Ana Gomes decries EU anti-human rights policy on Ethiopia at a European
Parliament depat -11 September 2012
Wednesday, September 12, 2012
Ana Gomes talks about succession delay and human rights violations in Ethiopia
Ana Gomes decries EU anti-human rights policy on Ethiopia at a European
Parliament depat -11 September 2012
Thursday, September 6, 2012
Iranian media briefly refers Berhane GebreKristos as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Berhane Gebrekirstos Awramba Times (Washington DC) – Iranian News agency, FARS has briefly referred Ambassador Berhane Gebrekirstos as a deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs. Berhane Gebrekristos is one of the late prime Minister’s right hand men. Click the link here
Berhane Gebrekirstos
Awramba Times (Washington DC) – Iranian News agency, FARS has briefly referred Ambassador Berhane Gebrekirstos as a deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs.
Berhane Gebrekristos is one of the late prime Minister’s right hand men. Click the link here
A Letter to Ethiopians: Mr. Obang Metho
Mr. Obang Metho encourages Ethiopians to not be discouraged by
the fictionalized legacy of Meles because any government that stages the
mourning for its deceased leader is a government in trouble. It is a sign of
internal and external weakness and marks the beginning of the end of a
dictatorship. The people of Ethiopia should take hold of this opportunity to
demand intellectual freedom, rights, justice and a peoples’
government.
My fellow Ethiopians,
Our difficult journey together with Meles at the helm is over. The official TPLF-controlled mourning for him has
ended. Many of you may be worried about the unknown direction of our country
following Meles’ death, the infighting among the TPLF insiders for power and the
absence of a strong alternative on the ground. There is an answer and it
involves you at the grassroots.
We now need the people of Ethiopia, many of whom have not previously been involved, to take ownership of the direction we take as a people, like has been done successfully in other countries like Benin, Ghana, Zambia and South Africa, in order to ensure that our people—the primary stakeholders of Ethiopia—are controlling and managing our country’s transition from dictatorship to a free and democratic Ethiopia.
Together we begin a new day; yet, most of us are still reeling from the shock of how Meles’ brutal authoritarian legacy was publically portrayed so glowingly by both insiders and foreigners. What did we expect other than a charade? Probably nothing marked the Meles era more than its creation of a “sham Ethiopia” through pervasive intellectual dishonesty and the destruction of the people and the watchdog institutions meant to challenge it. After this week’s extreme measures to give the pretense that Meles was loved by the people—when he so brutally tyrannized them—should make us, the people, all the more determined to dismantle the foundational pillar of his and other dictatorships—intellectual tyranny. If we do not want to “live a lie,” each of us must start speaking the truth today—it is a powerful weapon against an evil system.
The famous Czech dissident, Vaclav Havel, who later became the country’s first president, wrote in his essay, “The Power of the Powerless,” how the “crust presented by the life of lies is made of strange stuff. As long as it seals off hermetically the entire society, it appears to be made of stone.… [until] a single person breaks the rules of the game, thus exposing it as a game—everything suddenly appears in another light and the whole crust seems then to be made of a tissue on the point of tearing and disintegrating uncontrollably.”
Meles feared intellectual freedom above all threats and waged an unceasing war against it; using his abilities to ruthlessly and systematically attack it from every possible angle. He was effective. It therefore should not surprise us that some of those eulogizing him created an “imaginary” Meles that none of us knew. Meles was a master illusionist, able to persuade or intimidate many to his point of view, carefully “managing” any facts—or voices—from the ground that might “interfere” with achieving his objectives. This was a man who cared so greatly about his image that he brought the “art of deception to a new level.” No wonder his funeral and now his legacy are being so highly staged. The fact that the bogus mourning of Ethiopians could only be accomplished through intimidation, bribery and force is only further evidence of this manufactured legacy.
As many of our people were forced to cry or to come out to publically mourn his passing, I hear the bitter irony in the stories of some of them. For example, one of those forced to publically weep for Meles was an Anuak mother from Gambella whose son was a victim of the Anuak genocide. As you may recall, the plans for the genocide, called “Operation Sunny Mountain,” began in the presence of Meles in his own office, according to official documents. The local government prevented this mother and others who had lost loved ones from an outward display of sorrow at the time as well as at memorial services as it would have cast a negative light on the regime. When recently ordered to cry for Meles, this mother refused. She said, “I could not cry when my own son was murdered by the Ethiopian National Defense Forces; why would I cry for the man who was in charge of the defense forces?”
In Meles’ fictional Ethiopia—a falsified Ethiopia controlled by a narrow-minded, ethno-centric model of nations and nationalities that denied the people their rights based on ethnicity, rather recognizing their rights based on their humanity—Meles was called a visionary leader and a champion of the poor. Admittedly, some did benefit, particularly those beneficiaries from his own minority ethnic group—7 % of the population—and his own region as well as those chosen as demonstration sites funded by international donors; but outside of these, many Ethiopians are worse off as they have been neglected; or worse yet, they have lost their land and livelihoods to regime cronies and their foreign partners.
Had many Ethiopians truly been better off because of Meles, Ethiopians would have honestly wept for him without coercion. Those in government jobs and those students attending government schools would have freely mourned rather than been forced to do so on the streets of Addis. Even patients in hospitals were forced from their beds out to the streets. Security agents would not have made lists of people required to cry on the streets if these people would have truly benefited from Meles’ policies.
Others would not have been beaten when they resisted, like the political prisoner who refused to cry inside prison before the cameras of the government-controlled Ethiopian Television station. To the outsider, it may look like Meles had a popular following, but to insiders, it was a demonstration reminiscent of the mourning for North Korean dictator, Kim Jong-Il last December. Deception has been a tool of the government and must be exposed.
Meles has won the war against intellectual freedom while he lived. Just because he is gone does not mean that the system that promoted and maintained false delusions is gone. The structures supporting this dictatorship—like intellectual dishonesty—must be dismantled and reformed or the movement to freedom and democracy of the people will be hijacked.
The national crisis in our homeland is not only about one ethnic group, one religious group, one regional group or one political group. For millions of Ethiopians living within the country, every new day brings the harsh realities of life under a system of dictatorship, but today, as never before during this regime, we have an opportunity. The dictator is gone and the system of dictatorship remains, but please understands this very clearly; the system requires the cooperation of millions of Ethiopians to sustain it. Do not do it.
We have an opportunity before us and if we are ever to see a free and democratic Ethiopia, we must seize what may be our God-given moment to reclaim ownership of our country. We the people of Ethiopia can join together, wherever we are, in restoring truth to our land as the cornerstone of a free society.
When the SMNE was formed in 2008, we envisioned a mission where Ethiopians would not be separated by ethnicity, but where we might all come together by individually and collectively doing our share to solve our common problems as one people and as one family—an Ethiopian family—for we are people who come from the same land, who breath the same air and who have the same thirst for freedom. We have now lived under a dictatorship for forty years and it has brought us to a dead end.
We in the SMNE, along with others, can work on a vision and plan for the country, but without the backing of the people, even Mandela could not lead. Only a force of Ethiopians, demanding their God-given rights by making noise in the public square, will give voice to the people and provide the legitimacy and authority needed for change. It will take a pluralistic voice of all Ethiopians—from every part of our country, from every ethnic group, religious group, and political group—to be heard.
Start by reconciling with your neighbor. Take his or her hand in yours as together we move forward to replace a dictatorial system with a free and democratic Ethiopia. Speak the truth! Expose the lies! Dismantle the criminalization of free speech! Be the single person who breaks the rules of the game! This applies to all Ethiopians, including the TPLF and EPRDF members, not only those opposed to Meles. It includes those who glorified him and who maintained his ethnic-based-apartheid system; for this system is coming to an end.
We hear the rumblings of the shaken unity of the TPLF/EPRDF from within and know its foundation is crumbling. It is a matter of time before it will collapse. It is like the African tree which only bears such bitter fruit that no one eats it—even the wild animals and birds. Yet, its fruit is so heavy that its weight can break its own branches and bring down the whole tree. The fruit of the tree brings its own destruction by itself. In other words, the sham policies of the TPLF have produced bitter fruit the majority of Ethiopians does not want and its infighting and rejection by the people will soon bring it down by itself.
Now, the TPLF central committee officials are trying to avoid their demise by refusing to give over power to those outside their own ethnic group. This is seen in their reluctance to appoint Hailemariam Desalegn, the Acting Deputy Prime Minister, as interim prime minister or by even refusing to call him acting prime minister. He is from the wrong tribe and therefore is not trusted by the TPLF inner circle. Meles put him into this position give the charade of diverse ethnic governance for public view, but it is now backfiring on the TPLF.
In conclusion, the TPLF/EPRDF has reached a dead end and has nowhere to go and now the only driver who knew how to quickly maneuver the ethnic train from impending destruction is gone. The collision of the ethnic train with the will of the people is imminent. The only way to rescue Ethiopians, including the TPLF/ERPDF supporters, is through reconciliation and the restoration of intellectual freedom and justice based on mutually beneficial interests.
The SMNE has been working behind the scenes to play a collaborative role in a meaningful people-empowered process to make sure that easy short-cuts do not hijack a movement to a transformed and reformed Ethiopian society.
May God help us, give us courage and protection, and be honored in all we do. May He show us the right road to truth, freedom, justice and reconciliation!
Your brother in our struggle for a New Ethiopia,
Obang Metho,
My fellow Ethiopians,
Our difficult journey together with Meles at the helm is over. The official TPLF-controlled mourning for him has
Obang Metho
We now need the people of Ethiopia, many of whom have not previously been involved, to take ownership of the direction we take as a people, like has been done successfully in other countries like Benin, Ghana, Zambia and South Africa, in order to ensure that our people—the primary stakeholders of Ethiopia—are controlling and managing our country’s transition from dictatorship to a free and democratic Ethiopia.
Together we begin a new day; yet, most of us are still reeling from the shock of how Meles’ brutal authoritarian legacy was publically portrayed so glowingly by both insiders and foreigners. What did we expect other than a charade? Probably nothing marked the Meles era more than its creation of a “sham Ethiopia” through pervasive intellectual dishonesty and the destruction of the people and the watchdog institutions meant to challenge it. After this week’s extreme measures to give the pretense that Meles was loved by the people—when he so brutally tyrannized them—should make us, the people, all the more determined to dismantle the foundational pillar of his and other dictatorships—intellectual tyranny. If we do not want to “live a lie,” each of us must start speaking the truth today—it is a powerful weapon against an evil system.
The famous Czech dissident, Vaclav Havel, who later became the country’s first president, wrote in his essay, “The Power of the Powerless,” how the “crust presented by the life of lies is made of strange stuff. As long as it seals off hermetically the entire society, it appears to be made of stone.… [until] a single person breaks the rules of the game, thus exposing it as a game—everything suddenly appears in another light and the whole crust seems then to be made of a tissue on the point of tearing and disintegrating uncontrollably.”
Meles feared intellectual freedom above all threats and waged an unceasing war against it; using his abilities to ruthlessly and systematically attack it from every possible angle. He was effective. It therefore should not surprise us that some of those eulogizing him created an “imaginary” Meles that none of us knew. Meles was a master illusionist, able to persuade or intimidate many to his point of view, carefully “managing” any facts—or voices—from the ground that might “interfere” with achieving his objectives. This was a man who cared so greatly about his image that he brought the “art of deception to a new level.” No wonder his funeral and now his legacy are being so highly staged. The fact that the bogus mourning of Ethiopians could only be accomplished through intimidation, bribery and force is only further evidence of this manufactured legacy.
As many of our people were forced to cry or to come out to publically mourn his passing, I hear the bitter irony in the stories of some of them. For example, one of those forced to publically weep for Meles was an Anuak mother from Gambella whose son was a victim of the Anuak genocide. As you may recall, the plans for the genocide, called “Operation Sunny Mountain,” began in the presence of Meles in his own office, according to official documents. The local government prevented this mother and others who had lost loved ones from an outward display of sorrow at the time as well as at memorial services as it would have cast a negative light on the regime. When recently ordered to cry for Meles, this mother refused. She said, “I could not cry when my own son was murdered by the Ethiopian National Defense Forces; why would I cry for the man who was in charge of the defense forces?”
In Meles’ fictional Ethiopia—a falsified Ethiopia controlled by a narrow-minded, ethno-centric model of nations and nationalities that denied the people their rights based on ethnicity, rather recognizing their rights based on their humanity—Meles was called a visionary leader and a champion of the poor. Admittedly, some did benefit, particularly those beneficiaries from his own minority ethnic group—7 % of the population—and his own region as well as those chosen as demonstration sites funded by international donors; but outside of these, many Ethiopians are worse off as they have been neglected; or worse yet, they have lost their land and livelihoods to regime cronies and their foreign partners.
Had many Ethiopians truly been better off because of Meles, Ethiopians would have honestly wept for him without coercion. Those in government jobs and those students attending government schools would have freely mourned rather than been forced to do so on the streets of Addis. Even patients in hospitals were forced from their beds out to the streets. Security agents would not have made lists of people required to cry on the streets if these people would have truly benefited from Meles’ policies.
Others would not have been beaten when they resisted, like the political prisoner who refused to cry inside prison before the cameras of the government-controlled Ethiopian Television station. To the outsider, it may look like Meles had a popular following, but to insiders, it was a demonstration reminiscent of the mourning for North Korean dictator, Kim Jong-Il last December. Deception has been a tool of the government and must be exposed.
Meles has won the war against intellectual freedom while he lived. Just because he is gone does not mean that the system that promoted and maintained false delusions is gone. The structures supporting this dictatorship—like intellectual dishonesty—must be dismantled and reformed or the movement to freedom and democracy of the people will be hijacked.
The national crisis in our homeland is not only about one ethnic group, one religious group, one regional group or one political group. For millions of Ethiopians living within the country, every new day brings the harsh realities of life under a system of dictatorship, but today, as never before during this regime, we have an opportunity. The dictator is gone and the system of dictatorship remains, but please understands this very clearly; the system requires the cooperation of millions of Ethiopians to sustain it. Do not do it.
We have an opportunity before us and if we are ever to see a free and democratic Ethiopia, we must seize what may be our God-given moment to reclaim ownership of our country. We the people of Ethiopia can join together, wherever we are, in restoring truth to our land as the cornerstone of a free society.
When the SMNE was formed in 2008, we envisioned a mission where Ethiopians would not be separated by ethnicity, but where we might all come together by individually and collectively doing our share to solve our common problems as one people and as one family—an Ethiopian family—for we are people who come from the same land, who breath the same air and who have the same thirst for freedom. We have now lived under a dictatorship for forty years and it has brought us to a dead end.
We in the SMNE, along with others, can work on a vision and plan for the country, but without the backing of the people, even Mandela could not lead. Only a force of Ethiopians, demanding their God-given rights by making noise in the public square, will give voice to the people and provide the legitimacy and authority needed for change. It will take a pluralistic voice of all Ethiopians—from every part of our country, from every ethnic group, religious group, and political group—to be heard.
Start by reconciling with your neighbor. Take his or her hand in yours as together we move forward to replace a dictatorial system with a free and democratic Ethiopia. Speak the truth! Expose the lies! Dismantle the criminalization of free speech! Be the single person who breaks the rules of the game! This applies to all Ethiopians, including the TPLF and EPRDF members, not only those opposed to Meles. It includes those who glorified him and who maintained his ethnic-based-apartheid system; for this system is coming to an end.
We hear the rumblings of the shaken unity of the TPLF/EPRDF from within and know its foundation is crumbling. It is a matter of time before it will collapse. It is like the African tree which only bears such bitter fruit that no one eats it—even the wild animals and birds. Yet, its fruit is so heavy that its weight can break its own branches and bring down the whole tree. The fruit of the tree brings its own destruction by itself. In other words, the sham policies of the TPLF have produced bitter fruit the majority of Ethiopians does not want and its infighting and rejection by the people will soon bring it down by itself.
Now, the TPLF central committee officials are trying to avoid their demise by refusing to give over power to those outside their own ethnic group. This is seen in their reluctance to appoint Hailemariam Desalegn, the Acting Deputy Prime Minister, as interim prime minister or by even refusing to call him acting prime minister. He is from the wrong tribe and therefore is not trusted by the TPLF inner circle. Meles put him into this position give the charade of diverse ethnic governance for public view, but it is now backfiring on the TPLF.
In conclusion, the TPLF/EPRDF has reached a dead end and has nowhere to go and now the only driver who knew how to quickly maneuver the ethnic train from impending destruction is gone. The collision of the ethnic train with the will of the people is imminent. The only way to rescue Ethiopians, including the TPLF/ERPDF supporters, is through reconciliation and the restoration of intellectual freedom and justice based on mutually beneficial interests.
The SMNE has been working behind the scenes to play a collaborative role in a meaningful people-empowered process to make sure that easy short-cuts do not hijack a movement to a transformed and reformed Ethiopian society.
May God help us, give us courage and protection, and be honored in all we do. May He show us the right road to truth, freedom, justice and reconciliation!
Your brother in our struggle for a New Ethiopia,
Obang Metho,
Tuesday, September 4, 2012
Somaliland: Stop Deporting Ethiopian Refugees
Dozens, Including Women, Children, Forced Back to
Ethiopia
Rounding up and deporting asylum seekers is not the way to treat vulnerable
people seeking Somaliland’s protection. Somaliland authorities should instead
ensure that Ethiopian asylum seekers are registered and given the protection and
assistance to which they are entitled.
(Nairobi) – The Somaliland authorities should immediately stop deporting
Ethiopian refugees and asylum seekers to Ethiopia. On August 31, 2012, dozens of
Ethiopians, mostly women and children, were forcibly returned to Ethiopia in violation of
international legal prohibitions against sending people to places where they
might face persecution or threats to their lives.
The Somaliland authorities deported Ethiopians arrested after police raids on August 30 and 31 on an informal settlement known as the Social Welfare Centre in Somaliland’s main city, Hargeisa, where several hundred asylum seekers and migrants from Ethiopia have lived for almost a year. The exact number and immigration status of those returned is unclear, but a witness estimated seeing around 100 people sent across the border. In late December 2011, Somaliland attempted to forcibly return 20 Ethiopian refugees and asylum seekers and tried to close down the Social Welfare Centre.
“Rounding up and deporting asylum seekers is not the way to treat vulnerable people seeking Somaliland’s protection,” said Leslie Lefkow, deputy Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “Somaliland authorities should instead ensure that Ethiopian asylum seekers are registered and given the protection and assistance to which they are entitled.”
Human Rights Watch said deporting registered refugees and asylum seekers constitutes refoulement, the unlawful return of anyone to persecution or to a place where their life or freedom is threatened. International law prohibits the deportation of anyone seeking asylum before they have received a fair determination of their claim.
Local sources told Human Rights Watch that on the morning of August 30 the owner of land surrounding the Social Welfare Centre told the Ethiopians living there to leave. When they refused, fighting broke out and police arrived. According to witnesses, police fired live ammunition during the ensuing struggle and wounded at least six Ethiopians, including one who was shot in the arm and the leg. The sources also said Ethiopians at the centre may have injured four police officers.
The police then arrested 56 of the Ethiopians, including the majority of those injured, and took them to different detention facilities in Hargeisa. 25 registered refugees and two asylum seekers were detained at the Central Police Station. One of those refugees told Human Rights Watch that six injured refugees had not received medical assistance for three days before they were released.
According to witnesses, police returned to the centre during the morning and early afternoon of August 31 and loaded dozens of people –mainly women and children –onto several trucks and drove them to the border town of Wajale. The same afternoon, the police drove 28 men they had detained on August 30 in Hargeisa to Wajale. The first two trucks, one carrying the men and another carrying primarily women and children, immediately crossed into Ethiopia and dropped the individuals off on Ethiopian territory.
According to the United Nations refugee agency, on the evening of August 31 staff members identified 72 refugees among the group still at Wajale, as well as one woman who had been driven across to the Ethiopian side of the border. The refugee agency returned them to Hargeisa.
However, Somaliland authorities prevented the UN refugee agency from assisting an unknown number of other individuals in Wajale, including registered asylum seekers, and the individuals who had already been brought across the border to Ethiopia. As of September 4, the location of the other Ethiopians returned to their country was unknown, Human Rights Watch said. An unconfirmed report said that 32 men were detained at the Ethiopian border post until the afternoon of September 1, when Ethiopian authorities transferred them to an unknown location.
“The Somaliland authorities should allow the UN refugee agency prompt access to Ethiopians facing deportation to give them a chance to seek asylum,” Lefkow said. “The ongoing deadlock in the asylum process in Somaliland is not an excuse for any abuses.”
Background
Since October 2011, hundreds of refugees and asylum seekers from Ethiopia – as well as migrants who have been unable to claim asylum since the Somaliland authorities suspended registration in 2008 – have lived in the Social Welfare Centre, which was leased by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
Since the lease ended in late December 2011, the centre’s owner has pressed the authorities to forcibly evict those living there. In March 2012, the authorities destroyed part of a makeshift camp set up on the edge of the centre, saying it was part of a wider urban “clean-up exercise.”
Somaliland ended all registration of asylum seekers in October 2008 following a series of suicide bombings in Hargeisa. UNHCR estimates that there are at least 20,000 undocumented foreigners in Somaliland, including unknown numbers of Ethiopians and others who want to claim asylum but cannot do so because they cannot register. Since March 2012, UNHCR and the minister of interior have been re-registering asylum seekers who registered before October 2008, although it appears asylum claims have not all been reviewed. UNHCR says registration of all non-registered migrants is scheduled to resume in September 2012.
Large numbers flee Ethiopia to escape persecution every year. Refugees who are returned by force have frequently been detained by the authorities. Torture is common in Ethiopia's prisons.
The Somaliland authorities deported Ethiopians arrested after police raids on August 30 and 31 on an informal settlement known as the Social Welfare Centre in Somaliland’s main city, Hargeisa, where several hundred asylum seekers and migrants from Ethiopia have lived for almost a year. The exact number and immigration status of those returned is unclear, but a witness estimated seeing around 100 people sent across the border. In late December 2011, Somaliland attempted to forcibly return 20 Ethiopian refugees and asylum seekers and tried to close down the Social Welfare Centre.
“Rounding up and deporting asylum seekers is not the way to treat vulnerable people seeking Somaliland’s protection,” said Leslie Lefkow, deputy Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “Somaliland authorities should instead ensure that Ethiopian asylum seekers are registered and given the protection and assistance to which they are entitled.”
Human Rights Watch said deporting registered refugees and asylum seekers constitutes refoulement, the unlawful return of anyone to persecution or to a place where their life or freedom is threatened. International law prohibits the deportation of anyone seeking asylum before they have received a fair determination of their claim.
Local sources told Human Rights Watch that on the morning of August 30 the owner of land surrounding the Social Welfare Centre told the Ethiopians living there to leave. When they refused, fighting broke out and police arrived. According to witnesses, police fired live ammunition during the ensuing struggle and wounded at least six Ethiopians, including one who was shot in the arm and the leg. The sources also said Ethiopians at the centre may have injured four police officers.
The police then arrested 56 of the Ethiopians, including the majority of those injured, and took them to different detention facilities in Hargeisa. 25 registered refugees and two asylum seekers were detained at the Central Police Station. One of those refugees told Human Rights Watch that six injured refugees had not received medical assistance for three days before they were released.
According to witnesses, police returned to the centre during the morning and early afternoon of August 31 and loaded dozens of people –mainly women and children –onto several trucks and drove them to the border town of Wajale. The same afternoon, the police drove 28 men they had detained on August 30 in Hargeisa to Wajale. The first two trucks, one carrying the men and another carrying primarily women and children, immediately crossed into Ethiopia and dropped the individuals off on Ethiopian territory.
According to the United Nations refugee agency, on the evening of August 31 staff members identified 72 refugees among the group still at Wajale, as well as one woman who had been driven across to the Ethiopian side of the border. The refugee agency returned them to Hargeisa.
However, Somaliland authorities prevented the UN refugee agency from assisting an unknown number of other individuals in Wajale, including registered asylum seekers, and the individuals who had already been brought across the border to Ethiopia. As of September 4, the location of the other Ethiopians returned to their country was unknown, Human Rights Watch said. An unconfirmed report said that 32 men were detained at the Ethiopian border post until the afternoon of September 1, when Ethiopian authorities transferred them to an unknown location.
“The Somaliland authorities should allow the UN refugee agency prompt access to Ethiopians facing deportation to give them a chance to seek asylum,” Lefkow said. “The ongoing deadlock in the asylum process in Somaliland is not an excuse for any abuses.”
Background
Since October 2011, hundreds of refugees and asylum seekers from Ethiopia – as well as migrants who have been unable to claim asylum since the Somaliland authorities suspended registration in 2008 – have lived in the Social Welfare Centre, which was leased by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
Since the lease ended in late December 2011, the centre’s owner has pressed the authorities to forcibly evict those living there. In March 2012, the authorities destroyed part of a makeshift camp set up on the edge of the centre, saying it was part of a wider urban “clean-up exercise.”
Somaliland ended all registration of asylum seekers in October 2008 following a series of suicide bombings in Hargeisa. UNHCR estimates that there are at least 20,000 undocumented foreigners in Somaliland, including unknown numbers of Ethiopians and others who want to claim asylum but cannot do so because they cannot register. Since March 2012, UNHCR and the minister of interior have been re-registering asylum seekers who registered before October 2008, although it appears asylum claims have not all been reviewed. UNHCR says registration of all non-registered migrants is scheduled to resume in September 2012.
Large numbers flee Ethiopia to escape persecution every year. Refugees who are returned by force have frequently been detained by the authorities. Torture is common in Ethiopia's prisons.
Mrs. Susan Rice, we demand your apology to the Ethiopian Democratic Opposition
September 4, 2012
Ambassador Susan Rice
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations
Permanent Mission to the United Nations
799 UN Plaza
New York, NY 10017-3505
Dear Mrs. Rice
We are utterly disappointed and disgusted by your speech at the funeral ceremony of the late dictator of Ethiopia, Meles Zenawi. You gave him not only an accolade he does not deserve, but you also pushed your unsubstantiated bias to a greater extent of calling the Ethiopian opposition “idiots”. This insult coming from you as a US diplomat has shocked and angered Ethiopians around the world.
First and foremost, as a US diplomat, it is totally out of line and unprofessional to take sides and be directly involved in the dynamics of the internal politics of a volatile country such as Ethiopia. You may, as any individual, have a political position to endorse and even passionately defend which we certainly respect. But you don’t have that privilege to officially express in front of the whole wide world showering all that undeserved praise and approval to a brutal dictator in your position as a US diplomat. And to add insult to injury, you denigrated and insulted the Ethiopian opposition that has been waging a holy struggle for genuine freedom and democracy in Ethiopia by calling them “idiots”.
Let me tell you something which you are not aware of. Even the late darling of yours who you adore so much did not call us “idiots”. He knows we are not. On the contrary, he admits the intellectual capacity and reserve in expertise the opposition has at its disposal. He may have called us other names describing our inability to unite or do what he did which is be aggressive and deadly enough to maim and kill thousands to come to power. I assure you he knows what intellectual power we have got on our belt. It is unnecessary for me to go in detail presenting some of the credentials the Ethiopian opposition has in it. That should have been your homework before you uttered that reckless, irresponsible and unprofessional word in front of the public.
If your memory serves you right, your boss, President Obama, made a speech in Ghana while he was on a tour visiting Africa. There was a part that rings a bell in me as well as in many other Ethiopians around the world. And he said, “Africa needs strong institutions and not strong men.” Do you remember that? I hope you do. Of course, this does not mean individuals should not get credit for what they accomplish. Sure, credit should given to whom credit is due.
Let us see the resume of the late tyrant of Ethiopia whom you embraced and willing to testify on his behalf more than his own wife. Have you wondered to read or at least scan his human rights record document available at the US State Department? I know, for America, national security and stability are more important than democracy and human rights combined. But what is the limit beyond which America won’t tolerate gross human right abuses such as genocide? Or is there such a limit that you and your boss won’t tolerate gross human rights abuses? Obviously, it does not look like it. And make no mistake about it. Your boss, president Obama, who sent you to insult us, will pay a dear price for it. Ethiopian Americans in the swing states such as Virgina and Ohio are waiting for him. And they have an appointment with him on November 6, 2012.
Was Meles Zenawi a visionary leader or a charlatan?
By Dula Abdu
Whether deservingly or not, Meles Zenawi has gone into history lionized beyond any expectations.
Zenawi was given bigger than life farewell at the end, despite his tarnished legacy. The ruling party, TPLF, could not have scripted a better farewell than was seen in Ethiopia
By force or by volition, Ethiopians throughout the country were engaged in praising, wailing, crying for Zenawi, exceeding scenes observed in North Korea or anywhere in the world.
The wailing and the crying was primarily due to the fact that most dictators become father figures for the majority of the people, especially for the youth, with the help of the state controlled media, where such leaders are lionized on a daily basis. So anxiety and fear set in because a vacuum is created by the death of a dictator in Ethiopia or North Korea. This is primarily true when the state controls the media; nobody knows the true state of affairs in the country.
For a country as poor as Ethiopia, the parade, the display and the ceremony was excessive. The attempt was to rebrand, redefine and to humanize Zenawi by the ruling party to justify its continued control. Zenawi was praised for everything in the world, but not for his mistakes, such as for genocide he committed, for waging a war to make Ethiopia landlocked, for creating ethnic gerrymandering or for excessive control of the economy by his ethnic party and his cronies.
Though no dictator is lionized after death to the extent Zenawi was; however, thanks to re-branding by a well organized party, TPLF, Zenawi’s profile looked better in death than in life. Those who might have expected the TPLF machine to self-destruct after the passing of Zenawi should have a second thought because the machine is highly organized, and exceedingly efficient in manipulating the Ethiopian state in any shape or form it wishes. In a manner similar to a cult, the regime has finessed how to manipulate the media and to organize people to behave accordingly. Such a farewell of such depth, organization, fanfare is only possible in a dictatorial regime.
Whether deservingly or not, Meles Zenawi has gone into history lionized beyond any expectations.
Zenawi was given bigger than life farewell at the end, despite his tarnished legacy. The ruling party, TPLF, could not have scripted a better farewell than was seen in Ethiopia
By force or by volition, Ethiopians throughout the country were engaged in praising, wailing, crying for Zenawi, exceeding scenes observed in North Korea or anywhere in the world.
The wailing and the crying was primarily due to the fact that most dictators become father figures for the majority of the people, especially for the youth, with the help of the state controlled media, where such leaders are lionized on a daily basis. So anxiety and fear set in because a vacuum is created by the death of a dictator in Ethiopia or North Korea. This is primarily true when the state controls the media; nobody knows the true state of affairs in the country.
For a country as poor as Ethiopia, the parade, the display and the ceremony was excessive. The attempt was to rebrand, redefine and to humanize Zenawi by the ruling party to justify its continued control. Zenawi was praised for everything in the world, but not for his mistakes, such as for genocide he committed, for waging a war to make Ethiopia landlocked, for creating ethnic gerrymandering or for excessive control of the economy by his ethnic party and his cronies.
Though no dictator is lionized after death to the extent Zenawi was; however, thanks to re-branding by a well organized party, TPLF, Zenawi’s profile looked better in death than in life. Those who might have expected the TPLF machine to self-destruct after the passing of Zenawi should have a second thought because the machine is highly organized, and exceedingly efficient in manipulating the Ethiopian state in any shape or form it wishes. In a manner similar to a cult, the regime has finessed how to manipulate the media and to organize people to behave accordingly. Such a farewell of such depth, organization, fanfare is only possible in a dictatorial regime.
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