The Pageant of the Ugly

March 16, 2007

The Pageant of the Ugly

The competition of the TPLF and EPLF for good looks

By Fekade Shewakena |
March 16, 2007

The rulers of Ethiopia and
Eritrea seem to be in a bitter beauty contest. Each one is throwing mud at the
other with the hope that it will help it upgrade the way it looks. It is a
typical case of the pot calling the kettle black, or “amed beduket yisiqal”,
as the saying goes in Ethiopia. Both commit identical crimes against their
people for reasons of identical political motivations, in many cases, with
difference in the sophistication of how they do it. No surprise here for many
of us who know that there is a lot of inbreeding in ideology and political
culture between the TPLF and the EPLF. The TPLF
as the junior partner has learnt a lot from the Eritrean side. Meles Zenawi
himself is reported to have said “spending an hour with Isayas Afeworki is more
educational than going to a university”.

The thing they both failed to foresee
when they began their love affair in 1991 was the fact that it is hard for two
ruling classes to feed from the same plate without pushing one another.
Apparently, this very sameness and inbreeding has also a lot to do with the love
and hate relationship between them.

More recently, it has become too
common to hear the sins of each country from the authorities of the other. The
problem is that each tells you about the sins of the other while doing the same
sin in its backyard. And the TPLF seems to be breaking the record playing this
game. The major difference between the two is the TPLF thinks it is smarter in
the art of saying one thing and doing another. The Eritrean side is failing in
this regard. It does tell you what not to do and will punish you if you do it.
The TPLF on the other hand will write laws for you to engage in the practice
of your rights but hell will break loose if you take them seriously and are
found practicing it. You can have a political party and compete in an election
according to the law in Ethiopia. But you will be accused of genocide against
the ruling ethnic group if you win. You should know that when in a formal debate
members of the ruling class liken you to the Rwandan Interhamwe. They are
preparing you for that as they just did on CUDP. You can have a free press in
Ethiopia by law, if you are critical of the government or ask government
officials for news you are a dead meat. And this is called democracy in
Ethiopia. Some funny Western diplomats who think this is enough for us also call
it a growing democracy if not democracy. You can even commit genocide in
Ethiopia as happened on the Agnuak tribe in Gambella and get away with it by
having your investigators say that killing happened because of the youngness of
the democracy. The EPLF on the other hand seem to be a little more honest about
their abuse. They even respond angrily when foreigners complain. Fool dictators.
They have failed to refine on Idi Amin and Mengistu.

An interesting case in point is
the US State Department Country Report for 2006 and the way the Ethiopian
authorities and their cronies tried to use it against Eritrea while shutting
their mouth about what it says about them. Our TPLF guys have either completely
forgoten to read what the same Report says about Ethiopia or have simply
overlooked that, at least some of us, could also read the same report listed
only a cursor away and find out what it says on Ethiopia. Ethiopia is
alphabetically listed next to Eritrea on the Report. The report contains 22
pages of damning report on Ethiopia as compared to 12 pages of damning report on
Eritrea. If you list the number and kind of violations item by item as I did,
you will find that the Ethiopian Woyane rulers have committed more crimes in
both quantity and egregiousness and dwarf the violations in Eritrea completely.

Interestingly, the story of the
State Department Report was a headliner for days on Walta website, the website
of the TPLF run news agency. Similarly, all TPLF government news outlets have
been parading the Report on Eritrea as a major finding. The Aiga website, the
den of the thoughtless tribal bullies that do a lot of work to spread
interethnic hatred among Ethiopians than anything useful even to the TPLF, has
it as its big news and as an addition to its collection of reasons to justify
the necessity of a new round of war against Eritrea. These bullies who ran the
website on behalf of the TPLF from their warm homes abroad are calling the TPLF
government to go to war with Eritrea completely forgetting that more than 70
thousand sons of poor people have already perished for nothing in another war
between the two countries a few years ago. The names of the perished thousands
or a single photograph of any of the dead have yet to be published. May be that
has confirmed to them that there is a lot of expendable life in Ethiopia. I
never knew narrow ethnic nationalism could turn healthy people into complete
fascists. There is nothing sickening than seeing these sick people praying for
another war.

The table below contains a
direct excerpt by this author of the most egregious violations of human freedoms
cited by the State Department Report on Eritrea and Ethiopia.

  Compare them and
tell me which one (Eritrea or Ethiopia) looks more beautiful. Whether the State Department or
the US government generates a sound policy based on this reports is another
thing, but one must thank the Bureau of Human Rights, Democracy and Labor for
recording these violations of human freedom and dignity with meticulousness,
integrity and professionalism. Given the obscene hypocrisy of the officials, I
doubt if it will have any effect on policy. These days the only thing you need
to get a pass about terrorizing your people is to line up on the anti-terrorism
bandwagon. The TPLF did just that. It is like the thieves in Markato, where
they steal from someone in the crowed and run along with the chasers of the
thief shouting leba, leba. That is what has come of off the noble
objective of forming alliances to fight global terrorism. This is a windfall to
coward dictators like Meles Zenawi who uses his US trained anti terrorist
snipers to kill unarmed demonstrators including women and children. It appears
the only thing any dictator needs these days is to grab as much language dear to
the West as possible and charm down a few diplomats and the lords of poverty,
the World Bank and the IMF.   Pretend that you know some macro economics and
multiple definitions of democracy, cook growth statistics, keep talking about
jargons like good governance, poverty reduction, democracy, pluralism and
election. That is what they need.   This is tragic but true. People like
Mughabe are complete fools. He could have avoided coverage of his Sunday crimes
against the opposition by just doing this. At least he did not kill as many
people as Meles Zenawi but look at the coverage he is getting. Many westerners
are calling for Mughabe’s neck and all out sanctions as I write this. This man
is a saint if you compare him to Meles Zenawi.

Reported Egregious Violations of Freedom and Human
Rights (Excerpts from State Department Country Report 2006)

Type Violation	Eritrea	Ethiopia
On eExtrajudicial killings	There were no reports that the government or its agents committed any politically motivated killings; however, the government continued to authorize the use of deadly force against anyone resisting or attempting to flee during military searches for deserters and draft evaders, and deaths reportedly occurred during the year	Unlike in the previous year, there were no reports of political killings; however, federal and local police forces committed unlawful killings during the year. On January 23, federal police shot and killed 15 demonstrators and injured 19 others in the East Wallega zone, Guduru District. The shootings occurred during a demonstration by residents against local government forces. No investigation was conducted into the incident.
Disappearances	There were no reports of politically motivated disappearances during the year; however, there were unresolved disappearances from previous years	The politically motivated disappearances of tens of thousands of civilian protestors following the November 2005 political demonstrations persisted into the current reporting period.
Torture, Inhuman and degrading Treatment	The law and unimplemented constitution prohibit torture; however, there were numerous reports that security forces resorted to torture and physical beatings of prisoners, particularly during interrogations. There were credible reports that several individuals, including young men and women rounded up for national service, died following torture or severe beatings by security force	Although the constitution and law prohibit the use of torture and mistreatment, there were numerous credible reports that security officials often beat or mistreated detainees. Opposition political parties reported frequent and systematic abuse of their supporters by police and regional militias.
Prison conditions	Prison conditions for the general prison population were harsh and life threatening. There were reports that prisoners were held in underground cells or in shipping containers with little or no ventilation in extreme temperatures. The shipping containers were reportedly not large enough to allow all those incarcerated to lie down at the same time	Prison and pretrial detention center conditions remained very poor, and overcrowding continued to be a serious problem. Prisoners often were allocated fewer than 21.5 square feet of sleeping space each in a room that could contain up to 200 persons. The daily meal budget was approximately $0.35 (3 birr) per prisoner, and many prisoners had family members deliver food daily or used personal funds to purchase food from local vendors. Prison conditions were unsanitary, and access to medical care was unreliable. There was no budget for prison maintenance
Political Prisoners	There were no confirmed reports of new political prisoners; however, there were numerous reports of persons detained for political reasons	The total number of political prisoners and detainees during the year was estimated to be in the hundreds
Freedom of Speech and Press	The law and unimplemented constitution provide for freedom of speech and of the press; however, the government severely restricted these rights in practice. Citizens did not have the right to criticize their government in public or in private. The private press remained banned, and most independent journalists remained in detention or had fled the country, which effectively prevented any public criticism of the government. The government intimidated remaining journalists into self-censorship.	While the constitution and law provide for freedom of speech and press, the government restricted these rights in practice. The government continued to harass and prosecute journalists, publishers, and editors for publishing allegedly fabricated information and for other violations of the press law. The government continued to control all broadcast media. Private and government journalists routinely practiced self censorship *
Ethnic Discrimination	There were reports of government and societal discrimination against the Kunama, one of nine ethnic groups residing primarily in the west. Societal abuse of Ethiopians occurred, but there were fewer reports of such abuse than in the previous year	Most political parties remained primarily ethnically based. The military remained an ethnically diverse organization; however, Tigrayans dominated the senior officer corps. During the May 2005 elections and subsequent demonstrations there were many reports of Tigrayan or Gambellan troops being used in Addis Ababa and other urban centers where the opposition was strong and where officials did not consider Amhara members of the armed forces sufficiently reliable. There were occasional reports that officials terminated the employment of teachers and other government workers if they were not of the dominant ethnic group in the region.**
Academic Freedom	The government restricted academic freedom; freedom of speech, movement of students, and the right to assemble were not respected in the academic context. The government issued a directive in 2002 reconfiguring the University of Asmara, which effectively shut down the university’s undergraduate programs. As a result, prospective students have not been allowed to enroll in the university and instead were directed by the government to attend the Mai Nafhi Technical Institute. During the summer the government transferred most of the university’s undergraduate programs to vocational training schools spread throughout the country. Only the medical training programs remained in Asmara. Students finishing high school were not permitted to choose their next course of study and were assigned to specific vocational programs based on their performance on the matriculation exam. A few graduate level programs remained at the university; however, the law school was effectively closed, as new students were not permitted to enroll.	The government restricted academic freedom during the year, maintaining that professors could not espouse political sentiments. Authorities did not permit teachers at any level to deviate from official lesson plans and discouraged political activity and association of any kind on university campuses. Reports continued throughout the year of both uniformed and plainclothes police officers being present on and around university and high school campuses. The government arrested students and teachers during the year. Professors and students were discouraged from taking positions not in accordance with government beliefs or practices. There was a lack of transparency in academic decisions, with numerous complaints from individuals in the academic community of bias based on ethnicity and/or religion. The freedoms of speech, expression, and assembly were frequently restricted on university and high school campuses.

* interestingly the US state department Report forgot to report on the
blocking of alternative news websites, blogs and even cell phone text messaging.

** How
about this for the ethnic equality being trumpeted until almost the heavens fall

The TPLF, the first Ethiopian
government to live in the information age thinks it can hide its rear by talking
bad about others.

Now watch another developing
story. The kidnapping of the five British embassy staff and their Ethiopian
companies is getting a life of its own even after the kidnapped “tourists” are
freed. Meles Zenawi who mouthfully boasts of starting the Tigrean insurgency by
robbing a public bank at Axum and the leader of the TPLF who has a record number
of kidnapped foreigners in the Horn of Africa is accusing Eritrea of kidnapping
and terrorism. It is accusing all freedom fighters who refuse to be subjugated
including the OLF and the CUD as terrorists. Remember the fabricated treatise
issued a few weeks back about the apprehension of terrorists supposedly
supported by Eritrea? Don’t even ask that the TPLF was also supported by the
EPLF and was even given a ride by Shabia to Addis Ababa. And Mrs. Frazer that
astonishing diplomat who has helped turn Mogadishu back to hell after six months
of respite from 15 years of hell may say it once more – “the Eritrean government
is now effectively controlled by Al Qaeda”, copy pasting what she said about the
Somali UICs. And then Africa will have one of those things she needs badly –
another killing field. Folks read it. The writing is on the wall.

What a curse is Ethiopia in?

—–
The writer, Fekade Shewakena, can be reached for comments at [email protected]

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