Letter to the Editor

By Daniel Kinde (Ph.D.) | March 24, 2009

In his moving inaugural address to the people of the United States and the rest of the world, on January 20, 2009, President Obama, among other inspiring points, said: “To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history. Your people will judge you on what you can build not on what you destroy.”

1. Given his record of deceit and treachery, Meles Zenawi, the so-called Prime Minister of Ethiopia, perfectly fits the above description. The Ethiopian people have already judged him, i.e. – that he is good for nothing. He engages in double-talk. But then sincerity has meaning only in reference to a standard of conduct of truth that is based on ethics and common decency. May be that is expecting too much. Ever since he came to power by devious means, he has been systematically destroying Ethiopia. May be that has been his mission.
   

   Meles Zenawi’s “bill of health” is such that, a man of his psychological make-up should not be a leader. Once he is there, how should Ethiopians get rid of him? Despite the fact that he lost the 2005 election, he still clings to power through terror, corruption and deceit. His hands are also drenched in the blood of the thousands of Ethiopians that he slaughtered. These include the Afars, Amharas, Gambellans, Ogadenis, Oromos, Tigreans, and the many others who have become victims of his brutality, illegal detention under horrible conditions, and forced exile into the world at large. He could not even spare Birtukan Mekdessa – a breast-feeding mother, who committed no crime other than expressing her views, if that be a crime. In Zenawi’s democratic hell, even breathing has become an act of sin.

2. The Sudanese President, Umar Ahmad Al-Bashir, who slaughtered over 300,000 people of Darfur, has already been indicted by the International Criminal Court (ICC), on charges of genocide and crimes against humanity filed by the ICC Prosecutor, Luis Moreno-Ocampo. The International Criminal Prosecutor filed ten charges against Al-Bashir at the ICC on July 14, 2008: three counts of genocide, five charges of crimes against humanity and two of murder. Meles Zenawi’s well documented crimes are no less significant than those of his Sudanese comrade in arms and in slaughter. He has been committing crimes against the people of Ethiopia for eighteen years. We should appeal to Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo to investigate the crimes committed by Meles Zenawi and his collaborators against the people of Ethiopia.
3. Meles Zenawi, the desperate leader of a corrupt and bankrupt political group, has nothing but hatred for anything Ethiopian. He is trying his level best to destroy the values, the social fabric and feelings of Ethiopian patriotism. He calls himself a Prime Minister, but deals with the country as if it is his private estate. Because of him and the bankrupt political group that he leads, Ethiopia is now paying $700 million annually for being land-locked. Since Meles believes that “Ethiopia was not meant to be,” he is also busy planning to hand over one-fifth of the most fertile part of the country to the Sudan. The handing over scheme is not based on any historical, demographic, or legal grounds, but on some secret dubious personal deal that he has entered into with Al-Bashir. The matter is very serious. It affects the livelihood of millions of Ethiopians and the vital interests of the country as a whole. Yet, the people of Ethiopia are totally kept in the dark. Meles Zenawi could not muster the courage to disclose the contents of the deal that he made with Al-Basher. For those of us who have read enough of the history and politics of the area, the Sudan has no historical, demographic, or legal grounds to claim any Ethiopian territory. If the truth is to be told, it should be the other way. Sudan was a colony for 134 years. Even Southern Sudan and Darfur that have never been part of the Sudan, and which are struggling for their independence, and which we should support, were forcefully incorporated to Northern Sudan by the British.
4. The so-called 1902 treaty that the British colonialists imposed on Ethiopia in their desperate attempt to get adequate water for their cotton plantations in the Sudan and Egypt, belongs to the dust bin of history. It has been abrogated and repudiated on several historical occasions. There is, therefore, no need even to use it as a basis for boundary settlement. But wicked as he is, Meles Zenawi has instructed his agents to collect signatures from innocent and defenseless peasants claiming that the lands that they farm belong to the Sudan. This, by itself, is enough to show where he stands. But the people of Ethiopia will never accept the disintegration of their country. The people of Ethiopia will never relinquish even an inch of land to the Sudan. If necessary, after the overthrow of this evil man, war will be inevitable with the leaders of Khartoum. Ethiopians should support the struggle for independence of the people of Southern Sudan and of Darfur. Zenawi will not get away with treason, genocide, and corruption. The Ethiopian people and the world community at large should bring to justice this evil and treasonous man who had committed numerous crimes against Ethiopians and against humanity.
5. Since the Sudan is controlled by the powers that be, it has never been friendly to Ethiopia. We cannot forget the forty churches of Gondar that were burned down in 1889, the abduction to slavery of 3,445 Ethiopians by the Mahdi Jihadists, and the subversive and destabilizing activities conducted against Ethiopia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity [1959-1991] from the Sudan. Even as late as 1995, Hassan Turabi, a friend of Osama Bin Laden, and leader of the Islamic fundamentalists of the Sudan could say: “Ethiopia will be destroyed to pave the way for the creation of a series of Muslim States.” So with such friends, who needs an enemy? What do we say to all this?
6. Over the last eighteen years, the international community has provided Ethiopia with some $30 billion in development assistance. However, the regime cannot account for it. Meles Zenawi endlessly talks of double digit economic growth in Ethiopia. He even claims that the economy is growing by 11%. If that is true, then why is the country begging for bread every year? But the truth is that 90% of the population in the country cannot even afford a meal a day, and 97% of the urban population in Ethiopia is unemployed.

   It should be noted that the United Nations Convention against Corruption, the first legally binding global anti-corruption agreement has been in force since 2005. There is also the African Union Convention on Preventing and Combating Corruption. Many countries like the Zambia, the Philippines, Nigeria, Uganda and others have already recovered their stolen assets through the agency of the Stolen Assets Recovery Department.

   Ethiopia, a country that has no internal instruments of transparency and public accountability, and where theft, corruption, money laundering is rampant, and where dishonest exploitation of power for personal gain has become the order of the day, ranks 138th in the Corruption Index. The leaders have amassed enormous wealth to the extent that British newspapers have been reporting that money coming out of Ethiopia and entering British banks has increased by 104%. The Prime Minister’s family and his friends have amassed enormous wealth and fortune in the last eighteen years. It is a well known fact that Meles Zenawi was a simple guerilla subversive agent with no material wealth or property holdings before he took power by force of arms in 1991. His associates and family members were poor too just like very many Ethiopian families. Now, after eighteen years of corruption and the amassing of hundreds of millions of dollars worth of property and investment both in Ethiopia and in foreign countries, Meles. Inc. has become fabulously reach, and in the process, a formidable destructive power in Ethiopia, which explains also his unbridled arrogance. Here too, we urge and invite the intervention of those in charge of the Stolen Assets Recovery Initiative of the United Nations and the World Bank to help the Ethiopian people to recover their stolen assets.

7. Meles Zenawi claims to be a democrat and that his ambition is to help develop Ethiopia as a democratic state of law and order, of democratic institutions where personal relations are under check in all cases involving public affairs. He claims also that he is open to criticism and that his government is transparent. That is what he tells some gullible foreigners. However, none of that is true, for Meles Zenawi is the most insecure and secretive leader Ethiopia has ever had, and his method of governance is highly personal based on deceit, conspiracy, secret dealings, blackmail, and corruption. Any claim of democratic governance is just simple “big talk” as the Americans say. Zenawi does not tolerate those who disagree with him. He reacts violently even on simple matters. He is vindictive and vicious. Every time he is challenged, he lets his paid agents sling mud at others. But the problem is that even the agents are not so clever. Every time they attempt to camouflage their subversive activities, they are exposed in their true colours. Zenawi’s knowledge too is not based on a reflective understanding of social problems, but on shallow and simplistic catechisms. Even his primitive outlook has not been liberated from entrenched prejudice. So he resorts to intrigue, cunning, ruthlessness, and the use of a wicked tongue. Finally, the removal from power of Meles Zenawi and the bankrupt political group around him will not suffice. The ruling party which is largely of his creation and which he controls, and the rubber stamp parliament which he dictates, should also be dismantled.