Fellow Ethiopians and friends of Ethiopia: Greetings.

We, the Ethiopian Diaspora, so many of whom who have fled the tyranny of the Derg or the TPLF, have gathered today in major cities of the West at a critical juncture in Ethiopian history. We thank the coordinators of this demonstration, the Global Ethiopian Democratic Resistance against Mr. Meles Zenawi’s attempt to rig the Election of May 15, because it is important that we demonstrate and speak out in one voice on behalf of Ethiopia.

On May 15, 2005, a day that we will remember forever, our country took a step down the path to true democracy. That step was not a small step. No, my friends, it was a big, bold, strong step, and there can be no turning back. That is the reason we have gathered by the thousands today, in cities around the world, from Atlanta to Amsterdam, from London to Los Angeles, in protest of the suppression of the votes. We have come together because we want to show Ethiopians in Ethiopia – who have been denied their rights to protest by the government — and the entire world our commitment to seeing Ethiopia become a true democracy. Make no mistake: we will not rest until the government of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi has allowed the opposition parties to claim each and every seat they have won – even if that means that the Prime Minister must, after fourteen long years in power, finally relinquish his iron grip over Ethiopia. And we will not rest until we have persuaded the governments of our new countries, especially the United States and the United Kingdom, to support and respect the people of Ethiopia in their fight to regain control of their country.

Let me begin by congratulating — and thanking from the bottom of my heart — the opposition for what it has accomplished so far. We do not know what announcement will come out of Ethiopia these days, of course. But so far, even Mr. Meles Zenawi has no choice but to concede that the opposition has won at least 200 out of 547 parliamentary seats. In Addis Ababa, they have won every single seat. Key TPLF ministers, such as Addisu Legesse (Deputy Prime Minister), Bereket Simon (Information Minister), Yosef (Amhara State President), Teferra Walwa (Capacity Building Minister), Dawit Yohannes (Speaker of the House), Genet Zewede (Education Minister), Abadula Gemeda (Defense Minister), Jenedin Sedo (Oromia State President), and Arkebe Oqbay (Mayor of Addis Ababa), have lost their seats.

And as I will discuss in a moment, the opposition has done this under the most difficult circumstances. One year ago, I dare to say that none of us could have predicted that they would do so well. So, to Hailu Shawel, to Mesfin Woldemariam, to Berhanu Negga, to Merara Gudina, to Hailu Araya, to Lidetu Ayalew, to Beyene Petros, to their parties, their candidates, their supporters – thank you. You have inspired those of us who had begun to lose hope that anything good would ever come out of present day Ethiopia. Thank you for your faith that it could be done, and your determination to do it. Thank you for rekindling the hopes of two generations of Ethiopians in the diaspora.

Now, let me take a moment to review the events surrounding the May 15 elections. I want to try to unravel the puzzle of how we have, on the one hand, contested elections in which the opposition has made huge gains – winning, if the truth is ever told, a clear majority in parliament – and on the other hand, the real possibility that Mr. Meles Zenawi rejects in vain the results of elections that he himself permitted, and hangs on to power through illegitimate means.

To begin with, it must be acknowledged that Mr. Meles Zenawi, whatever his motives, did permit the freest elections in our history. He allowed opposition candidates to travel to big cities and campaign unmolested, and allowed the free press to cover the election with a freedom previously unknown in Ethiopia. In the final weeks of the campaign, he bowed to international pressure and even gave the opposition access to his state-controlled media. The highlight of the campaign, we are told, were the televised debates between government and opposition candidates, debates that gave voters a clear sense of the differences between the competing parties.

In response, Ethiopians grew increasingly optimistic about the election and increasingly vocal in their support for opposition candidates. CUD was able to mount a pre-election rally on May 8 in the capital that drew about two million supporters – a huge number. And on election day, as we in the diaspora held our breath, voters turned out in massive numbers at polling stations across Ethiopia. So I say it again: May 15, 2005, will forever be a day that we celebrate.

But sadly, we also know that to say that Meles allowed the freest election in history is not to say that he allowed a free election. No, my friends, it is not. Meles did not rig these elections in the way he rigged the elections of 1995 and 2000, but he did put in place safeguards meant to insure his and the TPLF’s return to power. What were these safeguards?

1. First, government agents did interfere with opposition, especially in rural areas where voters are totally dependent on the government for their survival. These agents harassed candidates and supporters and threatened would-be opposition voters. They even imprisoned candidates. If there is anyone who doubts this, they should read one of several Human Rights Watch reports that describe this sort of systematic repression in several regions.
2. Second, the media. Yes, Meles did give the opposition access to the media, but only in the final weeks of the campaign. Prior to that, he used the mass media – radio, television and print – owned by the state to advocate exclusively for government candidates.
3. Third, the National Election Board of Ethiopia (NEBE). The NEBE is the group tasked with administering a fair campaign and elections – but its members were handpicked by the Prime Minister.
4. Fourth, he placed the distribution of ballots and the custody of ballot boxes under the exclusive control of local EPRDF members.
5. Fifth, he limited the number of independent election observers and, in many places, barred opposition representatives from observing the distribution of ballots, the casting of votes, the opening of ballot boxes and the counting of votes.

Friends, I could go on – but the point is made. These are not the elements of a free election.

And yet, despite these hurdles, the opposition posted initial results that have astonished us all – though for different reasons. Mr. Meles Zenawi is astonished because he never expected to lose given the safeguards he had put in place. The prime minister’s friends in the West are astonished because they believed what Meles has told them for years – that he is a modern, pro-democracy ruler who enjoys wide support at home. And we, well, we are surprised for the same reason Meles is surprised. We know that Ethiopians are desperate to be rid of Meles and his TPLF, but we never dreamed that Mr. Meles Zenawi could miscalculate as badly as he has.

The initial results, particularly the oppositions’ sweep of Addis Ababa, shocked Mr. Meles Zenawi and put him in a difficult bind. What could he do to retain power, as he appears determined to do, while still appearing the committed democrat, as he continues to insist he is to his friends in the West? Let me quickly review some of the things he did to manipulate the situation to his own advantage:

1. First, Mr. Meles Zenawi declared victory the very day after the ballots were cast.
2. Second, he denied the opposition any access to the media, so that within Ethiopia people were exposed to state propaganda only.
3. Third, he declared a month long ban on protests, since extended for a second month.
4. Fourth, he declared a state of emergency the day after the elections and put the police and security forces under his direct command. He disarmed the Addis Ababa police, fearing, we presume, that this force would not take orders to shoot at peaceful demonstrators, and replaced it with his own soldiers.

These last two steps were taken in the name of keeping the peace, but as we all know that is the very opposite of what then happened. People in Addis Ababa, particularly university students, simply refused to accept the government’s blatant abrogation of their rights to free association, to free speech and to the government of their choosing. These people tried to mount peaceful protests in support of the opposition. Taxi drivers went on strike and shopkeepers closed down their shops. Spontaneous demonstrations also took place in other cities such as Bahr Dahr and Gondar.

What then happened is painful to recount. The prime minister ordered his security forces to crush these protesters, and that is what they did. Meles’ soldiers killed at least 36 people in Addis Ababa alone; only God knows the number of dead in rural areas where there are no reporters to keep count. He also ordered mass arrests and roundups; again, no one can say of how many people. Human Rights Watch estimated the number to be in excess of 3000; the number could, obviously, be much higher. And while many have been released, many remain in detention, including human rights workers and journalists.

Let me pause here for a minute. We read of “36” people dead, and the repetition of that number hides the fact that we are speaking of 36 individuals, 36 men and women who had hopes and dreams and families who loved them. I wish to honor these men and women, these sons and daughters, who somehow found the courage to stand up for their right – for our right — to live in freedom and dignity. To their families and loved ones: we grieve for your loss, we mourn for each and every one of the dead. These Ethiopians belong to all of us, and we, the living, will not allow their deaths to have been in vain.

So where are we now? The opposition’s documented complaints of vote-fraud made it impossible for Mr. Meles Zenawi to declare a definitive victory, and his NEBE has been forced to investigate the opposition’s claims relating to 139 electoral districts. Thanks to the insistence of the opposition and the pressure of the international community, both the opposition and independent observers from the EU and the United States are involved in these investigations. The results are to be announced any day.

Friends, it is my hope, it is my most fervent prayer, that the NEBE, the government and the opposition honor every vote that has been cast and respect the will of the people. And, based on all that I have heard and read, both about this election and about the last 14 years under the TPLF, I believe with all my heart that the true will of the people is to rid Ethiopia of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi and his TPLF, and to move Ethiopia forward under the fresh leadership of the opposition.

Let me say a word or two about the West, and its support of the present government. The murders in Addis Ababa, as terrible as they were, did do one thing – they finally exposed Meles’ true nature to the world. Until his security forces committed these crimes under the noses of EU observers, Meles had somehow succeeded in portraying himself to the West as an honest, pro-democracy reformer. His friendships with people such as Tony Blair, Bill Clinton, and Jimmy Carter are well known, and the United Kingdom and the United States have been lavish in their praise of him as “a new breed of African leader.” This is another puzzle. How is it that what Ethiopians, who have had to live under Meles’ iron fist for fourteen long years, know about Meles is so different from what the West believes? And why have the world’s leading democracies supported such a patently undemocratic man?

The answer, sadly, lies in the double standard that the United States and the United Kingdom apply when it comes to Africa. The elements of this double standardism are no secret. First, there is a much lower bar for democracy in Africa than there is elsewhere. So long as a leader is not Idi Amin or Charles Taylor, so long as the level of violence and repression he sanctions does not reach some horrific level, the West turns a blind eye. Second, the West goes easy on regimes it consider allies. These days, it is especially accommodating of regimes it thinks useful on the war on terrorism. Meles does well on all these fronts – he is not in Mr. Taylor’s league, he is pro-America, and he has been very eager to cast Ethiopia as a strategically located friend in the war on terrorism. He also benefits from the fact that he followed Mengistu, a brutal, pro-Soviet dictator whom everyone, including us, abhorred.

But this time, Meles may have gone too far. He clearly has embarrassed Tony Blair, who had even placed him on his Commission for Africa, which is supposed to come up with a blue print to end poverty and improve human rights in Africa. Both the United States and the United Kingdom have condemned the state-violence and Meles’ ban on protests; both have repeatedly urged restraint on all parties. And the United Kingdom put a planned increase in aid to Ethiopia on hold pending the outcome of the NEBE investigations.

Our job, as Ethiopian-Americans and Ethiopians living in Europe, is to keep the pressure up – through demonstrations such as today’s, through letter writing and e-mail campaigns and telephone calls. No government likes its domestic media to publish images of cold-blooded murder by regimes supported by taxpayer dollars – so we must take advantage of the opening Mr. Meles Zenawi has given us. We must contribute as much as we can to support lobbying efforts that could range from the dissemination of opposition press releases and statements to the Western press to direct contact with our local and national representatives. And where we do not have enough money to lobby, we must make maximum use of our impacting votes, in important cities such as Washington D.C., Atlanta, Los Angeles and London. Friends, we are no longer the “new” immigrants who fled the Derg in the 1970s and 1980s. Many of us are established in our host countries, and we must use our positions of relative comfort to do everything we can to help Ethiopia through this current crisis – and beyond.

In the meantime, the message for the West is this. You are at a crossroads: you can choose Mr. Meles Zenawi, and his minority party, or you can choose the friendship of the vast majority of Ethiopian citizens. Ethiopians know that a free Ethiopia led by the opposition will be a stable democracy that is a good friend to both the United Kingdom and the United States. So we say to the West: keep the pressure on Mr. Meles Zenawi. Don’t let him crush our fledgling democracy because you don’t think that Africans can do better. Don’t support Mr. Meles Zenawi just because he isn’t Mengistu Haile-Mariam. Support a free Ethiopia. Support Ethiopians as they struggle to establish a government of their choosing. It is in the interest of all, including the United States and the United Kingdom, to do so. And it is morally wrong to support a tyrant and a murderer.

Friends, I said at the outset that we have taken a huge step toward democracy. The opposition has won the elections, and it is inevitable that these new leaders will take power. There can be, I repeat, no turning back.

So let us also look forward, because Ethiopians’ bright future, my friends, will soon be here. When the opposition is declared the winner, it must be ready to govern, and to govern extremely well. The opposition must be gracious and wise in victory. It must be forward-looking, and it must place the interests of the nation above that of any individual. The government it forms must be scrupulously fair to all Ethiopians, and zealous in its protection of minority rights. It must be ready for disagreements and disappointments, and above all it must be committed to resolving such problems through peaceful and democratic means.

We will expect no less from a new government, because the CUD and UEDF are composed of members highly qualified for the job and totally committed to defending and upholding the constitution that guarantees the protection of Ethiopians’ human rights. And you, Ethiopians in the diaspora, be ready to go to Ethiopia if you are called to help develop the country.

Friends: change, progress, hope, equality, democracy – all of these are in the air today, right here within our reach. May God guide us through this crisis and bring justice, peace and prosperity to 70 million Ethiopians.

To the leaders of CUD and UEDF, and to ordinary Ethiopians from my father’s village of Degomsisa to my mother’s village of Birmej, from Mekele and Dessie in the north to Arba Minch and Moyale in the south, from Jijiga and Harer in the east to Metemma and Asossa in the west, our hearts and minds are with you. We understand, as you do, that the burden and ultimate responsibility for freeing Ethiopia lies with you. We, in the diaspora, will take our lead from you, and support your decisions on how to achieve it.

To those of you who have gathered around the world today, thank you again for your commitment. Ethiopia is at a critical junction, and our efforts may well be the difference between success and failure.

And to Mr. Meles Zenawi I say this: Mr. Meles Zenawi, you have told the entire world that you are a reformer and a democrat. But Ethiopians do not yet believe you, because your actions do not follow your words. Mr. Zenawi, prove us wrong. Respect the votes Ethiopians have cast, and prove us wrong. Mr. Zenawi, prove us wrong.

Long live Ethiopia in freedom and democracy!