Assimba Blog

Hama Tuma

There are quite a few people, not necessarily white, who have concluded that we Africans, if only we did not have minerals and oil, rich and fertile lands up for grabbing, (we) would be quite useless and irrelevant in the march of History. France’s embattled president even said we are just at the door of civilization and the past century and not yet in though he did not say whether it is because we did not knock, or were too lazy to bother or were kept out.

French president Sarkozy is in waters deeper than the crocodile infested Nile. His win in the next French election is appearing like the dream of riches of an impoverished African. Troubled and faced with the possibility of a resounding defeat, he has desperately come up with what he considers a panacea: attack the Africans, the black and Arab hordes with the Asians thrown in. The Immigrants.  Sarkozy hopes he has found the right bogeyman to frighten the French not to vote Socialist. And we all know the French voter is a strange animal who talks left and often votes conservative.  Sarkozy has also jumped on the God sent issue of a lone gun man killing French soldiers (North Africans and Caribbean by origin) and innocent Jewish children going to school. He went to Toulouse and almost shed tears as he called the killing of children a national tragedy. The same day Algeria observed the 50^th year of its liberation from brutal French colonialism, a day unobserved this way or that by France. Is this the same Sarkozy who ordered the carpet bombing of Libya causing the deaths of thousands? Is this the same man who sent soldiers to meddle in Ivory Coast? The same day Sarkozy was crying about national tragedy (4 people killed of whom three were children) how many died in Gaza without a word of sympathy from him? And Syria? Actually, all this is neither here nor there. Killers of children need to be condemned in all places.

The main point is that we Africans have once again become useful. They need us. Not only for our oil, gold,  coltan, fertile land, uranium and diamonds but also to act as scarecrows during elections.  There are too many immigrants Sarkozy cries out with indignation stealing the main slogan of the far right National Front thus pushing people ask who really is the leader of the far right—Marie Le Pen  or Sarkozy? The rightists and frightened elders who are complaining that France is no longer authentic France (whatever that means), but a sort of Untied Nations of a country, are pleased. Too many “Noirs et Arabs” (blacks and Arabs) everywhere anyway, we are not safe, all meat sold is actually Halal (this is also a campaign issue believe it or not), send the immigrants packing (Norway is trying to that with Ethiopians), immigration, immigrants, they are drowning us. Once again we Africans and Arabs and immigrants have become potent. We frighten. We are not Talibans but we frighten. We are not just miserable souls being rounded up or dying at Lampadusa but living and aggressive immigrants destabilizing Europe. We clean their toilets and streets but somehow we are stealing critical jobs from them. Wow! We are not pathetic warlords being the only ones to be tried and convicted by the racist  ICC  but Mamadous, Getachews, Dengs and Toures strutting on the streets of Europe and making them afraid. Honor redeemed?

I have always argued that we serve Westerners of all hues by being victims. The NGOs thrive because of us (Juba is host to some 400 of them).  We starve and are of use to them. They collect money using photos of our tearful and desperate and starved children and they collect million of which we do not even se a sizeable part. Take the Kony2012 fellows who collected millions and spent only a mere 32% for the Ugandans in whose name they collected the money. War on Want and others of the 1984 Ethiopian famine are also cases in point. Liv Ullman, a Norwegian actress, visited a camp for famine victims in Ethiopia in 1984 and congratulated a camp dweller on the beauty of his hand knitted cap and the fellow (we Ethiopians are sometimes rude!) replied to her “ but I cannot eat my cap!”, Present day Livs thrive on our misery. Call them Angelina Jolie, George Clooney, etc they are out there getting publicity, making lightening visits to “war zones”, getting filmed and “arrested” in front of embassies (of course they are released promptly) to, as they say, publicize the plight of people who do not have the luxury of being detained in front of cameras and who will not see the light of day if they ever get captured or jailed. So, the charade is for them and we play along. Naive and kind souls that we are, reading the Bible while they stole our land, being filmed with tears for them to collect money and profit, we are the perennial victims. They want us out of their country but we do not demand the repatriation of thousands of French people from Cote d’Ivoire, thousands of French Foreign Legion mercenaries from Djibouti, CAR or other places. We never ask the deportation of aggressive French or American troops from the Horn of Africa, East Africa, etc. We are so welcoming, no?  That is why the ongoing hue and cry against us by Sarkozy and others who think political and economic problems that they are facing are of no importance while they rile against immigrants and wail of national tragedies are indeed fakes but we like them. They are our fakes, our own crocodiles. They have made us modern day Mandingos, needed, the heart of their malaise and crisis. Who can ask for more? It is much better than being outside the gates of civilization, irrelevant, a synonym to misery and uselessness.

We have become an election issue of primary importance and we should thank Sarkozy and all European rightists for the honor. We are now relevant, of some use and role. Immigrants in France and other countries should swagger and be visible. Like it or not we should land on them, we shall come to their shores (as they did come to ours years and years ago to enslave and colonize us). They are still in Africa in their thousands (if only China had not been so far—we would have shown them the replica to their invasion of our continent), enjoying high standard of living and not cleaning African streets and toilets.  Yet, we are tolerant. We are happy to be scarecrows and monsters for frightened old ladies and men and for those who keep the nightmare of virile Mandingos possessing their lily white maidens. The march of History is against their dream of keeping us away. They need us for our labor, for our tax money, for our wealth in our countries. They need us to frighten their citizens not vote rationally but to bow to their fears and prejudices. Aren’t we immigrants great?

By Yilma Bekele

War is upon us again. War defines the Ethiopian Government. Since it came to power it has been at war with its citizens. No region or ethnic group has been spared from this infection. The regime is always at war with opposition politicians, journalists, publishers, intellectuals, and business people to mention a few. The regime has fought in Gambella, Hawasa, Ambo, Arba Minch and other localities against its own people. The Ethiopian Government is at war with our Somali-Ethiopians in the Ogaden and has been accused of war crimes.  

The Government has been at war with Somali Warlords since 2006 or so. They had a full-scale war with Eritrea. Over eighty thousand were sacrificed in this war no one can explain why. Today the Ethiopian Government is beating the war drums to start a war with Eritrea. They are admitting with pride their incursion into a Sovereign territory and carrying out an act of war. They are calling attention to their illegal acts – at least by International standards all nations adhere to. 

The TPLF regime sent out Miscommunication Deputy Head Shimeles Kemal to announce in broad daylight that his Government has crossed an International border and murdered in cold blood. It is the height of stupidity or clueless Shimeles has left himself open to being an accomplice to a criminal act. Shimeles has always been an interesting character among the TPLF Cadres. He is one of my favorite Ethiopians in league with his boss Bereket. Ato Shimeles is a certified paranoid and he was the sacrificial lamb sent out by Meles to prosecute Kinijit leaders. You remember what a fiasco that was. Shimles’s witnesses were turning against him to the extent the defendants felt sorry for this clueless character.

That why it is interesting to note it was Shimeles that was sent out to huff and puff regarding TPLF’s misadventure. I am surprised he did not compare their act to other nations doing the same. The illegal regime always tries to find a comparable act others have carried out to justify its feeble attempt at legitimacy.

When there is no outside threat, the Woyane regime cannibalizes itself. They have carried multiple ‘Tehadso’ campaigns that it is highly possible no one will be left around to claim the ultimate prize of being Emperor of Ethiopia. War is the only vocabulary spoken among the comrades in the Politburo. It satisfies two constituents. Those that still lament the ‘loss’ of Eritrea and would jump on any band wagon as long as they are promised a province and the new EFFORT led single ethnic ruling class that dreads Shabia and would like the Meles regime to do the job before it ceases to exist.

The whole idea of crossing an International border and killing is not a normal or acceptable behavior. Normal Nations just do not do that. Some big powers do certain illegal acts to flex their muscle but Ethiopia is a Nation on life support and many of her citizens go to bed hungry and wake up hungry. Too bad there is only bones to flex. It will be interesting to listen to the Ethiopian UN Ambassador explain how neighbors can invade each other at will and the world finds out about it on BBC. This must be the principle of jungle diplomacy. How strange it resembles jungle Democracy as practiced in Ethiopia. 

The US is in the current economic mess because of the terrible mistake of waging two wars far away from home base. Even for a Super Power the cost was too much to bear. War is not cheap. The US produces all its weapons and transportation needs. War is big profit for certain sector of the economy. But it was still a waste. When you take Ethiopia the idea of war is mind-boggling. All weapon is purchased with cash. From the boots of the Solder, to his uniform, arms, transportation cost including fuel is paid cash. The only thing Ethiopian is the peasant in uniform ready to be sacrificed. War is hell on Ethiopians and their economy.  

By all UN index of Human Achievement our country always ranks in the bottom three in the world. That is because we spend our human resources warring each other. We sacrifice precious human life and also waste our hard earned money on foreign manufactured goods designed to kill. Normal countries are not run like that. Then again normal countries do not cross international borders and fire their weapons.

There will be many theories why the Meles regime will do such a criminal act. Ranging from conjuring up the Eritrean threat to the theory of forceful defense will be explored. A few Ethiopians will use the occasion to open old wounds and wave the flag. The bottom line is an illegal regime that rules using force is on the verge of wasting both human and economic resources for no valid reason. The fact that no one paid attention to this bizarre behavior is heart warming. Such act makes the Donor countries look bad. Meles was shopping for attention and he was deservingly ignored. Even the victim of this aggression was caught by surprise.

In an ideal world no country will sell weapons to this rogue regime. The people of Ethiopia and Eritrea have seen too many wars. The generation that cultivated and nurtured hatred and animosity is on its way out. This is its last gasp to save itself from its internal enemies. The Ethiopian government is using the Eritrean threat to justify its war on all Ethiopian people. The two poorest economies on planet earth are wasting their precious resource to kill each other. There is no one closer to an Ethiopian than an Eritrea. Eritreans have no one closer to heart than Ethiopians. Instead of building a great East African trade and technology Zone we are listening to those that peddle hate and violence. It is a new day. It is a new generation void of hate and violence. 

We should ask those countries that donate arms to rogue Nations to be aware that those same weapons are used on peaceful people demanding their god given fundamental rights. We should demand Western countries not send military trainers other than police since our experience with this robot solders has not been pleasant. We remember the use of US donated vehicles against our people in the aftermath of the 2005 elections. It is too much to ask of us to be silent when our tax money is used to prop up a system that kills to survive. We should make our feelings known to our representatives in congress. 

The ‘winds of war’ from Arat Kilo was the culmination of a very trying week for being an Ethiopian. We are being tested for sure. It started with the video of our Ethiopian woman being humiliated in broad day light in Beirut, Lebanon. It is a very agonizing scene. It was a video of a woman being forced into a car while resisting. First she was lying face down in a sidewalk bush while some guy is trying to pull her back. The next cut shows this guy shoving her into the back seat headfirst and her futile resistance. In the background you see people walking but no one seems to care. It ends with the car driving away. A day later the name and picture of the alleged criminal was posted all over. They were able to trace it from the license plate of the vehicle. It traumatized me to no end. Life is not fair.   

There days later it was reported that she has died. She committed suicide. She hanged her self. She looked so small and alone. She was even crying in Ethiopian while being forced to be taken where she doesn’t want to go. It is called kidnapping. My little sister did not even have the energy to shout and scream. She was too tired and defeated. Later on I read this took place in front of the Ethiopian Consulate. What a fitting location is all I can say. Do you think this crime against Ethiopian woman is an isolated event? Not really it is so normal it does not even deserve a mention unless it is so dramatic and is caught on video. This is what a Saudi official explained his preference for Ethiopian maids. 

Noor Adeen Masfa, Vice Consul for Economic Affairs in Jeddah, said his department and committees from the Ethiopian Ministry of Labor met several times to facilitate the travel of housemaids to the Kingdom after they are properly trained in Ethiopia.

“We decided to finish procedures of 1,500 housemaids due to the increasing demand for Ethiopian housemaids by Saudi families. Ethiopian housemaids are trained well on Saudi customs and traditions, besides the percentage of runaways is low,” he said.

Percentage of runaways is the key word here. We are docile people trained to heel. A proud rich people are reduced to exporting its young ones to raise Saudi children and care for Saudi old. Nothing wrong with that you might say. I disagree. It is a waste of human resource not to be able to house, feed and educate your children so they can create a better Ethiopia. Money spent on education is a better investment than money spent on having the best security force and army to protect a few. Alem Dechasa is one of the thousands of Ethiopians girls under slavery in the Middle East and the Gulf. They are all young, energetic and willing to do anything to survive and help their family at home. It is the remittances they sent that sustains millions of their relatives. It is this remittance income that gives Meles the boasting rights to the so-called double-digit growth. 

Like Alem most of them are from a small village with a little or no education and the perfect candidate for abuse and humiliation by their uneducated, cruel Arab degenerates whose brain function has been compromised by too much petro dollar. The Ethiopian Government encourages exporting humans since the income is what sustains their corrupt system in place. 

I am sure we are all shocked and angry by this sad news. Of course we blame it on the Arabs. It is true some Lebanese individual is responsible for the inhuman act against our daughter/sister. On the other hand it is the Ethiopian Government that is sending out these young innocent children to countries where they know no respect for human life and dignity.

We cannot change the Arab governments. As we are witnessing, the Arab people are slowly dealing with their problem in a very satisfactory manner. We Ethiopians are the only ones that can put a stop to such outrage against our people. It is our government that is actively involved in encouraging, pushing our young children into harms way. Alem is not the first nor will she be the last. Every year hundreds of our people kill themselves all over the Middle East. We choose to do nothing about it. We scream and shout the first few weeks and life goes back to normal until the next tragedy. Meles and company will probably sue and settle for some monetary compensation and the case is closed.

We suffer from famine, disease or ignorance because there is no democracy or the rule of law in our country. No Democratic and free country suffers from the above ills. All governments that deny basic human right to their people rule over a population that could never achieve its potential. That kind of society is riddled by conflict, civil war and chaos around every corner. That is why Ethiopia is at war with its neighbors, sends it’s youngest and brightest away and is consumed by talk of war and conflict. It is due to the absence of Democracy and respect for basic Human Right. Our working together to get rid of tyranny is how we want to remember the youth and hope of our little sister that went far from home so she can make her peoples life better. We salute her determination and her commitment to those that are faced with the same fate as hers. She did not want to die quietly and meekly. She wanted her death to mean something to all her sisters. Her parents should be told how their brave dignified girl carried her self in a foreign land that should fill their heart with pride. Her scream made others pay attention to the inhuman treatment they all suffer in this unequal relationship. Goodbye little girl, may you at last rest in peace.   

By Hama Tuma

To avoid any possible misunderstanding, let me start out by stating that Joseph Kony, the notorious leader of the Ugandan rebel Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) , the relative of the equally infamous self declared witch Alice Lakwena ( frequented by many top Kenyan officials in Nairobi) is no joke at all.  He is one who should not be taken lightly. For twenty years, he had led a rebellion against Ugandan leader Yoweri Museveni, committed atrocities. Kidnapped children, chopped off ears, noses and lips, and, notwithstanding those foreigners who say he has no program at all, he did plan to set up different system in Uganda with, perhaps, himself as the top prophet.

The group called Invisible Children that uploaded the film called Kony 2012 is also no joke at all. Their film on Kony was seen by millions in just 48 hours and the group raised $ 5 million in the process. The group claims the money raised would be used for positive construction work and projects in Northern Uganda (where Kony’s rebel operate) even though last year the group raised $8.6 million and used only 32% of the fund for services in Northern Uganda. The white man as the savior is a worn out and threadbare theme—money is the issue and so called charity organizations who claim to wail for us clean their crocodile tears with lots of dollars ostensibly raised to help us Africans. The Kony 2012 film has caught the attention of millions though it is superficial and glosses over the real problems of Uganda. Invisible Children NGO or Co calls for and backs American military intervention in Uganda. Obama has obliged sending a hundred Special Forces operatives to assist the Uganda army (Africa Command officers were in Uganda before). Museveni’s regime is an ally of Washington in the so called war against terror, it is presently in Mogadishu trying to fulfill America’s bidding (as is Meles Zenawi). Hence, American military presence in Uganda or any other African country for that matter does not augur well for the continent even though there are naïve African souls sleeping what Senghor called “ the great sleep of the negro” and dreaming of an American modern cavalry saving Africa. In your dreams! A coterie of Hollywood actors/stars have also joined the fray and are calking on all of us to make Kony famous so that he comes infamous and gets “taken down” not only by Angelina Jolie (who seems to think real life is a movie when she declared if left alone with Kony in a room she would take down this person—“I hate him” is what she said–) but by the big power America. Such oversimplification of the Ugandan problem or the Kony dilemma has helped the Invisible Children group to pander to sentiments and to raise money but will not help an iota in finishing off the Kony problem which is actually a Ugandan political problem.

Advocating for American military intervention in support of the Ugandan regime is more than wrong. The Uganda regime has been continuously accused of violating the human rights of the citizens, the last February general election was a fraud with Museveni violating the Constitution to run for the third time, opposition leaders are continuously repressed, the Uganda army conducting operations in the Central African Republic has been accused of atrocities against civilians. This is the army that the Invisible Children group and its Hollywood cabal want to get American military help and assistance. Here is the fact that those in the know tell us to heed:

 “The adult population recalls the brutal government-directed counterinsurgency campaign, beginning in 1986, which evolved into Operation North, the first big operation in the country that people talk about as massively destructive for civilians, and which created the conditions that gave rise to the LRA of Joseph Kony and, before it, the Holy Spirit Movement of Alice Lakwena. Young adults recall the time from the mid-1990s when most rural residents of the three Acholi districts were forcibly interned in camps. The Ugandan government claimed it was to “protect” them from the LRA. But there were allegations of murder, bombings, and the burnings of entire villages: first to force people into the camps, and then to force them to stay put. By 2005, the camp population grew from a few hundred thousand to over 1.8 million in the entire region – which included Teso and Lango – of which over a million were from the three Acholi districts. Comprising practically the entire rural population of the three Acholi districts, they were expected to live on handouts from relief agencies. According to the government’s own Ministry of Health, the excess mortality rate in these camps was approximately 1,000 persons per week – inviting comparisons with the numbers killed by the LRA even in the worst year”. Museveni refused to sign an Amnesty Bill proposed by his own parliament. Instead, Museveni and his allies resorted to Washington’s main poodle called Luis Moreno Ocampo of the ICC and had Kony and the LRA leadership charged with crimes against humanity.

One would imagine that genocidal criminals like Bush and Blair, Kissinger and Nguema, Meles Zenawi and Deby would be on the list of the ICC. No chance. The ICC list is one to be accused of racism even.  Check it:

Bashir Abu Garda, Mohamed Ali, Abadella Banda,Omar Bashir, Jean Pierre Bemba, Muamar Gadafi, Saif al Islam Gadafi,Laurent Gbagbo, Ahmed Haroum, Uhuru Kenyatta, Joseph Kony, Vincent Otti (LRA),Thomas Lubanga, William Ruto, and many more Africans. No Anglo Saxons, no pro Washington criminals and murderers. Only fools expect that all these things happen haphazardly, by accident, by luck. Uganda has discovered oil and made a deal with Tallow oil recently—this has a lot to do with American interest in Uganda. Eastern Congolese are dying in their millions for coltan, gold and other minerals. As of recently, independent South Sudan is important because of its petrol and land. The ICC indicts Kony and not the Ugandan army or government because who pays the piper does not say objectivity or fairness. Why all the hue and cry around Kony now after so many years of his barbaric rampage and when he is weak and on the verge of collapse? The demonization of Kony with his ragtag army is at best a diversion while the rebellion and overall dissatisfaction in Uganda is a serious political Ugandan problem. It is about oil and money, about land and corruption, about tyranny and ethnic grievances. The Invisible Children group’s call for American intervention and all out support to the Museveni regime, by demonizing a rather weakened Kony and LRA, is not the right call at all. Once again Westerners are playing cynical games with our misery and fate. May the demise of Kony be soon but, more importantly, may the end of the anti democratic regime of Museveni be soon and the solutions to the basic political problems of Uganda an actuality. In the meanwhile, Invisible Children will for sure make millions with the help of its U tube, American chauvinists, actors, the ICC and duped African fellow travelers..

 By Yilma Bekele

The embattled former tyrant president of Yemen Ali Abdullah Saleh is going to settle in Ethiopia. Ethiopia will be his home in exile. Ethiopia was not his first choice. He wanted to settle in Oman his neighbor on the West. The Sultan of Oman was not receptive to the idea. His attempt to go to the UAR was politely rebuffed. Ethiopia is a refuge of last resort. We are being used as a dump. I am certainly familiar with that practice of getting rid of waste. Upon finishing a project we always have left over debris. We normally haul it to a public dump where they charge by the pound. The City makes extra effort to recycle our garbage.

That is what came to mind when I heard about good old Saleh being run out of Sanna, Yemen. They are dumping their debris and I was wondering how much The Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia was charging for this waste. It is a container full I am told. Considering all the wives and the children and the nephews and the cousins and fellow partners in crime it is quiet a heavy load. It is raining dollars for EFFORT and junior associates.

You might think I am being too harsh. I am being hateful and it is wrong to vent in such a way. You must be saying how rude of me to call a former President such a name. I very much doubt you would judge me harshly after I tell you who Mr. Saleh is. I assure you he is not an ordinary refugee like most of us. None of us left on a chartered plane did we? I present you fellow refugee Ali Saleh. 

Ali Saleh has less than elementary education. In 1960 he graduated from the North Yemen Military Academy with a rank of Corporal. In 1978 as a Second lieutenant he was appointed military governor of a province. Upon the assassination of the President Second lieutenant Saleh was appointed a member of the four-man Provisional Presidency Council. The date was June 24^th of 1978. On July 17, 1978 Second lieutenant Saleh was ‘elected’ by the parliament to be the President of North Yemen and Chief of staff and Commander-in-chief of the armed forces.

His first act as president was execute thirty officers after charging them with conspiracy. That took place on August 10^th. Of 1978. In 1979 he fought with the Peoples Democratic Republic of Yemen his southern neighbor. In 1990 the two counties merged as Republic of Yemen and the newly minted colonel Saleh became the first president. In 1994 he declared state of emergency and dismissed his Southern partners from office. Fighting ensued between the two Yemen’s. There has been no respite from civil war and civil unrest ever since he came to power. It did not matter the North or the South it was always war and conflict. In his own words he survived ‘by dancing on the heads of snakes.’ He is able to do so by manipulating tribal alliances, political intrigues and iron fisted approach to deal with real and perceived enemies. He created the situation and benefited himself and his family and other criminal friends. He lived in a palace that even got ‘gold-crested armchairs.’

By 2006 Yemen was averaging income of $5.5 billion from oil exports. In 2006 Yemen was allocated $4.7 billion from Europeans and their rich Gulf neighbors. Yemen was not hurting for money. The problem was management of all that was pouring in from oil, donors and remittances from poor Yemenis scattered all over the Middle East.

That is what happens when one is cursed with a sick leader in charge. His political and economic policies are designed to satisfy his and his clan’s parasitic existence not the needs of the country. Coffee used to be Yemen’s main export and principal form of foreign exchange until it was replaced by the non-sustainable (qat). Instead of developing domestic industry thru better education and incentives to entrepreneurs Saleh’s policy made Yemen dependent on outsiders and forced his youngest and brightest citizens to migrate out to send him remittances that he squandered. Yemen became what is known as a ‘failed state.’

As his domestic policy revolved around the survival of his family and friends his foreign policy showed the erratic nature of his regime. Saleh’s support of Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Kuwait was so disastrous it caused the relocation of over 850,000 Yemenis. They were unceremoniously deported, kicked out, pushed away from Saudi Arabia and the Gulf. His clueless dance with Tehran isolated Yemen from its Arab neighbors.

Tyrants are peculiar animals. The same Saleh who was a friend of Saddam and ally of Iran was not shy visiting Washington in 2001 and declaring himself to be the number one fighter against ‘Islamic terrorism.’ It gave him new ammunition against domestic opponents and millions of dollars in US aid to his private army. Did I tell you that his oldest son Ahmed is the commander of the US funded Republican Guard and his nephew Amar is in charge of National Security; his other nephew Tariq is the head of the Presidential Guard while another nephew Yahya controls the Counter-terrorism unit. It is all in the family. He is still dancing on the head of snakes. 

Poor Yemen that has been limping from one crisis to another saw an opening with the arrival of

‘Arab Spring’. Tunisia stirred their passion for freedom. January 27, 2011 is a blessed day. That was the day Yemenis got rid of fear and went out in mass demanding the ouster of Saleh and family. A cancerous tumor that has taken over thirty years to attach itself to the host cannot be excised so easy. It took exactly a year to drive this varmint out of Yemen. Human Rights Watch has documented the deaths of 270 protesters and bystanders during last year’s protests. Thousands more protesters were injured by live ammunition. The country was turning or stands a good chance of becoming another Somalia. Saleh is the owner of this debacle.

This is the toxic garbage dumped on our country. The Yemeni people will demand justice. They will hunt this criminal and his family to the end of the earth to bring him to justice. No one can blame them. Ethiopia will be exposed to their righteous anger and be caught in this family affair. Our country that has prided itself protecting freedom fighters and is the seat of African Union is fast becoming a refugee to criminals and misfits running away from their sins and International Justice. Today Saleh may be tomorrow Sudan’s Al Bashir and who is to stop Assad from pitching his tent in the rift valley. Ironic that her children are run away while criminals are welcome. 

International treaties and conventions are nothing to sneer at. It is true they serve the interest of the big powers in more ways than one. It is also the best tool at hand that usually serves the interest of the weak. Go to International Criminal Court of Justice Web site and look under ‘situation and cases’ and you will see what I mean. (http://www.icc-cpi.int/Menus/ICC/Home) That is one scary bunch you see there. The ICCJ is a last resort of the weak and the voiceless. Our country has appealed to the League of Nations and the UN when invaded. Turning against international rules and convention is not the way to garner respect or legitimacy.

What is troubling to the rest of us is the role played by the Western powers in this tragic affair. They were perfectly aware that Saleh is not a pleasant human being to be associated with. They encouraged him because he served their purpose. Wikileaks was kind enough to expose their duplicity in this criminal enterprise. In 2009 the US gave $150 million including $45 million to equip and train an aviation regiment for Yemeni Special Forces. It is sad that in order to safeguard their own security that they turn a blind eye when the same weapon is used against unarmed civilians.

They are the ones that forced the Yemeni people to swallow this poisonous pill of ‘immunity’. The so-called agreement brokered by the US and the Gulf states is supposed to shielded Saleh, his friends and family from all criminal act against their own people. Thus the Yemenis are expected to pretend thirty-four years of crime and destruction did not happen.

It is supposed to be civilized to forgive and let go. Civility as a principle is understandable but the danger I see is when it is practiced to mask issues such as accountability, justice and the rule of law. What the Western powers did was push international law, international treaties under the rug so some still surviving tyrants will not be unduly alarmed. The about-face action by dear allies and friends of Mubarak and Gaddafi has been duly noted by a few in the neighborhood. As recently as January 6, 2012 UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay reasserted that an amnesty cannot be granted for serious crimes under international law. Who is listening?

I was contemplating issues such as this when I heard a report regarding Gambella, Ethiopia – on public radio. Mr. Saleh is being welcomed to settle in our country and Ato Okok Ojulu is displaced from his ancestral land to roam the planet as a refugee.

Ato Ojulu’s Gambella is in Western Ethiopia. It is sparsely populated. They are settled farmers. They are blessed with a beautiful land that has sustained them for generations. Our leader has determined since he is the owner of the land he felt he is better of leasing it to outsiders. The plan consisted of moving Ato Ojulu and his village to a new area. They did not even have time to harvest when they were forcefully moved.

A peaceful villager is now a refugee in Kenya. He is not equipped to live outside of his village. His land is his identity. He was content where he was. Today his beautiful Gambella is becoming one big commercial farm. They are talking about investing billions and growing rice. They are going to use the mighty river for irrigation and dump their fertilizer waste into the water. The fishes and wild animals are going the way of Ato Ojulu. Gambella will be no more. The Anuk way of life will soon be memory.

I sat in my car. I am responsible for my brother’s plight. I let his village down. Ojulu my brother is telling his story all the way from Kenya. He was keeping the spirit of his ancestors alive. He has no control over the action of the Ethiopian Government that looked at him as insignificant. There is nothing he can do about the Saudi/Indian/Chinese investors. My brother Ojulu has control over his own response. He is fighting back the way he knows how. It was a single voice from across the planet but I heard it loud. My friend Solomon heard it and called me. I am sure lots of people heard it and felt moved. How we respond is up to each of us. I also know Ojulu is not asking for pity.

As he remembered his displaced people he is asking us to do what is in our power to help him save a way of life and a proud people. There is a lot we can do. Get involved and make a difference. All our independent sites are filled with programs to help us get informed and be intelligent citizens. Our love and can do spirit will defiantly neutralize all the negatives emanating from the palace. As my brother Ojulu did let us be in control of our response. (http://www.solidaritymovement.net/signPetion.cfm )

Now I hope you will not judge me harshly regarding my indignation about the individual Ali Saleh. He has caused pain and agony to a lot of people. Answering why will never explain how his criminal activity has impacted real people. Due to his madness and delusion he felt that he was the only one fit to govern. He felt others lack his superior intellect and don’t even know to appreciate how lucky they are to have him at the helm. Any one that thinks different is nothing but an enemy of the state to be eliminated and wiped out.

In an Interview he gave a few weeks before he left this is what Saleh said about the uprisings in the area “This is a virus and is not part of our heritage or the culture of the Yemeni people.” I would say boy did they ever surprise him! This is the person parking his criminal behind on our precious land. I feel like a doormat.     

Resources used:

• http://www.icc-cpi.int/Menus/ICC/Home
• http://cironline.org/projects/food-for-9-billion
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ali_Saleh
• http://www.solidaritymovement.net/signPetion.cfm 
• http://wikileaks.org/
• http://wikileaks.org/wiki/Category:Yemen
• http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2100431,00.html
• http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2107926,00.html#ixzz1nwZLoORH

Hama Tuma

President Museveni of Uganda justified his clinging to power by illegally amending the Ugandan Constitution with the argument: I have stayed long in government and I am now an expert on governance and thus the better placed to rule Uganda. It is a kind of a vicious circle argument more in the line of lawyers defending the indefensible. And the AU built on the ruins of the most notorious Ethiopian prison, the Kerchielle, where thousands have perished and suffered, its new HQ. It is very appropriate in my view as the thieves and embezzlers and killers who are gathered within this useless body should sit on chairs on top of a former dungeon and hanging ground.

What is more sad is to observe some Ethiopian opposition figures (apparently they have no burning issues to fight for) fuming against the AU for not erecting a monument to former Emperor Haile Sellasie next to that of Nkrumah at the site of the new AU headquarter. I can imagine how horribly Nkrumah would have felt if he were alive at the fate of the African Union he had strongly called for and for the fact that those who have sold out Africa to the West and China have dared erect his statue. In Africa, the art of the irrelevance still dominates. The fundamental problem of the AU was not lack of space or the need for a bigger HQ. The Chinese spent 200 million dollars to build the new HQ—it was obviously no philanthropic gesture on their part. As the new invader or colonizer of Africa, China is robbing Africa blind and paving the way to what may turn out to be settler colonialism and the least it can do to dupe the so called African leaders is to build them an unnecessary new building in which they can gather and pompously declare their nonsense and hail their impotence.. The AU has proved to be a deader version of the OAU; its troops in Somalia are but soldiers for non African powers. Mention the presidents that are part of it and the list does read like that of the top tyrants of the world.  Some of them are even Franc Masons, a semi secret sect or lodge linked to colonial France or Britain. Francois Bozize of the Central African Republic, Paul Biya of Cameroon, Ali Bongo of Gabon, Blaise Campaore of Burkina Faso, Idris Deby of Chad, Mamadou Tanja of Niger, Robert Guei (former head of Cote d’Ivoire), and John Kuffuor of Ghana are all Franc Masons with their first loyalty to the sect or lodge rather than to their countries and Africa.  Meles Zenawi, a nauseating “tribalist” who has sold himself and the whole country to foreigners, has reportedly applied. The new AU building, standing on a ground that should have been a museum for Ethiopians and their suffering, is just a hollow building, a big showcase of Africa’s failure to redeem or regain its honor and independence. Ali Bongo succeeded his corrupt father Omar Bongo who robbed Gabon ten times blind and amassed at least a 3 billion dollars fortune (Meles and his corrupt wife are catching up!). In 2008, Omar Bongo owned 33 properties in France, including a US $30 million mansion in Paris. Gabon’s oil reserves also allowed him to spend lavishly at the official level, with an US $800 million presidential palace back home in Gabon. Omar Bongo and other Francophone African presidents contributed large amount of money to French political parties and presidents and any national who wanted to have an important post had to be a member of the local Franc Mason first. The web of subservience to the West is so tightly woven that quite a few of the sold out presidents are now sending their nationals into war spots following the order (not of their national interest) but of the West.

A recent report in a Kenyan newspaper revealed that in Nyeri, Kenya, husbands have become victims of domestic violence with wives and women beating up the men. No Kenyan man was heard declaring “this is poetic justice” but it pushes one to wonder if women takeover power in Africa things could change. Alas no.The female president of Sierra Leone is a disappointment, Kibaki’s wife is a notorious slapper of men and Kibaki, who is rumored to have a mistress, often denies the fact and declares his loyalty to his wife. The wife of Meles Zenawi is the Queen of Corruption and many Ethiopians hope she would one day slap her husband in public and humiliate him to no end. More tidbits are informative. An Ethiopian impregnates the daughter of the South Sudan president and marries her publicly but threats against him have forced the coupe to move quietly out of corruption plagued Juba and to live in Nairobi. The man who has bled Chad dry, Idris Deby, married a 21 years old beauty, the daughter of the chief of the notorious Janjawid militia (Omar Beshir attended the wedding ceremony), after paying a $26  million dowry plus $1 million spent on the young lady for jewels of all kinds. Chad is one of the poorest countries that can ill afford a 27 million dollar dowry to please an ageing tyrant who already has four or five wives and more than a dozen children. And yet, Idris Deby is a respected member of the AU. As is Senegal’s Wade, in his late eighties and in full political senility, who is trying to be president for life and in the process dragging Senegal into the usual African pit of conflict and chaos.

On another level, the sale of Africa is brisk. It is an all year discount jamboree. If Mobutu senior was a kleptomaniac his son Joseph is worse. Meles Zenawi has sold off the land of Ethiopia to Arabs, Indians, and Chinese etc and permitted the use of pernicious fertilizers and chemicals on the land itself— money rules. Forced conscription, forced villagization, forced contribution are all in progress. Zambian copper, Sudanese oil, Gabon’s uranium and oil, Congo’s gold and Coltan, Sierra Leone’s diamonds, Ethiopia’s fertile land and more are all being robbed and taken out. It is not really important or crucial whose monument stands outside of the AU. If Haile Sellasie was ignored so are Nasser and Ben Bella to mention but two. No big deal. Africa’s real heroes are actually almost always unsung and dead— Um Nyobe, Machel, Cabral, Lumumba, and many more—while their killers were and are all members of the AU. A redressing of History is called for in the first place.  The irrelevance of the AU is obvious for all to see. One yearns for the good old days when the likes of Tubman of Liberia told the Liberian people openly: “I know Tubman is not the president you want; I know Tubman is not the president you deserve but Tubman is the president you got!” Take it or leave it—no pretension, no duplicity, the Emperor is naked and go deal with it. The hullabaloo on the new AU HQ is desperately trying to cover up the stink of the organization that has turned into a zombie manipulated by old and new colonialists. The legendary bread to be cut is but the corruption money to be handed over and as soon as is this is done the puppets start to swing before even the ropes are pulled. Bwana, Master of all of us all, your command is our duty; we shall sell you the country, the continent. The AU is the centre of the despots who have sold out the whole continent. That is the truth and essence of it all. It is perhaps Kaddafi’s confused yearning for a more effective AU and united Africa that precipitated his downfall as much as the oil wealth of his country.

After all is said, and said again and again, the hard fact remains: Africa has been re colonized. The richest countries of the continent are most hard hit but dirt poor ones like Djibouti, Niger, Mali and Ethiopia have not been spared either. In the coming two decades more than 350 million Chinese are expected to live and work in Africa. Hundreds of thousands of Portuguese are streaming back to Angola and Mozambique to search for work.  Thousands of French live in West Africa the life of the Pasha. The land grab is spreading at a shocking pace. Foreigners aside, ethnic politics prevailing, members of the ruling ethnic group and party do dance on our heads all over Africa. The more it changes, the more it stays the same. The fight for Africa, for national and continental liberation is calling on all of us. Given this dire and drastic situation the question of the AU headquarter and whose statue is erected there is more than irrelevant.

By Tesfay Atsbeha and Kahsay Berhe

February 2012

Part one

On 19 February 2012, the official 37th birthday of the TPLF, many people in Tigray have to think of their loved ones as martyrs as every year; it is a day for remembering the loss of about 60 000 young women and men; as well as thousands of civilians killed in the country side and urban centres by the TPLF and the Derg respectively. The only act of paying respect to the martyrs would have been the prevalence of justice, the rule of law and democracy for all Ethiopians. But this is not the case and therefore the day is a day of sorrow for the overwhelming majority of oppressed and hungry Ethiopians.

For a few oppressors and exploiters as well as their supporters it is a day of celebrating their gains and luxuries. There is also the macabre situation of the sad being forced to celebrate their losses.

There are special events which transcend regimes and ethnic membership, like the victory of Adwa, which are celebrated by Ethiopians, but the birth of the TPLF will never be one of them. The celebration of this particular event is unlikely to outlive Meles. We Ethiopians, as many other people all over the world, do not have a tradition of celebrating events which do not have a positive meaning for posterity. We do not celebrate victories per se. No victory of Tewodros over Ras Ali, Dejatch Wondyerad etc. no victory of Yohannes over emperor Teklegiorgis, no victory of Menilik over king Teklehaimanot is celebrated by Ethiopians and therefore no victory of the TPLF over the Derg which ended up in the tyranny of Meles will be celebrated by Ethiopians in the future.

When it comes to principles, Ethiopians celebrate and pay respect only to those historical figures who selflessly struggled against invaders and for the dignity of the people, no matter whether such figures were victorious or not. Patriots like Abune Petros and Zeray Deres who sacrificed their lives for a genuine cause are as much respected as the patriots who victoriously defended the independence of Ethiopia. As we are living at a stage of the development of the world at which the struggle for (at least formal) independence is a thing of the past, Ethiopians have been struggling for democracy since almost four decades. The TPLF under Meles and his clique has proved itself without any reasonable doubt so far that it is not only anti-democratic but also extreme ethnic nationalist by obeying the orders of Meles to the disadvantage of more than 94% Ethiopians. We say “so far” by probably hoping against hope and taking into consideration that some members of the TPLF who have not committed crimes can still get rid of the criminals and help facilitate the transition to democracy in Ethiopia; because although it is very late it is not too late.

Meles has been paying lip service to the martyrs, hiding his own atrocities and talking about those of the Derg to present himself as a liberator and benefactor of the people. In actual fact, Meles has by his evil deeds played a decisive role in destroying the possibility for the martyred and living members of the TPLF to have a positive history all over Ethiopia.

Whenever the anniversary is followed by fake elections, Meles uses the occasion to disseminate lies, hatred and fear. On the 30th anniversary of the TPLF in 2005 before the fake parliamentary election, Meles told the people of Tigray not to worry about the enemies, because we (meaning the TPLF and the people of Tigray) have knocked out the teeth (in the sense of defeating and disarming them) of the enemies. He was referring to the legal and peaceful opposition and maliciously equating the opposition with the deposed military regime (the Derg) without mentioning the regime by name. By telling the people to consider the opposition parties like CUD as enemies, Meles was conveying the distorted message that the multi-ethnic Ethiopian organizations have to be associated with the Derg, chauvinism and Interhamwe.

On the occasion of the 35th anniversary of the TPLF which was again about three months before the fake election of 2010, Meles with his boundless rudeness could not behave even like a simple disciplined Ethiopian citizen, let alone like a prime minister. He portrayed Tigrayans who were in the opposition as a cover used by the enemy of the people of Tigray to cheat the people of Tigray, insulted them as chaff, dirt etc.. and agitated the people to be angry at them. Then, he hypocritically advised the people not to physically attack members of the opposition, not because they don’t deserve it, but because the opposition would use it for mud slinging. The speech of Meles was a green light for his tugs to attack the opposition, which they did. Aregawi Gebreyohannes from the opposition Arena was stabbed to death. We don’t mind if Meles considers any Ethiopian multi-ethnic organisation as his enemy. However, the claim that such organizations are the enemies of the people of Tigray by falsely associating them with the Derg is an act of irresponsibility and evilness.

Now, since there is no election, an election cannot be a motive for Meles to abuse the occasion to harass people. The regime is currently preoccupied with prosecuting and terrorizing patriotic and peaceful journalists as well as opposition leaders by using its own distorted interpretation of terror. It is also distorting history by denying emperor Haileselassie’s rightful place in the formation of the OAU and therefore in paving the way for the formation of the AU. It is also continuing with the double digit growth rate of the economy which is rather a double digit growth rate of its lies. The evil performances of Meles on the issues pertaining to the interpretation of terror, the denial that emperor Haileselassie belongs to those who deserve a statue as well as the lie of a double digit growth of the Ethiopian GDP will be the footprints of the TPLF with the limelight taken by Meles.

As we are writing this article in connection with the 37th anniversary of the TPLF, we will make a short review of the footprints of the TPLF in the course of 37 years and thereby concentrate ourselves on the less known aspects of the history of the organization. We hope readers can compare and contrast our presentation with what they know about the regime and make their own judgment about our characterization of the TPLF.

It would only be an anomaly, if tyrants came to power in a democratic society or organization. As Professor Messay Kebede wrote somewhere that the TPLF is as much the creation of Meles, as Meles is the creation of the TPLF, Meles has absolute power, because the members of the TPLF were and are – as many Ethiopians – vulnerable to tyranny. The underdevelopment of our country is mainly caused by submission to the tyranny of a single individual who suppresses ideas, drives the educated out of the country (brain drain) and blocks correction of wrong policies. Why do evil individuals come to power in Ethiopia? Why has not our moral standard been strong enough to deter criminals from being our masters? Is our enlightenment so low or not so wide spread enough that our society can be manipulated by bad people? Could it also be that there are many Ethiopians who appreciate any victory by evil means, as long as it is a victory, like doping to succeed in a sport competition?

In respect to the last question, an innocent Ethiopian said something surprising. It is important to mention that the gentleman is innocent as this would apply to many innocent people. In a heated discussion about the atrocities of Mengistu Hailemariam, the murder of the 60 ex-officials and that of General Teferi Banti and others were cited. When the phrase: “They wanted us for lunch, but we made them a breakfast.”, which is supposed to have been said by Mengistu was mentioned, the gentleman who was actively participating suddenly said: “but he is also a man (ginko wend new)”. It was shocking. Mengistu was actually a coward and a power monger who murdered his compatriots and told a lie that he did it in self-defence or in defence of the revolution. If people appreciate the success of crime and the successful criminal, it is a sign of the lack of moral virtues and encourages criminals who should be condemned. Of all criminals a criminal politician is the worst, because such a criminal, like Meles, can commit several acts of crime simultaneously and rule by (criminal) force.

The TPLF is not principally made up of progressive elements who consciously struggled for democratic and human rights. Such rights have never been respected in the organization itself. Conversely, although the TPLF never needed Meles and it would have been much better off without him and therefore without his anti-Ethiopian views and activities, serial mass murders, lies, deceptions, ethnic divisions, corruption etc. the TPLF behaves as if it were created to fulfil the wishes of Meles. The Front has so far really been devoid of any freedom, tolerance and any differences of ideas short of enmity, as if all members of the organisation were produced with a programme to act like a private army of Meles. Meles has cultivated such an undemocratic, unpatriotic, servile and irresponsible behaviour in the TPLF that this behaviour has also been extended to the other members of the EPRDF and its sympathisers. In this sense, Meles has also partially re-created the TPLF as an organisation of servants who in turn treat their subordinates and the people as servants. This system of Meles was already in place during the armed struggle, during which the “freedom fighters” could not even defend themselves and their peers against arbitrary killings and physical beatings within the organization. The history of the members of the TPLF which could have been associated with the promotion of democratic and human rights has been turned by Meles to a history of a tool of terror, repression and corruption.

It was a (feudal) tradition for civil servants including the armed forces and dignitaries until Emperor Haileselassie to portray themselves and even boast as the servants (ashker) of the emperor of their respective time. Since the reign of the military regime, the servants do not call themselves “servants”, but they are more servile and less free than their predecessors. It seems that the 1974 revolution has abolished some words of servility, like ashker and replaced them with words like “comrade” without any change in the content. In the meantime, the culture of treason, serial mass murders, lies, deception, ethnicity, fear, hatred and corruption has become an integral part of the system of Meles as we will show some of it chronologically.

By Yilma Bekele

The Syrian regime is killing its own people to save the country from terrorists (Ashebari). The world is watching and keeping score. Thanks to social media such as Twitter and Facebook we are all witnessing this display of total madness safely from our home. The Missile attack on neighborhoods is televised in living color. The old Soviet tanks lined up outside towns are not defending the country from outsiders but rearing to rain death on their own people. It was only a few years back that such atrocity by dictators was not considered newsworthy. It is not because no one cared but rather because it was done behind closed borders. Things are different now. There is no place to hide.

The last year has been a very tumultuous year in our neighborhood. We have all witnessed the happenings in Egypt, Libya, Yemen, Bahrain and Syria. All these countries have imploded from inside. There was no outside interference so to speak of. There was no scapegoat. If you look closely there is one theme that is common to all. The existence of what is called a ‘strong leader’; ‘dictator’ or ‘mad person in charge’ is what is true in every instance. Change was overdue but dictatorship and change are not compatible. Dictatorship cannot be overcome by evolutionary means. Egypt, Libya, Yemen, Syria are living examples of the validity of that statement.

I am sure the citizens of all those countries would have preferred a peaceful route to bring needed change. I am also sure they for many years, have tried to convince their respective Leaders to accommodate their demands. The upheaval is the result of the inability of the system to fulfill the aspiration of the people. When the needs of the citizen and the wishes of the dictator clash the country enters a very volatile state that can only be resolved by some sort of explosion.

There are controlled explosions and spontaneous explosion. The transition from the Derg to TPLF was a good example of controlled explosion. The transition from the Emperor to the Derg was a very haphazard, creeping and tiring kind of wimpy explosion. The last one standing won. The one with balls but no brains was victorious. Result speaks louder than words.

Syria is entering or has entered that stage. This is the last show and the curtains are coming down. There will be no repeat performance. We all know how it is going to end. By ‘we’ I mean the rest of the world except of course the Syrian ruling lass. All Dictators have a tendency for getting caught by surprise. For some the denial is so strong they don’t even have an escape plan. That is what Gadaffi aide said in an interview. The Leader never thought his ‘people’ would be able to gather their nerves and rise up against him. Didn’t he crush their will and personhood? The Idiot was surprised!

Our current object Syria is nothing but a continuation of Arab awakening or “Arab Spring” that originated in Tunisia. But it has its own unique features. In the scheme of Dictatorships in history, it gets a grade of D- at best. It looks like it will only last a single generation. It is nothing to write home about. I do not mean no disrespect or sneer at ours that is gasping to last even a half-life but that is the nature of the business. Africa is littered with wannabe dictators that have lasted less.

The Assad’s have managed to exist by all sorts of trickery and Ponzi scheme. This includes Clannish behavior, benefactor role, blackmail, extortion, assassination and every kind of criminal activity that buys them another day. Today the fabric that has been painstakingly woven is breaking apart. It has run its course and there is no new trick left to prop up the dying system. The Assad’s know it, their Alawit Clan is aware of it and the Syrian people are doing all that they could to hurry matters along.

What exactly is arrayed against the Assad clan is a good question. The main characters all are easy to spot. We are witnessing their cajoling for the best spot after the dust settles. And there are many actors in this farce. The Israelis want a weak Syria with Assad in charge. Their motto is decapitate but not kill. The Jordanians are not thrilled by another crazy regime on the other side of their border. Iraq has already caused a lot of dislocations. The Lebanese are as usual caught between a rock and a hard place. They are keeping a low profile. Turkey is delirious by the opportunity to be seen as an emerging neighborhood bully. Turkey is flexing its muscles.

Iran is depressed. This could not have come at a most unfortunate time. Iran is under siege and it its important ally is jumping from a plane without knowing if the parachute would work. The Mullahs in Quom are not happy and the Islamic Republic will do all that is necessary to prop up the dying regime. The US is walking a tight rope. Mr. Obama does not want anything to complicate matters in this election season. The Israeli Lobby is beating war drums. Mr. Obama has no intention of picking a fight with a powerful constituent no matter what the cause is.

Russia is posturing. Mr. Putin still possess a few not sea worthy submarines prone to accident and rusting nuke Silos and for some reason the West pretends he packs a punch. Clint East Wood would say “Go ahead Vladimir make my day.” Russia’s useless posturing is tolerated because it buys the West time to figure out the volatile situation inside Syria.

The Chinese are looking after number one here. They are thinking “if these foreign devils pass a resolution regarding interference in Syria what is to stop them doing the same when it comes to Tibet?” China is still smarting over being tricked into going along with the invasion of Libya. They have concluded this not to be the time to posture but send scouts to bid on infrastructure building that will definitely follow the mayhem.

Did you notice who I left for last? Yes, good old Syrian people. I am afraid they allowed this abuse by the Assad family and his minority Alawit Clan to go for so long they have become an after thought in the search for a solution to their problem. No one takes their protestations and defiance seriously. Outsiders are looking for a ‘solution’ to impose on them with little or no regard to what they want. It is exactly like what parents say to their child ‘eat your vegetables, it is good for you!’

We Ethiopians are looking closely at the situation in Syria. We have a lot in common. We are both victims of a mad leader and minority clan rule. We both live in a very dangerous neighborhood where others use our precarious existence to wage proxy wars. My interest in writing this paper is to show you what will be done to your country and people in the next few months. I hope you will not feign surprise or pretend you were in the dark. What you see in Syria will be what you will witness in Ethiopia. It won’t be exact but it will be close enough to act as a model. I promise to be the happiest person if I am proven wrong, but that would be flying against facts.

In a very simplistic term this is what we got in Syria. Assad is a second-generation dictator. His power base is the minority Alawit Clan. They consist 12% of the population and occupy all the upper echelons of the military. Security is in the hands of close family members. The economy is used to reward or punish the rest of the population including the majority Sunnis. All media is under the control of the State.

Syria has been in turmoil since March of 2011. The official figure is over seven thousand killed. The Syrian government has killed over seven thousand of its own citizens to stay in power. Bashir and his Alawit Clan are telling the rest of the Syrians either we rule or you all die. It is that simple. He owns a formidable army. Unlike in Egypt the Army is disciplined and controlled better from above. They do not hesitate to fire even into populated areas. Assad, his family and Clan today are feeling like cornered animals. Due to situation they created their escape route is narrowing as we read this. Under the circumstances the only thing to do is pray that the Syrian people put their differences aside and finish this varmint once and for all.

When we look at Syria in the mirror why do I get this feeling that we see Ethiopia. Look at the bright side. This gives us the opportunity to avoid disaster. If we share a common problem and if one of us self-destruct trying a solution I believe the second party should lean from the mistakes and adjust accordingly. That is where we come in. Observe and study all the wrong moves taken by the Dictators and circumvent it before it takes place. I agree it is not easy for Prime Minster Meles and his group. It is a little naïve to think they are doing this because they are evil or lack the expertise. The simple answer is because that is the only way they know how. But it is very easy for us to learn and adopt.

A far as Assad or Meles are concerned the last thirty years has only proved the effectiveness of their method. I said effectiveness not correct and sustainable. Since their inception the use of brute force has been the only way they have resolved any contradiction. The chances of teaching them the value of compromise and the lasting nature of give and take is not possible and utterly a waste of time. It is not going to happen. Gadaffi did not fall for that. Assad will not even consider such farce. The TPLF party is not into committing suicide. We all know they are not capable of learning.

I was talking about us. I believe we are capable of learning from the failed experience of Gadaffi, Saleh and Assad. Ato Meles is not going to invent a new reality. He is going to act exactly like his fellow criminals in a predictable manner. Killing and more killing is the only solution. They assume the more they kill the less we rise up against them. That always worked. Unfortunately once the population gets rid of its fears death is not a valid threat anymore. More killing only breeds more sacrifice and primal anger. Go ask Gadaffi he will tell you what the wrath of the people feels like.

There isn’t much the world can do for the Syrians. Send ‘coffins’ is what a Syrian said in the town of Homs. The Syrians are on their own. May be it will be a good idea to work on our collective responses when the time comes. We Ethiopians are going to find ourselves on our own pretty soon. Thus when you hear the agony of Homs think of Addis Abeba, when they mention Daraa you might as well cry for Dire Dawa when you read the shelling in Hama remember that is what is waiting Hawasa. You might say I exaggerate but really isn’t it the same Meles that killed close to three hundred unarmed kids? Isn’t it Meles and company that used their EFFORT lorries to haul any body and everybody to Zuwai, Sendafa etc? Do you think I am being an alarmist?

We have an opportunity to find a way to work together and minimize the damage that is bound to occur when this unfortunate experience implodes on itself. Sergena meta berbere kentesu is not a winning strategy.

By Yilma Bekele.  

‘Prime Minster Meles Zenawi said on Wednesday Ethiopia could pardon politicians and journalists arrested under a 2009 anti-terrorism law.’ That news was reported widely including inside Ethiopia. Normally what we hear outside and what the people are told is two different things. This time the message was meant for the Ethiopian people. It reinforces the idea of the benevolent Land Lord. 

What the Ethiopian minority based regime is doing is bullying it’s own people. According to Wiki ‘Bullying is a form of aggressive behavior manifested by the use of force or coercion to affect others, particularly when the behavior is habitual and involves an imbalance of power.’ Gaddafi was a serial bully so was Mubarak or Saleh. Meles Zenawi is a habitual bully. He uses lethal force as well as verbal aggression on a daily basis. His regime terrorizes our people both inside and outside the country.  

No one speaks openly in the so-called developmental state of Ethiopia. Every body is spying on everybody else. It doesn’t have to be true but they all believe it is so. That is what matters. This is a form of mental terror. Those outside are not immune to this. In most meetings Pictures are shot from the back of the room careful not to alarm people. Most prefer ‘pen’ names or aliases when they write to hide their identity. That is true even on social media. It is not to belittle or make fun of our behavior but it is true and it is so due to fear. Real or imagined is not important but it affects how we think and act. It affects our inner soul.

That is what a bully does to you. Bullies instill fear. Remember agriculture (peasant farming) is the vocation of 85% of the population and accounts for 45% of GDP. We are the product of a pre industrial society. It really don’t matter where one resides that trait is wired into our behavior. Sometimes in haste we seem to forget that. The truth is that we accept authority with out much fanfare due to old culture and ignorance. We accept the importance of hierarchy and the virtue of keeping quiet and suffering silently. 

This drama of “pardon” is nothing more than another ponzi scheme to play with our fears. The current drama started with the ferenji reporters. The regime had a hot potato issue in its hands. The Swedish reporters were caught in the Ogaden during a firefight between the TPLF Army and ONLF freedom fighters. Once they were caught alive they were never in danger. They cannot be made to disappear. You just don’t go around killing white people like you do with Africans. The moment their capture became public their own government and every European Embassy made it clear that the Ethiopian Junta is responsible for every single hair on the body of their unwelcome guests.  

The idea of using the reporters to bully the Ethiopian people seemed like a winning idea. It has its risk but one can only deal with the cards on the table. The regime decided to use the occasion to send its own message to the Ethiopian people. The ‘anti-terrorism law was a perfect vehicle to widen the net. Ethiopian Journalists and opposition leaders were hauled away and bundled with the ferenjis. The West was consumed by their own kind and did not pay that much attention to the natives. I am talking about the Western Governments here and their big Media. There were plenty of organizations and individuals protesting loudly regarding all prisoners in Ethiopia.  

We are always thankful to Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, Reporters without Boarders (RSF), Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) Doctors without Boarders (MSF), and plenty others that are friends of all those that suffer under all kinds of Dictators. Using the anti-terrorism Law the TPLF regime has arrested god knows how many Ethiopians. We have the names of all the prominent ones but to their friends and family all arrested are prominent and dear. We publicize the names of the ones we know but they speak for all the other thousands. Eskinder was picked up on his way to pick up his son from school, Andualem was arrested at his office, Reeyot, Wubshet and Zerihune were hauled away from their place of work. None were caught with any kind weapon other than their free will and their pen.  

I keep Eskinder in my heart all the time. I have conflicting feelings about him. His stubbornness irritates me. His strength threatens my docility. I harbor a certain amount of anger towards him.  That is the Ethiopian in me, blaming the victim. There aren’t many Eskinders on this planet. That is why we treasure them when they show up like the morning Sun, bright and warm. His determination against all odds fills all of us his brothers and sisters with so much strength while his jailers recoil with shame. Using the might of the State to bully one citizen is such an abuse of power and authority it makes the jailers look so small and uncivilized. He has been in jail since September 14. It has been over one hundred twenty days or over six months my brother has been kidnapped for no other crime other than wanting to be free to think, write and raise a family. His wife Serkalem and his miracle son Nafkot live in agony. We cannot imagine their sorrow. How do you miss someone you haven’t met but I miss him and wish him all the strength to live another day.  

The regime used the ferenji prisoners to talk to us. Bullying is how the regime communicates with us. Jailing our best and brightest is meant to teach the rest of us the futility of defiance. Meles and company to show us they can do whatever they want. They can even jail a ferenji and impose their will is what they were telling us. Observe and behave is the message. It is a government gone rogue.  

No words describe the satisfaction when we witness the plan boomerang. It backfired big time. It is not a game changer but it has managed to expose the workings of the Ethiopian Junta in power to a bigger audience. It counts a lot. We the vocal Diaspora, the talkers and non-doers are very happy of this outcome. We take complete credit for the debacle. The exposure of the regime’s method of waging war on the Ethiopian people has become a public relations nightmare to their public relations firm. They are attempting damage control. They are trying to put lipstick on a pig.

Ato Meles and his minority-based dictatorship are feeling the heat from their enablers. The spring of TPLF style ‘Pardon’ is upon us again. Kinijit Pardon Judge Bertukan’s pardons are in the history books. I have to refer to Pardonoligists to determine if Judge Bertukan’s pardon is given one or two credit. Our two foreign guests are leaving us soon. They will be pardoned and let go in the next few weeks. The regime using its monopoly media will tell its subjects that the Swedes accepted responsibility and asked for forgiveness while showing remorse and they were deported. But the damage was done. Even the New York Times noticed. What we have been saying is sort of noticed by foreigners that matter. As I said it is a step forward but not a game changer.  

The issue becomes are we going to sit and watch Meles releasing the foreigners while our people languish in jail? Are we going to suck on our lips and wait for the next drama from Arat Kilo? Do you feel helpless? Is it your helplessness that empowers the dictator and his gang? Is this a case of being immobilized due to fear? It is all right to admit it. We are all afraid. It is human to fear organized crime. By now you have realized the Meles regime is nothing else but criminals in charge of state power. Why do you think we are backward and starving? It is not necessary to have a degree in nuclear physics to figure this out my dear Diaspora do you?  

I will give you a simple example. You as a refugee make ten dollars an hour and your rent is five hundred dollars. Your family consists of husband and wife and two kids. You pay for utilities, food, car and insurance. If your salary is fifteen hundred and your expenses are sixteen hundred you figure you have to adjust your life style or get a 2^nd job. Of course you can ask for help from family and friends but for how long? You can also get further training and increase your income if possible. It is that simple. 

Think of Ethiopia the same way. How does Meles solve this little problem? No 2^nd job or no new training, that is not the Woyane way. Here is what he will do. 1) Get rid of a son. 2) Lease the daughter to a neighbor 3) Apply for welfare 4) Lease a bedroom to an outsider 5) Get rid of the car and phone 6) restrict use of electricity and water 7) With the savings hire security and paint the outside of the house. 8) Cut off the wife’s tongue not to hear her complain. 9) Burn the house for the insurance unfortunately his own security refused to let him out. This is the solution you have been raving about. We enable this idiotic behavior by our silence and a few by cooperation.  

Arab Spring’ has made a few things clear. The people themselves have to conquer their fear and demand their rights. There is no other formula or recipe. What we saw was when the people slowly realize their power there is nothing to stop them from snatching it away from the usurper. How it is snatched is a whole story by itself. Think of Mubarak, Gaddafi, Saleh and think of Ben Ali. Three selfish bastards with three different responses to the same demand. Go figure who today is able to pray facing Mecca. 

What is clear is that we are contributing our share. Make no mistake about our role. No one will pay attention to Meles’s crimes if it was not for us in the outside. Our activates on the Internet and on Facebook is bearing fruits. ESAT is proving how balanced, informative and educational we could be given the chance. ESAT is 100% made in Ethiopia. The independent Web sites are flourishing. Arab Spring was all about using every available means to create one big family focused and willing to act as a bridge to tomorrow land. I am sure an opinion maker like Mr. Nicholas Kristof of the New York Times Googling us will see the kind of people we are. We are passionate but we are not haters. We are probing for a solution that is acceptable to the many. We celebrate diversity.  Our Free Web sites reflect that. The Ethiopian regime cannot say that. They block ideas they do not agree with. They are afraid of airing an opinion different from theirs. They win by silencing not by the power of their argument. A dammed down population is easy too bully. They keep our people in the dark by design. That is why some of us shout and scream. Looks like we are getting heard.  

What we do with this knowledge is something to think about. Surely we think about the prisoners of conscience that are paying for doing what was allowed in the regimes own constitution. Do we double our efforts so the Eskinders, the Andualems, the Reeyots the Zerhunes, the Wubshets will be free and enjoy life to its fullest? Do we dare to conquer fear and unite in a positive manner to do good? Do we allow the regime to bully us into submission or rise up in righteous indignation and say hell no! Our individual tiny contribution in consort with other minuscule offerings becomes a tsunami when put together. That is what we learnt from Egypt. Do not let the bully get away with his rude and crude method of dismissing us but make him pay attention and watch him flail to explain the unexplainable. 

Listen to Communication Minster Bereket Semeon trip over his words trying to explain who and how in the world he thinks he is entitled to regulate what we write and say. Watch the Junta leader confess that he copied the Law from the West so it must be correct. It is pathetic and so void of commonsense it makes you wonder how they view us. When you see the Kangaroo Parliament laughing at his tasteless jokes and moronic explanations you can see it is the blind leading the blind and our current situation of jumping from one crisis to another makes perfect sense.  

There are a few fighting evil. We are not all docile. We are not all self centered. On the other hand it is true most of us are afraid. We try to cover that by being belligerent towards each other. Afraid of Meles and his killing machine we turn our ire against each other. That has to stop. It is not cute and it makes us so cheap and laughable. Being afraid to confront Meles and his people does not justify dumping ones anger against those that are resisting his crimes. Do you see yourself my friend? You lie down dead and blame those that fight back? Does that make sense? What are you going to do when the Ethiopian people rise up like Egyptians or Libyans or Syrians? Blame the victims and blame us for inciting? Some say why don’t you go back and fight? Really is that the best you can come up with? From where I sit most of us have three choices to make. We can help our people resist, we can sit on the side and pretend dead or join the TPLF as junior partners. Choose and act.

Further Information:

http://www.ethiopianreview.com/content/36678

http://www.ethiopianreview.com/content/36505

http://www.ethiopianreview.com/content/36364

http://www.ethiopianreview.com/content/36209

By Samson Seifu  – Oslo, 12 February 2012

Prelude

On January 26, 2012 the state secretary in the Norwegian Ministry of Justice, Pål K. Lønseth appearing on TV channels announced with great sigh of relief the coming to an end of 20 years of negotiations ordeal with the dictatorial regime of Meles Zenawi to repatriate the rejected Ethiopian asylum seekers. According to the official press release of both the Ministry of Justice and the Directorate of Immigration (UDI), the signed agreement carries with it the threat of forced repatriation of about 400 rejected asylum seekers to the regime in Ethiopia. 

The news of the signing of the agreement; however, has shocked and saddened in disbelief the Ethiopian Community in Norway in general and the stakeholders in particular (the rejected asylum seekers who have been leading a life full of uncertainty and hopelessness for many years). Most of these rejected asylum seekers were working legally for many years paying taxes to the Norwegian Government, established families, well integrated themselves with the Norwegian society and most important of all, they have been politically active in the matters of their country of origin, Ethiopia, with the Ethiopian opposition organizations in Norway.

The repatriation agreement in retrospect

The talk about forced repatriation agreement was surfaced for the first time on media some seven years ago in 2005 by the then Communal and Regional Minister, Mrs. Erna Solberg and the minister (Mrs. Erna Solberg) announced that the government of Norway has finalized repatriation agreement with the dictatorial regime of Meles Zenawi.

Given Norway’s track record as a leading democratic state among the western nations that promotes the realization and respect of basic human right principles and rules of law throughout the world including Ethiopia, no one anticipated that Norway would be serious about negotiating and reaching agreements with the world’s worst repressive regime of Meles Zenawi.

 Meles Zenawi was the leader of the Tigrean People Liberation Front (TPLF) during the cold war era of the 1970’s and 1980’s and took power by force and controlled Ethiopia with iron fist without interruption since 1991 with the approval and blessings of the victors of the cold war era United States and United Kingdom in a negotiation meeting held in London in 1991 which was presided over by US Ambassador Mr. Herman Cohen. 

With the above mentioned background of the Meles regime which is also well known to the authorities and government of Norway, the government went ahead with the experimenting of deportation of some rejected asylum seekers and the attempted experiment was met with strong reactions from the Ethiopian Community and Ethiopian political support organizations operating in Norway reversing the implementation of the forced deportation.

Given the seriousness of the situation signaled by the futile attempt to deport Ethiopian Asylum seekers, the Ethiopian Community in Norway called for a meeting to all Ethiopians in Norway and established in 2005 the Ethiopian Asylum Seekers Association to engage a lawyer which would assist the association in bringing the matter before the Norwegian courts. The process of engagement was slowed down due to confirmations from the Communal and regional department to the association dated 22 December 2005 that Norwegian authorities have not made a repatriation agreement with Ethiopian authorities.

The Norwegian and the dictatorial regime of Meles Zenawi’s diplomatic relationship faced a serious setback after the dictator’s visit in Oslo in September, 2005 to receive a prize from a private fertilizer producing company called Yara. The then government of Norway led by Mr. Kjell Magne Bondevik courageously distanced itself from officially receiving the dictator and oppressor as a head of state due to the fact that Ethiopian in Norway had staged a huge campaign against the Yara prize award and also staged a grand protest demonstration accusing the dictator for bloodshed committed in his command and watch against innocent election fraud protesters following the 2005 parliamentary election. In June and November, 2005 around 200 innocent civilian protesters were massacred in Addis Ababa on a broad day light by the TPLF’s Special Forces called the Agazis.

Following the humiliation, the Meles regime forged a hostile move against the government of Norway culminating it in 2007 with a diplomatic break down between the two. The Meles regime accused Norway of helping terrorism in East Africa. As a consequence of this false allegation and Norway’s maltreatment by the Meles regime, the crisis got a huge media attention in Norway and lead a public resentment blaming for the failure of the first (2005-2009) Stoltenberg’s coalition government in handling with caution the delicate and often shrewd government of the TPLF regime of Meles Zenawi. 

Since then the first (2005-2009) and second (2009 – to date) Jens Stoltenberg coalition government took a serious of conciliatory measures to win the trust of the dictator and thereby stop the latter’s hostile propaganda against the good reputation of Norway as a peace negotiator (as in Israeli-Palestinian and the Tamils-Sri Lanka’s government conflict cases) and peace prize rewarding state (via its Nobel Peace Prize Institution).

The following are among the series of reconciliatory moves made by Norway:

1. Prime Minster Jens Stoltenberg’s interest to work with the foe dictator Meles Zenawi (the African delegate for the negotiations on climate change). Meles Zenawis’ participation at the climate-change conference in Copenhagen in December, 2009 was met with a fierce protest from demonstrators from all over Europe including the Ethiopian oppositions from Norway.  

2.  The so called open seminar and discussion under the title ‘’Election and development in Ethiopia’’ arranged in Oslo in May 2010 by the Norwegian Development Fund. In this seminar one of the speakers from the director of the department for east and central Africa at the Norwegian Foreign Ministry Mr. Hans Jacob Frydenlund actually highlighted the fictitious double digit economic growth claimed by the Meles regime and tried to defend Norway’s continued development aid which the Ethiopian oppositions in Norway always insist and demand to link this aid with the respect of basic human rights and rule law in Ethiopia. This meeting was also attended and witnessed by the regime’s operative in Oslo. 

3. The so called open seminar and discussion under the title ‘’Politics and development in Ethiopia’’ arranged in Oslo in November 2011 by the Norwegian Development Fund. This time the Government representative was Mrs. Ingrid Fiskaa, the state secretary in the Foreign Department. For questions I raised to her as to why the Norwegian government gives a deaf ear to the repeated outcries and concerns of the Ethiopian oppositions in Norway who always knock the doors of your government’s ministries and; on the contrary, you continue to support the oppressive regime making it difficult to forces who work hard day and night to get rid of the regime? Her answer was simply ’’ it is not our job to get rid of the regime’’ but she had no answer to another related question from the audience i.e. ‘’Why then Norway bombed Libya and Gadafi?’’.  

4.  The invitation to the dictator Meles Zenawi by the coalition government of the second Jens Stoltenberg government. The arrival in Oslo of the dictator to participate in the conference entitled ‘’Energy for all financing access for the poor’’ held in in Oslo, in October 10 and 11, 2011 was marked by three successful anti-Meles protest demonstrations staged by the Ethiopian oppositions functioning in Norway. At this moment of his visit, the dictator was once again so humiliated that he had to leave Norway without attending the luncheon party arranged by the Norwegian Government to the participants of the conference.

It was after this historic resolute of the opposition in Norway in exposing the true face and nature of the oppressor and the dictator, Meles Zenawi to the Norwegian public and the international community that sparked the signing of the repatriation agreement to revenge the Ethiopian Asylum Seekers who both at the leadership and grass roots level were instrumental for the successful accomplishment of the October 9 &10, 2011 anti-Meles protest demonstrations. 

By Samson Seifu 

Oslo, 12 February 2012

By Gemencho

The London conference of 1991 deserves the credit for engineering the coup d’ etat of 1991 in Ethiopia, and for manufacturing a democratic cover to the anti-Ethiopian narrative. Not surprisingly, this is what frames all colonial and imperial adventures. Dismantling third world nationalism has always been the pre-occupation of colonial elites-the core element of their project.

So, side by side with the coup; the massacres at Gondar, Areka, Arbagugu, Weter, Asosa, Bedeno, etc, ; the murder of patriotic Ethiopians- professor Asrat, Gaim, Assefa Maru, Tesfaye Tadesse, Shibere, …etc.,, the selling of the land and its resources to foreign conglomerates, went along an all out assault on the nation’s history, on its values and experiences. The anti-Amhara narrative (the bread and butter of the TPLF/EPLF/OLF), was the convenient tool to be employed for this purpose.

A fake opposition was planted to make sure that national consciousness would not get an outlet. Fake Mandellas and Gandhi’s surfaced to stir public attention away from the real issue, -the issue of sovereignty, towards fake democracy and fake elections.

Twenty years after its launching, it seems evident; the colonial/racial project is preparing to go for a face lift. Facts on the ground are necessitating it. The EPLF/TPLF alliance has unraveled. The TPLF has imploded, with the Meles wing hanging to power. T he fake opposition has been exposed and rendered irrelevant. The regime’s belligerence, its brutalities its insatiable appetite for wealth and power, added to its human rights violations have reached their threshold. Most importantly, Ethiopian nationalism has remained resilient and frustrating the project. . It appears, Meles’s shelf life is about to expire. According to Mr.Herman Cohen, the chief architect of the London conference, in his recent interview with ESAT, the Meles regime is not sustainable. The valuable asset is becoming a liability.

It is said that for things to stay the same, things have to change. The colonial/racial project has to continue with or without Meles. So, the need to weave a democratic narrative, carefully crafted to portray Meles as the garden variety African dictator. Meles is accused for breaking his own rules, for hounding the fake opposition, for suppressing dissent, for imprisoning and killing his opponents, and for being outright corrupt. Conspicuously absent in these accusation, are the massacres he committed, such those in Gondar, Gambella, Arbagugu, Weter…etc, his apartheid like policies and practices on non-Eritrean, and non-Tigrean Ethiopians, which cannot be explained away as merely dictatorial. What is not mentioned is his deep rooted hatred of Ethiopia which informs the very nature of his regime. What is also not mentioned is how the entire ethnocentric cabal that came out of the London conference and now finding itself in the opposition share his hatred of Ethiopia.

The slogan is out, and it says: “forget ethnic politics, fight for democracy”. The entire ethnocentric cabal is coalescing against it. The game is reset to 1991, to be played by the proxies who are craving and competing to replace Meles.

Let Ethiopia belong to Ethiopians.