Aug 16, 2005


“Dictators ride to and fro upon tigers which they dare
not dismount. And the tigers are getting hungry.” -
Winston Churchill, While England Slept.
I take with a grain of salt the recent press release
of one of the major Oppositions to the effect that
Ethiopia may go back to the dark days of the Dergue. I
contend that the last 14 years of the TPLF repressive
rule has been darker in terms of the magnitude of the
damage done to the territorial integrity of Ethiopia,
daylight robbery of the historic votes of the
Ethiopian people cast at the election of 15 May 2005,
and a host of state-sponsored gross violations of
human rights in the aftermath of the election. The
international community, as we all recall, hailed that
election as remarkable and exemplary to the rest of
Africa. But, the sadistic inner clique of TPLF
deliberately and criminally quashed the verdict of the
people – thereby once again confirming their chronic
hatred for the glory of Ethiopia. I would like to
elaborate my argument here below to show that the TPLF
betrayed the vital interests of Ethiopia in several
respects.

My neighbor and I in Addis Ababa were regular
listeners to the clandestine radio broadcast by TPLF
fighting the Dergue regime. We often exchanged our
views and expressed deep concern about where our
country was going, noting that sons and daughters of
the peasants on both sides were killing each other by
the thousands – in spite of the similarity of ideology
professed by the belligerents. I remember one day in
February 1991, my neighbor said to me that the Dergue
and the TPLF pursue the same Marxist-Leninist ideology
and he wondered why they do not reach some
rapprochement to stop the fighting and embark on the
peaceful development of Ethiopia. I reassured my
neighbor by saying that any regime that would replace
the Dergue would be better, adding that I have heard
rumors that the US government is supporting the TPLF.
I pinned my hope on the assumption that the TPLF
leadership would abandon their ultra-leftist Albanian
brand communist ideology soon after the Dergue regime
was removed from power. Otherwise, I surmised that the
USA would not support Stalinist rebels.


Unfortunately, my expectation ended up in utter
chagrin as events proved later. In a nutshell, I lived
to witness colossal damages inflicted on Ethiopia over
the last fourteen years under the despotic and
irresponsible leadership of TPLF:

Dismemberment of Ethiopia, leaving a country of over
seventy two million people landlocked; it is
unprecedented in the history of the world for a leader
of a country to support a vital part of his country to
cede. Meles shamefully supported cessation of Eritrea
from Ethiopia in writing to the United Nations. In my
opinion, the tyrant Mengistu Hailemariam would not
have done such a despicable thing.
Ethnic-based parceling of the map of Ethiopia with
evil design to make it convenient for cessation. This
is a reckless and dangerous experiment, which should
be utterly condemned not only by Ethiopians but also
by all Africans suffering from tribal strife as a
cancer to peace, stability and prosperity;
Daylight robbery of the resounding votes cast by the
Ethiopian people at the polls of 15 May 2005 demanding
change in no uncertain terms;
Execution in cold-blood, brutal beatings, bloodshed,
injuries, imprisonment in harsh conditions, mental and
physical tortures and other atrocities inflicted on
innocent civilians and members of the victorious
opposition in the aftermath of the election of 15 May
2005;
Creation of a feudal land tenure system in which TPLF
is the landlord and the peasants live in slavery in
serfdom;
Monopoly by TPLF of lucrative business interests and
enterprises;
Disbanding of a well-trained, well-equipped and
battle-hardened Ethiopian Army, thus leaving the
country without a credible defense after the takeover
of power by the TPLF; this unholy action stands in
sharp contrast to the unrealistic ‘vision’ of Mengistu
Hailemariam to build an invincible Army;
Stopping on the orders of Meles the advancing
victorious Ethiopian Army from realizing its ultimate
objective of removing the despotic regime of Eritrea
from power and liberating the Afar people of Ethiopia
to live in their traditional homes on the Red Sea
Coast;
Tarnished image and plummeting reputation of Ethiopia
in the eyes of the international community; Ethiopia
as a founder of the United Nations and several
international organizations, should have by now become
a leading candidate for the envisaged two permanent
seats in the Security Council of the United Nations
being contested by Africa;
Abject poverty, disease, high unemployment rate,
flawed and myopic education policy all adding up to
unprecedented misery in the history of Ethiopia.
Suppression of academic freedom on the campuses of
tertiary institutions using force and intimidation;
Suppression of freedom of the press by force,
imprisonment, and intimidation.
The single most important responsibility of any
government is to defend and protect the territorial
integrity of its nation and safeguard the security of
its people. Now, on this count alone, if one really
cares to compare the evil deeds of the Dergue and the
TPLF, the above examples tell it all that the TPLF is
the mother of all evils. Nevertheless, I maintain that
all evil rulers must perish all the same regardless of
the magnitude of their atrocities.

Meles Zenawi is an accomplished master of deception.
He wields political power in the ruthless style of
Stalin by directly and effectively controlling all
state security apparatus. Meles and his cohorts are
plundering enormous wealth of the country and stashing
away cash in foreign banks, while posing as democratic
proponents of free market economy -thus ‘hoodwinking’
the donor community that TPLF is a democratic
institution cast in the Western mold. I for one do not
believe that the Western governments are ignorant of
the dictatorial and deceptive nature of Meles Zenawi.
I would rather express my conviction that any
government, despotic or democratic, serving as their
puppet or surrogate gets the blessing of Western
leaders. They are merely using the atrocities of the
Dergue regime as the baseline for their excuse to cast
TPLF in good light. After all, it is said that
national interest is permanent and that friendship is
only temporary. I believe that Ethiopians should take
this maxim into account in shaping the policy of our
envisaged democratic country, which will come as a
result of enormous sacrifices and resolute struggle.
Ethiopia as a matter of policy and morality, must
tolerate neither terrorists nor their foreign
predators to operate on her territory.

The election of 15 May 2005 has torn wide open the
iron curtain of fear and deception drawn in front of
the face of the Ethiopian people for the last 14
years. This historic election, which amounted to a
decisive referendum for change, has massively united
Ethiopians at home and in Diaspora. As a tribute to
this unprecedented historic phenomenon in the long
history of our motherland, organizing under the banner
of “Ethiopian Democratic Liberation Front” seems to me
appropriate to save Ethiopia from complete downfall
and free ourselves from slavery and restore our honor.
To that end, moral, financial, and material support
should be given to substantive political opposition
forces such as the CUD and UEDF and encourage or even
urge other smaller opposition parties to join them.

As for me, I subscribe to the old adage that dictators
will not negotiate in good faith with democrats. The
TPLF is scared to death to share power with others for
fear of reprisal for its crimes inflicted on the
Ethiopian people. It will not accept the idea of peace
and reconciliation of its own free will because its
heinous crimes will be revealed. Truth and
reconciliation is imperative to heal our deep wounds.
We need to break the ugly cycle of recrimination and
retribution once for all through remorse and
repentance; but it seems to me that it can only take
place in a political climate without TPLF inner clique
and cronies because of their intransigence. It will be
foolhardy to expect Meles to dismount the ‘tiger’,
which he knows it is hungry.

Fellow Ethiopians, wake up and hit the iron while it
is hot! We have only God and ourselves to end tyranny
in our beloved Ethiopia.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Note: The quotation under the caption may serve as a
reminder of the present political upheaval where the
TPLF leaders refuse to dismount the ‘tiger’ in spite
of their crushing defeat at the polls of 15 May 2005.
The hunger of the Ethiopian people for justice, their
impatience with the intransigence of their repressive
ruling regime, their determination to unseat the hated
regime from power, ad infinitum, has thrown the TPLF
regime into panic forcing it not to dismount the
‘tiger’.

Incidentally, Sir Winston Churchill quashed the
Wayanne I movement created by British Field Officers
soon after the end of World War II. In so doing he
apologized to Emperor Haile Selassie I for the delay
of British government policy recognizing the
territorial integrity of Ethiopia including the Tigrai
region.

* * * * *
(Robele Ababya can be reached for comments via email:
robele_ababya@yahoo.com )

Email: robele_ababya@yahoo.com

Why did The Amhras failed to bring Justice and Democracy for the last 200 years of Amhras domination of Ethiopia ? ? ?

Email: Demeke@Hotmail.com

City: CO

Well said,Robele
I surmise TPLF will shade more blood than Dergue if people rise up against them as EPRP did to Dergue.Dergue did not shoot and kill innocent demonstrators,unlike the TPLF government.That alone shows this government is more devil than Dergue.
I believe there is a chance for this government to redeem itself with South African style reconciliation if it is done sooner than later.
MAY GOD BRING PEACE TO OUR BELOVED ETHIOPIA.AMEN.

Email: zghiwet@yahoo.ca

Zewdae,

Are you serious when you say that Dergue didn't kill any demonstrators? Where weer you during that time? TO begin with, no one had teh chance to protest under the dergue regime. Every single perosn was scared ****less. I lost a lot of family members, so don't sit back and try to tell us the dergue didn't kill innocent demonstrators. I am sure you will jump to the trigger and classify me as a Meles supporte, because of my posting. Sorry to dissapont you, but I am neither a CUD/UEDF or EPRDF supporter. To me none of this people will do good for teh country. They all want that power for the wrong reason. Teh Ethiopian People interest isn't on tehir agenda.

Concerened,
Calm down. Both Meles and Menegestu are bloodthirsty killers. I have lost some family members. And my two brothers and family members were tortured in prison as well. These two evils, M & M deserve to be hanged in the middle of Mercato. If I say one good thing about Menegestu is—he believed in one Ethiopia. He never tried to divide Ethiopia in so many small ethnic groups. Menegestu’s biggest problem was paranoia; he thought someone was going to take his power. Meles’s biggest problem is insecurity; that he does not trust other ethnic groups. In other words they are both psychotics.