Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church – Menbere Berhan Kidest Mariam (St. Mary) Cathedral, Toronto, Canada
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ADDIS ABABA, Feb. 3 (Xinhua) — Week long protests in Ethiopia’s northern Amhara regional state have left 15 people dead, a press statement from Amhara regional government said on Saturday.
The press statement added that the violence which started in Woldiya city, 507 kms north of Addis Ababa on January 20 during a religious procession spread to neighboring cities of Kobo and Mersa in the following days, leaving 15 dead in total. Thirteen of the dead were civilians while two of the dead were security forces.
The violence in Woldiya city happened as crowds shouting anti-government slogans clashed with security forces, leaving six civilians and one security force dead. The deaths happened during Epiphany celebrations commemorating the baptism of Jesus Christ.
The remaining eight fatalities occurred in the nearby cities of Kobo and Mersa as crowds enraged at deaths in Woldiya clashed with security forces.
The violence also saw dozens of private houses, cars, hotels and private farms set ablaze leaving millions of US dollars’ worth of damage.
Ethiopia’s Amhara regional state plunged into unrest in the second half of 2016 for reasons including a rumored disgruntlement of reallocation of a district to neighboring region.
Many Amharas that make up about 28 percent of Ethiopia’s popul
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Author’s Note: I am postponing Part IV of my regularly scheduled commentary on truth and reconciliation in Ethiopia to respond to Seyoum Mesfin’s call to arms to the people of Tigray.
I find it exceedingly important to record a timely response to Mesfin’s inflammatory, outrageous and alarming battle cry aimed at spreading hysteria and paranoia among the people of Tirgray about a contrived genocidal war against them in the planning by their Ethiopian brothers and sisters.
In his politically calculated message, Mesfin offers the people of Tigray a separate peace and to the rest of Ethiopians a separate war.
I cannot let Mesfin’s veiled message of hate and sickening game of divide-bamboozle-hoodwink-and-rule go unchallenged. I offer this resolute rejoinder.
An offer of a separate peace and reconciliation to the people of Tigray and…
In my commentary last week, I wrote, “TIME IS RUNNING OUT. Time is running out on a peaceful resolution of the country’s crises as the TPLF continues to unleash its killing machines and dogs of war on the people.” I wondered out loud what the TPLF wanted as the clock runs down to GAME OVER. My answer was, “Frankly, I have no idea what the TPLF as an organization wants. If I were a betting man, I would say war.”
Well, it appears I got my answer confirming my suspicion last week in a statement by Tigrean People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) Underboss, Seyoum Mesfin.
Speaking at a TPLF conference, Seyoum exclusively offered the people of Tigray separate peace and reconciliation, and by default, separate war and pacification for the rest of Ethiopians.
Mesfin is an original founder (“O.G.”) of the TPLF, its foreign minister and currently its ambassador to China.
Mesfin claims the people of Tigray are today “facing a glaring danger” that is “extremely, extremely alarming.” He warned, “Unless we are able to run, and run fast and defend (against the danger) before sundown, our survival is doubtful…”
Some may find his message of “extreme, extreme alarm” the same old TPLF political hyperbole.
But I do not. I find it a masked call to arms. I find his message outrageous, hateful, divisive and vile.
Mesfin’s unmistakable reference to the “glaring danger” the people of Tigray are facing is the ongoing widespread and massive resistance to its rule throughout Ethiopia. But Mesfin’ cleverly, cunningly and calculatedly conflates opposition and resistance to TPLF thug rule with a presumed and contrived existential threat to the people of Tigray.
Mesfin’s statement implies the TPLF and the people of Tigray are one and the same and their destiny is inextricably intertwined.
His warped logic dictates a number of absurd conclusions: A threat to the TPLF Establishment is a threat to the people of Tigray. Without the TPLF, the people of Tigray will perish in a genocide. The people of Tigray simply cannot coexist with the rest of their Ethiopian brothers and sisters. The TPLF is the only guarantor of the survival of the people of Tigray, their bulwark between survival and genocide. Not supporting the TPLF is the equivalent of signing one’s own death warrant in an imminent ethnic genocide. The people of Tigray have no choice but to support the TPLF lock, stock and barrel (no pun intended).
Mesfin wants to scare-straight the people of Tigray into believing the current uprising throughout Ethiopia represents the final countdown to a showdown before sundown between the people of Tigray and the people of Ethiopia.
The diabolically cunning Mesfin delivers his message of doom and gloom to the people of Tigray wrapped in make-believe humility, contrition, anguish, apprehension and distress. He urges his TPLF comrades to ask forgiveness of the Tigrean people for things they did wrong, failed to do and should have done to regain their trust, confidence and support.
To some who heard Mesfin’s statement and do not understand the “devil’s tongue”, it was a manifest public admission the TPLF leaders are worried sick about losing power in the face of mass protests and growing resistance throughout the country. They perceive Mesfin’s incriminatory statement as an expression of TPLF’s weakness and vulnerability. They congratulate each other with “I told you so’s.”
The TPLF bosses speak with forked tongue, the devil’s tongue. They don’t say what they mean and mean what they don’t say. One must be careful to read between the lines.
Mesfin was not admitting any weaknesses. He was delivering a calculated and coded message to the people of Tigray. He uses the politics of ethnic hate and fear and smear and propagates lies and damned lies to disguise his message and drum up popular support among the people of Tigray in the hope of clinging to power.
I have always said the “LF” in TPLF stands for Lie Factory.
To conceal his hateful call to arms to the people of Tigray, Mesfin sugarcoats his message with crocodile tears and empty words of contrition and forgiveness.
Comrades, the glaring danger we are facing (today) is extremely, extremely alarming. Unless we are able to run, and run fast and defend (against the danger) before sundown, our survival is doubtful… It has been a very long, long time since we betrayed the people (of Tigray) who believed we would bring them peace and justice; they who cried tears of blood as they sacrificed their children (for our cause)… The people we betrayed long ago today feel they are twice dead… They are confused about which direction they should go… Our young people we thought would inherit our legacy have abandoned the main organization (TPLF) and live in a state of confusion…To ask forgiveness is a sign of decency. To ask forgiveness points to astuteness and readiness for work. Therefore, we have to kneel down and ask the forgiveness of the people (of Tigray) we have disappointed. Comrades, we are running out of time. This is not the time to be inattentive.
But what exactly is the “glaring danger of extreme concern” the people of Tigray are “facing” today?
Why must the people of Tigray “run very fast before sundown and prepare a defense”?
From whom are they running away? Who is chasing them and against whom are they supposed to be defending?
Is Mesfin suggesting that Tigreans will be “run out” of the rest of Ethiopia into the sunset simply because they are Tigreans?
I am totally mystified and puzzled by his cryptic message of “glaring danger and extreme, extreme concern”.
Surely the crimes against humanity, the corruption, the stolen elections and flagrant abuses of power committed by the TPLF bosses, cronies, partners in crimes and their opportunistic allies and accomplices cannot be blanket-blamed on the ordinary people of Tigray.
This is not to suggest that the TPLF empire of corruption and crime not networked.
It is an incontrovertible fact that the TPLF Establishment and power and economic elites using an extended network of political and business partnerships have a complete chokehold on the political process, the economy, the bureaucracy and military in Ethiopia.
EFFORT (Endowment Fund For Rehabilitation of Tigray), the multi-billion TPLF racketeering business empire, is ground zero of TPLF corruption.
There is no doubt many individual Tigreans have used their ethnicity as a badge of superiority, privilege and immunity from the law and have long enjoyed the benefits of exclusive first-class citizenship.
There is no doubt the TPLF has facilitated the movement of large numbers of Tigreans into areas outside of the Tigray region and settled them with rights of first-class citizenship on highly contested lands.
My question is about the ordinary people of Tigray, the 85 percent plus eking out a living scratching the land? Are they also not victimized by the TPLF, which uses their name to legitimize its own corruption and criminality?
When Tigreans are moved around by the TPLF in other regions for apparent economic advantage and are viewed by their compatriots as TPLF militia and occupying forces, are they not victimized?
When the TPLF slices and cuts historically recognized territory and purports to transfer it to Tigray region causing deadly ethnic strife and enmity between Ethiopians who have lived peacefully for generations, does that not victimize the people of Tigray as much as others?
I have no doubts whatsoever that if the people of Tigray were given an opportunity to have a referendum on the TPLF, they would throw out those corrupt criminal rascals faster than you can say TPLF (Hewahat).
But they have never been given that opportunity! When they had one opportunity in 2010, bad things happened as Seeye Abraha (a founding member of the TPLF and “O.G.”) documented in a 2010 article entitled “Election 2010: A Retrospective” (International Journal of Ethiopia Studies (Vol. V, No. 2, p. 60):
The TPLF had conducted a study on every person in every village suspected of being in any way related to me. There are many veteran TPLF members who had participated in the armed struggle against the Derg but they were pushed out of the party’s fold during the TPLF split because they were suspected of siding with me or others like me. Moreover, there are many families that had sacrificed not one but two or three of their children during the armed struggle and who are now left without anyone to care for them. The tihadisso [renaissance] of Ato Meles marginalized these people and rewarded others who had made very little contribution to the armed struggle. Because all these people are suspected of having a feeling of resentment towards the TPLF leadership, they were placed under close surveillance during the election period. Various strategies were attempted to control them.
The TPLF crucified Seeye Abraha, one of their own, one of their founders and storied rebel commander and defense minister. They railroaded him to prison on so-called corruption charges for six years. When judge Birtukan Midekssa dismissed the corruption charges, the TPLF retaliated against her by dismissing her from the bench and later jailing her twice on bogus treason and other trumped up charges.
In 2014, Abraha Desta, a Mekelle University political science instructor, opposition leader, popular social media commentator and fearless critic of the TPLF was brutally beaten and jailed. His crime was telling the truth and speaking up. He was released after 2 years of imprisonment. That is how the TPLF deals with Tigreans who have the guts to stand up and speak up against its criminal rule.
The fact of the matter is that the ordinary people of Tigray have as much to fear from the TPLF as any other Ethiopians. If they even dare to tell the truth, let alone do overt political acts of protest, they will be treated mercilessly.
The TPLF is an organization of political cannibals, political hyenas.
If the Tigrean people are facing an existential threat as Mesfin suggested, what options do they have?
Only one. Raise arms, run like hell and defend themselves. That is exactly what Mesfin said. “Unless we are able to run, and run fast and defend (against the danger) before sundown, our survival is doubtful.”
Indeed, Mesfin is calling the people of Tigray to arms. “Prepare to wage war! They are coming to get you!”
But it is the TPLF that has reason to run and run fast. But it can never outrun the truth about its crimes against humanity and decades of corruption. It can run but not hide from the long arms of justice.
The logical conclusions derived from Mesfin’s reasoning are: 1) There can be no peace unless the TPLF remains in power. The only way for the people of Tigray to avoid the purported genocide looming over the horizon is for them to close ranks and line up behind the TPLF for the Battle of Armageddon. 3) Only the TPLF can win the Battle of Ethiopian Armageddon and save the people of Tigray.
But why does Mesfin think the very survival of the people of Tigray is in question or that they will be victims of genocide?
The widespread uprising in the country is not against the people of Tigray. It is against TPLF rule, the abuses of power by TPLF political leaders and the empire of corruption the TPLF has created to rip off all Ethiopians. It is an uprising against the TPLF’s diabolically divisive system of ethnic federalism which has corralled Ethiopians into apartheid Bantustan-style ethnic homelands.
For decades, the TPLF has been plying its trade of ethnic politics and hate pitting Oromos against Amharas, Tigreans against Amharas, Oromos against Somalis and on and on. The TPLF has forced all Ethiopians to drink the poison of ethnic federalism.
Today, the TPLF bosses are doo-doo-ing in their pants because they know the people of Ethiopia have finally found the TPLF’s Kryptonite, the one and only thing that can defeat them: ETHIOPIAWINET.
The ordinary people of Tigray are not responsible for the crimes against humanity and the corruption of the TPLF Establishment, its elites and opportunistic cronies. They have absolutely nothing to be concerned about. Anyone who aims to blame the people of Tigray for the crimes of the TPLF through guilt by ethnic association is not only ignorant but also hateful.
The glaring danger Mesfin’s fears must be the danger of accountability TPLF leaders will face before the bar of justice.
I find Mesfin’s crocodile tears about betraying and abandoning the people of Tigray laughable.
Why is Mesfin pulling at the heartstrings of the Tigrean people and harping on the sacrifices they have made in the lost lives of their children?
Is it not true that hundreds of thousands of Ethiopian youth from all ethnic backgrounds sacrificed their lives fighting the Derg military junta regime and for democracy? Don’t the suffering of their parents matter?
Mesfin complains, “Our young people we thought would inherit our legacy have abandoned the main organization”.
What legacy is Mesfin talking about?
The legacy of hate? Of crimes against humanity? Of murder and torture? Of corruption? Of abuse of power?
The only legacy fitting to Ethiopian youth is Ethiopiawinet, which means LOVE.
Of course, Mesfin is shamelessly and cynically trying to make an emotional appeal to the people of Tigray and drum up political and military support among young Tigreans.
Mesfin is a sick man. He has sickness of the soul. He cavalierly and without compunction proposes to make Tigrean youth cannon fodder for the TPLF’s ambition to cling to power forever. With the same forked tongue, he asks forgiveness of the people of Tigray.
A plan to sacrifice young people so that the TPLF can cling to power can only be hatched in the hearts, minds and souls of evil people whose only reason for existence on the planet is to hate.
Why does Mesfin believe his TPLF has betrayed the Tigrean people?
Of course, the answer is simple. The TPLF has been scamming the Tigrean people for decades. The TPLF has commodified, traded, sold and resold the Tigrean people for decades and used their name to commit crimes against humanity.
Now, Mesfin wonders why the people of Tigray feel betrayed?
I will give credit to Mesfin for his admission of “betrayal” of the Tigrean people. He said the TPLF has “betrayed them [the people of Tigray] for a very, very long time”.
I say, “Damn right!” Not just betrayed, but also bamboozled, abandoned, deceived, tricked, double-crossed and double-dealed the people of Tigray.
But no more! The TPLF will no longer continue to betray the people of Tigray because the people of Tigray are no longer willing to be betrayed by the TPLF, just like any other group in Ethiopia.
Enough betrayal. Enough hate. We need an endless of trust and love.
The fruit of betrayal is bitterness and anger. As Maya Angelou said, “Bitterness is like cancer. It eats upon the host. But anger is like fire. It burns it all clean.” Time will tell what the people of Tigray will do with the betrayal they suffered at the hands of the TPLF.
Mesfin says the people of Tigray feel “twice dead” because of TPLF betrayal. Now, Mesfin is preparing to make the people of Tigray “thrice dead” by invoking the specter of a genocide and making them cannon fodder in its quest to cling to power.
Mesfin should stand corrected. I say, “Mesfin speak for your TPLF.”
The people of Tigray feel twice alive because Ethiopiawinet has made them ONE with their other Ethiopian brothers and sisters.
Lemma Megerssa said,
Ethiopians are like sergena teff [staple foodstuff in Ethiopia made whose multi-colored tiny seeds resemble poppy seeds eaten as flatbread called injera] that is gathered together. Milled together. Eaten together. Ethiopiawinet is an addiction. It is in the heart of each and every Ethiopian. It is in the heart of Oromos, Amharas, Tigreans, Gurages, Southern Peoples, Ogadenis, Afaris, Somalis…. If there is a way to open and look at what is in the hearts and minds of Ethiopians, what you will find is Ethiopiawinet.
Lemma Megressa follows in the footsteps of his great ancestors in his articulation of Ethiopiawinet.
Aba Doyo Wami, the great Ethiopian chieftain and uncle of the renowned Ethiopian General Djagama Kello understood the true meaning of Ethiopiawinet long before Lemma.
During the Italian occupation, certain Italians had prodded some “Oromo individuals” to persecute and drive out Amharas living in their midst.
These individuals sought the wise counsel of Aba Doyo before putting their plan into action. When they went to talk to him, he said he will counsel them after they “bring him a handful of sergena teff grain”.
When they brought him the sergenga teff, he asked them to separate the itty-bitty teff seeds of different color. They told him that was impossible. He asked them, “Then why do you also ask me to do the impossible.”
He counselled them, “The Amhara and Oromo are totally intermingled through marriage and cultural assimilation”. He told them he is the product of a union of Amhara, Tigre and Oromo, but all his family had Amhara-sounding names. Then he asked them, “Would you have me kill my own family members and the whole of the rest of the population to get rid of the Amhara?”
Therein lies a great lesson for the TPLF.
Ethiopians are a mix of Oromo, Amhara, Tigrean, Gurage, Southern Peoples, Ogadenis, Afaris, Somalis… They are sergena teff! It is impossible to separate them.
Seyoum Mesfin, Azeb Mesfin, Abay Tsehai, Debretsion, Abay, Arkebe, Abadi… whoever, the whole lot of you! Listen well!
You CANNOT separate us no matter how hard you try! WE ARE ONE.
You can mill us, grind us, abuse us, scatter us, isolate us and oppress us all you want. You can segregate and kililistanize us. You can separate us by language, region and religion.
But you cannot separate us in our SOUL, because our eternal SOUL is ETHIOPIAWINET!
Ethiopiawinet simply means LOVE.
Ethiopiawinet means brotherhood, equality, liberty and justice for all. Not JUSTUS, the TPLF.
Ethiopiawinet is the only weapon we need to fight and defeat you and your hateful ideology. And we will fight you with the most powerful weapon known to mankind: Nonviolence. Our victory is assured and your defeat is certain.
Why does Mesfin believe the Tigrean people, particularly the youth, are so confused they don’t or know which way to turn? Who has been confusing the people of Tigray for the past 27 years? Who has been leading the people of Tigray on the road to nowhere? The road to perdition.
Is Mesfin unwittingly projecting the TPLF’s own confusion on the people of Tigray?
The TPLF is on the road to perdition. Keep on trucking, TPLF!
The TPLF today is confused and does not know what to do to save its skin from the mass uprisings. The TPLF bosses have been conclaving and having meetings upon conferences. But they have been unable to come to a consensus. In fact, they have been cannibalizing each other as they dismissed each other from political positions and continue to snitch on each other’s crimes.
There is no doubt the TPLF is confused, discombobulated and stumped about what to do next. Killing, jailing and torturing no longer does the job. The people of Ethiopia have lost their fear of the TPLF. Like the American patriots fighting the British colonial masters centuries ago, young Ethiopians are today demanding, “Give me liberty or give me death.” So far, the TPLF has been dealing them death by the thousands. But for every one Ethiopian patriot the TPLF kills, there will be hundreds more to take his/her place.
That is why Mesfin says, “Comrades, we are running out of time.” That is why he says, “run and run fast”.
The people of Tigray, just like their brothers and sisters, know exactly which way to turn. They don’t need to run. They want to turn at the fork in the road and follow the sign pointing to brotherhood, equality, liberty and justice.
The TPLF can ride into the sunset by itself before sundown as the countdown has already begun. The trash bin of history awaits the TPLF at the end of the sunset. Godspeed!
My advice to the TPLF: “Go on. Take your money and run!”
Why does Mesfin believe young Tigreans have abandoned the TPLF?
The fact that Mesfin admits abandoning and betraying the Tigrean people, particularly Tigrean youth, is proof positive that the TPLF has not had the backs of the ordinary people of Tigray. It is proof that the TPLF has been trading and committing crimes in the names of the people of Tigray.
Yet, when the TPLF sees a real threat to its power, it wants to run and hide in the shadows of the Tigrean people and create a human shield by surrounding itself with Tigrean youth.
So much for the vaunted courage of the TPLF!
The TPLF establishment and elites care about no one but themselves. Now, as they are facing fierce resistance, they want to go back to the people of Tigray with their tails between their legs and humbly prostrate themselves and beg forgiveness and reconciliation. At the eleventh hour before “sundown”, the TPLF wants to indoctrinate Tigrean youth into believing that their Ethiopian brothers and sisters want to destroy them and prepare them for bloodshed.
Mesfin says, “To ask forgiveness is a sign of decency. To ask forgiveness points to astuteness and readiness for work.”
Why did it take the TPLF 27 long years to beg forgiveness of the people of Tigray?
Did they just figure out forgiveness is a virtue of moral and law abiding citizens?
Did they just become smart in a flash and figure out that people who ask forgiveness are duty-bound smart people?
Does it mean the TPLF bosses have been immoral, dishonest, wicked and depraved individuals for not having asked forgiveness for the past 27 years?
Perhaps the TPLF bosses are just too clever by half.
Why does Mesfin believe his TPLF has to ask forgiveness only of the people of Tigray? Are they so different from the rest of Ethiopians that their special forgiveness is required? Do not the rest of Ethiopians deserve to be asked forgiveness?
But what is the purpose of the “forgiveness” Mesfin wants from the people of Tigray? Is it to make amends or to trick the people of Tigray to become cannon fodder once again and ply its trade of crime and corruption in their name?
Obviously, Mesfin and his TPLF want “reconciliation” with the people of Tigray! But do they want real reconciliation?
Of course not. For the TPLF, reconciliation is just a gimmick in their bag of tricks to cling to power. They care as much about reconciling with the people of Tigray as they do with the rest of Ethiopians. TPLF talk of reconciliation and forgiveness is just a mind game, a zero-sum game. They win all the time, everybody loses all the time. Sure they will reconcile with the people of Tigray only to tighten the noose around their necks.
I am puzzled why Mesfin believes reconciliation is possible with the people of Tigray but impossible with the rest of Ethiopians.
What is so bad about asking forgiveness of the Ethiopian people? Does he feel that the TPLF has not “betrayed” the rest of Ethiopians and therefore they do not deserve to be asked forgiveness? Does he believe the TPLF cannot get forgiveness from the Ethiopian people, so why bother to try? Does not history show that the people of Ethiopia are forgiving people and forgiveness and reconciliation are the backbone of their culture, religions and society.
The ultimate question is this: If the TPLF is offering forgiveness and reconciliation to the people of Tigray, what is it offering the rest of the people of Ethiopia?
Is the TPLF putting on the table a separate reconciliation with the people of Tigray and a separate war and pacification with the rest of Ethiopians?
Does Mesfin really believe he could continue to use the old fear and smear, divide and rule tactic to gain the support of the people of Tigray lock, stock and barrel?
Could Mesfin and his TPLF succeed in using ethnic politics as a weapon of mass destruction and distraction causing strife and conflict between Ethiopians living in Tigray and the rest of the country so that they can cling to power one more hour, one more day, one more week, one more year?
The TPLF is still playing the old divide and rule game, this time by dividing, separating and isolating the people of Tigray from their Ethiopian brothers and sisters.
Of course, the TPLF has been busier than a dog scratching fleas creating conflict and contriving an atmosphere of ethnic persecution of Tigreans. The TPLF is inciting retaliatory killings in certain areas and propagandizing that Tigreans being killed and their properties destroyed for no other reason than their ethnicity.
The TPLF is using soccer matches to fan the flames of ethnic conflict among youth causing bitterness and hatred between Tigrean youth and youth from other parts of the country. They are doing everything they can to create division and strife between Oromos and Amharas and among other groups.
None of it is new.
But Mesfin’s message of genocide fear-mongering to scare the people of Tigray must not be looked at in isolation.
Mesfin and his comrades have been sounding the drumbeat of genocidal wars and fear and smear for decades to generate support not only the people of Tigray bust also other groups.
They have been fear mongering Oromos telling them the Amhara boogeymen will return and take their land if the TPLF is not at the helm. They are now fear mongering the people of Tigray by telling them that Oromos and Amharas are ganging up to inflict genocide on them.
Today, Oromos, Amharas and others are teaching and preaching true Ethiopiawinet to all Ethiopians. They are defiantly standing up to the TPLF and singing (must see video) “Oromo kegna (is ours). Ethiopia kegna (ours). Tana kegna (ours)… We will not be divided by ethnicity, language, religion or religion. We will not be divided. We are ONE.”
Ethiopia kegna because Ethiopia is built on Oromo, Amhara, Tigrean… sweat, blood and tears.
Ethiopia kegna! ETHIOPIAWINET KEGNA!
I say, “Damn right!”
The sweat, blood and tears of Ethiopians is expressed in Ethiopiawinet and today the yellow, green and red flag of Ethiopiawinet stands defiant against a diabolical pentagram in blue.
Mesfin and his comrades have been talking about the prospect of genocide being committed on the Tigrean people for some time as I documented in my September 2016 commentary, “The Truth About T-TPLF Genocide Lies and Disinformation in Ethiopia”.
Seyoum and his comrade Abay Tsehaye have been announcing the coming Rwanda-style genocide for some time. They have been crying “The genocide wolf is coming” to drum up support and cling to power.
In 2016, Seyoum Mesfin manifestly equated (forward clip to 6:24) what the Nazis did to the Jews in WW II to what the Oromos and Amharas might do to Tigreans today.
What a sick man!
It is an outrage that Mesfin should equate Ethiopians to Nazis and Tigreans to Jews in the Third Reich?
But that is how the TPLF has been playing its game of ethnic hate politics for the past 27 years.
The late T-TPLF thugmaster Meles Zenawi used to scaremonger that after his TPLF goes, there will be the equivalent of an “Interahamwe-type Hutu militia which massacred Tutsis in Rwanda”. Zenawi repeated his prediction of ethnic bloodbath time and again.
Zenawi’s sidekick and step-and-fetch it, Bereket Simon, went one step further when he predicted, “Strife between different nationalities of Ethiopia might have made the Rwandan genocide look like child’s play.”
T-TPLF general Tsadkan Gebretensaye straight up predicted civil war when the T-TPLF is dumped in the trash bin of history.
T-TPLF underboss Abay Tsehai predicted Ethiopia will be Africa’s 21st century Rwanda. He said things in Ethiopia are getting out of control and Ethiopia and is careening into becoming the next Rwanda.
Seyoum Mesfin also predicted civil war but believes his T-TPLF will crush all opposition and remain dominant.
Now, he seems to have changed his tune. He is singing, “Run and run fast…”
Only the T-TPLF godfather Sebhat Nega got it right. “When the people become very bitter, they explode. This is a universal truth. There are no people who will not rise up when they become bitter. Historically. Now. And in the future.”
The wolf announced by the TPLF has arrived! But it is a paper wolf. It is not armed with sabers, guns and tanks.
The wolf is actually no wolf at all. It is the ordinary young people of Ethiopia in the streets armed with nothing but flags emblazoned with green, yellow and red and singing the song of Ethiopiawinet, “Ethiopia kegna”.
These young people are fighting AK47s, machine guns and helicopter gunships with civil disobedience, nonviolent resistance and noncooperation.
The TPLF should know in shadow stands a real wolf angry and hungry.
It is up to the TPLF to choose and unleash the wolves of war or set free the doves of peace, truth and reconciliation.
Is Mesfin preparing the people of Tigray for secession and establishment of the Republic of Tigray they declared in their Manifesto?
There is still one gnawing question in my mind. Is Mesfin and his TPLF preparing the people of Tigray to defend against an imagined genocidal war or actually preparing them to secede and set up the Republic of Tigray?
The TPLF masters of deception and jugglery will pretend to do something to draw and distract attention while doing something entirely different. They will talk genocide nonsense while secretly planning to implement their original plan of a Tigray Republic.
I am not engaged in cynical speculation when I say Mesfin is communicating a hidden message of secession to the people of Tigray.
The TPLF was established for one, and only one reason: To establish the Republic of Tigray.
The TPLF Manifesto declares “Tigray is an independent sovereign country which was invaded by (Emperor) Atse Menelik and became an Amhara colony. Tigray is a colonial territory of Amhara. Therefore, we must liberate Tigray from Amhara colonialism and create a Tigray republic.” [To read the original handwritten Manifesto, click here]
If the TPLF cannot have the whole of Ethiopia, it wants to have the whole of Tigray.
The TPLF failed to establish a Republic of Tigray the first time around. It will fail the second and thousandth time because the people of Ethiopia are ONE.
Can the planets survive without the sun?
Ethiopia is the sun around which the diverse groups of the Ethiopian people revolve around. If there is no Ethiopia, there is no sun in Ethiopia. It will all be darkness at noon. There will be no “sundown” for criminals to run to and hide.
TPLF: You cannot fool all of the people all of the time!
Abe Lincoln said, “You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time.”
I say to Mesfin and his TPLF comrades, “You can fool the people of Tigray some of the time, and some Ethiopians all of the time. But you cannot fool all of the people of Ethiopia all of the time.”
It is time for truth and reconciliation for all Ethiopians.
It is time to “beat our swords into plowshares, and our spears into pruning hooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.”
If Mesfin and his TPLF really care about the people of Tigray, they should be teaching the gospel of truth, preach the message of love and practice reconciliation and not scare-monger with prophesies of a coming genocidal Armageddon
Peace be unto all Ethiopians!
ETHIOPIA KEGNA!
Ethiopiawinet is love. Love shall conquer all. Ethiopiawinet shall conquer the TPLF!
Professor Alemayehu G. Mariam teaches political science at California State University, San Bernardino. His teaching areas include American constitutional law, civil rights law, judicial process, American and California state governments, and African politics. He has published two volumes on American constitutional law, including American Constitutional Law: Structures and Process (1994) and American Constitutional Law: Civil Liberties and Civil Rights (1998). He is the Senior Editor of the International Journal of Ethiopian Studies, a leading scholarly journal on Ethiopia. For the last several years, Prof. Mariam has written weekly web commentaries on Ethiopian human rights and African issues that are widely read online. He blogged on the Huffington post at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/alemayehu-g-mariam/ and later on open.salon until that blogsite shut down in March 2015.
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Mahlet Fasil
Addis Abeba, February 05/2018 – The federal high court fourth criminal bench has today sentenced four defendants in the file name of Gurmesa Ayano et.al to six more months in jail in “contempt of court”. This is the second time the court has handed a six month sentencing against the four defendants: Gurmesa Ayano, Gurmesa Ayano, Dejene Taffa, Addisu Bulala and Bekele Gerba (seen in the above picture). All the four will be serving 12 months in total for contempt of court.
Outside the court room, veteran opposition leader Bulcha Demeksa (retired) and Tiruneh Gemta of the opposition Oromo Federalist Congress (OFC), the party the defendants are from, are seen discussing the court’s decision.
The judges said they were sentencing the defendants for interrupting the court hearing for 30 minutes. This morning, the court was about to pass innocent or guilty verdict but all the defendants have refused to stand up and confirm their presence when called by the judges; they said standing up and speaking to the judges was the reason they were sentenced to six months during the last hearing on January 11.
The hearing for the verdict in the case, one of the high profile terrorism and criminal cases against opposition party members, is now re-adjourned until March 07/2018.
Family members, friends and supporters as seen outside the court room after the sentencing.
Background
All the defendants, originally 22, have spent more than 18 months in jail (and 14 months after they were formally charged) when on July 13/2017, the court acquitted five of the 22 defendants, reduced the terrorism charge against Bekele Gerba to criminal charges, and ordered the remaining 16 to defend the terrorism charges brought by the federal prosecutors.
The court’s decision came after Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn pledged to release “some prisoners” who are currently being prosecuted and to pardon some political leaders who have already been convicted and are serving their sentences as part of the government’s attempt to create a space for a national dialogue. Many have expected the likes of senior opposition political party leaders and members such as Gurmesa Ayano and Bekele Gerba among those to be released.
AS
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122nd Anniversary of the Battle of Adwa
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For the past seven years, Ethiopia and Egypt have fought over the construction of a dam on the Blue Nile.
The Ethiopians say the project will boost its economy, but the Egyptians claim it will cut off their water supply.
Ethiopia, which is financing the project alone and hopes to become the continent’s biggest power generator and exporter, dismisses the claims.
Sudan supports the dam because it will regulate floods and provide electricity and irrigation.
Talks between the three governments have stalled for months but they have now decided to draw up a report of solutions to the issue and agreed to hold heads of state meetings annually.
Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia have agreed to finish the initial technical study within one month.
TRT World’s Philip Owira reports.
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Egypt and Sudan are at odds over an Ethiopian plan to build a huge hydropower dam near the Sudanese border. Cairo fears the project will restrict their access to water, but Khartoum says it’s essential for their agriculture. Could these growing tensions spill over into a full blown water war?
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ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) – An Ethiopian court sentenced a senior opposition leader to six months in jail for contempt of court on Monday because he raised his hand when addressed by the judge rather than standing, his lawyer said.
The court ruling came despite a government push to release politicians jailed after mass protests broke out three years ago in the Oromiya region over accusations of land grabbing.
More than 2,000 political prisoners have been released since January as part of a package of reforms announced to try to calm lingering tensions.
Bekele Gerba, secretary general of the opposition group Oromo Federalist Congress, was arrested in December 2015 and charged with involvement in terrorism. The charge was later reduced to inciting violence.
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“He had raised his hand when called upon by the judge. The judged deemed that as contempt of court as he did not rise and delivered a six-month sentence,” his lawyer Ameha Mekonnen told Reuters.
Last month, the court had also sentenced him for a similar period after Bekele and other opposition party members sang a protest song during the trial. A separate verdict on his incitement charge is expected on March 7.
Hundreds died in the violence in the Horn of Africa country in 2015 and 2016, as protests broadened into demonstrations against political restrictions and perceived human rights abuses.
The government in Addis Ababa is often criticized by rights groups for using security concerns as an excuse to stifle dissent and media freedoms. It denies the charges.
Last month the United Nations human rights body called on Ethiopia to review the status of a “large number of people” still behind bars. The total number of people that remain imprisoned for taking part in the demonstrations is unknown.
The body said the government should review anti-terror legislation and laws “to ensure that they are neither interpreted nor implemented too broadly, thereby resulting in people being arbitrarily or wrongfully detained”.
Laws placing “undue restrictions” on non-governmental organizations and restricting the media should also be revised, the U.N. said.
Merera Gudina, the leader of Bekele’s Oromo Federalist Congress, is among those recently released. The group is a member of Ethiopia’s largest opposition coalition.
Reporting by Aaron Maasho; Editing by Katharine Houreld and Matthew Mpoke Bigg
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U.S. Ambassador Michael Raynor and Minister for Culture and Tourism, Dr. Hirut Woldemariam,jointly launched a new project for the preservation of Bete Golgotha Mikael Church in Lalibela, on Saturday, February 3, 2018.
The preservation work is funded with a grant from the U.S. Embassy through the U.S. Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation (AFCP). The project will invest a total of $500,000 dollars (about 13.7 million Birr) with an additional $119,500 dollars in matching funds from the World Monuments Fund.
This project will utilize innovative, non-intrusive, and proven techniques which were piloted during a previous AFCP project in 2016 at Lalibela. Local craftsmen will be trained in these techniques so that they can be shared and replicated for future projects.
In remarks during the launch ceremony, Ambassador Raynor hailed the living culture represented by Lalibela’s historic churches saying, “These churches are as vibrant and relevant today as they have ever been, and taking steps to preserve them now will help them remain vibrant and relevant in perpetuity. We’re working to restore structures that are not only integral to Ethiopia’s past, but that represent a religion and culture that are very much alive and active today.” He added, “Ethiopian culture is remarkable for many reasons, including its diversity – and its tolerance of diversity. But in seeking to preserve the symbols of Ethiopian culture, through projects like the one we’re celebrating today, we must also work to redouble our appreciation for the timeless values that underlie Ethiopian culture: values that include peaceful political expression and peaceful tolerance of such expression.”
Since 2003, the U.S Embassy has supported the renovation of nine historical heritages throughout Ethiopia, including most recently the restoration of Bete Gabriel Rafael in Lalibela.
Ethiopia’s Authority for Research and Conservation of Cultural Heritage (ARCCH) and the World Monuments Fund (WMF) signed the commencement for the project in the presence of the Ambassador and the Minister.
This project is supported by the United States Embassy; the World Monuments Fund; the Ministry of Culture and Tourism; the Authority for Research and Conservation of Cultural Heritage; the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahido Church; the Administration of Lalibela Town; the Amhara Region Bureau of Culture and Tourism; and Addis Ababa University.
Source: U.S. Embassy in Ethiopia
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Rambunctious, manic, beguiling, exciting — it’s hard to accurately describe Addis Ababa….
Rambunctious, manic, beguiling, exciting — it’s hard to accurately describe Addis Ababa.
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By AFP
ADDIS ABABA
Clashes between two of Ethiopia’s largest ethnic groups have forced around one million people to leave their homes, according to a UN report seen by AFP.
Fighting between the Oromo and Somali peoples along the shared border between their two states occurred sporadically through 2017 but the situation intensified in September, leaving hundreds of people dead by a government estimate and displacing scores of others trying to flee the violence.
CONFLICT
Statistics from the UN’s International Organization for Migration (IOM) show that the conflict-related displacement is more widespread than previously known and one of the biggest seen by Ethiopia in recent years.
“Preliminary data from the latest round of the IOM Displacement Tracking Matrix conducted in November 2017 indicates that around 1 million persons have been displaced due to conflict along the Oromia-Somali regional border,” dating back to at least 2015, said a report by the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
In 2017 alone, 700,000 people were displaced with the IOM recording a “significant spike” in September of that year.
An official with IOM’s office in the capital Addis Ababa declined to comment further on the data, cited in the OCHA report dated January 23.
ETHNICITY
Ethiopia is divided into ethnically demarcated federal states intended to give the country’s many ethnic groups self-determination.
While Oromos and Somalis have lived side-by-side in each other’s region, quarrels between the two ethnic groups over access to land and resources have occurred for years along the borders of their two states, Oromia and Somali.
The reasons for the conflict’s sudden intensification last year remain unclear, but both sides accuse the other of carrying out atrocities and forcing people of the opposite ethnic group out of their respective states.
“Often having fled with nothing more than personal possessions at hand, most of the IDPs remain in precarious conditions, fully dependent on government and international humanitarian assistance,” the IOM said.
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Hiber Radio Daily Ethiopian News February 5, 2018
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BBN Daily Ethiopian News February 5, 2018
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The government of South Sudan has boycotted the second phase of the IGAD-brokered South Sudanese peace talks in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa.
The second phase of High-Level Revitalization Forum kicked off Monday after the signing of a cessation of hostilities agreement. The agreement has come under heavy criticism, with reports of violations on both sides of the warring factions accusing each other.
Sources that attended the meeting say the government’s attempt to block the process was rejected and the meeting took off without their representation.
“We were called into the meeting hall only to realize that the government delegation was not present. We inquired from the mediation team and we were told the government delegation was demanding more representation,” a source who attended the meeting said.
Sources say members of the government team said they need a bigger representation because it matters a lot for them.
IGAD had allocated 12 seats to the government team, the same numbers as the other groups.
“We asked for acceptance as we came because each and every member of the delegation has a mission for which he was selected by the government to come,” a government official who preferred anonymity said.
The government officials say the team will resume their participation in the talks once their demands are met.
The second phase of the revitalisation talks will discuss the implementation of a permanent cease-fire, deliberate on revised and realistic timeline and a schedule towards general elections in the country at the end of the interim period.
While opening the session, the head of the IGAD Council of Ministers, Workineh Gebeyehu said “It is your very last chance for peace.” And urged the parties to strike apolitical deal and to respect the cessation of hostilities.
He said if the parties squandered this chance, they would be blamed for what is happening in South Sudan.
The African Union Commission Chairperson, Moussa Faki Mahamat urged team members to take the talks seriously to ensure that it succeeds.
“The commitment that was made has never been honoured. Hardly the ink had dried than clashes erupted in numerous parts of the country,” he said.
IGAD Special Envoy to South Sudan, Ismail Wais, urged the parties to desist from ceasefire violations.
“The region and the international community are ready to take punitive measures against individuals and organizations that have been verified as violators of this Agreement,” he said.
South Sudan People’s Liberation Army in Opposition have lately listed a litany of violations allegedly committed by the government forces. The last one happened three days ago when government forces reportedly attacked the SPLA-IO positions at Bieh, Mirmir and Buoh in Koch County, Liech State.
Lt. Col. Paul Lam Gabriel said they fought with the government forces for three hours and repulsed the attackers. A string of other cases have been reported by both sides accusing each other of such violations.
South Sudan plunged into violence in 2013 after the former first vice president, Riek Machar disagreement with his boss, Gen. Salva Kiir, the president of the country, forcing millions of them into exile.
fdraku@ug.nationmedia.com
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By Sonia Farid
Special to Al Arabiya English
Tuesday, 6 February 2018
Upon his return from Cairo on January 19, Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn announced that he rejected Egypt’s proposal to seek the mediation of the World Bank in the dispute over the Renaissance Dam, which is expected to affect Egypt’s share of Nile Water. Upon finishing a meeting in Addis Ababa with Desalegn and Sudanese Present Omar al-Bashir on January 29, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi told reporters who asked whether the crisis was resolved that “there is no crisis” and none of the countries involved will be harmed.
BBN Daily Ethiopian News February 06, 2018
ESAT Reports
The faction led by Sebehat Nega that came out triumphant after a marathon of meetings and infighting within the TPLF has reportedly wanted Samora out and be replaced by one of the four-star generals recently promoted by the regime.
Sixty-one officers were promoted to the various ranks of general last week in an unprecedented move within the army. The rank and file is also expected to get promotions soon. Critics call it an attempt to quell the growing resentment within the army in which all major positions were controlled by Tigrayans holding over 90% of the top brass.
There has been growing tensions within the higher echelons of the army following recent divisions and power struggle within the TPLF, with officers showing allegiance to either factions.
Sebehat Nega, the founding member of the TPLF, has reportedly gained the upper hand and has been instrumental in removing Azeb Mesfin, the widow of former Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, from the Front and her position as the CEO of EFFORT, a party conglomerate that controls all aspects of business in the country. Abay Woldu, presumed to be the leader in the opposing faction has lost to Nega and has been removed from his position as Chairman of the TPLF and administrator of the Tigray region.
Nega and co have now moved to reshuffle the army in favor of their people. Younis and few other generals are expected to retire. The commander of the Ethiopian Air Force, Adem Ahmed (an Amhara) is expected to be replaced by Molla Hailemariam (Tigray).
Source:
Etenesh Abera
Addis Abeba, February 07/2018 – Following a statement released yesterday by the OPDO, member of Ethiopia’s ruling party, EPRDF, pledging to work with opposition parties including those outside of the country, Oromo Democratic Front (ODF) has released a statement welcoming the move and expressing its own readiness to work with OPDO. In addition, Leenco Lata, president of ODF, told Addis Standard late this afternoon that “there has always been go-betweens between us and OPDO leaders.”
OPDO’s lengthy statement was released late last night at the end of ten days meeting by the central committee. Among several promises the OPDO said it would implement as part of its ongoing reform, its emphasis on the importance of building multi party political system and its promise to work towards realizing that has caught the attention of many.
According to OPDO’s statement, the presence of opposition political parties in contributing towards creating a healthy market place of ideas, and in nurturing a democratic environment is invaluable. Differences among and between political groups and parties should accommodate “diversity of ideas” which will in tern contribute to the well-being of the country at large, the statement emphasized. “Democracy is a matter of survival for the people of our country,” the statement said, adding the “OPDO understands well that in order to establish a democratic structure whereby diversity of ideas can be tolerated, the role of political parties is essential.” To this end, the statement said, while respecting its differences, the OPDO is ready to work with opposition political parties “both from within and outside the country.”
Within hours, the Oromo Democratic Front (ODF), an opposition party in exile, has released its own statement in which it reciprocated its readiness to work with the OPDO. “We believe the call is timely and a major step in the right direction,” the statement says, “And we therefore wholeheartedly welcome and accept OPDO’s call.”
Furthermore, in a phone interview with Addis Standard, Leenco Lata, President of ODF, said “there has always been go-betweens between us and OPDO leaders,” especially since the idea of reform took effect within the current OPDO leadership. Leenco added that ODF is “flexible regarding the procedure” to work with OPDO.
Commend and applaud
ODF’s statement said “while commending and applauding OPDO for the bold move, we want to take this opportunity to express our willingness and readiness to work with it not only to realize the aspirations of the Oromo people but also to make Ethiopia’s federation genuinely democratic and multi-national, for which we have been advocating since the founding of our organization.”
On his part, Leenco said ODF “will be consulting OPDO officials to see what is convenient for both sides. We will be exploring more ways to work with the OPDO officials; at this time we are willing to consider all options,” he said, adding “ODF was established with a plan of returning back home and contributing to the process of building a democratic Ethiopia.” He mentioned that it was because of this commitment that he and other senior members of the ODF came to Ethiopia in March 2015. However, they were quickly told to leave the country. “We have not stopped working on returning back since then.”
A breakaway from the oldest political party, Oromo Liberation Front (OLF), ODF was established in 2013 by the founders and senior leaders of OLF itself, including Leenco Leta. AS
Ed’s Note: Addis Standard will release its detailed exclusive interview with Leenco Lata soon.
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Nemera Mamo is a co-author of this article. He is a teaching fellow at SOAS, University of London.
Ethiopia has been experiencing recurrent mass protests, riots and ethnic conflicts over the past two years that have claimed the lives of thousands and displaced hundreds of thousands.
These events have led observers and members of the ruling Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) to conclude that the very survival of the Ethiopian state is at stake.
State collapse is so far an extreme and unlikely scenario given that the conflicting parties are internal actors in the system and have a vested interest in its survival. A more likely but still dangerous scenario is a long-term vicious cycle of political conflict and economic stagnation that cripples state and society.
Much of Ethiopia’s appeal to global investors lies in the high-level political commitment to economic growth. Political instability risks eroding the hard-won economic gains it has registered over the past decade.
Analysts and the international community have often attributed the current crisis either to Ethiopia’s ethnonational federal system or the near total curtailment of political spacesince the disputed parliamentary elections in 2005.
While political liberalism is a moral imperative on its own accord – and long overdue – it is, nevertheless, an insufficient solution to the political quagmire that the Ethiopian state finds itself in. The ethnonational federation is also not the primary source of the problem, and its abolishment is neither desirable nor a realistic proposition.
The government’s response to the problem has also been inadequate. It has primarily attributed this to corruption and a stalled democratic process. Based on this diagnosis it has taken important yet inadequate measures such as releasing political prisoners, initiating dialogue with opposition groups and demoted officials.
Managing Ethiopia’s current political crisis requires going beyond democratic reform and instead thinking about the political economy and institutions that shape elite competition along ethnic lines. The two most important reform measures that should be embarked upon immediately in this regard are devolving more power to the regional states in accordance with the Constitution and de-ethnicising elite competition at the federal level.
Ethiopia is suffering from a political economy crisis at the heart of which is the contradiction between the EPRDF’s developmental state model and the constitutional ethnonational federation. The Constitution grants the regional states extensive rights to self-determination in economic, cultural and political matters even to the extent of secession.
In terms of fiscal autonomy, it provides them with the power to levy a wide range of taxes on economic activities occurring within their territories.
The EPRDF’s governance model, on the other hand, has been characterised by rigid long-term planning and centralised policy-making. Its primary purpose has been the pursuit of a structural transformation of the economy from an agriculture-dominated to one wherein industry holds a substantial share.
The contradiction between the developmental state and federalism has resulted in the objectives of the latter being compromised.
Regardless of the great lengths to which the Ethiopian constitution goes to grant regional states access to a number of tax instruments, the revenue generating capacity of the regional states has been consistently low due to the centralising tendencies of the developmental state.
This has led the regions to heavily rely on subsidies from the federal government to finance public goods. Moreover, through its many parastatals, the government is encroaching upon what could have been the tax jurisdiction of the regional states.
Ethnic politics is not a necessary evil that Ethiopia has to live with – it is rather an existential threat.
The conflict over Addis Ababa’s large-scale urban development plan that sparked mass protests in 2015 is another example of the encroachment of the federal government on the jurisdiction of the regional states.
Regional officials accused the federal government of denying them the right to participate in devising an urban development plan that had economic implications. This dispute sparked the protests, which eventually led to a u-turn on the plan by the government, but only after a great human, political and economic cost had been incurred.
A combination of a lack of transparency and corruption scandals has led to an increasing feeling that Ethiopia’s wealth is not fairly distributed or properly managed at the federal level.
In pursuing a highly centralised development policy-making process, the EPRDF has underestimated the potential consequences of resistance from the general population and officials in regional states that feel disenfranchised by particular policies.
The current quagmire shows that there is a need to balance economic ambitions with political realities. Ethiopia needs to devise a more dynamic approach to decentralisation that is more responsive to changing political economy conditions.
The regional states currently have virtually no capacity in tax legislation. The federal government should work with the regional states to remove legal, administrative and political constraints that have prevented the regions from fully exploiting their powers of taxation. This policy would also contribute to holding the leaderships in the regional states more accountable by their own constituencies.
Competition for power and resources at the federal level has taken place along ethnic lines and much of the violence that shook the country has been tied to disputes between groups within the ruling party. This political elite competition is not an inescapable function of the federal structure, but rather, an outcome of the nature of political party organisation and practice.
Under the EPRDF’s rule, the party and state structures have – though de jure separate – in practice, become intertwined. One of the consequences of this merger has been the employment of state resources as a currency for the ruling party to maintain and increase its large body of party members.
State rents tied to political and bureaucratic appointments have, particularly after the controversial 2005 parliamentary elections, been an important incentive for increasing the membership of the ruling party from around 700,000 in 2005 to seven million in 2015.
Given that the four constitutive parties of the front are organised along ethnic lines, the distribution of economic and political resources have also taken place through ethnic-based patronage structures (this includes both the legal distribution of official posts in the government, as well as the illicit benefits accrued through some of these positions).
The distribution of power and resources in everything from seats in the cabinet to leadership positions in universities are often based on an informal ethnic quota system. Any form of inequality that emerges in access to administrative positions, state rents and illicit benefits, therefore, assume a communal ethnic character.
In the process of competing for power and resources, party officials on all sides have consistently and systematically framed disputes in nationalistic terms and mobilised their ethnic constituencies. Political elite competition has consequently spilled over into communal conflicts that have led to mass violence and displacements.
Ethnic politics have in general also come at the expense of meritocracy and economic efficiency. Most importantly, it has also provided the four EPRDF parties with ethnic constituencies whose support are almost guaranteed through the perpetuation of a discourse of “ethnic-interests” and fear of other groups. Both conflicts within the EPRDF and with opposition parties are increasingly becoming devoid of substantive policy and ideological differences and revolve around ethnic group privileges.
Sustainable economic development and a functioning democratic and federal governance arrangement will be difficult to achieve in the current ethnicised framework of political competition.
The way forward must, therefore, involve a de-ethnicisation of competition for resources at the federal level. This is difficult but not impossible. The first and most important step in this direction must be to reorganise the ruling EPRDF from a front composed of four ethnonational organisations into a cross-ethnic and unitary party.
The EPRDF had in its origins an extensively formulated class-based ideology, which explicitly prioritised the interests of Ethiopia’s peasantry (which account for more than 80 percent of the working population). Over the last decade, its ideological commitment has weakened, and it has transformed into a party that tries to cater to various and contradictory interests.
This first step will necessitate a different resource and power distribution mechanism within the EPRDF, which will encourage new patronage structures and alignments within the party that cut across ethnic lines.
It will thus tame communal conflicts caused by competition between party officials and it will encourage the formation of opposition to the EPRDF that is cross-ethnic and based on a different ideological platform than nationalism.
Ethnic politics is not a necessary evil that Ethiopia must live with – it is rather an existential threat. And now, more than ever, it is the time to think about the possible institutional mechanisms that can contribute to transforming politics away from it.
There is no silver bullet that can de-ethnicise politics in Ethiopia. Instead, many individual measures such as those we have outlined above can, over time, make ethnicity a less salient and central feature of how people and politicians conceive of their political interests and how they mobilise for against power.
The views expressed in this article are the authors’ own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.
A cloud of dust rises from a dynamite blast, as part of construction work, at Ethiopia’s Grand Renaissance Dam during a media tour along the river Nile in Benishangul Gumuz Region, Guba Woreda, in Ethiopia March 31, 2015. (ReutersArchive)
