Tribute to Abebe Gellaw – Journalist & Human Rights Activist

This day marks the 1st Anniversary of that unforgettable occasion on 18 March 2012 that your call for freedom at the Regan Memorial Building in Washington, at the meeting of world leaders and dignitaries chaired by President Obama. The man that you quite rightly labeled “Meles Zenawi is a dictator” was seen shaken, drooping, scared and demoralized in that Hall. He shamed his cohorts that are engaged in building his personality cult crowning him with the accolade: “Statesman leading Africa and a fearless commander of a fighting guerrilla force that shook the mountains”. To hide their utter embarrassment they even profusely disseminated the tyrant’s photograph sitting on a tank reading a book.

Your clear call reverberated in our global village of the age of information and promptly elevated the moral of Ethiopians; it instilled renewed hope and resolve to unite the forces of change in their struggle against the dictatorial TPLF/EPRDF regime well-armed to the teeth and supported by the Western powers.

In my opinion, unity of the Ethiopian people, opposition political forces, and independent civil societies is now on a steady march to eradicate tyrannical governance once and for all. The scattered anger has been gathering in the course of the year (since 18 May 2012) to the point of becoming a formidable force, which is able to deal with the atrocious legacy of Meles Zenawi who was publicly calling well-meaning opposition entities his enemies.

Your creative choice of venue, timing, and the words of message will no doubt admirably go down in the annals of the history of a liberated Ethiopia.

Sincerely,