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.