Dr Merera Gudina,

by Abdur Rahman Alfa Shaban

Dr Merera Gudina, a leading opposition figure and Chairman of the Oromo Federalist Congress (OFC), has denied charges of terrorist links the Ethiopian government accuses him of.

His lawyers said he (Gudina) vehemently denied any terrorism allegations whiles addressing the trial judge and said that he had spent his life teaching against the ideals of violence and terrorism.

An online media portal, the Addis Standard reports that the academician made his second court appearance on Thursday. Friends, family members, colleagues and diplomats who thronged the court for the hearing were kept out because the sitting was not open to the public.

The police were however granted a month to conclude their investigations of possible terrorism-related charges against him. The position of the police varies from that of the government which says he was arrested for flouting sections of the current state of emergency.

According to Ethiopia’s Anti-Terrorism Proclamation of 2009, police investigating terrorism related offences can obtain from a court four months of each 28 days to remand and further investigate suspects.

Ethiopian security forces arrested the Gudina shortly after his arrival in the capital Addis Ababa on December 1 from Belgium. Together with other activists and the Olympic athlete Feyisa Lelisa – he met with Members of the European Parliament on 9 November 2016.

SUGGESTED READING Ethiopia: A year after protests started – Timeline of events [1]

Ethiopia is currently under a six month state of emergency imposed to quell spreading anti-government protests in the Oromia and Amhara regions of the country. The protests which started in November last year continued into this year.

Since January 2016 the human rights situation in Ethiopia has not improved at all. Human Rights Watch reports that security forces have killed more than 500 people during protests over the course of 2016.

The government reported mass arrests of persons believed to be behind the protests, some are to be released whiles others will be arraigned before the courts on offences of destroying private and public property.

The Command Post administering the curfew says relative peace has returned to the country. There are issues also surrounding communication access with slow internet in most parts of the country. Some European countries have lifted their travel advice for Ethiopia with the ‘return to peace.’

BefeQadu Z. Hailu

BefeQadu Z. Hailu for Addis Standard

Wakoma Tafa was planning to get married on Sunday, Oct.10, 2016. But just three days before his wedding he was arbitrarily detained around Alem Gena, 25k west of Addis Abeba, a city within the special zone of the Oromia Regional State.  On the day set for his wedding, Wakoma was taken to Awash 7 Federal Police Training Center, which is now serving as a temporarily ‘rehab center’ (Tehadiso Maekel) to discipline ‘suspected’ political protesters detained under Ethiopia’s sweeping State of Emergency.

I met Wakoma when, after being detained in Addis Abeba, I was transferred to Awash 7 along with 242 other ‘suspects’ from Addis Abeba. Together, we were a total of 1180 people.

From day one to the last of 33 days of stay I had in Awash 7, Wakoma was suffering nosebleeds on a daily basis. I asked him what happened to him and he told me he was beaten by an officer in Awash 7 during an interrogation. Nurses of the Center’s clinic visited him every day but couldn’t stop his nosebleeds.

Tragically, Wakoma was not the only one beaten. Most of the 933 ‘suspects’ who were kept in Awash 7 for 40 days before our arrival have sustained varying degrees of rights violations.  The day we arrived at the Center we saw many youngsters wearing worn-out, dirty shirts, walking barefoot in a row of two. A fellow detainee likened the image “like we are watching the movie series ‘Roots’“.

Then, our turn came to be paraded to the toilets dug in the backyard of the Center’s compound. We had already removed our sandals, as instructed. The rocky gravel path was hard to walk on barefoot but the yelling of the officers who dangle their sticks to beat us from behind was enough to endure running on it. We were told to hold hand in hand and walk in a row of two. When we reached the toilet pits, we were told to sit side by side and do our business. None of us were willing to do it the first day. (Later on, we have accepted that it was the new normal we had to get used to.)

We were then taken to a hall and given a half cup of tea and two loaves of bread. I saw the youngsters who were there before us enjoying the additional loaf of bread they got –before our arrival they used to have only one during breakfasts.  We sat on the floor and ate. We were then taken to a field; the temperature was too hot to be without a roof or a tree shadow, but it didn’t mean anything to the officers who gave us our first day orientations. We were placed in rows as they repeatedly make records of our profiles and mixed us with the previous detainees. Here we were given different group names such as Hiddase Hayil, Selam Hayil, and Ghibe Hayil, among others.

When we came back to the compound we were distributed into 10 different rooms each containing more than 100 detainees. Each room has 16 double-deck beds enough only for 32 people; the rest of us have to share the mattresses on the floor. The rooms have ventilators but not enough to cool the temperature. And despite the soaring heat, we were told that we cannot sit on the verandas. On top, there was not enough water even to drink. I asked a guy next to me if we have a chance to wash our feet. He told me we will not, and said in more than 40 days, he only had two chances to wash his feet. (Later on, after we have complained too much, we were allowed to take shower on Sundays. But by the time I left after 33 long days, I too had only two chances to wash.)

Later on we went for lunch and were given two loaves of bread with shiro wot, (the traditional chickpea powder stew), and went back to our rooms. We were then paraded again to the same toilet pits (being taken twice was a change; for 40 days the previous arrivals were only allowed to do that once in the morning.) In the evening, we were given two loaves of bread with kik wot (ground chickpea stew). This remained our daily routine throughout our stay at the Center, except for when we would sit for training in between meals on weekdays and on Saturdays.

The next day, a team sent by the Command Post, a special unit formed to implement the State of Emergency and is led by Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn, arrived from Addis Abeba to begin our training.  They gathered us and informed us that we were going to start the training immediately. They also promised us we would be allowed to wear our shoes. But unfortunately, nearly half of the 933 detainees who were there before us had no shoes when they were brought to the Center 40 days before our arrival.

Nevertheless, we began the training late that day and a few days later, the Center distributed sandals, T-shirts and shorts that were confiscated by Customs officials from contrabandists at several checkpoints. We heard that there might be a TV crew from the national TV.

A team to monitor reports of human rights violations came the next week and spoke with a few selected individuals. Notable opposition party members such as Abebe Akalu, Eyasped Tesfaye, and Blen Mesfin were among the selected individuals. They reported in detail the rights violations we were subjected to and the team promised to further investigate; but later on we learned that the EBC, the state-broadcaster, reported about the human right monitors’ visits but only about claims of logistic problems, leaving entirely our complaints of rights violation.

Befeqadu’s certificate of graduation

In came the training

The training has contained six different modules. Each page of the module is water marked with the phrase ‘Don’t Copy’. They were neither emailed nor faxed but physically brought by the different trainers on the same day when the training was scheduled to take place.  We had, for example, lost a day of training in between because the teams delivering the third module were delayed.

The modules were prepared in Afaan Oromo and in Amharic. But nearly 900 of us took the Afaan Oromo classes while the rest of us attended the Amharic classes. The training took 28 days including 6 days of evaluation at the end of each course.

‘Never Again (‘ayidegemim)’ 

This was the title of the first module. Its content has details about Ethiopia’s double digit economic growth over the last 13 consecutive years and says it is an economic progress that doesn’t deserve to be challenged with a violent protest. Although it also talks about the government’s failure to deliver good governance, it goes on to sat that there were constitutional ways of demanding the government to correct its problems than taking to the streets.

‘Color Revolution (yeqelem abiyot)’ –

The second module blames Ethiopia’s external enemies, the neo-liberal countries and countries such as Egypt and Eritrea that are using domestic weaknesses to disintegrate Ethiopia and benefit from it. It looks back at the incidents when it claims the concept of conducting ‘color revolutions’ were attempted in Ethiopia and mentions as an example the student protests of the Addis Abeba University (AAU) in 2000, the post-election 2005 protests, pre-election 2010, the time the followed the death of the late Meles Zenawi in 2012, pre-election 2014, and also during the recent protests in Oromia and Amhara. It also talks about the failed attempts of western forces’ alleged use of local agents, such as the Zone9 Bloggers Collective, to which I am a member, to ignite a ‘color revolution’ in Ethiopia. ’

‘Some points on Ethiopian History (ye–Itiyopia tarik andand gudayoch)’ –

This one goes to narrate the political history of Ethiopia starting from ancient times, (it escaped what happened during the medieval times and resumes from Emperor Hailesilase’s era through the present). It depicts the failure of previous regimes to respect the nation’s ethnic, religious and cultural diversity and claims the incumbent has answered all by way of the current constitution. ‘

‘Constitutional Democracy (higemengistawi democracy)’ –

This module tells the story of constitutionalism including that of the Magna Carta and goes on to discuss how Ethiopia’s constitutions had evolved through time. It criticizes the non-participating nature of the previous constitutions during Emperor Hailesilase I and the Derg times. It praises, in comparison, the great participation by the public and the democratic relevance it had during the adoption of the current constitution.

‘The future is for Ethiopian Renaissance (mechiw gize ye’itiyopia tinsae naw)’

Ethiopia’s enemy number one is poverty, this module says, and goes on to discuss that the domestic discontent created by poverty is exploited by foreign elements to weaken Ethiopia as a proud state. Accordingly, it emphasizes the importance of focusing on economic development, such as building grand infrastructures and attracting foreign investments, to avoid dependency on aid providers of the neoliberal world.

‘The Role of the Youth on Nation Building (ye wetatu mina be ager ginbata lay)’

The youth is a force that can easily be emotionally driven by misinformation, substance addiction and so on, says this module. It is an advise designed to highlight the importance of proving any information before reacting to it; it also notes that the youth should use its potential to create jobs to change the fate of her/his country than seeking employment or taking a short cut, such as by migrating to other countries.

My trained-self‘s take

The modules are biased; they are prepared to present the political narrative of the ruling coalition, EPRDF, as the best alternative we could ever get. On the third module, for instance, it compares liberal democracy with revolutionary democracy, the age-old vague ideology of the ruling party, and concludes that revolutionary democracy is the best Ethiopia can get; it mixes the party’s ideology with the constitution, too.  Funnily, it also misses a lot of simple facts such as the exact age of the late PM Meles Zenawi, (in an attempt to place him in a similar age range of 15 -35, the working average of Ethiopia’s youth, it claims the late PM was 31 when he came to power in 1991.) Other public records say he was actually 36.

Sadly, to many of the trainees tortured in the Center itself, the last module praises the regime for creating a better generation, but blames the same generation for failing to understand the differences in human rights violations between previous regimes and the current one.

The discussions

The trainers (they are Federal Police officers) were the ones who read and explained to us the first two modules. They told us every question and comment we had will be faxed to the Command Post every day. They also wrote our names with our comments. These restricted the active participation of ‘trainees’ due to fear of persecution. I believe it is why, later on, they let us read the modules by ourselves and discuss about the contents while writing our questions and comments. They also stopped writing the names of ‘trainees’ who give comments. Subsequently, for the last four modules we were simply given questions about the next module’s content, we then write our answers in groups containing 20 to 30 people, and read our answers to the general gathering. We will then continue reading and discussing the module in our respective groups before men from the Command Post came to answer our questions and comments for the general gathering.

We had had three general gathering groups: one Amharic group and two Afaan Oromo groups. As there were many individuals who have different and rich experiences, this way of discussion helped many trainees to exchange constructive ideas and understand the complex political situation of the country from one another.

The trainers and representatives from the Command Post made the closing speeches at the end of the reading and discussion of each module. They gave us their version of answers to the non-stop questions by many of us on why we were there in the first place. Their answers can be generalized in to two: one group says we were there because officials have information that we have taken part in protests but didn’t have the evidence to take us to court; and the other group says officials were certain that we have taken part in the protests but did so due to misinformation. The latter explains why representatives of the Command Post (Hayil Medrek Merrys) have repeatedly condemned foreign-based Ethiopian media, such as ESAT and OMN, as well as social media sites such as Facebook. When we challenge, ask questions or give comments to their assertions, the representatives quickly blame these media for having misinformed us instead of giving us proper answers.

But these representatives from the Command Post were contradictory to one another. One of them whom we know by his first name, Addisu, for example, was very articulate. He was the one who gave the final remarks at the end of the first two modules. He carefully avoided responding to controversial questions and even apologized for the wrongful mention of the Zone9 Blogging Collective as a ‘western agent’ after the group was acquitted by a court of law.

But on the other hand was another member of the command post named Colonel Mulugeta. He was too foul-mouthed while trying to answer to our concerns that two trainees have tried to commit suicide.  The next day other members had to apologize for his rude remarks. He even said court acquittals can be reversed by executives and gave us as an example the court case for former defense minister, Siye Abraha. Unsurprisingly, at the end of the training, he was the most disliked member of the command post.

The third and the last member of the command post, Commander Abebe, gave closing remarks to each of the last three modules. He is a very polite person but unflinchingly loyal to the ruling EPRDF than the loyalty he was supposed to display to – the constitution. He took questions, listened to comments and gave answers similar to what senior cadres of the ruling EPRDF give all the time, but politely. He flatly denies the presence of human rights violation in Ethiopia, even though most trainees spoke of their experience of rights violations there at the center.

Things that kept us going

Jokes made by some fellow detainees made all of us laugh and forget our conditions. Political humors told by men like Habtamu Gebre and Zerihun were unforgettable. One ordinary day Habtamu told us a joke in front of Commander Abebe: “A man on a street shouts out saying ‘let EPRDF reign for a thousand years, let it reign for a thousand years’” Habtamu said, “Then a federal police officer stopped him and beat him hard. The man, as scared as he was, asked what his fault was and the policeman replied ‘who will replace EPRDF after a thousand years?’” ”

Zerihun even came up with fresh jokes animating the way our trainers behaved and the way we were treated. At first we were served with ‘kik wot‘ for dinner and when they later on stopped serving us with it, Zerihun joked “kik wot is released from the center.”

A sour reminder about most detainees who came from Addis Abeba, however, is the fact that a considerable number of them have complained to the officials saying they were there as victims of personal revenge. Some have said their names were tipped to arresting officers by someone with whom they have had previous disagreements. Similarly, most detainees from the Oromia regional state maintained they have fallen victims for being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

But all of us were there and had no option but to take the Tehadiso (rehabilitation) course to see the day that we were promised to be released. So we resorted to spending those trying times comforting each other, exchanging tips on how to survive the water scarcity, the horrible taste of the food served, the propaganda indoctrination and the daunting insecurity ahead of us.

And we were happy for the smallest gesture done to improve our situation. One of the members of the command post, Commander Abebe, for example, has done some improvements in the way we were treated (we began getting a full cup of tea during breakfast after his visit) and we showed him our relative respect. He also arranged for us to sit on benches during meal times and watch night shows on a screen.

We were made to watch four documentaries: two about the recent destruction by protesters of foreign owned investments in Ethiopia and two about the ruthless crimes of the previous regime, the Derg. For reasons many of us didn’t understand, one of the documentaries was about the infamous market day bombing by the Derg’s military of the city of Hawzen in Tigray. The last one was about the bravery of members of the TPLF army in either destroying the Derg or recovering Hawzen from its past wounds. The rest of the days, we would just be taken out during the evenings and be showed songs up until 8:00 PM and the nighttime news bulletin from the national broadcaster, EBC.

One of the musics they have regularly showed us on the screen was the Afaan Oromo song, ‘Madda Seenaa’ by artist Teferi Mekonen. Ironically, Teferi Mekonen was detained there with us. On our “graduation” day, he was invited to sing on the stage. He pleased us all by singing the politically charged song, ‘Maalan Jira’, by the prominent Oromo artist Haacaaluu Hundeessaa.

Sadly, though, Teferi Mekonen is re-arrested. I was shocked to see him in a prison here in Addis Abeba when I went to visit my friends, journalists Annania Sori and Elias Gebru, whom I only came to know about their arrest the day I was released. What a vicious cycle!

Of the ‘trainees, 17 were women and one of them is pregnant. There were also about 15 underage boys. Old or young, women or men, minor or adult, we were all in it together and we all survived.

The very last days

After it was known that we were on the last module, everybody was excited and began to relax. Even the usually shrewd guards of the Center left us relatively free to move around the compound. Smiles were flickering on previously gloomy faces; hairs were growing on shaved heads. Beautiful we became. A day before we left the center, we were told that we will be wearing a white T-shirt on which the words ‘ayidegemim/Irra hin deebi’amu’ (never again) were printed in both Amharic and Afaan Oromo. None of us hesitated to wear it; it is fresh and clean and our souls were desperately looking beyond the center and into getting back to our homes; we were exhausted and we were looking forward to resume our lives that we have left behind.

The next morning was December 21, our so-called graduation day and the next day we left Awash 7 behind. But I only believed it when I arrived in Piassa and re-joined my family and my friends. In the back of my head, I was also hoping the 28 years old Wakoma would be enjoying the company of his love. May be re-organize his wedding party again?

Cover sketch: Befeqadu’s re-creation of the toilet pits

Inside photo: Befeqadu wearing his white graduation T-shirt, visibly looking malnourished after being released

Women dressed in traditional costumes sing Christmas carols as they gather to celebrate the Orthodox Christmas at a compound of the National Architecture museum in Kiev, Jan. 7, 2016. Photo: REUTERS/VALENTYN OGIRENKO

While several countries are getting ready to return to work after New Year parties, celebrations are just beginning in others. Orthodox Christian communities, including Greek Catholics and Coptic Christians, around the world are preparing for Christmas, which they celebrate on Jan. 7, nearly two weeks after the Dec. 25 festivities.

Christmas is observed on Jan. 7 by 15 different Eastern Orthodox churches. Nearly 39 percent of the total number of Orthodox Christians in the world live in Russia and around 85 percent of them choose to celebrate Christmas in January.

People dance while celebrating the orthodox Christmas near the Peter and Paul Fortress in St. Petersburg, Russia, Jan. 7, 2016. Photo: ALEXANDER AKSAKOV/GETTY IMAGES

The difference in dates is a result of the calendar Orthodox Christians follow. These communities follow the Julian calendar, dating back to 46 B.C., according to which Christmas falls on Jan. 7. Also called the Russian Orthodox calendar, this was devised by Roman leader Julius Caesar.

Meanwhile most of the West follows the Gregorian calendar, also called the “Western calendar,” introduced by Pope Gregory in 1582 to correct mistakes in the Julian calendar.

While Orthodox Christian communities follow the Julian calendar, their country’s government doesn’t necessarily do the same. For example, the Russian Orthodox Church follows the Julian calendar but the Russian government functions as per the “Western calendar.”

A child wearing a Santa Claus costume lights a candle inside the Church of the Nativity in the West Bank town of Bethlehem during the Eastern Orthodox Christmas, Jan. 6, 2014. Photo: Reuters

Communities observe different traditions in celebrating the season. Many Orthodox Christians, Greek Catholics and Coptic Christians abstain from consuming meat and alcohol in the 40 days leading up to Jan. 7 and even fast on Christmas eve, Jan. 6. Many attend Christmas eve service usually held in the evening.

Communities is Russia and Ukraine consume a 12-course meal, free of dairy and meat products, on Christmas eve. The 12 courses draw a parallel to the 12 apostles chosen by Jesus Christ. Then on Christmas day, people go out carolling.

People, wearing traditional Ukrainian clothes, sing folk songs as they celebrate Orthodox Christmas in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv on Jan. 8, 2015. Photo: YURIY DYACHYSHYN/AFP/Getty Images

In Ethiopia, communities celebrate with church services and sporting events and in Serbia, people hunt for an oak branch to decorate their homes with.

Ethiopian Christmas – Genna (7 January)

Christmas in Ethiopia. Ethiopia (and especially the Ethiopian Orthodox Church) still use the old Julian calendar, so they celebrate Christmas on January 7th, not December 25th! The Christmas celebration in the Ethiopian Orthodox Church is called Ganna. Most people go to Church on Christmas day.

While the Gregorian calendar celebrates Christmas on the 25th of December, Ethiopia still retains the ancient Julian calendar in which Christmas falls on January 7th (of the Gregorian calendar.) Its typically, a hot summer day and people in towns and villages dress up in their finest to celebrate.

The Ethiopian name given to Christmas is Ledet or Genna which, according to elders, comes from the word Gennana, meaning “imminent” to express the coming of the Lord and the freeing of mankind from sin. Genna is also the name given to a hockey-like ball game. Legend has it that when shepherds heard of the birth of Christ they rejoiced and started playing the game with their sticks. Men and boys in villages now play the traditional Genna game with great enthusiasm in the late afternoon of Christmas day, a spectacle much enjoyed by village communities and the elders who referee the game.

Genna festivities begin early in the day, as early as 6:00am when people gather in churches for mass. For the clergy it has begun much earlier, 43 days before, with the fasting period leading up to Genna. This pensive fasting period is required of the clergy and is known as the fast of the prophets. The fast of Advent is carried out to cleanse the body and soul in preparation for the day of the birth of Christ. Everyone stands throughout the worship service for up to three hours. The clergy and Debtera (scholars versed in the liturgy and music of the church) lift their voices in hymn and chant just as it has been for over a 1,500 years when Ethiopia accepted Christianity.  This ancient rite culminates in the spectacular procession of the Tabot (the Tabot is symbolic of the Ark of the Covenant) and carried on top of a priest’s head). The procession makes its way three times around the church amidst ululation and chiming church bells, dazzling umbrellas and colorful attire of the clergy and Debteras (especially designated to accompany the Tabot) as well as a throng of Christians who follow the procession with lighted candles.

Afterwards, people disperse to their homes to feast and the clergy break their fast. Food and drink are plentiful, with many homes preparing the special meals characteristic of all big festivities highlighted on the Ethiopian calendar.   Food served at Christmas includes Doro Wat and Injera, a spicy chicken stew eaten with the sourdough pancake-like bread. Often, tej, a local wine-like drink made from honey, accompanies the feast.

A 40-Day Vegan Fast, Then, At Last, A January Christmas Feast

Christmas is quietly shared and celebrated in groups of friends and family. Gift giving is a very small part of Christmas festivities in Ethiopia. Only small gifts are exchanged amongst family and friends at home. But one gift most eagerly awaited by all children is a new outfit that they wear with pride on Christmas Day. The festive mood continues until the late hours of the evening. The joy of giving and sharing, extends beyond religious beliefs and spreads the spirit of peace on earth and goodwill to all mankind throughout the world.

As well, in the old days Gena used to be memorable for a game associated with the holiday. The game is more like field hockey –except that you have to imagine it without an iced ground. The song for the game gives the narrative that even dignitaries and nobilities, in the old days, are pleased with and encourage the game.

Ethiopian Christmas Game (Yegena Chewata)

ESAT Weekly News 01 Jan 2017 1

We are writing this petition to request the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, The European Union,  the US president Barack Obama and the African Union to take action by requesting the EPRDF led Ethiopian government to release Prof. Merera Gudin immediately and unconditionally.

Merera Gudina is a professor and politician in Ethiopia. He is the leader of the Oromo People’s Congress (OPC) and an Opposition Coalition (Medrek).

Dr. Merera Gudina, a former MP and leader of the Oromo People’s Congress, was arrested upon arrival from Europe. The apparent reason for the arrest was his participation in a hearing at the European Parliament . He was accused of “crossing the red line” for sitting at the meeting with opposition leader Dr. Berhanu Nega.

In a statement on December 1, 2016, AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL said this: “The arrest of Merera Gudina is an outrageous assault on the right to freedom of expression and should sound alarm bells for anyone with an interest in ending the deadly protests that have rocked Ethiopia over the past year. This is a move that will exacerbate, rather than ease, the underlying tensions currently simmering in the country. Instead of resorting to further repression and clamp-downs, the Ethiopian government must urgently and meaningfully address the human rights grievances that are fueling unrest.”

We demand the Immediate And Unconditional Release Of Conscience Prisoner Prof. Merera Gudina.

https://www.change.org/p/barack-obama-free-prof-merera-gudina?

Athlete Miruts Yifter ‘s Body Arrived in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

“Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,… [and] see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams.”

Author’s Note: I get to celebrate New Year twice every year. The first on September 11, the Ethiopian New Year. The second on January 1.

In this first commentary for 2017, I aim to challenge all Ethiopians to rise up, lock arms and march together as ONE people to meet their destiny.

I challenge them to avoid repeating the mistakes of the past, learn from those mistakes, unchain themselves from the dungeons of false history and set personal examples of courage, creativity, honesty, hope, kindness, humility, teamwork, leadership, forgiveness and prudence.

Above all, I write this first commentary of 2017 to challenge and to invite all Ethiopians to dare to dream with me about the New Ethiopia in 2017!

A Happy New Year to all of my readers!!!

Will you dare to dream with me about the New Ethiopia in 2017?

I can only imagine how agonizing it must be to dream while living a nightmare.

On the first day of 2017, Ethiopians are living a nightmare called the Thugtatorship of the Tigrean People’s Liberation Front (T-TPLF).

The T-TPLF has declared a “state of emergency” by which it has licensed itself to kill, jail, torture, persecute and prosecute any Ethiopian on a whim.

Over the past year, the T-TPLF has jailed, imprisoned and disappeared hundreds of thousands of people; and today the T-TPLF holds one hundred million people hostage in a totalitarian police state of emergency.

In November 2016, the T-TPLF announced it had arrested 11,607 people. Of course, the actual number is many times m more than the figure reported by the T-TPLF. Without exception, all 11,607 persons were arrested, imprisoned and deprived of their liberties by the T-TPLF without due process of law.

In 2013, CNN declared the T-TPLF regime runs “a police state” in Ethiopia.

The T-TPLF has clung to power in Ethiopia for over a quarter of a century not only by killing and jailing innocent citizens, but also by creating ethnic and sectarian conflict, fabricating hatred, sowing division and disunity, fomenting discord and strife and stirring trouble every chance it gets, and by operating a fetid empire of corruption.

Is there a worse nightmare than what the T-TPLF has done in Ethiopia over the past 25 years and is doing now?

The only nightmare worse than what the T-TPLF has done and is doing now is what some of those blathering ethnic chauvinists and atavists who professedly aim to overthrow the T-TPLF are doing today.  Indeed, it is a fact that some of them are on the T-TPLF payroll, though they are paid indirectly to do  the T-TPLF’s work of hate and division particularly in the Ethiopian Diaspora.

Those superannuated and obtuse politician wannabes who deny the unity and oneness of Ethiopia and Ethiopians and preach the gospel of ethnic division and sectarianism in my view are more T-TPLF than the T-TPLF itself.

Those self-appointed wannabe chieftains of hate toil everyday to rename Ethiopia, “Kilil-istan”, the apartheid version of South Africa’s Bantustan.

Those self-commissioned capos are prepared to sever and dissolve the millennia-old bonds of marriage and birth and put asunder what God has put together as ONE Ethiopia.

It is written, “Ethiopia shall soon stretch out her hands unto God.”

Ethiopia shall stretch her hands because God is ready to lift her out of the clutches of the Beast known as the T-TPLF and its wicked minions who now sow the seeds of division, hatred and conflict among Ethiopians.

I say to the T-TPLF and its handmaidens: “The hottest places in hell are reserved” for those who conspire to divide and rule Ethiopia, cling to power and line their pockets by robbing Ethiopians of their voice and wealth, and for those whose hatred for Ethiopia and Ethiopians is exceeded only by their love for power and filthy lucre.

I say to them all: Vadis ad infernum!  Where you belong!

Why dream…?

I like to start the new year with an exultant expression of my dreams of a New Ethiopia.

Dreams are vitally important for individuals, societies and nations.

The Framers of the American Constitution dreamed an impossible dream, a dream undreamt before they set themselves to dream. They dreamt of a republic where they can “form a more perfect union, establishing justice and securing the blessings of liberty to themselves and their posterity.”

Unfortunately, the American dreamers left out Africans forcibly shipped to America and trapped in the nightmare of slavery. Malcom X, a descendant of those slaves declared that for “twenty million [negroes] in America who are of African descent, it is not an American dream; it’s an American nightmare.”  Another descendant of those slaves by the name of Martin Luther King two centuries later demanded a share of the “American Dream” and immediate payment on the “promissory note” made at the inception of the Republic “that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the ‘unalienable Rights’ of ‘Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.’”

I am inspired by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s dream of an America at peace with itself and the world. I believe in his dream of “hew[ing] out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope” and “transform[ing] the jangling discords of [a] nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. I  believe in his dream “that one day [America] will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident; that all men [and women] are created equal.’”  Dreams can  be transformational.  

I am inspired by Nelson Mandela’s dream of a non-racial, non-ethnic South Africa: “Never, never and never again shall it be that this beautiful land will again experience the oppression of one by another.” I am inspired by his message of love: “No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.” In my “Dreams”, I even had an imaginary conversation with Nelson Mandela. He had “a dream of an [South] Africa which is in peace with itself.”  He pleaded: “All of us should ask ourselves the question: Have I done everything in my power to bring about lasting peace and prosperity in my city and my country?” Dreams can be inspirational.

I am inspired by Mahatma Gandhi’s dream: “Be the change that you wish to see in the world. … You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is like an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty… To believe in something, and not to live it, is dishonest.… There have been tyrants and murderers, and for a time, they can seem invincible, but in the end, they always fall. Think of it–always… The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong… First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, and then you win… Dreams can be tactical and practical.

I am inspired by Scriptural dreams. In the Old Testament, God made Solomon an offer in a dream. Solomon chose wisdom, “a discerning heart to govern your people and to distinguish between right and wrong.” In Acts, God decreed, “… and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams…” Daniel’s interpreted Nebuchadnezzar’s dream of a gigantic statue made of gold, silver, bronze and clay. I wrote about that dream in my February 2016 commentary, “Ethiopia Under the Boots of the T-TPLF Beast With Feet of Clay”. Dreams can be prophetic.

Some Native Americans believe good and bad dreams (nightmares) fly invisibly around in the darkness of the night.  They have  a tradition of  hanging “dream catchers”, a simple handmade object of knotted thread (web) over hoop, over their beds to trap and exclude bad dreams (nightmares) and let in only good dreams. The “dream catchers” symbolize the struggle between good and evil. If we dream of good things, when we wake up in the light of the day we do the right things. But if we choose the path of evil, we will have nightmares and find ourselves on the dark side. Good dreams are in harmony with Nature and the Great Spirit. Dreams can be caught.

Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt, wife of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, was a great dreamer in her own right. She dreamt that all human beings wherever they may be have rights which should be protected by law. She dreamt up the “Universal Declaration of Human Rights” [UDHR] (1948) which set a “common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations” with respect to equality, dignity and rights.

Apple’s Steve Jobs had a dream of “putting a computer in the hands of everyday people.” He ended up creating the most desirable consumer electronic products of all time. To Jobs, his dreams were his life. “Being the richest man in the cemetery doesn’t matter to me… Going to bed at night saying we’ve done something wonderful… that’s what matters to me,” declared Jobs.

The late thugmaster Meles Zenawi and his T-TPLF had a dream; it is a dream that became a nightmare to Ethiopians.

Meles dreamt of an Ethiopia permanently divided by ethnicity, split by language differences, antagonized by religion and separated by region or kililistans, a slightly modified version of apartheid Bantustans. He dreamt that he and his Tigrean People’s Liberation Front party will rule Ethiopia with an iron fist for one hundred years.

The Meles Nightmare today has filled the official and secret prisons in Ethiopia with hundreds of  thousands of political prisoners and made Ethiopia the killing  fields of Africa.

Dreamers are not chosen; they are self-made. Ordinary people can be great dreamers.

Ethiopian journalists Eskinder Nega, Reeyot Alemu,  Woubshet Taye, Temesgen Desalegn Andualem Aragie and many others like them are ordinary young  Ethiopians who dared to dream.

Eskinder dreamt of the inevitability of freedom in Ethiopia. He emphatically argued, “Freedom is partial to no race. Freedom has no religion. Freedom favors no ethnicity. Freedom discriminates not between rich and poor countries. Inevitably freedom will overwhelm Ethiopia.”

Reeyot was willing to pay the price for the courage of her dreams: “Shooting the people who march through the streets demanding freedom and democracy; jailing the opposition party leaders and journalists … preventing freedom of speech, association and the press; corruption and domination of one tribe are some of the bad doings of our government. I knew that I would pay the price for my courage [to report] and I was ready to accept that price.”

Andualem Aragie proclaimed his dream of a collective struggle for a collective victory over oppression. He dreamt of leaving a legacy of freedom to the coming generations. “I ardently believe that there is nothing more precious in this world than freedom for which man could live and die… That the Ethiopian people are unable to be masters of their freedom is primarily the failure of the Ethiopian people themselves… We Ethiopians should wage a well-planned and strengthened struggle for our freedom in unison, undivided by politics, religion, age or economic class. The secret of our failure to be free lies in the fact that we individually or in unison have been unable to wage a struggle that gave priority to the well-being of the people and of the coming generations and to the future of the country as a whole. There is no concern for each of us and each of us has no concern for all.”

In his book “Yefera Yimeles”, Temesgen Desalegn dreamt about the rule of law, good governance, democratic institutions, accountability, transparency and respect for human rights in Ethiopia. Temesgen could not keep his silence watching his country slowly dismembered and his people transformed into strangers to each other.

Bekele Gerba, a resolute opposition leader, dreamt of a country where there are no classes of citizens. He stood against the “four classes of citizenship” created in Ethiopia by the TPLF: “the first-class citizens are those who are in power to give away land; the second-class citizens are those who receive land; the third-class are those who are reduced to observer-roles of such illicit transactions; the fourth-class are those whose land is taken away from them by force.”

Professor Merara Gudina once told the BBC, “If I’m detained, there are more than 30 million Oromos who can take up the struggle.” Today, Prof. Merara is imprisoned by the T-TPLF for speaking truth before the European Parliament.

Today, the T-TPLF is launching a big jobs program in Oromia to buy off the 30 million Oromos so they will not take up or continue the struggle.

Abubaker Ahmed, a human rights advocate for religious freedom, dreamt of a country where the rule of law reigns supreme and the supreme law of the land is respected irrespective of who happens to be in power. “We are not opposed to any administration. All we are asking for is that the Constitution be respected. All we are saying is those bodies that say they respect the Constitution actually respect the Constitution.”

It is natural for human beings to dream of great things.

The Americans have the “Americans Dream”.

The Chinese have “The Chinese Dream”.

Chinese President Xi Jinping spoke of  the  “Chinese Dream”. It is a dream of “national rejuvenation, improvement of people’s livelihoods, prosperity, construction of a better society and military strengthening.” He urged the young people of China to “dare to dream, work assiduously to fulfill the dreams and contribute to the revitalization of the nation.”

There is no reason why Ethiopians cannot have their own “Dreams”.

I say there is an “Ethiopian Dream”.

From an American/California dreamer to…

Until the late thugmaster Meles Zenawi personally ordered the massacre of hundreds of unarmed protesters following the 2005 election, I had only one dream, the American Dream, the California Dream.

I was not merely in pursuit of the American Dream seeking material fulfillment and success. I wanted the whole kit and caboodle of the “American Dream” for which MLK worked and gave his life.

To me the American Dream is a point in spacetime, where, as Thomas Wolfe described it, “…to every man, regardless of his birth, has his shining, golden opportunity ….the right to live, to work, to be himself, and to become whatever thing his manhood and his  vision can combine to make him.” Of course, this applies to every woman equally.

I dream of two things today.

I dream of seeing the T-TPLF swept into the dustbin of history.

I dream of a New Ethiopia, a truly democratic society at peace with itself, rising on the ash heap of the T-TPLF.

In July 2012, I wrote about my “Dreams of an Ethiopia at Peace”.  I also made a prediction:

There is volcanic pressure building up slowly but surely in Ethiopia. We see small precursor eruptions here and there.  Public dissatisfaction with the status quo has turned to utter public desperation. People cannot afford the basic necessities of life as inflation and cost of living soar to new heights. Corruption, abuse of power, massive repression and poor governance are about to blast the dome on the grumbling volcano. The situation is deteriorating by the day…

In my March 2015 commentary, “The Poison of Ethnic Federalism in Ethiopia’s Body Politic”,  I warned the T-TPLF that it is sitting on a powder keg:

I believe the T-TPLF leaders know with absolute certainty that they are sitting on a powder keg.  The T-TPLF has built its castles in the sand. The only question is whether those castles will be swept up by a tidal wave of deep public discontent or blown away by the tornadic wind of the people’s fury. In either case, the T-TPLF will be vacuumed and deposited in the dust bin of history. There is an immutable iron law of history the T-TPLF should know if they don’t know it already.  Mahatma Gandhi articulated that law.  “There have been tyrants and murderers and for a time they seem invincible but in the end, they always fall – think of it, always.

In 2016, the volcano and powder keg exploded just as I predicted.  I wrote about it in my August 2016 commentary, “Ethiopia: The Volcano, the Beast and the Tiger”.

Today the T-TPLF finds itself in the grips of its self-made nightmare of a “state of emergency”.

To dream or to choose to live in a nightmare, that is the question!

“To be or not to be,” is not the question. To dream or not to dream is the question.

To dream of the New Ethiopia or to accept the T-TPLF nightmare in Ethiopia, that is the question for Ethiopians!

Heartbroken by the poverty and malaise in Europe following  WW I, George Bernard Shaw in Act I of his play “Back To Methuselah” (a series of five plays), posed the question to end all questions: “I hear you say ‘Why?’ Always ; ‘Why?’ You see things; and you say ‘Why?’ But I dream things that never were; and I say ‘Why not?’”

I see Ethiopians in a nightmare of a “state of emergency” and ask: “Why not dream of the New Ethiopia? Why not teach our children to dream about the New Ethiopia that is soon to be? Why not dream of finding the long road that leads to the undiscovered country called new Ethiopia? Why not dream of Ethiopia  in a state of ecstasy instead of  “a state of emergency”?

Yes, I am chasing the dream I call the New Ethiopia.

Let me correct myself. It is actually more than a dream. It is a vision. The word vision comes from the Latin “visionem”, meaning wisdom.

Having a vision is having the wisdom and insight to see past present trials and tribulations to a greater victory on the horizon. Vision is what we see with our mind’s eye.

The essence of a dream is the ability to see beyond what others see with their eyes. It is an innate ability that every person has to varying degrees. Some people cultivate their abilities to dream. Others are afraid of their power within and doubt themselves and avoid dreaming.  They avoid dreaming because  they expect opposition and criticism.

When we work to materialize our dreams, we transition to the stage of vision. That vision becomes a mission. The mission becomes action.  The action becomes the realization of the dream.

To dream is not to daydream or indulge in a pipe-dream. But many of us daydream and pipe-dream.

Many of us daydream about the day the T-TPLF will be dumped into the trash heap of history.

We daydream about the good old days.

Some of us even daydream about grabbing power and walking in the T-TPLF’s dirty shoes.

We daydream and pipe-dream about a whole lot of things.

But few of us dream of things that never were and ask, “Why not”?

Why not dream about the New Ethiopia?!

So what are my “Ethiopian Dreams” for 2017  and beyond?

I dream of ONE Ethiopia at Peace.

I dream of Ethiopia as nation united by its history and the suffering of its people.

I dream of brotherhood and sisterhood in Ethiopia.

I dream of Ethiopians finding their unity in their humanity instead of their ethnicity .

I dream of Ethiopians regardless of ethnicity, religion and region subscribing to the creed, “I am my brother’s, my sister’s keeper.”

I dream of the day when Truth shall rise from the ashes of lies and lead all Ethiopians on the path of reconciliation in Ethiopia.

I dream of human rights extinguishing  government wrongs in Ethiopia.

I dream of the day when all Ethiopians shall come to understand the futility of war and conflict and the utility of collaboration and cooperation in nation-building.

I dream of the rule of law forever banishing the nightmare of rule by outlaws in Ethiopia.

I dream of Ethiopia ridding itself of tyranny and thugtatorship and enjoying a true multiparty democracy with iron clad protections for human rights.

I dream of Ethiopia’s learned men and women using their intellectual powers to teach, preach and touch the people.

I dream of the release all political prisoners from T-TPLF prisons and jails.

I dream of criminals against humanity brought to the bars of justice.

I dream of  my generation one day wake up from the slumber of fear, despair, self-doubt and self-interest and making lasting legacies of peace, freedom and democracy to the next generation.

I dream of tolerance and civility among all Ethiopians.

I dream of the day when Ethiopia’s young people will put their shoulders to the wheel and taking full charge of their country’s destiny: Leaving behind the politics of hate and ethnicity; turning  their backs on those wallowing in moral bankruptcy and corruption and create a New Politics for a New Ethiopia based on dialogue, negotiation and compromise.

I dream of the New Ethiopia, a shining “city upon the hill”.

So I challenge my fellow “Ethiopian Dreamers” once again to dream, and to DREAM big in 2017.

In the poetic words of Langston Hughes:

Hold fast to dreams,
For if dreams die
Life is a broken-winged bird,
That cannot fly.”
Or soar!    

My Quest: The possible dream of the New Ethiopia 

Is the New Ethiopia an impossible dream? Am I chasing an impossible dream?

I think not.

I am on a Quest, in pursuit of a possible dream of a New Ethiopia locked inside an impossible nightmare.

But dream on, I shall!!!

In the lyrics of  “The Impossible Dream (The Quest)”, I shall continue to:

To dream the impossible dream/To fight the unbeatable foe
To bear with unbearable sorrow/And to run where
the brave dare not go/To right the unrightable wrong
And to love pure and chaste from afar/To try when your arms are too weary
To reach the unreachable star/This is my quest
To follow that star/No matter how hopeless
No matter how far/To fight for the right
Without question or pause/To be willing to march,
march into hell/For that heavenly cause
And I know/If I’ll only be true
To this glorious quest/That my heart
Will lie peaceful and calm/When I’m laid to my rest
And the world will be/better for this
That one man, scorned /and covered with scars,
Still strove with his last /ounce of courage
To reach the unreachable, /the unreachable,
The unreachable star/And I’ll always dream
The impossible dream/Yes, and I’ll reach
The unreachable star… 

On Earth, the New Ethiopia!

A life without dreams, like the unexamined life, is not worth living. 

A HAPPY DREAM TO ALL MY READERS IN 2017!!!

Ethiopia in June last year won a ‘non permanent’ seat on the United Nations Security Council. It officially commenced the two year tenure today.

Ethiopia was elected to the Council with 185 out of 190 votes cast. The council has the primary responsibility for international peace and security. They replaced Angola, the last African representative on the Council.

News of their election at the time came as no surprise because the Horn of Africa nation ran unopposed by any other African country, after Kenya and the Seychelles withdrew from the contest in January 2016.

The UN Security Council has five permanent members – US, UK, Russia, China and France – and 10 non-permanent members. Ethiopia is joined by Bolivia, Italy, Kazakstan and Sweden.

Their role was assessed by a security experts as crucial to the continent. Speaking to Africanews, the Head of African Futures and Innovation at the Institute for Security Studies Jakkie Cilliers said,
“Ethiopia is an important player in terms of peace and security on the African continent.

‘‘It has been for a number of years the largest troops contributor on peacekeeping in Africa. It hosts the African Union and in the horn of Africa, it is extremely significant in Somalia, in Sudan and elsewhere. So I think that this reflects in a sense Ethiopia’s status as a, emerging peace and security power in Africa,” Cilliers added.

Ethiopia despite suffering from protests as a result of anti-government sentiments in two main regions – Oromo and Amhara, has been a strong force in mediating in the South Sudan political crisis and in neighbouring Somalia.

They are also in the forefront of the regional peace and security group, the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD). The country is currently under a 6-month state of emergency aimed at quelling the protests.

www.africanews.com

ESAT Radio Monday 02 January 2017

 

Esat Radio Wed 04 Jan 2017

Finote Democracy, Jan 4, 2017

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia –  An Ethiopian court has sentenced 20 Muslims to prison after they were found guilty of trying to establish a state ruled by Sharia law and inciting violence.

They were charged under Ethiopia’s controversial anti-terrorism law. All but one received five and a half years. Two were journalists working for a Muslim radio station.

The state-affiliated Fana Broadcasting Corporate, citing the court ruling, said Tuesday that they also were found to be “participating in a movement to secure the release of another Muslim group.”

FOR IRAQ’S CHRISTIANS, CHRISTMAS CHEER TINGED WITH DESPAIR

Muslims have long felt marginalized in Ethiopia and have carried out a number of protests since 2011. Some were met with force.

Mustafa Safi, the defendants’ lawyer, says they didn’t receive a fair trial and were not able to pray in detention. He says they will appeal.

Ethiopian Orthodox bishops and deacons process during Genna (Christmas) in the northern town of Lalibela (photo: Selamta, the magazine of Ethiopian Airlines)

Christmas in Ethiopia, like most other Christian holidays, is celebrated in its own unique way. Falling on January 7th, the holiday of Genna (also known as Lidet, or “birthday”), does not hold as prominent a place on the Ethiopian calendar as it does in other parts of the world. Easter (Fasika) reigns as the preeminent Christian holiday, but Genna nonetheless remains a major religious and cultural event throughout the country.

The main ceremonial activities of the holiday center around local Ethiopian Orthodox churches (though Protestants and Catholics also celebrate), which hold late-night services on Christmas Eve lasting well past midnight. Traditional liturgical singing marks these services, as does chanting performed by priests and deacons wearing colorful robes with gold and silver accents. Many people travel by foot from church to church, taking in various services until the light of dawn announces the arrival of Christmas morning.

The first Christmas meal is often an early breakfast, eaten by bleary-eyed congregants after returning home. The light meal likely starts with juice made from flaxseed (to oil up the intestines after 40 days of fasting) before moving on to the famously spicy chicken stew doro wot, and it most certainly includes appropriately strong Ethiopian coffee to help welcome the new day. Later on, friends and relatives gather to enjoy a full Genna feast, usually involving a freshly killed lamb for mutton tibs and traditional beverages such as tej (honey wine). And though gift-giving does not figure very prominently in the Ethiopian Christmas tradition, the purchase of new clothing for the occasion — particularly for children — is seen as an important part of the festivities. Several hundred families walking toward churches dressed as a sea of brilliant white cotton is a common sight throughout the country.

Genna, a hockey-like game played in Ethiopia

Perhaps the most unique aspect of the Ethiopian Christmas tradition is that it is associated with a sport, also called Genna, that is most widely played during the holiday season. According to Ethiopian legend, when the shepherds of the biblical Christmas story were informed of the birth of the Messiah, they expressed their overwhelming joy by using their staffs to break into a spontaneous game that resembles field hockey. The afternoon of Genna is filled with matches of the game, played mainly by young men, and potentially other sporting activities such as horse racing.

Although Genna is observed by Christians across Ethiopia, the most famous Christmas celebrations arguably occur in the historic city of Lalibela. There, crowds of up to 100,000 pilgrims flock to watch immaculately dressed Orthodox clergy perform the woreb lining the steep ledges surrounding the famous rock-hewn churches, carved over 800 years ago. Accompanied by a slowly building tempo of traditional church drums, metallic sistrum and pilgrims’ clapping, they lead the crowd in an intensely moving musical performance about the birth of Jesus Christ. For though its execution may look different here than in other parts of the world, the focus of Ethiopian Christmas remains the same: to celebrate the birth of a Savior who came to take away the sins of the world, and to bring peace to all mankind.

Source: Selamta, the magazine of Ethiopian Airlines

Ethiopia says 10,000 prisoners pardoned in Oromia

BBC News

Ethiopian Olympic marathon runner Feyisa Lilesa still hopes to compete for his country – despite being exiled since last summer’s Games.

Lilesa has been living in the US on a temporary visa after making an anti-government gesture when he finished in second place in Rio.

He believes his life would be in danger if he returned to his homeland.

“I’ve always wanted to run for my country and for my people,” the 26-year-old told BBC World Service.

“I would like to see myself in a country where the current government is removed and the people get freedom, so I can run for my country – not for a different country.”

Back in August, Lilesa became the first Ethiopian to finish in the top two of a men’s Olympics marathon since 2000, claiming silver behind Kenya’s Eliud Kipchoge.

As he crossed the line, Lilesa lifted his arms in an X-shape above his head in solidarity with the Oromo people, the country’s largest ethnic group, who have suffered a crackdown at the hands of the Ethiopian government.

The country’s officials said the runner would be welcomed home from Rio as a hero, but Lilesa said he might be killed if he returned.

A funding campaign was launched to help pay his legal fees and support his wife and children back home, whom he has not seen since before the Olympics.

“I have no regrets about doing what I did in Rio,” said Lilesa. “I would rather regret not doing anything. I know my family is living far away from me, and that might be a problem, but my family could have been one of those families who was shot dead in the street.

“I miss my wife and children but this is no more of a problem than the Oromo people face. Compared to other people, this is not a problem for me. She knows I might get killed if I went back so it’s OK living far away from her.”

A special visa was issued to Lilesa so he can live and train in the US, but he insists he has no plans to stay there permanently.

He added: “Since my wish is to one day go back to my own country, I will remain in this country as long as my visa allows. I have no intention to ask for asylum.”

ESAT News (January 4, 2017)

A grenade explosion hit the Grand Hotel in Bahir Dar Wednesday night, eyewitnesses told ESAT.

No party claimed responsibility for the explosion that happened at 8:00 p.m. local time. No casualties have been reported so far.

There has been a campaign against the staging of a musical concert at the Hotel by the locals who said the city is still mourning the death of hundreds residents shot and killed by security forces during anti-government protests this summer.

Witnesses also said there were government officials at the Hotel at the time of the explosion.

The owner of the Grand  Hotel, Tiliksew Gedamu, is believed to have close ties to ruling party officials.

Blue Nile Investment, was formed through a partnership between 8 Miles, a UK based equity firm and Mulugeta Tesfakiros.

Blue Nile officially completes purchase from the government.

The protracted privatization process of Awash Winery came to a conclusion after the Ministry of Public Enterprises (MPE) fully transferred shares to – Blue Nile Investment.

After several failed auctions, the winery was transferred to Blue Nile Investment in July 2013, at a price of around 460 million Br. The transfer includes 517ha of vineyard located in Merti Jirsu and another 42ha vineyard in Zeway.

However, the shares were not fully transferd.

Blue Nile Investment, was formed through a partnership between 8 Miles, a UK based equity firm and Mulugeta Tesfakiros. Mulugeta is the owner of several companies under Muller Industries, including Muller Real Estate and Langano Bekele Molla Hotels. 8 miles owns 51pc of the shares of the winery while Mulugeta owns 49pc.

In such dealings, the ministry obliges foreign companies with no prior experience in Ethiopia to make advance payments in foreign currency. Local companies and foreign companies that have previously worked in Ethiopia are allowed to make payments in instalments. Foreign companies with prior investments are required to complete payment within three years while local companies have to complete payment in five years. The foreign partner, 8 Miles, transferred 13 million dollars to the Agency prior to the conclusion of the contract. Mulugeta paid 79 million Br, 35 pc of his total required payment of 225 million Br, to the Ministry in 2013.

The remaining 146 million Br was expected to be paid within five years in equal annual instalments until 2018.

However, the agreed payments were not made and the transfer of the shares to Blue Nile was delayed. The ministry transferred the assets and management of the winery to Blue Nile, but refused to transfer the shares until the full payment was made by Mulugeta. Established by an Italian investor in 1943, Awash is a vanguard wine producer in the Ethiopia. It was nationalized in 1974 and remained in the hands of the state until 2013.

Awash winery, which is under expansion, is known for producing wine under 12 brands including Gouder, Kemila, Axumite and Awash. Expanding at the cost of 200 million Br, its production capacity has expanded from seven million liters to 10 million liters, annualy.

Mulugeta and the Ministry have now struck a deal that the payment will be paid in the agreed period. The Commercial Bank of Ethiopia guaranteed the payment of the remaining money to the ministry.

After the finalization of the transfer, the company arranged a new memorandum of association with the new ownership structure.

A new board of directors for the company has also been assigned.

Daily News Egypt

Minister of Foreign Affairs Sameh Shoukry called on Tuesday for a tripartite meeting with Ethiopia and Sudan in a phone conversation with his Ethiopia counterpart Workneh Gebeyehu.

Shoukry congratulated the newly appointed Gebeyehu, before discussing bilateral interests between the two countries. Shoukry asserted the need to hold talks about the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) in order to discuss technical studies on the implications of the dam.

In March 2015, the three countries signed a declaration of principles whereby they agreed on the construction of the dam, but with technical studies to be conducted in order to guarantee that Egypt and Sudan’s share of the Nile water will not be affected.

Ethiopia previously said that it respects the results of the studies that will be conducted by the consultation offices; however, it is not obliged to abide by these results. The Ethiopian minister of information and communications said earlier in May that 70% of the dam has already been constructed. Also, the technical studies that will be conducted do not pertain to the construction process, but rather to the operation process.

Opponents of the dam have frequently said that Ethiopia has not provided sufficient proof that the dam will not affect Egypt’s 55bn cubic metre water quota. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Ahmed Abou Zeid denied there were any disputes over the GERD, adding that bilateral relations between the two countries are not strained.