Dula's Blog

There are certain events that require adequate and prompt explanations because the very future of the country depends on it. There was nothing more pressing, more important and burning issue than the need to adequately explain the death of Hachalu Hundessa in particular who orchestrated the killing and why.

In June, 2019, the handling or lack of prompt and adequate explanation of the murder of Amhara regional president Ambachew Mekonnen and General Asaminew Tsige has alienated many Amharas from the Abiy government. In June, 2020, the same thing is going with Oromos. By failing to fully expose the architects of Hachalu’s killers, Dr. Abiy has angered and alienating many Oromos. The enemies of Ethiopia who orchestrated these tragedies every year including the attempted assassination of Dr. Abiy are eroding his base of support, winning the PR game, and destabilizing the country. Unfortunately, the government of Ethiopia has gone AWOL in its responsibility to apprehend the culprits before the act or refute and to debunk accusations of complicity and hanging it squarely on the necks of OLF and TPLF.

In June, 2018 anti-reform forces tried to assassinate Dr. Abiy, in June, 2019 assassinated General Seare Mekonnen,Chief of General Staff of the Ethiopian National Defense, and in June, 2020, they assassinated Hachalu, all in an effort to restore the TPLF regime or fan genocide against Amharas and other minorities.

The minister of justice and the Prime Minister’s Office failed to share adequately with the local and the international media who orchestrated these attacks, and recently who financed the killing of Hachalu and why.

Despite the detention of three individuals, the international and even local media helped by the OMN and OLF-Shane supporters was awashed with the news that the Ethiopian government was the culprit. The news media including human rights organization such as Amnesty International were overwhelmingly influenced by OMN and OLF narrative that the Ethiopian government was the suspect in the death of Hachalu.

In addition, OMN and OLF were able to inform their supporters that the Ethiopian government was again the perpetrator of Hachalu’s death. This would have required a swift rebuttal by  the ministry of justice or any relevant arm of the government.

Unfortunately, there was no clear and unambiguous refutation of these charges, charges made by OLF and its followers. The media was completely blanketed by the death of Hachalu, but the loss of life and property that followed in the aftermath was barely covered. This failure by the Ethiopian government to share with the international media has turned Ethiopia and its citizens forever as killer of Hachalu for expressing his views. Of course, his views were not anti-Ethiopia, but it was shared in that manner by OMN.

Failure to properly and adequately relay the tragedies that followed the killing of Hachalu and the aftermath was maddening and unfortunate. Failing to expose the schemers, the financiers, and architects of Hachalu’s killing, will make it possible for such acts to be repeated.

This failure to articulate clearly this tragedy has left a big void and the majority of the Oromos still believing that Hachalu was killed because of his ethnicity by anti-Oromo forces.

For example, in the U.S. during any tragedy let alone in the scale that took place in Ethiopia where hundreds killed, billions of property destroyed in the city of Shashamene and others, even in the death of one person in such heinous act would have required many press releases and news conferences immediately and thereafter so that the public knows the truth and only the truth without any equivocation. The Ethiopian government seems to want to bury the truth or does not have a strategy to defend its reputation.

The government of Ethiopia has failed and  left a big scar or deep wound for another ethnic conflict by failing to discharge all the facts regarding the beloved Hachalu death and the plotters.

There should have been an extensive education of the Ethiopian people as to why, who, and how regarding the killing of Hachalu. Even Dr. Merera Gudina was planning to raise this question to Dr. Abiy during a meeting with parliament if he was given an opportunity.

These doubts need to be addressed to build public confidence in the government. Did OLF, with the help of OMN, orchestrated all this in order to take over Ethiopia or was it an unplanned spontaneous reaction that resulted in death and destruction? People are thirsty for facts. The facts will set them free and bring a swift healing to all parties.

I have tried to look at all the press releases and pronouncements regarding Hachalu’s death, but so far I have not seen anything  convincingly to refute these charges that the Ethiopian government has nothing to do with it. While I am not accusing  the government; however, I have not seen any significant effort to inform and educate the public about the facts. I am sorry to express my disappointment of this failure by the Ethiopian government to articulate to the world the truth about Hachalu’s killing instead of creating the appearance of a cover-up or sheer incompetence in managing its public relations.

The justice minister’s brief press release was highly inadequate and not convincing. In such a momentous and dire situation, one is expected to have mastered all available facts and express with confidence and straight eye to the world, that the Ethiopian government is sharing all the evidence in its possession and no stone was left unturned in doing that.

It’s great to be a great communicator, like Dr. Abiy is, but there is nothing more important than using such talent to save Ethiopian from another tragedy like that happened in June associated with the death of Hachalu and its aftermath.

The Ethiopian government should have invited all local and international media and share all the facts and to cast any doubts and to help and heal all Ethiopians who felt such a great loss by the death of Hachalu.

The Rwandan genocide, Holocaust and other saddest moments in history are shared and told often, so that they will not be repeated. Ethiopia’s tragic situation deserve the same in order to avoid a repeat.

The Ethiopian government will not be able to stop another tragedy if it is not willing or able to tell the world what really happened in Ethiopia on June 29 and thereafter. It should have made documentary of the mayhem share it for the world to witness the tragedy. It should have  invited the international media to visit Shashamene, Zeway and other cities to see the devastation, the homeless, and to talk  to those who lost love ones.

The current narrative as shared by OLF-Shane media is that the Oromos are the victims,  without mentioning the people that were slaughtered and burned in Shashamene and other places or those who lost their homes, properties and made homeless by the actions of OLF supporters.

In Shashamene and other cities, the police and the mayors of these cities and towns looked the other way when people were being killed and property being destroyed because Ethiopia sadly has a constitution based on ethnicity that pits one group against another. All the leaders of these cities are appointed based on their ethnic origin instead of being elected or based on competence.

Such tragedies will continue by design as well as by catalysts like the killing of prominent Oromos or Amharas and others. Instead of looking for justice to take its course, groups rush for vengeance against other ethnic groups because the system is designed to pit one against another and the people have been miseducated to believe that they are enemies instead of citizens of Ethiopia. This system has become a catalyst in creating millions of displaced people and hundreds of deaths and billions of property destruction.  Ethiopia has more internally displaced people than any country and the agony will continue because of the current constitution designed by the previous anti-Ethiopian regime remains.

Until the Ethiopian government fully exposes the architects of Hachalu’s killers and vindicate itself, eliminate ethnic policing, allows elections of mayors, as well as educate citizens through public and private media in the importance of rule of law, similar tragedies will be part and parcel of Ethiopia. 

Body cameras alone will not solve the problem with police brutality against Blacks. Eric Garner’s episode was videotaped. Bill Clinton successfully unseated George H. W. Bush by saying ” It’s the economy, stupid”. It is not only Police Brutality that President Obama has to worry about. It is economics. Most of the blacks killed by police are usually poor, unemployed or underemployed.

President Obama said the Eric Garner case “speaks” to the larger issues that we’ve been talking about now for the last week, the last month, the last year — and sadly, for decades. And that is, the concern on the part of too many minority communities that law enforcement is not working with them and dealing with them in a fair way.  He is right that there is mistrust, but  he is wrong about the primary cause of the conflict between Blacks and cops around the country. It is pure economics that he has failed so far to address.

The primary issue is minority unemployment and underemployment. I see many young African-Americans hanging out near car washes, near convenient stores and on corner streets seeking a means to make a living, while exposing themselves to the dangers of police suspicion.

The president’s recent immigration bill is also a cause for concern for Blacks struggling to make a living and competing for low skilled jobs. Many of the immigrants are low wage workers who will directly compete with low wage African-Americans. Most employers prefer Hispanics and others ethnic groups over Blacks primarily because immigrants demand less wages and are willing to perform tasks without question or demands.

According to the New York Times (5/12/2013), interest groups are shaping the immigration bill, but there is no plan to upgrade or train especially Blacks that will be displaced by waves of new immigrants for low skilled jobs. This undoubtedly impacts negatively  some poor and unskilled blacks that will be displaced.

The focus is not  to blame the Police or the new immigrants for the predicament of Blacks in America. African-Americans make up roughly 11% of the U.S. population,  but represent only 1% of the workforce employed by Silicon Valley and other high tech companies. In addition, the race gap in wealth between the median black family and the median white family is 20 fold according Pewresearch. Furthermore, the U.S. incarcerates more African-Americans than any country in the world on a per capita basis.

For unskilled or less educated blacks there is no route to escape lifelong poverty unless Congress and President Obama step up to create job training or education for this largely disaffected and vulnerable group.

Eric Ganter and Michael Brown are victims of economics, not just police brutality. Eric Garner was trying to make a living by selling loose cigarettes to support his six children and a wife. If he was trained as a welder, pipefitter, air conditioning technician, plumber or in some other trade craft, he would not have become a victim of police brutality.

The conflict between Blacks and police and Blacks and the rest of society is directly related to the lack of  gainful employment that forces some to gravitate to the wrong crowd and to other dangerous jobs such as selling drugs, hanging out in car washes, in the corner store, shop lifting cigarettes or other un-salutary behaviors

In  year 2000 under President Clinton, we proposed putting technology training centers in the Ghettos and Barrios to train minorities and other economically disadvantaged groups when another Immigration Bill was introduced to bring over one million tech workers from India and Taiwan to support the tech industries. The powerful technology lobby derailed the amendment and another opportunity to transform America and the minority community was lost.

Dula Abdu is a strong advocate for leveraging technology to bridge the economic divide. He is a former banker and economist. Currently runs a small technology center in Houston. He can be reached at dula06@gmail.com

In order to bridge the economic divide that has been going on for a long time and that is getting worse requires innovative solutions. Some of the countries that are succeeding in bridging  the economic divide are  those leveraging technology.

Such a strategy requires reaching out to the most economically disadvantaged communities. The simplest and the most cost effective strategy will be  to create a mini Silicon Valley / technology corridors close to disadvantaged areas by bringing government and private partnership to transform  these communities.

Those countries that realized that importance of  technological skills  include countries like Israel, Ireland, S. Korea and many more. Those that have employed technology effectively have improved their productivity and their standard of living for good. For the economically disadvantaged, leveraging technology is imperative. This will enable them to bridge the economic gap with minimum expenditure of capital and in a shorter time.

How to go about it? Simple, imitate other successful models used in the creation of the Silicon Valley in San Francisco , the Research Triangle in the North Carolina, and the Silicon Wadi (Valley) in Israel and many others places that systematically improved the living standards of their citizens and brighten their futures. The fact that there are many Indian doctors and engineers around the world is no accident, it was the work of visionary leaders in the 60s who planted the seed by establishing many IT centers.

To serve historically disadvantaged  communities  would require  attracting minority students to science and technology and providing vocational and advanced technological education to those suffering from unemployment and underemployment.  “African-Americans make up roughly 11% of the U.S. population,  but represent only 1-2% of the workforce at most Silicon Valley and tech companies. In addition, the race gap in wealth between the median black family and the median white family is  20 fold according to Pew research. Also the U.S. has the highest per capita incarnation of Black people in the world.  This is related to f lack of education that leads to gainful employment.

Why technology education?  International Labor Organization (ILO) in the past projected that there will  be 1.2 billion young people around the world looking for work and only 300 million jobs to go around.  According to Forbes Magazine over 90% of the 300 million jobs will be in science, technology and mathematics.

Thus  the most efficient way to address these gaps and the faster way to transform these communities once and for all is to leverage technology and provide  skill-based training. The alternative is to keep the status quo and see the racial polarization and eventually racial violence to continue. The most dynamic economies or communities are those who leverage technology. For example, Austin as a city, Silicon Valley in San Francisco, Research Triangle in North Carolina,  countries like Singapore, Israel, China, Taiwan,  S. Korea or most of the other  Asian Tigers did not happen by accident. Leaders with a vision made it possible.

To lift the people out of poverty once and for all and  make them a beacon of hope for others would require;  training people in the community in vocational and technology related fields and simultaneously inviting tech companies to relocate. The technology courses will be demand driven serving the Energy and the high tech industry especially in cities like Houston, and will be short and cost effective.

With proper foundation it will be possible to create/mint the necessary workforce to meet the needs of industry and to transform communities. Such an investment has rendered the highest return for real estate owners, industry and the community, as demonstrated in Silicon Valley and other similar settings.

It behooves one to make a note of the fact that  Silicon Valley, the Research Triangle, Silicon Wadi, and other successful institutions did not happen by accident. Visionary leaders created them and  transformed those communities.  The U.S. has the opportunity  to change the course of history. The question is does it have the gusto to dare such a drastic transformation or not.

Our brothers and sisters in Ethiopia, their children, grandchildren and all future generations to come have been put at risk because the action or in-action of the current generation. Have w failed them and put their lives and their futures at risk?

Whether it was our making or that of DERG, EPLF, Woyanes, we let it happen by becoming mere spectators. Of course,  some helped or made financial donations to Kingit, EPRP, Ginbot 7 or other national or secessionist organizations with the believe that they will do the job or just to absolve us from guilty feeling.

Some of the actions that we have taken in terms of donation, chitchat at the coffee shop, at seminars, or writing articles  did not bear any fruits, as they have irreparably worsened the future and the plight of all Ethiopians.

We have failed them. Ethiopians because of our inaction or actions feel trapped; feel hopeless. There are secessionist like Eritreans that think divorce will bring them same solace, happiness or freedom; there are those who think the removal of Woyanes will bring them hope and peace; there are those who do not care. 

Despite these pressing and precarious times, most of us in the Diaspora have done little, despite our capacity to shape the direction and the future of Ethiopia. Of course, there are those who think the future of Ethiopia can be shaped by engaging in armed struggle because the Woyanes have repeatedly stated that is the only way they will relinquish power and there are those who gave up.

Unfortunately, most change in government does not come by force of arms. If they come by force of arms, they have to be taken again by force of arms. The only stable democratic transitions are those taken using civil disobedience. The recent demonstrations attest to this fact. Students in Oromia region did not use force to stalemate Woyanes, but civil disobedience and activism. If the rest of the country were to join them with a common purpose, the system could be brought to a standstill.

Those of us in the Diaspora can force Washington, as the Guy lobby did to listen to our demands and tell Woyanes to stop the killing and to listen to the people of Ethiopia.

Of course, we don’t want chaos to reign with an abrupt departure or collapse of the regime, but a formation of a transition government with a call for a fair and free election will bring some hope and peace to Ethiopia.

In order to do that, we need to win friends in Congress by creating a strong and broad PAN-Ethiopian lobby that can shape the transitional government and the future of Ethiopia politically and economically.

Ethiopians and African people face hopeless economic and political conditions with rampant corruption, religious and ethnic conflicts. The future appears dismal.  Africa has immense natural resources, but faces abject poverty due to catastrophic leadership. Using our PAN-Ethiopian lobby, we can advocate good governance, rule of law and establish a means to safeguard political, economic, and religious freedom. The objective of the PAC will include the promotion of transparency,  free and fair election, and lobby against leaders who undermine the rule of law.

In order to ensure that Ethiopia becomes a viable contender in the economic and political arenas of the world and safeguard the future generation, we have to challenge the existing political structure and bring it to an end by uniting, and organizing all Ethiopians at home and abroad.

President Obama addresses one of the criticism that was leveled in the following article that is the failure of his Office Technology to embark on a bold mission of addressing the digital and the economic divide. Below is the just of the message that came from Hadi Partovi, creator of Code.org .

“Today, the White House added its support to this grassroots movement, announcing a plan to help every student in America’s public schools learn CS, especially girls and underrepresented students of color. This is a big deal. This “CS for All” initiative proposes $4 billion in funding and additional support for training teachers to bring computer science to students. Watch the president’s full remarks here.”

This is good news.  Of course, as always the case the devil is in the details.

Dula

Abraham Lincoln left a lasting legacy by freeing Blacks from the shackles of slavery. President Lyndon Johnson passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Bill was another milestone event. President Johnson was able to pass such a bill despite facing a more hostile and racist congress than President Obama by co-opting Republican Rules Committee Chairman Howard W. Smith of Virginia.  Because of Lincoln and Johnson, Blacks achieved  high degree of political freedom, but they have a long way in achieving economic equality and overcoming poverty.

In Africa, President George Bush’s AIDS initiative saved or extended the lives of millions of Africans. President Bush help end many civil wars in  Sierra Leone, Liberia, Sudan, Congo and more through the leadership of Condoleezza Rice  and promoting democracy. Unfortunately, under President Obama there are simmering civil wars from Nigeria, Chad, Central Africa, South Sudan and more. Furthermore instead of making a serious effort to push for democracy, his laissez-faire policy encouraged leaders in Rwanda, Uganda, Ethiopia, Burundi and others to gravitate to a single party dictatorship.

Africans were optimistic for Obama.  Professor of political science, Alemayehu G. Mariam of California State University, San Bernardino, CA said in his latest blog that Obama has fallen from grace to disgrace especially after his recent trip to Ethiopia, where he praised the current dictatorial regime. The Washington Post characterized  recent visit to an oppressive regime like Ethiopia “unfathomable”.   Human Rights watch called his remarks and support of the regime in Ethiopia  “shocking”

As far as Black Americans, the plight is even direr. The homicide rate, the number of blacks in prison,   high unemployment and police brutality has tarnished America’s image abroad.  Not of his own fault, most of the economic progress made in the past was lost in the last Great recession, which affected Blacks disproportionately. During the last Great Recession, according to NPR minorities experienced a 53% decline or loss of wealth.

To his credit, President Obama has attempted despite lots of oppositions to address some of the problems affecting the middle class and the poor in the area of health care and criminal justice.  The symptom that is affecting the majority of the poor especially Blacks is income inequality that is largely related to lack of skills necessary for the new economy. Strengthening the educational system, establishing technical and vocational schools in minority communities would have gone a long way in addressing the issue of income inequality, but it was never in president’s radar screen. Therefore, he is leaving the income inequality gap a lot worse than when he took over.

His other solution to police brutality was use of body camera, but that is not going to solve the problem. The solution is improving the economic condition of Black America by leveraging technology.  Most of the blacks killed by police are usually poor, unemployed or underemployed.

African-Americans make up roughly 12% of the U.S. population, but represent less than 2% of the workforce at most Silicon Valley and tech companies. In addition, the race gap in wealth between the median black family and the median white family has widened to 18 fold.

Eric Garner and many others are victims of economics, not just police brutality. Eric Garner was trying to make a living by selling loose cigarettes to support his six children and a wife. If he was trained in simple skills like welding, pipe fitting, wood working, air conditioning, plumbing or other high tech skills most likely he will not have been a victim of police brutality.

In 1999 under President Clinton we proposed putting technology training centers in the ghettos and barrios to train minorities and other economically disadvantaged groups as part of the Immigration Bill  that brought over one million tech workers from India and Taiwan to support the tech industries. The powerful technology lobby derailed the amendment and another opportunity to transform America and the Black community was lost.  The same initiative was suggested to Obama’s Office of Technology to free Blacks from the shackles of poverty, but it never got any traction.

With little time left in his term, Obama has yet to achieve any real policy victory for Blacks at home or in Africa.  Let us say, he will not leave any lasting legacy as the one left by his predecessors.

I have written many pieces on Ethiopia’s economic progress or lack of it. However, for the first time, I am compelled to believe that the recent World Bank report shades a better perspective on Ethiopia’s economic conditions and achievement than the views that I expressed especially views arising from the lives of ordinary people in Ethiopia.  While infrastructure and other notable developments are undeniable, the plight of the average Ethiopian is still bleak despite the economic progress achieved as measured by GDP.

Click here to see World Bank’s Analysis: Ethiopia’s Great Run

Since President Obama decided to go to Ethiopia despite the existence of extreme human rights abuses, he might be able to persuade the regime to change its ways. In Ethiopia, theocracy, dictatorship, and thuggery are a reality of life. Even though most of the leaders came from a Marxist Leninist background, but from the outset they acted like a theocrat, a dictator, a black Afrikaners, and  thuggerish creating a necessary conditions for the rise of extremist elements, for revolt or revolution.

What are the conditions that make it possible for a revolt, a revolution or extremist group like Boko Haram and ISIS to rise? If a regime keeps pushing Muslims or Christians to the corner with arbitrary imprisonment, murder, and basic denial from sharing the fruits of the economy and freedom to worship without government intrusion, there is a chance some of these people can go crazy and even become fanatics like Boko Haram and ISIS. Some in the West will start wondering why there are such terrorist and extremists in Ethiopia. Unless they are mentally ill, such people have to be a product of their environment.  When another Boko Haram or ISIS emerges, President Obama and other Western leaders will wonder what went wrong and will send their drones to fight them. As it appears for now they are unwilling to address problems that create such extremists.  Sectarian and oppressive conditions in Iraq created ISIS. Ethiopia has a similar condition where a small sectarian or ethnic group rules with the barrel of the gun.

For President Obama it will be wise to raise the plight of detained Muslim leaders and journalists and listen to their stories before it is too late. Ethiopia may be vital to keep the lead on extremists in Somalia and other places in the Horn of Africa, but if Ethiopia with close to 100 million people explodes, it will be harder to contain it regardless of how many drones you deploy.

The demand of Muslim leaders in Ethiopia is simple, end government interference in religion; respect the constitutional which guarantees freedom of religion and separation of church and state. The same is true with journalists; they just wanted to practice their profession with some level of autonomy instead of as agent of the state.

ISIS and Boko Haram are fringe elements who have no mercy on Muslims or Christians and nobody wants such people to rise from any environment. In Ethiopia, given the extreme form of oppression because of one’s religion, tribe, or political affiliation, the country is ripe for revolt. But it is also possible that this revolt could be hijacked by extreme elements.

The ruling party, Tigrean People Liberation Front (TPLF) initially encouraged religious freedom for Muslims and Pentecostal groups, as leverage against the Orthodox Church and its followers, which it feared and loathed at the same time.

For a long time, the regime tried to court the Muslim and the Pentecostal community to counter its nemesis the Amharas and the Orthodox Church. After it totally crushing the Orthodox Church, the regime shifted gear to target the Muslim community to totally control and manage it. When the regime declared war on the Orthodox Church, the Muslims did not sing a song supporting the regime.   When the regime declared war on the Oromos, Amharas, Gurages etc. the Muslim community refused to collaborate with the regime.

Unfortunately, the regime eventually decided to declare war on Muslims because the Muslims did not want political allegiance to the regime and like many Ethiopians are fed up from taking orders who should be their leaders and how they should behave and become foot soldiers to oppress others.

The Muslims in Ethiopia never had political power or political ambitions for that reason they were tolerated by past regimes.  Although the DERG and TPLF initially leveled the playing field, but Muslim aspiration has not changed, it is simply live and let live in harmony and in peace as they did for the last 1400 hundreds years since the arrival of Islam in Ethiopia.

Muslims were tolerated by all previous regimes as long as they stick to their religion. Even Mengistu Haile Mariam and Haile Selassie never saw them a threat and allowed them a great degree of tolerance to practice their religion. TPLF as the most paranoid regime in the history of Ethiopia wanted more control, even though Muslims pose no threat to the regime.

The regime succeeded in creating great chasm among many groups: Oromos, Amharas, Somalis, and Christians, and the only cohesive group left were the Muslims, and the regime saw them as a threat.

Muslim and Christians lived in relative harmony for centuries in Ethiopia until the advent of the current regime. Now, the regime wants to capitalize in anti-Islam sentiment in the region and in the West and want to drive wedges between Christians and Muslims and among Muslims using its surrogates.

President Obama needs to know the biggest threat to stability and peace in the region are not journalists or Muslims, but the current regime in power in Ethiopia. The majority of Muslims, like Christians want to put food on the table, and live in harmony.

The Ethiopian regime arrested a number of Muslim leaders in order bring them into its wings, otherwise to silence them. Their protest stems from the late Meles Zenaw’s attempt to arbitrarily appoint their leaders and to force them to follow a brand of Islam that his team prefers.

Meles has exacted the same demand on the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. He fired the previous patriarch and replaced him with a more compliant and political one. Meles’ goal was also to make the Muslim community compliant, as well as anoint their leaders like he did with the Orthodox Church.

This was not the first time the regime wanted to take control of the Muslim community. In 1996, my own uncle was the Imam of the Anwar Mosque in Addis Ababa when Meles demanded a compliant relationship and support against the Ethiopian Orthodox Church.  When he refused, Meles organized his own Muslim team armed with guns and stormed the mosque. During the ensuing battle, many people were killed, a number of people wounded and arrested including my uncle. He was later released without charge and Meles backed off.

The primary reason to take control of the Muslim leadership was not because the Muslims were a threat to the regime, it was a paranoid Meles desire to put everyone under his command and to align the Muslim community against the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. Most Muslims have no problem with the Orthodox Church except putting up a healthy competition to save souls. Since most of Meles’ opposition came from the Orthodox Church and the Amhara community, Meles thought he can rely on Muslims as a buffer.  Recently, the regime has been emboldened because it is becoming much easier to brand Muslims as terrorists or jihadist. It is easy to exact any punishment even for any peaceful resistance as is the case with the Muslim leadership in jail. The regime can impose its will on the Muslim community without any fear from anywhere. Any opposition against the regime is maligned by the West and regarded out of line.

The regime is disdained by the majority of Ethiopians. Its very existence depends on Western Moral, political and economic support. President Obama can use his goodwill and power to pave Ethiopia to a more sustainable and lasting democracy or pamper things under the table and set Ethiopia for another Boko Haram, ISIS or violent revolution.

The writer can be reached at dula06@gmail.com

Since President Obama opted to travel to Ethiopia despite a vociferous opposition, the Ethiopian people need to get some benefit out of it, the completion of the Abay Dam. There has been a lot of back and forth between supporters of the Abay or Renaissance Dam and those opposed to it on technical and economic reasons. My initial opposition was solely based on economic reason, which rests on the concept of efficient allocation of a scare resource, capital. I would have preferred smaller dams to be used for both irrigation and power and away from harm from neighboring countries.

In 2005, Meles cornered by stolen election and loss of face with the Ethiopian electrets started on a whim the Abay or Renaissance Dam, war with Somalia and fear mongering with Eritrea.  The dam is being built with blood, sweat and tears of poor Ethiopians. In 2014, President Obama announced a $12 Billion new aid to Africa for power projects.  It is time that President Obama did something significant to leave a last legacy in Africa by helping Ethiopia complete this project through his energy initiative.

Ethiopia has done most of the leg work and almost 50% of the dam is completed. President Obama can help Ethiopia finish it. I would recommend that the dam be called Obama Dam. This complex dam and one of the largest in Africa will bear Obama’s name for ever to eclipse other American president including George Bush, who is highly regarded.

It is a great burden for the Ethiopian people to finance it on their own. Poor workers, farmers, and business are forced to fork out part of their hard earned salary to finance huge undertaking for a country with limited resources and capital. Banks are forced to use 27% of their available funds to buy Abay bonds for a slim 5% return, which is not at all guaranteed. Worse by the time they get their principal, inflation would have eaten most of it.

When the project started, Ethiopia was slated to spend close to one year of its budget to build the dam. If the U.S. were to undertake a similar task it will be equivalent to $3.7 trillion dollar. Can you imagine the U.S. undertaking a project of this size for any reason? Or can you imagine such an investment at a whim by any President or Congress in any country.  Meles after an election fiasco and fall out with his TPLF members decided to win over mostly the nationalist or more anti Arab, anti Muslim, anti Eritrean forces in Ethiopia. During this time, he started playing anti-Somali, anti-Muslim, anti-Eritrean card by telling Ethiopians that the country is under threat from all sides. As far as starting to build the dam, he defied Egypt and Sudanese threat, where no previous leader dared to do. This was done to raise his profile, and to win among conservative Ethiopians, not to help or develop Ethiopia. Now, it is too late to go back, so we have to finish it with the help of President Obama.

Despite, Meles’ design; many Ethiopians want the Abay Dam finished and get it over with. They are tired of paying for it, while they have little or nothing to live on based on their meager income, as most Ethiopians are employed in the public sector. Ethiopia’s private sector is in infancy, as the government overwhelmingly owns most of the productive assets land, telecommunication, utilities, and other assets.

I believe Obama wants to visit Ethiopia because it is the seat of the OAU, UN, and he finds Ethiopia like Mandela an alluring place to visit, like a pilgrimage to holy place.  Ethiopia provokes pride, great legacy for most educated Africans and African-Americans with its rich and long history, written alphabet, language, independence from European occupation, as the land of Lucy, and great architecture versus the dark and savagery image of Africa, conjured by the West.

America’s investment will serve also as a deterrent for future Egyptian regime from attacking or trying to destroy the Abay or Obama dam for any reason. With billions of American stock pile of weapons, Egypt has the capacity to do serious damage on Ethiopia and on the dam anytime it wishes. Using its F-16C planes from it Aswan base, Egypt can send AGM-158 JASSM cruise missiles and hit the dam with an accuracy of 8 feet and destroy it anytime. In addition, Egypt is setting up satellite states such as Eritrea, S. Sudan and even Djibouti in order to encircle Ethiopia. When Egypt gets its house in order and deals with the Muslim Brotherhood it will start looking outside and the Abay problem may surface again.

According to documents released by Wiki Leaks  in September, 2012,  the Egyptian and Sudanese governments had planned to attack the Grand Renaissance Dam in Ethiopia and some Egyptian legislatures were supporting  others hostile and clandestine operations, like planting false propaganda, arming rebels groups and instructing Egyptian spies to simply destroy the dam altogether. In light of these revelations, as Ethiopians, we have to coalesce given the outside potential threat.

Meles like any dictator had undertaken some good projects such as the expansion of schools, clinics and some bad ones with potentially low return on investment (ROI). Such projects include a wind Turbine ($220 million Euro), the Tekeze hydroelectric dam ($360 million dollars) with dwindling water supply, planned railroad from Djibouti to Mekele and the Abay dam. The most important economic tool, efficient allocation of scare resources, such as capital, was not taken into consideration in some of these cases.

I have been an opponent of the dam for economic reason, because such a mega project takes too much time and too many resources. According to recent reports, most of such mega dams are a failure in terms of return on investment and environmentally. However, now Meles, the mischief maker is gone and Ethiopia is left with the bag.  Meles may have started to build the dam to save his skin and to win over the nationalist forces and to reduce his paranoid view of the Ethiopian people. He has also put Ethiopia at risk of going to war with neighboring countries.

It is time Ethiopians of all stripes should  join hands and complete the project, given that the Ethiopian people with great sacrifice so far successfully completed half of the construction.  Let us also hope President Obama, to leave a lasting legacy and to lift this financial burden from the Ethiopian people will throw in his support for the completion of the dam.

According to the White House press release in late July President Obama will travel to Ethiopia for bilateral meetings with the Government of Ethiopia and with the leadership of the African Union. Ethiopians are expected to demonstrate against the visit. The Washington Post characterized the visit as “unfathomable” given the brutal nature of the regime.

If the trip comes to fruition, we should not blame Obama for going to Ethiopia, a place that has a great deal of symbolism and attraction for most Black people.  We should blame the Diaspora for not doing enough to educate him or force him to take the right stand regarding the regime during his presidency. In America, all decisions are not done in the best interest of America; more often lobbyists decide foreign and domestic policies. Some of them go against the grain of American principles and interest. I can name a few domestic organizations and foreign government lobbyist,  like the one organized by Ethiopia via DLA Piper.

In 1997, we were able to pass House Resolution #20 demanding the Ethiopian Government adhere to the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights and stop promoting “… the shocking brutality of ethnic warfare elsewhere in Africa from spreading to Ethiopia” This Bill was initiated by Ethiopians in Houston and passed the House and Senate, but it was vetoed by President Clinton for other reasons. After learning about the Bill, Meles immediately flew to Washington in September of 1997 and invited “Who is who in America in Academia and politics on Ethiopia” to Washington and he immediately launched a Woyane lobby to stop any similar bill from passing again.

The State Department and President Obama know all the facts about Ethiopia, however, should President Obama go on the limb by himself and defend the Ethiopian people against all the lobbyists and some of his closest friends such as Susan Rice, Wendy Sherman, Gayle Smith and others who are co-opted by Woyanes.

If we had an Ethiopian lobby this would not have happened. The regime would have been a pariah state like Eritrea and North Korea,  and will not be in power for over two decades. Now, they have mastered the system at home and abroad. It will be hard to disentangle them, but it is doable if enough people are committed to creating a lobby and fund it. I have stated the strategy how to defeat Woyane in a year- 2000 piece  how to_defeat_meles.html. Unfortunately, no one in the Diaspora seems to realize the value of effective lobbying like Melese or the Woyanes did back in 1997. An effective lobby is one that helps shape U.S. policy in the interest of Ethiopians, not in the interest of Woyanes like DLP does. An effective lobby or political action committee (PAC) has good access to the power to be in Washington and knows which button to push to get a job done. So don’t blame Obama, blame the Ethiopian Diaspora for this disastrous foreign policy. I am sure the Ethiopian people will totally lose faith on us. The shame is on us, not President Obama.

Now some in the Diaspora are urging a demonstration in front of the White House and elsewhere. This is the same song and dance we heard by so-called leaders of the Diaspora, who play on the emotion of innocent Ethiopians. Demonstrations are useless unless they can garner massive publicity or create an embarrassing situation for the President or the State Department. For example one of the most successful demonstrations was conducted in Waco Texas near President Bush’s ranch during Thanksgiving weekend of 2005. With Cindy Sheehan at Camp Casey protesting the death of her son in Iraq and blaming President Bush for it, as well as a visit by the President of Russia, and alleged sickness of Bush Senior or whatever reason forced the State Department to request the cancelation of the protest.  The State Department did not want us to go to Bush’s ranch during Thanksgiving and embarrass him with the presence of his family including his father, media, during a visit by President of Russia, so we got calls from the State Department asking us to cancel the demonstration. Why did we chose Waco, because of the presence of hundreds of international and local media.

Why did we get the call, whether his father was sick or not, President Bush was under tremendous pressure and he did not want any more bad publicity under the presence of hundreds of journalists who were there covering Cindy Sheehan and the visit by the President of Russia.  We were promised that the imprisoned CUD leaders will be released immediately and there was no need for further demonstration. Of course, since there was no guarantee that CUD leaders will be freed and the demonstration was organized by various groups of Ethiopians in Texas it was hard to stop it.

Nonetheless that pressure was manifested immediately when the new Ambassador, Donald Yamamoto went to Ethiopia. Ambassador Yamamoto was the toughest Ambassador on Wyanes. Meles circumvented his call to impose severe sanctions by invading Somalia to co-opt America and Ethiopian nationalists by claiming that he was fighting Muslim terrorists from Somalia.

Another useful tactic was one conducted by Ato Abebe Gelaw when he confronted Meles, and later President Obama for shock effect and to cause embarrassment. It also important to mention another  effective demonstration conducted by  Ethiopians in Israel  though this may have involved the  blocking of  the Ayalon Highway  for three hours in many directions. This demonstration resulted in face to face meeting with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu.

By the way, if the number of demonstration was a factor, Ethiopians should have conquered the whole world and not just free Ethiopia. Ethiopian demonstrations for some reason don’t resonate with the media because we are peaceful people or poorly organized. Of course, diversity in tactics should be encouraged, but we should not waste time on tactics that did not yield any results so far.

For the last 24 years, we did everything we could to fight oppression in Ethiopia, unfortunately, we have nothing to show for it despite numerous demonstrations, the presence of ESAT, Ginbot 7 and other organizations. What is missing?  The most important  instrument in shaping Washington policy is the formation of a lobby. Meles realized that immediately and formed one.

What is needed is the formation of an effective lobby in the U.S., and encourage and finance massive civil disobedience at home.  With an effective lobby, we can stop U.S. support of the brutal regime and with effective funding, we can strengthen civil disobedience at home. Ethiopians funded various groups, have demonstrated in numerous occasions, thus far there is nothing to show for it. So let us learn from the master of all evils, Meles Zenawi, form immediately an all Ethiopian lobby in order to defeat his own creation, TPLF and EPRDF.

As lame duck President,  Obama is free to do anything he likes including wining and dining with any brutal dictators. He is slated to be in Ethiopia late July according to the State Department. Ethiopia like many of the African countries brings lots of baggage of crony capitalism, anti-Gay legislation, corruption, abuse of human rights, simply absolute lack of rule of law. The Washington Post called his visit to Ethiopia “Unfathomable” in its June 25th Editorial. 

For example, Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn and his party have been in power for the last 24 years, and their legacy is dreadful, as Ethiopia is  ranked  one of the poorest and  sickest country in the world, where over 70% of the population goes hungry on daily basis. The primary reason for the dreadful situation is government control of the economy by unseasoned tribal cadres.

A young boy waiting  in front of his tukul for his mother as she arrives with a body of his 4-year old dead sister  who died of malnutrition in Shashemene, Ethiopia: Source: NBC: & .Creeping famine-is-back-to-Ethiopia

Like North Korea, the regime controls everything, spies on everybody, at the village level as well as via the Internet, even though less than 2% of the people have  Internet access. Like North Korea, the state controls all  land, telecommunication, Internet, mining, banking, and major industries directly or through cronies. 

In Ethiopia, like in North Korea,  there is no freedom of the press, freedom of assembly,  no free or fair election, no property rights, and simply no rule of law when it comes to the majority of the citizens. Although the ruling party TPLF, represents less than 6% of the population, but like the old Apartheid regime rules the rest of the country through its private and ethnic army and as well as cronies.

It would have been more natural to visit only those countries respecting and applying democratic principles. Furthermore, winning and dinning with African dictators will mean nothing unless President Obama has a concrete plan and he can make it stick.

For example, he can propose a Marshall Plan for Africa like the way Truman did for Europe.  He can prompt  African leaders to spend less on the military, because the armies are primarily used to keep the one party dictatorship, and spend more on education, technology, and economic development.  Adopt a common language, privatize the economy, end corruption, respect human and property rights, rule of law, and form a stronger economic and political union.

Raging ethnic and religious tensions are primarily fueled by lack of hope and oppression. In many cases, the primary culprit for the hopeless situation are dictators that thrive and survive with U.S. support and largesse.  Some will go by the wayside without massive Western  aid. This gives President Obama tremendous leverage  to promote democratic and economic reform in the continent.  For example,  the rabid anti-Muslim and anti-homosexual  government of Ethiopia lead by  Mr. Desalegn was forced last March by Washington to rescind an anti-homosexual legislation ( Homosexuality-non pardonable) that he orchestrated  through his  rubber-stamped parliament.

The Ethiopian regime pretended for long for things that it is not in order to earn respect and foreign aid. The Ethiopian regime spends huge sums of money  to make sure the West does not notice the cruel and evil system and to portray the regime incorrectly anti-terrorist and democratic. It co-opts high level government officials such as Susan Rice, Wendy Sherman, Gayle Smith and congressional representatives by hiring one of the largest lobby groups in the world, DLP Piper.

For example, Azusa Pacific University Board unanimously withdrew a plan to award an honorary degree to Mr. Desalegn on July 31, 2014 after they learned gross human rights violations by his regime (university-withdraws-honor).  In 2003, Texas Southern University canceled a planned event with an Ethiopian government delegation for similar reason.

President Obama can rise to the challenge if he dared too. Pushing democratic values and free market economic development strategies are critical. President Truman provided a lifeline to a devastated Europe and created strong democratic allies for the U.S. The total cost for the Marshall Plan from 1948-1952 was $13.3 billion.  President Obama has the option to embark on a similar, bold political and economic agenda for Africa, while opening a huge market three times that of Europe for American businesses without beholding to dictators if he ever has any desire to leave a lasting legacy in Africa. Nonetheless, visiting a country mired with gross human rights violations may send a wrong message and tarnish his legacy.

By Dula Abdu,  dula can be reached at dula06@gmail.com  (article was adopted from previous articles from similar topics).