News
Ethiopian Court Grants 10 More Days for Blogger Terror Probe
By William Davison
An Ethiopian court granted police 10 more days to investigate nine bloggers and journalists suspected of conspiring with “terrorist” organizations in a case that’s raised concern from the U.S. and European Union.
The suspects will next appear in court in the Arada district of the capital, Addis Ababa, on May 17 and 18 when authorities may press charges or ask to extend their detention, defense lawyer Ameha Mekonnen said by phone. Three of the bloggers attended court today, he said.
“The police alleged that these people received money from terrorist organizations and that they’ve taken training, traveling to Kenya, and one European country,” Ameha said. “Police are saying they organized themselves underground and using social media they planned to instigate a revolution.”
The capital’s police on April 25-26 arrested three freelance journalists and six bloggers with Zone 9, a group writing on Ethiopian politics. The U.S. State Department has urged the authorities to release those detained, while the EU called for the defendants to receive full legal rights.
Donors and rights groups have repeatedly criticized Ethiopia’s government for criminalizing dissent, while officials say politicians and journalists are only jailed if they break the law.
Communications Minister Redwan Hussein didn’t answer his mobile phone when Bloomberg News called today seeking comment. The mobile phone of State Minister of Communications Shimeles Kemal was switched off.
To contact the reporter on this story: William Davison in Addis Ababa at wdavison3@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Paul Richardson at pmrichardson@bloomberg.net Michael Gunn, Karl Maier
Source: Bloomberg
Ethiopia detains bloggers and journalist
Security forces arrest six bloggers and a journalist in latest crackdown on opposition voices.
The Ethiopian government has arrested six independent bloggers and a journalist in what human rights group Amnesty International has called a “suffocating grip on freedom of expression”.
Six members of independent blogger and activist group ‘Zone 9’ and a prominent Ethiopian journalist were arrested on Friday in the capital Addis Ababa.
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These arrests appear to be yet another alarming round up of opposition or independent voices |
All six bloggers were arrested at night by armed security forces and taken from their homes to the Federal Police Crime Investigation Sector ‘Maikelawi’, where political prisoners are alleged to be held in pre-trial, and sometimes arbitrary detention.
The Zone 9 group who are said to be very critical of government policy and have a strong following on social media had temporarily suspended their activities earlier this year after accusing the government of harassing their members.
Journalist Tesfalem Waldyes who writes independent commentary on political issues for a Ethiopian newspaper was also arrested.
According to Ethiopian journalist Simegnish Yekoye, Waldyes is being denied visitation by friends and family and it’s unclear what prompted his arrest and what charges he is being held under.
Simegnish Yekoye told Al Jazeera she was unaware of why the government had clamped down on journalists and their was growing fear on the future of a free press.
“I am very scared, I don’t know what’s going to happen next,” she said.
Ranked 143 in the 2014 Reporters Without Borders press freedom index, media watchdogs say 49 journalists fled the country between 2007 and 2012 to evade government persecution.
Human rights group Amesty International criticised the arrests, saying “these arrests appear to be yet another alarming round up of opposition or independent voices”.
“The Ethiopian government is tightening its suffocating grip on freedom of expression in a major crackdown which has seen the arrest of numerous independent, critical and opposition voices over the last two days”, Claire Beston, Ethiopia researcher at Amnesty International, said.
Al Jazeera’s Mohammed Adow reporting from Bahir Dar said it was unclear what will happen to the detained journalists.
“There are scores of journalists currently serving between 14 and 27 years in prison with some charged on terrorism offences.”
Source: Al Jazeera
Ethiopians in Norway discussed the current political situation in Ethiopia and the role of the Diaspora
This meeting was organized by the Democratic Change in Ethiopia Support Organization in Norway (DCESON) and took place on the 12th of April 2014 in Oslo from 15.00-21:00 p.m.
It was attended by around 200 Ethiopians who live in Oslo and the other parts of Norway. The guest speaker at the meeting was Ato Bizuneh Tsige who is the member of the leadership of Ginbo7 movement for justice, democracy and freedom. The guest speaker held a broad speech.
The public meeting was opened by holding a minute of silence to remember the victims of the TPLF racist rulers and prisoners of conscience in Ethiopia. The minute of silence was led by Ato Abi Amare who is in charge of the public relations part of the DCESON. Following this, Ato Yohannes Alemu, the chairman of the DCESON spoke about how the DCESON was established and its objectives. He told the participants that the organization at the moment supports the UDJ party that is based in Ethiopia and Ginbot7 that is based in exile (abroad). Moreover, he stressed that all Ethiopians should overcome their differences and contribute to the decisive all sided struggle to get rid of the racist rule of the TPLF in Ethiopia.
The guest speaker Ato Bizuneh Tsige spoke about the history of the struggle of Ethiopians beginning from the period of the rule of Emperor Haile Selaasie to the present one. He pointed out that the current racist TPLF rule is totally different from the preceding governments because it is based on and fosters ethnicity. Ato Bizuneh Tsige also mentioned the causes for the collapse of the two former governments and dealt in detail with the clear causes that can bring about the rapid collapse of the TPLF regime. He mentioned the following two issues as the significant ones in the present Ethiopian politics.
1. The current conflict between the Muslim community and the TPLF regime.
2. The opposition to the renaissance dam.
In relation to the opposition of the Muslim community, he indicated that the struggle is peaceful and the TPLF regime has not been able to suppress it. He admires the struggle. The regime has not addressed and answered the demands of the Muslim community and he does not expect any positive or constructive response from the TPLF regime. The evidence for this view is the fact that the regime has not met any of the four demands of the Muslim community so far. Besides, the regime has arrested the leaders of the Muslim community on the basis of fabricated charges. The prisoners are languishing in the regime`s prison without the due process of law. He could not say how long the struggle of the Muslims will continue as it is now but he said he does not believe the struggle will continue and go long without changing its present direction. He stated that the struggle of the Muslim community can succeed as part of the overall struggle of Ethiopians for their basic human and democratic rights. This struggle should go further and include all the rights.
Concerning the issue of the renaissance dam, he explained that the regime has come up with this idea or project to distract the attention of the public from the repression and crisis in the country. The TPLF dictatorship does not have any national vision and has gone to the extent of giving away Ethiopian land.
The opposition forces in the Diaspora have foiled all the attempts of the TPLF regime to mobilize and collect money through selling bonds and direct contributions from the Diaspora. Ethiopians living in Norway have also foiled the same attempts of the regime to sell bonds and collect money in Norway. He concluded his speech by stating that the issue of the dam can cause the fall of the TPLF regime and its current confrontation with Egypt can create a dangerous condition and be harmful to Ethiopia.
Following this, the guest speaker responded to the several and various questions raised by the participants and wide ranging discussions were held. Later on, the vice chairman of the DCESON Ato Daniel Abebe made s statement of declaration of position and said that the DCESON condemns the repression and human rights violations the TPLF is committing against the people of Ethiopia. He also reiterated that the DCESON will continue to stand by and support Ginbot 7. He thanked Ato Bizuneh for coming and speaking to the participants.
The song of Ginbot 7 popular force was sung in the beginning and end of the meeting by the singers and the participants were entertained by Ethiopian cultural music. Ethiopian dishes prepared by the women`s section of the DCESON were also served during the meeting. The whole meeting was led by Ato Fikre Assefa. In the end, the DCESON thanks all who contributed to the success of the meeting, came from the other parts of Norway and members of the organization.
Victory to the people of Ethiopia.
The DCESON.
Source: ECADForum
Mandela’s Message to Ethiopia’s Youth: Never give up…!
By Prof. Alemayehu G. Mariam
Africa’s Wise Lion and Ethiopia’s Restless Cheetahs—Never give up and keep on trying to build your Beloved Ethiopian Community!
December 15, 2013. It is the saddest day of the year for me. Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela was finally interred with state honors in Qunu, a small rural village in South Africa’s Eastern Cape Province. He spent the “happiest days” of his life there as a shepherd. He returned to Qunu after a long life, a long imprisonment and a long walk to freedom to join his ancestors. The young shepherd of Qunu returned to his final resting place as the revered, loved and respected shepherd of his people. I bid him farewell. May he rest in eternal peace!
December 15, 2013. It is the happiest day of the year for me. I am just outside Washington, D.C. at a town hall meeting to welcome Semayawi (Blue) Party and its young Chairman Yilikal Getnet. I am here to celebrate Ethiopia’s dynamic and striving young people; to honor them and demonstrate my unflagging and unwavering support for their nonviolent struggle against oppression and human rights violations.
In my first commentary of the year, I declared 2013 “Ethiopia’s Year of the Cheetah (Young) Generation”. I promised to reach, teach and preach to Ethiopia’s youth in 2013. I kept my promise.
It is a special privilege and honor for me to be here today with Yilikal. I feel like I have met the chief spokesperson for Ethiopia’s young people yearning to be free – free from ethnic bigotry and hatred; free from tyranny and repression; free to dream, free to think, free to speak, to write and to listen; free to innovate; free to act and free to be free
Ethiopia’s (and for that matter Africa’s) fate hangs in the balance of two generations. As George Ayittey described it, Africa’s “Cheetah Generation” comprises of the “new and angry generation of young African graduates and professionals, who are dynamic, intellectually agile, and pragmatic. They understand and stress transparency, accountability, human rights, and good governance.” Africa’s Hippos Generation, “is intellectually astigmatic and stuck in their muddy colonialist pedagogical patch. They lack vision and sit comfortable in their belief that the state can solve all of Africa’s problems. All the state needs is more power and more foreign aid.”
It is a great day today because I, a member of Ethiopia’s Hippo Generation stand together with Yilikal, the leader of the Ethiopia’s Cheetah Generation.
I am the foremost supporter of Ethiopia’s Semayawi (Blue) Party, which is a political party of young people, for young people and by young people. Seventy percent of Ethiopia’s population is under age 35. It is an injustice for me to call it a “party” because it aspires to much more than the pursuit of political power. I believe Semayawi Party to be a movement. It is a movement of young Ethiopians from apathy to engagement, from indifference to caring; from selfishness to community concern; from division to unity; from discord to harmony and from bickering and fighting to reconciliation.
Semayawi Party chose the color blue to symbolize their ideals of unity, peace and hope in Ethiopia. Just like U.N. blue symbolizes peace and hope for all nations. Just like European Union blue which symbolizes the efforts of over two dozen states working for a more perfect economic and political union. Like Ethiopian blue symbolizing an Ethiopia united, peaceful and hopeful in the Twenty-first Century.
The Blue Party Movement has only one aim: creating the “Beloved Community” Dr. Martin Luther King spoke about in his efforts to secure human and civil rights for all Americans. He said, “The end of nonviolent social change is reconciliation; the end is redemption; the end is the creation of the Beloved Community. It is this type of spirit and this type of love that can transform opponents into friends.” Creating the Beloved Ethiopian Community at peace with itself is the reason for the existence of the Semayawi Party Movement.
Creating the Beloved Ethiopian Community will not be easy for Semayawi Party Movement. It requires a lot of preparation and effort. It may be a thankless job but someone has to do it. What can Semayawi Party Movement and Ethiopia’s young people do, think and dream to create their community? I believe Ethiopia’s young and restless Cheetahs could learn much from the teachings of Nelson Mandela, the Wise Lion of Africa. Mandela would tell Ethiopia’s Cheetahs to…
Dare to be great. Mandela would remind Ethiopia’s youth of their historical destiny to create a Beloved Ethiopian Community. He would dare them to be great. “Sometimes it falls upon a generation to be great. You can be that great generation. Let your greatness blossom.”
Change yourselves first before you change society. He would tell them the old ways of hate and fear must give way to the new path of understanding and reconciliation to create a Beloved Ethiopian Community. They must be prepared to learn. “One of the things I learned when I was negotiating was that until I changed myself, I could not change others.” They must never hate because “Resentment is like drinking poison and then hoping it will kill your enemies.” Hatred is an acquired characteristic. “No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.”
Keep on trying. Mandela would urge Ethiopia’s youth to keep on trying and never, never to give up on the promise of creating a Beloved Ethiopian Community where the ethnic affiliation, language, religion, region are of no more significance than the color of his/her hair. He would tell them to keep on trying until “justice rolls down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream” in Ethiopia. He would tell them to keep on trying and never to be afraid to fail, for it is in failure that one finds the seeds of success. “Do not judge me by my successes, judge me by how many times I fell down and got back up again.” Failure is no vice; failing to try is. “The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.” He’d tell them not to sit on their laurels but to put their shoulders to the grindstone and keep on keeping on because “After climbing a great hill, one only finds that there are many more hills to climb.”
Come together. Mandela would tell Ethiopia’s youth to come together as a youth force to create a Beloved Ethiopian Community. He would advise them that “No single person can liberate a country [or create a Beloved Community]. You can only liberate a country [and create a Beloved Community] if you act as a collective.”
Be virtuous. Mandela would tell Africa’s youth to strive and be virtuous if they are to succeed in creating a Beloved Ethiopian Community. Virtue is moral excellence. It is about striving to do the right thing and doing the right thing even when no one is looking. “As I have said, the first thing is to be honest with yourself. You can never have an impact on society if you have not changed yourself… Great peacemakers are all people of integrity, of honesty, but humility.”
Be patriotic. Mandela believed in patriotism and he would tell Ethiopia’s youth that they must be patriots to their people and continent. Mandela said, “I have always regarded myself, in the first place, as an African patriot.” African patriots threw out colonial masters. South African patriots overthrew apartheid without bloodshed. Ethiopia’s youth must now close ranks to overthrow poverty, ignorance and tyranny and build their Beloved Ethiopian Community.
Be courageous. He would tell them that courage is the essential ingredient in creating their Beloved Ethiopian Community. “I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.”
Dream big. Mandela would tell Ethiopia’s youth to dream big in creating their Beloved Ethiopian Community. The foundation of their community should be peace, unity and hope. “I dream of an Africa which is in peace with itself. If there are dreams about a beautiful South Africa, there are also roads that lead to their goal. Two of these roads could be named Goodness and Forgiveness.”
Lead from behind. Mandela would tell Ethiopia’s youth that in building their Beloved Ethiopian Community, they must become “ like a shepherd who stays behind the flock, letting the most nimble go out ahead, whereupon the others follow, not realizing that all along they are being directed from behind.” He would say, “lead from behind and put others in front, especially when you celebrate victory when nice things occur. You take the front line when there is danger. Then people will appreciate your leadership… Lead from the back — and let others believe they are in front.” He would remind them very strongly that “Quitting is leading too.”
Expect trials and tribulations. He would tell Ethiopia’s young people that in building their Beloved Ethiopian Community, they will face many trials and tribulations. They will be persecuted and prosecuted, humiliated and dehumanized. In the end, they are assured of victory. “I was called a terrorist yesterday, but when I came out of jail, many people embraced me, including my enemies, and that is what I normally tell other people who say those who are struggling for liberation in their country are terrorists.”
Make peace with your enemy. He would tell them that in creating their Beloved Ethiopian Community, they must reach out, shake hands and embrace their enemy in the cause of peace. “If you want to make peace with your enemy, you have to work with your enemy. Then he becomes your partner.”
Fight poverty. Mandela would exhort Ethiopia’s youth that they can never create their Beloved Ethiopian Community when poverty threatens the very survival of millions of their compatriots. He would tell them that they are Ethiopia’s greatest generation and best hope to lift their country out of the bottomless pit of poverty. “Overcoming poverty is not a task of charity, it is an act of justice. Like Slavery and Apartheid, poverty is not natural. It is man-made and it can be overcome and eradicated by the actions of human beings. Sometimes it falls on a generation to be great. YOU can be that great generation. Let your greatness blossom.”
Never compromise on principles. Mandela would urge Ethiopia’s youth not to compromise on principles in creating their Beloved Ethiopian Community. He would tell them that he struggled all his life against apartheid and discrimination because these evils are the mortal enemies of humanity. “I hate racial discrimination most intensely and all its manifestations. I have fought all my life; I fight now, and will do so until the end of my days…” He did. He would urge them to take a principled and uncompromising stand against hate in all its manifestations: tribalism, identity politics, communalism, ethnic divisiveness, gender oppression, economic exploitation and social discrimination.
Be optimistic and determined. Mandela would tell Ethiopia’s youth to be optimistic in creating their Beloved Ethiopian Community because Ethiopia’s best days are yet to come. “I am fundamentally an optimist. Whether that comes from nature or nurture, I cannot say. Part of being optimistic is keeping one’s head pointed toward the sun, one’s feet moving forward. There were many dark moments when my faith in humanity was sorely tested, but I would not and could not give myself up to despair. That way lays defeat and death.” Africa’s youth must keep on walking that long walk. They must be Mandela-strong. “There are few misfortunes in this world that you cannot turn into a personal triumph if you have the iron will and the necessary skill.”
Learn and educate the people. He would tell them education is the key to creating their Beloved Ethiopian Community. “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world. No country can really develop unless its citizens are educated.”
Never be indifferent. He would tell them there can be no neutrality in the face of evil and injustice when building their Beloved Ethiopian Community. The only thing more evil than evil is indifference to evil. Evil must be resisted in all its forms. If young people keep their minds open, the truth will reveal itself to them. “I had no epiphany, no singular revelation, no moment of truth, but a steady accumulation of a thousand slights, a thousand indignities and a thousand unremembered moments produced in me an anger, a rebelliousness, a desire to fight the system that imprisoned my people. There was no particular day on which I said, Henceforth I will devote myself to the liberation of my people; instead, I simply found myself doing so, and could not do otherwise.”
No cakewalk in creating their Beloved Ethiopian Community. Mandela would tell Ethiopia’s youth to struggle for their Beloved Ethiopian Community. It will not be a cakewalk. It will be long, arduous and dangerous. “There is no easy walk to freedom anywhere, and many of us will have to pass through the valley of the shadow of death again and again before we reach the mountaintop of our desires.”
There are many more hills to climb. The effort to create a Beloved Ethiopian Community will take Ethiopian youth over hills, valley and mountaintops. There are dangers that lurk along the way. There will be little time to rest. “I have walked that ‘long road to freedom. I have tried not to falter; I have made missteps along the way. But I have discovered the secret that after climbing a great hill, one only finds that there are many more hills to climb. I have taken a moment here to rest, to steal a view of the glorious vista that surrounds me, to look back on the distance I have come. But I can only rest for a moment, for with freedom come responsibilities, and I dare not linger, for my long walk is not ended.”
Always try to do good, to forgive, to reconcile… Mandela would tell them to do good, forgive and reconcile in creating their Beloved Ethiopian Community. They must try without the promise of success; try in the face of failure, doubt and uncertainty. Try even when tired and just can’t go on. Try when there is no hope. Try again after succeeding. Try when it ‘Mandela tried.
Ask not what Semayawi Party Movement can do for you, ask what you can do for Semayawi Party Movement… (to be continued).
Professor Alemayehu G. Mariam teaches political science at California State University, San Bernardino and is a practicing defense lawyer.
Previous commentaries by the author are available at:
http://open.salon.com/blog/almariam/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/alemayehu-g-mariam/
Amharic translations of recent commentaries by the author may be found at:
http://www.ecadforum.com/Amharic/archives/category/al-mariam-amharic
http://ethioforum.org/?cat=24
Nelson Mandela, anti-apartheid icon and father of modern South Africa, dies
By Faith Karimi, CNN
(CNN) — Freedom fighter, statesman, moral compass and South Africa’s symbol of the struggle against racial oppression.
That was Nelson Mandela, who emerged from prison after 27 years to lead his country out of decades of apartheid.
He died Thursday night at age 95.
His message of forgiveness, not vengeance, inspired the world after he negotiated a peaceful end to segregation and urged forgiveness for the white government that imprisoned him.
“As I walked out the door toward the gate that would lead to my freedom, I knew if I didn’t leave my bitterness and hatred behind, I’d still be in prison,” Mandela said after he was freed in in 1990.
Mandela, a former president, battled health issues in recent years, including a recurring lung infection that led to numerous hospitalizations.
Despite rare public appearances, he held a special place in the consciousness of the nation and the world.
“Our nation has lost its greatest son. Our people have lost a father,” South African President Jacob Zuma said. “What made Nelson Mandela great was precisely what made him human. We saw in him what we seek in ourselves.”
His U.S. counterpart, Barack Obama, echoed the same sentiment.
“We’ve lost one of the most influential, courageous and profoundly good human beings that any of us will share time with on this Earth,” Obama said. “He no longer belongs to us — he belongs to the ages.”
A hero to blacks and whites
Mandela became the nation’s conscience as it healed from the scars of apartheid.
His defiance of white minority rule and long incarceration for fighting against segregation focused the world’s attention on apartheid, the legalized racial segregation enforced by the South African government until 1994.
In his lifetime, he was a man of complexities. He went from a militant freedom fighter, to a prisoner, to a unifying figure, to an elder statesman.
Years after his 1999 retirement from the presidency, Mandela was considered the ideal head of state. He became a yardstick for African leaders, who consistently fell short when measured against him.
Warm, lanky and charismatic in his silk, earth-toned dashikis, he was quick to admit to his shortcomings, endearing him further in a culture in which leaders rarely do.
His steely gaze disarmed opponents. So did his flashy smile.
Former South African President F.W. de Klerk, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize with Mandela in 1993 for transitioning the nation from a system of racial segregation, described their first meeting.
“I had read, of course, everything I could read about him beforehand. I was well-briefed,” he said.
“I was impressed, however, by how tall he was. By the ramrod straightness of his stature, and realized that this is a very special man. He had an aura around him. He’s truly a very dignified and a very admirable person.”
For many South Africans, he was simply Madiba, his traditional clan name. Others affectionately called him Tata, the word for father in his Xhosa tribe.
A nation on edge
Mandela last appeared in public during the 2010 World Cup hosted by South Africa. His absences from the limelight and frequent hospitalizations left the nation on edge, prompting Zuma to reassure citizens every time he fell sick.
“Mandela is woven into the fabric of the country and the world,” said Ayo Johnson, director of Viewpoint Africa, which sells content about the continent to media outlets.
When he was around, South Africans had faith that their leaders would live up to the nation’s ideals, according to Johnson.
“He was a father figure, elder statesman and global ambassador,” Johnson said. “He was the guarantee, almost like an insurance policy, that South Africa’s young democracy and its leaders will pursue the nation’s best interests.”
There are telling nuggets of Mandela’s character in the many autobiographies about him.
An unmovable stubbornness. A quick, easy smile. An even quicker frown when accosted with a discussion he wanted no part of.
War averted
Despite chronic political violence before the vote that put him in office in 1994, South Africa avoided a full-fledged civil war in its transition from apartheid to multiparty democracy. The peace was due in large part to the leadership and vision of Mandela and de Klerk.
“We were expected by the world to self-destruct in the bloodiest civil war along racial grounds,” Mandela said during a 2004 celebration to mark a decade of democracy in South Africa.
“Not only did we avert such racial conflagration, we created amongst ourselves one of the most exemplary and progressive nonracial and nonsexist democratic orders in the contemporary world.”
Mandela represented a new breed of African liberation leaders, breaking from others of his era such as Robert Mugabe by serving one term.
In neighboring Zimbabwe, Mugabe has been president since 1987. A lot of African leaders overstayed their welcomes and remained in office for years, sometimes decades, making Mandela an anomaly.
But he was not always popular in world capitals.
Until 2008, the United States had placed him and other members of the African National Congress on its terror list because of their militant fight against the apartheid regime.
Humble beginnings
Rolihlahla Mandela started his journey in the tiny village of Mvezo, in the hills of the Eastern Cape, where he was born on July 18, 1918. His teacher later named him Nelson as part of a custom to give all schoolchildren Christian names.
His father died when he was 9, and the local tribal chief took him in and educated him.
Mandela attended school in rural Qunu, where he retreated before returning to Johannesburg to be near medical facilities.
He briefly attended University College of Fort Hare but was expelled after taking part in a protest with Oliver Tambo, with whom he later operated the nation’s first black law firm.
In subsequent years, he completed a bachelor’s degree through correspondence courses and studied law at the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg. He left without graduating in 1948.
Four years before he left the university, he helped form the youth league of the African National Congress, hoping to transform the organization into a more radical movement. He was dissatisfied with the ANC and its old-guard politics.
And so began Mandela’s civil disobedience and lifelong commitment to breaking the shackles of segregation in South Africa.
Escalating trouble
In 1956, Mandela and dozens of other political activists were charged with high treason for activities against the government. His trial lasted five years, but he was ultimately acquitted.
Meanwhile, the fight for equality got bloodier.
Four years after his treason charges, police shot 69 unarmed black protesters in Sharpeville township as they demonstrated outside a station. The Sharpeville Massacre was condemned worldwide, and it spurred Mandela to take a more militant tone in the fight against apartheid.
The South African government outlawed the ANC after the massacre, and an angry Mandela went underground to form a new military wing of the organization.
“There are many people who feel that it is useless and futile for us to continue talking peace and nonviolence against a government whose reply is only savage attacks on an unarmed and defenseless people,” Mandela said during his time on the run.
During that period, he left South Africa and secretly traveled under a fake name. The press nicknamed him “the Black Pimpernel” because of his police evasion tactics.
Militant resistance
The African National Congress heeded calls for stronger action against the apartheid regime, and Mandela helped launch an armed wing to attack government symbols, including post offices and offices.
The armed struggle was a defense mechanism against government violence, he said.
“My people, Africans, are turning to deliberate acts of violence and of force against the government in order to persuade the government, in the only language which this government shows by its own behavior that it understands,” Mandela said at the time.
“If there is no dawning of sanity on the part of the government — ultimately, the dispute between the government and my people will finish up by being settled in violence and by force. “
The campaign of violence against the state resulted in civilian casualties.
A white South African’s memories of Mandela
Long imprisonment
In 1962, Mandela secretly received military training in Morocco and Ethiopia. When he returned home later that year, he was arrested and charged with illegal exit of the country and incitement to strike.
Mandela represented himself at the trial and was briefly imprisoned before being returned to court. In 1964, after the famous Rivonia trial, he was sentenced to life in prison for sabotage and conspiracy to overthrow the government.
At the trial, instead of testifying, he opted to give a speech that was more than four hours long, and ended with a defiant statement.
“I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination,” he said. “I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.”
His next stop was the Robben Island prison, where he spent 18 of his 27 years in detention. He described his early days there as harsh.
“There was a lot of physical abuse, and many of my colleagues went through that humiliation,” he said.
One of those colleagues was Khehla Shubane, 57, who was imprisoned in Robben Island during Mandela’s last years there. Though they were in different sections of the prison, he said, Mandela was a towering figure.
“He demanded better rights for us all in prison. The right to get more letters, get newspapers, listen to the radio, better food, right to study,” Shubane said. “It may not sound like much to the outside world, but when you are in prison, that’s all you have.”
And Mandela’s khaki prison pants, he said, were always crisp and ironed.
“Most of us chaps were lazy, we would hang our clothes out to dry and wear them with creases. We were in a prison, we didn’t care. But Mandela, every time I saw him, he looked sharp.”
After 18 years, he was transferred to other prisons, where he experienced better conditions until he was freed in 1990.
Months before his release, he obtained a bachelor’s in law in absentia from the University of South Africa.
Calls for release
His freedom followed years of an international outcry led by Winnie Mandela, a social worker whom he married in 1958, three months after divorcing his first wife.
Mandela was banned from reading newspapers, but his wife provided a link to the outside world.
She told him of the growing calls for his release and updated him on the fight against apartheid.
World pressure mounted to free Mandela with the imposition of political, economic and sporting sanctions, and the white minority government became more isolated.
In 1988 at age 70, Mandela was hospitalized with tuberculosis, a disease whose effects plagued him until the day he died. He recovered and was sent to a minimum security prison farm, where he was given his own quarters and could receive additional visitors.
Among them, in an unprecedented meeting, was South Africa’s president, P.W. Botha.
Change was in the air.
When Botha’s successor, de Klerk, took over, he pledged to negotiate an end to apartheid.
South Africa: Following Nelson Mandela
Free at last
On February 11, 1990, Mandela walked out of prison to thunderous applause, his clenched right fist raised above his head.
Still as upright and proud, he would say, as the day he walked into prison nearly three decades earlier.
He reassured ANC supporters that his release was not part of a government deal and informed whites that he intended to work toward reconciliation.
Four years after his release, in South Africa’s first multiracial elections, he became the nation’s first black president.
“The day he was inducted as president, we stood on the terraces of the Union Building,” de Klerk remembered years later. “He took my hand and lifted it up. He put his arm around me, and we showed a unity that resounded through South Africa and the world.”
Mandela: Patriarch, legend, family man
Broken marriage, then love
His union to Winnie Mandela, however, did not have such a happy ending. They officially divorced in 1996.
For the two, it was a fiery love story, derailed by his ambition to end apartheid. During his time in prison, Mandela wrote his wife long letters, expressing his guilt at putting political activism before family. Before the separation, Winnie Mandela was implicated in violence, including a conviction for being an accessory to assault in the death of a teenage township activist.
Mandela found love again two years after the divorce.
On his 80th birthday, he married Graca Machel, the widow of former Mozambique president, Samora Machel.
Only three of Mandela’s children are still alive. He had 17 grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren.
Symbolic rugby
South Africa’s fight for reconciliation was epitomized at the 1995rugby World Cup Final in Johannesburg, when it played heavily favored New Zealand.
As the dominant sport of white Afrikaners, rugby was reviled by blacks in South Africa. They often cheered for rivals playing their national team.
Mandela’s deft use of the national team to heal South Africa was captured in director Clint Eastwood’s 2009 feature film “Invictus,” starring Morgan Freeman as Mandela and Matt Damon as Francois Pienaar, the white South African captain of the rugby team.
Before the real-life game, Mandela walked onto the pitch, wearing a green-and-gold South African jersey bearing Pienaar’s number on the back.
“I will never forget the goosebumps that stood on my arms when he walked out onto the pitch before the game started,” said Rory Steyn, his bodyguard for most of his presidency.
“That crowd, which was almost exclusively white … started to chant his name. That one act of putting on a No. 6 jersey did more than any other statement in bringing white South Africans and Afrikaners on side with new South Africa.”
A promise honored
In 1999, Mandela did not seek a second term as president, keeping his promise to serve only one term. Thabo Mbeki succeeded him in June of the same year.
After leaving the presidency, he retired from active politics, but remained in the public eye, championing causes such as human rights, world peace and the fight against AIDS.
It was a decision born of tragedy: His only surviving son, Makgatho Mandela, died of AIDS at age 55 in 2005. Another son, Madiba Thembekile, was killed in a car crash in 1969.
Mandela’s 90th birthday party in London’s Hyde Park was dedicated to HIV awareness and prevention, and was titled 46664, his prison number on Robben Island.
A resounding voice
Mandela continued to be a voice for developing nations.
He criticized U.S. President George W. Bush for launching the 2003 war against Iraq, and accused the United States of “wanting to plunge the world into a Holocaust.”
And as he was acclaimed as the force behind ending apartheid, he made it clear he was only one of many who helped transform South Africa into a democracy.
In 2004, a few weeks before he turned 86, he announced his retirement from public life to spend more time with his loved ones.
“Don’t call me, I’ll call you,” he said as he stepped away from his hectic schedule.
‘Like a boy of 15’
But there was a big treat in store for the avid sportsman.
When South Africa was awarded the 2010 football World Cup, Mandela said he felt “like a boy of 15.”
In July that year, Mandela beamed and waved at fans during the final of the tournament in Johannesburg’s Soccer City. It was his last public appearance.
“I would like to be remembered not as anyone unique or special, but as part of a great team in this country that has struggled for many years, for decades and even centuries,” he said. “The greatest glory of living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time you fall.”
With him gone, South Africans are left to embody his promise and idealism.
South Africa since apartheid: Boom or bust?
CNN's Robyn Curnow, Michael Martinez, Matt Smith and Alanne Orjoux contributed to this report.
Ethiopia urged to release jailed journalist
Rights group launches a global appeal for the release of journalist sentenced to 18 years on terrorism charges.
Rights group Amnesty International has issued a global appeal for the release from prison of an award-winning journalist in Ethiopia.
Amnesty on Wednesday said it was trying to raise awareness of the case of Eskinder Nega as part of a campaign called “Write for Rights.”
Eskinder, in prison since 2011, is serving an 18-year sentence on terrorism charges.
Amnesty says the journalist was a “thorn in the side of the Ethiopian authorities” for making speeches and writing articles critical of the government.
Eskinder’s wife, Serkalem Fasil, who was arrested with him but later released, and who now lives in the US,said her husband was arrested for being a journalist and for repeatedly criticising the government.
Ethiopian government spokesman, Shimelis Kemal, said Eskinder was not convicted for his criticism of the government but because he was running a clandestine ‘terrorist’ organisation.
According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, Ethiopia has the second highest number of journalists imprisoned in Africa and is the eighth biggest jailer of journalists in the world.
Source: Aljazeera
US urged to tighten message on human rights abuses
Egyptian security forces stand guard on December 2, 2013 outside the criminal court in Egypt’s northern coastal city of Alexandria
US urged to tighten message on human rights abuses (via AFP)
Washington (AFP) – Human rights activists Wednesday urged the US government to be more consistent in its approach toward repressive regimes, warning that muddled responses sent the wrong message to democracy campaigners.
America’s over-arching focus on security concerns and the fight against terrorism is obscuring the need to hold governments accountable for rights abuses, activists said at the start of a two-day seminar organized by the Washington-based group Human Rights First.
One delegate, Nadine Wahab, said US policy after the coup in Egypt, including a partial freeze in military aid which has halted delivery of large weapons systems but does not bar other arms, was part of the problem.
“When funding… continues to go to the weapons that attack and create human rights violations, like tear gas and bullets, but you hold the F-16s, the message that’s going to these governments and going to human rights defenders is that human rights is not important,” said Wahab, an expert with the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies.
“One of the things that the United States really needs to do is look at its counter-terrorism narrative, look at how security is thought of within a domestic policy and an international policy and see whether security and stability is human rights? Or whether security and stability is guns and more weapons?” said Wahab.
UN special rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly,Maina Kiai, agreed saying the United States needed to treat all governments the same way.
“It’s very difficult to understand why the US government treats Ethiopia when it attacks human rights defenders differently from how the US treats Zimbabwe. Or how the US treats Egypt as opposed to Bahrain,” he said.
“Once you start seeing these differences they start sending a message across the world that actually the US wants to pick and choose where it wants to defend human rights.”
Ethiopia is one of the largest recipients of US aid in Africa, yet in 2009 it passed a law on non-government organizations which activists slammed as a bid by the government — in power for 21 years — to wipe out any civil society.
The legislation has largely passed without comment and US Secretary of State John Kerry made a high-profile visit to the country in May to attend an African Union summit.
The “US supporting a despotic government like the Ethiopian government is essentially creating destabilization in the Horn of Africa and Ethiopia,” warned Yalemzewd Bekele Mulat, an Ethiopian lawyer and activist.
“No Freedom” on the Net in Ethiopia: Freedom House 2013 Report
Ethiopia has one of the lowest rates of internet and mobile telephone penetration in the world, as meager infrastructure, a government monopoly over the telecom sector, and obstructive telecom policies have notably hindered the growth of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in the country. Despite low access, the government maintains a strict system of controls over digital media, making Ethiopia the only country in Sub-Saharan Africa to implement nationwide internet filtering. Such a system is made possible by the state’s monopoly over the country’s only telecom company, Ethio Telecom, which returned to government control after a two-year management contract with France Telecom expired in December 2012. In addition, the government’s implementation of deep-packet inspection technology for censorship was indicated when the Tor network, which helps people communicate anonymously online, was blocked in mid- 2012.
Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, who ruled Ethiopia for over 20 years, died in August 2012 while seeking treatment for an undisclosed illness. Before his death was officially confirmed on August 20th, widespread media speculation about Zenawi’s whereabouts and the state of his health prompted the authorities to intensify its censorship of online content. A series of Muslim protests against religious discrimination in July 2012 also sparked increased efforts to control ICTs, with social media pages and news websites disseminating information about the demonstrations targeted for blocking. Moreover, internet and text messaging speeds were reported to be extremely slow, leading to unconfirmed suspicions that the authorities had deliberately obstructed telecom services as part of a wider crackdown on the Ethiopian Muslim press for its coverage of the demonstrations.
In 2012, legal restrictions on the use and provision of ICTs increased with the enactment of the Telecom Fraud Offences law in September (1) which toughened a ban on certain advanced internet applications and worryingly extended the 2009 Anti-Terrorism Proclamation and 2004 Criminal Code to electronic communications (2). Furthermore, the government’s ability to monitor online activity and intercept digital communications became more sophisticated with assistance from the Chinese government, while the commercial spyware toolkit FinFisher was discovered in Ethiopia in August 2012.
Repression against bloggers, internet users and mobile phone users continued during the coverage period of this report, with at least two prosecutions reported. After a long trial and months of international advocacy on behalf of the prominent dissident blogger, Eskinder Nega, who was charged with supporting a terrorist group, Nega was found guilty in July 2012 and sentenced to 18 years in prison (3).
(1) “A Proclamation on Telecom Fraud Offence,” Federal Negarit Gazeta No. 61, Septemeber 4, 2012. http://www.abyssinialaw.com/uploads/761.pdf. (2) Article 19, “Ethiopia: Proclamation on Telecom Fraud Offence,” legal analysis, August 6, 2012, http://www.article19.org/resources.php/resource/ 3401/en/ethiopia:‐proclamation‐on‐telecom‐fraud‐offences (3) William Easterly et al., “The Case of Eskinder Nega,” New York Review of Books, January 12, 2012, http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2012/ jan/12/case-eskinder-nega/; Committee to Protect Journalists, “Ethiopia Sentences Eskinder, 5 Others on Terror Charges,” July 13, 2012, http://www.cpj.org/2012/07/ethiopia-sentences-eskinder-six-others-on-terror-c.php
Source: Freedom House: http://freedomhouse.org/sites/default/files/ resources/FOTN%202013_Full%20Report_0.pdf
The Tragic Saga of Ethiopian Victims in Arab Lands
by Neamin Zeleke
In the past week, Ethiopians all over the world have watched the barbaric acts committed against our sisters and brothers in Saudi Arabia with deep sorrow and outrage. These inhuman acts are not committed by illegal bandits or criminals operating in the underground, they are committed in broad daylight by the Saudi security forces and government backed youth vigilante. Defenseless Ethiopians in Saudi Arabia continue to face random killings, gang rape, severe beatings, and mass arrest by brutal government forces and government supported mobs.
There are an array of irrefutable evidences of the Saudi government’s brutality, utter disregard for the rule of law, and common human decency. Video images and eye-witness testimonies confirm Saudi Arabians have employed extensive use of torture. These acts of gross human and civil rights violations call for an investigation by the United Nations and International rights groups’ into the full extent of the horrific crime committed by the Saudis.
The plight of our brothers and sisters in Saudi Arabia begs the question of why so many Ethiopians are forced to flee their country in the first place. Why are millions of Ethiopians suffering around the world as helpless refugees, undocumented aliens, and, in many cases, beggars? What relegated Ethiopians to live a life of second-class, even third class citizens around the world is nothing but the repression, discrimination, and brutality they face in their own country in the hands of an ethnocratic regime well -equipped with the tools and arsenals of repression.
Millions are forced each day to choose between a wretched existence at home and uncertain search for hope in a strange land. Fed to the brutal whips of the unscrupulous and racist slave drivers in Saudi Arabia by their own government, Ethiopians cannot look for their leaders at home to come to their aid. To those unwitting sympathizers of the criminal regime in Ethiopia, the continuing suffering of helpless Ethiopians at the hands of racist Arabs should come as a wake up call. We should not only blame the perpetrators of the crime; we must also hold accountable those who made life unbearable at home for millions of Ethiopians.
A government that demonstrates no concern for the suffering of its people that it systematically drives to a life of exile, servitude and inhuman treatment should be held accountable, condemned, and ultimately removed. Today the blood of innocent Ethiopians colors Arab streets. Let there be no doubt that their blood will not be spilled in vain. This tragedy should serve as a cause for action and for redemption. It is a call for action for those of us in the Diaspora and back home, who have served as apologists for the criminal regime, trading the time-honored Ethiopian pride and patriotism for petty material gains.
Today, Ethiopia is a country that is ruled by corrupt despots who have utter disregard for basic human rights. They are thugs that have no allegiance to the flag and depraved souls without an iota of national and patriotic ethos. The sacred and time honored ethos that were protected by the blood and sweat of generations of Ethiopian compatriots are being replaced by the callous deeds of morally debauched thugs who have condemned millions to a life of abject poverty, ignorance, disease and abysmal sense of hopelessness.
For those who have paid attention to the reality in Ethiopia, it is abundantly clear that the dehumanization and humiliation of our brothers and sisters in Saudi Arabia did not begin on Saudi streets. Many found themselves facing the brutality of the Saudi police after being forced to leave their country because of a similar form of brutality at home. The fact is that most young Ethiopians, besides facing high rate of unemployment, are subject to some of the most serious rights abuses, including extrajudicial killings, incommunicado detention, arbitrary arrest, torture, and inhumane prison conditions in Ethiopia.
The criminal regime, which has incarcerated genuine Ethiopians such Eskinder Nega, Bekele Gerba, Andualem Arage, Reyot Alemu and thousands of others, has institutionalized corruption as a means of controlling the greedy professionals. The ethnocentric tyrants lead lavish lifestyles, while millions suffer under extreme repression and lack of basic necessities. Members of the ruling ethnocentric thugs and their cohorts travel to watch a Premier League game in England, to shop at expensive boutiques in the fashion capitals of the world, or to visit a doctor in Bangkok for minor ailments, while tens and thousands are fleeing their birthplaces in search of a better life in Arab lands. When these Ethiopians who flee their country in search of hope and opportunities face inhuman treatment, including dismemberment and death, the so called government shamefully apologizes to the criminal Saudis who committed the atrocities in the first place.
Credible accounts have demonstrated that the ethnic-based thugs in power have embezzled billions of dollars that they have secured in the form of aid and loans from donor nations and organizations. According to a recent report, in the past few years alone, the criminal regime has borrowed over 16 billion dollars in the name of the people of Ethiopia, and has looted the vast percentage of the money.
The fraction of the loan and donation spent on sub-standard construction projects littering the country and paraded as “Development”, has trickled to the lackeys who serve as subcontractors of the Endowment Fund for the Rehabilitation of Tigray (EFFORT) and other financial outfits of the regime. Greedy professionals, including many medical doctors, engineers and even professors, are shamelessly bowing to these criminals in their despicable effort to be the recipients of the loot. It’s no wonder, then, that thousands of our brothers and sisters risk their lives to travel to foreign lands just to be able to feed themselves and their families.
The regime’s response to the onslaught against its people in Saudi Arabia has added insult to injury. Instead of demanding redress for the Ethiopian victims in a visible and public way, the officials of the thugs in power in Addis Ababa did not waste time to use the horrific tragedy committed against Ethiopians in Riyadh to beg for money from the Saudi government in different forms of appeasements and apologies.
Ethiopians must unite against the unscrupulous and decadent ethnocentric dictatorship that has condemned its citizens to a life of misery, dehumanization, repression both at home and in exile. We must hold those in power responsible for the tragic predicaments of our fellow citizens in Arab lands. The ultimate remedy, therefore, is for all Ethiopians to unite in common cause to bring about freedom, democracy, hope and all the requisite social and economic conditions to lead a free and dignified life in our homeland.
Source: ECADF
Ethiopia: I Always Remember in November and in…
By Alemayehu G.Mariam
For Ethiopians, November is a month which shall live in infamy
In November 2013, Ethiopians in Saudi Arabia are facing unspeakable horrors.
For the past few years, there has been systematic persecution of Ethiopians living, working and seeking refuge in Saudi Arabia. Even Ethiopians practicing their faith in the complete privacy of their homes have faced criminal prosecution and deportation. In 2011, according to a Human Rights Watch report, Saudi police arrested “thirty five Ethiopian Christians for ‘illicit mingling,’” while the “Ethiopians gathered to pray together during the advent of Christmas, in the private home of one of the Ethiopians.”
It is no exaggeration to say it is open season on Ethiopian migrant workers and others seeking refuge in Saudi Arabia. Every day this month, Saudi police, security officials and ordinary Saudis have been hunting Ethiopians in the streets, beating, torturing and in some cases killing them. The video clips of Saudi police torturing Ethiopians are shocking to the conscience. The video clips of Saudi mobs chasing, attacking and lynching Ethiopians in the streets requires no explanation. The photographs of crimes against humanity committed against Ethiopians in Saudi Arabia today are surreal and beyond civilized comprehension!!!
What is the regime in Ethiopia doing to help the estimated 200,000 plus Ethiopians in Saudi Arabia? Not a damn thing!
By its own admission, the regime has no idea how many Ethiopians are living in Saudi Arabia, but ludicrously promises to bring them all back “as soon as possible.” The malaria researcher-turned-“foreign minister”, Tedros Adhanom, blathered that his regime “has condemned Saudi Arabia for its brutal crackdown on migrant workers in the kingdom. This is unacceptable. We call on the Saudi government to investigate this issue seriously. We are also happy to take our citizens, who should be treated with dignity while they are there.” “Unacceptable” is the most condemnatory language the regime could muster in the face of such monstrous cruelty, unspeakable barbarism and horrendous brutality and criminality. Al Jazeera reported that when outraged Ethiopians sought to peacefully protest in front of the Saudi embassy in Addis Ababa, they were arrested and beaten by regime policemen. “‘The police came and they beat us…and now more than 100 people are at the police station,” said Getaneh Balcha, a senior member of the opposition Blue Party movement, adding the party chairman and vice chairman were among those held.’” But should we really be surprised because…
In November 2005, Ethiopians faced unspeakable horrors in Ethiopia.
Following the parliamentary elections in May of that year, hundreds of Ethiopian citizens who protested the daylight theft of that election were massacred or seriously shot and wounded by police and security personnel under the exclusive command and control of the late regime leader Meles Zenawi. An official Inquiry Commission established by Zenawi documented that 193 unarmed men, women and children demonstrating in the streets and scores of other detainees held in a high security prison were intentionally shot and killed by police and security officials. An additional 763 were wounded.**
Every November since 2007, I have written a consecratory (sanctifying) memorial in remembrance of the hundreds of innocent unarmed demonstrators massacred and maimed in the aftermath of the 2005 parliamentary election by the current regime in Ethiopia. In my first memorial tribute, “Remember, the Ethiopian Martyrs of June and November, 2005 Forever!”, I reminded my readers that it was their moral duty “to bear witness for the dead and the living” as Elie Weisel, the Holocaust survivor and Nobel laureate, so nobly put it. We must remember because we have “no right to deprive future generations of a past that belongs to our collective memory. To forget would be not only dangerous but offensive; to forget the dead would be akin to killing them a second time.”
To forget the massacre victims of 2005 would be to forget the monstrous crimes committed against them and excuse the barbaric criminals who committed them. To forget the massacres is to assure the criminals they will never be held accountable because the crimes have been forgotten. Ultimately, to forget is to extend an invitation to the criminals in power to commit the same crimes again and again and on a greater scale with impunity.
I remember because I cannot and will not forget! Never!
I remember because if I do not who will be there to remember? I remember because if I forget, the crimes and the criminals will be forgotten. If I forget, how will history remember? History remembers only when there is someone to remember. So, I must remember. I must remember by bearing witness every Monday in November, and in December, and in January, and in February, and in March and in April, and…for Ethiopia’s “youth of today, for the children who will be born tomorrow. [I] do not want [the] past to become their future.”
There are many who view my efforts over the years with some appreciation and gratitude; there are others who think I am an implacable, stubborn and overzealous partisan for my cause. I believe overzealous partisanship in the cause of human rights is a redemptive virtue. We live in a world of human rights and government wrongs. Ethiopians live in a world of government wrongs. Obstinacy in the defense of Ethiopian human rights is no vice.
I remember the victims of the 2005 massacres. I remember each and every one of them. I remember the young women who will never get to be mothers. I remember the young men who will never get to be fathers. I remember the orphans whose parents were massacred. I remember the fathers and mothers who will never get to see their children and never have a chance to see their grandchildren.
I do not forget the criminals. I remember the 237 policemen who pulled the trigger; the arch criminal and mastermind who pulled the fingers of the policemen who pulled the trigger and the flunkies who followed the orders of the mastermind and orchestrated the whole bloody carnage.
I will always remember in November, and in December and in January and in February and in April…
Rebuma E. Ergata, 34, mason; Melesachew D. Alemnew, 16, student; Hadra S. Osman, 22, occup. unknown; Jafar S. Ibrahim, 28, sm. business; Mekonnen, 17, occup. unknown; Woldesemayat, 27, unemployed; Beharu M. Demlew, occup. unknown; Fekade Negash, 25, mechanic; Abraham Yilma, 17, taxi; Yared B. Eshete, 23, sm. business; Kebede W. G. Hiwot, 17, student; Matios G. Filfilu, 14, student;Getnet A. Wedajo, 48, Sm. business; Endalkachew M. Hunde, 18, occup. unknown; Kasim A. Rashid, 21, mechanic; Imam A. Shewmoli, 22, sm. business; Alye Y. Issa, 20, laborer; Samson N. Yakob, 23, pub. trspt.; Alebalew A. Abebe, 18, student; Beleyu B. Za, 18, trspt. asst.; Yusuf A. Jamal, 23, occup. student; Abraham S. W. Agenehu, 23, trspt. asst.; Mohammed H. Beka, 45, farmer; Redela K. Awel, 19, taxi Assit., Habtamu A. Urgaa, 30, sm. Business. Dawit F. Tsegaye, 19, mechanic; Gezahegne M. Geremew, 15, student; Yonas A. Abera, 24, occup. unknown; Girma A. Wolde, 38, driver; W/o Desta U. Birru, 37, sm. business; Legese T. Feyisa, 60, mason; Tesfaye D. Bushra, 19, shoe repairman; Binyam D. Degefa, 18, unemployed.
Million K. Robi, 32, trspt. asst.; Derege D. Dene, 24, student; Nebiyu A. Haile, 16, student; Mitiku U. Mwalenda, 24, domestic worker; Anwar K. Surur, 22, sm. business; Niguse Wabegn, 36, domestic worker; Zulfa S. Hasen, 50, housewife; Washun Kebede, 16, student; Ermia F. Ketema, 20, student; 00428, 25, occup. unknown; 00429, 26, occup. unknown; 00430, 30, occup. unknown; Adissu Belachew, 25, occup. unknown; Demeke K. Abebe,uk, occup. unknown; 00432, 22, occup. unknown; 00450, 20, occup. unknown; 13903, 25, occup. unknown; 00435, 30, occup. unknown. 13906, 25, occup. unknown; Temam Muktar, 25, occup. unknown; Beyne N. Beza, 25, occup. unknown; Wesen Asefa, 25, occup. unknown; Abebe Anteneh, 30, occup. unknow; Fekadu Haile, 25, occup. unknow; Elias Golte, uk, occup. unknown; Berhanu A. Werqa, uk, occup. unknown.
Asehber A. Mekuria, uk, occup. unknown; Dawit F. Sema, uk, occup. unknown, Merhatsedk Sirak, 22, occup. unknown; Belete Gashawtena, uk, occup. unknown; Behailu Tesfaye, 20, occup. unknown; 21760, 18, occup. unknown; 21523, 25, occup. unknown; 11657, 24, occup. unknown; 21520, 25, occup. unknown; 21781, 60, occup. unknown; Getachew Azeze, 45, occup. unknown; 21762, 75, occup. unknown; 11662,45, occup. unknown; 21763, 25, occup. unknown; 13087, 30, occup. unknown; 21571, 25, occup. unknown; 21761, 21, occup. unknown; 21569, 25, occup. unknown; 13088, 30, occup. unknown; Endalkachew W. Gabriel, 27, occup. unknown.
Hailemariam Ambaye, 20, occup. unknown; Mebratu W. Zaudu,27, occup. unknown; Sintayehu E. Beyene, 14, occup. unknown; Tamiru Hailemichael, uk, occup. unknown; Admasu T. Abebe, 45, occup. unknown; Etenesh Yimam, 50, occup. unknown; Werqe Abebe, 19, occup. unknown; Fekadu Degefe, 27, occup. unknown Shemsu Kalid, 25, occup. unknown; Abduwahib Ahmedin, 30, occup. unknown; Takele Debele, 20, occup. unknown, Tadesse Feyisa,38, occup. unknown; Solomon Tesfaye, 25, occup. unknown; Kitaw Werqu, 25, occup. nknown; Endalkachew Worqu, 25, occup. unknow; Desta A. Negash, 30, occup. unknown; Yilef Nega, 15, occup. unknown; Yohannes Haile, 20, occup. unknown; Behailu T. Berhanu, 30, occup. unknown; Mulu K. Soresa, 50, housewife, Teodros Gidey Hailu, 23, shoe salesman; Dejene Yilma Gebre, 18, store worker; Ougahun Woldegebriel, 18, student; Dereje Mamo Hasen, 27, carpenter.
Regassa G. Feyisa, 55, laundry worker; Teodros Gebrewold, 28, private business; Mekonne D. G.Egziaber, 20, mechanic; Elias G. Giorgis, 23, student; Abram A. Mekonnen, 21, laborer; Tiruwerq G.Tsadik, 41, housewife; Henok H. Mekonnen; 28, occup. unknown; Getu S. Mereta, 24, occup. unknown;W/o Kibnesh Meke Tadesse, 52, occup. unknown; Messay A. Sitotaw, 29, private business; Mulualem N. Weyisa, 15, Ayalsew Mamo, 23, occup. unknown; Sintayehu Melese, 24, laborer; W/o Tsedale A. Birra, 50, housewife; Abayneh Sara Sede, 35, tailor; Fikremariam K. Telila, 18, chauffer; Alemayehu Gerba, 26, occup. unknown; George G. Abebe,36, private trspt.; Habtamu Zegeye Tola, 16, student; Mitiku Z. G. Selassie, 24, student; Tezazu W. Mekruia, 24, private business; Fikadu A. Dalige, 36, tailor; Shewaga B. W.Giorgis, 38, laborer; Alemayehu E. Zewde, 32, textile worker; Zelalem K. G.Tsadik, 31, taxi driver; Mekoya M. Tadesse, 19, student; Hayleye G. Hussien, 19, student; W/o Fiseha T. G.Tsadik, 23, police employee; Wegayehu Z. Argaw, 26, unemployed.
Melaku M. Kebede, 19, occup. unknown; Abayneh D. Orra, 25, tailor; W/o Abebch B. Holetu, 50, housewife; Demeke A. Jenbere, 30, farmer; Kinde M. Weresu, 22, unemployed; Endale A. G.Medhin, 23, private business; Alemayehu T. Wolde,24, teacher; Bisrat T. Demisse, 24, car importer; Mesfin H. Giorgis, 23, private business, Welio H. Dari, 18, private business, Behailu G. G.Medhin, 20, private business; Siraj Nuri Sayed, 18, student; Iyob G.Medhin, 25, student; Daniel W. Mulugeta,25, laborer; Teodros K. Degefa,25, shoe factory worker; Gashaw T. Mulugeta, 24, student; Kebede B. Orke, 22, student; Lechisa K. Fatasa, 21, student; Jagama B. Besha,20, student; Debela O. Guta, 15, student; Melaku T. Feyisa, 16, student; W/o Elfnesh Tekle, 45, occup. unknown; Hassen Dula, 64, occup. unknown; Hussien Hassen Dula, 25, occup. unknown; Dejene Demisse,15, occup. unknown; Name unknown; Name unknown; Name unknown; Zemedkun Agdew, 18, occup. unknown; Getachew A. Terefe, 16, occup. unknown; Delelegn K. Alemu, 20, occup. unknown; Yusef M. Oumer,20, occup. unknown.
Mekruria T. Tebedge, 22, occup. unknown; Bademe M. Teshamahu, 20, occup. unknown; Ambaw Getahun,38, occup. unknown; Teshome A. Kidane, 65, health worker; Yosef M. Regassa, uk, occup. unknown; Abiyu Negussie, uk, occup. uk; Tadele S. Behaga,uk, occup. unknown; Efrem T. Shafi,uk, occup. unknown; Abebe H. Hama, uk, occup. unknown; Gebre Molla, uk, occup. unknown; Seydeen Nurudeen, uk, occup. unknown; Eneyew G. Tsegaye, 32, trspt. asst; Abdurahman H. Ferej, 32, wood worker; Ambaw L. Bitul, 60, leather factory worker; Abdulmenan Hussien, 28, private business; Jigsa T. Setegn, 18, student; Asefa A. Negassa, 33, carpenter; Ketema K. Unko, 23, tailor; Kibret E. Elfneh, 48, private guard; Iyob G. Zemedkun, 24, private business; Tesfaye B. Megesha,15, private business; Capt. Debesa S. Tolosa, 58, private business;Tinsae M. Zegeye,14, tailor;Kidana G. Shukrow,25, laborer;Andualem Shibelew, 16, student; Adissu D. Tesfahun, 19, private business; Kassa Beyene Yror,28, clothes sales; Yitagesu Sisay,22, occup. unknown; Unknown, 22, occup. unknown.
Police and security officers killed by friendly fire (security officers killed in each other’s crossfire): Nega Gebre, Jebena Desalegn, Mulita Irko, Yohannes Solomon, Ashenafi Desalegn, Feyia Gebremenfes.
I remember the hundreds of victims maimed, injured, battered and mutilated.
List of prisoners massacred while trapped in their cells at Kaliti Prison on November 2, 2005:
Teyib Shemsu Mohammed, age unknown, male, charged with instigating armed insurrection. Sali Kebede, age unknown, male, no charges indicated. Sefiw Endrias Tafesse Woreda, age unknown, male, charged with rape. Zegeye Tenkolu Belay, age unknown, male, charged with robbery. Biyadgligne Tamene, age unknown, male, charges unknown. Gebre Mesfin Dagne, age unknown, male, charges unknown. Bekele Abraham Taye, age unknown, male, charged with hooliganism. Abesha Guta Mola, age unknown, male, charges unknown. Kurfa Melka Telila, convicted of making threats. Begashaw Terefe Gudeta, age unknown, male, charged with brawling [breach of peace]. Abdulwehab Ahmedin, age unknown, male, charged with robbery. Tesfaye Abiy Mulugeta, age unknown, male, charged with instigating armed insurrection. Adane Bireda, age unknown, male, charged with murder. Yirdaw Kersema, age unknown, male, no charges indicated.
Balcha Alemu Regassa, age unknown, male, charged with robbery. Abush Belew Wodajo, age unknown, male, no charges indicated. Waleligne Tamire Belay, age unknown, male, charged with rape. Cherinet Haile Tolla, age unknown, male, convicted of robbery. Temam Shemsu Gole, age unknown, male, no charges indicated. Gebeyehu Bekele Alene, age unknown, male, no charges indicated. Daniel Taye Leku, age unknown, male, no charges indicated. Mohammed Tuji Kene, age unknown, male, no charges indicated. Abdu Nejib Nur, age unknown, male, no charges indicated. Yemataw Serbelo, charged with rape. Fikru Natna’el Sewneh, age unknown, male, charged with making threats. Munir Kelil Adem, age unknown, male, charged with hooliganism. Haimanot Bedlu Teshome, age unknown, male, convicted of infringement. esfaye Kibrom Tekne, age unknown, male, charged with robbery. Workneh Teferra Hunde, age unknown, male, no charges indicated.
Sisay Mitiku Hunegne, charged with fraud. Muluneh Aynalem Mamo, age unknown, male, no charges indicated. Taddese Rufe Yeneneh, charged with making threats. Anteneh Beyecha Qebeta, age unknown, male, charged with instigating armed insurrection. Zerihun Meresa, age unknown, male, convicted of damage to property. Wogayehu Zerihun Argaw, charged with robbery. Bekelkay Tamiru, age unknown, male, no charges indicated. Yeraswork Anteneh, age unknown, male, charged with fraud. Bazezew Berhanu, age unknown, male, charged with engaging in homosexual act. Solomon Iyob Guta, age unknown, male, charged with rape. Asayu Mitiku Arage, age unknown, male, charged with making threats. Game Hailu Zeye, age unknown, male, charged with brawling [public disorder] Maru Enawgaw Dinbere, age unknown, male, charged with rape. Ejigu Minale, age unknown, male, charged with attempted murder. Hailu Bosne Habib, age unknown, male, convicted of providing sanctuary. Tilahun Meseret, age unknown, male, no charges indicated. Negusse Belayneh, age unknown, male, charged with robbery. Ashenafi Abebaw, age unknown, male, no charges indicated. Feleke Dinke, age unknown, male, no charges indicated. Jenbere Dinkineh Bilew, age unknown, male, charged with brawling [public disorder].
Tolesa Worku Debebe, age unknown, male, charged with robbery. Mekasha Belayneh Tamiru, age unknown, male, charged with hooliganism. Yifru Aderaw, age unknown, male, no charges indicated. Fantahun Dagne, age unknown, male, no charges indicated. Tibebe Wakene Tufa, age unknown, male, charged with instigating armed insurrection. Solomon Gebre Amlak, age unknown, male, charged with hooliganism. Banjaw Chuchu Kassahun, age unknown, male, charged with robbery. Demeke Abeje, age unknown, male, charged with attempted murder. 58. Endale Ewnetu Mengiste, age unknown, male, no charges indicated. Alemayehu Garba, age unknown, male, detained in connection with Addis Ababa University student demonstration in 2004. Morkota Edosa, age unknown, male, no charges indicated.
For the Record: There is a certified list of at least 237 police and security officers known to be directly involved in these massacres.
I remember Yenesew Gebre
On 11/11/11, Yenesew Gebre, a 29 year-old Ethiopian school teacher and human rights activist set himself ablaze outside a public meeting hall in the town of Tarcha located in Dawro Zone in Southern Ethiopia. He died three days later from his injuries. Before torching himself, Yenesew told a gathered crowd outside of a meeting hall, “In a country where there is no justice and no fair administration, where human rights are not respected, I will sacrifice myself so that these young people will be set free.” I remember Yenesew Gebre …
“I remember the killers, I remember the victims, even as I struggle to invent a thousand and one reasons to hope. Because I remember, I despair. Because I remember, I have the duty to reject despair. Hope is possible beyond despair.” Elie Wiesel.
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For additional data on massacre victims, see Testimony of Yared Hailemariam, Ethiopian Human Rights Defender, “CRIME AGAINST HUMANITY IN ETHIOPIA: THE ADDIS ABABA MASSACRES OF JUNE AND NOVEMBER 2005” before the EXTRAORDINARY JOINT COMMITTEE MEETING THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT COMMITTEES ON DEVELOPMENT AND FOREIGN AFFAIRS, AND SUB-COMMITTEE ON HUMAN RIGHTS May 15, 2006.
** The Inquiry Commission completely exonerated the victims of the massacre and pinned the entire blame on the police and paramilitary forces. The Commission concluded, “There was no property destroyed [by protesters]. There was not a single protester who was armed with a gun or a hand grenade as reported by the government-controlled media that some of the protesters were armed with guns and bombs. [The shots fired by government forces] were not intended to disperse the crowd but to kill by targeting the head and chest of the protesters.”
The Commission’s list of 193 victims includes only those deaths that occurred on June 6-8 and November 1-4, 2005, the specific dates the Commission was authorized to investigate. The Commission has an additional list of victims of extra-judicial killings by regime police and security forces which it did not publicly report because the killings occurred outside the dates the Commission was authorized to investigate.
Professor Alemayehu G. Mariam teaches political science at California State University, San Bernardino and is a practicing defense lawyer.
Previous commentaries by the author are available at:
http://open.salon.com/blog/almariam/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/alemayehu-g-mariam/
Amharic translations of recent commentaries by the author may be found at:
http://www.ecadforum.com/Amharic/archives/category/al-mariam-amharic
Source: open.salon.com
The Abyssinia Times 