CUD

I don’t even take time to sort out their differences, they are even not a government yet, they are not even a solid and strong party yet, what are these disputes about?
What is going to happen if they become government? I guess you know what I am talking about. It seems to me that these trend will lead me somehow to lose my appetites for Ethiopian politics!
Well said professor United we stand, divided we fall!

The military
Strictly speaking, the Ethiopian armed forces are Tigrean no less than the TPLF is Tigrean. The following list makes this argument abundantly clear.
Ministry of Defense
* Commander of Ethiopian armed forces - Melles Zenawi (Tigrean)
* Defense Minister is a non-Tigrean, but this position is constitutionally manned by a civilian, not a military person
* Chief of Staff - Samora (Mohamed) Yunis (Tigrean)
* Department of Training - Major General Taddese Wored- (Tigrean)
* Department of Logistics and Administration - Major General Gezahi Abera - (Tigrean)
* Department of Operations - Brigadier General Gebrzgiabher Mebrhatu (Tigrean)
* Department of Military Intelligence- Brigadier General Yohannes (John) Gebre Meskel - (Tigrean) …. Recently appointed as Deputy Commander of Central Command. This Department will also be commanded by head of operations Brigadier General Gebrezgiabher Mebrhatu (Tigrean).
* Commander of the Air Force - Brigadier Molla H. Mariam (Tigirean)
Under the Ministry of Defense there are 5 Ethiopian Army Commanders.
* Northern Command (HQ Mekele) - Major General Seare Mekonnen (Tigrean)
* North Western Command (HQ Baher Dar) - Brigadier General Abraham Gebre Mariam (Tigrean)
* Special Army Command (HQ Dessie-Bure Front) - Birgadier General Teklai Ashebir (Tigrean)
* South Eastern Army Command (HQ Harar) - Brigadier General Seyum Hagos (Tigrean)
* Central Army Command (HQ Shire Indasilassie) - Major General Taddese Wored (Tigirean - Agaw). Recently, Brigadier General Yohannes G. Meskel also Tigrean.
The Ministry of Defense has 28 Division Commanders.
* All but one are Tigreans
Division Commands have 106 Regiments.
* 98% of the Regiment Commanders are Tigireans
It can be safely argued therefore, that there is no Ethiopian national army but Tigrean.

Read more
http://www.ethiopianreview.com/articles/977

Eritreans risk death in the Sahara

Every day, in the barren lands along the Sudanese border, young Eritreans risk their lives to flee from their country.
It is rugged terrain, tightly patrolled by Eritrean armed forces who have orders to shoot anyone trying to slip over to Sudan.
According to opposition sources, between 400 and 600 Eritreans a month make this dangerous journey.
Some flee poverty. Eritrea, which was already desperately poor, has poured money into weapons and its military since the war with Ethiopia that ended in 2000, but failed to resolve the border dispute between the two countries.
Others try to escape conscription - years spent in trenches facing Ethiopian forces dug-in across the border.
And many try to leave behind the routine political repression. Eritrea is a one-party state, with no free press of any kind. Amnesty International reports that anyone suspected of supporting the opposition faces indefinite detention and torture.

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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6492961.stm

What is it?
It is astounding to me, in recent times there are a lot of sophisticated Ethiopian politicians against Meles and they’ve got a lot of valid reasons for that However currently, I see more Eritreans opposing Woaynes government more than the Ethiopian oppositions. some of them they became more Ethiopian than the Ethiopian peoples, Most of the Ethiopian oppositions stand against the Ethiopian government with reason and with certain conditions, the Eritrean have no boundary to oppose Ethiopian regime, no good reason and no conditions, I just wondering what is it? Is it really enmity against Ethiopia or woaynes? Which one is it?
~
Even if Ethiopia gave Bademe, those Eritrean will never cease their blind hate toward Ethiopia. What is it? What do they really want? Are they really concerned about Ethiopian people’s freedom? About basic human rights? How about opposing Issias who is abusing their people, actually most Eritreans live literally in hell. When will those hardliner Eritrean will learn?
When will Eritreans will come together with genuine Ethiopian oppositions work against the killer woaynes. They have to be clear what they really want? What is it? Are they jealous of the woaynes and they want to exploit Ethiopia, is that what they want?
kemal

Ethiopians suffer under government corruption

By Dean Jacobs/ Letters to America
Fremont Tribune /

July 31, 2007
Our conversation stops as silent eyes glance to the knock that came from the door, a student appears to ask a question and leaves.Talking about politics is a dangerous undertaking in Ethiopia.Those who are willing to speak about such things, only do so under the agreement of remaining anonymous. Stories of people being harassed by the federal police are common. It generally starts with a warning phone call about a comment or activity that they call into question.A newspaper publisher tells me about an opinion column he runs in his business newspaper. He heard once on a BBC TV interview with the current Ethiopia Prime Minister that he doesn't plan to run again, and he shared that statement in his newspaper. He was called about it, and warned to write only about business, not politics, even though that decision would affect business. After the student leaves, my office companion, whom I will call David says: “Did you see the marks on his eyebrows, that means he comes from the Tigrai region where the ruler is from.”This communicates a potential loyalty to the current government.Elections in 2005 were marked with irregularities, according to international officials observing the process. The irregularities are thought to be changed ballots or switched ballot boxes. After the election, the word got out that the sitting government rigged the election.“It was so obvious that everyone knew,” so students began to demonstrate peacefully, David says.Another knock on the door, and our conversation once again stops. This time it is a student David wants me to meet.“She's very clever and understands what is happening,” he says.This student, whom I will call Tigist, shares some of her thoughts about the current situation.“The people are frustrated, and because it is not safe to express one's opinion, they continue to swallow those frustrations. But one day, people will not be able to swallow any more, and we will explode like a volcano,” Tigist says.When asked about the timing of that explosion, she pauses and says, “the economic situation is not good in Ethiopia. ------------------------------------

Dean Jacobs is a former Fremont Tribune photographer and a world traveler. Follow his latest journey each Monday in the Tribune.

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http://www.addisvoice.com/news/ethiopians_suffer.htm

Mediation and the mazes of a dictator
By Prof. Messay Kebede Aug 3, 2007

VARIOUS ETHIOPIAN WEBSITES exhibit articles that highly congratulate and praise the achievements of mediators in the long-drawn-out attempt to free the CUD leaders. According to these articles, thanks to the aggressive and unrelenting effort of the mediators, the dreadful outcome of life imprisonment has been reversed into a happy ending. Had such articles appeared only in websites supporting Meles and the TPLF, I would have no reason to share my perplexity, obvious as it is that Meles alone comes out victorious from the ordeal of CUD leaders. Unfortunately, the consensus among Ethiopians opposing Meles and his regime considers the release as a laudable achievement of Ethiopian negotiators.
Let me begin by expelling a misunderstanding: in a previous article, I stated that the desire to humiliate is behind the liberation of the CUD leaders. Several readers reacted to my interpretation with the suggestion that I do not seem to welcome the liberation. Some such reading of my article is anything but accurate, all the more so as I was convinced for quite some time that their continuous imprisonment had lost any meaning. Outside the exposure of their determination not to recognize the kangaroo court, the prisoners were not achieving anything. As dignified as the refusal to recognize was, I had constantly wondered whether the gain was worth the sacrifice.
The continuous imprisonment of CUD leaders would have had a positive outcome if it had led to a deterioration of Meles’s relation with Western governments of the kind entailing the complete cessation of financial aids and diplomatic support to his government. Nothing of the kind happened: after an initial verbal condemnation, the whole drama of the election did not upset for long the business-as-usual approach of Western governments. I don’t know what is required for Ethiopians to understand, once and for all, that national interests, and not what is right, essentially drive nation-states. Haile Selassie made this same mistake when he believed that democratic states will not tolerate the fascist invasion of Ethiopia.
In my previous article, I also indicated that the intent to humiliate reflected the deep and harrowing embarrassment of Meles and his associates following their unexpected defeat in the election. Meles was humiliated in front of the world, he who thought that the Ethiopian masses had nurtured an eternal gratitude to the TPLF for being liberated from the Derg, not to mention the exacting effort he made to appear as a new African leader to Western governments. Alas, now the whole world knows that he is only another dictator in the long list of buffoons parading as heads of state in Africa’s sickening post colonial history.
The sharp depreciation of Meles’s supersized but bleeding ego in his own eyes and that of the world needed some appeasement, which could come only through the attempt to humiliate those who humiliated him. Neither mere imprisonment nor court procedures would give him the much-needed remedy, since in both cases the prisoners would continue to claim their innocence.
What else could wipe out Meles’s deep humiliation but a confession of guilt and a plea for forgiveness? Herein lies the major role of the mediators. For Meles had to make sure at the same time that whatever confession is obtained from the prisoners, it must not seem to be extracted by means of force. Confession obtained by force has no soothing effect on him if only because constraint is devoid of vindicating virtue. By contrast, consent can be inferred both from the process of mediation and the involvement of independent and respected people. Since nobody is openly forcing anybody, the outcome can be construed as the product of free admission. Without free consent, the admission of guilt is not usable for the purpose of rehabilitation.
What this means is clear enough: since only Meles comes out as winner, the mediation was nothing but a scheme used by him to obtain confession of guilt. The involvement of independent and respected people put heavy pressure on the prisoners through the argument that the common good, the prospect of reconciliation alone motivates their effort. How could prisoners who fought for peace and democracy refuse for long the appeal for reconciliation? They would agree to anything rather than reject a goal coinciding with their political agenda of peace and democracy.
What other term than soft coercion can characterize a mediation with such a one-sided result? I have read many comments concerning the release, but I have yet to see what concessions Meles made. Yet, mediation is a two-way street; it results in mutual concessions done for the purpose of achieving a higher common goal.
It could be argued that the mediation saved the prisoners from life imprisonment. This argument has no substance given that the prisoners could have obtained the same result without the mediators, if they had admitted guilt. European or American envoys could have easily broken a similar deal even a year ago.
Shrewdly, Meles encouraged mediation because it is all to his advantage. The direct intervention of Western governments would have further exasperated his humiliation by showing that his government is run, to use his own words, “like a banana republic from Capitol Hill.” His oversensitized ego, quite reminiscent of Mengistu Haile Mariam, would further suffer if the prisoners and the Ethiopian people they represent believed that they owe their liberation to Western pressure. No, if he is to pardon the prisoners, it must not be because of Western governments, but because he yielded to the exhortation of his subordinates. In this way, he recovers his original condescending grandeur while appearing concerned with reconciliation.
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http://www.blogger.com/read%20more

Meles’s styles “Wag more less bark”
If you know the history of Meles Naziwaye, he was one of those kind of politicians who used to love barking on people who didn’t accept his tribal and despotic regime, even he barked like a rabid dog on the Ethiopian people when he entered Addis Ababa, he cursed in front of our face,our own flag. He is one spiteful and arrogant man who used to spill out crap out of his mouth, but these days his behavior changed, now he is wagging his tail so much around the western countries like a dog who is dying to get his master's attention. What a loser he is, it is a clear fact that he cannot win the Ethiopian people's heart and mind, the only way he can stay on power by force, Ethiopian rejected him on his face. But now he is incapable of cheating the Ethiopian people so what he is doing right now, cheating the western folks.. But his time will soon end...Meles Spent the poor peoples of Ethiopian wealth for lobbying, his goal just to stop the Ethiopian peoples democratic movement, the question is, Can he stop our democratic movement? maybe he can stop HR 2003 for a few month but can he stop the struggle? Hell NO! bark doggie bark, bark.... "The reason a dog has so many friends is that he wags his tail instead of his tongue." --Anonymous A good lesson for Meles

Ethiopia - Open letter to Professor Ephrem Isaac

First of all, I would like to express my heartfelt appreciation for the mediation efforts that you and other fellow Ethiopians have been undertaking in Ethiopia.


Professor Ephrem Issac (Photo SEED)
The release of some of Meles Zenawi’s political hostages, despite the ransom paid to the tyrant in the form of transfer of his guilt unto his victims under duress, is one little step in the right direction to resolve the huge political challenges facing Ethiopia.It is with a great deal of interest that I followed your interviews with ETV and Addis Dimits Radio. Unfortunately, the ETV show was done to brainwash the nation how merciful the tyrant is for releasing the most “dangerous criminals” in the country who were just condemned by the Kangaroo court to spend the rest of their lives in jails. I felt unease when I watched such eminent Ethiopians like you to have been used willfully as propaganda tool.
It was quite troubling to watch you on national TV heaping accolade on tyrant Meles Zenawi. According to your eminence, Meles Zenawi is a wise, visionary and magnanimous leader and his decision to release the popular leaders makes him a holy man. I have no problem with your assertions provided you can support your claims with hard facts. I am sure there is no single document or fact in any library in the world that can corroborate your unjustified and misplaced accolade.
As an eminent historian, you are fully aware of the fact that, even Col. Mengistu Hailemariam, as is always the case with other despots, became a bold dictator after his followers and admirers started calling him the infallible great leader whose crimes against humanity were the right measures to exterminate reactionaries and agents of imperialism. Be it for the purpose of diplomacy or for its own sake, praising destructive tyrants can only backfire with the undesired outcome of emboldening them to get more committed to unleashing even greater atrocities and terrorist acts.
Your interview with Addis Dimts was as good as it could have been. When you were asked what your views were on HR2003, you said that you had not read the bill. Well! That should not have raised any concern, had you not avoided direct questions whether you have been making any efforts to help the tyrannical regime to kill the bill. Though you spoke at great length expressing your patriotic thinking, you said that you would oppose the bill if it is a scheme to “enslave” Ethiopia. As you are aware, Meles Zenawi, the man who has actually enslaves the whole nation, succeeded in frustrating HR5680 using highly paid agents and lobbyists including DLA Piper which is paid over $50,000 a month to do such a dirty job. Professor Al Mariam was honest enough to tell you that he found it hard to believe you did not have a chance to scan through the ten-page document. In case you honestly did not have time to have a look at HR2003, which is not significantly different from HR5680, before you allegedly went to the US Congress accompanied by Congressman Gary Ackerman of New York to discuss issues related to the bill, here are some of the most eye-catching phrases:
Ethiopia Democracy and Accountability Act of 2007 - States that it is U.S. policy to: (1) support human rights, democracy, independence of the judiciary, freedom of the press, peacekeeping capacity building, and economic development in the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia; (2) collaborate with Ethiopia in the Global War on Terror; (3) seek the release of all political prisoners and prisoners of conscience in Ethiopia; (4) foster stability, democracy, and economic development in the region; and (5) strengthen U.S.-Ethiopian relations.


Dear Professor,
After your visits to the US Congress, it has been reported by credible sources that Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Tom Lantos was directed by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Majority Leader Steny Hoyer not to mark-up H.R. 2003 on July 31, 2007.
Why does the tyrant lose sleep over the good intention of the US Congress to help promote human rights, democracy, independence of the judiciary, freedom of the press and steady economic development in Ethiopia? What has HR2003 has to do with the release of political hostages? The answer is simple. Dictators love no one but themselves. Meles Zenawi knows full well that he will never have a place in a democratic Ethiopia, where nobody will be allowed to be above the law. His victims, dead, maimed and jailed, will be vindicated if democracy prevails. This may haunt him day and night.
Nobody should rush to condemn you as a mediator with a sinister motive. However, one might be tempted to point out the glaring fact that any mediator should make utmost efforts to remain neutral. If, at any time, you try to help the tyrant to derail a bill that can greatly facilitate the attainment of democracy, respect for human rights, the rule of law and good governance, you will inevitably face the wrath of millions of Ethiopians who still respect you as an elderly Ethiopian scholar. The release of some political hostages, who should never have spent a single day in jails, cannot be exchanged for the aspiration of the whole nation to be free at last.
In your ETV interview, you also said that you would make efforts to reconcile the Meles regime with the Ethiopian Diaspora before the new millennium. Common sense has it that those of us, who have tasted the sweetness of liberty in exile, hate not the ethnic junta in power but their misdeeds and misrule. We hate their heinous crimes against humanity, injustice, corruption and their unacceptable dictatorship.
Who cares about the so-called new millennium if it doesn’t usher in a new era where every Ethiopian lives in peace and liberty governed by elected leaders? If our long and glorious history fails to make Ethiopia a country that its citizens are proud of, who cares about the millennium party that Meles Zenawi and his servants have hijacked for cheap propaganda ploy?
Dear Professor,
You should not also forget the fact Meles Zenawi should stop his futile effort to reverse the popular demand for a new Ethiopia where leaders are accountable to the people. You will also do Ethiopia a great service if you remind the tyrant to start living as a man of the new millennium rather than being a stone-age despot whose survival hinges upon the barrel of the gun. If he listens to this simple piece of suggestion and surrenders power to the elected, then we will all join you to praise him as “THE GREATEST EHIOPIAN OF THE MILLENIUM.” We will hang his pictures on top of every mountain for the whole world to appreciate and admire a great saint.
Here is what one of the greatest leaders ever born did before the festivities of the millennium. On the eve of the new millennium, December 31, 1999, Nelson Mandela returned to his prison cell in Robben Island, where he was locked up for 18 years to light a "flame for freedom".
Handing a big white candle to his successor, President Thabo Mbeki, he said: "There are good men and women around the world that will always keep that flame burning. It symbolizes that the freedom flame can never be put down by anybody."
The great man said with a great sense of humility: "In particular, let us make our country and the world a safer and more caring and respectful place.” He never said let us oppress, kill, maim and jail innocent victims. Meles Zenawi, whom some naively thought would be our Mandela, is a man who is out to turn the clock back to stone-age. He is the one who wants to put down the flames of freedom. What a visionary leader?
The new millennium can be a watershed in Ethiopian history only if every Ethiopian, regardless of their ethnic origin, social status, gender, age, educational background or political affiliation, gets equal opportunities to attain their fullest potential. The new millennium can only make sense only if Ethiopians will never be enslaved and brutalized by dictators who continuously shatter our hopes for a new era and condemn us to live under the darkness of tyranny and abject poverty. Celebrating the so-called millennium with the lords of poverty who are allergic to the dynamic changes of the 21st century is nothing but re-enacting April fool’s day in Ethiopia on September 12.
Dear Professor,
If the tyrant allows you a peace envoy to discuss what ordinary Ethiopians wish to have for the new millennium, please tell him to- free all political hostages without any preconditions and ransom- respect the sanctity of life and human rights- respect the rule of law and independence of the judiciary- respect the constitution and allow citizens to elect their leaders- allow citizens to stage peaceful protests or go on strike without any fear- give equal access to public funded media to all citizens- ensure freedom of the press and stop censoring the internet- close down illegal party run businesses that undermine free market economy- create an enabling environment to defeat abject poverty- start a comprehensive national reconciliation- and most importantly hand over power to those who have clear mandates to rule.
As a historian, you should also remind Meles Zenawi, who does not seem to be interested in learning from the past, the simple truth that “Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it,” as George Santayana said.
An enlightened nation can no longer live under the darkness of tyranny. No leader can rule Ethiopia with arrogance and force but with humility and meekness. If Meles Zenawi refuses to learn from history, I suggest that he should invite Col. Mengistu Hailumariam as a guest of honour to his millennium party. After all, they are two sides of the same coin that have turned poor Ethiopia up side down! Nobody with a conscience wants to rave, dance, wine and dine with bloody tyrants.Dear Professor
Finally, I would like to beg for your forgiveness for being too bold to say my mind, but have no intention of diminishing your great patriotic efforts and accomplishments. My intention is to make a small point so that your good deeds remain untainted with doubt. I look forward to hearing from you soon.

God bless Ethiopia.

Bipartisan Duo of Ex-Congressional Heavyweights Blocking Action Against Ethiopia

DEPARTMENT Washington Babylon
BY Ken Silverstein
PUBLISHED July 25, 2007

There have been a series of accounts out of Ethiopia recently that describe a nasty situation there, including a Human Rights Watch report earlier this month that said the Ethiopian military had “forcibly displaced thousands of civilians in the country’s eastern Somali . . . while escalating its campaign against a separatist insurgency movement.” Government troops were “destroying villages and property, confiscating livestock, and forcing civilians to relocate,” according to Peter Takirambudde, Africa director of Human Rights Watch. “Whatever the military strategy behind them, these abuses violate the laws of war.” Eyewitness accounts offered to Human Rights Watch said Ethiopian troops had been “burning homes and property, including the recent harvest and other food stocks intended for the civilian population, confiscating livestock and, in a few cases, firing upon and killing fleeing civilians.”

Despite that record, the Bush Administration views Ethiopia as an important counterterrorism ally, especially given Ethiopia’s recent involvement in Somalia, and annually provides the regime of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi with hundreds of millions of dollars in aid. But some in Congress have grown weary of abuses committed by Zenawi’s government. Earlier this month a House subcommittee passed a bill that would limit American aid to Ethiopia and ban government officials linked to human rights abuses from coming to the United States. In the Senate, Patrick Leahy of Vermont is seeking passage of a measure that would review some of the military assistance that is being provided.

But two congressmen-turned-lobbyists–former House Majority Leaders Richard Armey, the Republican from Texas, and Missouri Democrat Richard Gephardt–are working hard to block full congressional action against the Zenawi regime. The duo work with the firm of DLA Piper, which federal disclosure records show is being paid at least $50,000 per month by the Ethiopian government for “strategic advice and counsel.”

In 2006, the House International Relations Committee approved the Ethiopia Freedom, Democracy, and Human Rights Advancement Act, which criticized the government for its human rights record, called for it to free jailed opposition leaders and restricted security assistance. But the full House never voted on the bill. Two sources that follow the issue–one a former Hill staffer and the other a lobbyist on African affairs–tell me that Armey twisted the arm of then-House Speaker Denny Hastert to ensure that it didn’t come up for a vote. “Armey has a lot of influence over there,” the former Hill staffer said. “A lot of people in the GOP leadership owe their positions to him.”

Armey has no pull with the new Democratic leadership so now Gephardt has apparently been called on to block full passage of this year’s version of the bill. Gephardt, incidentally, also lobbies for the government of Turkey (another Piper client to the tune of $100,000 per month), as was recently detailed in a terrific New Republic piece in which author Michael Crowley wrote about Gephardt’s efforts to stop Congress from declaring as genocide the Turkish massacre of Armenians during the early twentieth century:

A few years ago, [Gephardt] was a working-class populist who cast himself as a tribune of the underdog–including the Armenians. Back in 1998, Gephardt attended a memorial event hosted by the Armenian National Committee of America at which, according to a spokeswoman for the group, “he spoke about the importance of recognizing the genocide.” Two years later, Gephardt was one of three House Democrats who co-signed a letter to then House Speaker Dennis Hastert urging Hastert to schedule an immediate vote on a genocide resolution. “We implore you,” the letter read, arguing that Armenian-Americans “have waited long enough for Congress to recognize the horrible genocide.” Today, few people are doing more than Gephardt to ensure that the genocide bill goes nowhere. It’s one thing to flip-flop on, say, tax cuts or asbestos reform. But, when it comes to genocide, you would hope for high principle to carry the day.

Piper’s lobbyists have been working the “war on terrorism” angle hard, arguing that even a hand-slap of Ethiopia for human rights abuses will jeopardize its support in Somalia and the Horn of Africa. (And we all know what a smashingly successful collaboration that’s been.)

I called Armey and Gephardt but never heard back from them. Piper did, however, send me a statement which said:

The U.S. first established diplomatic relations with Ethiopia more than a century ago and Ethiopia remains a close ally today, particularly in the global war against terrorism. It is crucial for the United States to have friends and allies in the strategically important Horn of Africa region who are committed to democracy, stability and moderation. The firm is assisting Ethiopia in strengthening bilateral relations with the U.S., including increasing humanitarian, economic and development assistance, expanding trade and investment opportunities, and enhancing relationships with financial, academic and public policy institutions.

read more..

http://harpers.org/archive/2007/07/hbc-90000631

Viewpoint
Political mugging and justice in Ethiopia
By Fekade Shewakena
July 24, 2007

Ethiopia has become a country of perplexing paradox and Meles Zenawi is exasperating it. We are poor in the middle of plenty, full of rain and rivers but desert dry, the growth statistics and the number of the unemployed and hungry shooting up concurrently, blessed with the beauty of ethnic and cultural diversity but sick of people who try to make it ugly and now, a land where criminals sit as judges and killers pardon the innocent. It is breathtaking.
Leaving the so called pardon shenanigans aside, the release of the CUD leaders is huge relief for all who love democracy and justice and particularly for all Ethiopians who have been watching their country go completely off track and into the abyss. We know there are many people whose pictures we have not seen and names we don’t know, that are still suffering in prisons in many parts of the country for the only crime of supporting the CUD. According to reports we hear they are in the thousands. Whether Mr. Meles Zenawi acts to expeditiously release them would show that he is convinced that the current track he is on is not sustainable. His actions and the way he tries to spin everything in his favor trying to look like good, including the so called pardon request by the prisoners, do not point to neither his sincerity nor his grasp of reality. Meles seems to be living in a bubble created by his delusions.


What he tries to do now to the leaders of CUD is what my American friends call mugging - an aggravated assault employed by dark alley robbers. His attempt to parade the so called pardon letter to the public as a way to cover his crimes is totally counter productive and will only add to his long lost credibility. Meles now has another good opportunity that a rarely generous history keeps providing him from time to time. Whether we are embarking on a hopeful future depends to a large extent on his decisions. Except people with delusions, all of us, including the Kolo vendor kids on the streets of Addis Ababa know who shed the blood of hundreds and hundreds of innocent people.

As the Washington Post editorial of last Saturday put it, the release of the prisoners “is good news but they never should have been there in the first place." They have done nothing other than using their rights within the constitution to protest an election widely reported by observers as fraudulent and day light robbery. We have seen the charges crumble in court even without the defense of the accused. The open truth that everybody saw is that Meles has committed massacre as testified by the Inquiry Commission that he himself, not the CUD, had set up. Mr. Prime Minister has blood on his hands and to point his blood-stained finger at others with the intent that it can cover his crimes is sheer foolish, unproductive and does not help move the country forward. Admitting his mistakes and trying to redress the suffering of people who lost loved ones when he ordered the killing of protesters and raiding of homes of innocent people would go a long way to saw the seeds of sanity and conflict resolution in Ethiopia. If Meles works towards redressing these crimes against our people he will have the support of all of us. If he keeps trying to tell us to blame the CUD for his own crimes, he is simply spitting in our face. No self-respecting people would accept this level of dehumanization for long. Meles and his supporters should be bothered by this insane direction and should understand their blind support cannot help anybody’s cause, including theirs.


No Rule of Law
The fact of the matter is that there is no rule of law in Ethiopia. There is virtually no sensible Ethiopian that sincerely believes that the death penalty and the life imprisonment decisions of the dolls sitting in that court were made by judges. Many, in fact, see it as Meles’s Freudian slip. Deep in what psychologists call the super-ego, where the subconscious part of our thinking resides, he wants to kill them. But then again he also thought of even more sadistic way of killing them and changed the sentence to life in prison so that they will die a long tortuous death. This should have been laughable if we were not talking about human lives. Meles my have found some self gratification by entertaining these sadisms and attempting to humiliate the prisoners in much the same way like street-side bullies do. If he thinks this decreases an iota from the respect we have for the leaders of CUD, he is wrong. On the contrary, this is a clear exhibition of the smallness syndrome that Meles Zenawi cannot get rid of for many years now. It is something that made him unable to transform himself from a guerrilla leader into a statesman.

Psychologists tell us that such individuals who try to humiliate and attack their captives are those who are not sure of themselves and think of their relative size (not necessarily physical) against their adversaries as very small. It is the characteristics of individuals who live in constant fear of others and a chewing inferiority complex. No normal human being tries to bully people under their captivity. If a mugger asks you to choose between your wallet and your life after having trained his knife on your neck, the choice to make is clear and natural. For the opposition it is clear. Meles can take the wallet. But like all muggers he should at least stop to sell his exploits in an open market as he is trying to do now. It is cowardly and will not take anything from the dignity of the CUD leaders. A few Ethiopians that I was able to talk to back home unanimously told me the same thing over and over about the so called pardon letter the prisoners are alleged to have signed. They all said, for all they care Meles can make them sign statements declaring that they were throwing bombs and were driving tanks and shooting mortars on the palace. The problem he doesn’t seem to understand is finding a single human being who would believe him.

Neither are Mr. Meles Zenawi’s temper tantrums and calling the representatives of donor counties “shameful” any helpful. The donors have been between a rock and a hard place over the issue of the political prisoners. The Ethiopian people do not believe they have done enough to bring sanity and in fact stood accomplices to Meles for a long time now. I don’t think their small attempts to bring sanity should elicit such a harsh label from Meles. This is having the meaning of shamefulness upside down. Accusing US congressmen of trying to run his government like a banana republic from Capitol Hill is also rude and crude polemics as well as embarrassing and pretentious. This is not what the good congressmen were trying to do. Many of them want to help Ethiopia and many among them like Congressman Donald Payne were for some time eluded into thinking that the Prime Minister was one best hope for Africa. They discovered how wrong they were after many years. But this should even be more shameful and embarrassing for Meles himself who has hired lobbyists that roam the halls of congress soliciting congressional support for him against his political adversaries. Many of us here in the US have witnessed last month where discussion on an Ethiopian human rights bill was delayed because the lobbyists were hard at work and threatened that the Prime Minister would take the prisoners hostage if the bill showed up for mark-up. These are the kind of things where the word “shameful” should appropriately be used.

Many of us, Ethiopians both in Diaspora and in Ethiopia want to help build a better country. We understand we cannot make it a paradise overnight. But we want to make sure we are on the right track. Our country is in deep and deepening trouble. Our problems cannot be solved by doing drips and drabs here and there. Meles Zenawi has created a system that is rotting to the core. He wants us to focus on the transient glitters of aid-induced infrastructural development and economic performance ignoring the problems of governance, and the rule of law. There is a proliferation of ethnic and political conflicts in our midst. Some of these problems can threaten our survival as a unified nation. Ignoring to work on solving these problems now is simply waiting for the bubble to explode in our face. What is being reported in the Ogaden, starving a whole population and rampaging through villages in a collective punishment is not the kind of country we should be. The ONLF are where the TPLF has once been. It is a twist of irony that Mr. Meles Zenawi accuses them of what the Derg was accusing him of. They should be presented with a political resolution of the grievances they have. The Oromos who suffer because of their association with the OLF is disquieting, to say the least. The OLF can play a very critical centralizing role in both Ethiopia and the region if we find a negotiated resolution of the problem. There is no sustainable peace in Ethiopia if we keep marginalizing these dissident organizations and by labeling them terrorists.

The involvement in Somalia is insanity. We now have a Baghdad in our hands. It is obvious Meles went into this mess to tap into the anti-terrorism industry and milk the West for political and military and other aid. Meles is trying to do this by artificially manufacturing terrorists. The poorest country on the planet cannot afford to do that which is difficult for the richest. Every one of the Ethiopian soldiers has to get out of Somalia tonight. It is sad that this is being done in Ethiopia’s name. Ethiopia has no business in propping up ethnic warlords whose people despise like the trash.

The leaders of Kinijit have once more demonstrated that they are far sighted and stood to their promises. Peaceful citizens who want to struggle peacefully to change the country for the better. Whatever suffering and humiliation they received, we believe they received on behalf of millions of their supporters. They should be proud of that. Meles should start match them, beginning by stopping being a street side bully. No one will take away their heroic resistance to make sense in a country swarmed by senseless brutality and cruelty.

The only way forward is to come up with a plan where everybody wins.

--------
The writer, Fekade Shewakena, can be reached at fekadeshewakena@yahoo.com

Problematic Ally

Saturday, July 21, 2007; Page A12


MORE THAN once during the Cold War, the United States aligned itself with dictatorial or corrupt, but anticommunist, foreign governments, compromising democratic principles for perceived advantage against the Soviet Union. These choices were not necessarily wrong, but each one put the U.S. on a slippery slope, at the bottom of which lay a completely amoral foreign policy.

The Bush administration's global war on terrorism faces similar moral hazards. Even as President Bush correctly declares that ultimate victory against al-Qaeda hinges on the spread of freedom, he sometimes makes common cause with authoritarian regimes that promise to help eliminate terrorists in the here and now. Examples: Egypt, Pakistan and, more recently, Ethiopia, whose authoritarian prime minister, Meles Zenawi, was once a darling of the Clinton administration and has also forged close ties to the Bush administration. With Washington's blessing, Mr. Meles sent troops to Somalia in December to expel the radical Islamic Courts movement linked to al-Qaeda.



Yesterday 38 opposition politicians and activists walked out of jail in Addis Ababa, where they had been held for almost two years. That is good news, but they never should have been there in the first place. After Mr. Meles's party tried to deny its opponents the share of Parliament they won in an election in May 2005, protests erupted across the country, only to be crushed by Mr. Meles's security forces at a cost of 193 civilian lives. (Six police officers also died.) Thousands of people were detained, including the opposition leaders -- 35 of whom were sentenced to life in prison on preposterous charges of treason and inciting violence. Their release came after they signed a letter taking "full responsibility for the mistakes committed both individually and collectively" and begging for a pardon, which a regime-controlled board granted. Immediately after his release, opposition leader Hailu Shawel said he had signed the Orwellian statement under duress. But the fact that he and other leaders of civil society were released without restrictions on their political activity is a hopeful sign.

More political prisoners remain. Mr. Meles's troops also stand accused of human rights abuses in Somalia and in the country's internal war against rebels in the Ogaden region. The Bush administration has remained mostly quiet about all of this, though the State Department played a back-channel role helping to arrange the prisoners' release. The most visible U.S. pressure came in the form of a bill, sponsored by Rep. Donald M. Payne (D-N.J.), which would link U.S. aid to Ethiopia's performance on human rights. It passed the House's Africa subcommittee, chaired by Mr. Payne, this week. Ethiopia is a strategic ally. But it will probably take more work by its hard-pressed civil society, and more pressure from the United States, before it can be called a democratic one


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/20/AR2007072001945.html

THANK GOD THEY ARE FINALLY FREE!

Now is the time to make real the promise of Democracy.
Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation (in ethiopian case tribalism) to the sunlit path of racial justice.
Now is the time to open the doors of opportunity to all of God's children.
Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood.

Martin Luther king

Economist- Off with their heads, maybe

EARLIER this year, Ethiopian courts released many of the country's most important political dissidents from the grim Kaliti jail on the outskirts of Addis Ababa. They had been there since they were rounded up by police following opposition protests (in which 193 people were killed) against flawed presidential elections in 2005. In another promising sign of reconciliation, charges against the 38 remaining defendants were reduced from treason and genocide to “outrage against the constitution” and “incitement to armed rebellion”.

So it was a real shock this week when the state prosecutor called for all 38 to be put to death. Those facing the firing squad include Hailu Shawel, the elderly head of the Coalition for Unity and Democracy (CUD), the main opposition party, and Berhanu Nega, the elected mayor of the capital, Addis Ababa.

Surely not, say queasy diplomats, aid types and even many in the Ethiopian government. The prime minister, Meles Zenawi, has made some progress in building infrastructure, tackling poverty and attracting foreign investment. He has even managed to turn himself into a close ally of America by invading Somalia last December to vanquish the Islamist regime in Mogadishu, suspected of harbouring al-Qaeda people. The last thing Mr Zenawi needs now is the terrible publicity, especially in America, that such executions would bring.
The judge adjourned sentencing until later this month. Even if a death sentence is handed down, a carefully worded apology by the dissidents could let them walk free. Mr Zenawi would probably go along with that. There is now almost as much that unites the government and the opposition as divides them. Some back his invasion of Somalia; many others agree on the threats posed by Eritrea, Islamist terrorism and separatist groups within Ethiopia.

But Ethiopians are stubborn. Most of the 38 dissidents have refused even to recognise the court's legitimacy or to offer a defence. They may be unwilling to sign an apology. Then there is the government's instinct for brutality. In spasms, it has muzzled, beaten and jailed the opposition since the elections of 2005. Thousands of young Ethiopians were sent to prison camps. The press has been stamped on.
All of this puts the United States in a quandary. Ethiopia, despite its human-rights record, is a key ally against terrorism. America backed Ethiopia's invasion of Somalia. Now it is pressing Mr Zenawi urgently to let the dissidents go free.

http://www.economist.com/world/africa/displaystory.cfm?story_id=9475952

Ethiopia - Threatened Execution of Ethiopian Opposition Should be Opposed

Washington, D.C.July 11, 2007
Efforts by the Ethiopian government to sentence 38 Ethiopian opposition activists to death are anathema to democracy and should be opposed by the United States and other democracies in the African Union and around the world, Freedom House said today.
The 38 politicians and activists were convicted last month of “breaching the constitution” during a period of unrest following disputed elections in 2005. They will be formally sentenced next week, and the prosecutor of the case has now called for their execution. Included among the 38 are leaders of the main opposition party, the Coalition for Unity and Democracy, as well as several members of parliament and the mayor of Addis Ababa, Mr. Berhanu Negga.
“Any government that suggests sentencing its opposition leaders to death in response to legitimate demonstrations of dissent cannot, by any stretch of the imagination, call itself a democracy,” said Paula Schriefer, director of advocacy of Freedom House. “Ethiopia, the seat of the African Union, must demonstrate respect for the rule of law by allowing full freedom of expression and association for members of the political opposition, as well as other citizens.”

While Ethiopian leaders have presented the country as an emerging democracy in an otherwise tumultuous region, the government has been sharply criticized for its response to the protests following the 2005 elections. Scores of civilians aligned with the opposition were killed and thousands more were arrested. The U.S. government has been muted in its criticism of Ethiopia, however, and considers the country an ally in the war on terror.
“The U.S. government clearly needs allies Horn of Africa, but as with all alliances, there is room for criticism,” said Jennifer Windsor, executive director of Freedom House. “The Bush administration’s engagement with Ethiopia should enable it to persuade the Meles government to refrain from such a heinous act of retribution.”
In the 2007 version of Freedom in the World, Freedom House’s annual survey of political rights and civil liberties, Ethiopia was ranked Partly Free. The country received a rating of 5 (on a scale of 1 to 7, with 7 as the lowest) for political rights and a 5 for civil liberties, and was given a downward trend arrow for the government’s repression of opposition protests.
The report also notes that freedom of association in Ethiopia is very limited, and most of the country’s NGOs are reluctant to advocate for policies that may bring them into conflict with the government. Similarly, the press environment is extremely restricted. Freedom House’s Freedom of the Press 2007 survey notes that “the broader political crackdown which began in November 2005 continued to have extremely negative implications for the media” in 2006.
Freedom House, an independent nongovernmental organization that supports the expression of freedom around the world, has monitored political rights and civil liberties in Ethiopia since 1972.

http://www.freedomhouse.org/template.cfm?page=22&year=2007&country=7175

Crushing Dissent in Ethiopia

11 july - On the 28th of June an international day of solidarity was held around the world to appeal for setting two Ethiopian civil society leaders free. About 40 committed civil society professionals from the likes of Amnesty International, Civicus and Sangoco and several Ethiopian organisations assembled in front of the Ethiopian embassy in Pretoria to shout, chat and scream for human rights in Ethiopia.

In 2005 over one hundred opposition members, journalists and civil society leaders were arrested by Meles’ security forces. This after these security forces, also referred to as the police, had shot dead up to 40 peaceful demonstrators who were protesting what they saw as stolen parliamentary elections. Meles’ EPRDF won nearly two thirds of the parliamentary seats. The opposition CUD came second and contested the results after serious allegations of fraud.

Ever since, spontaneous demonstrations have erupted and have just as quickly been quelled by police brutality, shootings, arrests and in some cases torture and disappearances to secret prisons, it is alleged.

Now, 38 opposition politicians have been found guilty of a plethora of indictments such as obstructing the exercise of the Constitution, or coordinating, leading and encouraging armed violence against the government, the violence the police had committed and endangering the country's defence.

On the 9th of July it was reported that the state would seek the death penalty against all those who hadn’t recognised the courts during the trial. Most defendants did not recognise the courts, specifically those of the opposition CUD. Only two defendants took the courts seriously from the onset of the trial and defended themselves.

The two defendants are called Netsanet Demissie and Daniel Bekele. They are both exemplary civil society leaders who have nothing to do with organised politics let alone opposition politics against Meles Zenawi. Due to their involvement with international NGOs and organisations they have received the necessary international solidarity and support. Hopefully this will prove sufficient to convince the Meles regime that conviction would be counterproductive for his regime.

Would it, really? As yet the international community has put some severe pressure on Meles and his cohorts to treat the detainees according to international law and give them a fair trial. But so far they have not received much proper or fair treatment. They have been denied bail for nearly two years now. They have had to sleep out in the open in the 2000m high freezing Abyssinian highland winters. They have been locked in solitary confinement for no apparent reason. Further details are not known due to the sensitivity of the case.

The repression continued and the initial 100 or so dissenters were held for nearly two years without due process. The main explanation that is given for the fact that the authoritarian regime can do as it pleases is that the international pressure on the Ethiopian authorities is lukewarm at best. The West, in particular the US, sees the Ethiopian regime as a Christian partner in a sea of “dangerous and threatening” Islam.

The Addis authorities are seen as critical partners in the “war on terror”. The Ethiopian army have most recently, as loyal lackeys of the US, invaded Somalia of course hunting the many terrorists that were plotting the downfall of the US in this country without any state or national infrastructure. The US joined in and annihilated parts of the Somali countryside, supposed terrorists included, with their massive C130 gunship Hercules.

With such important allies in the ever important war against global “terror” the pressure on the Addis regime will most likely not be as severe as to change Meles behaviour. But what is also interesting is the international community’s fixation on the two civil society leaders. Yes, for sure, they deserve all the help they are getting and more and should be set free immediately. But what of the opposition politicians and journalists? Why are they hardly getting any support if any? Why is Amnesty not lobbying for their freedom?

What is wrong with these opposition politicians in Ethiopia that they do not deserve our solidarity? What is wrong with opposing a ruling party through democratic means in that country? Why has the international community supported say the opposition in Zimbabwe? Why have they been crying foul every time the MDC are beaten or arrested? But why not pro-democracy activists in Ethiopia?

Let us just hope that justice returns to Ethiopia and that the accused will truly receive a fair trial. Surely that will see most of the accused acquitted forthwith. Time has a way of dealing harshly with despotic Ethiopian rulers.

www.civicus.orgwww.sangoco.org.za

Ethiopia yields ancestral fossils

The Lucy skeleton is one of the most famous human ancestorsResearchers have found fossil remains of early human ancestors in Ethiopia that date to a little known period in human evolution.
The cache included several complete jaws and one partial skeleton, and was unearthed at Woranso-Mille in the country's Afar desert.
The remains were recovered 30km from the site where "Lucy" - one of the most famous human ancestors - was found.
The specimens have been dated to between 3.5 and 3.8 million years ago.
The research team is led from Cleveland University in the US.
The palaeontologists have been working in northern Ethiopia's Afar region for four seasons. This year, they have broadened their search to new areas.
They have found these new areas rich in fossils including teeth and fragments of jawbones belonging to ancient, humanlike creatures - often referred to as hominids.
Dr Yohannes Haile-Selassie, one of the team's leaders, told the BBC: "One of the reasons why this discovery is really important is because it serves as a time frame that we know nothing about in the past and that's what makes it really significant."
He added: "We have a record of about six million years of early human evolution in Ethiopia, but there are also small gaps here and there and this one happens to be one of them."
The fossils come from the right time period to shed light on the relationship between the "Lucy" species, Australopithecus afarensis, and an even older species called Australopithecus anamensis.
The older species is thought to be ancestral to the "Lucy" hominids, but scientists need more fossils to say this for sure.
Dr Haile-Selassie said the new dig sites yielded the bones of many monkeys, antelopes and wild pigs, suggesting that the hominids lived in a far greener and more wooded countryside than the bare stony Afar desert region seen today.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6291254.stm

The Lucy skeleton is one of the most famous human ancestorsResearchers have found fossil remains of early human ancestors in Ethiopia that date to a little known period in human evolution.
The cache included several complete jaws and one partial skeleton, and was unearthed at Woranso-Mille in the country's Afar desert.
The remains were recovered 30km from the site where "Lucy" - one of the most famous human ancestors - was found.
The specimens have been dated to between 3.5 and 3.8 million years ago.
The research team is led from Cleveland University in the US.
The palaeontologists have been working in northern Ethiopia's Afar region for four seasons. This year, they have broadened their search to new areas.
They have found these new areas rich in fossils including teeth and fragments of jawbones belonging to ancient, humanlike creatures - often referred to as hominids.
Dr Yohannes Haile-Selassie, one of the team's leaders, told the BBC: "One of the reasons why this discovery is really important is because it serves as a time frame that we know nothing about in the past and that's what makes it really significant."
He added: "We have a record of about six million years of early human evolution in Ethiopia, but there are also small gaps here and there and this one happens to be one of them."
The fossils come from the right time period to shed light on the relationship between the "Lucy" species, Australopithecus afarensis, and an even older species called Australopithecus anamensis.
The older species is thought to be ancestral to the "Lucy" hominids, but scientists need more fossils to say this for sure.
Dr Haile-Selassie said the new dig sites yielded the bones of many monkeys, antelopes and wild pigs, suggesting that the hominids lived in a far greener and more wooded countryside than the bare stony Afar desert region seen today.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6291254.stm

Meles a dirty scum of the Earth

So now we're 17 years of hell under Meles Zenwaye and everyone from the youth to the elderly declaring him the worst leader Ethiopia ever had. If one believed in an anti-Christ, Meles would be it. If one believed in Satan, Meles would be it.

A few month back a TPLF gang asked me this questions, Is Meles worse than Mengistu? another subhuman add another questions? How come we are not see any goodness of Meles Zenwaye?

Those peoples who asked those kind of question they missed the point because the behavior and psyche of the third world dictators specially Ethiopian and African dictators are almost identical. how come they don't see when the meles regime killed Ethiopian on the broad day light, how come they donot see when meles shut all the medias, how come they don't see when meles abused the basic human right?

Most African dictators impose restriction on the rights of citizens to criticize the government, restriction on the freedom of the press, and also restriction on the rights of the oppositions parties to campaign against the government, it is forbidden for group associations or political parties opposed to the government. If you go to Ethiopia, Eritrea, Gambia.. etc you can see it clearly.

If you go to Ethiopia in particular Ethiopian’s dictators act as if he allowed oppossitions poltical parties but only for the public relations purposes, if you say anything bad about the government you will end up in prison, so for Ethiopians dictator oppsitions means opportunists, that is how the Ethiopian government defines oppositions. oppositions leaders that the government can buy and sell as they wants.

The existence of Ethiopian federal political police force plus thousands TPLF under cover polices are basically a tool for the dictator to severely punish Ethiopian peoples just for expressing their dissatisfaction of the government policies, and the Ethiopian peoples massacred on the broad day light just because they believed that the vote was stolen, the Ethiopian oppositions leaders already imprisoned, and also planned for their assassination, and they put them in prison and torturing and execution is the hallmark of Meles Zenawaye dictatorship. So for most of us we know the behivor of this goverment, we don’t surprised when they request to death penalty on those precious Ethiopian leaders because they just won the elections. That is the only crime they commits.
But as far as the brave kinjit leaders since this was government intention from the beginning, I will say they will stay in prison because they refused to accept such a blood money, the dictator get mad and bark on the western ambassadors "shame on you" but he didnot ashamed when he killed the peoples of Ethiopia on the broad day light.

And also Meles behave as if he is working for the whole Ethiopia by giving for certain tribes leadership monopoly of certain privileges, of particular regions by locating manufacturing facilities in place, like cement factories in place, can you imagine electric bus factory in Debre-markos? Frankly speaking those factories are not really belong there but where politically valuable of certain ethnic groups by giving them minimal privilege to buy their support. That is what Meles to achieve here.

The problem of Meles Zenawaye of knowing how much support he has among the general populations, as I mentioned earlier he realized that no support among the peoples, specially the most educated elite in the city despised meles, since he came from the 5% of the Ethiopian ethnic group, there is no hope for him to be democratically elected because of his ethic affiliations, by the way ethnicity did not play in Ethiopian peoples decision to elect him but the man personality and his outlook was the determine factor
Meles is the most dislike leader of course that produce fear and doubt on the part of the dictator, and at the same time the public fear the government guns and bullets and that produce silently unwillingness to obey on the part of the public and the peoples
indicate displeasure with the dictator’s policies.

the author can be contacted at

kemalyy@yahoo.com

Meles a dirty scum of the Earth

So now we're 17 years of hell under Meles Zenwaye and everyone from the youth to the elderly declaring him the worst leader Ethiopia ever had. If one believed in an anti-Christ, Meles would be it. If one believed in Satan, Meles would be it, A few month back a TPLF gang asked me this questions, Is Meles worse than Mengistu? another subhuman add another questions? How come we are not see any goodness of Meles Zenwaye?
At that time I did not have time to explain, I just ignored those idiotic subhuman so after a long taught clearly I just start to study the behavior and psyche of third world dictators specially Ethiopian and African dictators as a whole
African dictators impose restriction on the rights of citizens to criticize the government, restriction on the freedom of the press, and also restriction on the rights of the oppositions parties to campaign against the government, it is forbidden for group associations or political parties opposed to the government. If you go to Ethiopia, Eritrea, Gambia.. etc you can see it clearly what I am talking about.
If you go to Ethiopia in particular Ethiopian’s dictators act as if he allowed oppossitions poltical parties but only for the public relations purposes, if you say anything bad about the government you will end up in prison, so for Ethiopians leaders oppssitions means opportunists, that is how the Ethiopian government defines oppositions.
The existence of Ethiopian federal political police force plus thousands TPLF under cover polices are basically a tool for the dictator to severely punish Ethiopian peoples just for expressing their dissatisfaction of the government policies, and the Ethiopian peoples massacred on the broad day light just because they believed that the vote was stolen, the Ethiopian oppositions leaders already imprisoned, and also planned for their assassination, and they put them in prison and torturing and execution is the hallmark of Meles Zenawaye dictatorship. So I don’t surprised that when they request to death penalty because the oppositions won the elections. That is the only crime they commits.
But as far as the brave kinjit leaders since this was government intention from the beginning, I will say they will stay in prison because they refused to accept such a blood money, the dictator get mad and said shame on you the western ambassadors because you did not buy for me CUDP party leaders.
And also Meles behave as if he is working for the whole Ethiopia by giving for certain tribes leadership monopoly of certain privileges, of particular regions by locating manufacturing facilities in place, like cement factories in place, can you imagine electric bus factory in Debre-markos? Frankly speaking those factories are not really belong there but where politically valuable of certain ethnic groups by giving them minimal privilege to buy their support. That is what Meles to achieve here.

The problem of Meles Zenawaye of knowing how much support he has among the general populations, as I mentioned earlier he realized that no support among the peoples, specially the most educated elite in the city despised meles, since he came from the 5% of the Ethiopian ethnic make up, there is no hope for him to be democratically elected because of his ethic affiliations, by the way ethnicity did not play in Ethiopian peoples decision to elect him but the man personality and his outlook was the determine factor
Meles is the most dislike leader of course that produce fear and doubt on the part of the dictator, and at the same time the public fear the government guns and bullets and that produce silently unwillingness to obey on the part of the public and the peoples
indicate displeasure with the dictator’s policies.

Embassy staff held in Ethiopia are released
By Mike Pflanz, in Addis Ababa
Last Updated: 2:21am GMT 14/03/2007



Video: Margaret Beckett breaks the good news
Five British embassy staff who were kidnapped in a remote desert in northern Ethiopia are expected to be reunited with their families in Addis Ababa today.

The hostages, all connected with the embassy in the Ethiopian capital, were said to be in "good health" when they were freed after 13 days in captivity. They were taken to Britain's embassy in Asmara, the capital of neighbouring Eritrea, where they were fed, given fresh clothes and seen by a doctor.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/03/14/wkidnap14.xml


And also check Margaret Beckett breaks the good news

http://www.mediaplayer.telegraph.co.uk/?item=A52926D3-E94A-417A-9CCA-1264F310DF84

Ethiopian-Eritrea impass could lead to New war, UN

By Irwin Arieff

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The stalemate between Horn of Africa neighbors Ethiopia and Eritrea is a major threat to stability that could trigger renewed war in the volatile region, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said on Wednesday.

"Not only does the overall situation remain unsettled, but it has also continued to worsen over the last month," Ban said in his latest progress report to the U.N. Security Council on the long-stalled Ethiopia-Eritrea peace process.

"The potential for this situation to deteriorate further or even to lead to renewed hostilities is real, especially if it is allowed to continue indefinitely."

Ban's warning as the 15-nation Security Council heads for a vote at the end of the month on a resolution expected to cut the peacekeeping mission to 1,700 U.N. troops from 2,300.

Last May the council trimmed the peacekeeping force to 2,300 troops from 3,300.

Ban's report recommends that the council extend the mission's mandate for another six months but is silent on whether it should further reduce the number of troops. Without a council vote, the mandate would expire January 31.

U.N. troops were first sent to Ethiopia and Eritrea in 2000 to enforce a cease-fire ending a 1998-2000 border war that killed 70,000 people.

As part of the peace agreement, both countries pledged to accept a new border as set out by an international commission.

But the new border was never marked out after Ethiopia rejected part of it and Eritrea objected that Ethiopia was not being held to its word, leading to a four-year impasse.

More recently, Eritrea has piled restrictions on the U.N. force, arbitrarily arrested U.N. staff, ordered some humanitarian relief groups to leave the country, and sent armed personnel into a buffer zone set up by the United Nations between the two countries, Ban said.

"The current impasse is a serious source of instability for the two countries as well as the wider region," Ban said, pointing to the recent brief war in neighboring Somalia pitting government forces reinforced by the Ethiopian military against Islamist troops backed by Eritrea.

"The two governments need to take the political decision to put the conflict behind them, for the sake of their own people," Ban said.

Ethiopian-Eritrea impass could lead to New war, UN

By Irwin Arieff

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The stalemate between Horn of Africa neighbors Ethiopia and Eritrea is a major threat to stability that could trigger renewed war in the volatile region, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said on Wednesday.

"Not only does the overall situation remain unsettled, but it has also continued to worsen over the last month," Ban said in his latest progress report to the U.N. Security Council on the long-stalled Ethiopia-Eritrea peace process.

"The potential for this situation to deteriorate further or even to lead to renewed hostilities is real, especially if it is allowed to continue indefinitely."

Ban's warning as the 15-nation Security Council heads for a vote at the end of the month on a resolution expected to cut the peacekeeping mission to 1,700 U.N. troops from 2,300.

Last May the council trimmed the peacekeeping force to 2,300 troops from 3,300.

Ban's report recommends that the council extend the mission's mandate for another six months but is silent on whether it should further reduce the number of troops. Without a council vote, the mandate would expire January 31.

U.N. troops were first sent to Ethiopia and Eritrea in 2000 to enforce a cease-fire ending a 1998-2000 border war that killed 70,000 people.

As part of the peace agreement, both countries pledged to accept a new border as set out by an international commission.

But the new border was never marked out after Ethiopia rejected part of it and Eritrea objected that Ethiopia was not being held to its word, leading to a four-year impasse.

More recently, Eritrea has piled restrictions on the U.N. force, arbitrarily arrested U.N. staff, ordered some humanitarian relief groups to leave the country, and sent armed personnel into a buffer zone set up by the United Nations between the two countries, Ban said.

"The current impasse is a serious source of instability for the two countries as well as the wider region," Ban said, pointing to the recent brief war in neighboring Somalia pitting government forces reinforced by the Ethiopian military against Islamist troops backed by Eritrea.

"The two governments need to take the political decision to put the conflict behind them, for the sake of their own people," Ban said.

Ethiopian-Eritrea impass could lead to New war, UN

By Irwin Arieff

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The stalemate between Horn of Africa neighbors Ethiopia and Eritrea is a major threat to stability that could trigger renewed war in the volatile region, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said on Wednesday.

"Not only does the overall situation remain unsettled, but it has also continued to worsen over the last month," Ban said in his latest progress report to the U.N. Security Council on the long-stalled Ethiopia-Eritrea peace process.

"The potential for this situation to deteriorate further or even to lead to renewed hostilities is real, especially if it is allowed to continue indefinitely."

Ban's warning as the 15-nation Security Council heads for a vote at the end of the month on a resolution expected to cut the peacekeeping mission to 1,700 U.N. troops from 2,300.

Last May the council trimmed the peacekeeping force to 2,300 troops from 3,300.

Ban's report recommends that the council extend the mission's mandate for another six months but is silent on whether it should further reduce the number of troops. Without a council vote, the mandate would expire January 31.

U.N. troops were first sent to Ethiopia and Eritrea in 2000 to enforce a cease-fire ending a 1998-2000 border war that killed 70,000 people.

As part of the peace agreement, both countries pledged to accept a new border as set out by an international commission.

But the new border was never marked out after Ethiopia rejected part of it and Eritrea objected that Ethiopia was not being held to its word, leading to a four-year impasse.

More recently, Eritrea has piled restrictions on the U.N. force, arbitrarily arrested U.N. staff, ordered some humanitarian relief groups to leave the country, and sent armed personnel into a buffer zone set up by the United Nations between the two countries, Ban said.

"The current impasse is a serious source of instability for the two countries as well as the wider region," Ban said, pointing to the recent brief war in neighboring Somalia pitting government forces reinforced by the Ethiopian military against Islamist troops backed by Eritrea.

"The two governments need to take the political decision to put the conflict behind them, for the sake of their own people," Ban said.

al-Zawahri warning Ethiopia

Change policies or face reprisal, Zawahri tells U.S.
Agencies
Dubai, Jan 25: Al Qaeda second-in-command Ayman al-Zawahri warned Americans of a reprisal "far worse than anything they have seen" unless Washington changed its policies towards Muslim states.

"You are facing the Islamic rage ... what awaits you, should you press on (with current policies), is far worse than anything you have seen," Zawahri said in a video posted on the Internet on Wednesday.

Leaders of al Qaeda, which carried out the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks in U.S. cities, argue that "terrorism" is justified as a way to change pro-Israel U.S. policies and to punish Washington for its wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

"I will talk to you in a language you understand; if you want to live safely you have to accept reality and reject the illusions that (U.S. President George W.) Bush is trying to deceive you with," he said in the video.

"If we are struck and killed then, God willing, you would most certainly be struck and killed."

Zawahri said Americans should study "faiths and history as they really are and not as portrayed by the clowns of Bush".

He continued: "You have to try your utmost to reach an understanding with the Muslims, only then you will enjoy security. But if you continue with the policy of Bush and his gang then you won't dream of it."

Zawahri was wearing a white turban and a black robe but he did not have his usual AK-47 assault rifle by his side. Part of the video, which was not dated, was posted earlier this week on the Web site of the U.S.-based SITE institute.

Zawahri vowed retaliation against Ethiopian troops for helping Somalia's interim government rout rival Islamist.

"The mujahideen will break their backs with God's power and help," Zawahri said, adding that Bush had pushed Ethiopians into "a definite disaster" to be killed in place of U.S. soldiers.

Ethiopia said on Tuesday its forces began leaving the Somali capital. It has said it does not plan to keep its troops in the Horn of Africa country after their mission is completed.

The Egyptian militant urged Palestinians to abandon President Mahmoud Abbas and key aide, Mohammad Dahlan, and said they were "secularists who sold Palestine and are enemies of Islamic law, traitors and agents of America and Israel".

Zawahri said holy war was the only way to liberate Palestinian land.

He also criticised Lebanon's government and politicians who backed a U.N. resolution ending a 34-day war between Israel and Shi'ite Lebanese guerrilla group Hezbollah in mid-August and beefed up a U.N. peacekeeping force.

"Those who approved of resolution 1701, endorse the...presence of crusaders in south Lebanon and of the isolation of the mujahideen in Palestine...accepting this resolution is a historic mistake that cannot be justified or apologised for."

He said Muslims should stop their compliance with international law and quit secular organisations and parties to take up arms under the banner of Islam.

Zawahri urged support for fighters in Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestinian territories, Somalia, Algeria and the Russian region of Chechnya.

"It is the duty of every Muslim today to carry a weapon or to serve and support those who do so."

After the terrorist warning to break the back of Ethiopian military, the government of Ethiopia seems worried about the terrorist attack and it seems to me that they hastily trying to leave Somalia before they encounter confrontations, it looks like it is a smart move however this is a serious threat from the international terrorist mouth. So the woaynes government trying to see to the different directions, it worried more about Eritrea than somlia now, and also the Eritreans government looking at Meles nervously, maybe looking for some reason to kick the dictator out, well the rest of the oppositions are waiting to see the next move? Wow it is critical time for our country?

A young man gunned down by the Ethiopian goverment

Police shot dead a young political dissident on Wednesday at Rufael, one of the northern suburbs of Addis Ababa.

Four federal police officers dragged Tesfaye Tadesse, 25, from his friend's home at 9:45 pm and shot him thrice on his chest and twice on his back. His family found his bullet-straddled body latter.

Tesfaye a notable kinijit organizer at his neighborhood had been arrested in June and November 2005 when EPRDF embarked upon massive crack down of dissent in the country. His friends said security men had repeatedly harassed him after he was released from detention in November.

Tesfaye's autopsy revealed that he had lost three of his front teeth and one eye due to severe beating. The police officers took him to a dark area in the village and beat him, eyewitnesses claimed. "When people living in the village started surrounding the police officers who were beating him, they shot him and drove away," one witness said.

Tesfaye's friend from whose home the deceased was taken said that he was instructed to stay at the house when he asked the police officers where they were taking his friend.

Tesfaye is the sixth Kinijit organizer killed in Addis Ababa in the past week

http://seminawork.blogspot.com/2007/01/political-dissident-shot-to-death.html

The Cry of Ethiopian peoples!

The future of my country is so dark, because of the lack of good political leadership, I asked many question for a lot of Ethiopians politicians but this one keep nagging me, why is it we lack a good political leaders, the one with a vision, the one who denied himself or herself and stand firmly to the Ethiopian cause, the leader who can see what is coming, the one who can make a good sound decision on all Ethiopian domestic and international affairs.

In one hand we have a bitter enemies around the world a country like Egypt does not want to see a stable and strong Ethiopia and the other hand we have anti Ethiopia elements and in fact nowadays it become extremely difficult to make a distinction amongst those political groups to see who have a good agenda or who are the imposter with a hidden agenda.

Ethiopia is the source of the Blue Nile but we are known as a land plagued by terrible droughts. Peoples are dying and our country is not improving and yet we have luxury to act irresponsibly while other dying for all kind of reasons and we widen the tragedy, why is it so much easy for the government to kill someone on our own back yard simply because we have a political differences? or Why is so much easy for us to go out messing up someone name because we have a political differences?


Why is it so difficult to work it out our differences? Why we are always vulnerable for the enemies, and we go out as far as to cooperate and work with known Ethiopian enemies? I wish if I have solutions but I know something wrong with this picture. Or Is something wrong with Ethiopia? What is going on?

I know for sure Meles is not going to live forever, he is lucky if he live the next ten years and according to UN human development indicator 2006, average life expectancy for Ethiopia is 47.8, actually I consider this man lucky because he lives more than the average Ethiopians.


And also maybe he eats one or two injera a day like anybody else, whatever comfort he gives for his flesh, he will die wither he likes it or not, he is not going to live forever, therefore he is not going to take to his grave the money he accumulate or this world wealth, but his name and legacy will be tinted with Ethiopian blood, it is good for any Ethiopian political leaders a good name and legacy, unfortunately Meles will have only bad legacy, last week the Ethiopian first interview his wife and she tried to portrait Meles as saint, she is trying to tell us, how poor she is, it is just laughable, when the satan trying to portrait himself as saint, that clearly showed me that they are fighting for the good name, nevertheless he did not accomplish nothing for the last 16 years.

A couple years ago, I visited Ethiopia after 18 years when I was a young boy, I remembered my mother used to send me to Keblle to buy sugar or something, I was maybe 11 years old at that time, I have to go there and keep a line till I got my turn, I remembered I paid maybe 1.50 Ethiopian birr to buy one kilo sugar, in that particular period of time the only problem was food rationing, you have to wait on this long weird line for long time but now no rationing but if you want to buy one kilo sugar maybe I am not sure how much it was someone told me it cost you maybe 6-7 Ethiopian birr, sometimes you cannot find sugar, this is just one example so Meles has achieved nothing. Ethiopian peoples life did not change at all.

But this man is so rigid not willing to give a chance to other peoples opinions, and worst of all they just keep killing and acting irresponsibly.

They say they win the large majority of the rural peoples, they think Ethiopian farmers are fools, they are shameless, all those Ethiopians who fighting against them in the western world came from these majority of Ethiopians, they are their children, the Ethiopian colleges and universities students are Ethiopian farmers children too, the fact is, Meles cannot cheat the Ethiopians farmers.

The problem with this man is that he got a slave mentality, peoples who knows him well they know his behavior, he loves to hear the western advisor rather than the Ethiopian shemagles, all what he is doing is fulfilling the desire of his boss, as far as I am concerned he is askaris. He is not even back down to arrest and kills his own comrades.

Now so far I talked and trashed out the Ethiopian leader now let’s see what is going on in the camp of Ethiopian oppositions leaders, look the Kinjit leaders are in prison and yet our peoples are here robbing the organizations and fighting each other and each one of them want to be the leader and jump to one another throat, not to mentioned they don’t seem worried about the leader in jail nor the peoples who suffered under this brutal regime.

It seems that they forgot the reason of their political struggle and preserve our rich culture and heritage all what we see right now is fighting each other and the struggle goes backward instead of going forward.

Now I ask you, Can you see Ethiopian future in this fog?