This article about to read is from 2012. What’s happening in Tigray today the result of mistreatment of the past.
The Public and The International Community to Support The Cause of Human Rights For All.
Since Prime Minister Meles came to power 16 years ago, his security forces have killed, tortured
and harassed thousands of people who have criticized the government.
Meles Zenawi, Seyoum Mesfin, and Tigray in general are soiled by innocent Ethiopian blood,
it would be foolish to expect the Tigray will do the right thingmeaning strive for a united and
peaceful Ethiopia.
Students in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, gather around one of the victims who died in protests
Wednesday. It is the agony of our Imprisoned, Latest Information on Kinijit Arrested Leaders
people and the portrayal of the current sad situation in the country. Helping the rest of
the world understand what’s happening in Addis today. These photos are some of the evidence
regarding human rights violations in Ethiopia today.
The police were running at the crowd, firing shots. I got shot in my leg,. the 22-year-old day
laborer who identified himself by one name, Getu, said. .I was just trying to get home to avoid
the trouble..
I kept running with the others while the soldiers chased us, shooting towards the running mass.
We would run a bit then stop and turn round. The police assume that you have a gun if you keep
running and so to avoid being shot you have to run a little, walk a little, checking over your
shoulder.
The BBC’s Mohammed Adow in Addis Ababa said lashes between police and protestors erupted
early on wednesday morning and spread across the city, reaching the doorstep of the British and
French embassies.
Most of the clashes occurred in the commercial district of Mercato, where Many people were
shopping in reparation for the Eid festivities. They are killing, no one is crying. They are killing more,
not one drop more Our own government, is killing us You have nothing to say to us or about us.
We are not hooligans, thieves or terrorists
We are the future of this country of ours
A country tired of its savvy and ruthless
leader Meles Zenawi power Banchi D, Baltimore, United States
A man, shot in clashes between stonethrowing opposition supporters and riot police in Ethiopia’s
capital is rushed to an Addis Ababa hospital on Tuesday As the wounded were taken to the
hospital, a woman shouted: “Murder state”. Eight people died in Tuesday’s violence and at leas
t 23 on Wednesday.
we are really in deep, deep danger. We need help now, before we are bathing in blood. .
Doctors said most of the dead had been shot in the chest and those wounded were shot in the
legs and arms. I am not sure what will happen tomorrow but I hope that the international
community comes to our aid.
“The donor countries can twist Meles’s arm and make him compromise – release the prisoners,
allow the newspapers to reopen,” he said about Zenawi. “That’s if they care about democracy
as much as they say.”Another bloodbath is taking place in Ethiopia,. Ana Gomes, the European
Union.s chief election observer in the May polling, said in a recent letter urging colleagues on the
European Parliament to end their chummy approach toward Mr. Meles.
An excuse for cracking down on all government critics Shooting at unarmed students is a
shameful misuse of government power Source from Human Rights News Ethiopia: Government Attacks
Universities, Civil Society
By Saman Zia-Zarifi
Since Prime Minister Meles came to power 14 years ago, his security forces have killed, imprisoned,
tortured and harassed thousands of people who have criticized the governments. Shooting at unarmed
students is a shameful misuse of government power, the Ethiopian government has to investigate
and prosecute the authorities responsible for firing on the students. The government’s heavy-handed
tactics have enflamed what began as a peaceful local student protest into a violent national crisis, the
attacks on academic freedom have now degenerated into a wholesale assault on civil society in
Ethiopia.” said Saman Zia-Zarifi, Academic Freedom director for Human Rights Watch.
Senior research fellow in the Department of International Law at Erasmus University in Rotterdam,
the Netherlands.
Ethiopian security forces have used excessive force in dealing with student protests and are using
the protests as an excuse for cracking down on all government critics, Human Rights Watch
charged today. Attacks by security forces on Addis Ababa University, in Ethiopia’s capital, have
led to forty-one deaths, hundreds of injuries, and the detention of over two thousand students
and scores of government critics since April 17. Voice of the people. The bodies of two young
men in the Black Lion Hospital, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, killed during clashes between youths
and police. aheavens’ photostream.
Birtukan is our leader and we cannot allow thugs to touch her, leave alone to arrest her,.
were among the slogans being chanted by angry residents of Addis Ababa The people of
Ethiopia are making it loud and clear that their struggle for justice, which is on the verge
of success, will not be deterred by any means. The uprising that began by the students of
Addis Ababa this week is spreading full-fledgedly across. And if anything, this attests
to the underlying fact. While assuming it has contained and weakened the civil disobedience
of June, the regime was exposed to the much stronger revolt of last month. And before the
November violence cools down, the regime is being perturbed by the third wave of uprising
and public unrest that exploded this week.
The crisis in Ethiopia, which is getting worse every day The crisis in Ethiopia is getting worse
every day.
The people of Ethiopia are making it loud and clear that their struggle for justice, which is
on the verge of success, will not be deterred by any means. The uprising that began by
the students of Addis Ababa this week is spreading full-fledgedly across. And if anything,
this attests to the underlying fact. While assuming it has contained and weakened the civil
disobedience of June, the regime was exposed to the much stronger revolt of last month.
And before the November violence cools down, the regime is being perturbed by the
third wave of uprising and public unrest that exploded this week. The Voice of the people
Addis under fire!
Violent rioting is rocking a great number of districts of the ethiopian capital Addis Abeba.
The heaviest fighting is around the areas known as Ferensai Legasion, Bella, Megenagna
and Mekanisa, as protesters erected roadblocks with stones and burning tires. Police
activity is at its highest as live bullets are being shot at the rioters. The death toll is already
expected to be very high.
Today’s violence follows yesterday’s arrests of top CUD officials and the clampdown on the private press.
What the hell are they doing??? How blind are they not to see how much everybody hates them and
gettin sick of them?? Its gonna get worse!The securities and Federals..we never knew we had devil
brothers. How could you be soo devil to kill your own brothers and sisters?? 23 killed and 183 wounded!!!
Meles Kutchu has to go. This is the time all Ethiopian people knows who you are and what you stand for.
If I were you Meles, I will give up. Cause People are knows the true you that you can’t lead us with your
poissen idias. Long live Ethiopia (In the 1980s, the TPLF had a reputation as hard-line communists who
saw Enver Hoxha’s Albania as a model state.)
Comment from: Yemereb Lij
Woyane’s downfall is coming faster than everyone thinks, including Meles. Every single life
lost is an additional evidence revealing the core of the brutal-Albanian guided power by force.
Now that US media has picked up the news and we continue writing to respective senators,
US will be cornered to denounce Meles. Let’s keep up voicing our concern in unison!!!
Comment from: Ashenafi
Meles Leave Ethiopia Killing women and children, 13 years old?
What a desperate move… you know it your time is finished. butchering, soaking on blood
will bring you to be judged for your enless crimes on innocents, you can’t get away with this….
Why is the police killing the people that it is supposed to protect? Shame on the Ethiopian
Police for killing its brothers, sisters, little children, and mothers. Shame on you! It is just
mind boggling to me why the leaders think that massacring the people they say they are
serving will stop any opposition. The use of power to silence the people never solves a problem.
The so called Democratic government of Ethiopia has set a fire that it cannot extinguish.
Mika’el, Los Angeles, California The independent Ethiopia Human Rights Council said
Clashes between police and protesters erupted in gunfire and grenade explosions on
Wednesday, with police killing at least 33 people during a second day of renewed
demonstrations against Ethiopia’s disputed elections, a rights group said. Hundreds
of heavily armed riot police were deployed across the capital as heavy machine-gun
and rifle and loud explosions rocked Addis Ababa.
News Paper Washington Post 12/25/05
Dozens of people, including women and children, were killed when security forces fired into crowds.
In the following weeks, police jailed at least 15,000 protesters and 130 senior opposition figures,
including professors, judges and the city’s elected mayor, Berhanu Nega. Most were charged
with treason, but some are being prosecuted for calling for genocide against Meles’s ethnic group,
the Tigrayans.
23 Bomer Nega, 84, the father of jailed mayor Berhanu Nega “The opposition doesn’t even have a
spokesperson. They are all in jail,” said Nega. “There’s no democracy here. They allow leaders to
be elected, but then put them behind bars. I think this country is being led back into the corner.”
The Ethiopian people has been tremendous suffering. As random killings, beatings, lootings and
mass arrests continue, the country is gripped in fear. The joy of a 90 percent voter turnout last
May is turning into a nightmare.
So far, 89 people have been shot at point blank range for participating in peaceful
street demonstrations and close to 70,000 have been arrested as possible foes and put
in remote prisons, where the death toll is mounting. According to the British newspaper
The Observer, a number of people have died while in custody of government forces.
24 Abdu, originally from Africa, is a Houston-based writer on foreign policy. Meles Zenawi
handpicked by Tony Blair Onslaught : By David Blair Police came for Teshome Legesse, a
CUD city councillor, as he was having lunch with his family on Nov 1. When they beat him
with rifle butts, his wife, Etenesh Yimmam, 46, became hysterical. They beat her with sticks,
then one of the police shot her twice.
The man who killed Mrs Etenesh received a shouted order from another officer: “Just do it.”
At that moment, he fired again, apparently aiming at the woman’s son, bent over her body.
He missed and wounded one of the family’s neighbours. Then two officers fired in the air,
dispersing the crowd, and the police left in a pick-up,taking the dead woman’s husband.
25 Arrests were taking place across Addis Ababa. The city’s jail overflowed and prisoners
were held in its compound. As that became crammed, detainees were held in the National
Exhibition Centre. Even that overflowed, so government offices were used as temporary prisons.
Detainees were beaten, stripped of their shoes then driven to an old military camp at Dedesa,
250 miles west of Addis Ababa. There they survive in disused barracks on daily rations of
four slices of bread.
Western diplomats have reports of executions at Dedesa and of a body being hung on the
camp’s gates. The best estimate for the total detained is 40,000. A leader handpicked by
Tony Blair to champion Africa has smashed his
opponents with the biggest crackdown in the continent’s recent history, jailing 40,000 people
including boys of 15. Meles Zenawi, the Ethiopian prime minister and a member of Britain’s
Commission for Africa, has launched a systematic onslaught against every possible adversary.
By David Blair in Addis Ababa
Daily Telegraph.co.uk
Meles Zenawi was born in 1956 in the town of Adwa in the Tigray Region. 11
The regime of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi haslaunched what the Daily Telegeraph correspondent
describes as “a systematic onslaught against the majority of the Ethiopian people,” save his Tigrean
minority tribe in the north (11), after the Ethiopian people overwhelmingly rejected his regime in the last
election. But in 1992 when Ethiopia was divided in 7 ethnic regions and Tigray expanded its territory with
60% by trimming fertile land from Beemer and Wollo. The building and expansion of Tigray in
different directions, often to the extent of expanding to other people’s territories is bound to lead to
conflict, wherever it emerges.
1. Addis Ababa* 2. Afar 3. Amhara 4. .Benishangul-Gumaz 5. Dire Dawa* 6. Gambela 7. Harari
8. Oromia 9. Somali 10. Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples Region 11. Tigray
Meles Zenawi was born on 08 May, 1955 in Adwa, in the Tigray Province of 28 Northern Ethiopia.
He attended the Queen of Sheba Junior Secondary School before going on to complete his tertiary schooling
at the General Wingate School in Addis Ababa; after graduation he attended Addis Ababa University, studying
medicine between 1972-1974. In 1974 he left school to join the Tigrai People.s Liberation Front (TPLF) during
the chaos that ensued in Ethiopia that led to Haile Selassie.s overthrow by coup d.état by the Derg, which was the
group of the army who orchestrated the coup. He would go on to be elected to the Leadership Committee and the
Executive Committee of the TPLF in 1979 and 1983 respectively, and by 1989 he was chairman of both the TPLF
and the EPRDF (Ethiopian Peoples. Revolutionary Democratic Front). It should be noted that after since the
overthrow of Haile Selassie a guerrilla war had raged against the Derg and their leader Mengistu Haile Mariam
until his overthrown in May 1991, when EPRDF would close in on Addis Ababa, forcing him to flee the country.
After Mengistu.s overthrow, Zenawi would assume the role as transitional President of Ethiopia on 28 May 1991
until 22 August 1995, when he would go on to become Prime Minister of the country, despite opposition boycotts
of the election. He would be re-elected to the Prime Minister office in 2000 and in 2005. During his tenure in office
, he has been active as a mediator in several regional conflicts in the region, including in Burundi, Somalia and Sudan.
A long time friend of the Clinton Administration, he has also been recognized by the Bush Administration as an
important war on Terror in the region, receiving massive US aid for both food and other financial assistance programmes.
He would go on to complete his MA in Business Administration at the Open University (UK) in 1995, followed by an
MSc in Economics from the Erasmus University (Netherlands) in 2004. He is married with three children, and his
hobbies include reading, swimming and tennis. His presidency is lauded by his followers as him being one of the most
progressive in Ethiopian history, and he has been successful in throwing off the cruel shackles of Mengistu.s extremely
oppressive Marxist regime, and he is noted to be an very well-read intellectual. That said, his opposition has many charges
against him. Human Rights Abuses Once thought of as the great hope for democracy in Africa and lauded by Tony
Blair for his exemplary good governance, recent evidence suggests that a human rights crisis is now brewing in Ethiopia.
After parliamentary elections in May 2005, which has come under scrutiny after Zenawi.s party won a majority with 296 of
547 Parliamentary seats, despite the fact that the Kinjit, which is a unified opposition to Zenawi has ranks of approximately
1.5 million members, and dominates some densely populated areas. This immediately raised questions of whether the election
was rigged. Moreover parliamentary rules have been recently changed to only allow a party with more than 51% of parliamentary
seats the right to raise issues for discussion.
This has created instability in the country which has caused an eruption of violent demonstrations against Zenawi in June,
2005 which led to violent measures to quell the riots, leaving scores dead as government forces fired live rounds into
the crowds. Following this, he has continued to crack down on brutally on opposition, with reports of numerous
politically motivated murders carried out by the country.s security forces. Zenawi maintains that the current situation has
been orchestrated against him by opposition to effect his overthrow and that this has been planned since before
parliamentary elections. Recently reports of detention camps in Ethiopia are coming to light, particularly the Dedesa
camp, where there are reports of merciless beating and torture of political prisoners by Ethiopian security forces, and
as many as 45,000 detainees are being held in the camp right now. Opposition leader Hailu Shawel alleges that between
40,000 and 50,000 youths have been detained by the Zenawi government, although other sources suggest that this number
is closer to 10,000.
This is causing much concern among British and other European politicians, with foreign aid and projects now being withheld
or delayed. Many think that Tony Blair is beginning to regret appointing Zenawi to the African Commission earlier this year.
There are also reports that journalists in the country have been arrested in numbers and charged with treason, and some say
that Ethiopia now ranks among the world. leading jailers of journalists since government crackdowns in November 2005,
with many private newspapers now forbidden from publishing, and a wanted list for more journalists.
War with Eritrea After the successful secession of Eritrea from Ethiopia under Mengistu.s regime, several territories
granted to Eritrea in the peace settlements, notably Badame, the gradual separation of Eritrea under Afewerki from
Ethiopia would result in increasing border tensions. This culminated in all-out war between the two
countries in 1998 until a peace settlement
was reached in 2000, but not before
dealing a major blow to both alreadyimpoverished
countries. In fact as a result
of the peace treaty
reached in
December 2000,
Badame was
granted to Eritrea,
while other disputed
territories were
divided between the
two countries.
Zenawi.s public statements that he and his
country agree to the peace settlements.
34
There are seven words that describe
Meles Zenawi. He can be defined as a
merciless, cruel, pitiless, barbarous Harsh,
uncompassionate and ruthless
Meles Zenawi came in power by
overthrow – Colonel Mengistu Haile
Mariam. The only way he will lose his
power, it looks like the same way he came
in power not by election or democratic.
This is not an option anymore for him but
a day will come where Ethiopian will have
better leader than Meles Zenawi.
35
In the 1980s, the TPLF had a reputation as
hard-line communists who saw Enver
Hoxha’s Albania as a model state.
Now Ethiopian are tired of its savvy
leader Meles Zenawi.
Recent events have revieled his inner soul.
Anti-government protestors were shot
dead by riot police and now we fear for
our country’s future.
Friday, 4 November, 2005, UK
Why is the police killing the people that it
is supposed to protect? Shame on the
36
Ethiopian Police for killing its brothers,
sisters, little children, and mothers. Shame
on you! It is just mind boggling to me why
the leaders think that massacring the
people they say they are serving will stop
any opposition. The use of power to
silence the people never solves a problem.
The so called Democratic government of
Ethiopia has set a fire that it cannot
extinguish. Mika’el, L.A. California
US Policymaker
If the U.S. policymakers continues to bet
on Meles, it shouldn.t forget that the lives
of millions of Africans were lost in the
Congo, Liberia and Sudan because of
similar misjudgments. It would not be the
first time Africans died because U.S.
policymakers failed to recognize the
dangers of backing a ruthless, doomed
regime.
Michael Clough Africa advocacy director
for Human Rights Watch.
37
According to Sen. Patrick Leahy, DVermont,
paramilitary units continue to
use random searches, beatings, mass
arrests and lethal force against peaceful
protesters. In Ethiopia, a crime against
humanity is unfolding while the world
either vacillates or lacks the will to stop it.
U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell:
Mr. President, I rise to speak on the
disturbing reports of political chaos in
Ethiopia. With allegations of vote
tampering and emerging pictures of
large-scale human rights abuses
taking place in Ethiopia, that the
Administration must impress upon
Prime Minister Meles Zenawi and
other global neighbors, that severe
consequences follow actions which
undermine democratic ideals.
38
Senator Patrick Leahy
The Bush Administration should make
clear to Prime Minister Meles that if his
government does not abide by the basic
principles of democracy, due process and
respect for human rights, including an end
to the use of random searches, beatings,
mass arrests and lethal force against
peaceful protesters, and if political
detainees are not released, that we will join
with the European Union and suspend our
aid to his government, including our
support for financing from the World Bank
and the African Development Bank other
than for basic human needs. There should
be severe consequences for such a flagrant
39
subversion of the will of the Ethiopian
people
However, the protests that have erupted in
the wake of the May 15 elections present
Mr Meles with one of the most serious
challenges of his premiership. And he will
now have to deal with strong opposition
parties for the first time.
The vote tabulation and reporting process
for the May 15 election was abused and
corrupted by the EPRDF. Any new
government that assumes power based on
the fraud-tainted results will lack
democratic legitimacy.
Meles failed victim to a self-imagined
scenario that the democratic resurgence
will overthrow him. Having built such a
false scenario, he took command over all
forces, declared a state of emergency and
paved the way for a mis-direction of the
democratic process altogether. He violated
40
both the constitution and the rule of law
and exposed fully the superficiality and
shallowness of his conversion to
democracy in the first place.
Meles Zenawi is a weak leader of
Ethiopia. He does not care about Ethiopia
or East Africa. He will do everything to
stay in power. Even if he has to kill close
family member or close friends if they
criticizing him or question him his action.
He is there to stay forever. He believes
that he is immortal and very intelligence
when it comes to fool other people & he is
cunning when it comes to do evil.
He will tell you first what you want to hear
until he comes up with a plan B how to
get rid off you. He already has plans B for
everyone if they criticize him his action.
His philosophy is to take action right away
before it goes out of hand.
Only fools will believe him what he says
because action speaks faster than his
words. His action are true reflection of
state of mind.
41
I don.t know how some people believe that
Meles Zenawi will lose in election. . No
way Jose . He came in power by
overthrowing Megistu HaileMariam. The
only way he will be removed from his
power will be if someone overthrow him.
Until that day comes don.t be fool, you
can vote him out of election or anything
else. He already proved the Ethiopian
people that it is not going to be easy just
democratically by election. So, there is one
option left which is to overthrowing him
but to overthrow him one need courage.
The question is that do Ethiopian have the
guts ? If we are sick and tired of him what
are we waiting for ? Action speak faster
than words. How many more Ethiopian
have to die before we say enough is
enough. Those who already died, do not
deseve to die?
They have the right to criticize the
government and they have the right
demonstrate or go to strike. As the Bob
Marle would say . stand up get up stand
up for your right. who else would stand
up for our right ? So, why Meles Zenawi
gave order to kill all the civilian ? To
42
scare the Ethiopian people ? and he is
saying we have no right demonstrate and if
we demonstrate, he is will give order to
kill us ? In this case we will never have
right as long he is in power. We have
learned that he will never hezitate to kill
civilian and politician let alone to prison.
How many Ethiopian are in prison today ?
What are we doing ? How can we get rid
off this ruthless leader ? Where are
Ethiopian intellectual? Why are we quite ?
Why are some Ethiopian still supporting
Meles ?
Today Ethiopian are disappearing from
their homes. There a lot of people in prison
and they are being tortured, killed and
getting sick
43
You can say today that there is no justice
in Ethiopia.
The photos on this book are some of the
evidence regarding human rights
violations today in Ethiopia. Engineer
Hailu Shawel is in grave health condition
Latest information on Kinijit arrested Leaders.
. The prison administration has denied us
access to our lawyers to discuss the gravity
of the charges,” Hailu Shawel
Those who voice their right get prisoned
without due process special those who
hold government office so Meles Zenawi
can stay in power longer by getting rid off
those critize or compliane about how he
run the the government.
Engineer Hailu Shawel
44
Birtukan Mideksa
Dr. Berhanu Nega
Ph.D. in economics from the New School for Social
Research, in New York City.
Dr. Negede Gobeze,
Dr. Negede obtained his Ph D in Law from a French
university with a thesis on Constitutional Law
Prof. Mesfin WoldeMariam,
45
Millionaire Solomon Tekalign, former
president of the Addis Ababa Chamber of
Commerce,
Berhane Mewa,
Artist Tamagn Beyene
Tamagn Beyene was awarded “Man of the
Year” Award in North America in
recognition of his outstanding
contributions to the struggle for democracy
in Ethiopia.
Tegbar USA – Tel: 202 369 9543 *
Fax: 202 449 5640 * E-mail:
tegbar@gmail.com * www.tegbar.org
46
December 27, 2005
Mr. Kofi A. Annan
Secretary General
United Nations
New York, NY 10017
USA
The Honorable Secretary General,
I would first like to note two calls made to
the UN on behalf of Ethiopians who are
suffering under an excess of a government
that has lost any semblance of democratic
credentials.
First, on December 15, 2005, the European
Union Parliament Members (MEPs)
unanimously condemned the violence, the
use of disproportionate means of
repression by the armed forces of the
Ethiopian Government and the mass
47
arrests underway in Ethiopia. The MEPs
unanimously called for .an independent
international commission of inquiry,
optimally under UN responsibility, to
investigate the human rights abuses and to
identify and bring to justice those
responsible..
As Your Excellency is aware, the
European Union closely monitored the
period leading to the May 2005 election,
observed the election and watched firsthand
the aftermath of the election.
Therefore, the MEPs are well positioned to
understand the extent of atrocities being
committed in Ethiopia and provide an
independent assessment and the possible
remedy to correct the wrongs.
Second, on December 21, 2005, Reporters
Without Borders (RWB), called on the UN
to send a legal observation mission to
Ethiopia to assess the validity of the
charges made, monitor the due process of
the law at the coming mass trial and report
back to the UN Security Council. With its
network of reporters on the ground, RWB
48
is credibly placed to realize the veracity of
the
situation.
It has now entered into historian records
that immediately following the election,
Mr. Zenawi suspended peaceful
demonstrations and brought the police, the
security and the armed forces under his
personal control, once he recognized the
vote counting was not going in his favor.
He then unleashed his special forces on its
own people and has committed horrifying
atrocities since May 2005, which has
continued till this date and does not show
any sign of abating.
We are worried that while the international
media rightly focuses on the shooting and
killings of innocent demonstrators in June
and November 2005, reports on the
impressments of thousands of suspected
supporters of the opposition parties, and
write about the fabricated treason charges
brought on the leaders of the main
opposition party (CUDP), a silent but
systematic annihilation of the supports of
the opposition is underway. There is
49
information filtering out of Ethiopia on the
presence of mass graves. At least five
known concentration camps are in
operations out of the sight of the
diplomatic community and international
media.
We believe, the UN has learned from a
bitter experience in the past that when
governments fail to uphold the rights of
their citizens and squash the rule of law,
this august body that is led by you could
not afford to be a bystander. To echo your
words, .the principle of non-intervention
in internal affairs cannot be used to protect
those who commit genocide, large-scale
ethnic
cleansing, or other comparable atrocities..
We want to impress upon you that the
stakes that are involved in this case are
much larger than what happened in
Zimbabwe, for which you sent your
special envoy. The consequences of
inaction would be horrifying even to
contemplate and from the information
filtering out of Ethiopia, we are convinced
that unless the international community is
50
willing to proactively intervene by sending
an independent investigation team, the
situation might spin out of control thereby
transforming the already fragile East
African region in to a zone of complete
instability.
Dear Secretary General,
The urgency of your action in support of
the decision by MEPs can not be
sufficiently stressed and is practically
impossible to exaggerate. It also can not be
left for another day. Therefore, we urge
and plead to you to bring the power of
your good office to implement the
proposal made bythe MEPs.
Regards,
Meskerem Girma
Chairperson
Attachments:
1) Decision by European Members of
Parliament
2) Selected samples of international news
reports
51
12/30/05
All Free Press Products Banned !!
Almost all Free Presses products have
been banned as government owned
printing companies declined to print even
non-political newspapers on Friday. The
Friday issues of all political and sport
Newspapers were not printed and seen on
the street today
The banning of all private press products
came amid the threat by donor nations to
withheld Aid in response to government
crackdown on opposition leaders, activists
and journalists. The existence of the Free
Press in Ethiopia was the major
precondition for the government to qualify
for assistance.
Sources also confirmed that flyers are
being distributed widely in major cities
that say; .Keep the peaceful struggle for
52
human rights and freedom.. .The
government seems desperate and trying to
block any news sources. All radio
transmissions including the VOA Amharic
service are jammed,. the source added.
Following the students protest and mass
uprising in the last two weeks, the fragile
Meles Zenawi regime has closed several
schools and universities. Tanks, armored
vehicles and heavily armed cars full of
.Agazi. snipers are still round on the
schools and main roads of Addis Ababa to
dissuade people from potential protests.
The Official website of Kinijit
http://www.kinijit.org
Government Terror Continues
12/29/2005
Media Coverage
(EthioMedia)
53
Whether one calls it militarism or fascism,
something wrong to any civil society has
reigned in Ethiopia.
Fifteen years in power, defeated at the
polls, Meles Zenawi wants to rule the
country forever by sowing the seeds of
fear and terror.
Student protests at Wondyrad and Tikdem
schools in the northern suburbs of Addis
Ababa ended in severe beatings and
injuries. Despite serious injuries, the
students were hauled off to detention
centers in the company of gunfire.
At Tikidem, school teachers were beaten
mercilessly. Agazi forces who stormed the
school broke into the office of the school
principal who was beaten and clubbed
severely. He was showing his photo ID to
prove he was the school director but that
did not spare him from the karate kicks
and cruel beatings of Agazi, the special
force Meles
founded
secretly with
the planned
54
anticipation to crush any civil
disobedience to his rule.
Similalry, Kokebe Tsibah students in
Addis were Thursday beaten by members
of Agazi, federal police and security
forces. The students were ordered to bring
parents to school for an earlier protest.
When none of them brought parents, the
soldiers began to chase the students,
turning the school into a chaotic scene of
disturbances, noise and wailing. Mothers
were crying for help as their kids were
being clubbed by the men-in-uniform loyal
to the ruthless tyrant – Meles Zenawi.
Scores of students were taken to detention
centers. High school students are very
young, 14 years of age on average
Protesters outside the Oslo Concert House
didn’t think Ethiopia’s president deserved
the prize.
55
Meles Zenawi how long are you going to
deny people.s right ?
I am not sure how long you are going to
rule Ethiopia this way. So far either out
of fear or selfish reasons you are
governing Ethiopia undemocratically.
When I say you, it include the whole
Tigray people. I am not sure, whether it is
due to lack of education or ignorance.
Keep in mind that, unless an education is
highly specialized, it is the primary
reason for the rise of this civil unrest.
You have to ask yourself what am I doing
wrong ? Why are people not happy ? The
Ethiopian, Eritrean, the world seems not
happy with you. Why do you think that is
? because you seem to forget one
important lesson learned in the past, how
you came to power because you were not
happy . You(Tigray) were not only
unhappy of course, Oromo, Amhara and
Eritrean. So, with the help of everyone,
we overthrow Mengustu Hailemariam and
you came in power.
When Eritrean are unhappy, even God is
not happy.
56
Today Ethiopian are suffering
everywhere.
They were being accused of fabricated charges 1/5/2005
The physical, psychological, moral and
human cost of the after-math of the
election in Ethiopia is both unforgivable
and unforgettable. There was absolutely no
reason why the country had to be in the
situation it has been forced to be right
now. There is no justification for
repression. No justification for state of
emergency. No justification for curfew. No
justification to charge those who speak out
for Ethiopia as committing .treason..
There is no justification to allow the
people to vote in the first place, and then
deny them from knowing the true result.
Why invite the people to participate in
57
what the regime billed as a democratic
election only to de-fraud the very election
itself? If all along the regime has no
intention to play by the democratic rule of
the game, why play it and even more
clumsily pretend to implement a
democratic election when it has neither the
intention nor the will to honour and respect
the true verdict of the people.
It is the regime that asked the people to
vote! And when the people voted
expressing their choices, the regime
pounced and unleashed large-scale
repression and massacres in June and
November changing what started as a
highly promising beginning into a
nightmare of blood, tears and sorrow for
the people. Now the repression is moving
into high gear and the country has been
gripped by fear and intimidation. The
whole atmosphere has been poisoned.
Young people have been targeted. The
security forces have been unleashed
ferociously
. I am accused of Fabricated
charges 1/4//2006
The entire leadership of the
58
CUD is now in jail
from three year to death sentence
The Ethiopian
people want better leader and better
justice. They are suffering because Meles
Zenawi will not give them.
As long there is no peace & democracy in
Ethiopia there will be always famine.
CNN World News Wednesday, January 18, 2006
Ethiopian mother Ayan, left,
holds Asma Monday; her
daughter holds Nemo, who
doctors say will die within a
week from malnutrition.
59
Africa’s Big Man :
Meles Zenawi Trying To Stay In Power For Life
The government of Prime Minister Meles
Zenawi is using legal means to suppress
dissent, but it is increasingly behaving like
an outlaw regime. It is scandalous that
Ethiopian authorities have persisted in
using outdated and illegitimate charges to
send these journalists to jail, ” said Ann
Cooper, executive director of the
Committee to Protect Journalists.
60
The continued victimization and the hurt
of Tigrai under the evil schemes of
Weyane goes back to 1976. Ever since
“Tigrai Manifesto” was made public in
1976, the Weyane made Tigrai to dream
about the “Greater Republic of Tigrai”-
which was just “Hilmi Abai Tigrai”, an
unattainable dream. Since 1976, every
conceivable evil schemes and actions of
Weyane were done by promising the moon
and the starts to the people of Tigrai.
Tigrai was demanded to sacrifice more and
to give more and she was promised her
sacrifices will be crowned by “Greater
Republic of Tigrai”-a free Tigrai from the
domination and subjugation of what the
Weyane call “chauvinists”.
Although this dream was politically,
legally, and economically unattainable
dream, it was Tigrai that was used as
“Fengiregach” (as Addis calls it) or as
canon fodder to achieve a mission that was
dead on arrival in the first place. Tigrai has
never been told that this “Greater Republic
of Tigrai” madness is legally, politically,
and economically unattainable political
adventure of a handful Weyane clique.
61
Greater Republic of Tigrai” in front of the
innocent Tigrawot worked for more than
30 years and still the Weyane are doing
just that. In short, Tigrai was asked and
demanded to provide her children and her
resources to be sacrificed to promote the
political adventure (ENDERA) of a few
half-baked and unrefined hoodlums.
After 17 years of untold hardship,
sacrifices, and bloodshed, the first phase of
the “victimization” of Tigrai was
concluded in May 1991. By 1993, once the
handful Weyane entered Finn Finne
(Addis Ababa) to enjoy the good life at
Menelik Palace.
Still blinded by greed, inferiority complex,
and the good life at Menelik Palace;
To promise some thing is one thing but to
be able to deliver is quite another. When
the Weyane came up with “Abai Tigrai”
promise, we wondered if they had the
chance learn or have they ever taught the
people of Tigrai about Biafra, a Nigerian
province that tried to secede from Nigeria
62
in the 70s? There was a lesson to learn
from this breakaway Nigerian province
that was left stranded in the middle of
nowhere. If the Weyane were farsighted,
educated, or intelligent; Biafra should have
been a case in point to learn from. Tigrai
should have learned a lesson from Biafra
before they called upon their people to pay
the price beyond the numbers for mission,
which is dead on arrival in the first place.
The Biafran lesson was there and it was
(is) not an old lesson either. After eight (8)
years of bloody war, unable to garish a
single recognition as sovereign state from
any country, except from the then
apartheid regime of South Africa, Biafra
was crushed and now it is still a Nigerian
province.
Somaliland case that declared its
independence from Somalia and yet there
is not a single country in the world
recognizing her as sovereign state and
even if Tigrai declared one day as a
sovereign state no one will recognize it.
“Abai Tigrai” will not be different from
that of Biafra or Somaliland
63
Meles Zenawi, Seyoum Mesfin, and
Weyane in general are soiled by innocent
Ethiopian blood, it would be foolish to
expect the Weyane will do the right thingmeaning
strive for a united and peaceful
Ethiopia.
Jounalists and Artist got arrested
The prime minister does not like cartoons
64
Those that have Short life span insects
Dozens of journalists have
been sued for defamation
and, twice in 1996,
journalists were jailed
because their papers had
published unflattering cartoons of the head
of government. Three journalists spent
four years behind bars in the capital before
being released for “lack of evidence”.
It will
come as
no
surprise
that for
over five
years
Ethiopia
has been
Africa’s
biggest
jail for journalists.
65
Meles Zenawi
Restriction on the Press
Many independent jounalists, editors and
publishers continue to endure harassment
and intimidation, and criminal penalties
for a range of speech related penalties
66
remain on the books. In June 2005, the
Ministry of Information revoked the
licenses of five Ethiopian journalists
working for the Voice of America and
Radio Deutsche-Welle because it
disapproved of their coverage of the
elections and the post-election
controversy.
What is on the Minds of Ethiopians .
The Disputed Border or The Disputed Election?
There is an Amara proverb: One cannot
awaken he who is determined to be asleep.
The person who coined that proverb must
have had a premonition of the fate of his
countrymen in the first decade of the 21st
century. For this has been a difficult and
lonely time to be Ethiopian.
Our best hope for a free and democratic
Ethiopia was rudely dashed by one who
had repeatedly and consistently refused to
entertain any notion that Ethiopia is
anything but his private dominion. Our
women are killed while trying to protect
our children from beating and deportation
67
to concentration camps. Snipers and
machine gunners trained to engage
organized enemy forces are set on our men
and boys who peacefully march to express
their grievances. Hundreds of thousands of
men, women and children are held in open
air concentration camps infested with all
sorts of tropical maladies from malaria to
poisonous snakes. The less fortunate
among our leaders are summarily
executed, with the more fortunate ones
only rounded up, charged with treason or
other similarly contrived charges and held
in prison for years without trial, without
definite dates for release. Members of the
private media and leaders of civic society
organizations who express dissenting
opinions face similar fates. The state
controlled media is reduced to serving as
the private propaganda outlet of the
hostage takers, inundating the captive
population with a never ending barrage of
carefully orchestrated program of
misinformation, intimidation and character
assassination. What little private press
survived a 14 year reign of harassment and
intimidation, was brought to an end when
68
publishers, editors, reporters and
newspaper vendors met the fate of our
elected officials during the final campaign
to rid the landscape of anyone and
anything that smells like a threat.
It is in the face of this unprecedented and
complete lockdown of the big prison that
is Ethiopia that Ethiopians looked for help
from the unified global community of
which they believed to be a member in
good standing. The people were confident
that the world would stand with them.
After all they had just performed
marvelously in the democratic game
played under the rules established by the
new world order. Ethiopians believed that
central to the new order is the notion of
government of the people, by the people,
and for the people – a government which
the people set up and which the people can
change peacefully, through the ballot, if
they so choose. Having exhibited the kind
of discipline, resiliency and single
mindedness in the pursuit of the
democratic alternative reminiscent of the
performance of their Olympic heroes, the
Ethiopian people believed that they are
69
fully justified in demanding that the
arbiters of the new world order step in and
ensure that their victory is not appropriated
by the slight of hand of their suppressors.
Words cannot describe the disappointment
and dismay of the Ethiopian people. Those
who so repeatedly and publicly pledged to
stand with anyone anywhere in the world
who fights for freedom, those who lead the
very country which leads ’the free world’
and those who “vetted” and “certified” the
commander of the Ethiopian gulag to be “a
new kind of African leader”, “a
renaissance man”, and a man who can be
trusted to be a strong ally, now anxiously
look the other way when they face the
anger and wrath of Ethiopians worldwide.
In the early days, they even had the
audacity to condemn the victim for
inciting the killer into violence. Though
they have given up on that that particular
line, they are still unwilling to meet their
obligations to Ethiopia and to the new
global order.
Today, when Ethiopians in London, in
Washington, in Ottawa, in Brussels, in
Paris and elsewhere confront the world’s
70
power brokers, they try to change the
subject to something, anything. Their new
found and preferred diversionary tactic is
to point to the dark clouds of war hanging
over Ethiopia. At every forum where
Ethiopia merits a mention, they speak of
the gravity of the crisis on the Eritrean
border. They report on the count of the
army divisions deployed by one or the
other side. They discuss the length and
depth of the trenches dug and of the
deployment of tanks and field guns. They
rehash the body count from the last bloody
episode. Each of these is meant to scare
the Ethiopian people into believing that
they face something which is of greater
danger to their immediate security than
their domestic problem. It is also intended
to show that they have not really forgotten
Ethiopia and the plight of Ethiopians. This
is meant to alert us that they are just
working on something even more urgent
which must be addressed right away, lest
Armageddon be visited upon us.
Perhaps the end of the days is around the
corner. How else can I explain agreeing
with Isayas Afworki of all people-not once
71
but twice? Of course, the border crisis was
manufactured to divert attention from what
is going on across Ethiopia, from Addis,
Ambo and Awassa to Zege, Zuway and
Zarema. Only one other time, when he
called the AU the club of dictators, had I
ever agreed with Mr. Afworki. Never mind
that calling these two issues correctly
would not exempt Mr. Afworki from a
straight jacket; as one who likes to give the
devil his due, I must admit he called each
of these correctly.
Why don’t they ask us what matters to the
average Joe in Abeshaland? If they did, we
would tell them that Eritrea is Meles’
problem. Our number one problem today
is Meles. If another war starts, it would
cost us the lives of our children, but in the
end it would not change anything. In the
last war, more than 70,000 of our young
men lost their lives and limb. And just
what did we get out of it? Absolutely
nothing!!. That war was not fought for us.
It was like one of those children’s
arguments over whose prick is longer. It
was fought to protect the egos of the two
contestants, and contestants we were not.
72
If we could select our fights, we would
fight to be free from tyranny. We would
fight to protect the dignity of the Ethiopian
man who must cower in fear in front of his
wife and his children not to displease the
commissar lest he might be beaten up or
taken away. If we could choose our fight,
we would fight to protect our women from
the indignity of rape and beatings by the
cadres of our master and their friend.
The border conflict is a contrived story
talked about to serve as a diversion from
our real issues. When Mr. Yamamato
travels to Addis and to Asmara to discuss
the border issue, when the disgraceful
Koffi Annan sends his special envoy to
persuade Meles to stand down, the
Ethiopian people know you are not doing
it for us. If we could talk to them, if they
had asked us, here is what we would tell
these two gentlemen. If you really want to
help, please, tell the hostage takers to
release the political prisoners and to allow
the winners of the last election to form a
government. We will tell you to take some
of the loot you are scheduled to send to
Ethiopia and spend it on chartered flights
73
to destination they prefer to
go…Zimbabwe included. There would be
no hard feelings.
When Javier Solana treks from the snow
and cold of Brussels to Addis and Asmara,
they would ask him why he and the rest of
the European Commission would spend
European taxpayers’ money on a large
election monitoring team if they didn’t
intend to act on their findings. They would
ask him why, if the Commission cares
about the other 77 million Ethiopians, it
would continue to hold the bloody hands
of the one tyrant. Finally, the Ethiopian
people would advise him that if he cannot
understand or appreciate their pain, he
should expend his energy where it might
be more fruitfully deployed.
As to the AU… The AU is an
embarrassment to all Africans. It sits
quietly right there in Addis, not a full
block removed from where some of the
killings took place. It allows its own
compound to serve as a holding pen for
those rounded up. The AU leader Konare
rides to Berlin and to Abuja with the
Butcher of Addis in a chartered jet paid for
74
by the Ethiopian people while innocent
Ethiopians were still being killed in his
back yard. This goes on before the ink
dries on the new peer review provisions of
the AU charter. What a disgrace!! The
only comfort I draw about the AU is in the
knowledge that if we could hold a
referendum, the people of Africa would
vote overwhelmingly against it. The AU is
neither created nor governed by the people
of Africa.
Britain cuts off aid to Ethiopian government
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AP) — Britain
cut all of its aid to Ethiopia’s government
on Wednesday and plans to redirect the 73
million euro ($88 million U.S.) to
75
humanitarian agencies working in the
Horn of Africa nation.
Britain cuts off aid to Ethiopian
government due to violations and
human abuse
Money redirected to aid agencies after
protesters killed, jailed
Media, opposition, aid workers jailed
Hillary Benn,
“Since the May elections, people have
been shot down on the streets, people have
been arrested and many are currently on
trial,” he told Reuters.
Britain’s international
development secretary, said his
government was “seriously
concerned” by the unrest sparked
by disputed elections last year
76
that returned the ruling party to power and
led to 88 protesters being killed by security
forces. Benn met with Ethiopia’s Prime
Minister Meles Zenawi
On Friday January 19, 2006, an
international human rights group said
Ethiopian authorities are intimidating,
77
arresting and using excessive force in rural
areas to quell dissent over the election
results. Some 129 opposition leaders,
journalists and aid workers are facing trial
on charges of treason, genocide and other
crimes which carry the death penalty.
Political and civil unrest has shaken the
country since the May general elections
and police have arrested hundreds of
opposition supporters and journalists on
charges of treason, sparking international
concern over Meles’ commitment to
human rights.
Benn said concerns had also been raised
over “ongoing clashes involving students
and security forces in schools and colleges
across the country.” He also called for an
independent investigation into alleged
human rights violations in Oromiya.
Other Western donors have said they are
considering redirecting $375 million U.S.
in budget support for the government to
other areas because of the political crisis in
the country.
78
Ethiopia:
World Report 2006
Human Rights Watch
Released on January 18th, 2006
We investigate and expose human rights
violations and hold abusers accountable
We enlist the public and the international
community to support the cause of human
rights for all.
By Anthony Mitchell, Associated Press
Writer January 20, 2006
The police
used live
ammunition
to quell the
demonstrations,
shooting one man in the pelvis and leaving
three others seriously wounded, the injured
man, Pedros Gizaw, told The Associated
Press on Thursday 19th, 2006
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AP) —
79
Protesters threw stones and police
responded with gunfire Friday in
Ethiopia’s capital as annual religious
processions were turned into political
protests for a second day and at least 10
people suffered gunshot wounds.
Demonstrations were
reported in several
neighborhoods across
Addis Ababa, and riot
police were driving
through the city.
Wubishet Solomon said he had
no idea why he was shot in the neck
Some of the police trucks appeared to be
carrying people wounded from the clashes,
though their destination was not
immediately clear.
Doctors at the main Menelik Hospital said
they were treating at least 10 people with
gunshot wounds, two of whom were in
surgery. Other hospitals
80
Wubishet Solomon said he had no idea why he was shot in the neck
also reported receiving wounded people,
but no details were immediately available.
20 January 2006 – At least one person has
been killed and
22 wounded
after violence
broke out at an
Ethiopian
Christian
festival.
Source: Dehai Eritrea Online