By Hindessa Abdul
It has been a year since long time Ethiopian ruler Meles Zenawi died of unestablished causes in a Belgian hospital somewhere between June and August of 2012. The Government hasn’t come out clearly about the cause of his death.
During the last several weeks the state run media were preoccupied portraying a person akin to a saint. The praises showered upon him were more than needed to canonize him. 21-gun salute was fired; millions of trees planted; fellow leaders of neighbouring countries were at hand to give pomp to the event; scores of parks renamed after him, and the list goes on and on.
University professors, army generals, cabinet members, and party operatives were paraded to give testimony about the deeds of his excellency. They said he was an intellectual, a military strategist, a farmers’s best friend, and man of the people.
ETV even took a page from North Korean manual on cult of personality. They took us to his office showing the working area displaying a document he allegedly was working on; Koreans already did that telling the story of Kim Il-sung (the senior Kim). If that is any indication, everything Meles touched may be preserved as historical relic.
For those whose thirst about Meles’ myth were not quenched, the Sunday shows came up with the selected speeches that tried to make an entertainer out of the chief priest of “revolutionary democracy.”
Meles had all the answers for every question under the sun; he was talking to the rubber stamp parliament ready to giggle at every phrase uttered; he was addressing the youth, the business men, the revelers at a millennium party, you name it.
HIStory
While the nation propaganda machine wants to paint a demigod, it is only fair to complete the story. As they say, journalism is “the first rough draft of history.” Here are some of his pronouncements that were willingly left out:
In April 1990 a year before Tigray Peoples Liberation Front (TPLF) controlled Addis Ababa, Meles had an interview with the late CIA and National Security specialist Paul B. Henze in the TPLF’s Washington office. “We can no longer have Amhara domination,” Meles told him. While it was no secret that Henze sympathized with TPLF, he still confronted the rebel leader to which Meles tried to soften a bit: “ When we talk about Amhara domination, we mean the Amhara of Shoa, and the habit of Shoan supremacy that became established in Addis Abeba during the last hundred years.”
In a visit to the Tigray region shorty after his ascendance to power the then Ethiopian President played to the emotions of the public somewhat in the line of Hitler’s rhetoric about the Aryan race: “We are proud to be born out of you...we are proud to be gotten out of you.” ( Enkwae abhatkum tefetirna...enkwae abhatkum terehibna )_ That part of the speech is always left out when ETV takes sound bytes from that “historical” speech, not to offend the “nations and nationalities.”
In August 1994 (some say it was October 1995), Meles Zenawi visits the U.S. and confers with members of Ethiopian community in Washington D.C. Flanked by his yes-men like Seyoum Mesfin, Berhane G.Kristos, Dr Tekeda Alemu and other TPLF top brass, Meles was entertaining questions from the audience. A lady asks him what his vision was for Ethiopia ten years from then. Meles responded his vision was to make sure the people eat three times a day._ Decade after the promised era, Ethiopians scavenge for left overs at restaurants or in city waste disposal sites.
In an interview with Professor Donald Levine - a renowned U.S. sociologist and professor of Ethiopian studies - the late premier retorted: “The Tigreans had Axum, but what could that mean to the Gurague! The Agew had Lalibela, but what could that mean to the Oromo! The Gonderes had castles, but what could that mean to the Wolaita?”
That comment was to haunt him on the eve of the 2005 general elections where he was afraid to face any opposition politician for debate. In his last appearance prior to the vote, Meles explained that gaffe saying it was taken out of context. But he implied that the Minister of Youth, Sports and Culture (then Ambassador to France) Teshome Toga who hails from Wolaita Zone was put in charge to counter the perception his words created. Teshome eventually oversaw the return of the Axum Obelisk in April 2005.
When history is written by historians rather than victors, those speeches and comments hopefully will get their rightful place in the interest of posterity.
Tuesday, September 3, 2013
Ethiopia: Meles Zenawi's selected speech: completing the story
Posted by prayethiopia1 at 9:53 PM 0 comments
Al-Qaeda’s ‘Christian’ Dictator Funder
As unlikely as it may seem, a U.N. report says that Al-Qaeda’s Somali affiliate, al-Shabaab, is being financed by the “Christian” dictator of Eritrea, Isaisas Afewerki. The report also implicates the regime in a massive bomb plot against the African Union in Ethiopia in January. Al-Shabaab has proven frighteningly effective in recruiting Americans, and any regime helping it must be immediately placed on the State Department’s list of State Sponsors of Terrorism.
The danger of Eritrea’s support for terrorism was laid bare in the U.N.’s report exposing that the regime attempted “mass casualty attacks against civilian targets” in January. The mayhem was to begin with the detonation of a car bomb at the African Union headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. At the same time, the largest market in Africa would be bombed, and the area between the Ethiopian Prime Minister’s office and the Sheraton Hotel where the African Union leaders stay would come under attack. One of the participants said he was told by his Eritrean superiors to make “Addis Ababa like Baghdad.”
All but one of the aspiring attackers was trained and supervised by Eritrean officials. One of them was in communication with the Oromo Liberation Front, an Eritrean-backed group fighting the Ethiopian government. They were discovered with C4 explosives, detonators, a sniper rifle and other equipment for carrying out the attacks. The need to confront Afewerki’s desire to commit acts of spectacular terrorism is especially pressing in light of his regime’s support for terrorist groups including al-Shabaab and friendship with the Iranian regime.
The Afewerki regime gives al-Shabaab about $75,000 every single month through its embassy in Nairobi, Kenya. In August 2009, Secretary of State Clinton publicly condemned Eritrea for arming the Al-Qaeda affiliate. In December 2009, the U.N. punished Eritrea with sanctions that included freezing the assets of some complicit officials and a travel ban. Al-Shabaab hasn’t participated in a plot to attack the U.S. homeland yet, but it is an integral part of Al-Qaeda’s infrastructure and is a major contributor to homegrown radicalization.
At least 14 Americans have been indicted for their role in al-Shabaab’s American network. In February 2010, an associate of al-Shabaab was arrested in Virginia after illegally smuggling 270 Somalis into the country through Mexico. House Homeland Security Chairman Rep. Peter King’s third hearing on homegrown extremism covered this problem, and revealed that 40 Americans and 20 Canadians are known to have joined al-Shabaab’s ranks in Somalia. Of these, 15 Americans and three Canadians were killed, including the first American suicide bomber. Twenty-one Americans remain unaccounted for. Eritrea’s involvement with this group and the aggressive inclinations of the regime are a recipe for disaster.
Al-Shabaab isn’t the only Islamic terrorist group that the Eritrean regime is abetting. Hizbul Islam, another group in Somalia that merged with al-Shabaab in December 2010, received extensive aid from Eritrea. The government of Djibouti accused Afewerki of training and arming it, and the President of Somalia’s Transitional Federal Government said the regime gave Hizbul Islam operational guidance. In May 2009, its leader, Sheikh Hassan Dahir Awyers, admitted, “Eritrea supports us and Ethiopia is our enemy.”
The regime actively supports a range of other militant groups in Africa. The U.N. says that the same officers involved with the African Union bomb plot give financial and logistical assistance to groups in Djibouti, Ethiopia, Sudan and possibly Uganda. In September 2010, the Ethiopian authorities captured members of the Ogaden National Liberation Front with weapons from Eritrea. The militants said that they were trained there, and then dispatched to Ethiopia through Somaliland. Some of the money for these operations is raised from Eritrean-Americans, specifically in Oakland, C.A. The regime pressures its nationals living outside the country to pay it a two percent income tax, bringing in tens of millions of dollars, which then goes to such nefarious purposes.
The Eritrean opposition claims that the Iranian Revolutionary Guards is active in the country. The IRGC is reported to have trained members of the radical Shiite Houthi rebels in Eritrea in 2009 when they were fighting the Yemeni and Saudi governments. Weapons for the Houthis were said to have arrived from Eritrea’s Asab harbor, forcing the Saudis to launch a naval blockade to intercept them. If true, this cooperation manifested from a tightening relationship between the Iranian and Eritrean regimes. In May 2008, Afewerki met with Ahmadinejad, and an Iranian opposition group has alleged that the Iranians have a military presence in the Asab region. There are unconfirmed reports of a large buildup, including submarines, arms stockpiles and ballistic missiles. The Eritrean regime gave Gulf News access to the sites that were linked to Iran and camps said to be used to train militants, and found no incriminating evidence. Of course, the regime may simply have cleansed the sites. Significantly, the regime denied access to the U.N.
Eritrea’s alliance with Al-Shabaab and Iran also has strategic ramifications. Its geographic position allows enemies of the West to threaten the Bab-al Mandeb Strait, which connects the Mediterranean Sea to the Indian Ocean through the Red Sea. It also allows a threat to be posed to the western side of the Arabian Peninsula, specifically Yemen and Saudi Arabia, which are enemies of both Iran and Al-Qaeda.
Ethiopia is leading a group of East African countries in pushing for U.N. sanctions on Eritrea. The U.S. is supporting such measures, which will target Eritrea’s mining industry and ban the two percent income tax that the regime pressures Eritreans who have left the country to pay. Last July, Rep. Ed Royce of the House Subcommittee on Terrorism, Nonproliferation and Trade wrote a letter to Secretary of State Clinton requesting that Eritrea be added to the State Department’s list of State Sponsors of Terrorism. This designation is long overdue.
The Afewerki dictatorship is allied to Iran, the world’s leading sponsor of terrorism. It has tried to carry out dramatic acts of terrorism and supports al-Shabaab, an affiliate of Al-Qaeda that is radicalizing Americans. What will it take for Eritrea to be added to the list of State Sponsors of Terrorism?
source
The danger of Eritrea’s support for terrorism was laid bare in the U.N.’s report exposing that the regime attempted “mass casualty attacks against civilian targets” in January. The mayhem was to begin with the detonation of a car bomb at the African Union headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. At the same time, the largest market in Africa would be bombed, and the area between the Ethiopian Prime Minister’s office and the Sheraton Hotel where the African Union leaders stay would come under attack. One of the participants said he was told by his Eritrean superiors to make “Addis Ababa like Baghdad.”
All but one of the aspiring attackers was trained and supervised by Eritrean officials. One of them was in communication with the Oromo Liberation Front, an Eritrean-backed group fighting the Ethiopian government. They were discovered with C4 explosives, detonators, a sniper rifle and other equipment for carrying out the attacks. The need to confront Afewerki’s desire to commit acts of spectacular terrorism is especially pressing in light of his regime’s support for terrorist groups including al-Shabaab and friendship with the Iranian regime.
The Afewerki regime gives al-Shabaab about $75,000 every single month through its embassy in Nairobi, Kenya. In August 2009, Secretary of State Clinton publicly condemned Eritrea for arming the Al-Qaeda affiliate. In December 2009, the U.N. punished Eritrea with sanctions that included freezing the assets of some complicit officials and a travel ban. Al-Shabaab hasn’t participated in a plot to attack the U.S. homeland yet, but it is an integral part of Al-Qaeda’s infrastructure and is a major contributor to homegrown radicalization.
At least 14 Americans have been indicted for their role in al-Shabaab’s American network. In February 2010, an associate of al-Shabaab was arrested in Virginia after illegally smuggling 270 Somalis into the country through Mexico. House Homeland Security Chairman Rep. Peter King’s third hearing on homegrown extremism covered this problem, and revealed that 40 Americans and 20 Canadians are known to have joined al-Shabaab’s ranks in Somalia. Of these, 15 Americans and three Canadians were killed, including the first American suicide bomber. Twenty-one Americans remain unaccounted for. Eritrea’s involvement with this group and the aggressive inclinations of the regime are a recipe for disaster.
Al-Shabaab isn’t the only Islamic terrorist group that the Eritrean regime is abetting. Hizbul Islam, another group in Somalia that merged with al-Shabaab in December 2010, received extensive aid from Eritrea. The government of Djibouti accused Afewerki of training and arming it, and the President of Somalia’s Transitional Federal Government said the regime gave Hizbul Islam operational guidance. In May 2009, its leader, Sheikh Hassan Dahir Awyers, admitted, “Eritrea supports us and Ethiopia is our enemy.”
The regime actively supports a range of other militant groups in Africa. The U.N. says that the same officers involved with the African Union bomb plot give financial and logistical assistance to groups in Djibouti, Ethiopia, Sudan and possibly Uganda. In September 2010, the Ethiopian authorities captured members of the Ogaden National Liberation Front with weapons from Eritrea. The militants said that they were trained there, and then dispatched to Ethiopia through Somaliland. Some of the money for these operations is raised from Eritrean-Americans, specifically in Oakland, C.A. The regime pressures its nationals living outside the country to pay it a two percent income tax, bringing in tens of millions of dollars, which then goes to such nefarious purposes.
The Eritrean opposition claims that the Iranian Revolutionary Guards is active in the country. The IRGC is reported to have trained members of the radical Shiite Houthi rebels in Eritrea in 2009 when they were fighting the Yemeni and Saudi governments. Weapons for the Houthis were said to have arrived from Eritrea’s Asab harbor, forcing the Saudis to launch a naval blockade to intercept them. If true, this cooperation manifested from a tightening relationship between the Iranian and Eritrean regimes. In May 2008, Afewerki met with Ahmadinejad, and an Iranian opposition group has alleged that the Iranians have a military presence in the Asab region. There are unconfirmed reports of a large buildup, including submarines, arms stockpiles and ballistic missiles. The Eritrean regime gave Gulf News access to the sites that were linked to Iran and camps said to be used to train militants, and found no incriminating evidence. Of course, the regime may simply have cleansed the sites. Significantly, the regime denied access to the U.N.
Eritrea’s alliance with Al-Shabaab and Iran also has strategic ramifications. Its geographic position allows enemies of the West to threaten the Bab-al Mandeb Strait, which connects the Mediterranean Sea to the Indian Ocean through the Red Sea. It also allows a threat to be posed to the western side of the Arabian Peninsula, specifically Yemen and Saudi Arabia, which are enemies of both Iran and Al-Qaeda.
Ethiopia is leading a group of East African countries in pushing for U.N. sanctions on Eritrea. The U.S. is supporting such measures, which will target Eritrea’s mining industry and ban the two percent income tax that the regime pressures Eritreans who have left the country to pay. Last July, Rep. Ed Royce of the House Subcommittee on Terrorism, Nonproliferation and Trade wrote a letter to Secretary of State Clinton requesting that Eritrea be added to the State Department’s list of State Sponsors of Terrorism. This designation is long overdue.
The Afewerki dictatorship is allied to Iran, the world’s leading sponsor of terrorism. It has tried to carry out dramatic acts of terrorism and supports al-Shabaab, an affiliate of Al-Qaeda that is radicalizing Americans. What will it take for Eritrea to be added to the list of State Sponsors of Terrorism?
source
Posted by prayethiopia1 at 11:35 AM 0 comments
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