A high-level delegation of the Coalition for Unity & Democracy Party (Kinijit) will depart Addis Ababa for Washington DC on Saturday, Sept. 8, according to Ethiopian Review’s reporter in Addis Ababa.
It has now been confirmed that members of the delegation, Wzt. Bertukan Mideksa, Dr Hailu Araya, Ato Gizachew Shiferraw, and Ato Brook Kebede, have obtained their U.S. visas on Saturday. Ato Hailu Shawel is expected to get his visa today. But at a Kinijit executive committee meeting that was held yesterday, he proposed that the delegation’s travel to the U.S. be postponed. He explained that all political prisoners must be released before embarking on a foreign trip. After discussing the proposal, the executive committee decided to go ahead with the original plan, saying that the delegation’s USA tour will help provide an opportunity for drawing worldwide attention to the political repression in Ethiopia.
Some sources close to the Kinijit leadership say that there is a strong possibility Ato Hailu may decide not to join the delegation when it departs on Saturday. If that is the case, the delegation will be headed by Vice President of Kinijit, Wzt. Bertukan Mideksa.
According to Kinijit’s head of finance, Dr Befekadu Degife, the party is in dire shortage of money, so far as not being able to provide support to many of its recently released activists who have lost their jobs and have no means of supporting themselves and their families. Currently, Kinijit does not even have enough money to run its offices. It is believed that the delegations’ USA tour will help alleviate the party’s financial constraints.
The Kinijit delegation’s arrival is eagerly awaited by Ethiopians in the Washington DC area and through out the U.S. The Kinijit DC metro chapter is preparing for the largest Ethiopian political gathering ever in the Washington DC area when the party’s leaders arrive.