Mr. Mulugeta had few melodramatic articles in http://www.aigaforum.com/mulugetak0507.htm I encourage every to read them. Mamo in this forum asked me to put everything together. So here it is.

Mulugeta praises and exalts Meles Zenawi with some zeal in most of these articles but that is his right. Mulugeta started in January article “Rainbowlites must reign in the Bogeyman of Ethiopian Politics” to teach us that Ethiopians in Rainbow movement follow a traitor Pro Mesifin Woldemariam who sided with Issayas during the 1998 war and who also worked for Megistu. Hence anybody who is supporting him would be supporting WPE or DERG. Fair enough, Mesfin did some unofficial work and consulting for Derg according to some old rumors. I do not know if anyone knows for sure that this is the truth nor does Mulugeta because he was in London during the rumor. However, Mulugeta forgot to mention Mesfin did some good human right work during EPDRF and is also known for his some outlandish and eccentricity comments starting from the Emperor’s time and during the derg and up to now. Then Mulugeta went on in his second article “The Wise Change their Mind, The Otherwise Persevere” to point out that “scrapping Article 39 in CUD’s Manifesto is a Neanderthal attitude to ethnic concerns … CUD has shown contemptuous insensitivity to those Ethiopians who wish to be stakeholders of an Ethiopia that respects their cultural identity, their language, their religion and their right to govern themselves. One doesn’t need to be endowed, therefore, with supernatural gifts to realize that the scrapping of Article 39 is merely an elitist affectation which is at odds with mainstream Ethiopia”.
Thus far, I was with him. In his third article “Poor by Condition, Rich by Ambition” Mulugeta wrote that CUD should give in and accept the election outcome and stop crying wolf on grounds alleged abuses of all kinds. There is, no doubt, that such a hair-brained scheme is bound to be mugged by reality. That the Election was free and fair got blessing from election observers as former US President Jimmy Carter.
I do not agree with him but that is his opinion and Mulugeta has the right to think as such.
Later, in his 4th article “How Mumbo-Jumbo has Conquered Our Sobriety”
Mulugeta wrote that some who have been former luminaries of the Dergue play the role of fuglemen at demonstrations opposite 10 Downing Street denouncing the killings(of 50 university students). WPE, who tortured, killed his brothers and sisters are the demonstrator and calling for the stoppage of aid to the Ethiopia. Mulugeta also tells us that EPLF is supporting the demonstration and Eritreans are ecstatic.
I do not know if Mulugeta is still haunted by derg but the demonstration was not only in London but world wide event by Ethiopian in Diaspora. I am also sure most of the demonstrators in London are true refugees who fled derg or woyanes persecution. Mulugeta continued his screeched foul language in the article
“Send a Dergue to Edinburgh and a Dergue He will return again.” By expounding that Kakitocrat(the demonstrators) are demanding in Edinburgh to halt debt cancellation and the flow of aid to Ethiopia but not the election fraud and killing of innocent civilians. According to kim in this forum article “ The new woyane Cadre in London: Mulugeta Asrate Kassa” Mulugeta categorizes the Diaspora into Pre woyane and Post woyane. Post mainly being members of Derg. Mulugeta wrote in the 5th article” Negede got ‘The Rose Resolution’ from the EU” Mengistue’s misrule has not robbed him of his sanity, so whenever the very name Negede Gobeze crops up, people are entitled to ask:” Do you remember what I remember?”
I do not know his problem with Negede Gobeze nor I am interested, I only know that he is a leftist politician and if Mr. Mulugeta has some evidence or know something let him come forward with it.
I wanted Mr. Mulugeta to Keep his word about respect for nation. But Mulugeta started to spin that the marriage between UEDF and CUD will not work and slander Dr Merera Gudina for lying about the election.
Then in his next article “CUD’s Double Whammy“ Mulugeta predicted how CUD will disintegrate after giving people false hope because it is a coalition of pacifist thinking legal resistance and hawkish violence perpetrators like Ato Ledetu. and How people has been misled by CUD so that innocent men and women were made to demonstrate and become the fatal victims of a clash with the police on a false premise.

Now with the latest article “US and EU come to the defense of our democracy”
Mulugeta pontificates that UEDF and Negede Gobeze’s skim is going down the drain and accuses UEDF through Negede Gobeze that if Ethiopia was not a democracy, why did they participate in the May 2005 Election?”
How much false accusatory, inflammatory and defamatory words should the opposition take from this single person. Mulugeta even dare the people in Diaspora to categorize them as derg remnants. Mulugeta could be found liable in court for that because 90% of the people who fled woyane have legitimate concerns not to mention the list of abuses documented by Amnesty international, Africa watch, U.S congress and senate as well as the EU and so forth in the last 14 years. Mr. Mulugeta want to say he is haunted by Derg. That is neither his fault nor ours. Most Ethiopians fled the derg and then woyanes for good reason. Mr. Mulugeta and particularly the Asrate Kassa royalty family has special funny history but it is beneath me to indulge in it. I know Mulugeta is aligning himself with EPDRF but if his attack to the opposition in Diaspora should not be brushed aside. Let him be reminded that we the opposition are the majority here. Read his articles bellow.

Send a Dergue to Edinburgh and a Dergue He will return again.
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By: Mulugeta Aserate Kassa
London 29th June 2005
Ethiopians in London are witnessing history repeating itself in a rather funny, not to say lunatic, manner. What, ‘I’ then, links the Dergue – or more appropriately WPE – to Edinburgh, Scotland? I guess you’ve got it right. It’s one word that aptly describes how WPE treated Ethiopia and Ethiopians. The word is insensitivity. Twenty years ago and at the height of its ‘gory’ resplendence, not to mention the famine of “biblical proportion” that gripped Ethiopians, insensitive Dergue dispatched a contingent of loyal khakitocrats on a shopping spree to Edinburgh. Oh no, they didn’t come to buy world renowned Scottish blankets to cover the shivering bodies of the victims of famine, nor had they made the journey to purchase much needed medicine to save lives. For the Ethiopia they told us they loved and for the Ethiopians they vowed to lay their lives they jetted in to Edinburgh to purchase the finest Scottish whiskey to celebrate the 10th Anniversary of WPE.
Today the same old khakitocrats – but thank God no longer armed or in power – are heading back to Edinburgh with a vengeance. They are intent on hitting back at Ethiopia and Ethiopians for throwing them out of office in such a humiliating manner. At a time when thousands of people from the four corners of the United Kingdom converge at Edinburgh for this Saturday’s G8 March demanding that the G8 summit in nearby Gleneagles agree on a package of fair trade, debt cancellation more and better aid for Africa, our former lords of tyranny will be adding their cacophonous call in an attempt to halt debt cancellation and the flow of aid to Ethiopia. There you are, what else did you expect from the Dergue?
Colonel Mengistu Haile Mariam’s one time security officer, whose meteoric rise to the rank of Ambassador to The State of Israel, made Ethiopia’s diplomatic service looks like a kindergarten, is determined to dispel his critiques’ claim that he became a general without having his baptism of fire. Comrade Brigadier General Tamene Dullnesaw has amassed his troops from that citadel of Dergue in London, the notorious ECB- Ethiopian Cadres in Britain - to make a frontal attack on the wave of humanity in Edinburgh. Flanked by their new-found allies, OLF and Shabea, khakitocrats have vowed to display their expertise in shouting slogans demanding an end to debt cancellation and aid to the Ethiopia they ‘love’ and die. When asked why they are so determined to take an action that ultimately penalises the poorer section of our society, they unanimously reply that the Ethiopian in them would not allow them to stand and stare. Fair enough. But one is entitled to pose where this Ethiopian in them was all these years. For instance, where was the Ethiopian in them when under the ‘wise and able leadership’ of the Comrade General the ECB rolled out the red carpet to the new Dergue Leader, whose avowed aim is “to dismember Ethiopia into mini Islamist states”? Where, indeed was this Ethiopian of theirs when Shabea maimed and killed innocent school children by an air strike in 1998? We, of course, all grieve the loss of lives that resulted in the clash between the police and demonstrators, but the Dergue’s sneaky involvement at this stage and in such a manner, are a ghoulish way of paying tribute to the memory of the dead.
In the meantime, however, the “Don’t Suspend Aid to Ethiopia Campaign” got a morale boost when it learnt that both CUD and UDEF are dead against the clamour for the stoppage of aid to Ethiopia. According to a reliable source who attended the packed-to-capacity meeting of CUD and UDEF supporters at London’s Irish Centre, both CUD’s Dr Berhanu Nega and UDEF’s Dr Merara Gudina made it crystal clear in answer to questions from the floor, that their respective parties feels it wrong to demonstrate against aid to Ethiopia. This is political maturity in action! The Dergue is, therefore, left in limbo as it contemplates whether or not it would amass sufficient troops for the battle ahead. It may mean that the Comrade General’s baptism of fire may have to be differed indefinitely.
For Ethiopians who love their country unconditionally it really doesn’t matter whether the Dergue makes it to Edinburgh, for we know that their presence would be dwarfed by thousands of Brits who genuinely feel that halting aid to Ethiopia punishes the poor of Ethiopia. The “Halt Aid to Ethiopia Campaign” would soon realise the monumental, not to say historical, error of its decision to dispatch a regiment of sanguinary khakitocrats to Edinburgh. That’s why we – The Don’t Suspend Aid to Ethiopia Campaigners – revel in delight as we confidently predict: “Send a Dergue to Edinburgh and a Dergue He will return again."

Negede got ‘The Rose Resolution’ from the EU
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By: Mulugeta Aserate Kassa
London 24st June 2005
Ethiopia’s wannabe ‘Yushenko’, Dr Negede Gobeze got his comeuppance at a meeting between EPRDF,CUD and UEDF and the European Union held on the 21st June 2005. No-nonsense EU did not mince its words as it read the riot act to Ethiopia’s contesting parties that the EU would not accept any hesitation or deviation from the electoral process. This is more than a slap on the face of our Yushenko – Dr Negede Gobeze – it is a total rejection of his loony idea of mugging the will of the Ethiopian people by unwarranted street violence. He sought the blessing of the EU for his ‘Rose Revolution’ but instead got the ‘Rose Resolution,’ as it were, from the union of decisive European nations. In short, how best would one put it in our Amharic: Negede tewelagede? Negede tewelege? Or Negede tegomede? Pick and mix.
This is, no doubt, good news for all those who staunchly believe that any diversion from the ballot box in Ethiopia would lead to a highly combustible situation. The whole tenor of his speech resembles the utterances of the cerebrally-challenged. The veteran Ethiopian revolutionary and a onetime mentor of brutal dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam in his ‘renowned’ wisdom had no qualms in lecturing the meeting that “Ethiopia has never had stable government and has been rocked by war since the 18th century.” The implication is clear: We ‘unfortunate and cursed Ethiopians’ have no option other than to regard the Peerless Comrade Negede Gobeze as the one and only stabiliser; our Yushenko, as it were. If his comradeship was residing in the real world, he would have contracted bleeding ulcer as he realises that even at last month’s disturbances no group of Ethiopians shouted “Negede, Negede” in line with Yushenko’s Rose Revolution.
One moment the Comrade talks about the May 15th Election being “legal and democratic” and even went ahead and acknowledged that “the voters had turned out en masse.” Yet, for reasons that can only appeal to supporters of mobocracy – and certainly not democracy – he rejects the very Ethiopian Constitution that delivered the “legal and democratic election” to the Ethiopian people. Comrade Dr Negede Gobeze’s prescription to us is, therefore, clear : Now you have voted for your respective parties, wait impatiently, by incessantly complaining fraud and irregularities. Don’t worry if you can’t give smoking-gun evidence to your allegations. If the verdict of NEBE fails to catapult us to power, then go out in protest by carrying a rose and shouting the one and only name “Negede, Negede.” By then EPDRF would be forced to run away leaving a power vacuum. There will be no breakdown of law and order as I and my Comrades will jet in from Paris as your saviour.
It’s become evidently clear, therefore, that UEDF has a political liability in its hand. On the one hand it has signed the Tripartite Declaration with Ethiopia’s contesting parties denouncing violence as the route to the pinnacle of power, and on the other its gaucherie strongman tells the world something that collides head-on with the letter and spirit of the Joint Declaration.
Those who wish to roll on the frontiers of democracy in Ethiopia should not be perturbed by the so-called “Negede Plan.” He can continue munching his fillet-mignion and sip his VIN d’table as he pontificates to the Ethiopian people whose main preoccupation is not to sacrifice for Negede but to strive to make ends meet. But let the Comrade Dr be under no illusion that no Ethiopian is prepared to lay his life for a Negede Gobese, who only two decades ago was the co-designer of a system of government that brought rebarbative destruction to the Ethiopia he now wants to lead. After all seventeen years of Mengistue’s misrule has not robbed us of our sanity, so whenever the very name Negede Gobeze crops up, people are entitled to ask:” Do you remember what I remember?”

How Mumbo-Jumbo has Conquered Our Sobriety
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By: Mulugeta Aserate Kassa
London 21st June 2005
We now know where our nation stands, but most importantly we also have come to discover where we stand as a people. Thanks to the foresightedness of our contending parties, Ethiopia’s electoral process has been salvaged from being mugged by the so called “Negede Plan” which had explicitly called for an uprising whatever the outcome of the Election. Those who remember the nightmarish years of the Dergue have rightfully concluded, therefore, that “When Negede enters through Bole, democracy jumps out off Bale.” But make no mistake, as a people we are being taken for a ride by forces who have an axe to grind from the tragic deaths of 7th June. I don’t think there is any Ethiopian whose heart would not go out to the families of the deceased, and I do realize and respect peoples’ inalienable right to voice their anger and condemnation.
What we have been witnessing lately, however, makes a mockery of what one is meant to achieve. What a clap trap, then, to see former luminaries of the Dergue play the role of fuglemen at demonstrations opposite 10 Downing Street denouncing the killings. Yes, you’ve guessed it right, the very ones who tortured us, killed our brothers and sisters and then demanded that we pay them the price of the bullet. Their effrontery knew no metes and bounds when they called for the stoppage of aid to the Ethiopia the raped and left as dead. Little did they realize that when the Ethiopian people said yes to reconciliation, they were not issuing a license for the Dergue to enter through the back door? To the vigil-eyed Ethiopian who had been observing the Opposition’s call for demonstrations in London, one wouldn’t be mistaken to think CUD stood for Comrades Under Dergue.
We, Ethiopians, have a good saying to describe that the bedlam of the market place provides fertile ground to a mugger – “Yegebeya gereger lekemagna yamechal.” One other force that is out to mug us is Shabea in the Diaspora. At mid-afternoon last Saturday, I made a spur of the moment decision to sip an honest to goodness cup of Ethiopian coffee and entered London’s Café Nero at Edgeware Road only to realize that I have entered an Eritrean den. The place was teeming with all kinds of Eritreans – originale and AMCEs – and apparently the café had been appropriately dubbed “Campo Asmara.” The talk there was not about the dire problems of Eritrea, but they were having a field day on what the official website of The State of Eritrea declared “Ethiopia on Fire.”
They have very subtly penetrated Ethiopian Opposition rallies with a completely separate agenda of their own. They have for long been advocating for a halt in aid to Ethiopia and are absolutely over the moon to find a bedfellow in these demonstrations. Now Shabea is flaunting the idea of taking their case to Gleneagles in Scotland for the July 8th G8 Meeting. No doubt the fraternity of blood-stained Dergue henchmen will follow suit. For the sake of communal harmony and in respect for the dead, I have exercised maximum restrained when I saw those fugitive Dergue henchmen taking center stage and crying hypocritical cries. The blood of our fathers, brothers and sisters has for long been shouting for justice. It is one thing to come out in protest against the EPDRF government, quite another to punish Ethiopia by calling for a halt in aid by the very people who brought Ethiopia to her knees.
The involvement of the Dergue in Ethiopia’s crises has provoked our patients and doing nothing has now become a luxury we can ill afford. It is to its own benefit, therefore, that CUD prunes itself before embarking on a diplomatic offensive to halt aid to Ethiopia. Those whose wish remains to see an Ethiopia that is a mother to all and a step mother to none and an Ethiopia determined to be tough on the causes of poverty, must in the meantime, fight the good fight by pointing out to our respective host countries that the halt in aid to Ethiopia is an immoral act of hurting the poorer section of our society. Those in the United Kingdom can, therefore, kick start by writing to:
The Rt. Hon Hilary Ben
Secretary of State for International Development
DFID
94 Victoria Street
London SW1E 5JL

The Wise Change their Mind, The Otherwise Persevere
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By: Mulugeta Aserate Kassa
London, 21th April 2005
The day the obelisk returned to Axum, I accosted an acquaintance of mine on the streets of London and tried to share my thrill over the occasion with him when I realised that nowadays when an Ethiopian meets an Ethiopian, a tug of war begins. For no apparent reason he turned ballistic and lashed out a torrent of insults on me, not to mention the curses he heaped on the God he worshiped day and night. He just could not help asking how on earth this God of his could have allowed the obelisk to return during EPDRF’s era. I presume what he had wanted was for his God to delay the return until after the election when what he regards as an ‘Ethiopian’ government is installed to power.
It must be noted, however, that this acquaintance of mine is not the only person who holds on to such noxious and obnoxious views. I once attended a self-improvement seminar in London at which what one of the speakers said was to have a profound impact on my way of thinking. “Men,” he had said, “Think in herds, it will be seen that they go mad in herds, while they only recover their senses slowly, and one by one.” I, for one, can gladly confess to the fact that, for far too long, I had allowed my self to think with the herd, knowing full well that my thinking was at variance with the truth and the reality of the ground. The result was that I had allowed myself to be turned into a lamb offering my wool to those who had managed to usurp my independence and control my thinking. Like thousands of Ethiopians in the Diaspora, I, too, gathered the courage to liberate my self from ‘Weyanophobia’ and all forms of hate politics, not to mention from the myth that the freehold of Ethiopia was God’s gift to a particular ethnic group. I refused to accept any orders, therefore, from anyone dictating to me whom to support or oppose. I have a brain and a conscience of my own. For the leap of faith that I have taken, the ideas I have shared in my writings and the stand that I have taken, I am glad to confirm that I am at peace with my self and ready to face my Creator.
We are all aware, are we not, that no one likes to change. It is an unfortunate fact of life, too, that in our culture attitudinal change is regarded, is it not, as being fickle at best and traitorous at worst. That is why, in the political life of our nation, we have failed to manifest attitudinal change that would have brought about the desired effect of democratic vibrancy. How regrettable it is, then, to observe our Opposition politicians, taking up a stand which they know, in their heart of hearts, to be not only wrong but down right explosive. They continue to cling on whatever its consequences to themselves and the nation they hope to lead one day, fearful of nothing but the fear of undergoing attitudinal change.
I belong to a generation that attached great importance to Ethiopian unity and our glorious past. There is nothing wrong with this. In fact, there is everything to be proud about in being patriotic. The problem, however, arises when our perception of Ethiopian unity is meant to imply Ethiopian uniformity and when we blindly and staunchly refuse to accept that the Ethiopian unity that we were born into required overdue structural maintenance in order to withstand the demands of its stakeholders.
Any kind of union must be based on the consent of its stakeholders, and its life expectancy depends entirely on the nature of the relationship. If the relationship is redolent with equality, fairness, tolerance and respect, then, there is every chance for “till death do us part” to be realised. If, on the other hand, the relationship is unfair or abusive; if instead of celebrating differences it is seen to be suffocating identities, then the union is destined to an early grave. Having stated that the role of opposition parties during electioneering ought to be the exploitation of the ruling party’s weaknesses, it is interesting to note that the inclusion of Article 39 ought not to be regarded as a weakness of EPDRF. For the courageous, who have liberated themselves from hate politics; for those eager to have a mind of their own, and for those who would not allow themselves to be either dormant or a doormat of the herd, the reality shines before our very eyes. Far from being in danger of being broken up into tiny banana republics, Ethiopia has emerged united in a way never imagined, by celebrating - and not suppressing - its diversity. If, therefore, the inclusion of scrapping Article 39 in CUD’s Manifesto is not braggadocio, it is then, an exhibit of its Neanderthal attitude to ethnic concerns.
Ten years ago I was fortunate enough to have been in Ethiopia where I spent nearly every evening glued to ETV where the day’s deliberations on the Draft Constitution were being aired, and I remember vividly the strength of raw emotions that it ignited in many people. I was not the exception. Being under the the tutelage of the herd had meant that I had to accept without hesitation or deviation that Article 39 was EPDRF’s licence to kill Ethiopia. However, after breaking myself away from the cerebral shackles of herd mentality, I returned to Ethiopia to see for my self whether or not EPDRF had succeeded, as claimed, in killing Ethiopia. My witness account is no different a testimony than one might get from a dispassionate Ethiopian returnee. The one and only thing permanent that I discovered during my visit up and down the country was change. To my amazing surprise, I found Homeland Ethiopians far less interested in the swings and round abouts of Ethiopian politics than Diaspora Ethiopians. They were instead in the rat race of making ends meet As for Article 39, on the other hand, it was not even regarded as an issue of concern by those whom the herd was made to believe would leave the union if their right to come out from the union of free and equal peoples was enshrined in the constitution. Many already regard Article 39, therefore, as being cast in stones. Any tampering with it will, no doubt, automatically ignite the wrath of its stakeholders which will have dire consequences on the union of free and equal peoples of Ethiopia. That is why I am of the humble opinion that CUD has shown contemptuous insensitivity to those Ethiopians who wish to be stakeholders of an Ethiopia that respects their cultural identity, their language, their religion and their right to govern themselves. One doesn’t need to be endowed, therefore, with supernatural gifts to realise

Ethiopian Foreign Policy is Working, but you ain’t seen nuttin’yet
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By: Mulugeta Aserate Kassa
London, 9th March, 2005
The scent of victory pervaded the EPDRF camp this week as news of the World Bank’s decision not to include Ethiopia in the “Candidates for Failure” list (see Economist 5th March, 2005 page 60) boosted the morale of its campaign workers. The finding, by this influential institution is a vindication of Meles Zenawi’s federal system, as well as proof that Zenawinomics is keeping Ethiopia safe and sound. But to those still waltzing to the tune of “Ethiopia is bleeding; Ethiopia is dying,” the finding serves a death blow to their masquerade as it indicates that their full-throated opposition is nothing more than a political pantomime that has long lost its popular appeal.
In politics, as in health, the external is all too often a reflection of the internal. If internal organs are in optimal sate, it follows, does it not, - more all less at least – that one’s exterior becomes a picture of health. Ethiopia’s Foreign policy is steamrollering ahead not at the expense of its domestic policies, but because of the flowering of its domestic policies. Hardly a month passes by without Ethiopia making some inroads in the diplomatic field as peripatetic Meles Zenawi is seen clinching new deals for Ethiopian exports. Only a week ago did Ethiopia play host for the first time to the visit of the Turkish Prime Minister. The results speak for themselves: in the diplomatic sphere Ethiopia will soon open its first mission in Ankara, and in the economic field Ankara would open up its markets to Ethiopian goods, as well as assist our somewhat beleaguered state-owned textile factories. No matter how prudent and frugal I intend to be with my praise for the efforts of the government, I simply have to surrender to the deluge of good works flowing from MoFA. One only has to be a congenital pessimist or a flibbertigibbet critic of Meles Zenawi, then, not to give credit where it is due. Hooray, then, for Meles Zenawi, Seyoum Mesfin, their foreign affairs gurus and MoFA mandarins!
No where is the resplendence of Ethiopian Foreign Policy made more evident than in London, where Ethio-British relationship is seen to have taken a great leap forward. Not even during the much celebrated period of warm relations between the House of Haile Selassie and the House of Windsor, had Ethiopia witnessed such closeness between heads of government and a generous flow of development aid, not to mention, of course, the unprecedented budgetary grant. That more benefit is to be gained from this relationship is a foregone conclusion as Meles Zenawi’s personal rapport with Tony Blair makes that a distinct possibility. Tony Bair and Meles Zenawi seem to share the same view about developmental problems and communicate on the same cerebral wave-length. In fact a British journalist, who attended last February’s Commission for Africa press conference was so bemused by Meles’ grasp and command of Africa’s problem and the way forward, that he quipped the Commission should be renamed “Meles’ Commission on Africa.” Meles Zenawi’s mantra of “tough on the scale of poverty and tough on the cause of poverty” is music to the ears of Tony Blair and his ‘Iron Chancellor,’ Gordon Brown. On the other hand, Tony Blair’s insistence that African countries must be “brutally frank” when dealing with economic priorities is something that is very much dear to the heart of Meles and his agrarian party. EPDRF, which vaunts of being wedded to the agrarian society of Ethiopia, has staunchly been advocating that any economic development policy that fails to address the needs and concerns of the countryside is doomed to failure.
It was a one time British Prime Minister, Anthony Eden, (later Lord Avon), who during his retirement from active politics became Honorary Chairman of the Anglo-Ethiopian Society in 1964. Well, he had an interesting observation to make about, us, Ethiopians, when he is reputed to have remarked to a friend: “Ethiopians can mange to change the impossible into a possible. Our renowned national carrier, Ethiopian Airlines, soon afterward echoed similar sentiment when an advert in its in-flight magazine, “Selamta” boldly crowed: “We do the impossible right away, miracles take a little longer.” Neither his Lordship’s assessment nor Ethiopian Airlines’ advert were far-fetched. Fourteen years ago, the great majority of us concluded, did we not, that it was impossible for Ethiopia to survive as a viable state without access to the sea, and started beating our breasts to the tune of “Alekelat Ethiopia.” We were proven wrong, were we not? The impossible did change to a possible: Ethiopia today is alive and kicking! But what of the Airline’s claim of miracles taking a little longer?
The redolence of the Ethio-British relationship and Meles Zenawi’s enhanced status in Downing Street provided a fitting backdrop to this year’s annual Ethiopian Evening which took place on Tuesday 8th March, 2005 at none other than the function room of ‘The Mother of All Pariaments’ – The House of Commons. If this does not constitute a diplomatic miracle, that took longer to be realised, I shall then want to know what does constitute as one. Who – after seeing in our own eyes the diplomatic denigration Ethiopia suffered in London, courtesy of Bloody Dergue – would have imagined that the day would finally arrive when our nation’s status would be restored to its pristine position and we would walk with our heads held high in The Palace of Westminster. The Ethiopian Evening which was jointly hosted by The Hon. John Austin, Chairman of The British-Ethiopia Parliamentary Union and that workaholic Ambassador Fisseha Adugna and his wife Mrs Desta Mulat, brought together an unprecedented number of cross-party Members of Parliament, journalists members of the NGO community with links to Ethiopia, British businessmen and scores of Ethiopians from all walks of life. Guests were served a variety of mouth-watering dishes accompanied by Ethiopian wine and beer, not to mention the in-house roasted, grounded and brewed Ethiopian coffee at no cost to the Ethiopian tax payer. Everything, and I mean everything, was provided by Ethiopian Restaurateurs and businessmen who, enthusiastically, responded to that flagship of Ethiopian missions’- Ethiopian Embassy in London – call to support the ruling passion of Ethiopia by giving a face-lift to the tarnished image of Ethiopia. So everyone who contributed to the success of this year’s Ethiopian Evening deserves a heart-felt congratulation.
Ethiopian Foreign Policy is, therefore, working in a way unseen before. More is yet to come; as our American friends across the Atlantic would put it: “You ain’t seen nuttin’ yet!!” A word of advice to the government is in order. It is said that “Oppositions don’t win elections; governments loose them.” So, there is no room for complacency.

Rainbowlites must reign in the Bogeyman of Ethiopian Politics
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By: Mulugeta Aserate Kassa
20th January 2005
Rainbowlites may be expecting a coronation at the next election, but gaffe-prone Professor Mesfin Wolde-Mariam‘s (PMW) actions will, no doubt, ensure that they will find themselves at a wake. For a fledgling party, like Rainbow, which still is in its swaddling clothes, PMW’s recent utterances are, indeed, a fine – but lamentable – display of political kamikaze. There is a useful American word for this – ‘blowback’, a term first coined by the CIA to describe the unintended and usually disastrous consequences of the agency’s activities. The blowback of PMW’s recent interview with the Reporter is music to the ears of Shaebea. This, of course is not the first time that the Professor’s gaffe had given Asmara a field day. In fact rumour has it that when PMW, in his renowned wisdom, declared Bademe “A Tigrean Issue,” Isais Afewerki stood up and did the Eskista.
Supporters of Mesfin – Mesafints – have been hard at work trying to market their man as one fearless enough to speak up his mind. One wonders where this fearlessness was during the 17 years misrule of Mengistu Haile Mariam? Now we have come to know it from the horse’s mouth, far from being a fearless advocate of people’s rights, PMW was the purveyor of ghoulish advice to a tyrant. Besides, speaking up one’s mind has never been regarded as an attribute of a politician, never mind of a prime ministerial hopeful. A politician especially one salivating for the Menelik Gebbi has to mind his Ps and Qs and answer appositively. I am reminded here by an off the cuff remark the octogenarian made to an independent Ethiopian journalist in which it was reported that the omniscient PMW had said that the Ethiopian government had given Setit Humera to the Sudan. Not only was this wholly fabricated, but matured political analysts would conclude- very unfairly to the esteemed Professor’s otherwise impeccable academic excellence- that this sort of indulgence is the bailiwick of a Pinocchio or a dumbo. On the other hand, with all due respects to PMW, is it not the case in Ethiopian culture that one who simply blurts out is derided as “Ibidna Zemenay Yelibun Yenageral”? That is why it is imperative for the litterati loaded Rainbow to indulge in some form of soul-searching and force Rainbow’s geriatric fugleman to toe the line. If the worst comes to the worst, for the party’s sake Rainbowlites must galvanize the courage to read the riot act to PMW. Only then would they hope of making any significant dent on EPDRF’s majority in parliament.
Those who have not made up their mind of whether or not to support Meles’ 5PPP have been demanding alternative proposals from the opposition. Well, they now have it from none other than the doyen of the anti- Meles camp. When asked by the Reporter if he had any idea on how a settlement can come about between Ethiopia and Eritrea, this is what the Rainbowlite Professor replied: “I haven’t the faintest idea.” If matured democratic culture existed in Ethiopia today, this remark of his would have seen his exit from politics. Where in the world do we witness a politician giving such a feeble response to an issue which has immense consequences to our national security? No doubt Rainbowlites would soon come to rue the day PMW joined them or vice versa. He goes on to fire a rhetorical fusillade at the 5PPP which are out of sync with reality and logic. One moment he accuses the Ethiopian government (can one believe it?) for “not staying consistent with your (i.e. their) mistake.” The next moment he admonishes the government with his professorial words of wisdom: “one of the most important duties of democracy, in spite of its many faults, as many are eager to point out, is that it is self corrective.” Rainbolites can surely do a better a job by allowing the young and bright from amongst ranks to shine in public. The Professor’s endless drivel and drool may display PMW’s visceral contempt for Meles, but it surely is not a vote winner. Teflon Meles Zenawi knows where the votes are – out in rural Ethiopia where 85% of Ethiopians live. That is why EPDRF continues to take comfort of the fact that it, and it alone, is ‘archaeologically-linked’ with Ethiopia’s agrarian society. !

Thank very much you Yilma.
People please read Mr. Dagnatchew under
STILL UCD IS IN STATE OF BEWILDERMENT! By Gebreselassie Zemariame

Mr. Dagnatchew you have a lot of enunciations here,
Your article looks to extrapolate, and expound Mulugeta’s articles in which he enunciates
Ethiopian diasporas(Derg luminaries according to Mulugeta) who oppose and demonstrate against woyane are conspiring with EPLF to disintegrate Ethiopia.
First Ato Hailu Shawel was a highly regarded executive in (Previously Dutch owned) wonji sugar mills management and he was selected as a technical person because of merits but not as a politician to manage government owned state farms with a ministerial rank. You can easily find a lot of innocent people who worked as technocrats for the government and also lost family by the derg including Tigreans and Eritrean’s because the government was the only employer. Ato Hailu as he said In BBC tried to bring a change like Boris Yelsin in USSR from within and finally saw the evil derg in the eye and said this is not just and right I am going resign. Pro Mesifin did not sign the death warrants of the 61 Ministers of the imperial regime, in November 1974, because he would be in jail by now. The so called death warrant that was used as evidence by EPDRF to charge DERG prisoners did not have his signature and I wonder how his kids in north America would let you get away with that.
You said “Every day CUD leaders were attacking the election process and the Ethiopian government. It was not long before the news on (Eritrean) Dimtsi Hafash started to carry these reports, in great detail. CUD and Sha’ebia militants in the diaspora found that they had a lot in common, and virtually arm in arm, marched to lobby G8 leaders to stop aid to Ethiopia.”
I will tell we Ethiopians in Diaspora have nothing in common with EPLF. First, we are saying Meles himself is letting his Eritrean cousins win in U.N politics after we won the war in Badame. Meles was advised by many but never raised the issue of Assab in UN as the Afar people (which I proudly say are with the opposition in UEDF as ARDU) are demanding the return their stolen land by Eritrea. The Opposition is standing for the people of Afar and to the restoration of our millitaries victory. Either you are confused or spinning.

You said “CUD is sending out the message that Ethiopia can no longer rely on its armed forces, and in doing so is sending out an invitation – “come in and do what you failed to do in 1998.”
I do not know if you were hibernating in 1998 don’t you remember when Meles kept low profile and was begging Issayas to stop the invasion, true fighter like Samora and Seye emerged. CUD as well as UEDF is saying Meles leadership failed us.

You said “We have already heard CUD leaders calling for an end of aid to Ethiopia. What price are they willing to pay to gain power? “

This is another spin. The campaign says do not give any money to Meles directly but to projects that can be audited because he is not accountable as it is evident in this election. You should have called this article like Al Franken’s book “Liars and the lying liars who tell them”

This is empty minded royal humilation.

Please U ROYAL HUMILATION, YOU SHOULD KNOW YOU ARE MULUGUTIT.....GET LOST..

MAY I GET A PREVIELEGE TO ASK ALL YAWNING AND WHINING ABOUT THE MAY 15TH ELECTION??? IN SOFT WORDS LTE ME ASK THEM HOW DEMOCRATIC GOVERNMENTS WORK IN WHRE THEY LIVELIHOODS? CAN'T THEY SEE THAT IF ONE IS RELATIVELY ACCOMMODOTIVE WILL NOT LOSE A CAPITAL TO A 'RIVAL' OR THEY JUST WANT TO WHATEVER TO GET TO MINILIK PALACE EVEN THE LIVES OF MANY .WHAT SHOULD ETHIOPIANS DO TO STAY STABLE? UNIVERSITY STUDENTS CAME EVEN FROM THE USA AND EUROPE TO FIGHT FOR FREEDOM AND FOR THE POOR UNDER THE MANY COALITIONS INCLUDING EPRP . EPRDF JUST THE LAST ONE TO REACH TO THE RIVAN OTHERWISE MANY DIED FOR THIS COUNTRY AND THAT SACRIFICE PAID OFF. WHY ARE FEW WHINING ABOUT ERITREA STILL. IS IT NOT THE OURSELVES WE ETHIOPIANS WHO CREATED THE DIFFICULTIES FOR ERITREANS BY ANNEXING THE FEDERATED ERITREA WHILE WE CAN SOOTH THE WOUNDS OF THE COLONIALISM? ARE NOT WE ETHIOPIANS WHO WERE ALL SUFFERING UNDER THE DERGUE . WHY DON'T WE BUILD UP ON WHAT WE HAVE INSTEAD OF STARTING FROM THE SRATCH?
RADICALS IN THE DIASPORA --PLEASE COME TO YOUR SENSES THAT EPRDF IS NOT DOING FINE BUT TRYING A BIT AND BE OR LET'S TRY TRY TO BE THE BETTER OF EPRDF IF WE CAN OPT FOR ANOTHER. OTHERWISE IF YOU CAME WITH OTHER VERSION OF DISRIMINATION BY SAYIN THE NON TIGRIAN CUD --SO TO QUOTE FROM THE HARD TALK WITH HE HAILU SHAWL. DON'T FORGET THAT WHEN YOU HATE OTHERS THEY WILL COME UP WITH EVEN MORE FORCE AND DETERMINATION TO FIGHT ---HISTORY CAN TELL FROM VEITNAM.
CALM YOUR NERVES AND AVOID HATERADE OTHERWISE WE ALL LOSE ...WE DONWANNAFIGHT!!!!!!!!

Email: shalmel@freemail.et

City: Addisaba