Our Saviour is NOT America! ( a brief reply to Mesfin Makonen and others like him)

Dereje Tekaligne

I recently read in the EEDN Ato Mesfin Makonen (otherwise an honourable man who keeps us informed on how the US Congress deals with our fate) informing all of us that the recent document signed by Engineer Hailu and others with the TPLF/EPRDF regime is the result of US administration pressure on Meles Zenawi. We are expected to say thank you to Washington as he does. Some other Ethiopian had also written before that the USA can be Ethiopia‘s salvation.

With all due respect to the opinion of such people it seems to me unpatriotic and myopic to hand over one’s national fate to a foreign power that has, for the last century, shown its inability to heed the demands and aspiration of the poor Ethiopian people except when famine strikes and kills a million or so. I am not starting out from a leftist and anti imperialist premise (Chavez and our own Leftists included) but from direct experience and from the fact that US and Western involvement in the last decade (Anna Gomez excluded) has been detrimental to our country and people. The 2005 election was stolen by the pro America regime of Meles with the full connivance of Washington (remember Vicki Huddleston the US embassy official and how she colluded with two or so spineless so called opposition leaders to sabotage the Dead Cities protest). Meles killed close to 200 people and imposed himself by force and Washington continued to support him business as usual.

The recent document signed between the Meles regime and three opposition organizations is to say the least very controversial. To begin with it deals with election procedures and code of conduct and not with the basic issues of changing the electoral law and the regime controlled electoral board or commission. A lot of smokescreen is being directed at us ( Mesfin says wait and see till God knows when while others sound pleading notes of let us not be divided) to deflect us from discussing the documents and the signing that some are justifiably calling a betrayal. Since Ayele Chamiso and Lidetu Ayalew are detested already by too many people who consider them traitors the surprise and indignation and feeling of betrayal concern the elderly engineer on whom many had confidence imagining his stance against the regime/Weyane as admirable.

In other words, the signing of the documents that actually carry articles that serve well the regime in place is not a very positive thing. If the Americans did pressurize Meles to talk and compromise with the opposition the document that would have been signed would have dealt with the need to change the electoral law, the independence of the electoral board, the fair use of the media, the end to repression of the legal opposition itself, etc. Can one teach a hyena to be gentle and fair to a donkey? The Meles Zenawi regime has proved time and again that it is thuggish, murderous, cheating and discriminatory. What code of conduct! Meles will trample on any document or agreement to rig and steal the election, the result of which is known today already. This aside, the issue brings to the fore the ongoing malady of bowing to the White Man as it were, this un-Ethiopian bowing to foreign governments. Our salvation comes from our own struggle primarily and not from the US congress or the British and EU parliament. Recall when Mussolini invaded our country and Britain, France, etc backed him to the hilt till they found fighting against him to their own national advantage. This is the hard fact. Engineer Hailu thanked the foreign ambassadors who gave him and the others a Kurkum (a bang or knock on the head) every time “we strayed” and he expressed his thanks. And as Napoleon lost his salt with the salt tax in the old times, the Engineer also lost any self respect with his thank you for beating me on the head statement. It is a situation that neither Mesfin nor others can redeem or correct except by admitting the grave mistake and apologizing to the AEUP members and the people of Ethiopia.

Ato Mesfin laid down as goals issues that are not actually primary on the debate on the fairness of the election and the signing of the document by his AEUP leader and others. Neither is the assertion that the AEUP is an organization struggling peacefully going to serve as a refuge. That is not the issue as struggling peacefully does not mean bending to kiss the blood-dirtied shoes of the vain tyrant. Moreover, Ato Mesfin seems to have his countries confused as he writes as one of the goals a national health system. This is known as clouding the issue, a tactic in which the TPLF of Meles Zenawi is very adept. In Ethiopia we say ask the mule who its father is and it will reply my mother is the horse. This is first class diversion, to do a cover up. We are now dealing with the election and documents signed by the Engineer (AEUP) and others. At issue is not what are the basic themes and goals to be emphasized in demanding change in Ethiopia. Even then, we are dealing with a legal opposition that has kept silent on the ceding of Ethiopian land to the Sudan, the devastating famine and the high cost of living and wants to cry against Sheikh Alamoudi in concert with the corrupt female viper called Azeb Golla, wife of the tyrant. The flimsy talk about political prisoners is not even included in the documents and the AEUP leaders have made it clear that they are concerned with “our own” prisoners and may the devil deal with rest!

There is nothing as simple and as rewarding as saying I am sorry I have made a mistake but, alas, it seems an impossible feat in Ethiopia and as one tries to cover up and deny the problem becomes worse. The wait and see option saw us wait till Lidetu confused all and entered the Weyane parliament. Legal opposition groups that have the interest of the people and the Nation at heart have many options that preclude bowing to the Weyane and foreign ” kurkum” givers. They can boycott the election for one by demanding a change to the electoral laws and the independence of the electoral board. Wait and see is a call that actually says “shut up” and let the signatories work hand in glove with Meles Zenawi. It is not an Ethiopian friendly option. The whole position of being chastised by foreign kurkums, thanking foreigners for nothing, and worse of all declaring foreigners the saviours of Ethiopia is so un patriotic and un Ethiopian that it warrants our strongest objection and condemnation. Let us be proud of our Ethiopian heritage and let rely on our own people’s resolve and strength to defeat tyrants and invaders of all sorts.