ ፕሬዚደንት፤ ስለ ብሔራዊ ዕርቅ ለኢትዮጵያ አሥፈላጊነት ይናገራሉ።

Lencho Bati and Neamin Zeleke on ODF /AG7 Coalition [Hiber Radio]

Ethiopian migrants, all members of the Oromo community living in Malta, protest against the Tigray-minority government.

Country-wide demonstrations by the Oromo in Ethiopia have flared up again. Ethiopia’s authorities reacted with heavy force, resulting in the death of 100 civilians. The Conversation Africa’s Samantha Spooner asked Professor Asafa Jalata about the country-wide protests.

Who are the Oromo people?

The Oromo are the single largest ethno-national group in northeast Africa. In Ethiopia alone they are estimated to be 50 million strong out of a total population of 100 million. There are also Oromo communities living in Kenya and Somalia.

Ethiopia is said to have about 80 ethno-national groups. The Oromo represent 34.4% while the Amhara (Amara) 27%. The rest are all less than 7% each.

The Oromo call themselves a nation. They have named their homeland “Oromia”, an area covering 284,538 square kms. It is considered to be the richest area of northeast Africa because of its agricultural and natural resources. It is often referred to as the “breadbasket” of the region. 60% of Ethiopian economic resources are generated from Oromia.

The capital city of Ethiopia is located in the heart of Oromia. What the world knows as Addis Ababa is also known to the Oromo as their capital, “Finfinnee”. When the Abyssinian warlord, Menelik, colonised the Oromo during the last decades of the 19th century he established his main garrison city in Oromia and called it Addis Ababa.

Despite being the largest ethno-national group in Ethiopia, the Oromo consider themselves to be colonial subjects. This is because they have been denied equal access to their country’s political, economic and cultural resources. It all started with their colonisation by, and incorporation into, Abyssinia (the former Ethiopian empire) during the Scramble for Africa.

Today, comprising just 6% of the population, Tigrayans dominate and control the political economy of Ethiopia with the help of the West, particularly the US. This relationship is strategic to the US who use the Tigrayan-led government’s army as their proxy to fight terrorism in the Horn of Africa and beyond.

The Oromo community has been demonstrating since November last year. What triggered the protests?

The Oromo demonstrations have been underway for over eight months, first surfacing in Ginchi (about 80 kms southwest of the capital) in November 2015. It began when elementary and secondary school students in the small town began protesting the privatisation and confiscation of a small soccer field and the selling of the nearby Chilimoo forest.

The sentiment quickly spread across Oromia. The entire Oromo community then joined the protests, highlighting other complaints such as the so-called Integrated Addis Ababa Master Plan and associated land grabbing. The master plan was intended to expand Addis Ababa by 1.5 million hectares onto surrounding Oromo land, evicting Oromo farmers.

Last year’s demonstrations were the product of over 25 years of accumulated grievances. These grievances arose as a result of the domination by the minority Tigrayan ethno-national group. Because of this dominance the Oromo people have become aliens in their own country, lost ownership of their land and have become impoverished.

What was different about these demonstrations was that, for the first time, all Oromo branches came together in coordinated action to fight for their national self-determination and democracy.

Which part of the Oromo community is organising the rallies?

It is believed that underground activist networks, known as Qeerroo, are organising the Oromo community. The Qeerroo, also called the Qubee generation, first emerged in 1991 with the participation of the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) in the transitional government of Ethiopia. In 1992 the Tigrayan-led minority regime pushed the OLF out of government and the activist networks of Qeerroo gradually blossomed as a form of Oromummaa or Oromo nationalism.

Today the Qeerroo are made up of Oromo youth. These are predominantly students from elementary school to university, organising collective action through social media. It is not clear what kind of relationship exists between the group and the OLF. But the Qeerroo clearly articulate that the OLF should replace the Tigrayan-led regime and recognise the Front as the origin of Oromo nationalism.

What are their demands?

Their immediate demands are for the Ethiopian government to halt the so-called Addis Ababa Master Plan, land grabbing, corruption, and the violation of human rights.

Their extended demands are about achieving self-determination and sovereignty by replacing the Tigrayan-led regime with a multi-ethno-national democratic government. These demands gradually emerged to create solidarity with other ethno-national groups, such as the Amharas, who also have grievances with the regime.

How has the government reacted to the protests?

The government reaction has been violent and suppressive. Despite Oromia being the largest regional state in Ethiopia, it has been under martial law since the protests began. The government has been able to use this law to detain thousands of Oromos, holding them in prisons and concentration camps.

Security structures called tokkoo-shane (one-to-five), garee and gott have also been implemented. Their responsibilities include spying, identifying, exposing, imprisoning, torturing and killing Oromos who are not interested in serving the regime.

There have also been deaths and reports of thousands of Oromos who have been maimed as a result of torture, beatings or during the suppression of protests. For example, during the Oromia-wide day of peaceful protest on July 6 the regime army, known as Agazi, massacred nearly 100 Oromos. According to Amnesty International, 400 Oromos were killed before July 6. But in reality nobody knows exactly how many Oromos have been victims of violence.

What impact have these protests had on the country?

The Oromo protest movement has started to change the political landscape of Ethiopia and shaken the regime’s foundations. Erupting like “a social volcano”, it has sent ripples through the country with different groups changing their attitudes and standing in solidarity with the Oromo. The support of the Ahmaras has been particularly significant as they are the second largest ethno-national group in Ethiopia.

For the first time in history, the plight of the Oromo people has also received worldwide attention. International media outlets have reported on the peaceful protests and subsequent government repression.

This has brought about diplomatic repercussions. In January the European Parliament condemned the Ethiopian government’s violent crackdown. It also called for the establishment of a credible, transparent and independent body to investigate the murder and imprisonment of thousands of protesters. Similarly, the UN Human Rights Experts demanded that Ethiopian authorities stop the violent crackdown.

Not all global actors are taking a strong stance. Some are concerned about maintaining good relations with the incumbent government. For example, the US State Department expressed vague concern about the violence associated with the protest movement. In sharp contrast they signed a security partnership with the Ethiopian government.

Nevertheless, the momentum of the Oromo movement looks set to continue. The protests, and subsequent support, have seen the further development of activist networks and Oromo leadership, doubling their efforts to build their organisational capacity.

Is this the first time that the Oromo have demonstrated their grievances in this way?

No. The Oromo have engaged in scattered instances of resistance since the late 19th century when they were colonised.

In the 1970s the Oromo started to engage in a national movement under the leadership of OLF. The front was born out of the Macha-Tulama Self-Help Association, which was banned in the early 1960s and other forms of resistance such as the Bale Oromo armed resistance of the 1960s. Successive Ethiopian regimes have killed or sent Oromo political and cultural leaders into exile.

How do you believe their grievances can be resolved?

Critics believe the Tigrayan-led minority regime is unlikely to resolve the Oromo grievances. Oromo activists believe that their national struggle for self-determination and egalitarian democracy must intensify.

I am sure that, sooner or later, the regime will be overthrown and replaced with a genuine egalitarian democratic system. This is because of the size of the Oromo population, abundant economic resource, oppression and repression by the Tigrayan-led government, the blossoming of Oromo political consciousness and willingness to pay the necessary sacrifices.

ESAT Radio Mon 15 Aug 2016