Dula's Blog

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).

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.