www.nazrett.com Home of Ethiopian News and Blog Breaking News
By Douglas McGill, Talking with Strangers
September 09, 2009
An unlikely, even unprecedented Ethiopian protest march will be held in Washington, DC this Sunday, bringing together for the first time members of many diverse Ethiopian ethnic groups.
All of these groups - including members of Ethiopia's Oromo, Amhara, Tigray, Anuak and Ogaden ethnicities - all say they have suffered brutal economic, military and social repression under the regime Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, which took power in Ethiopia in 1991.
But never before have members of these different groups joined together in a large-scale march and protest in Washington. Some 20 Ethiopian immigrants living in Minnesota, representing several ethnic groups, will take part in the march, its organizers say.
"Ethiopians from one group usually don't talk to others, thinking that the others are causing the problems," said Ahmed Hussein, an Ethiopian immigrant of Oromo ethnicity from Brooklyn Park, MN who will participate in the Sunday march. "But now everyone is feeling the pain. This government is killing its own people and has no respect for human rights. This march is a way to show that Ethiopians are united against this government."
Organized by a recently-formed group called the Solidarity Movement for a New Ethiopia, the protest's leaders say they hope to draw several thousand marchers drawn from many of Ethiopia's dozens of ethnic groups. The marchers will proceed from the White House to Capital Hill under banners reading: "Stop Genocide and Dictatorship in Ethiopia."
Over the past two weeks, taxicabs with roof-mounted posters bearing the same slogan have been driving around Washington, DC.
Obang Metho, the group's founder, is a member of Ethiopia's Anuak tribe from the western state of Gambella. He was politicized in 2003 when the Ethiopian army killed 425 Anuak men on December 13 of that year, as part of ethnic cleansing of that tribe that has gone on before and since December 13, 2003.
Originally, Metho founded the Anuak Justice Council to memorialize the victims of December 13 and to press the international community to bring Meles Zenawi and others in the Ethiopian government to justice for the genocide of the Anuak people.
More recently, Metho formed the Solidarity Movement for a New Ethiopia, whose membership is open to Ethiopians of all ethnicities, because he saw that the Anuak's plight was not unique in Ethiopia. The Oromo, the Amhara, the Ogadeni, the Trigray and members of many other Ethiopian ethnicities have all increasingly tried to draw the world's attention to crimes against humanity committed by the Meles regime.
Increasingly, human rights groups, social justice groups, and other international organizations have taken notice - some of them publishing lengthy reports detailing thousands of cases of unlawful detention, torture, rape, and extrajudicial killings carried out by uniformed members of the Ethiopian army and related security forces.
For example, Human Rights Watch in 2008 published "Collective Punishment: War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity in the Ogaden Area of Ethiopia's Somali Region." Human Rights watch in 2005 also published "Targeting the Anuak: Human Rights Violations and Crimes Against Humanity in Ethiopia's Gambella Region."
Other groups including the International Committee for the Red Cross, Doctors Without Borders, Genocide Watch, and The Advocates for Human Rights have all documented severe human rights abuses, often including crimes against humanity, carried out by the Ethiopian military against the members of many of Ethiopia's ethnic groups.
"In Ethiopia today, people live in terror and fear," Obang Metho said. "The whole country is under siege. It is filled with prisons. No one has been brought to justice and the killer is walking free. This march is not about political issues, it's about survival. We are trying to stop a dictatorship."
A primary goal of the march, Metho said, is to try to influence the United States to change its official policy of friendship and support for Ethiopia, which it considers an ally and as helpful as a base for anti-terrorism operations in the Horn of Africa. In December 2006, the U.S. gave military aid and training to help Ethiopia crush the Islamic Courts Union, an Islamist government that controlled Somalia.
"What we are saying to the U.S. taxpayer is, you are killing us," Metho said. "We are saying to the media, your silence is killing us. Where are you?"
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Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Ethiopia's ruling party tells Meles to stay on
www.nazrett.com Home of Ethiopian News and Blog Breaking News
ADDIS ABABA, Sept 9 (Reuters) - Ethiopia's ruling party wants Prime Minister Meles Zenawi to remain its leader for another five years, making it likely the former rebel will run the Horn of Africa nation for some time to come.
"We have made a decision about all our frontline leaders, not just Prime Minister Meles Zenawi," Muktar Kedir, chief of headquarters for the ruling Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), told Reuters on Wednesday.
"They will all resign within five years. We will consider his request again then," he said after the EPRDF's annual congress this week.
Speculation has surrounded Meles' intentions since he began talking about resigning in 2008. But Meles has always insisted he needed permission from his party to step aside.
Opposition politicians say the Prime Minister's statements were a ploy to make him appear more democratic and he never planned to step down before national elections in May 2010.
Analysts say the EPRDF will easily win the elections, allowing Meles to rule for another five years if he wants to.
The 54-year-old took power in 1991 after rebels led by him and others overthrew a communist regime that many Ethiopians blamed for causing the 1984-85 famine that brought the desperately poor country to world attention.
"LAME EXCUSE"
Opposition parties say the EPRDF is set to remain in power because their politicians are regularly intimidated and jailed.
Ethiopia's last polls in 2005 were touted internationally as the country's first truly democratic elections, but they ended in violence when the government declared victory and the opposition said the result was fixed.
Police and soldiers killed about 200 people who had taken to the streets. Meles accused the protesters of trying to topple the government and more than 100 opposition leaders, journalists and aid workers were then imprisoned.
They were released in a 2007 pardon deal but rights groups say the government is cracking down on dissent again. One party leader is in jail and a group of former military officers have been convicted of plotting to oust Meles.
"The opposition knew he would never resign," Bulcha Demeksa leader of the Oromo Federalist Democratic Movement, one of Ethiopia's biggest opposition parties, told Reuters.
"It will be another five years of tribulation now. Saying his party won't allow him to go is just a lame excuse."
Diplomats in the capital Addis Ababa said while the EPRDF had decided Meles should continue as party leader, there was nothing to stop him resigning as prime minister at some point during another EPRDF term in office.
"There's still a strong possibility Meles will lead the EPRDF to victory in 2010 and then step down maybe one to two years after that and hand the reins to a party loyalist," said a western diplomat who did not want to be named.
If he does go, analysts disagree about his legacy.
The Meles government has cultivated good relations with the West, introduced a safety-net system for millions of hungry people which should ensure the 1980s famine is never repeated, and reduced infant mortality and poverty rates.
Meles has also become something of a spokesman for Africa, representing the world's poorest continent at the latest G8 and G20 summits of rich nations. He is again due to speak for Africans at December's Copenhagen climate change summit.
But the 2005 election and jailing of opposition leaders, as well as a vicious military campaign against an ethnically Somali rebel group, have tarnished his image and turned many Ethiopians against him. (Additional reporting by Tsegaye Tadesse; Editing by David Clarke and Mark Trevelyan)
ADDIS ABABA, Sept 9 (Reuters) - Ethiopia's ruling party wants Prime Minister Meles Zenawi to remain its leader for another five years, making it likely the former rebel will run the Horn of Africa nation for some time to come.
"We have made a decision about all our frontline leaders, not just Prime Minister Meles Zenawi," Muktar Kedir, chief of headquarters for the ruling Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), told Reuters on Wednesday.
"They will all resign within five years. We will consider his request again then," he said after the EPRDF's annual congress this week.
Speculation has surrounded Meles' intentions since he began talking about resigning in 2008. But Meles has always insisted he needed permission from his party to step aside.
Opposition politicians say the Prime Minister's statements were a ploy to make him appear more democratic and he never planned to step down before national elections in May 2010.
Analysts say the EPRDF will easily win the elections, allowing Meles to rule for another five years if he wants to.
The 54-year-old took power in 1991 after rebels led by him and others overthrew a communist regime that many Ethiopians blamed for causing the 1984-85 famine that brought the desperately poor country to world attention.
"LAME EXCUSE"
Opposition parties say the EPRDF is set to remain in power because their politicians are regularly intimidated and jailed.
Ethiopia's last polls in 2005 were touted internationally as the country's first truly democratic elections, but they ended in violence when the government declared victory and the opposition said the result was fixed.
Police and soldiers killed about 200 people who had taken to the streets. Meles accused the protesters of trying to topple the government and more than 100 opposition leaders, journalists and aid workers were then imprisoned.
They were released in a 2007 pardon deal but rights groups say the government is cracking down on dissent again. One party leader is in jail and a group of former military officers have been convicted of plotting to oust Meles.
"The opposition knew he would never resign," Bulcha Demeksa leader of the Oromo Federalist Democratic Movement, one of Ethiopia's biggest opposition parties, told Reuters.
"It will be another five years of tribulation now. Saying his party won't allow him to go is just a lame excuse."
Diplomats in the capital Addis Ababa said while the EPRDF had decided Meles should continue as party leader, there was nothing to stop him resigning as prime minister at some point during another EPRDF term in office.
"There's still a strong possibility Meles will lead the EPRDF to victory in 2010 and then step down maybe one to two years after that and hand the reins to a party loyalist," said a western diplomat who did not want to be named.
If he does go, analysts disagree about his legacy.
The Meles government has cultivated good relations with the West, introduced a safety-net system for millions of hungry people which should ensure the 1980s famine is never repeated, and reduced infant mortality and poverty rates.
Meles has also become something of a spokesman for Africa, representing the world's poorest continent at the latest G8 and G20 summits of rich nations. He is again due to speak for Africans at December's Copenhagen climate change summit.
But the 2005 election and jailing of opposition leaders, as well as a vicious military campaign against an ethnically Somali rebel group, have tarnished his image and turned many Ethiopians against him. (Additional reporting by Tsegaye Tadesse; Editing by David Clarke and Mark Trevelyan)
Ethiopia's khat-addict dictator decided to remain in power
www.nazrett.com Home of Ethiopian News and Blog Breaking News
ADDIS ABABA (NMG) — Ethiopia Prime Minster Head of the brutal tribal junta in Ethiopia, Meles Zenawi, will run for a new five-year term, his ruling party announced on Tuesday.
The 54 year-old former [Marxist] guerrilla leader, who has been in power for 18 years, was convinced by party members to stay on. [Don't laugh. This is not a joke!]
The Ethiopian People Democratic Front (EPRDF) council Tigrean People Liberation Front (Woyanne) underlined that the Ethiopian people and his party need Mr Zenawi for one more term at the end of a two day annual gathering.
“Meles is playing a key role in transforming Ethiopia….” EPRDF said in a statement.
In recent months, EPRDF’s chairman Woyanne junta leader Zenawi has said he plans to go in 2010 if his party accept his resignation.
The council extensively debated on the issue and agreed to keep Mr Zenawi in office for one until 2015.
Ethiopia’s next general election is scheduled for June 2010.
The PM has increasingly become a champion of African in international forums.
However, at home he is accused of a poor human rights record and oppression against opposition politicians and the media.
Last week, Mr Zenawi was elected [by his fellow thieves] to represent Africa in the climate change talks in Denmark, Copenhagen.
ADDIS ABABA (NMG) — Ethiopia Prime Minster Head of the brutal tribal junta in Ethiopia, Meles Zenawi, will run for a new five-year term, his ruling party announced on Tuesday.
The 54 year-old former [Marxist] guerrilla leader, who has been in power for 18 years, was convinced by party members to stay on. [Don't laugh. This is not a joke!]
The Ethiopian People Democratic Front (EPRDF) council Tigrean People Liberation Front (Woyanne) underlined that the Ethiopian people and his party need Mr Zenawi for one more term at the end of a two day annual gathering.
“Meles is playing a key role in transforming Ethiopia….” EPRDF said in a statement.
In recent months, EPRDF’s chairman Woyanne junta leader Zenawi has said he plans to go in 2010 if his party accept his resignation.
The council extensively debated on the issue and agreed to keep Mr Zenawi in office for one until 2015.
Ethiopia’s next general election is scheduled for June 2010.
The PM has increasingly become a champion of African in international forums.
However, at home he is accused of a poor human rights record and oppression against opposition politicians and the media.
Last week, Mr Zenawi was elected [by his fellow thieves] to represent Africa in the climate change talks in Denmark, Copenhagen.
Ethiopia: Cases of Deadly Diarrhoea Mount in Capital, Warns UN
www.nazrett.com Home of Ethiopian News and Blog Breaking News
The United Nations emergency humanitarian relief wing today warned of an outbreak of acute watery diarrhoea rife in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa that is threatening to continue its spread across other regions of the country.
Local health authorities reported a total of 2,330 new cases of the disease and 22 deaths between 17 and 23 August, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
In response to the epidemic, the World Health Organization (WHO) has committed $30,000 for surveillance, case management and training activities, while the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) pledged $100,000 for training and operational costs.
UNICEF also sent 20,000 bottles of water guards to the Addis Ababa health bureau to enable the same number of households to access clean water for one month. The agency is also finalizing preparations to establish sanitation facilities in a number of areas in the coming two weeks
Meanwhile, the lack of food in many areas in eastern Ethiopia has prompted the World Food Programme (WFP) to underscore the need for an immediate and comprehensive contingency plan to feed the vulnerable people, especially given the prospect of poor food production in the coming months.
The United Nations emergency humanitarian relief wing today warned of an outbreak of acute watery diarrhoea rife in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa that is threatening to continue its spread across other regions of the country.
Local health authorities reported a total of 2,330 new cases of the disease and 22 deaths between 17 and 23 August, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
In response to the epidemic, the World Health Organization (WHO) has committed $30,000 for surveillance, case management and training activities, while the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) pledged $100,000 for training and operational costs.
UNICEF also sent 20,000 bottles of water guards to the Addis Ababa health bureau to enable the same number of households to access clean water for one month. The agency is also finalizing preparations to establish sanitation facilities in a number of areas in the coming two weeks
Meanwhile, the lack of food in many areas in eastern Ethiopia has prompted the World Food Programme (WFP) to underscore the need for an immediate and comprehensive contingency plan to feed the vulnerable people, especially given the prospect of poor food production in the coming months.
Egyptian police kill 4 migrants (Ethiopians)
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EL-ARISH (Egypt), Wednesday
Egyptian police shot dead four African migrants as they tried to slip across the sensitive Sinai desert border into Israel today, security sources said.
The shootings were believed to be the deadliest single border incident involving primarily African migrants, and came days before Egyptian and Israeli leaders are due to hold political talks in Cairo.
Security sources said two more migrants, both Ethiopians, were shot and wounded, and one was in a critical condition. The nationalities of the dead were not immediately known, because they carried no identification papers.
Egyptian police have killed at least 12 African migrants at the frontier since May, ending a six-month lull in known fatalities as police responded to what security sources have said was an increased flow of human traffic through Egypt.
Egypt, which for years tolerated tens of thousands of African migrants on its territory, fears the unfettered flow of migrants at its strategic Sinai border could pose a security threat in an area where it already fears inroads by Islamist militants who sometimes find refuge in remote craggy mountains.
Its border with the Jewish state is a main transit route for generally unarmed migrants and refugees seeking work or asylum in Israel. Egypt has faced Israeli pressure to halt the flow.
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak is due to hold talks on the Israeli-Palestinian peace process with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday in Cairo, state news agency Mena said. Border issues were not mentioned as part of the agenda.
Single largest group
Eritreans are the single largest group of migrants attempting to cross into Israel from Egypt, although Ethiopians and Sudanese from the country’s south and the war-torn Darfur region also brave the trek.
Analysts and aid workers say the flow of migrants from the Horn of Africa through Egypt to Israel has increased in recent months as it has become more difficult to travel on other northward routes, such as via Libya to Europe.
Monthly migrant arrests by Egypt at the border have surged this year,. (Reuters
EL-ARISH (Egypt), Wednesday
Egyptian police shot dead four African migrants as they tried to slip across the sensitive Sinai desert border into Israel today, security sources said.
The shootings were believed to be the deadliest single border incident involving primarily African migrants, and came days before Egyptian and Israeli leaders are due to hold political talks in Cairo.
Security sources said two more migrants, both Ethiopians, were shot and wounded, and one was in a critical condition. The nationalities of the dead were not immediately known, because they carried no identification papers.
Egyptian police have killed at least 12 African migrants at the frontier since May, ending a six-month lull in known fatalities as police responded to what security sources have said was an increased flow of human traffic through Egypt.
Egypt, which for years tolerated tens of thousands of African migrants on its territory, fears the unfettered flow of migrants at its strategic Sinai border could pose a security threat in an area where it already fears inroads by Islamist militants who sometimes find refuge in remote craggy mountains.
Its border with the Jewish state is a main transit route for generally unarmed migrants and refugees seeking work or asylum in Israel. Egypt has faced Israeli pressure to halt the flow.
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak is due to hold talks on the Israeli-Palestinian peace process with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday in Cairo, state news agency Mena said. Border issues were not mentioned as part of the agenda.
Single largest group
Eritreans are the single largest group of migrants attempting to cross into Israel from Egypt, although Ethiopians and Sudanese from the country’s south and the war-torn Darfur region also brave the trek.
Analysts and aid workers say the flow of migrants from the Horn of Africa through Egypt to Israel has increased in recent months as it has become more difficult to travel on other northward routes, such as via Libya to Europe.
Monthly migrant arrests by Egypt at the border have surged this year,. (Reuters
ICG: Ethiopia risks pre-election violence in 2010
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(Medeshi)
ICG: Ethiopia risks pre-election violence in 2010
Mon Sep 7, 2009
* Think tank says dissent, ethnic tension, rising
* Says "ethnic federalism" has increased competition
By Barry Malone
ADDIS ABABA, Sept 7 (Reuters) - Ethiopia could suffer ethnic violence next year ahead of its first national elections since a 2005 poll triggered street clashes following a disputed victory for the government, a think tank has said.
In a study released over the weekend, the International Crisis Group (ICG) warned of the potential for a violent eruption of conflict ahead of the election scheduled for May 2010 because of rising ethnic tensions and dissent.
"The international community must stop ignoring and downplaying these problems and encourage meaningful democratic governance in the country," the ICG said in a statement.
Ethiopian government officials were not immediately available to comment.
The 2005 elections were touted as Ethiopia's first truly democratic poll. But they ended in bloodshed after the government declared victory and the opposition cried foul.
Police and soldiers then killed about 200 people who had taken to the streets in protest. Prime Minister Meles Zenawi accused the demonstrators of trying to topple the government.
Rights groups regularly accuse his administration of cracking down on opponents. One party leader has been jailed and several former and serving military officers have been charged in recent months with plotting to oust Meles.
The ruling Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) is made up of parties from all major ethnic groups.
It introduced a system of "ethnic federalism" when it took power in 1991, after a communist regime was toppled, with major ethnicities controlling the regions where they dominate.
The government says that gives all ethnicities equal power.
"Ethnic federalism has not dampened conflict, but rather increased competition among groups fighting for land, natural resources, administrative boundaries and government budgets," said Francois Grignon, director of the ICG's Africa Program.
"This concept has powerfully promoted ethnic self-awareness among all groups and failed to accommodate grievances."
The ICG called on donors who give money to sub-Saharan Africa's second most populous country -- which is one of the world's biggest recipients of foreign aid -- to put pressure on Meles' government. (Editing by Daniel Wallis)
(Medeshi)
ICG: Ethiopia risks pre-election violence in 2010
Mon Sep 7, 2009
* Think tank says dissent, ethnic tension, rising
* Says "ethnic federalism" has increased competition
By Barry Malone
ADDIS ABABA, Sept 7 (Reuters) - Ethiopia could suffer ethnic violence next year ahead of its first national elections since a 2005 poll triggered street clashes following a disputed victory for the government, a think tank has said.
In a study released over the weekend, the International Crisis Group (ICG) warned of the potential for a violent eruption of conflict ahead of the election scheduled for May 2010 because of rising ethnic tensions and dissent.
"The international community must stop ignoring and downplaying these problems and encourage meaningful democratic governance in the country," the ICG said in a statement.
Ethiopian government officials were not immediately available to comment.
The 2005 elections were touted as Ethiopia's first truly democratic poll. But they ended in bloodshed after the government declared victory and the opposition cried foul.
Police and soldiers then killed about 200 people who had taken to the streets in protest. Prime Minister Meles Zenawi accused the demonstrators of trying to topple the government.
Rights groups regularly accuse his administration of cracking down on opponents. One party leader has been jailed and several former and serving military officers have been charged in recent months with plotting to oust Meles.
The ruling Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) is made up of parties from all major ethnic groups.
It introduced a system of "ethnic federalism" when it took power in 1991, after a communist regime was toppled, with major ethnicities controlling the regions where they dominate.
The government says that gives all ethnicities equal power.
"Ethnic federalism has not dampened conflict, but rather increased competition among groups fighting for land, natural resources, administrative boundaries and government budgets," said Francois Grignon, director of the ICG's Africa Program.
"This concept has powerfully promoted ethnic self-awareness among all groups and failed to accommodate grievances."
The ICG called on donors who give money to sub-Saharan Africa's second most populous country -- which is one of the world's biggest recipients of foreign aid -- to put pressure on Meles' government. (Editing by Daniel Wallis)
Africa Action Endorses the “March to Stop Genocide and Dictatorship in Ethiopia/Africa;” Calls on all Members, Partners and Others to Participate
www.nazrett.com Home of Ethiopian News and Blog Breaking News
Almost 46 years ago to the date (August 28th 1963) 200,000 people tired of the being abused and brutalized, tired of living in fear for loved ones, tired of political inaction and nonsensical policy statements giving pretense to opposing the status quo while all along supporting it and tired of being lied to, marched on Washington to demand freedom and jobs for African Americans. The event set in motion a series of actions leading to the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and 1965¾ legislation that changed the United States forever.
On September 13th 2009, a different but extremely significant march will take place: The March to Stop Genocide and Dictatorship in Ethiopia/Africa.
Marches against dictatorship, and particularly dictators that are militarily supported by the United States, are not new. In fact, for the last six decades, it is often the fodder for much foreign policy activism and political protest here in the U.S., not to mention around the globe.
However, there are three major differences here that should be noted. First, this march is being organized within the African immigrant community. In fact, it is a group called the Solidarity Movement for a New Ethiopia is spearheading the effort. This organization describes itself as a non-political and non-violent social justice movement that seeks to unite the many Ethiopian ethnic groups into a solidarity movement that stands together to call the current Ethiopian government to account for myriad allegations of human rights violations.
The Movement includes prominent representatives from various ethnic groups including each of the largest ones, the Oromo, Tigray and Ogaden among others, and is led by a renown Anuak advocate.
Perhaps the easiest way for U.S. policy makers to downplay human rights abuses in Africa is to say that those raising attention to the abuses are Western human rights organizations and not African themselves. Furthermore, when African are involved, they tend to be aligned with a single ethnic opposition group and are simply dismissed as advocating the replacement of one form of tyranny and corruption with another.
This reasoning, along with the oft repeated assertion by top policy officials that ‘Africans simply aren’t interested in democracy!” serve the purpose of upholding the United States’ strong relations with some of the most brutal and non-democratic dictators in Africa. The Solidarity Movement may be serving notice that the African immigrant community is no longer going to accept idioms from the U.S. policymakers while consciously seeking to avoid being divided and easily conquered.
One of the pillars of U.S. policy to towards Africa as articulated by President Obama is promoting and strengthening democracy. As the President said in his first major address on Africa in Ghana, “This is about more than holding elections – it’s also about what happens between them. … No person wants to live in a society where the rule of law gives way to the rule of brutality and bribery. That is not democracy that is tyranny, and now is the time for it to end.” While all African human rights activists are in total agreement with this sentiment, it is extremely doubtful that an administration official will attend this particular rally. This is because President Obama is continuing the Bush administrations policy of supporting Ethiopia’s and vehemently anti-democratic dictator Meles Zenawi.
You can tell American audiences how our support for Zenawi serves US military interests while not squaring with our pro-democracy rhetoric, but no one can seriously articulate to Africans how Zenawi’s reign has benefited more than a very small few.
This point highlights the third major difference between the typical rally and this one. The Solidarity Movement is attempting to reach out across the continent. Everyone knows that there is an enormous battle to decide Africa’s future and more particularly, where its resources are going. In fact, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev’s trip to Africa in July was described in U.S. financial newspapers as ‘Russia’s attempt to vie with China and the West for control of [Africa’s] energy and resources.’ As we know from history, African people are not going to negotiate their way into protecting their future, rather their strength is in numbers¾one billion people saying they have had enough.
As lopsided deals are made and more and more of Africa’s most arable and resource rich land is dealt away to secure someone else’ future, it is important for those who care about the future of Africa people attend this march and tell the world that we are tired of the being abused and brutalized, tired of living in fear for loved ones, tired of political inaction and nonsensical policy statements giving pretense to opposing the status quo while all along supporting it and tired of being lied to. Maybe this will be the catalyst for transformational change that Africa really needs.
…………………………………….
Andinet Support Chapters in Europe Endorsed the DC March
Press Release
Calls on all Members, Partners and Others to Participate
We, members of the Interim Task Force of Andenet Support Chapters in Europe fully endorse the upcoming “March to Stop Genocide and Dictatorship in Ethiopia/Africa in Washington D.C., scheduled for September 13, 2009 in front of the United States Capitol.
Ethiopians and friends of Ethiopia around the world have for a while now been protesting against the injustice and repression unleashed by the repressive regime of Ethiopia on its citizens. Following the controversial election of 2005 stolen by the ruling repressive regime there has been steady erosion civil and human rights as the result of deliberate action of a regime, which stands on the wrong side of history.
Human Rights watch and other independent organisations reported on a catalogue of gross violations of human rights in Ethiopia, where thousands are incarcerated with out due process for just having a different views from the ruling party, while those living outside prison gates are not allowed to exercise their universal rights of speech, assembly and to elect their leaders. Membership of the ruling party has become a condition for rights to college education and job opportunities.
In a country with over 6 million people requiring emergency aid, food aid is being used as political instrument to starve people in need but oppose the regime in power for not respecting their basic rights, while acres of fertile land is sold to foreign highest bidders.
On 23 March 2009, Genocide Watch wrote to the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to initiate an investigation against the government of P.M. Meles Zenawi for atrocities committed in Gambela against the Anuaks and ethnic Somalis in the Ogaden.
The recent draconian civil society law and the bill restricting the activities of charity organisation (both local and foreign) are designed to silence independent voices from reporting repressive activities of the regime and the plight of innocent citizens.
The kidnap and re-arrest of Birtukan Midekssa - Chairperson of Unity for Democracy and Justice Party (aka Andenet) on 29th December 2008 for life imprisonment is the latest evidence of a regime which operates in an entrenched culture of impunity.
We are outraged by the level of repressions innocent citizens had to endure under the paranoid regime in Ethiopia and call up on the free nations of the world and their leaders to stand with the Ethiopian people, condemn the act if the tyrant regime in Ethiopia and demand respect for human rights and the rule of law.
Interim Task Force of Andenet Support Chapters in Europe.
…………………………………….
Andinet North America Endorsed the DC March
PRESS RELEASE
Marching for Freedom
Andinet
North America Association of Support
Organizations (ANAASO) is actively working with the March 4 Freedom alliance and other
organizations to expose the gross human rights abuses occurring in Ethiopia and the unjust and illegal re-imprisonment of its leader, Ms Birtukan Mideksa, and other prisoners of conscience. ANAASO supports and gives its full endorsement to this national rally for freedom and justice. The march, scheduled for Sunday September 13, 2009 in Washington DC, is attended by diverse organizations and people of all ages, races, religions, and political affiliations.
The march aims to:
• Unify Ethiopians, other Africans, African-Americans, Americans of any color and others of any
nationality by coming together as human beings first; not as people of a certain ethnicity, color,
political view, religion, region, country of origin, gender, viewpoint, educational level, economic
class or any other distinction, but as people who care about justice, peace and reconciliation.
• Bring the world attention to the gross human rights abuses, tyranny and oppression of Ethiopians under the current brutal government of Meles Zenawi as well as in other countries in the Horn of Africa and in Africa as a whole where similar conditions exist.
• Let the Obama administration and other donor countries to Ethiopia and Africa see solidarity among freedom and justice loving people who want genuine change in Africa.
ANAASO calls on its chapter organizations, members, and supporters to show their solidarity with the people of Ethiopia and all prisoners of conscience by joining this march to stop Genocide and Dictatorship in Ethiopia.
ANAASO calls on the Ethiopian government to immediately release Ms Birtukan Mideksa and all other prisoners of conscience, respect the rule of law, and stop its intimidation and harassment of its citizens.
ANAASO further calls on the international community to stop supporting a regime that stands convicted of wholesome human rights violations, rigged elections, and extra-judicial killings.
ANAASO welcomes the opportunity to work together with such distinguished organizations in the struggle to build a better Ethiopia where its people live in peace as equals and the rule of law reigns supreme.
…………………………………….
Unity for
Human Rights and Democracy Toronto Endorses
“March to Stop Genocide and Dictatorship in Ethiopia/Africa”
No one would ever deny that the suffering of our people in the hands of Meles Zenawi and his gang has worsened day by day. Tyranny in its worst shape and form has subjected our people to unprecedented misery. We are witnessing apartheid like system controlling the daily lives of the people. They are forced to be part of their Stasi security system against their wishes. Students, teachers, civil servants, urban dwellers and farmers are given the choice of signing up for one of the ethno centric groups. Otherwise, they are destined to lose their jobs, right to attend schools, shelters and plot of land. Meles Zenawi is busy with the mass indoctrination of our productive sector of the population, with his archaic communist ideology. Similarly, the mass recruitment measure the regime is tirelessly implementing is part of creating a police state where fundamental rights of citizens are in jeopardy
Almost 46 years ago to the date (August 28th 1963) 200,000 people tired of the being abused and brutalized, tired of living in fear for loved ones, tired of political inaction and nonsensical policy statements giving pretense to opposing the status quo while all along supporting it and tired of being lied to, marched on Washington to demand freedom and jobs for African Americans. The event set in motion a series of actions leading to the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and 1965¾ legislation that changed the United States forever.
On September 13th 2009, a different but extremely significant march will take place: The March to Stop Genocide and Dictatorship in Ethiopia/Africa.
Marches against dictatorship, and particularly dictators that are militarily supported by the United States, are not new. In fact, for the last six decades, it is often the fodder for much foreign policy activism and political protest here in the U.S., not to mention around the globe.
However, there are three major differences here that should be noted. First, this march is being organized within the African immigrant community. In fact, it is a group called the Solidarity Movement for a New Ethiopia is spearheading the effort. This organization describes itself as a non-political and non-violent social justice movement that seeks to unite the many Ethiopian ethnic groups into a solidarity movement that stands together to call the current Ethiopian government to account for myriad allegations of human rights violations.
The Movement includes prominent representatives from various ethnic groups including each of the largest ones, the Oromo, Tigray and Ogaden among others, and is led by a renown Anuak advocate.
Perhaps the easiest way for U.S. policy makers to downplay human rights abuses in Africa is to say that those raising attention to the abuses are Western human rights organizations and not African themselves. Furthermore, when African are involved, they tend to be aligned with a single ethnic opposition group and are simply dismissed as advocating the replacement of one form of tyranny and corruption with another.
This reasoning, along with the oft repeated assertion by top policy officials that ‘Africans simply aren’t interested in democracy!” serve the purpose of upholding the United States’ strong relations with some of the most brutal and non-democratic dictators in Africa. The Solidarity Movement may be serving notice that the African immigrant community is no longer going to accept idioms from the U.S. policymakers while consciously seeking to avoid being divided and easily conquered.
One of the pillars of U.S. policy to towards Africa as articulated by President Obama is promoting and strengthening democracy. As the President said in his first major address on Africa in Ghana, “This is about more than holding elections – it’s also about what happens between them. … No person wants to live in a society where the rule of law gives way to the rule of brutality and bribery. That is not democracy that is tyranny, and now is the time for it to end.” While all African human rights activists are in total agreement with this sentiment, it is extremely doubtful that an administration official will attend this particular rally. This is because President Obama is continuing the Bush administrations policy of supporting Ethiopia’s and vehemently anti-democratic dictator Meles Zenawi.
You can tell American audiences how our support for Zenawi serves US military interests while not squaring with our pro-democracy rhetoric, but no one can seriously articulate to Africans how Zenawi’s reign has benefited more than a very small few.
This point highlights the third major difference between the typical rally and this one. The Solidarity Movement is attempting to reach out across the continent. Everyone knows that there is an enormous battle to decide Africa’s future and more particularly, where its resources are going. In fact, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev’s trip to Africa in July was described in U.S. financial newspapers as ‘Russia’s attempt to vie with China and the West for control of [Africa’s] energy and resources.’ As we know from history, African people are not going to negotiate their way into protecting their future, rather their strength is in numbers¾one billion people saying they have had enough.
As lopsided deals are made and more and more of Africa’s most arable and resource rich land is dealt away to secure someone else’ future, it is important for those who care about the future of Africa people attend this march and tell the world that we are tired of the being abused and brutalized, tired of living in fear for loved ones, tired of political inaction and nonsensical policy statements giving pretense to opposing the status quo while all along supporting it and tired of being lied to. Maybe this will be the catalyst for transformational change that Africa really needs.
…………………………………….
Andinet Support Chapters in Europe Endorsed the DC March
Press Release
Calls on all Members, Partners and Others to Participate
We, members of the Interim Task Force of Andenet Support Chapters in Europe fully endorse the upcoming “March to Stop Genocide and Dictatorship in Ethiopia/Africa in Washington D.C., scheduled for September 13, 2009 in front of the United States Capitol.
Ethiopians and friends of Ethiopia around the world have for a while now been protesting against the injustice and repression unleashed by the repressive regime of Ethiopia on its citizens. Following the controversial election of 2005 stolen by the ruling repressive regime there has been steady erosion civil and human rights as the result of deliberate action of a regime, which stands on the wrong side of history.
Human Rights watch and other independent organisations reported on a catalogue of gross violations of human rights in Ethiopia, where thousands are incarcerated with out due process for just having a different views from the ruling party, while those living outside prison gates are not allowed to exercise their universal rights of speech, assembly and to elect their leaders. Membership of the ruling party has become a condition for rights to college education and job opportunities.
In a country with over 6 million people requiring emergency aid, food aid is being used as political instrument to starve people in need but oppose the regime in power for not respecting their basic rights, while acres of fertile land is sold to foreign highest bidders.
On 23 March 2009, Genocide Watch wrote to the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to initiate an investigation against the government of P.M. Meles Zenawi for atrocities committed in Gambela against the Anuaks and ethnic Somalis in the Ogaden.
The recent draconian civil society law and the bill restricting the activities of charity organisation (both local and foreign) are designed to silence independent voices from reporting repressive activities of the regime and the plight of innocent citizens.
The kidnap and re-arrest of Birtukan Midekssa - Chairperson of Unity for Democracy and Justice Party (aka Andenet) on 29th December 2008 for life imprisonment is the latest evidence of a regime which operates in an entrenched culture of impunity.
We are outraged by the level of repressions innocent citizens had to endure under the paranoid regime in Ethiopia and call up on the free nations of the world and their leaders to stand with the Ethiopian people, condemn the act if the tyrant regime in Ethiopia and demand respect for human rights and the rule of law.
Interim Task Force of Andenet Support Chapters in Europe.
…………………………………….
Andinet North America Endorsed the DC March
PRESS RELEASE
Marching for Freedom
Andinet
North America Association of Support
Organizations (ANAASO) is actively working with the March 4 Freedom alliance and other
organizations to expose the gross human rights abuses occurring in Ethiopia and the unjust and illegal re-imprisonment of its leader, Ms Birtukan Mideksa, and other prisoners of conscience. ANAASO supports and gives its full endorsement to this national rally for freedom and justice. The march, scheduled for Sunday September 13, 2009 in Washington DC, is attended by diverse organizations and people of all ages, races, religions, and political affiliations.
The march aims to:
• Unify Ethiopians, other Africans, African-Americans, Americans of any color and others of any
nationality by coming together as human beings first; not as people of a certain ethnicity, color,
political view, religion, region, country of origin, gender, viewpoint, educational level, economic
class or any other distinction, but as people who care about justice, peace and reconciliation.
• Bring the world attention to the gross human rights abuses, tyranny and oppression of Ethiopians under the current brutal government of Meles Zenawi as well as in other countries in the Horn of Africa and in Africa as a whole where similar conditions exist.
• Let the Obama administration and other donor countries to Ethiopia and Africa see solidarity among freedom and justice loving people who want genuine change in Africa.
ANAASO calls on its chapter organizations, members, and supporters to show their solidarity with the people of Ethiopia and all prisoners of conscience by joining this march to stop Genocide and Dictatorship in Ethiopia.
ANAASO calls on the Ethiopian government to immediately release Ms Birtukan Mideksa and all other prisoners of conscience, respect the rule of law, and stop its intimidation and harassment of its citizens.
ANAASO further calls on the international community to stop supporting a regime that stands convicted of wholesome human rights violations, rigged elections, and extra-judicial killings.
ANAASO welcomes the opportunity to work together with such distinguished organizations in the struggle to build a better Ethiopia where its people live in peace as equals and the rule of law reigns supreme.
…………………………………….
Unity for
Human Rights and Democracy Toronto Endorses
“March to Stop Genocide and Dictatorship in Ethiopia/Africa”
No one would ever deny that the suffering of our people in the hands of Meles Zenawi and his gang has worsened day by day. Tyranny in its worst shape and form has subjected our people to unprecedented misery. We are witnessing apartheid like system controlling the daily lives of the people. They are forced to be part of their Stasi security system against their wishes. Students, teachers, civil servants, urban dwellers and farmers are given the choice of signing up for one of the ethno centric groups. Otherwise, they are destined to lose their jobs, right to attend schools, shelters and plot of land. Meles Zenawi is busy with the mass indoctrination of our productive sector of the population, with his archaic communist ideology. Similarly, the mass recruitment measure the regime is tirelessly implementing is part of creating a police state where fundamental rights of citizens are in jeopardy
Open Letter to the Ethiopian Religious Community
www.nazrett.com Home of Ethiopian News and Blog Breaking News
Prologue to my letter:
I warmly greet all of our esteemed members of the Ethiopian
religious community. I am coming to you with a plea for your help. If I am wrong in certain areas in what I am about to say, I apologize to you in advance and welcome your correction. I hope I am wrong on many points and will be uplifted by your real life examples; however, I must raise my genuine concerns out of love and fear for the people of Ethiopia. This does not mean I am perfect, which I freely admit I am not; however, I must sound an alarm for
Ethiopia. Our people need our religious leaders more than ever—for we are stumbling downward towards destruction.
Your brother,
Obang
Ethiopia: An Endangered People
Ethiopia is in great peril? Where are you? I cannot hear your voices speaking on behalf of the suffering people. I cannot hear your voices, warning those who are using their power, position or money to oppress the people, to repent of their ways. Where is your condemnation of violence, deceit, bribery, corruption, intimidation, exploitation, ethnic hatred, attitudes of ethnic superiority or cronyism? Who will tell us we must turn from our ways or we will reap the natural consequences of our own immoral choices which are already destroying Ethiopia. Ethiopians need the kind of help only God can give, but only if people turn back to Him. Some will listen, but who will tell them? We do not have time to wait! The looming signs of disaster are everywhere!
Are you seeing the hunger and hearing about projections that 2009 will be a repeat of 1984 when a million Ethiopians died of hunger? Already, 16 million Ethiopians are said to be in need of food aid—what will happen by the end of the year? Have you heard that the Meles regime is minimizing the need in fear of it becoming politically damaging?
Are you hearing about the new reports assessing the numbers of internally displaced Ethiopians to be in the hundreds of thousands? Many of these are people who were driven from their homes due to human rights abuses and the destruction of homes and property, committed by our own government?
Are you hearing about the poor who cannot find jobs, shelter or food so they end up homeless on the streets, begging or sometimes selling their bodies—just to survive? Among them are thousands of orphaned children who have no loving mother or father to hold them in their arms or sing to them as they cry from hunger. They have no one to protect them from those—sometimes from other countries—wanting to exploit them. Some of them are now sick, or have already died, from contaminated water as an already limited sanitation system can never meet the needs of all these homeless.
Are you hearing about the plights of those who have run from the country, looking for safety, jobs, education or opportunity? Many have encountered death on the sea. Some have been promised jobs in Arab countries; ending up as “slave laborers,” with no rights, but instead, being sexually exploited.
Are you aware that Western experts have called Ethiopia a “time bomb,” waiting to explode into violence and killing due to the ethnic hatred, anger towards a brutal and repressive government, economic desperation and the overall lack of hope. Are you worried that Ethiopia could be the next Rwanda as the destructive ethnically divisive policies of this regime implode?
Are you worried about what kind of alternative leadership we should have if this regime falls abruptly? Will it be any better? Are you worried about finding leaders who will put the interests of the people and the country ahead of ego, greed and self-interest?
Are you asking where the voices of reason, morality and reconciliation are that are needed to calm any chaos and help us find healing from the damage of the last years?
Are you concerned that our most fertile land is being sold or leased to foreign countries? Are you concerned that most of the farms that used to produce our food, are now growing flowers and non-food crops when Ethiopians are starving?
Are you aware of the pollution from of the lakes and rivers, like Lake Koka in Oromiya and the Awash River in the Afar region that are poisoning the people who are dependent on them for water?
Are you aware that in order to get into college, to get a job, to get a business, to get fertilizer, good seed, land or most anything that would better your life in Ethiopia, you have to be a member of the EPRDF?
Are you aware that the Meles regime gives guns and a free pass on accountability to government security forces who pose as others while attacking and killing?
Are you aware that others are then accused and held accountable, intensifying ethnic hostilities and sometimes justifying counter-insurgency attacks through these “false flag” operations?
Are you concerned about the increasing religious tension between the Christians and Muslims where such tensions never existed before the Meles regime?
Did you not know how we used to live in tolerance and respect for each other, unlike in other places in the world
Why are you not speaking up or teaching us to a better way? I am asking because I cannot hear the morally outraged voices of our religious leaders over what is happening? What would Jesus say? Who will speak for Jesus? If Mohammed was alive, what would he say? Who will speak for Mohammed? Where are the words of warning and the calls to repentance? Why is our religious
community not warning us about eating from the poison apple of ethnic hate? Why is our
religious community not calling us to care for the children, the vulnerable, the poor and the wayfarer? Why is our religious community not condemning injustice and human rights crimes? Why is the religious community not calling us to truth, honesty and integrity in all our dealings—even when no one is watching? Why is the religious community not warning those who are robbing and exploiting others?
Is it wrong when you gain wealth, power, position or “success” by cheating, bribing or destroying others through unethical deals, smear campaigns, selling out on others or simply because of your ethnicity, religion or “pro-government sympathies? Where are the religious leaders who should be telling us that life here on earth is short—that we will all ultimately face the judgment by our Creator God who sees all?
Please forgive me for speaking so strongly about this, for I know I have also failed at many points; however, I am in great fear that without exercise, the muscles of our faith, our conscience and our moral obedience to the universal natural laws of God, have gotten flabby with disuse—just when we need it the most!
I am fervently calling on our religious leaders to please be courageous, bold and outspoken in your faith by condemning the wrongs in our lives and in our society; calling to account not only our leaders, but each of us as individuals. What is hurting Ethiopia comes out of the darkness of our hearts before it ever reaches its victims. Those victims always include ourselves. We need to be warned and humbled like never before if we are going to avert this impending disaster!
Your role is not grounded in what people want to hear, but on what is true, what is right and what is honoring to God. We the people seek increased faith, hope and encouragement, but we also need reproof and correction. This is a time when God can empower religious leaders to awaken the conscience of a society, calling both leaders and people to prayer, repentance, action and transformation.
This is a time when religious leaders can impact a society which has forgotten about kindness and mercy, about truth and integrity, about forgiveness and asking for forgiveness, about saying the hard words of reality rather than the mushy words of flattery and false illusions. What is going on is wrong and we can never fix it by pretending it is not there! Our fear should not hold us back or it may be too late.
As the ethnic tensions are rising, I am not hearing or seeing religious leaders calling for reaching out to others; instead, our churches, mosques and synagogues too often become divided by ethnicity, politics, clan or village. Now, as I am writing this, I just read about one very positive example in Atlanta where divided people were able to come together for the first time in years to celebrate the opening of a newly built church. Here is an excerpt from the article:
Leaders of various Ethiopian Orthodox churches in Atlanta but with opposing views on church matters brushed their differences aside for the day and celebrated the inaugural ceremony together in the name of peace and love. Abune Melke-Sadik of Oakland, in his teaching on Sunday said: “Jesus Christ was asked a question by his disciples… ‘Where shall we find Thee?’” Jesus replied to all, “Wherever you converged in the name of love, I will be amongst yourself.” So was the motto and the driving force that brought those church leaders whom had never seen each other for years, together at the compound of the new St. Mary Church in Atlanta. Priests from Eritrean and Tigrean churches were also present during the grand opening ceremony. Though not in its entirety, the gesture was viewed by many as exemplary and wished long lasting peace and reconciliation for the people. #Indeed, as one elder noted, the day was “a day of redemption” for many.
I hope many other examples like these continue to surface for we Ethiopians need to learn to be loving towards one another, both inside and outside of our groups. To be human means to have a soul. Our spiritual leaders should be encouraging the care and healing of our souls, helping us to establish a vibrant relationship with God and with our fellow human beings.
If Jesus or Mohammed visited Ethiopia tomorrow and saw the dying in the streets and the lack of love, what would he say to religious leaders who said, “This is all about politics and I don’t want to be involved?” What does it mean to truly be follower of Jesus, of Mohammed or Yahweh? Are our religious services, rituals, sacrifices, fasting and prayer enough or do we need to bear fruit?
What has happened that our religion is kept in the churches, the mosques or the synagogues? Why is it that our religious leaders are not talking to one another about finding moral solutions even if you hold different beliefs? People are suffering and looking up to their religious leaders for direction. They need to hear the truth, not only what the Meles regime wants them to hear? Who should be listened to—God or Meles? On that note, who will warn Meles and others around him to change their ways?
Have you heard that desperate Ethiopians are going to their churches, mosques and synagogues in huge and increasing numbers; praying to God as their only hope; not fully understanding that God can empower each of them to do extraordinary things, but not if they if they refuse to speak the truth, repent of their ways and to be individually transformed. Religious leaders can model the way, shepherding, inspiring and encouraging the people to act on their faith.
Throughout history, it has been leaders of moral strength and integrity who have warned people and nations, calling them back to fear God and to stop oppressing others. Look at some of the most famous modern day leaders like Martin Luther King, Jr, like Desmond Tutu, Mahatma Ghandi and the Dalai Lama who have called people to greater moral conviction.
Yet, it is not only about well known leaders, but it is sometimes a quiet, unknown, but strongly principled follower of the faith, whose actions will begin a river of blessing that will reach far beyond what they could have imagined. Ethiopia is thirsty for such leaders. Will you be one of them?
Do not go through the outer rituals of religious devotion, pretending that hunger, ethnic hatred, injustice and tyranny do not exist. Others depend on you for guidance, but if the “world” of Christian, Muslim or Jewish religious leaders refuses to confront evil and suffering, keeping on blinders to the real world, the people will find themselves facing the harsh realities of life alone. A healthy Ethiopia is not possible without a strong and vibrant religious leadership who put faith and duties to God above all else. Only then will we learn how to fear God and His universal moral law that calls us to love and protect one another in word and indeed.
The Solidarity Movement for a New Ethiopia, whose principles are “humanity before ethnicity” and “no one is free until all are free,” was formed to be the voice of the people and to bring greater solidarity among them.
One thing the Solidarity Movement for a New Ethiopia (SMNE) to hold a National Reconciliation conference to work together towards creating a healthier, more reconciled and more respectful society towards everyone, regardless of ethnicity, political view, language, color, gender, region or religion. This should be followed by a conference for Ethiopian women and youth.
Immediate Action Step: Next week, Ethiopians from all over will join with other justice-loving people for the March to Stop Genocide and Dictatorship in Ethiopia, the Horn of Africa and Africa. I am asking all religious leaders and followers who read this letter to encourage those in your religious communities to come. This march is about our survival. This march is about restoring God’s moral law that gives freedom, justice, equality and respect for human rights to all people. This march is about accepting one another and starting the process of reconciliation in a country where wounds, wrongs and grievances abound. We Ethiopians need strong moral leaders to speak up.
In closing, if you think I am wrong about some of this that applies to your own or others’ situations, please correct me. On the other hand, if I see horrific warning signs of a possible disaster in Ethiopia and I do nothing, I stand accountable before God and man. If our divisions, desperation, oppression and anger could set off a time bomb of destruction in Ethiopia; let us face it now. The Ethiopian people are expecting religious leaders to do something! No longer can any of us use the excuse that we did not know! Now, we all know!
May God change the course we are on and heal this country. May God free Ethiopians from the chains of fear, making them bold and courageous and strengthening their hands to do His good work! May He start a moral revolution in our hearts and minds, where we can converge in love in the name of brotherhood, sisterhood and humanity.
Prologue to my letter:
I warmly greet all of our esteemed members of the Ethiopian
religious community. I am coming to you with a plea for your help. If I am wrong in certain areas in what I am about to say, I apologize to you in advance and welcome your correction. I hope I am wrong on many points and will be uplifted by your real life examples; however, I must raise my genuine concerns out of love and fear for the people of Ethiopia. This does not mean I am perfect, which I freely admit I am not; however, I must sound an alarm for
Ethiopia. Our people need our religious leaders more than ever—for we are stumbling downward towards destruction.
Your brother,
Obang
Ethiopia: An Endangered People
Ethiopia is in great peril? Where are you? I cannot hear your voices speaking on behalf of the suffering people. I cannot hear your voices, warning those who are using their power, position or money to oppress the people, to repent of their ways. Where is your condemnation of violence, deceit, bribery, corruption, intimidation, exploitation, ethnic hatred, attitudes of ethnic superiority or cronyism? Who will tell us we must turn from our ways or we will reap the natural consequences of our own immoral choices which are already destroying Ethiopia. Ethiopians need the kind of help only God can give, but only if people turn back to Him. Some will listen, but who will tell them? We do not have time to wait! The looming signs of disaster are everywhere!
Are you seeing the hunger and hearing about projections that 2009 will be a repeat of 1984 when a million Ethiopians died of hunger? Already, 16 million Ethiopians are said to be in need of food aid—what will happen by the end of the year? Have you heard that the Meles regime is minimizing the need in fear of it becoming politically damaging?
Are you hearing about the new reports assessing the numbers of internally displaced Ethiopians to be in the hundreds of thousands? Many of these are people who were driven from their homes due to human rights abuses and the destruction of homes and property, committed by our own government?
Are you hearing about the poor who cannot find jobs, shelter or food so they end up homeless on the streets, begging or sometimes selling their bodies—just to survive? Among them are thousands of orphaned children who have no loving mother or father to hold them in their arms or sing to them as they cry from hunger. They have no one to protect them from those—sometimes from other countries—wanting to exploit them. Some of them are now sick, or have already died, from contaminated water as an already limited sanitation system can never meet the needs of all these homeless.
Are you hearing about the plights of those who have run from the country, looking for safety, jobs, education or opportunity? Many have encountered death on the sea. Some have been promised jobs in Arab countries; ending up as “slave laborers,” with no rights, but instead, being sexually exploited.
Are you aware that Western experts have called Ethiopia a “time bomb,” waiting to explode into violence and killing due to the ethnic hatred, anger towards a brutal and repressive government, economic desperation and the overall lack of hope. Are you worried that Ethiopia could be the next Rwanda as the destructive ethnically divisive policies of this regime implode?
Are you worried about what kind of alternative leadership we should have if this regime falls abruptly? Will it be any better? Are you worried about finding leaders who will put the interests of the people and the country ahead of ego, greed and self-interest?
Are you asking where the voices of reason, morality and reconciliation are that are needed to calm any chaos and help us find healing from the damage of the last years?
Are you concerned that our most fertile land is being sold or leased to foreign countries? Are you concerned that most of the farms that used to produce our food, are now growing flowers and non-food crops when Ethiopians are starving?
Are you aware of the pollution from of the lakes and rivers, like Lake Koka in Oromiya and the Awash River in the Afar region that are poisoning the people who are dependent on them for water?
Are you aware that in order to get into college, to get a job, to get a business, to get fertilizer, good seed, land or most anything that would better your life in Ethiopia, you have to be a member of the EPRDF?
Are you aware that the Meles regime gives guns and a free pass on accountability to government security forces who pose as others while attacking and killing?
Are you aware that others are then accused and held accountable, intensifying ethnic hostilities and sometimes justifying counter-insurgency attacks through these “false flag” operations?
Are you concerned about the increasing religious tension between the Christians and Muslims where such tensions never existed before the Meles regime?
Did you not know how we used to live in tolerance and respect for each other, unlike in other places in the world
Why are you not speaking up or teaching us to a better way? I am asking because I cannot hear the morally outraged voices of our religious leaders over what is happening? What would Jesus say? Who will speak for Jesus? If Mohammed was alive, what would he say? Who will speak for Mohammed? Where are the words of warning and the calls to repentance? Why is our religious
community not warning us about eating from the poison apple of ethnic hate? Why is our
religious community not calling us to care for the children, the vulnerable, the poor and the wayfarer? Why is our religious community not condemning injustice and human rights crimes? Why is the religious community not calling us to truth, honesty and integrity in all our dealings—even when no one is watching? Why is the religious community not warning those who are robbing and exploiting others?
Is it wrong when you gain wealth, power, position or “success” by cheating, bribing or destroying others through unethical deals, smear campaigns, selling out on others or simply because of your ethnicity, religion or “pro-government sympathies? Where are the religious leaders who should be telling us that life here on earth is short—that we will all ultimately face the judgment by our Creator God who sees all?
Please forgive me for speaking so strongly about this, for I know I have also failed at many points; however, I am in great fear that without exercise, the muscles of our faith, our conscience and our moral obedience to the universal natural laws of God, have gotten flabby with disuse—just when we need it the most!
I am fervently calling on our religious leaders to please be courageous, bold and outspoken in your faith by condemning the wrongs in our lives and in our society; calling to account not only our leaders, but each of us as individuals. What is hurting Ethiopia comes out of the darkness of our hearts before it ever reaches its victims. Those victims always include ourselves. We need to be warned and humbled like never before if we are going to avert this impending disaster!
Your role is not grounded in what people want to hear, but on what is true, what is right and what is honoring to God. We the people seek increased faith, hope and encouragement, but we also need reproof and correction. This is a time when God can empower religious leaders to awaken the conscience of a society, calling both leaders and people to prayer, repentance, action and transformation.
This is a time when religious leaders can impact a society which has forgotten about kindness and mercy, about truth and integrity, about forgiveness and asking for forgiveness, about saying the hard words of reality rather than the mushy words of flattery and false illusions. What is going on is wrong and we can never fix it by pretending it is not there! Our fear should not hold us back or it may be too late.
As the ethnic tensions are rising, I am not hearing or seeing religious leaders calling for reaching out to others; instead, our churches, mosques and synagogues too often become divided by ethnicity, politics, clan or village. Now, as I am writing this, I just read about one very positive example in Atlanta where divided people were able to come together for the first time in years to celebrate the opening of a newly built church. Here is an excerpt from the article:
Leaders of various Ethiopian Orthodox churches in Atlanta but with opposing views on church matters brushed their differences aside for the day and celebrated the inaugural ceremony together in the name of peace and love. Abune Melke-Sadik of Oakland, in his teaching on Sunday said: “Jesus Christ was asked a question by his disciples… ‘Where shall we find Thee?’” Jesus replied to all, “Wherever you converged in the name of love, I will be amongst yourself.” So was the motto and the driving force that brought those church leaders whom had never seen each other for years, together at the compound of the new St. Mary Church in Atlanta. Priests from Eritrean and Tigrean churches were also present during the grand opening ceremony. Though not in its entirety, the gesture was viewed by many as exemplary and wished long lasting peace and reconciliation for the people. #Indeed, as one elder noted, the day was “a day of redemption” for many.
I hope many other examples like these continue to surface for we Ethiopians need to learn to be loving towards one another, both inside and outside of our groups. To be human means to have a soul. Our spiritual leaders should be encouraging the care and healing of our souls, helping us to establish a vibrant relationship with God and with our fellow human beings.
If Jesus or Mohammed visited Ethiopia tomorrow and saw the dying in the streets and the lack of love, what would he say to religious leaders who said, “This is all about politics and I don’t want to be involved?” What does it mean to truly be follower of Jesus, of Mohammed or Yahweh? Are our religious services, rituals, sacrifices, fasting and prayer enough or do we need to bear fruit?
What has happened that our religion is kept in the churches, the mosques or the synagogues? Why is it that our religious leaders are not talking to one another about finding moral solutions even if you hold different beliefs? People are suffering and looking up to their religious leaders for direction. They need to hear the truth, not only what the Meles regime wants them to hear? Who should be listened to—God or Meles? On that note, who will warn Meles and others around him to change their ways?
Have you heard that desperate Ethiopians are going to their churches, mosques and synagogues in huge and increasing numbers; praying to God as their only hope; not fully understanding that God can empower each of them to do extraordinary things, but not if they if they refuse to speak the truth, repent of their ways and to be individually transformed. Religious leaders can model the way, shepherding, inspiring and encouraging the people to act on their faith.
Throughout history, it has been leaders of moral strength and integrity who have warned people and nations, calling them back to fear God and to stop oppressing others. Look at some of the most famous modern day leaders like Martin Luther King, Jr, like Desmond Tutu, Mahatma Ghandi and the Dalai Lama who have called people to greater moral conviction.
Yet, it is not only about well known leaders, but it is sometimes a quiet, unknown, but strongly principled follower of the faith, whose actions will begin a river of blessing that will reach far beyond what they could have imagined. Ethiopia is thirsty for such leaders. Will you be one of them?
Do not go through the outer rituals of religious devotion, pretending that hunger, ethnic hatred, injustice and tyranny do not exist. Others depend on you for guidance, but if the “world” of Christian, Muslim or Jewish religious leaders refuses to confront evil and suffering, keeping on blinders to the real world, the people will find themselves facing the harsh realities of life alone. A healthy Ethiopia is not possible without a strong and vibrant religious leadership who put faith and duties to God above all else. Only then will we learn how to fear God and His universal moral law that calls us to love and protect one another in word and indeed.
The Solidarity Movement for a New Ethiopia, whose principles are “humanity before ethnicity” and “no one is free until all are free,” was formed to be the voice of the people and to bring greater solidarity among them.
One thing the Solidarity Movement for a New Ethiopia (SMNE) to hold a National Reconciliation conference to work together towards creating a healthier, more reconciled and more respectful society towards everyone, regardless of ethnicity, political view, language, color, gender, region or religion. This should be followed by a conference for Ethiopian women and youth.
Immediate Action Step: Next week, Ethiopians from all over will join with other justice-loving people for the March to Stop Genocide and Dictatorship in Ethiopia, the Horn of Africa and Africa. I am asking all religious leaders and followers who read this letter to encourage those in your religious communities to come. This march is about our survival. This march is about restoring God’s moral law that gives freedom, justice, equality and respect for human rights to all people. This march is about accepting one another and starting the process of reconciliation in a country where wounds, wrongs and grievances abound. We Ethiopians need strong moral leaders to speak up.
In closing, if you think I am wrong about some of this that applies to your own or others’ situations, please correct me. On the other hand, if I see horrific warning signs of a possible disaster in Ethiopia and I do nothing, I stand accountable before God and man. If our divisions, desperation, oppression and anger could set off a time bomb of destruction in Ethiopia; let us face it now. The Ethiopian people are expecting religious leaders to do something! No longer can any of us use the excuse that we did not know! Now, we all know!
May God change the course we are on and heal this country. May God free Ethiopians from the chains of fear, making them bold and courageous and strengthening their hands to do His good work! May He start a moral revolution in our hearts and minds, where we can converge in love in the name of brotherhood, sisterhood and humanity.
Ethiopia sees bumper coffee harvest in 2009/10
www.nazrett.com Home of Ethiopian News and Blog Breaking News
By Tsegaye Tadesse
ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - Ethiopia, Africa's biggest coffee producer, expects a bumper harvest in 2009/10 thanks to good rains after export revenues fell 28 percent in June/July 2008/09 due to drought and the global economic slowdown.
"Preliminary assessment indicated the country would produce much more than the estimated annual production of 330,000 tonnes in 2009/10," Tarekgne Tisgie, a spokesman for the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, told Reuters on Wednesday.
The Horn of Africa nation exported 133,992 tonnes of beans worth $376 million in 2008/09, down sharply from 170,888 tonnes that earned $525.2 million the previous season, officials say.
"The volume exported and income generated was markedly less than last year due to the global economic crisis and drought which affected some parts of the country," Tarekgne said.
Ethiopia's coffee sector got a major boost last week when Japan said it was willing to resume importing large quantities as long as the authorities in Addis Ababa guaranteed the quality and safety of the beans.
Tokyo stopped buying Ethiopian coffee in 2006/07 after beans were found to contain harmful chemicals. Japan had bought more than 29,000 tonnes worth $84 million during that 2006/07 season.
"The problems that we had with Japan are nearly over," Tarekgne said, adding the Ethiopian government hoped to export as much as 30,000 tonnes to Japanese buyers in 2009/10.
Ethiopia prides itself as the birthplace of coffee. Some 15 million smallholder farmers grow the beans, mostly in the misty forested highlands of its western and southwestern regions.
By Tsegaye Tadesse
ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - Ethiopia, Africa's biggest coffee producer, expects a bumper harvest in 2009/10 thanks to good rains after export revenues fell 28 percent in June/July 2008/09 due to drought and the global economic slowdown.
"Preliminary assessment indicated the country would produce much more than the estimated annual production of 330,000 tonnes in 2009/10," Tarekgne Tisgie, a spokesman for the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, told Reuters on Wednesday.
The Horn of Africa nation exported 133,992 tonnes of beans worth $376 million in 2008/09, down sharply from 170,888 tonnes that earned $525.2 million the previous season, officials say.
"The volume exported and income generated was markedly less than last year due to the global economic crisis and drought which affected some parts of the country," Tarekgne said.
Ethiopia's coffee sector got a major boost last week when Japan said it was willing to resume importing large quantities as long as the authorities in Addis Ababa guaranteed the quality and safety of the beans.
Tokyo stopped buying Ethiopian coffee in 2006/07 after beans were found to contain harmful chemicals. Japan had bought more than 29,000 tonnes worth $84 million during that 2006/07 season.
"The problems that we had with Japan are nearly over," Tarekgne said, adding the Ethiopian government hoped to export as much as 30,000 tonnes to Japanese buyers in 2009/10.
Ethiopia prides itself as the birthplace of coffee. Some 15 million smallholder farmers grow the beans, mostly in the misty forested highlands of its western and southwestern regions.
Gaza, updated over the past four years
Gaza, September 9, 2009 (Pal Telegraph)- Many of the world's non-Arab countries-across Europe and the U.S., even Arabs, have associated the name "Gaza" with wars, weapons, explosions, blood, poverty, anarchy...and recently with the in-fighting and the trails of destruction wrought by Israel's recent assault.
Plain Words, but Painful Reality!
Gaza is a small coastal enclave, approximately 26 miles long and 6 miles wide. The Gaza Strip is one of the most densely populated areas in the world. Under normal circumstances, Gaza used to stagger under the burden of supporting for its inhabitants. More than half of its population are refugees, forced out of the historical Palestine during the war in 1948 (al-Nakba).
Gaza is fragile to be on its own. Before the mid-June 2007 when Israel started closing borders, Gaza had mainly been depending on the Israeli economics. Three months later, the Israeli government declared the Gaza Strip as "hostile entity", and therefore decided to take more rigorous procedures that would very much tighten the siege. Since then, Gaza has indeed been severed from the outer world, and life has gradually been deteriorating until the very present moment...
Gaza's normal signs of life no longer exist....
over the past two years, people have been made to live under different kinds of suffering; they have been denied the right to free movement caused by the shutdown of borders. Either for urgent treatment, studying or trade, Israel wouldn't budge! Health system has been suffering from a sharp shortage of medications and medical equipment. Important types of medicines in stock are next to zero, and many of the life-giving medical devices broke down due to the repeated power failure and the intricacy of getting new units installed. Because of these critical medical conditions, the number of victims has been daily on the increase.
Similarly, Business and economic sections have been completely incapacitated, and therefore this has led to a dangerous stagnation in all dynamic components of life. As a result, the majority of the populace are now poverty-stricken since there is no sustainable source of livelihood.
Well worse is the crisis of electricity. We all probably remember the moment Gaza was clad in absolute darkness when Israeli airplanes had destroyed Gaza's only power plant in June 2006. Since the destruction, the Gaza Strip has been continually crumbling under the brunt of the electricity cut.
What made things much worse is the siege that followed. And now because of the siege, there is little limited amounts of fuel being allowed to operate Gaza's power plant, and most often people have to take turns. Most people have power cuts of at least 8 hours per day; some do not have electricity for long as 12 hours a day. And obviously this is not enough to maintain a respectable human life.
Crushed Hope:
This is no Hollywood-even the most laudable Hollywood filmmakers ever could not be able to put what is happening in Gaza into a movie. Seldom have a people experienced such an affliction! Gazans do not even have access to basic necessities of life. People seem to have forgotten the thought of any possible improvement as they have touched no auspicious signs of hope. As flagrantly violating all human rights, Israel continues to unjustly practice its offensive policy against the Palestinians.
This cadaverous prospect has been further swelled by Israel's latest ferocious assault on the Gaza Strip, which left nearly 1,500 dead and more than 5000 injured, mostly civilians, let alone the extensive destruction of Gaza infrastructure. Up to 2011 building were destroyed, houses, schools, public & private facilities and mosques included. Even the normal practices of life were targeted as some of the wedding halls were also completely destroyed.
Now it has been 8 months since the Israel's pogrom ended, and life has never been any worse as the blockade is being instantly intensified. The Gaza Strip has not yet had a chance to recover as the much-needed goods & items-especially building materials, are not allowed in by Israeli authorities. Without houses, people have had to live miserably in tents provided by UNRWA.
And this is 2009:
The succession of agony has not yet stopped. People still live in the prison of Gaza. Israel still adamantly closes the borders and controls the passing of everything... Nothing has been changed, actually...
Ramadan, the Holy Month, is received as a joyous religious occasion by the Arab world, but the case is different in the Gaza Strip. Muslim countries but Gaza are now illuminated by Ramadan's special imbuement. This year, Ramadan seasonal features exist no more; markets have run low on Ramadan goods and items, and people have no financial means to purchase Ramadan's basics. At sunset, for example, families sit happily around Ramadan feasts and enjoy Ramadan's sacred gathering. But in Gaza, people have lost the taste of Ramadan; they suffer daily from power cut as they gather for iftar (the fast-breaking meal).
Gaza families are still reminiscent of Israel's latest bloody offensive; they have deep sorrow over the lost beloved ones. Its impact has been collectively devastating, and it is extremely difficult for people to recuperate. It is heart-breaking to see a grief-stricken family or a teary mother looking at the empty place where her son used to sit before the Israeli war machine murdered him.
Children are no less sad than adults, and living conditions haven't been any easy on them. Previously in Ramadan, markets used to be teeming with Ramadan toys-Ramadan fanous in particular(a small lantern, lit by a tiny light. Now they have been unable to get these toys because of the siege. However, they have managed to fashion handmade ones-it could be a can of cola with its bottom nail-pierced, lit by a small candle.
What a coincidence! This year's Ramadan has coincided with the new school year. As you know, this is a yearly event which needs special preparations. As nothing could pass in such as stationery & school uniform, students have been forced to go to schools with their old belongings, fortunate enough if not lost during the war...
Mohammed S. El-Nadi
Ethiopian troops gain new ground in Somalia
www.nazrett.com Home of Ethiopian News and Blog Breaking News
(GIN)—Ethiopian troops are holding a strategic town in Somalia, say eyewitnesses, raising fears that the U.N.-supported government in Mogadishu is relying on unpopular foreign forces where its hold is weak.
Hundreds of Ethiopian soldiers reportedly entered the key town of Beletwein, the capital of Hiran region over the weekend but appear now to be retreating towards the Somalia-Ethiopia international border, witnesses said.
The development prompted the local governor to announce last week that his regional administration would no longer be part of Somalia’s Transitional Federal Government.
Sheikh Abdirahman Ibrahim Ma’ow, the Islamist governor of Hiran region, criticized the U.N.-backed government at a recent press conference, saying it was weak and had “failed to implement Shari’ah law.” “Hiran region is not prepared for war,” he said, adding: “We do not support the presence of Ethiopian troops.”
(GIN)—Ethiopian troops are holding a strategic town in Somalia, say eyewitnesses, raising fears that the U.N.-supported government in Mogadishu is relying on unpopular foreign forces where its hold is weak.
Hundreds of Ethiopian soldiers reportedly entered the key town of Beletwein, the capital of Hiran region over the weekend but appear now to be retreating towards the Somalia-Ethiopia international border, witnesses said.
The development prompted the local governor to announce last week that his regional administration would no longer be part of Somalia’s Transitional Federal Government.
Sheikh Abdirahman Ibrahim Ma’ow, the Islamist governor of Hiran region, criticized the U.N.-backed government at a recent press conference, saying it was weak and had “failed to implement Shari’ah law.” “Hiran region is not prepared for war,” he said, adding: “We do not support the presence of Ethiopian troops.”
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