by Robele Ababya
It is written in the Holy Bible in Ecclesiastic 3: 1 that:
“There is a time for everything and a season for every activity under the heavens”
How long ago was is it since us Ethiopians said ENOUGH! Of TPLF regime’s multiple cruelties amounting to those of the ruthless invader Mussolini? When is the intense hatred for the Amharas, contempt for the Oromos and other ethnic groups in Ethiopia going to end? When is trading in the name of the valiant people of Tigray going to end? Why has the Zenawi regime adopted Mussolini’s strategy of total subjugation of the Amharas and the Oromos in particular?
Zenawi has yet again set in motion his grand design for incurably breaking the back of the Amharas and Oromos in tandem and proceed with bringing the rest of the ethnic groups to complete submission to the misrule of the regime.
The vindictive Italian Fascist, after forty years of sophisticated preparation, invaded Ethiopia with far superior modern military weapons and highly trained army that was no match in numbers to the ill-trained, poorly equipped and bare-footed peasant militia but determined to die for their dignity, creed, family values, their land and property, and independence of their motherland. It was during this war that the Italian Fascist invaders dropped leaflets from the air flying over villages in Tigray condemning the Amharas and Oromos and strictly warning the villagers not to cooperate with their militia in any way or face severe punishment.
In the circumstances, time has come for the Amharas and Oromos to set their relatively petty rivalry for power aside and collaborate in order to avert the grave simmering prospect of living in slavery – ironically in the country for which their ancestors had so bravely fought and jealously guarded its independence as vividly demonstrated in the Battle of Adwa that marked the humiliation of Italy, drew respect of the surprised European powers, and became a beacon of hope for all black people living in bondage in the Diaspora. Is it not time more than any other time to wake up to the danger of extinction?
Hypocrisy of some Western powers:
In my letter of 19-Feb-09 to Secretary Clinton I wrote: “In the recent campaign unprecedented for the long time it took and the money spent, I was torn between the wish to see the first woman or the first African American in the White House. It is now history that Barack Obama won and other contenders bowed out gracefully setting a spectacular example to the international community which I believe hold you with high esteem for your spirited campaign for Candidate Obama to win the Presidency.”
And look at the above photograph for what I got in return to my remark, which on hindsight was a hyperbole. There is no mistaking the intimacy between the duos. But what was the warm handshaking and beaming smile about? My guess is that puppet Zenawi is saying aloud Bingo! Mission accomplished! Readers may make their own guesses.
President George W. Bush reneged on his promise not to collaborate with dictators. Secretary Clinton with her smile and warm handshake extended to genocidal tyrant is vindicating that reneging on promises was right; desperate dictators do things including torture and rendition legally barred in the United States.
Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice stood, side by side with tyrant Zenawi, on the hallowed ground of Meneliks’s City to renounce the Human Rights Bill HR2003 unanimously approved by the exalted House of Representatives of the United States Congress. She contradicted African- Americans and the Black Caucus in the House who supported the Bill from its inception to its approval. The smiling Secretary Rice posed for a photograph with the tyrant standing on her side. Her denouncing of HR2003 in Addis Ababa – lacked statesmanship and decorum and exposed her insensitivity to the agony, grief and wailing of mothers of the martyrs of June and November 2005 in the aftermath of the historic election decisively won by the opposition and ruthlessly stolen by the ruling party of the despotic ruler.
Ambassadors Aurelia Brazil and Vicki Huddleston complained about what they called ‘vitriolic’ attack on Zenawi by opposition bloggers, but disregarded the execution of peaceful protesters by trigger happy security forces under his direct command of Zenawi. Susan Rice showed her support for the tyrant by the intimate photograph with him. Jundiai Frazer kept silent all along – perhaps spellbound by Zenawi’s divide-and- rule atrocities like the other senior diplomats in the State Department.
Regarding British policy, I quote the following two paragraphs from my article written regarding the terrorist incident in London in 2005:
“I sincerely and strongly deplore the abortive bombing of London transport system on the 21st of July 2005, following the first devastating attack (on 07 July 2005) on the system that sadly claimed 56 lives and caused injuries to hundreds of innocent people. It is morally right that both terrorist attacks drew a chorus of condemnation from the international community.”
“The position taken by the British government over the shooting of the Brazilian is in sharp contrast to the red carpet treatment at the G8 Summit accorded to Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, who has ordered the execution of 40 innocent civilians in cold blood, thrown thousands into jail under harsh conditions, and made many to suffer mental and physical tortures. Meles the butcher, has neither apologized to the families of the bereaved and the Ethiopian people nor instituted his promised ‘investigation’ into the heinous crime attributed to state-sponsored violence orchestrated by the very few innermost clique of Stalinists in his TPLF regime. I do not know whether Prime Minister Tony Blair has even privately regretted for inviting the tyrant Meles to the G8 Summit where the killer basked in the lavish functions of powerful world leaders exchanging smiles and champagne toasts even as atrocities in Ethiopia were taking their tolls. I doubt whether the British Prime Minister would help end tyranny in Ethiopia.”
PM Tony Blair’s successors pursue the policy of their predecessor on Ethiopia!
AU’s Impotence versus. Ethiopian Election 2005
On that historic day of 07 May 2005 a truly mammoth crowd estimated at 2.5 – 3 million inundated the streets and squares of Addis Ababa to support the now defunct Kinijit Party (Coalition for Unity and Democracy). That sea of humanity was acclaimed internationally for its magnificent display of decorum and civility; it ended peacefully without a single incident of violence.
The unprecedented massive support for Kinijit was followed by an unprecedented turn out of massive voters for the election of 15 May 2005 in which the ruling party suffered a convincing defeat failing to win a single vote in Addis Ababa where the AU Headquarters is located. Tyrant Meles unconstitutionally declared a state of emergency and swiftly implemented his plan B: killing close to 200 peaceful protesters by trained snipers; throwing the true victors to the infamous Kaliti filthy prison; incarcerating tens of thousands of opposition supports, mostly young where their heads were shaven with unsterilized blades without regard to widespread STDs of that time; votes were stolen and his party declared victory overriding its even its hand-picked electoral commission announced the results.
The African Union shamefully pronounced the election free and fair and recognized the TPLF party as the winner. What is even more shocking is that one of the senior diplomats of the AU hailing from Rwanda overstepped diplomatic norms and blamed the opposition in public for the popular unrest in the aftermath of the election marked by gruesome atrocities. It is a shame that this Rwandan forgot so soon, in the comfort of luxury that dollar-paid diplomats enjoy in Addis Ababa, the close to one million victims of genocide in his country.
It is time, more than any other time, for the Amharas and Oromos in particular, for their own sake in self-defense, to combine their overwhelming numbers to deter the deadly threat posed against them; and to save the priceless heritage bequeathed by their ancestors in exemplary collaboration.
Let us say NO to ethnic cleansing; let us be proud that Ethiopia was the first country to develop systems of law by which to be governed; let us believe in ourselves as equals regardless of the chronological order of settling of our ancestors in Ethiopia; let us believe in our irreversible bond crowned by inter-marriage and multiple common values. It is our duty to preserve the sanctity of our places of worship in churches, mosques & synagogues in Ethiopia! So help us the Almighty God of the Universe!
LONG LIVE ETHIOPIA!!
Release all political prisoners in Ethiopia including
robele_ababya@yahoo.com
