By Our Staff Writer | August 24, 2006

He eagerly waited for “Ethiopians” to stream into and fill up the empty seats, and at least save him from the shame of sitting like an inmate in a solitary confinement. He waited and waited but no one was coming, except the usual TPLF cadres, who crawled past the roaring lions like some cursed demons. Obviously, it was a tug-of-war between patriots for freedom and enslaved mercenaries.

Addisu Legesse, responsible for the killings of unarmed protesters following the May 2005 elections, should have seen how the Meles regime is a thing of the past for Ethiopians, and if there is a lingering topic, it is how to finish it off, and bring the culprits of 15 years of crime to the court of jusitce.

Addisu talks to himself

When there was no one to talk to, well, Addisu must have talked to himself.
“It is a matter of time before Meles, and I, and other butchers like myself are dragged into a court of justice,” Addisu must have thought when he sat alone, in an empty hall frequently haunted by the roars of the Ethiopian lions picketing outside the hall.

The Ethiopian patriots were carrying the photos of imprisoned Kinijit leaders like the moral force Mesfin Woldemariam, the charismatic Hailu Shawel, the jewel Birtukan Mideksa, the humble scholars in the names of Yacob, Berhanu, Befekadu and many more others. There were courageous women and men, young and old, who held high the photos of those innocent Ethiopians who were murdered by the likes of Addisu Legesse and other thugs in control of state power in Ethiopia.

Apartheid in Action

For Ethiopians, who lived in harmony for thousands of years, there is nothing more humiliating than to be segregated along ethnic lions so that the former Eritrean mercenaries and their TPLF thugs would continue to live in an ivory tower built upon the wails of millions of toiling masses.

“The invitation is strictly for Amhara,” a flyer distributed by the thugs read. Exceptions are universal, and of course there were the few hodams who limped toward the meeting hall, but first looked left and right whether it was safe to walk past the roaring voices of unity, peace, freedom and justice.

Apartheid as a strategy

Meles Zenawi and his subordinates like Addisu know very well that they have no place in Ethiopia whatsoever the definition. They know they have committed numerous crimes, and their future could be no different from their counterparts in the likes of African butchers like Chad’s Hisene Habre, who is being tried in an international court of justice for crimes against humanity.

At least to postpone the day of their downfall, the most effective strategy they have adopted, and feverishly tried to put in place is to go for naked bantustanization of Ethiopia. Of course fifteen years have been counted since the country was divided along ethnic lines. But the latest one is Meles Zenawi’s desperate move beyond the politics into the economic, cultural and other social spheres of the people.

Despite the illegal government’s desperate campaign to divide Ethiopians, well, Ethiopians have remained as united and steadfast as ever. Seattle along with San Jose have discarded the rogue like a trash, and Washington, DC would not be an exception in the campaign to keep the criminals at bay.

Free Our Leaders!

The renowned Seattlite lawyer Shakespear Feyissa meanwhile entered the hall and warned Addisu Legesse of the dangers of confining the elected leaders of the Ethiopian people behind bars, and considering early resignation was wisdom before public anger catches up and places the entire government under fire. The deputy prime minister had no answer.

From among 19 attendees, about 10 of them were from the Ethiopian Moslem community who expressed their anger at how the regime was violating their rights as citizens.

Nine of the remaining were a few TPLF cadres, and a few also opposition activists who wanted to remind Addisu Legesse that a bleak future awaits his government.

All said, Thursday August 24, 2006 was another day of success for the Seattle Family, and of course the larger Ethiopian diaspora.