Though the ethnic oriented ideologist dictator
Meles Zenawi passed away 6 weeks ago, his regime officially announced his death
on the 21st of August 2012. Meles Zenawi seized political power by
waging a liberation war using the ethnic army of his Tigray People`s Liberation
Front (TPLF) and toppling the military regime of colonel Mengistu Hailemraim in
1991. The TPLF was also a Marxist front which was closely allied with the
Eritrean People’s Liberation Front (EPLF).
Upon seizing power Meles Zenawi promised far
reaching political and economic reforms to secure continued western financial
and political support for his narrow based ethnic rule.
He had not delivered or
done any other than introducing some cosmetic changes to deceive western
donors. His rule was marked by increasing repression and violence against
political oppositions and dissenters.
Meles
Zenawi abused ethnicity for his grand scheme of divide and rule and clinging to
power for his lifetime. He muzzled freedom of expression and was referred to as
one of the notorious enemies of the free press in the world. He had imprisoned
and forced into exile hundreds of journalists and politicians.
His regime has
committed massacres in different parts of the country and most Ethiopians are
the victims of his repression and ethnic discrimination.
Despite the egregious
violations and widespread abuses of human rights, his regime has remained the
largest recipient of western aid in Africa. He was reviled by almost all
Ethiopians but loved by the major western powers.
He posed himself as an ally
of the west in the fight against international terrorism to secure aid. The
western aid also constituted budget support which went into the regimes coffers
directly. The massive western aid has not been effective in alleviating poverty
and famine in the country.
Rampant corruption and nepotism are responsible for
hampering economic development in the country.
The ethnic dictatorship of Meles Zenawi was
based on ethnic discrimination, exclusion and favoritism. The false or
exaggerated economic growth figures and showcases infrastructure expansion the
regime and its western donors use are primarily intended to justify more aid
and conceal the failure of aid to the ethnic dictatorship in Ethiopia. In fact
there are no independent institutions or organizations which can confirm or
refute the growth figures the regime issues and the western donors consume.
We
are very much surprised by the naivety of some Norwegian government officials
who happened to consume and echo the hollow propaganda of Meles Zenawi
regarding economic growth and achievement of the so called millennium
development goal.
Ethiopians struggling for democracy, justice
and human rights see the death of Meles Zenawi as another opportunity for an
inclusive transition to and creation of a just, stable and democratic system in
Ethiopia. Meles Zenawi ruled Ethiopia as an ethnic leader, not as the ruler of
the country.
Thus he had no national agenda and vision other than collecting
western aid in the name of the country`s poor to consolidate and prolong his
dictatorship.
The regime is coercing citizens in the country
to mourn the late dictator and we condemn this immoral and violating act. We
call on all the donors including the Norwegian government to support the
Ethiopian democratic forces struggling to achieve the real noble goal.
The Organizers of the day for Victims
Remembrance by Zenawi’s Regime!!!
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