Dula's Blog

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).

Death is shocking, but the untimely death of a friend is more shocking. I had the opportunity to meet Mohammed Bedru, when he opened his cafe at the Chase Tower, where I was located for the previous ten years as an investment analyst for JPMorgan Chase. In the early 1990’s it was rare to see any black person, especially an Ethiopian to get a lease, let alone open business in Downtown, at that in the most expensive and prime real estate in Downtown, the Chase Tower. The Chase tower, in the center of Downtown was one of the most expensive and tallest buildings in the Southwest with its 75 stories.

My most excitement was seeing an Ethiopian own a business. In my Office, the buzz was that an Ethiopian, who is a  friend of Dula owns the cafe and everybody wanted to fraternize Mohammed’s business. Instead of associating Ethiopians with famine and hunger, now Mohammed, the quintessential entrepreneur, was the face  of Ethiopia. You cannot imagine, how proud I was. My excitement also emanates from my belief that all Ethiopians, if possible all black people focus owning their own business instead of looking for a J.O.B.  So when I was confronted with early retirement from Chase about 12 years ago, I said I want to be an entrepreneur  like Mohammed instead of looking for a job.

I used to deploy any chance or excuse to stop at his cafe. His place became home away from home. Mohammed really became like a brother and friend, despite badgering him with politics more often than he cared to. Whenever I uttered a political statement, he used to advise me with  the following ( Amharic) “Politicawon titeh lidichohen Asadig.” His advise still resonates. In hindsight, I wish I listened to his wise advise, it could have saved  some headaches and some grey hair. This advise was repeated whether I visited him in Downtown or other stores.

Some people described Mohammed as towering figure physically, he was a towering figure intellectually too. His thought process and advise to those who paid attention was profound. In hindsight I regret for not paying attention to what he was saying, as it resonated now, even after many years.

When I started working in Downtown in 80’s there were hardly any black owned businesses and blacks were not employed  in any important positions as far as the financial industry was concerned. I used to get in trouble with management when I asked how come there were not black employees. One of my bosses flatly told me that he hired me thinking I was an Indian, because Indians were not supposed to be concerned about racial inequity.

Freedom Fighter: Some of his friends described him also as fearless during his formative years as a freedom fighter against Woyanes and the Derg. He saw danger when others cannot, and in one of these occasions, he was able to save many of his colleagues lives, by taking the necessary and bold action and getting wounded in the process.

So when Mohammed opened his shop in the mid 1990s, I was elated and super impressed. I just did not think they would lease such a prime real estate to a Blackman. Some of my colleagues used to come and tell me in a very surprised manner if I knew the Ethiopian who owned the shop in the Tunnel.  Of course, I used to give an affirmative. I encouraged everyone in my department to use his service for their birthdays and other occasions.

What was great was his entrepreneurial spirit which I admired the most. As a former teacher, I emphasized this important concept to my students. When Mohammed closed his shops and moved to Ethiopia, he carried the same spirit and to make a difference and to be a pioneer.

Untimely death:  Mohammed and I were the same age. My kids just gave me  surprise party a day before his memorial. The big question is why Mohammed passed away and I am still alive. My contention is if Mohammed was still living in the U. S., he may had better chance to live longer and survived whatever the situation. The untimely death is hard to fathom.

It is clear that it is very difficult to do business in developing countries, especially in Ethiopia where corruption is meshed with tribalism and ethnic hegemony.  Mohammed was working on his second business trying to  employ close to 30 Ethiopians, but government and local cadres were pestering him constantly for bribe and how much he should charge for coffee and other products despite the fact that the other coffee shops were exempted from  VAT tax (a rate of 15% for every taxable transaction)  , because they were friends of the tax assessor or were giving bribes.  As Mohammed did not want to join the corruption racket and did not want to give bribes, he was constantly harassed and put under tremendous pressure. The Woyanes did not succeed to kill him in the battle field in the 70’s, but did their corrupt and difficult business environment has anything do with his untimely death. We will never find out.

The pressure of working in Ethiopia is huge. The corruption and the threat of government cadres to deny your liberty and property is massive or always in the back of your mind, unless you are a Woyane or a top cadre in the system.  The threat for bribery or denial to operate are huge factors in causing one to be under a tremendous pressure.

After investing a huge amount of capital and time, Mohammed was about to give up. At 64, it would have looked a huge burden to start all over again in the U.S. or become part of the corrupt system in Ethiopia. Mohammed escaped imminent threat or war with Woyanes in the 70’s and saved many lives while wounded in the process, but the current pressure may have been too hard to bear.

When Mohammed decided to go to Ethiopia, he told me briefly about it and he asked me to put his house on the market. Of course, I told him my own story of going to Africa to start a business and how I found it too complicated and corrupt.  After closing his business in Houston, he saw an opportunity to make a difference in Ethiopia. He carried with his own entrepreneurial spirit that made him successful in Houston. He thought he can duplicate it in Ethiopia without too much hassle.

However, I shared with him my own experience.  After the fall of the Apartheid regime, I went to Kenya and S. Africa to open an investment or a brokerage firm. My experience was negative. I found it  too bureaucratic and I came to the conclusion that there was no place like the USA to run a business because of its transparency, legal and banking system and a huge middle class which is an economic powerhouse on its own.

Mohammed was very independent minded. When I sent him some email that were critical of the regime, he used to correct me, of course, he was not afraid to read my critical email about the regime. Some people in Ethiopia don’t.

Mohammed knew things will be difficult, but not that difficult or that fatal. In one of his email, he said, “As the investment talk no country is better than US. It is always sweet home US. Try to compare apple to apple. Yes, if you can invest and has the capacity do it there no doubt about it. But, here too if you have the knowledge and the money place the tolerance, you can do it too. But it is from different prospective. It matters why you come here. If it is for money you are going to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. ” He added,  “I am going to open cafe’ and bakery. It will be in Welayta Sodo. I might finish the remodeling in the next one or two months. I will have close to 30 employee’s hopefully. I will post it when it is completed.” That was in December, 2011.

Mohammed went to Ethiopia to make a difference and to pursue his entrepreneurial spirit. His dreams may have been cut short, but Mohammed will be remembered as a serial entrepreneur, a straight shooter, and a very Wiseman to those who dared to know him. He used to look out for others, as he did for me by telling me “”Politicawon titeh lidichohen Asadig”. I will forever cherish his friendship, entrepreneurial spirit, great advise and love of country.

Houstonians show generosity and solidarity to Ethiopians in Gambela. As you know, the Anuaks were a target of genocide in the past and recently land grab again instigated by the current Woyane regime. This solidarity and generosity by Houstonians demonstrates the importance of breaking ethnic barriers built by Woyanes to divide Ethiopians.

Unless we overcome these divide and conquer scheme, Ethiopia will never be free of its current and future quagmire. Many Houstonians including myself insisted that any fund raising to assist the victim of Woyane machination or eviction  in Gambela should be inclusive of all Ethiopians.

Please read the press release  below from the Anuak Justice Council expressing appreciation to all Houstonians for showing such solidarity to the victims of Woyanes.

December 13, 2014
PRESS RELEASE. FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 

(Vancouver, BC, Canada) December 13, 2014 will mark the 11-year anniversary of the horrific massacre of 424 Ethiopians of Anuak ethnicity in Gambella, Ethiopia. Even though it has been over a decade, it still seems like yesterday to the Anuak, especially to those who lost members of their families. Some of the victims remain in unmarked mass graves. The Anuak as well as the other people in the region have never really recovered from this traumatic tragedy, let alone the fact that no justice has been done.

Part of the reason for this is that the lives and livelihoods of the people surviving the tragedy have been in turmoil ever since. Seventy-eight thousand Anuak and others in Gambella have been forcibly evicted from their ancestral land in order to lease the land to foreign investors and TPLF/EPRDF regime cronies. The Anuak have never been consulted or compensated as would be done in a country where there was a rule of law.

Those who survived the 2003 massacre and the following three years of destruction, harassment, and human rights abuses, only had temporary relief before the TPLF/EPRDF began a master plan to remove them from their homes and land. Those that resisted quickly discovered that their lives were in danger. Those that complied, found it nearly impossible to survive in the resettlement sites designated to them by the regime due to inferior land, difficult access to water and absent services. Many were forced to leave Ethiopia in order to save their lives. They are now living in refugee camps in South Sudan and Kenya. Yet the ethnic apartheid regime of the TPLF/EPRDF continues to round up Anuak men in Gambella who are now in prison in Addis Ababa. With all of these actions, these past eleven years have been some of the most painful for the Anuak.

Today, December 13, 2014 these Anuak refugees and other Anuaks throughout the world, namely in Europe, United States of America, Canada and Australia will be holding a memorial service to commemorate this tragedy. As they remember what took place at mid-day eleven years ago and as they reflect on the needless loss of the lives of their loved ones, it will rekindle much emotion.

Widows will try to describe what fathers, brothers, sisters, or other relatives were like to their now grown children and try to explain how a regime that is supposed to protect its citizens could do such a horrible thing to their own people. It is difficult enough when you are in a stable environment, but it is all the more difficult being in a refugee camp, trying to find ways to move on with such few resources.

In the midst of this darkness, out of the hearts of the Ethiopian community in the greater Houston Area, has come an unexpected source of hope and encouragement—a large monetary gift to help the Anuak who have been displaced. In their letter of explanation they say: “We would like to kindly request that this small token be allocated to our fellow Ethiopians that have been uprooted from their land and homes by some greedy land grabbers who have little to no regard to their fellow mankind.”

The funds will be divided between Anuak in refugee camps in South Sudan and Kenya and Anuak in Gambella. The Anuak Justice Council (AJC) has chosen to distribute the funds to both refugee camps in conjunction with the December 13th memorial gatherings in both camps; but in Gambella, no commemoration is allowed, other than privately, so we are still working out the best way to distribute the funds.

Mr. Ochalla  Abulla, Chairman of the Anuak Justice Council (AJC) was very moved by this generosity, “This gift has been a tremendous encouragement to the people in the camps, but what these Ethiopians did when they reached out to the Anuak should now be an example to all of us, including the Anuak, to reach out to others beyond their ethnic groups. The impact of this could be huge and could inspire us as a nation to help our people—not only those from our own groups. There are some other examples of Ethiopians who are already doing this. Some Ethiopians have formed small groups of five members who all contribute $20 a month to support the family of some of our Ethiopian political prisoners who used to be the breadwinners of their families.”

AJC Vice Chairman, Mr. Ojulu Lero, added his thoughts, “This gesture is reconciliation in itself! These people have reached out to the Anuak and now the Anuak can reach out to other people like the Majangir or the Oromo who can reach out to the Amhara or Tigray who can reach out to the Southerners or the Afar and so forth. It reminds me of the recent SMNE forum in Washington D.C. that encourages us to talk to each other rather than about each other. In this case, these Ethiopians from Houston helped others rather than only helping themselves. If we all follow this model of action, it will be another way to unify the Ethiopian people.  Once the people are unified, the leaders will be more unified.”

As the Anuak in South Sudan and Kenya come together on December 13, 2014, they will know they are not alone. They will be thinking of those fellow Ethiopians far away who have torn down a wall of isolation through their gift of love. These funds will be put to good use, but the impact of it will live on as building blocks to a New Ethiopia. The power of love can break the walls of hostility and division like nothing else.

May the actions of these and other Ethiopians like them, inspire our people to reach out to others with love, humility, and generosity. May God deeply comfort the Anuak during this time of remembrance of the massacre of December 13-15, 2003 as well as all Ethiopians who have lost loved ones over these past years at the hands of the TPLF/EPRDF. May He also bring freedom to all political prisoners from every region throughout the country who are locked up simply for trying to bring justice and freedom to Ethiopia.

______________________________________________________________

If you have any questions or require further information, please contact Mr. Ochala Abulla, Chairman of the Anuak Justice Council (AJC): Phone: +1 (604) 520-6848 E-mail:Ochala@anuakjustice.org

http://www.anuakjustice.org/141213-Anuak-Remembrance.htm

Dula

 Prof. Alemayehu has written a remembrance of the Woyane massacres of 2005. Let us not forget,  it will repeat many times more unless we are willing to stop it. We have the power to stop it, but we failed to rise up to the task instead we keep giving lip service to the plight of our people.  The Diaspora has the tools to make a difference, but it has failed its moral responsibility to do so and allow the continued subjugation and humiliation of the Ethiopian people.  Click to read article: Please click here to read Al Mariam’s article: Remembering the 2005 Massacre

It is nice to read such blogs and to watch ESAT, unfortunately, these are reminders of the situation, but not a solution. Solutions come with action and organizations. If our community really wants to do something, please read my 2005  article entitled : “How to defeat Meles”. Of course, the personalities changed,  Meles is deal,  organizations such as CUD and UEDF don’t exit, and some of  tactics may have to change too, but the concept remains the same and sound in overcoming the current stalemate with Woyanes.  Please click to read the article: How to defeat Meles

Ethiopia is the unhealthiest and the second poorest country in the world. Ethiopia the unhealthiest-country in the-world and the second poorest.

This is despite the regime  telling the world that it has ushered the fastest growing economy and plan to meet the Millennium Development  challenge. For the last 20+ years, countries like Singapore, Indonesia, China and many Asian countries were able to transform  their economy because they had a  leadership that put the interest of the people rather maintaining just power. Now a creeping famine is taking a toll mostly among the children.

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

Hate to mention it, to get the jest of  the Ethiopian economics, read my piece entitled “Voodoo Economics”.   Ethiopia is the least connected country in Africa in terms of  the Internet, because the regime of Meles Zenawi  denied  the Ethiopian people access to technology, nationalized land, telecom, and other industries that are critical to grow an economy. Thus driving the country to the dark ages economically and socially.

In 1996, knowing the reality of Ethiopia, with the help of the Mickey Leland foundation,  Ethiopia was granted $12 million U.S. dollars to wire with broadband Internet Ethiopian schools to give Ethiopia a leg up and to leapfrog it into a technology driven society to rid off its perennial famine. This opportunity was exceptional because no other country had such undertaking in place due to the infancy of the Internet then.

Meles  and Dawit Yohaness refused the grant because they were afraid the people will use the Internet to organize and overthrow them. Their interest came before the interest of the very survival of Ethiopia. In 2009, we tried to ship a container to supply 15 high schools with computers, the regime again refused to accept it and the Djibouti government ended up confiscating the container.

By deploying  ethnic biased economic policy and governance, the current regime is pushing Ethiopia into a brink of disintegration and the peoples life at risk. With their huge PR machine, they won accolades from Nobel laureates such as Joseph Stiglitz and others for their economic policy despite deploying a very centralized and crony capitalism.  They masked the stats to record a double digit growth and some agencies took the numbers for granted and gave the credit to the regime.

Ethiopia by any definition is no more economically viable and politically stable nation. Even if the current regime relinquishes power,  Ethiopia has little chance of becoming  a viable nation because of many missed opportunities. Subsequent rulers have succeeded in fracturing  it as a nation and degraded its economic viability. Sad to say, the future is bleak and scary. NBC news nightly-news narrates about the creeping and perennial famine.

According to many observers, the streets of Addis are filled with hapless and young prostitutes as young as 12  who are forced to chance the odds of disease and other crimes to just barley put food on the table for their parents.

Jonas Clinton of Canada, a development expert and a visitor to Ethiopia described his feeling as ” sad and confused” because the streets of Addis are literally full of young prostitutes mirroring the poverty that exists in the country and could not reconcile of what he heard of Ethiopia.

Pilot, Hailemedhin Abera Tegegn hijacked his plane to show the world the horrible situation in Ethiopia for Ethiopians. He took the most unimaginable and desperate action  in attempt to tell the world that something is indeed wrong with Ethiopia.

Even Ethiopian who were abused and sometimes rapped by Saudi Arabian Shabab were found to be sad and confused to return to Ethiopia. The question is why feel miserable and scared to return home from such a brutal Arab country.  Because the Woyane Ethiopia is scary , as well as bleak.

The poverty and ethnic conflict in Ethiopia is manmade.  In order to overcome poverty, you need  talented and trusted leadership. Unfortunately, things have progressively gone wrong for Ethiopia to recover from this potential made Armageddon and it may be too late. According to the annual Human Development Report Ethiopia has the second highest percentage of people who are MPI poor in the world,  next to the west African nation of Niger, ranking at the bottom. The MPI measure deprivations across health, education and living standards.   The MPI goes beyond previous international measures of poverty. It is holistic and includes nutrition, child mortality, years of schooling, school attendance, cooking fuel, sanitation, water situation, electricity, floor, assets and more. Government control of the economy and cronyism have a choke-hold on economic activity. Detailed Report just for Ethiopia.

Ethiopians need peace, security  and development. However, it will not have peace and security as long as the regime policy of divide conquer is in place. There will not be development as long as the state or the Woyanes control all the facets of the economy. The wanton killing in Ambo and the arbitrary arrest of journalists are a few examples of a government ran amuck against its own people. Given the current state of conditions, Ethiopia’s future is scary and bleak.

Many Africans have argued that President Obama so far ignored Africa, while giving a strong attention to the Middle East and other hot spots. Even compared to former President George Bush, so far he has little to show in terms of rhetoric urging reform or concrete action like Bush did to fight AIDs in Africa.

What is bedeviling Africa is poor leadership and dictators. Africa has all the resources to be a politically stable and economically viable continent if it were not for the prevalence of corruption and dictators. Most of the conflicts are orchestrated by leaders or originate due to lack of good governance.

For example, ten of the  poorest countries in the world are located in Sub Sahara Africa according to the latest U.N. report. From South Sudan, Central Africa to Ethiopia, the leaders have been poking ethnic tension in order to stay in power. While the U.S. is expanding its military bases throughout Africa, it finds  it problematic to speak against countries where it has such bases such as Ethiopia. U.S. with 35 or more military command centers in Africa is supporting  strongmen, mostly dictators that the militaries are backing.

There is nothing Obama cannot tell some of the dictators on the phone than dragging them to the White House and giving them undeserved red carpet and photo opportunity. It would have been more natural to invite only those countries respecting and applying democratic principles. Winning and dinning with African dictators will mean nothing unless he 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 to build roads East to West and North to South and to connect Africa and strengthen academic and civic institutions and to promote good governance. Furthermore,  he can tell them to abolish their national armies, because the armies primarily used to keep the one party dictatorship, and spend the money on education, end government ownership of land, industries, the Internet, and mines to end corruption. Adopt English, French and Swahili as national languages  so that Africans can speak to one another, and form a strong economic and political union like Europe.

President Obama was perceived as a transformational figure in Africa, as well as in the rest of the world. It will be a historical  mistake if he does not take advantage  to transform Africa; most of all help it get rid of its worst enemy,  unelected and murderous dictators and vigorously promote the establishment of democratic foundation and rule of law.

On the other hand, the west is obsessed with fighting terrorism in Africa, but not solving the root cause of terrorism, poverty and hopelessness that is translated into a Jihad. For the west promoting democracy is secondary to fighting terrorism, which is self-defeating, but it goes on. Some forget that  dictatorship and hopelessness are the root causes for terrorism, but most western leaders ignore it at their own peril and continue to spend huge sums of money on barricading themselves, screening, surveillance and drones.

Raging ethnic tension primarily instigated by the divide and conquer policy of ruling oligarchy, combined with corruption and misapplication of resources are slowly sapping the economy and the political viability of the continent.

Currently, besides  political oppression, and ethnic tensions, some regimes have strangled the people and the economy through government ownership of land, Internet, telephone, and other vital industries leading to massive unemployment and massive migration especially in countries like Eritrea and Ethiopia.

Some of the culprits in this case, the dictators, only thrive and survive with U.S. largesse.  Some will go by the wayside without massive Western  aid. This gives the U.S. tremendous leverage  to coerce democratic and economic changes in the continent.  For example, the rabid anti-Muslim and anti-homosexual  government of Ethiopia lead by  Prime Minister, Hailemariam Desalegn was forced by Washington to rescind the anti-homosexual legislation and demonstration  despite  overwhelming  support  by rubber-stamped parliament and the public. Despite the failure of the African Diaspora to take advantage of it, this shows  the power of lobby groups in shaping U.S. foreign policy.

President Obama is threatening sanction against Russia and he thinks he can bring Russia to its knees using a sweeping sanction. If he thinks he has this kind of power against a resource rich and powerful country like Russia, why can  he not use the some power on perpetual beggars and tinhorn dictators in Africa to reform, end the misery, the corruption, and the dictatorship if he really cares.

Ethiopia is the key to democracy in Africa. Ethiopia besides being the seat of the African union, cradle of mankind, carries great historical symbol for  people of African origin. Ethiopia earned this position as one of the longest independent nations, and for repulsing Western colonial occupation. Despite this legacy, Ethiopians have never enjoyed rule of law or fair and free election.

Most African leaders look up to Ethiopia and gather every year in Addis Abeba, Ethiopia. Now representative of warring factions from South Sudan are in Ethiopia to hammer out their differences and to form democratic union. Unfortunately, Ethiopia is not a place to learn or preach democracy or ethnic harmony. The Ethiopian regime pretended for long for things that it is not in order to earn respect and foreign aid.

Human rights records in many African countries are abysmal and are well documented by Amnesty International,  Human rights Watch, and independent media. Some of the African dictators such as the one in Ethiopia, Zimbabwe, Sudan, and Eritrea appeared along with North Korean dictator in the Dictators of the Month Magazine. Unfortunately, in Washington leaders like the late Ethiopian dictator, Meles Zenawi were wined and dined, as they disguised their “vicious dictatorship” by ingratiating themselves with the U.S. State Department and by hiring high power lobbyist using the money collected from the impoverished people of Africa. For example, Ethiopia spends huge sums of money  to make sure Washington does not notice the cruel and evil system and to portray the regime incorrectly anti-terrorist and democratic.

President Obama has also to avoid past pitfalls. In his book Out of America: a Black Man Confronts Africa, journalist Keith Richburg rebukes some African-Americans for being too cozy with African dictators who bring untold misery to their own people.

To his credit, George Bush stemmed the tide of AIDs in Africa; Bill Clinton pretended to be the first Black President. On the other hand, there is little to brag about Obama yet, as far as his contribution to the welfare or the transformation of blacks in America or in Africa.

It might be that his hands are tied, but not for lack of empathy. Either way, there will be no legacy for Obama to brag about so far.

President Obama can rise to the challenge if he dared too. Pushing democratic values and freer market  economic development strategies are critical to save the continent. With an investment of $13.3 billion under the Marshall Plan from 1948 to 1952, President Truman provided a lifeline to a devastated Europe and created strong democratic allies for the U.S. President Obama has the option to embark on a bold political and economic agenda for Africa, while opening a huge market three times that of Europe for American businesses.

Dula Abdu,  is a U.S-based writer on foreign policy. (article was adopted from previous articles from similar topics).

Over 100 heads of states including Obama and Castro were present for Mandela’s funeral service, while a handful of African leaders like Al-Bashir  of Sudan, Museveni of Uganda were present for Meles’ funeral.  Mandela state funeral  appeared more genuine, spontaneous, full of  love and celebration  unlike that of  Zenawi  which was shrouded with secrecy (cause of death still unknown) and appeared orchestrated and staged managed by the party. Mandela stands out in many ways.

While Mandela fought to end  Bastustanization and oppression in  South Africa, Zenawi on the other hand was the architect of Bastustanization in Ethiopia driving schism and wedges among Ethiopians.

Mandela gave up power peacefully, while Zenawi did everything in his power to keep it including voiding election, jailing opposition leaders, and killing peaceful demonstrators against rigged election.

Mandela brought very diverse people together, while Zenawi  broke the long standing unity and nationalism that made Ethiopia unique and  that  withstood Western colonialism into a breaking point.

A writer for Aljazeera expressed Meles’s legacy as follows ” The late Meles Zenawi ……practically reduced Ethiopia into a landlocked, bantustanized, and impoverished country thanks to his Stalinist organization in the name of TPLF. ” Aljazeera, December 9, 2013 “Ethiopia and Eritrea: Brothers at ware no more” Ethiopia and Eritrea: Brother’s at War

The World and South Africans will dearly miss Mandela, I am not sure that will be said of  Meles by those who really know his true legacy.

Zenawi was given bigger than life farewell at the end by his supporters and some citizens, despite his tarnished legacy. By force or by volition, Ethiopians throughout the country were engaged in praising, wailing, and crying for Zenawi,  The wailing and the crying for Meles was primarily due to the fact that most dictators become father figures for the majority of the people, especially for the youth, with the help of the state controlled media, where such leaders are lionized on a daily basis. So anxiety and fear set in because a vacuum is created by the death of a dictator in Ethiopia or North Korea. This is primarily true when the state controls the media; nobody knows the true state of affairs in the country.

For a country as poor as Ethiopia, the parade, the display and the ceremony  for Zenawi was excessive. The attempt was to rebrand, redefine and humanize Zenawi  to justify continued control by the ruling party. Zenawi was praised for everything in the world, but not for his wrongs, such as for genocide he committed, for the war he waged to make Ethiopia landlocked, for creating ethnic gerrymandering or for excessive control of the economy by his ethnic party and his cronies.

Though no dictator is lionized after death to the extent Zenawi was, however, thanks to re-branding by a well organized party, TPLF, Zenawi’s profile looked better in death than in life. Those who might have expected the TPLF machine to self-destruct after the passing of Zenawi should have a second thought because the machine is highly organized, and exceedingly efficient in manipulating the Ethiopian state in any shape or form it wishes. In a manner similar to a cult, the regime has finessed how to manipulate the media and get the people organized to behave accordingly. A farewell of such depth, organization, fanfare is only possible under a dictatorial regime.

Zenawi was rebranded as a great leader instead of an ethnic or Marxist dictator, as the opposition has often called him. So the idea of worrying about ones legacy  doing the right thing may go out the window provided if one has a well organized party like Meles did. Overall, in life or death, Meles or his party succeeded in hoodwinking many people in Ethiopia and around the world by creating a different persona.

For  three months, the system in Ethiopia was completely shut, no business license was issued, even no wedding ceremonies were held, millions of dollars was spent to materialize Zenawi’s after-life grandiose with burst out of a 21-gun salute. Most leaders in his shoe, such as Benito Mussolini, Nikita Khrushchev, or Joseph Stalin, did not get such honorable departure.

During his reign, Zenawi never met ordinary citizens in public; never traveled without massive security, and if he did, streets were closed, and he was completely isolated from public view. However, in death, he was lionized by ordinary people that he tried to shun for security reasons.

In Ethiopia most people cannot afford Aslekash or hired help to instigate crying or mourning for the dead. However, the rich, kings and dictators, can afford to hire such people, as it appears Zenawi benefited from such practice where hundreds of people were employed to show case his invented  popularity to foreigners and Ethiopians. Would this manufactured and manipulated ceremony dissipate as the public and the world knows the real legacy of Zenawi?

Zenawi’s Ethiopia is a landlocked and impoverished country. At last the world gets a chance to see its true state of affairs, world leaders who praised Meles without checking the facts will be put to shame.

Innocent students were massacred at Addis Abeba University for opposing the secession of Eritrea from Ethiopia; hundreds of people were killed in the aftermath of the 2005 election, and hundreds of thousands of people were imprisoned during the same period. During the last 22 years, hundreds of other innocent people were killed in other parts of the country due to ethnic policy of the regime, and the recent killing of Ethiopian Muslims for asking their freedom to worship without government interference has to be also mentioned.

Although Ethiopians throughout the Diaspora held a memorial service for the thousands of victims of Meles Zenawi, but they were given no media coverage, while Zenawi was memorialized in grand scale for weeks by his party and those who benefited during his 22 years of rule. The grand finale for Meles was beyond expectation and more than deserved by a leader who used force to take power and to stay in power.

Zenawi ruled Ethiopia with an iron fist and bloody hand. According to Human Rights Watch, “Ethiopia’s citizens are unable to speak freely, organize political activities, and challenge their government’s policies – through peaceful protest, voting, or publishing their views – without fear of reprisal.” Despite these abhorrent statistics, and dire economic conditions for two (2) decades, resembling other dictatorial regimes such as North Korea or China, Meles Zenawi dared to claim that he received 99.6% of the vote in the last fake election.

Zenawi was a dictator par excellence in applying the Machiavellian system of divide and rule. Unlike other dictators, he carved out a positive image abroad by partnering with top PR firms, opportunistic and ill-informed Americans, despite being highly-detested at home and abroad by the majority of Ethiopians. Like other dictators, he controlled the army, the police, 100% of the land mass, industry, and denied Ethiopians access to technology, thus forcing the greater number of Ethiopians to eke out a meager living, often with the help of Western food aid or flee the country to places like Saudi Arabia, Yemen, South Africa and other places despite facing real and present danger as refugees.

So why is Zenawi memorialized? Like North Korea, his supporters want to maintain the current system by giving one of the bloodiest dictators a facelift and by rebranding him as a great leader. By giving him a humane face, his supporters believe that they can justify staying in power for years to carry the torch of their great leader.

Zenawi’s critics were jailed, killed or chased out of the country. Ethiopia has more journalists exiled or in prison than any country according to New York-based Human Rights Foundation. In addition, Ethiopia was found to be one of the failed states following countries like Somalia, Chad, and ranks 174 out of 180 countries in terms of human development index.

Given these facts, Zenawi should be remembered just as another dictator, except he was exceptionally good in hoodwinking the world to the contrary. In the meantime, he left Ethiopia totally unprepared and desperately behind the curve in access to technology, human and economic development.

In the end Zenawi was just a tyrant beyond comparison who employed voodoo economics to exaggerate his economic achievement, denied Ethiopians their basic freedom, rigged elections, and humiliated and desecrated their religion, history, identity and humanity.

All said and done, the West has to bear some responsibility for piling praises on a dictator without unveiling his dark secret, genocide in Gambella, cyber jamming, and the strangulation and evisceration of the Ethiopian media, intellectuals, as well as monopolizing the economy by his clan.

At the end, the world may find out that Zenawi may have hoodwinked the West, eviscerated the Ethiopian economy, it nationalism,  and its institutions.  If all this is true, unlike Mandela,  Zenawi will eventually be remembered as nothing but a charlatan

The article was based on “Legacy of Meles Zenawi of Ethiopia (1991-2012) by the same author.