Why the Horn? The Horn looks like a peninsula and it juts into the Arabian Sea and it lies along the southern side of the Gulf of Aden. Physically it stretches to 2 million sq. km and demographically houses app one hundred million people.
According to the classification by the State Department of USA, the Horn of Africa comprises, Ethiopia, Somalia, and Djibouti and currently it includes Eritrea but not the Sudan.
The Horn of Africa is defined by geography and by geopolitics that was why President Bush has established OEF-HOA (Operation Enduring Freedom for the Horn of Africa).
The recent past two conferences on the Horn of Africa – one was held in Arlington Virginia and the other – in San Jose, California were meant to deal with the pure and localized politics of Eathiopia. Whereas, ምሁር አካል the Mhur Akal of Eathiopians define the Horn in terms of Africas wholeness, the ጽንሐተ ምሁር Tsinhattee Muhur Akal class of Eathiopia refers to the politics of Ecountries – the base of our Ethiopian Revolution.
Why is the Mhur Akal class is interested in the so-called Horn countries? I believe because they see the map of Africa protruding into the sea of Somaliland. Ironically, by doing so they seem to symbolize all of us in a country with a non-working government. Their inner feelings reflect in physical geography as opposed to political geography, which is fundamental to our understanding for the success of the two conferences.
The choice of Eathiopias Tsinhattee Muhur Akal ጽንሐተ ምሁር አካል depends on the political geography of SEEDS (Sudan, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Djibouti and Somalia). An honest and correct step for peoples integration could follow. For no one in his right mind plant seeds without soil preparation, and this preparation we call it a la DEMOCRACIA.
The conference on the Horn of Africa that was held in San Jose was beneficial in the sense that different alternatives have been presented. They were as follows:
Federation by Prof. Daniel Kinde meaning -we are all equal
Confederation by Professor Tesfazion Medhanie meaning separate but equal
Undemocratic atmosphere prevails in Eritrea emphasizes Prof. Mesfin Araya
Under these dictatorial regimes, neither confederation nor federation can be viable alternatives says Aregawi Berhe (PhD.)
Non-violence struggle as an alternative by Obo Jawar Mohammed
Healing and embracing one another preaches Ato Obang Metho
Healing and reconciliation as a process says Ato Abebe Gellaw
It is true that the above alternatives are beneficial and viable but the question is how.
First things first, let us have a proper name for our country, then let us delimit boundaries and then address one another by Ato or Weizero. Ethiopia and Eritrea do not represent the Horn, rather they represent themselves, are not creation of men. In order to do these we all need to understand the rudimentary concept of democracy if not DEMOCRACIA.
Democracy in two countries but one system
In our case, the first ADWA has happened 104 years ago. The educated muhur Akal has yet to settle the issue of ADWA First in order to move on. Most of them are stuck with it.
For one, ADWA I became a cause for Eritrean nationalist separation and Somalias claim on Ogaden, Oromias claim based on Miniliks victory, and above all the Shewans glory of Minilik in the name of Ethiopia camouflaged also in Minilik first name.
To settle these issues of claim and counter claim, the second AADWA II came into play not to add fuel to the nationalist contest but to move on the path of development of governance, stability and prosperity via DEMOCRACIA.
AADWA II, was genuinely embarked by the University students of Eathiopia not only to heal the rifts between the victims and victors but also to initiate, develop and transfer the positive aspects of ADWA I.
Unfortunately, despite the huge sacrifice of human, destruction of animals and plants (HAP). The Eway Revolution has been damaged and arrested thanks to the vicious leaders who came from the same place of controversy.
What is to be done?
The first step is to take sides. There are three alternatives if and when good governance, development, peace and security are to prevail.
Those who want to move on with the concept AADWA II, stay and continue the struggle for justice and the rest of freedoms
Those who want to stick with ADWA I go and enjoy conferences it is not a new phenomenon we did it before
Those who want to follow the current leaders whose leaders were born in the same village but not associated with both ADWA AADWA II and I please go and vote to be voted out. No excuses. We had enough of it.
In other words, ADWA ONE depicted the past; AADWA TWO reflects the future while the TPLF leadership represents the present moment – make a CHOICE.
Discussion Paper for Seminar presented to the Conference on Good Governance,
Peace, Security, Sustainable Development in Ethiopia & the Horn of Africa, from April 9-11
Introduction
In times of a highly globalised world the essence of a Nation-State does not seem to be an issue for many developing countries. Since many developing countries, especially sub-Saharan African countries are depending on foreign aid, the question of nation-state and its relevance in maintaining social cohesion within given boundaries is not a question to be studied and discussed. It seems that many intellectuals and the political elite in many sub-Saharan African countries are not aware of the relevance of such a crucial question. The economic policies of the last six decades which many African countries had practiced and globalisation have practically eroded the issue of nation-sate from the minds of many leaders.
In this highly complicated and globalised world the issue of national identity and nation-state become more urgent than ever before. Since many African leaders including the Ethiopian government(EPRDF government) are not governing their own affairs any more, even the uneducated people ask themselves, whether they are living in a sovereign country or not. Many people in Ethiopia ask themselves what could be left for the future generation if political vandalism becomes the order of the system. Leaving aside the problem of other African countries, what is going on in Ethiopia, Eritrea and Somalia needs deep studies and scientifically validated answers if all these three nations will have in the future a functioning government, a dynamic economic system and a social order which can accommodate all groups in all these countries. Since the problem in Somalia directly and indirectly affects Ethiopia, we Ethiopians cannot ignore if things are out of control in Somalia. That does not mean that any Ethiopian government must interfere in the internal affairs of Somalia. What I want to say is the chaotic situation in any neighbouring country will have damaging effects for the stability of the entire region. As long as there is no durable peace the people of the region will be compelled to live in poverty and hunger.
The issue of terrorism and economic globalisation and now land grabbing on a higher scale are putting many countries in a defensive position. Especially the war in Somalia which is going on in the name of fighting terrorism and the displacement of innocent people, and the bleak situation in Ethiopia and Eritrea are worrying some which attract many nations to convert the region to a permanent war field. Therefore it is our task to study the causes of war, hunger and underdevelopment so that we can give proper and durable solution. Political vandalism as we see in Ethiopia and Eritrea is culturally rooted in our society, and it is the result of unsolved and accumulated problems. In societies where integrated and well functioning economic structures and a social order do not exist, such kind of situation is suitable for political vandalism. In regions or countries where political disorder is the rule of the system, where political and social consciousness is not developed, foreign forces use the weak situation of such countries and try to manipulate the leaders to be dragged into war. The result will be dislocation of innocent people and wasting of human and natural resources. In this case what is going on in Somalia and the intervention of Ethiopia in the internal affairs of Somalia and the war between Eritrea and Ethiopia destabilise all the people who are living in that region. If we closely study the situation, the war in this region is a proxy war. The people of these countries are simply the victims of their ignorant leaders, who do not understand social history, and who are not capable of creating a system where all the people could freely exercise their creative power.
In order to understand the complex situation that the region faces, we have to connect the problem of consciousness with the issue of economic development and this with the question of nation-state formation. I maintain that only social, cultural and political consciousnesses are the true foundation of genuine economic development and nation building. In the absence of national consciousness and deep understanding of historical and social processes, no country can build a viable nation-state.
The Issue of National Consciousness
Let me ask some questions. Is there anything that can happen without the involvement of the mind? Isnt it the mind which guides and controls us to do things in a way we like and plan or is it something else? What kinds of things shape our minds to behave irrationally or rationally? How do we perceive the role of culture in shaping our minds? I think these are some of the questions which we have to pose if we want to understand the role of consciousness in our relationship to a particular nation.
In the academic circle, especially among Ethiopians there is a common belief that the absence of a democratic system is responsible for the plight of our people. Some of us may think that our leaders are by nature brutal and are not shaped by the cultural circumstances which prevail in our country. We have been accusing the Military regime to be brutal without taking into account the social and cultural context in which the military leaders are brought up. We forget that before the military leaders in Ethiopia became `socialists` they were trained by a military ideology which was produced outside the socialist block countries. The present regime of Meles Zenawi is being accused for his dictatorial, dived and rule system without trying to understand the circumstances in which Meles and his compatriots are brought up or were socialized. Such kinds of simplistic approach will not solve the problem in which our country finds itself in. We cannot get answer for such complex problems and irrational behaviour from the perspective of political science as if the issue is a pure political problem. In other words, even if we have a certain kind of `democratic rule` as we wish, the problem of underdevelopment and poverty will not easily be solved. Nor can one cope with the issue of war and hunger. If we want to get a definite answer we have to go beyond conventional politics and supposed democratic rules.
It is not without reason that since three thousand years philosophers and psychologists have tried to investigate the role of the mind in understanding the way human beings feel, think and handle. They have well understood that without taking into consideration the role of the mind and the cultural situation of a given country, one could not grasp the nature of political leaders. From pre-Socratic philosophers to Socrates and Plato, and until the 17th century, the main occupation of philosophers was to investigate the different parts of the mind. Since human beings are different from animals, because they can think rationally and are able to change their environment, some are not in a position to use this God-given mental power to pose questions and behave rationally. They will be driven by emotion and their own will and destroy their own nation. Freud teaches us that there are three parts in our minds which are responsible for our behaviour. The first one is the oldest and most primitive part of the mind. In this part human beings have all sorts of wishes and primitive thinking. This part is devoid of any rational order and is guided by simple egoistic motive. The second part is the part which shapes and characterises the personality of an individual. It can be shaped by circumstances in which certain persons are brought up and are socialized. The role of teachers and parents play crucial roles in shaping this part of the mind. Through time and any kind of positive changes this part will be more and more socialised and becomes conscious. Its thinking and handling will be controlled by the given social circumstances which are prevailing in a given country. There is a permanent struggle between the egoistic or irrational part and the socialized part. In this case the third part takes the role of mediation and tries to balance both of the parts. In other words the egoistic part will be compelled to adapt to the given situation and handles in a way what the given social circumstance expects. According to Freud, the third part is responsible for cognitive thinking of the human mind, planning and decision-making. The problem here is that in certain circumstances the appetitive part will dominate, and irrational behaviour becomes the rule of certain groups. We have seen in history that though certain rulers are brought up in civilized circumstances their thinking and handling become irrational. Hitler is a vivid example of why even education cannot change the already fixed attitude of hate and aggressiveness. Thousands of scientists, philosophers musicians and men of theatre blindly followed Hitler and believed in his Nazi propaganda of eliminating the Jews and other minority groups.
Human beings are like monads. They are active and perfect. They are self-contained, independent and act by themselves. They have internal power. Whereas the monads do not have windows, human beings can be influenced by external circumstance. If they are not in a position to question and analyse they will be victims of false ideology. In most cases human beings do not use their internal power to develop as an independent agent and act actively. Due to false education and ideology, the inner power that each possesses by nature will be eroded. In this case individuals will become the victim of false ideology, and their minds will be intrigued by hate and anger. They are not conscious any more of what they are doing. Even if they are educated they lack profound thinking. They will become suspicious and are not ready to accept criticism. Their minds will be closed for new ideas. Because they already have a fixed idea, they distance themselves from the masses. The lack of self-confidence makes them traitors and they are ready to sell their mother land. Such people do not understand the role of an individual in shaping its society and the relationship between an individual and the society in general. Concepts, such as society, individual freedom, genuine economic development and nation-state are not integrated in their minds. They think that a society is a loosely organised structure, in which everybody comes and does whatever he/she likes. When any country is governed by such kinds of unconscious elements, and when it has thousands of so-called educated people, the country in question cannot be an arena in which the citizens exercise their true freedom. Unfortunately, Ethiopia is governed since immemorial by such kinds of elements, and there are thousands of Ethiopians who become the victim of such kinds of manipulated education system.
Now we can come to the role of culture in shaping the human mind. It is well investigated and studied that in early childhood stage proper education has a positive impact on the thinking capacity of a child and its handling. Likewise the entire circumstance, environment, school system, the role of parents and teachers, neighbourhood and other factors have roles in shaping the mind of a growing child. The humanness of a person, his love for others and his country and his entire environment depends on the education system in which one is brought up from the beginning of childhood. Especially the love of the parents is imminent in shaping the behaviour of a given child. One cannot regain the lost opportunity once a person is matured enough. By chance or with special therapy it may be possible to positively shape the character of an individual.
To be concrete, when it comes to our country, why does Ethiopia have to experience such bloody years? Why its people have been suffering all the last four decades by those forces who are born, grown and went to school in Ethiopia? Though going to school means to get proper education in order to behave properly and humanly, why did those children become murderous? What motivates some to become agents of foreign forces which are struggling to dismantle Ethiopia? Why did they raise arms in the name of freedom though there are other means to bring smooth changes into our society? Can we blame as we usually do that a particular ideology did play a role in masterminding the so-called revolutionaries to behave irrationally? In our country and even in many earlier socialist countries communism as an ideology is being blamed for what happened in all these countries. The relative prosperity in many western capitalist countries including the United States over the last 5 decades has blinded our minds. We all have forgotten the atrocities committed by these so-called civilized countries against Africa and other Third World Countries. The First and the Second World War, though it is not a world war in the true sense of the word, had happened in the civilized Europe. It is become common to accuse a certain ideology in order to cover ones` own agenda.
Though ideology has a certain role in shaping the human mind, those persons who became acquaintance with the socialist ideology at the age of twenty or more had a different historical background which is fixed in their minds. In this case I do not blame Marxism for the political vandalism and murderous act that the student movement had inflicted and the Military government including the present have done against our beloved country. I maintain that the cultural context in which we are brought up, that is the rigid feudal attitude is responsible for our inflexible and inhuman attitude. With this the education system, with which we are brought up makes us anti-nationalistic and subversive. Regardless of what the leaders of the student movement wrote on their banners, in essence they have created a situation for anti-Ethiopian sentiments. What matters is not the intention in this case. The bloody war which was committed in the name of the revolution bothers many people. The deaths of their children and relatives have wiped all the joys form their minds and they are condemned to live in permanent sadness. On the other side all ethnic based so-called freedom fighters had one thing in their minds. If we take all the organisations which rose arms in the name of freedom their intention was and is to dismantle Ethiopia. Undoubtedly they became victims of foreign forces, and were mislead to destroy their own people. They are at the same time the victims of their unconscious act. They could not pose questions, or try to behave like normal people to check their thinking and handling. As Freud said they are driven by their irrational motives to take power and install their own dreams. All what is identified as Amhara culture is associated with Ethiopia. Ethiopia as an Empire state must be vanished from the map of the world. Though culture and the formation of nation-sates are like biological processes, these so-called freedom fighters could not understand why the supposed Amhara culture had its beginning in the north and could spread southwards. All nations and cultures had taken more or less the same path. When we study and understand the formation of states, we can understand the necessity of building a nation-state.
What makes our country unique is the incomplete nation-state building and the unconscious role of our rulers and the special circumstances that our country has been experiencing over the last thousand years. All these factors including the so-called modern education system are responsible for misguided thinking and handling. In this case our consciousness and our love for our country cannot be seen isolated from the entire socialization process within which we are brought up. The question arises: How can we turn these bad circumstances in which we are finding ourselves, and can behave normally and play a positive role to build a democratic and strong Ethiopia. When certain groups still believe that Ethiopia in general has been ruled over the last thousand or so years by Amharas and Tigrians, how could we convince them that this was not the case and that the situation must be studied thoroughly through a different prism. The issue of ethnic nationalism is not the problem of the masses. It is an elite problem, which cannot understand its own role, and is being languished by an inferiority complex. The Ethiopian masses in general do not have any problem in identifying themselves with their culture and country. The masses are ready to learn new things and change themselves, whereas the elites of different nationalities are not ready to do so.
The Issue of Nation-State
The concept of nation-state is a historical concept and it must be seen as a biological process. In Europe, where the nation-state formation has taken more or less a unique path it is not problematic for the people of Europe to identify themselves with their own nation. In countries like Ethiopia, where some think that the formation of the Ethiopian nation is abnormal and not a historical necessity, it is very difficult to make them understand that all countries have passed difficult roads to come to the situation that we witness today.
By historical chance, some groups or nationalities develop some kinds of division of labour. They develop a language and by that a culture. The development of a certain culture, division of labour, and written languages are sometimes accidental, because some groups may have contacts at earlier time with the outside world. These kinds of cultural developments cannot and will not remain fixed in one area. Through trade relationships and through various kinds of movements, because human beings are mobile, there come contacts with other communities. The expansion and intermingling of culture and language will become a historical necessity. Since all groups could not develop equally, because of social and cultural uniqueness of the various groups, the developed culture will be taken by other groups. In this way all cultures across the glob could develop and march towards the formation of any kind of state system. The development of state, social structure and nation-state are a historical necessity. Since human beings are condemned by nature to live within a community and are compelled to form any kind of social organization, individual self-realization can only be achieved within a given community. For various reasons, like lack of cultural and historical consciousness, the group that holds political power cannot bring the necessary development. In this case, and due to external manipulation and pressure, certain countries could not develop into an accomplished nation-state. The case of our country is a vivid example, why especially the elites of various nationalities do not feel that they are belonging to Ethiopia. They think like this because they misread history and they overstate the consciousness of the political elite that had shaped the history of Ethiopia over the last 800 years.
The Ethiopian feudal system was a unique social structure that did not allow the development of division of labour. Handicraft activities and trading were seen as activities which could only be carried out by inferior groups. The taste and the limited need of the ruling feudal elite could not pave the way for the development of various kinds of commodities. Manufacturing activities were not known. In areas where it was not possible to develop a division of labour based on manufacture activities, it was not possible to develop cities. The absence of a generalised division of labour blocked social mobility. As the people remained confined to their areas, the development of language and culture on a higher scale was practically impossible. Accordingly they could not become creative, and transform their lives. Added to these Ethiopia did not have trade and cultural relationships with the outside world. All these circumstances and the rigid nature of the political system could arrest the entire society. As a consequence poverty, hunger and mass dislocation became the stigma of the society. The ruling classes could not see beyond their own circumstances. Though there were attempts by certain rulers to modernize the system, some had resisted because they felt that their status will be diminished. The transformation and modernization of the Ethiopian society must be postponed.
One could observe that starting in the 14th century there were attempts to expand the imperial systems to various regions without modernizing the economic foundation. From the 17th century onwards the struggle became fiercer and nation-state formation became inevitable. With Atse Yohannis, Atse Tewodros and Emperor Menilik II, the crystallization of the system became clearer and Ethiopia was marching towards a kind of nation-state. Atse Tewodros and Emperor Menelik II had clearly understood that without changing the social system and without modernization it was not possible to build an imperial system. Menelik II had laid the real foundation to build Ethiopia as a nation-state. But due to various historical circumstances and because of the changing international politics, it was not possible for him to go further. There were no social forces which could develop his idea and accomplish his mission. Ethiopia did not have any middle class and intellectual force which could grasp the idea of Menelik II and put it into practice. There were no well established social structures in other areas on which one could expand the system of nation-state building. It is therefore unwise to accuse our leaders for what had happened during the middle and late middle ages. We have to understand the nature of social history through the prism of nation-state formation in Europe.
One could admit today that Emperor Haile Selassie did not understand his role as a ruler. Nor did the bureaucracy understand its role. First of all Emperor Haile Selassie had re-installed feudalism and the feudal structure after the defeat of the Italian fascism. Secondly, he let the British steal which the Italians had built over 60 years. The British imperialists had stolen all the infrastructure and industries that the Italians built within a couple of years. Because Emperor Haile Selassie was only interested in his power, he could not understand what steps he should take to build a coherent nation-state on the basis of science and technology. His alignment with America and other western powers did not help him to build a strong and developed Ethiopia. The monetisation of the economy could not pave the way for the development of capitalism. The economy becomes peripheral and subsistence in general. The social structure was contradictory and there was no social cohesion among the various groups and nationalities. There was no cultural development which makes the people creative and innovative. Such a contradictory system gave room for unconscious elements to put their evil dreams into practice. The student movement was born out of this contradictory situation not to challenge the nation-state concept but to build a modern and egalitarian Ethiopia with the help of the ideology of Marxism-Leninism. I do no want to dwell on what went wrong with the student movement. Only professional historians and critical researches could answer this part. I want to affirm that the student movement in general is not anti-Ethiopian. Its an uncritical approach to social history and misreading of the Ethiopian history and its meagre understanding of human psychology compelled it to solve the problem by means of arms. This is the greatest crime that the student movement had inflicted upon our society. The past is past. We do not have time to lament on things what happened in the past. Our historical role is to study the Ethiopian social system through a different prism and struggle for a nation-state based on science and technology. Our mission is not to be caught with revenge and accuse against each other. Our main agenda must be to struggle for a nation-state where science and technology flourish and our people live in peace and prosperity. For that we must have a clear understanding of economic mechanisms which help us to shape Ethiopia as a modern and dynamic social structure.
The Issue of Economic Development
As we misread nation-state and the necessity of nation-state we also have problems in understanding the meaning of genuine economic development. This is because we all are trained within the neo-classical paradigm which reduces everything to scarce resources and satisfaction of human needs. As far as I know nobody has tried to attach the problem of economic development with nation-state formation. If we do we completely misunderstand the meaning of economic development, and detach it from nation-state formation and building a genuine social order. In our concepts economic development becomes equivalent to market economy. Not only we Ethiopians have problems in understanding the nature of genuine economic development. The elite of many Third World countries have problems in understanding the true meaning of a genuine economic development. In the time of globalisation, the problem is multiple, economic development is seen dissociated from true human civilization. Globalization is a great challenge for many developing countries, and millions of people are thrown to slave like labour to satisfy the global capitalist system. Third World countries, especially African countries are hindered to see beyond the conventional wisdom of market economy. They are not allowed to formulate an inward looking strategy which enables them to mobilize all the available resources in order to build a coherent and a chained economic structure.
Without having a developed economic structure based on science and technology the concept of nation-state is inconceivable. The true foundation of a nation-state and a well functioning social system is to develop a science and technology based economic system. Only through science and technology could any country become dynamic and will be integrated from within. Only with a developed economic and social infrastructure any nation can be respected. The development of culture on the basis of science is only possible when there is an effort of creating a science and technology driven economic development. True individual freedom can be achieved only through science and technology. People of a given nation will get mental power when they are able to understand the meaning of science and technology. The development of well structured cities and villages is the prerequisite of an integrated home market. In short, without science and technology there is no social transformation. Those countries which still rely on the production of agricultural products and mineral resources will never see the true meaning of civilization. They will remain the victim of their own leaders and foreign forces.
Until now the struggle on a world wide scale is to get supremacy on all fields. Only few countries have taken for granted that they have a monopoly on science and technology while the rest of humanity remains as supplier of raw materials. School books are deliberately written, and teachers are masterminded to spread such kinds of propaganda. The international division of labour and trade system become the foundation of this misconceived ideology, and this becomes equal to science. Science becomes synonymous with exploitation, and enslaving the labour of Third World countries. Unfortunately we are condemned to think in this category. Those who think differently and fight for a science and technology driven economy are seen as abnormal and their approaches is taken as an unscientific. I think we have to reverse this ideology of brainwashing and must unmask the true mission of neo-liberalism. In my capacity I have tried to clarify some of the misconceived ideas in my recent article, in The Great Confusion. For further and elaborative clarification, the works of Professor Erik Reinhardt and Prof. Gunnar Myrdal are very interesting and should be studied.
It is important to understand the market economic philosophy of the IMF and the World Bank if we want to bring a science and technology driven social transformation in our society. Experiences in many countries have taught us that the IMF and the World Bank policies do not bring the necessary transformation what we need. The Chinese have clearly demonstrated that without the intervention of the IMF and the World Bank experts they could build a strong economy within three decades. Since the Chinese have the will to develop they could mobilise all the resources that they have at their disposal. Especially a country like Ethiopia, which becomes the victim of international finance oligarchy headed by the IMF and the World Bank, needs genuine transformation based on a holistic approach. As I have tried to analyse in my work, only a conscious economic policy based on philosophy and sociology can help Ethiopia to bring some kind of economic dynamism. With this, as Gunnar Myrdal clearly demonstrates, institutional reform is needed if we want to achieve a dynamic economic structure.
The present Ethiopian government which has sold its soul for the international financial oligarchy has thrown our country into an economic system which is mere service oriented. According to the philosophy of the regime, only trading activities and export of unprocessed agricultural products must be the basis of economic development. Ethiopia must not build a strong home market on the basis of science and technology. The economic policy of the Meles regime is a policy of quick acquisition of money. It is not based on a long term strategy to bring real development through technological development in all areas. The strategic part of the economy is being controlled by the ruling class, and the system hinders the development of capitalism. It seems that the government works in the service of foreign forces so that no genuine economic development takes place. Fertile land is allocated for flower plantation and crops which could serve to extract diesel. Peasants are deliberately compelled to divert their attention to crop farming and flower plantation for the world market. On the other hand the government imports dehydrated cereal products from the European community and America. Instead of building an internal market, by creating linkages in all areas the government deliberately destroys the production capacity of the society. Over the last 20 years the country has produced an omnivorous class which absorbs the wealth of the society and lavishly spends the money in bars. This unique and uncultured class becomes a kind of bridge for the infiltration of bad culture from abroad. With its arrogant behaviour and spreading of bad habit it destroys the mentality of the youth. The system becomes out of control.
More or less the situation seems like this, and the Ethiopian people are frustrated by the vulgar nature of the system. They are longing for a system which transforms their lives and make them self-reliant. It is our duty to show the road to true civilization. In this case we have to challenge the neo-liberal economic paradigm which is presented as the only panacea of solving economic and social problems. Over the last 30 years many African countries have been practicing the so-called structural adjustment program of the IMF and the World Bank. None of them could build a dynamic and free economic structure. All countries that have applied this program could not transform the lives of their people. I think this must be a lesson to us. The history of nation building proves that poverty, hunger and underdevelopment cannot be eradicated by market economic instruments, but only through conscious state economic policy. We can eradicate poverty and hunger if we accept this fact and open our mind to new ideas. The experiences of Western Europe after the Second World War, the great efforts of Japan and South Korea are good examples which help us to draw lessons. All these countries could build strong economies not by applying a pure market economic policy but through the combined activities of state intervention and private initiative.
Who is Bob Goldof? Wikipedia described Bob Goldof an Irish singer, songwriter, author, and political activist. He rose to prominence as the lead singer of the Irish rock band The Boomtown Rats. How does this singer from Ireland became worldwide popular as an activist? Well, here is how Wikipedia explained how the activist is known for. Geldof is widely recognized for his activism, especially anti-poverty efforts concerning Africa.[6] In 1984, he and Midge Ure founded the charity super group Band Aid to raise money for famine relief in Ethiopia.[1]
It is known for the world that our country Ethiopia, particularly, Tigray province, was hit by a vicious famine in 1977 Ethio-Cal. 1984/85 Euro-Cal). During that period, thousands and millions of Tigrayan population suffered, died, destabilized and immigrated. When Tigray was hit by a famine, TPLF (Tigrayan People Revolutionary Front the current Ethiopian government) was the only master guerilla and the de facto government in Tigray forests and villages. During that draught period Bob Goldof as a singer and activist, he organized a super concert to collect aid for the draught affected Tigray.
His so called charity known as Band aid raised so much millions of Dollars to help the famine stricken population of Tigray. The draught was so catastrophic, thousands and thousands of draught victims died while immigrated (evacuate) to Sudan by TPLF order. That time Bob Goldof claimed, all the money/charity given to TPLF chiefs to ease the draught was implemented correctly and spent only to aid the draught victims. Recently, ex-guerrilla commander of the TPLF and the founder of TPLF along with ex- chief finance of the organization exposed the hidden secret how TPLF leadership used the charity money to support its guerrilla activity expenses and to buy Armaments that the charity money donated to TPLF through Goldof and other agents of charity organizations.
Such Braking News was aired by BBC and other major worldwide media. TPLF denied it didnt feed its guerrilla fighters by the charity money and didnt spend to buy any armaments by the donated money. Most of all, Goldof was so furious at the editors of the BBC radio and at the accusers who claimed had full evidences to prove their words. Many of the Ethiopian government opposition groups including me was so shocked by Bob Goldofs furiousness towards the accusers and the BBC and the behavior and the words he used to degrade and dismissed the claimants in front of world media. He acted as a spokes person of the TPLF (current government of Ethiopia former guerrilla leaders of TPLF) than a neutral sector. Is he political activist? Is he tyrants propagandists? Is he spokes person for TPLF criminal gangs? Or he is a charity spokes person? Based on his linkage and the love and relation he still has for the murderous gangs in Mekelle and in Addis Ababa/Menlik Palace- one have to conclude that Bob Goldof is a pathetic, spokes person of the notorious TPLFs activist.
Is really the singer an activist? What is activist mean? Activism, in a general sense, can be described as intentional action to bring about social, political, economic, or environmental change. This translation of activism is how Wikipedia translated it. If indeed Activism is intentional action to bring social, political, economic, or environment change; then the intentional action that one wants to involve to bring change to the world or to a community must be guided by principle of moral (In that sense, learning from history). The history of the past and the present is what guided the principle of activism. If the Activists goal is indeed to bring a new change to benefit in the field of economics, politics, social or environmental, then, the activist must understand the meaning of change itself and the factors necessary to bring/build the desired change.
In this case, Bob Goldef as an activist described above has miserably failed to show Ethiopians that he is a pure social and political activist by showing support to one of the ten most notorious anti press and Human Right abusers in the world and in Africa. His defense, sympathy and love to the TPLF leadership will go to history along side with these most hated anti Ethiopian gangs. I am not here tried to deal with the Aid money where it went or what to happen to it. I am here trying to show how Goldof in his fifties is still premature to know what political/social activist must follow or honor. Goldof knowingly or unknowingly, creating a tight relationship with an organization who is responsible for murdering a nation involved a in a variety National Crimes and Human Rights abuse is really despicable to say the least.
Last few weeks back (March 2010), Goldof flew to Ethiopia/Tigray to visit the development in Tigray. He was warmly received at Mekele Ras Alula Airport by his comrades like Tsegay Berhe and the rest of the TPLF Princes and princesses. A gift of Flower was presented to him in the love and respect from TPLFs Mesafintee Woyane (Princes and Royal family of Woyane Tigray). His visit in Korom, Tembien and HinTalo (in Tigray) was hailed by the Royal families of the TPLF circle in Tigraya as an Angel and global political activist for denouncing the defamation of these Royal Gangs in Tigray and in Menlik Palace. For loving these criminal gangs of TPLF Royals, he got a gift of TPLFs status presented by the Royal family of TPLF Tsegay Berhe (Aka: Haleka Tsegay).
Goldof during his tour to different villages in Tigray, he testified that before couple of ten years back, Tigray was a land where misery and a shot of bullets and whistling of artillerys was constantly heard. Currently, It is a pleasure and especial feeling to see such amazing peace and development flourishing in Tigray said Goldof the Humanitarian and activist who doesnt understand what activism and Humanitarian mean?
In Tigray, the peace, that the TPLF Royals and their beloved guest Sir Bob Goldof fully enjoying could be joyous and amazing tranquilizer:- but The peaceful Tigray that amazed the rock Star with its peace is not indeed what Goldof trying to manipulate himself in his hallucination. In reality its residents tears, screaming for help in search of justice from those who died and tortured by the unpopular TPLFs group of savages calling themselves Public Relation Officers (Kifli Hizbi) in the 70 and 80s, and still unknown numbers old and new prisoners languishing and hidden inside Fox hole located in Tigray territory is hidden from the Irish Rock Star, exactly how the whole scenario of the Charity money exploited by the TPLF Royals is hidden from his knowledge and conscious. Does indeed Sir Bob know the character and nature of the group calling itself TPLF? Weighing the mans constant trust on and relation with these criminal gangs posing themselves Liberators, one can conclude that this fellow is illiterate of knowing anything how Tigrayan guerrilla leaders operate with their treacherous tactics and their manipulative nature. Goldof as director of a charity organization, the gift he got from his TPLF comrades in Mekele for defending TPLFs corrupt leadership will perhaps now make him more to be a fanatic supporter of these racist gangs who are responsible for choking the nations throat by land locking the nation. I say good luck for Goldofs premature adventure of falling love with these moral-less and murderous guerilla gangs currently in power in Ethiopia posing as Government of Ethiopia. WWW.Ethiopiasemay.blogspot.com
Without going deep into the not so negligible difference between an illusion (more of a perceptual problem) and a delusion (concerning belief despite facts to the contrary) it is safe to state that most of Africa suffers from the delusion of being independent fifty years after some 18 African countries allegedly gained their “independence” from Colonialism which was a tricky monster if there ever was one.
Colonialism came with the Bible in one hand and as the Africans bowed to pray the white man took the land and their alleged freedom (at least from being colonized by a foreign country). Colonialism played many tricks on gullible Africans and its most damaging joke was to declare that it has left (front door exit) while actually rushing back in through the back door (neo colonialism using the black bourgeoisie). The puppets wearing black masks, denounced so bitterly by Frantz Fanon for one, were quick to declare that formal independence (flags and a native government that played the puppet role to the hilt) was actually the real thing while the delusion was being promoted as actual. A national flag, a black oppressor in a Mercedes Benz and a Rolls Royce, palaces and corrupt and hedonistic existence for the few and Africans were expected to hail this as freedom and salvation. Those who said the Emperor was actually naked and that colonialism has continued in a new garb (with the old stink in place) were quickly silenced. Belgian and CIA agents collaborated to have Patrice Lumumba murdered. Freedom fighters Um Nyobe, Felix Moumie and later on Mondlane, Machel and Cabral were gotten rid off in one way or another. Pan Africanists with a strong anti imperialist stance were made victims of foreign engineered coups as in Ghana and Nkrumah. Colonialism never left but wore a new mask, Africa was doomed as the traitors had a field day selling the whole continent without any scruples or qualms.
The one party state that was the darling of the West fleecing Africa through a corrupt and malleable strongman (Mobutu is a good example) went against any notion of democratic governance. Rebellions were bound to erupt here and there and the colonizers had to spread again the virus of what Nyrere called “tribalism”and is nowadays referred to as “ethnicism”, the “Ethnic assaulting the Nation” as Samir Amin put it in a book. Africa’s desire to consolidate nation states broke against the iceberg of ethnic assault and the division helped carry the goal of the rapacious West to its zenith. (Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union were also to become victims of this sponsored ethnic or nationality assault). Worse still, even the ethnically or nationally cohesive people like the Somalis succumbed to the virus, divided on clan levels and are still going on with their carnage no matter what. Yet, we must admit that, fifty years on, the delusion of independence is no more a big problem–we all know few African countries are really independent. Actually, the two countries that had never been colonized, mainly Ethiopia and Liberia, are also fine examples of dependence and neo colonial servility. Liberia was handed over to freed American slaves and these imposed their corrupt rule over the “natives” with the help of America and North American companies like Firestone rubber company and when the jury of revenge came (via the Samuel Doe coup) it was indeed violent (Tolbert and many ministers were summarily shot). Liberia was not independent in the 19th century and is not so now either. Ethiopia was never colonized (maybe the Ethiopians read the Bible before the white man and were not duped to close their eyes and pray) but the regimes in power for more than seventy years were/are puppets of foreign powers (USA and the Soviet Union) and Ethiopians have never realized their dream of democratic governance. This is not to say that there was little difference between the colonised and the not colonized (perhaps there is some in the psyche and type of wounds) but it is to assert that colonialism did not leave, not ever, but stayed on with more fangs and new garbs. As I said, colonialism is a tricky monster.
Like it can even change colour and appearance given the fact that China is now busy replacing the old and known plunderers. As a Young Turk plunderer, China seems to have little or no scruples other than fiercely pursuing its own national interests but it has learnt the moves and gives lip service to the “delusion”, the flag and the false belief in a non existent sovereignty. Buttering up our ego, telling us we are rich and proud when we are poor and miserable and they are taking away our wealth and backing our killers (Beshir, Meles, Mugabe, etc). In reality, the assault on our pride and self respect has been so strong that most of us have succumbed to self hate (a bonanza for the skin lightening product manufacturers for example) and lack of self confidence. We claim that partaking wisdom at the feet of the white man is all, we speak English or French and we are wise and we know it all (as opposed to the “ignorant” majority that doesn’t), and our salvation can only come from the good will of the new colonizers. The pathetic souls who pray “Our Father who art in the White House” are good examples of this malady. The dependence and absolute lack of belief in the strength and power of one’s people is very damaging especially in light of the real situation in which there seems little hope of achieving meaningful social change peacefully. And yet, it is sadly true that the armed rebels claiming to fight for our liberation have turned out to be murderous thugs ( Renamo, RUF, LRA and others), lumpen guerrillas if you want. Our misery is compounded; colonialism is dead but long live colonialism is not a dead cry.
It is of course possible to contend that we should be left alone with our delusions. It is probable that if one takes one’s hell as a paradise then the suffering may appear less (illusion). Ethiopian say if we call it life dwelling in the graveyard may be comfortable or warm. The perspective matters. If the poor man does not drink butter in his dream he would have died sooner from constipation is another favourite saying in Ethiopia. Delusion plays a role. Instead of a white Bwana governor we have a black native oppressor–is there no difference? Isn’t it better if we delude ourselves that there is a difference especially when we cannot find an iota even using a magnifying glass for investigation? Less expectation, less frustration. More delusion, less pain. The bastards have not left (blood diamonds, blood Coltan, a whole continent plundered without mercy) but why not delude ourselves that they have? Viewed from this angle, the delusion of independence makes our graveyard feel warm. We all know we live in a “cold” continent so why harp on it and shiver when we can embrace our delusion and sweat from the imagined heat?
By Getachew Redawww.Ethiopiansemay.blogspot.comThis briefly written article is a reply to all concerned fellows who are critical to the Ethio-Eritrea People to People friendly conference carried here in San Jose. This response is not of the committee. This response is mine as a citizen and a media operator. Therefore, if you have any critique, question or response please do address to me not to the committee or to the participants or guests.I was triggered to come to response this article after I read my good friend Yelfiwos Wondaya (a decent, patriotic and a good old friend of mine indeed- may I add). Yelfiwos being my compatriot friend this time, I felt it needs a reply for his commentary Conference in the Horn of Africa. I wish he addressed his concern only to the people who held a conference based on his title (Conference in the Horn of Africa). My friend Yelfwos shouldnt linked the San Jose- people to People Conference between Ethiopians and our brother/sisters who called themselves Eritreans with that Conference organized by few Shabia sympathizers (Neamin Zeleke a good patriot- but fall short recently for reason odd to me and some few) and guests from Shabia lovers and racists (Amanuel Beidemariam for example whom his Shabia view articles appeared on Ethioforum.org and Abugida websites ) that have bleeding heart to Isayas Afewerki.
My main concern of this commentary that I like to address was not the above issue I quoted Yelfiwos, but to explain what some of his definition of People in his commentary and also some Eritreans such as the Awate.com editor Salah Gadi wrongly may be even naively and ignorantly or arrogantly , or his usual dismissing of Ethiopias being generous to educated him to the level referring his relation with Ethiopia as Misery and misery and misery <purposely misinterpreted- any people to people relation dismissing it on his website commentary saying to some his likes Eritreans that carried conference regarding the Ethio-Eritrea issue (though that conference in London – was carried by some Eritreans who have connection with TPLF/Meles as the Shabia die sympathizer Ethiopians carried it in DC). But, his interpretation of Ethiopians and Eritreans issue dismissed it in a worst statement of ignorance the following. Then, you have to scrap the whole misleading notion of peace with Ethiopia because there is no enmity between Eritreans and Ethiopians, at all. Proof? Eritreans and Ethiopians in the border areas are still intermarrying, burying their dead together and praying in the same churches and you do not speak their simple language. Why are you trying to resolve an enmity that doesnt exist but in your minds? Please learn to deal with matters that count, that break the bondage of Eritreans. Learn to address real issues that affect the entire Eritrean people instead of wallowing in trivial issues every now and then. Clean your houses first before sniffing for a non-existent problem with your neighbors.Ngdet London,Kahsa Weyane (By Saleh (Gadi) Johar-April 01,, 2010
Now, I will leave such ignorance to all readers to think how ignorance the fellow is to dismiss the present bloody and hateful relation of the two society as a factious or nothing is happening between the two of us. Salah as a website editor and a person who participated as observer ( Asenadai/organizer- of the fraudulent Eritrean Shaabia Freedom Referendum- (?) so called Eritrrean Referendum) and to comment on it as no hate relation is between the two people exited is too naïve! If anyone dismissed in such a way denying that there is no animosity between Eritreans and Ethiopians, then they are living in a different world (one needs not to search and read what is posted on the Eritrean websites or Pal Talks or magazines and radio or their audio video concerts… Only a fool can dismiss in such naivety not articulated and educated website master and an Engineer (?). Let alone Salah to say there is no animosity among the two people- even Isayas and Meles the perpetrators ofthe conflict and hate stated There is no hatred among the two people. Sure!!!!!!)
Now, let me quote how Yelfiwos linked us with those (the title he named) above.Patriotism lives on and performing national duties in a faithful manner is what patriotic act is all about. Be just that or be not. Back to the name changing trail; CUD was a coalition next to so-called KESTE-DAMENA one of the integral parts of CUD itself then without the name Ethiopia attached to it, then, all splinter groups came out of it with the exception of MEAD called themselves the same exact way CUD has done in terms of avoiding the name Ethiopia, G7, UDJ, and MEDREK are the cases in point here and then noticeably AFD was formed by carefully avoiding the name Ethiopia too, then, comes the so-called Ethio-Eritrean conference that took place twice in San Jose, CA, and here we go again the so-called Conference on the Horn of Africa is another occasion for another group gaming its way to the top of its profession.
First of all let me started with what he said regarding patriotism. Patriotism lives on and performing national duties in a faithful manner is what patriotic act is all about. As the same time he dismissed what he said by dismissing those of us who tried to perform faithfully national duties such as easing conflicts and hate among Ethiopians and Eritreans brothers and sister that took so much life and family splits and so much sufferings.
What also made me so uncomfortable is when he accused my San Jose Ethio-Eritrean People to People brotherly conference linked us with the group/trail he accused of avoiding the name Ethiopia on their titles by saying . Back to the name changing trail; CUD was a coalition next to so-called KESTE-DAMENA one of the integral parts of CUD itself then without the name Ethiopia attached to it, then, all splinter groups came out of it with the exception of MEAD called themselves the same exact way CUD has done in terms of avoiding the name Ethiopia, G7, UDJ, and MEDREK are the cases in point here and then noticeably AFD was formed by carefully avoiding the name Ethiopia too, then, comes the so-called Ethio-Eritrean conference that took place twice in San Jose, CA, and here we go again the so-called Conference on the Horn of Africa is another occasion for another group gaming its way to the top of its profession.
What in the world happened to my brother Yelfiwos? Brother, how in the world can we be accused of changing names and linked/compared with notorious organizations who hate Ethiopia who were organized and orchestrated by EPLF noticeably AFD and the rest as Embryo that grew to its way to the top of its profession? It is absurd to deliberately sett us with such accusation by a clever way of writing using .Comes the so called Ethio-Eritrea conference that took place twice in San Jose, CA and here we go again the so called Conference on the Horn of Africa is another group (quotation added mine) gaming its way to the top of its profession.
I tell you, I have read and heard so much crap from all sides from Eritrean website editors, TPLF website editors and Ethiopians that the San Jose conference is been given so much names before the conference. Participants ad guests were been asked or coerced not to participate- but, the truth the matter is after all the conference every one of them concluded that such conference and gathering was Community solving issue that leads to ease tension and create or resuscitate the brotherly and sisterly relation among Eritreans and Ethiopians that can help to examine what went wrong among us. This is has nothing to do with business of changing Ethiopian names or avoiding Ethiopian names or whatever premature rumors is been spreading all over the media.
I have invited all; including TPLF Aiga cadres that were trying sending rumors about us to come to the conference and explain their views to explain why such wholly mission is negative or a threat to both people. None of them came and didnt show up- knowing they have no point to offer based on their rumors behind the screen they were writing. So, according to my memory, people know me for years that I Getachew Reda will not join with groups that have intention or has mission of change the name of Ethiopia into something else. Brother Yelfiwos knows my position and wont miss this. Therefore such linking to such group needed to be corrected in the future. If such could have been the agenda I will be the first person to withdrew and alert you. But, that is not the case at all.Finally, I have also like to address the meaning of people. I have read Eritreans (Awate editor on his mail to me) and brother Yelfiwos on his articles and also TPLF supporters who wanted to hijack such start to their own advantage miss interpreted the word people. All of them used similar view saying (I will paraphrase generalizing each of theirs different way of saying to one sentence) << no one has the authority or the moral ground to decide or conduct or talk about the fate of the two people. >> well, well, well! Who are the people? Is that not me and you made up of? People are not separate entity from the individuals that build the people/ group. If we wait for some unknown body called people to do the conference outside individual initiations-there cant never happened a conference that will be stated or conducted by people unless we the people initiated by individuals is held or conducted. Individuals are us the people who are the yolk of the so called people and the total sum of conscious and unconscious elements of people. Even according to my yelfiwos or others of saying if such is going to be called peoples it should include all organization/political and the like. There are also who do not believe in all the mentioned representatives of organizations or do not know them or recognize them as their representatives. So where is the line to draw and decide this are representatives of the people and these are not? If we do, we will all end up in hypocritical arguments.The definition of people goes like this Thebodyof persons whocomposeacommunity,tribe,nation,orrace;anaggregateof individuals formingawhole;acommunity;anation. Therefore, we as the inhabitant of Ethiopia and as individual, we have the full right to organize to ease the tension that matters or be hurdle to our families, countries relationship. There is nothing wrong to assemble and discuss or passed resolution regarding what we feel to be solved. We can agree and disagree based on the solutions and resolutions and methods that any conference and political group passed or indorsed. But we cant tell people we have no moral ground or authority or right to discuss about issues that matters to them. It is our fundamental right to discuss and create the best solution for the problem. We cant wait for some unknown entity called people apart of individual involvement in the effort of building peoples issue to solve our problems.
If there is, there is one thing people can do. Agree or disagree with the resolution or policy they frame.But, when we dismiss organizations as negative, mercenaries or with hidden agenda- it only should focus to those known sympathizers of Anti Ethiopia gangs not to those who have never linked or had history of linkage of such group. Finally, believe me we are conducting this conference knowing we Ethiopians are mainly putting a lot of effort to create a climate of brotherly and sisterhood regardless we know Eritreans are far from reaching us. We did this, because, we like to show them the usual Ethiopian tradition and humbleness as good people as we were all the time to Eritreans ever since history seeing them as our blood and family. As you all know, we Ethiopians are not welcome to their restaurants and concerts, conferences without being seen received in a hostile eye or reception/ or seen as strange (many proofs for this), but Eritreans are welcome in Ethiopian restaurants, nightclubs, musical concerts, our stores (some stores in San Jose are even now selling their racist books, CD music/movies even clothes that has EPLF flags and design-!- (do not ask me how that happened- ask the store owners) in our gatherings freely enjoying without receiving hostility from Ethiopians (owners, organizers or guests).
We all are familiar with such huge gab. But we knowingly do so to washout what they have been brainwashed and misled by Eritrean organizations and TPLF gangs and sympathizers (though after Badime war TPLF sympathizers are in a different line and mood now with the rest of the Ethiopians). የኤርትራ ህዝብ ስማ!…. የመንግሥትህ መሪ የሆነዉ ተድላ ባይሩ የ አማሮች ተገዥ ሊያደርግህ በመዘጋጀት ላይ ነዉ . አንድ ጊዜ ከሸዋ ወጥመድ ዉስጥ ከገባህ በሗላ ለዘላለሙ መዉጫ አይኖርህም። ቆርጦ የሚዋጋልህን ቀጥተኛ ኤርትራዊ ለፓርላማዉ አባልነት ምረጥ በማለት አክሱማዊዉ ወልደአብ ወልደማርያምበ50ዎቹ ሲጽፉት የነበረዉን፤ ጽሁፍ ዛሬ ቀጥተኛ ኤርትራዊ የተባለዉ በወልደአብ የተወደሰለት ኢሳያስ አፈወርቂ ከመረጠ በሗላ እና ነፃ ሆነሽ ስመለስ የናፍቆት እምባየን አፍስሸልሻለሁ ያሉዋትን ኤርትራ፤ ከአማራ ወጥመድ ከወጣች በሗላ ለዘላሙ መዉጫ የሌለዉ ወጥመድ እና ባርነት በቀጥተኛዉ ኤርትራዊ ቀንበር ከወደቀ በሗላ አብዛኛዎቹ ኤርትራዉያኖች በዘር እና የጥላቻ ፖለቲካ ተስብከዉ ወደ ባሰ ጥላቻ እና ደም መፋሰስ በመግባታቸዉና እኛዉንም ጨምረዉ ወደ ጥላቻ ጨዋታዉ ሜዳ ስለጨመሩን፤ ከዚህ ከገባንበት ወጥመድ እንዴት ወጥተን ሰላማዊ ግንኙነታችን መልሰን እንዴት እንገምባ ከሚል እሳቤ እንጂ – ያገራችን ሰንደቃላማ፤ክብርና ስም ለመለወጥ የገባንበት አላማ እንዳልሆነ ሕዝቡ እንዲያዉቀዉ በዚህ አጋጣሚ አሳስባለሁ።
One wonders why some quarters continue to avoid the name that says Ethiopia . If the intention is to extract our patriotic memories we hold on firm for Ethiopia , the intention will not go any further than it already did. However, I leave that for the groups to elaborate on the notion of name changing trail and beyond, and yet as any loyal citizens, I remain firm in using my shield, a symbolic image that is associated with Ethiopians defense system against foreign aggression. Defending is what I know and defending is what I do to shield my identity. And also, whether or not the intention is to wipe out our memory of which we are or that of our national feelings often prevails over enemies, I also leave that for the groups to respond as well. Patriotism lives on and performing national duties in a faithful manner is what patriotic act is all about. Be just that or be not. Back to the name changing trail; CUD was a coalition next to so-called KESTE-DAMENA one of the integral parts of CUD itself then without the name Ethiopia attached to it, then, all splinter groups came out of it with the exception of MEAD called themselves the same exact way CUD has done in terms of avoiding the name Ethiopia, G7, UDJ, and MEDREK are the cases in point here and then noticeably AFD was formed by carefully avoiding the name Ethiopia too, then, comes the so-called Ethio-Eritrean conference that took place twice in San Jose, CA, and here we go again the so-called Conference on the Horn of Africa is another occasion for another group gaming its way to the top of its profession. Well done, whether or not the entire groups mentioned here have something in common, or done by accident or by design, I for one would like to ask all of them to answer the same question I asked above. Altogether, what are your sentiments on the matter? The matter in this trail is name changing. And the other thing I would like to comment on is that that it is pathetic for a self-appointed Think Thank to think of an institution formed in a far away land by few is a remedy for Ethiopia. At any rate, such notion of settlement is morally wrong and politically incorrect and cannot correspond in part with our belief system back home in Ethiopia . Does any given group be it political or civic or both have a right to pass any motions on behalf of our great nation without getting a mandate from the people of that very nation? I believe not! Isnt that the reason why we are opposing to Meles of TPLF to begin with? I like to say yes for the answer.
First of all, both the guests and participants in this so-called Horn of Africa are Ethiopians. If that is so, why bothered to call it A Conference on the Horn of Africa instead of putting the Ethiopian agenda first and then about the Horn of Africa in general? And yet the privileged minorities believed to have more power, social standing, wealth and talent than the rest of us in Diaspora cannot represent us much less representing the interest of Ethiopians living in Ethiopia .
Once again a fear of backdoor dealings dominating Ethiopian thinking both at home and abroad for sometime must come to a close now. Ethiopians are no longer interested in a group that carries out an indirect sort of dealings with anyone other than our own to settle our national affairs. To begin with, one would say without fear of contradiction that an initiative that comes from outside into a place where it does not belong is bound to fail. In all honesty, though coordinating the various aspects of our activities, organizing the potential candidates of our future government and applying efficient working methods in order to make the entire arrangement work effectively must be our business. And also organizing a new platform that creates an environment in which the influence of the majority is welcomed to abate our misery is our goal. For we are at Liberty , we must remain free to take any measure necessary to attain our liberty and freedom on our own. Isnt that common for any human society to defend its liberty and freedom on its own? So fighting against any sort of interventions that limit our freedom and sovereignty is something that any responsible citizen is obliged to accomplish. To that end, one has to admonish Ethiopians of all persuasions to stay alert and not to get duped by any backdoor dealings that breach our sovereignty ever again. And most important of all, if and when Ethiopia s fate is determined must be determined not by outside influence but by Ethiopians themselves. Of course, we the people of Ethiopia knew full well that Meles is a bridge to no where; but does not mean though that an agreement reached by unknown and private individuals on a foreign land without including the greater majority of us is acceptable. So in principle imposing ones regime upon the same people is what Meles of TPLF has done, which is why we opposed it, and we continue to oppose such practices no matter who does it. So, as an alternative, Ethiopians deserve to have a representative government led by a statesman who is widely respected for integrity and impartial concern for the public good or a broadly based coalition government consisted of all Ethiopian political and civic organizations. I personally believe that this sentiment is deeply rooted in the concept of the Ethiopian sociopolitical culture and tradition which can be described as a set of attitudes and ideas common to all Ethiopians as well. To that end, holding a conference that avoids the name Ethiopia itself and many other Ethiopian political and civic organizations would not be acceptable at all. If need to be, a national conference that includes all Ethiopians of all persuasions would be commendable.
Secondly, strange enough though that this very conference involved only the unknown and the private persons. If known most of them are known as notorious persons in Ethiopia or as defectors or both. Of course, some of whom I know were our comrades in arms but defected for other camps. Nothing is further from the truth, that this conference was not fairly selected to represent Ethiopians much less be all inclusive and all-embracing. With all due respect, though where is the moral-bound we Ethiopians are familiar with? How on earth a group living abroad believes in imposing its borrowed ideology against the will of our people and yet continues to enforce an argument Ethiopians are not interested in to engage in at all. I believe it is a belief of elite groups and what these groups hold to be true is not necessarily true to Ethiopians both inside and abroad. Especially, when they avoid the name Ethiopia , a country we supposed to be proud of.
Likewise, Ethiopians deserve a time and space of their own to choose their own government freely rather than having it imposed from outside. To me, a bad decision done willingly is much better than a good decision done by compulsion. Whether or not such institution formed outside of our country shall have a free ride to use the name that says Horn of Africa in exchange for Ethiopia is yet to be seen. But one thing is for sure; to the best of my understanding, even deciding on discussing, endorsing and imposing the choices of privileged minorities and foreign powers upon the fate of our nation is not acceptable by any measure. Dont change my name against my will, a name on which my identity is driven, and my essential self that constitutes my individual personality for life.
Beyond Doctrine: Explosive stability is not sustainable
Successive U.S. and western governments repeatedly have pronounced their intention to partner with states and support the advancement of democracy and freedom in the African continent. Surely, these well-intentioned commitments often generate a positive reaction from the civil society and pro-democracy groups in Africa and around the world. Despite, the articulation of such desire on paper, the delivery of the actual support, however, is not as clear or as straightforward as the declared doctrine seems. In fact, the files of the past and the present provide us with the uncomfortable truth that the U.S. and the west have supported (and continue to support) and have allied with tyrannical regimes in Africa in favour of stability, national security, geo-politics and economic interest.
However, the people of Africa are fully aware of the fact that democracy is a grassroots concept, and it could only be furthered from the bottom up. Furthermore, those who are struggling for democracy are also fully aware that they are the ones who will determine their destiny, and they are not under any illusion that external forces will deliver democracy to them. The dilemma that Africa faces is not that the U.S. and the west in general are not delivering on their promises; the complaint is that the U.S. and the west are in fact supporting undemocratic rules in Africa complicating and delaying the development of democracy.
It is this fact that is creating a level of unease and frustration among the majority of African people towards the past and present U.S. and western governments. In the early 1990s, following the end of the Cold War, Africa was brimming with hope and optimism as regimes that once were supported and sustained by the USSR crumbled and the emergence of democratically elected governments seemed inevitable. Unfortunately, this hope was short lived as newly minted and more ruthless tyrants marched into the capitals of Africa. In essence, the optimism was replaced by fear and resignation. Thus, the sad fate of the African people living under the clenched fists of dictators continues generation after generation.
Despite a few successes stories of democratic rule, Africa continues to be in the hands of strong men who have no regard for the dignity and sanctity of human life. They govern under states of emergency; they kill, torture and pillage the wealth of the countries. Regrettably, some of these new bands of dictators are enjoying full material, diplomatic, military and political support from the western governments who claim that this support is for the advancement of democracy, respect for human rights, freedom, and the rule of law in Africa and around the world. In the course of reviewing the records of the recent past, however, one could easily come across startling facts that are contradictory to the doctrines that advocate democracy and human rights. Specifically, recent history highlights support by the U.S. and the west for tyrannical regimes in Africa, which inflicted unimaginable suffering on their own people.
Among many African countries that suffered as a result of the policy that favours stability over democracy one country offers a perfect yet tragic example. The country is the Democratic Republic of the Congo, formerly known as Zaire. In this country of riches and abundant natural resources, one man built a personality cult and brought down the country to abject poverty and endless cycle of violence that continues to suck the countrys human and natural resources to this day. The tragedy of all of this is he did it with the support and blessing of the US and the western world.
The story of Mobutu began in 1963, while he was still an army commander. President Kennedy invited him to the White House. During the meeting Kennedy invited his guest to the Rose Garden for photographs and remarked, General if it hadnt been for you the whole thing would have collapsed and the communists would have taken over. During the course of the meeting Mobutu asked for military hardware and training from the U.S. He specifically asked for six weeks parachute training for himself. President Kennedys only hesitation was can you afford to be away from the Congo that long? in the end Mobutu was given a command aircraft for his personal use and a permanent US Air force crew to go with it.1 Sadly, it was there in the Rose Garden that one of the most brutal and corrupt tyrants of Africa was crowned.2
In 1970 Mobutu returned to the White House, this time as the President of Zaire. He was invited by President Nixon and was considered to be a reliable partner. During the meting President Nixon described Mobutu in the following terms: Though you are a young man and you come from a young nation, there are things we can learn from you, citing Mobutus handling of the economy as an example. Tomorrow I have a meeting scheduled with my cabinet on the budget. I find in studying your administration that you not only have a balanced budget but a favourable balance of trade, and I would like to know your secret before meeting with the cabinet.3 How could one understand the US with all its economic might at the time to be willing to endorse and learn a thing or two from one of the most corrupt and ruthless tyrants in the world. It is beyond mindboggling.
With the blessing from both Presidents Kennedy and Nixon, Mobutu for the next 40 years
pillaged the resources, murdered thousands, and plunged the country into one of the most vicious patterns of violence and economic stagnation. Today the people of DRC and the Great Lakes region in general are paying a steep price for the short sited and unsustainable policy of stability. It is with this full blessing and support from the west Mobutu practically destroyed one of the most resources rich countries in the African continent. During this time Mobutu is said to have looted estimated $5 billion and placed it in Swiss private bank accounts.4 Even after his demise, the DRC continues to suffer from the legacy of violence and corruption he installed during his reign. Since 1998 5.4 million Congolese died from the ongoing conflict. The conflict has involved not only the citizens of the DRC but all countries in the neighbourhood and as far as Zimbabwe.
Not too far from the DRC is Liberia. Unfortunately, its history with dictatorship and corruption is not too different from that of the DRC. The most recent past of Liberias history is one of upheaval, corruption and civil war. When master sergeant Samuel Doe and his group of seventeen low ranking soldiers overthrew the last Americo-Liberian President, William Tolbert, the nature of the bloody coup shocked the world. On the night of 12 April 1980, Doe and his gang sealed the entry to the Executive Mansion, over powered the guards and found the President in his pyjamas, they fired three bullets in his head, gouged right eye and disembowelled him His body was dumped in a mass grave along seventeen others. It was the beginning of bloody violence perpetuated by Doe and his gang in Liberia.
Despite Does despicable human rights record, the US provided support to his regime, which ruled with a street gang style. One Senior US official was quoted in 1993 saying we were getting fabulous support from Doe on international issues. He never wavered [in] his support for us against Libya and Iran. He was somebody we have to live with. All our interests were impeccably protected by Doe.5
When Liberia held a national election on 15 October 1985, unprecedented numbers of voters turned out to cast their vote, with many walking for miles to polling stations and waiting for hours in the smouldering heat. When the initial vote counting showed that Samuel Doe has lost the election his hand picked election officials suspended the legal vote counting and assigned illegal re-count committee allied with Doe. On 29 October the so-called recount committee announced that Doe had won the election. While this day light election robbery was clear to the people of Liberia and the rest of the world the U.S. hailed this fraudulent election. In his testimony to US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, Chester Crocker, President Reagans senior policy adviser, celebrated Does victory in the following terms:
There is now the beginning, however imperfect, of a democratic experience that Liberia and its friends can use as a benchmark for future elections-one on which they want to build the prospects for national reconciliation were brightened by Does claim that he won only a narrow 51 per cent election victory virtually unheard of the rest of Africa where incumbent rulers normally claim victories of 95 per cent to 100 per cent.6
The fact is that Does claim of 51 per cent was not intended for local consumption because whether his claim of victory is 51 or the usual 99.9 per cent (as is the tradition by African dictators), the people of Liberia knew that the election was neither free nor transparent, and they knew that Doe was not going anywhere. Does strategy was to create an election drama and by claiming only 51 per cent to show that he was not the same as the traditional African dictators. The strategy worked. As Chester Crooker declared the beginning of democracy in Liberia, in reality it was the beginning of hell. Liberia is still fighting to shake off Does legacy as well as that of his successor Charles Taylor, who is facing serious charges at the International Criminal Court in The Hague.
These are just a two examples of how democracy, freedom and justice have been traded for stability in Africa. If history were our teacher, these two examples would have taught the US and the western governments an important lesson. Unfortunately, it is a pattern that the western governments are having difficulty getting rid off. The problem of western governments support to tyrannical regimes in Africa is further solidified after the tragic events of September 11, 2001. While the Cold War geo-politics facilitated the partnership between dictators and the western regimes, the War on Terror is helping tyrants in the African continent to quickly jump-on-the-bandwagon and gain legitimacy from the west while silencing pro-democracy groups domestically and building single party systems.
The new dictators, it appears, arent like the old tyrants they replaced. The new ones dont call themselves colonel or field marshal as the Idi Amins and the Does did. They dont wear crisp military fatigues. They, in fact, wear expensive designer suits. The new dictators dont sound like the old dictators; they talk in slick, soft and rehearsed prose and know how to speak the donor language. One such leader originally endorsed by President Bill Clinton as part of the new generation of leaders is Meles Zenawi, the former leader of the rebel group Tigray Peoples Liberation Front (TPLF) and current Prime Minister of Ethiopia. In spite of Zenawis appalling assault against those who struggle for democracy, freedom and justice in Ethiopia, the US and western governments continue to support this ruthless tyrant. Due to this support, Zenawi and company continue to inflict widespread suffering on the Ethiopian people, and they are not showing any sign of relinquishing power through a democratic process of election.
Today, Zenawi is being invited to high-level international conferences and gatherings as a leader, and yet the majority of the Ethiopian people know that he is not their leader. Such support by the western governments toward oppressive regimes is beginning to wear on the people of Africa, and the population is beginning to question the US and western governments commitment to democracy in Africa. These widespread negative sentiments of public opinion towards the US and the western world are taking a different form and shape. One particular example is the rapidly growing presence of China across the African continent. The recent spat between the Voice of America (VOA) radio and Meles Zenawi is a clear demonstration of Chinas bold moves, even a daring confrontation with the US. While the news was about the admission by Meles Zenawi that his government was jamming the VOA, the other less talked part of the story is that there is evidence showing that Chinese technology and expertise are being used to silence the VOA Amharic service. Therefore, the question is this: Is China starting to confront the US on the airwaves through Ethiopian politics? Is this symbolic of the beginning of Chinas occupation of Africa? In addition, and more importantly, what does this mean for democracy and human rights in Africa? We are beginning to see tyrants like Meles Zenawi thumbing their noses at the west as they get more confident of their power.
One troubling part of the emerging Chinese occupation of Africa is that the people of Africa are beginning to show more of a positive approval toward China than the US. For example, 61 per cent of Ethiopians see Chinas influence as benefiting the country, whereas only 33 per cent see the US as a positive partner in their economic, political and social endeavours. In Tanzania, the margins are even wider with 78 per cent believing that Chinas contribution to their country is a positive one and only 13 per cent believing that the USs influence is positive.7 Such a dramatic shift of views and opinions is hardly surprising given the US and western worlds sustained neglect of the advancement of democracy in the African continent. One can interpret these opinions more of as a statement of anger and frustration with the west than genuine collaboration and desire to partner with China.
Finally, the US and the western world need to move beyond doctrines and words. If they really have any interest in democracy, freedom, justice and the rule of law in Africa, they must stop this outdated strong man approach. Trading democracy for temporary stability is a dangerous slippery slope. History clearly shows that the end outcome of stability through dictators is deadly and certainly short lived, as with the DRC, Liberia, and so on. Today, the same old and tired foreign policy formula continues to haunt Africa, perhaps more visibly in the Horn of Africa than any other parts of the continent.
The new geopolitical concern that is the War on Terror has replaced the Cold War strategy and tyrants like Meles Zenawi have been dancing to this tune. The reality is if we are smart enough we can learn a thing or two from history. Fighting terrorism through regimes that rule by terrorizing their own people can only radicalize the population and breed resentment and anger toward those providing military and political support to tyrannical regimes. Short-sited, quick fix foreign policy only produces blowbacks and in the end blowbacks are more complicated and difficult to fix. Doctrines alone dont build democracy and human rights. It is time to stand with the people of Africa and lend them a hand so that they can build a system founded on the firm grounds of democracy, liberty and freedom.
1 Meredith Martin, The State of Africa: A History of Fifty Years of Independence, Simon and Schuster, 2005.
7 Dambisa Moyo, Dead Aid: Why Aid Is Not Working And How There Is A Better Way. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2009. I obviously differ with Moyos opinion that the involvement of China in Africa is beneficial to the continent.
This is not about April the Fool. It is for real. Today, a certain Ghanaian provoked me that I am either from a small country known as Eritrea with no resources and or that of Ethiopia a country endowed with famine whose people are ignorant and miserable to say the least. In fact he suggested to me that Ethiopians and Eritreans should unite primarily for their own survival and secondly for the sake of Africa. In fact, further he stated bluntly that Africa is not uniting because of Ethiopian and Eritrean dispute of insignificant space.
To his surprise, I informed him about Ghadafis recent suggestion of dividing Nigeria into Muslim and Christian nations just like the Muslim Pakistan separated from the Hindu India. This Ghanaian who thinks himself as a torchbearer for African freedom continued to argue that Ethiopia and Eritrea were Christian countries before but now both have turned to be Muslim countries in order to be rich. I said to my self, what a ridiculous assertion.
Here is my argument with this seemingly gentleman with full of naiveté. Eathiopia (both Eritrea and Ethiopia) were and are still endowed with Nature. By this I mean the ideal climate with Suns Energy, Human Origin and Social System. I explained to him that these factors by themselves are enough qualitative factors to emulate by other countries and societies. The Social system adopted by America, the wish list by many nations in order to claim origin of the Human species and by many nations including the USA to strive for Energy.
I suggested to him to differentiate between manmade famine and Gods will.
As to the resources, I asked this Ghanaian to further check with the American geological department whose slogan in the past says, Everything begins with mining but now the same department advises, it takes a mine to build a bridge. I hope he understood my analogy with Eritrean mining and Ethiopian building bridges.
Why is there so much misinformation about our country? I guess it is because of our misgivings. We tend to cover not our vices but our virtues. In the process, we are destroying our good values and at the same time projecting wrong side of our true history, culture and faith. I believe it is our own making. We have lost our integrity.
Let us take for instance, the way our politicians depict about our country. Every so-called politician would exaggerate the magnitude of Ethiopias problems in terms of economics, war and destitution. Every time a politician attempts to explain to me about vast problems, I immediately counter with questions about specific problems. Let alone to convince me with specific Ethiopian problems, they could not in good faith explain the nature of government and the governed. Maybe our people had lived as Republicans with no or limited government for centuries, which denies us the knowledge of, elected representatives.
On the other front, those who came to power have mainly depended on foreign advisors or pretended that they know the wish of their people. First of all they assume about the assumptions of their constituencies in the absence of facts and figures and secondly they deny freedom of access to radio, television or online (RTVO) as in the current governments in both countries.
So, let us rectify the situation by calling names. ADWA£ AADWA. The place of conquest of Adwa is less than or equal to AaDwa, the concept of conversion voluntarily from one position to another.
The first ADWA has reference to the place of war and the current leadership. That means the war at Adwa is a symbol for victory as well as colonization. There is too much dispute over those events. I leave this dispute to historians, if at all we have pro and independent historians. Another factor is about the current leadership whose value is based on riches as opposed to wealth. I am of the opinion that the virtue of the Tigrai people dubbed as poor was/is to be revered and admired. Their virtue was what made Eathiopia a proud nation. To be an Eathiopian was meant to have rights and freedoms given by the Almighty God. We had lived in Eathiopia with a history of becoming good, and of attempting to follow our conscience.
The solutions, I am proposing is the revisiting of Aassimba – the heart place of the enlightened Army, why the need for the long march of DEBTERAWs path to FREEDOM DEMOCRACIA- and Wallelignes concept of self-determination for rights and freedom. If we link these three events, there is no doubt in my mind that the question of millions of Eathiopians including that of my Ghanaian colleague will be clear and answered without delay. Eathiopia was striving to be a moral nation until the leaders of TPLF appear on the scene. Selling children is an outright immoral, for example.
If there will be any reconciliation to take place within Eathiopia, it would be a reconciliation among the leaders of TPLF, among the EPLF/ELF, among the OLF and among the ISAPAS. Others will follow these major groups/ fronts or however you call them. This is because DEMOCRACY by EPRP, SEPARATION by TPLF, COLONIALISM by EPLF/ELF and COLONIZATION by OLF and UNITY by the DERG were not only historical issues and concerns but they are still burning questions of our time especially for the young generation. There seems neither healing nor closure without addressing these issues objectively and genuinely. The current call for freedom, justice, democracy, unity and the like by Kinjit is a recycle of the past. We have to build on what we had achieved. We cannot deny the past.
Incidentally, colonialism, separation, colonization and unity were incorporated in the struggle of EPRPs concept of DEMOCRACIA. It is all recorded not only in the minds and hearts of millions of Eathiopians but also in some history books. All that is required is a political dialogue that is geared to understanding the issues for the purpose of reconciliation as opposed to revenge.
The only gut should come from those members, supporters and sympathizers of the EPRP and those who wish solutions not only for the local, regional, continental but also international. AADWA is not a semantic language. It is a concept of the body, the spirit and the mind of many Eathiopians, call them progressives or founders. While others have been fighting vis-à-vis individual personalities, EPRPs struggle was focused on ideological and political ideas and issues.
(Edited by Kjetil Tronvoll, Charles Schaefer & Girmachew Alemu Aneme), James Currey, UK, 2009, 158pp
I had intended to write an extensive review of this book, a collection of very informative and analytical articles by scholars who are either Ethiopian or foreigners like Tronvoll1 who are well informed on the reality in Ethiopia2, but other engagements made this difficult. Time went by and in a due respect to better late than ever and because the Red Terror Trials (referred to as ERTT after this) have come to a close, I have written this brief review to call on readers to check out this valuable book.
Special Prosecutor Girma Wakjira, himself a former member of the EPRP, recently stated that the RETT has been concluded. The Special Prosecutor’s Office (SPO), set up in 1992, dealt with the cases of 5119 accused ( some in abstentia) and the courts found 3589 of the accused guilty, freed 658, called 8047 witnesses and compiled 15214 pages of evidence. Some of the accused conveniently died before and during the trial. The book under review deals, through nine articles, with the ERTT, its raison d’etre, political anatomy, the context of transitional justice, consequences, comparison with traditions of restorative justice in Ethiopia, etc. The Red Terror was a bloody orgy that scarred the history and the psyche and soul of Ethiopia. Its repercussions are still being felt as the Terror has affected the living more than the dead and its message of barbaric repression was primarily intended to those who were not its victims on the receiving end of the Kalashnikov barrel. Moreover, the Red Terror was and is a controversial event in that most of the perpetrators are still alive (some still in position of power) and the torture victims and the relatives of the martyrs are also alive. A rewriting of history, or its outright revision, is today being undertaken in earnest mostly by the officers and officials of the defunct regime that carried out the Red Terror3and by the ruling TPLF which had taken some part in the Terror in Tigrai. The general revision goes along the line that the EPRP and Meisone (the two left wing organizations of the time) were, as historian Gebru Tareke put it, “slaughtering each other” with the military officers in power playing the spectator’s role. This preposterous theses is echoed not only by the memoir–writing former Derg officers and Red Terror criminals in exile but also by scholars like the aforementioned Gebru Tareke who was himself, alas, an EPRP member and can only be understood if we take into context that it did not also take him much time to praise the Meles Zenawi ethnic regime as democratic4.
The book edited by Kjetil Tronvoll and others tries to put the Red Terror in context (the article by Bahru Zewde: The History of the Red Terror) before delving into the ERTT itself and its implications. Bahru’s brief historical rendition of the Red Terror, an appraisal that tries to be objective and coldly detached, is full of assumptions that call for refutation. Bahru even goes as far as to dispute the number of Red Terror victims supplied by Babile Tola5 (while the even the BBC presents a half million number– BBC news, Dec.12/1999). The wrangling over the number of victims of the Red Terror assumes importance in that both the TPLF and former partisans of the Eritrean front (EPLF) like Bereket Habtsellasie made it a point to minimize the number to allege that the struggle waged by people under the leadership of the EPRP was minimal while they (the ethnic fronts) paid the most sacrifice. Bahru almost joins Gebru Tareke in inadvertently minimizing the role of the Derg in the carnage they called key Shibir/Red Terror/. Here is how Bahru puts it:
“Once the debate was over (between the EPRP and Meisone in the newspapers–K), both sides withdrew to sharpen their tools for the armed clash, EPRP preparing squads and Ma’ isone drawing on the military sinews of the state“. (p.24)
And:
“The first phase could be said to have begun in September 1976 when the Derg and its leftist allies launched a massive campaign against the EPRP characterized by denunciations of its alleged counter-revolutionary activities and detention of its members and sympathizers. In less than a month, hundreds of people already targeted for their pro-EPRP stance in labour unions, discussion forums and the student movement were incarcerated in various prisons of the capital. The EPRP, which appears to have been waiting for just such an occasion, retaliated by what it described as acts of self defence, that is the assassination of leaders and cadres of the opposite camp”. (page26, emphasis mine-K)
The above assertions could be understandable had they come from officials and apologists of the Mengistu regime out to deny their criminal role but Bahru is a historian of repute, a political prisoner of the Derg and one who should have known better. It is clear that Bahru tries to strike the “non partisan” middle ground but fails (as the above quotations show. The political debates in the State controlled newspapers in 1976 were not “dress rehearsals” (p.24) for the armed clash nor were they intended to make a convert of either Meisone or EPRP to the cause of the other. The debates were aimed at clarifying basic political issues to the reading urban public and they did help achieve that. The EPRP did not have a strategy of urban armed action and as such did not have squads in hiding in the city though one trained member (Seyoume Kebede- later martyred in the Red Terror) was infiltrated into Addis Abeba for possible operations to obtain funds if and whenever the need may arise. There was no “rush to the armed squads” as Bahru alleges once the debates were over. Neither was the EPRP “waiting for just such an occasion” (imprisonment/incarceration) to launch what Bahru calls the assassination of cadres and leaders. Alas, objective Historians are as rare as peace and democracy in Ethiopia.
Bahru goes on to argue that who fired the first shot is not really that important while it is actually very pertinent especially in light of his above quoted assertions that the EPRP was waiting for just a simple provocation to unleash its “assassination squads”. The facts of the time show in no uncertain terms that the peaceful political struggle process was shattered by the ruling junta (and its Meisone and other intellectual groups acting as its advisors). As Bahru admits the EPRP had won the political battle or had at least gained the ascendancy in that more people rallied to its banner than they did to that of the Derg and Meisone. This feeling of defeat was what led to the repression and it is not mere incarceration that occurred (as Bahru alleged) but plain murder and wanton killings as notorious Derg leaders Majors Getachew Shibeshi and Ali Moussa went on a murderous spree ( Asbe Teferi, Jimma, Awash, etc…Details of the killings can be found in Babile Tola’s book). Shallow mass graves were dug out by hyenas on the outskirts of Addis Abeba long before the EPRP fired a single shot or even before the Derg officially declared war on the EPRP. The decision to strike at the EPRP was made long before the EPRP reacted, the Nebelbal special force was brought into Addis Abeba and a list of assassination victims supplied by the Meisone (in July-August) to the Derg–all this long before the Derg officially declared war on the EPRP or before the EPRP attempted to kill Mengistu or Fikre Merid, the Meisone leader. Hence, for the sake of History, if not for the memory of the martyrs, it is necessary to blame the culprit for first resorting to violence and no reference to “verbal violence” introduced, according to Bahru, back in 1971 6 can be used as a justification to spread the blame. The Derg and Meisone ushered in the violence and the EPRP resorted to armed self defence, a choice that can be criticized or supported depending on one’s political views and conclusions but the ongoing attempt to blame the EPRP for initiating violence, an attempt echoed by Bahru in this book, will not hold. Moreover, it is not the question of “assassination” that led to the division of the EPRP (as Bahru wrongly asserts). The factionalist situation of two EPRP leaders (called anja) was a result of differences on how to characterize the Derg and whether to struggle against it or ally with it. The anja leaders called for an alliance with the Derg while the majority opposed this option. Here also Bahru presents a non fact as he does on the killing of one of the Anja /faction/ leaders who he alleges was killed when the leadership “did not know what to do with him” p.27). Really? Anyway, the resort to what the EPRP called armed defence followed on the heels of the violent repression (not only incarceration but murder and execution) and did not precede it. To argue the opposite is not factual and the Derg remnants use it anyway to present themselves as victims and as “forced to defend the revolution by resorting to revolutionary Terror”. Bahru also passes without a single comment, in light of the fact that the trials were initiated by the ruling Tigrai front (TPLF), the accusation that members of the TPLF did take part in the Red Terror by being part of the POMOA (Provisional Office for Mass Organizational Affairs or Hizb Dirijit Tshifet bet) or the Red Terror committees in Tigrai (mention can be made of lieutenants Desta and Gebre Hiwot). I did expect a better and more informed analysis from Dr Bahru, more in tune with the facts and not a rehash of the facetious assertions and conclusions we have been reading or hearing from other partisan quarters.
The book as a whole focuses on the Red Terror trial and tries to place it within the context of retributive-restorative justice, reconciliation, democratization, rights, etc. The main or fundamental flaw in the articles is the assumption, as stated in the preface, that the ” EPRDF wanted to establish a societal consensus on the Derg period, apparently in order to draw a line and start afresh with a new mode of governance in the country.”(Page xi). Sarah Vaughan in her The Role of the SPO’ s Office) also echoes this (‘the EPRDF was determined to record past events to educate future generations’) claim But nothing could be farther from the truth, notwithstanding self serving hindsight declarations by Meles Zenawi. The motive of the EPRDF in conducting the ERTT owed its rationale not from any noble pursuit of educating a generation or starting afresh with a new mode of governance but had more to do with what Vaughan presents as clearly influenced by political restraints and political expediency (p 60). To begin with any regime that came after the Derg could not avoid dealing with the Red terror and the people’s expectation for justice in one form or another and the TPLF/EPRDF was well aware of that. Yet, the TPLF/EPRDF was not ideologically or politically equipped to consider a South African type Truth and Reconciliation approach<not because as Meles Zenawi wrongly claims “there was no such experience at that time”7 but mainly due to the fact that political expediency to which the EPRDF was very sensitive dictated the path of persecution.
The EPRDF’s political constraints had also little to do with any preoccupation with the populace’s conception of justice or retribution but with its precarious or unsettled state in power at the time. The new regime was resorting to populist actions (mostly illegal like the summary on the spot execution of petty thieves) and calling for public denunciations of alleged Red Terror criminals. The call for denunciation to a populace that had to endure and do such horrible acts (denounce or you shall be denounced!) during the Derg regime was cynical and, at first, it did appeal to people who had grudges and serious grievances against the alleged criminals. In this way, the EPRDF was trying to be popular and the attempted murder in Djibouti of the “Butcher of Gondar (Melaku Teferra– deported later on and now sentenced to death by the ERTT)) and in Zimbabwe (of Mengistu Haile Mariam ) were aimed at getting it more popular support. Hence, the persecution of the alleged criminals was motivated by a desire to gain political support from the population, but this was denounced by the EPRP.8 The EPRDF resorted to repression of its own and with this it lost its credibility if any and the euphoria it tried to generate by pandering to what it imagined would be red hot mass emotion petered out. Moreover, the truth and Reconciliation path required active participation of the people and the civil society, requirements that the EPRDF could never imagine itself tolerating. As many of the articles in the ERTT book amply demonstrate, the SPO and the trials were conducted away from any active participation of the people concerned by the Terror or by the populace at large. The victim, that is to say the EPRP (whose demise has been proclaimed time and again by very many though it has continued to point out that all news of its death is an exaggeration), was not in any way involved and the so called Red Terror committee was exposed in due time as the gathering of a handful of people handpicked by the EPRDF itself9.And this also defeated any “educational” purpose if ever there was one on the part of the EPRDF in the first place. Actually, the human rights violations of the EPRDF made the pretension for justice in the RETT hollow and hypocritical.
In short, the EPRDF was after retributive justice if we take care to situate justice within its own restrictive context or conception. As Belgesem and Girmachew have correctly analysed it– (in The Rights of the Accused pp33-50)– the Ethiopian Red Terror trials have exhibited serious breaches of the rights of the accused. The SPO itself was accountable to the Prime Minister, habeas corpus was ignored, the accused did not have easy access to defence witnesses and the whole trial took a very long time. The sentencing also left much to be desired giving death sentences to minions and even letting the big fish free on grounds that have not been explained properly. In this respect, the article “Concluding the Red Terror Trial” is informative. Ethiopian courts are not independent under the EPRDF and the SPO was not independent either and this has negated any attempt to link the trials to any notion of democratization or restorative justice in a democratic transition as in South Africa.10 Barring the justifiably critical articles of Kjetil Tronvoll (The Political Anatomy of the Red Terror Trials) there persists in the book the tendency to take the EPRDF as it sees or presents itself. This is very apparent in Girmachew Alemu’s “Beyond the Ted Terror Trials–Analyzing Guarantees of Non-Repetition”. Girmachew misses the crux of the matter, the core of the problem, which is the EPRDF regime itself. The EPRDF had no moral or legal ground/justification to sit as a judge over the accused and this for very many reasons including its own participation in the Terror at least in Tigrai. The EPRDF came as a repressive force, violating many rights, resorting to repression and trampling upon the articles of its own Constitution ( in whose drafting or approval the people did not freely or really take part). What it was after was a half hearted vendetta (many justifiably wonder why the TPLF/EPRDF should want to punish the very people that massacred and weakened its arch enemy, the EPRP), retribution, lip service to the demands of the victims families for justice. In other words, it would have avoided any trial at all and buried the Red Terror (perhaps as an in fighting amongst the “chauvinist Amhara” as Sebhat Nega would have liked to label it), had not political expediency forced it to address the issue.
The guarantee for non repetition of the Red Terror requires almost all that the EPRDF had avoided to do. First of all, the existence of the rule of law, the respect of rights of the accused and due process must be assured. An independent judiciary if that be the option but better still an attempt to expose the truth with the active participation of the victims and their families, an approach that aims at really educating the future generation to say “never again”. Not retributive but restorative justice and in this respect Charles Schaefer has presented an interesting article on restorative justice in Ethiopia‘s tradition (p.68). The EPRDF, as has become its nefarious practice of killing off prisoners, delayed the trial and hoped that the inhumane conditions in its prison would do the rest with the old and ailing accused ( as it did with Teka Tulu, Mengistu Gemechu, etc with Professor Asrat and presently as it is being done to Birtukan Midiksa) Girmachew takes the Constitution of the EPRDF at face value ( “a step foreword” and) glosses over the fact that it is not only the EPRDF that has recognized the basic rights of the people. Even the Haile Sellasie Constitution recognized basic rights with the rejoinder of “in accordance with the law”. Ditto the Derg. In Ethiopia, the problem of rights has never been the absence of its recognition on paper but the bitter fact that the regimes in place have forbade any exercise of these rights by the people. Haile Sellasie banned all political parties, the Derg denied the EPRP legality and resorted to violence and terror to stamp out political dissent and the EPRDF has done the same. To claim, as Girmachew does (page 129), that the ” FDRE Constitution provides an extensive human rights framework ” and the problem is the absence of related social culture and education about rights is naive and very wrong. It is not the lack of education about rights or the non development of the social culture (both debatable) that are the drawbacks but rather the fact that the EPRDF is dictatorial, repressive, a violator of rights and against the rule of law. This is the fact and that is why the ERTT played out as an irrelevance in Ethiopia, not to say as a farce.
This said, I recommend the book, The Ethiopian Rd Terror Trials, to all who want to know about that period and the way in which the EPRDF sabotaged the search for proper closure.
1 Tronvoll’s last book is “War and the Politics of Identity in Ethiopia, ” James Currey, East African Series,UK, 2009, 239 pages
2 the other scholars are Bahru Zewde,,Charles Schaefer,,Girmachew Alemu, Frode Elgesem,Sarah Vaughan and Elsa Van Huyssteen
3 Books, mostly in Amharic, are being written both inside Ethiopia and the USA by former Derg military and security officers whitewashing their role in the Red terror and trying to blame the victim, the EPRP, for the whole bloody chapter in the recent history of Ethiopia.
4 Gebru Tareke: The Red Terror in Ethiopia: An Historical Aberration”, 2004 (to be found in ethiopiafirst.com)
5 in To Kill A Generation: The Red Terror in Ethiopia, 2nd edition, Free Ethiopia Press, WashingtonDC,
6 Bahru elaborates on this notion of his whereby the so called verbal violence turned into physical violence in his new book: Society, State and History, Selected Essays, Addis Abeba University Press, 2008, pp238–251
7The TRC was set up in terms of the Promotion of National Unity and Reconciliation Act, No. 34 of 1995, and was based in Cape Town. The mandate of the commission was to bear witness to, record and in some cases grant amnesty to the perpetrators of crimes relating to human rights violations, reparation and rehabilitation
8 this and the practice of denunciation was exposed by the EPRP (in a BBC interview by EPRP then representative for Europe) Ghennet Girma and the TPLF tried to allege in an Addis Zemen article of the time that the “EPRP wants the Red Terror criminals to go unpunished”.
9 The Red Terror Committee was repeatedly denounced by the families of the red Terror victims and was recently accused of embezzling money collected for the erection of a monument in Addis Abeba for the victims.
10 Elsa Van Huyssteen’s article in the book details the differences between the two approaches
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Some people claim that Bob Geldof was a much more modest man, though a not so polite one, before the Queen knighted him and he became a Sir. These same quarters, it must be said, claim that Bono was a nice person before he succumbed to the delusion that he has indeed become the saviour of Africa. Delusions, as Napoleon should have said, are dangerous things.
The recent outburst by Bob Geldof against the BBC alarms only those who believed that self declared do gooders are indeed saints instead of cunning business people. Surprised are also those who naively believe that the very many NGOs claiming to help our continent have no ulterior motives whatsoever. The generous people of Ethiopia have, as I pointed out so many times before, continued to stage a famine every five or ten years to give employment to young westerners. Who really knew a group called Boomtown Rats and a hippie type fellow called Bob Geldof before the 1984 Ethiopian Famine? Very few people is the correct reply. How many NGOs were aching for funds before the 1984 Ethiopian famine came to their rescue so much so that some of them (like War on Want) had to deal later with messy embezzlement scandals? For example, George Galloway, War on Want General Secretary, was accused of misuse of funds and of living luxuriously at the charity’s expense. Let alone enlightened Westerners, even we Africans, usually taken to be naive and innocent savages, know that we live in a cruel and callous world. Sympathy and charity often hide self concern and greed. The Lords of Poverty are many and they are actually heartless. How many of the foreign NGO workers in the Sudan during the 1984 famine were accused of diverting money? How many used the NGO cover to engage in what one Sudanese prosecutor later called “big scale human trafficking”–Operation Solomon or the exodus of Bette Israelis through the Sudan to Israel? On the other hand, the victims of famines and disaster are not thankless people at all. Ethiopians for one have said thank you again and again to those who came to their rescue even though no less than a million people did perish from the 1984 famine not only because of the lack of food but because the famine aid or donation was diverted for other purposes by a trio of the military government in Addis Ababa, the Tigrean rebels in the jungle (who are now in power) and quite a few of the NGOs themselves. This is the truth that is choking Sir-Saint Bob Geldof and throwing him into a fit of frenzy.
Sir-Saint-tongue lashing Bob Geldof claims not on penny from the Band Aid money was misused or taken by the Tigrean rebels of Meles Zenawi for their own use. To affirm his point, Geldof has even stooped as low as attacking the former Tigrean front leaders who had and have exposed this unpalatable truth. The neighbours of Geldof, the Scots, say a fool when he has spoken has done all and let me add the Ashanti saying that says: by the time the fool has learned to play the game the players have disappeared. Obviously, no one really likes to be taken for a ride especially if one considers oneself the top intelligent dog and the cheating is being done by African nonentities. In other words, one understands the anger and denial of Geldof, Christian Aid and others duped by the sleek operators of the Tigrean front while other NGOs are joining the protest fray to cover up their conscious role as suppliers of money and grain and sugar and trucks to the Tigrean Front. What really happened?
What was really happening was exposed by other insurgent movements like the EPRP back then in 1984 but the Geldofs, sure of themselves, smugly refused to lend an ear. Saint Geldof was unable to see the sinners playing havoc with the Band Aid money as the truth is that most of the aid diverted by the Tigrean front came from Band Aid itself. What was really happening was the big scale diversion by the Meles Zenawi front (TPLF) of the aid to the famine victims in Tigrai and even parts of Wello (where the TPLF claimed its satellite group, the EPDM, had liberated vast territory of land and people and Oxfam UK, for one. secretly supplied cash to the said group). To get a full picture of the situation we have to go back to the vast operation planned by the CIA (with the full accord of British intelligence) to use the famine situation to destabilize and overthrow the totalitarian and pro Soviet regime of Mengistu Haile Mariam. To launch the operation George Bush senior, then vice president, travelled to Khartoum, Sudan, and conferred with Jafar Nimeri, the then Sudanese president. As the wily Mengistu had restricted the presence and activities of the Western NGOs the decision was made to use the backdoor to “embarrass and destabilize” the regime. Meles Zenawi agreed to transport thousands of Tigrean famine victims to the Sudan so that the Western papers can claim people are fleeing from the “government side” and expose the Mengistu regime further. More importantly or ominously for Mengistu, the famine was to be used as a cover to strengthen the Tigrean and Eritrean fronts (the EPLF mainly which the Westerners described as Christian dominated). The operation of transporting thousands of emaciated famine victims from Tigrai down south to the Wedi Kewli camp in Gondar (near the Sudanese frontier) cost the lives of thousands of famine victims (the French MSF was in charge at Wedi Kewli) and brought millions to the Tigrean front.
This was the time of the cold war, the time of the Contras. The US administration had even set up its own Ethiopian Contra group–the EPDA–which, as expected seeing the inept personnel picked by the CIA, failed to take off. Already existing Western NGOs flocked to the Sudan, to Khartoum, Gedaref, Kassala, etc. New NGOs were also set up in haste (Sudan Aid and Grassroots International-come to mind) and a centre was set up in the Sudan to coordinate and channel all donations/aid to the Tigrean front. Norwegian Council of Churches, Swedish and German agencies played a critical role in this. Oxfam UK, Care, World Vision, Save the Children, IRC and some others started to knowingly channel the aid given by the USA, Britain, other western governments and the EU. The Tigrean front received hundreds of Scania, Volvo, Mercedes and Isuzu trucks and Toyota and other Japanese four wheel drives as well as cash. Thousands of tons of sugar that it received were sold as received in the Sudan itself. The same with grain (called Reagan’s wheat at the time). What was going was not secret. Most of the cash thus obtained was deposited in British banks, in the Saudi American bank in Jeddah and other banks in the USA (found in New York and Washington mostly). Again, this was not a secret to the CIA or to British intelligence, to the Sudan or to Ethiopians living in the Sudan at the time. The persistent call made NOT to give the aid directly to the Tigrean front or to the Mengistu regime as both would not distribute it to the famine victims was ignored. Ethiopians told the Geldofs and the BBC too “we know our crooked politicians and they will starve us to death” but cold war politics was played on the life of the Ethiopians and many perished as a result.
Sir Bob can justifiably ask the BBC why the revelation comes at this time, so many years later. But the fact remains that the Tigrean front diverted at least US$ 100 million and used most of the money to buy arms from China and others places using end user certificates signed by the Sudan and Somalia. It is not true that the Tigrean front had enough weapons at the time–everyone knows that had not the famine and money came it was on the verge of collapse. The Tigrean front gained military and economic muscle by diverting food and financial aid sent to the famine victims. Band Aid was one of those duped and robbed as was Christian Aid. Such is the fact that no insult and denial from Bob Geldof and others who abetted in the operation can cover up. This the fact that has been revealed now by former top leaders of the Tigrean front though Meles and others in league with him expectedly deny. Where did the money come to establish the various economic firms and corporations that, when the front took over power in 1991, turned into a conglomeration under EFFORT to dominate the Ethiopian economy? Saint Geldof’s furious denial also sounds hollow as almost anyone with some information knows that aid money has been, was and will be diverted as is happening right now in Somalia and also in Ethiopia (where unless you are a member of the ruling Tigrean front no food aid would be given to you). Geldof should cool down, muster up a mea culpa and learn from his mistake rather than hurling insults at those who, better late than ever, have exposed the truth.
I must confess to a strong aversion for those Westerners who appoint themselves our saviours, who become our spokesmen without our permission and who still hobnob with our tormentors only to call them cleaver, intelligent and democratic minded. Meles Zenawi is a scoundrel who sat and still sits on an ethnic mafia outfit. He was and still is a ruthless and cunning thief. I pity Bob Geldof as I fear he would never have the courage to admit he has been had by a street smart con man whom he considered to be a wise political leader. As the Scots (and Indian Tamils) like to say: confession of a fault is half amends. Unless British Knights never admit their mistakes.
