Kinijt International Leadership (KIL) expresses our earnest delight and enquan des alen to our gallant and towering elected leaders, their families and all Ethiopians.
The release of our leaders after 20 months of illegal incarceration is a result of their unwavering stance to uphold Kinijit’s peaceful ideals for Ethiopia’s renewal. The protracted negotiations and the terms of their release also reflect our leaders’ tenacity, magnanimity, vision and undaunted spirit in the march towards true democracy and the rule of law for our long suffering country.
Our leaders fully understood and accepted the potential risks and tribulations they individually, as a group and indeed all our people faced when they launched Kinijit and set it on the difficult journey towards unity, freedom and democracy. The unjust suffering they endured over the past 20 months has abundantly demonstrated the need for even more resoluteness in once and for all firmly establishing the rule of law in our country.
The rule of law is the paramount pillar upon which freedoms and human rights are protected, democracy is anchored and a society and all the individuals within it develop economically, socially, politically and indeed spiritually. That is why the firm and transparent establishment of the rule of law were paramount in the negotiating positions put forward by our leaders during the fateful months prior to their incarceration in November 2005.
To that end we call on our members, supporters and our people at large, to renew their commitment to liberty and justice, so that none of our citizens unjustly suffer the loss of their personal and societal freedoms and indeed inalienable human rights.
We firmly believe that the freedom of our leaders is a triumph not just for them, their families and Kinijit, but a true victory for our country. A victory that we earnestly hope will pave the way towards true peace & reconciliation. Peace and reconciliation upon which we can together build the legal, social, political and economic infrastructure that will once and for all pull our country from the grips of socio-political malaise and abject poverty.
We say it IS POSSIBLE to move forward and move quickly towards achieving these goals. We have seen many around us empower millions of their citizens economically, socially and politically by working together and by upholding fundamental freedoms. We again call upon the ruling regime to embrace true national reconciliation. Together, let us say never again to denying our people their freedoms, never again to denying them opportunities on the basis of their political beliefs, NEVER EVER AGAIN to arbitrarily take away their legal and fundamental human rights.
We sincerely thank the individuals and groups who partook in the testing negotiations to secure the release of our leaders and all democratic forces in the international community who stood and worked on the side of liberty.
We again call for a sustained effort by all Ethiopians and all forces freedom and democracy everywhere to stand hand in hand with us in the continuing struggle to firmly set our country on the path to unity, liberty, democracy and prosperity for all.
Kinijit for Unity and Democracy Party