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Part
Three: Lacrimosa for
Ethiopia
Hailu
Shawel�s Posse
By Tecola W. Hagos, November 27, 2009
In a blog, Dr. Mankelkilot Haile Selassie made some wild allegations about
my role in the Ethiopian Government in 1991 to 1993. Those who inch their
way on narrow ledge of Ethiopian politics ought to refrain from stating as
fact rumors and their wild imaginations, for the very hot air they spew
will push them into the abyss. In fact it is tragic at his age and
experience that Mankelkilot should be throwing such wild allegations about
my role in
Ethiopia
�s complex political life. He should be careful in making such
statements of claims of genocide committed by me in Hauzein [in 1988]. The
person that should be asked is Hailu Shawel, for the Government he
supported and at one time served was the one that sent bombers and
murdered very many people in a market place, in order to get a few freedom
fighters. In 1988, I was not even a Member of the TPLF and there is no
fact or logic that could connect me to the atrocities at Hauzein.
At any rate, it seems Mankelkilot is blaming the victims for the wanton
action of a brutal genocidal regime raining bombs on a civilian population
where it has full information that there were innocent civilians on that
well known market place, but also misinformed as to the presence of
freedom fighters. Mankelkilot seems to have lost sight of the main issue
of the fact that no government should drop bombs recklessly where there is
a civilian population even when it has been infiltrated by guerilla
fighters. Now, I do not want to hear an argument to justify such brutality
of Mengistu Hailemariam by writing about the Government of the
United States
bombing Taliban or Al�quida targets and in the process killing hundreds
or even thousands of innocent people. After all, the United States
Government is nor raining bombs on its own people unlike the case of
Mengistu Hailemariam. It is such convoluted logic that distorts facts and
insults people�s intelligence, which undermines the very purpose of
having civil discourse on matters of national concerns.
Ya Abyien wode Emiye.
Since 1976, I was in the
United States
as a political exile. In 1988 I had no connection whatsoever with TPLF. I
did not even know there was a place called Hauzein in Tigray. The person
who committed the �genocide� that Mankelkilot is referring to is the Mahel
Sefari Mengistu Hailemariam [See Appendix II]. Mengistu carried his
brutal act of genocide with commanders and foot soldiers who are now the
many supporters of Hailu Shawel. It is a fact that Mengistu�s former
officials and errand boys and red terror participants make up the bulk of
Hailu Shawel�s local and Diaspora supporters right now. Need I remind
you that Hailu Shawel was in the Cabinet of the bloody military
Government, where he stepped over the blood of murdered innocent
Ethiopians to get to his office. He was later dismissed by Mengistu
because of his incompetence not that he resigned due to moral conscience
as he later claimed.
It
is tragic when an old man writes some fabrication knowing fully well what
he is writing is false. Mankelkilot wrote in his uncalled for harangue
against my personal integrity and Ethiopian spirit several glaring
misstatements. I chose the one I quoted fully below that Mankelkilot is
conjecturing, for he seems to be unsure of his footings, for there are
others also who are lying outright about my alleged role in the drafting
of the 1995 Ethiopian Constitution. Maybe
they are confusing the Transition Charter of 1991, which is totally
different document. Mankelkilot wrote incredulously the following
gobbledygook:
One
can reasonably assume that the duration between 1991 and 1993 was
extremely important, where inputs were needed, to systematically lay down
the detailed process for implementing, a) Ethiopia�s division along
ethnic and language lines, b) the creation of regions where the division
along ethnic and language lines would be effected, c) the insertion of
article "39" in the constitution, and d) above all, how the
party�s program, namely, the revolutionary democracy, aught to be
implemented to the letter. The insertion of article "39" is, in
my opinion, to constitutionalize items "a" and "b"
above, as well as, the result of the three of the recruiting criteria
mentioned above. One can see that his input was needed at the time when
the foundation for TPLF leadership�s future detailed activities were
being laid down. Tecola Hagos, the provider of that input, during that
time, was part and parcel of the above itemized destructive processes.
The claims of Mankelkilot and of chat room vulgar amateur politicians, who
hide behind strange false names, that I helped in the conceptualization
and drafting of the Kilil system are patently and utterly false and silly.
I had already left the country when the 1995 Constitution was being
drafted. I was already in friction with Meles Zenawi and his support group
for a year by then (1992-1993). There was nothing of the sort in my
activities that Mankeliklot is alleging without offering any evidence
whatsoever. For the record, I started my criticism with my friend
Professor Makau Mutua at Harvard Law School during that drafting period
1993-1995 of the constitution drafting procedure then adopted; I even
helped make the arrangements for Makau to visit the Constitution Drafting
Commission that was headed by Kifle Wodajo in Ethiopia, and Makau wrote a
scathing criticism of the process on his return at that early stage.
The fact is that during the two-years period I stayed in Ethiopia 1991-1993,
I was fighting constantly on one side the budding dictatorial scheme Meles
Zenawi with his supporters were promoting, and on the other side I was
fighting off the entrenched Mahel
Sefaris who wanted to continue their hold on power with a new
�Emperor� Meles Zenawi. And I had to check off the ex-Officials of
Mengistu Hailemariam who wanted to be in the bureaucracy without
undergoing any kind of reorientation et cetera or censor for the type of
abuse and crime they committed against fellow Ethiopians when they were
the darling loyalist of the bloody Mengistu Hailemariam.
Now reading the type of garbage posted, in an insignificant site of a crazed
blogger, by an educated man is very tragic to me. Those who know not much
may write or say silly things, but it is inexcusable for a man of advanced
age and great experience like Mankelkilot to write such disparaging
remarks about my work and effort without checking his facts. I fought for
Ethiopia
right at the very lips of the volcano of revolutionary guerrilla war and
scorched myself, for I was blunt and straight forward in my defense and
promotion of the vital interest of
Ethiopia
and all Ethiopians. It reminds me of an old Ethiopian saying what I hear
this later day heroes, ersatz amateurs, are writing about my political
views and my contribution to the development of the political life of
Ethiopia
: �Menew bagorese edgun tenekese.� What was Mankelkilot doing at that
exact time? He was in
Washington
DC
trying to survive in a harsh urban Jungle just responsible for his own
welfare with no risk to himself.
Here is a fundamental difference in concept and principle between my
understanding of �public service� and that of the Mahel Sefaris, such as that of Mankelkilot. He made a blanket
statement that I was also in support of the policy that was being spewed
out by the Government just because I was an Advisor to the Government set
by the EPRDF in 1991 to 1993. It does not occur to Mankelkilot that I may
have stood for very different ideas and not in agreement with the policies
the Government or Meles Zenawi was implementing or wanted to put in place.
To a Mahel Sefari it is
unimaginable how an advisor would go against the wishes and whims of a
Powerful leader, for the role of the Mahel
Sefari has always been to make sure the Powerful leader remains in
power no matter what it takes to keep him enthroned sacrificing the rights
and aspirations of millions of Ethiopian citizens. To me public service
meant quite different than what it meant to the Mahel
Sefaris: it meant first and foremost serving the public not a
particular leader or political party or organization. I wrote memos,
explained in person wherever possible my views that of a dissenter and not
that of an appeaser. I even earned a rather flattering name and was
referred to by some of the leaders as the �conscience of EPRDF,� for I
always brought the question of the well being of the helpless, the weak,
and the voiceless poor Ethiopian citizen thereby making everyone around me
uncomfortable. At any rate, I was not involved in a number of issues, such
as the subject of
Eritrea
, the Kilil system, inter-party
relations, troop deployment et cetera that Mankelkilot without any
evidence either asserted or implied I was privy to.
Because of my constant and forceful dissenting or differing views, I was
simply dropped out of the hierarchy and �exiled� by Myself at the
luxurious old Office of the Prime Minister at Sidest Kilo, and soon after
I left the country. When I
left Addis Ababa in 1993 many Ethiopians felt a great loss by my leaving
Ethiopia
. I am not talking about EPRDF members here, but about simple folks, my
country men and women who were in trouble seeking help, who used to come
to my office from all over and whose petition I heard, whose tears I tried
to wipe dry, whose Church I honored and the thousands little things that I
did that Diaspora politicians would not think of great worth. The only
people who were happy to see me go were Meles Zenawi and his group, the Mahel
Sefaris, and Mengistu Hailemariam�s Red Terror executioners and
bloody Kebele security forces.
You can tell a person�s worth by looking at his enemies.
Mankelkilot is obviously Hailu Shawel�s supporter, and tragically that
support is based on narrow ethnic affiliation bent on the reestablishment
of Mahel Sefari power hegemony.
He tried to justify his ethnic based biased support of Hailu Shawel by
pointing to us the success of Hailu Shawel as a business man, as an
indicator of Hailu Shawel�s ability to be the future political leader of
Ethiopia
. If I were Mankelkilot, I would be careful with such inductive claim, for
Hailu Shawel�s so called business success may be seen as another example
of his close relationship with Meles Zenawi and his Government with
backroom business deals while at the same time he was misleading na�ve
supporters into believing he was their champion. He lied publicly in
recorded speeches where he urged people not to have any business
cooperation with Meles Zenawi�s Government while he himself was immersed
in such lucrative consultative engineering work with that same Government
and/or affiliated organizations. Since Thanksgiving is being celebrated,
let me remind you of the turkey that trusted the farmer that fed it every
day, and expected the same on Thanksgiving Day, which turned out to be a
disaster for the
Turkey
using inductive logic.
It would have been funny, if it were not a national concern that I am
dealing with, to read now all the accolade heaped on Hailu Shawel by
Mankelkilot for doing what Professor Mesfin suggested a year and a half
ago whereby Mankelkilot wrote a deluge castigating Mesfin for writing
items that Mankelkilot now supports as part of Hailu Shawel�s packet. He
wrote, �Professor
Mesfin is wandering away from Ethiopian people. A lost sheep. The
following items, from the mouth of the Professor himself, would show the
extent to which he would not reach to defend the action of Meles Zenawi,
directly or indirectly. He is turned into a disguised instrument of Meles
Zenawi.� [See Mankelkilot Haile Selassie, �The Mother of all Deception,� Jul
25, 2008. www.ethiopianreview.com,
Appendix I.] What is ironic is the fact that it is Hailu Shawel who became
the ultimate public �instrument of Meles Zenawi� in further
entrenching and perpetuating the brutal dictatorship of Meles Zenawi.
When I was just about having this essay posted, I chanced upon an essay
written by Professor Fekadu Degefe posted in Ethiomedia. Although the
article is obliquely critical of the actions of Hailu Shawel in signing
the Code of Conduct, the author had made some assertions that are not true
at all about the achievement of Haile Shawel. Most questionable of the
assertions is the statement that Hailu Shawel�s performance was
excellent at Wonji, Wonji/Shoa & Metehara (HVA).
Although the great harm to the workers and the people living in the
surrounding area due to Fluoride poisoning was already a problem right
from the start, by the time Hailu Shawel was in charge at Wonji,
Wonji/Shoa & Metehara the
devastation was obvious and overwhelming. He did absolutely nothing to
remedy the situation.
It is very unlike Fekadu (a highly disciplined scholar) to make such a hasty
general statement of accolade without investigating the situation
carefully. I refer all to contact the great Ethiopian lady Almaz Mequanent
who had championed the cause of the tens of
thousands
of victims of Fluoride poisoning at Wonji, Wonji/Shoa &
Metehara for years now. [See Almaz Mequanent, �Beyond the Fence--Double Agony,�
January 06,
2008, www.tecolahagos.com] I refer you all to read recent comments of Almaz Mequanent and also
comments by dedicated Ethiopians and foreigners social workers and
Physicians. [See Dr. Ashagre Germow �A Brief History of the Wonji
Victimes,� Fluoride Action Network,
[email protected]]
What I have heard from people who worked at Shell and also at the
Highway Authority about Hailu Shawel�s management was not nearly as good
as painted by Fekadu. The Highway Authority work product was a total
disaster when we examine how much was actually done in building new roads
or maintaining the ones we inherited from the Italians. Heavy equipments
such as trucks, graders, earth-movers et cetera, for example, were parked
for months at end uselessly when they were supposed to be performing
building and fixing roads. At any rate, at the Highway Authority and at
Shell nepotism and ethnicism was rampant.
As
a politician Hailu Shawel is really green, still wet behind his ears after
all these years of life of intrigue and conspiracy. He has shown no
political savvy or political intuitions so far. In fact, what we have seen
in full public display is his cantankerous feud with fellow opposition
leaders or his juvenile pouting when he does not have his ways. A
remarkable poignant observation was made by Neamin Zeleke, a much younger
political analyst reaching the same conclusion as I did, with a lot more
insight and factual matters.
Nothing
better should have been expected from Hailu Shawel, considering his track
record of throwing a monkey wrench amidst the democratic movement since
2003. This was the time when he decided to leave UEDF (coalition of 15
political parties formed in 2003) without solid reasons. He left just ten
days after his delegates Major Getachew Mengistie, and the late Dr.
Mekonnen Bishaw made a public statement that they would play a great role
in strengthening UEDF. Hailu Shawel lied in a statement made public while
the real issue was that he was unhappy due to the fact that the conference
held for seven days did not elect him as the chairman in his absence. Had
he been at the all party conference he would have been elected. But he
gave the lame excuse that he was sick, to show up in DC in just about a
week to start dismantling UEDF and pull AEUP out. The other causality in
that incident was Ato Wondayehu Kassa, AEUP North America representative
who was found to be an obstacle to the devious act of Ato Hailu�s
decision of withdrawing AEUP from UEDF.
[See
Neamin Zeleke, �Moral
bankruptcy in Ethiopia�s opposition leadership,� Posted in
November 25th, 2009, www.AbbayMedia.com.]
How
mature is such behaviour that Mankelkilot is urging us to trust the
political destiny of
Ethiopia
to such an amateur politician? When it comes to the signing of the Code of
Conduct, he was thinking that he was making a great political move teaming
up with Meles Zenawi without the backing of all opposition groups. What he
has done is putting his neck in the political noose Meles Zenawi has
lowered for him with great skill. Now Hailu is caught by the noose, and he
has no leverage; he would have to abide by what is laid out to him by
Meles, if he deviates even slightly, Meles is in a strong political
position to snap at the political noose he had placed around Hailu�s
neck jerking him back into line.
From
now on, Hailu Shawel is without his security blanket, alone and
indefensible. He is left naked in the open political arena where he is
extremely vulnerable, not even with a fig-leaf to hide his shame. He has
no room to manoeuvre in any meaningful and significant manner to bring
about any change in the existing political system; he will not even be
able to challenge any of the horrors perpetuated by Meles Zenawi and his
Mafia group on the economy of
Ethiopia
. He will not be able even to defend the few errant followers he may have
against the brutality of Meles Zenawi�s enforcers. If he thinks signing
a piece of paper would suffice to protect the interest of the Ethiopian
people, he is going to have the surprise of his life. He is like a crazed
man who rushed into an interstate heavy traffic waving the motor vehicle
rules, as if such pamphlet would protect him from being squashed to a pulp
by speeding trucks. He cannot even make a squeaking noise in protest on
anything. Period! What a tragedy that a leader could so easily lose all
leverage in such a childish game. Just like the proverbial bull in one of
Ethiopia
�s poignant proverbs, Hailu is lost on a cliff�s ledge beyond any
rescue: �Aweye mognu Ber�, sarun
sarun setai Gedel Gebahoi.�
If
Hailu wants to rally his party members and other Ethiopians in the future,
in a situation where there is some even non-fundamental difference of
opinion between Meles Zenawi and Hailu, Hailu will have very little
support showing on his side, and Meles knows that too. The tens of
thousands participants in the 9th Great Run this last Sunday
(Nov 22, 2009) started at Meskel Square were already shouting Hailu
Shawel�s name and denouncing him as a traitor. It will not surprise me
if I find Meles Zenawi behind such agitations.
Hailu right now is on the palm of Meles Zenawi and at Meles
Zenawi�s complete mercy. Is this the type of political situation a
seasoned politician would find himself
in cornered and incapacitated? I ask Mankelkilot to show me where
is the political savvy of Hailu Shawel that Mankelkilot was touting about
in his article. It is always personal greed that had undone one Mahel
Sefari after another and being replaced by another and another. In
fact, I am getting ahead of myself; there will be no dissenting view by
Hailu Shawel as Meles Zenawi�s YeElfign
Askelkai. If that was the case, it would have been atypical of a Mahel Sefari.
The
narrow interest of the Mahel Sefaris is very obvious as evidenced by their selective
protests against officials of the EPRDF run government of
Ethiopia
and their very mild treatment of Amhara officials of the same government.
When Ambassador Berhane Gebrekiristos, a Tigryan and Member of the Central
Committee of the TPLF, was Ambassador here in DC, a day would hardly go by
without the Mahel Sefaris
insulting him or complaining this or that. However, once they have the son
of one of a Mahel Sefari family,
Ambassador Samuel Assefa, they hardly even mentioned his name in any form
of protest. Or if you take the tragic case of Ambassador Dawit Yohannes,
who is an Amhara from Addis Ababa (not a Mahel
Sefari), who was appointed more for medical care reason than to do the
work of a Representative of Ethiopia at the United Nations, the Mahel
Sefaris hardly ever mentioned such a situation. In short do not be
deluded by their rhetoric and cover concern about the unity of
Ethiopia
and the welfare of Ethiopians. They do not give a dame about anyone else
except their narrow self interest.
Allowing Hailu Shawel and his Mahel
Sefari supporters to be close to power, let alone to take over power,
spells doom for the rest of
Ethiopia
, an eventuality that will follow for sure as night follows day. These
groups of people are
Ethiopia
�s worst enemies and the cause of all of its suffering for the last one
hundred fifty years. And it took the last fifty years of intense struggle
to minimize the destructive power of the Mahel
Sefaris. I recall one Mahel
Sefari, Tesfaye Mekasha, an individual at the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs, in 1991 �threatening� me by saying that it took them about
two years to bring under full control the genocidal Mengistu Hailemariam
and his Derg, but it would take far less time to control the rag-tag TPLF
and its leadership to heel. All along what the likes of Hailu Shawel
wanted was to be close to power as Elfign
Askelkis for the Leaders of the TPLF, and they saw in people like me,
who were there to help down trodden Ethiopian in rural and provincial
towns and villages, as a barrier and hindrance to their selfish goals. I
did anticipate that Meles Zenawi will also turn into a Mahel
Sefari and form allegiance with the Mahel
Sefaris, such as Hailu Shawel but not this soon. The lure of
Addis Ababa
, that Babylon of Africa, is obvious.
It
is amazing to me that two people writing in similar descriptive analysis
on what they consider to be the main problems in
Ethiopia
but end up pointing at two different groups. I read a well thought out
article by Neamin Zeleke, which
was very illuminating on one part about the political saga of Hailu
Shawel, on the second part he wrote quite passionately how a minority
group dominated Ethiopian politics and Economy creating havoc and
devastation. [See Neamin Zeleke, �Moral
bankruptcy in Ethiopia�s opposition leadership,� Posted in
November 25th, 2009, www.AbbayMedia.com.] In my
piece I wrote about another group that is a minority group too doing
similar devastation on the majority of Ethiopians as a historic cause for
all that we experience now. Now, I start wondering, what if we add both
wrong doers and create a single category and look at the devastation they
caused as a consequence of a system-failure rather than improvisation of
situational ambitious of individual Ethiopians. This might save us from
dwelling too much on ethnicity and those haunting shadows of historic
rivalry between
Ethiopia
�s ruling families. Ω
Tecola W. Hagos
Washington
DC
November 27, 2009
To be Continued
Part Four
Lacrimosa For
Ethiopia
:
Medrek and the
�Code of Conduct�
Appendix
I
The
Mother of All Deception
By Mankelklot Haile Selassie (PhD),
Jul 25, 2008
Professor Mesfin is wandering away from Ethiopian people. A lost sheep.
The following items, from the mouth of the Professor himself, would show
the extent to which he would not reach to defend the action of Meles
Zenawi, directly or indirectly. He is turned into a disguised instrument
of Meles Zenawi. Some of the items are paraphrases not direct
translations. He said:
1. We are new for political struggle. In general, the Ethiopian people do
not have the experience and the history (of political struggle). It has to
learn.
Is this true? What about the student movement? What about the sacrifices
made even during Meles� rule, under his nose? Wouldn�t the result of
the election of May 15, 2005, and the demonstration of May 9, 2005 in
support of the opposition forces indicate the robustness of the experience
and the cumulative history of the political struggle of Ethiopian people?
Was Professor Mesfin Woldemariam comfortably sleeping while these
experiences manifesting themselves through the people of
Ethiopia
, in broad daylight?
2. Peaceful struggle is not started. Not yet.
Is this true? He is underlining his position of #1. He is completely
denying or rejecting the sacrifices made by the students, by the peasants,
by the teachers and by the professionals of different fields, all over the
country, and throughout the years. What about the sacrifices made even
during Meles� rule? Wouldn�t the result of the election of May 15,
2005, and the demonstration of May 9, 2005, in support of the opposition
forces, indicate the robustness of the experience and history of the
political struggle of Ethiopian people through peaceful means? Was
Professor Mesfin Woldemariam comfortably sleeping when these experiences
that are part and parcel of the process of peaceful struggle were taking
place? Because he was not involved in the process, in-hands-on-manner does
not mean it did not take place. Can the Professor specifically identify an
action by him, as an input to the results of the May 9, 2005 demonstration
and the May 15, election outcome? Where was he when the Ethiopian people
were fighting it out tooth and nail?
3. We did not win, (referring to the election) but we shook it up
(angedagednew).
Is this true? Can we replace the �we�with �Ethiopian people� and
come up with the concluding and satisfying statement made by this
Professor? The tone of his voice tells how confident he is when saying it.
Note this. He completely dismissed the victory of the people of
Ethiopia
witnessed by the international observers, simply to appease Meles Zenawi.
Professor Mesfin Woldemariam is walking on his fours and liking Meles�
feet to let him live comfortably while the people are miserably suffering.
By the way, before the election I have heard Berhanu Nega saying to
�lemangedaged.� Berhanu Nega did not believe that the Ethiopian people
will come out in such a force and evict Meles and his cronies. Now, after
the election and the victory the Professor says �angedagednew inji
alashenefnim.�
4. We will not survive without them, and they will not survive without us.
(Referring to Meles and Woyane).
Will the Ethiopian people say what he just said? Can any one of you say
the Ethiopian people will not survive without this Mafia group? This guy
is really amazing. Yemin melemamet new? He should come out and declare his
position. For how long is he going to cheat the people of
Ethiopia
?
5. If we want to see change, let us forgive what they did, and let them
keep the wealth they amassed.
Do you agree with this statement? The mother of all intellectual
opportunism. Professor Mesfin Woldemariam is, shamelessly, walking on his
fours and liking Meles� feet to let him live comfortably while the
people are miserably suffering.
6. They have difficulties and fear too, so let us understand them. (He is
talking about Meles and his group)
What is he trying to get across? Is he talking to Meles and his Mafia
group or to Ethiopian people? The mother of all intellectual opportunism.
It is so thick one can cut it with a knife.
7. The situation in
Ethiopia
did not come down to the situations that we re in
South Africa
and
Montgomery
Alabama
, where people were killed, burned and treated with dogs.
Can you see the implication of this analogy? What is his message?
Unbelievable. He is misguiding the society by implying that it is possible
to struggle in
Ethiopia
under Meles Zenawi�s rule. Meles is still killing, jailing, and
harassing people all over the country while the Professor is minimizing
and defending Meles Zenawi�s brutal act. He should have read the latest
Ethiopian Human Rights Council report. It is like comparing the number
killed in South Africa or in Montgomery Alabama with that of the number
killed in Ethiopia and come up with a positive attribute to validate Meles
Zenawi�s heinous genocide. And yet he was claiming that he was once the
defender of human rights. I am wondering whether he was doing it from his
heart or simply as a profession. It is very sad to say that I have come to
question his sincerity.
8. Let us not call Meles and Woyane enemies.
Do you agree? I have said a lot about this characterization stuff. Perhaps
I am the first to call Meles enemy number one, publicly. The Professor
links the validity of enmity with citizenship status. His argument is
Meles and his cronies are Ethiopians therefore they should not be called
enemies. What is he going to call an individual who spied against his own
country? What is he going to call an individual who joined
Italy
against
Ethiopia
? Meles9 9s grandfather was one of those who joined
Italy
against his own country
Ethiopia
. It appears Meles inherited it from his grandfather. The next
constitution of
Ethiopia
has to delineate the specific qualifications of an individual to be a
leader. The qualification criterion to include track records of an
individual to be elected particularly to a leadership position, such as
what Meles is holding now. An dedicated enemy of the people of
Ethiopia
is now ruling the country. What a disgrace.
9. Just as the election of �97�, public gatherings, and ensuing
self-congratulations puffed-up (indasabeTe) the hearts of so many people,
the imprisonment has also puffed-up the hearts of some individuals.
What do you sense from his statement? Is he happy or angry with the result
of the election of �97�? Is he on the side of the people or on the
side of Meles? Do you sense his position? One can sense from his voice how
he was trying to minimize the aggressive participation of the Ethiopian
people, hence their understanding of the political situation in the
country. By the way, he always, consistently, blames the people of
Ethiopia
that it is submissive. Most recently he compared them with the people of
Kenya
, for example. Long time ago, during Nimerie�s rule, he compared them
with the people of Sudan. He said that the Sudanese people came out,
immediately, in mass, to protest the increase of fuel cost. Whose fault is
it for Ethiopian people to have this kind of culture? Of course it is
hurting the struggle. People don�t come out spontaneously when their
leaders are jailed or the offices of their party are broken in or sealed.
I did indicate this matter repeatedly for a long time. It should have been
the likes of Professor Mesfin, who is in the midst of the people, who
should have resolved this detrimental culture, perhaps long time ago. The
problem with the Professor is he knows how to talk, he is a talking
machine, but he does not even try to do something about it. Never. I think
he should shut up, stay home, and wait for the next regime. A rollover.
10. The regime is weakened. The reason being it decreed different laws in
its favor to strengthen its muscle. Therefore, we have to continue
weakening it.
This is a very subtle way of emasculating the struggle? I sincerely hope
you would discern this divisive move on the part of the Professor. If not,
some thing is wrong with you guys. Is the regime really weakened? Do you
see a deliberate fallacy in his argument? What do you think? Do you think
this Professor, hence, the party he is affiliated with, with this kind of
opportunistic analysis, will pursue uncompromising struggle against Meles?
Absolutely not.
In my opinion all those itemized above clearly indicate that Professor
Mesfin Woldemariam is a disguised instrument of Meles Zenawi. What
Professor Mesfin did, while he was rolling over from administration to
administration does not give him the certificate to misguide and confuse
these people who are emotionally attached to the situation in
Ethiopia
. Absolutely not. The hell with what he did before.
Finally, unfortunately, in my opinion, Professor Mesfin Woldemariam is no
more credible enough to offer any political and economic crisis analysis
that the people of
Ethiopia
is immersed in. Accepting his analysis is the same as accepting the
analysis of Meles Zenawi.
Agree or disagree that is my opinion and I am sticking with it.
Appendix
II
Remembering
Hauzein!!!
By
Atakelti Kebede, June 22/2007
It
was June 22/1988 Wednesday morning at about 10.o�clock when Two
helicopters and Two MiGs in circled thousands and thousands of people
coming to trade in animals, grain, salt, coffee and other commodities in
the city of Hauzien in Tigray. Though Hauzien was attacked eight times in
the mid 1980 before, no one was expecting to be attacked this savagely by
air raid on a market day with so many people doing their daily business on
daylight by their own government. And as always the market was packed with
several thousands of people from all over the country.
The
bombing started in the late morning and continued until nightfall,
following a carefully coordinated plan. The
MiGs concentrating on the markets: meanwhile the helicopters circled round
trapping people as they tried to escape, cutting them down like leaves.
The bombers used high explosives and cluster bombs and some burning
liquid: presumably napalm or phosphorous, the helicopters used machine
guns and rockets. It was so dark the smoke hung over the town there was
some thing that fell from the sky that burns your flash. Most people and
animals were burned by something that seemed like rubber. It burned as it
dropped off from the bombers. The evidence of eye witnesses suggests that a minimum of 2500 innocent men
and women and children where deliberately killed in Hauzien by this aerial
bombardment. Many others were severely injured and maimed, traumatized.
The systematic nature of the brutal atrocity attack was carried out with
careful planning of succession of MiGs and helicopters to be present at
Hauzien, far away from the nearest airfield, in coordinated shifts
throughout an entire day.
Hauzien
had no military significance at the time, it wasn�t a rebel-controlled
area as they say, No TPLF fighter in the
area with anti-aircraft artillery to make an attack impossible to target
civilians, there is no point in bombing this town unless you want to use
this bombs for killing civilians. But it was a deliberate act of terrorism
against the people of Tigray, in
part revenge for the military successes of the TPLF over the previous
months. And in part they thought they will �softening
them up� for the government offensive through nearby areas. When the Truth came out and the allegation were made by Sunday Times of
London at the time the government went on a strong denial. Unfortunately for the people of Tigray there was
ample evidence that the bombardment went on day in day out with a callous
disregard for human life. Repeated bombings are carried out in waves,
deliberately aimed against civilians in Hauzien and through out Tigray.
Bomber airplanes frequently fly over rebel-held territory and attack the
productive base of the rural life.
Our
people in rural or urban part of the region of Tigray have being bombed
while they plowed their fields, walking to work,
kids playing on playground or an open market place like Hauzien. April
8th 1988 the city of Wukro was bombed while Red Cross workers
distributing relief aid to the people of that city. The October-
1989 Meqelle attack were also important for the government, Meqelle is the
capital of Tigray province at the time, and these raids indicated that the
Ethiopian government was willing to destroy even its major cities should
they fall in to rebel hands. These raids were intended to destroy,
terrorize and kill civilian non-combatants as a reprisal for the TPLF
military successes. The objectives of the bombardments are to destroy
property and kill people, disrupting production and trade, terrorizing and
demoralizing people, deterring rebel forces from capturing towns for fear
that they would be destroyed, and taking revenge for defeats.
All
Tigrians where aware of the situation of the time and what they have to do
to be victorious, We know it was bitter and long struggle the rebellious
people of Tigray and the TPLF forces have to go through for over seventeen
years and had consumed over eighty thousand dedicated sons and daughters
of Tigray to uproot the brutal dictator DERG regime. Our people have
overcome the day in day out torture, bombardments, murder, distraction,
and deliberate act of a terrorism one�s and for all .The people of
Tigray promised to each other that what they have endured for the last
fifty-sixty years could not happen again for the next generation and
beyond on the land of Woyane Tigray. They over run the DERG garrison and
freed us for good from these evil
governments. Our freedom is gained by the sacrifices� of thousands and
thousand of our fathers, mothers, sons and daughters of the region. With
out these heroes and heronries of ours we wouldn�t be where we are
today. �Hidri swuat�na anyni
eberen� we shall never
forget them. We shall never forget them.
Atakelti
Kebede
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