I have always had a soft heart to Bekele Gerba. It was not only his charm, I admired his commitment to peaceful struggle. His words, since his previous arrest, were carefully selected to stand for Oromo people without the need of offending others. Today, I read about his latest Afaan Oromo speech in US (translated into Amharic) contrary to the speeches of Bekele I know. I wished this to be ‘fake news’ but different translations sounded the same. This breaks my faith in him; I’m shocked.

OMN: QOPHII ADDAA MARII HAALA YEROO OB. BAQQALAA GARBAA WALAIIN (Caamsa 31, 2018)

By Prof. Alemayehu G. Mariam

(Open Letter Version)

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed
C/o Embassy of Ethiopia
3506 International Dr., NW
Washington, D.C. 20008

Dear Prime Minister Abiy:

Greetings!

I am informed and believe that you will not be visiting the U.S. in early July as part of scheduled events.

I am writing to respectfully request and strongly urge you to maintain your scheduled visit dates in July, if at all possible, to directly engage your legion of supporters and well-wishers in the United States.

Gandhi once said, “You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean, if a few drops of the ocean are dirty not everything in it is dirty.”

You must not lose your faith in the Ethiopian Diaspora in America because we too are an ocean. Indeed, America is an ocean that is home to immigrants from all corners of the planet. We cherish not only our multicultural diversity but also our right to express our opinions with impunity. I should like to believe diversity is the reason the de facto motto of the United States is “E Pluribus Unum”, “Out of many, one.” It is the equivalent of your cherished creed of Ethiopiawinet, “ONE Ethiopia out of many nations, nationalities and peoples”.

As you have consistently demonstrated since you took office in April, you must continue to appeal to our common humanity and Ethiopiawinet which bind us together. You have chosen the path of reconciliation and inclusiveness keeping alive Mandela’s legacy in Ethiopia.

We live in a polarized world where fear and prejudice rule the hearts and minds of human beings. Since taking office, you have taken bold, defiant and courageous steps to win the hearts and minds of the Ethiopian people with uplifting messages of love, understanding, compassion, truth and reconciliation.

Truth be told, those who speak the truth and preach truth to power are often perceived as a threat by those who cannot handle the truth. Goethe said, “There is nothing more frightening than ignorance.” I believe there is nothing more awesome than the power of truth.

In my very first public statement in 2006 when I joined the human rights struggle in Ethiopia, I prophesied  how change will eventually come to Ethiopia. “I believe we prove the righteousness of our cause not in battlefields soaked in blood and filled with corpses, but in the living hearts and thinking minds of men and women of goodwill.”

You have single handedly pulled Ethiopia from the brink of certain bloody civil war and staved off internecine ethnic strife by winning the hearts and minds of Ethiopians of goodwill in the country and in the Diaspora. I am not paying you any special tribute; I am simply stating a fact!

In my first public statement, I also asked a “question of great interest to all of us: Can we — Ethiopians and Ethiopian Americans– make a difference in our homeland while living, working and struggling in America? I shall argue that we can, and in fact, are making a world of difference today.”

On various occasions during the past several weeks, you have answered the question I posed twelve years ago time and  again in the affirmative.

You have unequivocally declared Diaspora Ethiopians are most welcome to return and help their country or provide help from where ever they may be.

You have said Diaspora Ethiopians are free to return and peacefully compete in the political process.

You have invited the Diaspora opposition press to open their headquarters in the country and operate freely.

You have strongly urged reconciliation between Diaspora Ethiopians and their brothers and sisters in Ethiopia.

You have demonstrated your commitment to inclusiveness of Diaspora Ethiopians beyond a shadow of doubt, and in the process you have paid us great respect.

It is written, “Where there is no vision, the people perish.” In my Memorandum No. 4, I wrote, “We in the Diaspora are behind PM Abiy. He must tell us everything as it is. He must tell us his hopes as well as his fears. He must tell us what he can and cannot do. He must tell us how we can help him succeed and what will likely happen if he fails.”

In response to your challenge that Diaspora Ethiopians have a duty to improve the tarnished image of Ethiopia over the past 27 years, I challenged you to do the same because “today you are the public image of Ethiopia. You must continue and intensify your own efforts to project an image of optimism, hope and success about Ethiopia to the world.”

Now, you offered to pay us your respect in person by visiting us in the first week of July tell us about your vision for the New Ethiopia and in the process paint a new portrait of a rising and resilient Ethiopia. Regardless of the unfortunate circumstances, know that legions of your supporters in America could not wait for the opportunity to repay your respect.

The American novelist Ken Kesey back in my day said, “You don’t lead by pointing and telling people some place to go. You lead by going to that place and making a case.”

Over the past 2 months, you have crisscrossed Ethiopia to make the case for the New Ethiopia and to listen to the voice of the people. I applaud you for that because the voice of the people is the voice of God (Vox Populi, Vox Dei.) The goodwill you have generated in these visits has been instrumental in stabilizing the country and inspiring hope for the future of Ethiopia and establish confidence in your extraordinary leadership.

You have also travelled to neighboring countries to secure the release of thousands of captive Ethiopians and to seek greater cooperation for regional peace, stability and cooperation. You have been extraordinarily  successful in your efforts.

I regard your offer to visit Ethiopians and Ethiopian Americans in the U.S. as one leg in an itinerary that aims to bring all Ethiopians together to help their country and people.

I believe your aim in coming to America is to personally deliver your message of national reconciliation and national unity and to mobilize us to join our brothers and sisters at home in building the Beloved Ethiopian Community in the manner of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. You wanted to come and share with us your hopes, dreams and vision for Ethiopia. Above all, I believe you wanted to listen to our concerns, fears and hopes for our homeland first hand.

Let me assure you that the legions of your supporters in the U.S. of A are ready for you. We can’t wait to have you in our midst and hear you make the case for national reconciliation, national unity and how we can build the Beloved Ethiopian Community. We can’t wait to tell you how ready, willing and able we are to respond to your call for national salvation from decades of misrule and bad governance.

I wish to remind you that your leadership role model Mandela once said, “If you want to make peace with your enemy, you have to work with your enemy. Then he becomes your partner.”

I know you do not like the word “enemy” used in the context of political interaction. You prefer “competitors”.

Barely two months in office, you have shown leadership skills unseen in modern African history. I make this statement as a matter of fact not maudlin sentimentality.

You have shown leadership character and qualities that have bewildered and confounded your competitors  and energized, electrified and mobilized your supporters. You have paralyzed and petrified the Forces of the Dark Side.

You are proving to be the kind of leader Gen. Douglas MacArthur spoke about: “A true leader has the confidence to stand alone, the courage to make tough decisions, and the compassion to listen to the needs of others. He does not set out to be a leader, but becomes one by the equality of his actions and the integrity of his intent.”

To my knowledge (and to the extent that I have been able to research the fact), you never set out to be a national leader but became one by the equality of your actions and integrity of your intent to bring about national reconciliation and good governance in Ethiopia.

Every day I hear Ethiopians saying you were sent by Providence to lead your people out of 27 years of captivity from the proverbial Babylon.

I believe you showed supreme courage when you stood up to the Forces of the Dark Side and stared them down and let them know you won’t back down; you won’t be turned around; you will stand your ground! They looked as pitiful as a deer in headlights, frozen in time and space, with a freight train approaching fast.

You showed supreme confidence when you declared Ethiopia can never move forward looking in the rearview mirror driving on streets called hate, revenge, retribution and retaliation.

You showed supreme compassion when you emptied the prisons holding political prisoners in Ethiopia and travelled to the Sudan and Saudi Arabia and negotiated the release of thousands of our brothers and sisters.

You showed extraordinary compassion when you visited a 16 year-old Ethiopian victim of medical malpractice and persuaded the government of Saudi Arabia to pay his family some 22 million birr in compensatory damages. No Ethiopian government official visited the young comatose Ethiopian since 2006!

You showed supreme integrity when you publicly apologized for the lawlessness and abuse of power of your predecessor regime and openly admitted that the government you inherited is populated by thieves, crooks and swindlers who have converted the public treasury into their  personal bank account. You minced no words when you explained the enormous difficulty of hewing out of a mountain of kleptocracy a stone of democracy, to paraphrase MLK.

Today, you showed supreme magnanimity when you offered to come and visit us in the U.S. I am sure you made the offer knowing the duties of the shepherd who must care for his flock where ever they may be not because he must but because he is willing and “not pursuing dishonest gain, but eager to serve.”

Now, I must tell it like it is.

Your offer to visit us in July was a masterful move worthy of Sun Tzu. “Let your plans be dark and impenetrable as night, and when you move, fall like a thunderbolt.”

When you made your offer to visit, you dropped it on us like a thunderbolt. It was a completely unanticipated move. It was a creatively disarming move. It was a strategic move of extraordinary brilliance.

None of us expected you would make such a bold move, seize the moment and strategically capture the contentious political landscape in the Diaspora by such a simple graceful act.

I can assure you that the audacity of your offer shocked some people who thought you would be too timid to come and present yourself to friends and foes in an open forum and suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous Diaspora criticism and invective.

Your offer discombobulated some of us. We did not know what to make of it. We are accustomed to chasing officials of your predecessor government out of meeting halls in America and elsewhere. Now, you flipped our own table on us. You wanted to come and chase us on our home turf, in a manner of speaking. That takes supreme self-confidence!

Most of us were caught off-guard. I certainly was.

By simply making the request you kicked us out of our comfort zones. You forced us to put our money where our mouth is. You put us in an extreme predicament: Put me up on your stage and let me say my peace or shut up and stop complaining about how I do not walk the talk!

When you said you would embrace us with open arms when we return, I thought it was a nice gesture. I felt, “We’ll see you in Ethiopia when we see you. No rush or urgency.”

But you could not wait for us to show up. So, you decided to show up on our doorsteps in July.

Perhaps what you did not realize by your offer is the fact that you have put some of us on the horns of a terrible dilemma. You have made life miserable for those of us who have been badgering you about being all talk and no action. Some of us said you were just talking the  talk of reconciliation, peace, forgiveness and democracy and did not mean any of it. Now, you put your mouth where your feet are and asked to be invited to show us how you walk the talk of reconciliation, peace, forgiveness and democracy.

We like to talk about meeting our political adversaries half way. You said you won’t meet us half way; you will meet us all the way in America.

In offering to meet us all the way, you have masterfully captured the commanding moral heights. You have shown the courage of your convictions and forced us to show the cowardice of our hypocrisy. By simply asking to speak to us, you backed us into a corner. You have done something no Ethiopian leader has ever done. You reached out to us beyond and above the call of duty or office.

You have much to be proud of as some of us have reason be ashamed.

You may recall in my Memorandum No. 4, I offered to coordinate an electronic town hall for you to engage Diaspora Ethiopians. I thought under the circumstances such a town hall would be a more convenient means of communication.

I must admit you one-upped me on that idea. You decided to forget the electronic town hall and show up in person at our doorstep. By offering to come to the U.S. and engage us directly, you proved to me that an Ethiopian Cheetah could give an Ethiopian Hippo a run for his money any day of the week. I love it!

Your offer to visit scared some of us because we are afraid of you, more specifically, the irresistible power of your ideas. Some of us fear you because we cannot hold a candle to you forensic prowess in public debate. Certainly, we cannot win an argument against your ideas of Ethiopiawinet, Ethiopian unity, rule of law, accountability and transparency in government. Truth be told, we don’t want you to come to America and embarrass us. So, you forced us, I regret to say, to fabricate laughable subterfuges and bogus excuses about why you cannot come. “You should not come because you have a lot of work to do there. You are coming to America just to show off. We can’t guarantee your safety (as if the Secret Service is no longer in service), blah, blah….

Let me cut to the chase.

If you had come, some of us were afraid you would have stolen the show. Straight up! No question about it! You would have brought down the house down and raised the roof. You would have upstaged the stage. You would have been treated like a rock star by the younger generation of Ethiopians and as the leader sent by Providence by the older generation.

Sun Tzu advised, “The greatest victory is that which requires no battle”. If you had come to the U.S., I have no doubts you would have victoriously declared, “I came; I saw; and I conquered the hearts and minds of Ethiopians and Ethiopian Americans in America.”

Sun Tzu “teaches us to rely not on the likelihood of the enemy’s not coming, but on our own readiness to receive him; not on the chance of his not attacking, but rather on the fact that we have made our position unassailable.” Regardless of your coming or not coming, you have made your moral position unassailable and are sure to win the hearts and minds of Ethiopians and demonstrate the kind of extraordinary political and moral leader you are.

The fact of the matter is that you checkmated us. We did not know how to respond to you because you win regardless of what we do or don’t. If we accepted your offer, you will come and do what you do best. Capture the hearts and minds of your Diaspora brothers and sisters. If we decline your offer, you will command the moral high ground because we turned down your good faith offer.

Naturally, we did what we do best: Never lose an opportunity to lose an opportunity.

But one’s loss is another’s opportunity.

Know that your legions of supporters in America are ready, willing and able to have you visit us in July, August, September or any other time of your choosing.

You have said on various occasions that you will embrace us with open arms if we returned home. Well, your legions of supporters in the U.S. of A are willing, able and ready to return the favor by embracing you back in America. If you are willing to travel thousands of miles to deliver an olive branch to us in America, we will wait for you until hell freezes over or a moment’s notice to show up and hand you over a ton of olive branches.

I remember September 2010 when your late predecessor came to speak at Columbia University. He was made the object of much contempt, derision and opposition. He used to call us “Diaspora extremist”, “terrorists” and such. He even devised a plan to attack and destroy his opposition in the Diaspora in the name of “constituency building”. He never, never made a gesture of good will to us. He never wanted to talk to us. He always talked down to us when he was not scandalizing, vilifying and belittling us.

But I defended his right to speak his peace because I wanted him to experience the freedom he has denied so many back home.

On a personal level, your predecessor regime not long ago singled me out by name and announced to the world that they “doubt my Ethiopiawinet”. I was not offended. On the contrary, I was profoundly grateful to them. They gave me a new platform and energized me beyond measure to launch my campaign of EthiopiaWINet and continue my relentless struggle for human rights in Ethiopia.

In July 2018, you want to come to us in America and  not only share the good news of freedom, democratic change, national unity and reconciliation but also affirm to us in person that Diaspora Ethiopians matter to Ethiopia. You acknowledged that just like Diaspora Indians, Jews and others have helped build their countries, so can Diaspora Ethiopians.

You must think some of us Ethiopians and Ethiopian Americans in the U.S. are a strange breed. We did not want to hear the messenger of hate and division in 2010. We don’t want to hear the messenger of love and reconciliation in 2018.

But the fact of the matter is that there are legions of us who want to invite you to come to America and listen to what we have to say. We want you to come and share the good news with us. We want you to come and tell us how long the road to freedom is. We want to tell you what we think and how we can help you get the job of getting Ethiopia on the right track.

Personally, I want you to come to America and answer the questions I asked in my January 2018 commentary:

How long, eske meche (እስከ መቼ!) will wounded justice, lying prostrate on the dirt roads in the countryside and the highways be lifted and the hearts and minds of every Ethiopian healed?

How long, eske meche (እስከ መቼ!) before the truth crushed to earth rises up again in Ethiopia?

How long before the dark cloud of oppression is lifted from the Ethiopian skies and the sun of freedom returns to the Land of 13 Months of Sunshine?

How long will justice be crucified in Ethiopia, and truth bear it?

How long before Ethiopia is free from the yoke of ethnic apartheid?

I am sure I know how you will answer these questions, but I want to hear it from you.

How long Abiy?

“Not long! Qenu derswal (ቀኑ ደርሷል)!”

I would like to hear you say in America that you will fulfill Mandela’s promise in Ethiopia: “Never, never and never again shall it be that this beautiful land will again experience the oppression of one by another and suffer the indignity of being the skunk of the world.”

In my self-appointed role as the Diaspora defender of Ethiopian human rights, I have a feel for the pulse of Ethiopians and Ethiopian Americans. There are legions who pray for you every day to succeed. There are legions who watch you online and hang on to your every word. There are legions who doubted you at to first but are slowly changing their minds and becoming your supporters. There are legions who believe you are sent by Providence.

Then there are a few who have made a religion out of negativism, defeatism, cynicism and pessimism who simply can’t stand you. I wrote all about them in my Memorandum No. 4.

Lastly, I am going to try and use all of my forensic skills to appeal to your deep sense of Ethiopiawinet  to come and be with your legion of supporters in America.

I will offer you seven compelling reasons why you should come to visit us soon.

Reason No. 1: We love you. Machiavelli wrote it is better for the Prince to be feared than loved. Your late predecessor believed in that maxim and failed. Your late predecessor weaponized hate. You weaponized love and reconciliation. He lost. Every day you prove to the world love conquers all. Everyday you are winning hearts and minds. Well, come to America and let’s show you some LOVE!

Reason No. 2: We respect and admire you as a role model for political leadership and engagement. I do not believe there an instance in the last 27 years in which a high official from Ethiopia has come to America to engage Ethiopians and Ethiopian Americans and not faced the wrath and opposition of the activist community. They have all been tarred and feathered, humiliated and disgraced. Against this historical background, you displayed supreme self-confidence by offering to come in person and brave the slings and arrows of those who may disagree with you.

On a personal level, I have the greatest respect and admiration for you as a human being and as a leader. As you know, I was not enamored of your predecessor regime. In fact, I coined at least a dozen new unflattering English words to describe them. It testifies to the moral authority of your leadership that I should completely cease any negative references to that regime and its members despite the fact that there have been many occasions for me to say a word or two to them since you took office. I have resisted the temptation to lash out following your counsel that we cannot move Ethiopia forward by engaging in the politics of recrimination, denunciation and castigation. Come and let’s show you our respect and admiration.

Reason No. 3: We are super proud of you. As the youngest leader in Africa, you make us proud. Is it not ironic that the oldest country in Africa should have the youngest leader? We are proud of you for the uncompromising and courageous stands you have taken on the issues. You make no compromises on the rule of law. On democracy. On human rights. On corruption. On peace and reconciliation.

A couple of days ago, you spoke truth to the “generals”. You said “a sergeant in free country has more respect than a general in a poor country.” In doing so, you demonstrated the true constitutional meaning of Art. 74(1) of the Ethiopian Constitution: “The Prime Minister shall be the head of government, chairman of the Council of Ministers and the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces.” You schooled the “generals” on what it takes to have a professional army. The armed forces must be a nonpartisan and nonpolitical institution that fully respects and takes orders from its commander in chief. A professional army is not a “shadowy semi- autonomous paramilitary group accountable only to a select few senior echelon members of a party” or a “private army resembling a mercenary group that is hired by warlords to protect their interest”. Come and let us show you and all of America how proud as a peacock we are of you!

Reason No. 4: Our young Ethiopians and Ethiopian Americans want to see you, hear you and have you listen to them. I am sure you know that America’s higher educational institutions have a substantial number of Ethiopian and Ethiopian American students at the graduate and undergraduate levels. I know because I interact with them all the time.  In my view, they probably love Ethiopia more than many of us in the Hippo Generation. You need to come and talk to them and persuade them to come and help out their ancestral home for however long they choose. For a very long time, the best and brightest of these young Ethiopians in America have been turned off by the political situation in the country. They will visit but say they will never live in Ethiopia given the way things are. But you can talk to them in person and turn them around. You are young like them. They will listen to you because you speak their language and understand their culture of technology, science, innovation and entrepreneurship. Think of these young Ethiopians as incubators of  innovation and entrepreneurship for Ethiopia. Come and reach out to them and convince them that they can achieve personal success in Ethiopia while ensuring Ethiopia succeeds.

Heed Margaret Mead’s advice, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, concerned citizens can change world. Indeed it is the only thing that ever has.” You have a powerhouse in the young Ethiopians in America who can change not only Ethiopia but also the world. Come talk to them and win their hearts and minds!

Reason No. 5: As I have assessed your role since taking office, I have concluded that you strive to be a man of principle intent on living out the true meaning of those principles. I have also concluded that you  have been as much a teacher as a political leader. There is an old saying that “leadership is to produce more leaders, not more followers.” I see you doing just that. You want to produce more leaders and fewer followers.

In your public statements and speeches, you do not fail to teach the people the true meaning of good governance. At the foundation of good governance is truth and reconciliation. You resonate MLK every chance you get: “An ‘eye for an eye’ leaves everybody blind. The time is always right to do the right thing. The end of nonviolent social change is reconciliation; the end is redemption; the end is the creation of the Beloved Community. It is this type of spirit and this type of love that can transform opponents into friends.” You resonate Gandhi every chance you get: “Before we can change the world, we must change ourselves. You must be the change you want to see in the world. The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.” If you had been in Tanzania, they would have called you “Mwalimu”.

Your supporters in America admire and seek to emulate your commitment to the principles of Ethiopiawinet, national reconciliation and unity, respect for the rule of law, nonderogable sovereignty of the people and protections against government wrongs by human rights. Come and give them a lecture or two.

When Britain staggered under relentless Nazi bombardment and was almost defenseless against the Nazi war machine, the world wrote off Britain as “gone, finished and liquidated.” But Churchill took a defiant stand as he told some school children: “Never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never-in nothing, great or small, large or petty – never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy.“

Two months ago, the world had written off Ethiopia to the doomsday of ethnic civil war. They said Ethiopia’s account is closed and she is finished.” Our young people never, never gave up their commitment to the principles of civil disobedience and peaceful resistance and produced you, Abiy Ahmed, as the result of their triumphant struggle.

I say come to America and teach us about commitment to principle. Nations are built on principles; whether they live up to them is another question. America is founded on the “self-evident truth” that all men and certainly women are “created equal and are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; and that governments are instituted to protect those rights and derive their just powers from the consent of the governed.”

Come to America and tell us on what principles the New Ethiopia will be built on. Will it be founded on truth and reconciliation…?

Reason No 6. Come to America and meet the “enemy”

In my commentary in July 2008, I addressed the very issue involved in your visit today using the lessons from an old comic strip called “Pogo” which appeared regularly in American newspapers. The funny animal characters in Pogo lived in a swamp community, which figuratively represented the diversity of American society and issues facing it. That community began to disintegrate because its residents were incapable of communicating with each other to deal with the most important and urgent issues facing them. They wasted valuable time on non-issues. One day, Pogo saw the swamp they live in filled with debris and litter. In reflective frustration he sighed, “We have met the enemy. He is us!”

As members of the Ethiopian pro-democracy movement we have been unable to look in the mirror and ask basic questions of ourselves: Why can’t we unite as a global force for justice and human rights advocacy in Ethiopia? Why can’t we build strong bridges across ethnic lines and use the language of human rights to communicate with each other? Why can’t we support a leader of good will and demonstrated competence? Why do we have to be crabs in a basket pulling back the one trying to get out and lead? Why can’t we join hands, lock arms, put our noses to the grindstone and help our suffering people?

We cannot get to our destination of the New Ethiopia by traveling the same old road paved with accusations, recriminations, denunciations and castigations. Nor can we get there on the wings of bitterness, pettiness, subterfugess and bogus excuses.

We must take a different road, the road less traveled, the road of truth and reconciliation of which you speak. In the verse of Robert Frost:

… I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood,
and I — I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

Come to America and meet the “enemy”. Come and hold hands of friendship with the “enemy” and lead us into the future on the road less traveled by, the road not taken. The road of truth and reconciliation. It will make all the difference for us as human beings! It will make all the difference for us as a people, and as a nation known for millennia as Ethiopia!

Mandela believed a good leader follows his people. I say come to America and follow us back home.

To those who do not want to lead or follow, I say, “Get out of the way on the road of truth and reconciliation”.

P.S. Kudos for lifting the state of emergency. There was no doubt in my mind you would lift it. There will be a state of emergency only if you are not at the helm of S.S. Ethiopia!

“First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.” Gandhi

ETHIOPIAWINET TODAY

ETHIOPIAWINET TOMORROW

ETHIOPIAWINET FOREVER!

The Role of Ethiopian Public Intellectuals: Dr Birhanemeskel Abebe Segni – Pt 1

by zewdu Tile

The central question in today’s Ethiopian political leadership is that of maintaining a balance between Ethiopian-nationalism and ethnicity. In the post-revolution era, the bone of contention between assimilationists (ultra-right) and separationists (ultra-left) has left present day Ethiopia in a rather precarious condition. One of the most pertinent issues has been the question of identity established on the basis of ethnicity. On the one hand, assimilationists have been guided by a baseless philosophical approach known as Ethiopianism. Ethiopianism is nothing but a denial of the existence of differences of history and culture among Ethiopian nations. Ethiopianists seek to confine themselves to a one- way of understanding of the reality of Ethiopian historicity. An Ethiopianist does not acknowledge a pluralism of identity. Rather, s/he promotes a mono-cultural and mono-lingual political system, which necessarily negates the validity of differences of culture. S/he also promotes an educational policy that favours assimilationism. However, Ethiopia is made of many nationalities, each with its own cultural identity and language; Ethiopianists reduce the country to one nation/reality. By doing so, they have been trying to shape the identity of the whole country in accordance with their world- view. Ethiopianists are deeply uncomfortable with identity politics. As such, they tend to maintain and secure Ethiopian-nationalism by ignoring and trying to eliminate differences of culture. They focus only on the history all are proud of.

The separationists, on the other hand, have been guided by a baseless philosophical approach known as essentialism. Essentialism tends to deny the great importance of Ethiopian- nationalism/nation-building under the guise of seeking to preserve the existence of cultural diversity. Separationists overemphasize cultural differences and define ethnicity as the only identity one should

cherish isolated from other sometimes shared realties of human existence. As such, they tend to refuse and reject anything that they have inherited from outside their own culture. They propagate their own distinct forms of culture as if Ethiopian-nationalism had never existed. Separtionists maintain an extreme political position of secession as the only solution to eliminate the root causes of ethnic oppression. They focus only on the common conflict history.

Therfore, the lack of mutual understanding in Ethiopian political philosophy arises from a failure to clarify the basic mental foundations of assimilationists and separationists which inevitably determine the perception and thinking of those who could be categorized belonging to the two respective groups. It must be noted that cultural differences are not a problem per se. In this regard, the most important question one has to ask is how one ought to act in relation to those of cultures alien to one’s own if one is seeking ways that promote unity in diversity as opposed to seeking to destroy existing institutions that base themselves on indigenous paradigms and models differ from one’s own.

For instance, in contemporary Ethiopia, cultural differences should not be regarded as being non-existent. Ethnicity is not necessarily one’s mental impression of the primary source of identity, but it has a concrete existence. We ought to manage ethnic diversity within the unity of Ethiopia. There are some politicians who seek to enforce a uniformity of culture in contemporary Ethiopia. This is an absolutely mistaken and unacceptable philosophical approach. Imposing one’s own cultural identity on everybodyelse would eventually lead to secession. Hence, cultural or ethnic differences should be translated to imply neither superiority nor inferiority. In contemporary Ethiopia, difference of identity ought to be acknowledged, tolerated, and appreciated. An authentic Ethiopian nationalism can never be realized where ethnic differences are ignored, despised, or negatively understood.

But, it must be noted that a certain degree of cultural homogeneity is required in a nation lest one undermine national unity. For instance, the tendency to treat individuals as members of an ethnic group rather than as individual citizens has its foundation in a specific failure of understanding concerning the importance of national unity. One should not have a romantic attachment to cultural differences for their own sake. The existence of cultural differences should not fundamentally deny the importance of Ethiopian-nationalism. It must be noted that a racial-based philosophy is extremely harmful for the future of Ethiopia. Also, ethnicity should not be used as a political tool, meaning that political as well as religious leaders should refrain from creating enmity and suspicion among the distinct regional parts of Ethiopia. The politics of identity should not be used to promote one’s ambitions as opposed to the common good. Politicians who are using the instrument of ethnicity to achieve their economic and political goals have to be exposed and criticized for their immoral actions. It must be borne in mind that albeit ethnicity is so natural, it can also be manipulated, which can easily lead to ethnocentrism. Today, Ethiopia’s socio-political leadership needs a proper  direction as to which route to take her to good governance where mutual acceptance as well as mutual accommodation can be realized. I would argue that both assimilationists (right-wing politicians) and separationists (ethno-nationalists) ought to make great efforts to prevent misunderstanding and win mutual recognition. Dialogue is a tool to be used to prevent misinterpretations, a toolwhich can lead to genuine collaboration and mutual trust. Becoming aware of common ground can enhance collaboration and flexibility. The two contesting parties must fight for justice, freedom, and the equality of ALL PEOPLE IN ETHIOPIA. I see that there need not be any irreconcilable conflict between the two contesting parties to liberate their country—Ethiopia—or overcome the present neo-colonialism. In the first place, both sides must confront the truth that their historical relationship is deeply disturbed. Each side has to make an effort to understand the historical

experience of the other, and especially to come out of the shadow of misunderstanding and disrespect. A balanced approach toward historical understanding and interpretation can yield a point of view acceptable to all. A change in each one’s attitude is a guarantee of the transformation of contemporary Ethiopian socio-political leadership.

for any comment or/and questions. zewdutile@yahoo.com

Members of ethnic Amharas displaced in Oct. 2017 from Kemashe zone of the Benshangul Gumuz regional state and are sheltered in Bahir Dar

Hewan Alemayehu & Brook Abegaz, For Addis Standard

Addis Abeba, June 04/2018 – Lately, it seems every new day in Ethiopia’s soil brings with it a wave of developing story. In just two months into his office, the new Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has won the hearts of many Ethiopians by releasing thousands of political prisoners, some of whom highly revered by the public, and by promising multiple reforms. He has conducted discussions with different sections of the society and has largely managed to generate optimism among millions of Ethiopians at home and abroad. However, increasing accounts of ethnic based displacements and violence against ethnic Amharas living in various parts of the country are likely to become one of his biggest challenges and a test to his leadership.

The country has been witnessing bouts of ethnic based violence and consequent forced displacements since the Ethiopian Peoples Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) took office almost three decades ago. Human Rights Council (formerly Ethiopian Human Rights Commission) has conducted several investigations and published numerous reports on ethnic and tribal conflicts in different parts of the country; and among different ethnic, tribal and national groups. The reports which date back to as early as 1992, a year after the current government took office, extensively reveal the pervasiveness and seriousness of the problems. A tabular summary of 41 reports conducted by the council can be found here (Pages 4-6).

The right of Ethiopians to live and work in their own country has never been compromised as in the past couple of years. In the past year alone, Ethiopia witnessed a staggering one million internally displaced people following conflicts in the border areas of Oromia and Ethio-Somali Regional States. Similarly, the United Nations has reported displacement of at least 200,000 people in the border areas of Gedeo (SNNPR) and West Guji (Oromia) in last month.

There exist various factors deemed responsible for the resurgence of ethnic-based conflicts in different parts of the country, especially in SNNPR and Oromia regional states. For a country like Ethiopia, where polarized political orientations seem to be the norm, the reasons vary depending on who is being asked. Nonetheless, many posit the current ethnic federal arrangement as a major contributing factor. It is beyond the scope and intention of this article to discuss the pros and cons of Ethiopia’s current federal arrangement and its contribution to ethnic based violence. Hence, let’s move to the specific topic mentioned in the headline.

It is a fair assessment to say that in the past 27 years, Amharas have been particularly targeted in violent ethnic attacks in the country. Ethnic Amharas living in some areas of Oromia, SNNPR and Benishangul regional states have been killed by groups of residents, sometimes encouraged by the support of local officials, according to some accusations; the properties of Amharas and sometimes Tigreans have been looted and ransacked and residents were made to flee from their homes because they were considered ‘settlers’ in their very own country. Several accusations point at discriminatory and blatantly ethnicist approaches by different levels of government bodies which have characteristically marginalized ethnic Amharas. Such incidents have contributed to the budding Amhara nationalism. A striking piece written by Amanuel Tesfaye a few weeks ago and was published on Addis Standard has presented a list of factors, which the author considered to precipitate the birth of Amhara nationalism.

Recently, hundreds of Amharas have been forcibly displaced and evicted from their homes in Kemashe Zone, Benishangul Gumuz region. More than 530 ethnic Amhara households (each household has from 2-8 members) were displaced from their land and forced to run away from their homes, fearing for their lives. The eviction was carried out with active involvements of local authorities who ordered armed militias and other residents to attack ethnic Amharas, according to a statement by Association of Human Rights for Ethiopia. The recent attack started in October 2017 and continued until the end of April 2018. During the attack 13 ethnic Amhara individuals were killed and at least 50 others were injured.

Similarly, hundreds of ethnic Amharas who have lived in Oromia regional state of Illibabur zones of Buno Bedelle, Choraa Wereda, Jimma Jilaa, Jimaa Togo, Sotolo Jimate, Sotole Gawaa, Agule, Burle number one, and Chabi areas and in Wellega are being forced to flee their homes in recent months, see this report for instance. Many Amharas from different parts of Wello were relocated to these areas in 1977 following the infamous Ethiopian famine, which particularly hit the former region of Wello, now under Amhara regional state the hardest. Through the long years, the residents have made families and properties. To the most part, they have peacefully coexisted with Oromos. But since last October, many of them have been targeted in ethnic attacks by some ethnic Oromo groups, and were forced to flee fearing for their lives.

Seid Shibru recounts what he witnessed in one fateful day in October 2017. He says:

“Having been granted approval by the wereda authorities, a crowd of people held a demonstration to demand our expulsion; they were holding knives and swords, and were helped by the local police. The next day, they started coming into the households of Amharas and Tigreaans; they killed four Amharas. The altercation led to loss of lives from both Amhara and Oromo sides. Finally, it was the Amhara regional police that came to our rescue; they also helped us secure back some of our belongings. I lived there for 34 years, but came to Wello about six months ago, because I have no guarantee of life there, and the officials refused to ensure our safety”.

Logistic and other assistance from Amhara regional state was too little too late; the respondents told us that the regional office only recently supplied a very small amount of food supplies, and to their knowledge, no effort has been made on the part of Amhara and Oromia regional bureaus to solve the problems and bring peace.

Assefa, one of the displaced interviewed for this article sadly points out:

“We have contributed our share for the relocation of Oromos displaced from Ethio-Somali region; it is sad to know that we are in that same position with no concrete assistance from the Amhara regional state. We never needed any assistance from any government body; we were the ones that supported our government. But the government couldn’t even do its job of keeping us safe, which led us to where we are now. I want to make one thing very clear, we have lived with Oromos for decades; we have shared laughter and sorrow together. We are intermarried and love one another. I have no doubt in my mind that these cunning acts are the deliberate works of the Oromia regional administration. I no longer care what they will do to me.”

All four of displaced individuals interviewed for this article share similar sentiments. They blame the regional authorities for intentionally failing to keep them safe, and even corroborating in the destructive acts. They are convinced a bigger force is behind the killing and looting of their properties.

Mohammed Kubri came to Illubabur Zone, Bedele wereda when he was a very young boy. He is one of the many resettled individuals following the famine that hit Wello in 1983. Many Wello Amharas from Desie, Kemise, Lasta, Raya, and Habru live in the area. He is one of the committee members set up by the displaced people to oversee the alarming situation. He regrettably recalls that four of his friends- Seid Mohammed, Seid Demise, Molla Mohammed, and Ahmed Khalifa- were killed by a gang of protestors. Assefa on his part is puzzled by the eerie contradiction seeing the prime minister trying to address other nationwide political concerns but failed to solve or even talk about this very pressing issue.

Currently there are around 1,400 internally displaced Amharas (Wello origin) who are sheltered in different areas in Northern Wello, according to Amhara Mass Media Agency. This is in addition to hundreds of Amharas seeking shelter in Bahir Dar, the capital of the Amhara Regional State. What is even more disconcerting is that, no government body has publicly said anything about the recent violence and displacements from Oromia region. The head of Oromia regional state and other officials have chosen to remain silent, which makes the situation bizarre if not leads one to wonder whether it could actually be a calculated act. Furthermore, there has not been any word from the federal government thus far. The Ethiopian Human Rights Commission recently told the public that investigations will be underway to find out the cause of the violence. However, given the poor record of the commission to conduct independent investigations, it is hard to take the commission’s words at face value.

Another member of the committee, Alemu, told us that there are over a thousand people seeking refuge in different areas of Northern Wello since last October. He also said that in the past two weeks alone, he has learned that houses were being burnt and people have continued to flee fearing for their lives. The committee was on its way to the violence ridden areas in Oromia last week to investigate and find possible solutions, but aborted its mission over the last weekend having been given no guarantee of safety.

Media and human rights’ group attention regarding the recent displacement of ethnic Amharas has also shockingly been very little. It is understandable that precluding factors in the region may have made impartial investigations very difficult; in addition, nationalist driven rhetoric is making access to factual information and balanced discussions daunting. Nonetheless, it is quite puzzling and bizarre for human rights institutions such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, that have remained active in Ethiopia’s politics and have published dozens of reports about anti-government protests in the country, to be completely silent about the mass displacement and killings of ethnic Amharas from different parts of the country.

Since Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed took office two months ago, he has made impressive achievements, including releasing thousands of prisoners in the country and negotiating the release of thousands of prisoners from abroad. He has held talks and listened to the grievances and hopes of thousands of Ethiopians from multiple corners of the country. He has touched the hearts of millions of Ethiopians by his eloquent and unifying speeches; and on Saturday June 02, the Council of Ministers approved a draft law to lift the current State of Emergency, pending parliamentary approval. However, all these remarkable achievements cannot and should not cloud the troubling reality of tens of thousands of people who are denied a very basic human right: a right to safety! They need justice and compensations immediately; authorities must also hold those responsible into account. It is our sincere hope that the government listens to Assefa Yimam’s pleas: “We are praying that there will come a time where we can all be united as Ethiopians; I hope you all tirelessly work for it.”

AS

Holly Watt/The Guardian

Andargachew Tsege saw comment from attorney general about pardoning

A British citizen released last week after being imprisoned on death row in Ethiopia said he only found out that he would be freed after a government official commented on an appeal on Facebook.

, who has been an outspoken critic of the Ethiopian regime, was arrested at an airport in Yemen in 2014 before being extradited to Addis Ababa. He was imprisoned for four years, held in solitary confinement for more than a year.

Tsege, known as Andy, said he found out he would be released after Ethiopia’s attorney general responded to a Facebook appeal page, saying he would be pardoned. “It’s very strange,” said Tsege. “I’m floating. It’s a feeling of unrealness.”

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Tsege said he thought he would never see his family again, and that he was very sad to have missed out on four years of his children’s lives. “It was very emotional, especially seeing the kids,” he said. “When I saw them at the airport, they had changed. The children are amazing, but they have been very emotionally affected.”

Tsege, 63, said his original arrest in Yemen was traumatic. “They put heavy-duty tape over my eyes and my mouth, and handcuffed me, and then I was taken on a plane. It was very painful. The pain was so much that I tried to think about something else. I tried to visualise my family, but the pain was so bad. It was terrible.”

The long-time political campaigner said he feared for his life during the first month of imprisonment. “I had a fear that they would just do something and dump my body,” he said. “I had no clue if my family or the British government knew where I was.”

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Hundreds of prisoners in Ethiopia have been released in recent weeks, including political campaigners like Tsege.

Tsege’s wife, Yemi Hailemariam, said she had fought to get her husband released but was shocked when she saw him at the airport. “I wanted to hug him desperately, but he had lost so much weight that I wasn’t sure how strong he was. What I thought was that we would just hug, but I looked at him and thought: ‘I think I am going to hurt him.’ You think about it for four years, and then all you can think is: ‘What have they done to you?’”

She said the worst moment was when she was informed that her husband had been extradited to Ethiopia. “I will never forget that day. I was on Camden High Street, I was with his brother, and we were waiting to see a lawyer and we heard that news and I was screaming. He took the phone and finished the conversation with the Foreign Office. It was very, very dark.”

She said she was disappointed by the response from the British government. “I would have thought that the UK would have clarity on these issues and actually say ‘Yes, this is wrong.’ They didn’t want to take any responsibility. To me, that is an absolute outrage,” she said. “I get that it’s difficult, but come on, you’ve got to be able to say that a kidnap is a kidnap.”

Maya Foa, the director of , said: “This is a time of celebration for Andy, his partner, Yemi, his children and all those who have supported him.

“Andy was convicted and sentenced to death in his absence while he was living thousands of miles away in London and then kidnapped and illegally transported across an international border. He was a victim of a series of crimes – not a criminal – and he should never have been denied the rights and freedoms he is entitled to as a British citizen for so long.”

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After Tsege’s return, Boris Johnson, the foreign secretary, posted a tweet welcoming his release.

Boris Johnson

@BorisJohnson
Good to have Andargachew Tsege back on UK soil after his pardon by the Ethiopian government. Very proud of the hard work @foreignoffice staff put into supporting him and his family to get him home safely.

1:30 AM – Jun 1, 2018
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Etenesh Abera

Addis Abeba, June 05/2018 – After a day long meeting by the 36 Executive Committee members of the ruling EPRDF a statement released by the politburo said Ethiopia will fully accept the December 12, 2000 Algiers Agreement, a peace agreement between the governments of Eritrea and Ethiopia, which established a special boundary commission.

The Algiers agreement stipulated that the two states, fresh out of a two year costly war, would accept a decision by the Eritrea Ethiopia Boundary Commission (EEBC) as “final and binding.” However, when the EEBC delivered its decision awarding the town of Badme, the epicenter of the war that killed tens and thousands from both sides, to Eritrea, Ethiopia backtracked from its commitment with the late Prime Minister Meles Zenawi eventually declaring Ethiopia will only accept the EEBC decision “in principle,” leading to sixteen years state of no war no peace between the two countries and frustrating the international community.

ETHIOPIA HAS AGREED TO FULLY ACCEPT THE ETHIO-ERITREA BOUNDARY COMMISSION WHICH RULED THE DISPUTED TERRITORY OF BADME TO BE ERITREAN TERRITORY. THIS IS CRITICAL FOR THE TWO COUNTRIES & THE BROADER HORN. VERY SMART MOVE BY ETHIOPIA. NOW, THE BALL IS IN AFEWORKI’S COURT.

— AWOL ALLO (@AWOLALLO) JUNE 5, 2018

By accepting the Algiers agreement Ethiopia will have to withdraw its occupying forces from all territories awarded to Eritrea by the EEBC, including the flashpoint town, Badme. Ethiopia also called on Eritrea to reciprocate the decision and work toward bringing a lasting peace between the people of the two countries. Eritrea had accepted EEBC’s decision and refused to submit to any further negotiation without the prior acceptance by Ethiopia of the commission’s decision.

Economy opened up

In a related development, the EPRDF executive committee first day meeting has decided to open up Ethiopia’s economy both to Ethiopian and foreign investors by making partial or full privatizations in key state owned enterprises including industrial parks, railway projects, sugar factories, hotels and other manufacturing industries.

In a stunning departure from its own economic policy,  the EPRDF has also decided to transfer shares in mega state owned including the national carrier Ethiopian Airlines, state monopolies Ethio-telecom & Ethiopian Shipping and Logistics Service Enterprise, and hydroelectric projects both to Ethiopians and foreign investors. The government will continue having a majority share in these companies.

The executive committee spent much of the day discussing the two year and half performance report of GTPII, which revealed shocking details about the dismal state of the economy. AS

BY JASON LEMON

baptism ceremony in Ethiopia went horrifically wrong on Sunday, when a crocodile attacked a religious leader.

Docho Eshete, a Protestant pastor, was leading the baptismal ceremony at Lake Abaya, near Arba Minch city. About 80 people were planning to be baptized, but only one completed the religious rite successfully before tragedy struck.

“He baptized the first person and he passed on to another one. All of a sudden, a crocodile jumped out of the lake and grabbed the pastor,” local resident Ketema Kairo told the BBC.

In this photo taken on July 24, 2015, a crocodile sunbathes on a river bank at Yala National Park in Sri Lanka. Fishermen and members of the congregation did their best to help Docho Eshete, a Protestant pastor.S.KODIKARA/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

The best opportunity for sustainable and meaningful success must be based on inclusive, principle-based change that protects and upholds the rights and interests of all Ethiopians

June 4, 2018

Dear Fellow Ethiopian Brothers and Sisters,

Ethiopians have new reason for hope. Over the last sixty days, we have witnessed many encouraging developments that have stirred new depths of hope within us. We should be thankful; yet, the road ahead is long and filled with challenges. Much will be required from all of us if we are to see genuine freedom, justice, reconciliation and healing become the pillars of a revived Ethiopian society.

Hope alone, without responsible action on the part of all our people, will not lead us to a better Ethiopia. Instead, our hopes and dreams are fragile and without care, they can dissipate— devolve into something of lesser or no value— like the evaporation of water among thirsty people, leaving them all the more thirsty and despairing.

Seeds of hope must be nurtured to grow, so that the seeds produce good and abundant fruit that can be harvested and enjoyed. This means we cannot sit back; waiting, criticizing or believing one person, even a leader, or a few persons, can do it alone without support from many others. The call for change that began with our youth, the Qeerro and Fano, became a source of pressure for reforms that inspired our hope. The unexpected resignation of Hailemariam Desalegn and remarkable election of Dr. Abiy by EPRDF followed.

Many of us were moved by Dr. Abiy new vision for an inclusive Ethiopia, also articulated in regionally focused meetings he held with Ethiopians throughout the country, further increasing hope for genuine change. Over this short time period, thousands of political prisoners have been released, including high profile people, like Andargachew Tsige, who was just released this past week after four years in prison on death row. At the same time, we saw the dismissal of charges of terrorism against people like Berhana Nega and Jawar Mohammed, also accompanied by dropping the ban on their media programs, ESAT and OMN. Now, the State of Emergency is expected to be lifted by the Parliament after being approved by the Council of Ministers, two months early.

These developments all signal major changes in the political climate and an opening up of unprecedented opportunity for Ethiopians to bring meaningful change; yet, we should not naively underestimate the obstacles that imperil our path, many of them subtle or hidden. 

We should remember two things:

1) Even responsible action on the part of many can be sabotaged or hijacked if we fail to clearly be guided by universal principles. This includes upholding the rule of law, which also means the rightful process of the law, something that must apply to all people. 

2) It is equally important to not underestimate our own human tendency towards self-serving ambitions and goals that will sabotage or violate our ideals and objectives to protect the rights and interests of all Ethiopians. 

Knowing this, core principles and safeguards should be established now so the results are not opposite of what is most hoped for and sought after; but instead, truly reflect the common good for our society.

Possible traps:

1. Unrealistic expectations of what will be required to correct decades or centuries of foundational problems can bring impatience and cause some to settle for shortcuts that may sabotage the best outcomes. So many reforms are needed, especially ones that address the very real difficulties of our people within local settings throughout the country, that we need to understand it will take time to resolve these issues and to make corrections. Some of these issues must be prioritized due to urgent conditions; yet, we still must understand that for each person affected, their situation is the one that matters the most to them. This will be difficult to manage and will require many of us to help, hopefully bringing about new ideas to help oneself and others.

2. A principle-based roadmap for our future, through a national dialogue that leads to real reforms and corrections to our system, must come before political agendas or we may sabotage our own hopes and goals. Competing ambitions and agendas for power and leadership will block, hijack or dilute a vision for inclusive rights and voice for all Ethiopians. Setting the foundation for democratic freedom and rights, including minority rights, must be laid firmly in place for Ethiopians to bring genuine, meaningful and sustainable reforms. An opening of the political space starts here, not in reverse order with politics. 

We need voices of wisdom  and advocacy on behalf of all Ethiopians, supported by a people-driven process, to ensure reforms and corrections are principle-based and grievances addressed. This has been called a Sovereign National Conference, an African process for Africans, based on the African village model found all over the continent where issues are debated until consensus is reached; at which point, even the chief cannot change it. Where it has been allowed to be followed, like in Benin, Ghana, Zambia and South Africa, it has been successful.

Some lessons to consider:

Making a vision thrive in a country like Ethiopia that: 1) has been under an ethnic-based dictatorship for years, 2) where independent institutions do not exist, 3) where society is divided based on ethnicity, and 4) where the needs of the people on the ground have been neglected, is an indication of the fragility of the hope we now have. Without caution, we could see it all fail. This would not be the first time for we have repeatedly missed opportunities in the past. Whether or not we succeed this time is dependent upon a number of factors, not only on PM Abiy, Lemma or a few others.  

Learning from our own experience and that of others is critically important. When Haile Selassie was overthrown, the people never developed a road map that provided a principle-based vision that would have led to the strengthening of our institutions and to addressing the needs and grievances of all Ethiopians, even though these were the goals of the student movement and what inspired them. Unfortunately, because there were no key independent players in place, the movement was hijacked by the Derg and the contributions and sacrifices of these young people were never realized. Many of those involved are still grieving the loss of their dream. Is this now another opportunity?

Sadly, when the Derg came to power, the interests of the people of Ethiopia were subjugated by a smaller elite, the resources were confiscated—including young men forcibly taken into military action, and the people cruelly suppressed by a military government, launching a period of time that became known as the “Red Terror.”

In the 1970s, TPLF was formed as a resistance movement that operated in the bush. Other regionally based resistance movements also rose up throughout the country. Those involved became traumatized by years of killing, war and loss, with little opportunity for healing. Violence and force became closely interlinked with fear and survival, especially worsened with the suppression of faith-based institutions. One group was only “safe” when others were under domination, control and threat of harm. Power in the hands of another, meant danger to oneself and one’s collective group; a worldview that still characterizes our current crisis today. 

Predictably, when the Derg was overthrown, once again, no independent body was there to come up with a common vision for ALL Ethiopians. How could it when the core fear coming out of the Derg meant ALL Ethiopians outside one’s own group were potential threats to one’s own survival? Therefore, it is no surprise that the system of oppression was hijacked, duplicated to the advantage of a few, and recycled— this time, worsened by deepening ethnic division. Without healing and re-examination of this fear and trauma-produced worldview, it will likely be repeated once again. It is time to break the pattern for the good of ALL of us.

Each time, the failed outcome was greatly determined by decisions made at the beginning, exacerbated by the lack of voices to speak for the whole country; yet, times were different and some alternatives, like the South African model, were still unexplored; however, if people are not careful, Ethiopia could still become worse than what we now have. 

Ethiopia is not alone; nor are all examples in the distant past. We can also learn from the recent example of others, such as Egypt after the Arab Spring. Egyptians brought down a thirty year dictatorship, only to have it hijacked, setting the scene for the current military dictatorship to fill in the gap. The Arab Spring began in December 2010 when Tunisian street vendor Mohammed Bouazizi set himself on fire to protest the arbitrary seizing of his vegetable stand by police over failure to obtain a permit. “The Arab Spring was a series of pro-democracy uprisings that enveloped several largely Muslim countries, including Tunisia, Morocco, Syria, Libya, Egypt and Bahrain. The events in these nations generally began in the spring of 2011, which led to the name. However, the political and social impact of these popular uprisings remains significant today, years after many of them ended”.

To avoid missing this opportunity once again, we Ethiopian must learn from past mistakes, take personal responsibility to contribute to a better outcome, focus on building a strong, principle-based foundation before mixing in politics and also consider some specific challenges before us.

Some specific challenges:

1. Create a safe environment for Tigrayans through this change process, ensuring their protection, like should be done for all Ethiopians.

The Tigray are in a changing situation, certainly causing some to fear insecurity and the need to regroup. This fear has caused many Tigrayans to leave other parts of Ethiopia to return to the Tigray region. Who we are as Ethiopians and the viability of a better future for ALL of us will be determined by how we react to each other now. It is imperative that the security of all Ethiopians is ensured and protected during this time of change so reconciliation, meaningful reforms and the restoration of justice can bring increased harmony to our land.

Many of these Tigrayan Ethiopians fear alienation or collective retribution based on ill will towards past actions of the TPLF or their security forces. This must be addressed promptly so as to assure them and all citizens that the rule of law will be applied to everyone and that Tigrayans will be beneficiaries of its equal application. This is the time to empower the voices of reconciliation and democratic reform among the Tigrayan people. There are many among them who could play a critical role. These are the reconciling voices that can become leaders in an inclusive transition process.

A strong and equally applied rule of law in defense of all citizens is the best insurance policy for peaceful change and Tigrayan engagement in a national dialogue leading to freedom, justice and reconciliation for all of us. This means the military, security forces, and police must be non-political and held accountable by independent authorities and institutions so the rights of all Ethiopians are upheld.

1. Empowerment of local, regional and federal leaders—including elders, religious leaders, youth leaders, and others—will be critically important in finding solutions to the present challenges.

PM Abiy and others have made an excellent effort in connecting with the people of different regions and have received a welcoming response and heard about their needs. Now, these people are looking for direct benefits and changes on a more local, personal level—proving that what was said, would materialize. This is a need, but also a challenge because what is needed and wanted will be impossible to fulfill quickly due to the deeply entrenched, systemic nature of what’s wrong in the country—years, decades, and centuries in the making. The fastest route may be the engagement of local and regional leaders, not only government leaders, to start talking to each other, not about each other so as to find people-driven solutions to problems and meaningful ways to bring change. More planning about equipping and empowering regions and localities to address local problems may help; but, some meaningful action should be organized at every level—local, regional and federal. 

III. Minority groups should have new voice after years of marginalization and their inclusion will be a new measure of our success as a society.

Minority groups are a new power group that must be considered, particularly in regard to upholding their rights. Issues that affect them are critically important and closely connected to the rights, frequently violated, connected to land, property and resources. Land rights and related reforms will be vitally important, especially due to failures and violations over the past years.

1. Human rights crimes committed by the State must end with the institution of accountability measures.

State-sponsored human rights crimes must be stopped with immediate accountability measures, including newly spelled out policies, training and other kinds of instruction. National leadership training and support for local leaders as well as for top and mid-level leaders must be instituted and reinforce changes and practices.

1. A call to faith-based leaders, elders, esteemed leaders and others to bring healing, conflict resolution and reconciliation to the people, communities and nation should be instituted.

These leaders must be called upon to organize and develop leadership training, reconciliation, healing of the nation, social welfare problems, and a national prayer effort for the country.

Conclusion:

The best opportunity for sustainable and meaningful success must be based on inclusive, principle-based change that protects and upholds the rights and interests of all Ethiopians and addresses and seeks solutions to the roots of our present and inherited problems. 

Consider the example of Nigerian human rights activist and lawyer, Chief Gani Fawehinmi, who strongly advocated for a Sovereign National Conference so as to address the roots of years of governance problems. The following quote from him is from a press conference held on March 22, 2000.

The primary duty of the Sovereign National Conference is to address and find solutions to the key problems afflicting Nigeria since 1914 to date. The concern is to remove all obstacles which have prevented the country from establishing political justice, economic justice, social justice, cultural justice, religious justice and to construct a new constitutional frame-work in terms of the system of government—structurally, politically, economically, socially, culturally and religiously. Chief Gani Fawehinmi (2000)

He died of cancer on September 5, 2009 before realizing his goals for the country. Reportedly, on his death bed, he was to be given an award for his contribution to the country, but refused to accept it because he felt the task for Nigeria, as stated above, had not been completed. Yet, he is remembered by Nigerians for his many contributions to human rights.

Ethiopians may be facing a similar crossroads as that of 2000 when Chief Gani made a case for foundational corrections before moving ahead politically. What will we do? The choice is ours, but the effect of this choice, for good or ill, will influence the future of all Ethiopians for years to come.

May God/Allah give us His help, guidance, healing and protection so we may overcome the obstacles ahead. May He give us hearts to do what is right, just and good, caring about the wellbeing of all our people and bringing new life and blessings to our land.

Sincerely yours,

Obang Metho,

Executive Director of the SMNE and the Rest of SMNE Leadership

Email: Obang@solidaritymovement.org

Website: www.solidaritymovement.org

_______________________________

This letter has been cc to Dr. Abiy, Prime Minister of the Federal Republic of Ethiopia and major news media outlets.

=========================    ========================

For more information, contact Obang Metho, Email: Obang@solidaritymovement.org

I am appealing to each of you to forward it to all your friends. If you do, you will not just be giving a voice to our beautiful people, but you would be doing justice to our humanity. Knowing the truth is overcoming the first obstacle to freedom! Thanks so much for your never-ending support. Don’t give up. Keep your focus on the bigger picture and reach out to others and listen! Care about those who are suffering. Think about our family of Ethiopians and humanity throughout the world—they are YOU! There is no “us” or “them.” This is at the heart of the SMNE.

Privatization of Ethiopian Airlines, Ethio-Telecom and other Government-owned companies

BBC

Ethiopia’s governing coalition has announced it will fully accept and implement the peace deal that ended its border war with Eritrea.

It says it will accept the outcome of a 2002 border commission ruling, which awarded disputed territories, including the town of Badme, to Eritrea.

This will end a dispute with Eritrea that sparked Africa’s deadliest border war in 1998.

Tens of thousands of people were killed in two years of fighting.

The two sides have remained on a war footing as Ethiopia had, until now, refused to accept the ruling of the border commission, which was set up as part of a peace deal.

As a result, Ethiopia had refused to withdraw its troops out of the disputed areas – leading Eritrea to accuse Ethiopia of forcefully occupying its territory.

“The Eritrean government should take the same stand without any prerequisite and accept our call to bring back the long-lost peace of the two brother nations as it was before,” the ruling Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) wrote on Facebook.

Eritrea had refused to hold any talks with Ethiopia until it agreed unconditionally to the border commission’s findings.

Ethiopia’s new Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed had promised to make peace with the country’s northern neighbour after taking power earlier this year.

BBC World Service Africa editor Will Ross says if Ethiopia does now remove soldiers from the disputed land, it would show it is serious about seeking peace.

PRESS RELEASE

The new opposition party ETRP established in 2017 by former Kinijit officials says the Ethiopian federal system must change.]

ETRP Press Release 

While the ETRP applauds recent symbolic measures taken by the new Ethiopian Prime Minister, systematic changes must occur for the country to secure long-term stability. In addition to repealing the CSP, FMMAIP and ATP restrictive laws, Dr. Abiy must make personal changes inside key institutions. 

Dr. Abiy Ahmed must be highly commended for his ongoing efforts to solve the deep problems of a diverse nation of over 100 million citizens. Unlike his EPRDF predecessors, Dr. Abiy has become a unifier; by preaching Ethiopiawinet. From releasing thousands of prisoners to repealing the State of Emergency, Dr. Abiy deserves credit for beginning the healing process domestically. 

However, his administration must not rush or simplify the complex issues, like the TPLF military monopoly and the human rights crisis. Simply reshuffling the civilian Defense Ministry leadership is not real reform. Real military reform is diversifying the top leadership of the military; from the army generals, to commanders, pilots and special forces. 

Similarly, Dr. Abiy recently announced reforms within the Ethiopian Human Right Commission (EHRC) but he did not make any leadership changes. In fact, Dr. Abiy did not even fire the chairman Addisu Gebregziabher, who was the infamous TPLF spokesman working inside both the corrupt NEBE and fraudulent EHRC during the 2015 rigged election and overseeing the nationwide massacres of the last few years. 

Both NEBE and EHRC must be administered by independent and non-political professionals.

Real reforms will require massive personal changes in every federal institution. 

In addition, reforms will never succeed long-term unless systematic changes are made to the foundation of Ethiopia’s political problems. Two of the major systematic issues facing Ethiopia today are the dangerous implementation of “group rights” at the expense of “individual rights” and the ethnic-based narrow federal structure. The root cause of endless ethic based crimes (including the killing and eviction of Oromos in Somali region or Amharas in other regions) is due to ethnic federalism; in which Ethiopians are being divided with “‘natives’ vs ‘aliens’” labels as well as where “group rights” continue to violate individual rights. 

Human rights will never be respected in Ethiopia until ethnic federalism is scrapped and until every human being is seen as an individual worth living. 

Ethnic-federalism (EF) is the foundation of the rise in tribal based conflicts nationwide. The EF concept itself has manifested itself in two ways. In the southern (Debub) region, EF exists in name only since its application became impractical and thus completely abandoned. In the rest of the country, EF has been half-way (ex. 420 kebeles still disputed between Oromia & Somali) applied by the demarcation of ethnic-based borders between Oromia, Somali, Amhara, Afar and Tigray states. However, ethnic border demarcation has not meant self-rule or leadership demarcation since TPLF has effectively ruled every ethnic state since 1991. In both cases, Ethnic federalism has miserably failed and it has created dormant volcanos by giving “false hope” of unrealistic ethnic states. 

Now is the time to heal the past wounds of this great nation and secure the individual human rights of every single Ethiopian. Repealing institutional Ethnic-Federalism does not mean we all practice one culture or one language; but it will mean appreciating unity in diversity while respecting the human rights of the individual. We must finally change the federal structure of Ethiopia to disincentivize the ethnic politics and mob mentality that has led to endless ethnic conflicts and brutal cleansings through out the country. 

Human rights will be universally protected in Ethiopia only when it is guaranteed in its smallest form: the individual human being. 

Like the millions of other mixed-Ethiopians, Prime Minister Dr Abiy is the son of Oromo father and Amhara mother. Dr. Abiy must use his inspiring personal story and utilize his moral authority to end the 17 years of nightmare and tribal division in Ethiopia. If Dr. Abiy wants Ethiopia to join the free nations of the 21st century world, he must allow the restructuring of the Ethiopian state away from ethnic-federalism. 

_______________________

The Ethiopian Republican Party (ETRP) is a new populist movement supporting economic liberalism and micro federalism. 

An investment in knowledge pays the best interest B. Franklin.

Mikael Wossen, PhD.

INTRODUCTION

The rigidly segregated education systems throughout Ethiopia are in disarray. School leaving exams are stolen, higher education students are abandoning their campuses in growing numbers and educators are losing legitimacy. False educational credentials are being exposed. In short, the standard of education has plummeted, as cadre-led, ethnocentric schools have become normalized by the TPLF and its military command post. As a firm believer in the lifelong benefits of public education, the squalid public education system currently in place across the country and especially in the so called “Amhara” region of Ethiopia is of concern to me.

Since his inaugural speech, Dr. Abiy Ahmed has been an outspoken supporter of education reform. He has been emphasizing that education will be one of his administration’s signature focus and is planning to send high performing university graduates to ivy league institutions around the world to pursue their education. This is well and good, but it amounts to putting the proverbial horse before the cart. Firstly, the education system in Ethiopia needs to be qualitatively improved and opportunities equalized between regions at least in the public school sector, and reforms must be launched from the bottom up. Stated otherwise, the existing national education system must be first evaluated and duly calibrated in light of the available international standards, data and in line with the philosophical commitments expressed by the Prime Minister. It is uplifting to see the chief policy enforcer in the country focusing on long overdue education reform.

Unequal Education

Educational opportunities are determined primarily by ethnicity in today’s ‘killilized’ Ethiopia. Educators of the so called ‘Amhara regional state’ or Bantustan of Ethiopia have been particularly vociferous and pointed in their critique of the TPLF’s ‘Boerish’ educational allegations of ‘deeper Tehadiso’ in the educational sphere.’ Boerish’ also in the sense that the Ethiopian education systems policies resemble those of the apartheid-era in South Africa. The Amara teachers are scathing towards the puppet Amara political authorities. Schools are widely segregated and tribalized and so called ‘Separate but Equal’ education systems (and bureaucracies) prevail, even though students perform better in integrated schools. The education system for whites was by far superior than those for Africans and the state spent approximately six to nine times more per white student in South Africa.

Likewise in Ethiopia, the quality and quantity of school inputs (facilities, libraries, curriculum, technology, teaching staff etc.) are unequal from killil to killil. The TPLF state provides a better quality of education in Tigrai and boasts that it is expanding education in accordance with the United Nations Millennium Development Goal elsewhere. The Amara teachers, however, emphasize the powerful social effect of inequalities among the nation’s teaching staff, based on ethnicity. For instance, teachers may be sent to seminars, where the Tigrean teachers alone are paid per diem allowances. Scholarships overseas tend to be the privilege of Tigreans. The regime’s stated aim was to ensure that by 2015, “children everywhere” are able to complete primary school i.e. massification of primary education.

Schools as a Weapon for Domestication

We are far from this modest target particularly in the so called Amhara state, yet bogus ‘universities’ are sprouting throughout the country. The Amara teachers dismiss the regime’s educational claims as yet another propagandistic ploy designed to placate the rising discontent among the learning populations and teaching staff of the region. One way to measure educational quality is through the opinion of teachers and students. Negativity abounds here.  The teachers in the Amhara killil also provide a surprisingly coherent appraisal of the educational malaise afflicting the region. This is something that concerns us here and, in our opinion, the global federation of teachers (Educational International) should investigate these abusive practices as well. Students graduate without being fluent in either the country’s official language or in English. Dr. Abiy will have to improve the quality of education in Ethiopia first and equalize its provision at every level and in every killil, otherwise the projected competition for ivy league scholarships is a foregone conclusion.

The Amara population is not only socially and educationally deprived but also badly mis-educated with irrelevant curriculum and unqualified teachers. The schooling environment is harsh and the curriculum full of falsehoods. Educational resources are scarce and miserable, porous straw huts are referred to as schools. In some places schools are so debilitated, that students use the floor as a desk and be seated on rocks for lack of chairs. This is the verdict of the under-paid and over-policed Amara teachers of Ethiopia. Over 8000 teachers stand behind this recently leaked report, ostensibly sent to the central committee of ANDM, the quisling Amara party, set up by the TPLF as part of its EPRDF puppetry. Led by Eritreans (Simon Bereket), and other non-Amara (or phony Amaras) authorities vetted and thoroughly brainwashed by the TPLF puppet-masters to play their ‘federalist’ role. Wherever formal schooling is newer and less institutionalized, sociological research suggests that school effects, teacher’s quality and resource inputs are stronger predictors of achievement, rather than family SES or socioeconomic status.

Neo-Marxist theorists begin by identifying schools as the hegemonic apparatus of the state, (Althusser) and a vital part in the exercise of power (Carnoy). The shape of schools, therefore, tells us a lot about the character of the existing state.

At the moment, and even more so in the coming decades, power will be less determined by solely military-material forces and more by harnessing the population’s faculties of the mind. That is, power is gained by way of accumulation of scientific knowledge or intellectual capital i.e. its acquisition and maintenance. This is the basis of the ascent of the knowledge economy that forms the basis of the present global economy. In other words, the state of the nation’s schools, more so than its factories, begin to express the economic wellbeing and political stability of the social order. The adage that ‘your education today is your economy tomorrow’ begins to hold more truth than ever. Since the levels of education attained by a given population (intellectual capital), is considered a major indicator of the socio-economic advancement of that society, knowledge production and dissemination in society become critical indicators of national power and global competitiveness. In other words, knowledge production and distribution has become qualitatively the most productive force in societies throughout the capitalist world system. Thus, the real wealth of nations lies in the schools.

To fare anywhere in this global competition over knowledge, one begins by looking at the schooling population. It needs to be well fed and have access to quality education.  Unfortunately, and rather sadly, there are far too many hungry Amara students as the politico-economic climate is particularly harsh for the close to 30 million Amaras inhabiting Ethiopia. A great part of the TPLF strategy (manifesto) for maintaining Tigrean supremacy hinges on keeping the Amaras impoverished, mis-educated and destitute. The TPLF’s grand wizard Meles Zenawi has once said that he wants to see Amaras begging on the streets. In fact, the original discourse was about ‘eliminating’ the Amara ‘by any means.’

While schools in Tigrai afford every child a computer-assisted education, children in neighboring ‘Amhara’ state lack electricity,  basic chairs and desk, and must seat on rocks and use the ground as their desk.  As it stands one group is headed to the knowledge economic sector and Ivy league, and the other to the plantation export economy or factories as laborers.

As the need and urge (the demand) for higher education rises globally, Ethiopian authorities will have to give serious attention to their institutions. There is a significant shortage of skills in the sciences and the emergent fields. Meanwhile, there has been a proliferation of new policy thinking about higher education or universities. Higher education is now reputed to wield a higher rate of return on investment. This was not always the case however. The equation was for a long time favoring investment in basic education. For the African population advanced university education was considered a waste of time and resources at best and an indulgence, at worst. This was the orthodoxy during the structural adjustment programs (SAPs) decades. This assumption triggered drastic cuts in financing at the post-secondary level, sharply tilting the funding scheme in favor of basic education.

This doctrine no longer holds. Primary education merely prepares Africans to remain efficient ‘hewers of wood and drawers of water’ for the global economy, nothing more. Changing its policies “Higher education,” declared the World Bank in 2000 “is the modern world’s basic education, but many countries are falling further and further behind.”

In order to meet the emerging exigencies of globalization, the new world order and the onset of flexible accumulation and the knowledge economy, a vigorous reshaping of universities across the world is underway. The reshaping begins from the realization that knowledge is the costliest part in contemporary production processes.  That education helps the economic advancement of societies is no longer in question. In international sociological comparisons among nations, the level of education attained by a given population is considered a major indicator of the socio-economic advancement and potential of that society.

Enhancing complex human capital development to augment productivity and overall competitiveness in the global economy is now the norm. Yet, about half of Africans are living without access to an electricity grid, and these power shortages undermine and disrupt the education process of children. Overall, the continent still lags behind the rest of the world in competitiveness and this is related to its uncompetitive education system including its dilapidated higher education institutions.

The overall quality of sub-Saharan Africa’s universities is quite regrettable, according to the varied international surveys. In fact, they barely draw a comparative mention internationally. To be sure, all rankings have their inherent limitations. Some can be quite subjective but they all give certain broad ideas on the institution’s overall performance.  One thing is certain here.  They all show the same broad results: African universities don’t rate at all internationally; so they have created their own African ranking system. The rankings measure different things.

Overall, the best universities in the continent are found in South Africa. Overall, African higher education or universities are lacking in quality. Most of the instructors are mediocre, not to say unqualified.  Addis Ababa University, once reputable, ranks at 72 of the top hundred African universities. Newer universities in Rwanda, Botswana and Swaziland score higher. Growing authoritarianism, segregated dorms, mediocre instructors, fearful students, deteriorating academic freedoms and constant brain drain tends to be the norm in Ethiopia. Moreover, a high percentage of Ethiopian immigrants fleeing to the West have educational degrees, and are often better educated than native Canadians or Americans. Experts believe that there was more freedom of expression and debate on campus during the monarchy half a century ago. With all this in mind, considerably more professional policy attention and resources have to be first allocated to the challenge of constructing more equitable, efficient, relevant and democratically vibrant public education systems, including tertiary educational institutions in Ethiopia. The focus on comprehensive education reform, preceding the Ivy League competition, is something all well-intentioned citizens support.

Aklog Birara (DR.)

Ethiopia’s flawed model of state and party led and dominated development began immediately after the TPLF dominated ethnic coalition, the EPRDF, took power in 1991. Since then, party, government and state merged and operated seamlessly as the omnipresent and omnipotent one dominating all social, economic, political and even spiritual life. “Revolutionary Democracy and the Developmental State” that Meles Zenawi crafted so beautifully and strategically served the dominant party by enabling it to capture both politics and economics. It enabled elites to capture the entire modern economy.

Given massive Official Development Aid (ODA) that now exceeds $40 billion, $4 billion per annum over the past few years and billions from the Diaspora and additional billions from Foreign Direct Investment since 2004/2005 when the Chinese entered Ethiopia’s lucrative market, the ruling party embarked upon massive infrastructure investment. Such investment is also a sure way to steal from the public good.

This is the foundation of Ethiopia’s growth. It would have been unthinkable for the governing party to raise Ethiopia’s growth rates each year without massive aid. It would have been unthinkable to raise school enrollment, build colleges and universities in each Kilil, provide broader health services, raise incomes even modestly, create new millionaires, and apparently dollar billionaires, build private villas, skyscrapers and condominiums, build mega projects, including “White Elephants”) and appoint 400 generals in a country that needs only a few, without this unprecedented inflow of capital.

The development model has allowed the capture and concentration of immense wealth by the TPLF, it endowments, loyal supporters and profit seekers at enormous cost to the vast majority of Ethiopia’s 110 million people. This concentration has triggered at least the following:

• Popular resentment and uprising spanning over 13 years, since at least the flawed election of 2005; and culminating in making the current regime illegitimate
• The decimation of Ethiopia’s private sector that is crowded out by party and government enterprises
• Illicit outflow of $ 3 billion per year for several years that is now estimated at $30 to $40 billion
• Diminished public and investor confidence in Ethiopia’s governing elite
• Surrender of Ethiopia’s sovereignty and long term interests
• Inability to match demand of basic goods with supply
• Environmental degradation arising from the misallocation of capital and lack of government oversight in the use of chemicals
• Rising prices
• Hopelessness among Ethiopia’s youth, 70 percent of whom are under the age of 35
• Utter diminution of commercial bank and national bank assets, with the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia alone having leant and lost in excess of 400 billion Birr and
• Foreign exchange shortages and escalating debt levels that pose substantial risks to the Ethiopian economy

These are all systemic, structural and policy linked and cannot be resolved through public decrees and pronouncements. The system that created them in the first place cannot possibly be the cure. Ethiopia must therefore face this stark reality and deal with it going forward.

I grant the TPLF dominated EPRDF kudos for doing its level best to modernize one of the poorest and least developed nations on the planet. Yet, the regime needs to recognize that Ethiopia is still one of the poorest and one of the most corrupt countries in the world. It is at the bottom of 20 of the least wealthy countries in Africa. So, the challenges ahead far exceeds the accomplishments over the past 27 years.

The governing party anchored its modernization model on three pillars: peace, democracy and development. It is easy to propagate these terms as solutions. The fact remains that governing elites are the source of the problem and uttering these terms won’t solve the problems. These same elites who utter the words have never changed their practices. None of them has the courage to say, “Change starts with me.”

Of the three I would give the regime a “C” grade on development and all “Fs” on peace and democracy. As I write this commentary, it is tragic that the Amhara and Oromo people, especially the former are being killed, maimed, degraded and removed from their lands. No single high official has uttered a word concerning this latest well-orchestrated assault.

This leads me to the June 5, 2018 unexpected announcement by Prime Minister Dr. Abiy’s government concerning the privatization or semi-privatization of government or State Owned Enterprises (SOEs). Such enterprises have a well-established history in Ethiopia and in numerous other countries including China, whose development model has been in vogue in Ethiopia. China informed the Financial Times that it is “scaling back its investments in Ethiopia owning to such concerns as bureaucratic inefficiency, taxes and corruption.” It has invested $13 billion.

Not all SOEs are the same. This is why careful study and planning is vital in implementing the program. In the early 1990s, Meles singlehandedly privatized profit making and non-profit making SOEs and facilitated massive transfers of assets from the Ethiopian people to a selected few, most of them Tigrean nationals. EFFORT did not become a $5 billion conglomerate by producing goods and services. Among other things, it hemorrhaged the banking system that is now in a dire situation. This and other monopolies shut out Ethiopia’s private sector making it the least developed in the entire Africa.

For reasons that most readers would discern the TPLF-dominated regime has been inimical to the Ethiopian private sector. Meles was known to call this sector and independent intellectuals and academics “rent-seekers,” a term that is close to greed, bribery, corruption and outright theft. There is a plethora of evidence that rent seeking, underhanded commissions, nepotism, bribery, corruption and illicit outflow of funds bleed any society. They diminish productivity and induce public resentment and outrage. Ethiopian society bleeds as a consequence of these ills. A market economy prevents these excesses and a party and government dominated one exacerbates them willingly and knowingly. Ethiopia deserves a market economy.

The reader will recall the false notion Meles stated over and over again that Ethiopia’s loss of its access to the sea will have minimal impact. Tragically for Ethiopia, Meles opined then that a “port is just like any other commodity. You can create it or buy it.”

Guess what! He is patently wrong. Because Ethiopia is land locked and far away from ports, the cost of Ethiopia’s imports and exports is enormously high. This loss has degraded Ethiopia’s competitiveness. It has also make Ethiopia’s national security untenable. The new Prime Minister needs to give the utmost priority.

The same holds true with regard to the role of the governing party’s lead cohort, the TPLF as a potential creator of wealth and employment for the Ethiopia people. Its dominance has eroded both. It’s secretly and guardedly held assets such as EFFORT must therefore be subject to privatization.

It is therefore a puzzle to me that Prime Minister Dr. Abiy’s government decided to privatize or semi-privatize strategic public assets such Ethiopian Airlines now without public debate.

Other priorities notwithstanding:

The first priority is to retrieve the stolen billions of dollars and to make those who stole them accountable. Future theft, graft and illicit outflow should be criminalized now.

The second is to boost the private sector and make it competitive.

The third is to clean up the rotten and corrupt banking and financial system.

The fourth and supporting institutional mechanism is to issue a regulatory framework that empowers rather than restrains freedom of movement of social and financial capital.

Share distribution must be democratized in such a manner that access is available to the poor and the middle class first; and the rest later.

I know of no successful country that tries to undo harm from poor and corrupt governance by privatizing only. It is institutions that matter most.  Otherwise, systemic risk won’t go away.

I therefor pose the following questions to the Prime Minister who I admire.

1. Why the urgency?

2. Have Ethiopian economists and financial experts within the country been asked to conduct a serious and professional study and come-up with options?

3. What is the criteria in selecting strategic public SOEs from others?

4. Who would be the primary beneficiary of the privatization scheme?

5. What mechanisms have been put in place to ensure that the billions of dollars stolen are not used to buy these assets?

6. Who recommended the scheme in light of the disastrous precedents of advice from the World Bank, the IMF, foreign consultants and such personalities as Tony Blair who labeled some African dictators as “Renaissance Men?”

June 6, 2018

VOA Eneweyaye with Gebru Asrat, Dr Berhanu, Dr.Amaw, and Ato Abeaw

Achamyeleh Tamiru

Who is directly responsible for the mass sterilization of young Amhara women and how they have been sterilized?

It has been more than 12 years since we have heard the shocking news about the mass sterilization of young Amhara women after they were forced to use sterilizing contraceptives and/or ordered to take sterile contraceptives in the name of preventing pregnancy. This inhuman and barbarous cruelty by the fascist TPLF regime is a deliberately designed project to de-populate the Amhara people and eliminate the Amhara race from the earth’s surface. Seven years after this TPLF “project” has been implemented, most Amhara schools have started to become empty because there are no young children in most of the Amhara rural village.

After this tragic story has happened, I have been exploring how fascist weyyane has managed to sterilize young Amhara women. Here is the whole story that I come to learn from the inside sources I have at the Ministry of Heath. Under the Weyyane`s Ministry of Health, there is an agency called Pharmaceuticals Fund and Supply Agency (PFSA). PFSA was established in September 2007 by Weyyane`s Proclamation No. 553/2007. As a government agency, PFSA has been tasked with the role of administering every drug related issues in the country.

The first director of PSFA is a TPLF fighter called Hailesilassie Bihon. It is this gentleman called Hailesilassie Bihon who is the mastermind behind the mass sterilization of young Amhara women. Before he has been assigned to the director of PFSA, Haileselassie Bihon was the general manager of Ethiopia’s Drug Administration and Control Authority. During the period of Amharas mass death in Gojjam due to malaria, Haileselassie Bihon was the general manager of Ethiopia’s Drug Administration and Control Authority.

As part of TPLF`s Amhara genocidal politics, when there was a malaria outbreak in Gojjam in 1997/8, Haileselassie Bihon has deliberately stopped supplying anti-malarial drug to the Amharas sick with malaria. This systematic denial of medical aid, because of their ethnic category, has contributed to the Amharas mass death in Gojjam in 1998 due to an easily preventable and less fatal malaria.

During that time, there were concerned personalities who established anti-malaria associations as an NGOs to help patients bedridden with malaria, particularly in rural Gojjam, in western Ethiopia. However, Haileselassie Bihon has limited their operation with the pretext that no private health or pharmaceutical institution in Ethiopia has been granted a license to import or distribute antimalarial drugs. Because of this, the anti-malaria NGOs had limited outreach and impacts as compared to the potential they had.

After he become the director of PFSA, one of the first tasks Hailesilassie Bihon had in mind was to continue his genocidal mission against the Amharas by sending short acting drugs (depo-provera, pills, etc…) to what is now called Amhara region but long acting drugs to Tigray region. PFSA has branch offices all over the country.

One of the branch offices of PFSA in what is called Amhara Region is located in Bahir Dar. In 2007, for the so called Amhara region, Hailesilassie Bihon has deliberately sent short acting contraceptives(depo-provera, pills, etc…) to the Bahir Dar`s PFSA branch office with an order to the “Amhara Regional Health Bureau” to distribute the short acting to the zones and Woredas of the “region” as soon as possible. According my inside sources at the ministry of Health, the science behind short acting drugs is that they act in hormones and the usage of them for more than 4/5 times lead to infertility.

Left with no option, on the one hand, and because they have been forced by “Amhara Regional Health Bureau” to use them (for the Bureau has been dictated and given orders by Haileselassie Bihon to force every fertile women in the region use short actings) as family planning methods, on the other hand, young Amhara women had no choice than using the short actings more than 4/5 times to reduce the risk of an unplanned pregnancy. It is this genocidal project of TPLF led by Haileselassie Bihon that has resulted to the mass sterilization of young Amhara women for the last one decade or so.

Haileselassie Bihon was not alone when he designed the mass sterilizing project of young Amhara women. TPLF medics such as Dr. Ataklti Fisseha, the director of UNICEF Ethiopia, whose wife called Miheret Hiluf is/was a directorate at the Ministry of Health and Dr. Gebreegziabher, who is now working at the WHO-Ethiopia, have advised him how to run that “operation” and with great results.

After he finished ALL the damages he can cause on the Amharas, Hailesilassie Bihon has retired three years ago and he is currently the owner of the leading pharmaceutical wholesaling industry in the country that has a capital of over USD 300 million. He was able to build this massive amount of personal wealth with the return he got for the service he provided in sterilizing young Amhara women.

BBC News

Ethiopia’s surprise announcement that it will abide by a 2002 border ruling raises the prospect of a final end to what was Africa’s deadliest border war and peace with its long-time rival, Eritrea.

Tens of thousands of people were killed in the two-year conflict and Eritrea remains on a war footing, demanding that Ethiopia withdraws from the “occupied territory”.

How genuine is this peace offer?

It seems pretty genuine.

Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed signalled in his inauguration speech in April that a major policy shift could be in the offing – he called on Eritrea to resolve their differences, saying the two neighbours were “not only intertwined in interests but also in blood”.

Now, the ruling Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) has announced it will fully accept and implement the peace deal that ended the war.

Image copyrightREUTERS

Mr Abiy said soldiers deployed to the contested town of Badme had experienced “psychological effects”, according to the state-linked Fana Broadcasting Corporate.

“We should end this suffering, and fully return to peace,” the prime minister is quoted as saying.

Ethiopia’s previous leaders always said they accepted the 2002 ruling but they never actually implemented it.

Mr Abiy’s announcement is especially significant as it comes after the release of thousands of jailed politicians, activists and protesters, including British citizen Andargachew Tsege who was being held on death row, and the promise of wider reforms.

What does Eritrea say?

Eritrea has not commented on Ethiopia’s announcement but Information Minister Yemane Gebre Meskel had previously told the BBC that relations could not be resolved until Ethiopia withdrew “from the occupied territories”.

“The ball is now in Eritrea’s court,” Tesfalem Araia from the BBC’s Tigrinya service says.

“Eritrea has been on a war footing and the justification for forced conscription into the army has been the conflict with Ethiopia,” he adds.

That forced conscription is the reason given by most of the thousands of Eritreans who flee the country, making the perilous journey to Europe.

Read more:

• The story behind Africa’s unfinished war
• Is this the man to change Ethiopia?
• Why has Ethiopia imposed a state of emergency?
• Has Eritrea’s migration problem been exaggerated?

What happens next?

Assuming that Eritrea accepts Ethiopia’s goodwill, the next step would be for officials from the Eritrea-Ethiopia Boundary Commission to physically demarcate the border.

Image copyrightBBC SPORT

Until now, this has been impossible because it is a military zone.

The main bone of contention is the town of Badme, the main focus of the war, but there are other disputed areas right along the border.

What’s happening in Badme?

Badme is a nondescript, heavily militarised small town with little or no social activity.

More than 1,000 people live there, with almost all their activities limited to military services, says the BBC’s Berihu Lilay, who visited the town in January.

He says he saw Eritrean and Ethiopian forces sitting in neat rows facing each other across the border, with just a few kilometres separating them.

Residents told our reporter they look forward to peace between the two nations.

Despite the strain, the 16-year standoff has not cut the ancient ties between the two border communities who both belong to the Tigrinya ethnic group, our reporter says.

A potential flashpoint, he says, which will need to be negotiated delicately, is the fate of a graveyard where thousands of Ethiopian soldiers, including top army leaders, who died in the conflict have been buried.

Why is it happening now?

It seems as though everything is changing pretty fast in Ethiopia, since Mr Abiy came to power.

Just a few months ago, a state of emergency was imposed following the resignation of Hailemariam Desalegn as prime minister. He said he was standing down in order to end months of anti-government protests, which had led to many deaths and arrests.

Image copyrightAFP

Since taking office, Mr Abiy has moved fast to spend the political capital he had earned after gaining the backing of the EPRDF to become prime minister.

Three months in, he has managed to get the ruling coalition to back his policies including the lifting of the state of emergency.

Being the leader of the Oromo People’s Democratic Organisation (OPDO), one of the four ethnic parties which make up the EPRDF coalition, provides him with a solid political base to implement his policies.

He has also in a short time managed to assert his authority and created excitement in the country about his leadership.

“There’s palpable optimism about Mr Abiy in the country,” says the BBC’s Emmanuel Igunza in Addis Ababa.

What else was announced?

Few would have predicted that the opening of the first Pizza Hut in Addis Ababa in April was an indicator that Ethiopia was opening up its state-controlled economy.

At the same time as the announcement was made about respecting the border ruling, the ruling coalition also said it had approved a policy to loosen the state’s grip in the energy, telecoms, logistics and aviation sectors to allow private domestic and foreign investment – another huge shock, with potentially massive implications.

Investors will be able to acquire a limited stake in Ethio Telecom, Ethiopian Airlines, Africa’s largest and most successful airline, Ethiopian Electric Power and Ethiopian Shipping and Logistics Services Enterprise.

Investments in the telecommunication sector could help improve mobile and internet services which have not seen the same rapid expansion as in the rest of the world.

Until now, a state firm has had a monopoly on internet access, which remains costly and slow.

Analysts see the liberalisation, however limited, as part of the government’s plan to rescue the economy, which had been one of the fastest-growing in Africa.

The Financial Times recently reported that China, Ethiopia’s biggest foreign investor, was scaling back investment in the face of rising foreign exchange shortages and government debt.

The IMF forecasts that Ethiopia will have 8.5% growth this year, down from a consistent 10% in the last decade.

Image copyrightREUTERS

Hallelujah Lulie, an analyst on Horn of Africa affairs observes: “As things stand now, there is a fine line between buying state enterprises and buying the state in Ethiopia. We don’t want a transition from an authoritarian state to a private tyranny. The decision to partially privatise some of the commanding heights is unwise to say the least.”

Despite these reservations, it seems as though there is a real chance that Ethiopia, Africa’s second-most populous country, could be about to change from a tightly-controlled state under the permanent threat of war, to a place where citizens may be able to enjoy more freedom on a number of different levels.

Nizar Manek John Bowker
6 June 2018