Scholar accuses Ethiopian authorities of "ethnic cleansing

By Ethiomedia, April 3, 2013

WASHINGTON, DC (Ethiomedia) - Ethiopian authorities could be charged with the crimes of "ethnic cleansing" at anytime in their life, a leading law professor said on Tuesday.
 

Yacob Hailemariam, a prominent opposition leader who previously was a senior UN Prosecutor at the Rwanda Genocide Trials, told the Ethiopian Satellite TV (ESAT) the recent forceful eviction of members of the Amhara from Benishangul-Gumuz area was an obvious case of ethnic cleansing which is a serious crime for which Rwandan officials were sentenced to life in prison. Last week about 59 Ethiopians targetted as 'Amhara' were killed when their truck overturned as they were being forcefully removed from the Benishangul-Gumuz region.

 

 The crime is not 'genocide' but it is a crime of'ethnic cleansing' for which the current authorities could be prosecuted according to both Ethiopian and international laws, the business law professor warned. If Ethiopians at home and abroad collect evidences for the UN Security Council, the officials could be brought before the court of an international law, Yacob warned. Scholars generally agree and define ethnic cleansing as the "the systematic and violent removal of undesired ethnic groups from a given territory."

 

 Yacob said ethnic cleansing is an international crime and the perpetrators of the crime could be prosecuted at an international criminal court. "The forceful deportation of people because they speak a certain language could destabilize a region, and if reported with tangible evidences, the UN Security Council could order the International Criminal Court to begin to examine the crimes," Yacob said. "At the Rwanda Tribunal, individuals who were charged with ethnic cleansing were sentenced to life in prison," Professor Yacob said of the event for which he was a Senior UN prosecutor. Benishangul officials as well as the late dictator Meles Zenawi at one time had said those being removed were for destroying forests and not for being Amhara.

 

 

  Commenting on this remark, Yacob said people accused of cutting down trees may face legal action but to condemn them to ethnic cleansing is to commit a very serious crime that the perpetrators could face justice irrespective of the passage of time - even 30 or 40 years later. Ethiopian authorities should be duly reminded that their actions of removing citizens from any part of their country is a criminal offense prosecutable as per Ethiopian and international humanitarian laws, Professor Yacob Hailemariam warned.

 

  Ethiopia is signatory to several conventions, including Universal Declaration of Human Rights, International Convention on Civil and Political Rights, Africa Human and Peoples Rights Charter, which, among others, state in clear terms that any citizen of a certain country has the right to work and live in any part of his or her country. Therefore, Yacob warned, there cannot be any excuse like a resettlement program etc. to violate such laws and commit the serious crimes of 'ethnic cleansing.'

“አይቴ ብሔሩ ለአማራ . . . የአማራ አገሩ ወዴት ነው?” ኢትዮጵያ አይደለምን?

ኤፍሬም እሸቴ

 በንግግርም ይሁን በጽሑፍ ለማንሣትም ሆነ ለመጥቀስ፣ ለመወያየትም ሆነ ለመከራከር ከማይመቹኝ (discomfort እንዲል ፈረንጅ) የኢትዮጵያ ርዕሰ ጉዳዮች ሁሉ ዘርን፣ ብሔረሰብን የተመለከተው ዋነኛውና አንዱ ነው። ጉዳዩ በዕለት ተዕለት የአገራችን ሕይወት ውስጥ ወሳኙ እና በሁነኛ መልክ ማኅበረሰባዊ ማንነታችንን እየበየነ እንዳለ እያወቅኹም እንዲህ እንደ አሁኑ በአደባባይ ለመውጣት ግን ብዙም አይቀለኝም። ምክንያቱ ሌላ ምንም ሳይሆን ጉዳዩ ያለው ስሱነት (sensitivity) ነው። አሁን ግን ላልፈው አልቻልኩም። አይገባምም። ለምን?
 
መነሻ

ከአማራ ክልል ወደ ቤኒ-ሻንጉል ጉሙዝ ክልል ያሶ ወረዳ ተጉዘው የከተሙ በርካታ ሰዎች በወረዳው ባለሥልጣናትና ፖሊሶች፤ ሰብአዊ መብታቸው ተጥሶ ከቀያቸው መፈናቀላቸውን የሚያትት ዜና የሰሞኑ ኢትዮጵያውያን ድረ ገጾች/መገናኛዎች ዋነኛ ትኩረት ነው። ስለዚሁ ጉዳይ ዜና ያስነበበው “አዲስ አድማስ” ጋዜጣ ጉዳዩን በተመለከተ የሚከተሉትን ቁም ነገሮች አስፍሯል።

• በሚኖሩበት አካባቢ የእርሻ ቦታ በማጣታቸውና የተሻለ ሥራ ፍለጋ ከ1997 ዓ.ም ጀምሮ ከአማራ ክልል ወደ ቤኒሻንጉል ጉሙዝ ክልል ያሶ ወረዳ መሔዳቸውን፣

• “ከሌላ ቦታ እየመጣችሁና እየሠራችሁ የአካባቢውን ተወላጅ ሰነፍ አደረጋችሁት” በሚል ምክንያት ያፈሩትን ሀብትና ንብረት ሳይሰበስቡ ከክልሉ እንዲወጡ መደረጋቸውን፣

• አንዳንዶቹ በያሶ ወረዳ ውስጥ የከተማ ነዋሪነትና የንግድ ፈቃድ በማውጣት ላለፉት ሰባት ዓመታት በሥራ ላይ መቆየታቸውን፣ ገሚሶቹ ደግሞ ከ1997 ጀምሮ የቀበሌው ነዋሪ በመሆን ከክልሉ ተወላጆች ጋር በስምምነት መሬት የእኩል እያረሱ የራሳቸውንም የባለመሬቱንም ሕይወት መቀየራቸውን፣

• በቤኒሻንጉል ጉሙዝ ክልል ከማይ ዞን በያሶ ወረዳ ውስጥ በሀሎ ትክሻ፣ ሆኒ፣ ሊጐ፣ ባብርኮ፣ ሻብቲ፣ ድልድል፣ ቲኒጆ መጢና በመሰል ቀበሌዎች በግምት ከስድስት እስከ ዘጠኝ ሺህ የሚጠጉ ከአማራ ክልል የመጡ ሰዎች እንደሚገኙበት፣

• “የክልሉ ነዋሪ ወዶንና ተቀብሎን በሰላም ነበር የምንኖረው” ማለታቸውን፣

• ጐጐታ በተባለ ቀበሌ ከአማራ ክልል የመጡ 43 ሰዎች እንዲሁም በሀሎ ሙከአርባ ቀበሌ የ25 ሰዎች መታወቂያ ተቀዳዶ ሲጣል መመልከታቸውን፣

• “እስከአሁን በወረዳው ፖሊስ ጣቢያ ከታሠሩት በርካታ ሰዎች በተጨማሪ በመኪና ተጭነው ነቀምትና ጊንቢ የተወሰዱት ሰዎች” መኖራቸውን፤ ስንቅ ሊያቀብሉ የሔዱ ሰዎችም መታሰራቸውን፤

• ወደመጡበት እንዲመለሱ የተወሰነው፤ በብአዴን፣ ኦህዴድ እና የኢሕአዴግ አጋር ፓርቲ በኾነው ቤኒሻንጉል ጉሙዝ ብሔራዊ ክልላዊ ፓርቲ (ቤጉብዴፓ) በጋራ ተወያይተው በደረሱበት ውሳኔ መኾኑን ሥራው የወረዳው ብቻ ሳይሆን ከክልል እስከ ቀበሌ ድረስ በትስስር እየተሠራ መኾኑን የያሶ ወረዳ ዋና አስተዳዳሪ አቶ ታደሰ ሻምበል ዳኛ መግለጻቸውን ዘግቧል።

ይህንን ዜና ከሌላ ተመሳሳይ የቅርብ ጊዜ ታሪክ ጋር ካመሳከርነው ከደቡብ ክልል ጉራ ፈርዳ ወረዳ ከተፈናቀሉት/ እየተፈናቀሉ ካሉት ሌሎች ዜጎች ጉዳይ ጋር ልናነጻጽረው እንችላለን። ሁለቱንም አንድ የሚያደርጋቸው ደግሞ አማርኛ ተናጋሪዎች (አማሮች) መሆናቸው ነው።

ሊወገዝ የሚገባው ተግባር

መነሻው ምንም ይሁን ምን፣ የክልሉ ፓርቲ ከማንም ጋር ይስማማ አይስማማ በነዚህ ዜጎች ላይ የተደረገው ተገቢነት የሌለው ነገር ነው። የዜጎች በአገራቸው ውስጥ የመዘዋወር፣ የመኖር መብት እንዲህ በጥቂት የፓርቲ ሹመኞች መወሰኑ የሚያስጨንቅም የሚያስደነግጥም ምልክት ነው። ከጉራ ፈርዳም ከቤንሻንጉል የተፈናቀሉት ሰዎች “አማሮች” መሆናቸው ደግሞ አጋጣሚ ነው ለማለት በጣም የዋህ (ሲገፋም ጅል) መሆን ይጠይቃል።አማራ” የሚባል ለብዙዎቹ “ብሔሮች ብሔረሰቦች እና ሕዝቦች” ጠላት የሆነ አካል እንዳለ በጓዳም በአደባባይም ሲነገር ብዙ ጊዜ ሰምተናል። ይህ ‘ፖለቲካ ያባውን – መፈናቀል ቢያወጣው’ (ሆድ ያባውን … እንደሚባለው) ምንጩ የማይታወቅ የማይሆነውም ለዚህ ነው።

ከደቡብም ከቤንሻንጉልም ለመፈናቀል “አማራነቱ” ምክንያት የሚሆንበት ከሆነ “አይቴ ብሔሩ ለአማራ? … የአማራ አገሩ የት ነው?” የትስ ሔዶ ይኑር? ኢትዮጵያ አገሩ አይደለምን?” ለማለት ያስገድደኛል። ደግሞስ አንድ ሰው አማርኛ ስለተናገረ የግድ ወደ አማራ ክልል መሔድ አለበት? ሁሉም ወደየክልሉ የሚለውን አዋጅ ያወጣውስ ማን ነው? አማርኛ የሚናገሩ ነገር ግን “የአማራ ክልል አገራቸው ያልሆኑ” ኢትዮጵያውያን የነገ ዕጣ ፈንታ ምንድር ነው?

የመታወቂያ ነገር

ለረዥም ጊዜ የቀበሌ መታወቂያ ሳይኖረኝ እኖር ነበር። ከዕለታት በአንዱ ቀን ግን የግድ የቀበሌ መታወቂያ ማውጣት የሚያስፈልገኝ ጊዜ ደረሰና እኖርበት ወደነበረው ቀበሌ ሔድኩ። ፎርም ሞላኹ። ከዚያም መታወቂያው ላይ መስፈር ያለበት የብሔረሰብ (እነርሱ እንኳን ብሔር ነው ያሉት) ነገር ተነሣ። መናገር አልፈለኩም። ቀበልዬው ካልተናገርኩ እንደማይሰጠኝ እርግጥ አደረገው። መሞላት አለበት። የዘር ማንዘሬን “ደም” ሁሉ እስኪሰለቸው ደረደርኩለት። በምን ፎርሙላ እንደሆነ ባላውቅም እርሱ ደስ ያለውን አንዱን ቋንቋ ብቻ መርጦ ብሔሬን ሞላው። በመታወቂያዬ መሠረት ቀብልዬው የሞላው ክልልና ብሔር አባል ሆንኩ። መታወቂያ እየታየ ሰልፍ መያዝ ሲጀመር እኔም አቶ ቀበልዬው በሞላው ተርታ የግዴን ልገባ ነው ማለት ነው።

ማንነትን በማወቅ ሰበብ ማንነትን ማጣት

ማንነትን ማወቅ፣ ባህልን መጠንቀቅ፣ ቋንቋን ጠብቆ መቆየት የሚደገፍ ብቻ ሳይሆን መብትም ነው። ነገር ግን አሁን ባለው መንገድ ድንበር እያጠሩ ሰውን ያለ ፍላጎቱ “ሰልፍህ በየት በኩል ነው?” የሚያስብል ብሔረሰባዊ አሰላለፍ ግን ጤናማ ካለመሆኑም በላይ አገር ብለን በጋራ የምንኖርባትን ጎጆ የሚያፈርስ ከፋፋይ አስተሳሰብ ነው። በተለይ እዚህ አሜሪካን አገር ከመጣኹ በኋላ ያየሁት እና እንኳን ቋንቋን ቀለምን ማለትም ነጭ፣ ጥቁር፣ እስያዊ፣ ሂስፓኒክ የሚለውን እንኳን ፎርም ላይ ለመሙላት የሰውየው ብቸኛ ፍላጎት መሆኑን ማወቄ በግዳቸው “ብሔረሰብ እንዲመርጡ” ለሚደረጉ ኢትዮጵያውያን እንዳዝንም፣ እንድቆጭም፣ እንድበሳጭም ያደርገኛል።

ዛሬ አማራ ተብለው እንዲወጡ የተደረጉት ዜጎች ሌላው ሰው “አማራ” ይላቸው ካልሆነ ምናልባት ራሳቸውን በቀበሌያቸውና በትውልድ ቀዬያቸው ከመጥራት የዘለለ ነገር የሚኖራቸው አይመስለኝም። እንዳሁኑ “አማራ ናችሁ” የሚለው አንድ ቃል ሳይጫንባቸው በፊት “አገራችን ጎጃም ነው” ወይም “መንዝ ነው” ይሉ ይሆናል። ኦሮሞውም “ሜታ ነኝ” ወይም “ቦረና ነኝ፣ ወለጋ ነኝ” ይል እንደሁ እንጂ እንደአሁኑ “ኦሮሞነት” አልተጫነበትም ነበር። ሌላውም ሌላውም። ማንነትህን እወቅ በማለት ሰበብ የተጫነበት የቋንቋ ቀንበር ከጎረቤቱ የሚለየውና አርሶ ከሚያድርበት ቀዬ የሚያፈናቅለው ከሆነ ማንነቱ እንደ ዕዳ ተቆጥሮበታል ማለት ነው።

ሌላው የሚያስጨንቀው ጉዳይ ምንነትን በማጠር ሰበብ ክፉ የፖለቲካ ጨዋታ የሚጫወቱ ቡድኖች መኖራቸው ነው። የዚህ ጨዋታ ግንባር ቀደሙ ደግሞ ኢሕአዴግ ራሱ መሆኑን መናገር አገራዊ ግዴታ እየሆነ ነው። ፓርቲው ለጊዜያዊ ፖለቲካዊ ጥቅም አገርን የሚያክል ትልቅ ቤት የሚያፈርስ ቁማር ውስጥ ነው ያለው። የሌሎች ብሔረሰቦችን ድጋፍ ለማግኘት አማራውን የመስዋዕት በግ አድርጎ የማቅረብ ቁማር። ዞሮ ተመልሶ ወደራስ ሊተኮስ (Backfire ሊያደርግ) የሚችል መድፍ መጫወቻ ማድረግ።


መረጫጨት ተጀመረ?


አንድ ሰሞን ዝነኛ የነበረች ቀልድ “መረጫጨት ተጀመረ” ትል ነበር። የንስሐ አባት ጸበል ሲረጩ ለጨዋታ የመሰለው ትንሽ ነካ ያደረገው ሰው “መረጫጨት ተጀመረ?” ብሎ ውኃ ያነሳበት ታሪክ። በዚህ ዓይነቱ ከባድ ርዕስ ላይ ይኼ ቀልድ ስላቅ ሆኖ በውስጤ ብቅ አለ። ዛሬ ያባረሩ ሰዎች በሌላው ዘንድ “መረጫጨት ተጀመረ?” እንደማያሰኝባቸው ማወቅ ተስኗቸው ነውን? ምናልባትም ይህ እንዲሆን ፍላጎት እንዳላቸው ማን ያውቃል። እንደመንደር ጎረምሳ “ሰፈሬ ለምን መጣህ?” ሲሉ ሌላው በተራው እነርሱን “ሰፈሬ ለምን መጣችሁ?” እንዲላቸው ፈልገዋል ማለት ነው? ከዚያስ? ተጠቃሚው ማን ሊሆን? ወይስ ካርዱን የሚጫወተው ዋናው ሰውዬ ከኋላ ሆኖ እንዲስቅ? ኢትዮጵያችን እንደማትጠቀም በርግጠኝነት መናገር እችላለኹ።

ለጊዜው

በእኔ ትንሽ ግምገማ ኢትዮጵያውያን በመታወቂያቸው እና በስማቸው እየተገማመቱ እንዲደባደቡ ትልቅ ፍላጎት አለ። እስካሁን ፍላጎቱ ያልተሳካው በኢትዮጵያውያን አርቆ አሳቢነት ነው። ይህንን የኢትዮጵያውያን አርቆ አሳቢነት በሕይወቱ ያልተረዳ እና በዚህ የዘር ፖለቲካ የተጠመቀ ትውልድ አገሪቱን እየተረከበ ሲመጣ እንዴት እንደምንሆን ግን እግዜር ይወቀው። ባለ ራእዩ ሰውዬ “አንተርሐሙዌ” (Interahamwe) ብለው ያሟረቱት ነገር ላለመድረሱ ማረጋገጫ የሚሰጥ ባገኘኹ በተደሰትኩ።


የቤንሻንጉል ክልል ሰዎችም ሆኑ ጉዳዩ የሚመለከታቸው አካላት በሙሉ ለዚህ ዕብደት አፋጣኝ መፍትሔ መስጠት አለባቸው። በዚህ ነገር መጠየቅ ሲመጣ ማዕከላዊው መንግሥትም “አልነበርኩበትም፣ የክልሉ ጉዳይ ነው” ማለት አይችልም። መሬት ለሕንዶች በነጻ በማከፋፈሉ ላይ እጁን የሚያስገባው የቤተ መንግሥት አካል ድሃ ገበሬዎች ሲፈናቀሉ የለኹበትም ሊለን አይችልም። የሚሰማውም አያገኝ።

መቼም የእምነት መሪዎቻችን ራሳቸውን ችለው ቆመው “ተዉ” ይላሉ ብለን አንጠብቃቸውም። እንዲህ ዓይነቱ ኢ-ሰብዓዊ ድርጊት እንዲገታ መጠየቅ የሚገባቸው እነርሱ ቢሆኑም – በቅድሚያ። እነርሱ ባይናገሩም ሥልጣን ያላቸው ብቻ ሳይሆኑ ሐሳባቸውን መግለጽ የሚችሉ ኢትዮጵያውያን በሙሉ ነገሩ ወንጀል መሆኑን መናገር አለባቸው። “ትክክል አይደለም” ለማለት የግድ የአማራነት ቆብ መድፋት አያስፈልገንም። ሰብዓዊነት የሚሰማው በሙሉ ግድ ይለዋል። ለታሪክም ቢሆን።

ከጊዜያዊ የፖለቲካ ወገንተኝነት ውጪ ማሰብ የሚያስፈልገው በዚህ ዓይነቱ ጉዳይ ነው። የገዢው ፓርቲ ደጋፊና መሪ የሆኑትም ቢሆኑ ይህንን መቃወም ኢሕአዴግን መቃወም አድርገው መቁጠር አይገባቸውም። እንዲያውም ያስመሰግናቸዋል። ለኅሊናችንና ለልጅ ልጆቻችን ስለምናስረክባት ኢትዮጵያ ስንል “ኧረ በሕግ አምላክ፣ ኧረ በባንዲራው” እንበል።

ይቆየን – ያቆየን

የኢህአዴግ እብሪትና ትዕቢት አገርንና ህዝብን የሚያጠፋ ነው”

አቶ ግርማ በቀለ 33ቱ ፓርቲዎች ጊዜያዊ አስተባባሪ ኮሚቴ ዋና ፀሐፊ

ፍኖተ ነጻነት መጋቢት 21 ቀን 2005 ዓ.ም.

የዛሬው እንግዳችን አቶ ግርማ በቀለ ይባላሉ ፡፡ አቶ ግርማ በቀለ በቅርቡ የትብብር ሠነድ የተፈራረሙት 33ቱ ፓርቲዎች ጊዜያዊ አስተባባሪ ኮሚቴ ዋና ፀሐፊ እና የኦሞ ሕዝቦች ዲሞክራሲያዊ ህብረት /ኦህዴህ/የተባለ ፓርቲ ሊቀመንበር ናቸው፡፡

ፍኖተ ነፃነት፡- ፔቲሽን ፈራሚ ፓርቲዎች አሁን በምን እንቅስቃሴ ላይ ናቸው?አቶ ግርማ በቀለ 33ቱ

                                 ፓርቲዎች ጊዜያዊ አስተባባሪ ኮሚቴ ዋና ፀሐፊ

 

አቶ ግርማ፡- የፔቲሽን ፊርማው ወደ ትብብር ሠነድ ከተሸጋገረ በኃላ በርካታ ተግባራት እየተከናወኑ ይገኛሉ፡፡ የቀጣይ 6 ወራት ተግባር እቅድ ተዘጋጅቷል፡፡ ትብብሩን ለሚቀጥለው 6 ወራት የሚመራ ቋሚ አስተባባሪ ኮሚቴ ለማስመረጥ በዝግጅት ላይ እንገኛለን፡፡ እስከ አሁን ድረስ ስንቀሳቀስ ሁሉም ነገር አልጋ በአልጋ አልነበረም፡፡ ከውስጥም ከውጪም የሚያጋጥሙ ችግሮችን በመቋቋም እዚህ ደርሰናል፡፡ አሁን የደረስንበት ሁኔታ ተስፋ ሰጪ ነው፡፡

ፍኖተ ነፃነት፡- ትብብሩ ስስ ነው፤ ትንሽ ቆይተው አለመግባብት ይፈጥራሉ፤ሁሉም አብረው አይዘልቁም የሚሉ ወገኖች አሉና እርስዎ ምን ይላሉ?

አቶ ግርማ፡- የማራቶን ውድድር አብረው የጀመሩ ሁሉ አይጨርሱም፡፡ እጅግ ውስብስብና ፈታኝ በሆነ ሠላማዊ ትግል አብሮ የጀመረ ሁሉ አብሮ ይጨርሰሳል ተብሎ አይጠበቅም፡፡ ትግሉ እየጠራና እየገፋ በሄደ ቁጥር እየተራገፈና እየተንጠባጠበ ሊቀር ይችላል፡፡ እስከ አሁን በይፋ ለቅቄአለሁ ብሎ በይፋ መግለጫ የሰጠ ፓርቲ ባይኖርም በተግባር ግን እስአሁን አምስት ድርጅቶች ግንኙነታቸውን አቋርጠዋል፡፡

 

 ነገ ሌላ ሊቀጥል ይችላል፡፡ 15 ወይም 20 ፓርቲ ነጥሮ ቢወጣ አያስገርምም ቁምነገሩ ቁጥሩ ላይ አይደለም ዋናው ቁም ነገር ፓርቲዎቹ ሕዝብና አገር የሚፈልገውን ተግባር እያከናወኑ ናቸው ወይ? የሚለው ነው፡፡ ከህዝብ የሚጠበቀው አመራሩን በቅርብ መከታተለና መቆጣጠር ነው፡፡ ድክመቶችንና ችግሮቹን ብቻ እየነቀሱ በማውጣት መተቸት ሳይሆን እኔንም ያገባኛል ብሎ ከትግሉ መቀላቀል ያስፈልጋል፡፡

ፍኖተ ነፃነት፡- ህዝብ ዘንድ እንዴት እንደርሳለን? ህዝቡንስ እንዴት ወደ ትግሉ እናስገባለን ብላችሁ ታስባላችሁ?

 

አቶ ግርማ፡- ኢህአዴግ ተቃዋሚዎች ከህዝብ እንዳይገናኙ የማያደርገው ጥረት የለም፡፡ ህገመንግስቱን ጥሶ የመሰብሰብ፣ የመደራጀት ፣ሠላማዊ ሠልፍ ማድረግ እየከለከለ ነው፡፡ እኛ ግን መብታችንን ተጠቅመን ትግላችንን እንቀጥላለን፡፡ ዛሬ ሙሉ ለሙሉ በሚባልበት ሁኔታ የሚዲያ አፈና ተደርጓል፡፡ ይሁን እንጂ ያሉትን ሚዲያዎች ሁሉ እንጠቀማለን፡፡ የኤሌክትሮኒክ ሚዲያዎችን ድህረ ገጾችን በመጠቀም ዓላማችንን እናስተዋውቃለን፡፡ የየፓርቲዎችን መዋቅር እንጠቀምበታን፡፡ የሲቪክስ ማህበራትን መዋቅርም እንዲሁም የመንግስት ሚዲያዎችን እንጠቀማለን ፡፡ በተገኘው ቀዳዳ ሁሉ እንጠቀማለን፡፡

ፍኖተ ነፃነት፡- የወቅቱን የአገሪቱን ተጨባጭ የፖለቲካ ሁኔታ እንዴት ይገልጹታል?

አቶ ግርማ፡- እንደ 33ቱ ፓርቲዎች በጋራ ገምግመን የደረስንበት ድምዳሜ የለም፡፡

 ጥያቄህን እንደ ግል የማምንበትን ልመልስልህ፡፡ አገራችን ከፍተኛ ችግር ውስጥ የወደቀችበት ጊዜው ነው፡፡ አገራችን ዛሬ በማንኪያ የተያዘች፤ ከሥሯ ድንጋይ የሚጠብቃት እንቁላል ሆናለች፡፡ አገራችን በዚያ ድንጋይ ላይ ወድቃ እንዳትከሰከስ ሁላችንም እጃችንን ዘርግተን እንቁላሏን ለማዳን መጠባበቅ አለብን፡፡ የኢህአዴግ እብሪትና ትዕቢት አገርንና ህዝብን የሚያጠፋ ነው፡፡ የሀገራችን ሁኔታ አሁን ካለበት ወደ ባሰ ደረጃ እየተጓዘ ነው፡፡ ህዝብን እያገለለ ሚዲያን እያፈነ የተለየ ሐሳብ ያለውን ሰው እያጠፋ መጓዝ ይፈልጋል፡፡ ይህ ጉዞ እጅግ አደገኛ ነው፡፡ ህዝቡ ተረድቶታል፡፡ እባካችሁ ተባበሩና ምሩን ሲል ቆይቷል፡፡ እኛም ተባብረናል፡፡ ከእንግዲህ በቁርጠኝነት አገር የማዳን ሥራ መሥራት ይጠበቅብናል፡፡

ፍኖተ ነፃነት፡- አንዳንድ ወገኖች መንግስት በሃይማኖት ውስጥ ጣልቃ እየገባ ነው፣ የተወሰነን ብሔር ለማጥቃት የተነጣጠረ ዘመቻ ጀምሯል ይላሉ፡፡ እርስዎ ምን ይላሉ?

አቶ ግርማ፡- ከጅምሩ የዚህን መንግስት አነሳስ ስንመለከት ገና በረሃ እያለ ዋና ጠላቶች ናቸው ብሎ የፈረጃቸው አሉ፡፡

ከብሔረሰብ አማራን ከሃይማት ኦርቶዶክስን በጠላትነት ፈርጇል፡፡ የብሔር ብሔረሰቦችን ጥያቄ ለመመለስ እነዚህን ሁለቱን ማጥፋት ያስፈልጋል ብሎ አቀደ፡፡ ሁለቱም የአገርና የህዝብ ጠላቶች ናቸ በማለት እንደዓላማ ወይንም እንደ አቅጣጫ አስቀመጠ፡፡ ከተለያየ ቦታ የተገኘ መረጃ የሚያለክተውም ይህንኑ ነው፡፡

ገና ትግራይ ውስጥ በነበሩበት ወቅት ከየቤተክርስቲያኑ ካህናትን በማባረር ቤተክርስቲያኖችን በካድሬ ቄሶች እንዲመሩና እንዲተዳደር አድርጓል፡፡ የመንግስት ሥልጣን ከያዙበት ቀን ጀምሮ በአማራውና በኦርቶዶክስ ቤተክርስቲያን ላይ ሲፈፀም የነበረውን ሁሉ የምናውቀው ነው፡፡ ይህን መናገር ለቀባሪው ማርዳት ይሆናል፡፡

ሰሞኑን በአማራው ህዝብ ላይ እየተፈፀመ ያለውንም ይታወቃል፡፡ በቅርቡ ደግሞ የሃይማኖት ት/ቤታችንን ራሳችንን እናስተዳድር የሃይማኖት መሪዎቻችን እኛን አይወክሉም፤ መጅሊሳችንን ራሳችን እንሰይም፤ አህባሽ የተባለ ባዕድ አስተምሮ ከውጭ አምጥታችሁ አትጫኑብን፤ ብለው በሠላማዊ መንገድ የጠየቁ የተከበሩ የሙስሊሙ የሃይማት አባቶች ላይ እየተፈፀመ ያለውን ድርጊት እየተመለከትን ነው፡፡ የሙስሊሙ ህብረተሰብ ለሠላማዊ ትግል አስተማሪ በሆነና በሠለጠነ መንገድ ተቃውሞአቸውን ሲያሰሙ ቆይተዋል፡፡

መማር ለሚችል ከሙስሊሙ ህብረተሰብ ትግስትና ሠላማዊ ተቃውሞን ተምሯል፡፡ የወያኔ/ኢህአዴግ መንግስት ህዝብን በሃይማኖት ከፋፍሎ ለማፋጀትና ዕድሜውን ለማራዘም ያደረገው ጥረት ከሽፎበታል፡፡

የሙስሊሙ ማህበረሰብ አባላት የጠየቁት ጥያቄ መንግስት በሃይማኖታቸው ጣልቃ እንዳይገባባቸው ነው፡፡ ስለዚህ መፍትሔው ከእንግዲህ ሙስሊሙ ክርስቲያኑ መላው የአገሪቱ ህዝብ እጅ ለእጅ ተያይዞ ይህን ሥርዓ ለመቀየር በቁርጠኝነት በጋራ መታገል ነው፡፡

የሌንጮ ለታ አዲሱ ትግል – እንዴት?

“ከእንግዲህ የቀድሞው መንገድ አይሰራም”

Source: www.borkena.com

ላለፉት አርባ ዓመታት ለኦሮሞ ህዝብ ነጻነት ሲታገል የቆየው ኦነግ አመራሮቹ ሲጣሉና ሲታረቁ መስማት የተለመደ ነው። የግለሰብ ጸብ የሚመስለው የድርጅት በሽታ ሲንጠው የቆየው ኦነግ በውል ባይታወቅም ተሰነጣጥቆ ለሰሚው ግራ የሚያጋባ ድርጅት ከሆነም ዓመታት ተቆጥረዋል። ስህተትን ገምግሞ የትግል አቅጣጫና ፕሮግራም ከመቀየር ይልቅ ጊዜው ባለፈበት አስተሳሰብ ባለበት ሲረግጥ እድሜውን የፈጀ ድርጅት እንደሆነ ተደርጎም ይወሰዳል።
ስለ ኦነግ ሲነሳ አብዛኞች በመገረም የሚናገሩትና ሚዛን የሚደፋው አስተያየት የሚሰነዘረው በድርጅቱ መከፋፈልና መበጣጠስ ሳይሆን ተለያይተውም አስመራን የሙጥኝ ያሉበት ምክንያት ነው። ኢህአዴግ ህጻን እያለ ሻዕቢያ እንዳሻው ይነዳው እንደነበር የሚያስታውሱ አስተያየት ሰጪዎች ከሽግግር መንግስት ምስረታ በኋላ ኦነግ አገር ለቆ እንዲወጣ መንገዱን የጠረገው ሻዕቢያ መሆኑንን በቁጭት ይናገራሉ።

ኢህአዴግ ለስልጣን አዲስ በሆነበት የጨቅላነት ዘመኑ፣ ኦነግ በታሪኩ ያልነበረውን ሰራዊት በመገንባት አስጨንቆት እንደነበር በመጠቆም በወቅቱ አስተያየት የሰጡ ኢህአዴግ በተለይም መለስ በሻዕቢያ በኩል ኦነግን ለመታረቅ አቅርበውት የነበረውን የሽምግልና ጥያቄ ኦነግ እንዳይቀበል ሰሚ ባያገኙም በአጽዕኖት ምክራቸውን ሰጥተው ነበር።

በኦነግ ታጣቂ ሃይሎችና በኢህአዴግ ሰራዊት መካከል እኩል ሊባል በሚችል ደረጃ የጡንቻ መፈታተን ነበር። ደርግ ሲበታተን ኦነግን የተቀላቀሉ የቀድሞው የኢትዮጵያ ሰራዊት አካላት ወያኔን የማዳፋት አቅሙ ነበራቸው። በወቅቱ የንስር ያህል ጉልበትና ሃይል ቢኖራቸውም ራሳቸውን ጫጩት አድርገው ተመለከቱ። አዲስ አበባ ሲገቡ የነበራቸውን የህዝብ ድጋፍ አራግፈው ጣሉት። በስሜት እየተነዱ ከሚወዷቸው ሁሉ ተቀያየሙ። ህወሃት አጋጣሚውን ለቅስቀሳና ለስም ማቆሸሻ ሰራበት። በስተመጨረሻ ኦነግ ሃይሉንና አቅሙን ዘንግቶ በአመራር ችግርና በአቋም ሸውራራነት ሃይሉን በሙሉ ወደ ካምፕ በማስገባት የኢህአዴግን የእርቅ ጥያቄ ተቀበለ። ሰራዊቱን እየነዳ በፈቃደኛት አሳሰራቸው።

በሻዕቢያ አደራዳሪነት ሁርሶ፣ ደዴሳና መስኖ የገባው ሰራዊት “በደባ” ተከቦ ትጥቁን እንዲፈታ ተደረገ። አብጦ የነበረው የኦነግ ጡንቻ በቅጽበት ከሰመ፤ ሰለለ። ኦነግ ሲቆጣጠራቸው የነበሩትን ቦታዎች ለማስተዳደርና በኦህዴድ ለመተካት ኢህአዴግ እንደ እባብ ተሹለክልኮ ዓላማውን አሳካ። ሻዕቢያም በዚሁ ውለታው ኢትዮጵያንና ኢኮኖሚዋን ብሎም የኢትዮጵያን ስነልቦና እንዳሻው እንዲጋልብ ተፈቀደለት። ብዙ አሻጥር ተፈጠረ፤ ተፈጸመም። ደንዳና ቆዳ ያላት ኢትዮጵያና ህዝቧ ተቦጠቦጡ። ተዘረፉ። አንድ እግር የቡና ተክል የሌላት ኤርትራ ቡና ላኪ ከሚባሉት ቀዳሚ አገራት ዝርዝር ውስጥ ተሰለፈች። አፈርን።

“አገሬን ከወራሪ አጸዳሁ” በማለት ከበሮ እየመታ ጦርነት አልቋል ብለው እጅ የሰጡ የወገን ወታደሮችን የረሸነው ሻዕቢያ ኢትዮጵያንም ያስተዳድር ጀመር። ዛሬ የሚማልባቸውና “ውርሳቸውን ሳናዛባ እናስጠብቃለን” የሚባልላቸው አቶ መለስ እንደ ባዕድ መሪ የኢትዮጵያን ክብርና ጥቅም ለሻዕቢያ አሳልፈው ሰጡ። የሻዕቢያ ታጣቂዎችና ኢትዮጵያ አብልታ ያሳደገቻቸው ጎረቤቶቻችን ሳይቀሩ ናጠጡብን። በየደጃቸው መሳሪያ ወደላይ እየተኮሱ በደስታ ውለታ ባስቀመጠችላቸው አገር ላይ ተሳለቁ። ምስኪኖችን ቤት እያስለቀቁ ወረሱ። የሌላቸውን ሃብትና ንብረት ሰበሰቡ። በኤርትራ ምድር በግፍ ለተረሸኑ የኢትዮጵያ ልጆች ተከራካሪ ጠፋና የሞት ሞት ሞቱ። አገራችን የግፈኞች መፈንጫ እንድትሆን መለስ በበረገዱት በር የገባው ሻዕቢያ ከርሱ ሲጎድል፣ “ልክህን እወቅ” የሚሉ ሲነሱ፣ ስርዓት ያዝ ሲባል ደሙ ተንተከተከና የሃይደር ህጻናትን በጠራራ ጸሃይ በላቸው። ትግራይን ወረረ። ሲሰርቁ ኅብረት የነበራቸው ሲከፋፈሉ ተጣሉና አገር ውርደት ገባው።

ይህንኑ ተከትሎ አገር አልበቃ ብሏቸው የነበሩና ወያኔን ሲያገለግሉ የነበሩ ቅጥረኞች የሰበሰቡትን ሳይበሉ ወደ “ከባርነት ናፅነት” ብለው ድምጻቸውን ወደሰጡላት “እናት አገራቸው ኤርትራ” ተጋዙ። ንብረታቸውን በትነው አገር ለቀው ወጡ። ከነጻነት በኋላ “ታይላንድ ትሆናለች፣ ሲንጋፖር ትሆናለች፤ ሆንግኮንግ ትሆናለች” በተባለላት አገራቸው ለመኖር ተገደዱ። ዳቦ ተሰልፈው ለመግዛት ታደሉ። ኬክ በለመደው፣ ቁርጥ በቆርጠው፣ “ሹካ ባስለመደው” እጃቸው ይድሁበት ገቡ። ወታደር ሆኑ። የሰገዱለትና ቅጥረኛ ሆነው ያገለገሉት ህወሃት መልሶ በረሃ በተናቸው። የሚያሳዝነው ግን ኤርትራዊያን ከየመንደሩ ተለቅመው ወደ አገራቸው ሲሄዱ የአዲስ አበባ ነዋሪዎች አውቶቡስ ከብበው ደረት እየመቱ ያለቅሱላቸው ነበር። ደብቀው ያስቀሩዋቸውም አሉ። ጨርቃቸውን ጥለው አውቶቡስ እንዳይነሳ በፍቅር አምላክ የተንፈራፈሩ ነበሩ። ሁኔታውን የሚያስታውሱ ድርጊቱን “የሞኝ” ተግባር አድርገው ሲወሰዱት ሌሎች ደግሞ “ክፉ ላደረገብህ ክፉ አትመልስ” የሚለው ግብረገብነት የገባቸው የፈጸሙት የጀግንነት ተግባር ነው በማለት የአዲስአበባ ነዋሪዎችን የመንፈስ ልዕልና ያደንቃሉ፡፡

ይህ ከመሆኑ በፊት ጀምሮ ኦነግ ሻዕቢያን ሲለማመነውና እግሩን ሲልሰው የኖረ ድርጅት ዛሬ ድረስ ተበጣጥሶም እዛው አስመራ አምልኮ ደጅ ይገኛል። ከአመት ዓመት ያለ ለውጥ እዛው ይንፏቀቃል። እንደሚሰማው ከሆነ ወታደሮቹ የሻዕቢያ አግልጋዮች ሆነዋል። አመራሮቹም ቢሆኑ አስመራን ለቀው የመውጣትና እንዳሻቸው የመንቀሳቀስ መብት የላቸውም። በዚህም ይሁን በሌላ መነሻ ኤርትራ በከተሙት የተለያዩ የኦነግ ሃይሎች ላይ ከያቅጣጫው ስሞታ መቅረብ ከጀመረ ሰንብቷል። ኤርትራን ለቀው መውጣት አለባቸው የሚለው የኦሮሞ ልጆች ድምጽም በርክቷል። ጥያቄው አያሌ ፖለቲካዊ ማብራሪያ የሚጠይቅና አማራጭ መፍትሄ የሚያሻው ቢሆንም ኤርትራ ውስጥ አሉ በሚባሉ ታጣቂ ተቃዋሚዎች ያልተማረሩና ያልተሰላቹ ቢኖሩ አፍቃሪ ሻዕቢያዎች ወይም ራሳቸው የሻዕቢያ ሰዎች ወይም በማወቅም ሆነ ባለማወቅ የሻዕቢያን ዓላማ የሚያስፈጽሙ ብቻ ናቸው።

እንግዲህ በዚህ መሃል ነው አስመራን ተሳልመው ከነበሩት የኦነግ አመራሮች መካከል አቶ ሌንጮ ለታ፣ አቶ ዲማ ነገዎና ሌሎች ሰሞኑን አዲስ ዜና ይዘው ብቅ ያሉት። አዲስ ፓርቲ በማቋቋም ድፍረት የተሞላው አቋም በማራመድ “አዲሲቷን ኢትዮጵያ በጋራ ለመመስረት ተነስተናል። የቀድሞው የትግል ስልት አያዋጣም” ያሉት። ሃሳቡ መልካም ቢሆንም እንዴት? የሚለው ጥያቄ የበርካቶች ነው። ምክንያቱም በግልጽ “የቀጣዩ ትግል ሜዳ አገር ቤት ነው፤ አገር ቤት ገብተን እንታገላለን” ተብሏልና!
“የኦሮሞ ዴሞክራሲያዊ ግንባር” ODF የሚባል አዲስ ግንባር መቋቋሙ ከአሜሪካ የሚኖሶታ ጠቅላይግዛት ከተሰማበት ጊዜ ጀምሮ በርካታ አስተያየቶችና ጥያቄዎች እየተወረወሩ ሲሆን ከሚመለከታቸው አካላት ጥርት ያለ መልስ አልተሰጠም። ግንባሩ መመስረቱ ይፋ ከሆነ በኋላ መጋቢት 22፤2005ዓም (ማርች 31/2013) በዚያው ጠቅላይግዛት በሚኒያፖሊስ ከተማ በተካሄደ ስብሰባ አንዳንድ ጉዳዮች ይፋ ሆነዋል።

ከብሪታንያ፣ ስዊትዘርላንድ፣ ከካናዳ፣ ከአውስትራሊያ፣ ከጀርመንና ከተለያዩ አገራት የተሰባሰቡ ቁጥራቸው 400 የሚጠጋ ተሰብሳቢዎች ባካሄዱት ውይይት አስፈላጊ የተባሉ ጥያቄዎች ተሰንዝረዋል። ኢትዮጵያን “ኢምፔሪያሊዝም፣ ቅኝ ገዢና ጠላት” አድርገው በመሳል ጥያቄ የሰነዘሩትን ጨምሮ ስለ ቀጣዩ ትግል ትግበራና ሰለ ኦሮሞ ህዝብ ነጻነት መከበር በስፋት ለተነሱ ጥያቄዎች አቶ ሌንጮ ለታ አስገራሚ መልስ ሰንዝረዋል።

“ያለፈውን በመውቀስ የትም አንደርስም። አሁን ማየትና ማሰብ ያለብን ወደፊት ነው። ሌሎች ወገኖችን አግልለን ብንታገል የትም አንደርስም። ያለፈው የትግል መንገድ ስህተት ነበር” ብለዋል። ስለ ኦሮሞ ህዝብ ነጻነት መከበር ሲናገሩ “የሁሉም ኢትዮጵያዊ መብት ካልተከበረ የኦሮሞ መብት ብቻውን ሊከበር አይችልም” በማለት መመለሳቸውን ለማወቅ ተችሏል።
“ጊዜው ተለውጧል። ጊዜው አዲስ ነው። አዲስ ምዕራፍ ላይ ነን። አዲሱ ምዕራፍ ለኦሮሞ ብቻ ሳይሆን ለሁሉም ኢትዮጵያዊ ነው” በማለት የተናገሩት አቶ ሌንጮ፣ “አገር ቤት እንዴት ገብቶ መታገል ይቻላል?” በሚል ለተነሳው ጥያቄ የሰጡት መልስ አዲሱን ድርጅታቸውንና እርሳቸውን የሚፈትን እንደሆነ ያመላከተ ነው።

ቀጣዩ ትግል ኤርትራ ላይ እንደማይሆን በግልጽ የተናገሩት አቶ ሌንጮ፣ አገር ውስጥ በመግባት ለማደራጀት፣ ለመታገል፣ ለመንቀሳቀስ ይቻል ዘንድ “መንገድ እንፈልጋለን” ብለዋል። ኢህአዴግ በተደጋጋሚ እንደሚለው ለድርድር የሚቀመጡ ወገኖች መጀመሪያ ህገመንግስቱን መቀበልና ህግመንግስቱን አክብሮ ለመስራት መማል አለባቸው። ይህ ወደፊት የሚታይ ቢሆንም አገር ቤት ለመግባትና ለመታገል እነ አቶ ሌንጮ ቢስማሙ እንኳን ሌላ መሰረታዊ ችግር እንዳለ ከወዲሁ እየተጠቆመ ነው።
በኦሮሞነታቸው በሚያነሱት ጥያቄ እስር ቤት የታጎሩ የኦሮሞ ልጆች ቁጥራቸው ከፍተኛ ነው – በአስር ሺዎች እንደሚቆጠር ይገመታል። በየቦታው ባሉ እስር ቤቶች ዋናው የመግባቢያ ቋንቋ ኦሮሚኛ እስከመሆን የደረሰበት ሁኔታ ነው የሚታየው። ይህ እውነታ ባለበት አቶ ሌንጮ የሚመሩት አዲሱ ድርጅት እንዴት አድርጎ ይታገላል? ወይም ደግሞ አባላቶቹ እስርና እንግልት እንዳያጋጣማቸው ምን ዓይነት ማረጋገጫና መተማማኛ ማግኘት ይቻላል?

“መልሱ ግልጽ ነው” በሚል ይመስላል “የፈለገው ቢመጣ፣ አስፈላጊው ህግን የጠበቀ ትግል ይካሄዳል። አገሪቱ ላይ ያለውን ህዝብ አስሮ ይችል እንደሆነ የሚታይ ይሆናል” የሚል እንደምታ ያለው ምላሽ ነው እየተሰነዘረ ነው ያለው። በሌላ በኩል አገር ቤት ገብቶ መታገል ብቸኛ አማራጭ ተደርጎ ሲወሰድ አዲሱ ጉዳይ የቀድሞው ሌሎችን ሲያገልና “ልዕልናና ነጻነት ለኦሮሞ ብቻ” በሚል የፖለቲካ ሾፌር ሲደወር የነበረው የትግል ስልት መቀየሩ ነው። በዚህም የተነሳ ይመስላል “ከማናቸውም በኢትዮጵያ ለዴሞክራሲ መረጋገጥና ለህዝብ እኩልነት ከሚሰሩ ድርጅቶችና ፓርቲዎች ጋር አብረን እንሰራለን። የቀድሞው መንገድ አይዋጣም” የሚል ምላሽ የሰጡት።

በኢትዮጵያ ፖለቲካ “እኔን ተከተል፣ ስትቃወም ከኔ ቀመር አትዛነፍ” የሚለውን አመለካከት ጨምሮ በድፍን የአንድ እንቅስቃሴ እርግጠኛ መነሻ ሳይታወቅ አስቀድሞ “የማብከትና የማበስበስ” ስራ መስራት የተለመደ በመሆኑ ከሁሉም ወገን እርጋታ እንደሚጠበቅ፣ ረጋ ብሎ መመርመር እንደሚያስፈልግ ከወዲሁ እየተነገረ ነው።

ላለፉት 20 ዓመታት ኢህአዴግ በብሄር እየለየ በፈጠረው ገደል እየተወረወሩ የሚገቡ ፖለቲከኞች በሰሩት ጥፋት ህዝብ ለከፍተኛ የአእምሮ ጉዳት ተዳርጓል። ኢህአዴግ የ50 ዓመት የቤት ስራ እንደሰጠ አድርጎ የሚያስበውም እነዚሁ የፖለቲካ መሪዎች የህወሃትን የሳሳ ፖለቲካ መረዳት ባለመቻላቸውና ከዋናው ጠላታቸው ይልቅ እርስ በርስ ለመቧቀስ የፈጠኑ መሆናቸውን በቀላሉ ስለሚያሳዩት ነው።

ከ40 ዓመታት የስህተት ጉዞ በኋላ አገር ቤት በመግባት “ሁሉም ነጻ ካልወጡ ኦሮሞ ብቻውን ነጻ አይወጣም” በሚል የትግል መርህ መነሳት በራሱ አስደሳች እንደሆነ አቶ ኦባንግ ሜቶ ለጎልጉል በስልክ ባደረጉት አጭር ቃለምልልስ ተናግረዋል።
“ድንበርና ክልልን ሳይሆን የምንጋራው አብሮነትን ነው” ያሉት የአዲሲቷ ኢትዮጵያ የጋራ ንቅናቄ ዋና ዳይሬክተር “በዲኤንኤ ምርመራ ጎሳ አይታወቅም። ተመሳሳይ ዲኤንኤ ያላቸው ጎሳዎችም የሉም። ሁሉም ነጻ ካልወጡ ማንም ነጻ እንደማይወጣ መስማት ታላቅ ብስራት ነው” በማለት ከዓመታት ትግልና ውትወታ በኋላ ድርጅታቸው ሲታገልለትና ሲሟገትለት የቆየው ዓላማ የሌሎችም መርህ ሆኖ በማየታቸውና በመስማታቸው መደሰታቸውን ተናግረዋል።

ከኢትዮጵያ ሕዝብ አብላጫውን ቁጥር የሚይዘው የኦሮሞ ህዝብ ለዚህ ዓይነቱ መርህ ለዘመናት የቆየው ሥርዓቱም ሆነ አኗኗሩ ቅርብ እንደሆነ አቶ ኦባንግ አመልክተዋል፡፡ ድርጅታቸው ከተመሰረተበት ጊዜ ጀምሮ “ከጎሣ ይልቅ ለሰብዓዊነት ቅድሚያ እንስጥ” በሚል የከበረ መመሪያ ላይ ሲሰራ መቆየቱን የገለጹት አቶ ኦባንግ ከዚህ መመሪያ በተጨማሪ “ሁላችንም ነጻ ካልወጣን ማንም ብቻውን ነጻ ሊሆን አይችልም” በሚለው የትግል መርህ በርካታ ስኬቶች መመዝገባቸውን ጠቁመዋል፡፡ ይህንን መፈክር አሁን ደግሞ ኦሮሞ ወገኖቻችን ሲያነሱ መስማት ለድርጅታቸው ታላቅ ድል እንደሆነ ተናግረዋል፡፡

ስብሰባው ላይ ማንም ሳይጠራቸው በራሳቸው አነሳሽነት እንደሄዱ ያስታወቁት አቶ ኦባንግ “የኦሮሞ ተወላጆች ስብሰባ ሲቀመጡ የሚነጋገሩት ስለ ኢትዮጵያ ነው። ኢትዮጵያዊ ነኝና ውይይቱ ይመለከተኛል። ስለዚህ ተገኘሁ። በደስታ ተቀበሉኝ። በስብሰባው ውስጥ በሰማሁት አዲስ ሃሳብ ተደሰትኩ” ብለዋል።

ላለፉት 20 ዓመታት አንዱ ስለ ሌላው ሲያወራ መኖሩን ያመለከቱት አቶ ኦባንግ ሜቶ አሁን አንድ ላይ በመሆን ለመመካከርና “ለአዲሲቷ ኢትዮጵያ” ግንባታ በጋራ ለመታገል መወሰን ከልምድ የተገኘ የፖለቲካ ተሃድሶ መሆኑን አስታውቀዋል። አያይዘውም ድሮም ቢሆን ፖለቲከኞች እንጂ ህዝብ አእምሮ ውስጥ ያልነበረ አስተሳሰብ በማቀንቀን ለህወሃት ፖለቲካ ማዳበሪያ የማቅረብ ስራ ሲሰራ እንደነበር አመልክተዋል።

አቶ ሌንጮ ለታ እንጀምረዋለን ያሉት አዲሱ መንገድ ሁሉንም ህዝብና የፖለቲካ ድርጅቶች ማዕከል በማድረግ ለመስራት ወስኖ የተነሳ እንደሆነ ሲያስታውቁ ያሰመሩበት ጉዳይ ቢኖር “ያለፈውን አናስብም። አሁን አዲስ ምዕራፍ ላይ ነን። አዲሱ ምዕራፍ ሁሉም የኢትዮጵያ ልጆች ተያይዘው የሚፈጥሯትን አዲስ አገር ማየት ነው፡፡” እርሳቸው እንዳሉት 40 ዓመት ባክኗል። አሁንም መንቃት አግባብ ነው። ነገር ግን ድጋፉም ሆነ ተቃውሞው በተራ የድጋፍና ተቃውሞ ስሜት ሳይሆን ረጋ ብሎ በመመርመር እንደሆነ የሚመክሩ ጥቂቶች አይደሉም።

Obang’s Address to Norwegian Politicians, Policy-Makers and Refugee Advocates Related to Ambiguous Status of Ethiopians in Norway.

March 25, 2011 I want to thank the Norwegian Organization for Asylum Seekers (NOAS) for inviting me to speak here today on the subject of " Human Rights and the Political Climate in Ethiopia. "It is a topic of significant importance to the 160 or more Ethiopian refugees now living in Norway whose fate will soon be decided as to whether or not they will be deported back to Ethiopia after living many years in Norway without clear resident status. I thank you for your dedicated work in helping these Ethiopians who are hoping to be granted permanent asylum status and protection in Norway.   From the Left Mr. Knut Holm, Mr. Gunther Schroder and Mr. Obang Metho I must also thank the wonderful people of Norway for what you have done for the refugee; not only for Ethiopians, but for the diverse people of our world. Your warmth, generosity and gracious hospitality in your country are some of the reasons that many oppressed people have sought sanctuary here despite the fact that Norway is a small country, with a small population. In fact, in relation to many other countries in the free world, you are among the top leaders in the portion of your GNP that you contribute to aid refugees and other suffering and vulnerable people. You have advanced the cause of peace and recognized peacemakers through awarding the Nobel Peace Prize to people like Martin Luther King, Jr and Nelson Mandela, who have given their lives or sacrificed greatly for the freedom and rights of others. You have earned an international reputation that has actually encouraged refugees to choose to come to Norway; also partially creating today’s dilemma. Before I proceed further, please allow me to introduce myself and the organization which I represent. My name is Obang Metho and I am the executive director of the Solidarity Movement for a New Ethiopia (SMNE), a social justice organization of diverse Ethiopians, committed to bringing truth, justice, freedom, the rule of law, equality, civility, accountability and respect for human rights to the people of Ethiopia and beyond. The SMNE has chapters throughout the world; including in Norway. We in the SMNE believe that the future well being of the people of Ethiopia, the Horn of Africa, Africa and our global society rests in the hands of those among us, like yourselves, who can put "humanity before ethnicity, " or any other distinctions that divide, devalue and dehumanize other human beings; while still appreciating the beauty of our diversity. This is a guiding principle of the SMNE as we attempt to bring about greater unity in Ethiopia through affirming the God-given value and dignity of each human being.  Additionally, we believe that no one group in Ethiopia can find sustainable freedom as long as some among us are excluded, injured or aggrieved. In Africa, too often one tribe justifies the brutal domination of others as they claim, “It’s our turn to eat!” Ethiopians must fundamentally change their ideology for "no one will be free until all are free. "   We must care about the well being of each other; discarding a tribal-based system that simply replaces one dictator with another, who then proceeds to oppress, exploit and marginalize all but his own favored groups. The desire for freedom is universal and God given. As long as there are dictators, free countries like Norway will feel the impact. Norwegian Politicians from four main political parties Now, as Norwegians wrestle with new ways to deal with the influx of new asylum seekers and those living among you without approved status, I am here today to ask that you give special consideration to the case of these Ethiopians, who are relatively few in number. These people have been contributing members of Norwegian society for many years; some living here for up to sixteen years. Although the immigration authorities have never granted them permanent resident status; they have been living under a confused status of "semi-approval. "   They have been given legal working documents, held responsible jobs, raised families, purchased homes and paid taxes. This is reason enough to consider their cases as different from new refugees; however, the most powerful reason for providing permanent sanctuary for these Ethiopians rests on the potential danger to them should they be deported.     If their requests are denied and these people are deported, be assured that they will face serious potential risks from the current authoritarian regime under the leadership of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi and his one-party minority government run by the Tigray People’s Liberation Front ‘(TPLF). Additionally, had there been greater exposure of the emerging repressive nature of this regime at the time these refugees arrived, I strongly believe most would have been given permanent status. Many Ethiopians, like these in Norway, sought exile during the earlier and mid-years of this regime; a time period when students, journalists, intellectuals and the most vocal opponents were beaten, detained, tortured, imprisoned or killed in silence. At the same time as Ethiopians began to call Meles by the nickname, “silent killer,” those in the free world called Meles "a new breed of African leader" as he deceptively spoke the rhetoric of democracy; even becoming a strategic partner in the war on terror.  Meles’ strongman tactics were overlooked in this “perpetually emerging democracy” and the true nature of this regime was underexposed to the outside world. For this reason, the case for permanent asylum for these Ethiopian refugees when they first arrived may have been minimized, unknown, officially undocumented or not accepted. No longer is there a lack of convincing evidence as investigations, reports and testimony give compelling evidence of one of the most repressive regimes in all of Africa. The Ethiopian people have had ENOUGH of this regime and it is only a matter of time before the people rise up and demand regime change like is happening across North Africa and the Middle East. Until that happens, these people are not safe to return. That lack of freedom in Ethiopia has now reached across continental and national borders and is impacting Norwegian society. None of us would be here today, seeking asylum for these Ethiopians, if freedom existed for them within Ethiopia. Who would choose the hard life of a refugee? The refugee issue before us today is a symptom of a much larger problem. Ethiopia has become a prison from which everyone wants to escape. There are more Ethiopians leaving Ethiopia today than ever before and they are encountering problems along the way. Last May I traveled to Japan to help in the release of Ethiopian refugees in detention there; some for over two years. I just returned from Chiapas, Mexico where Ethiopians were in detention beyond the 90 day international limit. They were released and now all are seeking asylum status within the United States. Ethiopian refugees who were stuck in Libya, have now made it to Tunisia where I have been in contact with them as well as with authorities regarding gaining refugee status in Tunisia rather than returning to Ethiopia. Young Ethiopian women seek jobs in the Middle East and are finding themselves in difficult and sometimes abusive situations. Ethiopian refugees are walking through the bush to Southern Sudan, languishing in refugee camps in Kenya, dying in the Red Sea as they try to get to Yemen, being shot in the deserts of Egypt as they try to reach Israel, losing their lives in flooded rivers of South America as they trek thousands of miles to the U.S. or are being killed by Meles’ security agents for peacefully protesting in front of the Israeli Embassy in Addis Ababa as these Ethiopian Jews attempt to gain entrance into Israel. As you consider the desperation required to undertake the perils of these dangerous journeys, the real question to answer is why does everyone want to leave this country? I am coming to you today in response to hearing the cries for justice coming from all over Ethiopia; not from one ethnic group, one region, one political group or one religious group, but from Ethiopians of every background. As Africans say, the way to stop a stream from flooding your home is to go to the source and the source of these refugees is not just Ethiopia, a poor land that lacks opportunity. Instead, the greatest source of this overflow of human suffering comes from the iron-fisted grip of this regime. Most people would never want to abandon their homes, loved ones, communities and country for the hard life of a refugee. If peace, security and some opportunity existed in Ethiopia, most of these Ethiopians would not have to be deported, they would go back willingly; yet, until freedom, justice and respect for human rights come to Ethiopia, the continued flow of refugees out of the country will persist. Let me speak from personal experience. In 2003, I personally helped the former regional governor of the Gambella region of southwestern Ethiopia attain asylum after defecting from Ethiopia for his safety. I met with him in a refugee camp in southern Sudan and together we began looking for a safe haven for him. Guess who was the first to admit him? Norway! Now, he and his family permanently live here. The Norwegian Relief Agency was among the first to accurately report on the horrific tragedy carried out by the Meles regime in the remote region of Gambella that suddenly thrust me into the world of human rights advocacy. The darkest days of my life have led me to now stand before you today; seeking justice on behalf of my fellow Ethiopians. Those days began on December 13-15, 2003 when Ethiopian defense forces, accompanied by local militia groups they had incited and armed, brutally massacred 424 leaders from my own ethnic group—the Anuak. The perpetrators used a list of names of those Anuak who were most outspoken regarding providing local input, as per the Ethiopian Constitution, to the federal plan to drill for oil on Anuak indigenous land in the lowlands of the Upper Nile. As the Anuak were killed, the perpetrators chanted, "Today there will be no more Anuak, " and, "Today, there will be no more Anuak land. " As women were raped in front of their families, they would taunt, "Today there will be no more Anuak babies. " At the same time, the drilling for oil began; which eventually resulted in two dry wells. Following the massacre, human rights atrocities and destruction of the limited infrastructure of the region continued for the next two years; again specifically targeting this one ethnic group. Investigations by Genocide Watch, Human Rights Watch and others found evidence that the plans originated in the top offices of the country. This is a region of abundant natural resources—gold, minerals, fertile land, forests and water and right now, the land of the Anuak and other indigenous people of Gambella is being given away for almost nothing to foreign investors for up to 99 years; literally fulfilling the threat uttered during the massacre that there will be no more Anuak land. The Meles government has released its intentions to resettle two-thirds of the people of Gambella; calling it voluntary and a way to increase services to the people, but in reality those who oppose it are threatened, beaten and sometimes killed. This is happening in many other places throughout the country as well. As of today, no one has ever been held accountable for the massacre and other human rights crimes; however, the case has been accepted by the International Criminal Court, the African Union and has been referred to the High Commissioner for Human Rights for an investigation into the Ethiopian government’s perpetration of serial acts of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. This is the kind of government that exists today in Ethiopia. This is the kind of government to which these refugees would be deported back. This is not my first time in Norway. The first time was in July of 2004 when I came to advocate for the protection of the Anuak, after presenting the case before the United Nations in Geneva and New York and to government officials in Ottawa and Washington D.C. The Norwegian authorities welcomed me and I was able to meet with officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The second time I came to Norway was not only for the Anuak, but was for all Ethiopians as I realized that justice would never come to one group until it came to all. If Ethiopia is not livable for the Amhara, the Oromo, the Ogadeni, the Afar, for the Anuak or for any other group, it is not sustainably free, just or safe for any group. For me to speak for my fellow Ethiopians, it does not matter to me as to their ethnicity, age, religion, gender, educational level, skin color, viewpoint, disability or any other distinctions as what counts is their shared humanity and their desire to live as God made them live—with freedom. Sadly, such thinking and the unity it builds is a real threat to this minority regime’s apartheid rule; particularly the threat of bringing unity that crosses ethnic lines. Instead, ethnic identities are used to divide. The entire system is built on ethnic federalism; requiring Ethiopians to register their ethnicity on identification cards and dividing the country into regions by ethnicity. Divide and conquer strategies have incited hatred and violence between groups. At the same time, the Meles regime is not considered a legitimately elected government despite claiming a 99.6% victory after closing off all political space to opponents; even imprisoning opposition leaders, using humanitarian aid for political purposes and developing a spy system down to the village level to ensure loyalty to the regime. The anger is spiraling to all time highs against this ethnic-based political party that rewards and empowers party loyalists; particularly family members and cronies who now control every sector of society—all political space, government positions, the justice system, the parliament, the election board, civic institutions, business, the military, the media, communications, banking and finance as well as access to land, resources, education and most every opportunity within the country.   New laws regarding civil society are among the most restrictive in the world while anti-terrorism laws prohibit assembly of three or more persons in public. Internet access and mobile phone use is among the lowest in the world and the only radio and TV station in the country is government-operated. There are no private newspapers in the country and more journalists have gone into exile from Ethiopia than from any other country in the world. An atmosphere of fear reigns even in the rural areas as dissent is criminalized. Ethiopians remain among the poorest in the world with a recent Oxford study on multi-dimensional poverty determining that Ethiopia is the second poorest country in the world, with 90% of the people living in poverty. Despite the government’s claims to double-digit economic growth and development, it has only enriched a very few. Tensions are building; and with it, concerns that it is a time bomb ready to explode. The fate of these Ethiopians before us today requires careful consideration of all of these facts. They know what it would mean to be deported and have responded to learning about their imminent deportation by going on a hunger strike; to which the church intervened and is also among those working on their behalf. If they were from Eritrea, they would be allowed to gain asylum, but Ethiopia is hardly different from their neighbor. As we speak, the Ethiopian government is arbitrarily arresting any suspected of being activists who could promote a people’s uprising; especially targeting the Oromo in a new crackdown. If these people go to Ethiopia, there is a strong likelihood that they would also be subject to such intense scrutiny. These refugees, who have been living here for ten to sixteen years, are now undergoing great emotional and psychological distress. After being detained in January of this year, they have lost jobs, sunk into financial debt and have become depressed, anxious and some even troubled with thoughts of suicide. They are not in the same position as new refugees in that they have been independent; however, for the last three months, they have sitting doing nothing; forced to take government handouts while at the same time, seeing years of hard work disappear. If they are allowed to stay, they will have to start over in many ways; however, if they are deported, they lose everything and put their lives at risk. The psychological pressure on them is becoming extremely difficult for them to cope with as they worry about their children, their futures and their powerlessness over the situation. Continuing to hold them indefinitely in this temporary detention state is taking a toll on their mental health. I hope a solution will be found quickly and hopefully authorities will allow them permanent status in Norway now that the nature of this government has been clearly exposed over the last few years and months. from Left is: Ms. Tseday Anbeso, Mr Adane Asres, the President of the Ethiopian Asylum Seekers in Norway, the boy is Azariah Dawit, Ms. Tseday’s son . It appears that mistakes and oversights were made on both sides—on the part of these refugees who assumed they would be allowed to stay indefinitely and on the part of government officials who provided passive permission through other arms of the government until now; when this new law was passed that better clarified Norwegian immigration policies. The solution to the Ethiopian problem is not about deporting 200 Ethiopians; but the solution is about bringing about better governance in Ethiopia that responds to the needs of its people; making Ethiopia a place where its citizens want to remain and can flourish rather than a place of such oppression, misery and pain from which everyone wants to run away. To make Ethiopia a livable place and to bring lasting change will require investment in the people, the leadership and the institutions. The primary work must be done by Ethiopians, but it could be enhanced and hastened by the support of peace loving people like Norwegians. It is not only Norwegians who are starting to shut the doors on immigrants, but also other European and free countries who find it difficult to absorb the many oppressed people throughout the world.   With this in mind, we ask you to help us fix the root of the problem. Norwegians and other Europeans who believe that the freedom of our global neighbors enhances one’s own—that no one will be free until all are free—should support pro-democracy movements in Ethiopia like you have done in the former Soviet Union and in Eastern Europe. Norwegians, many who have relatives who immigrated to the United States in the 1800’s, have also done so much to relieve the pain and suffering of some of the most vulnerable people in our world today. Now, we invite you to work with us as we Ethiopians seek ways to make Ethiopia a real home to our own beautiful people. May God provide the way and may He also bless you for what you have done for Ethiopians and other oppressed people. Thank you!______________________________________________________________   , Executive Director of the SMNE, at: obang@solidaritymovement.org.You can click at the other  , .

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Land and Ethiopia’s Corruptocracy

ByProf , Alemayehu G. Mariam

The silence of Ethiopia’s “beautiful minds”

Professor A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, the renowned Indian scientist (“Missile Man of India”) and Eleventh President of India (2002-2007) said, “If a country is to be corruption free and become a nation of beautiful minds, I strongly feel there are three key societal members who can make a difference. They are the father, the mother and the teacher.”
                                                                                                                

Recently, the World Bank released its 448-page World Bank (WB) report, “Diagnosing Corruption in Ethiopia” with evidence galore showing that Ethiopia under the absolute dictatorship of the Meles Zenawi regime has become a full-fledged corruptocracy (a regime controlled and operated by a small clique of corrupt-to-the-core vampiric kleptocrats who cling to power to enrich themselves at public expense). Perhaps the report’s findings should not come as surprise to anyone since “power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely”.

Over the past several weeks, I have made a number of cursory remarks on the shocking findings of the WB report. I have also discreetly appealed to a segment of Ethiopia’s “beautiful minds” (its teachers, professors, economists, political and social scientists, lawyers, and other members of the learned professions) to critically examine the report and inform their compatriots on the devastating impact of corruption on the future of their poor country and make some recommendations on how to deal with it. I even challenged the political opposition to issue a “white paper” and make crystal clear their position on accountability and transparency and make some concrete proposals to remedy the endemic corruption that has metastasized in the Ethiopian body politic

I have yet to see any substantive analysis or commentary on the WB’s “diagnosis of corruption” in Ethiopia in the popular media or in the scholarly journals; nor have I seen any proposals on how to sever the vampiric tentacles of corruption sucking the lifeblood from the Ethiopian people. Could it be that Ethiopia’s “beautiful minds” can’t handle ugly truths? Or do Ethiopia’s “beautiful minds” turn faint-hearted when it comes to speaking ugly truths to power?

Few can tell the ugly truth about corruption in Ethiopia more bluntly than Global Financial Integrity (GFI), the renowned organization that reports on “illicit financial flows” (illegal capital flight, mispricing, bulk cash movements, hawala transactions, smuggling, etc.) out of developing countries. In 2011, GFI told the world, “The people of Ethiopia are being bled dry. No matter how hard they try to fight their way out of absolute destitution and poverty, they will be swimming upstream against the current of illicit capital leakage.”

When the late dictator Meles Zenawi was asked in July 2011 about his feelings concerning the use of the word “famine” synonymously with Ethiopia by the Oxford Dictionary, he said, “… Like any citizen, I am very sad. I am ashamed. It is degrading. A society that built the Lalibela churches… Axum obelisks… some thousand years ago is unable to cultivate the land and feed itself…. That is very sad. It is very shameful. Of all the things, to go out begging for one’s daily bread, to be a beggar nation is dehumanizing. Therefore, I feel great shame.” I too feel great shame that Ethiopia has become not only a “beggar nation” over the past 21 years, but also that she has now become synonymous with the word “corruption”. It is unbearable that the land of “13 months of sunshine” has become the land of 13 months of the darkness of corruption.


Speaking the ugly truth to power


Given the icy silence of Ethiopia’s “beautiful minds”, it is my humble duty and unenviable job to continue to speak the ugly truth about corruption to the powers that be in Ethiopia. For years, I have written numerous commentaries on corruption in Ethiopia as a serious human rights violation. I agree with Peter Eigen, founder and chairman of Transparency International (Corruption Index) that “corruption leads to a violation of human rights in at least three respects: corruption perpetuates discrimination, corruption prevents the full realisation of economic, social, and cultural rights, and corruption leads to the infringement of numerous civil and political rights.” I also believe corruption undermines good governance, cripples the rule of law and destroys citizens’ trust in political leaders, public officials and political institutions.

In 2007 when Ethiopia’s auditor general, Lema Aregaw, reported that Birr 600 million of state funds were missing from the regional government coffers, Meles fired Lema and publicly defended the regional administrations’ “right to burn money.” In my December 2008 commentary “The Bleeping Business of Corruption in Ethiopia,” I argued that “corruption in Ethiopia is an evil with a thousand faces. It is woven into the fabric of the political culture.” Corruption is the modus operandi of the regime in power in Ethiopia today. Former president Dr. Negasso Gidada clearly understood the gravity of the situation when he declared in 2001 that “corruption has riddled state enterprises to the core,” adding that the government would show “an iron fist against corruption and graft as the illicit practices had now become endemic”. In 2013, the business of corruption is the biggest business in Ethiopia.

In my November 2009 commentary, “Africorruption, Inc.”, I described the tip of the iceberg of the web of corruption in Ethiopia by synthesizing some of the eye popping anecdotal evidence. Dr. Negasso documented corruption in the misuse and abuse of political power for partisan electoral advantage. Coincidentally, in 2009, U.S. State Department spokesman Ian Kelley announced that the U.S. is investigating allegations that “$850 million in food and anti-poverty aid from the U.S. is being distributed on the basis of political favoritism by the current prime minister’s party.” (For reasons unknown, but not difficult to guess, the U.S. State Department has never released the findings of its investigation.)

The ruling regime’s “Federal Ethics and Anti-corruption Commission” (FEAC) in 2008 documented the fact that “USD$16 million dollars” worth of gold bars simply walked out of the country’s principal bank. FEAC described the heist as a “huge scandal that took place in the Country’s National Bank and took many Ethiopians by surprise… The corruptors dared to steal lots of pure gold bars that belonged to the Ethiopian people replacing them with gilded irons… Some employees of the Bank, business people, managers and other government employees were allegedly involved in this disastrous and disgracing scandal.”

FEAC also reported that “there was another big corruption case at the Ethiopian Telecommunications Corporation that took many Ethiopians by surprise” which involved the “competitive tendering for the supply of telecommunication equipment.” FEAC “found out that nearly 200 million USD has been lost to corruption through the entire fraudulent and corrupt process…. In another case involving a telecommunications deal with the Chinese, a high level regime official was secretly tape recorded trying to extort kickbacks for himself and other regime officials.” (Even though high level bank officials were fingered in the gold heist, there is no evidence that any one of them has ever been prosecuted.)

In my November 2011 commentary “To Catch Africa’s Biggest Thieves Hiding in America!”, I called attention to a Wikileaks cablegram which confirmed long held suspicions about massive corruption in the current ruling party in Ethiopia, the Tigrayan People’s Liberation Front (TPLF): “Upon taking power in 1991… [the TPLF] liquidated non-military assets to found a series of companies whose profits would be used as venture capital to rehabilitate the war-torn Tigray region’s economy…[with] roughly US $100 million… Throughout the 1990s…, no new EFFORT [Endowment Fund for the Rehabilitation of Tigray owned and operated by TPLF] ventures have been established despite significant profits, lending credibility to the popular perception that the ruling party and its members are drawing on endowment resources to fund their own interests or for personal gain.”

According to the World Bank, “roughly half of the Ethiopian national economy is accounted for by companies held by an EPRDF-affiliated business group called the Endowment Fund for the Rehabilitation of Tigray (EFFORT)… EFFORT’s freight transport, construction, pharmaceutical, and cement firms receive lucrative foreign aid contracts and highly favorable terms on loans from government banks.”

When 10,000 tons of coffee earmarked for exports had simply vanished (not unlike the gold bars that walked out of the National Bank) from the warehouses in 2011, Meles Zenawi called a meeting of commodities traders and threatened to “cut off their hands” if they should steal coffee in the future. In a videotaped statement, Meles told the traders he will forgive them this time because “we all have our hands in the disappearance of the coffee”.

In my December 2011 commentary “The Art of Bleeding a Country Dry”, I argued, “No one knows corruption — the economics of kleptocracy — better than [Meles] Zenawi. The facts of Zenawi’s corruptonomics are plain for all to see: The [Ethiopian] economy is in the stranglehold of businesses owned or dominated by Zenawi family members, cronies, supporters or hangers-on.”
“Diagnosing Corruption in (in the land of) Ethiopia”

Transparency International (Corruption Index) broadly defines corruption as “the abuse of entrusted power for private gain”. Corruption manifests itself in grand and petty ways. “Grand corruption consists of acts committed at a high level of government that distort policies or the central functioning of the state, enabling leaders to benefit at the expense of the public good.”

 Grand corruption often involves political corruption in which political decision makers manipulate “policies, institutions and rules of procedure in the allocation of resources and financing by political decision makers, who abuse their position to sustain their power, status and wealth.” Petty corruption often occurs when the law enforcement officials or bureaucratic functionaries exact payments from “ordinary citizens, who often are trying to access basic goods or services in places like hospitals, schools, police departments and other agencies”
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Corruption in Ethiopia is no longer a question of disparate anecdotal evidence or an issue of intellectual debate. Corruption has become the loathsome disease of the Ethiopian body politic. That is why the World Bank carefully titled its report, “Diagnosing Corruption in Ethiopia”. Diagnosis refers to the clinical process of identifying a disease. The 448-page World Bank report has diagnosed corruption as the metastasizing cancer of the Ethiopian body politic.

Corruption in land is the root of all corruption in Ethiopia! Grand corruption in land originates from the upper circles of power in the public and private sector.

 The powerful political and economic elites in Ethiopia exploit the anarchic, arbitrary, secretive, unaccountable and confused governance of the ruling regime to weave their tangled webs of corruption. The World Bank report states that “the land sector [in Ethiopia] is particularly susceptible to corruption and rent seeking [using social or political institutions to redistribute wealth among different groups without creating new wealth (profit seeking)].” Corruption in land in Ethiopia is inherent (as the old communist ideologues used to say, “part and parcel of”) in “the way policy and legislation are formulated and enforced.”

The World Bank report explains that corruption in the land sector in Ethiopia occurs in several ways. First and foremost, “elite and senior officials” snatch the most desirable lands in the country for themselves. These fat cats manipulate the “weak policy and legal framework and poor systems to implement existing policies and laws” to their advantage. They engage in “fraudulent actions to allocate land to themselves in both urban and rural areas and to housing associations and developers in urban areas.” These “influential and well-connected individuals are able to have land allocated to them often in violation of existing laws and regulations.”

In the capital Addis Ababa, it is “nearly impossible to a get a plot of land without bribing city administration officials.” These officials not only demand huge bribes but have also “conspired with land speculators” and facilitated bogus “housing cooperatives [to become] vehicles for a massive land grab. It is estimated that about 15,000 forged titles have been issued in Addis Ababa in the past five years.”

Management of rural land is similarly deeply infected with corruption. “In rural areas, officials have distorted the definition of ‘public land’ to mean ‘government land’”. Officials define “public purpose” in applying expropriation which is believed to be a leading cause of “landlessness”. Officials have also “engaged in land grabbing to grant land to functionaries” and this is “happening at the woreda (district) level and is being copied by the elected committee members at kebele (subdistrict) level.” According to the World Bank report, “Almost all transactions involving land most often incorporate corruption because there is no clear policy or transparent regulation concerning land.”

It is stunning to learn from the report that the ruling regime does not even have the most elementary system of land management in place. “Rural areas have no maps of registered holdings… In urban areas, there is little mapping of registered property. Encumbrances and restrictions are not recorded in the registers, and the encumbrances, if registered, are listed in a separate document. Land use restrictions are not recorded in the register.

 There is no inventory of public land, which affects the efficient management of public land and creates opportunities for the illegal allocation of public land to private parties.” Because existing institutions and laws are evaded, ignored and manipulated for private gain, the system of land management is a total failure making it impossible to hold officials in power legally accountable for their corrupt practices.

A variety of methods are used to perpetuate corruption in land in Ethiopia. One “key method” of land corruption involves the illegal allocation of municipal land “to housing cooperatives controlled by developers who then sell off the land informally.” Often “buyers were unaware of the legal status of the land they were buying” and end up in court before judges who are “aligned (in cahoots) with the corrupt officials”. Another “method” is official falsification of documents.

 “With limited systems in place to record rights, particularly in urban areas, and limited oversight, officials have plenty of opportunities to falsify documents. It is not uncommon for parcels of land to be allocated to many different parties, sometimes to as many as different parties, from whom officials and intermediaries collect multiple transaction and service fees.” Blatant conflict of interest of board members who oversee the lease award process, the absence of a compliance monitoring process for lease allocations and payments and the absence of land use regulations have served to accelerate the metastasizing corruption in land in Ethiopia.

State ownership of all land in Ethiopia is the fountainhead of land corruption. Wealthy elites and influential groups seize the land of the poor and marginalized through forced, but “legal” evictions and eminent domain actions. Nowhere is this type of land grab corruption more conspicuous than in the regime’s land giveaways to foreign “investors”. The World Bank report states that “a substantial proportion of expropriated land is transferred to private interests”, but not to smallholders.

 “The expropriation and relocation of smallholders has been to the advantage of extensive commercial farming, including flower farms, biofuel, and other commodities.” It is also documented that the Ethiopian “government is forcing the Indigenous Peoples of the southwest off their ancestral lands and leasing these lands to foreign companies.” This expropriation has been achieved through a bogus program of “villagization” in which 1.5 million people have been “resettled” from the regions of Gambella, Benishangul-Gumuz, Somali, and Afar and their ancestral lands handed over to domestic and international “investors”.

As I documented in my March 2011 commentary, “Ethiopia: Country for Sale”, the Indian agribusiness giant Karuturi Global today owns a 1,000 sq. miles, “an area the size of Dorset, England”, of virgin Ethiopian land for “£150 a week (USD$245)” for “50 years”. As Karuturi Project Manager in Ethiopia Karmjeet Sekhon euphorically explained to Guardian reporter John Vidal, “We never saw the land. They gave it to us and we took it. Seriously, we did. We did not even see the land.

They offered it. That’s all.” The Karuturi guys would like us to believe they got something for nothing. The regime wheeler-dealers would like us to believe they gave a 1,000 square miles of virgin land to one of the richest agribusinesses in the world for nothing. Suffice it to say that they may also believe we were born yesterday; but surely, we were not born last night!
Prognosis on corruption in Ethiopia

Corruption in Ethiopia is the principal business of the State. Corruption has metastasized in the Ethiopian body politic because the political and economic elites that have total control over the country’s land resources benefit enormously. They use tailor-made legislative opportunities to secure, sell and speculate in land rights. Because the state is the sole owner of land, those who own the state alone have the power to privatize land, expropriate, lease, zone or approve construction plans or negotiate large-scale land giveaways.

 Those who control the land in Ethiopia control not only the political and economic process but also the digestive process (stomachs) of 90 million Ethiopians!
The culture of corruption must be changed before the tangled webs of corruption spun by the political and economic elites in Ethiopia are shattered. The major problem with changing the culture of political corruption is, as Peter Eigen observed, “in many parts of the world, the local people are resigned to the fact that there is corruption. They think there is nothing they can do about it. Therefore they more or less try to accommodate themselves, pay bribes themselves.”

Most Ethiopians are unaware of the regime’s “anti-corruption” efforts and those who are aware view the whole effort with a jaded eye. The simple fact of the matter is that having the “anti-corruption” agency (FEAC) to oversee, monitor, investigate and prosecute the architects and beneficiaries of corruption in Ethiopia is like having Tweedle Dee monitor, investigate and prosecute Tweedle Dum. To invoke an old Ethiopian saying, “It is difficult to get a conviction when the son is the robber and the father is the judge.”

Effective anti-corruption efforts require an active democratic culture based on the rule of law and a vigilant citizenry empowered to confront and fight corruption in daily life. Genuine anti-corruption efforts must necessarily begin by empowering ordinary people to fight back, not by creating a make-believe anti-corruption bureaucracy.

There have been some successful experiments in grassroots anti-corruption efforts where ordinary people have been given the tools to fight back corruption. In India, for instance, they have successfully organized local “vigilance commissions” in many towns and brought together the vulnerable and interested groups to probe into corruption. These commissions have put a significant dent in corruption. In Bangalore, “hub for India’s information technology sector”, residents have been involved in rating the quality of all major service providers in the city.

 The results were used to put pressure on government officials and service providers to become more accountable to citizens.
 The Central Vigilance Commission of India also runs Project VIGEYE (Vigilance Eye) which is “a citizen-centric initiative” in which “citizens join hands with the Central Vigilance Commission in fighting corruption in India.” VIGEYE provides citizens given multiple channels of engagement in the fight against corruption. In parts of Brazil, citizens are empowered to fight corruption through “participatory budgeting.” By including citizens from various backgrounds in the process of budget allocation, Brazil has been able to decrease levels of corruption and clientelism (exchange of goods and services for political support).

Ethiopia can learn much from Botswana, regarded to be the least corrupt country in Africa. The “Botswana Model” uses the strategy of “name and shame” to educate and accentuate public awareness of corruption. Using the free press as a tool, Botswanans name and shame corrupt officials by publishing their photographs on the front pages with the headline: “Is this man corrupt?” Botswana’s top political leaders are said to maintain high levels of public integrity and teach by example.

Peter Eigen credits Botswana’s success to the “Directorate on Corruption and Economic Crime in Botswana [which] has processed thousands of [corruption] cases since 1994 and has made great strides against corruption.” In 2012, Botswana ranked an extraordinary 30/174 countries on the Corruption Index. These examples point to the fact that citizen involvement and monitoring are very effective in reducing corruption and increasing public integrity. Creating a bloated, toothless and self-perpetuating anti-corruption bureaucracy such as FEAC is mere window dressing for international donors and loaners.

The other remedy for corruption lies in vigorous and well-publicized criminal prosecutions of corrupt officials, asset forfeitures (divestment of corruptly obtained wealth) and imposition of tough prison sentences on convicted corrupt officials. FEAC’s own data show that corruption prosecutions and convictions in Ethiopia are negligible.'

Absent some dramatic treatment for the cancer of corruption in Ethiopia’s land sector, there is no doubt that Ethiopia will be bankrupted in the foreseeable future. This is a country whose foreign reserve today could barely cover two months of its import bills, has accumulated over USD$12 billion in foreign debt; and over the past decade Ethiopia has lost USD$11.7 billion dollars in illicit financial flows.

 Ethiopia’s “beautiful minds” and the opposition elements need to do a better job of addressing the issue of corruption. Passing references to “corruption” that “plagues the infrastructure sector”, “corruption that has never been seen before in the history of” Ethiopia and pleas to “arrest corruption that is rampant in the country” are simply not adequate.

I like to ask naïve questions. When it comes to governance, I ask not why Ethiopia’s rulers have chosen the “China Model” but rather why they have not chosen the “Ghanaian Model?” When it comes to corruption control, I simply ask why Ethiopia’s rulers have chosen not to follow the “Botswana Model”?

At the end of the day, “if Ethiopia is to be corruption free and become a nation of beautiful minds,” its “beautifully minded” scholars, professors, researchers, policy analysts, lawyers and other members of the learned professions must renounce their vows of silence and loudly speak truth to black-hearted dictators! Silence may be golden but when we see the gold walking out of the National Bank in broad daylight, we had better scream, shout and holler like hell!!!