Will the U.S. Stand by the Side of Brave Africans? ALEMAYEHU G MARIAM

....Make no mistake: history is on the side of these brave Africans, and not with those who use coups or change Constitutions to stay in power. Africa doesn’t need strongmen, it needs strong institutions… [G]overnments that respect the will of their own people are more prosperous, more stable, and more successful…
His message to the people of Africa was inspiring, upbeat and passionate:
…You have the power to hold your leaders accountable, and to build institutions that serve the people. You can conquer disease, end conflicts, and make change from the bottom up. You can do that. Yes you can. Because in this moment, history is on the move.
President Obama also made a solemn promise to Africans:
… What we will do is increase assistance for responsible individuals and institutions, with a focus on supporting good governance – on parliaments, which check abuses of power and ensure that opposition voices are heard; on the rule of law, which ensures the equal administration of justice; on civic participation, so that young people get involved; and on concrete solutions to corruption… to advance transparency and accountability.
Now, at the cusp of the beginning of President Obama’s second term, we have to ask some tough questions: Are there more African strongmen in 2012 than in 2009? Are there fewer brave Africans on the streets and more of them in jail in 2012 than in 2009? Does Africa today have more debilitated institutions than it had in 2009? Do more African governments respect the will of their people today than they did in 2009? Is there less conflict in Africa today than in 2009? Does Africa today have good governance and is the rule of law the rule in Africa? Are more opposition voices heard, more civic participation seen and more youth and women involved in the political process in Africa today than they did in 2009? Does the U.S. today “stand with all those who seek to advance human dignity”? Is history in Africa today on the move forward to democracy, freedom and human rights, or is Africa marching backwards into the darkness of dictatorship and tyranny?
Is the U.S. today standing tall with the brave Africans or in bed with Africa’s strongmen?
Whatever Happened to the Brave Africans President Obama Spoke About in 200?
According to the U.S. Department of State’s Human Rights Practices Report for 2011 (May 2012), many of the “brave Africans” President Obama spoke about in 2009 are jailed, tortured, silenced, on the run, dead or just scared stiff under relentless official harassment and persecution. Arbitrary arrests, lengthy pretrial detentions, torture, and mistreatment of detainees by security forces, harsh and life-threatening prison conditions, illegal searches and seizures and infringements of citizens’ privacy rights, restrictions on freedom of speech and of the press and assembly in one form or another are the common facts of African daily life. African societies and institutions are decimated by official corruption and bloated bureaucracies. Justice is traded to the highest bidder in politically-controlled judiciaries; and rubberstamp parliaments crank out laws and proclamations like a Chinese toy factory. African societies are plagued by discrimination on the basis of ethnicity, gender, language, religion, culture and region.
Among the most flagrant violators of human rights in Africa is the regime in Ethiopia. In May 2010, the ruling party in that country “won” 545 of 547 [99.6 %] seats in parliament. A White House Statement on that election turned a blind eye and voiced muted “concern”:
An environment conducive to free and fair elections was not in place even before Election Day. In recent years, the Ethiopian government has taken steps to restrict political space for the opposition through intimidation and harassment, tighten its control over civil society, and curtail the activities of independent media. We are concerned that these actions have restricted freedom of expression and association…
In a speech given at the National Endowment for Democracy in October 2012, Karen J. Hanrahan, Deputy Assistant Secretary, Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor characterized the deplorable human rights situation in Ethiopia as merely a “challenge”:
… In Ethiopia, we are faced with a challenge. The principal question is how to work constructively with both the government and civil society to advance democracy and human rights when the government has limited political and civil space. This has included restrictions on civil society organizations, the curtailment of media freedom, and the conviction of journalists and members of the political opposition under the Anti-terrorism Proclamation. We’re particularly concerned about the Charities and Societies Proclamation and the Anti-terrorism Proclamation…
The “challenge” Hanrahan talks about includes the arrest of “more than 100 opposition political figures, activists, journalists, and bloggers,” massive suppression of the independent press, virtual bans on civil society and nongovernmental organizations,beatings and torturing of detainees by security forces and poor prison conditions. It also includes the unlawful persecution and imprionsment of the 2012 PEN America Freedom to Write Award winner Eskinder Nega; Reeyot Alemu, the 2012 winner of the International Women’s Media Fund’s Courage in Journalism Award; Woubshet Taye, editor of a popular weekly, opposition party leaders Andualem Aragie and Natnael Mekonnen among many others. The evidence reported in the latest U.S. State Department Human Rights Practices Report on Ethiopia (May 2012) shows that describing the human rights situation in Ethiopia as a “challenge” and glossing it over with a polite expression of “concern” is tantamount to adding insult to injury. The human rights situation in that country should provoke unmitigated moral outrage and immediate and direct action to uphold democratic principles and standards of universal human rights.
Perhaps current U.S. leaders could learn valuable lessons from their predecessors who faced similar “challenges” posed by tyrannies and dictatorships. President Truman once said, “Once a government is committed to the principle of silencing the voice of the opposition, it has only one way to go, and that is down the path of increasingly repressive measures, until it becomes a source of terror to all citizens and creates a country where everyone lives in fear.” Such is the indisputable fact of life in Ethiopia today and no amount of empty talk about “concerns” and hollow promises about overcoming “challenges” will change the situation!
The U.S. Record in Africa Today Leaves Much to be Desired
According to Assistant Secretary Johnnie Carson who heads the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of African Affairs, there are “five pillars that serve as the foundation of U.S. policy toward Africa.” These include “(1) support for democracy and the strengthening of democratic institutions including free, fair, and transparent elections; (2) support for African economic growth and development; (3) conflict prevention, mitigation, and resolution; (4) support for Presidential initiatives such as the Global Health Initiative, Feed the Future, and the Global Climate Change Initiative and (5) working with African nations on transnational issues such as drug smuggling, money laundering and trafficking in persons.” Carson reported that U.S. policy in Africa “in recent years”
has contributed to democratic transitions in Cote d’Ivoire, Guinea, and Niger; successful elections in Nigeria; and a referendum that led to the independence of South Sudan. The Bureau promotes African economic development through the annual Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) Forums. It is actively striving to end sexual and gender-based violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and eliminate the atrocities perpetrated by the Lord’s Resistance Army throughout Central Africa. Feed the Future, the U.S. Government’s global food security initiative, is focused on 12 African countries…
In her Preface to the U.S. Department of State’s Human Rights Practices Report for 2011 (May 2012), Secretary Hilary Clinton declared:
In my travels around the world as Secretary of State, I have met many individuals who put their lives on the line to advance the cause of human rights and justice. In ways small and large, they hold their governments accountable for upholding universal human rights… The United States stands with all those who seek to advance human dignity…
These quite modest accomplishments in Africa fall far short of President Obama’s lofty and eloquent words and majestic promises in Accra and his Administration’s actions to support good governance and promote human rights in Africa. Shakespeare said, “Action is eloquence.” Though there is always a gap between political rhetoric and political action, one should not confuse the eloquence of words with the eloquence of action. But this is not the time to look back and engage in recriminations, teeth-gnashing, belly-aching and finger pointing. We shall march to our President’s battle cry and “Keep Moving Forward”.
Time to Put Up or Shut Up?
Americans are generally known for straight talk, cutting down to the chase or cutting out the bull. It is one of the great qualities I have always appreciated in ordinary Americans and some of their great leaders. They say what they mean and mean what they say. It was “plain talkin’” President Harry S. Truman who said, “I never did give anybody hell. I just told the truth and they thought it was hell.” So, I will do a little bit of straight talking. We have heard enough of human rights pontifications and declarations. We know all about the “challenges”, “problems”, “difficulties” and “issues” in improving human rights and good governance in Ethiopia and the rest of Africa. We have also heard enough grousing, whining and complaining in Diaspora Ethiopian communities, particularly in the U.S., about what the U.S. has done, not done or could have done to to promote good governance, democracy and human rights in Ethiopia. In President Obama’s second term, there are only two choices: Put up or Shut Up! Put another way, the U.S. can step up and stand tall with the brave Africans or roll over in bed with the shameless and cowardly dictators who cling to power through handouts, World Bank and IMF loans and the barrel of the gun.
How to Help the Brave Ethiopians: Where to Start?
Many veteran Ethiopian human rights advocates will no doubt remember H.R. 2003 (“Ethiopia Democracy and Accountability Act of 2007”; originally introduced as H.R. 4423 “Ethiopia Consolidation Act of 2005” by Congressman Chris Smith of New Jersey when he chaired the Subcommittee on Africa and later renumbered as H.R. 4423 and H.R. 5680 in the House Committee on Foreign Affairs). Congress Donald Payne of New Jersey took the lead on H.R. 2003 when he became chairman of the Africa Subcommittee in 2007 and obtained the co-sponsorship of some 85 members of Congress. That bill passed the House in October 2007. Its key provisions focused on a number of issues central to good governance and protection of human rights in Ethiopia, including the release and/or speedy trial of all political prisoners in the country, prosecution of persons who have committed gross human rights violations, financial support to strengthen human rights and civil society groups and establishment of an independent judiciary, support for independent media operations, training assistance to strengthen legislative bodies, electoral commission and civil society groups, among others. Unfortunately, the bill never made it for a floor vote in the Senate.
Recently, the U.S. Congress passed and the President signed an important piece of legislation last week known as the “Sergei Magnitsky Law” (Senate Bill 1039 sponsored by democratic Senator Ben Cardin of Maryland, a long-time civil rights and civil liberties advocate and co-sponsored by 33 other Senators; and H.R. 4405 in the House sponsored by the well-known human rights advocate and democratic Congressman Jim McGovern of Massachusetts and co-sponsored by 15 other members). This law is designed to “impose sanctions on persons responsible for the detention, abuse, or death of Sergei Magnitsky, for the conspiracy to defraud the Russian Federation of taxes on corporate profits through fraudulent transactions and lawsuits and for other gross violations of human rights in the Russian Federation.” The “Magnitsky” language was incorporated in a larger legislation (‘‘Russia and Moldova Jackson-Vanik Repeal and Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act of 2012’’).
Sergei Magnitsky was a brave and principled 37-year-old Russian lawyer who exposed massive government corruption involving money-laundering by Russian officials. He died in prison in 2009. Russian President Dimitry Medvedev, citing the conclusions of the independent Presidential Council for the Development of Civil Society and Human Rights, reported that Magnitsky was illegally arrested, detained and denied justice by the very courts and prosecutors of the Russian Federation he was investigating and accusing. While in detention Magnitsky was denied necessary medical care and died from beatings he received by prison guards. Despite overwhelming evidence of official criminality in the Magnitsky case, no officials have yet to be brought to justice.
The key provisions of the Magnitsky Law requires the State Department to maintain a list of human rights abusers in Russia, freeze their assets and deny them U.S. visas.
Section 404 of the law (“Identification of Persons Responsible for the Detention, Abuse and Death of Sergei Magnitsky and Other Gross Violators of Human Rights”) requires the President to submit to Congress within 120 days “a list” of names of persons likely to have been involved directly or indirectly in “the detention, abuse, or death of Sergei Magnitsky” and other individuals “responsible for extrajudicial killings, torture, or other gross violations of internationally recognized human rights committed against individuals seeking to expose illegal activity carried out by officials of the Government of the Russian Federation.”
Section 406 requires the President to use his legal authority to “freeze and prohibit all transactions in all property and interests in property of a person who is on the list required by section 404(a) if such property and interests in property are in the United States, come within the United States, or are or come within the possession or control of a United States person.” The law further imposes penalties on any “person that violates or conspires to violate” the law to the same extent as a person that commits an unlawful act.
Helping Ethiopia’s “Magnitskys”
In his 2009 Accra speech, President Obama told Africans that the U.S. will “increase assistance for responsible individuals and institutions, with a focus on supporting good governance… to advance transparency and accountability.” He also said that it is possible to “make change from the bottom up because in this moment, history is on the move.” Well, the moment of history to get Ethiopian human rights legislation passed through the U.S. Congress is now! There is a perfect alignment of the bipartisan legislative stars. Human rights as a policy issue is taking front and center among both Democrats and Republicans. The Magnitsky Law was a significant legislative victory not only for the memory of the brave Sergei Magnitsky but for all brave victims of official human rights abuses everywhere. Senator Cardin toiled for years to get the bill through Congress and managed to do so with the support of senior republicans. (Truth be told, the Obama administration did not support linking the human rights legislation to a trade bill, but in the end had to give in.)
The bipartisan support for human rights as evidenced in the Magnitsky Law is refreshing, invigorating, inspiring and long overdue. Republican Arizona Senator John McCain said the United States had a moral obligation to speak out for Magnitsky, as well as others who are still alive and languishing unjustly in Russian prisons: “We are sending a signal to Vladimir Putin and the Russian kleptocracy that these kind of abuses of human rights will not be tolerated without us responding in some appropriate fashion. I believe that this legislation is not anti Russia. I believe it’s pro Russia…. I continue to worry about them and I pray for them.” Republican Arizona Senator Jon Kyl said the bill should have applied to all countries. Democratic New Hampshire Senator Jeanne Shaheen said that the United States intends to pay attention to human rights everywhere. “We will stand up for those who dare to speak out against corruption. This bill is for all the Magnitskys around the world.” Senator Ben Cardin said he would push to make it universal in scope so it could be used to punish other human rights violators around the world. “Now we start a new chapter in human rights. The legislation sets a precedent for international conduct that we expect will be honored globally.” Even the White House issued a Statement indicating that the President will support legislation that will “promote the rule of law and respect for human rights around the world”.
There are thousands of “Ethiopian Magnitskys” who have been denied justice, languishing in prison and forgotten. For starters, there has been no accountability for the post-2005 election massacres in which, according to an official Ethiopian Inquiry Commission, some 200 unarmed demonstrators were gunned down and another 800 wounded by security and police officials of the regime. There is a certified list of at least 237 individuals known to be involved or strongly suspected of direct involvement in these crimes against humanity. It is mandatory that these officials be brought to trial without delay.
It is great to see a sea change in the U.S. Congress on the issue of human rights. There seems to be a new attitude and renewed commitment to human rights and good governance and a recognition that human rights are an integral part of international law and civilized humanity. President Ronald Reagan said, “Freedom is one of the deepest and noblest aspirations of the human spirit.” President Jimmy Carter said, “America did not invent human rights. Human rights invented America.” In Ethiopia and many parts of Africa, the noblest aspirations of the human spirit go unfulfilled. And just like human rights invented America, I believe it is time for human rights to reinvent Ethiopia and the rest of Africa.
As far as I am concerned, what is good enough for the brave Sergei Magnitsky of Russia is good enough for the brave Melesachew D. Alemnew, age 16, Hadra S. Osman, age 22, Etenesh Yimam, age 50, Teodros Gidey Hailu, age 23, Gashaw T. Mulugeta, age 24, Lechisa K. Fatasa, age 21…. of Ethiopia! History is on the move. Now Ethiopian Americans, let’s get a move on! Yes, We Can have an “Ethiopian Magnitsky Law”! With a little help from our friends!
Standing tall with the “brave Africans” is standing up on the right side of history.
Professor Alemayehu G. Mariam teaches political science at California State University, San Bernardino and is a practicing defense lawyer.

Stolen Childhoods: Child Prostitution And Trafficking In Ethiopia

By Graham Peebles
Prostitution, perhaps the most distressing form of child abuse, is an epidemic throughout Ethiopia. The innocence of a childhood shattered, causing a deep feeling of shame, poisoning the sense of self and excluding the child from education, friends and the broader society. A society, which stands idly by whilst children suffer, speaking not in the face of extreme exploitation, denying the truth of extensive child exploitation and acts not, is a society in collusion.
In the capital, prostitution abounds, “It is difficult to give an exact figure for the prevalence of child prostitution in Addis Ababa but observation reveals that the numbers are increasing at an alarming rate in the city”1 The joint Save the Children Denmark and Addis Ababa City administration (SCD) study states: “Interviewing children revealed that over 50% started engaging in prostitution below 16 years of age. The majority work more than six hours per day”
There are many grades or levels of prostitution, “Some children engage in commercial sex in nightclubs, bars and brothels, while others simply stand on street corners waiting for men to pick them up.” (CPAA)
The SCD study “identified types of child prostitution: working on the streets; working in small bars; working in local arki or alcohol houses; working in rented houses/beds and; working in rent places for khat/drugs use. Each location exposes the children to different risks and hazards.”
“The major problems that have been faced by children engaged in prostitution include: rape, beating, hunger, etc. Based on the responses of children engaged in prostitution, about 45% of them have been raped before they engaged in the activity”. (CPAA)
The dangers associated with child prostitution affect the girls physical and mental/emotional health. Violent physical abuse, being hit and raped is common, Birtuken a 17 year old child sex worker (CSW), “prostitution is disastrous to the physical and social wellbeing of a person.” (CPAA)
The impact on the long-term mental health of a child working in prostitution, can often cause chronic psychological problems, “the emotional health consequences of prostitution include severe trauma, stress, depression, anxiety, self-medication through alcohol and drug abuse; and eating disorders.2
The risk of contracting sexually transmitted diseases (STD’s) and HIV/Aids is great, so too the chances of unwanted pregnancies, as men, immersed in selfishness and ignorance, refuse to wear condoms. Their arrogance and macho bravado is a major cause in the spread of HIV/Aids in Ethiopia USAID3 suggests, “1.3million people are now living with the virus in the country”. It is estimated that “70 per cent of female infertility is caused by sexually transmitted diseases that can be traced back to their husbands or partners.”4 “Women in prostitution have been blamed for this epidemic of STDs when, in reality, studies confirm that it is men who buy sex in the process of migration who carry the disease from one prostituted woman to another and ultimately back to their wives and girlfriends.” (EoP)
There are various causes for the growth in child prostitution in urban and rural areas as well as Addis Ababa, arranged marriages, illegal under Federal Law is cited as a key factor, “Research carried out in 2005 established that most victims of commercial sexual exploitation found in the streets of Addis Ababa had been married when they were below 15 years of age” (SAACSEC) In highlighting the factors that drive children away from their homes and into commercial sex work, the CPAA study found that “Most of the child prostitutes came from regions to look for a job, due to conflicts at home, early marriage and divorce.
Poverty, death of one or both parents, child trafficking, high repetition rates and drop out from school and lack of awareness about the consequence of being engaged in prostitution are key factors that push young girls to be involved in commercial sex work”. (CPAA)
In addition to arranged marriage, which is a significant cause, the study found that “the major reasons identified by the children themselves for engaging in commercial sex work are: poverty (34%), dispute in family (35%), and death of mother and/or father. 40% joined prostitution either to support themselves or their parents. Quite a large number of girls (35%) have joined prostitution due to violence within the home. Thus violence within the family is the main cause for children fleeing from home.”
The causes listed are complex and interrelated. At the epicenter of these diverse reasons though sits the family. Conflict at home is for many girls (and boys) the force driving them away from family and onto the streets of Addis Ababa, or one of the provincial towns and cities. Division and conflict grow from many seeds, repeated physical abuse at the hands of a parent or stepparent, rape at the hands of a Father, stepfather or extended family member, physical and verbal abuse, all are factors that force girls to leave the home and seek release from what has become a prison like existence of servitude, intimidation and fear. “When physical and psychological punishment becomes intolerable, it may lead to the child running away from home. Girls tend to become prostitutes when they run away from home.” (VACE2)
Another burgeoning group from which many children fall into the net of prostitution is that resulting from HIV-orphans who have lost their parents to the virus. “Ethiopia has one of the largest populations of orphans in the world: 13 per cent of Ethiopian children have lost one or both parents…the number of children orphaned solely by HIV/AIDS has reached over 1.2 million. These children find themselves at a very high risk of entering commercial sex to survive, yet there is very limited support available for them either from government [emphasis mine}.”(AACSE)
Coherent or dysfunctional, the social fabric is a tapestry of interrelated, interconnected strands. Neglect by the Ethiopian Government in areas diverse, and fundamental is the glue that is binding together a polluted stream of suffering and pain.
Bussed in Married off
In 2006/7, I worked with the Forum for Street Children Ethiopia (FSCE), running education projects for the children in their care. Girls living and working on the streets, mainly the hectic cobbled broken pathways around the Mercato Bus station. “This extremely poor neighborhood in the city has become ‘the epicentre of the capital’s illegal [emphasis mine] industry of child prostitution’5
The children at FSCE ranged in age, although many did not even know their date of birth; most the children do not have documentation “the problem is further aggravated by a widespread lack of birth registration” (CPAA). Some were as young as 11 years old, “over 50% started engaging in prostitution below 16 years of age” the study states. “In almost every case the girls come to the city from the countryside, their families cast many out, others sent to Addis to work”.
Arriving at the city’s main bus-station, shrouded in naivety and fear, with little or no education, the girls make easy pickings for the men that greet them, with a warm smile, and a cunning mind only to mistreat, use and exploit them. With nowhere else to go, and no alternatives, the girls find themselves working the street and the journey into the painful, destructive prison of prostitution has begun.
Many, according to Save the Children Denmark (STCD), come from the Amhara region, the second most populated region, with a population of over 20 million. These children arrive in the capital knowing nobody, with (probably) no money and no contacts.”Enforced child marriages, abuse, and the prospects of ending their days in the grip of poverty are factors pushing Ethiopian girls as young as nine years of age’” (VACE), to risk their childhood and their lives in the city.
According to (CPAA) “There are many factors pushing the girls away from the region, (Amhara) including poverty, peer pressure and abuse. But child marriage is one of the most common explanations we hear when interviewing the girls,” Arranged marriages are widespread in the (Amhara) region in the north of Ethiopia, where young girls, children are forced to marry adult men, all too often this ‘union’ results in rape, abuse and violence, from which the innocent child is forced to flee, only into the clutches of exploitation, violence and abuse. And do they recover, is there healing and release, is a childhood stolen, a childhood lost, let us pray it is not so.
Marriages entered into unwillingly by extremely young girls, some as young as seven years old usually in exchange for reparations of some kind, money, cattle, land, lead all too often to abuse and violence, “traditional practices like female genital mutilation (FGM) and early marriage, are causes for the increased violence against children.” 14-year-old boy 6 “in Wolmera Woreda, the practice of FGM is nearly universal since girls must be circumcised before marriage.” (VACE2) Once committed to a marriage, by parents who often regard the child as no more than an object to be traded, the girl is frequently raped and mistreated and treated as a servant. “Abduction, rape and early marriage may ultimately lead many girls to prostitution. Early marriage and abduction seldom produce successful marriages. In fact, such relationships are short-lived. As a result, most of these young girls run far away from their husbands in an attempt to start a new and happier life elsewhere. Unfortunately, many of them end up as prostitutes.’ (VACE2)
“Early marriage is illegal (except under particular circumstances), weak law enforcement [Emphasis mine] allows this practice to be widely followed throughout Ethiopia; the phenomenon is reported in almost every region of the country.
Nationwide, 19 per cent of girls were married by the age of 15 and about half were married by the age of 19; in Amhara region, 50 per cent of girls were married by the age of 15. “When the marriage finally collapses, the girls usually migrate to urban areas since breaking a marriage arranged by their relatives is considered a shameful act and they are no longer welcome within their families and communities.
Once in larger towns they end up living in the streets given their lack of skills to find employment. Such dire circumstances lead many girls to be exploited in commercial sex.” (CPAA)
To break free of a forced marriage entered into against the child’s will, and be punished by banishment from the family home, is a form of social injustice based on traditions, which have long failed to serve the children, the family or the community at large. It is time long since past that these practice’s where changed. Education, cultivating tolerance and understanding of the Human Rights of the Child are keys to undoing such outdated destructive sociological patterns, together with the enforcement of the law to deter parents and prospective ‘husbands’.
No options, no hope
No child enters into prostitution when they have a choice, “prostitution is seen as a social ill that is unaccepted, prohibited and fought in most parts of our continent. Prostitution is not only a question of morality but a human problem, a problem of human exploitation, a problem of societal failure in providing equal opportunities.” (CPAA) “At the end (of the interview) Belaynesh said that no girl/woman would like to be a prostitute but the problems force them to be in such a situation.” The circumstances that lead a young girl away from the games and innocence of childhood and what should be, the love and gentle kindness of her family, into the shadows of prostitution, may vary and circumstances differ, suffering though is common to all those forced into such a lifestyle, the impact long lasting and severe, the consequences dire, destroying many lives.
The children at FSCE in Mercato told us their stories, often with shame, through tears and embarrassment, always with pain. A thread connected them all, yes poverty, was a major issue, so too poor education however, the stream that united the group of wonderful 11 to 18 year olds, was a breakdown in human relationships, of one kind or another.
Once outside the family, and society, young girls desperate to survive have little choice but to work as CSW. For those recruiting and selling girls It is a business, for the children on the streets it a torture. “Almost all respondents do not like prostitution (99%). Almost all the girls are involved in prostitution not because they like what they are doing but due to other factors, to support themselves or their families.” (CPAA) “Child prostitution [is] a big business involving a whole series of actors from abductors at bus stations, to blue taxis and bar/hotel owners who tend to see children as the spices of their trade. The business actors, oblivious to pervasive taboos, have long abandoned recruiting adult prostitutes.” (CPAA)
Trafficking lives
Child prostitution and trafficking of children are inextricably linked. They are of course both illegal. All international conventions, from The Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) to International Labor Organisation (IL0), as one would expect, outlaw them. So too do Ethiopia’s Federal laws, “The 1993 Labor Proclamation forbids employment of young persons under the age of 14 years.
Employment in hazardous work is also forbidden for those under 18. The Penal Code provides means for prosecuting persons sexually or physically abusing children and persons engaging in child trafficking including juveniles into prostitution. Federal Proclamation no.42/93 protects children less than 14 years not to engage in any kind of formal employment.” (CPAA) And yet both child prostitution and the trafficking of minors goes on, and on and on. “The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) reported that girls are trafficked both within the country and abroad to countries in the Middle East and to South Africa.”7
Children are brought from rural areas of Ethiopia to the capital city by brokers, “ttraffickers, who feed on parent’s low awareness with false promises of work and education for their offspring.” The numbers are staggering, the money tiny, the damage unimaginable “up to 20,000 children, some 10 years old, are sold each year [for around $1.20 to $2.40] by their parents and trafficked by unscrupulous brokers to work in cities across Ethiopia.”8 And who would do such a thing. Who would ‘sell’ an innocent child; condemn a child to slavery and brutal exploitation, pain and acute distress? “These traffickers are ‘typically local brokers, relatives, family members or friends of the victims. Many returnees are also involved in trafficking by working in collaboration with tour operators and travel agencies.”9
“The Code of Conduct for the Protection of Children from Sexual Exploitation in Travel and Tourism has not been signed by any travel and tourism company in Ethiopia.” (CPAA) The Ethiopian Government acting in the interest of the children upon their homeland, and their responsibilities under international law, should rightly and immediately make all tour operators sign the afore mentioned treaty, or face closure, and criminal prosecution.
“The International Organization for Migration (IOM) stated that Ethiopian children are being sold for as little as US$ 1.20 to work as domestic servants or to be exploited in prostitution.” The Middle East is the major international destination of choice for traffickers, “Many Ethiopian women working in domestic service in the Middle East face severe abuses indicative of forced labor, including physical and sexual assault, denial of salary, sleep deprivation, and confinement. Many are driven to despair and mental illness, with some committing suicide. Ethiopian women are also exploited in the sex trade after migrating for labour purposes – particularly in brothels, mining camps, and near oil fields in Sudan – or after escaping abusive employers in the Middle East.”10 “At least 10,000 have been sent to the Gulf States to work as prostitutes.”(CTE)
Let us not even begin to look at the complicity of such states in the destruction of the lives of these children and women, the ‘little ones’ that dance upon the waters of life, seeking only a gentle heart to trust, finding the dark days of Rome, and in despair we cry “Men’s wretchedness in soothe I so deplore,”11
Meles Zenawi loves to ‘talk the talk’ to his western allies, the US, Britain, the European Union and the like, whilst turning a blind eye, a deaf ear to the cries of the child being beaten, the young girl being raped and traded for sex and the teenager separated from her family, her friends and her childhood, sold into servitude and abuse within Ethiopia and across the Red Sea in the oil rich ‘Gulf States’.
(This article is part of a series).
Notes:
1. Addis Ababa City Admin Social & NGO Affairs Office (SNGOA), Save the Children Denmark (SCD) and ANNPPCAN-Ethiopian. Child Labor in Ethiopia with special focus on Child Prostitution Study. ‘Child Prostitution in Addis Ababa 2006 (CPAA)
2. Health Effects of Prostitution (EOP), Janice G. Raymond
3. http://www.usaid.gov/our_work/global_health/aids/Countries/africa/ethiopia.html
4. Jodi L. Jacobson, The Other Epidemic
5. Sofie Loumann Nielsen. The Reporter 10 September 2010
6. Violence against children in Ethiopia (VACE). Africa Child Policy Forum
7. http://www.childtrafficking.org/cgi-bin/ct/main.sql?ID=2067&file=view_document.sql
8. ILO. http://www.childtrafficking.org/cgi-bin/ct/main.sql?file=view_document.sql&TITLE=-1&AUTHOR=-1&THESAURO=-1&ORGANIZATION=-1&TOPIC=-1&GEOG=-1&YEAR=-1&LISTA=No&COUNTRY=-1&FULL_DETAIL=Yes&ID=2067. (CTE)
9. Ecpat Global Monitoring report status of action against commercial sexual exploitation of children, Ethiopia. (AACSE)
10. http://ovcs.blogspot.com/2008/01/ethiopia-is-source-country-for-human.html
11. Faust Part One, Mephistopheles.
(About the author: Graham Peebles is Director of The Create Trust, a UK registered charity, supporting fundamental social change and the human rights of individuals in acute need. He may be reached at graham@thecreatetrust.org)

Stronger America Needs Stronger Ethiopia

BY MIKIAS MERHATSIDK

OPINION
On his return voyage from the Yalta Conference in February 1945, the then United States president, Franklin Roosevelt, held a successive one hour port-side chat with three kings. Aboard the heavy cruiser, USS Quincy, docked off the Great Bitter Lake of the Egyptian coast, the President discussed with King Farouk of Egypt, King Ibn Saud of Saudi Arabia, and the king of kings, Emperor Haileselassie of Ethiopia. This was the first face to face encounter between the leaders of Ethiopia and the United States.
Subsequently, the Emperor was able to meet with four US presidents in his six official visits to the United States, making him the leader with the highest number of official visits to Washington in the 20th century.
Of course, the Ethio-American relation goes way back to the time of Emperor Menelik and President Theodore Roosevelt. The United States was one of the pioneer countries to send a mission to Addis Abeba, after the victory of Adwa. Since then, the relationship between the two countries has seen highs and lows.
From the military communication post of Kagnew Station (Radio Marina) and the massive military and economic aid to Ethiopia (Ethiopia used to receive more than 80pc of all military aid to Africa, even though it was less than 0.5pc from the world's share) to Point Four Program and the coming of peace corps, the emperor era was the high point for relations between the two countries.
The picture completely changed after the emergence of the Dergue. Its intimacy with the eastern bloc, accompanied by the United State's support to the then Somalian government, forced relations between the two countries to hit rock bottom.
After 17 years of strained relations, however, the two countries resumed a rather wary relationship once the EPRDF took power in 1991. After passing through some difficult times, most notably during the Ethio-Eritrea war and the post-election crisis of 2005, the relationship now seems to be standing on solid ground. This is further strengthened by Ethiopia's stabilising role in the chaotic Horn of Africa.
Besides military and diplomatic assistance,Ethiopia receives billions of dollars in development aid from the people of the US. Africom, the new US mission in Africa, is using Ethiopian military facilities, like the drone base at Arbaminch, for its missions in the horn and beyond. Acceleration is on the side of the relationship.
But there is still room for further improvement, not only in scale but also in scope and focus. For this to happen, though, the Obama Administration must take into consideration the changing dynamics of Ethiopia and the region at large.
Administrations look for a strong, reliable and consistent state that will protect their investment, as a prerequisite, before forging a long-term relationship with another country. And the United States Department of State has a lot of bad experiences on this particular subject.
Yet, it is definitely not the case for Ethiopia, at least this time around.Ethiopia has started to enjoy political maturity. And this was manifested in the peaceful power transition, albeit intra-party, that it was able to achieve for the first time in its modern history. This achievement is even greater, when seen in the backdrop of the instability-ridden Horn of Africa.
Surely,Ethiopia still has some length to go before becoming a functioning democracy. But the country is moving forward. It has finally finished defining itself. And its state formation process, a concept that is still illusive for most African nations, seems coming to a close.
Ethiopia has one of the most democratic and secular constitutions in the world. And the country has established a strong and efficient government, at least by African standards, and enjoys policy freedom that is unthinkable in most developing nations. And it has a clear vision of where it wants to go.
Ethiopia is home to one of the largest black population in the world, second only next to Nigeria, and it holds the second biggest market in the continent. Its economy, which is one of the fastest growing in the world, will be one of the four biggest in the continent, in a decade or so.
The country is also claiming its rightful place in African politics, asserting itself as a force to be reckoned with in the region and beyond. All this will make Ethiopia an ideal candidate for partnership in this multi-polar world. And the United States can take advantage and further strengthen its relation with this 'roaring lion of Africa'.
Therefore,Ethiopia's relation with the US should look beyond short-term benefits or missions. It rather ought to capitalise on the shared ideals and values and mutual long-term interests in the region and beyond. And this truth upholds whatever government takes the power in Ethiopia because there could not be inherent clashes between the values and interests of the people of the two countries.
And now is the right time for the Obama Administration to take this strong relation to the next level and give Ethiopia its proper place in the United States foreign policy equation.
In 1971, the Nixon administration was courteous enough to inform Emperor Haileselassie, in advance, about its decision to recognise the Peoples Republic of China; this clearly shows the place Ethiopia used to hold in the foreign policy matrix of the United States.
In the recent past, however, the United States has left Ethiopia out of the loop. The Obama Administration should start to take Ethiopia's interest into consideration when getting involved in the Middle East, especially with Egypt. After all,America's short-sighted strategies are the main reasons behind the unbalanced military and diplomatic capabilities of the upper and lower basins of the Nile River.
The US should no more take Ethiopia for granted. And this should be corrected through different balancing acts as a strong and stable Ethiopia is in the interest of the United States.
The US government should help the people of Ethiopia achieve their economic aspirations and enjoy the fruits of prosperity and live in dignity. It should give its political and diplomatic assistance for the equitable use of the Nile River.
It also should work on strengthening economic ties between the two countries. As Ethiopia's economy is on the rise, there is and will be enough space for US companies to take part in it. In addition to development aid, technological assistance, military and civil service, should be scaled-up.
Last but not least, the United States government should work with the people and government of Ethiopia for the realisation of a more democratic society. A state visit by President Obama will have a tremendous effect on all of these.
It is certain that a stable and economically prosperous Ethiopia is very much in the interest of the US. And that is why the Obama Administration should rethink its relation with Ethiopia and upgrade its investment and engagement, and assist with 'the peaceful rise of 'Ethiopia so that the country realises its full potential. Only then could the United States have a reliable and strong regional ally to rely on for years to come.
Mikias Merhatsidk Is an Economist By Training

The Enduring Power Of Haile Selassie’s Propaganda

Ever since September 1, 1961, when Hamid Idris Awate fired the first bullet from Mt. Adal heralding Eritrea’s revolution against the Ethiopian occupation, Emperor Haile Sellassie and his Eritrean allies have branded him as bandit (wenbedie) with a ragtag of Islamist and Arabist followers. The Ethiopian regime tried in vain to defame Awate’s name by depicting him as an Islamist because it was wary that the revolution that a Muslim ex-soldier “nomad” had ignited would be followed by Christians. Haile Selassie’s rule came to an end in 1974, in no small part due to the revolution that this Eritrean “bandit” started. Haile Selassie’s successor, Mengistu Hailemariam, was ideologically different from the Emperor in every way except one—he continued Haile Selassie’s propaganda of labeling Hamid Idris Awate as a bandit and the Revolution he started as Islamist and Arabist. Of course, by then, the entire Eritrean population, Muslims and Christians, were fighting Ethiopian occupation and carrying Hamid Idris Awate’s banner, but Haile Selassie’s propaganda had a surprisingly enduring power—carrying over to some of the splinter groups. As the Eritrean revolution changed its demographics from rural to relatively urban, some of the better educated Eritreans whose idea of a revolution was learned from leftist books could not imagine a “nomad” launching a revolution and described him as an accidental revolutionary. But that was all par for the course. What is a surprise to many of us is that the assault on the person and reputation of Hamid Idris Awate is being waged even in post-independent Eritrea.

The sixties, seventies and eighties were trying times for the Eritrean revolution and almost every family lost at least one of its members to the armed struggle. Some families lost scores and it is not uncommon to find parents who lost four, and five children. But those who were on the opposite side of the Eritrean struggle have never come to terms with their past. They have never forgotten that they were shamed when patriotic Eritreans registered victory. And though many are former occupational power chameleons who changed colours and collaborated with the victorious EPLF belatedly, deep inside, they seem to have kept their thirst for vendetta alive. And recently, with the tacit approval of certain circles, they seem to have launched a campaign to discredit Hamid Idris Awate. But that is a means to an end. Their true aim is to question the very foundation of Eritrea, the justness of its cause. The goal is to discredit the entire Eritrean idea of independence by first discrediting Awate, then the revolution that he launched, followed by the entire struggle which produced an independent Eritrea, dating back to the struggles of the 1940s, to Waela Biet Giorghis, to the federation compromise. To erase everything that generations of Eritreans bled for.

And their calling card seems to be the mess that Isaias Afwerki has made of Eritrea. Instead of saying that he is a failed leader, or that his administration is incompetent, or that it has betrayed the revolution, they want to expand the list of people they want to blame: and wouldn’t you know, it turns out that it is everybody except them! “Them” being those who were opposed to or indifferent to Eritrean independence. But the fact that Eritreans transitioned from an Ethiopian occupation to a totalitarian rule doesn’t negate the Eritrean idea. It is still there and no one can quell that Eritrean desire to stay free. While most of us see our current predicament as temporary, some are using it as a validation to support their claim that the Eritrean cause was not just, and therefore the Eritrean statehood is doomed to fail. What do you expect from a revolution initiated by a “shifta”!

What is wicked about this campaign is the fact that the campaigners are using the issues of Eritrean minorities, namely Eritrean Kunama, to piggyback their mischievous designs. All of a sudden, those who degraded the Kunama, those who consider them their inferior, those who watched silently when they were robbed of their land and livelihood have now became the champions of Kunama rights! How amazing and selective—because these latter-day minority rights advocates, and bleeding hearts do not mention grievances of other Eritrean sections. Including the dispossessed and exiled extended family members of Hamid Idris Awate himself. If Hamid Idris Awate was of Afar nationality, they would find some grievance from an Afar nationality to blame him.

The foot-soldier who spearheaded this campaign is the leader of the Democratic Movement for the Liberation of the Eritrean Kunama (DMLEK), a Kunama national who thinks he has a monopoly on Kunama issues. Politics 101 says that you do not alienate people unnecessarily and this man chose September 1 to attack Hamid Idris Awate. How crude and tasteless and stupid. If fact, if we are just going to accept allegations at face value, DMLEK has so many opponents from the Kunama people itself and it is accused of worse crimes than what Kernelious is accusing Awate of. And not of incidents from decades ago, but of crimes committed months ago. In Sudan, where a large group of Kunama veterans of the Eritrean armed struggle live, the situation is unlike the noise that Kernelious is managing out of Addis Ababa. But the political lepers who are campaigning against Awate found it convenient to present any criticism of Kernelious as if it was a criticism against the Kunama nationality.

Cut-and-paste intellectualism like the recent one that appeared on asmarino.com will not cut it. Selecting an epoch from history and wantonly attaching the name of Hamid Idris Awate to it to defame his character will not stand in the face of a serious challenge and it will crumble.

The Awate Team challenges anyone who is involved in this campaign to at least try some basic method of chronicling history (since no one has presented any evidence to the absurd claims thrown against Awate); they should be humble enough to at least present their allegation just as plain allegations of views and not try to hoodwink their listeners and readers into believing what they present is hard fact. Awate is not a symbol of a certain religion or a certain tribe, he is the symbol of all patriotic Eritreans who reject oppression and fight for freedom. Awate is about justice and gallantry; and political lepers and dwarfs can never stand at par with him.

This website is named after Awate not without reason; it stands for everything he stood for and it will make sure that the freedom that he yearned for his people will be pursued. The equality that he envisioned will be pursued. And the dream of a dignified citizen that he died for will be realized. The goal of an independent state—not a vassal state, not an appendage state—will be pursued without equivocation.

If the Hamid Idris Awate defamers want to know how futile their campaign is, they should remember this: it is not just Hamid Idris Awate who is venerated but also the day he launched the struggle (September 1), the place he stood up against an overwhelming Ethiopian military (Mt. Adal), the reason he initiated the struggle (independence), and the means he, and his followers, used to rally followers (patriotism.) In other words, their fight is not just with the who, but the what, where, when, why and how of Eritrea. No wonder they sound so frustrated. Otherwise, why would they discuss Hamid Idris Awate when the problems facing Eritreans now are more immediate and begging for solution?

Some people seem to be confused with the whole idea of freedom of expression. It goes two ways: you have the right to express your opinion; and we have the right to express an opinion on your opinion. Kernelious (using 15 pen names) has the right to express his opinion on Hamid Idris Awate; and others have a right to tell him that he is wrong. But Kernelious is also a political figure who is part of a political entity: and that entity has a right to discipline those who violate its organizational charter. Of course, you can’t cure stupid: those who don’t understand the difference between censure (disapprove of) and censor (suppress) and want to display their ignorance publicly have that right as well. But freedom of speech is not unilateral disarmament: stupid people will be told they are stupid, and liars will be told they are telling lies.

The campaign is a make-or-break as far as many Eritrean patriots are concerned—they have been there before and they know where this is leading. Veiled, chauvinist and bigoted messages should be exposed for what they are and if someone wants to adopt Haile Sellasies’ policies in Eritrea, they will be countered the same way they were countered in September 1961. Maybe it is unfair to ask these critics “what did you do to make Eritrean independence a reality?” But is it too much to ask “were you supportive, opposed or indifferent to Eritrean identity?” If one is going to parrot Haile Selassie’s propaganda, isn’t it fair to ask what that person’s position was in the great war between Haile Selassie and Hamid Idris Awate? This is very relevant because the resistance movement against one dictator (Isaias Afwerki) should not be waged by those who were great admirers and fans of another dictator (Haile Selassie.)

awateteam@awate.com
sourece:

A hero of Fascist Benito Mussolini....Hamid Idris Awate of Eritrea who was paid and trained by Egypt to attack Ethiopia in 1960s

Hamid Idris Awate was born in 1910 in Gerset village located between Omhajer and Tessenei in Gash Setit region of South Western Eritrea, from a Nara father and Beni Amer mother. In 1935, he was conscripted by the Italians to serve in the colonial army of the Eritrean Ascaris. The Italians, impressed by Awate’s military performance and loyalty sent him to the Italian African Police training school in Tivoli about 30 km north-east of Rome, for a course in Military Intelligence. The Italian African Police force (Polizia dell'Africa Italiana or PAI) was a racially mixed organization, made up of Italian agents and native Ascaris. It was located in police headquarters of major cities like Tripoli, Benghazi, Asmara, Addis Ababa, Mogadishu, Gondar, or in small commissariats elsewhere.

During the fascist era of Benito Mussolini (1922–1943), the Italian African Police (Polizia dell'Africa Italiana or PAI) along with the Carabinieri were one of the police forces entrusted with suppressing opposition in Italian East Africa (Africa Orientale Italiana, or AOI), mainly in Eritrea, Somalia and Ethiopia.

The other role of Italian African Police (Polizia dell’Africa Italiana) along with the Carabinieri was to set up machine gun posts to control the rear of attacking regiments and prevent desertion. In the mid to late 1930s, the Italian African Police and the Carabinieri were responsible for the atrocities committed in Eritrea and Ethiopia during the Second Italo-Abyssinian War.

Recruitment to the Italian African Police was contingent on the degree of loyalty one shows and the ability to carry on instructions without question. Hamid Idris Awate was a proud and loyal member of the Italian African Police and Carabinieri who committed untold crimes on native Africans (Sudanese, Ethiopians and Eritreans) who were resisting the occupation of their land by Italy.

For his loyal service to the Italian occupation force he was first appointed as security officer in western Eritrea and later as deputy chief administrator of the city of Kassala, Sudan and its surroundings during the brief Italian occupation of that city in early 1940s. As administrator of Kassala he relentlessly worked to the political union of Kassala to Eritrea until the British attack of January 1941 put an end to his dreams. He further has fought gallantly with his Italian benefactors as a brave soldier in the battle of Keren.

As a loyal fascist soldier, the defeat of Italy by allied forces in East Africa disappointed Awate bitterly. After the British army liberated Eritrea from the Italians in 1941 he continued to wage guerilla warfare against the British for over a year, with the cavalrymen of Amedeo Guillet.

Amedeo Guillet (February 7, 1909 – June 16, 2010) also known as the devil commander was an officer of the Italian Army who commanded a band of cavalrymen "Gruppo Bande a Cavallo" during the Italian guerrilla war in Ethiopia in 1941–42. Guillet commanded approximately 2,500 locally recruited cavalrymen who were recruited from all over Ethiopia and Eritrea with Yemeni infantry men. They also consisted of some camel corps from Libya and were led with six European officers and Eritrean NCOs all hand-picked by Amedeo himself.

(N. B. Notice the similarity in attire between the pictures of Amedeo Guillet here and Hamid Idris Awate as cavalrymen above.)


(Photo: Amedeo Guillet with a native cavalryman)

One of these handpicked Non Commissioned Officers (NCOs) was Hamid Idris Awate who was in charge of 100 Ascari cavalrymen with another Eritrean officer of the Ascari named Ali Gabre. Guillet tried to delay the advance of the British Army when they crossed the Eritrean frontier in 1941. He fought the British army at Cherù on the road to Amba Alagie and Agordat and his delaying actions enabled the Italian army to regroup at Keren.
His actions saved the lives of thousands of Italians and Eritreans who withdrew from Amba Alagie. After nearly two months the British broke through the defenses of the Italians and Asmara was captured.

While most of the Italian army surrendered, Guillet refused to do so and began a private war against the British. He continued to wage a guerrilla campaign, ambushing British convoys and disrupting supply lines. For almost a year Guillet launched guerrilla actions against British troops, plundering convoys and attacking isolated military posts, with his beautiful gun-toting Ethiopian Muslim mistress Kedija by his side. She was the daughter of a chieftain from Simien in Gondar. In 1942 realizing the futility of his actions, Guillet managed to escape across the Red Sea to Yemen.

(Photo: Kedija – Mistress of Guillet the daughter of
An Ethiopian Chieftain from Simien, Gondar)

During this adventure one of the loyal subjects of Guillet was Hamid Idris Awate who was fighting for the return of the Duce’s African Empire. It was this guerilla experience which the ELF wanted to exploit when asking Awate to start the Eritrean insurrection in 1961.

After the departure of Guillet in 1942, Hamid Idris Awate based himself in the western lowlands of Eritrea in the vicinity of his tribal land with his army of approximately 50 men, and continued to fight the British, awaiting for the return of his commander Amedeo Guillet with help and reinforcement from Rome. He continued his fight against the British until 1945. After he realized that the empire of Fascist Italy was gone for good he continued his outlaw (shifta) life, this time targeting innocent Eritrean civilians. He conducted raids into Kunama villages and plundered cattle which he sold in the markets of Kassala, Sudan. He set ablaze countless Kunama villages and looted them and engaged in indiscriminate killing of Kunama women and children including infants.

Awate’s notoriety as a shifta and crimes against civilians was such that the then British Military Administration set a price of £300 for information leading to “the arrest or capture of Awate dead or alive”. He was a notorious outlaw (shifta) alongside other outlaws of the time like Weldegebriel Mosazghi of Berakit Abay and Berhe Mosazghi of Berakit Abay, Hagos Temnewo of Debri Adi Tsadek and Asresehenge Embaye of Areza, who were targeting defenseless highlanders of Akeleguzay, Seraye and Hamasien and killed countless Jebertis, Sahos and Kunama of South western lowlands of Eritrea. A 1949 British Military Administration document enumerates 51 such outlaws (shiftas) with a bounty on their heads with Awate at the top of the list and with the highest bounty of £300.

He was later pardoned by the British Administration in Eritrea in 1950 and given complete amnesty for his past crimes and allowed to return to his hometown. He was also allowed to retain his gun for personal protection. The restless and trigger happy Awate was living in his native village when the ELF approached him to start the armed struggle. He still had some of his band of outlaws with him. He was 50 years old at the time. Awate accepted the request by the ELF and in September of 1961, fired the first shot declaring the start of the armed struggle and was back in business again. He led the ELF armed wing for only about 20 months and died on May 28, 1962 presumably from food poisoning. Thus the so called “Eritrean war of independence” was launched by a criminal outlaw (shifta) and is still run by another outlaw (shifta) Isayas.

Hamid Idris Awate was a simple outlaw (shifta). An ordinary soldier entrusted with accomplishing a political goal charted out for him by ELF leadership in the Sudan. He never interfered nor tried to influence the political decision of the front, nor did he have the analyzing capacity of what he was doing. He was politically ignorant and was glad to do what he was trained to do his whole life and which he knew best how to do i.e. killing and causing mayhem.

He was a trigger happy fascist loyalist who worked against the interests of the Eritrean people in particular and colonized Africans in General, who continued to fight the British forces, alongside Amedeo Guillet, to bring back fascist Italian rule to Eritrea even after Mussolini’s army had surrendered in East Africa to the allied forces.

He was a fascist loyalist who conducted a guerrilla war for 5 whole years for “a king, country and a people whom he never saw or knew”. He was loyal Carabinieri who diligently worked to keep Eritreans under the yoke of Italian colonialism. As a right hand man of the Italian administration he approved and enforced the racist and oppressive policy of Italy which confiscated around half of the land of Eritrea under the principles of state land “Terreno Demaniale”, particularly around western lowlands of Eritrea during his tenure as administrator. He wanted to reinstate the Italian Fascist rule that dehumanized Eritreans using apartheid and segregation and continued to fight to bring back that system to East Africa for five whole years, until the end of the Second World War.

What makes Awate different from the tens of thousands of Eritrean, Ethiopian, and Somali Ascaris who fought alongside Italy is the fact that he conducted a guerilla war to reinstate the fascist rule on Eritrea even after the demise of Duce Mussolini’s empire and even after all the Italian soldiers and Ascaris have surrendered. He was more dedicated to fascism than the fascists themselves.

He did not even have the slightest concept of freedom let alone be a freedom fighter or a resistance fighter. The only resistance he showed was to resuscitate the dead empire of Benito Mussolini in East Africa.

Therefore, Awate does not deserve to be given the honorable title of a freedom fighter. Trying to glamorize and give Awate a face lift and give him a name which he does not deserve is not only gross representation, but also an insult to his victims.

He was a gun, available for hire to the highest bidder, a “Billy the kid” of Eritrea, who availed his services first to Benito Mussolini in 1935, next to Amedeo Guillet in 1941 out of love and loyalty to fascist Italy and later in 1961 to Idris Mohammed Adem and the ELF leadership in the Sudan, out of familial and ethnic loyalty.

When there was no one to hire him, he turned to cattle raiding and rustling for monetary gains, burning down whole villages indiscriminately, killing and massacring innocent civilians including infants, children and women. His primary victims were the Kunamas. Killing was just a profession for him. That in short is who Hamid Idris Awate was, no more and no less.

The tragic irony is that even though Awate had no noble intention when he fired the first shot, he is credited with starting the armed insurrection against the so called "Ethiopian colonizers" because of a historical accident.

An interesting and weird twist to the story of Amedeo Guillet is that he visited Eritrea in 2000 upon the express invitation of Isayas Afeworki. Isayas must have taken a few pointers from Italian rule about how to subjugate the Eritrean people. Like father like son, both Isayas and Awate were worshipers of Fascists of Douche Mussolini. The love of Isayas for Guillet came to light during his visit to Italy in 1999.

During his visit to Rome Isayas was asked whether there was any single Italian he would care to meet. Amedeo Guillet, he replied promptly. The then 90 yrs old Guillet was immediately summoned by Italian officials to meet the Eritrean head of state and was extended an invitation to visit Eritrea by Isayas, which Guillet did in 2000.

(Photo: Isayas Afeworki welcomes Amedeo to his country.
The president’s Palace was very familiar to Amedeo.
It used to be the Italian army’s headquarters. )

We also find another interesting twist to the story of Amedeo Guillet, who died on June 16, 2010 at the age of 101. The official website of Amedeo Guillet shows the picture of an Eritrean Greek by the name of Vassili Kiriakakos at the funeral of Guillet.

The name Kiriakakos kind of rings a familiar bell for Eritreans, and raises the question what the role of Eritrean Greeks in general and “the Kiriakakos’’ in particular was during the Italian occupation of Eritrea. How come one of the Kiriakakos’ comes to pay homage and attend the funeral of a well known Italian soldier of Benito Mussolini? Was there any collaboration by them with the regime of Benito Mussolini in East Africa? It makes one wonder. More research needs to be done to know the extent of the role of some of the Eritrean Greeks, if there was any, during the fascist era.

A Letter to Ethiopians:

By 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,
Executive Director of the SMNE
Email: Obang@solidaritymovement.org.
Website: www.solidaritymovement.org

On Honoring Ethiopia and the Lost Art of Diplomacy By Tecola W. Hagos

Having political and economic power and maintaining diplomatic skill are not mutually exclusive qualities of a great nation. Too often, especially from the end of the Second World War to date, the art of diplomacy has suffered immensely and was replaced by crude and plebian methods of diplomatic relationships. The Cold War era, which was ended only some fifteen years ago, could be considered as one clear period in diplomatic history as an illustrative period of poor diplomatic relationships in world history.

Given the undeniable fact that the late Prime Minister of Ethiopia, Meles Zenawi, was a loyal friend of the People and Government of the United States, I am not happy with the low level delegation of the United States sent to the burial ceremony of September 2, 2012. This article is not an endorsement of Meles Zenawi per se, but about our Ethiopian pride and rightful place in history. Meles Zenawi carried out several of the strategic demands of the United States in the region, at times even against the national security interest of Ethiopia (for example, the signing of the 2000 Algiers Agreement). Most notable in such activities helpful to the United States was Meles Zenawi’s anti terrorism policies in furthering mainly the security interest of the United States, at the cost of Ethiopia’s own national security interest in maintaining peaceful relationships with aspiring powers in the region.

I believe that the United States Government lost one singular opportunity by failing to send high level delegation to the funeral ceremony of the late Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, which would have helped the United States to demonstrate its appreciation for real services rendered by the Government of Meles Zenawi and also a chance to extend further the national security strategy of the United States. No matter how I feel about Meles Zenawi because in my eyes he failed to serve Ethiopia’s national security interest in very many areas, he was an extremely effective friend of the United States in carrying out the biddings of the several Governments of the United States from the time of President Bill Clinton to date.

It is my sincere hope that people reading this essay will not misunderstand the essence of this brief commentary. I am not in any way denigrating the Honorable Ambassador Susan Rice that the United States Government sent as its delegation head to the burial ceremony of Meles Zenawi. Ambassador Susan Rice in her own right is a great diplomat and above all a sister that I greatly honor and greatly admire. My point is that President Barak Obama himself should have attended the funeral ceremony for Meles Zenawi. Period. At the very least he should have sent his Vice President.

I am not just mouthing off criticism on the United States just for the sake of beating on the Obama Administration. I believe they are the best team, but they do make mistakes now and then, in case of Ethiopia following a pattern long established by several administrations from the time of President Truman. In studying the diplomatic history between the United States’ governments/administrations and that of Ethiopia’s, I am puzzled and also felt insulted by the low regard that the United States governments/administrations seem to have for Ethiopia over the period of several decades. As far as I am concerned the beginning of all good diplomatic relations between states starts and ends with one element that of respect. No matter how I admire and honor Susan Rice, she is not a head of state or of a government. In fact, in the scheme of things, she is fifth or sixth on the hierarchical ladder of the bureaucratic structure of the Government of the United States. One rational for such low level choice of Delegation by the Obama Administration, maybe due to an honest desire on the part of the Administration to send someone who was a close family friend to the late Prime Minister, and it seems that there was very endearing working relationship between Susan Rice with Meles Zenawi. Especially after listening to the heart touching speech given by Rice at the Ceremony, it is obvious to me the depth of the personal sorrow of Ambassador Rice.


There are certain important points I need to make in connection with the question of respecting Ethiopia and Ethiopians. This is not the first time that Western Governments missed opportunities to honor Ethiopia and the Ethiopian people. When Emperor Haile Selassie’s formal reburial was carried out in Addis Ababa on 5 November 2000, no foreign states sent any representative to that funeral. The fact that the Government of Meles Zenawi refused to allow a “State” funeral might have discouraged such foreign governments from sending delegations; however, I have not found any evidence that any state tried to send delegation and was refused by the Ethiopian Government. Great nations should find ways to show their appreciation and gratitude for not so great leaders of other nations but had been of great service to them.


A national leader should not be hemmed in or be defined by short term events, but must see the larger picture and transcend mere skills for greater wisdom in pursuing truly great diplomatic relationship. Would it not have been sublime for the United States Government to send its representatives to honor its long time loyal friend Emperor Haile Selassie at his funeral in 2000? I would say the same to the Government of the United Kingdom. After all, Emperor Haile Selassie other than the fact of being long time friend of Great Britain and its people was also invested with the highest honor that the Queen of England could bestow—Emperor Haile Selassie was the Knight of the Order of the Garter (1954), the only African in the seven hundred history of the Order founded by Edward III in 1344. Queen Elizabeth II is a member of that Order, and as such she should have sent a delegation to honor Emperor Haile Selassie at his reburial in 2000, if not for anything else, but for his membership in that ancient and great Order of the Garter.


Diplomacy need not be limited to deceptions, manipulations, out right lies, et cetera, it can be also a vehicle to ennoble the human soul. It can lift us above the cacophony of ordinary lives. It can endear people from different parts of the world to each other in far more solid and meaningful manner. I do hope the Honorable Ambassador Susan Rice, and the Government of President Barack Obama will read this brief comment in good light. God Bless the people of Ethiopia and the people of the United States.

Tecola W. Hagos
Washington DC, September 3, 2012

What Killed Meles Zenawi? By Tibebe Samuel Ferenji

“The stirrings within us have their own fearful excesses; the excesses show which way these stirrings would take us. They are simply a sign to remind us constantly that death, the rupture of discontinuous individualities to which we cleave in terror, stands there before us more real than life itself.”

First of all, I would like to express my sympathy to the family, friends and supporters of Prime Minster Meles Zenawi. Although his death is celebrated in some quarters of our society, there is no question that his death has been very painful to those who loved him and supported him. Regardless of the wrongs he did to the country and the people of Ethiopia, I sympathize with those he left behind. I wish him to live for different reasons than those who are mourning his death. God has chosen his own way; thus, we have no choice but to reflect on the death of Mr. Zenawi and the legacy he left behind. Although so much has been said and written about his death, very few people have asked What killed Mr. Zenawi. The government of Ethiopia has been very secretive about the illness and the circumstances of Mr. Zenawi’s death. Why? In this piece, the writer would like to shade some light in the circumstances of the death of Mr. Zenawi and the strange coincidences.


Few months ago, this writer was watching Aljazeera documentary regarding the investigation about the death of former Palestinian leader Yasir Araft. Mr. Arafat was 75 years old when he died in November 11, 2004. Mr. Arafat was treated in France for unspecified illness when he suddenly slipped into a coma. Mr. Araft’s death remains a mystery until now. The cause of his death was never determined. According to several reports, the French officials have been unwilling to release the details of Mr. Arafat’s illness. Strangely enough, Aljazeera was running a documentary in the beginning of July 2012 regarding its investigation about the death of Mr. Arafat. In the documentary titled “What killed Arafat,” Aljazeera stated that Swiss institute examined clothing provided by Arafat’s widow Suha Arafat and determined that there were high levels of polonium-210, the same substance found that has reportedly killed a former Russian spy in London in 2006. Arafat was treated in France and the French government and the Palestinian Authorities have been silent about Arafat’s death and what his illness was.


The Israel government and its propaganda machine disseminated false information claiming that Arafat died because of HIV/AIDS. However, Aljazeera’s investigation revealed that Araft did not have AIDS. In fact, the investigation revealed that there was no specific illness that caused Araft’s death. Strangely enough, in July 2012, both the Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi Assres and Ghana’s president John Evans Atta Mills died few months after visiting Washington. Mr. Zenawi and Mr. Mill were both participants in G-8 meeting that took place in the United States on May 18, 2012 and May 19, 2012. The last public appearance for Mr. Zenawi was on June 19, 2012, in Mexico during the G-20 meeting. For those of us who closely examined Mr. Zenawi’s physical appearance on May 19, 2012 and June 19, 2012, it is clear that Mr. Meles has lost enormous amount of weight; he also looked pail and unhealthy. Talking to some Medical Doctors in the field, they found it very strange to see such a rapid change in weight and physical appearance of Mr. Zenawi.


Although the Ethiopian government declared that Mr. Zenawi died on August 20, 2012, reliable sources have stated he died in mid July 2012. The Ethiopian government did not leave us in the dark regarding the illness that caused Mr. Zenawi, the government has been reluctant to inform the general public the name of the hospital where Mr. Zenawi was treated. Ironically, Ghana’s president John Mill also died on July 24, 2012. As Mr. Zenawi’s death, Mr. Mill’s death was sudden and unexpected.


According to media accounts in Ghana, Mr. Mills was taken to a Military hospital in Ghana on July 23, 2012 where he suddenly died a day later. For those who saw the physical appearance of Mr. Arafat before his death, the physical appearance of the Russian Spy Alexander Valterovich Litvinenko who was killed in London with Polonium, and the physical appearance of Mr. Zenawi on June 19, 2012 in Mexico, it is not difficult to see their similarity. What is interesting in death of Mr. Mill is that there is also suspicion in his death. Some people in Ghana are requesting an investigation into the death of Mr. Mill. Daniel Danquah Damptey, a Ghanaian Blogger has implicated the current president of Ghana, president Mahama, in the death of former president Mill.


Fortunately for Ghana, there is a clear Constitutional order indicating who would replace a president in his untimely death. There is no fear and there is no sign of instability in Ghana. In Ethiopia, the Constitution does not clearly define who takes power in the untimely death of Mr. Zenawi. Ghana exemplifies what a lasting peace and stability looks like when a country is ruled by an institution instead of one strong man. On the other hand, Ethiopia reflects what it means to a country when one man was in control of every aspect of the government.


Unlike Mr. Zenawi, Mr. Mill is praised for taking Ghana through a democratic path. As Mr. Damptey put it in his article, there is mystery in the death of Mr. Mill. The government is not fully disclosing the circumstances of Mr. Mill’s death. Like the people of Ghana, the Ethiopian people are also kept in the dark about the circumstances of “the illness” that took the life of Mr. Zenawi. The government is operating with the rule of the jungle and blatantly stated to the Ethiopian people that the detail of Mr. Zenawi’s health and lack thereof is not our business.


After Aljazeera’s investigation became public, Suha Arafat has since called for her husband’s body to be exhumed from its mausoleum in the West Bank city of Ramallah. The Palestinian Authoritative has publicly stated it will exhume Mr. Araft’s body, since its decision however, the Palestinian Authority has been back peddling. The report indicated there was no Autopsy performed after the death of Mr. Arafat. We don’t know if there was autopsy performed after the death of Mr. Zenawi.


The Ethiopian people have the right to know What Killed Mr. Zenawi. CPJ has indicated that Mr. Zenawi died due to Liver Cancer. If that is true, then the government needs to disclose the information. Although Bereket Simon hinted that Mr. Zenawi was ill the last one year, the ETV, has been indicating that Mr. Zenawi has been ill the last two years. Such conflicting stories do not give any credence to the government whose credibility has been already tarnished the last 21 years. What is the EPRDF hiding? What are those close to the late prime minister are hiding? Is there any relation between the death of Mr. Zenawi and Mr. Mill? We are going to have lots of time to reflect, criticize and praise Mr. Zenawi; this writer believes that History will not be kind to Mr. Zenawi. It is the hope of this writer that Historians, not Politicians put Mr. Zenawi’s legacy in perspective and show to the rest of the world his true color. Whether we like it or not, Mr. Zenawi has left a big foot print in the history of Ethiopia. This writer believes that Mr. Zenawi has done more harm to the country than good. Now, Mr. Zenawi’s death is official, we need to know how and when exactly Mr. Zenawi died; whether we opposed or supported him, we all need to know, and deserve to know What killed Mr. Zenawi. If there is nothing to hide, then, the EPRDF needs to fully disclose the circumstances of Mr. Zenawi’s death. The government also needs to fully disclose in what hospital Mr. Zenawi was treated, and who his Doctors were. The writer asks those who read this piece to contact Aljazeera and ask to investigate the death of Mr. Zenawi and Mr. Mill. We all should demand that an autopsy performed on Mr. Zenawi by an independent institution before his burial


Having said that, I would like to express my deepest sympathy for millions of Ethiopian victims who did not get a proper justice as a result of Mr. Meles Zenawi’s death. May the almighty God protect and watch over our country and people in this difficult time.

The Death of the Prime Minister: Happiness or Mourning? BY YohannesY

We witnessed a great drama unfold in the Ethiopian political arena; the drama was performed by the Ethiopian government representative Bereket Simon, who finally answered questions about the prime minister’s health. Rather than telling the truth, he told the country Zenawi was in vacation and getting doctor recommended rest. More importantly, he stated that Zenawi’s health was in good conditions. On Aug 21, 2012, the same man came out and told the world that the Prime Minster was dead. That itself was very difficult to absorb, and further complicated the already complex Ethiopian politics. Essentially, information minister simply did not tell the truth.

Then ESAT came out as a great champion for telling the world the reality of the death of the prime minister. This reflected the maturity of the Ethiopian opposition force and its investigative work to uncover the truth was commendable. ESAT can be a force for democratic change in Ethiopia. I can tell the future, ESAT is going to be a great threat for the regime in Addis Ababa for years to come.

In the United States and around the world, celebration and mourning continued as Ethiopians inside the country were so confused by this drama. Zenawai is not a man that can be placed simply in black and white standards. While he was anti democratic, he recruited himself as the champion of the poor. However, he focusing only on infrastructural development but he totally ignored the consciousness of Ethiopia and basic human right issues, treating human rights issues as irrelevant.

He harassed Ethiopian journalists and oppositions till his last breath. And he made Ethiopia as the biggest aid recipient in Africa. Not to mention, he controlled 99.6 percent of the Ethiopian vote, dismantled any independent organizations and news media and heavily meddled in religious issues in Ethiopia.

Furthermore, nothing was ever really clear on his beliefs as well. His political stance was never clear, and no one was sure whether he wanted a communist or democratic regime. At one point people even questioned if he was actually Eritrean. But to silence such tacks he closed all news media and killed and harassed anyone who opposed him. He made Ethiopia the biggest land locked country in the world and he did a lot of other crime against his own country and humanity.

Then the drama by the TPLF agents continue, now as if the prime mister was loved by all the Ethiopian people, and people were showered by all kind of TV shows on how the people was crying and mourning the death of the Prime Minister. Even though I recognize the Ethiopian people forgiveness and kind heartedness, I have a hard time believing many were truly, truly saddened by his death.

(Those who follow the news would also have heard of the death of Kim Jong-il, North Korea’s late leader. It’s funny noting the similarities between North Korea’s and Ethiopia’s respective reactions to their leaders’ death, despite both maintaining dictatorial regimes.)

After we heard of the death of Meles Zenwai, one person said it felt as if a thick dark cloud of darkness was removed from the country, along with Zenawi’s dictatorial and tribal regime. Now, we only wait to see how the new Prime Minister operates his government. Now, we Ethiopians can only wait to see what happens.