MELES' DRAMA

As expected, Meles and Co. sentenced the jailed leaders life in prison. The whole drama of “lets wait to the courts decision” was to make sure these leaders can’t step out of prison with their rights of participating in the country’s politics. In january this year, it was reported that the meles government was trying to get them sign a petition saying that they won’t go back to politics after their release. This ridicules offer was automatically denied by those elected officials in kality. Then meles played his last card, his kangaroo court. A couple of weeks ago, the woyanne ministry of "justice" went on the record saying that Ethiopia doesn’t have a law regarding amnesty. A week or so after he said that, we have Ato Assefa Kesito leading the board of amnesty, what ever that may be.
What we found most laughable was Bereket’s claim on his VOA interview. He said that EPRDF doesn’t fear it’s opposition and the proof for that is the would be release of prisoners. We are just wondering; if the meles government isn’t scared to death of these elected leaders in jail, why bother to strip them off their political rights. Let them free with their full rights, stop intimidating them, and then we believe you are really not afraid of opposition. Ato Bereket is actually known for his illogical answers.The bottom line is: Every one knows the drama that is authored by meles and being played by some poor souls in the government. All citizens inside and out side the country knows it. All westerners know it. They are not fooling anyone. Let us not make the meles drama so colorful by paying undue attention. Let them play their script there. Let us intensify our diplomatic effort here. Every one’s voice counts. Let us raise our voice and say enough is enough.

Commentary on Siye's Release

Siye Abraha, who had been in prison for the last six years due to political reasons, has walked out of prison a few days ago. We all remember that Meles and his rubber stamp parliament came up with a legislation over night just to keep him in prison despite a judge’s order to let him out on bail. We also remember how many times he had to go back and forth between prison and courts for “Yedagnoch alememualat" reasons.
And, finally, the judges “decided” to free him as his sentence is less than the prison time he already served. Are we sympathizing with him? Yes and no. Yes because he was in prison for political reasons and we don’t want to see a soul to go to jail for just holding a different political opinion than the government. Also yes because he was a victim of the bogus judicial system that made a mockery out of him.
But is Siye the only one in Ethiopia who suffered in prison because of his political belief? Absolutely not. As we speak, thousands of Ethiopians are languishing in secret/known prisons with out even having their day in court. There are people from every corner of the country who are in prison for just being suspected of supporting the opposition, be it kinijit or OLF or EPPF or ONLF etc. We don’t hear about them much because they are not famous like Siye and others. We don’t hear about them because they don’t have supporters in or out of the country except their family and friends, who are powerless themselves.
Siye is a victim of the political system that he himself helped to seize power. We hope he had enough time to understand how rotten the country’s political system has become. His recent interview to VOA tigrigna is an indication to that.

We have a message to Siye Supporters:
Because he is out of prison now doesn’t mean justice has prevailed in the country. You have to work hard to make sure no one ever goes to prison for political reasons. You have to work hard to make sure the voices of the voiceless be heard. It is not time to hang the “mission accomplished” sign and go home. The real fight of ensuring a real democracy is ahead of you. Your loyalty should be for the prevalence of democracy in your country not just for a single individual. We hope you understand that and join the rest of us in the struggle for a democratic Ethiopia for all.

What have You done lately?

HR 2003 is re-scheduled for mark-up for July 18th. Have you called, emailed, or faxed your representative yet? If not, what are you waiting for? Pick up your phone and do it right now. This is the least you can do to help the end of dictatorship and the beginning of democracy in your country. You have made a call already? That is good. But how about your family, roommates, classmates, next door neighbors, colleagues at work, people at your mosque or church? Make sure to spread the word and get as many people as possible to contact their representative. Don’t under estimate your contribution. You can really make a difference.Let us join hands and do this right now.

HR 2003

In a country where millions struggle to eat once a day, in a country where millions are dying of minor and serious diseases each day, in a country where cost of living is sky rocketing and citizens’ income is stuck, one would expect the government to do its best to relieve the ever worsening situation. EPRDF, however, continued to ignore the people’s outcry for help. And, rather, has chosen to spend millions of dollars on millennium fiesta, Somalia invasion, military buildup, spying on citizens, and that sort of stuff.

Most of all, EPRDF has chosen to spend thousands of dollars a month for lobbyists. Most of us remember the fate of HR 5680 last season. And now EPRDF and it’s lobbyists in Washington are working day and night to delay HR 2003’s mark up. The thinking here seems that if they can delay it long enough, the congress will be in recess for summer and by the time they come back in the fall, the millennium and all that would be over. What will Meles and Co. get from this? Well, a lot of PR is being done to promote the millennium to divert attentions and to make everyone believe that everything is under control.
We got to wake up and we have to wake up and do some thing now. It only takes a couple of minutes of our time. Email, fax, and/or call your representatives. Do it right now. Do it for the sake of your people suffering from the worst form of dictatorship. Let’s make sure our voices be heard. Let the fight begin!

KIL and KIC ( a personal commentary)

We had intense and lengthy discussions with my fellow contributors of this blog before I finally get a green light to write on this topic. They were concerned not to add a fuel on this already burning issue. I insisted that we aren’t one of those big blogs so we aren’t going to sway anyone to any side. Plus, I argued that what good is our blogging if we can’t use it to vent whatever is inside our chest? Back to my topic.
I believe that at the core of this entire Kinijit International Council (KIC) and Kinijit International Leadership (KIL) saga is the two mediators (Dr. Bezabeh and Shaleqa admassu). When they sign up to take on this responsibility, they should have known that it isn’t gonna be like other mediations they might have ever involved in. This is different because the problem is a combination of personal ego, generation gap and the political thinking difference it entails, the political culture in the diaspora, and all other stuff intertwined. To get through this requires a deep commitment and a dignified personality, which seems lacking here. As mediators, they should have been extra cautious not to be suspected of leaning to any one group. Apparently, they didn’t seem to do that and resulted in making some group to not trust their neutrality. It is true that they aren’t the first shimagles to be blamed for not being impartial. They, however, could have proved their good faith through their work. I instead believe that what they rather did shows they weren’t in for this grand mission in good faith or they weren’t able to contain themselves and got dragged into the argument. Do you think I am being harsh on them? No. It only seemed harsh because I had high expectations for both of them and they failed many others and me miserably. Listen to this interview and tell me if they acted as a respectable shimagle.
Was it really necessary to go on a radio station and say all that stuff about the very people they are trying to mediate? One might think that they are just trying to save their image. But it would have been a lot better if they took their mission their number one priority and ignored whatever had been said on the medias. By responding to accusations, in an inflammatory way, they only complicated the already complicated situation. Plus, Dr. Bezabeh says the 11 people were recommended by kality while it later on was revealed that it was them who sent the list and sought approval. He, Dr Bezabeh, also says in that same interview that Ato kifle is willing to join KIL, which turned out to be untrue.
All in all, regardless of what they have done for the last six some odd months, I think that what they finally ended up doing is a big blow to the unity we all hoped for.
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I had a whole lot to say on Ato Yared’s nuzaze zeyared. But I will just say a couple of things for now and I might return to it some other time, if I need to.
I got to admit that nuzaze zeyared is a wonderfully written piece. I wish I had nothing to disagree with Ato Yared but, unfortunately, I have a lot. Here are just some of them:
-He says that he decided to get involved because he is a good friend of Ato Andargachew and if he is able to convince Andargachew, others will follow.
*What does this say about your opinion of others in KIL? Do you believe they are just blind followers of Andargachew? I believe that was a flawed assumption to begin with.
-He also says that Andargachew (and his group?) believed the leaders release but the other group (including Ato Yared) didn’t.
*How about going the extra mile and hold off the meeting for another week just to prove them wrong. What was special about that week? Andargachew was saying let us wait one more week for their release and most of them back here were saying let the meeting be postponed until the delegates in tour in Australia come back. But it was decided that it should happen that week anyway. What was the rush? It would have been a lot wiser if the meeting was postponed for another week to see the fate of prisoners and also for the delegates in Australia to come back.
-He says that he planned to attend the meeting as an observer but all that reversed in a matter of a day and he ended up attending the meeting as a participant.
*Don’t you think all that happened too quickly? Why was that the shimagles were so determined to form KIC before Ato Hailu goes back to kality (engineer Hailu was in hospital at the time)?
-He criticizes Ato birhane’s “mentoltol” to DC medias. Rather he suggests that Ato birhane and his group should obey the chairman’s decision and continue or leave.
*First, I don’t think using the word “mentoltol” was necessary. Second, they have every right to object a decision that they believed has a tremendous impact on their party being decided in a rush and with out proper discussion among leaders. I don’t know the basis of Ato Hailu’s decision, but trying to make his decision a word from the bible or Quraan on Ato Yared’s part doesn’t seem healthy.
* I feel sorry to say this but Ato Yared seems to have problems with specially Ato birhane. Ato Yared, you might not like what Ato Birhane is doing. But please take your personal differences out of this struggling party. Don’t let your (both groups) personal ego deter you from looking at the bigger picture of saving Ethiopia and its people from the mess we are in.
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May God save Ethiopia!

Prison letters continued

While we are on the topic of inspiring letters from prison, we thought our story wouldn't be complete without posting the letters from our Birmingham-kality- by our Martin Luthers (kinjit leaders).
enjoy and get inspired.
Mesfin woldemariam
mesfin amharic english
mesfin
yacob
prisoners message
gizachew
birtukan amharic english

LETTER FROM BIRMINGHAM JAIL

Martin Luther King Junior was one of the world's prominent peaceful civil disobedience leaders. We don't dare to introduce this well known civil society leader to our readers. We rather wanted to share with you his letter from Birmingham Jail, which transcends the barrier of time and still keeps inspiring those of us who are suffering from various forms of injustices.Even though the letter was originally written in response to a criticism from eight white clergymen of his time, most of the issues he raise in the letter ironically coincide with the current situation in our country. Read the full letter read the short summary

Note: As per a suggestion from a personal freind, we have posted a short review of MLK's letter. Now you have the option to read either the original long letter or the summarized one.

thanks

View Point on Current Issues

The type of mentality EPRDF and its supporters have is so frightening. Unless one thinks the way they want him or her to think, its got to be silenced. Debating or matured dialogue doesn’t seem to belong in their dictionary. Instead of arguing why a certain idea is wrong or right, what they like and know to do is attack the person who came up with it. A couple of weeks ago, Teddy afro gave an interview to addis admass news paper. Apparently, some "organization" that calles itself "Tigrean Youth Association, Addis Ababa Branch" was ticked off with the issues teddy raised in the course of the interview. And what this so called "association" chose to do wasn’t to point out the problems in teddy's argument. Rather, complain why the newspaper dare to publish it. No matter how many times one reads their poorly written letter to addis admas, its impossible to find any mildly convincing reason why they disagree with Teddy. They are an embarrassment to themselves and the youth they claim to represent
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Various news medias have reported that the Meles government and its supporters are spending way too much money to the millennium celebration. Its an opportunity for them to show the world that Ethiopia is a stabilized nation and everything is under control. And its an opportunity for us, the opposition camp, to show the world that the country is far from stabilized and there is deep rooted and repressed resentment toward EPRDF. It is absolutely necessary that we do our homework right in asserting our claim. The millennium is a big opportunity we can't afford to miss.
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Now the Ethiopian North America soccer tournament is underway, we believe that political organizations are using the opportunity to reach many people. We got to be careful here. The diaspora have heard enough empty rhetoric and read countless press releases already. Unless that trend changes and we get back to action, its going to disappoint a whole lot of supporters than we can even imagine.So what we need from our diaspora opposition leaders is: less talk and more tangible action.