Oromo activist, Tesfahun Chemeda, dies in prison while serving life sentence

by Mohammed Ademo 

(OPride) – Engineer Tesfahun Chemeda, a fierce Oromo rights advocate and former UNHCR recognized refugee, died yesterday of an undisclosed cause at Kaliti prison in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia's capital. Chemeda, 37, was serving a life sentenceunder concocted charges of plotting to overthrow the government.

Chemeda was nabbed by Kenyan anti-terrorism police along with close friend Mesfin Abebe in 2007 from Nairobi, where they lived as refugees since 2005. They were later deported back to Ethiopia, according to Oromia Support Group (OSG), a UK-based human rights organization.

“The two men were picked up in a restaurant by Kenyan anti-terrorist police on 27 April 2007 and taken to Kamukunji police station, where they were held overnight before being transferred to Giriri police station,” OSG wrote in a 2010 press release.

The duo were subsequently visited by UNHCR officials and members of the FBI – stationed in Kenya as part of the U.S.-led joint counter-terrorism task force for the Horn of Africa – who assured them that “they would not be deported,” according to OSG reports and activists who were advocating for their release at the time.

U.S.-led anti-terror task force in the Horn of Africa - See more at: http://cnsnews.com/news/article/us-forces-train-kenyan-navy-enhance-counter-terror-abilities#sthash.iR32lvPm.dpuf

“I had an opportunity to meet with Kenyan anti-terrorism head, inspector Francis Wanjiru, and an FBI agent,” wrote Raajii Gudeta, 31, in an email to OPride from Edmonton, Canada where he now lives. “Both the FBI and the Kenyan official told me that they [Chemeda and Abebe] were not terrorists. We don’t have any business with them but the Ethiopian government needs them badly.”

On May 9, 2007, during a court hearing, Kenyan officials told a local judge that the two "had already been sent back to Ethiopia to face terrorism charges," providing a doctored Laissez Passer document.  This paper from the Ethiopian embassy, "dated 1 May, had obviously been backdated as that day was a public holiday,” according to OSG.

Efforts by members of the Oromo community in Kenya, the Kenyan Human Rights Commission and the UNHCR regional office to prevent their refoulement were to no avail, according to Sori Fengor, 43, of Minnesota, who lived with Chemeda in Nairobi. Chemeda and Abebe were held incommunicado until December 2008 when they were formally charged in Ethiopian court.

“The last time I saw Chemeda was on May 10, 2007 at the Muthaiga police station,” wrote Gudeta, who worked as a Community Development Officer for the International Rescue Committee at that time. “After I dropped off food and water for them, Tesfahun saw me crying and grabbed a copy of the Daily Nation newspaper and slapped me saying, ‘we will be handed over to the Woyane [Ethiopian] regime, forget about us and focus on organizing the Oromo youth so that the Oromo struggle can reach its final destination.’”

Chemeda was accused of being an activist with the outlawed Oromo Liberation Front (OLF), an organization formed in 1973 to fight for the self-determination of the Oromo people in Ethiopia. A panel of three judges at Ethiopia’s federal court later sentenced Chemeda to life in prison without parole in April 2010.

Fifteen other Oromo co-defendants received stiff prison terms while Abebe was sentenced to death. The Oromo are Ethiopia's single largest ethnic group, comprising more than 40 percent of the country's population. An estimated 20,000 to 30,000 Oromos are political prisoners in Ethiopia.

Chemeda was born in 1976 in Harbu village, Guduru district, eastern Wallaga in the Oromia region, Ethiopia. He attended Fincha’aa and Shambu High Schools before joining Addis Ababa University's School of Civil and Environmental Engineering in 1997. Following his graduation in 2001, Chemeda – now a civil engineer – worked on various rural road maintenance projects for the Oromia Roads Authority.

Chemeda left his job and sought asylum in Kenya sometime in early 2005 following repeated harassment and intimidation at the hands of Ethiopian security forces and road transport administration officials, his acquaintances said.

Early Saturday afternoon when the news of Chemeda’s death broke on social media, Oromo activists changed their profile pictures to his photo and wrote to express their grief and condolences. Many remembered Chemeda as a humble man, a soft-spoken rational thinker, and a strategic leader.

Other acquaintances reached by OPride remembered Chemeda for his relentless advocacy and commitment to the Oromo people’s freedom. Many Oromo refugees in Kenya knew him between 2005 and 2007 through his role in the now defunct East African Oromo Students’ Association and his efforts to organize the Oromo refugees in Kenya.

Chemeda’s involvement in Oromo student activism dates back to early 2000. “I went to Menelik Hospital with Chemeda to collect the corpse of Simee Tarafa, an Oromo student who was mysteriously killed in 2001 while attending Mekelle University in Ethiopia’s Tigray region,” recalled Geresu Tufa.

“Before that I worked closely with Chemeda in a 12-member Oromo students committee set up to organize a nationwide campaign to extinguish a forest fire in Bale and Borana regions.”  Chemeda, who represted Oromo students from the technology department, was instrumental in signing up over 3000 volunteers and some 480 students that were dispatched to put out the forest fire, according to Tufa. The government's failure to extinguish the forest fires and refusal to allow student volunteers to go to the sites of fire led to Oromia-wide protests by high school students in which scores were arrested, killed, and wounded.
Chemeda had been in solitary confinement at Kaliti prison for nearly two years after he was transferred there from Ziway, according to family sources. Early reports about the circumstances of his death are unclear.  Some say prison authorities are unofficially claiming that he committed suicide. Chemeda’s sister, the only visitor he had seen for years, was denied the body on Saturday pending “further medical examination,” according to Gudeta. She had seen him earlier this week and reported no changes in his attitude or demeanor.
Others suggest that Ethiopian officials murdered him because they could not break his spirit even after years of torture. The OLF in a press release on Sunday said Chemeda was subjected to years of severe torture which led to his eventual death. "The beating was so severe that the engineer repeatedly requested and needed medical treatment which he was of course denied and eventually succumbed to the torture impact yesterday Aug. 24, 2013," the statement said.

It also called on the Kenyan government to observe intenational refugee protection standards and "desist from...handing over innocent Oromo victims who seek refuge" in that country to Ethiopian authorities.

In an open letter addressed to Mark Simmonds, the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (Africa), OSG Chairman Dr. Trevor Truman noted, "This is not the first time young Oromo men have been killed in detention. For example, Alemayehu Garba, partially paralysed with polio, was shot dead with 18 others in Kaliti prison in November 2005." 

Update: Chemeda's body was released to his family from Menelik II hospital in Addis Ababa on Sunday Aug. 25, 2013. He will be buried at the place of his birth on Monday, according to family sources.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Engineer Tesfahun short biography

Eng. Tesfahun Chemeda, the Latest Victim of TPLF Pogrom Extermination Campaign Against the Oromo People

OLF Statement on the death of Engineer Tesfahun Chemeda who died in the notorious TPLF/EPRDF prison of Qaallittii .

Engineer Tesfahun was born in 1976 from his father Mr. Chemeda Gurmessa and his mother Mrs. Giddinesh Benya at Harbu village, Guduru district, eastern Wallaga, western Oromia. He was lucky enough to get the slim chance of going to school for his likes under the occupation. He completed his school starting at Looyaa, then Fincha’aa and at Shambo in 1996. His remarkably high score enabled him to join the university in Finfinne (Addis Abeba) where he graduated with BSc in Civil Engineering in 2001. Subsequently:

1. Sept. 2004–Jan 2005 – he worked as unit manager for the maintenance of Arsi-Bale road project run by Oromia Rural Road Maintenance Authority and Ethio-Italian Company.
2. Worked at Degele-Birbirsa RR50 project in Salle-Nonno District in extreme South-west of Ilu-Abba-Bore Zone
3. Worked on four simultaneous road projects for settlements; Kone-Chawwaqaa, Baddallee-Kolosirri, Gachi-Chate and Yanfa-Ballattii
4. Worked as a project manager for Chawwaqa district head office construction in Ilu-Harari.
5. Oct. 2001–July 2003 site engineer for Siree-Nunu-Arjo Rural Road of Wallaga district.

Because of the policy of persecution and surveillance imposed on him, like any educated and entrepreneurial Oromo class as per TPLF’s standing policy, he decided to flee to Kenya for his safety. He sought protection from the UNHCR office in Nairobi explaining his position, and got accepted and recognized as a refugee. However, for unknown reasons, he and his colleague in skill and refugee life, Mesfin Abebe Abdisa, were arrested and eventually handed over to the Ethiopian authorities by the Kenyan counterpart on April 27, 2007, due to the agreement between the two countries.

Ethiopia, being a member of the Joint Anti-Terrorism Task Force (JATT), formed under the auspices U.S. that includes Uganda and Kenya as well, continues to abduct Oromo refugees from the neighbouring countries where they sought UN protection, under the pretext of anti-terrorism. The two innocent victims Tesfahun and Mesfin were handed over to the Ethiopian authorities who took them handcuffed and blindfolded at 2:00AM local time on May 12, 2007, purportedly to have them investigated for terrorism at the JATT Main Investigation Branch in Finfinne (Addis Abeba).

From Apr. 27 to May 12, 2007, before handing them over, they were interrogated at the Kenyan National Bureau of Investigation near Tirm Valley by American agents and Kenyan Anti-Terror Police Unit. The Kenyan officer Mr Francis, who led the investigation, concluded the innocence of these two victims and requested the Kenyan authority to immediately let them free. However, another Kenyan CID agent Ms. Lelian, who is suspected of having close connection with the Ethiopian agents, opposed the decision and facilitated the handing over of these two innocent victims.

Once in the hands of the Ethiopian agents, they were taken to the notorious dark Central Investigation compound, known as Ma’ikelawii, where they were interrogated under severe torture for a year and a quarter.

Engineer Tesfahun was then presented before a court of magistrates of all Tigrian nationals in Jul. 2008, who passed the life sentence on him on March 31, 2010. The two were subsequently moved from the maximum security prison to an unknown destination for the pretext of planning to escape. They were taken for further torture in another underground location by a squad directly commanded by the late Prime Minister Meles Zenawi. It was only since last three months that they were returned to Qallitti main prison. The beating was so severe that the engineer repeatedly requested and needed medical treatment which he was of course denied and eventually succumbed to the torture impact yesterday Aug. 24, 2013. He became the latest victim of the vicious systematic genocide against the Oromo.

Regarding the fate of these two engineers, the OLF strongly believes that the way Kenyan authorities have been handing over innocent Oromo refugees to the anti-Oromo Ethiopian criminal regime is against the relevant international conventions. We strongly request the Kenyan government to desist from this practice of the last 22 years of handing over innocent Oromo victims who seek refuge in their country. The Kenyan government cannot avoid sharing the responsibility of such murders of innocent people who they hand over to the notorious regime that is well known for its anti Oromo campaign.

The OLF extends its heartfelt condolence to the family relatives and friends of Engineer Tefahun and calls on the Oromo people to double the struggle for freedom as the only way to be free of such persecutions.

Ethiopian Regime Repression

By Graham Peebles    20 September 2013 08:35


The Right to Protest

They speak of democracy, but act violently to suppress dissenting voices and control the people through the inculcation of fear: they ignore human rights and trample on the people; they are a tyrannical wolf in democratic sheep’s clothing, causing suffering and misery to thousands of people throughout Ethiopia.

The Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) government repeatedly scoffs at international law and consistently acts in violation of their own Federal constitution – a liberal document written by the regime to please and deceive their foreign supporters. They have enacted laws of repression: the widely condemned Charities and Societies  (ATD) law (CSO law) and the Anti-Terrorism Declaration, which is the main tool of political control, together with The ‘Mass Media and Freedom of Information Proclamation’ they form a formidable unjust arsenal of government control. Freedom of the media (which is largely ‘state-owned’) is denied and political dissent is all but outlawed.

Against this repressive backdrop, the Semayawi (Blue) party, a new opposition group, organized peaceful protests on the 2nd June in Addis Ababa. Ten thousand or so people marched through the capital demanding the release of political prisoners, “respect for the constitution” and Justice! Justice! Justice! It was (Reuters 2/06/2013 reported), an “anti-Government procession…. the first large-scale protest since a disputed 2005 election ended in street violence that killed 200 people”, a ‘disputed election’ result that was discredited totally by European Union observers and denounced by opposition groups and large swathes of the population.

The Chairman of the Semayawi Party, Yilekal Getachew, told Reuters, “We have repeatedly asked the government to release political leaders, journalists and those who asked the government not to intervene in religious affairs”. In keeping with the recent worldwide movement for freedom and social justice, he stated that, “if these questions are not resolved and no progress is made in the next three months, we will organize more protests. It is the beginning of our struggle”. To the disappointment of many and the surprise of nobody, the government has made no attempt to ‘resolve’ the questions rose, and true to their word a second demonstration was planned for 1st September in Addis Ababa. In the event, as the BBC report, around “100 members of Ethiopia’s opposition Semayawi (Blue) party were arrested and some badly beaten”, and “equipment such as sound systems were confiscated”, ahead of the planned rally, which was banned by the EPRDF. Government justification formed, and a cock and bull story was duly constructed with Communication Minister Shimeles Kemal stating “the venue [for Semayawi’s event) had already been booked by a pro-government group condemning religious extremism”.

Non-interference in religious affairs is one of the key demands of the Semayawi party, a demand based upon the constitutional commitment of religious independence from the State, which Muslim groups claim the government has violated. Enraged by government interference in all matters religious, the Muslim community have organized regular small-scale protests and sit-ins in the capital for the last two years. In early August, Reuters 8/08/2013[i] reported “Demonstrators chanted “Allahu Akbar” and hoisted banners that read “respect the constitution”, referring to allegations that the government has tried to influence the highest Muslim affairs body, the Ethiopia Islamic Affairs Supreme Council”. Around 40% of Ethiopia’s populations (around 85 million) are Muslim, for generations they have lived amicably with their Orthodox Christians neighbors, who make up the majority in the country; they are moderate in their beliefs and peaceful in their ways. The EPRDF in contrast are violent, intolerant and ideologically driven; ‘Revolutionary Democracy’ being the particular tune to which the democratic dictatorship hums and drums its partisan rule.

“Name-Calling”

The government’s response to the peaceful demonstrations, has unsurprisingly been intolerant and dismissive; their comments inflammatory and predictable, stating Mail@Guardian 14/07/2013[ii] record, “most of these demonstrators are Islamic extremists”, and showing their own ‘extreme’ tendencies, authoritively declaring that “the protesters aimed to set up an Islamic state in the country and were bankrolled and guided by “extremists” [this time] overseas”. Duplicitous nonsense, which serves to distract attention from the underlying issues being raised and the imperative (and legal requirement) for the government to act in accordance with its own constitution.

Along with such disingenuous comments the regime has responded to the protests in a repressive manner; imprisoning Muslims calling for justice, causing Amnesty International[iii] 8/08/2013 to be “extremely concerned at reports coming out of Ethiopia… of further widespread arrests of Muslim protesters”, Amnesty demand that the “on-going repressive crackdown on freedom of speech and the right to peacefully protest has to end now”. Despite the fact that the protests have been peaceful and good-natured the regime has consistently described the protesters as violent terrorists, in February the ‘Holy War Movement’ was shown on State Television, it presented protestors and those arrested (including journalists), as terrorists.  And in a clear violation of people’s constitutional right to protest, the regime has threatened to take firm action against further protests.

Whilst the majority of actions during the last two years have been without incident, protests in Kofele in the Oromia region on 8th August ended in “the deaths of an unconfirmed number”, there have also been reports of large numbers of people being arrested in Kofele and Addis Ababa, including two journalists. Following the Kofele deaths Amnesty called for “an immediate, independent and impartial investigation into the events in Kofele, as well as into the four incidents last year which resulted in the deaths and injuries of protestors”. Legitimate demands which the regime has duly ignored.

The EPRDF does not tolerate any independent media coverage within the country and indeed does all it can to control the flow of information out of Ethiopia and restrict totally dissenting voices. And they don’t care who the journalist is working for, key allies or diaspora media; In October 2012 a reporter from the Voice of America (VOA) covering a protest in Anwar Mosque in Addis was arrested and told to erase her recorded interviews, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ)[iv] report. This was not the first time a VOA journalist had been detained. “They are criminalizing journalism,” said Martin Schibbye a Swedish freelance journalist who was jailed [in 2011] along with a colleague for more than 14 months in Ethiopia”, for entering the Ogaden region. A heavily militarized area where wide ranging human rights violations constituting crimes against humanity are taking place, which has been hidden from the International media and aid organisations since 2007. Fearing imprisonment, many journalists have left Ethiopia, CPJ report that in 2012, along with Eritrea, it was were Africa’s ‘top jailer’ of journalists”, coming in eighth worldwide.

Unjust Laws of Control

In July last year, hundreds of protesting Muslims peacefully demanding that the government stop interfering in their religious affairs and allow them to vote freely for representatives on the Ethiopian Islamic Affairs Supreme Council (EIASC). Most were released, but 29 members of the protest committee were charged on 29th October under the universally criticized Anti-Terrorist Declaration (ATD), accused of “intending to advance a political, religious or ideological cause” by force, and the “planning, preparation, conspiracy, incitement and attempt of terrorist acts.” Their arrest has been slammed by human rights groups as well as the United States Commission on religious Freedom[v], who “are deeply concerned that Ethiopia’s government is seeking to silence peaceful religious freedom proponents by detaining and trying them in secret under trumped-up terrorism charges.  They should be released now and their trials halted”. The men claim to have been “tortured and experienced other ill-treatment in detention”.

The ambiguous ATD was introduced in 2009 and has been used by the Ethiopian government, “to severely restrict basic rights of freedom of expression, association, and assembly”, Human Rights Watch (HRW) state. It violates dues process, which like a raft of other internationally recognized and legally binding rights, is enshrined in the Ethiopian constitution. The legislation cause outrage amongst human rights groups and the right minded when it was proposed. HRW (30/06/2009)[vi] said of the draft law, (which un-amended found its way onto the statute books) that it would “permit the government to repress a wide range of internationally protected freedoms”, – precisely the reason for its introduction, and it provides “the Ethiopian government with a potent instrument to crack down on political dissent, including peaceful political demonstrations and public criticisms of government policy”. The unjust law allows for long-term imprisonment and the death penalty for so called crimes that meet some EPRDF definition of terrorism, and denies in some cases a defendant’s right to be presumed innocent – the bedrock of the international judicial system.

Torture is used without restraint by the military and police, under the ATD evidence obtained whilst a prisoner is being beaten, hanged, whipped or drowned is admissible in court, this criminal act contravenes Article 15 of the United Nations Convention against Torture (ratified by Ethiopia in 1994), which ‘requires that any statement made as a result of torture is inadmissible as evidence’. Terrorism is indeed an issue of grave concern in Ethiopia, it is not rooted in the Muslim community, the media, the Blue Party or the Universities, it is State Terrorism that stalks this land, that kills and falsely imprisons, tortures and rapes the innocent, it is the EPRDF; the rebel group that ousted a communist dictator in 1991 only to take up his tyrannical mantle, who manipulate the law to serve their repressive rule and who violates a plethora of human rights, consistently and with impunity. Ethiopia’s donors and international friends, (primarily America and Britain) have other, larger fish on their minds, and even though they give the country over a third of its federal budget they seem unconcerned by the criminality being committed, much of which is taking place under the cloak of development. Violent rule however is a storm that is imploding throughout the world, the people, who have suffered long enough, sense their collective strength and are awakening.

Need for Unity

Although completely contrary to the EPRDF’s pledge of Ethnic Federalism, divide and rule is the effective methodology of division employed by the regime. In a country with dozens of tribal groups, various ethnicities and different religious beliefs (Islam and Christianity), unity is the key to any popular social revolution, much needed and ardently longed for by millions throughout the land. We are witnessing a worldwide protest movement for change; age-old values of freedom, equality and social justice, brotherhood and peace are the clarion call of many marching and protesting. And so it is in Ethiopia, the Blue party and other opposition groups, the Muslim community and the students on the streets demanding Justice! Justice! Jusitce! are in harmony with the rhythm of the times. Out of step and blind to the needs of the people and their rightful demands, the ruling party acts with violence to drown out their voices and suppress their rights: in Addis Ababa, where thousands marched in June, in Oromia and the Ogaden, where the people seek autonomy, in Amhara, where thousands have been displaced, in Gambella and the Lower Omo Valley, where native people are being driven off their ancestral land into state created villages, women raped and men beaten.

Unity is the song of the day, rich with diversity united in intent; the collective will of the people of Ethiopia and indeed throughout the world is an unstoppable force for change. All steps need to be taken to remove the obstacle to the realization of unity throughout the country, ethnic prejudices and tribal differences; all need to be laid aside. The Ethiopian regime may succeed in subduing the movement for change that is simmering throughout the country, however with sustained unified action, peacefully undertaken and relentlessly expressed, freedom and social justice longed for by millions throughout the country, will surely come.

Words from a prisoner of conscience at Kaliti

Andualem Aragie (Vice Chair of Unity for Democracy Justice Party -Prisoner of Conscience)
From Kaliti Prison (a house of punishment)

First of all, may my respectful and brotherly greetings reach you all wherever you may be!

I wish to express my gratitude to you all for not succumbing to the ruling regime's propaganda avalanche that describes me as being "a terrorist who rides the horse of death, is accompanied by angels of destruction and is bent on making Ethiopia a land of blood." Instead, you have realized that my imprisonment and that of my friends here is a symbol of the larger imprisonment of the Ethiopian people and you have become a clear and powerful expression of my stifled voice. I am grateful to you for keeping me in your thoughts and for giving such a precious value to the small sacrifice that I am making. 

To begin with, it was not without good reason that I did not shy away from the struggle, knowing full well that I would go to prison, leaving behind my young children and my fresh marital life. I ardently believe that there is nothing more precious in this world than freedom for which man could live and die. I believe wholeheartedly that, as long as I have a clear conscience and clarity of purpose, God, who is the Father of knowledge and freedom, and you my fellow men and women would always be on my side as I come and go through the winding paths of suffering. I am also fully confident that the Ethiopian people, particularly the youth, will bear the torch of struggle aloft and continue to march forward until freedom dawns is won and shines brightly on our land. 

In the 20th century, people in many countries have seen and basked in the rays of freedom. I believe that the 21st century will be a time when these rays of freedom will also shine brightly on countries like Ethiopia. The century is one of freedom. I believe God has willed that we live in this particular century so that we can struggle to fulfill the primary purpose of our creation, namely: the realization of freedom, brotherhood, love and peace. Where there is no freedom, there is no lasting peace. Where there is no freedom, there is no love. Where there is no freedom, there is no sustainable development. Where there is no freedom, human interaction becomes embroiled in a quagmire of problems. Therefore, the struggle waged for freedom is the mother of all struggles. We Ethiopians know full well that regaining our freedom from the grips of dictators who considered ruling over people oppressively as their natural right is not easy. The magnitude of the price paid in such a struggle is measured in terms of the severity of the imprisonment, bodily harm and the lives sacrificed. 

If you were not a terrorist, why are you imprisoned? How can an entity that considers itself a government lie? Even if the government imprisons you under false charges, why didn't the court set your free? Why did it sentence you to life imprisonment? In a country where any politician can criticize the government and go home in peace, what is special about you? These are questions I believe are raised repeatedly particularly by the supporters of the regime. I do not blame them for asking such questions. Really though, why am I imprisoned? Why are my friends imprisoned?

As in the past centuries, the Ethiopian people of the 21st century are still suffering under the yoke of oppression. Though this is the prevailing case, EPRDF, just like the Derg, claims that it is "a democratic government". What is more, it is telling us that its democracy can serve as a model for other countries. However, its all-out campaign to convert lies into truths is not succeeding. If its propaganda campaign does not succeed, the other alternative the regime has is to "cut the feet of opposition parties" and stifle the struggle for freedom in the bud. Imprisoning individuals and groups is still another means of smothering dissent. 

It is not the barrel of the gun alone that the ruling regime uses to debilitate the struggle for freedom. It also makes public institutions fabricate endless lies. Courts that should have been temples of justice have become public squares where lies are manufactured and truth is sacrificed. If we take me as an example, earlier, I was accused as one of the CUD leaders, of "trying to change the constitutional system through violence". This time, I am accused along with others, of "terrorism and treason." In both cases I have been sentenced to life imprisonment. Injustice that was committed yesterday is also being committed today. What is being perpetrated against me is being perpetrated against many other Ethiopians. Many innocent Ethiopians have paid untold sacrifices of limb and life. 

The answer to the questions raised above can be summarized in one statement. Re'yot Alemu, Eskendir Negga, Beqele Ge rba, Olbaba Lelisa, Natnael Mekonnen, I and numerous other Ethiopians are languishing in prison at present because, in this twenty-first century, Ethiopia has become a land of torturous oppression. It is the ruling regime that decides who should be targeted for labeling and who the next prisoners would be. 

In the past, our forefathers had left their sweet homes and tender children behind in response to calls to defend their homeland against foreign aggressors. They took it as an honour to stand in defense of their homeland and to pay the sacrifices that the occasions required. In the same way, my being thrown into prison for the small effort that I have made to struggle through peaceful means against the ruling regime's yoke of oppression that has been bearing down on the Ethiopian people for ages, gives me a sense of pride. There is not a single crime that I have committed, that would nag my conscience and deprive me of sleep. As a result, even the concrete floor on which I sleep gives me warmth.

In the past centuries as well as in the present 21st century of Ethiopia's existence, the most powerful issue in the national agenda has been the question of the sovereignty of the Ethiopian people. There has not been any other issue that united the people more than the question of sovereignty. The struggle for freedom waged by political parties is not a struggle to seize power. The struggle for the sovereignty of the Ethiopian people must be a common cause that should unite the various political parties, including the ruling party. Perhaps it may be naive to wish that the key persons of the ruling regime would be involved in this struggle of ensuring the sovereignty of the people. After all, against whom are we waging the struggle?

Instead of resolving conflicts through dialogue, the ruling regime has chosen to solve problems through the bullets of sharpshooters. This attitude clearly shows its backward and intransigent nature. However, this nature of the ruling regime does not discourage us and make us retreat from the struggle. Rather, it gives us an added cause to confront and challenge it with greater determination. Retreating from the struggle would not bring light. It would rather make the darkness even darker. 

The day we are able to carry out a well organized, disciplined and peaceful struggle, not only would we be able to bring down brutal dictatorship from the shoulder of the Ethiopian people but we would also be able to abolish dictatorship from appearing ever again in the political arena of our country. But given the path that we have come through, given the speed with which we have moved and given the efforts we have made, centered around private interests, we would not be able to achieve much.

Thinking about the efforts made in our country in the name of peaceful struggle and about the mistakes made alone would make one go sick and disconcerted. The worst mistake would be, however, if we do not learn from those past mistakes and are still unable to conduct a well planned and well executed struggle that achieves its goal with certainty. The worst of all mistakes would be if, as a result of our past mistakes, we move far apart instead of coming closer to each other; if we fear each other instead of trusting each other; if we disparage each other instead of respecting and encouraging each other; if we hate each other instead of loving each other. And being separated from each other in this manner, we render ourselves unable to raise our united hands against the ruling regime and thus allowing the period of oppressive rule to be prolonged. It is inhuman to rule over people through oppression. It is equally inhuman to succumb to oppression. As those who rule oppression would be criminals, so would those who timidly offer their backs conveniently and ready for dictatorial rule, particularly during this time when the struggle for liberation is being waged in all directions. There will come the time when all these persons would be accountable for their actions or inactions.

There could be some ones who would ask: "What oppression are you talking about? It has been some 22 years since we have gained our freedom from oppression." There may be others who would say: "We are working and we carry bread in our hands for our children when we go home. What is more freedom than this?" There may be some in the Diaspora who would say: "The freedom that we were denied in our own country, we have regained it in a foreign country. What special reason would we have that would compel us to struggle so that freedom would prevail in Ethiopia?" 

When the majority of Ethiopians are suffering under brutal oppression, what kind of freedom is it that the few say they have regained? In a system that oppresses the majority, how long can anyone continue to be free? In a situation where the ruling regime oppresses those who hold differing views, how long can we continue to exist with our voice stifled and our conscience obscured so that we could not speak the truth? In a country where the majority are hungry, how long can the few that have plenty continue to be well fed? In a country where there is no real freedom but a semblance of it, those of us who believe that we are free can only have a distorted view of freedom. In a country where a dictatorial regime twists the arm of the people and claims to have won 99.6% of their voice, it becomes senseless to argue whether or not there is freedom in that country. How meaningful and satisfying is it for us who have fled from a country where there is no freedom to be enjoying the freedom that other fathers have brought? And what credible explanation can we give on this matter to the children that we have engendered? Even those who believe that they can live freely in a foreign country have the responsibility of supporting in all the ways they can the struggle that their brothers and sisters at home are waging for freedom. There is no justification by any measure to say: "It is no concern of ours if others are downtrodden, as long as we live in freedom; or if others are starving as long as we are able to get our daily bread." Although we have our individual lives, we should not forget even for a moment that our destinies as well as those of our children are intertwined. 

To speak the truth, the majority of those fellow country men and women who are, in many ways, in a position to contribute much to supporting and leading the struggle for freedom that is being waged by the people of this country are not playing their proper role and carrying out their responsibility. In fact, they seem to countenance the regime that they do not support and thereby showing a tendency of encouraging it to continue with its dictatorial rule. On the other hand, it has become a common matter to hear others who, over "machiato" and in their private rooms, calling for "their horses to be readied" for they are about to declare war against the regime. Our struggle for freedom has to come out of the "machiato" shops and private rooms without delay. 

Bequeathing to our present children and to those who are yet unborn an Ethiopia that is a land of freedom and whose paths are free from thorns and other obstacles is a primary responsibility entrusted upon us all. A responsibility as major as this cannot be realized by a few. It requires an unreserved and all-encompassing effort from all of us. 

Although freeing the Ethiopian people from dictatorial rule is primarily the responsibility of us 

Ethiopians, it is an internationally recognized truth that nations could have positive or negative influence on other nations. This truth has become more obvious during this century. 

In the past, Ethiopians have given their support to enable other Africans to bring down Apartheid and colonial rule. A considerable number of African countries are now marching along the road of democracy. Ethiopia, however, is still suffering under a dictatorial rule. What is distressing is seeing South Africans, who know the suffering under an unjust rule of Apartheid and should have stood on the side of the Ethiopian people's struggle for freedom, have chosen to be on the side the ruling regime. 

Whenever famine struck in our country and people were struggling with death, the International Community has responded rapidly with food and other life saving supplies. Their generous responses have saved the precious lives of millions of our people and we are indeed grateful for that. On the other hand, when our people wage a struggle to extricate their freedom from the tight grip of dictators, the International Community has turned its eyes away and given their backs to the people. Our humanitarianism should be aroused not only when people are hungry for bread but also when they are hungry for freedom. 

We should not forget for a moment that injustice anywhere is injustice everywhere. Supporting a regime that is the cause of poverty and hunger, sending wheat when famine strikes does not show being on the side of the people. Providing food for the physical nature of man but showing no concern and turning a blind eye when people are deprived of their freedom that is the basis of their sacred being is like viewing the physical and the spiritual aspect of the individual in isolation of each other. 

That the Ethiopian people are unable to be masters of their freedom is primarily the failure of the Ethiopian people themselves. However, it must be said that those who declare that democracy is also a concern of theirs share the failure. If there are those who say that human rights and democratic values are matters of concern to them but then they turn their blind eyes when it comes to economic and political interests, they should realize that they are following the wrong path of history.

No matter where or when it may be, leaders that oppress their people can never be reliable partners in the pursuit of peace or in the sustainable maintenance of political or economic interests. Sustainable world peace can be ensured, development can be accelerated and interests of countries can be reliably promoted only in an environment of truth and freedom and by standing on the side of democratic forces. Ethiopia and the world in general would be indebted to the International Community if it worked not only for world peace and prosperity but also if it helped the Ethiopian people in their struggle for freedom and democracy. The world has witnessed the devastating effects of the mistakes the International Community has repeatedly made by allying itself with brutal dictators in order to gain temporary political and economic benefits. As a result of these mistakes, we have seen and are still seeing with great sadness world peace being disrupted, economies being ruined and innocent lives being lost. The International Community should learn from its past mistakes so as not to repeat them. 

When I say what I have said above, I wish to underscore that I am not in any way suggesting that the International Community has not contributed anything to the struggle of the Ethiopian people for freedom. The message that I wish to convey clearly is that the support did not take the Ethiopian people seriously and that the magnitude of the support, compared with the degree of the cruelty of the oppression, is small.

The struggle that we Ethiopians have waged so that the sun of freedom would shine in the country is not something that one could boast about. The outcome of that struggle is a good witness and we cannot blame anyone else, including the ruling regime, for this. The ruling regime, as seen from its actions, is determined to continue to rule, not with the will of the people but with power obtained through suppression. 

We Ethiopians should wage a well planned and strengthened struggle for our freedom in unison, undivided by politics, religion, age or economic class. The secret of our failure to be free lies in the fact that we individually or in unison have been unable to wage a struggle that gave priority to the wellbeing of the people and of the coming generations and to the future of the country as a whole. There is no concern for each of us and each of us has no concern for all.

Finally, even though the ruling regime has thrown me in prison on false charges so that my life would be wasted in incarceration, I feel happy and honoured to know that there are people who think of me and are on my side. May God honour you as you have honoured me by keeping me in your thoughts! Even though, as a person who is sentenced to spend the rest of his life in prison, I cannot say much about what could happen in the outside world, somehow my heart is filled with hope. I strongly believe that a time is coming rapidly when a bright light of freedom will rise high above the lofty mountains of Ethiopia--a light that will shine upon every hill, valley and plain, upon every Ethiopian hut, upon every Ethiopian woman and man to and make us forget the dark days of the past. 

It is my ardent hope that the time will not be far when I and the others prisoners like me here will be out of this life of repression and meet with you all outside of the confines of prison to deliberate on the general condition of our country and to commune with each other, full of hope and with a spirit of brotherhood. 

May God bless Ethiopia!

Your brother and comrade in the peaceful struggle that is waged to enable the Ethiopian people to be masters of their freedom and of their democratic rights