Gossip (Norwegian Ambassador was called to explain)
Recent times have been bloody and violent. With the glaring sight and sounds of student protest, angry protesters clashing with police and special forces, and the subsequent deaths of at least 26 people, nobody needs a gossip to know what has happened.
In fact, gossip corridor was not operating at its peak. Scared gossipers resorted to their safe houses as early as they could. It was rather the politicians of both blocs who were seen to be busy in their own engagements, whatever they were. The government was hard on curtailing the free physical movement of opposition leaders. Prominent among them were Hailu Shawel, chairman of the CUD, who was barred from moving as recently as Saturday afternoon.
Nobody was allowed to enter or leave the house from inside, with angry and hostile security personnel chasing reporters, including one from this newspaper and the AP. Even Tim Clarke, ambassador of the European Commission, was not allowed to see Hailu at lunchtime on Saturday.
The government seems to be irritated with the conduct of some people in the diplomatic circle. In fact, some of the ambassadors were called by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to explain their conduct in relation to opposition leaders.
On Tuesday, gossip has it, security personnel blocked the alley leading up to Hailu's house when he attempted to leave to attend a meeting at Ambassador Clark's office. Before lunch, he happened to be one of the four opposition leaders at the European Commission mission. How he managed to slip through the security noose, was a brief puzzle to the government. Of course, that was until they figured out the route later in the afternoon.
According to gossip, the Norwegian Ambassador, who lives next door to Hailu, and from whom he rents his residence, created an opening into his own compound before driving the embassy vehicle off to the EU mission with Hailu inside. That was what the Norwegian Ambassador was called to explain, although the government's subsequent move was not clear. There are those, however, who argue that Hailu has all the rights of any ordinary citizen to enter into any embassy premises if he has business with a particular mission.
What was said to be unusual in the gossip corridor, where attendance has been low in the light of the last week's circumstances, was where the other opposition leader, Dr. Brehanu Nega, spent the night on Monday. The diplomatic fiasco escalated once the ruling party guys got to know he was at the Sheraton for a night.
What upset them most was not where he stayed, or perhaps the luxury he enjoyed, but the fact that the room he stayed in was reserved under the name of none other than Anna Gomes, chief observer of the European Union. They found it a chilling realization, according to gossip.
