A lot has been made out of the dropping of charges by the Ethiopian Government. Though this is a reason for us to be happy, we should take care not to “miss the forest while looking at the trees.” It will serve us well to understand that nearly every mischief and blunder the EPRDF is involved in is a purposeful endeavor. The despise with which we hold their atrocities should not make us forget how conniving and devious the ruling party can be.
I have the belief that from the out set EPRDF never intended for the opposition to join the parliament in force. When it became obvious that the opposition is seriously considering calling its bluff and beat Woyane at its own game, the EPRDF started to take provocative measures that would force the opposition to take the path that it has taken. Meles knew that, banning of demonstrations, rounding up people for blowing their horns, changing parliamentary procedure, using an out going parliament to pass binding laws and his taking control of the security forces, were wrong and provocative. But he chose to do this predicting the opposition’s response so that he will have an unbridled authority to conduct his post election crackdown which will enable him to destroy the opposition. Isn’t this how the prime Minster Israel triggered the second intifada??
Like wise the charging of people in absentia and the charging of people who hold a citizenship of another country with treason is not a product of an incompetent legal adviser but of a sinister political strategist. The EPRDF’s strength comes from the fact that they control all economic sectors and hence command unlimited revenue that could be used for party agenda. On the other hand CUD is a formidable opponent because it has the support of the people. It remains a viable opponent because it enjoys the huge support of the diaspora who are the primary source of funding. Since it can not send its goons to the streets of Brussels, Toronto, DC, Seattle or Washington, it is the EPRDF’s intention to try to dry up this source by other means.
The charging of persons with a capital offence that it can never hope to enforce in a fair court is one way of sending a signal to Ethiopians and friends of Ethiopian that reside abroad. EPRDF is saying that even they, are not beyond its reaches. Does it really make sense to charge Solomon and Tamgne with treason??? They are just telling these patriots that they can never see their country and their loved ones again! They are also telling those of us under the radar to behave or else we will have the same fate. It is a way of letting us know that their spies and consular offices are doing their job. EPRDF knows that the intimidation that it has extended to ordinary folks by this means far outweighs the political embarrassment that it will incur from dropping these charges. It is conceivable that some may be affected by this decided to scale down their support in order not to have a problem in their upcoming trip to Ethiopia. So let’s keep in mind that when EPRDF charged these people in absentia, its intention is not to take these people to court but rather to erode our support to the opposition by scaring us. Let’s always try to temper our emotions with a healthy understanding of their tact. And if for some reason if this creates some sort of apprehension in us let us just keep reminding ourselves of Shibre and others who paid the ultimate sacrifice in the streets of Addis.
