Deputy Prime Minister Addisu Legesse presiding over a near-empty meeting of “Amhara” in San Jose City where there are over 60,000 resident Ethiopians in the Bay Area (Ethiomedia/August 23, 2006)

SAN JOSE, California – Addisu Legesse, deputy prime minister in Ethiopia’s beleaguered government, Tuesday attracted only 21 people to his Amhara segregationist meeting in San Jose, a city in the Bay Area where nearly 60,000 Ethiopians live.

Addisu’s travel to American cities is part of a major government strategy aimed at weakening the Ethiopian opposition and people’s unity on the one hand and prolonging the government’s stay in power on the other.

“Of the 21 people, 17 of them were TPLF officials and supporters,” a source said, signifying that the government’s invitation specifically for members of the Amhara ethnic group was virtually boycotted.

“Since there were no Amharas, Addisu rather picked up “Somalia” as a topic for discussion, although there was only one Somali of Djibouti extraction at the San Jose meeting,” a source said.

Addisu Legesse and other “Amhara” region officials also visited Cisco Company, and the visit was reportedly arranged by the pro-government AigaForum website (whose webmaster is a Cisco empoyee) and Citizen League of Ethiopian Americans (CLEA).

The Meles Zenawi regime, which suffered a major defeat at the hands of the popular Kinijit opposition at the May 2005 elections, continues to rely on sheer violence and highly racist, apartheid-look-alike government policies to keep power.

Similarly, a public meeting of General Aba Dula Gemeda, defense minister, with Ethiopians resident in Frankfurt, Germany, drew only 12 persons most of whom were registered members of the tyrannical Meles Zenawi ruling party.