Proof that Meles lit Africa’s woes

By Yilma Bekele

The
article by Theodros Haile ([email protected])
accuses all opportunist entities or immature political activities for
distorting history of Ethiopia unaware that their ignorance puts them squarely
in the camp of supporters of two successive Italian invasions 40 years apart to
colonize Ethiopia and enslave her citizens. My comment after reading the
article: “Thank you very much for your outstanding
article so brilliantly articulated. The great Oromo people and the Amharas were
targets of the Fascist Italy during the war as evidenced by the leaflets
dropped over villages in Tigray. The aim of the Fascist invaders was to break
the backbones of these two patriotic ethnic groups in order to subjugate and
rule Ethiopia.

We
must not give a free ride to the few extremists to drive a wedge between the
Amhara and Oromo majorities.”

Brigadier Hailu
Gonfa highlighted the daylight robbery of votes in the 2005 election in which
the TPLF regime was convincingly defeated and declared a state of emergency. He
added that in the aftermath of that election gross violations of human rights were
committed by the brutal ruling regime and therefore leading him to exercise his
constitutional rights to be on the side of the Ethiopian people, which he did
so courageously.  

The time
has indeed come that emphasis should be laid on the way forward to engender
democracy in Ethiopia of the 21^st century without altogether
forgetting mistakes of the past from which we can learn in the course of
building a great nation in all respects – a nation at peaceful with itself that
we are quite capable to give birth to given our long history, strategic
location, vast fertile land and network of rivers and lakes, industrious
people, diverse and rich cultural heritage, excellent climate, other natural
resources in abundance, biodiversity, abundant fauna and flora.

Amharas
and Oromos in their combined capacity as the overwhelming majority of the
Ethiopian people should own up to their responsibility and actively engage in
engendering regional stability and fostering good relations between Ethiopia and
Sudan and Egypt bound by long history and the Blue Nile River with 85% of its
waters originating from Ethiopia for the benefit of the duo. Of course,
Ethiopia shall not accept any agreement over the River to which she was not a
signatory party.

Exclusiveness, vote robbery and
rigging

The ill-conceived
exclusive design of the TPLF to rule Ethiopia alone under Meles and his inner
circle  is clearly written in the
communist MLLT manifesto exposed by his then compatriot Gebremedhin Araya[1]

who gave Ethiopians monumental evidences more than
sufficient to justify rising in unison to save their country from disintegration.
The tyrant has died leaving behind his clones that had lost no time in vowing
to stay for the next 40 years in power to fulfil the evil dreams of their
master including ushering in the era of political impotence of the Amhara
ethnic group, weakening of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Christian Church,
and in the long run attack the great Oromo people. All the forgoing are
strategically selected as convenient targets for vicious disenfranchisement.

The
viciousness of the tyrant and his inner circle is evident among others in the
stealing of food aids for victims of drought in Tigray in 1973/74;
masterminding of the aerial bombing on Hawzen to alienate the gallant people of
Tigray from the rest of the Ethiopian people; and worst of all creating ethnic
federalism in fulfilment of their dream to divide and rule.

 On
that historic day of 07 May 2005 before the election on 15 May 2005, a truly
mammoth crowd estimated at 2.5 – 3 million inundated the streets and squares of
Addis Ababa to support the Kinijit Party (Coalition for Unity and Democracy).
That sea of humanity was acclaimed internationally for its magnificent display
of decorum and civility; it ended peacefully without a single incidence of
violence.

The
unprecedented massive support for Kinijit was followed by an unprecedented turn
out of voters en masse on 15 May 2005 in which the ruling party suffered a
humiliating defeat failing to win a single seat in Addis Ababa where the AU
Headquarters is located. Tyrant Meles declared a state of emergency and swiftly
implemented his plan B that resulted in killing close to 200 peaceful
protesters by trained snipers; throwing the victors to filthy prison; incarcerating
tens of thousands of opposition supports, mostly young, shaving their heads
with unsterilized blades without regard to widespread STDs of that time.

What is
really shocking is that the defunct OAU which had sent its observers to the
above election pronounced the election free and fair and recognized the TPLF
party as the winner; one of the senior diplomats of the Organization,
Ambassador Patrick Mazimhaka hailing from Rwanda, overstepped diplomatic norms
and blamed the opposition in public for the popular unrest in the aftermath of
the election.

In the
subsequent Ethiopian election of 2010 the ruling party claimed 99.6% ‘win’ of
the 547 parliamentary seats. The European Observer Mission decried the election
process as not free and fair; the White House endorsed the ruling of the
Mission. But the AU Observer Team for the second time declared the election
free and fair!!

The road
for TPLF tyrants to the pinnacle of power was arduous, costly, treacherous, and
bloody; to share that power once captured proved a nightmare for the greedy
dictators. Indeed Meles Zenawi and his clones are typical actors exacerbating
Africa’s woes and setting the worst example to other countries in the African
continent.

The
quasi-dysfunctional AU

The
ongoing carnage among children of Ham, Shem, and Kush originating from the
confluence of the Blue Nile, White Nile, and River Atbara does not bode well
for the peace of the region. This region includes Mesopotamia between the
Euphrates and Tigris rivers where science was the first to start and flourish.
It is widely held that the region constitutes the Garden of Eden mentioned in
the Holy Bible. Incidentally, if that is indeed the case, Uganda – dubbed the
“Pearl of Africa by Sir Winston Churchill” – is the best portion of the Garden
of Eden.  It is interesting to note why
so much social, political turmoil in this region situated in Africa, the Middle
East, and Asia.

The recent
shocking development in the nascent Republic of South Sudan barely two years
since it got its independence is deeply painful. The independence was achieved
at the hefty cost of : millions lives lost; thousands injured; millions living
in in exile; huge amount of property lost; incalculable earnings forgone; absence
of infrastructures necessary for modern development activity including schools,
industries, hospitals, et al.

The
ongoing unrest in South Sudan has already claimed more than 1000 lives;
displaced thousands internally, and forced tens of thousands into exile.
Therefore the question of accountability should be a top priority for the
international community.

So, the
much vaunted peer rating mechanism of the AU has miserably failed to check the
abuses of tyrants. One would ask whether the conflict resolution entity of the
Union is working diligently in sensing the advent of catastrophic political crisis
in order  AU  leaders to take preemptive measures in time.

Pleading for peaceful conflict
resolution

I was
struck by the concern and frustration of President Museveni of Uganda (dubbed “The
Pearl of Africa” by Sir Winston Churchill), over the poor performance of the
AU. He made a stinging remark that the continent is rich in presidents but
too weak in power (My emphasis). The President expressed his disappointment
at the incompetence of the AU while addressing a civilized audience of
enthusiastic students of the Great Lakes region at Makarere University on
12/7/2013). He blamed the cultural chiefs for dividing the people. Source:
Sunday Vision July 14 2013 –“Museveni calls for unity”. President Museveni
said: “The youth in Africa are in a crisis. There are many things which are
pulling you and if you are not careful, you will be a lost generation. If you
do not have a proper ideological compass you will be lost.” He asked: “We are talking
of ideology not biology. You are young, but what is your ideological
compass?” 

I was left
with no doubt in me that the President is a true Pan African statesman with
foresight. He alone among African leaders publicly stood for the unity of
Ethiopia. He condemned apartheid politics in the strongest terms.  No doubt the UN Secretary General asked the
President to mediate in the present crisis in South Sudan threatening the
existence of the young country.   

It is
unfortunate however that the President is not perceived by many to be playing a
neutral role in the political crisis of South Sudan. He appears to be making
the same mistake that tyrant Meles did in the unprovoked invasion of Somalia
and dethroning the Islamic Courts thereby giving birth to the radical Al Shabab
to fill the power vacuum. One would hope that he will see the wisdom to let the
South Sudanese people sort out their problems internally without external
military interference.

The
gruesome ongoing civil strife in South Sudanese is a matter of far reaching
setback for the African continent. Al Bashir of Sudan is a vulture
shedding crocodile tears over the crisis of his southern neighbor rich in oil
on which he depends. Bashir should be stopped for he has a hidden agenda.  It is a good omen however that refuges mostly
streaming to Uganda are refusing to be classified according to ethnicity and
put in separate camps have shunned such classification. They want to stay
together in one camp and force their warring leaders to reconcile and work for
the unity of South Sudan.  This is a
remarkable example to the youth of Africa; it is a damning  blow to the apartheid policy of Meles Zenawi.

Conclusion

As an Ethiopian
and committed supporter of the spirit of Pan Africanism, I am enlightened by
the writings of Abera Tola, Professor Isaac Ephraim, Theodros Haile, and the
interview of B/General Hailu Gonfa with Sissay Agena on Esat Radio. I was
immensely impressed and inspired that there is no justification not to end the
era of confusion, internecine and vindictiveness exacerbated by the ethnic
federalism put in place by the late tyrant Meles Zenawi

Amharas
and Oromos in their combined capacity as the overwhelming majority of the
Ethiopian people should own up to their responsibility to  relegate blame games to the backburner in
order to divert their energy on the burning issues including abject poverty, gross
human rights violation, rampant corruption, unemployment, and bad governance

It is time
to say no to vote robbery and vote rigging. There must be no Interference in
the internal affairs of sisterly African countries unless authorized by the AU
and the UN Security Council.  

All
prisoners of conscience in Ethiopia must be released immediately and
unconditionally

The onus
is on the EPRDF regime to take positive steps suggested by G7 leaders for
negotiations with all political parties and civic organizations.

The TPLF/EPRDF
regime must admit that Meles ignited Africa’s woes; it must do its utmost to
rectify the colossal damage already done

The
African continent is in dire strait due to regional instability, which must
end. The AU leaders should seek in earnest political solutions to internal
conflicts in progress within and between member states including: Central
African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo,  Eritrea, Ethiopia, Mali, Nigeria, Somalia,
South Sudan.

 The AU leaders should listen to the exemplary plea
of the South Sudanese refugees to stay together in one camp irrespective of
their ethnic tag and fight in unison; listen in earnest to their  yearning to return to a united homeland
equally shared  by Dinkas,  Nuers, et al

LONG
LIVE ETHIOPIA!!! 

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