Opposition Voice

Opposition Voice

Sunday, May 4, 2014

EPRDF in panic due to demand for peaceful change By Robele Ababya




Deep sorrow 
I am, in my personal capacity of a concerned Ethiopian, enraged and deeply aggrieved by the beastly deeds that culminated in loss of lives, spilt blood, bodily injury, psychological trauma inflicted on universities students at Ambo, Alem Maya, Jimma, Lekemt et al. These heinous crimes were and are being committed by the EPRDF security forces under the direct command of the minority leaders camouflaging as citizens of Ethiopia. They are hell bent on destroying the cultural diversity of the Ethiopian people plotting from their hideouts in our nation’s capital Addis Ababa and in Tigray – the cradle of our civilization. In the same breath, I most sincerely wish to share the pain of parents and relatives who have lost their loved ones in the heinous cold-blooded murder of their sons, daughters, and all demonstrating residents victimized by senseless act of brutality by government security forces.
Addis Ababa is the melting pot of our diverse culture; Tigray is the citadel of our glory when Ethiopia was one of the four powerful countries on our planet Earth. Inclusive politics must take this into account beyond the fall of the reclusive TPLF regime.
Persistent gun politics in the era of TPLF misrule
The TPLF leaders at the top echelon are reverting to politics by the gun – the game they know best to cling on to power for another 40 years as openly declared by Abay Woldu. This moron from his hideout as President of Tigray is a self-proclaimed guardian of the rotten legacy of his former boss, the butcher of Addis Ababa. The moron and his followers and confidants with parochial views are in their wildest dream busy building the personality cult as “The Great Statesman leading Africa”. But this is not going to happen!!!
Apartheid politics is unnatural
Tigray belongs to all Ethiopians. It is the cradle of civilization of all the descendants of Noah: – Ham, Shem, and Japheth. Cush being the first born son of Ham is credited for establishing the Cushitic Kingdom later succeeded by the Axumite Kingdom. Is this not sufficient justification for averting and condemning in the strongest terms the internecine bloodshed and killings in cold-blood unleashed on universities students singling out the Oromos in particular? I bet the cobra going by the names of Abay Woldu is in trance savoring the blood of the young university students with a broad smile quietly. The victims were exercising their constitutional right of petitioning the brutal ruling regime in a peaceful protest; unfortunately they paid a hefty sacrifice trying to reason with a regime that has shut the door to dialogue.
Our inheritance and invaluable assets
Our sterling achievement is that the Judaic, Christian, and Islamic faiths lived together in relative harmony for centuries. Our greatest gifts are our industrious people, our waters, and vast arable fertile natural resources. These three are our invaluable assets indispensable to our survival as people. We have every right to utilize these assets in a way others can count on us as their breadbasket and source of electric power available for sale. Our water tower is safeguard of last resort against those who wish us ill.
Our ancestors have shown their indomitable spirit and fighting prowess on the international scene sacrificing their precious lives and shedding their blood for the territorial integrity of Ethiopia, freedom and dignity. The present generation is no less determined to assert its resolve to reclaim its freedom and dignity from the tight grip of the TPLF warlords. .
The widespread youth movement by tertiary and secondary students has come at a defining moment. For Ethiopia is bound to lose her invaluable assets under the apartheid policy of the brutal regime meddling in religious affairs; stifling democracy; grossly mismanaging natural resources; blocking private landownership and suppressing the initiative and creativity of individuals; and discouraging self-reliance. The peaceful protest must elevate to the level of civil disobedience and spread like bush fire throughout Ethiopia for the sake of securing freedom and dignity for all citizens as well as restoring stability in the troubled region of the Horn of Africa.
The contentious Addis Ababa Master Plan
Ethiopians should be braced for the mushrooming of new cities and expansion of the present ones into metropolis and megacities gradually. This phenomenon will release rural lands for large scale commercial farming as people migrate to the cities seeking greener pastures by investing in business enterprises of their choice with the money acquired from sales of their private farmlands.
In highly industrial nations, less than 10% of their populations are engaged in farming. They feed more than their population require for food and the rest of the farm produce are exported. For example only 2-3% of the USA population is engaged in farming; the farmers produce more than needed for domestic consumption and the rest is exported flooding the world market and building the image of the USA as food basket of the world.
So the contentious issue of the expansion of Addis Ababa Master Plan should be resolved in view of the above. This can be done only by an inclusive democratic government following national reconciliation.
People must come first
Abject poverty is biting deep through the skins to the bone marrows of the masses while elites are failing to unite to ease their sufferings. The struggle initiated by Oromo university students must continue and gather strength across the ethnic divide. Peaceful struggle is already scarring the trigger-happy EPRDF regime to death!!!
In all our endeavors, the principle of putting people is the best policy. Buildings and wide roads constructed with borrowed money do not feed hungry people and develop them to repay the loans let alone increase prosperity. The repressive EPRDF regime has ignored this principle and is therefore well on its way to catastrophe for it has lost the trust of the people. The people know that the despotic ruling regime is causing unrest to rig and secure election 2015 in advance rather than go through the spate of protests that ensued in the aftermath of election 2005 which it lost but kept it by force; it wants to justify to the world that it fairly won election 2010 and hide the fact that it unilaterally declared garnering 99.6% of parliamentary seats.
The EPRDF regime is gripped with panic; it must revisit its failed strategy of robbing elections in broad daylight by accepting the inevitable scenario of peaceful transfer of power to the Ethiopian people.
Tribute to Immeye Menilik
The policy of imperialists was that black African workers should abandon the center of the cities every evening leaving their working places immaculately clean including residential houses, streets and public squares for the enjoyment of their colonial masters; their children were not allowed to study beyond 4th grade.
Ethiopia under Menilik with His stalwart warriors comprising all the mosaic ethnic groups were vehemently opposed to the dehumanizing policy of colonialists and paid a heavy sacrifice fighting for freedom and dignity and set example to all black people in Africa and in the Diaspora.
The ancestors of Amharas and Oromos were singled out for extinction by Fascist Italy; their descendants must therefore at all times stand together in self-defense; otherwise, the TPLF copycats of Italian Fascist’s policy will leave no stone unturned to divide and enslave them.
Urgent call in earnest on the EPRDF cadres, security & defense forces
Members of Security and defense establishment are supposed to defend the constitution. Unfortunately this has not been the case since the TPLF-dominated regime came to power. This costly gross blunder will hold you accountable sooner or later as it did the members of the security and defense forces of the fallen Derg regime. You will face the same fate unless you change course and stand on the side of the people without delay. You must say no to the EPRDF government, which is unabashedly lying through its teeth about the viability of GERD and double-digit GDP growth contrary to single-digit growth of 6 to percent forecast by the International Monitory Fund (IMF and the World Bank (WB).
So I make this urgent clarion call in earnest on the EPRDF cadres, security & defense forces to mend their ways and force the EPRDF party to come to the negotiating table with all opposition entities and civil societies and together pave the way to genuine national reconciliation by weeding out criminals by means of an independent court.
In closing
As the old adage goes” A house divided against itself cannot stand. Unity is paramount to defend, preserve and protect our invaluable human and natural resources.
The EPRDF is in panic because it failed to put people first in its development policy; it arrogantly snubbed inclusivity in matters of paramount national interests such as the GERD and the expansion of the Addis Ababa Master Plan. The reclusive regime is reaping what it has been sowing in all the years it has been in power; EPRDF is now in panic due to self-inflicted wound arising from its fear of people seeking peaceful change. All tyrants fear the people they misrule!
The EPRDF government must be held accountable for the heinous crimes unleashed on the Oromo students. The Prime Minister should take the lead in bringing all involved criminals to court or resign
One country, Ethiopia! One person one vote!
Release all political prisoners immediately and unconditionally!
LONG LIVE ETHIOPIA!!!
rababya@gmail.com
http://www.abugidainfo.com/index.php/22457/

Addis Ababa University Students Join Oromo Protests



  • facebook
  • twitter
  • rss
  • print
  • bookmark
  • email

UDJ is holding a large protest march in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia



UDJ is holding a large protest march in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
May 4, 2014
udj

Thousands of UDJ Supporter and other groups have taken to the street today to express their freedom of speech and displeasure over the government’s plans to extend the boundaries of the nation’s capital.
More than 100 thousand people gathered in Addis to protest against Ethiopian government.
More News to come
http://abbaymedia.com/2014/05/04/udj-is-holding-a-large-protest-march-in-addis-ababa-ethiopia/

    Friday, May 2, 2014

    UN human rights chief condemns crackdown on journalists in Ethiopia



     
    UN News
    May 2, 2014




    2 May 2014 – The United Nations human rights chief today condemned the crackdown on journalists in Ethiopia and the increasing restrictions on freedom of opinion and expression in the Horn of Africa nation.
    The comments by High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay follow the recent arrest and detention of six members of the blogging collective Zone Nine and three journalists in the capital, Addis Ababa.
    “I am deeply concerned by this recent wave of arrests and the increasing climate of intimidation against journalists and bloggers prevailing in Ethiopia,” she stated in a news release.
    The nine people arrested last week remain in custody. On 27 April, they appeared before the Arada Court of First Instance. Although the exact charges against each of them remain unclear, the UN human rights office has received information that they were arrested for “working with foreign human rights organizations and inciting violence through social media to create instability in the country.”
    They reportedly are being held incommunicado and some of their family members who tried to bring them food over the weekend were denied access.
    Since January 2012, a number of journalists have been convicted under the Anti-terrorism Proclamation to sentences ranging from 5 years to life imprisonment. Two journalists arrested in July 2012 and January 2013 under the same law are currently in detention, awaiting their trial.
    “The fight against terrorism cannot serve as an excuse to intimidate and silence journalists, bloggers, human rights activists and members of civil society organizations. And working with foreign human rights organisations cannot be considered a crime,” said the High Commissioner.
    “Over the past few years, the space for dissenting voices has been shrinking dramatically in Ethiopia,” she added.
    Ms. Pillay stressed that in its efforts to combat terrorism, the Ethiopian Government must comply at all times with its human rights obligations under international law. The country is party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, both of which guarantee the right to freedom of expression.
    The High Commissioner urged the Ethiopian Government to release all bloggers and journalists currently in detention for simply exercising their right to freedom of expression. She also reiterated her appeal for there to be a review of current anti-terrorism and civil society legislation to ensure its conformity with international human rights standards.




    The human rights chief’s call comes on the eve of World Press Freedom Day, observed annually on 3 May. The Day is an opportunity to celebrate the fundamental principles of press freedom; assess the state of press freedom throughout the world; defend the media from attacks on their independence; and pay tribute to journalists who have lost their lives in the line of duty.


    http://www.ethiomedia.com/16file/4551.html

    Out of Africa: The great money migration


     
    By Aljazeera
    May 2, 2014




    Bahar Dar, Ethiopia - The figures are staggering: At least $1.8 trillion illicitly flowed out of Africa between 1970 and 2009.
    This is far more than the external aid the continent received over the same period, and almost five times its current external debt. According to researchers, the continent also loses at least $100bn a year in this financial haemorrhage.
    African leaders convened this week in the Ethiopian city of Bahar Dar to discuss illicit financial flows and what can be done to staunch them. A study commissioned by the Tana High Level Forum on African Security, which organised the conference, found that illicit flows from Africa grew at an average rate of 12.1 percent per year since 1970, and that capital flight from West and Central African countries accounted for most of the illicit flows from sub-Saharan Africa.
    Illicit financial flows consist of money earned illegally and then transferred for use elsewhere. The money is usually generated from criminal activities, corruption, tax evasion, bribes and smuggling. Yet the numbers tell only part of the story - a story that exposes how these highly complex and deeply entrenched practises have flourished, with a devastating impact on Africans' efforts to extricate themselves from grinding poverty.
    This scourge eats into the gross domestic products of African countries, draining foreign exchange reserves, reducing tax collection and investment inflows and worsening poverty. 
    "The costs of this financial haemorrhage have been significant for African countries. It has heightened income inequality and jeopardised employment prospects. In the majority of countries in the continent, unemployment rates have remained exceedingly high in the absence of investment and industrial expansion," said Kenya's Central Bank Governor Dr Njuguna Ndungu.
    Worse than expected
    And some believe that the estimates of illicit financial flows underestimate the problem. "These figures do not capture money lost through drug trafficking and the loss of Africa's marine resources through illegal fishing," said Abdiweli Mohammed Ali, the new president of Somalia's semi-autonomous Puntland region.
    "Somalia loses between $800m and $1bn through illegal fishing every year. This is money we cannot afford to lose. Something must be done about the illegal international fishing cartels looting our marine resources," said Abdiweli, who is also a former prime minister of Somalia. 

    It's shameful that Nigeria leads in such an unsavoury trend. But it must be pointed out that we are also leaders in trying to repatriate some of the stolen funds.
    - Nuhu Ribadu, former chairman of Nigeria's Economic and Financial Crimes Commission
    The study also found a significant link between increases in the price of oil and capital flight from Nigeria - Africa's largest oil producer, which also accounted for the highest amount of illicit outflows.
    "Some of the acceleration in illicit outflows was undoubtedly driven by oil price increases and increased opportunities to misprice trade that typically accompany increasing trading volumes due to globalisation," the report noted. 
    For instance, Nigeria lost at least $250bn between 2000 and 2009. South Africa, which was the continent's biggest economy until it was recently overtaken by Nigeria, came second with a loss of at least $170bn over the same period. Egypt, Algeria, Libya, Morocco, Angola, Sudan and Cameroon are also high on the list.
    Nuhu Ribadu, a former chairman of Nigeria's Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), said: "It's shameful that Nigeria leads in such an unsavoury trend. But it must be pointed out that we are also leaders in trying to repatriate some of the stolen funds. We managed to recover billions that former military dictator Sani Abacha stashed in banks abroad."
    Ribadu said Africa needs honest and committed leaders who will set examples by eschewing corruption and closing avenues of illicit financial flow. "It is the seriousness and commitment showed by African leaders that would convince foreign countries to work with them towards recovering looted monies stashed abroad."
    Skewing income distribution
    Experts say the enormity of the outflow explains why donor-driven efforts to spur economic development and reduce poverty have not achieved their full potential in Africa. Sustained illicit outflows have also turned the continent into a net creditor to the rest of the world.
    "Policy measures must be taken to address the causes of illicit outflows and also to impress upon the international community the need for better transparency and tighter oversight of banks and offshore financial centres that absorb these flows," said former South African President Thabo Mbeki.
    Mbeki is also the chair of the Commission on Illicit Finances established by the UN Economic Commission on Africa. 
    As long as illicit capital continues to pour out of impoverished African countries at this pace, efforts to reduce poverty and boost economic growth will be thwarted, and income distribution will become more skewed, leading to economic and political instability.
    Yet there is a glimmer of hope, now that African leaders and governments are increasingly understanding - and coming to terms with - the dangers posed by illicit financial flows.

    http://www.ethiomedia.com/16file/4547.html


    The OLF Press Release on TPLF’s Mass killings of the Oromo Students.



    By Oromo Liberation Front (OLF)
    May 2, 2014




    The Mass killing of the Oromo students who have peacefully protested against injustices in Ethiopia is only invigorate the Oromo people struggle for justice.
    Since the last twenty three years , the Tigray Liberation Front (the TPLF) controls the state power in Ethiopia, the TPLF regime has targeted Oromo people in general and Oromo students in particular. The TPLF has arrested, tortured and killed thousands Oromo in the past twenty three years. The current sense less mass killings of Oromo students in different universities, like Ambo, Wallaga, Dire Dawa, Robe, Adamaa,Haramaya,Jimma , Illu , etc is the heinous crime that shocked the conscious of humanity.
    The OLF strongly condemns such barbaric and egregious killing of innocent Oromo university students who have peacefully demanded the regime to halt the displacement of Oromo farmers from their Ancestral land and the inclusion of Oromo cities and surrounding localities under Finfinnee (Addis Ababa) administration under the pretext of development. Instead of responding for their genuine demands, the barbaric TPLF regime opted to massacre the Oromo students in broad day lights in the eyes of international community which have watched the agony and senseless killing through social media.
    We want to remind the TPLF regime that, continuous torture, arrest and arbitrarily killing of the Oromo students will not stop the legitimate demands of Oromo students in particular and the Oromo people in general. Instead, the TPLF Action will invigorate the just struggle of Oromo people to decide their destiny in their home land. We call upon the OPDO to stand with the Oromo students and Oromo people in this historical gesture when the TPLF regime has engaged in killing the innocent Oromo people. Not doing anything and continue to work with the TPLF under this condition will make you (the OPDO) part and parcel of The TPLF crime against Oromo. We remind you that this is a high time for OPDO and its members to stand with the Oromo people genuine demands and constitutional rights guaranteed even under the TPLF (Ethiopian) constitution.
    We also call upon all Oromo political and civil organizations and other political and civil organizations that claim they work to bring democracy and freedom in Ethiopia to condemn this heinous crime and stand with the legimate demands of Oromo students and the Oromo people.
    Also, we urge all peace loving governments and people around the world to condemn this senseless killing of innocent Oromo students by Ethiopia regime, and stand with Oromo students’ and Oromo people who have been peacefully demanding for their legitimate rights from the Ethiopian regime. General Kamal Gelcuu , Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) Chairman
    General Kamal Gelcuu ,
    Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) Chairman

    http://www.ethiomedia.com/16file/4545.html

    In choosing security over democracy in Ethiopia, U.S. will get neither




    By Hassen Hussein
    May 2, 2014




    U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry arrived in Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa, Thursday in the first leg of his three-nation trip to Africa “to encourage democratic development.” He came to a country rocked by mounting student protests against the government and vicious military crackdowns that left scores dead and wounded, as well as the troubling imprisonment of dissident journalists and bloggers.

    To his credit, Kerry raised concerns about the tightening of press freedom in Ethiopia. “I made clear to Ethiopian officials that they need to create greater opportunities for citizens to be able to engage with their fellow citizens and with their government by opening up more space for civil society,” Kerry told reporters in Addis Ababa.
    However, his discussions with Ethiopia’s leaders were overshadowed by South Sudan’s implosion — with continuing fragility in next-door Somalia, and souring Egypt-Ethiopia relations stirred by Ethiopia’s construction of the Great Renaissance Dam over the Nile, in the background.
    This focus was unfortunate but hardly surprising. For over two decades, despite fleeting statements expressing “concern,” Washington has shied away from seriously engaging Ethiopian authorities on the need for genuine democratization. Without the latter, the country’s extended prosperity is in danger. “To support economic growth for the long term, the free marketplace of ideas matters just as much as free markets,” Kerry noted in his remarks. But he failed to underscore how rising instability could erode Ethiopia’s standing as a linchpin to the otherwise volatile Horn of Africa region’s stability and damage its newly minted image as an emerging economic powerhouse.

    Growing dissent

    Reports of the number of dead vary, but in clashes with security forces over the last few days, locals say at least 20 protesters have been killed and many others wounded in Ambo and Robe towns. The government acknowledged 11 deaths, adding at least 70 students were wounded in a bomb blast at Haramaya University in Eastern Oromia. Swedishand U.K. embassies in Addis Ababa updated travel warnings for their nationals urging those in Ethiopia to avoid visiting the area.
    Ethnic Oromo students are protesting against a new urban development plan unveiled in April by the Addis Ababa city administration. Protesters say the city’s master plan, devised by ruling party functionaries without public input, would allow the sprawling metropolis to swallow up surrounding Oromo towns and rural villages.
    Protesters fear the new plan would facilitate the eviction of thousands of farmers from their ancestral lands without proper compensation — an unjust process that has been happening since the city’s founding a century ago. Their land would be sold at dirt-cheap prices to foreign and domestic investors, exacerbating the country’s growing income inequality and diluting the Oromo national identity. In addition, the plan would condemn the Oromo, Ethiopia’s single largest ethnic group, to being an agrarian population in a fast-urbanizing country and balkanize their homeland into an eastern and western half — in a manner reminiscent of occupied Palestinian territories — leaving the state of Oromia with only nominal control.
    The ongoing protests and crackdown on freedom of expression are the latest signs of growing discontent and Addis Ababa’s increasing authoritarianism. The U.S. State Department’s annual human rights report, released by Kerry on Feb. 27, details Ethiopia’s worsening human rights situation. In recent years, the country’s adoption of a spate of draconian laws, including its Charities and Societies Proclamation and Anti-Terrorism Law, has given security and intelligence forces and the vengeful judiciary carte blanche to criminalize all forms of dissent and to arrest opposition leaders.
    While the student protests have so far been confined to college campuses, they echo a long-simmering popular grievance. The Oromo make up close to 40 percent of Ethiopia’s population of 94 million, but are conspicuously marginalized in that country’s political, economic and social life. The government’s refusal to address their complaints is a major bottleneck on the country’s democratization.  

    http://www.ethiomedia.com/16file/4550.html