I read many sad stories in an Amharic Newspaper “ Addis Zenna” on their June 14th issue and wanted to summarize two of them for you. Both stories are about young men killed in the June 8 indiscriminate shootings of innocent civilians in Addis.
The first story is about two brothers ( Fekadu Negash 20 and Abraham Negash 1. Both were killed that fateful day. That day, the mother of the two victims was at home with her younger son Abraham. The neighbourhood children came to tell them that Fekadu has just been shot. Abraham run in front of the mother and reached there first. A policeman with a gun was there. Abraham stopped running and raised his hands up and asked the policeman if he can pick up his brother who was lying there on the ground. The policeman just shot at him twice, then and there. The mother who was a few steps behind saw her younger son’s guts burst open. One brother died on his way to the hospital and the other died in the hospital.
The other story is about Million Kebede. He worked for the city bus as fare collector. He did not want to miss work that day, because he said with the taxis on strike the state owned Bus Company would be very strict on absentees. He said that he did not want to lose his job. After he went to work, two men knocked their door and told a younger brother, Eyob Kebede that his brother has been shot on the arm and was taken to the hospital and gave him the plastic bag which his brother has taken with him, when he went out earlier. The bag contained the city bus ticket pads. The pads were in tact. He told his mother and they both went to the hospital. At the gate of the hospital only Eyob was allowed to go in. He went in and was told that his brother died and the body has been transferred to the police. At the gate he found his mother and told her that he could not find him so the men must be mistaken he is sure Million has gone to work and everything is fine. The mother was relieved to listen to him say that. So he had to pretend he is relieved too. At home, among relatives and friends, he told her the truth. Next day, they collected the body of Million from Menilik Hospital.
A couple of weeks ago, some friends in Ethiopia were having tea when suddenly they and the several people around them were ambushed by Meles' soldiers and forced into a truck. They were taken to an unknown location, beaten, and were given no food or water or bathroom access for two days.
A relative finally discovered where they were being held and went to the location. After inquiring with the guard about the status of the two men, the guard released them. The people whose relatives did not find them were killed.
