The Election that unraveled the Woyane

The Ethiopian people have been called upon to rise against tyranny and dictatorship many times before in their long and glorious history and on each occasion they have emerged as victorious, defeating seemingly powerful external as well as internal enemies who confronted them. Just over a hundred years ago in 1896, Ethiopian patriots vanquished Italian colonial invaders at Adwa, and recorded a magnificent chapter of Ethiopian history. The victory of Adwa has become a mantra for freedom loving Africans and has gained respect for Ethiopia and her people for their love of freedom and for their sacrifice and determination for the defence of their country.
In most recent times, the Feb 1974 popular revolution that swept away the centuries old feudal order marks another milestone in our history.

Today as our country waits to enter another new chapter, we stand facing a different form of tyranny. Our country is in the clutches of a brutal anti-Ethiopian dictator, and a masked agent of Shabia, who seized power in 1991 by armed violence and blood shed and has been plundering our country ever since. Zenawi came to power openly declaring an anti-Ethiopian agenda . From the beginning, he denied the existence of Ethiopia as a country and pour scorn on our country as a ‘colonial fiction’. He even discarded the Ethiopian flag as a ‘piece of rag’ and condemned the heroes of Adwa victory as colonialists.
As soon as he seized power in Ethiopia, this self declared enemy of Ethiopia imposed a form of government with ethnic apartheid at the centre of his political programme which segregated people on the basis of their race, ethnicity, tribal lineage and languages and forced them to live in ‘Killil’. Zenawi devised this divide and rule policy to consign his minority group that make up the Tigrai People Liberation Front, in control of the government. Zenawi and his TPLF cadres denounced the Amhara ethnic group and set all other ethnic groups against it. This led to the brutal massacre of thousands of innocent people through out the country; and has resulted in the large scale displacements and deportations of people, massacres, tensions and conflicts among the various communities in the country. Ironically, all those groups and individuals who danced to the tunes of TPLF’s ethnic apartheid have not escaped the effects of this dreadful system. Today all Ethiopians are equally suffering and find themselves victims of the policy of the TPLF.

By concocting an ethnic constitution Zenawi and the TPLF tried to break the bond between the Ethiopian people and weaken and rob them of their feeling of patriotism. Knowing that it will undermine his system of divide and rule, Zenawi tried to destroy Ethiopian patriotism and unity. He disbanded all Ethiopian national and patriotic agencies. Ethnic groups have been promoted at the expense of Ethiopian identity.

After 14 years of suffering, the moment has now arrived for the Ethiopian people to remove the bondage of tyranny and dictatorship by peaceful means.They have embarked on a road that will take them to a new, free and democratic Ethiopia. In May 2005, Ethiopians took the first and decisive step to reclaimed their country , their individual and collective pride and dignity as citizens of Ethiopia. By responding to the call for unity, democracy and justice they turned out in their millions to vote and expressed unequivocally their rejection of ethnic apartheid and dictatorship.
The robbery of the votes by the tyrant Zenawi and the TPLF does not change this fact an iota; and will not divert the struggle for a freedom and democracy. The Ethiopian people have, at last, found their voice under a united opposition. Ethiopia is at the dawn of a new era. Our destiny is in our own hands.

The responsibility for defending and safeguarding the hard won rights of our people to govern themselves lie in the hands of every patriotic Ethiopian within and outside the country. It must be clear that if democracy is to be the winner then, the verdict of the Ethiopian people must be respected. Likewise, joining the woyane parliament can not be taken as an option. This is similar to trying to resuscitate a dead regime that has been rendered lifeless by people power. The regime led by a gang of criminals who are murdering, intimidating and jailing the people to remain in power by force, must be exposed and slowly thrown to the dust bin of history. There in no other way.

The opposition parties whom the people have given the mandate, are expected to instill faith in the democratic and peaceful struggle that lie ahead. They should lead from the front with full knowledge and confidence that they have the support of the people. It is a struggle that has rallied all sections of the Ethiopian public, all of whom have been outraged by the callousness and brutality of the fascist regime.

The peaceful march of the people to freedom, that started in May 2005 and gained a lot of respect and admiration for Ethiopians, is a demonstration of their aspiration to bring about a democratic change to our country. The desire for change is unmistakable and the commitment to a peaceful struggle is absolute. That dream and hope of our people must be fulfilled.
The patience, the strategic thinking and the meticulous planning that the opposition parties put together to prepare for the election and to lead our people to victory, enduring repression, torture and imprisonment in TPLF jails, is a testament to their resilience, patriotism and dedication to the cause of Ethiopia. Indeed, the cause of much of the suffering of the opposition parties has been self inflicted. Dogged by internal divisions, petty differences and lack of vision and long term strategic thinking, the various opposition parties exposed themselves, as individuals and as groups, to the abuses by the TPLF for many years. Those days are over for good. The formation of a united front among the opposition parties, on the basis of genuine democratic principles, has itself been a cause for celebration for Ethiopians, who without leaders and direction, fell victims to the despotism and cruelty of the TPLF for a long time. The victory of the people has been due to their unity and the unified leadership provided by the opposition parties.

The Ethiopian people have paid the ultimate price for democracy and justice to get to the stage where we are today. It is time to move forward, to pay tributes to our heroes and to build a new truly democratic Ethiopia for their sake and for our own and for future generations.

The reality in our country remains as dire as it has been since the TPLF seized power in 1991 and the situation calls for the struggle to be more focused and resolute and intense. Even after the so called ‘democratic’ election, the regime firmly controls the media, and churns out its propaganda of hate and intimidation; people are not allowed to demonstrate peacefully, although this is written in the TPLF constitution. The June 8th massacre and the assassinations of the recently elected members of parliament, the murder and arrests of key opposition election observers, intensification of the suppression against private journalists by the regime, only demonstrate that, if any thing, repression and murder by the fascist regime remain as bad as it has been, if not worse. The regime even passed new regulations in the outgoing Parliament that will curtail the role of opposition parties and one that will make them mere spectators.

This election has revealed the true face and nature of the tyrant regime to the outside world that the Ethiopian people have known about for many years.
Enough is enough. End to ethnic apartheid and tyranny.