Urgent appeal of students detained at Sendafa Prison
By Assefa Negash
July 3, 2005

Assefa Negash
Amsterdam, Holland


URGENT APPEAL OF ETHIOPIAN STUDENTS DETAINED AT SENDAFA PRISON
AN URGENT PLEA FOR HELP FROM ETHIOPIAN STUDENTS OF ADDIS ABEBA UNIVERSITY & KOTEBE TEACHER's TRAINING COLLEGE DETAINED AT THE NOTORIOUS SENDAFA PRISON

To all Ethiopian compatriots living in Ethiopia and exiled Ethiopians dotted around the world. We students of the Addis Ababa University and Kotebe Teacher Training College find ourselves under circumstances of great suffering. We find ourselves under a condition of gloom where there is no sign of light only thinking of the Ethiopian people and putting our trust and hope on the almighty God and our people.

The question which we students of Addis Ababa university have raised on June 6 and 7, 2005 has nothing to do with the baseless hearsay EPRDF is propagating and is as far from the truth as light and darkness are far removed from each other.

Surely the child of a blind is not born blind. And although we do not claim that the friend of a rude system is vulgar, one need not be a supporter of CDU to oppose the EPRDF as the EPRDF liars are alleging.

Just as our past kings came to power and passed away, so do the EPRDF and CDU blossom and wither away according to the script of the book which says every one has his time. And this is only natural and logical.

It is our country Ethiopia the source of our pride for eternity that is savoring and suffering, together with the future generation, the bitter legacy left behind by our rulers. Our cry is the cry of our motherland Ethiopia and her searing pain. Our bitterness is a reflection of our motherland's travail.

Ethiopia has maintained its unity and the mutual love of its people thanks to the blood shed on the hills of Mekdella by emperor Tewodros. That sense of unity and mutual love among its people is still with us. We do not like any one who attacks our dear motherland Ethiopia.

Although the dark brown complexion of the Ethiopian (Ethiopia's ethnic diversity and unity) is not appreciated or accorded any meaning by a cruel cadre or government supporter who has compromised himself/herself in exchange for some selfish gains, for us the love of our country is of paramount importance. We fall when our country stumbles and we cry when our country groans of pain. We sacrifice our lives for the tri-colored (green yellow and red) flag of Ethiopia which symbolizes Ethiopian unity.

The suffering we are undergoing at Sendafa is shocking to those of use who have recount our story and confusing to you the listener of this story. Before dawn or sun rise, we are awakened from our sleep by prison authorities and forced to walk on our knees on a surface littered with sharp basalt stone. We are forced to walk on our knees and forced to shuffle our elbows on this surface littered with sharp basalt stone. We are beaten with sticks and forced to move about on our knees. We are forced to stand on one foot and rotate our body. When we get dizzy or feel giddiness and fall to the ground, we are told that we have deliberately fallen on the ground as though we feigned the act of falling down. We are subsequently kicked with sharp shoes and the following message is communicated to us by our tormentors: "YOU SHOULD KNOW THAT YOU CANNOT BRING ANY CHANGE".

Tigrean students who have been imprisoned with us were released without having suffered any maltreatment or any problem. But we the Oromos, Amharas, Southerners and all non-Tigreans are suffering to this day after we have been labeled as "anti –Tigreans" and received the anti-Tigrean epithet.

Although we have never previously thought that being an Amhara or Oromo would be a source of our present day suffering, today being Ethiopian (i.e. rejecting the ethnicist and divisive politics of the EPRDF regime) has dehumanized us and forced us to sleep on a surface littered with sharp basalt stone and walk on our knees on a surface studded with sharp basalt stone.

Although none of us have been ashamed of being Ethiopians, we have however been deeply embittered by the suffering we are forced to go through. Today we have learned more about EPRDF here at Sendafa prison than at any one time before.

We have, however, escalated our struggle even under these difficult circumstances. We have refused to eat the morsel of bread they give us once a day and we have gone on hunger strike.

Even while suffering under the hellish condition obtaining in the otherwise earthly paradise that Ethiopia is, we remain comforted by the sight of the impending liberation of Ethiopia ahead of us.

Although we have been instructed not to pray to God, we have defied the instruction of our tormentors by repeating and uttering the "O Lord in Heaven" prayer as we wake up of sleep in the morning and go to sleep in the night and continued to pray for Ethiopia and its people.

Dear compatriots you are the ones who can pull us out of the quagmire we are currently in. As such, in the name of the tri-colored flag (symbol of the unity of the Ethiopian people) we beseech you Ethiopian compatriots dotted in and outside of Ethiopia to deliver us from this hellish suffering by putting your trust, as we do, in the almighty God.

Your Ethiopian brothers and sisters,
From Sendafa prison where they are groaning from the searing pain
Long Live Ethiopia in Peace and Unity


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The writer, Assefa Negash (MD), lives in Amsterdam, Holland.

Deliberately to spread Aids and hepatitis among students, is one of Meles’ ways of ethnic cleansing.