May God bless the Ethiopian-Americans for Democracy!!! I pray and hope the CUD/UEDF: will follow their steps and appeal to the UN, as well. This should be a Must!! What a great job EAD!!!
Here is their appeal to the UN:

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Appeal

Open Letter to UN Sec.-Gen. Kofi Annan
Ethiopian-Americans for Democracy
September 12, 2005

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His Excellency Kofi Annan
Secretary-General
United Nations Organization
1st Avenue at 46th Street
New York, NY 10017
Dear Mr. Secretary-General:

In 1936, Emperor Haile Selassie stood before the League of Nations, challenged the now-defunct body to live up to its commitments, and cautioned the member nations with his prophetic words, "God and history will remember your judgment." Today, over 72 million disfranchised Ethiopians raise their voices and request you to uphold the cherished principles of the United Nations and to disinvite Mr. Meles Zenawi to the 2005 World Summit, in protest of his violations of fundamental human rights, disrespect for the people's votes, and the recent massacre of peaceful protesters.

In total disregard of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Mr. Zenawi has subjected the people of Ethiopia to relentless oppression.

(i) On May 15, 2005, the people of Ethiopia exercised their inalienable rights enshrined in Article 21 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, under which everyone has the right to take part in the government of his country, and cast their votes of no confidence in Mr. Zenawi's 14 years of autocratic rule.

Upon realizing his defeat, Mr. Zenawi used the state machinery and dubious electoral procedures to thwart the aspirations of the people for freedom and democracy. His flagrant violation of Article 21 is documented in numerous reports, including the recently released report by the European Union Election Observation Mission, which stated “… the 15th of May post-polling day irregularities, delays and opacity of the counting and aggregation of data, plus the subsequent flawed handling of complaints and re-runs of elections in some constituencies, …, did not live up to international standards and to the aspirations of Ethiopians for democracy….”

A review of elections held during the past 14 years of Meles Zenawi’s rule reveals consistently disappointing results as documented by the African-American Institute (AAI), the Washington-based National Democratic Institute (NDI), and the Norwegian Resource Bank for Democracy and Human Rights (NORDEM).

(ii) In the wake of his devastating loss at the polls, Mr. Zenawi violated Article 20 of the Declaration, under which everyone’s right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association is protected, by issuing a draconian state of emergency, which banned all demonstrations of any sort, and brought all the security forces, the police and the local militias, under one command accountable to him.

(iii) On June 8, 2005, Mr. Zenawi ordered his troops to massacre over 42 peaceful protesters, and detain thousands of supporters and members of the opposition.

The international community, including members of the US Congress, the European Parliament and other respected organizations denounced the June 8th killings and subsequent arrests. Most notably, in a statement issued on June 8, 2005 (www.et-eueom.org), the European Union Election Observation Mission wrote: “The Mission deplores the deaths of citizens in Addis Ababa in clashes with the security forces over the last days and today. … Many of the injured, mostly by gunshot wounds and including women and children, claim they were shot at random by security forces while waiting for public transportation. ….”

In its 2005 report, Amnesty International confirmed “the prevalence of widespread arbitrary detentions, torture, and excessive use of force by police and soldiers” and declared: “several thousand people remained in long-term detention without charge or trial …prison conditions were harsh.”

(iv) Mr. Zenawi has curtailed the freedom of the press and has imprisoned editors and reporters of the free press, in infringement of Article 19, which guarantees that everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression. This was confirmed, for example, in a recent report of the International Freedom of Expression Exchange (IFEX) which stated: “In the wake of a violent crackdown on protesters following the 15 May 2005 parliamentary elections in Ethiopia, an alarming number of journalists are being arrested and charged for reporting on the situation.”

(v) Mr. Zenawi denied opposition groups the right to free and fair investigation of electoral fraud. As carefully stated in the aforementioned European Union Election Observation Mission report:

“The complaints investigation process took place in the context of serious violations of human rights and freedoms, namely of opposition leaders and suspected supporters. This undermined the opposition’s ability to participate effectively in the process, … material evidence was unobtainable because detained or fearful witnesses were unable to testify and, in one case, an important witness was killed. The climate of threats and intimidation was maintained throughout the complaints investigation process. …. Also opposition witnesses were arrested before or after they testified in front of the panel, and many witnesses or opposition supporters reported to the observers that they were threatened in various ways...” The report also added, “…de facto there was no level-playing field: the ruling party was generally represented on the panels by important members of the local society, including state officials, such as judges. This increased confusion between the roles of the state and EPRDF and exacerbated the atmosphere of intimidation…”
Your Excellency:

The people of Ethiopia lay their deep trust in you not to dim their faith in the lofty ideals of the UN by the invitation of an authoritarian ruler, who has desecrated the fundamental precepts of the organization. As Secretary-General of this august body, we believe that you know very well the significance of the overture of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which states: "… if man is not to be compelled to have recourse, as a last resort, to rebellion against tyranny and oppression, that human rights should be protected by the rule of law." Mr. Zenawi has chosen not to heed this universal tenet, and is leading the country along a disastrous path. Therefore, to provide a podium for him at the World Summit will be to legitimize his dictatorial rule and to reward his disdain for the civilized world.

Respectfully yours,

Ethiopian-Americans for Democracy

hagerwedad@yahoo.com
CC: President of the General Assembly of the UN
President of the Security Council of the UN



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May God bless the Great Ethiopia and its people around the world!!!!

Hello 'SayNoToHatred' and Happy New Year to you and your family as well.

What can I say, I must agree with almost every proposal you have, including case#3 suggestion. I think it's good to explore all options, but I must say, I am saddened by the effectiveness in the public and in particular the West/US/EU policy towards Meles. The problem is we as an Ethiopian Community are not really effective in creating and executing a public outcry and exposing Meles (which he's exposable) due to a lack of organization and quite frnakly money along with the right leadership that can lead these efforts of public relations or even lobbying (which we lack)...I think public demonstrations are fine, but they are not a very effective campign that will bring about a poltical change in the policies of these world bodies. It is well knwon that Meles spends millions lobbying his character and policies towards Ethiopia to the AU, EU, and even the US mostly through the Embassies and Amb.Ayele the idiot. The thing is, we need to up the campaigns and the opposition parties along with the Ethiopian Civic Organizations and also the Ethiopian Communities at large ought to be united in these campigns and raise money and start a grass roots community effort to lobby congress, trust me when I say lobbying the US Congress alone will bring the biggest change as oppossed to public demonstrations. I admire and respect your call and I applaud you for it...that is certainly one area of this campaign against this Meles that has been antiethiopia since day 1. The only organization that I see making a difference in lobbying congress and forcing Meles in the last year to hold or pretend to hold free/fair elections is the Citizens League of Ethiopian Americans (CLEA)...otherwise, all the other groups are really talking loud and having little or no effect.

Thank you for your input and ideas man, I've enjoyed it, I can tell you are a true etypiawi bro...keep it up. I wish you'd join some effective organizations where you live man, I think you can help make a difference 'Saynotohate'...peace!!

Hmmm?