1. Introduction:

In Ethiopia, the price of being elected with a landslide victory to be the mayor of Addis Ababa, the African capital city of Ethiopia is to be thrown into jail, isolated in jail, put in a crowded room with 200 prisoners! Dr. Berhanu is now confirmed exposed to serious health risks no doubt due to the mistreatment and abuse meted out cruelly and foully by the regime against him.

NES is alarmed to hear this sad news, and feels that any harm to Dr. Berhanu and all the political prisoners in Ethiopia is the sole responsibility of the regime. Their exposure to life-threatening and unhealthy prison conditions is a gross violation of their human rights. It will be included in the dossier of crimes against humanity this regime routinely commits. Ethiopian democrats shall never allow those in Government who trade bullets for stone throwing youth to get away with the crimes of murder. All democratic and humane forces must join together to make sure that justice is done. Justice un-redressed is an indictment to the creative and critical capacity to create a more tolerant and humane universe. We in Ethiopia must not let injustice to prevail by omission and commission. The democratic struggle comes above all else to make sure a national democratic framework obtains by the free choice of free people from every part of the Ethiopian Union.

The regime’s abuse of Dr. Berhanu is not simply an abuse of Dr. Berhanu as an individual or his family. It is an abuse of all the people of the Capital City of Addis Ababa. It is an abuse of all who share the ideals of democracy in Ethiopia. It is an abuse of all those in the international community that have condemned the brutalities and sinister actions by the regime in Ethiopia.

2.Shame on all appeasers of the regime to continue its criminalities

We say shame on all those inside and outside Ethiopia who abetted directly and indirectly the regime in order to continue mounting its unspeakable criminal massacres, imprisonments and criminalizing the unemployed youth by practising the cruel policy of forced removals into concentration camps. Nobody truly knows the exact scale and true number of young rural and urban people that were carted to makeshift camps. No doubt the truth will eventually come out. But the longer the truth is covered up, the more the regime can pretend to have not done all the evil that it has been doing with criminal abandon.

If the former president of South Africa, Dr. Mandela had been put in Kalati prison or any of the prison dungeons in Ethiopia, he would not have come out alive. Imagine what it would mean, had this truly remarkable leader of Africa did not survive after nearly a generation in jail. None of the achievements that the world has reason to admire and appreciate from the wonderful liberation of South Africa would have been possibly sustained in the remarkable way it has been going to date.

3. Imagine the Heavy Price to Africa had Dr. Mandela been Jailed in an Ethiopian Prison!

South Africa’s liberation remains a wonderful liberation in the history of national democratic liberation movements and the sacrifice and wisdom of the liberation leadership has a lot to be noted for this sterling accomplishment. This happened because the people struggled and the leadership were able to lead. Thanks to the ANC, its leadership and some of the leaders from the old apartheid party, a negotiated settlement took place in spite of so many dangers and threats to derail it by white supremacist forces and their allies from within the armed forces.

Soon after liberation, the ANC leadership tried to talk up Africa by rejecting Afro-pessimism and declaring a period of African renaissance to coincide with South Africa’s liberation and her welcome to her coming to the common Africa home. In this way South Africa’s liberation was positioned as the harbinger of a post-pessimist turn or the launching of an African optimist historical chapter. Imagine if Ethiopia joins fully with democratic South Africa and not as this diabolical regime does now, join foreign forces whose distinction lies in disrupting Africa’s emancipatory ambitions, to boost the democratic opportunities in our continent. Imagine if Dr. Berhanu and the entire Kinijit leadership with their sincere desire to democratise Ethiopia were to team up with a democratic South Africa, how much progress Ethiopia as a country can make to itself and Africa. A settled and legitimated democracy with elected leaders means amongst other things trying to enlist fully an invigorated Ethiopia to play a vital role in Africa side by side with democracies like South Africa.

But before we speculate and imagine what could be possible, the real hard work of getting Dr. Berhanu and the opposition leadership released must come first. It is only the freed that can negotiate, not those in prison who must not be coerced by threats to their health or life to sign doing the bids of donors and local bully busy bodies like Meles and his die hard cohort of criminal gang that use force and deception as a strategy to kill, when what is urgent is to team up together to bring life and rebirth.

If Ethiopian political forces wish to learn from South Africa, and NES wishes for nothing else other than the desire to see all Ethiopian political forces attain this capability, three outstanding political achievements are worth repeating:

Firstly: South Africa‘s liberation movement succeeded to make a peaceful democratic transition by employing the concept of a transitional national unity government for the first years of freedom from apartheid rule. Subsequently former president of South Africa, Dr. Mandela voluntarily gave up power and resigned from running once more for re-election.

Secondly: A key achievement of the South African process is also the ability of the emerging constellation of political forces to draft a constitution that has been infused both in spirit and letter with full recognition of all the freedoms for citizens, respect for human rights, democracy, rule of law, good government and building democratic institutions that combine social justice with recognition of those who wish to accumulate wealth by means of legally protected rights of property ownership combining traditional and modern systems of governance.

Thirdly: Another lesson for Ethiopia is from Dr. Mandela’s own experience who would not have survived had he been in jail in Kalati prison. His generation old incarceration, his own existential sacrifice of his adult life was used judiciously by the ANC as a capital for broad based healing and reconciliation in South Africa. What South Africa contributed as a universal gift to Africa in handling conflict resolution is anchored in the fact that Dr. Mandela’s imprisonment turned into the benefit for all of humanity – a lesson on how not to turn political opponents into enemies but turn them into allies and friends, learn from their crimes and move on and include them in making the collective future of all citizens. The strategy to implement this principle South Africa instituted what is known as a peace and reconciliation commission where immunity from persecution was exchanged for a full disclosure of all the crimes committed during the apartheid period. That has indeed helped to bring about a much needed relief and perhaps therapy by a people filled with too much anger and pent up frustrations built over years of brutality and mistreatment of the majority population.

South Africa posed the question: which is better to concentrate national effort and will, in coming to terms with the past by opening the wounds and the hurts of its majority citizens and potentially opening the flood gate to reprisals, vengeful responses or violence or vote for a shared future. In the trade off between the past and the future, South Africa chose the future. The truth and reconciliation concept was a way of tolerably living with the past and shaping the future with democracy, human rights and non-corrupt Government. Luckily, it seems South Africa has embarked on a process that has powerful lessons for all of us in the rest of Africa: a true model of universal value in resolving problems with sustained and not instant dialogue, and truth and reconciliation. Whilst it is not easy to say that this has resolved the brutal legacy of apartheid colonialism in South Africa, there is no doubt it has helped to avoid revenge and other possible reprisals of the victimized population against the racist colonizers and de-humanisers. Ethiopia, indeed much of the rest of Africa needs to learn from South Africa in trying to find a negotiated end to conflicts and deal with peace and reconciliation with the post-conflict problems bequeathed from the past. Above all South Africa’s constitution is the envy of the world, and its truth and reconciliation commission is an example to the rest of Africa.

The regime in Ethiopia talks about Rwanda’s genocide and invokes often scenarios of fratricidal killing by spearheading such killings, arresting democrats, imputing on others its own genocidal intentions to legitimise all its criminal misdeeds against the people of Ethiopia who voted to free themselves from ethic based tyranny imposed on their lives.

4. The Price of not releasing Dr. Berhanu and all the Prisoners of Conscience.

Ethiopia cannot afford to lose the Dr. Berhanus who have shown clear commitment to see the emergence of a democratic and humane society in Ethiopia. As South Africa could not have afforded to lose Dr. Mandela, the current leaders in jail must be respected by the people of Ethiopia, the Government of Ethiopia, the Africa Union, the European Union, the World Bank, the UK and USA Governments and be released immediately. NES believes a framework for a national strategy to negotiate an all-inclusive purpose to resolve the nation’s problem be put in place. The price of not releasing Dr. Berhanu, Prof. Mesfin, Ato Hailu Shawl, Wieizero Birtuken and others is to prolong and exacerbate the national crises that may end up destroying rather than creating a wonderful nation. Key prisoners like Dr. Asrat have not come out alive and they have died. We must it a humane and political priority to struggle every day to make sure that these innocent prisoners like Dr. Berhanu are released immediately.

The democratic forces in our country must intensify the struggle. The international community must continue to exert pressure on the regime. The message that mistreating elected Mayors cannot be tolerated must be loud and clear. This regime cannot continue to play to abuse the people, democracy and the prisoners. The outrage against this musty be redoubled and action must be taken.

5. ACTION Call

NES calls on the Newly Created Alliance for Freedom and Democracy, and the newly established Kinjit international leadership, and the various other political forces, and all the civil and democratic forces to mount a global concerted action to redouble the democratic struggle on all possible arenas including as a matter of priority of priorities, in the first instance, to get the immediate and unconditional release of Dr. Berhanu and all other political prisoners.

There is a need for a concerted and combined democratic struggle by mounting a world wide coordinated demonstration that can be spearheaded by the international Kinjit leadership and the AFD.

NES calls on the international community to intervene to move Dr. Berhanu abroad to get the best medical treatment.

NES calls the international Kinjit leadership to lead a strong campaign to obtain for Dr. Berhanu his inalienable right to medical treatment.

NES calls the new leaderships to create a continuous set of activities to build the strength of the democratic opposition to the dictatorial regime in Ethiopia.

The issues are clear. Kinjit’s leadership is in jail. An international leadership has been forged. An alliance has been formed. It is now time to build and strengthen the democratic opposition with purposed, imagination, discipline and humility.

Intensify the democratic struggle against dictatorship!
Immediate medical treatment abroad to Dr. Berhanu!
Free all political prisoners!
Negotiate an all-inclusive national unity Government Now!

Professor Mammo Muchie, Chair of NES-Scandinavian Chapter
Berhanu G. Balcha, Vice- Chair of NES-Scandinavian Chapter
Tekola Worku, Secretary of NES-Scandinavian Chapter

Contact address:

Fibigerstraede 2
9220- Aalborg East
Denmark
Tel. + 45 96 359 813 or +45 96 358 331
Fax + 45 98 153 298
Cell: +45 3112 5507
Email: [email protected] or [email protected] or
[email protected]

A few from previous NES articles