Ethiopian police killed hundreds of protesters’

ESAT Daily News Amsterdam August 22,2016

VOA Amharic Interview with Patriotic Ginbot 7 and Oromo Democratic Front.

WAZA ENA KUMNEGER 22 Aug. 2016

BBC World Service Video – Protests in Oromia, Amhara Regions, Feyisa Lelisa August 22, 2016

Many have been attributing some of current problems due to gradual erosion of democracy in EPRDF such as the way it dealt with OLF, internal differences and the 2005 election. Some think that the system grew to be more dictatorial.  But the problem goes beyond those events.

Current problem is a result of the “politics of difference”.

How did the problem start?

For me the problem root is one ignorant and arrogant revolutionary generation. They got the wrong end of the problem to think that the Ethiopia’s problem is Ethiopia’s identity. So they want to replace it with ethnic identities.

In fact they thought Ethiopia has to broken-down it to it’s constituent part for wilful association of the people to take place. Looking back nothing can be stupider than this.

Disassembling is about to start and their prayers is being answered.  .

From the start, the 1970 Ethiopia’s student had a wrong perception of themselves and contempt for their history, colour and society.  They could have been happier if there was a means to paint their face yellow to become Chinese.

They are the victims of what we call intellectual colonialism. They were given few torn-up pages from East and they took it as Holly Bible to develop extreme contempt to their identity.

In fact, they are a proof how little knowledge is dangerous. The generation with hatred filled mindset planted seeds of division and difference, which is about to reap very soon.  They thought that politics of difference would improve their own social mobility by dividing the country and become the representative of their ethnic and tribal homeland rather than the greater Ethiopia.

The then revolutionary students are now in their mid 60s or early 70s. The biggest question is whether they would retire peacefully or are they to reap the fruits of what they sow?

Interestingly, Ate Hailselase’s officials were also above the age of 70 when they were rounded and executed by the then fire brand revolutionary generation?

How did they got it wrong?

This is my theory. The students of 1970 came from un-educated family and traditional society.  There was no internet, TV, libraries and even access to radio. The funny thing is when they pass grade 8 and admitted at General Wingate boarding school in Addis Ababa, they regarded themselves as intellectuals of the country.

It was the age of innocence. Anyone who sprinkled his conversation with few English words was considered an educated man. (That is why even at age of 60 many of them barely express themselves in proper English).  So this adulation and respect by the society got in to their heads to call themselves the cream of the society, the intellectuals, philosophers (Lehikans) etc.

Reading the red pamphlet of Mao or few torn-up pages from book of Stalin was good enough to fire their ambition of changing the world. In the mind’s of these semi-educated, semi-urban peasant boys, no intellectual debates appeal to them. They find comfort in a traditional gun to solve all problems.

Rather than being properly educated and enlightened they end up being dogmatic to kill their parents first and many patriots who fought Fascism as feudal and reactionaries.  Then, of course, a little knowledge become even deadly when they kill each other on trivial differences.

As a final solution all declared armed struggle, “Fano Tesemara Ende Ho Chi Minh; Ende Che Guevara”.  There was no intellectual debate but Killings become the final arbitration.

Some went in to the jungle declaring their enemy is their fellow countrymen, their neighbours and other ethnic groups to mobilise traditional peasants to have the long march to take power.  This demented generation has no room for enlightenment and intellectual debate and everything has to be solved in shootout.

The most tragedy is what had been read in teenager years at General Wingate and Lab School where taken as the Ten Commandment.   Those Stalin words were not to be questioned or tested against prevailing reality of Ethiopia and changing world.

Even in the age of internet and mass communication they are regurgitating the same Stalin’s words at the age of 65 and try to solve problems through the recommendation of Georgian Syncopate called of Joseph Stalin.

Slogan mongering and parroting still make them feel knowing it all intellectuals. They can’t stand debate since that expose their shallow view of the world.

Even at the age of 60 they have not read enough to critically analyse their half baked theories and change it. The lived in their ignorance and tragically they are to die as ignorant.

Planting hatred and reaping division

What is coming is that they going to have the test of their own medicine in the hands of another fire brand generation that they have created. The Feyessa Lillisa generation if going to get stronger and stronger as the old guards go the downhill.

The sad thing is, as Stalin prescribed, Ethiopia has to be divided along tribal lines, boarders were drawn, and flags were designed, and the new social engineering were commissioned to create a new generation that believed in absoluteness of ethnic identity.  The leaders have not read enough and they couldn’t still understand identity is multiple and overlapping.  Grouping people along linguistic divide were considered the final solution. Some like Tegede are multi-lingual with divided loyalty.

If the political leaders have respect for knowledge in their 60 years of their life, they could have understood a person has genetic identity, color identity, geographic identity, physical identity, linguistic identity, religious identity, regional identity, social identity, cultural identity, professional identity etc.

Celebrating their ignorance they went to take just linguistic identity to divide the society, where now overlapping identities is start becomes a source of conflict. A person could be Oromigna speaker and an Orthodox Christian and highlander to have an overlapping identity with a guy in Axum as he has many share identities with his linguistic group.  A Tigrena speaking Muslim, lowlander may not have linguistic relationship but have many shared identities with Oromos or Aderes.

An Amhara, Oromo or Tigrean born and raised in Dire-Dewa has more in common with Somali than where their parents came from.  Boys in Dere-Dewa have nothing in common with a person in Adwa or Debark.  Identity is software not a genetic inheritance. It changes, with development, with exposure, with education.

There is no such an Oromo, Tigre or Amhara culture.   The Oromo or Amhara culture 100 years ago is not the same as today.  Even the language changes and only ignorant people anchor everything on intangible concept like identity.  Who among the Welayeta politicians dress in Dorze Hyezo or who among the Tigrean politicians dress like Tigray. Both dress like an English gentleman with 3 piece suit and ties. In 30 years time the traditional cultural cloths will remain a ceremonial costume than functional cloth.

A person may also lowlander or highlander to share way of life. He or she could be a farmer or nomadic, urban or rural to have many overlapping identities and differences even with it’s own linguistic group.  All these identities are shared with others.

But the revolutionary generation is anti-thesis to knowledge and reading.  Few pages from Stalin books became a dogma to indoctrinate these half backed theories to the new generation.

Disregarding all these facts, the educational system was designed to create “us” and “them”.  Even the Olympic Marathon silver medalist said they are “killing our people”, that is “his” people not “theirs”.  Fiyisa Lelisa was born and raised under EPRDF in Ambo. He was educated under Qube and he was brainwashed that he is different from other by the TPLF. For a person born in Shewa this was unthinkable 25 years ago.

In the minds of the TPLF architects this ethincization was supposed to be a good thing since it will weaken the center, divide the people and make them easily governable by the new ruling class in to eternity. Subtly  as we read on the pages of Tigrayonline it was believed that the “gallant” generation has restored Ate Yohannes kingdom to rule over the Amhara and Oromos.

Of course, it was also thought it easy to mobilized all against the Amharas, their first cousin with no different in identity except language.  That was thought a clever idea to divide and rule but it end up being the dummies plan implemented in Ethiopia.

Now even the people they claim to love and represent are becoming the victims of this hate politics.

Now the gene is out the bottle and “us” was created in the last 30 years.  Anyone one who is under age of 30 was educated by the TPLF ethnic ideology.  These kids and young adults have the muscle of 25 years old, anger of marginalized people, and ambition of it’s predecessors.   They are fully fit and ready to set the fire and burn everyone stands on their way to the new identity pride.

The old revolutionaries are no more a match to this generation and if it pushed can hung it’s predecessors, as the revolutionary generation did to their elder fathers and grand fathers.

For generation that regurgitated so much of dialectical materials, shouldn’t have been aware of the fact that old always get defeat by the new.

The fact is 70% of the Ethiopia population that are under the age of 30 are the product of Meles’s hate experiment. They are socially engineered youth to hate their non-ethnic members. They know nothing about Mengistu and Ate  Haileselase but know EPRDF.

They know they are Oromos, Amharas, Afar, Somali who has nothing to do with the neighbours.  Clashes on borders, clashes in school, in football field, clashes on trivial identity issue that is awaiting us. It is not on GTP2 we will spend our energy but on re-drawing boundaries.

Now they just wonder what the hell other ethnic group are doing in their country, including Tigreans.

They also know the new ruling class is predominantly made up of the new Tigrean oligarch reaping the line share of the benefit, fast tracked to take positions and resources, given huge tracks of virgin land displacing the local peasants, acting and behaving as the new royal families. For action of few Oligarch and politicians the people in Tigray are perceived to be benefiting, who are still suffering under bondage of poverty.

The recreated the Neftegna system. The new Neftegna call armed with guns and arrogance of the ruling class have taken the lands and resources of the south and Oromia.  As a result this resentment had been bubbling while the ruling class keep it’s head in the cloud believing it’s own propaganda.

Now the new generation has to rise up to restore it’s identity and dignity of the group, draw its boundaries and become the new ruling class of their respective regions. They see no needs for nanny or leadership from outside.

The Universities and the schools will be opening in September and confrontation will start like a wild fire very soon. Now it is not one university to worry about but 33 of them.  The awakening reality is it is impossible to subjugate more than 70% the population by minority group with limited resource. The Fiysessa generation have not seen war, red terror or anything to calculate the risk. They have no fear and they have the same over confidence like their predecessors.

The Generation Battle is drawn and here is Maths

The odds are against the incumbent statuesque for the following reasons.

1. The youth of Ethiopia educated and designed by TPLF is more than 70% of the population ( around 70 million). It is a proof that the system cannot even educate it’s own kids to make it it’s supporters. Like Ate Haileselase’s time it has failed to make the likes of Fiyessa their supporters and now it cannot subjugate them.
2. The two biggest ethnic groups youth, the Amhara and Oromo truly feel marginalized and oppressed by the minority ethnic group. Oromo and Amharas with combined population more than 65% and cannot easily intimidate.
3. TPLF had captured the OPDO and EPRM leaders in a battlefield to give them food and shelter to make them loyal servants. Now these guys are fat and detached to be considered part of the community. They are considered they have sold their dignity to their daily meal with no respect in their ethnic groups.
4. In fact, ethnic consciousness is so high and it is very difficult for an Oromo and Amharic soliders to shoot at it’s own ethnic group.  The army is recruited as Tigran, Amhara, Oromo, Afar etc and not as Ethiopian. So it’s primarily loyalty with it’s tribal group and not to EPRDF or Ethiopia. Though the top leadership of the army and security is controlled by Tigreans the lower ranks would not take the order as it used to be in the name of some higher ideals.   So the division is already showing and the removal of the Amhara president by the TPLF is a tip of the iceberg. Blood is becoming thicker than water and it is technically impossible to find someone to kill his own ethnic group wilingly. So the alternative is to send Tigrean speaking soldiers in to Welega or Gonder to administer the regions, which will make them a hate an easy target to end up in with big regrets.
5. There are no political parties in Ethiopia but as the regions become ungovernable there is no doubt that there will be more grounds for political parties to emerge and mobilise the public for armed struggle. No doubt there will be soon an Oromo or Amhara Meles to emerge and to lead.
6. The problem is now reduced to bit size to make sense even to un-educated peasants. No more ideological jargons or complication.  The division is between “us” and “them”. It is easy to mobilize the peasant as TPLF did by talking about our country, our boarder, our flag, our resource, our farm land, our identity, our pride, our language, our people, our Finifine, our Tsegede etc.
7. The distinction between ethnic groups and political parties has been deliberately blurred reducing the need for parties. For example General Samora Yenus in recent speech have stated TPLF means Tigray and Tigray means TPLF. It may be he want to transfer the blame and incompetence of the party and billion birr corruption scum through Metec  to the people of Tigray but the implication is the people see literal meaning.
8. Hence, 2009 is the year of conflict and pitch battle in university companies, on main roads to Addis Ababa, over the power and water pipes.  It is the battle that the system cannot win unless it take a U turn to listen to the people and change it’s policies.
9. The Ethiopia parliament is controlled by OPDP with 178 seats and ANDM with 138 seats and TPLF with 38 seats.  As more killing takes place in Oromia and Amhara, even the puppet parliament has to take side.

So the probability of the statuesque continuing is very low unless TPLF guys walk up and do the “U” turn that Meles perfected to succeed. He as Albanian MMLT and made a U turn to sit with Tony Blair and talk about the market Economy and become George Bushes man to fight terrorism.  He was calling the Ethiopia is 100 years old but when he was kicked by Tigrean friends he celebrated the Ethiopian 2000 millennium.  He adopted himself to the need of the day and I respect him for being a pragmatic leader than dogmatic.

What is the way out?

TPLF supporters learn from history.

Like Emperor Haileselase and Mengistu’s time there is a denial of the problem. The Emperor in his early days he had defeated Lij Iyasu, Ras Micheal the father of Iyasu with his 100,000 army at the battle of Segele, Ras Gugsa the husband of Prince Zewditu, Belay Zeleke’s rebellion, the Weyane rebellion, Mengistu Neway’s Coup d’état and many more attempts on his power and life.  But he was 84 years old when Mengisu and the Ethiopia Student Movement took him and killed him. Even then the emperor taught it is a problem of some corrupt officials and lack of good governance and believed reforming the cabinet is going to save the system.

Mengistu too thought removing few of his friends, declaring a mixed economy and offering self administrating regions in Eritrea, Tigray, Afar and Ogden is going to answer the question of the public.  But that came too late.

At the time the emperor initiate reform the 1970 students had passed the point of no return. Writing a constitutional monarchy and dismissing the minsters did’thelp.d By then the students were demand nothing but a radical change of the system.  Even more, they were calling for arresting and killing the authorities of the time  including those patriots who fought Fascism and restore our independence. .

Similarly, Mengistu was too late to start reform while the gates of Addis Ababa were cracking.  Dictators never learn and even more they over estimate their power.  The current rulers of the country can no more run, climb mountain or survive without 3 course of meals. They are not the people we know 25 years ago where they used to walk 50 Km in a day while having a bit of sugar in a bag.

Now TPLF failed to see the danger coming, like all ruling classes, the new ruling guys were living in a bubble they have created.  They had shielded themselves from the reality of the people’s problem with tinted glass of Toyota V8 Land cursors.

The then short trouser liberation leaders who used to mix with the people, eat and sleep in peasant hut are no more interested in the people or will be welcomed again.  They are the rulers and aristocrats of the people. They are old and victims of all health issues coming from over eating and comfort.  Blood pressure, chloistrol, liver from over drinking, heart problem and they have no time to look to the people.

They made a mistake when they bought tinted glasses Toyotas 10 and 15 year to shield themselves from commoners.  Even more their idiotic ideology of ethnicization of everything for the last 25 years has reached a point that they will reap the seeds they sow.

Now everywhere and in every region the ruling class is an outsider by the ideology they preached. Every good investment, every political talks, every comment is seen with dose of suspicion by others. They do not even look like the people they came from with their overweight body frame, 3 piece suite and designer glasses.  No matter how good the solution and suggestion may be, if it comes from the ruling class, it is treated with fear and suspicion. So everything is accepted with polite smile but not with commitment for implementation.

The chain of command is taken over by opportunists who have no love and commitment to die for the cause. They are their because they want to sell the land, sell stamp, sell everything to make themselves get rich quick.  They are like Mengistu’s cadres, who used to say “they shall fight till the last man and last gun” but line up in ten thousands to hand over the gun they collected.  In fact the new 6 million EPRDF cadres will be quick to turn their guns on their masters to be accepted by the OLF and other respective ethnic groups.

The new Prime Minster of EPRDF has no original idea except trying to take order from his subordinate in the army and security forces.  He had a chance to reform and make all Ethiopians feel equal. But he didnt

Now he will either depose by General Samora like Gedu Andargachew of the Amhara if he stops taking orders or will used to commit genocide against the youth and end-up in The Hague prison in this life and in Hell in his second life. The bible bible teaches one cannot serve two masters.  He has no religious ethics to be a moral guide to the young generation or political acumen to navigate through the problems.

He wag his figures as if that he has power and order killing of young Ethiopians before he kneel down to pray. He is a perfect example of Mathew 6:24  “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other”.  Killing a child created in the image of God and praying to God is like serving two masters.

Hailemariam and his puppet masters could have asked what could have happened if the 400 kids that was killed in Oromia were Tigreans,   Of course, that would have been considered genocide and the hell would have been let lose. In the eyes of God all people are equal but in his eyes ethnio-centrics the life of Oromo is less worthy than a Tigrean.

So the system may not reform like it’s predecessors but let’s hope it does.

In the last days Ate Haileselase as well as Mengisu was listened and feared but ignored.  That is where we are now. Under current social engineering, no-one out of one own ethnic groups is believed to have the best of intentions.  That is the end of the system.  No one now can be intimidated by talk of other ethnic groups.  Talking about Derge Esepa or  Amhara has no more value.    The new generation which is 70% of the population are created by the system and they feel that they know their enemy..

Solution

I have presented the case why the system is about to reap what it sow for the last 25 years but it there is an escape rout for it.  Yes, may be a one month to save itself from total humiliation.  This window is before the schools start opening. The system must admit making mistake  and give a genuine hope to the youth that things about to change and there will be a better future for all not for selected few.

The solution is to undo what it sow in the minds of the new generation, that everyone is equal under the skies of Ethiopia.  It needs to come back to the root cause of ethnic division it spread and need to talk about unity of the country. It need to tell that the Tigray youth is the same as the Oromos, their ambition is the same as Amhara’s, Gurage’s and Afar’s. They want to live in a country where their democratic, human, legal and economic rights respected. They are all Ethiopians and there will not be anymore a master and slave relationship.

It need to say  borders are not to create the Berlin Walls but to help self-administer and that can be changed whenever it convenient to self-administer.  It need to say we draw ethnic boundaries to make administration better and we are not trying to bring back Feudalism and Zemene Mesafint where regional warlords claiming over land, territories and tributaries, not the people.  The Feudal territorial claims advocated by the pages of Tigrayonline need to be cleared,   If the people want to have self-administration they have the right to do, what ever the old feudal lords had claims.

Being instigator and go-between have worked so far but it has no room for cleaver attempt.  When EPRDF guys have drinking the Blue label whisky at Sheraton the young generation has grown to be 30 years old and no 60 year old and overweight official can be smarter than 25 years new graduate.  Feyessa an athlet has played the game safe and to make the biggest impact all over the world. So get over the stupid self-image that was created in the 1970 sophomore years. That we are special is no more true, The younger are the smarter,

 All these can be done in one brotherhood umbrella of the Ethiopian nationalism. Now the ethnic identity has shown it’s teeth and it is only preaching the pan-Ethiopian agenda can give a breathing space to the regime to reform.

Mengistu could have abandoned Socialism when Gorbachov was letting it die.  But ignorant Mengistu believing his own propaganda and failed to drop the dead donkey of socialism.  When he walk up and try to answer some of the question of regional government and economic hardship with mixed economy, it was too late.  My fear the regime may thinks it can solve it’s problem using bullets while preaching divide and rule.  That will be too stupid to do.  The new generation is going to win and take revenges.  THis is not preaching bad omen but we might see many hanged by the poles if the conflict is escalated.

Time are short, this is not about saving the country, saving the political system but the leadership of EPRDF saving it’s self from vengeful generation. It is about saving the future of your kids, the money you have made, the business you have built. It is about saving yourself from hardship and suffering.  Don;t end up like the emperor official with nothing to show,

The solution is to become a born again pan-Ethiopian activist and preach brotherhood, shared and equal future.

Like colonialism, if we take condescending view that we provided the bread and the roads so we will rule over you will no more work and the leaders have more to lose than the 70,000,000 million youth that is about to embark in rage and reckless actions.

Please listen, listen and take action before it is too late. You are about to set a fire on the whole country and burn yourself and the people you care about.  No one will benefit from arrogance and ignorance. The youth has no stake and will not see the implication of taking action.  You have the lion share and save yourself in a month time.  The more you kill the harder it will become for people to back-off.

If you abandon your arrogance that we liberated you and work as equal with the other you can cool down the anger to create for democratic transition of power in the near future.

School and University opening need to be pushed to October while the government implement a swift measure to reform. Don’t have an illusion that Samora’s old guards cam  save you.   Most of you are at the end of your life and the new generation can get you in 2009  or in the near future to take revenges. They have the time to wait and act,

Please listen,think and change.  Meles was a pragmatic when he flipped from Albania to Tony Blair and Gorge Bushes anti-terror alliance.

Dear Al Jazeera

I have decided to write this open letter to you as you have been reporting about the ongoing crisis in Ethiopia. I sincerely appreciate the efforts of your journalists who had to work under very difficult conditions to cover unfolding situations in Ethiopia. However, I now write to you with concern at your Sunday’s wrong reporting of the events in Ethiopia, particularly concerning the Amhara Resistance in Gondar.

Two days ago, on August 21, 2016, your correspondent Charles Stratford has reported the following story from Addis Ababa:

“Ethnic Tigrayan are fleeing the Ethiopian city of Gondar to escape anti-government demonstrators.”

He added “Tigrayan homes and business are attacked” quoting a Tigrayan whose identity did not want to be disclosed who said “he and others like him are forced to leave Gondar because of treats by some members of the Amhara community.”

This “report” of Charles Stratford has been broadcasted by the regime’s propaganda machine, the Ethiopian Broadcasting Corporation (EBC), on July 14, 2016, the day the resistance has started in Gondar. Charles Stratford said “gangs” in Gondar targeted ethnic Tigrayans. But, this expression of “gangs” was used by the Ethiopian regime’s Communication Minister, Getachew Reda, to address and demonize the Amhara right protestors in Gondar. So, basically what Charles Stratford did was repeat the same political fused statement Getachew Reda issued on July 13, 2016 which was to belittle and criminalize Amhara right groups.

Nonetheless, on August 02, 2016, Amhara National Regional state Communication Affairs head Mr. Nigussu Tilahun spoke to VOA Amharic service nullifying the allegation broadcasted on EBC saying, “out of the total of 139 victims of the events in Gondar, 85 are Amhara ethnic group where as the 30 victims are Tigrayans.” He further said “those 30 Tigrayans who were attacked have been attacked NOT because they were Tigrayans but because they were residents of Gondar where the resistance took place.”

While these are the facts on the ground, Charles Stratford’s one-sided reporting claiming that ethnic Tigrayans were attacked because of their ethnicity is a fabricated report that seeks to demonize Amharas while portraying Tigrays as victims. Charles Stratford’s news report lacked the who, what, where and when. For sure this one-sided report is organized and orchestrated by the regime and everything reported on the phone and the key informants who told their story on the phone and in person are people who work for the regime.

The report had all the signs of the government propaganda and rhetoric, and Charles Stratford’s report echoed that same scapegoating propaganda, and sadly the report has not only diverted and masked the issue but it has also attempted to delegitimize true concern and cause of the Amhara people in Gondar. And it did that fabricating and linking the Gonder protest to that of an attack on Tigrayans and their properties.

What Charles Stratford failed to understand and report is population size of Tigrays residing in Gonder. According to Ethiopian National Census of 2007, out of 207,044 residents of Gondar town, more than 10% are ethnic Tigrayans. If what transpired in Gondar had a goal of attacking Tigrayans based on their ethnicity, the number Tigrayns that were attacked would have surpassed more than 39 out of the 20,000 Tigrayans living in Gondar. At the same time 89 Amharas were directly affected by the same event.

For the matter of fact, we have not heard Charles Stratford reporting from Addis Ababa talking with the victims of the Amhara communities in Gondar whose loved ones are mercilessly murdered by the Ethiopian regime Tigrayan mercenaries because they come to the streets of Gondar demanding their rights respected.

Charles Stratford hasn’t tired to verify and confirm his report (the regime’s propaganda) by contacting Amharas from Gondar or concerned bodies from the Amhara Regional State Communication Affair’s office. This type of report by Aljazeera not only shows incompetency and lack of professionalism, but also lacks many of the facts and downplays the huge risks the country is with in. Charles Stratford’s news report is just a mask to divert attention from the real issue, what the Amharas in Gondar have been raising, by backing the brutal Ethiopian regime that has been busy in finding out a scapegoat for the crisis in Gondar.

Background of the unfolding events in Gondar

A little over a month ago Amharas in Gondar came out protesting peacefully with the regards to Wolkait-Tegede land and identity issues. Wolkait-Tegede is an Amhara land that has been annexed and being included to Tigray region 25 years ago when the current regime the Tigrian People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) came to power. TPLF annexed the Amahra people of Wolkait-Tegede-Humera to Tigray, by force, in order to maintain control of the vast fertile land. (One can read more about the history of Wolkait-Tegede and the immediate cause(s) of the unfolding event(s) in Gondar from an article entitled “Forceful Annexation, Violation of Human Rights and Silent genocide: A Quest for Identity and Geographic Restoration of Wolkait-Tegede, Gondar, Amhara, Ethiopia”, which can be accessed online for free.)

Amharas in Gondar, who have lived on their land for millenniums, demanded that they need their lands be returned back to Amhara region as they identify themselves Amharas and not Tigrayans. In 2015 the Amharas in Wolkait-Tegede have formed a Wolkait Amhara Identity Committee to facilitate the identity and geographic restoration of Wolkait-Tegede. The committee organized people, held out discussion, and petitioned both to Amhara and Tigray local governments and finally submitted their complaint to the Ethiopia House of the Federation, Ethiopia’s Upper House

At all levels of government, the committee was deliberately and violently silenced. They were often harassed, intimidated, and imprisoned, and finally on the night of July 12, 2016 Tigrayan militias from the Tigray region came in hiding into the Amhara region dressed in Amhara region police uniform and take a hostage of several of the Wolkait-Tegede committee members with the exception of Col. Demeke Zewde.

Things went for the worst when Tigrayan militias who came to Amhara region in clandestine tried to arrest Col. Demeke Zewde. Col. Demeke Zewde refused to open his house during the night because the culprits were out of their jurisdiction and they did not have warrant to arrest him at night. Upon his refusal to comply, they shot at him and his family in which he defended himself along with the local police and militia. In the fight that ensued several people were killed from both sides. Later that day Demeke Zewde gave his hand to the Amhara region police and the police of his jurisdiction that has the mandate to arrest him.

Following this unlawful and mafia conduct by the notorious Tigrayan militia, the Amahras in Gondar felt that the Tigraya regime was trying to muffle their legitimate question by forcefully imprisoning and trying to kill their representing committee, and staged a peaceful protest. The protest was very peaceful and perhaps unseen in anytime in Ethiopia’s history. Following Demeke Zewde court hearing, Amharas in Gondar held another peaceful protest near the courthouse demanding his immediate release. On that particular day, Tigray militias dressed in Amhara region police attire came in and start shooting at peaceful people outside of the of the court house. They have killed several people and injured many, and from there on things went for the worst as the government started using live bullets against unarmed people.

During this event created by the Tigray militias, several businesses and properties were damaged. The state run Ethiopian Broadcasting Corporation along with the regime’s own so called bloggers and operatives quickly labeled the resistance of Amharas against killing as being anti-Tigray. The propaganda by the State run Televsion, EBC, and the regime’s online medias have continued for weeks labeling the whole of Amhara as “terrorists” and “anarchists”. Within all this propaganda, the regime continued the narrative of possible attack going on against Tigrayans.

This is deliberate distortion of the facts on the ground, by the regime and its operatives, is to justify its use of ammunitions to kills the Amahras and block the Wolkait Amhara Identity Committee that has petitioned seeking protection from involuntary forced provincial annexation by the Tigrayan regime asserting their identity and for their land to be restored back to the Amhara region.

To further dramatize the matter, the Tigrayan regime started evacuating some Tigrayans from Gondar with the pretext that they were being targeted. While all these have been happening, as I said above, The Amhara regional State has carried out an investigation to clarify the claim that Tigrayans were targeted. But the regional state findings seem to suggest the otherwise: 65 percent of those affected by the protests were Amharas themselves while only 20 percent of the victims are Tigrayans. In other words, much of the attacks and property damage was carried on Amharas, and yet the government deliberately painted the issue as an attack on the Tigrayans.

But who are the 7 Tigray civilians Aljazeera reported being killed? First and foremost, they were not civilians! They were undercover government armed agents operating in Gonder city to massacre the Amharas. Secondly, they were heavily armed police deployed to shoot at unarmed civilians, and in fact killed more than 40 Amharas. No Tigriyan civilian has been killed and buried in Gondar. The civilians who have been gunned down by the regime’s mercenaries were Amharas. This is what Aljazeera failed to cover.

Aljazeera has a history of turning a blind eye when it comes to Amhara issues. Up to this time Aljazeera has interviewed so many Oromo activists that is fine. But I have never seen Aljazeera intervening a single Amhara activist in its life time while more than 3 million Amharas have been mercilessly slaughtered over the past 25 years. I have a feeling that Aljazeera door is closed to Amhara activists. Two weeks ago Aljazeera’s stream program has organized a platform to discuss about the ongoing Oromo protest and the Amhara resistance in Ethiopian. The participants of the Amahra and Oromo issue were two Oromo activists and the cuprite Ethiopian regime. Why Aljazeera failed to invite at least one Amhara activist to take part in the discussion while it organized a program to discuss Amhara issues? Why Aljazeera is not willing to be the Amahra voice? Has Aljazeera scientifically proved that Amharas don’t need a voice?

Coming back to the issue, if the Amhara resistance in Gondar was based on targeting Tigrayans, it is rather profoundly odd that only 7 “civilians” people died out of more than 20,000 Tigrayans in Gondar. Let us not forget the resistance persisted for over weeks, and therefore, if Tigrayans were really targeted, 7 out of 20,000 doesn’t give add up to make the claim that Tigrayans were targeted. The fact of the matter is Tigrayans were not targeted. In fact, many Tigrayans facilitated the protest by giving people rides and in some instances protesting with the Amhara people of Gondar. The evacuation and relentless propaganda against the Amhara people is part of the grand scheme of the Ethiopia regime to justify its brutal use of force, and even more shamefully to justify the killings it carried out against the Amharas in Gondar, Bahir Dar and Debre Markos .

All in all, Aljazeera did not seek to understand the background issue or the context nor did it seek to do some groundwork and find out tangible facts, and it did not even do fact checking. It runs with a narrative bias that it has always entertained against the Amhara people. If Aljazeera were interested in understanding or covering the story from unbiased point of view, it would have reported the killing of several unarmed Amahras in Gondar, Bahir Dar and Debre Markos by the Ethiopia regime security forces in broad-daylight.

This past Saturday, Tigrayan soldiers have killed four peaceful people in Gondar for wearing white cloth to celebrate the death of dictator Meles Zenawi. There were no protests when they were shot on the head. All the four people were simply killed as they walked down the street wearing white clothes. The victims’ families have already spoken to VOA Amharic about the loss of their loved ones. We haven’t heard Aljazeera reporting about this heinous crime committed against humanity by the Tigrayan apartheid regime in Ethiopia while it was busy circulating the criminal regime’s propaganda.

Even more intriguing, where was Aljazeera when genocide was committed on close to three million Amharas over the past 25 years? There has never been a blip of report on Amharas issues, not one. If there is a report in Ethiopia, it is usually either about Ethiopian Muslim protest or Oromo protests, and if somehow there is a mention of Amharas somewhere in those reports, it is either demonizing them or portraying them as oppressors.

For the last 25 years, the Amharas have been the massacred, cleansed, marginalized, abused and the most neglected people of Ethiopia. The Amharas have to endue horrendous crimes every year. For the last twenty-five years, every year, thousands of Amharas have been murdered and massacred. The Amhara ethnic group has been demonized and criminalized by TPLF for the last 25 years.

It is well documented that in 1991 mass slaughters of pregnant women and children in Arbagugu and Bedno (Easter Ethiopia) were the worst crimes ever committed on the Amharas people since Fascist Mussolini’s aggression in 1935. These barbaric mass murders of Amhara left an indelible imprint on my mind. The Amharas have been displaced by the TPLF regime from their land in southern parts of the country by calling them “Amhara settlers.”

The ruling party in Ethiopia is a minority regime called Tigrayan People’s Liberation Front or TPLF. The TPLF regime has sagaciously and systematically designed the ethnic lines of federalism in order to control the country by perpetuating the punitive policies that emphasize the anti-Amhara ethnic group, which is totally inimical to the Amhara people. It was crystal clear that, before 1991, when TPLF was in the bushes, their primary target was the Amharas of Ethiopia. Conceivably, their first core principle was to ‘hit the Amhara’s horn’, and after that, declare the independence of Tigray, and to annex the fertile land from the Amhara district of Gondar and Wollo to Tigray to be a viable new nation. This is a true history.

One of the ex-TPLF fighters has written a testimony of this in his recent book. This ex-TPLF fighter told us how TPLF duped the Tigray people that Amhara is the historic foe of Tigray people. The Amhara is the oppressor of Tigre, and Tigray is impoverished because of the chauvinist Amhara, and so we as the sons of the great people of Tigray that we could quickly liberate ourselves from the Amhara, so that Tigray will develop and become a prosperous nation within a short period of time. He said this propaganda was written in pamphlets and handed out on a weekly basis.

The consequence of all this and other ethnically cleanse and Amhara genocide policies of the TPLF regime has resulted in the missing of close to 3 million Amharas in the 2007 National census. This is an official reported that the TPLF government has presented to its parliament.
So, it will be a crime, if not a sin, to report the Amharas attack the Tigrayans while it is crystal clear that the Amharas are victims of eviction than any ethnic group in Ethiopia and are by far marginalized, abused, murdered than any other ethnic group in Ethiopia. In fact Al Jazeera International has produced a documentary about the Amhara people in 2014 and it described the Amhara people are the poorest of the poor people in the world.

I think Charles Stratford should also know about the organization of Ethiopia’s political system if he as to report about political events in Ethiopia. These four pillars of a given government are the military, the security apparatus, the foreign relations and the Economy. These pillars function both individually and collectively. TPLF has a PURE monopoly control over Ethiopia’s military, Security, Foreign Affairs and the Economy.

Even when there are cases where oppressed Ethiopians resist in self-defense against TPLF’s attack, who can really be affected? It is only the Tigrayans because TPLF is a Tigrayan party that solely controls the Ethiopian intelligence service, the police, the security and the military. It is the TPLF police, security and the military that kills innocent Amharas and Oromos all over Ethiopia. So, resistance in self-defense against TPLF’s attack only damages a Tigrayan NOT because s/he is a Tigrayan but because s7he is a TPLF agent who takes the order of her/his co-ethnic regime to mercilessly massacre us. Therefore, it is ridicules and redundant to conclude that resist in self-defense against TPLF’s attack is an attack on Tigrayans because certainly other ethnic groups such as the Oromo, and Gurage are not affected while they can’t be TPLF killing machine because they are not Tigrayans.

TPLF is a racial organization that created in 1976 to build a separate republic of Great Tigray on the grave of Amharas by eliminating All Amharas from their land. However, unbelievable it may seem it is a matter of fact, and for this, the TPLF’s organization’s 1976 manifesto clearly states that it views the Amhara people as their number one enemy. TPLF was created to viciously and avariciously advance the cause of the Tirgay, and this organization has adopted voracity, robbery, and murder as a policy. As long as the TPLF has this policy and it is an organization that professes to represent and stand for the Tigray ethnic group, it is no wonder that in self-defense agents of TPLF are targeted.

With that being said, Tigrayans who that do not support or associate themselves with the TPLF in any capacity, should not be attacked or become targets. Should such Tigrayan be attacked, it is the obligation of every Ethiopian to stand firm and defend these people at all costs. An attack on them would denote an attack on all Ethiopians because they too are Ethiopians, and the Ethiopian people have valiantly defended Tigrayans for decades. In fact, in 2000 when Eritrean People’s Liberation Front invaded Badme, Northern Tigray, it is the Amharas and other Ethiopians who defended the Tigrayans from the Eritrean attack by scarifying their lives.

With all this, we demand Al Jazeera’s immediate redressal into the inaccurate news report as well as excuse for the discomfort caused by Al Jazeera news report that irrationally and unsubstantially victimize the Amhara victims. We expect Aljazeera to clear the fabrication that TPLF operatives damaged in self-defense were mere civilians targeted out of some sort of malice.

I look forward to receiving a response from you regarding the concerns I have raised.

Thank you for reading my letter.

Yours Sincerely,

Achamyeleh Tamiru

Mr. President, Say “Enough is Enough”

(Yimer Muhe)

Dear Mr. President:

The brutal dictatorship in Ethiopia that you have loyally supported during your entire presidency has been unleashing its security and special-forces against its people and hundreds of peaceful protesters have lost their lives and counting. There is no free media in the country, Muslim community leaders, journalists, conscientious objectors, and all those who dare to criticize it are behind bars serving lengthy sentences. The justice system is nothing but independent. The only outlet for the people – the social media – is shut off at will, etc. Let me ask you Mr. President, what is democratic about such a system?  As a constitutional lawyer, it shouldn’t be that difficult for you to see the glaring absence of rule of law in Ethiopia today. The ‘clamoring’ of Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Freedom House, US Commission on International Religious Freedom, the Oakland Institute and some congressmen including Senator Mark Rubio, just to name a few, about the gross human rights violations being committed by the Ethiopian government obviously has failed to register with you. However, if you keep ignoring the elephant in the room Mr. President, the significance of your speeches in Accra, Cairo and Frankfurt including your Nobel Prize for Peace will definitely not escape being meaningless.

Mr. President, did you see by any chance the picture of the young lady – probably a mother – lying dead in a pool of blood that appeared on the Washington Post? Did you see the video of the young man who was being repeatedly beaten even after he died? No respect for the dead at all! Mr. President, you might not have heard of the young pregnant woman from Oromia whose belly was bayoneted exposing her fetus? Of course, she died instantly, so did her fetus. Such gruesome atrocities are being committed in Ethiopia today by government security forces that depend on the West’s largesse for upgrading their gears.

Mr. President, did you read the Washington Post Editorial of August 9, 2016? I am sure if you didn’t that your aides did. It stated, “…the U.S. Embassy in Addis Ababa remarked that it was “deeply concerned” and expressed its “deep condolences to those who suffered as a result” but stopped short of explicitly urging the Ethiopian government to refrain from using excessive force against its citizens.” In other words, it is not farfetched to conclude that your Embassy in Addis Ababa was in fact condoning the use of excessive force against peaceful protesters.

Mr. President, don’t you think it is time to break your silence on the side of the Ethiopian people and against tyranny?  Last time you broke your silence in August 2015, we were deeply disappointed and felt betrayed because you sided with the government in a very grand way. The Ethiopian community is still in a state of shock, as a result. How could you extol a system that resembles apartheid as democratic and at the same time idolize the late Nelson Mandela who you met and quote from time to time?

Mr. President, the architect of your failed African Policy might be Susan Rice and her cohorts Gail Smith and Windy Sherman. Since you went along with it, no doubt you will own it in history. How does it feel Mr. President, to hear Harry Belafonte, one of the icons of the Civil Rights Movement saying that you have ‘failed to meet the needs of the most oppressed people in America and around the world’? How does it feel to learn about your own brother’s, Malik Obama’s, decision to vote for Donald Trump because he is so unhappy with what you have or haven’t done for Africa?

Mr. President, in the waning days of your presidency, do you have any pleasant surprises for Africa, especially Ethiopia? To be frank, we are not holding our breath. On February 25, 2016, during a Congressional Hearing before the House Foreign Affairs Committee, your Secretary of State John Kerry didn’t have any qualms when he stated the Ethiopians (meaning EPDRF) “don’t have a five year plan, they have a 35 year plan” to combat terrorism thus betraying his wild hope for one of the most repressive governments to hold on to power as long as possible. I have bad news for you, Mr. President. That is not going to happen because the system that has been pampered by the West for the last 25 years is now gasping its last breath due to the peaceful struggle Ethiopians have embarked on across the country.

Year after year the West’s ‘War on Terror’ has been morphing into ‘War on Democracy’, especially in the case of Ethiopia. Yes, there is terrorism in Ethiopia – state terrorism which is ironically thriving on the West’s ‘War on Terror’. It is a monumental tragedy that the West is nurturing state terrorism in the name of regional stability by embracing stability via repression of a peaceful people instead of stability via empowering them.

Mr. President, even though you didn’t personally experience ‘Jim Crow’, as a black American, I believe you can understand the pain of those who lived through it. The African version of ‘Jim Crow’ is what has been instituted in Ethiopia today. A minority group controls everything: the economy, the politics, the bureaucracy, the media, the military and the whole security apparatus. The rest, 95% of Ethiopians are under the mercy of the ruling clique with nothing trickling down. As you know African Americans and progressive elements paid a huge price in the 50s and 60s to undo ‘Jim Crow’. In the same manner, today, Ethiopians are protesting across the nation to undo ‘Ethnic-apartheid’ that resembles the ‘Jim Crow’ of the South. In the process they are being mowed down by security forces and trained snipers. They are being beaten up, and incarcerated just as in the South African Americans were lynched, water gunned and jailed. The victims range from expecting mothers, bread-winner fathers, school-age children, to young and old.  So much for a government that claimed a 100% election victory just last year! So much for a system that the West is in bed with! Mr. President, don’t you think it is fair to conclude that the West indeed has long crossed the line of ‘guilt by association’ making it impossible to rule out ‘complicity’ and culpability no matter how things are twisted and the best semantics applied?

Mr. President, when are you going to pay attention to the plight and woes of Ethiopians? Today, Addis Ababa, the capital of the nation, also the capital of Africa by dint of the location of the AU Headquarters, is a city under siege. Its notorious prisons: Kaliti, Kilinto, and Zewai, etc. are multiple times overcapacity.  Major street corners are equipped with security cameras to control each and every movement. Addis Ababa, the medina of African Freedom is a city of fear completely gripped by paranoia. Don’t you think, Mr. President, it is time to recalibrate the ‘War on Terror’, so that making democracy, rule of law and peoples’ aspiration for their God given rights  its collateral damage could come to an end?

Mr. President, did you watch the Olympics Marathon in Rio? I am sure as a half-Kenyan you didn’t want to miss Eliud Kipchoge winning the Gold Medal. The Silver Medal winner was Feyisa Lilesa from Ethiopia, our hero, who made a daring political statement with his crossed arms about the massacre of peaceful protesters that is underway in Ethiopia. The 26 years risked it all: his wife, children and extended family for the sake of his generation and his country. He could take the oppression no more, and at Rio, he chose to be the voice of the voiceless thereby winning the hearts of millions around the world. Mr. President, what is it going to take to convince you to side with the people of Ethiopia and for you to say ‘enough is enough’ to the brutal regime? Does Ethiopia have to be another Rwanda to prove to the West to take responsibility?

Mr. President, one last note: eight years ago, when you won the presidency, we Ethiopian Americans were elated like the rest of your supporters because the unthinkable happened in this land of opportunity. That elation has since been replaced with deep disappointment because you turned your back on our people back home.  Mr. President, now is the time to act and nobody is going to blame you for being late. Say, “Enough is enough!” to the murderous regime in Ethiopia. I believe this is the only route that could partially absolve you for now, though you might not escape history’s castigation, and you will have to thank Susan Rice for that.

Sincerely,

Yimer Muhe

By Engidu Woldie
ESAT News (August 25, 2016)

 

Adeola Fayehun : Ethiopia Kills 500 Protesters

ESAT Daily News Amsterdam August 25 2015 Ethiopia

A Call for Help – Ethiopian in Saudi Jail

By Alem Mamo

“The TPLF regime preaches hate and violence, but we are continuing with our long-standing traditions of peaceful co-existence.”

I arrived at the edge of a small western town just before dusk. The evening scene was a typical display of the routine of life in the country side. The cattle are slowly walking back to their homes from a day-long grazing. Their herders, some whistling, others singing, were keeping an eye on them. The dogs run around the cattle in a playfully, sometimes chasing and other times being chased. The corresponding echo between the returning cows and their calves, the sharp, pitchy exchange between the mother goat and her kid, the communication between a mother sheep and her lambkin, the chorus of crowing roosters, all appear to be declaring an end to the work day. I was fully immersed into the sights and the sounds of this beautiful Ethiopian countryside when a young man, who appeared to be in his early twenties, interrupted me. “Welcome,” he said in a soft voice with a gentle radiating smile. He introduced himself to me and said, “you are shorter than you look in the picture,” his voice had a teasing tone. I smiled. “Good to see you in person. I have heard a lot about you,” he said while showing a degree of curiosity. “I hope whatever you were told about me is good,” I said. “Don’t worry, it is all good,” he replied, tapping me on the shoulder.

“How long do we have to trek before we arrive at our destination?” I asked, unable to contain my curiosity. “If we walk fast it could be only thirty minutes. If we walk slow, it will take us about forty-five minutes,” said my travelling companion and host. We headed south towards the thick and green forest. Fifteen minutes into our walk the landscape began to change dramatically from a dry grass land into hilly and lush green forest and with that a cooler and fresher air emerged. Trees of different size and shape, some tall and majestic, others short and wide with colorful fruits hanging over their branches, and beneath the trees a variety of plants cover the landscape. As we get deeper into the forest not only the visual nature of the area, but also the sound begins to shift from the earlier domestic animal chorus to the sound of wild animals. Nearby I could see a number of shy colobus monkeys jumping from tree branch to tree branch. With their acrobatic movement they shake the branches, forcing the hanging fruits to fall to the ground. The chirping birds, the screeching sounds of monkeys and many other sounds I couldn’t identify echoed through the forest. None of the sounds felt like just another noise pollution, the way it is in the urban centres. Instead, it felt like a symphonic display of nature at its best. Listening to these sounds I felt a sense of quiet and found it to be calming.

Despite the fact that I haven’t been to this part of the countryside for more than three decades, I felt completely at home. I have enough stored memory to reconnect me with the land, the trees, the plants, the mountains and the wild animals, and of course the people. Most importantly, I have a clear and unadulterated childhood memory of values and customs of the communities I grew up in. Sharing and caring for each other. Being together in times of joy and times of difficulties. As we get closer to the town, I wonder if those values still remain part of the daily life in the community.

“There is a river on our way that we have to cross, not far from here. You should probably take your shoes off,” advised my travelling companion. Since I didn’t bring spare shoes, I appreciated his advice and took my shoes off. As we got closer, the sound of the river added an extra energy and serenity to the beautiful sound of the forest. I stood on the edge of the river for a few minutes and dipped my hand in to the outer edge.

When we reached the rive, I shared a story with my companion. When I was a young boy my father would take my brother and on a hunting trip with him. He would wake us up early in the morning, sometimes as early as five, and we would come to this forest looking for antelopes and kudus. One of the lessons my father taught us during those hunting incursions was about water. He would always tell us to respect what he called the ‘energy’ of the water. “I don’t mean the kind of energy you learn in schools,” he would say. There are different types of energies in the water and spiritual energy is one of them. When you reach a creek, a river, or a lake always stop and recognize that energy. Give thanks to God who gave us this source of life. Don’t just jump into it. Take a sip or sprinkle the water on your face and walk gently in the water. If you don’t you may disturb the spirit of the water. On these trips, my brother and I would look each other as if we were saying, “here we go again, dad is going through his water story.” When I finish sharing my fathers lesson with my travelling companion, I followed my father’s lesson given to me a long time ago and did as I was told. For a moment I thought I heard my father’s voice. It was just a voice stored in my memory! “I think your father was a very wise man. My grandfather told me about him,” said my travelling companion. “He was, in his own way,” I concurred.
When we arrived at our final destination two elderly men were waiting for us outside a modest brick house. One of them had thick reading glasses. I got close to him and lowered my head out of respect. “Come here,” he said, opening both his arms. You are a fully grown up man now,” he said while embracing me in his arms. I was in junior high school when I saw both of these men last, more than three decades ago. The embrace from both of them took me back to those years, back to my childhood and youth. “Good to be back! And good to see you both,” I said. “Come in”, said one of the elders directing me to the house. “He is here!” he said, as if he was announcing that his long lost child has returned. We walked into the living room. “Oh my God, is that you? All grown up with grey hair,” she said. It was his wife. I use to call her “mother.” I said, “how are you mother?” She kissed me on both cheeks a couple of times. “I give thanks to God for this day that we are able to see you,” she said holding my hand. “Can you make me my bread before I leave?” I asked jokingly leaning my head on her shoulder. “You haven’t forgotten, my son,” she said. “How would I forget; it was my favourite,” I said. “Yes, of course, I will make you before you go,” she said.

I was anxious to get to the main objective of my journey and engage these two elders to reflect on the situation in their part of the country. “It would be nice if you tell me about the present, the past and what hope you have for the future,” I said. Pulling my chair toward the two elders. “Well,” said the elder with reading glasses, “my grandson tells me that you are here for a few days and few days are not enough to tell you about the past, present and future.” “Let’s try anyway,” said the other elder.
“Three generations of our family lived here together in peace. We have always treated each others’ families as our own. We had two boys who were born just a week apart. They were like brothers. I was the godfather to his son and him to my son. Those boys were inseparable. They went to school together; they played together. We may have different ethnic backgrounds, but we always saw each other as families. Both our boys were twenty-four years old when the security forces of the military regime arrested them. They came back home during school break, and I remember it was just after midnight, they were here in this house when they were picked up and taken away. I ran out in the dark to tell him,” pointing at his friend seated next to him “they have taken our boys.” Suddenly, a deep silence descended in the room. “He was a good boy. I didn’t give birth to him, but he was my boy,” said the aging mother in a tearful voice. The atmosphere in the room was one of a deep sadness. Mourning for a beloved son. “I think you should hear the rest of the story from his surviving friend and brother,” said the elder who lost his son more than three decades ago. “Where do I find him? Does he live around here?” I asked. “Yes, he should be here any minute,” he said looking at his watch.

It wasn’t too long when a tall, slender man with a slight limp in his right leg entered the living room. I wondered what the cause of his limping was, but I had some idea what might have caused. I have met many of his generation that lost mobility because of inhumane treatment and torture during their incarceration under the military regime. I got up and introduced myself. “I know you. You were too young back then. You are a full fledged man now,” he said giving me a firm handshake. “We are all happy to see you.” I was too eager to hear the rest of the story from him as his father suggested.
“Let’s go to the other room,” he said, walking into the back section of the house. I followed him. We entered a fair sized room, on the walls there are several framed pictures. He walked straight to the one in the middle section of the wall and said, “this is him, this the friend and brother I lost to institutionalized state terror. I live with survivors’ guilt every day, you know,” he said, clearing his throat. “You see,” he continued “we weren’t just friends; we were like brothers. We did everything together. We cared for each other and our families are like blood families.” “Were you imprisoned together?” “Yes, we were. We were back home from college on a break and security forces came and picked us up around midnight. We were together at my parent’s house here,” he said, looking out through the window. “Where did they take you?” “Well, at first, they kept us here in our home town for a week, and then they took us to a larger prison located in the provincial capital. There, the stories we heard before our arrest about physical and psychological torture began. It was hard, I can tell you that.” “How many prisoners were there at the provincial prison?” I interrupted him. “I don’t know the exact number, but I think there were close to five hundred.” “Can you tell me the composition or the demographic of the prison population?” I followed up. “Yes, the composition of the prison population,” he said and disappeared into a long silence as if he was frozen in time. I didn’t interrupt him.
“The composition of the prison population,” he repeated when he emerged from his long and deep silence. “There were all kind of people, people with different ethnic and religious affiliations. We were a group of people united in our struggle for democracy, freedom and justice, regardless of ethnic or any other form identity traits we were rounded up together, tortured together, and some killed together,” he said. “How do you compare that spirit and unity with the situation today,” I asked, eager to know his thoughts. “You see the problem today is not with the communities, or all of the sudden we woke up and decided to hate each other.

The crux of the problem in this country today is the government. The regime actively promotes division, hate and even incite violence. They want us to be separated from each other and live in a permanent state of fear and suspicion of each other. Our forefathers and mothers lived here for many generations, our destiny and future is tied together. We have been through many difficult moments in history, and we have managed to overcome all those challenges together.”

“My friend and brother who was killed by the military regime wasn’t from the same ethnic group as mine, but that didn’t cross our mind back then. We were a group of young idealist men and women who came together to address the political, economic and social ills of the country in a way we thought was the right approach at the time. Today the government constantly works against the idea of coming together, forming a strong coalition, so that we can resist its oppressive rule with stronger muscle. In this country, polarization, division and pitting one group against another group is an official policy of governance. They even give incentives to those who perpetuate inter-communal violence. I have been through three regimes in my lifetime, and this one is the worst in all aspects. Imagine living in a country where your own government preaches hate, animosity and violence.” As I finished my conversation, he asked me what I am going to do with the information I gathered. I told him I will share it with as wide an audience as I can to create an awareness about the predicament of this country. “Maybe you should write a book,” he said with a smile. “Maybe I should,” I said in agreement.
All in all, my two-day stay and conversation with the two inseparable families and the wider community was a powerful one that took me through life under different circumstances and conditions in this small town. The consensus is that the magnitude and degree of human suffering over the last twenty-five years has been cruel and unbearable. The next day, I bid farewell to my hosts and begin my journey back with the young man who became my friend and travelling companion over the last few days.
An hour through our drive we saw a convoy of Russian made Ural military trucks covered with light green tarp snaking through the hills. As they pass us one by one we could see young men crammed on the floor, some seated and others standing. Uniformed men holding AK47 automatic machineguns sat on the edge the truck. “Prisoners,” said my companion, tilting his head in the direction of the trucks. “What do you mean?” I asked. “They are transporting political prisoners rounded up from different parts of the country,” he said with a grim face. “There is a malaria infested military camp south of here, and they put them there indefinitely, no family visits, no sufficient food and most certainly no medical facility. Many died from malaria here. There are rumors of a mass grave in the vicinity of the camp,” he said with a choked up voice. “Mass graves?” I asked. He nodded his head. “The rumour is that most of them died from malaria and torture and some say they may have been executed.” This alarming piece of information was too much for me. I didn’t know how to react or how to respond. I asked our driver to pull over on the edge of a dense tropical forest, and I got out to get some air and absorb what I had just heard. “Mass grave?” I repeated. “Why is this country going through this again after exhumation of several mass graves of those murdered by the predecessor of the current regime? How long can a nation and its people endure such a degree of suffering generation after generation?” I was overwhelmed with what I had heard over the last two days about the state of the nation. I couldn’t name what my feelings were; sadness, anger, frustration and despair converged in me shaking me to the core. I took one long deep breath, wiped my eyes, and walked back to the car.
I read a story about Joseph Stalin’s gulags in Siberia and how people were treated there. It is pretty much the same in these militarized concentration camps scattered across the country: hard labour, disease, malnutrition, torture and killings. Hearing such brutality with all its forms of barbarism made me queasy and sick to my stomach.

I wondered if the mothers of those young men and women still wait for their children to return home once again to give them a hug, to make them their favourite food or just simply to watch them play. I agonized on behalf of their brothers and sisters who cling to their pictures hoping against all hope that they will see their siblings again. I was overwhelmed with the thought of human capacity to do evil, to unleash these act of barbarism difficult to comprehend. As I got out of the car my travelling companion, who became my close friend over those few days, gave me a warm hug and pulled a piece of paper from his pocket. He said, “I have a gift for you. I wrote this a year ago in memory of my friend who was killed by the security forces of the regime.” Giving me a hug, he said, “Good luck, travel safe, and I hope you come back and visit us.” His eyes were tearing up. “I promise, I will come back, possibly under different circumstances,” I said. “Yes, under different circumstances, of course,” he said, lifting his clinched left arm into the air with an assertive and reassuring smile. That night in my hotel room, I took the piece of paper my friend and travelling companion handed to me out my pocket and read it. It was a beautiful poem he wrote in memory of his murdered friend. I read it three or four times before I grabbed a notebook and began to translate it from Amharic to English.
Tears of the moon
Gripped with an overwhelming sorrow
A mother says “I have no tears left
I have cried until I no longer see
I have wailed until I have no voice left.
What is sight for, if I cannot see my child?
What is a voice for, if he cannot come to me when I call his name?
Here we have run out of tears.
Instead, our rocks, trees and fields are crying for us,
Here the birds no longer sing,
As they are mourning with us in silence.
The sun, too, weeps, as we languish in the burning shadows of oppression
And the moon sheds tears with us at night, as we hide in our blood-stained forest
When will this end?”
She asks,
“When will we relearn to laugh again?
When will peace reign?
When will the true spirit of humanity return to this land of our ancestors again?
We are collectively tired of oppression
We are people of an exhausted nation.”
I have been given many gifts from my family, friends and colleagues in the past, but I found this one to be special. A gift from not just one young man, but a gift from the people who are under daily state terror. People who have been brutalized and continue to suffer. It was more than a gift; it was an assignment to me and to all those who on the side of justice and freedom to speak on behalf of those who are chained and muzzled.
I left this beautiful land of my youth, a land that always finds a way to overcome insurmountable challenges. On one hand, I was heartened by what I saw and what I heard from the elders, the youth, men and women who endure a reign of oppression under the current regime led by Tigray Liberation Front (TPLF). Despite all of that, however, they don’t languish in the ghettos of pessimism; instead they appear to be prisoners of hope. Their conviction for a better tomorrow, their reassuring commitment to building a post -TPLF Ethiopia that is democratic, inclusive and at peace with itself rekindled my spirit. At the same time, I was also reminded of the brutality and cruelty of the regime that makes the rocks weep in this country.
Note: The names of the individuals in this piece have been withheld for their safety and security. It is the intolerable state of freedom of expression, assembly and the total absence of political, economic and social freedom makes life in Ethiopia suffocating and difficult. Every move, every conversation and every gathering in Ethiopia is strictly monitored by security, police forces loyal to the regime. Ethiopia is a country where journalism is officially criminalized. Even academic researches are closely monitored and watched to make sure that they are in line with the regime’s policy. Readers must know all information about the regime’s abhorrent violence and brutality. is acquired by those who take serious risks to speak up and those who document it.

The writer can be reached at alem6711@gmail.com

ESAT News (August 25, 2016)

Seife Nebebal Radio, August 26, 2016

Interview with Journalist Sisay Agena SBS Amharic

“Courage is not the absence of fear– it’s inspiring others to move beyond it.” Nelson Mandela

It is no longer defensible for the U.S. and other Western countries to provide financial, intelligence, military, diplomatic and logistics support to the TPLF dominated government unless the TPLF is ready and willing to embrace an inclusive government now. On the ground, the pendulum has shifted dramatically to the side of the people. It should be self-evident to American policy makers including the Pentagon that the more TPLF’s Agazi and allied forces kill the more defiant and determined the resistance is deepened and broadened. In turn, this condition creates a fertile ground for terrorists and Ethiopia’s traditional enemies. The Obama administration should therefore condemn TPLF state sponsored atrocities in all parts of Ethiopia. History tells us that, in the long-run, people united and not ethnic elites transform societies for the better.

The TPLF has hardly learned anything from past mistakes, including the mistakes by the repressive regime it replaced. Tragically, the TPLF is emboldening the resistance through its traditional method of extrajudicial killings. For instance, on August 20, 2016, the TPLF snipers killed four people in Gondar, including the young activist Gizachew Ketema. Here is the reason. The people of Gondar came out in droves wearing white to symbolically recognize the dreadful and exclusionary days of the Meles regime and demanding that Ethiopians go beyond ethnicity and religion and unite to end the hegemony of the TPLF. A new, united, independent, sovereign and all-inclusive Ethiopia that embraces and celebrates its diversity and empowers each and every individual to fulfil her/his potential is the only way all of us can save Ethiopia from destruction. The country and its 101 million deserve such a compelling and forwarding looking vision.

America’s Policy towards Ethiopia should be recast

As a student of international relations, I often ask myself the question of “What should inform U.S. policy with regard to Ethiopia in such a manner that the two countries benefit.” I suggest the following:

ï‚· Recognition that Ethiopia is one the oldest cradles of civilization, origin of the human species and the center of coexistence of three great religions: Christianity, Islam and Judaism. In a world of turmoil and failing states in the Horn, North Africa and the Middle East, this tradition of mutual tolerance and respect matters; and America should strengthen it by giving the right signals and by siding with the population.

ï‚· Appreciation of the fact that Ethiopia has an established record as an independent state predating of those of most European nations. This status is a result of the unity of the country’s diverse population at times of its greatest need. Despite internal conflicts, repression by governments and lack of good governance, Ethiopians have more in common than is portrayed by self-serving political elites and foreign governments.

ï‚· Although production methods are Biblical, Ethiopia has a well-established culture of settled agriculture, especially crop production and animal husbandry. U.S. aid can strengthen this sector.

Ethiopian-American relations were established under Emperor Menilik in 1905. Since then, people to people relations have flourished and remain constant regardless of regime change.

ï‚· American participation in Ethiopia’s modernization and institution building begun under Emperor Haile Selassie with various agreements and projects such as the “Point Four Agreement for Technical Cooperation, 1951”, the Peace Corps under President Kennedy, a major survey of the hydroelectric and irrigation potential of the Abbay River, the Imperial Highway Authority, Ethiopian Airlines in 1945, the Ethiopian Airforce initially supported by Sweden and numerous institutions of higher learning. The Ethiopian Airforce was among the most competent not only in Africa but also the Middle East. Now completely dominated by TPLF staff, EAL was the first to fly to numerous African countries.

ï‚· In summary, measured on the basis of quality and not numbers, more Ethiopians were educated and trained by the United States than by any other country. This is the foundation of an enduring Ethiopian-American people to people relationship that should not be under stated by U.S. policy makers.

ï‚· It is true that this remarkable relationship between Ethiopia and the United States changed abruptly in the 1970s. It is not my intent to dwell on this unfortunate change.

ï‚· While most Ethiopians subscribe to America’s war against terrorism in the Horn of Africa and understand the motive behind according the TPLF government the status of an “ally,” this policy is short-sighted. It can no longer be justified because the TPLF-led government is narrowly based. It is punishing its own people through extrajudicial instruments under the pretext of “anti-terrorism.” The Obama administration, the U.S. Congress and the public ought to appreciate that America’s good will, values, image and long-term interests are being damaged severely.

ï‚· The Obama administration and Congress must appreciate the notion that Ethiopia’s famed double digit growth has practically come to a halt. Famine-driven hunger has been compounded by an outbreak of underreported cholera and by a popular countrywide resistance that is deep and wide. The central government is unable and incapable of to provide basic services to the public. In effect, it is incapacitated. Its focus is survival of the one party state and government. The root causes of the resistance remain unaddressed. The government’s preoccupation of crushing the resistance has been overcome through imaginative house-sit-ins, economic boycotts etc. Social media, especially mobile phones, person to person exchanges of information are widely used. Ethiopia’s trade to historical places in Axum, Lalibela, Gondar, the Semien Mountains, the Omo Valley, the Oromia lake district and other places have practically stopped. All these conditions contribute to a low or zero growth scenario. Prices are escalating at an alarming rate. (See Letter from Addis Ababa: Ethiopia doesn’t want you to know,” the Washington Post, August 20, 2016).

ï‚· The Obama administration and Congress must appreciate the unintended consequence of TPLF arrogance and intransigence that peaceful resistance in response to a legitimate grievance can be crushed. It can’t. Those who defy the one party ethnic-minority state and government are fully aware that the public purse is used to kill, maim, jail and incapacitate. They thus resort to boycotts, house-sit-ins, refusal to pay taxes etc. Does the TPLF intend to go house to house and arrest hundreds of thousands of Ethiopians?

ï‚· In short, the Obama administration and Congress, donors, investors and other foreign stakeholders must come to grips with the reality on the ground that there is no stability in the country; and that the current resistance is unlikely to stop unless its root causes are addressed.

ï‚· Protesters indicate the majority of Ethiopians feel strongly that the harsher the regime, the more the resistance! Those who support TPLF harsh treatment of protestors by demeaning the Oromo and Amhara population are adding petroleum to the fire. The rest of us should do everything we can to focus on the system rather than on persons and ethnic groups.

Why the American public should care

The people of the United States, Congress, Presidential candidates Hilary Clinton and Donald Trump as well as the Obama administration to whom this commentary is addressed should heed to the plight of the vast majority of the Ethiopian people and speak out loud and clear that the TPLF/EPRDF must initiate a serious discussion on the formation of a Transitional Government of National Unity involving all stakeholders now. I say this because the country and its diverse population face imminent danger and disaster. There is ample evidence to show that TPLF die-hards are under the illusion that they own the entire country and can save it from disaster by deploying force of arms. History and numbers are against this illusory, nihilist and narcissistic model. Over the past quarter century, the TPLF has been highly successful in asserting command and control of the entire country, its institutions and its resources by “telling Oromo that their enemies are Amhara, Amhara that their enemies are Oromo and Tigreans that their enemies are both Amhara and Oromo” as the situation demanded. Activists at home and abroad opine that this formula is outdated and no one buys it! It is not the intent of this commentary to elucidate on who the beneficiaries of this DIVIDE AND RULE model are. I subscribe to the notion that it is a worn-out and tired strategy that has been debunked by Amhara and Oromo youth at home and abroad.

People shape history

Here is the demographic reality in terms of the solidarity of the population that is fighting for change. The Oromo (34 percent, Amhara 27 percent (debatable census figure that underestimates the number with millions of Amhara living in Oromia and 2.4 million unaccounted for), Somali 6 percent, Sidama 4 percent, Gurage 3 percent and other minority ethnic groups representing 20 percent, a combined 94 percent of Ethiopia’s 101 million people are part of the popular resistance against the TPLF in one form or another. Ethiopian observers feel strongly that, had the TPLF allowed the people of Tigray who represent 6 percent of the population to exercise their freedom to protest, they too would join their compatriots in the resistance for freedom, justice, genuine equality and the rule of law. I have no doubt for a single second that the people of Tigray have as much stake in the future of a country they defended for thousands of years as any one of us. Inclusion means the Tigrean people too.

The TPLF has, instead, created a wedge between the vast majority of Ethiopians and Tigreans for a strategic reason. Just look at the following glaring statistics of minority ethnic-hegemony in decision-making where it matters most; and ask the lead question of who owns Ethiopia’s national institutions and assets today?(Annex 1).

As shown in the Annex, the strategic objective of institutional supremacy in defense, security and intelligence, telecommunications and the media, justice, foreign affairs, finance and budget and civil society organizations by the TPLF at a level that is both shameful and unprecedented in any country is simple. It is to ensure that these institutions are impenetrable by non-TPLF members. Differently put, it is to continue political, intelligence and military, budgetary, financial, natural resources and diplomatic hegemony over the rest; and to do it at any cost. I have argued in the past that this merger of party, state and government by an ethnic-minority party will unravel at one point. The unraveling of this dominance is manifested in at least the following areas:

ï‚· Decentralization under the ethnic-federal system has been undermined. It is the central or federal government governed of the TPLF that is supreme in all sectors of life, for example natural resources ownership and exploitation. The TPLF interfered in the affairs of the Amhara region; sidelined the regional party; and exercises total oversight. Among other things, it plans to disarm the population by any means necessary. It has capacity to reject the indigenous population’s demand of federal government recognition of identity and ownership of lands. The bottom line is this. If there ever was genuine decentralization of policy and decision-making to the regions it is now gone.

ï‚· No one really knows today who stands for Ethiopia and the Ethiopian people. There is hardly any central administration to speak of.

ï‚· It is vital to remember the reality on the ground. The capacity to kill and subdue peaceful people who protest for justice is entirely dependent on who is well-armed. Equally, the capacity to conduct ethnic-cleansing using a variety of instruments depends on who is armed and has ample financial resources to achieve its objectives.

ï‚· The capacity to shut-off all forms of media communication including social media is also dependent on who controls the state and government (see Annex I on the Tigreanization of the communications and media establishment). These are the mouthpieces of the TPLF. Further, this supremacy enables the TPLF to buy foreign journalists to tell its side of the story without the benefit of presenting the other side.

For example, a reporter of Al-Jazeera wrote the following quoting Tigreans anonymously rather than the protestors and relatives of those killed in Gondar. Charles Strafford’s piece of August 21, 2016 presents a distorted and inflammatory picture; and should be retracted by Aljazeera. “Thousands of ethnic Tigreans have fled the Ethiopian city of Gondar to escape anti-government protesters….Their homes and businesses have been attacked over their perceived connections to the government.” He quotes another anonymously that “He and many Tigreans like him have been forced to flee from their homes and business in the northern city of Gondar because of threats by some members of Amhara community. “ As a journalist, he should have asked if any Tigrean was attacked by any Gondarie. He accepted the rumor mill as fact and gave ammunition for the TPLF to take harsh measures against the Amhara population of Gondar. “Rumors and threats started spreading that all of the Tigreans would be forced to leave Gondar in the coming days…Tigreans living in and around the city are very afraid because property have been attacked and people have been killed.” Those killed are Amhara and the killers are Agazi. It is tragic that he and those quoted equate property with human life. They fail to mention that the fear culture in Gondar and other parts of Ethiopia is created by the TPLF. It therefore defies the imagination that the TPLF turns things around and accuses victims for crimes committed by TPLF state and government and no one else! “They think that almost all the Tigreans are supporting the government. And many think in order to weaken the government they have to kick out all the Tigreans from Gondar. Many Tigrean business have been attacked – hotels, cafes, shops and even homes have been targeted.” Would these same sources admit that the Amhara population has been a target of ethnic-cleansing, marginalization, displacement and demeaning by the TPLF and its supporters for a quarter of a century? (Annex II: Silent Genocide on the Amhara Documentary.)

Gondaries and other Amhara are routinely labeled by the TPLF and its surrogates in derogatory and demeaning terms such as “retards and donkeys” in their own turfs. It is common for the TPLF and surrogates to call Oromo as “criminals and terrorists.” How does the TPLF and its loyalists reconcile these divisive and exclusionary degradations with the needs of the Tigrean people to live without fear anywhere in the rest of Ethiopia? Whether I may have a differing view or not, the reality is that all TPLF symbols of power and control (parks, statues, real physical property etc.) become targets because people are simply fed up being treated like animals. They want to be treated with dignity and respect. Is this not the reason why the TPLF took arms against the Military Dictatorship?

As far as I know the TPLF and not the people of Gondar or other parts of Amhara and Oromo made the decision to airlift all Tigreans from Gondar and other locations. The TPLF COMMAND should be asked why; and not victims of its security and defense establishments.

Whether the symbol of wearing white or carrying red cards, boycotts, house sit-ins, prayers and other forms of resistance, lifting fists upwards as is done by Oromo activists, the principle of collaboration and solidarity across ethnic, religious and generational lines is monumental and irreversible. For the first time in a quarter of a century, solidarity among the Amhara and Oromo people is much stronger than ever before. The central tenet of resistance among these immense popular forces with potential is freedom, justice, the rule of law, fair and just treatment of citizens, equitable distribution of income and ultimately people-anchored democracy. Against this irreversible principle and movement is total denial of reality on the ground; and a hard line and disingenuous position on the part of the TPLF that dominates party, government and state. What is the evidence? Plenty.

On August 20, 2016, activists in Addis Ababa were in the process of mobilizing the population to demonstrate on Sunday August 21, 2016. They issued millions of red cards as symbols of defiance and to end TPLF rule. In a panic, the TPLF mobilized and swarmed the city with Agazi and other instruments of repression. Someone told me on the phone that “the city looked like a militarized zone.” It is said that the TPLF offered “financial incentives and subsidies” to members of security and other forces who obeyed orders to kill, club, maim and arrest. This indicates a growing suspicion within the ruling party that members of the defense forces may refuse to kill their own people. Reports indicate that there were more special hit squads in the city than protestors. The TPLF had managed to go house to house and arrest activists. Their whereabouts is unknown. Meantime, protests, house sit-ins and boycotts erupted in other towns and rural areas. Defiance has become the norm in Ethiopia. In Gondar one activist is quoted saying this. “The more innocent people the TPLF kills, the more defiant and resolved we become.” In Addis Ababa one spokesman of the organizing group captured the resistance this way. “The TPLF is doing our work. It advertises arrests and beatings to the public. In doing so, those who did not know of the ongoing resistance are alerted and informed. People are ready to die rather than live in constant misery!” Those killed, maimed and arrested have become heroes and heroines of the resistance movement. Some insiders say that the people of Addis Ababa may resort to staying home, boycotts and silent resistance, a model that many say is effective in Gondar, Bahir Dar etc.

We are told by reliable sources that some peasant communities in the Amhara region are self-governing. Some members of the TPLF’ inner circle admit that the government and state have literally collapsed and the country has become ungovernable. Sadly, these same insiders are reluctant to say that the TPLF’s narcissistic model of governance by punishing ordinary and innocent citizens is producing the opposite effect of more defiance and resistance against the TPLF state and government. The regime is haunted by a sense of encirclement by the very people it has been ruling and plundering for a quarter of a century. The economy is burdened by huge debt; and the current posture of repression rather than negotiation for a transition deepens the structural problems Ethiopia faces. What the Ethiopian people are asking is not more of the same; but a radical restructuring of governance.

What do I mean with more of the same? I suggest that readers take heed of the following leaked message of August 20, 2016 of an insider within the TPLF intelligence from Security Chief Debretsion Gebre Mikael urging the TPLF security and defense forces to “identify, select and subdue the growing unrest triggered by anarchist and terrorist forces.” Specially gulling and irresponsible is the pinpointing of Gondar as the locus of anti-Tigrean sentiment and plot. This is why I objected to the misleading and unbalanced Aljazeera piece. The stakes are too high to provide a biased picture by any journalist. We should be reminded of Rwanda where those in power called on the population to rise up and murder the “coach roaches,” the Tutsi. The world was absolutely ignorant with regard to what followed. As a result of this ignorance and benign neglect hundreds of thousands of Tutsi were massacred. Here is the instruction from the TPLF Chief of Security. It is scary for everyone.

“ጀግናው የመከላካያ ሠራዊታችን፤ የሀገራችንን ሰላም ለማረጋገጥ ከመቸው ጊዜ በላይ በንቃትና በተጠናከረ ሁኔታ በመንቀሳቀስ ፤ በቅርቡ በሀገራችን የተከሰቱ አመፆችን፤ ስልታዊ በሆነ መልኩ ፤ ሥርዓት በማሲያዝ ላይ ይገኛል ።በየክልሉ የሚነሱ ረብሻዎችን ሰብበ በማድረግ፤ በአንድ ብኄር ላይ ያነጣጠረ ጥቃት በመካሀድ ላይ ይገኛል ። በተለይ ብጥብጡ ከበረታባቸው አካባቢዎች፤ የጎንደር ነውጥ በጉልህ የሚጠቀስ ሲሆን፤ ሠራዊታችን ከነውጠኞች ጋር ያደረገውን ፍልሚያ በጀግንነት እያተወጣ ይገኛል ። ከዚህ ጋር በተየያዘ፤ አመፅ ፈጣሪ የሆኑ አካባቢዎችን በመለየት የጦር መሳሪያ የማስፈታቱ ሂደት ፤ የመንግሥት የቅርብ የቤት ሥራ ይሆናል ። እንደዚህ አይነት ሥርዓት አልበኝነት የማክሸፉ ሂደት፤ በተጠናከረ ሁኔታ የሚቀጥል ነው የሚሆነው ። ድል ለመከላካያ ሠራዊታችን ። ” There is a wise saying in Amharic. “አያ ጂቦ ሳታመኻኝ ብላኝ።”

Ethiopia is not under foreign attack. There is not an iota of evidence to suggest that the Eritrean government or any external force or internal opposition party is leading the popular resistance. The resistance is driven by systemic issues; and is grassroots based. Those who are dying each day are the sons and daughters of the Ethiopian people; no one else. Similar to other countries and on the basis of Ethiopia’s established tradition, the primary role of Ethiopia’s defense forces is to protect the country’s borders and preserve its territorial integrity and national sovereignty. It certainly is not to side with the ruling party and punish ordinary citizens. I should like to flag a historical fact.

Ethiopia’s defense force that was both national and multiethnic has been diminished and degraded by the TPLF. The TPLF demolished the country’s multinational defense and security infrastructure and personnel and replaced it by a Tigrean command system and personnel. At present, there is no distinction among the TPLF, security and defense forces, the state and government. They operate as one and the same and carry-out orders at the behest of the TPLF. This is the reason why keen observers conclude that, for all practical purposes the situation between the Ethiopian people on the one hand and the TPLF on the other mimics Eritrea and Ethiopia. In other words, Ethiopia is enveloped by a dicey environment of no peace or no war because of the TPLF. The internal target are Ethiopians and not a foreign enemy. I know of no single country where a government in power that labels peaceful citizens who protest for justice as “enemies” and targets them for extrajudicial measures on behalf of one ethnic group. Ethiopia’s defense establishment ought to distinguish its primary role of defending the country and all of its people; and the political role imposed by the TPLF of defending a rejected system and serve as a camouflage of protecting the Tigrean people who too are suffering under the yoke of the TPLF. The people of Tigray need no protection from ordinary Oromo and Amara. They need protection from the TPLF!

I therefore urge the West in general and the Obama and British administrations in particular to demand that the government of Ethiopia stops the carnage and withdraw troops from cities and towns immediately if not sooner. I also urge all Ethiopians, including Tigreans, to continue the new and encouraging trend of reaching out to one another, collaborating with one another and learning from one another. Tolerance and not arrogance! Both the West and Ethiopians together must speak with one voice that arrogance, warmongering and tribal selectivity and exclusion by the TPLF invites civil war and genocide regardless of who initiates it? I pose this question for anyone who cares about Ethiopia and the Ethiopian people to answer. “Why is the TPLF targeting Gondar and the Amhara population at this time? Why did it airlift all Tigreans from Gondar?” The TPLF and its supporters must answer this question.

I strongly urge skeptics within the Obama administration who continue to give mixed signals to consider the following that emanates from the TPLF Manifesto before it took power in 1991.

1. The TPLF had declared hatred for the Amhara in its Manifesto explicitly. “The Amhara are the enemy of the Tigray people. Not only are that, Amhara are the double enemy of the people of Tigray. Therefore, we have to hit the 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 obstacles.” A newly released documentary on ethnic cleansing by a credible British Journalist shows that the TPLF continues to carry-out systematic and most often silent ethnic cleansing of the Amhara. The epicenter of Amhara atrocities was in Gondar and its vicinities. The same city and environs is also the epicenter of popular defiance against the TPLF. This is why the TPLF security chief identified Gondar as its target. In specific terms, this targeting entails selective killings, disappearances, expulsions, jailings, disarming the population, especially the peasantry.

2. The world community, the African Union, the governments of the United States and the United Kingdom—two of the largest bilateral donors to the TPLF government as well as all Ethiopians should be deeply concerned and take action before it is too late. Why? Unless the UN Security Council, the AU, the governments of the United States and the UK urge the government of Ethiopia to cease killing its own people, lift martial law and initiate meaningful dialogue towards a transitional government of national unity involving all stakeholders, civil war and genocide might occur. I wish I could be wrong. I do not want or like civil war. I have always revolted against publically motivated killings. Civil war is enormously costly and has a lasting effect. Tribalism is wrong and must be outlawed. I do not want to see an Ethiopian society that targets and demeans any ethnic group. I want Ethiopia to remain intact. I want Ethiopians to be free of poverty and disease. I know its people have enormous potential to join the family of prosperous nations. But, evidence suggests things are getting out of hand; and Ethiopia does not seem to have statesmen to guide it. To put this plea as clearly as I can it is time for President Obama and the Prime Minister of the UK, the US Congress as well as members of the European Union to state clearly “What the government of Ethiopia is doing against its own people is wrong. Killings must stop. Peace and stability must be restored. The martial law environment that deepens fear must be lifted.”

3. Given the history of state-sponsored extrajudicial killings, disappearances, unabashed ethnic hatred and ethnic cleansing over the past quarter century, the current situation is dangerous for the entire volatile and unstable Horn of Africa. To put it harshly, it is apocalyptic. It is therefore time for the UN Security Council to prevent genocide of the Amhara. This body more than any other can and should urge the government of Ethiopia to lift martial law, stop killings, withdraw troops from the Amhara and Oromia regions and stop to pit Ethiopians against Tigreans.

4. The government of the United State has ample leverage with the government of Ethiopia to call for an all-stakeholders conference and for the formation of a Transitional Government of National Unity. This transition must be as orderly as possible; and should avoid any form of retaliation and revenge against any ethnic or religious group.

Why the US, the UK and the UN system should side with the Ethiopian people now

The cry of millions of Ethiopians matters more than the false pretense of stability that does not exist in reality. The Ethiopian people, most of them young, have shown a fierce determination and resiliency in their collective pursuit of freedom, justice, equality and the rule of law. They continue to defy the repressive government that has shown a recurrent proclivity to use bullets, massive incarcerations and disappearances through the use of state-sponsored extrajudicial killings and other cruel punishments rather than a willingness to resort to dialogue, consultation, negotiation and accommodation of all stakeholders in a transitional political arrangement that will lead to free and fair elections. This option will spare the country from disaster.

According to the latest data, including a powerful open letter to President Obama by Mr. Obang Meto of Solidarity, more than 800 innocent people, most of them young, have been killed by security forces since the Oromo popular uprising in November 2015. Recently, more than 100 young people were killed in the city of Bahir Dar, the Amhara region. Over the past weekend, four young people were killed in Gondar. Earlier, an estimated 400-600 Oromo youth were killed by the same forces; and 5,000 were jailed. In the most recent popular uprisings in the Amhara region, 800 people (400 in Gondar and other towns and 400 in Bahir Dar)–most of them young have been jailed. The number of disappearances in the Amhara and Oromo regions is said to be “staggering.” No one really knows where the TPLF led security and defense forces “hide” these thousands. It is said by domestic observes that the regime is building more prisons to accommodate an escalating number of political prisoners. Is there an end to these killings, disappearances and jailings?

Reinforcing the above plea, the purpose of this article is:

I (a) To urge the global community, especially the UN Security Council, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, the African Union; and the governments of the United States and the United Kingdom—the lead financiers of the TPLF minority ethnic junta–to side with the Ethiopian people. While the West has a history of supporting minority elites subservient to their needs, this model won’t work in Ethiopia for a simple reason. The vast majority of the population refuses to accept the status of subordination; and this majority is mostly young and aspirational. Siding with the Ethiopian majority is smart. It is in America’s own long-term national interest. Otherwise, the U.S. will have another Syria in its hands.

Taking external threats as a basis, I have provided documentary evidence that onslaught on ordinary Ethiopians has made Ethiopia more vulnerable to extremist and terrorist groups such as Al- Shabab and the country’s traditional enemies that finance various groups in order to destabilize and fracture Ethiopia (A Race to the Bottom and Ethiopia at Risk, Ethiomedia etc.) The bottom line is this. It is time for President Obama (for his own legacy in Africa) to state to the government of Ethiopia “What you are doing to your people is wrong. You can’t respond to popular demand for freedom, justice, the rule of law and respect for human rights by killing, maiming, imprisoning and expelling Ethiopians. You can’t persuade the U.S. that the uprising is guided by terrorists and bandits. If you want America’s support, come to peace with the vast majority who are marginalized. If not, you no longer deserve our support. Negotiate for a political transition now in order to save the country from Balkanization, civil war and genocide.”

I (b) The current popular uprising among the Amhara and Oromo population—the vast majority of Ethiopia’s 101 million people—is a cumulative response to 25 years of repression, land annexation, marginalization and state-sponsored displacement of millions of Ethiopians. It is a response to silent killing in the form of ethnic cleansing of the Amhara and land grab that has been taking place since 1979.

This period marks the plot and design by the TPLF to initiate social engineering at a massive scale. Why this social engineering?

The core issue is land and identity

1 (c) As a Tigrean businessman said rightly a few months ago, Tigray does not possess ample farmlands in order to feed its population. In essence, geography has become destiny for the region; and without planned and deliberate social engineering using state power as an instrument, you can’t change geography. The TPLF acquires land assets conveyed by geography using brute force. What does the TPLF do to achieve its goals? Among other things, it embarked upon a new fabricated history of land claim. It still rewrites history and develops a new curriculum to teach children that “What is not yours is in fact yours.” And children begin to believe fiction as fact. According to scholars who know the subject, the TPLF designed a plan to expand the Tigray region and begun annexing and incorporating lands from Wollo and Gondar into Tigray. It then started a two-pronged approach in social engineering: transfer of hundreds of thousands of Tigreans into the annexed lands; and “silently kill” and openly trigger disappearances, marginalization and displacement of an equal number or more Amhara. Greater Tigray expanded at the expense of the Amhara population. It is now clear from the uprising in the entire Amhara region that this zero sum game (I survive and thrive at your expense) can only last as long as those marginalized and displaced tolerate it. It is a matter of survival. If you wish to survive as an entity, you have no option but toorganize and defend your rights and defend these rights at any human cost. It is this reality on the ground that the world community, especially supporters of the TPLF fail to see. Is there a better option? There is.

I (d) As far back as I can remember, mobility to other parts of Ethiopia among Tigreans and Amhara goes back thousands of years. This is the gold standard of a diverse society! The Amhara region, especially the fertile lands in Setit Humera and other locations attracted hundreds of thousands of Tigreans as a norm. The Amhara welcomed and accepted Tigreans as brothers and sisters. Contrary to the animosity implanted by the TPLF, these two ethnic groups have more in common: faith, intermarriages, contiguity, history and more. It was natural and normal to coexist. No one questioned then the right of any Ethiopian to move to and settle anywhere in the country in order to improve their lives. This norm has been shattered deliberately and systematically by the TPLF and its allies. Just think of this dichotomy. Ethiopians are unable to move, settle, own property, elect and be elected to office outside their Kilil but enjoy this right outside their homeland.

I (e) Didn’t millions (more than 4 million by the latest count) of Ethiopians leave their country and settle across the globe? Does the US for example, restrict their movement by state and ethnicity? Internally, that is, in order to establish lasting peace and shared prosperity within Ethiopia, there is no substitute to this fundamental principle of mobility of citizens within their own country. Citizens’ rights means just that—the right to live anywhere in Ethiopia, own property, elect and be elected. Certainly, what is un-natural is forcible expulsion of indigenous people and resettlement by new settlers. This is a recipe for disaster. When you preselect people to move and own property by ethnicity, the unintended consequence is that those selected become targets. The TPLF airlifted Tigreans from Gondar and is selectively moving them from Oromia because of fear of retaliation. Who implanted this fear? Is it the victims or those who exercise hegemony over the Ethiopian people? Studies show that, ultimately, no force of arms can enforce and implement a strategy of social engineering, narrow economic and natural resources capture and of changing geography. Admittedly, the balance of military force might give one the impression of invincibility in reengineering society and in reshaping geography. But, this is illusory and temporal. You can’t take over lands from Oromo farmers and give it to Tigrean elites and foreigners and live in peace. By the same token, you can’t annex lands from the Amhara and incorporate these into Greater Tigray without triggering permanent conflict and war. It is a matter of sheer survival. I repeat what is best. Depoliticize ethnicity and embrace the common humanity of all Ethiopians!

I (f) Studies show that under conditions of ethnic elite political and economic capture, gains from economic growth are inevitably captured by those who govern. It is insane to think that what is left can lift millions out of abject poverty. Trickledown economics has not worked in America and can’t work in a poor and backward economy like Ethiopia. If we accept that the current uprisings are a result of cumulative repression, marginalization and displacement of millions of Ethiopians, we need to entertain the notion that neither the Ethiopian government nor the donor and diplomatic community has been prepared for the political and economic flash points that erupted suddenly. These flash points in the form of popular uprisings are driven by systemic social deprivation including hunger, political repression, the demeaning of specific ethnic groups, marginalization of indigenous people, annexation of lands and incorporation into greater Tigray; by grants to foreign investors; and by a proclivity to pit Amhara against Oromo and vice versa. They underpin the systemic nature of the issue.

I (g) Despite famed “double digit growth,” the government and donors failed to channel and use scarce resources effectively. This is the reason why famine and starvation recur and persist; and why the economy is not resilient. In effect, aid has failed to change the structure of the economy because benefits are stolen, budgets and aid are squandered, wasted and deployed as a political and diplomatic tool. Despite rhetoric, aid has failed to tackle huge unemployment among youth. It has not diminished chronic hunger, disease and poor sanitation. It has not promoted safe drinking water, proper shelter and other basic necessities for the vast majority of the population. It has failed miserably to deal with elite rent seeking, corruption and massive illicit outflow of funds, the squandering of public funds and ethnic bias and nepotism. In fact, the system has deepened inequality and instability. Gold is mined and exported but indigenous people are among the poorest in that location. Lands are cordoned for development; but farmers who should own them are barred by the federal government and local elites.

1 (h) Ethiopia has gained an infamous status as a laboratory of development. It is replete with non-governmental organizations whose social impact is negligible. With a few exceptions, their singular preoccupation is self-serving. Most follow the political line of the ruling party and serve the interests of their own governments. They do not speak out in support of human rights and human dignity. They are managed by professionals with personal interests, in their incomes and wellbeing rather than by passion for justice, the rule of law and the advancement of democracy. This is a worldwide phenomenon, especially in Africa where civil society is weak and global actors are supreme. At the same time, there are outstanding exceptions such as Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, the Committee to Protect Journalists and others I commend. They say it like it is. The work of Human Rights Watch, especially Mr. Felix Horn is outstanding.

I (j) Turning to UN organizations, Ethiopians are heartened by the fact the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Prince Zeid Raad Al Hussein. He was vocal in his criticism of the government of Ethiopia for recent killings and for Ethiopia’s deliberate and recurrent use of extrajudicial measures to suppress dissent. His call to send international observers to Ethiopia to investigate the killings is commendable and encouraging. As expected, the regime rejected this request. The UN Security Council has a responsibility to look into this repetitive rejection by the Ethiopian regime of a request by one of the most important organs of the UN system. Investigators must be allowed to go to Ethiopia and establish he truth.

I (j) I genuinely believe that it is time for the UN system and supporter governments of the TPLF junta as well as all Ethiopians supporting the popular uprising to recognize that issuing press releases every time state-sponsored killings take place is no longer enough. Lip service is immoral. The dead and the missing are not mere statistics. They are human beings. They leave behind parents, spouses, children, sisters and brothers, uncles and aunts, friends and other relatives who care. The young could be tomorrow’s leaders, teachers, scientists, businessmen and women etc. They are huge losses for the country and their communities. The number of the unknown dead is probably huge.

I (j) I am fully aware that Ethiopia does not offer reliable data. Nevertheless, what is available is compelling and the illustrative sample below shows the magnitude of state-sponsored killings:

— Security forces killed 40 Addis Ababa university students in April 2001 for demanding academic freedom to publish a student newspaper.

—In the town of Teppi, 200 protesters from the Mazenger and Shekicho ethnic groups were killed on March 10, 2002. The reason is that they protested the regional boundary lines and wanted to form a political party, both allowed by the Constitution.

—25 Sidamo civilians were killed in Awassa on May 24, 2002 while protesting peacefully against the federal government’s involvement in Sidamo regional affairs.

—-Ethiopian Defense Forces, accompanied by local civilian militias armed by the state, massacred 424 unarmed Annuak in Gambella on December 13, 2003. Genocide Watch determined these killings constituted crimes against humanity. This was followed by wanton destruction of homes, crops, schools, health clinics, wells and the limited infrastructure that exists in Gambella.

—- TPLF-led security forces killed nearly 200 peaceful protesters in the streets of Addis Ababa following peaceful protests in the aftermath of the stolen national elections in 2005. Thousands were jailed and hundreds were wounded. Meles declared that protestors and the parties they supported were going to commit ethnic genocide against Tigreans in a similar vein as that of Rwanda. The same propaganda is being propagated against the Amhara population in Gondar, Debre Tabor, Bahir Dar, Debre Markos and other towns. There is absolutely no basis to accuse the Amhara population in Gondar or elsewhere of such ill-will and ill-intent against Tigreans. The art of propaganda is always to blame the victim. This absurd and untrue propaganda is being used to airlift all Tigreans from Gondar and other towns to safe havens in Tigray and Addis Ababa. What is the strategic reason for this move? What would happen next?

—-Human rights groups such as Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, Genocide Watch and others reported that Ethiopian forces committed mass crimes against humanity in the Somali regional state. These included widespread killing of civilians, rape and destruction of homes, livestock and wells and the displacement of tens of thousands in 2007. Some human rights organizations went as far as labeling these atrocities as a “silent Darfur.” Sadly, the numbers are not well established.

— Widespread human rights abuses in the Afar and Beni-Shangul Gumuz regions have been reported.

—– 200 Oromo were killed by security forces in 2014. From November 2005 up to the recent uprisings in July and August this year, an estimated 600 Oromo protesters were killed.

—–In the most recent uprising in Bahir Dar alone 100 people were killed by security forces; and dozens of others were killed in Gondar, Debre Tabor and other towns and numerous have been wounded. Each day we receive reports of killings and disappearances.

(k) It is worth noting what the Washington Post captured on August 10, 2016. In “A year after Obama visit, Ethiopia is in turmoil,” it described the situation as follows: “In the country side (where there is no media) the week was a bloodier story. Rights groups and opposition figures estimate that dozens were killed in weekend of protests that shook this U.S. ally in the Horn of Africa….This country of 100 million has been hit by widespread drought that has halved growth, and anti-government protests have spread across two of the most populous regions…Amnesty put the toll at about 100.” Later on reports show that 100 people were killed in Bahir Dar alone. Professor Merera is right when he told the Post that “The government is responding in the same way it has responded to such incidents for the last quarter century.” More critical is to note this depiction. “In the face of the repression, the protests quieted down in Oromia, only to erupt last month in the neighboring region of the Amhara, the historical ethnic center of the Ethiopian state and home to spectacular rock-cut churches and medieval castles that attract tourists….Protestors in Amhara declared solidarity with the Oromo people and their opposition to the government, which many say is dominated by the minority Tigrean ethnic group.” People in both regions have at last concluded that they have no other option. They have no voice. The Post quotes Professor Merera again. “These protests are at a level of intifada (the Arabic term for the Palestinian resistance movement—people in their own ways are resisting the government pressure and demanding their rights. I don’t think it is going to die down.” I agree with this assessment.

Nothing exemplifies the plight of the Ethiopian people as dramatically and as vividly as the protest of a global athlete. The Washington Post depicted the rise of an Ethiopian hero of Oromo nationality. Feyisa Lilesa who “crossed the Olympics marathon finish line and put his hands above his head in an “X,” the Oromo Hashtag of protest against killings and defiance of the TPLF. “Most of those who watched Lilesa’s spectacular silver medal performance didn’t know what that meant — or just how dangerous a protest they were watching. The plight of the Oromo and the Ethiopian government’s use of force against civilians have received some attention recently, but nothing as prominent as Lilesa’s defiance… But likely because Ethiopia remains a U.S. ally in the fight against Somali Islamist group Al-Shabab, American officials have been reluctant to offer any further condemnation.” So, Amhara, Oromo and other protestors are on their own. The young defiant Feyisa Lilesa should inspire each of us to side with those who are dying for justice and freedom.

I (l) Compelling and urgent too is how much the TPLF has deliberately exposed Ethiopia to external threat and instability. Rashid Abdi, director of the Horn of Africa project, the International Crisis Group put this real threat succinctly. “It is clear Ethiopia has a potentially serious and destabilizing unrest on its hands.” The TPLF led government’s leadership is doing the opposite of what is required. Things will begin to quiet down only to the extent that the TPLF stops killing; and is willing and ready to negotiate a transition. Otherwise, the root causes that led to the uprisings and the corresponding killings will continue. The social and economic costs will enormous.

( m ) Current rumors and speculations of a variety of scenarios within the TPLF: a) continue repression, direct and silent killings, disappearances and further marginalization and repression to save the TPLF b) deal with the people directly and make some concessions c) negotiate with an amenable ethnic political party and or parties and restore the 1991 model d) initiate a staggered process of reconciliation and peace with the opposition and buy time and e) discuss the option of a Transitional government of national unity. It seems to me that only options that may satisfy the vast majority might be options d and e. Time is of the essence. These and other sensible options should be pursued vigorously and systematically. In the meantime, and given the volatility of the Horn of Africa, the world can ill afford to watch state sponsored killings. This carnage must stop now. Whether Ethiopia is an ally of the U.S. or not, the long-term costs of the crisis will be huge not only for Ethiopians and the regime but also for Western governments that shore-up the regime. I urge American policy makers including the Pentagon to change policy by siding with the majority.

The UN High Commissioner’s recommendation for a special investigation by international observers reflects the magnitude of the problem. This recommendation should be enforced by the UN Security Council. A

While quantitate data and global attention have been drawn with regard to killings in Gambella, the Ogaden and Oromia, massive ethnic cleansing of the Amhara has not received such attention until recently. This unprecedented ethnic cleansing of the Amhara population before and after the TPLF took power has now been well-documented and deserves global attention. (See a recent documentary on Ethnic Cleansing of the Amharahttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1K–5J6tmdg) Annex II. Killings continue. On August 20, the TPLF killed at least 3 people in Gondar. Their crime is to protest peacefully in defense of freedom, justice and equality. It is clear that these atrocities won’t stop until the global community, especially the U.S. sees dangers ahead and unless the system changes.

In brief, in all cases there is still lack of engagement with the population by donors, NGOS and the Diplomatic community in Addis Ababa. Daily killings continue with the world community dead silent as if nothing happened. Only Ethiopians who care must stand with the people and provide sustained support. There is also a dearth of commitment by these groups to people’s empowerment and capacity building, including participation in policy and decision making. If the donor, NGO and diplomatic community conducted a survey in Ethiopia they will be shocked that the flash points mentioned above are taking place under their noses while the TPLF wines and dines them. It is tragic to note that donors, diplomats and NGOs are detached and thus appear irrelevant in the lives of the vast majority of Ethiopians. We are not helpless at all. I am convinced that we can change this situation through collective action and voice.

It is therefore time for the Obama administration to side with the Ethiopian people, especially young Amhara and Oromo who are sacrificing their lives for a just, equitable, rule of law based and democratic system of government for all Ethiopians. 

Annexes

Annex 1: Who Controls Ethiopian Institutions? This partial list reflects situation as of August 20, 2016

1. Defense

Who are 7 of the top commanders?

1 General Samora Yunus—Chief of Staff (Tigrean)

2. Lt. General Tadesse Worede—Chief of Armed Forces Training (Tigrean)
3. Lt. General Gezaee Abera— Chief of Logistics (Tigrean)
4. Brigadier General Gebre Della— Chief of Security, Armed Forces (Tigrean)
5. Major General Gebre-Egziabhier— Chief of military campaign (Tigrean)
6. Lt General Berhane Negash— Chief of military engineering (Tigrean0
7. Major General Adem Mohammed—Chief of the Airforce (Tigrean)
8. Justice
9. Hagos Woldu— Judge, Federal High Court—(Tigrean)
10. Mesfin Equbeyohannis—Federal High Court— Tigrean)
11. Medhin Kiros— Vice President of the Federal High Court (Tigrean)
12. Desta Gebru— Judge, Federal High Court (Tigrean)

III. Intelligence and Security

1. Getachew Assefa—Director of Intelligence and Security (Tigrean)
2. Hadera Abera— Deputy Chief, Intelligence and Security (Tigrean)
3. Yared Hiluf—Chief of Domestic Intelligence and Security (Tigrean)
4. Commander Teklay—Chief of National Intelligence and Security Services and Federal Police Task Force on Terrorism (Tigrean)
5. Media Broadcasters and Journalists
6. Temesgen Beyene—ETV News Broadcaster—(Tigrean)
7. Kibrom Woldeselassie—ETV News Broadcaster to the Amhara region (Tigrean)
8. Eden Gebrehiwot—ETV Special Entertainment Program Broadcaster (Tigrean)
9. Hermella Gebrekidan—ETV News Broadcaster (Tigrean)
10. Hilina Mebratu—ETV Amharic News Broadcaster to the Amhara region (Tigrean)
11. Alganesh Teka—ETV Correspondent (Tigrean)
12. Solomon Nigremedhin—ETV Correspondent, SNNP region (Tigrean)
13. Eden Berhane—ETV Correspondent assigned to Menilik Palace (Tigrean)
14. Abrehet Adem—ETV Camera/Film (Tigrean)

10. Daniel Gebre-Egziabhier—News Broadcaster to the SNNP region (Tigrean)
11. Kibkab Tadesse—ETV Correspondent (Tigrean)
12. Atakilti Gebremeskel—Photographer (Tigrean)
13. Tsegaleul Woldetsadik—Program Manager (Tigrean)
14. Rahel Tekleyohannis—English News Broadcaster (Tigrean)
15. Sarah Fissihaye—Program Manager (Tigrean)
16. Alemayehu Gebrehiwot—Program Manager (Tigrean)
17. Seifu Assegid—Program Manager (Tigrean)
18. Gebremikael Gebremedhin—Special Program Manager (Tigrean)
19. Tesfaye Mahari—Amharic Correspondent for the Amhara region (Tigrean)
20. Kiros Tsega—Amharic Correspondent for the Amhara region (Tigrean)
21. Firehiwot Zemikael—Computer Correspondent (Tigrean)
22. Afewerki Kahsay—Special Program Manager (Tigrean)
23. Tadesse Mizan Teka—Lead Program Manager (Tigrean)

1. Ethiopian Sports Federation
2. Berhane Kidanemariam—President, Ethiopian Olympics Committee (Tigrean)
3. Kiros Gebremeskel—President, Ethiopian Tekquando Association (Tigrean)
4. Kiros Habte—President, Ethiopian Swimming Association (Tigrean)
5. Tesfaye Asgedom—President, Ethiopian Volley Ball Association (Tigrean)
6. Rezene Beyene—Ethiopian Cycling Association (Tigrean)
7. Dagmawit Ghirmay—Secretary, Ethiopian Olympics Committee (Tigrean)
8. Ghidey Gebremedhin—President, Ethiopian Chess Association (Tigrean)

Annex II: Ethnic Cleansing

The Silent Genocide on the Amhara Documentary- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1K–5J6tmdg

To be continued

August 23, 2016

“Courage is not the absence of fear– it’s inspiring others to move beyond it.” Nelson Mandela

It is no longer defensible for the U.S. and other Western countries to provide financial, intelligence, military, diplomatic and logistics support to the TPLF dominated government unless the TPLF is ready and willing to embrace an inclusive government now. On the ground, the pendulum has shifted dramatically to the side of the people. It should be self-evident to American policy makers including the Pentagon that the more TPLF’s Agazi and allied forces kill the more defiant and determined the resistance is deepened and broadened. In turn, this condition creates a fertile ground for terrorists and Ethiopia’s traditional enemies. The Obama administration should therefore condemn TPLF state sponsored atrocities in all parts of Ethiopia. History tells us that, in the long-run, people united and not ethnic elites transform societies for the better.

The TPLF has hardly learned anything from past mistakes, including the mistakes by the repressive regime it replaced. Tragically, the TPLF is emboldening the resistance through its traditional method of extrajudicial killings. For instance, on August 20, 2016, the TPLF snipers killed four people in Gondar, including the young activist Gizachew Ketema. Here is the reason. The people of Gondar came out in droves wearing white to symbolically recognize the dreadful and exclusionary days of the Meles regime and demanding that Ethiopians go beyond ethnicity and religion and unite to end the hegemony of the TPLF. A new, united, independent, sovereign and all-inclusive Ethiopia that embraces and celebrates its diversity and empowers each and every individual to fulfil her/his potential is the only way all of us can save Ethiopia from destruction. The country and its 101 million deserve such a compelling and forwarding looking vision.

America’s Policy towards Ethiopia should be recast

As a student of international relations, I often ask myself the question of “What should inform U.S. policy with regard to Ethiopia in such a manner that the two countries benefit.” I suggest the following:

ï‚· Recognition that Ethiopia is one the oldest cradles of civilization, origin of the human species and the center of coexistence of three great religions: Christianity, Islam and Judaism. In a world of turmoil and failing states in the Horn, North Africa and the Middle East, this tradition of mutual tolerance and respect matters; and America should strengthen it by giving the right signals and by siding with the population.

ï‚· Appreciation of the fact that Ethiopia has an established record as an independent state predating of those of most European nations. This status is a result of the unity of the country’s diverse population at times of its greatest need. Despite internal conflicts, repression by governments and lack of good governance, Ethiopians have more in common than is portrayed by self-serving political elites and foreign governments.

ï‚· Although production methods are Biblical, Ethiopia has a well-established culture of settled agriculture, especially crop production and animal husbandry. U.S. aid can strengthen this sector.

Ethiopian-American relations were established under Emperor Menilik in 1905. Since then, people to people relations have flourished and remain constant regardless of regime change.

ï‚· American participation in Ethiopia’s modernization and institution building begun under Emperor Haile Selassie with various agreements and projects such as the “Point Four Agreement for Technical Cooperation, 1951”, the Peace Corps under President Kennedy, a major survey of the hydroelectric and irrigation potential of the Abbay River, the Imperial Highway Authority, Ethiopian Airlines in 1945, the Ethiopian Airforce initially supported by Sweden and numerous institutions of higher learning. The Ethiopian Airforce was among the most competent not only in Africa but also the Middle East. Now completely dominated by TPLF staff, EAL was the first to fly to numerous African countries.

ï‚· In summary, measured on the basis of quality and not numbers, more Ethiopians were educated and trained by the United States than by any other country. This is the foundation of an enduring Ethiopian-American people to people relationship that should not be under stated by U.S. policy makers.

ï‚· It is true that this remarkable relationship between Ethiopia and the United States changed abruptly in the 1970s. It is not my intent to dwell on this unfortunate change.

ï‚· While most Ethiopians subscribe to America’s war against terrorism in the Horn of Africa and understand the motive behind according the TPLF government the status of an “ally,” this policy is short-sighted. It can no longer be justified because the TPLF-led government is narrowly based. It is punishing its own people through extrajudicial instruments under the pretext of “anti-terrorism.” The Obama administration, the U.S. Congress and the public ought to appreciate that America’s good will, values, image and long-term interests are being damaged severely.

ï‚· The Obama administration and Congress must appreciate the notion that Ethiopia’s famed double digit growth has practically come to a halt. Famine-driven hunger has been compounded by an outbreak of underreported cholera and by a popular countrywide resistance that is deep and wide. The central government is unable and incapable of to provide basic services to the public. In effect, it is incapacitated. Its focus is survival of the one party state and government. The root causes of the resistance remain unaddressed. The government’s preoccupation of crushing the resistance has been overcome through imaginative house-sit-ins, economic boycotts etc. Social media, especially mobile phones, person to person exchanges of information are widely used. Ethiopia’s trade to historical places in Axum, Lalibela, Gondar, the Semien Mountains, the Omo Valley, the Oromia lake district and other places have practically stopped. All these conditions contribute to a low or zero growth scenario. Prices are escalating at an alarming rate. (See Letter from Addis Ababa: Ethiopia doesn’t want you to know,” the Washington Post, August 20, 2016).

ï‚· The Obama administration and Congress must appreciate the unintended consequence of TPLF arrogance and intransigence that peaceful resistance in response to a legitimate grievance can be crushed. It can’t. Those who defy the one party ethnic-minority state and government are fully aware that the public purse is used to kill, maim, jail and incapacitate. They thus resort to boycotts, house-sit-ins, refusal to pay taxes etc. Does the TPLF intend to go house to house and arrest hundreds of thousands of Ethiopians?

ï‚· In short, the Obama administration and Congress, donors, investors and other foreign stakeholders must come to grips with the reality on the ground that there is no stability in the country; and that the current resistance is unlikely to stop unless its root causes are addressed.

ï‚· Protesters indicate the majority of Ethiopians feel strongly that the harsher the regime, the more the resistance! Those who support TPLF harsh treatment of protestors by demeaning the Oromo and Amhara population are adding petroleum to the fire. The rest of us should do everything we can to focus on the system rather than on persons and ethnic groups.

Why the American public should care

The people of the United States, Congress, Presidential candidates Hilary Clinton and Donald Trump as well as the Obama administration to whom this commentary is addressed should heed to the plight of the vast majority of the Ethiopian people and speak out loud and clear that the TPLF/EPRDF must initiate a serious discussion on the formation of a Transitional Government of National Unity involving all stakeholders now. I say this because the country and its diverse population face imminent danger and disaster. There is ample evidence to show that TPLF die-hards are under the illusion that they own the entire country and can save it from disaster by deploying force of arms. History and numbers are against this illusory, nihilist and narcissistic model. Over the past quarter century, the TPLF has been highly successful in asserting command and control of the entire country, its institutions and its resources by “telling Oromo that their enemies are Amhara, Amhara that their enemies are Oromo and Tigreans that their enemies are both Amhara and Oromo” as the situation demanded. Activists at home and abroad opine that this formula is outdated and no one buys it! It is not the intent of this commentary to elucidate on who the beneficiaries of this DIVIDE AND RULE model are. I subscribe to the notion that it is a worn-out and tired strategy that has been debunked by Amhara and Oromo youth at home and abroad.

People shape history

Here is the demographic reality in terms of the solidarity of the population that is fighting for change. The Oromo (34 percent, Amhara 27 percent (debatable census figure that underestimates the number with millions of Amhara living in Oromia and 2.4 million unaccounted for), Somali 6 percent, Sidama 4 percent, Gurage 3 percent and other minority ethnic groups representing 20 percent, a combined 94 percent of Ethiopia’s 101 million people are part of the popular resistance against the TPLF in one form or another. Ethiopian observers feel strongly that, had the TPLF allowed the people of Tigray who represent 6 percent of the population to exercise their freedom to protest, they too would join their compatriots in the resistance for freedom, justice, genuine equality and the rule of law. I have no doubt for a single second that the people of Tigray have as much stake in the future of a country they defended for thousands of years as any one of us. Inclusion means the Tigrean people too.

The TPLF has, instead, created a wedge between the vast majority of Ethiopians and Tigreans for a strategic reason. Just look at the following glaring statistics of minority ethnic-hegemony in decision-making where it matters most; and ask the lead question of who owns Ethiopia’s national institutions and assets today?(Annex 1).

As shown in the Annex, the strategic objective of institutional supremacy in defense, security and intelligence, telecommunications and the media, justice, foreign affairs, finance and budget and civil society organizations by the TPLF at a level that is both shameful and unprecedented in any country is simple. It is to ensure that these institutions are impenetrable by non-TPLF members. Differently put, it is to continue political, intelligence and military, budgetary, financial, natural resources and diplomatic hegemony over the rest; and to do it at any cost. I have argued in the past that this merger of party, state and government by an ethnic-minority party will unravel at one point. The unraveling of this dominance is manifested in at least the following areas:

ï‚· Decentralization under the ethnic-federal system has been undermined. It is the central or federal government governed of the TPLF that is supreme in all sectors of life, for example natural resources ownership and exploitation. The TPLF interfered in the affairs of the Amhara region; sidelined the regional party; and exercises total oversight. Among other things, it plans to disarm the population by any means necessary. It has capacity to reject the indigenous population’s demand of federal government recognition of identity and ownership of lands. The bottom line is this. If there ever was genuine decentralization of policy and decision-making to the regions it is now gone.

ï‚· No one really knows today who stands for Ethiopia and the Ethiopian people. There is hardly any central administration to speak of.

ï‚· It is vital to remember the reality on the ground. The capacity to kill and subdue peaceful people who protest for justice is entirely dependent on who is well-armed. Equally, the capacity to conduct ethnic-cleansing using a variety of instruments depends on who is armed and has ample financial resources to achieve its objectives.

ï‚· The capacity to shut-off all forms of media communication including social media is also dependent on who controls the state and government (see Annex I on the Tigreanization of the communications and media establishment). These are the mouthpieces of the TPLF. Further, this supremacy enables the TPLF to buy foreign journalists to tell its side of the story without the benefit of presenting the other side.

For example, a reporter of Al-Jazeera wrote the following quoting Tigreans anonymously rather than the protestors and relatives of those killed in Gondar. Charles Strafford’s piece of August 21, 2016 presents a distorted and inflammatory picture; and should be retracted by Aljazeera. “Thousands of ethnic Tigreans have fled the Ethiopian city of Gondar to escape anti-government protesters….Their homes and businesses have been attacked over their perceived connections to the government.” He quotes another anonymously that “He and many Tigreans like him have been forced to flee from their homes and business in the northern city of Gondar because of threats by some members of Amhara community. “ As a journalist, he should have asked if any Tigrean was attacked by any Gondarie. He accepted the rumor mill as fact and gave ammunition for the TPLF to take harsh measures against the Amhara population of Gondar. “Rumors and threats started spreading that all of the Tigreans would be forced to leave Gondar in the coming days…Tigreans living in and around the city are very afraid because property have been attacked and people have been killed.” Those killed are Amhara and the killers are Agazi. It is tragic that he and those quoted equate property with human life. They fail to mention that the fear culture in Gondar and other parts of Ethiopia is created by the TPLF. It therefore defies the imagination that the TPLF turns things around and accuses victims for crimes committed by TPLF state and government and no one else! “They think that almost all the Tigreans are supporting the government. And many think in order to weaken the government they have to kick out all the Tigreans from Gondar. Many Tigrean business have been attacked – hotels, cafes, shops and even homes have been targeted.” Would these same sources admit that the Amhara population has been a target of ethnic-cleansing, marginalization, displacement and demeaning by the TPLF and its supporters for a quarter of a century? (Annex II: Silent Genocide on the Amhara Documentary.)

Gondaries and other Amhara are routinely labeled by the TPLF and its surrogates in derogatory and demeaning terms such as “retards and donkeys” in their own turfs. It is common for the TPLF and surrogates to call Oromo as “criminals and terrorists.” How does the TPLF and its loyalists reconcile these divisive and exclusionary degradations with the needs of the Tigrean people to live without fear anywhere in the rest of Ethiopia? Whether I may have a differing view or not, the reality is that all TPLF symbols of power and control (parks, statues, real physical property etc.) become targets because people are simply fed up being treated like animals. They want to be treated with dignity and respect. Is this not the reason why the TPLF took arms against the Military Dictatorship?

As far as I know the TPLF and not the people of Gondar or other parts of Amhara and Oromo made the decision to airlift all Tigreans from Gondar and other locations. The TPLF COMMAND should be asked why; and not victims of its security and defense establishments.

Whether the symbol of wearing white or carrying red cards, boycotts, house sit-ins, prayers and other forms of resistance, lifting fists upwards as is done by Oromo activists, the principle of collaboration and solidarity across ethnic, religious and generational lines is monumental and irreversible. For the first time in a quarter of a century, solidarity among the Amhara and Oromo people is much stronger than ever before. The central tenet of resistance among these immense popular forces with potential is freedom, justice, the rule of law, fair and just treatment of citizens, equitable distribution of income and ultimately people-anchored democracy. Against this irreversible principle and movement is total denial of reality on the ground; and a hard line and disingenuous position on the part of the TPLF that dominates party, government and state. What is the evidence? Plenty.

On August 20, 2016, activists in Addis Ababa were in the process of mobilizing the population to demonstrate on Sunday August 21, 2016. They issued millions of red cards as symbols of defiance and to end TPLF rule. In a panic, the TPLF mobilized and swarmed the city with Agazi and other instruments of repression. Someone told me on the phone that “the city looked like a militarized zone.” It is said that the TPLF offered “financial incentives and subsidies” to members of security and other forces who obeyed orders to kill, club, maim and arrest. This indicates a growing suspicion within the ruling party that members of the defense forces may refuse to kill their own people. Reports indicate that there were more special hit squads in the city than protestors. The TPLF had managed to go house to house and arrest activists. Their whereabouts is unknown. Meantime, protests, house sit-ins and boycotts erupted in other towns and rural areas. Defiance has become the norm in Ethiopia. In Gondar one activist is quoted saying this. “The more innocent people the TPLF kills, the more defiant and resolved we become.” In Addis Ababa one spokesman of the organizing group captured the resistance this way. “The TPLF is doing our work. It advertises arrests and beatings to the public. In doing so, those who did not know of the ongoing resistance are alerted and informed. People are ready to die rather than live in constant misery!” Those killed, maimed and arrested have become heroes and heroines of the resistance movement. Some insiders say that the people of Addis Ababa may resort to staying home, boycotts and silent resistance, a model that many say is effective in Gondar, Bahir Dar etc.

We are told by reliable sources that some peasant communities in the Amhara region are self-governing. Some members of the TPLF’ inner circle admit that the government and state have literally collapsed and the country has become ungovernable. Sadly, these same insiders are reluctant to say that the TPLF’s narcissistic model of governance by punishing ordinary and innocent citizens is producing the opposite effect of more defiance and resistance against the TPLF state and government. The regime is haunted by a sense of encirclement by the very people it has been ruling and plundering for a quarter of a century. The economy is burdened by huge debt; and the current posture of repression rather than negotiation for a transition deepens the structural problems Ethiopia faces. What the Ethiopian people are asking is not more of the same; but a radical restructuring of governance.

What do I mean with more of the same? I suggest that readers take heed of the following leaked message of August 20, 2016 of an insider within the TPLF intelligence from Security Chief Debretsion Gebre Mikael urging the TPLF security and defense forces to “identify, select and subdue the growing unrest triggered by anarchist and terrorist forces.” Specially gulling and irresponsible is the pinpointing of Gondar as the locus of anti-Tigrean sentiment and plot. This is why I objected to the misleading and unbalanced Aljazeera piece. The stakes are too high to provide a biased picture by any journalist. We should be reminded of Rwanda where those in power called on the population to rise up and murder the “coach roaches,” the Tutsi. The world was absolutely ignorant with regard to what followed. As a result of this ignorance and benign neglect hundreds of thousands of Tutsi were massacred. Here is the instruction from the TPLF Chief of Security. It is scary for everyone.

“ጀግናው የመከላካያ ሠራዊታችን፤ የሀገራችንን ሰላም ለማረጋገጥ ከመቸው ጊዜ በላይ በንቃትና በተጠናከረ ሁኔታ በመንቀሳቀስ ፤ በቅርቡ በሀገራችን የተከሰቱ አመፆችን፤ ስልታዊ በሆነ መልኩ ፤ ሥርዓት በማሲያዝ ላይ ይገኛል ።በየክልሉ የሚነሱ ረብሻዎችን ሰብበ በማድረግ፤ በአንድ ብኄር ላይ ያነጣጠረ ጥቃት በመካሀድ ላይ ይገኛል ። በተለይ ብጥብጡ ከበረታባቸው አካባቢዎች፤ የጎንደር ነውጥ በጉልህ የሚጠቀስ ሲሆን፤ ሠራዊታችን ከነውጠኞች ጋር ያደረገውን ፍልሚያ በጀግንነት እያተወጣ ይገኛል ። ከዚህ ጋር በተየያዘ፤ አመፅ ፈጣሪ የሆኑ አካባቢዎችን በመለየት የጦር መሳሪያ የማስፈታቱ ሂደት ፤ የመንግሥት የቅርብ የቤት ሥራ ይሆናል ። እንደዚህ አይነት ሥርዓት አልበኝነት የማክሸፉ ሂደት፤ በተጠናከረ ሁኔታ የሚቀጥል ነው የሚሆነው ። ድል ለመከላካያ ሠራዊታችን ። ” There is a wise saying in Amharic. “አያ ጂቦ ሳታመኻኝ ብላኝ።”

Ethiopia is not under foreign attack. There is not an iota of evidence to suggest that the Eritrean government or any external force or internal opposition party is leading the popular resistance. The resistance is driven by systemic issues; and is grassroots based. Those who are dying each day are the sons and daughters of the Ethiopian people; no one else. Similar to other countries and on the basis of Ethiopia’s established tradition, the primary role of Ethiopia’s defense forces is to protect the country’s borders and preserve its territorial integrity and national sovereignty. It certainly is not to side with the ruling party and punish ordinary citizens. I should like to flag a historical fact.

Ethiopia’s defense force that was both national and multiethnic has been diminished and degraded by the TPLF. The TPLF demolished the country’s multinational defense and security infrastructure and personnel and replaced it by a Tigrean command system and personnel. At present, there is no distinction among the TPLF, security and defense forces, the state and government. They operate as one and the same and carry-out orders at the behest of the TPLF. This is the reason why keen observers conclude that, for all practical purposes the situation between the Ethiopian people on the one hand and the TPLF on the other mimics Eritrea and Ethiopia. In other words, Ethiopia is enveloped by a dicey environment of no peace or no war because of the TPLF. The internal target are Ethiopians and not a foreign enemy. I know of no single country where a government in power that labels peaceful citizens who protest for justice as “enemies” and targets them for extrajudicial measures on behalf of one ethnic group. Ethiopia’s defense establishment ought to distinguish its primary role of defending the country and all of its people; and the political role imposed by the TPLF of defending a rejected system and serve as a camouflage of protecting the Tigrean people who too are suffering under the yoke of the TPLF. The people of Tigray need no protection from ordinary Oromo and Amara. They need protection from the TPLF!

I therefore urge the West in general and the Obama and British administrations in particular to demand that the government of Ethiopia stops the carnage and withdraw troops from cities and towns immediately if not sooner. I also urge all Ethiopians, including Tigreans, to continue the new and encouraging trend of reaching out to one another, collaborating with one another and learning from one another. Tolerance and not arrogance! Both the West and Ethiopians together must speak with one voice that arrogance, warmongering and tribal selectivity and exclusion by the TPLF invites civil war and genocide regardless of who initiates it? I pose this question for anyone who cares about Ethiopia and the Ethiopian people to answer. “Why is the TPLF targeting Gondar and the Amhara population at this time? Why did it airlift all Tigreans from Gondar?” The TPLF and its supporters must answer this question.

I strongly urge skeptics within the Obama administration who continue to give mixed signals to consider the following that emanates from the TPLF Manifesto before it took power in 1991.

1. The TPLF had declared hatred for the Amhara in its Manifesto explicitly. “The Amhara are the enemy of the Tigray people. Not only are that, Amhara are the double enemy of the people of Tigray. Therefore, we have to hit the 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 obstacles.” A newly released documentary on ethnic cleansing by a credible British Journalist shows that the TPLF continues to carry-out systematic and most often silent ethnic cleansing of the Amhara. The epicenter of Amhara atrocities was in Gondar and its vicinities. The same city and environs is also the epicenter of popular defiance against the TPLF. This is why the TPLF security chief identified Gondar as its target. In specific terms, this targeting entails selective killings, disappearances, expulsions, jailings, disarming the population, especially the peasantry.

2. The world community, the African Union, the governments of the United States and the United Kingdom—two of the largest bilateral donors to the TPLF government as well as all Ethiopians should be deeply concerned and take action before it is too late. Why? Unless the UN Security Council, the AU, the governments of the United States and the UK urge the government of Ethiopia to cease killing its own people, lift martial law and initiate meaningful dialogue towards a transitional government of national unity involving all stakeholders, civil war and genocide might occur. I wish I could be wrong. I do not want or like civil war. I have always revolted against publically motivated killings. Civil war is enormously costly and has a lasting effect. Tribalism is wrong and must be outlawed. I do not want to see an Ethiopian society that targets and demeans any ethnic group. I want Ethiopia to remain intact. I want Ethiopians to be free of poverty and disease. I know its people have enormous potential to join the family of prosperous nations. But, evidence suggests things are getting out of hand; and Ethiopia does not seem to have statesmen to guide it. To put this plea as clearly as I can it is time for President Obama and the Prime Minister of the UK, the US Congress as well as members of the European Union to state clearly “What the government of Ethiopia is doing against its own people is wrong. Killings must stop. Peace and stability must be restored. The martial law environment that deepens fear must be lifted.”

3. Given the history of state-sponsored extrajudicial killings, disappearances, unabashed ethnic hatred and ethnic cleansing over the past quarter century, the current situation is dangerous for the entire volatile and unstable Horn of Africa. To put it harshly, it is apocalyptic. It is therefore time for the UN Security Council to prevent genocide of the Amhara. This body more than any other can and should urge the government of Ethiopia to lift martial law, stop killings, withdraw troops from the Amhara and Oromia regions and stop to pit Ethiopians against Tigreans.

4. The government of the United State has ample leverage with the government of Ethiopia to call for an all-stakeholders conference and for the formation of a Transitional Government of National Unity. This transition must be as orderly as possible; and should avoid any form of retaliation and revenge against any ethnic or religious group.

Why the US, the UK and the UN system should side with the Ethiopian people now

The cry of millions of Ethiopians matters more than the false pretense of stability that does not exist in reality. The Ethiopian people, most of them young, have shown a fierce determination and resiliency in their collective pursuit of freedom, justice, equality and the rule of law. They continue to defy the repressive government that has shown a recurrent proclivity to use bullets, massive incarcerations and disappearances through the use of state-sponsored extrajudicial killings and other cruel punishments rather than a willingness to resort to dialogue, consultation, negotiation and accommodation of all stakeholders in a transitional political arrangement that will lead to free and fair elections. This option will spare the country from disaster.

According to the latest data, including a powerful open letter to President Obama by Mr. Obang Meto of Solidarity, more than 800 innocent people, most of them young, have been killed by security forces since the Oromo popular uprising in November 2015. Recently, more than 100 young people were killed in the city of Bahir Dar, the Amhara region. Over the past weekend, four young people were killed in Gondar. Earlier, an estimated 400-600 Oromo youth were killed by the same forces; and 5,000 were jailed. In the most recent popular uprisings in the Amhara region, 800 people (400 in Gondar and other towns and 400 in Bahir Dar)–most of them young have been jailed. The number of disappearances in the Amhara and Oromo regions is said to be “staggering.” No one really knows where the TPLF led security and defense forces “hide” these thousands. It is said by domestic observes that the regime is building more prisons to accommodate an escalating number of political prisoners. Is there an end to these killings, disappearances and jailings?

Reinforcing the above plea, the purpose of this article is:

I (a) To urge the global community, especially the UN Security Council, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, the African Union; and the governments of the United States and the United Kingdom—the lead financiers of the TPLF minority ethnic junta–to side with the Ethiopian people. While the West has a history of supporting minority elites subservient to their needs, this model won’t work in Ethiopia for a simple reason. The vast majority of the population refuses to accept the status of subordination; and this majority is mostly young and aspirational. Siding with the Ethiopian majority is smart. It is in America’s own long-term national interest. Otherwise, the U.S. will have another Syria in its hands.

Taking external threats as a basis, I have provided documentary evidence that onslaught on ordinary Ethiopians has made Ethiopia more vulnerable to extremist and terrorist groups such as Al- Shabab and the country’s traditional enemies that finance various groups in order to destabilize and fracture Ethiopia (A Race to the Bottom and Ethiopia at Risk, Ethiomedia etc.) The bottom line is this. It is time for President Obama (for his own legacy in Africa) to state to the government of Ethiopia “What you are doing to your people is wrong. You can’t respond to popular demand for freedom, justice, the rule of law and respect for human rights by killing, maiming, imprisoning and expelling Ethiopians. You can’t persuade the U.S. that the uprising is guided by terrorists and bandits. If you want America’s support, come to peace with the vast majority who are marginalized. If not, you no longer deserve our support. Negotiate for a political transition now in order to save the country from Balkanization, civil war and genocide.”

I (b) The current popular uprising among the Amhara and Oromo population—the vast majority of Ethiopia’s 101 million people—is a cumulative response to 25 years of repression, land annexation, marginalization and state-sponsored displacement of millions of Ethiopians. It is a response to silent killing in the form of ethnic cleansing of the Amhara and land grab that has been taking place since 1979.

This period marks the plot and design by the TPLF to initiate social engineering at a massive scale. Why this social engineering?

The core issue is land and identity

1 (c) As a Tigrean businessman said rightly a few months ago, Tigray does not possess ample farmlands in order to feed its population. In essence, geography has become destiny for the region; and without planned and deliberate social engineering using state power as an instrument, you can’t change geography. The TPLF acquires land assets conveyed by geography using brute force. What does the TPLF do to achieve its goals? Among other things, it embarked upon a new fabricated history of land claim. It still rewrites history and develops a new curriculum to teach children that “What is not yours is in fact yours.” And children begin to believe fiction as fact. According to scholars who know the subject, the TPLF designed a plan to expand the Tigray region and begun annexing and incorporating lands from Wollo and Gondar into Tigray. It then started a two-pronged approach in social engineering: transfer of hundreds of thousands of Tigreans into the annexed lands; and “silently kill” and openly trigger disappearances, marginalization and displacement of an equal number or more Amhara. Greater Tigray expanded at the expense of the Amhara population. It is now clear from the uprising in the entire Amhara region that this zero sum game (I survive and thrive at your expense) can only last as long as those marginalized and displaced tolerate it. It is a matter of survival. If you wish to survive as an entity, you have no option but toorganize and defend your rights and defend these rights at any human cost. It is this reality on the ground that the world community, especially supporters of the TPLF fail to see. Is there a better option? There is.

I (d) As far back as I can remember, mobility to other parts of Ethiopia among Tigreans and Amhara goes back thousands of years. This is the gold standard of a diverse society! The Amhara region, especially the fertile lands in Setit Humera and other locations attracted hundreds of thousands of Tigreans as a norm. The Amhara welcomed and accepted Tigreans as brothers and sisters. Contrary to the animosity implanted by the TPLF, these two ethnic groups have more in common: faith, intermarriages, contiguity, history and more. It was natural and normal to coexist. No one questioned then the right of any Ethiopian to move to and settle anywhere in the country in order to improve their lives. This norm has been shattered deliberately and systematically by the TPLF and its allies. Just think of this dichotomy. Ethiopians are unable to move, settle, own property, elect and be elected to office outside their Kilil but enjoy this right outside their homeland.

I (e) Didn’t millions (more than 4 million by the latest count) of Ethiopians leave their country and settle across the globe? Does the US for example, restrict their movement by state and ethnicity? Internally, that is, in order to establish lasting peace and shared prosperity within Ethiopia, there is no substitute to this fundamental principle of mobility of citizens within their own country. Citizens’ rights means just that—the right to live anywhere in Ethiopia, own property, elect and be elected. Certainly, what is un-natural is forcible expulsion of indigenous people and resettlement by new settlers. This is a recipe for disaster. When you preselect people to move and own property by ethnicity, the unintended consequence is that those selected become targets. The TPLF airlifted Tigreans from Gondar and is selectively moving them from Oromia because of fear of retaliation. Who implanted this fear? Is it the victims or those who exercise hegemony over the Ethiopian people? Studies show that, ultimately, no force of arms can enforce and implement a strategy of social engineering, narrow economic and natural resources capture and of changing geography. Admittedly, the balance of military force might give one the impression of invincibility in reengineering society and in reshaping geography. But, this is illusory and temporal. You can’t take over lands from Oromo farmers and give it to Tigrean elites and foreigners and live in peace. By the same token, you can’t annex lands from the Amhara and incorporate these into Greater Tigray without triggering permanent conflict and war. It is a matter of sheer survival. I repeat what is best. Depoliticize ethnicity and embrace the common humanity of all Ethiopians!

I (f) Studies show that under conditions of ethnic elite political and economic capture, gains from economic growth are inevitably captured by those who govern. It is insane to think that what is left can lift millions out of abject poverty. Trickledown economics has not worked in America and can’t work in a poor and backward economy like Ethiopia. If we accept that the current uprisings are a result of cumulative repression, marginalization and displacement of millions of Ethiopians, we need to entertain the notion that neither the Ethiopian government nor the donor and diplomatic community has been prepared for the political and economic flash points that erupted suddenly. These flash points in the form of popular uprisings are driven by systemic social deprivation including hunger, political repression, the demeaning of specific ethnic groups, marginalization of indigenous people, annexation of lands and incorporation into greater Tigray; by grants to foreign investors; and by a proclivity to pit Amhara against Oromo and vice versa. They underpin the systemic nature of the issue.

I (g) Despite famed “double digit growth,” the government and donors failed to channel and use scarce resources effectively. This is the reason why famine and starvation recur and persist; and why the economy is not resilient. In effect, aid has failed to change the structure of the economy because benefits are stolen, budgets and aid are squandered, wasted and deployed as a political and diplomatic tool. Despite rhetoric, aid has failed to tackle huge unemployment among youth. It has not diminished chronic hunger, disease and poor sanitation. It has not promoted safe drinking water, proper shelter and other basic necessities for the vast majority of the population. It has failed miserably to deal with elite rent seeking, corruption and massive illicit outflow of funds, the squandering of public funds and ethnic bias and nepotism. In fact, the system has deepened inequality and instability. Gold is mined and exported but indigenous people are among the poorest in that location. Lands are cordoned for development; but farmers who should own them are barred by the federal government and local elites.

1 (h) Ethiopia has gained an infamous status as a laboratory of development. It is replete with non-governmental organizations whose social impact is negligible. With a few exceptions, their singular preoccupation is self-serving. Most follow the political line of the ruling party and serve the interests of their own governments. They do not speak out in support of human rights and human dignity. They are managed by professionals with personal interests, in their incomes and wellbeing rather than by passion for justice, the rule of law and the advancement of democracy. This is a worldwide phenomenon, especially in Africa where civil society is weak and global actors are supreme. At the same time, there are outstanding exceptions such as Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, the Committee to Protect Journalists and others I commend. They say it like it is. The work of Human Rights Watch, especially Mr. Felix Horn is outstanding.

I (j) Turning to UN organizations, Ethiopians are heartened by the fact the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Prince Zeid Raad Al Hussein. He was vocal in his criticism of the government of Ethiopia for recent killings and for Ethiopia’s deliberate and recurrent use of extrajudicial measures to suppress dissent. His call to send international observers to Ethiopia to investigate the killings is commendable and encouraging. As expected, the regime rejected this request. The UN Security Council has a responsibility to look into this repetitive rejection by the Ethiopian regime of a request by one of the most important organs of the UN system. Investigators must be allowed to go to Ethiopia and establish he truth.

I (j) I genuinely believe that it is time for the UN system and supporter governments of the TPLF junta as well as all Ethiopians supporting the popular uprising to recognize that issuing press releases every time state-sponsored killings take place is no longer enough. Lip service is immoral. The dead and the missing are not mere statistics. They are human beings. They leave behind parents, spouses, children, sisters and brothers, uncles and aunts, friends and other relatives who care. The young could be tomorrow’s leaders, teachers, scientists, businessmen and women etc. They are huge losses for the country and their communities. The number of the unknown dead is probably huge.

I (j) I am fully aware that Ethiopia does not offer reliable data. Nevertheless, what is available is compelling and the illustrative sample below shows the magnitude of state-sponsored killings:

— Security forces killed 40 Addis Ababa university students in April 2001 for demanding academic freedom to publish a student newspaper.

—In the town of Teppi, 200 protesters from the Mazenger and Shekicho ethnic groups were killed on March 10, 2002. The reason is that they protested the regional boundary lines and wanted to form a political party, both allowed by the Constitution.

—25 Sidamo civilians were killed in Awassa on May 24, 2002 while protesting peacefully against the federal government’s involvement in Sidamo regional affairs.

—-Ethiopian Defense Forces, accompanied by local civilian militias armed by the state, massacred 424 unarmed Annuak in Gambella on December 13, 2003. Genocide Watch determined these killings constituted crimes against humanity. This was followed by wanton destruction of homes, crops, schools, health clinics, wells and the limited infrastructure that exists in Gambella.

—- TPLF-led security forces killed nearly 200 peaceful protesters in the streets of Addis Ababa following peaceful protests in the aftermath of the stolen national elections in 2005. Thousands were jailed and hundreds were wounded. Meles declared that protestors and the parties they supported were going to commit ethnic genocide against Tigreans in a similar vein as that of Rwanda. The same propaganda is being propagated against the Amhara population in Gondar, Debre Tabor, Bahir Dar, Debre Markos and other towns. There is absolutely no basis to accuse the Amhara population in Gondar or elsewhere of such ill-will and ill-intent against Tigreans. The art of propaganda is always to blame the victim. This absurd and untrue propaganda is being used to airlift all Tigreans from Gondar and other towns to safe havens in Tigray and Addis Ababa. What is the strategic reason for this move? What would happen next?

—-Human rights groups such as Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, Genocide Watch and others reported that Ethiopian forces committed mass crimes against humanity in the Somali regional state. These included widespread killing of civilians, rape and destruction of homes, livestock and wells and the displacement of tens of thousands in 2007. Some human rights organizations went as far as labeling these atrocities as a “silent Darfur.” Sadly, the numbers are not well established.

— Widespread human rights abuses in the Afar and Beni-Shangul Gumuz regions have been reported.

—– 200 Oromo were killed by security forces in 2014. From November 2005 up to the recent uprisings in July and August this year, an estimated 600 Oromo protesters were killed.

—–In the most recent uprising in Bahir Dar alone 100 people were killed by security forces; and dozens of others were killed in Gondar, Debre Tabor and other towns and numerous have been wounded. Each day we receive reports of killings and disappearances.

(k) It is worth noting what the Washington Post captured on August 10, 2016. In “A year after Obama visit, Ethiopia is in turmoil,” it described the situation as follows: “In the country side (where there is no media) the week was a bloodier story. Rights groups and opposition figures estimate that dozens were killed in weekend of protests that shook this U.S. ally in the Horn of Africa….This country of 100 million has been hit by widespread drought that has halved growth, and anti-government protests have spread across two of the most populous regions…Amnesty put the toll at about 100.” Later on reports show that 100 people were killed in Bahir Dar alone. Professor Merera is right when he told the Post that “The government is responding in the same way it has responded to such incidents for the last quarter century.” More critical is to note this depiction. “In the face of the repression, the protests quieted down in Oromia, only to erupt last month in the neighboring region of the Amhara, the historical ethnic center of the Ethiopian state and home to spectacular rock-cut churches and medieval castles that attract tourists….Protestors in Amhara declared solidarity with the Oromo people and their opposition to the government, which many say is dominated by the minority Tigrean ethnic group.” People in both regions have at last concluded that they have no other option. They have no voice. The Post quotes Professor Merera again. “These protests are at a level of intifada (the Arabic term for the Palestinian resistance movement—people in their own ways are resisting the government pressure and demanding their rights. I don’t think it is going to die down.” I agree with this assessment.

Nothing exemplifies the plight of the Ethiopian people as dramatically and as vividly as the protest of a global athlete. The Washington Post depicted the rise of an Ethiopian hero of Oromo nationality. Feyisa Lilesa who “crossed the Olympics marathon finish line and put his hands above his head in an “X,” the Oromo Hashtag of protest against killings and defiance of the TPLF. “Most of those who watched Lilesa’s spectacular silver medal performance didn’t know what that meant — or just how dangerous a protest they were watching. The plight of the Oromo and the Ethiopian government’s use of force against civilians have received some attention recently, but nothing as prominent as Lilesa’s defiance… But likely because Ethiopia remains a U.S. ally in the fight against Somali Islamist group Al-Shabab, American officials have been reluctant to offer any further condemnation.” So, Amhara, Oromo and other protestors are on their own. The young defiant Feyisa Lilesa should inspire each of us to side with those who are dying for justice and freedom.

I (l) Compelling and urgent too is how much the TPLF has deliberately exposed Ethiopia to external threat and instability. Rashid Abdi, director of the Horn of Africa project, the International Crisis Group put this real threat succinctly. “It is clear Ethiopia has a potentially serious and destabilizing unrest on its hands.” The TPLF led government’s leadership is doing the opposite of what is required. Things will begin to quiet down only to the extent that the TPLF stops killing; and is willing and ready to negotiate a transition. Otherwise, the root causes that led to the uprisings and the corresponding killings will continue. The social and economic costs will enormous.

( m ) Current rumors and speculations of a variety of scenarios within the TPLF: a) continue repression, direct and silent killings, disappearances and further marginalization and repression to save the TPLF b) deal with the people directly and make some concessions c) negotiate with an amenable ethnic political party and or parties and restore the 1991 model d) initiate a staggered process of reconciliation and peace with the opposition and buy time and e) discuss the option of a Transitional government of national unity. It seems to me that only options that may satisfy the vast majority might be options d and e. Time is of the essence. These and other sensible options should be pursued vigorously and systematically. In the meantime, and given the volatility of the Horn of Africa, the world can ill afford to watch state sponsored killings. This carnage must stop now. Whether Ethiopia is an ally of the U.S. or not, the long-term costs of the crisis will be huge not only for Ethiopians and the regime but also for Western governments that shore-up the regime. I urge American policy makers including the Pentagon to change policy by siding with the majority.

The UN High Commissioner’s recommendation for a special investigation by international observers reflects the magnitude of the problem. This recommendation should be enforced by the UN Security Council. A

While quantitate data and global attention have been drawn with regard to killings in Gambella, the Ogaden and Oromia, massive ethnic cleansing of the Amhara has not received such attention until recently. This unprecedented ethnic cleansing of the Amhara population before and after the TPLF took power has now been well-documented and deserves global attention. (See a recent documentary on Ethnic Cleansing of the Amharahttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1K–5J6tmdg) Annex II. Killings continue. On August 20, the TPLF killed at least 3 people in Gondar. Their crime is to protest peacefully in defense of freedom, justice and equality. It is clear that these atrocities won’t stop until the global community, especially the U.S. sees dangers ahead and unless the system changes.

In brief, in all cases there is still lack of engagement with the population by donors, NGOS and the Diplomatic community in Addis Ababa. Daily killings continue with the world community dead silent as if nothing happened. Only Ethiopians who care must stand with the people and provide sustained support. There is also a dearth of commitment by these groups to people’s empowerment and capacity building, including participation in policy and decision making. If the donor, NGO and diplomatic community conducted a survey in Ethiopia they will be shocked that the flash points mentioned above are taking place under their noses while the TPLF wines and dines them. It is tragic to note that donors, diplomats and NGOs are detached and thus appear irrelevant in the lives of the vast majority of Ethiopians. We are not helpless at all. I am convinced that we can change this situation through collective action and voice.

It is therefore time for the Obama administration to side with the Ethiopian people, especially young Amhara and Oromo who are sacrificing their lives for a just, equitable, rule of law based and democratic system of government for all Ethiopians. 

Annexes

Annex 1: Who Controls Ethiopian Institutions? This partial list reflects situation as of August 20, 2016

1. Defense

Who are 7 of the top commanders?

1 General Samora Yunus—Chief of Staff (Tigrean)

2. Lt. General Tadesse Worede—Chief of Armed Forces Training (Tigrean)
3. Lt. General Gezaee Abera— Chief of Logistics (Tigrean)
4. Brigadier General Gebre Della— Chief of Security, Armed Forces (Tigrean)
5. Major General Gebre-Egziabhier— Chief of military campaign (Tigrean)
6. Lt General Berhane Negash— Chief of military engineering (Tigrean0
7. Major General Adem Mohammed—Chief of the Airforce (Tigrean)
8. Justice
9. Hagos Woldu— Judge, Federal High Court—(Tigrean)
10. Mesfin Equbeyohannis—Federal High Court— Tigrean)
11. Medhin Kiros— Vice President of the Federal High Court (Tigrean)
12. Desta Gebru— Judge, Federal High Court (Tigrean)

III. Intelligence and Security

1. Getachew Assefa—Director of Intelligence and Security (Tigrean)
2. Hadera Abera— Deputy Chief, Intelligence and Security (Tigrean)
3. Yared Hiluf—Chief of Domestic Intelligence and Security (Tigrean)
4. Commander Teklay—Chief of National Intelligence and Security Services and Federal Police Task Force on Terrorism (Tigrean)
5. Media Broadcasters and Journalists
6. Temesgen Beyene—ETV News Broadcaster—(Tigrean)
7. Kibrom Woldeselassie—ETV News Broadcaster to the Amhara region (Tigrean)
8. Eden Gebrehiwot—ETV Special Entertainment Program Broadcaster (Tigrean)
9. Hermella Gebrekidan—ETV News Broadcaster (Tigrean)
10. Hilina Mebratu—ETV Amharic News Broadcaster to the Amhara region (Tigrean)
11. Alganesh Teka—ETV Correspondent (Tigrean)
12. Solomon Nigremedhin—ETV Correspondent, SNNP region (Tigrean)
13. Eden Berhane—ETV Correspondent assigned to Menilik Palace (Tigrean)
14. Abrehet Adem—ETV Camera/Film (Tigrean)

10. Daniel Gebre-Egziabhier—News Broadcaster to the SNNP region (Tigrean)
11. Kibkab Tadesse—ETV Correspondent (Tigrean)
12. Atakilti Gebremeskel—Photographer (Tigrean)
13. Tsegaleul Woldetsadik—Program Manager (Tigrean)
14. Rahel Tekleyohannis—English News Broadcaster (Tigrean)
15. Sarah Fissihaye—Program Manager (Tigrean)
16. Alemayehu Gebrehiwot—Program Manager (Tigrean)
17. Seifu Assegid—Program Manager (Tigrean)
18. Gebremikael Gebremedhin—Special Program Manager (Tigrean)
19. Tesfaye Mahari—Amharic Correspondent for the Amhara region (Tigrean)
20. Kiros Tsega—Amharic Correspondent for the Amhara region (Tigrean)
21. Firehiwot Zemikael—Computer Correspondent (Tigrean)
22. Afewerki Kahsay—Special Program Manager (Tigrean)
23. Tadesse Mizan Teka—Lead Program Manager (Tigrean)

1. Ethiopian Sports Federation
2. Berhane Kidanemariam—President, Ethiopian Olympics Committee (Tigrean)
3. Kiros Gebremeskel—President, Ethiopian Tekquando Association (Tigrean)
4. Kiros Habte—President, Ethiopian Swimming Association (Tigrean)
5. Tesfaye Asgedom—President, Ethiopian Volley Ball Association (Tigrean)
6. Rezene Beyene—Ethiopian Cycling Association (Tigrean)
7. Dagmawit Ghirmay—Secretary, Ethiopian Olympics Committee (Tigrean)
8. Ghidey Gebremedhin—President, Ethiopian Chess Association (Tigrean)

Annex II: Ethnic Cleansing

The Silent Genocide on the Amhara Documentary- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1K–5J6tmdg

To be continued

August 23, 2016

Reuters

LONDON — When marathon silver medalist Feyisa Lilesa crossed the finish line at the Rio Olympics, he crossed his arms above his head in an “X”, a sign of protest against the Ethiopian government’s treatment of his people, the ethnic Oromo.

The champion runner did not return home after the Olympics, fearing for his safety even though the government said he would not be punished.

“[I knew] I would be jailed or killed if not, I would [never be allowed] out of that country and allowed to participate in any international competition or race at all,” Lilesa told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

“I am quite sure those things would happen to me,” he said in a Skype interview from Rio, where he has been staying since Monday when the rest of his teammates returned to Ethiopia.

FILE – Demonstrators attend a rally in the Oromia region, May 15, 2010.

The Oromia region, home to more than 25 million Oromos, has been riven by unrest for months over land rights and allegations of human rights violations.

Lilesa, 26, is one of thousands of Ethiopians estimated by activists to have left the country amid a security crackdown on demonstrations sparked by a conflict over land-use policies.

Human Rights Watch estimated 400 demonstrators were killed by security forces between November and June during protests triggered by government plans to include some parts of Oromia within the capital Addis Ababa’s limits.

Up to 100 were shot in a single weekend in August when security forces also shut down the internet for 48 hours, according to activists.

Thousands more have been arrested, including the prominent Oromo activist Bekele Gerba, who was taken from his home in December.

The government, which disputes the death toll and says the protests are being staged illegally, stoked by rebel groups and overseas-based dissidents, did not respond to several requests by the Thomson Reuters Foundation for a comment.

Fear of reprisals

Lilesa’s fear of being jailed upon his return home reflects the experiences of other Ethiopians who have spoken out against the government.

In the Greek capital Athens, 26-year-old Muaz Mahmud Ayimoo is staying in a cramped apartment with five other Oromo friends who are traveling with him.

FILE – A man drives a horse-cart past the wreckage of a truck torched during recent demonstrations along the road in Holonkomi town, in Oromia region of Ethiopia, Dec. 17, 2015.

A student from Haro Dumal city in Oromia, Ayimoo was arrested by authorities and imprisoned for a month last November after he attended several non-violent protests along with fellow students.

Conditions for those detained were wretched and abuse was regular, Ayimoo said.

“They used to take us out one by one, torture us with electricity and beat us badly,” he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

Ayimoo’s family in Ethiopia paid a bribe for his release, later selling everything they had to get him to Europe.

“I can’t go back because I would lose my life,” he said.

Those in Athens are the lucky ones: Ayimoo’s wife and baby girl drowned in April after the boat they were on crossing the Mediterranean from Libya sank, killing hundreds, according to survivors.

“I could hear the screaming of my baby as I fell, I couldn’t save my family,” he said.

Other Ethiopians now following the unrest from abroad include the journalists of the Oromia Media Network, a dissident satellite TV channel broadcasting into Ethiopia in the Oromo language from Minneapolis in the United States, a city home to around 40,000 Oromo.

“We became part of the whole protester story,” said Jawar Mohammed, executive director of the network, which he said is watched by more than 11 million people in the Middle East and Africa at peak times.

Mohammed also regularly posts updates on his Facebook page, with more than 800,000 followers, about the unrest in his homeland.

Abel Wabella, 30, an activist who wrote for Zone9, a blog which focused on social and civic issues in Ethiopia, was imprisoned between April 2014 and October 2015 in what critics say was an attack on press freedom.

“I think the government is not ready for real reform the people are demanding right now. The people are tired of their false promises and will escalate their resistance,” he said.