In late 2008, Dr Berhanu Nega, the Mayor Elect of Addis Ababa and the President of Ginbot 7 Movement for Justice and Democracy, was on a private visit to South Africa. The leadership of the Ethiopian Community Association in South Africa had the opportunity to engage with him on matters affecting the future of our homeland, Ethiopia. We are shocked by the recent death sentence passed against the Mayoral Elect of Addis Ababa, a leading scholar of the Ethiopian economy. We are further disturbed and saddened by the continued political machination of the Ethiopian justice system by Meles Zenawi, the Prime Minister of Ethiopia.
Meles Zenawi is the leader of the Marxist Leninist League of Tigrai (MLLT), the political group that controls the guerrilla war machine (the Tigrai People Liberation Front, TPLF). In May 1991, it succeeded in capturing the institutions of the multi-ethnic State through violence. Since its formation in the 1970s, the TPLF has been the cause of death and displacement for millions of people. 20 years after capturing, the levers of political power in a multi-ethnic State, the top brass of the army, key political and security positions are filled with individuals that come from specific families in the Tigrean Community. The Tigrean community constitutes less than 7% of the country’s 80 million people. Hence, Meles Zenawi and the MLLT/TPLF cannot be agents of a governance system that is created through free and fair election. The 20-year legacy of Meles Zenawi and the MLLT/TPLF has abundantly demonstrated the degree to which the narrow-minded TPLF minority regime is willing to go in excluding the other majority ethnic groups of Ethiopia from participating in the socio-economic and political administration of the country.
The power hungry leaders of the MLLT/TPLF have succeeded in creating one of the most densely populated landlocked countries in the world. They have failed to resolve long-standing disputes on border and port issues with Eritrea. Yet, the self styled minority leader continues to tell Ethiopians that access to the sea or ownership of own port is not necessary for economic development. In 2009 the TPLF has been the first political regime in Africa to facilitate the re-colonization of the continent through massive land transfers to foreigners at throw away prices. As a result, small subsistence level farmers are being evicted at an alarming rate from their ancestral lands. They are being turned into poor migrant and underpaid labourers.
Through the Endowment Fund for the Rehabilitation of Tigrai (EFFORT), an entity that is headed by none other than the wife of the Prime Minister, the regime has ensured a virtual monopoly over the Ethiopian economy. Key sectors of the economy are controlled by EFFORT. Its companies not only get political favor and preferential treatment, but they are also exempted from paying taxes. These political companies also provide secret seed capital to their supporters in South Africa. In short Meles Zenawi is managing a predatory economy. Notwithstanding this, the regime claims to have built “a developmental State” by showing off debt financed, aid propelled, crony owned and Chinese built high rise buildings in Addis Ababa.
While it is good that the Chinese have taken part in the construction of high-rise buildings in Addis Ababa, it is equally deplorable that they have forged partnership with a regime that has no regard for the rule of law, human rights, freedom of choice and the alleviation of abject poverty and political repression by Zenawi’s regime. The fact remains that disease, hunger, malnutrition, migration and poverty are widespread. The influx of Ethiopian refugees to South Africa and to other parts of the world is a better indicator of life in Zenawi’s Ethiopia than his high rise buildings and new roads here and there. By the end of 2009 aid agencies estimate that about 15% of the population is in need of emergency food assistance.
In short TPLF’s 40 years of legacy has been marred with conflict, crisis, lack of access to the sea, crimes against humanity, human rights abuses and abject poverty. Hence, ending TPLF’s rule of Ethiopia is the first most important step in the fight against poverty.
At present the regime is trying to cover up the famine situation in Ethiopia. It is trying to downplay the likelihood of severe political crisis predicted by credible independent organizations like the International Crisis Group. It is trying to maneuver the call by Genocide Watch and others for the intervention of the International Criminal Court. Meles is trying to use Africa and NEPAD for repairing his badly ruined international image through false environmental activism. He denies that the fundamental problems of Ethiopia are a result of lack of respect for basic human rights, political repression, the practice of tribal politics, and a fundamentally flawed macro-economic policy. Zenawi’s desperate attempt at deceiving the world at the Environmental Conference held recently in Copenhagen has brought shame to Africa. He is now busy spinning his betrayal of Africa.
Meles has already stayed in power longer than the military regime of Colonel Mengistu Haile Mariam. He is now busy reconsolidating his power within the TPLF/EPRDF. He is neutralizing the opposition and preparing to conduct another sham election. Since May 15th, 2005 (Ginbot 7, 1977 EC) Ethiopia has been under an unofficial State of Emergency. Efforts and calls to resolve the political deadlock peacefully have failed due to the reluctance of Meles Zenawi’s regime to talk to members of the opposition. There is overwhelming evidence suggesting that there is going to be massively sham election, in May 2010 in Ethiopia. Meles Zenawi is currently busy ensuring that the TPLF/EPRDF wins the election by all possible means. To this end, Meles Zenawi is using the courts for suppressing members of the opposition as he did in late December 2009. He has passed the death sentence on decorated army officers like General Tefera Mammo and Professor Birhanu Nega, the renowned economist and Mayor Elect of Addis Ababa under the false pretense that these two leaders of Ginbot 7 were engaged in a coup plot against the minority regime.
To the best of our knowledge and belief, Ginbot 7 is a movement that was born out of the anguish, frustration and sacrifice of millions of Ethiopians. Their stated mission is to defend, in any way they can, the unity and the votes of 80 million Ethiopians. The creation of Ginbot 7 is a natural evolution of the stolen election of May 15th, 2005 (Ginbot 7th, 1997 E.C.). In that election, Meles Zenawi is known to have murdered 200 unarmed civilians in cold blood only because they refused to vote for his minority regime, and has imprisoned numerous leaders of the political opposition in Ethiopia. The perpetrators of this and other crimes against humanity are living with impunity.
All members of the Ethiopian Community Association in South Africa hereby declare that we are committed to restoring the basic democratic rights of the Ethiopian people through an unfettered free and fair election. Consistent with our previous stance, we wish to reaffirm our opposition to the dictatorship in Ethiopia, and call upon all citizens of the world to help us fight for free and fair elections in May 2010. It is our firm belief that given the opportunity to vote freely, the people of Ethiopia would be able to elect a broad-based and inclusive transitional government of national unity that is committed enough for alleviating the chronic economic and political problems. Once again, we wish to call for the immediate and unconditional release of Miss Birtukan Mideksa. We call upon Ethiopian opposition forces to act in unison, and deplore the machination of the Ethiopian court system for political expediency. Finally we take this opportunity to confirm that regardless of the political trial in Addis Ababa, Dr Berhanu Nega, Mr Muluneh Eyoel and Mr Andargachew Tsegie will remain dear friends of the Ethiopian refugee community in South Africa. We are confident that Ginbot 7 will send its high level delegation to South Africa in the not too distant future. We will welcome these heroes to South Africa, and give them a chance to meet members of the Ethiopian Community living in South Africa.
