It’s a bombshell! First it was the resignation from The Council of CUD of EDP-Medhin’s strongman and crowd pleaser, Ato Lidetu, for reasons of “incompatibility” – politician’s favourite euphemism for an allergic reaction to co-habiting with the politically omnivorous. Then a week before the NEBE dispatched 26 CIPs (Complaints Investigation Panels) came the publication on the Amharic weekly “IFTIN” the leaked CUD Council’s Meeting of the 22nd June 2005. Both these events will, no doubt, have a debilitating effect on the public’s perception of CUD as a strong and united party ready to assume power, when, as CUD and its gung-ho supporters hope, the result of NEBE’s investigation on July 4th, would reveal CUD’s Addis Ababa tsunami has indeed swept the Ethiopian countryside.

However, this perception and the hope of the anticipated CUD landslide, according to the leaked CUD Council’s Meeting, is out of sync with the reality on the ground. Vivisecting the minutes and bringing it under the scrutiny of an alert public opinion, is therefore, indispensable to know where we stand as a nation vis-à-vis CUD.

It is self-evident, is it not, that the very word “coalition” itself doesn’t necessarily mean unity; but it does refer to the coming together of, at least like-minded people for a common vision. Indeed, CUD’s crowning point to this day remains to be that it is a broad church. For a political party to regard itself as a broad church must, therefore, be a badge of tolerance, inclusiveness and democratic maturity. All too often, however, those who claim to be a broad church has to tread a fine line where its core belief or the fundamentals are not forsaken come hell or high water. As we are ‘blessed’ by a coalition ruling party and coalitions of opposition parties, it becomes easier to cite examples. When EPDRF talks about being a broad church, it means that those who take shelter under its umbrella are expected to agree – amongst other fundamentals – that the road to governance is through free and fair elections. As no Christian who doesn’t believe that the Blood of Jesus is the Redemption of sins cannot be regarded as a member of any Christian fellowship, so too, any one who stands on the way of EPDRF’s core belief or fundamentals cannot expect to remain in the fold.

Likewise, one is even inclined to expect from the literati and iluminati redolent CUD a more rigorous adherence to core belief and fundamentals. But not so according to Part I of the leaked Minutes of that all too important Meeting on the 22nd June. It gives one a bird’s eye view of a core belief here and a fundamental there being sacrificed in order for CUD to be all things to all men. The result, as can be discerned from the leaked Minutes, is the yawning of a gulf between the doves and hawks in CUD’s high command. The doves are those who steadfastly cling to their cherished belief that there ought to be no hesitation or deviation from accepting the verdict of the voters. The troika of no detour from the electoral process are Dr Yacob, Engineer Gizachew and Dr Admassu, with a good chance of them becoming a four-legged table when peripatetic Dr Berhanu is expected to join them upon his return to Addis. This, then, is how Dr Yacob summed the stand of the doves: “…We have to abide by the agreement. We should further engage in the process forwarding all our complaints. Boycotting would lead us into conflict with the international community. And this would be harmful to us. Abiding by the agreement, on the other hand, would lend credibility to our organization.”

So far EDP-Medhin, through its strongman, Ato Lidetu, is doing the “Meles-Keles” – the yes here and the no there as he conducts his task of the evangelist of the hawks camp. Smart Alec Lidetu, knows very well where his bread is buttered. He is acutely aware of the fact that his party is the one with the greatest seats in the coalition and, therefore, is not prepared to kow-tow to the galaxy of savants who sit with him in CUD’s Council. Any one reading this would agree, therefore, that CUD cannot possibly be the natural home of a Lidetu whose declared view clashes head on with that broad church called CUD. His resignation only from his post of Spokesperson and Member of the Council makes a travesty of the very concept of coalition. How could a compromise be found when the strongest of the Coalition advances the idea of mugging the electoral process? Here is how Ato Lidetu shared his wisdom: “If we are expecting to seize power through this process, we are simply dreaming.” This stance of Ato Lidetu, or more precisely of EDP-Medhin clashes head on with the core belief that gave birth to the Coalition. In other words, how could a Catholic who renounces the perpetual virginity of Holy Mary remain in the fellowship of Catholics simply because his parish believes in a broad church?

One wouldn’t be far from the truth to think that young, and ambitious Ato Lidetu feels ill at ease in the midst CUD’s literati who, I am sure, in his view don’t enjoy the common touch – the ‘street touch’, as it were – that he no doubt enjoys in the metropolis. And here lies the great anomaly. The thousands of Ethiopians that queued for up to eight hours to vote for Ato Lidetu in Addis and for his party up and down the country did so peacefully secure in the knowledge that their choice would adhere to the electoral process. In other words no votes were cast to either by-pass the electoral process or stage a coup d’etat in the name of the electorate. If the Ethiopian people had agreed to the so-called “Negede Plan” they wouldn’t have bothered to have come out en mass and vote on June 15th; they would simply have boycotted the Election.

So, what indeed does Ato Lidetu mean when he states firmly: “…taking part in the process would make us vulnerable to criticism. We have to boycott the process by even citing lame excuses…this tactic would even help us to continue accusing the EPDRF of vote rigging and irregularities.” Why on earth would taking part in the investigation process prompt any criticism from anyone? After all, was it not CUD that was telling the world at large that the EPDRF had committed massive fraud? Surely, a transparent and internationally monitored investigation must be in the best interest of the plaintiff and not the defendant? Reading between the lines of the meeting, it has become evidently clear, therefore, that not only was CUD’s allegations suffering from veracity shortfall, but most serious of all, innocent men and women were made to demonstrate and become the fatal victims of a clash with the police on a false premise. The charge of EPDRF stealing votes did not happen and if it was alleged to have happened the allegation was – to borrow from a popular English cliché used during the investigation into Tony Blair’s claim that Saddam Hussein had the nuclear capacity to attack Britain within 45 minutes – sexed up. None other than Dr Admassu has admitted that CUD was aware of the fact that EPDRF had won legally when he states: "I have assessed that we can win over the Amhara State Council. It is however difficult to say that winning the majority seats in the Federal Parliament is possible because, we are beaten at the other states in a wide margin. Even then, if we ensure our victory in Addis Ababa and the Amhara State, this would be a springboard to the coming election."

One other point worth considering is, now we know that neither Ato Lidetu nor EDP, had received the mandate from Homeland Ethiopians, who else’s criticism, does he fear then? I am reminded here by that telling editorial on Ethiopia’s influential daily “Reporter” which threw doubt on some of the wayward behaviour of those of us who feel we’ve got what it takes – wisdom and cash – to dictate events at home. The we-know-best-for-you section of Ethiopians in the Diaspora ought to think long and hard before putting money where our mouth is, whether or not an Ethiopia derailed from the democratic path is in the best interest of Ethiopians everywhere.

N.B.
The above article must not be regarded as vitriol. I have attacked the thrust of the argument of the personalities and not the personalities per se. Like millions of Ethiopians, I too, am willing to accept whoever wins the Third Election as the legitimate government, and the loser as the Loyal Opposition of the Ethiopian People.

Mulugeta, I don't mean to attack you personally, but you are a loyal embarassement.

Traitor Mulugeta, what are trying to accomplish in life? I mean other than being old, hodam, and retarded. You a disgrace, not only to humans but to animals. The same goes to your twin brother Nugusie W/ Mariam of DC. PUKE!

Ladies and Gentele men,one think is clear this Mulegeta call himself and added Kassa in his last name none other than woyane cadre.Period.

Email: DillingerJ1@aol.com

City: DC

I can't help to think that this is one of the plans Woyane is using to create divisions among the opposition, or at least trying to convince Ethiopians that the opposition the people have voted for is not to be trusted any more - which means the only fall back to this country is Woyane forever!! No way - Ethiopians now are far ahead of the foolish strategies of Woyane! The coalation has different members and a differnce in some positions is something expected - but this doesn't matter if you look at the strategic issue for which the CUD and the Ethiopian people stand together undivided!!! Mulugeta - try something else-this doesn't work!!!
Regards

City: Addis Ababa

Traitor Mulugeta, what are you trying to accomplish in life? I mean other than being old, hodam, and retarded.You are no less than agzie killers. You are a disgrace, not only to humans but to animals. The same goes to your twin brother Nugusie W/ Mariam of DC. PUKE!

Ladies and Gentele men of Ethiopians,CUD objective is to run a country like today South Africa like Ethiopia where all Ethiopians live in peace and harmony,dignity and the wellfare of all its citizens.

Email: DillingerJ1@aol.com

City: DC

Mulugeta Asrete Kessa, I'm very ashamed of you. Being married to a TPLF loyalist doesn't make you TPLF. You are supporting a regime whose bankrupcy will leave a scar not only on you but also on your grand children. Don't be a disgrace to yourself...You claim to be from the Royal Family...Which royal family? The Meles Dynasty?...It is a disaster even for the people of Tigray....Come back to your senses!

Mr Kassa,

This guy is pathetic who has no feeling and with the cold blooded mentality of his master, Zenawi.

What is this about
"...... derailement of the democratic process..."
I would like to ask you where in the world have you seen democracy being built by massacring defenceless youth in the middle of the street. Do you have any sense of justice for goodness sake?

Do you have any sympathy for fellow human beings being killed in this way?

Do you have a family? How would you react if somebody tells you your son/daughter/wife has been shot dead by police at a demo?


Do you know how many people zenawi rounded up and put in jail and murdered in the last month alone, the journalists detained, the peasant arrested and killed.

Do you know that CUD as well as UEDP won the votes of the Ethiopian people from Moyale to Metema, from Diredawa to Nekempte. What do you say to that?

Zenawi and his cadres 'won' tigrali in a free run. Tigre people liberation front has no other vote.


Can you tell us why zenawi has to supress the people of Addis Abebe by a state of emergency.

I have read Mulugeta’s several writings in the past, and it is often one sided despite his writing skills. Calling him a traitor because of his views, which many of you did not agree, is out of line. In fact, name calling is the anti-thesis for a civilized society. To me democracy means the right for free expressions of ideas regardless of whom it pleases. No If and of course No But!!!

Who cares if Mulugeta is a Woyane or a Womenie? His basic view is that of Meles' strategy. What does Meles want to do?

First, stop the May 15th Train. Stop the democratic momentum. Stop the popular optimism, energy, and uprising. He tried to do that by means of mass killing and he will try to DO it again. Desired outcome: He want to kill the popular courage.

Second, Meles wants to rig and tamper with the votes. Then he will engage in a long and frustrating investigation and recounting process tying the hands of the opposition. At the end of the day, he wants to secure a majority with insignificant opposition minority seats in the House.

Third, Meles combines the above two strategic actions to achieve at least the following.
(a) Gain Time. Time to regroup, time to reassess, time to rebound, time to reattack.
(b) Frustrate and Fatigue the people. Meles want to replant in the mind of the people that he is unbeatable - he seeks Psychological Victory and soften the popular stamina.
(c) Divide the Opposition. In Latin, it is said that 'Tempus Ajax Rerum'... time devours everything. Meles knows that the longer the stalmate, leaders begin to develop differences on many issues of the struggle such as should we accept minority seats. should we withdraw from the recounting game, should we seek revote or should we negotiate for a transitional government etc?
These are all natural things to fight over for leaders. The puplic expects these kinds things to happen.

In all of these, we shall not fall for Meles' strategy of weakening the spirit of the people, the unity of the opposition, and the mutual respect and tolerance of the leaders amongst each other. Mulugeta is trying to do the opposite.

What are the facts?
It is a fact that Woyane is a killing, rigging, and militarized ethnocracy.
It is a fact that the Ethiopian people need unity, democracy, peace, and economic development, and psychological well being.
It is a fact that the country must find urgent solutions for ethnicity, repression, poverty, disease, and what not.
It is a fact that there is a national democratic upsurg that is waiting to be organized and guided.
It is a fact that the opposition is in the process of forging unity with each passing day.
It is a fact that parties are in the process of merging and becoming unitary organizations.
It is a fact that most our leaders understand the historic nature of responsibilities expected of them.
It is a fact that there is a lot of good will on the part of the people toward these leaders that they will do the right thing.
Where does Mulugeta get his fact? One Nation, Free Ethiopia. YICHALAL!

Dear Mulugeta Aserate Kassa:
Do not bother to pay attention to this people since they are already made up their mind and only view Ethiopian in the eyes of settlers who used and misused Ethiopia for century and now they are thinking to go to power by employing violence by praxies. These people will never go to Ethiopia; however, they are barking in the western capital after they eat fresh kitfo.

Email: shirdons@yahoo.com

City: Washington DC

Lij Mulugeta Asrate Kassa,

I admire your command of the English Language. Your Victorian English puts my broken English to shame. Sir, I envy you.

Lij Asrate Kassa, I wish I can say the same about the substance of your message. Better yet, I wish I was swindled by your analysis so I can admire your language and end it at that.

The flaw in your analysis and conclusion cannot even be hidden behind your flawless language. Neither can it be sugarcoated, notwithstanding the colorful language that mimicked a beautiful fountain. I am sorry to report to you, sir, that the vibrant expression of your thinking could not breathe life into to an analysis that is dead on arrival. The cynicism in your language and obfuscation of half baked and half fictionalized facts cannot distract your readers from seeing the corrupt analysis that is stretched to lend support to your fraudulent conclusion.

Sir, you failed miserably. Yes, you did, sir. I am not sure if the source of my disappointment is the waste of a Victorian language on sophomoric analysis or your attempt to pass a corrupt analysis under the guise of your flawless English. You twisted and tortured the facts until they confessed.

Here is one example that passes your pen as a weapon of a mercenary who shoots his ammunition withut any regard to the truth. Sir, your pen ozzed garbage when it spit the following lines:

“Reading between the lines of the meeting, it has become evidently clear, therefore, that not only was CUD’s allegations suffering from veracity shortfall, but most serious of all, innocent men and women were made to demonstrate and become the fatal victims of a clash with the police on a false premise.”

The meeting refers to a meeting of the opposition parties conveyed by CUD. Sir any pretence of humanity left in you would oblige you to withdraw the above. All else in your piece was an obfuscation, notewithstanding your Victorian English.

Mamo Qilo aka
Bula Geberdin
Cyber Bully

To Dr. Hagos!

You claim you are Dr..... Dr. of What?

Writing a smear campain about an individual doesn't prove that you are a scholar. Your comment tells for itself.

You need to grow up your mentaly Mr.

City: gzhello@yahoo.com

Gebre...One netter has a good reason to amend your name...GerbreMeles; I am not paid by a tyrant to bark at his critics. My conscience clear and will continue to speak out loudly against a regime which has brought a disaster on the whole of Ethiopia. I am by the side of the Ethiopian people...unlike some narrow ethnic hate mongers and sycophants. Sorry, the truth is bitter!

Dr. Hagos!

I am sure you are hallucinated. Had you not, you wouldn't dare to risk your dignity.

People who know you must have been ashamed of you by your mental dis-oriented. What a man of shame!

City: gzhello@yahoo.com

GebreMeles, which rightly means servant of Meles, I think you are living in an unreal world where modern concepts and tolerance do not exist. If you are in another planet come down to earth, the planet of real life. Most Ethiopians have now one common enemy, i.e. Meles Zenawi & Co. He is a shame not only to Ethiopia but also the whole of Africa. Look back at the last three decades. What have Meles and his cohorts contributed to this poor nation? They have wasted the sacrifice of our brothers to assert their confused ideology...all the bloodbath was in vain. Anyone who doesn't accept the current reality in Ethiopia must have lost dignity to himself. The New Ethiopia will be free from the likes of who who see the world only in terms of how much they have gained at the expense of the mjority.

Folks,

It matters very little what Mulu Ass. Kassa (no pun intended with the abbreviated name) believes or blabbers. This chap is intensly preoccupied with orgasmic self-gratification and intellectual masturbation. In spite of himself, he has every right as anyone on this forum to say his piece however eloquently with his air of aristocracy.

Here is the point. Why do you attribute so much credit to Melese as if he is a political Houdini who will execute an extraordinary magical feat and retain his dogmatic and tyrannical reign? The only source of power this “ butcher of Seville” has is the military, a military whose loyalty is dwindling day by day as he tries to sooth the aches and pain his inevitable defeat into slow motion, or is it slow death. Think about it, would Idi Amin of Uganda have been anything but for his blood curdling military killing machine.

Mulugeta Ass Kassa, I hope you did not talk to your mother the way you write or were you bred to develop this condition? If my grandmother were to hear you speak, she would scoff “woche gud, ye enatun toute tebto yaltegebe tidja”

NOTICE

Mulugeta is a realist person. He knows full well "the crowns" place is in the museum and not in his head. As long as Meles allows him to keep his name Mulugeta Asrate Kassa and the house in Ferensai Legasion he is contented. Why should he support the Gobeze and The Hailus who have given him and his families all the miseries on earth?

BWZA BEZA,

Did you mean to say "opportunistic"?

Notice

Hello All;

It is surprising to see fellow comaptriots crying for the freedom of the Ethiopian people.

For those CUD supporters Ethiopia-->Amharic-->Doro wat--> Orthodox --> Eskista and all sorts of allegations, complain, defamation until the above is true.

None of you know nothing about the Somalis, the Afars, The Gambellas, Benishanguls, the Oromos, the Sidamas, the Kefichos, etc......

What you only know is the Amhara and one Ethiopia (the land).
You are for struggling to unify the land called Ethiopia NOT THE PEOPLE.

If you consider the people just form your party or any political organization under the name of Amhara ... and then try to form coalition with other similar sister organizations NOT UNDER THE CAMUFLAGE OF ONE ETHIOPIA.

It is then the Unity of Ethiopians will come.

Do you know out of the 425 CUD candidates only 85 (less than a quarter) are Muslims! In a country where 40--50% is Muslim.!!!!!

Email: lmazgenet@yahoo.com

City: Addis Ababa

Almaz,

Point well taken, but trivializing the ongoing efforts to unite and merge the existing political and civic organization is not lacking in reaching out to all Ethiopian of every creed, religion and ationality.

Every nationality that comprise Ethiopia has the opportunity to organize and join forces for a common cause, without holding any one particular political party or coalition responsible for the lack of initiative on the part of those who are standing on the side line hopping to get on someone else’s “freedom wagon”.

I am optimistic that the current wave of political tide is inspiring and lifting up all nationalities and religions in Ethiopia to engaged in the political process that will usher in a democratic culture. The movement will in turn evolve the concept of nationhood, which becomes the core power of a democratic society.

Don’t give up. Herewith, there is no turning back.

Notice

Who is this archaic medieval age type feudal lord? Who is this moron who calls himself Mulugeta Asrat? Is that same womanizer and useless drunkard Mulugeta Asrat who used to read news on TV during the Derg era? Who is this imbecile called mulugeta Asrat? Is he the son of the denkoro feudal lord who unfortunately murdered by Derg. Mule, we are NOT Derg. I remember you were serving the derg with your good conscious. You used to translate and paraphrase Mengistu H/M's speech during the early days of the revolution. Mule, politics is NOT womanizing. Maybe, imbecile as you are, you may think this is the time for you to take "sweet vengence" on that revolutionary generation of the 60s which fought hard to the demise of your father. No sane person disputes the fact your father was a ruthless, blood sucker DENKORO feudal. I suggest you have your contribution towards the demise of your best political system, the Gov't of Haileselassie. And yet may I remind you the fact your father did divulge important state secrets to the university students. He meant to harm Endalkachew Mekonnen. But, that worked to his own demise. Mule, your days are gone. Feudalism will never ever come back to Ethiopia. As you are an opportunistic vulture you are knocking at weyane's door. As you did serve, you are positively disposed to serve the TPLF fascists.

Email: hagere_ethiopia@yahoo.com

City: Addis

Who is this archaic medieval age type feudal lord? Who is this moron who calls himself Mulugeta Asrat? Is that same womanizer and useless drunkard Mulugeta Asrat who used to read news on TV during the Derg era? Who is this imbecile called mulugeta Asrat? Is he the son of the denkoro feudal lord who unfortunately murdered by Derg. Mule, we are NOT Derg. I remember you were serving the derg with your good conscious. You used to translate and paraphrase Mengistu H/M's speech during the early days of the revolution. Mule, politics is NOT womanizing. Maybe, imbecile as you are, you may think this is the time for you to take "sweet vengence" on that revolutionary generation of the 60s which fought hard to the demise of your father. No sane person disputes the fact your father was a ruthless, blood sucker DENKORO feudal. I suggest you have your contribution towards the demise of your best political system, the Gov't of Haileselassie. And yet may I remind you the fact your father did divulge important state secrets to the university students. He meant to harm Endalkachew Mekonnen. But, that worked to his own demise. Mule, your days are gone. Feudalism will never ever come back to Ethiopia. As you are an opportunistic vulture you are knocking at weyane's door. As you did serve the Derg, you are positively disposed to serve the TPLF fascists too.
Email: hagere_ethiopia@yahoo.com

City: Addis

Email: hagere_ethiopia@yahoo.com

City: Addis

Notice,

Mulugeta Asrate Kassa? Opportunistic? no that will be unaristocratic. Weather you challenge in the battle field or submit to the authority of the day.He is insensetive to the people who would like to worship him.The Rastamans will not forgive him if he laugh them of hulicination.We better call him "gudu Kassa".

Almaz:
Don’t you think it is a good idea to find out for you’re self who the members of CUD party are, instead of being led by Meles’ propaganda machine? The leader of CUD, Hailu Shawel is an Amhara and Oromo himself, or is it your preference he should be 100% Oromo. Myself being a multi ethnic Ethiopian, it is annoying to hear your ridiculous allegations that CUD is only Amhara party. The name it self, CUD stands for Coalition for Unity and Democracy and it is a multi ethnic party. Do you know any qualified person from any ethnic group or any religion group that was denied to be a member of the CUD leading party member?

Haven’t the Ethiopian people voted for CUD? Why deny them their rights? Or you just think all those who voted for CUD are all stupid, moron and uneducated. Where is your respect for the people of Ethiopia?

U Mulugeta, GET LOST!! What are you upto?
You proved that nothing comes through blood.

Tati is right, you are a ROYAL EMBARRASMENT!!!
BIG TIME EMBARASSMENT!!

Askale Dama:

anchi setiyo, one more time you say "yichalal" and I'm gonna spank your a**

Ibrahim,
Yichalal, Yichalal, Yichalal, Yichalal, Yichalal,
Yichalal, Yichalal, Yichalal, Yichalal, Yichalal.......

What are you going to do about it? sucker!!!!

Ibrahim,CUD will spank your ass tomorrow how to behave a good citizen of nation.

Email: DillingerJ1@aol.com

City: DC

Speculation without knowledge is dangerous!

I read your piece several times and learnt nothing. I read it back to forth and divided it into constituent clauses. It remained gobbledygook and gibberish. Since when did Mulgetta Assrat became an expert in the current condition in Ethiopia? I thought his claim to importance was based on self-appointed title “senior advisor” to the royal family in exile A group that was bent to turn the clock back to medieval period. What a dubious badge of honor!

You should know better that EPDRF has no reason d’eter beyond the retention of power to perpetuate ethnic based politics so that to fatten the pockets of Tigerians political cronies and promote nepotism.

It is blindigly obivous that you are less informed and your assertion is bogus!

BTW split his last name into two syllabus. You will find it that it fits him perfectly.

City: Cambridge, MA

Dear Members,
The settlers are really on final day and in their last breath. They are writing on behalf of Gebre and myself. For example, the previous comment with only Ibrahim, I did not write and they are working hard since the result of election is known and ethiopian people have supported honorable Meles Zenawi and his party to rule the next five years.
Moreover, Haile Goshu and Getachow Haile have spoken in Atlanta and all murder and thugs during Derg time are barking as mad dogs. They delivered shallow and empty loaded with violence words on behalf of lost settler who are roaming around the capital of the world. By the way, Haile Gebersillassie has rejected the so-called sport to underscore political advantage.He said that he is not interested to be part of narrow and myopic settlers who are daydreaming to backpedalling Ethiopia to Hell on fire

Email: shirdons@yahoo.com

City: Washington DC

Dear Ibrahim Shirdon,

Do you know when Melese is distributing food to the starving, you Somalians are last on his list and the first to be killed. How you have the heart to support such a brute I don’t know.

Open your eyes.

Email: HA9beth_tes@hotmail.com

City: London, UK

Who is this archaic medieval age type feudal lord? Who is this moron who calls himself Mulugeta Asrat? Is that same womanizer and useless drunkard Mulugeta Asrat who used to read news on TV during the Derg era? Who is this imbecile called mulugeta Asrat? Is he the son of the denkoro feudal lord who unfortunately murdered by Derg. Mule, we are NOT Derg. I remember you were serving the derg with your good conscious. You used to translate and paraphrase Mengistu H/M's speech during the early days of the revolution. Mule, politics is NOT womanizing. Maybe, imbecile as you are, you may think this is the time for you to take "sweet vengence" on that revolutionary generation of the 60s which fought hard to the demise of your father. No sane person disputes the fact your father was a ruthless, blood sucker DENKORO feudal. I suggest you have your contribution towards the demise of your best political system, the Gov't of Haileselassie. And yet may I remind you the fact your father did divulge important state secrets to the university students. He meant to harm Endalkachew Mekonnen. But, that worked to his own demise. Mule, your days are gone. Feudalism will never ever come back to Ethiopia. As you are an opportunistic vulture you are knocking at weyane's door. As you did serve the Derg, you are positively disposed to serve the TPLF fascists too.
Email: hagere_ethiopia@yahoo.com

City: Addis
Email: hagere_ethiopia@yahoo.com

City: Addis

Email: hagere_ethiopia@yahoo.com

City: Addis

Hagere Ethiopia,
Yourself being Tigraye and tell Meles what he really is, “a tyrant bloodthirsty killer shows how much you love your country.” All God fearing Ethiopian Tigrayes should follow your path and say “Not in our Name.”

What I want to ask you is this: You wrote, “Feudalism will never come back to Ethiopia” Don’t you think it is here already under different name "Meles Zenwaye?"

To Ibrahim!

Some garbage individuals are writing using my name as you can see below.

"Dear Ibrahim Shirdon,

"Do you know when Melese is distributing food to the starving, you Somalians are last on his list and the first to be killed. How you have the heart to support such a brute I don’t know.

Open your eyes.
Email: HA9beth_tes@hotmail.com

City: London, UK"


As you can see the writer is someone from Londen without disclosing his name. His mailing address is followed
HA9beth_test@hotmail.com

Ibrahim! This person is expertise in divide and rule which he learned from his former mster leader Mengistu.

Keep an eye on him and others.

Thank you,

Ibrahim:


You can't stand the mantra 'Yichalal'? Guess what? Ogaden is joining the glorious Ethiopian Nation for good. The Vast majority of Somali Ethiopians want to be one with the Ethiopian People. There is only one power house in the Horn of Africa; that is Ethiopian the 2nd largest nation in Africa with the population 150 million by 2025. This is the fact. Viva Ethiopia. YICHALAL!

Askale Dama:

You and your settler friends, this is your last and last warning to you. One mor time you say "yichallal" just one more time!!! ur azz is gonna be spanked real hard.

Ibrahim,

Did you see what I did to Gebreselassie? At one point I thought you would come to his rescue. That was really nasty of you to hung him high and dry as an easy target. You know he is not smart or savy enough to defend himself. I thought you were like his god father. Why did you allow me to play with him like a nasty cat that plays around with a mouse that has ventured out of her hole?

Mamo QIlo

Mamo,

I knew G/S is a dumb settler although he acts like an enlightened person. He is of no use to we Somalis.

Go forward with Meles! (I'm not sure where :-) ehehehe)

Down with setllers! (Downtown ehehehe)

Mulugeta Asrate Kassa

skills
Empress bokasaa's gigilo
Alcoholic
Merriam-Webster Dictionary
gig·o·lo
Main Entry: gig·o·lo
Pronunciation: 'ji-g&-"lO, 'zhi-

1 : a man supported by a woman usually in return for his attentions
2 : a professional dancing partner or male escort

how much were you charging her

I am smart enough to know the last message is not from Ibrahim.

Mamo QIlo

Lemlem:
You are right I am a Tigre, but never ever shared TPLF's idea in my life so far. If the fact I am Tigre per se gives you the authority to lump me together with the bunch of genocidal thugs, that is your privilege. But this is detrimental to the cause you and me stand for. If you have unquenchable aggresivensess towards all tigres, please try to excercise restraint. No other tribal group in present day Ethiopia is more oppressed and denied elementary human rights than the we tigres. TPLF wants many of your types as you are very useful to their "interhamoy" propaganda. If one TPLF hooligan by sheer chance has read what you wrote here, he will for sure publish it in full in all gov't print medias. In present day Ethiopia luckily a person like you who is clueless , with more guts than brain, are NOT at the opposition leadership level. I take comfort from this reality. The opposition at all hierarchical level has got seasoned and level headed politicians. Finally, I want to tell you my suspicion that you are one of the denkoro TPLF cadres. I follow you in this forum and will somwhere get you blabouring the white lies the the Prime MONSTER Meles NAZIAWI. God bless you Lemlemina. Ciao

Email: hagere_ethiopia@yahoo.com

City: Addis

Hager,
I did not write any derogatory remarks. It is not my style. What possessed you to insult me? I still think those who don’t support Meles should come out and say “not in our name” I am a multi ethnic Ethiopian. My brother is married to Tigraye. My two cousins are married to Oromos. I can go on and on. Please your highnesses don’t try to take me into a wrong path. I am grateful I don’t have any hate towards any ethnic groups. However, for the first time in my life, I’ve never hated anyone as much as hating Meles. I will never forgive him for killing innocent people and put too many families in misery.

There are people like Gebre and alike who have been working 24/7 to create hate and division among ethnic groups. I hope people are wise enough to recognize their hate campaigns and not to fall for it. The more people are divided the more Meles and his gangs become strong. You don’t need to be a rocket scientist to figure this out. They don’t have any love for Ethiopia, if they do, why hurt, torture, kill Ethiopian children? Why ignore the sick and the hungry of Ethiopian children? Why steal from Ethiopia for the benefit of one province, Tigray and ignore the rest of Ethiopia? Their crime is endless. Only God can save us from these heartless people. What goes around comes around. It is a matter of time.

Let me put the verbatim of you message. It reads as follows:

Hagere Ethiopia: Yourself being Tigraye and tell
Meles what he really is,
“a tyrant bloodthirsty killer
shows how much you love your country.”
All God fearing Ethiopian Tigrayes
should follow your path and say
“Not in our Name.”

What I want to ask you is this:
You wrote, “Feudalism will
never come back to Ethiopia”
Don’t you think it is here
already under different
name "Meles Zenwaye?"

Listen, as the Honorable Hailu Shawl put it perfectly I, the Tigre, voted for a Kinijit candidate who is a non tigrean. I live in Teklehaimanot area where over 85% are Tigres. The last 14 years has taught many Tigres a lot of things. In 1991 many Tigres thought their time has come. Many even dared to say "the throne taken from us by Menelik came back once again to us." They considered it as a ressurection of King Yohannes dynasty. As time elapsed the truth started unfolding itself and almost all said, "awekush nakush". No more euphoria over "yetigre mengist". Almost all have understood there should not such thing as tigre, oromo, amhara. Almost all now want a government that truly represents the interests of all Ethiopian people irrespective of ethnicity, religion etc. Many admitted the grave error they commited and confessed in public. Gebru Asrat in public asked apology from the Ethiopian people. Others followed suit. My sister Lemlem, what I want to advise you is that it should be we all Ethiopians that have to say to Meles "ENOUGH IS ENOUGH". THIS IS not AT ALL A TASK YOU CAN FREELY ASSIGN TO ONE ETHNIC GROUP. It is wrong. It is outrageous. Your approach is a sure recipe for defeat. TPLF is working 7/24 to create unbridgeable intellectual and emotional divide. Don't be an easy prey for their evil design. Meles is engaged into terrorising everybody with his blanket accusation of the opposition being "anti Tigre". He in the past intimidated many politicians into silence, even those who loathed for him. He is determined to win everybody to his interest NOT by the force of his example or ideas, but by the force of arms. I am sure you are NOT advising me to go for a head on collision and sacrifice myself in a silly manner. Assume yourself in my position and try to imagine what you could have done. You can read what I wrote to a certain guy called GEBRE. Finally, I didn't mean to offend you. I am a type of person who, when gets angry, never uses coded diplomatic language. Otherwise I am an engaging conversationist. I am also eoquent and persuasive. Maybe my straight forwardness is a dreadful vice of me. Take ONLY the good side of me. I hate also guys like MAMO QILO, who are sanctimonious demagogues parading as PATRIOTS whereas they are actually mercenaries willing to defend a guy like MUDI 7/24. The MAMO QILOS are NOT reliable. They serve anyone who fills their bottomless appetite. Hodam as they are, they even try to advertise PEPSI in a forum like this meant and dedicated to discuss the current affairs of our country. They are sickening bunch of vultures. There are many MAMO QILOS here in Addis. You find them in Sheraton at office bar every night with a bottle of very expensive whiskies. Let me tell you what I witnessed one day. I went there to attend a weding ceremony. Mudi was dead drunk. He started spitting on all vultures who had surrounded him. They cleaned their face and smiled to him. He then splashed a glass full of whiskey over them. They again smiled. I tell you the MAMO QILOS at the office bar are not human beings. They are 70% dogs and 30% human beings with severe mental retrdation.

Email: hagere_ethiopia@yahoo.com

City: Addis

Dear Lemlem,
Read above first my response to your comment. I have also for your benefit cut and pated hereinbelow what I wrote to a certain MORON called Gebre. I hope you enjoy it. ENJOY IT!

Gebre:
Your outlook is dangerously narrow in focus. You seem not able to rally behind ideas. The fact that I and you were born from Tigre MEN & WOMEN is simply by accident of nature. We didn't get it by choice. No human being in this world chose what his nationality or ethnicity by birth is. Of courrse by fiction of the law you might have become an American. But, nationality or ethnicity by birth is simply given. Not chosen. Micheal Jackson didn't choose to be black and that is why he underwent a multiple plastic surgery. (I am not saying he did good) I am just trying to let you understand using over simplification method. As I am an instructor, I can take it down to the lowest possible level to educate you. My dear, it is my job. If you are a lover of truth, wisdom and ideas, you rally behind ideas you think is full of virtues or useful to the good of society, mankind etc. What I see in your line of thinking is that you have fettered your mind. Come out of the fortress of ethnic bias and try to see the light and truth full face. In Ethiopia today the overwhelming majority of Tigres have bid farewell with Meles and his nazi party. I am one of those finest guys of Tigres and all my dream and good wish is NOT for Tigres alone, but for the 73 million Ethiopians. In present day Ethiopia, the most oppressed and regimented are the people living in Tigray. Dear Gebre, you are totally out of touch with the truth. You are shooting in the dark. You have become a laughing stock in this forum. My attention so far was on the more subtle possible enemies of Ethiopia and Ethiopians who are very systematically disseminating their venom. I tried to expose their venom. Venom from the Cobra is very dangerous. I didn't utter a word about you so far. It was because you didn't deserve a response. Even now you don't deserve any response. But my heart went out to you, watching you here being rediculed, mocked and your mental retardation being exposed. You see my "Tigre DNA", without my will, forced me to give you a piece of my mind. It is instinctive:) whoaaaaaaaa......Your line of thinking is instinctive. I am forced to use my instinct to teach you thinking by instinct is animalistic. One has to act like animals to train animals. Please Gebre, don't be a laughing stock. Come to your senses. unlock the reasoning faculty in your brain and comment sensible things. I am NOT going to answer to you if you continue with the same innuendo.
Email: hagere_ethiopia@yahoo.com

City: Addis

Email: hagere_ethiopia@yahoo.com

City: Addis

I do agree with Prof. Geleta Waka.
Regards
Dadi

Prof Geleta Waka and Dadi:
Thank you for your kind words. I am trying my best to make this forum worthy of time spending on. I am a busy man and don't have the privilege of excess spare time to do more. I want to seize this opportunity to invite all of you with noble ideas about the future of Ethiopia participate in the debate. Otherwise, the mamo qilos will make it pepsi cola advertisement notice board. The Moderator as well should keep a close watch on each and every messages posted and immediately delete the ads and deny access those foul mouthed, who are too selfish and vulture type to appreciate what it takes to hold a society together.

Email: gwaka@yahoo.com

City: Addis

BREAKING NEWS! BREAKING NEWS! BREAKING NEWS!

Mulugeta Asrate Kassa is going to be appointed in the place Simon Bereket as a Minister for the Ministry of disinformation. You see his effort produced something. For those of you who know nothing about Mulugeta, he has never ever been an important person in his entire life. He was tera zena anbabi. He is better known by his father for he was somewhere up in the feudal hierarchy. It is shame he presents himself as though he has ever been somebody

Email: hagere_ethiopia@yahoo.com

City: Addis

Hagre..
Please stop the politics of personal destrunction & character assasination - don't cheapen the board by talking about individuals (keep those views to yourself if you belive them). You are better winning minds if you just stay on the message. Expose if you must, by attacking personalities you will loose crediblity and will create enemies unnecessarily....no name calling..Peace.

Email: mamo@yahoo.com

We use the Ethiopian Review to as a valuable soruce of information. We also value the forum as a venue for exchange of ideas.

Please let us stop name calling and using different names, particulalry using people's screen name. For example, I see Ato Hagere Ethiopia thanking Prof. Geleta Waka for his support. But the message seem to have come from Prof. Geleta Waka's account (screen name). It seems clear to me Ato Hagere Ethiopia is also Prof. Geleta Waka.

TT

Email: ttessema34@yahoo.com

Mulugeta is confused . He is very advantageous man. Woyane gave him a work at Embassy in London and also he married a woyane woman. He is trying to cheat us by saying Woyane is the best. Get lost Mulugeta. We know you. He even confused which church to go which God to believe. Anywhere he goes he want to be super. Anywhere he goes he wants to cheat and steal. Mulugete stop being selfish, don't always see your benefit, and think for others as well. Before you write badly for Ethiopia sort your confused life out.

Tariku Tesema, good observation. But check this out how come most of the people on this board have yahoo email account? a coincidence? I doubt it.

Email: motleweyane@hotmail.com

Mulugeta,
You base all (almost all) your arguments on what your read in an IFTIN (Walta for the English translation) article. BIG MISTAKE!

How much weight do you think your arguments will carry if the article in IFTIN is a fiction created by the author (editor)? By the way, some people are capable of doing anything for the RIGHT PRICE(Kurit, Kitfo, some 'Chat' and few drinks). Think about it!

Can you tell me what is wrong with demanding an independent and trasparent investigation of the alleged vote counting irregularities, in fact day light robberies of votes in some cases?

Do you genuinely believe that Kemal Bedri and his associates who are appointed by Melese Zenawi, and have a lot to loose if Meles does not stay in power, are objective/independent?

If Meles and Co. believe in the people's right to vote their MPs into office, why did they have to resisit every attempt by the opposition to get the election be run (rerun, if necessary) by indpendent individuals, in the presence of domesitc and international observers in all the polling stations?

Whom are Meles and Co. trying to protect the public from? If Meles and Co. belive the majority of the Ethiopian people have voted for them, why are they afraid of peaceful demonstrations and public gatherings? What kind of public will demonstrate in mass against the party it voted for?

Wake up, bro.

Tariku Tesema exposed Hagere Ethiopia is the same guy who goes by two screen names (Prof. Geleta Waka's and Dave). I have bruised Hagere Ethiopia's ego and crashed his soul.

I can only say one thing to Hagere Ethiopia. Drink Pepsi.

Mamo Qilo.

BREAKING NEWS! BREAKING NEWS! BREAKING NEWS!

Mulugeta Asrate Kassa is going to be appointed in the place Simon Bereket as a Minister for the Ministry of disinformation. You see his effort produced something. For those of you who know nothing about Mulugeta, he has never ever been an important person in his entire life. He was tera zena anbabi. He is better known by his father for he was somewhere up in the feudal hierarchy. It is shame he presents himself as though he has ever been somebody


City: Addis

Email: hagere_ethiopia@yahoo.com

City: Addis

Dear visitor,

I appreciate you approach. But you have missed the point.

First, Dr. Birhanu has publicly admitted that the report on IFTIN was correct and blamed the government for infiltratig the opposition.

Second, the demonstration ban was in Addis Only, where CUD has won all seats. The reason is clear the over ambitious CUD was planning to use its supporters in Addis to overturn forcefully the vote of all ethiopians. The government was not affraid of any peaceful demonstration and there was no ban on but Addis.

So, your argumentis fallacious and Mulugata's argument is highly appreciated.

Email: ali_20042@yahoo.com

City: Addis Ababa

Dear Abera,

Did you just say “The government was not afraid of any peaceful demonstration and there was no ban on but Addis”.

Do you actually know the meaning of peaceful demonstration? What is your excuse for killing an armed people. These people most of them were passers by, a 14 year old student on his way to school, a 50 year old a mother of 7, the list goes on and on. Would you like it if one of the TPLF forces gun down your mother or your aunt who was on her way to church or the market. And then after they were gunned down they will tell you they were trying to rob a bank. Now how would you feel.

Think before you speak.

HAgere Ethiopia,

St down and sshut up!

Mamo Qilo

Dear AA,

Every one feels sorry for that incident.I am against the lose of a single life. It should be investigated as promissed by the government. But, think this way,

1. I call the death of these people as a collaterl damege(as the americans call it)
2. I am aware thathad it not been the quick response, we could have paid the life of thousands of innocent people.I was at Mercato right at the spot and the move was so scaring.I believe I would have one of those victms.
3. The existing infant democracy has costed us more than a million Ethiopians from all sides(in the 17years fight against the dergue-including the time of red terror).So, I believe if the situation slips back to such crises, it will be an insult to the martyres and we will need one ot two million again.
4. i believe you are aware of the Negede gobeze and EPRP stategy of violence( both being parties to the white and red- terror era).

Hence, though i am against goverment suppression of all freedoms, the kind of the june 8(though regrettable and should be investigated)could be necessary to save the nation from the anticipated crises.

Abera,

Email: ali_20042@yahoo.com

City: Addis Ababa

Abera,
You should know that EPDRF is walking a fine line between establishing democracy and going to a dictatorial point of no return. The opposition has to fight hard not just for now but for the next election. This Melese:Simon parroting merkato / Ruwanda / Unconstitutional means talk will not get EPDRF beyond this election how many times can you rob people. People will demonstrate peacefully. Oppositions will step up and prove themselves and will win elections. EPDRF made a big mistake to let people taste freedom. It can not stop now. Every election will be better and more fare than previous as long as they opposition works on it. Opposition will show the world every detailed aspect of the sabotage by EPDRF. Peaceful resistance and boycott is legal and is not unconstitutional means. Finally Mr Abera, opening your system is good for all. Including for Tigreans.

Dear Vj,

Why are you changing your name every time you respond to my comments? please be consistent.

Why are suggesting that I am a Tigrean. I am not. I am an Amhara that believe in the equality of all naionalities of Ethiopia.

Thirdly, please give credit for the EPRDF for the opening up of the Ethiopian politics to more free and fair election. I believe EPRDF should be respected at least to the xisiting degree of democratization. Coplete denial of the facts at the ground will not take us anywhere.
Finaly, believe or not the EPRDF is one of the political players in the country. You can wish but can't avoid that reality.

Abera

Email: ali_20042@yahoo.com

City: Addis Ababa

Dear Abera,

I don’t think we should thank the TPLF for having a fair election. As your master said on that BBC interview he said that they “made a miscalculation”. Do you really think if they have known that they will be having a strong opposition, they will let the country have a ‘fair election’. I don’t think so. Look what is happening now. Once they lost the election:

1. Opposition parties don’t have access to sate media
2. Opposition party members are imprisoned even killed
3. University students still in prison
4. Opposition leaders are being followed by security members
5. The killings of 40 people in Addis Abeba
6. Farmers (the most important people in our country) being harassed and killed
7. Addis Ababa’s resources being taken out of the city, residents are being told to ask CUD to sort their problems, This means things are going to get worse by September if they are going to hand over power at all

I have got more points but, this will do for the time being.

Now does all these points sound like a faire election to you. I don’t believe you are Amarah. You are just saying that you are.

The only people we should thank are the international observers. It is their presence that helped it to look like a fair election until election day. Even when the votes are being counted it is only areas where they are present that looked to be judged fairly in favour of the Opposition (starting from Addis Ababa). In areas where there are no International Observers, well TPLF wins.

Mr Abera I think you need to come up with a better point than telling us to thank those bloody TPLF for having a fair election.

Dear Brook,

I thought I was discussing issues with my fellow citizens.You have already made your mind and it is difficult to freely dicuss with you. May be you are an opposition leader or cadre because your comments are the carbon copy of Mr. Hailu shawol.People with such blind support to either side don't help bring the desired consensus in this dicussion forum.

May I ask you one question, why are you worshiping the foreign observers? This is not what we inherited from our for fathers. Kiss your ferengis.I believe in Ehiopians. The authors of any change in our country are Ethiopians, be it EPRDF, the opposition and more over the public at large.

Abera

Email: ali_20042@yahoo.com

City: Addis Ababa

BREAKING NEWS! BREAKING NEWS! BREAKING NEWS!

Mulugeta Asrate Kassa is going to be appointed in the place Simon Bereket as a Minister for the Ministry of disinformation. You see his effort produced something. For those of you who know nothing about Mulugeta, he has never ever been an important person in his entire life. He was tera zena anbabi. He is better known by his father for he was somewhere up in the feudal hierarchy. It is shame he presents himself as though he has ever been somebody

Email: hagere_ethiopia@yahoo.com

City: Addis

Abera,

What Brook and VJ wrote makes sense. It is consistent both in and of themselves and they are also consistet with what happened. You are a tribal bandit, who is defending TPLF's right to loot the rest of Ethiopia. It is not only those who are against ethnic politics that are rejecting your armed looters. Even people who see ethnic politics as a legitimate political form of organization tell you that your masters are tribal bandits (read VJ). And VJ is a solid person. Look at Brook's message and tell me one line that is not factually correct.

Mamo Qilo

Mamo Qilo,

The point is you are filled with hatred. You just brand people with different opnion ayweyanes or tribalists. Your response re-confirms that you are propagandists of the opposition and you don't care if our nation goes astray.

We should accept ourdiversity and come to dialogue. You see unity does accommodate diversity. The EU is being established with out any need to buldoz the identity of the peoples' of Europe.

Why are you intersted to buldoz ethinic(Icall it nationalities) identity to be an Ethiopian? Believe it or not your fore fathers has tried it for a century and it failed.So, don't waste your time on failed ambitions.

I am not responding to your sily and baised questions because it will be a waste of time as you have already made you mind.

Please come up with a new plan that might help to bring all of us on board and save our nation from further crises.But, don't even think of buldozing our diversity.

Abera,

Email: ali_20042@yahoo.com

City: Addis Ababa

Alexiye nefse,
I just visualised you crying like a baby. I posed a dozen of questions, and yet you didn't dare to answer even one. Like your master you rushed to brand me as a derg....phew, alexiye this is an old old as old as weyane trick to silence different opinion....Alex, targa meletef is no more working. You raised the switzerland and canada experience. Your analogy does not stand. You also confuse ethnic politics with national identity. We Ethiopians have one and only one national identity and that is Ethiopianism, but we do have over 80 ethnic groups. You are first Ethiopian and then Oromo, Tigre, Sidama, Welayta, Amhara what have you. In Ethiopia today there is NO federalism. What we have is TPLF dictatorship. All the so called kilil bosses are EPRDF members and all done by orders issued from TPLF. You are too bold to compare Weyane's dictatorship with switzerland and canada federalism. Radical decentralization is one thing setting Switzerland's political structure apart from others; the other chief distinction is its commitment to direct democracy, as opposed to representative democracy. In the federal structure and throughout the cantons, any legislative act may be sent to referendum by means of a petition carrying a certain number of signatures. Citizens' initiative is pervasive too, though the bar is usually somewhat higher; draft a law, convince some of your fellow citizens of its wisdom, win the resulting referendum and it goes right into the books. For the Swiss citizen, this means constant voting and discussion of individual political issues. Alex, many participating on this forum are well informed and educated Ethiopians. You may be able to cheat a DENKOPRO guy like mamo Qilo, but you can never ever cheat anyone else here by simply saying, "it is like the switzerland", "it is like the canada system". Weyane the last 14 years tried to cheat by simply citing countries. Even recently the MONSTER in his interview with the BBC was calling countries and repeatedly said, "in france, in england" blah blah. If you have watched that program, the journalist simply laughed....yetizibt smile neber yasayew. Alex, your days are numbered. It is all over. Kewedeku behuala meferaget lemelalat silehone you better accept your defeat.
Email: hagere_ethiopia@yahoo.com

City: Addis

Email: hagere_ethiopia@yahoo.com

City: Addis

Alexiye nefse,
I just visualised you crying like a baby. I posed a dozen of questions, and yet you didn't dare to answer even one. Like your master you rushed to brand me as a derg....phew, alexiye this is an old old as old as weyane trick to silence different opinion....Alex, targa meletef is no more working. You raised the switzerland and canada experience. Your analogy does not stand. You also confuse ethnic politics with national identity. We Ethiopians have one and only one national identity and that is Ethiopianism, but we do have over 80 ethnic groups. You are first Ethiopian and then Oromo, Tigre, Sidama, Welayta, Amhara what have you. In Ethiopia today there is NO federalism. What we have is TPLF dictatorship. All the so called kilil bosses are EPRDF members and all done by orders issued from TPLF. You are too bold to compare Weyane's dictatorship with switzerland and canada federalism. Radical decentralization is one thing setting Switzerland's political structure apart from others; the other chief distinction is its commitment to direct democracy, as opposed to representative democracy. In the federal structure and throughout the cantons, any legislative act may be sent to referendum by means of a petition carrying a certain number of signatures. Citizens' initiative is pervasive too, though the bar is usually somewhat higher; draft a law, convince some of your fellow citizens of its wisdom, win the resulting referendum and it goes right into the books. For the Swiss citizen, this means constant voting and discussion of individual political issues. Alex, many participating on this forum are well informed and educated Ethiopians. You may be able to cheat a DENKOPRO guy like mamo Qilo, but you can never ever cheat anyone else here by simply saying, "it is like the switzerland", "it is like the canada system". Weyane the last 14 years tried to cheat by simply citing countries. Even recently the MONSTER in his interview with the BBC was calling countries and repeatedly said, "in france, in england" blah blah. If you have watched that program, the journalist simply laughed....yetizibt smile neber yasayew. Alex, your days are numbered. It is all over. Kewedeku behuala meferaget lemelalat silehone you better accept your defeat.
Email: hagere_ethiopia@yahoo.com

Email: hrobert@yahoo.com

City: Addis

I am not part of this dicussion.Why did you post your comments here? Please refer my comments on the proper topic.

Alex,

Email: ali_20042@yahoo.com

City: Addis Ababa

It is obvious that Hagere Ethiopia is the same person as Hiwote Roberts and Professor Waka. How else would Hagere Ethiopia sign off Hiwote Roberts message. The message above has Hiwote Roberts aon the "by line", but it was signed by Hagere Ethiopia. Hagere Ethiopia made the same mistake when he posted on behalf of Professor Waka. I think we should stop this game. Otherwise ER is going to lose its credibility as a forum.

This started by Mamo Qilo and now every body is copying Mamo Qilo. Why cann't we be honest and civilized in our manners. It serves no purpose to post a message and comeback with another name to praise ourselves. Hagere Ethiopia should stop this.

TT

Email: ttessema34@yahoo.com

Mamo QILO, Tariku Tessema, Ghost blah blah and many others are one and the same. This nut Mamop Qilo, a bed ridden, rotten and in a permanent vegetative state less than useless guy, tries to use us as play mates to somehow pass his boring days. For him each day is a replica of the other day. We are busy guys with a hell lot of work to do. Mamo Qilo, I was determined to ignore you, but you continued confusing this forum participants using different screen names. I am writing this message to straighten the record. You admitted that you use 25 screen names. I think it is more than that. I appeal to the MODERATOR to make such childish game impossible. His cheap method is called accusation in a mirror. This is one of the cheap weyane tricks. Weyane accuses all its opponents of being tribalist. In actual fact it is weyane itself which is a nasty backward tribalist. Mamo Qilo is using same method. I appeal to all of you here to ignore this less than useless MORON.

Email: hagere_ethiopia@yahoo.com

City: Addis

Tariku/Hagere,do us a fevour,take it out side.

Email: DillingerJ1@aol.com

City: DC

DillingerJ1,

Hagere is very sensitive today. Please leave him alone. He had only three people supporting him (Hiwote Roberts, Professor Waka and Some Ferengi from Addis). They are now proven to be the later egos of Hagere. Ato Tariku was cruel to expose this in public with a proof that at Hagere cannot negate. Send Hagere Pepsi Cola.

Mamo Qilo

Surprising to hear from Mulugeta after all these years. Mulugeta and his families were people who were joking on the poor during the earlier days. If you can ask the people around Genete Eyesus Church and Chekunu Michael Church they will tell you the truth. To witness some: many people lost their residence around the areas because it was needed for parking during his sister's wedding. He grew up in a world of luxuary and his father had also been a real fudal that lived on the blood of many Ethiopians. Mulugeta's sister's wedding cake was baked in London and craked on the way here and it was sent back to London for repair - real feudal caharacter ha.... So is he the person who is now adovcating for the POOR ETHIOPIAN PEOPLE or is he another Mulugeta Asrate Kassa who is born with a different personality? He should be ashamed of all his deeds... We are leaving the the judgement to you.

Email: tarike@yahoo.com

City: Addis Ababa

In contrast to your narrow and EPDRF molded perception and understanding, Washington and Brussels have been agreeing on a foreign policy issue and speaking with one clear voice since many years.

For people who live in DENIAL of the Ethiopian people demand, it would not be easy to install any thing in their rotted grey matter. It is a shame to see people like you who are totally blinded to the demand of the Ethiopian.

Which electoral process are you talking about? You must be insane.

Enough

City: Washington

Absinya,

You name is indicative of your partician position. It only refers to a certain group.So, you have no mandate to speak on behaf of all Ethiopians.

Your ambition will evaporate soon.

Bahru

Email: Bahru_20052@yahoo.com

City: Addis Ababa

Mamo Qilo:
It is NOT my intention to demoralize you. I don't want to degrade you or to show your vanity and empty inner self to everybody. It is NOT my intention at all. It is NOT my intention to expose you nervous system breakdown. NOT AT ALL!!! My intention is to clean the forum from garbages. If this effort of mine has caused any damage, it should be a collateral damage. By the way, PEPSI stinks! That could be why you are stinking too. Try coca cola. You will love it.
Email: schwebel@telecom.net.et

City: Addis

Email: schwebel@telecom.net.et

City: Addis

Mamo Qilo:
It is NOT my intention to demoralize you. I don't want to degrade you or to show your vanity and empty inner self to everybody. It is NOT my intention at all. It is NOT my intention to expose you nervous system breakdown. NOT AT ALL!!! My intention is to clean the forum from garbages. If this effort of mine has caused any damage, it should be a collateral damage. By the way, PEPSI stinks! That could be why you are stinking too. Try coca cola. You will love it.
Email: schwebel@telecom.net.et

Email: schwebel@telecom.net.et

City: Addis

Mamo Qilo:
It is NOT my intention to demoralize you. I don't want to degrade you or to show your vanity and empty inner self to everybody. It is NOT my intention at all. It is NOT my intention to expose you nervous system breakdown. NOT AT ALL!!! My intention is to clean the forum from garbages. If this effort of mine has caused any damage, it should be a collateral damage. By the way, PEPSI stinks! That could be why you are stinking too. Try coca cola. You will love it.
Email: schwebel@telecom.net.et

City: Addis
Email: schwebel@telecom.net.et

City: Addis

Email: schwebel@telecom.net.et

City: Addis

Dear Yeasrate Kasa Liji

You think that Meles Zenawi wiped out the Derge regime and that you think he is a good government don't be mad. And that you want to show him respect. He is not, the people of Ethiopia who throw the Derge, not EPRDF. I listened your question and answers with Radio Fana, you are living where democracy set, but where we lived is slavery. I am not CUD or any party. I am simply an Ethiopian women. Let me tell you the filling of Ethiopian people through out the country, we need change, he isn’t good for Ethiopians, he is good for Eritrea’s, he revenge the people of Ethiopian. Please come and live with us and listen to us. How the people suffered. You blame Derge, because he killed your parent, but he was really help the poor, He was standing for the poor. I understand he did bad things, but not like Meles Zenawi. I really don’t have word for this government. Don’t be judge sitting there and criticize the people that you don’t know them. They stand for the poor people. They are well to do, but they struggle for Ethiopians.

City: Addis Ababa

Mamo QILO, Tariku Tessema, Ghost blah blah and many others are one and the same. This nut Mamop Qilo, a bed ridden, rotten and in a permanent vegetative state less than useless guy, tries to use us as play mates to somehow pass his boring days. For him each day is a replica of the other day. We are busy guys with a hell lot of work to do. Mamo Qilo, I was determined to ignore you, but you continued confusing this forum participants using different screen names. I am writing this message to straighten the record. You admitted that you use 25 screen names. I think it is more than that. I appeal to the MODERATOR to make such childish game impossible. His cheap method is called accusation in a mirror. This is one of the cheap weyane tricks. Weyane accuses all its opponents of being tribalist. In actual fact it is weyane itself which is a nasty backward tribalist. Mamo Qilo is using same method. I appeal to all of you here to ignore this less than useless MORON.
Email: hagere_ethiopia@yahoo.com

City: Addis

Email: hagere_ethiopia@yahoo.com

City: Addis

The last message is sent form Hiwote Account, but signed by Hagere Ethiopia. Can you guys please stop this game. Let us not spoil this forum that is a valuable venue for exchange of information and to discuss and build consensu on critical issues. Ato Hagere Ethiopia, can you please stop this game.

TT

Email: ttessema34@yahoo.com

Dear Hiwot,
you are repeatedly doing it. Maybe you meant to offend the Mamo Qilos. Please don't do it. I know you wanted to say to "them", so what even if I am Hagere Ethiopia. The problem is others may think it is same person using different screen names. If others think like this, the Mamo Qilos may take it for victory. As for me I don't mind if the signature at the bottom reads HAGERE ETHIOPIA. Maybe I will do the same thing i.e sign as Hiwot Robert and watch smiling while "they" cry foul. God Bless you!

Email: hagere_ethiopia@yahoo.com

City: Addis

Hagere Ethiopia,

In the interest of getting along I am prepared to go along with your story. But for the furture, this is an explanation. Your name appears at the bottom of Hiwot's messages when are using her screen name account and copying and pasting from your earlier messages.

Hagere, you and I started fighting when you told me off by saying that you are a college graduate and a professional. I said I am a high school graduate and a taxi driver. I bragged to render you lifeless in a debate and did exactly that. In the process I bruised your ego and crashed your sould. You have since been bitter. You have created at least four names to attack me and to boost your ego up. I have decided to join Hiwot and Prfessor Waka and fron now on I will attack Mamo Qilo, by cutting and pasting what you say about me. You can see this a total surender on my part and to serve you at your will. Now you do not even need Hiwot and Professor Waka. At your service sir.

Mamo Qilo

Mamo Qilo

Mamo QILO, Tariku Tessema, Ghost blah blah and many others are one and the same. This nut Mamop Qilo, a bed ridden, rotten and in a permanent vegetative state less than useless guy, tries to use us as play mates to somehow pass his boring days. For him each day is a replica of the other day. We are busy guys with a hell lot of work to do. Mamo Qilo, I was determined to ignore you, but you continued confusing this forum participants using different screen names. I am writing this message to straighten the record. You admitted that you use 25 screen names. I think it is more than that. I appeal to the MODERATOR to make such childish game impossible. His cheap method is called accusation in a mirror. This is one of the cheap weyane tricks. Weyane accuses all its opponents of being tribalist. In actual fact it is weyane itself which is a nasty backward tribalist. Mamo Qilo is using same method. I appeal to all of you here to ignore this less than useless MORON.

Posted on behalf of Hagere Ethiopia

Dear Participants:
Tariku Tessema, Ethiopian, Mamo Qilo, Mamule, Mulmule etc are ONE AND THE SAME PERSON. This guy are here to distort the whole thing by pretending to be different person. He does have a hiddent anti Ethiopia agenda. Watch out!

Email: gwaka@yahoo.com

City: Addis

Mamo Qilo:
Why do you use different screen names to praise yourself. Your attention seeking personality is very sickening. After using different names, you want the whole world to know it that it was you who diod all that. It is childish. Now, you try also to discredit Hagere Ethiopia by using different names. STUPID!!!

Email: astuka@yahoo.com

City: Addis

BREAKING NEWS! BREAKING NEWS! BREAKING NEWS!

Mulugeta Asrate Kassa is going to be appointed in the place Simon Bereket as a Minister for the Ministry of disinformation. You see his effort produced something. For those of you who know nothing about Mulugeta, he has never ever been an important person in his entire life. He was tera zena anbabi. He is better known by his father for he was somewhere up in the feudal hierarchy. It is shame he presents himself as though he has ever been somebody
Email: hagere_ethiopia@yahoo.com

City: Addis

Email: hagere_ethiopia@yahoo.com

City: Addis

Mulugeta,how much have you been paid?

Email: mirkanataye@yahoo.com

City: Nairobi

Mulugetta,
I would like to remind you that it is because of the sins of the likes of your family that owned a lot of land and treated their serfs inhumanely that all Amharas are hated for.I resent you and all the feudals that committed all those crimes against the people of Ethiopia.

Email: zghiwet@yahoo.ca

City: Toronto

read for youself what real double whammy !!!!

Walta Information Center

THE CUD'S BYZANTINE ELECTION STRATEGY



By G.A

"The ruling party is creating confusion by presenting rebellion as an illegal act."

Dr. Hailu Araya
CUD Official

In the July 1st issue of the Amharic weekly The Reporter, Dr. Hailu Araya who replaced Ledetu Ayalew as public relations committee chairman of the CUD, offered the above new but curious perspective, implying that there could be a way in which rebellion could be considered as one among the many forms of constitutionally protected expressions of dissent. As Orwellian as this coupling of contradictory notions might sound, Dr. Hailu's augmentation of the limits of legally permissible forms of protests to absurdity, as we shall see shortly, brings into a sharp relief the CUD's double-pronged strategy to wrest power from the incumbent. Dr. Hailu's may be a clumsy spin; it nevertheless starkly reveals the parallel, but incompatible, tactics his party employs to climb to the summit of power by legitimate or other means. Through either winning the legally required number of votes in this third national election, or if that fails, by inciting an urban uprising under the pretext of massive vote fraud. Dr. Hailu's attempt is a pitiful doublespeak to conceal the inherent dissonance between these two conflicting approaches. A move intended to give a false impression of the existence of harmony in the otherwise mutually exclusive paths his party charted to grab the levers of decision-making. A strategy of simultaneous engagement in the country's legal electoral process and a persistent campaign of discrediting (I) the very institutions vested with the legal authority to facilitate, conduct, and finally certify the outcome of the election, and (II) wholesale de-legitimizing of the decisive branches of government as well as the legislative body that the CUD sought to sweep in this election. The offshoot of this thinly veiled Byzantine political machination, as the public painfully learned, was the June 7-11 crisis that, unchecked, would have deteriorated into a formidable threat to the very foundation of the constitutional order itself. A crisis ignited by throwing the public into confusion and prodding unsuspecting citizens to take lawless action. Dr. Hailu is shrewd enough to know that he has to find a way to elude public detection of his party's perilous blending of licit and illicit tactics within a single electoral stratagem. That is why he unashamedly concocted a bizarre formula that blurs the distinction between legitimate and illegitimate forms of action and protest. Mr. Sacker of the BBC's Hard Talk has succinctly and correctly pointed out the heart of CUD's dilemma.

"My Point is that there is a contradiction in your (Hailu Shawel) position right now. On the one hand, you are saying this government is beyond the pale. On the other hand, you are involved in the process through the national electoral board. You have also issued a joint statement, a commitment to peaceful resolution of the problem. You can't have it both ways."

It is in response to Prime Ministers Meles" televised interview concerning the post-election crises that Dr. Hailu made his startlingly bold attempt to include rebellion within the parameters of tolerable acts of expressing opposition in the aforementioned weekly.

"No individual has joined in our ranks to create chaos and incite rebellion as defined by Meles and Bereket. Peace is the basis of the CUD. However it is the people's constitutional right to legally and peacefully rebel and express its protest to assert its rights. The ruling party is creating confusion by presenting rebellion as an illegal act.

Dr. Hailu is absolutely right that the Ethiopia constitution protects the rights of citizens to protest any injustice through peaceful rallies, marches, demonstrations etc. Without going too far, it is precisely because peaceful demonstrations against real or imaginary infringement of rights or even in opposition to any government policy are inviolable rights that the CUD was able to stage two major peaceful demonstrations in its brief existence. We all recall the anti-peace protest rally the CUD launched on December 25 denouncing the government's Five-Point Peace Proposal to end the Ethio-Eritrean conflict. No recent example too bears this out better than the May 8 mammoth public gathering that the CUD organized as the final act of its 2005 election campaign that passed without a single violent incident. In short, any advocacy group or a political party has a constitutional right to protest any wrongdoing so long as it expresses its discontent in a peaceful manner and in accordance with the relevant provisions of the laws of the state. What the Ethiopian constitution, like all constitutions everywhere, does not accommodate or what law-enforcement bodies do not tolerate is rebellion. For rebellion by definition means sedition, a willful transgression of the laws of the land often by violent means. In fact the whole idea why a society chooses to be governed by a constitution is because such form of rule provides opportunities for rational adjudication of disputes, equitable resolution of discord, and judicious reconciliation of conflicts to ensure that no one resorts to rebellion for lack of legal recourse or absence of grievance redress mechanism. In sum, no constitution sanctions rebellion, if we agree on the conventional, widely shared and commonly understood sense of the word. The Ethiopian constitution is no exception.

All this is basic and elementary. We have no reason to believe that Dr. Hailu, a PhD, is ignorant of what is and is not permissible in the matter of political protest. The reason why he weds two diametrically opposed elements as rebellion and legal rights self-evidently are is to provide legitimacy to a repeat of the kind of riot and disorder that shook Addis Ababa on June 8. It is indeed callous to even hint that this type of protest could be interpreted as a legally protected expression of discontent, because it could easily mislead the urban youth to engage in actions with no constitutional warrant. But then again it is questionable whether Dr. Hailu's party has any scruples about using means that engender harmful consequences so long as the end, dislodging the EPRDF from power, is justified.

If, for instance, out of deference to the post-modern principle of plurality of interpretation of texts, we were to admit and act upon Dr. Hailu's suggestion, not only would the constitution be rendered meaningless, but descent into the abyss of a Hobbsian world where no laws but brute force apply would be unavoidable. Dr. Hailu's lateral shift to inject rebellion within the gamut of inalienable rights enumerated in the constitution is, therefore, not a benign exercise of mental deconstruction of boundaries. It is a conscious effort to provide an advance legitimation, if you will, for the kind of extra-legal action that the CUD might be planning to take in the event it decides to disengage from the open political terrain. We have seen how on its debut performance on the political stage, the CUD commenced its election campaign with a litany of denouncements of the political order and all the institutional pillars of the state. At every stage of the election process we have observed and continue to witness with what dexterity the CUD uses, at times concurrently and at other times alternately, lawful and not so lawful means to advance its agenda. The tension between CUD's simultaneous dismissal of the National Election Board of Ethiopia (NEBE) as an untrustworthy pro-EPRDF institution, incapable of conducting a fair election, on one level, and its decision to run for almost every single seat up for grabs in this third national election, on another, was initially not noticed. As time went by, however, the public gradually began to sense discrepancies between CUD's declarations and actual practices. In fact, the statement "To expect that this election will be fair and free is absolute naiveté" made in one of the televised political debates during the election campaign by Major Admase Melaku, a top CUD leader, struck many as an eyebrow raising quirk. Apparently the glairing inconsistency between such a dim view of the election process, on the one hand, and CUD's persistent public appeal for high voters' turnout, on the other, is not, as any reasonable person might think, an oversight on the part of the party's leaders. It is but a conscious tactical maneuver congruent with the duality of the party's strategy.

The polls were barely closed and ballot counting had hardly begun when Hailu Shawell, the CUD chairman, announced that he might withdraw from the process because of massive electoral fraud. Mr. Gezachew Shiferaw, another party official reported to a BBC correspondent on May 16 that he had information about 'massive extra judicial killings and arrests' on the very election day itself without offering a shred of evidence to back his allegation. However when the CUD leadership learned of its impressive victory in Addis Ababa, and when the foreign observers described the voting process as praiseworthy, talk about mass killing and withdrawing from the election quickly died in CUD's headquarters. Consequently the pretext for claiming massive fraud and shifting to the party's illicit tactic was, at least for the time, removed. The CUD paused for a while to absorb, as it were, its unexpected victory only to resume its accusations of massive and systematic fraud in all far-flung parts of the country with an even more vociferous tone. Buoyed by the margin of votes it defeated the incumbent in Addis Ababa and other major cities, the CUD indeed resumed its allegation of foul play with vigor and startling daringness. Judging by the certitude of their claim to victory, the CUD leaders might have said to themselves: "We have captured Addis Ababa as well as all the major cities and come this far, why not go for the whole thing as we originally intended and claim that we have won the whole election?"

Sure enough the CUD claimed to have won by a landslide (a stunning 23, million votes against the EPRDF out of 29 million voters) as one of its spokespersons put it: a manifestly wild claim belied by the fact on the ground that indisputably confirm that the EPRDF had, by NEBE's last count, clinched a clean 169 uncontested national legislative seats. But because the CUD leaders believes that theirs is a foreordained victory, they hastily and without much attention to detail filed 189 fraud-irregularity complaints. Combined with the complaints that the other parties submitted, shot the number of cases that the NEBE has to investigate to somewhere around 300. Postponing the June 8 official announcement day of the final results was therefore unavoidable, though the delay understandably created public confusion and frustration. More time was needed to investigate such a vast number of cases particularly in a country like Ethiopia that some expatriates describe as a logistical nightmare. However since the CUD's political vision is like a self-fulfilling prophesy, it submits an inordinately large number of cases of complaints, mostly of questionable merit, that naturally obstruct and subsequently delay the final announcement of the outcome of the election, the party nevertheless turns around to accuse the NEBE of deliberately drugging the investigation process. As it levels such baseless accusation against the overworked institution, the CUD also admonishes the public not to put its faith in the team entrusted to investigate vote-fraud complaints. Ever since the election day, the CUD has off and on the through various ways been putting its supporters and the public at large on notice to, when the time comes, take action in the form of boycotting schools, launching demonstrations that will culminate in a nationwide strike to force the government into acceding to the party's election claims. In fact long before all the votes were counted and tabulated, the party's top leaders have on several occasions warned that if they don't have their way, meaning if the CUD is not confirmed as a winner of this election, they would duplicate what happened in Georgia and Ukraine in this country.

The CUD's May 31 statement is, for instance, unequivocal on what will happen if the NEBE fails to declare the coalition as the party that received the most votes in this third national election. The statement says " Several and continuous peaceful protest demonstrations will be launched in the country's major cities. Various peaceful struggles ranging from short school boycotts, transport, commerce, and production stoppages, leading up to a nationwide strike will be conducted." It is this open agitation backed by deliberate circulation of pernicious rumors designed to deepen voters mistrust that raised public tension to fever high and triggered the June riot that claimed the lives of 30 people and left a stain on Ethiopia's third national elections. But even this tragic incident did little to deter the CUD from further prevarication. We all saw how minutes after signing the June 10 Joint Declaration with the ruling party to, among other things, "re-affirm-commitment to" the successful and peaceful conclusion of the electoral process, in a manner that fully respects the wishes of the people, the rule of law and constitutional process of the country, the CUD went back on its work. The CUD delegate announced that his party would only honor the agreement if certain preconditions were first met. This blatant act of reneging on agreement literally before the ink on the paper dried shocked and dismayed Mr. Tim Clark of the EU who worked hard to broker the deal.

Again today the CUD is engaged in de-legitimizing the judiciary as a kangaroo court in anticipation of the verdict that the judges might pass in the event the CUD appeals NEBE's last pronouncement on the outcome of the election. In other words, just as the CUD is bracing to challenge the NEBE in court, it is at the same time denouncing the justice department to the public as an appendage of the ruling party from which the people cannot expect an impartial dispensation of the law. Hence endlessly the CUD precedes its engagement with and appeal to any decision-making institution in this country by a barrage of saturated propaganda to discredit that very intuition in the eyes of the public. This is the impossible paradox in CUD's political strategy. The party persistently and diligently works to completely discredit the very institutions from which it seeks the stamp of legal approval for all its actions. It untiringly campaigns to undercut and erode public confidence in the integrity of every legally constituted governmental body, but concurrently places barely disguised threatening demands on these selfsame institutions to officially endorse its unverifiable claims on the outcome of the election in any other self-sustaining country with acknowledged republican pedigree such an organization would have been dismissed as double-dealing fraud and promptly censured before the dangerous implications of its machination wreak havoc on state and society. But in Ethiopia, where official commitment to democracy has not yet received universal approval and where any law enforcement measure is received with skeptical suspicion, the government has to strike a delicate balance between suppressing recalcitrant organizations to the full extent of the law and ensuring that such legitimate law-preserving measure does not erode public confidence in electoral politics. And, as a nation that is trying to break the cycle of dependency on external aid, the state has to also carefully weigh donors' reaction before it brings down the law on such organizations that fuse open and hidden tactics and those that oscillate between welcome and forbidden methods of political intervention.

The CUD is indeed relentless in pursuing its dual election strategy. For instance it tried to arouse anger among residents of Addis Ababa by creating a big commotion around the Prime Minister's month-long ban on all public gatherings and demonstrations in this city effective as of May 16, a day after the Ethiopian people exercised their democratic right to vote in record number. In hindsight and upon reflection of the magnitude of what would have resulted from the June crisis, many agree that the prime minister did the right thing to temporarily suspend such activities. The CUD nevertheless sued the Prime Minister and challenged the constitutionality of the ban all the way to the Supreme Court, albeit, in the end that party failed to get a favorable ruling on the matter. As political demonstration is a rare event in Ethiopia, the public greeted the temporary ban with indifference. But the mere fact that the Prime Minister could be held legally accountable for his action left a very positive public impression about the democratic process in Ethiopia. For this is the first time ever that the public discovered that a chief executive could be sued in this country. If, for anything else, the CUD should be given credit for making this public education possible regardless of the party's motive in pursuing this course action.

The party's effort to paint the temporary ban as a declaration of "a state of emergency" in the conventional sense of the term also did not play well with the public. This is because the ban did not prohibit in-door political gatherings, placed curfew or suspend freedom of the press etc. For instance, the CUD could have staged protest demonstrations against the ban in any place outside Addis Ababa, including, say, Debrezit, Nazareth or even Awassa where it won in the election. Whatever the party's reason might be for challenging the Prime Minister's decision through legal channels, one thing is certain. The legal suit the CUD brought against Meles resonates with the party's rural campaign designed to having country folks believe that the government had lost all authority and that it was pointless to pay taxes or vote for the EPRDF. For in a society ruled by absolute monarchs under which the people lived for centuries as obedient subjects and where, therefore, the distinction between an elected Prime Minister and divinely chosen sovereign is still not clear, suing the chief executive is symbolically interpreted as a sign of loss of luster or even the mandate to rule altogether.

Another occasion where the CUD sought to create mass confusion and public uproar was when it tried to make a huge federal case out of EPRDF's May 18 announcement concerning the outcome of the election before the vote-counting process was official completed. The CUD leaders feigned outrage at EPRDF's claim to have won the majority vote that allows it to retain the federal government. The CUD denounced the announcement as a deliberate ploy to preempt a truthful and accurate vote-count, which the leadership reckoned was going its way. It is an irony that the CUD created much hoopla and threw a fit ostensibly because of the timing of this announcement, forgetting that it was the coalition that almost withdrew from the election before even the votes began to be counted on the very afternoon of the Election Day. Unlike the incident discussed above, the CUD did not however take the case to court because there is no law that prevents any party from claiming victory or conceding defeat at any stage of the election process, before or after the official vote count is completed. Besides, to this day, nothing has surfaced that refutes the EPRDF's claim of having won the majority of the House of Representatives seats. In fact in retrospect, considering the post-election uncertainty and mounting tension surrounding the question of who was in charge of political authority, one could say that the EPRDF's May 18 announcement was a wise decision because it allayed the public's anxiety and foreboding fear of an impending power void.

The CUD's histrionic reaction to the May 18 announcement is not because it came before the NEBE, the only authority on the matter, made an official declaration. What irked the CUD was the content, and even then, not the part where the party concedes total defeat in Addis Ababa, but the segment where the announcement asserts EPRDF's claim to have won sufficient vote to continue as a governing party. Had, for instance, this announcement been a concession speech of defeat, the CUD would never have uttered a word about the impropriety of making such a claim before the vote-counting process was completed. But such is the CUD's tactics. It is a party that adheres to one set of standards when it suits its purpose and ignores to abide by the same principle when it does not serve its interest. Such has been the CUD's strategy form the very beginning.

The success of CUD's parallel tactics apparently hinges on having the Ethiopian people seriously believe that the only proof that they should accept whether this election had been fair and free is when the NEBE officially declares the CUD as the absolute winner. Any other outcome, even a partial CUD victory, according to this unorthodox theory, means that the election had to have been rigged. The implication of this self-serving logic is not hard to decode. For it is a clear invitation for unmediated wave of mass action, dressed as popular action to retake stolen votes, and catapult the CUD to the to summit power as the legitimate choice of the people. But how can citizens be expected to do CUD's bidding if, after the party exhausts all the legal channels of redress, and still fails to make its claim to election victory stand? It is not altogether clear why citizens in Ethiopia have to emulate the actions of their counterparts in Georgia and Ukraine in the absence of credible evidence much less proof that their votes had been stolen. Well, what the CUD seems to have in mind is rebellion. That is why Dr. Hailu, at the risk of being ridiculed as a man of puny intellectual muscle, suggested a reading that dissolves the constitution's cardinal raison deter.

If, indeed, the CUD's demand for legal validation of its election claim is unmet and the ground to assert this claim via the Ukraine/Georgia is non-existent, the only option left is rebellion. Rebellion, possibly by mobilizing the most gullible segments of the society, those who believe that they stand to gain from disruption of law and order, and of course, those who have an ax to grind --- namely remnants of the murderous Derg regime and diehard chauvinists that will never come to terms with a constitutional order that grants equal rights to all nationalities of the country. However, since rebellion is illegal, Dr. Hailu has to use his ingenuity to conjure up a concept that provides legal justification for blatant lawbreaking actions. Ironically, this is the same Dr. Hailu, a leading member of a carefully selected committee that in the mid-80s was dispatched to Europe and North America to restore the Derg's irreparable external image. The committee's specific mission was to give testimony to whoever cared to listen about the integrity of the process and fairness of the outcome of the first and last election held in Ethiopia in the 17 years of military rule. An election that the Derg party swept every single seat and where Mengistu won the presidential race by an 85% of the votes. It is this man along with the likes of Goshu Wolde and a host of others linked, in one way or another, with the former military regime that, after a miraculous political reincarnation as latter-day democrats, are today trying to destabilize Ethiopia's fledgling democracy in the name of election fraud. In any society these elements would have been ashamed to appear in public. They would have lead a quiet private life, counting their blessings for not being banished from the country as dangerous menaces unfit to live in a society of laws. But why should they when they have comrades in the CUD leadership who testify under oath about their innocence of the grave crimes they are accused of committing. Why indeed should these men bury their heads in shame when their is a prominent spokesman of the CUD who tries to erase their guilt through an invidious comparison that obliterate the gulf that separates the Derg and the EPRDF? A man who equates the red terror regime where inhuman torture and summary execution alternated with indiscriminate incarceration and wholesale ethnic retribution with Federal Democratic government where fundamental democratic rights have begun to be practiced. One has to be blinded by a burning desire for power or devoid of any moral and intellectual integrity to describe the occasional infringements and spasmodic violations of

Du besser aufhoren!!!

Du hast kein Moral kein Manier!!

Email: debalque@yahoo.com

God how are you gone walk on street of Addis if you manage to come once? will be shameful one believe me
Sharew/addisababa

Email: sharew@freemail.et

City: addis ababa

The counter punch - In defense of CUD and its strategies
By Fekade Shewakena
Aug 9, 2005

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I sometimes pay brief visits to waltainfo.com, the pro-EPRDF information outlet, to see EPRDF’s political spin of the day or perspectives from the TPLF/EPRDF’s side. After listening to an audio interview of the obnoxious Mulugeta Asrate Kassa for two minutes, my eyes caught a fairly well written propaganda essay that one does not often see on Walta. It is entitled ‘CUD’s Byzantine Election Strategy”, and written by a person who, for some reason, has not chosen to write his/her name out in full and only refers to himself/herself as G.A- (here after referred to as a He for convenience). It is by any means written well, not bad for Walta which is notorious for the murder of the English language. A careful look at the essay reveals that the author of the propaganda piece is more concerned on how to write it than care for the substance he set out to deliver.
Through the use of long and winding sentences and 500-pound words and phrases, he pretends he is telling us something different from what Bereket and Meles tell us on a daily basis. It is actually the same music we heard before except that it is played by a different band. The “nuclear” words and phrases, inserted in unnecessary places, presumably to impress readers, sadly make it difficult for many people to understand. But nobody should be lead to think it is an intellectual product. It is nothing more than an increase in the volume of the TPLF/EPRDF propaganda of the last several months. GA did all the dictionary raiding for words to give us an impression of sophistication and a different perspective, but essentially made three points that have already been made by Meles and Bereket at different times.

The first is that CUD uses a two-pronged approach, violent and nonviolent to achieve its goals. The second is justifying the June 8 massacre by trying to portray the anti-election fraud protest as a riot set out to menace society. The third is the usual name calling of CUD leaders for the purpose of throwing enough mud with the hope that some of it would stick. The writer no doubt seems to have made a huge effort to make it look like it came from a learned person who traversed human knowledge. Among others, phrases like “post modern principle of the plurality of interpretation of texts” and the “abyss of the Hobbsian world”, are obviously used to either dazzle or baffle us than to make a new point. The items he set out to deconstruct or construct would have been handled without raiding the English dictionary for nuclear words, the reading of Thomas Hobbs or without confronting the hard to define ideas contained in the concept of postmodernism.

Mr. GA literally navigated in CUD’s political territory through a 25 page tour and detour only to end up making a non-point. As I would soon try to show, the long piece was disappointingly smaller than its physical size as well as the intellectual posture it purports to assume. It is much ado about little-“All hats with no cattle”, as Texans would say.

Now let’s do a little frisking into this long treatise and see what it actually contains. I will try to do it in less than a fifth of its size and in a language that I believe would be understood more easily.

The point of departure for Mr. GA’s accusation that CUD is using “licit and illicit” strategy to undermine, what he calls “the constitutional order”, is a quote from Dr. Hailu Araya, the Public Relations Officer of the CUD. GA quotes Hailu as saying the following and takes it from there:

“No individual has joined in our ranks to create chaos and incite rebellion as defined by Meles and Bereket. Peace is the basis of the CUD. However it is the people's constitutional right to legally and peacefully rebel and express its protest to assert its rights. The ruling party is creating confusion by presenting rebellion as an illegal act."
First, GA tells us he quoted it from the Amharic text and never even gave us a pause to see lingo-cultural problems that could be carried along when translating words and concepts from one language to another. The dishonesty begins there. Dr. Hailu, who by the way is a professor of language studies, has carefully and clearly defined what he meant by the word “rebellion” even as translated by GA. For the purpose of stopping people like GA who ran with anything to find a way to justify murder and mayhem as a humanitarian act, he has also included the necessary adjectives and qualifiers to the word. He talked about rebellion “as defined by Meles and Bereket” in contradistinction to his and CUD’s definition of the term. Dr Hailu should only be commended for providing a clear and concise definition in a short sentence. But hey, that was not what GA was fishing. It is even doubtful if GA read his quote a little more carefully before he picked his key word “rebellion” and ran with it. Mr. GA was not therefore only out on a fishing expedition but also was trying to release a bunch of fish in the sea before he would go fish them back. Thinking it would add to his argument, he went on to make another blunder by superimposing his own definition to the one he already misrepresented. Read what he wrote:

“What the Ethiopian constitution, like all constitutions everywhere, does not accommodate or what law-enforcement bodies do not tolerate is rebellion. For rebellion by definition means sedition, a willful transgression of the laws of the land often by violent means. In fact the whole idea why a society chooses to be governed by a constitution is because such form of rule provides opportunities for rational adjudication of disputes, equitable resolution of discord, and judicious reconciliation of conflicts to ensure that no one resorts to rebellion for lack of legal recourse or absence of grievance redress mechanism.”

Before noticing the quantum leap from Hailu’s definition of “rebellion” to his own, please note the similarities of GA’s statements with the recent fascist-talk by PM Meles about red lines and bomb mine areas and about “burning” those who attempt to cross them. Look also how he craftily used “rebellion” and “violent means” in one sentence to enable him to use the two interchangeably. It looks a little smarter than the work of crude EPRDF propagandists but not so deep enough to avoid discovery. After providing his own definition, he totally forgot Hailu's definition and his emphatic point that “peace is the basis of CUD”. This is not only a case of pure dishonesty on the part of Mr. GA but also of shamelessness at its peak. Incidentally, as I am writing this, I heard that the head of the EU Commission in Ethiopia, Mr. Tim Clark, is lamenting that Mr. Bereket Simon has put words in his mouth and used it for propaganda purposes against the opposition. Is there an epidemic in the TPLF/EPRDF camp or what?

GA then jumps to swim in uncharted waters with his misguided understanding of constitution, governance and rulers. If GA’s posturing of a learned man stands, we at least expect him to know rulers and constitutions as separate categories. Mr. GA wants us to blend them together. For him the EPRDF is the constitution and the constitution the EPRDF. If you are against the EPRDF then you are against the constitution. This is essentially the propaganda we are being asked to buy. Ethiopians have through experience learnt that the constitution is one thing while the rulers, who happen to be the first to defy it after swearing to be its guardian, are another. Where are you living Mr. GA, - on Mars? Do you know there are societies in history and still communities in parts of the world who have no written constitutions but are served well by their value systems alone? You see Mr. GA, our problem is in the values our rulers attach to constitutionalism and the rule of law, not the laws per se. Mengistu has a constitution, Apartheid South Africa had a constitution, Saddam Hussein had a constitution and Joseph Stalin had one that very much looks like our present constitution. Are you telling us that these constitutions were providing “opportunities for rational adjudication of disputes? Com’on learned man GA! You should know better. Let me now leave this rubbish here for you to sort out and go back to the accusation you made against Dr. Hailu Araya. Frankly, you are not talking sense GA or may be it is the chat effect.

Mr. GA may argue that his understanding of Hailu is as good as mine and may want to claim a minimum of a draw on our argument. I humbly suggest both of us go to GA’s familiar place, the English language dictionary for recourse. Here is the American Heritage Dictionary on the meaning of the word “rebellion”. Two meanings:

1. An uprising or organized opposition intended to change or overthrow an existing government or ruling authority.
2. An act of show of defiance toward an authority or established convention.

Clearly, Mr. GA has chosen the first meaning of the word and put it in Hailu’s mouth without any qualification. Dr. Hailu and CUD are obviously talking about the second with their rational and qualifications. CUD is talking about varying degrees of peaceful defiance as tools to be used by people to demand rights denied by the rulers in power, namely the EPRDF. Obviously, Dr. Hailu as quoted by GA, and the CUD, like any opposition working under an antidemocratic environment, are talking of peaceful rebellion or defiance as a continuum within the peaceful struggle rather than as an alternative strategy. For CUD, like any organization fighting for good governance and democracy, the strategy of their struggle is not chosen in a vacuum. To their credit, both the two major opposition parties, CUD and UEDF, have been telling us this same thing over and over again during the past several months. They told us repeatedly, including during the televised debates, that their choices and the choices the Ethiopian people may make, would only be dictated by the behavior of the EPRDF. Mr. GA should be reminded that this approach is not also new and that it was used by people who live under oppression elsewhere. From the civil rights movement in the US to the antiapartheid struggle in South Africa, people used rebellion as a continuum or within the package of their peaceful struggle. CUD or the opposition UEDF have in the first place gone in to the election knowing full well EPRDF’s undemocratic record over the last fourteen years and, of course, two preceding election dramas. Like all sinister propagandists, GA gave liberty to himself to construe another person’s word to make it convenient for a full length diatribe. He also wants us to view CUD’s choice of approaches in a vacuum without assessing for us the characters of the regime it has to confront. If GA boldly confirms to us that Ethiopia is being ruled by laws and not dictators, he would have made our reading of him easier and his arguments logical even if his facts may be ridiculous. It seems Mr. smart GA knows some truth telling would anger the TPLF/EPRDF masters and would alter his life among the chat-chewing, kitfo-eating, free-press hating, Addis Zemen-reading, ethnic-politicking, Sheraton-drinking, SUV-driving, public wealth looting, enclave some call democracy in Ethiopia.

The second point of GA that the June 8 protest was a riot is not only unsupported by the facts on the ground, but also looks like a hatchet job of a dishonest defense attorney who would say anything to save his client from the law. GA calls it a riot because riots are often associated with distasteful wild disturbance of public order, looting and property damage. GA wanted to call it a riot as opposed to a purposeful protest to make it easier for him to denigrate the lives cut short in one of the historic crimes ever committed by a government in Ethiopia. He is building the first line of defense for the criminals that are drenched in the blood of Ethiopia’s children. In fact, GA used the word riot about 18 times, an average of a word per page, in a systematic approach to drill our heads into believing that the people who lost their lives and their loved ones are not worthy of sympathy or respect. This by the way, goes in much the same line as Meles’s insistence to a BBC journalist recently that the people he killed are unemployed youth rather than students, in a shrewd attempt to make their lives less worthy and their cause less important. What GA therefore tried to do is to reiterate this Nazi world view that some lives are more important than others. It is an attempt to denigrate the martyrdom of brave freedom seeking people who fought to break out from the prison halls of the ugly poverty created by the policies of the regime lead by Meles Zenawi. Once more, GA proves that he is an addition to the chorus of assertions by people like Bereket who portrayed the protestors as bank robbing and store looting hooligans or, as in that mother of all his lies, as people who set out to “make the Rwandan genocide look like a child’s play”. The spin by the Addis Ababa Police Commissioner who said that the massacre occurred due to lack of training on the part of the anti-riot police appears more humane than Mr. learned GA’s and Mr. Bereket.

Nearly two thirds of the rest of the 20 page diatribe is a shower of blackmail and insult of CUD’s leaders. I would not honor these rude name callings by engaging in a lengthy response. He calls them, for example, “dinosaurs that yearn for a return of the obsolete society of ethnic hierarchy”, “former cohorts of the defunct Derg regime”, “star witness for the defense accused of genocidal terror” and, “limelight-seeking populists” etc. - the same tired name callings that started before any votes were cast. The thing GA would not open his eyes to see is that entire Addis Ababa stood on the witness stand on May 15, telling everyone that is all EPRDF cadre and Meles-Bereket BS. Hallo GA! Who could be a better witness than the people of Addis Ababa, the people who lived tyranny and the real eye witnesses to history, to tell you Hailu Shawul or Berhanu Nega or Lidetu Ayalew or Hailu Araya or Admasu or Mesfin, are not the caricatures you want to make out to be. I only suggest to you to compare the academic and business records of your cohorts to any one of them and tell me how they rate. Your disparagement of CUD’s leaders for not standing in front of the June March like Dr. King is also a bit disingenuous. How can anyone of them try it while there is an SUV-full of your security people tailing everyone of them 24 hours a day to make sure they are not mixing with the people? Didn’t you turn off the electricity on that earth shaking day of May 8 when CUD’s leaders were trying to address the rally?

Dear, GA. The truth of the matter is that you and your likes are standing on the way of a wave of history. Fear not the CUD my friend which is all about peace, but the people who you may create by closing all the peaceful avenues to their freedom and the route out of their poverty - the young generation to which the future wholly belongs, those who may choose to die than to live in shame and humiliation any more, and the people that are tired of watching you kill their children. I am watching them rising, are you? My friend, be afraid of them, for when they come it may be in the form of a huge tropical storm or a tsunami. Count not on the guns and tanks you are parading on our streets my friend. Even the holders of these guns might turn against you someday or refuse your orders to kill us. Whose children do you think they are? If you think this is beyond the realm of the possible, you haven’t read human history yet or that “choma” you eat at the expense of those starving kids on our streets has totally blocked the smooth operation of the grey matter. I also think you need to get checked for that first before you recommend changes to CUD’s Manifesto. The manifesto is done by people who put their money on the “think” rather than the “tank”. Dint you tell us repeatedly through the dear leader that you were dying to see an alternative idea and vision from the opposition? Why is all hell breaking loose now when they came up with one? You know GA. Your fear is totally misplaced. It is you Ethiopians fear the most, particularly after seeing you what you are doing to Addis Ababa since you lost the election. People are watching you when you are spending the city’s resources like drunken sailors. The looting and transfer of resources from the city makes you look like a colonialist living its colony after liberation. What are you statesmen going to do to our country the day you are out power? This is the kind of threat we fear most than CUDs imagined rebellion you see. It is amazing that a person of your exposure to ideas like postmodernism would get everything backwards.

Now tell us who is the Byzantine?



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Note:
Mr. GA, your beloved non-Byzantine Walta is hereby authorized to publish this response to prove to all of us that it is different from Menilik and Ethiop to which you expressed vitriolic hate and accused of yellow journalism. By the way, has it ever crossed your mind to help these fledging free papers as much as you plead tolerance for your “fledging democracy”? Your “fledging democracy” is killing people. Ethiop and Minilik’s so called yellow journalism at least have never been accused of taking human lives. Why do you leave them out of your fledging democracy or are they outside of it? Or do you want them to become the New York Times overnight? What a shame!

I don't blame you u never had a role model in your family, you are pathetic like your dad. Because of his deeds in Eritrea , many of us Ethiopians paid heavily.

City: CA

When MULEGETA ASRATE KASSA becomes a defender of communist KAFIRS,who murdered his tyrant father,it may appear as SEMENTAGNAW SHIE has passed.

Desperation to get to the ARAT kilo during middle age crisis and exhaustion to collect his reffuge assistance checks made him to kiss the ass of the killers of his tyrant and corrupted father.

Jadu!

The opposition parties were gather together not for the Ethiopian peoples casuse but, to help them win the vote. Once they knew they had lost the vote, they started to scrumble like a fallen egg. What a mess!

Now you are asking us whether we are trying to divide the oppostion parties or not. What unfortunate blind individual you are not able to see the unfolding drama created within CUD!

Netsanet:
Mamo Qilo, VJ, Tariku etc garbages are the aliaces of the MORON Mamo Qilo. Mamo Qilo in the "hahu besidist wer" of Tsegaye G/M is different from the Mamo Qilo on this screen. Mamo Qilo recently diagnosed and the result reads 'he suufers from recognition hunger. He is, in a way, also suffering from "MEGALOMANIA" i.e he has NOT properly measured himself. What he thinks of himself and the reality on the ground are in a constant conflict in his personal life. This has made him a confused person and made him too intellectually irrelevant.

Netsanet:
Am I right if I say you started using your aliace "Mamo Qilo" when you are cornered??? Mamo Qilo, you are a piece of ****. I have understood what type of person you are. you don't deserve any response. I am just trying to let others know that you are a psychopathic lier, a MORON and a piece of ****.

Netsi,
Read my reponse and try to reason out. I told you what EPRP did. And yet you DARE to say EPRP showed that much fascistic character and took fascistic acts just to defend its members. Alas, there you goofed. What if Hitler or Stalin or any other dictator say I killed thousands of people just to protect my people or my party members? What if the cold blooded killing machine, Mengistu H/M, says I killed all those in defence of my country, my people and my party members from EPRP, TPLF and Shabia? You condone him??? I want you to read again what I posted before. I have herein below reposted it for your benefit.
Netsanet:
It is NOT a question of liking or hating EPRP. It is NOT at all. You are way way off the mark. If you excuse me, what you said is bluntly spoken very stupid and ****tttttttttttt. I told you what EPRP did when it was active in the 1970s. I told you how many doctors, professors, highly learnt scholars and ordinary citizens were brutally executed and slughtered in a broad day light by EPRP. I told you about the 16 years old disabled boy hanged by EPRP scoundrels in the school compound. I told you about Dr. Mekonnen Shegene who was executed in a broad day light by EPRP mercenary thugs. I tried to convince you that EPRP was full of lawless genocidal thugs. I think I made a hard exercise to let you see the truth full face. After all these effort of mine, you come and say, "You hate EPRP". This is utterly nonsense. This is totally rubbish. It exposes what type of silly woman/girl you are. It is NOT a question of liking or hating. What I hate in life is hate itself. I have never ever passed a judgment on the basis of personal likes or dislikes. You are rather MADLY in love with EPRP and anyone who tells you the truth about EPRP is one who hates EPRP. huh, it is very sickening! I have been following you and reading your comments. I liked many of them. This time around you have clearly goofed. Don't rush to unwarranted conclusion. I told you about EPRP and its criminal past. If you think I have lied or exaggerated, just say it is not true or it is exaggerated. Try to argue with logic and try to reason out. Please try to make your own independent verification that what I told you about EPRP is 101% true. It is rather the tip of the ice berg. If one tells you all the criminal records of EPRP you may dare to say it is comparable to Mussolini's attrocities. Let me tell you some of the most outrageous crimes of EPRP. Dr. Getachew Maru, who was a CC member of EPRP, was killed by EPRP and after they killed him they did put his dead body in an old sack and dumped his body in one of the garbage corners of Addis Ababa. Birhanemeskel Reda narrowly escaped imprisonment and a subsequent brutal murder by EPRP. I told you also about the poor "setegna adari" slaughtered by EPRP. I told you also about the thousands of EPRP members executed and slaughtered being branded as "anja". What else do you want to hear? Netsi, keep an open mind. Don't close up. Your brain is wonder of wonders and use it excellently. Don't have a faith type allegiance to any political group. Finally, I want to tell you EPRP is a piece of ****. Bye for now.
Email: astuka@yahoo.com

Email: astuka@yahoo.com

City: Addis

Abera,
I am not sure what point I missed.

I have not read (heard) what Dr. Berhanu said about the reports by IFTIN and which of the reports he talked about. However, I standby my statement about the credibility of IFTIN. I will not bet a penny on the truthfulness of a report by IFTIN. Anyone who knows who Zerihun Teshome (the editor/manager of IFIN) is knows how TRUSTWORTHY/CREDIBLE he is. If I were you I would talk to AAU College of Social Sciences faculty, staff, graduates (1985-1990), anyone from Jigiga, and Ethiopians who reside in Washington DC area before I put any value on what Zerihun Teshome says or writes. By the way, I fully recognize your right to beleive what you want to belive and we can agree to disagree on the issue of IFTIN.

Technically demonstration was banned in Addis. But the government has jailed and terrorized people in other cities including Dessie, Bahirdar, Gondar, Woldiya, etc.

By the way do you think it is right (democratic, I should say) to ban people who voted against Meles and Co. (for e.g. in Addis Ababa) from peacefully demonstrating against the government?

How can you say the vicitims of the heinous crime by Meles and Co. are casualities? Casualities of what? Was there a war going on in Addis and the civilians were accidentally caught in the cross-fire? Even Mr. Zenawi and Mr. Simon have not claimed that.

Do you, as an objective observer, genuinely beleive that the government appointed election board let the opposition take away votes from the defence Minister, the Minister of Information, the governors of the Oromia and Amhara regions, among others? That is what Kemal Bedri, et al., the "independent NEBE", wants us to believe.

Do you really think NEBE is independent? Do you really think the court system is independent? If the oppostion want to contest the NEBE deicision, which court are they going to appeal to? Is it not to the court headed by his excellence Mr. Kemal Bedri? How realistic is it to expect Mr. Bedri the judge to contradict Mr. Bedri the NEBE?

By the way why do you pick on the CUD when both the CUD and UEDF have similar (the same) claim?

Finally, what do you think of the opposition's propasal for national reconciliation, estbalishment of indepedent election board, judiciary, equitable access to the public media and holding a free and fair election in a year or so? I would very much appreicate it if you your thoughts with me?
Thank you.

Abera and others:
Zerihun Teshome was one of the 40 AAU instructors dismissed by weyane months after they took over gov't power. He lost his son and his wife due to malnutrition soon after he was dismissed from AAU. A civic organization called Abugida sent him for a short seminar to the USA. He met Mimi Sibhatu, who was a VOA zena anbabi, and got married with her. This is his turning point. Zerihun actually was not a credible person even before. He used to borrow money from everybody, but never paid back to any of them. He once took money from me and while I was expecting him to pay back he came back to me for another loan. I reminded him that he didn't pay the previous one. Then after he simply vanished. Zerihun started thinking with his wife's **** soon after he met Mimi Sibhatu. It is unfortunate, but that is the truth.

Email: haimi@yahoo.com

City: Addis